#like. the cast is so iconic the music the DANCE SCENES as you know i adore

[clueless1995]

feel like i got lost in the weeds in that tag but like. i understand in kids shows they don’t swear. and that’s fine because usually they aren’t in situations where it would be natural to swear. but in media where they have teenagers/adults in Situations and they aren’t swearing i’m like. girl he just murdered your best friend what is this heck business. call him a cunt and start swinging

or even just like my example of she’s all that. laney finds out that freddie prinze jr had a bet to make her prom queen. and this is a situation where they could’ve not had swearing easily, like. she just gets angry and shouts at him and storms off, but they let her use one (1) fuck and it makes the scene so much more impactful (at least to me). but also rachael leigh cook’s delivery is iconic

the relevant bit starts at 1:45 but im on my phone so i couldn’t just link directly to there but watch this

like. of course she’s going to swear she thought she had a friend/romantic interest and finds out it was all because of a bet, her world is falling apart because she feels like it’s all been a lie, and it’s all this guy’s fault. OF COURSE SHE’S GONNA SAY FUCK. and it wouldn’t have had the same impact on the audience if she hadn’t (i think especially since it’s the only fuck in the movie so it probably comes as unexpected, like i always forget it happens until this scene, but i’m always like. Yeah. she should get to say that)

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Lena Horne (Cabin in the Sky, Stormy Weather)— Incredibly talented biracial actress, singer, dancer, and activist (she did so much work towards integrating audiences). Because of the racism of the era, she rarely got to be the lead actress but filmmakers loved her so much that they would often create stand alone segments within a film to highlight her beautiful singing, knowing that these segments would ultimately be cut from the film by censors in areas that forbid films with Black performers. Also, she's just so wonderful in Cabin in the Sky as a gold-digger villain who is not the least bit subtle about her intentions. I would highly recommend checking out her work.

Ginger Rogers (Swing Time, Top Hat)—Look I’ll level with you, I’ve never seen her in a musical and I know that she’s an amazing dancer and she’ll be even hotter when I finally watch Top Hat but I’m not submitting her as a dancer I’m submitting her as an ACTRESS. Her comic timing is impeccable!!!!! She’s full to bursting with life and in every role she seems to be having FUN, you can practically feel the twinkle in her eye. With her natural warmth it’s like she’s letting you in on the joke, y’all get to have this fun together! Making me laugh is hot!!! [If you'd like to see Ginger dance, videos below the cut]

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Lena Horne:

64.media.tumblr.com

Black American powerhouse singer and actor who faced all the usual bullshit that any BIPOC faced in vintage Hollywood and achieved legendary status anyway. Also a Civil Rights movement icon.

She was a gem

She was so beautiful and those dimples are amazing! Truly depressing how badly Hollywood treated her because she was black. I would love to have seen what she really could have been if they didn’t cast her in so many yikes roles. She’s got gorgeous eyes and that body! Her joyful smile makes happiness sexy!

Civil rights actress, singer, dancer, actress, she's got the whole package

Lena Horne was a wonderful singer and actress who largely starred in black cast musicals. While she had a lot of main stream success, she ultimately lost the lead role in showboat (a role she had played on the stage) to a white actress due to hollywood's prejudices. She was also blacklisted during the HUAC hearings, but she still managed to be hot be hot as fuck and have a career spanning decades, working with more well-known stars like Judy Garland in musicals, and working on stage and releasing albums when her hollywood career began to suffer.

Miss Horne became famous during a period of time when Hollywood had very few meaningful roles for people of color. Although she is more so known as a performer, she starred in two successful all black productions (Cabin in the Sky & Stormy Weather). If that wasn't enough, she also guest starred on the Muppets (Season 1, Episode 11)

Ginger Rogers propaganda:

She needs no introduction! An undeniable powerhouse on the dancefloor, and no less talented an actress. I once watched a compilation of cinema's greatest dance scenes and one of her and Fred Astaire's dances was featured, and one of the talking heads said he pitied her for 'having to keep up with him' - or something to that effect. Bullshit, I cry. Ginger Rogers was his absolute equal, and underplaying her incredible skill is downright criminal. I want the 'Cheek to Cheek' sequence from Top Hat to be permanently burned into my memory.

"Backwards in high heels", as the saying goes (though the pedant in me must point out that she in fact spent her fair share of time leading or dancing side-by-side). One of the earliest twinkle-toed ladies of the silver screen, and in terms of acting/persona, her balance of wide-eyed cuteness and movie-star glamour has never quite been replicated.

we all know her beloved string of musicals with fred but ginger also has an extensive and varied non-fred filmography that she's great in! a few ginger moments that are important 2 me personally ginger singing “we’re in the money” in gold diggers of 1933, complete with a verse in pig latin bc this whole movie is kinda mocking the concept of anyone actually being in the money in 1933; ginger and una merkel singing a verse of “shuffle off to buffalo” in 42nd street, providing some statler & waldorf-esque commentary on newlyweds from the upper berth of a railway car (interesting that belly was apparently a risque word in 1933 - maybe its bc the lyric is innuendo-ing about out of wedlock pregnancies - and that panties was a term for men’s underthings!); a favorite fred & ginger number

Ginger Rogers could do everything! She could sing, dance and act. She was hilarious in comedies, moving in dramatic roles (she won an Oscar for Kitty Foyle in 1940) and absolutely gorgeous!

Listen, no shade to Fred Astaire at all, but she both kept up with him step for step and then later went on to WIN AN OSCAR FOR ACTING. (which he did not.) truly a double threat!!!

One of the best dancers in Hollywood! Her work with Fred Astaire is just incredible.

ONE LINE: "Everything Fred did, Ginger did backwards and in heels" AND THEYRE RIGHT! Rogers was a total dance badass, and a lot of movie buffs know the story, but the Never Gonna Dance number from Swing Time took almost 50 takes, and allegedly by the end of filming it her white shoes had been stained pink because her feet were bleeding. As a note, she looks crazy gorgeous in this number. Watching these two dance is insane. They match up to each other in a way my mom describes as "divine" and she's right. DANCE NUMBERS!

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (Shall We Dance, 1937, dancing starts at 3:14, they're in ROLLERSKATES)

(Ginger Rogers is the hottest woman ever to live in this number. seeing this as a teenager altered my brain chemistry)

(also watch her feet and how she moves opposite Astaire in this one. We all know our boy Freddie had that precision demon but jesus christ Miss Rogers, let a girl live!)

Pick Yourself Up, Swing Time 1936 (Everyone's seen this one but by god you are going to see it AGAIN!)

Shall We Dance, 1937 (duet begins at 2:34)

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Roberta 1935 (There's just something about Ginger Rogers in a slick black dress man)

The Continental, The Gay Divorcee 1934

God she's MAGIC in this one.

Gay Divorcee's Ending Montage 1934

The infamous table and chairs spin happens at about 0:49. Pay CLOSE attention to her in this bc it looks like witchcraft and I feel lightheaded whenever I watch this movie bc shes THAT awesome.

She is a miracle to watch. Sorry for the sheer amount of clips. My entire family is like madly in love with Ginger Rogers.

[susandsnell]

i saw wicked today too and loved it! what did you think? (was i the only one who went "oh shit" out loud in the theater when That Cameo happened?)

well i may or may not have just gotten out of my second viewing of it in three days some fourish hours ago, so that should be some indication!

hiya bestie! sorry for the delays on this, things have been thinging and life has been lifing. I'll admit that as early as February I was not looking forward to this movie or its promised follow-up. Splitting it into parts confused me, I was dubious over some of the casting, the visuals, the lighting, and the use of CG, and was being a bit of a hater over the trailers. However, every hater worth their salt should eat crow when they're wrong, and wow was I ever wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong, actually, because I'll go so far as to say (though I have high high hopes for Nosferatu later this month)! that Wicked Part One was my favourite movie of 2024. Extended (gushing) quasi-organized thoughts under the cut, because like Elphaba, no I never stop talking.

Bit of background, I've been lucky enough to see the show live twice, plus countless bootlegs/the cast album being the soundtrack to my life since I was nine. I know the script, the score, and the lyrics back to front. So you can imagine how shocked/pleased I was to find that the movie retained just about everything! I know people are giving mixed reviews about the extended scenes/runtime, but honestly the Oz they gave us (which I'll get to momentarily) was so wonderful and the cast so wholly inhabiting of their roles that I could not get enough of the world and these characters. I also thought they fixed several plotholes/added depth and stakes to a lot of arcs from the musical with their changes, especially with respect to the villains.

Visually, the film is an absolute treat; the colour grading/lighting does have the unfortunate modern fantasy film vibe to it, but the sets, practical props/effects, and costumes more than make up for it. That rotating library portico set? Let me live there! The Wizard's invitation?? The choreography was fantastic and every dancing scene was shot so so beautifully. My only complaint really is the CGI; the animals looked really fakey and goofy, particularly poor Dr. Dillamond, to the point that my entire theater was cracking up when his little goat ears wilted at the blackboard scene during my first viewing. Which is...not really the reaction you want to go for with a scene that's supposed to be depicting a hate crime.

The costumes in particular were a standout; Paul Tazewell's work is so stunning (Morrible's gowns, the revised Popular dress, and Elphaba's little pirate academia number when she gets her Emerald City invite) that I feel comfortable saying with the exception of Glinda's Junon-takeoff bubble dress (because it's just so iconic), they vastly outdo the stage version's costumes. He needs an Oscar for this yesterday and I'm not kidding.

The performances!!! Oh my gosh! Everyone sounding great and there being good mixing?? in a musical movie made after 2007??? Who'd've thought!!! My only complaint musically was, unfortunately, during Defying Gravity. In the stage show there's like 2 pauses in the song for plot to happen (Morrible's call-out and making the broom fly), and through that iirc they keep the instrumental going. Today, at my second viewing, I counted like....6-7 pauses where the song just outright stops, including two instances where they play different sad piano music altogether and give Elphaba this big suit-up superhero moment because book cover nod I guess, and healing her inner child, and it was kind of a pain because part of what makes Defying Gravity such a memorable piece is its momentum and when you stop the song to do something else, the momentum really dies. With that said, all eight parts of Defying Gravity were, in each pocket, performed to perfection.

I had high hopes for Cynthia Erivo vocally, but was dubious about an apparently more earnest, innocent Act 1 Elphaba as opposed to the stage version which I'm more used to, where she's a lot more of a Daria type. However, I was so pleased to find that she deepened the aching tragedy of the character with this take, especially opposite a more sinister and insidious Wizard + Morrible, and her takes on these songs, her vocal choices, her runs...heavenly. Ariana Grande pleasantly surprised me as being much cuter and funnier than I expected, and her surprise option ups during Popular were an absolute treat. Jonathan Bailey was as charming and talented as any Fiyero worth his salt (also loved how casually they made him bisexual?), Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard killed me (especially since they played him as simultaneously more of a huckster conman and an Evil Walt Disney, and it worked), but the show-stealer was Michelle Yeoh as Morrible for my money.

From the moment Morrible swoops in to smoothly cover for Elphaba's power explosion, knowing what it would mean to her to be spared social ruin, I was on the edge of my seat with such a different take on what's usually just kind of a comic relief diva character. Michelle Yeoh's effortless grace and elegance command screen presence. But the slow creep of her goading Elphaba into intensifying her powers while playing the sympathetic ear/mother figure/mentor only to make the betrayal hit that much harder (I genuinely choked up during the cut to Elphie's face when she hears her saying that her skin is a manifestation of her twisted nature), to say nothing of dangling her approval over Glinda until becoming the shoulder for her to cry on at the end of Defying Gravity...my god. chills. Forget Gelphie, shoutout to all the teenage sapphics with something deeply, deeply wrong with them who are going to have an awakening over this chillingly manipulative milfy sorceress who presents herself as a twisted maternal figure and intellectual colleague.

On the note of Gelphie -- oh my god??? A homoerotic swordfight during What Is This Feeling - are you KIDDING???? They amped it up from the stage show if anything; the Ozdust sequence brought me to tears, and then ended with them joining hands and running off together and leaving Fiyero behind like???? The amount of times they fell over each other? Glinda's thousand-yard stare during No One Mourns The Wicked, Elphaba's longing/fond glances....the love note, are you kidding me. They were baby's first yuri for me so seeing them on the big screen played with such natural chemistry by Cynthia and Ariana warmed my heart and got me super emotional. Sidenote, okay, not to be the boss baby guy about Carrie, but with the changes/additions, Elphaba is kind of Carrie White now and I'm here for it? From the visions to the explosions to baby Elphie already having her powers in the flashbacks...and then you get to the Ozdust scene, and the extended cruelty towards her plays very much as Elphaba's They're All Gonna Laugh At You Moment...only for Glinda to swoop in and dance with her as the Sue Snell, so yeah, we now have fantasy CarrieSue in Oz. We won so hard.

Last bit, to address your point about the cameos -- I really was worried that I'd be cringing at all the lore tie-ins with the '39 Wizard of Oz or the Broadway cameos or any of the other fanservice, but it all tied in and flowed so smoothly at most I was rolling my eyes affectionately rather than in exasperation (the Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead tie-in to No One Mourns The Wicked was shockingly seamless). Stephen Schwartz being the one to invite them to see the wizard got me properly emotional!! Idina and Kristin were hilarious and 10/10 diva legends as always, and the extended Wiz-O-Mania propaganda play/Grimmerie Lore Dump is both a visual and auditory treat. The original Glinda showing up to tell Ari to shut the fuck up during her song got maybe the biggest laugh of the movie out of me, but then they had Idina doing her end of defying gravity 'aaaaaaah ah ahhhh' Elphaba War cry riff as a heehe gag just like...20ish minutes before Cynthia!Elphaba is going to do it for real. Which had me in stitches because it plays then as either subversion of the wizard's propaganda in finding her voice, or Elphaba's a theatre kid and said yeah that was a sick riff I heard 2 hours ago, I'm going to incorporate it into my political loudmouthing after nearly being assassinated 20 times. Fuck you, Oz man, I'm stealing your propaganda riff!

What an ending. What a movie. Can't wait for part 2.

Thanks for asking! <3 hope you're well.

[a-queer-query]

@aixabi my butterfingers accidentally deleted your ask MB BUT HERES YOUR ANSWERS

📌 how did you find your hyperfixation?

Genshin Impact - pre-release fanart on instagram lol, it took me a week or two before I decided to play it after its release but it's become a reoccurring hyperfixation. Hate it sm (I love it)

The Magnus Archives - I actually don't remember but probably from tumblr fanart.

🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation?

Genshin - During the Fontaine archon quest, when Focalors/Furina have their final dance? I CRIED. It was amazing. Also when Wriothesley did that slide while running away from the primordial seawater. I really liked Fontaine.

TMA - MAG 160 - when The Eye opens. Just the whole episode.

🎶 if your hyperfixation has songs/an ost, what is your favorite song from it?

Genshin - the Natlan battle theme goes SO hard. But a classic for me is Thunderings of the Merciless.

TMA - the calliope music from that episode where the cheating ex gets turned into a doll. I love it sm.

I'll try to find links for both of these and reblog em.

💕 tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them!

Genshin - Kaedehara Kazuha. I saw his trailer on YouTube and it actually got me back into the game, after a couple months of not playing it. Honestly I don't know why I like him sm, but his design is great, I love his personality, and his playstyle/kit is so damn good. He's my only limited 5 star I've gone for constellations on (as a f2p player) and I have him c2. Also got his signature weapon on his last banner.

TMA - I just answered this for the icon of a man, Joshua Gellespie. I would not have been that calm if I had a coffin crying in my living room.

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you?

Genshin - you can pry haikaveh from my cold, dead hands, actually. They're both bisexual trust. Neuvillette is so aroace coded to me (projection 101), and him and Wriothesley are in a qpr. Definitely. In other headcanons, Xingqiu has dyslexia and half the cast has ADHD. No reason (projection 101 x2)

TMA - Elias is divorced. Doesn't matter from who. He just is. Also jonmartin is a t4t relationship.

🍀 do you have any kins or comfort characters from your hyperfixation?

Genshin - I'm a Layla kin through and through! My comfort character is Kazuha.

TMA - I don't think I have any kins or comfort characters from tma. I just like seeing them put Through The Horrors (tm)

💎 are there any fun facts or trivia that you would like to share?

Not that I can think of atm for either.

[nitrateglow]

Scattered thoughts on the West Side Story remake

In general, I really enjoyed the film, largely on the strength of the performances. Everyone ranged from pretty good to amazing, with Rachel Ziegler and Ariana DeBose being the standouts. And Rita Moreno's supporting part was brilliant-- I like how she was given a substantial role and not just a lame ass cameo.

The music and dancing were great too. Ziegler's voice is just gorgeous. One trend I don't like in some modern musicals is casting famous people who cannot sing (Russell Crowe in Les Mis and Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia still haunt my nightmares). While not everyone here is a 100% unknown, I like that everyone seems to have been hired because they can actually hit the notes.

I thought the beefed up backstories for some of the characters were really interesting. (Chino's buffed up personality and background were my favorite of these new touches. He goes from being a breathing plot device to a truly tragic figure in this version.) I know some people don't like how Tony was made into an ex-con, but I appreciate that this time around they wanted to make him feel more like a credible ex-gang member. That's something I never bought in the 1961 film.

Speaking of the 1961 version, I haven't seen it in a few years, so I can't compare the two in more detail, though I do remember enough to where I can say I preferred the staging and direction in certain scenes in the older film. A lot of it has to do with my personal aesthetic preferences though.

Like, I'm not as crazy about Spielberg's staging of Tony and Maria's first encounter at the dance. The dancing between the rival groups is spectacular, but there's so much going on that the lovers get overwhelmed by it. The blocking of the scene has them retreat behind the bleachers to have their first dance (a parallel to showing Romeo and Juliet's instant chemistry through a conversation in sonnet form). However, I much prefer the 1961 film's dreamy approach, where time slows and only the lovers remain in focus. I get not wanting to repeat such an iconic moment or it coming off as corny in the 2020s, but I don't think it was replaced by anything of equal inspiration.

Actually, this brings me to a general issue I had with the remake's more pronounced "gritty and realistic" approach. One on hand, it makes sense-- the original show and 1961 film were noted for their realism, or at least, their very expressionist-tinged realism. It's meant to contrast with the romanticism of the lovers, who like Romeo and Juliet, want to go "Somewhere" their love won't be poisoned by divided loyalties and violence.

However, the more pronounced sense of unvarnished reality has two drawbacks in Spielberg's version. One, it makes the "falling in honestly and truly love in less than 48 hours" thing a bit harder to swallow. I can buy love at first sight in heightened, operatic reality-- less so in a setting that wants to resemble everyday reality.

Second, there are a hell of a lot of moments where characters break into song and the extras around them give them "wtf" looks. It's like the gag in Enchanted where Giselle starts singing in the park and Robert's like, "what now," only that movie's a meta-parody of animated musicals and WSS wants me to invest in this world and these characters. Having other people go "0_0" when someone sings takes me out the movie. You can't have your old-fashioned musical and your 21st century "lol irony take nothing seriously" schtick in the same film.

But overall, I really enjoyed this one. It's a remake that isn't just a rehash of a beloved film and it makes decisions that distinguish it completely. I plan on rewatching the 60s version, actually, just to reintroduce myself to it, since it has been over half a decade now.

[curedigiqueen]

Ah, Precure dance endings. A series staple. Whether you consider the First dance ED to be "You make me happy" or "Ganbalance de dance" or even the very first "Get You! Love Love?!" the point is they've been around for a while. Generally speaking nothing but a simple fun time, but rarely has had anything to do with the show proper. Nothing wrong with that of course, but the very first Precure ED was a bit more than that.

Futari wa, as opposed to every other season, only has the 1 ending. Sure, it changes visually halfway through to accommodate Pollun and the new villain team, but that's it. (Which is more than the OP which doesn't change at all, which is also unusual). But I think people often miss the relevance of the song in between all the less relevant eds, and the iconicness that is the OP.

But the ED is also iconic and a crucial piece of the Futari wa Purikyua experience.

Episode 45, the last episode before shit hits the fan, features this song heavily. This song isn't really my favorite ed, and the episode isn't a particular favorite of mine (Futari wa has so many good episodes), but it utilizes the ed effectively, and the song that you've been listening to all this time hits harder.

Nagisa immediately falls in love with the song. The song speaks to her looking at the lyrics of course its no surprise. But it's not just "song that Nagisa would like". Though I would be remiss if I did not mention the inclusion of sweets in the lyrics. Nagisa loves chocolate. It's the go to simple important part of life for her.

They have the girls sing it. Sung by a chorus, not just Nagisa and Honoka (but they do get solos), but the whole class, many of whom appear in the ED. Because of Futari wa's small main cast the side characters hold a more important role than they do in many future series, so these are characters we know, even if just from an episode. There's a weight to the music being diegetic.

Of course the episode ends sweetly, with Nagisa, Honoka, and the fairies, singing their heart out with the rest of their class. But for a moment that wasn't a guarantee. Nagisa and Honoka being unable to sing with their class highlights the toll that this fight has taken on their normal school lives. They have to fight against someone who fully intends to kill them, and then destroy their loved ones, alone while every one else is.

Made all the more poignant by the subject matter of the song.

First of all, the title "Get you! Love Love!" is in English, and a bit nonsensical in English. But "Love Love" in Japanese, means more "lovely-dovey". It's VERY much so in your face romantic. A word used to describe Mepple and Mipple. The song is about the joy of teenage romance. While I don't really want to call it frivolous, next to world saving it doesn't hold the same weight.

Now, I recognize that may seem counter to my point that the song is important to Futari wa. I mean there's no canon romantic relationship. Closest is Nagisa's crush that she never actually confesses to. But putting aside all of Futari wa's romance elements (which is an entirely different discussion), the lyrics are still very relevant to Futari wa.

The Opening holds the iconic line "even wearing school uniforms we're unbelievably tough" and features scenes of them fighting evil in their school uniforms. The opening is an ode to how badass they are in all aspects of their life.

But the ending is the other side of the coin. It tells us how frustrated they are with the villains encroaching on their everyday life. While I don't speak Japanese, and have seen it translated a couple of ways, the reoccurring "datte yatte ran'nai jan", is either "because you can't make me do this", or "because I can't do this". IDK which is right, but either way, this is in regards to fighting, stress, and trouble, which stands in stark contrast to the opening which is very much so about how much they can and do fight. "For the sake of the earth, for the sake of everyone That's fine but isn't there something that you're forgetting?! Now!" They aren't even being subtle about the Pretty Cure part about the girls lives in the song. How much that they don't want to do it. "My heart is pounding and throbbing like a dreaming teenager An original daily life is something I won't get rid of" The lines of Nagisa and Honoka's solo. The most thematically important lines in the whole song imo. While the importance of the everyday is important in most Precure seasons, it is especially emphasized with Futari wa. The main theme of the story is about how precious day to day things are, and how unfair it is for the girls to have to fight for that.

Because ultimately that is what Futari wa Pretty Cure is about more than anything. I think it's important to view Futari wa Pretty Cure through the lens of a slice of life first. It's tone a lot of the time, focusing on poor grades and unfinished homework, lacrosse, errands, sleepovers and family. A relatively grounded slice of life from the perspective of magical girls. The value of the normal events highlighted by the desperation Nagisa and Honoka have fighting to defend them. The ED highlights it by focusing on the more "frivolous" aspects of the girls lives.

The visuals of the ED are pretty simple, but effective. They showcase the different circles the girls interact with. Their families, their classmates, their clubs and of course the villains. Because of Futari wa's focus on their community, the presence of these characters in the ED is deserved. A fun lighthearted focus on their day to day lives to contrast the OP.

Also, I'd like to point out the ED visuals humanizing the villains. While Futari wa's villains are easily among some of the franchises worst, having the unforgivable flaw of being forgettable, the show doesn't do a completely terrible job of humanizing them. And the ED contributes to that. The dancing of the villains, just being the goofy people that some of them are when not, trying to destroy the world. While I wouldn't call the behavior canonical, it really isn't off base for characters like Gekidrago and Regine. The villains, for all that they are generic, are primarily motivated by their desire to continue existing: the same motivation that drives the Cures. (Gotta love their goofy dance).

Also a guy screams at the end of it. If I have to hear it now so do you.

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Jingle Bell Rock

Voiceplay weren't originally planning to release any proper full-length video for December last year (2023), just a Mini or two, as they were busy in November due to a special performance with the band Chicago. They asked their Patrons for song suggestions for Minis, and then put the three most popular suggestions into a poll for people to vote on. Jingle Bell Rock won out with 55% of the votes, but then a Patron provided a suggestion of doing it "Mean Girls style". Initially the guys were confused, (as was I when I first read the video title when the Premiere appeared) - was there some different musical styling that they weren't aware of? But they soon realised that "Mean Girls style" was referring to the iconic dance scene from the 2004 movie. And so, on the 16th of December, 2023, we got a proper video, not just a Mini, with plenty of absurdity and "Voiceplay brand of dumb", courtesy of Layne! (Layne was in charge of both the arrangement and the video, and is also co-credited for creative direction along with Tony).

Now please don't kill me, but I've never actually watched Mean Girls (*GASP*). However, I know a fair bit about it just from it being popular on Tumblr and the internet in general, and I know this specific scene in the movie quite well, as my dad and I would watch the clip of it every year in December. I have also rewatched the original scene before starting this post, because I'm gonna be doing screenshot comparisons! For one thing, this isn't a super long video, so I'm not worried about image limit, and for another, VoicePlay put a lot of effort into recreating this scene as closely as possible (albeit with some, er, aesthetic alterations 😜), so I wanna prove it, because why not!

Anyway, that's a fair bit of introductory stuff already, so I'll leave my other notes/commentary/thoughts for during the actual video talk bit. Let's get into this!

Making a shot from this little opening bit as the thumbnail was one heck of a choice ngl. Maybe they couldn't be bothered finding a better shot from the video, or maybe they just wanted to keep most of the video as a surprise for viewers, idk, but I was so confused from the thumbnail-title combo when the premiere appeared!😂

Also if you don't already know from the video description, this was all filmed on Tony's iPhone! (Doesn't mean it was all handheld though - tripods/stands for phones exist!). It was because VoicePlay were without a cameraguy for like 2-3 months, because their old one moved states.

So instead of doing any sort of "sexy santa/santa's helper" costumes like in the original, Layne decided that he and the others would be dressing up as characters from Christmas movies! Cesar as Buddy The Elf (perfect casting and also gets off easiest in the outfit department, lol), Layne as The Grinch, Geoff as Oogie Boogie (duh), and Eli as Santa/Sandy

(Also fun fact: the Oogie Boogie costume is the same one that Tony wore for his very brief appearance in VoicePlay's Kidnap The Sandy Claws video! (Also it's pretty hot to wear apparently, and Geoff had to tie his hair back to get the head/hood fitted properly, before he ended up asking for a wig cap, rip))

Also if you don't know the original scene, the original line after "but I'm always on your left!" is "that was when there were three of us, and now the tallest go in the middle", but here, the tallest (Layne/Grinchy and Geoff/Oogie Boogie) already are in the middle, so it's switched out for "now the fat one goes in the middle" (also watch for Eli's/Santa's quick surprised reaction to that line, lol)

(Also not a visual thing, but if you haven't picked up on it already, the announcer doing the "please welcome to the stage" bit is also Layne)

I know I didn't mention it in all my rambling at the start, but yes, shoutout to Adriana Arellano who is also in this video! (And blonde now!). This is her fifth full-length collaboration with the group, and second for a Christmas video! (Third if you count the Frozen 2 Medley).

Also do you recognise the set? Again? I'll say more later, but those curtains were almost definitely added in post-production I'll tell ya that!

Can't recreate the OG scene without an audience, and so we haveone! That just happens to also include the VoicePlay guys themselves! (Geoff must've been sharing his cloning machine around! 😜😆

Huldra has a video on her channel I believe saying who's who in the audience here, but they're also all credited in the description, so I'll list them here for you!

Standing up at the back: Michelle Arellano (Adriana's mum)

Back row: Eli, Ashley Jacobson (Eli's wife), Asher Jacobson (the baby that Ashley is holding; Eli's new son who was born in November last year!), Eileen McCarthy (don't know who she is), and Gayle Stein (Layne's mum).

Middle row: Franchezca Buiser (in shadow behind Cesar) (production assistant for Kathy/VoicePlay), Cyndi Stein (the blonde one behind Layne) (Layne's wife), Christina Arellano (Adriana's sister), and Adriana

And of course in the front row: Cesar, Layne, Kathy, and Geoff!

(Oh and "The Grinch" waving to Layne and him waving back (in the O.G. scene it's Gretchen waving to Jason) was definitely a cute touch)

Cyndi absolutely killed it playing Amy Poehler's part in the scene here, but wow already the similarities are stronger than I realized!

Totally the same picture! 🤣

So long as everyone had a good time, amirite? 😁

Pfft, Geoff acting shocked/scandalised, as if he hasn't done more than that in his Way Down video! 😆

Cesar is having the best time, and we love that for him honestly <3

Cyndi also really got into it! Stan! (She and Layne really are perfect for each other huh - same energies!)

Not a recreation of any bit in the original, but I love the little moment of Eileen and Gayle looking at each other in what can at best be called "great shock/surprise" 😂

Firstly, I love how they managed to include Ariana as a lead singer while still keeping with the original "plotline", by having a 'reveal' that Adriana was just lip-syncing to the boombox track, (still her vocals of course), which is revealed when it gets kicked and starts glitching.

Second of all, I love Cesar's attitude of "when in doubt, Remain Cute". Iconic 😂👌

Lol rip, had to happen! (And in the BTS video, they actually kinda show how this bit was done!)

Somehow I feel like Cyndi had the most fun out of anyone in this video shoot 😝

At this point I might as well make note of something you'd be forgiven for not immediately realizing - or perhaps not at all! And that is the fact that they're not actually on a stage! They made it look like one with the use of clever directions and camera anglings for the audience shots, but yeah no that's the same set VoicePlay used in 2022 for Christmas Don't Be Late, and the same set Geoff used that same year for Way Down, and it's totally flat! No stage!

And that's about all I have to say for Jingle Bell Rock actually! (No I'm not including the end bit - I do have some standards! 😂). That brings us up to date with VoicePlay's Christmas videos, but we're not even halfway into my 12 Days of Christmas In July miniseries! Next up, a couple of bonus VoicePlay Visuals posts, and then we'll be jumping over to Geoff's solo stuff! See you again soon!

[an-honest-puck]

I have watched Pray Don't Be Fickle far too many times than is normal (thanks @personinthepalace for sharing the whole scene lol) and I simply cannot get over how incredible Jonathan's voice is- like, the tone of his voice?? so crisp and clear it's amazing

(also, I love rewatching it and watching everyone reacting to him lol)

the fact that it's Harry who first summons him and names him Reverend Jon

Nancy suggesting a silly summoning spell to give Jonathan time to get on stage

the musicians in the background looking at Jon, waiting for him to cue them

Nancy double checking that he's coming and Harry trying not to break as he watches Jon walk on

ok no but hold on, the pure delight on Nancy's face when she realises that Jon's actually going to get on there and sing is so wonderful and lowkey kinda heartwarming?? idk, she's just so hyped for this moment y'all, it's hard not to get swept up in the excitement ya dig?? lol

not Jon Oscar starting his cameo with a pun XDD

"I sense someone has become something jarred!" - Oscar

Charlie: Our headmistress has been turned into a pickle! We need you to reverse that. Oscar: Of course. Well, my children, there's only one way to do that of course. Charlie: Of course- Oscar, breaking half way through this sentence: Which I fear is through song.

Nancy absolutely setting Jon up for a big dramatic song and of course the kicker: "Why don't you take... centre stage?"

listen, I know Nancy literally gestured for him to be centre stage, but that still doesn't explain why he starts this song kneeling pfffff- fr who knows, but it's a bloody power move if I ever did see one

speaking of brilliant moves, shoutout to Charlie for inviting everyone in the cast on the stage to be a part of this iconic moment 😌

Oscar: Uhh. My children, I must say, I'm disappointed that tonight is the only show my parents are watching.

Almost everyone else in the cast: *breaking*

Oscar: But here we go.

the band and Jonathan being perfectly timed on that opening chord and note??? wtf is this improv magic????? /amazed

I'm sorry but even from that very first line "When you've been turned" his tone is so crisp and so strong my god

also, I can't tell if rhyming 'jarred' with an alternate pronunciation of 'prepared' (i.e. 'preparred') is lazy or lazy enough to be genius XD

I adore Lauren and Nancy's all the little interjections in the first few lines and Jon including them in the song XD

Jon: When you've been turned into something jarred Lauren: Sing it, Reverend! Jon: You must be prepared, be preparred Nancy: It's just you! Jon: It's just me it's a solo, that's unfortunate Nancy (literally just as Jonathan has goe up to the two Henrys and Shields looks like he's about to help him lol): Don't try and pass it, Jon! Jon: But do not worry, things are gonna turn out great!

the knowing laugh of the audience when Jonathan sings "Pray, don't be fickle..." (because how else are you gonna rhyme 'pickle' ya dig?? XD)

but fr tho, Jono vocally popped off on the chorus!!!!!!!

also can we spare a moment to appreciate the way he physically embraces this song?? he's not dancing, but he absolutely nails the 'possessed by the music' acting direction of the scene and I friggin love it!!!!!

(the man is surprisingly light on his feet I would love to see him tap - Charlie says he was a great tap dancer back in their LAMDA days lol)

gotta love the musicians changing the rhythm of the song on him - to be fair, they are keeping in the gospel style of shifting the rhythm lol

and in true improv style, Jono incorporating that into the song XD

"A different kind of rhythm has started / And I know that we're all gonna see the change!" - Oscar

(yo how did he hit that note on 'change'?!!?!?)

and then of course he pops off lyrically and vocally

yo I legit have to record it here because this bit of lyrical improv is Showstopper level!!!!

A different kind of rhythm has started And I know that we're all gonna see the change! Magic's here and the lord is upon us So don't be fearful, now don't be enraged!

his vocal interjections in the second chorus!!!!! the way he becomes a choir director and gets everyone to do the chorus again because no one actually knew how the chorus went, least of all him!!! XD

and then he gets back on his knees and it's all over for us bitches /affectionate because it's me, I'm bitches XD

the way he signals for the music to stop is so fckn cool omg

THE RUN HE HITS ON 'PRAY' ADFSAKHDJFKSLAHLDJSK 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩

(Nancy in the background looking so proud!!!!!!!!!!!!)

THE TIMING OF THE BAND TO COME BACK IN WITH THE MUSIC ASDFHADSFJLKAFHLJK 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩

again with the badass stop-the-music signal?!?!?! we get it you're a fkcn bombass vocalist AND you're musically trained goddang- /jk

and to top it all off: a pitch perfect exit featuring a Shields flourish to end

in conclusion: Mischief, give the people what they want and let Jonathan Sayer sing more in your future productions!!!!!!!

[destinyc1020]

My Movie Review: "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"

I'm FINALLY getting around to writing this movie review after all of the unfortunate craziness that's been going on in my life for the past two months.....🤪🤦🏾‍♀️

Anyway, I saw “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” at theaters over a month ago lol!  😅 I just wanted to share my own personal Movie Review, and see what you all maybe thought about the film as well.  

**NOTE:  I will first start off by giving a very general overview/review of the movie overall, and then further down below, I will discuss the pros and cons from the movie, and will go more in-depth and be more candid with how I felt about the movie. 😊

With that said….

OVERALL:

Overall, I felt like this movie was the type of film that someone who is a fan of Whitney's music might want to check out just for the sheer enjoyment of her music alone.

I had forgotten how many great hits Whitney had over the years, and how many of her songs have been iconic to me growing up. I've always been a huge fan, and so this movie was a nice tribute to her music. I got chills down my spine during some of her performance scenes. 😊 I was even singing and dancing along to most of her music lol. 😂 There were quite a few things that I didn't know about Whitney's personal life (especially her younger life) that this movie seemed to touch on a little bit, so that was interesting. Personally? I felt like the acting of Naomi, Ashton, Nafessa, and Tamara Tunie especially, really stood out in this film imo.

PROS:

The music was great!

The acting was decent

I liked the "back-in-time" 80s and 90s wardrobe/fashions lol

They tried their best to make the cast look like the real Whitney/Bobby/Clive/Cissy/Bobbi Christina, etc.

I feel like I learned a lot more about Whitney's younger life, and her relationship with Robyn than I knew about.

I actually felt like Nafessa kind of stole the show in her scenes with Naomi. 👀

CONS:

I hate to say it.... But the main thing that took me out of this movie each and every time was the fact that Naomi looked NOTHING AT ALL like Whitney HOUSTON!!!! 😤😡 Usually I'm not that picky and I don't really care as much and I can suspend my disbelief even if the actor doesn't look exactly like the real person in history because their acting is so good, but for some reason, with this movie, I just couldn't do it.....I'm sorry! I would hear Whitney's VOICE singing, but then when I would LOOK at the actress, it just took me out of the whole entire scene. :(

I almost felt like it was someone cosplaying as Whitney Houston. To her credit, Naomi is a great actress... But I just kept asking myself throughout the whole entire movie: "You mean to tell me there were NO African-American actresses who looked a LITTLE like Whitney that they could have chosen for this role??"

Whoever wrote this film certainly gave Bobby Brown the "Good Edit", cuz ummmm..... 👀 In this movie they almost made it seem like Bobby and Whitney just had regular normal spats like most couples, and we all know THAT is a lie. 😒🙄 I'm shocked they didn't show her with not one black eye in the film, nor did they even allude to him hitting her. But oh well....

My other gripe with this movie was the fact that I didn't feel like enough money was put into it. I feel like this movie should have been BIGGER. I have seen at least two Whitney biopics now (a made-for-TV one, and this movie), and EACH and every single time, I feel like they just don't do Whitney's life story justice. I feel like it's always some low-budget type deal. 🥴 I'm sorry, but after seeing awesome biopics like "Ray", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Elvis", "JFK", "Malcolm X", etc. , I just can't with this biopic. It's just NOT on the same level as those others at all. It makes me sad that it almost felt like they didn't even TRY with this biopic. 😔

MY OVERALL SCORE:  6/10  - Overall, if you love Whitney's iconic music, and just want to have a great time dancing and enjoying a light-hearted film, then check it out! But if you're expecting this film to be on any sort of level as other biopics done.... Then, you're going to be sorely disappointed. 😔 They just didn't put as much MONEY into this film as I would have hoped. I just hope that Michael's biopic has some BIG money behind it. I just feel like Whitney's biopic deserved better...and I would have started by casting someone else as the lead. 👀

I gave this movie a chance even despite my overwhelming feeling that the actress looked NOTHING like Whitney. I tried...But it did make a difference in some of my enjoyment of the film. (no offense) Maybe it's because I actually remember when Whitney was alive lol. Anyway.... Overall, it's a fun movie to watch at least once, and I encourage anyone who is just a fan of her music to check it out. I would say that it's streamable.... It's not one you have to watch on the big screen in other words. It was good fun though! So, definitely one worth checking out if you're a fan of Whitney's music. 😊👍

[lorbanery]

You know, it also has to be said: The movie adaptations are often lacking.

Like, we all know what a disaster Cats was (which don't get me started on the damage that did to the musical's already shaky reputation just because of the concept, there are so many people who are never going to even give the actual musical a try just because even the music and dancing in the movie mostly ranged from bafflingly mediocre to infuriatingly bad, with very few standouts).

And folks have talked a lot about Les Mis and the miscasting of Russell Crowe.

But fewer people talk about the miscasting in Phantom of the Opera of pretty much everyone but Roaul. Or how the opening sequence of the theater restoring itself doesn't really get across the magic of that same sequence in the actual theater that a proshot would at least be better at.

Fewer people talk about the poor direction of Sweeney Todd, how Burton sucked out all of the humor that's written into the script.

How Into the Woods cut for time an entire musical scene that was a major character growth moment for the Baker, and, bafflingly, an actually really short song that existed purely to make a dick joke and a bean pun (and also to get a little levity after Jack had to sell Milky White).

How West Side Story made the bizarre decision to have Anita's moment in Tonight where she's fantasizing about all the hot nasty sex she's gonna have with Bernard when he comes home after the rumble ... take place in a church??? And the fact that the people around her were shushing her making it clear that she was doing so out loud????? Or moving I Feel Pretty from the first act when Tony and Maria are in their twittery honeymoon phase where they don't truly believe anything bad can happen just because a white guy and a Puerto Rican woman want to date in 1960's NYC, to ... right after Tony shoots Bernard?????? It didn't make it tragically ironic, which is what I assume Spielberg was going for, it just made for a wild, unexplained, and unnecessary tone shift. Or the very very very weird decision to take Somewhere away from Tony and Maria and turn it into a solo for Doc Valentina, just because she was being played by Rita Moreno, the first movie's Anita. Like, by all means! Give her a song or part of a song! Write her a verse in Tonight! Give her a reprise of When You're A Jet with the lyrics rewritten to be accusatory and calling them out for their shit while they're all hiding out in her shop! Just maybe not ... the most iconic song that the two leads sing as a hope for the future and plea to the audience to stop being so fucking racist, made all the more tragic by the fact that Tony dies in the end??????? Also inserting her unnecessarily into the final scene, completely distracting from the tableau of the funeral march with the surviving gang members coming together to carry Tony's dead body away with Maria mourning behind them ... by having Grandma Valentina in her robe and house slippers following along behind them to hand Chino over to the cops, like?????????? If you wanted to give her more screen-time you could've just had an extended sequence under the credits where they carry Tony's body down the street and show the devastated and ashamed reactions of the characters who weren't at that final confrontation aND WHY DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS TO A MAN WITH SIXTY YEARS OF DIRECTING EXPERIENCE???????

We don't talk about how Rent turned so many musical moments into dialogue for no apparent reason (but it was probably because they were COWARDS), making all of those scenes SO uncomfortable to watch because you could HEAR the actors ACTIVELY TRYING REALLY HARD to not sing them. Or how heavily auto-tuned Rosario Dawson was. Which isn't! Generally! Something!! You have to worry about! With professional! Stage productions! Because those casting teams actually care about their actors being able to, y'know, sing the songs for the role they're being cast in!

And none of that is even getting into the new songs that are often shoe-horned into the movie adaptations for the sole purpose of making the movie eligible for at least ONE of the music Oscars, because the only two options are either "ORIGINAL score" or "ORIGINAL song", both of which disqualify an adaptation using the music composed for the original theatrical production and the Oscars don't give enough of a shit about musicals to even PRETEND to consider thinking about discussing possibly deliberating a theoretical rule change.

Infuriatingly, Phantom was one of the few who actually took the sensible route and MADE THE NEW SONG THEIR CLOSING CREDITS SONG.

Anyway yes, pro-shots make sense in every way imaginable!

Including keeping Tom "I hate musicals but keep directing them for some reason and also don't understand how music in general works" Hooper away from directing another adaptation, just in case someone was thinking about giving him another chance after Cats.

People who honestly think there shouldn’t be a proshot release of theater shows because then people wouldn’t go to the theater anymore are so fucking dumb holy shit how dumb do you have to be did people stop watching footbal games because it also airs on tv? did people stop going to concers because you could get the dvd? holy shit just let poor people have a taste of the thing too god damn it

[nokillbananashelter]

Thoughts on Megalopolis

Though Coppola may and should be irrevocably viewed as a jackass after this movie, Megalopolis is the epitome of someone being empowered to make art for themselves, expressing it as vulnerably unedited as humanly possible in the medium they trust & know most. There is something profoundly free and honest in how absolutely unbothered with standards or notions of “good” or “bad” it is. Its erratic behavior, tasteless accusations, callous choices, and incoherent priorities are audience-belief-suspension-poison, which is its biggest novelty. There are times when this movie becomes so predictably fixated on telegraphing HYPER SPECIFIC urges that you often call out absurdities WELL before they happen and did not believe they would, despite pattern recognition working overtime to tell you otherwise. If this movie does anything, it’s a masterclass in telegraphing irrational impulses and materializing them seconds later. This movie is full of clichés and stereotypes, yet completely illogical and unprecedented in how it handles them. Its plot writhes anxiously in bewilderments rather than twists toward greater momentum. Because of that, this movie is near-guaranteed to generate a whole spectrum of audience responses & predictions the whole way through. It happened so much and so viscerally in my own viewing, that I think WHATEVER that man's intentions were, your response to it- disgust, anger, cringe, laughter, excitement, elation, boredom, bemoaning, etc- is part of the show and the proper reaction to how these characters and this narrative behave on screen. I truly believe this man wanted to make a movie that was incapable of being unreacted to, and much of it is hooks & bait to keep every scene as “iconic” as possible to leave an impression upon you. Its purpose is to be capital “A” Art in the most unapologetically unhinged way it can muster in a tone that demands your attention by simply being “off”.

With credit to Coppola, I think given the central material plot of this movie -the fall of a shambling empire at the hands of squabbling megalomaniacs doing a chaotic dance that keeps the illusion of structure and authority going well past it’s convincing point of belief or followability, circling a drain with depraved extravagant distractions and half rendered profundities about the current world spewed ad nauseam, while being conveniently incapable of imagining elsewise (until suddenly it magically can and credit being owed to a “great man” instead of society at large)- is a perfectly annoying, upsettingly onion layered window into our current reality. It’s an insight to the minds of those in power & coppola's own imaginative frame informed by his own relation to status. Bluntly, this movie’s perspective is too much like watching the American collapse directly through the delusional eyes of the rich & powerful. America is falling just like the Rome it is obsessed with and refuses to acknowledge it. This is explicitly the point of the movie and it never lets you forget that. Everyone is so predictably loaded with unyieldingly violent hubris, divine purpose, and obtuse grandeur. These characters are unbelievable and tacky, which makes them so, so real and exhausting. This movie WANTS to be stranger than fiction. By showing what the rich are often afforded with their own egos that we often are not, it kinda is, and it makes it painful to watch.

The characters have no incentive to behave themselves, show decorum, or have any inhibitions. They are free of deep lasting consequences until they are literally killed. They are blissfully catty petty freaks, so wrapped up in their own main character syndrome and psychotic self importance that even background characters join the cast to bust out into musical numbers, stare into the camera while pulling “blue steel” faces, get unwarranted narrator status, dance listfully on steel beam shaped marble with unbothered penthouse views, liken themselves to historical figures, claim they have superpowers, and blatantly betray each other every five seconds because they refuse to back down and see the err in their ways or give up one iota of power and significance. It is a circus of idiots, spewing horseshit and spinning plates in denial of the walls closing in on them. They see themselves as part of an immortal pantheon and behave nastier than Zeus on holiday. Coppola made his whole cast deplorable, selfish, neurotic, dangerous, and completely untethered from the real problems created by these figures. All except (debatably) one, whose vision for the world is, for being from the depths of a meandering Emersonian mind, are about as descriptive as the “us if we didn't (_____)” future city meme.

The lack of constructive descriptive societal cultural changes (we only get a glimpse through Julia closing her eyes and saying something akin to “WOAH, do I see YOGA CLASSES?”), along with neglecting to show people doing progressive things in these sprawling solar punk environments, makes the abstract whimsy and poetic 2010s artschool aesthetic feel kind of phony and abandoned instead of bold and daring and exploratory. Caesar does not seem capable of seeing real people in his structures despite wanting it to be for real people. In fact, not once is the general public shown doing anything at all except for reacting to these characters, participating in non-sequitur quaint demonstrations akin to a square dance in a senior home, cheering vapidly in a colosseum, rioting/being brutalized from a distance, or doing something seemingly unrelated in the corner of the screen. It’s trying to show the juxtaposition of worlds whenever it shows the masses, and they are never focused on for more than a few seconds. As a result, the general public is set dressing for these would-be Gods and might as well be rain against a windowpane. The tone towards society is patronizing, especially since it apparently took a rare and exceptional man with time stopping superpowers to come up with something that is even remotely as considerate and inclusive of a future as “what if maybe like, people could be like… a lil cooler to each other, and like, there’s escalators and big plants? Idk bro, it could be like… different if you think about it”.

But if you look past the shallowness of that (or view it as a necessary byproduct of following the perspective of deeply troubled people in power who have lost sight of people) and take what Coppola’s saying earnestly, I do actually think he is saying something about imagination work, positive social benefit, and letting art be what it is that is extremely worth saying. I think it is significant that the focus of Caesar's vision was powered by magic & wonder to accommodate the prosperity of all. That being viewed as radical and preposterous to all the other rich folk who had no concept of accommodating others or equipping society the tools to thrive(despite that literally being their publicly stated goal and political function) is equally noteworthy and relevant to how our own upper class views society. I think it's also relevant in how cringy audiences find Caesar and reject what he says as the same horseshit as the others, despite it not wholly being that if you buy Coppola’s intent of Caesar. Caesar is Coppola’s tortured artist who struggles to create his vision, and is grappling with the act of creation and deconstruction. And in the sense of creating and sharing art, we ARE often constricted by suffocating standards of perfection and superiority that frankly leave no room for elsewise and results in many works left half completed, unappreciated, or entirely killed because they are held to a standard that it does not make sense in.

There IS something to being completely courageous in letting your imagination go outside of the bounds of zeitgeist, establishment, or social conditioning, and not being afraid to be ridiculed or even persecuted and possibly killed about it. And a lot of times, the key to unlocking new ways of thinking is simply introducing the possibility that your imagination can, in fact, make things real. Once people are equipped with an idea you can’t contain it, and it does often become an all at once inevitability if people want it and see the path forward to it. Which is EXACTLY what happens the moment Caesar's message truly reaches critical mass. This movie is stuck in a rut until it suddenly is outside of its own dark cloud of thinking defined by Caesar's conservative opposition and shock-politic antagonist. The future once seen is established with no question. It's just the natural immediate conclusion of progress and awareness. That is profoundly hopeful and a vital lesson for revolution and transitioning into a new world. The struggling messiness of this movie is also part of the point- not letting perfect get in the way of good (see: actually producing anything at all, a common bane of artists). It’s intentionally villainously imperfect and confrontationally so. It’s central figure, Caesar, is clearly a contradictory and dangerous man flooded with ambition and brainworms but he sees his vision through.

I genuinely found it arresting how this movie erratically used different art periods to convey the slurry of time & place and how each character fell into those changing settings based on their own delusions and experiences. Characters go from superstars in optimistic rising art deco skylines, to pariahs scurrying for cover in brutalist oppressive architecture with statues literally bending under the weight of crumbling institutions, to naked emperors in tacky convention center circus arenas, to straight up and down being surrounded by bleached out antiquated abandoned roman pillars as they file and fill meaningless bureaucratic paperwork, seemingly unaware of being already dead and irrelevant. All of these characters are desperately trying to make sense of it all and add meaning to their tragedies and cannot stop following the path they are on, even when it has long since stopped making sense to do so. All of them (even Caesar) are completely wrapped up in their own coping.

Those tragedies line up with Coppola’s own musings. He loves his “great men” like any American Dinosaur who has his own delusions of grandeur and sweeping obsession with auteurship. It's clear his perception of greatness is aligned with patriarchal old guard Hollywood hand-waving and excusals for much of its flaws. He is invested in seeing “great” men as the wonders they claimed to be, while minimizing or struggling with what they almost always are to the masses by making them the focal point. I don’t think he is unaware of this contradiction and is in fact, actively acknowledging it the whole time- these characters are clearly freakasses, afterall. I think he is trying to see the potential for horror and greatness in all people, which is why almost every character in this movie has *the audacity* and display themselves so fully succeeding and failing. But I think he shares a lot of views in this movie that are deeply incongruent with most of our perceptions of power or how to think outside of it simply because he is part of the very establishment and world view he is critical of. His depiction of China as a faceless surveillance satellite lurching in the darkness of space is perplexing if you think he is speaking on his own “Red Scare” fears. But if you give him the benefit of the doubt, its exactly what it should be if we are looking at China through the eyes of these American power-players threatened by it. He is so unconcerned with modern consideration or taste he even hired Shia Lebouf & Jon Voight for substantial roles with nary a worry on how audiences might perceive that. Maybe he hired villains knowingly and purposefully to get us to hate the stochastic character of Clodio & the oligarch Crassus, but I think the truth is that as an old white hollywood man who probably likes Nietzche he simply thinks saints and sinners are not far from each other and he’s probably thought “ehhhh thats not so bad”. And on the note of those two villains, it’s as easy to see them as allegories for figures like trump and musk as it is to see them as cartoonish radical leftists & idk, george soros or something? I think it’s unclear because he’s old, But I think he aligns more with the former rather than the latter.

While his depiction of drug sopped lesbians, communism, socialism, progressive thinking, etc Is strange and shallow enough, his use of german against roman architecture is also deeply confusing and at times pretty questionable. His lean on german expressionism is sort of lost in modern context, and there were numerous times when I felt his messaging around Rome eerily call to Nazi Germany’s own appropriation of Roman iconography in unclear ways. He even has a speech I did not quite follow about the criticisms of “figures with vision” that flashes Hitler, so that connection is probably not unintentional. I don’t think he was necessarily attempting to admire or relate to Hitler here (in fact he was almost certainly attempting to speak on his hubris and drawing the dangerous similarities to America’s perception of Rome), but the messaging with the rest of the movie felt extremely unclear on my first viewing. With how much I questioned “is this his views or the characters views” because of the rapidly shifting tones and perspectives, I just don’t know! I get why he threw it out there, I just need clarity on it I might never get because at the end of the day, this movie is not about coherency, but feeling.

And this is where I think Coppola tips his own shortcomings most. Grandpa is pouring his heart out about what the world means to him and it no longer makes any sense to us because we see through the farces of his time with such skull numbing clarity it makes it almost impossible to even WANT to see WTAF he is talking about. Especially when he displays deeply biased and shallow flashes of insight into topics that run well outside his experience and rely on how he *feels* about them which is not always clear. Much of what he says does not strike an accessible flavor very intentionally, and that leaves the audience for a loss. And for many people already equipped to imagine well beyond what he has to say, or have been hurt or oppressed by “great men” and whiteness’s obsession with it… this movie is easy to rightfully call a condescending & confusing waste of time.

But I think Coppola is trying to say & acknowledge in his own way “I see the inevitability of a new world, my hand in it, and my insignificance in it”. He is very much coping with his fears of irrelevance & death, and acknowledging that as a human being he can and should let himself make profound art by how he perceives & defines profound art- not how convention or morality dictates. This movie is so deep inside of trying to describe its own empathies and damnations towards the human condition and trying to transcend it, you don’t know if it is satirizing or uplifting all of the notions within it. I think it depends on your own viewing lens how insufferable or not you find this movie, but Coppola is most certainly laying himself bare for the world to see, and accepting whatever the response to that may be because he simply wants to express himself.

Again, with charity and credit to Coppola, if you are looking at this movie as a digestion of the act of creating art and deconstructing prior conventions, being unafraid to be on-the-nose cringe and hold yourself to some positive hopefulness & vulnerability and truth for yourself, this movie is pretty on point honestly. That is the movie’s softest, gooiest, and most baby-eyed moral brick. Adam Driver's character was a dreamer & an artist who believed his dream could become reality through his abstract and whimsical architecture. That’s the source of his superpower, which falters only when he falters. His technomagic construction material is literally the fabric of his own imagination. In order to let that function to its highest potential, He let his imagination run wild and free and didn’t let convention, obviousness, and mistakes restrict how big and meandering and fully realized he wanted to exist inside of it. He did not compromise and it transcended him and even space-time. It even saves him from being shot in the face by a child. The desire to escape death through artistic legacy is palpable. This movie bends your experience of time, long extending anthological slice of life moments into entire eras of human history. Coppola is quite seriously trying to influence your experience of time, creating his own scale of infinity with this movie and for better or worse….he does. He believes in the art of film so much he is willing to destroy all conventions of brevity and considerations of your time to test it. In this way, Coppola is as cynical as he is naively hopeful. This is his Silmarillion AND his toilet time Sudoku scrawlings. It is a confession of fraud & a manifesto for becoming something greater and truer than the constructs we build everything around. He’s no genius. He’s just a man who likes to make things and was profoundly moved by his experience enabling his mind by making his dreams real with artistic indulgence.

This movie speaks more poetically and painterly than it does with tangibility and coherency and it might as well be speaking in “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” memes. I don't think this is a mark of singular genius or grand importance attributable to a singular mind(he ain't the first guy to speak abstractly in metaphor with movies). Instead, its a mark of freedom and whimsy in ideas within human capacity that is all too often overlooked in favor of looking down on things that do not match a specific need for conventional structure/quality in art & communication. A lot of safer Hollywood movies are stuck in mundane appeasement towards readability for the sake of capitalistic palatability. It honestly reminds me why I love camp so much. They have something they want to do and say, and just kinda do it. I wish more films did that without giving a fuck about what people want to criticize about it!

I would love to see more movies that are capable of being this wild and free without the burden of problematic strings attached to Coppola himself. More people deserve to have what this movie was afforded, and I honestly think we should maybe question more what we want to get out of films. Maybe we could explore our interactivity and level of engagement with them more often and worry less about railroading a linear message. We should feel safe to disregard archetypes and structure if that's what the heart wants, and that belongs to more than a privileged established few. Films and narrative do not need to be linear experiences or tight packages. They can be temporal sprawling Bosch paintings & loosely tied together journaling. This movie wants to empower artists to be more free and again, to Coppola’s credit, I think he’s saying “if this hack is allowed to do it, so should you”. We should be more courageous in that way and that idea IS profound and great and hopeful and silly and naive in very good ways. We need more of that to see outside of our currently doomed reality, and in my most charitable reads of this movie I believe that’s…maybe the entire point of it.

This movie is a fully realized being full of sin and miracle. It hurts to listen to, bamboozles you, bores you, and is often very biased, but if you grant it some humanity it does have some incredibly profound things is it attempting to say, and dares you to make fun of it for saying so (because it does not give a single shit what you think about it). I think this movie wanted to fight god and believes it won, despite all data telling it otherwise. If this film never stopped believing that, maybe that’s true for Coppola.

[fakevogue]

When Caroline Brake burst onto the scene with her breathtaking performance in Old Ways to Die, the whispers around Hollywood were deafening. A Best Actress Oscar nomination at just 25? The trajectory seemed set—blockbuster roles, high-fashion campaigns, a steady climb toward superstardom. But Caroline, with her sun-kissed Venice Beach roots and a penchant for defying expectations, has taken a decidedly different approach. And, as it turns out, we’re all under her spell.

I meet Caroline at a tucked-away café near her Venice Beach bungalow. She’s the picture of effortless cool in a fitted t-shirt, nothing with her but her trusty tote bag and a radiant smile that feels like it belongs more to an old friend than a rising Hollywood star. As she orders her matcha latte—pausing to chat animatedly with the barista, whose name she knows both first and last—it becomes clear that this isn’t an act. Caroline Brake is as genuine as she is magnetic.

When I asked her if side-stepping Hollywood expectations is something that comes naturally to her, she says “You could definitely say I’ve been dancing since the womb,” and she settles into her seat with a lightness that feels almost choreographed. “Well, I don’t want to take too much credit. My mom—Maggie Brake—has been a dancer for 47 years. Her whole life is a kind of dance, this flow of energy and creativity. I grew up watching that, absorbing it. I’m constantly catching myself doing things just like her, and honestly, I love it. It’s like rediscovering her magic in my own way.”

Maggie Brake is something of a local legend in Venice Beach, where she raised Caroline. A former Broadway dancer, Maggie stepped onto the Great White Way for just five years, but her impact was indelible. “She was in the right place at the right time,” Caroline explains, pride evident in her voice. That “right place” happened to be in front of the creators of A Chorus Line, who immortalized her story—and by extension, her legacy—in one of the most iconic musicals of all time.

But Maggie’s decision to trade Manhattan’s bright lights for the laid-back sands of Venice Beach is a move that feels quintessentially Brake. “She’s always been about staying true to herself, and I think I’ve inherited that,” Caroline muses.

It’s this blend of authenticity and artistry that sets Caroline apart in an industry obsessed with predictability. While others might chase the traditional path to stardom, she’s content charting her own course, one that feels deeply personal, like an interpretive dance through the world’s expectations.

As my conversation with Caroline deepens, the veneer begins to shift, revealing a young woman whose grounded perspective feels almost radical in the shimmering world of Hollywood.

Growing up in her mother’s dance studio, Caroline explains, wasn’t always as idyllic as it might sound. “My mom struggled to keep that studio open year after year,” she says, her voice softening. “She was a single mother with no financial safety net, so I saw firsthand what it meant to work tirelessly for something you believe in.”

That early exposure to grit and resilience instilled a work ethic that Caroline carries with her to this day. “I’ll never be under the impression that what I’m doing isn’t a job,” she says plainly. And it’s here, in this unvarnished honesty, that the carefully layered aura of ease begins to give way to something more vulnerable—and more real.

“As passionate as I am about film, and as much as I was raised to be an artist first and foremost, I honestly can’t approach this process emotionally,” she admits. The statement feels almost like a confession, peeling back the layers of the free-spirited persona she’s cultivated.

Instead, Caroline approaches her work with a sharp pragmatism, prioritizing the collective experience of the cast and crew above all else. “I feel this enormous pressure to make sure everyone I work with feels valued and like they’re in the best environment possible to do their best work,” she explains. “Because it is work. Hard work. It’s insane hours, monster tasks, and sometimes you’re just completely overwhelmed by the thought that it could all be for nothing.”

She pauses, her gaze momentarily distant. “What if no one likes the movie? What if no one even shows up in the first place?”

Caroline leans back in her chair, all her introspection at odds with her energy, which is as effortless as the ocean breeze. She’s been candid so far—about her work ethic, her anxieties, and the pressure of ensuring every set she steps onto is a haven for creativity. But when I bring up the inevitability of facing failure, her demeanor shifts slightly, her confidence tempered by a quiet humility.

“The same plan as always,” she says, her eyes sparkling with a mix of self-awareness and determination. “Show up, work as hard as I can, be as present as possible, and just… be unwavering.” She pauses, then laughs, the sound warm and disarming. “I guess all of that’s easy to say while I’m still on this side of success.”

It’s this balance of conviction and realism that makes Caroline so intriguing—a star who’s not only self-assured but also deeply aware of the fragility of her position.

I ask if her unorthodox approach to selecting projects and collaborators is part of her strategy for keeping her career fresh and her work resonant. Her answer comes quickly, without hesitation.

“Oh, absolutely,” she says, leaning forward slightly, as if sharing a secret. “It’s easy for me to have faith in the work and the people I work with when I’m working with auteurs. The crews they bring with them? They’re often the same people they started out with—the ones they went to film school with, the ones who’ve been with them since the beginning. There’s this incredible sense of trust and collaboration because they’ve already laid such a strong foundation for a great set. And when that’s in place, everything else feels easy.”

There’s a reverence in her tone, a clear appreciation for the artistry and community that auteurs foster. It’s also a testament to her discernment, a rare quality in an industry that often prioritizes profit over process.

As our conversation winds down, it’s clear that Caroline Brake isn’t just navigating Hollywood on her own terms—she’s doing so with a vision that feels both bold and deeply rooted in authenticity. Whether or not she ever faces the specter of failure, one thing is certain: she’ll face it with the same unwavering grace that’s brought her this far. And if her track record is any indication, she’ll emerge all the stronger for it.

[meiishu]

hsmtmts season 4 episode 2 thoughts under the cut

- “and also extremely former tv stars” im here for ricky and mack having some beef tbh just wish it wasnt love traingle-y

- “featured background, youre late why didnt you knock” LMAO i love them all dealing with the filming i think its funny to watch

- ricky youre the mvp trying to look out for miss jenn and your musical. i watch this show exclusively for richard bowen

- i miss ej thou

- i love how the hsmtmts gang just kicked dance ass and the instructor was impressed you guys SLAY

- ricky and mack’s enemies dynamic is more interesting than the forced romantic drama between mack and gina

- miss quinn is hilarious ngl

- emmy is also amazing. need more of her 100/100

- “your home is being rented for a weirdly large amount of money” miss jenns FERAL SCREAM iconic

- not ricky watching all of season 1 of mack and dog or whatever LOL

- MISS JENN PRETENDING TO BE AN EXTRA LMFAOOOOO

- ashlyn “i didn’t know but i do now” LOOOOL

- ashlyn and maddox r so real. but BIG RED 😭😭😭

- i loooove ashlyns headband so much

- joshua bassett singing now or never iconic if i dont get him singing scream in this season I’M GONNA SCREAM

- “ricky right? who’s that girl dancing with my boyfriend” i wanted ricky to say “my girlfriend “ so badly

- ginas face after dani glared at her she looked around like that meme “who are you talking to right now”

- gina and ricky are CUTE….. so mad they were robbed of growing as a couple this season and forced into a love triangle 😭😭

- “i saw a brilliant dancer… and a has-been sitcom actor” LMFAOOO THE SHADE AT MACK

- where r maddox and jet i dont want all these scenes with the new characters 😭

- dani cant fucking act LOL thats pretty funny but i saw it coming

- “interesting choices” quinn is so funny LMFAO i’ll take more of her over dani and mack

- PUPPY DATE 🥺 richard bowen pls.

- i also love ricky admitting his jealousy for mack to gina and apologizing for being judgy over her love of mark and spark, AND performing a cover of the theme song for her because he knows the show means so much to her. ricky and gina are CUTE. sofia and josh just have great chemistry together in the show too

- everyone just showing up at ginas house LOL

- seb i miss u 😭😭 come back

- awww ashlyn not being out to big red yet … i hope that doesnt come out to bite her in the butt like big red catches something hes not supposed to

- miss jenn and quinn…. enemies to lovers 👀

- (still want mr mazarra WHERE IS HE)

- AM I TOO LATE? “for ricky youre right on time”

- i love the cast list sm its perfect

- PLEASE NOT THE POSTER OF MACK IN THE BACK ricky sitting there like 🧍‍♂️

- LMFAO KENNEDY TOTALLY PASSING UP RICKYS HIGH FIVE

- aaaaand GINA WILL TAKE DANIS SPOT IN THE SHOW interesting… love that for her. though that means i have to watch more mack 😒

overall thoughts: interesting, i want maddox and jet back, WHERE IS MR MAZARRA????? rina is cute, i want to see more of the og hsm cast

[ziseviolet]

Hiya! I’ve been extremely interested in Cdrama’s as of late and the costumes! Now in some of these dramas there are dancing scenes. But I saw that not all the dancing scenes are done in chinese clothes. I saw one scene where they wore a ‘bedlah’. Can I get your input wether this is just modern aesethic or not. Thank you for your time in answering our asks!

Hi, thanks for the question!

I know what you’re referring to - in Chinese historical costume (guzhuang) dramas, you can occasionally see characters wearing bedlahs or bedlah-like outfits for dance scenes. Example below - a character wearing bedlah for a dance scene in historical Cdrama Myth of Sword (x):

Bedlahs typically show up as dance costumes in historical Cdramas for the following reasons:

To give the dance a seductive/sensual air (of course this can be achieved with Chinese clothing, but bedlahs add an additional element of mystery and/or “exoticness”) 

To suggest/signify Xiyu influence. Xiyu (西域), lit. “Western Regions”, was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of Yumen Pass, most often Central Asia or sometimes more specifically the easternmost portion of it (e.g. Altishahr or the Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang), though it was sometimes used more generally to refer to other regions to the west of China as well, such as the Indian subcontinent (as in the novel Journey to the West)

For example, Tang dynasty-set Cdrama Beauties in the Closet features a bedlah dance scene, in which animal spirits disguised as women perform a dance to seduce the emperor (x). The Tang dynasty is famous for its Silk Road trade route that enabled strong relations with the empires to its west (ex: Byzantine, Persian, Arabian). The Tang capital Chang'an became an international metropolis, and foreign clothing & hairstyles became trendy. In Chang’an and Luoyang, Turkish and Persian fashions were highly sought after (x). Thus, the bedlahs in this scene serve to emphasize the seductiveness of the dance, as well as make a nod to the multicultural nature of Tang society:

Another example comes from the historical Cdrama The Great Dunhuang, which is based on the history of the oasis city of Dunhuang, which lies on the ancient Silk Road. In this scene, Meiduo, a princess from the ancient Kingdom of Khotan, dances a feitian (apsara) dance in feitian costume (x). Feitian costumes as depicted in Chinese media have similarities with bedlah, as can be seen below:

With all that said, though, the use of bedlahs in historical Cdrama costuming is still a modern aesthetic, due to the simple fact that the bedlah as we know it today is a modern 20th-century Egyptian belly dance costume influenced by European theatrical attire (1/2):

“The bedlah is essentially a Westernized creation, though not a wholly Western creation. What really cinched its iconic popularity in dance was the golden age of Egyptian Cinema in the 50s-70s, when Egyptian movies still largely cast professional dancers for dance roles. These Egyptian dancers, directors, and costumers sought inspiration from Hollywood and American culture - the bedlah is basically an Egyptianized iteration of the types of costuming that American dancers and showgirls were wearing. (Think Vegas, burlesque, cabaret, lounge and nightclub culture, in addition to movies/popular music culture.)” (Source)

Needless to say, this particular type of outfit did not even exist prior to the 1900s, much less during the Tang dynasty.

So why do they show up in historical Cdramas? As I’ve mentioned many times before (1/2/3), historical Chinese dramas tend to take a lot of liberties in their costume design. And indeed, this is one of those cases. I chalk it up to a combination of trying to appeal to modern audience’s aesthetics/expectations & lack of resources/attention. Researching & creating historically accurate outfits is a lot more difficult than slapping on a bedlah and calling it a day. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

To be fair, this misunderstanding is a worldwide phenomenon, not just a Chinese one. For example, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Disney’s depiction of Princess Jasmine in a bedlah in Aladdin played a huge role in propagating the perception that the bedlah was an actual “ancient” historic outfit. This influence is especially noticeable in the recent Chinese “Xiyu aesthetic” fashion trend. Below are two Xiyu-style outfits with the theme “Loulan Princess” (the Loulan Kingdom was an ancient kingdom based around an important oasis city along the Silk Road) (x):

The “Princess Jasmine effect” is quite strong, wouldn’t you say? :P

For culturally/historically accurate Chinese dance clothes, please see my dance & dance hanfu tags.

If anyone wants to share more information, please do. Hope this helps!

[charlie-rulerofhell]

An interview with Måneskin: “It's not about out bodies, it's about our music”

Heyo, I'm back with another translation. This time the article is from the German Rolling Stone website who met with Måneskin after their TikTok performance at the Schwuz, Berlin, and posted the interview yesterday. Again there were some interesting questions asked (and the pictures they added to the article are quite nice, though severely lacking some Ethan content, but check it out!).

Again, I hope that no one has already gone through the effort and translated it or is currently working on a translation. Also this is an official invitation, if you stumble across any articles or video interviews in German that you would like to have translated just message me and I'll get to it! (or if you just wanna chat about Måneskin, my inbox is always open :))

Have a great day everyone!

Full article under the cut.

-----------------------------

An interview with Måneskin: “It's not about out bodies, it's about our music”

Jose-Luis Amsler

July 6, 2021

Måneskin are just what this generation has been missing. Passionate, corny, and full-on honest. In an interview with Rolling Stones, the ESC winners explain to us why they would never work in a normal job and why the hype for their appearance is sometimes going too far.

Damiano, Victoria, Thomas and Ethan are entering the nearly deserted dance hall, before they wait on stage in a red-blue spotlight. They are wearing glittering fish net tops, black tape across their nipples, leather pants, heels and make up. The camera men who are filming in portrait format (9:16) suitable for TikTok are whirling up the haze of the fog machine.

Måneskin are [in] Berlin to give a TikTok concert. A TikTok livestream of this scale has not been done often – tension is in the air. The four Italians don't know at this point that due to the stream the few people present are not allowed to clap or cheer. In complete silence and with slight uncertainty the four are crossing Neukölln's club Schwuz. A few puzzled glances are exchanged. Finally,  Måneskin are striking the first chord.

Then the rich sound of Ethan's bass drum is tearing through the silence. It's almost as if someone has flicked a switch somewhere. There it is, the rock star presence that is hovering over everything they do, with an ounce of arrogance (in the best sense of the word). Singer Damiano is dancing lasciviously on his heels, and during an especially ecstatic solo guitarist Thomas is throwing himself down on the floor in a way it can only be done by a passionate 20-year-old musician who had never had to worry about the looming doom of an artificial knee joint [for 'passionate' the interview is using the term 'besessen' which means 'possessed', and although I think it's rather supposed to describe the way Thomas is 'possessed / obsessed' with the music, thus passionate for the music, you never know if they didn't mean to say that the way he dances looks 'possessed' … I mean, they might be on to something here ;)]. Around half an hour and about 120 decibel later, Damiano says their goodbyes with an almost shy-sounding “Okay, bye.” After the performance, we do our interview in the Schwuz.

Rolling Stone: It was a little bit weird, right, when you went on stage today?

Damiano: Yeah, that was really strange (laughs). They only told us after the performance that the audience was instructed to stay silent for the stream.

Vic: But at least they weren't silent because we were shit (all laughing). We are slowly getting used to playing without a live audience. I mean we are doing this now for more than a year.

RS: What do you think about these new kinds of concerts such as the TikTok livestream today?

Damiano: Well, at the moment it is the only option to perform anyway, so it's alright. But of course you cannot compare this to a proper concert.

Thomas: But it's pretty cool that so many people can experience our concert live.

Vic: Also we're gonna start touring again soon. Right now we are arranging some festival and gigs. In December we will be touring Italy and afterwards we are planning to go on tour through Europe. But we don't have anything fixed yet, there is just a lot going on at the moment.

“A lot going on”. Quite an understatement considering the recent journey Måneskin has made through the past weeks after their ESC win. Their singles “Beggin'” and “I Wanna Be Your Slave” went through the roof (also thanks to Social Media) and are currently dominating the international charts – lately they were also number one in Germany. There is barely a radio station that isn't playing the band on heavy rotation [would love to know what stations they listen to, have never heard Måneskin played in German radio tbh :( ], and everyone opening Instagram or TikTok these days is flooded by Måneskin content. Every second a new fanpage with the name of 'maneskin_obsession' or 'damianos_slut' is springing up like a (virtual) mushroom. It sounds like a cliche, but Damiano, Vic, Thomas and Ethan became international stars over night.

“Of course it's nice to get compliments. But sometimes they definitely cross a line.” – Damiano David

RS: How has your life as a band changed since your win at the ESC in Rotterdam?

Vic: I think we don't even notice a lot of what's happening. Right after the ESC we went to a studio in the countryside where we made music the whole day long. So at first we didn't realise that so many things were happening all around us – and that we had so many new fans. We're just now beginning to learn what's going on. We were at Sony yesterday, there were so many fans waiting for us. That was crazy.

RS: A large part of the attention you are getting now is about your outer appearance, your style, your attractiveness. Is that getting a little too much sometimes?

Damiano: Of course it's nice to get compliments (laughs). But sometimes they definitely cross a line. Especially when we just talk about our music or about a social or political topic that we care about. In those moments it's just completely inappropriate to reduce us to our appearance. Sure – when I'm posting a half-naked picture of myself on Instagram I know that I will get these kind of comments. And then it's totally fine, I mean in the end I'm posting the picture to show myself. But sometimes it's not the right place for it.

RS: And also you should be allowed to wear what you want without being sexualised, right?

Vic: Yes, absolutely. We are wearing these outfits because we feel good in them, not to put the focus on our bodies. And in general it shouldn't always only be about how you dress. We are musicians – so first and foremost it should be about our music. But I think it will still be a long way until we will reach that point.

“That the boys are wearing make up does not tell you what gender they are attracted to. Those things should never be equated with each other.” – Victoria De Angelis

RS: But still you are sending a message with your style against stereotypical gender roles. I guess it's also not only coincidence that we are in the Schwuz today, which is normally a party location and safe space for the LGBTQ community.

Vic: Yes, that is all part of the positive message that we try to send. We want to give our audience the feeling that they are free. Free to wear whatever they want to wear, be how they want to be and love whom they want to love. It's unbelievable that there is still so much intolerance in our times. That has always been really important to us so we try to talk about these topics. We also believe that the narrow-mindedness of society is an educational problem. When you grow up with people all around you telling you how you should be, you will never feel completely free. The more people are talking about it, the sooner things will change.

RS: Some artists who are advocating for these topics are accused of 'queerbaiting', that they are only pretending to be a certain way to gain more support from the queer community. Have you also been faced with those allegations?

Vic: Yes, a few times. But of course we never pretended to be anything. Some people accuse of us queerbaiting because we look and act the way we do. But that's flawed thinking. We don't believe that clothes are connected to a person's sexuality. That the boys are wearing make up does not tell you what gender they are attracted to. Those two things should never be equated with each other.

RS: This courage for free self expression that you are conveying is mainly lived by our (young) generation through Instagram and the like. What is your relationship to social media?

Damiano: For me it was almost scary at first. The more we grew, the more people were trying to twist all of my words. But over time you start to understand that with more fame you also get more criticism. The happier you look the more hate you will get. It's not only like that for celebrities. If you are brave enough to show the things that make you happy there will always be people that support you, but they are also those that envy you. Of course, this should never lead anyone to not express themselves openly but that's easier said than done.

Vic: We are also trying not to spend too much time on social media. In the end we just try to be honest with our fans and to avoid negativity.

[caption under the picture of Damiano: 'Is already being compared to icons such as David Bowie']

It's actually surprising how little power a win at the ESC holds in most cases. Almost 200 million people are watching this shining spectacle every year – and still, a few months afterwards it is hard to remember who those people were that got covered in confetti during the award ceremony. It's the well-known curse of a casting show that rests on the winning bands. When just next year a new sensation will come to marvel at, how much impact does a win have then? There are exceptions of course, like Lena who is until this day, 10 years after her win in Oslo, a part of the more famous music scene of German pop music. With their charisma, their unusual sound at least for our modern standards, and their contemporary message Måneskin could become such an exception, too.

It's likely also helpful that the band already had a standing in the Italian music scene prior to their ESC participation. Their first album 'Il ballo della vita' already achieved platinum in 2018, three years prior to Sanremo and the ESC. And then there is also the long way that led the four schoolmates to this point that helped them gain the necessary persistence. Because contrary to what some people might want to believe Måneskin are not a phenomenon that has just been deliberately bred to be this way by the entertainment industry for Eurovision.

“I have worked [in a 'normal' job] for a whole month in my entire life – it didn't really end well.” – Damiano David

RS: You were all raised in Rome, the capital of the catholic church. What was it like to start as a young progressive band in such a conservative environment?

Damiano: In the beginning, when we started as buskers, no one gave a damn about us anyways (all laughing). But of course … Once we got a bit bigger there were a few people who had a problem with us. For example when we went to Sanremo, there were quite many people who thought that the way we looked and acted we shouldn't be allowed to represent Italy. They didn't even want to listen to our music first.

Vic: Especially when it comes to appearance and sexuality, Italy is a little more backward than other countries. The church probably also has an influence there. They are often quite conservative of course, so many people grew up with such a [conservative] mindset.

RS: You once said that the song 'In Nome Del Padre' is an answer to exactly those people. What does the song mean to you?

Damiano: Back in the beginning [of our career] we had to deal with a lot of problems. They didn't want to let us play in clubs because we would take too much space as a band or because they didn't like our (fashion) style or because they didn't want to pay us. Italy isn't a good place for bands. Our musical style was also criticised a lot. Many people were telling us: Don't do that [rock music], you won't get popular with that in Italy, you will never achieve anything with it. Of course those comments were hurtful but they were also a good reason for us to continue with what we did. And we turned our sadness into anger. With that song we wanted to tell those people from back then: Fuck off and look at us, we did it!

RS: Did you ever consider working in a nine-to-five job and live a 'normal' life?

Damiano: Nah, not really. For one month in my life I worked [in a 'normal' job] – it didn't end well (all laughing).

Vic: We all made music since we were kids. It's a huge part of us, that we couldn't just ignore. And the most important thing is that you do something that makes you happy. At least that's what we believe. So we started from a young age to put all our time and energy into music.

Thomas: Yeah, exactly. Ever since we were in school together we always made music. That has always been our main focus and it is until today. We play and play and play because it is the only thing that …  

Ethan: … we live for.

Damiano: Music has also something very therapeutic for us. Even when we are in a bad mood or fight with each other – yeah, that happens, too – then all of that is gone the moment we enter the stage. Maybe that's the beautiful thing about music – that it allows you to forget everything else. You're just standing on stage, having fun with your friends.

From most bands you wouldn't buy such a corny love letter to music. Mostly it just sounds like an empty phrase, a well-practiced quotable line. But when there is something that defines Måneskin and that becomes more and more evident during our conversation it's their uncompromising honesty. The four of them are definitely not lacking a sense of humour but they take their music very seriously. Which should not be taken for granted in a generation that has mainly produced sarcastic cloud rappers and has made cynical twitter comedy a national sport. And maybe Måneskin are exactly what this generation was lacking all along.

Still, the four musicians, all in the age of 20 to 22, are also prone to the constant need for self-expression, that has become an intrinsic part of today's life. This does not only reflect in the outfits of the band (always 'on fleek') and their Instagram profiles, but also in their lyrics. Their latest record 'Teatra D'Ira – Vol. 1' shows a clear theme: The album is an ode to individuality, accentuated by fast and hard sounds.

Sometimes this message fitting for a Disney movie [really? guess I have been watching the wrong Disney movies my whole life …] is wrapped in a contrasting loud and forceful packaging, but never so much that it becomes inauthentic or self-caricaturing [note: I'm honestly not entirely sure what they wanted to say with this sentence since it uses a lot of rhetorical devices that could be interpreted in different ways, but I'd say this sounds the most plausible]. And in the end, the thing that makes Måneskin so interesting is their unification of the spirit of this time – between TikTok hedonism and an omnipresent political statement – with the music of past generations.

“When you are twenty, you start to think about what the future will hold.” – Damiano David

RS: Your musical style is often described as classical 70s rock, but in fact there are many different influences in your music. Sometimes you groove almost into funk, sometimes it's more rapping than singing. How did this mixture come to be?

Thomas: It's just that we all have our own individual influences and then we meet somewhere in the middle. And we always try to stay open for experiments.

Ethan: Yes, we are very experimental in our song writing process.

Vic: We also don't want to limit ourselves to what is regarded as typical rock music. If rap fits better at some point then we just add that in. It just happens naturally without us thinking too much about it.

RS: So why was it still rock music in the end?

Vic: Because it's the style that we feel most represented by. But actually we just play the music that we enjoy playing. That's really important to us so that we can show something real on stage. We don't want to pretend to be something that we aren't or mock those people that really enjoy our music. You should always be proud of what you're doing and never fake anything just to sell more records.

RS: Is there something like an Italian rock music scene?

Vic: There are quite a lot of bands – but the most of them are much older than us or they are more going in the direction Indie rock. There isn't really a young rock scene, which we think is a pity. But ever since we got more famous people are telling us that they started listening to rock music because of us or that they bought their first guitar and such. That's incredibly nice!

RS: So you're saying that you also want to show this style of music to a younger generation. And you capture this contrast quite well in the song 'Vent'anni', which is a typical rock ballad but lyrically portrays the thoughts of today's youth. Where did the motivation come from to write that song?

Damiano: With the song I wanted to show that I'm just a normal guy, a really typical 20-year-old. I experience the same things that other people in my age are experiencing, I'm just doing another job than them. Also I wanted to describe this age as a whole because I think it's a really special age. At 20 you start to think about what the future will hold. I think it's one of the most important stages of your life. Since we (the four of us) are all in the same age, I then started to mix our experiences together. In the end the song shows what it means to us to be 20. There is a lot of good things – you are quite carefree and are looking at life enthusiastically. But on the other hand you're too young to do certain things and too old to do others. Some people are treating you like a full-grown adult, but …

Vic: … not entirely.

Damiano: Exactly. It can get pretty frustrating at times. We wanted to show our audience: Hey, we're also just 20 years old, and we're going through the same things as you. We understand you.

RS: Except that you are the ones who are becoming a world-wide phenomenon right now. How do you want to maintain this honesty?

Damiano: I think that we could just reach this point because we have always been authentic – for better or for worse. Also we are just trying to have fun with what we're doing together. That's something special that we don't want to lose. In the end we're just four friends who started to live their dream. It's actually pretty simple. Of course – we go on stage, we get a lot of attention, we give interviews – but when we come back home we're just four friends.

[mydancinglady]

My Top 10 Joan Crawford Movies

In my opinion, these are her best movies. Enjoy.

10- Dancing Lady (1933)

“An attractive dancer is rescued from jail by a rich man, who helps her to have her first big opportunity at a musical play on Broadway.” Joan steals the spotlight the entire film, her charisma is undeniable as you see her dance with a million-dollar smile. Her chemistry with Clark Gable is perfect. Great cast, and so fun to watch.

9- Autumn Leaves (1956)

“Millicent Wetherby is a middle-aged woman whose life is devoid of love and affection. Millicent's solitary existence changes when she encounters Burt Hansen a charismatic younger man” Oh but this is not your regular love story. This turns very dark as the movie progresses, with an excellent performance of Joan, as well as her co-star Cliff Robertson. The filmmaking of this one is superb. Aldrich really put his stamp on this one.

8- Strange Cargo (1940)

“Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure.” One of her best performances ever, away from her usual glamor-like characters that she had showed until then. It’s her best movie with Gable, and the last one.

7- The Damned Don’t Cry (1950)

“A New York socialite climbs the ladder of success man by man until a life among rich gangsters gives her what she thought she always wanted.” God, she’s the epitome of sensuality in this one. She plays an audacious, intelligent and ambitious woman who would do anything to get where she wants to.

6- Mildred Pierce (1945)

“A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.” One of the best Noir movies of all time. She won her only Oscar for this one, although I think it’s not her best performance. She made a comeback with this movie, reviving her career and showing what she was made of!

5- A Woman’s Face (1941)

“A female blackmailer with a disfiguring facial scar meets a plastic surgeon who offers her the possibility of looking like a normal woman.” What an espectacular movie. Excellent from beginning to end. Cuckor, the director, is a genius. Joan makes her biggest change for her character, once again demonstrating what she’s capable of. I don’t know why she wasn’t nominated for an Oscar. I can’t recommend it enough!

4- Sudden Fear (1952)

“After an ambitious actor insinuates himself into the life of a wealthy middle-aged playwright and marries her, he plots with his mistress to murder her.” THIS PLOT. THIS MOVIE. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS PERFECTION. The entire cast gives a perfect performance. The ending is unexpected, since the movie never goes to where you initially thought it would. The scene where Joan listens to that recording is... Simply genius, can’t get any better, honestly.

3- Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962)

“A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.” Well, we all know Bette Davis gives the performance of her lifetime here. But I think without Joan, this film couldn't have been this iconic. I think she balances Bette perfectly, playing her character so loyal to the original one (from the book).

2- Humoresque (1946)

“A classical musician from the slums is sidetracked by his love for a wealthy, neurotic socialite.” This movie is so hauntingly beautiful. The shots, the acting, from Joan to John… It’s wonderful! I would also say the entire film is like a poem, especially the ending. Reminding me of Alfonsina Storni’s (famous poetess) end.

1- Possessed (1947)

“After being found wandering the streets of Los Angeles, a severely catatonic woman tells a doctor the complex story of how she wound up there.” In my opinion this is her best performance in her career. I think this was the hardest role she had taken as well. The way that they depicted mental illness, for the time, it’s pretty well done. I was surprised. It has a slow beginning, until it hits you and you can’t stop watching. Joan gives her all, in a way that had me pleasantly surprised as the minutes passed by. She was a superb actress, although she was continuously underestimated. She had to prove herself through her entire career. Just a fascinating woman.

The Ultimate Movie Star