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droughtofapathy · 29 days

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Cabaret's Shifting Lead Placement

Welcome to another rambling theatre history lesson with DroughtofApathy. Today we're going to examining the fascinating history of Cabaret's ever-changing lead roles.

Ground rule: Tony eligibility for Lead Actor/Actress is first determined by "above-the-title" billing in the show's opening night Playbill. It was a far stricter guideline in the past, as you'll see. These days, many lead roles aren't put above the title (ex. Hadestown, Kimberly Akimbo, etc.) but will be placed in lead categories either because it's obviously a lead, or because producers lobby for it. Conversely, actors can have "above-the-title" billing and be in featured roles, usually because they're major names like Angela Lansbury and Elaine Stritch, who were both Madame Armfeldt in the 2009/2011 revival of A Little Night Music. In which case, producers will usually submit them as featured.

When Cabaret opened on Broadway in 1966, Jill Haworth (Sally), Jack Gilford (Herr Schultz), and Bert Convey (Cliff) got top billing with Lotte Lenya (Fraulein Schneider) in the coveted "and" slot just below. Note who's missing. That's right. When the show premiered, Joel Grey (Emcee) was just a regular old featured role.

Left: opening night playbill billing. Right: post-Tony rebilling with Joel Grey's ascension.

At the 1967 Tonys, Jack Gilford (Herr Schultz) and Lotte Lenya (Fraulein Schneider) were nominated as Leading Actor/Actress, respectively, while Joel Grey and Edward Winter (Ernst Ludwig) were both in Featured. Jill Haworth (Sally) was not nominated, but would have been eligible for Lead as she had "above-the-title" billing. At the time, Joel Grey was just another working actor. Not so after Cabaret. His performance elevated both the role and his billing, thus transforming the Emcee into a Leading Role from then on.

Subsequent productions would focus more on Sally and the Emcee, while Schultz and Schneider (and the non-singing Cliff) would become featured roles. However, the "above the title" Tony ruling was far stricter back in the day, leading Sally (this time Alyson Reed) to once more be featured in the 1987 revival.

Left: opening night Playbill billing. Right: poster billing

In 1987, Joel Grey was given the sole "above-the-title" billing with Alyson Reed in the next featured spot. Though Sally was, like 1966, technically a lead role, she was nominated in featured at the Tonys that season. (Grey was not eligible as he was reprising his role.) In this production, Regina Resnik (Schneider) and Werner Klemperer (Schultz) both got fancy featured billing and nominations in their respective categories. As Cliff, Gregg Edelman got the "and" billing, but in this case it was less elevated than either Resnik or Klemperer (note the boxes). Edelman was still early-career at this point, and not yet a "name" but Cliff was still considered an elevated role in the company.

By 1998, however, the roles as we currently think of them had finally slotted into place. Alan Cumming (Emcee) won for Best Actor, Natasha Richardson (Sally) for Best Actress and Ron Rifkin (Schultz) for Featured Actor. Mary Louise Wilson (Schneider) was nominated in Featured Actress. Richardson also received left-side billing, as she was a larger name (arguably) than Cumming at the time.

Left: opening night Playbill billing. Right: lobby poster billing

But though nominations seemed to make sense, it still didn't jive with billing placement. In the 1998 production, Richardson, Cumming, and Rifkin all had "above-the-title" with Wilson in the featured "and" slot. Despite this placement, Rifkin went in for Featured. Producers can lobby the Tony committee for actor placement if they think it fitting, and these days we're a lot more fast-and-loose with the definitions. Note however, how Wilson has "above-the-title" billing in the lobby board. This was presumably a contractual renegotiation that happened post-Tonys. Note how Denis O'Hare (Ernst) and Michele Pawk (Kost) have their own line below John Benjamin Hickey (Cliff). All three were/are modest, but known, names in the theatre world, about equal to one another, at least at the time.

By 2014, the old couple (Schultz and Schneider) no longer would get top billing. Alan Cumming only built upon Joel Grey's foundation to fully elevate the Emcee role into the undisputed leading man, with Sally the star-vehicle leading lady. Between the 1998 and up until the recent revival, the older couple's story--and Cliff's importance--had taken a backseat.

Left: opening night Playbill billing. Right: poster billing.

In 2014, the revival won no Tonys, but was nominated for both Featured Actor and Actress (Danny Burstein and Linda Emond, respectively). Cumming was not eligible as, like Joel Grey before him, he was reprising his role. This time, with a Tony in his pocket, and a much bigger name than 16 years prior, he got left-side billing. Emond and Burstein received equal line billing below the title, with Emond getting the left. Though they were roughly equal in the theatre world, and Burstein had a slight edge in terms of Tony noms, I'd guess Emond got the left owing to her larger screen presence/notoriety. In the poster, Bill Heck (Cliff) is left out of featured billing entirely, as are Aaron Krohn (Ernst) and Gayle Rankin (Kost).

Now we come to our latest revival, number four. Though it's still too early for nominations, we can assume Eddie Redmayne (Emcee) and Gayle Rankin (Sally) will be leads with all others featured. Historically, Schultz and Schneider are roles that receive nominations, and the Emcee a role that wins. Will that hold in a wildly over-crowded season?

Left: first preview Playbill insert. Right: billing poster outside the theater.

Once more deviating from past productions, the roles of Cliff (Ato Blankson-Wood), Ernst (Henry Gottfried), and Kost (Natascia Diaz) are plucked back out of the company to be given featured billing. This time, Steven Skybell (Schultz) is on even footing with Cliff, even slightly under with his right-side billing. This would be the least "elevated" billing any Schultz has ever gotten. Skybell is a respected theatre veteran but not quite a household name, even in theatre circles. Blankson-Wood, meanwhile, is a recent Tony nominee. It's all politics when it comes to billing.

Here, Bebe Neuwirth (Schneider) is given the coveted "and" poster billing, no surprise. Of the featured roles, she's inarguably the biggest name. A few decades ago, that might have been enough to get her above the title, but these days it's less common that a solidly featured role would get that (unless you're Patti LuPone in Company, and Bebe doesn't have quite the same sway or ego).

This, to me, seems like the most obvious case of industry politics and agent negotiation at play, and usually actors (and egos) aren't even involved in the conversation. Skybell and Neuwirth aren't on the same level, though their characters are. My guess here is that producers want to bill their sole two-time Tony winner separately, and Skybell's agents know he isn't big enough to dispute that.

Now, let's take a look at this marketing design. Redmayne's name is left-billed despite being above Rankin's head. While annoying for those of us audience members who might just see this as a design flaw, this is all contractual, negotiated to death. Redmayne also gets front-and-center positioning, while Rankin is in the background, off-center, but she gets left-side position, which isn't as minimizing as right-side would. Left-billing is given to the bigger name because English reads left to right. These are the kinds of things I think about when I see marketing ads and playbills.

#cabaret #cabaret broadway #history lessons with doa #ask me about the sweeney todd teaser key art please it's an even better example of contracts at play #yeah i *did* stalk the ebay pages until someone put a playbill picture up for listing i'm just that dedicated to the craft #bebe neuwirth #joel grey #alan cumming #it's 9:30 a.m. but we're going live with this because why the fuck not?

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thephantomcasebook · 1 year

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https://www.tumblr.com/thephantomcasebook/711851774150098944/hi-there-wanted-to-ask-you-something-about-the

Wait what do you mean by Grrm's interview? Will Hotd (and every future Asoiaf Show) ignore the established lore? Is Grrm okay with this? I mean so many people especially Black supporters who are the vast majority of the watchers. Are so angry with the changes in S1. And if the showrunners make more changes in the upcoming seasons, the show will probably get cancelled *hopefully*

"Martin insisted Fire & Blood served as an "outline" for House of the Dragon, though the show fits in bits and pieces rather than large chunks. "It was an imaginary history book that has a few scenes where I zero in, and I give you a half page of a scene. But, mostly, it's history. It's an outline, and you can't present an outline on television, so it has to be filled in," he said."

Mark my words, if the show is cancelled, it will because of the humongous egos of the cast and producers. People are looking for this show to fail, no one is expecting season 2 to be good. If they go off and have another disastrous press tour where Olivia Cooke and Emma D'arcy act look fucking tools and spout sexist shit that turn people off. If Sara Hess runs her mouth to any and every entertainment rag about how "cool" it is to imagine Alicent and Rhaenyra having sex as little girls. I guarantee you that this show will be DOA.

They don't know how fucking lucky they were that people even gave them a chance after the disastrous marketing campaign for the premiere and the smug and insufferable attitudes of the two main actresses in the press tour.

After "Rings of Power", "She-Hulk", and "Willow" ... no one is going to give "House of the Dragon" the benefit of the doubt. The minute they lose even a quarter of their audience, Warner is gonna pull the plug on it, or Condal is gonna be given his walking papers. They're not gonna be shoveling money they don't have anymore into a furnace for a drop in ratings, or to hear a bunch of London douche bags making millions lecture poor and working class people about "Patriarchy" from their expensive London flats.

If that dude is annoyed by the Daemon fangirls and wrote Alys as a proxy for his frustration, then he's gonna get an ugly surprise when the audience turns on him and the actresses if they can't stay out of the Hollywood and London echo chambers. Cause the audience has had more than enough and they're looking for a reason to not just drop this show but clown and dunk on it, hard.

Condal can either prophet from the lessons learned from others or he will be destroyed by his hubris.

The choice is his.

#House of the Dragon #Ryan Condal #Olivia Cooke #Emma D'arcy #Sara Hess #George RR Martin

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itswalky · 3 years

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1. After all the abuse Dina went through at the Professor’s hands back in It’s Walky!, was it at all cathartic for you to draw her outsmarting him and completely upending his lesson plan in Dumbing of Age?

2. Anything you can reveal about the upcoming DoA site rebuild you mentioned a couple days ago?

1. honestly after a decade of writing this dina, i'd forgotten that Previous Dina had a bad history with Professor Doc, and I'm just used to writing Dina as awesome in general, so that was completely incidental

2. i should probably check on how that's going it's been a while BUT THAT INVOLVES OPENING UP MY EMAIL INBOX

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Django Unchained, Halloween III and Clerks II Are Streaming Free on Plex This Month

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DEN OF GEEK CRITICS PICKS

Django Unchained

The second of Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist history lessons, Django Unchained is a provocative, post-modern Western film that mixes the widescreen sensibilities of Sergio Leone with Tarantino’s own gonzo impulses to create something hyper-violent, subversively funny, and more than a bit uncomfortable. Jamie Foxx stars as a slave freed by a German bounty hunter played by Christoph Waltz. Waltz won an Oscar for his performance as the kind German that takes in the stoic but savvy Django as his partner. Together, they travel the pre-Civil War South, killing slavers and savage men. Eventually, they embark on a more personal mission, as Django intends to free his beloved wife from a sadistic plantation owner played by a scenery-chewing Leonardo DiCaprio. With anachronistic needle-drops, hands-over-eyes horrors, and more blood than a donation bank, Django Unchained is an epic, entertaining revenge fantasy for the ages.

Silver Linings Playbook

From director David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook is a screwball romantic comedy for the modern age. Despite inviting, yet livewire lead performances from Jennifer Lawerence and Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook really shines as an ensemble: Robert DeNiro, Jackie Weaver, Chris Tucker and Anupam Kher bring fully-realized characters to life in just a handful of scenes. Based on Matthew Quick’s novel of the same name, Silver Linings Playbook finds Bradley Cooper as a man who has been released from a psychiatric hospital a bit too soon. He’s frantically trying to prove that he’s bettered himself in an effort to win back his wife, but when he meets the equally unstable and filterless character played by Jennifer Lawerence, unusual sparks fly. Combining the familiar tropes of a sports film with unorthodox romantic leads, Silver Linings Playbook is a crowd-pleasing watch that creates harmony out of dysfunction.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

It never mattered where Anthony Bourdain was going, we just wanted to be along for the ride. We lost the soulful, iconoclastic bad-boy of the culinary world far too soon, but he left behind a treasure trove of rewarding travelogues that tackled culture, social dynamics, and most importantly, food. Whether he was weighing in on a world-famous culinary hotspot or peeling back the curtain on a hole-in-wall gem, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations was always thoughtful, fearless, and never less than authentic. It’s the rare show that is as educational as it is entertaining, hosted by a candid host who knew how to travel, knew where to eat, but most crucially, knew how to connect with people. Reality TV doesn’t get realer than this.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Following the mind-boggling success of the original Halloween, director John Carpenter had a clever idea. Instead of churning out sequels starring Michael Meyers, Halloween would become an anthology series, with each new film telling a spooky tale centered on the October holiday. The concept was inevitably scrapped, but Halloween III: Season of the Witch suggests that maybe Carpenter and co. should have stuck to their guns. Taking inspiration from Invasion of the Body Snatchers and working off a concept that Carpenter described as “witchcraft meets the computer age,” Halloween III: Season of the Witch finds a doctor and the daughter of a toy maker trying to uncover the horrifying truth behind the town of Santa Mara, home to Silver Shamrock, the world’s largest manufacturer of Halloween masks. Intelligent, surprising, and disturbing, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is due for a critical reevaluation that heralds it as one of the most ambitious horror movies of the ‘80s

Clerks II

With the recent announcement that Clerks III has started production, it’s the perfect time to revisit Kevin Smith’s first-sequel to his independent film phenomenon, Clerks. Clerks II picks up with our titular clerks Dante and Randall 10 years after the events of the first film. The Quick Stop has gone up in flames and been replaced with a Mooby’s fast food restaurant. Dante and Randall toil the day away with their sheltered co-worker Elias and too-cool for minimum wage manager Becky. While the film tackles adult male friendships and middle age complacency, it’s main appeal is still sitting around, shooting the shit with your pals and listening to their expletive-filled rants about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or whatever pop culture fascination that they’re hung up on. Come for the surprisingly poignant story about Dante deciding to leave his friend behind, stay for Jay, Silent Bob, and a donkey.

New on Plex in August – Full List of Titles

Army of One

Dark Tide

Deadfall

Django Unchained

Escape from Alcatraz

Feast

Ismael’s Ghost

Kickboxer

Lucky Number Sleven

The Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell of Fear

The Naked Gun 33-1/3: The Final Insult

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Pulse

Redemption

Seabiscuit

Silver Linings Playbook

Skyfire

Wind River

Still streaming on Plex:

2:22

The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

22 Bullets

24 Hours to Live

3rd Rock from the Sun

6 Bullets

99 Homes

A Little Bit of Heaven

A Walk in the Woods

Aeon Flux

After.Life

Afternoon Delight

The Air I Breathe

Alan Partridge

ALF

Alone in the Dark

Amelie

Answer Man

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

Arthur and the Invisibles

Battle Royale

Bel Canto

Bernie

Better Watch Out

Black Books

Black Christmas

Black Death

Black Sheep (2006)

Blitz

Blood and Bone

Bobby

Bronson

The Brothers Bloom

The Burning Plain

Cagefighter

Cake

Candy

Cashback

Catch .44

Cell

Chain of Command

Child 44

The Choice

Clerks II

Coherence

The Collector

Congo

Cooties

Cops and Robbers

The Core

The Cotton Club

Critical Condition

Crossing Lines

Croupier

Cube

Cube 2

Cube Zero

Deadfall

The Death and Life of Bobby Z

Death and the Maiden

Death Proof

The Deep Blue Sea

Deep Red

Derailed

The Descent Part 2

Detachment

The Devils’ Rejects

Diary of the Dead

Distorted

District B13

DOA: Dead or Alive

Dragged Across Concrete

Eden Lake

Edison

Europa Resort

Falcon Rising

The Fall

Fido

The Fighting Temptations

Filth

Find Me Guilty

Fire in the Sky

Fire with Fire

Flirting with Disaster

Flowers of War

Flyboys

Force Majeure

Formula 51

Four Lions

Frailty

Frank

Freeway

The Frozen Ground

Getting to Know You

Ghost in the Shell

The Ghost Writer

Ginger Snaps

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

God Bless America

Goon

Goya’s Ghosts

Grand Isle

Grave Encounters

A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints

Halloween II

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Hannibal Rising

Happythankyoumoreplease

Hard Candy

Hell’s Kitchen

Hester

High Rise

Highlander

Hobo with a Shotgun

The Homesman

The Horseman

The Host

House of 1000 Corpses

House of the Rising Sun

How I Live Now

The Humanity Bureau

The Hunter

I Give it a Year

I Saw the Devil

I See You

I Spit on Your Grave

Ida

If Only

The Illusionist

In Hell

In the Blood

In Too Deep

The Infiltrator

Interstate 60: Episodes of the Road

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

It’s a Boy Girl Thing

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Jo Nesbo’s Headhunters

Joe

John Dies at the End

The Joneses

Juliet, Naked

Just Getting Started

Kevin Hart: Cold as Balls

King of New York

Kinky Boots

The Kite Runner

Knight of Cups

The Last Days on Mars

The Lazarus Project

Leaves of Grass

The Legend of Hercules

Lethal Eviction

The Limey

Lionheart

A Little Bit of Heaven

A Long Way Down

Love Story

Maggie

The Maiden Heist

A Man Called Ove

The Man from Earth

The Man from Nowhere

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

The Matador

Mesrine Killer: Instinct

The Messenger

Middle Men

Midsomer Murders

Misconduct

Miss Potter

Monster

Monsters

Mother

Mr. Church

Murdoch Mysteries

National Lampoon’s Van Wilder

Never Back Down: No Surrender

Noah

The Oxford Murders

The Paperboy

Paycheck

Personal Effects

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sederhannaindah · 5 years

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Here comes April.

1. Dedicating a feelings and remembering someone will always be painful. But there are so many farewells, and time goes on. So we have to keep on living with what we have now.

2. We will never set free from our broken self if we keeps believing that we could relived our memories.

3. Between memories and today, we always have time to decide, to move forward and to be better. And whatever we choose to be, be careful with our own heart. Think of ourselves first before we try to taking care others.

4. No matter how we wish for forever, soon it won't matter, soon people will leave.

5. Appreciate people who treat you right and ignore about the one who don't.

6. Try and be someone kind. Be someone with a good heart. No matter how much this world, or some people messed you up. Inshallah God will reward you.

7. Ada orang bila jumpa orang yang baru, yang lama dilupakan. Lumrah hidup dah macam tu. Hati orang berubah-ubah. Kita? Jangan membenci. Terima perubahan tu. Move on.

8. Untuk apa kita nak membenci dan bersedih tentang orang yang melupakan kita? Patutnya kita gembira sebab Tuhan tunjuk, siapa yang tak hargai kita.

9. Bila dah tahu diri dilupakan, bawalah diri ke tempat lain. Kalau kita kekal berharap dengan yang melupakan kita tu, kita juga yang akan sakit.

10. Of course, it is not easy to stay kind after you being hurt. But what good it gives you, if you keep on hating?

11. Yes, people hurt us. Sometimes a lot. But that is not the reason to hate and hurt others. Leave it to God. No one have a right to punish anyone.

12. This heartache, this hurtful feeling, could be a blessing in disguise. If you don’t get hurt, how will you know what is good and what is bad for you?

13. Learn from whatever things that hurts you. Be better. Don't repeat the same mistakes. Walk away from bad habits and bad people.

14. We have seen it again and again. People come. People leave. Come on, don't be so naive. Accept it as a part of your lesson in this life.

15. Masa lalu tu, betapa pahit pun ia, itulah yang akan mendewasakan kita. Belajar sesuatu dari itu.

16. Kita tak boleh ubah masa lalu. Kita cuma boleh ubah diri sendiri. Cuma dengan ubah diri sendiri, kita boleh dapat masa depan yang baik.

17. Bagaimana kita menerima takdir yang baik, begitu juga seharusnya kita menerima takdir yang kurang baik. Kedua-duanya harus disyukuri.

18. DIA tak pernah lalai, DIA tahu apa yang DIA lakukan. Kita ni yang serba tak tahu. So yeah, whatever flows, flow. Whatever crashes, crashes. We will get something when the time is right. Sabar dan doa.

19. Sometimes people stop loving you. But things happen for a reason. Or because of reason. Do you need to grieve? No. Because the hand you hold the longest is your own. The name you most said in your du'a is your own. In the end you gonna die alone. So yeah, whatever flows, flows. Whatever crashes, crashes.

20. Not to forget is impossible. There is only forgetting slowly or quickly. One day you will be able to forget and you will move on.

21. Things happened. For a reason or because of reason. There is nothing you can do to change it. But you can change yourself. Grow wiser, grow stronger.

22. Ready or not, future will happened. Like it or not, life goes on. Takdir jadi tak tunggu kita setuju atau tak. Kitalah yang kena redha terima apa yang terjadi.

23. Let all of your attachments to the past go. Let them flow down the history, forgotten. You must learn to let go, or you'll never be better.

24. Don’t be scared. Don’t panic. We always have Allah and we can always lean on Him.

25. Don't give up. Stop overthinking. Smile for one more time. Stay strong. Stay good.

26. There's still tomorrow, inshaAllah. Everything could still happen. Every choice could still be made. Every future could still possible. So keep on trying. Keep on praying.

27. What is happening today, accept it. What was yours yesterday, let it go. What will be tomorrow, have faith.

28. Look at the sky. It is amazing. Look at the sea. It is fantastic. Think about how beautiful this world is and we take it for granted. Humans created their own problems. Don't blame your problems on God. We live in a beautiful world.

29. Make a du'a. God notice, even if people don't. Only God and God alone knows what is best for us. So keep on praying.

p/s : Dedicated to Lisa who is no longer in this world. I don’t know if you are in a good place right now or not, but I hope Allah will have His mercy on you and bless your soul with His kindness.

And to all people who read this ; stay good, stay strong, stay beautiful. Take care, take care, take care.

#quote #life

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asgardian--angels · 5 years

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Hello! Earlier today I saw your post about LOTRO and on a whim downloaded it. I'm gonna be honest and say I don't really know much about the whole LOTR universe outside of like, the movies, but the way you wrote about it was really passionate and interesting. I haven't played yet since it's 3AM but I was wondering if you had any tips or anything?

Hi there! Wow, I’m honored that you liked my post enough to download the game! I really hope you like it. I’m not sure if you mean that you have or have not seen the movies, but honestly just that alone is enough to comprehend the game. They do an excellent job of keeping things coherent for any potential audience they may get as players. For those who are superfans, there’s a LOT of easter eggs and thoughtful, witty references to the deep lore (doing, of course, what they can with limited copyrights, aka. they can’t use Silmarillion material that wasn’t referenced in LOTR). Having an in-depth knowledge of background history and culture of Middle-earth regions and races always makes the experience richer (because they are very accurate and I get excited about that). But for those who aren’t long-time fans, so long as you have heard of Middle-earth and know about the general plot then you should be good to go!

The game takes place during the time of LOTR, and runs parallel to the book/movie events of the Fellowship of the Ring undertaking the journey to Mount Doom and Sauron waging war on the Free Peoples for control of the One Ring. You start out as a small person in a wide world, and eventually grow in prominence as a hero so that you are known throughout Middle-earth and travel to far-flung lands to help the Free Peoples. Sometimes you interact with the protagonists (Frodo, Legolas, Aragorn, etc) and directly move the plot along, but often you are doing the deeds that the great lords can’t afford to - staving off the darkness that tries to take hold under the noses of kings and armies. You save lives, reunite families, hold off invasions, and bring peace wherever you go. You end up being the front line against evil that creeps in from all sides, while the Fellowship undertake their appointed tasks far away.

That’s basically the gist of it. You’ll start off in tamer, more familiar regions - the Shire, Bree-land, Thorin’s Halls, and work your way to the plains of Rohan, the walls of Minas Tirith, and to Mordor itself. It’s an incredible journey, and you make countless friends along the way. Those relationships are one of LOTRO’s best features - people you help will come back to help you, paths cross again in unexpected ways, and your actions have lasting influences.

As for advice for a new player, hmmm…. I would recommend lotro-wiki as a primary resource for learning aspects of the game, reading relevant lore, helping you find things or places you need, etc. You’ll start off the game in a closed-world intro until level 6 or so, where you’re taught the ropes - how to attack, interact, use the UI, and so on. But once you’re let loose, I say don’t feel the need to rush. Explore the world a bit - well, the parts where you’re on-level otherwise you’ll be DOA. But there’s a LOT to discover, and just wandering around your starter region, seeing what different NPCs do, can help you get your bearings. Turn off world chat lmao. You’ll be bombarded with stuff you don’t want, and it will clutter your gameplay (this is an option in your chat box, under filters, if you right click the general tab). Then you can actually hear yourself think! Follow the tutorials, some of the information can be difficult to find again if you skip it. Know also that there’s a lot of things you can do that isn’t given in tutorials. Emotes, dances, cosmetic clothing, pets, kinships, and much more, are things that you find in time, but if you know it sooner, you can get tricked out from an early level ;D If you are confused or don’t know how to do something, just ask. People will help! Additionally, I will say that for a first time player, hunter class may be a good idea (*boos from the crowd*). It’s generally regarded as an easy class, as it is ranged with high damage, and you will have teleport abilities and run speeds unmatched by any other class. However, choose what you want, and know that you’ll have a chance to play multiple classes with more characters!

Knowledge of the lore isn’t necessary for almost anything in the game - even if you RP, it rarely delves into serious Middle-Earth history lessons. Most people know something of ~generic fantasy worlds~ with elves, orcs, halflings, etc, at this point, since they’re all based off Tolkien. And I am sure for an unfamiliar player, the dialogue/plot will be even more interesting and exciting cause you will be learning about Middle-Earth - some of the best parts too, the little things, the day-to-day lives, the thoughts and feelings, hopes and apprehensions, of a world living in an age of war and uncertainty for the future of their existence, one with beings both young and very very old, all with different perspectives. Read NPC dialogue. It’s all incredibly well-written and enjoyable, and I’ve cried so many times at touching words. They’re not all happy endings, but they’re good stories. Knowing you have the power to make a difference fills you with such hope and strength!

Most of all, feel free to contact me in the game (or here) if you would like help, a tutorial or tour, or just someone to hang out with! Folks are very friendly. I hope you decide to join the Landroval server, which is where I am! It’s known as a social/laid-back roleplaying server that has a solid reputation for hospitality. There is also a chat channel - advice, I think - where you can ask your questions to the server world. Attend concerts, listen in on roleplaying (the Prancing Pony is best for that), participate in annual events like festivals or treasure hunts. Get the quadpack (contains major regions like Moria that you will need when you hit around level 50) during the Christmas sale. Buy other regions in-game with lotro points!

You’ll form a lasting bond with Middle-Earth and your place in it. Let me know how you’re liking it once you get settled! If you’d like to find me in-game, my most played characters are Namadith, Gorthauron, and Farrokhbulsara. Just send me a message using your mailbox, or add me as a Friend in your social panel, which will then alert you when I am online. You can then invite me to a fellowship or send me a tell (a DM). And after a while, if you find that you’d like to have company, you can join a kinship and be part of a community (maybe even ours, Dwarrowdam!).

look at the fun you will have

lava t-posing

romantic sunsets

t h e o r b

or just gazing mysteriously into the fire as its flickering light dances in your eyes, taking you back to days long past when the world was young and you had everything to gain and nothing to lose, before your reckless abandon cost you that which you held most dear, setting you on a vendetta that would take you across seas and over mountains, to avenge th

#coatrackincrocs #lotro #sorry this took so long to respond to

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lastsonlost · 5 years

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I needed Marvel to stand by me with more work opportunities to show the trolls that I was more than a diversity hire. “

Sina Grace on Writing Iceman at Marvel: “I Was Surrounded by Cowards”

Posted by Jude Terror June 28, 2019 48 Comments

As has been documented in various Bleeding Cool articles throughout the course of the book’s two series, one of my personal favorite X-Men comics of the past few years was Iceman, written by Sina Grace, and drawn it its first volume by Alessandro Vitti and Robert Gill and in its second and concluding one-shot by Nathan Stockman. The book breathed new life into a character who it could be argued hadn’t really received significant character development since his days in X-Factor in the 1980s. It’s true that it was “The Great One” Brian Bendis who wrote Iceman outed by Jean Grey’s invasive telepathy, but it was Grace who wrote adult Iceman coming to grips with this and learning to be himself and love himself, alongside, of course, lots of mutant action and drama. The book ended too soon, when it was really just getting going, IMHO.

With all of that in mind, it’s sad but not surprising to read Sina Grace’s comments, posted to his Tumblr, about his time at Marvel writing the book and what he says was a lack of support from Marvel while he dealt with online bullying as well as a lack of support and promotion for Iceman itself.

Grace writes:

As Pride Month comes to a close, it’s time I spoke candidly about my experience at Marvel Comics.

To date, I’ve always been honest about the joy of writing Iceman’s journey as an out gay superhero, but I’ve skirted around the challenges that came along with it. This is partially because I prefer to give off an upbeat vibe, and there’s also a fear that my truth will affect my career. With more corporations patting themselves on the back for profit-led partnerships wherein celebrities take selfies in rainbow apparel, and with buzz that Marvel Studios is preparing to debut their first gay character in the upcoming Eternals movie, there is an urgency to discuss the realities of creating queer pop culture in a hostile or ambivalent environment. Hopefully, my takeaways will serve as a guide for people in positions of power to consider when advocating for more nuanced and rich representation. In an ideal world, embracing our stories and empowering us to tell them will yield far more profitable (and way less messy) results than what I encountered while writing Iceman.

Stand by your people

It’s no surprise that I got the attention of trolls and irate fans for taking on this job. There was already backlash around the manner in which Bobby Drake aka Iceman came out, and Marvel needed to smooth that landing and put a “so what” to the decision. After a point, I could almost laugh off people making light of my death, saying they have “cancerous AIDS” from my book, or insinuating I’m capable of sexual assault… almost. Between Iceman’s cancellation and its subsequent revival, Marvel reached out and said they noticed threatening behavior on my Twitter account (only after asking me to send proof of all the nasty shit popping up online). An editor called, these conversations always happen over the phone, offering to provide “tips and tricks” to deal with the cyber bullying. I cut him off. All he was going to do was tell me how to fend for myself.

I needed Marvel to stand by me with more work opportunities to show the trolls that I was more than a diversity hire.

“We’ll keep you in mind.”

I got so tired of that sentence.

Even after a year of the new editor-in-chief saying I was talented and needed to be on a book that wasn’t “the gay character,” the only assignment I got outside of Iceman was six pages along, about a version of Wolverine where he had diamond claws. Fabulous, yes. Heterosexual, yes. Still kind of the gay character, though.

We as creators are strongly encouraged to build a platform on social media and use it to promote work-for-hire projects owned by massive corporations… but when the going gets tough, these dudes get going real quick.

Believe in the work

You may be asking if my Iceman book was any good, or if I’m just being sour grapes over a bad work experience. Believe me, I asked that, too. From the get-go, my first editor asserted that Iceman would be DOA if it were “too gay,” while also telling me to prepare for a cancellation anyway, given that most solo X-Men titles don’t last beyond a year. Never mind that my work on Iceman had gotten positive press in the New York Times (in-print), or that in spite of (since-deleted) critical sandbagging, the series nets glowing reviews on Amazon… Marvel still treated me as someone to be contained, and the book as something to be nervous about. Do you know how hard it is to not argue with a publicist when he’s explaining the value of announcing Iceman’s revival via the Marvel homepage? Sis, that’s a burial. Instead of clapping back, I just went and got myself more press from the New York Times. From there, they tightened my leash. I had to get all opportunities pre-approved, and all interviews pre-reviewed. This would be fine if it was the standard, but I assure you: none of my straight male colleagues seek permission to go on podcasts promoting their books.

What Marvel should have done is assign me a special projects editor. They should have worked with a specialty PR firm, rather than repeat a tiresome cycle of treating the book like a square peg, and getting confused when it’s a hit.

Give us a real seat at the table

There was a moment before Iceman was cancelled where I wrote then-editor-in-chief Axel Alonso an email, pleading for a Hail Mary arc. I explained that Icemanwas landing with a newer generation of readers who focused more on binge-reading than month-to-month periodicals. The series needed time in the book market before its true strength could be assessed. To Axel’s credit, he was warm to the idea and even gave me an extra month, but when he left Marvel that idea got brushed away. Of course I was right. The first two volumes sold like gangbusters thanks to word-of-mouth, librarian love, and support from retailers big and small.

When the series returned, no one at Marvel asked me: “What do you think landed with readers?” Nor did they ask the question that Axel did: “What matters to your community?” So when I wrote what I thought the fans would be into, a story about a man learning to be a better ally in the war against hate, editorial totally missed its value.

Seat at the table pt II: The Shade of it all

All of the weird drama I put up with crystallized when I created a drag queen mutant, first called Shade, now called Darkveil. I told my editor that Shade would be a big deal for X-Fans, and asked how we should promote her. He said: “leave it up to the reader’s interpretation.” Everyone at Marvel shrugged off two years of goodwill and acted like I’d coordinated behind their backs on an announcement that made headlines. Beyond mentioning on Instagram the queens who inspired the character, I didn’t coordinate shit. Of course, their head publicist can’t admit that my quotes were pre-approved from an unreleased interview. At this point, I stopped believing that there’d be any more work for me. There were so many shady moves on their end that I’m still having trouble putting into language, but it all aligned with an experience I had in retail where a corrupt manager kept lying and moving the goal posts in order to keep me selling in a department I didn’t want to work in. I offered to give Darkveil a proper character bio, and I walked away.

I recognize that some of my complaints can be filed under “this is freelance life.” I am aware that it was not a queer person of color who joked to me that “it’s not a matter of if Marvel fucks you over, it’s a matter of when.” That came from a cis white male. The same-day turn-arounds without warning, the work emails on Christmas week… that’s the freelance bullshit. Truly, I don’t even think of this as discrimination, I call it general ineptness. It is my belief that if we are telling stories about heroes doing the right thing in the face of adversity, wouldn’t the hope be to embody those ideals as individuals? Instead of feeling like I worked with some of the most inspiring and brave people in comics, I was surrounded by cowards.

Truly, I hate writing this. In keeping with Pride Month, I am proud of the work I did on Iceman… I love the book! It sucks that I may be tarnishing its legacy going public about how the cookies were made. That said, the time for self-congratulating is over, and folks should be earnestly listening when they ask: what could we have done better?

so what’s my take.....

Personally I think the kid got used, plain and simple. Also this should not have come as a shock to anyone.

Look at how badly they treat their customers that pay them money, OF COURSE THEY’RE GOING TO FUCK THEIR EMPLOYEES EVERY CHANCE THEY GET. A box full of scorpions would have had more loyalty.

@thespectacularspider-girl

______________________________

little history lesson for you kids: tokyopop did practically the same thing with the rising stars of manga. They snatched up young Talent, use them, and drop them.

#Marvel Comics #don't believe the hype #social justice is not your friend

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tartolomew · 5 years

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habis umroh.

malah terdapat banyak pertanyaan di benak saya.

dari aturan aturan yang tidak masuk akal, cerita cerita perang yang seharusnya bisa diselesaikan melalui jalur lain, hingga cerita cerita azab yang tidak dapat dimengerti.

beberapa notes yang saya tidak mengerti

1. tuhan memberikan kekalahan pada perang uhud untuk bisa mensyukuri bila memenangi perang pada selanjutnya. now wheres your common sense in this....

god basically wants people to kill each other to learn their lessons.

2. kids are investations to muslims

disini saya malah dapat kebingungan karena nyatanya orang tua kebanyakan di agama islam bikin anak supaya jadi investasi mereka aja dengan iming-iming akan diselamatkan di akhirat dengan doa anak anaknya.

saya tidak mau dilahirkan hanya sebuah stok pahala.

3. solat di raudhoh, tempat dahulu rasul dan para sahabat solat yang bisa memberikan kita granted wish. kenapa harus gini? kenapa harus tempat ini yang memberi pahala banyak? apakah tuhan main pilih kasih? seharusnya semua tempat di muka bumi ini memiliki kesetaraan dan akses yang sama untuk mencapai tuhan, karena tuhan itu omnipresent bukan?

sebetulnya selain pertanyaan historis diatas, masih banyak pertanyaan saintifik dan non historis yang ada dipikiran saya. namun untuk post sekarang cukup sekian.

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booksandwords · 2 years

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The Melbourne Book: A History of Now by Maree Coote

Read time: 2 Days Rating: 4/5

The quote: Melbourne in a word? Passionate. There's an undercurrent always there, whether it's footy or art or politics... even eating. The value under the surface here. It's deep. Very deep. — Vince Colosimo

This is the fourth edition of The Melbourne Book published in 2013. as such and as one may expect it has date likely a decade since the research things have changed. Something greatly some minorly. That said it is a good read. It is a succinct as possible history of a city and some of its important/ notable people. It is well-formatted with a mix of write-ups, photography and full-page portraits with quotes. It is fairly well balanced and the portraits break up the blocks of writing well. It's relatively difficult to discuss this in individual sections so I will do dot point of some of my fave not worthy sections, which will likely be long.

The writing at times can come across as highly critical of the changes made by the Victorian governments over the years. It feels like more than nostalgia. Some of the information is just plain wrong, not outdated wrong. The section about the Spirit of Tasmania and the Devilcat would have been easy to be fact check. Broadly the book is broken up into four sections Opportunity, Sanctuary, Passion and Beauty. I found that Beauty was the weakest of the four, beauty just doesn't have the pull of the others. That said some of it was interesting. There is a section on fashion that can read as downright catty if you are so inclined. There are some great descriptions sections on the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne (including its origins), the weather, the Shrine of Remembrance and sport (though I had some serious reservations about the content of that section).

I never knew the origins of Buckley's chance. William Buckley, who survived in the bush with aboriginal people well longer than he should have.

"There is no use having a perfect voice unless you have brains, personality, magnetism, great willpower, health, strength and determination." — Dame Nellie Melba.

"It is the responsibility of Capital to provide work. If it fails to do this, it fails to justify itself." — Sidney Myer. We really need more men like Sidney Myer in business now. Also, this is more about him and Myer than I've ever known.

I'm so glad Ferdinand von Mueller is heavily discussed. He deserves to be better known. Not only did he doa lot for the Botanic gardens. But he was very generous in his donations of cuttings to new gardens and cemeteries. I didn't know of him import to the Zoo either. He pairs well Guilfoyle (his successor) but we lost that generous spirit.

"A history lesson of Melbourne is this: here, this time, we all get a chance to get it right. Let's not forget our origins and need a third chance. It's highly unlikely there'll be one." — This is really just a nice idea.

In the chapter on bridges and ferries there is a mention that the first ferry company was run by a father-daughter enterprise, The Charon. Why oh why would you name ferry The Charon, Charon the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx. He is neutral neither good nor bad but there are so many cultures that believe in the harbingers of death, Charon would count.

"Home of Australia's very first Luna Park, St Kilda is where Melbourne keeps its sense of humour. Like Toyland on acid, it is wacky, novel, was once bohemian and is always slightly nuts." — I mean fair. How did I not know Luna Park was designed by the same people who designed Coney Islan. Also, the suburb is named after a yacht? Just why? Some creativity, please.

Ellis Rowan I have no words for how much I respect this woman. She was a woman in a man's world and walking to the beat of her drum. If she lived even a bit later she may not have married Charles Rowan, not had her son, Puck. I can't help but think that might have been a good thing, married life was not = for her. Puck's end was bad partially due to his absentee mother. He wasn't even mentioned in the book I read about her, not a shock given its demographics. But Charles Rowan is a legend, a 19th-century man wife's unusual passion.

"Along with the art came explosive liaisons, love triangles, infidelity and abandonment, in a set of complex relationships as intense and complex as the paintings themselves." — This is about the Heide a country homestead and art collective. All I could think was can someone please make a soap opera about the Heide, it's begging for it. And oh good lord Sweeny Reed had a strange and potentially bad upbringing. His early death is not a surprise.

To be honest the write up for Ned Kelly just made me laugh a little. And I make no apologies for that, the author is clever about how she writes it. Included in something I'd never seen or if I had taken I've never taken the time to read. An article from The Argus on the sentencing, including essentially a transcript between Judge Redmond Barry and Ned Kelly. Ned Kelly was an intelligent man the Jerilderie letter was not a once off. The last line Kelly says to Barry at the sentencing is "I will go a little further than that, and say I will see you there where I go.". Redmond Barry died only 12 days after Ned Kelly hung I didn't know that.

"Melbourne's temperature range is more conducive to reading than sunbaking — which contributes to its intellect more than Sydney, where the sun beats down and turns people into lizards that lay basking. I always enjoyed Melbourne's winter. It increased my reading exponentially." — Phillip Adams

Helena Rubinstein is not a woman I'd ever heard of but she's an impressive woman. Successful woman, entrepreneur and philanthropist who left the world a much better place than she found it by establishing scholarships, trusts and prizes for her causes. Oh, and at 68 she married a Prince 20 years her junior. Good for her.

This book really isn't for everyone. Parts of it make it much more easily understood and are relatable if you are a local. If I was reading it in 2013 I may have rated this higher but I can't justify it. It's just too out of date now. I would definitely read the fifth edition if Maree Coote decided to write one. What is here does encapsulate Melbourne well and talk about some important characters and players in Melbourne's history.

#melbourne #maree coote #australia #non fiction #history #book review #read 2021 #ktreviews

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