#but yes narrative songs my beloved <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

poems for Grac(i)e - (for @imissthembutitwasntadisaster on her birthday)

Maggie Smith, Good Bones // Gerard Way, How It's Going To Be // Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous // Griff, Vertigo // Elizabeth Bishop, One Art // Taylor Swift, You're On Your Own, Kid // Kim Stafford, At The Student Poetry Reading // Fall Out Boy, Baby Annihilation // @/daisies-on-a-cup // Stephen King, It

[asexual-juliet]

saw the outsiders night of 10/12/24 & here are my thoughts!!

josh strobl on for pony, andre on for steve, ryo on for brill, henry on for chet

before the show my friend and i were waiting in line outside the theater and daryl peeked his head out the window above us and waved to the crowd but very few people noticed and then jason peeked his head out and we were the first people who saw him and we waved and then he waved back at us specifically!!!

josh strobl & his beautiful little broadway voice - his voice is so different from brody’s and trevor’s and it was so cool to hear the songs delivered in kind of a different way!!

josh strobl is so short omfg every conversation pony had with darry was like. yes obviously that’s a big brother and his little brother one of them is literally a head taller than the other. 

him being so short was also very good for the fourteen-year-old vibe!! i always talk about trevor being so fourteen in his portrayal of ponyboy and josh was also fantastic in that regard!

melody & ryo were Thee cutest couple in the world in the background of tulsa ‘67 and the drive-in omgggg

moment where johnny cleans up pony’s face with his little rag in early act i is always a win for me personally

DARYL TOFA THE MAN THAT YOU ARE <3 literally the main reason i decided to see the show again was because i didn’t see daryl or sky last time and they did not fucking disappoint!!!

some very soft soda pony moments on the car before great expectations - there was a moment where soda put his arm over pony’s shoulder and said “signing off now, okay?” in the softest voice i think i audibly went “aww” <3 <3 <3

emma cherry josh pony height difference save me. holy shit. played in so well to the sixteen year old girl/little fourteen year old boy dynamic and like. ugh something about him looking up to her is so precious to me

two-bit calling bob “robert” will always be famous, as will “eat shit, marcia!” lmfao

ponyboy’s “out. in the world.” is so fucking funny he’s such a little shit

lighting and sound for when darry hit ponyboy my beloved

josh spit on kwp so bad during the fountain scene that some of it ricocheted off back onto his own face lmfaooo

there is a moment during run run brother where pony and johnny are running across the stage and they pause at center with like their hands on each other’s shoulders and make beautiful eye contact before they keep running <3 <3 <3

moment during justice for tulsa where cherry is sitting on the tire with bob’s varsity jacket on her shoulders and from behind her marcia very gently gathers her hair and puts it over her shoulder and then she has her hand on cherry’s shoulder for a little bit <3

emma opt up on “out looking for a fight” you will always be famous

cherry holding her hand out for marcia in jft got me holy shit

two-bit getting jumped in jft fuckin hits different when ryo is playing a soc holy shit it is so narratively fascinating for one of the only two asian characters in the show to be beating the shit out of the other one. please god someone talk to me about this in a ryo paul context

sky-josh moment after death’s at my door was PERFECT- sky held out his hand for the knife and held josh’s hand when he handed it over and then put his other hand very gently on josh’s shoulder until the lights went down

sky’s “you like her :)” about cherry was fucking precious

ponyboy watching darry on the final “ponyboy this house ain’t a home without you” …holy fucking shit

there is a moment during hoods turned heroes i think where darry picks ace up and it is very cute <3 she is also on his shoulders at one point which is adorable

when two-bit hands darry the newspaper in hoods turned heroes he starts smiling for thee rest of the song because he is so proud of his baby brother 💕💕💕

there is also a little bit in hoods turned heroes where darry very playfully hits soda with the newspaper it is very cute <3

i completely forgot that emma pittman belts hopeless war kneeling on the floor?? holy fuck

paul and darry first ones who enter before the rumble both in white t shirts that’s what i call a visual parallel baby!!!!

when darry said “once a grease always a grease” soda went “yaaayy!” it made me laugh out loud. overall jason was very silly tonight it was very charming <3

soda hugging pony from behind during little brother holy fuck. josh is like on the ground after johnny dies and jason comes up behind him and just holds him <3 <3 <3 im so ill about them

josh did the “does anybody care?” in little brother very similarly to how daryl does it and i do not remember him doing that the first time i saw it!

with where he was sitting on the set josh looked like a little kid on the playground during dally’s death it was fucking heartbreaking

had a borderline religious experience watching sky sing stay gold live. i have known a love that many never know btw. if u even care. 

soda’s little “ok” after ponyboy says “there’s a lot more inside me than just grease” was so fucking cute

andre, jason, josh, ryo, melody, kwp, tilly, emma & henry came out to stagedoor after the show!!

just wanna say. jason schmidt girlies i get it. he was looking at me with those big blue eyes and i was catapulted back into the days when i thought i liked boys holy fuck

genuinely think josh strobl was like three inches taller than me and i an very short lmfao

ryo was SO sweet and like went to sign the drawing i gave him before i was like “it’s for you!” and he was very excited when he saw the note i wrote on the back!! he was also very excited and remembered me when i said i was the one who posted the drawing for his paul debut!! i think he forgot to sign my playbill because he was so distracted by the art lmfaoo <3 did not get a photo with him for similar reasons lol but he was so wonderful!!

emma pittman sweetest woman alive holy shit!! when i handed her my drawing of the soc girls she just went “i love women” lmfao

henry also remembered me when i awkwardly reintroduced myself as the one who gave him the drawing in july and he was like “yes it’s my favorite i have it on display in my dressing room!” and when i was like “i know i see it in your instagram stories but this one is better” he was like “i love the old one too” and when i explained that him being so nice about my art in july was what made me do the whole new set of drawings he gave me a hug <3 henry juliàn gendron u will ALWAYS be famous to me!!!

[physalian]

What No One Tells You About Writing 8— “Anyone can write a book”

Yes. But actually no. I say “writing is easy” in that it doesn’t take a degree and textbook learning to understand. You can get an English or lit degree if you want, but writing is incredibly subjective. It’s not even like an art degree that has you study different mediums and historical styles. “Writing is easy” in that it’s about feeling, and instinct, and a little bit of common sense. Anyone can do it in that it doesn’t take financial investment to start. Steal a tchotchke pen and paper from a hotel room—you’ve got all the tools you need. I have a communications degree and 9 years of experience, and I'm about to publish my first supernatural fantasy novel.

Writing is not easy, however, if any of the following applies to you:

You want to make enough money to do this full time

You want to appeal to mass audiences

You want to be a NYT bestseller**** or get an adaptation

You want to be regarded as the best of your generation and fill bookstore shelves

1. It takes a healthy dose of self-awareness and a reality check

 I beta’d for an author who thought that he was comparable to GRRM, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, because both have adult themes in their book and if GRRM can do it, why can’t he? The sheer vastness of the divide between ASOIAF and this awful, awful manuscript wasn’t worth putting into words for the amount I was being paid, though I tried.

Yes, you can write whatever you want. Yes, you can write to please yourself and stroke your ego. You can write the hammiest wish-fulfillment author insert that you desire. But you can’t expect anyone else to want to read or pay money for it. It’s great to have confidence as an author and envision your success, but starting right off the bat with “everyone will love this book because I’m really smart and I love this book” is only going to leave you bitter and penniless.

2. You might be an expert in your given field, doesn’t automatically make you an expert at storycrafting

I really, truly want the above godawful toe wart of a human (who tried to justify pedophilia in his book with the Israel-Palestine conflict) to stop featuring in my writing advice, but I know he’s not the only person out there who thinks like this. You might have a doctorate in engineering, medicine, political science, chemistry, physics, history, paleontology—any field you want. That does not mean you can successfully translate your expertise into a well-crafted and compelling narrative. It means you can write a college textbook lecturing your readers for 300 pages. Heck, if you can't explain what you do like I'm 5 years old, then you're not an expert in your field.

Elements of good storytelling include well-rounded characters, solid pacing, compelling themes and motifs, an engaging main conflict and character arcs and edge-of-your-seat action, romance, debates, and arguments. It’s so much more than “I’m going to write a textbook, but have my character tell it to you, and everyone will love it”.

They won’t.

3. “I’m gonna be a millionaire like JKR”

The frustrating thing about making money writing is that at the end of the day, you are still selling a product. Which means that it doesn’t matter how amazing you think it is, if it’s not what sells. The Fifty Shades series is hardly a poetic epic with deep, meaningful characters and themes, but it sold. It got adaptations. Why? Because it was a product people wanted and its writing style appeals to mass audiences who aren’t entertained by fluffy, antiquated prose. I hated the Divergent books. They soullessly and shamelessly fed off the success of Hunger Games. But they sold because “teen dystopia HP houses” was what audiences craved and what Hollywood was pushing to make movies out of.

Personally I don’t have any nostalgia for Harry Potter and I both wish I did so I could have one more beloved series and fandom to participate in, but also am glad I don’t because of JKR. HP is chock full of plot holes and “fuck it we’ll do it live” worldbuilding and so many concepts that look cool on paper until you really start thinking about it.

JKR didn’t make a million dollars because she wrote the greatest fantasy series. JKR made a million dollars because she wrote a book that sells every goddamn piece of lore for $15.99 or more and collects on all those sweet, sweet royalties. She understood that she’s selling a product, not just a story, selling everything from Slytherin ties and wizarding robes to golden snitches, sorting hats, wands, chocolate frogs, and every other prop seen in the movies.

You sure can chase trends and I’m sure Divergent is somebody’s favorite book and you can hock chocolate frogs. Everyone’s writing goals are different.

4. “But GRRM did it” (or, adhering to genre expectations)

Circling back to this one. Once again, you can write whatever you want, no one is stopping you. However, books are products and if what’s in the summary and on the cover isn’t what’s on the pages, you’re going to upset and annoy your readers. For example, if I slap a chiseled six-pack of man meat on my book cover with flowy calligraphy for the title that reads something like Sex and Pink Champagne and my summary is all about how protagonist girl gets the adonis of her dreams, you’re not going to be happy if, 200 pages in, the plot detours and Mr. Sexy fucks off to sell NFTs.

It doesn’t meet genre expectations.

GoT kicks off with incest and child defenestration. It tells you *exactly* what you’re getting into immediately. You can subvert plot expectations all you want. You can subvert tropes and archetypes and throw in all kinds of twists and turns. But if you’re writing a YA novel and 100 pages in after campfire songs and the power of friendship, Protagonist gets assaulted in a 7-11 parking lot because you wanted to be ~edgy~ you’re going to piss off your readers.

Take Mulan for example. It has a dramatic tonal shift so powerful, the musical stops being a musical because it’s traumatized. Mulan doesn’t drop in the grizzled and horrifying wasteland of a battlefield with thousands of dead soldiers in an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It’s already a war movie, the possibility is already there.

If you want to write adult content, then write a book for audiences who are prepared for and want to read adult content. Otherwise you’re setting yourself up for failure.

5. “Okay but it’s not entertaining”

Your first job as an author is to entertain (your second is to do it responsibly imo). There’s millions of books out there—why should someone read yours? Whether that’s entertainment through a feel-good romance or a gut-wrenching tragedy, you need to keep convincing your readers to stay invested in the story, otherwise they can and will put it down to read something else. No one is obligated to read your book to the end.

So, yeah your protagonist might have all the elements of your own personal tragedies and it sure is meaningful to you, but the way you wrote it is incredibly boring and no one will care. It might be the most brilliant heist plot ever conceived, but you focused on all the wrong elements, the pacing is whack, and your protagonist is annoying, so no one will read it.

Very few individual elements can be good enough to carry the entire manuscript and the likelihood of an author being really good at one thing and awful at the rest is slim. Readers can quit a book over the most arbitrary reasons. Do you want to die on a hill of “I’m not changing my annoying protagonist, I’m right and they will see”? They won’t. The arguments authors get into with me over how I hated their protagonist or I told them which parts were boring and dragged because I “didn’t understand the story” are pointless. If it’s boring or confusing or annoying, no one will read it.

6. First Drafts are drafts for a reason

Actually writing is less than half the time and effort spent on getting a book to publication. Probably less than a quarter. The rest of that time is spent editing and rewriting. Some first drafts will be better than others, not arguing that, but your first run through your story has a non-zero chance of needing revisions, even for something as small as typos and punctuation.

You have to edit for pacing and tonal shifts, erroneous details and entire scenes, character inconsistencies and goals. You have to make sure your conversations flow believably, that you hit every talking point that scene requires. You have to make sure your character’s motivations don’t create plot holes and that they’re always on track like a real person and not a creation of your imagination. You have to make sure your action scenes and sex scenes are legible and as thrilling for a reader as they are for you. You have to make sure your worldbuilding is consistent and logical and easy to understand.

Some people outline heavily before starting page one. Some people have a sticky note of “beginning middle end” and run off that. Some have whole folders of different documents to keep track of all their elements. Everyone’s writing process is different, but it is a process, not a one-and-done. It requires revisions, seeking feedback, implementing that feedback, and more revisions until it’s as good as it can be.

Yes, you need to edit. No, you’re not the writing god who penned perfection on your first try. Maybe a piece of your story is perfect on the first draft, but not the whole thing from start to finish. It’s okay that your story isn’t what you thought it would be when you started, and it’s no failing of you as a writer to need edits or even massive changes. It happens to everyone.

7. “Writing is easy, thus it’s not a real job”

Really the notion that creatives are lesser than corporate business people solving problems that their business created. But specifically for writing, the idea that it’s just putting words on a page, thus it’s easy and anyone can do it, so it’s not impressive or deserving of praise and you really need a real job (you probably will because writing doesn’t make much money for most people, but that’s just how it shakes out).

I know ENNS won’t appeal to everyone. I know there will be people who hate my characters, who don’t understand them or don’t agree with their philosophies or find my writing trite and too lean and not ~immersive~. I know there’ll be homophobes out there who won’t even read it but hear about it and make assumptions and will leave me crap reviews. I know it’s not the greatest supernatural fantasy novel ever written.

I’m not in it to make money or get a movie deal and see my merch all over the shelves and get my own theme park. I write so that even one reader might see themselves in my characters and know they’re not alone. So that even one reader has one of my characters as their favorite and that character motivates them to do the Thing or keep moving forward or be brave enough to finally do whatever they’ve been too afraid to attempt before. I want to help people, even if at the end of the day, my writing only helps myself.

Yes I need supplemental income (who doesn’t these days). It’s the way of the world. But I’m doing what I love in my free time and it is a real job because it takes work, and it might not have monetary value but its value to me is priceless.

[malinaa]

9 people you'd like to get to know better

tagged : @vechter 🧸🫶 ty beloved tagging : @posallys | @usignedupforthis | @dykehoratio | @gayporcelain | @the-tenth-arcanum | @sorcerry | @hollow-dweller | @agentmmayy | @jaanlouis

three non romantic duos: (1) bruce & dick bc complicated relationships w ur father-mentor-best friend-brother makes me absolutely sick to my fucking stomach n if i say more i will get sucked back into their absolutely dysfunctional devotion, so i shall cease speaking. whatever. (2) merlin & arthur (bbc merlin) bc if i'm talking abt dysfunctional devotion i MUST bring up these two besties. imagine you're an all powerful being who loves his friend so much you undo the narrative of his purported golden age of ruling. i can't stand them. (3) essun & nassun and . . . god . . . the mother-daughter relationship in the broken earth trilogy (starts biting my nails) u guys don't even know . . . YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THEM . "mama has said occasionally that she loves nassun, but nassun has never seen any proof of it." WHAT DO YOU MEAN. essun spent the entire first book looking for nassun only for her to repeat the cycle of violence inflicted upon essun as a child to her own child once nassun was found .

a ship that might surprise others: i don't really think i like ships that would surprise other people ? maybe victor and yuri from yuri! on ice but that's mostly bc i don't rly watch anime all that much 😭

last song: first thing to go by hayley williams

last film: how to lose a guy in 10 days (00s romcoms i miss u)

currently reading: uhhh technically robert alter's genesis: translation and commentary (yes, the bible)

currently watching: rewatching episodes of the twilight zone (classic), a bit of prison break with seed when the mood hits, and true detective in slow increments for now

currently consuming: hot cocoa

currently craving: if this is for food idk i just ate so i'm not really hungry but if we r talking abt anything i am craving to go back to the art-space exhibition i went to last night that shit was crazy

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

ARI MY UTMOST BELOVED I NEED YOU TO KNOW THAT EVERY SINGLE FIC ON THAT WIP LIST MADE ME GENUINELY GO INSANE BUT I’LL REFRAIN FROM ASKING ABOUT ALL OF THEM (but know that if i could . I WOULD) BUT . let me ask abt a few of them if you don’t mind hehehehe 🙂‍↕️🤭 OKAY SO.

be still my foolish heart (don't ruin this on me)

- so you decided to give childhood friends to lovers uni au w a pining/jealousy trope (one of my all time favs btw) A HOZIER LYRIC AS THE TITLE??? ALMOST )SWEET MUSIC) WAHHHHHHH

consider the hairpin turn

- i like to think of myself as the biggest proponent and number one supporter of BFB!kenny……… like so much so that i literally think of it weekly…….. AND W THE SIKEN QUOTE TOO I’M GOING FERALLLLLLLLL

i slithered here from eden just to sit outside your door

- another hozier lyric (FROM EDEN YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS) and the fact that its TACTICIAN!KENJAKU??? YOUR BRAIN IS SO BIG AND SEXY ARI…… him as a tactician is PERFECT i feel like he’s so maomao’s dad coded already (i love tacticians :3)

((also please know i’m also looking VERY lovingly at merguru, wolf!geto red riding hood au, and the naoya x reader fic… i love that siken quote so fucking much <3 ok ari i love you and your brain you’re consistently the most genius person on this site and i’m so sorry this got so long feel free to only answer what you want out of it hehe :3 I LOVE YOU I’M SENDING YOU LOTS OF LOVE 🙂‍↕️🩷)

- @gothsuguru <333 MWAH! tell the mice i said hello :3

KAIROOOOO MY ANGEL MY BABY!!!!! never ever apologize, i knewwww you were gonna ask about these and i’m SO excited to ramble :33c

THE CHILDHOOD FRIENDS SEQUEL IS ENTIRELY FOR ARIKAIRO NATION BTWWWWW those two are our beloveds …… BUT YES THE HOZIER LYRICS. not that i’ve heard thaaat many hozier songs but :’3 that one is my favorite!!!!! and i thought those lyrics fit childhood friend!sugu so well …. because in this fic it’s his turn to be a little unsure and scared >:3 lots of jealousy and pining and being afraid that you’ll start dating some uni guy and forget all about him….. scared of ruining your friendship by confessing…….. but his heart won’t stop beating when you’re around and he doesn’t know how to control it :< hehehe….. they’re both so smitten and devoted, i can’t wait for you to read this one 🥹🥹 here’s a sneak peek for my baby of all time !!!!!!!

AND THEN THE BFB!KENNY FIC . another arikairo special ….. hehe i am SO excited for this one truly!!!!! i’m super super nervous too because it’s probably the fic i care most about 🥹 so i want it to be the best….. but the outline is hard…….. and i’m scared….. BUT I REALLY AM SO EXCITED bfb!kenny is our boyfriend always and forever . teasing little shit. AND OFCCC THE SIKEN QUOTE ‼️‼️ the whole fic (and especially the brothers’ dynamic) is super inspired by you are jeff :33 one of them wants to take you apart, the other wants to stitch you back together… hehe…

but yes … !!! this fic is . soooo dense when it comes to lore and dynamics and backstory and narrative .. 😭 it’s worse than merguru and that one is already kicking my ass so . yeah . it’ll take a while for me to finish but knowing you’ll be there to read it makes everything feel more worth it 🫂 I LOVE YOUUU!!!!

ANDDDD THEN FINALLY :3c tactician!kenny….. kit is actually the person who came up with this concept so it’s her brain you should be praising, this is genuinely …. theeee most genius concept ever and it has me in a chokehold :’))) IT’S SO TASTY . he is theee slimiest most manipulative tactician Of All Time and i adore him for it …………. this fic fits into one of my fav dynamics ever, which is just. kind, benevolent ruler and their slimy right hand man 💀 bonus points if they are wholly devoted to each other which is basically the case here …. kenjaku might be detached and might be using reader but they’re also ferociously territorial over them . kit mentioned how kenjaku would behead people for calling his king weak and that’s just SO ?????? TASTY??????? in AWE of her brain always and forever .

ahh and the hozier lyrics !!!!!! i wasn’t actually sure what to title this fic so i was looking through lyrics of songs i enjoy ….. and the ones from from eden are all very monarch!reader/tactician!kenny coded :3c but i like the one with the slithering the most because kenny is truly soooo snake coded in this .

BUT YES !!!!! wahhhh i ended up rambling a lot but i hope this was coherent, thank you for asking about them my angel 🥺 you’re always so sweet and enthusiastic and ily . SOOOOO excited to dig my teeth into all your wips too :3333 mwah !!!!!

ask me about my wips !! <33

[volivolition]

Omg thanks for the song recs <333

I loooooved recently by Liana Flores I added it to my bops playlist as soon as I heard the opening oooo's it was so so pretty :)))

I do also like San Fran! But in general I think the Mowgli's do good bops :)) And I love Stella by cereus bright!!!!! You're absolutely right it is absolutely a dancey vibes song and I like a lot of their other songs too!! Happier than me esp. has such toxic familial relationship vibes to me and it's so tasty

I'm so glad you liked hundred days!!!! It's one of my absolutely fav songs in the whole wide world and I'm animating something for a dnd campaign for the song so it's on my mind. I love the part in the middle where it's like the singer is screaming "I WANT. A HUNDRED DAYS. OF BRIGHT LIGHT!!!" and I can FEEL IT IN MY SOUL AND MY HEART

Never love an anchor is a classic and is a complicated motherly relationship song for all characters forever and ever <3 I love the crane wives in general but I think the garden and the well are underrated songs too

So for songs I feel along those vibes I give you:

Beloved, Mumford and sons

Thus always to tyrants, the oh hellos

Willow tree march, the paper kites

Cleopatra, the lumineers

Ophelia, the lumineers

Let's keep the recs going!! <3333

HELLO Q SORRY THIS HAS BEEN IN THE DRAFTS SO LONG (not to mention the cute echem one you sent me a long time ago OOUGH </3) THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT <33

yes i LOVE recently, i relate to it heavily hkjhg <33 "recently everyone says they are seeing less of me / i could do better if i had energy" LIKE. YEAH </3 HJGKJH MOWGLI'S ABSOLUTELY DO GOOD BOPS, waugh im so glad you liked my recs thank you for listening to them!!

HAPPIER THAN ME SOUNDS SO VENGEFUL HKJHG i love the somber intensity ooh it is tasty for real >:3

OMG SONG ANIMATICS, hundred days would make for SUCH a good animatic, the way that it starts with a single clear singer and then RAMPS UP THE ENERGY, it was practically built for a narrative, you could ABSOLUTELY make a dnd campaign animatic from this, i UNDERSTAND I UNDERSTAND FOR REAL. there is a very real yearning energy in this and i ADORE IT, I KNOW THE PART YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT OUGH I LOVE HOW ITS SUNG, the passion!! the emotion OUGH!!! YOU'RE SO REAL AND TRUE FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

oh SO TRUE the crane wives,, ough chefs kiss!! <33

Beloved - i do love mumford and sons <33 this song is sweet awa :'] <33 i keep thinking the verses are building up to something stronger but it seems to keep steadily level? i still like it though, it's lovely <3

Thus Always to Tyrants - OH MY GOD I LOVE THE OH HELLOS SO SOSOSO MUCH THIS WAS ONE OF THE FIRST SONGS I'D HEARD FROM THEM <33 THE STEADY STAMPING BEAT THE "OOOH"S THE GUITAR STARTING UP!!!! YELLS!!! I LOVE THIS FUCKING SONG <3333 where i goooooo, will you still folloowwwww~!!!

Willow Tree March - yesss ive been meaning to get into more of the paper kites! OH WAIT I KNOW THIS ONE HKJGH i swear ive seen an animatic to this or something? i love how folksy it is, 10/10 would give my dnd party bardic inspiration while dancing around a campfire in the forest <33

Cleopatra - oh i am fond of this one, oh you could absolutely make a disco animatic out of this hkjh the first verse being harry and dora ("And it hardened like my heart did when you left town") and the second verse being kim and eyes ("So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me / From the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you") and the bridge waugh (HARRY - "And the only gifts from my Lord were a birth and a divorce" / KIM - "But I've read this script and the costume fits, so I'll play my part") and then the bedroom after the tribunal ("leads me back to my guestroom / It's a bed and a bathroom / a place for the end'') OUGH VERY NICE HJKGH <33

Ophelia - THIS ONE I DO KNOW YES YES I LOVE OPHELIA DEARLY, this song carried me through senior year of high school actually <33 i used to play this on my ukulele but it never sounded truly right hkjhg the piano in this OUGH ITS SO GOOD. oh oPHELIAH~! heaven help a fool who falls in love <3 adoreee this <33

YES i will send you some as well!! :D <33 i am not actually very good at music recs but we have surprisingly similar tastes hehe <33 thank you thank you!!

[variousqueerthings]

Dear God! That’s the attack prayer!

OKAY A good man goes to war... I think "let's kill hitler" is enough of a departure to do these separately

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 6/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored): 2/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 3/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 4/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 5/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 4/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 4/10

FULL RATING: 42/100 (if I can count….)

listen, this episode has this exchange:

Thin guy: Hello I’m the thin one. This is my husband, he’s the fat one Lorna: Don’t you have names? Fat guy: We’re the thin/fat gay married Anglican marines. Why would we need names as well?

and then one of them is killed immediately after this and the other isn't seen again I believe

so... my feelings about this episode can be encapsulated by that line, but certainly there is... more to pick out than just that

OBJECTIFICATION: shockingly that's not a big issue this episode. yes we're used to River Song being sexy in all of her outfits, and now we've added Jenny's very similar type of outfit, but Amy is mostly in sort of... linen-looking loose shirt and trousers, which, she'd better be she just gave birth. speaking of giving birth, still wearing those boots with heels

idk, this could be explained away as character, but it feels like it plays into a bit of Amy not being the important part of this episode so they're just saddling her with business as usual (so they took all her clothes away except her boots?) it just feels. a bit lazy

PLOT-POINT: speaking of being a plot point. Amy, in the episode about being kidnapped and having been secretly imprisoned while pregnant without knowing it and then waking up right as you were giving birth after months and months, and then being threatened with that baby being immediately taken from you (which does in fact happen)... is not the focal point

she's got an opening scene in which she speaks to her baby and is like "you're gonna get saved don't you worry, because your dad is a badass (I guesssssssssssss, we'll get back to Rory), and I too will be saved"

and then she stands around waiting to be saved, and there is One Bit where she's like "I was here all along and that was a bit fucked up" and the Doctor hugs her (with Rory's permission, because we love casual sexism) and is like, "the stuff on the Tardis was also real, I mean, your body was here and pregnant, but youknow, close enough" and that's about it for Amy's Stuff

I'd argue Rory meeting the baby is given more emotional weight/time, and that scene is good and important and he's crying and he and Amy are sweet, but where's her version of this moment?

we do have Amy losing the baby at the end and that's fucked up, and we get her demanding River to know what's going on, and then the episode ends before she reacts to that (maybe in the next one...)

but on the whole, she's just damseling and not even having much of an opinion on being a damsel, beyond going "yeah it'll be fine"

River comes in at the beginning and the end, at the beginning she's talking about the Doctor and at the end she's revealing who she is, and she's... happy. so that's an emotion. and she's finally getting to tell her parents that she's their daughter, and getting to tell the Doctor

so River gets more than Amy in this on the whole, and now she's no longer a mystery she can go on to be a character I imagine... wait and see...

COMPLEXITY: classic M*ffat. montages. characters youve never seen before who are very important now. characters you have seen before, but in episodes where it makes no sens for them to be here (Danny-boy? you're a WWII pilot, what?) (where did all those Silurians come from? Judoon? what a strange set of choices)

bunch of mythologies that were just made up on the spot, saying "well the Doctor is badass" instead of showing him doing much of anything, also that bit where he blew up a bunch of cybermen ships just cos? it looks cool I guess? why do things happen? to look cool

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh well what do we learn? we learn that Amy loves Rory and believes he's going to come and save her, so nothing new there

we learn that there's a bunch of mythologies about the Doctor being a "great Warrior" but also that the "doctor" comes from the Doctor's name, I suppose

we learn about the headless monks and the one-eyed lady, sort of. we learn they exist and are behind the abduction of Amy and later Melody

we learn that Amy and Rory had sex on the Tardis and so their kid is kind of Timelord????

and that River is that kid, but grown up

think that's about it

so lot of plot, some stupid lore, and a couple of character dynamic moments (Rory meeting the baby, River revealing she's Melody, although we don't see Amy and Rory reacting to that)

the Doctor has more of an emotional moment with Vastra, a character we've just met, than with Amy and Rory (Vastra also does more plot shit than Amy or Rory, see below)

COMPANIONS MATTER: Amy. Standing around.

Rory. The Last Centurion. Okay so I don't buy this. which is probably the problem. I really really enjoyed the Rory we were getting to know this season, who's defined by his caring nature, quite a sweet man with a strong sense of right and wrong that's based in his nursing, and then this episode they're like "but also he's Badass Action Man who says shit like "the twelfth cyber-legion monitors this entire quadrant"" and then right down to that tidbit about how he's got a sword but he'll allow the Doctor to hug Amy

and in all of that what does he actually do? not much of anything. in many ways he's standing around as much as Amy is, just in a Centurion outfit, because. Oh and he has a myth about him as well, I guess...

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: “that you pricked the side of a mighty beast and entirely failed to run” siiigh

"Demons run when a good man goes to war…" siiiiiiiiigh

Pandorica

A dark legend

"Doctor, we get that word from you you know" SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH

listen the thing is, again, this episode is actually inevitably really about the Doctor all along, it's a mythology about the Doctor, and Amy is - like in s5 - bait and trap and red herring

all the reveals about River and the journey of why this matters is because the Doctor will rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further, or whatever, and I'm like... I think Amy feels worse actually... I think this is about her. it's not though

In theory I like the big about Colonel Runaway, I think that's very Neat, and I like

Evil Woman: The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules The Doctor: Good men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many

but it's framed around all the rest of the Schlock

the one upside is that in all of those annoying montages, the point is that the Doctor knows all these people who do stuff because the Doctor comes to call. it begs the question of whether the Doctor in this incarnation has friends or just people who owe him, like a mafia boss, but at least the Doctor isn't going it alone, like in the beginning of the episode with the exploding Cybermen ships (just... to send a message.... gasp, he is a Mob Boss!)

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: it doesn't technically do anything with previous DW one way or another, but I do think it's dubious in terms of the ethos of previous Doctor Who... not the biggest Thing on this, but urgh, this episode is dumb. I hope the next will be better (I say about an episode I remember not liking)

“SEXINESS”: it's not actually overwhelming this episode, maybe because Amy isn't chatting with the Doctor, and River is barely there, although she does flirt with... Rory... a bit.... which is first when she doesn't see it's Rory, and then a joke about how two Doctors was "a whole other birthday" which is just a little weird when we know later on that Rory is her dad, but isn't about him at least

there's also River asking "if he's considered heels" which I cannot tell what the tone of that comment was meant to be about

Vastra and Jenny have a joke related to Vastra having a long tongue (get it, they're lesbians), and Vastra is the first woman equivalent to a Sherlock/Doctor type we've seen (that is, she's casually mean and withholding, because she's too busy being Brilliant to care about others' emotions -- I wonder if she's actually Sherlock Ho-)

INTERNAL WORLD: who are the headless monks? they're an order. who are the cleric marines? they're an order. what is demons run? it's a place. that's about what we know right?

POLITICS: it's not so much that the politics are bad as that the episode is a hot mess. there're these cleric monks (I believe a throughline from the ones we saw in s5 with the Angels), but their whole Thing isn't really explored so much as there, and there are the Headless Monks, again, cool but... just there... there could have been politics in that, but there isn't

which leaves us with the sexism (Amy's complete irrelevance in the episode about her abduction and semi-forced pregnancy), and the casual homophobic joke, which feels like it was meant to be a funny tongue-in-cheek meta point about representation, and at best it falls flat. at worst it's just homophobic (it is)

FULL RATING: 42/100 (if I can count….)

It just fails on the emotional level, that's what it is in the end. Nobody's actions are grounded in anything, they're just there to serve some seemingly cool set-pieces that ultimately prop up the Doctor as being cool

its highest ratings are "this was not the worst thing it did." I am not a fan of this episode

I didn't actually talk about how I feel about River being Amy's and Rory's kid..... that's a whole other post

[a-canker-in-a-hedge]

the people (read: like 4 of you) have spoken! musicals only jfj playlist incoming!! brace for impact!!!

curator's notes below the cut, if you're interested in that sort of thing. otherwise, have fun! maybe i'll drop the frmc one next!

Into the Fire, The Scarlet Pimpernel

I think we as a society are sleeping on The Scarlet Pimpernel the musical, it's bonkers. This one's from act 1, where the titular Scarlet Pimpernel (arguably the first masked vigilante in English literature) and his buddies take off to rescue poor trapped aristocrats from the French Revolution. In a lot of ways, it's best read in conversation with Les Mis (the original novel was written by a baroness, it's reactionary as shit), but here I think it expresses an enthusiastic (and to be clear, Bad) English nationalism that speaks to a young JFJ and precisely what he thinks he's getting out of joining the navy. He is Not Correct, as we shall see.

2. Glory, Pippin

I think this one speaks for itself. Patina Miller as Pippin's Leading Player brings a terrifying, seductive irony and contrast to this number, contrasting the horror of war with the rhetoric that convinces people to go die in the name of the king. The narrative here is I think pretty clear; this is what it's actually like to nearly die in battle. It's bizarre and dizzying and confusing and kind of silly, and you'll only make sense of it later when you can build a performance out of the experience.

3. The I Love You Song, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Oh James. If only mommy and daddy loved you. This one breaks my heart. Neglected children will do a lot to fill that void. This song provides context to the previous two. He wants to be loved, and he confuses love with attention and praise and power. And it will eventually kill him. Again too we see the theming of fantasy as a narrative device. James makes up stories about himself, for himself, contextualizing and recontextualizing James Fitzjames to suit his needs, whatever they may be.

4. The Last One You'd Expect, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Men Will Tell Such Lies About Themselves. Gentlemen's Guide is so funny, everyone should go give the whole album a listen. I like the conclusion of this one as the high point of JFJ's pre-Terror success. Specifically, I like the struggle to stay ahead of the tidal wave he's built himself that's rolling up on his heels. It can't possibly catch up with you if you keep moving, right?

5. Where I Want to Be, Chess

CHESS THE MUSICAL BABEYYYY I AM NOTHING IF NOT ON BRAND. This is a pair with the previous song, an internal monologue as opposed to the external perception of success we've seen previously. The emptiness, the sense of loss of self, the fear and paranoia of living with one's lies, sacrifices, and the harm one's own ambition has caused those around you. It's also got those big stupid melodramatic violins. Fun Fact! The score for Chess was written by Benny and Bjorn from ABBA! I also think JFJ would have really enjoyed Mamma Mia. This is also the Josh Groban concert version, partially bc if I had to pick someone to be jfj's singing voice in the disney animated Terror, it would be him.

6. 30/90, tick, tick...BOOM!

Oh shit death is coming for you king, You Are Running Out Of Time. I feel like this one speaks for itself, if instead of grey hairs you could see the blood at your hairline. Well, not yet. But soon.

7. Is This What You Call Love?, Passion

Speaking of getting slept on, Passion my beloved. This is the most underrated Sondheim musical imo, and is one of the few songs on this playlist where I had a specific scene in mind when I added it. Yes it is that one. Songs to get punched in the face by your captain to.

8. Totally Fucked, Spring Awakening

Do I even need to say? You get it. We understand each other. Yes. This was the toughest one to fit in aesthetically with the soundscape of this playlist, but I think it works where it is.

9. You Gotta Die Sometime, Falsettos

Oh Shit Death Is Coming For You King. You Are Running Out Of Time. This is the 2nd song from a William Flynn show on this bad boy, which feels appropriate to me, somehow. I can't explain it, it's vibes. I think this song really gives JFJ a beat to breathe, to sit in the inevitability of his fate, and a bitter kind of acceptance. It works for me.

10. Any Kind of Dead Person, Ghost Quartet

And now we're having fun with it! This is the only Dave Malloy tune on here, and it's also one of the most lighthearted. As has happened several times before, this song is in direct conversation with its predecessor. You need to keep going somehow, even if you're only walking to the end. Very Samuel Beckett-core, now that I think about it.

11. I Don't Know How To Love Him, Jesus Christ Superstar

We understand each other. You understand why I have done this. I picked the movie version because I like the orchestration better. I have no other notes.

12. Come to My Garden/Lift Me Up, The Secret Garden

This is the most distant parallel line in this whole playlist, but this one is in conversation with The I Love You Song. Reconciliation with an absent parent, with the wounds of the child. They are calling you on. Make peace with yourself. We are almost there.

13. Love To Me, The Light in the Piazza

Please excuse Matthew Morrison's bad Italian accent. I love this song so much. There's a note in Sondheim's collected lyrics about simplicity, and I think this song embodies it. This song is so much about seeing someone for who they are, and it shows in the lyrics, in the lack of both musical ornamentation and complex text, even in the delivery. If I may have one more direct parallel, this song is speaking to 'more than god loves them.'

14. Finale: Make Our Garden Grow, Candide

Let me preface this by saying that this is not a fix-it ending. James does not live at this time. With that being said, I picked this one for two reasons. One, the resonance sonically and lyrically with the previous two songs, and two, the theme of letting go of ambition/expectation/demand. The acceptance of imperfection. The resolution into the simplicity of the body/existence/the reality of one materiality and mortality. There is no Eden to return to. We have only each other. JFJ has the only peaceful death we see onscreen, and for me, this song resonates with that. The release on that last note. 10/10 thank you Mr. Bernstein. That is all there is no more, thank you for coming to my ted talk. Goodnight <3

[movietonight]

I was tagged by @variousqueerthings to share mash thoughts!

1. Whose overall narrative feels the most satisfying to you?

I have three different answers. If I take "satisfying" to be doomed from the start haunted catharsis? Hawkeye, obviously. It's incredibly satisfying to see a sitcom without much * turn into a beautiful heart breaking eleven season long mental health spiral.

Then there's Klinger, who has the most satisfying narrative from a meta perspective, seeing a one episode gag turn into a beloved character who begins showing up in the credits and gets a big wedding and farewell.

Then there's Charles and Margaret, who graduate from narrative foils to complex and likeable characters with lots of memorable and :') moments.

2. Whose finale narrative feels the most satisfying to you?

Literally the ones above. Hawkeye and Charles make me both tear up every time and Margaret and Klinger make me go :') with pride to see how far they've come.

3. What's a post-canon headcanon that you have (about anything or anyone)

I think they try to hold at least one other reunion to see each other again with all their families in the same hotel on the anniversary of the party

4. What's a pre-canon headcanon that you have (about anything or anyone)?

I think Trapper and Charles vaguely met in Boston at work (maybe at a conference or maybe their hospitals collaborated on something)

5. Who's a secondary/tertiary character you wish you could have seen more of?

Honoria, Bigelow and Kellye.

6. What's a headcanon you have about a non-main character?

I think Kellye got all of them their Hawaiian shirts (yes I know they were popular at the time and sold in different places but I like the thought that she is their main Hawaiian shirt dealer and I think it's also the only explanation why Charles has one)

7. Who's your single episode MVP?

Inga <3 She said Trans Rights. Shout out also to British UN guy bullying Charles, Brandy Doyle the burlesque icon, Tuttle and Park Sung.

8. Share a headcanon about anything that you don't get the chance to talk about enough

Charles listens to "Songs on the Death of Children" because of his brother :)

9. What's one of your favorite non-romantic dynamics on the show?

Potter and everyone. He's just so dad and grandpa coded and I love how a lot of that was just Harry Morgan being Like That. Potter just adopted an entire camp of weird traumatised kids.

10. What's an underrated dynamic overall on the show?

Klinger and Mulcahy being besties <3 Klinger being the only one attending services and Mulcahy telling people to compliment his gloves lives rent free in my brain. Runner up is Charles and BJ making 2 separate people believe they are seriously sick because they were annoying. Absolute gremlins and they should have worked together more often.

11. What's a moment that was shocking to you?

Just the entire episode George. I was 15 and just figuring out I could be queer and watched an entire episode from the 70s set in the 50s. Really rewired my brain back then.

12. What's a moment that you could analyse forever?

Just about anything in Dreams. Shout out also to the coffee scene in sons and bowlers because everyone needs to have one small line in that episode that makes them foam at the mouth, right?

13. What's a moment that you want to watch over and over?

Movie Tonight. Any moment from that episode. Also just the entire episode. It's one of my feel good episodes and it's just sooooo <3

I tag: all my lovely mashtuals and anyone else who wants to do this (bonus points if you haven't seen mash and just commit to the bit making things up)

[my-daydreams-live]

f/o masterlist!

I imagine this list will grow quickly so, I'm creating a seperate post to keep track of all of them and their respective tags, accompanied by some "short" ramblings if anyone's curious abt them + how i feel about them, found them, etc.. :]

❤ Antares/Unknown

#fo / my heart of mystery

This is my main f/o!! I've had him for years and years and he will never leave my head. Through thick and thin he has been a great source of comfort for me and has remained that way even through dozens of other hyperfixations. His name actually isn't yet known, so he's refered to as Unknown a lot, but I've also given him a name myself, Antares. I switch between the two a lot.

He's from an indie game called Don't Take This Risk (as well as a webcomic by the same name) and is genuinely such an awful, terrible, manipulative person. I want to make it really clear I would not even begin to tolerate him if he were real. However he is fictional so I get to kiss this awful terrible man in my own head!! Yippe!!!

Fun fact: I owe this f/o the entire reason I can draw men. I used to really struggle w/ masc anatomy and hated my drawings of any guys but it was because of him that I persevered!!!

💜 Mayoi Ayase

#fo / us phantom couple

OHHHH mayoi... i love him so so much. I find him so endearing and charming and frankly very relatable. I want to give him the world. Also his VAs voice is SOOOOOO GOOD i will listen to his solo song the rest of my life

He's from a mobile idol training/rhythm game called Ensemble Stars!! I only play the music version. Also his tag is a reference to him being the phantom of the ES building. We're both phantoms :]]]]

Fun Fact: we are the same age in years, same height, and he was born only three days before me! What!!!

💙 Silly Billy

#fo / ill stay awake

Silly Billy!!! Although he is mostly made up of my own image for him in my head (since there's little to work with in canon) he is so beloved. He's from a Friday night funkin' mod called hit single real and he's SO real to me

Fun Fact: I was not into FNF or its mod community for almost three years I think, when a video on this mod popped up and would not leave my recommended. Now I am Haunted (but in a silly way) his tag is a reference to the lyrics part of his song - "so stay awake just long enough for you to see my way" - why yes billy i will do that. I love u

🖤 The Outsider

#fo / you fascinate me

OUTSIDERRR. I love him so much. When you really think about it his presence in his game is so strange. He could have just as easily not been present with the way he doesn't alter the overarching narrative at all, but I love that he's there. He, and his origins, and his intentions, are so mysterious and so captivating. I could write an essay about this man and still have words to spare, so I'll stop while I'm ahead.

I remember watching a playthrough of Dishonored when I was really little. Only a year ago from now I remembered the game and decided to play it, and WOW did Outsider absolutely capture my mind and heart!! That entire game is so wonderfully made and is probably one of my favorite games of all time, if not the favorite. His tag is a reference to one of the voicelines from him in the main game, at his last shrine!

Fun fact: I have not played dishonored 2 yet! I am a little fearful of what that game did to the characters, especially Outsider!!

❓[REDACTED]

# fo / wake up call

HEHEHE this is my most recent addition to the f/o list! Staying true to basically all of my other f/os he has little to work with in canon (and what canon there is is very scattered throughout his games) but the mystery and collecting what pieces I can of his lore in my brain is the most alluring part!!

He's from trivia murder party in jackbox party packs 3 and 6! Give us a 3rd one already pleas

💚 Tarhos Kovacs (The Knight)

#fo / nothing but darkness

hehe big scary man in armor....... He's from dead by daylight :)) his tag is a reference to his tome lore

❣ Frank Morrison (The Legion)

#fo / through the heart

ough. Smth about a guy who is so human, except he can and will kill people. Love. Also from dbd!

🎻 Antonio Paganini (Violinist)

big tall scary man with a handsome smile and god just the most wonderful humming ever. Hello. Oh yeah also he's possessed! <3 He is from Identity V

🛡 Oscar of Astora

# fo / hope in my heart

Oscar means everything to me. He has like 8 lines in the game but he's still my favorite. He has a wonderful voice and I love his armor design!! and the fact that he was robbed of a larger storyline will never not make me sad. He's from dark souls! His tag is a reference to one of his lines. "Well, now you know... and I can die with hope in my heart..." except hes not dead cuz i said so

🔫 Boothill

⚙ Screwllum

🤖 Svarog

[I will write more on these laat 3 later eeeeee]

[myfrenzi]

The Impact of Fan Communities on OTT Success

Rediscovering the Cinematic Charms of Musicals — What to Watch on OTT

The world of cinema is a magical place, but few genres manage to capture the heart and soul of storytelling quite like musicals. From the golden age of Hollywood to contemporary masterpieces, musicals have consistently enchanted audiences with their vibrant performances, catchy tunes, and captivating narratives. In this blog, we’ll embark on a harmonious journey into the enchanting world of musicals available on Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms. Get ready to rediscover the joy of song and dance, as we explore the “what to watch on OTT” for all you musical enthusiasts.

Act I: The Timeless Appeal of Musicals

The allure of musicals lies in their ability to convey emotions, stories, and experiences through the power of music and dance.

Captivating Storytelling: Musicals are a marriage of music, choreography, and storytelling, creating a unique and immersive cinematic experience.

Act II: Musicals Across the Ages

Musicals have a rich history, from the classic films of the mid-20th century to the modern adaptations that continue to captivate audiences.

Golden Age Classics: The 1950s and ’60s brought us beloved classics like “Singin’ in the Rain” and “The Sound of Music.”

Modern Marvels: Contemporary musicals like “La La Land” and “The Greatest Showman” continue to redefine the genre.

Act III: The Magic of the Musical Score

The heart of any musical lies in its unforgettable soundtrack, composed to enhance the narrative and evoke emotions.

Iconic Tunes: Memorable songs are a hallmark of musicals, from “My Fair Lady’s” “I Could Have Danced All Night” to “Hamilton’s” “My Shot.”

Act IV: Musicals Across Genres

Musicals aren’t confined to a single style; they transcend genres, offering a little something for everyone.

Romantic Musicals: Love takes center stage in romantic musicals like “Moulin Rouge!” and “An American in Paris.”

Dramatic Musicals: Musicals like “Les Misérables” and “Rent” tackle weighty themes with powerful storytelling.

Act V: Must-Watch Musicals on OTT

Let’s explore some must-watch musicals available on OTT platforms, a harmonious blend of timeless classics and modern gems:

1. “The Sound of Music” (Disney+): Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer’s iconic performances continue to enchant viewers in this classic.

2. “Hamilton” (Disney+): Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musical brings the Founding Fathers to life with a diverse cast and memorable songs.

3. “La La Land” (Amazon Prime Video): Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s chemistry shines in this modern musical masterpiece.

4. “Les Misérables” (Netflix): The epic tale of love and redemption, based on Victor Hugo’s novel, receives a powerful adaptation.

Act VI: Musicals Beyond Film

Musicals have extended their influence beyond the silver screen, finding success on the stages of theaters and even in TV series like “Glee.”

Theater Extravaganzas: Iconic musicals like “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats” continue to thrive in the world of theater.

Act VII: FAQs for Musical Enthusiasts

Q1: What sets musicals apart from other film genres? Musical storytelling combines music, song, and dance to convey emotions and narratives in a unique and captivating way.

Q2: Are musicals suitable for all age groups? Yes, musicals have a broad appeal and can be enjoyed by viewers of all ages, from young children to older adults.

Q3: What are some iconic musical moments in film history? Moments like Gene Kelly’s dance in the rain in “Singin’ in the Rain” and Julie Andrews’ twirling on the hillside in “The Sound of Music” are etched in cinematic history.

Curtain Call: A Harmonious Journey

As our exploration of the captivating world of musicals draws to a close, we celebrate the timeless appeal of this genre. Musicals, with their harmonious storytelling and memorable songs, transport us to worlds where emotions find their voice through music and dance.

The “what to watch on OTT” for musical enthusiasts is a treasure trove of cinematic delights. Whether you’re a fan of classic tunes or contemporary beats, musicals have something to offer everyone, transcending time and connecting us through the universal language of music and storytelling.

[beebuchanan]

angel bestie @ssaltfics thank you 💓💓!!

last song: miss independent by ne-yo 😶 SDHSDKSHS idk why this is so funny to me but yes i was jamming after work to this!! sex by the 1975 was up immediately after 🫡 the range!

last show: finished; the bear???? fic has simply consumed my Every Thought And Desire for the last uhhhhhh 6 months but! i watched the first episode of the bear by myself, decided it was very good but also way too stressful to watch alone (one thing i am gonna do... is give up on shows! i am so lazy❤️), then my bestie (who i TOLD about the show) watched the first 4 episodes with her roommates, then i ended up there watching the last 4 with them all?? without having seen episodes 2, 3, and 4 of course 🫡 anyways yeah it was good!! i thought it was really really well done and jeremy allen white HAS been my beloved since shameless. SYDNEY IS SO GREAT and my jewish love RITCHIE (not jewish in the show but jewish in THE PUNISHER with my BELOVED JON BERNTHAL) so i loved watching them all 🧡🧡🧡🧡 also ummmm i guess Technically outer banks season 1? i have seen season 1 three whole times but my bestie has Not seen it so. there i went! on the clown car again 🙃 still the most spectacular trash i have seen in a while 🤌✨

currently watching: absolutely nothing ✌️ SDHSKDH no okay i am Trying but i cannot stick to anythingggggg recently so i Guess i have been switching between: top chef portland, scrubs, street food usa, gilmore girls [again], new girl [simply always in rotation], OH AND FORMULA 1 DRIVE TO SURVIVE?????? that dramatic reality show pulled me In i am NOT immune to the narratives! okay wait now i'm a liar, i finished season 4 sunday...... okay Anyways 😶 yeah!

currently reading: fic only of course 🫡 shoutout to the NEW KENT/OWEN LESBIANSSSSSSS which i DID read instead of doing my work this morning!! yes it threw off my whole schedule❤️ it was So worth it!!!!!!! and i guess in a way i have been (not really) Attempting to read these books for Many months: kicks: the great american story of sneakers, and a biography about bugsy siegel (the jewish gangster who founded las vegas)!

current obsession: "the national hockey league" 🧍‍♀️ and more importantly hrpf and every beautiful angel within it MY UTMOST BELOVEDS 💞💞💞

[halewitzka]

There are so many The Queers Were Good And The Straights Were Bad In Rocky Horror takes and I'm so ????

RHPS is good because none of these characters are good people! None! They're all incredibly interesting and it varies how much of a bad person the individual character is, but none of them are morally pure. They all do shit that you wouldn't approve of, the only character that is arguably innocent in the narrative is Rocky because he's got like 3 braincells to his name and has been plopped into a world that severely happens to him the entire time and that he can barely make sense of.

Like bro the siblings for sure aren’t the good guys, but what makes them bad is not the fact that theyre in a straight relationship. I mean theyre literally aliens, what do we know whether the concept of genders and/or heterosexuality is even a thing for them. You can't even apply straight to them in that sense.

But even if we disregard the alien bit and say okay, theyre in a straight, incestuous relationship - the fact that it's straight isn't morally condemning. Even the incest, which seems to not be normal or accepted within the transsylvanian culture either (going off of surrounding material that isn't in RHPS itself), is at least consensual. Compare and contrast with Frank, the beloved protagonist, setting out to rape 3 people over the course of a 90 minute movie.

Frank is a narcissist, and he is despicable for just about every single thing he does. Him being queer (again, technically alien logic so how queer in the human sense he really is is questionable but lets ignore that) doesn't make him a good person, in fact he's the worst person in the entire movie. But he's an excellent CHARACTER. He's fun to watch, and as a viewer you enjoy his presence immensely. You experience what it's like to get drawn in by him the same way he draws in the majority of the surrounding cast. But he's awful. He murders and rapes and has no regard for anyone but himself. No amount of queerness will save him from that.

Janet and Brad both have queer experiences during the movie, but does that make them queer? Brad's only sexual contact is with Frank, who may I remind you is assaulting him and then keeps going despite the fact that Brad never actually says yes to what's happening, he just ceases to put up resistance. He actively tells Frank to stop and Frank DOESN'T LISTEN. When Janet sees the aftermath of that encounter on the monitor, Frank looks very pleased with himself and Brad is off to the side, more clothed than he was when Frank came in, and seems to contemplate what just happened to him - and not in a good way.

Janet, while more enthusiastic about it, also has to get tricked into sex with Frank for it to happen in the first place and later goes on to have sex with Rocky. Granted, sex with Frank can in some shape or form always be interpreted as queer because of who Frank is, but he's mostly treated as a man by the narrative (I say mostly because there is that very telling part about him wanting to look like Fay Wray in Rose Tint My World, although he also expresses jealousy only over her clothing).

To get back to the point, Janet's only other explicitly queer contact is with Columbia, during Rose Tint My World - which seems to have all of them under the influence of some sort of spell/drug/alien pheromone??? Brad still is hesitant about what is happening during RTMW despite participating, so it's a bit unclear how much of their actions during the song are out of free will. I'm not saying that because I want to diminish the queer contact that does very much happen, I just think seeing it happen and deciding it's queer and therefore a good thing without further questioning isn't a good idea considering the context of the movie.

I personally like to think that Brad and Janet both realised something about themselves and their relationship with sex during the movie and took some of it with them post-castle. Maybe Janet actively allows herself to enjoy sex. Maybe she's had a bit of a bi awakening. Maybe Brad really did enjoy sex with a man and has to come to terms with it, or maybe he recognizes that it happened to him and he doesn't want that again. While I don't think that would’ve been a thought when the movie was made, Brad is also interpretable as realising he's not into sex at all and is coming to terms with that in a time where asexuality was not really part of the lgbtq vernacular yet

My point is, it's very difficult to assign "queer" or "straight" to most of these characters, and the same problem arises when trying to label them as "good" or "bad". They're complex, all of them, both in their morality and identity, and leave a lot of room for interpretation.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is amazing because it's telling a queer story without shying away from letting its characters be gross and unpolished and wrong. It's a story about people connecting with their sexuality as much as it is a story about a narcissist who gets whats coming to him at the hand of a servant he's neglected and abused. I could write a whole essay on how Riff Raff gets pushed to kill in the final act throughout the movie, and how Magenta doesn't seem to realise it up until it's too late. But this was about the fact that RHPS doesnt make it as easy as "queer vs straight" and "good vs bad" so I'm gonna shut up now

[ordinaryschmuck]

Starkid Musicals Ranked from Worst to Best

Salutations to you, random people on the internet who most certainly won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Welp. I finally did it. I've watched the entire Starkid musical library, and I must say, most of these plays fit my writing style perfectly:

Humor that is cynical yet random

Leaning in with comedy while sprinkling in some well-executed drama

An understanding that any type of story works as long as the cast of varying personalities of characters is dynamic enough to result in some phenomenal chemistry.

This is in almost all of their plays, excelled through fantastic writing and stellar performances driving the overall quality. And it inspired me not only to review each musical, but also ranking them all from worst to best. Or, more accurately, least good to most good. Because even at their "worst," Starkid still provides a funny, enjoyable experience that will keep you laughing with its comedy and your toes tapping with its catchy music. So strap in as I go in-depth into how Starkid proves how they are the masters of humor and melody.

(I'll also provide links to each musical, which is all for free on YouTube, so you can check them out yourselves. Just know that their early work is impossible to enjoy without subtitles, so you might want to have Closed Captions on when watching.)

#12-Holy Musical B@man-Everything about this play makes it seem like it's the weakest to me. The jokes, songs, and characters in Holy Musical B@tman just don't hit as hard as Starkid's other plays. It's still good, but compared to their best, the cracks show a lot more. That is, except for the ending. Not only is there a great speech that shows what makes superheroes so beloved, but "Super Friends" might just be my favorite finale song Starkid has ever put out. Holy Musical B@tman may not be the best, but it's at least worth the time.

#11-Firebringer-This was stupid. Really stupid. Funny as f**k, but still pretty stupid. Although I will give credit to one of the central pairings being LGBTQA+...Even though it makes little to no sense based on the characters' previous interactions. But in fairness, Starkid really sucks at writing good romantic relationships, so at least Firebringer has the benefit of being gay. And as we all know: The gayer, the better. The play is still stupid, though.

#10-Me and My Dick-The world in this musical makes little to no sense. Penises and vaginas are sentient and can communicate with their humans. And yet the penises and vaginas can also talk with each other, form relationships, leave their humans, and reinsert themselves into others--Yeah, it makes no sense...But, DAMN, is it funny! Every joke and innuendo Me and My Dick has about human anatomy works, and I could not stop laughing at each of them. Especially the names that were given to the vaginas, which are just...I mean, I'm laughing just by thinking about them. That should tell you how funny they are. This play might be illogical in every way, but if you turn your brain off and watch it for the humor, you'll definitely be in for something fun.

#9-ANI: A Parody-What's weird about ANI is that its best qualities are also weaknesses. A good chunk of the jokes are hilarious and expertly delivered. The issue is that most of them are about taking potshots at the Star Wars prequels, which might be the laziest jokes to make in a Star Wars parody. Then there's the soundtrack, having several songs that are a bop to listen to. The problem is that ANI suffers from the same issues as Tarzan and Brother Bear: Yes, technically, it is a musical, but it's one where none of the characters sing, and some people in the background do all the singing instead. It's all an odd balancing act of quality content made through questionable choices. ANI is still an entertaining play, but the force isn't as strong with this one.

#8-Black Friday-This might be the least funny play that Starkid has ever put out. Not just because it leans extra hard into drama, which was pretty effective during certain scenes. It's just when there are jokes in Black Friday, they tend to fall flatter more here than they did in other plays. Also, the plot of Black Friday might not be the best one to play straight. The serious moments work best when focusing on the characters and their personal struggles, but through the big bad that's supposed to be threatening? Not so much. Even if it was meant to be funny, well, I wasn't laughing. And believe it or not, I consider that to be the best judge of whether or not something is funny. That being said, while Black Friday isn't the most humorous Starkid musical, it's still pretty good. The characters are excellent, the songs are awesome, and the story is somewhat easy to follow. I would have appreciated a few more laughs, but I can respect these talented people wanting to challenge their strengths.

#7-Starship-This play feels very...Disney. It follows a familiar formula we've seen several times: The main character wants more than what he has in his crappy life, miraculously gets the exact thing he wants, falls in love with a girl in a short amount of time, faces off against a campy/over the top villain, realizes the hand he's been dealt isn't so bad, and in the end, gets what he wants anyway. Starship is still pretty entertaining through its jokes, characters, and songs, but it also feels weird that Starkid leans into these tropes when they would eventually make a much better play by making fun of them. The end result is not bad in the slightest, but it's also nowhere near their best.

#6-A Very Potter Musical-Starkid's first production, and boy, what a start to something wonderful. Every one of their gimmicks and motifs is present in A Very Potter Musical. The use of parody to playfully mock characters and stories they love, making songs that are as funny as they are emotional, and creating characters that work because of their lines and the actors' performances. Oh, and also, it's funny. And it’s not just through a parody angle, like making Cedric be a perfect boy who's always smiling. It's also funny through its jokes that work, even if you ignore the fact that it’s a parody altogether. Case in point, there are these two bits, one involving Voldemort and Beatrix with the other involving Ron and Hermoine, that are written and delivered so well that I was in tears much more than with any other Starkid play. When watching A Very Potter Musical, you'll not only understand how parody works, but you'll also gain an understanding of why Starkid turned out as successful as they did.

#5-The Trail to Oregon-What can I say? I'm a sucker for comedic dysfunctional families. And seeing a family of idiots make their way to Oregon via The Oregon Trail parody? Yeah, that's a win for me. The play may be another family road trip narrative, which some people might get sick of at this point. But because the dynamics and comedic chemistry everyone has with each other are on point, the end result proves that you don't need an original story to tell an entertaining one. Although I will say that out of all of Starkid's productions, The Trail to Oregon has by far the worst ending. Without giving anything away, the play spends way too much time on this one stupid joke that any of the characters could make. Comedy is defined by personalities, as are most things, so making the joke work for anyone is a bad move when this one, in particular, doesn't fit as well for some characters as it would for others. Plus, the finale song "Naked in a Lake" is a really poor choice to cap off this musical. It's catchy, but to me, a finale song should encapsulate everything about the story, characters, and themes. Not paying off a joke that I honestly wouldn't want the payoff for. So while the ending could have used a lot more polish, that doesn't change how The Trail to Oregon is a pretty funny play that I won't mind revisiting when I have the chance.

#4-A Very Potter Sequel-Hey, sometimes a sequel is better than the original. Sure some jokes don't land, and some story beats aren't as impactful as they thought they were (Serious Black's introduction, for example), but there are far more improvements to this play than the last one. The performances are stronger, the jokes are funnier, the music is catchier, and the characters are much more entertaining in this play than in A Very Potter Musical. Especially new additions like Lupin and Lucious Malfoy, who provide great comedy and sublime drama at times. And Umbridge. Sweet Mother of all that is holy, Umbridge. While A Very Potter Sequel never made me laugh to tears as the first play did, twice, Professor Umbridge carries the comedy so well that she surpasses all of that. Plus, on top of it all, this play nails its ending through a bittersweet note that really captures what makes Hogwarts so special to these characters. I always feel like Starkid's plays tend to lose steam during the last few minutes, but A Very Potter Sequel is one of the few instances that it just builds and builds to a perfect ending. A Very Potter Sequel might not always hit the right marks, but the results are just magical when it does get it right.

#3-The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals-This one is pretty clever. The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is one of those stories that manages to be explicitly hilarious yet implicitly disturbing. For instance, people suddenly bursting into perfectly choreographed musical numbers in a world where songs are exclusively diegetic is pretty funny (especially through the characters' reactions to it). However, knowing what happens to these people and why they sing and dance so expertly helps make the whole situation pretty dire. It's an excellent balancing act that not many stories can accomplish. And while The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals leans one way or the other at times, it's still all handled really well. Oh, and also, you know how most people say the villain song is the best one in any musical? Well, technically speaking, nearly every song in The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is the villain song. Including the finale, which is just too brilliant for me not to give a round of applause. If you're a person who unfortunately doesn't like musicals either, I'd say be more than willing to give this one a chance. It's funny, catchy, and if you think of the implications, pretty damn disturbing.

#2-A Very Potter Senior Year-...You know how Avengers: Endgame is a bit of a mess, yet people still love it for how much of a perfect (sort of) finale it is? It's the same regard with A Very Potter Senior Year in my eyes. It's far from a masterpiece, but the many, many solid scenes that cap off this series help make me willing to overlook the mistakes. The characters, callbacks, and overall message about how things end was done so expertly well that I physically can’t hate this one. I can understand how it's more of an ok play when compared to the rest of Starkid's productions, but sometimes, ok is wonderful.

#1-Twisted: An Untold Story of a Royal Vizier-...It's Twisted. Everyone loves Twisted! And how could they not? Everything about this play just screams Starkid at their best. The comedy is uproarious, added with the fantastic delivery of the actors and the characters' personalities. Everyone feels as though they have one step in reality and the other in insanity. This, to me, seems like the best type of character work when going for the parody angle. Parody is about giving slight yet snide remarks toward the work you're mocking, which I feel works best when characters drop the suspension of disbelief audiences have when enjoying such a story. And Twisted definitely nails its satire in not only poking fun at Aladdin but also making jokes towards Disney as a brand. From their movies to their inside jokes to their formulas to even their corporate dealings with Pixar, nothing about Disney is sacred in Twisted. But on top of being funny, Twisted might just be the most successful Starkid has been with telling some really compelling drama. The jokes allow themselves to take a back seat to let serious moments play out, and even comedy is added, it provides more for the experience rather than taking anything away. You see this not only through the actors giving it their all but even through some really gorgeous and heart wrenching musical numbers. Oh, and also, Twisted has the best Starkid soundtrack, featuring songs that are epic, funny, and, as I said, heartbreaking. You cannot get better than this and, if you want to get a friend interested in Starkid as a whole, this might be the play for them. Scheherazade may have a thousand tales, but his one is a tale I wouldn't mind hearing for a thousand nights.

And that's about how I feel about Starkid and each and every one of their plays. Odds are your ranking would be much different from mine, and I'm all for that differing opinions. Feel free to make your own ranking if you want because I'm honestly curious where fans would place these plays above or below others. I'm relatively new to enjoying their work, so I have no idea what the consensus is. I do know one thing, though: If Starkid can still be incredibly entertaining through over ten years of content, then I am excited to see what they can accomplish next in another ten years.

[zkfanworkweek]

ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.  

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

[variousqueerthings]

Time can be rewritten...

Angels In Manhattan, Amy and Rory goodbye. this is a... difficult one to rank. it may or may not make sense. Amy and Rory work better or worse depending on whether you've excised parts of previous seasons. it's kind of a... simple way to go in a sense, but is that good? (and yes, in classic!who sometimes companions would be written out between seasons, but I always assumed M*ffat would try to outdo everyone by being more tragic than anything before)

also this interesting post by @brilliantfantasticgeronimo that at the end talks about laws of time and how and when and why they're broken or upheld in terms of timestreams. things to think about going into this one, but luckily there's a handy-dandy ratings system

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 6/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored): 5/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 3/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 3/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 7/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 6/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 2/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 47/100 (if I can count….)

not the lowest a M*ffat episode's gotten. I think mainly it's just a bit... there. and I cannot help compare it to The God Complex, which is one of the two highest rated episodes of this era and manages much the same thing in a more cohesive way

OBJECTIFICATION: on the whooole considering River Song is in this one, it's mostly okay after the first few minutes

we do get some shit in the beginning: "My lipstick was combat ready and I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at twenty feet" which the Doctor is... into? as a description? he doesn't even know it's River Song at this point, he just likes the description for some reason

but yeah, mostly it's okay. River is a femme fatale in a detective novel called "melody malone" but it's fine on the whole

PLOT-POINT: there's this bit where Amy reads a bit from the book River wrote in the past, and the Doctor is like "Now that you've read this it has to happen," and it turns out that the line (why do you have to break that) is a reference to River's wrist as she tries to get free from an angel

and it's this sort of theme of the episode, it's been read, it must happen, buuuut the Doctor could have just... not broken her wrist, according to this logic, right? it didn't say "and then River Song's wrist was broken" it just said that bit of line (and then "because Amy read it in a book...")

my point here is that then the Doctor gets really pissed off because it means something bad will definitely happen. he reads a chapter title called "Amy's Last Farewell" and it sends him into a rage -- (sidenote, Matt Smith's Doctor is the only Doctor I've seen so far where his kind of anger makes me very uncomfortable, that's subjective, but he comes across as An Angry Man sometimes and I'm not a fan of that) and instead of helping River out of the angel he tells her to figure it out herself in a way that doesn't break her wrist

she pretends she manages it and the Doctor is happy, until he realises she lied, and her wrist is broken and then he fixes it using time energy and she slaps him (we'll get to that in a minute) and Amy treats it as a "you just don't understand Womens" moment and then goes out to comfort River, asking why she lied

TO WHICH River replies: never let him see the damage, and never let him see you age

and this is just. peak River in the grand narrative once again. walking on eggshells around this rather petulant child in terms of the writing, and I'm meant to understand her feelings as anything other than "I was brainwashed as a kid to be obsessed with this guy and now I cannot break out of the programming" (which to be fair could be interesting, if it was done on purpose and not... by M*ffat)

and this also plays into Amy, who has since gotten reading glasses and "lines around her eyes," and it's this thing that's come up a lot in this iteration, that the Doctor has serious Peter Pan syndrome, but it's never been more textual than in this era

point being, Amy is the recipient of this line, but Amy isn't really narratively engaging with this. Amy could have let go of the Doctor ages ago, and in fact in the last episode the Doctor is saying that it's clear he needs her a lot more than the other way around... so why are we bringing this up now? what is it doing here? what is it saying about Amy or even River tbh, who's been in the form of a middle-aged woman most of the time we've known her and also at the end of the episode flat out refuses the Doctor's offer to travel with him for... no real reason

there's just a lot of quite uneven writing here that feels like it's trying to put together last-minute connections that don't belong there, and they're not in service of River or Amy, but to further hammer home that The Doctor Is Basically An Eternal Child Who Feels Bad

also this: When one’s in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve year old one does ones best to minimise the damage (at the Doctor, before he heels her wrist)... fascinating lampshading of all the seemingly very sexy flirting (including in this episode) River and The Doctor do... it's almost enough to make them interesting, in the sense that yeah, sometimes loving the Doctor means a different gender, different skin colour, different external-looking age, short, tall, thin, fat, etcetc

of course it's not really doing much with that, it's just another thrown out there line that feels like it's going "I know I know Matt Smith looks like a baby next to Alex Kingston and they have no chemistry, but stop complaining about it!!!" it's almost deep but not quite

COMPLEXITY: so the thing about the angels is that M*ffat invented them, right? and then he brought them back again, and now he's brought them back for a third time (feat. statue of liberty)

but way back in the very first episode of them a few things were established

. the angels feed on temporal energy -- sending someone back in time to live out their days . Martha and the Doctor are sent back in time, but with the Tardis aren't stuck there . they can be defeated by making them look at each other (or, I imagine but have never seen confirmed, with a sledge-hammer)

I think that's it pretty much. (sidenote, I heard that M*ffat didn't come up with "make them look at each other" and had no idea how to finish the episode, but that it's Gatiss idea? would have to search to confirm, but ooh, not-even-a-conspiracy -- would explain why M*ffat didn't ever bring it back, although he's not brought back his own Stuff on occasion as well)

so does M*ffat continue on the throughline of the angels? well, we know he doesn't because in s5 we saw them moving, which was a shame, considering the fun filmic idea that the camera in s3 functioned as another eye.

ah well, does the apartment make sense?

soooort of? I'm confused about logistics like... food. which may seem pedantic, but I feel like it's one of the many things that makes it hard to suspend my disbelief

I also realised that it sort of hinted that this whole set-up was very bad no good and was making time all squiggly, because of so many temporal mishaps, but it didn't go into it enough for it to feel like it was anything but a quick handwavy explanation for why you should keep suspending your disbelief no matter what happens, and still doesn't explain... the statue of liberty

almost had me with it, thinking this was why the statue of liberty was there because it was meant to be wrong, but actually no it doesn't make sense and worse, it doesn't need to be there, so that's... that

mmm, angel in a graveyard, I guess, but the thing that is a thing. The Thing. is yes, the angels are scary in a sense (so scary to Amy that she thought one of the spooky rooms in The God Complex with angels in them was for her), but arguably (subjectively) they were good villains because of their one-off appearance. do something kinda spooky and never try to explain more, leave it there as a little ooooh

bring it back over and over and you have to start getting into proper lore and you're Thing has to be strong enough to be able to hold that pressure, and to be honest. the angels aren't a good choice for that. they're very unwieldy when you get too close to them as concepts, especially when you start to pile a whole bunch of them into one tower block

New York, city that never sleeps, I get it, single line going "it's because everyone is secretly afraid of spooky things and so an eye has to be open at all times" eh but it's not quite enough

lot of sets for no reason, we could have cut the evil rich guy, he's not important to the story

and of course, the crux... why can't the Doctor just pick up Amy and Rory from the past? written in stone? my guy, you were declared dead for the whole of last season! again, I kind of get what's happening here, but it's kind of "inventing new rules for the plot" rather than established story rules informing the plot

the more you think about this episode, the more it doesn't quite fit together, and the more it feels like one big, overly complicated way of writing Amy out of the story, when she could have been out of the story at any point between here and The God Complex

not every companion leaving has to be a big tragedy, sometimes it's just the sadness of knowing peoples lives are going in a different direction from you, and that's exactly how The God Complex ends

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: so technically yes, this is the last episode of the Ponds so there's a whole bunch of stuff, however I would argue that not much changes one way or another from season 6

Amy and Rory still love each other (The Dalek Asylum was stupid and offered us nothing else on them that actually mattered), they're still planning to leave at some point, and they live a life

moreover that life is no more tragic than, again, The God Complex, because one doesn't really have a sense of the things they've left behind -- yes, Rory has a dad now (seen in two episodes) and he's honestly not a bad character, but he's not really firmly established in any way and might as well not exist, but for a bit of "oh that's nice"

Amy never had parents or family really (fight me M*ffat), and they left Leadworth with all its non-characters and live in London with a further bunch of non-characters

them leaving to live their life in the past is no more ungrounded than the life that was written for them in the present, in all its "I'm a Kissogram no a Model no a... Travel Log Reporter..." undefined lack of glory

also River Song doesn't travel with the Doctor because Alex Kingston can't commit to a whole season and so River Song just flat out turns him down, which is very funny in a sort of "does this make sense for the characters apparent inherent tragedy of not having enough time," kind of way -- should've just not said anything (especially not "one psychopath per Tardis is enough don't you think" SERIOUSLY M*ffat????)

and I think that's the problem in the end. post-God Complex has tried to justify Amy's and Rory continued meaning in this story but it's just not managed to do it. it feels like an overextended coda, with one relatively fun entry (The Power Of Three), and five stories that don't need to be there and give us scraps of things that might be important at some point in the future (such as the Doctor shouldn't travel alone for extended periods of time, but we already know this!)

also Brian... does the Doctor ever tell Brian, whom he had this seemingly deep conversation with about not losing Amy and Rory and bringing them back, that he will never see his son again?

COMPANIONS MATTER: yeah, I guess. I mean the whole book is written by River Song who's semi a companion, Amy and Rory jump off a roof which creates a paradox, which breaks the angels hold on the block (do they wink out of existence or are they still there or???)

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: this episode is more about the Doctor than the Ponds really, although he doesn't do much, just runs around, so...

in some ways we're anti-godlike-doctor in that there's a whole bunch of laws the Doctor suddenly can't break, despite... doing so... previously... notably in fact in the preceding season

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh got nothing. it's about the angels and it does weird shit their lore, but it's a surprisingly small episode on the whole, considering it's a companion's final setpiece -- not that it has to be massive (The God Complex, my preferred final episode for Amy and Rory is also in many ways a simple episode), but it's interesting for M*ffat

“SEXINESS”: so we've got the Doctor being into book!River, an ongoing joke with the word "yowza," a flirting scene when River and the Doctor first reunite (again, fascinatingly undercut by River later saying he "has the face of a twelve year old")

and an early scene where Amy asks Rory if she has lines around her eyes and him being "afraid" of telling her yes

it's not so bad on the whole, shockingly chill considering this is written by M*ffat

INTERNAL WORLD: one of M*ffat's biggest consistent weaknesses is that he eschews the "boring" details of making a place seem real, in favour of a plot just going at breakneck speeds without waiting around to see if it makes sense -- if you keep going very fast, nobody can see behind the curtain (unless you're actually breaking down the episode in which case... ah)

but yeah, they're in New York I guess, that's about it

POLITICS: there's not much in the way of overt politics once again, and honestly not much of anything else either. I guess one can pick up on a lack of things, but tbh there's so much else to pick at in this episode, a lack of interest in pre-WWII New York would have required an interest in world building at the minimum, and obviously that's not a thing in this episode, so much as it's a series of vibes (and you cannot coast on vibes alone forever)

FULL RATING: 47/100 (if I can count….)

So how do we leave the Ponds on the whole? it's got a few arresting scenes, Rory and Amy jumping off a roof together, the Doctor making a sad face while reaching for Amy

the rest of the episode is kind of there. neither the worst M*ffat has written, nor thaaat good. some good concepts that are under-written, a bit of shoddy lore-continuation and world-building

a big question for me at this point is where to end the Amy & Rory plot so that it fits going into the next stage of events (Clara). because The Power Of Three is quite fun, and might function as a coda (acknowledging they have a couple more adventures and then they drift out of the Doctor's life). but definitely, The God Complex is the ending for me