#(also when i say ''use the original song'' i mean Any Cover That Uses Real Instruments okay gotta be ringtone style beeps and boops lol)

[show-us-kaidenshenandoah]

sometimes, the impulsive thoughts win. and it is wild as hell that you can really get just about anything commissioned if you can find someone with the skillset and willingness to make it.. 👀

[sevenpoyo]

some brooklyn slang ik for all the ppl who wanna write for miles and kilometers‼️

feel free to add more idk everything but i i am originally from there and visit a lot this stuff i hear a lot and if you wanna add slang to ur writing this is a good place to start, not all of these brooklyn or ny exclusive but that’s where a lot of american slang starts and u prolly heard some of it b4. imma list it ne ways

don’t use like 8 of these in one sentence bc it will sound weird and i can’t really cover ny puerto rican slang or any puerto rican slang really bc my grandad is a bum so if you know some add it

the city is manhattan, not the other 4 burroughs, just manhattan, cus that’s where everything’s at

to cut ass is to roast tf out of someone , to get your ass cut is get tf roasted out of you

wyling/wilding is being outta pocket, something being absurd or crazy

yeah nah means no and nah yeah means yeah idk why they gotta make it complicated just look at the second word

good looks is like good looking out

it’s bout to be winter and i’m bout to see mad christmas fics and shit but do y’all know the proper way to describe cold ny winters?

if it’s cold as hell, it’s brick outside, not regular cold, ny winter is like nipples so hard i see em thru the bra cold

ex; “how it’s so brick outside i walk to the store wit my hair wet and it deadass got icicles in it” “yeah it’s fr brick outside today” “i’m not walkin wit u in this brick ass weather for a bacon egg and cheese?” (actual convo between my sister and me last winter break)

fronting seem kinda easy to me but is like acting or pretending i can’t explain it with out an example

“why you fronting like you wouldn’t die if they text you asking u to go out with them” “you can stop fronting like you like cars it cool if you don’t” “don’t sit there fronting like u don’t wanna dance wit me”

being tight over something is just being upset or annoyed

rj is so smart they said “We say tight bc you kinda huddle close to yourself when you tense/stressed or angry” i had no idea i just be saying it i aint know it had a reason💀 it make sm sense now.

“who got you tight like that this early in the morning?” “my momma came home tight yesterday for no reason, she threw a boot at me!” “i’m so tight this damn shift change has me working all closers this week”

jack is like claiming someone or something

i talk old as hell idk what the youths be jacking nowadays

cop is basically to get, used to be mostly 4 drugs back in the day my dad said (he don’t know why im asking him this)

“just copped me some retro 3’s” “bout to cop me a few percs in a minute”

speaking of a minute, mostly for my non americans bc that’s who get confused the most when i say this one. depending on the context this can mean a actual minute, a short time or a real long

“i’ll be back in a minute” is short “i ain’t seen y’all in a minute” is long. idk how to explain the difference besides context

bop is a good song, pretty easy but i see ppl on tiktok use it wrong

bangs/banger goes hard is kinda like bob for music but i be using it for anything fr

“this push pop is banging yo”

mad can be used normal like angry but it also means a lot or really kinda like hella ig? i usually uses hella when i would say mad so ppl can understand me easier up here

dumb also mean very in the same way

ex; “my english teacher give out mad homework for no reason.” “she be giving me mad shit over the smallest stuff” “i just had some mad good wings so i’m cooling rn” “this shit is mad spicy u sure you want some?” ''This shit got me dumb tight'' “you don’t need no jacket it’s dumb hot out here”

smacked is like high as fuck idk how to elaborate ur just high

lit is drunk

“Yuuuur!'' A signal, a greeting usually used to catch the attention of someone or something very fun greeting and very hated by schools, it’s weird anywhere outside of ny kinda at least to me.

being hollywood means u get a little fame and think ur all that or just that u got a little fame and they’re jokingly hating

ex; “i saw u on the news the other day, “the prowlers return” u must be real proud of yourself huh hollywood?” “and here comes hollywood wit his trending tiktoks”

real talk is when ur about confess something or say something serious in a not real serious setting or convo

“real talk we play a lot but i love you, my life would be boring with out you around” “real talk i’d never do that to you foreal”

go together is like go out kinda, y’all kinda match behavior cus y’all a couple, this one need a sentence 2 i think. (THIS ONE IS OLD AS HELL ONLY USE IT IF UR TRYING TO RIZZ MOMMA RIO)

“he want ur number? he don’t know we we go together or sum?” “why she wanna act like we go together, ion even know her?” “don’t we go together?”

i can’t even explain it with a sentence y’all just gotta figure this one out 💀

A bodega/deli is a convenience store ik most know this from the movie but some ppl think it’s all stores or all spanish stores when it’s just a corner store

the owners of the deli closest to my granddad house is muslim. and so we keep track of all muslim holidays when he’s closed

an ock is the bodega man, miles knows the man’s name at the deli we see him visit, but at any other store he’d call the guy ock

dipping on someone is changing ur mind last minute, usually canceling plans

ex “we was supposed to go get outfits together but they dipped on me last minute”

staticky is like wanting to fight or still being pissed after a fight

static is beef or on sight energy

you good can really be anything but imma list ones i can think of

it can mean like are you ok? or don’t worry about it, or how are you, or stop, or do you got a issue? or do you want an issue? it’s all in the tone of how it’s said fr

'Word of my moms/dads I saw/ did/did not *insert topic*'' Honest term, no lying present in statement i feel like (my cousins be putting anything on they momma fr risking shit on her for no reason)

'hold it down'' handle buisness / take care of someone or something. can also be in refrence to criminal who handles ''buisness''

NOW EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU TO @rashadisback BC HE CARRIED ME ON THIS‼️

i hope this helps any writers that don’t live here!

[shadamyheadcanons]

What songs do you think that fits Amy and Shadow?

My knowledge about Shadow is only a few so I'm not sure about him

For Amy, it will be Happy Synthesizer and Ikanaide/Don't Go and various bubbly and lively songs

Combining these two for convenience.

First one - I’m glad you asked!

Love your ideas, especially Ikanaide. It sounds pretty upbeat at first, but then you pay attention to the lyrics, and...ouch. Feeling left behind and trying to pretend she’s okay with it? Yeah. That’s Amy. Here’s a link I found for an English version.

And here’s one for Happy Synthesizer.

As for which songs I associate with them, my Song & Dance tag covers the topic pretty well, especially this post.

Given how often I think about these two, though, I’m always finding more examples. There’s one song that I feel fits Amy better than any other. I wrote a headcanon about it on January 7th, 2022. I correctly predicted in that headcanon that a bunch of Amy-related stuff would happen that year--right down to her getting a new theme song, even!

I still think my song idea works better than the one in the Frontiers DLC, though. That one feels kind of bland to me. Yeah, she trusts her cards, but she’s supposed to be a go-getter! She reads the cards and then blazes her own destiny using them as a guide. Her mild Frontiers theme gives off the vibe of someone who’s letting fate happen to them, not the other way around. Amy is kind, but she’s not passive.

Laineybug04 correctly pointed out in this post that “House of Gold” by Atreyu fits Shadamy quite well, and I included “Wait for You” in In a Pinch, but it doesn’t stop there. The more I listen to Atreyu, the more I hear Shadamy, and I’m glad you gave me an excuse to point it out! “House of Gold,” “Wait for You,” “Terrified,” “Super Hero”...and “I Would Kill/Lie/Die for You” is pretty much spot-on for Shadow’s brand of dedication. It’s more romantic than the title makes it sound, haha.

They’re not all necessarily romantic in nature, but it’s very easy to imagine Shadow singing them about Amy.

I want to call special attention to “Stronger Than Me,” though.

The speaker starts by showing insecurity.

Yup.

He fears opening up and showing his entire self because he thinks others will be scared by what they see.

Yup.

He admits connecting with him might be complicated sometimes, but he remains steadfast because the relationship is important to him.

And, uh...this is from the chorus:

“When I was lost, You were always there, my guiding light, You are my ward, my compass ROSE, my lighthouse in the night”

Do I even need to explain? She’s one comma away from being name-dropped. The song’s title fits perfectly, too. It takes a lot of strength to always look for the best in people and put your faith in the goodness of others. It’s so easy to give up. Shadow would legitimately admire her for it. She deserves to know how special she is for that, and who better to tell her than someone whose entire life was changed by that strength and kindness?

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the song and lyrics. Trust me, you’ll need the lyrics sheet.

Second ask:

Yes, absolutely! I think of him as liking modern rock and metal, and also jazz because it would’ve been all the rage when he was made. I’ve mentioned this before, but if I had to pick one band to be his favorite, I’d say Nine Inch Nails. It’s heavy, intense, angsty, and complex, and it has some of the same electronic, bass-centered vibes as Shadow’s earlier themes. Compare NIN songs like Discipline and The Perfect Drug with Rhythm and Balance (White Jungle’s theme) and Shadow’s original character theme, Throw it all Away, both by Everett Bradley. Trent Reznor also has a deep voice like Shadow and Bradley do. NIN could do a mean cover of Throw it all Away, now that I think about it...

I don’t think it’s the best idea for canon, even the questionably-canon Twitter Takeover, to cite real people/artists. It’s fine for fans like us to do it, but the official franchise is different. Humans are flawed and complicated. When you start including real people, you could potentially do something awkward like, say...connect your series built on environmentalism with someone who uses a private jet.

Y’know. Hypothetically.

That’s why I love what the social media team did with Hot Honey in The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. A fictional band doesn’t carry that risk, and they’re seamless within the Sonic universe. Fans like us can’t get caught on whether or not Shadow would enjoy their music because none of us can actually hear them.

Funnily enough, your ask aligns perfectly with what makes Hot Honey so cute for these two. Shadow canonically doesn’t like Hot Honey at all:

No questions asked, no headcanons needed.

The reason he agreed to go was entirely, 100% because Amy asked him to. I think that’s far sweeter than the Taylor Swift thing. And I’ll be able to prove that when I finish writing Sweeter Than Honey. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about it!

No offense to anyone who does enjoy Taylor Swift’s music, of course. Different strokes for different folks. :)

[plazmafields]

Some thoughts about Kerry:

Spoilers ahead, needless to say.

1)

I saw a video comparing the two versions if Chippin' In (Kerry's vs. Johnny's) where someone in the comments suggested the reason Kerry leaned more mainstream rock is because he only wanted to make music for money. I completely disagree with this and here's why:

User Friendly was the last song Kerry put out before deciding he wasn't going to perform live/tour anymore and went into a deep depression. Looking up the lyrics, you can see he was becoming very distressed with the lack of control he had over his career, and the things he says in the song sound like a cry for help that wasn't received by listeners the way he had hoped. We never hear his version of the song, and I believe that is intentional. Vapid, loud, chaotic, almost over-stimulating laser-pop is such a huge juxtaposition to the lyrics, and yet it's the only version we get to hear. Clearly User Friendly meant a lot to him or I don't think he would have reacted the way he did; combined with the cover being done by a pop group groomed by the music industry to sell as many albums as possible, it all went against Kerry's original intent with the song. Then there's the story of how he wrote Bleed the Beat: he was working his ass off for people he couldn't stand and that song was his outlet during that time. He'd play until his fingers bled just to get his frustrations out. Music is his medium for release, just like it was for Johnny.

In Johnny's version of Chippin' In, the phrase "chipping in" has two meanings: getting your first implants, and, the same as our universe, helping out. Johnny's song uses both meanings interchangeably during the choruses, the verse before it dictating which definition is being used. Johnny's arm is (from what I can tell looking at the design) military issue. The song is both about the corpo military forcing him to get an implant, and also about believing he was doing the right thing when he joined by "helping out" the armed forces. Since, in this universe, militaries are owned and/or sponsored by corporations, Johnny views corporate jobs and military service to be the same level of morally wrong (The Ballad of Buck Ravers attests to this).

In terms of how the two songs compare, obviously Kerry's version of Chippin' In is meant to have more wide appeal. Not only are the lyrics more tame, mostly just talking about the implants themselves and only having one verse that even mentions anything "political", but I believe Kerry understood that the best way to get his music to the most listeners was to go for a more mainstream sound and universally relatable lyrics, so he toned it down. Everyone hates corpos, sure, but not everyone wants to bomb Araska HQ. This is probably a stretch, but we can see from the flashbacks that Kerry didn't have any implants during his time in Samurai, so maybe Johnny was like super opposed to implants after having one forced upon him, and Kerry's version of the song is kind of saying "hey if you want implants get implants, they make you look cool don't feel bad about it."

2)

I do support the idea that Kerry should have been bisexual like in the source material. I absolutely get that bi erasure is a big problem, ESPECIALLY with male characters. However, I respect that in the game you can only romance him with a masc V; I'm not going to mod him to he bi, I'm not gonna ship him with women. I see it the same way I see Cullen from DAI: he is canonically bisexual, just not attracted to my male Inquisitor (in Kerry's case, fem V). Maybe Kerry had such a traumatic divorce from his ex-wife that women just kinda scare him right now. We can see high heels and bras and blush littering his house, so we can assume that at the very least women are still getting naked for some reason or another at his parties. Maybe he prefers men romantically, or maybe he's just not ready to date women again, and we as players should respect that just like we would a real person.

3)

Kerry was 100% going to kill himself when you show up to his house. There are shards advertising robotic security systems in numerous places around his house (meaning he fired his human body guards), shards with negative reviews of his last album, there is only one camera and it is by the front gate (none inside the house), he gave his cleaner and cook "the day off" that very day, you see in emails that his ex-wife is giving him the option of all or nothing with custody (you take the kids or you don't get to see them), and he isn't enjoying making music anymore, his one passion in life. He had a gun with him in the bathroom, and I believe by the way his speech slurs and he makes the impulsive decision to get Samurai back together, that he is drunk for that entire scene and has a drinking problem. It is my opinion that the reason he doesn't reveal any of that to V is because he knows Johnny will hear it and judge him, call him weak, or make insensitive jokes like he does to V when he gives you the quest. The only time we see Kerry be somewhat vulnerable is 1. Over text when talking about the crazed fan, since he probably thinks Johnny can't see those (I believe he can) and 2. In the epilogue when Johnny has been removed from V's head (Kerry says he doesn't want to lose V, and during the credits he tells V he just wants their lives to be less hectic so they can spend more time together).

4)

It took me a couple playthroughs to warm up to Kerry, Panam is probably still my favorite romance, but I think Kerry might be the best romance option for a Skreetkid V. He perfectly embodies the plights of Night City at every income bracket: no matter where you are on the food chain, if you're not at the top, you're getting fucked over. He clearly likes living in comfort while still embracing his rebellious side from his youth. But now, he has the cushion of money and status to save him if things go tits up (when you get a wanted level in Westbrook district, close to North Oak, the officer on the police scanner says "I swear, if its Eurodyne again" suggesting that he is very reckless but hardly ever faces real consequences). Maybe he stays in his gilded cage because he fears facing real hardship on his own, without friends, without a support group, without Johnny. He has a strong sense of pride, though, and would never admit to needing Johnny, even if they were best friends. The way Kerry wants to show Johnny a riff he's been working on after the concert, only to be disappointed when V takes over again, I think it really shows that as much as they disagreed, their friendship held the band together.

5)

I don't remember if Johnny hints at it or I saw someone suggest this on here, but the idea that Kerry only "dates" V because Johnny is in his head is ridiculous to me. The first time he called you to deal with the Us Cracks tour gear, he wanted Johnny. Every time after that, he wanted V. He definitely realizes which of the two is helping him; he can tell them apart. The Johnny that Kerry remembers wouldn't have done a selfless thing in his life, lest risking his pride and reputation as Night City's biggest fuckboy. Whether you really schmooze him up or tell him he's going overboard, Kerry appreciates that you helped him. And I think after the concert, when he hands V his gun, Kerry's body language suggests that he wasn't planning to give the gun to Johnny, he thought about it because V was back in control. V helped get the band back together, V helped decide if Denny or Henry should play the gig, V was the one who brought Johnny to Kerry's house. Johnny won't take over to do it himself despite probably being able to. I only wish you didn't meet him so late in the main story, so that his story could have more time and space to breathe.

[kingdomkeykitsune]

KHOC WEEK DAY 3: CONNECTION

Okay, so, I only had time to fully finish one of today's art pieces for @khoc-week (and of course I chose the moody one) I might update later with the finished version of the other one, we'll have to see lol. Anyway! While she's friendly with most people there are a few connections C.E. has that really stand out, but I'm putting it all under a cut because this one's a bit long.

Luka (left) and Nao (right).

Relationship Theme: Here's to Never Growing Up by Avril Lavigne

Having known each other most of their lives these three are practically inseparable. Together they make up a group called the Twilight Guardians. Most people thing it's just the name of their skate group (Luka and C.E. skateboard, Nao rollerskates) and/or their garage band (C.E. plays bass, Luka plays guitar/keyboard, Nao drums, and Luka and C.E. both do vocals) but in actuality they call themselves that because they make up the newest incarnation of the Twilight Town protectors. Each unknowingly descended from the original protectors and their families, they unlocked their abilities to fight Creatures of Darkness when they were attacked by Heartless while exploring the Mansion in the Woods sometime prior to DiZ setting up camp there. Because this was such a formative experience for them all they decided to make the winged unicorns that show up all around the mansion their group symbol.

A little info on their abilities:

Luka is a magic user and healer, he can summon a staff weapon that doubles as a melee weapon in a tight spot and can use a few types of elemental magic, namely air and fire, in addition to having strong healing magic.

Nao is a little gremlin of a tank who can summon a giant hammer weapon. She can also technically use earth/stone magic, but she often forgoes it in favor of a brute force approach.

C.E. covers ranged combat, she can summon a revolver that fires magic projectiles. These projectiles are basically concentrated light magic, the upside to this is that she doesn't need to take time to physically reload, the downside is that how many rounds she can fire is linked directly to her MP, meaning if she doesn't take care it's easy for her to drain her reserves and end up in a bad spot.

Like I said, these three are thick as thieves and the very best of friends. Of course, not every relationship is so smooth.

Seifer

Relationship Theme: Not Another Song About Love by Hollywood Ending

It's been said that no one knows how to drive you crazy quite like the ones who know you best, and these two are a perfect example of that. Having grown up as next door neighbors in the same apartment block they've known each other since they were in diapers, and generally tend to get along about as well as the proverbial cats and dogs. They bicker about anything and everything, often to the point their respective friends will wander off together to hang out until they burn themselves out.

And yet... They find themselves drawn back together again and again. No one knows them the way they know each other, Seifer knows about the shelves full of photo albums and scrapbooks C.E. keeps in her room, C.E. knows about the movie that Seifer watches over and over even though he knows the script by heart. They know just what to say to set the other off like a fireworks show, and where they hide when they get lost in their head. If one is in real trouble the other is the first one to come running and when everything is just too much they know they can count on each other for a shoulder to lean on, no words needed. And somewhere along the way childish rivalry began to grow into something more, something deeper.

Not that either one is quite ready to admit it.

Bonus points if anyone can figure out what any of the blurred posters in the background are. Hint: They're all Covers/Official Art for Square games (They're also all things that have influenced the developement of C.E.'s character, but I doubt anyone but me can draw those connections lol)

[project-sekai-facts]

Do you happen to know if there is any standard set by the game for which songs are “canon” written by the units and which are genuinely covers? Are the commissioned songs meant to be written by the groups in game? Because I know during the lives sometimes leo/need will say something along the lines of “this is YOUR song miku” admitting they are covering a vocaloid song. But then which songs do the sekai give birth to? And which original songs are the units allegedly performing when they go on stage/online? I get confused…..

Alright so anything performed in a Virtual Live is canon, which means all comms with a 3DMV actually exist in-universe, and were presumably created by the Sekai. RAD DOGS might also be canon despite being a 2DMV because it’s used as bgm sometimes when VBS perform (however it may just be placeholder music, hard to tell since they never name the songs they perform in the story). Aside from a few instances (mainly in the VBS story), these are only performed in the Sekai and almost exclusively in virtual lives. I don’t know if connect lives are canon, mainly due to the whole thing of breaking the 4th wall to interact with the audience (also the wxs one broke the 4th wall outside of that and the seiyuu broke character), so I can’t confirm if any of the originally-2DMV comms performed in those actually exist in-universe.

There’s also multiple instances of characters writing their own songs. Mainly Leo/need and N25, but Toya and a few side characters have written origjnal songs. Most of these songs are included on the OST, but there are some missing for whatever reason. These are the songs that are usually performed whenever the units are in the real world, with the music notes or exclamation marks in textboxes. The only original songs with actual lyrics are Kohane’s solo song from Kick it up a notch, and RADder’s song that Taiga performs in Light Up the Fire (this is the one the fandom dubbed Caucasian Destination).

There’s a few bgm tracks that are referred to as Miku songs, but most of these are actually just original instrumental songs for the game and not actual vocaloid songs. The only existing vocaloid songs performed in the story (not counting vlives) are Rettou Joutou and Happy Synthesiser.

[catcatb0y]

Honestly though saying (or implying) that vocaloid or vocal synths in general "devalues the human voice" is SUCH an incredibly shit take for SO many reasons.

Like yeah Saki Fujita getting so many other roles in voice acting because of her contribution to Hatsune Miku (the anime cameos and stuff are usually done with her original voice, them modified to be robotic) is a bit of an outlier when most other vocaloid and sythns don't have that influence.

You can even sort of wave off the dozens upon dozens of people who go for realistic tuning- like whenever a synth has any sort of clarity, there are like five people commenting about how real they sound. Clearly people do still care about human sounding vocals, because they go nuts over realistic vtuning.

There are many different aspects of vocaloid that use human voices, too- from Set It Off's duet "Why Do I?", human rap artists using Miku's vocals as background, and the entire CONCEPT of Project Sekai which releases AND COMMISSIONS songs for vocal synths and real people.

But the sheer number of vocaloid producers who use their own vocals as back up (MikitoP, PinoochioP, and I believe Kira off the top of my head), the number of producers who can sing and/or do self covers (again Kira, GIGA, Ayase, Teniwoha, syudou and so many more), and the amount of vocal producers who have gone forward with legit musical careers after working with vocaloid (Kenshi Yonezu, most notably, who did work for years under the alias Hachi)

I mean, hell. There are vocaloid producers who go on to become vocaloid vocals themselves- like nostraightanswer, the vocal provider for DEX, who has made both vocaloid and original songs. Some even duets.

That's not even including creators like JubyPhonic, Rachie, Will Stenson, Lollia, Octavia, Razzy and Co., and SO many other HUMAN cover artists who gained following or honed their skills on none other than vocaloid covers. (And that's just a handful of English Cover artists, not like Sati Akura a Russian cover artist or Ado who has commissioned songs from vocaloid artists)

It's also not including UTAUites who input their own voices to use for covers.

"Devalues the human voice" is such blatant bs. They ARE human voices. They are OUR voices. "You'd think by now that we would have learned, behind every piece if art is a human to be heard." (- CircusP, 'Better Off Worse')

[qllie]

wtf is wrong with this guy he groomed a minor and in his apology he's like "even Kasane Teto won't forgive me for my actions" DUDE YOU COMMITTED & ADMITTED TO A CRIME BE SERIOUS!!!!

Like it's just disrespectful to put a ridiculous reference into your apology for a crime. These are extremely serious allegations and making such absurdly self-pitying remarks is just awful it's sickening. I mean obviously there was absolutely nothing he could say in his "apology" that could make his actions okay, but this is sickening it's just awful.

The Teto thing is just so tasteless. This isn't about Kasane Teto at all, this is about you GROOMING A CHILD. Like saying "Oh no the fictional singing robot will be disappointed in me" like you should be worried about THE REAL ACTUAL PERSON WHO YOU HURT NOT ABOUT A FICTIONAL CHARACTER'S OPINION OF YOU.

His apology also completely minimizes what happened. He says that "it's all because of my selfish strong desires that I just went too far..." like no you told someone you knew to be a minor to send you explicit pictures of themself and sent them explicit pictures of yourself as well. That's not simply just "reacting to strong desire" that's GROOMING A CHILD. Like just say that's what you did don't dance around the issue with such vague terms.

Also this section is just disgusting. It essentially blames all his negative actions with the excuse of "mental illness." Like it's not simply just "mental illness." Like even if he did have some mental illness, you still have control over your actions. He could have deleted his discord server if he really couldn't resist his "strong desire," he could have seeked help, etc etc. He still hurt an EXTREMELY VULNERABLE CHILD no matter what the reason is. No one is feeling any pity for him over this. This just seems like an attempt to deflect blame while including self-indulgent "Oh I'm sooooo terrible I'm soooo bad woe is me." Like just say that YOU did it don't blame "mental illness"!

Honestly it's good that he demonetized his videos and deleted his patron at least. Because yeah he should not be making money off this... Like at least he's gone (hopefully permanently) because so many people who do this type of stuff just deny it and come back....

And the people saying "IDC about the grooming please keep making covers and put your videos back up" are so irritating. Like

The grooming and the covers are actually related? Like he groomed this person using his influence from being a relatively popular UTAU cover artist and having his own discord server. So these things are directly related, so it's necessary that he stops having an online presence so that he stops being able to use his power to groom people.

There are a million other Teto covers, song USTs, etc. Yes obviously every single person has unique covers/tuning/etc, but it's not as if this persons work is completely irreplaceable? Like people saying "I need Kasane Teto" when she's literally the most popular UTAU character (and her SV is one of the most popular voicebanks rn). There's no shortage of Kasane Teto, literally just look up 重音テト on youtube and you'll find a million covers and original songs. There is absolutely no reason you specifically need to listen to a child groomers covers. (Additionally, IIRC he usually covered songs that were pretty popular? So you can probably easily find several Teto covers of those exact songs).

Grooming is actually really serious? This guy took advantage of a minor??? I don't care how good someone's tuning/covers/music are it's not worth supporting them grooming a child!

That kind of attitude bothers me so bad because it's just showing callous disregard to someone who was hurt just for the sake of what??? "TETO'S GROWL GHOST RULE"????

[findpenpalsover20]

I'm ancient, 37 at least! but somehow, still not dead. Married, works in retail, I own a cat, I'll sleep 16 hours a day when I can. I read a lot, usually books about nuclear accidents, miserable graphic novels or weird stuff featuring mushrooms. (Jeff Vandermeer and China Mieville are favourites) I watch pre-code films mainly, or old talkies where the dialogue is slightly echoey and stilted. I like any old films though, and I'm a real lover of Star Trek. I think I know someone who may actually be Gul Dukat.

 I take Instax photos because they look exactly how memories do in the confines of my own head. Blurry, soft focus, more the idea of something than how it really looks. Or maybe that's because I'm terrible at taking photos, and I have a really bad memory. Anyway, I can send some to you, maybe?

 I like to knit and crochet, but it takes me years to finish anything. Also, I've long held the suspicion that purling is a hoax and Not Real.

 I have a very scruffy garden in which I pretend to grow food. This charade takes up entirely too much of my time. I basically use it as a cover - when my astroturf-gravel-and-decking neighbours look over snootily, I say, "well my garden is messy because I grow food in it, you know. It's functional, not aesthetic, darling."

 I geocache, with very limited success. The main goal of geocaching, I find, is to try and look as suspicious as you can in front of passers-by. I look a bit foreign, too, so that helps.

I play video games, especially if they're filled with moments of calm tragedy. You know: Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shadow Of The Colossus/Ico, Sable, Kentucky Route Zero, Hyper Light Drifter, the original Link's Awakening...Elden Ring, even. I like a meditative, solitary experience from my games. I rarely finish them, though. If I finish a game that means I have to say goodbye and I don't like that.

 I'm really into the idea of outsider artists at the moment. I've never created a thing in my life and have no intention of ever doing so; ADHD makes sure I have absolutely no drive. But I'm fascinated with the idea of people who decide to make a holy shrine out of tinfoil, or wear a papermache head, create an alter-ego and then get booed off at Wembley for asking who's got Betamax, or write songs about how Spiderman tried to cut them out of 70 dollars and so they felt compelled to beat him with a rubber hose. You know what I mean? These people are all around us and we don't always know they're there. (There's a man who lives near me, in my dull New Town who's covered his house, the outside that is, in his own paintings. I have a terrible urge to knock on his door and ask him what's up, but my husband has implored me not to in case he murders me and uses my skull as an ashtray.)

 I'm quite flippant and usually never serious. If you don't find me funny - which most people don't - then maybe I'm not for you. A lot of people on the internet are so normal, and my penpal attempts have usually fizzled out because these people want to talk about... Grad school, or buying a house, or working in an office... and I want to talk about the sad melancholy feeling when BBC1 used to close down at midnight in the 1990s... Your typical university educated office worker I ain't. I'm not exactly shoplifting from Londis though, either, don't worry.

contact: @rainy-walk

[an-aura-about-you]

starting in on Handbook for Mortals and I'm just going to cover all the miscellaneous beginning crap that this thing is wrapped in before actually starting on the story.

first thing I'm going to talk about is what's on the back of the book because not a lot of people talk about what was chosen for that. usually there's a brief blurb with the premise of the book or maybe some reviews, sometimes even a little paragraph directly from it to entice the reader. that last one is my standby when I need to put a summary for a fic.

Handbook for Mortals went the route of paragraph from the book as well as three quotes from romance author Skye Turner, who also wrote the foreword for the book, and the promise that this book will soon be turned into a movie. which was due to come out *checks my wrist* six years ago. this has not yet happened, but the author is still insisting it will.

anyway, the bit chosen from the book to highlight what we're getting into is a conversation between our main character and her love interest, which is meant to be some enemies to lovers stuff. but honestly I'm a bit uncomfortable at the, "looked like he might hit me, but I knew that wasn't really an option for him," in there. so, we are already setting up our love interest as a person who needs some kind of mental restraining bolt to refrain from violence instead of just, y'know, not being violent. really speaks to his morals right there. absolutely trustworthy, surely his resolve is ironclad.

this also speaks to the genre of the book because there's a lot of talk about this book having magic and being magical but it's the romance we're choosing to set up here. I think it's safe to say magic is going to be present in this book the way coffee is in a coffee shop au fanfic: it's technically true but it's not why we're reading the story and ultimately not important to it.

I'm not even gonna bother with the blurb on the inside of the dust jacket because it's literally just a synopsis of the entire book. even the ending. I'm not even kidding.

now I wanna talk about the autographs my copy came with. the book I bought for $2 off of Amazon was signed by both the author Lani Sarem and actor-potential producer of the movie Thomas Ian Nicholas, and both of them write some pretty weird things to the people they gave this book to. (there were two names in the personalizations as well as a post-it note with those same names. my best guess is one person in the couple preordered the book with Sarem, requested that it be signed, and then never picked it up. hilarious if true.)

I'll start with American Pie guy's dedication first:

"Be the magician who fools magicians."

like. what? what does that even mean?

Sarem's is both worse and funnier:

"Never forget those who do not believe in magick will never find it! Thanks for believing!"

well I guess they didn't believe too much if they never picked up their book. also that just feels so mean-spirited to me. had I written a similar dedication, I would phrase it as, "Never forget those who believe in magic will always find it!" then it's still exclusive without needlessly dragging others down for ~not being able to find the magic in their lives~. not to mention my own personal pet peeve with the whole magick thing, but that is a rant for considerably later.

there is a typo in the book's disclaimer:

"Any similarity to real persons, living or deal,"

but also that doesn't make sense because I know this book has the real life Plain White T's with their real names as well as Carrot Top and Wayne Newton.

there's also proof that Sarem had permission to use all the song lyrics she uses in the story, which are so copious that without thinking I originally wrote the word, "fic," in this sentence. because yeah, this reeks of songfic, the rare example of one where the person writing has permission to actually use the song. look, I've only seen song lyrics work in a book exactly once, and that was Good Omens. and Lani Sarem is not Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman.

(I should know, I just listened to the audiobook for Stardust as a sort of cleanser to remind me what a good book sounds like. it's shockingly refreshing listening to the work of an author who is actually good at their job.)

the dedication is also just. ugh:

"This is dedicated to: The granddaughters of the witches you could not burn and for all those who believe in Magic."

that exists in print in this book. I'm assuming seriously.

I took a peek at how long the foreword is but don't have time to get in on it before I start work today, so this is where I leave things for now.

[thenightling]

The clues about Abigail's father (Abigail movie)

I watched Abigail for a second time. Originally I thought there were only twp hints that she's Dracula's daughter. Now I realize there were more. The Invitation (2022) was much more obvious with its many blatant clues that DeVille was Dracula. (Note: Deville happens to be an alias Dracula used in the original Dracula novel.) Here are the Abigail clues that her father is not merely a vampire but Count Dracula himself. 1. Abigail's father is a crime lord. If you read the novel Dracula you will notice that Dracula speaks a LOT like the leader of an organized crime syndicate with careful wording and phrases. 2. It's implied (you don't see it happen but it's heavily suggested) that Abigail is the rat running around the house fairly early on in the movie. Dracula is probably the most famous vampire with animal shape-shifting powers. 3. Though Abigail does burn in the sun (in the novel Dracula was able to walk around by day, he was just weaker by day) she regenerates lost limbs like a fast version of Deadpool. This is a pretty advanced power and suggests she is of some high status in most vampire lore.

4. Abigail is far stronger than most fictional vampires. Also suggesting at some high status in the vampire world. 5. The mural in the house resembles Poenari castle, AKA The real Castle Dracula. Bran Castle is used for tourism since it's pretty and easy to access but Poenari Castle is the actual castle that Vlad the Impaler is supposed to have resided in. 6. The mural of what looks like Poenari castle has bat winged creatures flying around it. 7. Abigail implies that her mind control / ghoul creating powers (Sammy) come from years of practice and obviously a newbie vampire can't do that.

8. Early on in the film before the kidnapping, Abigail's bedroom mirror is covered. This suggests that like the traditional depiction of Dracula she does NOT cast a reflection. In The Invitation the bedroom mirror is completely missing and "out for repairs." The Invitation goes more out of its way to point out the missing mirror while the covered mirror in Abigail is more subtle. 9. The gate in the foyer has a family crest that resembles the sigil of The Order of the Dragon. It depictions a dragon. The family of the dragon = Dracul. 10. When Abigail's father shows up at the end he says he has had many names over the centuries. A similar line is said by DeVille in The Invitation but he's more blunt about it in saying that his favorite alias was one that means "Son of the Dragon." (Dracula). 11. Abigail's father looks and dresses like a classic depiction of Count Dracula. 12. The opening song (and apparently Abigail's favorite song) is Swan Lake. On the Phillip Glass soundtrack inserted version of the 1931 Dracula movie, the opening song is also Swan Lake. 13. All of Abigail's father's teeth are pointed, much like Nicolas Cage's depiction of Dracula for the movie Renfield that came out just last year. 14. Abigail can fly, another power Dracula usually has, along with the agility she needs for her ballerina moves. 15. Much like with the novel Dracula, to become a full vampire, you have to be drained, and then fed a vampire's blood. 16. Abigail's father kisses the back of Joey's hand, much like cliche depictions of Count Dracula, and is imitated by Jerry Dandridge in the original 1985 Fright Night. 17. Abigail's father is referred to as the anti-Christ. Dracula translates to Son of the Dragon in the original fifteenth century language but in modern Romanian it has a secondary translation. "Son of The Devil." (Note: Dracula is not literally the son of any devil. His surname come from his father's membership to The Order of The Dragon.) Bonus: Abby / Abigail is the name of the child vampire in the Hammer film "Let me In" which is a very loose (and kind of dumbed down) remake of the Swiss vampire film, Let the Right One In where the child vampire (actually a eunuch boy passing as a girl) is named Eli.

[corvus-rose]

incredibly silly question about aki.

please describe to me how you think aki as a twitch streamer would go

it's unethical to put Aki on twitch, for the same reason it's unethical to put a fox on the same boat as a bunch of chickens, or unethical to let mr abel theweek.nd make a show about women in the entertainment industry. but allow me to go into excruciating detail.

twitch has a lot of categories nowadays, including music streaming, which is probably the most likely place for aki to start, but I assume the question works best when talking about video game streaming and its ilk. but i will touch on aki's music career too, since that's his real passion.

and, he'd start streaming in a bid to get some attention to his music. first he'd play some party games with his bandmates, super casual, not at the centre of attention or anything, but he is there. and he is very willing to play to the audience. he's not A Gamer:tm:, not the most skilled, but he is entertaining and hot, and very aware of the power that gives him on twitch. dangerously so.

he starts up his own channel, and at first plays whatever the hell catches his interest, but eventually settles on a few things: dbd (or whatever counterpart of it is in GP's 2030s) and rhythm games. He uploads some edited vods of the latter on youtube as the "Actual Musician Plays Rhythm Games" series. (once or twice one of his own songs got into the smaller rhythm games. he plays those too.)

a notable thing about aki as a streamer is that when chat thirsts, he flirts. he is absolutely shameless about throwing fuel on the fire in that sense, and he's not bothered by the attention, at least at first, and only as long as it's not too chaser-y (while Aki has been on T for a while at this point, whether he passes "physically" kinda flip-flops). also he is not remotely shy about thirsting over dbd (or whatever) killers. or other characters in video games.

ultimately, all the attention (and whatever paltry donation money) he gets through these shenanigans is still for his music. the one part of his streaming schedule that he would really, genuinely look forward to is probably a weekly jam session on twitch, either alone or with the band. some random jamming, some covers of songs, some constructing of original tunes, and occasionally, a demo of a song that will get released later. semi-relatedly, he's also absolutely the sort who would sing little songs while playing video games. especially while killing things in video games. he's as proud of his voice as he is of his looks. chat occasionally (often) has people begging him to sing them to sleep or something. (might have turned that request into a late-night soft jam session. he plays to the crowd. the vod of that did numbers on youtube, probably.)

also he has probably done "trashier" one-off or side-series streams like rating (roasting) his followers' dating profiles. only with people who ask him to and are old enough for it of course, but still pretty trashy.

but here comes the curveball. aki is a guardian. guardians on the internet have a reputation for unhingedness and drama, even moreso than other people on the internet, and it feels like all the guardians of a city know each other. Yokohama's guardian scene is no exception. and if you're at all attuned to guardian news in general, you know that Aki left Arcadia in a high-profile Incident:tm: and explosively broke up with Sadako, Arcadia's Golden Girl, at the end of the whole Mari debacle.

despite his otherwise open behaviour, aki never talks about his time in arcadia on the internet, or really anything about his guardian adventures. there are pictures of him in guardian form on the internet, but he's never acknowledged them. I figure he's on guardian social media, but his bios say "semi-retired", which in guardian terms means he's not actively serving any faction or independent interests right now, but still willing to use his powers, and not opposed to becoming "active" again basically. prior to this era, he was famous on social media for his extensive public arguments online and in real life with Sadako over stupid bullshit, and people remember this.

now, if you're really tuned in to guardian news, you know that Aki is rumoured to have been one of Arcadia's assassins. he and Arcadia took great pains to hide that identity from the public of course, but no scrubbing is perfect, and someone had to get suspicious eventually. especially because people in Arcadia knew, and his commander was holding onto the evidence to keep him in the organization. he destroyed that evidence when he left with some help though.

these rumours eventually catch up to him during his streaming career and suddenly random people (drama youtube, true crimers, among others) are making theory videos and posts and whatnot going "was this music streamer an assassin for arcadia?" and laying out evidence ranging from paper thin to troublingly plausible.

aki ignores it. he really, really would rather not acknowledge that time of his life, one because it sucked, two because it'd be a disaster for him. this lets the stuff just bubble in the background, talked about by nobodies gossiping about nobodies, rather than bring it into the open.

but then some other big-shot leads arcadia. not one of the main plot cast I don't think, the world is a big place and not everything is about the main characters, but this guy isn't as content to keep quiet like Aki. they're gonna tell all. and in one throwaway moment of the video, they offhandedly say something that confirms Aki was, in fact, an assassin for Arcadia. this guy's credible. it would be a really weird thing to lie about, considering it was a really small part of the video. and tbh, most of the backlash isn't even on Aki. but boy does the wave hit him. all of a sudden the assassin thing is the only thing his chat can talk about.

he is smart enough to not make an apology video. he does lay low for a while though, and the twitch channel goes dark.

later, he resurfaces on the arcadian defector guy's podcast and finally talks about it. he's surprisingly frank and mature, and kinda states up-front that he's not looking for forgiveness or to absolve himself, he just wants to add to the story. and since after the plot events aki himself is less reckless, he probably cleared the legal results of doing so before going public (tl;dr the worst and most of what he did (murder) was under coercion or duress, which doesn't give him a total pass, but. this is my story i decide whether we deal with legal consequences.)

this doesn't exactly clear his name, but it does give him some goodwill back, especially since he hadn't gotten into guardian drama of his own after leaving Arcadia. he doesn't return to streaming like he did before, but he does rejoin the band and do stuff with them sometimes. in the end, all he wanted in the first place was to jam, and at least he still has that, so.

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 1,931

[S] John: Reunite with your loving wife and daughter.

Song used: How Do I Live (Bunny Back in the Box Version) by Michael guy bowman

Storyboards: http://readmspa.org/storyboards/11931.swf.html

Author commentary:

Now we get to "watch" the goofy Con Air animation without the critical musical accompaniment, Bowman's cover of Trisha Yearwood's "How Do I Live." The animation experience is an emotional rollercoaster. A cumulative celebration, if you will, of Homestuck's whimsical essence and its uncompromising spirit of absurdity. Now, here in this book, examining the frames will be more of a somber, meditative practice. I invite you to quietly behold Nic Cage's face for several minutes. Reflect on his visage the way one shows reverence for a religious icon during moments of silence in a church. You will come to understand that this sequence doesn't need funny music at all, and your appreciation of the content will be all the richer for it. This does admirably explain how Rose and Jade got these bunnies as their Birth Objects. It wasn't their own attraction to the bunnies, which wouldn't have made a lot of sense. It was John's attraction to the idea of performing this stupid skit at a highly inappropriate moment, which resulted in them being shipped off to Earth with a couple of ratty bunnies, thus setting the stage for them to grow up and regift the bunnies back to John in the first place. The official Con Air bunny I own is not the [real one Nic Cage is holding]. That's the ruined one at the end of the movie. I don't know where that one is, or frankly, if it even survived the shoot. The one in my possession is the bunny still in its original package, which Nic Cage buys for his daughter at the beginning of the movie. I'm just assuming that at some point in the future, I will have to travel back in time and give Cage the bunny for him to use in the film in the first place. The skit is essentially complete once Rose gets the bunny. But Jade gets one too, as kind of an afterthought. John does have another bunny to spare, so why not? That way these three young ladies all go home with something nice. Jane, however, gets fuck all, since she's offscreen at the moment, having decided to crawl into a man's filthy hat. Karkat is being melodramatic and pretending not to enjoy every minute of this spectacle. We don't know it yet, or have the context for understanding what it means, but at this moment he has a hate crush on John. It was hate at first sight. Every morsel of conversation we have read between these two has been driven by these feelings. What he is doing here now, bonking his own head, is nothing more than an act of powerful sexual frustration. The scribbled sequence above is misleading. By the time the plane crashes into the giant guitar in Vegas, the sports car it was keeping in tow had long since been severed. Also, there's another floating arm. What a great place to sneak an arm in. Generally when I was retconning arms into the story, the more surreal and incomprehensible a location was for John's arm to show up, the better. Not only did this moment not even take place inside the canon of the comic, it didn't even take place in the canon of the movie. It truly happened nowhere. And yet, there is his arm. There is nothing remotely stupid about any of this. John, his name is Bubbles Von Salamancer now. Respect his new identity. Roxy seems to be really getting into that hug there. I think I did a tremendous job in seeding her overwhelming attraction to Egbert men here in Act 4. Stick this fact in your pipe and consider smoking it toward the end of Act 6. There's a part in Con Air when John Malkovich holds a gun up to the bunny during a tense moment and says don't move or the bunny gets it. Or something like that. The rowdy criminals like to keep things loose and fun up there on the jail plane, as you will know if you have seen the film, which you have, at least a hundred times. Don't deny it. At some point in this song cover, there's a guitar solo. But nobody is playing a guitar. It's just some guy making jackass noises with his mouth. So John here is working his air guitar to go along with that riff. Actually it make sense that a Hero of Breath would play an air guitar. I really do think of everything... It's incredible.

[white-cat-of-doom]

The White Cat Sees CATS (Again!) in Hamilton (04 December 2022)

Let me start off by saying that this was meant to be written back in December, and I apologize to anyone who was left burning waiting for my unimportant thoughts. At the beginning of December, I was hoping to attend more shows around Ontario, but I decided against it for the shows during the week (in London), and the Saturday show in Kingston was unfortunately cancelled, cutting the six show mini-tour down to four shows, and meaning that I will likely only see this cast once unfortunately.

The show was luckily at one of my favourite theatres and not terribly far from where I live, which was nice. I also had a great seat close to the stage to see all of my Kitties, being in the middle of the second row from the stage.

As I said last year, the performers in US Tour 6 (and in other CATS productions worldwide) are living my dream right now, as I wish I could be onstage night after night in a show that means everything to me, and to which I owe such a great deal personally. Everyday I get closer in my head to being onstage, you guys watch out ;).

This should be a relatively short collection of my thoughts on US Tour 6 compared to the in-depth one I wrote for the three shows I saw in Ottawa 14-16 March 2022. If want to know what I think about the general US Revival show format in addition to the cast performances, you will find it there, taking away much of the negativity in the review below.

Megan Arseneau was the only cover of the night, on for Jennyanydots instead of Michelle E. Carter, with all the other performers being the principal cast since the tour started once more for the year last September in 2022.

If you want a very short review, I thought that this cast was absolutely amazing! They are a phenomenal group and I enjoyed them more as a whole (and generally individually) than the cast last year. Many performers gave me more of what I was looking for in terms of characteristics for a large portion of the Cats, which I loved! Like the cast for the last tour cycle, I would not hesitate to see them again, and I am a bit sad that I will not.

A longer piece with my thoughts is found below. This likely does not include all of my original thoughts on the show I saw because we are months after now and I have forgotten some finer details!

I will try to keep this review as subjective as possible, which means minimal comparisons to the cast last year for characters, unless they are a returning performer. As stated in my last review, please note that my opinions or preferences are personal, everyone is allowed to think what they like, and anyone is free to disagree with me or point out where they think I am being too critical. I always welcome the feedback, as I love hearing about what others think about the show! I do have specific viewpoints on how I like performances of CATS to be presented, and I tend to be very specific when it comes to how I want any performer to sound when they sing or how they conduct themselves for a given character. This is where my personal opinions and criticisms are focused, and your views can be completely different.

For those reading this, I appreciate it! This is nothing more than my thoughts on seeing the production of CATS that fortunately toured close to where I live, and which I am also fortunate enough to see!

Being back in the Junkyard after 263 days since the final date in Ottawa, it once again almost did not feel real that the show happened in front of me, which seems silly to say. It is such a magical feeling to become immersed in the show, and one that I would not trade for much else in the world!

The Overture was great to see once more live, returning me again to the special night of The Jellicle Ball. With the pageantry and final push, it kicked off to Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Songs with a newer cast for me. Watching Nora DeGreen emerge from the pipe, they had an intense look of fear and paranoia which was interesting. They definitely played up the fear that Demeter experiences in a way that I enjoyed and I thought fit well with the character, and I will touch on that later. Everyone was in top form during the opening prologue, and a few fantastic performers were back! Lexy Bittner, the enigmatic and unique Cassandra of the US Tour, is still a force to be reckoned with throughout the show! She was one of my favourite performers with the last cast and I was happy to see her return. Lexy still sings her lines with a slight manic delivery and it is immense fun! The rest of the dressed company were great as well. Few things make me happier than seeing Jellylorum, played here by Allyson Duarte, come out for the first time to sing her lines. It is pure, unrestrained joy to see my favourite character! Kade Wright, who plays Munkustrap, added a bit of flair to his role in the opening, and I love to see performers whose dreams involve being in CATS! I was also incredibly excited to see Erica Lee Cianciulli as Bombalurina, an alumni of CATS from previous Casts (10 and briefly 11) of the Oasis of the Seas! Erica was one of my favourite Bombalurina performers before she was cast in this tour, and she is amazing onstage and I felt lucky to see her! One thing that was apparent to me, even before seeing the show, is that the makeup for everyone is being done very well! I am not going to speculate why or how, but it is very nice to see an improvement over the previous tour cycle. With a point of the finger and an important question posed, What Is A Jellicle Cat, Oh Man Over There?, the energy for the rest of the show was set high!

The Naming of Cats was done wonderfully, with the great effect of select Cats' faces, mainly Coricopat and Tantomile, being highlighted with the stage lights. John Anker Bow, probably my favourite live performer of the former cast, still was having his fun sliding down stage to stare at his audience as Asparagus/'Peter'. It is always so much fun to be investigated by the clowder onstage!

The first moment that I had been waiting (and hoping) for since I purchased the tickets for the show was next, and it was time for the White Cat Solo, one of my absolute favourite parts of the show! A bit of a sidetrack, when they first announced just the names of the cast before their respective roles (I still think that was a bit funny it took them almost a day to update the website!), I was crossing my fingers that Yuka Notsuka would be Victoria, and she very excitedly was! I had been looking forward to seeing her onstage for those prior months leading up to this show, and she was everything that I wanted in a Victoria! I absolutely adore when Victoria is always beaming and happy, and I do not think Yuka stopped smiling for basically the entire show! She was so precious! I saw her joy and passion through her dancing and she is an incredible performer! Her White Cat Solo was great and I am so happy that I got the chance to see her onstage! I am also happy that Yuka continues the representation of having an Asian woman play Victoria. I hope that she inspires many young performers like Hyla Mayrose Perillo did last year! Beautiful job Yuka!

Getting into The Invitation to The Jellicle Ball, Ibn Snell presents himself as a confident and more mature Mistoffelees, which I enjoyed. He is not too showy or pompous, and that fits better in my mind than the center of attention style some performers have with the character. Ibn is a fantastic dancer, definitely one of the best in the entire company, and it was a joy to see him throughout the show.

Another song that I always look forward to is The Old Gumbie Cat! I will be honest in saying that I was *really* looking forward to seeing Michelle E. Carter as Jennyanydots, one of my favourite performers from last year who I was happy to see return, and I was more than a bit bummed to have Megan Arseaneu cover instead going into the show. I was still very excited regardless, as the song is one of my favourites! The Gumbie Trio of Erica as Bombalurina, Nora as Demeter, and Allyson as Jellylorum harmonized beautifully and I loved seeing them sing about the Gumbie Cat alongside Munkustrap. Megan did an excellent job covering Jennyanydots, and the role was in great hands! Out of the eight roles Megan covers as a Swing, Jennyanydots is probably the one I wanted to see her as the most, so I had that chance. She was not quite as animated as I would have hoped, but she got the job done more than effectively. Megan's tap solo was on point and everyone had fun joining in as the song progressed, but I cannot help but wish I saw Michelle instead, who I just love! Michelle is the epitome of Jennyanydots and I missed seeing her. I think I would have enjoyed the song more with Michelle, as it did not leave as much of an impression on me as I wanted it to, being one of my favourites in the show. Having one of your favourite characters performed by someone outside of one of your favourite cast members is hard to live up to! Saying that, Megan is supremely talented and it was great to have a chance to see her perform onstage, showing off her technicality and talent as a super Swing! The Gumbie Tap and Coat are some of my favourite costumes to see, so I can never be too disappointed by who is wearing them!

The Rum Tum Tugger was up next and Hank Santos as the titular character knows how to control an audience! With an abundance of (chaotic) energy and plentiful charisma, he comes on stage ready to go and does not let off the gas for the entirety of the scene. Incorporating a bit of menace, Hank annoyed Munkustrap without becoming (too much of) a pest and riled up the other Toms as well. Hank did a perfect job at balancing the Rockstar attitude with the general anarchy of the Curious Cat, without delving into becoming overly annoying or juvenile, and it made for some great entertainment. The Queens loved him as usual, and Erica as Bombalurina was quite forceful in trying to have Tugger all to herself, sensual in her pursuit. The whole number was capped off by some proper over exaggerations from Hank to have his own spotlight, and a fun Jellylorum belt to close everything before the playout. Good stuff all around!

Our first view of Grizabella, played by Tayler Harris, comes next with Grizabella, the Glamour Cat. The first thing I noticed about Tayler's performance was that she was playing Grizabella as much more angry and bitter than the shows I saw her in the previous tour cycle. Her tone and delivery were quite pointed and I enjoyed the added emotion behind it. One of my main criticisms last year with Tayler was that she seemed to be going through the motions too much to my liking and I wanted more depth in her performance. I thought that she did better this night, and I liked the anger and remorse! I want Grizabella to hold resentment for her past family that has not welcomed her back (yet). Nora as Demeter seemed very hesitant and stressed to see Grizabella initially, but still stuck around to serenade the Glamour Cat. I thought Nora did a great job with the attitude that I wanted to see from Demeter during this song, and with Erica as Bombalurina joining in, her attitude reflecting the anger of Grizabella, it added to everything. Very good!

Bustopher Jones was, and always is, a fun time! Everyone is happy to see The Cat About Town, and John Anker Bow is incapable of having a bad performance in my mind. Although the US Revival version of the scene is still not favourite, everyone did a perfect job. There was not as much interaction with Bustopher and Jennyanydots or Jellylorum, something that I enjoyed last time. I think the more small, silly interactions here add to the song, as it a light-hearted scene. The Kittens at the end of the song sang clearly (and loudy!) and I enjoyed that. I will say once again that I missed Michelle as Jennyanydots, as I really enjoyed her vocal delivery, mannerisms, and character interactions onstage here. Megan still did a great job, however!

The first Macavity scare leads into Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, another fun song. Former (and current to be honest, considering he still covers six tracks) super Swing Brian Craig Nelson is the principal Mungojerrie and he brings some passion to his onstage performance which I noticed. Taryn Smithson as Rumpleteazer, the other half of the Notorious (and Horrible) Cats, is *very* excitable, and it is on full display here. I do have a preference for both characters to be darker characteristically in portrayal, especially Rumpleteazer who I consider the smarter one, and I did not really get that. Although I loved seeing how happy Taryn was, she seemed too innocent to be a seasoned cat burglar. These two Cats are just early in their lives of crime and will harden with age! The performance of the song was still great, and I finally got to see the trademark double cartwheel live! Great fun, as the shows in Ottawa did not have it due to performer injury.

With the arrival of someone important on the horizon, it is time for another performer that I have been looking forward to seeing live, Cameron Schutza as Old Deuteronomy! The chorus of Cats to welcome the Jellicle Leader was pleasant, and Kade as Munkustrap and Hank as Rum Tum Tugger were great together, with Hank playing up some of the lines a bit for comedic effect. No one was more excited to see Old Deuteronomy than Yuka as Victoria, smiling brightly at the wings of the stage for him to come out! Cameron's tenor voice as Old Deuteronomy was quite powerful (even moreso than I was expecting, but he *is* a classically trained opera singer after all!) and he definitely has the voice behind the character. Just fantastic!

The second (still in my mind unnecessary) Macavity scare led into The Jellicle Ball, one of my favourites in the show. Everyone did a fantastic job singing during the first half with The Song of The Jellicles. Of course, the main event is The Jellicle Ball itself, and it is an honour to see the movement of some of the best dancers anywhere in performing arts! The US Revival choreography will never be my favourite, but with everyone in perfect form, it is still an amazing spectacle! Catching glimpses of the excitement and joy on each of the performers' faces is a rewarding experience, and once again, Yuka as Victoria was an absolute beacon of happiness! Her pas de deux with Samuel Buchanan as Plato is a tender moment for Platoria fans everywhere (like me), even if it is still a bit overdone with the choreographic changes in my opinion. The lead up to that moment gives Yuka time to shine once more as Victoria, her movements performed with a wonderful fluidity and passion to them, and I absolutely loved it! The entire cast carried the high set energy from the opening number throughout the first Act, and now it was time for them to have a much needed rest with Grizabella interrupting the celebration again.

Tayler still carried her resentment from earlier in the Act while watching everyone leave the stage, eventually dropping it in favour of the sadness and longing to be back in the Tribe after trying (and ultimately failing) to capture the spirit of The Jellicle Moon in her dancing. I again enjoyed the increased emotion in Tayler's performance for Act I Memory, as the final notes rang out to end Act I as she left the stage.

Everyone comes back fairly orderly for The Moments of Happiness, and Cameron as Old Deuteronomy again has his chance to demonstrate his powerful voice. There is a wonderful clarity and emotion behind his singing that is a joy to experience in person, and it gives off an authority as The Jellicle Leader. Sam Bello as Sillabub gave a fantastic performance of the Moonlight portion of the song, and she had such a rich voice that I really enjoyed. She gave me the feeling of seeing a Cat with former lives behind her that she expresses in her current one, giving a voice with the added maturity to it. I would love to see Sam in a more vocal heavy role, and I think she would be great at them!

It was now time for my favourite song of the entire show, Gus, the Theatre Cat! I had been waiting for months to see and hear Allyson as Jellylorum and she did an excellent job. She was so cheery, which I think is essential for all Jellylorum performers (it is right in her three words!), and did her best to hype up Gus. Her voice was very sweet and beautiful, but lacked a certain maturity that I prefer for the character, but regardless was one of my favourites of the cast (and any cast). Allyson was not acting so much as strictly a caretaker of Gus, as many other Jellylorum performers tend to do, but rather more a devoted fan of The Theatre Cat, still being gentle with the older Tom. You could see Jellylorum's passion for Gus' performance history, but not as much for the Cat himself, as if she was still early in the phase of taking care of him and is still fairly young. I would have liked to see a bit more of a connection between them, given my familiar views of the two characters, but the level of passion for Gus from Jellylorum was really nice to see. John was fantastic as Gus, just like the three nights I had seen him perform in Ottawa, with that voice that is guaranteed to soften the hardest of hearts. He always puts in the right amount of drama and silliness to make the character very dynamic, and John remains one of my favourite performers in any current cast.

The Pekes and The Pollicles was a fun scene afterwards, with John reliving Gus' glory days as The Rumpus Cat. The entire company has fun here, with a chance to be a bit less serious, even more so when mostly everyone is in costume. Kade again provided a bit more Munkustrap drama, here mirroring Gus, and it was great to see.

Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat was next, a highlight to see when the train is assembled. John Zamborsky is a fun Skimbleshanks and seems happy to sing about their endeavors in keeping The Midnight Mail running smoothly (even if they are a bit late due to a cat nap!). John's Skimbleshanks is excitable and brings a high level of energy to the song, but is too young in my preference (as with all the recent US Revival castings). Their voice is somewhat immature for the role, but I view it more that Skimbleshanks is still in the heydays of their train career, instead of coming towards retirement. Continuing on from the more loose song prior, the Cats play around listening to rail life, and are all excited to build the train! I could once again see Yuka as Victoria onstage absolutely beaming, helping to keep the train rolling down the tracks before the inevitable deconstruction. Everything is put away and the Cats finish up their field trip with Skimbleshanks at the helm.

One last interrupting crash, and Macavity is finally here, stealing away Old Deuteronomy. I had been looking to seeing Nora and Erica together in action for a while, interested to see their dynamic live. Throughout the show so far, each time there was a Macavity scare, I could see the fear and paranoia on Nora's face as Demeter, and I was curious how they would perform this song. After the initial fear subsided, Nora let loose their anger, tearing into their lines with visible disgust for the Mystery Cat, seemingly mocking him and not letting him hold power over them. Nora's voice suited Demeter well to me and I was enthralled with their performance, not venturing too much into the overtly sexual undertone that some performers are heavy-handed with. Erica as Bombalurina entered with her part, continuing on the momentum laid out by Nora, moving with a swagger all her own. Like Nora, she was not a caricature of what most people may expect from the character, allowing room for dimension. The fact that Erica has previous experience in the musical has likely benefitted her to refine how she wants to play Bombalurina, and it is noticeable in the audience, at least to me. Erica's voice is somewhat unique for Bombalurina, darker and more biting in tone, which paired well with her physical moments. Stalking around the stage, sometimes adding a growling-like vocalization behind her delivery, Erica further tore into Macavity, and was quite scornful. She helped in commanding the stage with Nora once the duet portion started, and Nora gave some shrieking vocals for the 'Or another Peke’s been stifled!’ line to add to everything. These two really personified their respective characters, with Nora offering a bit more bite shortly after. With the other Queens joining in to complete the song, the energy never faltered. It was definitely my highlight of the evening!

With (decoy) Old Deuteronomy returning to the stage, Nora immediately sensed that something was wrong and they looked absolutely *pissed* when they figured it what it was, becoming feral. With the look and attitude of completely ferocity, they jumped on the back of the decoy Deuteronomy, ripping and tearing away at their prey, unafraid of injury or what other fate awaited them. Exposing Macavity, played by Samuel Buchanan, the Tribe was on high alert, but the sneak attack prevented a coordinated response. Nora's anger turned back more into terror as it had been previously in the show, and at the point when the synchronized Cats are being controlled according to Macavity, just before he moves to collect Demeter, Nora looked like they were crying! Great stuff, as I love seeing the profound emotional connection to the role and the surroundings! Eventually Macavity, with Demeter is his grasp, is stopped by Munkustrap and the fight commences. Kade as Munkustrap again adds some drama, throwing himself around and to the ground as the fight continued, and appearing actually injured before Alonzo, played by Sammy Fossum, took over the fight, with the help of the remaining Tribe further on. Macavity disappears for good this time in the cover of darkness, and Nora and Kade slowly find one another in the spotlight.

Hank as Rum Tum Tugger returns to the forefront to help welcome Magical Mister Mistoffelees, played by Ibn Snell. As mentioned before, Ibn is a fantastic dancer and it now becomes his time to shine. With vocal support from Hank as Tugger, Ibn moved across the stage to enchant the Tribe (and crowd) and was the strong point in the scene, making the choreography seem effortless. The US Revival version of the song builds up momentum, with the help of Cassandra lighting up (still a highlight!) in the middle of the action, and Ibn as Mistoffelees is able to get the Tribe to conjure Old Deuteronomy back. Everyone is excited, Ibn does some more great dancing, and Hank presents Mistoffelees to 'Felines and Friends' around him! Great fun!

With the new day fast approaching, Sam as Sillabub provided some angelic vocals for the Daylight sequence, helping to usher in the ending stages of the show. I love her crystal clear vocals, and she really personifies the character! Munkustrap had his rest after the fight, Old Deuteronomy is back for good, and Grizabella is here once again to ruin the fun before the Tribe gets much further into the evening. Slinking onstage, Tayler as Grizabella is ready to give it one last go in front of the Tribe, recalling her Memory. With more emotional weight behind her acting and voice, I think that she has improved over last year. Sam as Sillabub provides her last moments of beautiful vocals in tandem with Tayler as Grizabella, just before the climax of the song. Tayler is still powerful vocally at this moment, and with the greater range of emotions compared to last time, it made a larger impact on me. All is quiet once the Glamour Cat has finished, with Yuka as Victoria taking Grizabella's hand to welcome her back.

The Journey to the Heaviside Layer had a great level of sentiment as usual, and the chorus of Cats was quite striking vocally once more, with Cameron as Old Deuteronomy powering over top of eveything, but not in a distracting manner. Grizabella once again exits in the paw of The Everlasting Cat, which is my favourite!

The finale is here, and it is time to Ad-Dress the Cats! With Cameron taking the lead as Old Deuteronomy, the Tribe and audience is reminded to take care of their kitties. Dreams of food and formal greetings make these some very happy Cats, and everyone got their chance to either be stoic or as silly as they wanted. It is clear that Cameron is a powerhouse on that tire, peaking his microphone at times. I was close enough to the stage that Cameron really did not need amplification, utilizing his chance to be more unrestrained vocally and he went for it! The power! The range! Thrilling to see and hear! It is doubtful that I will see many other performers outshine Cameron as Old Deuteronomy, so I am thankful for the experience!

Just like that the show is over and everyone gets their deserved bows and praise! I once again tried to cheer as loud as possible for Jellylorum, because she deserves it! Everyone else also got a sizable cheer from me as well. The final playout had Hank as Rum Tum Tugger flying across the stage to wring out every last admiration for the cast before what would be their last show for over three weeks due to the holiday break in December. He stayed even a bit past the final bows into the theatre walkout playout, and I believe he stole someone's phone to take a silly video or photos before departing for good!

With the official end of the show, I can say that this cast was extraordinary! I think the performers cast for this tour were great choices, and they all seemed to enjoy being onstage, which I appreciated seeing. There seems to have been more maturity brought forth with this cast, even with many of them being quite young in age. There still is my feeling that many of them are too young to be playing the roles they do, but it did not detract much from their performances. It is more of a minor gripe than a criticism I have. I enjoyed seeing everyone put on a fantastic show, even if I do not directly mention them or their characters explicitly above. Seeing only the single show, it was impossible to capture and view everything or everybody in the background, which is a bit disappointing for me, but there are so many background moments worth mentioning if seen, and I hope they keep it up!

In terms of my favourite performers:

Nora as Demeter really struck me in their portrayal and I had so much fun watching them really get into the character arc. They solidified the fact that Demeter can be played as scared, but moving past the fear and using those negative emotions turned into a weapon against abuse. I want to see Demeter tear apart Macavity, she deserves it! The character arc Nora provided was exactly what I wanted to see and I was not expecting them to give me just that! They were amazing!

Erica as Bombalurina brought some great mannerisms and experience to the role, and I think she really nailed what the character is like, showing off her many sides. There was an underlying seriousness to Erica's portrayal that went along with the usual Bombalurina sensuality and confidence. She even injected a bit of humour in the role that is so often played as one dimensional. I was so happy to see Erica onstage, and she was even better than I was anticipating given her previous time in the musical.

Allyson as Jellylorum was a lot of fun, and she played her as very cheery and excited, somewhat like an older Etcetera in many ways. Her characterization was fun to watch and her voice was very comforting, both great for Jellylorum. I am always ecstatic to see my favourite character onstage!

Yuka as Victoria was a (literal) bright spot throughout the show, and she was an amazing dancer! Her radiant happiness onstage was unparalleled and it brought me so much joy, even now when I think back to the show months later!

Sam as Sillabub was a welcome performance with her lovely voice! It fit with what I like to hear from the character. I did not mention any of her other song moments, but she looked to be having fun throughout the show when I caught them in my line of vision.

John as "Peter"/Bustopher Jones/Gus/Rumpus Cat was fantastic yet again! I have given him praise in my last review, which is true seeing him again, and he enforces that he is one of the best performers in all the worldwide companies.

Lexy as Cassandra did another great job onstage, and it is always a joy to see her own unique take on the character! Her dancing and movements have improved even over her flawless performance last year, and I was happy to see her again!

Lastly, Cameron as Old Deuteronomy was fantastic and really delivered vocally for the Jellicle Leader role. Getting a chance to experience a vocalist with such power was definitely a first for me, and the combination of these facets helped push the characterization I have for them.

I went to the stage door after the show (because of course after my three night stand in Ottawa), and was lucky to talk briefly to the performers, tell them they did a fantastic job, and have them sign the US Tour 6 windowcard I have owned for a few years (which they unfortunately do not make anymore).

A few performers recognized me from the Ottawa shows and a few others were aware of my account here (and Instagram probably), saying that they have heard a lot about me, which was not expected. I guess I am more known than I realize, which was never my intent, but it is nice to be appreciated. Not everyone who stopped signed (which is too bad), and a few performers snuck away before I could ask nicely, but I managed to get mostly everyone! It will serve as a wonderful piece of my CATS collection alongside the things from Ottawa (and everything else!).

I am grateful that I had the chance to see this wonderful cast once during this tour cycle, and they exceeded my expectations! Although this night may not have been as magical (in its own right) as seeing the musical live for the very first (and second and third) time in the stunning National Arts Centre, it was an incredible experience that I will not soon forget and was my favourite time seeing the show from a performance standpoint!

A special thanks and shoutout to the hard working cast and crew that put on this enchanting show for many months out of the year! I am glad to be one of the many spectators that get to experience the magical Junkyard in North America!

Until next time Kitties!

[ancaporado]

Ok I need to go on a rant about show tunes. They're objectively bad. Don't worry, I've heard a lot of them, I even played in the pit for my high school theater and I still hate show tunes. 1.The lyrics are cringey, basically just dialogue or literal exposition of the story. I do like concept albums, in fact I think the idea of using music to tell a story is great, but making your characters constantly RHYME to speak to one another is absolutely insane as it takes away the characters ability to speak in their own voice. The linear progression of story telling also means that the lyrics rarely repeat, often as a song goes on a chorus allows for the listener to reinterpret the previous verses and anticipate new ones, we rarely get such a break in show tunes. this almost means that we get explicit character names, places, and events in our lyrics which lacking context completely jar a listener. 2.Singing is bad. Essentially it's modern opera, so I get that it started with lots of projection and vibrato, but let's be real you no longer have to do that with lapel microphones. We can have dynamic volume and annunciation. These people have grown up their whole lives singing with piano accompaniment and it shows in the tin-like nasal annunciation they sing. Even the best broadway singer would instantly butcher any other genre as they barely slide notes or usually can't hold notes WITHOUT vibrato, nor do they get through distorted vocals without simply getting raspy. 3.Instrumentation. To be fair, musicals have been getting a little better about incorporating stuff besides classic accompaniment but basically whenever they do they attempt it as a genre piece, and end up completely cliche as the genre is concern. Outside of the narcissisms of the writers or actors, the MUSIC is never the focus of the song. 4. No genre or originality. I would say Grease and Rocky Horror are perfect examples of this in that basically they are simply 4 chord progression covers of a well established genres that are extremely easy to churn out. If you know a little music theory you could write a "blues" or "rock" or "jazz" musical in an afternoon. Even when it's done no song from a musical can stand on it's own against MUSIC written for the purpose of just being listened too. If you were to have a blind listening test for anyone trained in any amount of music they could pick out a "musical" song nearly 99% of the time. Most "Musical" music is to normal music what Christian Rock is to rock, the music is entirely secondary to an agenda.

5.Arrangement. Very little thought is usually put into the arrangement of the of songs, as nothing besides the voice of the actors can really take up much time in the melody so why bother. Interesting sounds, instruments, or melodic and harmonic ideas are just a distraction to the performance. Outside of backing there's little required of most musicians to preform these pieces, and half the time it sounds like a church band or high school choir for this reason. Improvisation, instrumental solos, or a breakdown are either rare or completely unimaginative in structure. 6. Chord progressions are all basic to the point that the "halfway through a song key step as a way to mix it up a little bit because we got more exposition in the lyrics as we go from point a to b as we do a 4 chord progression that is getting boring" is a thing in pretty much every musical. So anyways in conclusion, musicals suck, are completely stagnant as a "genre". They are written by and for a strange kind of narcissistic person who needs to constantly hear a very loud voice telling them a story with comforting non-dangerous music that's really only there to help set a little bit of mood for whatever tacky costume and choreography is supposed to be happening on stage. If you listen to show tunes for fun outside of actually watching a stage production you probably should be institutionalized. If, even worse, you make other people listen to them on a PA system while at a retail or work situation you should be euthanized. Don't send me your favorite "this is musical music but it's good because it avoids the reasons you said above" as it still sucks for another reason I didn't remember while typing this.

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 21st June

And, as teased in last week's entry, we've got a repeat performance, with the much less-known original of a song whose cover I've already written up. Interestingly, this original version came out a year before Elvis', which means that this chart appearance probably represents a bit of a revival, spurred on by Elvis' higher-profile cover. So, how does the original stack up?

Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins (peaked at Number 9)

It stacks up pretty well, it turns out! There are some immediate differences with regards to the speed and pacing of some lines, but a lot of the things that make Elvis' version good are already here or are even amped up in this version, including the opening lines - which I've only just learnt came from a nursery rhyme - the little slightly hiccupy uh-uh and let's go cat interjections, and the way the instruments drop out in the verses, only to come back faster and more insistent in the chorus. It creates a sort of intensifying effect that makes the chorus feel raucous and rowdy, in a good way.

It's also got a slightly more rockabilly feel. There's something just that little bit more country, more rough and ready and gutsy in the instruments and mix of it all, with some real chuggy boogie woogie guitar bits, though it's also got some unmistakable rock and roll chords underpinning it. Carl Perkins was apparently a country artist by trade, and this song made him the first country artist to ever top the rhythm and blues charts, which is pretty cool.

Tragically, Carl and his band got into a car crash as all this was happening, though, and he was recovering in the hospital alongside his brother even as the song took off? It's a sad story, especially since a truck-driver apparently died in the collision, but simultaneously it does feel quite rock and roll, a presage of the many significant auto, plane and bike crashes we still have ahead of us in this project. Also, apparently it was after this accident that Elvis decided to record a version, as a homage and a gesture to materially help Carl out, somewhat. Which is actually pretty sweet, I had no idea!

Either way, the song's got that country feel, probably as a result of Carl's background, and one of the legends around its writing even says that it was inspired by a story told to Carl by none other than Johnny Cash, who we haven't really seen yet. I don't actually know if we will see any Johnny Cash songs, actually - I hope we do, but I'm not sure how much play his songs ever got in the UK, at least at this point in time? Maybe later on? I don't know, though, and I'm not going to look it up. Let's leave it a surprise - if this is as close as we get to Johnny Cash, at least it's a good song.

Yeah, I like this song. I sometimes wonder when two covers chart like this, very close together, if people were deliberately like "hmmm, let's listen to the original" or if it just came down to whatever your local record store had in stock. This record had come out almost a whole year ago, at this point, but with Elvis bringing the song back into the zeitgeist, I guess it got a little boost - and thank goodness it did, this has been a treat. Both versions do different things well, so I don't think I have much of a preference between them, but I do recommend a listen to both of them - good, honest, surprisingly-silly fun!

Favourite song of the never-realised-it's-a-cover bunch: Blue Suede Shoes