#canio the clown

[rh35211]

Vesti La Giubba or 'Put On Your Costume' in English from Pagliacci

aria is about Canio the Clown discovering he has been betrayed by his wife but nonetheless must don his costume, walk out on stage and play his part regardless as 'the show must go on' as they say and the audience is waiting

Canio sings: "Ridi, Pagliaccio! Sul tuo amore infranto! Ridi del duol, che t'avvelena il cor!" meaning "Laugh, clown, your love is broken! Laugh of the pain, that poisons your heart!" basically meaning 'now is the time to act as if you're feeling something your not'

ridi, pagliaccio! sul tuo amore infranto! ridi del duol, che avvelena il cor! meaning laugh, clown, your love is broken! laugh of the pain, that poisons your heart! basically meaning now is the time to act as if you re feeling something your not

“Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says, "But doctor...I am Pagliacci.”

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Clown husbandry people, I found this guy in my backyard. Who can tell me about him and his care needs?

[dracaelus]

- Halloween (1978) screenplay

- The Joker, a clown doll and the joker once again, dressed as Canio, the clown from the opera "Pagliacci", on season 1, episode 5 of the batman tv series from 1966, his first appearance in the series

- the joker, from Batman The Brave and The Bold (2023), #1

[shiranui7]

The batman: strange minds episode analysis.

Plot summary: SPOILER ALERT

Joker kidnaps detective Yin and locks her in a box that will explode as soon as the time runs out. Batman catches him and brings him back to Arkham where Strange uses a device to enter his mind in search of clues. Batman uses it too, manages to trick Joker into revealing Yin's position and saves her.

EASTER EGGS

Joker fish from Btas.

The gotham statue in his mind is a monument to himself, it reminds me of "the rubber face of comedy" in which he modelled it to look like him.

Joker is usually a strong fighter but he immediately gives up after falling in the small pool. Maybe he has PTSD from his fall into a vat of chemicals, his bad day as he puts it (the moment is even shown in the episode).

"I Pagliacci"is an opera by Leoncavallo and Joker's pizza is called "Lee'n cavalos". Coincidences? The coupon also had a clown on it.

Joker's mind looks like his lair in the episode "the rubber face of comedy"

Chicken!Joker asks Strange why does he cross the road.

Joker stops running away with his loot after seeing Dr. Strange and tries to hurt him. Even when he gets into his mind, Joker makes remarks about how he isn't looking for Yin. It's a red flag for Strange that, after some episodes, is revealed to be a villain. It's highly probable that Strange, since he was so eager to use radical or experimental methods in his therapy, probably did something to earn Joker's hostility (electroshock? Violence?).

Joker's EEG looks like one from an epileptic seizure.

The importance of opera

The theme of opera is always present in the episode. Since the beginning, Joker is shown to be an opera enthusiast and he clearly states that he has always wanted to participate in one. He also tried to steal the costume from "I Pagliacci" and wears it in his mind, where he also sings "vesti la giubba", the most famous part of it. Now, why is he obsessed with this opera, since it's a tragedy and he clearly loves jokes and fun? I have some hypothesis.

"I Pagliacci": plot summary

Canio is a circus leader and discovers that his wife Nedda is betraying him with Silvio, a member of the company, thanks to Tonio, who is jealous of Silvio. Canio is devastated and at the end of the play, he kills Nedda and Silvio.

Now imagine this: Joker is Canio, Yin is Silvio and Batman is Nedda. Joker often flirts with Batman in the series and in the comics so we can suppose  that he has a crush on him or that he simply wants to be the only one in Batman's life. Batman however, has a partner, Yin that, even if she's not romantically involved with him, is a third wheel for Joker. Who is Tonio? Riddler. He knows about Batman and Yin's team up and probably told the other inmates about it. Joker must have felt betrayed by this reveal, so he went after Yin. This is the only episode in which Joker purposely kidnaps a specific, single person for a reason that is not money of twisted fun: this is revenge. If we compare the opera to the plot, Joker discovered Batman's new partner and got jealous, so he planned to kill her (Silvio) to figuratively stab Batman (Nedda) in the heart. After failing, he is seen crying alone in his cell, like Canio did when he discovered the betrayal.

Why did I come up with this idea?

Joker says that he needed a costume and a female character. In that moment the camera zooms on Batman, who is listening outside the asylum. Is he the character he wanted, Nedda?

Joker is usually called freak, monster or clown, he is not treated as a human being and in "Vesti la giubba" Canio says that he is not a man, just a clown, made for people's amusement (Joker's goal). Joker is probably trying to express his inner turmoil caused by his own bad day and by Batman "cheating on him".

The theme of puppetry and theatrics is recurrent : there's a scene in which Joker controls some puppets and then Batman himself.

Joker swallowed Batman whole 😅

Joker cries at the end and this never happens when his usual plans are foiled. He was probably heartbroken.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

[opera-ghosts]

OTD in Music History: Tenor Enrico Caruso (1873 - 1921) -- arguably the single most famous and beloved operatic tenor of all time -- is born in Naples, Italy. Over the span of a highly-celebrated 25 year professional career, Caruso sang to great acclaim at major opera houses all across Europe and the Americas, and appeared in a wide array of roles drawn from the Italian and French operatic repertoire. He sang more than 850 times with the New York Metropolitan Opera alone (both at the Met and on tour). One of the first major singing talents to be commercially recorded, Caruso released approximately 250 commercial recordings between 1902 and 1920 -- earning millions of dollars, and becoming the first true musical superstar of the modern recording era, in the process. Caruso also appeared in two (silent) motion pictures. In 1918, he played a dual role in "My Cousin" for Paramount Pictures, which included a sequence depicting him on stage performing one of his most notable roles: Canio the clown, who sings the famous aria "Vesti la giubba" from Ruggero Leoncavallo's (1857 - 1919) hit opera, "Pagliacci" (1892). The following year, Caruso also played a character called Cosmo in "The Splendid Romance." Producer Jesse Lasky paid Caruso $100,000 each to appear in these two efforts -- but "My Cousin" flopped at the box office, and "The Splendid Romance" was apparently never even released, and is now considered to be lost. When Caruso died suddenly of peritonitis at the age of just 48, it was a cause for international mourning. The King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III (1869 - 1947), opened the Royal Basilica of the Church of San Francesco di Paola for Caruso's funeral, which was attended by tens of thousands of people. Caruso's embalmed body was then preserved in a glass sarcophagus at Del Pianto Cemetery in Naples and displayed for nearly a decade so that mourners could continue to come and pay their respects... PICTURED: One of the many lovely swiftly-executed caricatures that Caruso (also a talented visual artist) accomplished over the years. This example is a small and rather mischievous-looking self-portrait, which he signed and dated to London in 1901.

[fredborges98]

Pavarotti - Vesti La Giubba - Legendado em Português

A ária é frequentemente considerada uma das mais comoventes do repertório operístico da época. A dor de Canio é retratada na ária e exemplifica toda a noção de “palhaço trágico”: sorrindo por fora mas chorando por dentro. Isso ainda é exibido hoje, já que o motivo do palhaço geralmente apresenta uma lágrima pintada escorrendo pela bochecha do artista.

As gravações da ária de Enrico Caruso, de 1902, 1904 e 1907, estiveram entre os discos mais vendidos da era das 78 rpm e alcançaram mais de um milhão de vendas.

Esta ária é frequentemente usada na cultura popular e tem sido apresentada em muitas interpretações, menções e paródias, e muitas vezes é escrita incorretamente como "guibba" em vez de "giubba" em muitas gravações.

Vesti la giubba" (italiano: [ˈvɛsti la ˈdʒubba], "Coloque a fantasia", muitas vezes referida como "On With the Motley", da tradução original de 1893 de Frederic Edward Weatherly) é uma ária de tenor da ópera de Ruggero Leoncavallo de 1892 Pagliacci. "Vesti la giubba" é cantada no final do primeiro ato, quando Canio descobre a infidelidade de sua esposa, mas mesmo assim deve se preparar para sua atuação como o palhaço Pagliaccio porque "o show tem que continuar".

Assim ele canta:( Italiano)

Atto! Mentre sei in delirio, Non so più cosa dico, o cosa faccio! Eppure è necessario. Forza te stesso! Bah! Sei almeno un uomo? Sei un pagliaccio! Indossa il costume e incipriati il ​​viso. La gente paga e vuole ridere qui. E se Arlecchino ti ruba Colombina, ridi, clown, e tutti applaudiranno! Trasforma la tua angoscia e le tue lacrime in scherzi, il tuo dolore e i singhiozzi in un sorrisetto, Ah! Ridi, pagliaccio, al tuo amore spezzato! Ridi del dolore che ti avvelena il cuore!

Inglês.

Act! While in delirium,

I no longer know what I say,

or what I do!

And yet it's necessary. Force yourself!

Bah! Are you even a man?

You are a clown!

Put on your costume and powder your face.

The people are paying, and they want to laugh here.

And if Harlequin steals away your Columbina,

laugh, clown, and all will applaud!

Turn your distress and tears into jokes,

your pain and sobs into a smirk, Ah!

Laugh, clown,

at your broken love!

Laugh at the grief that poisons your heart!

Em português:

Agir! Enquanto em delírio,

Já não sei o que digo,

ou o que eu faço!

E ainda assim é necessário. Force-se!

Bah! Você é mesmo um homem?

Você é um palhaço!

Vista sua fantasia e passe pó no rosto.

As pessoas estão pagando e querem rir aqui.

E se Harlequin roubar sua Columbina,

ria, palhaço, e todos vão aplaudir!

Transforme sua angústia e lágrimas em piadas,

sua dor e soluça em um sorriso malicioso, Ah!

Ria, palhaço,

no seu amor quebrado!

Ria da dor que envenena seu coração!

A história de Pierrot, Colombina e Arlequim é uma sátira social que se baseia em um triângulo amoroso entre três personagens da Commedia dell'Arte italiana, do século XVI:

Pierrot

O padeiro da casa, o mais pobre dos servos e apaixonado por Colombina, mas que não tem coragem de declarar seu amor. É representado com roupas brancas e detalhes pretos, e uma lágrima desenhada abaixo dos olhos.

Colombina

A aia do dono da casa, que vive dividida entre o amor por Pierrot e a paixão por Arlequim.

Arlequim

Um empregado esperto, preguiçoso e insolente que rouba beijos e conquista Colombina. É representado com uma roupa de losangos, que influenciou os palhaços de todo o mundo.A história se popularizou e inspira fantasias de carnaval em todo o mundo. Os personagens surgiram na Commedia dell'Arte, um teatro popular encenado nas ruas de Veneza para o público que não tinha acesso aos grandes teatros. E

Arlequina

Escrita como uma anti-heroína, hoje pertence à trindade das mais icônicas personagens femininas do universo de Gotham City, ao lado de Mulher Gato e Hera Venenosa. O trio já formou uma gangue nos quadrinhos conhecida como Gotham City Sirens (Sereias de Gotham), que teve uma série em quadrinhos com 26 edições (2009-2011)

Arlequina é frequentemente cúmplice e companheira amorosa do vilão Coringa, o qual ela conheceu enquanto trabalhava como psicóloga no Asilo Arkham, onde o Coringa era paciente. E conta também no filme Esquadrão Suicida e Aves de Rapina.

O reboot da Arlequina a partir de Os Novos 52, garantiu-lhe uma série própria, longe das histórias do Batman e do Coringa. A partir de Os Novos 52, Arlequina foi retratada como uma anti-heroína, agindo como justiceira ao invés de criminosa. O sucesso garantiu a renovação da série no DC Rebirth, com a primeira edição de Harley Quinn Rebirth #1 (agosto de 2016), vendendo 400,000 mil cópias. Para os analistas, as altas vendas foram influenciadas pelo marketing pesado do filme Esquadrão Suicida.

Asilo Arkham.

No universo ficcional das histórias de Batman, o asilo foi fundado pelo psiquiatra Amadeus Arkham em honra de sua finada mãe, Elizabeth Arkham. Antes de abrir o asilo, em 1 de abril de 1921, a esposa e filha de Amadeus foram estupradas e mutiladas por Martin "Mad Dog" Hawkins, um criminoso insano. Quando o asilo abriu suas portas, Hawkins foi um dos primeiros internos. O doutor Arkham cuidou dele por 6 meses, porém o eletrocutou no aniversário do assassinato de sua família, em 1922. No fim, o próprio Amadeus se tornou insano e foi internado, morrendo no asilo.Jeremiah Arkham é o neto de Amadeus e por muitos anos foi diretor, realizando reformas na estrutura do edifício do Arkham e no tratamento "ameno" com os internos, que depois descobriu-se tratar de uma farsa. Foi descoberto que Jeremiah levava vida dupla, como Máscara Negra,formando uma gangue de vilões como Pinguim e o Espantalho.

Dentre os internos pertencentes ao universo Batman,famosos e nem tão famosos: 

O Coringa, Duas-Caras, Pinguim, Dr. Hugo Strange, Espantalho, Hera Venenosa, Arlequina, Ventríloquo, Victor Zsasz, Máscara Negra, Cara-de-Barro, Chapeleiro Louco, Charada, Senhor Frio, Crocodilo, Ra's Al Ghul e Barbara Kean. Outros internos famosos são: Doutor Destino, Cheetah (Barbara Minerva) e Jean Loring (ex-mulher de Eléktron, assassina de Sue Dibny em Crise de Identidade).

"Desconhecidos": "Jane Doe", "Junkyard Dog", "Doodlebug", "Lunkhead", "Death Rattle", "Humpty Dumpty". Também, nos anos 1940, estavam o interno que esculpiu uma antiga lâmpada de trem a partir duma antiga lâmpada chinesa, dando origem a Lanterna de Alan Scott, o primeiro Lanterna Verde.

Conto tudo isso para destrinchar e separar fantasia e realidade.

Será que realmente sabemos separar fantasia de realidade?

A Teoria da Conspiração ou da Contemplação?

Por: Fred Borges

A maioria dos cientistas cognitivos veem a teorização da conspiração como tipicamente não patológica, dado que a crença infundada na conspiração é comum em culturas históricas e contemporâneas, e pode surgir de tendências humanas inatas para fofocas,mentiras, grupo coesão e religião.Relaciona-se à apofenia, ou seja, fenômeno mental no qual as pessoas tendem a formar ou reconhecer conexões a partir de dados totalmente aleatórios, chegando a conclusões a partir de dados inconclusivos.

Exemplos não faltam: a negação da AIDS pelo governo da África do Sul, motivada por teorias da conspiração, causou cerca de 330 000 mortes por AIDS, QAnon e a negação sobre os resultados das eleições presidenciais dos Estados Unidos de 2020 levaram ao Ataque ao Capitólio dos Estados Unidos, enquanto houver a crença em teorias da conspiração sobre alimentos geneticamente modificados somos " guiados" a termos "governos da Zâmbia" rejeitando a ajuda alimentar,por achar que se tratava de um " veneno ideológico" e durante uma fome real milhares vieram a óbito, numa época em que três milhões de pessoas no país estavam sofrendo de fome.

As teorias da conspiração, antes limitadas a públicos sem importância, tornaram-se comuns nos meios de comunicação de massa, na Internet e nas redes sociais, emergindo como um fenômeno cultural do final do século XX e início do século XXI. Eles estão espalhados por todo o mundo e são frequentemente reforçados, alguns até mesmo mantidos pela maioria da população e governos quando acham conveniente ou apropriado.

As intervenções para reduzir a ocorrência de crenças conspiratórias incluem a manutenção de uma sociedade aberta e a melhoria das habilidades de pensamento analítico do público em geral.( A propósito, nessas eleições não esqueça de levar o seu "cérebro" junto com seu documento de identificação com foto).

Em 2013, o editor da revista Reason, Jesse Walker, desenvolveu uma tipologia histórica de cinco tipos básicos de teorias conspiratórias:

O "Inimigo Externo" baseia-se em figuras diabólicas e se mobiliza fora da comunidade tramando contra ela.

O "Inimigo Interno" compreende os conspiradores escondidos dentro do país, indistinguíveis dos cidadãos comuns.

O "Inimigo de Cima" envolve pessoas poderosas que manipulam o sistema para seus próprios benefícios.

O "Inimigo de Baixo" apresenta as classes mais baixas preparadas para romperem as suas limitações e subverter a ordem social.

As "Conspirações Benevolentes" são forças angelicais que trabalham nos bastidores para melhorar o mundo e ajudar as pessoas.

Segundo um estudo britânico,uma pessoa conta 3 mentiras durante uma simples conversa de 10 minutos. Há estudos que garantem que mentimos cerca de 200 vezes por dia.Certa figura política declara: “foi no meu governo que criamos a lei contra a lavagem de dinheiro”, “foi no meu governo que criamos o COAF”, “quando fui presidente, 90% das categorias recebiam aumento acima da inflação” (foram 18%). E confesso: “certa vez eu disse em Paris, que no Brasil havia 25 milhões de crianças passando fome nas ruas” (e riu de si mesmo). Sem falar na maior de suas mentiras: “não há alma mais honesta do que eu neste país”.

Se um presidente pode mentir de maneira descarada, quem pode repreender o resto da população?

Sem exemplo, não há educação!

Entre a Teoria da Conspiração e a mentira existe a ignorância e a superficialidade da maioria da população, ignorância que pode ser descrita como a desinformação ou falta de dados fidedignos de fontes acreditadas, críveis ou credíveis,se ou não informação, sem conhecimento ou não conhecimento, inteligência ou não inteligência para tomada de decisão baseada em fatos.

Quantas pessoas físicas ou jurídicas de tão desacreditadas ou incrédulas com o Brasil já trocaram de país? Ou simplesmente encerraram suas atividades, ou nem aqui colocaram os pés? Descrédito, desacreditado, corre uma nova Teoria Conspiratória: O Plano Collor II que irá estatizar empresas ou confiscar o dinheiro da população.Outra: Que as urnas eletrônicas são uma maquiagem para a realidade dos votos.Outra: Que o governo ou os políticos por natureza são bons, ou seja roubam mas fazem! Outra: Que existe uma grande quantidade de votos comprados.Outra: Que o narcotráfico já "tomou" o governo atual, comprando as suas principais lideranças.

Pelo sim ou pelo não, melhor guardar dinheiro no colchão? Fazer um curso superior no formato EAD-mente que optar fazer presencialmente? O quê,como, quando fazer se não acreditamos no próprio país?

Acreditar, ter fé, esperanças só e somente só em Deus? E ser um " Ateu" para o restante da vida, ou seja, tudo?

Entre o sim ou o não se implanta há muito o ceticismo, as dúvidas, as questões, para não se iludir, não sonhar, não imaginar, não criar, não fantasiar.

Pelo sim ou pelo não uma bela imaginação, fantasia, ilusão nos faz sobreviver.As mentiras irão continuar, a fé daqueles que acreditam no amanhã, em Deus, no triângulo amoroso entre Pierrot, Colombina e Arlequim, ou Coringa e Arlequina, no herói, no antiheroi,no mito, nos variados ritos, rituais, etapas, escalas, degraus, mapas mentais,culturais e no final morrer de dor, dor da paixão, da Paixão de Cristo, de Davi e Golias,dos profetas, dos profetas das "BETS", do sonho de riqueza fácil, de homens e mulheres fáceis, que o difícil, sofrido, suado, trabalhoso, árduo, sangrento,cristão é que o dinheiro não traz felicidade,que viver no campo traz felicidade, que felicidade é a família tradicional e monogâmica,que freiras são incapazes de ministrar missas, e tudo o mais daquilo que se acredita ou se desacredita em si, no outro, na alma, no corpo, e assim somos um misto frio, quente, monólito, misto pedra,misto carne, misto alma e acreditamos no AMOR superando a DOR, na TEORIA NARCISA, PATOLÓGICA,OPORTUNA, CONVENIENTE da ESPERANÇA DE VIVER, pois essa é a ÚLTIMA que MORRE e isso é um FATO irrefutavel!

[freddielurkury]

sorry to barge in but as some kinda Freddie "expert" I wanna mention his frequent use of harlequin costumes (this is the basis of my grad studies rn) and also slide in with this quote from Philip Auslander's "The Physical Performance of Popular Music"

"Living on My Own" music video (1985)

(Live in Dallas, I think 1977?)

he would often use harlequinesque flexibility while performing like i literally have that IWTV scene saved to my computer already because of how much it reminded me of his performance style & the parallels are insane lol

I'm not going too far into it because I have another paper to write but like "Scaramouche" is a dell'arte clown & "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a harlequinade cos it's the first ever music video of that style, kinda silly, super operatic, magical transformations connecting unrelated scenes, and the motherfuckers used actual glitter canons when I saw em last year: (from Wikipedia). also I don't remember my exact source because it's 2h30 AM but I will find it sometime, harlequin usually prompts the harlequinade by booping a mf on the head with his big old stick (The Gun) also Freddie was into fairies lol the twin fairies in the Queen logo are supposed to represent him even tho the whole thing is zodiac based and idk if twin fairies ever meant Virgo?

Originally a mime (silent) act with music and stylised dance, the harlequinade later employed some dialogue, but it remained primarily a visual spectacle. Early in its development, it achieved great popularity as the comic closing part of a longer evening of entertainment, following a more serious presentation with operatic and balletic elements. An often elaborate magical transformation scene, presided over by a fairy, connected the unrelated stories, changing the first part of the pantomime, and its characters, into the harlequinade. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, the harlequinade became the larger part of the entertainment, and the transformation scene was presented with increasingly spectacular stage effects. The harlequinade lost popularity towards the end of the 19th century and disappeared altogether in the 1930s, although Christmas pantomimes continue to be presented in Britain without the harlequinade.

Freddie often used a Pierrot/Canio "Pagliacco" persona to sing about shit like loneliness within his public persona (in "It's a Hard Life" (music video subtext & "Leoncavallo Vesti la giubba" quote at the begining) and The Platters' "The Great Pretender" (text & music video subtext) also brought together probably by Stevie Wonder/Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' "Tears of a Clown"

(the costumes from "It's a Hard Life" music video are super fucking like. Shakespearean theatre kids of the worst kind, ugly glam camp, and the audience is 18th century French nobles-coded, the calm introspective verses have him standing relatively still under a spotlight and then the higher energy chorus is in the same room as the crowd with tons of super performed harlequinesque gymnastics)

"The Great Pretender" lyrics and Freddie in the music video emerging from behind various different constructed cardboard cutouts of him as an "icon" (there's more but the main one here is "It's a Hard Life," "I Want to Break Free" synth solo, and the crown staff & cloak from 1986 Magic tour)

"Tears of a Clown" lyrics are legit the main thing that pops up when you google "the great pretender pagliacci" together anyways researching Freddie Mercury through the narrative presented by Queen is very much an "odyssey of recollection" lol, especially when working with interviews (none of us have access to "The Real Freddie Mercury" and none of these people are reliable narrators)

hi! i read one of yours asks where you say rockstar lestat isnt real real lestat. which is funny, because i never felt that difference, i never felt the rockstar "persona". i saw it as just lestat rockstaring in the books. he would never pretend to be something other than himself, i think. he can be quite the chamaleon and still be genuinely lestat, he is an ACTUOR in his veins afterall lol. so im curious about your view if you can elaborate.

you think in the show they are going for this and make a rockstar persona? because i did notice in the teaser he seems too fashionable, i always saw in the books him doing and being his own thing and not in a trendsetter way. just like "lets try this other thing out". i think he never cared about trends or being on top of the wave. lestat owned the rockstar, not the other way around, if makes any sense. he calls himself the outcast. and he called it his freddie mercury moment in the books, and in my opinion freddie too wasnt too bothered with what was happening around in the music business or being the top and just loved music and.. opera!

i hope they dont go with the bored soul, chaotic, sex and torment, groupies everywhere kind of trope. i mean he is much more alive than that, much more. rolin named dr frank n furter and also freddie! come on! lestat is too busy loving life and how poetic it can be to just enter the stereotypical vortex of the "rockstar" motif.

this started with curiousity and then i realized certain things that puzzled me. i hope i dont sound negative, sorry if i did. but i gotta say besides this, i love that song and i love the inspo daniel and rolin named, like books, musicals and music. but i really hope they dont go stereotypical rockstar tour with lestat.

i hope i managed to make you understand what i mean. all of this just because i saw the teaser too fashionable ahhaha.

All good, what I meant was that Lestat is sitting there in his make-up, and his costume... and that is a deliberate "persona". I don't mean that he is not real (that's why I said "real real"^^) there, but it is a facet, a mask.

Oh, he does have this in himself, this is very much an expression of himself - but this is probably not how he would hit the sofa to watch a movie with Louis.:) That's what I meant.

I for one cannot wait to see all the facets they will show us - and I bet the more colorful, and vibrant parts of the documentary will provide a very welcome counterpoint to the dark parts of TVL that are about to come up.

Re the fashion... I mean, in later books Lestat very much knows about style and how to clothe himself in stylish, sleek clothes. I personally cannot wait (and hope and pray) we get the table-axe moment. Like... can you imagine....

[concatenationart]

The band walking out to Vesti La Giubba from Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci tonight, on Danger Days night, has really got me feeling something. That opera is about a commedia dell'arte actor who finds out Nedda, his wife (who also plays the wife of his character, Pagliaccio, in their troupe), is cheating on him and he ends up killing her and her lover on stage. Canio sings this aria right after he realises Nedda is cheating on him. He is holding his clown costume, putting on his clown makeup and singing 'you have to force yourself- you're not a man, you're a clown, let them laugh at your tears and distress.' The climax of the aria, the line Gerard walked out to, is 'ridi, Pagliaccio, sul tuo amore infranto!'- laugh, clown, at your broken love!

The whole idea of having to put away whatever earth shattering things are happening to you to please a crowd is so relevant to the band, and especially to the Danger Days era right? More than that, the idea that your personal tragedies are a spectacle that people will enjoy and pay to see, regardless of how tormenting they are for you, is something that comes up in a lot of MCR and MCR adjacent stuff- Gerard writing 'we're just bored you're still alive,' for example.

Anyway I love you MCR and I love you intertextuality

[screechingnebula]

The Pierrot, Mikey and the Reaper

Tl; dr : Manjiro is the Pierrot, Invincible Mikey is his mask and Dark Impulse! Mikey is the Reaper

Pierrot is a word used for Clowns in Japanese. Clowns represent happiness, fun and making others happy but they also represent sadness, pain, tears and hiding your true emotions behind a SMILE. Clowns put on makeup and masks and hide their true selves, their pain to keep others happy; Manjiro constantly hides his true self, his true emotions, his pain behind a SMILE.

The fake smile to hide his true self, his pain, made Takemichy realize that he needs help, and made him go back to help him. 

The one with the fake smile and with his head always held high is Mikey, the Invincible Mikey who stays strong for others, for Toman. He is Manjiro's mask who hides his pain.

“Pierrot” is also often used to show the reality and ironies of the society. Isn’t that what’s going on? We were introduced to Mikey as a crime lord but then turns out he is just kid. He is the “strongest” but also the most vulnerable. Everything suggests that he is holding onto so much pain but is standing strong with a smile for others sake. All the kids are shown to be all strong and enjoying life only for us to realize that all their lives are actually fucked up in different ways. 

Book: The Subject Without Nation. Don’t take this too seriously coz I randomly found the book and don’t know what it is really about.

Manjiro probably represents the “Sad Clown”.

Often found among troops and superhero teams, the Sad Clown is the wisecracking funnyman who copes with his hopeless position with humor — usually of the groan-inducing kind. He is totally insecure at heart and keeps on running his mouth to fool himself into thinking he's confident or to get people to like him.

In the most tragic cases though, people do actually find them genuinely charming and likable because of their humor and like being around them. This is usually of little comfort to the Sad Clowns, whose insecurities cause them to fear that people only really like the "Clown" part of them, and so they do their damnedest to always be the "Clown" in public, but bury and suppress the "Sad" side of them as deeply as possible, because they are afraid that people would like them less if they were to find out about it.

This character tends to make Dude, Not Funny! jokes at inappropriate times to cope. But he is never deliberately a Monster Clown.

I’m not sure but “Canio” is a “Sad Clown” which is said to have turned into a “Monster Clown” because of the immense pain he was feeling. He killed his own wife and her lover when he found her cheating on him. Monster Clowns are just that a monster, scary and violent.

I think we can surely say now that dark impulses are a result of immense pain. South told us that he was in pain back in chapter 228 (Thankyou @hemorrhagia ​ for the official translations. You are a savior).

So what happened in 262 was bound to happen because Manjiro’ s pain is becoming intolerable, something he can’t keep under the wraps anymore. He is scared and completely alone.

I know we were told that Hanma is the Reaper and Kisaki is the Pierrot but I think Wakui gave us that so we don’t notice the actual Reaper and Pierrot. And it fucking worked.

Before Bonten, we were told that Kisaki is the reason things keep going bad but then we realized that it was actually because of Mikey. Kisaki was not the one putting on fake smiles and making others happy, that was Mikey. Hanma is called the Reaper but he isn’t the one killing people, that’s again Mikey. So both Hanma and Kisaki call themselves the Reaper and Pierrot but neither of them do what the title suggests but Mikey does all of that without using any of those terms because he doesn’t talk.

Hanma starts talking about the Reaper and Pierrot at the end of chapter 205, volume 23 and since chapter 207, volume 24, the story is completely focused on Mikey. Volume 24 inside cover is Mikey surrounded by skulls sitting on a throne which is his bike. The image on the left in the beginning is Mikey in chapter 109 asking Takemichy to scold him like an older brother, in the middle is him giving a fake smile to assure Takemichy that he is going to be fine in chapter 200 and on the right is dark impulse! Mikey from chapter 232. Notice the difference in how he looks in those images. They are same yet different. Manjiro looks like a child, Mikey looks fake, DI! Mikey looks like a ghost. 

Manjiro is the Pierrot who is in pain and needs help, Mikey is the mask who is hiding the pain with the smile and Dark Impulse! Mikey is the Reaper about to kill South. When the mask breaks voluntarily because he feels safe, we see Manjiro, the Pierrot who was hiding. This is when he starts looking younger like a child (chapter 109) and asks for help. When Mikey breaks involuntarily because the pain becomes intolerable, we see Dark Impulse! Mikey, the reaper. 

We were with Mikey this whole time and it was nice and comforting, now we are dealing with the Reaper and its scary and we are yet to meet the Pierrot properly which its going to be painful.

[buildinggsr]

I bumped into this moment some time ago. I never noticed it before, and some thoughts sprouted from it. I thought I’d write one of my rambling about my strange theories. I should have kept translating the rollercoaster fic but I wrote this instead (I’m at chapter 7 by the way)

Facts to be taken into consideration: we are at the end of episode 3.01 "Revenge is best served cold" now and Grissom gave the plant™ to Sara in episode 2.15 "Burden of proof". So, plants are already something to them, at the moment. Also keep in mind that "[i]n Roman mythology, Flora is the goddess of flowers: a symbol of beauty, youth and new beginnings. The word ‘flora’ identifies the natural realm of plants and flowers."

So -

We see Sara entering the office and being intrigued by the plant that Grissom is arranging on the table. No wonder, she likes vegetation. The moment she enters the room, Grissom raises his eyes from the plant and has the time to notice Sara's reaction. It's when their eyes meet. The camera lets us appreciate Grissom’s reaction: when Sara moves her look upwards from the plant and stares at him in a sort of inquiring way, Grissom's eyes widens a little, his look softens, his mouth moves in a restrained smile. His body seems to acquire a prouder posture. "Here my present for you, again," he seems to say.

They must have talked about the original plant™, at the time of "Burden of proof". One doesn't receive a plant from Grissom and just goes “oh, ok, great, let’s move on”. To say the least, they go to him and say "thank you", right? Even more so when the receiver of the plant is Sara. It must have been a very cute moment to see ― I imagine it happening in an isolated place (the locker room or the car while driving to a scene, maybe), they both trying to keep tenderness under control, unsure about the words to say, afraid at the same time to say too much and too little.

Now, months away from that moment, unexpectedly Grissom's "Here my present for you, again" is dropped. I like to think that Grissom decides to make such a scenographic presentation for his explanation of the case on purpose. To please her.

At the beginning of the episode, upon hearing Hank tell Warrick to say hello to Sara, we see Grissom turning to Hank in a sort of “feed someplace else, boor” way. He perceives, maybe for the very first time, that Sara is having something going on with that primitive. Because of that, on the crime scene that he, Warrick and Sara are working, we see him sharply tell her to take one of the chairs of the poker game to the lab ― so she'll stay away from Hank. For the first part of the episode, we see Grissom being kind of apart from Sara: despite her keeping invading his personal space, they works almost always separately, we see them in a scene together only few times and he almost never interacts with her (when he doesn’t shoot her meaningful and lost looks). At one moment, we see him working in solitude listening to an aria. Here, it seems to me, something changes in his mind.

The aria Grissom is listening to when Sara arrives in the room is not a casual one. It's from Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci", an opera revolving around jealousy. The piece of music of the scene, in particular, is “Vesti la giubba” (“Put on the costume”). It is sung at the end of Act I by Canio, who is preparing for the comedy as Pagliaccio despite having just discovered his wife Nedda's betrayal. This aria represents the concept of the "tragic clown," who sustains his comic role without showing any upset, but inwardly experiences a personal drama - which is exactly what Grissom is living at the moment. While he’s there in his melancholic solitude, Sara arrives and stops the music right when Canio is asking himself if he’s even a man, trying to muster courage and enter the stage (instead of just being just a clown  ― on the stage and in his personal life). Grissom has not seen her arrive, he’s focused on his papers, and it's only when the music stops that he sees Sara. It's now, I like to think, that something inside his mind changes, now that he's on the edge of facing his destiny, about to renounce to happiness once for all, brave like that part of Titanic's crew who in the bowels of the ship kept the machines working until the last moment before the sinking. 

Sara must have appeared beautiful in his eyes - I mean more beautiful than usual. Indeed, throughout the episode she looks really great, fresh, happy. Cheerful. And that makes Grissom's heart bleed. But, all of a sudden, he might have realized that the smile now adorning her face is a different smile. One of those shy smiles she shoots him when she feels embarrassed. Embarrassed because of the feeling that keeps them bound one to the other since they first met. 

Let's get back to the beginning of the episode for a moment, just before Grissom implicitly sends Sara to the lab. Warrick notices that one of the chairs he's examining with ALS is dirt with what he thinks is urine and asks confirmation of it to Grissom. He confirms that and explains, "Game like this (poker), leaving the table early could be perceived as a sign of weakness." It's possible that when he finds Sara in front of him more beautiful than it has ever been, Grissom applies this rule to his relationship with her: he decides to not leave the table too early, he decides to fight for her girl. He's indeed a man, not a clown. 

In this term, it's curious what he says to Sara when she, upon stopping the music, asks him what he's got. "Suspicious waitress," he replies. It's the reference to something suspicious, something like a "lie" that strikes me. The waitress is lying, if we're talking about the case; but if we render the sentence in a broader and general meaning, a woman is saying or acting falsely. These are the very first words Grissom says to Sara in that scene, "a woman is probably saying or acting falsely". Just like in the case of the statement about the game of poker, let's now apply this new sentence to GSR. The only woman that really is in Grissom's life is Sara. So we might say that Grissom says "the waitress is lying" but he means "you (Sara) are lying. All your cheerfulness is just a façade, the smiles you throw around are just the show of a clown. The very smile you just made now, in this room populated just by you and me, so sweetly and timidly happy ― this is your real smile. And you just made it to me."

It's as if the words of the Leoncavallo's song now shift "owner": they could be applied to Grissom at the beginning of the scene, but could be applied to Sara now. Sara is the one mustering courage to step away from Grissom, despite her feelings ― despite their feelings. She's mustering courage to establish a new relationship with another man, since the one with Grissom seems impossible to achieve. She, like in the opera, exemplifies the entire notion of the "tragic clown": smiling on the outside but crying on the inside.  

And we finally arrive at the "Here my present for you, again" moment. Given all that was said before, Grissom interprets this new plant as a means to make Sara remember the secret feeling they’re sharing for each other and make Hank vanish from her mind in any shape or form. As though this new plant could mark a new beginning. 

I like to think that it works, in some part ― at the moment, at least. I like to think that in front of the new plant they share a moment of secret intimacy and, at the memory of when they talked about the original plant™, their hearts melt a bit with tenderness. I like to think that when Grissom's explanation concludes, Warrick leaves and they are left alone with all their emotions cradling their hearts and minds. Maybe she tells him something about the plant he doesn't know. Maybe they talk about botany. Science has always kept them together and so now botany becomes the spark igniting a genuine and bright discussion. One of those discussions where they feel free: science is a neutral contest ground, personal matters are not directly involved and this makes them enjoy the discussion unhindered. 

Maybe, just like at their first meeting, during a discussion about anthropology, Sara was the one stalling trying to get the nerve to ask Grissom to dinner, now, during a discussion about botany, Grissom is the one stalling trying to get the nerve to ask her to dinner. 

I like to think that the plant finally ends in Sara's hands. Maybe she asks what it will be of it and Grissom says that she can keep it. "Here's my present to you again," he means.

Alas, we all know what follows in the evolution of the series, and the cold shower Grissoms receives in the following episode. But most importantly, we all know how the story finally ends.  🥰

I probaby missed a lot of points, but I hope you enjoyed the typos at least

[dukeswonderousmenagerie]

@dagmartoons wanted a part two of this so here’s one I thought of

Ok so basically Lupin still in a depressive dissociative state somehow makes it to Paris

He’s dazed, what have you, slightly battered, barely has any money in his pockets, so he’s just wandering the streets.

But you know when your high/disoriented, you do things you don’t really realize your doing.

Well in lupins case it’s wandering the streets

Until he comes to a building

The Palais Garnier, Frances oldest opera house

With whatever money he has in his pocket, he throws it at the ticket booth and goes inside, not even bothering to get a ticket

Inside, it takes some effort on his part, but he manages to find the Auditorium and there’s already a play going on

It’s close to the final act

And as he sits there, the final song of the act starts

And the song that plays is Vesti la giubba, an Italian tenor aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera Pagliacci

Now the reason I chose this song in particular (even if odds are it’s being sung is French) is because of the premise

"Vesti la giubba" is sung at the conclusion of the first act, when Canio, the main character, discovers his wife's infidelity, but must nevertheless prepare for his performance as Pagliaccio the clown because as the saying goes "the show must go on"

The aria is often regarded as one of the most moving in the operatic repertoire of the time. The pain of Canio is portrayed in the aria and exemplifies the entire notion of the "tragic clown": smiling on the outside but crying on the inside.

And what do we know of Lupin

He’s often a funny guy, the “class clown” but even HE has his issues, issues he never really lets anyone in on because as the saying goes once again The Show must go on

But I thought of something even more sad The part of the song I always picture this scene being in is 1:40

Now the translation for this scene is

Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto in una smorfia il singhiozzo e 'l dolor, Ah!

Ridi, Pagliaccio, col tuo amore infranto! Ridi del duol, che t'avvelena il cor

Turn your distress and tears into jokes, your pain and sobs into a smirk, Ah!

Laugh, clown, at your broken love! Laugh at the grief that poisons your heart!

Basically in the song, a clown sings about how it's time to put on his clown costume and give the audience what they want, even though his wife has just broken his heart by being unfaithful and the last thing he wants to do is laugh and act the fool.

Now just picture Lupin as this exact part of the song plays, sitting just in the middle of the auditorium, still in a slightly dissociative state, still glass eyed with bags under his eyes, his hair a mess, his suit a mess.

But he’s just staring as this guy sings, listening to the words cause he can understand them, he knows what they mean, and you think he’s far off into space at this point cause of how walleyed he is with his thousand yard stare

But nope he understands

cause he’s crying. . .his eyes are wide but he has tears going down his cheeks, realizing how much his life has gone to shit, but all he can do is grin and bear it cause that’s showbiz baby, entertain the masses as your life falls apart

Have a favorite angsty Lupin idea??

Oh boy buckle up buttercup

cause there’s one I’ve been discussing with a few buddies of mine having to do with PT2 of my Lavender Series.

Lupin had been going through some mental turmoils after (and maybe even a lil before) the accident. The accident just cements its self cause for some odd reason compared to all the other times he can’t just bounce back from it and he doesn’t know why

Basically Lupin after the incident, had been hurt badly enough that he was forced to retire/take a break from thieving at least for a while.

Lupin was utterly WRECKED about it cause he’s not even in his prime yet, yet he’s now closed to being forced to give up thieving and he’s depressed as hell and is having a mental spiral

His life basically started falling apart bit by bit and Jigen tried to comfort him in saying that a break would probably do him good and that it’s not the end of the world if they take a few extra months off, but Lupin can feel that the end is coming to his career because something in his gut tells him that shit is gonna change, but knowing that he panics a lot and thinks negatively a bit, he can’t see it ending “good”

The crowning moment he realizes things are changing is when he practically lets Zenigata catch him because he can’t keep up with the group because he hurt to much to move fast enough and just. . .can’t run so fast like he use too, and the rest of the gang accidentally leave him behind and he sorta just “gives up” and lets Zenigata catch him and even Zenigata is concerned cause he’s never seen Lupin so out of it and despondent, let along willing to let himself be captured without a fight, and it makes Zenigata feel weird to arrest him cause it doesn’t feel like a fair trade-off because he wants Lupin’s capture to be fair, so he ends up just letting Lupin sleep in the police cruiser and a holding cell to relax and rest up until he has enough energy to make a “daring escape” later on that night and Zenigata just lets him go cause he can always chase after him later

So basically what happened is, his paranoia reaches a high note and Jigen (and maybe even his grandfather) find Lupin sitting in a chair by himself and Jigen tries to talk to him but Lupin is ignoring him

That is until he swivels the chair around and Lupin points his Walther at him,

Jigen thinks he’s joking, but he’s nervous, Lupin doesn’t look right, so he goes to take the gun from him, but Lupin actually fires it and there is bullets in it, cause one whizzes past Jigen and lands dead on in a flower vase behind him

Well basically one thing leads to another.

The first shot rings out, and the rest of the house come running to see what’s going on and suddenly it’s all the maids, butlers crowded around watching in from the open door as Jigen and lupins Grandfather are trying their damndest to just calm Lupin down and get the gun away from him

Well it doesn’t work, and after a escalating situation and 2 more gunshots fired, one in the ceiling one in the wall that just barely misses the head of a young maid on the opposite side, lupins walther is now empty when he goes to fire a fourth shot and the gun just clicks.

Jigen then makes a grab for the gun, but by that moment, Lupin just drops it and runs out the door, just bolts for the front door of the house while his grandfather makes a grab for him but just barely misses but trips, causing Jigen to turn his attention to the old man for just a split second.

However that split second is just enough time for Lupin to bolt out the front door and make a break for the car

in this it’s the Benz I’m sorry my lil fiat

While he’s struggling with the keys, it’s the moment that Jigen himself comes running out the front door, but by that time it’s already too late, not even Jigen banging on the front of the car in order to attempt to get Lupin to stop, stops Lupin from hitting the gas and nearly clipping Jigen with the car in the process before speeding off down the road

But as he’s driving down the road, Fujiko and Goemon are driving back towards the house, and they notice Lupin peeling down the road, and by the time they get back to the house everyone is in a panic and Jigen is basically frantic asking if the two of them saw Lupin on their way back and they both say they did just half a mile down the road and he in turn frantically asks for the keys to the Fiat, hoping he can catch up with Lupin before he does something stupid

So he Fujiko, Goemon and maybe even the old man, all pile into the fiat and they drive down to the spot Fujiko and Goemon last saw Lupin

But as their driving down the stretch of road, a plum of smoke rises up from just beyond the road.

It’s the Benz, crashed into the Guarder rail

Jigen tells the others to stay in the car while he checks it out

But there’s a problem

He turns around to look at them, and clearly and as plain as day, they all heard the words they never expected to dread

“He’s Gone?! He’s not here!”

Turns out, Lupin never made it that far down the road

He made it about half a mile or so before he lost control of the car and had slammed into the nearest solid object traction could find, which happened to be the roads guarder rail.

He hits his head on the steering wheel, leaving a bit of blood for the gang to find when they find the car, but other then that no trace can be found of him. He ditches the car and makes the rest of the way on foot.

a lot of other scenarios happen after this scene but I was recently discussing this idea with someone so it’s the first one to come to mind xD. So if you wanna know others just lemme know!

[lettheskyburn]

P.4. NO BREAKS FOR THE WAR MACHINE

To discuss the apocalypse and war references, we must dwell on the comics references that have been present throughout the entire tour.

1.     The Umbrella Academy References

Most TUA references come from the outfits Gerard was wearing. As we know, the main plot of TUA is the apocalypse happening over and over again and the Brellies trying to prevent it from happening, ultimately making things worse.

As for outfits, we have the following correlations:

·       Metaman - Dr. Bedlam

·       Old-time nurse - Rumor in Dallas

·       Cheerleader - Cheerleader from Dallas

·       Hawaiian shirt + forehead bullethole - Klaus

·       Black bodysuit - Five drawing

·       Skeleton - skeleton toy from Apocalypse Suite

·       Ghost - Hotel Oblivion cover

So let’s keep in mind that we have the world ending somehow. Also, at MK we saw the merch pins with enscription “End of all things” which proves that this idea is relevant.

But another way to end the world is war. As it was said previously, TUA mentioned the nuclear war, too. But the biggest reference are Watchmen comic and movie.

2.    Watchmen References

The main theme of The Watchmen is the nuclear war – one of the themes mentioned during the tour as well (the backdrop of destroyed city, for example, or the live, laugh, launch drumhead from San Antonio). As for the backdrop, the movie has a scene with a destroyed, burning school bus similar to the backdrop.

There is also a statue of an angel in a movie, similar to those used for promotional materials of the tour. 

We have the nurse costume from Detroit here too. It could potentially be influenced by the WW2 nurse outfits visible in the Watchmen movie:

And the most interesting thing about Watchmen is Rorschach.

- Gerard’s “demon” voice from shows resembles Rorschach’s voice form the movie. 

- Rorschach sees people as vermin, as whores

- He says the Pagliacci joke mentioned linking the clowns and the Watchmen references (see below for more information about Pagliacci).

- He talks about how putting on his “face” (the mask), his costume, made him abandon his disguise and become truly himself, free from fear or weakness.

- Right before his death, he asks a question: “what’s one more body amongst foundations?” (potential reference to Foundations lyrics: Yes it comforts me much more to lay in the foundations of decay).

Returning to the Pagliacci and the joke. 

Pagliacci opera, performed by L. Pavarotti was played at the beginning of LA show #4.

Overture: Taddeo reminds the audience that actors have feelings too, and that the show is about real people - a reminder the performer is also a human being.

Act 1

o   The commedia troupe enters the village to the cheering of the villagers. This has a connection to the book “Geek Love” paragraph from which Gerard also read at one of the shows. The novel is the story of a traveling carnival. Arty (a boy with flippers for hands and feet) – develops his own cult where he persuades people to have their limbs amputated (so that they can be like him). It can have possible relation to Klaus’s cult in The Umbrella Academy and/or the cult idea of the Summoning/Offering videos.

o   A heartbroken Canio is left alone to put on his costume and prepare to laugh ("Vesti la giubba" – "Put on the costume"): Canio’s wife betrays his trust and he is left being a clown in a costume

o   The audience laughs at the personal tragedy of the actor

o   "I am not Pagliaccio!" He sings that if his face is pale, it is not from the stage makeup but from the shame she has brought him:  the pale face can be related to the clown makeup.

All these references tell us the story about pretending and playing the show no matter what. The show must go on, as one of deleted Gerard posts on ig said. 

By the way, speaking of deleted ig posts. It seems like a statement to live the real life and be yourself no matter what: the thing that Metaman said at MK and the reference to what was said above.

Also, if we take an attentive look on stage lights during the show, we can clearly see how the backdrop is changing and at some moments it looks like a burnt city. It could possibly be destroyed by missiles. So, the fire. We’ve seen the fire already on a merch truck. What’s about it?

Here we should take a look at The Crow (which also was mentioned at the show in Prague: the drum said “My God, The Shadows” - a quote from the comic).

The plot of The Crow about the arsons going on in the city correspond with the burning man from the merch truck and could also be considered to have correlations to The Fall of Roman Empire. It is important if we assume Gerard’s outfit from Houston was supposed to resemble the Manson family.

  Manson was obsessed with The Beatles’ album Helter Skelter which, according to Paul McCartney, was:

Assuming the outfit is supposed to represent the Manson family:

o   It links the outfit to Manson - Manson to the fall of Roman Empire - the fall of Roman Empire to Nero (responsible for the Fire of Rome) - the Fire of Rome to the fires in The Crow & the Fire of Rome to the fires in the Revelations book of the Bible (the beast with seven heads and the number 666, according to one of the interpretations, alludes directly to the emporer Nero).

Therefore it links the outfit, The Crow and the Bible (C). The Bible was discussed previously. 

By the way, do you know the fact, that The Black Parade working title was “The Rise and Fall Of The Black Parade”? Familiar, huh?

So, conclusion #3: world is slowly burning and dying in the war fire, which burns everything to ashes, leaving only the empty desert.

Psst, think about the fact from Watchmen: if USSR nuclear missles reached the North America, all the east cost would burn out and all the living woudl be dead. And only West coast coudl survive then. West coast, where people can built a city with a big walls separating desert zones...

[whenyoulosesmallmind]

well now i just NEED the playlist

part one | part two (you are here!)

anon, my lovely! i have a streak of bad luck when it comes to making playlists for wip projects - meaning, i’ve made playlists but never actually finished the thing i was working on - so i will refrain from making one for now in a bout of superstition.

i'll gladly share some more music, though, (more or less) related to tarn's hot girl midlife crisis - ESPECIALLY i think i'll use this new ask of yours to talk a bit about those opera pieces i mentioned in the tags of the last post, with some extra funsies thrown in.

i'm sorry, this isn't really what you asked for, but if you want to make your own unofficial midlife crisis playlist with the songs i've already mentioned (and feel free to add your own, of course!) please, go ahead! and do share if you do! :)

that said, lets-a-go!

if you've read the tags in the first post, you know i said recitar (probably better known as vesti la giubba, i think?, but as opera etiquette goes the songs are usually titled using the first line spoken by the singers, and i’m gonna follow that) was tarn’s ‘show must go on’ song - if not because i get to call him a clown (the main character (Canio) and singer of this particular aria plays a character called Pagliaccio - lit. clown)

you multiple links for this particular piece because i honestly cannot pick a favourite: Pavarotti, Domingo, Lanza and... Mina?! - while she’s not a proper opera singer, i think her re-interpretation was pretty cool and it’s fun to listen to a male role being sung by a woman for a change; she also has a beautiful voice.

favourite and most pertinent lyrics: and when Arlecchino / steals away your Colombina / laugh, Pagliaccio, and the audience will cheer

- i’ve never had the opportunity to share this thought before, so i’m gonna go off topic for a moment to say that i love that the word used in the og to evoke how the ‘Arlecchino’ has stolen ‘Pagliaccio’ ‘s partner (Colombina) is “invola” (conj. of the verb “involare”) which is, yes, very old italian, but describes a picture in which Colombina is both being seduced by Arlecchino, and hence being stolen away from her partner, but she is also flying (that ”volare” in “involare” in modern italian means literally “to fly”) away from Pagliaccio, like the dove she is named after. 

one of the first contender as the empyrean suite stand in in the human au was libiamo ne’ lieti calici (here by Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flòrez): i thought that the airy and celebrative (of love, especially, passionate and fleeting) atmosphere of this song made for an excellent and hilarious contrast if it were to be used to cover up murder noises, but as things went on and i started to sketch out a more defined version of human tarn he grew to hate not only this particular song but the la traviata as a whole - of course, the characters and their grieves are very radicated into high society so it’s not hard to presume that tarn’s problems with the opera per se would come with it being a complete antithesis to what the decepticons stand for, and he would be very inclined to make you believe so! in truth, it’s actually a very personal matter (and he has a particular distaste for Alfredo, the male protagonist, usually interpreted by a tenor, fyi)

some other misc songs i really enjoy from la traviata: sempre libera; (by Lisette Oropesa and by Diana Damrau; if you were to listen to critics Damrau’s performance here isn’t very good, but i still enjoyed her acting and had overall fun listening to her, so here you go) lovely piece, i especially like how they have the tenor sing off stage to achieve that “overheard” effect, maybe a silly thing, but i find it really endearing, coro di zingarelle e mattadori (sic); (i don’t know where this performance is from, but it has noi siamo zingarelle (sic) and di madride noi siamo i mattadori both together so i’ll take it. trigger warning for: inappropriate language to describe romani women (the italian equivalent of the g word) and discussed bullfighting) if you can get past the 1853-ness of it it’s a very fun piece that almost always makes me want to get up and dance - honorable lyrics mentions goes to the bit where the marquis, who was gossiping about Alfredo and Violetta at the beginning of the song, gets called a slut and then to bullfighters’ bit which has them enter the scene just to say how hot and sexy they are.

about carmen, though! i mentioned votre toast, but what about other songs? in près des ramparts de seville (by Elīna Garanča, my beloved and the most Carmen ever. did you know that originally carmen flopped for being too horny of an opera? now you know) you can start to see why i called tarn a don josè; with the exception that josè at least tries to mantain some self control before becoming a disgusting simp. 

mentioning la habanera is kind of cheating so i’m just not gonna say anything about the song per se and link my two favourite performances: 1. Maria Callas; she starts singing at 2:15 if you want to skip the ouverture, but i suggest you don’t: she just is that much a pleasure to watch and listen to, her satisfaction and joy just bleed into the performance, that little pleased smile she has on is very contagious, 2. Elīna Garanča; amazing, showstopping, i have a little crush on her, etc., if you thought the près des ramparts performance was horny you will discover that this one is also very much horny (also fun note: Elīna Garanča is a mezzosoprano while Maria Callas is a soprano! it’s again the situation of of Samuel Ramey playing Escamillo, even if a little less drastic)

let’s conclude this little opera parentheses with again another song i considered as an empyrean suite stand in: va, pensiero (or, more known as the nabucco choir, here sang by the choir of il Teatro dell’Opera di Roma); again, there’s the discrepancy between the meaning of the song and its longing (for the singers’ homeland, this time) and tarn’s use of it, but what actually, imho, would’ve made it interesting as a possible empyrean suite is that as a song it did have an important place in the italian resurgence, and such as a somewhat political piece, as its composer, Giuseppe Verdi, (long story short) ‘broke containment’ and its pieces were not only widespread among the upper classes but the commoners who sang them and made them into something that unified a country in name only, otherwise physically divided.

in the end i decided against it because votre toast is objectively funnier. still, va, pensiero is a beautiful song.

(and since i’m spamming my own scribbles: BAM HUMAN TARN AND MIKA LYRICS. brings back memories...)

now! how about those FUNSIES EXTRA i mentioned forever ago? for the ‘things i actually listened to while writing/plotting’ we have notte all’opera (lit. night at the opera) because what can i say? if tarn’s living his hot girl midlife crisis i’m living my 80s italian pop one - plus, this one is a really funky one. now, to more recent times, there’s la paura del buio that has a really nice tarnsaurus break-up post deathsaurus defection (especially the first verses: i look myself in the mirror and i pretend to be at the circus / on a merry-go-round of happiness that i don’t want to get off / even if i’m not having fun anymore).

and a propos of måneskin, i wanna be your slave is a really good tarn song that fits him in every universe - eons ago i even drew a little something about it and even meant to make a sort of spiritual sequel with the lyrics: i wanna set you free / but i’m too fucking jealous / i wanna pull your strings / like you’re my telecaster / and if you want to use me i could be your puppet; but alas i never did.

first of all, if you’ve got here, i bow to you, and thank you for reading all my nonsensical rambles; but let’s on go ahead to the bonus track: someone special, i felt like i should also share something that’s incredibly warm and fuzzy and self indulgent for tarn et deathsaurus - go on, listen to it, i won’t spoil the lyrics but i promise it’s extremely fluffy.

but you know what there is an astoundingly lack of in this musical post, considering it’s me we’re talking about? if you guessed POETS OF THE FALL you’re right, if you didn’t: don’t worry, you’re about to ascend to an entire new plane of existence.

now, since they’re one of my most loved bands, where to start when picking in relation to my current and most beloved wip?

revolution roulette is probably my favourite album of them, and while i do love all its tracks i will stop to three for the wip: 1. revolution roulette itself is another good buildup to defection for deathsaurus; 2. ultimate fling is THE deathsaurus/esmeral breakup song and probably my second absolute favourite from the band (lyrics that make me absolute rabid: ashtrays filled with the fruits of our transgression / here and there sarcasm overflows / to stay I'll need this sitcom to be re-run till I get the gist of just how it goes); 3. i lied this is two :) but! to my defence, i think they both paint a good picture of what i like (and like to write) in tarn: 3.1 passion colors everything (lyrics: the face I wear behind my grin / the price I've paid for my original sin); 3.2 save me (lyrics - tw for self harm if you go listen the whole song: looking at myself in the mirror / funny I should see only headlines and ads with my name / i was told I'd see my ally / so who are these skeletons with guns taking aim?)

clearview is their second most recent album and while it’s not bad it certainly is not their best, but it also has my favourite song of all time: children of the sun that, admittedly, it’s a bit of my jolly because i always find a way to shoehorn it into my favourite things, but its good. listen to it :)))

- also: drama for life is an absolute banger and another good song for tarn (lyrics that make me eat dirt: a blueprint for life, blueprint your life / aggressively primal cultural high / this mental Versailles is much grander than the lies / you tell yourself to get through the night)

twilight theater is another favourite of mine, and the one i think i will end this post - on another double featurette and a bonus track: 1. change refers more to a tarn immediately after finding about megatron’s denunce of the cause (since i can’t put it into my own words you get lyrics: do you feel a change coming on / rolling out of the blue like a storm / and it's throwing your dollhouse world in disarray / so you can rebuild or conform [...] i too fear the change coming on / rolling out of the blue like a storm / can you hear it scream at the hurt that I knew); 2. smoke and mirrors i think fits nicely for a young tarn post autobots/early decepticons era (when the malady's no remedy / till we reach the lowest absolute / and necessity will finally force something through what's walling you)

[awholelotofladybug]

Chloe, you admit to being a fan of Opera. Have you seen Pagliacci?

"I have, and it's such a tragic story. The story of a clown who learns his wife is unfaithful, and in love with another man."

"The program came with translations for the lyrics, and when Canio finished singing “Vesti La Giubba”, I was in tears. It was so sad."

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

hi op @callmebliss here’s the explanation

meet canio

aka pagliaccio

aka sad clown

he’s the hero main character of ruggero leoncavallo’s 1892 opera pagliacci

so he’s just vibin and doin sad clown shit

and also low key threatening his wife nedda

but then he finds out that nedda’s been having an affair

so he becomes Very Sad

and he sings this famous aria about being sad and being a clown (more or less)

and a famous quote from this aria is “ridi, pagliaccio!” (“laugh, pagliaccio!”), which in the above recording is at 1:59

so yeah

that’s the context

also he ends up murdering nedda and her lover for realsies during a show it’s opera what did you expect a happy ending

have fun op <3

I will not buy the sad clown painting I will NOT—

[opera-ghosts]

OTD in Music History: Tenor Enrico Caruso (1873 - 1921) -- arguably the most famous and beloved operatic tenor of all time -- dies in Italy. Over the span of a legendary 25 year professional career, Caruso sang to great acclaim at major opera houses all across Europe and the Americas, and appeared in a wide array of roles drawn from the Italian and French operatic repertoire. In fact, he sang more than 850 times with the New York Metropolitan Opera (both at the Met and on tour) alone! One of the first major singing talents to be commercially recorded, Caruso released approximately 250 recordings between 1902 and 1920 -- earning millions of dollars and becoming the first true musical superstar of the modern recording era in the process. Caruso also appeared in two (silent) films: First, in 1918, he played a dual role in "My Cousin" for Paramount Pictures, which included a sequence depicting him on stage performing one of his most iconic roles: Canio the clown, who sings the famous aria "Vesti la giubba" from Ruggero Leoncavallo's (1857 - 1919) hit opera "Pagliacci" (1892). Then, in 1919, Caruso played a character called Cosmo in a film entitled, "The Splendid Romance." Producer Jesse Lasky paid Caruso a whopping $100,000 to appear in these two efforts -- but "My Cousin" flopped, and "The Splendid Romance" was apparently never released, and is now considered to be one of the many "lost" silent films from that era... When Caruso died suddenly of peritonitis at the age of just 48, it was cause for international mourning. Italian King Victor Emmanuel III (1869 - 1947) opened the Royal Basilica of the Church of San Francesco di Paola for Caruso's funeral, which was attended by tens of thousands of mourners. Caruso's embalmed body was then preserved in a glass sarcophagus at Del Pianto Cemetery in Naples and displayed for nearly a decade (!) so that his legions of fans could continue to pay their respects... PICTURED: One of the many swiftly-executed caricatures that Caruso (who was also a gifted visual artist) famously accomplished over the years. This example is a rather mischievous-looking self-portrait, which he signed and dated to London in 1901.