#i just really loved sing to me instead bc it had all the basic elements of what I love most in music (pisno

[cottagehowell]

wait epic… “The Word” was my fifth song of 2023. now I’m curious about the choreography! Are you a dancer? What kind of dance do you choreograph?

i also had queen and the Beatles on my top 5 artists! (I got to see queen with adam lambert in concert at one point… exsquisite). My top 5 were Beatles, Billy Joel, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, and Queen.

ok also you may have to explain the monkees to me bc I don’t quite understand the premise (band? tv show?) and just scroll past all their little floppy haired pictures on my dashboard… it is time to seize the day

Btw I use she/her pronouns! What about u? :)

OMG OUR MINDS!!!! it’s such a catchy song

I teach dance to mostly elementary-age kids, which is a lot of fun! Personally, my favorites are more traditional styles like ballet and tap, but I’m also really into dance involving some kind of apparatus, so like “manipulation disciplines” (baton twirling, hooping, and the apparatus handling element of rhythmic gymnastics) and aerial (silks, lyra, sling, trapeze, etc). And I LOVE using 60s/70s rock music for choreo (and sometimes new wave); a lot of teachers will only use “kids music” for their classes, but I always find that kids really enjoy older music/rock music/the beatles especially.

Omg I was obsessed with Elton John as a kid after he was on the bob the builder Christmas special 👀 like we have so many home videos of me performing crocodile rock in the living room lmao. so Elton John holds such a special place in my heart 🩵 also do you have any Led Zeppelin recs?? I enjoy their music whenever I hear it on the radio, but I don’t really know where to start to properly get into them! Also I’m sooooo jealous you got to see Queen + AL live!!!!! I’m sure it was amazing!!!! Sadly they did not come anywhere near my city on the rhapsody tour

okay you’re getting like a proper essay on the monkees because it’s a complicated situation. Micky likes to say they’re a fake band that became a real band. basically the creators of the show wanted to make an American version of the hard day’s night movie but in tv format. so they held auditions for the show and ended up casting 2 guys who were more musicians (mike & peter) and 2 guys who were more actors (micky & davy, although davy was a broadway performer and could definitely sing and do percussion, but had basically no experience in rock/pop music). so obviously they’re not like a “real band” bc they’re assembled so artificially. they assign micky to be the drummer even though he has no drumming experience whatsoever. Davy is actually a proficient drummer, but the showrunners want him to be their front man (even though he only ends up singing maybe half of the songs, but I digress) and they think he’s too short to be behind the drum kit. they also don’t allow the guys to play any of the instruments on the songs, just the vocals. Mike gets a clause in his contract that a couple of his original songs will be recorded, but it’s still session musicians. but the songs are catchy and the show is funny, and they become fairly popular :) if you’ve watched big time rush, the monkees show has a really similar vibe!! the four of them are essentially playing caricatured versions of themselves, with their own names, except they make Peter play the dumb one and he quietly resents this.

Part 2: The Trouble Begins

So the monkees are a fake band in a tv show, right? That seems to be the case until the showrunners start releasing albums of their music, taking the monkees on tour (they had to teach micky to drum for this), and, crucially, insisting to the public that the monkees actually do play their own music. and then forcing the guys to lie about it too (not to mention the frankly abusive conditions the monkees were being forced to work in). eventually the guys start telling the world how they’re not allowed to play their instruments, and instead of being sympathetic to their plight, everyone suddenly HATES the monkees for being a fraud. and legitimately some of that stigma continues to this day

Part 3: Total Control

While all that drama is going down, Mike and Peter decide that they actually want to make their own music, and micky and Davy get on board pretty soon. so the four of them start fighting to get creative control over the band. in one altercation over this in a hotel room, Mike famously punches a hole in a wall and says “that could’ve been your face, motherfucker” to the showrunner. so eventually they get creative control over the band and put out 4 albums really quickly! the tv show flops after season 2 because they’ve been outed as frauds and also because they were being more themselves than they were in season 1. they make a movie that flops horribly. Peter leaves the band. Mike leaves the band. Micky and Davy try desperately to keep it alive but after a little bit Davy becomes too much of a bitch and micky is having too much of a quarter-life crisis. none of them are basically ever taken seriously as performers again. Was it a real band? Was it a tv show? You decide!

I use she/they pronouns! thank you for asking ♡

anyway, do you have anything you’re looking forward to this month? I’m looking forward to being done with finals after next Tuesday and possibly seeing a Pink Floyd cover band closer to Christmas!

Much love, talk to you soon xoxo

[honkifyourelonely]

thoughts on reverie, the new ben platt album:

- bedroom pop meets 80s nostalgia

- I personally am a Lover of back up singers/musical theatre/gospel vibes so it’s just not holding up to sing to me instead imo, the fun and originality of that album isnt here for me, the songs are Fine but like, no making me feel

- (also “dance with you” is bad especially when compared to “share your address” :()

- i hope that if he makes more albums they explore different vibes and don’t just stick with this one (if he chooses a diff concept each time that would be unique and interesting at least whether I like the particular vibe or not)

- omg cool falsettos reference with the arrangement of “that’s just love” at the end of king of the world pt 2

- id be interested to hear this album in concert bc maybe those live music vibes would enhance it for me?

- I like carefully but goddamn I wish it was backup singers and not (Cassy you looked up the proper term) ben multiplied

- it’s kinda frustrating ig bc he has such a great fucking voice and when you put digital effects on it you can’t hear that so it’s like :| this could be any dude

- chasing you is good but also not good???

- I have been in the desert gasping for a piano and came back gave it to me

- STOP putting in digital drumbeats and just let him sing please…

- ben stop trying to sing falsetto riffs in the background youre embarrassing yourself… that’s why you should have backup singers…

- dark times is the first normal song but the lyrics are kinda meh also… just hire backup singers don’t multiply him please please please

- “we’re 27 now” omg cool why from tick tick boom reference

- imagine makes me feel nothing soz

- “rearranging deck chairs on the titanic” omg cool mbmbam reference

alright conclusion this album is a Completely Different Vibe that, while still pretty unique, is much more align with what’s popular rn. unfortunately as a quirky hipster who prefers the prevalent piano, backing vocals, humor, and tightness of a more musical theatre style (which was employed in his previous album), this one really didn’t do it for me. his impressive vocals don’t shine at all, the lyrics aren’t fun or unique or clever, and I just don’t feel that much about any of it :(. just take off the haze and let me Hear him please ya know. uhm. hope all the Olivia rodrigo Conan Gray taylor swift troye Sivan girl in red Billie eillish lovers (neutral) enjoy it at least.

[lunaastoir]

cute things i think the genshin characters would do

characters included: diluc, kaeya, venti, and albedo 

****minor lore spoilers for diluc!****

an: i’m thinking of making this into a series bc this was such an adorable concept to write so lmk if you’re interested 👀 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

diluc 

sorry kind of starting off with something a little sad 

i think diluc would have a habit of rubbing his vision 

ok seems kinda dumb at first but let me elaborate: 

after the death of his father, diluc was quite obviously devastated 

he basically withdrew into himself after letting all the grief, pain, and rage flood his senses

i think during this time of grieving, he would’ve developed this habit of running the pads of his fingers across his vision to calm himself down 

(v similar to katara from atla) 

since his father had always been proud of diluc’s vision, the thought of touching something that reminded him of his father has always been able to bring him some sort of relief no matter how short lived

it serves as a constant memory of his dad and i think being able to have that kind of connection - no matter how small would hold a significance to him 

stressed? you’ll see his fingers dance across his vision as the crease between his eyebrows gradually loosens 

ok here’s a bonus habit (bc the previous one was sad) 

whenever he’s bartending at angel’s share, he always flips the bottles in this cool bartending way before pouring the drinks 

like the whole shabang - flips in the air, shakes it in a way that the drink foams just right 

people are usually v surprised when they see this bc woah mans has got some sKILLS 

but also bc he’s known for being pretty serious and reserved so seeing a “trick” is kind of breaking the stoic image they have of him 

after he’s done pouring the drinks he’s also really precise about closing the bottles 

he makes sure that the caps are on tightly and that nothing is leaking (which ig is another reason why he does flips with them so he can make sure that the bottles are tightly closed) 

yes he’s rich but he also wants to make sure the drinks don’t go bad bc 1) kind of a loss if they do and 2) his customers deserve the best 

sweet man pls protect him <3 

kaeya

when he’s sitting down at his desk, he brings his legs up so he can sit on his chair criss- cross applesauce 

since he’s in his office and the only other person who’s in there with him is jean, he feels like he can drop the suave, charming cavalry captain facade he puts on when he’s in public and just dial it down slightly to who he really is in that moment 

jean doesn’t say a word the entire time even tho she quite obviously notices 

don’t get me wrong, he’s still the smooth talking kaeya but just,,, more relaxed and comfortable?? if that makes sense 

so since he’s a lot more comfortable in his office, he usually folds his legs into his chair bc damn they hurt from walking around all day

this is kinda dumb but i also think he has a lot of ink stains on his hands from writing so whenever he sees a fresh one he just likes to stamp it onto a piece of paper 

usually that piece of paper ends up being an unimportant report that goes to jean 

dw he also has a bunch of pretty small towels in his bottom drawer that he uses to wipe his hands on bc the public can’t see the pretty cavalry captain w ink stains!! the world would end!! 

oH kind of a side note but i also think he would keep a small folded up picture of something klee drew him in his pocket 

he thinks it’s very sweet and he periodically takes it out just to look at it soft for this man 

last one for kaeya but since he wears boots that have the little lip on the bottom (not really a heel but enough to make some noise) he makes sure to always try his best to walk quietly around the streets of mondstadt at night 

if anyone catches him doing it he’ll wave it off and say something like “oh me? i’m just practicing my stealth - it comes in handy when you have to sneak up on enemies you know?” but in reality that’s just bs 

he really just doesn’t wanna risk waking people up <3 

venti

this adorable man is obviously notorious for drinking 

he loves alcohol!! i mean he’s the anemo archon of the city of wine and freedom so is anyone really surprised 💀

anyways venti always jokes abt not having any mora (he really doesn’t he’s not wrong) but he always makes sure to pay his tab at angel’s share 

the only reason diluc lets him drink sm is because at the end of the day, venti always comes through w the mora 

he really is a talented bard so everything he makes in singing and composing music for other people to listen to always goes straight to angel’s share (debatable if that’s for the best or not but i’ll leave that one to you) 

so yeah <3 basically venti pays back his tabs even tho he’s an archon since he doesn’t want people to experience a loss bc of him 

it’s the archon nature coming out but also the venti nature bc he’s a sweet boy 

anyways getting onto the actual habit 🕺

he has a tendency to skip/hop regardless of wherever he’s going 

he uses his anemo elemental skill a lot while doing this just he can feel a light breeze whenever he skips around 

i also think he carries around extra bard strings in his hat bc he thinks it’s a cool party trick to take them out and be like tada i have extra strings no need to worry!!! 

people are usually not that amused but he does it anyway 

also yeah uh those strings sometimes fall out when he’s skipping 💀 

he’ll be hopping and suddenly bOOM they fall out, he loses them, a kitten by the name of prince takes them, and he has to ask for help to find his strings (i believe this is exactly how venti lost his strings to prince during the windblume festival and no i will not take any criticism and if venti says something different he is lying 🔪)

also has a habit of putting his hair into a bun sometimes!!! 

he loves his pigtails but he finds that he gets bored of them occasionally and his hair needs a break from its wavy tresses so he just plops it into a bun instead 

so so cute 10/10 hairstyle he can do my hair 

anyways love this man thanks for coming home <3 

albedo

i had a feeling i would kind of have a hard time w albedo since he is a little hard to read so i hope this is ok LMFAO 

he has paint stains. everywhere. no you cannot change my mind. 

they are subtle tho i will give him that 

you can’t notice that anything is amiss until you really pay attention and then you’ll start to see the pretty pastels and greens of the sunset he was painting up on dragonspine softly smeared across his clothes 

very rarely you’ll see a cute swipe of paint across his cheek or neck and it’s honestly adorable 

he was probably pushing his hair out of his face while he was painting and some excess paint on his finger landed on his cheek :,) 

he doesn’t really care tbh he thinks it’s just a part of him and it really isn’t that noticeable so he just leaves it 

also!!! since he is a big alchemist and he’s constantly working on labs and experiments i think he would accidentally misplace a lot of his written work 

he seems very organized but w someone as intellectual as him w his brain running miles a minute, i’m sure he has definitely forgotten where he’s put stuff away 

so!! in order to help him remember, he has little notes across his lab detailing where everything is 

if he was working on something and he immediately has to put it on hold bc something came up (klee came in demanding attention or sucrose needs help) then he’ll quickly jot down a note and stick it to his desk so he’ll remember when he comes back just in case he forgets 

sucrose as a result has noticed A LOT of notes across the lab and it’s simultaneously funny and endearing 

“started experiment with sweet flowers to try and turn them into a youth elixir: papers --> on the desk right next to klee’s photo” 

final point: he lets klee braid his hair sometimes if she wants to 

she doesn’t really know how given how young she is so she ends up messing up but albedo always walks her patiently through the steps again 

always makes time for klee no matter what bc he really does care a lot abt her :,) 

i love him sm pls 

[atalana]

[copied over from my cr blog, also this is gonna get long, i’d apologise but im not sorry]

okay, so

this is a rant probably about 7 years in the making, bc when i first watched lok i had not done any music study, i had not done any composing of my own, my knowledge of music theory was at a primary school level and i still thought tv soundtracks were just made by one person composing a whole cache of music and then the audio editors pick and choose what track to place where

(spoiler alert that’s not how film and tv scoring works, i have now done a music composition course where we had to score a short film, among other things, and i have so much more respect for tv composers jesus christ)

but this one stuck out to me even way back then, bc me barely knowing what a leitmotif was was like “hey this one little refrain keeps popping up whenever bolin does lavabending, and i like it, i’m gonna see if it’s on the soundtrack”

it was not, and that’s sort of where i left it back in 2014, but i actually did a rewatch of lok pretty recently out of nostalgia, and then noticed it even more

and to explain why (and this is also a little bit why five’s stuck out to me in tua, i’ll get to that in another ask), let’s cover, leitmotifs, and tv scoring in general

so a leitmotif is basically just a short musical idea that represents something in a piece of music. when i studied motivic development we were encouraged to make that motif four notes or less, and then develop it into something longer (aka a theme), because if you can constantly come back to a really short idea while keeping the piece moving, that’s what makes a piece of music memorable

(you can ignore those rules on purpose but that’s a different essay)

so the most common way that a leitmotif shows up in soundtracks is to represent a character or a location - you play the motif when that character shows up or when you’re in that location and boom, the audience associates that motif with that person place or thing, and you can then use this to tell the audience things without actually telling them. for example, star wars playing the imperial march whenever someone does something darth vader related - darth vader isn’t on screen, but you can feel his presence, because his music is playing

and if we were a film score, where we have two hours to show one particular character’s development, great! we give them a simple motif, and then as they grow as a person we change their motif to reflect what is happening to them, until we end up with something that communicates on a subconscious level how much they’ve grown. we toss in as much symbolism as we can, and we have a really great soundtrack that’s instantly memorable

tv scoring, is harder. partially because of time constraints (have you ever composed half an hour of original music a week, and had to make sure it fits perfectly with every beat of what’s happening on screen? these guys have), partially because there’s a much larger focus on ensemble casts

so what atla and lok do, for the most part, is not score individual character motifs for everyone. this is fairly common in tv soundtracks, instead we score ideas, concepts, and feelings - these’ll come up a lot more and give you more information than just “oh hey this character’s on screen”

the avatar state, for example, has the strongest and most recognisable theme across both shows. i’m linking an atla track in here because it has the best example but you’ll know this shows up with korra too - and with particularly important moments for wan, for kyoshi, etc. they also appear in the opening of both shows, four strong notes that start and end on the same note (in the case of what i’m linking, it’s an F#)

the first part of this track is the more uncertain, pensive theme that comes up when both avatars are feeling doubt/worry/sadness, but then it transitions into the more recognisable four. worth noting though, those are both basically the same motif. if i write them out back to back, you’ll notice they both have four notes and start and end on F#. if i had to guess, four notes four elements, and it comes back to the start because the avatar is a cycle.

korra has a theme for when she’s fighting, but not an individual character theme. the airbenders as a concept have a theme, republic city has thematic instruments, as do some big name characters, like iroh and his tsungi horn (this is also a cross-series thing, he’s always playing it in atla, it shows up when zuko has to make big moral decisions, and when we first meet iroh in the spirit world in lok, it shows up there too, to let the audience know who this is before we properly see him)

so, if korra doesn’t get a single theme and instead has several for different aspects of her life, and mako and asami follow along with the mood of the story like all the other characters, the fact that bolin has a personal leitmotif at all, let alone a solid, developing one, is pretty remarkable!

now, granted, it mostly starts with book 3, before then he was like every other character, but it has clear symbolism through those last two books! and, initially i thought it was related only to his lavabending, since that’s most of when it shows up, but since my rewatch, i’ve started calling it his hero theme

see, when people wanna criticise mako and bolin, usually the comments they get are that bolin’s too immature and mako’s too serious/uptight. but like, that’s how they work, you can’t analyse either of them without the context of the other. since they were little kids on the streets, bolin chases his heart and mako makes sure they don’t die from it, that is their entire childhood. and neither would have got here on their own because mako wouldn’t take the necessary risks and bolin wouldn’t take the necessary precautions. (like. remove either one from the equation and they’d still be working for the triple threats bc s1 and their flashback miniseries make pretty clear that bolin got them out and mako kept them out)

and then book 2 proves it! because it splits team avatar up, and what happens? bolin is totally taken advantage of by varrick and used as a pawn in his evil plan and mako ends up in jail

so what’s book 3, to them? it’s, being able to find themselves without having that codependency. mako no longer has someone to protect, which is what he’s based his whole life around so far - bolin’s doing fine and he’s no longer dating either korra or asami. and bolin’s trying his hand at some of that responsibility (look at how he immediately adopts kai who is explicitly them but younger because he wants to be the older brother for once). most importantly, they find the rest of their family, and stop being defined by being orphans. they don’t have to be that singular piece of a puzzle, they can just be themselves. and that’s where bolin’s character really starts to shine, because that’s when they bring in the bending plot, and bending, perhaps more than any other character, really gets to the heart of who bolin is

if you want more of my thoughts on that i have an essay here, but tl;dr: bolin’s an extremely powerful earthbender, but he’s not a metalbender because metalbending requires you to double down on the earth characteristics and think like an earthbender, and bolin doesn’t, he’s too fluid for that, which is one of his major strengths, so of course he can lavabend

and finally - to his motif itself! (as a note, i’ve put all of these in the same key to show where it repeats, but there’s a variety of keys used in the show)

as far as i can find, it first shows up in s3e8, when bolin stuns p’li with this well placed shot

[Edit: it first showed up in the s2 finale, but again in a simplified version and again with him doing something heroic with earthbending, so we can still start the analysis here]

mako volunteers bolin for that job, because he knew bolin was capable of it. why? because bolin landed an identical shot earlier in the episode, after trying to metalbend, getting frustrated he can’t, and cheating with some extremely well aimed earthbending. it’s just a short refrain and you barely notice it, but it’s the first connection of this motif with the theme of bolin’s bending

it looks like this, and it’s always played on a trumpet, which is part of why i call it the hero theme, because, if you’re looking at music from a western perspective, trumpets were used to herald kings, and then used to represent military glory, and then when superhero themes started happening, they used trumpets too - it’s basically western music shorthand for hero these days

(it’s also symmetrical so that helps with the good vibes)

and he’s saving everyone here, so it’s linked to his bending, but it’s also linked to his heroism

it ties the two together, and they are tied together.

when’s the next time it shows up? episode 10, when the brothers are in prison in ba sing se, and bolin tries to metalbend them out. again, he’s doing this to save people, and this motif gets a few notes added on to the end in a raising pattern - they’re inspiring, but they don’t go anywhere. which is exactly what happens in the scene, because he’s trying to go about this in the wrong way. mako believes in him, but it won’t (and doesn’t) work

it appears in episode 12 when bolin saves everyone from ghazan destroying the temple, in a more fancy orchestral remake of the first version - it’s impressive, but it hasn’t actually developed yet, it’s just his discovery of it

the book 3 finale already has its own fucking amazing soundtrack, i love that entire episode’s score, but it gets its own moment there too, and the first real development!

because what we hear is not what we’ve heard before. we know it’s the same theme, because it’s using those signature trumpets, but it’s the second part of this phrase, the answer to the question supplied by the first one. why? because bolin’s figured out who he is and he’s starting to use it. it still hasn’t settled yet though, it’s early days and he’s still just turning ghazan’s lava back on him, so again, it raises, leaving it on a question mark

it doesn’t appear in s4e7 when he lavabends as a warning against the escaped prisoners, because he’s using it as a threat, not to help people. but it does later in the episode when he uses lavabending to save them from kuvira. and that’s when we get the first full phrase, question and answer

it keeps the first motif identical, takes out the first note of the second, and ties them together - except now it’s not open ended, now it knows where it’s going - it’s been three years, at this point bolin is confident in both himself and his bending

and then that phrase appears all over the place in the finale, because all bolin does is save people - everyone from the exploding building, he slows the giant mecha with lavabending, he saves opal, he slows the giant mecha again by collapsing a building on it, and most importantly, he’s the one rescuing his brother this time, instead of the other way around (though that one doesn’t get a motif appearance bc admittedly a fuck ton of other things are happening in the soundtrack at the time)

so to that question asked in book three - who is bolin when not next to someone else? well, funnily enough, we saw it in book two as well, just in a warped way, playing nuktuk. it just wasn’t truly him because it was created by varrick, and he needed to get away from varrick too. the question put forward by the narrative is who is bolin, and the answer given by the music is, he is a hero. and i don’t know why bolin is the only one to get a theme like this, but i think it may have something to do with the fact that, while everyone in team avatar has been a hero and saved people, he is the only one who has, from the start, solely been motivated by wanting to help people. he follows his heart, and his heart cares, about everyone. it’s been the driving force behind almost everything he’s ever done. and i love him so much

[scarabbai]

Are there any changes to what goes on in events like Ghost Marriage or Fairy Gala in the RR AU? Considering how huge RR!Jamil’s ego is, would he be offended that the ghost bride thinks Idia is the ideal prince and therefore better than him? Or is it a different case due to the likelihood that the events take place after main story?

ANON....YESTERDAY I SPENT MY ENTIRE MORNING AND PART OF MY AFTERNOON WATCHING TRANSLATION VIDS OF THE ENTIRE FAIRY GALA AND GHOST MARRIAGE EVENTS JUST FOR YOUUUUUU :D !!! I don’t usually keep up with the events bc I skip whatever I don’t understand in-game and can’t stay focused/engaged with the story unless I watch subtitled videos of the events themselves (so if you know a place where I can get subbed translated vids of Dance and Wishes or maybe a line by line translation of each of the event episodes please link me 👀) SO I ACTUALLY HAD NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED IN EACH EVENT ASIDE FROM LIKE...OVERVIEW SUMMARIES THAT DON’T GO SUPER IN DETAIL ON WHAT WAS SAID LMAOOOO

So right now I’ve watched the Beans Day, Fairy Gala, and Ghost Marriage events and can answer your question somewhat decently! (I might have to revisit after watching Dance and Wishes, I really have noooo idea what goes on in that one lmao) We know Beans Day takes place in February (before or after VDC...? Man, we really don’t know...), Fairy Gala is supposed to announce spring (which I’m told begins...sometime in March? Or does it start later, in April? I live in a place with no change in seasons so I’m not sure lol), and Ghost Marriage is...idk it’s a mystery but I assume it’s in June? Dance and Wishes...no idea at all, someone please enlighten me!

With these timeframes in mind, I think the role reversed au versions of each event would go as follows:

For Beans Day, Kalim is still on Farmer Team and Jamil is still on Monster Team. I think by this point in time (unless ch5 comes up with some wild stuff that keeps them too occupied) they would have finally gotten together and thus would officially be in a relationship. However, since it’s a relatively new development and Kalim is surprisingly shy about it, they probably keep their relationship status lowkey. This secretiveness leads to them agreeing to sneak away during Beans Day so they can see each other. As a result, instead of being found eating at the botanical gardens, Kalim is basically nowhere to be seen after some time into the game. Both him and Jamil still end up getting knocked out of the game though bc they playfully “betray” each other when they meet up! As Jamil hugs Kalim to “catch” him, Kalim squishes a bean against the front of Jamil’s jacket. They both laugh about it before stealing a kiss and hiding away in the woods for the rest of the day. The fact that they’re both able to make light of/lightheartedly joke about topics previously sensitive to them (betrayal) would be proof of them growing past the trials they faced in ch4. They trust each other again, now more than ever.

For Fairy Gala the same people get picked, though since the theme is just “harvest season, but make it Fashion™” (bc miss me with the whole “exotic” theme), the reasoning behind the dorm leader picks are Leona and Jamil’s connections to nobility and Crowley’s desire to mess with them both for their past bad attitudes. This irks Jamil greatly bc Crowley doesn’t outright say who he really is or what his social status is (even with ch4 I don’t think that info would have been exposed), but lumping him together with Leona makes Jamil look odd even if Crowley claims it’s bc Jamil has a history in dance. Also, aside from Jamil and Kalim swapping outfits bc their dorm positions are the opposite from canon, everyone’s clothing remains the same. Much like ch5 is shaping up to be, this event is Kalim’s moment to SHINE. As a skilled entertainer with lots of experience and training in regards to dancing, singing, and acting, he’s in his natural element here! Additionally, Kalim looks up to Vil since they both act in some capacity, so he listens well and learns quickly in order to be his star pupil. As a result, it’s actually Jamil who falls behind and needs to practice more to keep up with Kalim! That’s fine by him though since he gets to spend more time up close and personal with the one he loves. Their main show stopper is an animated couples’ dance with a beautiful and heartfelt declaration of blooming spring love as their final act!

For Ghost Marriage, I have a few different scenarios in mind depending on when it takes place and what I decide for the role reversed au’s future. If it takes place prior to June or otherwise not very close to the end of the school year, Jamil laughs upon hearing about the failure of all the other students, decides this is NOT a worthwhile use of his time, and very firmly refuses to help out not only bc he doesn’t want to but also bc he knows whatever he tries won’t work. He’s not offended whatsoever over not being Eliza’s “ideal prince” bc he knows Kalim loves him for who he is, what he does, and how he looks like, and that’s more than enough to make Jamil happy already. If it happens close to June or at the end of the school year, Jamil might be more defensive and refuses less bc he thinks he’s above all this nonsense but rather bc he’s busy being very clingy. Depending on what information we receive and how ch5 plays out, Kalim might actually be leaving NRC after the year ends, in which case Jamil would either be even MORE clingy bc he’s upset over how little time he has left to spend with Kalim in person OR he’s busy moping around bc Kalim already left the campus and he misses him. Regardless of how or why it happens, Jamil is highly likely to refuse bc he already has someone to love and thus his proposal won’t be very convincing.

In Kalim’s case, he might actually consider saying yes if asked. I don’t think he’d do it for Idia in particular (ouch, that’s cold) but rather bc a lot of his friends got caught up in the mess. This means he’s pretty likely to say no if he’s sought out more toward the beginning of the event since there wouldn’t be nearly as much at stake and, much like Jamil, Kalim is pretty sure any declaration of love from him will be too hollow to be believable. Of course, Kalim has some acting ability to him and is an excellent singer so he might be able to get at least somewhere if he tried, but ultimately I think he would get rejected bc he didn’t meet the ridiculously specific qualifications and/or Eliza could tell his heart belonged to another. It’s important to note that if Kalim agrees to go, Jamil will as well, albeit very reluctantly and with a high chance of being rejected due to his impatience and/or insincerity. However, it’s also of note that Jamil will complain/nag him to say no and stay safe with him at the dorm if he catches wind of the whole thing before Kalim does. This all is, ofc, assuming the event takes place at a time when Kalim is still at the school. If not, then...he’s literally not even there.

For Dance and Wishes, idk if they have any impact at all in the event story but I can say that their wishes aren’t really decided/set in stone yet. However, I do have some ideas for what their wishes might be, and they might end up being what I decide on for them!

Jamil’s wish: “For Kalim to always find happiness.”

Kalim’s wish: “To always have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces.”

[ionfusionpunk]

Mando’a Conjugation Tangents Because My Brain Got Lost

AKA: A Study of Ancient Mandalorian Culture and Society and the Development of Mando’a by Dissecting a Bunch of Words in a Bid to Find the One (Which I Don’t Find, but That’s Okay)

Um. So, I got carried away? 

It started with me creating a clone oc: Clone Commander Alloy. I love creating fun nicknames for my characters, and I thought it would be cool to give him a nickname in Mando’a. I thought: Hey, ‘alloy’ is close to ‘ally’, so maybe one of his close friends/vod call him tomad: ally. Cute. Then I thought, but what about ‘alloy’ in Mando’a? 

(You can jump to the very end for the TL;DR)

Cue me realizing there isn’t a straight translation. Cue me realizing there’s only one (1) metallic element given any sort of name in Mando’a: beskar, which is Mandalorian iron made of a metallic alloy (steel, which itself is an iron alloy, hence Mandalorian iron).

Cue me wanting to dissect the word beskar to figure out where it comes from.

After fighting with my brain for an hour, I finally just made it simple: since beskar is a confirmed alloy of which iron is the major part, then I just need to identify which part of the word is ‘iron’. Easily said and done if one considers that be means ‘of’ in Mando’a, leaving skar to mean iron. (I also cross referenced the Mando’a dictionary to make sure there weren’t any other words composed of skar as a word fragment in any form; it’s not). Literally translated then, beskar means ‘of iron’ which makes sense considering it’s an iron alloy - an alloy made of iron. Thus beskar transliterated is ‘alloy of iron’.

Now I want a word for ‘metal’, because ‘iron’ is too specific to be the only related word in Mando’a. 

I started by looking for ‘forge’, like a blacksmith forge, thinking it might hold a clue. It didn’t. ‘Forge’ in Mando’a is actually nau’ur kad: lit. light up a sword. And, like, I can see where that’s coming from? But it’s more poetic than functional. This is when I recall the word goran: blacksmith, metalworker.

Cool. Okay. ‘Metal’ is included in ‘metalworker’, so I might be a step closer. Unsatisfied with the poetic version of forge, I decide I want a single word that means something closer to what ‘metalworking’ implies; I turn goran into a verb by adding -ar, making it goranar: metalworking, and call it good. 

But I still want to isolate ‘metal’. Alright, so what part of goran is ‘worker’? Turns out that borarir is worker, and it’s base is bora: job. Instead, goran might come from gotal’ur: make, create/ gotal: made, created (an ‘-ized’ suffix). This is cool because tal means blood, so the Mandalorians seem to believe that to create something is very symbolic/ritualistic (like putting your blood, sweat, and tears into something). 

(Kay. Taking the Mandalorian culture into account, it would seem that they would have definitely practiced metalworking as an artform, right? Historically, only the nobility had swords because only they had the time to learn how to properly use them, and we’ve seen that the Mando’ade who aren’t soldiers are often agriculturalists. Yet kad is still a known word, and beskar is basically a deity. It would make sense that, in their development as a culture/society, metalworking would have been way big especially as an art form (I look back at the p o e t i c term for ‘forge’ as an example). It then stands to reason that there’s no reason why the words I want to create don’t exist. They’re just... buried. Deep. Just throwing that out there so I seem less crazy lmao.)

Now, I would think that ‘metal’ would be something close to ‘iron’ considering, logically, there would be a word for ‘metal’ first and then iron later as it was found to be the superior metallic element, especially in alloy form. Kar shows up in a few words, like kar’am: breath, kar’ta: heart, kar’tayl: awareness, knowledge, and kar’taylir: know, hold in heart. As far as kar’ta goes, ta is obviously derived from tal for blood. The am in kar’am is ‘change’. Taylir is hold, keep, preserve. Comparing with mandokar (which we should all know the meaning of by now, it’s used so. often), we can assume that kar either has something to do with the ‘self’ or is more an indication of something personally/culturally/spiritually precious (not the soul, though; colloquially, manda is used as ‘soul’). Furthermore, kar seems to be used in words where emotion is involved (like, 9.5/10 times). 

Personally, I think that kar could mean ‘iron’. Think about it: ‘iron change’ or the ‘change in iron’ to indicate breath just like how different levels of oxygen within the metal itself would affect quality. ‘Iron blood’ which, like, duh, but they wouldn’t have had the tech at the time to know human blood contains iron; they would have just compared the red of rusted iron to the color of blood, which, still cool. Mandokar would then be ‘an individual of/containing iron’ which fits with the definition.

Now, I can’t really get behind the fanon definition of kar being ‘star’. I can’t, because Ka’ra is ‘stars; ancient Mandalorian myth - ruling council of fallen kings’, so I would think ka would be ‘star’ and ra derived from the short list of words that start with ‘ram-’: ramaanar: die (general term), ramaanla: mortal (in the sense of fallible or vulnerable), ram’ika: raid, ramikad: commando, ramikadyc: commando state of mind, ram’or: attack, beseige, ramorla: beseiged, and ramser: sniper, marksman. Considering ika is a known diminutive, ram probably boils down to ‘battle’ or ‘war’ or something similar. Ka’ra then, would literally be something like ‘warrior stars’ - the great warrior kings of the past. 

Back to to beskar, then, which I can actually keep breaking down. In the dictionary is bes’bev: Mandalorian wind instrument also used for combat, a large metal flute with a sharpened, cut-off end. Knowing that laar is song and bes’laar is music, but also knowing that a defining feature of pure beskar is the ringing sound it makes when hit against more pure beskar, and bev: needle, spike, and considering my ‘metalworking as art’ theory, I can see where bes’bev comes from for sure, especially if we assume beskar as a word was created first so that bes could be used to indicate the sound of the metal-strikes. 

(Fun Facts: laar shows up again only in galaar: hawk, jai’galaar: shriek-hawk, the two conjugations of laar that give us ‘singing’ and ‘sing’, and werlaara: myth (archaic). Now, jai- comes from jair: scream, shriek, so that word’s self-explanatory. But werlaara is cool, because wer is archaic for ‘eon’, and laara would be the conjugated form of laar once again. From this we catch a glimpse of ancient Mandalorian culture - namely, the way they told stories: using music. Just thought that was supper cool.)

That still doesn’t really help me except just show where other words branched off. So. Square one (1): beskar breaks down into be: of and skar: iron. I would think the ‘s’ comes from the word for metal, especially if iron specifically, using the kar as an indication of strong emotion, is extra important as a metal to the Mandalorians. Based on the words I could find, the best match seems to be eso: flank, side. (Think of how the metal would have been used as armor to protect their flanks/sides). Look at bes; look at eso. I think metal might have been beso, because they would have used metal for armor before they ever used for art considering their warrior-clan history (again, in my head). So, beso: metal. 

Back to goran, ‘cause I think I’m on to something here. So, the closest to ran I could find was rang: ash. Considering the role that ash actually plays in forging metal objects, that makes a lot of sense to me if goran is a metalworker/blacksmith. If I think about how ne’tra is ‘black’, it’s not inconceivable that the ‘ra’ in goran is actually derived from that (again, ran means nothing by itself, and ra is ‘or’). The ‘n’ is most likely just tacked on bc why not and to make it a noun. That just leaves go which seems to have a direct link to whether the word is about creating/making something or not. Conclusion: go: the shaping of something. 

In the end, I couldn’t pin down a specific word for ‘alloy’, but I might get there someday. Thoughts? Sorry for the rambly-ness of this whole thing. I leterally was typing this up as the thoughts hit lol.

TL;DR: 

beskar: alloy of iron (from be: of and assuming kar: iron)

goranar: metalworking

kar: a uniquely Mandalorian word used to indicate extreme emotional/spiritual importance to the subject; iron

ka: star

bes: a uniquely Mandalorian word that indicates the equally unique sound made by hitting two pieces of pure beskar to together

beso: metal

go: the shaping of something

[mashkaroom]

This isn’t related to anything, but frozen 2 was actually...pretty good of a movie, and you can literally see the disney profit model holding it back. firstly, the music was really good -- i was really impressed with the writing team and with the vocal performances, especially by idina menzel. the songs that didn’t make it in because the plot was rearranged were also excellent. wrt to the visuals, i’m not the biggest fan of this specific animation style, but it’s clear it’s very well done -- i’ve no choice but to be impressed. the plot was whatever (also they fully put a couple of trolls in charge of the kindom for a bit -- is there no fucking line of succession in this goddamn kingdom?? maybe the plot of the movie should have been establishing a functional bureaucracy) and they really yada-yada-ed the magic system, which was basically of the central conceit of the movie so...why did they not put more effort into it? the explanation, such as it was, of the magic system was both confusing and ultimately pretty meaningless -- it added next to nothing of value to the lore or theme or worldbuilding. the themes were clearly meant for a more mature audience (which is i guess what you get for waiting 7 years to make a sequel [which btw just wrenched out a memory out of me that frozen 1 came up literally constantly in my 7th grade latin class -- i cannot emphasize enough how bizarre of an experience learning a dead language throughout the entirety of your teenage years along with 400 more of your cohort is]) -- but anyway, they establish all these themes and then don’t commit to them. Like, the central plot conflict of the movie is literally colonialism lmao. it’s such a strange place to discuss it. My suspicion is that they decided right away to go with a “connecting with mother” storyline, since the “women in the same family connecting with each other” bit worked so well in the first movie; then they were like “is this too basic?” and decided that they should wrap that into a “reckoning with ancestry” thread to cash into that “young leftist with white guilt” market. Then they had somebody on the writing staff who was like “what if we made this about colonialism?” So re: those elements, first of all the mother plotline is boring as shit. Like it doesn’t ring true even to losing a loved one early, but it especially rings soooo hollow wrt the actual relationship that is portrayed in the first movie between elsa and her parents. like we see the parents be so misguided it borders on abusive. and that’s a really interesting dynamic, story-wise, bc the parents are dead and can’t redeem themselves but the baggage they left behind is still there, so the burden of processing that falls exclusively on the daughters. i dare say this is something probably relatable to many of us, bc it’s my sense that most people grow up with pretty misguided parents! (lowkey i feel like the best parenting i’ve seen in my circle are parents who basically went off of vibes rather than idk a philosophy or whatever) i actually would have loved to see a children’s movie address dealing with parents in a nuanced way that isn’t just “one of us is right and the other is wrong” but rather addresses what responsibilities parents and children have to each other, how to navigate intent versus effect, what the value (or lack thereof) of forgiveness is, how to uncover your identity when your entire life was shaped by societal and parental expectations, etc. And the Frozen premise is ideally suited for this! Moreover, a lot of these beats actually DO happen in the movie! Into the unknown is basically elsa trying and failing to convince herself that she wants the life she has and any thoughts to the contrary should be dismissed (and it’s gay as hell, but we’ll get to that later). The climax of show yourself literally says that it was the truth about herself rather than her mother that will bring her peace. But all of these beats are facilitated supernaturally rather than by the very fitting preexisting character background, which makes it lack the satisfaction you’d expect in such a resolution. it never features any reckoning with what made her feel the way she did in the first place -- a projection of the mother’s face singing the climactic realization literally undercuts the entire plotline. like here you can see how basically being propaganda for the american lifestyle (in this case the nuclear family e.g.) undercuts their message. this predictably only gets more egregious when they attempt to tackle colonialism. so quick summary of this plotline: anna and elsa’s grandfather basically genocided an indigenous people -- the northuldra -- after tricking them into building a dam that stifles the power of the forest or something. also their mother was actually northuldra. also magic comes from the northuldra forest? it would probably be pretty problematic re: the magical native stereotype if it was clearer what was going on lmao. at the end, anna breaks the dam even though it’ll flood Arendelle; however, elsa (who was literally frozen because of the sins of the past) swoops in at the last moment and freezes the wave so it causes no damage. However, in an earlier version of the story, the wave actually DOES destroy Arendelle and then they rebuild it with a mix of Arendellian and Northuldran architectural styles. this version actually proposed a genuine vision for how to deal with the impacts of colonialism instead of the final movie where sisterly love absolves everyone of consequences. 

ok, so about the gay: i know people read a coming out into let it go, and maybe this is just cause i watched frozen 1 when i was still straight, but i didn’t really see it. but the lyrics in frozen 2 elsa’s songs match up so well with the coming out experience, i have difficulty imagining the song-writers weren’t aware of it, especially since people were already calling for elsa to be gay. Like let’s take a look at these songs -- into the unknown first. She sings

“Everyone I've ever loved is here within these walls I'm sorry, secret siren, but I'm blocking out your calls I've had my adventure, I don't need something new I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you”

This idea of having being afraid of ruining relationships even (and especially) with the people you love most by coming out is something that a lot of queer people can relate to. Then she sings:

“Are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake? Or are you someone out there who's a little bit like me? Who knows deep down I'm not where I'm meant to be? Every day's a little harder as I feel your power grow Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go”

How much do i need to explain this? (like all my 7 followers are some form of queer anyway lol) But again this battle of trying to hide but knowing deep down that you can’t, longing for “someone a little bit like me” --  it’s classic queer. Then she sings a bridge-type thing:

“Are you out there? Do you know me? Can you feel me? Can you show me?”

I mean, again, what is this but longing for community. Then in the climactic song “show yourself”, she sings this:

“Something is familiar Like a dream, I can reach but not quite hold I can sense you there Like a friend I've always known”

this is literally just about reading stone butch blues.

The climactic lyric is  “You are the one you've been waiting for all your life” (sung to her rather than by her) and i mean again, this is about finally giving yourself permission to live as your true self. And not gonna lie, i dug that shit. it felt quite authentic. obviously they didn’t actually make her gay, bc of course, but she is gay in my heart!

Ok, so what would have made the movie live up to its full potential?

1) fixing that stuff i already said about the parents; it felt like such bs that anna and elsa were dealing with ancestral sins but also their parents were saints whose love fixed everything? how much more interesting would it have been if reckoning with their parents’ impacts on them led them to reckoning with the impacts of their entire ancestry and in turn their society? if reckoning with their personal responsibilities to each other led them to consider their society’s responsibility to fix the past wrongs that allowed it to flourish? this wouldn’t even be counter to disney’s individualism, but it allows for a slight reconceptualization of it that i think would feel fresh.

2) having actual consequences for the colonialism and genocide

3) either cutting all the new magic system stuff or developing it in a way that in turn helps develop the themes. frankly, the “sometimes people are born with magic” that was implied in movie one was enough.

4) making elsa gay, and i say this not just because i want gay characters but because that genuinely makes sense within the story

5) basically, the central theme should have been “i have all this baggage and i can’t resolve it by looking for answers only within my society; in order to be fully at peace with myself, i must work to right the wrongs of my society that obscured the different ways of knowledge that could help people like me; sometimes you must go into the unknown in order to understand the known” which is a message i think very well suited for the united states!

[yjsangjun-blog]

                       𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖎𝖓𝖌 — 𝖇𝖆𝖊𝖐 ‘𝖘𝖆𝖒’ 𝖘𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖏𝖚𝖓.

hi hello. i’m cait, i’m 25, i go by she/her pronouns and i live in cst! i am a hot mess who loves causing her characters pain & angst…. i also love ruining their lives on a daily basis.

this is my babe sangjun who’s a lil bit messy ( much like most of my characters ) and you can find basic stats / bullet point bio / basic personality info / basic plot ideas & stuff like that for him under the cut! if you want more in depth info message me bc honestly this intro post is … oof !!! it’s also kinda long so lemme apologize for that as well !!!

but i am super excited to be here and i can’t wait to plot with ya’ll & love your babies !!!! if you’d like to plot, please feel free to IM me on here, ask for my discord or like this post & i’ll come to you !!!

tw: mentions of alcohol / alcoholism, drugs / drug abuse, bullying & violence.

                                         BASIC INFO ( PT 1. )

FACECLAIM: min yoongi + suga + rapper. CHARACTER NAME: baek 'sam' sangjun. PRONOUNS: he/him. GENDER: cismale. AGE/BIRTHDAY: twenty-six. + june eleventh. ZODIAC SIGN: gemini. ROOM: haean + 2e.

                                           OTHER INFO

POSITIVE TRAITS: determined, hard-working, charismatic & adventurous. NEGATIVE TRAITS: hedonistic, short-tempered, impulsive & blunt. OCCUPATION: bouncer at club arena / underground fighter. ( future ceo ) SONG THAT DESCRIBES THEM: i'm not sorry - dean. HOW LONG HAVE THEY LIVED AT THE YUJAEN?: six years. FOUR MUSE AESTHETICS: leather jackets, bruised knuckles, blurry evenings, late night snack runs.

                                      BASIC INFO ( PT 2. )

full name: baek sangjun. nickname(s): sam, san, jun. hometown: seoul, south korea current location: yongsa, south korea. ethnicity: korean. nationality: korean. gender: cismale. pronouns: he/him/his. orientation: pansexual. occupation: bouncer / underground fighter. language(s) spoken: korean, english, japanese, spanish, french, chinese.

                                PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

face claim: min yoongi. ( suga ) of bts. hair color: frequently changes, currently platinum blonde. eye color: brown with a small hazel ring. height: 5'10". weight: 169. build: athletic. tattoos: he’s got a few stick-n-poke tattoos scattered across his body, though most aren’t visible when he’s wearing clothing. piercings: these, double helix in left ear & tongue.

                                             HEALTH.

physical ailments: alcoholism, allergies, drug abuse, lactose intolerance. neurological conditions: back pain / muscle spasms, carpal tunnel. allergies: shellfish, pollen, mold. sleeping habits: all over the place, usually tosses & turns for a while before falling asleep. rarely gets more than 4-5 hours of sleep a night. eating habits: horrible, relies on fast-food & take-out most of the time. loves 'comfort foods’. exercise habits: goes to the gym at least three times a week, less if he’s been in back-to-back fights. body temperature: hotnatured. addictions: alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, gambling, sex. drug use: frequent. alcohol use: frequent.

                                       PERSONALITY. ( PT 1. )

label: the cataclysmic. positive traits: determined, hard-working, charismatic & adventurous. negative traits: hedonistic, short-tempered, impulsive & blunt. fears: heights, flying, confined spaces, drowning, commitment. hobbies: arcade games, astronomy, billiards, board games, boxing, card games, comic books, cooking, motorcycles, poker, reading, video games, weight training, yoga. habits / quirks: believes in demonic possession, believes in ghosts & spirits, believes in karma, carries a 'lucky’ item with him everywhere, fights for animal rights, fights for gender equality, fights for human rights, fights for the legalization of cannabis, fights for marriage equality, meditates, always has change in his pockets, owns an outrageous amount of shoes, counts stairs, experiences episodes of depression, boxes, collects packs of playing cards, doodles on everything, gardens, loves board games, paints, plays with fire, plays poker, plays video games, randomly wanders around when bored, sings well.

                                               FAVORITES.

season: fall. color(s): army green, black, red, gray. music: all genres, doesn’t care for country. movies: action, comedy, horror, suspense. sport(s): hockey, basketball, baseball. beverage(s): whiskey, soda. food: comfort foods. animal: dogs.

                                                    FAMILY.

father: baek jaejin, sixty, ceo. mother: baek chansook, fifty-four, ceo. sibling(s): younger sibling, nineteen. children: n/a. pet(s): a siamese cat named ramen ( back at home with his parents ), a bengal cat named shiva ( back at home with his parents ) & a seven month old austrailan sheppard puppy named indy ( lives with his sibling. ) family’s financial status: upper class.

                                                   EXTRAS.

mbti: entp-a. ( the debater ) enneagram: type 8. ( the challenger ) temperament: choleric. hogwarts house: slytherin. moral alignment: chaotic neutral. primary vice: wrath. primary virtue: diligence. element: fire.

                                                BIOGRAPHY.

born in seoul, south korea.

parents were very well known ceos, both running very successful corporations.

and of course, they wanted sangjun to follow in their footsteps.

parents were pretty strict and didn’t really allow him to do well.. anything.

however, they did buy him whatever he wanted and spoiled him in that way.

and due to both of those things combined, he started to rebel at a really young age. ( i’m talking like 10 )

so he’d sneak out, graffiti people’s houses and break things and the likes.

never got caught for it, though, knowing that if he did his parents would have kicked him out and probably disowned him for his behavior.

but one of the reasons he never got caught being a rebel was the fact he was bringing straight a’s in school, was always the very top of his class and from his parent’s perspective? he was a model child.

however, he hated that, hated having to live under his parent’s shadows and be this cookie-cutter version of himself they wanted him so desperately to be.

but he played it off, juggling the 'angel’ side of him with the rebellious tendencies that continued to grow worse and worse with each passing year.

god, high school was so different, though. he’d rebel more and more every single day, pushing the limits of getting caught.

however, word got out pretty quickly about just how wealthy his family was and kids started to bully sangjun for it, causing his anger to get the better of him until he lashed out so bad it landed one of those bullies in the hospital for copious amounts of injuries.

of course, his parents were pissed. grounded him for a solid month and in that time, he learned each and every way he could sneak out of his house at night, wandering the streets of seoul at all hours.

one of those nights he happened to run into a group of people who also went to his school, but instead of them bullying him for whatever reason, they commended him on standing up for himself like he had & told him there was a way to let out the pent up aggression that ended up sending a kid to the hospital.

his curiosity was lit up that night, eager to figure out what the hell they were talking about and a few days later, he was introduced to a scene that’d become far more intoxicating that anything he’d ever experienced before.

underground fighting. no rules, no shadows he had to live under, tons of money for each win under his belt? it was the life he never knew he wanted, but the second he got a taste of it, he wanted more.

so those late night strolls turned into him sneaking out of the house only to meet up with his new group of friends, all of which were clad in full black outfits .. traveling to some random person’s basement ( or abandoned buildings of numerous kinds ) only for sangjun to be able to release every single bit of pent up aggression he carried out on some stranger who’d never remember his name.

his parents? they were just as clueless as before, though, sam continuing to excel in school as well as his fights so much so that he found the perfect balance.. learned how to hide the scrapes and bruises from his mother & father all while continuing to be the top of his class.

not to mention he was juggling all of that and his acting career all at once, trying to hide certain things from his parents and the rest of the world because he knew it’d ruin his reputation.

however, due to the amount of stress that sat upon sam’s shoulders on a daily basis, he let himself slip up on his 21st birthday, parents stumbling into his apartment only to catch him drunk & high with a bunch of strangers surrounding him.

it was a moment he’d been scared of his whole life, worried his parents would just disown him right then and there...

but in all honesty? it was the most freeing night of sam’s life.

he didn’t have to pretend to be someone he wasn’t anymore, didn’t have to pretend to be a pure and innocent little thing who never did anything wrong. didn’t have to live up to the high expectations he’d set for himself so many years ago and god, he was hooked.

his parents not disowning him and continuing to pay for everything he wanted only fueling him to continue the downward spiral, living his life to the fullest, doing whatever the hell he wanted to... whenever the hell he wanted to.

                                      PERSONALITY. ( PT 2. )

hides behind a wall of sarcasm, cockiness, anger and lust.

doesn’t really care to get to know people and had a tendency to push people away before they get too close to him. ( though it’s all a ruse. )

wears glasses to read and mess w computers, but hates them a lot and probably won’t wear them if people are around.

has two different wardrobes, one for when he’s around his parents. that consists of suits & dressy attire. and then one for when he isn’t that consists of ripped jeans, t-shirts, sweats & everything in between.

is …. stubborn as hell and refuses to ask for help with anything.

his motorcycle is literally his baby ??? like he ?? has a problem ??

fluent in a lot of languages, picked them up so that he didn’t need translators at his parents meetings and the likes.

lowkey worried that people will figure out that he’s actually v scared & stressed on the inside because that’ll cause him to start having to deal with his feelings, and he doesn’t wanna do that.

is the biggest flirt you will ever meet?? like if he’s speaking to you… its usually flirty as hell unless it has to do w business ( both his parents & his fights ) or he’s just known you for centuries ?

will try to get everyone to go to bars n parties with him because that’s his life in a nutshell ??

drinks..heavily..  like every night?? it’s a problem tbh.

nerd on the inside though like owns so many comic books, loves to play video games, read books, plays piano.. loves to sketch, paint & the likes.

he cares… god he cares so much about people and the world but he pretends to hate everything because it’s easier than letting people in.

full of horrible and cheesy pick up lines and jokes and frequently texts people said pick up lines and jokes.

owns a book that is full of nothing but blank pages and keeps it on his coffee table because he ‘relates’ to it.

is a highkey hoe but he tries to keep it on the dl ( he fails… miserably. )

super into fitness as it’s a way to keep him away from drinking every evening. ( that doesn’t work for him tho, oof.. )

also has bruised knuckles 24/7 & some other injuries he gets from his fights, plays it off like he’s just clumsy.

anger issues af. needs to get them in check.

actually super kind and caring once you’re able to see get past his wall?? which is really hard tbh but if you’re able to? he’s so loyal and caring it’s unreal.

has a bad habit of smoking whenever he’s stressed out, which is usually all of the time so he smokes…. more than he should ( though he won’t admit to being stressed out,,,,, ever in his life. )

highkey into cuddling and all the cute shit like that but would literally never tell a soul because then they’d see that he isn’t the ‘hardass’ he pretends to be on a daily basis.

is a burnt cupcake who has 'decent’ intentions but has extremely horrible execution skills.

                                                 PLOT IDEAS.

bad influence. ( on your muse. )

best friends.

childhood friend.

competition.

confidant.

cousin.

current hook up(s).

drinking buddies.

drunken hook up.

enemies that used to be friends.

enemies.

exes who ended on bad terms.

flirtationship.

frenemies.

friendly competition.

friends that used to be enemies.

friends with benefits.

good influence. ( on sangjun. )

hate sex.

one night stand(s). ( past & present. )

partner in crime.

party buddies.

past hook up(s).

ride or die.

social media friends.

trouble makers.

unlikely friends.

[joonbird]

Wings Tour Final in Seoul ♡

An extremely long, detailed account of my experience attending the Wings Tour Final in Seoul Day 1!

PRE-CONCERT: I got to the venue at around midday mainly to suss out the merch situation, (quickly realized merch wasn’t going to happen because there were queues wrapping the block, it was mind-boggling how many people were in line!) but it was a blessing in disguise, because I ended up with a tonne of super cute fansite merchandise, and I ended up meeting a lot of really great people!��

CONCERT: I was seated in Section B at the front section of the floor, near the centre stage and the left wing. I was very close to the front stage, even closer to the left wing stage, and a fairly unobstructed (but not close at all) view of the extended stage. They were very, very strict on photography during the concert (until the end). The concert kicked off with a VCR, playing some BTS highlights and also their BBMAs acceptance speech. Mic Drop: When the speech finished playing, the lights came onto the stage to reveal the guys in their Mic Drop costumes. I just about screamed my head off because I was expecting Not Today, and instead I was greeted with the beautiful sight of my Seven Guys in their Mic Drop outfits (and no bucket hats!) They were on fire, Mic Drop choreography is insane live. I was blown away by the energy, and the attitude, and then they did the dance break from Mama and their body rolls were rude and wonderful all at once.

Medley: This medley was the peak of my non-stop screaming because quite honestly, it was sensory overload. They started with We Are Bulletproof Pt. 1 & 2 and that in itself was a shock to my system, because I never, ever thought I would get to see those songs being performed live. They were having so much fun with the medley, and then they started taking turns going down the left and right wings. When the members were on the left side, they were SO CLOSE and it was a shock. I don’t really remember much about the music, or the stage, or anything (sigh) because my attention was solely on the member standing right there in front of me. (I’ll go into more detail at the end of this post re: My Reactions to their visuals bc... i need a separate paragraph for that lmao.) They then did Cypher pt. 1, 2, 3 and 4, and I swear to you my soul left my body. The Cypher series, ESPECIALLY part 3, has always been a dream and tonight that dream was realized. The best part was that Namjoon was standing right in front of me in the left wing while rapping his verse of Cypher Pt 3. He is an unbelievable rapper, charismatic and fierce and intense all at once. Also Yoongi’s verse in Cypher pt. 3 (the crazy fast one) was iNSANE live and I feel highly blessed to have witnessed that irl. He is ridiculously talented. Cypher pt. 4 (on the extended stage) they got us to stand up, and Hoseok owned it - he became Jay Dope and the energy in the crowd was great, we were all cheering and Yoongi threw water into the crowd!

Begin & Lie: Jungkook blew me away with Begin. His vocals were so stable, that if you were listening to him with your eyes closed, you would not have been able to guess just how hard he was dancing. Also, he is an unbelievable performer - he was surrounded by backup dancers and my eyes were drawn to him. He has a really intense way to staring at the audience, and he connects with the music and the crowd so well. Jimin performed Lie on the extended stage so I didn’t get the full effect, but even so, watching it mainly from the screen was incredible. His face when he dances to Lie is so beautiful, and he dances with his entire soul, seriously. The stadium was spectacular too, the Army bombs are synced to the beat of the song/specific colours, and the entire dome was slowly pulsing a dark crimson red and it was like something out of a film. 

First Love: First Love gets it’s own paragraph because out of all the performances tonight, the most memorable one for me personally, was First Love. I can’t even explain Yoongi... he just rapped with so much intensity, and passion, and he just has It. It’s everything- the delivery, the way he stares into the audience, the nuances of his face expressions... he is a performer who makes you feel things. I could not keep my eyes off of him, I cried, and at the end he got really emotional too (which just made me cry harder). 

So Far Away, Lost, Save Me, I Need U: So after First Love, was Seokjin singing ‘So far away’, and it felt like the entire dome was shaking from how loud everyone was screaming. They arranged it so well, the four vocal line members were standing on the extended stage, no choreo, just singing- and it never felt like one was overpowering the other, instead, they all blended together so beautifully? It was really moving. I felt so lucky to be able to watch them perform that song live. After that, was Lost, Save Me, I Need U which are all classic, so enjoyable, and they were dressed in these blue grey silk shirts... some of which were low V neck cuts and I seriously nutted off the face of the earth, they looked so good.

Reflection: I loved every second of Reflection. When I’ve watched fancams of Reflection from other concerts, I’ve gotten emotional because I (personally) sensed Namjoon performing it with a melancholic tone. Tonight though, I don’t know, he just seemed happy? He was smiling a lot, and during the instrumental bit he said, “I believe.” And he looked up and smiled, and said, (something along the lines of) “I believe we are all whales. We are alone, but we are swimming together,” in English. And he was smiling and swaying and then he asked a question, I can’t remember what, but it was a question he wanted us to say ‘yes’ to. Buuuut, because he spoke in English, the audience just chanted back “Kim Namjoon” and Namjoon laughed. It was really cute. He looked really happy, and he was wearing a sparkly black blazer and looked like a Visual Masterpiece.

Stigma: Stigma was another performance that blew my socks off. Taehyung hit every single note, and the tone of his voice in real life is so soulful. He was in his element, he was staring into the audience with this piercing gaze... he was basically eyefucking us and it was incredible. His facial expressions are NO JOKE. He kept smirking, and then staring, and then licking his lips and the entire dome was hooked. Every time he did a certain face expression you could hear people going “ohhhhh”. He absolutely knows how to perform, he’s mesmerizing. And at the end, he ad-libbed a few high notes in Stigma and his voice sounded amazing.

Mama & Awake: Mama was the one song I was the most excited to see prior to the concert! It exceeded all my expectations. Hoseok was in the best mood, he was beaming from ear to ear and being really playful - making love hearts and dancing with a huge grin. It was so heartwarming. He was born to perform, when he’s up there doing his thing EVERYONE is in love, seriously. He is such a good dancer, he engages with the crowd so well... and the end of Mama with the gospel-esque choir and Hoseok singing had my body shivering! He is an INCREDIBLE singer (a true Vocalist) and at the end he gave us the world’s biggest smile and my heart melted in to the floor. Awake was immediately after, and hello, I love Seokjin. I will fight everyone who doubts his vocal ability because his voice was so strong and stable tonight, and those high notes had my soul ascending. He sang with so much emotion, and his voice just filled the arena so beautifully and it never felt strained, it was effortless. I teared up, and the entire dome went quiet and after her finished, they clapped. It was a really beautiful moment.

DNA & Go Go: Before DNA, they played a VCR they recorded (speaking of? how do they have the TIME i can’t deal with them) and the crowd started to go nuts. When we heard Jungkook’s whistle, and the beat kicked in, the roar from Army was deafening. The fanchants were insane, the loudest fanchants of the night, and the guys were loving it. It felt like they were vibing off of us, and they were smiling and enjoying DNA so much. Go Go was so much fun! They were having a good time, and being so so so cute with the aegyo. 

Medley 2: The medley started off with N.O., No More Dream, Boy in Love and Danger. They did the same thing as before, all taking turns to go to the two wings of the stage. I feel like I have no clear memories of the medleys, because I wasn’t paying attention to the screen at all when the members were right there ahhhh. I remember Jimin was in front of us and he did the body rolls from No More Dream (I was yodeling), and Jungkook was with us during either Danger or Boy In Luv and he stayed for ages, interacting with us and dancing around. The second half of the medley they returned to the extended stage, for Fire. They started from the 3:33 dance break and it was fucking crazy. These fireworks popped out of nowhere and they just BROKE into that dance and my eyes fell out of my head. Their dancing was so sharp and so strong (especially Jimin holy mole). After Fire they told us all to stand up, and they started to sing Run. It was an orchestra version, so kind of upbeat, and they were running around and EVERYONE was dancing/jumping up and down. It was the most energetic the crowd was all night, the boys seemed so happy, and then at the climax of the song these gold streamers popped over us on ground floor and it was so beautiful I can’t.

BST, You Never Walk Alone & Best of Me: Blood Sweat & Tears was one of my favourite performances of the night. The dance was AMAZING, they gave it their all and seeing them do that choreography irl was so memorable. Afterwards they said it was their last song, and Army were chanting for about 5 minutes straight refusing to accept that reality... and of course, they came out in these truck things. On my side, I had Taehyung, Hoseok and Seokjin. (from memory). We were waving at them, and they were SO BEAUTIFUL, because they all came out wearing Wings tour merch. When I saw Tae in the beret my jaw dropped and I whipped my head around to look at the screen to see NAMJOON IN THE BERET and I distinctly remember screaming out “THANK YOU” lmfao. YNWA was so cute, and then they did Best of Me which was SO ADORABLE. They were so happy, bouncing around in their trucks with their selfie sticks waving to us and singing. 

Ment 1: (I can’t remember in between the ments because there were so many, but this is a vague memory of ment 1) Jimin said he missed us a lot, Seokjin did his heart event (punching through a sheet of white paper to reveal a red love heart), and Jimin said he really loves performing Best of Me :) Seokjin wanted to mess around with the army bombs and do a wave of colour, and then Yoongi made us all clap ‘once’. Jimin asked us to sing the melody of Best of Me and we couldn’t (it sounded so bad) and they kind of went “oh..” and everyone laughed. It was really nice, and intimate almost, they were mucking around and having fun and I was the softest bitch in the room. They also all went around talking about this year, and thanking us for the success of LY:Her. Then they said that this was going to be their last song for the night.

Road/Path & Born Singer: I can’t explain to you my reaction when I realized they were singing Road/Path. I was facing the extended stage, and I turned to see on the screen, their faces next to different clips of their debut/early era selves. It was so, so emotional. People around me (and me) were crying, seeing for example, Jungkook now singing next to debut Jungkook. (Also, unrelated, but because I was at the front of the section right by the massive screen, I could see every detail of the member’s faces it was kinda intense... e.g. I could see the texture of their skin and the fact that Yoongi had a tiny lil pimple). After Road/Path, they stood in a circle and Jungkook sang “I’m a born singer” and the entire stadium exploded. I was in shock, and I started to cry because WHAT THE HECKIN HELL! It was the same as in the original performance, them in a circle on a rotating platform. I can’t even explain the feeling. They sang/rapped with so much emotion, and behind them was a sea of glittering army bombs. It was really beautiful. The lyrics of Born Singer are so intense and you could hear it in their voices. I was an emotional wreck and it was at that moment I told myself that I will support these guys til my old age, they deserve the world. They’re so talented and humble and they put their 100% into their music, you could feel it in that performance and I think everyone was crying.

Ment 2 & Spring Day: Namjoon was crying, and they all went in turns to say their final words. This time, it was really emotional (as opposed to all the others during the night were they were joking around, teasing us, etc). most of them were crying/teary, and so grateful. They kept thanking us. The most emotional one for me (aside from Namjoon) was Jungkook. He was speaking in this really thick, quiet voice, like he was on the verge of tears, and he told us that he wants to perform well for us, and that tonight he felt like he hadn’t done that. He said his condition wasn’t good and Army all cheered, “it’s okay” (idk how to translate the korean word exactly? but kind of yeah, ‘you did okay/it’s okay’), and Jungkook teared up and said, “Thank you, I love you”. They then performed Spring Day, which was so beautiful live, and they disappeared. A video played on the screen of them writing letters, and a lot of Army left because they thought it was over (fools!!! hehe), because after the video we looked up to see them in those hot air balloons!

ENDING: OKAY SO!!!! Because of where I was sitting, the Hot Air Balloon above me would dip inwards like close to the ground and then back up, if that makes sense (basically I was really close to the balloons). Everyone stood up and was taking photos, and I spotted Namjoon in his beret and I kid you not I dropped my army bomb, my phone, everything, and grabbed my slogan. I had this huge slogan, white fabric with black Korean letters that said “WE LOVE KIM NAMJOON” and I held it up. I didn’t mention this earlier but my section seemed to be full of Yoongi/Jimin/JK stans and every time Namjoon was around there weren’t THAT many cheers for him, also everyone had their phones out, but i was like WAVING my giant slogan from side to side. Namjoon spotted it and I let go of it with one hand and pointed at him like saying “you, you, you” and he smiled and pointed BACK and did the ‘you you you’ and I did a thumbs up (lmfao I didn’t know what else to do) and he laUGHED (and then turned around) but i seriously think my ass was trembling the entire time. They got off the balloons and spent time going to both wings again to say individual goodbyes. Hobi came around and I did a big heart on my head with my arms and wiggled from side to side and he did a head heart back and wiggled I FUCKING SCREAMED, it was a fleeting moment but iconic nonetheless. Namjoon came to the left wing second to last, and I held up the slogan again and yelled “NAMJOON THANK YOU” (in Korean) and no one else was yelling and he saw me and HE POINTED AT ME and I pOINTED BACK AND HE SMILED AGAIN AND THE GIRL NEXT TO ME GRABBED MY ARM AND WENT “AHHHH”....... anyway after this, they all went back to the centre stage. As the big screens were closing they were being cute, Jin asked us to give him flying hand kisses, etc etc, and doing individual dances (Yoongi did a break dance thing) and saying “Bye” until the very last moment.

MEMBERS VISUALS/MY IMPRESSIONS Jungkook: He is so, so handsome. SO HANDSOME. His face is so chiselled irl ugh he’s grown up so much I can’t deal. He has a really nice body and the thighs are NO JOKE. He’s such a good dancer and he exudes so much confidence on stage, he’s so attractive it hurts me Taehyung: I am convinced that he is one of the most devastatingly beautiful people in the entire world. He’s very sharp and intense and beautiful, honestly. His features are unreal - his eyes!!! And at the end he was wearing the beret and his eyebrows and smile had me so weak. Jimin: Also so, so handsome. He has a really nice facial structure, a really nice jaw. And he’s beautiful in a soft, almost delicate way. On stage (after Namjoon because im biased af) I found him the most captivating to watch. Also I know everyone rags on him about his height but he really didn’t seem that way to me! Hoseok: Okay Hoseok is a visual masterpiece? Photos do not do him justice, he was the nicest facial structure and such a handsome face. He’s softer in real life too, and so, so charming. His smile is ridiculous, and when he has that intense stare........ no one is safe Yoongi: Also a visual masterpiece? He has a smaller frame but the way he moves his body is so attractive. He has a really pretty face too. he just has this charisma about him, he’s undoubtedly the sexiest person alive. Seokjin: My jaw dropped when I saw him. He is IT. The best looking man alive, no joke. Like fucking hell, I honestly gasped. His body is f*cked, his shoulders, his torso, his legs, and his FACE. HIS FUCKING FACE. his hair was styled so well and they put him in a lot of plunging shirts, fuck. He wasn’t as fanservicey at the start of tonight as the others and I found it so attractive, he was just STARING at the audience ahhhhh. And during one of the medleys while he was on my side of the stage in the wings, he picked up a bottle of water, drank it, and tossed it over his shoulder with an idgaf expression on his face. It was the hottest thing I’ve seen lmfao Namjoon: I have No Words to describe him.... other than.... truly........ the Visual to end all Visuals. He’s SO ATTRACTIVE. SO. SO. ATTRACTIVE. He has SO MUCH stage presence and he smiles and has these lil face expressions all the time that you don’t usually see in videos, but holy mole. Whenever he was on stage I was staring straight at him. He’s tall, and he has a really nice body, and his FACE!!!! He has a really dainty face and he’s honestly 128293898210x better looking in person which i didn’t even know was possible. HIS SMILE, THE DIMPLES, EVERYTHING, wowowowow

OK SO (wtf this is so long I commend you if you are still reading this), in conclusion, this was an emotional, amazing concert and I am at a loss still! They are all INCREDIBLE performers, and you can really tell that they love what they do. I will never get over this! i feel blessed and lucky. and i love these guys so much. 

[fairskyabove]

What's wrong with the edmonton version of hadestown?

i have a Lot to say so i’m putting a full list of all the changes under the cut but tl;dr: a lot of the most important moments of the show are different and it’s really unclear what the messages of the show even are now, and it’s honestly hard to imagine this version going anywhere near broadway

first a note about the cast. this is of course subject to opinion (and i’m only going on audio, i have no idea if the staging and visual acting would change my opinion at all), but i thought this cast was overall weaker than the nytw cast. tv and reeve didn’t seem to have much chemistry, and both were weaker than nabiyah and damon vocally. kingsley as hermes is very different, his voice doesn’t have the same raspy quality and doesn’t seem to carry the same weight as the narrator, it doesn’t feel like he has the same knowledge of the direction of the story. i like the expanded chorus and hades’s workers, and i like the new fates. amber and patrick seem like they’re pretty much carrying the show, they have amazing chemistry and both are really strong vocally. it’s definitely possible that the cast got more comfortable after this audio, since all i’ve heard is the second preview, but from what i did hear the nytw cast was much stronger.

this list is really long but i’m sure i missed some stuff, so this isn’t like Officially all the changes. also if you don’t read the whole thing i understand bc it’s a lot but the most important part is the part about promises so i would look at that if i were you! also a lot of this discussion came from conversation with maya @davey-jacobsofficial so this is not all my own thoughts! ok here’s a (mostly) comprehensive list of things that were changed:

a shortened and slightly changed version any way the wind blows was moved to after road to hell, which is a little jarring in the flow of the story. i liked any way the wind blows as a sort of prologue, setting the mood before we get into the story. it established the fates as having knowledge and control, and it felt a little dream-like before we got thrown into meeting the characters. it doesn’t make a ton of sense to me to move it after but anyways

road to hell:

some minor lyric changes in the beginning

hermes introduces orpheus and eurydice differently (orpheus is described as singing to himself on the tracks waiting for someone like eurydice)

any way the wind blows:

there’s a man singing with the fates on some lines, i’m not sure who it is or what the point is (might be orpheus, and the intent might be more clear with visuals)

sister’s gone/brother’s gone verse is changed to “wind comes up, ooh do you hear that sound? wind comes up, move to another town”

hermes comes in after this verse and narrates, he explains eurydice’s character a little and there’s a new part where she asks if anyone has a match and then grabs something from someone, probably meant to show us that she can fend for herself and add a litttle context for all i’ve ever known

come home with me:

initial dialogue is different, eurydice seems more aggressive/closed off, orpheus asks her to make a home right there, she says it’s in the middle of nowhere. he claims spring is coming any day, she says it’s late, they go into “a singer, is that what you are?” and then into the song normally

lyrics from there on are almost the same, a few words changed every once in a while

epic i is completely cut, which i don’t understand at all because it’s kind of important for people who don’t know persephone’s story, and makes the epics less of a recurring thing through the whole story, and it ruins the element of orpheus singing about persephone and hades each separately and then finally together in epic iii

livin’ it up on top:

nothing is changed except the last line of orpheus’s toast, which is changed to “to the world we dream about, and the one we live in now,” which kind of changes his whole world view. in the old version, he showed his idealism, believing they could live in a perfect world that they dream of, which fits with his act 1 characterization. in this version he’s just stating that they don’t live in the world they want to, there’s no optimism and it takes away the whole significance of his toast

all i’ve ever known

no changes

way down hadestown

no changes

wind theme

some new dialogue where eurydice sees everyone else leaving and wants to do the same, orpheus doesn’t want to leave his home, and says it’s her home too. short reprise of the “wind comes up” section from any way the wind blows

epic ii

no changes

chant

added line for eurydice before “all the pretty songs you sing ain’t gonna shelter us” where she is getting caught in the storm, singing about the wind surrounding her and how orpheus promised the wind would never change which would be great build up for promises if they hadn’t ruined it

small lyric change in between verses, orpheus sings “a mighty king, a mighty queen” and hermes sings “this year their fighting made/the mightiest storm you’ve ever seen”

after the next verse eurydice sings “love, can you hear me now/answer if you can somehow/orpheus in all my years/never seen a storm like this” and then back into the normal “now i see/all the pretty songs you sing ain’t gonna harbor me…”

right after that hermes sings “eurydice was a hungry young girl/she was no stranger to the wind/but she had not seen nothing/like the mighty storm she got caught in. only took a minute/but the wrath of the gods was in it”

persephone’s verse after this has some lyric changes, mostly talking about how she doesn’t recognize hades anymore as the man she married

hey, little songbird

a couple words changed here and there, hades’s last part is changed to “hey, little songbird, look all around you/see how the vipers and vultures surround you/they’ll take you down/they’ll pick you clean/if you stick around such a desperate scene/see, people get mean/when the chips are down”

when the chips are down

no changes

gone, i’m gone

no changes

wait for me

no changes

why we build the wall

tempo is slightly faster, not sure why

the larger chorus sounds good, it’s more powerful

no lyric changes

our lady of the underground

no changes. thank god for amber gray

way down hadestown ii

no changes

flowers

no changes and honestly i’m surprised they didn’t screw this up too

come home with me ii

they cut “are you always this confident?/when i look at you i am” which was significant wrt doubt comes in and the fact that orpheus loses his confidence because he can’t see eurydice (creds to maya on this one)

papers

no changes

nothing changes

no changes

if it’s true

added a section where hades’s workers repeat orpheus’s message, then orpheus directly addresses the workers like a rebel leader with some added lyrics (i actually like this part, it shows the workers taking an interest and makes hades’s dilemna clearer)

how long

no changes, amber and patrick are trying their best to save the show

chant ii

added section for the workers before hades enters, after hermes’s introduction, wondering what will happen to orpheus, workers sing small parts throughout the song

there are no other changes on the audio i have, but apparently a section was deleted for later performances

epic iii

no changes

lover’s desire

no changes

alright some big structural changes here. right after lover’s desire there’s a new section of dialogue where eurydice tells orpheus to take her home, and says everything he said in act 1 was true (about spring coming etc), pretty much the opposite of what she says at nytw. orpheus says not everything he said was true, he said the wind would never change, etc, he basically takes eurydice’s lines from the first verse of promises and they’re spoken instead of sung. orpheus says he can’t promise the wind won’t change, eurydice says “don’t [promise], just take me home.” orpheus launches into the second half of promises, starting with “i have no ring for your finger.” orpheus sings his verse, eurydice sings hers, then they have another new section of dialogue. they agree to leave, eurydice asks how, orpheus suggests that they walk. eurydice asks about hades, orpheus says hades won’t be able to tell them no, and he isn’t going back alone. they sing their duet verse.

this change is the one i have the biggest issue with. by changing the order of the songs, we lose the moment where hermes tells them they have to trust each other completely and they realize they don’t. we lose a really important part of eurydice’s character, that she was able to speak up and tell orpheus what’s wrong. in this version she has no complaints, he has to tell her that he he isn’t perfect and he couldn’t keep his promises while she acts like he has no flaws. it takes away her agency in the relationship and makes it seem like she got lost and ended up in hadestown and had to wait patiently for orpheus to come save her, when there is So Much More to it than that. we also lose the entire part where they discuss all the ways they’ve let each other down and how they promise to move forward and do better. we lose the resolution of the issues that have been haunting in their relationship since chant, where they both grow up and they both realize that they can’t have the perfect relationship they talked about in wedding song, but they love each other enough that they’re ok with a realistic relationship (maya’s point). we’ve lost the feeling of hopelessness they had at nytw, from the fact that eurydice had literally sold her soul and believed she would be stuck in hell forever. in this version they act like all of the sudden they can just walk out. ultimately what we have in this version is an empty resolution with no build up. all the tension is gone, they never acknowledge anything that’s wrong in their relationship. instead they make empty promises to be together forever despite the fact that they made those promises before, and in this version nothing has changed since then. in the old version, promises added to the heartbreak of doubt comes in, because there’s a moment of clarity between them and they trust each other, they’re ready to move forward just in time to lose each other forever. taking promises away changes the flow of the whole show and makes orpheus and eurydice’s relationship a lot emptier and less mature, taking away from the tragedy of their story. thanks for coming to my TED talk.

word to the wise

no changes

his kiss the riot

no changes

wait for me ii

still starts with hermes giving the good and bad news (same basic meaning, just with slightly different words)

eurydice asks why orpheus can’t look at her, hermes tells her it’s the gods testing them, connecting the “divide and conquer” method to the wall. hermes asks them if they trust each other and themselves. they say they do without any reflection on their relationship or honestly any proof that they even love each other but it’s fine

orpheus asks if it’s a trick, hermes says it’s a test. the song continues like normal from there and we all pretend this part of the show carries the same weight as it did before even though everything’s wrong

doubt comes in

some lyric changes for the fates. now instead of orpheus and the fates singing “where are you, where are you now” it’s just the fates singing “where is she, where is she now” which is cool when you think about it as them planting doubt in orpheus’s head

orpheus sings an added section about how he can see his future with eurydice, one of the fates responds that his story sounds the same as the day eurydice left him for hadestown, there’s some more back and forth along these lines

eurydice’s comfort has some lyric changes but it’s mostly along the same lines

it’s hard to hear what they say when orpheus turns around, but they 100% took out “you’re early/i missed you” which i don’t even see the point of. it took like 5 seconds of the show and fit so well with the situation, it contrasted the relationships between orpheus and eurydice and hades and persephone, and it showed so perfectly their relationship dynamic! going back to maya’s point from earlier, it was so perfect in showing how much orpheus relies on eurydice for his confidence and how he can’t succeed without her! but i guess we’re taking out all the development of their relationship so we can focus on other things

road to hell

this now starts with hermes saying “alright…” and then taking a deep breath and saying it again as if he needs a minute or he’s trying to calm the audience or something? which i feel like is kind of out of character for him. at nytw, he definitely showed emotion when things weren’t going well for orpheus and eurydice, but i felt like his vibe was more “it sucks but this is how the world is” which is one of the big discussions in the show (does the song “nothing changes” ring a bell?) and it makes more sense for a god who’s been around since the beginning of time and seen all the other greek myths and how they end. i don’t think he would be shocked or panicked or whatever kingsley is doing here. especially considering that he obviously knows the end of the story way the whole time, so he always knows where we’re headed (that’s the whole point of “it’s an old song/it’s a tragedy/we’re gonna sing it again/it’s a sad song but we sing it anyway”), so i don’t know what this choice is supposed to tell us.

there are some lyric changes beyond that, mostly saying “that’s how it goes/that’s how it is” which contradicts his opening but it’s mostly along the same lines. he literally sings “we know how it ends, but still we sing it again” so what was he doing??

there’s an added line at the end where eurydice sings between hermes’s lines “orpheus was a poor boy but he had a gift to give,” asking if anyone has a match and grabbing something from someone exactly like in road to hell which maya thought might be like a flashback? which seems like the most likely thing but i don’t really understand why they added it there, it doesn’t seem like it fits, if anything it should be a flashback to orpheus at the beginning. unless that’s when orpheus and eurydice first see each other or something that’s only visual and we can’t hear it

i raise my cup

no changes, but apparently they moved this song to after the curtain call after this audio was recorded, which is honestly just stupid

if you made it through this i’m very impressed. in conclusion the edmonton version is trash and i have no idea what the creative team is thinking.