#brandon deserves more hype

[vivaladicamillo]

DRUNK!BRANDON DICAMILLO/GN!READER

im on a roll so ima js write until i cant no more, dico brain rot has been so bad so heres a little dico drabble ;))) enjoyyyyy

WARNINGS: drunkness, alcohol mentioned ofc, dico

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one night you were at home. You and the so called “cky crew” had been friends since highschool, u were in the same grade as jess, ryan and dico so u all js kinda bonded. U were in ur 20s now, things were different bc u guys were adults, parties, drinking, sex, it was more common and less exciting. the guys decided to go out and have a “boys night” leaving u and ur cat alone at home, watching ur favorite movie. u ended up falling asleep on the couch only to be woken up around 3:35am by a loud knock at ur door.

u get up half asleep and wobble to the door, wearing only pajamas. u open the door to find bam, ryan and a very obviously drunk dico clinging onto bam for dear life.

bam giggles “yo you gotta take bran hes fucked!”

bam was also drunk but u can tell not as much

“what…” you says groggily

“js take him hes drooling on me!!!” bam shoved him towards you like a ragdoll and he bumps into you, swaying.

bam and ryan leave, ryan driving them away and now u have a drunk dico in ur home.

“y/nnnbnn hiiii!” he slurs, he gives a big goofy smile, cheeks flushes and eyes dilated, oh yea he was FUCKED alright

“hey brandon r u ok? u need some water?” you ask looking at his face

“hmmm ill take another beer!” he says and laughs

u shake ur head and yawn “here sit down and ill get u some water.”

you walk him over to your couch, sitting him down as u walk to the kitchen.

“ayeee what r we watching??” he gasps “i know what we can watch!! u got masters of the universe recorded oh god…i wanna watch ittt.” he starts to ramble as u run a cup under the tap and fill it up

ur cat gives him the stink eye as it watches him ramble, dico looks at it and starts mocking it jokingly. as soon as u walked in and saw him meowing at ur cat u knew it was over.

“listen im gonna go set up my bed, u can sleep in there if u want, or i cant set u up on the couch, im js exhausted right now.” u chuckle ad he looks at u with that wide eyed stare he always does

“hmmmm ill take the bed!” he puts his finger up and you laugh

“ok, come on big guy lets take u to bed.” you put ur hand on his shoulder, still carrying the water as u guide him to your room. he wraps his arm around you getting really comfortable

“wow i can believe ur taking me to bed…” he smirks going to make an obvious sex joke

“yea my bed, alone.” u smile back

the two of u make it to your room and he watches u make the bed, hands in his pockets, he pulled back and got a lot quieter. you put ur stuffed animals back on your bed and turn to him

“only fit for a king!” u joke and point to the bed, he smiles

“thanks y/n, your the literal best ever, best person ever born, i gotta thank ur mom more often” he chuckles

you nod and go to walk out of the room

“actual wait i have a awkward question…..” he looked a little nervous as she slurred his words

u turn to him and waited for his answer

“wanna sleep together?” he smirked

you stopped and looked at him “what??”

“nonono not like that, i feel bad letting u out on the couch…i dont mind sharing the bed.” he scratched his neck

“u dont have a girlfriend i dont know abt thats gonna jump me for sleeping in the same bed as i right ?” u cross ur arms and smirk, u always had a tiny thing for dico but he was one of ur closest friends, so u kept it underwraps

“i pinky swear!” he holds up his pinky

“fineeee” you agree, he jumps into bed, still fully clothed in jeans and a teeshirt, he even still had hid shoes on!

“BRANDON NO GET UR SHOES OFF MY BED!”

“sorry.” he said in a high pitched voice, taking his shoes off and getting under the covers

you followed suit, getting into bed and making urself comfortable, u felt a little awkward but he was ur best friend so, it wasnt that bad. he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, u knew from the soft snores behind u. shifting in bed, u turn to face him, his pretty sleeping face abt a foot away from your own. u smiled, he really was cute, in his sleep he ended up cuddling u, well by cuddling lazily wrapping an arm around you and then when u try to wiggle away he got u in a bear grip

u didnt mind, u gave up struggling and gave in to sleep, cuddling into his touch as u urself fell asleep

his soft breaths being ur lullaby

god u loved him

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HOPE U ENJOYEDDD!! new format bc i wanted this to be more of a story than headcanons, i might make something similar with all the cky guys but idk i guess we will find out :))

[dragonfly0808]

Can you do a Winx headcanon post about how Winx characters little siblings feel about their older siblings partner[I don't know if I phrased that right]

Example :Riven's little sister, Sherly's feelings towards Riven's relationship with Musa.

ooooohhhhhh

Kay here goes (I’ll also do Zila and Thyler though they’re older siblings)

Chimera hasn’t gotten a lot of chances to interact with Brandon one on one, but she thinks he’s cool and is low-key jealous of how much he protects and respects Stella and how he always is right at her side and hyping her up. She wants someone like that. She’s probably the only sibling to straight up be like, I want a relationship like that, when looking at her big sister

Brandon’s sisters all adore Stella and very much already see her as a sister, Brandon jokes they’d totally chose Stella over him anytime, they are very close. Brandon’s sisters all think the world of Stella and have learned a lot from her in terms of how to dress and hairstyles

Helia won over Mielle by making her magic origami and volunteering as a human step stool, Mielle loves being carried around. Mielle is still quite little so as soon as she saw how happy Helia made Flora and how he was a potential human jungle gym, she was like, yeah that’s enough for me

Shirley was hesitant of Musa at first, mostly due to past experiences and not being very used to trusting people to begin with (not to mention Riven’s past… lack of judgement) but she was slowly won over before they ever got together just by watching them together and realizing that Musa in some ways was just as guarded as Riven and that the two are really two birds of a feather and that they did each other good

Naten ADORED Timmy from the moment they met and has made it very much known that he will not accept anyone else as a brother-in-law (he totally requested relationship updates anytime he talked to Tecna in s1 and 2). Timmy takes Naten seriously when he gets curious about how Specialist weapons works and lets himself get bullied into joining in on lightning farming and from that moment Naten was like; Tecna you are marrying him

Zila thinks Timmy is the cutest and finds his crush on Tecna just very endearing, she totally has a soft spot for him and sees him as a little brother, she’s rooting for them just in a more subtle way than Naten, she always makes sure to compliment him cause she knows he doesn’t always get the praise he deserves

Thyler doesn’t really have a relationship with Tecna at all. He absolutely did not get at all what Timmy saw in her at first and just thought she was weird and that she didn’t reciprocate Timmy’s feelings. He probably tried to dissuade Timmy from his feelings in s1 and the start of s2 cause he didn’t want his brother to end up heartbroken. But, after watching them and having Tecna join them for a few family dinners, he sees that the crush is actually reciprocated and eventually his mindset changes into a; yeah she’s weird, but my bro is weird too, if being weird together will make them happy then go for it. Their relationship is more like- causal and teasing than anything, but he approves and even encourages it now, especially after seeing just how much Timmy loves her in s3, he was turned into a full supporter, even if he doesn’t always get their relationship

^picture the Bridgertons watching Francesca and John in s3, that’s Timmy’s family watching those two. Their neurotypical asses don’t get it but they’re supportive (at least post-Omega debacle)

[a-trick-or-two-with-lepers]

Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (NBC 2018) Breakdown and Review

Quick disclaimer: This is the second version of JCS that I've seen in full. I was introduced to the rock opera through the 1973 movie, and I'm not afraid to say that that is where my bias will always be, especially considering I'm more of a film buff than a theater nerd. However, I am aware that putting a feature-length film and a live recording of a performance on the same level for criticism is unfair, so I'll try to keep the comparisons to a minimum.

With that out of the way, here are my (slightly deranged) thoughts on NBC's JCS Live!

~Overture~

I can only imagine how hyped JCS enjoyers got while watching this live back in 2018. Not only is the live orchestra doing an amazing job, but the guitar players get their own time to shine on stage! This is so damn cool to see, because the guitar riffs are really what makes the song. When the "Heaven on Their Minds" riff began and we got to see one of the guitarists on stage just going at it, I knew I'd be in for a treat.

I'd like to take a moment to talk about the set design as well. One thing I know to be true about most JCS productions is that the set is almost always bare-bones - but in a meaningful way. The story relies more on the actions and emotions of its characters than the environment, which makes sense as Jesus and his compatriots were not necessarily wealthy. This remains true for this particular production. The staging is really impressive; you're never short of something or someone to look at.

Also... the outfits! I'm a sucker for leather, and this production has no shortage of it. The costumes, while aesthetically pleasing, show how much the ensemble in this play favor rebellion.

I love when casts are as diverse as possible - in ethnicity, skin color, body types, gender presentation, etc. This cast fits the bill, and everyone does a fantastic job in the overture. In fact, the ensemble this cast provides are just amazing in general. You can tell each and every one of them has oodles of experience under their belt. I have no complaints about any of their performances.

I will say, the flashing lights during the more chaotic bits were a bit much for me, but that's more due to my propensity to get overstimulated. Overall, the choices made in this section were top-notch, and I really can't be mad at any of it.

Enter: John Legend.

You know how I was really digging the costuming? Well...

Look, I understand that most productions have Jesus just looking like a normal ass dude with normal ass clothing, but was the grey shawl really necessary? Whatever, I'm not too put out by it. At least we get to see some John Legend tiddy.

It occurred to me during this part of the play that I am not a fan of live audiences. Once again, my easily overstimulated brain may be to blame, but I found myself wishing for most of the play that the audience would just quiet down. Nevertheless, I'm sure the cast was happy to be so outwardly appreciated.

~Heaven on Their Minds~

I'm gonna say this once and I won't say it again. THE MARKETING TEAM LEFT BRANDON VICTOR DIXON IN THE GODDAMN DUST. Seriously, every time I came across a video of this production on Youtube, his name was either not in the title, not in the thumbnail, or he was labeled as Tim Minchin. The poor guy is the main fucking character and nobody could be bothered to give him the credit he deserves. I understand that Legend is more famous, but seriously. That just rubs me the wrong way.

Anyway...

I'm back to loving the costuming. Judas' vest is so cool, and I love the symbolism of his tank being red. Honestly, any Judas in red has my heart immediately.

His performance here is good, but nothing I'm overly impressed by. I can understand wanting to save energy for later performances, though, and I'm definitely not offended by Dixon's singing. He's a bit stilted in his delivery, a little nasally in his vocals, and I sometimes have a hard time believing his performance. Though, I can imagine it's kind of hard to stay in character when you're struggling to be heard above the audience. I mean seriously! When Jesus did the bit where he reached out to the audience, the crowd got so loud that if I didn't know the lyrics to this song by heart I wouldn't know what Dixon was saying. It made me a bit mad, to be honest. I don't know, maybe that in itself is symbolic or some shit.

I do like Dixon's phrasing in some parts, especially when he sing-speaks the line "do you care for your race?" as well his sassy delivery of the titular line. I did not care for the way he sang "how put down we are," but he later totally nailed the original riff on "sour," which is one of my favorite vocal runs of all time. The way he interspersed the bits where he wasn't singing with spoken complaints was cute. He also did a really nice break at the "puh-LEASE" bit.

He really made the song his own. The last twenty seconds gave me chills. Dixon is clearly a very skilled performer, and though there were parts of his performance I didn't love, I overall really enjoyed watching him sing one of my favorite musical numbers.

One last thing about this part: I don't really like how Judas is singing directly to Jesus. A big part of Judas' characterization is that he is a sort of outcast-loner type, and his relationship with Jesus fails mainly because both men fail to communicate effectively. When Judas is literally expressing his concerns directly to Jesus, and Jesus outright ignores him, it makes Jesus come across as an unresponsive dick. Again, this is the first theater JCS I've seen, so I'm not sure how much of this is written in stone as part of the Broadway production. Instead of doing the right thing and researching that, I'm just going to judge the play based on how I initially responded to it.

~What's the Buzz / Strange Thing Mystifying~

I'm not sure if this is a constant in most JCS productions, but "What's the Buzz" feels too slow to me. It's a bit jumpier in the '73 version, but that may be because they were recording it in a studio rather than in front of a live audience. I will say, there's not much room for breathing in this song. Once again, though, the ensemble is doing a banger job.

I came into this not really having a strong opinion on John Legend. I really only know the one song from him ("All of Me," obviously). I've heard people criticize his performance in this, and while I'd much prefer a rock singer or seasoned Broadway performer in this role, I can't say I'm too offended by his casting. He's more focused on his voice than his acting. When it comes to musical theater, each line should be treated as its own and should portray a slightly different emotional tone. With Legend, all his lines kind of sound the same and seem to hold the same level of importance. He's also not very good at the kind of talk-singing that is usually present in this role. But, I can't deny that he sounds pretty damn good. I especially liked how he sang "Mary, oooh, that is good." Very sexy indeed.

Speaking of Mary! Who doesn't love Sara Bareilles? (No seriously, who? I just wanna talk...) I really really really love her dress, and her voice is just lovely. Very soothing and unassuming.

When Judas comes in for "Strange Thing Mystifying," he is once again portraying the perfect amount of sass and shade. I really missed the "hey cool it man :(" line from Simon, though. It's so adorable in the '73 JCS.

I really liked Legend's staccato "Who. Are. You." parts! Whoever made the decision to direct him like that knew what they were doing.

All around, there was more singing than acting going on from the main cast. In my opinion, this makes the characterization kind of weak, but it doesn't make the songs unenjoyable.

Also, I love the choreography here! Especially when they sing "when do we ride into Jerusalem?" Still can't top the '73 choreo for me, but that's a very high bar.

~Everything's Alright~

While I absolutely adore Sara Bareilles' voice, I wish she enunciated a bit more for this song, but that's just a personal preference. Her singing and her entire vibe is just so calming and gorgeous, and her runs are spot-on. Then we get to the little Judas and Jesus interaction.

In the original movie, this is the scene that made me realize, "Wow. These men really love each other." Every scene with Carl Anderson and Ted Neely is just so emotionally intense that it's impossible to look away. That is not really the case with Legend and Dixon.

Though they both sound good (for the most part), the desperation and emotional overflow is just not there. And I say for the most part because both Dixon and Legend struggle a bit with the higher notes. Dixon went for the belt, but was a bit flat. Legend opted to sing "when I'm gone" with a poorly sung falsetto, and it just. Does not fit. Whatsoever. It was a weak performance of a line that is meant to be fraught with emotion.

Also, by the end of the song, I'm pretty sure the point is supposed to be that despite Mary's careful ministrations, Jesus is still stressed and upset. But here? Nah, Jesus is just snoozin'.

Despite J and J's subpar deliveries, I enjoyed this song even if just for how Mary was presented.

~This Jesus Must Die~

Norm Lewis! I! Don't really... have a pre-formed opinion on him. So many people seem to, but I just haven't been involved in theater for so long that I'm a bit out of the loop.

Nonetheless, he is a wonderful performer. His vibrato is liquid gold. However, I was under the impression that Caiaphas is a role usually played by bass singers. Lewis is very clearly a baritone. I'm not sure I'm too happy with this choice, especially since he seems to struggle a bit with the lower notes. It's not nearly as noticeable as Legend's struggle with high notes, but I really wish we got to have a beautiful, gravelly bass voice in this role. Even without the inhumanly low tones, Lewis manages to make this role just as intimidating as it should be.

Jin Ha does a good job as Annas. I don't have much to say about his performance.

What I find particularly funny about this part is that you can tell who the stage performers are. Legend is a singer. He sings. These priests that have like, two lines each? They're PERFORMERS. They are taking their fifteen seconds of fame and milking them as much as possible, and I respect the hell out of it because it makes for some very enjoyable performances. The "What then to do about this Jesusmania?" guy killed it.

I love the costuming here as well - very cool geometric designs on the jackets.

Though I would love to say I fancied this version of the song, they didn't include the "Jesus is cool" line. And for that, this is my least favorite song in the production. (/j)

~Hosanna~

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. It was good! Just a few little tidbits:

-Legend starting a crowd clap was cute

-This song works really well for Legend cause it's right in his register and he doesn't have to reach for any super high notes

-The key change is super cool! I LOVE Legend's runs during this part as well

-The last part where they all sing "SUPERSTAAAAR" was awesome and I can imagine them using that for a lot of cable advertisements

~Simon Zealotes / Poor Jerusalem~

First of all: Simon's cute as hell! Look at his lil' hair!

I just love when this role is played as the most energetic, chaotic, batshit insane guy you've ever seen. And I cannot express how delighted I am to see a role in this play being done by a rock singer! Erik Grönwell's performance here is my favorite out of anyone in this play so far. His belts are out of this world.

The ensemble can't be discounted here either, 'cause they sound freaking amazing. But I've already expressed my love for them.

Surprisingly, Legend's falsetto actually works well for "Poor Jerusalem." It makes sense, though, as this part is meant to be a bit gentler and more downtrodden. He sounds really nice.

Side note: when did they change the "but you close your eyes" line to "but you live a lie?" Is that just for this version or was it changed previously? I feel like it doesn't really add anything.

~Pilate's Dream~

Not much to say here either, it's a pretty short song. I will say I really like Pilate's outfit. The colors are reminiscent of '73 version, which is an immediate like from me. I also like how Pilate looked straight into the camera at the end of the song. Pretty impactful even if I know for a fact they went to commercial break right after that.

~The Temple~

Okay. I'd die for these guitarists. I love whenever they're on stage! They're killing it!

Anyway, I found it pretty funny that the temple-goers just started dumping glitter on the ground. I wrote in my notes "Slay ig," so, slay ig.

It's pretty cool too how the "temple" is literally just a huge cross on the ground. The slow movement of the camera makes this a languid realization, which is neat.

Speaking of which, I forgot to mention that the camerawork so far has been really good. I never feel like I'm watching something stagnant, yet I still feel like a part of the audience. Good job, NBC crew.

"My temple should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves" is my favorite part of the original movie. It's so undeniably powerful, and Neely's rock-belt is just heavenly to listen to. (He performs it live, too, so I know it isn't just a trick of the recording studio).

Legend's version of this line? Eh, it was alright. It was honestly better than I was expecting. I was really worried he was just gonna sing it the way it was written and go for the falsetto, but he instead chose to stay in his range. He also has an intentional voice break, indicating a bit of emotion, which is nice to see. I don't know why he sings the "get outs" in lowercase; it's just kind of funny.

The lepers sound really good, but when Legend is trying to sing his part over them, I can hardly hear him. What I did hear, though, was like? Really good? Super rock-sounding. Hopefully we hear more of that later...

~I Don't Know How to Love Him~

No notes. She slayed.

Yvonne Elliman supremacy, but Sara Bareilles Mary Magdalene now has a place in my heart. I'm glad I watched this production if just for her, honestly.

~Damned for all Time / Blood Money~

What can I say? The priests are spooky, the lighting is badass, and Norm Lewis is the best singer here.

As far as Judas goes, Dixon is doing exceedingly well for how ridiculously hard this song is to sing. Carl Anderson owns this song in my heart, but Dixon is not disappointing. He makes up for the lack of insane belting by adding his own runs, and it works well. I wrote in my notes that "Brandon actually looks like emotions are happening," so, yeah. Also, the BICEPS! Needless to say, I was enjoying it.

~The Last Supper~

I forgot why I wrote "Aw, gay apostles" in my notes, but going back to it, I noticed how much hugging kissing was going on between these guys. Can't complain, love a good smooch.

Mary is also in this scene, which differs from the movie. And she shows her hospitality towards Judas, which is cute. I always wished they had Judas and Mary interact more in the movie.

Legend sounds good at the beginning. Once again, this song is well within his range, and his falsettos don't feel too out of place. However, they didn't put a pause between the "when you eat and drink" line and the "I must be mad" line, which I thought was odd.

When the accusations start flying, Jesus just. Doesn't seem mad. Judas does, and Dixon completely upstages Legend in this scene.

After the apostles sing a second time, and Judas starts dishing out the insults to Jesus, I feel like it should have been more one-on-one and personal. I would've had the apostles move further away or even leave the stage for this part.

Oof. Legend singing "Get out!" in falsetto was just... not good. When the audience clapped for it I cringed so hard.

Let's see if Legend can redeem himself with the next song...

~Gethsemane~

With how bad everyone made it out to be, I was expecting Legend to completely biff it here. But to my surprise, he really stepped it up here, in both terms of singing and acting. Obviously, it was nowhere near as impactful as Gillan or Neely's versions, but I could at least see that Legend was trying. This part made me recognize that he isn't necessarily a bad actor, he just isn't consistent enough in his performance for it to be believable that he is in character.

He displayed some really impressive rock-belting midway through the song, right around where most people usually go for the g5 note. It sounds so gravelly and crisp, and I really wish he used it more during this performance. Additionally, I am very happy that he didn't go for the g5. That part usually makes or breaks the performance, and with Legend I think we know which way the egg was gonna fall.

There were some good choices made here as well as some bad ones. He still did some nasty falsettos in the latter half of the song, which actually made me laugh. Seriously, who convinced him that was okay? I feel like this would have been a well-regarded performance without that.

Overall, I'm impressed. The weak points were weak, but few, and the strong points were really strong. It wasn't nearly as poor as people made it out to be.

~The Arrest~

The kiss was nice and tender. I like the way Jesus hugs Judas afterwards too, that was very sweet. For some reason it sounded like Legend said "Judas, must you betray me with a gay?" which I thought was pretty funny.

I like how the arrest was framed as a news stint, with reporters and mics and all that. It was also pretty neat how they interspersed the solo lines with ensemble lines.

~Peter's Denial~

Peter was good, but the real standout here was that guy with the phone that sang "But I saw him too, he looked just like you." God DAMN! They went OFF!! Can he play Judas next please?

~Pilate and Christ~

Pilate is really the one bringing the camp here. He ate this up.

~King Herod's Song~

Well. What do you want me to say here? It's Alice Cooper. Do you really think I am physically, mentally, or legally capable of criticizing Alice Cooper?

I'll spare you the fangirling I did in my notes app; just know I, as well as the audience, was very happy to see this man doing his thing.

Also, as a rocker, he actually made this song fit with the rest of the play, which is truly a feat.

(Still not as good as his episode on The Muppets).

~Could we Start Again Please~

Even though I love Sara as Mary, and Peter did a good job as well, I wish they included more ensemble in this song. I feel like it's more impactful that way as it shows that there were still people who believed in Jesus. Still, I'm so glad they decided to keep this song in most JCS productions because it's one of my favorites.

~Judas's Death~

Oh no, he lost the leather vest! I'm not complaining though... 😏

This is the part where I praise Dixon for his showmanship, 'cause this man just got THROWN and he KEPT SINGING! I found that to be very impressive. Though I will say, the increase in his emotional performance seems to cause his singing to suffer a bit. To be fair, it's an incredibly hard part to sing.

Aside from Jesus going bonkers in the Temple, Judas' reprise of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" is my favorite scene in the original movie. Did Dixon live up to my expectations? Well, considering my expectations were pretty low to begin with, he exceeded them.

This is seriously the best acting I've seen in the whole play. Dixon completely sells his performance. Consider me a proud and satisfied viewer.

Although, quick PSA to the audience. You don't actually have to clap every time a man sings in falsetto, mkay? Thanks <3

~Trial Before Pilate~

This song is notorious for its difficult timing considering it's just talksingtalksingtalk *BUM* talksingtalksingtalk *BUM* for a bit. This Pilate though? Yeah, he nails it. I was really impressed by his performance. Also, when he said "talk to me Jesus Christ," that was the most sexual tension I've seen in a stage play, wow.

I don't really understand what was going on in the flogging scene, because the ensemble members were just running past him individually, but Legend was selling it. It definitely looked like he was in pain, and the lashes on his back didn't look sloppy or rushed.

Another emotional crux of the play is when Pilate basically yells "DON'T LET ME STOP YOUR GREAT SELF DESTRUCTION!!" I was a little let down by this guy's performance of these lines honestly. However, he was virtually perfect the rest of the time so I can't really be mad.

~Superstar~

THIS. THIS IS IT.

For whatever reason, Dixon just decided to turn the iconic scale up to 1000. The diamond laced fit. The dancing. The footwork. Everything about this performance was absolutely incredible, and I am just ecstatic about it. I mean, the man was full on spinning on the ground while singing. Every run he did now has a permanent residence in my brain. If you decide not to watch this version of JCS, I understand. I don't blame you. But if nothing else, please please PLEASE watch this part on Youtube. You won't regret it.

In the words of a close friend of mine, he slayed, ate it up, left no crumbs, licked it clean, you could eat off that plate again.

~The Crucifixion~

There were some lines in here that definitely weren't in the movie, and again, I'm not super familiar with the broadway play so I'm not sure how much of this was changed for this version alone. Nonetheless, Legend did a good job here. I mean, attempting to portray Jesus dying on a cross is a task to be sure, and he accomplished it.

~John Nineteen: Forty One~

There seemed to be some resurrection imagery here, so, congratulations Christians. He did the rising. (I am not religious, can you tell)?

I love me a good curtain call. They're just so joyous.

So! Was this production worth two hours of me composing my thoughts on it into a Tumblr post approximately five people will read? You tell me. I certainly enjoyed my time with it, and I hope to do this with more productions. I'm looking forward to watching both the 2012 revival and broadway productions, the 2014 Swedish one, and the 2000 movie. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for others I might enjoy or that you would like to see a breakdown of.

[stylecouncil]

that's fair! I found one of your posts through a search on tumblr, and when i clicked you, it seemed like something you were passionate about at the time. What are some lyricists you do think deserve the hype?

morrissey, lou reed, dylan, springsteen, ray davies, johnny cash (I have a mile long list of favorite country lyricists like merle haggard, tammy wynette, van zandt, dolly obviously etc but I’ll keep it to cash), paul weller, joni mitchell, bowie (maybe controversial to some I guess, I don’t see why, but his range as a lyricist is insane). also just in terms of just general favorites I have some more contemporary (well three I’m thinking of specifically like me and brandon flowers are really having a love affair at the moment if you want one of them. pete doherty is a poet etc) and maybe more controversial favorites (I’m a noel gallagher as a lyricist defender until I die) lol and favorite rappers/rap lyricists (but again that would be a whole list of itself) but I’ll stick to some of the classics that I feel like get brought up in discussions about lyrics a lot and keep it in the rock/pop realm for the purpose of this. also insert that famous neil tennant quote about madonna being an excellent lyricist and the art of the pop lyric even if she wouldn’t necessarily pop into peoples minds first.

[someonelookingpraediti]

A Year of Sanderson Guesses, Wishes, Hopes, Dreams...

I've just started reading the first "Secret Project" book, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and the first swag box is due to ship any time now, so this seems like the ideal time to ponder what might be headed my way this year.

For anyone who missed it, last March Brandon Sanderson announced that he had written, in secret, four additional, unplanned books during the pandemic. There was a Kickstarter to fund "A Year of Sanderson" - a delivery of goodies each month in 2023. That's four premium hardcover books, and eight boxes of Sanderson swag. In the time it took me to watch the video and to pledge (about half an hour) it was already funded.

But I've got a confession. I'm just... not that into the Cosmere. I know, I know, that's the worst possible thing I could say! How can I still call myself a Sanderson fan?!

Please don't get me wrong, I really love the books individually, but I don't like this big multi-series crossover thing! It's way too much, I want to just be a casual fan! I can't devote all my runtime to one fandom!

In my opinion, you just shouldn't have to work so hard to partake in entertainment.

However, I adore his Sci-Fi works, so, so much, and they don't deserve to be so overshadowed. I just like his non-Cosmere writing more than any of the series in the Cosmere.

So, as I try to speculate over what might be in these swag boxes, it's going to be a bit coloured by my personal preference for his other writing. Don't take it to heart.

Firstly, some general wants for the books and the swag!

As something of a book subscription connoisseur, I've got really high expectations for these "premium" books. The absolute top priority is that they need to work as a set! They've got to line up on my shelf looking like they were designed to sit together. Other than that, I expect artwork endpapers, a ribbon bookmark, some fancy foiling, and gilded edges. I'd appreciate slipcases. They need to be premium.

And as for the goodies! Well, even for a book subscription, these are pricey. I mean, really expensive. So I'm expecting big things from these swag boxes. In an ordinary subscription box, you get a fully customised hardback book, plus four to five exclusive bookish goodies. These eight boxes are more expensive, and you don't get a book in them! So I want to get my money's worth. I expect at least seven goodies per box.

Normally in subscription boxes you get the usual: bookmarks, notebooks, enamel pins, book sleeves, stickers. I love this stuff, but I'm hoping it's not all like this. I'd really like to see something super unique and original in these boxes. One or two ordinary bookish items maximum, and the rest should be... imaginative! Unusual stuff we don't get elsewhere! One thing I really, really don't want is figurines. I honestly hate them so much.

Box 1 : Hoid

I've got to be honest, I don't like Hoid. I know it's an unpopular opinion, I just think he's over hyped. So the fact that this got promoted to the first box, and bumped the Cytoverse (my absolute favourite series!) box to second? Personal attack. I can't think of anything I actually want in this box, I just wish it wasn't coming first. As long as this is imaginative, I don't know what else to ask for.

Box 2 : Cytoverse

Now this is the box I'm waiting for! I love this series with my entire soul.

Top of my list for this box is a Slug plushie! I know they've already done a Doomslug one, but I'd love if you got a random type of slug in your box, especially if it had a voice box that trilled when you squeezed it!

And I'm probably aiming too high, but I really want a hardback copy of Defending Elysium. The only edition they released is so rare, they're almost impossible to come by. I'd really like if they did a little hardback volume, with a reversible dust jacket, that matched the US editions on one side, and the UK editions on the other.

It's too much to ask for a DDF Jumpsuit. A girl can dream. But we definitely need something suitably cool and very sci-fi for this box. Maybe something techy!

Box 3 : Mistborn

Ahh my first. It's been so, so long since I read any of these books, and I haven't read the latest yet - I'll have to try to get to it before this box arrives. The original Mistborn trilogy are probably the best, and most well-known of his fantasy works, so I think this will be a really good box!

It's probably too much to ask for a mistcloak - but c'mon, that's what everyone is hoping for, right?!

Although mostly I want Era 1 stuff, I would love one of those "Soonie Pup" things that are in the newspaper clippings in Era 2 - the plushies shaped like TenSoon! Bonus points if it turns inside out to become a Mistwraith plushie! Too cute!

Box 4 : Elantris & Emperor's Soul

I remember loving Elantris when I read it - but it's been well over a decade, so I don't actually remember it all that well! I didn't like Emperor's Soul as much though.

I genuinely don't remember this well enough to know of anything I might want relating to this book! I should probably reread it, but honestly, my reading list is so full, I'm going to struggle to fit everything in as it is.

Box 5 : Cosmere

Ok, I'm a broken record, I know! But would it not be better to have a "non-Cosmere" box here, instead? Like, an "Everything Else" box.

We've already got a box for every Cosmere series, plus one specifically for a Cosmere character. So what could possibly be in here that isn't in the other boxes?

I imagine we're probably going to get some sort of big map thingy? Maybe a t-shirt? I just don't know what might be in here! I hope it's something cool, I'll be disappointed if it's like, a poster.

Box 6 : Warbreaker

SWORD! I want a sword! Or, more realistically, I guess, something Nightblood themed, like a letter opener shaped like Nightblood.

This is a really great chance for them to get creative here - I want something that really plays into the use of colour in the book, something super original, that I'd never have thought of putting into a book box, and more than anything, something beautiful.

To be honest, Elantris and Warbreaker probably could have shared a box, they didn't really need their own months.

Box 7 : Stormlight

Such a love/hate relationship with this series. Love, because it's clearly the best series, and I adore most of the characters. Hate, because I adore most of the characters! And by book four, I just couldn't continue to read about them being tortured! I never finished it! But I'm definitely looking forward to some goodies! After Cytoverse, this is probably the box I'm most looking forward to.

We've got to get something Shardblade themed! If we don't get a Nightblood letter opener, then this is the place for it. Or maybe a Shardblade shaped pen? Or a set of Shardblade pens!!

I'd love a set of Spheres. Different sizes, with different "gemstones" inside them! In a little money pouch! It's a lot to ask for, but it would be amazing if they had like, little LEDs in them, and if they came with a charging base or something, so you could charge them up, and they would glow!! Imagine how cool that would be!

And a pet Axehound. Obviously.

Box 8: Sanderson Fan

I have no idea what this entails. Is it going to just be a mish-mash of all his works?

I'm really hoping this is the "Everything Else" box I'm after. I'm gutted that there isn't a Reckoners box, because I love that series, so I'd be thrilled with something from those books in here.

We're probably going to get a 2024 calendar in this one, since it's the last box of the year, but it's probably going to be all Cosmere.

I guess we might get some goodies related to the four books that are being released as part of the Year of Sanderson? Imagine if he went all out and threw in another new book for this box!

And, ok. I know this is never, ever going to happen, because it's not one of his popular works, and no one ever talks about it, but my absolute favourite Sanderson work ever, is Firstborn. I know it's only 40 pages and it's a standalone, and no one else cares about it, but I love it so much. So if we got something Firstborn related in here, I would forgive Brandon all his sins, and I would never, ever complain again.

[ghostiewriter]

no bc percy jackson is so underrated IVE BEEN HERE SINCE 2009 AND ITS ONLY KNOW GETTING THE RECOGNITION BC OF THE SHOW btw the show looks amazing cannot wait to walker scobell literally serve us as percy. the 2010 movie of percy jackson and the lightning thief was horifiying. even the author himself never watched that movie.

PJO DESERVES THE SAME HYPE IF NOT MORE THAN WHAT HARRY POTTER GOT!!!!! AND IM SO EXCITED FOR IT TO THRIVE!!

But honestly I love Walker and his acting and I can’t wait to see him bring Percy to life, he’s gonna kill it and I’m so excited!!

Whilst I agree the movies were dog shit in comparison to the books, I do think Logan was a bit of a “right person, wrong time” situation, same for a lot of the actors tbh because Brandon killed it as Grover

[perenlop]

idk if its fair to say that the ash vs paul lake acuity battle is underrated because it’s certainly one of the battles people actually talk about, but i still don’t think it gets as much attention as it deserves. probably because the sinnoh league battle is understandably far more fun and vindictive to watch, but i dont think it would have hit as hard if this specific battle didnt precede it

like narratively the battle is meant to set up the sinnoh league battle and re-establish paul as a threat after he got thrashed by brandon. mentioned this earlier, but paul works as a rival because he poses a consistent threat to ash where we as the audience WANT to see ash overcome him. but it’s also important to note just where he stands in this hierarchy. paul isn’t strong enough to be on the level of a champion or frontier brain. but he IS so strong that he surpasses every other trainer, he just needs to figure out where that leaves him. and just because paul lost to a frontier brain that ash won against, doesn’t make one or the other inherently stronger, especially since ash has an entirely different team this time around. it’s important to establish this so that the audience can believe that both characters have a lot to learn still, and that while paul is not all powerful, he’s still the main rival and needs to be taken seriously. 

and like the battle itself has really good choreography and sets up so many parallels that just soar in the sinnoh league, such as the way paul is left with 3 weakened pokemon while ash has one powerful healthy pokemon left that still gets taken down, and that’s inverted in the sinnoh league, down to electabuzz and monferno being the last ones standing. and while i do think it couldve gone further, i love how this battle like actually utilizes different strategies with the moves that go beyond field effects (which this and the league battle are also really good at btw) like hey, we finally see stuff like flame body and static matter. we see light screen and facade. usually the anime pretends these aspects don’t matter as much, i guess to not confuse the audience that much? (keep in mind this same show often doesnt mention secondary types for the same reason) so it’s really refreshing to see them in place here.

and its such a brutal loss for ash because he was so excited, and the audience is being hyped up too because we just saw paul face a brutal loss himself against a man ash did win against, defeating paul seems plausible now and this is where ash is finally gonna earn his respect now that paul knows what he’s capable of- and this episode reaffirms where ash currently stands among the cast in such a harsh way. and the follow up episode where his pokemon are recovering and stop to comfort him and get their motivation back is so good and believable like you BELIEVE this is the battle that hurts ash’s motivation

idk its been a minute but go watch the lake acuity battle if you’re feeling nostalgic its literally so good

[titsthedamnseason]

also also i realized that i think whether vin is the hero or not this plot line will be resolved by the end of this book and she will get to the well of ascension and do whatever it is people do there to claim its mystical world saving/destroying powers. i remember someone on tiktok saying that this book had one of brandon’s best ever endings in a book and also it’s literally called the well of ascension so brandon cannot trick me again like either the final empire when i thought the plot of just that book was going to take us the whole trilogy. i was a little slow on the uptake but it is clear to me now that vin will go to the well in this book (hence its name, and also the fact that she’s preparing to go to terris and there’s 200 pages left) and the next book - the hero of ages - will follow the fallout of that with her being the new lord ruler figure / in charge of the whole world? and maybe probably she isn’t actually the hero and dealing with the pressure of that? i’m not sure she might be the hero but my girls mental state isn’t really equipped for that either way so we shall see

like once i stop being so engrossed in the story and step back to think about the titles and pacing and a realistic arc of a story then these things become more clear to me lol. i’m just so used to fantasy plots being wayyyyyy more dragged out and i love that brandon doesn’t do that. it’s so talented that he can manage to do that without the plots feeling rushed AT ALL. he doesn’t slow things down just for the sake of having a longer page/word count which i really appreciate. he genuinely crammed SO MUCH story into these three books and did it so flawlessly. i understand the hype now and he deserves all the praise and applause he gets

i can’t decide if it’s TOO OBVIOUS that vin is the hero of ages….like obviously all the signs are there and she’s the Main Character so it seems right that she would fulfill that “chosen one” role but then again is it so obvious that’s just want brandon wants us to think so he can pull the rug out from under us? also if that isn’t the case it would parallel the historical events of everything being all muddled (and sazed filling alendi’s role since now he also believes that vin is The Hero)

[fitztragedy]

Things I Want Changed in Fate S02

Better Costumes

Like, seriously, wth happened there? They were dressed awfully, and that's not news. The costumes were like straight out of a 90's teens movies, it was so obvious there was an adult trying do find out what teens used and maybe saw that 90s fashion was trending and thought that was the hype. Costume designer Catherine Adair has been a costume designer in 29 projects, none of them was a teen TV show (except her most recent project, after Fate, which is a disney kids mystery series) and 16 of wich were in the 90s. She has dressed TV shows before Fate but things like Desperate Housewives and The Man in the High Castle- Definitely not even close to the vibe Fate has. Hopefully she'll either do more research or they'll hire another costume designer since she's aparently working on this new Disney series. IMDb says we have a new Art Director in S02 (Justin Warburton-Brown, who apparently done The Witcher S02!!) so my hopes are very high!

New locations and sets!

I loved Alfea and the Winx Suite but I feel like we need more sets. That's not the fault of the art direction or set decoration (which were done by Karl Clifford -who isn't credited for anything but Fate- and Jil Turner who has a very good resume, having worked on Vikings and a lot of other fantasy movies and tv shows), I feel like they did a pretty good job with what they were given. Having the entire season be basically that got very repetitive and because of the number of views I'm hoping they have a bigger budged in S02 to be able to have different sets. I wanna see Magix! The cartoon did a wonderful job with the city near Alrea, it was super cool to see the futuristic town in a fairy show, which was a contrast to what me, as a kid, imagines what a magical town would look like. I don't think they'll to this for Fate but it'd be cool to see like magic being used in day to day lives. Also if Alfea is in the middle of nowhere where do the girls get like stuff? Where do they buy tampons if they need it? I MUST know!! Also it'd be pretty cool to see Solaria sometime. IMDb also told me we got a new set decorator in S02 and he's been the set decorator of Shadow and Bone (Kevin Downey) so I'M EXCITED.

More plot and Backstory for the characters

Let's skip Bloom and Sky because I think @lilshitwayne would do a better job talking about them and then focus on the others.

Aisha

WHERE IS AISHA'S PLOT??? They done my girl wrong, so wrong. Seriously, what is her backstory? What are her goals and dreams? What are her insecurities and challenges? What is her personal arc? What is her role in the series arc? I wish I could answer all these questions but I just can't. I saw @lilshitwayne and @rivusa dms about her yesterday and I want to give them the floor to talk about it so I'm not gonna say what they said, but I do want more from Aisha's character next season and I want her role to not be as suporting as she was in S01. I do think that the fact that she's a poc character had to do with her lack of development and I will HATE it if they make her also LGBTQ+ and continue with Netflix's trend of shoving all the minorities into one character. Hopefully because of the backlash they'll listen. Precious is a beautiful and great actress and she deservers better.

Musa

Musa had a pretty big part in S02 I'd say. She was basically the second most important character after Bloom, BUT she did not have a plot, let's be real. Her whole arch was basically "I hate my powers, they are useless and just make me suffer and I try to ignore them" and then she met Sam and was like "Oh he basically feels nothing so it's nice to spend time with him" and then she found out Sam was Terra's brother and wanted to keep their relationship a secret, then she told Terra and there was like too much drama for a non-dramatic revelation. Then she had to face her powers when Sam was dying but then he lived so she went back to being the same as she was but with a boring boyfriend now (I know people like Sam and that's okay because people have different tastes but I just don't see the appeal, okay? he's boring in my opinion). So like her whole development and plot was based around a guy. No internet struggle solved, no character development. Yes Musa is my favorite character but I still don't like her "plot".

Stella and Terra

idk what I'd say about them. I think one of the other girls in the fate fandom might have takes and stuff. Terra had the self-steem and body issues that basically went no where and Stella has mommy issues and issues in general that are probably gonna get more developed already so I'm not too worries about them.

I know people didn't like that they made Stella have a very different personality than the cartoons and (hot take) I kinda like it. Don't @ me. Stella was hella annoying in the cartoons and I like this very messed up Stella we got, yes she's a bitch but she's got layers and I can't wait to see them Explored.

Terra was not a cartoon character and I have no fucking idea why they didn't just put Flora. Flora in the cartoon had also a very different personality so maybe they thought she didn't fit, but then why not keep her and just change the personality like they did with Stella? Also if they had made Terra latina it wouldn't have changed anything in Terra's plot. Idk what happened behind the scenes but that's what we got. I do want Flora to appear and be this cute cinnamon roll but also badass (and latina) so *fingers crossed*

Riven

ah, Riven... He has so much potential and I can't wait to see his character development throughout the series. I can see a lot of troubles at home and internalized homophobia and fuck he's just so god damn Bi. Hopefully that little interaction with Dane about just liking whoever depending on the gender will make Riven be okay with his sexuality and I really like this plot okay?

Also, yes, as a Rivusa shipper I want that to happen and I've already done two huge post about Riven and Rivusa in Fate so if u wanna read more go and do it (here and here).

The rest idgaf about them (I do but i'm too lazy to type)

Future characters

I wanna see Brandon. They call even make Stella bi and change Brandon to like Brenda or something, I've done that in fics and I think that'd be interesting.

Flora, of course, as said above.

Helia if they bring Flora along. They should pair him with Terra, he's Flora's.

I don't wanna see Tecna and Timmy tbh, might be a controversial opinion but I didn't really care for them in the OG and with all the normal technology in Fate I don't really see a reason for them. Unless they change Tecna's powers like they did with Musa, but we don't need another white basic bitch character.

I think that's it!

If yall want to answer and discuss Fate feel free to reblog! I'd love to talk about how we could improve the show!

[flodaya]

Any YA book recommendations?:)

always! this is just random collection of some of my timeless favourite ya books 

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - she is like my all time favourite children’s book author, i basically grew up reading her books. this one is imo her best fantasy series, it’s about a girl and her love for books, i don’t really want to say more bc i don’t want to spoil anything but it’s just so beautiful, and Cornelia Funke has an absolute stunning writing style (i hope the translation is good too)

Cemetery boys by Aiden Thomas - quite possibly my favourite book of 2020, it’s about a trans boy who wants to prove to his family that he is a real brujo by performing a certain ritual 

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo - or her other books, it’s ya contemporary, really beautifully written (her other two books are written as poetry) 

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - everyone talks about the show right now but these books definitely are some of the best ya fantasy books i’ve read when i was a teen, it just has those kind of iconic characters 

Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan - always, this is such a classic but it’s just really one of my favourite series and i still try to reread it at least once a year 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - i know probably 98% of the ppl on this earth have read this book or at least watched the movies but these just are those kinds of books that deserve to be hyped and read, they are the blueprint and i won’t let anyone reduce them to the love triangle 

Loveless or anything else by Alice Oseman - she just has a way of writing about teenagers in a way that makes you feel seen and understood 

Aristotle and Dante discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz - the most comfort books of all the comfort books, i reread this reguarly and every time it only takes me 1 or 2 days to get through

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - definitely should be conisdered a classic and must read. it’s about the blm movement, written really well, story is just super important 

An Ember in the Ashes by Saba Tahir - it’s like a roman spired fantasy world, it’s rather romance heavy iirc but tbh in this one i didn’t mind at all 

Poison Study by Maria V Synder - this book is so ciminally underrated and it feels like this inspired so so many ya fantasy books that came after it. it’s basically about a girl who is sentenced to death but has the choice to become a food taster instead, risking being poisoned

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson - not entirely sure if this counts as ya but the main character is a teenage girl and i personally thought it’s one of his more accessible books. it has one of my absolute favourite magic systems that basically works by swallowing different metals 

Sythe by Neal Shusterman - set in a world where death has been conquered, so now “Sythe” are responsible for making sure the world doesn’t get over-populated so they are basically playing the grim reaper killing people. the story follows two characters who are apprentices to become Sythe  

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab - she really is one of my all time favourite authors. this book is set in a city that has monsters and lots of violence. it’s about a girl who aspires to be a ruthless monster killer like her father and a boy who wants to be human and good-hearted like his father

[vivaladicamillo]

hes so cutie

[western-magical-girl-confessions]

“I love Bloom and Sky but I think that the other Winx and Specialists members + friendships/relationships deserve more hype, like Stella and Brandon for example. Their relationship in the first seasons was all love, but not anymore.”

[talesofafangirlwithadvr]

October/November Picks

Long time no see! So...it’s been a little bit since I’ve posted a wrap up. I had all intentions of posting one after October, but then you know life gets ahead of you and before you know it it’s Thanksgiving. Not much has changed in my viewing habits for these past two months, so I thought I’d group them together for a mega wrap up. Hope you enjoy :)

Without further ado here come some spoilers.....

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SECRET SOCIETY OF SECOND BORN ROYALS

This Disney + original movie was one of my highly anticipated watches for the fall. I am disappointed to share that it was a let down. The concept was such a cool and creative one. Having the second born in a royal family not simply be the “spare” but be the protector...with superpowers! (In a very YA way, getting their powers at a specific age.) They just should have gone about the story in a better way. I wanted more time with them learning about the powers and to make the villain stronger. Overall the acting wasn’t bad (which is good for a Disney + original), but it was just lacking. The movie was LONG and yet much did not feel like it happened. It was cool seeing Casa Loma (the castle they filmed at) as I was just there two summers ago. Sadly, I will not be watching this movie again.  

VIOLETTA SEASON 3

We all already know how pumped I was when season 3 of Violetta was released on Disney Plus in September. I couldn’t believe it after waiting so long for the second season. I really enjoyed the beginning of this season and knew we would be headed down a road where I would grow tired of the storylines. 

We have hit that point. 

Quick Violetta rant. Things I am done with:

Roxy and Fausta plot

Fran and Diego being a secret

Herman and Priscilla

Pablo not at the studio

Milton being evil

Ludmilla lying

Recently, my sister is catching up to where I am in the season, so this has pushed me to watch more. I am on episode 43 and some of the above venting has been solved, so that is super exciting. I am finding myself wanting to watch it more now, so fingers crossed it continues to get better. 

JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS

Kenny Ortega has done it again! When I first heard the premise for this show and watched the trailer on Netflix I wasn’t too sure. Then both of my sisters watched it and they wouldn’t stop talking about it, so that was a sign that I needed to watch it. Since then, I have watched the show twice and can’t stop listening to the music. THIS. SHOW. :) I get the hype. It’s just so wholesome and feel good. The characters are well crafted and the episodes go way too fast. They are the kind of characters (and cast) that make you wish you were a part of the show. I can’t wait for the next season (because there better be one). Definitely add this one to your list if it’s not on their already. 

THE OUTPOST

The Summer CW shows were pushed to the fall line up due to delays in filming of the originally planned shows. I hope this means that they’re getting a little more love this year. The Outpost deserves it, as it is currently in its third season. (I think it might have gotten a little more now that the 100 is over and the commercial aired during the 100′s last season. Maybe people heard Black-blood and decided to give it a go.) This season has seen a new threat and during the first eight episodes there’s been MANY twists and turns, making it hard for me to remember how this season started. There’s been a lot of unrest in the Outpost and changes in who is in charge. While there are some unnecessary plot-lines (like that Tobin had to be married), I’m really enjoying others. Like how important Janzo is, his relationship with Ren, more Munt and that TALON AND GARRETT FINALLY GOT TOGETHER!!! It makes me so happy and is what we deserve after these three seasons. I love how strong both of their characters are and how they are both Warriors. I hope the season ends strong. 

PANDORA

Just like The Outpost, Pandora was originally a Summer CW show that is now airing its second season. I really enjoyed the first season (like more than I was expecting), so I went in with higher hopes for this new season. Unfortunately, I have been let down so far. With the first season, there were parts that left me confused and my biggest review of this show has always been how there were gaps or moments where I didn’t know how much time had gone by. Those kind of things I could overlook, but this season the overall plot just seems weaker. I think this in part because of so many new characters. I know a lot of the season 1 cast ended their characters’ plots away from the Academy, but I wasn’t expecting them not to be a part of this season’s story. That has been a difficult adjustment. I also feel like I only understand Jax’s story and not so much about the other government/rebellion points. It’s getting a little better, but I hope it gets to be more enjoyable. 

THE SPANISH PRINCESS--SEASON 2

When I originally was creating this list I had just started this season, and felt completely different than I do right now. I just finished this season last week. Much like my above review on Pandora, The Spanish Princess wasn’t sucking me in. I had a few episodes gather on the DVR. Then once we hit episode 3 or 4 and more drama was starting/Henry was starting to show glimpses of the Henry VIII we all know, I was growing more interested. In season 2 of the Spanish Princess, we do not see a loving Catherine and Henry for long. Problems Catherine have in conceiving a boy (male heir) are one of the main focal points, as is Woolsey’s growing influence on the king. With several sub-plots this season, I specifically enjoyed learning more about Meg in Scotland (as a big Mary Queen of Scots/Reign fan, I liked seeing a portrayal of her grandmother) as well as Princess Mary Tudor (who I was unfamiliar with. I loved her and Charlie Brandon’s relationship and wish we could have gotten more.) Each week I watched this show, I found myself Googling a lot. That is always one of my favorite parts of watching a historical drama based on true events. I know right now it looks like the producers aren’t continuing with the Tudor line and might have a different part of history as their next show, but I wish they would. I’m feeling the call to watch the Tudors as it’s on Netflix and I haven’t seen it before. I want to learn more about his wives. 

BLOWN AWAY

In a complete shift from a period piece, here is another Netflix show I thoroughly enjoyed watching last month. Do you find the act of glass blowing to be extremely interesting, but you would never dream of trying yourself? Or do you like competition game shows that are not like anything else you’ve watched before? Then Blown Away might be for you! It’s a very fast watch with only a handful of episodes that are about a half hour a piece. (I honestly wished they were a bit longer because it was SO GOOD!) Each contestant is a glass blower and they get to show off their skills by competing in a specific challenge. Each episode you see someone get eliminated until the final where the winner gets a residency at Corning Museum of Glass in upstate New York. This show came out in 2019 and I am hoping a second season comes out.   

LIFE IN PIECES

This CBS comedy was one that I remember loving when it first came out. But I only remember watching the first season because then I couldn’t remember which day it was on. (It’s going to sound weird, but because I don’t watch a lot on this network I often forget it exists. We also only had a one room DVR at the time, so we couldn’t tape more than 2 things. Oh, the joys of multi-room DVR). After I finished my re-watch of Derry Girls in September, I was looking for another sitcom to re-watch. This was when I stumbled on the full series of Life in Pieces on Amazon video. (It’s free to watch with Prime.) I was so surprised to see there were 4 seasons! Since then I have been watching a good amount of episodes when I sit down to watch it. Now I’m about mid way in the second season. I highly recommend this show if you haven’t seen it before. It gives vibes of Modern Family. Very short episodes that include four storylines. The format is one that I haven’t seen done before in a sitcom.

SUPERMARKET SWEEP

The revival of the beloved game show from the early 90s is now hosted by Leslie Johns and is the best thing you should be watching on Sunday nights. If you know your grocery shopping list like the back of your hand then you are all set for this show. Leslie Johns is hilarious as are the cast of characters that are regulars in her supermarket. I think it would be a great TV show to be on and I’m not just saying that because I want one of the sweatshirts (although that would be great). If you want (another) feel-good watch, look no further! You catch up on demand. 

RE-WATCHING

ANNE WITH AN E

It’s hard to believe that we only got the third season of Anne with an E at the beginning of this year (as this year feels like its been going on forever and when I watched the third season I was in a much less stressed place). Currently, I am teaching a class involving Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. The main focus is on how these stories get adapted in recent times and include such modern plots (and sub-plots). Naturally Anne with an E is perfect for this topic (and after watching season 3 at the start of the year) was one of my major reasons for choosing this topic. (The other being Greta Gerwig’s latest Little Women.) As I’ve been planning my schedule, I’ve re-watched this show. There is something so great about watching it from season 1 all the way through to season 3. You get to watch them grow up and it’s crazy to see how young they first were. Comparing it more to the novel has been a fun time, but also analyzing it more has been great and made me appreciate it even more. With all the stress of our current situation watching this show has made me escape and feel good. (Yes, I know I’ve used that word a lot in this wrap up, but it’s true.)

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Hopefully my next wrap up isn’t as delayed. Wishing everyone a happy holiday season! 

[taleweaver-ramblings]

7, 12, and 13, for the New Year’s asks :)

Thank you for asking!

7. top three albums that you played this year?

Full albums? My guess would be the soundtracks for Come From Away and Six and then Andrew Peterson's Burning Edge of Dawn. (evermore and folklore combined might make it on there too, but I tended to listen to individual songs from those more.)

12. what are your goals for the next year?

Still working those out, but a few that I know for sure:

Write another book and finish and edit the one I'm currently working on.

Read 12 books/one book per month published (or written, at least) before 1975.

Work through several more of the Wheel of Time books (ideally catching up with the Tor.com "Reading WoT" series).

Continue working on learning German in Duolingo and doing weekly Scripture and poetry memorization.

Attend at least one convention. (I have two in mind that I'd like to go to, Lord willing.)

Try to learn at least one new skill/hobby. Preferably one of the ones I've been saying for ages that I'm going to pick up.

13. any three book releases you are excited for next year.

Currently, the 2022 release schedule looks like a bit of slim pickings, at least for me — but several of my latest faves tend to announce their releases only a few months before they actually come out, so it's hard to say. A few that I do know of: Brandon Sanderson's The Lost Metal (Mistborn Era 2, book 4; releases November; I am simultaneously hyped and terrified), Kendra E. Ardnek's Crown and Cinder (Cinderella crossed with Pride and Prejudice; I'm alpha reading it and it's great), and Sue Lynn Tan's Daughter of the Moon Goddess (Chinese myth retelling centered on a story that I think deserves more love).

Full list of questions here! I'm always happy to answer these asks!

[darkpoisonouslove]

2021 Projects

It’s a new year and since my writing kinda slowed in the last couple of months (more like for over half a year now), I thought it would be motivating for me and informative for anyone who’s interested to lay out my ideas for my work during 2021. Now I do not call these plans because I do not want to jinx anything but I am excited about these projects and I hope that I will manage to fit them in throughout this year.

- Fix-It Series - a series of fics that deals mostly with the plot holes in the first three seasons of Winx. I have already written two works that would be part of that series once it is officially launched - Ice Is Stronger with Some Lightning and Darkness Mixed in; Left to Heritage - and have started work on several others. Now this isn’t so much a rewrite as much as it is me being petty enough to go “this could be fixed while still keeping the original sequence of events (on a grand scale) and I will prove it if the writers couldn’t be bothered to do so”. I am also confining this to the first three seasons because the rest would need complete rewrites (though, tbh I am not sure whether season 3 doesn’t fit into that mold as well).

- Season 2 CT arc - Now I already said that I would be writing fix-it fics but this one I feel deserves its own mention because I have taken it a bit far already. I am basically writing an entire curriculum about dark magic because I was getting annoyed by the fact that they never really learned much and I have taken the liberty to do some worldbuilding and mention a lot of other things that were never actually addressed. So now it will probably clock out on tens of thousands of words and it will need to be regarded as a separate thing. I am thrilled about all the things I have come up with, however, and hope this will be received well because I have really put my heart into it (and my mental energy) and have invested too much attention in detail.

- Speaking of rewrites, I have already started work on the season 6 rewrite thanks to an ask I got. I have outlined a big part of it and made all the changes to the overall structure of the season that I felt necessary. Currently, everything it needs is to map out each episode separately before I can write them out. I will be doing this in more of a script format because a full-on fic will take too much time that I really want to devote to some of my other projects from the endless pile. I am thrilled about the changes I have made and the arcs I have given the characters and I am really looking forward to actually producing the final form of this one.

- Fae creature AU - This is a story actually inspired by my rage over Fate: The Winx Saga. Or rather by the fact that they do not look like fairies at all in there so I actually took the liberty to reimagine the plot of the cartoon a slightly different way. The main gist is that Bloom never meets Stella on that summer day in the park. They meet years later after Bloom has already settled and has a family on Earth only for all of that to be shaken to the ground by the reveal that she is a fae creature with a long, long life ahead of her. The two of them need to adjust to the reality that they are some of the last of their kind and having a future becomes harder, the longer that future is. I have mapped out the most part of the plot of this but I am still staggering with my approach to the execution. I am currently betting on a long one-shot (something of 20-30k+ words) but we will see how that goes once I have a clearer idea about the actual structure.

- Bloom/Sky childhood... rivals AU - This one was totally born while I was making my Bloom/Sky Kerosene video. It deals with the way things would be happening if Bloom had been raised on Domino by her real parents and her and Sky had known each other all along. I have more concepts for this one than an actual, concrete plot but I have already done some work on the relationships that I want this to focus on. Bloom and Sky getting to actually develop as people alongside each other is the focus of this, of course, but there is a lot more that I would like to explore. Their relationship with their own parents (mostly their mothers) and responsibilities is something that I feel would have a big impact on them considering their titles. And of course, the best friends are also there - Brandon and Stella ftw! Plus, the other main characters will be getting in on this as well. However, due to the span of time this will have to cover and the lack of any plot or structure for it, this one will probably have a longer time to sit in the drawer until I can manage to solidify this as a story.

- 31-Day Fic Collection - I have already started this as a sort of writing exercise to keep me in the flow of things during January and February while I am dealing with finals and other uni stuff. I am planning on keeping this confined only to one couple (that you’ll never guess) but we’ll see. The prompts I have picked would require a certain dose of creativity that I usually get around exams when I am too busy to keep my eyes open, let alone write. I am planning on posting these during March in order to open that month for other writing but we’ll see how that will go since I am really behind on all of it (3/31). Anyway, I just wanted to announce this so that, hopefully. I will commit to it now that it is out in the open.

- 200-Followers Celebration - I still haven’t done that and it is the reason why I want to have March as a free month in my schedule in order to host this celebration. I was hoping I could post the ready works while I am working on completing any and all requests from the celebration. I am also pretty close to 300 followers but not quite there yet so it is possible that I will have the two celebrations together but only time will tell. I have not exactly figured out what to do with the celebrations but I have a couple options and will make sure to choose from them by the time this can be kicked into motion. In the meantime, I am open to ideas if you have any.

- Old requests - I have several old requests sitting in my inbox that I have neither forgotten about, nor abandoned. I just hit a roadblock with all of them but I am actually hoping to finish them by the time the follower celebrations are finished. Now these include a handful of requests for the Sparks of Life verse that are about to get a year-old at this point, the leftover requests about the Domme AU and two other requests from a random prompt list I reblogged around June last year. To be fair the SoL ones are the least thought out so far but I will get to all of them... at some point.

- Sparks of Life - now that I mentioned that, I have several works... in the works for this verse. I have announced all of them already but have not made much progress because I was just not feeling any kind of writing impulses lately. I am still excited about all of these stories but I just haven’t managed to find the right direction for them yet. I believe that stories get completed when they are ready to be completed but I will still do my best to actually put in the effort to finish all of these and finally share them because I have been hyped about them for so long and I have been posting random excerpts from them all and getting people on here hyped as well.

- Season 1 Re-rewatch - I will probably have to rewatch all of the seasons if I am fixing things in them but for this one, I might actually redo my “reviews” because I didn’t write my thoughts on it in-depth the first time around. Besides, it turns out to be the most solid season so taking it apart could help me immensely with all of my writing projects and that makes it worth the effort (besides, it’s not like I don’t rewatch random episodes whenever I feel like it).

- World of Winx Thoughts - I have actually started watching and reviewing this but I had to stop thanks to my uni workload and other things that needed to be done (honestly, everything is such a mess right now). I liked what I saw but, of course, I only got through the first episode so we’ll see how this goes.

- Fate: The Winx Saga Thoughts - I will be writing out my opinions on this as well but I have no idea when I’ll manage to get to that (either free time or making myself sit down and watch it). Not much of a project, really, but I thought I’d mention it.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

For a long time my favorite pokemon region was Unova, I loved everything about it, but ESPECIALLY the people (minus Team Plasma) and I was ecstatic that when my family finally remembered I liked pokemon too and got me my own copies so I didn't have to snag my brothers' to play 20-30 minutes at a time I had TWO generations worth of Unova to play through. But these days Galar is making a huge play for my heart. It's so gorgeous, and the way that you don't just follow the map in direct order to get to the gyms, but instead are running around and doubling back it's actually pretty fun! And the Gym Trials are awesome!

That said I would still gladly sink money into a Unova return/remake. (Please, bring me my children back)

Alola and Johto rank pretty high in my heart though, as they are currently the only regions I have become the champion of (I always crash and burn at the elite 4 because if the whole "no healing up at the pokecenter" business. Everyone faints and/or all of my good moves run out of PP and PP restore items can be expensive/hard to get)

Unova is excellent. I suppose I didn’t really consider it in my list of favorites because I was primarily thinking about the region itself, not the characters. However, if characters are a factor...then Alola is still probably the best, but Unova could steal its throne for sure. It blows my mind that Cheren and Bianca are disliked by the general fandom, cause I adored them.  Oh well, at least N has the popularity he deserves. Easily one of the greatest characters Pokemon has ever had. (Though Lillie is still my favorite...probably. I’m indecisive.) Generation Five is just exceptional in every way, and I know not everyone thinks so...but two incredible sets of games to play through. I really hope they do sequels again. Or hell, even prequels. That would be cool too. X and Y should have gotten a prequel about the war, you cannot change my mind. 

Galar is a beautiful location too. It’s why I wish that we could explore the entire map. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - Sword and Shield are good games, but they could have been great if they’d been given a bit more development time. That being said, I would pack up everything to live in a place like the Glimwood Tangle, or Balloonlea. Wyndon is stunning - sure, the lack of a Victory Road is a problem, but having the Pokemon League be an entire city is a fair tradeoff. (Let’s be real, Ever Grande barely counts.) In general, the focus on the Gym Challenge and hyping it up means that this game didn’t need a particularly fleshed out story - the League challenge itself was the story. The Wild Area also lives in my head rent-free. Seriously, I was a bit grumpy about the idea of paid DLC until I learned that it was the chance to get two more Wild Areas...easily the best thing about these games. 

Story Time: On my first play-through ever, of Fire-Red...I didn’t really know how to plan movesets well. My Charizard knew Fire Spin and Metal Claw. What’s more, it for some reason did not occur to me that I could bring items into the Elite Four. So I just kept losing, again and again, and mindlessly training outside of Fuscia with the Versus Seeker. I was even worse at video games then, then I am now...was level eighty by the time I finally beat Gary, and over the moon...I then demolished the post-game. Also found my first shiny on Five Island, a Pidgeotto...and I was too strong to weaken it. Had to keep chucking poke balls until I ran out. T’was a sad day for Tiny Brandon...