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sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 4 years ago

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Vienna-Based Mistos and Grizabella: Misto Becomes the Misto You Know

Once again, I find myself fascinated with the Vienna production and it’s descendants, especially when it comes to Mistoffelees. There are bits with Misto in these productions that are sometimes very similar to the 1998 VHS, but other productions don’t have them.

In the majority of productions I’ve seen, when Grizabella first appears, the first cats to respond are Coricopat and Tantomile, who hiss at her. Some productions have Mistoffelees sense her first, which all the Vienna-based ones do. But, they all do it slightly differently, with a noticeable difference between the first two (Vienna and Amsterdam) and the later two (Paris and Zurich)

Vienna:

This production started in 1983, but the recording is from 1990, near the end of the show’s run. Mistoffelees was played by the same actor, Valentin Baraian, playing him for most of the run. Occasionally, covers would step in, but he was the official Vienna Misto the whole time. So, despite the film being from 1990, it’s a characterization developed in 1983. I’m sure it evolved over time, but not in the same way as productions where the role changed hands.

I know it’s very hard to see here, but those are Misto’s hands behind Grizabella. When he first approaches her, he briefly tries to block her path, but when she insists on going forward, he walks behind her.

A cat, I’m not sure which one, runs up to Grizabella and hisses at her. Misto signals the cat to stand back. Throughout the scene, several cats approach Grizabella, some attempting to reach out to her, and others just to hiss at her or scratch her. With the former, one of the older cats will rush to stop them. Misto himself only stops the ones approaching threateningly. This means that he’s following her around to make sure that the others don’t hurt her.

After Grizabella starts singing, he tries to fend off the cats who approach her, but only the ones that do something to upset her, since she turns on them for the “you see the border of her coat is torn” line.

Conclusion: Vienna Misto is one of the adult cats, allowed to approach Grizabella and take charge while she’s there, since Munkustrap seems reluctant to do anything one way or another. But, even though he knows who she is and what she did, he personally has nothing against her and shadows her to keep her from getting hurt. Since one of the kittens succeeds in scratching her, he doesn’t seem to be very at it, but he cares enough to feel like he needs to try.

Amsterdam:

NOTE: Due to not having access to a full recording of this production, if one even exists at all, the following screenshots are taken from the clip @junkyard-gifs uploaded. As far as I can tell, the clip is from 1987.

When Misto notices Grizabella, he runs up to her and holds his arms out, blocking her path. Once again, it seems like Misto is old enough to know who she is and that she’s not welcome.

However, Grizabella will not be stopped. She just shoves him out of the way. He’s not Munkustrap. He’s not the protector. He can’t tell her what to do.

However, this shove is technically an act of violence, so Misto warns the others to stay back. She attacked him! I’m guessing this Misto is not often shoved out of the way. Some Mistos are, but not this one.

The other cats scatter and Munkustrap steps up to handle the situation. Misto is still mad about it.

Conclusion: Amsterdam Misto (Dr. Diavolo, which is an amazing name) is one of the adult cats, since he seemed to know right away that Grizabella wasn’t welcome. But, unlike Vienna Misto, who seemed to have some sort of connection to Grizabella, this Misto doesn’t like her and likes her even less after she pushes him. He seems less mature and more prideful than Vienna Misto, with his dramatic reaction to being shoved, but I get the feeling that most of the other cats would’ve behaved the same way in this situation.

Now, both of these Mistos knew who Grizabella was. In general, full adults know Griz, while the kittens and sorta-adults don’t. This is the most clear generation gap in the show. In both these productions, Misto was put on the side of the adults. This matches up with most earlier portrayals of the character. By the time Jacob Brent played him, he was a younger character, only just starting to become an adult, who comes up age by the end of the show. I’ve always been curious as to when exactly this change took place. How did we get from here:

to here:

I don’t have any pictures of Timothy Scott’s Misto and Grizabella, so this comparsion doesn’t work quite as well, but you get the idea. In the above picture, Misto is just sort of waiting to see what Grizabella does. He doesn’t know her.

Well, I think the next two entries in the Vienna Line show some of the journey from point A to point B

Paris

The recording of the Paris version is from 1990, during the last month of the show’s run. It was uploaded to YouTube by Guy-Paul de St. Germain, who played Misto in the recording, and in London shortly after, as well as in a later UK Tour.

Misto approaches Grizabella, and the film quality makes it hard to see what’s going, but what I think is going on is that Munkustrap and Misto are equally quick to react to Grizabella, but Munkustrap keeps his distance, while Misto approaches her. From what I can tell, he does so neutrally, just trying to figure out who she is.

Munkustrap doesn’t physically intervene, but he warns Misto to get away with a sharp hiss. Misto backs away and stands in the corner, where he remains for the rest of the number.

After one of the kittens (I’m pretty sure it’s Tumblebrutus) scratches Grizabella, Misto sort of leans toward her, almost taking a step in her direction. But, he looks back over his shoulder before doing anything, and whatever he sees keeps him in place. I’m guessing he was looking to Munkustrap for permission to see if she’s alright after being scratched, and was denied permission.

Conclusion: Paris Misto most likely doesn’t know who Grizabella is. He obeys Munkustrap’s instructions regarding her, but he doesn’t seem to know what to think of her. He’s concerned for her when she gets hurt, but he prioritizes Munkustrap’s orders over that concern. The general tone is very similar to the VHS, though 1998 Misto started glaring at Grizabella, copying Munkustrap, instead of just following his instructions.

Zurich

The Zurich footage is from a 1992 bootleg. In 1992, Misto was being played by Lindsay Chambers, who’d go on to play him on Broadway for a few years. He was playing Misto on Broadway when Jacob Brent was cast as Pouncival, so this is where Brent’s Misto starts to connect to Vienna-based Mistos.

When Misto starts dancing to the reprise of Tugger’s song, he gets really into it and Grizabella shows up right behind him, making it seem like he nearly crashes into her. When he sees her, he just stops and stares. He doesn’t react at all. He just waits to see what she’ll do.

Even though he’s not doing anything, Grizabella treats him like Amsterdam Misto, pushing him out of her way. Since Amsterdam Misto was actually blocking her path, it made sense for her to do that, but here it’s just rude! He doesn’t know who she is and made no move against her. If she wants a cat to welcome her back into the tribe, he probably would’ve done it. But it seems like Zurich Grizabella is focused on getting to Munkustrap. She wants to talk to the one who’s in charge.

Like in the Paris version, when Grizabella is scratched, Misto steps towards her. But, Zurich Misto is quick to stop himself. He doesn’t need Munkustrap to tell him to stay away, though Munkustrap is right there. I can’t tell if he’s glaring at Misto or glaring at Grizabella, because of Bootleg Quality. But, if Munkustrap isn’t glaring at Misto, Misto just decided to stop by himself, probably remembering getting pushed out of the way. Grizabella really lost herself an ally here. From other scenes in this version, I’ve noticed that Zurich Misto often doesn’t seem to understand the social rules of the tribe and gets in trouble frequently. In the very next scene, Skimble will stop him from pulling Bustopher’s tail, but he’ll insist on doing it anyway, so even if the rules are explained to him, he still might break them if he really wants to. He’d go against the tribe to support Grizabella if he felt like he had a reason to. But, because she pushed him, his first impression of her is negative, so if the rest of the tribe says she’s bad, he’ll go along with it.

Zurich Grizabella confuses me, basically.

Conclusion: Like in Paris, Zurich Misto is not a full adult. He doesn’t know who Grizabella is and reacts to her neutrally at first. The key difference is that he doesn’t go against Grizabella because that’s what the adults are doing, but in direct response to her actions. Compared to both Paris and the VHS, Zurich Misto isn’t quite as invested in pleasing authority figures. He wants the Important Cats to like him, but he’s more willing to go against them.

So, my theory about How Misto Became 1998 Misto is:

1. In different ways, both the London and Broadway productions originally characterized Misto as a full grown adult, somewhat established as a magician due to a love of showing off.

2. Most early productions had a similar characterization for Misto, including the Vienna production.

3. The Paris production seemed to be where things began to change. One of the actors who played Misto, either Tibor Kovats or Guy-Paul de St. Germain started playing the character differently. This might’ve been because of the decision to have Mistoffelees dance with Victoria. London’s Admetus and Broadway’s Tumblebrutus were established as kittens around Victoria’s age. If Misto was out of her age range, it would be kind of weird. This wouldn’t stop the London production from pairing her with Alonzo in its later years, but whatever. So, Misto was aged down to be only as old as they could get away with if they wanted to pair him with Victoria, even if it was just for one dance, since a lot of productions don’t have Victoria interact with her dance partner much outside of the dance itself. Mistoria shippers can make a thing out of it and everyone else can not make a thing out of it, because it works either way.

4. The Zurich production also paired Mistoffelees with Victoria for the dance, so they might’ve aged him down for similar reasons. Like in Paris, Tibor Kovats played Misto in this version early on. I don’t have any footage of him in the role, but he’s what really connects Paris and Zurich, so this Misto characterization might’ve come from him. If not, Guy-Paul de St Germain and Lindsay Chambers had very similar ideas for what to do with the character, with just enough difference that it could just be a coincidence.

5. Guy-Paul de St Germain played Misto in London, bringing this new characterization into that production.

6. Lindsay Chambers played Misto on Broadway, bringing this new characterization into that production. Future Mistos of both London and Broadway would be more likely to base their portrayals on these Vienna-based Mistos.

7. When Jacob Brent was cast as Pouncival on Broadway, Lindsay Chambers was playing Misto. Jacob learned the part while Chambers was playing it, and when it was his turn to play Misto, he also played him as a young tom coming of age.

And he was very good at it.

8. Jacob Brent played Mistoffelees in the 1998 VHS. When the show closed in London and on Broadway, the 1998 version became the version that most people saw first, so a generation of future Mistos learned his characterization, so it became the one that remained popular into the present day.

And that’s probably where Baby Misto comes from.

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dodgefred · 3 years ago

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spring awakening for the direction thing please

this is another long one please hit read more

i sort of have two answers for this one because for a while i’ve been thinking about how i’d direct the spring awakening play so i have a bunch of ideas for that but you probably meant the spring awakening musical so i’m gonna do my thoughts for the play in bullet points and then i’ll go more in depth for the musical.

the play:

the time i wanted to seriously do this irl was mid-pandemic and i was losing my mind so a lot of my blocking ideas were fully socially distanced and every character would wear face masks matching their costumes.

on the note of costumes i really wanted to have the actors able to choose their own costumes. the style would be the nonspecific time period most productions go with w the girls in dresses and the boys in like suspenders or whatever. i think it would give the actors more of a sense of connection to the characters, especially considering how strange the text can be to modern americans.

it would be performed either outdoors in a field or in a blackbox theater. the set would be fairly minimalistic. i would love to find a set motif like the falsettos revival’s foam cube but i haven’t put too much thought into what exactly that motif would be.

i’m not sure how legal this is but i think it would be a fun reference to get soft instrumentals of the musical songs to play behind their corresponding scenes.

any scene where actors would need to be closer than six feet (touching, kissing, etc) would be prefilmed in a silhouette style and projected onto a white sheet. this way actors would only have to be physically close once and not every night. during the show, actors would go behind the sheet for the scene. metaphorically this would also be an indication of the concept that while the children generally aren’t afraid of sex or kissing, they still have the knowledge that it’s an intimate act and still have some sort of inherent shame attached to it.

unrelated to my ideas specifically for this because i just thought of this but on that note i also think it would be really interesting for a production where the actors act behind a white sheet and all the audience sees is silhouettes. i think it would be a really cool way to play with shapes like that, and a bit of an extra challenge for the actors to try and be emotive and expressive when no one can see their expressions. it would also add to the idea of the children in the show not being understood despite their best efforts.

now in terms of the musical, i’m jumping around a lot for this one because with spring awakening i’ve seen it so many times and everyone’s done it a million different ways and so i don’t have exact ideas for the show scene-by-scene like i did with alice by heart. i do have an overall concept i’d like to follow, as well as a few specific scenes that i’d like to address. this is also going to focus more on my mindset while directing rather than the blocking and concepts itself, because spring awakening is much more clear with its stage directions than alice by heart is.

i know this is cheesy af but hear me out: a les mis dallas-style modernized production would hit so different. i’ve seen a lot of spring awakening productions and a lot of them try modernizing it but the directors don’t understand that putting a modern outfit on a period piece isn’t going to change much in the grand scheme of things. however i do think a lot of the problems in spring awakening can and should be addressed under a modern lens- these are real issues that still plague today’s youth, albeit maybe less dramatic than death by botched abortion.

this is also why for the song of purple summer, i’d make this connection between past and present much more clear by making the final costumes historically accurate (or at least historically accurate to the extent that most productions go for) in a similar color palette to their everyday wear. this is kind of an inversion of what spring awakening tried to do when it was off-broadway / in previews on broadway, but hopefully less……bad?

i think in order to be effective, some spring awakening scenes need to be done a certain way and most productions don’t do them correctly.

the first of which is the beating scene. in most productions, wendla and melchior enjoy it too much. i think this needs to be the exact opposite. wendla is a young girl with no concept of bodily harm and this leads her into some much less than ideal situations throughout the show. in this scene, we need to see wendla’s regret as soon as the beating starts, and yet her stubbornness and naïveté prevails. for melchior, we have a young boy who doesn’t know what he’s doing, either. in the play, we find out one of melchior’s worst nightmares was a dream where he started punching his dog and couldn’t stop. while the musical doesn’t include this but it context, i still need to see that bit of backstory in a melchior. contrary to wendla, melchior’s regret begins to kick in more at the end. in this scene, their emotions directly foil each other. we need to actually be able to see that.

also while i adore otto and georg and their woyb reprise, i really don’t understand why it belongs to them and i think just the instrumentals itself should be a taunting reprise, or wendla can quietly sing it to herself as the scene fades to black.

the next vital scene is the hayloft scene. quick trigger warning here for discussions of rape here so feel free to skip to the next chunk of text if you don’t want to read that sort of thing! i also want to apologize if i misstep in my description of this scene in any way, and if i actually directed this, i’d like to talk to some survivors to see what would actually be an appropriate way to perform this scene in a nonromantic way. these are just my immediate thoughts with the scene presented.

in the text of the musical, the hayloft scene is heavily romanticized, but i still think with the right direction, it can be played as how it is in the play. in the play, it’s more clearly rape, and even though in the musical wendla says yes, i would like to emphasize the fact that wendla doesn’t know what she’s saying yes to. a very important point of emphasis of this should be the climax of i believe. as the rest of the ensemble comes to their final harmony, we should cut to a blackout and hear wendla scream in pain overtop of the music.

the vineyard scene needs to be performed much more tenderly and sensitively than written. i would ideally like to work with queer actors for this scene and ideally have hanschen and ernst’s connection be much more genuine.

i think it would also be neat if there was a big set piece that looked like a tree branch and this scene can take place sitting on top of it.

overall my ideas for spring awakening are a lot less cohesive than for alice by heart because i’ve been thinking about this for a longer time and therefore everything is all over the place and i have concepts in my head for literally three different productions of it i guess, but i think it would be so much fun to work on no matter which way i do it!

#spring awakening #answered #anon #sorry this is a lot less cohesive than the other one #and sorry this took a long time to respond to it took a lot of time to get my thoughts out #i just think it would b neat to direct spring awakening

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lovewillthaw-j · 5 years ago

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Frozen 2 Musical themes

Hey everyone! This mega post is my labour of love and tribute to the songs and score of Frozen 2, my #1 favourite soundtrack now. I wish to show all the musical themes and how they interweave in the score, following the plot and adding a rich layer to the story. This is all my original work from months of listening, I have not watched the special feature "Scoring a Sequel" or read any F2 piano books. I have given my own names to the themes. The themes may be heard in different keys and variations in different parts of the score; I won't be transcribing all the different keys and variations, sorry.

SONG THEMES

1. Vuelie (nanana heyanna)

This choral piece is heard in the beginning of both F1 and F2, as well as during The Great Thaw of F1, the Enchanted forest (where Vuelie is revealed to be a Northuldran chant/folksong) and of course, in the magnificent ending of F2.

2. All Is Found (lullaby) A very central song to the whole movie, the sung version makes 3 4 reprises - Anna sings it to Elsa in the bedroom; Elsa and Honeymaren sing it in the forest; in Ahtohallan we hear “Where the north wind, meets the sea” and the image of Iduna sings “come my darling homeward bound” in Show Yourself; lastly, Iduna can be heard singing the warning "but not too far or you'll be drowned" just before Elsa plunges off the cliff. The instrumental theme is very moving and is heard whenever Iduna is referenced in the following scenes: A) Enchanted forest when Elsa takes out the scarf "I know what you need", Northuldrans reveal that the scarf is Northuldran and EA recognise the frozen statue of young Iduna; B) the ship scene when EA find the map and Anna says "this is mother's handwriting" and Elsa makes the ice statues of Agduna at their death appear and cries from the pain of believing she cursed them; C) lastly, when Elsa screams "No!" and freezes to death in Ahtohallan, ending on a very grave note.

3. Some Things Never Change

The musical theme of the verse and chorus are used repeatedly in the epilogue scene (from Queen Anna's appearance in Arendelle, all the way till Elsa reads the letter in Ahtohallan) and shows that while many things have changed at the end of the adventure, some things Never change. I have written a full post on the Epilogue here.

4. Into The Unknown The musical theme of the first 2 lines of the chorus plays when the main characters first set off from Arendelle in the wagon (in an "active"-sounding variation), signifying that they are literally going into the Unknown. It recurs seconds later (in a sweet variation played by the flute), when they pass through a valley and EAK unanimously tell Olaf that sleeping on long journeys prevents insanity! (both not in the CD)

5. When I Am Older A short segment of Olaf's musical theme is played in a cutesy way when Olaf appears and says "I got this". This is in the Enchanted forest, just after Elsa freezes the floor to repel the Northuldrans and the Arendellian soldiers, and just before his dramatic recap of F1. (not in the CD)

6. The Next Right Thing

The musical theme is heard twice before the actual song, as a foreshadowing. You hear it when A) Anna is talking to Mattias in the forest and they talk about doing the next right thing. B) the cave scene after Anna and Olaf see the frozen statue of Runeard murdering the leader and Anna realises what she must do to free the forest.

SCORE THEMES

7. Elsa's theme

In the transcription, the red section is the most recognisable part of the tune, though the theme is actually much longer. This is Elsa's theme, especially when she is doing something strenuous or heroic. This theme is first heard when A) Elsa fights Gale in the tornado, and the ice memories start appearing. We hear it in full when B) Elsa is talking to Honeymaren, but in a very sweet, soft variation that is primarily played by the harp. C) During Elsa's fight with Nokk in the Dark sea and this piece of music is genius. The Water theme and Elsa's theme clash with each other, fighting as the characters fight. Each theme is heard when the respective characters seem to be getting an upper hand and sometimes the themes combine - you can hear the triplet rhythm of the Water theme beneath Elsa's theme; until Elsa comes out on top and her theme soars majestically, with no further hint of the Water theme. The theme calms down as the waters calm down. D) When Anna speaks to Mattias at the dam and says "my sister gave her life for the truth" which is a VERY nice reference. E) Lastly, in its most heroic form when Elsa rides down the tidal wave, outruns it and saves Arendelle with her massive ice shield.

8. Sisters theme

I contemplated naming this theme Anna's love theme. This is the most beautiful theme in the entire score (Peace theme is a close second) It comprises a moving melody, coupled with a delicate moving chord sequence that is usually introduced by the harp. It is heard 4 times, always when Elsa and Anna are alone and talking to each other heart to heart. A) in the bedroom: "What things? You're doing great!... What would I do without you?"; B) after the Earth Giant appeared and walked off and Anna stops Elsa from following it: "remember, the goal is to find the voice" - only the melody part is heard; C) the exceptionally moving scene outside the ship when Anna lovingly comforts a tearful Elsa: "You are a gift!... I believe in you Elsa, more than anyone or anything"; and finally, D) in the emotional reunion scene when Anna looks in the distance, realises Elsa is alive and the sisters reunite with Anna running to Elsa and crying happy tears.

9. Magic theme

I wanted to call this one Sorcery theme but it sounds too negative. This theme is actually from F1! It is just 5 iconic notes. In F1 it is heard when young EA play with snow; when the royal family sets off to find the trolls; when Agduna's ship sinks; and when Queen Elsa accidentally reveals her powers and Weaseltown exclaims "Sorcery!". In F2: A) When Elsa fights Gale (Wind), before Elsa's theme; B) When Elsa fights Bruni (Fire and Ice), played by violins at a high pitch; C) When Anna and Olaf find themselves "In a pit with no way out"; and D) When the dam starts to collapse and the unity snowflake appears in the sky, signifying Elsa's resurrection.

10. Peace theme

The Peace theme is actually related to the Magic theme. Just change the fourth note of the Magic theme by flattening it by one semitone and a mysterious, ominous theme transforms into a sweet one! Genius. This theme is heard A) softly when young EA are playing with snow in F2's first scene, just after "bedtime soon!" (not in CD); B) in the Northuldran village after the tribe sings Vuelie, when everyone is at peace. The theme is beautiful here, with a piano playing a melody over a harp background. We also hear it twice more in relation to Olaf - C) sadly, as Olaf flurries away in a devastated Anna's embrace. He is, metaphorically speaking, "at peace". The theme then blends into the "sweet Gale theme" as Gale gathers Olaf's remains. D) Happily, when Olaf is resurrected by Elsa! This is prefaced by "sweet Gale theme 2" when Elsa asks Anna "Do you want to build a snowman?"

11. Northuldra theme

This mysterious and slightly creepy theme is actually very long, but the iconic part is marked in red. An important theme, it is played by the Gemshorn for its haunting sound. This theme is heard whenever the Northuldra are referenced (except for one instance) The full theme is heard A) when Agnarr tells the story of the Northuldra and the war. B) After the exodus, when Anna is talking to Elsa and says "Wait, the Enchanted Forest? The one father warned us about?" (not in CD). C) When the main characters stand in front of the mist, which makes sense since they are about to enter Northuldra territory. D) Very briefly, when we hear shuffling in the forest, Anna grabs the Sword and the Northuldra reveal themselves. E) When the sisters look at their parents' ship in horror, and inside the ship until it blends into All Is Found theme. I cannot explain why the theme is used here (there's nothing to do with the Northuldra), except that it's a sufficiently creepy and sad theme to match the scene. F) At the dam, when the earth giants throw their boulders. I interpret that as the Northuldrans are being freed from the curse. The theme blends into Magic theme when Elsa resurrects, recurs as the waters rush down the fjord, and blends into Elsa's heroic theme.

12. Gale's theme

This is the “main” Gale's theme that is heard in full in the forest scene when Gale is playing with the main characters (after the tornado). In essence it is just 3 notes and is heard every time Gale appears. In the main theme, the first note is an augmented fifth (eg, C-Aflat) which is slightly mysterious and instantly recognisable.

There are a couple of variations on the main theme. Christophe Beck shows his genius here. He uses the same three notes for "angry" Gale, when Elsa fights Gale, but, he changes the base note and the augmented fifth is not heard. (so the first note is G, in G minor). There is a lot of additional fast-paced orchestration that amps up the "angry" feeling, but the main 3 notes are still there. The other variation is the "sweet" Gale's theme. In this variation, the third note of the theme is flattened by one semitone. Genius. We first hear it when Olaf dies and Gale gathers his remains. We also hear it (sweet 2) when Elsa asks Anna DYWTBAS, and lastly in the epilogue (sweet 2) when Gale comes to appreciate the statue of Agduna. The difference between "sweet" and "sweet 2" is simply that the base chord is different.

13. Bruni's theme

Bruni's theme is a melody that jumps up from the first 2 notes, to a note that is held and then repeats itself before coming down. This theme is all over the Elsa-Bruni fight, accompanied by a lot of rapid orchestration to make it sound intense. At the end of the fight, when Bruni is calm, we hear a "calm" version of the theme played gently. The musical difference is that the jump is a major 6th in the "angry" theme, and a minor 6th in the "calm" theme. We also hear Bruni's theme immediately after the main characters have passed through the mist into the forest - there's a short segment where Bruni is checking them out with his "Bruni-vision". Lastly we also hear it when Olaf interacts with Bruni "this is why we don't play with fire... Why are you so cute!" (The latter is not on the CD)

14. Earth Giants theme

This is a series of block chords, that starts high pitched and then cascades down rapidly. The last chord is very low, an octave lower. The Gemshorn Fujara is part of the Earth giants' characteristic theme. It is blown hard (overblown) during the first chord, making this VERY haunting, mystical sound. A) When Elsa parts the mist and they look at the stone pillars of the elements. B) When the main characters are blown through the mist (interesting that it's not Gale's theme); C) When a giant walks near the Northuldran village and almost sees Elsa; D) when Anna and Olaf encounter the sleeping giants on the river in their ice boat and E) when Anna screams at them to wake up to help her break the dam.

15. Water theme

I did not call this Nokk's theme because Nokk does not appear in the ice boat river scene. This theme is very rapid in that scene; it is played slower in the Dark Sea during Elsa's fight with Nokk.

Minor themes

16. Ahtohallan theme

This theme plays when Elsa is seeing all the ice memories in amazement. It is combined with Elsa's theme and is initially joyous and lighthearted. However, as the scene progresses and Runeard's evil nature is gradually revealed, the music darkens and becomes more ominous. At the cliff, after Iduna's warning is heard, the second, spookier, version of the theme is heard.

17. Gone Too Far theme

A really creepy theme that gives me goose bumps. It is heard when Anna and Olaf receive Elsa's icy message about the truth behind Runeard's dam. It is followed by The Next Right Thing theme; it then recurs as Olaf starts to flurry away and Anna slowly realises in horror that something has gone terribly wrong.

18. Anna running theme

Sounds similar to Water theme but is different. Heard when Anna runs from the Earth giants in the forest, and when she runs on the top of the dam. Lastly here is a master list of the score, track by track starting from #4 Exodus, of all the musical references in chronological order. 4. Exodus - “main” Gale's theme 5. The Mist - Northuldra, Earth Giant, Bruni, Northuldra 6. Wind - "angry" Gale, Magic, Elsa's theme, main Gale's theme, Northuldra (short) 8. Fire and Ice - "angry" Bruni, Magic, "calm" Bruni 7. Iduna's scarf - All is found, Gale's theme, Vuelie, Peace theme, The Next Right Thing, Elsa's theme 9. Earth Giants - Earth Giants, Sisters theme (short) 10. The Ship - Gale's theme (short), Northuldra, All is found, Sisters 11. River Slide - Water, Earth Giants, Water, Magic 12. Dark Sea - Water, Elsa's theme 13. Ghosts of Arendelle Past - Ahtohallan theme, Elsa's theme, All is found (short) 14. Gone Too Far - Gone too far theme, TNRT, Gone too far theme, Peace theme, "sweet" Gale's theme 15. Rude Awakening - Anna running theme, Earth Giants 16. The Flood - Elsa's theme, Anna running theme, Northuldra, Magic, Northuldra, Elsa's theme (heroic) 18. Reunion - Sisters, "sweet" Gale's theme 2, Peace theme 19. Epilogue - Some Things Never Change, "sweet" Gale's theme 2, Vuelie

#frozen 2 #frozen 2 score #christophe beck #frozen analysis #frozensnetwork #frozensource #disneyfeverdaily #disney frozen 2 #disney

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krolock-in-the-snowlock · 4 years ago

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Part 2 - Broadway’s Dance of the Vampires Commentary

Act 2

• And here we are again, after taking a week or two to recover from act 1

• I have no idea what’s going to happen but I’m gonna finish what I started, no matter what it takes

• Ok the video is ready, I don’t think I am but here we go

• Ok well the opening music was more like titanic than tanz

• Ooh ok we have lots of vague figures on stairs, probably vampires but it’s hard to tell with the 480p video quality

• Hmmm are we having a reprise of totale finsternis?

• That staircase is looking

• Glad to see the audience is cracking up again at the use of total eclipse of the heart

• Those couple guys are having a great time

• They’re like

• haHAAA

• Good for them

• Glad someone’s enjoying this

• I would be annoyed that this whole thing is seen as funny when the original scene is really cool but hey this whole thing is just one big old parody so what could I expect

• Distancing myself from it by calling it a parody is the only thing getting me through thiis

• I don’t think they’re using all the same lyrics as total eclipse so at least there’s that

• But the lyrics are too romancey and soppy ugh

• Michael your singing is actually quite nice aside from the hint of giovannui at the edges of your words

• ARE THEY NOT DOING THE HARMONIES

• NO

• The harmonies are the best part of the song noooo

• And I think his voice would probably harmonise quite well

• And he ISN’T SINGING TURN AROUND WITH THE BACKING SINGERS

• wHY

• there was no dramatic krolock walking down the staircase slowly

• but then again I don’t think giovanni could do that

• he’d probably trip on the second step, crash down the stairs and be like I’m a-fine! Hee hee!

• Oh

• Oh no

• I think they are doing harmonies but they’re just

• Wrong

• So wrong

• Or maybe good ol’ giovanni has just forgotten the key he’s supposed to be singing in

• Entirely possible

• I don’t think giovanni would particularly care about the rules of music

• Oh giovanni is literally just like come to the gates of hell with me and sarah seems chill with iy

• She’s singing along

• She’a having a good time

• NOOO they harmonised poorly during the verse where there should be no harmonies but they sTILL WON’T HARMONISE IN THE CHORUS

• I HATE IT

• -22/10 would not listen again

• But then that sums up the whole musical tbh

• The phrase ‘hold me tight’ should not be in this song

• Wrong vibes my friends

• This fails the vibe check

• Oh no they’re attempting a couple of the original harmonies

• 2 lines in and it’s not going well

• ???????

• Wait

• They’re both singing harmonies for sarah’s line but NOBODY IS SINGING SARAH’S LINE

• Sarah sing your own part

• What r u doing

• Sarah

• This is horrible pls stop

• Once again the staging is mostly just the two pigeons again

• Except the squawking is more evenly split between the two

• Back and forth

• Wait

• Hmm

• There appears to be either a cult or aa group of monks (is there a name for that? A flock of pigeons, a murder of crows, a prayer of monks?) gathering in the backgroubd

• Did nobody tell them yhis room was taken

• Or maybe sarah and giovanni didn’t book the room

• Maybe it’s just turned midnight and their hour is up

• Someone check the dramatic staircase room booking sheet pls

• Ok ok but there’s nothing you can do, a total eclipse of the heart??

• The whole point is that sarah is trying to choose to be free and make her own choices

• If there’s nothing she can do then that sort of defeats the purpose

• Oh wait yeah this sarah wasn’t locked up

• Never mind

• None of this makes sense anyway

• Really missing krolock’s cape rn

• Nothing looks as good without it

• If giovanni had a cape he might even make it from a -13/10 to nearly a 1/10

• Oh the cult is following giovanni

• Maybe he invited them..?

• Having that many candles on the stairs cab’t be practical

• And tbh is frankly quite dangerous if u ask me

• …and once again we end with some undeservinf applause

Round 4: the boys are back in town

• Ah here comes alfred with his self-narration

• Did he just lightly crack the fourth wall..?

• Oh god and the vampire hunting squad is joined by giovanni ‘buonasera’ von krolock

• Ew did he just say scrumptious? That word should be spoken by grannies and posh mothers alone

• I love how he’s just sat in a throne in the middle of nowhere

• Is this outside his castle? Inside? Somewhere else entirely? We may never know

• Oh sorry I stand corrected it appears I have been incorrectly naming giovanni this whole time

• His full name appears to be count giovanni coppolini travancoli von krolock (or something along those lines) of the sicilian side of the family

• Albus percival wulfric brian dumbledore anyone?

• I just.

• Why is he italian

• Krolock does not sound remotely italian

• Do vampires have a connection to italy?

• If so I am not aware

• Once again, I must ask: why is 75% of the staging of this musical just people stood at opposite ends of the stage facing each other

• Those bats look like family? I guess they would

• Oh my god why is alfred threatening giovanni

• I guess nobody’s gonna be pretending not to know what the others are

• Which gets straight to the point I suppose

• While not necessarily good at self-preservation, alfred sure is efficient

• But maybe too efficient because we still have an hour left to go

• This version of alfred is like a chihuahua with small dog sydrome yapping at a bigger dog, excpet giovanni is only slightly bigger than him and is probably a flea-infested chinese crested dog dressed in a halloween costume from wish.com

• …piccolo alfredo.

• This scene is really bringing out the offensively fake italian in giovanni

• WHY. IS. HE. OFFERING. ALFRED. A. SPONGE. SHAPED. LIKE. A. PENIS

• WHY IS HE MAKING IT GO FLACCID EWWWW NOOO

• I NEED EYE AND BRAIN BLEACH

• Are they saying… erbert..?

• Oh yay he’s french

• Quick tip, directors: the french would not pronounce the t either unless you added an e at the end (I think)

• Also e is more like air rather than er from what I remember

• So really it would be airbair??

• Which is stupid

• Tl;dr: do not make him french and still call him herbert

• Oh and herbert wearing bright blue? No thx I prefer his purple sparkles and black

• His hair and wig aren’t even done well *sigh* herbert would hate this

• See giovanni made a joke and the audience clearly liked it but I could not catch a word of what he said

• Oh god this herbert is wrong

• Herbert never actually speaks to krolock in tanz

• Which tbh is a shame but i prefer it over… whatever this is…

• Huh so it is set in transylvania, giovanni and airbear are just italian and french bc y not

• Neat

• Cool cool cool

• Wait so they were in the library the whole time???????

• I’m so confused rn

• Why does his library have a coffee bar..? you know what, never mind

• Ah ambronsius is clearly about to sing his book song

• …or maybe not? Giovanni is apparently trying to seduce him too..?

• The staging is a bit like vor dem schloss

• It’s the right time for it but who knows

• And one of the first decent harmonies of the musical is a line between giovanni and ambronsius singing about books bc apparently this is a book club now

• Oh no is koukol called boris

• If it isn’t boris johnson I’m gonna be disappointed (or relieved)

• Apparently the throne just glides backwards

• Like a magic carpet exceot it doesn’t leave the ground so i suppose actually more like a chair with wheels, which is much less exciting

• That didn’t deserve a clap

• I can’t figure out if they’re being open about their intentions or not because they seem to change their minds every 10 seconds

• There’s suddenly a bed?

• Oh god ok let’s see if they mess up carpe noctem

• Well the music is for an entirely different song so this will be interesting

• Hmm ok it is that completly different song

• Is that airbear..?

• Or alfred #2?

• Bc it should be krolock singing that song but idek

• At least we get a cape and mostly good singing

• Ah here we go

• Carpe noctem looking its usual weird self

• oH GOD NOT ITS USUAL SELF

• I do not remember winged demons dancing on the bed in the original

• But hey there’s more capes

• Something to be grateful for

• I’m really not sure what’s going on here

• Oh ok I can finally see the dream krolock

• He’s doing all those jumps in a suit rather than shirtless with leggings so he looks a little less cool sorry to him

• But yh i still have no idea who is singing the main vocals

• And it’s over

• Ha alfred lowkey looks like brian david gilbert in that one bit

• Sorry alfred your i’m scared but i’m gonna do this for sarah song isn’t quite as sweet when you’re super confident

• One thing i never understood was how ambronsius slept through alfred’s singing

• Ah it appears he did not

• He’s hugging ambronsius..?

• Does he do that in the original?

• Ha ha very funny professor sibilance and homovampiricus

• Oh and alfred happily just whacks chagal on the head nice nice totally in character

• The coffins are empty???

• Why is chagal in a nice coffin

• Where does giovanni sleep

• I guess in his floating mansion of a coffin

• If anything herbert would have that

• WHY IS MRS CHAGAL HERE

• WHY IS ALFRED EAGER TO KILL CHAGAL

• Oh he’s finally turning magda

• ..and his wife?

• Apparently

• Are they in a polyamorous relationship now

• They will not all fit in that one coffin I’m sorry

• And here’s herbert

• Ew herbert is so cheap

• Like he was flirty in the original but this is ridiculous

• Ugh too many cheap gay jokes

• airbear is sO much worse than I could have imagined

• Huh maybe alfred is confirmed a little bi here

• Ok yeah alfred is definitely having his bi awakening here

• And at least the whole thing is a little more consensual here

• Oh yeah alfred’s bi as hell, he’s singing harmonies with airbear

• But he’s still trying to escape?

• I guess he is a bit confused

• Wait so airbear ended that thinking alfred wanted him? Different but more accurate to the events

• 40 minutes to go

• Mrs krolock is apparently a disguise he uses around sarah too? Ok

• Well the vampires are about to wake so this is where things really should start getting good but I’m sure they won’t

• I don’t like that one of them laughed

• I don’t think they’re even harmonising

• Lazy

• Ah ok here we go harmonies

• These are nice actually

• The lower part is louder than usual, which actually works quite nicely

• The vampires aren’t as jolty and creepy though

• Ew the guitar is bad

• What was that horrible whining between notes

• Oooh this should be sie irren professor

• Oh no, I guess giovanni has decided to bypass the threatening and has gone straight to physical assault

• There’s a prophecy? Alright then. Bit abrupt

• Dammit so they’re going straight into die unstillbare gier without sie irren professor

• Maybe it’s for the best… giovanni was never going to sound that threatening anyway

• Half an hour to go

• I can do this

• Let’s see how he massacres one of the best songs in the musical

• Also he’s starting the song at the front of the stage not the top, and it’s just weird

• When giovanni has been so comedic and dumb the whole time this song just won’t work

• …and the firsg two lines don’t rhyme… great start

• He has a cape though

• Pls I just want 1 cape swish

• Oh but the cape is pathetic

• Oh

• This song could have been good

• But the lyrics aren’t as good in places and he’s still got hints of giovanni’s stupid accent

• What a tragedy

• Well they’re giving a little more detail about his previous victims which is interesting at the very least

• The lyrics don’t have enough syllables

• And ugh they’re not very good either

• There are a few nice ones but most of them…

• I use my body just like a bandage, I use my body just like a wound

• And the prize for worst lyric yet goes to…

• And what makes it worse is that those replaced ich will frei und freier werden und werde meine ketten nicht los

• One of my favourite parts of the song

• And I just want to add that he’s barely moving too

• He doesn’t climb to the top and run down to collapse on the floor

• He just. Stands there.

• Like a badly dressed rock.

• Oh but the stage tilts now to form a straight wall

• So it’s not even like they couldn’t have the stage rise as he runs down

• They just left it raised for him to do nothing on and then got rid of it completely

• They replaced doch die with buuuuuut which does NOT work at all

• You need two syllables to separate the two notes

• This is awful

• They changed the tune a tiny bit which is fine I guess, not as satisfying though

• I just

• *sigh*

• His voice is good. With good lyrics and the original character, he could have done it really well

• I hate that potential was wasted

• Which, again, goes for the whole trainwreck of a musical

• I can’t make out all of the lyrics and I’m not sure if that’s a mild annoyance or a blessing

• Like, i have no idea what he said in the last little bit

• But hey that’s that

Part 3 - The Ball and Beyond

#tanz der vampire #dance of the vampires #ready for the final part?

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thesevenseraphs · 5 years ago

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Bungie Weekly Update - 11/21/19

This week at Bungie, we’re investing in solar energy. We wrapped up Festival of the Lost this week, but cleaning up the decorations wasn’t the only thing that changed in the Tower. Ikora finished her construction project, closed out all the permits, and Guardians launched an attack on the Undying Mind.

The attack is ongoing and all Season Pass holders can join in on Vex Offensive and transmat the finished portal from the Tower to summon and defeat Undying Minds from different timelines.

The impact of your victory has not been made clear just yet, but in time, you will learn more about how this will further evolve the world as we transition into the next Season.

SOLAR SHIFTS

Next Season, we are shaking up the Solar subclasses. We are reworking several ability trees and the Destiny Dev Team has the details on what to expect when you praise the Sun next season.

Destiny Dev Team: Hey Guardians, it’s the Combat Systems team here, back again to talk about some updates we’re making to the abilities sandbox in the next Season. Previously we spent a Season focusing on subclasses of one specific element type such as Arc and Void. Up next, the Combat Systems team is tackling Solar subclasses as our focus for gameplay updates.

As we’ve mentioned in past TWABs, our goal with these subclass updates is to “revisit some older subclass paths and freshen them up a bit.” In execution, this means that older subclass paths will feel like viable choices in many of our activities and that players can find a home in any of them. When we started working on sandbox updates to follow Season of the Undying, our team looked at the whole catalog of Solar subclasses by cross referencing data, feedback, and conversation to figure out which subclasses needed help, which are performing fine, and which ones were a bit too potent. During our investigations, it was pretty clear that three specific subclasses were underperforming and needed to be taken back into the shop for a rework.

It’s worth noting here that a rework doesn’t mean it’s a completely new subclass. It means that we took the root of the gameplay fantasies for those subclasses and either expanded on what was already there or shifted some of the existing attributes closer to their fantasy. In some cases, entire perks were changed to help further the gameplay role and fantasy of those subclasses.

Those three Solar subclasses are:

GUNSLINGER: WAY OF THE SHARPSHOOTER (BOTTOM PATH)

Traditionally, Way of the Sharpshooter has mostly been used in specific PvE activities and almost exclusively paired with the Celestial Nighthawk helm. We wanted to move Way of the Sharpshooter to be something players want to choose more often and for a wider range of activities. To do that we needed to differentiate both Golden Gun paths and make Sharpshooter more versatile and interesting to use in PvE. In order to differentiate the 3-shot and 6-shot Golden Gun and better play into their fantasies, we've made the following changes:

For 3-shot we increased the auto-aim distance and reliability when aiming down sights, as it fulfills the role of long range accuracy. For 6-shot, we shortened the damage falloff range to emphasize the short range gunfighter role with a lot of kill potential. While it can still perform at longer ranges, it may take an extra shot to get the job done. We've made other changes to Way of the Outlaw to help keep its potency like adding a new Explosive Prox Knife that can stick to surfaces and detonate when enemies pass nearby.

All up - we want Way of the Sharpshooter to feel more active and rewarding for players who can fulfill the role of the sharpshooter by taking down enemies with accuracy and precision.

NEW Weighted Knife: High-damage knife throw with a long wind up. Travels at high speeds, bounces once, and does extra damage to the head. Precision shot final blows recharge the melee completely. One-hit precision final blow in PvP.

Practice Makes Perfect: (QoL): Lasts longer but gives a bit less energy per second. Precision hits grant two stacks.

NEW Knock 'em Down: Precision final blows increase weapon stability and ADS speed. Timer starts at 10 seconds but any additional final blow/assists can increase it up to 25 seconds. Casting your Super with this buff above 20 seconds consumes the buff and grants extra damage. (Does not stack with Celestial Nighthawk).

Line 'em Up: (QoL): Old perks from Crowd Pleaser are now part of this perk. (Golden Gun can cause precision damage and precision shots generate orbs of light).

SUNBREAKER: CODE OF THE DEVASTATOR (MIDDLE PATH)

Titans who adhere to the Code of the Devastator want nothing more than to crush their foes with smoldering hammers, and we want to see them live their dreams. When our data indicated that this subclass was underperforming in PvP, we decided to make a few changes that should enable it to be more competitive. The Roaring Flame perk has received a significant buff to its bonus damage, and the buff now lasts 25% longer, making it easier to build and retain stacks between encounters. The base damage of Throwing Hammer melee ability has increased—it's now very lethal in PvP while you have Roaring Flames active. In addition, once you've thrown the hammer and it’s lying on the ground, you don't have to get quite as close to it to pick it back up. Finally, we tuned the Super in a number of ways.

For starters, Burning Maul now lasts longer, giving you more time to use it strategically instead of simply spamming the slam button. (Titans. All we want to do is smash, right?) We also increased the height of the heavy-slam explosion, so this Super should feel much more potent against airborne enemies. That's the gist of it, but here are more details:

Throwing Hammer: Increased impact damage from 100 to 120 and increased hammer pick-up radius from 2m to 3.5m. Adjusted hammer throw animations to fit a more damaging attack.

Roaring Flames: Increased damage bonus from 10% per stack to 25% per stack in PvP, and increased duration from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.

Burning Maul: Increased duration from 21.2 seconds to 28.5 seconds

Light Attack: Reduced light attack energy cost from 5% to 3%. Adjusted the animation so that it flows seamlessly into chained light attacks without stopping.

Heavy Attack: Ground Slam attack now detonates when it detects enemies above it. Detonation radius was increased to make landing attacks more consistent. Increased energy cost from 6% to 8%

DAWNBLADE: ATTUNEMENT OF SKY (TOP PATH)

With Attunement of Sky we wanted to push its air superiority gameplay further. When we initially released this path, its movement capabilities were tuned around the original Destiny 2 gameplay experience, which was much slower and more deliberate about positioning. However, over time, this movement needed to adapt to the new sandbox. We want to give you the gameplay experience that the fantasy begs for: A flying angel who can maneuver with grace and destroy its foes below.

Now before we get started I wanted to touch on one thing: To accomplish our goals of reworking the air superiority role, we needed to differentiate the two Daybreak paths from one another. As such, we reduced the speed at which Burst Glide accelerates players in Daybreak. We know this is a controversial change but we wanted to reserve the air superiority gameplay with Attunement of Sky and the Burst Glide speed was blurring the lines between both Daybreak paths.

Icarus Dashes while in Daybreak have increased speed and thrust to recapture the burst glide gameplay for those running the air superiority path. We hope that, while this change is different, you still feel as fast as before—but with maybe a bit more expression behind that speed. The rest of the changes are below:

NEW Celestial Fire (Melee): Send a spiral of three explosive Solar projectiles. Heat Rises: (Rework) Consume your grenade to extend Glide time and dramatically reduce the in-air accuracy penalties for weapons.

Winged Sun (Rework): Fire weapons, use Celestial Fire, and throw grenade while gliding. Airborne final blows grant melee energy and extend the duration of Heat Rises.

Icarus Dash (Rework): Tap (Crouch) twice to dodge in midair. Dodging in Daybreak accelerates players farther and costs less Super energy while under the effects of Heat Rises.Added note: Due to the nature of these reworks, Wings of Sacred Dawn received a buff where it gains 15% damage resistance while Tome of Dawn is active.

There are a whole swath of changes we’re working on that extend beyond these three subclasses. Most Solar subclasses had some tuning and some non-Solar subclasses got a bit QoL love too. We hope that with these changes, you’ll feel energized playing any Solar subclass—regardless of activity. Thanks for having us!

FINAL HOWL

Next week, Lord Saladin will return to the Tower for the final time during Season of Undying. This will be your final shot at earning pinnacle rewards from Iron Banner until next Season. If you haven’t finished up your Season Pursuit, make sure to do it before the end of the event on December 3.

Iron Banner Control

Starts: 9:00 a.m. PT on November 26

Ends: 9:00 a.m. PT on December 3

We’ll be featuring a reprised armor set next season, so if you still want to get some pieces from this set, grab them quick! Saladin is also offering enhanced mods and other items in exchange for Iron Banner tokens you may have collected. You can turn them in now or bank them for when Iron Banner returns next Season.

GAMING AND GIVING

We’re completely blown away by the generosity you all showed throughout the Game2Give fundraising campaign in support of the Bungie Foundation’s iPads for Kids Program and of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

In just three weeks, you all raised $1,673,857.62! We reached this incredible amount of funding because of the 40,000+ donors and 5,500 streamers who supported the campaign across 104 countries. To say this was a true global Guardian initiative is an understatement!

For the Bungie Foundation, this will give us the capacity to expand into up to five new hospitals in 2020 and help over 250,000 more patients than we ever have before! We are so excited to continue our work of replacing fear with joy, boredom with entertainment, and uncertainty with a sense of normalcy for so many more kiddos.And check out how this funding will help the work that Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals does every day.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for showing us once again how truly special the Bungie Community is through caring about each other and those in need.

WANNA COOK?

For those looking to add more Destiny books to their collection, we are very happy to announce

Destiny: The Official Cookbook and Destiny Grimoire Anthology Vol. Three

are coming in 2020.

Destiny: The Official Cookbook In collaboration with Insight Editions and author Victoria Rosenthal, Destiny’s first official cookbook is filled with recipes inspired by the characters and locations seen throughout its expansive universe.

Destiny Grimoire Anthology Vol. Three

Destiny Grimoire Anthology Vol. Three is coming in late 2020 as the next edition of the popular Grimoire series.

These titles will be available at the Bungie Store and other booksellers. Stay tuned for more details. Be sure to visit the Bungie Store product pages linked above and click “Email When Available” to be among the first to know when the books are open for pre-order.

TIP OF THE SPEAR

Stay up to date on the latest from the Player Support team.

This is their report.

DESTINY 2 ON STADIAThis week, Destiny 2: The Collection launched on Google Stadia. Players who are looking to get set up with Stadia for the very first time should make sure they visit our Stadia Guide.

Furthermore, existing Destiny 2 players who wish to bring their characters over from other platforms can do so right now through our Cross Save page. As a refresher; Cross Save allows players to access their preferred set of Guardians, gear, and Season Passes on all (Stadia details below) platforms. New players who are starting their Destiny 2 journey with Stadia can also enable Cross Save, so the Guardians they build and gear they earn travels with them to other platforms. However, players should know that Season Pass access granted on Stadia through Destiny 2: The Collection does not transfer to other platforms using Cross Save.

Destiny 2: The Collection on Stadia includes a Season Pass access at no additional charge. Players who have Cross Save enabled with their Stadia account who would like to access Seasonal content on other platforms (PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam) will need to purchase those Season Passes directly on one of those platforms.

As a final reminder, expansion licenses (Forsaken, Shadowkeep) do not transfer between platforms with Cross Save. Players who wish to access activities which rely on these expansion licenses will need to purchase them for every desired platform.

PC MIGRATION AND FORSAKEN LICENSES

Since Destiny 2 launched on Steam last month, we’ve monitored posts from players who have provided feedback and reported issues regarding the PC Migration experience.

After thorough investigation, we believe that we have resolved an issue which was preventing a subset of PC players from transferring their Forsaken licenses from their Battle.net accounts to Steam. Players who previously encountered this issue should re-initiate migration at our PC Move page.

Destiny 2 Known Issues

Listed below are emergent issues being investigated in Destiny 2.

The MIDA Multi-Tool catalyst will not drop for players who win a competitive Crucible match at the Legend rank if they are playing with clan mates and the "Catalyst Seeker" clan rank bonus is active. To mitigate this, we recommend that players seeking the catalyst play solo or team up with friends who are not in the same clan.

Black Armory Keys cannot be used or deleted if the Mysterious Box quest has already been completed.

Some players may experience an issue where blank items from Festival of the Lost are taking up slots at their Postmaster.

For the latest list of emergent issues, players should visit our Known Issues thread. Players who observe other issues should report them to the #Help forum.

#Destiny #Destiny 2 #Bungie Weekly Update #long post #Destiny 2: Shadowkeep

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belizedeservesbetter · 5 years ago

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Hercules is Bursting At the Seams With Potential

or, It’s Roger Bart’s World and We’re Just Living In It

Short Version: Right now it’s good but not great HOWEVER with some work this could be really spectacular

Long Version:

The production of Hercules presented by Public Works did exactly what it was meant to do. It brought in crowds, put the entirety of the Public Works community (all 200 of them) onstage and showed producers this is a viable project worth pursuing, be it on Broadway, a Disney park/cruise ship or simply available for licensing.

In all, I liked it. But I didn’t love it, which was a little disappointing to be honest, especially because Hercules is my all time favorite Disney movie. But it is easily (easily!) fixable and could be amazing if they put the work into it.

I’m gonna divide this review/commentary/whatever into three parts:

1. The Good

2. The Bad

3. What I Think They Should Do Moving Forward

So here we go. And I guess I should say there’s going to be a bunch of spoilers here, but if you’re reading this I’m assuming you’ve seen/loved the movie so you already know the plot.

1. The Good

Every moment of this show is filled with an extraordinary amount of heart. You can tell everyone involved with this production loves the source material and wants it to soar. You can tell the entire cast is having a blast and loves being there. The material itself is full of heart because that’s exactly how it was written. The leader of Public Works made a speech at the beginning saying how Hercules is about what it means to be a hero and she’s exactly right. That message is the beating heart of the show.

The length of the show was also pretty nice. My problem with a lot of these film adaptations, Disney ones especially, is that they take a relatively short film and fill it with filler songs/moments in order to fill a 2.5 hour show. Frozen suffered from this. It didn’t need to be that long. However, Hercules was only 90 minutes with no intermission! There was little to no filler! The story, while at times a bit clunky in the beginning, doesn’t take any scenic routes to fill time. This kept the plot moving at a mostly good pace and I was never bored or looking at the song list to see how much longer we had left. I could focus completely on the cast and show without feeling like it was dragging on forever.

And the cast was so good too. Krysta Rodriguez has always been a fav of mine and I was thrilled to see her playing this role. She was fun and spunky and was in great voice. If anything, she didn’t have too much to work with.

Jelani Alladin was FANTASTIC. He was the perfect Hercules. If producers decide to move forward with this show and take it to Broadway, Alladin better stay. He was charming and fun and funny and sang the hell out of “Go the Distance.” But what really impressed me about him was the dramatic moments and how personal and impactful they felt. There’s this great moment when Hercules talks to Zeus and Hera after becoming the hero of Thebes where he breaks down and has his wonderful moment with Phil and that whole scene was so good. He really lets you see Hercules’ insecurities at that moment and the way he was able to be subtle but still project to an outdoor audience of over a thousand was remarkable.

James Monroe Iglehart was great as Phil, as was Jeff Hiller and Nelson Chimilio as Panic and Pain respectively.

The costumes were really cool (with one glaring exception but we’ll get to that later). I especially enjoyed Hades/the gods costumes, because they looked enough like their movie counterparts while still being unique to the show. The way they did Hades’ makeup was super cool, like they pulled him right into the real world. Likewise, the Muses had some really cool costume changes throughout and they all looked amazing.

One of the more impressive aspects of the show was the puppetry and special effects, which felt grounded in a more Greek theatre kind of style and I thought it worked very well. The puppetry of the monsters specifically was super cool. The Hydra looked fantastic, as well as the three Titans. This production of course wasn’t given a lot of money, but much like The Lightning Thief, they worked with it. They were in these cool pieces that different actors held and when they came together they looked great. They were bright and bold and drew on older theatre techniques which I liked a lot. The special effects, especially in the latter half, were also good. How they did the Underworld was simple but effective and made a wonderful stage picture, especially the moment when Hercules saves Meg from Hades. How they made his life string turn gold looked really cool as well.

In terms of musical numbers, what worked best was the songs we all know and love. “Go the Distance” was simply staged, which made the emotion of the song far more effective. “Zero to Hero” was a blast and took all the best parts from the movie and put them on stage. “I Won’t Say (I’m In Love)” was divine, just as I expected it to be. “A Star Is Born” was genuinely uplifting and joyous, since they brought out all 200 members of the cast and everyone was so happy to be there and it was the perfect way to end the show.

There were 5 new songs, and while I wasn’t a fan of most of them, I really really liked “Bolts of Thunder” and thought it was a fun way to musicalize the big fight scenes with the Titans towards the end. The Muses also wore these incredible 90s girl group inspired jumpsuits that were spectacular.

Speaking of 90s girl group Muses, there were two moments when they heavily channeled this vibe and I wish they did more of it. “Bolts of Thunder” with the jump suits and the reprise of “Gospel Truth” after “One Last Hope” where they wore these late 80s/early 90s workout video outfits. Those moments were artistically bold and really emphasized what worked in the original movie, but I’m gonna talk more about that later in part 3.

Of course my favorite part of this production was Roger Bart. He stole the entire show. Whenever Hades is on stage he has the best lines and the funniest moments and he just has a way of making every line feel both biting and passive aggressive. He was absolutely incredible and the perfect choice for Hades. This production gave us more Hades than the original movie, but I wanted even more Hades. Bart has always been an actor near and dear to my heart (Young Frankenstein was my jam) and I was so glad to see him onstage again.

2. The Bad

Unfortunately, a good portion of the show feels clunky, both stylistically and in content. The book was perfectly serviceable, taking a good portion of its lines from the films. But it felt too slow in the first half and too fast in the second, which was also when things got more interesting. For example, there’s a whole song about Hercules not feeling accepted at the Agora and there’s a long scene after that song but later on when Hercules defeats Hades, that takes literally 2 seconds. Likewise, the show over explains certain exposition points (and is not subtle in any way, shape or form) and doesn’t explain other things. Though really there isn’t much exposition at all, as this show assumes you’ve watched the movie dozens of times.

That doesn’t always work well.

I went with a friend who hadn’t seen it in a while and afterwards he asked about what happened to Meg that made her sign her soul over to Hades. I knew because I’ve seen the movie so many times, but the show kind of brushes right over it. If you’ve never seen the movie before, which will definitely be the case with some people, it might be a little difficult to keep up with.

Stylistically, this show was all over the place.

In my opinion, Public Works presented three versions of Hercules:

1. The gospel version

2. The 90s nostalgia version

3. The Greek inspired version

I’m going to go more into this later, but these three versions would have worked if they could have seamlessly blended into each other. As of now, it’s incredibly jarring and distracting and would sometimes take me right out of the show.

For example! Hercules wore a traditional toga. Meg wore this

Yes this is Mal from Disney’s Descendants and yes Meg wore basically this but she had shorter hair and purple heel boots instead of gray. Hercules’ toga and this together looked almost absurd to be honest.

And side note: Disney has been on a kick recently where they think pants equals feminism? Someone needs to tell Disney that women can wear dresses and still be feminist

Anyways

The choreography was pretty basic, but it’s hard to fault them this when the choreography is meant to be for a crowd of 200 people with ages varying from 5 - 80. There were a lot of step touch and wave moments. There was one really cool dance break in “Zero to Hero” that made me think about how cool some of these big production numbers could be if they got some good dancers in there.

I wish the Muses were better. They were so low energy during “Gospel Truth,” which made the evening start off on a lower note than it should have.

The pop culture references were really weird and out of place, mostly because of their specificity. The pop culture references in the movie are purposely vague and more “modern” references than pop culture, which makes the movie timeless. The pop culture references here might date the show in the future. There’s two that stood out specifically, one being when Hercules says “I know the Wobble!” before doing it, the other when Panic starts doing the Hercules Mulligan rap (you know the one) from Hamilton when Hades asks him if he knows Hercules.

The rest of the new songs weren’t great either, and I’m gonna talk about each of them separately

“To Be Human” - This one definitely felt like a first draft of “Go the Distance.” Interestingly enough, I feel that an edited version of “Proud of Your Boy” from the Alladin musical (also written by Alan Menken) would have worked a lot better.

“Uniquely Greek Town Square” - bad

“Forget About It” - I’m all for giving Meg more songs, but this was decent at best

“A Cool Day In Hell” - I desperately want Hades to have a solo, but not this. It was cheesy and felt out of place. Roger Bart sold the hell out of it, but of course he did cause he’s Roger Bart and incredible and amazing

“Uniquely Greek Tough Town” - not to be confused with “Uniquely Greek Town Square,” this song didn’t feel uniquely Greek at all and was, well, bad

“To Be Human (Reprise” - fine, I guess. Jelani Alladin made it good but the lyrics weren’t great. They rhymed “fail” with “frail.”

3. What I Think They Should Do Moving Forward

Like I said before, this show has so much potential! I think it could be so good! This is my favorite Disney movie so I really want it to go to Broadway! If they do, there’s a couple things I think they could benefit from.

The best Disney Theatricals productions draw heavily from the culture/country the story takes place in. The Lion King, which draw heavily from Kenyan culture and reinvents the source material is the best example of this. I think drawing on Greek theatre conventions/styles would work well here, especially if Disney threw some of that good Disney money at it. I’d also like to see them lean into the Greek myth aspect of it a bit more.

However, what also made the original Hercules movie so fun was its modern flair that felt both timeless and very 90s, which was fun. In this way I think the Muses and all the supernatural characters should draw more on this 90s flair while the mortals draw more on the Greek theatre conventions. I think with incorporating some Greek into the 90s and some 90s into the Greek, this could work really well. During “One Last Hope,” all the ensemble members wore those fun workout video outfits. I think it would have been fun if they wore togas still, but with sweatbands and leg warmers. Something like that to blend them together more. A theatrical beauty blender, if you will.

In all honesty, I just want something bold and inspired. Give me something interesting!

The show would also benefit from heavy edits to the newer songs and a good troupe of dancers, but that would of course happen in a possible commercial transfer.

Lastly, as with just about anything, throw some Disney money at it! Make it shine!

Normally I’d end this with a “Go see it!” or a “Don’t waste your time on it!” but this run is already sold out and lottery winners have been predetermined. So if you’ve won the lottery and are going, you’re in for a treat! The show is so fun and so enjoyable. I only critique it so heavily because I love the movie so much and have been wanting a musical adaptation for a while now. But I also know it’s Public Works and it’s free and it’s in the park and it’s fun and you can eat ice cream while watching it. If you didn’t win but live in NYC, give the lottery a go! I saw the lottery crowd waiting for winners to be drawn and it was incredibly crowded, so be aware of that.

Or, if you didn’t win the lottery/don’t win standby lottery, go over to the Belvedere Castle and you can listen in on the show. You’re only seeing their backs, but I saw a bunch of people there watching/listening the whole time!

#hercules #broadway #jelani alladin #krysta rodriguez #disney #review #voice

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lady-of-lyon · 5 years ago

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Why I Love Steven Universe the Movie - There Are Spoilers

I saw the Steven Universe movie the day after it came out, on the Cartoon Network app. Immediately after watching it, the first thought I had was, “well, that happened.” It seemed a bit bizarre and empty to me at the time, but after a few weeks of ruminating, it slowly began to connect with me more and more.

I get why people don’t like this movie. There are a lot of things I don’t like about it too. The whole journey with the main characters rediscovering what they had already learned in the show was to me uninteresting and unfulfilling. Amnesia is a tricky plot device because it’s an easy cop out, and it’s often used as nothing other than that especially in this movie, where the characters don’t grow or learn, they just fall back to square one and regrow, which creates an illusion of character development that doesn’t really develop anything. The best this movie does with this concept is with Pearl, by clarifying that it wasn’t Rose who gave her her independence but independence itself, but amnesia wasn’t really necessary to make this statement, and other than that what’s learned leaves no impact. Even Steven’s journey is a retread, and he doesn’t have an excuse, because he doesn’t have amnesia. Cool things can be done with amnesia, the movie Memento for one is a prime example, and I also like to direct you to the Criminal Minds season 3 episode Tabula Rasa, but Steven Universe does not do such things.

A lot of the songs in the movie were also sub-par. Let Us Adore You (especially the reprise), Other Friends and Drift Away stick with you, and system/BOOT. PearlFinal (3).Info is cute, but other than that the songs do what their more memorable colleague mentions - they drift away. Yes, burn me at the stake, I did not care for True Kinda Love. To start with it’s not really my kind of music, and it especially rubbed me the wrong way when its chill elevator jams were chosen to accompany the most desperate and dramatic scene in the movie. The pacing is also messed up; little time is spent showing what Steven’s happily ever after actually looks like, so it feels rushed and low-stakes when Spinel comes in to destroy it. I was also personally a bit miffed when Spinel was briefly reverted to being evil just over a bad word choice on Steven’s part, even after the beautiful garden scene.

And of course, the elephant in the room, the treatment of Pink Diamond, with her splitting the fanbase on whether she’s irredeemable or whether the movie unfairly makes her seem so without playing devil’s advocate and acknowledging the abuse that we learned from the series she was taking and how that effected her actions. I won’t dip my toes too deep in that, but I agree with the fanbase that it could’ve been dealt with better.

Wow, it sounds like I really don’t like this movie, huh? And to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have, if it weren’t for Spinel.

From parent’s day out on to today, I’ve always gone to small schools. My graduating highschool class had nine people in it, who were all very different in terms of personality and personal goals, and the same can be said of all my other classes. Small schools love to talk about how great small schools are, and how it builds such a strong community, and how the students become family, but it isn’t true. Instead the result was a group of people who were friendly with one another not because they were actually friends, but because they had no other choice, because these were the only people that were around them. You weren’t ever able to find someone who you can really connect with, and even when you kinda did, despite how much you hugged and hung out and ate lunch together, there was always this sense that it was out of necessity, that you were only friends because no one else had even the slightest hint of being compatible. That’s the reason I love shows and movies so much about strangers being forced together to save the day and become friends in the process, because I know from personal experience that something like that is so impossible that the mere thought of it working out is a world of escapism.

And that was the headspace I was in most of my life - escapism, denial. I really did believe the small schools were right, that me and my classmates were close, that we were family. I went on thinking that they liked me, that I was the class clown, the entertainment, their friend. But I found out, that could not be further from the truth.

I switched schools partway through my sixth grade year, mostly because of this teacher I had. She was disorganized and mean and had a personal vendetta against me, so my parents pulled me out. As I was leaving, though, she told me what I hadn’t seen - my classmates hated me. They thought I was weird, and annoying, and childish, and wanted nothing to do with me. She was right, as was confirmed to me last summer by one of the two classmates who were nice to me from that school that I reconnected with, but her saying that really messed me up. I was eleven, why wouldn’t it?

Moving into my new school I was paranoid. It didn’t help that the students here much more openly showed their disdain for things, so they didn’t talk about me behind my back - I mean, I’m sure they did, but more importantly they talked about me to my face. There was a lot of bullying in that middleschool, so I did what I thought was the only choice I had. I distanced myself from them, isolated myself, and further did everything I could to get back. I was a tattle tale. I threw tantrums, and then ran away. I played into my own negative image, because I knew I wasn’t one of them, they had made that very clear, so surely that meant I was against them, right?

But then highschool rolled around. Things were different. The students in my class were largely different from the ones in middleschool, either because they matured or just came in from another school, replacing many who had left. At the start of my freshman year there was still some of that antagonism left in me, but it slowly faded out because I realized I was really, really lonely. I fell back on my attempts to be a class clown, to be entertainment, not because it was who I was and I was in denial by believing they liked me that way, but as a desperate ploy to get friends back. It was the only thing I knew how to do when it came to connecting with others, and of course I fell on my face. Many times. Sometimes literally. The more I tried and failed, the more sad I became, because this time my conclusion wasn’t that they didn’t like me because they were shallow bullies, my conclusion was that they didn’t like me because I was unlikeable.

I was excited going into college for the chance to start fresh, but that mindset still lingered in the back of my head. It kept me from making a lot of friends, because I wouldn’t try, because the fear of being hated outweighed the hope of being happy.

I was pretty lonely my first two years.

You can probably see a few parallels between me and Spinel, and if you can’t I’ll make it clearer. Obviously our life story isn’t the same, but so much of it is alike. Like Spinel I believed that someone who didn’t love me loved me. It wasn’t my fault, or their’s. It was because we were forced together by an institution that could not allow either of us to be happy, only I was in denial about it, and the other people were just grated by my childish optimism. If course I could never make them happy, we weren’t in the right places. But when I found out I wasn’t wanted, from the teacher telling me I wasn’t, to my school’s girl scout troop quietly ceasing to invite me to campouts, despite assuring me that changing schools wasn’t going to keep me from being a part of the troop, to each of my classmates from there following me when I joined social media just to unfollow me a few weeks later, it was a system shock, and I was devastated. I felt like a fool for ever even giving them the time of day, and so I lashed out. The people who got my wrath didn’t deserve it. The middleschoolers were bullies, yes, but they were going through their own insecurities and were just facing the world in a different way. Neither of us were in the right. And when it finally dawned on me that my treatment of them was unloving, it wasn’t because I came to that conclusion, but because I thought I wasn’t able to be loved - I used to be not good enough for them, and now I wasn’t good at all.

Spinel’s phase of self-hatred after her phase of aggression is brief, but it still speaks to me. She doesn’t want to be seen, and while she wants to make friends again, she’s convinced that she’s already ruined things for the people around her. She needs a fresh start.

And that’s where the happy ending comes. I am now happily in a wonderful group of friends. We all eat dinner together not because we have to, but because we want to. It took me a while to connect with them because I was still learning about myself, but after about a year of therapy and heart-to-hearts, I am happy. They are to me what the diamonds will be to Spinel. It shows that it is possible to be loved, to have friends, even when it seems like you’ve ruined everything for yourself.

And that’s why I love Steven Universe the Movie, because it isn’t Steven’s movie, it’s Spinel’s, and in some ways it’s my own. There’s probably not too many people who connected with Spinel’s story like I did, but it was just so powerful to me. She tries to make friends in a group she’s just not compatible with, and when things obviously don’t work out, she lashes out, assuming first that friends aren’t possible, that they’re just going to use you and talk behind your back and leave you behind, and then assuming that she just isn’t lovable. But she learns that there’s hope. She learns that she’s wrong, and it doesn’t seem to be Steven who teaches her this. Her breakdown of “what am I doing? Why do I want to hurt you so bad” comes when she looks at herself and what she’s become. Steven makes her want to try, to try to be better, but ultimately he’s not the one who can save her. It’s clear throughout the movie that he actually doesn’t want to be Spinel’s friend, so it makes sense that he won’t be, that they’re not compatible - I was wrong for antagonizing my middleschool classmates, but I don’t think we could’ve been friends, same with my highschool classmates - the diamonds, however, who, for all you want to say about them, have a lot of personal growth to do on their own, actually do want her. They latch on to her personality, she genuinely gives them joy where other’s couldn’t, and where she couldn’t to others. So they fly off - and Steven’s right, it’s not quite a happily ever after, because there’s still going to be a lot of work to do, but to me, it is a happy ending.

Because someday, somewhere, somehow, you’ll love again.

You just need to find someone.

#steven universe #su #steven universe the movie #su movie #spinel

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wordshakerofgallifrey · 6 years ago

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OKAY LISTEN UP KIDDOS, YA GIRL SAW NEWSIES LAST NIGHT IN TULSA AND I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT IT SO BUCKLE UP (or keep scrolling, I can’t tell you what to do):

okay so first of all, their Jack Kelly was one of their choreographers which amused me to no end

Spot was another one.

LEGENDS

THE SET

it was like two sets of stairs and a middle piece that doubled at the circulation window and during the Santa Fe prologue you could see the newsies “sleeping” on the steps

when Jack sang “Would I let you down? No way.” he kinda grabbed Crutchie’s chin to make sure he was looking at him

Jack wore a red bandanna around his neck

it may have been out seats, but everyone looked small on stage except the Delancey’s. bois were easily taller than Davey, and Davey was at least 6 foot

Race’s deliveries were spot-on every. single. time. it was wonderful.

During Carrying the Banner, one newsies grabbed another’s feet and they did that wheelbarrow thing in circles

none of the main newsies cast (except Spot---we’ll come back to this) were girls, but the entire ensemble newsies was made up of girls and they were the ones doing all the flips and stuff it was so great.

when Katherine gave Jack her fake headline “Cheeky Boy Gets Nothing For His Trouble”, she yelled it like a newsie.

when Davey and Les arrived on that first day, Les waved at everyone who got close to him, the kid was so cute

Nunzio reminded me of Tan France and kinda had the whole “gay stylist” vibe going on

on “shaving is tricky, the razor should float/shave me too close, and you may slit my throat” Nunzio kinda looked like he wanted to

Pulitzer definitely stiffed Nunzio for his shave and Nunzio was not happy

Hannah was clearly against raising the pape price from the beginning

when Les sold his last paper with “buy a paper from a poor orphan?” and the lady bought it, Davey could not believe she bought that

during the chase with Snyder, the stairs moved around as they ran up so that Snyder started out right behind Jack, Davey, and Les but ended up on the other side of the stage

in the theater, when the Bowery Beauties came in and started stretching, and Davey pushed Les behind him

one of the Beauties waved at Davey and poor boy looked like he was ready to die but he waved back.

MEDDA SLAYED ME

she interacted with the little “audience” on stage, even giving Katherine a little wave

there were like 6 Bowery Beauties during “I Never Planned On You/Don’t Come A-Knockin’” and they are all the loves of my life

Katherine was incredibly sassy and I loved her

“I’m sure somewhere someone cares! Go tell them!”

Davey carried Les in on his back on the second day

During “The World Will Know” when Les yells “He’s gonna be begging for an appointment to see me! You got that?” the guard grabbed Les’ hat and tossed it to the side before walking away. Davey had to hold Les’ hat for the rest of the song

“Alright who wants Brooklyn?” every. single. newsie. turned away. some completely turned their back to Jack. Davey and Les were very confused.

Jack acted all flustered when Katherine showed up at Jacobi’s before he started acting all flirty again.

Katherine was all sassy throughout this entire scene, but looked like she genuinely felt bad when Crutchie said “Ya don’t gotta be insultin’! I gotta nickel!”

“Watch What Happens” when Kath sang “what a face, face the facts,” she took a step back like she was trying to physically distance herself from that thought

right before “Seize the Day” when the Delancey’s come by, Davey steps up behind Les and like wraps his arms around Les’ shoulders like “Don’t you touch him”

Davey’s VOICE was so fantastic

one of the Delancey’s caught Les right at the beginning of the fight and made it across the stage before Jack decked him and Davey and another newsie got Les back.

literally everyone protected Les it was so sweet

SANTA FE OH MY GOSH JACK WAS SO AMAZING

act 2!!!

the audience stepped on Race’s line “To prove they’s still alive” and he said it twice, but then Katherine came in so no one heard it RIP

I died when Race said “erster” so I missed everyone’s reaction but then he used the pape to illustrate “ya fancy clam wit’ the poiyl inside” and it was amazing

the tap was phenomenal and they brought out jump ropes and did cool stunts with them

Albert swung his broom at someone and I heard one of the guys say “Ay watch the broom, Al!”

Katherine counted the beats as she tapped the first time and then all the guys booed her

in the little interlude between KONY and LFTR, Katherine led a group of girlsies in a little tap routine and it was adorable

Crutchie knocked over his fake candle in the middle of the song and picked it up really fast and started patting out the “fire”

Davey killed “poor guy’s head is spinning” honestly it was amazing

really all four of them in the reprise were SO AMAZING

they changed one of the lines: “Humpty Dumpty is about to crack”>>”‘Cause all for one makes up for all we lack”

it’s so funny to me watching Newsies with people who haven’t seen it and it gets to the reveal that Katherine is Katherine Pulitzer because half the audience went “OOOOHHHHH”

OKAY NOW GIRLSIE SPOT CONLON

not to be dramatic but I’m in love with her

she’s such an icon

she wore a little bowler hat with a red ribbon around it and had a toothpick in her mouth and she did this kick on “Kick ya halfway to Queens” and it added five years to my life, no joke

When Jack finally showed up to the rally she sarcastically slow-clapped even after everyone else finished clapping

honestly I don’t know whether I want to be her or marry her

On the rooftop, when Jack told her to give it her best shot, Katherine reared her arm back like she was going to hit him but grabbed his face and kissed him instead and he f r o z e a sec before he just kinda leaned into it, it was so soft

they were really soft in this scene God bless.

at the very beginning of “Once and For All” when it’s just Jack, Davey, and Kath singing, Davey had his hand on Jack’s shoulder and Katherine came up and held Jack’s other hand and then she and Davey grabbed each other’s arms aND I LOVED IT

that key change? oh hell yes. I cry.

in Pulitzer’s office when they mentioned the Brooklyn Bridge, Spot tipped her hat

when the governor came in, Jack, Davey, and Spot tried to get out of the way and Davey and Spot ended up holding hands and Spot freaked

Hannah was so proud of them, it was so cute

on “NEWSIES. WE WON!!!!!’ Spot jumped up and grabbed Davey and kissed him and Davey didn’t know what to do at first it was fantastic

THEN CRUTCHIE CAME BACK MY BOY

and they brought Snyder out and he got to put the cuffs on him and Crutchie kicked him as he said “You’ll be laughing all the way to the pen, little man!” and honestly what a legend

I missed the very important plot stuff here (where Roosevelt suggests Jack illustrate) because Spot and Davey were on the other side of the stage being all cute and shit, and he kissed the back of her hand and she looked all blushy and then she smacked his ass as she walked away and Davey was flustered.

Katherine and Pulitzer hugged before he left and it was very sweet

“What’s Santa Fe got that New York ain’t? Sandstorms?”

“New York’s got us...”

“Wherever you go, I will be right by your side.”

“For sure?”

“For sure.”

JACK JUST STAY ALREADY

OF COURSE HE DID I KNOW HOW IT ENDS BUT IT WAS REALLY TENSE

THIS HAS BEEN A VERY LONG RECOUNT OF THE TULSA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER’S PRODUCTION OF NEWSIES

I’M STILL DEAD.

#wow this is so long #BUT I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY #AND THE SHOW WAS SO GOOD #newsies #tulsa newsies #y'all go see what productions you can they're so fun #disney talks too much #(way too much XD)

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theinquisitivej · 6 years ago

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A Trio of Reviews – Catching up on Bumblebots, Peppy Maries, and the (Oscar) Favourite

I don’t go out to the cinema much in late December. I don’t drive, and I always visit family in a part of the country where a cinema isn’t exactly in walking distance. This hasn’t been much of a problem over the last few years, as there’s usually only one film out that I’m aching to see, and that’s often the one movie we all go out to see together. This most recent December though? It was nuts! All four of the big blockbusters that were playing were films I was interested in and excited to check out. Once the holidays were over, I had a lot of catching up to do. I’ve since seen all but one of the December releases (ironically enough the one I didn’t see was the one that, judging from its box office, everyone else went to go see – Aquaman), plus one other film that was weird, fascinating, and has been well received as a critical darling. So, here’s this week’s trio of reviews for The Favourite, Mary Poppins Returns, and Bumblebee, in the order I saw them in.

The Favourite

Artistically impressive but deliberately unpleasant.

The Favourite caught my attention when I first saw the trailer because it was a period drama that revelled in the fashion, the art, and the general finery of the early 18th Century, and yet the camera angles were strikingly different from what I’ve seen in other period dramas. The genre can be hit-of-miss for me, but every shot I saw in that trailer was doing something that interested me.

There’s a lot to chew on when it comes to the visual presentation of the film. Characters are often shot from low angles, and while this can make some characters seem confident and of noble stature, it also creates an uneasy feeling when we see people showing their vulnerability and flaws. Shooting people from this angle frames them as if they’re towering over the camera, and when you combine this with the magnificent attire on display, the visuals should, in theory, present the subject in their best light. But Queen Anne, played by the immeasurably skilled Olivia Colman, is often shown to be feeble and susceptible to manipulation from such angles, and we see many others be vulgar, cruel, and inhuman in ugly ways. The film shows a familiarity with the beautiful elegance of the film’s setting and other examples of the period drama, and it subverts your expectations time and time again by gradually turning your sympathies around on the characters you expect to like and expect to hate. It points the camera directly at the most horrible aspects of this world and its people, and there’s a strangely captivating quality to that. It’s ugly, but it’s magnetic as well.

The three performances at the heart of the film are what sustain your interest throughout The Favourite, because all three of the actresses are on top form. Emma Stone plays Abigail in a way that has her act very differently depending on who she’s talking with, showing just how hard she’s working to stay afloat in this world of politics where she’s at a disadvantage, giving a performance that keeps you guessing what her true nature is for much of the runtime. Rachel Weisz evokes such commanding authority and confidence as Lady Sarah, wearing each of her impressive outfits better than anyone else in the film because you believe that she deserves the station she’s acquired for herself, even if she is ruthless. Olivia Colman has taken a lot of the focus as Queen Anne, being the one to snag the ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ category while Stone and Weisz have been relegated to ‘Supporting Role’ nominations. All three of them equally deserve to be called leads, and to tell the truth, I’m pretty sure Queen Anne has less screen time than either of the other two protagonists. Nevertheless, all three of these actresses deserve praise for their performances in these leading roles, and Colman is no different; she expresses a wide range of emotions with sharp sincerity, always making her scenes uncomfortable to watch because you really feel like you’re in the room with someone having an emotional breakdown and you have no idea how to help them. These actresses are excellent and make The Favourite worth watching even without all the other impressive features the film has to offer on top of this.

The flipside of The Favourite doing so much to emphasise the rotten nature of this world and its characters is that, while the visuals and all the formal features of the film are praiseworthy, the final shape of the narrative has so little warmth to it that it leaves me feeling a little cold towards it. The film is a hundred percent committed to its vision of unflinchingly showing you the harsh ugliness underneath the elegant surface of this point in history, but because of this I felt disengaged with many of the character’s journeys because they would do awful things to other people for selfish reasons, and they did so with such little humanity that I simply didn’t want to see them succeed, nor were any of them appealing enough to make seeing them succeed feel satisfying. The only character I had any sympathy for by the end was Queen Anne, as she’s a woman in desperate need of help surrounded by people who’re only interested in her as a means of furthering themselves. There is some dramatic meat to that, and the bleakness of it is presented with enough purpose to make me think about the film for a long time after I was finished watching it. After all, history isn’t always satisfying, and it’s filled with people who did terrible things to get ahead, so this film would probably be compromised in its vision if it did try to make this unflinching look at this particular point in history and then deliver a narrative where good people are rewarded and bad people are punished. But there’s only so far that a film with as little compassion in it as this can go before my spirit gets tired of seeing mistreatment and hopelessness. The Favourite’s technical qualities are a treat for the mind, but its general outlook is draining on my soul.

Final Ranking: Silver.

The Favourite is coarse, and the emphasis of selfish people being terrible does wear on me and get in the way of me engaging with the motivations of several characters. But the technical skill on display in the cinematography, the lighting and colour coordination, and the three central performances come together to make an impressive piece that, even with my reservations about the story, results in a fascinating and distinct film.

Mary Poppins Returns

Mary Poppins Returns is a sequel to a classic film that follows the framework of its predecessor so closely it’s almost beat-for-beat. And yet even with this deliberate mimicking of Mary Poppins, it also somehow tells a different story and doesn’t come across as if it’s resting on its laurels. At the point in the film where the original would be playing ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’, Returns has a song about putting an imaginative and fun spin on everyday activities. When you’re thinking that it’s time for a trip to an idyllic 2D animated landscape, Returns obliges. If you’re realising that we’re scheduled for a ‘Step in Time’ music number, Returns gives you one with lamp-lighters instead of chimney sweeps.

But if you think that reprises of ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ or ‘Feed the Birds’ would be an easy slam-dunk of nostalgic ecstasy that the film would be foolish not to go for, you’d be surprised. Apart from the odd line of music here or there that’s snuck in at just the right moment to make you remember the original film, none of the original songs are to be found, and that works immensely well in Returns favour. The movie is already lifting the structure of the original film wholesale; if it took anything else from it we’d be approaching live-action remake levels of similarity. Instead, the new songs are there to stand on their own, and they mimic the sound of the Sherman Brothers’ music closely enough that you feel elated when the film wants you to be having a good time, and deeply moved when it wants you to sob your eyes out. But they’re also different enough and of unique enough subject matter that the new songs by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman (whose previous song writing work includes the Hairspray musical) feel totally distinct, even if they do have a familiar sound to them. Some of my favourites include Emily Blunt’s playful performance of ‘Can You Imagine That’, the amazing choreography of ‘Trip a Little Light Fantastic’, and of course the tender bittersweetness of ‘The Place Where Lost Things Go’.

The casting also holds up across the board. Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson play Annabel, John, and Georgie, the three children of the now adult Michael Banks. They strike the right tone for the central child characters in a Mary Poppins story, demonstrating a decent balance between being impossibly sweet-natured but also strong-headed enough to say what they feel as they feel it and sometimes cause trouble because of that. It’s difficult for me to think of many distinguishing characteristics which mark each of them out, but in all honesty I could say the same about the original Banks children, even after all those viewings. Plus, having three children rather than two does shift the dynamic enough to make the experience feel different. Ben Whishaw plays the adult Michael Banks, who grew up to be an artist who’s struggling to make end’s meet through his work at the bank, so while he did pursue a creative life that marks him out as a different man to his father, he also resembles him in many ways, and clearly risks making the same mistakes that he did. But the thing that resonates the most about his character is the set-up that his wife passed away not too long ago, and the whole family is still coming to terms with the hole this has left in their lives. Whishaw’s performance stabs at your heart, conveying how helpless Michael feels without her, but also how hard he’s trying to not show this to the rest of the family. His resolve to soldier on reminds me of the long walk Mr. Banks takes at the end of the original, knowing he is most likely going to be fired, but moving on anyway. The connection between the two characters is well thought out, and Whishaw impresses immensely. There’s not as much time dedicated to the grown-up Jane Banks played by Emily Mortimer, which is a shame, but it does feel right to see her be inspired by her mother’s activism as a suffragette and campaign for worker’s rights. Lin-Manuel Miranda fills in the Bert role of the lovable guide who’s savvy to Mary’s unknowable nature as Jack, an apprentice that Bert seems to have more-or-less raised himself. Miranda sings his songs with such cheery charm that they instantly transport you back to the world of Mary Poppins, demonstrating his golden touch when it comes to musicals, surprising none of the fans of his previous work, including Hamilton and the songs from Moana. Finally, Emily Blunt is another transcendent Mary Poppins. Yes, we now have two cinematic portrayals of the same character which are different, but both stunning. She accentuates some of the aspects I most enjoy about the character, namely the prim, immaculate composure that oozes authoritative control, but can instantly, effortlessly transform into cheeky playfulness before your eyes. She nails it, and as far as I’m concerned, we now have two Mary Poppins performances that are practically perfect in every way.

This review is already running long, so I’ll get through this quickly, but… my God, did seeing traditional 2D animation in the style of Disney’s original hand-drawn pictures on the big screen again in 2019 move me beyond words. There’s plenty of quality 2D, non-CGI animation out there in different forms, whether its in television, short films, the labour of love that animators are putting out there on the internet, or anime, but we really do need more of this mode of animation out there. There have been some truly beautiful 2D animated films over the last decade, but I want to see more of this kind of genuine effort from Disney, the company that put this cinematic hand-drawn animation on the map for western audiences. This beautiful artform needs to be preserved and cultivated, and I hope this is a step towards Disney doing more to help with that.

I will admit that Returns following Mary Poppins’ structure so closely did take me out of the film to a degree, as it makes me more aware that I’m watching a sequel that’s very deliberately aping the film that came before it, which makes it feel less organic than it could have been. To be fair, I’m not sure what else you could have done to make it have as strong a connection as it does to the first film. There’s also an unnecessary sequence here or there which are intended to be thrilling but I never felt like there was much tension to them, such as the race against the clock at the end. It doesn’t reach the heights of the original, but wasn’t that always going to be the case? In every other respect, this film is a delight and a satisfying emotional journey.

Final Ranking: Silver.

You can’t watch Mary Poppins for the first time again. But this film nevertheless gives you a taste of what you felt, whether it’s that joyous exuberance of having a jolly holiday with Mary, or the bittersweet reflection of an adult acknowledging that time keeps pressing on, the seasons change, but you can still find the magic in today.

Bumblebee

The director of Kubo and the Two Strings directed a Transformers movie.

I’m currently doing academic research into the history of American stop-motion animation. I plan for one of my chapters to be on Laika and their four (five by the time I finish, though I hope there’ll be even more than that) excellently crafted films, including Kubo. Watching Bumblebee, I noted a few similarities between it and Kubo, such as a young main character going on an emotional journey as they struggle to come to terms with the death of one or more of their parents, and a celebration of the emotive powers of music that enable us to express our inner feelings, as well as Travis Knight’s general appreciation for certain specific older songs in general. So yes, watching Bumblebee did make me reflect on the approach to filmmaking of a director I’m deeply invested in for my work at the moment. What I’m saying is that watching a Transformers movie was a productive part of my ongoing academic research, and that is a bizarre place to find myself in.

But what’s even weirder than that is that one of these Transformers movies turned out to be a legitimately great film that I kinda love.

Everything that muddied the waters of past Transformers films that Michael Bay was involved in has been stripped away, and the simple narrative framework that exists underneath all of that has been strengthened by a script and style of presentation that knows how to make the most with very little. The majority of the film can be summarised as “a girl and her pet car”, and while the sceptical might call that inane, the people involved in making Bumblebee work hard enough with that premise to make it work for a full film.

Charlie, a teenage girl and the human protagonist of the film, has lost her father and is upset that the rest of her family has moved on (her mother remarried). Her dad was very supportive of her, and now that he’s no longer around, Charlie is deeply dissatisfied with the person she’s become since her father died, and she doesn’t believe she can complete certain tasks that mean a great deal to her without her father being there to help. Charlie feels she hasn’t turned out to be the amazing person her dad believed she could become, and it’s possible that she’s afraid that she’s letting not only herself down, but the memory of her father as well. Meanwhile, Bumblebee is a Transformer that was tasked with going ahead of the rest of the Autobots to safeguard Earth and be ready for when the rest of his comrades arrive on the planet to continue the fight against the Decepticons. But soon after he lands, he gets involved in a fight to the death that he almost loses. Gravely wounded, he uses the last of his strength to disguise himself as a yellow 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. Some time later, Charlie finds him, and what she thinks is a broken-down abandoned car comes into her possession. Charlie fixes him up in the hopes of having a working car that she can use to get away from things, but in the process, Bumblebee instinctively transforms and reveals himself. Bumblebee’s injuries have destroyed his capacity to speak and have left him with no memories of his past. After cementing the connection between these two individuals who each need help in order to heal from the trauma they’ve gone through, the rest of the film takes its time to reinforce this bond, resulting in a touching family sci-fi film with a friendship that I believe will be just as enduring as its various sources of inspiration, from E.T. to The Iron Giant.

Without being overstuffed, the film’s pacing benefits immeasurably, putting all its energy into making this friendship as sweet and fun to watch as possible. Hailee Steinfeld is fully engaged as Charlie, putting 110% into her interactions with the digital creation of Bumblebee. The emotions she displays at the different points of her relationship with the adorable Autobot are charmingly heartfelt. Whether she’s anxious about Bumblebee being discovered, jubilant at this chance of newfound freedom and a friend to experience it with, or angry and defensive when parts of her past with her father get unearthed, Steinfeld is always putting everything into this, even when her main acting partner isn’t there on the set alongside her. Which brings us to why having a director with a history in animation can do wonders for a film centring on a digital creation, because the Bumblebee in this movie is precious, lovable, and so captivating to watch. The design is streamlined so that every moving part serves a purpose, and that purpose is always to convey the inner thoughts and feelings of this robot. His expressions are dripping with soulful looks of his timidness, compassion, or mischievous side that never veers too far away from his well-meaning nature. He may be made of metal, but this CGI creature is so full of life. Both the arcs and the performances of these characters are relatively simple, but they’re executed with such consideration that they hit home in a remarkable way for me.

I could go on about how much I enjoyed the measured action that’s presented through restrained camera movements that clearly frame the subjects of the shot, or how I engaged with the action as much as I did because it consistently featured characters I was invested in or interested by, or how the actions characters took within these sequences offer insight into their general outlook, but I’ll leave it at that barely veiled summary. Bumblebee draws inspiration from several well received family sci-fi films with a lot of heart to them, and some of the positive parts of the action and general aesthetic of this live-action Transformers world are owed to the groundwork provided by Michael Bay’s films. But even if Bumblebee owes some credit to other films that have preceded it, it understands the deeper reasons for why the aspects that worked in these other properties were as successful as they were, and it weaves that informed technical prowess of storytelling and filmmaking with genuine love. Love for the idea of Transformers, love for coming of age classics with a fun twist to them, and a beautiful friendship between two characters who each heal from the love they show each other.

Final Ranking: Gold.

The film is a delight for its simplicity and earnestness, but that doesn’t mean there’s a lot of technical skill on display in the performances, the animation, or its use of colour and camerawork. It warms the soul, and my mind comes back to it more often than I’d ever expected. It’s got the touch.

#The Inquisitive J #reviews #film reviews #movie reviews #films #movies #film discussion #film critic #film criticism #critic #the favourite #the favourite review #mary poppins returns #mary poppins returns review #bumblebee #bumblebee review #the inquisitive j reviews

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Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York at an elementary school in Brooklyn on Wednesday. The teachers’ union is trying to ramp up pressure on the mayor to delay or call off his plan to reopen schools.Credit…John Minchillo/Associated Press

Some teachers’ unions push to delay in-person learning, and more colleges go online only.

Educators and families around the United States continued to grapple this week with the complicated realities of opening schools in the middle of a pandemic, as teachers’ unions threatened strikes, colleges rethought reopening plans on the fly, and school districts, discovering new cases, improvised quarantines and classroom cleanings.

The voice of teachers in the reopening debate took center stage Wednesday in Michigan, where the Detroit Federation of Teachers voted to authorize their executive committee to call for a strike over plans to open public schools for in-person learning.

“It’s just simply not safe for us to return into our buildings and classrooms right now,” the union said in a video statement before the vote, noting more than 1,400 virus-related deaths in the community.

New York City’s powerful teachers’ union sought to ramp up pressure on the mayor on Wednesday to delay or call off his plan to reopen the city’s 1,800 schools on Sept. 10. The president of the United Federation of Teachers threatened to sue the city or to support a strike if the city could not satisfy a list of safety demands, and called for all students and staff members to be tested before school starts.

Public sector employees are legally barred from striking in New York, but teachers have threatened to hold sick-outs if they believe school buildings are not safe.

College-bound students were thrown a curve ball Wednesday when the College Board said that more than 178,000 students who signed up to take the SAT college admission test on Aug. 29 would probably not be able to do so because nearly half the testing sites in the nation are closed or operating at limited capacity. All told, some 402,000 students were scheduled to take the test that day.

The board said it was working with local officials to accommodate as many students as possible, and asking colleges to extend their deadlines for receiving test results so students could take the test at a later date.

Some colleges and universities were backtracking as outbreaks flared on just-reopened campuses.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill moved undergraduate classes entirely online because of four clusters of infections, and the University of Notre Dame said it would move to online instruction for at least the next two weeks to control a growing outbreak. And Michigan State University, which had planned to open Sept. 2 for in-person classes, announced that all undergraduates would be learning remotely.

Sorority and fraternity houses have had outbreaks. Photos and videos circulated widely on the internet show young people gathering maskless outside bars in college towns, or partying in large numbers.

In Georgia, where some K-12 school districts opened without a mask mandate, a number of high schools closed temporarily after outbreaks were discovered.

In Florida this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis compared the commitment of teachers and administrators to the resolve of Navy SEALs going after Osama bin Laden. The state has ordered all schools to offer in-person instruction by Aug. 31, except in hard-hit Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

Many students across the country will be starting school from home — and their parents will be getting little help. In a recent survey for The New York Times, just one in seven parents said their children would be returning to school full-time this fall, but four in five said they would have no in-person help educating and caring for the children at home.

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Local officials hid information about the outbreak from China’s leadership, a U.S. report finds.

A patient arriving at the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan, China, in January.Credit…Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Trump administration officials have tried taking a political sledgehammer to China over the pandemic, asserting that the Chinese Communist Party covered up the initial outbreak and allowed the virus to spread around the globe.

But within the United States government, intelligence officials have arrived at a more nuanced and complex finding of what Chinese officials did wrong in January, report Edward Wong, Julian E. Barnes and Zolan Kanno-Youngs.

Officials in Beijing were kept in the dark for weeks about the potential devastation of the virus by local officials in central China, according to American officials familiar with a new internal assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The assessment concluded that officials in the city of Wuhan and in Hubei Province, where the outbreak began late last year, tried to hide information from China’s central leadership. The finding is consistent with reporting by news organizations and with assessments by China experts of the country’s opaque governance system.

Local officials often withhold information from Beijing for fear of reprisal, current and former American officials say.

The new assessment does not contradict the Trump administration’s criticism of China, but adds perspective and context to actions — and inaction — that created the global crisis.

President Trump said in a July 4 speech at the White House that “China’s secrecy, deceptions and cover-up” enabled the pandemic, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted the administration was “telling the truth every day” about “the Communist cover-up of that virus.” The accusations dovetail with advice from Trump campaign strategists to look tough on China.

But the broad political messaging leaves an impression that Mr. Xi and other top officials knew of the dangers of the new coronavirus in the early days and went to great lengths to hide them.

The assessment, originally circulated in June, has classified and unclassified sections, and it represents the consensus of the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies. It still supports the overall notion that Communist Party officials hid important information from the world, U.S. officials said. And senior officials in Beijing, even as they were scrambling to pry data from officials in central China, played a role in obscuring the outbreak by withholding information from the World Health Organization.

But the finding adds to a body of evidence that shows how the malfeasance of local Chinese officials appeared to be a decisive factor in the spread of the virus within Wuhan and beyond.

An additional 135 million people globally will face acute hunger by the end of the year because of the pandemic.

A food distribution station in Coronationville, South Africa.Credit…Joao Silva/The New York Times

More than five months into the pandemic, dire predictions about how the virus will exacerbate world hunger are playing out across the globe.

In Latin America, the spread of the virus has caused nearly three times as many people to need food assistance. In West and Central Africa, the number of people faced with starvation has more than doubled. In Southern Africa, the number of people affected by food shortages has increased by 90 percent. A quarter of the adults in Britain are in search of affordable food. And in just the first three months of the pandemic, some six million people in the United States requested food stamps. These figures were presented in a report released this month from CARE, a nonprofit focused on poverty that estimates some 270 million people will face food crises by the end of the year.

In April, experts predicted that the number of people faced with the prospect of starving by the end of 2020 would nearly double globally from the previous year because of the pandemic. At the beginning of 2020, some 135 million people globally faced serious food shortages.

The world has experienced severe hunger crises before, but those were largely regional and caused by one factor or another — extreme weather, economic downturns, wars or political instability.

This hunger crisis, experts say, is global and is caused by a series of factors linked to the pandemic and the ensuing economic damages. National lockdowns and social-distancing measures have cost many people their jobs, leading to abrupt income loss for millions of people who were already living hand-to-mouth. And the battered economy has caused drops in oil prices, depleted funding revenues from tourism and halted foreign workers from sending earnings home.

U.S. ROUNDUP

‘I should have done masks earlier,’ New York’s Governor Cuomo says.

Only some New Yorkers wore masks at a bustling intersection in Crown Heights in Brooklyn in March.Credit…Jonah Markowitz for The New York Times

In a rare moment of admission, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York acknowledged at least one shortcoming in his handling of the coronavirus response: His administration should have mandated mask wearing sooner, he said on Wednesday.

“I should have done it earlier,” said Mr. Cuomo, who mandated face coverings in mid-April at the peak of the outbreak in New York, where more than 30,000 people have died from the virus. “I should have done masks earlier. That would have made a dramatic difference.”

Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, has mostly blamed the federal government for allowing the virus to spread unknowingly early on, even as he has been criticized for mishandling the outbreak in the state’s nursing homes and for failing to shut down businesses and schools earlier in March. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began urging all Americans to wear a mask in early April.

The governor also said that, early on, the government had failed to recognize that asymptomatic individuals could spread the disease. That mode of transmission has since been widely recognized.

“We were wrong that people who didn’t have symptoms could infect other people,” he said on WAMC, an Albany radio station. “That was just wrong. We spent months saying ‘You have to be sneezed on or coughed on.’ That was just wrong.”

Mr. Cuomo also suggested that he might allow movie theaters to reopen soon with limits on capacity. He recently announced that gyms and bowling alleys across the state, and museums in New York City, could start reopening this month.

On Tuesday, New York City released more than 1.46 million coronavirus antibody test results, the largest number to date, providing more evidence of how the virus penetrated deeply into some lower-income communities while passing more lightly across affluent parts of the city.

Elsewhere in the United States:

In Puerto Rico, where cases have been trending upward, Gov. Wanda Vázquez said she was imposing a lockdown that will apply on Sundays through Sept. 11. Violators of the island’s mask order will be subject to a $100 fine. A nightly curfew remains in effect. Under the new Sunday order, Puerto Ricans will be allowed to leave their homes that day for only a handful of reasons, like going to grocery stores, pharmacies or hospitals, or working in essential services. Alcohol sales will be banned and beaches closed. Though houses of worship will be allowed to remain open at 25 percent capacity, Ms. Vázquez urged that religious services be held online.

In California, the virus has only complicated officials’ efforts to deal with power outages, an oppressive heat wave and raging fires. Across the state, there were 23 major fires reported on Wednesday and more than 300 smaller ones. “We have to deal with a worldwide pandemic,” said Mark Ghilarducci, the director of the state’s office of emergency services. “In a fire season. With the power off. What else do you want from us?”

Apple reached $2 trillion in value, with half added in the past 21 weeks, while the global economy shrank faster than ever amid the pandemic.

The 4,600 midshipmen, or students, at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., began a mix of online and in-person classes on Wednesday, but not all of them will be on campus right away. About 500 students will be housed off campus because dormitory space has been set aside for those who may need to quarantine. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., which has more space, allowed all its cadets to be on campus when classes began Monday.

The University of Notre Dame in Indiana, which moved to online instruction after a surge of cases, said Wednesday that it was pausing football practice for at least a day “in an abundance of caution.” The announcement came less than a day after Notre Dame said that athletic activities would continue during the university’s two-week run of remote learning. The football team is scheduled to begin its season on Sept. 12.

Nevada reported on Wednesday that were 32 new deaths, a single-day record for the state.

A data reporting error in Iowa obscured the true rate of infection there.

Officials in Iowa are correcting a major reporting error in the state’s Covid-19 test results database after the state mislabeled test result dates for thousands of people, obscuring the true rate of infection.

Pat Garrett, a spokesman for Gov. Kim Reynolds, acknowledged the error in a statement on Wednesday, saying that the state had not recorded accurate data for people who had received multiple Covid-19 tests.

Rather than recording the date of a person’s most recent test, the state automatically recorded the result — whether positive or negative — as occurring on the date when the person was first tested.

Mr. Garrett said the state would update its public Covid-19 dashboard today with the corrected data. As a result, he said, nearly 80 percent of counties will see a net decrease in their current 14-day positivity rate, and the remaining counties will see their current 14-day positivity rates increase by less than 1 percent, on average.

The error came to public light this week after Dana Jones, a nurse practitioner in Iowa City, noticed irregularities in the state’s Covid-19 data and alerted the state and media outlets.

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

South Africa’s virus response is floundering amid allegations of corruption and fraud.

South Africa’s relief effort has become a source of embarrassment for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was elected on a platform of stamping out corruption.Credit…Pool photo by Jerome Delay

South Africa, Africa’s economic powerhouse, responded to the pandemic by announcing the largest relief effort in the country’s history.

But the undertaking has been dogged by allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement, undermining confidence in a government that had initially received international acclaim for its response to the pandemic. The governing African National Congress party imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns and introduced a raft of social measures and an economic stimulus package to mitigate the devastating economic fallout.

That relief effort has now become a source of embarrassment for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was elected on a platform of stamping out corruption. He has been forced to reassure the public that aid will be delivered, and that those aiming to profit from it — including members of his own party — would be punished.

The scandal, which has dominated airwaves and talk shows in recent weeks, includes allegations that government leaders and politically connected cronies have siphoned off money meant for the Unemployment Insurance Fund, and that local councilors have stymied food distribution efforts by policing deliveries.

“Never in our history have we seen such a huge request for food,” said Imtiaz Sooliman, the founder of Gift of Givers, a nongovernmental organization that has distributed relief for nearly three decades. “It’s not only a request, it’s a pleading, it’s a sobbing, it’s a crying.”

In other developments around the world:

The number of cases worldwide has passed 22 million, according to a New York Times database. More than 780,000 people have died.

President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has tackled the virus by deploying his repressive security apparatus against it. Government officials are denouncing people who may have come into contact with the coronavirus as “bioterrorists,” intimidating doctors who question Mr. Maduro’s policies, and corralling thousands of Venezuelans who are streaming home after losing jobs abroad, holding them in makeshift containment centers.

The head of the organization responsible for approving vaccines in Germany expects the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine to be available in the country by the beginning of next year. On Tuesday, Germany recorded 1,510 new cases, according to a Times database, the country’s highest daily total since the beginning of May.

Pope Francis said on Wednesday that a vaccine should be made universally available, especially to the poor. The pandemic, he said, was a crisis that could help improve the world by leading it address the “social injustice, lack of equal opportunity and marginalization of the poor.” He said, “We must come out better.”

Finland announced that it would tighten restrictions on incoming travelers starting Monday. Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo said that travel from Iceland, Greece, Malta, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Cyprus, San Marino and Japan would be limited to essential trips, according to Reuters. Finland has some of the most severe travel restrictions in Europe and has recorded 7,805 cases, a relatively low number.

Britain announced a rapid expansion of one of its testing programs, which selects a random sample of the population regardless of symptoms. The survey, which currently tests 28,000 people every two weeks in England, will be expanded to all parts of the United Kingdom, and a new target has been set of testing 150,000 people every two weeks by October. At least 41,000 people have died in Britain, which has struggled in its efforts to track down those who have been exposed.

Nepal plans to reimpose a strict lockdown and curfew in the Kathmandu Valley for a week, the country’s news media reported. All movement except essential services will be restricted. Nepal has reported at least 4,300 cases in the past week, for a total of at least 28,000.

The Australian government has signed a deal with the drugmaker AstraZeneca to secure a potential vaccine, and promised to offer it free to its 25 million citizens if clinical trials were successful.

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Australia’s Prime Minister Announces Coronavirus Vaccine Deal

Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia signed a deal with the drugmaker AstraZeneca to manufacture a coronavirus vaccine and provide it free to 25 million Australians.

We’re here today to announce that we’ve signed a letter of intent with AstraZeneca which will enable Australia to access, should it be successful, the vaccine for Covid-19 here in Australia, manufactured here in Australia, distributed free to 25 million Australians, in the event that those trials prove successful. The next step in these arrangements is to see how those trials go, to complete the manufacturing agreements, and they are well advanced, and I feel very positive about those, and then to identify, as I said, other potential vaccine prospects that Australia can partner with. This particular vaccine, it’s an unproven technology so far, but the initial results are very positive in terms of both efficacy so the effectiveness of the vaccine will be trialled in larger groups of human trials over the coming months, but the efficacy in terms of developing antibodies against coronavirus has been shown to be true, as well as the safety in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia signed a deal with the drugmaker AstraZeneca to manufacture a coronavirus vaccine and provide it free to 25 million Australians.CreditCredit…Pool photo by Nick Moir

Los Angeles cuts power at influencers’ house after they threw large parties.

Bryce Hall, a resident of a Los Angeles mansion where the power was cut on Wednesday. Credit…Gotpap/Bauer-Griffin, via GC Images

The City of Los Angeles cut the power at a Hollywood Hills mansion rented by the TikTok stars Bryce Hall, Noah Beck and Blake Gray on Wednesday in response to parties held at the residence amid the coronavirus crisis.

Mr. Hall hosted a party for his 21st birthday on Aug. 14; footage from the event posted to Instagram shows dozens of people crowded together in one room. After neighbors called in noise complaints, the event was shut down by the Los Angeles Police Department.

That party took place at a rental home in Encino, not the Hollywood Hills home where the power was turned off on Wednesday, though Mr. Hall has hosted parties there, too. (Mr. Hall declined to comment for this article.)

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles mayor’s office confirmed that the city had cut the power at Mr. Hall’s residence. Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement that the city had been authorized to disconnect utilities, which include water and gas.

“Despite several warnings, this house has turned into a nightclub in the hills, hosting large gatherings in flagrant violation of our public health orders,” Mr. Garcetti said in the statement. “The city has now disconnected utilities at this home to stop these parties that endanger our community.”

A relief proposal by Republicans would provide less money than their previous offers.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, last week. Republicans are proposing a relief bill that would provide unemployed workers with an extra $300 per week.Credit…Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

Senate Republicans are circulating text of a narrow virus relief package that would spend less money, in fewer areas, than earlier offers, including reviving extra unemployment benefits at half the original rate.

The draft measure appears to be an effort to break through the political stalemate over providing another round of economic stimulus to Americans during the pandemic. And it comes at a time when rank-and-file lawmakers from both parties who are facing re-election have grown increasingly uneasy with the lack of congressional action.

The latest offer, however, is unlikely to alter the debate in Washington, where Democrats have repeatedly rejected previous Republican offers as insufficient.

Among the considerations in the new legislation is providing $105 billion for schools as students have begun returning to classes, and establishing liability protections — a longtime priority for the majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — that Mr. Trump has dismissed as not essential.

But the proposal drops one of the few areas of bipartisan consensus from the original Republican plan and something Mr. Trump has said he wants to see: a second round of direct payments to low- and middle-income Americans.

It was not clear whether senators, currently scattered across the country until early September for the annual summer recess, will vote on the measure anytime soon.

Federal Reserve officials have emphasized the need for continuing economic assistance. Minutes from a meeting last month show that a major point of discussion was the importance of additional fiscal policy support — in other words, money from Congress — which Fed officials noted was “uncertain” in the short term.

The July 28-29 meeting took place just before government support programs lapsed, including enhanced unemployment benefits. More than two weeks later, it remains unclear whether and when additional government support for newly unemployed Americans and struggling businesses will materialize.

Ms. Pelosi called House members back early from their summer recess to vote Saturday on legislation addressing changes to the Postal Service and providing $25 billion to the beleaguered agency, and dozens of House lawmakers have signed on to a letter asking for a second vote on Saturday, on legislation that would revive the $600 weekly federal benefit.

A fishing boat carries direct evidence of immunity.

A fishing vessel that left Seattle in May returned with an unexpected catch: the first direct evidence in humans that antibodies to the coronavirus can thwart infection.

More than 100 crew members aboard the American Dynasty were stricken by the infection over 18 days at sea. But only three sailors, all of whom initially carried antibodies, remained virus-free, according to a new report.

Although the study is small, it addresses one of the most important questions in the pandemic: whether the immune response to one bout with the virus protects against reinfection.

“Knowing the answer to this question is critical for vaccine design and epidemiology,” tweeted Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and one of the study’s authors.

The American Dynasty carried 113 men and nine women. All crew members had been tested for both virus and antibodies as part of a routine screening before setting sail. (The researchers did not have access to the results from two members.)

The trawler returned to shore after 18 days at sea when a crew member became ill enough to need hospitalization. The sailors were tested for the presence of virus and antibodies again and for up to 50 days after their return.

The three sailors who were confirmed to carry neutralizing antibodies did not test positive for the virus during the course of the study; 103 of the remaining 117 became infected.

“Just looking at the numbers, it becomes clear that it’s unlikely that all of these three people were protected by chance,” said Florian Krammer, an immunologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

U.S. health officials announce nationwide sewage testing for the virus.

Federal health officials announced a nationwide plan on Monday to begin testing sewage for the virus, as a potential measure of where the virus is spreading and at what rate. Infected people can pass the virus in their feces, and scientists are able to detect its levels in samples of wastewater from local sewage treatment centers.

In a statement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it “is currently developing a portal for state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments to submit wastewater testing data into a national database for use in summarizing and interpreting data for public health action.” The program is intended to complement other measures, like clinical testing, not to replace them, the statement read.

Public health workers have analyzed sewage to track other viral outbreaks, like polio, for decades. The technology has advanced to a stage where it can estimate levels of the virus, providing a rough read on the prevalence of infections in an entire community.

The new initiative came days after New York’s governor announced a $500,000 wastewater testing pilot that would begin with samples from Albany, Newburgh and Buffalo, as well as from Onondaga County. On Tuesday, New York City’s mayor said that the city was eager to participate as the program expanded.

“The city is especially well positioned to use this technology because of our infrastructure,” he said.

Fauci and others urged the F.D.A. to hold off emergency approval for plasma treatments.

Javier Alvarez donating his plasma at Houston Methodist Hospital in July, after his grandmother died from the virus.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Last week, just as the Food and Drug Administration was preparing to issue an emergency authorization for blood plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, a group of top federal health officials, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, intervened, arguing that emerging data on the treatment was too weak, according to two senior administration officials.

The authorization is on hold for now as more data is reviewed, according to H. Clifford Lane, the clinical director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An emergency approval could still be issued in the near future, he said.

Donated by people who have survived the disease, antibody-rich plasma is considered safe. President Trump has hailed it as a “beautiful ingredient” in the veins of people who have survived Covid-19.

But clinical trials have not proved whether plasma can help people fighting the coronavirus.

Several top health officials — led by Dr. Francis S. Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, and including Dr. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, and Dr. Lane — urged their colleagues last week to hold off, citing recent data from the country’s largest plasma study, run by the Mayo Clinic. They thought the study’s data was not strong enough to warrant an emergency approval.

Plasma, the pale yellow liquid left over after blood is stripped of its red and white cells, has been the subject of months of intense enthusiasm from scientists, celebrities and Mr. Trump, part of the administration’s push for coronavirus treatments as a stopgap while pharmaceutical companies race to complete dozens of clinical trials for vaccines.

Reporting was contributed by Sarah Almukhtar, Peter Baker, Alan Blinder, Alexander Burns, Benedict Carey, Choe Sang-Hun, Lynsey Chutel, Emily Cochrane, Nick Corasaniti, Thomas Erdbrink, Richard Fausset, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Sheri Fink, Jacey Fortin, Katie Glueck, Joseph Goldstein, Jason Gutierrez, Anemona Hartocollis, Isayen Herrera, John Ismay, Mike Ives, Jennifer Jett, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Sharon LaFraniere, Taylor Lorenz, Apoorva Mandavilli, Alex Marshall, Jonathan Martin, Patricia Mazzei, Claire Cain Miller, Adam Nagourney, Jack Nicas, Elisabetta Povoledo, Frances Robles, Anna Schaverien, Christopher F. Schuetze, Eliza Shapiro, Jeanna Smialek, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Eileen Sullivan, Jim Tankersley, Sheyla Urdaneta, Noah Weiland and Elaine Yu.

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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How to design a perfect Tour de France route

What makes a successful Tour de France route? Let’s take a ride.

What are the ingredients in a good Tour de France route? Some say high-altitude finishes in majestic alpine scenes, or a balance of decisive stages that keep the suspense tight through the final week. Others want to see relatively unexplored areas of the France in addition to the classic locales. Foreign fans want to feel like they are experiencing all of the delights that France has to offer.

Ask a rider and you might get the same answers, along with some new ones — safe routes, reasonable stage distances, decent hotels, and as few bus transfers between stages as possible. Team managers, media members, race officials, and everyone else who makes up the some 4,500 people who show up to work at the Tour each day will chime in with requests for space to maneuver before, during, and after stages, as they shepherd people and equipment across a country.

Photo by Tim de Waele/Corbis via Getty Images

Tour de France directors Christian Prudhomme, left, and Thierry Gouvenou

For the chefs who try to mix these ingredients into a delicious Tour de France every year — Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, and Thierry Gouvenou, race director — creating the route is a year-long effort to achieve their own soaring objectives while satisfying the minute details of financial security and physical space. At stake are people’s well-being, careers, vacation plans, and cultural pride, to say nothing of millions and millions of dollars. To make the best course they can, Prudhomme and Gouvenou travel the roads of France and visit potential host towns along the way, scouting out the details of each stage to package them coherently. Every highway and scenic route, stage finish and geographic feature, strange place and well-worn spot was chosen with deliberate care.

Prudhomme and Gouvenou are famous in cycling circles for having breathed fresh air into a race that had been treading water for a decade or so. The Tour has (nearly) always been, and will surely continue to be, cycling’s Super Bowl, but fans get bored of long, endless stages with predictable conclusions. Lately, the Tour hasn’t been afraid to spice things up.

Let’s take a look at the basic elements of a Tour course, how they’re evolving, and what happens when things go wrong.

The roads ... I mean, really, the roads!

The practical reality of putting a Tour together starts with linking more than 2,000 miles of road together.

On one level, it might seem like a simple task. France is full of roads! But roads can go wrong. They can be loaded with obstacles (see: the Netherlands’ notorious “road furniture,” such as concrete islands and grooves for moving traffic) that will send unsuspecting riders over their bars in an instant. Sharp turns right before a sprint finish are an old favorite, if you’re into unnecessary pileups with hundreds of livelihoods at stake.

But tame the roads too much and you have the worst of the Vuelta a España, whose straightforward highway slogs look boring even in Spain. Gouvenou and Prudhomme have heeded the riders’ calls for safety in route planning, but not without putting the occasional cobblestone section in the mix, or using cool, narrow roads when the peloton can handle them. Unique riding terrain works well when it is used judiciously — the peloton can handle all sorts of quirky roads, just not all day for three weeks, and not without some warning.

First and second impressions

The Tour always tries to start the race in front of a dramatic canvas for its Grand Départ, sometimes going to foreign soil to do so. For decades, though, once the opening euphoria died down, the Tour would settle into a week or more of doldrums, grinding its way around France with a succession of lackluster sprint stages.

As 21st century media started bringing video of more races to more places, fans began to notice that the Giro d’Italia, cycling’s No. 2 event, seemed to find ways to enliven these early stages. For every plain sprint or two, you would get a funky finish that brought out different riders, or a picturesque climb to a famous hilltop monastery.

Prudhomme and Gouvenou took notice, and they now speak openly about making the race more fun and less predictable from start to finish. Tours starting up north have incorporated roads from the Belgian classics, like the first-week finish atop the Mur de Huy in 2015, or the Mur de Bretagne in 2011 and 2018. In 2019, the finish on the Planche des Belles Filles was reprised from 2012, 2014, and 2017.

The recent flourishes to the course have been a test of the directors’ vision. How much excitement can they bake in right away? Will livening up a few early stages put the overall favorites under too much pressure? The answer so far is no, and now it’s almost heresy not to have a little fun in Week 1.

Starts and finishes

The selection of host towns, where stages will start and end, are where Prudhomme and Gouvenou leave their biggest marks on a Tour. Barring a major climb in the middle of the stage, host towns get the lion’s share of media attention and give each stage its character. Roughly 35 to 40 French cities and towns will start and/or finish a stage of the Tour de France. Some 250 candidates apply each year for the available slots, each with a story it’d like to tell.

That story can be banal. Plenty of places are willing to pay the Tour’s parent company — Amaury Sport Organisation, or ASO — between $60,000 and $120,000 to advertise themselves to the world and potentially bring in millions, places like the Futuroscope theme park south of Paris, or any number of ski resorts in the Alps and Pyrenees. Most towns, however, just want to show off some part of themselves, whether it’s their culture, history, wine, food, or deep connection to cycling.

Some of the towns are chosen because they’ll be first-time hosts — places like Binche and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, both on the 2019 route. They are old towns with singular traits. Binche annually hosts a UNESCO-recognized carnival ripped straight out of the 14th century, while Saint-Dié was built around an old monastery named for a quirky monk.

Others towns are chosen simply because they’ve almost always been on the Tour. Pau, in the shadow of the Pyrenees, is practically a required stop on every good Tour course, sometimes for multiple days. In 2019, it will make its 71st appearance, for no other good reason than it’s a large town in an area that doesn’t have many. Parking 200 riders and all their support staff in Bagnères-de-Bigorre or Saint-Lary-Soulain would be a stretch. And Pau, the capital of the Pyrenees, is close to the Tour’s favorite major climbs.

AFP/Getty Images

Stage start in Pau, 1934

Another of the Tour’s favorite stops, also on the 2019 route, is Saint-Etienne. It’s not just another of France’s nearly 9,000 places named for a saint: Saint-Etienne breathes cycling. Situated in the middle of several categorized climbs, it is also the home to several prominent bike and component makers — like Mavic, Motobécane, and Vitus. A local club, Espoire Cyclisme Saint-Etienne Loire, develops French and international youths who are on track for professional careers, particularly eastern Europeans looking for a footing. Roger Rivière, best known for disappearing off the road and into a deep ravine during the 1960 Tour, was a local product.

For the town’s 26th appearance in the Tour, Saint-Etienne will get two stages — one finish, and one start. Both are “medium-mountain stages,” littered with moderate, punchy climbs. Saint-Etienne is often an hors-d’oeuvre on the eve of the Tour entering the Alps, but it also works well as a stopover in the other direction, heading away from the Alps toward the Pyrenees.

The Tour is easier to manage for riders and organizers when it comes back to the same host towns over and over, but for fans, yet another stop in Saint-Etienne or Pau can get old. As always, the challenge for Prudhomme and Gouvenou is to strike a balance.

And Yeah, the mountains

The competitive side of the Tour, the thing we all ostensibly came to see, is defined by how Prudhomme and Gouvenou choose the mountain stages. The names of the climbs — Alpe d’Huez, Col du Tourmalet, Mont Ventoux, etc. — grab the biggest headlines when the route is announced every October. The details of those climbs shape the outcome of the race in critical ways. The directors know this, and when they emphasize high-mountain finishes over time trials, or vice versa, they are in effect calling out the Tour’s early favorites and throwing obstacles in their way that they will create suspense around the battle for the yellow jersey.

With that, every Tour inspires a new set of probably-unprovable conspiracy theories. Lately, the Tour has been dominated by Team Sky (now Ineos) and its time-trialling aces. In 2019? The Tour features just 27 kilometers of time trialling. Even before Chris Froome was injured, the message was loud and clear that the Tour would like the pure climbers to shine.

The fact that a couple of French riders are among the top climbers in the world, and among the most forgettable time trialists, is worth pointing out. But fact is, this supposed scheming rarely works. More often than not, strongest guy ends up winning no matter what the design. It’s fun to imagine Prudhomme trying to pick a winner nine months ahead of the Grand Départ, but he probably knows better by now.

The details of the climbs do a lot to distinguish a Tour route. Every year includes phases in Alps and Pyrénées, and which comes first in the course alternates, giving a bit more drama to the finishing phase. Then it’s time to design the stages. Fans insist on mountain-top finishes, for the drama and beauty, but too many of them can lead to someone dominating the standings ... or worse, riders avoiding going on the attack, saving their energy for the last, decisive day. The occasional downhill finish can be a thrill, or feel like a lot of climbing for a group to ultimately finish all together. And packing too much into a single day is less likely to launch new heroes as it is to simply wear out everyone. Nowadays, you’ll find the most dramatic climbs coming after 140 kilometers instead of 200.

The Tour has had its share of dud mountain stages, even with Prudhomme and Gouvenou at the helm. The 2015 and 2016 final Alps phases seemed a bit too cute and didn’t give Froome’s rivals all that much to work with, either because the gradients were so slack that Team Sky was able to grind everyone to dust, or because downhill finishes blunted the impact of the climbs. Froome deserves his due as the champion of the era, but the Tour has been at its best when he can be challenged mano-a-mano without his team doing so much of the work for him.

Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Col de l’Iseran

The 2019 Tour added a special dimension to the mountain stages: high altitude. The last three stages before Paris spend more time than anyone can remember above 2,000 meters, including a crossing of the Col de l’Iseran that, at 2,770 meters, is the highest paved mountain pass in the Alps. The climbs are not tricky or dangerous — just long, high, hard brutes that will punish anyone who doesn’t deliver oxygen as efficiently as your average Nepalese sherpa.

Adding it up...

There is nothing not to like about a route like the 2019 Tour. Starting with its tribute in Brussels to the great Eddy Merckx, it is a Tour of Soaring Ambition, ending with a challenge to the modern riders to rise higher than they have ever dared to. It has a charming start in Belgium, some entertaining terrain early on, and a welcomed (for now) emphasis on major mountain climbs over time trialling that seems like the best bet to create an explosive race. The uphill finishes are severe, but with the three most imposing stages all under 130km, there’s not much fat on the bone.

I wouldn’t call the 2019 route classically balanced — not with the time trials practically removed — but in a more subtle way, it is an outstanding mix of all of the other elements a solid Tour route requires. From the first course to the main dish, Prudhomme and Gouvenou may have cooked up their best Tour yet.

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i-am-guinevere · 8 years ago

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A Pugilist’s Fortune

For many centuries men had claimed they had wrought their mighty works with blood, sweat, and tears. For Jackson Belmont, there was nothing but truth in that declaration.

From the street the house had been dark and foreboding, seeming abandoned to all but the most astute onlooker. Within a monster stirred, scores of bloodthirsty men and women eagerly awaiting an evening of violent displays of strength. The ground floor was filled with over two dozen desperate souls, men who needed coin badly enough to fight over scraps like ravenous beasts. That gathering alone was not strange, as underground fighting rings had spread throughout the States for those who desired more violence to go hand in hand with their boxing. The arena that had been carved from the basement level of the house was what made it truly remarkable. A circle ten feet around served as the ring proper, old stone floors coated in sand to soften the blows of hungry fighters crashing to the ground. Rows of seats had been set up in ascending levels in a facsimile of the coliseums of old, able to fit hundreds of those willing to pay to watch the carnage. The venue had bouncers and guards, referees and judges to keep the fights moving one after another. Fights did not stop even for death. The corpse of the loser would hastily be removed whilst the victory surreptitiously collected his blood money and left with all due haste.

It was an efficient and brutal business, and it attracted those with both nothing and everything to lose in equal measure. Jackson considered himself a member of the former party, a disgraced cop with no family sober enough left to remember him and no friends drunk enough to want him around. But all the fighters had such sob stories, hopeful that beating strangers to a pulp for coin would soften the sting of poverty and abandonment that they unerringly felt.

He sat on an upturned crate amidst the cacophony of the pre-fight rituals that went on all around him. With an unperturbed mind he wrapped his wrists and palms tightly with bandages, doing his best to ensure his scarred and calloused hands would survive the endeavor to come. A nearly empty bottle of whiskey sat by his right foot, and with a sense of finality he took hold of it and finished it off. He flexed and unflexed his fingers to test the new wraps and once satisfied that they would hold under duress he rose and made ready for his pilgrimage.

Jackson was the last to head down the steps, a single file line of the dumb and the desperate all leading to the Promised Land. He could hear the echoing cheers of the crowd through the walls, their rowdy encouragements growing louder as he drew closer. When they reached the bottom of the steps the arena proper came into view, as intimidating as it had always been. Every seat was filled by a hungry onlooker with perhaps a dozen more standing where there was room. One of the men in front of him seemed eager for what awaited them, roaring in response to the false love of the crowd and pumping his fist in the air as he made his entrance. An unbloodied gladiator in the Coliseum, so cocksure of his own ability that he did not need to say that this was his first fight. The men who had paid with missing teeth and broken bones for their coin were not half so dramatic, solemnly acknowledging the crowds as if they were off to the gallows.

The time came for Jackson’s entrance, and with nary a flourish he jogged to the circle of sand that would soon be christened with blood. He raised a single finger to the sky and looked to the nameless scores that erupted at his introduction. He was no stranger to the ring and had brought low his share of challengers, a feat the crowd deemed worthy of their mercurial affection. The booming voice of the announcer called for silence among the crowd and after a brief minute seemed satisfied with an interspersed quietness.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is with the utmost excitement that I present you our fighters of the evening. Men eager for blood, glory, and coin! All of which they shall have in droves if they find victory tonight! But these men are no ordinary fighters, and as such it would not be fair to put an ordinary task before them. No, tonight we have a challenge of the highest caliber!”

The crowd roared with their usually poorly contained excitement at that. Jackson looked amongst the others and their expressions varied from nervousness to excitement to outright contempt.

“Tonight we shall pit the best this fine establishment has ever seen against a dozen challengers in a row, each hungry for triumph! The winner taking the grand prize of one hundred dollars and as much liquor as he can stomach!”

The excitement became more audible, feet stomping in anticipation.

“On this end, we have one rowdy son of a bitch! Undefeated in two score matches on this hallowed sand, with the scars and stories to prove it! He’s the Bonebreaker, the Grappler, the man you love to watch decimate what stands before him! Give it up for the one and only Fightin’ Jack Belmont!”

All eyes now turned from the sands below or the stands above directly to him. He did not register the raucous applause that followed as anything more than white noise, his teeth grit at the news that he would be fighting a dozen men all as needful as he for such a prize.

“And in this end, we’ve got the Devious Dozen! Fighters new and old, tough and ruthless and rough and toothless! What better way to test their mettle than against a champion? Can any of them possibly hope to take down such a champion as Belmont one-on-one? Let’s find out! Fighters, let’s get ready to brawl!”

Jackson had mere seconds before the bell rang, and with little hesitation the young fighter who had been so eager rushed forward to challenge his might first. Jackson assumed his usual defensive stance and allowed the lad to close the distance, shrugging off a series of ineffective blows. He waited for the boy to overextend, leaning back as he did and taking hold of his outstretched arm before it could be retracted. The lad yelped as his wrist was violently twisted, and in two more steps Jackson had established a dominant position, his free hand locking in around the boy’s neck to rob him of breath. The boy struggled for ten seconds more before unconsciousness took him, and just like that eleven challengers remained to oppose him.

The others, sensing that rushing forth disorderly in a similar manner would net them nothing, took a moment to prepare before shoving forth the next challenger. A veteran of the ring, one who would not be so easily cowed by Jackson. He bobbed and weaved even while advancing, ever wary that the champion may move at any moment and live up to his monicker of Bonebreaker. He stutter-stepped to the side as sand destined for his eyes was kicked up, once more letting his foe come to him before making any move. Jackson let the first punch connect prior to grasping the man by the waist of his pants, grappling him to the sand underfoot and putting his knee into his stomach as they fell. A brief struggle ensued, the challenger tearing and clawing and biting with some success before the knee in his gut forced him to give in. Two challengers had been bested in as many minutes and the crowd reveled in the violence as fresh blood dripped in rivulets down Jackson’s arms.

So the pattern continued, each fighter gaining more purchase than the last as exhaustion and pain slowly overwhelmed Jackson. Punch after punch wore down the resolve that he had made the cornerstone of his fighting style, new gashes and bruises decorating his chest like unwanted medals. By the time six had failed, he was winded. By the time eight had lost, he was out of breath. When all but one had fallen before him, he was unsure how long he would be able to remain conscious.

A string of battered opponents lay behind him and in front of him the final foe paying for their prize with pain. The familiar taste of iron filled his mouth and through his one unswollen eye he could see the perpetrator gloating. With an inglorious shove characteristic of his situation he was thrust back into the melee by a nearby bouncer. He subconsciously adopted the stance that had seen him through every beating of the night so far, fists raised defensively and his left foot planted firmly behind his right. Rivulets of sweat ran down his face as he exhaled haggardly, looking entirely the part of what he was: a man close to breaking. He protected his head to the best of his ability, teeth grit with every strike aimed to shame him back to the ground. He awaited his opening with desperation, and when the moment came for him to repay his foe in kind he did not waste it.

He advanced with what little energy he had left, absorbing his opponent’s reprisal with the meat of his shoulder before closing the distance and seizing the man’s outstretched right arm. In the same motion he shifted his feet and tripped up his foe, forcing him to the despoiled sand below. There the struggle continued, his foe’s strikes adding to the collection of bruises he would no doubt be introduced to come morning. He held fast to the man’s right arm like the mast of a ship about to sink beneath the waves. With exertion he twisted the man’s forearm backwards unnaturally, the loud crack that followed lost in the cacophony of the crowd. He shifted once again, pushing his knee against the back of the man’s neck and ruthlessly holding onto his broken arm. With every bit of strength he could muster he tried to force the final challenger to submit.

“Give up,” he spat as blood trickled from his mouth, pushing the prone fighter’s head deeper into the sand. He still struggled.

“Submit,” Jackson barked, twisting his arm further and putting all his weight on the man’s neck. Still the man twisted pointlessly in the sullied sand, writhing with the desperation of one who needed money more than his own lifeblood.

The third time he commanded the man to stop fighting, he obeyed. The arduous struggle was replaced with stillness.

Jackson rose from his kneeling position in spite of his body’s screams of protest, stumbling and only avoiding falling with the sudden assistance of two attendants. He raised his fist triumphantly, the crowd’s affection lost upon him. They had lusted for carnage, and carnage he had given them. He had bested a dozen men that night, sending them home coinless with shattered limbs and wounded pride. Through blood, sweat, and tears he had wrought his victories and earned his coin. He turned to look at his final opponent of the night, watching as the man’s lifeless body was dragged from the circle by his arms. A trail of crimson followed.

Without the desire to, he had killed him.

Sorrow overcame him, and as much as he needed to speak he could not find the words. Against his will he was taken from the ring, his cloth wraps cut off and a hundred dollars shoved unceremoniously into his hand. The attendants saw to his wounds to ensure they would not lose their prize fighter, but as Jackson drifted into unconsciousness all he could see was the man’s body being dragged out. He only wanted him to submit. He had wanted the fight to be over. But not like that, never like that.

With a final pained whimper, the darkness welcomed him to its embrace.

@bloodoflordaeron

#Jackson Belmont #World of Darkness #Hunters

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olivierknox · 7 years ago

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What to watch for in Trump's first State of the Union

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With Congress, senior foreign diplomats and a global audience looking on, the president of the United States faced the packed House of Representatives chamber and called for an end to the investigation targeting him.

“I have provided to the special prosecutor voluntarily a great deal of material. I believe that I have provided all the material that he needs to conclude his investigations and to proceed to prosecute the guilty and to clear the innocent,” the president said. “I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of Watergate is enough.”

The speaker was Richard Nixon, delivering the annual State of the Union speech in January 1974 — not quite eight months before he resigned ahead of almost certain impeachment.

With Gerald Ford seated behind him, President Richard Nixon delivers a State of the Union message before a joint session of Congress in January 1974. (Photo: AP)

As President Trump prepares to give his first formal State of the Union speech on Tuesday, it’s unclear whether he will mention former FBI director Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 campaign. If he chooses not to confront the issue in this setting, Trump would be following the example of Bill Clinton, who made no mention of the investigation by independent counsel Ken Starr into his relationship with former intern Monica Lewinsky in his State of the Union speeches in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Whether or not Trump trains his fire on Mueller is just one of many things to watch for in the speech. The yearly remarks also provide an unparalleled forum for Trump to boast of what he views as the biggest victories of his young presidency, as well as lay out his agenda going forward and kick off a year of politicking ahead of the November 2018 midterm elections.

Behind the scenes, the speech can be an ordeal for the president’s writers. Nixon’s 1970 State of the Union took shape during a sleepless three-day blitz powered by “greenies,” amphetamines prescribed by the White House doctor. Heroic caffeine intake is more the modern norm.

Trump spoke to a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives on Feb. 28, 2017. But those remarks were not technically a State of the Union address, which by tradition takes place each January except in the first year of a new president’s term.

President Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of Congress, Feb. 28, 2017. (Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Pool/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution says that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” It doesn’t specify that he should do so in a primetime TV speech sometimes lampooned as “I come to you tonight to speak in ringing tones and gaze into the middle distance.”

George Washington delivered his in person, a tradition that largely lapsed until Woodrow Wilson brought it back in 1913. Calvin Coolidge gave the first one broadcast on the radio, in 1923. Harry Truman’s 1947 speech was the first on TV. The first live webcast was George W. Bush’s 2002 address. (Washington also holds the record for the shortest spoken State of the Union, at 1,089 words, in 1790. Clinton gave the longest, at 9,190 words, in 1995).

In addition to the Mueller question, here are other things to watch for in Trump’s speech, which the White House says is titled “Building a Safe, Strong, and Proud America.”

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What’s the boast-to-plan ratio?

Members of the Iraqi federal police dance celebrate in the Old City of Mosul, where the grueling battle to retake Iraq’s second city from the Islamic State group fighters was then nearing its end, on July 2, 2017. (Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump is sure to highlight what he regards as his administration’s first-year triumphs. He’ll take credit for the growing U.S. economy, the booming stock market, and the Republican tax overhaul that is leaving more money in many American paychecks. He’ll underline that American-led forces have routed the so-called Islamic State. He’ll invite conservatives to celebrate his judicial appointments. He may underline that he signed the undoing of Obamacare’s mandate that individuals purchase health insurance or pay a fine. It would not be out of character for him to recall his 2016 election victory.

But the president will also want to shine a spotlight on his agenda — including hard-line proposals on immigration, a potential infrastructure plan or pushing for new sanctions on Iran. Amid signs that his administration is taking a newly tough line on trade with China, Trump could announce new steps to punish Beijing. And he could press world leaders to step up enforcement of sanctions against North Korea.

That doesn’t mean lawmakers will act on any of it. Some presidents have made dramatic appeals that win applause from the audience, only to collect cobwebs in Congress — like a return to the moon by 2020 to set up a manned mission to Mars, a plank of George W. Bush’s address in 2004.

A senior administration official, briefing reporters on condition he not be named, said last week that the five themes in the speech would be: the economy, infrastructure, immigration, trade and national security.

Some notable past State of the Union policy moments include James Monroe announcing the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 and George W. Bush promising action in 2002 against an “axis of evil” encompassing Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

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How effective will the Skutniks be?

Lenny Skutnik was recognized during President Ronald Reagan’s 1982 State of the Union speech. (Photo: Frank Johnston/Washington Post/Getty Images)

Ronald Reagan transformed the State of the Union in one important way. Reagan’s 1982 address came two weeks after an airliner crashed into the icy Potomac River. The president gave one of the heroes to emerge from the tragedy, Lenny Skutnik, a seat in the gallery overlooking the chamber and paid tribute to him in his remarks.

Since then, presidents — and, increasingly, lawmakers — have invited people they can use to make a point. In D.C. jargon, they’re known as Skutniks.

These guests can lend emotional punch to a president’s words. When Trump addressed Congress last year, the entire chamber came to its feet when he pointed out Carryn Owens, the widow of a Navy SEAL killed in Yemen. The standing ovation provided one of the most memorable moments of his remarks.

On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that the current crop of guests would include an Ohio welder; two couples whose daughters were killed by members of the MS-13 gang, which consists mostly of immigrants from Central America; a Marine corporal badly wounded in Iraq; Americans involved in disaster relief in last year’s hurricane season; a New Mexico police officer; a government investigator whose work led to arrests of MS-13 gang members; a serviceman who took part in the war on ISIS; an activist who puts flags and red carnations on soldiers’ graves; and a brother-and-sister team of business owners who say their workers received larger Christmas bonuses because of the Republican tax cut law.

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How will Democrats respond?

The Democratic base doesn’t want the party’s elected leaders to cooperate with Trump on issues like immigration. Whether they can find common ground with the president on infrastructure or trade — the party’s left is also inclined to try to protect besieged U.S. industries — remains to be seen.

And then there’s the question of vulnerable Democratic senators in states where Trump won: Will they decide that the electoral math in their states compels them to edge closer to Trump? Or would that only drive off the Democratic base voters they need to win?

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Will there be hecklers?

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., interrupts as President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress, Sept. 9, 2009. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Apart from Skutniks, lawmakers can send other quiet signals. They sit on their hands to show disapproval, or sit with a member of the opposing party to suggest bipartisanship — a gesture that is the political equivalent of a comb-over, in that it looks weird and fools no one.

But things aren’t always quiet in the chamber. When President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on health care in September 2009, Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina interrupted a section on immigrants by twice shouting “You lie!” Wilson later apologized, but the Democrat-held House voted to reprimand him.

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Will Trump follow talk with action?

The aftermath of the speech matters as much as what the president says in the chamber. Will the president crisscross the country in favor of his favored initiatives? That sort of travel would double as pre-midterm campaigning. How much work is he prepared to do to advance his legislative proposals?

“And how quickly will he ruin the mood with a bad tweet?” a senior House Republican aide remarked to Yahoo News. The aide requested anonymity to avoid reprisals from the White House.

Presidents have historically not seen much of a public opinion boost from the speech — it’s not a way to pivot or to reset a troubled presidency. And Trump’s approval ratings have tended to tick upwards when he is out of the public eye and his fingers aren’t tweeting.

President Trump addresses a joint session of Congress, Feb. 28, 2017. (Photo: Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

But because this gives him what is likely to be his largest audience of the year, the pressure is on to stick to the script and make the most of his agenda-setting opportunity.

As of a few days ago, Vice President Mike Pence had about 30 events on his calendar for House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates in 2018. Will the president match that level of energy?

The success of Trump’s legislative agenda may depend on it. And depending on what (if anything) Mueller unearths, keeping Democrats from retaking the House may prove key to saving his presidency.

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