#narrative as the books. this is the big difference between the show and the musical i think

[chironshorseass]

i will forever stand by the lightning thief musical being the best pjo adaptation by a loooong shot. i’ve seen more than a few people critiquing the show for making these kids be way too serious for what they are—kids—and i’m just thinking abt how well the tlt musical writers understood the assignment!!! (and also the actors!) they’re adults playing 12 year-olds and u really forget that while watching the musical, by how well it’s written and interpreted by the actors. also the way the writers Understood the characters and their dynamics to a T…man, i still think about the good kid reprise when luke paralleled percy 😭😭😭😭 and how annabeth’s cleverness is never doubted and displayed, yet she’s also a silly girl! same with grover and percy! for example percy’s anger showing up in so many parts of the musical yet he’s always trying his best (which is why the good kid reprise works so well!) and then grover having his tree on the hill moment😭😭

back to annabeth: it really irks me how so many people fail to understand her? even her creator ???!!! truly outstanding how in the movie she’s watered down to just being the love interest who says she’s smart and the daughter of wisdom and blah blah blah yet does little to make the audience believe that, and then in the show she’s too smart, almost too perfect in everything she does. (none of the scenes have yet to show her making mistakes, like in the book). i love love love tlt musical annabeth bc she’s a girl looking for others to notice her! she wants to be seen! she wants to make her mark! she says she always has a plan yet sometimes she doesn’t! she’s still 12! she’s petty and makes mistakes and hasn’t seen the world! just goes to show which one is the superior adaptation.

anyway, tlt musical stans RISE!!!!

[bloomzone]

2025: #2 u are the main character of ur life

✒️.U.NEED.TO.GET.CRAZY.ABOUT.UR. LIFE .THIS is ur life. your story, your movie and You’re the main character of it . But here’s the problem—you’re sitting there, acting like you’re just an extra. Let me ask you something: when are you going to wake up? When are you going to stop living like someone else is writing your script? Because newsflash—nobody else cares as much about your story as YOU should.

N1 You’re Not Here to Be Average

Do you feel it? That spark inside you? The one that says you’re made for something bigger? Stop shoving it down. Stop telling yourself, 'I’m not special,' or, 'I’ll never be that person.' Because let me tell you something—you already ARE that person. The only difference between you and the version of you that you dream about? Action. Average is safe, but it’s boring. U NEED TO KNOW Being 'okay' is easy, but it’s unfulfilling. You weren’t put on this planet to blend in. You were born to stand out, to do something, to leave a mark. But first, you have to believe that. You have to take risks. You have to dare to be seen, to be heard, to be ALIVE.

N2 Get Obsessed with Yourself

This is the part where people get uncomfortable, but IDGASS . You need to fall in love with YOU. Not in a shallow, fake, selfie-obsessed way—but deeply, madly, passionately in love with the person you are becoming.Spend time with yourself. Take yourself out on dates. Sit in silence and listen to your thoughts. Who are you, really? What do you want? Not what society wants, not what your parents want, not what your friends think is cool—what do YOU want?Get crazy about discovering your passions. Throw yourself into books, art, music, whatever lights you up inside. Because the more you pour into yourself, the more unstoppable you become. You’re not just living life; you’re creating it. So why not make it something spectacular?

N3 Stop Waiting for Permission

Why are you waiting? Waiting for someone to tell you you’re good enough? Waiting for the 'right time'? BRO WTF Let me tell you something nobody is coming to give you permission. Nobody is going to hand you your dream life wrapped up in a bow. You have to go out there and TAKE IT.Stop looking for signs. Stop waiting for everything to feel perfect. It’s messy, it’s chaotic, and sometimes it’s downright terrifying—but that’s the beauty of it. The magic happens when you stop overthinking and just DO. Take the leap, even if you don’t feel ready. Life isn’t about being ready—it’s about showing up, again and again, until you create the life you can’t stop dreaming about AND THIS IS DISCIPLINE

N4 Reclaim Your Power

Let’s get one thing straight: you are powerful. Not in a vague, 'manifestation vibes' kind of way, but in a real, tangible way. Every decision you make is a choice. Every habit you keep is a vote for the kind of person you want to be.But here’s the catch—every time you let someone else control your narrative, you give away a piece of that power. Every time you shrink yourself to fit someone else’s expectations, you lose a little more. Stop giving it away. Own your voice. Own your choices. Own your life.You are the architect of your story. So start building something worth remembering. And if people don’t like it? If they don’t 'get' you? Let them go. Your life is not a democracy it’s YOUR kingdom. Rule it unapologetically.

N5 Romanticize the Hell Out of Everything

Here’s the secret nobody tells you: life is as magical as you decide to make it. Stop waiting for the big moments—graduation, the 'dream job'...—to feel alive. Start finding beauty in the small, ordinary, quiet things.Make your morning coffee an event. Cook ur dinner by urself. Write love letters to urself. Turn sunsets into poetry. Life is happening right now, and if you keep rushing to the 'next thing,' you’re going to miss it.Romanticizing your life isn’t about pretending everything is perfect. It’s about choosing to see the magic, even in the mess. Because when you do that, life stops feeling like something you’re just surviving—and starts feeling like something worth celebrating.

This is Your one life. Your one shot. So stop living like you have forever. Stop waiting, stop hiding, stop playing small. You are the main character of this story, and it’s time to act like it. Get crazy about your life. Get obsessed. Because when you do, everything changes.Now go out there and make something beautiful I'm proud of u 143

@bloomzone 📇

[secretmellowblog]

I hope tumblr doesn’t die because No other social media site is as good for long, thoughtful, nuanced analyses of media. Yeah tumblr is also full of dumb shallow hot takes and shitposts, but you can make dumb shallow hot takes and shitposts anywhere —-there are no other popular social media sites that let you easily format and share long essays on the media you enjoy, and then have conversations around those long essays.

Fandom on all the other big social websites just seems so utterly …shallow. And it’s not because people on other websites aren’t thoughtful or don’t have deep things to say, but because these sites’ formats do not allow for any kind of long nuanced conversations.

Tiktok? Things have to be crammed into a super short video with an attention grabbing headline, and you can’t hyperlink sources. Instagram? Everything has to be in an image format with strict limits on length, and nothing will be shown to your followers anyway because of how Instagram’s algorithm works, and also no hyperlinks. Twitter? Strict character limits, and if you split it into threads it means someone can retweet a part of your essay completely out of context, and also very little freedom with formatting.

It frustrates me so much. If I go into the Tumblr Les Mis fandom I’ll find really compelling long essays on the original novel (including essays being written for the ongoing book club) on the story’s historical context, or the parallels between different characters and their narrative foils, or the way the politics were defanged for certain adaptations, or the way Victor Hugo’s personal life and failings affected the novel. But on tiktok I’ll get the same five shallow stale jokes from 2013 over and over, or maybe the same “DID U KNO THAT IN THE MUSICAL JAVERT AND VALJEAN SING THE SAME LEITMOTIF” style of basic Intro To Les Mis 101 For Babies media analysis (which is what Tiktok considers deep media analysis), or stale “LOL JAVERT ACTS GAY” style jokes as if we’re living in the early 2000s and calling a character gay is still a funny punchline. And it’s impossible to have any kind of deeper thoughtful discussions than “DID U KNOW <x Kool Fact>” or “lol <shallow observational joke>” on tiktok because the platform just isn’t built for building niche communities around in depth conversations. it’s built to churn out bland generic content for as wide an audience as possible, which means pointing out a small detail like an Easter egg and calling it “cool” is deep media analysis, because you cant have longer more in depth conversations without alienating people. And I hate it. Bc like, it’s not because there aren’t smart clever thoughtful people on Tiktok— there are—it’s because Tiktok isn’t built for these conversations, and anyone who wants to have them has to really fight against the things the website encourages or prioritizes!

Or like, if I go into the LOTR fandom on Tumblr, I’ll find tons of extremely long analysis and fanfic, and analysis of queer readings of the story. On Instagram people will still shriek in terror if you suggest the characters are gay, and most of the popular lotr posts are stale memes recycled from like 2007. There’s really no room for thoughtful media analysis, and even if you did create it, instagram’s algorithm would make sure no one saw your post anyway.

And everyone’s going to say “the algorithm shows you what you’ve seen before so maybe it’s your fault ~” or whatever but i do look for things I want! I do! “The algorithm” doesn’t know me or what I want or value or care about beyond this meaningless surface level.

The only thing that was worthwhile about these sites was the great visual art people were creating, but now the websites are overwhelmed with meaningless soulless machine-generated AI glurge, and it sucks. It just really, really sucks.

I’m honestly confused about why people don’t use tumblr….There’s no character limits! You have freedom with post formatting, and can insert images throughout textposts to illustrate specific points you’re making beneath the paragraphs where they’re necessary! You can add hyperlinks, linking to your sources! People can reblog your entire essay and share it, and then add on with commentary that then becomes part of a larger conversation! People can find your stuff through the tagging system! Reblogging means posts stay in circulation for years instead of being dead 30 minutes after they’re uploaded! If you want to have genuinely interesting text conversations about a piece of media, there really isn’t a better social media website for it anywhere.

To be clear, I’m definitely not saying Tumblr media analysis is *always* clever and thoughtful or etc etc. there are shitposts and nonsense here too (plenty of which I’ve created lol.) I’m saying that Tumblr gives people the tools for in-depth insightful analysis to happen. Whether people choose to do it or not is their own decision XD. But the reason lengthy in-depth conversations and book clubs are even possible here is because Tumblr is built for allowing these conversations to happen, in a way other sites simply aren’t.

It’d really suck if it died, because it’d be a huge blow to…being able to easily find long insightful in-depth media analysis written by fans. I currently don’t think there’s anything that could replace it.

[wonryllis]

please give writing tips too

sure love! everyone’s different so in no way would the same things work for all but these are some tips that have helped me improve and just you know expand my horizons.

feel free to add your own points to this to help people more!!

001. READ READ AND READ (I CAN’T STRESS ENOUGH ON THIS BUT THIS IS THE MAIN KEY). be it fics, or novels or normal story books even non-fiction. reading will help in expanding your vocabulary and grammar, and give you an idea on how to build words in different kinds of scenarios. how to set the mood and what kind of details will have the most impact.

002. for expanding your vocabulary i would suggest searching up words you come across and don’t know the meaning of. don’t skip them, search them up and try understanding what they mean and look through what other words have similar meanings(synonyms)

003. CONSTANTLY PRACTICE WRITING. even if you’re not going to post it anywhere, just try writing a little bit on different themes. in that way you will be able to find out more about your writing style and flair as well as what points you need to work on.

004. STOP HESITATING TO REWRITE. there’s hardly anything one gets right at the first shot. and the same goes for writing. rewriting pieces will help you figure out what you should’ve added that you didn’t the first time and how changing the order of words or adding new literary devices(metaphors, similes, anecdotes etc) can make more of an impact.

005. DON’T BE AFRAID TO EXPLORE DIFFERENT GENRES. just 100 words can also help with experience. search up different genres that interest you and try coming up with a short scenario if you can.

13 points more under the cut!

006. TRIAL AND ERROR. don’t be let down if you fail to write a specific type of au, theme or trope. it takes certain amount of time and experience to be able to write different genres or anything as such. you need to have exposure to that topic to be able to create imagination on it.

007. with that being said, when you pick up a certain trope, au, theme or any topic you want/plan to write on: DO PROPER AND A LOT OF RESEARCH. trust me, it helps a lot.

008. as well in relation to the point above when writing a story, make sure to plan a rough outline. what kind of characters you’re going for, what events are going to define your story, how do you want the ending and the beginning to be. what your protagonist(s) is going for, what all they would be facing throughout and such.

009. SET A MORAL/POINT OF VIEW YOU WANT TO CONVEY through your writing. it helps you have a basis, a particular aim and drive behind what you wish to leave an impression through. it could be anything complex like dark themes of toxicity or even anything as simple as comfort. you just need to know what you’re writing for.

010. for inspiration i would suggest, LISTENING TO SONGS. any song you’re listening to, try thinking of a story behind it. for example let’s take taylor swift’s “no body no crime” go through the lyrics, the vibe and think what type of story could have this as background music. or what kind of a story could have that type of no body no crime summary?

011. KNOW WHEN TO SHOW THINGS RATHER THAT TELLING THEM. too much of anything is never good. when writing, it’s important to keep the balance between descriptions, narratives and dialogues. try thinking what are the things that would be better when described, for example the relationship between your characters: it’s something which is better shown than told. like how they treat each other, how they see each other, their dynamics in general is not something that can be told through a big lengthy dialogue or JUST one paragraph(short drabbles being an exception)

012. an additional point to the one above would be, try keeping yourself in the reader’s position and see what pulls you in more. what makes you feel the emotions better.

013. PICTURE THE SETTING YOU WANT TO WRITE ON. close your eyes and think of any type of place that you would like to write the story in. a suburb? or an abandoned city for an apocalypse? this will help in brainstorming for ideas.

014. INTO THE CHARACTER’S MIND. this is a very important point. explore the world within the mind of the character, something that defines them. THIS IS ANOTHER BIG KEY TO IMPROVE, pull your readers into the character(s)’ mind, show them the fears, the memories, the feelings, the thoughts, the hopes and dreams. it helps them understand the character and get into the story.

015. when using dialogues keep in mind that the DIALOGUES SHOULD ALWAYS BE MEANINGFUL AND REALISTIC. unnecessary talks aren’t often attractive so write what is necessary, needed. even with humor, excessive fun is not always impressive. and short but impactful dialogues always literally always leave the best impression.

016. CHALLENGE YOURSELF. try starting off strong since the very beginning. strong meaning starting off with words that leave a lasting impression. or words that pull you in with intrigue.

017. LEARN TO PACE YOURSELF. first of all it’s okay to take a break. actually its very important. pushing yourself beyond limits would never give positive results. know when you need to stop, cause being tired is not going to give better ideas or better word building. let yourself go into writer’s block, don’t fight it. you’ll come back better than when you’re forcing yourself to stay put and continue.

018. and last but not least. KNOW THAT IMPROVEMENT TAKES TIME. don’t be disappointed or discouraged if you are not good today. not being good today doesn’t mean you won’t ever be good. keep trying and with little to little progress over time, you will see yourself getting there. don’t lose hope🤗! YOU CAN DO IT!!!

[droughtofapathy]

"Welcome to the Theatre": Diary of a Broadway Baby

Redwood

February 26, 2025 | Broadway | Nederlander Theatre | Evening | Musical | Original | 1H 50M

If I had a nickel for every time a former Elphaba starred as a queer woman with a Black female love interest and screlted her way through a musically-homogenous and uninspired score, and deeply baffling book, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but I've had to suffer through it TWO SEASONS IN A ROW.

We are just never going to have a rousing musical theatre score that serves the narrative and actually has any sort of dramatic buildup again, and I have to accept that. Instead, we get the gift of having musical theatre novices from the world of pop come in to stuff a one-act play with as many belty, aurally identical, lyrically turgid songs as humanly possible. Are you not thrilled for the future of musical theatre? If it's not jukebox, it's this. Those are the options.

And she didn't even kiss her wife, so what the fuck was the whole damn point of all of this? They really put me through two hours of misery and boredom and didn't even do me the curtesy of letting me see Idina Menzel kiss a woman? Fuck this.

I'm putting the bulk of this review under the cut because it's getting about as long and miserable as the show itself.

Verdict: Someone Put This Dumpster Fire Out

A Note on Ratings

In this sub-two-hour show, Idina Menzel is a woman going through unimaginable grief, and rather than face the devastating loss of her son in any sort of healthy way like her wife wants, she's mean, flighty, and mentally unwell. Abandoning her saint of a wife to drive cross-country, she wanders into a big forest, harasses some conservationists (?), and bullies them into letting her embark on several incredibly dangerous, unsanctioned, and ill-advised climbs up a California redwood. She even gets them to let her sleep on a platform suspended hundreds of feet in the air all by herself overnight for like a week. And sure, suspension of disbelief. But none of that makes any sense. Why is this old man letting a strange woman he's never met who is clearly (as the other scientist points out) unstable do these things? He is liable for her, and is opening himself up to wrongful death, lawsuits, losing his permits and livelihood, etc. But fuck it, sure, let's ignore all that and just go with it.

What do we have left? Well, there are seventeen songs packed into this 110 minutes, plus two instrumentals. We start off belting to the rafters and we stay there. Each of Jesse's songs is essentially the same, rarely propelling any plot. Instead, these bland and kitschy power ballads grind what little action there is to a halt. Lumbering and pedestrian (there's a difference between a clever slant rhyme and just plain sloppiness, but no one's told that to the lyricists), the music makes this show drag on eternity, growing and changing as slowly as the hollow redwood bark that rotates around the middle of the stage. If they wanted to make a concept album, sure, fine, you've got lots of fifteen-second soundbytes to play over your reels or whatever. But this is no way to structure a musical. If there is no emotional ebb and flow and movement, what is left? A collection of wannabe eleven o'clock numbers that never get past six? The opening number's lyrics are often muddled and muted with all the synthy orchestrations, but it's almost a blessing.

The book is similarly a cliche-riddled mess of stock characters and plot. What should be a profound exploration of grief instead turns shallow and tiresome. Ever wonder what Next to Normal dead son would be like if you sucked out all the fun, nuance, and bite from his narrative-haunting? The wife, saddled with the thankless task of only existing to give Idina a chance to breathe and step out of the spotlight for a few minutes here and there, has some of the worst music that she does her best to make work. At least Khaila Wilcoxon's voice is a gorgeous reprieve, even if the lyrics do her no favors. Her character is here to be the socially-conscious Black-Jewish environmentalist who regularly protests (but never actually stops) Idina's whole...thing... And she gets to say the line "I thought you were a Disney princess," [hold for applause] The awkward silence that followed spurred some polite applause and laughter, but yikes...

The video design does most of the heavy lifting to keep this seed from burning up into ash. Even that is more akin to a VR experience in a digitally recreated forest, rather than something real. If you're prone to vertigo, skip this one. The tree itself is fine. Sitting on the more extreme sides will take away most of its splendor because it's only a partial trunk. Much like the circus musical from last season, the aerial stunts work overtime to distract the audience from the rest of the show's shortcomings.

As shallow as a redwood's roots, this show somehow fell short of even my low expectations. I thought surely it would just be a middling night of theatre, neither revelatory nor horrific. I am neither enchanted with, nor have a personal vendetta against Idina Menzel. As far as her performance, it was decent. Unlike other Elphabas I could name, she was in good vocal form for this show. But "watch Idina climb a tree and sing the same song for two hours" does not a good show make.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

...This post really is the definition off, “Writing your version of events and expecting everyone to believe them.”...which given how dedicated parts of Lily’s fanbase can be, will happen, but just...let’s see:

The whole thing with Rebecca Sugar is not only because of how Lily acted when being critical of the show, but also cause of how even in 2023, Lily still has an ongoing hatred for Rebecca simply cause Lily didn’t like Rebecca’s show and instead of moving on, similar to how she treats Dana Terrace (creator of The Owl House), Lily still drags Rebecca whenever she can, including insulting Rebecca’s talents in music and writing and art and it’s at that point that you start to wonder if its less ‘Rebecca made a show Lily didn’t like’ and more ‘does Lily just have a obsessive hatred for Rebecca?’ And the thing with Big Bang Theory and Harley Quinn was literally people seeing how convenient Lily will call out stuff in Steven Universe but if its shows Lily happens to like? Oh look at that, suddenly its being ignored, as Lily won’t ever dare call out stuff she likes. 

And Lily acting like she has to talk about anime is just...no one’s making her. She’s choosing to talk about it. To the point of starting a whole dubs vs subs discourse where its clear Lily prefers dubs and thinks its okay to censor Japanese culture and even acted like there wasn’t much difference between Japan and America, even implying in her version of history that Japan got destroyed by America and basically colonized their culture and from how Lily spoke, she seemed happy about that idea and seemed to imply you can easily replace Japanese with English and....oh, would you look at that- suddenly it becomes less about ‘oh you just hate I said your favorite anime is bad’ and more people literally have found her being racist towards Japanese people and she wants to try and make it about anime.  Something that adds to her racism when she can only ever discuss Anime when it comes to Japan and yet, thinks its more popular in America then its own home country. 

And oh god, the racism against black people accusations is far more then what Lily’s trying to paint them as: *She only ever writes black women ocs as nothing but violent and easy to anger, including Aliana whose easy to get pissed and will murder on a whim and throw someone across a room and also proceed to colonize planets and force them to follow Sith culture, while her Harry Potter OC basically used a torture spell on Vernon and it was made to seem cool when anyone whose read Harry Potter, knows who are shown using those spells in the books (hint: not the good guys).  *She also wrote Aliana’s mom as being a slave trafficker and Aliana as a result, being fine with that and even getting mad if someone insults her mom for that.  *When it comes to The Owl House, she has basically fetished the idea of Hunter being black (saying it’d make him interesting) and for some reason, wanted the backgrounder character, Skara, to be more focused on instead of characters like Hunter and Amity, and there’s also how she treats Luz as soon as Luz stopped being the character Lily expected her to be.  And there is likely stuff I’m missing from this, but its less ‘oh i mixed words up’ and actually just again, Lily burying stuff. 

And there’s a-lot of shit to unpack with her clearly proceed to slander someone throughout the rest of the post to try and make them the villain of her narrative, but the whole ‘Lily sends herself asks’ and ‘Lily lied about having cancer’ is literally because: *When one of the NSFW Art website accounts was exposed to be Lily’s, Lily suddenly and conveniently got an ask warning her that ‘someone is pretending to be her on the website’...when not much on that situation had even come out at the time, so basically Lily played herself there, and then there’s asks that Lily gets that basically looks to be Lily’s writing style that also allows Lily to rant or slander or deny anything/anyone she wants to at the time.  *The cancer thing is still on-going but Lily has slipped up constantly in her cancer lying and keeps adding to the lying, all because now her sister has called her (and the twos brother) out for pretty serious allegations including molestation. *And it should be noted that Lily also proceeded to slander her sister in response, trying to paint her sister as this mastermind villain. 

And her calling someone terfy is also ironic, given Lily has gotten into hot water for lore in her Star Wars OC fic where...her OC basically said that only women can become siths, and if they happen to come out as trans male or non-binary while a sith, its okay because...they still considered sith women to their fellow sith.

Yeah uh, suddenly not so much of a hate wagon/wanting to tear Lily down as Lily claims it is, huh? 

[aribaran]

10 & 19 !

10. write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone? i'm always writing with noise, but it's music. i have some pretty intense playlists for my work, haha. i prefer to write alone whenever possible.

19. when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, etc.?

so i use scrivener for my project planning and it has a great feature where you can put all of your meta work into folders but it won't be included in the compiles. i usually do character profiles there if i need to, for the hockey books i have full rosters for every team, spreadsheets with all of the team names, etc.

for the rest of it, it's long, so.

it does depend on the book. i structure and write a fantasy novel a little differently from my romance novels (they are m/m hockey books. i know this comes as a huge surprise lol). i always use scrivener for my outlining and drafts, but you don’t have to buy a fancy program, you can do the same thing in open office or google docs.

no matter what the book is, i start with my characters. who are they as people? where are they from? what is their ethnicity and what are their families like? what do they like? how do they interact with others? sometimes guys just show up in my head fully formed and in those cases, it’s a lot easier to write their stories because they’re just…there. like real people. but the central question of every book is: what do these people want and why can’t they have it? sometimes those questions are internal (is this guy incredibly insecure and doesn’t truly believe that his best friend is in love with him even though all of the evidence is right there in front of his face?) and sometimes it is external (these guys are trying to kill each other, but they don’t realize the game is rigged against BOTH of them).

but start with that question and i think then it’s a lot easier to come up with the rest of the story.

after that, i pick a starting point and i usually pick an ending point. i almost always write my last scene first, or at least write some notes. i just like to know where i’m going so i can pace how i’m getting there.

how i ACTUALLY outline is where it really starts to split up based on book. for my hockey novels, it makes sense for me to outline and structure them in an actual timeline, since the plot is based around the season.

each folder is a season, split up into months, split up into scenes. i find it helpful to label whose POV is in which one so i know at a glance if things aren’t well-balanced. and then i just keep doing that until the book ends, which is usually between april and july, depending on if they make the playoffs.

what you end up filling it in with is varied. i usually like to figure out the conflict or breaking point, and where that goes in the general timeline. in my first book it’s an enemies to lovers so the conflict is front-loaded at the beginning, but something external happens to them towards the end that they have to overcome. so in that book, all of the scenes are building from them learning to get along, and falling in love, and then eventually overcoming this obstacle (this is really simplified discussion of this plot lol). in my second book, they’re best friends starting out, so it’s building up to them hooking up, then the process of them really falling in love, and then the misunderstanding/breakup and eventually the reunion and the [redacted really happy thing]. during this time there are obviously subplots, but i find it’s easier to string the subplots along when you have an idea of when the main big plot beats have to happen.

as i am filling in individual scenes, i like to jot a little note about what is going on in the scene in the header. so whether it’s brojobs or a hockey game in a particular city, i have that all in the little title. scrivener has a notes section for each “scene” where i can put any other details i want about the scene in there, and sometimes i will use that to a) put down what i want this scene to accomplish in the larger book, b) any dialogue or things i want to make sure i remember to include in the scene because a lot of the time, i get great ideas right when i’m falling asleep, or in the shower, or somewhere convenient and then i don’t remember if i don’t write them down. but you can also write this down in a separate document.

as for figuring out subplots, i come up with them based on what makes sense for the characters, whether that’s depression/addiction, helping out a rookie, or whatever.

for fantasy novels, the process is less rigid. i usually have to do some worldbuilding first, so that’s a separate document where i just jot down all of my thoughts about the world and how it’s constructed and why it works the way it does. sometimes i will write little “in world” texts to give myself a flavor of how people read or what their culture is like.

again, i come up with the beginning and end up split the book up into sections based on the main plot. so for example in one of my WIPs (and this is a VERY pared down version of what actually happens in this book haha), the first part is the road adventure where one of them is trying to take the other one back to [redacted] and the second guy is trying to escape or kill him, then they accidentally get soulbonded and the section is them learning to work together and trust, and then the third section is the betrayal and eventual rescue. then i fill in the scenes from there. i’ll be honest, some of it is based on vibes–what do i want to write? sometimes i get whole subplots purely because i think they sound like a blast to write (and that’s a bit thing about plotting for me–if it’s not fun and i’m not excited to write it…no one’s going to be excited to read it, either, so some big advice is if you’re really forcing something, it might be worth trying something else).

a lot of my plots come from knowing the characters really well. what situations would make them uncomfortable and react in certain ways? what situations would test or challenge their beliefs, either about the world or about themselves? what character can they fall in love with that would offer interesting conflicts?

so that’s basically my plotting and outlining process.

[pretentious-art-love]

Book Journal and Schedule Update - 30 of April of 2025

This month marks another rather queer change, and that is the inclusion of Poetry under Nonfiction.

Nonfiction was also changed to "Canons" and other weird stuff, but please, allow me to explain.

First, I am still getting overcharged with all the media I want to consume. My brain gets tired and lazy and then I turn stupid. I had, several times, occasions where I would say hey where is my bus debit card? I lost my bus debit card, I better block it on the app! And then, guess what, up to 20 minutes later, or even more if it was something I wasnt so worried about like coins, I would find it on my pocket, on my fricking fucking pocket. Why I did not find it there? I touched my pocket and I just didn't notice, I turn stupid and it becomes incredibly worrying, so that is why I need to find a balance, some balance! If I am listening to albums on a month, I don't want to feed my brain with books, if I am doing books, I don't want to listen new albums, I also have anime, which, mind you, I'm watching only one anime at the time, but it still makes my brain say ahhh I can't keep going anymore I'm turning stupid!

So yes... the next step here was to turn the reading three books at the time model to two books at the time model, and reduce brain load. For that, I decided to put Poetry, not in its single category, but under the two categories. I could have put it on Fiction, since you know, its a literary genre, although you can give enough arguments to say it is neither Fiction or Non Fiction, but its own thing, but whatever here I am trying to organize things so I can read them without too much Option Paralysis.

I decided to put it under Non Fiction because the Fiction category has many many books already, and adding yet a new list of books to cycle between those, so under Non Fiction it is.

But of course Poetry is not quite Non Fiction, so I had to come up with a new bullshit way to rename the category so it makes sense on my head, and that category is now called... Canons.

Canons! Nonfiction and Works That Assert Significance! That... sorta covers Non Fiction and Poetry all in one. Yeah sure it is not the most exact category ever, but PLEASE just let me have this or I will end with more categories, option paralysis, brain slow downs, I need this, please.

So I guess now books are categorized in a way that depends in how they are presented... although I don't know if you can notice, do you see how Only Revolutions, a book that was previously tagged as Metafiction under Fiction Prose is now under Poetry? That's because it is fucking Poetry! The whole it is a novel thing is absolute, complete marketing, hell, it is even more of a poetry book than Maldoror and that book had at least the respect of saying it is in fact a poetry book. I don't want to read it right now because I still feel tricked and mad about it, I will read it, when I want to read poetry, I was expecting fiction prose and it is not that, so even if I keep reading it now I will be mad. Seriously...

But anyway, I guess this update sorta makes sense, if a work says it has a big truth or that says it is important the way a poetry book does or an occult or religion book does, OR... if it is actually fricking poetry even if the marketing says it isn't, it goes under Canons, if not, if it shows itself as a piece of not-real narrative work, it goes under Fictions. That's how it works, that's how it is going to be from now on.

Although I haven't mentioned that since I have been reading only The Third Policeman this week without switching back to my non fiction read, Judges, and I might end up just switch to a one book at the time format for next month.

Sigh... It is so pathetic man, I started making reading progress on a different book every day of the week, then I went to 4 books, then I went to 3, then 2, and now... ugh. And I am barely listening to new music, I am listening to like... 1, new album, per week. That is miserable.

I hate the limits of my flesh, I hate the limits of my flesh!

[pollyssecretlibrary]

"A Lady of Conscience", by Mimi Matthews

𝐌𝐢𝐦𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰'𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟓 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡�� "𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬" 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 Release date - July 30th, 2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Somerset Stories” (“The Work of Art”, “Gentleman Jim”, “Return to Satterthwaite Court”, “Appointment in Bath”…) is my favourite of all of Mimi Matthews’ series. Until I was kindly given an ARC by Mimi Matthew's team, Kate’s and Charles’ story was the one that had the biggest piece of my heart, but now, just as I suspected when I read that book, Hannah and James are my most beloved couple. You see, I love all of them, somehow this is a story of two families that converge in several books because as it happens Charles and Hannah are siblings and the children of the couple from “The Work of Art” and Kate and James are two of the four children of the couple from “Gentleman Jim”. This is why these stories are so beautiful, they are becoming one family originated in two beloved stories. So you could say that “Somerset Stories” is actually one big story.

“A Lady of Conscience” is inspired by Jane Austen. The setting is Bath, where Austen lived for a big part of her life and where she set “Persuasion”. But it has more references to “Pride and Prejudice”, especially one very remembered scene from Austen’s novel. However, it is a homage to Austen that Mimi has written here, not a retelling or a story based on Austen’s works at all. All Janeites reading this book will have a happy place here, undoubtedly. James, 25, is the grandson of the renowned Gentleman Jim, a highwayman and a rogue, and also an heir to an earldom. He is convinced that most of the ton doubt the legitimacy of his claim to the earldom and thus the honor of his family. So, of all of his parents’ children, he’s the most stuffy, cold and controlled. Of course that is not his true personality, only his belief that he must show the world that he and his family are worthy.

Hannah is only 19, she is shy and compassionate. She’s incredibly intelligent and literate and she’s an advocate for the rights of animals, just like her mother. Under her initials, she writes articles educating people to care for their pets, and when any animal is under threat she becomes a strong and vocal woman. Hannah and James have met in the past thanks to Kate and Charles and ever since, James cannot stop thinking of her, although he believes he must marry someone of high standing. When Hannah has her debut in Bath rather than in London, the two families accompany her, and that’s how James finds that he’s undeniably attracted to her. I won’t go into detail with tropes and plot because you deserve to immerser yourself in this sweet story. Hannah and James could not be more different but little by little their love unfolds in such a slow and delicate way that you, like me, will taste every word. Mimi Matthews is the best pattisière of words. Like the recipe of the most elegant and impressive wedding cake, she excels at writing in the most lyrical and romantic ways. I cannot say how many times I sighed, smiled and almost swooned over her turns of phrase, her description of the dresses and the tailoring, the environment and more, her depictions of the characters, their personalities and their feelings are at the same time vivid and soft, like a painting by Fragonard, Watteau or John William Waterhouse. This book or even better said, this series, is not only for romance readers, it is for book lovers, for dreamers, for those who look for an incredibly well written world with the right balance between descriptions, narrative and dialogues and conversations. Speaking of dialogues, in here you will read the most beautiful expressions of love, brood and angst. Lastly, for a more complete experience reading this book, I suggest you open your music streaming app of choice and look up Josef Lanner’s Waltzes. You’re welcome.

[ear-worthy]

All In The Mind Podcast: Does Our Brain Fart?

I have to admit this. I'm crazy for psychology podcasts. Sure, I know that's an oxymoron, but I find any podcast where you can learn more about how the mind works, is fascinating and worthwhile. 

I think one reason I found psychology podcasts so fascinating is that mental illness -- recognition, diagnosis, treatment -- still suffers from a 19th Century mindset and 20th Century treatment options.  

Have you ever had a brain fart? Or, if you prefer, a brain cramp? If so, why does that happen? If any psychology podcast has any chance of answering that age-old question, it's The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) podcast, All In The Mind.

It is one of the best such podcasts I've encountered.

 All In The Mind does possess a wandering eye that focuses on a wide range of topics that loosely fit under the typical "psychology" umbrella.

For example, consider the recent episodes "What influences your inner voice?" Controlling chatter part two continues a fascinating discussion on that voice inside your head - where does it come from? What does it sound like? (Strangely, my inner voice sounds like that of actor James Earl Jones.)

The late February episode about Supercommunicators is like a training camp for becoming better at what most humans lack -- the ability to receive and send messages to other humans. The episode asks: What do working for the CIA, navigating hot-button topics and talking to teenagers all have in common? The answer: They're situations that supercommunicators excel at. In the episode, host Qadar interviews Charles Duhigg, Reporter for New Yorker Magazine and author of the new book, Supercommunicators

 The show's host is Sana Qadar, whose resonant voice is soaked with empathy and a desire to inform in a cadence that sounds like each spoken word is carefully curated before being uttered.

 Qadar is an award-winning podcaster and journalist whose work has featured on the ABC, BBC, SBS, Al Jazeera, and NPR to name a few. Most recently she was acting Deputy Editor, Multicultural at ABC Life, and co-hosts the SBS podcast Eyes on Gilead, which won a 2019 Australian Podcast Award for Best Fancast.

  In an interview I did with Qadar two years ago, she said: "I’ve done radio reporting in the past, but I got my start in podcasting with a show called SBS Eyes on Gilead: A Handmaid’s Tale Podcast. It’s all about, as you might have guessed, The Handmaid’s Tale TV series. That got me interested in exploring other styles of podcasting (EoG is very much a chatty, conversational pod). At a certain point, I pitched a series idea to the ABC, which didn’t get commissioned in the end, but that put me on the radar of some key people. A few years later, they approached me and asked me to pitch for All in the Mind. The rest is history"

 All In The Mind doesn't have a novel structure or memorable narrative flow. But it's so good at delivering fresh insights into each episode topic. In addition, Qadar acts as the narrative glue here, giving voice to well-chosen guests and then summarizing their conclusions. It also helps that the production quality and sound design on the podcast are exemplary. Kudos to the people behind the microphone.

One of the most powerful recent episodes is one titled "Nine big myths about depression — busted." In the show, Qadar interviews Professor Ian Hickie Psychiatrist Co-Director, Health and Policy, Brain and Mind Centre at The University of Sydney. He's also the author of the book The Devil You Knew. 

In the episode, Qadar and Hickey discuss whether depression is REALLY a chemical imbalance in the brain, the difference between being depressed and distressed, and psychedelics as a viable treatment solution. It's a powerful show. Professor Hickey pulls no punches in destroying the pernicious myths that still afflict understanding depression and treating it.

From dolls to personality to music, All In The Mind is a podcast that launches its mind missiles on a wide variety of topics. To this podcast, psychology isn't just an academic study, but a search for truth in all our experiences.

Too often, we read an article or listen to a short podcast about "life hacks," as if success in life can be distilled into "Marie Kondo-like" rules. The ABC All In The Mind podcast is not about giving us the right answer, but helping us to ask the right questions. 

[piratemeansno]

I finished watching The Sandman a few days ago, and - as one does - have been scrolling through the tags and references on twitter and tumblr. A common opinion I've been seeing is that Dream's get up isn't "authentic" because he looks too human-esque / is quite different from the Comics. If I recall correctly, @neil-gaiman mentioned in an interview that they did try the pale skin & black eyes look, but it just didnt work out.

Regardless of whether it could have worked out or not, I'm really happy they stuck with the way Morpheus is shown on screen, and I have a bunch of reasons for that [outlined later]. But before that, I really want to talk about how ridiculous it is to expect a human become an absolute mirror of an illustration without it looking a bit off. Resemblance in terms of looks is important, yes, but only to fulfill the context/ reasons for why the character was drawn in a certain manner - and I think these are fulfilled really well. I want to outline three aspects about Dream that the show explores and how the makeup & eyes align with it. I have read the comics, but am writing this post on the basis of the show in isolation (as much in isolation as is possible)

1) Dream's Nature

We see right from the beginning of episode 1 that Dream is not someone who is particularly loquacious. Now of course it's understandable why one might not want to converse with their captor, but we see this throughout the season - with Death, with Hobbs, even with Matthew. Dream is someone, er, something, that only talks when it's required of him to do so - largely when he has to demand something or express authority. It's precisely because of his reticence that body language becomes the medium through which the audience is able to interpret his behavior and emotions.

In the comics, each reader has their own view of what Dream might look like, and there are the narrative / descriptive speech bubbles to help set the atmosphere & tone of a particular action or exchange of actions between the characters. In the show we only have the lighting, music, and of course, the way Sturridge carries himself. This is where the makeup & hair department shines.

In not giving Sturridge the big poofy hair that seems integral to Dream, it allows the viewers to concentrate on his face without any distractions. This is crucial, because anything the viewer wants to know about Dream has to be ascertained through Sturridge's eyes & facial expressions. In not giving him pitch black eyes, Dream is emotionally an open book - we see him flinch when Jessany dies, his eyes cloud up when he learns about the theft of his tools, and the twinkle of amusement everytime he meets Hob Gadling. So yes, for the audience to get a feel of what lurks behind Dream's seemingly emo boy exterior, it is essential for us to be able to focus on his face. And Sturridge does this portrayal exceptionally well [although that's for a different post]

2) Dream's Relationship to Humanity

I think unarguably, this season is about Dream understanding his position with humans - right from the torture & frustration at being kept in captivity by Roderick Burgess, upto him acknowledging his companionship with Hob Gadling. I'd put forth that this exploration was successful because of how human Dream looks.

Every moment in episode 1 when the camera focuses on him, we're able to sense the pain in his eyes, the intensity of losing Jessany when he flinches, and the anger of being treated so horridly while captive. He is stripped down to a fragile being, and the audience is compelled to view him as a helpless human. With the demonic like appearance as in the comics, it would be difficult for an audience to accept that he was truly captured and couls not escape. Interestingly, one of the few (only?) times across the season when we do see Dream's pitch black eyes is when he blows sand into the security's eyes after stepping out from his prison & when he goes to exact revenge on Alex. It's a reminder that Dream is not human, but more importantly it comes at a point where Dream no longer wills to have a relationship with humanity, his only aim is to destroy those that hurt him.

Dream understanding that his purpose is to serve humanity is a product of him interacting with humans, or being compelled to observe humans (by Death). His appearance (and costume) here becomes integral to how people perceive him as well. Johanna Constantine looks him over when he approaches her, and even goes as far as to ask him who he is. Hob Gadling is curious each century as to Dream's identity. Both these sets of interactions were able to play out because Dream looked human. Both these people played significant roles in reminding him what he should be doing - Johanna when she reminded Dream that humanity was right in front of him, and Hob by just being Hob. Dream having humanlike characteristics makes it convincing & believable to the audience that he wants to serve them because he genuinely cares and understands his purpose - and not just because it was an obligation given to him upon his creation. It also shows his growth from being someone who plotted revenge for a century to someone who wants to help people.

3) Dream is Not Human

One can argue that Dream is not supposed to look human because he isn't - he's a menace, he's terrifying, he's the lord of dreams and nightmares. But the humanlike appearance is exactly what allows the direction to focus on actions and qualities that make him not human.

Gwendoline Christie [for those of you unaware, she plays Lucifer] in an interview with Cinemablend mentioned that the complexities and conflicts of Lucifer portrayed very human qualities of the character. "You believed that was a person, you could see it." The same goes for Dream - the audience, although aware that Dream is a member of the Endless, still sees some human-ness to him, and views him as a person. And it's this human-ness precisely that shows us how much he is not. His moments of tenderness when he gifts Abel the gargoyle egg or helps Shakespeare achieve his dreams of being a playwright contrasted with moments of abject harshness when he unmakes Gault or takes Hector away from Lyta are marks of the power that rests with Dream. Power is such a human thing to want - but to have so much of it is decidedly otherworldly, and wr are constantly reminded of the same. Dream is terrifying because he looks human but has power beyond the scope of human capacity and imagination.

tl,dr; I like that they didnt make tom sturridge look like comics dream because we were able to witness all the wonderful eye acting and walk through Dream's journey with him, while still being reminded that he is a Lord of the Endless

[cbrownjc]

lestat may have had his rockstar era, but i hope not? narratively the main point of it was to kickstart the akasha arc, & that plot will be more tense & exciting told in the present imo. i also liked that louis was the first to go public, then lestat read iwtv, got bitchy & went 10x bigger to outdo him. i can see lestat chasing fame of his own accord (tho there's no reason it had to be the 80's specifically) but i guess he didn't publish tvl, they're doing that in s3, so it'll all be different.

Anon,

Well, I'm not saying I think I'm 100% right about Lestat's rockstar career already happened back in the 1980s. I could be totally wrong about it, and it could still happen in the present.

It's just, at the moment, it happening in the present time doesn't make sense to me.

First, if Lestat is a rockstar right now in the present, then really. How could Louis, Armand, and even Daniel not know that? Daniel really could just google Lestat's name right now and find that info out. And then, of course, have a whole lot more questions for them.

And if Lestat is alive and out there having a big rockstar career, why would Louis be in the mindset to try and kill himself? One of the things that made Louis despair so much in Merrick that he seriously tried to take his own life wasn't just the stuff regarding Claudia. It was also the growing belief that Lestat was never going to recover and wake up from his coma.

I really do feel that if Louis knew Lestat was alive and well (the key word here being well) that he wouldn't be in the state he is in that ending his life is something he'd seriously attempt to do.

Also, I don't feel Lestat was trying to outdo Louis and the Interview with the Vampire book when it came to his own book and rockstar career. He was just angry at how he felt he was misrepresented in Louis' telling of the story, yes, and wanted to answer that.

But I feel, at heart, what he really wanted to do with all of that was to explain to Louis everything he'd withheld from him back when they were first together. (As well as hoping the book and his music would bring Louis, as well as Gabrielle, back to him to reunite.)

In the show, however, Louis already knows some of the things Lestat held back from telling him about in the book. In the show, Louis knows about Nicki and Magnus. He might also know about Gabrielle, we don't know yet. But it's not out of the realm of possibility that he does.

And, unless we're doing time jumps, there's no time in the show's universe to account for the publishing of Louis' book and Lestat waking up for whatever reason, reading Louis' book, writing and publishing his own book in response, plus starting a rockstar career in response as well. In the books, there was an 8 to 10-year gap between Louis' book being published and Lestat's book/rockstar career.

And, at least at the moment, I just don't feel that the show is going to do that same kind of time jump IMO.

Especially because if the writing and publishing of this book by Louis really is a suicide attempt by him, other vampires in the world aren't going to wait 8-10 years before they try and kill him in the way Armand described. Why would they? The minute that book is published, other vamps would travel to Dubai and try and take him out as soon as possible. That leaves absolutely no time for Lestat to do everything he did in response to Louis' book in the books.

The only reason Louis wasn't in as much danger in the books as he will be in the TV universe is because of the nature of how that book was published, as noted in another ask I responded to. In the books, Louis himself said, he wasn't in danger because other vamps who wanted to kill him never really knew what he looked like and he avoided attention. Plus that book was published under a pseudonym.

In the tv series, Daniel is already talking about footnotes that Ken Burns can choke on. I'm pretty sure the show's version of the book, if it's published, will not only have footnotes but include any historic photos that exist of Louis, as well as probably Claudia and Lestat too. (Maybe even that specific photo that's been used to promote the show.) And, in those footnotes, where the interview with Louis for the book took place.

And because the IWTV book wasn't published in the tv show's timeline yet, even if Lestat did have his rockstar career already, there was clearly no book published to go with it. Because there was no reason for Lestat to feel aggrieved at his portrayal in such a book. In the show, there will likely be a slightly different motivation for his rockstar career if it's already happened.

Though I suspect one of the reasons is pretty much the same as it was in the book - he was trying to find Louis and draw him out and back to him.

S3 having already been announced as the adaptation of The Vampire Lestat (but without the title of the show being changed for that) just feels, to me, that the end of S2 has got to be set up for that to happen. But in a different way than the books did it, unless they really want to do a time jump just to try and line it up directly in the same way the books did it. Because that's the only way that setup could work IMO.

And IMO the Akasha storyline can still happen in the present without Lestat's rockstar career having to be a thing in the present as well. I don't think it's a hard change to make.

[allthemarrowoflife]

i have a lot of headcanons about characters becoming teachers after graduating hogwarts. like, it's probably my favourite "after the plot is over and the war is won and they're supposed to go live happily ever after" trope.

give me professor sprout retiring not because she's tired and actually needs to, but because she wants to open the position so neville longbottom can take over. give me him always forgetting to put on his teacher robes and just teaching all day in a too big jumper and a dirt stained overall. him being the deputy headmaster and the head of gryffindor house, so respected as a war hero and a herbology academic that first years get intimidated, only to be greeted before the sorting ceremony by this short and cuddly looking guy with a kind smile and encouraging words to ease their nerves. him giving the best introductory class at the start of term and asking each student about their favourite plant, making everyone feel welcomed and appreciated, letting them know that it's okay to struggle and to come to him for help.

give me harry giving up on becoming an auror because at this point he's done with action and just wants to settle down, so he takes the DADA position. him teaching in flannels and leather jackets and ripped jeans and converses, because he's not used to wizard robes and finds them uncomfortable. unlike neville, the students don't break their awe and nervousness about being taught by The harry potter instantly upon meeting him, because his horrible resting bitch face still makes him seem intimidating and too serious, so the anxious looks and amazed whispers only stop during his first class when he actually starts talking and smiling and joking. him making almost every class be practical, putting music on and pushing the furniture against the wall, because it's best to learn defense on your feet than just by reading the theory from a book. him being the teacher that is focused and gets the work done but makes the students have so much fun while doing it that they all groan when his class is over. him doing his best to help and make the kids feel safe when they come to him about personal problems, offering a piece of chocolate before they leave and saying "eat, you'll feel better".

give me mcgonnagal FINALLY convincing professor binns to cross over to the afterlife and let someone younger and less socially outdated have the position. so susan bones comes and becomes the head of hufflepuff house, makes the history of magic classes interesting, shows the students that it's an extremely important subject that doesn't deserve to be dismissed as "boring" just because someone couldn't do it right. instead of falling asleep by the first ten minutes, the kids spend the whole time on the edge of their seats, attention gripped by her storyteller way of explaining different events. her giving the students freedom to interact with the narrative, encouraging them to raise their hands and share their thoughts, ask questions, give examples, tell their stories or the stories of people they know. her promoting debates about important historical points and socially relevant issues. when it's time to talk about contemporary history and the first and second wizarding wars, give me her inviting friends and acquaintances to tell their own stories.

give me justin finch-fletchley being one of the first ever muggleborn teachers, personally invited by mcgonnagal to take the transfiguration position. him being the complete opposite of what you would expect from someone who teaches such a methodical and complicated subject, with his outgoing and bubbly nature. the students feeling at ease in his class because they know that if they don't understand at first, they can always ask him later and he will patiently explain again. him joking around the classroom to demonstrate the spells, making the students laugh so much their stomachs hurt. him saying that it's okay to not succeed at first, or ever, because in the end what matters is that you tried and your grades don't define you.

the older teachers not being used to having such young colleagues, specially considering they were still students just a few years before, and developing the habit of calling them "the youngsters". in turn, neville, harry, susan and justin taking years to stop feeling weird about calling their former teachers by their first names.

them gossiping with flitwick and trelawney over cups of tea in the teachers room in between classes.

them being introduced to the decades-ongoing betting pool about the students' love lives and getting excited to participate.

them joking with hagrid during lunch at the teachers table.

them actively refusing to turn a blind eye to bullying in the school, overlook prejudiced comments or dismiss the students' mental health, because it's fresh in their minds how harmful that can be.

the students waving at them when they walk by because they're comfortable doing so, knowing they're supposed to respect their teachers, but not fear them.

them respecting their students' learning particularities and disabilities, advocating for squibs to be able to attend hogwarts because most classes don't even require actual casting of spells anyway, it's only a matter of adjusting timetables so they don't have to take those.

harry finally having the peace and quiet he deserves, no more fighting or saving anyone. just a steady life of stressing over teenagers and sipping tea in his office.

neville being the person he needed when he was younger, making sure his students never feel stupid or ridiculed. praising each of their achievements, no matter how small, and reminding then constantly that they're not a disappointment and that he's proud.

susan breaking the image of the softie hufflepuff, being the most serious and strict teacher, second only to mcgonnagal herself. her sense of justice will have her give a student a month of detention for making fun of someone's appearance and everyone knows that if you're caught cheating at her test your marks are fucked.

justin being amazing at teaching one of the hardest magical subjects and shutting up all the blood supremacists who think muggleborns are less capable. he was underestimated for a while into the transfiguration position, the older staff thought his humor and unusual way of teaching would get the students nowhere in such a meticulous class, but they were proven wrong when kids who wouldn't have looked twice at the subject ended up falling in love with it because of him.

just. give me characters becoming young teachers. barely into their twenties having to teach 11 to 17 year olds, and absolutely loving it. being people the students can look up and relate to. bringing a fresher point of view to an environment that usually just seeks to punish kids instead of understanding them. YOUNG TEACHERS AT HOGWARTS. PLEASE AND THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK.

[sulietsexual]

I saw you rebloging content about Daisy Jones and the Six, I was curious what were your overall feelings/thoughts on the show? I really enjoyed it personally, I’m a fan of the book but I was able to have a lot of fun despite some things obviously being pretty different

Oh man, I have so many feeling about this series, not all of them good, but I'll start with the positives.

I have a major '70s fetish, have since I was a kid, and so I automatically enjoy media set in that time. While I didn't think the series leaned into the decade as much as it could, I did like the obviously '70s musician influences on the costuming (particularly with Daisy's Steve Nicks looks and Cami's Bianca Jagger-inspired wardrobe). I also loved all the '70s music used and the way the series captured the spirit of music and live shows of that decade.

I really liked the original songs as well, particularly The River, Honeycomb and Let You Down Easy. I loved that all the actors actually sung and played their instruments for real and jesus does Riley Keough have some pipes on her! Those Presley genes are strong!

I also really liked most of the characterisation. Even though so many of the characters were so messy and at times highly unlikable, they were also charismatic, well-written and portrayed in such a way that you really empathised with them and understood their motivations. Daisy is a particularly strong character and I think Riley was perfect casting. I also find Sam Caflin to be quite charming, so Billy became a much more endearing character because of him, despite the fact that he is such an ass.

A favourite character of mine is Simone, and I've heard that she's much more fleshed out in the series than she is in the book. I absolutely love her character arc, her exploration and eventual comfort with her sexuality (her relationship with Bernie is honestly the best relationship in the series) and her dynamic with Daisy. I absolutely love the way she calls Daisy on her crap and the way she is also so supportive of her.

Also Teddy Price is awesome and his relationships with Daisy, Billy and the band are amazing.

The series has a good pace and I think every episode is written well and moves well. I like how we see Daisy's journey paralleled with The Six's until the two finally converge. Also, the way the series opens is amazing, I loved the whole tease of why did the band fall apart?

With all this being said, I have one big fat issue with the series (from which stems many smaller issues) and that is the ending, which gave me horrible echoes of the How I Met Your Mother finale. The minute Older Billy said to his daughter "And when your mother got sick" my stomach just dropped because I knew where we were headed, and yes, the series went there, and had a dying Camila tell Billy to essentially be with Daisy. And I know this is somewhat true to the book, but it just drove me crazy.

I don't know how different it is in the books, but the entire series was built around this "soul mate" connection between Daisy and Billy; I mean, even before they meet they are linked together by music, events and the trajectory of their lives. We see their similarities long before we even see their connection, and once we do see them meet onscreen, it's obvious that the series is about them. Everything revolves around their dynamic and the way it affects the music and the band, both positively and negatively. Everyone interviewed talks about how the two of them are electric together and both Older Billy and Older Daisy talk about one another in terms of being The Other Half.

Which, for me, makes Camila's story that much more tragic.

I don't doubt that Billy loved Camila and their initial courtship and relationship is very sweet. But, for me, once Billy cheated on her on the first tour, there was really no going back. I understand narratively why Camila stayed with Billy initially; this was the '70s, she was pregnant with his child and didn't have the options women have today. She also loved him and, like I said, I do believe that he also loved her. She saw him get sober and work on himself (to a certain extent, at least) and their initial reconciliation was sweet and they do have many sweet moments after.

But once she realised the depth to which he and Daisy had fallen for one another, once she confronted both of them about it, once she had confirmed that Billy loved Daisy - I don't understand why she would ever take Billy back. How could she ever go back to someone knowing that she was second choice, that the only reason he stayed with her was because she represented stability whereas Daisy was nothing but chaos?

And I know that the series was maybe trying to show that Billy was making the "right" choice with Camila, that he was choosing the stable and happy path, as being with Daisy at that moment in time really would have been disastrous for them both. But, again, this doesn't work for me, because it really comes across as Billy settling. The entire series kept telling me that he and Daisy were soulmates, that they were two halves of one whole, which makes his love for Camila seem second-best.

And I don't think that this was actually the intent of the series, nor the book. I'm guessing this was supposed to be a tale of how even though we connect with someone, it doesn't mean that we're supposed to be with them, which is fine, and I think that works for the Daisy and Billy storyline, but I just don't agree with him getting back together with Camila. She deserved better.

In fact, both she and Daisy deserved much better from Billy, as he really treated both women like crap at various times. So the ending of the series, where Billy gets to play Happy Families with Camila until she dies and then gets to reunite with his "soul mate" essentially lets Billy have both women and this ends up feeling very uncomfortable.

I would have preferred for both women to leave Billy, permanently, and for Billy's redemption to be through his daughter; in fact, I liked that they somewhat worked this angle in, when Billy says that he never missed a soccer game or dance recital. But I think the series would have been better had Camila divorced Billy and gone on to have a good life of her own, maybe even marrying someone else. Then, when she's older and maybe feeling nostalgic or reflective as she's dying, she tells her daughter that her father has become a good man and deserves to be happy, and that maybe he should call Daisy.

Also, just as a last annoyance, I really didn't like the reveal that it was Billy and Camila's daughter who was interviewing the band, as that made everything so weird, like, why are these people telling this young women who they knew as a child and watched grow up all these intimate details of their lives, not to mention, all of them are basically telling her "Oh, your Dad's soulmate is actually Daisy, not your mother." Again, I don't think this was the intent and I would like to read the book to see if this maybe comes across differently. But it bugged me.

So, to sum up, I did very much enjoy the series but the ending does bring it down for me, and I think some of the intent got muddled, possibly due to moving from page to screen.

[catty-words]

on the school dance fallout or, a thorough examination of the boys’ apologies to julie

full disclosure, i used to take serious issue with 1.06 for what it did to julie’s righteous anger in light of the boys letting her down, and my gripes haven’t fully gone away. but i have spent some time thinking on the fallout since my first (several) viewing(s) of the show and i finally noticed some emotionally nuanced storytelling that i needed time to come to appreciate. so, if you’ll indulge me another gif-filled meta post...

everyone knows that a good apology demonstrates an understanding of how you wronged the person you’re apologizing to, otherwise the words i’m sorry end up being fairly empty. and luckily for the boys, julie does a good job of immediately and effectively communicating her hurt feelings:

the first part is directed at luke specifically as her main co-writer, while the rest is about how all three of them let her down. it couldn’t be more clear that the reason she’s so betrayed is that a) they’ve made her feel like julie and the phantoms is less important to them than sunset curve and b) they’ve failed to consider her point of view or empathize with how important the show was to her.

which is why singing sorry a bunch of times, though charming, leaves her unmoved. and it’s why booking another gig actually makes her angrier. a gig the boys have deemed important enough to show up for is not a present or an olive branch to her, it’s a slap in the face. and if the boys had actually been paying attention to what she’d said the night of the dance, they could have anticipated her reaction.

but they clearly haven’t listened, so they haven’t learned how to do better or make things right. which is why this is such an important beat in the scene in the studio:

hounding julie to rejoin the band, even with such nice sentiments as “you’re the best thing that’s happened to us since we became ghosts”, does nothing to address how undervalued julie feels getting stood up because, as she points out above, their ability to do what they love is very limited without her. that makes her a powerful and essential member of the band, but it doesn’t prove that they care about her, julie, the person. and you can see in the reaction shot how the truth of her words lands for all of them.

their remorseful silence gives julie the opportunity to reiterate one of the points she made the night before, and it’s important to note which part of her hurt feelings she chooses to revisit.

the fact that they made the choice to pay more attention to their old music in spite of the music they were creating together is the thing that hurt her feelings the most. and, of course, her open hostility and her imagined reasons for why the boys picked sunset curve over julie and the phantoms (i.e. selfishness) puts luke on the defensive and ends with everyone leaving the scene dissatisfied.

great! okay, so here’s the part that’s bugged in the past (and the present, just. a little less so.) — in their attempt to deescalate the situation, alex and reggie give julie, and the audience, the all-important luke backstory. but like asking julie to rejoin the band with a shinier gig than a school dance flies in the face of actually making amends, so, too, does asking julie to empathize with luke’s emotional journey when the boys failed to take julie’s into account when they hurt her. only this time, it works as an olive branch.

now, i’m not saying that julie’s acting out of character in being sympathetic to luke’s pain, quite the opposite is the case. and i’m also not saying it’s bad that she does find sympathy for his situation — again, i’d argue that the opposite is true. it’s just, at the same time, it’s not a good look to force aside the young woman of color’s hurt in service of the white dude who hurt her feelings in the first place’s tragic backstory. the narrative is asking julie not to be mad at the choices luke made in the past two episodes because he’s really sad, actually.

and sure that’s an ungracious read of the moment, but i stand by the fact that it’s present in the text of the episode all the same, even with a little more nuance than i’m currently giving it credit for.

all that being said, alex and reggie do a bit to win back this highly insensitive maneuver with another stab at an apology.

alex addresses julie’s comment about them knowing “how tough it’s been for her to play” by reiterating that not showing up let her down and they get that that’s a crappy way to feel, while reggie takes a crack at julie’s “our songs were good” by emphasizing that they all love being in a band and making music with her. it’s a slight step up from their sorry in the garage, but not a complete fix because they’re all still sitting with the fact that they need julie to make the most of their music and how that complicates their declarations of loyalty.

the thing that makes this attempt at reconciliation different than those prior, of course, is this line:

the acknowledgement that things haven’t been fixed + the politeness + the implication that they’re willing to put in the time to earn her trust back so long as she lets them makes the apology a good enough one to accept. well, that, and:

one gets the sense that if rose could actually speak to julie in that moment, she’d be reminding her the value of grace. and, of course, we know that this also serves as a reminder to julie that good things are fleeting, loss is around every corner, and holding close what you care about is important. so she does just that by letting go of her (righteous, righteous) anger and reuniting the band.

still, even though alex and reggie have had their chance to make amends, luke doesn’t get the same moment to show he’s actually paid attention to julie’s needs in 1.06. so, naturally, he starts immediately in their first scene together in 1.07. 

i mentioned in my exhaustive list for “finally free” that julie picking a sunset curve song for their reunion number is a lovely, understated way for her acknowledge luke’s lost musical legacy, and i have similar feelings about the fact that luke suggests “edge of great” for their follow-up gig. it’s his first step in proving to her that he does care about the music they’ve written together with actions instead of empty apologies and misguided gestures.

by the end of the episode, though, the three of them take a step back (reggie gets points for his being, like, half a step) when they learn that, in addition to letting down julie, one of the consequences of their night chasing revenge is a ticking clock on their existence.

though i understand the urge to protect julie from the alarming news that their power is going out, there’s also a lot of selfishness behind the decision. julie loses them in the end no matter what, but lying to her about it and planning to leave without an explanation shows a disregard for her emotional journey in a similar way standing her up did. in fact, this plan is basically to stand her up for eternity. not cool, guys.

naturally, since it’s luke who’s the one proposing the terrible plan and it’s luke who never officially demonstrated his understanding of how he hurt julie’s feelings by not showing up when it mattered, it’s fitting that he’s suddenly more in tune with his own feelings. and, with that, comes a new awareness of how his and julie’s feelings interact, starting with this moment in 1.08.

you can see his conflict over her declaration. she’s worried without knowing just how much there is to be worried about, and that makes him sad because it’s confirmation of the fact that he’s important to her. that losing him will mean a lot of pain for her. but instead of cluing her in, he makes a conscious choice to continue withholding the information of his imminent departure. and maybe it’s such a weak deflection because he’s already starting to come to terms with how unfair he’s being to her, but even so, he’s not being a good friend when julie is showing up for him in big, unexpected ways he’d never even thought to ask for.

and again, here — 

— just after they’ve acknowledged that there’s a something and not a nothing between them, you can see him sober with the thought that she doesn’t know they’re about to lose each other. but it’s still not enough to move him to share. maybe because he prefers that she live with the possibility of that something when he no longer can, maybe because he’s too caught up in his own feelings about how crappy this hand they’ve been dealt by the universe is. but in any case, he keeps tight-lipped.

UNTIL.

it’s seeing her excited about a future their music can’t have that finally pushes him into coming clean. and i love how subtly this demonstrates that he has been paying attention, actually, and he knows that what hurt julie the most was the feeling that their music took a backseat to his past. if he crosses over without telling her the whole, ugly truth about the mistake he made by standing her up, then he crosses over stuck in that mistake. because part of that whole, ugly truth is the beautiful realization that no music is worth making, julie, if we’re not making it with you. and he’s not quite at that particular aspect of his truth yet — he still has to experience the what if of caleb’s club to be able to make the declaration with the conviction he does — but when he finally does tell her that and means it, she’s given the catharsis she’s needed since the dance. because he’s backing up his apology with action (i.e. being willing to literally no longer exist instead of making music with someone else) and providing her with the same consideration she showed him when she rejoined the band because his loss felt more important than her anger. and reaching that level of give and take in their relationship, physically represented in their hug, finally sets them free.

so, yes. even though 1.06 is clunky and a little tasteless at times, i can acknowledge that the story manages to win any missteps back. quite poetically, honestly. all’s forgiven.

[romijuli]

Hi Chel would you like to ramble about What Songs In A Musical Do?

ABSOLUTELY. Do bear in mind that I’ve been out of college for a bit and my History of Musical Theater textbook isn’t on me rn so I may be A Little Incorrect but it’s fine.

So it actually depends a little bit on the KIND of musical—there are different kinds of musicals actually!!! It’s very neat—but since book musicals are generally the most common (and the type everyone thinks of: your Wickeds, your Chicagos, your Newsies, etc etc) that’s the kind I’m gonna focus on.

Generally speaking the purpose of a song in a (good) book musical is as a means of conveying emotion when spoken words just Aren’t Enough, where a person’s (or group’s) emotions are so powerful—in whatever fashion that may be—that, well, you have to sing about it! Going back to Wicked as an example, Defying Gravity just wouldn’t work in dialogue, and not just because it closes out act 1; it’s because the emotions in the song (Elphaba deciding she can’t sit idly by while the Wizard is causing so much harm, Glinda wanting her friend to be safe but also not really feeling comfortable with working outside of the confines of The System) make it so dialogue just falls flat. The strike in Newsies starts with a song because of course it does, it’s a major emotional moment. I dunno if I’m describing it correctly but that’s the general gist of it.

That’s not to say that some shows don’t put musical numbers in Just Because, or that EVERYTHING in a sung-through musical is Important; the former is bad craftsmanship and the latter is just a different style. (And even then, in a sung-through musical (or at least a good one) you can Tell where the songs land; theres a big difference between the patter-y between-songs music and, like, On My Own.)

If you get into early-20th-century musicals, those predate the book musical and are a different genre altogether: those tend to justify songs by having the cast portray performers, hehe. (We call those Musical Comedies, by the way.) And concept musicals, which are a more modern thing (Company is a good example, and the one we actually used for class: it doesn’t have a typical narrative structure, and the “story” is really just an exploration on the concept of marriage and relationships), tend to have songs to emphasize the concept they’re focusing on, I think. I think there’s a genre I’m missing as well????? Where is my textbook I bought that for a reason.

Anyway. That’s why, in a good musical, the songs are Important.