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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Best Female Spy Movies & TV Shows to Watch After Black Widow

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Black Widow is out, bringing the women-led spy genre to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film follows Natasha Romanov in the time between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War as she works to bring down the Red Room, aka the Soviet-affiliated program that took her as a baby and brainwashed her into becoming an assassin. While the women-centric spy drama may be new for the MCU, it’s has been one of the most prolific and entertaining action sub-genres over the past few decades. If you’ve watched Black Widow and you’re looking for more taut and emotional spy thrillers to check out, we have some TV and film suggestions for you…

Hanna

Many have seen the 2011 action feature directed by Joe Wright and starring Saoirse Ronan as a girl assassin raised in the wilderness by her spy father Eric Bana, but the TV series based on the film is even better. Currently moving towards its third season, the Amazon Prime series has so much more room to delve into the nuances of the film’s premise, especially in its second season, which moves completely past the events of the movie. While the first season leans into the coming-of-age themes inherent in Hanna venturing out into the world for the very first time, the second season chooses to delve further into the spy drama of it all, expanding the series’ focus to center some of the other teen super soldiers born into the same program Hanna was rescued from as a baby. If you would have liked to learn more about the other Widows Natasha and Yelena are working to save in Black Widow, then Hanna is the show for you.

Atomic Blonde

Stylish and featuring some of the best fight scenes this side of John Wick (the film’s director David Leitch, also worked on John Wick), Atomic Blonde stars the incomparable Charlize Theron as a spy tasked with finding a lost of double agents that is being smuggled into the West on the eve of the Berlin Wall’s collapse. Like Black Widow, Atomic Blonde only has so much narrative time to delve into the complexities of this set up and setting and, maybe sensing it won’t be able to do them justice, instead leans into the aesthetic and action of this world. It works, thanks in no small part to performers like Theron, James McAvoy, and Sofia Boutella, who bring to life the stress, violence, and desperation of this intersection of place and time far better than its script.

Queen Sono

American and British spy dramas often have white westerners traveling to other, poorer nations for missions, depicting a real-life colonial power structure while rarely interrogating it. Queen Sono, billed as Netflix‘s first African original series (it is a South African series, specifically), is a spy drama that centers Black characters and community in fun and powerful ways, bringing the familiar tropes of the genre to what will probably be a new setting for most American viewers. Queen Sono follows South African spy Queen (Pearl Thusi) as she works to balance her dangerous and clandestine missions with her personal life. Funny, emotional, and action-packed, Queen Sono is a must-see for any spy drama lover looking for something new—and it’s a damn shame Netflix won’t be moving forward with a second season.

Alias

To me, Alias will always be the original. The female-led spy drama was on network television when I was a teenager, and its combination (especially in the first season and a half) of fierce fight sequences, tense spycraft, and character-driven drama made it my favorite show. Like Black Widow, Alias is grounded in family drama, most especially the father-daughter relationship between Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) and spy dad Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), but later bringing in other familial dynamics as well. The series starts as your classic double agent story, as Sydney decides to take down the agency she works for after they have her fiance killed, but, in classic J.J. Abrams style, the plot really spirals out from there—for better and worse. Airing for five season and more than 105 episodes, if you’re looking for more family-driven spy drama, Alias is the show for you.

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Deutschland 86

All three “seasons” of this excellent German-language Cold War spy series that follows an East German boy forced to become a spy in West Germany are worth watching, but the second installment, set in 1986, gives us viewers many more lady spy characters to be impressed by compared to the original Deutschland 83 story. Main character Jonas remains the protagonist of this tale, but his Aunt Lenora, probably the best spy in the entire show, takes an even bigger role in Deutschland 1986 and the subsequent Deutschland 89, as does her lover/partner Rose, a South African operative working for the African National Congress and played by the MCU’s Florence Kasumba. Throw in Jonas’ baby mama Annett, back in East Germany working as a junior intelligence agent, and the mysterious Brigitte, and you have a second season teeming with complex and cutthroat women spies.

Nikita

This highly underrated spy series ran for four action-packed seasons on The CW before totally sticking its landing in 2013. Technically an adaptation of the 1997 La Femme Nikita TV series, which was in turn an adaptation of Luc Besson’s 1990 action film of the same name, Nikita quickly surpassed both originals to become one of the best female-led spy stories of all time. Starring Maggie Q as the titular Nikita, the series began after the former spy has vowed to take down the secret agency that trained her, known as the Division. Our story begins when Nikita plants her protege, Alex, within Division, with a plan to work together to take the agency down. Of course, going undercover comes with its own emotional and ethical complications, and Alex may not know all that there is to know about her mentor Nikita, and Nikita’s role in Alex’s tragic past. With a stellar supporting cast that includes Melinda Clarke and Xander Berkeley, Nikita was far better than it needed to be and, if your a fan of the action spy genre, is definitely worth watching.

Killing Eve

Maybe it was the Russian accent, but Yelena has mad Villanelle vibes in Black Widow, and I mean that in the least psychopathic way possible. Unless you live under a rock, you’re probably aware of this BBC America series starring Sandra Oh as a bored MI-5 agent and Jodie Comer as the spy-assassin she becomes obsessed with catching, but if you haven’t yet checked it out and are looking for another female-driven spy story with plenty of banter, then Killing Eve is the show for you. The second season gets a little rocky, but with a riveting season three and the announcement that season four will be the show’s last, now is the time to jump on the Killing Eve bandwagon.

Little Drummer Girl

In terms of tone or style, Little Drummer Girl shares little with Black Widow—it’s much more geopolitical thriller than superhero action—but I’m including the British spy series on the list because it does share a star with Black Widow. Yelena’s Florence Pugh plays an aspiring actress named Charlie who is recruited by Mossad to infiltrate a Palestinian group planning an attack in Europe. Based on a novel of the same name by acclaimed spy author John le Carré, the six-episode series is directed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook and co-stars Michael Shannon and Alexander Skarsgård, and the talent is not wasted. The miniseries delves much more into the ethics of spycraft than Black Widow is able or comfortable doing, asking difficult questions about how violence and manipulation are used and justified across national lines. If you’re looking for a spy drama that isn’t afraid to ask the tough questions, then Little Drummer Girl is for you.

Gunpowder Milkshake

OK, this one is more of an assassin drama than a spy drama, but the cast is too good not to include it on the list. Starring Doctor Who‘s Karen Gillan and Game of Thrones‘ Lena Headey as a pair of daughter/mother assassins, Gunpowder Milkshake is another action thriller that is all in with the familial dynamics. Past the two stars, Gunpowder Milkshake also features the iconic Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Carla Gugino, rounding out the cast of action women. The film doesn’t drop on Netflix (in the U.S.) and theaters (elsewhere) until Friday, but you’ll be ready.

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meta-squash · 3 years

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Brick Club 2.4.3 “Two Misfortunes Equal One Happiness”

I had way more to say about this chapter than I expected.

Back when I was rereading Les Mis last February I made a post about this chapter essentially being boiled down to “emotional support Cosette” and I still kind of love that. Like, people use emotional support animals to help them feel better, partly because the responsibility of caring for the pet reminds them and/or helps them to take care of themselves. And I feel like this is what occurs in this chapter. This is Valjean learning to care for himself because he must do so in order to love and care for Cosette. And in turn, this is Cosette finally being free to come alive and love Valjean, because she is cared for by him.

“The heart of the former convict was like a virgin’s. His sister and her children were only a vague distant memory, almost totally vanished. He had bent every effort to find them again and, not succeeding, had forgotten them.” So now we have proof that Valjean really did search for his family. This line is always really interesting to me because way back in 1.2.6 and 1.2.7 we get some of Valjean’s interactions with his family and yet there is always that distance. However we still get him sobbing and touching the heights of seven little heads. Part of the cycle of Valjean’s tragedy and redemption, then, is that there was that potential for connection and love and care beyond survival within him the entire time, but that crushing weight of poverty ground it down to almost nothing. He cared, in that he was very much willing to take risks and make sacrifices for the wellbeing of his family, but it wasn’t the same kind of radiant, nurturing love. But the redemption is that he gets that with Cosette. He doesn’t get to save his sister or her children from their likely fairly unhappy fate. And perhaps Fantine could have been a stand-in for his sister; he doesn’t exactly get to save her, either. But he does get to save the child, he gets to save Cosette, the stand-in for or the echo of those seven little heads.

I also find it interesting that this passage then implies that Valjean’s heart has only truly been moved by the Bishop and by Cosette. He felt a sort of guilt and sacred duty re: Fantine but it wasn’t the same as the angelic (in the more awe-some sense) radiance of his heart after Myriel or the angelic (in the more....baroque sense) radiance after rescuing Cosette.

And ugh the fact that Cosette had “tried to love” while in the Thenardiers’ care and had failed! It’s so sad! But it’s also where she and Valjean diverge. If she is the childlike echo of Valjean’s prison-bound state, Cosette still retains a level of untainted purity that Valjean did not have in prison. He didn’t try to love. He rejected the one thing that is pure Love: god or divinity. Cosette, still untainted in some ways, tried to love and didn’t succeed. And now, the two of them are recovering from the same mental and emotional state together.

Found family! It’s just! So much! Happiness being utterly transformative! Safety being transformative! God this chapter!

I have a lot of feelings about Cosette and Valjean as soulmates. Cosette and Marius are lovers, but Cosette and Valjean are soulmates. Valjean doesn’t deteriorate in the end of the novel just because he’s old. He deteriorates because he tries to remove himself from his soulmate. Cosette brought him back from the dead when he came upon her in the woods. Removing himself from her essentially by force rather than allowing the connection to loosen and slacken naturally destroyed him.

Cosette and Valjean continue to be birds. I really like the use of this metaphor here because the Gorbeau house is really only a perch. They don’t stay here for very long. It’s more like a stop during migration than it is a permanent destination.

“Sometimes Jean Valjean wold take her little red hand, all chapped and frostbitten as it was, and kiss it. The poor child, accustomed only to blows, had no idea what this meant, and would draw back ashamed.”

Cosette is post-bagne Valjean. There are so many cycles and circles and callbacks in this novel but I think the most important and prominent and repeating one is that of Bishop Myriel and post-bagne Valjean. It is absolutely the most important and influential and meaningful interaction in this book because it sets up the entire moral message of the story: be kind and compassionate and helpful to those who are suffering, love them and it will change and even save their life. That is the moral of this book. And we see this interaction over and over again in all the characters. Not just in Valjean but in Marius and in Marguerite and in Les Amis and in Mabeuf and in Gavroche etc etc. It is The Message of the novel and we see its most immediate effects in Myriel’s influence over Valjean, but the echoes and ripples of that make up the entirety of this book.

Valjean being proud of himself for changing! I have a lot of feelings about that too! We almost never get to see Valjean actually feeling good about himself and about something he is doing or has done. But he gets to be proud of himself here because he learned to read for Bad Reasons and now he’s using those skills for the Best Reason. I wish this was a memory he could come back to when he thinks he’s a bad person or undeserving of happiness/good things/comfort.

“...he saw no reason now why he should not live to a very old age, since this child loved him.” I don’t know if Hugo meant this to be foreshadowing for the end of the novel but it feels like foreshadowing. It feels like this right here is the reason Valjean deteriorated so quickly. Not because Cosette didn’t actually love him anymore, but because Valjean convinced himself that she shouldn’t, and therefore that would mean that he shouldn’t be living.

Of course the result of a second imprisonment was more cynicism. You’d be cynical too if you were imprisoned for doing good, for trying to help a suffering person. I haven’t added a “relevant to present day” bit to a post in a while but it feels like this is something that happens a lot in present day. People imprisoned for no good reason, or imprisoned because they were trying to help someone but that was seen as bad (like stealing baby food/diapers to clothe a child, or some money-related something to pay for medical bills, or that poor woman who was imprisoned because she used her parents’ address so her kids would get into a slightly better school), that shit happens all the time in present day. People killed for trying to help, or for doing nothing at all. There’s more shit happening right now in America so I’m not going to go into that aspect right now but it’s just something where I think, well of course he’s going to come out of it cynical. It’s all but impossible to come out of it in any other way.

The up side is that Valjean and Cosette have each other. They are growing and healing together. I’m glad they get a little time to just be alone and start healing. I wonder what might have happened if Javert had found them a little bit earlier. I think it was easier for Valjean to escape because he had formed a stronger bond with Cosette, and she trusted him as both a friend and a parental figure. And he trusted her to listen to him, to stay quiet, and was preoccupied with keeping her safe for both of their sake.

#brickclub #les miserables #les miserables meta #lm 2.4.3 #les mis #les mis meta

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lumoshyperion · 3 years

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12, 17, 18, and 20!! (and also ily 💙)

12. Is there a trope you haven’t written yet but really want to?

Ooooh maybe fake dating? One of my favourite Les Mis fics was a fake dating AU. And it’s not really a trope, but I’d love to write Drastoria in the regency era.

17. What fic are you most proud of?

Probably “I am more than these bones” or “where flowers bloom”? The former was so exciting and challenging to write. Although I’d written Astoria before, this was new territory and I was nervous about doing her justice - and I’d like to think that I did? She’s so strong and smart and wonderful in that fic. And it was so nice to see her get the opportunity to be a badass and an actual major character.

And “where flowers bloom” isn’t anything special, but I felt a sense of relief when I wrote it? It was the first time in a long time that I hadn’t felt... really anxious about posting something. It was just a short, sweet fic, with no pressure or expectations attached, and I felt like I had when I first joined the fandom - before all the drama and the bullying. It was nice 💙

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

There’s a scene in “a town with an ocean view” that I’m really proud of, but I don’t want to post it as it’s one of the last scenes in the fic. And there’s lots of bits and pieces in the empath fic that I love - particularly all the water symbolism - but I don’t want to post those either, because spoilers!

Something that immediately came to mind, though, was part of the opening scene of the Spiritfarer fic. Because in the past I’ve always really struggled with writing opening scenes. It’s so hard to establish the mood of the fic, and I’ve noticed that the empath fic starts in almost exactly the same way that “living in the worst parts” did. And that’s something I’m increasingly insecure about? I repeat a lot of motifs and ideas in my fics, sometimes copying entire themes or lines from previous works, and it feels like I’m just going around in circles and not going anywhere new with my writing.

But the Spiritfarer AU is so different? I’ve had to get really creative with it. And I’ve surprised myself with how quickly I settled on a mood and a theme for the fic. The opening scene was written in less than an hour and it was so much easier than I expected. It feels so natural and it sets the tone for the rest of the fic in exactly the way I wanted? It’s difficult to explain, but I’m just really happy with how it turned out!

He had heard stories about the spiritfarers. They were ageless beings that ferried lost souls through the afterlife, until they were ready to pass through the everdoor. The latest spiritfarer had replaced Charon, and had been carrying the mantle for ages unknown.

Time passed differently in the afterlife. It felt like water, trickling down from the buildings and the trees after rainfall. Whenever Scorpius questioned it, he felt like he was trying to catch droplets with his hands.

But he hoped the spiritfarer would pass through Hummingberg one day. He watched new arrivals every morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of a boy with a glowing star hanging around his neck. Hoping that he would have the answers, or perhaps lead Scorpius to someone who did. There was an itch in his heart and it felt like loneliness.

It was by chance that he finally saw the spiritfarer arrive, a black cat following closely at his heels. It was a warm evening and Scorpius had decided to take a walk down the pier and dip his toes in the water. He watched, speechless, as the boy walked casually by him. He was wearing a maroon hat with gold trim, a pair of neat blue trousers, and a green knitted jumper with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The everlight was unmistakable, bouncing against his chest as he made his way into town.

Scorpius scrambled to his feet and called after him, “Are you the spiritfarer?”

He immediately winced at the stupidity of the question, watching helplessly as the boy turned around and gave him a quizzical look. The glow of the everlight danced in his deep green eyes as he stared at Scorpius from underneath the wide brimmed hat. “Are you lost?” He asked.

I also really loved Scorpius and Albus’ first meeting in “where flowers bloom”. We stan a pair who couldn’t flirt to save their lives.

And I’ve already answered 20! ily too 💙

a fun fanfic writing ask game! send me a number ❤️

#bluewanderings #Honourable mention to the scene in “sense of home” where Astoria gets paint on Draco’s clean black robes.#Not for any particular reason - it just makes me smile.#Also the scene with the Potter siblings on the couch together!!!#it's an old fic so it's not as good as my recent stuff but I reread it recently and ahh #just peak softness all around

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theexecutionerssong · 3 years

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Hey Gaëlle ! Est-ce-que tu aurais des recommendations de fic Destiel ? Sans trop de smut, surtout pas beta/Omega (c'est même plus du smut à ce niveau-là...) et beaucoup de pining ? ( Je devrai être en train de réviser mes partiels d'ailleurs... 😅). Merci beaucoup ! 😌

Hellooo ! Alors tu as frappé à la bonne porte parce que je lis jamais de smut, ou alors quand c’est dans des longues fics, je passe juste ces passages là. (mais j’aime beaucoup les fic a/b/o qui ont pas de smut, parce que les sentiments sont quintuplés donc pining + angst on a whole other level). Y’a peu de fluff dans mes fics préférées, love me some angsty life and death moments, mais ça finit toujours bien. Enfin. Vérifie les tags quand même :)))) J’ai mis les liens, si y’a pas c’est qu’elles ont été supprimées mais j’ai les pdf donc hit me up.Et révise tes partiels !!!!

CANON

A turn of the earth -https://archiveofourown.org/works/5138552/chapters/11825306

Dean’s your typical half-orphaned, monster-killing 22-year-old until a trenchcoated stranger crashes into his back windshield one September night, claiming he’s an angel that knows him from the future and that he’s on the run.

Frigging fantastic.

(Or, in which Castiel gets stuck in Dean’s timeline preseries and Dean kind of hates it—until he doesn’t.)

Probably my favorite fic set in Canon. It’s set around season 11, and I love how we dive into Dean’s past pre-series and then as time goes by, we catch up with the show timeline’s. It’s incredibly well written.

525,600 Minutes - https://archiveofourown.org/works/507228/chapters/892693

A man wakes up alone on the streets of Detroit. Lost and somehow forgotten, he's dressed in blood-soaked clothing without memories and without a name.

This is his journey to find it.

It was first published in 2012 set after s5, but it was rewritten last year. I still have the old version for nostalgia’s sake but the new version is even better. It’s got some amnesia so great for pining :))))

The inexhaustible silence of houses -https://archiveofourown.org/works/560268/chapters/1000755

Almost two years after the world doesn't end, Castiel falls from grace—and loses his voice in the process. It is the impetus for confession and change; before long, he is settling into a loving relationship with Dean, the Winchesters are tired, and hunting for a place to land has taken precedence to hunting anything else. Dean and Castiel fall in love with the strange little house on the end of Swallowtail Drive, and for a little while life is as it should be—sweet, affectionate, and beginning afresh.

But more and more Castiel sees and hears things in the house that beg the question of whether or not a place itself can be alive. The walls and rooms seem to shift and grow and breathe, and one night, Dean comes home from a hunt changed in a way that Castiel cannot explain. In the months that follow, their domestic bliss takes turns for the dark and sour, and the confusion of their circumstances will ultimately test everything Castiel knows about the man he loves, and everything he believes to be true.

Listen, I cried. I cried SO MUCH. There was a lil fandom war going on for a time between which was the hardest, this one or Twist and Shout, and both destroy me completely. But this one is set in canon and closer to the characters, to me, so I’ll always recommend this one first (unless you want a happy ending, in which case, don’t read it)

Only if for a night - https://archiveofourown.org/works/826303

Castiel is captured by a djinn. Dean goes slightly crazy, and Cas discovers a thing or two about himself.

I’m a sucker for Dean/Cas in Djinn verse and this one is by far my favorite.

The Bird That Feels The Light (not slash) https://archiveofourown.org/works/210860

AU from 5.18 (or thereabouts). Castiel awakens in the middle of a smoking crater, stranded and very much human. According to the people who have discovered him, it’s six months to the day after Michael and Lucifer faced off on the field of battle outside of Detroit, and Castiel isn’t the only one to have returned. When, at his insistence, they take him to this other person, he finds a child –a little boy– and realizes that, contrary to all his expectations, he has been reunited with Dean Winchester. The world has changed in their absence, and not for the better. Sam is gone, whether dead or simply missing is uncertain. Castiel is given the name of a man in Idaho who may have answers for him. He is faced with the task of travelling cross-country with Dean, who is dependent on him now in ways he never was before, in order to discover the truth. But along the way, as he and Dean learn to know and trust each other once more, Castiel begins to realize that the answers he thought he wanted might not be the ones he needs.

It’s not slash at all since Dean is a kid but I’ve read it probably about 20 times and I still love it as the first time. There’s just something about human Castiel carrying a 4 year old Dean across the world and fighting monsters and demons and humans to survive that gets to me.

Hands, From Which All Things Are Built - https://archiveofourown.org/works/747324

Castiel travels with the angel tablet and without the Winchesters. One day, Dean gets a text from some anonymous number. (They speak in the language of need.) A post-08.17 Goodbye, Stranger story.

If you want pining, this one is definitely for you.

Last Man Standing - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8363328/1/Last-Man-Standing

This one is set just after the season 7 finale, it’s a Purgatory fic with so.much.pining I always need to hold a pillow to my chest when I read it or I go insane sdfghjkl I haven’t read it in probably 4 years but I remember absolutely loving it.

Outrun my gun - https://archiveofourown.org/works/281887/chapters/448388

"The two of you are so stubborn you've made Heaven blink." Finally convinced that Sam and Dean will never say yes and accept their destinies, Heaven and Hell come up with a new plan, one that will redraw the Apocalypse and make everything run much more smoothly. All they need is Dean Winchester's soul.

Don’t mind the MCD tag, it’s got a happy ending. Also a classic set in canon, it’s from 2011 so quite oldish but it’s incredible how the characterization is on point. Love love love it.

Tramps Like Us

Dean Winchester's life is falling apart. He's lost his job, his apartment, and his brother, all in one day. He seems to break everything he touches. Frustrated and alone, he drives off into the night with no idea where he's headed. But then he meets Castiel Novak, a quiet and reclusive man with a haunted past, and suddenly he finds himself with a very specific destination in mind.

I feel like everyone has read Tramps Like Us but just in case, I’ll put it on the list. Not sure what I can say that hasn’t been said by half this website already but well… it deserves the hype.

Til The Last - https://archiveofourown.org/works/1001935/chapters/1984189

When the war came, Dean Winchester was determined that he was not going to get involved. He had more important things to worry about than some rich man’s fight. He had work on the farm and he had taking care of his family. Nothing else was worth his worry. But in August in the Year of Our Lord 1863, when the soldiers came knocking, they weren’t asking. They dragged Dean away.

Dean and Cas have been best friends since they were kids. When Dean is drafted into the Confederate army, to what lengths will Castiel go to ensure that Dean makes it back home alive?

OH BOY. OHHHHH I could talk about that one until the day I die. It’s a complete AU but it has great parallels to canon, it’s incredibly well written, humanity in all it’s ugly truth and “I will fight for you ‘til the last, Dean Winchester” jesus christ it’s so good, so good

Out of the Deep - https://archiveofourown.org/works/548878

Stay away from the light-beds. Stay in the deep.

It is the first thing hatchlings are taught the moment their fans unfurl and they can swim without their parents to buoy them along. It is the first rule, the first law. It is the beginning of every boogey-monster bedtime story told when they settle against the cliffs to sleep.

Castiel should have listened better.

I love everything she writes but I think this one if my favorite. It’s sooooo long, and angsty as fuck but all ends well and it has some very fluffy moments. If you’re into this kinf of AU then 100% go for it.

To Raise a King - https://archiveofourown.org/works/1961403

This must be some kind of horrible joke at Castiel’s expense. Is he truly expected to protect a King? One who has been their enemy for as long as he can remember? He is much more suited to being a part of the army, or at the very least someone who helps to train the knights. That would be far more preferred than having to watch over the King. It means Castiel would get to keep fighting – and that’s the only way he knows to give meaning to his life.

An AU too, Cas is tasked to watch over Sam and Dean -there’s an 8 year age difference between Dean and Cas. I loved it because it’s set over about 15 years and Cas is asexual and I love time period AU in general :’)

Painted Angels https://archiveofourown.org/works/1085792

Author Castiel Novak has finally hit the big time, with a book based on his failed college relationship with a brilliant painter. He's put all his pain behind him, but at a book signing, he comes face to face with Dean Winchester for the first time in twelve years, and the reunion doesn't go like Cas hoped. Dean's a broken man, with a lot of scars and secrets, shoulders weighed down by his demons and self loathing. Cas sees a second chance with the man he's never stopped loving, but Dean's moved on, and is about to get married. Sam launches a "brilliant" plan to reunite his brother and his best friend, but Cas is worried it will all blow up in their faces, and he'll go through the agony of losing Dean a second time.

This one is hard to read because for the most part, it’s heartbreaking. There are happy flashbacks all along but it’s still hard when what happens in the present it’s a fucking tragedy. But I would still read it a thousand times over, and the timestamp completely make up for all the pining and the angst. It’s rare to find fics that last an entire lifetime.

#gaelle parle #spn #fic rec #martineaualexia

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go-events · 4 years

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GO Rom Com Spotlight: @saretton

The bewitching @saretton (also saretton on AO3) has claimed Sabrina to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.

For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!

About Sabrina: Sabrina Fairchild is the young, shy, and awkward daughter of the household chauffeur, who has been infatuated with David all her life, but whom David hardly notices till she goes away to Paris for two years and returns an elegant, sophisticated, beautiful woman.

We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @saretton a little better!

* * *

goromcom: When I opened a chat with you on Tumblr, it told me that you post “about #musicals and #les amis”. Which of Les Amis is your favorite? (And I assume you love Les Mis?)

saretton: Oh my, these tags remind me of the year I joined Tumblr to plunge into one of my OTPs, Enjoltaire from Les Misérables, which is one of my favourite books and musicals. I post definitely less often about them now, though I still love them dearly. I haven’t stopped talking and posting about musicals, though - they’re as essential to my life as the blood in my veins and the oxygen I breathe. They bring me true joy and help me channel my emotions. I really wouldn’t be the person I am today without them.

About Les Amis de l'ABC, I’ll give some context to those who are not familiar with them and with Les Misérables - they are basically a group of revolutionary students living and fighting in Paris, June 1832. My favourite among them is definitely the sweet poet and flower child Jean Prouvaire. ❤️ His whole description in the book feels almost like looking inside a mirror which reflects a better version of myself. That’s how deeply it resonates with me. “[He] was very timid. Yet he was intrepid.” Boom! There go my soul and heart!

goromcom: That sounds so sweet! I’ll have to check them out.

But about your rom com project–You chose to adapt Sabrina as your rom com. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?

saretton: I had already watched Sabrina and I liked it very much. Generally speaking, I’m a big, big fan of the films from the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, and I’m definitely more familiar with old comedies and romcoms than I am with modern ones. It was only natural, then, that I would make my choice among the films belonging to this time period. Sabrina has that charming, elegant and fairytale-like vibe that I’d like to find in everything around me in my daily life, so I went for it.

goromcom: I agree! I love that era, love Audrey Hepburn, so it’s wonderful to have Sabrina represented in our project.

What’s an interesting decision you’ve made in your planning so far–a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?

saretton: The main change this story is going to have is all in the perspective. I wanted to keep the extra fluffy, extra light-hearted, extra fairytale-like taste of the story. The whole thing (which would present an otherwise ‘simple’ plot) will be told in retrospect by Aziraphale and Crowley themselves, through their dialogues and banter, when everything is already settled and they are already living their happy ending. Another basic point is that there will not be any kind of narrator, just their dialogues and memories telling the story. It’s going to be quite a challenge! But it won’t be super big. I would like my fic to be something smallish and super relaxing and soft, with a nice amount of certified Husbands’ Banter™; a sort of sweet and brief interlude. I love these kinds of mindlessly soft and domestic fanfictions, and I hope the readers will enjoy it too. :)

goromcom: I’m pretty familiar with the movie, and this sounds like a really interesting way to retell it!

What’s your favorite moment of Sabrina, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?

saretton: My favourite scene is indeed the party taking place when Sabrina comes back home after spending two years abroad in Paris. Now a fascinating young woman, Sabrina is the belle of the ball, like a sort of 1950s Cinderella. Besides, in that scene Audrey Hepburn wears an absolutely gorgeous, one-of-a-kind Givenchy gown. I go crazy for super elegant retro clothes like those! And Aziraphale is going to recall very fondly and enthusiastically the moment when Crowley, the driver’s son, came back all dashing and charming after spending several years abroad, and the subsequent party…

goromcom: Swooning!

Do you plan to stick very closely to the story beats of the original movie, or make bigger changes?

saretton: My take on this story will be sticking to the film plot up to the first half, more or less, then I will be changing some small bits here and there to make it more GOmens-style. But since it’s going to be relatively short, I’m not going to spoil anything more than this! :)

goromcom: Fair enough! :)

To wrap up, I am blatantly stealing this last question from The Good Place: The Podcast, but here goes: Tell me something “good”. It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.

saretton: The world is full of wonderful things. The smell of freshly baked bread, the laugh of friends and family, sunrises, sunsets, seasons changing again and again… These little things make being alive worth it, despite everything.

On a more personal note: I’m a voice donor! I record my voice while I read books out loud. These recordings are then organised into an audiobook by a centre called CILP and put in an online catalogue for people with sight impairment to download and enjoy freely. I am used to reading books out loud when I’m at home, and I read a lot, so with this kind of volunteering I can do something useful while also enjoying deeply what I do.If you want to have a look at the website of the centre I volunteer for, here’s the link (unfortunately it’s mostly for reference, since it is only available in Italian. However, they also welcome recordings in other languages than Italian, should you be interested!)

goromcom: That’s a wonderful outlook on the world, and CILP sounds like they do some really important work!

Stay tuned and check out the GO adaptation of Sabrina, coming soon!

#goromcom #goromcom spotlight #good omens #saretton #sabrina

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alias-b · 4 years

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Can you talk about your marvel fic? After what you did with stranger things, I bet you killed the mcu for its crimes.😘

Anon!!! You opened a whole bag of sour patch kids here. Settle in. I haven’t gotten a lot of feedback on this project. If I should go back and revamp to my new ao3 with edits. So, I’m not sure if has enough interest for a go head. But, it’s an old Loki/OC fic that’s near and dear to my heart. The first major fic I completed, clocking in at 800K words. Yeap. Longer than Les Mis. Longer than the LOTR series including the hobbit. It’s a beast. But, it’s my beast and I own everything I did in it. 🤣 See below and come shout at me more about this fic bc I adore it too much. Basically, it’s about a woman realizing she’s the Protagonist. With lots of smut & not all with Loki.

Basically, it’s structured a little like a cinematic universe with phases and “prompts/arcs” within the phases that end up building into a growing story. It starts eons before the first Thor movie! Loosely goes into the movies before veering off into his epic mashup of Marvel movies, including The Amazing Spider-man//X-Men//Fantastic Four, with a lot of comic canon events and twists into this monstrosity where I bash hopeful/dramatic themes into your face a million times.

Concretely, I wrote it from about Nov '13-Oct '17 so well before the Infinity War mess. Posted it Dec ‘17-April ‘18. The only mcu movies I get into are Thor1/2, Avengers, & Winter Soldier. Needless to say a lot of characters appear and some from the mcu don’t even show up or are just mentioned in passing, I rly had to pick and choose with the storylines from the comics I sunk in. At the core, it’s still a Loki/OC if you can believe that lmao to be fair, his dumbass did kick a lot of the events off....

The OC, who I only ever call the Lady outside the fic, is actually unnamed. For all 800K words. She gets nicknames/terms of endearment/an Avengers tag, but it never felt right to name her. And it became a fun game of how her name was being said and who refused to use it//only use nicknames. She’s an Asgardian with Issues. Which is more common than you think. Flawed Gods. Theme.

For millions of years, Asgard is a place of these warrior gods pledged to protect the realms//the lands within Asgard itself and do not much else. I made Asgard the full realm it was supposed to be, not the tiny planet it got reduced to. Each realm is important to the balance of Yggdrasil. One falls, they all do. Being a god is an absolute commonplace and Asgard is wrapped up in old ways that Thor’s generation is trying to break from. Theme. We also get a different dynamic when they journey to earth and are actually treated like gods. Theme.

The Lady is an out of place budding warrior trying to find her footing in the world like everyone else. She’s from a poor village, has a not great home life, and struggling with newfound feelings right off the bat for one of her oldest friends. Prince Jerk Himself. She’s been a longtime companion of the Warriors Three/Sif/Thor/Loki and always felt like she’s behind and playing catch up with them. She’s got mental issues she has to hide bc gods aren’t allowed to be flawed. And we find out very quickly that they are. Theme. I play with a lot of fun coming of age tropes actually in Asgard’s setting lol

Her story is the focus, it’s her growth as a warrior and independent woman just trying to protect her friends. Loki, after years of asking him, agrees to teach her magic bc she expresses an talent/a passion that she hasn’t had for other means of fighting and it’s all downhill from their for them. Her quest for power starts out as a means to protect her friends and prove herself and turns into a full blown insatiable obsession to Save Everyone. Theme.

She and Loki struggle a lot, they’re imperfect people with make a lot of wrong choices. There are periods where their relationship is genuinely unhealthy/toxic with Loki’s fall to villainy and the Lady’s quest for knowledge and power. Lessons come with that and characters grow. They both attract some unsavory villains and struggle with the notion of what freedom really means. What it means to be god and human. What they’re willing to do to protect those they love. Also soooo much found family tropes lol bc I can’t resist. I ignore like....80% of what the MCU did, esp with Odin/Thor/Asgard. I just went all out and wrote a monster. Anti-Villains, Ultimate Alliances, Heroes, and Redemption Arcs Galore.

The Lady is...a special OC. The fic centers on her story, a lot of hellish things happen to her and she just keeps fighting through it all. It’s also a first person fic just due to not naming her lol She’s a plus size, mentally ill, WOC. And I’m not shy about this, her backstory and trauma was all accurately taken from my own like so their are some major triggers in early chapters of abuse, s*lf h*rm, past csa mentions, etc.

I hope I get more asks about this fic, I’d love to take on the project of reposting it with fresher eyes. I think I could do a lot with my style now and the clunky bits I could improve on! Let me know what you guys think! Thank you, Anon, sorry I rambled so much XOXOXO. You’re a gem!!!

#Loki #Loki Laufeyson #Marvel fic #marvel fanfiction #Marvel #it's long srrry #mine #ask #anon

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rosesutherlandwrites · 4 years

Text

I was tagged for a thing by: @much-ado-about-almost-everything Thanks for the tag! And today I even have time for filling out :)

Nickname: Rose

Height: 5’ 4″( if i use my good ballet posture)

Time: 11h47

Favourite band/artist: I’m the worst, I haven’t got one. I like single songs, more than artists generally.

Song stuck in my head: Adolescente Pirate, Léa Paci

Last movie i watched: Colette

Last thing i googled: Images of Merida from Brave, I think

Other blogs: @petitepoulerouge but I keep forgetting about it, mostly because I haven’t had any chance to bake anything interesting in AGES

Do i get asks: Every now and then, if I post a question, or an ask game that people seem to like

Why i chose this username: Massive Bahorel Stan. but also many MANY moons ago i wanted to get involved with a les mis rp and all the actual characters were taken, so i made up an oc, who somehow eventually ended up as his girlfriend, and when i finally read the brick and found the laughing mistress I was thrilled that i had accidentally ended up canon after all (also--me and Bahorel are still long distance besties and we still rp together sometimes, just because it never stopped being fun)

Following: 184. Its really WAY too many and i ought to cut it down a bit, especially because tumblr keeps adding people without me knowing (???)

What i’m wearing: Jeans, a yellow tank top, red bead necklace

Dream job: Actor...or pastry chef. Lucky me, I actually DO both of these things, if not always all the time

Dream trip: Scotland is next on my list, but anytime i can return to france i will. Just don’t make me come back again.

Play any instruments: I sing. Planning to try and pick up enough guitar to accompany myself in the new year!

Hair colour: Dark brown

Languages you speak: English and French (enough to get by in whatever situation but not nearly bilingual or truly fluent), a tiny bit of vacation spanish. I’m trying to learn Norwegian but I really suck and i still can’t really say anything after weeks of duolingo lol

Most iconic song: Bohemian Rhapsody and I don’t care how cliche that is.

Random fact about yourself: I moved to NYC by myself and lived there for four years--when I was 18 years old. This is extra crazy when you know that i originally come from a town with 400 residents, and had never lived in a city with more than 60,000 people in it before then.

Age: 40

Nationality: Canadian

Favourite fruit: A good TART apple

Favourite season: Autumn

Favourite scent: Brisk autumn morning in the woods. Also, wood smoke, and the smell of snow (yes it has a smell)

Favourite colour: Goldenrod yellow. except when it’s green. or burgundy. I’m a colour slut.

Favourite animal: Squirrels and chipmunks

Coffee, tea or hot chocolate: All good for different times. Coffee if i have to pick, and I would never have believed i’d say that when I was younger.

Average hours of sleep: 6 ish? My sleep patterns vary wildly

Favourite fictional characters: Phedre, from Kushiel’s Dart. She’s fabulous.

Blog created: August 2018, I think? Sometime around then, anyway.

Favourite subject: in school it was theatre and creative writing. I’m a big generalist these days, all sorts of odd things catch my attention

Hogwarts house: Such a freaking Hufflepuff

Favourite artist: Alphonse Mucha. I also have thing about Botticelli. More modern, I enjoy Mark Ryden, who’s stuff is unapologetically weird af (my favourite is “Allegory of the Four Seasons”)

#tag things #thanks for tagging me #about rose

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softpanfanfics · 5 years

Text

Study Night (Enjolras X Reader)

Hello, lovelies! I went to my friend’s house and we watched Les Mis and I was struck with inspiration. So I wrote a thing. I spent a while on this one, so I hope you like it! I do.

Description: You've begun to fall for someone in your study group. College AU.

Requested: No

Word Count: 940

Warnings: Bit of self-deprecation at the end, I’m posting this at midnight so probably some grammar errors

Date Posted: 6/24/2019

Masterlist

You were beat. College was hard. I mean, you knew it was going to be, but you had no idea it would be like this. You had stayed up all night finishing an assignment again, and you were exhausted. You wanted to stay in bed all day, but between classes and convincing your friends you were fine, there was no time. You gazed at your figure in the mirror. You had half-successfully covered up the bags under your eyes and no longer looked like you had just been crying. That was a good sign. You slipped on your cardigan and put on your boots. Your backpack felt like it was filled with bricks. That meant the book you were doing a report on was in it. Les Misérables was almost as heavy as your debt.

You arrived at The Musain Café and put on a smile. Ponine rolled her eyes at your lateness, but you were too tired to retaliate. Enjolras smiled at you as you sat down next to him. His cheeks were a light shade of pink, probably from the cold, and he looked cute. Your own cheeks flushed at the thought, so you decided to distract yourself. The group chatted about your classes and ordered coffee. You gulped yours down in traditional college student style.

“Someone’s tired,” Grantaire smirked.

“Aren’t we all?” You responded. The group nodded in agreement.

Soon enough the café was quiet, and everyone was working. After about an hour of reading and taking notes on the actions that Jackman took and the consequences they had on Anne’s life, the energy the coffee had given you was burnt out. You wanted to order another but didn’t want to break the silence. Just wait until someone else orders, or when the waitress asks if you want a refill. Then it wouldn't be awkward. You tried to focus on the pages in front of you, it was supposed to be an exciting scene after all, but your brain refused to function. You had read the book before and wanted to skip to when Aaron came in. You ended up thinking about him instead of the battle between Russel and Jackman.

You were sitting on a park bench next to Enj.

“(Y/N), can you go through one conversation without making it about a musical?” he laughed. You opened your mouth to make a reference, but he cut you off. “I’m warning you (Y/N/N).”

“I think I’ve got a crush! I can’t, I think I’m falling for him.” Enjolras stood up to leave. “Oh no,”

You chased after him and latched to his back. He turned to face you and pressed his lips t-

You woke up to the book being taken out of your hands.

“The frick?” you rubbed your eyes and glanced around at the empty chairs and tables.

“You fell asleep. I didn’t want you losing your page.” He put a bookmark in-between the pages and closed the book.

“Thanks for not folding it,” you muttered, still sleepy. “What time is it?”

“8:46. You look like you haven’t slept in ages. I’m driving you home.”

“You really don’t have to, I can walk.”

“I want to, it’s really no trouble!”

You sighed in defeat and packed your bag.

“What were you dreaming about anyway? You looked happy.” He asked now that you were in the car.

“You wouldn’t get it,” you smiled sadly.

“Try me.”

“I don’t know. It was kind of like this, I guess. I was with this guy.” He raised his eyebrows and smirked. “We were talking, just talking. It was nice. He’s really important to me. I mean like, he doesn’t notice me, and yet he’s so welcoming and friendly, and he’s made this past month so much easier. And I think he understood that! In the dream, I mean. He has no idea here. And-“ you realized you were rambling and your face got hot.

“Look, (Y/N). We all know you love Dan Howell.”

“No!” you shrieked as he laughed. “I’ll have you know; I was talking about a real, non-Youtuber person!” He looked at you and you panicked. “It’s not like it matters. He doesn’t even notice me. I mean, everyone flocks to him. He wouldn’t choose me.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure.”

“Really? I‘m just the English major who can’t even stay awake for study night! I can’t function without coffee. I can’t fall asleep at night. I procrastinate. I talk too little until I say too much! I ramble. And he listens! I mean, he’s so amazing and empathetic. He’ll listen to you talk for ages just because he likes seeing people passionate! He sticks up for what he believes in and never backs down. He’s charming and kind. He’s been an amazing friend and,” you put your head in your hands and groaned. “I like him a lot, Enj.”

“I need to meet him and see if he’s worth your time. I’m not letting you waste away for a piece of trash.”

“It doesn’t matter since he doesn’t like me.” He looked at you expectantly. Sighing in defeat, you opened your phone. “I’ll show you a picture of him if it matters so much to you.”

Now or never. You thought to yourself as you pulled up a selfie of the two of you. You handed your phone to him.

He glanced at the screen. “(Y/N/N), this is just a photo of us.”

You nodded and looked at your hands.

“(Y/N/N), you undermine yourself. Wanna get coffee sometime? Like, on a date?”

“Sure.” You smiled.

Comments are nice!

Should I make a part two?

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wowheadquarters · 5 years

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I have a little idea for the 1k followers. As I followed this blog recently, I was wondering about his history. If you feel like it, could do a summary? Like, why did you start it? Your first joy/disappointment. Any thing that we haven't see that you might want to share. Absolutely anything about the blog and you. (If you're comfortable with it of course)

This is a very good idea, lovable anon, I’ll try.

History:

It was 17th November 2015, somewhen in Tuesday afternoon. I don’t remember what exactly sparked the idea of starting this blog, but I can say for certain that it was heavily inspired by the @bleachlists (which is, if you ask me, better humor than canon Bleach). And thus the first list was born.

(I never expected this blog to get famous. Or followers besides bots for that matter. I hoped, maybe, for a little circle of, like, 5 actual readers. I certainly didn’t think I would keep this blog for longer than 4 months. That’s how it is with me usually, I have bursts of inspiration but lack long-term dedication. The fact that this blog is still going is a miracle.)

At first the lists were written in the “chat” style. I had to make up my own prompts, because the two followers or so only hearted the posts but didn’t interact with me at all otherwise. That’s why the activity was very irregular at the time, I was writing when I was inspired and thus a month could pass without a word from me and then boom, three posts in a week. Additionally, I wasn’t writing only lists, but also short stuff, kind of like “Slice of life from Azeroth.” Of these the most famous is Chromie and Dragons and in my opinion the best one and not enough appreciated one is Kel’thuzad’s Heard Of Sylvanas’ Plans.

The first breakthrough came in January 2016 when an anon, who made me happy so much that I called them “lovable” in the list and kept on doing so for all following anons, requested the very first requested list, the Care of Babies list. For a long time this has been the list with the most notes. Now there are too many lists to keep count and Tumblr doesn’t do “the best of your posts,” but still it is one of the most popular posts I have and along with the Chromie and Dragons it still pops up in my notifications. Around April 2016 I had stable enough queue of requested lists to stop making up my own prompts, thus I could completely rely on prompts from followers, most of them from anons.

Another important milestone was August of the same year: First of all, I came up with a posting schedule (Fridays and Mondays, but two months later I understood that was too fast - It ate the prompts faster than they were prompted, and I wasn’t managing it). Then Taedal was added to the lists, at first he was meant as a joke, as I keep reminding him and everyone else, and somehow it happened he stayed here. Additionally, Varian and Vol’jin’s deaths were acknowledged, putting Anduin on the list. Soon after, Garrosh joined in from beyond the veil to annoy Vol’jin in his afterlife.

About this time the blog began to create it’s own lore (and not only the L.O.R.E.), and I even had the (short-spanned) will to mystify people that Taedal is going to get his own expansion. I even had a sideblog dedicated to Taedal (in fact, it was Taedal’s own blog, intentioned as a RP blog but somehow it never…got much traffic) and even a wiki. The wiki still exists! I like to think of this as the Golden Age of HeadQuarters verse, when I even got fanfics on AO3 and a dozen of drawings for this blog even. This blog lives in an alternate universe where there is a new isle west of Pandaria and Garrosh adopted 37 dead children in the afterlife and learned to be a better person (not necessarily the same as good person, but let’s not lose hope).

I don’t remember exactly on what occasion in the 2017 the Interviews were added, but they were the first not-list which were requestable (that is, they weren’t the short filler stuff I used to make before). I think it was to celebrate the first 100 followers but I might be wrong. The first Interview was held with Taedal, by my decision, and ever since then the Interviews went by request every twenty days, moved to every other Wednesday, later as of not-so-recently, every other Tuesday. In the history of the Interviews, there happened to be only one which wasn’t published, because nobody asked any questions. (It was Interview with Kel’thuzad, pt. 3, and I jokingly said that “ when we met, the Archlich thought I used the Interview as an excuse to go out for a date with him and things went awkward” which resulted in this Top N list).

From there things went rather fast. To here actually. As a celebration for 600 followers (or was it 500? Memory fails me) I began writing Top N, sort of as of a filler in between the Interviews, so actually now this blog has moved back to the biweekly posting scheme very close to the one from 2016. Earlier this year (2018), there was a list about attack on not-Theramore, where I made up a character especially for my timeline speculations - because timeline shenanigans, it is a bronze dragon, and because it is representing me, the character is called Authormi. That is a very poor play on the word “author” (because I am the author of this blog) and the “-ormu/ormi” suffix characteristic for the Bronze dragonflight. Coincidentally, it was also the first time I have referred to myself with any sort of name here on this blog (besides the FAQ where is a link to my main blog) and I am using it since.

An important part of the blog is post maintenance when I try to at least twice a month (but if I’m very responsible, then every Friday evening) go thorough the blog, update the Interview, Top N, and L.O.R.E. pages, delete old request asks and so on. However, over the years a good number of not-request asks had piled up in here. They were…not filtered here and the blog seemed messy with them. Which is why Authormi vs. Inbox tag was created and from time to time when too many not-request asks pile here, I dump them into these post as a sort of archive. I admit that it is not, uh… ideal in case you are looking for something specific, but it keeps the blog clean. Well, cleaner.

The most recent new development of the blog was the addition of the Allied Races leaders - Alleria Windrunner for the Void Elves/Ral’dorei, High Exarch Turalyon for the Lightforged, Jaina Proudmoore for Kul Tiras, First Arcanist Thalyssra for the Nightborne Elves/Shal’dorei, Mayla Highmountain for the Highmountain Tauren Tribes, Overlord Geya’rah for the Mag’har Orcs, and Princess Talanji for the Zandalari. The choice of the leaders is taken from the information on the Allied Races from Wowpedia.

Speaking of Wowpedia, it is my primal source, besides personal experience, when it comes to writing the lists. I used to rely on WoWWiki, but, uh… that one turned a bit messy a couple of years ago and I never get around to check on it now. When I don’t know something, I look it up on Wowpedia. If it’s not on Wowpedia, I consider it a Free Real Estate lore wildcard, which means I can bullshit it out as long as it is lore/character consistent. I pride myself on giving the characters (leaders) some actual character, because, now correct me if I am wrong, Blizzard writers confuse character personality for that wind flapping pole. I am not saying that I am writing “good” or “pure” characters. They have faults, they are prejudiced, foolhardy, depressed (in not romantic ways), mean, holding grudges. Some, like Garrosh, Genn or Gallywix, are more straightforward in their flaws than others, but I am pouring a cup of sour traits to everyone here. (What I am saying here is: Be critical when you read your favorite leader’s opinion. They might not be right and/or honest.)

Overview, as of today, Monday 19th November 2018:

Published 174 lists, 24 more in the queue + bunch of requests hanging in the asks among the posts. (Somebody needs to do their maintenance)

Published 25 Interviews, 9 more in the queue + some in the asks too, I think I saw one request or two.

Published 21 Top N lists (most favoured number for N is 10), 0 in the queue.

1009 followers, woooo! I love you all. Except the 1009th one who is a porn bot, you can go fuck yourself. ‘Xcuse me. 1008 followers now!

The blog is 3 years and 2 days old. Happy birthday!

Authormi’s pick of lists to read (besides the one linked):

What they say far too often: Vintage one, so you see what the old style was like.

What do the think of the heroes: Meta one!

Their pick for a movie night: There were no guesses on what movie is a Ayeroth-verse of what Earth-verse. I am proud of some of those titles.

No Orc Invasion: The first timeline speculation, which I really lvoed. If somebody was to write that AU, I’d read it actually.

If they could erase one person from existence: Another timeline speculation. I like making those!

Draw the squad: Maybe you could draw the squad?

Watching Les Misérables: This one was an especially important journey for me, because this list is why I saw the musical in the first place. Later I read the book too (I love the book), got into some Les Mis RP, made some very good friends out of that… Yeah, I owe this one lovable anon who requested it a lot. (More or less, now I am also a professional Valjean RPer, except I don’t get paid for it. Whenever somebody who knows me joins a new RP server and they haven’t got Valjean, they usually ask me. Like… what? How? Why? Why do you all think I am a good Valjean? Why- Never mind, this is a Warcraft blog. Moving on.)

Spell of the Violent Tongue: The first time it has been brought to my attention that I think about the characters in a way a lot fo other people doesn’t, because this list surprised a lot of readers, and by surprised I mean hit into feels so hard they complained to me. I talked about it with my mum later (family support is an important thing for me and mum is fan of Warcraft), and I’ve been told that “I treat the characters maybe a bit too realistically.” PSA for everybody: Warcraft is a story about broken people and violent racism.

Their God Tier: For the people who are fan of Homestuck too. (Homestuck itself is good. The fandom is weird)

Garrosh’s 37 ghost children: By which they became more or less canon on this blog, a regular stuff which is to be counted with.

How do they insult people: The most recent popular post.

Interview with Azshara: My personally favorite thing I have ever written for this blog, as in, I don’t think I am going to peak it.

Interview with Luxien: Because I want to press Taedal’s story and “expansion” to everybody, read the interview with his older evil sister.

Top 10 favorite characters: I suppose you are a bit curious who my faves are, so here you go.

Top 10 changes to the story I would do: By heart I am a storywriter. I give such things a lot of thoughts. But as I’ve mentioned earlier, lack of dedication is… making things hard.

Other cool stuff to check out (maybe?):

Taedal’s expansion wiki, of course. I have a lot of thoughts about that world and story and… I would love to went about it a bit, too.

This very cool fanfic on AO3.

The official portrait of Taedal.

The official portrait of Authormi.

The description of this blog, as taken from my personal blog:

wowheadquarters (WoW HeadQuarters, World of Warcraft Headquarters, WoWHQ) is by far my most popular blog, despite being younger than SNTS. I add new content twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday. I never thought I’d make more than 10 posts in total, but there we go. I admit that the original idea comes from bleachlists, but it has sort of evolved since then. I am trying to keep the blog not contradicting the canon, but some things in the HeadQuartersverse might not always agree with the official lore

Final words from Authormi:

Oh my fucking god, this is really unbelieveable that this thing is still going on. I never expected this blog to live beyond a month. I never thought I’d get more than 20 followers. I have 1000 now? That’s… is that Tumblr-famous? I’ve never had this many followers. Do you all read this? All the stuff? Am I shaping your view on the Warcraft universe? This is too much power for one person to have.

You want to know what’s actually my happiest memory connected to this blog? It was actually some time back (because my memory is a mess, I can’t tell you how far back), I had a really, really stuffed couple of weeks. A lot of to do, but also mentally exhausted, I was in a bad place for a bit there. Usually I am able to kick myself in the ass, sit down and make up the list on the go, even if it is bound to be miserable wreck of text, I write it. Sometimes when I am super done and tired, I write it on Saturday evening and pretend it’s Friday and so far everyone’s been so kind and there’s been no comment to that. But in those two or three weeks I just… couldn’t. Even clinging to this self-made structure was too exhausting. I wasn’t on Tumblr for basically the whole time (my main blog was fuelled by the queue). Sometimes when I am in a good place, I write lists in advance and schedule them, but at that time no such a thing took place, so this blog went silent without announcement and I couldn’t care less. When I finally found it in me to come online, my inbox greeted me with various people who were asking me if I was okay and whether or not I am still alive written in a very worried manner. And you know… reading that helped me a lot at the moment. It was a reminder that somebody here cares for me and cares for what I do and… Yeah, it was a damn motivation to get myself together a bit and write stuff and do some stuff. Since then I’m trying to announce in advance if I think I am not going to make it, and even then I am still trying to write the list as soon as possible when I am fit to.

A story for your amusement on this “write it when possible” note. This summer I was with my 4 younger siblings (my oldest sister, still younger than I, turned 18 last Thursday, the youngest sibling who also happens to be a sister is 4, but I don’t live with all the siblings, blah blah divorced parents blah blah, not related) and dad and grandfather in the beautiful village (or town?) of Au in Austria. I took my old laptop with me (I’ve got a new one recently) which had battery that could live on it’s own for, like 10 minutes. The house we were living in had no wi-fi, but there was a village-wide public wi-fi… which din’t reach the house. The nearest was at the bus stop, but that one was shaky, and the good reliable hotspot was at the park, 10 minutes of walk away from the house. Now, it was nearly Friday and I needed to post the list. So I wrote it int he laptop’s notepad, then turned off its life support, took it and dashed across all of Au to the wi-fi hotspot, formatted the document into a list, and hit post. About 2 minutes later, the laptop died.

I am thinking about making another blog directly meant for the asks, request or not, and those would stay there. What do you all think? Maybe I would lose things there, I am quite capable of it.

I’d love to talk about Taedal and his demons and his entire story a bit more. But I haven’t got, like, a reason to do so. I am sort of insecure in this matter, I sort of have the feeling that nobody really cares for Taedal here. “What are you thinking, a ‘good demon’ OC?” (Ask me about Taedal and his faction and the Broken and Distant Worlds expansion. I have an expansion and half planned in my head.)

There is some kind of an expectation or anticipation in me to have someone from Blizz discovering this blog and some big consequences happening. I am not sure whether I want it to happen or not. I mean, I am a bit… too-critical of their work in attempt to please the crowd here. (It’s easy to search for flaws when you take the good stuff as the norm. You are actually doing a good job, Blizzard, in the terms of game developing and marketing. But there is that one post going around which says that Warcraft lore/story is written by 9 people who cannot talk to each other. In this spirit, I am sure that there are 4 people writing charcter psychological profiles who don’t know of each other’s existence. Your animation is a snack, though.)

Wow. I suck at summaries. This is as brief as it gets.

#long post #even by my standards

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cometomecosette · 6 years

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“Les Mis” review: US Tour, San Francisco, August 25, 2018

When I heard that the Les Mis tour was coming to San Francisco, I knew right away that I had to make the 2-hour drive and see it. I hadn’t seen the show onstage in three years and I’m always eager to see a new performance – only time and money limits stop me from traveling to see every professional production.

The current US tour is, of course, Laurence Conner’s 25th Anniversary production, which has been sweeping the world since 2009. The sets, costumes and basic staging were familiar and my feelings about them haven’t changed a bit. I could nitpick about all the details that feel inferior to the classic Trevor Nunn/John Caird production (the lack of any chairs or tables in Empty Chairs, the excessive slapstick in the Thénardiers’ scenes, the awkwardness of some scenes that were clearly written to be staged on a turntable, etc.), but overall, it’s a beautiful way to experience the musical. The impressionistic imagery derived from Victor Hugo’s drawings is both Romantically beautiful and appropriately somber and gritty, and for the most part, the staging excellently serves the story. So many little details enhanced the action’s moving effect: for example, in the Well Scene, Valjean found an exhausted Young Cosette collapsed in tears over her heavy bucket, and he gently approached her from behind and helped her to her feet, perfectly mirroring the moment when the Bishop first found him sleeping on his doorstep.

Believe it or not, this was my first time seeing the 25th Ann. production since 2012, before the movie was released. Since then I’ve only seen non-replica regional productions; I missed the 2014 Broadway revival and have never been anywhere near the International Tour either. So I noticed a fair amount of changes that have been made to the production since the original 2009-13 tours. Some of these changes I had already read about in other people’s reviews, but others were surprises. Here are all the differences I noticed:

*All projections that used to tell us when and where the action takes place have been cut. Maybe this was already the case in 2009-13, but I don’t remember. This must make the time skips confusing for first-time audience members who haven’t read the synopsis.

*In the Prologue, during the farm scene’s instrumental passage, two little girls run across the stage playing tag. One trips and falls, and Valjean approaches to make sure she’s all right, but her parents hurry protectively to her side and glare him away from her.

*Petit Gervais is included. Valjean takes his coin during “Now every door is closed to me…” I know this bit of staging has been in and out of this production since 2009 (it was present in the UK tour, then absent in the 2010 US tour, then reinstated in Toronto…), but for now it’s back. I think the placement is awkward, though, since it comes just on the heels of Valjean showing compassion to another child. I personally would have placed Gervais after the inn scene during “And now I know how freedom feels…” to show that Valjean’s increasing mistreatment has made him even more bitter and ruthless than when he was first released from prison. (Future directors, take note.)

*Fantine’s dress is now a solid turquoise in place of the stripe-and-flower pattern from the 2009-13 tours. I already knew this from the 2014 Broadway photos of Caissie Levy, though.

*In “At the End of the Day,” the Factory Girl now has a “girl posse” of two other women. They’re the ones who initially snatch Fantine’s letter and sing “And what have we here, little innocent sister?” then pass the letter to their queen bee, who reads it.

*Fantine’s first customer in “Lovely Ladies” is now the Factory Foreman. (This may have been the case back in 2009-13, but I don’t remember; it was the case in the 2006-07 Broadway production, though.) We get a long, horrible moment where they stand and stare at each other, Fantine appalled while the Foreman leers back at her, before she finally gives him her hand.

*Same scene: Fantine doesn’t sing “Come on, captain, you can wear your shoes…” anymore. Instead, she and the Foreman emerge from their “transaction” and two other whores ask the departing Foreman “Tell me, captain, did you wear your shoes?” “Don’t it make a change… etc.” while Fantine stands still and traumatized. She only starts singing at “Easy money, lying on a bed…”

*Fantine’s cause of death is once again TB, as Hugo wrote it. Back in the 2009-13 tours she wasn’t portrayed as sick; instead Bamatabois gave her a powerful kick in the side, which apparently broke her ribs, punctured a lung and killed her. But now she’s coughing before Bamatabois ever sets eyes on her. I suppose after Anne Hathaway’s dramatic weight loss and oh-so-believable illness in the movie, Laurence Connor decided he couldn’t kill his Fantine differently.

*In “Master of the House,” we get a more elaborate variation on the movie’s quick “watering the wine” bit. Halfway through the song, a man desperately needs to go to the bathroom; Thénardier directs him to Mme. Thénardier, who holds a chamber pot while he uses it. At the end of the song, she secretly pours out the chamber pot into the wine jug, then brings the jug to her husband, who drinks, then gags.

*I remember that the first time I saw the 2010 US tour, Mme. Thénardier tried to seduce Valjean during “The Bargain,” but later in the run, that bit of comedy was cut. Well, now it’s back. She “treats” him to some dramatic leg- and cleavage-flaunting and sprays herself with much too much perfume, making him cough when she comes near him. A little excessive, if you ask me.

*Gavroche’s costume seems to have been tweaked. Instead of the all-brown outfit of the 2009-13 tours, as seen on Robert Madge in the 25th Ann. Concert, he now wears a light blue shirt with a tan vest. Also, instead of “This is my school, my high society…” in “Look Down,” he now sings his more political lyrics from the movie, starting with, “This is the land that fought for liberty…”

*The street fight between the two women in “Look Down” has been cut. Why that vignette wasn’t cut to begin with when the show was first trimmed down in the early 2000s, yet actual characterization material from major characters was cut, I’ll never know.

*Enjolras and Marius’s lines in “Look Down” are now a public speech to the beggars, delivered on soapboxes with one or two other Amis (I don’t remember which ones) present too.

*In “Attack on Rue Plumet,” Éponine now snatches a knife from a gang member (I don’t remember who, though I don’t think it was Montparnasse – either Babet or Claquesous) and threatens all the men with it as she sings “I know this house, I tell you…”

*When Éponine delivers Marius’s letter, she doesn’t run straight up to Valjean and announce her purpose anymore. Instead the scene is staged more like the original Nunn/Caird version; she creeps into the garden and looks up at Cosette’s balcony, trying to determine how to get the letter to her, but then Valjean catches her and she gives him the letter out of fear. She also takes down her hair and reveals her gender on “He said to give it to Cosette,” though I’m not sure why.

*Gavroche flips off Javert the end of “Little People.” Not the Arm, which other Gavroches have done. The Finger. My friend who saw the show with me was disturbed that they let a child do that.

*Éponine’s death is now a self-sacrifice. When she enters over the barricade, she almost makes it to safety, but Marius, in his eagerness to talk to her, jumps up from cover while bullets are still flying and is almost shot. Éponine pushes him out of the way and takes the bullet instead, though she doesn’t let him realize she’s been hit until after they climb down to the ground.

*Gavroche’s death is no longer offstage, but now handled in the style that seems to be near ubiquitous in productions with no turntable. Gavroche makes it back to the top of the barricade, but is shot at the last moment and falls into Enjolras’s arms. Then Enjolras hands him down to Grantaire, who mournfully carries him from the barricade.

*Post-Final Battle, Javert now has a movie-esque moment of sympathy over Gavroche’s body. He finds the boy on the ground, kneels and contemplates him, then does a sign of the cross before lifting him up onto the cart next to Enjolras.

*Likewise, Javert now has a gun in his last meeting with Vajean. This has seemingly become ubiquitous in post-movie productions.

*In the wedding scene, midway through the Thénardiers’ exchange with Marius, the majordomo announces “Ladies and gentlemen, the cake!” A gorgeous wedding cake is wheeled onstage – and Mme. Thénardier promptly grabs the knife, cuts a piece and stuffs it into her mouth with her bare hands, much to the shock of the onlookers. In disgust, the majordomo orders the cake removed. I’m not sure whether I think this is funny or fatphobic.

*When the Bishop appears among the spirits in the finale, he and Valjean hug, rather than just bowing to each other as in 2009-13.

Now for the cast…

Nick Cartell (Jean Valjean)

Both musically and dramatically, this man commanded the stage. His bright, ringing tenor was capable of all the magnificent power and magnificent gentleness an ideal Valjean should display; his only possible vocal flaw was that he sounded a bit too young. (The same could be said about his looks.) His acting was spot-on too. From the angry convict of the beginning, to the gentlemanly Monsieur Madeleine, to Javert’s fierce nemesis, to Cosette’s loving father, to the dying old man of the finale, he embodied each of Valjean’s identities. One worthwhile touch he added that I’ve never seen from any other musical Valjean was the limp Hugo ascribes to the character, as a result of living for years with his leg chained: at first it was barely noticeable, but as he aged it became painfully pronounced. Another, adorable touch to his performance was this: he took the popular detail of Valjean gently booping Cosette’s nose, and instead of only doing it once or twice, he expanded it into a special gesture of affection for her throughout their years together. Repeatedly he touched his own nose, then touched hers: first when he adopted her, then in “In My Life,” then at the beginning of “Valjean’s Confession,” and finally as he was dying. During the final curtain calls, the audience’s wild applause for him was well deserved.

Josh Davis (Javert)

I’m afraid he was my least favorite of the lead performers. Not in terms of his singing: he had a rich, powerful baritone voice that was just right for the part. But his diction tended to sound strange and his whole characterization was a bit too growly, aggressive and “cartoon villain”-like for my taste. I’m sure this was partly direction: Laurence Connor’s concept of Javert has always seemed more aggressive and neurotic than the novel’s or Trevor Nunn’s, regardless of the actor. But it still didn’t ring quite right for me. I agree with a previous reviewer who wrote that his delivery recalled William Shatner … particularly at the end of “Who Am I?” when he charged after Valjean yelling “CON!” which of course sounded just like “KHAN!” I literally asked myself “Did he just make a Star Trek joke?” (Though maybe it was one, since this was a matinee performance; I know it’s a tradition in the London production to add little jokes in the matinees.) Still, there were moments of his performance I liked a lot: for example, his unique, utterly broken, weary delivery of the line “This man has killed me even so!” I’ve definitely seen worse Javerts in the past. I’ve just seen better ones too.

Mary Kate Moore (Fantine)

A lovely, delicate Fantine with a beautiful mezzo voice and a poignant, pain-filled characterization. I just wish I could have seen more anger, pride and inner strength from her. Maybe part of the problem was my far-away seat, because I’ve read another fan’s review of her performance that praised her strength and anger. But personally, I never felt the complexity of the novel’s Fantine from her. Still, without question, her singing and acting were high in quality. I think my main issue was with the staging, which highlighted Fantine’s victimhood and reduced her agency. The factory “fight” consisted only of the Factory Girl beating her up, rather than letting her make a fierce effort to get the letter back, and the reassignment of lines in “Lovely Ladies” left her standing in mute, broken shock where past Fantines have made active, tough-talking advances to potential customers. She was a good Fantine, but might have done better in a different production.

J. Anthony Crane (Thénardier)

Scraggly, slimy, funny and slightly larger than life but never too hammy, dark and sinister in “Dog Eats Dog”… in short, he was just what Thénardier should be. His marriage to his wife seemed to be one where “pots and pans and underwear fly”: they bickered ferociously, but worked together effortlessly, and at the end of the Waltz of Treachery they “celebrated” their 1500 francs with his head under her skirt. Predictably, the audience loved them both.

Allison Guinn (Mme. Thénardier)

Good, but over the top. Her voice was powerful and strident, which is right for the role, but she made it a little too strident and annoying for my taste. The same can be said for her acting: just as brash, funny and nasty as it should be, but a little too slapstick and cartoonish. Of course she’s far from the only cartoonish Mme. T. I’ve ever seen, and while she didn’t perfectly embody the brute Hugo created, she was still a solid source of comic relief.

Robert Ariza (u/s Marius)

A very likeable Marius: cute and small (he was slightly shorter than Éponine!), with fluffy black hair and a warm, sweet tenor voice. He was adorably passionate and lovesick in the early scenes; I adored the moment in “A Heart Full of Love” when he thought he had scared Cosette away after she ran from her balcony, and was groaning “I do not even know your name!” to the wall of her house (such an INFP!) when he suddenly realized she was standing behind him. He also offered a warm friendship with Éponine and touching grief and tears at her death. His “Empty Chairs” was appropriately poignant too, with its outpouring of grief and anger. Knowing that first-time Les Mis viewers so often react to Marius in less than complimentary way, it’s a testament to his performance that afterwards, my first-timer friend praised the character’s coming-of-age journey and his romance with Cosette. Everything about his performance was more-or-less just right.

Paige Smallwood (Éponine)

A good, strong Éponine, with a beautiful, powerful voice and a solid, affecting characterization. She was a genuine street rat, never cutesy or ingénue-like, yet not too harsh either, but struck just the right balance of toughness, playfulness, anger, heartache and warmth. I especially liked a few of her small yet unique acting choices. On the line “I like the way you grow your hair,” for example, she started to reach out to touch Marius’s hair, but then pulled herself back, and distracted him from what she had almost done by throwing his book onto the ground. I also loved her grimly determined expression at the end of “On My Own,” when she set off to rejoin Marius at the barricade; other Éponines I’ve known have paused in uncertainty at that point, torn between love and fear, but this one strode to her fate with hard, unwavering resolve. Her death was excellent too, with the perfect balance between pain, vocal beauty and tenderness. The audience understandably loved her.

Matt Shingledecker (Enjolras)

I should have known to expect good things from this Enjolras, since his performance as Tony in the 2009 West Side Story revival (he replaced Matt Cavanaugh) was highly praised by the late Arthur Laurents in his last memoire. His bright, ringing tenor voice was just right both for Tony and for Enjolras, and his looks were ideal too: tall, strong and handsome, with a long mane of sunny blond hair. His acting was also spot on, with an excellent balance between stately dignity and rabble-rousing fire. I only wish I had been sitting closer, so I could see his expressions more closely and have more insight into this Enjolras’s relationships with his friends, especially Grantaire. But I have nothing but positive feelings about his performance.

Jillian Butler (Cosette)

A sweet, charming Cosette; not one of the most outstanding I’ve seen, per se, but very good. As with Robert’s Marius, it’s a testament to her talent that my first-timer friend loved their love story. Her voice was a bright, crystalline soprano, slightly thin, but never wispy or squeaky. Her acting was spot-on too; she was just as innocent, lovesick and tender as she should be, angry about Valjean’s secret keeping without being bratty, and appropriately distraught by his death. I do wish Connor’s staging let her show him more affection instead of highlighting their conflict, but of course this wasn’t her fault at all.

John Ambrosino (u/s Grantaire)

Effective, though I wish I had been sitting closer to see the nuances of the various looks he exchanged with Enjolras. They were subtle, but I have no doubt they were emotionally charged. Still, he was convincing as the wild and funny drunkard, as the sad cynic, and as Gavroche’s devoted big brother figure. I was especially struck by his private, despairing collapse against a wall after Enjolras glared at him at the end of his “Drink With Me” verse, and though his “NO!” at Gavroche’s death was slightly underwhelming, his staggering, open-mouthed anguish as he carried the boy’s body and quiet weeping into his chest on the ground were heartbreaking. Overall, an excellent performance.

Sam Middleton (Gavroche)

A first-rate Gavroche, old enough to be convincing and commanding onstage yet young enough to be poignant, with a strong, clear voice and good acting throughout. Besides the usual cheek and feistiness, I loved that this production made Gavroche’s compassionate side clear. He was the one who comforted Marius after Éponine’s death, and when Grantaire collapsed in despair after his “Drink With Me” solo, he gave him the sweetest consoling hug. The characters onstage weren’t the only ones distraught by his death, that’s for sure.

Elsa Avery Dees (Young Cosette)

A delicate, sweet-voiced little thing, just as any Young Cosette should be.

My friend who had never seen Les Mis before was completely bowled over by this performance. She had endless praise for it our way home (though even she thought the slapstick in the Thénardiers’ scenes was overdone) and right away got tickets to see again with her family. Personally, I wouldn’t want to see the same cast back-to-back, but I am hoping to see the tour again when it comes to LA in the spring. This production might not be perfect, but still, both for first-timers and for longtime Les Mis lovers, it has no shortage of great things to offer.

#les mis #les miserables #musical #review #us tour 2018 #san francisco #orpheum theatre

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theliterarywolf · 7 years

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Providing you've seen that 'stages of fandom chart', are there any good media that have a presence on tumblr but haven't gotten toxic yet? seems like its happening faster and faster these days...

The Hunie franchise (both Pop and Cam) - Outside of someone on here hating the game so much that they were talking about ‘wanting to kill everyone who was involved with it’ (and even they were only exposed to the game through a Markiplier LP), the fandom on here is microscopic because ‘ew, icky porn game obviously made for the male gaze (even though half of the development team for Pop were lesbians, but okay)’.

The Ancient Magus’s Bride - As far as I’ve seen, this anime has been lucky enough to have a corner of shade under the ‘Don’t bring your bullshit in here’ barrier of tumblr’s teratophile community. So that one’s safe

Gankutsuou - The Count of Monte Cristo - You know, despite bearing quite a few LGBT characters (Albert, Franz, Eugenie, Peppo, and even the Count himself), this anime hasn’t had any exposure to the bullshit meter. Maybe tumblr children don’t have the time for any adaptation of classic French literature that isn’t Les Mis, who knows?

Full Service - The game has yet to come out (the devs are shooting for September) but, really, with this game I am ironically A-OK with it having, what, 3% presence on tumblr? Because, fuck it, I don’t need any discourse about the massage parlor hunks, okay?

Night in the Woods - Yeah, the game that everyone was saying was going to be ‘the next Undertale when it comes to fandom cringe, ohmahgawd’ has pretty much been under the radar when it comes to tumblr. I mean, the worst thing I remember seeing when NitW hit its peak on this site was people getting upset that people were shipping Greg and Mae (which, I mean, I can understand a little; you actually have a gay couple in the form of Angus and Greg and yet you still want to ship Greg and Mae, who are sooooo bad for each other, oh my God) –

Okay, bit of a tangent: the more I think about NitW, the more I just feel so damn sorry for Angus and Bea for having to deal with Greg and Mae, just… my God

–

But, other that, haven’t seen discourse. Maybe because people don’t want to go for a media where the main character, despite being pansexual and representation being awesome, is such a fucking trainwreck.

And… yeah, those are the only things fandom-wise that I can think of that are Discourse-Free on this hellsite. Because even things like The Shape of Water (a movie that should have that ‘Don’t Bring Your Bullshit in Here’ protection from the teratophile community is still being hit with ‘ugh, who cares if it’s an unconventional romance between a mute protagonist who uses sign language and a monster – it’s still Het and she’s still white, myeh~’ posts in the tag and even obscure ships that have been left alone for years are now having little worms come into the tag to post the typical anti messages (’oh, the age-gaps make me uncomfortable’, ‘oh, you’re skirting on pedophilia~’

#anonymous

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nicolekidmanwigfactory · 7 years

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Do EVERY musical theatre ask

I hate you because I answer in paragraphs but I love you because this will take me forever and I have all night

1. What was the first musical you saw?

I’m having trouble remembering. Not counting animated Disney movies, I guess the Sound of Music for movie musicals and my grade school’s production of Godspell when I was in kindergarten. I had no idea what the show was about I was obsessed with “Bless the Lord.”

2. What musical got you really into theatre?

In high school, I was an editor of my senior class’ student-written musical parody of the school. At the end of junior year, we’d sketched out the plot and over the summer about 6-7 groups of ten people each wrote their assigned scenes, song parodies, etc. At the start of August, I was chosen, along with one other student, by our director (one of the English teachers) to basically take these collections of scenes and songs and make them into a cohesive, workable show, which included rewriting lines, deleting jokes, etc. We’d meet weekly at the teacher’s house and go over the drafts, consider his input, but the creative control was ultimately ours.

One of the teachers, who’d been there for more than 25 years and seen every senior production in her time, said the entire show was the second best she’d seen. During awards night, the director told us this show was one of his favorites he’d directed. But working on this show left me obsessed with theatre in general, something I never had much interest in before. I was attracted to musical theatre in particular because I thought the songs selected to be parodied for the show were the weakest part of the show, so I guess I started listening to cast albums to search for songs in an effort to subconsciously fix what I thought to be errors. I did that for prolly the first year after the show.

I told you I answer in paragraphs.

3. Who was your first Broadway crush?

I don’t really get crushes, so I don’t have a first one. When I fall, but I fall hard; it’s not crush area. But I’m a horny person and who I’m attracted to seems to come in phases and right now and I’m very attracted to Brandon Uranowitz and (which came as a total shock to me) Andrew Rannells.

4. Name three of your current Broadway crushes.

Brandon Uranowitz, Andrew Rannells, Jeanine Tesori (she’s a woman but she is GLAM)

5. Name four of your dream roles.

I’ve never had a real desire to perform but I guess Madame Armfeldt, Amy, Phyllis Stone (if I get to sing Ah, But Underneath), Joanne. What can I say, Sondheim’s women are more fun to sing than any role meant for a man.

6. Favourite off-broadway show:

i don’t distinguish between between on and off-Broadway

7. Favourite cast recording.

1970 Company Original Cast Recording. The gold standard for cast recordings in general.

8. 2013 Tony opening number or 2016 Tony opening number?

I honestly don’t remember either and don’t care enough to look them up.

9. Favourite show currently on Broadway.

none of them really speak to me right now, so...Hello Dolly! because I like the score most?

10. A musical that closed and you’re still bitter about. Rant a bit.

Fun Home.

11. Best stage to screen adaptation?

West Side Story. Steve is wrong when he kvetches about the movie’s switching the places of “Cool” and “Gee, Officer Krupke.” THEIR LEADER JUST GOT KILLED WHY ARE THEY JOKING IT MAKES MORE SENSE TO PLAY COOL THAN TO JOKE AROUND. i’d prefer if the songs were also in that order on stage as well. They already get their moment of post-intermission levity with “I Feel Pretty.” “Gee, Officer Krupke” in Act 2 is excessive. The movie fixes this mistake.

12. Worst stage to screen adaptation?

I haven’t really seen all that many movie musicals. I don’t know if I would call it the worst but I absolutely hated the Les Mis movie but I don’t know if it’s because i find the show itself over the top or if it was the movie itself

13. Favourite #ham4ham?

never seen them

14. A musical you would love to see produced by Deaf West?

Fun Home. I think having actors who are Deaf parallel the lesbian themes in the show would be a unique take on the show’s portrayal closetedness and parental/child relationships...if that makes sense. it does in my head

15. If you could revive any musical, which one would it be and who would you cast in it?

Assuming it meets all my other requirements, Candide. I don’t have any ideas for who to play whom, but casting must be colorblind, age appropriate, and match the vocal requirements.

16. If you could go to a concert at the 54 below, who’s would it be?

Barbara Cook

17. Do you watch broadway.com vlogs? Which one is your favourite?

Nope.

18. Make a broadway related confession.

I don’t let others know just how much I enjoy the theatre because I don’t want to come off as one of the theatre kids you hated in high school (but secretly admired for their confidence).

19. What do musicals mean to you?

This question is so corny I refuse to answer it.

20. Express some love for understudies and swings!

Danny I just want to be done with this. You do good work understudies and swings. you’re not appreciated enough and when you do go on it’s to the disappointment of the audience who was expecting someone else so good job dealing with that already tough situation to begin with.

21. Best Disney musical:

I’m going based off of the movies and to this I answer Lion King. I liked the stage version when I saw the tour but the movie as a musical is so satisfying and impossible to improve upon (though Shadowland and He Lives in You are great additions)

22. Which Disney movie should be made into a musical?

none. keep them as movies. broadway’s already getting pandering enough

23. Which musical fandom has the funniest memes?

PASSION

24. Name a character from a musical you would sort into your Hogwarts house.

I’m a Ravenclaw according to Pottermore so give me Madame Armfeldt.

25. Name a Broadway star you would sort into your Hogwarts house.

Stephen Sondheim

26. Best on stage chemistry?

Patti LuPone and the scenery

27. A Broadway duo you love.

@jasonrobertclown and @kayleefabulous

28. What book, tv show, movie, biography, video game, etc. should be turned into a musical?

HOWARDS END HOWARDS END HOWARDS END HOWARDS END

29. If you could make a jukebox musical, what artist or genre would you pick?

30. Favourite role played by _________________?

Angela Lansbury. Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate. It’s not a stage role but she’s a stage legend and it’s my favorite role of hers.

31. What musical has made you cry the most?

I don’t cry at movies or books or anything, so none.

32. What musical has made you laugh the most?

It’s not Steve’s best score by any means, but A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a fucking laugh riot but thankfully, the strength of the show is its book.

33. Current showtune stuck in you head:

I’ve been mourning the death of Barbara Cook and her “Will I Ever Tell You” from The Music Man is one I’ve been listening to a lot the past two days. It’s lovely and keeps popping back into my head.

34. A musical that has left you thinking about life for a long time or deeply inspired you.

Bridge of Madison County was a show that affected me more than I expected and I think it was because I had just put in my notice for my teaching job so I could return to grad school. The show was entirely about choice and consequence and that was what I was taking from it.

35. If you could perform any ensemble number , which one would you pick?

I wouldn’t. I am a star.

36. Name a musical you didn’t like at first but ended up loving.

A Little Night Music.

37. What are some customes you’d love to try on?

I don’t really have any.

38. Favourite dance break.

this dance break from “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” in the original production of Follies. It’s Bennett’s best work and even better than the sublime work he did on “Who’s that Woman”

39. Favourite Starkid musical:

don’t have one

40. What’s a musical more people should know about?

Nine

41. What are some lines from musicals you really like?

Basically everything Regina Resnik’s Madame Armfeldt says

42. Name a Tony performance you rewatch and rewatch.

Ring of Keys

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frenchibi · 7 years

Text

Tagged~

Ok, hold on to your hats people because this is going to be a long-ass post. I have been told my cuts don’t work on mobile (?? TUMBLR PLS) so if this doesn’t work I sincerely apologize in advance for a lot of scrolling :’) Alright so I was tagged... like 6 times I think? And I’m just going to answer them all in here xD

Also I’m gonna tag a bunch of people and you can just... decide which ones you want to do, do several, do all of them, do none at all - whatever you prefer xD @cheatos @chxngsey @fairylights101writes @cheetahleopard @snowflakers @notinvidia @anyadisee @tallihoo @lalikaa @seijouho @astersandstuffs @phea-chan @owlkaashi-keiji @heirxx @thehibiscusthief @screamingnitrogenchallenge @fandang1

...alright, let the oversharing begin :’)

1. Tagged by @grand-king-toru (thank you, and you’re tagged in all the other ones too, obviously!!) and @queeniwaizumi (your tag was a little different but basically all your questions were in this one too so I didn’t do it separately FORGIVE ME TAT - and ofc you’re tagged too!!)

Favourite place: My apartment, or on top of a mountain, or in my car, or at my mom’s house, or in a Café in the center of my city where I can sketch people Relationship status: Single Favourite colour: Phtalo blue and magenta Pets: I have allergies :’) Last song I listened to: We Know The Way from Moana Favourite tv show: If we’re talking anime, it’s Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (by a MILE). As for non-anime shows, I’m currently enjoying A Series of Unfortunate Events very much (those books were my childhood & I’m so pumped for this series you have no idea) First Fandom: Harry Potter probably, first anime fandom was Inuyasha Hobbies: writing, drawing, singing, skiing, driving my siblings places (being the oldest is GreatTM), currently trying to learn to play the guitar Books I’m currently reading: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (and 50 others I started in Better Days™ when I had more time for reading) Favourite book: Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, Harry Potter by JKR, Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianne Wynne Jones, Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher by Walter Moers Worst thing you’ve ever eaten/tasted: Milk that had gone off. It’s gross. Living alone is hard, please don’t make the mistakes I did.

2. Tagged by @seidou-chan (thank you, you’re also obviously tagged in all the others as well~)

Name: call me French :D Nickname: French, Frenchie Gender: female Sign: Pisces Height: 155cm Sexual Orientation: Pansexual Hogwarts house: Gryffindor/Ravenclaw Favourite colour: (see above) xD Favourite animal: Dolphins, Turtles, Owls Time right now: 1:15pm Average hours of sleep: Ideally 8, currently 3, I probably need to see a doctor about this Cat or dog person: Allergies :’) (tbh I love both ok) Favourite fictional character from Harry Potter: Ginny Weasley (, Sirius Black, Molly Weasley, Hermione Granger, Bellatrix Lestrange) Number of blankets you sleep with: One Favourite singer or band: currently Of Monsters and Men Dream trip: Cities! I love sightseeing :D Also Skiing, always skiing. Dream job: Musical singer/actress When was this blog created: 20..13? Started out as a Supernatural blog xD When did your blog reach its peak: Still climbing hopefully What made you decide to make a tumblr: blame @notinvidia

3. Tagged by @marleeb (ty friend, we haven’t talked much yet so sorry for the spam of information here xD Feel free to do whichever of these tags interests you :D)

5 things you’ll find in my bag: Notebooks (at least 3) Assorted pens Allergy medication My wallet Haikyuu keychains :D

(see also this post)

5 things you’ll find in my bedroom: An enormous bookshelf (ca 1,5k books, 850 mangas) Assorted recording devices & equipment A large easel and all sorts of art supplies (acrylics, aquarelles, watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, crayons, markers, modeling paste, ink, soapstone) The door to my kitchen xD My workspace w/ computers and legal dictionaries ^^

5 things I’ve always wanted to do in life: Publish a novel Raise children Own a house with a private library and a large conservatory full of plants Perform on a large stage (did that, was amazing, love to do it again) Become a translator (lol I had no idea what i was signing up for)

5 things that make me happy: Singing (is the ultimate joy of my life) and performing w/ my choir Getting feedback for my writing (makes me ecstatic ngl) and exchanging ideas with people My brilliant, lovely, multi-facetted family My warm, patient and understanding friends Being able to create, and share my ideas to people who care about them :D 5 things I’m currently into: Moana (it has consumed my life and my life is infinitely better for it) Haikyuu (and the wonderful people I’ve met through it) My original stories (which I cannot wait to work on more) A Series of Unfortunate Events (the netflix series is so great and it really lives up to the books in my opinion??) Wasting time on tumblr and ignoring the BA-thesis that I need to be writing (and my work because why be responsible)

5 things on my to-do list: *cringes* my thesis My invoices & VAT returns Get someone to help me change a lightbulb (this is not a joke, I’m short) Finish writing two letters to friends that I’m working on :D (though this one I’m looking forward to) Finish writing the 60+ fics I’ve started and work on my original projects too :’)

(what a boring to-do list is2g)

5 things people may not know about me: I OVERSHARE ALL THE TIME (you knew that) I’m a legal translator (German/English) and I work freelance I am allergic to EVERYTHING I…really love…girls… I speak 4 languages (and a fifth one barely) :D

4. Tagged by @ghost--fox (this was a while back and I’m sorry for being so slow ;-; THANK YOU FOR TAGGING ME!!! I did your other tag too, below this one :D - obviously you’re tagged in any of the above if you feel like it xD)

Rules: Put your music on “Shuffle” List the first 10 songs Tag 10 people

1. Avicii – Hey Brother 2. Nothing’s Carved In Stone – Spirit Inspiration (Zetsuen no Tempest Opening) 3. Suzanne Vega – The Queen and the Soldier (I’m gonna base an AU on this just you wait) 4. The Cab - Endlessly 5. Blue Stahli – Anti You 6. Ramin Karimloo – Show Me Light (Have I yelled about how much I love him? I love him!!) 7. All Time Low – Cinderblock Garden 8. Genesis – Follow You Follow Me (I have no regrets, love me some 80s Phil Collins) 9. Ayumi Hamazaki – Dearest (Inuyasha Ending) 10. Nightmare – Sekai Wo (Death Note Opening)

5. Tagged again by @ghost--fox :D THANK YOU!!

A - Age: 21 soon xD B - Biggest fear: not making a difference C - Current time: 2:08pm (this took long omg) D - Drink you last had: I actually bought a fresh coconut and drank it :0 (my allergies are like “uhm girl that was a bad choice” but tbh it was worth it) E - Every day starts with: Removing my retainer and taking my allergy meds F - Favorite song: Empire by Of Monsters and Men and Invincible by Hedley G - Ghosts, are they real: Idk fam H - Hometown: Munich I - In love with: being inspired & motivated?? it’s the BEST?? J - Jealous of: healthy people K - Killed someone: couldn’t even if I wanted to L - Last time you cried: Out of frustration in December M - Middle name: Johanna (after my grandmother) N - Number of siblings: 4 (3 + an older step-sister I see twice a year) O - One wish: Stop using religion as an excuse for hate crimes P - Person you last called/texted: My dad/my friend Nina respectively Q - Questions you’re always asked: Can you chill? / Can you drive me to [place]? / How’s it going with your thesis? - pls But also: Are you doing okay? / Do you need me to listen? / Sing with me? – YES THANK YOU R - Reasons to smile: Fanfiction and fanart exists. Hot chocolate, tea and fluffy blankets. Music, Art, Books, Stories. Stars & the sky. Brilliant people are making brilliant things every day. A small act of kindness from you to a stranger can make all the difference. S - Song last sang: The Lasset uns nicht zerteilen chorus from Bach’s Johannespassion in my singing lesson (in preparation for our next choir concert), and then assorted Hamilton songs on my drive home xD T - Time you woke up: 7am U - Underwear color: dark blue V- Vacation destination: Cities w/ lots of art & culture :D W - Worst habit: biting my fingernails & cuticles I HATE MYSELF X - X-rays you’ve had: lots for my teeth (wrecked a tooth and used to have braces also), one for my knee after a hiking accident Y - Your favorite food: lasagna (w/ meat or spinach honestly I like both a lot) Z - Zodiac sign: Pisces

...and lastly, 6. Tagged by @missellaineous (this is also super old I apologize but I liked your questions so :D - feel free to do any of the other tags if you want xD)

1. What can’t you sleep without? My phone. Literally I use it as an alarm clock xD 2. What are your favorite kind of socks? :0 I like big fluffy warm ones – and also I like skiing socks because they fit really tightly and they’re also super warm xD 3. What’s your favorite snack/meal/drink? Atm I am very weak for cookies (I have… phases. At one point I ate so many gummy bears that now I just cannot), my favorite food is lasagna and my favorite drink is water or tea (no milk, no sugar, I dislike sweet drinks except if it’s hot chocolate xD) 4. What’s your favorite kind of weather? …do you know the artist Yuumei? A lot of her pictures have spectacular skies that are like… the sun breaking through dark clouds after a storm? That. That’s my favorite weather. It’s so… motivational and hopeful? Idk, but I love it. 5. What do you like to listen to/do to relax and feel better when you’re upset? I love the songs from musicals because they’re great to sing along to and singing always improves my mood :D I have endless love for Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera and Hamilton atm. Also what always helps me is, in my mom’s words, to “talk to someone who doesn’t hate you”. Because I tend to hate on myself a lot when I’m upset (for not being better, happier, healthier, enough) and it helps to talk to my friends, who objectively don’t think I’m as awful as I tend to think I am ^^ And they’re all really kind and understanding (and/or blunt when I need someone to tell me to snap out of it). 6. What’s your favorite store to shop at? HOO BOY ok I love bookstores (because duh, books) and lately I’ve also been loving Muji a lot? xD Also we have an art supply chain here in Germany that has GREAT STUFF and I always go overboard xD 7. What color do you wear the most? Black probably, but that’s because most of my pants/leggings are black. Other than that I own a lot of blue and also a lot of red, esp. dresses :D 8. What’s your favorite (video/board/social/party) game to play? That’s hard?? I don’t play a lot of video games but I absolutely adored Undertale. Funnily enough we play card & board games a lot when we meet with my old friends from school, but tbh I don’t have a favorite. I recently learned how to play Skat, which is really enjoyable? (Google tells me apparently that’s mainly a German thing, ok.) And, eh, I’m not a big fan of parties & party games ^^ 9. Any guilty pleasures? When I have time, I watch objectively bad or cliché anime and write commentary xD Also I spend way too much time playing The Sims if I’m totally honest... and scrolling through my dash. Damn. 10. If you could go anywhere (in real life or in fiction), where would it be? Or fiction??? HOGWARTS?!?! Teach me all the magic pls?! …ok but for real though I would love to visit some of my online friends :’)

Alright that’s it, thank you all again and sorry I’m slow and this is a huge post full of way too much information, I’m gonna let myself out now

#French speaks #tagged #I'm seriously so sorry this exploded

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