#i guess technically it's not a broadway edit

[queenofinys]

Miri Mesika and Alon Moni Abutbul perform Omar Sharif from The Band’s Visit at the 2023 Olivier Awards

#the band's visit #tbv #tbvedit #theatreedit #musicaltheatreedit #musicaledit #broadwayedit #i guess technically it's not a broadway edit #miri mesika #olivier awards #musical theatre #west end #is that a tag idk #maya edits #editing omar sharif again.... having flashbacks #last time i giffed this song the size limit was wayyy lower lol

[moveslikeanape]

that is very understandable about preferring to save money and not really keep up with the latest tech haha, but it really is too bad that companies don't make their games compatible with older devices. maybe someday if you end up wanting or needing to replace yours you'll have a chance to play the game! and if you ever do then i hope you'll enjoy it. the songwriters for wish were two people who had only ever written for pop singers before, which i guess isn't automatically bad--after all, phil collins did a great job with the songs he wrote for tarzan. but i wish that for disney's 100th anniversary movie they had gotten a team that was experienced with broadway-style music, the way they usually do for their musicals. the song "at all costs" from wish is an especially strange song to me because just listening to it, you'd think it has a way different context than it actually does in the movie. oh wow i've actually not heard of that book series before, but it's cool that it's getting a disney+ series! i hope the show turns out well. the only thing i'm reading right now is "disney's art of animation: from mickey mouse to hercules", which so far is a great overview of disney's history and i really wish it had had a newer edition. ooh that sounds interesting, i might try and watch greystroke sometime! what do you think of the direct-to-video sequel (or midquel, i guess) to disney's tarzan, and the tv series, if you've watched those things? i remember watching them both when they originally came out, but i don't recall much of what happened in them and i don't think i saw every episode of the tv series. also, i saw your post about the supervising animator of jane following you on instagram--that's so cool, congratulations!! -🌟

I was listening to Hercules this morning at work, and all I could think about was how amazing the lyrics were. The line from One Last Hope "I'm down to one last shot and my last high note, before that blasted underworld gets my goat" is so satisfying because it rhymes perfectly, makes sense, and is a clever pun using a common phrase that is also in this case literal given he's half goat. And in Zero to Hero there's the line "and this perfect package packed a pair of pretty pecs" is probably the best example of alliteration I've ever heard in a song. Also, all the songs fit perfectly in the movie. They don't sound like something written to get radio plays or to hit the top of the charts and then stuffed into a movie they don't belong in.

More and more lately it seems like Disney's really just going for the quick buck. Just trying to get things out as quickly as possible with out putting the effort in to making it quality like they used to (nothing against the crew, at the end of the day they have to do what their bosses say). So frustrating… just because something is popular does not mean it's the best. Thinking back to growing up in the 90s and the music that was popular then. I loved the music, but it would have been awful to shove that into the movies. Technically it did happen with Mulan. I love that movie, and I do really enjoy True to Your Heart, but it is soooo out of place with the rest of the songs that it practically pulls out out of the movie, like you just changed to channel to something else, and it ruined the ending for me. I honestly feel like skipping the end every time I watch it. One of the reasons the 90s worked so well is they brought in that broadway style that worked so well, and kept the pop music out of the movies (and in the credits where it actually makes sense).

I think the reason Phil Collins worked so well is he was making music for the movie, not what was popular at the time. It made complete sense to bring him in because he's probably the best known drummer at the time. From what I've seen and read he came in willing to learn, because he'd never done music for a film before. This wasn't just writing individual songs, this was telling a story and moving that story along. If you listen to his other work you can notice the difference. Still distinctly Phil Collins, but still serving the film they were made for.

I also remember seeing an interview a few years back with a number of different film composers talking about writing for movies (this one was specifically Marvel movies) compared to "back in the day". One thing that really stood out to me was they said that the movie's are filmed or story-boarded and the director will watch playback with temporary music, sometimes music from other movies that have already been released. The composers said that by the time they are brought in to write the actual music for the movie, the director has "seen the film" so often with the place holder music that that's what they want in the film. So the composers have to write something new that sounds similar to the temp music, instead of having the freedom to create their own music. I wonder if it might be a little of that going on too.

Ooo, I picked up a copy of that art of animation book at a convention a few years ago, still haven't gotten around to reading it though. It's always a shame when book series don't continue. Would be interesting to see a newer version of that series now with todays computer animation included.

I enjoyed the tv series for the most part. A lot of the episodes were based on the original novels, and I loved seeing new adventures for Tarzan. But at the same time, it felt off. The animation was understandably poor (they had only a tiny budget), but the thing that bothered me the most was the way the characters behaved. I know some of it was to make the story work, but they for the most part felt like different characters playing the ones from the movie. Jane was probably the worst, she seemed even less equipped for life in the jungle in the series than she did when she first appeared in the movie. Tarzan and Jane was basically 3 episodes of the series tied together as flashbacks for the story of their 1 year anniversary.

Tarzan 2 was basically an expansion of the Son of Man segment of Tarzan. It had far better animation than Tarzan and Jane (the characters were actually on model!), and the story was pretty cute too. I loved the new songs in it, although they weren't quite up there with Tarzan's songs, it was nice they were able to bring Phil back to write them. Also love that the one was reworked and put in the broadway show.

OMG, thank you!!! I'm still over the moon about that… I keep checking back to see if it actually happened and I didn't just dream it, lol.

#strangers like me

[daz4i]

36

thank you!!!! ^_^

36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill?

unrealistic ones: become a broadway actor, play in a big budget hollywood movie, see what's inside/on the other side of a black hole

realistic ones, however, i'm gonna elaborate more on hehe

write and make my own music. maybe. eventually. i have been writing poems for a few years and started putting some melody to them recently (no actual music, just singing it acapella) and taking some singing lessons, and i’m looking into maybe learning music production so i can actually make it a reality. i don’t know much about music but who knows what the future holds lmao

become a proper voice actor. maybe i should put it in unrealistic considering my accent is shit that i can’t get rid of, and i’m not gonna willingly move to the us if i can avoid it (bc this industry isn’t really big in other places, especially not my country), but i try to stay optimistic bc it is more or less my life plan lol. like hands down my dream occupation for sure 

become a youtuber that people actually enjoy listening to? i mean i guess i’m technically working on that one i just. need to take the next step and actually record the script i have ready. and then edit the vid and upload it. and hope ppl find it. but then keep making more, hopefully at a faster pace aksjdfkhf. 

can you find the connecting thread here. it’s very easy to

send some numbers?

[norskheks]

Let's do this! Answer the (modified) version of Noah Reid's 20 Questions for The Minutes.

Thank you for the tag @maryp50 !

Best thing about being [your nationality]? Uhhh... uhhhhhhhh... oh! Free refills on soft drinks! 🇺🇲🙄💩

Zodiac sign? Leo, I don't think I'm anything like it? 🤷🏻

If you were a potato, how would you be cooked? Tater tots! Because they're delicious and I'm round and pudgy like them.

Favorite musical or TV show? I guess I'll answer both; the only musical I've seen more than once is Wicked, and my favorite TV show is of course Schitt's Creek.

Favorite play or movie? I don't have a favorite play, but my favorite movie is Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Favorite Schitt's Creek character? David

Favorite album? Gotta go with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. It's cliché but there's a reason for that.

Favorite Olympic sport? Probably the most fun to watch is ice skating because it's pretty. The only one that I understand anything that's going on or any of the lingo is swimming.

Go-to dance move? Like Noah, the wallflower.

Most recent TV binge? Schitt's Creek for the eleventy billionth time, but if you wanna know the last show I binged for the first time, it was What We Do in the Shadows.

Favorite season? Fall/autumn

Favorite seasoning? Hmm... cilantro? It's hard to have a favorite seasoning when every dish is different.

Favorite donut? I've never eaten a "real" donut since I've been eating gluten-free since I was a toddler (no, it wasn't trendy then, I almost died and was lucky to have a doctor who knew about Celiac)... but the one grocery store in my town sells some gluten-free peanut donuts and they're melt-in-your-mouth good.

Do you collect anything? I only really collect things when I travel: mugs and the local language edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (obviously I'm not doing that anymore and not just because I haven't traveled in a while).

What do you want to be when you grow up? A communist, in the sense of a person who lives in a commune. (But also an active Marxist.)

Bucket list item? I almost went to Vietnam once, but I couldn't afford a plane ticket and the train ride sounded horrendous so... that's still on it.

What are you an expert on? I'm not technically an expert anymore since I'm not keeping up with the literature, but I know more about it than most people so... language! More specifically how language sounds are organized in the brain and why we hear and what specific things in the acoustic signal we pay attention to when trying to understand others and manipulate when trying to be understood. Even more specifically, the relationship between the voicing feature of an onset consonant and the pitch of the following vowel.

Last text sent? A thumbs up to my brother.

Gloves or mitts? Okay first of all, who says mitts??? Mitts are for the oven and baseball. For cold weather you wear mittens. Except that I prefer gloves. But I like the hobo gloves with a little mitten-like hood for when you're not using your fingers. But full gloves are best for situations where you're not using a touch screen.

Three words to describe Noah's Broadway debut? Hope y'all enjoy!

Okay, y'all already have to know that I hate tagging people. If you are a Noah Reid fan (or not) and you haven't done it yet, do it! Yeah, YOU!

#I noticed the spelling of favo(u)rite changed halfway through and I chose to keep the American version since Broadway is in the US #about me #tag game #noah reid #I guess??

[rachelbethhines]

TTS Songs Ranked Worst to Best

Someone asked me to rank my fav and least fav TTS songs a while back, but I’ve since then relistened to the soundtrack and there’s a whole bunch of songs that just forgot about, so here’s a more accurate ranking now that the songs are more fresh in my mind

32 .  Life After Happily Ever After (Reprise)

This song is infuriating, because the finale is infuriating. Listening to this song just makes me angry all over again because it reminds me just how unsatisfying the ending to TTS was. I wanted to turn it off at several points. I barely can get through it despite it being so short. It doesn’t help that the soundtrack leaves all the dialogue in there and fails to actually end the song. It just cuts off before the final note.

31. Hook Foot’s Ballad

Does this even count as a song? Why is it here on the soundtrack but not the Hurt Incantation? Did Menken really waste his talent writing a joke and did the showrunners really waste money and limited resources on this?

30. Friendship Song

Bland, boring, and pointless. It was clearly written as a marketing stunt for the radio disney charts and not as anything to do with the plot of the series. They just throw it up on screen to fill out the running time and don't even let the whole song play through. It’s pitiful.

29. Waiting in the Wings (Reprise)

I didn’t think much of the original song one way or the other, but the reprise is soooo dumb. The plot twist it introduces winds up ruining the whole show and sabotaging both Cassandra’s and Rapunzel’s characters. It’s not even a nice sounding song on it’s own. The kid’s voice is irritating (who I’m sure is doing her best, but really little kids shouldn’t be made to sing professionally as a general rule) and the melody just as bland as the first time it was played. The only reason to like this song is if you’r a mega fan of Cassandra’s or her VA, which I am not. (Note: this is not a criticism of Eden Espinosa, I just don’t happen to follow any of the VAs in this show)      

28. Through It All

I like the instrumentals in this song, and that’s about it. Everything about this song is wrong. It doesn’t fit the story, it’s a misuse of the cast and songwriters, it’s a waste of valuable screen time, the melody is dull, and the dang soundtrack had to throw in that lame dialogue about ‘greatest threat ever’ at the beginning. If you want a pump up song in your story then you got to earn it. You can’t just tell us things are bad, you got to show it. A joyful horseback ride and everyone sitting in a bar safe and sound isn’t threatening or depressing enough to warrant a cheering up session. Plus the song itself doesn’t add anything to the overall story.

27.  The Girl Who Has Everything

Sometimes I think the writers were willing trying to sabotage themselves. It’s as if they were determined to make the only two main female characters in the show unlikeable bitches in season three.   Don’t believe me? The creator Chris has said this song only exists to highlight how much easier Rapunzel has things than Cass and went onto say that Rapunzel was in the wrong during their conflict because ‘she held Cassandra back’. (Oh yeah she totally ‘held back’ the grown woman who left on her own accord, returned on her own accord, and then assaulted and tried to murder a bunch of people for no reason of her own accord.) But this song does succeed in furthering season’s three narrative that Rapunzel is a spoiled selfish brat. Shame the story fails to address this setup and never has Rapunzel learn to be a better person. Rather the narrative bends over backward to tell us how special Rapunzel is without any sense of self awareness and this song falls into that same trap; making it both irritating and pointless.

26. Listen Up

Yeah, I talked about this on my salt marathon, but I just don't like this song very much. The melody is fine but the lyrics are a real miss in my mind. It doesn’t help matters that the song is indeed pointless in the grand scheme of things.

25.  Livin’ the Dream

This is much on the same level as Listen Up as it features the same problems. It doesn’t add to the narrative and the lyrics kind of let it down. I placed it higher just because I like the melody a little more.

24.  More of Me

This song is a lot like the Friendship Song in that it was created to be an end credit song for the pop charts and you’d be forgiven in forgetting it even exists. However, it at least got to actually play all the way through. I think this song was a real missed opportunity. I honestly believe that it should have been the opening theme song of the show instead of Wind in My Hair. It’s more built to serve such a purpose and it’s a waste of resources not to actually use it. Alternatively, I would have accepted it being reworked into the actual series as a character song. Especially since we’re missing a song in season three due to budget cuts.  

23. Wind In My Hair

Speaking of theme songs, I think I would like Wind In My Hair a lot better if i didn’t have to listen to it every episode. On its own it actually has a lot of things going for it; a nice melody, interesting instrumentals, good singing, ect. Unfortunately it’s just over exposed, and none of those elements lend themselves naturally to an intro song for a tv show. In fact the theme song feels really out of place and is edited oddly to fit the shorter intro. 

22. Wind In My Hair (Reprise)  

Honestly the theme song is mostly comprised of this reprise, but it has the opening instrumentals from the OG song frankensteined onto it. This means that the version that plays before every episode is on fullblast all the time to keep the energy up, but that’s not how the song is suppose to go.  The actual reprise that plays in the pilot builds to a crescendo, starting soft and melancolony and getting louder and more hopeful and determined. It sounds a lot better in full because of that.  It’s still too overexposed though. Both these songs would probably be higher on the list of not for the theme song version. 

21. With You by My Side

This song is fine. It’s nothing special, but it’s not bad either. What knocks it down the list is the fact that Lance isn’t in it, despite Lance being right there.  Like don't bother hiring a famous Broadway singer if you’re not going to have him sing!  But that speaks more to the poor writing of season two than anything else. This song also doesn’t really add anything to the narrative as, contrary to what the writers intended, it doesn’t actually enhance the emotional impact of Cassandra’s betrayal later in the episode. The song itself is just tacked on and doesn’t take the opportunity to lay down any foreshadowing for that plot point.  

20. Next Stop Anywhere

Another perfectly serviable song. It’s not bad but nothing outstanding. It gets the job done. It’s also really ho-hum and the soundtrack keeps all the unneeded dialogue, which is a pet peeve of mine. 

19. Waiting In the Wings

Despite it’s hype, I never thought much of Waiting in the Wings. It’s got nice instrumentals and Eden Espinosa gives it her all in the singing department. The problem is it’s too generic. It’s a bare bones basic ass ‘I want song’. Cassandra's movations are weak and unsupported by the narrative, the melody is boring, and it honestly doesn’t add anything to her story. I mean it should, it’s her character solo, but because she’s written so poorly the song just winds up undermining the character in the end.   All I’m saying is that, this is not the song from season two that I would have nominated for the Emmys. But it’s still Alan Menken, it’s still nicely performed, and given the rest of the competition for that year, it did deserve to win. 

18. If I Could Take That Moment Back 

This song is also pretty generic, but it’s less boring than I See the Light, (yeah, I said it, I See the Light is boring) so that’s a win in my book. Ergo this holds the title of the only New Dream duet that I enjoy. But there’s better stuff on this list. 

17. Next Stop Anywhere (Reprise)

Well no, I take that back. The reprise of Next Stop Anywhere is also technically a New Dream duet. It’s still not anything amazing, but it works for what it is. Plus, Adria’s opening dialogue in the soundtrack version doesn’t bother me quite as much as some of the other dialogues choices that were kept in.  

16. Stronger Than Ever Before 

I really enjoyed this song in the moment. It’s catchy and fun, and it finally has Lance doing something rather than ignoring his existence. However it is borderline unnecessary in terms of story placement, and I’m slightly mad at it now that I know that we could have gotten a Rapunzel and Varian duet but it was scrapped for this instead.   

15. Crossing the Line

Keeping with the theme of ‘songs I have conflicting emotions about’, we have Crossing the Line.  This song is confused. It starts and stops, the melody isn’t clear, the orchestration is playing tug of war with the singers for dominance, and it’s basically Alan Menken and the show’s creators ripping off Frozen. (I guess he’s kicking himself for leaving that particular project?)   But it’s interesting. I never heard anything quite like it. It’s memorable even if it doesn’t fully work. It’s got these interesting bits and pieces to it that just never quite comes together as a whole. Some of the lyrics are some of the best Glenn Slater has ever wrote and is far better than the story actually surrounding the song. Yet there’s other lines that are total cringe. Sometimes the song is bold and catchy and gets you all hyped up, and then other times its limp and staggering and feels so awkward to listen to.  Yet it’s not boring or generic and so I have to place it higher than the rest of the songs that’s come before. (Also, there’s some amazing orchestral covers out there that really pulls together the various parts really well, just fyi) 

14.  Nothing Left to Lose

I really don't like this song.  I’ve been one of its biggest critics ever since it was leaked by the marketing team earlier this year.  And yet... I can’t in good conscience place any lower on this list.  All of the problems I have with it are the exact same problems I have with Crossing the Line. It’s confused, the various pieces don't line up, the instrumentals are competing with the vocals, the song’s progression is weird with it’s constant key changes, some of the lyrics are good while others are absolute shit, ect and so forth.  It also actively works against the story it's trying to tell. The song wants you to sympathize with Cassandra, but her lines are as shallow as a puddle and makes her look like a sociopath. Especially when she’s physically attacking Varian through out for no reason. Also neither character learns anything from the exchange and it fails to impact the story.  By all accounts this is a bad song.  But I’m Varian trash.  There I said it. You happy?  Varian’s parts in the songs are fine, good even, and the song is anything but bland. I would rather listen to a mess then be bored to tears by a competent yet standard four chord pop song. 

13. I’d Give Anything

This song is nice to listen to. Story wise it absolutely sucks and shouldn’t have been in the finale at all. But it sounds pleasant.  This is one of those songs that could pop up randomly on the radio and I would just think it it a nice sad break up song. I can’t say that about some of the other misplaced songs in the show. This one however, you can very much, absolutely divorce this song from the narrative and it would be fine.  Now that’s not good writing, and it’s very much a waste of limited resources, but I’m rating the music here first and story second. 

12. Buddy Song

The Buddy Song also absolutely did not need to exist but it also sounds nice. Plus, it makes use of Lance so I’m a little more lenient towards it.   I can’t however place it higher since it really is just Alan Menken ripping off Alan Menken. Like, I would not be at all surprised to find out that this was originally a deleted song for Aladdin or something.  

11. Bigger Than That

What can I say, Lance just gets good songs. When the show bothers to give them to him.  Unfortunately, it’s not the best placed. It kind of interrupts the more important drama of Be Very Afraid, and probably should have been saved for a later episode. Especially since it hinges on a plot point that is contradictory to Lance’s character.    We should have gotten a Varian and Rapunzel duet here and given Lance his own episode in the second half of season three. This song could have easily been refitted into being a bonding moment for him and the girls. That would also have filled out the season’s original songs to the usual eight instead of only  seven.

10. Life After Happily Ever After

Now we’re getting to the good stuff. The top ten. The best of the best.  This song makes the cut for three reasons.  1. It lyrically and musically interesting 2. It does the job of furthering the story and the characters  and 3. Eugene’s part is so damn good.  Like this song could have easily fell down into the ranks of ‘fine but generic’ if it wasn’t for the bridge with Eugene. That puts it over the top and to my mind makes it better than anything from the OG film. (well almost anything, Mother Knows Best is still great)    This is the barometer by which I measure all of the music in the series. Is it better or worse than Life After Happily Ever After? Because this is the level that I equate good musicals with.  What keeps on the tenth spot and not higher is the dialogue that still left on the soundtrack and the lack of a Cassandra introduction. That and also the rest of the songs are just flat better. 

9. Hurt Incantation 

Hurt, Decay, Reverse, whatever you want to call it, this was such a cool fucking concept. One that was utterly wasted by the show.  I place this so high because it just sounds awesome! It looks good too, and it offered up so many possibilities from a story perspective.  What lets it down is the lack of follow up for it and it’s too short. There’s needed to be another verse. It also should have been on the actual soundtrack instead of  Hook Foot’s Ballad.  (The Heal Incantation also was sung in What the Hair, but I’m not counting it since it was written for the film) 

8.  The Girl Who Has Everything (Reprise)

I hate the initial song and the set up that it took to get here, but I love this reprise. It’s perfect. This is what the story needed more of. Rapunzel taking her life into her hands, and her proposing to Eugene would have been the perfect capstone for her arc.  In fact I’m angry we didn’t actually get that. There’s absolutely no reason why Rapunzel couldn’t have done so and we could have had her and Eugene engaged during the second half of season three. How much better would have it been if Cassandra threatened their wedding plans and that’s why they couldn’t go through with it until after the series ended? So much more tension that way. 

7. I Got This

This is a really good song that actually futhers the characters and the narrative. Moreover it’s refreshing to see the heroine not be perfect and to fail sometimes due to her own inadequacies. It’s just a shame that the series didn’t follow through with this set up, but I appreciate the attempt all the same.   

6.  Set Yourself Free

This is the only song in the series that’s an actual satisfying pay off for anything. Music wise it’s nothing too special, but in terms of context it just works. We were sorely deprived of such resolutions and songs with actual meaning in the show. 

5. View From Up Here

This song is too good for the episode it actually appears in. We needed something like this back in season one to introduce Cassandra with. It also sadly doesn’t fit with the wider narrative after season three. However I shall still appreciate it as a ‘what might have been’ type song. 

4.  Let Me Make You Proud 

The only reason why this song isn’t higher is just overexposure and I’ve no one to blame but myself for that. I’ve listened to this song way too many times. As such it tends to alternate between this, View from Up Here, and the next song on the list. But make no mistake it is glorious. Fantastic instrumentals, set up, and of course amazing vocals. 

3.  Everything I Ever Thought I Knew

Yes, I know this plot point didn’t lead anywhere, but it works for this song at least. Also Eugene’s VA is a really underrated singer. He sounds nice and he emotes really well.  Though I’ll be honest, this jumped up to third place because it was fresh in my mind after listening to the soundtrack before making this list. I’ve always liked the song and I do rate it highly, but it can change places with Let Me Make You Proud and View from Up Here at anytime depending on my mood. 

2.  Let Me Make You Proud (Reprise)

This song is heartbreaking!  Story wise it probably shouldn’t exist because it gives away the twist too soon, but who cares, it’s awesome!  Varian’s arc is the most compelling in the show and the only thing that saves TTS from falling into mediocre obscurity; and it’s songs like this that help make the arc stand out even more than it already does. 

1. Ready As I’ll Ever Be

I said it before and I’ll say it again; Ready As I’ll Ever Be is the greatest thing Alan Menken has ever written in his entire career!  If you know anything about the multiple award winning songwriter then you know that is no faint praise and I do not dole it out lightly.  This song is the reason why this show even has a fanbase. People are still getting into the series because of this song. And no matter how many times you listen to it just rocks!   It’s complex, layered, moody, and with a fantastic beat and energy. The performances are wonderful and the instrumentation glorious. It belongs in the hollows of Disney’s greatest hits and not regulated to a spin-off tv show that failed to make its money back.  I weep for the lost potential that this song and this show had. It hurts to know that so many people will never see this flash of brilliance that has come out of the House of Mouse, will never know the wonderfulness that is Varian.  Ah, ‘c'est la vie’, I suppose. Tangled the Series got what it deserved, but it's crew did not. While I can not in all honesty recommend the series in full; I do sincerely urge any Disney fan to check out the songs at the very least. Especially this one.  And that’s it. There’s my official ranking of all the songs, and I hope those of you read my Tangled reviews appreciate the hours it took into making this. 

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #varian #rapunzel #eugene #cassandra #lance #alan menken #Disney #disney music #disney songs

[captainderyn]

Lockdown Questions

It sounds so ominous and I guess technically we’re on a statewide lockdown so...thus it stays?? Thank you for the tag @elveny <3

I’ll leave the tag open!

Are you staying home from work/school?

More or less--my university moved my semester online (thus me moving the 16 hours back home) and I’ve been staying away from my horse because his barn is in a state with an aggressive outbreak and I’m living with high risk individuals. 

I do end up commuting between where I’m living and my parents’ place though to see them by their request. And take drives out to secluded hiking trails to avoid losing my marbles.

If you’re staying home, who’s there with you?

Technically just my grandfather. Though when he went out to stay with his s/o I stole my boyfriend over here for the weekend because its spooky here alone xD

Are you a homebody?

You know I thought I was until this whole lock down hit and now I’ve realized that while I’m not particularly adventurous all the time, I leave the house more than I think I do. Not being able to go out to the barn, or to the bookstore, or to see friends is a little maddening. 

Either that or its the complex of “someone told me no so I just want to do it more.” Like when you’re going to clean your room and someone tells you to and immediately all your motivation to do so just tanks. 

What movies have you watched recently? What shows are you watching?

I rewatched Tangled for the umpteenth time the other day lol. As for shows I’ve been watching Tangled the Series, re watching The Clone Wars. Watching Shadowhunters with my bf lol and uhh...finishing The Witcher :)

An event that you were looking forward to that got cancelled?

I guess I can use this as my little vent corner and be done with it. Because a lot got canceled for me and it makes me a little sad: 

The remainder of my spring semester, the military ball I was going to with my bf, seeing Beetlejuice on broadway with my roommate, a weekend with @delavairesslegacy we were really looking forward to, and as of right now my debut show season with my horse. 

Edit: also just remembered SW/AAS NATCON got delayed to 2021 so that too lol

What music are you listening to?

A mix of playlists tbh. My writing playlists, my weird dubstep-y playlist for a pick-me-up, my rock playlist that I compiled for someone that actually slaps lol.

What are you reading?

I’ve been re-reading Mockingjay (well, tore through Catching Fire, not continuing with Mockingjay). Working my way through the Fellowship of the Ring again. 

What are you doing for self-care?

Working out at home, going for hikes/walks, stealing time with my bf (if in person using all possible care and common sense with the virus) and video calling him and my friends. 

#captainderyn memes #im trying my best lol but its not going the best #its a real big struggle right now but oh well #thank you for the tag and I hope yall are staying safe <3

[lady-divine-writes]

Klaine one-shot - “The Dangers of Self-Medicating” (Rated PG13)

Summary: Kurt gets sick on a business trip, and everything he does just to get home makes it worse. (2024 words)

Notes: So, I have been feeling a little blue and entirely unmotivated, so I started editing some old work and came across this one. It's the first thing I've laughed at in a couple of days, so I re-wrote it for Klaine (just in case it looks familiar, now you know).

Read on AO3.

“Sir?”

“Mmmrrr … hmmm?”

“Sir? We’re here.”

“Here?” Kurt’s eyelids flutter slightly, opening a sliver. But when the mid-morning sun hits their dry, red surface, he immediately shuts them again. “Where’s here?”

“15-22 Mulberry Place? It’s the address you gave me.”

“The address I … wha---?” Kurt pries open his eyes. The address sounds familiar, but the voice speaking to him doesn’t. There’s a lot of mud and fog cluttering his brain. The last thing he remembers is being in his hotel room, packing his bag. No, it was losing his breakfast, and lunch and dinner from the day before, in an airport toilet. No, no, it was waiting by the curb, clutching on to the handle of his carry-on for support while he waited for his Uber to arrive.

Uber! He’s in an Uber! Which means he must be …

“Home?” he says in a raw, grumbly voice.

“I guess.” The man puts his car into park. “Do you need any help with your bag?”

“Nah.” Kurt grabs the handle of the bag he’s been cuddling awkwardly since he fell asleep in this poor man’s back seat. At least he didn’t vomit in his car. As far as Kurt can remember, he’s baptized nearly every toilet and trash can from the airport, to Manhattan, to home. “I’ve got it.” I’ll just pour myself onto the pavement and slither up to my front door, he thinks. “Here …” Kurt fumbles a hand into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. Squinting, he fishes out three tens and clumsily hands them to the driver. “Thanks for everything.”

“Good luck,” the driver says, mentally snickering at the intoxicated man doing his best to exit his Prius. Ten sheets to the wind at barely eleven in the morning?

Well, it’s five o’clock somewhere.

Kurt backs out of the car butt-first, searching for the ground with his feet to make absolutely certain that it’s there. Once they make contact, he extricates the rest of his body, his Samsonite bag landing on the curb with a thunk when his arms fail to support its weight. It takes him longer to stand up straight, the compact blue Toyota gone before Kurt gets his head balanced on his shoulders.

He blinks his eyes and looks around, wondering why his husband isn’t there to meet him at the curb. Blaine and Tracy drove him to the airport, but he took an Uber home. And thank God he did. There’s no parking anywhere on the street this morning. Of course, he lives here and, hence, has a driveway to pull in to, but still. Strange, but Kurt doesn’t have the brain capacity to speculate about that just now.

Kurt has been traveling for most of the morning, voluntarily switching flights twice when a technical malfunction bumped travelers off their plane. He went from first class to coach, then back to first class again. He misses his family, but he came out of the deal with two travel vouchers, a slew of frequent flier miles, and a thousand dollar refund back to his credit card.

Not too shabby for a Sunday afternoon.

He’s a stone’s throw from home, but the way he’s feeling, it might take him the rest of the afternoon to get there.

Kurt turns, taking baby steps, one tiny shuffle at a time with breaths in between to keep the sidewalk underneath his feet. He does the same for the journey up his driveway – shuffle-shuffle pause, shuffle-shuffle pause, bending at the knees on occasion to ground himself and keep from collapsing.

The walk up his driveway to his front door on this beautiful Sunday afternoon is the most excruciating thing Kurt has done in ages.

Correction – pulling out his keys, listening to the God awful things jangle loudly, the noise ricocheting like bocce balls inside his skull, is the most excruciating. Walking up the driveway, and then up the front steps, each movement sending a dull ache searing from the soles of his feet to his forehead, was simply a precursor to this pain.

Kurt doesn’t understand how he could have gotten sick. He’d been on top of his Echinacea and his Vitamin C game for a week before he left. He kept his mouth and nose covered with a scarf on the plane, and no one he spent any significant time with looked particularly ill. Then again, he’s learned from having a child that sick people are often contagious way before they show any symptoms.

Plague-ridden bastards and their ninja germs bombarding him with their unseen illnesses! He did everything in his power to keep from catching anything, and now he’s standing at death’s door.

In reality, it’s probably from traveling back and forth between coasts after all these years of calm, suburban living. Living in the boonies, away from the dirt and the grime and the smog of the city has lowered his immune system, made him weak on a microbial level.

Clean air and sunshine – it will do you in every time.

His key ring raised to an inch from his eyes, he isolates his door key and pinches it between his thumb and index finger. He tries to stab it into the lock, but he keeps missing, his triple vision causing the end to veer away from the hole at the last minute and hit the door instead.

“Get … in … there,” Kurt snaps. “Get … in … that … hole … you stupid … little …” Kurt hears the door unlock and lets go of his key, assuming it made its way into the lock somehow. But the ring falls to the ground with a phenomenal bang. “Shoot!” he mutters, realizing he’ll need to bend over to pick it up.

If he does, he may never stand straight again.

The door swings open, the momentum of it almost dragging Kurt forward with it.

“Well, well. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Blaine coos, his body blocking Kurt’s way, saving him from falling on his face.

“He-ey!” Kurt says, bright but slow, sounding as drunk as he looks.

“Hey, honey.” Blaine gives his husband an enthusiastic, lovesick once-over, but raises a brow at his wrinkled clothes, his unbuttoned collar, his flushed face, and his severely disheveled hair. “How was your trip?”

“Regrettable, to be honest. Ooo, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kurt throws a hand over his mouth, diverting Blaine’s kiss from his lips to his cheek. “I think I contracted bird flu somewhere between Broadway and 75th Street. Or maybe syphilis.”

“Is syphilis an airborne disease? Because, if it isn’t, I have some questions.” Blaine opens the door wider. Grabbing Kurt’s bag in one hand and his elbow with the other, he leads him inside.

“Hmm, so do I.”

Blaine walks his husband to the sofa and helps him onto a cushion. “So did you miss your plane and walk home?” he asks, retrieving Kurt’s keys and closing the front door.

“Very funny.”

“I don’t want to say you look awful but …” Blaine takes a few steps back to get a good long look at Kurt sinking into the sofa, his head finding the arm and leaning against it. He doesn’t look like himself at all – from the hair to the clothes, and beyond his flushed cheeks, his skin actually looks green “… you look awful.”

“It’s not my fault. I took an Ambien last night to help me sleep off this …” Kurt waves a hand in front of his nose “… whatever I caught, but it didn’t help. I was coughing and sneezing and tossing all night. By six a.m., I was afraid I’d crash before I made it to the airport, so I took some DayQuil to keep me alert. But I guess DayQuil and Ambien don’t play nice together.”

“I guess not.”

“To top it off, since my plane was delayed, I dropped into what I thought was a Dunkin’ Donuts. I mean, the banner over the door looked the same and everything. Turns out, it was some new boutique place called Drunkin’ Donuts. I ate two blackberry wine donuts before I realized I was feeling tipsy.”

“Uh, but wouldn’t the alcohol in the donuts cook away?” Blaine asks, digging his phone out of his pocket and logging on to WebMD to see how much trouble his husband might be in.

“Yeah, in the donut, but not the jam filling. I’m amazed I made it home. After that, everything was kind of a blur.”

“Like what?”

Kurt swallows. This was the part he was hoping he wouldn’t have to get into until he was better … or sober. “Okay, don’t get mad, but I may have tweeted David Beckham and told him he had, and I quote, a very bite-able bod?” Kurt admits, eyes begging his husband to please tell him that that was just a dream.

And even though Blaine is quietly panicking over the fact that his husband might need his stomach pumped, he can’t help laughing at his man’s expense.

“Alas, you did,” Blaine confirms. “But in case you didn’t see his reply tweet, he claims that you do, too. And his wife concurs, so there’s that. Of course, Isabelle jumped on the whole thread and posted it to every social media account Vogue owns. I think you may have raised your stock value with that snafu.”

“Thank God!” Kurt moans. He knew that tweet wouldn’t cost him his job or anything, and he was only mildly worried about what it might do for his home life. But more than that, he was afraid what might happen next time he and Victoria Beckham crossed paths.

She might be petite, but he’s heard she’s a hair puller.

“What else?” Blaine asks, keeping Kurt awake while he stalls for time.

“I may have ordered everything from pages 23, 24, and 25 of the SkyMall catalogue.”

“You do that even when you’re not under the influence. I mean, so do I, but ...”

“And I …” And this is the one that may have Kurt crawling beneath the sofa out of sheer embarrassment “… I may have emailed all of our friends and family … using your email account … and invited them here today for, and again I quote, a surprise party in honor of the wonder that is me?”

“Right again.” Blaine chuckles, laced with concern. “And by the time I checked my email, they had all RSVP’d. They’re in the kitchen waiting to yell surprise the second I open the door.”

Kurt’s eyes pop, his gaze shifting to the door beside him, terrified by this new knowledge that seventy or more people might be on the other side, ready to scream at him.

That alone makes his stomach flip.

That explains the lack of parking on the street.

“And you couldn’t just cancel?” Kurt groans, putting his hands over his ears in preparation for the cheer that’s about to run him over like a freight train.

“Of course not. I invited them. And I’m nothing if not a considerate host.” But Blaine doesn’t open the door. He hits send on a mass text and shoves his phone back in his pocket. From beyond the white-washed piece of wood, Kurt hears the muffled trickle of text alerts going off, accompanied by a rumble of voices muttering in confusion. Someone who could be Mercedes says, “Hey, Bun-Bun! How would you like to go play mini golf with me and your Uncle Sam?”

“Would I?” Tracy squeals, followed by the patter of her footsteps racing to her bedroom upstairs, presumably to get her coat and shoes.

“Wha---what are we doing?” Kurt mumbles as Blaine helps him off the couch, wondering if they’re going to go play mini golf with their daughter and her mom. He’d love to, but he’s not sure he’d be able to make it farther than the fourth hole. “Where are we going?”

“I thought it might be a good idea if we turned this welcome home celebration into a party of two. And we’re holding it at the emergency room.”

#klaine fanfiction #klaine fiction #klaine #frankie writes

[gussolomonsjrtest]

AL BLACKSTONE’S FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE

Right from the get-go, we can see that this show makes no pretense at dramatic “truth” but aims at full-frontal, presentational entertainment. Multiple, different sized, black boxes with silver-edges (scenic design by Jason Sherwood) array the stage. Betty Weinberger in a short-sleeve, white jersey and red shorts (costumes by Christine Meyers) enters, inserts a CD into the boombox on the most downstage box, and clicks on a rock ‘n’ roll oldie. The fact that the box is facing us, not her tells us, OK, suspend your disbelief at once. 

The cast of FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE by Al Blackstone. photo by Curtis Brown

Thus begins “Freddie Falls in Love,” directed and choreographed by Al Blackstone for a two-week run at the Joyce Theater (July 23-August 4.) It’s a 70-minute dance narrative, but none of the characters are named, so we’re left to guess who’s who and why. As I watched, I managed to invent a story based on the idea that Freddie is Matt Doyle, trying to find love as he proceeds through various adventures, numerous loves and infatuations which happen in is dorm room, apartment, parties, night clubs and a trip to Paris. But what seems evident at first, based on my mistaken assumption, turns out not to be accurate at all. Actually, Weinberger is Freddie, even though there’s an on-again, off--again romance between Doyle and Melanie Morre, the show’s most famous cast member.      

Betty Weinberger (Freddie) with Evan Kasprzak in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE. photo by Curtis Brown 

There’s nothing inevitable about the locations, Blackstone chooses to locate his scenes, except they offer opportunities for jazzy, fast-paced, dancing in styles from social dance to disco to vogue to flat-out show jazz – styles in which this musical theater choreographer is adept. Blackstone is an Emmy-nominated choreographer of musical theater, including four seasons of TV’s popular “So You Think You Can Dance” (SYTYCD) talent contest. Thus, by definition, his work is eclectic, incorporating the appropriate style for any occasion. The dancing in “Freddie” is engaging and witty in the way it punches up musical riffs with Fosse-esque articulations of hips, knees, hands, and heads. 

(L-R): Tiare Keeno, Chantelle, Matt Doyle, and Melanie Moore in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE. photo by Justin Chao

Doyle’s in a funk at the beginning, and his friends try to cheer him up with beer, pizza, and a perfunctory yoga class. Blackstone might have done well to work with a dramaturg to help create a clear scenario and avoid confusion. But when it comes to creating technically blistering solos, he knows how to exploit  dancers’ strengths for maximum impact. A prime example is the one for Moore – who plays, perhaps, Doyle’s girlfriend. Although, later she weds Marc Cardarelli in a mock ceremony: is it a dream?

Melanie Moore with Matt Doyle in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE. photo by Justin Chao

Moore is a sensational dancer. She has split-second timing, masterly musicality, kinetic power, and graceful elegance in deftly negotiating levels, props, and obstacles. Her muscular power allows her kinetic flow to be utterly seamless, as she glides effortlessly between flying leaps and rebounding falls. And her acting is economically understated, making it all the more effective, especially in a context where facial mugging it almost mandatory. She first came to national attention winning the 8th season of SYTYCD, while she was a student at Fordham University and went on to originate the role of Peter Pan in “Finding Neverland” on Broadway, among other television and theatrical credits.

(center top): Matt Doyle, (center): Betty Weinberger, and company in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE. photo by Curtis Brown

Along her journey, Weinberger is accosted by a quartet of aliens/bikers/football players, it’s hard to tell from their helmeted jumpsuits. Doyle has a series of blind dates with men in drag.

(l-r): Matt Doyle and Kolton Krouse in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE. photo by Curtis Brown

Whether or not you can follow the sequential logic of the show - and you can’t  Blackstone features his favorite performers in cameos and solos, like one for Chantelle Good in a purple dress, done to a live musical performance of an original song by Mike Brun on guitar with Jo Lampert on accordion; it’s a nice change of pace from the hyper frivolity of the overall tone. 

(center): Lindsay Janisse and the men in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE

Lindsay Janisse is a sultry siren, surrounded by the men. Tall, handsome, energetic Ashley Day occasionally works a hand puppet macaw that pops Freddie’s red balloon; 

(l-r): Matt Doyle and tapper Evan Kasprzak in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE. photo by Justin Chao

Evan Kasprzak does a tap dance on the boxes, being careful not to mar the dance floor. Kolton Krouse in fishnets and high heels with comically long fringes sleeves is a flamboyant, trans, cabaret emcee in one of the Parisian clubs Freddie visits – another production number.

(l-r): Kolton Krouse and Evan Kasprzak in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE. photo by Curtis Brown

The dancing in the production numbers is at its most exciting, meticulously drilled and colorfully vivid!

(center): Jason Williams with (l-r): Marc Cardarelli, Melanie Moore, Matt Doyle, and Betty Weinberger in FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE. photo by Curtis Brown

There’s even a wedding for Moore and Marc Cardarelli, at which Doyle and Weinberger are witnesses/guests.

The cast of FREDDIE FALLS IN LOVE at a Paris disco. photo by Curtis Brown

Brian Tovar’s lighting is Broadway-savvy with highlighting spots on soloists and ambience that augments and supplements the simplicity of the set. The music is a selection of familiar and not-so pop songs, often done in unexpectedly arrangements that make them sparkle. Musical artists include Fiona Apple, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Jacque Brel, Frank Sinatra, Noah and the Whale, Bobby Darin, Kimye Dawson, Prince, The Hot Sardines, Harry Connick, Jr., and Semisonic, among others. The sound editing is credit worthy but gets none in the program; if it was done by Blackstone himself: nice job! The ovations of the audience, apparent fans of Blackstone and his dancers – sporting gaudy, shiny, dress-up outfits or post-rehearsal “athleisure” clothes – escalate in enthusiasm throughout the show, and afterwards, in the lobby, hyperbolic raves about the ”genius” of director Blackstone attest to his popularity in the commercial dance world. 

Choreographer Al Blackstone. photo by James Jin

Photos by Justin Chao (except where noted)

Gus Solomons jr, © 2019 

[nayakwon]

Chapter I

JULY 20, 2011

Orange County, Southern California, USA

“If you have gone through this already, you will most certainly recognize each following word: denial, anger, negotiation, depression, acceptance. Although death is the only certainty of all mankind, no one is ever prepared to go through emotional mourning”. 

Genre - angst, darkfic, fluff, smut

Warnings - [18+ but y’all know anyone actually respects this shit anymore] none, for the moment. Oh, and english is not my first language. I’m looking for someone to help me to edit the chapters. If u r interested, plz, inbox me. 

Words - 2k

She knew that from exactly sixty minutes on, a year would be complete. The girl's brown orbs were almost wide-eyed, fixed on the flashing red points that marked the hours on her digital clock by the bed. Even facing the opposite side, she could feel the look of her twin sister on her back, penetrating her ribs, giving the signal that she was also aware of the approaching date in three thousand six hundred seconds.

If you have gone through this already, you will most certainly recognize each following word: denial, anger, negotiation, depression, acceptance. Although death is the only certainty of all mankind, no one is ever prepared to go through emotional mourning. The intense pain, the feeling of revolt, the deep emptiness. The whole family was aware of all these emotions.

Just over a year ago, Naya Valentini and her family had lost two members of their family tree. Under her precise social perception, her favorite uncle and her younger sister. Matteo Valentini was that uncle that it didn’t matter the situation, he could make every single day better. He was the life of family reunions, and after getting divorced, it felt like he was doing better in life than anyone else in the world. That afternoon, in July 2010, he had taken the triplets Max, Graham and Sophie to the movies. Everyone was excited, talking about the debut of My Favorite Evil. What nobody knew was that when they returned, tragedy awaited them. The white van hit the driver's entire side, including the back.

When her parents arrived at the hospital after being notified, the news that Matteo had died instantly frightened them with the idea of the possible death of their sons hammering in the head. Fortunately, the boys would recover quickly, but Sophie had been rushed to the OR. Naya was not together during the emergency, in fact, she and her other siblings had lagged behind to take care of the new foster child of the family, a newborn.

At home, everything was in chaos, and she remembered the scene altogether, which her brain insisted on displaying in slow motion: Liam trying to make Autie stop screaming that she wanted to have gone along, Ethan almost blowing up the microwave while preparing something to eat. Naya tried to finish helping Devyn in the shower, but the baby's crying deconcentrated her.

With parents away from home and the dread of the idea of younger brothers and uncle being involved in an accident, the four elders were able - with much effort - to bring the heavy mattresses downstairs, where they had decided to spend the night together, with the strategy of getting a better look at the younger ones. It was dawn when her father arrived, finding all the children on the floor of their living room, sleeping, except for Lexi, who still was giving Joey a baby formula. Naya still remembered being awakened, and how her father had tried to be as gentle as he could be when telling that Uncle Matt and Sophie had died.

            "I can’t sleep either." She heard her sister's voice over her shoulder.

And in that simple sentence, it was possible to feel the weight. They both knew how difficult it had been for the whole family, especially the matriarch, who had lost her ground altogether. The situation was ten times worse when Moon entered the fourth and more difficult stage of mourning: depression. They knew that, like everyone else, she was struggling to move on, however, every time she looked at the newborn, the image of Sophie in her arms for the first time came back in flashes. Her father had suffered two losses at one time - his daughter and his older brother. The mornings in the kitchen, once livened up by the children's conversations, suddenly became quieter. The children's mother had just recovered from the last phase, acceptance, and the one-year anniversary had already arrived.

             "What do you think will happen today?" Lexi asked, but the silence was the only answer. "I just hope mom doesn’t freak out”.

Naya turned to her twin sister's side, pulling the blanket close to her face, realizing for the first time that night that they were both in the same position.

             “She will not. She is a force of nature.”  And there was definitely a very strong degree of precision in Naya's response. Her mother really was a very inspiring woman, beginning with her life story. Moon never had any kind of contact with her biological father, the only thing she knew was that he was part of USFK, the American Forces of Korea. After a one-night stand, her mother returned to Busan, where Moon was born and eventually, they moved to the United States only because her mother was deluded with life in a foreign country and the hope of marrying the father of her daughter. They didn’t find him and both spent some time in a homeless shelter. Moon was the one who decided to go to school and learn as much English as she could, teaching her mother on her free time after her first job. She ended up in college and became pregnant at a young age, resulting on a marriage with her boyfriend. Still studying, even if it was a distance program, as her children were born, she never for a second of her life gave up the dream of creating her own line of cosmetics. She started from the bottom, reselling some products in Beaufort, deciding to move to Los Angeles to finally open her store and put into practice what she had learned with a chemistry degree.

Nowadays, Moon had two stores in Southern California, and she did her best every day, always encouraging her kids to do the same. Today would also be a day without class. The family would visit the grave of Matteo Valentini, followed by the urn where Naya’s sister's ashes were. Moon was the one who insisted on cremation after Sophie's organ donation, because it was part of her Korean culture, and technically, the Valentini-Kwon family was 50% South Korean and 50% Italian.

             "Do you think about Sophie?" This time it was Naya who broke the moment of reflection.

             “Honestly?” Lexi turned up, staring at the ceiling before continuing. “Not anymore. Of course, I miss her. It must be a lot worse for the boys, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose you.” She referred to the fact that they shared the mother's womb. "But I believe I've been through it. I guess I’m fine now. How about you?”

             "I'm thinking about her now."

             "But that's because it's the death anniversary."

             "Yes. But I thought the same thing when dad came home that day and told us everything. Sophie was seven. She's gone without knowing what high school is like, or what it's like to kiss someone, or drive a car. She never got a chance to live. Unlike uncle Matt.” Naya adjusted a strand of her own hair. "Thinking about that makes me depressed. She could’ve had the world”.

             “I know.”

             "What about us?"

             “Sorry?” Without understanding the question, Lexi frowned.

             "What I mean is ..." The other one sat on the bed, the blanket dropped into her lap, just as her hair fell on top of her pajamas. "We can have the world, Sophie doesn’t. The question is: what are we doing with our lives?

             “Okay, Nay. Relax a little and get out of this life’s philosophy thing for a moment. You and I ... We're only sixteen. School-type things are our biggest concerns.” Lexi followed the twin, but as she got up, she went to sit on her sister’s bed.

            "But that's the point, Lexi. What if we die? I still have so many things that I want to do and we just… Exist. Sophie, she was seven, there wasn’t much she could have done except .... Bring some message to our family.” To say that seemed the correct interpretation. "And it hurts, but I do not want to end up like her, Lexi. I want to live. I want to decide what I'm going to do, challenge myself more. Because I can die tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. I want to be like uncle Matt. He did everything he wanted.”

Alexia seemed to understand the meaning of that conversation, the reason of her reflective sister.

            "So, what do you want to do? Unrelated to, you know, with what we have now. Boyfriend, dance, friends, taking all of these things away?

The question took her by surprise, but perhaps her unconscious wanted that to be thrown on the table. What Naya wanted to do with her life? Once she finished her senior year of high school next year, what she would do? A small memory small came to when her interest in old movies began to emerge after a summer vacation at the grandparents' farm. After that, she remembered the godfather playing piano, and how he said she had a good voice. Her dream of being a musical actress began from there, along with an entire week only watching the famous Broadway performances. She actually achieved that.

Still with the thoughts turned to her godfather, she wondered if she should believe him. After so many refusals, she wouldn’t have the audacity of calling him and asking for advice, and not even would step on other people with incredible talent and much better than her because of their connection. The way was to try, go through all the phases of her challenge, as well as what her late sister would never have the opportunity to do.

With a smile sprouting just as a year had passed since the accident, Naya looked at her sister before she laid down again.

            “What? Why are you smiling? Naya?”

            "I've figured out what to do."

            "And you’ll not tell me?"

            “You’ll find out.”

So, the girl looked at the digital clock once again, following the moment when he had just shown 4:01, exactly one minute later after her younger sister was pronounced dead. However, the only thing she could do was smile. She had understood one of her sister’s missions in her short life, and hoped the rest of the family would understand soon enough. With a lighter heart, she whispered before falling asleep.

             "Thank you, Sophie.”

#fanfiction #fanfic #jyp #jyp entertainment #jypnation #2pm #wonder girls #stray kids #itzy #somi #got7 #twice #jj project #15& #jus2 #naya #backstage

[plush-anon]

Tagging: anyone/everyone, I guess

Taking initiative from @crypticauthour for this one

1. Nickname: Plush

2. Gender: no thanks

3. Star sign: Aries, technically (tho I match the bulk of Taurus stuff and none of Aries...)

4. Height: 5′10″

5. Time: eh?

6. Bday: March 27

7. Favorite bands/groups game soundtrack(s): lord knows what will take me next, tho Broadway soundtracks are a solid bet a third of the time

8. Song stuck in my head: No Reason from the Beetlejuice Musical soundtrack

9. Last movie: Ocean’s 8

10. Last show: episode wise? Cells at Work! tho we’re working on finishing up Bojack Horseman rn

11. When I made this blog: erm,,, May 2013 by the looks of it

12. What I post: my fave fandom posts, shitposts, current events posts, if sad check this tag stuff, and occasionally a movie review

13. Last thing googled:Black Matilda lyrics meaning american murder song

14. Other blogs: a couple of sideblogs that exist for the sole reason of reblogging specific fandom crit analysis or salt without having to tag it extensively or flood my blog with even more stuff at once. rn for MCU/Loki stuff and SPOP

15. Do I get asks: meh, not really, tho I am here for chats

16. Why did I choose this URL: it was what I signed off with on the ROTG kinkmeme, based on my desire to be anonymous, and my Erik POTO Leroux plush

17. Following: 237

18. Followers: 634 (wait really? how did that happen)

19. Avg hours of sleep:4.5. not healthy, but i have an 8-5 and I’m a night owl naturally. I can’t afford to sleep in the day, sooo....

20. Lucky number: eurgh, maybe 8? 27?

21. Instruments: I have taken both piano and drum lessons (briefly), and sing to myself. nada otherwise

22. What am I wearing: clothes, i think...

23. Dream job: Editing feels like it would be cool, or maybe someone who chooses selections for literary publications

24. Dream trip: I still dream of a train trip thruout Europe with a friend

25. Favorite food: technically Goldfish crackers, but when I traded them for peanut butter pretzals a few months ago I lost a ton of weight??? so now it’s PB pretzals

26. Nationality: Texan, since that apparently counts half the time

27. Favorite song: why on earth are you making me choose. it changes from hour to hour practically

28. Last book read and video game played: ‘Wyrd Sisters’ by Terry Pratchett (Death gets stage fright! adorable) and I think Among Us

29. Three fictional universes you’d like to live in: er... Pokemon would be cool. DC or Marvel for superhero/villain occurrences (preferable to the States rn at least) annnnnd... actually Discworld might be cool.

#plush gets personal

[kaptain-k-pop]

(17/17) As for the current mission, I have a few questions! What was your favorite color as a child and what is it now? What was your favorite genre of music in high school and what is it now? What was your dream job when you were a child and what is it now? What is the first Kpop song you heard and what was the last Kpop song you listened to before answering these asks? I hope you are doing well! If you have any questions for me feel free to ask!! ❤️

When I was little little I was very indecisive about my favorite color, but the first color I remember being like "that's my favorite color" for an extended period of time was like green, as we can see here:

That's my bedroom wall, and this is what happens when you're 13 and your mom says "okay, pick a color sweetie :)"

As of now I'm a little indecisive again, I appreciate a lot of colors, but I still really like green and blue in terms of "general color categories" that I'm particularly fond of, and I've specifically been really drawn to mint green and indigo in terms of favorite shades. (Navy and maroon are kinda two of my favorite colors in terms of what to wear, idk, I just think they look cute on me 😂 also royal blue and black (my mom always told me blue complimented my eyes so I ended up accumulating a lot of blue clothing 😂)) that was more info than you asked for, but I overshare 🤷🤷🤷 we been knew, lol

Okay so I've always been one of those people who was like 'oh I don't have one favorite genre, I listen to all types of songs' I completely skipped having a 'middle school emo phase' lmao, like I truly never had any bands that I followed or even really solo artists that I like closely was a fan of. I would hear songs I liked but I didn't really pay any attention to the artists. It wasn't until I was a senior in high school that I finally happened to hear two Fall Out Boy songs within a week or so of each other and looked them up and happened to notice they were by the same band and was like "hmm, what a coincidence, maybe I should look up this group..." and that was literally the first band I ever really started following, and after that I started getting into Panic! At the Disco and such. And I guess you could say that was technically in high school? But it was also like, only about 3/4 of my last year 😂 In college was when I really made other friends who were into bands in that genre and introduced me a lot of other emo and pop-punk bands, so my 7th grade emo phase kinda got pushed off til college 😂

(Fun fact: my emo/pop-punk phase and my k-pop phase overlapped, I literally discovered BTS in June 2018 and then a few weeks later I went with my friend to (the last) Warp'd Tour 😂 and that's always very funny to me, like, I was on the precipice of falling in the k-pop hole head over heels and didn't even know it yet; and I do still like a lot of those bands from my 'pop-punk phase' and I also still am someone who likes a variety of genres, k-pop has just kinda been the main *favorite* genre that I listen to/talk about the most for the past few years)

(edit: now that I think about it I think I'd say that before my senior year my favorite music genre in highschool was show tunes! I was a huge theatre kid who was always involved with the school musicals and I loved getting (and memorizing) CDs of Broadway cast recordings of different shows, haha)

When I was a child I wanted to be a fashion designer, lol. I'm currently kinda in a place where idk what my next step is in terms for finding a career that's right for me (went to college to be a Science Teacher, but I've been doing some soul searching about if I'm meant for it lately) but some ideas that come to my mind that I think might make me happy is working at a State Park or a museum or something like that. Or maybe doing something with geology. I do really love Science and I would love to work with kids. Some stuff that's happened has made me question if I'm meant to be a a classroom teacher, but maybe working with kids and teaching them about the environment in a more casual setting like as a park ranger would be a good balance and good fit for me. So that's something I'm thinking about looking into (once it's safe for like, kids programs like that to start up again obviously)

The first k-pop song I heard was technically Gangnam Style back when it first became popular and before I even knew what k-pop was. The first k-pop song that I actually saved wasn't til years later though (it was Fire by BTS, in summer 2018) wow... time really goes by quickly

(edit: okay so APPARENTLY the first kpop song I downloaded was actually Nilili Mambo back in 2013 when I saw an AMV that used it and I had no idea what the song was or that it was even kpop but I liked it so I pirated it using an YouTube to MP3 converter and downloaded it on my phone and then 7 years later I discovered that it was a kpop song and realized why the name "Block B" had sounded so familiar to me when I started getting into kpop and hearing about groups..... 🤦)

Also I forgot about this question and I've just been listening to Seventeen on shuffle the whole time that I was typing this 😂😂😂

The song that is currently playing right now as I type is Fronting, lol

If you wanna respond with your own answers via anon one last time be my guest! But I also recognize that it's almost August anyway, so if you wanna just wait and we can talk to it after you reveal yourself that totally makes sense! Haha (and I'd ask my own questions but like... the event is practically over, at this point, we'll have plenty of time to keep talking over chat in the future 💗)

I'm excited to find out who you are and be able to communicate with you without having to deal with the ask system, lmao (and also so you can send me pics of your doggies.... 👀👀👀) I hope that the rest of your week is lovely!!! 💗

Talk to you soon ☺💗

#caratanonevent #💎 anon #kaptain's mailbag

[claraxbarton]

Lark

For Cocktail Fridays!

It’s a 2x5, a follow-up to the 1x2x5 Nightsong that I wrote a while back.

Under the cut!

Prompt: “How ‘bout a drink to celebrate?”

“It’s 8am.”

A/N: Follow-up of sorts to Nightsong

A/N2: Thanks always to Ro for editing my things and supporting me in all the ways

Pairings: 1x2x5, 2x5

Warnings: language, sexy times, day drinking

Lark

The scenic designer was an asshole.

A brilliant asshole, but an asshole all the same.

After a miserably-long technical rehearsal on Sunday night, which Wufei finally, firmly ended at midnight with the release of actors because they were union and there were rules, the production team had met to discuss the plan for the rest of the week.

The show, which went into first previews on Thursday night, was the most complicated, expensive clusterfuck Wufei had ever been part of.

In some ways, he deeply regretted taking the job. It was his first Off-Broadway show - and while that was a big step up from the Off-Off Broadway shows he had stage managed during graduate school - he actually started to wonder, three rehearsals in, if he had bitten off more than he could chew with this project. It was his biggest show, and his first show after completing his MFA program.

Of course, it had been Duo who recommended him for the gig. Duo, who was the lighting designer for the show, whose faith in Wufei’s competence was at once encouraging and unnerving.

And complicated.

Wufei had to wonder how much of Duo’s confidence had to do with actually trusting in Wufei’s ability to do the project, and how much was tied into his relationship with Wufei.  

They had been together for nearly six months, Wufei tentatively easing into the complex relationship Duo and Heero had with each other, and while he didn’t regret even a moment of his time with the two men, Wufei did wonder if Duo was really being objective about things.

Especially after the meeting on Sunday night.

The scenic designer insisted on having almost the entire day on Monday to re-paint and re-dress key elements of the set.

And no, he couldn’t share the stage with electrics.

Electrics, meaning Duo.

Duo, who had nearly twenty focus notes and a slew of lighting cues to rewrite because the scenery…

The scenery was a monster.

It was gorgeous, there was no denying that, but it wasn’t at all like the initial plans. Over the five-week rehearsal process, it had changed, turning into a bewildering and frightening forest of twisted steel and a sheer canopy of leaves.

It was a far cry from the realistic trees that had been sketched out months ago and passed off to Duo.

And Duo, who had tried his best to guess what things would look like after the scenic designer refused to build a new model or even offer up detailed, scaled drawings of the new design, hadn’t guessed quite right.

During the Sunday night meeting, the rest of the team sat and watched Duo and the scenic designer argue over who should get stage time when, and after a pointed look from the director, Wufei had sighed and stepped in.

And screwed over his boyfriend. Or whatever Duo was. It felt like more than that.

Of course, after the look of betrayal Duo gave him when Wufei declared that the scenic designer would have the stage from 10am until 5pm, the call time for the evening rehearsal, Wufei had to wonder if he would still be anything to the other man.

“Fine,” Duo had muttered, and scrubbed at his face. “I’ll come in at six and get to work.”

Duo’s assistant had sputtered in indignation. Six, after all, was only five hours away.

Duo had rolled his eyes and told the assistant to stay home and sleep. Had said he would do the work by himself.

And then he had packed up and left after the meeting, not waiting for Wufei, not trying to cajole Wufei into staying with him that night.

Wufei had tried to shove down his pain at that, and had instead commuted out to his own apartment on Long Island.

He set his alarm for noon and curled into his comforter and tried to sleep.

Thirty minutes later, however, he groaned and reset his alarm for five.

Duo had focus notes, which meant Duo was going to be on a ladder. Alone. With barely any sleep. If anything happened to him, Wufei was going to feel pissed and guilty about it.

It felt like only ten minutes later when the alarm went off, and Wufei almost fell out of bed as he lunged for his phone to end it.

Unfortunately, the commute into the city did not feel like ten minutes.

His train was running late, and it was 6:30 by the time Wufei arrived at the theatre.

And, of course, he walked in to see Duo balanced precariously on a ladder, cursing at a lighting instrument.

He waited until Duo was done before announcing his presence.

“Need a hand?”

Duo looked at him with a mixture of anger, relief and guilt.

“You should be sleeping,” Duo muttered, and started to move the ladder into a new position.

Wufei rolled his eyes, dropped his bag, and picked up the page of notes Duo had dropped on the front of the stage.

He scanned over them, looking for something that he could do without fucking it up.

“I’ll get you these new gel cuts,” he said.

Silence from Duo, and he looked up to see the other man scowling at him.

“What?”

Duo shrugged one shoulder, and Wufei had learned enough about him over the last few months to know that it was a defensive move. Something Duo did when he knew he was in the wrong.

“You should be sleeping,” Duo said again. “Your commute-”

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.” But it still stung.

Duo swallowed hard, and nodded.

“Thanks for the help.”

“I’m happy to help,” Wufei said sincerely, and Duo nodded again, looking even guiltier.

An hour later, the focus notes were done, and Duo was down at the lighting console to start reprogramming cues.

Wufei acted as a stage walker - moving around the scenery and showing Duo where actors stood in certain scenes so that he could perfect the cues.

He was fairly certain he fell asleep standing up, several times, and he had no idea how much time had passed when Duo let out a triumphant sound.

Wufei blinked into the darkness and saw Duo’s arms raised over his head.

“Fucking done,” Duo groaned. “For now. Until that asshole redesigns the show again.”

Wufei snorted in both amusement and commiseration.

“I need more coffee. You?”

Wufei shrugged, and jumped down from the stage to follow Duo out of the theatre and into the breakroom.

He leaned against the counter and watched while Duo poured himself a new cup of coffee and dumped in an entirely horrifying amount of sugar.

Duo opened the fridge to grab milk and paused.

“What?” Wufei asked.

Duo reached in and pulled out a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels. There was an index card taped to it that said ‘Drink Me.’

Duo arched an eyebrow at Wufei.

“It’s for a show in the other space. They need empty bottles, and the props person doesn’t drink, so she’s been leaving liquor in the fridge to be emptied,” Wufei explained.

It had been happening for weeks now, and more than once Wufei had had to shepard half-drunk actors out of the theatre after rehearsals.

“Well. How ‘bout we celebrate?”

Wufei arched an eyebrow at him, and then glanced at the clock on the wall.

“It’s 8am.”

Duo smirked.

“Exactly. And I’m done with notes - thanks to you. We should celebrate.”

Wufei gave him a look, but Duo was completely unperturbed.

With a sigh, Wufei reached past Duo and opened up the cabinet that contained an assortment of cups, plates and bowls.

He pulled out two cups and put them on the counter.

Duo grinned, and poured far too much of the amber liquid into the two cups. He put the nearly-empty bottle back in the fridge and raised one of the glasses.

Wufei grimaced and picked up the other.

He wasn’t a heavy drinker, and he didn’t even want to think about what the liquor was going to do to his empty stomach.

“Toast?” Duo asked.

“To early morning work calls?” Wufei hazarded.

Duo snorted, but gamely took a sip of his drink.

Wufei followed suit, and coughed at the burning sensation.

“To assholes who have boyfriends who are too good to them?” Duo held up his cup again.

Wufei looked at him, and saw that Duo looked apologetic, shoulders raised slightly and head ducked down.

Wufei raised his glass and drank.

“To assholes who are going to absolutely make it up to their boyfriends,” he said after Duo drank.

“Hmm.” Duo tossed back the rest of his drink, and Wufei did the same. “What did you have in mind?”

Neither of them had to be back until that evening, and while Wufei would probably come back earlier, just to see if the theatre was still standing and clean up his paperwork, he could think of all sorts of ways for Duo to apologize to him. All involving sleep and food.

Before he could suggest any of them, however, Duo smirked and sank to his knees in front of Wufei.

It was a sight that Wufei didn’t think he would ever get used to.

Duo, gorgeous and confident and so sexy that one smirk from him had Wufei’s pulse racing, kneeling at Wufei’s feet and looking up at him through his thick lashes, was beyond any fantasy Wufei had ever had.

Duo reached for Wufei’s hips, pulling him closer and smoothing his hands over the waistband of Wufei’s khakis.

“Duo?”

“Nothing like getting drunk and then fucking at 8am, is there?” Duo asked as he started to unzip Wufei’s pants.

“No,” Wufei breathed, thinking of all of the reasons why this was a Very Bad Idea. Reasons that evaporated as soon as Duo leaned forward and pressed his open mouth against the cotton of Wufei’s briefs, warm and wet against his stirring cock.

“Step one as my apology for being an ass?” Duo suggested as he tugged down the briefs and exposed Wufei to the cool air.

Wufei shivered, and then shuddered as Duo licked him. Duo took the soft flesh into his mouth, leisurely coaxing Wufei to full erection.

Once Wufei was hard, Duo pulled back and smirked up at him.

“It’s too bad Heero’s in Denver. If he was at home, I’d skype him so he could watch us.”

The idea had merit, but Wufei also knew that if they woke up Heero at five am just to watch them fuck, the other man would not be pleased.

“You’re such an exhibitionist,” Wufei muttered.

Duo grinned at him, and then rose to his feet and pressed a firm kiss against Wufei’s mouth, teasing his lips open until their tongues tangled together and they were both breathless.

“Be right back. I’m going to go steal a condom from the sound guy’s supplies and some aloe from the first-aid kit.”

Wufei rolled his eyes, but Duo was out of the room before he could say anything.

The wireless microphones that they used for the actors in the show were wrapped in condoms to prevent sweat damaging the sensitive units. The condoms were unlubricated, and Wufei had been working in theatres long enough to listen to the complaints of sound engineers who found their condom supplies mysteriously diminished after the location was discovered.

Duo reappeared, brandishing his stolen goods with a smirk.

Wufei rolled his eyes and took both from him.

“Where do you want me?” Duo asked, tugging off his shirt and shoving down his jeans and boxers without finesse.

Wufei didn’t care, though. The sight of Duo’s naked body needed no fancy reveal.

He loved the lean, narrow planes of Duo’s torso, the jut of his hips and the way his thighs flexed, the dark curls that framed his cock. The tattoos scattered across Duo’s body, each with their own story, whispered to Wufei in the dark over the preceding months.

“Wufei?”

Duo was grinning at him, amused at Wufei’s obvious appreciation for him.

Duo ran a hand down his torso and wrapped it around his cock, stroking himself until his face and chest were flushed and his lips were parted.

“Bend over the table,” Wufei instructed, gesturing to the small cafe table in the breakroom.

The table that he usually sat at every night as he typed up reports.

It would be good to have an entirely different kind of memory associated with it.

Duo grinned and positioned himself, his toes just barely touching the ground, and Wufei took a moment to appreciate the vision before moving behind Duo.

He stroked a hand down Duo’s spine, and Duo shivered and moaned, arching into the touch.

Wufei put the condom and aloe down on the table beside Duo’s hip, and used both hands to squeeze Duo’s ass.

They had worked together on two shows since first meeting, since Duo had first propositioned Wufei. And while there had been more than a few late nights spent at the theatres kissing and groping each other - even one memorable night of Duo sucking him off in the booth - this was the first time they had ever had sex in a theatre.

Wufei felt just enough anxiety over someone walking in and catching them that it gave his arousal an edge.

He prepared Duo quickly, using the aloe to work his body open, to tease Duo into gasping and cursing and writhing under him, and when Wufei finally slid into Duo’s body, the unlubricated condom needing every last bit of the aloe to make the motion smooth, Wufei knew he wasn’t going to last long.

His tension and arousal were heightened by the whiskey, and he could tell that Duo was in an equal state.

It wasn’t going to last long, but that didn’t mean Wufei didn’t want it to feel good, for him and for Duo.

“You’re so tight,” he panted, trying to find a pace that would work for both of them.

“That’s because I’ve been sleeping alone for the past two weeks,” Duo grunted. He shifted back against Wufei, changing up the rhythm just enough.

“Whose fault is that?” he growled.

“Sorry,” Duo panted, “I’m an ass.”

“Hm,” Wufei agreed. He squeezed Duo’s cheeks, hard enough that Duo hissed. “You are.”

“I know,” Duo moaned. “I know.”

The force of Wufei’s thrusts rocked the table, and Duo with it.

Wufei bent down and pressed a kiss to the nape of Duo’s neck, breathing in the scent of him.

“It’s okay,” he told Duo. “You’re going to make it up to me, remember?”

And then he started fucking Duo hard enough that neither of them had breath for conversation.

The small room was filled with the sound of their flesh meeting, of Duo’s broken pleas for more, and Wufei’s groans as he repeatedly sank into the hot, tight sheath of Duo’s body.

Duo came first, and his body drew Wufei deeper, clenching around him and spurring his own climax.

Wufei was left feeling both overwhelmed with sensation and amazingly empty.

He pressed his face against Duo’s back, and tried to catch his breath.

Predictably, Duo caught his breath first.

“Now that is a celebration.”

-o-

#cocktail friday #2x5 #nightsong #lark #gundam wing #1x2x5 #theatre sex

[swan-archive]

Okay so I said I wasn’t gonna do this but I have been REINVORGATED and REJUCINATED by the Oak boot of “Dust and Ashes” so here you go, more rambling than you require about the cast recordings of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. Sorry, y’all.

Blease to keep in mind that these are all just, like, my opinions, man.

First off: not to be all I AM UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN WE ARE NOT ABOUT HAMILTON? but I really do wonder how many of my issues with Comet’s obcr can be traced back to Hamilton’s cast recording...

So, as we all know, Lin took pains to make Hamilton’s cast album sound as much like a hip-hop record as he could. This is there in the way the songs are composed and performed, and it’s very much there in the production—Questlove and Black Thought were co-producers on the album, along with Lin, Lac, and Bill Sherman.

Now, when I think of big-name modern rap and hip-hop records, I think high production value. At their best, you should be getting an incredibly well-crafted, slick, cohesive sound, vocals married to instrumentation and beats in a way that just works whether you’re listening track-by-track or to the whole album start to finish. And, most importantly, the work that goes into achieving that sound shouldn’t be audible. You should be able to listen to something like Lemonade or Coloring Book or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy without getting tangled up in “oh, interesting eq going on there” or “what’s going on with that delay?” at first pass. Just let it be about the music.

This worked for Hamilton. It doesn’t work so well for Comet.

And, I mean, they tried. They worked very hard to polish things up, to make a Studio Album that stands by itself, bless ‘em, but honestly, I just wish they’d let the music speak for itself a bit more, just let it be a recording of a very good Broadway show. Because on Comet, that sort of tight-ship production value just reads as...overproduced. And it makes it a less enjoyable listening experience.

Now, music producers wear a hell of a lot of hats, so “overproduced” can mean a lot of different things. With this album, it takes the form of stuff sounding TOO clean, overpolished to the point of sounding artificial, and artificial is not a thing you want in a vocal sound in a genre based around showcasing, well, vocals. It’s mostly little things that I noticed, not anything that would ruin an album, but just things that might turn your head and make you go, “huh, that didn’t sound quite right.”

For example, I noticed a different treatment on certain phrase deliveries, exemplified by Grace McLean’s bit from “In My House” where she sings “Why didn’t he come to the house? / Why didn’t he openly ask for your hand?” as well as Amber Gray’s “Charmante, charmante” from (obviously) “Charming.” Both of these phrases end with a little descent that, on the ocr, sounds more like an interpretive/ornamental bit than anything; a sort of natural falling-off of the line that comes from an emotional rather than a technical place. On the obcr, both of these ornaments persist, but are “tidied up” for lack of a better phrase—both actors deliver them with significantly more weight, taking care to strike specific pitches. And it...well, in my opinion, it doesn’t work as well. It sounds like someone circled the bit in the music and went, “okay, let’s make those ornaments INTENTIONAL,” which removes the the charm of the unstudied voice and makes the part sound rehearsed.

At other times, they go too far in the opposite direction, pushing on the bounds of the written music in a way that simply doesn’t read on a recording like this one. I’m thinking in particular of Lucas Steele’s long notes at the beginning of “The Abduction” and at the end of “Pierre and Anatole.” Now, I’m not saying the album shouldn’t show off Steele’s vocal prowess; he’s an unbelievably talented singer, and he can do some Real Shit with his voice that is frankly terrifying and everyone should fear and respect him. What I AM saying is that a recording is a different format in which to hear those notes, as opposed to a live performance. When you’re there in the Imperial Theater, watching Steele sit on a C#5 for 45 consecutive seconds like it’s his fucking job (which...I guess it is), you can tell by dint of BEING THERE that there’s no artifice, just a skilled singer and his throat and his voice. And that’s part of the beauty of it, that you can watch it happen in real time and marvel at it. When you’re listening to a neat studio recording, on the other hand, there’s that level of abstraction, of knowing that between the note coming out and hitting your ears there’s been work done on it. And maybe Steele did actually hold it out that long in-studio (he probably did. The man isn’t human, I fucking swear), but you can’t know that. Cross-fades are a thing, and it is a fairly trivial task to knit together two long notes to make one biiiiiiiig long note, especially with a clear pure tone like Steele’s voice has. So it ends up sounding self-indulgent and gimmicky. Look how long we made this note. Such high. Very edits. Wow. Please clap. Lin got it when he said there’s some stuff that should stay unique and exclusive to the live performances, and these virtuoso showings definitely fall under that heading. Hint at ‘em on the recording, but their proper home is on the stage, in the theater.

(I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I AM UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN WE ARE NOT ABOUT HAMILTON!)

All that said: Comet has a very complex, group-oriented score, and everything I’ve been pointing out so far is fairly nitpicky. It’s subtle artistry stuff that will, by its nature, get lost when there is a lot going on, which there frequently is. Not to mention the score features long recitative-style sections, where the actors will deliberately use a more speech-like singing style to deliver exchanges between characters, quick exposition, etc. which does a lot to counter the “getting too technical and shoegazey” thing. People know what speech is meant to sound like! If you stray too far from that, you’ll undermine your listeners’ comprehension, as well as the whole uh...ACTING part of the PLAY. Which is important.

However, the whole play isn’t like this. You do have solo arias—broadly, major pauses in the action to expound on a single character’s emotional state. I’m thinking of three songs from Comet in particular: “Dust and Ashes,” “Sonya Alone,” and “No One Else,” standout showstopper numbers that are meant to drag the tears out of everyone in the audience. (Don’t worry, I love crying. It’s my favorite thing, next to dying and being dead.) Overall, these three songs are more delicately orchestrated, in order to showcase the unique voices of the soloists. Which would be great, if, you know, they’d managed to consistently mix the songs in a way that showcased the unique voices of the soloists! Fuck!

(“Charming” technically fits this mold as well. However, I would argue that it has more of a narrative action, i.e. showing Hélène’s beguilement of Natasha, not to mention that it is musically a very different song from any of the other ones I’ve listed above, faster-paced and with a more active accompaniment, which covers things that might otherwise give pause. Even so you can hear a few off-kilter things in it, as outlined above.)

“Dust and Ashes” (and to a lesser extent, “Pierre”) are difficult to compare between albums—obviously, because there’s no studio recording of the former (@DAVE! PLEASE SAVE MY LIFE), and because Dave Malloy and Josh Groban have such radically different voices. Let’s be very clear, I am not dunking on Groban’s prowess as a vocalist; there’s no question in my mind (and shouldn’t be any in yours) that, in terms of technical skill, he has a better voice than Dave in every way. To my ear, though, Groban’s recordings of Pierre’s songs sound almost unpleasantly slick, which I would guess is what you get when overproduced hypercleanliness meets vocal control that could knock an apple off someone’s head at forty paces without batting an eyelid. Especially next to the raw, almost painfully sincere delivery of Malloy’s versions, Groban’s sound sanitized, lacking in sincere emotion, just a string of notes with a vibrato as wide as a barn. It’s very disappointing, and makes me regret not watching the Groban boot all the way through for a better idea of how his Pierre comes across onstage.

“Sonya Alone,” luckily, manages to escape overproduction for several reasons. First off, it’s performed by Brittain Ashford on both albums, which presumably gave the production team a model for how to showcase her voice on the obcr. Secondly, the way the song was written and performed naturally resists this sort of treatment. It doesn’t have a virtuosic range—nearly the whole thing sits within less than an octave, and the one high belt note just kind of gets tapped briefly before settling back down. Hence, the emotional beats in it are a matter of performance, rather than technical prowess, and cleaning up too much of the natural wobble and waver of the voice in that range would make it sound absolutely lifeless and boring. Ashford also has that unusual, striking dark tone to her voice, which can already sound like an affectation to the first-time listener; placing too many effects on it would only exacerbate that. Hence, a reprieve. We get to enjoy Brittain Ashford’s voice showcased as it is. Nice.

Which leaves us with “No One Else.”

Oh, you guys.

You guys, I love “No One Else.” I think it is the second most perfect song Dave Malloy has ever written, only missing out on the top spot because he also wrote the ear worm from hell. It is PEAK F major aesthetic in every way. It is such a gorgeous, wistful, romantic piece, and couldn’t have hit more of my buttons even if Dave Malloy had literally come into my home and said, “hey, Swan, I’m trying to write a song that will knock you, specifically, on your ass, wanna give me some pointers so that I can more efficiently Kill you?” It is so good.

And this recording of it did Denée Benton SO. DIRTY.

Benton’s Natasha is necessarily a bit different than Phillipa Soo’s Natasha. Soo has a somewhat weightier voice than Benton, so her interpretation of the character seems to lean more on her vitality and spirit, whereas Benton reads as a very young Natasha, naïve but deeply good. (Margaux @likeniobe, I’m pretty sure it was you who pointed this out to me, thanks, you’re the real mvp.) I think both of these are perfectly valid character interpretations of Natasha as she appears in this adaptation, and based on what I’ve seen of the bootleg, Benton’s Natasha is lovely to watch onstage.

...However. The thing about that interpretation is that it requires a good bit of subtlety in order to come across as compelling and not saccharine. This reads onstage, but on this recording, very sadly, it kind of flops. Again, this strikes me as the fault of hewing too close to the written music, and ironing out too many of the natural kinks in a voice. Benton performs this song very delicately, with a light touch regarding theatricality; when overworked, this gives it an almost Disney princess-y feel, all fluff, no substance. It’s not as moving, it simply doesn’t do justice to Benton’s interpretation, and I’m mad about it.

There are also some technical...I wouldn’t call them errors, I guess, but interpretive things in this recording that just seem like sloppy mixing. The first one comes right on Benton’s first line, that beautiful fifth leap that sets up the airy space of the song as a whole. There’s reverb on her voice to mimic the atmosphere of hearing the song in a theater, but for some reason they don’t even give it time to fully die away before launching her into the first verse, and as a result she sounds rushed. This could work with a different vocal interpretation, but Benton performs the opening of this song with a very dreamy, mysterious approach (contrast Soo, who takes it more stridently), so it just comes off as sloppy and badly-paced.

Then, at the end of the song (and bear with me, folks, I’m about to get VERY nitpicky), Benton sings that wonderful ascending “you and I / you and I / you and I,” showing off her higher range and building suspense before the surprisingly tender and introspective ending of the song. Since she is singing high notes, an engineer mixing the song would most likely apply some compression to her voice to keep it sitting in the appropriate place in the mix, and to prevent the signal from clipping. I’m not gonna get into a super in-depth discussion of compression here, but in short it’s an effect that reduces the dynamic range (“loudness”) of a signal when it passes a designated threshold frequency, thus allowing you to get a more consistent dynamic range throughout, so your pianos aren’t inaudible and your fortes aren’t blowing out your speakers.

...It’s more complicated than that. Whatever. Don’t @ me.

Anyway, the way what I assume is compression has been applied to Benton’s vocal here sounds VERY sloppy in comparison to how Soo’s was treated on the ocr. A cool thing about many types of compressors is that you can control exactly how fast the compression kicks in, smoothing out the level changes so that you don’t have a track that’s pulsating wildly in dynamic range. Here, as Benton reaches each held note, her vocal ducks audibly before coming back up. This effect is audible in Soo’s recording of the song, but it’s MUCH more subtle and naturalistic, serving a technical purpose without distracting from the artistry of the song. So...either this was some very spotty compression work, or like, the engineer just went into the volume for her track and manually ducked it and brought it back up? I don’t know, but whatever it was, I don’t like it.

Now, in the end, Dave Malloy signed off on this album, and as long as he’s happy with it, that’s all that really matters. As an engineer, you’re (for the most part) there to bring your client’s vision to life, and if they like the product you put in front of them at the end of the day, then you’ve done your job. And there’s a huge chance that I’m just being all IT’S DIFFERENT SO IT SUCKS, given that I’m very sensitive to small differences in versions of a song.

But still. Still.

Denée, sweetie, you deserved better than this.

#swan talks #............at great length #more appropriately: swan is a nitpicky bitch about stuff probably no one notices anyway! fuck! #the great comet of 1812 for ts

[theragamuffininitiative]

Newsies Live, a review of sorts

So it’s looking like the reply I wrote up last night for @party-with-books on mobile, during a wifi issue, is just not going to ever post and is lost to the netherworld, which is unfortunate because, even if nothing I said was coherent, I wrote it while everything was still fresh and I was still on the most beautiful ecstasy high - the kind you can’t get arrested for. But I’m gonna try to do the play justice here, and using a lot of gifs, XD so we shall see.

Guys. Guys. Guuuuyyysssss. I just can’t. Let me start by saying I have never seen a stage production of Newsies. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack for months, but for a lot of the bits the stage show has added or edited from the original film’s story, I had absolutely zero context for, and the soundtrack is sadly missing like a crap ton of reprises. Therefore, if you care about spoilers, I suggest you stop reading this and wait for the dvd to come out or something, because I don’t feel like holding anything back.

After that note, where the heck do I even begin? The production itself. And by that, I don’t just mean the sets and the cast and the lighting and the camera. Nah, primarily at this point, I mean Spectacle.

I’ve now seen a good number of shows, in various formats, but none of them have been so energetic, alive, and overwhelming. The dancing is superb. I know for the filming they pulled out all the stops, with bigger leaps, more twirls, and a larger number of Newsies on stage, and let me tell you, IT WAS WORTH IT. A stage filled with forty or more singing, tap-dancing, leaping Newsies is a sight to behold.

I mean, there was this:

This is Ryan Steele, as Specs, doing the full-out twirl. Our Specs was played by the amazing Jordan Samuels, but it’s a different cast member entirely who performs this move, and we get a sky high view of the spin, which I’m pretty sure is faster and longer, and the entire theater gasped and applauded.

There were hundreds and hundreds of flips, spins, cartwheels, splits, jumps, tricks, and moves I cannot name. There was tap dancing on tables. I HAVE NEVER SEEN A DANCING TROUPE OF THIS LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE IN SUCH AN EXTRAVAGANT SHOWING EVER.

The set and staging was absolutely dynamite, and it will never cease to astound me how theatrical productions can amass an entire world on a few hundred feet of stage.

Near the end of “Once and For All” the Newsies completely drop out on the vocals and then come roaring back in, and again, my entire theater gasped in awe and delight, and I was crying and covered in goosebumps.

As for Jack...

Jeremy Jordan is the definitive Jack Kelly for me, okay?

If you’re a die hard Christian Bale or Corey Cott fan or anyone else, I’m sorry, but it’s true. There will never be another player who so fully encompasses that role for me. His Jack is so intense and passionate the. entire. time. Every single thing he says and does. The only moments we see him physically relax at all are when he’s with Crutchie (and we’re too busy crying to notice) or sharing the stage with Katherine.

And that brings me to Katherine Plumber. I was not especially anticipating her role, I have to admit. I love my Denton too much, and I was horribly concerned that the romantic angle between her and Jack would be too strong, taking away from the real love story of the play, that of this family whose name is Newsies. But I couldn’t be happier with her character and Kara Lindsay’s performance. She was amazing, and I could feel the rest of the audience connecting with her too. “Watch What Happens” is just one of her shining moments, and I am in love with her, and so happy of the way the writers brought her character in.

It’s also beautiful to weave in the feminine vocals of Katherine with the only other female singing cast member, Medda Larkin (our very own being played by Aisha de Haas) in the middle of all those guys. Don’t get me wrong, because the Newsies chorus is the epitome of what makes the show so great, but having those softer moments and the gals singing brings enough of a change that it completely enlivens every other male vocal in the story.

Okay, enough being calm, rational, and technical for a minute. Let me “be real.”

I Am Not Okay. Not in this or any other universe will I ever be the same.

(The rest of this post is probably going to just be me screaming at random about different things.)

CRUTCHIE. HOLY COW. CRUTCHIE MY BABY. “Letter From the Refuge” absolutely killed me. THE FREAKIN ATTACK ON CRUTCHIE FREAKIN KILLED ME. Just him standing with Jack in the prologue with “Santa Fe.” THERE ARE NO GIFS FOR THIS. Andrew Keenan Bolger is of such high caliber, I can’t even begin to describe how much I love him in this role.

I BASICALLY CRIED SO HARD WHEN THE BULLS CLOSE IN ON THE NEWSIES. AND WHEN JACK SEES THEY HAVE CRUTCHIE. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE SICK.

Oh, yeah, also, little itty bitty detail here i was completely unaware of BROADWAY VERSION JACK KELLY IS A FLIPPIN ARTIST?????!!!! LIKE WHAT????!!!! OH.MY.GOSH. I LOVE THIS ANGLE SO MUCH. KAJLLGDFHLJFGHIERUNZUIZLGRF. HE’S PAINTING SANTA FE GUYS. LSLDGJAGKJHRUIGKNG. During “I Never Planned On You” he draws Katherine and the LED screen that assisted the set showed him sketching her as they talked and sang AND IDK IF THAT HAPPENS USUALLY IN THE STAGE PRODUCTION BUT I AND MY FRIEND AND PROBABLY EVERYONE ELSE WAS LIKE “HOLY CRAP AWWWW OHMYGOSH HOW PRECIOUS HOW PURE I’M NOT CRYING AT ALL NO” SO YEAH THAT IS A THING THAT  HAPPENED.

Little Les is amazing. Like, in the old movie, he wasn’t so much a character as a plot device. He was literally the little boy with the cute face who could sell the papes. In this, Les is the one who strikes up the deal with Jack, and Les is the one who shouts a message for Pulitzer as the guard closes the door in their faces. He is so precocious and adorable and perfect, and so much more a character in his own right, I am so pleased.

DID I MENTION BEN FANKHAUSER AS DAVEY???

HIS SINGING. HIS ACTING. HIS CHARACTER AND INTERACTIONS WITH JACK AND LES. The confrontation between him and Jack later on when Davey is trying to get Jack to rejoin the Strike, and he says “it’s not like anyone died” and Jack whirls on him in rage, because of what happened to Crutchie, who could very well die at that point. I COULDN’T HANDLE. And when Davey reminds him what they’re fighting for, and why they shouldn’t stop. PERFECT BOYS, PERFECT.

AND I ALMOST FORGOT RACETRACK LAJKDHF. Race is my favorite Newsie from the old movie, and I was not disappointed by him here. Benjamin Cook is an adorable angel and my favorite bit of him probably has to be when he is staring wide-eyed at Governor Roosevelt at the end, so happy and in awe. Unfortunately I can’t find any gifs of him either arg.

AND SPOT, HOW COULD I MISS SPOT CONLON Tommy Bracco’s performance left nothing to be desired, he was as spot-on as his character’s name. WE ARE BROOKLYN NEWSIES

Oh.

Oh, and then there was This:

I HATE/LOVE THIS PART OF THE STORY SO MUCH. When Pulitzer forces Jack’s hand, makes him face the Newsies and turn on them, in order to save them and save Crutchie and Davey and Les, but Pulitzer also gives him money to go to Santa Fe and that is all the Newsies ever see. LKDJFLHDHFAJDHFLA MY HEART HURTS

I love Jack Kelly more than Raoul or the Phantom, or Dimitri, or Valjean or Marius or Enjolras, or even arguably Fiyero. I feel every single beat of “Santa Fe” as it blooms and changes from dream to dust to dream.

I adore how the stage version plays up the affect the Newsies strike had on child laborers everywhere, how Jack proclaims it isn’t only Newsies’ rights they’re striking for.

The singing was absolutely flawless. Flawless I tell you.

IDK GUYS I JUST DON’T HAVE ANY COMPLAINTS OK

This is on par with the night I saw Wicked on tour. I will be buying the DVD. I will watch it at least once a year. I guess, if I wasn’t before, I’m a Fansie now.

So, yeah, to close: I don’t think I will ever find another thing on this earth that impacts every bit of my soul as much as musical theater does. That is a part of me I will never outgrow, and never give up. Doesn’t matter if I ever make it to see a show on Broadway, or if I ever get on behind the scenes at a theater company. This is me.

This is an experience I want to relive every day for as many days as I have. I laughed, I cried, I came home to my roomies in such a state of embarrassed, blissful exhilaration you’d think I just came home from my first date with the love of my life - which is a completely accurate comparison.

I cried so much, I laughed so hard. #NewsiesForever and all that. There is so much more I could say, so much I feel like I am completely leaving out. But truthfully, when it comes right down to it, there are no words in the human language to describe this experience and how thrilled I am that I was able to go, that I live in the same universe as this caliber of artistry and storytelling. This phenomenon is beyond anything I can say, so I’ll stop trying. ;)

I hope that answers anyone’s questions to whether or not I enjoyed Newsies Live.

#newsiesforever #rags sees newsies #ragamusings #newsies live #long post #jack kelly #crutchie morris #davey jacobs #les jacobs #katherine plumber #jeremy jordan #andrew keenan bolger #ben fankhauser #kara lindsay #benjamin cok #tommy bracco #musicals #broadway #theater #review #okay I'm done now

[pinupprodigy]

I know it's not a popular opinion but watching the new Beauty and the Beast really reminded me of why I loved the 1991 film so much in the first place. 

 I'm still glad to see so many people reacting positively to this movie, especially since a lot of them are fans of the original to start with. It's just a bummer that it didn't really turn out to appeal to me, personally. I was really rooting for Emma Watson to do well but, in all honesty, she never made me believe that she was Belle to begin with. She looks the part perfectly and I'm certain she's a lovely person in real life but the autotune singing was kind of a distraction and her acting was only sort of passable? I also think that sometimes a person can be a little too famous to make certain roles immersive and believable. Maybe the story would have been better off casting a lesser known character actor to fill the part, much the same way Lily James (as Cinderella) was kind of unknown to anyone who hadn't seen Downton Abbey up until that point. 

 A lot of it also comes down to similarity problems with the original as well. So many scenes and pieces of dialogue were lifted from the 1991 version that it began to feel repetitive and trite for me. I could guess where nearly every scene was going to go based on that alone, which was distracting in the long-run for someone who's seen the both the film as well as the Broadway show so many times. Anytime minor changes were added to the story I generally really enjoyed them, though. The enchantment scene at the beginning was lovely, as were Belle's added interactions with her father. Kevin Kline's Maurice breathed new life into the "bumbling old eccentric" archetype. The castle falling apart a little more every time a petal from the enchanted rose rotted away was a beautiful visual metaphor, as were the enchanted objects becoming more inanimate with the passage of time. Nearly every good or interesting bit that I enjoyed about this was done for the purposes of engaging or surprising the audience, which I loved. 

 But the editing is also a main problem here. Characters aren't really allowed to breathe during their scenes and everything feels a little too rushed overall. The time span of Belle and the Beast falling in love feels oddly shorter than the original, even though this new version is technically much longer in run time. Like, just look at the scene where the Beast lets Belle finally go. His response in the remake is rushed and immediate, never even so much as hesitating in insisting that she leave immediately. In the original version the Beast takes a moment to look at the enchanted rose and we get to see all the conflicting emotions running though his face; pain, desperation, despair, and then eventually resignation. When he finally tells her to go it's in a strained voice, the words barely managing to form out loud. We as the audience get to witness his character growth in real time in a way that feels poignant and believable to us. The editing in the newer version is too rushed, too eager to clumsily transition from scene to scene. There's no natural sense of flow to it. 

 If you enjoyed the film then I'm truly glad for you. I don't want to diminish something you love at all, especially since Beauty and the Beast means so much to so many fellow awkward, bookish girls of my generation. But part of me wishes Kenneth Branagh had directed this newer movie and cast someone more obscure to fill the role of Belle. Linda Woolverton reworking the script for more modern audiences would have been potentially wonderful too.

#beauty and the beast #Belle #emma watson #disney

[clayray3290]

Clayray Closeout 2018

Another momentous year has passed, and I am feeling reflective about my tastes and my year, so once again, clayray is closing out the year. Usually I don’t do this, but this year, I traveled a lot, like A LOT a lot, and I made the move across the country to LA, so before I reflect on my media consumption, here is a list of all the places I went to this year:

January - Baltimore for a baby shower February - San Francisco Sonoma for a wine tasting trip with college friends March - New York City to see musicals April - Las Vegas for PBS TechCon Two days after getting back - Sarasota for Roadshow Less then a week after - Tulsa for Roadshow May - San Francisco for CAAMFest Louisville for Roadshow Literally the day after - LA San Diego for Roadshow June - Detroit for Roadshow Toronto with mom Montreal to see Sarah July - Charlotte to meet up with Colleen and Katy Smoky Mountains for a bridal shower New Hampshire for a wedding September - Moved to LA! October - San Francisco for a wedding Boston Newport for a wedding November - Florida for Thanksgiving

Whew! As you can see, August and December were the only months that I didn’t travel, and that was because August was spent preparing for my big move and in December, my family came to me. What with layovers, I was on 33 flights plus 5 significant buses plus several “road trips” with friends/family, too. And some of these trips were so back-to-back that I barely spent any time sleeping in my own bed!

Now, I’m still in a weird period of transition, but soon enough, I will develop a routine and establish a place here. I moved across the country with no job, no apartment, and very few friends, and it was a humongous change to make. But as scary and hard as it can be, I think I have enough faith in myself that it will all work out and I will be okay. And with that, I’m looking forward to 2019!

But meanwhile, continuing to look back:

Music - Artists

La Luz

Joywave

Jesse McCartney

Younha

Saint Motel

30 Seconds to Mars

Betty Who

The Aces

BTS

Infinite

As always, artists that I saw live are a huge presence in this list: La Luz, Saint Motel, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Betty Who, and technically I was walking up to the venue when Joywave was playing (which I am still bitter about, for the record.) Other artists I saw live this year: MisterWives and Walk the Moon opening for 30 Seconds to Mars, Tamia, Duckwrth and Buyepongo at the Made in LA Festival literally my second day in LA, Gymshorts opening for La Luz, Vincent Vallières and Brigitte Boisjoli and Martha Wainwright and Michel Rivard and Klô Pelgag at the Fete in Montreal, Bleachers, Sara Bareilles at MisCast, Dionysia and Bazmati Vice, Gryffin, and I guess technically I saw Pregnant Boy.

I have been in love with Jesse McCartney since I was 11 and he released new music this year, which I adored (which you will soon see in the Top Tracks), so of course he’s that high up. Similarly, Younha released an excellent album this year and I’ve always loved her. I actually didn’t find Infinite’s album particularly thrilling, but I guess I liked it well enough that I wouldn’t skip their songs whenever they came up.

I had actually listened to The Aces before, but this year was when I really got into them. Their album is stellar and I love their sound and their look!

And as for BTS, my mom’s actually a huge fan and there was no escaping their immense worldwide popularity. I remember when they debuted! It’s great to see how they have grown to be the K-Pop group that has “made it” to the States.

This is the first time in a long time that my all-time favorites like Secret and McFly haven’t been in the top. Secret’s disbandment really hurt, even though we all saw it coming, and I’m still not over it.

Odesza didn’t make it up to the very top, but I also listened to them a lot with my boyfriend. :)

Music - Albums

Younha - RescuE

The Aces - When My Heart Felt Volcanic

Infinite - TOP SEED

Hamilton OBCR

Alexz Johnson - A Stranger Time

Dan Masterson - When Reality Calls

La Luz - Floating Features

Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer

Eric Nam - Honestly

Anastasia OBCR

Unsurprisingly, my top artists are showing up in the top albums. I was surprised to see that the Hamilton OBCR was so high, but then I remembered that I featured it heavily in my 4th of July playlist that I played during my party. I’ve been fond of Alexz Johnson since Instant Star, even though I didn’t actually watch the show, and my friend Schuyler and I had a bit of a phase reminiscing about that era of “teen show” singers like her and also Drake Bell.

Dan Masterson is, full disclosure, a friend of mine from college, but his album is really excellent, and you should check it out if you’re interested in piano-based singer-songwriter tunes!

What is there to say about Janelle Monáe except that she is a beacon of brilliance, and we are lucky just to be able to witness it.

The other musical on this list is Anastasia, which is one of the musicals I saw this year. I saw it on Derek Klena’s last evening performance, which is actually one of two times that I saw him. I also saw him in Jagged Little Pill at the A.R.T (he is not the best part of that show, though, Lauren Patten’s “You Oughta Know” is hands down unequivocally the showstopper). The other musicals I saw this year were Allegiance, Hello! Dolly, and I saw the Genies’ Jukebox. Not a musical, but I also saw the off-Broadway show Puffs, which was hysterical.

I’m not sure why I didn’t pay attention as much, but Death Cab’s album this year is pretty great. I didn’t love the Arctic Monkeys’ album as much as I wanted to, though they actually just missed being in my Top Artists by 10 listens. Robyn’s album this year was also pretty stellar, but it was released pretty late in the year.

Movies

As always, subjective ranking and not numbers-based.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Okay, biased, what with my children’s media thing and PBS thing. Tbh I don’t even like documentaries that much, but this one. I wept. And we really needed this film right now.

Blindspotting I saw this at the Independent Film Festival Boston, with a Q&A with Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal afterwards, and just wow. This is an incredible tour de force. Brilliantly crafted and visceral and hilarious, too. I know a bunch of people were drawn to it because of Daveed Diggs and his Hamilton fame, but genuinely, he and Rafael Casal’s passion for this film and overwhelming talent shine through in this.

Searching Look, I love love loved Crazy Rich Asians and Asian August and Asian-American women bringing back the rom com. As an Asian-American woman, I have been waiting for so long for this to happen. But I picked Searching because as a film, Searching takes the screen footage tactic, heretofore only really used in horror films, and capitalizes on it to such amazing dramatic and emotional effect. John Cho is fantastic, of course in this very tense and very stressful film.

Black Panther I cannot believe it hasn’t even been a year since Black Panther. Can we start using the term BBP and ABP for Before and After Black Panther? I saw somewhere that Letitia Wright is the biggest box office star of the year, which is fabulous because she is fabulous (and a Disney princess!). The world-building is amazing, the action is amazing, the eye candy is amazing (Helloooooo Michael B. Jordan and Chadwick Boseman and Danai Gurira and Lupita Nyong’o and...you get the point).

Ralph Breaks the Internet I spent a lot of this film marveling at how only Disney could have pulled this off, this massive ambitious bringing together of so many brands and characters and, y’know, the internet. I also enjoy that this is not a romantic love story, and it is a story about love in other ways. Loving your friends and caring for them and respecting them is so important, and dealing with insecurity is as well. This is such a smart movie, and as somebody who cares about children’s media, that is the standard to which we should aspire.

Honorable Mentions: A Quiet Place (Though of the horror films this year, Hereditary and Annihilation were also very good), Madeline’s Madeline for Helena Howard’s performance, I Tonya because um duh figure skating but does not make the list because trying to pass off Margot Robbie as teenage was laughable, Three Identical Strangers

Movies I Want to See But Haven’t Yet: Eighth Grade, Sorry to Bother You, Support the Girls, Widows, Creed II, The Hate U Give, Halloween, Burning, RBG, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Dumplin’ (My roomie’s in it!)

Movies I Should See But Haven’t Brought Myself To Care About: A Star is Born, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Mary Poppins Returns, Green Book, Love Simon, Paddington 2

2020.12.02 EDIT: I was wrong about Paddington 2. It is an incredible film.

Television

Sharp Objects I’ve read the book (and own it somewhere...) but it had been a while, so Sharp Objects did what a good mystery does - even upon a revisit, the things you don’t remember are tantalizing and the discovery of new clues and revelations keep shifting your perspective and giving it a jolt each time. Amy Adams is phenomenal in this (as she always is) and Eliza Scanlen as Amma gives a piercing performance in this.

Queer Eye All of the remakes happening incessantly is tiring and also eyeroll-inducing (it’s cliche but honestly, where are the original ideas nowadays?), but then we get something like Queer Eye. Reality TV gets a hard rap, but with Queer Eye, you get the entertainment factor and also incredibly moving emotional heft as well. Also, I genuinely wonder at how Bobby gets all that house remodeling done and he doesn’t get enough credit for it!

The Haunting of Hill House I love the Shirley Jackson story and also the original movie (I have not watched the 90′s movie and I don’t think I ever will), so my only real gripe with this show is that I wish they didn’t call it The Haunting of Hill House because it really isn’t. But what it is, is a brilliant family drama launching off of the Hill House story. It is captivating and beautiful and spooky, and also the casting of the young kids is impeccable.

Nailed It! Sometimes you just need to guffaw over people’s ridiculous failures. This show doesn’t take itself too seriously and because it embraces the silly, it’s full of heart and joy.

Élite I love foreign teen dramas. I love murder...in my television/movies. Of course I was gonna love this show. But just because it has these two elements doesn’t mean that I automatically was going to think it’s a great show (It does probably mean I would automatically enjoy it, but that’s different). Both of these genres are rife with tropes, but this show takes them and executes them in such a way that it rings true and doesn’t distract from your enjoyment.

Honorable Mention: Memories of the Alhambra only because it’s still ongoing! It’s a brilliant way of looking at technology and combining it with all the elements of a K-drama that you could want. It’s kinda like if a good episode of Black Mirror (because goodness knows that quality varies) combined with a K-drama.

Also of mention are some excellent series that continued this year. I can’t believe I didn’t watch them when they first came out, but The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Big Mouth are both so so good. Though I have strong feelings about the second season of Maisel and think the Paris bit was just an awkward flex and should have been cut, and the Catskills could have been an entire series of its own. Also, I actually saw Nick Kroll do some readings of all the characters in Big Mouth at the Vulture Festival this year!

In addition to the show-watches-from-the-beginning that I am still working through (Parks and Rec, The Wire, Gilmore Girls, Mad Men, etc.) I’ve also started watching Ugly Betty and Strong Woman Do Bong Soon from the beginning.

There are a few new shows from this year that I really have been wanting to watch but haven’t yet: Killing Eve, Kidding, Homecoming. Mostly Killing Eve for Queen Sandra Oh and also the girl from MMFD!

Okay, whew! That’s enough of that. Where do I even find the time to watch all this stuff??

#Clayray Closeout