#aaron burr was a real life human disaster

[ikebanaka]

Things that give me life:

Remembering that Aaron Burr once set himself on fire trying to light a candle with his gun and a bunch of gunpowder.

[xombigirl]

What’s the most ridiculous fact you know?

Oh wow. Um. Not sure if it's super ridiculous but a kind of funny fact I know is that the real life Aaron Burr was a fucking human disaster. He once set himself on fire by trying to light a candle with the powder from his pistol. The man was A Mess

[multsicorn]

i just really love this play alot ;) okay

Working on the theory that I Deserve To Have Fun (said theory has not been validated and is not ready for prime time discussion), I started watching the bootleg file I have of the OBC of Hamilton this afternoon.  (I downloaded it way back when I was in Hamilton fandom, before I went to go to see the play, and held off on watching it until I'd seen the play for Real, and then didn't particularly feel like it afterwards).

Some thoughts & observations:

[these got long and rambling.  lots of lams-shippiness and multi-shippiness, and gen stuff too]

* This play is really fuckin great.  Like, I've loved fandoms based around deeply mediocre and/or inconsistent canons, (looking at you, Check Please for the first, Glee for the second), and sure the hype around Ham was too big for anything to bear, but… yeah, I just really LOVE this canon, whatever its flaws, with so much heart, on so many levels.

* The staging!!!  I think means a lot here specificially cause I've heard all these songs dozens of times, mostly well over a year ago now, but - once in a while recently again, but in any case, I've done all my analysis picking over the songs, and they're inside me to a large extent.  Whereas much of the staging I only saw once, live.

* (And I had a close-up seat, then, which I paid lots of money for and felt Worth It, but I was so focused on the actors' faces, and so didn't read as much of the overall blocking as maybe I could have).

… anyway ….

"Alexander Hamilton"

* Alex taking off his white coat and putting on the brown coat Eliza gives him feels to me, this time, like he's leaving the world of the dead and coming to life.  Standing out from the crowd - of course - from the ensemble that's all wearing all-white - so he's Setting Out, etc., but also - they're back in all-white at the end, like ghosts.  So.  A sort of leaving the world outside time.

(Speaking of Eliza, there, I still always love the Eliza-Angelica-Laurens sequence in which they give Alex the coat, the book, and the bag.  MY SHIPSSS.  Such parallel!)

(And the bit where Washington's the one who's telling Alex he has to make something of himself! - I know I thought about and maybe posted about these things  back when the Grammy performance happened, but, Anyway.)

ALSO, also, 'you could never learn to take your time' being sung over Alex walking at a deliberately restrained pace to match the choreography on the bridge at the back of the stage so he comes down the stairs on the other side at the right time, is… funny.  Ha.  But the line's still true!  - And I just love how much the ensembles' dancing itself works as scenery.

"Aaron Burr, Sir"

* Alex is SO FUCKING EAGER it's RIDICULOUS he's like a PUPPY all like I CAN FRIEND!?!?

Burr may try to pretend he's not having it but he IS a BIT or he wouldn't invite Alex to have a drink etc. and… I love.

And then, every single time I hear the little line not-actually-exchange:

Burr: Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead

Laurens, in his first line in real time: What time is it?  (Showtime!)

Burr: Like I said…

I say, RUDE.

Although honestly - Burr is totally into Alex's ridiculous eagerness, like I said, he's coming closer, he admits something personal, he invites Alex out for a drink, it's not as obvious as Alex (cause he's just not) - and it's pretty RUDE ;), too of the revolutionary trio, from Burr's POV, to by their loudness and brashness and total lack of caution get in the middle of what was just shaping up to be possibly a Great Friendship.  So he can be forgiven for Harbinger of Dooming ;).

“My Shot” & "The Story of Tonight”

* As in most of Alex's interactions with the Gay Trio (Quartet!), I keep switching back and forth between LAMS IS REALLLL (it was, historically) (I wouldn't see it, though, I think, if I didn't know), and just ALEX IS A BI HUMAN DISASTER CUDDLING UP TO EVERY FRIEND HE MAKES.  Like, there's considerably More random arm-and-shoulder touching between Laurens and Alex than everyone else?  "You and I, do or die," (I do die!), and then they split up to each touch another dude, and in a slightly later verse Laurens is back again… oh, no, that 'back again' is "raise a glass to the four of us," BOTH TIMES, cause it has to be, ha.  You can say 'to the two of us,' Laurens, it's okay!  … But, like, otoh, "hard rock like Lancelot, I think your pants look hot, Laurens I like you a lot," is totally Alex flirting with these three dudes he just met all in the space of three lines.  It's great is what I'm saying.  Also Alex could use a positive setting towards people that's not 'will you be my friend and also get in my pants.'

The narrative of the song here, with the rest of the Revolutionary Quartet listening to Alex sceptically for his first few verses till they're impressed - I love the way that Laurens is his first and loudest and most consistent cheerleader ("shout it to the rooftops!"), hey, listen to this guy speak, the way that Alex LOOKS LIKE he's on a soapbox when he literally is, how that evokes the physicality of speaking to the crowd, and how his mind shoots three steps ahead of the present, and, yeah, okay, I just love the Alex/Laurens dynamic most of all, (cause I'm biased ;)), the way that Lauren's idealistic speaking ('raise a glass to freedom,' and, um, what was the start of his verse in My Shot?  whatever it was) makes Alex ~Look at him, and the way he's kinda just looking at Alex all the time.  Walking off arm-in-arm is SO they are together, okay.

(…. there are ten thousand more things in these songs, of course, but this is a post about My FEELINGS.)

“The Schuyler Sisters”

* The sibling back-and-forth dynamic here is just so freaking delightful to watch, it's so complicated, I can FEEL it.  Like, it feels like my sister and me (despite me only having the one)… Eliza going back and forth between Peggy and Angelica, how she's not just the middle sister in age, but she's trying to get Peggy to go along with Angelica's scheme, asking questions of and playing backup to Angelica, just - and the whole "mind at work" thing is perfect and Meaningful too, of course.  But what's harder to talk about here is the sibling dynamics, leading and restraining and following and conciliating, and it's displayed so well in the blocking and acting - and also, I can see how this Eliza falls for and enchants Alex.

Angelica has center stage for most of it, but I love the way Eliza takes center stage for a little bit - and when she does it's not about "work" anymore, but about HOW LUCKY WE ARE TO BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW, which feels kinda painfully and naively optimistic nowadays but… I do believe it's still true, in exactly the same way that I always did, in the same way that line works in the play, recurring even in the worst times.  We're lucky to be alive at any time - there's still so much good in the world, people to love, and work to do.  ("Joy is deliberate.")  And Eliza's pulling focus for a sec to be HEY GUYS ISN"T THIS SO MUCH FUN, before ceding it (joyfully, too, imo!) to Angelica's Things To Do!

Also the particular choreography of the way they three of them spin almost-in-place but trading places?  I can't even figure out what it is, but I'm obsessed with it permanently.

“Farmer Refuted"

* The way that Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette all cheer Alex on, and maybe try to restrain him a little, but mostly just cheer him on, is both super fun to watch, and even more fun if you have shipping goggles, so it turns into LOOK HOW GREAT OUR BOYFRIEND IS.  Fun!  I'm just saying.  Come for the story about ambition, stay for the compersion.

Also I would like to note with appreciation Laurens' arm around Aaron Burr at the start of this song, as well as his approach to Burr at the start of "My Shot" - like, dude, he totally had a thing for Burr before he met Alex, but Burr was Not Having it, too hotheaded!  Idk it just amuses me that's all.

And notice how Alex waits to jump in till he has his reply READY~, he's mile-a-minute, yes, but he takes the time he needs to PREPARE for that.

“You’ll Be Back”

* J. Groff is the one original cast member I didn't see, when I went to see the play live, and he is Really Delightful here.  Great play of the madness, the pouting, the playfulness that's actually danger, etc.  Only thing is that I always feel like those "da da da da" choruses sound like they ought to have a classic chorus line kick!  But you couldn't do that with a single person, it would just look ridiculous, and the single-ness vs. ensemble-ness of King George works so well for thematic reasons… but is it still ridiculous to say they have a chorus line kick SOUND in my head?  Because they do.

“Right Hand Man”

* I just love so much how they create an action scene in a song!!!  You might think it wouldn't work, but it DOES, all you need is a few lines describing the back-and-forth progress of a battle.  Just enough.

Why does Washington send Burr away?  You really can't tell!  And I think that works, that ambiguity, no one knows - Burr certainly doesn't know, so that feeling of unfairness festers.  But sometimes you're just not what someone wants, and I think history backs that up too…

That whole little sequence of "how come no one can get you on their staff" (it's one of those lines where the double entendre does really good work, cause WHAT IF he was saying that, right), from Hamilton asking "have I done something wrong, Sir," to making that Decision, with the chorus rising shouting in the background, "I am not throwing away my shot," but would taking the pen be taking the shot or throwing it away - it's the most fraught thing in the musical so far!  And that's a huge part of why I love this musical SO DAMN MUCH, in addition to the way it creates its own vernacular, the complex personal relationships, etc., is how the story of ambition and Doing The Work, is put above everything else.  A promotion with ambiguous risks and rewards Is the most fraught thing in life… the hardest decision to make… I love.  And how Alex wants to fight, and also he's wary of being under command in this particular way, but the moment, the very moment he takes the pen he's charging ahead nonstop again.  "Write to Congress, tell 'em we need supplies," of course all the work he does here is over-simplified, it'd have to be to fit in any way, but… getting support out of Congress was actually one of the more challenging aspects of the war, and something Alex worked on a lot!

Also I love the random shoulder-clasp between Alex and Laurens right before Washington announces Alex as his right-hand man, precisely because it's so seemingly purposeless, like… it's a congrats, man?  Sure.  But also we just have to touch each other at least once a song, it's like, required.  Thank <3.

And overall this whole number, Washington's entrance, etc., and… really just the whole play!  Yeah it's genuinely Quality, it's layered, you can talk about technical or literary aspects, but watching for the first time in A While and just being carried along by the spectacle as much as the story?  It's so Drama, so Extra, it's great.

... and this is only the first third or so of the first act, ha.  To be continued in another post.  Perhaps.

[savrenim]

So I got a whole lot of awesome questions about ifmlam from, I’m assuming the same anon? They contain spoilers through ch 27, and thus are appearing under the cut.

So in the universe where timeline 2 happened what were Seers essentially for? Were there more wars happening due to their advantages? Did scientists follow after Franklin's footsteps and ask questions about their research to the Seer in hopes that they would say something that might confirm or further the theory? Also I couldn't help but think that the hypothetical Hamilton play in that timeline focused a lot on Alexander being the reason for Aaron's death but what about Phillip's death?

Si, so I was scroll down your page and I stumbled upon the 'timeline 2 happened in this universe' post and I was wondering what Seers are universally known to have as an ability? You said that Aaron was 'one of the more powerful Seers' which implies he's not the most powerful Seer? So I was wondering what the most powerful Seer is like and what abilities do they all share? You emphasized a lot on versatility and so I'm assuming that Seers with weaker abilities can't adapt very well?

P.2 What determines a strong Seer? Or how a Seer gets their abilities? Is it a random scramble of powers mixed together and slapped onto them by God? Or is it carefully chosen due to some higher power deciding that 'ah yes, this will surely suit them the most. let's give them the power to predict nature diasasters but not human ones', etc,etc,etc?? And since you labeled Aaron as the first Modern Seer, does that mean he's the first Seer to display his power in such a successful and powerful way?

So to preface this all. There is a…big problem to answering fully pretty much 50% of the questions asked here? And the problem is “what are Seers, what are they for, why do they exist, what are the implications of the rules of a universe that works this way” are pretty much the plot of the tentatively-planned sequel that would be set ~250-300 years in the future and deal with both society dealing with the consequences of Burr’s actions as well as with both the consequences and figuring out the rules behind what makes Seers tick.

I want to be very careful not to promise a sequel that may or may not ever exist, there are just A Lot Of Cool Ideas That I Have and stuff that I’ve outlined that, like, for now as there seems to be a fairly reasonable chance that they might get used are something that I’d rather keep close to my chest, you know? Especially because the way that they’re set well in the future and based only on the ideas of the fic and not really the actual musical, I think I’d just write as original novels, and while I’d definitely post them online for free because I think it’s really shitty to take a story that people have been excited about that’s just been online for free and then go “so if you want to know how this story continues you have to pay,” because at this point they’re novels I don’t really want to be posting novel ideas online just to have the concepts stolen and somebody else write said novels.

That being said, here are the answers to all of your questions.

What were Seers essentially for? That’s one of the things that takes a couple hundred years to figure out.

Were there more that were happening due to their advantages? In terms of history going differently? Um, yes. Very much so. Except because I am not a history major and dear gods historical speculation is hard I’m leaving a lot of that up in the wind and mostly only have been charting the progression of science and technology that’s been different because those are the things that I solidly do know inside and out because that is my actual field of study. (Well, math and physics are my actual field of study but I try to learn alongside the important discoveries, when they happened and what led to them happening, because that’s fun to know..)

Did scientists follow after Franklin's footsteps and ask questions about their research to the Seer in hopes that they would say something that might confirm or further the theory? Yes, yes they did.

Actually, the biggest thing that Burr contributed to any timeline so far follows from round 2/the first repeat that is the offhand comment that Aaron Burr makes when Franklin tries to explain the light particle vs wave argument and Burr throws his hands in the air and goes “can’t there be both.” Pretty much the biggest revolution in science and technology in our world came at the cusp of the 20th century in this order: Maxwell figures out the equations for E&M waves and it implies that the speed of light is constant —> Einstein does relativity; at the same time, light=particle vs light=wave theories are having trouble explaining all phenomenon and there are things like the blackbody radiation problem, to which Planck figures out that if you restrict energy levels to specific quantities, it gets solved. —> Einstein also works off of this and quantum physics is born. All of this is helping create models of the atom and tests and being done and Einstein from general relativity figures out the mass and energy are basically the same, which leads eventually to the nuclear bomb being developed.

Now, take into account that “light being both particle and wave” plays massively into quantum stuff because electrons let out light when going down from energy levels and what-not, as well as it would potentially speed up the discovery of Maxwell’s equations and just all of this theory that led to the creation of the nuclear bomb. Possibly by the time WWI rolled along, which, like. Just would vastly reshape pretty much the entire political map and now can you see why I really, really, really hate doing historical speculation it is freaking CHAOS to track all of the things and come up with how the hell politics would have gone just going forward a century.

Also I couldn't help but think that the hypothetical Hamilton play in that timeline focused a lot on Alexander being the reason for Aaron's death but what about Phillip's death? I actually wrote a post about this! http://savrenim.tumblr.com/post/154913162666/wheeee-mkay-latest-anon-so-i-am-paranoid-about

Si, so I was scroll down your page and I stumbled upon the 'timeline 2 happened in this universe' post and I was wondering what Seers are universally known to have as an ability? That’s one of the things that takes a couple hundred years to figure out. Actually, that’s pretty much the single fact that all other things revolve around.

You said that Aaron was 'one of the more powerful Seers' which implies he's not the most powerful Seer? “Powerful” in this context means “how much did they affect global politics/ how much did their abilities allow them to affect global politics.” It also means “to what degree are their abilities directly testable and consistent.” Burr has an incredibly specific and consistent power, he is the first person that the world was able to prove was a Seer since Joan of Arc, and pretty much the entire fic is about look how much Aaron Burr can affect American and global politics, so that one speaks for itself.

So I was wondering what the most powerful Seer is like and what abilities do they all share? You emphasized a lot on versatility and so I'm assuming that Seers with weaker abilities can't adapt very well? Oh god so I mostly haven’t decided what the most powerful Seer was like, simply because there is a heck of a lot of non-Western culture that I am not that familiar with and Seers have popped up around the world. I kind of wanted to leave this open-ended so that people could pick their favorite historical figures from their own cultures or cultures that they love and have studied, and headcanon them as Seers in this world, and who am I to tell you that they weren’t.

(For anyone doing this, the single rule is that there is only one and always one Seer alive on the planet at any given time. Otherwise, headcanon away.)

Seers with weaker abilities tend to never be identified, or to be thought of as crazy and depending on their location and the people around them, either live a quiet life as the local crazy person or are thrown into a madhouse. It really sucks.

What determines a strong Seer? Or how a Seer gets their abilities? So there is the single overarching ability that all Seers have and that links all Seers, which is not figured out for a couple hundred years and is what the sequels are about. How the Seer gets the abilities that they naturally manifest are pretty much “they express themselves in whatever way best suits the Seer’s psychology and personality.” Hence why there are a lot of religious Seers in the Western world in the last couple of centuries (mostly John Calvin and his whole predestination thing, and Joan of Arc and her whole visions of angels telling her about battles thing.)

Is it a random scramble of powers mixed together and slapped onto them by God? Or is it carefully chosen due to some higher power deciding that 'ah yes, this will surely suit them the most. let's give them the power to predict nature disasters but not human ones', etc,etc,etc?? There is no evidence in the universe as of the time of ifmlam or the sequels to suggest the existence of a God or higher power. There is also no evidence against the existence of a God or higher power. The fact that Seers exist and what they see can be somewhat explained by science in this universe, and eventually is. Whether or not people still choose to believe in things, and whether or not those things are true, is entirely up in the air, much as I at least personally consider it to be in the real world.

And since you labeled Aaron as the first Modern Seer, does that mean he's the first Seer to display his power in such a successful and powerful way? Nah, first Modern Seer very specifically refers to the fact that he is the first post-Enlightenment (or at least co-current with the Enlightenment) Seer and thus pretty much the first real proof at the same time that (Western) science is rapidly advancing that this is actually a thing to consider in terms of trying to map out how the universe works, as well as pretty much the first Seer that anyone ever got to ask questions of “how in the world does this work” to.