#swans in Lyon

[euridise]

[photo-musik]

[wannabegirlbloggr]

౨ৎ

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Four American Indians, dressed in traditional clothing, appear before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, October 20, 1941. They argued that the Selective Service Act violated their liberty and a treaty between the Indians of the Six Nations. Judge Thomas W. Swan reserved decision. From left to right are: Clinton Rickard, Tuscarora chief; Jess Lyons, Onondaga chief; Harry Patterson, Tuscarora brave and Ivan Burnham, Mohawk brave. The other nations are the Oneida, the Cayuga, and the Seneca.

Photo: MC for the Associated Press

[booskwan]

lyon's black swan, [lyons] fell in love with onlyoneof at first sight. world tour poster behind

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Off to London tomorrow, then to Edinburgh. Middle of the night, I can't sleep, I'm re-watching those ACMS 2019 videos to try to mentally prepare myself for whatever's going to happen when I go see ACMS this year.

I listen to a lot of audio-only comedy, I think it's often the best way to enjoy comedy if you can't physically be in the room. An audio recording with nothing cut out from the beginning to the end, I can close my eyes and feel like I'm there more easily than I can while watching a video special that's been edited and keeps interrupting the flow with changes in the shot or cuts to the audience (or, more egregiously, things like commercial breaks or swear words getting censored). Not to mention the knowledge that I'm seeing an edit, even if they haven't cut out much. Livestreams like what you get on NextUp can get around this nicely, I like those much better than a special that's been cut up for TV, because at least I know that what I'm seeing is exactly what happened on the night. But still, I find audio versions more immersive in some ways. As I said some time ago, if you can't be in the actual room where stand-up is happening, the way to go for experiencing it has to be the two Bs of audio-only comedy - Bandcamp and don't worry about the other one.

Obviously the exception to this is comedy with a lot of visual elements, which will be better in video form than in audio-only. There have been times when I've heard an audio comedy recording, thought I didn't miss anything because I didn't hear any cues that suggested an important act-out was happening, but then I've been able to see a video of that show and realized there was a lot going on with facial expressions and things that I'd missed on audio. So I guess video does help, even with straightforward storytelling comedy. But it definitely helps with less straightforward stuff, anything with more physical comedy.

I've seen videos of clowning-type comedy, and I often don't get it, though that's not universally true. I liked Laid and Nate by Natalie Palamides. I definitely did not get everything out of them that a person with a proper understanding of theatre would, but I'm not a complete Philistine, I could see what she was doing and that was fun. Then again, last year I watched the NextUp stream of that guy who falls over on banana peels and could not for the life of me understand where the comedy was. I did try. I made myself watch the whole hour of Elf Lyons' Swan, in case you need to see the whole thing for it all to come together, and by the end still did not get it one bit. I'm sure she's very very good at what she does, but I don't understand it.

I wonder, for some of the really physical things like that, if the issue is that to get those, audio-only isn't nearly enough, but video-only isn't really enough either, you just need to be in the room. Maybe if I were physically in a room with a guy falling on banana peels, I'd understand exactly what it's funny. That is why I have booked a ticket to ACMS this year. I figure I'll go be in a room with lots of different types of comedy, some accessible and some experimental clown things, I hope no magic or puppets that night I go because I really struggle to get on board with that but I'll do my best to have an open mind, and I'll see what it's like to actually be in the room. Surely a basement room (I don't know if it's actually a basement, sure looks like one in the videos) room that seats 100 people, at 2 AM at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has to be the best way to see experimental physical comedy. If I can't get into it then then I'll accept I just do not have the theatre kid background for this.

Anyway, I'm re-watching bits of the videos from when they streamed ACMS online from Edinburgh 2019, and I like John-Luke Roberts (hey there's some experimental comedy that I'm into, I've seen a few of his solo shows and enjoyed them, though to be honest I didn't get much out of the physical setup in those shows and I mostly just laughed at the words he was saying in a way that would have been just as good on an audio-only recording) and Thom Tuck, but I have been reminded, by that one night where they both had to use stand-ins, that Alice Fraser and Andrew O'Neill are a great double act.

I was going to cut out of a bit of their co-compering to make this point, but then I realized I didn't have to, I already had the above clip cut out. Which I cut out a while ago so I could post it on Tumblr and say it made me want to get a tattoo on my forearm that says "If Daniel Kitson were here, I'd be trying a lot harder." That's a good rule for life.

That, of course, led me to re-watch some of the other videos that initially sparked my unaccountable obsession with Chocolate Milk Gang-era Edinburgh Festival history, the time about two years ago when I accidentally came across these two videos in the middle of the night and vowed not to rest until I find out everything related to whatever the fuck was going on in them:

I've just watched that second video - entitled Cowgate because it occurred in the rebuilt venue after a fire in a Cowgate neighbourhood and also because there's a cow in it - to check and see whether I've built its weirdness up in my head too much, and on watching it back it's not a big deal. Nope. Still the weirdest fucking thing I've ever seen in my life. I still feel just as much of a need to understand it. I have more questions than ever.

I did almost buy tickets to Adam Hills this year, just so I could say I'm going to the UK and seeing everyone involved in Cowgate that I can (I'm seeing Kitson in London, DO'D in Edinburgh, John Oliver and Demitri Martin and Flight of the Conchords have moved on with their lives, but Adam Hills is performing in Edinburgh this year). And not just for that, I did watch several hundred episodes of The Last Leg and all of Adam Hills' previous stand-up specials because I like the guy. But I also stopped watching The Last Leg last year because I couldn't take their pro-monarchy stuff around the queen death and coronation, Hills in particular got really annoying about it, and there were a few other things that added up to make me go off him, and I can't use up Edinburgh time on a guy I've gone off just because he sang the wrong Eminem song while some guys tore apart a facsimile cow in 2003. I mean, you can't live your life that way. Maybe I should get that rule tattooed on my arm too.

I still don't think anyone has ever looked happier about anything, than Daniel Kitson did about David O'Doherty accusing him of lying about having a stutter on stage in 2003. It's the happiest anyone has ever looked.

I've gone down a small rabbit hole of other old Edinburgh YouTube clips that I found when I first fell down that rabbit hole 2 years ago. Falling down it tonight was far easier because I don't have to search YouTube for it, I've got them all saved now. I'm a big fan of the moment in this video where you can see Andy Zaltzman look like he's suddenly realized where he is and no idea how he got there or why he would have appeared in the middle of this crowd:

There's an extended version of that clip in the Late 'n' Live Guide to Comedy, a 4-part BBC Scotland documentary about the show that I was also re-watching bits of tonight, in which you can see the set-up before they started that song. There's a hilarious moment where Adam Hills is yelling into the room that every comedian needs to come on stage for the big finale, and while he's yelling this, Daniel Kitson is conspicuously walking across the stage and disappearing into the wings, not to be seen again during that song.

This post started out being about one thing and ended up being about other things. That happens sometimes. All things I've posted before, but the night before I fly to the UK seemed like a good time to go over them again. There are a million more things, but I don't need to post them all again. There's a lot of stuff in the YouTube rabbit holes.

[fromthedust]

GSU Perimeter College Visual Art Faculty Exhibit 2023

Laura Bell - CONGREGATE - wool felt, painted linen, hand beading, thread - 22"x 48"

Jiazi Yin - ABSENT FATHER - oil on canvas - 48"x 30"

Jiazi Yin - THE COLOR OF DEATH I - silkscreen on canvas - 48"x 30"

Sooyeon Kim - BRICK BY BRICK (A Teapot of Self-Discovery) - Lego parts - 16"x 14"x 6"

Sooyeon Kim - SWAN CUPS - porcelain with gold luster - 4½"x 5"x 5"

Lisa Alembik - EXPLOSION: LIFTED, THE SHAPING OF MEMORIES - charcoal, pastel, acrylic medium on canvas - 18"x 24"

Lisa Alembik - EXPLOSIONS: EVEN ETERNAL FLAMES GO OUT EVENTUALLY - charcoal, pastel, acrylic medium on canvas - 9½"x 26"

Lisa Alembik - EXPLOSION: LIFTED - charcoal, pastel, acrylic medium on canvas - 18"x 24"

Fernando Rochaix - CLARKSTON CROSSWALK PROJECT (FELICIA'S DESIGN) - photography

Fernando Rochaix - CLARKSTON CROSSWALK PROJECT (FELICIA) - photography

Fernando Rochaix - CLARKSTON CROSSWALK PROJECT (LYONS MIXING PAINT) - photography

Fernando Rochaix - CLARKSTON CROSSWALK PROJECT (CROSSWALK) - photography

Fernando Rochaix - CLARKSTON CROSSWALK PROJECT (ROLLER FRAMES) - photography

Val Koonce - KAI'S LULLABY - oil on masonite - 18"x 18"

Don Dougan - A DANCE AT RAINBOW'S END - slate, fused glass, dichroic glass, glazed stoneware, gold leaf - 13"12½"x 1½"

Don Dougan - SELE'NE: WARM NIGHT SEA - plaster, bronze powder, stoneware, sandblasted glass, gold leaf, wire, wood, paint - 11¾"x 13¼"x 3"

Don Dougan - THE LONG WAY HOME - handmade & handcast paper, brass, steel, metal leafing, sandblased glass, wood, pigment - 11"x 9"x 2¾"

Don Dougan - DRAWN AGAIN - cast bronze, sandblasted Virginia slate, dyed alabaster, colored pencil - 15¼"x 13¾"x 2½"

[jamietukpahwriting]

“I am ruined,” said Harriet, waking in the great white netted bed. The word seemed to her so beautiful that she spoke it again to herself, very softly: “Ruined. I am a fallen woman.” She turned her head on the pillow. Rom’s dark head was half buried in the sheet, one arm thrown out in sleep. The problem now was what to do with so much happiness; how to contain it and not let it spill out and disturb him. Happiness like this could almost certainly disturb people and Rom must not be woken by her. Not ever woken… I have put myself beyond the reach of decent women, thought Harriet, trying out variations of her fall and smiling at the ceiling. A new world lay before her—a world at whose existence she had not even guessed. The mystics knew it, and perhaps God Himself and possibly Johann Sebastian Bach in places… but none of them had been ruined by Rom, so they could not know it as she knew it. Moving very slowly, very carefully, she put one foot on the ground, looking at it speculatively because the foot, like the rest of her, had been ruined and felt totally beautiful and totally good, as though each separate toe had shared the extraordinary bliss of the previous night. The negligee that Maliki had wrapped around her after her bath was lying across a chair and she put it on because she was not yet accustomed to being a loose woman and was not certain that she ought to walk around the room with nothing on. Moreover she was going on a pilgrimage, and pilgrimages were better conducted in negligees. Because she had to remember this room. It was Rom’s own room, to which he had carried her from the Blue Suite, and she had to remember every single thing in it so that years later she could come back here in her mind. Even on her deathbed she must be able to come back here and walk across the deep white carpet, knowing that behind her Rom still slept… Particularly on her deathbed. She had to remember this chair on which his clothes lay and the pattern made by his shirt against the gold brocaded silk… and she traced with one finger the fleurs de lys woven in Lyons two hundred years ago so that she, a ruined girl and the happiest person in the world, could delight in their intricacy.

—A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson

[pwlanier]

DOUGLAS SWAN (AMERICAN/BRITISH 1930-2000)

TABLE TOP FIGURE, 1957

Signed, titled and dated (to reverse), oil on board

Lyon and Turnbull

[sometimesigif]

⬇️ Tag drop ⬇️

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[infinitelystrangemachinex]

book asks: 3, 13 16, 20

3. What were your top five books of the year?

The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey

The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

13. What were your least favorite books of the year?

5. Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko 4. Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse 3. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson 2. The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons 1. The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

I finished the last three Wheel of TIme books and I've found that series to be overhyped as a whole, but I feel like that's low-hanging fruit for me. And I read a few new releases that were pretty disappointing, but I feel like the publishers gave up on marketing them before even their covers or titles were released, so they weren't hyped?

I'll go with The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan. I actually really enjoyed this book, but the fantasy community hyped up this debut as the next ASOIAF but make it The Witcher. I think I've gotten better lately at tempering my expectations with mega-hype like that, but I ended up getting my hopes up way high anyway. If it hadn't been hyped and if it hadn't been compared to ASOIAF or The Witcher, this probably would've been one of my favorite reads of the year. In that sense, the trilogy almost feels set up to fail. It's a fine story - not an amazing one, but it's definitely fine, and Vonvalt is easily the most interesting character with his loyal, reliable, straitlaced side that serves the kingdom and solves the murder mystery (the Ned Stark side), and his passionate, disaffected, violent, unpredictable side that just wants to protect his found family (the Geralt of Rivia side, though I don't mean to call Geralt violent or unpredictable in the same way Vonvalt is).

However, you can tell this is Swan's first book in pretty much every aspect of the writing, I don't think the female lead POV is the best choice especially because Swan worked in some rapey and Freudian weirdness with her that didn't need to be there, and I was extremely underwhelmed by Vonvalt's motivations during the ending. It's just not as clever or as lush or deep of a book as I'd been hoping for.

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

My MOST anticipated release was def Nona the Ninth (TLT #3) by Tamsyn Muir. I actually lowered my expectations hugely for this book after reading book 2, and after Muir announced there was going to be 4 books instead of 3. So I expected 3 to feel transitory and incomplete. Also, The Locked Tomb series has been getting its own hate club over the last couple years, as is typical of media that lots of women and girls like, but I think it's gotten some fair criticism for being badly marketed ("Space lesbians!" slogans instead of talking about the magic or the world or the twists or the EXTREMELY dark places the story goes to) and for its fandom.

After rereading the first two books as physical copies instead of audiobooks this time, and then going into book 3, Nona turned out to be amazing and it completely took me by surprise. Easily one of the strangest books I've ever read, but one of my favorites too.

[histoireettralala]

Claude de France

Claude de France (1499-1524) Queen of France, duchess of Brittany, countess of Blois, first consort of King Francis I

The "good queen" Claude- today overshadowed by her husband King Francis I- was born in 1499 to Queen Anne de Bretagne and her second husband Louis XII. Bonfires signaled rejoicing throughout the realm for, with the help of Saint Claude, a viable child had been born. The princess, although not the desired son, was fashioned in her mother's pious image to become both sovereign duchess of Brittany and empress (she was engaged to the future Charles V at age two) or queen (of France, as her father, before her first birthday, had secretly declared). A decade later, her sole sibling, Renée de France, the remarkable future Protestant Duchess of Ferrara, would again owe her name to another saintly protector of women in search of a child. Thus if Queen Claude inherited Queen Anne's limp, her ability to bear relatively healthy offspring was entirely her own. Her engagement in 1506 and her marriage in 1514 consolidated the first prince of the blood's claim to the throne, but after seven debilitating pregnancies in ten years (Louise, Charlotte, François, Henri, Madeleine, Charles, Marguerite), the tired body of this honored "daughter, wife and mother" of kings collapsed at the tender age of 24.

The canonization of Francis of Paola (1519) promoted by Claude and her mother-in-law Louise de Savoie in gratitude for protection from illness and the births of namesake male heirs, betrays the inextricable intertwining of the two sides of the royal family, programmed from 1498. Claude's parents willfully empowered their female progeny; thus when King Francis I descended into Italy the first year of their respective reigns, the pageantry in Lyon depicted him entering Milan to "defend the rights of the two daughters of France." Although a princess raised to be queen, Claude learned to share her husband with other women, and her power and its public expression with strong female kin, especially Louise de Savoie, named regent in her stead, and her sister-in-law Marguerite de Navarre. Legend and neglect have imposed the image of an ever-with-child, sweet, and submissive queen. Yet this eloquent and cultivated bearer of legitimacy commanded respect and carved out a space of her own in the cities of the realm (the townspeople cast her as Justice and Wise Counsel), in her duchy of Brittany and in her Loire Valley territories, especially at the castle of Blois. Shortly after his accession, her husband flaunted his monogram "F" and his emblem, the salamander, on the spectacular new façades of the castle of Blois's "wing of Francis I"; but on the cornice and ceremonial staircase and over the fireplaces, these cohabitated with his consort's at what was in fact her regal home. Here and elsewhere, her emblems- the ermine, occasionally on a leash with the motto A ma vie (To my life), her knotted rope, her swan pierced by an arrow, and her full moon with the device Candida candidis (candid for the candid)- called attention to the queen.

A primer made for this daughter of privilege stages her with her sister Renée, as children tutored by Saint Anne and under the protection of Saint Claude, while learning to read and write; and learning came to be a feature at the heart of the queen's persona. Following her accession in 1515, Claude became mistress of the castle of Blois with its royal library, her mother's manuscripts probably among its precious volumes, to which the king, in an incident of 1516, did not have a key. Her Book of Prayers, by the "Master of Queen Claude", returns to the then commonly depicted theme of Saint Anne as educator, but its pages are uncommonly packed with illuminations in which books form an insistent leitmotiv [..] Tapestries depicting scenes from Christine de Pizan's City of Ladies, these too inherited from her mother, hung into the rooms of the castles of Amboise and/or Blois, frequented by her twelve ladies-in-waiting (including Anne Boleyn and Diane de Poitiers). The writer Anne de Graville commissioned a picture of herself offering her mistress Claude one of the works she dedicated to her, thereby providing us with a rare inside vision of the city of ladies surrounding Claude.

In a final act of independence, the queen bequeathed Brittany not to her husband but to her son, the dauphin. Rather than willfulness, though, sensitivity to the plight of her subjects had colored numerous episodes of her life. During her entry into Nantes in 1518, when the town offered her a costly heart of gold flanked with ermine, she promptly gave it back. Shortly before her death she endowed the building of a cemetary in a suburb of Blois for those who had succumbed to the plague. Such symbolic gestures, combining strength and humility, help us to comprehend why the memory of the short-lived Claude lingered on. Miracles were said to occur around her body, laid to rest in her parents' chapel of Saint Calais in 1524. Subsequently, her second son, King Henri II (of the seven siblings, only he and his sister Marguerite, future duchesse de Savoie, outlived their father) immortalized her on a monumental tomb at Saint-Denis. And in her Book of Hours, Catherine de Médicis inserted Claude's portrait near that of Eleonora of Austria, Francis I's second wife, forging an unexpected double embodiment of a powerful queenly ideal.

Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier- Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance

[papermoonloveslucy]

DESILU DOG POUND

Canine Companions on Lucycoms!

Woof!  Open the kennels and take a look at all the dogs, pups, and canine pets in the Lucyverse!

In Annabel Takes a Tour (1938), Annabel (Lucille Ball) has a Terrier named Elmer. 

In The Big Street (1942), Gloria Lyons (Lucille Ball) has a lap dog she calls Baby. Pinks (Henry Fonda) rescues Baby from being run over by a car. 

Probably one of the most famous dogs on television was Fred the dog. Little Ricky's friend Billy Palmer gave him a puppy to take home in January 1957 and he became part of the Ricardo family. Landlord Fred Mertz tells Lucy and Ricky their lease prohibits pets, but he bends the rules when Little Ricky names his puppy Fred. 

LITTLE RICKY: “I always name my pets after people I like.”

Fred the dog was played by a Cairn Terrier named was Danny. He was trained by Bob Blair and was owned by Frank Inn. Danny also played Fremont, Mr. Wilson's dog on "Dennis the Menace" (1959-63). In films, he was Snuffy in Pal Joey (1957), Muffy in Anatomy of Murder (1959), and Pepe in the final Three Stooges short Sappy Bullfighters (1959). Fred the dog would make the move to Connecticut with the Ricardos, but is not seen or mentioned during “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” episodes.  While he was the most popular, Fred was not the only dog seen on “I Love Lucy”...

At the end of “Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her” (1951), the very first episode of “I Love Lucy” filmed, a dog act makes an appearance.  An established vaudeville act, Hector and His Pals was also seen in the film Easter Parade in 1948. The dog trainer Hector, calls one of the dogs by its real name ‘Yorkie’. In the episode, the dogs are named Ann, Mary, Helen, Cynthia, Alice, and Theodore. Lucy hears the dogs’ names and thinks they are women Ricky is having an affair with - until she hears Theodore! 

In the third episode aired, Butch, Fred’s mutt (as far as we can guess) stays under the table hoping for scraps in “The Diet” (1951) and then never heard of again. Unbeknownst to the others, a starving Lucy crawls under the table with Butch to intercept any tasty morsels meant for the dog. 

Butch looks quite alarmed by the crazy lady under the table!

Sneaking into Richard Widmark’s mansion in “The Tour” (1955), Lucy hides under a bear rug - which just happens to be the favorite spot of Widmark’s St. Bernard Cap. 

In “Second Honeymoon” (1956), a lonely Lucy asks Rocky the Bloodhound if he wants to play ping pong. Randy Rocky is tempted away by a French Poodle on a stroll. 

Lassie, the most famous canine in Hollywood history, turned up on “The Desilu Revue” in 1959. The series was filmed at Desilu Studios. Lucy and Desi enlisted the participation of all the Desilu stars in their Christmas special. Lassie was first mentioned by Lucy Ricardo in “The Young Fans” (1952).

In the very first episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1962, Tiger the dog belongs to Lucy's neighbor and boyfriend Harry Connors (Dick Martin), who we will meet in episode two. A dog named Tiger was also featured on TV's “The Brady Bunch” (1969-1974). Here Tiger serves more as a plot device than pet. This is his one and only appeareance on the series. 

When “Lucy and Viv Learn Judo” (1963), the Carmichaels dogsit with Alvin, played by Hey!  The dog belong’s to Jerry’s friend Amy Schaffer. 

The final scene of the episode features a dozen dogs of various breeds, who come running at the silent sound of a dog whistle! 

In the first frame of the June 1963 “The Lucy Show” Gold Key comic book, Jerry brings home a shaggy dog which Viv mistakes for a monster!   

“Kiddie Parties Inc.” (1963) features Thunderbolt, a basset hound with more folds than an oragami swan. 

In “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer” (1964) ~ Lucy complains when Mr. Mooney’s barking sheepdog Nelson (played by Lord Nelson) keeps her up all night. He tells her to sue him, and she does. After making a mockery of the court proceedings by acting as her own attorney, she finally wins her case by cross-examining Nelson. The neighborhood canines include: 

Howard McAdams’ Pomeranian

Audrey Simmons’ Beagle 

Grandma Sutton’s Airedale

The Hamilton’s Police Dog

Nelson is the only dog to appear on screen, with voice actor Pinto Colvig providing the off-screen barks for the other dogs.

Lord Nelson (Nelson) makes his first appearance as Mr. Mooney’s dog. He will also appear in “Lucy’s Contact Lenses” and would go on to appear on “Here’s Lucy” as Bogie in “Lucy and the Bogie Affair”. From 1965 to 1967, he played Ladadog (aka Lad) on “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” and reprised the role of Nelson on “The Doris Day Show” from 1968 to 1971.  

To keep Nelson in check, dog trainer Bob Blair plays the Bailiff. 

In “Lucy and Clint Walker” (1965) Lightning, a lethargic Basset Hound, has a propensity to fall asleep, much like his master did Frank Winslow (Clint Walker) in “Lucy and the Sleeping Beauty”.  

“Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (1966) has Lucy playing Charlie Chaplin in an acting school recital. The sketch features a mutt befriending the Tramp for his sandwich. 

“Lucy at the Drive-In Movie” (1969) has Lucy searching through the passion pit cars for Kim and her new boyfriend. She mistakes an Afghan Hound for a long-haired woman. 

In “Lucy and the Bogie Affair” (1969) Kim and Craig bring home a stray sheepdog (played by Lord Nelson) which they call Bogie because it has the same sad look standing in the rain as Humphrey Bogart does at the end of 1942's Casablanca.  

When Bogie turns out to be a she and gives birth to a litter of puppies, the Carters must find a home for the baby Bogies. 

Lucy tries to give one of the pups to exercise guru Jack LaLanne, but only ends up taking one of Happy’s pups. Happy was LaLanne’s real-life dog appearing with him on many of his television shows.

“The Bow-Wow Boutique” (1973) has Lucy, Kim and Harry opening a dog grooming business.  Their clients include: 

Louie, a French Spaniel

Winston, a Bloodhound

Teddy, an English Bulldog

Tiger, a Yorkshire Terrier

Tinkerbell, a St. Bernard

and an un-named Daschund

LUCY THE PUP

[mplaylistdiaries]

January 2019

Summary: I had just started my final spring semester of college and I was barely hanging on going to my internship, classes, prepping for my last shows for the semester, going to my job, cutting out a very toxic friend out of my life, grappling with the unraveling of coming out not of my own accord to my parents, and so many other things that I didn’t even want to even start thinking about. 

At the time I felt so small and scared about everything going on around me because I felt so ill prepared for the future. I had no idea what I should be doing and how I was going to even accomplish any of the things I wanted to do. Heck. I didn’t even know if I was going to even be able to achieve any of it. 

It just all seemed so impossible and everyone else seemed to have some kind of plan for the future on what they were going to do next and excited about us all leaving. It felt like no one noticed how upset or sad I was about how our journey was coming to an end and we were all going to have to live out separate lives. Even though, that wasn’t true at all. It was still how I felt at the time and this playlist reflects all of my feelings at the time. 

PLAYLIST LINK

Prologue by Into the Woods Company

The Bells of Notre Dame by David Ogden Stiers, Tony Jay, Paul Kandel, and Chorus

Newsies by Jermey Jordan & Newsies Company

Be Prepared by Jeremey Irons, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jim Cummings

Ignite by Casey Lee Williams & Lamar Hall

I Just Can’t Wait To be King by Jason Weaver, Rowan Atkinson, and Laura Williams

Last Surprise by Lyn

I’ll Make A Man Out Of You by Donny Osmond & Chorus

Life Will Change by Lyn

Smile by Casey Lee Williams & Jeff Williams

Seasons of Warfare by Buttercup

He Lives In You by Lebo M.

Seasons of Love by RENT Company

Simple & Clean by Hikaru Utada

Evermore by Dan Stevens

It’s My Turn by Jeff Williams ft. Casey Lee Williams 

Watch What Happens by Kara Lindsay

Go The Distance by Roger Bart

Breathe by Mandy & In the Heights Company

Rivers in the Desert by Lyn

Defying Gravity by Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth

This Time by Jeff Williams & Casey Lee Williams

Through Heaven’s Eyes by Brian Stokes Mitchell

The Heirtors of Arcadia by Silque

We Are One by Cam Clarke, Charity Sanoy, Ladysmith Black Mambazo

This Is My Idea by Swan Princess Cast

Honor to Us All by Lea Salonga, Beth Fowler, Marni Nixon, and Chorus

This Life is Mine by Casey Lee Williams

Good Little Girl/Bad Little Boy by Adventure Time, Donald Glover, Madeline Martin, Roz Ryan

Bad Reputation by Shawn Mendes

At The Beginning by Richard Marx & Donna Lewis

I Need To Know by Melissa Lyons & Alessandro Juliani

I See The Light by Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi

A Million Dreams by Zif Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams

What Am I To You by Adventure Time, Jeremy Shada, Olivia Olson, and Hynden Watch

Call It What You Want by Taylor Swift

You Can’t Stop the Beat by Elijah Kelley, John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes

How Does A Moment Last Forever by Celine Dion

Drift Away by Cristina See

Why by Ayaka

Beneath the Mask by Lyn

Reflection by Lea Salonga

The Path to Isolation by Jeff Williams & Casey Lee Williams 

Never Enough by Loren Allred

Lost in Thoughts All Alone by AmaLee

I Won’t Say I’m in Love by Susan Egan, Cheryl Freeman, LaChanze, Vaneese Thomas, Lillias White

All Gummed Up Inside by Adventure Time, Jeremy Shada, John DiMaggio

Like To Be You by Shawn Mendes ft. Julia Micheals

You Will Be Found by Ben Platt, Kristolyn Lloyd, Will Roland, Laura Dreyfuss, and Dear Evan Hansen Cast

Show Yourself by Idina Menzel & Evan Rachel Wood

Wake up, Get up, Get out by Lyn

Days in the Sun by Beauty and the Beast Cast

All That Matters by Jeff Williams & Casey Lee Williams

Slow Dance With You by Babeo Baggins

Tightrope by Michelle Williams

The Triumph by Jeff Williams & Casey Lee Williams

[marioclubart]

ASSELYN, Jan Dutch painter (b. ca. 1610, Dieppe, d. 1652, Amsterdam) The Threatened Swan c. 1650 Oil on canvas, 144 x 171 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Asselyn's early works, dated 1634 and 1635, are little views of ferocious cavalry skirmishes which suggest he was apprenticed to Jan Marsten the Younger, a Haarlem battle painter who was a pupil and follower of Esaias van de Velde. Soon afterwards he was said to have travelled to Rome and remained there until about 1643-44. No painting can be documented to his Roman sojourn but on the basis of stylistic evidence a sufficient number establish he was there, and had close contact with the Bamboccianti as well as an opportunity to take a hard look at Claude's landscapes. Additionally, he made drawings, often animated with wash, of the grand and modest sights of Rome. Asselyn returned to the Netherlands via France where he married in Lyon in 1644-45. Then he moved to Paris where he worked with Swanevelt. By 1647 he was in Amsterdam where he spent the remaining five years of his life. During the brief period he specialized in Italian views saturated with silvery and golden atmospheric effect; he was one of the first to bring Claude's pure and light way of painting landscapes to Holland. He also painted winter and night scenes and views of his native land, and pictures of animals and birds as well. His Threatened Swan depicts a life-size swan defending its nest against a dog swimming towards it. With menacingly outspread wings, the swan is vigorously defending its nest against the dog swimming up from the left. The scattered feathers and the low angle from which the bird is viewed emphasize its fury. The painting was transformed at a later date into an allegory on the vigilance of the Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt by inscriptions added by an unknown hand: under the swan 'De Raad-Pensionarie' (the Grand Pensionary); on one of the eggs in the nest 'Holland'; and above the dog, 'de viand van de Staat' (the enemy of the State). Thus the swan was meant to represent the Grand Pensionary protecting Holland. The enemy was presumably De Witt's adversary, England.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

So, I’m a big fan of the regular stand-up format: funny stories for varying lengths of time that average out to an hour, callbacks, building up a theme, tying threads together, serious and/or sad bit at the end, try getting overly personal or overly political if you think you have the chops to handle it (because it’s fantastic if done well and really hard to watch if done badly), preferably some meta commentary, up to four traditional punchline-driven jokes if there’s enough time. It’s an excellent formula.

I don’t completely object to experimentation. Nick Helm and Rhys James made me realize that spoken word poetry is probably the artsiest thing I really like in a stand-up show. And I often like people who add music in there. Sometimes I even don’t mind a prop or a costume.

What I find it less easy to get into is sketch comedy, and/or character comedy, something with a narrative that’s entirely fictional. Physical comedy. Anything that can be described with the word “clowning”. I think this is why I don’t mind that a lot of the comedy recordings I have are audio only. The visual side isn’t a big part of what I enjoy in most comedy.

Basically, I'm a big fan of stuff that was called alternative comedy twenty or more years ago, when the thing to which it was an alternative was just a misogynist going setup-punchline for 30 minutes straight. Whereas stuff that's called alternative now can be literally anything, and some of it I like, and some of it makes my chest feel weirdly tight in an uncanny valley sort of way. I don't like puppets. I'm glad everyone else is having a good time but I don't like the puppets.

I’ve posted about this before, and usually add that every once in a while I’ll watch something like that to try to expand my horizons. Here’s how that’s gone.

Shows that have made me think – yep, I was right to believe this isn’t for me, I mean I’m really glad everyone’s having a good time and I wish them the best and I can appreciate that this might be technically very well made, but not for me:

- The Delightful Sausage – Nowt But Sea

- Mr. Swallow – Houdini

- Phil Ellis - Excellent Comedy Show

- Anything with that little purple Feltface puppet

- I watched this show called Siblings that was streamed from the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe because it was a variety show and I wanted to know what that was like, there was someone who spun hula hoops and removed her clothes and someone else who juggled fire and various sketches and a drag queen and one guy who just slipped on banana skins as his whole act, I was very impressed with some of the technical skills on display but it also felt weird and uncomfortable and the only part where I had any idea what was going on was when Tom Ballard came on to tell jokes about his sex life and made me say “Oh thank God for something I recognize”

- Anna Man – A Sketch Show For Depressives

- Elf Lyons – Swan (to be fair, this is probably a lot funnier if you’re familiar with how ballet works)

- Christopher Bliss – Writing Wrongs (this barely belongs on the list because it’s very accessible, but technically it counts because the whole thing was in character, and the character seemed to pretty much have one joke, and that one joke was quite funny but not for a whole hour)

A lot of it made me laugh but it still gave me this strong sense of "this isn't really my thing":

- Lorna Rose Treen – Skin Pigeon

- Joseph Morpurgo – Hammerhead

Shows that have made me think – actually, I could be cultured and understand outside-the-box comedy, I am enjoying this a lot:

- The Delightful Sausage – Ginster’s Paradise (I don’t think this was actually more accessible than Nowt But Sea, I think it just watched it second and enjoyed it more once I’d figured out what to expect from them)

- John-Luke Roberts in general

- Zoe Coombs Marr in general

- Lazy Susan – Forgive Me, Mother!

- Crizards – Cowboys

- Does Jordan Brookes count? I went into his stuff thinking it might be too experimental for me, but then it ended up being much more accessible than I’d expected, I did really like it though.

Shows that I can definitely tell are very good, and they made me laugh and think at the right places, but also made me really uncomfortable while watching them and I don’t know if I could call the experience enjoyable, but it was still good in some other way I think, I mean I recently mentioned in a post that I find John Robins “pussy line” routine mildly uncomfortable just because I’m a bit squeamish about hearing someone say the word “pussy” that many times in a few minutes and this sure did have a challenge for that side of me, also I find puppets difficult to look at, but seriously, they were really good, they made me feel a lot of things in the way I believe art is supposed to, I mean they made me feel a bit anxious in a squeamish way but also I think made me feel some proper art things alongside that, and they were funny, overall I’d probably pay good money to see her live but only if I’m allowed to close my eyes at some parts, it’s at times like this that I remember I am a jock/athlete that migrated to this level of art appreciation in my thirties, I do not have the type of theatre kid background that may be necessary to be unbothered by all the weird shit going on in this, but still, really really good and I highly recommend them though with the caveat of trigger warning for like everything:

Natalie Palamides – Laid

Natalie Palamides – Nate