#look I'm not big on a lot of DT's music

[lunapwrites]

Today's "woke up with this stuck in my head" ear worm:

[crowlixcx]

Please god please HOW WAS MACBETH

Okay bestie lets get into it!! Obvs it's...literally Macbeth lol so I doubt i'm spoiling the plot for anyone here however if anyone reading this does have tickets and doesn't want to know anything about staging etc i suggest u avert your eyes now

Anon babes it was marvellous. David was so commanding?? he's built like a string bean but when he was up on stage he looked BIG and powerful. The character development was so nuanced, the descent into madness was manic and chaotic but eventually steady and calm - he literally snapped a little boys neck with his bare hands in the battle scene it was gruesome. I've seen one too many productions of Macbeth where its pretty much all pinned on Lady Macbeth being the brains behind the operation but it was very obvious from the start of this production that Macbeth had plenty of malicious thoughts and intentions of his own. He needed a little bit of convincing from LM but obviously your average person cannot be coerced into murder lol this man was out for blood from the START. Cush Jumbo was DIVINE and the perfect enabler, their chemistry was spicy and sensual and I loved it. They changed the script so that LM visits Lady MacDuff before the latter is murdered and its sooo good it makes Lady Macbeth so much more 3 dimensional rather than the usual evil witchy woman, it makes her human and Jumbo portrays her beautifully. It really was exciting for the production to be so intimate. The Donmar is a LOVELY black box theatre not many seats at all so you're very close to the action. This is my 5th time seeing DT on stage (prev. Much Ado About Nothing, Richard II, Don Juan in Soho & Good) and they've all been at big venues so it felt very different. The use of headphones was soooo good and it helped them keep the pace of the show (it was 1hr50 with no interval). Rather than dramatic asides like in the script the actors could whisper and it was RIGHT in your ear which made it feel very personal and dark like you were really in the character's heads. You never saw any of the visions (the dagger, the witches, banquo's ghost) which is how i always prefer it to be portrayed personally because you know... they're not actually there this man is just guilty AF and losing his grasp on reality!! But the sound effects they used in these moments were verrrry good and helped set the scene, lots of spooky music and sounds of screaming and whispering etc. And just generally through out the production you heard every. single. word. because of the headphones which was just delicious.

Final note because when u came into my inbox u were probably just expecting a simple 'yeah i really enjoyed it!!' and instead i've written a mini essay BUT in the battle scene at the end David really did win the award for most agile man in his 50s, he head-butt like 4 people and i was like...damn boy can u come over and fight me some time

[emilou-keen-gear]

Case Closed/DT AU Part 1

Drake spotted Launchpad coming in through the film studio door. It wasn't unusual for him to come by after his shift with the SCPD, especially since the studio had free food for the crew and nobody minded an off-duty police officer stopping by and taking care of some of the leftovers. However, when he saw that Launchpad wasn't alone, he remembered that his best friend had been talking about his childhood friend visiting. They walked in, hand-in-hand. According to Launchpad, "You'll like her."

That remained to be seen. Not that Drake was distant or anything, he just had a hard time liking anyone. Now that he'd starred in a few big movies, he realized how fake some people could be, wanting to be friends with someone famous. But he supposed that no matter who his best friend dated, he had to at least be civil.

"Hey, Drake," Launchpad said, bypassing the table of food to greet his friend, although his eyes strayed as if taking in the variety of snacks. "I'd like you to meet my friend, Charity Agapo."

"It's a pleasure," Drake said. This was the first time Launchpad mentioned Charity's last name, and he thought it sounded familiar.

"Likewise," Charity said, taking his offered hand and shaking it. She had a big smile on her face. Like, fan-girl big. She might be one of...those girls.

"Warning, Drake. She's a huge fan," Launchpad said with a wink.

Charity softly elbowed the large duck. "Launchpad..." Her smile lessened and she tilted her head down, but she still looked at Drake with a twinkle in her eye.

Yes, definitely one of those girls. Not that he minded fans. The more he had, the better he did in the box office. He just hoped she wasn't too...enthusiastic.

"She's also a singer," Launchpad said. "Did I mention that? She's with a recording company in New York."

"Was," Charity corrected, straightening her back. "I left them. I'm signing a contract with a company here in St. Canard later today. It's why I'm moving out here."

"She sounds great," Launchpad said. "We should go to one of her concerts."

Drake nodded noncommitally. He hadn't heard anything about her, but then again, he didn't really follow music, especially pop. Charity looked like she was a pop singer.

"I can't believe you're friends with Drake Mallard," Charity said, looking to Launchpad. She then turned to Drake, pulling a hand on his arm. "He didn't tell me until today. Can you believe this guy? Totally pulled the wool over my head."

Drake was a bit astounded at how friendly the girl was. Here she was, her arm around her boyfriend's, and she was practically flirting with him. He was definitely going to have to keep his guard up around her. Whatever was her goal, he was not going to be the one that hurt Launchpad.

That's when he recalled where he had heard the name Agapo. It was a case he had worked on several years ago while investigating Steelbeak's organization. He had done business with an Agapo. Was she related? Was it coincidence that she had moved to St. Canard.

And didn't Launchpad mention that she had come from money, that her family was well off. Well, anyone who associated with FOWL probably was well off, and they didn't come by their money by working hard.

Drake decided that when he returned to Darkwing Tower that night, he would definitely be investigating Charity Agapo.

***

Just a little work on my Case Closed/DT Au. I'm not writing a full story (maybe if I feel like it in the future) but I want to do a few scenes here and there. I plan on doing a lot more, playing with the story and the characters more and more.

[literatemisfit]

Cheers to @aprocrastinatorsparadise for tagging me in this Top 4 Albums (or alternatively Top 4 Songs) that I've been listening to recently and why they have meant something to me.

Still Got Legs - Chameleon Circut

My full-on DT/Doctor Who fandom plunge that has resulted from self-soothing during the pandemic by returning to a happier time in my life has been really healing and bringing me lots of joy. Actually, DT is almost my only source of pure, no-holding-back joy, I have laughed and smiled (and fangirled) more after watching his dumb little face than I have in the rest of 2020-2023. This album brings me back to that place of fandom and belonging to something when I'm away from home or commuting to and back from work. I think the album is genius and hits exactly the right place between DW fandom and DW universe. Doctor Who's themes on morality, compassion, and non-violence make me feel seen as someone who wants to do good and help others. It also makes me want to see the good in the world when it's become hard to see. Chameleon Circut gives me the same feels as some of the DW episodes and in the same way, their songs (especially Regenerate Me, Travelling Man, Teenage Rebel, The Big Bang Two, and The Sound of Drums) have come to belong to me as much as the episodes and their themes have come to belong to me.

Inside - Bo Burnham

In the same vein as a pandemic response, this album has made me feel so seen as someone who is feeling betrayed by the world and its corruption in the face of a very real and very scary global crisis. He's right, how do we joke around and have fun in this world where billionaires are richer than they have ever been and no normal person can afford housing? I like that Bo Burnham attacks Bezos by name and "the pedophilic corporate elite" because it helps me feel like Someone is doing Something about all this. It feels good, it feels like revenge, it feels like fighting for what's good in the world. His album also keeps me on my toes as an aspiring ally to poc and reminds me how flawed and performative I (and we all) can be. But also, songs like Look Who's Inside Again make me feel seen as a loner and socially-inept human who began the pandemic wondering why I never decided to go out and explore the world while I had the chance. But now in 2023, I'm making promises to myself to do just that.

The Prince of Egypt - Soundtrack

Y'all can skip this one if you have religious/catholic icks and I don't blame you. I've realized in recent years that while I am an atheist and despise organized (especially Christian) religions, there was always this feeling like nostalgia around going to church and catholic themes, as an ex-catholic. And I've recently found the words to explain what it is: while I do not experience catholicism religiously (anymore), I do still experience it culturally and nostalgically when I remember my deceased grandparents and my childhood which at times revolved around those rituals. Like my interests around greek mythology and world history, I have developed a fascination around catholicism and their egregious past of in-fighting with other christian sects which let's be honest believe almost exactly the same fucking thing. Or fighting with other religious groups that believe in a god in a different way. And it leads to murder every time! Murder! It's wild. But this album and movie hit me in the right nostalgic places where those beliefs lead to hoping for and believing in a better future and a loving community: and love is what wins in the end. It's just a story, a myth, but it should make you feel loved and looked after, that's it.

The Irish Rovers - Greatest Hits

Okay a bit of a left turn. As a French Canadian with no UK/Irish/Scottish ties (that we know of), folk music from Ireland and Scotland make me feel a) closer to DT and his past and sense of self, but also b) closer to this lovely feeling of community and a raw emotional past. They talk about serious themes, big feelings, poke fun at themselves, and always have the most upbeat and catchiest music and all that together gives off a real vulnerability and realness that I think is hard to find in most media. They are so wholly themselves, with flaws and an easygoingness that is so refreshing and so centered around one very specific geographical place that it feels like visiting them just by listening to them. I feel transported there when actually I'm just on the bus or doing chores. And somehow, their less progressive lyrics make me feel even more attached because they are not hiding their past (or present?) or pushing for pleasing an audience. It's real because it's flawed and it's real because it's from a place of truth.

Well that was fun and healing! I will tag @expelliarmus and @davidtennan-t if you guys would like to participate 🌈

[innuendostudios]

Thoughts on... some funny games

[no spoilers to speak of]

Thoughts on Lair of the Clockwork God

The wisdom of the gaming cognoscenti insists that comedy is hard to do in video games. Having grown up with Monkey Island and Zork, I've never found this convincing. But one true thing is this: it's hard to write about comedic games. The ineffability of humor is hard enough to describe in less-interactive media; I can't even explain to my partner why Gretchen saying "I met January Jones once!" on You're the Worst busted me up, and they were sitting right next to me when she said it. Throw in the "you had to be there" nature of the player's active participation and I lose myself in a cornfield. The thing I found hilarious might come a beat to early for you, or not at all, or not be funny in text like it is in gameplay.

Why did I like Lair of the Clockwork God? It made me laugh.

The premise and particulars are a lot of "that could go either way." Ben and Dan - stars of Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentleman, Please! - have returned. Ben is still an adventure game star, but Dan has adopted platforming mechanics in an attempt to get with the times. So playing the game involves switching back and forth between a character who can leap across canyons but can't pick up items or talk to people, and one who can combine inventory but can't climb over a 3-pixel rock.

Does that sound potentially funny? Potentially grating? Yes to both!

The plot centers around our heroes trying to save the world from several simultaneous apocalypses and having to teach human emotions to a supercomputer in order to do so. (Don't ask.) These means, rather like Ben There, Dan That, traipsing through a number of fantasy worlds (read: computer simulations) until the correct emotion is provoked. This requires cross-genre cooperation: finding ways to get Ben to areas only Dan can access, getting Dan new power ups by combining objects in Ben's inventory (an act Dan insists on calling "crafting").

The best bits are at these intersections, when Dan's platforming is the puzzliest and Ben's puzzles take advantage of Dan's skills. Periodically the game gives you a Dan-centric platforming gauntlet the controls are NOT precise nor pleasant enough for, or a Ben-only moon logic puzzle that leaves you googling the walkthrough.

But I liked it! A lot. The genre-hopping seems to have invigorated the developers, Ben Ward and Dan Marshall. I discussed my favorite joke in Ben There, Dan That (in what is probably the least popular video I've ever made that wasn't asking for money), but was also dismayed that the game was never that clever again. But this one is, several times over! Progression here involves cheating your way to a better respawn zone, goofing around in game menus, exploiting "glitches," exiting out and loading up entirely other games. There is a lot of poking and prodding at what a game of this nature can or should be.

But, honestly? The only real selling point is... it was funny. The humor is as anarchic and metatextual as in previous titles, but it feels good-natured in a way BT,DT didn't. And there are, here and there, little bits of meat on its bones - the characters wondering if, as a couple thirtysomething white guys, the world hasn't left them behind, no longer comfortable with the juvenile humor of their youth but not really understanding the youth of today, but having not yet fully escaped the mentalities they used to hold. (There's an unspoken humor to Dan's idea of "modern" gameplay being 2D platforming mechanics, especially at a time when adventure games are significantly more popular than on his last outing; this is a good joke whether or not it's intentional.)

Also: this game contains the most poignant urinating-on-a-grave puzzle in gaming history, and you may quote me on that.

Having finished it months ago, I can't even remember what all the gags were that tickled me at the time. Comedy fades from memory faster than drama or frustration. Mostly I just remember having a good time.

Thoughts on The Darkside Detective

Here's a hook: sometime after the mayhem ends in Ghostbusters, The Exorcist, Evil Dead 2, or some other paranormal blockbuster that you watched over and over in the 90's until the VHS wore out, some overworked detective has to come into your town and piece together what the hell happened.

This is his story.

It's a good gag, and the devs wring every drop from it. Existing in a world where these things are commonplace and you have to fit them into some notion of "police procedure" is just funny. Like, it's one thing to have a running gag where you keep observing the moon in outdoor scenes, commenting, with increasing hostility, that its behavior is suspicious (it has been present at multiple crime scenes); it's a slightly different thing when, given the things you've encountered, the moon being the Big Bad is actually somewhat possible.

The game is divided into six main cases and three bonus DLC missions (which come included in the base game now, and the third of which is the proper ending/setup for the sequel). You are the cop tasked to deal with The Other Side - and, when The Other Side bleeds into our own world, its cops have to deal with you. You have a sidekick with a mental maturity of about 6, which I guess makes you the straight man. (You have to grade on a curve to find a straight man in this game.) And you solve tasks like rounding up escaped gremlins or finding an AWOL lake monster all juxtaposed with mundane problems like inter-office squabbles and having not bought your Christmas presents early enough. It's (pleasantly) lo-res and sparsely isolated, so the dialogue and premise do most of the work, but they are ably up to the task.

The gameplay... not so much. I'm an adventure game lifer, so I can put up with a lot of nonsense. It's mostly straightforward inventory puzzles and occasional minigames. Most of the puzzles are fine enough. As the cases progress, things get more involved, and the DLCs especially involve some awful moon logic. And the minigames are not above using that same jumping peg puzzle you've solved in a dozen other games already. So gameplay ranges from serviceable to irritating, but it mostly exists to string together funny lines and silly images. (Christmas mall elves being secretly in service to Krampus - that's the kind of thing we're talking about here.) You won't feel much guilt for opening up a walkthrough; the puzzles aren't why you're here.

The sequel has just been released, and both games are cheap, so check them out if you feel like smiling.

Thoughts on The Procession to Calvary

It's rare for a game to be hilarious to look at.

The Procession to Calvary takes its name from the Bruegel painting. It also takes all it's graphics from Renaissance oil paintings, and the designer delights in making famously rendered heroes and religious icons steal, stab, fart, and swear.

A strong Terry-Gilliam-with-After-Effects vibe is what we're describing.

You play as a lady knight from a war that's just ended, which sucks for you because, in this age of peace, you're no longer authorized to kill. And killing's, like, you're whole thing. But the one person your new, pacifist king wouldn't stop you from killing is the warlord you just deposed, who fled to the South. So you embark on a nonsensical journey to seek out the one human on Earth you are authorized to kill, because killing is just The. Best. Ever.

Of the three games we're discussing, this is the most overtly cheeky, and, at times, the most scatological. I could've done with a bit less scatology, if I'm being honest, but the cheekiness is very winning. As with Lair of the Clockwork God, a lot of jokes could go either way - a field of people being tortured and a woman on a blanket selling commemorative torture merch could be painfully try-hard. But something about the victims being seemingly everyone ever crucified or broken on the wheel in a famous painting, and having them writhe on their crosses in a way that is both gruesome and goofy, and having a cacophonous soundtrack of their screams and moans that you will now imagine every time you look at one of those elegantly elegiac paintings from now on... it works. That the music score is being played by an extremely jaunty piper who dances behind you just out of sword's reach as you traverse the field pushes it over the top.

Oh, and the puzzles, while never hair-pullingly obtuse, will leave you stumped at times. Push past that to get the proper ending, but, if you're sick of trying, you can, at any point, just start stabbing your way through problems. Which, again: it takes a very deft touch to make "protagonist resorts to violence" actually funny rather than lazy and obvious. And maybe, in another game, the perfect timing of every animation, the clever quips, the careful contrast of cathedrals and high-society music halls with gleeful sword-swinging wouldn't be enough. But something about it being frickin' Renaissance paintings carries it the last mile.

This is probably the basest game of the three, but it's also the one that made me giggle the most. Having a BFA that required several art history classes may have something to do with it. But check this thing out.

[brakingpoint]

tagged by @allgaslynobrakes to do this lil tag game! (actually it's a big tag game so i'm putting it under a cut)

1. Why did you choose your url? wanted to start an f1 blog, was absolutely spiralling over drive to survive season 2 episode 10 aka the 35 minutes of television that cured all my mental illnesses. gaslypodium felt like a fitting encapsulation of my brand

2. Any side blogs? this is a sideblog! my main is @lonelyroommp3 and i also have a woefully undercurated ~aesthetic~ blog (there is no coherent aesthetic to it it's just nice pictures) @messiaens

3. How long have you been on tumblr? i've been on this blog since january but my main dates from november 2012 and prior to that i lurked a lot starting in like, 2011 when all my irls got into tumblr but i thought my parents wouldn't let me make an account lol. basically i have long term tumblr poisoning

4. Do you have a queue tag? nope i think i've only even used the queue function once... u get my posts when they hit my silly little brain my beloveds<3

5. Why did you start your blog on the first place? main blog was because i wanted to make friends with my favourite les mis blogs that i'd been sending anons to for several months ahahahaha... i made this blog because i was getting super into f1 but i knew that i was gonna be liveblogging a ton so doing it all on main would be absolutely infuriating to people on main who followed me for like, musical theatre or whatever so i thought i should bite the bullet and actually make a sideblog. this is the first time i've actually had a fandom specific sideblog btw!! normally i am just a multifandom mess

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp? pierre looks pretty in it <3

7. Why did you choose your header ? i didn't have a good header for AGES and then dts season 3 dropped and that shot of pierre with the confetti on the monza podium just HIT me and i was like ah... i can make a blog theme out of this

8. What’s your post with the most notes ? i have no clue on this blog but on main i have a couple of 100k+ note posts knocking about. i think THE most popular was a post i made in like 2013 about people changing the pronouns on song covers i think that one made it to like 300k for some reason

9. How many mutuals do you have ? no idea! tbh i don't put a huge amount of stock in mutual follows anyway esp because i am very very bad at remembering to check my follower list and follow people back. so if i've never followed you back it's nothing personal and we can still be besties!!

10. How many followers do you have ? about 280 on here, just over 4000 on main 🥴

11. How many people do you follow ? about 650ish? a lot of them are inactive blogs from 2013 though lol

12. Have you ever made a shit post? everything i make is a shitpost don't worry

13. How often do you use tumblr a day? too much omg. i basically quit using every other social media (i lurk on insta but never post anymore) late last year so this is Thee hub for all my horrible little thoughts and posts

14. Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog? not on this blog bc honestly i try to keep my f1 posting relatively drama free but omg i have had some legendary beefs on main

15. How do you feel about the “you need to reblog” posts ? used to be really anxious about the bad luck type ones but now i'm getting a lot better at ignoring them guilt free. if it's one of those "i see you scrolling past this >:( your stance on social issues is solely determined by whether or not you reblog MY post >:(" type deals then honey i am already 5 miles down my dash away from it<3

16. Do you like tag games ? i love them!! i'm always really bad at tagging people though because i'm always like omg nooo we're not besties enough to tag yet they're gonna think i'm weeeeeird

17. Do you like ask games ? in theory but i always forget to keep answering them halfway through esp if they're ones where my reply takes any kind of effort sorry :((

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is mutual famous? i have no idea what this means i think i am out of touch with the youth

19. Do you have a mutual crush? does it count if im mutuals with my girlfriend

20. Tags ? no pressure tags & sorry if you've already done it!! @schwarzevulkan @limp-wrist-max @maxricciardo