#maybe its all a play and your a puppet pulling off the biggest performance of your life

[contrieves-moving]

i just think itd be funnier if luz betrays callisto (& bannon) & then they dont gain any power & the person that got them to do the betraying double crosses them in return

[nicoscheer]

Miles Kane, What It's Like to Play as a 'One Man Band'

We met Miles Kane as a founding member of important bands such as the Last Shadow Puppets with Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys and the Rascals. In the last several years, the Liverpudlian has been on a solitary path, as the name of his recent release suggests. We spoke with him shortly before his long-awaited return to Athens, at "Arch Club", on Friday 5/17.

How has your tour been going so far?

The concerts so far are incredible. I'm excited to play by myself, so I'm very happy. I think people are relating and connecting with the songs on my new record and it's taking me to places I haven't seen in a long time. And Greece is one of those places.

Can you tell us a few words about how you wrote "One Man Band", your most chart-topping album to date?

The album was created in Liverpool. We worked on it with my cousin James Skelly, who used to be a member of The Coral. We went back home and that gave birth to the desire to make a completely straight album. Writing songs is what I do best, not thinking too much, just talking about my feelings, my worries and how I want to be better. I guess life in general is what "One Man Band" is all about, stomping on some rock'n'roll, surf music. We had a clear idea of ​​what the album and its sound should be and we followed it to the end. This is also the reason why it is my favorite work of all that I have released so far. I feel very proud!

You started a great career by participating in various bands, such as Last Shadow Puppets. What motivated you to follow a more solitary path in recent years?

I've been doing solo stuff since I was 22 and I'm 38 now. I learned so much from the bands I was in, the Rascals and the Little Flames. Being on my own and free to work with whoever I want and do whatever I want – even if it sounds selfish – I think suits me best.

And what's the biggest lesson you've learned from playing as a "One Man Band"?

Not playing with a band is completely different for me. It's a huge challenge and not many could pull it off to be honest. It has made me improve my performance as a guitarist, as a singer and as a performer.

What is the most important experience from this journey?

It may sound cliche but I really had a lot of good times in my career. But I feel that who I am today as a person in life and on stage gives me new meaning and life. At all these smaller concerts where I meet new fans, I realize that the younger generation brings a whole different energy to it all. I feel that the phase I am in now is the happiest of my life. I feel more connected and hope to stay on this "path".

Are you excited to be back in Athens ("Arch Club", 5/17)?

Yes! I think I can't remember the last time I visited Greece because it's been so many years. I hope people come because I plan to give you the best night of your life.

What constitutes a successful live?

A great outfit, some "golden" dance moves and an audience! I need to feel like people want to be involved as much as I want to be. This is the only way we can go to the next level.

What are your plans for the future?

I'm trying to write something new and prepare a new album, but I'm having a hard time doing it right now. I don't want to stop the flow of things. I'm quite a simple person and I know what I like in life... Music. Maybe next year I'll be ready for a new release.

Is there another side project in the works?

We're not working on anything with Alex. [Turner], like Last Shadow Puppets. But I have this new little side project going on called The Evils and it's an instrumental surf idea. We'll see how this goes... [s.s. In the time between the interview and its publication, Kane along with Oscar Sholto Robertson and Dave Bardon released the E.P. "Miles Kane & The Evils".]

Miles Kane's albums in his own words

"Colour of the Trap" (2011)

"The beginning of the adventure, when I was still searching for who I am. This album opened the way for me. You can hear all the different sides of me in it."

"Don't Forget Who You Are" (2013)

"Probably one of the best songs I've ever written [inc. the title]. Something keeps me coming back to it. It's like coming home to the roots for me. Sometimes in life you can get sidetracked and forget who you are. This song defined me as an artist and as a person."

"Coup de Grace" (2018)

"An intense rock'n'roll, punk period! Coming out with such an aggressive album is not as easy as you think."

"Change the Show" (2022)

"My chance to show my love for Northern Soul and Motown...Growing up I listened to everything from Diana Ross and the Four Tops to whatever was on the radio."

-

Full Greek article

[operaghostnocturne]

The Problem with ‘Love Never Dies.’

“Love Never Dies,” 2012 Starring Ben Lewis as The Phantom, Anna O'Byrne as Christine, watched on Youtube, 4/24/2020 SPOILERS.  I would like to note: I enjoyed the set design, costume design, some of the music, and production of this version of Love Never Dies.  I also really liked the actor’s performances.  They did a good job.  I especially loved Ben Lewis’s singing voice.  (Derrick Davis ((US Restaged Tour)) is still my favorite.) The problem with Love Never Dies is its a sequel to Phantom of the Opera, the characterization, and writing. ALW’s Phantom of the Opera stands alone. It was never meant to have a sequel.  It really doesn’t need one.  I do feel there is a big disconnect between POTO and LND. I think LND could be rewritten to have nothing to do with the original POTO and would not suffer for it. To me, LND feels like someone’s fixit fanfic that doesn’t actually fix anything.  POTO is also insanely iconic.  It is hard to follow it up. While LND’s music is pretty good, I don’t think its nearly as memorable nor iconic as POTO’s.  I also don’t feel it balanced original POTO music with new material.  Honestly, it needs to pick one. Something ALW does in his musicals is reuses the notes of a song, mixed in a different pattern to make a new one.  “The Music of the Night” and “All I Ask of You” are like this (look at sheet music if you don’t believe me.)  This is not a complaint.  This helps with cohesion of a musical.  It also makes refrains, duets with battling music, and sometimes even story, clearer. When its done well, its unnoticeable. In fact, I got to play a POTO compilation in a semi-professional concert orchestra in high school.  I never noticed ALW does this until when someone pointed it out to me like a month ago.  In LND, I can constantly hear the rifts from the first musical, to the point where I think one of those songs is about to start, or it gets super distracting.  I noticed this especially in ‘Why Does She Love Me?’  I’m 80% sure it was based of POTO’s main theme (like the song ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ or the ‘Overture.’)  Again, I liked most of the music in LND.  But it doesn’t hold a candle to POTO. oh look I made a pun. Having said that all that: LND feels like a sequel mostly to 2004.  In my opinion, 2004 has the most sympathetic version of the Phantom, and the one that could most likely end up with Christine in the end.  Especially compared to the US Restaged Tour.  In 04, I also feel like the Phantom and Christine (not their actors) feel closer in age than other productions of the musical, other Phantom adaptations, and even the book.  (For those who don’t know: Erik is 50-60 in the book, Christine is like, 16.) LND’s writing is not great.  First of all: THE PHANTOM’S NAME IS ERIK. I know they were trying to have a MYSTERY pun. Mister Y does not work for that, especially in a format that ISN’T BEING. READ.  I can understand why its left out in POTO, as it lends the Phantom some mystery (though I do not like it.) There is LITERALLY no reason not to have the Phantom called Erik it LND. Granted, this is a complaint I have from POTO too.  I kinda feel like the Phantom not having a name dehumanizes him. That is a discussion for another day. I absolutely HATE that the Phantom runs a circus company.  A big part of Erik’s trauma comes from being in a freak show.  I don’t believe Erik would be willing to go back to that.  I also don’t think it would be his scene.  The Phantom of the Opera belongs in an Opera house, or at the very least a music all. I don’t know why he couldn’t have started something like that instead of a freak show.  Or perhaps be an eccentric composer. Especially if he is getting help from the Giry’s.   I do think its fitting that he’s working with/employing disabled, or deformed people, and other societal outcasts.  However, being the owner of the VERY THING that treated him horribly is pretty bad, especially since we don’t know if he treats these people any better than he was treated. Also, every time the music switched to ‘show tunes,’ I felt Erik’s soul dying.  On that note, when LND shifts from a musical to addressing the audience directly in its ‘show tunes’ sections, its jarring.  It breaks the fourth wall way too much and really pulls the audience out of whats going on.  The way Erik is in POTO, chased away from the world and the light, is why he is like he is.  He became fascinated with the night, the macabre and darkness because of his experiences with the world. That’s a pretty big point in POTO.  Its one of the things that make him sympathetic. After all “THE WORLD SHOWED NO COMPASSION TO ME!” is the Phantom’s excuse in the final lair. LND tramples over that.  Gustave seems to be interested in the same darkness his biological father is, as seen in “The Beauty Beneath.”  Erik’s obsession with the dark, night, and macabre is turned into genetics.  Which is pretty bad for Gustave if you think too hard about it. Erik is a serial killer.  I do believe talent can be passed in genetics.  I also think the way we view said talent and how we use it is shaped by personal experiences and preferences.  On that note, Gustave could have gotten his musical abilities from his mother, or his grandfather, both of whom are also talented musicians.   Another thing LND suffers from, is making Christine a prize again. Raoul and Erik do not see her as a person.  ‘Devil Take the Hindmost’ is literally the boys having a dick measuring contest, with Christine as the prize.  That is not okay. I hated the ending. For several reasons.  First of all, the Phantom is still abusive.  He is a puppet master. He is still not capable of having a healthy relationship with Christine.   Secondly, Christine dies. ALW, if you are gonna write a fixit fic the LEAST you could do is let Erik be happy.  Plus, Christine is killed by a cliche ‘I just wanted you to notice me’ subplot. One that wasn’t entirely well set up or thought out.  Which is disappointing and frustrating.  Last two things I hated: when Christine kisses Erik for the last time, she doesn’t take off his mask.  I feel like they missed a good opportunity to show Christine being completely accepting of who Erik is, including what he looks like (again, would be better if Erik wasn’t abusive.)  I also NEVER like it when we don’t get to see Erik’s deformity in any version of Phantom.  The only other one that doesn’t I’ve seen/read is Dance. (Which I dislike greatly. Its at the bottom of my list.)  I’m kinda good either way if Gustave goes with Erik or Raoul (preferably neither, if I get a choice, which I don’t.)  Erik and Gustave can connect over music in a way Raoul and Gustave cannot. Erik can teach Gustave about music and the beauty beneath. Raoul did raise Gustave.  Raoul might also have a serious heart change after the events of LND that we are not shown.  Or we can do that one AU where Raoul and Erik become Gustave’s two dad’s (either gay or not, whatever floats your boat.)

The worst thing about LND is it completely ignores the character growth in its predecessor. Characters completely regress into who they were before the ending of POTO.  This is annoying and bad writing. Lets start with Meg and Madame Giry.  I don’t like that Madame Giry is helping Erik. Yes, she helped him escape the freak show in 2004 (and possibly other versions.) BUT, she was also absolutely TERRIFIED of the Phantom in POTO.  She helped Raoul find the Phantom’s Lair, with the full knowledge that Raoul intended to put a stop to Erik’s madness.  I think it would be more likely that Madame Giry would stay as far away as Erik as she possibly could. Madame Giry also feels like a secondary greedy villain in LND, and that feels WAY off base for her. Maybe Erik being manipulative has rubbed off on her? Again, I don’t think she would be in this position in the first place (nor would Erik be manipulative, because I see him as realizing he DUN HECKED UP at the end of POTO). Meg, I could see wanting to help the Phantom (she even does in some versions.)  I see this as her being enthralled by the legend of the Phantom, and less that they actually know each other. As for her loss of innocence, I don’t think it was set up well, nor was it executed well. Also, Meg wanting the Phantom to see her is a cliche. Cliches can be okay, if they are handled well. I don’t think LND wrote it well. The only person I feel that has consistent characterization from POTO is Raoul (well, a specific version of it.)  I have always been of the opinion that Raoul is a jerk.  Having him spiral into gambling and drinking after a traumatic event is not surprising.  Could be something that was always there, could be PTSD.  Who knows, it wasn’t really talked about beyond Raoul feeling sorry for himself, and him being frustrated that he can’t connect to Christine on a musical level. Christine’s arc in POTO was about taking back her own power and becoming her own person. Of letting go of the past and moving forward.  This is thrown out. She is once again caught between two men in a dick measuring contest, both of which are trying to manipulate her to one side or the other, completely powerless.  This time, there really wasn’t a way for her to get it back. I feel like she felt obligated to sing for the Phantom, even without Gustave’s life being threatened, and the Phantom’s manipulation is what made Raoul leave  (Granted, I think Raoul leaving makes sense in the context of LND.)  Christine has no agency in LND. Finally, the ending of POTO is what redeems Erik.  He is the one with the biggest character arc and character growth. He learns the most.  I do believe he had a genuine heart change at the end of POTO.  What happened wasn’t what he wanted, but it was what he needed to become a better person, and start moving past his trauma. Ignoring that is a big mistake. Yet, in LND, he is back to being an arrogant, abusive, manipulative, puppet master.  Sometimes, I can see small pieces of character growth. He seems less bothered by his appearance, and maybe slightly more mature. Though, even these glimpses are often overshadowed or ignored in the next scene.   LND is NOT continuation of the characters we met in POTO. Much of the writing that connects LND with POTO is meh.  Honestly, in some ways it feels like less a sequel and more its very own adaption of Phantom. Which is half its problem.

[fandom-necromancer]

Let’s write together: Heart Reset

Chapter 2 - Data and Dragons

Featuring:

@sparklingrainbowdragon (‘s mom) with "Today, like every other day, the unicorns are running free." @rufina72 with “God damn, just move your- OW! Quit stomping on my feet already!”, “And here I thought it would be a disadvantage that you were so short, detective!”, “Our boys jumping/climbing out of a window” and “A very determined spider!” @aurea-b with “gargoyle” @sparklingrainbowdragon with “A dragon”

[Chapter1]

-

It had been early morning the next day that Jerry had send Nines more information. Apparently, their theory of their suspects meeting in the medieval part of the park had been correct. Jerry had reported several people arriving at the park, all of them masked but otherwise disregarding the cameras completely. Due to the park being abandoned, no one cared about them and Jerry kept them stationary. That was enough for Nines and Gavin to head out. If they wanted to prepare anything they had to do so now, not when everything was in place. They had informed Hank of their plan, who told them that backup would be ready and in place on their signal if they needed it.

Now they were walking through the trees on the edge of the areal until they got to the fence. Nines had taken a wire-cutter with him, although he didn’t need it in the end. The fence had been trampled to the ground and didn’t really pose as a barrier anymore. Nines left the tool behind a tree and followed Gavin onto the park grounds. They soon found one of the paths connecting different rides and shops. All buildings were designed to look like castles or village huts, and everything was heavily overgrown. Gavin kept him back as he was about to walk onto the path to look around for any sign of humans. ‘Hey, Nines, look over there.’ Nines followed his finger to discover a huge castle that for once actually looked to not be covered in mock-up stone. ‘If I knew one thing about Jayden, it is that he likes to be overly dramatic. Every chance to pretend to be a Rockstar he would take. I bet he would choose the biggest phcking building there is.’ ‘Well, it’s worth a shot. We have four more hours until the data is lost.’

They kept behind the buildings walking towards the castle that was at least four stories high. The next time they had to stop it was Nines who kept Gavin back. >Three persons at the crossroad, he displayed on his hand, pointing into the direction of them as soon as Gavin had read it and deactivated the screen. He listened intently to them talking, hoping to get some more intel. At the same time, he displayed what he heard for Gavin.

‘Why did he have to come so soon, I don’t understand. I mean… this place is creepy man.’ ‘Idiot, he is checking for traps. Ever since he fucked that Detective, he is paranoid as hell.’ ‘Doesn’t mean we have to be here, too.’ ‘You are getting paid for it, stop complaining.’ ‘Exactly. Easy money for patrolling an abandoned park. Besides who the hell knows of it anyway? Just a day spent outside going for a walk.’ ‘Still can’t wait until they are done in there.’

Gavin plucked at his sleeve grinning triumphantly. Okay, so maybe he had been right with the castle, it wasn’t as if Nines had been doubting him. He just shrugged and gestured him to follow. They snuck up to the entrance of the castle, a sign with flaking colour telling them this had been a haunted castle once stuffed with the newest robotic technologies. Nines looked up at it frowning, but in the end, they weren’t here for the attraction itself, but for the data Browns would sell here. Gavin pulled him to an employee’s entrance that led into the foyer. Apparently, the visitors had only been allowed inside in small groups at a time. Inside, Nines took over, leading Gavin through the hidden tunnels for the staff. There were enough hidden windows and maintenance doors that they could spy into the adjacent rooms in relative safety. They traversed nearly the complete first floor, until they got to the “throne room”. In sudden excitement, Gavin slapped his side, pulling him over to the one-way-mirror. ‘That’s the asshole’, Gavin hissed quietly, and Nines proceeded to scan him. Gavin was right. There was Jayden Browns, walking around the table, looking underneath it and inspecting the whole room.  Nines took the throne room in, comparing it to his blueprints. ‘Gavin, I need you to hide over there’, he whispered pointing to a little hidden hatch in the wall that would without a doubt be connected to some character appearing during the performance to scare the visitors. ‘Are you kidding me?’, Gavin hissed. ‘No way I will fit in there!’ Nines just smiled at him. ‘Oh, you will fit just fine, trust me.’ ‘Urgh, fine.’ ‘And here I thought it would be a disadvantage that you were so short, detective!’ ‘Phck you. Why there?’ ‘This room has two escape routes. One towards the entrance and one that leads to the rest of the tour. We need people at both sides to intercept him when surprising him.’ Gavin nodded. ‘Anything else?’ ‘Wait for my signal.’

He sighed, before turning and following the maintenance tunnel to the hatch. He pulled up the cover and was greeted with a small compartment housing what looked like it had once been a ghost puppet and a ton of spiderwebs. Gavin whined, hesitating to climb in there, but looking at his watch to see whether he had enough time to find a better spot he realised, it was nearly seven pm. He grimaced, before lowering himself inside and crawling over the puppet to the front. Thankfully, not one of the spiderwebs were still in use. At least Gavin told himself that. He crawled to the forefront of the compartment, laying his head on the floor to spy through the slit into the room behind it. He looked for Nines but couldn’t see the android anywhere. But he trusted that he saw him when the time was right. Now it was time to wait.

He had always hated waiting, but at least this time it wasn’t too long. Apparently whoever Jayden wanted to sell the data to surprised him. ‘You are early’, his voice suddenly broke the silence and Gavin flinched. God, he had forgotten how much he hated that guy. ‘Do you have the stick?’ ‘Right here. Do you have the money?’ ‘How do I know it works?’

Gavin tried to get a good look at the other man that spoke but found himself distracted by a movement at the corner of his eye. A spider, steadily crawling towards him. He blew the little creature further away from him, but as soon as it had regained its footing it crawled towards him again. Gavin focussed the two men talking again, side-eyeing the spider and pushing it back again and again. Shocked he found that he had gained some attention by sending a small dust cloud out under the hatch. He froze, watching how the shoes of the second man had turned towards him. But a moment later the man changed his stance as he disregarded it. Gavin sighed in relief, only to feel something crawling over his hand. He couldn’t explain his reaction properly except with the utterly idiotic instinct to get away from the tiny creature, screaming and wriggling himself out of that compartment without thinking about it.

That was how he found himself standing in the throne room being stared at by the two people, Jayden with his hand outstretched, a phone in hand for the other one to see. Reacting immediately, he pulled out his gun and shouted ‘DPD, freeze, the park is surrounded. Hands up where I can see them!’

But despite his quick call, they didn’t freeze at all, instead doing the exact opposite: They drew their guns, Jayden shouting for his men before shooting at him. He was ready to regret his fear of spiders dearly, but the bullet never reached him, Nines jumping in the path out of nowhere. The android saw the oncoming goons, the two guns ready for another shot and decided they wouldn’t be able to stop them alone. He took Gavin by the jacket and pulled him with him, only for the stubborn Detective to dive to the ground, where Jayden had let his phone fall. Nines allowed it, helping him back to his feet and sprinting towards the exit Gavin had been supposed to guard.

‘What was that supposed to be?’, Nines shouted as they left through it, running for their lives. ‘I’m sorry!’, Gavin gasped. ‘Phcking spiders!’ ‘Doesn’t matter now, run! I’ll call in Hank and his backup waiting outside.’ They ran up the stairs to the second floor and Nines was almost carrying Gavin the way he hauled him up to help catch up with his bigger steps. They ran past animatronic knights and witches, ghosts and undead kings, all hanging in their more or less intact machinery, until they reached a larger room that looked like some sort of medieval bedroom. Nines milled over their options, deciding quickly to pull open a large wardrobe and pushing first Gavin then himself inside, closing it just in time not to be seen by the goons storming inside. ‘God damn, just move your- OW! Quit stomping on my feet already!’, Gavin complained, before Nines could push his hand over his mouth. Because unfortunately, the men had decided to search the room instead of running past them.

‘What do we do know?’, Gavin asked and Nines just grinned. ‘This is a haunted castle. Let’s scare them a bit and cause a distraction. The android pulled off a panel on the back wall of the wardrobe and interfacing with the touchscreen behind it. Only a few seconds later music started playing tinny and distorted. Then a voice from a woman coming from the bed. It sounded like she was reading a bedtime story. ‘Today, like every other day, the unicorns are running free. But it wasn’t always like that-‘ ‘Oh, come on, skip to the good part’, Nines mumbled, followed by metallic screeching and what sounded like plastic being crushed. ‘Oops.’ ‘What did you do, Nines?’, Gavin asked slightly panicked. ‘I set the program to ten times the normal speed, but apparently it wasn’t made for that. We might get a bit more chaos than I wanted…’ ‘What do you mean by tha-‘ ‘Out, now!’

Nines pulled him outside just at the right moment. A second later and a large plastic gargoyle from the opposite window would have crushed them, being flung inside by a robotic arm that had never been supposed to withstand such momentum. The whole room was in chaos. The robot mother that had read the bedtime story was up in flames and screeching, the princess was shaking inside the bed, sitting up and falling back down repeatedly. The walls crumbled and rebuild themselves while a cacophony of at least three songs playing at once rung in their ears. As doors on the opposite side banged open for a dragon’s head to emerge and roar, Nines knew that they wouldn’t be able to continue this route. ‘Nines, you are right! This is too much chaos!’ At least the goons were distracted. Distracted by running down as fast as they could, as the fire from the robot mother began to spread. ‘Phck, Nines, where do we go?’ The android seemed lost himself, but caught himself, running to a window and leaning outside. Gavin, realising what Nines was thinking about, took a step back. ‘Oh no, Nines, not happening. You are insane! I’m not phcking jumping out of-’ But the android had taken him by the arm already, running full speed at the window and taking Gavin with him. They fell from the second floor and down towards a decorative moat. There was no bracing the impact, only the cold water suddenly encasing them. Gavin briefly panicked, as he tried to swim to the surface but having Nines still clinging to him and pulling him down. Thankfully it wasn’t that deep, and he quickly realised what Nines was planning, as they reached the bottom and the android near catapulted them out with one powerful kick. They emerged near the shore and climbed up the muddy hill to the trees again. They looked back up to the burning fake castle and Gavin pulled algae from his shoulder before swiping at his eyes.

‘Well, not how I expected the day to end, but not many can say they burned down an amusement park?’ He chuckled and Nines couldn’t help but smile at the sentiment. ‘Let’s just hope Hank caught our suspects.’

[>next chapter]

[post-itpenny]

Orphic

Mysterious and entrancing; beyond ordinary understanding. 

first of all I would like to tag @grotesquegabby since everyone is in the pool.

Second I would like to just say, thanks to this fic I’ve had P!ATD’s version of The Greatest Show stuck on repeat.

It was cold out. Quite cold and leaving without much to do. However Vespers had been cackling for two days over a costume he had made for Maggie to wear.

“But why sequence?” Cosmos finally asked when Vespers actually described the costume.

Vespers grinned, “she’s an assistant. Aunt Magpie has been putting on magic shows to lure people instead of having to go out and hunt.”

This lead to an explanation about how Magpie had always like the idea of stage magicians and decided to pretend to be one herself. So apparently now she performed at least once a week.

“But why hasn’t word about a magic show spread? Wouldn’t people talk about that?” Cosmos asked in confusion. It seemed a little odd to him, she never advertised and didn’t even have a designated performance area. Apparently this was all done in Maggie’s tent?

Nevertheless it was soon decided the boys would join up with Jelly’s and Pepper’s famiies and even James to go see this show. Cuckoo and Calliope ended up joining as well as Billy and an excited Amaranthus, all meeting outside little Maggie’s tent.

Cuckoo eyed the structure with uncertainty. “I must ask, how many people can actually fit inside there?”

Jelly shrugged, “well it’s bigger on the inside…. I’m not sure, maybe twenty people?”

Vespers smirked, “well Aunt Magpie made this thing for Maggie a long while back. I’m sure she modified the inside to work. Anyways it’s only until they can find a permanent space.”

With this they went inside expecting to see Maggie’s little home as it always was.

It wasn’t.

They were in a theater. Grand looking with it’s red-velvet curtains and gold leaf molding on the pillars that framed the stage. A small catwalk protruding out into the audience which was quite full. They could only find seats in the balcony area, and were surprised to find of all people Pierre and Honey along with a shy clown they had met during the snowball fight incident.

“This is my sister Brie,” Honey announced with a hand firmly on the other clown’s shoulder, “and we’re here for magic.”

The statement was given with such certainty no one chose to question.

As they seated themselves the older clowns couldn’t help but feel on edge, the audience was relatively quiet, staring at nothing in particular, but there was just a vibe of…. Something.

“Everyone in here is either angry or sad,” Jelly announced, finally understanding exactly what emotion she was sensing from the crowd. The others agreed, bitterness, disappointment, sadness, anger, hopeless. A sea of negative emotions, but why bring so many upset people into one room, and why were they sitting so quietly yet feeling all this at once?

To be honest the feeling’s were a little contagious, no one wanted to be sitting so close to Pierre who clearly didn’t want to be sitting right next to anyone at all. Cosmos, Pepper, and Vespers where all a little annoyed James had somehow been invited while James himself wasn’t really sure how he had gotten here save for the feelings of frustration and loneliness he had been feeling lately. Did someone invite him to come?

The curtain shifted a little, Maggie poked her head out to look at the crowd, then stepped out.

From the audience someone wolf whistled, the redhead blushed but said nothing save adjusted her top hat.  She was wearing a gold sequined dress with black feathers accenting the hips and a short skirt.

Jelly gasped, “how did you get her in something that's not knee length?”

Vespers grinned and mouthed the word “blackmail” before turning his attention to the stage. Maggie’s clown face was showing as she danced around the stage in a rather silly manor. Some of the audience chuckled a little but most did not seem fazed. Maggie frowned and snapped her fingers.

The lights went out, spotlight on.

Maggie tossed her top hat so it rolled down the catwalk till tumbling to a stop.

And a very surprised looking Magpie fell out.

The audience gasped at her sudden appearance, other’s clapping. Magpie looked around as if unsure why they were all here but then smiled with a small bow. She snapped her fingers and a magician's wand appeared from nowhere. Magpie tapped her want on the brim of hte top hat and pulled out of all things a gramophone and record. She set the gramophone up and the twinkle of old-timey piano music began to play.

Magpie and her assistant performed a series of ticks that were standard of what one would expect of a magic show. Levitation, objects disappearing then reappearing in unexpected places. They never spoke but it was clear the two were having a lot of fun and some of the audience laughed and applauded.

Then the record started to skip.

In her haste to fix it Maggie seemed to only make the skipping even worse before finally she picked the entire thing up and tossed it off stage with a terrific crash. The audience started to laugh until Magpie tapped the heel of her boot with the wand. Fire shot up from the edges of the stage and everything grew quiet.

Magpie strutted down the stage, each step bringing a burst of flames from the stage floor. She reached the end of the catwalk and continued onward, the floorboards rising up to create stairs till Mapie was now suspended high above the crowd on a platform of wood that attached to nothing.

Magpie looked around before turning to a rather nervous looking Maggie, she pointed her wand and a snap could be heard. Colorful confetti now shot up from the stage and high into the air before swirling around Maggie in a tornado of color. From the top a flock of blackbirds suddenly rose up and flew over the audience, their wings tipped with gold.

The crowd cheered and Billy had to hold Ama down when she tried to float up to catch one of the birds. The flock somehow settled on the ceiling becoming what looked like the night sky and the stage where Maggie had stood was deserted.

From here Magpie continued to up her performance. She conjured a host of ghostly dancers to waltz just above the audience's heads, an ocean appeared below their feet, people gasping when they realized the water was real. Magpie jumped down from her platform, an eruption of color appearing when her feet touched the ground. Neon colored plants sprung up giving the impression of being blacklit. Calliope reached out to pluck a leaf from a batch of vines that had started to wrap around her chair, the plant was real and it seemed that its glowing color was natural. There were animal growls coming from thin air before a parade of jungle animals burst forth from all the nooks and crannies of the room. They all glowed in bright neon colors and were decorated with different pains and fabrics to give the impression of belonging on a carousel.

Ula gasped in delight as she reached out to pet a zebra that seemed to float past her, it felt real but more like a doll or puppet than what she suspected an actual zebra was like. The animals began to gently float around the room moving up and down exactly like a carousel. Cosmos sat back an observed the room. All the feelings of negative emotion had disappeared leaving only positive emotion in its wake. Joy, surprise, excitement, delight, people cheered and clapped as they reached out to try and touch the carousel animals or wave at their favorites. Someone snapped a picture with their phone but Cosmos had a feeling there wouldn’t be anything to see.

Magpie spun around with the biggest grin before taking a bow. There was an explosion of color and suddenly the stage was empty, the animals all gone, only Maggie now stood on stage with the black top hat in her hands. She gave a small bow and quickly walked off. The crowd immediately dispersed. James stood up to leave as well before Jelly grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down into his seat. He looked around bewildered as if he had only just realized where he was. Cosmos frowned and looked at the rest of the crowd, all quiet but looks of happiness or contentment on their faces.

Cosmos tapped Vespers shoulder and leaned towards him to whisper. “Say mothman, what exactly are your aunt’s spices?”

Vespers smirked, “she likes serendipity.”

Ula frowned and looked to her uncle, “what does that mean?”

Vespers shrugged his shoulders but his smirk never left, “it’s like….. To be unexpectedly happy or have sudden good fortune…… Like being surprised with something amazing when you're having the worst day.”

[vileart]

Hunger Dramaturgy: Sinking Ship @ Edfringe 2017

Kafka’s Irresistible Puppet Master

Physical theatre company Sinking Ship Productions has won widespread praise for their stage version of Kafka’s A Hunger Artist, which they are bringing to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In the title role, Lecoq-trained performer and puppeteer Jonathan Levin is giving “possibly the best solo performance of the year” (New York Irish Arts). 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

It was equal parts frustration with the direction of live performance in the US and a soft spot for Kafka. I miss the old vaudeville presentational stuff, with red curtains, footlights, and over-the-top theatrical gestures, so I thought why not use Kafka’s story about the death and decline of Hunger Artists to also talk about the death and decline of that kind of theatricality. 

And at the same time use things like miniature “toy theatre” (which were big in the 1800s), travelling vaudeville trunks, and red curtains to tell the story.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

It’s certainly better than a comment board.

The main limitation, I think, on the relevance of performance is that it reaches a finite and relatively small number of people. But when done well, it is still one of the most visceral, empathetic art forms. Maybe “empathy” is a strange way to answer a question about ideas, but it’s essential to understanding. 

The audience is required to participate in the act of imagination, or you don’t have a show. So it’s never passive. And you are in a group, almost always. You can’t sit at home and watch alone, and there’s no screen mediating between you and the performer. 

In a world that feels increasingly lacking in empathy, performance feels absolutely necessary.

How did you become interested in making performance?

There were a couple of shows I saw that really blew my mind at various points in my life, and I think I’m still trying to process/recreate those experiences: Mabou Mines’ Peter and Wendy, Pig Iron’s Chekhov Lizardbrain, and a puppet company called Wakka Wakka. 

Each one had this incredible sense of magic, imagination and theatricality that I’ve been striving to find my own flavour of… Maybe we’re all just chasing the theatrical dragon so to speak.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

We went into this project with some major storytelling limitations, namely: how can we adapt this story about an ascetic performance artist who spends most of his time inside a cage in a theatrically dynamic, constantly surprising way using only one performer? 

And the more we began to translate the piece into a series of contained character bits/clowning set pieces the more we found ourselves navigating even more self-imposed limitations and conventions. 

But these sort of artistic boundaries, while restricting, encourage a tremendous sense of play and problem solving in a room that was basically working through absurdist trial and error.

The piece was built collaboratively, with the three core company members being performer Jonathan Levin, writer Josh Luxenberg, and director Joshua William Gelb. We worked together from the start to pull apart Kafka’s story, find the theatrical translation, and create the staging. Playing off each other allowed us to create an intricate, interconnected work.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

In a way, it’s a distillation of Sinking Ship’s work. All our other shows have been large casts - and too big to travel with. We built this one with Edinburgh in mind. 

Of course - and maybe this is a hallmark of our shows - we find it hard to think small. So we packed a ton of stuff into this (not so little) trunk show. The content of the plays we’ve made has been wildly different. What connects it all is a love of surprise, delight, and inventiveness (especially as an avenue to discussing big or hard ideas and feelings), an emphasis on physical, visual theatre (often with a dose of puppetry), and total integration of every element of performance. 

We believe that anything the audience sees is part of the show, which means we give as much consideration to a scene change as a scene.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

A Hunger Artist is at its core about the relationship between the performer and the audience. So while this is technically a solo show, the audience plays an integral part. You might even call some moments “participatory” (though if that word gives you pause, don’t worry, it’s not like you’ve seen it before). 

As the trajectory of the Hunger Artist’s career shifts from prestige to anonymity, so to does the audience’s experience shift from the comfort of clown to the inevitably Kafkaesque. The performance, and in particular our central prop, a large theatrical touring trunk, is filled with surprises that will delight, astonish, and perhaps even disturb.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Without giving too much away, a portion of the show, as mentioned above, relies on some cleverly guided audience participation. So we’ve spent whole workshops devoted to figuring out what works, what doesn’t, what’s fun, and what’s not, when involving the unpredictable element of the audience on stage. 

We’ve come away with something that seems a little magical, to the point that everyone seems to think the audience participants are plants. They’re not!

In common with Kafka’s celebrated Metamorphosis, the story draws people into a world somehow familiar and yet extraordinarily strange.

    The story opens with an account of how cheering, laughing crowds once flocked to see the hunger artist who starved in a cage for 40 days and 40 nights at a time for their entertainment. 

What then unfolds is a powerful piece of physical theatre mixed with elements of puppetry. The seemingly whimsical nostalgia for a lost art form rapidly transforms into a troubling trip into the nature of memory, art and spectatorship.

Although never explicitly addressed, there is a disquieting sense that the forces, frailties and fascinations Kafka exposed in 1922 were linked to the rise of fascism back then and of far right populism today.

Levin says: “It’s a dark tale, but there is lots of humour which is something we really bring out in the production. We’ve tried to make it very fresh and physical, so there’s always lots going on. New York has been great and now we are looking forward to the biggest challenge of them all – the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.” 

Created collaboratively by Levin, writer Josh Luxenberg, and director Joshua William Gelb, A Hunger Artist is crossing the Atlantic to Edinburgh following its successful run at the historic Connelly Theater in New York’s East Village. It is packed with transformations and there are so many people on the stage that it never has the sense of being a solo show.

A Hunger Artist has further cemented the reputation of the Brooklyn-based Sinking Ship, garnering considerable critical acclaim: "Boisterously funny and chokingly sad,” Blogcritics; “An unflagging sense of theatrical invention, Lighting & Sound America; “Beautifully imagined… full of heart,” Culturebot.

Listings details

•  Theatre

•  Venue: Zoo (Venue 124) 140, Pleasance, EH8 9RR

•  Dates: 4 to 28 August

•  Time: 17:45

•  Duration: 70 minutes 

•  Guidance: None

•  Tickets:  £9 to £11

•  Box office: 0131 662 6892

•  Group: Sinking ShipProductions

from the vileblog http://ift.tt/2u7a3Gt

[love-in-nature]

Once Upon A Dream Chapter 63: So This Is A Thing Now

Read on my AO3. 

That morning, as they had made their way to meet Magister Alexius, there had been a whole host of scenarios that played in Emma’s head.  The majority were of Ivy as conquering hero so they could all happily return with the mages.  There were a few less pleasant that varied in flavor from being kicked out to having their bodies kicked out and their heads put on display.

A scenario she had not thought of was one where she was ass deep in water, surrounded by red lyrium, and had two dead bodies floating in the water next to her while Ivy became increasingly agitated and Dorian slowly placed himself so that Emma was between them.  Not that it would do him much good if Ivy really did lose it.  Emma wasn’t an idiot, she would duck.

As odd as her current situation was, the oddest thing was the utter calm she felt.  Even as Dorian made it clear they’d experienced some kind of time jump.  She’d been through so much weird shit in the past months that time magic was basically just like accidently biting into an oatmeal cookie when you expected chocolate chip.  She was displeased, but certainly wasn’t in a panic, especially since she had Ivy and Dorian.  

Besides, Dorian believed he knew how to reverse the spell.  He had helped develop it and seemed fairly confident.  Honestly, the chance of her getting out of this were greater than she’d ever had for her getting back to her world.  If she let panic overtake her it would do nobody any good.

The only regret she had was that she still hadn’t been able to talk to Solas.  There had been no time for it.  When she got back she would speak with him as soon as possible and, if it went as Dorian said, they should get back only a few minutes after they’d been pulled in.  So Solas and the others were not only safe, but would only have to endure a short amount of fear for Ivy and her.

Now she just had to make sure she didn’t get killed before they got back.  

When there was a pause in Dorian and Ivy’s conversation Emma spoke, “We should probably get moving right?  I mean I’d like to get out of this water for one, I think I just felt something brush against my leg.”

Ivy eyed her, “How are you so calm?”

Emma couldn’t help but tease to try and lighten Ivy’s mood a bit, “I think it was just somebody’s bones hitting my leg.”  Emma shrugged.  Ivy snorted and Emma sighed as she answered the actual question, “A lot of weird shit has happened to me, to all of us, these past months.  I mean it could be worse.  We could have been sent to another world or something.”

Dorian started to move towards the prison cell gate, “That’s preposterous.”

“Bet they said the same about time magic.”

“Yes but time is a thing, it exists, you see.  Other worlds do not.”  Emma raised her brows a hint, but of course said nothing.  Dorian reached forward pulling on the bars, “Locked.  I imagine the key will be on one of our friends there.”

“Not it.”

Ivy smirked, “Seriously?  This makes you squeamish?  You go around collecting little bits of demon flesh but looking in a dead guy’s pocket is a no go.”  Ivy bent down to presumably look through the guards pockets, instead she lifted the body and brought its arms out starting towards Emma who backed away hands up.  Then Ivy threw her voice making it deeper, “I just want a hug pretty lady.  Give a dead man one last wish.  Let me feel your----”

“Ivy no!”  She tried to sound serious but was laughing even as she kept backing up, “You’re going to get me wet.  Put it down.”

“Oh I’ll get you wet, miss.  Just give me a---”

“No, you sick perv.”

A throat clearing from across the room and both women turned to look at Dorian, “As much as I enjoy a good puppet act, I’d suggest this isn’t the time,”  He paused a beat, “Or a particularly good show.  You might want to work on your act when we get out of this.”

Ivy was still smirking as she started to dig into the corpse’s pockets, “Well now I’m insulted.  Maybe we’ll leave you in here.”

“I’d suggest not doing that.”

She found the key and let the body drop with a splash as she headed over to Dorian, Emma trailing behind her.  “Ah yes, I forgot.  We need you to do your magic thingey.”

He took a step back from the gate to allow Ivy to use the key as he said, “Now I’m insulted you only want me for my,”  He paused a beat, “‘magic thingey,’ as you put it.”  Emma snorted and his eyes turned to her, “Now that we have all this time for bonding, I don’t suppose you’d want to tell me about what happened this morning.”

Emma fluttered her lashes, “I’ve no idea what you’re referring to.”

He sighed, “I didn’t think you would, but a man has to try, yes.”

Ivy swung the gate open, “Alright, let’s get out of this weird shit hole.”  

As they followed Ivy Dorian asked, “So you are a, apostate?  Is that the term here?”

“I think everyone is an apostate now, technically.”

“Evasion, let me be more specific.  Before this happened were you in the circle or were you considered an apostate?”

“Neither.”

“Neither?”

Somehow she had a feeling Solas wouldn’t be pleased with her sharing like this but she was a big girl.  Something about Dorian made her warm to him almost instantly.  Besides, it wasn’t like she was telling him about being a dreamer or anything like that.

“I only manifested after the Breach.”

His footsteps actually halted, “You… what?”

Ivy spoke up from in front of them, “It was rather glorious actually.  It happened while she was in the bath and only because the very mention of Solas’ name had her lighting my curtains on fire in rage.”  She glanced over her shoulder eyes teasing, “Now he lights a completely different kind of fire, am I right?”  She gave a lewd eyebrow wiggle and Emma sighed shaking her head.

“You’re telling me you’ve only had magic for a few months?” He paused before a gush of words came out,  “But you have more power than some who have been practicing for years, I felt it.  How is that possible?  Do you have a trainer?  Have they figured out some way to expedite your magical growth?  How old are you?  Is it common here to---”

“Andraste’s tits Dorian, make her a damn list so she can keep track.”

Emma glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, “Or perhaps you have an evil lair you’d like to take me to in order to perform a variety of diabolical experiments.”

“Sadly, I left my evil lair in Tevinter.  Evil lairs are not very travel friendly you know.”

“Pity that.”  

Ivy made a shushing sound, “Do you guys hear that?”

They quieted.  At first Emma heard nothing but the dripping of water on stone, then a whisper of a sound in the air.  A kind of chanting that seemed to be coming from behind a door up a set of stairs.  It was haunting but this whole place was haunting.  If crumbling flooding dungeons wasn’t bad enough when you threw in a shit ton of red lyrium it got a million times worse.  The whole place had a red fog over it that seemed to pulse as though they were in a living thing.  Why not throw in some creepy chanting?

Ivy exchanged a glance with Emma who responded with a shrug, “We might as well investigate, with our luck that’s probably the door we need to go through anyways.”

Ivy grinned before turning to go to the door as she spoke, “Undoubtedly the way we need to go.”

The door ended up leading to a cavernous room filled once more with cells.  The one plus was that it wasn’t as overrun with red lyrium.  With any luck this was an indicator that the higher they got the less red lyrium there would be.  

The chanting they had heard came from one of the cells.  Behind it was a young man that Emma recognized as the one who had met them at the gate.  Though his mind was clearly no longer there.  Even as both Ivy and her tried to speak to him he only repeated the same part of the chant over and over again.  

Emma frowned, “What did they do to him?  He isn’t tranquil is he?”

“I don’t think so,”  Ivy shivered visibly, “Let’s keep moving.  The sooner we can get out of this the better.”  She glanced to Dorian as they walked, “Speaking of, any plans you want to share Dorian?”

“I have some thoughts.  They’re lovely thoughts, like little jewels.”

“So that’s a no then.”

“If you want to be crass about it.”

Emma looked at him for the first time a bit weary, “But you helped develop this magic right?  Surely you can figure out a way to reverse it.”

Dorian’s face remained neutral, “I believe I--”

Ivy had opened another door and put her hand up to silence them.  After a moment she gestured back the way they had come with her head.  The group backtracked a bit till she felt they were far enough from the room then she spoke, “There are four of them.  Two on each side of a bridged area.  If we can surprise even one of them we might be able to knock them off.  Otherwise, I’m thinking I rush in and get their attention.  Once they are focused on me you two come in.  Dorian go offensive and Sissy you work on keeping our defense up.”

It should have made her more nervous but she had seen Ivy handle worse than four guards.  Still, she swallowed, “Are you sure?  If something happens to you---”

“Awww it’s sweet you love me so much but I got this, Sissy.”  She cracked her knuckles.  “A few squishies, as Sera calls them, is nothing compared to some of the demon’s we’ve dealt with.”

One of Dorian’s eyebrows hitched, “Squishies?  Why would--- no nevermind, I don’t believe I wish to know.”

Emma mumbled, “Probably the best policy with most things do with Sera.”

Ivy chuckled, “One of the reasons I adore her so.”

“Why did our little blonde elf not come along with your merry band?”

Emma shrugged, “Sera isn’t the biggest fan of anything magic.  All things considering I’m glad for her that she didn’t end up coming.  Even if she hadn’t been pulled in with us, the whole thing would have skeeved her out for weeks.”

Ivy nodded sagely, “Even hearing about it will probably skeeve her out but she’s so pretty when she gets agitated.”

Emma quirked her mouth up to one side, “You think she’s pretty all the time.”

“Fair enough,”  Ivy grinned and cracked her neck, “We ready to do this?”

In the end they were unable to get a start by pushing one of the soldiers of the edge.  It mattered little however as the group managed easily enough.  They followed Ivy’s plan perfectly.  Between her strength, and Dorian’s magic abilities, it only took them a few minutes to dispatch the soldier’s.  When it was done, all that Emma needed to heal was a nick on Dorian’s shoulder.

As Ivy started using a nursing rhyme of some kind to pick what door they should go through, Dorian spoke to Emma, “You’re sure you only manifested recently?”

She shifted as she shot him a glance before looking back at Ivy, “Yes…”

“Your control is impressive and the strength.  Tell me, did you just wake up one morning with that?  One night you went to bed and the next morning,”  He made a gesture with his hands, “Poof borderline spirit healer.”

She startled at him using that term and he caught it, because of course he caught it.  Immediately his full attention was on her, eyes inquisitive like he wanted to peel off her skin to see how she worked.  

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re actually a spirit healer?”

Keeping secrets was exhausting and there seemed to just be more piling up on her.  What would it hurt?  If he stayed with them he would surely find out soon enough anyways.

She mumbled, “Well, it didn’t happen like that exactly.”

“Sissy!”

She looked at Ivy and shrugged, “What he kind of guessed it.”  Ivy gave a disgusted grunt and Emma said, “Ok, now you sound like Cassandra.”

“I do not.”

“Yup there you are again.”

Dorian looked between them, “Wait, can we go back to the whole spirit healer thing for a moment please? I also felt you pulling on the Fade, creating barriers around the enemies while we were fighting to weaken them, you are a rift mage as well are you not?”

“I suppose.  I’ve never really been---”

Ivy was already walking in long agitated strides to her door of choice, “You two can bond over mage crap later, we have shit to do.  Come on.”

There was a snap to her voice Emma had never heard before.  Something had upset her.  It seemed to be something Dorian and her had done but what?  Could she be that annoyed that Emma had fessed up about the healer thing to him?

Dorian gave her a look and she shrugged in response before picking up her pace to catch up with Ivy.  When Emma was next to her she had to continue to work to keep up with the Ivy’s long strides as she explored the area.

“Ivy…”

“What?”

“Something’s wrong.”

She took a deep breath her violet eyes disappearing behind her long lashes for a moment before she turned away from Emma, “Obviously.  We’ve been transported into, who knows when, by some fucked up time magic.”

“No.” She reached out and put a hand on Ivy’s arm but it was shrugged off, “See that just proved it.  Something is wrong, you’re upset with me.  Tell me.”

Ivy finally stopped and her eyes searched out Dorian who was keeping a respectable distance feigning extreme interest in a lyrium infused carving.  “This isn’t really a good time to talk about this.”

“No but then again we could die any minute.  That’s just fact.  I already left stuff unresolved with Solas and I---”

“There, that’s it.”

“That’s…”  Her brows furrowed, “What’s it?”

Ivy crossed her arms in front of her, “I’m not a mage.”

Emma tilted her head slightly as she looked at Ivy, “Uhm no, is that a problem suddenly?”

“I don’t know.”  Her glare was hard, “You tell me, Emma.”

Her shoulders slumped, “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”  Ivy started gesturing with her hands, “I just thought it would be me you would come clean with first, but you went to Solas first which, I mean, I was upset about sure, but then I told myself I was being an idiot.  Solas is your lover.  You tell lovers shit, yeah?  But now,” Her gestures became bigger swinging towards Dorian, “Now you’ve not even been with him a full day and you're telling Dorian your secrets.  Does he know your real name already?  Is there like some secret mage bond thing I’m never going to be included in!?”

Emma felt heat rising to her face and she reached out a hand, “Ivy, it isn’t---”

“Isn’t what?  Do you not trust me anymore?  Are you…”  She took a deep breath, “You’ve never looked at me as the Herald.  Don’t push me away or put me on a pedestal like the others, please Sissy.”

“Ivy, you’re still my Ivy.  You’ll always be my Ivy.  I do trust you.  The only person I trust as much is Solas.  I just… there wasn’t the right time about my name and it’s--,”  She paused a beat her eyes darting to Dorian, “Well, it’s complicated.  Like really complicated, but I told Dorian about the magic because he can feel it.  He already had an idea and I just didn’t feel like hiding it on top of everything else when it would be revealed eventually regardless.  Plus you, and Solas, you two can’t keep hiding away my secrets for me to protect me.  I have to learn to stand on my own better.”

Ivy’s brows had softened some as Emma spoke but her eyes were still piercing, “Does he know?  All the complicated bits I mean.”

“Yes,”  She took a breath, “I’ll explain it to you too and then maybe you’ll understand why I… well, why I’ve hesitated, but I’ll explain once we get out of this mess.  Ok?”

“Promise?  Pinkie swear it?”

Ivy held up her pinkie and the image of her beautifully muscled skull smashing friend doing something so cutesy made her heart swell a bit as she brightened.  “I swear.”  She wrapped her pinkie around Ivy’s then met her eyes, “I love you, my gorgeous skull crusher.”

Ivy laughed and the pinkie swear turned into an enveloping hug.  A rather painful one given Ivy’s armor but Emma couldn’t bring herself to mind much.  After a moment she was released as Ivy spoke, “That’s the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me and I love you too, Sissy.”  She straightened her shoulders, “Now let’s stop dicking around and get out of this shit hole.”

The continued through the doors which, much to Emma’s dismay, led down into more dungeons.  Just as she was about to suggest they turn around they heard a soft moan coming from one of the back cells.  So far, the place had been free of any prisoners except for the young man they’d found in the first room.  This dungeon was in much worse shape, the red lyrium practically taking over every surface.  How could someone be down here and not go mad from it?

The moment they got to the prison Emma let out a small gasp.  It became hard to get in a full breath and, though her muscles fought her, she edged closer to the cell so she could see better because what she thought she saw surely couldn’t actually be.

Then her voice sounded, a hushed whisper that sounded foreign to her as it echoed around them, “Fiona?”

Pained eyes looked at her through a haze of red.  It was Fiona, there was no doubt about that but she was… her entire body was engulfed in red lyrium.  The only thing still visible was an arm and her head.  This wasn’t possible.  She was no lyrium expert but she was fairly positive it wasn’t supposed to do this.  It seemed to be… merging with her.  How?

Fiona spoke her voice weak but audible because of the acoustics of the stone, “You’re alive.  How?  I saw you disappear into the rift.”

Emma took one half step forward then halted as she felt her stomach roll, “Fiona, what happened to you?”

Fiona gave a soft shuddering sigh, each word she spoke clearly taking great effort, “The longer you’re near it, eventually you become this.  Then they mine your corpse for more.”  

Ivy shuddered, “Well, that’s a new level of fucked up.”

Dorian stepped forward, “What is the year?”

Another shuddering breath, “9:42 Dragon.”

Dorian looked away as he thought, “9:42 Dragon,”  After a beat his eyes came up once more, “We’ve missed an entire year.”

Ivy frowned, “Why do you sound borderline excited?”

“I’m not, but you must admit it is fascinating.”

Before Ivy could reply Fiona spoke, “Please, stop this from happening.  Alexius serves the elder one more powerful than the maker no one challenges him and lives.  You’re spymaster, Leliana is here  Find her quickly before the elder one finds out you’re here.”  On the last word Fiona’s voice stuttered and her head fell forward, her brow pressing against the lyrium covered wall in front of her.

Emma looked from her to Ivy, “Can’t we do something for her?”

Ivy took a deep breath and shook her head, “Best thing we can do is make sure this never happens.  Let’s find Leliana and kill this bastard.”

[mrmichaelchadler]

Cinepocalypse 2018 Preview

Dark days in the real world often call for an escape into even darker worlds in cinema. As many people are continuously startled by the world around them, from the terrifying increase in school shootings to the atrocities currently happening on the U.S. border, it makes sense that the horror genre feels more vibrant and alive than ever. Two of the most critically acclaimed films of the year—“Hereditary” and “A Quiet Place”—are undeniably horror films, no matter how many people want to claim they’re not, while other genre indies like “The Endless” have also garnered attention. This is all to say that this feels like the perfect time for a horror film festival like Cinepocalypse.

Starting at the Music Box Theatre this Thursday, June 21st, Cinepocalypse employs something of a shock and awe approach to the genre, offering fans an overwhelming amount of content for a relatively-short festival. There are world premieres, retro events, special guests, and horror hits from other festivals. It’s an ambitious slate of (mostly) indie offerings from around the world, most of which have little in common other than the horror brand. As someone who has seen a great deal of this year’s offerings, it’s the range of the programming that’s impressive. There are slasher pics, brutal dramas, relationship nightmares, sci-fi experiments, and even a movie about Nazi puppets. There’s something for everyone. Here are a few highlights, chronologically.

“The Domestics” (June 21st, 7:30pm)

Mike P. Nelson’s brutal vision of a world gone mad feels just right for the first note conducted by Cinepocalypse in 2018. Owing an undeniable debt to “The Purge” and “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Domestics” actually reminded me more of post-apocalyptic video games like “Fallout,” imagined futures in which the world is overrun with enemies and formerly safe havens are deadly. Nelson’s vision doesn’t take place in the traditional landscapes of post-apocalyptic horror, which often crib from George Miller or Ridley Scott, working with, well, domesticity as its background. It's more about average American neighborhoods and Midwestern landscapes that have become suddenly, unexpectedly violent. In other words, it's kinda perfect for 2018.

In a future dominated by rival gangs with names like The Gamblers and The Sheets, we meet a couple (Tyler Hoechlin & Kate Bosworth) on the edge of sanity. They had been communicating with loved ones via ham radio but the signal has gone dead and they have decided to now take a road trip through Wisconsin to Milwaukee to see what’s going on. The journey takes them through territories dominated by violent men, many of whom now see people as property. There’s an interesting social commentary simmering beneath “The Domestics” that feels timely (if too underdeveloped), but it’s mostly just a brutal cinematic punch to the face, anchored by genuine performances from Hoechlin, Bosworth, Lance Reddick, Sonoya Mizuno, and more. It’s rough around the edges in certain places, but it undeniably sets the tone for an event like Cinepocalypse. (Get your tickets here.)

“The Ranger” (June 22nd, 2:30pm & June 26th, 9:15pm)

Fresh off its SXSW premiere, comes this throwback from writer/director Jenn Wexler, another film that feels a bit first-draft in places but that struck a nostalgic beat for this viewer. If you’re like me and grew up watching the cheesy slasher pics of the ‘80s, you may feel similarly about this twist on the “cabin in the woods” genre. Instead of teenagers away at camp, “The Ranger” features punk rock kids running from society to a remote locale. And instead of an escaped mental patient, the killer here is an unhinged park ranger, the antithesis of the punk ethos. Some of “The Ranger” feels undercooked, but I have to admit to enjoying seeing a subgenre that doesn’t really exist like it used to and that once dominated the world of horror. Given how much of Cinepocalypse is designed to tap that nostalgic vein, those who fondly remember the slasher subgenre, should probably check this one out. (Get your tickets here.)

“What Keeps You Alive” (June 22nd, 11:59pm)

The talented Colin Minihan (“It Stains the Sand Red”) brings his latest to the Music Box for its Midwest Premiere and it should produce gasps in the Friday night midnight spot for those willing to stay up late. Performances aren’t often the hook to bring in viewers at horror festivals but Hannah Emily Anderson and Brittany Allen are great in this SXSW hit as a couple named Jackie and Jules, who go on a trip to one of their childhood haunts on their one-year anniversary to a remote cabin Jackie went to as a child. From the beginning, something feels off as Jackie seems distant and different. It’s that common point in a relationship when one person reveals something new about themselves through the lens of their past. And what Jackie reveals is shocking. I almost wish I could go down to the MB for when Minihan pulls the rug out from viewers on what they think they’re watching just to hear the gasps. You should be there. (Get your tickets here.)

“Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich” (June 23rd, 11:59pm)

Most people willing to read an article previewing horror films at something called Cinepocalypse probably have seen a “Puppet Master” movie or two (or ten). Starting in 1989, the “Puppet Master” series became a staple in the straight-to-VHS (then DVD) horror market, releasing so many (maybe intentionally) awful sequels to the movie about killer puppets. Well, the era in which nostalgia is king has finally gotten around to those maniacal puppets with a full reboot written by S. Craig Zahler of “Brawl in Cell Block 99” and “Bone Tomahawk” fame, and starring Thomas Lennon, Michael Pare, Barbara Crampton, and Udo Kier. Yes, it’s a cheesy, gorey, insane, ludicrous movie about killer puppets who were trained by the Nazis to eliminate enemies of the Third Reich first, and so that’s what they do at a remote hotel. (The hate crimes aspect of "The Littlest Reich" feels purposefully provocative in a way that horror rarely is nowadays and used to be so often in the '70s.) Lennon is surprisingly flat, playing it a bit too straight, but there’s more than enough to like here for people wondering if this may resemble the brutal insanity of the final act of “Bone Tomahawk” but with puppets as the bad guys. Spoiler: It does. (Get your tickets here.)

“Empathy, Inc.” (June 24th, 5pm)

There are a few films at Cinepocalypse this year that feel inspired more by “Black Mirror” than traditional horror and the best of those that I’ve seen is Yedidya Gorsetman’s “Empathy, Inc.” Zack Robidas plays a venture capitalist who watches his whole world fall apart when a deal goes bad. Forced to move up with his in-laws, he desperately grabs at a lifeline when an old friend (Eric Berryman) comes to him with a new project in the always-hot world of Virtual Reality. The tech is called XVR (Xtreme Virtual Reality) and is the product of a company called Empathy, Inc., which allows users to literally step into the shoes of someone who has less than them. Privileged, well-off people are always talking about the perspective gained by those are further down the social ladder, but what would they do if they could literally live the lives of the less fortunate? The concept of “Empathy, Inc.” is brilliant, and Gorsetman has a strong sense of storytelling, even if the film does kind of write itself into a corner or two in the increasingly crazy final act. Still, it’s the kind of unexpected World Premiere that genre fans hope to find at a fest like Cinepocalypse. (Get your tickets here.)

Retro Titles w/Special Guests!

Threaded through the week-long run of Cinepocalypse, you’ll find a handful of really fun retro titles, selections that reveal the quirky personality that drives this festival. You’ve seen acknowledged classics at the Music Box before at one of their many festivals, but have you seen “Howard the Duck” in 70MM? Have you seen “Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight” on the big screen? What about “Judgment Night”? And the biggest guests of Cinepocalypse 2018 have to be the great Ernest Dickerson, traveling to Chicago to present "Juice" with a Q&A, and the incredible Lana Wachowski, who will discuss the phenomenal "Bound" with Cinepocalypse fans. (Get your tickets here.)

from All Content https://ift.tt/2ytPYBG

[contrieves-moving]

i am thinking brainstorming if you will