#of songs from the soundtracks of his movie adaptations

[charlunday]

BASED UPON THE NOVEL BY

[wherebettertoescape]

Thoughts on The Outsiders Album

Okay, as I said yesterday, I have a LOT of thoughts on the album and I decided to revive this page so I stop bothering everyone IRL with my thoughts about it 😂 I figure there must be a good amount of people on tumblr who are down to listen to my rants about the album, so here goes.

I'll put it under a cut so there aren't any spoilers for anyone who hasn't listened yet, and I know there's one or two things which I've heard about the prouction via other posts and such. But I will stress that I haven't actually seen it, I've only listened to the album and obsessed over it 😂

It's also below the cut because it's fucking LOOOOONG

Please reply to this or send in your own thoughts - I have so much I want to talk about to do with this album and I'm like... shaking with the need to talk about it with people who actually want to listen 😂

(sad times living in the UK 🥲)

I'm gonna go through the album sequentially, like track by track, because that feels like the thing to do, even though I will say right off that I definitely have more thoughts about some tracks than others. And I will also give my favourite line from each song. But for a just, like, general overview to begin with - I love the album so much?

I will fully admit that I was kinda preparing myself for it to be bad - it's a book that I love and I wasn't the biggest fan of the movie adaptation for a few key reasons, but I was so pleasantly surprised by the musical soundtrack.

I'm in love with the style of music, I love the entire cast (all of them have such different singing voices and styles and I think that they merge together so beautifully), and it has most of the things that I love in a musical - for me, it's got the right balance of the talking sections included with the singing, as well, which I know some people aren't huge fans of, but I might be biased because Soda is and always has been my favourite character and most of the talking is by him 😂 (I love Jason Schmidt, but we'll talk about that later), and as well as that the style of music and singing like gives me a good picture of what the actual choreography might look like, which I'm obsessed with, since I probably won't get to see it unless it somehow gets to the West End (🤞🏻)

Tulsa '67

Okay so this song is just like ✨exposition ✨ but it's done in a fun way, and I've decided it's worth it just for the finale reprise

I was also like stupidly emotional the first time I heard it and it opened with the opening line of the book

I was wary because of the immediate characterisation of Sodapop as being the brother "with a broken heart" (side note - does this mean Sandy broke his heart before the show rather than after it? I've goes QUESTIONS) - I'll go into it again when we get into Grease Got a Hold for obvious reasons, but I was worried that Soda was gonna be reduced into just being a womaniser again, which is something that bothered me about the movie adaptation

Favourite line: "all the girls are pretty there, and all the guys are mean"

Grease Got a Hold

right so it has no right to be as much of a bop as it is, it's been stuck in my head for the past week since it came out and I can't even be mad about it 😂

It's essentially just a typical "gang" song to introduce and characterise all the different members

Dally always saying "Little brother" got me so emotional like immediately

And I know I just said that I was upset with Soda's characterisation as a womaniser, but considering later songs, I will say I do find it really funny that he basically just goes "yeah I'm a greaser bc I love women 😊"

I LOVE TWO-BIT MATTHEWS - I would die for Daryl Tofa, just something soooooo good about the line he gives after Soda's verse

I have to admit, I was a little worried that they were gonna be pushing some anti-Darry propaganda, but I had no cause to worry, as he's an actual angel. Also it's so funny how fucking Done he is the moment he starts speaking

Something really funny about Steve not getting a verse, but something really sad about Johnny not getting one, but I don't have fully fleshed out thoughts yet so I'm gonna leave that there

But also there's just something about all of them trying to act tough, but all of them just have the voices of angels

Favourite line: "I'm a latch-key kid but they keep changing the locks" and also "you wanna be a fighter? then know just what you're fighting for"

Runs in the Family

I'm upset because this song has been such an ear-worm for me, but it's actually just so sad? There are a couple of these, but this is one of the main ones for me

It immediately makes Darry just such a sympathetic character - it's well documented that Ponyboy doesn't feel like he's enough of a greaser, but I don't think we talk enough about Darry is a reluctant greaser

Side note: but I'm really glad that they included Darry having dropped out of school to look after Soda and Pony, because that was kinda glossed over in the movie, which I felt did Darry a disservice

I just want to hug Brent Comer and tell Darry that he's doing a good job and everything will be okay 🥲

Favourite line: "I don't know what them boys would ever do without me - and what would I do on my own?"

Great Expectations

honestly this song deserves a post all of it's own, and maybe one day I'll do a full analysis of it

but in the meantime, it's fucking GORGEOUS, like Brody Grant has NO RIGHT to sound like this I'm so mad

THE FUCKING HARMONIES I WANNA SCREAM THEY'RE SO GOOD

One of the things I've loved about the soundtrack in general is how Pony in particular draws parallels and comparrisons between Johnny and the other greasers - here it's between Darry and Johnny, and I love it because Pony references in the book that he feels like he and Johnny are the outsiders in the greasers, he feels like neither of them really belong there, and they convey that so well in the musical with these constant comparisons in the songs and music

The continual return back to this idea of a self-fulfilling prophechy - trying to prove that they're not all the same just because they're greasers (like with the different verses in Grease Got a Hold), and this striving for individuality despite the overarching label they've been given

Favourite line: "It's hard to write this story, when this story's writing me"

Friday at the Drive-in

they all just sound so young - that's my main take-away from this song

I love songs in musicals like this where you're forced to be reminded how young the characters are and you have to humanise them a bit more - a bit like with "Drink with Me" in Les Mis

Also anytime that a soundtrack includes the dance-break it makes me so happy 🥲

Favourite Line: "Got no more stress, nothing to worry me - no more teacher's pet or trigonometry"

I Could Talk to You All Night

I need to say that I love this song, but the opening from Cherry is so fucking savage - like fucking hell there's no need to do that to Pony 😂

Again obsessed with Pony not feeling like enough of a Greaser

I'm a sucker for two people who feel lost in their own worlds finding each other and bonding because they can be themselves in a way that they can never be around their other friends

It's just such a pretty duet, and I want more of Brody Grant and Emma Pittman singing - we could have a million songs of the two of them and it wouldn't be enough

Favourite line: "I'd rather read then fight a rumble, but Greasers have to go along"

Runs in the Family (Reprise)

Dude it's such a serious song, and I'm obsessed that despite that there's just Soda being a little shit in the background

"I'll fold your laundry - I'LL FOLD ALL OF IT"

I love that even in this song it's like you can tell he's just so worried about Pony but it's coming out so angry and frustrated

So full of grief for the life he almost had

He's just so angry at Pony for still being able to dream, and it's like he feels like he needs to prepare Pony for real life, because he feels like he can't dream or wish for things anymore

And then just the screeching violin at the end of the song followed by DEAD FUCKING SILENCE, and then it switches to the next song where Pony starts singing acapella it's just herugighadlsiughukdhjsak, y'know?

Favourite line: "Whats the use in dreaming, about a life I'll never know? That ship sailed long ago"

Far Away from Tulsa

okay so I've already said that I'm obsessed with it beginning with Brody Grant acapella, and I know that the songs probably don't flow straight from one to the other in the actual production, but for the sake of the cast recording the effect is incredible

But also, there was absolutely no need to make this song so gay 😂 - Ponyboy, the bisexual icon we all need

It's very reminiscent of Santa Fe, with just kids dreaming for a life that they could have outside of their big city. Especially with the line "this place is real, it's not just in my head", which is VERY similar to "just be real is all I'm asking, not some painting in my head", but I'm okay with it because Brody Grant is incredible

But that line, as well as the one "'Ponyboy you're just a dreamer', that's what both my brothers say" are also really great links back to the previous song with the references of him being a dreamer, and that being what sets him apart from the other Greasers

I also just wanna say that I think it's criminal that there weren't more Pony/Johnny duets. Sky Lakota-Lynch and Brody Grant own my soul

Also catch me being emotional over Johnny's dream being wanting a family - he doesn't realise that he's already got one in the gang 🥺 (I could write an essay about this and Dally's continued use of 'little brother')

OKAY ALSO OBSESSED WITH THE CIRCLE BACK TO GREAT EXPECTATIONS, AND WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT HOW THE LYRICS CHANGE FROM

"Torn between what is and what could be. It's hard to write this story when this story's writing me"

TO

"It's all becoming clear, there's no way we're gonna find that here"

GOTTA ESCAPE TULSA TO ESCAPE THEIR FATE, SOMETHING AGAIN ABOUT SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES, I JUST CAN'T

Favourite line: "I'm tired of blindly watching as we're inching towards the ground"

Run Run Brother

There's so much to say about this song, but I literally can't formulate the words, so it's probably gonna be one that I come back to and properly analyse later. so in the meantime, here are my key take-aways

right from the beginning, it gives just an "oh-shit" feeling, just so much urgency and desperation

All three of them have such different singing voices and styles and the combination of the three just makes me so happy and I don't even know how to like express what I'm feeling

Back to the thing about Dally always calling Johnny (and Pony, but we're emotional about Johnny here) "brother"

the music is just so fitting - I feel like I need to be up and moving every time I hear it, like if I ran ever this would be on the playlist 😂

And I'm going insane over the echoes of what has been previously been said - the "grease isn't given it's something you earn", and "let's leave this behind, let's just get up and go" like you're FORCED to face that they are being given what they want but in a really terrible way

Favourite line: "I hate to make you go, but there ain't no other way"

Justice for Tulsa

okay so I know that this is a really important song and everything, but I will admit this is the one I tend to skip most

I will say I think this song would hit harder if they kept with the themes of police brutality that there are in the novel and movie with regards to Dally's death (going off what I've heard about the script changes from people who have seen it, I can't verify myself)

The song feels very claustrophobic, with everyone just trying to blame everyone else, which I think is really well done. Especially with the multiple voices coming in with "you know just what you did"

And it does show the bias of the world trying to blame the Greasers just by reputation alone, which is thematically nice

and also just the kinda mob mentality of the whole thing, especially at the end, with a declaration of war

Favourite line: "or we could send them back a message, take an eye for an eye"

Death's at My Door

I think I've seen somewhere that this is the opening song for the second act and I just - fucking hell, what an opener 😂 they really just wanna destroy all of us, huh?

EDIT: I've been corrected, and it's Justice for Tulsa that starts act 2 - my bad guys, I don't know where I saw otherwise. JfT starting act 2 makes soo much more sense 😂

I wanted to like reach through my headphones somehow and hug Brody Grant, like holy shit

The first time I heard it all I could think about was how much he's going to blame himself when Johnny (and Dally) do die - especially with Johnny having comforted Pony about it

And I'm just emotional about the exploration of Pony thinking of himself as a burden on everyone he loves, especially going back to what Darry says to him in Runs in the Family reprise, just confirming everything that Pony already worries about himself

Favourite line: "I don't believe in the death that you're bringing - the reason I'm living is you"

Throwing in the Towel

I just love brothers okay? This song made me want to like message all my siblings and tell them I love them

I loved that we see Pony's inner thoughts and fears about being a burden on his brothers, immediately followed by seeing Darry's own thoughts and feelings - the two of them being so similar in how they blame themselves for everything

All three of the Curtis brothers being terrified of losing anyone else

AND THIS IS THE SODA CHARACTER REDEPTION I NEEDED - he becomes more than just the womaniser, you can see him having like actual thought and feelings, and the amount of emotion in Jason Schmidt's voice as he's trying to reassure Darry, like this song and Soda's letter gets across everything that makes Soda my favourite character

And there's something to be said about how they're finally like communicating their emotions 😂

Favourite line: "I know your head is full of doubt, but brother that's what love is all about"

Soda's Letter

Musical letters my beloved ❤️

I love songs like these - they're always just so vulnerable

It links to Tulsa '67 Reprise with the reference to how Soda kinda keeps the family all together. This song you can like see the strain that it has on him, trying to keep the brothers who he loves so much together, by trying to tell Pony that Darry does love him even though he shows it in a very different way

also anyone who has seen it and made it this far in the post can you tell me whether they keep in the bit about Pony reading this really heartfelt letter only to go "Soda's so dumb he can't fucking spell" because it's all I could think about when I listened to it for the first time

Favourite line: "Your brother needs you just as much as you need him, and brother we ain't doing to good alone"

Hoods Turned Heroes

The triumphant return of my beloved Two-Bit, and he's doing some king shit

I love him, okay?

This is another song where I know it's really important, but I actually don't have much to say about it, other than I do really enjoy it

Favourite line: "It's time to celebrate Greasers, take pride in the Greaser name"

Hopeless War

I love that it's just Cherry begging Pony not to change, and hoping that he's still an outsider of the Greasers like she is for the Socs, a hope that the two of them are still kindred spirits even after everything that happened

She knows that the rumble is gonna be where Pony loses that last bit of dreamer in him because he's holding just so much anger at the world - I dunno, there's something there I'm sure 😂

it's such a smooth transition into "Trouble" and I wanna SCREAM it's so good

Favourite line: "even if you win, it doesn't change a thing"

Trouble

It feels like a war chant or something

The music is just so agitated

It's like Run Run Brother where I feel the need to be up and moving

Favourite line: "Do it for Johnny, even the scores, time to rally the crew"

Little Brother

I get chills every time I listen to it

Something about Joshua Boone's voice guys, I don't even know like how someone goes about beginning to talk about it, but whoever takes over as Dally has got some big shoes to fill

It's a lament to Johnny, and I feel like I listen to it and I feel the same anger and indignation that Dally feels

It's a song where I listen to it and I know, even without having seen the production, how I'd stage it and that always makes me excited

The longer the song goes on, the more uneasy you feel listening to it

It links him and Darry together again, with how he blames himself for everything that happened to his little brother, he feels like he should have been able to protect Johnny, the way that Darry always tries to protect Ponyboy

The final tempo increase and the discordant violin at the end, and it feels like even just listening to it you're watching him fall into a grief-led madness, and his certainty that there's only one way that his story can end

Favourite line: "They can't take anymore from me - if I ain't got you, then I ain't got nothing else"

Stay Gold

It feels somehow criminal to put these songs next to each other, but I mean obviously they have to be - that's how they want you to feel, but it doesn't mean that I'm not mad about it

I've listened to it like a million times and it still brings me to tears every now and then

There's something about having the hopelessness of "Little Brother", with Dally bring so apologetic at having failed Johny, followed by Johnny asking Pony to tell him that there's still good in the world

Just how much everyone in this story needs each other and they don't realise that the others need them too, yknow?

Johnny being Dally's "gold" - a lot to say about that but yknow, this is already long as fuck

The simplicity of the music itself (same as with Soda's letter - makes them thematically the same blah blah blah with them both being letters and all that), but it makes the song much more vulnerable than some of the others - nothing for Sky Lakota-Lynch to hide behind

Also that line: "I have looked into a thankful father's eyes, telling me I've saved his daughters life", and how that links to what Johnny says in the book about the little girl's life being worth more than his - I dunno, it just got me emotional, okay?

Favourite line: "I hold on to the good 'cause I've made my peace with all the bad" and also "It's easy to forget when you're trying just to make it through"

Tulsa '67 Reprise

WE MADE IT BOYS (seriously though, for real, if you made it this far, thanks for reading through my descent into madness 😂 and please send your own thoughts and such, bc I'm desperate to hear other people's thoughts)

I said it at the beginning, but I think the reprise of this song makes the exposition at the beginning worth it

At the beginning we hear Ponyboy as a dreamer, and at the end he still has that, but rather than idolising and making everything spectacular, he sees beauty in the mundane - he sees it in his brothers, his friends, all of that

The call backs to the original song as well, which allow us to go back to the theme of looking at individuality - the Greasers wanting to be seen as more than just characatures, and by the end they are like fully-fleshed out people rather than just the basic stock figures we initially get them introduced as in Grease Got a Hold

The clearest examples are, of course, Darry and Soda

Darry goes from being "could have been a football star, people say he had a ticket out" to instead being "the toughest guy I've ever known"

Soda goes from "suffers from a broken heart" to "this family's life and soul"

and then it goes from "got no parents, we fend for ourselves" to "can you imagine how proud mum and dad would be"

just something so beautiful about that, I dunno

There's more I could say about the themes of brotherhood and individuality ("grease as their disguise", for example), but I'll spare it for now

Favourite line: "Just too damn good for growing old, and in his memory I stay gold"

(finally - if you've stuck around to the end, I've also recently set up an instagram account, just for me, so please also check that out if you wanna hear more about my thoughts about random musicals and stuff!)

Freddie 🐸 (Instagram)

[thefanficmonster]

Richie x reader relationship hcs pleaseeee

Certainly, darling! Hope you enjoy 💕

Pairing: Richie Jerimovich x Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: Swearing, SPOILERS for The Bear

Genre: FLUFF, Humor

It takes a lot of patience having to put up with this man

Or it used to

He's put together now

He wears suits

And he can do way more than just respect

So you start way more than just tolerating him

By now that's all just semantics

All is null and void when you see how far your relationship has come

From barely being able to be in the same room without bickering

To being a couple head over heels for one another

His love language is quality time well spent and gifts given at random

Yours is acts of service and words of affirmation

The latter you've adapted due to his inherent need to be told what he pretends he already knows

That he's doing well, that he's doing enough

That he's an exceptional employee of The Bear, carrying on his best friend's legacy

That he's an amazing father whose daughter loves very much

Speaking of Eva

She had her reservations about you, but not for the reasons you may think

She's just got her dad's protective attitude and all thorns she exhibited toward you were all in favor of letting you know that if you hurt Richie...

You'll be reprimanded accordingly

But that too is history now

You and Eva have become inseparable

The three of you would sit around the dining room table, working on the homework Eva needed help with

Truthfully though, you'd spend most of the time doing nothing more than singing along to Taylor Swift songs

The singer's discography has become the official soundtrack to your and Richie's relationship

Her songs are blasting through the apartment and in the car practically 24/7

It took you so long to come to terms with the fact that you and Richie have so much in common

Now that you've accepted it, it's made you an unstoppable power couple

It's insane how you went from tolerance, to acceptance, to respect, to a crush in denial to a movie worthy love story

A very low budget rom-com at best

But still a movie none the less

[niqosblog]

Gretchen Wieners is 100% Queer: An Analysis

Spoilers for the 2024 Movie!!!!

Analysis under cut!!!

Exhibit A: Her One-sided Crush on Regina

Her solo song (What's Wrong With Me) is very much just a love song. The lyrics are very much blaming herself for her just because she loves Regina too much to blame her. It's a song of unrequited love, and how she is fully aware she's being used. But she won't do anything because it's the Regina George.

If you're still unconvinced, here are the lyrics of Gretchen's song compared to Aaron's (Regina's ex boyfriend) song:

Gretchen:

Aaron:

As you can see, the lyrics are very similar. Aaron sticks to Regina because he actually likes her and wants to impress her. Guess what Gretchen also does...

Not only are these musical numbers back to back on the soundtrack, they are about the same person and their relationship with the singer. This could be pure coincidence but I do have other points to make besides the songs.

Such as this scene:

In the actual show, Gretchen is actually flattered by what Regina said. And she actually takes it to heart. The only reason why she told Regina about Cady's crush on Aaron was because she was slowly replacing her, and she got jealous.

Exhibit B: Jason Weems

Before we start, this is about their toxic relationship which I do not support and I'm only using for an example. And if you try to argue that they aren't toxic and are just a couple that has a lot of playful banter. The 2024 movie changes her love interest as she sees Jason as sleezy.

Gretchen likes Jason in the movie and that goes for the rest of the adaptations by Tina Fey.

But why?

Jason always cheats on her and hits on any girl he sees. Yet Gretchen keeps going back to him. It's assumed that he only does this to make Gretchen jealous. But he already has her wrapped around his finger, so why bother. Maybe he's just good at pleasing her, but that's not the case.

In a deleted scene in 2004 Mean Girls, Karen and Gretchen have a conversation about Jason. Gretchen saying it's 'the night for [her] and Jason' for Karen to say that they've already done it twice. But Gretchen says that tonight she's going to 'like it'.

This means, the two other times they've had sexual interactions she didn't like having it with him. And why she didnt like it goes unexplained. This ties back to Regina. Like Regina, Jason ignores Gretchen a lot. Much as far as to step over her at Cady's party in the movie when she falls to the floor while drunk. Yet Gretchen still craves attention from him and expects calls and texts back.

She has only shown this behavior toward Jason and two other character. Those characters are Regina and Cady. She yearns for Regina's attention while she's queen bee. When she and Karen go to another room, Gretchen asks to be let in. This leads to the 'What's Wrong With Me' musical number. She loves being with Regina and treasures every little interaction, even if it's through a door.

Now, when Cady is queen bee, she does the same thing. She asks her to make plans so they can hang out. And when she refuses, she uses Cady's crush (Aaron) as a reason to make plans. She's desperate to hang out with Cady and is at her every beck and call.

This could just be Gretchen sucking up to authority, but it's still very similar to how she is with Jason, her on-and-off boyfriend.

Exhibit C: Her Questionable Relationship With Karen

In every adaptation, Gretchen seems to always have a positive relationship with Karen. Which is the only character within the Mean Girls universe she has a positive relationship with (unless you count the Walmart ads as lore and consider her husband to be a character). They have many scenes to the point that TV Tropes considers them to be 'Heterosexual Life-Partners'.

Link:

But from what we know, the two don't have a set love interest. Unlike Cady and Regina who are Betty and Veronica to Aaron's Archie. Their onscreen relationships go as follows from the movie-musical-movie musical

Gretchen: Jason (movie), no one (musical), Kevin (movie musical)

Karen: Seth (kind of), no one, unnamed theater boy

These two do not have a set relationship with boys. Guess which other character this applies to.

Janis Ian or any other variation of her last name.

Janis was only written as straight once. In the 2004 movie with Kevin G. The other adaptations however...

In the musical, her sexuality is left ambiguous but she's single by the start and end of it. And BWW, her Broadway actress, says that she played Janis as queer. Then in the 2024 movie, she's a canonical lesbian and takes her girlfriend to Spring Fling. Meaning that Janis' relationship adaptations looks like this:

Janis: Kevin, no one, unnamed girlfriend

This is very similar to Gretchen and Karen's adaptations relationships. And when we consider how Tina wrote most of these adaptations we can conclude that Janis was at least queer when she first wrote her. And the same should go for Gretchen and Karen.

And the musical and 2024 movie put some interesting moments between them.

This isn't even the half of it, I've heard they've done a gay thigh touch in some productions.

Mind you, the second photo was during Spring Fling after dumping Jason.

As you can see they don't exactly have a straight relationship. Not to say they both are gay and should have been canon in the 2024 movie hahahahaha.. But the two have very obvious chemistry and love each other. Whether platonic or romantic.

And in an interview, Avantika, Karen's 2024 actress, says that Karen is pansexual. And from this analysis, we can say that at the very least Gretchen is some form of queer. Whether it's bi, pan, unlabeled, or even if you headcanon her as lesbian and think of Jason as her beard.

At the end of the day, it's your decision to believe me or not. But it is 3:09 right now (sorry for any typos), and I've been meaning to make this post ever since I saw the 2024 movie in theaters.

Remember, this is all analysis through a queer lens. You can still think of her as straight, or think of the adaptations having different sexuality. I don't want to force what I think onto anyone that they don't believe in. This is just a post by a silly gay person.

[cantsayidont]

For anyone who's keen on the Peter Jackson LORD OF THE RINGS movies and has had difficulty getting into the book, I really highly recommend Phil Dragash's Soundscape LOTR project, an unofficial, unabridged audiobook with music and sound effects from the film soundtracks. (Because it's unauthorized, you can't buy it, but it's around if you look on the interwebs.)

Dragash is a very good voice actor — so good that the retention of "he said" type dialogue markers is sometimes jarring — and captures the characters very well (although he mostly recites rather than sings the songs). Every so often he stumbles on the pronunciation of a word (curiously, more often real ones than Tolkien's constructed ones — for instance, in Bilbo's song of Earendil, "mariner" becomes "mareener"), but that's also true of the authorized audiobook readers. The Dragash version is clearly superior to both the 1990 audiobook by Robert Inglis (Inglis sings, but his performance of the characters is often stuffy) and the recent 2021 Andy Serkis version (Serkis is a wonderful actor, but some of the characters are beyond his range, and he sometimes seems daunted by Tolkien's poetic constructions). The main downside is that because the Soundscape project is a labor of love done without benefit of professional audio mixing tools, the music can occasionally drown out the narration; Dragash has redone several of the chapters over the years to address this.

Dragash's audio version is a good bridge for people coming from the films, since it's informed by them (in the performance of the characters as well as in the music), but as an unabridged adaptation, it restores excised subplots and flattened characterization, while capturing the sweep of Tolkien's language.

I now prefer it to the two modern audio dramatizations of LOTR: The 1979 Mind's Eye version, adapted by James Arrington (who also plays Gandalf), is essentially an abridged audiobook with multiple voice actors; Arrington is excellent as Gandalf, but the rest of the cast, drawn from local community theater, is not, making it a very mixed bag. The 1981/1982 BBC radio version, adapted by Brian Sibbery and Michael Bakewell (initially as 26 half-hour episodes, later reedited to 13 hour-long installments), is generally very good, with Ian Holm and Bill Nighy outstanding as Frodo and Sam and Michael Hordern a fine Gandalf (although I think Arrington better captured Gandalf's prickliness). However, not all the actors are of the same caliber (Jack May as Théoden isn't a patch on Bernard Hill); the clever idea of presenting the Battle of the Pelénnor Fields as a medieval ballad (by Oz Clarke and the Ambrosian Singers) ends up being hard to decipher; the transformation of narrative exposition to dialogue works in some spots and not others; and the inevitable abridgements are painful if you're familiar with the full text. I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from the BBC version, and at 12½ hours, it's not much longer than the extended versions of the films, but it's no longer the gold standard for Tolkien audio.

[johnschneiderblog]

Come for the movie; stay for the music

I got a text from a neighbor Wednesday saying she was watching a show loaded with Lord Huron music.

It was the 2015 Robert Redford/Nick Nolte movie "A Walk in the Woods" - an adaptation of travel writer Bill Bryson's popular book about his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. It's now showing on Netflix.

To be honest, the movie itself is mediocre. The New York Times critic called it "A Scenic Trek Spoiled." I would call it a fine soundtrack squandered.

LH songs in the movie include "The Birds are Singing at Night." "She Lit a Fire," "The Ghost on the Shore," "Brother (Last Ride)" and "Ends of the Earth."

It's on Netflix until Aug. 19.

[can-of-w0rmz]

Have you seen the Dracula musical?

Not really, but I read a plot synopsis and listened to the soundtrack a while ago. The only song I really liked was The Master’s Song, W for giving my guy Renfield some screen time, but apart from that, I mean yeah. Just another shitty adaptation pissing itself to push the Mina x her rapist plotline, because a consensual and loving marriage can’t be romantic! She’s a Victorian woman! She has to be oppressed by her husband! And sexually repressed! Despite… having a son? Because we all know history is completely streamlined and not complicated whatsoever and all women born before the 2000s were miserable and had no personalities or opinions. It’s feminist to make her a one dimensional plot device swooning over the eldritch monster who assaulted her.

What’s that? A well-rounded and assertive protagonist in a healthy and stable relationship? And she’s in a piece of classic literature? That takes more than two brain cells to comprehend, sorry! Time to butcher your favourite vampire hunter archivist. But go watch the Barbie movie, Hollywood is sooooo progressive. Just don’t look at that sweet sweet profit or think about it too hard for more than five seconds.

That’s a total rant, my bad, and this is more about Dracula adaptations in general than the musical specifically, but when most 80s action sci-fi movies have more multifaceted and interesting female characters than modern shit that actively markets itself as “feminist”, you know words don’t mean shit anymore and postmodernism and capitalist hellscapes have retracted in on themselves like an AI eating itself alive until the final product is meaningless and unrecognisable, and still profiting off of the ignorant who’ve been conditioned by the system not to think.

Also, I have a love hate relationship with Frank Wildhorn. Occasionally he cooks w/ some absolute bangers but a lot of his stuff feels kinda uninspired. No hate to him personally ofc, I don’t know enough about him to say anything remotely about that.

But anyway, tl:dr, no, I haven’t watched it the whole way through, but I know the general beats and needless to say I’m skeptical of adaptations of that book in general, and just pissed off with the state of that specific kind of “feminist retelling” shit that gets churned out, stuffed into an interesting looking costume and called “artistic”.

[bestanimatedmovie]

Choose your favorite!

Vote in the other polls!

What fans say:

Beauty and the Beast:

This is the only animated film ever to be nominated for regular best-picture*. It literally is responsible for the creation of the best-animated-feature category. It was Howard Ashman’s last work and his biggest passion project, and I would argue that there’s a strong reading of the film as a metaphor about the stigma and shame of aides and Visual Queerness that Ashman was experiencing at the time. It’s also one of the best works of hand animation that’s ever been committed to film before or since. In the ballroom scene you can watch the dynamic camera angles they move through and the way that all those ruffles on Bell’s dress swirl so perfectly and naturally. That shit is so complicated, most animators wouldn’t even bother, but it was all hand-drawn(!!), cell-by-cell by James Baxter, yet another absolute titan of the industry that had his hands on this film.**

Soundtrack fucks and the animation pussy is poppin

*Mod note: it was the first but two others have been nominated since (Up and Toy Story 3)

**Mod note 2: I'm leaving the videos for next round, but because submitter wrote so much about the scene, I'll leave the link here

The Prince of Egypt:

First of all, don't let the fact that it's a religious film put you off, because there is SO much to love about it. Gorgeous animation? Check. Amazing soundtrack (composed by Hans Zimmer)? Check. Wonderful scene composition? Check. A compelling take on the classic religious story that does much to humanize and expound on the characters in a way that brings them to life? Check. Powerful scenes that will take your breath away and can be appreciated regardless of whether you're religious or not? Check. Dreamworks' passion project at the time with a lot of obvious effort and love poured into it through all stages of the production process? Check. The Prince of Egypt has done so much to rewire the brains of 2-3 generations of children who grew up in religious families, myself included, and damn it all if it doesn't go hard with it. Vote for the Prince of Egypt.

The animation is GORGEOUS! The music is FANTASTIC! It makes you want to CRY!

The first time I watched it, the opening theme was playing ("Deliver Us") and I realized it was the first time I'd ever heard my culture's music in a major film. Also, the animation is simply beautiful.

It's a thoughtful adaptation of one of mankind's oldest stories. The music slaps.

The music? The script? The animation? Everything? How they blended the 2D and the CGI, how they animated the water and fire, the songs, the 3D sequence where Moses becomes a hieroglyphic carving on the wall, the imagery matching the gods invoked in "Playing with the big boys" sequence, the last plague being animated as mist that gets bigger the more lives it takes, how they managed to make the featureless desert SO pretty, the parting of the red sea animation that took 2 years to make (and looks amazing!), how it's a very respectful adaptation of (the first part of) the book of Exodus, how they managed to have ALL the people consulted for its religious importance agreed on at least one thing (Moses saving a random person rather than Miriam), Tzipporah (all of her), how Miriam has her timbrel on her last scene (and it's even Miriam's song playing!), how they researched how blood was slathered on the doorposts (hyssop) and how the script on the tablets for the 10 commandments would look, how it doesn't shy away from the blood and death. That part on the bridge of When you believe where the children start singing in Hebrew (Mi chamocha)? 11/10, no notes, fantastic, amazing, showstopper!

It's the only religious movie I've ever enjoyed. The creators consulted with multiple leaders of different religions to make sure it was as accurate and representative as possible

It's a well knwon classic that tells the story of the Exodus without being fucking boring and has legendary songs. Literally it's the Prince of Egypt. My favorite scene is the one where he parts the sea obv

The perfect storytelling structure, the voice acting, how you can tell what a character is thinking by their facial expressions alone (not everything must be said aloud), how very much HUMAN each character is, the use of color and lighting, the music and incredible lyrics, the style of animation...favorite scene impossible to choose! Yocheved's lullaby when she sets him adrift in a basket? When Moses meets Miriam again as adults, and she sings the lullaby, the same lullaby he always hums, triggering his memories and causing him to remember? The song Through Heaven's Eyes as he fits in with Tzipporah's people and falls in love with her? The PLAGUES?! Btw. This is based on the Exodus story with artistic liberation used to stay true to the message, but you can be of any faith (or lack of faith; I myself am agnostic) to enjoy the movie. In the end, it is simply a compelling ans human story.

That opening, god the song “deliver us” goes so hard it immediately hooked me. The scene of crossing the red sea is universally loved and iconic because of how beautiful it is but the rest of the movie goes so hard too, especially with the wall paintings depicting children being killed like.

I love the scene with the plagues song

Oh my god it's such a gorgeous film and a wonderful retelling oh my god and the music is also amazing

Banger music. Banger animation. Jewish. What can't she do? I feel so strongly about this.

Combined 2D animation with early 3D animation beautifully, and has an amazing soundtrack. Also the Plagues song slaps.

[jackiestarsister]

There is a musical about ADHD

Since apparently it’s ADHD Awareness Month, I thought I’d share something I wrote recently: my reaction to discovering the musical adaptation of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

I read The Lightning Thief as a young teen, though not the rest of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I’m now revisiting the series because this summer, I came across the musical soundtrack on Spotify, and then found recordings of productions on YouTube.

With music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki and a book by Joe Tracz, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is impressively faithful to the source material. Even with some changes from page to stage, the storytelling quality is fantastic (much better than the movies!). But what really surprised and impressed me was how much it resonated with me as someone who has ADD. Altogether, the musical feels like an allegory for the neurodivergent experience.

In the book, there are scattered references to ADHD and the kinds of symptoms it manifests—impulsiveness, procrastination, time blindness (demonstrated quite literally by the lotus-eaters). But the show delves much deeper into the emotional life of a person who has a learning disability or mental disorder: alienation, anger, resentment, self-blame, low self-esteem. The music matches these emotions, often angsty and sometimes harsh. The overall tone of the show is chaotic, which is how our brains and our lives can feel. The lyrics of some songs may sound like a lot of whining, but imagine the kind of real-life thought spiral that that represents. (Then imagine being frustrated with yourself after realizing how much time you just wasted on that worrying.)

What’s cool is that in the story, conditions like ADHD and dyslexia are explained to be characteristics of the demigods, because their minds are hardwired for ancient Greek, and their bodies have instincts and reflexes that would keep them alive in battle. In a very real way, the things that make them different—the things that Percy initially thinks are causing his problems and holding him back in life—turn out to be their greatest assets. That’s an empowering idea, and expressing it through music makes it even more powerful!

It's also good to see that the characters with ADHD are not stereotyped. The same condition can look different in different people, due to a variety of factors--how they are wired, the individual’s response to having it, and the kind of environment they are in. Contrast Percy, who is put through tough schools and labeled as a delinquent, and Annabeth, who trains at a camp for kids like her and is a complete perfectionist. We have different personalities, we develop different kinds of coping mechanisms, and we go on different journeys of learning to function in a world that was not designed for minds like ours.

Honestly, it feels like Percy and the other half-bloods could be speaking for all neurodivergent people. The encouragement of “Strong,” the anger and despondency of “Good Kid,” the longing for recognition and approval in “My Grand Plan,” the acceptance and conviction in “Son of Poseidon,” and the determination of “Bring on the Monsters” all ring true. Finding people with experiences like yours can feel like finding a new family and home. And Percy’s indecision in “Last Day of Summer” describes the kind of dilemma I've faced at different points in my life: whether to stay in an environment that is easier to function in, or venture into the world where we’ll have to face challenges.

You can find the soundtrack on YouTube or on Spotify. I strongly recommend seeing or listening to the musical if you or anyone you care about has AD(H)D, dyslexia, or other mental disorders or disabilities (or whatever the medically/socially acceptable terminology is now).

Even as an adult, the idea that qualities we consider weaknesses and deficits can actually be strengths is really encouraging and inspiring.

[yuzuyoon]

While we are waiting for BE MINE, English version, to drop, I continue to demand JUSTICE for Rebirth.

It's ethereal and entrancing, and Jimin's heavenly voice just soars. He has both writing and producing credits, which explains why Rebirth is very Jimin-coded. It doesn't deserve to be put in the corner of "oh, it's only an intro."

I like to imagine Jimin singing this with a full gospel choir behind him. So inspiring!

Good love...Real love...

Wouldn't this be a phenomenal soundtrack for a big blockbuster romance? Picture the scene...sun rising on a beautiful beach, lovers joyfully running towards each other, meeting with a tangle of arms and legs and lips. Meanwhile, the music swells, and the camera pans up to the beginning of a new day.

And ajimin made it all possible!

tbh (and i apologize in advance) rebirth actually ranked pretty low for muse tracks for me. im sorry, i really am. that said, just because it ranked low in terms of muse tracks, it ranks wayyy above any other release from any other k-act, so let's give rebirth some love, shall we?

sparkly intro. i love love instrumentals that sound "sparkly"

the only thing that knocked it down on my ranking is the autotune on the song. now, im all against the "hating a song for it's autotune" movement that surrounds jimin for some reason (why??), but there is one note in the song that irks me every time because the pitch corrector was a bit intense. i'll get over it tho, its literally 1 second of the song and the rest of the song you can't hear it.

jimin's witty lyrics >>> "Like 태양이 비추는 vibe." That's genuinely hilarious

i think jimin has like having a choir singing behind him. friends, closer than this, rebirth? it's cute and it compliments his voice so nicely

the best part of the song is the with you with you/reason reason reason part. gospel singing is a lot a lot different than pop singing. idk how to describe it, but jimin adapts his voice super nicely to the choir's. he's actually dropping the pretty high tone that he holds with his voice and upping the vibrato in his phrasing and its heavenly

this falsetto sounds amazing in this song. im sad he doesn't use that register more because he sounds so good using falsetto and head voice

the general production on this song is incredible. it's sounds like being wrapped in a big cozy blanket. it just surrounds you

do i even have to mention the lyrics? they're so gorgeously written (nothing but the best from our jimin)

its definitely ost worthy and i think the reason is orchestral ending that swells before it goes quiet. but no really, this would be an amazing movie ending ost

[something-tofightfor]

The Last of Us: Episode 1 World Premiere Thoughts

Ok, so I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m not going to spoil anything that happens in the games or in the first episode of this show.

This is going to be STRICTLY my response to what I think after seeing the episode + talking about the premiere event in a separate post.

First of all, the weather in LA was absolutely atrocious yesterday. Everything is flooding, it is cold and windy, and there was ZERO sun anywhere to be seen.

And despite this, the premiere was amazingly well organized, the staff and crew were super friendly and accommodating, and EVERYONE had a good time.

Show reactions first:

This show is everything I wanted from an adaptation of this game. It just WORKS in a way that I have never seen before - and never imagined possible based on a game to movie/TV adaptation. It’s something incredibly special, and HBO seems to know this. I am endlessly impressed with every single aspect of this production.

To start: the cinematography is GORGEOUS. I feel like I need to see this episode again to see it all and appreciate it thoroughly; we were 2 rows back from the front and the screen was curved, so it looked distorted at points because of the angle.

But the landscape and cityscape shots along with the slice of life shots throughout are just … perfect. And when it opens up and you see the outskirts of Boston for the first time? It felt like I was looking at the game - it was beautiful. There are scenes from this episode that are PURE CHAOS, and it’s so immersive, because it puts you right there with the characters and gives you no time to breathe.

The use of color in this - and ADEQUATE LIGHTING DURING IMPORTANT SCENES - cannot be overstated. The parts that were dark weren’t too dark to make out what was happening, and the light sources and additions felt like they belonged exactly where they were used, and were very very carefully considered - especially in the sections of the show where there was an ABUNDANCE OF LIGHT.

The music … wow. I was expecting some new takes on the original soundtrack, but what we got was so much more. It’s the original TLOU soundtrack but turned up to 11. The theme of music tying into the storyline was well done, and the places it was used it was used to add a different dimension to the scene, not to distract from what the scene was lacking otherwise. They DID use an actual song in the show at one point - and it worked very well where it was placed, and tied in with an earlier scene / conversation seamlessly.

Bella Ramsey’s Ellie is something else. Their delivery of specific familiar lines was fantastic, and there were times when I was like “Ashley? Is that you?” And the addition of new, fun dialogue only adds to the way this Ellie is being brought to life - but she’s very much still similar to Game Ellie in a lot of ways. The dialogue is one thing, but Bella’s facial expressions are spot on. They’re very expressive, especially when Ellie’s staying silent. But the best part? Bella holds her own next to Merle and Anna and Pedro. And this is only episode 1 - I cannot wait to see certain things from the second half of the game.

There is one scene with Marlene where Ellie’s facial response and the look in her eyes says more than any words could EVER say, and I was stunned and pleased and it just really WORKED.

Pedro’s Joel is NOT Troy’s Joel - and he doesn’t try to be. I don’t know what I was expecting from this portrayal, but what I saw onscreen exceeded my expectations. We saw him as a happy father. We see him scared and sad. We see him angry and struggling and MAD. We see him as ruthless and focused and lost in thought and worried … and this was in the first 85 minutes. The things this man can do with his facial expressions and body language (I will spoil something and let all of you know that we got THE STANCE multiple times in this episode) are unmatched. There is one specific scene that really highlights how different (or indifferent he tries to be) from his former self, and it’s haunting to see it all play out.

The accent is fluid; it’s not heavy or too light - but it changes based on his emotions, and that is DAMN impressive considering how talented Troy is and how great that version of Joel is. It reminds me a lot of a more subtle Ezra. (Side note, Cynthia Summers deserves a raise for putting Pedro into the outfits he wears in episode 1 - there’s a Marcus Moreno with Missy / Javier P in the green t shirt shirt similarity that I was literally drooling over, and the tight blue denim button up and neckerchief? YES. YES PLEASE.) (Also Coco with some phenomenal hairstyle decisions already and we’ve still got 8 more episodes to go)

Gabriel Luna is a really solid choice for Tommy. You truly get that ‘brothers’ bond, and see how they stand up for each other. There is definitely added content with him in this episode and I’m glad.

I love Anna Torv, but this interpretation of Tess is very different than in the game - and if you didn’t like her then, you won’t like her now.

I have a theory about why she is the way she is in the show and why Joel is the way he is with her that I am more than happy to go into detail about after everyone’s seen the first episode - so I’m curious to know if anyone agrees. But the Tess/Joel relationship itself isn’t too much different than it was in the game, even though their status is a lot less subtle. There’s one moment in the episode where I covered my mouth and went “!!!!!!!!!” Because it was exactly what I wanted between them and I enjoyed seeing it.

It didn't feel like 85 minutes, but at the same time, I was shocked at the amount of ground they covered in this episode. I can sort of SEE where they would have cut it off if it were still two episodes, but it didn’t feel disjointed at all - it felt like it was meant to be one episode and one episode only.

There were changes and additions. Without going into detail - we get more time with the Millers. We see more of pre-outbreak Austin. We see more of what the Boston QZ is like than we did in the game and it reconfirms that I would not ever want to live in a QZ. We learn more about Joel and Tommy together and separately. We see more infected up close. We get more of Joel to see how much he’s changed in 20 years. The introduction between Ellie and Joel here is something I like more than I liked the game’s version. Marlene’s place in all of this is expanded a little - and it WORKS. Nico Parker is a goddamn powerhouse, and I love her.

The infected are terrifying, and you sort of get a play by play of how the infection progresses without it being shoved in your face - very, very interesting way to show it.

They did make a few changes - aside from the year - and for the most part, I’m alright with them. Spores vs tendrils is a huge change, but I’m willing to see where it goes. (The tendrils are in this episode and seeing them made me recoil from the screen in disgust.) I loved seeing MORE from before the outbreak and going deeper into different character histories and seeing daily life and focusing on things that weren’t’ possible in the game. It makes things feel so much more well-rounded.

One of the biggest changes in this episode (and the show moving forward) makes some of the things we’ve seen in the trailers make a ton more sense - and I love it. It’s a really smart way to add some urgency and direction to what Joel’s doing aside from the Ellie companionship.

My biggest issue with the episode was a short scene between Joel and another character - and then a follow up one with just Joel. It’s more of a “why is this a necessary inclusion” than anything else, but it definitely gave me pause when I saw it happening. Pedro played it PERFECTLY, and it’s a very appropriate scene in terms of show inclusion and foreshadowing, but it came out of nowhere because I never would have thought of Joel being involved in what the scene entailed. I need to see it again before I make my final assessment though.

I could talk about this for hours but this is already super long, so if you’ve gotten to this point - thank you for reading. I can’t wait until Sunday to find out what all of you think. I can’t wait for you to fall in love with these characters and watch their story unfold.

My final rating? So far it’s way up there - probably an 8.5 out of 10, that depending on what happens when I’m not watching with my neck craned up for 2 hours - will probably go up to at least a 9.5.

The audience clapped and cheered multiple times. The reactions to certain scenes were exactly what I hoped them to be. They definitely cared about the source material when they made this show - if the rest of the season plays out like this, it’s absolutely a love letter to TLOU and the world we’ve all loved since 2013. The whole team involved in this should be very proud of what they have created because they did an incredible job.

Edited to add:

They showed a 90 second “in the coming weeks” video after the credits and it showed a scene from every remaining episode and they all look fucking INCREDIBLE. This show is going to step on the gas and not let up, and I’m not emotionally ready at ALL.

If you have anything else you’d like to ask, please feel free and if I can answer without spoilers, I will!

Also, if anyone is going to the NYC screenings on Thursday, I’ll be in FEDRA A at 1:45. (And potentially another one later if I get selected because my requests are still in the queue.)

Here’s a couple pictures of the venue and the promo stuff we were given as we left:

[ketchup-monthly]

Superfam as Musicals

with help from @space-specs because both of us like musicals and have issues (also sorry but most of these musicals are ones we recognize, so your less well known favorite musicals may not be featured ): )

Clark- Fiddler on the Roof (clark is jewish and also fiddler is a classic. i watched it with my family last december and uhhhh yeah the music is so good, i think clark would really like it)(he prefers the movie version tho)

Kara- Wicked (its the homoerotic friends to enemies for her. also everything about the musical is fantastic)(specs' favorite musical)

Kon- Beetlejuice (its so kon-core. there is not one bad song in the entire soundtrack, alex brightman kills in the titular role, and im not sure if kon kins beetlejuice or lydia, but i think the answer is yes)

Jon- The Lightning Thief (i refuse to believe that Jon didn't read the percy jackson books because one of his friends had an older sibling who read them and recommended them to him. the musical does a wonderful job of adapting the story and again, there is not a single song in it that is not jam-worthy)(plus its just a really fun adventure story for a kid to put themself into)

Lois- Newsies (obvious, but accurate. also the idea of lois in an outfit like the costumes in this musical is fantastic and i think she'd look really good in it)

Ma Kent- Cats (this is one that i feel a lot of people may take issue with because people suck and refuse to admit that the stage production of cats is actually pretty good. martha, however, especially the one portrayed by k callan in lois and clark: the new adventures of superman, is an artist who loves the abstract and weird, so i think cats is right up her alley.)(the 2019 movie does not exist, but the 1998 recording of the stage production absolutely does)(i love this musical and people can fight me -ketchup)

Pa Kent- Little Shop Of Horrors (this is just a fun musical that we think he'd enjoy. this is also a musical that we think kilowog would enjoy and we think that if kilowog and pa got to interact than it would be all over for clark and hal)(also the music in this one is great and its.....about an alien plant that ends up attempting or succeeding to take over the world and i think that's a bit ironic considering the kent's alien baby that many think is going to take over the world)(plus, like our pick for ma, i think eddie jones' pa from lois and clark would really like this one)

Otho-Ra- Matilda (this is one that kinda hurts a bit. its about a group of children rising up against and fighting an oppressive evil that forced them to act militant when all they wanted was to be children and get to have fun. undoubtedly otho dreamed of something like this for years, and finally when clark rescues her, she's unsure what to do with her life. the music is fun, the staging is fun, and its cathartic for her)

Osul-Ra- The Lion King (look its the 1994 disney classic but on stage and its fantastic. its a spectacle. the music is something any child would recognize, the costumes are incredible, and all around its just a fantastic translation from film to stage. he would absolutely adore it, and then if he wanted to watch the movie again to hear the soundtrack, he could!)(you cannot tell me that clark and lois did not show their new kids the disney renaissance movies. they did. they told me so themselves)

John Henry- Hadestown (listen. this may not be an expected one here, but this musical goes hard and the thought of him singing some of the lower songs??? sign me up. i think nat probably introduced him to it, or someone else he knows, and i don't think he liked it too much at first, but upon his second and third listen, he was into it)(plus a lot of the songs have a steady beat and rhythm that i think would be soothing to tinker to)

Nat- Six (this is first off, such a pick for someone who definitely remembers having to learn about King Henry VIII in high school. also the cast is gorgeous and the music is upbeat and catchy, and i think she would get down to "Haus of Holbein")(haha get down. get it?)(also i think she'd really like cosplaying as one of them. she'd look great)

Karen (Paige)- The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (bet you didn't think we'd include Starkid musicals on here, didja. well. we did. anyway tgwdlm is a great example of cosmic horror, and personally i think it somehow gives more to the genre than its successor, Black Friday did, even if i like it better. the story of tgwdlm can be told from a few different perspectives, whether the current in the story is what is happening to paul as the musical progresses, or, my favorite method, as if everything has already happened and inevitable (the ending song) is what happens right before the story begins with the opening song)(anyway, mini-rant aside, i also just think that she'd absolutely delight in a musical that makes fun of musicals and the musical genre while embodying it perfectly)(plus. y'know. cosmic horror)

Kenan- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (tbh im not sure he really knows exactly what's going on in this musical but neither do i, and he definitely has fun with it. the story is silly as hell, the music is good, and there's a lot of slapstick comedy as well as the clever little jokes and wordplay)(this is one that i like a lot but don't watch too often because its just a lot to take in and process -ketchup)

Jimmy- Kinky Boots (i am pushing my he/him lesbian Jimmy agenda and i will until i cease breathing. anyway this one is gay and the music is by Cyndi Lauper???? the icon herself??? absolutely he would enjoy it)(tbh we're not too familiar with this musical but every song we've heard from it has been really good and the visuals are pretty good too)

Cat- Moulin Rouge (the Cat we think of specifically is the one from season one of lois and clark: the new adventures of superman, and i absolutely think she would dress up as a character from this show as often as she could. the opulence and aesthetics fit her pretty well, and the jukebox-ish nature of the musical suits her much better than a musical where the story and music are written by someone specifically for the show)

Perry- Rocky Horror Picture Show (i think perry and my grandmother would get along and one of my grandmothers favorite musicals is rocky horror picture show. she watches it every year on halloween)(also i think that while its no elvis, i think he would enjoy the rock influence on the music and the threatening aura looming behind the goofiness of the antics in it)(yes he can dance the time warp. no he will not admit to it)

Bibbo- Waitress (is it a little on the nose? yeah. however i think he gets genuinely emotional over this musical because he knows/knew people, people close to him, who were in similar situations that didn't end well. plus its just a really good musical. emotional as hell, but super good)

Lex- The Phantom of the Opera (do i really need to explain? i will anyway, but it feels pretty self explanatory)(its a classic, the music is operatic, and rich people like operas, right? plus i think the story would pull him in, even if he doesn't exactly enjoy the entire show. its a good show, there's a reason it was one of the longest running shows on broadway, and i think he'd vibe with the tragic toxic love between Erik and Christine, as one sided as it may be)(sorry lex. youre a very tragic toxic gay)(this is one of ketchups favorite musicals, and has been since they were young and went with their family to see a live production of it for their mom's birthday)

Mercy- Dracula das Musical (yes, the german version of Dracula the Musical, which goes much harder than the english version, which flopped spectacularly when it came out. however i think she also really enjoys the korean production, where dracula has bright red hair, and the japanese production, which was done by an all female cast, and had a lovely tragic toxic lesbian story of dracula and mina)(i think she would enjoy the vampires and just how good the music is)(god, "nosferatu", "zu ende", and "roseanne" just go so hard)(this is another of ketchups favorite musicals)(please check out the versions of the musical i mentioned, they're absolutely worth a watch, i promise -ketchup)

Hope- Sweeney Todd (did i give the hot lesbians dark musicals? yes i did. anyway. sweeney todd is really good and i think hope would enjoy it very much)(also its a sondheim so you know it slaps so hard)

The Eradicator- Stomp (its just a fun performance to listen to, but especially to just watch. i think he stumbled upon it, literally, at one point, and just stuck around to watch the rest of the show because he was confused and interested in what was going on)(its technically not a musical but technically era isn't a real boy so its okay)(it is a musical experience and a stage production though)

[theredengineapologist]

From the ttte movies you seen, whats your fav?

✨THE GREAT RACE✨

The Great Race is THE BEST ONE! I may not have seen most of the other movies yet, but I'm very sure NOTHING is ever gonna beat this movie for me.

You're telling me they made a Thomas movie centered around what is basically a Train Pageant (tm) AND they made it a MUSICAL!!??? Hell yeah! Sign me up!

But then you actually get in to the movie and it gets even better.

EVERY SONG IS A BOP! EVERY! 👏 SINGLE! 👏ONE! 👏 THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE MISS IN THIS MOVIE! I don't know what they were on, but they were pumping out JAM after JAM!

Secondly, I think the Great Railway Show was a great way to introduce more foreign engines into the show in a way that made sense. Pity that we didn't really get to see much of them. But I also feel like we didn't really need to. I mainly just liked that we got to SEE them.

One of the things I LOVE about Brenner Era CGI Thomas is how the world of Sodor feels so much bigger. In the model series I get this sense that the Island of Sodor is this quaint little English countryside island where nothing much happens, and the engine's shenanigans are the most interesting things to happen in day-to-day life. Whereas I feel like in Brenner Era CGI Thomas, the world feels much grander. Still very much an English countryside island. But the island itself feels much bigger. The engines and the people living on it feel much busier. And in some ways I would say the cast itself feels more diverse once they gave the characters unique voices. I'm a sucker for shows that allow their characters to speak in different dialects, and giving Duck his West Country accent and the narrow gauge engines Welsch accents honestly endeared them to me more.

Anyway, main point I'm trying to get at is that the introduction of The Great Railway Show helped to expand the Thomas universe and show the rest of the world interacting with Sodor and vice-versa, even if only for a short period of time. It adds to the grandness of the world.

I also really like Thomas's arc in this movie. With how often he gets picked on for being a "little engine" over the course of the series, it's no wonder the guy's a little self conscious. If the narrator called me "short and stumpy" three times in a row I'd be pretty self-conscious too lol. But jokes aside, I did like seeing Thomas have conflict with this part of his identity. His verses in "You Can Only Be You" really made me feel for him, and I loved being able to see him finally come around at the end.

And of course, we can't talk about The Great Race without mentioning

HOW PRETTY JAMES'S DECORATIVE PAINTWORK IS!!!

LOOK AT HIM! LOOK AT MY PRETTY BOY! GAZE UPON HIS BEAUTY AND HIS SPLENDIDNESS!!!

And you know what? I'm gonna say it. James deserved to win Best Decorated Engine. Sorry not sorry RAJIV! But they don't call me the Red Engine Apologist for nothing! My pookie deserved to win!

One of these days I've got to do humanized versions of James's and Emily's looks from this movie. I can see it very clearly in my head but I also want to, um, draw other characters HAHAHAHA

Anyway, TLDR, The Great Race was an amazing movie with a killer soundtrack, great story, and a concept that appeals to ME SPECIFICALLY. I also genuinely think it would adapt very well into a stage musical (similar in visual style to the Spongebob musical). I have a clear vision in my head for what it would look like but unfortunately I don't have the money nor resources to make it a reality so it would just stay in my head. But just know that every time I watch this movie I am actively thinking about how I would hypothetically adapt this to the stage.

I''ve spent WAY too much time rambling about The Great Race but yeah, there's your answer.

Also if you're curious, here's every Thomas movie I've watched so far ranked from favorite to least favorite.

The Great Race (obviously)

Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure (Thomas had a great arc in this one, "Never Overlook a Little Engine" was fun, and visuals are spectacular. Solid movie but it can't beat the campiness of The Great Race)

The Adventure Begins (Solid movie. The other two are just more fun imo)

Tale of the Brave (It was a good movie and I probably would have appreciated it more if I watched it in High Quality. But unfortunately I can't stand Kerry Shale James and so I chose to watch a grainy upload on YouTube instead.)

Journey Beyond Sodor (I'm sorry to my one mutual (you know who you are) who said this was their favorite movie. But unfortunately, in my opinion, the songs do not slap as hard as in The Great Race)

[dumbassalex]

Ok, as someone who sorta defended The Crow 2024 reboot, and now that i've seen it, i have thoughts about it and i wanna share them... (More under the cut, spoilers ahead)

So firstly i liked the action, it was clear and you could see what's going on and the gore in those scenes was good, so no real issues with the action scenes. I really dug the soundtrack, the songs they chose to play were good and something i'd listen to.

I also like that Shelly had more screentime and got to be more of a character, that was fun and FKA twigs played her well in my opinion. Bill Skarsgard gave a good performance, as basicly always, with his Eric too.

Now my biggest issues is with the story itself, and especialy the pacing, it was SO slow, we spent like half the movie on Eric and Shelly while watching the villians look for Shelly, while also barely any real time has passed for Eric and Shelly, or at least it didn't feel like much of a time has at all passed between Eric and Shelly running away and being murdered.

And even once the couple gets killed by the villians, it takes us like another third of the movie for Eric to really become the Crow, for most of the movie he's just Eric with healing powers, and only becomes The Crow right before the opera scene, whitch is way too long for something based on a comic that's mostly just Eric being The Crow and hunting Shellys killers.

Another thing i dislike is the villians and their story, the original idea for the villians was just a group of street criminals coming across Eric and Shelly on a random day in the rain as their car broke down and deciding on a whim to do what they did, that was the tragedy, that it was random, senseless and didn't have to happen if a single thing happened differently. And changing it to a group of rich people hunting Shelly specificaly due to an incriminating video is such an odd change, along with the change to give the main villian superpowers.

Another thing that i feel like is a big difference between the comic and the movie is that the movie is very literal and very open about Eric coming from the death, healing super fast and there being supernatural entities and superpowers, while in the comics it was all more lowkey with Eric not feeling pain and healing slower than what the movies show, with his walking around wounded and scarred, the crow talking being in his head, same for the skeleton cowboy and the vision of the white horse that was a metaphor for the conflict of the story, it was a random senseless act that Eric had no control over yet he couldn't leave it be and blames himself for what happened.

In the movie it's a literal thing that happened to child Eric and doesn't set up his character arc and personal conflict of not blaming himself and moving on. Whitch was WHY he came back for revenge, because he was angry, blamed himself and couldn't move on, something he was only able to do at the end when he died at Shellys grave.

Whitch brings another change i disliked, the ending, the original ending of the comics is about Eric finaly being at peace and being able to move on and die, joining Shelly in the afterlife. But in the movie the reason he keeps going on is from pure love (somehow he felt such love after such short time) that can waver and make him loose his powers until making a deal for Shelly soul and becoming The Crow, bringing Shelly back to life while Eric stays dead. That just kinda misses the point, there wasn't no coming back and living again, it was about Eric having to come to peace and move on, it was a bittersweet ending but it was fitting the story and the themes, but just like the white horse methaphor, the movie ignores that.

So all in all, as a movie it's alright, but as a Crow adaptation it's overall kinda awfull in most ways. If you enjoyed the movie, good for you, but i personaly didn't really like it as a Crow adaptation and think it could've been much better. One thing i will give the movie for sure tho, is that it skipped Shellys assault, something i think wasn't entirely neccecary to motivate Eric to do what he did.

[hybbart]

In the music taste post you said

“I think the only think they disagree on is probably metal and such that has harsh noises, cause Jimmy can't mimic it without hurting his throat and it's a bit too much for his ears. Tango isn't a big fan of musical tracks either probably.” Does that mean Jimmy is a musical enjoyer? If so what shows or kind of shows does he like (aside from Mamma Mia)?

(Also, I apologize about the ask on your other account, I got mixed up and meant to ask it on this page. Ill make sure to ask on only this page unless you would rather me ask on the other page)

I dunno about atually going to the theatre very much since he lived out in the middle of nowhere and doesn't have the attention span for it, but in all universes Jimmy loves singing and karaoke to me (even if not very good at it) so musicals are a given for birbs.

Probably a lot of more big popular movies like classic disney musicals, footloose and grease, hairsprat for sure, little shop of horrors, maybe moulin rouge and coyote ugly? Also I feel like at some point he watched the cats movie with his friends and they dragged him to see the "good real show" and he still didn't get it but he remembers some of the songs. I think the only musical he's seen of his own volition is pirates of penzance and I think he probably knows wicked only from a soundtrack recording.

He likes mostly silly happy sounding ones, so I don't think he would like sruff like les miserables, phantom of the opera, or the dolls of new albion (though I doubt he would know that last one, he's very much a more mainstream sorta guy) and doesn't know any musical adaptations of movies like legally blonde and such. He mighta heard one or two of them from Lizzie but probably not. I also doubt he's heard very many foreign musicals so not any bollywood musicals or film red.

I'm going to give him the chipmunk movies and cds, not because I think it's something he would like but because I think Jimmy Solidarity trying to sing chipmunk songs would possibly be THE most painful sound imaginable that would test even Tango's patience.

I think Tango probably knows a lot of phineas and ferb songs and thats probably their one common ground, though Tango would probably never in a million years be able to find the tracks for it to play for Jimmy. Musicals singing is probably something Jimmy does more with his siblings and Pearl, and doesn't force Tango to listen to too many unless theyre having a karaoke night. There probably are some musicals Tango would loke if he heard them but I don't think theyre ones that Jimmy knows or likes, and I doubt Tango is willing to take a shot with them when he knows he doesn't care for them usually.

[is-she-suffering]

QUEEN ADREENA VS DAVID CRONENBERG'S CRASH

In December 2002 Queenadreena provided a live soundtrack to David Cronenberg’s movie adaptation of J.G. Ballard's novel „Crash”.

The one-night-only event was hosted in the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on December 13th. The band was joined by ex Daisy Chainsaw bassist Richard Adams.

The band couldn’t pick a more fitting movie – „Crash” is a movie based on a J.G. Ballard’s novel of the same name, considered by many to be quite controversial due of its disturbing subject. It tells the story of individuals taking sexual pleasure from watching and participating in car accidents.

Katie Jane Garside: "I like standing on a knife edge in order to force the envelope and get something interesting happen. It's no coincidence that we were chosen to do 'Crash', what with the voyeuristic nature of car accidents. We'll put a bomb under it and see what happens."

A song called "Roadkill" was debuted onstage that night, never to be played live again. The song tells a story of a young girl killed in a motorway accident. "Roadkill" hasn’t found its way to any of Queen Adreena’s albums, but a 4-track demo was later released on Katie Jane's solo album Lullabies in Glass Wilderness.

Unfortunately, there’s no audio or video of this show available. A short review taken from Kerrang! Magazine (the band got 4/5 rating):

Classic Cronenberg film gets new art-punk soundtrack. THE PAIRING of David Cronenberg's 1998 film 'Crash' and ex-Daisy Chainsaw led avant-garde noise conjurers Queen Adreena was never going to be easy on the eyes or ears. For those of you who haven't seen it, 'Crash' is a film about a group of deranged individuals who derive sexual pleasure from car crashes. And for those who haven't seen them, Queen Adreena are an art-rock band with an equally worrying deviant streak. As the credits roll and the band assume their positions in front of the screen, Crispin Gray picks the moody, sombre melody of 'Kitty Collar Tight' from his guitar as singer Katie Jane Garside starts to weave her magic across the stage. Garside's compelling stage presence and beautiful, ethereal vocal style perfectly offsets the unhinged sexual nature of the film. Placing their music within the context of the movie leaves the audience dazed and confused as the final credits roll. Tonight more so than ever, Queen Adreena truly assault our senses. More power to them.

Another review:

QUEEN ADREENA VS DAVID CRONENBERG'S CRASH

ICA, London - December 2002

No one is quite sure what to expect tonight. Will Queen Adreena play for the entire duration of Cronenberg's controversial movie (which lasts twice as long as their normal set) or just during the 'highlights'?

The night begins amusingly with thirty minutes of vintage black and white Road Safety public information films. These provided some laughs, as various members of the supposedly ignorant public nonchalantly strolled out in front of rapidly moving vehicles, before being berated by a fussy old narrator.

Onto the main event: the band amble onto the stage as the movie begins, and a new slow song spills out over the opening credits. And there's a new bassist too! The after-show rumour seemed to confirm that the man with the bass was none other than Richard Adams, their ex-Daisy Chainsaw band mate. It seems I had been watching three-quarters DC and didn't even know it!

Back to the movie: subtitles are kept on throughout; the soundtrack is on, but only audible when the band stop playing. Some songs are slightly extended to keep the pacing accurate. The superb Pretty Like Drugs comes early on; one more song then the music ends so we can watch a dialogue scene. This sets the pattern for the night: we get a string of three or four songs over the driving and screwing, and then the music pauses for dialogue scenes. Curiously, we are allowed to view James Spader humping Rosanna Arquette's leg-wound in all it's original glory. The second batch of songs climaxes with the James Dean car-crash recreation, which means that the onscreen audience are clapping at the same time as we are.

So, does the noisy music work well with Cronenberg's copulation and carnage? Well, to be honest, standing right in front of the band, I keep tending to forget that a film is even playing. But when I do glance at it, I am reminded that „Crash” has far more nudity than I remembered. Shit, I hope Tesco's develop my snapshots with no problems.

Queen Adreena never give a bad show, and this is no exception. Very interesting to see them in a non-moshing environment too. And after that it's time to return home to the Heathrow area, where J. G. Ballard set the 180 original „Crash” novel. All this on the day Barry Norman, with thirty years of movie reviewing experience, said live on TV that Cronenberg's „Shivers” is "the worst movie of all time" (whatta tosser - Ed). God knows what he would have made of tonight's extraordinary event at the ICA... JASON PYKE