#only a half bred could infiltrate an Army

[artcalledwind]

Our Presidential, Commander in Chief, a quack contained…banged in the head has kid….are voted in Leader…more often then not a Laugh around the World….and pole to pole the crying’ shame for a Political Leader. Obviating obviously en captured embryonic chambered balls afraid of

Money first

The hunt to make most is shy to Nein

I gotta most posted up behind me

Money is not a problem

Trumps in dreams and my reality

He has never Served

Not even that first time!

[aporeticelenchus]

Gilbert and Sullivan three-sentence plot summaries

I’ve been promising @oceannocturne a brief Gilbert and Sullivan guide for a while, but it turns out that the “brief” part is tricky. I wanted to make a post with short summaries – no more that three sentences each – and a few song recs for each opera, but that quickly grew way too long for one post. So, here’s a post that’s just three sentence summaries for all the extant operas, for anyone who wants a quick idea of what’s going on in each of them. I’ll try to do a series of follow-ups with some specific songs linked and put in context.

The Sorcerer (aka The Love Potion AU) Alexis is marrying his beloved Aline, and he only wishes everyone else could be as happy and as in love as he. In fact, he wishes it so much that he hires the sorcerer John W. Wells to drug the entire town with a love potion! Chaos, predictably, ensues.

HMS Pinafore (aka Class Hierarchy and Boats) Captain Corcoran is the well-bred and well-mannered captain of the Pinafore, and he’s delighted when Lord Admiral Sir Joseph offers to marry his daughter Josephine and elevate the family station. But Josephine loves a member of her father’s crew, the simple sailor Ralph. Fortunately, love can level all rank (but not that much), and a British tar is any man’s equal – or so Sir Joseph always says!

The Pirates of Penzance (aka Look You All Probably Know This One Already) Frederic is the slave of duty, and in duty’s name he has served out an apprenticeship with a band of pirates, despite passionately longing to lead an honest life. When his term is up, he seeks out new love and plots to destroy his old piratical associates (in the name of duty). But the pirates still have a claim on Frederic, and he’s torn between his duty as pirate apprentice and his loyalty to his fiancée Mabel and her family.

Patience (aka ~*~Aesthetic~*~) The ladies of town all love the tragical aesthetic poet Bunthorne, who has in turn sworn his love to the milkmaid Patience, the only maiden in town who dislikes him. When Patience’s childhood friend (also turned poet) Archibald returns and confesses his love for her, Patience falls in love for the first time – but as she’s been told that love is completely selfless, she believes that she must love the odious Bunthorne rather than the too-wonderful Archibald. Meanwhile, a regiment of dragoons, who were all betrothed to the local ladies a year ago, are stationed in town and can’t figure out why the ladies are chasing a pair of poets instead of them.

Iolanthe (aka Parliament Fairies) The Arcadian shepherd Strephon has a secret – he’s half-fairy (from the waist up), and his mother Iolanthe was banished from the fairy court for daring to marry a human. Strephon loves Phyllis, but her guardian the Lord Chancellor is determined that she marry a peer (and secretly wishes to marry her himself!). A misunderstanding between Strephon and Phyllis leads to clash between the fairy court and the House of Peers, and the angry fairies makes Strephon a member of parliament and head of both parties, able to pass whatever legislation he chooses!

Princess Ida (aka #misandry) Twenty years ago, the infants Princess Ida and Prince Hilarion were betrothed, and Hilarion’s father Hildebrand is threatening war if Hilarion’s bride doesn’t appear. But when Ida’s father Gama arrives, he brings word that Ida has foresworn the company of men and converted Castle Adamant into a women’s college where no man is allowed. Hildebrand plans to march on Ida’s castle college with an army, but Hilarion hopes to infiltrate Castle Adamant himself and win Ida’s love first.

The Mikado (aka William S. Gilbert Discovers That Japan Is a Country That Exists) Runaway prince Nanki-Poo disguises himself as a wandering minstrel to escape an unwanted fiancée and search for his true beloved, Yum-Yum, only to find that she’s engaged to marry the village executioner Ko-Ko. Ko-Ko’s never performed an actual execution, and he’s been given notice that he’d better find a victim soon – and Nanki-Poo’s considering volunteering if it means he can marry Yum-Yum before he dies. And that’s all before his father, the Mikado, shows up in town with his “daughter-in-law-elect” in tow!

Ruddigore (aka SpooooOOOOOoooooky) The Baronet of Ruddigore suffers a terrible witch’s curse; the bearer of the title must commit a crime every day or else die in horrible agony. Lord Ruthven Murgatroyd should have inherited the title, but he faked his own death and lives as simple Robin, a timid and conscientious young man who (timidly) loves the beautiful Rose Maybud. But when Robin’s foster brother Richard becomes his rival for Rose, Robin’s true identity is revealed and he must live as the Bad Baronet he was born to be – or die a terrible death!

Yeomen of the Guard (aka The One That’s Almost a Grand Opera) Lord Fairfax, consigned to the Tower of London thanks to scheming relatives after his fortune, contrives to marry a random woman in the hour before his execution so that his wealth will pass to her instead. Poor Elise Maynard, fiancée of the wandering jester Jack Point, accepts the offe and marries Fairfax sight unseen, with a blindfold on. But Phoebe, who loves Fairfax, schemes with her father to free Fairfax and disguise him as her brother and a yeoman of the guard, leaving Elise torn between her old fiancé, her unknown husband, and the handsome new yeoman who’s started courting her…

The Gondoliers (aka Problems With Monarchy) Marco and Giuseppe are brothers and gondoliers, who have just chosen two beautiful ladies to marry. Right after their weddings, they’re informed that one of them (though no one knows which) is in fact the lost heir to the Kingdom of Barateria – and unbeknownst to them, that one was married at birth to Casilda, daughter of the Duke of Plaza Toro. The two agree to rule Barateria together until they can discover which of them is the true king, and as lifelong republicans they struggle to reconcile their ideals and their positions as monarchs.

Utopia, Limited (aka Corporations Are People) King Paramount of the island nation of Utopia is a king of autocratic power and absolute rule – aside from the minor fact that his two Wise Men have the authority to blow him up with a keg of dynamite if he steps a toe out of line. Paramount has decided to reform the entire nation of Utopia to be exactly like England, the country he admires most, and when his daughter Zara returns from her studies in England she brings back several Englishmen known as the Flowers of Progress. The Flowers devise a set of schemes to make Utopia more English than England itself, including turning the entire island and everyone one of its inhabitants into limited liability corporations!

The Grand Duke (aka A Not Very Good Revolution) The actor Ludwig is, along with his entire theatrical company, engaged in a revolutionary plot to assassinate the penny-pinching, hypochondriacal Grand Duke Rudolph and put their manager in his place. When Ludwig misinterprets their secret sign and spills the whole plot to the Grand duke’s detective, he pretends to inform on his fellow conspirators and convinces Rudolph to become legally dead for a day while Ludwig takes his place. But once Ludwig is in power, he changes the law to keep Rudolph “dead” and himself in charge forever, and has to deal with the ensuing tangle of obligations and commitments.

Bonus: Trial By Jury (aka The Short One) Edwin is being sued by his ex-fiancée Angelina for breach of promise of marriage after he threw her over for another woman. A completely impartial jury and wise and learned judge solve the ensuing legal tangle. This one is too short to even merit three sentences!

[ofpolitics]

galaxycrxss​    »    ( CROSSHAIR )

While infiltration may not be the skill of one, for four, it was art in motion. Built into muscle and bred to draw blood at patience’s will. Where patience was lined within DNA of batcher’s sniper, there were … limitations in its endurance. For the job, time ticked away as scope pressed against etched notch, hawk gaze watching for any trace of movement. The rustle of wind, the sway of a branch, the crumble of cliffside’s face — all was seen. And yet, the presence of the Jedi knight perched beside him was testing the last tether of his silent brooding. Every shuffle or movement earned a low hiss between clenched teeth, eye-roll hidden well behind slim-cut visors ; harsh demand to stop was held tight in the throat — snapping at a Jedi would likely earn punishment of some sort ( not that he cared much — what else was new ? ). Silent, yet in loathing, he rotated crimson pauldron, flexing muscle before rearing head up above scope to see freely.

We don’t usually work with regs didn’t seem to apply to the current command. His glare, hidden or exposed, was not privy to absence — lips either remained lax in a flat line, or turned down in  a scowl around toothpick — and sharp eyes never allowed peace. Aggression wound tight like coiled snake — Crosshair was not the most ideal to socialize with, but when it came to presentation of skill… well. The sniper never missed. Knight spoke and sniper spared a glance her way, hidden stare narrowing just slightly.      “They’re stalling for an opportunity.���

A means to likely try to get the drop on them. Shifting, charcoal plastoid scraped the dirt as batcher moved into more comfortable vantage point. Laying on his front, one leg propped to the side, the other laid straight — Firepuncher aimed forward as stands supported where arms could not. Sable digits pinched scope, measuring distance before leveling down.      “Droids. So simple.” The sound of this Skywalker ( a General they had only met in passing and were more than likely new to entirely ), made dragging sound escape before he could help it — how irritating. Although the other sounded opposed to the idea of springing a trap, Crosshair could already hear the enthusiastic cry of their largest brother — Wrecker was always prepared to lose all grace and tact for the sake of something loud and catastrophic.       “We wait,” he grunted, shoulders rocking as he shuffled into position, sneer practically dripping with challenging sarcasm, “Unless you’ve got a better idea…?”

                    keen gaze flew up the height of the sheer face only perhaps a half kilometer from the unit’s hide within the rocks.   perception flew through the space between, surmounted the rocks hand hold by hand hold, and threw itself through the mountain entrances secreted within the divots and bends.     within, there was only darkness, death for the men behind her, likely an amount utterly disproportionate to the enemy.     ❝  i may not be the most experienced tactician in the republic army, but i certainly agree.  ❞    focus traveled over the lush forests which surrounded them, the rise in terrain providing a stunning vista even as it protected.   even in the few short hours since her arrival planetside, padmé counted six of the fourteen species which made this planet a protected habitat, only a step below a legacy world.   how terrible that the war would even come touch such a place...

                    full lips twisted with barely restrained amusement, twinkling chocolate eyes dipping to the earth in an attempt to disguise.     ❝  battle droids at least.  ❞     mirth bleeding into her voice, the attempt proved distinctly ineffectual.   the knight certainly should not be laughing at his estimation of those mechanical life forms, but his dry loathing tickled her horrendously well.    though she sincerely doubted a man such as himself would willingly shift his opinions, there were more than a handful of droids she knew who might convince even him.   r2, for a start...   though she had no desire for anakin to be beside her in this situation, she would not mind his plucky little droid.

                    yet, here, there was only so long she could find joy in their situation, his challenge sobering as a dip in a frozen pond.   gaze piercing through his helm to exactly where she knew she might find his eyes, the jedi lifted a single unarched brow.     ❝  i find myself distinctly out of better ideas.   that rock would melt under continuous turbolaser fire, but it would devastate substantially more than the enemy.  ❞     the cost would be a several kilometer wide death zone in the midst of some the richest habitat on the entirety of the planet.   still no clone or other being of theirs would die, so she presented the option to the chancellor’s office but recieved a distinct no in reply.   thus they sat, prepared to perish for a republic who’d denied them a bloodless victory.      ❝  and springing this trap would create a toll in sentient lives i’m not yet prepared to sacrifice, so...  ❞    with a brief lift of her shoulders in practiced indifference, her attention returned to the cliff.

                   ❝  we wait.  ❞