#ngl he just reminds me of andrés so

[harrowscore]

It’s been some days, but can I ask your opinions about Phantom in Milan?

yes of course!! so, here are the things i enjoyed:

the performances were all very solid. ramin karimloo's voice has grown far better with time - he was never one of my super fav phantoms of all time but i always enjoyed him and it was really a treat to see him live. amelia milo is a lovely christine, and vinny coyle was also good as raoul. ah! and i got to see earl carpenter as andré (he's a superb actor and singer, and acting wise probably my fav erik ever)

the audience was on fire and very enthusiastic. the performers received multiple standing ovations at the curtain call - it was really a magical experience

in general the new staging, costumes, coreography were alright, and tbh far better (for the most part) than the restaged tour lmao. sure, the black angel wings of doom in the graveyard trio scene + the yellow coat/giant hat combo in ponr were a Choice but honestly? i didn't mind it so much, it kinda worked on stage.

in general i obviously prefer the original production but this was still a worthwhile experience. even my dad (who can't understand one word of english but was already vaguely familiar with the plot) absolutely loved it - he even said it was the best thing he saw in milan lmao. now he's a poto fan too sdfghjfjf

so tl;dr: they did a lot of things right. what i disliked instead:

in the graveyard scene... well it really doesn't look like a graveyard, to the point that my brother (who like my dad is familiar with the musical and even read the book many years ago) didn't understand that it was supposed to be a graveyard at all lol. the scenography was very bare ngl (they possibly saved some money for the abovementioned black angel wings of doom lmao)

i thought the staging for aiaoy was a bit... heh. basically raoul and christine don't really touch/hug each other until the end of the song (with the big damn kiss etc.) and it was a weird choice since this is supposed to be a romantic scene; in fact it kinda reminded me of the restaged tour version. same with motn (erik & christine don't have any physical contact until the famous 'touch me, trust me' bit, while in the og there's this interesting thing where he barely touches her at all/she leans into him etc. until the climax) but it makes more sense here. i mean, this is just a pet peeve of mine, both scenes were fine. as you pointed out it's been some days since i saw the show so maybe i'm misremembering it all. if anyone out there has a better memory than i have and wants to correct me you're free to do so lol

in the final lair scene, after erik lets christine & raoul go, she does return to give him back the ring but whereas in the original they face each other here she just. leaves it there (tho she looks emotional) while erik is facing the audience and singing 'i love you'. again, this doesn't ruin the show or anything but i prefer the more intimate scene from the original.

obv there were a lot of changes/additions to the og production and i can't list them all (i suppose other phans already did) but imho it's one of the most 'loyal' non-replicas out there, and while the original brilliant is still. you know. the og brilliant and all in all superior/far more spectacular this did not disappoint 💜

[livvyofthelake]

fuckass book u say… what goes on…

hii abby i don’t even think you’ve been here to know what book i’m even talking about so i’m imagining you seeing that vague ass post and being like hm wonder what book beth read… only for me to tell you it was just call me by your name, known movie nobody on tumblr likes other than me <3 and i understand that no one here likes timmy due to the overexposure or whatever but you’re all really missing out because he really is that good. sorry i know this is the hates popular opinions website but sometimes an opinion is popular because it’s just right idk man….

ANYWAY. so we loved the book… well ok loved is a strong word. we had a fun yet tense time with the book… as we all know i like the movie a lot (clearly enough to put it in the timeless video twice never forget… and i stand by it i’d do it again and more) anyway so i am a big supporter of not getting to have real concrete opinions on things you haven’t seen/read/heard whatever. so my ass READ the text!!!! and i’m going to get into the adaptation process with helena’s ask later which none of you have seen but like. well it’s in my inbox and i’m going to talk so much about it i <3 discussing the adaptation process! i digress. the book was really good elio is SUCH a fucking freak to read about i adored him… he is literally like if nick carroway was alina starkov. he is utterly insufferable and also obsessed with that man. but in a way that is so teenage girl bipolar… the entire beginning he’s like UGH oliver is the WORST man on planet earth and he HATES me and i HATE him and somehow i’m still HORNY about it but he’s AWFUL and MEAN. and then he’s like oh wait actually i realized he’s just shy lol omg he’s just like meeeeeee fr!!!! it was crazy. And he really had me there for a minute i was like damn oliver sounds like he sucks remind me why this is a love story?…. i was like andré what are we doing… of course ultimately what he was doing was taking the reader into the character’s mind so we could experience the worst of what elio felt as well as the best. which was crazyyyyy you had to be there!! not that i’m recommending this book. well maybe i am. idk it’s hard to say. abby you’d probably like it actually i think you’d respect elio’s ever present horniness and loser energy about it. that was meant to sound friendly and loving i didn’t mean to insinuate that you’re a horny loser… but well i mean. um love you 😁🩷

i think overall i liked the writing and the only major things against it are that well. andré is still a man and as we know i rarely fuck with male authors. feels like every time i give a man a chance he lets me down and frankly. it happened again :/ must every fictional character going through a sexuality crisis get misogynistic with it? to be fair it wasn’t THAT bad i just didn’t like what he was doing with the female characters. it felt very like. you know how men just don’t see women as human beings? yeah. which is crazy because i looked it up and andré aciman has a wife. girl you HAVE to leave him i’m sorry but you need to there’s no way he’s the best you could do dear god… i understand that an author making certain characters less in a narrative doesn’t necessarily reflect how they feel about an entire group of people in real life. but i mean. i fear i just have very little faith in men. ALSO he wrote a sequel to this book. which first of all, call me by your name was published in 2007. and it’s sequel wasn’t even planned to be written until 2018. you’ll note that the film came out in 2017. capitalist ass…. anyway i read the plot summary of the sequel and it gave very Hates Women so. i’m sticking with what i feel. it also gave fanfiction a little ngl. it also made me hate elio’s dad more than i already did, which has always been a fair amount. but we mustn’t get into all that we don’t have the time. btw you’re not supposed to hate elio’s dad he’s supposed to be the jennifer garner love simon of this story. but i don’t like him and i never have even in the movie… but i do like him a bit more in the movie i’m mostly ambivalent about him in there but in the book i really didn’t care for him much. it’s not really hate so much as just dislike. but it’s enough to be worth noting!!

but i think the strongest thing about the book that really made it good was that it wasn’t so much a “love story” as it was one character’s reflection on intimacy in his life. a narrative being a Romance sort of posits that there are two characters of equal importance, but this is really just elio’s narrative and oliver exists only as an extension of elio. especially when you consider that the core part of their dynamic is that they’re so similar the edges between them blur. in a way you could read it entirely as a story about self respect and self love

but i digress. very jumbled ass post but what do you want from me you sent me a vague statement/question…..

[roccinan]

1/n The post about hating Berlin 》 IT IS SO ME ! Even i hate characters like him, but then he went and died like *that* and Pedro Alonso and his pretty face and pretty voice ugh even i used to feel so guilty for watching edits and then seeing everyone say berlin was the best and we all realised that late I was like,,, yea but no,,, he was also the worst! And I also used to do that thing where you search up essays or comments that he was a bastard and I'd be like yep that he was i don't like him

2/n But I DID LIKE HIM and the first time I realised he was growing on me was right about that Russian roulette scene, I remember being so worried for him and being so mad at Tokyo?? and then he kicked Tokyo out (I love that scene, the music and everything is so EPIC) and I WAS SOLD I was like you're so problematic but you're my fav it just be like that 😅 the bella ciao scene and his affection for sergio just makes me SOFT everytime i think about it + I have a weakness for brothers in media too

3/n Then s3 dropped and while me and my fam were watching even my MOM who HATES him, we all went awww at that reunion scene in Florence, in fact for a second I was so excited that he somehow escaped :') lmao but then in s3 is when I finally accepted my LOVE for him.. his "Forza Michelangelo" and the whole scene leading up to guantanamera where he describes how to break into the vault and the scenes in the monastery between the brothers,,, they just break my heart 

3/n In s3 we see how much Andrés meant to Sergio and when Raquel asks him if it's all just revenge and if rio is just the perfect excuse to avenge his brother it always takes my breath away... and the way Andrés loved the plan so much and he isn't there to see it being executed? All he heard from Sergio when he was alive was how the plan is a disaster and now that his hermanito is actually doing it, he's not there to see it 😭😭😭 he's only a stupid painting on canvas

4/n i'm so sorry for dumping all my feels about andrés onto you, I just miss him so much like even right now if they made a way for him to come back alive I'd take it., I'd ignore all the logical fallacies if I can just see him ALIVE and reuniting with Martín and Sergio again :') one can dream! but yes, what I wanted to say was, that post is a BIG MOOD, and I still do remind myself now and then that they are major jerks (in fact, my sister does all the reminding I need she HATES them all lol)

Anon, are we like linked?? We are literally kindred spirits! LMAO same here. One minute I’m looking up Berlin hate posts and nodding my head along like, “yes, I too am part of the morally superior fandom club.” Then after patting myself on the back for doing the bare minimum of character critique, I went back to watching edits of his pretty face :’D Like, in my heart I always knew I was a hypocrite but I didn’t want to admit it lol. I also did the “no he’s not the best, he’s the worst!” thing you did, but every time he was on screen, I knew where my eyes were going (sadly lol).

I think during s1/2, every time I came close to “liking” Berlin, he’d do something that made me go “that’s terrible!!” until eventually he just crossed so many problematic lines he circled back to being not-problematic by virtue of being such a shameless fucker. He also grew on me during the bella ciao scene; granted, I thought he and Sergio were a couple at this point but I wasn’t too sure. Either way, I couldn’t help feeling soft for that affection (and once it was confirmed they were brothers, after I got over my luke/leia surprise.jpg moment, the brotp feels just went through the roof! And I was like, you know what, their relationship is so much more special as brothers instead. It’s my first time getting invested in fictional siblings so that’s cool.).

Also ngl, that scene where he kicked Tokyo out? Iconic and hilarious. Top 10 lcdp moments for sure XD And his death had me so conflicted because like, it really suited the character but it’s not exactly a redeeming moment because he dragged a hostage down with him for one last moment of trauma. I would have just accepted this as it was and moved on from whatever hangups I had about Berlin (and by hangups, I mean how much I hated the fact that I didn’t hate him lol). But they had to drop S3 and it was too late.

Flashback!Andrés was truly endearing (and once again, not usually the type of character I vibe with!) and Pedro Alonso managed to be even more attractive. This was when I knew no amount of hate comments could save me :’) Now all I can do is grit my teeth and say to myself, “remember that he is an asshole.” Anyway, my compromise now is to stan Pedro the actor but just accepting Berlin the character with all his flaws/nuances. You probably do the same- that’s why it doesn’t bother us to read character hate essays XD It’s like we’re trying to punish ourselves... and failing. 

btw, its funny that you mention your mom because I also watched lcdp with mine. It was a wonderful experience because she told me she disliked Berlin the most in part 1, but she also repeatedly went on about how handsome he was every time he was on screen. I didn’t even properly watch the “Forza Michelangelo” scene because that was the point where she went “whoa, Berlin is so handsome.”

Also, the brothers scenes in the flashbacks were some of my favorites! My all-time favorite lcdp shot is their reunion in Florence. The music, the cinematography, the Emotion on their faces. Just sweep me away :’) 

LOL given the way the bank plan is going, maybe it’s best that Andrés isn’t witnessing it. But it’s so bittersweet how he’s impacting Sergio’s decisions from beyond the grave. The only reason Andrés doesn’t feel dead is because of those flashbacks lol, but when we put them aside, then yeah, it’s like “oof” he’s dead and not coming back. Also I’ve been thinking the past few days about how he’s always the one to say “te quiero” first to others (Sergio and Martin). Neither of them ever got the chance to say it back to him in the show. 

I loved when Raquel asked Sergio if it was about revenge (and he didn’t even answer!) because Sergio’s grief has been very quiet. It’s such a powerful line, shows us that Sergio isn’t as calm about these things as he pretends to be. And it also shows how deeply Raquel understands what he feels/shows how much he told her about his brother. Just a great quiet character moment for everyone all around. 

Don’t apologize, anon! I haven’t had anyone to dump Andrés feels with either haha, so this is a fun experience for us both. And I get what you mean- if he’d just been shot or just been ill, maybe the writers could bring him back in the present. But no, they shot him like 400x and threw a terminal illness on top of it all lmao. I’d pay good money to see how they resurrect him from that. Maybe he’ll make a surprise comeback in the season finale and then immediately sacrifice himself to save the gang again. All in 10 minutes.

so flashbacks are our next best thing :’) It would be lovely to have some berlermo closure, but I’m also totally hoping for some hermanos moments. Anyway, thanks for the messages and glad we share a MOOD. Your sister is your conscience and she is on the right path, she won’t stray from the light like us XD I’m that person who will be like “Yes, rant away, say the truth!” @ anyone who writes comments about why Andrés is a bastard people shouldn’t like, while also giving him my vote in a sexiest character poll. 

[theeeveetamer]

Craving both angst and softness right now, so I thought about Sylvix three day after-heat routine during the time Sylvain can't stay with Felix: Day 1: Sylvain gets back and immediately rushes to Felix side, who is basically catatonic at that point. He'll barely react to Sylvain's presence, because he is so fucking exhausted and his mind is just too wrecked to register much of anything. Sylvain has a bath prepared in the room and gently washes him, before making him eat and drink something (1/2)

(2/3) via Alpha voice. He feels terrible about it, since Felix is still so vulnerable, but it's basically impossible otherwise and he doesn't want to physically force him either. The rest of the day is spent lying in bed, with Sylvain gently holding him. Day 2: THE KOALA PHASE: Felix's brain is slowly coming back, so he is now fully aware Sylvain is back and just. clings to him. Perpetually. This is basically when André found them that one time. There is not much to be done, except for Sylvain

(3/3) to regularly remind Felix to eat and drink. Sometimes he still needs Alpha voice for that, but thankfully it's not as harrowing anymore. (Felix just whines a little before complying) Day 3: Felix.exe is mostly back online, but he is still feeling pretty vulnerable, so they take things slow and spend a final day in bed just talking quietly. Sylvain will tell him what he was up to and how far things are progressing with the research. They actually treaure these quiet hours quite a bit.

NGL I read these asks this morning and wanted to respond right away but I had stuff to do. So, I’m answering them as a reward to myself.

In short yessssss!

I usually don’t incorporate stuff like “omega drop” into my fics but I think this would be the one real exception. Left alone, in heat, without his mate? Felix goes down like a rock.

Sylvain figures out that skin to skin contact seems to work the best at pulling him out of it, so there’s as much of that as humanly possible when he gets back. He draws a bath for them to take together, and he very gently washes his hair and cleans him off, and it’s honestly the most heartbreaking thing. Felix seems at least somewhat aware of him, but for the most part he’s just staring despondently into space. Occasionally he whimpers if Sylvain accidentally tugs his hair too hard or pinches his skin.

He tries so, so hard not to use the Alpha Voice. He really does, because when he uses it Felix lets out the most pathetic whine in protest before he relents. But, well... Mercedes tells him that he hasn’t eaten at all, and Sylvain can’t get him to without using it. I also think that Sylvain’s (non-Alpha) voice helps bring him out of it too, so there’s a lot of whispering in Felix’s ear and talking to him. Not even about anything important, just mundane stuff. He’ll go over everything he did while they were separated, down to what he ate for breakfast and the random thoughts he had while riding his horse.

Sylvain knows that Felix will come out of it eventually, but there’s still those few, terrifying hours where Felix isn’t talking or responding to him. He might even mutter something to himself, like “Alpha doesn’t want me anymore...” which just makes Sylvain seethe in rage at how unfair the world is.

They know they’ve moved on to stage 2 of recovery when Felix actually manages to croak out a word (and that word is always “Sylvain?”). That’s when Sylvain launches into all of the comforting “I would never leave you, I love you, you know that, right?” stuff, because Felix just spent three days feeling abandoned by his mate.

They know Felix has finally snapped out if it when he grouchily shoves Sylvain away and calls him an asshole for leaving him (even though they both know that it was necessary).