#the moments of happiness

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

The Moments of Happiness and the Meaning of Rhyming

Yeah, weird title, I know.

Also, I know I don't post much here anymore. I have other hyperfixations. But, I still occasionally have Cats-related things to say.

I have some things to say about The Moments of Happiness, the number that opens the second act of the show. Since it's not a dance number and not very catchy, it's often ignored. Some people find it boring. Strangely, I think the fact that it's slow, not catchy, and hard to follow is kind of the point.

What's happening in the story here is that, after the Jellicle Ball at the end of act one, Grizabella shows up and gets rejected by the tribe again. Everyone runs away and hides for a bit, except for Old Deuteronomy, who sits on his throne in the back while Grizabella sings the first part of Memory. Being the Big Good of the show, Old D already likes Griz and wants the tribe to be nice to her. As the leader, you'd think he could just tell the others to behave, but he wants them to understand why they should except Grizabella. A lot of the respect the tribe has for him probably comes from the fact that he doesn't just tell them what to do.

So, after intermission, all the cats come out of hiding and gather around Old Deuteronomy and he tries to explain the themes of Grizabella's role in the story. You experience moments of happiness throughout your life, but your memories of them are something else, and that something has value and...it actually doesn't really matter if the human audience gets it or not. The lecture isn't for us.

But, nobody's getting it. Well, it kind of depends on the production and interpretation here. In replica productions, the way the story usually goes, nobody's getting it. Old D knows that he needs to simplify the message somehow, but it's not really what he does. Honestly, he's just been thinking out loud this whole time and has no idea what he's doing. He basically simplifies the message by sending it through a simpler brain. Coricopat and Tantomile, the most telepathic of cats, help him out here. They sort of connect his mind to Jemima's mind. Jemima is the youngest cat in the tribe. Her mind is not complicated and very open, so it's easy to speak through her. She falls into a trance and delivers Old D's message in her own words, simple words that everyone can understand.

I'm writing this mainly to talk about a detail of the number that sort of allows the audience to feel what the tribe is feeling throughout this, though this isn't exactly universal.

Basically, though not all English language poetry rhymes, it usually does. This is especially true with songs lyrics. Songs in English that were originally written in English almost always rhyme. This is also the case for most European languages. I say that it's not universal because Cats is very popular in Japan and Japanese songs usually don't rhyme. It's just not a priority there. If you listen to Japanese dubs or translations of English songs, you'll notice that the rhyme scheme isn't followed. It's not something Japanese listeners would probably notice. Meanwhile, when Japanese songs are translated into English, you might actually notice that it doesn't rhyme. Listening to the song in Japanese, it sounds normal. But it sounds weird in English. The best English translations of Japanese songs tend to add a rhyme scheme into it to sound more natural in English.

Yeah, I'm getting a little side-tracked here but it's a cool thing I noticed.

So, in English, and a lot of other languages, songs usually rhyme. Why's that important? If you primarily listen to music in a language where songs rhyme, you begin to intuitively expect it. The lack of rhyming starts to mean something. It doesn't mean that the song is bad. There are situations where English song lyrics not rhyming works. The example I usually think of for this is Strawberry Fields Forever. Try to find Beatles songs when explaining music and lyrics. Everyone's listened to the Beatles. Anyway, though the chorus sort of rhymes (fields/real), the verses don't. If you look at the lyrics of the song, this actually makes sense. When you have lyrics like:

I think, I know, I mean...a yes, but it's all wrong

That isn't a coherent sentence. It sounds like someone's thoughts unfiltered. It works as an expression of emotion, but it's not carefully composed. It's raw. It's stream of consciousness. And you're thoughts, raw, unfiltered, don't rhyme. When you're writing rhyming lyrics, you have to think carefully about the words. A lack of rhyme conveys "I'm talking without really thinking through what I'm going to say. This is all off the top of my head."

Old Deuteronomy's part of The Moments of Happiness doesn't rhyme. Every other song in the show rhymes at least a little. Old Deuteronomy is just thinking out loud here. He's still figuring things out as he goes. That's why it's so hard to follow. It's harder to follow the lyrics, so the audience tends to get lost here, which is exactly what's happening to the characters listening.

Then you have Jemima's "Moonlight" bit. We go back to rhyming. There's clarity there that there isn't in the rest of the number. The words have been rephrased in a way that's easier to understand and follow. When you're used to songs rhyming, your brain sort of maps itself onto the rhyme scheme. You follow the lyrics by picking up on and anticipating the rhyme. So we go from something that's hard to follow to something that's easy to follow. Even if you don't get the actual message of what's being said here, the feeling of confusion and clarity is still there.

So, that's pretty cool, I guess.

#the moments of happiness #old deuteronomy #rhyming is cool #i learned about poetic meter from a video with beatles songs they are very good for teaching things

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Knowledge Revenge.

#dungeon meshi #chilchuk tims #senshi #Somewhat of an unofficial sequel to the Dragon Comic. I promise I have more versatility in my jokes. I just had to take this opportunity. #Senshi is pretty much a recluse. I think he would know a few of these 'gottems' but not all. #Chilchuck would know gottems that are nearly lost to time. The deep cuts. The ones that you fall for because they are that obscure. #I would also like to take a moment to confess that after the last comic in which I posed a gottem - #I fell victim to a Mind Goblin Attack. I was thoroughly got. I will be on higher alert this time. #So NOBODY be funny in the tags. I am gullible and I like to share things with my friends. Who are *ruthless*. #I have a mild resistance to Vicious Mockery at this point but I can only take so much. #Happy Thistle Thursday Everyone! See you next week!

[cyber-corp]

🥳🏠

#413 #happy birthday to this piece of shit webcomic that has changed my life from the moment i started reading #homestuck #john egbert #rose lalonde #(ascend descend rise up abscond) #dave strider #jade harley #gecko boy

[heph]

A Moment in Time - Dearly Missed

#love them so much #a moment in time is the title because seeing the sunlight once more is gonna only be for a short period of time... #because karlach [spoilers] non blue ended #and astarion spawn ending #the two people who havent seen the sun in decades #enjoying the sunshine that was robbed from them when they were forced into servitude #i only wish we could have extended this time for them... i wish nothing but happiness for them #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #astarion bg3 #karlach #karlach bg3 #bg3 karlach #astarion ancunin

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

getting older can be so amazing? you get more familiar with yourself. learn tips & tricks for troubleshooting your own brain. trial & error helps you build routines that minimize discomfort, maximize reward. your preferences/interests don't get set in stone, but you do find out which ones are going to stay with you in the long-term, and which ones are fun but transient joys to appreciate in the moment.

you learn that the world is so much more complex than you were taught, and that that's okay, and that there's an endless supply of things you can learn or watch or experience or think about if you want to. if you're lucky, you loosen up, stop putting so much pressure on yourself. if you're lucky, you learn to recognize that negative inner voice, and whack it with a baseball bat until it hushes up. if you're lucky, you learn to treat yourself gently, not because you are fragile but because you are worthy of gentleness. (i hope you are lucky.)

and some things will change. some things will get better. some things will get good. and maybe you start to recover from the dehumanizing stress of childhood/education. maybe you learn the power of your own autonomy. maybe you learn how to walk away from bad situations (which is a superpower even if you don't realize it yet). and you get to choose your own clothes. and your own food. and which relationships to pursue! and what you do with your free time. and with your life (but don't worry you get to choose that gradually). and that's crazy! and sometimes scary. and extraordinarily, indescribably precious.

#not a shitpost #and as long as you are alive there will be another good moment waiting for you in the future #the profound joy of your favorite foods #the incalculable luxury of waking up and lounging in bed and falling back asleep #a cold glass of water after a walk in the hot sun #petting an excited dog. a cat rubbing up against your ankle. the sight of a confused chicken #glorious these beads we string together to form our own existence #getting older means time is passing. and i hope you are passing that time in ways that make you happy #i hope you have so many moments of joy that they can be as easily counted as drops of water in the ocean

[ceeejus]

break in the case

#narumitsu #wrightworth #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #naruhodo ryuichi #mitsurugi reiji #bridge to the turnabout #happy new year! #have been wanting to draw something for this case for a while.. #tho realistically i do not think phoenix sat down from the moment he was released from the hospital until the final verdict was read #but what can ya do

[savagegood]

alex newell and j. harrison ghee make history as the first out nonbinary acting winners at the tony awards

#these were such great speeches #they are the moment…. #happy pride 🌈 #tony awards #j harrison ghee #alex newell #nonbinary #transgender #lgbt #shucked #some like it hot #broadway #broadwayedit

[bloodybellycomb]

POV for when you are going to learn about a recent massive historical and political event for the first time:

#supernatural #spn #nov 5th #destiel #happy anniversary to one of the best moments ever #birdy chirps

[gumdefense]

We have moved past Maya and Franziska wingmanning narumitsu as a society. They would not fucking do that. We need to realise the truth which is that Larry and Gumshoe would try to wingman them and only succeed through failure

#ace attorney #narumitsu #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #maya fey #franziska von karma #dick gumshoe #larry butz #general my post tag #i do think maya would endlessly tease poor phoenix about it based on how she acted in 3-5 about iris #but she didn’t do anything to set them up she just made fun of phoenix #franziska would sooner choose death and run to another country herself than get anywhere near whatever’s going on between the two #larry however. #larry would be way too invested #once he actually realises his best friends are into each other he would never drop it #gumshoe wants to make edgeworth happy any way possible #and based on the “wright wright wright” scene #and that one moment in the anime where he cries bc the two were working together even countries apart during the train bomb case #i think he’d be very invested too #also a Larry and Gumshoe wingman duo would be absolutely disastrous. and hilarious #do you see my vision

[blakbonnet]

#QUEER JOY

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd gifs #ofmd edit #ofmdedit #ofmdgifs #ofmdaily #ofmdsource #dailyflicks #televisiongifs #edward teach #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #save ofmd #lgbtqgifs #my gifs #dailypiratemedia #tvgifs #revenge crew #the biggest reason to gif this was because I wanted all the happy moments together #renew as a crew

[theoldkyokodied]

Aaaaand more very quick stream doodles. This one shot was so fun to watch, it’s so sad that it had to end already. But oh well, let’s not dwell on that and let’s enjoy the good time we had, like disguised tiefling gale being both Karlachs and astarions type, wyll and gale having a spa day, bing bong in general (rip king, you will be missed), and of course the 8 strength fight for magic items <3 thanks to the cast for the chaos, I enjoyed it thoroughly

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion ancunin #gale dekarios #shadowheart #wyll ravengard #karlach #lae'zel #bloodweave #bc I say so #>:3c #I also refuse to draw gale without the beard sorry #I’m so happy we got to see more Tim being chaotic. he’s like the eye of the storm. calm and unassuming while commanding the chaos #around him #the gale wine mom moment was literally so real I nearly cried from laughter when Tim mimed eating the cucumber slices from his face mask #god I wish they could do a whole campaign I would watch that back and fourth #everything I draw that includes them is bloodweave bc I love them dearly. same goes for shartzel (still love that ship name) #I just have not yet drawn actual ship art outside of this of them so I feel less comfortable tagging it as such 🥹

[lunarcrown]

💗GET HEART FOUNDATIONIFICATED💗

#secret life spoilers #secret life #rendog #tango tek #BUBBLEGUM ​BLONDE DOG MOMENT!!!! #my art #he was SO HAPPY TO PLAYYYYYY IM CRYYYYUY

[chaoparty]

i always had a huge crush on sophie the swamp witch from neopets...

#neopets #sophie the swamp witch #neotag #our art #ive ALWAYS wanted to draw her really really pretty so last night that's what i did! #and a very slight redesign #changed her top into more of a cape/shawl #changed her skirt a lil #gave her a pendant blah blah #i'm so happy 🥺 completely self indulgent art moment #plushpon #art

[tennant-davids]

SUCCESSION 2018 - 2023

Is that why you're paying a billion dollars for a gay little website?

#succession #successionedit #successiondaily #kendall roy #kenstewy #kennate #uservici #usereena #userairam #user-clara #arthurpendragonns #*laurengifs #kendallroyedit #userbbelcher #chewieblog #cinematv #5k #happy pride month <3 #and happy pride month to kendall roy: bi disaster <3 #are some of these a reach? YES. have i missed other moments? YES. do i care? NO. BECAUSE THIS TOOK TOO LONG TO MAKE. BUT MAYBE.

[frodolives]

It's so funny how some people are getting upset about Now and Then being promoted as a "Beatles song" when George didn't want to do it and is no longer here to have a say in it... if anything George not wanting to do it but not getting a say is exactly what makes it a fully authentic Beatles song

#what are the beatles if not mclennon having a moment + ringo just happy to be involved + george betrayed and powerless #paul rerecording george's parts especially. that's the beatles baby #the beatles #now and then #george harrison

[nezhanetwork]

#life series #secret life #secret life spoilers #pearlescentmoon #bdoubleo100 #bdubs #the mounders #my art #this moment made me sooo happy i LOVE friendship