#like to all the people who have seen him do theatre shows live how does it feel to have lived my dream?

[spaceytrash]

You know now that Daniel Craig is finally free from Bond and has shown to the general public that he can play more than just an action hero with Bneoit Blanc I just hope we get to see more of these artsy emotional dramas he clearly wanted to do more of earlier in his career before he became Bond. If he still wants to do them that is. Tbh I just want him to act in whatever he wants and has fun in but he has such an amazing range, like he could literally play anything, and he was drawn to more emotional hitting roles than just action heroes before so I would love to see him in a very emotional drama or somethong else completely left field idk

[greeneyed-thestral]

I MET MICHAEL SHEEN. 16/03/24, National Theatre

So, if you've read my post about booking tickets to see Michael, you know all about my what-ifs. But the day was finally here.

I arrived at the National Theatre, followed all the Nye signs and here's the Olivier Theatre. I made my sister buy me the show's programme, hoping I would be able to get it signed.

I find my seat, I'm not in the centre but the stage still feels very close and you can see everything (amphitheatres are always the best).

Lights out. The audience is in religious silence. Can't believe I'm actually here, this is happening.

[skip this part in smaller font, if you want to avoid spoilers] In the words of Staged, he really loses himself in his roles. First of all, it's great to hear him speak in a Welsh accent.

But then we also see him turning back into a child, and you can totally believe he's young and innocent again. His stutter feels so real, his struggle and sadness too. The entire ensamble is great during the classroom scene, where they all help Nye against their bullying teacher (using those big canes to make him look scary really works). Hearing young Nye confessing that at times he thinks he 'shouldn't exist' because of who he is was a gut punch; Michael's delivery of that whole part is incredible, in that moment he really becomes a little boy that allows himself to feel vulnerable and says something dark to a friend. The way he jumps while saying "I can visualise and enunciate!" made me wanna jump too, he was ready to give up and then he found the solution through books, it's the joy and relief you feel when you realise that there is another way and your life is not over.

Now, I've watched musicals all my life and let me tell you that man is meant to be in one. He opened his mouth and all I could see was someone that had been waiting a long time for the occasion to show his talent, truly showstopping. He was so free and happy and confident, singing and dancing spectacularly. I couldn't stop smiling and giggling, we all clapped.

It's clear he means every word he says, and when he points and shouts his political arguments at the audience, those who feel called out must be shaking; I thought 'This is how people in Ancient Greece must have felt everytime they went to the theatre'. His Nye is inspiring, passionate, someone you'd want to follow, he stands up for what he believes in and lets nothing get in his way.

We get to watch him flirt, on all fours, waggling his 'tail'; everytime we think we've seen all he's capable of, he does something like this and surprises us.

But most of all, we see him being scared, first of having to do something, and then of not being able to do enough for all of us. At one point everyone has requests for Nye and I was expecting him to shout "Heal yourselves!" like Jesus in JCS, it totally conveyed what it must have been like to be in his role at the time, overwhelmed with daunting responsibilities.

In general, I appreciated the fact that it wasn't a linear biography, they chose life moments that have universal situations everyone can relate too, like they do in bio-musicals. I loved the staging. The colour palette is so recognisable; the curtains and the beds are used in many different ways so everything is explored at its full potential.

He is on stage basically all the time for more than two hours (sometimes twice a day, can you imagine?). Also barefoot and in his pajamas from start to finish, he looks like a teddy bear you just want to hug and protect.

He bows, looks at Nye's achievements, then leaves the stage.

Standing ovation, applause. I go back to the theatre lobby, I was supposed to wait for my sister, but she's late. Meanwhile, a fan asks me how to get to the Stage Door. I start too fear that I'm going to miss my chance if I keep waiting inside, so I decide to go on my own. After no more than 5 minutes, he's outside with us. Forget Nye, I am living my fever dream. He has just finished his second show of the day and yet he's smiling and listening to each and every one, signing and taking pictures. I know many have said this, but he really is an angel.

My sister arrives, and as soon as I'm sure she has the camera ready, I make my way to him. The two girls next to me who were speaking to him needed a pen and I lent them my sharpie, so I got my chance to look generous in front of him.

And suddently it was my turn. This is as much as my scrambled mind allows me to remember: I tell him I'm Francesca and I'm from Italy, he asks me how long I am going to stay, I confess that I had arrived that morning and just to see him, that I would be leaving already the following morning. I can't even focus while he's signing my programme, I just want to find the right words. I manage to say how I enjoyed seeing his passion, all these different sides of him and how watching him sing and dance has been the highlight of my evening. We take a picture together, I feel his hand on my shoulder and I realise my arm is around the waist of this person I love. I had to thank him again, telling him that he only deserves good things and that we are so lucky to have him. He wishes me a safe trip home, and I melt. I leave and I can't stop trembling. On my way back to the hotel I hold on tight to my signed programme and the sharpie that was in his hands just moments earlier. Only later I will realise that he's also written 'Ciao!', 'love' and 'X', without me asking for it or anything! Seeing him act live was a big gift already, but what followed outside was beyond my dreams. I can't look at the photos without blushing, the way he looks at me in the video and then also strokes my arm for a moment, I mean pinch me now.

The more I think about it, the more I can't believe it happened.

I want to thank everyone that under my first post pushed me and encouraged me to see the pros of doing this, I share this beautiful moment of my life with all of you. <3

[rubra-wav]

Vox HCs entry #2

Warnings/CW: discussion of toxic masculinity, SFW

A/N: just various thoughts I've had about this man.

- He is a musical theatre/drama fan

He gives me this energy so much due to how dramatic he is in general. His first instinct when Alastor comes back is to instantly make a callout on live TV in the form of song. 💀

I feel like he listens to musicals in 'secret' - but it's not actually nearly as much as a secret as he thinks it is. I feel like in general he gets very loud when he's passionate or excited about something.

I just have a mental image of him thinking nobody in Vee tower can hear him while he absolutely yells the lyrics of a song with headphones on at full volume while dancing out the choreography to the song.

He'd deny everything about it if you brought this up however. He grew up in the 50's and due to that I feel as if he would be very insecure about it. I'll elaborate more on that in the next point.

- Still has a fair few beliefs to deconstruct

He is from around the 50's time period, and due to that I feel like he would have a lot of internalised toxic masculinity.

He is on and off with Val who's obviously GNC, so I think he doesn't gaf too much about others and what they wear and do anymore

But I think he has a lot of shit he directs towards himself still.

Elaborating on the liking theatre thing and denying it: I think he would stubbornly deny it because he thinks it's 'too feminine' for himself to be interested in and that he thinks it makes him 'less of a man' and shit kinda like that.

I also think because of this he also has horrendous perspectives on showing emotion.

It is already canon that he hides behind a mask at all times, but I feel like even if he 100% trusts someone to be genuine around them he still wouldn't let himself do so due to thinking he's 'less man' if he does things like cry or directly seek any kind of support - especially emotional - outside of his usual compliment fishing behaviours.

I don't think his perspectives usually pertain to others as he's had a lot of exposure to different more up-to-date / nonconforming people with Val and Vel - but I do definitely feel like he has hella internalised bullshit.

Dating him in this aspect would be hard because you would need to be there reassuring him that it's okay to do things which society deems as 'feminine' - especially with what 1950's society deemed as being normal and abnormal for men.

He needs reassurance so bad about it.

I can see him as trying to keep up his mask of not needing any kind of help from you even when it's obvious he's cracking under whatever (pressure, overwhelm, stress, etc. Etc.)

- This man can't dress himself well for shit

(Mostly based upon past Voxtagram posts)

This man's closet outside of his usual outfits is largely button-up/polo shirts and cargo shorts with the most horrifically ugly patterns you've ever seen in your life.

The only reason his outfits look good ever is because of Vel forcing him to not dress like shit.

I can imagine him walking out of his room in a blue and red polo and black cargo shorts with a snapback on and Velvette and Valentino just looking at him in utter horror. 💀

I also like the idea of him having equally chaotic socks. Like you have the usual put together outfit he has on, but then he takes off his shoes, and they are eye shatteringly ugly with words printed on them.

It's ironic because if you date him he will be probably pissy about you dressing well going out together.

He's a hypocrite 🙏

- He doesn't like sweets

I can see him as not liking things that are sweet at all.

He absolutely takes his coffee black as well, it's the most bitterest gag-worthy flavour ever and you are terrified at how much he seems to like the taste.

The sweetest thing he does like in the way of drinks is diet coke.

I feel like he survives on energy drinks, but I don't think he enjoys them at all and just tolerates them.

He doesn't like desserts either. Maybe tiramisu but not frequently.

I can see him actually liking dark chocolate though. I feel like he likes bitter things.

He's totally an absolute cunt about it as well.

If he sees you having coffee with milk/creamer and sugar he's the type of person to go "ugh. I don't know how you can drink that." While fake gagging at you.

He's that mf

A/N I have multiple ideas for drabble/fics, but my brain decided to write this out for now.

If you like sweets a lot he would be annoying as fuck about it 100%

I'm a bit hesitant to post like full fics or drabbles as I don't want to in the moment be like 'yeah, this is great!' Then look at it the next morning and be tweaking out because it feels OOC or I could have worded things better. Perfectionism is a fucking nightmare 🗣/lh

[demonbarbers]

so high rn so sorry if this doesn’t make any sense i’m just so emotional about josh and annaleigh and this production so i’m gonna ramble a bit about what i love about it and them. ok. enjoy.

the thing about sweeney todd is that it’s mean. it’s a mean show. it ends on the cruel irony of 2 officers bursting in on toby slitting sweeney’s throat, surrounded by 2 other bodies and one in the oven; on johanna watching her father die holding her mother and not even knowing it. everyone is an abuser or abused, and there is no hope or redemption to be found. and it fucking rules! it just rules. it’s so fun to indulge in our basest pleasures for nearly 3 hours, delicately served to us by one of the greatest composers who’s ever lived.

and every major production takes the bile and cruelty inherent to the material and runs away with it. like- just look at this swedish production from 2006, directed by vernon mound. or the last time it was on broadway, directed by john doyle:

productions tend go smaller and nastier, more intimate, in keeping with the spirit of how sondheim originally conceived the piece. (side note: i LOVE when they do that. my ideal sweeney has buckets of blood and visera right in your face)

the original production of sweeney was MASSIVE, but that came from hal prince. hal couldn’t really get an emotional foothold on the material until he found within sweeney an extended metaphor for capitalism and the industrial revolution; people literally eating people and the machine of capitalism grinding everyone up. revivals also tend to seize on the brechtian class elements, like this absolutely gorgeous korean production from 2019 directed by eric schaeffer:

sondheim, meanwhile, always objected to readings of sweeney as brechtian- it was all a farce to him, just a good, nasty time at the theatre. he approached it as a horror fan who wanted to write some fucked up stuff, which is maybe now some of the best art is created. but hal made it into epic theatre.

(if u don’t know what epic theatre is or what brechtian means google will explain it better to u than my ridiculously stoned ass can rn but im just focusing on one aspect of it rn: the distancing effect. basically, emotionally distancing the audience from the characters and the material so that everyone is engaging with the work on an intellectual level as opposed to an emotional one)

obc sweeney is an alienating show. it’s so fun and brutal and deeply felt, but these characters are grotesque. they’re cartoonish in their cruelty. just look at their makeup! john doyle also embraces the distancing effect; his revival is actor-muso, so we’re pretty aware at all times we’re watching a show. it’s all so cold, and the only warmth to be found is in the humor. and it rules. it’s nasty. i love it. this is the show i fell in love with.

all these things have become inherent to sweeney over time, all teased out of the greatest broadway show to ever exist; visceral horror, cruelty, coldness, and class commentary.

but this revival is just.. it’s warm! it’s lush! it’s romantic! and i don’t mean that in the sense of lovett and sweeney (tho this is the warmest they’ve ever been towards each other in any major production i’ve seen). i mean that it gestures at and plays with romanticism.

my biggest critique of this production is, in doing away with the brechtian elements (sondheim just cheered), it also does away with overt class commentary. it’s all still there in the text- turpin is a corrupt judge, beadle is effectively a sheriff, sweeney and lovett are working class, the beggar woman is homeless- but as a director tommy kail seems… uninterested in any biting political commentary, to put it generously lmfao. and i hate so much how little of it there is to be found in this revival, bc you can still Do It without invoking brecht. but i’ve long made my peace with that. i wanna talk about what i love.

and what i really love and what kept me returning to it (beyond the fact that it’s sondheim, and it’s sweeney, and josh groban is so stupid fucking hot) is how human everyone is. the entire production, from the ground up, is built around taking these characters and their pain seriously.

the ensemble all have incredibly period accurate costumes, unique to each character they’ve crafted (fun fact even the swings have their own unique costume that’s only seen when they perform). gone is toby as a mentally disabled man child with an oedipal fixation on lovett. in gaten’s hands he’s a young teenager, aging out of being a cute urchin and just looking for a mother. in daniel’s hands he’s beaten down young man with a limp and a genuine love for lovett.

ruthie’s beggar woman has developed DID after a brutal rape and the trauma of institutionalization and homelessness. she’s not played for laughs, even if sometimes the audience chuckles, and she makes u feel guilty if you ever did laugh at her situation. daniel yearwood leans so far into anthony as a sweet guy completely unaware of the story he’s actually in to the point of comedy. maria is just a revelation as johanna, all nerve and tension and bloody nails from years of self-harm. it’s easy to lean into johanna as a princess track, but ~crazy~. and maria plays jo as mentally ill and traumatized from years of incesteous abuse, but it’s not a pastiche or a praody of it. jo feels human in a way i’ve never seen her depicted before. i love it. maria bilbao u have my heart forever for this.

and then josh and annaleigh…. ugh!!! annaleigh really captures the avarice at the heart of lovett, but still brings in enough genuine moments of humanity and compassion that you find yourself (like sweeney and toby) endeared to her. lovett is always cruel and can only love through manipulation, but annaleigh’s lovett is a woman who makes small concessions. bit by bit, piece by piece, she erodes whatever goodness she had inside her until nothing but her desire for sweeney is left. she’s a woman who’s used seduction to get her way, and it’s easy to envision that when lucy returned from turpin’s, she shamed her for “giving it away” without getting benjamin back. she’s a monster! and yet, when she dreams of a better life, you feel it. when she holds toby in her arms and cried at her perfect little life unraveling, you feel it. annaleigh makes you laugh so hard she gets under your skin and stays there, exactly how lovett seduces sweeney in ALP. and there it is- identification! the complete opposite of alienation. we’re in it with them.

and then there’s josh and his sweeney… i really feel like his sweeney is undervalued. annaleigh steals the show. she won the drama desk for a reason. it’s a legendary performance. but josh…. man. i just. i keep returning to josh’s open wound of a sweeney over and over again. i think he’s probably had this take bouncing around in his head for years. they smartly leaned away from sweeney as this embodiment of rage and physical menace, which surprised a lot of people. but instead leaned into sweeney’s grief in a way i haven’t seen any major production do. josh’s sweeney feels like a man who was put on this earth to be a father and a husband. there’s a buried sweetness to him and you can still see benjamin barker in him until the very end. i keep calling him “kendall roy sweeney” bc it’s the closest way i can covey to other ppl what josh is doing here. he’s all big sad eyes and suicidal ideation, tragedy and twitchy hands. he’s so deeply pathetic he just endears himself to you. i want sweeney to succeed more than ever before. even though he spends all of act 2 killing people and being a shit father and thus killing benjamin barker, i still find myself wanting him and lovett to get away with it. and when the reveal comes, and even worse the betrayal hits- that this woman who he let into his life and body and who, in some odd way, became a friend, lied to him this entire time- it hits like never before for me.

i just love it all so much. i’m so happy it exists, so happy this revival does something so new! sondheim has said sweeney todd is a show about obsession, and it is. this revival supposes: what is the difference between love and obsession? what if the two look the same?

i think often of this quote from luca guadagnino’s suspiria (a masterpiece btw): “Love and manipulation, they share houses very often. They are frequent bedfellows.”

to me, that’s this revival in a nutshell- the thin line between love and obsession, and all the blood spilled in between.

[marybeatriceofmodena]

How did Phantom ruin ALW and Sarah Brightman's marriage?

That's a sadder story than the Sunset Boulevard drama, unfortunately.

So, Sarah Brightman started out on the disco scene as a teen, where she was part of a group who had... this single. That was back when Star Wars: A New Hope had just come out, so you had a lot of space-inspired... stuff floating around. Yeah, let's put it that way.

Eventually, since disco was on its way out by the end of the 70s, she switched the musical theatre, and auditioned for a little musical called Cats.

(WHY DOES IT ALWAYS COME BACK TO CATS. OMG. NEXT THING I'LL KNOW I'LL FIND OUT JAMES CORDEN'S MOTHER GAVE BIRTH TO HIM DURING A CATS PERFORMANCE OR SOMETHING.)

So, ALW did not notice her during her time in Cats - it was later, in 1984, when she was in a production of a children's opera called Nightingale, which he saw because it was getting very good reviews. At the time, ALW was already considering making a musical based on The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux... but here's the thing. There were actually a few attempts at making a musical about Phantom. The most recent one at that time was Ken Hill's, which was playing in London in 1984. It was doing well-enough, to the point ALW went to see it with Cameron Mackintosh (for those who don't know, he's the producer for Les Mis and Phantom, and also Satan), they met up with Ken Hill, and they were allegedly impressed enough by it that they wanted to revamp the show and put it on a bigger stage.

EXCEPT THAT NEVER HAPPENED, AND ALW JUST WENT AHEAD AND WROTE HIS OWN THING, AND KEN HILL NEVER HEARD OF HIM EVER AGAIN.

(Side note: I've also seen a story going around that Sarah herself was approached for Ken Hill's musical, but I'd have to confirm that.)

Anyway, what happened is that ALW and Sarah really hit off, and when their relationship became public, it was all over the tabloids because they were both married at the time. So they left their respective spouses for each other, and got married not long after, and that's when the preparation for Phantom really started picking up.

If you read the novel and seen the musical, Christine does undergo a personality and appearance change: she's blonde in the novel, but she's brunette in the musical because Sarah is a brunette, and they made her a lot shyer and meek to fit her personality (and limited acting range according to some) better. What ALW wanted to do was to present his wife as a triple threat - she could sing and she had a classically trained soprano voice, she could dance (she was a trained ballet dancer and could go en pointe), and she could act (YMMV on that).

They presented the musical for the first time at the Sydmonton festival in 1985. For those who don't know, it's basically a vanity festival ALW hosts at his place where he presents his projects. It was VERY different from what it was going to be later. If you're ever curious, this is what it looked like (sorry for the terrible quality, it was a bootleg after all).

But all was not well in paradise, because making Phantom was a very grueling process for both of them. ALW was convinced the musical was going to flop, they'd argue, and Sarah would end up in tears more often than not. (And that's without mentioning the drama that happened with the lyrics, and with Hal Prince, and with Steve Harley who was supposed to play the Phantom before Michael Crawford came in, and how some people in the crew nicknamed Michael Crawford "Joan Crawford" because he was a bit of a diva, and I'm skipping a bunch lmao)

So Phantom opened in London in 1986 to great success, and even greater success on Broadway in 1988, but by then, the marriage was virtually over. Sarah and ALW separated in 1990, and her "goodbye gift" was starring in his follow-up musical, Aspects of Love... which flopped. And it's kind of a shame because her acting got a lot better in that (probably because of her own lived experiences lol).

Sarah has been doing pretty fine since, she had a successful solo singing career, and she almost went in space but had to cancel (still sad about that). As I mentioned before, I think ALW is not really over it (despite having re-married since, lmao) and LND is a result of that.

While I'm at it, that reminds me that LND came very close to never coming to the light, because in 2007, ALW's new kitten, Otto (WHICH IS THE BEST NAME FOR A KITTEN EVER), basically pawed around his electronic piano and deleted all of the music he had written for LND. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not.

I told you. It always comes back to cats.

[jgroffdaily]

How does it feel to be nominated alongside Daniel and Lindsay after doing Merrily together for nearly two years?

I'd known Lindsay forever; I didn't know Dan. I knew his work, but I didn't really know him personally. And I remember feeling, the first day when we walked into rehearsal, that so much has come for free, like when you go on a good date and the conversation is flowing.

It's really emotional because now, we're actually friends in a deep way. We've seen each other go through so many different things. We were at Lindsay's wedding; Lindsay's pregnant; Dan had a baby with his girlfriend — all in the last two years.

So much life has happened. We've lived the experience of doing the show both personally and as characters. There's so much real feeling that now I don't know where one of us begins and the other one ends. It's such a symbiotic relationship at this point, and to be here celebrating a show like this is phenomenal.

Did you have a connection to Merrily before joining this production?

[Actor] Gideon Glick, who I did Spring Awakening with, texted us all on the Spring Awakening chain years ago and said, "Oh my god, you guys have to see this Merrily documentary. It's us. It's reminding me so much of us."

In 2021, in November, we did a 15-year anniversary reunion concert of Spring Awakening. I invited [production company] Radical Media to come and record the concert and do a documentary that was, in large part, inspired by that Merrily documentary because I wanted to capture us from 15 years before and us now.

A couple months later, I got asked to be a part of this production. I watched Maria's British production of Merrily on YouTube, which is still there. When the character of Frank [...] said, "I've only made one mistake in my life. I made it over and over and over again, and that was saying yes when I meant no," that was the moment where I was like, "I have to play this part." I feel that so deeply.

Is there anything you wish Sondheim could know about this production?

I feel him talking to us every night. A gift that he left our whole community is his work. Between Off-Broadway and Broadway, we've done Merrily over 300 times. As a performer, that's really kicking the tires of the material if you still feel, over 300 performances in, like there's still so much more to learn. In his work, in his music, in his lyrics, honestly, last night — I'm feeling new things that I've never felt before.

Great art, when you get the chance as an actor to perform it, changes you from the inside out. I feel like I'm learning every day. It's like free therapy to do his work because it's so poetic and so thoughtful and so emotional.

What was your first experience with Sondheim's work?

[My] Sondheim gateway was a VHS from Suncoast Video at the Park City Mall of Into the Woods when I was in seventh or eighth grade. I brought it home. I was like, "What is this? I love musicals. I love fairy tales."

I watched it in one sitting and then I rewound it and then watched it all a second time.

What did theatre mean to you when you were younger?

Getting the chance to do theatre in [middle] school was life-changing for me. Same thing in high school.

[I had] the opportunity of being on a stage and getting to express myself as a teenager, and then going to see theatre and [discovering] that's it's so easy to understand the medium because you can perform it at school and then also see it. It's the actor's medium — you see people out there doing it live, and there's a real communion with the audience.

Being closeted when I was in high school — as I look back now, I didn't realize it then, but theatre was where I went to express myself, express joy, express sadness, express love, express myself physically, just even the act of singing. When I look back now, I realized that theatre, as a teenager, completely saved my life.

Do you have a favorite memory associated with the Tony Awards? The annual broadcast is many people's introduction to Broadway.

Oh my God, so many. I would record the Tonys on a VHS, and then I would bring them into school and show them to my fellow students in math class.

I taught a unit on the Tony Awards at York Little Theatre summer camp in 2004 with a bunch of 10-year-olds. It was the year of Wicked and Avenue Q and The Boy From Oz and Caroline, or Change. They all held a vote on who they thought should win Best Actress.

Probably the Tony performance I've watched the most is Sutton Foster doing "Forget About the Boy" [from the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2002]. I was in high school. I saw the show six times. The heat coming off her as [...] she's playing this character of moving to New York and wanting to make her dreams come true — I was just lit on fire by her and that performance.

[mof17]

please more apocalypse au please pretty please

(I almost fell out of my chair and broke my neck from how happy I got seeing this lol)

So so for the Aau, there’s a lot to explain. But I should get the ground rules of before the infection that spreads (this is technically an infection AU but eh, apocalypse seems more fitting)(this AU was in help with one of my friends in the beginning of it)

so- let me just dig deep into my Google doc real quick

Before the apocalypse starts, life is normal. There’s a small town, which has most of the characters mentioned in the entirety of the characters living in it.

scar lives with the clockers (minus etho, he left, BUT he will show up later…)(also his attire is his normal skin, BEFORE the apocalypse begins)

(I will be making a post as to why his outfit changes into what was seen in the drawing I made)

grian lives with Pearl (Who is a college student)

Pearl is very much into arts and crafts, so they tend to have very bizarre stuff around the apartment (like gas masks from when Pearl would spray paint things)

gem works at a diner, with Skizz being a cook and Tango being a waiter (alongside Gem)

the four of them don’t know each other EXCEPT Grian and Scar

(Scar, Grian, Pearl, and Gem are pretty much the main four, although more people join on in later)

who used to be in the same middle school and sat next to each other in math class. They would talk occasionally, mainly just Grian helping Scar read the problems and make sense of them or just lending a pencil to one or the other.

one day, Scar gets bullied heavily (it usually happens, but it’s more of a tease). Why does he usually get teased? Because he brings Jellie to school, who is licensed as his emotional support animal and the school just doesn’t care if Jellie is there or not.

but this time, someone took is too far. We’ll call this guy ‘bully’

bully gets a bit psychical taking a book binder from Scar’s bag and tracing it along his face, saying some things, the cut draws blood (and eventually turns into a scar later on in his life)

but out of nowhere, the bully get shoved into the ground, by who? None other than Grian! Grian is one of the only hybrids in the school, him being an Avian, or more specifically Macaw, he draws a lot of attention. see, the town isn’t exactly fond of Hybrids, it’s more discriminatory than most places. So the chances of the bully getting expelled is lower than Grian getting expelled

Grian continues to fight the bully, and the bully fights back

it’s eventually broken up by a teacher, and they’re sent to the office. Grian gets expelled, and is never seen again by Scar

that is until a faithful day in his senior year, where after school, he goes to Theatre, the only place he’s really accepted in. Ren is the teacher.

As Ren is teaching the Theatre club and gives them just a scenario to get a feel for the play they’ll be doing (a mock of third life)

the people in the theatre club include

Scar (18)

tango (19)

Mumbo (on sound)(18)

Katherine (yes, she’s here, it’s important I have to include Nature wives in here somehow, but that’s all of Empires that will be in this AU probably. Other than that, it’s a mix of the life series and Hermitcraft)(18)(set)

Joel(18) (EYYY IT’S THE ONE WITH THE EGO!)

and more

They all take turns being the “lead” in this script, Joel voltuneers to go first

as they’re performing lines, Joel happened to forget a prop, so he calls out to someone who is sitting by the prop table that’s next to Ren’s desk.

that someone happens to be Grian, Grian panics as he didn’t expect to be called on or spoken to at all during this. He throws the prop (a wooden sword) and accidentally hits Scar in the head (Sound familiar? COUGH first death COUGH lol)

Scar passes out and luckily, he doesn’t get a concussion because author logic. While he passes out, there’s a flashback scene (AKA THE FIGHT FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL THAT WAS STATED EARLIER :D)

Scar wakes up and sees Grian, who is apologising but Scar’s ears are ringing, he points to Grian and just says “You look familiar…” and then closes his eyes again. When he wakes up, Theatre is about over and there’s an ice bag on his head and the mysterious “stranger” (grian) that he saw, is now gone. Scar goes up to Ren, and talks to him about him

Ren mentions that that was a brother of a friend from college (Pearl). He tells Scar that he doesn’t go to school and is technically homeschooled but borrows stuff from here. Ren also let’s Scar know that Grian feels like he owes Scar a favour or anything because he feels bad that he hit him in the head with a wooden sword.

Scar leaves the class with Jellie and his stuff and takes the bus home, on the way home he can’t help but think about what favour he would owe this guy, or if he’d ever see him again?

he goes home and Cleo asks him about his day, he brushes it off as a normal one, but it really wasn’t. Scar lays on his bed, too tired to change and ends up falling asleep.

(Then there’s a time skip, but that should be saved for a whole different post)

that’s basically like a prologue I guess? Idk, I can turn this into a proper Ao3 chapter, and maybe have a whole fic for this

this whole thing was taken out of my doc, from the section labeled “CHAPTER PLANS” lololol

[tenderhungering]

okay now serious jack hc time bc i feel like im going CRAZY thinking about this (and have a fic set during/slight after this event); theres a mention in the info dump at the beginning that jack took a month long break from the show and fled ny…WHERE DID HE GO THO

these two asks are the same thing so i’ll be combining them !

i don’t want to do armchair psychology because i am not well versed at all in psychology unless its a collective behavior situation (i’m a sociology major) but i would like to make note of the fact that there are times, where after someone’s death, some people might throw themselves into religion. i’m not saying jack did this specifically, or he’s displaying behavior of someone who is experiencing religious psychosis (as in, it might be perceived by others as this if he tried to explain what was going on in his head after minnie’s death, not that he’s actually experiencing it) but i don’t think it’s uncommon for someone’s grief to turn to something they believe to be more powerful than they are.

jack had just lost his wife (whether this be through his own hands and he is now carrying this guilt or he legitimately thinks she passed away from her illness and it isn’t till the in events of the film that that part of his brain is no longer repressed and he’s met with that information does not matter shh, we can deal with that some other day) and he wants so desperately to find solace in something. i don’t think jack is religious (did he ever mention his faith in the film? imagine he was raised catholic or something and this is all another layer or catholic guilt, hah.) so he goes to what people worship; power & money.

i always imagined he spent a few days in he and minnie’s shared space, he’d leave her chair she would sit in the living room empty, couldn’t bear listen to any music, especially anything that contained piano, theatre seemed ridiculously now — no one could really nail it like she did, and now he kind of regretted having so many pictures of her in his bedroom. he just needed out of there, and right into what he has turned into his religion. i don’t think it really matters if he went to the grove or the cult (though i think he went in that order? first the grove, he felt like it wasn’t enough. he needs something bigger. something the size of his want. his desperation has turned biblical.) he was going to lose his soul to either one eventually, he was going to kneel before those he thought more powerful than he and beg for him to become something because after minnie, he really doesn’t have anything to lose (other than himself).

i’d imagine it was sort of a journey of self discovery? well, more like loss of his own. i think he very well just lost sight of himself during that month — enough to go from something like the grove (who tbh i’ve always seen as just some sort of elite club that’s terrifying just because of how much they worship one another and power, i don’t think they have any actual ties with the occult. it’s like a bunch of grown men playing pretend, baha) to abraxas. some of the most powerful people he knows worship abraxas. it wouldn’t be surprising to hear jack also likes thinking my suffering has made me special. i’ve had to give up more than anyone. i’ve been punished more than anyone. whatever is giving me this hurt feels stronger for me than it feels for you. my reward will be bigger. i’m the favorite sacrificial lamb.

also i did wrap up my semester which is why i have been able to be so active lately. sorry to everyone who has had to scroll past my account’s incoherent thoughts under this tag so much. i get the same adrenaline that mothers gain in order to lift a car whenever it comes to chatting film ! so thank you everyone for questions, you guys are genuinely so sweet to enable my behavior, actually! however, it doesn’t always have to be questions, it can be your own thoughts / headcannons / suggestions / dropping by to say hi ! whatever !

[inamindfarfaraway]

The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals Pitch Meeting

[Should be experienced imagining the voice and acting of Ryan George, who is linked to above.]

Producer Guy: So, you have a musical for me?

Screenwriter Guy: Yes sir, I do. It’s called The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals because the main character, Paul Matthews, doesn’t like musicals.

PD: He doesn’t?

SG: No, he can’t stand them. Watching one is his own personal hell. And that isn’t a throwaway quirk, it comes up several times and is integral to the plot.

PD: Isn’t the protagonist typically meant to be relatable to the audience?

SG: Yeah.

PD: And won’t the audience be full of people who like musicals?

SG: Yeah.

PG: Bit of a weird choice, but okay then. So other than the musical thing, what’s Paul like?

SG: Oh, not much.

PG: What?

SG: Yeah, he’s the most average, boring, white middle-class American everyman you can imagine. No desires, ambitions or hobbies; he never expresses much passion for anything except things he doesn’t like. He has an office job at a company that’s so generic, I didn’t even think of what it does. He’s not particularly nice either. Like, when his best friend Bill asks him to help him reconnect with his teenage daughter Alice, he refuses to avoid his own discomfort despite having nothing else to do. And when his other friend Charlotte right next to him is clearly upset because she’s in a miserable marriage to a neglectful, cheating husband, he doesn’t bother to comfort her.

PG: Isn’t the protagonist typically meant to be likeable and interesting?

SG: Yeah, but we’re not gonna do that I decided. So another important character is Emma Perkins, this barista Paul has a crush on. She’s the only reason he keeps going to this crappy café.

PG: And what’s her deal? Is she kind and friendly to balance out Paul being so apathetic?

SG: No, she’s also rude, but she has better reasons for it. She hates her job and has really annoying, mean coworkers her boss favours over her, who just won’t shut up about how great musical theatre is. They all love it so much that there’s a new rule that if they get tipped, they have to perform a whole song and dance routine.

PG: But working for every tip negates the point of a tip!

SG: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I said, it's a crappy café.

PG: I gotta say, though, you’re presenting musical fans in quite a negative light there. They are the people whose money we want.

SG: (aside) You haven’t seen anything yet. Anyway, Emma and Paul bond over not liking things and people - it’s cute. But then at the end of the day, a meteor crashes down in a big storm and lands right in the town’s theatre, which is putting on a musical. And the meteor turns out to have evil alien life inside it!

PG: Oh my God. What happens to everyone in that theatre?

SG: Well, it’s offstage, but we find out later that the alien works by taking over your body like a virus and killing you to use you as a vessel for its hive mind. So that probably happens to most of the people. Bill and Alice get out okay, but a lot of people are dead now.

PG: This escalated very quickly!

SG: Yeah, this show does that. It’s a horror comedy; it’s like a sitcom where anyone could brutally die. But here’s the thing: the alien hive mind makes the Infected sing and dance like they’re in a musical, so all the fun, catchy songs are actually it controlling people’s corpses. That’s how everyone knows the lyrics and can move in time to music nobody’s playing. You only hear the music if you’re Infected. And it spreads really fast, so this mindless musical obsession could literally destroy humanity!

PG: That’s so dark and tonally dissonant. But I have concerns about the villain essentially being a living musical, in a musical. Won’t that kinda alienate the audience? As in ‘make them not like it’, not ‘make them aliens’.

SG: No, it’ll be fun. The first song after the intro is very entertaining. There’s this really funny part with a silly, crazy homeless guy.

PG: Ah, yes. Making fun of the homeless and mentally ill is tight!

SG: Not what I… (moving on) and, and, we can cleverly parody musical tropes. For example, Paul’s boss tries to get him to sing an “I Want” song because the Hive want him to be the protagonist of their ‘musical’, but he doesn’t want anything so he’s a terrible protagonist.

PG: Oh, that was on purpose! I thought you were just a bad writer.

SG: Yeah, no, I’m setting up an arc. So the Hive take over most of the town - which is on a island and the bridge gets pulled up, so there’s no way off - including Emma’s café. But she escapes with Paul and they meet his friends from work, plus this obnoxious asshole Charlotte’s cheating with called Ted, who's the worst. But then the Infected police show up, including Charlotte’s husband Sam. She begs him to snap him out of it ‘cause she still loves him, but he pulls a gun on her.

PG: Oh no.

SG: Fortunately, Ted knocks him out.

PG: Oh, good.

SG: But he hits him too hard and his brain falls out!

PG: Wait, even putting aside how unlikely it is that his flesh and skull were broken open wide enough that his whole brain could fall out, isn’t the brain… attached? That’s a very implausible injury.

SG: I’m gonna need you to get all the way off my back about that.

PG: Well, okay then.

SG: So Charlotte has a mental breakdown and Emma suggests they go to her biology professor, Henry Hidgens. He’s an eccentric doomsday survivalist who somehow predicted this exact incredibly specific apocalyptic situation and has a huge house with top-notch security. And he's a biologist, so he might be able to study the alien infection if they bring him Sam.

PG: It’ll be hard to get there safely with the town swarming with alien zombies, especially carrying a dead man.

SG: Actually, it’ll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

PG: Oh, really?

SG: That part just happens offstage.

PG: So they get to shelter?

SG: They do, so they start to relax for a bit. Except Charlotte, she’s dying inside and stays with her tied-up dead husband. Bill and Ted have this funny argument where Bill threatens to kick Ted’s head, which, you know, is a stupid threat.

PG: It is?

SG: Yeah, because you’d have to kick really high and most people can’t do that.

PG: I thought you would just push the person to the ground with your arms and then kick their head. Most people can do that.

SG: True.

PG: And it would be highly effective. You could kill someone that way.

SG: (getting an idea) You could, couldn’t you? (writes that down)

PG: What are you writing?

SG: Nevermind. Emma and Paul have a nice heart-to-heart where she reveals her backstory. Turns out she had a sister, Jane, who lived a great life, dream job, true love, kid, everything, while Emma left home at eighteen and travelled around being aimless and irresponsible. But then last year Jane died and that’s why Emma came back and is studying, to try to do something with her life now that Jane can’t anymore.

PG: Aw, that’s sad.

SG: Even a zany horror sitcom has its serious moments. So she and Paul bond some more, until Charlotte and Sam burst in.

PG: Wait, what?

SG: The Hive made her think he’d come back to life and manipulated her into letting him go. Then he just killed her.

PG: Dick move.

SG: Massive dick move! So now Ted gets beaten up by the possessed corpse of the woman he loves, after the last things he said to her were mean because he’s the worst. Fortunately, Hidgens kills the zombies.

PG: Oh, good.

SG: But Alice calls Bill and she’s under attack at her school!

PG: Oh no.

SG: If Bill goes to save her alone he’ll almost definitely die. But Paul volunteers to go with him.

PG: So he won’t be nice to his friends in everyday life, but he will risk his life for them?

SG: Precisely, this is really bringing out his inner hero. But when they get there, Alice is already Infected. She sings a whole song about what a terrible father Bill is and he's so guilty that he failed her that he tries to kill himself with the gun they brought. Fortunately, Paul takes the gun off him.

PG: Oh, good.

SG: But he drops it on the ground, so Alice just shoots Bill herself.

PG: Oh my God! Why did he let go of the gun? That was a very poor decision!

SG: Extremely poor, yes. Alice nearly kills Paul too, but the army rescue him. Specifically this secret special unit that I made up called PEIP that deals with supernatural stuff like magic and aliens that most people don't know about. They're ordered to kill everyone to keep the weird stuff secret, but the leader, General John MacNamara, is a good person so he doesn't do that.

PG: So he lets Paul live?

SG: He does, and he sends a helicopter to take him and Emma off the island.

PG: Paul tells him about Emma?

SG: Uh-huh. He realizes that he's in love and finally does want something: to be with her.

PG: Cool, cool, cool.

SG: Meanwhile, Hidgens and Emma are studying the Infected. Emma theorizes that if the brain of the Hive is in the meteor, they could take out all of them by destroying it.

PG: Is that true?

SG: There's no reason it couldn't be! But Hidgens changes his mind about the Hive being evil, knocks Emma out and ties her and Ted up. Then he opens his house's gates because he wants the Hive to get in.

PG: Why does he think the Hive isn't evil?

SG: Well, he's thinking that since humans are so immoral and harmful we're killing the planet and each other constantly anyway, but the Hive will bring peace and harmony. And he loves musicals.

PG: Oh, he does?

SG: Yeah, he's even written his own awful one, and he plays a song he wrote and composed to lure the Infected inside. He's willing to die and doom humanity for his twisted, irrational love of musical theatre.

PG: Really slamming your audience again. Hey, why wasn't he at the musical the theatre just put on?

SG: I don't know.

PG: Fair enough.

SG: So Paul comes back, frees Emma and Ted and they escape, but General MacNamara kills Ted because the soldiers are Infected now!

PG: And this is all onstage?

SG: Yes.

PG: Then it's gonna be hard to get past a division of fit, armed zombie soldiers who can survive not even having brains in their heads.

SG: No, it isn't. Emma shoots MacNamara in the shoulder and that makes him just give up.

PG: What about all the other soldiers?

SG: Please ignore them.

PG: Okay.

SG: So Paul and Emma get to the helicopter and think they've made it, but the pilot is Emma's mean coworker from earlier and makes them crash.

PG: Why is she Emma's coworker and not just the army pilot, if the Hive got there first?

SG: Because.

PG: That works. Are they okay after the crash?

SG: Paul is, but Emma's too hurt to walk. Paul says they should find a boat -

PG: Wait. There are boats? Or does Paul just think there might be?

SG: I have more notes on this town and it has a boating society, so there are boats.

PG: Then why haven't the Infected got in the boats and gone to mainland? Shouldn't they have done that by now?

SG:

SG: ...You're right. I didn't think about the implications. Oh my God, I didn't think about it!

PG: Whoops!

SG: Whoopsie! So anyway, Emma tells him her theory and he goes to blow up the meteor with a grenade.

PG: But then he could die, and right when he actually cares about something. That is heroic. Do he and Emma have a touching maybe-last goodbye?

SG: Kinda. They try to kiss, but she coughs up blood in his face. The Hive knows Paul is coming and lets him in order to infect him. He does his best to resist its control, but it makes him sing and dance and have an existential crisis.

PG: Oh no.

SG: But at the last possible moment, he pulls the pin, blows up the meteor and saves the day!

PG: Wow, wow, wow. Wow.

SG: So we cut to two weeks later. Everyone else in the town is dead, but Emma was saved by the army reinforcements and she's getting out of hospital on the mainland and ready to start a new life.

PG: Well, at least she survived and the Hive is defeated. That's what Paul wanted. But it's still a shame he died.

SG: That's what Emma thinks... until he walks in!

PG: (excited) What?

SG: Yeah, he's okay and he gives her this soft smile and she's the happiest we've ever seen her and they hug.

PG: That's such a sweet ending. After everything they've been through, getting to be happy together feels earned, and I really have warmed up to them both.

SG: And then Paul starts singing.

[Beat. Producer Guy's relieved expression turns to confusion, shock, sorrow and horror as he processes that information and its implications. He stares at Screenwriter Guy, betrayed.]

PG: But that means he's... (SG nods, proud of himself) and Emma's theory was wrong, and... (SG nods again) the Hive is on the mainland now, so the entire world is... (SG nods again) oh, a very depressing ending!

SG: Set to a very cheerful song! The cast even stay in-character for the bows; the Infected bow while Emma screams and cries and begs the audience for help before being dragged away. So what do you think?

PG: That ending will haunt my dreams. But as creative as the premise is and as emotional as it gets later on, I don't know if this will be that big of a hit. The tone changes so fast and jarringly, the main characters aren't that likeable at first and it all just seems pretty niche. And it spends so much time mocking its own genre and audience. I can see it becoming a cult classic, but I don’t think you’ll be able to launch a series with it or anything.

[chloecherrysip]

Hey.....remember when I said I wasn't gonna go see the Mario movie in theaters again? WHAT IF, HYPOTHETICALLY, THAT WAS A FLATOUT LIE AND I WENT AGAIN EARLIER TODAY???

AND what if I had more thoughts to share somehow, even though I could have sworn I was tapped out and would never do another longform post like this?? Wouldn't that be so very silly of me????

WELL, FUNNY THING

LOOK, I just really wanted to get out of the house and there was a showing in 3D five minutes away from me and I hadn't seen it in 3D! I have seen maybe ONE movie in 3D in my whole life and it was several years ago so I'm not too used to what that's like - and honestly, the effect is pretty cool! Maybe I'm easy to please but I liked the way the rain/ocean spray/ice in the beginning/etc actually seemed like it was in the air around me! (Also, I got a legitimate jolt when the Dry Bones popped out of the ground, I just didn't expect it to seem so CLOSE lololol)

Also, it was pretty delightful that we are several weeks into this movie's release and there was still someone dressed up fully as Mario in the theatre who walked by me. I love people! :D

I am at the point where just NINTENDO'S OPENING LOGO ANIMATION makes me emotional, with Mario and Luigi together and Luigi hopping playfully on Mario's head before running off with Mario jumping after him. They're just the LITTLE RETRO SPRITES and still!!! Brothers!!!!!!!!

During this viewing, I got really into thinking about the lore of the movie!universe specifically and the history of Bowser and his and Peach's conflict. My main question: what is UP with that castle in the Dark Lands? From the brief glimpse we get of the inside, it looks pretty abandoned with stuff littered all over the ground, not like Bowser just left it to go on his crusade. And yet, everyone talks about the Dark Lands as though that is where Bowser currently is and it's also where he lives when he's NOT in a floating airship. Maybe he abandoned that smaller castle years ago and the airship is actually his new and improved castle and it was a part of the Dark Lands before Kamek/magic in general just lifted it into the air at some point? But then why are there Shy Guys actively living in and/or patrolling the old castle still??? HMM

Also, Bowser says he had to spend YEARS searching for the super star! That's a lot of time!!! Have the penguins hidden it away from everyone all this time just to keep it safe? Has Peach known about it all along/done anything to help protect it herself? Is there only one star in existence? Does it regenerate after being used and if so, how long does that take??? I like thinking about all these little details, haha.

ALSO x 2, I'm just interested in Bowser and Peach's interactions before the movie in general. Bowser mentions that they've been "sworn enemies" for quite some time and the way he says "Princess Peach! Brave as ever!" just feels like something you say to someone you've spoken with before/have a little familiarity with that ISN'T just creepy spying/pining from afar, lol. Has Bowser tried to invade in the past? I almost wonder if, in the beginning, Peach was her charitable self who tried very hard to reason with him/strike up a peace treaty but it's just always gone wrong or she's VERY MUCH MISREAD all attempts at flirting on Bowser's part or she has just seen too much evidence of him being cruel/willing to kill to get what he wants in the process and that's why she's like "nah fam we're gonna annihilate this monster and leave not a trace behind, i'm DONE with all that peace stuff" now. She is NOT HAVING IT any longer and honestly? I respect that. Bowser is the worst.

(Slightly related: someone remind me that once I'm done with my fic, I need to go into more detail about another alternative movie scenario I've been thinking about where Mario is able to get rid of the Bomber Bill without the Brooklyn stuff ever happening and a furious Bowser grabs both Peach and Luigi (because every time I'm reminded that they never pay off Bowser's threat to use Luigi to hurt Mario, I become a little more insane) and flees in a smaller airship back to the Dark Lands with Mario & company in hot pursuit, and it's basically a more traditional Mario game finale but maybe there's BOWSER BACKSTORY regarding the Dark Lands castle and also Peach & Luigi being kidnapped together lets them bond and eventually become Breakout Buddies and look, it would be a fun time and I want to flesh it out more, OK)

This movie has GOT to come out on digital soon because I NEED to gif so many things (and I don't want to use camrips!!!) and one of those things is every instance of Mario awkwardly waving hello to strangers. HE DOES IT LIKE 5-6 TIMES, HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO. IT'S SO CUTE

Also, I love that Mario calls Cranky Kong "sir" when agreeing to the DK fight. THE MOST POLITE MAN IN THE WORLDDDD

I adore how genuinely touched Mario seems by Peach saying that him not knowing when to quit is a great thing. His little, gentle "thanks" in return makes my heart SOFT. Just makes me think about the vibe of him being the "impulsive" son, the "troublemaker" son in the family and how people like his dad have maybe been tough on him about that quality, and for Peach to just be so excited and look so HAPPY at the concept is so surprising to him -maybe she's the first person outside of Luigi to act like that!

me to me: you have seen this SO many times, do NOT tear up again when Mario sees the commercial on the cracked TV!!!

also me to me: CAN'T HEAR YOU, ALREADY TEARING UP

Also forever emotional about the fact that Mario and Luigi have absolutely NO context for what the star is or what it can do when they decide to grab it together - Peach told Mario to go for it, and that's ALL the information available. But the manhole cover is melting and Bowser's flames are literal seconds away from engulfing them. And even so, they're not afraid, because they're together again and whatever happens next, they'll face hand in hand, side by side, and it's that trust, that unbreakable bond that truly makes them invincible at the end of the day, and DON'T MIND ME, I'LL JUST SOFTLY WEEP OVER HERE

LUIGI WIPING A HAPPY TEAR AWAY AS HE AND MARIO HOLD ONTO EACH OTHER AT THE VERY END ;_______; HE MUST FEEL SO RELIEVED ;_______; PROTECT HIM ALWAYS

I made myself laugh as I was leaving the theater by thinking about the person that had to write that newspaper article at the end about what happened. What must that article read like???? How would you ever begin to be able to describe the events that took place here without sounding like an insane person???? Are the people who didn't see it in person reading this like "uhhhh is this April Fool's Day???" I WOULD HAVE THAT REACTION. I DON'T ENVY THAT PERSON'S POSITION lolol

[ramuda-kinnie]

Jakurai’s Actions around Ramuda are so Underrated— here is why.

The fact that Jakurai teaches Ramuda that it’s okay to be himself and show his emotions— the whole character arc of Ramuda Amemura— is a common trope in JakuRamu that is already discussed widely. But opposite is true, too. I want to talk about it because I rarely ever see this highlighted.

Ramuda shows Jakurai that it is okay to be himself too.

From the most “trivial” looking things like calling Jakurai’s hair beautiful, playing with it and putting it in braids when all Jakurai did was a lazy ponytail (..and in present timeline he does not even bother with that). From bringing him to a children’s park and enjoying to swing, not judging him by his age.

From saying that Jakurai can seek fun in his life.

That Jakurai is allowed to seek fun.

That he doesn’t always have to be that Big Responsible Person.

That he deserves a break from being The Hero.

That it’s okay if he doesn’t spend all his life in the war zone saving people, or murdering them, or being a mundane doctor minding his own business while raising an orphan.

That it’s okay to just— just be. I don’t think (affectionate) y’all understand how big of a thing it is for Jakurai Jinguji to actually simply exist. He is always feeling a call of duty, always seeking the scientific and philosophic explanations of everything, he feels obligated to justify all of his actions “for the benefit of humanity”, he finds worth in himself only if he is useful to other people (which also backfired as resentment, murder and insane regret at some point). Most of the time, his whole life is centered around saving. Saving saving saving. Saving the world, the orphans, the war zone, hell, even his meeting with Hifumi and Doppo is based on “saving” them from his trouble.

Just a few lines I recall from numerous songs. It is always about saving people (until the last, precious six colors drama track where he admits to Ramuda that he cannot save everyone, but he will definitely save him.) He even says he will become a superman if needed and it really hits close to home and like… If you or any of your loved ones ever experienced a savior complex I think you get it.

Even his raps are always about saving. Saving saving saving, healing healing healing. It is almost like he sees no inherent value in himself, for being Jakurai, at the same time he paradoxically sees such a high value in himself that he (may be feeling) feels above everyone else, like a god who can offer them a hand.

Either way, he doesn’t— can’t see himself equal to other people. Which is not a surprise, to consider Jakurai is a gifted genius and a hardworking learner in so many aspects, such as academics, fights, rapping, sports and all. He is also born in a world of war. He must have seen that there are things someone has to do to save people, that someone has to take responsibility or people will just… keep dying. Violence will keep occuring. And that’s why I’m not judging Jakurai’s god/savior complex, who knows what he has been through for all his life. (On a personal note, I can only say that I relate a portion of his experiences if not the most, as someone whose field of study is closely related to medicine. I had a strong savior complex myself back in past. It is honestly amazing to see a character go through it, I have so much sympathy and affection for him.)

After all of this, after 33 years of believing he has no value if he does not “serve” people— comes Ramuda Amemura.

Instead of “saving” him, Jakurai is instantly saved by Ramuda during a hypnosis microphone attack.

Instead of being superior to him, Jakurai learns rapping from him.

Despite having tons of experience about how things work in the human world— (such as knowing horror themed amusement parks, tea houses and all the other dates they have gone together), Jakurai never truly lives them until he goes to such places with Ramuda— theoretically, yes, Jakurai is aware of the existence of movie theatres, amusement parks, tea houses, waterfalls and various other places. He has probably visited them many times in his life.

But it is only with Ramuda that he feels comfortable enough to open up, be silly, do silly things, ask questions, be spontaneous and actually HAVE FUN. It is only because Ramuda is so bravely himself (or so Jakurai thinks, since he does not know Ramuda’s secrets at that point), never judging Jakurai, never expecting Jakurai to be Calm And Collected, instead giving him the absolute non-judgemental and affectionate place to be himself and learn what it means to live for yourself, to accept yourself as an ever learning person that is not necessarily perfect, and loving that way of him anyways. The fact that Ramuda himself is so inexperienced with life (it is literally the first or the second year of his life) and eagerly excited to just live adds up to their unique synergy and makes JakuRamu my most beloved, absolutely dear one true pairing in my heart.

I have analyzed Ramuda a lot, but I wanted to highlight Jakurai too. Jakurai found the space and courage around Ramuda to be himself and be accepted as himself without having to “serve Ramuda” as a superior being and that is extremely important. Amemura Ramuda is the only one in the entire series who can unapologetically bring up such a side in Jakurai— and they are truly fascinating and deserve to be together eventually.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

My dad asked me if I wanted to do something tomorrow night, which is cool because I haven’t seen him in a while, and he and I are both not terribly social but sometimes like spending time being not social together. Music and British comedy being the main things we bond over - he introduced me to British sitcoms from the 70s and 80s when I was young (and other things like The News Quiz and The Thick of It, which remain among my favourite things to this day), I got him into panel shows as an adult, we both like a lot of the same stand-up.

So he asked me about tomorrow night, and I said sorry, I can’t, I have to watch a weird play by my favourite comedian and a guy you saw on Taskmaster. Yeah, Tim Key, and no you don’t know who the other guy is, even though we talk about comedy all the time and I just described him as my favourite comedian. He is actually a big deal, but it’s hard to explain. He chose a career as a public performer but he gets upset if people find out he exists. It’s a whole thing. Last week I had a post up about the livestream of this play he wrote on his own and performed with Tim Key, but I deleted it after two hours because I remembered how much he doesn’t like anyone ever being told about things he does. But now I’m making another post in which I mention it, and point out that there are still tickets available for two shows tomorrow and one on Thursday, which everyone, especially all the Tim Key Monday people on Tumblr, should buy if they haven’t yet. Because he did add an extra date after the first London show sold out, and then sent an email to remind people that there are lots of tickets for the NYC and Melbourne shows still available, and sending out that email suggests that for once he may actually want people to know about something. Oh, how am I watching something tomorrow night if it’s only showing in London, Melbourne, and NYC? Because that’s just code for GMT, AEDT, and EST respectively, anyone in those timezones can get tickets for a 7 PM start or even anyone outside those timezones if they can adjust the start time accordingly, it was just advertised as being in those three cities because Daniel Kitson is under the impression that Melbourne, London, and NYC are the only cities in the world.

...Okay, at some point in that paragraph I got a bit away from what I told my father and into explaining what this post is, but the first half the paragraph is basically the gist of what I said. But it turned out that he just wants to get out of his house for the night, as my brother’s been staying there and is having people over, so now my dad is coming over to my house and we’re going to hook up my laptop to the TV in the living room. I have literally never used that TV before, and very nearly never used that living room, because my roommate likes to take over the house so at home I never leave my bedroom unless I have to. I certainly never host people at my house, which I let my roommate turn into as much of a mess as he wants, and I deal with that by keeping my bedroom clean and staying in it all the time. But my roommate says he’ll be out tomorrow night, so the living room is free. My dad’s going to come over and watch a weird play with me, at 7 PM NYC time, which is also 7 PM our time and in many cities that are not NYC, but no one’s told Daniel Kitson that.

I’ve warned him that it may not be his thing. I genuinely have no idea how it’ll go over. I mean, he likes independent movies. He often likes independent movies that are too sort of esoteric for me, so a weird theatre piece might be in his wheelhouse. It’s hard to tell. It’s not normally my sort of thing either, but it is a very good play. People should buy tickets. I know a lot of people on Tumblr who should not be deprived of a chance to see Tim Key shout at a facsimile tree for 90-ish minutes just because Daniel Kitson doesn’t like people knowing he exists, hence this post, even though I deleted the one I made last week. I don’t know how my dad will feel about watching Tim Key shout at a facsimile tree for 90-ish minutes, but I guess we will find out.

He used to play me Alan Bennett monologues when I was a kid. Tim Key shouting at a facsimile tree for 90-ish minutes is basically the same as Alan Bennett monologues, right? It should go over fine.

[bookshelfdreams]

📒

I say this flattered and with nothing but affection but I have never had that many ideas in my life 😅🙈

But okay. You'll get the one that is more than just a vague concept, in that I have actually written some words for it (even though it'll never be finished). Contains: Ghosts and blackbonnet. Also cw for mention of suicide.

So imagine this: Ed is a world-famous author of horror novels. He's a gothic icon, got famous as more of a storyteller (he used to do live events that were half readings, half theatre performances; used to pull all sorts of tricks to make it seem like the venue was actually haunted. To this day, people who are into parascience cite his shows as evidence that ghosts are real). But lately - well, he's not been feeling it. His readings are boring now; he still does them sometimes, big live events, but he's no longer allowed to genuinely scare the shit out of his audiences. And he hasn't done one in years anyway. He sold movie rights a couple of times, and what Hollywood produced made his skin crawl but not in the fun way.

His manager is always on his ass about doing shows, doing more pr (Izzy keeps scheduling interviews for him where he just knows he'll be asked idiotic questions about his "heritage", and "There sure are a lot of queer characters in you novels, Mr Teach", and honestly just thinking about those makes him want to hang himself in front of Izzy. A little.), about how his writing needs to be "more mass compatible". All Ed wants to do is write weird, avantgarde, creepy bullshit. But he can't even do that because he's been having writer's block for months.

Sometimes it feels like he never knew how to write at all.

And then there's footsteps in his attic.

Ed spent the last few hours laying on his couch, staring at the TV; he'd turned the sound off at a commercial block and didn't bother to turn it back on.

Which is how he's able to hear the steps, slow, deliberate, heavy, like the world's most inconsiderate upstairs neighbours is testing their new wooden clogs at 11:30 at night.

Problem: Ed lives alone in his house, the attic is his workspace and there's no one in there.

This one incident could have been chalked up to Ed being mostly asleep, but things keep happening. His half-full glass of really nice brandy spilled with no one in the room. The laces of his boots tied together for some reason. Cabinets left open when he knows he closed them. Etc. Honestly not the most imaginative stuff.

And then there's the dreams.

Ed keeps having vivid, detailed dreams. In them he's in a body that's not his and that he has never seen, and keeps living out scenarios from a life entirely foreign to him, but everything feels so real. It gets to a point where his waking hours sometimes feel like they're the dreams.

In short: Ed is definitely being haunted. By ghost!Stede, of course.

Now Stede, in this scenario, owns a used bookstore. Or well, it's more of an antiquity store that has some books too. Or, if we're being completely honest: Mary threatened divorce if Stede kept cluttering up their house with his "collections", and this is becoming a serious problem, Stede, and where do you even find all this stuff? What on earth makes you think a fucking - chicken skeleton is appropriate kitchen decor?? (It's a pheasant, actually, and it's from 1875!)

Long story short, it got a bit heated (Mary did most of the shouting, and also the word hoarder was used which Stede thinks, is entirely unfair), and Stede agreed to put things into storage.

Mary divorced him anyway.

Which, all things considered, was probably for the best.

And now that he had all his books and little oddities inventoried and neatly packed away, it occurred to him that it really was a shame to keep all this fascinating stuff in a storage unit to collect dust. Wouldn't it be fun to be a shop owner? That way there'd be some turnover and he could keep collecting stuff without it ever running out of space!

He ended up renting out a little store in the old town, called it "Revenge: Books and Antiquities" even though it's more his own personal Wunderkammer. And also, he doesn't know the forst thing about running a store, but that's what employees are for, right? Haha.

(a/n: if I were the kind of person who makes pinterest boards there would be so many for Stede's shop. I see it before me and it's the coolest.)

But the Something Happens. I'm not sure what - a robbery gone wrong. An accident. The horrible part of me says, botched suicide. And Stede ends up in a coma.

So that's the setup. Half is Ed trying to answer questions like: a) Are ghosts real? b) If yes, how do I get him to stop haunting my ass c) Or maybe, I should find out who the ghost is. The ghost never leaves me, always has my back. I can rely on the ghost. This relationship is getting intimate. The ghost has seen me cry. I can tell the ghost things I have never told to anyone, and trust that I won't be judged or that my secrets will be held against me. Maybe the ghost is the best friend I ever had. d) Is the ghost single?

While Stede is trapped in an inbetween-state, not quite alive, not yet dead, slowly forgetting everything: his parents voices, his children's faces. Forgetting what it was like to be alive, to have a body, to move through the world a physical entity. The longer he stays like this, the less he becomes, and maybe that's better, maybe if he waits long enough he can just disappear.

Maybe if he forgets he ever was a person at all, that won't be so bad.

But there's Ed, who speaks to him like he is real, and Stede isn't sure anyone ever has, not even when he was fully alive.

So. It's all very aesthetic, very vibes-based, with little actual substance and I'm probably never gonna write it but I like thinking about it :)

[strangestcase]

My Dark Lord, I urge you to speak of the misadventures your mind takes you to whenever you sit, wrapped by your humming thoughts of wrath (tell me about the jekyll and hyde adaptation i BEG you)

OH OOF! I have so many ideas buzzing in my head I barely know where to start! It’s structured like a musical theatre play but idk about the songs, I just wanna sprinkle in some musical numbers here and there…

Basically the story would start as the book, with Enfield telling Gabrielle about the incident of the door. A reenactment of it happens in the background as she narrates and we can see how she’s changing the story to make Hyde look worse. Gabrielle perks up when she hears the name “Hyde” and immediately runs home to her safe, and re-reads the will out loud. I think she could have a solo song about how much she cares about Henry and it would imply she has a crush on him.

So next she goes to ask Lanyon about it and as he starts shittalking Jekyll, he shows up. And then he assures her it’s all fine, that Hyde is a good guy, that there is nothing to be worried about (and to some extent, he is right). She’s not convinced tho so that night she decides to meet Hyde; he falls in love at first sight, of course. As she asks him what he’s doing, where he lives, etc, she starts to flirt and act all gentlemanly. Still, we can tell this guy is basically gloom personified. So YEAH, I switched up some scenes. I think Henry and Hastie arguing about the former’s theories (while Gabrielle tries to interrupt to ask wtf they’re talking about) should be a duet. And Henry is introduced with a dance number!!!!

The following weeks, Gabrielle basically goes conspiracy theory mode and goes around collecting evidence of what Hyde is doing by night… what he REALLY is doing is just show up, go to a nightclub, hook up with people, befriend the occasional goth, be a jerk, nothing much really. But the rumors are ridiculously overblown. One night she goes to a masquerade to meet up with Henry (he’s going to wear the cheesiest glitteriest matador costume because who ever said my Spanish ass wasn’t funny?) and tell him of all the stuff Hyde “does”, and he nervously brushes it all off. Truth be told, Henry is starting to fear what Hyde can be capable of. Oh, he also apologizes to Gabrielle on his behalf, saying that “he’s an incorrigible flirt”. She doesn’t really buy it. Insert big dance number in the masquerade I guess.

So the following night. Hyde is framed basically. Someone kills Carew and they find his broken cane -it is Henry’s cane ofc- near the scene. People also claim to have seen him around (he indeed was around) and to have seen him kill the old man with sadistic glee (he didn’t do that). What really happened is that someone stole the cane and later used it to attempt to mug Carew, then panicked, and attacked him, then fled the scene without taking anything. The whole police force now tries to hunt for the man- Of course Gabrielle is mega suspicious because she had caught notice that Hyde, despite his claims that he “loathes Jekyll and his stupid sunshine attitude”, was weirdly protective of him and tended to pick fights with people who had wronged Henry earlier (add the cane thing into the mix- it was a present from Gabrielle, and now she’s jealous and angry and. You get it). They can’t find Hyde, obviously, and the rumors now escalate to shit like cannibalism.

Henry is starting to get paranoid and is kind of terrified of Hyde even though, as I have stated before, that’s literally him but on a different font. And just a jerk really. He decides to close the back door to his lab. And have it walled. So he’s walking around the park when. Um. Transformation lol!! It would be the first time the audience sees it and it’s confirmation for the plot twist that we all know and love… also jekyll and hyde are played by different actors. Edward fucking loses it and tries to reach the lab. Just to see the door walled and suddenly remember that he just fucking had it walled SHIT!!!! Damn. Then Lanyon receives a mysterious letter, something about going to Henry’s lab and getting some weird potion out. The potion is small humbug candy shaped pills btw. Here would go a solo in which Hastie goes over his friendship/rivalry with Henry and explains why he thinks he’s gone nuts, but he’s interrupted by Hyde. He claims he needs the potion and that he has to use it to be safe again. Lanyon asks “why?”, and Ed replies “Because I am the dreaded Edward Hyde” right before taking the potion and transforming. Lanyon freaks the fuck out, panics, calls Henry an out of control monster, and barricades himself behind some plants. Henry is so hurt by this he decides to lock himself up forever so that this monster can’t hurt anyone else (…I reiterate Hyde is literally him but emo and mean).

So what happens next? A few weeks pass. Gabrielle pays a visit to Hastie and finds him in a panic, saying weird shit like that Jekyll is Hyde or whatever and she goes hey what?? Hastie says that she can ask him herself: he’s ran back to the laboratory. “You better bring a weapon, in case it is Hyde who opens the door.” Now say it w me kids: Gabrielle to the rescue! She goes into the lab to see a very sad, very gloomy Jekyll… that’s not the sunshine golden retriever boy we saw in his intro number. He’s all bundled up. And. Well. Miserable. Also the lab is a mess! Someone has been tearing it apart! He breaks down in tears and Gabrielle is like ???? What is going on. She tells him that Lanyon said something about Hyde and. Jekyll admits he can’t lie any longer so he decides to explain everything. There is a flashback scene of the first transformation- Gabrielle stands around Henry who details how he drank the potion and BAM! Shortie now. Since Jekyll and Hyde are played by different actors, Henry can move aside and keep talking to Gabrielle as Hyde re-enacts the rest of the events of the night. Two solos ensue: one in which Henry details why he did the experiment (he wanted to really be his emo self! Awwww) and that now he suffers the consequences (he can’t control his transformations) (that’s why the lab is kinda thrashed) but that its all self inflicted so he has to suck it up; one in which Edward talks about how his uh. Nightly escapades went from fun to miserable as people judged him for the way he looks and acts. And saying that yes, he’s been a dick, but that holy shit He Doesn’t Kill People. Are You Crazy. I think the two could be intermixed or something since two actors. But it ends with Henry saying something like “I can’t carry on without you”.

There is a happy ending after all. Hyde might be scary, but he‘s the dark side we all have, and you have to live with it. You can’t pretend to be someone you aren’t, after all. Henry and Hastie reconcile (lots of tears involved), and Gabrielle comes to forgive Henry -even though she’s still angry because he didn’t tell her anything at first!!!-. Big musical number here. Henry’s outfits btw are now a little darker- showing he now isn’t scared of embracing his true self. They’re all in love also. Henry’s last line in the play is something like “It’s great that I don’t have to become Hyde anymore!” Fade to black.

The BOOM. Red Lights of Evil On. Fake fog machine on. Hyde’s leitmotif plays and. Hyde emerges ominously from the dark. His “signature” moon themed outfit on. He scowls -as usual- and says something like “The Moon is always there… even when you can’t see it.” Then fade to black again as we hear him evil laugh for the first time. That guy really doesn’t laugh much.

DONT WORRY THO that’s just to scare the audience. Post-canon I think they all go on silly adventures and whenever Hyde shows up it’s like 🙄 Henry is on emo mode again guys

THATS IT!! Ummm that’s what I have for a plot. I’ve spitballed a lot here rn lol soooooo. Um. Tee hee.

[simshousewindsor]

LET HIM BE A KID / WELCOME TO SAN MYSHUNO

[San Simmy Airport, San Myshuno]

Princess Katherine: I’m so glad you had a great play date with Hali, Phillip. Daddy and I have to get off the plane so I'll call you tonight and yes, I'll show him the photos.

Princess Katherine: The kids said hi and they love you. Phillip said he really likes Hali and hopes she can come over for a play date at his house soon.

Prince Rainier: Let him be a kid, Kate. I know what you’re doing!

Princess Katherine: I’m not doing anything.

Prince Rainier: You’re already planning his wedding to this little girl. Let’s just get this tour over with. I’m tired and beyond ready to go home.

Princess Katherine: Four more days, that’s all. I love you, darling. I know this tour was not what you wanted to do and you sacrificed a lot these four weeks with me.

Prince Rainier: You’re my wife and the future Queen. I knew what life would be like I just thought we’d have more time before being thrust into such rigorous royal life. The kids are still so young, Kate. We’re missing so much of their life.

Princess Katherine: I know. I wish the kids could have come. They would have loved this military welcome!

Prince Rainier: The Prime Minister and his wife look so excited. Okay, four more day!

Princess Katherine: Look at the people of San Myshuno who came to welcome us!

Prince Rainier: What branches of military are here?

Princess Katherine: The Royal Army and the Royal Air Force are both based out of San Myshuno. The Royal Navy is the only branch in Brindleton Bay.

Prime Minister Antonio Mace: Welcome to San Myshuno, Your Royal Highness. The people and I have been greatly looking forward to your visit!

Princess Katherine: The city has developed so much, Prime Minister. The Duke and I are excited to see the people over the next few days.

Antonio: We will enjoy a relaxing night at the ballet tonight. I’m sure you two have had a busy three weeks. Our elderly, at the York Senior Center, have a special treat for you and the Duke on tomorrow!

Leyla Mace: How was the flight from Evergreen Harbor, Your Royal Highness?

Prince Rainier: Quite well, thank you.

Leyla: I’m sure you both will enjoy the San Myshuno Ballet tonight. The theatre was recently renovated and tonight is opening night of Romeo and Juliet!

Princess Katherine: Harper Jabari posted a picture on Simstagram of the kids from their play date the other day. Look!

Prince Rainier: He’s gotten so big in three weeks! I miss him so much. What does her caption say? She tagged us?

Princess Katherine: She said that when we return from the Commonwealth Tour, it’ll be our turn to host.

Prince Rainier: That photo will be on Goodmorning Windenburg first thing in the morning. Great! lol

Princess Katherine: Let’s have another baby.

Prince Rainier: Another baby? Grace just turned 3. We’ve finally stopped buying pampers and have missed three weeks of our current children’s lives, including Grace’s birthday. Now is not the time to have another baby.

Princess Katherine: I still think we should. After the tour, our life will settle down and we can talk about it more.

Prince Rainier: Our life won't settle down too much. My parents called today. They’re coming to visit.

Princess Katherine: Rainier! I can't believe you said yes without talking to me first.

Prince Rainier: I had no choice! Unlike your parents, they haven't seen their grandchildren in months. They’re coming, Kate.

Princess Katherine: Don't expect me to be around then. Your family hates me and since they’re coming to see the kids, they won't even miss me. After Garter Day, I’ll go to Sumpterton with my parents. When your family leaves you and the children can join us there.

Prince Rainier: I’m not going to Sumpterton. We’ve been away from our own home for weeks. I’ll send the kids but I'm staying home.

Previous | Beginning | Next

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

interesting read https://t.co/M8oXnRQaIX

Thank you for sharing, dear 😉

I'm not a big fan of that article (I'll get to that in a moment) but first the part I do agree with: "It doesn’t matter how or why something appears, just so long as it does", ain't that the damn truth. I've spoken many times about how I see Waldron as the King of Superficiality because he thinks having a character mention their trauma (adoption, rough past, abuse, etc) means they're forever healed and so he doesn't feel the need to actually explore their issues, but the MCU does that a lot too.

Things that should affect the characters for a long time, that should impact their worldview and the way they interact with other people are always mentioned in one passing line then forgotten, and those experiences they lived never change them - or worse, their lifetime of traumatic pain is gone because someone tells them they love them or they find another character who smiles at them. Then the happy ending comes and you're supposed to believe 70 years of torture have magically disappeared (yes, I'm talking about Bucky): they have a character in A and they want to take him to B but they can't be bothered to actually pave the way and take us through the journey so in one episode they suddenly arrive at the destination and it's like... wait, how did that happen?

But the rest of the article is... meh. I enjoy a good critical piece of Marvel but in the first 6 or 7 paragraphs the author is repeating the same idea over and over again without giving any specific examples of what they're talking about. Clearly they have seen the movies so I'd rather read something that gives examples and analyzes them: like the changes during the phases, sometimes characterization has been good, other times it has been awful, the morality is all over the place, the framing can be unreliable which makes the stories hard to follow... they have countless arguments against Marvel.

I completely disagree about Moon Knight though. I won't talk about DID because I know nothing about it but when it comes to Marc's past they didn't shy away of showing what his trauma was, he spelled it out for Steven, we could see his mother being a piece of shit, they didn't just say it, they showed it. Many times before the MCU has chosen to either ignore or sanitize that kind of abuse but in MK they did not.

And lastly, I'm surprised they didn't talk more about the fact that most of the screens in the week of MoM's release were dedicated to the movie, thus relegating any other films to late passes or downright taking them out of the cinema altogether for that weekend. The theatre I go to has 16 screens and I vividly remember when NWH released: 14 of them had the Spidey movie and there were only 2 sessions for other movies. With MoM they had reserved 8 or 9. Now that is something very concerning and worth talking about.