#actor nerdery

[mywingsareonwheels]

Nerdery

Here is something the first episode of Inspector Morse (1987) and the first episode of the magnificent BBC radio series of The Lord of the Rings (1981) have in common:-

Philip Voss (the Coroner / the Lord of the Nazgul[1]) asks searching questions of Peter Woodthorpe (Max DeBryn[2] / Gollum).

I have to wonder whether the parallel occurred to either or both of them during the filming of Morse. ;-)

Incidentally, because this delights me, here's a full list (so far! I may have missed some!) of actors who were in both the LotR radio series and the morseverse:-

James Grout (DCS Strange in Inspector Morse / Butterbur)

Michael Horden - (Dr Starkie in Inspector Morse ("Service for all the Dead") / Gandalf)

John McAndrew (Leslie Garnier in Endeavour ("Cartouche") / Pippin)

Robert Stephens (Sir Wilfred Mulryne in Inspector Morse ("The Setting of the Sun" / Aragorn)

Philip Voss (the Coroner in Inspector Morse / the Lord of the Nazgul)

Peter Woodthorpe (Max DeBryn / Gollum)

That all makes me so happy. :D

ALSO

a) James Bradshaw's played Bilbo Baggins in a stage production of The Hobbit so Max really is the hobbit pathologist (Bilbo!Max and Gollum!Max ;-) )

b) the composer of the LotR radio series was the late, great Stephen Oliver who (was the wonderful comedian John Oliver's uncle and also) wrote the music for the RSC musical of Nicholas Nickleby that was rather a hit in the 1970s. It was the success of that musical that was a huge part of why Trevor Nunn and the RSC in general were willing to take a risk on a musical of rather a long book by Victor Hugo in the 1980s... So, there's a Roger Allam connection too. ;-)

[1] Aka the Witch-King of Angmar, but he's called the LotN in the radio series cast list (and it makes sense for him as a title for nerdy reasons I won't go into ;-) ).

[2] "DeBryn" was created as Max's surname for Endeavour so strictly speaking that's inaccurate but.

[rottenbrainstuff]

Hunh interesting. I’ve just read that the two main actors from the 1968 Romeo and Juliet want to file a lawsuit for being coerced into being filmed nude, claiming they didn’t want to but were told the film would fail if they didn’t agree to it. It seems to be starting a lot of interesting (and disappointing) conversations.

Some people are saying, well, it’s been fifty years and just NOW they are complaining? This movie put these actors on the radar, they owe their entire careers to this movie, the nudity is tasteful, it’s not pornographic, so what’s the issue? These actors have said nice things about the director in interviews this whole time, etc etc etc

Look I don’t have all the details here. But my instinct is this is a shitty reaction to have to this. “Why are they only bringing this up now?” Maybe because at the time they were teenagers and brand new actors and didn’t feel like they could effectively speak out, maybe in the current culture of increased speaking out, they feel encouraged to actually say hey, this thing that happened wasn’t actually ok. “Why are they criticizing this movie when it made them famous?” Geeze that’s a really bullshit take to have? Shut up and be happy about it? “The nudity was tasteful” man it doesn’t really matter what your opinion is, does it? What matters is that they say they felt coerced. “They have been friendly with the director and have always said nice things about him before this” have you never… been… in situations like this where it is a very complicated dynamic? Where sometimes you feel conflicted because a person taking advantage of you also seems to be a good person? Or where you were afraid to say anything bad? Like…

I mean I think this is very interesting, I think there should be some discussion about this, but I think THIS particular take I just read with my own two eyes is dumb.

In addition I will say… perhaps these two actors have put on a friendly public face and not said anything bad about the director until now… but writer / director Bruce Robinson was also in Romeo and Juliet, and he HAS spoken about the director being a creep. Apparently in Withnail & I, the character Uncle Monty is inspired by this director.

Anyways. Interesting. I hope to hear more information about this that ISN’T some stupid “they should just be happy the movie made them famous and not rock the boat after all this time” bullshit.

[demonslayedher]

Appreciating the KnY Noh Production: Part 1 of 3

Humans are demons, demons are humans. Weave their eternal feelings, and dance.

...or so goes my very basic translation of the tagline of the Kimetsu no Yaiba Noh/Kyogen production, "人も鬼、鬼も人　不滅の思いを紡ぎ、舞う" which could arguably be translated in other ways like "humans and demons" or "inextinguishable thoughts" or you could rid of the comma. I wanted to keep the translation more aligned with how people might be familiar with Ubuyashiki's words, while also capturing the spiritual element behind dances in Noh, but there is no such things as perfectly translating something's form, especially if you're trying to keep it beautiful. It's wiser to translate in spirit.

That, I feel, came through in adapting a hit manga like Kimetsu no Yaiba into one of Japan's most high-culture theater traditions.

(Source and interview with Ohtsuki here)

As much as I love going to any silly, gimicky KnY event, I admit that my appreciation for this one partly stems from my (overly?) deep appreciation for the original Gotouge creation, as well as from previous study of Noh basics (not to mention understanding Japanese). That means that in order for me to be a simple fangirl about it, I'm going to have to explain a bit of Noh background, at least as far as it relates to Kimetsu no Yaiba. My scene-by-scene fangirling will come in the following two parts, so enjoy the nerdery for now.

This post is going to serve as background information for the sake of pointing out the things I appreciated about this production. It's not going to be a full intro to Noh, because that would be a silly goal when all I want to do is gush. However! My blog has also become a window into Japanese culture for many readers and I am happy to pull you by the wrists to fall through the window with me. As such, I'm referring you to the-Noh.com for English language overviews about the background, meaning, and basic details of Noh, as well as more and more to read about if you find yourself inclined.

For our purposes here, Noh has its roots in humorous Kyogen plays (and the two are often linked), it has a sparse approach to the stage and props, but each element serves a practical and/or symbolic meaning.

Knowing this visual language helps in appreciating the story. For example, knowing which role each character plays based on which part of the stage they stay closest to, or what kind of being they are based on what prop they carry (spoiling this for you right now, I've always loved the tiny demon mallet, it's so non-threatening like the oni is going around bopping people on the head with it). And of course, Noh masks are iconic and prolific, something which can also be said of the KnY universe. Let's Ask Shogo has an enlightening video about Noh masks, and it's a good starting point for appreciating Noh. Another example I'll refer to a lot is the hashigakari, a bridgeway to the left of the main stage where actors make their entrances and exits. This is often treated as a gateway between worlds, and since spirits letting go of their attachments and moving on is a common theme, exiting down this bridgeway implies implies that. As you can imagine, a play with ghosts and demons like KnY makes use of that.

(Source and more about Noh stage design here)

That brings us to the themes... When I first heard about this play, I was struck by how well the themes of KnY line up with Noh, and that's a big reason this project became a reality in the first place--people in the Noh world sure noticed too. I'm probably going to come back to the theme of "demon/ghost/whatever being with a sad past moves on" over and over so I'm leaving this here for now, but that takes us into a couple of the most important character roles: Shite: The main character, the one often going through some sort of spiritually transformative experience

Waki: The side character, who often helps the shite attain that spiritually transformative experience, often simply by listening and bearing witness to it

That created a challenge for the KnY production. Tanjiro is the shite, as he is the focal character, but he plays more of a waki role in the arcs of other characters.

There are also Kyogen characters, who often appear for the sake of comical relief. It's not uncommon for them to have dialogue together, as in the case of the Kasugai crows & sparrow drinking and complaining about their jobs, or to monologue to the audience, as Haganezuka did since he had a captive audience to hear him talk about how swords are made. These are some of the best opportunities to play with the onomatopoeic aspects of Kyogen scripts, often the word play is simply fun and rhythmic to listen to, compared to the chanting and (somewhat dis-harmonic) accompanying chorus and flutes and drums during the Noh drama. There are different structural functions of Kyogen when used in combination with Noh.

That brings us to structure. There are different kinds of Noh plays depending on their subject matter, but sometimes you get a whole menu of plays all at once, like going to a fancy Kaiseki restaurant that hits certain basics while showing you a multi-course meal of different cooking techniques. In Noh, this menu of plays watched in sequence is a Gobandate, five kinds of plays which can take all day to perform one after another. On special occasions like New Years, there's a special sixth elemental to start it all off on a spiritual high note.

*Special Occasions only!* Okina: Also called "Noh which is not Noh," this is like a ritualistic dance that is often associated with gods or other holy characters, sort of like a blessing over the whole event taking place on the stage that day

Waki-Noh: Kind of like an accompaniment to the implied shite character of the previous Okina, if there was one. Regardless, probably some focus on otherworldliness. Shura-Noh: Great tales of warriors, yay, always a safe bet for the stage

Katsura-Noh: Some story about a woman. Often a woman who is suffering, or in love. Or both! Women's stories in Noh are not limited to this category, as you can guess from below.

Zatsu-Noh: Kind of a catch-all category for stories that don't fit in other categories, a common theme is some kind of obsession or chaos.

Kiri-Noh: To finish with a bang, a play about a demon or other otherworldly thing.

In all of these, you'll find other structures of Noh story-telling, like the chanters telling you a lot of what's going on (like the narration in the early volumes of KnY, I felt!), or characters recounting their own story to a listener instead of acting it out in real time. That makes it perfectly plausible for a demon to get their head cut off, and then monologue about their sob story. This performance was formally structured as follows, at least in the first draft of the script, which saw a lot of changes by the time it hit the stage. It had to take a few liberties to fit around a story with a shite who acts like a waki, as well as presenting a Gobandate structure in the span of two hours. Okina: Hinokami (yes, perfect choice)

Waki-Noh: Sagiridoushi (the children of Sagiri, aka our favorite fox-mask wearing children)

Shura-Noh: Fujikasaneyama (Mt. Fujikasane)

Kyogen (Interlude 1): Katanakaji (Swordsmith)

Katsura-Noh: Shirayuki ("White Snow," the theme chosen for Nezuko's part, which I had so many feelings about)

Kyogen (Interlude 2): Kasugaigarasu (Kasugai Crows + Sparrow)

Zatsu-Noh: Kimi ga Tame (I'll explain the cleverness of this title later, but this was where Zenitsu & Inosuke, our favorite elements of chaos got to fit in)

Kiri-Noh: Rui

Or at least, that was the original idea. Some parts of the drafted script stayed pretty close, but other changed significantly based on run-time, overall flow of the production, and input from the director Ohtsuki Bunzou (a living National Treasure and the actor who played Rui), and from one of the lead actors, Nomura Mansai, who played Kibitsuji Muzan, whom I did not see coming.

I saw in the pamphlet that they were making an Okina themed around Hinokami Kagura and in my anticipation for being lulled into this experience with a holy dance entering from the hashigakari bridgeway, I was totally taken off-guard by Muzan, in full Michael Jackson style, strolling through the audience on his way to the stage, asking, "do I look sickly to you?"

HOLY FUDGE, THAT STARTLED ME

Mansai-san (referred to in this photo on the official Twitter as "Muzan-Mansai-sama" instead of just Mansai-san like in other interviews) has other drama experience besides Noh and was chosen to play Muzan from the get-go. Man, what a great Muzan he was. I don't know that I've become a Noh fan beyond having appreciation for it, but I have indeed become a Nomura Mansai fan. Anyway, this is all to set the stage (ha!) for more of my thoughts to come later, but I'll conclude this by saying that although they decided to break from stiff tradition to produce this play, they did so in the spirit of how centuries ago, plays would use content from popular literature like The Tale of Genji and The Tale of Heike to draw in crowds. Throughout the performer commentary, you can see them imploring Kimetsu no Yaiba fans to take this as a first step into appreciating Noh. There was a lot of care in making sure they did not become a copy of the KnY stage play musicals, for example, taking liberties with the costumes to make they recognizable but more Noh style than anime style.

The script writer, Kinoshita Yuuichi, set two important rules for himself: 1. Honor Gotouge's original work As such, he did a very close reading of the 23 volumes of manga and 2 fanbooks, but did not take other adaptations or outside materials into account (such as the anime or novels).

2. Make a true Noh production Although they needed to make a few departures from strict Noh style storytelling in order to fit Gotouge's story and characters, they used the elements of KnY to make something that honors Noh tradition and technique

Rather than just fangirling about the staging choices, a lot of my fangirling is going to be about Kinoshita's care with the script, and how beautifully he paid homage to famous works of Noh canon while also paying careful attention to emotional details and references throughout KnY. As someone who tries to express my love for canon while creating fanfics that are pleasing in the English language, the amount of care he took hit me deeply. Translation and adaptation is never exchanging one structure piece by piece into another. It takes a grasp for deeper meaning and beauty, both for the original work and what it is being transformed into. I shall humbly continue to try to convey my respect for that as I continue fangirling in Parts 2 and 3, my Scene-by-Scene reactions.

[jmtorres]

ETA 11/24/24 I will continue to focus on pretty & fun content like art, knitting, cats, etc but I'm releasing my stranglehold on not discussing hard stuff ever.

I thought as a fannish tumblr I could stumble along without a *jazz hands* policy but I guess I gotta pin a post.

I am on Tumblr for fun.

If you send an ask for money I will block and report spam.

Below the cut: stuff I reblog, sideblogs, stuff I try to avoid, block policies, queue, do not ask me for money, and as a palate cleanser to thank you for reading, a nice picture of my cat.

I like to reblog:

pictures of animals and flowers

fannish stuff about shows, books and podcasts I'm enjoying (I like a lot of shit and I'm a fannish butterfly and/or magpie, it's not useful for me to post a fandom list, it expands often) (this includes thinking about characters banging, if you are an "anti" you will probably not enjoy my blog)

sometimes chronic health stuff, that's less fun but the spoonie community sometimes offers advice i find useful or just, relatable weariness

neurodivergent stuff too

food and recipes

art (no AI. if you see me reblog AI-generated content feel free to let me know) (by the way I HATE being suspicious of artists and trying to figure out if something is genuinely creative or machine-mixed.)

architecture and interior decor

fashion

hot people, often wearing fashion

if it makes me laugh. memes and shit.

language/linguistics stuff

filmmaking stuff

knitting and other fibercrafts

general nerdery

queer stuff (history, queer rep, talking about the queer experience, hot queer people flaunting it)

jewish stuff (usually cultural, some midrash, I try not to post about current events see below)

scifi & fantasy writing/what-ifs/meta

polls I miss LJ clicky-boxes but i vote in all kinds of polls it activates something in my brain

like literally whatever interests me, this is a personal blog, not themed*

* i have a couple of themed blogs, which I very occasionally update:

@teachdeathtodye, about both fiber and hair dyeing

@wheresmygoddamnlunarbase, about surprising or exciting scientific and technological advancements.

any other blogs that are not defunct? apparently as of 2023 I still post to @hewasonfogmachine, which was essentially a moodboard for an epic plotbunny I never wrote. it was a rock star AU, so lots of interesting musical instruments and performances. also an MCU/Mission Impossible fusion so hot pics of actors from both franchises, and my fancasts for OCs. either a very specific or very random themed blog, but if it's to your taste, enjoy.

But back to THIS blog!

I try not to post about politics (I am trying not to even read about politics on tumblr tbh) but sometimes the moment moves me. I will tag relevantly (I use "us politics" for American shit and "i/p" for the Israel-Palestine conflict).

I believe in curating my tumblr experience. I filter a lot of keywords and tags, but I also unfollow people if you post something that upsets me and gets past the filters. It's rarely personal. Who I follow is meant to give me an interesting and pleasing dashboard experience, not necessarily be a reflection of who I'm friends with.

I block fairly liberally. If I find your posts/opinions antithetical to my existence or my friends' existence, I will do my damndest to block you rather than argue with you (sorry if i was unable to resist arguing with you before I remembered the block button).

I softblock declared minors who follow me. I'm not an "adult" blog per se but I'm not filtering my content for children and also if you are a minor for your own safety you should not be announcing it on the internet, get that shit off your profile.

I periodically check who follows me and I might softblock (or hardblock) you if I do not think we are compatible (ie you have a DNI that lists people like me but followed me anyway for some reason??)

I queue shit and don't mark it queued so me posting is never an indication of whether I'm actually online.

And here's the thing I need to say that got me to pin a post:

I do not reblog ANY requests for money, I do not respond to asks from people I don't know personally asking for money. I'm on Tumblr for fun and my wallet is not available.

If you send me something like that and it looks spammy (which if you're cold calling, it does), I will report you to Tumblr. If you send me something like that and we don't know each other at all, I will block you. (If I know you I will probably gently remind you I don't do that. Unless I know you but you've been borderline annoying or upsetting in the past, in which case I might just block you anyway.)

Look. The world sucks. A lot of us are in financial straits and are not getting the support we need from our communities, our governments, our families. But I don't have the energy to figure out if you're "deserving" and I'm not loaded either. I do my volunteering/community aid locally in person, not online, to be sure I know who I'm helping, and because a lot of the help I am able to provide is via action rather than money. I am very sorry for the failures of our society that have made social media your best chance of getting help, but please don't ask me to participate in that.

Here's my cat.

The end

[trekkiepirate]

Sometimes I am very forcibly reminded there are Normal People in this world.

I, my close family, my friends and most of my coworkers are some form of Nerd. Movie Nerd, Music Nerd, Fanfic Nerd, full-on going to conventions in order to stand near the actors who play the characters they write too much fanfic about and try to determine the exact. colour of their eyes for better descriptions in fic (that one's me) NERD.

I, like they, walk among the Normals of this world with the occasional Fandom nerdery about their person. And sometimes, like this morning, a Normal interprets this Fandom nerdery with a guess SO ENTIRELY INCORRECT that all regular brain function shuts down.

Case in point: I have a large Supernatural themed bag that I carry to work every day on public transit (picture below, I don't have a source as it was a gift)

This morning, a woman walked up to me and asked about the bag. I got as far as saying "It's a quote from a show-" before she said, "Is it about ending abortion?"

My lieblings, I froze and gaped like a stunned fish. I mumbled out something to the tune of "No, uh, it's called Supernatural and it's about fighting monsters-" when she continues, "It looks very biblical."

"Uh, well this character *points to Cas with his wings* IS an angel."

"Very biblical," she said again. Then walked back to the place she'd been waiting for the bus and returned to her phone conversation.

I spent the better part of that 20 minute bus ride trying to follow a train of thought that would see this image and those words and come to the conclusion that it is about ending abortion. (I got there in the end, but BOY HOWDY).

[greisekinderschar]

was at comic con in jaskier outfit yesterday and i tell you if one more person tells me they gave up on the show bc cavill is the uber geek and he would know i WILL lose it.

it’s not about the show, like if you don’t wanna watch it anymore without him yeah whatever you do you. but like, this was the only opinion on twn i heard yesterday, and no one specified what they don’t like about the show, and it’s like? have you read the books? (most of them said they love the video games - which is FINE but how does that license you to know the show is butchering the franchise) have you seen season 3? have you made your own opinion?

i don’t even wanna go against cavill personally bc i honestly tried to avoid that whole discourse and don’t know enough, but it’s like he was turned into this unquestionable god, for what? for being hot and into warhammer at the same time? yeah that’s some alpha beta whatever male shit right there, i understand why the ~reddit geeks~ would love that. but the women? this man is mostly known for loving video games and warhammer. thats genuinely just some dude. can you please be normal about it. (honestly as a woman in twn jaskier cosplay i actively hid from every man in geralt cosplay bc i dont trust them, sorry. and i also love the games, and i played all three of them) he’s not even a particularly good actor or anything? but that’s the showrunners’ fault ig.

like, what is the uber geek to you? someone who didn’t even know his favourite video game is based on books that existed before and only read them before playing the role and doesn’t even have a favourite part? which, again, is fine, but how does this make him the franchise expert, the savior of geeks?

WHAT I’M SAYING IS. as much as i love nerds and nerdery yall need to be more normal about things. “geek” is not an ethnicity and you do not need a king. especially not one from who you believe each and every word without questioning, bc it serves some incel’s wet dream or sth, and everyone else joins in in the re-masculinization of nerd culture, why exactly?

we all know that if there is one uber geek on the cast it is joey batey but that’s not the same, is it? bc he’s not the hypermasculinity guy. makes you think

and then you have the people saying they only forced in a queer storyline to make the show relevant again after it all, and honestly, they’re probably right, but you know what? at least that somehow steers against the hypermasculinity of it all. if they already lost all redditors they might as well go and make the best of it. kthxbye

[galacticdrift]

My BigBadCon2024 games/PCs

The Expanse RPG (Phoenix Wu, pilot): This was a good intro to the Expanse RPG system! We played a fun module where our transport ship encountered an automated SOS and checked it out, only for things to go horribly, horribly wrong… I think the system is, hm, not really for me all in all, but I still enjoyed getting hands-on exposure to it!

Dread (Jeanette Harris, stagehand): There was no way I was letting BigBadCon go by without playing some Dread, and happily I got into TWO very different but great scenarios. The first one, The Phantom of Off-Broadway, was mostly a black comedy, and had fictional scenes and songs for the fictional stage show that started going off the rails when the leading lady was found dead -- by yours truly, the stagehand. I had a funny, weirdly mutually-respectful dynamic with the overbearing scenery-chewing elder statesman actor playing the role of the ghost in the play -- not to be confused with the actual ghost(s) haunting the production.

Abyssal (Charlie, bartender/The Haunted): Honestly I don't generally tend to vibe so well with the Blades in the Dark style dice pool systems (as compared to the 2d6+X PBTA ones), but Abyssal does feel like Lara & Ash sanded off some of the ways that those grate on me, and having Lara herself run the game was of course wonderful.

At one point while we were on break I made the comment that any time any game focuses on my character (our goal was a casino heist in 70s Vegas, to fund Charlie opening her very own bar), I'm like 'wait, hang on, there seems to have been a mistake, shouldn't we be paying attention to someone else right now?'

Anyway I do love Charlie and her ghost raccoon buddy Lo Mein though, and I genuinely wish that oneshot would turn into a whole campaign.

To me there's something INCREDIBLY compelling about The Haunted being mostly just a regular alive person who happens to be in close contact with death/ghosts, in contrast to the other playbooks who have been fundamentally changed by some force and are on a slow slide toward alignment with that force. Like, yeah, The Haunted kind of is, too, but mainly just by being on an accelerated path toward the same inevitable end that every mortal faces.

Dread (Cal Hashimoto, exogeologist): This was the other Dread scenario I played, The Fermi Paradox, and WOW it was absolutely stellar (BA DUM TSSH). We played a mining crew landing on a moon of Uranus and discovering some cosmic horror, & what made it great for me personally was a) all the hard scifi nerdery I got to really lean into, & b) the way our character questionnaire answers at the start got tied in to the action of the plot and turned out to connect the different characters together.

Defy the Gods (Dumuz, The Revenant): In addition to Charlie, Dumuz really lives in my head now and I would LOVE to play a whole campaign as them with the table we had. In just the 1 session, we developed a burgeoning PC romance between the Revenant & the Sword, and I got to swing big by using the eponymous 'Defy the Gods' move to defile a temple and humiliate the god who wanted me destroyed (just because I lied to him to persuade him to help me escape the Underworld, I can't imagine why he was mad).

I find the playbooks for Defy the Gods really interesting and creative -- like The Revenant for example being someone who, having returned from the dead, is embracing a whole new life & identity, and who could quite readily serve as a face or expert kind of role given the skills they have access to.

The system reminds me a little of AGON, with the invocation of epithets, and certainly also of games like Apocalypse Keys, Abyssal, and Demigods, where you have a "nova" kind of state you are at risk of reaching whether you want to or not, and there's only so many times you can draw from that well before your character transitions into a whole new state of being.

One of the juicy things about Defy the Gods in particular compared to those others is that almost every single roll is risky in that "flying too close to the sun" way, because for almost EVERY possible move, doing TOO well is actually a worse (but more interesting) outcome in most cases than just barely scraping by.

And, of course, like with Abyssal, it was a delight having this game run by the creator herself as well. :) I'm so interested to see how the system continues to develop.

[kiwiana-writes]

fanfic asks!

2. why do you write fanfiction?

5. what's the fic you're most proud of?

Ahhh thank you friend! And forgive me, I’m 4 margaritas deep so like… pray for me answering these in a way that makes sense lol.

2. Why do you write fanfiction?

I have always loved writing — teenage MJ was very much Processing Shit On Main via angsty poetry and songs. Fanfiction holds a particular appeal for two reasons: one is that world building is the bane of my goddamn life as a writer, and the other is the sense of community it allows me to be part of. Fandom is an amazing collaborative environment and I thrive on that.

5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?

Idk if it’s recency bias but it’s probably the RWRB Much Ado actor AU! Full AUs (as opposed to canon divergence) is very much out of my comfort zone, and I wove a lot of stuff into that fic that was really important to me — queer joy and theatre and Shakespeare nerdery — and the response I got completely blew me away ❤️

[35 Questions for Fanfiction Writers]

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 11th September

Another week, another two hits. This time, we've got an (indirect) link to Eurovision, too, which is fun! Eurovision was only three years old at this point, which is kind of wild - it feels like it's existed forever, but 1958 was, in fact, quite a long time ago. Anyway, awkwardly, we've got the cover this week, and then the original next week, so I'll save some Eurovision nerdery for that. Just know that it's coming!

Volare - Dean Martin (peaked at Number 2)

This song was originally by the Italian singer Domenico Modugno, so I'll save a deep dive into its origins until we get his version - which we will, next week. Suffice to say, it's a Eurovision number, albeit a particularly classy-souding one. And it's very Italian, Italian enough that Dean Martin of course had to cover it. You know, what with him being basically a professional Italian, at this point.

Interestingly, I know the original fairly well, just from hearing it around in Italian restaurants and in the background of film scenes. And yet, it's actually this version, by Dean, that seems to have been the bigger hit in the UK, at least in terms of chart position. And while it's a pretty credible copy of the original, it is different, not least because it includes some random English bits. They're odd actually, because it's literally one verse at the start, and then two lines right at the end, all about how your love has given me wings and about how just like birds of a feather, a rainbow together we'll find. And the entire rest of the song is in Italian, no further concessions to the English-speakers out there - but apparently that's enough of a sop for people to buy this over the original? Or perhaps it's more Dean's name and star power that had people buying this version and not Domenico's?

Either way, since it's still mostly in Italian, it's a song that I can only assume people were buying less for its meaning, and more for the sound of it. And admittedly, it is a pretty cool-sounding song. It's a big old ballad, with these sweeping whoooooah bits that you almost certainly know, even if you think you don't. Instrument-wise, you've got this cool slightly ethereal Italian jazz sound, with a walking bass, mandolins, and all these fun little flourishes on harp and what sounds like chimes or vibes. And then as the song goes on, you also get a bunch of moments that speed up and slow down, creating a sort of dreamy effect in the middle with a Hammond organ, before picking up the pace again as the chorus comes in. It's a fun combination of things, you know?

Unfortuantely, my main association for the song is hearing it playing in the bathroom at Frankie and Benny's, a UK Italian chain restaurant that I pretty much only ever went to for people's birthdays. If it weren't for that, I think this would feel much classier, in my mind, much less cheesy. But unfortunately, the associations are just too strong - I can't quite take it seriously, as a song, however hard Dean's trying.

Poor Little Fool - Ricky Nelson (4)

Ricky Nelson isn't an artist I have a very solid mental picture of. I kind of knew he was a rock and roller, but I think I was confusing him with other artists. Turns out, he's a fresh-faced teenager, who rose to fame as a child actor alongside his parents, in a sitcom called The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, where he basically played a verison of himself? The show ran for over a decade, either way, and was still running at this point in 1958, but Ricky, a known fan of Elvs, had been putting out music since 1956, and was about to properly make the jump to a musical career. Which feels very modern, somehow, very Miley Cyrus. We've seen musicians turning to acting before, but I'm not sure we've seen it the other way round, at least not outside of comedy or TV tie-in records.

The song itself is pretty nondescript, a soft, vaguely doo-woppish, rock and roll-ish teen love song, all about a boy who used to play around with hearts who falls for a girl who gives him a taste of his own medicine, singing about how she played around and teased me with her carefree devil eyes / She'd hold me close and kiss me, but her heart was filled with lies. She kisses him, but then abandons him the next day, leaving Ricky singing about how much of a fool he felt, and how he never expected somebody to do that to him. It's the sort of thing that could come off self-pitying, it he was just a little more waily and mopey about it, but thankfully, Ricky mostly just sounds kind of dejected, rather than being fully distraught about it all. It's a glum sigh of a song, no more, no less.

Amazingly, for a bland song, it's got quite the origin story. It was originally written by one Sharon Sheeley. She was only 15, and was in a short-lived relationship with Don Everly, of the Everly Brothers, and when they broke up, she wrote this and immediately approached Ricky about recording it, going so far as to drive to his house and claim her car broke down. Which is one way to get an artist's attention, for sure. Ricky swapped the love interest's gender, slowed the pace down, and the result was this - I still think it's pretty nothing-y, but it was a huge hit at the tiem, big enough to make Number 1 on the new US Billboard Top 100, the first song to do so.

Both of these songs are fine. Neither rocked my world, but both are baseline competent. Unfortunately, in my head, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson have combined to form Ricky Nelson. And now I've just got Livin' La Vida Loca playing in my head. Which is a much more exciting song than either of these, and which I honestly would have more to say about than I do about either of these. Oh well.

Favourite song of the bunch: Volare

[the-weeping-sonambulist]

CW: Deep gun nerdery, James Bond.

So, a question someone posed recently was "what gun do you think Bond will have in the next film."

Given we'll be on a new Bond actor, and so potentially a redone take on Bond, we have some options.

I think it comes down to which Bond we get. Because we've had several different aspects of the character.

James Bond, actual practical spy guy.

In the first couple of movies, Bond's equipment is very grounded. The PPK, and it's slightly bigger brother the PP, was at the time a very reasonable, practical pistol for people who needed a compact, concealable sidearm.

And following that logic, the most likely choice would be...the Glock 19. A solid, dependable pistol of a type that is issued to a lot of forces who need a compact, concealable sidearm.

Other candidates would be: one of the other Glock compacts (G26, 43, 43X or 48), the Sig 225/8/9. the H&K USP compact, CZ p-07, or any number of other compact carry pistols.

But my top tip still goes to the G19.

But we haven't really seen that Bond in years, so......

James Bond, Gadget guy

Bond likes gadgets, and that should be reflected in his pistol right?

Well, at that point, we're going for gadget factor.

Now, realistically, I don't think it really matters what the base pistol is, because most stuff will just kinda look like a pistol. The cool inbuilt stuff like rotary barrel systems, is a bit too gun nerd only. Unless he gets something really wild like a Laugo Alien (Which seems unlikely, as a large full size competition pistol, although it would be cool as hell)

So we may well go back to that Glock 19. BUT.

Unlike the above, where he would have a very plain pistol, this pistol is going to be all manner of tricked out. Some kind of compact light laser unit. Or even some kind of underbarrel launcher a'la kingsman. A micro red dot sight, or even some kind of movie magic thermal/night sight. A compensator that still lets him use a supressor. Maybe even something more wild like fingerprint recognition or ammo counters.

James Bond, Luxury goods haver

James Bond has expensive, luxury goods. Fancy cars, high end watches, expensive suits.

So his sidearm should reflect that yes?

At this point, I think we can sidestep pretty much anything polymer framed, it's just not fancy. We are very much in the world of machined steel and alloys.

The downside is that this is predominantly the world of fancy, custom/semi-custom 1911 variants. Any one of which frankly blows, being an extremely American thing.

Outside of that, I can't really think of anyone doing anything from scratch that suits. Most of the other really high-end pistols are over large, because they're more competition pistols than carry guns.

Maybe something custom modified from a more standard pistol like a tuned P225/8/9, CZ75 compact or something.

But, in my opinion, we won't actually get to see any of these three bonds. We'll see:

James Bond, "icon"

James Bond hasn't actually really been a character in years. He's a vehicle for nostalgia. He's a property. A formula. An "ICON".

And James Bond carries a Walther PPK.

Doesn't matter that it's extremely out of date as a practical sidearm. That it's been superceeded basically everywhere by more modern pistols, and that as far as I can tell, the only reason they still make them is, at least in part, because it's "the James Bond pistol". Same as why we keep seeing him drive the Aston Martin DB 5.

Because we live in the world of remakes, and of vicious fan backlash to actual fucking changes being made to established cannons.

[mywingsareonwheels]

The Endeavour/Captain America connection

This is just to check that fellow Endeavour fans are all aware that Leander Deeny who played Louis in "Quartet" (ie one of the two annoying posh secret agents who bother Morse) was Chris Evans body double in Captain America: the First Avenger, and also played a barman, I think in the scene with the epic "you're keeping the outfit, right?" slash scene between Steve and Bucky (though I may be misremembering).

So yes, if you've seen the Steve Rogers transformation scene, the smol "before" bare chest belongs to an Endeavour secret agent actor.

(I have been keeping an informal mental record of major sci-fi fantasy properties of the last thirty years or so (radio, tv, film)[1] which have Endeavour actors in and as far as I can tell it is basically all of them. Possibly not entirely all, but not far off. I might make a full list at some point of everyone I can find, though mostly just to entertain myself with my ridiculous cast list nerdery as I'm not sure who else would be interested! Anton Lesser's habit of playing a villain in pretty much everything helps (and when he isn't it's Roger Allam or Danny Webb), plus of course Anton's in most of the radio Pratchett/Discworld adaptations, but I mean we do also have Lyra Belaqua and Lestat and Jesper and Genya and Alfred Pennyworth and one of the iterations of Miss Hardbroom and a radio Granny Weatherwax and and and. ;-) Leander Deeny handily brings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though there are probably other useful overlaps there; I've honestly lost track!)

[1] excluding the one whose profits fund far right transphobia in the uk, obviously. Naturally I do not go there.

[sillymovietrailer]

Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge

This is a bit of a turning point, as in this one, we start getting the puppets being the good guys, and it's pretty unambiguous about that given they're up against the Nazis in a prequel. Here we learn how Andre Toulon (now portrayed by Guy Rolfe, the fourth actor playing him, if we count the young version in a flashback last time) came to the attention of the Nazis, who in trying to get his secrets killed his wife. Said wife, Elsa, is played by Sarah Douglas, so no wonder he's furious about this, they just killed Ursa from Superman II! We also learn here that each puppet is partially animated by the souls of those killed by the Nazis, including Elsa giving life to Leech Woman (Was there a pre-nup agreeing to that?). Given what I mentioned about Part 2, beginning to see why that causes a few continuity headaches, shouldn't he have been way more concerned with her fate there? Also, I was about originally going to ask in here "Whose soul is in Torch, the one he made in Part 2?", however, I forgot there's a Puppet Master comic series after this, and that does end up a big plot point.

Rescuing myself from this path of nitpicking and nerdery, this is another fun one, seeing members of the Third Reich getting picked off by pint-sized terrors is wonderfully cathartic. This one introduces perhaps my favourite of the Puppets, Six-Shooter. He's a very fun design, the gimmick of the tiny guns is great, and I love his laugh (which I'm pretty sure is based off Dwight Frye from Dracula). He's probably the one that shows the most personality in enjoying what he does. Many hold this up as the high water mark of the series, and I think I'll do so too; again, none of these films are exactly high art, or even conventionally good, but you have to love the idea of sentient marionettes taking down the Fuhrer's finest! Mind, where do you from there? Taking down an even more pure evil of course...

[morporkian-cryptid]

Also can we PLEASE talk about the COSTUME DESIGNS in this because HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!

Costume analysis under the cut!

Warning: intense nerdery ahead

Disclaimer: This play takes place in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, the one right before Edo, and I don't know enough about the history of Japanese fashion to judge whether it is historically accurate - I mostly know about Edo-era fashion trends.

Lupin

Lupin. Lupin's outfit holy shit. I did not think it was possible to so accurately transcribe his modern outfit into a kimono but THEY FUCKING DID IT. Look at the kimono's collar!!! IT'S HIS TIE!!! He has a yellow tie!!

His coat isn't a traditional Japanese haori vest, it has a western-style collar. And he's wearing a rapier whereas all the other sword-wearing characters have katanas. The rapier has a ROSE sculpted on the pommel because he is a GENTLEMAN and from the COUNTRY OF ROMANCE do you get it?????? They did NOT have to go to that amount of detail but THEY FUCKING DID!!

I am 90% sure that the plant depicted on his coat has some sort of significance, but I can't identify it. The pattern on his obi belt is tortoise shells, which symbolize longevity and are often associated with pine trees (see Goemon's costume analysis).

He even has his fucking white-and-blue striped underwear in the waterfall scene like are you KIDDING ME.

Sir. Sir why are you so dramatic. Sir please CHILL.

Goemon

Honestly they did Goemon dirty, especially considering the attention to detail that went into all the other characters' costumes. He looks like a bad L'Oréal commercial and his kimono looks like it's synthetic. Like, come on!! He's a main character on Lupin's level in this play!

Although thankfully his hair is only Like That in the promo pictures; in the play it's actually way fluffier, and he's honestly pretty damn cute. Look at this lad.

The drawings on his kimono are, I believe, pine needles (or at least they look like the stylized pine needles from the game of hanafuda). Pine trees symbolize eternity, longevity, and have a connection to godliness (in Buddhism I believe). They're also almost always a part of the decor in No theatre.

Fujiko

Unfortunately I don't have much to say about her costume other than "she's fucking gorgeous". I am certain that the plants adorning her kimono have been chosen with a certain meaning in mind, but again I cannot identify them (and I left my book on hanafuda flower symbolism at my parents' place).

Her complex obi knot tied on the front of the kimono, and her low-dropping collar exposing her back, were high-class fashion statements back in the Edo period. (The back-exposing collar is the kimono equivalent of our decolletage/low neckline.) Basically, she's being super fashionable and sexy. Also look at that hairpiece!! It's so pretty!! And the thick hem at the bottom of her kimono is also traditional of that period, it was to keep the kimono in shape as you walked.

Fujiko is, of course, played by a male actor, as are all female characters in kabuki - you can read more about why here; it involves a shogun's ill-advised attempt at limiting prostitution and is one of my favourite bits of Japanese history.

Jigen

Okay so, I am a bit confused about the choice of a green lining for his cape, considering that's not a color he's ever worn, but it looks good. Overall his costume is pretty neat, and SO DAMN DETAILED. Like they did not have to embroider his cape or give him such a pretty cloak tie or a thick-ass decorated collar. WHAT.

While he does have a hat (he's holding it in his hand on the promo pic), he doesn't actually wear it during the play. Kabuki heavily relies on actors' facial expressions, so I guess they decided adhering to the og chara-designs wasn't worth hiding the actor's face. Instead, HIS HAIRCUT LOOKS LIKE A HAT ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!! XD Kudos to the fucking genius in the costume department who decided to do that.

His matchlock looks like a tanegashima, although I am not nearly knowledgeable enough in firearms to tell the difference between a Japanese matchlock and a European one. In any case it looks pretty damn cool.

I think his pipe may be a reference to the giant silver kiseru pipe that the OG Goemon Ishikawa has in the opening scene of the play Sanmon Gosan No Kiri. However I've never seen one made entirely of metal with a swirly design like this.

I think he has a ponytail - it seems this way on the poster? but it's not visible in the promo pics.

Zenigata

I AM GOING INSANE about Zenigata's costume. I mean LOOK AT IT!!!! His kimono's got ZENIS drawn on it!!!!

A zeni is (or was? I'm not sure) a 1 cent coin with a hole in the middle. They gave their name to Heiji Zenigata, Koichi Zenigata's fictional ancestor from a 20th century series of novels and movies. Heiji was famous for using zeni coins as a throwing weapon, a move which inspired Inspector Zenigata's handcuff-throwing move.

Kabuki Zenigata's hat is the one that policemen in the Edo era wore, according to Aime - although I couldn't find any confirmation on Google in under 5 min. Personally it reminds me of the shape of the hat Modern Zenigata wears in the anime, so it checks out.

His baton is a jitte, a weapon that was indeed used by the police during the Edo era (so I'm going to assume it was the case also in Azuchi-Momoyama).

And look at the makeup on that guy!!! The eyelashes!!! The cleft chin!!! This is fucking awesome!! They put in so much effort to transcribe the anime character designs into the kabuki costume designs, it's really impressive and you can tell this kabuki play was made by people with a lot of love and respect for this franchise.

Misc

Also can we talk about THE FUCKING EMBROIDERY??????? I am going INSANE I mean LOOK AT IT!!!! LOOK AT THEIR FUCKING CLOTHES!!!!! There is no way you could see that level of detail from the audience, yet they still put in the effort to create FUCKING EMBROIDERED COSTUMES. I am this close to zooming in on all the photos and trying to identify every symbol and visual and research what they mean in traditional Japanese visual arts. Like SERIOUSLY. These embroidery were obviously designed as a conscious choice, not just for the aesthetics. I think it's tiny dragons on Zenigata's clothes, but I'm not sure. And Lupin's got a bunch of tiny kamons on his coat.

Also, same-color embroidery (I mean, embroidering something in the same color as the fabric so that it only shows through light reflection) is a technique that was especially developed in the Edo era because of sumptuary laws. Japan had a strict caste system, but like in a lot of caste societies, people of the lower castes were often richer than the higher ones. The shogunate passed laws to forbid lower-ranking citizens from dressing above their station, like enforcing plain colored kimonos, which rich artisans and merchants worked around by developing single-colored embroidery as an extra-subtle law-compliant Fuck You.

Man, I fucking love Japanese history 😁

The book seems to at least somewhat describe the costume designs (there's one page specifically about the "kabuki introduction scene" costumes), so I'll try to translate it through OCR and I'll report back when I do.

Bonus: secondary characters' costumes!

HAVE I MENTIONNED RECENTLY THAT MY SISTER IS THE MOST AMAZING PERSON ON THE FUCKING PLANET?????? 😭💕

She went to see the new Lupin III kabuki play on my behalf, called me on the phone for an entire hour to give me a detailed report and listen to me nerd out about the anime references, and then she sent me official merch of the play for Christmas all the way from friggin' Japan. She is amazing, I do not deserve her 😭

[rosesutherlandwrites]

I made a cake. I don’t want to make another one like it, this is not my area of expertise (my chef in France would call this sort of thing “trop américain”)...It was really hard and stressful but I am proud that it came out so good because it was a lot of work!

[windsweptlassie]

in rewatching parts of the BBC war and peace I’ve realized just how much the shots show off that the actors can Actually Ride A Horse

[icantalk710]

Multiples of 11

Hmm, let’s see...

favorite social media account?

Hmmmm... Depends I guess; political, @thisamericanleft on IG along with some others post some great leftist memes I like, lol.  Non-political... any account sharing corgis being corgis 🐶 And also some scenery blogs I follow here 🏞 

do you go to the gym?

Not as often as I should thanks to working from home (and also some slight knee issues recently from a trip/fall over a month ago), but I do--as some gym selfies can attest to 😅 Currently can usually only go once a week on weekends when I can commute, and I’m not commuting 40 mins+ to/from after a long day lol; if I’m in our office, I’d go 3-ish times/week after work since it’d be a 20-min walk from there. (I did well trying to do some of Tom Daley’s workout videos before work for a while during COVID, and I’m trying to get back to that for some consistency--if only I could work on my sleep to be less groggy about it...)

favorite actor? 

Hmm... I feel like I don’t watch movies often enough to really have one ready to go in my mind haha (not for a lack of wanting to).  But I always did like Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight; can’t immediately think of someone more recent 😅

what is your biggest fear? 

Getting all the way to the subway stop four blocks and a staircase away as I’m running late for something and realizing I left my MetroCard at home 😑

[Also, something about death maybe, cliché as it might be--not necessarily something I get existential about, but more in the “things left undone” sense, games or travel or editing projects/etc.]

what is your dream job? 

Well, I did want to work in meteorology somehow since I found it so interesting growing up, and while I loved learning more about it all, between what I’ve done work-wise in the decade since (working as a barista, a brief startup job, temping a bit, then landing my current five-year job), I don’t know how I’d define it now lol (also, not quite knowing how to get any experience in the field now a decade on).  I guess as long as it’s an ethical workplace, my needs are met, I like the vibes/people and the work I’m doing, I feel valued for what I’m offering, and it lets me learn and grow, it’d be up there. (Though maybe using my Japanese would be a good bonus...)

have you ever won a spelling bee?

I don’t think I have 😅 (I did win some math nerdery award in fourth or fifth grade, but hell if I know where it is now or what it entailed lol)

do you miss anyone right now?

Hmm, suppose maybe someone I felt good about reconnecting with earlier this year (though we’re still FB/Snap/IG friends, so not sure what’s going on there, but the ball’s been in his court for the past month...), but overall not particularly, I guess lol.

do you like it when people play with your hair?

uh, yes (moreso when it’s grown out a little like it has now and feels fluffier; not too much to play with right after a haircut for me 😅)

what is your zodiac sign?

Cancer 🙂

Thanks for asking! 😄