#i guess that makes alice michael in this scenario

[statementlives]

sam sneaking into the magnus institute and falling through patterned floorboards is all but a parallel to jon sneaking into artefact storage and destroying the spiral table. history repeats itself. horrors have once again been released. fingers so very crossed.

[one-annon]

hi I'm annon!!

I started tumblr as a artist but I guess I'm moving onto my writing too - I ask you to please be patient because I'm new to writing x readers n such but I will try my best!!

it's been quite a while since I wrote but I can do like 1k to 2k? longer than that might be a little hard for me (｀□´)

i dont have much else to say about myself! uh, ive been writing for a while now. i also do rps! if youd like to do any rps when the listed characters/movies, feel free to let me know! im also happily spoken for by @wrathofthegodsfrontman <3

my current hyperfixation; saw series!

next movie on my list; silence of the lambs!

【ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ　ＬＩＳＴ】

sawyer family (including the game characters!) - texas chainsaw massacre

hewitt family - texas chainsaw masscre remake

jason voorhees - friday the 13th series

michael myers (og and rz) - halloween series

laurie strode/angel myers (og and rz) - halloween series

billy lenz - black christmas 1974 (i will do 2006 version but mostly the 1974 version)

brahms heelshire - the boy

carrie white (and friends) - carrie (og and remakes)

scream team (billy, stu, randy, etc) - scream series (ive only seen 1 and 2 but im making my way through)

harry warden - my bloody valentine (og and remake)

sinclair brothers - house of wax

firefly family - house of 1000 corpses trilogy

dbd characters - dead by daylight

saw characters - any movie! this includes the scott tibbs documentary and saw .5!

herbert west and dan cain - reanimator

patrick bateman - american psycho

edgar, miles, and madeline - electric dreams

hal 9000, frank poole, and dave bowman - 2001: a space odyssey

anyone else you can think of! I'll try my best to learn the character :) these are just everyone I can think of at the moment! I'll do killers and survivors but I know people are more obsessive over the killers lmao

【ＷＩＬＬ　ＤＯ】

anything really..I don't have too many boundaries. I can do anything from hcs, scenarios (i.e. how would ____ react to ____?), smut, fluff, angst...the whole works

and even if you're willing to rant to me about your ocs I could whip up a oc x canon story! :)

also, depending on the media, im open to non horror writes!

【ＷＩＬＬ　ＮＯＴ　ＤＯ】

really not a lot to add here? maybe like...toilet related stuff for nsfw..

just the usuals - no incest (MAYBE for the sawyers since they are canonically inbred but its very situational), p3dophilia, b3astiality, etc etc

MASTERLIST!

GENERAL TAGS; #MANN GEGEN MANN! ➸ OOC/ANNON (also used for my rp blogs!) ↪ mann gegen mann - rammstein

#AND I KNOW WHY YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY MOTH MAN ➸ annons moths ↪ moth man - dirty bynum

#SEARCHIN! SEEK AND DESTROY! ➸ annons art ↪ seek & destroy - metallica

#my face is long forgotten my face is not my own ➸ ask games (again, also in my rp blogs!) ↪ am i evil? - diamond head

FANDOM TAGS;

#game over! ➸ saw writes ↪ jigsaw, apprentices

#i speak for the dead ➸ jigsaw legacy au ↪ logan nelson

#its a scream baby! ➸ scream writes ↪ stu macher

#you fudgepackers'll be the death of me yet! ➸ TCM writes ↪ drayton sawyer

#hey paul! ➸ american psycho writes ↪ patrick bateman

#hes dead?/not anymore... ➸ reanimator writes ↪ dan cain/herbert west

#love is give not take so im giving you madeline and taking myself away ➸ electric dreams writes ↪ edgar

#im afraid i cant do that dave ➸ space odyssey writes ↪ hal 9000

WRITING TAGS;

#HEY HEY HEY HEY! HEY STOOPID! ➸ annon writes ↪ hey stoopid! - alice cooper

#I WASNT EVEN A BILL I WAS JUST AN IDEA ➸ annons hcs ↪ im just a bill - school house rock (cover by deluxx folk implosion) #keeping our eyes close to whats going on on the screen ➸ angst writes ↪ slumber - sløtface

#ive got to have faith faith faith ➸ hurt with comfort writes ↪ faith - george michael (and cover by limp bizkit)

#quit actin like a bitch and makin up excuses ➸ hurt with no comfort ↪ i wish i was a riot grrrl - destructo disk

#call me on the line call me anytime ➸ fluff writes ↪ call me - blondie

#rein raus rein raus ➸ smut writes ↪ rein raus - rammstein

#so much for the golden future i cant even start ➸ annons drabbles ↪ breaking the law - judas priest

yeah! thats kinda it! I'll try to reply and write out requests as fast as I can

credit to; @strangergraphics for the awesome dividers!

ꜰᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴍʏ ꜱᴀᴡ ʀᴘ ʙʟᴏɢꜱ!

@ᴡʀ4ᴛʜ-ᴏꜰ-ᴛʜᴇ-ɢᴏᴅꜱ @ᴛʀᴀᴘᴘᴇᴅ-ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ @zippyzep @jigsaws-disciples

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

how do you think edward would react if he was in the same truck-baseball game time loop bella was in (either if bella was in it or wasn't, whatever you prefer)

For reference, that one time Bella's stuck in a time loop.

Are we asking to make Edward even crazier than usual? Well, that will surely go... interesting places. Let's do it.

Edward In the Loop With Bella

Loop One

There Edward is, facing off with James, Victoria, and Laurent, gearing up for the fight of his life as he realizes exactly what it is James wants and is planning and then...

Then he blinks, he's in the parking lot, Bella's about to be hit by a van.

Edward panics, desperately saves her life, and has no idea what's happening. Did he... hallucinate those months? Were those his lovesick dreams of having Bella for himself?

Of course they were, he says as he drives to the hospital in Bella's car, sobbing as he listens to George Michael's Careless Whisper. For Bella, this bright, beautiful, angelic girl, could never love a beast such as him. He desperately tries to put his love for Bella out of his mind, for it can never be, what they had was a dream and nothing more.

BEEEEEELLLLLLLAAAAAA!

Bella ruins this noble, romantic, tragedy in two seconds when Edward enters the hospital and goes, "You're not going to believe me, but I'm from the fuuuuuuutuuuuuuure!"

Well, Edward doesn't actually like that, makes all of this a little anticlimactic. He questions her extensively, tries to convince her that she's just hallucinating, she hit her head pretty hard, but eventually gives up. Their memories seem to match up exactly, he and Bella are actually from the future.

Edward's not even sure why he's disappointed himself, yet, somehow he is.

He goes home and gets to be the one to tell the Cullens it's all fine, he's from the future, Bella is too, they're not going to kill her because Edward's in love with her, can we skip this?

The Cullens stare, Alice really doesn't know how she feels about this, but we get a similar reaction to canon. Where Carlisle says, "Alright then... I guess this means no moving."

Edward sighs, for the first time, he doesn't really feel like going to Bella's that night. He instead sits at the piano, playing Chop Sticks, wondering why he feels so despondent.

Bella loves him, he loves Bella, they're dating, he has everything he ever wanted. Why isn't he happy?

He gets to school and Bella's very clingy and seems to want to pick off exactly where they left off. She wants Edward to sit with her at lunch, she's talking about visiting the Cullens as soon as possible, she wants to go on a real date.

And Edward realizes that he doesn't have to battle with himself to stay away from Bella anymore, he's done that. He doesn't have to rescue her in Port Angeles, Bella's not going. He's not taking her to the meadow, he's done that too.

Edward's been there and done that for all of this. This isn't even a chance to redo his mistakes, if he'd really made any, because all the things he'd want to do again involve Bella who came back with him.

Edward throws himself into dating Bella, trying to shake himself loose from this strange sense of apathy. Bella doesn't even seem to notice the difference in him, something in Edward... grows a little cold.

He finds himself to returning to his plans of how best to nobly leave her. Something he always acknowledged he would do, but before looked at with reluctance. Now he actively schemes when and how it should occur.

He should wait until summer, that will be easiest on the family for the pretext of "moving", and that way he can go to Prom with Bella. She'll get over him quickly, move on with her human life, while Edward watches her from the shadows.

Bella finally starts to notice that Edward is... distant. She tries to confront him, ask what she's doing wrong, and desperately throws herself into the relationship. That just makes it worse for Edward.

The pair start fighting, Edward insists Bella does not come to the baseball game, and just then they loop again.

Loop Two

Edward's back in the parking lot, Bella's about to be hit by a van. Edward once again heroically saves her, but he feels as if he's going through the motions.

In the hospital room, neither Bella nor Edward say a word to one another, both realize exactly what has happened. After a moment of silence, Edward suggests that, perhaps, what they need is distance.

Just a few weeks apart.

Bella says nothing.

Edward consults Alice, telling her what's been happening to him, and Alice tells him that as far as she can tell nothing is wrong with time itself. Her visions work as usual, it's just that Edward and Bella's decisions have changed.

Though, not the outcomes, Alice confirms that either Bella will become a vampire or she'll die. Alice suggests, hesitantly, that if this keeps happening perhaps Bella has to be a vampire to stop this.

Perhaps that's why Alice only sees two futures. Because any future where Bella remains human, they loop.

Edward refuses to accept this in a rage. This, this cannot happen, he will loop for all eternity rather than turn Bella! HE IS NOT A TOY OF FATE!

There's a fire in Edward now, he returns through Bella's bedroom window, and restarts their passionate romance. Bella's thrilled, the love of her life has come back for her, she cries tears of joy.

For months, Bella and Edward are back in the honeymoon stage of their romance.

They loop again.

Loop Three

Bella points out that they're still looping. This is... starting to get weird. Maybe they should figure out solutions to this?

Edward says THIS IS FINE, with Alice's words ringing in the back of his mind. Bella can never know.

Too bad for him, this is Bella's first guess. Maybe, if she becomes a vampire, somehow the loops will stop. EDWARD WILL NEVER TARNISH HER LIKE THAT.

Bella is very hurt, and upset, and asks if Edward will seriously spend forever, trapped in these few months, unable to move forward rather than turn her.

Edward desperately tries to convince her that these months are wonderful. You love being trapped in this timeframe, Bella.

He romances her harder than ever, only this time, Bella's the one that's not thrilled.

She and Edward have no future. Edward would literally rather be trapped in this utterly absurd scenario, never able to move forward with their lives, rather than turn her into a vampire.

A lot of fights happen. In desperation, Edward proves that they can move forward, that this endless loop is what vampirism itself is like, where time ceases to have meaning. He proposes to Bella, they will marry.

Bella flat out says no, she doesn't want to marry, and god marry while she's still in highschool? Can she even legally get married right now?

Edward... did not expect that answer.

The pair end up on and off fighting up until the loop happens.

Loop Four

This time, distracted by his own ire, Edward forgets to stop the van. Bella is crushed, Edward and the family have to hightail it out of there to not slurp her blood off the asphalt, and Edward is horrified.

He... murdered Bella. She's dead, because he allowed petty arguments to distract him. Oh god.

To his horror, the loop keeps going, and he lives in terror that it will proceed past the baseball game. What if Bella's dead forever? What if, rather than turn her, the only other way out of the loop was her death?

Edward's an utter mess, clawing at the walls, and the family doesn't understand at all because Bella Swan is simply a girl who had a tragic death.

To Edward's horrified relief, he loops.

Loop N

Bella remembers Edward failed to save him. She does not blame him for it, but Edward certainly blames himself and there's now... a wall between them that wasn't there.

Nonetheless, they try again. This time, they'll go back to the basics.

Edward eats her in the meadow.

They loop.

Edward keeps accidentally eating her.

It's horrible and then he realizes... it doesn't matter. It never lasts, he's a monster yes, but he always was one. It seems he's doomed to eat Bella Swan. And at least he knows she'll be here tomorrow.

And if he's damned anyway then he might as well enjoy it.

He starts eating her on purpose.

Soon, they get a little routine down.

Bella nearly gets hit by a van, Edward saves her life, they go to the hospital, Edward drags her into a closet, eats her, then throws her corpse out the window and tells Carlisle she committed suicide.

Such a tragic end.

Bella starts desperately trying to save herself, but it's all over so quick, now her life is endlessly getting eaten by Edward.

Given this loop seems to be infinitely long, and thus all remote possibilities will eventually occur, there will be a timeline where Edward accidentally turns Bella into a vampire.

However, Edward can't do math, so he hasn't figured that out yet.

In the meantime, now that he's let go of all morality, he's having a great time.

... And it's probably best we leave Edward looping on his own for another post. That got long.

[edelwoodsouls]

grace requires nothing of me (spent my whole life searching desperately)  - ch. 1

He never wanted to hurt anyone. He never wanted to be dangerous. But he can be. [When Alice goes missing, Caleb lets his darkness free]

(shoutout to @exhaustedwerewolf for once again listening to my midnight screams - please direct all crying and angst towards him :P)

Word Count: 1,701 | Also on Ao3 | Other Chapters: n/a (yet)

They come for Caleb at night.

One moment, a dream: the dapple of sunlight through trees. An endless stretch of green-tinged sky, green fields, green light. The warmth of summer and laughter and fingers threaded through his own.

The next, a dark shadow. Clouds, heavy and bruised, choking the sun. They appear from nowhere, an invasion of his hazy verdant world.

He wakes up the moment they try to gag him.

The world is dark, lit only by the pool of moonlight filtering through the curtains at the foot of his bed. But he doesn’t need his eyes to sense them - the deadly, detached calm held solid in their bodies like cement. Not fluid and shifting as emotions usually are, but fixed, unnaturally still.

He yells out, struggles against them, his panic spilling out into the room in amber waves. It floods away the moonlight, the shadows, the steely hands against his limbs.

And the pressure is gone. Like a cloud passing briefly across the moon, the reaching fingers vanish. He senses only his own amber tidal wave, swirling around the space like a hurricane, pouring out into the hall.

He doesn't bother to check, to wait - he is drowning, needs air, needs space, needs green.

He jumps out of the window and flees into the night.

~#~#~

Adam can't sleep.

This isn't a new occurence, or even a rare one, but tonight the air is heavy on his chest, warm and thick against his skin. Rain has begun to drizzle gently against the window, choking the world in mist.

Summer drowns him, only feeling all the worse for his blue spells.

The only good thing about summer break is being in the same city as Caleb - just a few minutes walk between them rather than hours.

On nights like these, they still feel worlds apart. Hamlet swims before his eyes, his body begging for sleep that won't come.

It's nearing two am when he hears the insistent tap on his window. Like a bird pecking its beak against the glass - loud, more frantic than Caleb's usual, dorky secret knock.

Something's wrong.

He throws his book aside, sliding the window up in a single, adrenaline-fuelled motion.

Caleb tumbles into the room, sprawling onto the carpet. He's still dressed in what he usually sleeps in - shorts and nothing else - his hair flattened by the rain.

There's a vivid bruise beginning to form around his wrists.

"Caleb?" Adam crouches down to his boyfriend's level, careful not to touch him. He's shivering - but not from cold, Adam thinks - eyes darting around the room like a wild animal. "Caleb," he tries again, softly, "what happened?"

"I- uh- I-" Caleb's voice is no more than gasps. His eyes finally zero in on Adam, and he tries to level out his own panic. Be the island of calm in Caleb's storm.

"It's okay. You're safe. You're with me."

Slowly, so slowly, Caleb's breaths begin to level out. He takes deep gulps of air, as if he's been suffocating underground for years.

Adam grabs his Yale hoodie from the back of his chair; Caleb accepts it with a wordless nod, his jaw working in an attempt to find voice.

"I, uh- someone just tried to kidnap me."

"What." Adam's emotions spike immediately but he doesn't have the energy to try to be calm. "Caleb, what the fuck?"

"I don't know." Caleb shakes his head, pulling the hoodie over himself distractedly. "One minute I was sleeping and the next- fuck, the next they were trying to gag me."

"Fuck." His thoughts are beginning to swirl with panic, worst case scenarios, fear. His parents behind masks. His boyfriend splayed out on an operating table. Blood on a sterile floor. "Okay. Wait. Who's they?"

"I don't know," Caleb shrugs again, starts pacing back and forth with an energy that seems to leech into the room, rile Adam's anxiety up until it sits in a weight on his chest. If Caleb notices, he doesn't say, too distracted by his own panic.

The rain breaks out into a full-on thunderstorm. It feels pretty fitting.

"Do you think it was the AM?"

"I don't know. I didn't even see their faces. I just felt them."

"Wait, then how did you get away?"

"I-" Caleb stops short. His fists flex in and out in spasms, the way they do when he's trying not to say something, trying to figure out what to say. "I don't know."

It's a lie. The realisation hits Adam like a slap in the face. He and Caleb don't lie to each other, not after everything they've gone through. Not after missing information and secrets have caused them so much grief already.

"You're lying to me," he says quietly, not bothering to keep the hurt out of his voice. Caleb can feel it all anyway.

Caleb is looking anywhere but him. Staring out of the window at the moon, partially obscured by rain clouds.

"Caleb, what did you do?"

"I don't know!" The shout is too big for this small room, echoes between them like the snap of piano wires. He's never been more glad for his parents to be at a conference on comparative biological methods. "One moment I was being held down by, like, five guys, and the next they were all gone!"

"They can't have just vanished, Caleb."

"I mean, it felt like they did. I don't know. I just, I was so scared, and I could barely contain everything, and then suddenly they were gone. Their calm. I couldn't find it anymore."

Something uncomfortable shifts inside Adam. "Because they weren't there anymore, or because they weren't calm anymore?"

Caleb stares at him, eyes wide and filled with horror. But it's not the horror of an awful suggestion, a how dare you insinuate what I think you are.

It's the horror of being known.

Adam swallows, throat dry. "Tell me you just managed to hit one of them or something, and they got scared. You're really strong, right? You must've just pushed them away and they decided to regroup for help."

Slowly, Caleb shakes his head. "It... it started about a month ago."

"What started a month ago?" He knows, he already knows, and can't begin to figure out how he feels about it.

"I can... push emotions onto other people. Like, if they're feeling angry, I can make them calm."

"If they're feeling sad you can make them happy?"

Caleb's eyes go wide. "I never- I swear, I would never do it to you! I've got this under control."

"Do you?"

"Yes!"

"Okay then."

"You- wait, what?"

Adam folds himself into sitting back on the bed, looking up at Caleb. "I trust you, Caleb. Did you really think I would- what, hate you for this? Something that isn't your fault? If you didn't have this power, it sounds like you'd be zip-tied in a van somewhere right now."

He stands slowly, like approaching a scared animal. Caleb is still staring at him, startled. He wraps his arms around him, holding him close, as if he can still the tremors and fend off the world with nothing but his body.

"I'm just sad you felt you couldn't tell me," Adam says softly, voice muffled by Caleb's shoulder.

After a moment of hesitation, Caleb returns the hug, the fear uncertainty melting out of his body. They mold together, one entity, in perfect harmony. Steady breathing, steady heartbeats.

"I was so scared," Caleb's voice cracks with unshed tears. "I never wanted to hurt anyone. Or manipulate anyone. And if I can make people feel things, how am I any different from Damien?"

"You're nothing like Damien," Adam says fiercely, pulling away just enough so he can look into Caleb's bright green eyes. Puts a hand up to his face, letting Caleb lean into it. "You're Caleb Michaels. You're the love of my life. You're kind and empathic and you care. You're nothing like him."

Caleb lets out something between a laugh and a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"I am far more concerned by the people who just tried to kidnap you from your own home. How did they even get in?"

"I dunno. I might have forgotten to lock the back door before I went to bed, I guess? Me and Alice were playing quidditch..." Caleb's voice trails into silence.

"Alice."

Adam doesn't need empathy to feel the fear spilling back into the room. "Call her. Now."

She doesn't pick up. The phone continues to ring on every try, and eventually goes straight to voicemail.

Dead.

Sickness churns in Adam's stomach.

"This is my fault," Caleb whispers, hands running nervously so fast through his curls he's a breath away from tearing it out in chunks. "They couldn't get to me so they went for her."

"We don't- we don't know that," Adam tries to be the voice of reason, though the waver in his words betrays him. "Maybe she's just asleep? She's a teenager, you know they can sleep through anything."

Caleb continues to pace. The room feels thick and warm, panic seeping into the air, into Adam. It fills him up like rain filling a well, a steady rise that creeps up on him, invades his insides.

This panic that is not his, but has the familiar, soft edges of yellow he knows belong to Caleb.

"Caleb," he starts, panic that is only partly his own hitching the last syllable. "Caleb, stop."

The panic continues to rise, overflowing. He is adrift, drowning under a green sea that is far more yellow than blue.

"Caleb!"

The invasion vanishes, like a band snapping back from stretching. It feels like the air being stolen from his lungs - he feels empty, hollowed out, barely more than a flickering ember of blue.

"I'm-" Horror etches itself into every inch of Caleb's features. It's a sight that won't leave Adam's memory any time soon. "I'm sorry. I- I need to leave."

"Wait- Caleb!"

But Caleb has always been faster than him, far more impulsive.

In a single motion he vaults through the window and vanishes into the trees at the bottom of the garden.

Thunder cracks across the skyline, a mirror of Adam's world breaking apart.

[kayliemusing]

28: take a shot every time i mention taylor swift

AC/DC - What are your favorite bands? - Of Monsters and Men, Sleeping At Last, The Lumineers.

Aerosmith - What are your favorite songs? - Oh boy. There's a lot but these are the ones I'll never be able to get over: All Too Well by Taylor Swift, Exile by Taylor Swift ft Bon Iver, Wild Heart by Bleachers, Saturdays by Twin Shadow, Wild Roses by Of Monsters and Men, Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, Every Breath You Take by The Police, Robbers by The 1975, Hunger by Of Monsters and Men, and Sleep On The Floor by The Lumineers

Aretha Franklin - Do you have a favorite jazz song? - No, I don't really listen to jazz

Alice Cooper - What is your favorite type of music? - I mostly gravitate to folk/alternative, pop, country-pop, and singer-songwriter genres (I like a little bit of EDM too depending on the song).

Beach Boys - Have you ever been in a concert? - I've never been to a concert of someone I super duper admired, but I've been to a Jonas Brothers concert when I was ten lol and then Marianas Trench when I was 15 which I remember being a pretty good show.

Black Sabbath - A song that motivates you? - Shake It Off by Taylor Swift gets me in a good mood

Bob Dylan - Do you know how to play any musical instrument? - No lol. I tried to learn how to play guitar but I just don't really have any sense of rhythm at all lmao

Bon Jovi - Your favorite song about love? - Can't Help Falling In Love With You by Elvis Presley (and various cover artists) has always been a favourite of mine.

The Beatles - Latest song that made you smile? - Mr Perfectly Fine by Taylor Swift bc it's peak sassy teenage taylor

David Bowie - A song that makes you feel happy? - again, probably Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, but also Truth Hurts by Lizzo

Eric Clapton - Have you ever been in love with a rock artist? - No

Creedence Clearwater Revival - What is your favorite instrument? - I really like the sound of an acoustic guitar, but also the violin is so beautiful. (Honourable mentions: Fiddle, Banjos, cellos)

Deep Purple - Do you prefer bassists or drummers? - I don't have an opinion, really, but maybe bassists?

The Doors - What is your favorite lyric? - "If I can't relate to you anymore then who am I related to?" from Coney Island by Taylor Swift and The National. I have so many favourite lyrics though. Also "I'm not your homeland anymore so what am I defending now?" from Exile (also by Taylor lol)

Fleetwood Mac - Female or Male vocalists? - Both have different, unique things to offer, but I guess female vocalists.

The Grateful Dead - What song are you listening right now? - Nothing right now. I usually can't focus when musics on because I just end up singing along or getting distracted lol

Guns n’ Roses - What song describes your emotions right now? - I'm somewhere in between Mirrorball by Taylor Swift, Reasons Not To Die by Ryn Weaver, and Wild Roses by Of Monsters and Men.

Heart - Do you know a song that you want at your wedding? - Yes! Tbh I want to have a playlist of love songs played during the reception at my wedding lol. I think I want to walk down the aisle to A Thousand Years by Christina Perri (maybe the piano guys version tho) and I want the first dance to be Lover by Taylor Swift or Can't Help Falling In Love by Kina Grannis

Iron Maiden - Do you frequently listen to your songs on shuffle? - Mostly, I do. I don't usually know what I'm in the mood for unless I've had something stuck in my head or a new song has come out so I usually just play shuffle until I know what I feel like listening to.

Jimi Hendrix - A song that represents “your aesthetic” - Love by Lana Del Rey, just that very soft, breezy, dreamy aesthetic.

Joan Jett - Who do you think when you listen to your favorite love song? - I'm not usually thinking of anyone in particular because I don't have anyone like that in my life, but I'm usually imagining a scenario to write about.

Janis Joplin - What is your favorite 70s song? - I'm not super good with years so forgive me if I get it wrong, but You're So Vain by Carly Simon

Journey - Do you have any famous crushes? - Not crazy insane crushes and I currently don't have a crush on any singers, but some celebrities I find attractive are Matthew Daddario, Henry Cavill, etc. Lol I'm too tired to think but those are the first that pop in my head.

The Kinks - What is the last single you downloaded? - Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo

Kiss - What is the perfect song to describe your relationship with your boyfriend/girlfriend/crush? - I don't have any of those right now lol but a song that represents a relationship between two characters I've written is Half of my Heart by John Mayer

Led Zeppelin - Do you like loud guitar solos? - Sometimes if they hit right

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Do you like instrumental songs? - No, I'm a lyrics girl. Sometimes they're nice, but I'm not one to actively put that on.

Metallica - A song that you think everybody should listen to? - Coney Island by Taylor Swift ft The National because the lyrics are *chefs kiss* and if that one isn't your vibe then Exile by TS ft Bon Iver (basically please go stream folklore and evermore)

Nirvana - A song that breaks your heart? - You Said You'd Grow Old With Me by Michael Schulte

Pink Floyd - Name your top three songs in any language. - currently my top 3s are (all ts songs obvi bc she's all i've listened to for months on end) cowboy like me by taylor swift, coney island by taylor swift ft the national, and exile by taylor swift ft bon iver (have i mentioned taylor swift enough yet)

Pearl Jam - A song to drive to? - Getaway Car by Taylor Swift

Queen - A song to dance to? - Stealing the show once again, Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

Bruce Springsteen - A song that you would sing in a karaoke? - just put on anything taylor swift and i will scream the lyrics

The Rolling Stones - Your favorite album? - Red by Taylor Swift (but evermore by ts is quickly stealing the show)

U2 - A artist/band you’re proud of? - Taylor Swift bc of how she literally overcomes everything no matter what kind of bs people say or throw her way.

Van Halen - Favorite guitarist? - I don't really have one

The Who - Favorite bassist? - Again, don't have one

Yes - Favorite drummer? - and i oop

Dusty Springfield - Do you have a favorite soul song? - I don't really listen to soul.

The Supremes - Your favorite girlband? - Haim

Simon and Garfunkel - Your favorite acoustic song? - Free Fallin by John Mayer (tom petty cover) or fast car by tracy chapman

Derek & The Dominos - Do you prefer a cover more than the original song? - Sometimes, depending on what the cover brings. Sometimes I'll like both. For example Circles by Post Malone is a song I already love but Of Monsters and Men did an amazing cover of that one and made it even sadder and I'm obsessed with both.

The Mamas and The Papas - What’s the song that have a harmony so good that makes you want to punch something? - the bridge in driver's license

Santana - Your favorite artist hairstyle? - Taylor Swift is obviously my favourite artist if you hadn't noticed and my favourite hairstyle from her was probably her short hair during 1989 when it was to her shoulders, but I also really like her Lover era hair (medium-length with bangs)

Ramones - Do you like punk music? - Not really

The Temptations - A song that you liked when you were younger? - Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis lol

Cream - A song that you associate with summer? - August by Taylor Swift. (Also I associate 1975's entire 2012 album with summer for some reason)

The Band - A song that you never get tired of? - All Too Well by Taylor Swift

Steve Miller Band - A song that need to be played out loud? - Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift

Sonny & Cher - A song by an artist with a voice that you love? - Organs by Of Monsters and Men

Wings - A song that makes you remind of yourself? - She's Got Her Ticket by Tracy Chapman

[furederiko]

A bit later than planned, but today's Random-News-Digest is MAINLY (yes, not all) occupied by Disney-related news. Owing that to the Disney D23 Expo 2017 that took place over the weekend, of course. So... as the San Diego Comic-Con International 2017 officially kicks off today (July 20th, PST), let's take a quick detour to see what hit the world by storm last week...

Disney Live Action

During the D23 Expo 2017, Disney announced and confirmed several of its upcoming live action remakes. Niki Caro's "Mulan" has entered production, as well as Tim Burton's "Dumbo". Dwayne Johnson is also set to headline "Jungle Cruise", while "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" has been given an official release date.

Cast for "Dumbo" has been confirmed to consist of Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, as well as Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins. Roshan Seth, DeObia Oparei, Sharon Rooney and Douglas Reith round up the set in supporting roles. Farrell is set to play Holt Farrier, a former circus star who has a rough life following the war, while Parker and Hobbins are set to play his children. DeVito's Max Medici is an owner to a struggling circus, who then hires Farrier to be the caretaker of Dumbo, the elephant with oversized ears. Keaton plays V.A. Vandevere, and Green plays Colette Marchant, both who are interested in turning Dumbo's aerial ability into fame.

A life-size statue of Dumbo was showcased during the panel, though I'm not sure if it's from the movie or just a replica from the 1941 animated movie. Burton is bringing MANY of his previous collaborators on "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" and "Alice in Wonderland" to work on this movie. That alone is enough to give us a sense of 'what to expect' from it. The movie will be filmed entirely in England, and it is set to be released on March 29th, 2019.

"The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" will star Keira Knightley as The Sugar Plum Fairy, Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger, Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer, and ballerina Misty Copeland. As the title suggests, the movie will feature four different realms, and two of them are called the 'Land of the Flowers' and the 'Land of the Snowflakes'. Charles Riley is in charge for CG creation and motion capture, and it will be released on November 2nd, 2018.

Three lead actors for Guy Ritchie's "Aladdin" have been announced. Will Smith has been confirmed to play the iconic Genie. Joining him are Canadian-raised Egyptian actor Mena Massoud... who will obviously playing the titular character, and actress Naomi Scott in the role of Princess Jasmine. While Massoud is poised to be getting a bigger buzz due to his upcoming involvement in John Krasinski's "Jack Ryan" series, Scott is the more well known one for the time being, having had her high-profile big screen debut through Lionsgate's recent "Power Rangers" remake.

Apparently, this casting was harder than it looks. A few days before the announcement (on July 11th), The Hollywood Reporter ran a coverage describing 'the struggle' that the House of Mouse faced in their global search to find the right actors for the characters. Around 2000 actors and actresses from London, Egypt, Abu Dhabi, and India have read for the lead roles, but without any easy result. The process even dragged the project so much, that apparently Ritchie had to go back to the drawing board multiple times. "The test process was a mess", said one agent... whose client obviously didn't go through. The team even consulted with musical veterans Marc Platt and Chris Montan to solve this issue.

Coming from a credible site that rarely made a mistake, this report obviously became a hot topic of debate, putting Disney's supposed-effort into a giant question mark. Because seriously though, was it really THAT hard to find natural brown-skinned Middle Eastern actors who CAN sing and dance? Especially considering Disney ended up casting an Egyptian actor and half-Indian actress for the role instead of going full-on Arabian? I mean, don't these countries have talent shows (like "India's Got Talent") that almost always features young aspiring talents who CAN dance and sing? Not just that, the glaring fact that Bollywood is FAMOUS for its MUSICAL movies had me scratching my head. No offense to Massoud, but we have so many aspiring young South Asian or Middle Eastern actors who ARE popular as both singer and dancer while also looking more appropriate for the part. Just throw in names like Shahid Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Hritik Hroshan (who is yes, prolly too old, but he nails Aladdin's look perfectly), or even Turkish hot-throbs like Emre Kivilcim and Serkan Cayoglu with vast TV experiences. And I'm positive you'll find yourself slapping your own face in confusion for why Disney needed to even... 'struggle' to find one. They can even cast one of those young and undeniably handsome-looking Arabian princes from the royal palace! And I'm NOT kidding.

It's more than clear than Disney, Ritchie, and casting director Randi Hiller (also white) only searched those who have a North American and/or Hollywood presence, because the names being talked about was none other than the likes of Riz Ahmed, Dev Patel (which would've been fantastic), and Tara Sutaria. They've also seemingly focused more on non-natives who grew up in Western countries, like Dutch Achraf Koutet, American George Kosturos, and also Massoud and Scott themselves. This clearly made many questioned... why call it a 'Global Search' then? For the time being, the studio is also in search for a well known name for the antagonistic role of Ja'far. Should we even make a wild guess who they are going to cast? I won't be surprised if Disney returns to Sir Ben Kingsley for the part *sigh*. I mean... who else, right? Aaah... Riz Ahmed!

Anyways, let's just hope this casting is good and that it won't generate negative whitewashing feedback. I've repeatedly said that I do NOT think Smith is a good choice for the Genie, because even an Oscar-calliber like him would have a genuine hard time following the footsteps of the late Robin Williams' iconic performance. However... as much as I dislike that particular decision, I'm willing to let it slide if Massoud and Scott can nail their parts gracefully. According to Massoud, Williams was his inspiration to pursue acting, and I'm pretty sure that will be winning the hearts of "Aladdin" fans. If not one of the reason why Disney turned their heads towards him, of course. LOL. I'm now hoping we'll be seeing a different casting scenario with "Mulan", because I fully expect an ACTUAL global cast for that movie. Come on Hollywood, there ARE gazzilions of Asians around the world who CAN sing and dance! So if you're ever spout nonsense like 'difficult to find' and all, I'll belt out a tune and make a man out of you guys. For real! Crossing my fingers that Caro will get it... 'better' than Ritchie, though I'm not that particularly certain about it. It's a white world after all, right? "Aladdin" is set to begin production in August for a 2018 release. Probably for August 3rd.

Actress Emily Blunt and director Rob Marshall were present to debut the first look for "Mary Poppins Returns". The footage grabbed the crowd's attention, and despite being absent on stage, Lin-Manuel Miranda's performance brought out their wildest cheer. As has been widely reported, this movie serves as a sequel to Julie Andrews' original classic. The movie takes place in a familiar, but different setting: Chery Tree Lane. Ben Wishaw and Emily Mortimer are playing Michael and Jane Banks, the kids from that first movie who have grown up to be adults now. Michael is also a windower with three children. Colin Firth is set to play a heartless bank manager, who brings trouble to the dark and gloomy London, as well as the Banks family. Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter who helps Michael's eldest son Georgie to get his kite. Meryl Streep is playing Mary's eccentric cousin Topsy, the great Angela Lansbury as the Balloon Lady, and Dick Van Dyke returns as the bank Chairman.

According to various report, the footage gave off an 'Old Hollywood' style with high production value, dance sequences, and grand musical numbers. There's also a 2D animation/live-action hybrid scene, sounding very similar to the first movie. Blunt said that she only saw 15 minutes of that movie, so that she can try to deliver her own version of Poppins. "No one is ever going to out-Julie Julie Andrews. She’s just unbelievable. There will never be anyone else like her. So I just had to do my version of her and I think we were very loyal to the books.", she said praising Andrews' performance. Will Andrews be making a special cameo appearance in the movie? This is Disney, so highly likely, but we'll see. "Mary Poppins Returns" will arrive in Christmas 2018.

Vying for attention, was Jon Favreau's "The Lion King". He didn't announce the cast (which I've been waiting for, particularly with that speculation of Hugh Jackman being approached to play the antagonist Scar!!!), but did bring out a footage to please and WOW the audience. Said footage was the exact mirror recreation of the 1994 animated movie's opening scene, where the baboon Rafiki introduced a lion cub Simba to Mufasa's animal kingdom, on top of the Pride Rock. Complete with Elton John's "Circle of Life" playing in the background too! The only difference was that it looked photorealistic, as if it's a scene taken from Favreau's massive-hit Oscar-winning "The Jungle Book" from last year. There were plenty of animals of all kinds depicted in their own nature, but an ultra-adorable baby Simba was undeniably the scene-stealer.

Favreau received similar, if not greater thunderous applause to when he debuted the footage for "The Jungle Book" two years ago. He made the audience went wild this time, eventhough it was Anaheim California, and not the African savannah. "We know how important this is", he said, assuring fans that his team will be delivering the best live action retelling they can muster. I'm a huge fan of "The Jungle Book", so I have huge faith in him. I personally can't wait to see this footage online, but I'm not sure it will be released in the near future. Not to mention, the movie itself is still two years away from release! Ouch!!! I guess we just have to practice patience and... wait. "The Lion King" arrives on July 19th, 2019.

The last but equally attention-grabbing piece of the panel, was Ava DuVernays' "A Wrinkle in Time". Buzz for this project have been really huge and loud even before production began, so expectation have been high. During the panel, DuVernay along with several core cast members delivered the first official teaser trailer while an official poster was released via social media. And it looked... weird but mesmerizing. We saw Storm Reid's Meg Murry, adventuring with brother Deric McCabe's Charles Wallace and classmate Levi Miller's Calvin O'Keefe to find her missing dad. Mr. Murry, played by Chris Pine, was seemingly trapped after discovering a new planet and travelled there using the 'tesseract'. Meg then encountered three Astral Travelers on her journey, Reese Whiterspoon's Mrs. Whatsit, Mindy Kaling's Mrs. Who, and Oprah Winfrey's Mrs. Which, who would somehow guide the trio in their journey. One that's likely involving the many other characters played by Zach Galifianakis, Michael Peña, and more. As well as CG actions with monsters and all... because the trailer suggests that.

Now... not unlike many folks, I'm not familiar with the novel, nor what it's all about. So I can't really describe how I feel about this. Somehow, those three Astral beings reminded me of the fairies on "Sleeping Beauty", if not the three Ghosts of "A Christmas Carol". That is, in both puzzling and creepy ways. The teaser also reminded me of "Doctor Strange" and/or "Legion" which was a good comparison, but at the same time, it also gave off a strange "Tomorrowland" vibe, which was NOT a good comparison. Then again, my mom immediately said "This looks amazing" (paraphrasing from our native language...) after seeing it... and that's totally saying much. As in, I'm definitely checking this one out when it hits theatres! For now, you can check out a few official stills from the movie, debuted by Entertainment Weekly as part of their 'First Look' season. "A Wrinkle in Time" will premiere on March 8th, 2018.

Disney Animation

It's Disney Animation Studios and Disney Pixar time! I somewhat expected Pixar's "Coco" to be getting all the big attention this year, but surprisingly that's not the case. Two other titles stole the attention on this Animation panel instead!

Fans have been asking for sequel to 2004's "The Incredibles" for many years, more than a decade even! Thus when it was finally announced, anticipation for "The Incredibles 2" has been growing like crazy. That must've been the reason why it's one of the two most talked-about title of the panel. Writer/director Brad Bird attended the panel alongside Disney Animation Chief John Lasseter, as they delivered official concept art, first raw footage, and give hints of what we can expect from Pixar's very own Fantastic Four-esque team.

For start, while many fans have been voicing their hopes to see a 10 years passed after the first movie (with all the kids grown up), Lasseter revealed that this sequel will instead works as a direct continuation. "It starts right as the first one finishes, so it just carries on", he said, confirming that only a minute have passed after the arrival of John Ratzenberger's Underminer. Family, is still the major theme of this movie. "One of the unique things about the Incredibles is it’s really a story of a family set in the world of superheroes. This one carries on that theme. It’s awesome, the idea we came up with — simple as that. … We love to really look at our own lives and look at what’s going on, and find themes that we know will resonate with the audience", he stated. Bird also reiterated that "It's fundamentally a story about family".

The main star for this one will also be Holly Hunter's Elastigirl alongside their children Violet and Dashiell (voiced by Sarah Vowell and Huck Milner, taking over from Spencer Fox), as Craig T. Nelson's Mr. Incredible will spend more time taking care of baby Jack Jack who's developing his unique powers. If it wasn't obvious enough from his social media shoutouts, Samuel L. Jackson has been confirmed to reprise his role as Frozone, while Bird himself will reprise his role as the famed superhero costume designer Edna Mode. "The Incredibles 2" opens in less than a year, on June 15th, 2018. Here's hoping Pixar will release a trailer soon! Perhaps on SDCC?

The other title that gained a huge amount of cheers and praise came from Disney Animation Studios, in form of "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2". Similar to how "The Incredibles 2" put more focus on the female lead, it seems this one also shifts the primary attention to Sarah Silverman's Vanellope von Schweets. Namely, due to her being acknowledged as a Disney Princess... alongside, the previous Princesses! Yes, Silverman and directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston presented a clip from the movie, where Vanellope stumbled upon a website called OhMyDisney.com. That's where she runs into all the Disney Princesses, who was having slumber party filled with rapid-fire meta jokes about their histories and tropes.

But that's not even the best thing, because most of the Princesses are voiced by their iconic voice actresses! To prove that, Disney brought out these dream team on stage: Jodi Benson (Ariel of "The Little Mermaid"), Paige O'Hara (Belle of animated "Beauty and the Beast"), Linda Larkin (Jasmine of animated "Aladdin"), Irene Bedard (of "Pocahontas"), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana of "The Princess and the Frog"), Mandy Moore (Rapunzel of "Tangled"), Kelly Macdonald (Merida of "Brave"), Kristen Bell (Anna of "Frozen"), and Auli'i Cravalho (of "Moana"). Creating a historic meeting, that obviously caused a prolonged ovation and wild cheers from audience of around 7000 people. I simply can't imagine how the audience would react, had other confirmed but absent voice actresses like Ming-Na Wen (of "Mulan") and Idina Menzel (Elsa of "Frozen") were able to attend as well! With the first movie focusing on the love of retro-video games that in a way also felt more directed for 'boys', this one is definitely a conscious and brilliant decision to captivate the 'girls' as well!

As for how and why John C. Reilly's Ralph and Vanellope get to meet them? That's because the plot forced them to. How is that possible? Apparently, the Sugar Rush game had an unexpected break down, so both Ralph and Vanellope alongside the other characters have to explore to the world 'wild' web to find replacement parts required to fix and keep it alive. There, they will run into Yesss, a trend-aholic algorithm who is voiced by Taraji P. Henson. Yess is the savvy, smart and sexy owner of a trending site called Buzzaholic (obvious nod/pun to Buzzfeed, eh? *grins*). According to Henson via an external statement, Yesss "knows about everything cool and on trend. And she does spell her name with a triple ‘s'". This is the character who would guide Ralph and Vanellope toward the various sites, including OhMyDisney (that also includes reference to other Disney's properties from Marvel and Lucasfilm). What a really interesting premise! The subtitle might have hinted that the sequel to 2012's favorite is set to break the internet, but to be honest, it already is... LOL. "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2" officially breaks the theatres next year, on November 21st, 2018.

By the way, Bell and co-star Josh Gad refused to let it go, as they brought news for the sequel to everyone's favorite animated movie. The as-of-yet un-subtitled sequel of "Frozen" became the talk of the town, eventhough the duo's intention was totally to promote the upcoming "Olaf’s Frozen Adventure", a holiday-themed short set to debut alongside "Coco". A special clip from this short was screened, and Gad sang one of the four new songs set to debut in it. Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee along with the core cast are all confirmed to return, and "Frozen 2" is set to hit theatres on November 27, 2019.

There were other minor bits from both Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. Dan Scanlon who did "Monsters University", is currently developing a personal project on Pixar based on his own experience of not knowing his father (who passed away when he was just one). This project is currently untitled, and doesn't have a release date for now. Scanlon was inspired to make this, after discovering a recording of his late father. It will be a mix of fantasy and mundance, set in a world where unicorns are said to be a norm of everyday's life. Josh Cooley has been announced as the sole director for "Toy Story 4". He was supposed to co-direct with Lasseter before. Lasseter himself remains as producer for the June 21st, 2019 movie. And Disney Animation Studios is working on a spin-off of "Cars", spotlighting a plane (but NOT part of the "Planes" franchise) that will go all the way into space. This untitled movie will be released on April 12th, 2019.

Last but not least, "Coco" did get the utmost privilege to wrap off the entire presentation via an elaborate musical number. Director Lee Unkrich, producer Darla Anderson, and writer Adrian Molina arrived on stage to preview a new clip from the movie. They revealed that music for this movie will combine the talents of songwriter Germaine Franco, the "Frozen" couple Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez, with Michael Giacchino composing the score. Newcomer Anthony Gonzales is playing the lead character Miguel, with Benjamin Bratt, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Edward James Olmos lending their voices to the others. "Coco" is set to arrive in a few months, on November 22nd, 2017!

Star Wars

Lucasfilm didn't deliver a new trailer for Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" during D23 Expo 2017 as fans expected. But the cast did bring a special behind-the-scenes video that... well, in a way showcased many things as well, and delighted avid "Star Wars" fans nonetheless. You can visit Collider to get screengrab images of this video. Official posters for the movie have also been released via social media. The one featuring late Carrie Fisher's General Leia seemed to breaking many fans heart. Overall though, there's a sense of danger looming through this posters, as everyone is shaded with the color of blood-red. Is it a sign of death? Oh no...! "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" will arrive on December 15th, 2017.

DC Films

Let's have a quick intermezzo from Disney, as we visit the other side of the... fandom. Yes, Warner Bros gets their category here! Though admittedly, I only included them to avoid postponing too much for the next R-N-D. LOL. Anyway, it'll be a quick one.

First, director Jaume Collet-Serra is said to be the frontrunner to helm "Suicide Squad 2". Yes, it's been an unanimous verdict that the first movie was... bad, and I personally don't see any reason for this sequel to exist. But money talks louder, especially to WB, so the studio is making one anyway. Think of it like the "Transformers" franchise. I'm not that familiar with Collet-Serra, and I haven't even seen "The Shallows". But even if I HAVE seen "Non-Stop", I can't really say if this is a right choice or not. Those movies and "Suicide Squad" are completely different in genre. Both Will Smith and Margot Robbie are poised to return though, so there's that.

Matt Reeves has publicly stated that he won't be using Ben Affleck & Geoff Johns' script for the tentatively titled "The Batman"! He said this himself on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast while promoting the critically-acclaimed "War for the Planet of the Apes", practically confirming previous report by Slash Film that many had considered to be false. Perhaps, script issue was the problem that broke down Reeves' negotiation with WB before? With the script being rewritten from scratch, many have wondered what will happen to the news we have heard so far, particularly about the casting of Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke. There's always a possibility that Manganiello will no longer appear in the solo movie, right? I'm sure we'll hear more about this in WB's upcoming panel on SDCC 2017 tomorrow.

One last thing, WB have also somewhat bullishly announced two more release dates for the year 2020. Yes, they are now planning to release FOUR effing movies that year, as if making two bad ones a year wasn't enough. Looks like someone hasn't really learned from their past mistake, huh? I can't really remember the previous two dates (if I'm not mistaken, they were reserved for "Cyborg", and "Green Lantern Corps"), but the new ones are set for February 2nd, 2020 and June 5th, 2020. It is speculated that the June one will be a sequel to this year's "Wonder Woman", due to its achievement of inching closer to become the most successful Summer movie of the year. The February one, might be a bit tricky considering WB has so many DC Films projects on the works, that even I had lost count of it for a long time now. Could it be that "Gotham City Siren", because it's a Valentine's Day release? Or Joss Whedon's "Batgirl". How about "The Flash". Hmmm. Maybe SDCC 2017 will help enlighten us if this bad.... news. Not that I could care any less though...

Marvel Studios

Back to Disney! Let's first talk about the biggest news of them all. Because while items and props from "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Black Panther" were put on display at the Marvel booth, they weren't on par with what transpired on the Live Action Panel.

Yep, Kevin Feige attended the D23 Expo 2017, and as expected he wasn't alone. Nope, far from it, because he brought a HUGE number of guests. In order of appearance; Josh Brolin, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Don Cheadle, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., and co-director Joe Russo; all joined him on stage, because they were celebrating Marvel Studios' 10 Years. With a new Anniversary Logo... and also first teaser for next year's "Avengers: Infinity War" that easily brought the crowd of 7000 people on their feet, driving them wild and overpouring with emotions.

Said footage began with around two minutes of clips from roughly 13 previous movies that have been produced by the studio, before continuing with a completely new scene. It started of with Hemsworth's Thor crashing into the Guardians of the Galaxy's spaceship, followed by a reel of action-packed sequences, and was wrapped with Thanos having a fully assembled Infinity Gauntlet in his hand, about to pummel his enemies using debris in space. Various sites (ComicBook, THR, Daily Super Hero, Collider, Buzzfeed, and many more) have published their rundown of the sequence, revealing plenty of tidbits from the mindblowing Avengers sequel. Each one complemented the rest, by filling up missing details that was missed by one another, so do take your time to visit them and read them on spot. Seriously though, reading them alone has already made me giddy and anxious. So much that I'm actually really glad Marvel Studios hasn't put it up online. Otherwise I'd probably suffered an instant heart attack and died before the movie even arrives.

After the rousing panel presentation, the Marvel booth officially unveiled additional characters for the movie. Joining the huge life-size statue of Brolin's Thanos that has been decorating the hall since day one, were four of his right hands... the Black Order. Brolin himself was on hand for the official unveiling of the team, that will instead be called 'The Children of Thanos' in the movie. Confirming theories gathered by fans after seeing the set pieces in Scotland and Atlanta, this antagonistic team consists of Corvus Glaive, his wife Proxima Midnight, the super intellect with manipulative ability Ebony Maw, and the Hulk-like Cull Obsidian.

Some of the core cast like Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner (who suffered an unfortunate injury on set), Paul Rudd, and many others were notably absent, including co-director Anthony Russo who remained in Atlanta to work on tentatively-titled "Avengers 4". Yes, "Infinity War" had just wrapped on the first day of D23 Expo 2017 (the Russos announced this themselves), but the production team are now moving on with the next giant project! WOW, talk about marvelous dedication to work. But surely, we can expect them to appear this weekend on SDCC, right? "Avengers: Infinity War" opens less than a year from now, on May 4th, 2018.

Presumably because production has only begun for "Ant-Man & the Wasp", none of its cast were present at the D23 Expo. The event officially revealed the first look for Hope van Dyne's the Wasp on one of the hanging-banner though, and actress Evangeline Lilly herself happily shared this news. Also actor Walton Goggins has officially joined the cast. I'm not familiar with this actor, but I've read many folks were excited about him, because apparently he's a terrific actor. His role is currently undisclosed, and speculations are saying that he might be playing the villain of the movie. Clearly he's not playing that character rumored by That Hashtag Show, right?

Which reminds me... that site reported an 'exclusive' saying that the studio is actively looking for an African-American actor between the age of 55 to 65 for a highly intelligent role. Everyone's easy guess is Dr. Bill Foster, a.k.a. Goliath who's in a way connected to Giant Man. Since Rudd's Scott Lang did demonstrate that ability in "Captain America: Civil War", linking it to Foster would be fantastic. Then again, That Hashtag Show isn't particularly a credible source, having falsely reported many stuffs in the past (Shang-Chi? Pffftttt). So I wouldn't really bet on their horses. Anyhoo, here's hoping the cast will stop by on SDCC this weekend, if only to have an actual confirmation or two. "Ant-Man & the Wasp" will arrive on July 6th, 2018.

"Black Panther" didn't have a huge presence (Boseman and director Ryan Coogler had a signing session), but that's because it already made a separate headline earlier that week (on July 11th). By showing up as the cover story of EW! The magazine ran a detailed coverage of the movie, dishing out the many aspects from the many lores of Wakanda, the various characters, and what to expect from the story.

Wakanda produces and is riched with a nearly-mystical metal called Vibranium. The people has mined it, experimented, and used it to develop medicines, technology, and others. Its fields also grows the Heart-Shaped Herb, a plant that grants superhuman strength to its leaders. That's the reason why it has closed itself from the whole world. John Kani's T'Chaka's death in "Civil War" will shake the illusive African-country's ground, as threats coming towards Boseman's T'Challa from inside and outside. The outside refers to Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger, an aspiring prince who is colluding with Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klaue (with a new hand, in form of sonic mining equipment) to bring down T'Challa from his throne. The inside refers to the turmoil that fears T'Challa might be engaging too much with the outside world, just like T'Chaka. This might be where Winston Duke's M'Baku (who will NOT be addressed as Man-Ape) enters the equation. Coogler compared his movie to politics, saying that there's an ambiguity of who's good and bad. "The film very much plays with those concepts, looking at conflicts and different motivations, and who’s with who", he stated.

Producer Nate Moore, likened the movie to a fusion of "The Godfather" and the "James Bond", serving as tribute to both franchises. It's "a big, operatic family drama centered on a world of international espionage. So hopefully we’re getting the best of both worlds", he hoped. Boseman also stressed out, that Wakanda is "a very matriarchal society", hinting that the female characters in this solo movie shouldn't be taken for granted. This refers to Angela Basset's Queen Ramonda, Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia who is an undercover spy with a knack on 'Ring Blades', Letitia Wright's genius and intellectual Shuri, to the Dora Milaje guards like Danai Gurira's Okoye and Florence Kasumba's Ayo. Meanwhile, Forest Whitaker is playing Zuri, a shaman who is also the keeper of the Heart-Shaped herb. His character roots the movie in a unique element of spirituality, the way it's always been depicted in the comics. "Black Panther" will premiere on February 16th, 2018.

Marvel Studios might have left quite a massive impression last week, with "Spider-Man: Homecoming" running in theatres, the EW cover story for "Black Panther", and a D23 Expo presence that many people might still be talking about until now. Not to mention the pairings of characters, on set interactions, talk of future movies, actor's fancasting, etc. But that doesn't mean its hype is ending soon. This Saturday (precisely tomorrow evening, US time), the studio will return to SDCC 2017's Hall H for a special presentation with extended duration. Perhaps, that "Infinity War" footage will be delivered online for every fans to see? Or should we hope for another version, because Rufallo had openly teased something mind-blowing in the event. I'm merely spitballing here, but I'm positive we'll at least be seeing the cast of "Ragnarok", "Black Panther", "Ant-Man & the Wasp", and most definitely "Infinity War" on the panel. All I can say, we need to brace ourselves for another tide (or tsunami) of Marvel Studios news in the next few days. Because whether you like it or not, it's a great time to be a Marvel fan! Excelsior!!!

Marvel TV

It was a bit odd that Marvel's "The Inhumans" wasn't heavily showcased in D23 Expo 2017. I mean, excluding that Lockjaw's goodies available on Marvel booth, or the only three character posters that can be found on their official Twitter account. After all, ABC is still part of Disney, thus it felt odd that it wasn't even getting proper 'spotlight'. Of course, the series will have its own panel at SDCC 2017, so that might be the case. Nevertheless, the cast of the series continued to share details about the mini series outside of the panel.

Eme Ikwuakor confirmed that his character Gorgon as well as Ken Leung's Karnak, will be similar to the comics. "I act 5 times before I start thinking. I think that plays into a lot of the dynamics as well, especially with Karnak who is the exact opposite who think 5 times before he acts" he said. Sonya Balmores likened her Auran's job as the Royal Family's secret service. She works very closely with the King and Queen, and acts as their eyes and ears eventhough she's not related by blood. Serinda Swan praised her character, because "The great thing about Medusa is that she’s taking on two roles, not molded into one. That’s what makes her such an interesting character". She also affirmed that audience can expect to see Medusa's hair-play in amazing action sequence, likely to ease fans' concerns that has been growing rapidly ever since EW debuted her first look. She even added that "You will definitely see her hair have moods. There will be some moody hair because that’s her". Let's just hope that she's not giving us false hope.

Anson Mount revealed that the intricacies of Black Bolt was the reason he was drawn to portray this character. That's why he immediately agreed when Marvel TV Head Jeph Loeb personally offered this role (outside of auditions), and has even dedicated time developing it with sign consultant and all. He stated that the major theme of the movie is about family, namely about his somewhat Shakespearean love-hate relationship with brother Maximus, played by Iwan Rheon. Rheon by the way, is the most famous actor on the show, hence we can expect him to be more than just an antagonist.

Problem is, Mount also talked about why his character and also the entire series needed to be 'grounded', in order for them to be... "more accessible to a viewing audience than a reading audience". This one, is easily the part that rubs me off the wrong way. Grounded this, grounded that? I'll be honest, all these 'grounded talks' is making me feel iffy. Why shy away from going all out bizarre and outlandish? It's okay to do that with the Inhumans on Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." considering they are Earth-bound (then again, even they weren't afraid with the visuals)... but the Royal Family? They should be larger than life! Embrace all the weirdness and fun, not unlike the Guardians of the Galaxy. And don't ever forget! Scott Buck's idea of 'grounded' tends to be... 'different' or a 'bit warped' than what you and I had in mind. It means the mystical dragon Shou Lau is two bulbs of red-light for Marvel's "Iron Fist"! A proof that someone clearly didn't learn from the mistake done to that series.

Isabelle Cornish who plays Crystal, also brought a different but equally interesting notion. She revealed that audience can expect the IMAX 'movie'-size feature to be... "just really introducing us as a family and discovering the characters in the first 2 episodes. Seeing how we all mix together, how we intertwine, the different powers we all have. I mean, its such a large family. We’re essentially cousins. To have cousins that are brothers, its kinda cool and different.". Wait, WHAT? You're kidding, right? WHY would I waste my money on IMAX theatres just to see a prolonged intro? Isn't that like... NOT the point of filming a movie in IMAX format? I'm sure Christopher Nolan and his "Dunkirk", and even the Russo Brothers would be completely angry to hear this kind of treatment.

I've honestly lost all kind of goodwill and faith for this show. You can even say that I've joined a weird group among Marvel fans, essentially becoming a naysayer, because that's more or less accurate. The trailer, and every cast interviews so far, eerily reminded me of the whole "Iron Fist" scenario. Things haven't been looking good on my gut feeling, and I simply refuse to be fooled twice. But of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily apply to every Marvel fans out there. After all, there are those who actually enjoyed "Iron Fist" sooo much more than I did. With that said, perhaps it's indeed a wise decision for me to have such a really low expectation to this show. Who knows? It might flip me upside down and win me over instead...

Netflix

Similar to "Black Panther" that was featured by EW's First Look exclusive, Marvel's "The Defenders" got their share of publicity via a new poster released by the outlet, and also through UK's Empire Magazine. I'm sure we can expect the coverage from these magazines pretty soon. The EW poster, along with an exclusive one designed by Joe Quesada for Jon Bernthal's Marvel's "Punisher", are set to be available at Marvel's booth during SDCC 2017. Don't forget, "The Defenders" is also expected to have a huge presence at the Con, so prepare to hear more details as well as hopefully a new trailer for the mini-series. All 8 episodes of "The Defenders" will arrive on August 18th, 2017.

On a side note, actress Lucy Liu has been confirmed to direct the Season 2 Premiere episode of Marvel's "Luke Cage". Could she have a role in the series too? I certainly hope so. I personally want to see Liu joining a Marvel Studio movies for a significant role. But even if that's not the case, her appearing in one of the Netflix series sounds right too.

"Stranger Things" unveiled a sinister new teaser early last week, with a tagline "1984 only gets stranger". The teaser also confirmed that the 2nd Season will be available on October 27th, 2017. There weren't any details about this new season following that, but we can expect ones in the upcoming SDCC 2017.

Last but not least, I can't believe I missed this last month, but turns out the 3rd Season of "Voltron Legendary Defenders" has had an official release date! Via the trailer that... I oddly couldn't find on Netflix' official Youtube channel, it was revealed that the new season will arrive on August 4th, 2017. That's... really fast! Possibly due to the delay on Season 2 (it was meant to be released last year, but got delayed to January this year), I honestly didn't expect it to arrive so early. But who am I to complain! We need the 3rd season right away, especially after how the 2nd season abruptly ended. LOL. Also... if this teaser is any indication, things aren't looking good for the team. Because while the Paladins can't form Voltron, Emperor Zarkon's son Prince Lotor has taken command of the Galra Empire and starts brewing trouble in the galaxy. Here's hoping we'll get a longer and better trailer when the showrunners and cast members hit their SDCC 2017 panel this weekend!

Disney XD Series

New sneak peak clip for "DuckTales" was released during D23. Taken from the episode entitled "Daytrip of Doom!", the clip showed Huey, Dewey, and Louie having a dart gun fight against a very serious Webby, that caused plenty of... chaos in Scrooge McDuck's Manor. Many fans seemed to be annoyed with how the nephews sound when they saw the First Look before, a sentiment that was very understandable. For me personally, at least their new voices are growing in me, to the point that I no longer feel that much bothered by it. Many seems to have been voicing criticism to the Carl Barks-inspired design too, but I personally never had any issue about it. Most of the comics I've seen was drawn in that style anyway. LOL. "DuckTales" is set to premiere with a one-hour TV movie on August 12th, 2017, before starting its series on September 23rd.

Disney XD also unveiled the first look for "Big Hero 6 the Series". Based on the one and only Oscar-winning superhero movie so far, this much-anticipated series will tell the story of Hiro Hamada along with Baymax and friends, as they become the heroes of San-Fransokyo. Similar to "Tangled the Series", the design might not work with everyone, especially those who were expecting lush CG animation like the movies. The "Big Hero 6" one was very close, and clearly inspired by the actual 2D character designs from the movie's production though. So in a way, it's accurate. You can catch the series Main Title on Youtube!

Kamen Rider

The first official image for the 19th Heisei Rider "Kamen Rider Build" has been revealed! The image clearly showed that Build shared similar dual-colored design of "Kamen Rider W", but one that utilized a combination of technology and biology.

As rumored before, his initial form with the color Blue and Red is a fusion of Tank and Rabbit respectively. These powers will be accessed through the season's collectibles, Full Bottles, as the hero inserts a pair into his Build Driver. His transformation catchphrase for this initial mode will be "Using 2 Bottles, Find the Best Match! ​Are You Ready?! Moonsault of Steel! Rabbit Tank! Yeah!". Different Full Bottles can then be mixed and matched to produce a variety of forms. The biological side revealed so far includes Rabbit, Gorilla, Hedgehog, and Hawk, while the technological side includes Tank, (Vacuum) Cleaner, and Gattling. It's safe to say we can expect a lot more in the future. The picture also teased the antagonist Knight/Night Rogue, and the second Rider called Kamen Rider Claws/Close.

The story is said to take place in a post-apocalyptic world where souls are bound to bottles. "Second Build" is the cause, as it destroyed the world 10 years before. Kamen Rider Build will then have to deal with evil souls called "Builders" who seek to commit crime. Surprisingly, while it was previously assumed that "Build" will start airing as the "Kamen Rider" franchise changes timeslot in October, it has been revealed to debut much sooner. The currently airing "Kamen Rider Ex-Aid" has been confirmed to end with 44 episodes (with episode 45 serving as a bridge to the next), thus "Build" is set to begin in September. Is it because "Ex-Aid" isn't doing well in the toy department? Hmmm...

If you ask me, the overall concept, design, and story premise of this new series is solid, and they are more than enough to make me want to see it. I was actually sold thanks to the FireHedgehog form! LOL. Of course, execution doesn't always rhyme well with expectation, so it's still unclear if I will end up following to the end or not. Heck, the actor casting might also play as a make-or-break situation for me! So it's definitely not set in stones. But for now, I honestly want to see this show in action.

Square Enix

Since the "Kingdom Hearts" franchise is a mixture of their original characters as well as Disney world, of course Square Enix was present at the D23 Expo 2017. And as promised, the company introduced a new look and trailer for "Kingdom Hearts III". The new trailer particularly unveiled a new "Toy Story" world, while teasing an action adventure in the world of Disney's "Hercules"! Other confirmed new worlds include Disney's "Tangled", "Big Hero 6" and the "Olympus Coliseum" world.

The "Toy Story" part will have Sora, and his travelling companions Donald Duck and Goofy exploring Andy's room alongside Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the other toy characters. They need to investigate the disappearances of their fellow toys, and also Andy himself. Both director Tetsuya Nomura and Pixar Animation Studios story supervisor Jason Katz have confirmed that it will be a brand new storyline, but is still on par with Pixar's standard of storytelling and animation quality. In terms of timeline, it will take place after the events of the "Toy Story 2" movie. Nomura expressed his excitement for this world, because he had always wanted to include one on "Kingdom Hearts II".

The company also confirmed that the game will be released in 2018, which is probably not a concidence. It will be available for PlayStation 4 and XboxOne, with Nintendo Switch being considered. A second playable character will also be available, but apparently the director thought that's information for another time. LOL.

Pocket Monsters

Niantic is set to hold their first "Pokemon GO" real-world event this very weekend, with the "Pokemon GO Fest Chicago" taking place on July 22nd, 2017. They have posted details surrounding the big event happening on location, revealing that players from all around the world will also be able to 'contribute' during the same timetable. During three Challenge Windows at the event from 11:00AM to 08:00PM Chicago Time, players worldwide will help attendees to unlock rewards, and vice versa. Later, if players at the Chicago event catch enough Pokemon during the Catch Challenge, a special Mystery Challenge will be unlocked for the last hour of the event. If said Challenge is completed, then an 'extra special bonus' will be given for players around the world in form of Global Reward on July 23rd-24th.

This sounds a bit complicated to understand, and the gap between time zones alone is already feeling unfair to some parts of the world who have to stay up during midnight to dawn to participate. Response to this has been mixed as well, due to various reasons. But despite constantly getting server issues over the past week, Niantic is working hard to appeal its players. One of it, is by directly flying high-level Pokemon GO Youtubers from all around the world into Grant Park Chicago to participate in the live event. Many have been speculating that the Global Reward will be the first official reveal of Legendary Pokemon. We'll have to wait and see if that's really the case.

Those in Europe can then participate in a "Pokemon GO Safari Zone" events, in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers. Copenhagen and Praque will be holding one on August 5th, Stockholm and Amstelveen on August 12th, and Oberhausen, Paris and Barcelona on September 16th. These events will give European players the opportunity to catch variety of Pokemon, among them are those only available as region-locked like Kangaskhan and Tauros. Unique and powerful Raid Bosses will also be available. For the United Kingdom area, Niantic will be holding a "Big Heritage Festival" event in Chester on July 22nd-23rd. This is a joint collaboration with UK heritage organization, Big Heritage.

Last but not least, Yokohama area is set to have a "Pikachu Outbreak" event on August 9th- 15th. It has been an annual event for The Pokemon Company, but this time, it will also include a Pokemon GO experience.

Tekken

I did NOT see this coming!

Geese Howard, who was recently revived by SNK Corp for "The King of Fighters XIV", has been announced as the new DLC character for "Tekken 7: Fated Retribution"!!! Bandai Namco unveiled this via one thrilling and intense trailer, during the Evolution Championship Series 2017. It just felt... right seeing Geese pummeling the Tekken characters one by one (particularly Heihachi, who is a natural jerk just like him), and sending them to misery. LOL. Geese will be available in Winter 2017, along with his own unique 'Geese Tower' stage.

The company did already state that they will be adding exclusive guest characters from other video game franchise, following the game's release on June 2nd, 2017. But I honestly didn't expect them to actually go with fans' wishes that openly called out Geese with the reasoning that his fighting style and 'badass' mannerism will be a great fit to "Tekken 7" (it's accurate, though). With "Street Fighter" very own Akuma already in the title, "Tekken 7" is growing to be a rendesvouz spot for powerful characters from various franchises. Now... who will the next DLC be for Spring 2018? Someone from "Dead or Alive"? "Mortal Kombat"? "Guilty Gear"? This is exciting...

Street Fighter

The 4th "Street Fighter V" DLC character for Season 2 has been revealed! And continuing the trend since Gouki/Akuma, it's a supposedly-new character that is also NOT really a new one... *sigh*. NEW, because the "Street Fighter" franchise hasn't had them as playable characters until now, but NOT new, because they have already existed as either supporting characters in previous games, or from entirely different game. Proof? No explanation necessary for Akuma, Kolin was Gill's right hand in "Street Fighter III", and Ed showed up in "SFV" various Story Modes since the very beginning. The fourth character joining them, hails from CAPCOM's very own "Final Fight" series. In form of big brute Abigail.

Yoshinori Ono announced Abigail during the Evolution Championship Series 2017, and an official reveal trailer for the character immediately hit the internet. This towering Mad Gear Leader that's even taller and bigger than Hugo albeit with a goofy personality, has attacks based on armors. The face paint is said to be an homage to King Diamond, who is a heavy metal musician. He is set to be released next week on July 25th, 2017, alongside his unique new stage called the 'Metro City Bay Area'. You can visit Gematsu to read a detailed description of this new DLC character.

Intriguingly, this reveal didn't surprise fans, because his name has been repeatedly rumored and reported before. The Event Hubs user who goes by the name of Flowtron has gotten his 'leaks' proven with the reveal of Akuma and Ed, and now his street cred had just gotten much higher with the confirmation of Abigail. Assuming his leak are all true, then the remaining two DLC characters will be Menat and Zeku. Menat is supposed to be that Egyptian-looking 'Fortune Teller' who already and rather pointlessly debuted in Ed's Story Modes. I also had the exact same suspicion, the moment I saw her design on that ending sequence. Not to mention, it fits with CAPCOM's goal to increase diversity in the game (with Rashid's inclusion). Zeku on the other hand, is Guy's teacher. Meaning he's also a "Final Fight" alumn. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a confirmation to his inclusion in Abigail's Story Mode.

Flowtron also stated an insider information regarding the 3rd Season DLC characters. According to him, Sagat and Sakura Kasugano are pretty much confirmed, but they won't play out like their "Street Fighter IV" counterparts. The previously rumored characters like Oro, C. Viper, Q, and Necro aren't accurate. For now, these should be treated as rumor until proven otherwise. But let's just say, I will not be surprised if it turns out to be true.

As for the real deal, CAPCOM will be releasing new special stages and costumes on July 25th as well, as part of the game's 30th Anniversary. This includes: Classic Ryu's "Suzaku Castle" stage from "Street Fighter II", Capcom Pro Tour 2017 Exclusive "Ring of Pride" stage (the Kanzuki Family Stadium), Nostalgic Costumes (for Alex, Ibuki, and Juri), and The Champion's Choice costume designed by CAPCOM Cup 2016 winner Du "Liquid|NuckleDu" Dang (for Ryu, Ken and Guile). Do visit Event Hubs to see their pricings.

Marvel vs Capcom

Meanwhile, "Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite" officially added Jedah from "Darkstalkers" series as playable character. This was revealed during the Evolution Championship Series 2017 tournament. Following this sequel's odd tradition, Jedah debuted during one of the fight and was not officially announced via individual trailers. You can visit Gamespot's Youtube channel to see him in action. "Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite" is set to be released on September 19th.

ARIKA

Many fans have been itching to see characters from "Street Fighter EX" to spring back into action. But considering ARIKA no longer collaborates with CAPCOM, that seems like a wishful thinking. Well, until now.

A new currently untitled 'EX' Fighting Game was showcased during The Evolution Championship Series 2017. The teaser video (provided through ARIKA's official Youtube Channel) showcased favorite 'EX' characters like Kairi, Shirase/Hokuto, Garuda, Skullomania, and Darun Mister. ARIKA officially announced that it will be the newest entry in the 'EX' series.

It was announced that there will be a limited time beta/server test at the end of 2017, and it has been confirmed to be a worldwide PlayStation 4 release for 2018. It is expected to be playable on April Fools, and pre-order has been made available for Japan players. Considering the company DID first tease this several months ago on April Fools 2017, I think we can safely assume that April 1st, 2018 will indeed be the release window for the title. Hopefully we'll hear more about this in the near future...

[newyorktheater]

Paul McGill, a Broadway veteran since the age of 17, kicks up his heel on 45th Street, as part of a terrific video (see below) by the cast of “A Chorus Line” 2006 Broadway revival. This is just one of the many steps that members of the theater community are taking to raise morale, keep busy, and kick start a whole new era of theater-making in the face of devastating challenges.

Free Shakespeare in the Park has been canceled, for the first time in its 58 years – news that hits hard, and the sharpest sign that New York theater is unlikely to reopen until the Fall at the earliest.

  The Public Works musical adaptation of “As You Like It,” one of the two productions planned for Shakespeare in the Park that the Public Theater has canceled. “This is something I mightily resisted,” said artistic director Oskar Eustis. But the timing just didn’t work.

This includes Broadway, which even the head of the Broadway League now concedes. In an interview this past week, the trade association’s Charlotte St. Martin said: “As late as two weeks ago we were thinking that with any luck we might be up by July and that a worst case scenario might be September. Now the best guesses are that unless there’s serious testing and information that we don’t currently have, we’re probably looking at September or later.”

Once theater officially returns, the question becomes: Will audiences?

A survey of DC-area theatergoers found that “around half (49 percent) suggest they will probably wait a few months or more before returning while only a quarter (25 percent) think they will attend right away.”

“Constraint Breeds Creativity”

In the meantime, theaters are responding in creative ways. A survey of 168 theaters across the country conducted by TCG, found that 67 percent are “exploring performance alternatives and virtual programming,” which helps explain the explosion of online theater. (See my Where To Get Your Theater Fix Online and Calendar of April “Openings”)

Other findings from the survey:

Cancellations: 88 percent had cancelled performances that had already been scheduled (It’s surprising that 12 percent had not; perhaps they didn’t have any scheduled in the Spring?)

Compensation: “56 percent had committed to some kind of compensation for artists, production staff, etc. involved with cancelled performances; 18 percent had committed to full compensation, and 38 percent had committed to partial compensation. Thirty percent of respondents expressed a desire to provide compensation but were not sure they would be able to do so in light of revenue losses, and 13 percent expressed a desire to provide compensation but knew they would not be able to do so.”

One of those answering the survey was quoted as saying: “There’s a strong feeling that we’re all in this together. And I do believe that some creative solutions for how we make and share art will emerge out of this. Constraint breeds creativity.”

Another way to look at it: “We’re all in intermission right now….everybody loves a second act,” Lin-Manuel Miranda says in a radio spot sponsored by the Broadway League. “If there’s one thing we can be sure of, Broadway will be back, and New York City will be back and the world will be back.”

In the meantime, to donate money, supplies or time — Coronavirus.health.ny.gov

To help theater people in need, Broadwaycares.org

https://www.theproducersperspective.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Only-Intermission-Video.mp4

Awards Season Begins

New York Drama Critics Circle Awards:Heroes of the Fourth Turning. Strange Loop. The entire theater community for perseveranceThe

Lucille Lortel Award Nominations 2020, Off-Broadway’s Best: “A Strange Loop” NS “Heroes of the Fourth Turning” lead nominations

The nominations for the 65th annual Drama Desk Award will be announced on Tuesday and for the Drama Leagues’ newly named Gratitude Awards on Thursday.

Despite a truncated season, more than half the major theater awards are going ahead in one form or another. Check out my guide to New York Theater Awards 2020

Fighting the Virus

Danny Burstein as the impresario Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge

Broadway star Danny Burstein on his harrowing experience with COVID-19, which he recounts straightforwardly, and with lots of humor. (He’s now out of the hospital, recuperating) https://t.co/UR3YSPTGNE pic.twitter.com/BPh4IM76xv

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 13, 2020

Nick Cordero

Nick Cordero’s fight against COVID-19 has been more up and down, as his wife has recounted on her Instagram account over the last several weeks. More than 6,000 people have donated a total of more than $350,000 to the  Cordero’ family‘s GoFundMe account.

Nick was without question the best thing about “Bullets Over Broadway.” Here is in 2014 re-creating “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” for Broadway in Bryant Park:

  A Dissident Company Celebrates 15 Years Underground The Belarus Free Theater had ambitious plans for its anniversary. The coronavirus stopped them, but the troupe is used to finding ways to keep going in tough times.

For Kicks

A Chorus Line in Quarantine

Broadway Alphabet Series continues

Happy 150th birthday, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thanks for the 5,000 years of artwork about actors and the theater., by Picasso, Renoir, Degas, and by artists whose names are lost to history

Broadway Night 1929 by John Marin

Spanish Music Hall by Everett Shinn, 1902

Kabuki actor around 1849

The Old Actress 1926 by Max Beckmann

One World Together At Home Highlights: Watch Paul McCartney. Elton John. Stevie Wonder. Lizzo. Taylor Swift. Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello

Top 10 Pandemic Parody Song Videos

Rest in Peace

  Dennehy, with Elizabeth Franz, in Death of A Salesman 1999

Dennehy in Long Day’s Journey Into Night on Broadway, 2003

Dennehy with Nathan Lane in The Iceman Cometh directed by Robert Falls at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre

Inherit the Wind in Chicago

with Mia Farrow in Love Letters

Brian Dennehy, 81, a versatile performer on stage and stage, winning Tony Awards for “Death of a Salesman” in 1999 and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” in 2003.

I saw four of the six productions in which Brian Dennehy performed on Broadway, the last “Love Letters” in 2014 with Mia Farrow. He was always so… solid is the word, I think.

  Wynn Handman, 97, co-founder of the American Place Theatre, and revered acting teacher. “The list of theater artists who worked at the American Place or were students in Handman’s classes (or, more often, both) is a Who’s Who of the American theater. Actors in the company roster included Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rául Juliá, Michael Douglas, Olympia Dukakis, Faye Dunaway, Mary Alice, Richard Gere, Marian Seldes, Robert de Niro, James Caan, Joanne Woodward and Joel Grey. Bill Irwin, Eric Bogosian, Cynthia Heimel, Roger Rosenblatt, Aasif Mandvi and John Leguizamo all developed and performed in early shows there… “A celebration of Handman’s life will take place when groups of people are again allowed to gather in theaters and other American places.”

  Faith Dane, 96, who “starred for many years in a stage show that spanned burlesque, jazz, dance, calypso, comedy and performance art. She hit it big in the Broadway and film productions of “Gypsy,” for which the lyricist Stephen Sondheim created a role based on her long-standing cabaret act. She went on to run for mayor of D.C. nine times

Louis Johnson, 90, genre-crossing dancer and choreographer, whose career spanned Broadway (“Damn Yankees”), film (“The Wiz”), opera (“Aida”) and the stages of the Alvin Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem companies.

Shakespeare in the Park Canceled. See You in September…or Later. Awards Season Kicks In. #Stageworthy News of the Week Free Shakespeare in the Park has been canceled, for the first time in its 58 years – news that hits hard, and the sharpest sign that New York theater is unlikely to reopen until the Fall at the earliest.

[musicin68]

Totally Disco, Issue #7

Episode 7: Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad

A kegger! A classic Star Trek trope. Ah, remember that Next Gen episode when they had that rave on the holodeck and everyone was hungover for bridge duty the next day and Picard swore he'd never touch another Samarian Sunset again? No? Oh right, no one remembers that one because that timeline was erased.

The timeloop! A classic Star Trek trope. A way to explore all sorts of things/irritate viewers (I am looking at you Voyager. I swear if you show me one more episode that was made completely pointless by the end of it...) while never disturbing the status quo of the show. Irritation as a result of erased-time aside (argh! I just watched forty minutes of intense storytelling and in the end no one grew at all as a character...AGAIN!), if done well a time-loop can be tons of fun. This one had its moments.

I stand by my original assessment of Harry Mudd. Last time we saw him he said what we were thinking (namely that Lorca is a bad man). Now the writers are having him do what the viewers wish they could: take over Discovery and kill Lorca, over and over and over again. Yup, those were the moments. And I readily admit to the perverse pleasure I took in that montage.

Usually in these scenarios we follow the person who remembers what happens from loop to loop. In this case we don't. Stamets has shroom-vision and is aware of every reset, but Michael isn't and she remains the viewpoint character.

Burnham has to tell Stamets something only she knows so he'll be able to enlist her aid immediately (each loop only lasts thirty minutes). And it's...don't hold your breath...that she's never been in love. Is this supposed to be a shocking revelation? She grew up on Vulcan. In a society where the defining trait is the repression of emotion. She went from intense studying there in preparation for the Expeditionary Force to serving seven years in Starfleet as second-in-command of the Shenzhou where fraternization would be inappropriate...to serving six months in prison! When was there time for love? Why is this the thing that we are told? Most likely, the writers are setting up Burnham and Tyler's potential romance as a big deal. So if he dies or turns out to be Lt. Spy afterall it's MOAR DRAMA . I'll be honest. I can't bring myself to care. I am not here for that drama.

With Tyler's memory of how to do the cell block tango (because they danced at the rave and he was in a Klingon prison with Mudd...ha ha get it?... no?...is this thing on?...I'll just...show myself out) Mudd is beaten at his own game, and forced to go back to sweet Stella, the girl he ran out on after stealing her dowry. Wait. What? Her dowry??! The what now? It's 2256 and Humans still have economic systems in place in which women (or men, but that's giving the writers/creators the benefit of the doubt because we are only shown a woman in this position) are expected to provide financial incentive to a partner so they will take her off her parents' hands? Women are burdensome in some way in this society? This is the utopian future of humanity? Fuck that. This is weak. This is a little too much of a 60s plot line. Does Stella show up in TOS? I don’t care; it feels gross.

But that aside, Discovery has executed it's first successful time-loop. It felt Treky. It's also proven to me via Stamets now existing outside time that the fungi are a time traveling device! Sure, they haven't figured out how to use them that way yet, but they've got time.

Send Burnham back in the future and fucking save Georgiou! Do it!!

→ 1. Don't need money, don't need fame, just need a Stamets Drive to ride this train. It's spores and it's fungal and it hurts sometimes... but it might just save her life. That's the power of love. → 2. Who lived through this at least once? Burnham, Tilly, Dear Doctor, Saru, Stamets, Lorca, Lorca, Lorca, Lorca, Tyler, Kingons-somewhere out there, Cornwell, Pippin, Chef, T'Kuvma, Georgiou, Alice → 3. I guess you can have a traditional Star Trek feel to a show even when your captain is an asshole. → 4. I am actually glad to see Michael exploring her emotions (love and all). It's good character growth and that's important as it's very clear that Discovery has put all its eggs in the Burnham basket. At this point it doesn't really feel like an ensemble show in the way TNG or DS9 or VOY did, despite strong performances from others.