#.. was that i completely neglected to realize that even tho the store has the first year as 2015….

[sunlightfeeling]

photo bank haul because i have net-zero self-control

also~ if anyone has requests on which ones y’all want to see scanned first, feel free to lemme know!

i’ll genuinely actually get to them when settled back home lol

(read tags for further clarification tho)

[plush-anon]

after many hours spent pausing the show bc good lord why did they do that, i have now finished Love Never Dies

annnnnd yikes 😬😬😬

I’ll start with the few positives I did enjoy from the recorded Australian production on Youtube:

1.) the camera work. This is the kind of thing I dream of for professionally recorded shows - it really allows for some lovely close-up shots of how the emotions play over their faces, it’s lush

2.) the costumes are well-crafted, and I desperately Want the Phantom’s long-ass swooshy trenchcoat cape thing he wore for the first half-hour 

3.) the sets used throughout this are honestly very impressively used and put together for some really fantastic shots

4.) the opening, with ‘Til’ I Hear You Sing Once More’. This song is honestly very lovely, and really articulates the Phantom’s loss and heartache for Christine. It’s sung very earnestly, and had the rest of the show been more like this I might have liked it more. 

5.) the Fucking Song, ‘Beneath a Moonless Sky’, is a guilty pleasure. It’s so over the top, and it is only about recounting that One Time they totally banged yo, and I love it. I think it’s the orchestration, but it’s also enjoyably silly even while it takes itself 100% serious. 

6.) As much as I hate to say this? ‘Devil Take the Hindmost’. While I hate the gist of the song - that being Raoul and Erik betting on who Christine will choose, and pretty much deciding for her who will get to be her one true love forever, completely negating the entire point of the OF musical where her choice was the most important factor for all of them - the pacing and the lyrics as they dance around each other are absolutely fantastic. It’s kind of sad to say, but Raoul and the Phantom, in this scene alone, display more chemistry in their singing than they do with anyone else. Let the hatefcuking commence~

7.) Some parts of ‘The Beauty Underneath’ I enjoy, particularly the ending scene where the Phantom is trying to talk Meg down. It’s very slow, melodic, and shows his more manipulative side, as well as how he can crawl into someone’s head, I love it. 

8.) This very interesting visual with a mirror in Christine’s dressing room. There are two separate scenes where someone is in the mirror singing. The first is the Phantom, between Raoul and Christine. The second is Raoul between the Phantom and Christine. It’s honestly a nice touch.

9.) The main three are excellent singers. 

 Unfortunately, that’s all on the list of what I liked. Everything else is a Giant Fcuking Mess. 

1.) The Phantom is no longer a complex, messed-up, but still somewhat sympathetic character, no; this is just a giant asshole who takes everyone for granted and barely realizes that anyone else exists except Christine, and even then only really as his personal instrument. 

He never actually apologizes to Christine for the shit he’s put her through and continues to put her through, but still demands obedience and forgiveness and understanding. It completely negates the entire point of POTO’s ending, where he actually realizes he’s done wrong by her and his actions pertaining her, and lets her go from his world entirely, and RESPECTING HER CHOICES AND LEAVING HER ALONE. 

Not to mention This Bitch also threatens to kidnap/possible “lose” her child if she doesn’t sing for him, keeps pushing her around and telling her what to do, and manipulating her life to change her decisions for her. 

AND HE’S FRAMED AS THE BETTER OPTION HERE

2.) Which reminds of me of the next big asshat: Raoul de Chagny, who has now become an alcoholic gambler who pushes his wife to do things she’s not comfortable doing to repay his debts, neglects his son entirely, and also is abrasive and controlling of Christine, to the point he yanks her back and forth on doing shit. Play this role! We should leave bc he was an asshole! No now we should leave bc Phantom is back! No take the role he’s paying triple! I’ll make a bet on whether she loves me to pay my debts! No wait you should quit ten minutes before you go on-stage bc I don’t want to lose you! MAKE UP YOUR GODDAMN MIND YOU MISERABLE PISSANT SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

Like I can understand being overprotective to a certain degree, which could eventually morph into being controlling. But neglecting your son, your wife, drinking and gambling your fortune away? ALL of that?!? Really???

Shouldn’t he be desperate to keep his wife and son close to him at all times after the events of POTO? Never leave, never go anywhere, only do what’s safe? You COULD have set this up as a continuation of Safety versus Freedom with Raoul and the Phantom, show the good and bad of both and have her choose from there. Show the dichotomies and hypocrisies of both men’s standards. 

But nope! We’re just totes gonna make the husband like this for no goddamn reason, especially since Raoul doesn’t start suspecting that Gustave (his son) isn’t really his until Devil Take the Hindmost. He’s just that much of an idiot!

3.) The presence of Madame Giry and Meg Giry. Oh gods, where to even begin? They’re pretty much only here so that Sir Andy doesn’t have to make new characters with different backstories and motivations and introduce them accordingly. Nope! Now both women are blaming Christine for leaving the Phantom Man-Baby, and talking about everything they sacrificed to help him make his stupid-ass circus, and talking about how they love him and GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH Madame Giry in the POTO musical YOU LED RAOUL DIRECTLY TO THE PHANTOM’S LAIR SO HE COULD RESCUE CHRISTINE WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW SHE BETRAYED HIM

And, oh, Meg... she reaaaaaaaaaaaaally got the short end of the stick here. I just... poor dear, she was horribly treated in this. 

Neither of them deserved to be like this, honestly. 

4.) Christine, to a lesser extent. Experienced Literal Character Assassination, forced to choose between two horrible options, stripped of her agency entirely, used as a bet in a game between said two horrible options, lied to and dragged around constantly, should have taken Gustave and run off with Meg to run a music store together. Fcuk you Sir Andy, for using POTO characters to act out your bitterness and frustration at your ex. 

5.) The entirety of the whole Boardwalk Circus schtick, spawning an additional Fuck You to Frederick Forsythe, who thought this was a tenable option for the story to progress. 

6.) The Phantom’s deformity was literally just four lines drawn onto his face with crayon and some smeared lipstick:

what even the fcuk, you couldn’t make the make-up crayon drawing more detailed??? take more than ten minutes to draw it on???

I never thought I would say this, but even the 2004 film’s depiction was better than this! At least that one partially drew from a real medical condition, Sturge-Weber Syndrome. What the fcuk is your excuse LND?!?

7.)  The Lyrics. Oh gods, the lyrics. Some songs were decent, mostly the ones I listed up top. But the rest? Did someone forget to give the writer a more advanced/creative guide to rhyming lyrics? I wrote better shit in middle school than Glenn Slater did for the majority of these lyrics. 

Glenn my dude, what the fcuk is this nonsense? You’ve written good shit like the Tangled songs and stuff for Galavant! Why are you writing worse than an angst-ridden middle schooler? It is immensely frustrating, to say the least. 

8.) The really WEIRD direction in acting. No one here acts like they know how to move their arms or hands naturally; there’s a lot of really odd and unnecessary gesturing that makes it look like everyone has just had their limbs replaced with faulty robotic arms. There’s also a lot of leaning the characters do, with their arms perfectly straight by their side and it just looks wrong. 

9.) The Phantom’s pseudonym is Mr. Y. No, they never explain why it is he chose that particular moniker. 

10.) Bathing Beauty. Just... all of it, here, tied to POTO, present and here. 

11.) It’s been exactly 10 years since Christine saw/banged the Phantom, and her son is precisely 10 years old. 

That’s... not how pregnancy works. At all. 

12.) This weird scene with the American press, where they are absolutely obsessed with Christine, despite the facts they present, such as:

- She hasn’t performed in 10 years anywhere. 

- She was a French performer, and

- She only starred in three operas at the Populaire (Hannibal, Il Muto, and Don Juan Triumphant, which wasn’t even finished. So technically 2.2 operas that we know of). 

Why, precisely, would American reporters be so obsessed with her upon hearing she’s coming? I could see some interest given the whole shebang with the Phantom, but after 10 years of radio silence, would she really garner an entire crowd of reporters and photographers... in America, no less? 

France I could definitely see. America? Not so much. 

13.) Gustave is a flat, generic kid character, who apparently is totes the Phantom’s son because... he can play the piano well. And also has the same ideas of music as the Phantom, despite never being taught about them, or discussed such things with his mother. 

Is musical talent only inherited through the father’s side of the family in this universe? I mean, we never learn about Christine’s mother, just her famous violinist father. Otherwise, why is it Gustave’s musical talent isn’t attributed to - oh, I don’t know - HIS FAMOUS OPERA SINGER MOTHER?!?

14.) Apparently the Phantom is also now the one who invented cars OH I MEAN “horseless carriages” 🙄 A carriage with no engine and a “ghost horse” appears, and everyone is just fcuking stunned by this, like they’ve never seen a vehicle move without a horse before. In 1907. 22 years after the first functional automobile was invented. Ugh. 

15.) seriously tho who thought basing a sequel on the Frederick Forsythe novel was a good idea why did nobody think to stop him apart from Sir Andy’s pet cat Otto. why.

16) The Phantom’s interactions with Gustave are distinctly creepy and unsettling. I keep getting pedo vibes from him and I Do Not Like It.

17.) The death scene at the end is so goddamn over-the-top and out of nowhere I just want to throw something, ugh

18.) And finally, my last gripe with this mess: This takes place in 1907, and declares that it’s ten years after the original musical. Despite the fact that the OG took place in 1885. Yippy skippy. 😑

I can honestly say I am Not a Fan of this musical as a whole, mostly based on the plot and the character assassinations (one quite literal) and the poor lyrics. I can admire the camera work, the basic singing ability, the scenery and costumes, and maybe two or three songs. But I just do not enjoy it. It took me two days to finish watching it because I kept cringing from what shit kept happening, and had to walk around and listen to other shit to get it out of my head. 

HOWEVER: People do enjoy this one on the sake of it being so bad and over-the-top, and I can honestly see the whys. It helps that most of the cast can sing, and the orchestration is done well. There’s a TON of stupid to mock, and a lot of over-the-top awkwardness to laugh at. This is a good one to watch and mock with friends, IMO. 

For those of you who do enjoy it, I’m afraid I have to disagree on most of it. Still, it is nice being able to watch this one for free, even if it is a giant hot mess.

And that’s all for me on this one! Have a good week guys!

[theunfamilliarmatter]

Some Thoughts on Nesta’s and Feyre’s Relationship

I hate Nesta in ACOTAR and ACOMAF. After reading ACOWAR, I was still on a fence about her. In fact, I felt kinda uneasy when someone expresses his/her love towards her, cause I still couldn’t forgive Nesta for how she treated Feyre (she has layers, sure, but I still couldn’t not dislike her).

BUT, i’ve thought about her a lot these days and found that she really grew on me and I felt like I was wrong for refusing to see other parts of her. In this post, I am going to compile all the moments that changed my opinion on Nesta and her relationship with Feyre for the better.

Nesta is very proud, that much is clear. She also has the tendency to turn a blind eye towards something she didn’t like or she’s not affected by personally (more about this later on). I think, when it comes to Feyre, Nesta just wanted to reach out to her but doesn’t know how. Nesta also showed a great deal of respect towards her sister, and, sometimes, be inspired by her. Don’t you ever tell me that Nesta doesn’t love and care about Feyre as much as she does Elain. She just have a different dynamic with Feyre.

ACOTAR

1. When Feyre asked her to cut some woods or sth, Nesta refused. But, the next morning, Feyre found out that Nesta has cut some woods, anyway. This, to me, is the first inkling on Nesta’s internal conflict between her pride and vulnerability. 

2. Nesta made a hurtful remark about Feyre’s “masterpieces”. I hated Nesta for using sth that meant a lot to her sister to, tho not deliberately, hurt her. However, let’s not forget that, the first time Feyre went back from the Spring Court, Nesta asked Feyre to TEACH her how to paint. This is important. I don’t think that Nesta had a particular interest in painting. I think that she was aware of the hurtful comment she directed at Feyre and wanted to let Feyre know that she didn’t mean it, that she didn’t actually belittle her skill. She wanted to let Feyre know that, in fact, she thought Feyre is good enough that she wanted to be taught by her.

3. Nesta went to the wall to look for Feyre. This is already a strong proof of Nesta’s quiet love for Feyre. However, this passage further confirmed it :

“What happened to Tomas Mandray?” I asked, the words strangled.

“I realized he wouldn’t have gone with me to save you from Prythian.”

Nesta never loved Tomas, I know, but at the beginning, she was very adamant about marrying him, even after Feyre told her over and over again to not marry him (cause Nesta hates feeling like a burden and she wanted to get out of the house and took care of herself). Anyway, one would think that her breaking up with Tomas isn’t about Feyre at all, that she was only doing it because she was worried that, comes a time when Elain needs help, Tomas wouldn’t help her. But, if that were the case, Nesta would not have broken up with Tomas right then and there. She would have just went back, and broke up with Tomas only when he wouldn’t help Elain. However, what actually happened next showed that Feyre meant as much to her as Elain.

4. Nesta talked to Feyre about her complete disappointment towards their father, she said,

“He let her die. You would have gone to the ends of the earth to save your High Lord.”

I always have a feeling that Nesta understood Feyre more than she let on ; this quote is one of the inklings that I got. 

5. “What do you think you can even do to help? He’s a High Lord—you’re just a human.” That wasn’t an insult, either. A question from a coolly calculating mind.

This is how Nesta showed her concern. She did the same thing in ACOWAR.

6. “But Nesta held my gaze. Unflinching.”

…

“Prythian!” my father and Elain blurted. But Nesta held up a hand to silence them.

…

My sister helped me, then opened the wardrobe to pull out a heavy tunic and pants and boots. I slipped into them and was braiding back my hair when she said, “We don’t need you here, Feyre. Do not look back.”

What this whole scene showed me is that Nesta respected Feyre and has always been aware of her strength. Instead of holding Feyre back, she let her do what she wanted. The same thing happened in ACOWAR, when Feyre went to find the Suriel and Nesta didn’t tell anyone about it. She respected Feyre’s need to go unnoticed and she believe that Feyre really could do what she wanted to do.

This scene also showed that Nesta truly wanted to be there for her sister in her own way.

8. “Try to send word once it’s safe. And if it ever is … Father and Elain can have this place. I think I’d like to see what else is out there, what a woman might do with a fortune and a good name.”

Don’t ever tell me that Nesta didn’t care about Feyre. She was worried about Feyre, but she didn’t want to prevent Feyre from experiencing more than what their little village could offer.

9. Another detail i’d like to point out is that Nesta hired a mercenary to take her to the wall “With the money from [Feyre’s] pelt.” Before this, I thought that she just spent all the money Feyre gave her, but she actually saved them and used them to get to Feyre.

10. This one we all already know, but I’ll include it anyway.

“…If he would actually go out and fight for us. I couldn’t take care of us, not the way you did. I hated you for that. But I hated him more.”

ACOMAF

There wasn’t a lot of details about them in this book. However, I found one it the short story from the Target Edition.

“How is my sister?”

…

“Busy”

…

“So busy she cannot deign to visit, it seems”

This was the first thing she asks Cassian. Again, don’t you tell me Nesta didn’t care about Feyre or that she wanted nothing to do with her.

ACOWAR

1. Remember in ACOMAF when Feyre didn’t look comfortable with eating human food and Nesta made a curt comment about it? In Acowar, during dinner, Nesta said to Feyre that she know understood what she meant by food tasting differently. I see it as Nesta’s way of apologizing.

2. Of course, the scene in the library where Feyre asked Nesta why she pushed everyone away except Elain. Then Nesta closed her eyes and took a deep breath before starting to answer Feyre (THEN OF COURSE IT GOT INTERRUPTED). Nesta closing her eyes and breathing deeply before answering means sth to me. it tells me that she also hates how badly she has been treating Feyre. I NEED TO KNOW WHY. NOW.

Also, Nesta told Feyre how she didn’t know that Feyre really couldn’t read, “I thought you could read as well as we do”. She neglected Feyre during her hunting years, now she found out that she had no idea Feyre couldn’t read. I saw this as Nesta being upset for failing her sister again.

3. Before Feyre and the rest of the Night Court when to the Summer Court to fight with them, Nesta asked, “What do you know of battle?“.

4. That time when Nesta said to Feyre, “You look beautiful” before they went to the meeting with the High Lords. I love her ease in the way she conveyed it. Slowly, guys. She’s reaching out.

5.

Nesta was so riled up when Feyre asked her to talk to the HIgh Lords about what happened to her. However, in the end, she decided to brace herself and talk about her story because she didn’t wanna be remembered as a coward.

Nesta said : “It was some distant thing, war. Battle. It…it’s not anymore. i will help…if I can”

Then she also said : “You went off to battle for a court you barely know-who barely see you as friends…And when I asked you why…you said because it was the right thing”

Earlier, when I said Nesta has the tendency to turn a blind eye towards something she didn’t like or she’s not affected by personally, this is what I mean (Also, tho I can’t find the passage in the book, I swear Nesta said sth along the lines of “Isn’t there someone who could do it for me?”. I forgot what the conversation was about tho. You can even blame this side of her for neglecting Feyre all these years). Now that she’s in the midst of war, she decided to be involved and Feyre is the one that inspired her greatly to finally open up herself and be braver.

6. At the meeting with the High Lords.

“To be close to the Walls-and human lands”

At this, Nesta and I exchanged looks

Idk what else to say about this. it was just a nice moment worth mentioning.

7. “But beneath the wall, I witnessed children-entire families-starve to death”

She jerked her chin at me. “Were it not for my sister… I would be among them”

This is soooooo important. Nesta didn’t sweep Feyre’s sacrifices under the rug, okay? Again, she just didn’t know to to show Feyre how grateful she was.

8. Nesta told Feyre about her “cost” of being a fae : seeinng Elain suffered while she went unscathed. Also, she told Feyre she couldn’t get into bathtubs anymore because it triggered her memory. This was after Feyre to her about her fear of close spaces. Feyre has become someone Nesta could really confide in and I love that.

9. The night Elain got kidnapped. Feyre rushed out of the tent to look for Nesta.

“…she was already there, hurrying for me..”

It was Feyre she ran to first when she sensed that sth is wrong.

10. When Az, Feyre, Elain, and Briar arrived safely at the camp, Nesta SPRINTED towards Feyre FIRST, hugged her, and said “Thank you”.

11. DON’T FORGET THE ARCHERON SISTERS CUDDLE.

SO, GUYS. I do believe that Nesta loves, cares, respects Feyre and she has been trying to reach out to her and be there for her in her own way. This is really an interesting dynamic and I’m excited for what’s in store for them in the next book. 

I would like to reiterate that I hate the spiteful side of Nesta. When her father lost his fortune and couldn’t (or wouldn’t) take care of them, and after she and Elain was turned into Faes. I get that, especially the whole fae thing, it was a freaking difficult thing to deal with, but she was still awful to everyone. So, I am very aware of the terrible things she’s said and done. I don;t think she’s a saint or anything, but I want to see her redeem herself. I don’t even expect her to literally apologize to Feyre (that would be such a DRASTIC change), but I am hoping for more moments like these.

On a side note, I think Nesta’s dynamic with Elain has its flaws as well. I’m still not sure about this, and some of you might disagree. I feel like Nesta sees Elain as some fragile little flower. Her protectiveness towards Elain feels a bit much to me. She didn’t include Elain in the matter about Prythian in ACOMAF (In the short story with Cassian, we know that Nesta doesn’t want Elain to be involved). There are other details as well but I can’t remember now. Anyway, again, we’ll see what happens in the next book.

Overall, I can see how their relationship is taking shape now. I expect Nesta to continue to be very doting, gentle, and protective towards Elain. However, I think Feyre is gonna be the one that she confides it the most, that understands her better, that inspired her the most.

Tell me what you think. I would love to talk more about their relationship.