#but her music is still good

[cr33p-a-z01d]

2010s pop girlie music I love you so much

[estrangedandwayward]

I hope wicked 2 ends with an 8 1/2 minute long gratuitous lesbian sex scene with crying and handholding while fiyero politely waits outside. For the girls

[madbard]

“I hate that I fell in love with you.”

But she didn’t. She found him lying on the beach, and he was real, and he was there, and she wasn’t alone anymore, and she responded with such desperation and carelessness that she hurt him and drove him away.

She’d been alone so long that she mistook the relief of not being alone for love. She felt connection for a moment - and through her own actions, she messed it up.

(Even if she hadn’t, he still would have left her. She still would have ended up alone.)

“Why in the world won’t you love me too?”

Because you can’t control who does or doesn’t love you - but how would Calypso know that? She doesn’t know what love is. Chances are, no one will ever love her again.

[nobodysdaydreams]

I have a theory about Wicked Part 2 and what they are going to add to it, and why it's going to add so much to the movie.

I think they are going to add Dorothy's POV.

In the musical, she's mentioned, but Dorothy never appears on stage. We never know her POV or how much she knew about the witches, Fiyero, Boq, the lion, or what was actually going on in Wicked beyond the Wizard of Oz plot. But in the Wicked two trailers, we see scenes of Dorothy and those scenes are shot as if from the Wizard of Oz, not the traditional Wicked musical, in which Dorothy's character is only briefly mentioned or shown as a shadow. Which means we're going to get to see her story this time!

However, if I was going to include Dorothy's POV for Wicked, I don't think it would be anything like the Wizard of Oz, for a few clear reasons:

Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz is a perceptive and animated child and unless they plan on erasing that aspect of her character, she is not going to go home from Oz at the end of the Wicked movie with the same beliefs as the Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She sees the Wizard is a fraud and calls him out just like Elphaba does. Besides this, there is no way she would just not pick up on the fact that Galinda, the dead witch, Boq, Fiyero, Elphaba, and the lion have a deeper history together than meets the eye for the entire trip.

This one might sound stupid, but trust me, it's important: Toto as a character. Here me out. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's distress in the real world is centered around a mean lady trying to drown her dog and the Witch of the West tries to do the same in Oz. However, in this version, Elphaba's whole thing is animal rights. She'd probably be horrified that Toto can't talk or Dorothy would be surprised and delighted to find that in this world, Toto can talk depending on what they decide to do with the dog. And if Dorothy comes to this world distressed about a lady trying to kill her poor dog, Elphaba would surely empathize. There might even be a misunderstanding between them if Elphaba believes Dorothy is working for the Wizard and Toto is a dog that needs rescuing.

So how does this change things?

There are a number of wonderful options.

The most obvious one is that we could see Dorothy put together and discover the story of Boq, Nessarose, Galinda, Elphaba, Fiyero, and the Wizard. She and the rest of the gang would formulate a plan to help Elphaba fake her death to save her from the people of Oz and the Wizard.

Within that narrative, we could see Elphaba enchanting the sleeping poppies to stop them from getting to the Wizard with the goal of protecting them from the Wizard (rather than to stop them from getting home). In Act 2 of Wicked, the Wizard again tries to form an alliance with Elphaba but Elphaba rejects his offer when she discovers what he's done to her Animal friends. It's possible that Elphaba believes the Wizard is trying to use Dorothy too and is trying to protect her from the same fate.

We could also see conversations between Dorothy and Fiyero about Elphaba (and there are many AO3 fics that have been going with that concept. I see y'all, thank you for doing the Lord's work 🙏🏻) and possibly some conversations between Dorothy and Boq since they'll be traveling together and we don't really get to hear about Boq's ending in the musical. I think the last we see of Boq is that he's angry at Elphaba for his condition and rallying crowds against her, but with all that traveling time and secrets coming out, I could see him getting, I don't know if I'd call it a "redemption arc" per say, but finding his heart again (a real one). Additionally, conversations between Dorothy and the lion about how Elphaba saved him would be nice too. Even if the lion had learned to blame Elphaba for what happened to him, I'm sure Dorothy would be quick to correct him once she discovered the full truth.

But my favorite, my absolute favorite and darkest possibility is the interactions that Dorothy can have with the Wizard. In the Wizard of Oz, she exposes him as a fraud, but in the Wicked movie, he's much worse than that, and I can totally see Dorothy being the one to point that out to him. Why?

First of all, Dorothy is not from Oz. Most people there would never question the Wizard, but if he's so powerful and generous, why is he sending an innocent little girl and three down-on-their-luck guys to go murder his dangerous enemy? That right there is a red flag, and again, if they don't change Dorothy's character, she's going to be a very honest child and comment on how strange this is.

Second of all, if anything I speculated above is true and Dorothy realizes this the Wizard is an animal abuser who vilified an innocent woman, she's going to be very angry at the Wizard, and rightfully so (I hope Toto bites him).

Third of all, and here's where it gets good: in the musical Wicked, the Wizard discovers he is Elphaba's father at the very end because of the bottle Galinda has. Dorothy is not on stage for that because she's not in the main cast of the musical, only mentioned by the other characters, but what if she was? What if she's the one that discovers the connection? What if she calls him out the exact same way Elphaba did after the Wizard gave his little "I always wanted to be a father" speech?

What if the Wizard had a little animal-loving girl who reminds him so much of the daughter he just sent to her to kill standing in front of him with a horrified expression while he puts the pieces together?

What if Dorothy's POV in Wicked isn't about her exposing the Wizard as a nervous fraud, but as a heartless monster?

What if Dorothy's POV is about her exploring this new world and discovering for herself who is truly wicked or good?

[colorisbyshe]

Carly Rae Jepsen rly is the perfect pop star to me.

I know almost nothing about her personal life besides sweet anecdotes like her failed attempt to quit sugar and her engagement. And it’s exceedingly hard to know much more than that because she doesn’t do much press and her music is mostly just vaguely personal but largely just universal and broad.

Her music caters to that perfectly—it’s pop but constantly evolving. Covers a wide emotional spectrum but never goes too deep, aware of exactly what it’s meant to be. It’s a treat, it’s a bop, it’s pop! Her music ages with her but doesn’t age, if that makes sense. It has youth but isn’t juvenile. The music comes out regularly, with great and full b sides that justify their existence and don’t feel of chart manipulation or attempts to stay relevant.

She performs energetically on stage, does good crowd work, plays along with some fan stuff (blow up swords, the gays, the wig guy) without leaning too much into it, and she’s great about touring regularly at reasonable venues (not booking too large or two small). When my show got canceled due to weather, she performed a free show at a bar that night, AND rescheduled a free, full show the next after noon.

And she does all of this balancing to be the perfect level of famous—decent sized, loyal fandom that isn’t obsessive but will go to shows and buy her music—without coming off as manufactured or withholding. Like she feels like The Girl Next Door without it seeming forced, pathetic, or without it getting in the way of putting on a spectacular show either.

She’s accessible. But can’t be accessed.

I love it.

[o3o-lapd-o3o]

here is part 5! it's not a long as the others, but hopefully this will tide you over till the dinner scene!

(as i said in prev post that won't be posted till latest sunday/monday)

the post/thread that started this whole au

dinner scene: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8

there's a masterlist now!

*the next morning*

*in telemachus’ room*

telemachus: *having got up early due to his excitement for later tonight*

telemachus: *looking down at something on his table* i hope he likes this, i can’t believe i spotted it in the market!

athena: *from behind telemachus* who likes what?

athena: *trying to peer over telemachus to see what he’s looking at* what do you have there, little wolf?

telemachus: *jumps in shock, not expecting athena to be there*

telemachus: *quickly wraps something in a silk cloth*

telemachus: *turns to face her* athena!- oh this? it’s a gift!

athena: *owl-like wide eyes and head tilted* a gift? for who?

telemachus: *scratches the back of head with nervous laughter*

telemachus: w-well after you left yesterday, i decided to head to the palace library to look up some more information on the gods

telemachus: i know i said it was other people’s words… but i still wanted to know a little more about lord poseidon, before we met again.

athena: oh-

telemachus: -and! and then i headed down to the market, and i spotted something i thought… i thought he might like it.

telemachus: *looks down at his feet* i know he’s a powerful god and a gift seems like a silly idea… but he’s also fathers’ friend so i just thought-

athena: *smiling and putting her hand under telemachus’ chin to lift it up*

athena: telemachus, you don’t have to be nervous or explain it all to me

athena: my uncle may be very powerful, but i’m sure he’ll appreciate you getting him something.

athena: *internally to herself* and if he doesn’t, i’m positive one look from odysseus will change his mind

athena: *ruffles telemachus’ hair* so there! no need to worry!

telemachus: *smiles*

athena: *putting her hand down and looking back over telemachus’ shoulder*

athena: so, what did you get him?

telemachus: oh! here let me show you!

telemachus: *turns around and moves to the side so athena can come next to him*

telemachus: *moves the silk cloth*

telemachus: what do you think?

athena: *realises what it is* i think… i honestly think he’ll love it

telemachus: *looks at her and smiles again*

*telemachus wraps the item back in the silk cloth and both him athena leave his room*

telemachus: how come you’re here so early anyway?

telemachus: not that i mind! but dinner isn’t till this evening?

athena: what just because its family dinner tonight, i can’t have family breakfast?

telemachus: *laughs*

telemachus: i wonder if mother and father are up yet…

athena: if they’re not, please let me wake your father up

telemachus: um sure? how come though?

athena: *thinks back to when she did early morning training with odysseus*

athena: *remembers the horror on odysseus’ face every time she ‘woke’ him & dragged him out of bed*

athena: oh no reason really

*both head to odysseus’ and penelope’s room*

[writerfae]

The sound of childhood lost

His mother’s singing had always been one of Talon’s favorite sounds.

When he was younger he heard it a lot, grew up with the soothing melody of her voice.

It was beautiful, just like his mother was. Joyful. Gentle. Calming.

His mother’s singing moved everyone, always calming a younger Talon down when he cried, always making his sister Sera smile.

It even managed to soften the usually stern expression on his father’s face, tender tunes smoothing the rough edges of his guarded heart.

Talon could’ve listened to her sing for hours without getting tired of it.

And his mother sang often, back when he was younger.

She loved to do it, for it reminded her of home. Of her childhood back in a house filled with melodies, of the hours she spent making music with her siblings.

With one of them in particular.

Kieran was his mother’s favorite brother, had been ever since they were children. And Talon, too, had loved his uncle dearly. There were times where he had felt closer to him than to his own father.

It was him who introduced Talon to the violin:

Playing for him when he was but a little baby, gifting him his very own violin for his fifth birthday and teaching him some of his favorite compositions when Talon had shown a talent for handling the instrument.

He always insisted that Talon had a special gift, that he was even better than Kieran himself.

This claim had filled Talon with pride, but secretly he had always disagreed.

No one played the violin quite like his uncle did. No one made people weep, made them smile or laugh or dance with their music like him.

Like his mother’s voice, Kieran playing the violin was one of Talon’s favorite sounds.

And combined, he adored it even more.

Whenever Kieran came to visit them, him and Talon’s mother would play music. And Talon had loved it.

Together, the two made for a melody that was quite enchanting, an harmony unlike any other.

The harmony of two siblings that loved making music - and loved each other.

It was the sound of his childhood.

Until one day, the music stopped. Kieran died, sudden and unexpected.

And with the death of her beloved brother, his mother’s singing went silent.

***

tag list: @andifthestarsweretodie @bloodlessheirbyjacques @bluehourskyeli @deadlycupid @dustylovelyrun @justafrogandherumbrella @ladywithalamp @magic-is-something-we-create @myhusbandsasemni @my-cursed-prince @phantasticdomains @rhikasa @sleepy-night-child @soupopoireau @theguywithnonickname @vampywriter @vsnotresponding @writing-is-a-martial-art (if you want to be added or removed from the tag list let me know!)

[uniiiquehecrt]

Voice actors are NOT the same as actors.

It takes a specific kind of skill-set and training to be able to warp and meld the voice. It takes a certain kind of talent and dedication to hone that talent into the ability to meld the voice and invoke emotion with one's voice alone. Actors are used to using their voice secondarily to their body language and their facial expressions. It's all mirrored back on camera. They do have nuance. But it's a different kind of nuance and a different kind of training to produce that nuance.

Voice actors might get their likeness transposed on their character's design, and maybe their mannerisms might seep into the character's animation. But when it's all said and done: their presence is in their voice. They are bringing a character to life, showing that emotion in their voice, trying to keep a specific accent, drawl, pitch, tone in that voice and keep it consistent for their recording sessions.

The voice actor is like a classically trained musician who can play first chair in a competitive, world-renown orchestra. The actor (who fills the voice actor's role) is like a moot who played violin in beginner and intermediate high school orchestra and thinks they can get into Juilliard with that 2-4 years of experience.

This doesn't mean that the HS orchestra moot can't play. They can even be really good at it. Maybe they won competitions and sat first chair. But they are not in the same league as the person who's been training their whole lives and lives and breathes to hone their craft using the instrument and all of the training they've ever acquired to perfect it. They are not meant for the same roles. They are not in the same caliber. You do not hire the HS equivalent when you want to play complex music in a competitive orchestra.

Actors are not the same as voice actors.

And furthermore, actors - especially big name actors - taking the roles of animated characters for big budget films or TV pilots makes no sense anyways when - at least in the case of TV pilots - there's not a point to hiring a big budget actors anyways. That money could be used elsewhere (like paying your animators), and the talent that is brought onto the screen for X character could then be hired on to voice said character no recasting required.

I wouldn't say voice acting as a profession is in danger exactly, but it's certainly being disrespected and overlooked for celebrity clout, and this has ALWAYS been an issue. Shoot, even Robin Williams knew that much - which is why he tried so hard not to be used as a marketing chess piece for Aladdin and got royally pissed off when it happened anyways. People shouldn't go to any movie (but especially not animated films) because "oh famous actor is in it". People should go because it's a good movie and the voice acting is good.

People who honest to god think that voice actors are replaceable because "oh well anyone can voice act" or "I like xyz celebrity so naturally it'll be good" ... Honestly I just wish you'd reassess your priorities because you're missing the point and are part of the problem.

Voice Actors ≠ Actors.

[backpackingspace]

Odysseus knows he made a mistake calling out for Athena. He knew the second her name left her lips. /she/ doesn't like it when he calls out any name but hers. When he mentions home or telemachus or gods forbid his penelope. It's not allowed. He's not allowed to think about anything but herherher. He knew it was a mistake. But

He had /felt/ Athena. For the first time in years that old connection sparked to life. A muscle long stiff with use but /there/he felt her. And if she heard him. If she chose to help well.

It would have been worth calypso wrath.

In the days that follow, it's all silence. All signs of Athena having disappeared. And as odysseus hangs from his wrists, numbly allowing his master to do as she pleases, he can't help but regret.

He knows the rules. He knows how to survive (dying is pointless /hes tried/) he can't help swallow the bitter pointless helpless rage. Why had athena even checked on him if she was just going to /leave/ him like this. And even still, as soft fingers drag their way down his skin, he can't help but silent pray (his tears long since dried up. It only ever made things worse) please goddess, please Athena don't leave me here. Kill me punish me in any other way just please please let it end.

[2hoothoots]

you mentioned phoebe, now you have to dish on phoebe!! what's she doing?? what's she like as raz's roomie??

phoebe!! she's a cool kid!

i think out of all of the campers, Phoebe seems the most set on becoming a Psychonaut. she's just as passionate about it as Raz himself, and i think when they move in together she's been working a couple months as a new agent. she'd been sharing an apartment with Quentin, but after taking a year or so to think about his options he decides the Psychonauts aren't for him and goes to study music at college. so they're both young adults who have just started out on what they always thought would be their dream job... and figuring out what that actually looks like, in practice.

i think Raz and Phoebe make really good foils, because in so many ways they're so similar! they're both very passionate and dedicated people, they're both longtime performers (Raz with his acrobatics, Phoebe with her music), and obviously they both really care about the work they're doing with the Psychonauts. and that makes it a lot of fun to highlight their differences, too!

for Phoebe, her music is about expressing herself, about taking her feelings and letting them out through performance. she doesn't make art for anyone except herself. but Raz can't get over the fact that whenever he performs, it's for a crowd, and he needs people to enjoy it - because growing up, if people didn't come to their shows, they didn't eat*. he can never really get over the idea that his art has to be for someone, that it has to be good to be worthwhile.

i think they both have very strong opinions on their work, too! Raz's specialty is psychotherapy, projecting himself into peoples' minds. i see Phoebe as much more into the talking therapy side of things! they have long arguments about appropriate boundaries with patients, and hands-on vs hands-off techniques, and about how this study showed sixty percent improvement in the first session with this technique (but that study cites that the long-term benefits are less in comparison, so actually-)

in my head, there's a bit of a teething period for the first week or so when Raz moves in, and after that they just click. sometimes too-similar personalities can be like oil and water, but i think they're on a mutually compatible wavelength. they're diving into deep conversations at 1am, because they each see enough of themselves in the other person (and are both unrepentant armchair psychoanalysts) to get into the really revealing stuff. they write and record a concept album together about having a tense relationship with your family growing up, Phoebe on drums and Raz on acoustic guitar and both of them sharing the vocals. it sucks! but it's cathartic for them both! Phoebe's still got a copy of it on cassette somewhere in the back of her collection

(* the Aquato family are poor, but in my head they were never seriously at risk of going hungry. however Donatella definitely catastrophised enough times about a show going wrong and the whole family having to eat watered-down gruel for the next month that it stuck in little Raz's mind, hahaha)

[averlym]

fairest of the fair

[whatsthelimitoncharacters]

So, in my opinion, Athena is probably dead. I think that it’s dumb and doesn’t make sense but the listening party animatic definitely implies she’s dead

Here we have some before and after pictures. When I first saw the livestream, I assumed that she was just gonna pass out and that people were overreacting. However, the glow fading really implies that she is in fact dead.

Shortly before the earlier images, we see Athena kind of holding onto life with her glow flickering. We can assume she is almost dead because Ares asks if she’s even alive(I will return to this). All this considered, despite the fact she isn’t glowing in a lot of scenes in this song(such as Odysseus showing her Telemachus), her glow fading really does show that she is probably dead.

If you need some evidence from the songs, we can also get some without looking at the animatics. First and most importantly, Ares asks if Athena is dead. While Ares isn’t the most respected god and many would label him as kind of dumb, he would probably know that gods can’t die if that’s the case. Him asking this does show that a god can, in theory, die. If you want mythological precedence, you can look at how Pan died(I know that there’s a bit of debate to that but idc). Another piece of evidence is actually Calypso saying “Last i checked, goddesses can’t die.” Many people take this as proof that Athena is incapable of death but it’s already been established by major gods that a god/goddess could die and there’s a mythological precedent, so calypso may be lying. In honesty, she isn’t being entirely untruthful in saying that she can’t die. Odysseus is just a half dead mortal king and Zeus is the single most powerful god. Odysseus can’t kill calypso while Zeus could kill Athena. This segues very well into how this line fits into the larger saga. Instead of this line acting as foreshadowing for Athena’s survival, it instead acts as tragic irony for Odysseus. Athena is Odysseus’ only chance at leaving and she dies. The irony comes because Odysseus’ problem could be solved if only a different goddess had died. The wrong goddess died and now it’s up to Zeus to decide whether Odysseus should be set free.

Now, if I’m correct, then I have a lot of feelings about this. If I’m wrong I have slightly less. If I’m right, you can see my previous post for a lot of my reasons why I think athena dying is a bad decision, but I’ll give one here. Gods don’t die. Pan is the only death I can think of (not counting stuff like Helios disappearing over time) and the phrasing of pans death could also be interpreted as the cult of Tammuz praising him for his one myth. Even characters that are treated as mortal like Medea (both her parents are minor gods so she probably should be too) don’t get myths where they die. Medea just runs off to a far away land. Kronos is sliced to bits. Typhon is sealed under Mount Etna. Kronos’ children are swallowed whole. ATHENA’S MOTHER GAVE BIRTH IN ZEUS’ HEAD. IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE THAT ATHENA COULD DIE. If she isn’t dead, why is the animatic like that? Jorge had to have commissioned it. I doubt the animator would have added that in on their own. Why would it be framed so much like she’s dead if she wasn’t.

[mpsansy]

Since I made a “teen” Casper, I might as well try to make one of Wendy. Lost her chubby cheeks, but still has her cute little nose

[sukibenders]

It's annoying how many Glinda fans, specifically a certain type, act condescending towards people criticizing Glinda's actions and her as a character, calling her out for how she operates in a way that benefits her by saying "Oh, these people don't know anything, they haven't seen Act II or read the books." But when they are told that both forms of media have been seen, they still get in their feelings, especially towards black and other poc fans who, when discussing Glinda, talk about how she feels very reflective of white feminism, respectability politics and performance activism (which she is), something that they know probably what it's like to be around people like that from personal experience. Just because you like a character, especially one who does bad things, doesn't mean you get to be rude to others or downplay their intelligence when they call these actions out. Glinda is often infantilized a lot in this fandom, from what I've gathered, even though (speaking from a movie standpoint) she literally sings about how she understands the way her society works and how she uses those rules to her advantage. There are many things that Glinda does that are fake and catty, and there's nothing wrong with calling that out. Also, another thing, yes some people haven't seen the musical (in person or in full) whether it not being available or just lack of interest, but there are ways to still learn about Act II before the second half of the movie comes out, whether through a quick Google search or just watching bootleg recordings of the musical on YouTube, people can learn, but you acting pretentious and downright hostile probably makes them want to avoid this fandom as a whole. Then you wonder why no one wants to engage with Wicked. You can like her as a character, all good and well as even I can find myself drawn to her, but let's not let your enjoyment of her cloud your judgment and having you lash out at people, because that's really uncalled for.

[professorsta]

"Go make good" "Go do some good" its never Be Good, did you notice that? "Good" is only used in the context of "Do whatever you have to to please the Wizard." Its never been about actually Being Good. Every time Madame Morrible said good, it always had an ulterior motive. She wanted Elphaba to impress the Wizard, she wanted Glinda to get Elphaba for the Wizard. Good is something you do on behalf of the system (this case the Wizard of Oz). Good is acting how you should in society, behaving, and obeying the government. Its never about Being Good fundamentally.

Brings a whole new light to Glinda the Good. Is she really? Or is she good in the sense that shes the perfect symbol and distraction to help the Wizard succeed?

[aroaceleovaldez]

i would like to say my ideal PJO adaptation (if i was being physically forced against my will to have to pick a live action adaptation over an animated one for some reason) would be a combo like writing of the musical + casting of the show + visuals of the movies

BUT the show actually does have the playwright for the musical as one of the major writers for like three episodes and that did nothing for it. so...