#the more i think about it the more lyrics i’m relating to hamlet

[likealizardyousay]

i made my mom listen to iDKHOW and she said that she imagines the singer as David Tennant’s Hamlet and i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it

do the vibes weirdly match or am i crazy tumblr help i am going insane over this

[anxiety-lemsbian]

‧͙⁺˚･˖ ࣪⭑☾[ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴀʙʙɪᴛꜱ ɢʟᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴀꜱ ᴡᴇ ᴅʀᴏᴠᴇ ᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴏᴀᴅ? ᴊᴇᴀʟᴏᴜꜱ, ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ, ᴏʀ ꜱᴄᴀʀᴇᴅ. ɪ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ʜᴇʀ ᴡᴀɪᴛɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴᴅᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴅʀᴏᴘ. ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀᴛɪɴ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏx ɪꜱ ᴠᴜʟᴘᴇꜱ ᴠᴜʟᴘᴇꜱ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ꜱᴏᴜɴᴅᴇᴅ ɴɪᴄᴇ.]☽˖ ࣪⭑･˚⁺‧͙

hi! i'm aster.

she/they, minor, ENG + some ESP and Auslan, poet, audhd, sapphic ace, careless man’s careful daughter, infj, shark lover, lucy dacus listener, aries sun, gemini moon, pisces rising, #1 boygenius (+ solo careers) obsessor, ravenclaw but FUCK JKR, pinterest princess (androgynous), aspiring forest witch, chronic fatigue + generalized anxiety disorder + depression sufferer, greek salad lover

FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

current hyperfixation/talk to me about:

the ark x boygenius parallels

special interests:

sylvia plath, boygenius, bluey, sharks

fandoms:

everything sucks, boygenius (+solo careers), jucy, gilmore girls, brooklyn 99, heartbreak high, bluey, bridgerton, osemanverse, sunflowers and lavender, kiki’s delivery service, hamilton, matilda the musical, ruby redfort, aurora cycle (zila's my GIRL), nevermoor, stargirl, agggtm, biac, wednesday, lady bird, the owl house

books:

the anthropocene reviewed, the bell jar, stargirl, loveless, radio silence, death sets sail, goddess girls series, dear poppy, aurora cycle, anne of green gables series, sick bay, henry hamlet’s heart, hani and ishu’s guide to fake dating, nevermoor, iwbft, heartstopper, solitare

ships:

wenclair, lumity, cazzie, emisue,

artists:

lucy dacus, chappell roan, hozier, florence and the machine, radiohead, phoebe bridgers, julien baker, gracie abrams, noah kahan, boygenius, taylor swift? (melbourne n3), lorde, cavetown, mitski, eliza and the delusionals, boyish, beabadoobee

songs:

claw machine, nuvole bianche, leonard cohen, garden song, there it goes, triple dog dare, home by now, no surprises, cartwheel, me and my dog, american teenager, good news, scorpio rising, townie, last words of a shooting star, strawberry blond, we’re in love

playlist:

psa: when i use 'girl' in relation to me (crafty girl summer, etc.) i mean it androdgynously :))

my sideblogs are:

@leftfromrightfromwrong : boygenius and sometimes art

@listen2yourownvoice : radio silence+ a bit of general osemanverse

tags: # aster writes- poetry. #aster writes i guess- more poetry. #asters saved posts- saved posts. #aster loves boygenius- me loving boygenius. #aster's lyric rambles- when i just post a bunch of song lyrics in a format. #aster bawls on the floor- due to sadness, cringiness or laughter, i am on the floor and out for the count. # aster thinks (not really) - what it sounds like pretty much # it’s me i’m the girlfriend - can’t even explain this one actually #percy <3- literally just @trashmeowcan #ari 🌻 - @waitingforthesunrise

@asterisalemsbian • Pronouns.page

link to my old intro post:

[1moreff-creator]

Is anyone still trying to figure out the final code on the MV? The one with (the world of abnormal sentiment dances)? No judgement, I have no idea what's going on with it either, but I'm surprised there's so little discussion of it. I’m making this post to share some observations, and some of the things I’ve tried as I go insane over this MV. Warning, don’t expect anything too revolutionary.

+First, the code doesn't have a direct parallel in the original LGI MV, so no clues there.

+But I did find something possibly peculiar. You know the "find the 'n'" bit that shows up right after it? Well, it's lifted straight from the original LGI video, but the symbol you're supposed to find there is somewhere else.

That's the equivalent from the og LGI.

And there's the n. It's in a completely different spot, which makes me wonder if it's somehow related to the code. The n does pretty much coincide with a number of the images. Here's a transcription of the numbers, with the numbers related to the n in blue (you should still check I didn't fuck anything up though). Italics and bold means I'm not completely sure about the number.

1 4 6 3 1 4 8 4 2 6 8

1 7 3 7 4 1 0 2 0 1 4

3 0 3 6 4 5 1 1 7 5 9

2 3 3 6 8 6 3 6 2 7 8

9 3 0 4 0 4 9 2 3 7 4

3 0 8 2 4 3 6 7 7 2 0

6 9 7 0 5 2 1 7 3 2 6

&

4 3 6 0 7 8 8 6 5 0 3

7 1 8 8 1 1 5 2 5 7 9

8 7 6 4 3 2 1 6 8 6 4

9 5 6 2 8 0 7 1 3 5 3

0 8 5 9 5 6 3 3 0 7 1

7 5 8 1 4 9 8 3 7 5 2

9 1 4 4 4 1 0 0 5 2 6

Does it mean anything? Hell if I know! I have no idea how any of this works!

+Perhaps a more out there possibility is the changed alphabet. I've mentioned it before, but there's a point in the David MV where a modified alphabet shows up.

In case you can't tell, not only are letters listed in both capital and non-capital form, the alphabet ends W-U-X instead of W-X-Y-Z. This changed alphabet is not in the original LGI.

This is the equivalent scene. You can see it's perfectly fine, and as far as I can tell (aka: zero Japanese, just the translation and vibes) the letters aren't listed twice. And this is the video the David MV is based on, there are a lot of similarities.

This would imply, in my mind at least, that the alphabet was changed for a reason. I've seen it interpreted as another sign David doesn't see himself as human, as he doesn't even use the same alphabet, but it feels like a weird way to go about showing that to me.

So, uh, if you're trying something, and some words don't look right, maybe this can help?

+I have no idea what footnote 14 is supposed to be. "Hint: word length of 256". I've seen it suggested that it relates back to Hamlet's "To be or not to be" thing, but... while I think I did see one source with 256 words once, the word count is highly inconsistent throughout the internet, and almost none of them have it as 256 words. I checked with wordcounter.net.

-Wikipedia: 275 words.

-Poetry Foundation: 259 words.

-Poets.org: 276 words.

-Nosweatshakespeare: 275 words.

-Representative Poetry Online: 265 words

-Shakespeare Resource Center: 261 words.

-Litcharts: 273 words.

See the issue here? And now I don't have any idea what footnote 14 is. Here's some other things that it isn't.

+Literature Girl Insane: >256 words.

+Colored lyrics in the MV: ~190 words

+Lemon: Way more than 256 words

+The part of lemon in the MV: 113 words.

+The defense of Socrates: Way more than 256 words.

+The defense of Socrates, but only the part in the MV, and extended to the next end of sentence: I want to cry. 257 words. 257. One off. Why? Why are you like this? Please, someone check the fucking text and tell me I accidentally pasted in a word I shouldn't have. PLEASE-

+That part of the Little Prince in that one part before the tally 5 code: 198 words.

+Undefeated by the Rain poem: 139 words (in English Wikipedia, or 180, in the English translation found in Spanish Wikipedia, because my life can't just be easy so apparently the English version of the poem is different in different languages of Wikipedia what-)

+Just the correct/incorrect code: The most is 247 characters, if you include "correct13" and "incorrect".

+Yamanashi, the story "kapukapu" comes from: Thousands of words.

I didn't check anything else, but I can't for the life of me find what this is referring to. And it feels important, seeing as it's on the goddamn equal sign. Maybe it’s one of those excerpts from that part of the MV right before the “correct/incorrect” code? I don’t know.

If it helps, I’m pretty sure the code’s going to translate to something related to Xander, seeing as his numeral flashes on screen right before that. And because of that, it’s possible this 256 word thing refers to some kind of revolutionary speech or text or something the like.

How would the footnote matter? Well, you know the ampersand symbol (&) that shows up between the numbers?

Maybe, if we put the numbers on both rows together:

14 43 66 30 17 48 88 46 25 60 83

17 71 38 78 41 11 05 22 05 17 49

38 07 36 64 43 52 11 16 78 56 94

29 35 36 62 88 60 37 61 23 75 83

90 38 05 49 05 46 93 23 30 77 41

37 05 88 21 44 39 68 73 77 25 02

69 91 74 04 54 21 10 70 35 22 66

Then reference whatever text is 256 words long, we can assign each number a word. Possibly, we would only start where the n appears, just to give that some meaning.

Like, here's what you get if you do that with the Wikipedia version of "To be or not to be", starting with the 05 the n represents (starting from the beginning gives you a completely nonsensical message, I didn't even go all the way).

to - sleep - to - and - dream - of - against - to - die - opposing - to - that - and - no - them - consummation - to - to - fortune - be - devoutly - death - die - not - the - and - question - to - and - arrows - ‘tis

Like, that almost sounds like it works, but obviously we would need to find the actual text of 256 words, which isn’t the Wikipedia version of the Hamlet speech. I also tried with the Socrates text, but I don't think it works (from the n you get, like, "O - but - O - word - ashamed", and that's going to be in there even if you start from the beginning).

I also tried some kind of alphabet cypher thing, both with the regular alphabet and with the modified alphabet, and while I would like second opinions on account of my skill issues, I didn’t get anything.

If that’s not what the ampersand is for, here's what you get if you add the numbers together instead of just putting them next to each other:

5 7 12 3 8 12 16 10 7 6 11

8 8 11 15 5 2 5 4 5 8 13

11 7 9 10 7 7 2 7 15 11 13

11 8 9 8 16 6 10 7 5 12 11

9 11 5 13 5 10 12 5 3 14 5

10 5 16 3 8 12 14 10 14 7 2

15 10 11 4 9 3 1 7 8 4 12

It looks like it could be translated to hex almost perfectly, with the 16s possibly just translated to 10s, but I don't know what to do with it. I tried converting to hex and just putting it in as a Tumblr image URL, but nothing. Though there’s a chance I just didn’t do it right, I guess. I even took the first part up to the "n" and put it in th goddamn tally 5 page just in case it did something, but no. I tried the "word association" thing with the Hamlet thing as well, but nothing. Also tried alphabet cypher, even with the modified alphabet, and nothing. But again, any cypher cracking I tried to do should be taken with a grain of salt, since I’m a bit of an idiot at it.

One thing I didn’t do, simply because I don’t know how to, is try to use column cyphers. You can look them up and try them yourself, but I sorta doubt that’s the answer.

Finally, it’s a possibility “world length of 256” is actually some kind of cypher key. Like, not whatever it’s referencing, just “word length of 256” as a key. I severely doubt it, but if anyone wants to try it, be my guest.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, I kinda just wanted to tell someone, I guess. I’m going insane over most of the MV anyways, might as well share a bit of the madness. Also because of the content drought caused by me working on the MV video which is coming I promise but it’s going to take a while-

Anyways, thanks for reading my inane ramblings for so long! Take care!

[withasideofshakespeare]

hi you have asks open now! here are some numbers for the ask game. 20 23 31 42 45 (i am incapable of actually copypasting the questions. sorry)

I’m not gonna lie, I totally forgot that I never answered these asks!!!

20. Favorite female character?

Ooh this is hard. Ophelia is my favorite female character to write about, closely followed by Gertrude. This probably makes them my favorites overall.

Since I HC that Viola/Cesario is non-binary, I don’t know if they count, but I absolutely love them. I find them one of the most relatable characters across any of the plays I’ve read (and I love them for it!)

23. Favorite reoccurring theme/motif?

THE WEATHER!!! I love the “bad weather=bad things” motif so, so much. It’s such a fun way to foreshadow events and set a mood! My favorite example are the “unnatural” weather patterns in Macbeth on the night of Duncan’s murder (I could talk about it for ages), closely followed by the mood-setting cold wind and darkness in Hamlet.

31. Is Hamlet 19 or 30? Does it matter?

19 or younger and it matters SO MUCH. This is the question that spurred my hours-long inconclusive deep dive into the canonical age of our sweet prince. As it turns out, practically every single version of the play contradicts the others or offers us nothing of use. First Quarto gives us very little (Hamlet is probably at least 12 if the skull is Yorick’s), Second Quarto says 30, and First Folio contradicts itself. I firmly believe that Hamlet works best if Hamlet’s young. It makes his response to his grief and relationships (and even his life as a university student) much more real and sympathetic. (Do we really want our 30-year-old lead screaming at his mother and practically rewriting MCR lyrics in his soliloquies?)

Some of this is also projection- I am also a believer in the “Hamlet is as old as you are right now/Hamlet is the age you were when you first read the play” theory, so my Hamlet is forever 15, my age when I first read his play. 

42. Are you predominantly a drama nerd, a literature nerd, a history nerd, or something else?

A literature nerd! Believe it or not, my only theater experience until this year (I’m an audio techie for my school’s Anastasia) was crying at a musical audition at age 14. I did have quite the history hyperfixation through my middle school years, but I’ve always trended back towards literature. I read Macbeth for an English class when I was 15 and fell in love with Shakespeare’s works. Performing these plays, even for the tiny audiences I’ve had has really pulled me out of my shell. I can see myself being a literature and drama nerd in the future.

45. Share a Shakespearean hot take or unpopular opinion.

OH BOY I have so many. But since brevity is the soul of wit (forget the “limbs and flourishes,” Polonius!), I’ll pick just one. This isn’t a hot take in the circles I’m in, but it seems like some “traditional” Shakespeare scholars (*cough* boring English teachers) seem to think that the value of Shakespeare’s work is intrinsic and comes from simply reading them silently to yourself in a dimly lit classroom that smells vaguely of the despair of English students past. I could not disagree more. Unlike novels, plays rely on their actors to function! Sure, there’s a story in the words alone, but an actor’s emotion is what really makes it come to life. There’s more value in watching a production of a play or even reading it aloud (even if you stumble over every other line) than silently picking through words. Reading Shakespeare isn’t about proving you’re smart enough to read Shakespeare, it’s about having fun and connecting to the characters! I wish more English professors would see it this way! (As a teacher-to-be, I certainly plan to!)

[crowdvscritic]

best picture project // THE ‘40s: WARTIME + PRESTIGE

In the immortal words of Don McLean, a long, long time ago, I can still remember how I wrote about the 1930s for my Best Picture Project. (Don’t fact check those lyrics to “American Pie.”) I titled that overview of the decade “Chaos + Influence” in that order—chaos led the Academy’s way through the Great Depression. In the 1940s, though, the motion picture community embraced the organization, and in many cases, it was because they realized how helpful it could be to their own reputations and pocketbooks. 

At the ceremony honoring 1940, Jimmy Stewart was the only Best Actor nominee to show up, and Katharine Hepburn said on losing for her work in The Philadelphia Story, “Prizes are nothing. My prize is my work.” By 1943, the Golden Globes launched as a copycat show, and by 1945, Joan Crawford was campaigning to win for Mildred Pierce. Henry Rogers, who ran her campaign, said, “You know as well as I do that members of the Academy vote emotionally…I’m confident that people in our business can be influenced by what they read and what they hear.” He’s on record calling acting awards “more of a popularity contest than a talent contest” with “emotional and sometimes practical considerations, none of which have to do with the quality of the performance.” Studios began taking out ads for nominees they had under contract (even if they were nominated for pictures from other studios), and formal betting began in Las Vegas on odds-on favorites.

When Joan Fontaine defeated her sister Olivia de Havilland for Best Actress 1941, her salary didn’t see a change, but her studio, Selznick International, did. The fee for other studios to borrow her talents bumped from $25,000 to $100,000 after her 1940 nomination and to $200,000 after her 1941 win. Never mind that Fontaine had mixed feelings after her win. “Winning an Academy Award is undoubtedly a great accolade, supreme praise from one’s peers, a recognition to be accepted gratefully and graciously,” she said. “It can also damage irreparably one’s relations with family, friends, co-workers, the press…It was a fishbowl existence until the next year’s awards, when a new winner would occupy the throne. Naturally, there was many a doubter, many a detractor, many an ill-wisher. It’s an uneasy head that wears the crown.” 

Still, success wasn’t a given for the industry during wartime, and the Oscars had to pivot like the rest of world. Statues were made of plaster for a time to prevent stealing metal from war efforts, and the 1942 ceremony was almost cancelled because of the U.S. had just jumped into World War II and Carole Lombard had just died in a plane crash while selling war bonds. But the show must go on, so the Academy pared the evening down, hosting a “dinner” instead of a “banquet” and discouraging fancy dress. The format of the show changed several times through the decade, eventually nixing the meal and moving to a theater for good. The Academy might invite soldiers for a variety-style evening, President Roosevelt might make an address, or Jack Benny might host a radio broadcast for soldiers abroad. Special awards were handed out for war-related service, including to Noel Coward for his war film In Which We Serve, the British Ministry of Information “for its vivid and dramatic presentation of the heroism of the RAF” in a documentary, and to Harold Russell “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans” in The Best Years of Our Lives. (Russell also won Best Supporting Actor, making him the only person with two acting Oscars for the same film.) Also of note, Winston Churchill praised Best Picture winner Mrs. Miniver as “propaganda worth a hundred battleships,” an unusual but powerful endorsement of the voting body’s picks.

Wartime adjustments weren’t the only new features. The Academy saw more than one big first:

ABC began broadcasting the show on the radio

New categories were introduced, including for documentaries, foreign language films, and costume design

Ernst Lubitsch won the first Lifetime Achievement Oscar

The Academy started keeping winners secret until announced on stage

Barry Fitzgerald earned noms both for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in Going My Way—oops! A new rule was added to prevent that from happening again

Hamlet became the first non-American Best Picture win, overcoming attitudes like that of one studio exec who said noms for foreign films were “an act of treason.” (Heaven forbid we learn what that guy would think of Parasite!) The Academy had tried to prevent this with special awards for international films, but basically Laurence Olivier would not be denied (to oversimplify it)

And a few moments qualified as blink-and-you-might-miss-this-didn’t-happen-yesterday: 

Fortune reported The Best Years of Our Lives and Gentleman’s Agreement made $2 million more at the box office than they would have if they had not won Best Picture

When How Green Was My Valley won Best Picture, some speculated it was due to recency bias as the last nominee to be released. Today that film is best remembered as the one that somehow won over Citizen Kane, so, um, its reputation has not aged any better

At least two winners, Michael Curtiz and Greer Garson, acknowledged they didn’t have speeches prepared. Garson’s 5½-minute speech pushed the party past 1 a.m., which Jack Black and Will Ferrell would have something to say about

Bottom line: The Academy started as a body with middling influence and transformed into a prestigious organization, not just strong enough to withstand a world war but perhaps even bolstered by it.

Photos: 

1950: The Pantage Theater outside the Academy Awards honoring the films of 1949.

1942: Burgess Meredith watches Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine in a happier (maybe?) moment the night Fontaine bested her sister for Best Actress. When de Havilland passed away last year, you might have seen stories about their rivalry resurface.

1947: Samuel Goldwyn, Harold Russell and William Wyler celebrate eight awards for The Best Years of Our Lives.

1942: Bob Hope hosts for his third time. He hosted or co-hosted the event 19 times between 1940 and 1978.

Resources:

Behind the Oscar: The Secret History of the Academy Awards by Anthony Holden (1993)

Oscars.org (including all photos)

“Oscar Hosts: Performers Who Have Hosted the Academy Awards,” GoldDerby.com (2020)

[invisibleicewands]

His beard bloomed and his hair sprang forth, like a riot of corkscrews, during lockdown. Now Michael Sheen sweeps on to the National Theatre’s Olivier stage in the manner of an Old Testament prophet descending from Mount Snowdon – or must we call it Yr Wyddfa?

Sheen is best known as a great mimic who played Chris Tarrant in last year’s TV series about the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire coughing scandal, Quiz, and Tony Blair in the 2006 film The Queen opposite Helen Mirren – plus David Frost in Peter Morgan’s play and film Frost/Nixon and Brian Clough in the The Damned United movie.

Here though he takes on the role of the narrator in Lyndsey Turner’s bittersweet revival of Dylan Thomas’s verse drama written for radio in 1954 – re-imagined here in a care home. [...]

Looking pallid and paunchy in his creased shirt and saggy trousers, Sheen takes the role of the story’s narrator, made famous by Richard Burton. Only here, Sheen relates the tale not to the audience but to his father, whose memories have been robbed by Alzheimer’s.Inebriated by the whisky he keeps hidden in his jacket, Sheen stumbles eagerly through the verse as if making it up as he goes along – painting pictures of people (and their dreams) in the Carmarthenshire port that lies ‘fast, and slow, asleep’. [...] The care home setting does feel cheerless at first, but it’s a clever way of focusing the rambling yarn. And furniture on casters – including a shop counter, steaming stove and kitchen table, set with multiple cloths to denote different homes – add a sense of magic and playfulness.Nor could you wish for a more loquacious, richer narrator than hirsute, woody-voiced Sheen, who looks like he’s been training outside an off-licence. I just wish it had been bookended with silence rather than someone else’s words. DailyMail

[...] On the circular stage of the reconfigured, socially distanced Olivier auditorium, Brown’s character patiently sets about starting up the day’s routine with the residents drifting in to sit and talk and stare into space. But the temperature climbs with the unexpected arrival of Mr. Jenkins’ son Owain (Michael Sheen), whose short-fuse exasperation turns swiftly to anger when his father cannot or will not communicate with him. Calmed by the staff, he and his father begin looking at an old family photograph album and Thomas’s original text takes over, now presented as a portrait of the village of Mr. Jenkins’ not-quite-forgotten past. [...] Whenever it is staged — it was last seen at the National 25 years ago — the chief problem is the lack of momentum. Characters’ (in)actions lack consequences, which makes it hard to engage with them except on a momentary basis. Owen and Turner’s new frame seeks to address that directly by making Sheen’s character not an inert, impartial observer but a man desperate to tell the story to and with his father in order to connect, to awaken his father’s distracted mind. Previously neutral descriptions are thus charged up, which intermittently animates proceedings. [...] The ultimate moment of connection between father and son is affecting but the production’s dangerous proximity to unearned sentimentality is also visible. And in the foregoing hour and three-quarter running time (with no interval), the sustained inertia grows wearing. There’s welcome tenderness aplenty but, when it comes to storytelling, there’s too much telling and, alas, too little story. Variety

                                                                                                                             Michael Sheen is terrific in Dylan Thomas’s linguistic tour de force, which remains undimmed by the years [...] The whole home thing is a nice enough idea that ambles on agreeably… but it’s a thrill when the play proper starts: it feels like the air suddenly fizzes and crackles when Sheen’s narrator introduces us to Llareggub on one ‘starless and Bible-black’ night. Ultimately, the care home business feels minor and diversionary, a framework to (kind of) explain why the poem is being performed. But it doesn’t really have a payoff or purpose beyond the performance of the poem itself. I'm not sure anyone really needs my opinion on I ‘Under Milk Wood’ as Thomas wrote it. But for what it’s worth I think it’s brilliant – time hasn’t dimmed it, his language remains bracingly wild, elemental and weird. And this is a very good, detailed performance of it – Sheen is impassioned and urgent, like he’s electrified by the surging flanguage; the cast of mostly older actors tend to get more playful roles, and seem to be having terrific fun. [...] You bought your tickets to see Michael Sheen doing ‘Under Milk Wood’ and you’ve got Michael Sheen doing ‘Under Milk Wood’ – nobody’s going to feel disappointed. Time Out

[...] Sheen – shaggy, bearded and full of humanity – leads as the narrator but this is really an ensemble show, animated with amusing turns by Siân Phillips, Cleo Sylvestre and Ifan Huw Dafydd among others. It comes with an inventive framing device (additional material is written by Siân Owen) in which Sheen plays the son of Richard Jenkins (Karl Johnson), who is losing his bearings when he is visited by Jenkins Junior in his nursing home. [...] While this is a charming production that bewitches, it begs the question of why a drama that is so consciously retreating into the past is revived now, and how it speaks to our pandemic landscape. Thomas draws a picture of a place steeped in stasis and saturated in nostalgia. Time has stood still here, as Thomas makes clear in the symbolism of the village clock’s frozen hands, and it arguably represents his yearning for a bygone world after the second world war. This production seems entirely conscious of its retreat into the past and it resembles a lost world that is both comforting and jarring after the horrors of the pandemic. The Guardian

To hear Michael Sheen deliver Under Milk Wood feels akin to witnessing Gielgud's Hamlet or Rylance's Rooster Byron. It is nothing short of theatrically seminal.As hoped, the poetry is magnificent. He orchestrates Dylan Thomas's posthumously performed masterpiece as a maestro conductor, all waving hands and syncopated rhythm. There are times when his words seem to literally hang in the air, leaving the socially distanced Olivier audience hypnotised. I could listen to him say "Now behind the eyes and secrets of the dreamers in the streets rocked to sleep by the sea…" on loop forever. [...] The concept doesn't always feel completely cohesive - it seems strange that everyone so willingly joins the performance when Sheen's character is so cold and skittish with them initially - but Lyndsey Turner's beautifully choreographed in-the-round production is convincing enough to override such niggles.The metanarrative also has the noticeable effect of causing Sheen to speak as if he is conjuring Dylan's words on the spot. This lends both an immediacy to the language and also a purpose to its rich imagery - after all, here is a man desperately trying to paint pictures in his father's addled imagination. Under Milk Wood is in some sense a victim of its own familiarity, and Turner's staging lends a much-needed freshness over reverence. [...] Whatsonstage

A charismatic Michael Sheen is part showman, part shaman in this staging of Dylan Thomas’s 1954 radio play, conjuring a Welsh town into lyrical, beguiling life with mostly older actors on a bare stage. Lyndsey Turner’s production marks a triumphant reopening for the National’s Olivier Theatre, where the audience now sits on all sides, a configuration that lends itself to simple production values and a deeper communion between actors and onlookers.It begins oddly, though, in the middle-distant past with Sheen as an angry, wild-bearded writer visiting his demented father (Karl Johnson, heartbreaking) in a care home. Thomas’s poetry is the only way to reach the old man, and his fellow residents are duly summoned to incarnate the townsfolk of the author’s fictional Llareggub (“bugger all” backwards). It’s an awkward framing device with a serious point: to stress the importance of community and memory, and salute the talents and rich lives of elder generations. But what a lovely, bittersweet spell this show casts. Sheen, like Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins, grew up in Port Talbot, an hour from Laugharne where Thomas lived and partially wrote the play. He has the contours of the language and the landscape in his head, and an orator’s relish for Thomas’s evocative phrasing. We first see Llareggub asleep, “starless and bible black” and meet its inhabitants in their dreams. [...] Eveningstandard

[passionate-reply]

In this installment of Great Albums, we’re back to talking about albums nobody’s ever heard of! You might not know who Zaine Griff is, but you’ve probably heard of a guy called Hans Zimmer, and Zimmer is the real mastermind of this record: a masterpiece of New Romantic synth-pop made long before he made his name composing for the big screen! Not to mention contributions from Ultravox’s Warren Cann, YMO’s Yukihiro Takahashi, and even Kate Bush. Find out all about it by watching this video, or reading the full transcript below the break!

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today’s installment is going to feature an album that is most definitely towards the obscure side--but, like most of the more obscure artists and albums I’ve talked about, I think this one is every bit as good as the classics. Zaine Griff’s Figures is not only a forgotten album that I think deserves more acclaim, but also an album that, in many ways, feels like it could have been a huge success in its own time.

Zaine Griff grew up in New Zealand, and moved to Great Britain in the 1970s in the hopes of pursuing a career in music. His debut LP, 1980’s Ashes & Diamonds, would mark him as one of the many artists straddling the musical landscape in the aftermath of glam, in the long shadow of David Bowie. With keen visual panache, a suave way of slurring when he sang, and the requisite killer cheekbones, Griff fit in perfectly with the so-called “New Romantics,” as stylish and sophisticated as Visage, Ultravox, or Japan.

Music: “Ashes & Diamonds”

The real turning point in Griff’s career was his being “discovered,” so to speak, by Hans Zimmer and Warren Cann. Cann had already become a figure of some renown, as the percussionist for the aforementioned Ultravox. Despite his tremendous fame today, Zimmer actually had much less to show for himself at this point, aside from a somewhat dodgy stint in the Buggles. While geniuses in their own ways, neither of them were necessarily natural frontmen, and Zaine Griff seemed like the perfect missing piece to fit into their pop ambitions.

Even setting aside Zimmer and Cann, Figures is actually full of recognizable talent, and I think it may have the single most stacked list of album credits I’ve ever seen in my life! You’ll also hear contributions from Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Yukihiro Takahashi, backing vocals from Linda Jardim, who was also the soprano on the Buggles’ famous “Video Killed the Radio Star,” and a guest appearance by none other than Kate Bush. That’s really a lot of clout going around, which is one of the reasons I’m so surprised this album went nowhere. Anyway, that aside, the most dominant sonic footprint on display here is certainly that of Hans Zimmer. Zimmer is credited with producing the album, and his dynamic, expressive, perhaps “cinematic” work with digital synthesisers is surely the driving force behind Figures’s sound.

Music: “Fahrenheit 451”

It’s easy to imagine “Fahrenheit 451” is the thumping theme to some delightfully 80s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel. Its theme of lustful but dangerous romance is a constant throughout the album, most notably on tracks like “Hot” and the haunting closer, “The Beating of Wings.” The song’s tense and dramatic mood is well bolstered by those soaring synths, courtesy of the Fairlight CMI. One of the most distinctive sounds of mid-80s synth-pop, the soft, breathy tones of the Fairlight hadn’t yet reached full saturation when Figures was made--Zimmer was an early adopter of this particular musical revolution. You might be surprised to learn that “Fahrenheit 451” only saw minor distribution as a single, exclusively for the French and Belgian markets. I think that sort of mismanagement on behalf of Polydor really shafted this album. Its lead single was actually its title track.

Music: “Figures”

The title track of Figures isn’t the worst song I’ve ever heard, but I do think it just might be the worst song on this album. With a strident, stabbing synth riff and a somewhat sparse and anemic soundstage, the title track is not particularly exciting, and also not particularly representative of what the rest of the album sounds like, with no indication of the lush and vibrant textures that dominate tracks like “Fahrenheit 451.” It also has less lyrics than the other tracks, and offers Griff little opportunity to demonstrate his pipes. Thematically, though, its imagery of wispy and mysterious personas, flitting in and out of substance in a world where appearance and identity are trifling and ephemeral, is something that resonates strongly with the album as a whole, as one might surmise from its title also being used for the album. “The Vanishing Men,” another song that easily feels like a better single than “Figures,” handles the same sort of subject in a more playful and upbeat manner.

Music: “The Vanishing Men”

The titular “vanishing men” are quite clearly the life of the party here, and in the world of this track, the insignificance of true identity is portrayed as an invitation to experiment and have fun with it--though not without a slight hint of danger as well. Perhaps it’s a good metaphor for the curated aestheticism of the New Romantic movement, decried by some as “style over substance.” New Romanticism really didn’t have much time left by the time *Figures* came out, being so strongly associated with trends in fashion that were on their way out by this point. Even Ultravox would find themselves pivoting towards more of a pop rock-oriented sound for their final classic lineup LP, 1984’s Lament. I can’t help but think that the changing landscape of musical trends is part of the poor reception of Figures, which is such a consummate New Romantic album, which basks in the full flush of the movement’s prior penetration into the mainstream. As stated above, “The Vanishing Men” is all about the glamour of mutable identity, but other tracks on the album seem to assign this theme a bit more weight, as in “The Stranger.”

Music: “The Stranger”

The titular character of “The Stranger” is described as “a stranger to himself,” but also “no stranger to anyone else.” This track seems to be more focused on the negative aspects of fashionable persona-play: losing the dignity and security of a true form, the people around you seeing through your charades, and becoming trapped in an existence defined by arbitrariness and artificiality. I’d also be remiss not to mention this track’s winsome pentatonic synth riff, which helps create a mercurial and ambiguous mood. It might be interpreted as a nod towards the rampant Orientalism of New Romantic music, which ran with the early 80s verve for all things Asian, and wasn’t shy about appropriating “Asiatic” musical motives like pentatonic scales to evoke mystery and wonder. Griff and friends’ use of such here is relatively subtle, though, and perhaps a bit more tactful than how many of their contemporaries approached other musical ideas associated with the East.

The unforgettable cover of Figures is as dramatic and infused with capital-R Romantic sentiment as the music contained within. Above the text relating the artist and title, which uses a V for a U for a touch of the classical, we see Griff splayed dramatically in a pond of lilies. With sharp makeup that emphasizes his lips, and a diaphanous, blousy top that turns translucent in the water, he seems to be the perfect tragic hero of some lost work of Shakespeare’s--complete with another flower stylishly pinned to his chest. As I mentioned before, Figures is an album that rides the wave of New Romanticism particularly hard, and I think its cover is yet another symptom of those sensibilities.

Speaking of Shakespeare, I can’t help but want to compare this image with a famous painting of one of Shakespeare’s best-known characters: Ophelia, by Sir John Everett Millais. Painted in the early 1850s, Millais’s Ophelia depicts the moment where Ophelia, driven mad by Hamlet’s romantic rejection of her, drowns herself in a river. It’s exactly the kind of story of wild, passionate, and doomed love portrayed on tracks like “Fahrenheit 451.” Ophelia is also associated strongly with flowers in the text, and features in a particularly memorable scene where she doles out various symbolic blossoms to members of the royal court. Besides the affinity of subject matter, even the composition of Millais’s work resembles the cover of Figures, contrasting its subject’s pale skin with the dark and murky natural surrounds, and emphasizing the drapery of their wettened attire. Ophelia is often considered the definitive masterpiece of the short-lived art movement, the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood,” who, as their name implies, sought to recapture the intuitive, colourful, and emotive power of art created prior to the High Renaissance. Not unlike New Romanticism, the Pre-Raphaelite movement would crumble after only a few years, but not without leaving behind a trail of masterpieces that would continue to inspire future artists and admirers, far removed from their own time.

After the release of Figures, Zaine Griff remained involved with Hans Zimmer and Warren Cann, and, as the supergroup “Helden,” they embarked on an even more ambitious musical opus together: Spies, a sort of synth-pop oratorio about immortal Nazi super-spies falling in love in a futuristic dystopia. Spies is about as out-there as it sounds, and brings the flamboyant musical excess of Figures into a suitably theatrical setting. It’s also got nearly as star-studded of a cast as Figures, featuring not only Zimmer, Cann, and Jardim again, but also Eddie Maelov of Eddie & Sunshine as a mad scientist, and the enigmatic French electro-cabaret chanteuse Ronny, in the role of a super-computer with a sultry female voice. Griff portrays one of the titular immortal spies, known only as “The Stranger”--which, of course, begs comparison to the track of the same name on Figures, and prompts the question, to what extent was Spies already in the works when *Figures* was being written and recorded?

Music: “The Ball”

We all know the rest of the story for Hans Zimmer, who began working with music for film in the mid-1980s, such as the queer cult classic My Beautiful Laundrette. But Zaine Griff obviously never became a household name. Despite being finished in 1983, Spies never got to see an official release, as it was a bit too out there for a label to take a chance on at the time, and it would probably be lost media today if it weren’t for a vinyl bootleg that’s thankfully fairly easy to find online. Griff decided to retire from music shortly after this, and recounts a story of having walked past an extremely talented street musician, and having a sort of epiphany about just how hard it was to make it in music. After all, if a true virtuoso could end up busking on the street, how fair and rewarding could the industry possibly be? Disillusioned with the world of pop, Griff returned to his native New Zealand and got a day job as a golf instructor. More recently, though, he’s also released several new solo albums in the 2010s, surprisingly enough, and attempted to push forward into some very contemporary-sounding pop rock. The world is, of course, a very different place nowadays than it was in the 20th Century, and particularly in the world of music distribution, so perhaps it makes sense that our brave new world has room in it for someone like Zaine Griff to return.

My overall favourite track on Figures is probably “Time Stands Still,” which I think is perhaps the most accessible, pop-friendly track to be had on the album, and the one I would’ve released as the lead single had I worked for Polydor. With a big hook and simple, repetitive lyrics, it’s a true pop song through and through--though, if an artist releases a commercial-sounding album in the woods, and nobody is around to buy it, is it still really “pop?” Anyway, I also love this track’s delightful outro, imitating a skipping record to represent a freeze in the flow of time...though I admit it’s a lot less harrowing to hear when listening digitally! That’s all I have for today--thanks for listening.

Music: “Time Stands Still”

[heysmalltownboy]

How Ophelia by the Lumineers relates to the story of Hamlet in regards to Ophelia, a quarantine essay

Because you guys (7 people) wanted it and I am insanely bored.

Also I’m aware that I contradict myself.

(under the break because I am kind and considerate)

[Verse 1]

Ah, ah, when I was younger

I, I should've known better

Ok this part makes me think of Hamlet reflecting on his past mistakes--trusting his uncle, not being able to save his father, taking so long to avenge his dad, and, of course, killing Polonius. 

And I can't feel no remorse

And you don't feel nothing back

In my opinion, Hamlet doesn't feel that much remorse for killing Polonius. Then he goes and wrecks his relationship with Ophelia farther in the nunn’ry scene. So she falls out of love with his crazy new persona.

[Verse 2]

I, I got a new girlfriend here

Feels like he's on top

Hi this is about Horatio. Like why say he? Because he replaced Ophelia with Horatio. I feel like they always had feelings for each other, even at Wittenburg, but whatever. Also “feels like he’s on top”, when we bypass the obvious sexual meaning, can come to represent Horatio’s feeling that he is in control and he can actually help Hamlet in this tragedy. But really, it’s all up to Hamlet.

And I don't feel no remorse

And you can't see past my blindness

I’ve always wondered Ophelia’s opinion on Horatio. Does she know? Also this lyric comes back to the nunn’ry scene. Hamlet really is blinded in this part of the play by his rage and love (excuse the Green Day reference).

[Chorus]

Oh, Ophelia

You've been on my mind, girl, since the flood

So this brings us to the chorus. This whole song, to me, is Hamlet’s thought processes as he learns of Ophelia’s death. This is his grieving period before he steps right in to “fight Laertes” mode at the funeral. Also the flood is her drowning herself.

Oh, Ophelia

Heaven help the fool who falls in love

I think Hamlet didn’t actually want to fall in love with Ophelia, maybe thought that he couldn’t, after his father’s death. Maybe this part is actually after the grave jumping because he believes his love for her becomes a liability that makes him rash.

[Verse 3]

I, I got a little paycheck

You got big plans and you gotta move (Whoo!)

The “paycheck” to me is Hamlet getting kidnapped by pirates, because it’s a part of the show where we don’t really know what happened to him. The “pirate letter” scene is just one scene before Gertrude breaks the news in her willow speech, so the suicide is her “big plans”.

And I don't feel nothing at all

And you can't feel nothing small

“Can’t feel nothing small”, to me, represents the fact that he thinks she feels everything very largely, possibly even thinking she overreacted to her father’s death (personal opinion).

[Pre-Chorus]

Honey, I love you

That's all she wrote

My favorite line!! Suicide note!! Yes! I definitely think she wrote a note that Gertrude didn’t see that was addressed to Hamlet, perhaps even trying to say that she isn’t mad at him after all this. Maybe the romanticizing of her death is finally getting to my head. I don’t know.

[Chorus] (x2)

Oh, Ophelia

You've been on my mind, girl, like a drug

Oh, Ophelia

Heaven help the fool who falls in love

Oh, Ophelia

You've been on my mind, girl, since the flood (x2)

Hamlet is definitely addicted to this revenge plot, even if it takes him a super long time to actually do it. I think Ophelia’s death is a further motivator because it reminds him he’s lost more than his dad in this tragedy. In that way, it is a drug for him; especially in the grave jumping scene where we finally see his sadness.

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

That’s that, fellas!! I hope you enjoyed. This started as very weak concepts in my mind every time I listened to the song.

[cosmicangst]

*slides 50$ across the table Could you pls elaborate more on the novels you think that kou loves and the ones he would lend to akane? do you think that he would like poetry as well? I've been reading some Proust's poems and I think he would be interested in them !! I can totally imagine kou loving Poe's as well

takes your 50 and spends it on nendoroids

i forgot the rules of literature accessibility and what texts have survived in their world so to make things easier for me, this list is based on the premise that kou had full access to a library with no censorship. it’d be cute if he and akane started like a two-person book club where they just exchanged books and “conversed” via annotations and underlines. so here’s a really long list (im sorry)

lit already mentioned in canon that he’d enjoy/find enlightening:

kou’s favorite books are the running man and the stand by stephen king. i’ve never read these before but looking at their wikipedia synopses it’s easy to see why he’d identify with the protags.

do robots dream of electric sheep? by philip k dick. sci-fi classic and makishima’s fave. there’s a lot of overlap in their reading tastes.

swann’s way (in search of lost time) by marcel proust. it’s apt you mention proust as a poet kou might like because he was reading this book at the end of s1. i read swann’s way a long time ago and was baffled as to why kou liked it. then i revisited it when i was less of a dumbass and found it to be an introspective, lyrical and deeply almost painfully tender love letter to the experience of human existence. reading that in light of kou’s character made me realize that this tenderness is a constant but hidden core part of who he is underneath the trauma, armor, facade, and intellect.

mystery/detective novels: agatha christie, arimasa osawa, tarō hirai, hideo yokoyama, dashiell hammett, arthur conan doyle and others (some of these authors are also masaoka’s favorites. there’s an overlap there, too. no doubt masaoka lent him some of his books.)

his favorite shakespeare play would probably be something typical like hamlet or macbeth (i can see him reading and getting frustrated with ham during his enforcer days and he’d probably read macbeth while he was on the run.) but i genuinely think younger kou was a secret romantic so i think his true faves are the comedies like much ado. he’d consider the idea of a partner who could outwit him in verbal flirtation charming.

kou seems like a guy who’d have a wide reading range because he would be willing to read anything to widen his perspective but i also imagine him as a secret book snob and keeps to canonized (mostly western) classics. so this is stuff he’d most likely have loved if they were available:

the count of monte cristo by alexandre dumas. man wrongfully labeled a criminal hunts for revenge? check.

crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky. man morally reckons with his crime and despairs for release? check.

frankenstein by mary shelley. exploration on nature, monsterhood and retribution. who has the humanity here: the monster or the man? as a latent criminal, i’m sure he had the same question.

war and peace by leo tolstoy. there’s something about the sensibilities of (particularly imperial and post-revolutionary) russian lit that vibe w kou’s inner life (i.e. the ennui of a decadent/gilded society, andrei’s disillusionment, pierre’s existential angst, etc.) i can see him picking this up and dropping it, picking it up again throughout the years.

great expectations and the tale of two cities by charles dickens. young kou would relate to pip while older kou would relate to carton.

a clockwork orange by anthony burgess. the underrated dystopian novel compared to brave new world and 1984. the concept of ultraviolence and desensitization esp in light of the crimes he’s witnessed and the methods employed by enforcers would hit close to home.

the memory police by yoko ogawa. half dystopian/half kafkaesque existential dread exploring collective totalitarianism against individual resistance. it reminds me a lot of 1984 too but is more superior

the dispossessed by ursula k. le guin. utopian fiction exploring the conflict between anarchy vs social order/freedom vs authoritarianism. akane would really take to this one. plus it’d be criminal for an avid sci-fi reader like kou not to read le guin’s works

i dislike ernest hemingway but i could see kou liking his books. i’d personally send him kurt vonnegut instead if he really wanted to explore the ramifications of war and trauma.

in the miso soup by ryu murakami. one of those hazy noir-like existential thrillers that would really speak to his experiences witnessing the nihilist underbelly of society in japan and out of the country.

kokoro by natsume sōseki. a japanese classic that would have easily been in kou’s radar. it’s a melancholy book about isolation and liminality while the self and culture are shifting. i imagine him reading this after proust while he’s exiled and alone.

philosophers/critical thinkers he’d find value in reading regardless of whether he agreed with them or not: john locke (liberalism), st. thomas aquinas (principle of double effect), thomas hobbes & jean-jacques rosseau (their two alternate views on the social contract theory), donna haraway (post-humanism), john stuart mill (utilitarianism and the liberty principle), jean baudrillard (hyperreality), mark twain (anti-imperialist satire), henry david thoreau (self-determination and civil disobedience), friedrich nietzsche (ubermensch), sigmund freud (psychoanalysis), and maybe friedrich engels/karl marx (historical/dialectical materialism) if kou was up to reading all three fucking volumes of capital. i bet he reads philosophy and critical theory like me aka skim the actual book then buy another book that explains how to read the first one. 

as for poetry, i don’t know many poets except my pal mr siken (and a few others) so i can’t give that many examples. i can definitely see him enjoying the macabre and melancholy of poe though as you said. maybe he’d also like poe’s contemporaries like charles baudelaire or his inspirations such as lord byron. which would fit given that kou is a byronic hero of sorts but imagining any of my faves reading that bastard’s works is just so funny to me

for my own indulgence, here’s also some stuff i’d personally give him to broaden his scope: black thinkers esp richard wright, ralph ellison, james baldwin who deal w themes of masculinity, alienation and (black) identity/individualism in an oppressive society. i’d also give him some exilliteratur or other anti-fascist works from walter benjamin, elie wiesel, and hannah arendt. following proust’s heritage, i’d also give him speak, memory by vladimir nabokov and ulysses by james joyce since the power to recall seems like a pretty important motif for kou. and just for some taste: octavia butler, kirino natsuo, the bronte sisters (esp anne), zora neale hurston, and our queen jane austen.

anyway if he really wanted to court akane properly after their reunion, he’d gift her a copy of persuasion that akane would expect to already be annotated but the only thing he’d really mark is the underlined passage with wentworth’s confession (“i am half agony, half hope.”) can’t think of a more explicit way to tell her he loves her besides actually saying the words. plus the romance of it!! akane deserves to swoon

[singofsolace]

Fic Titles Meme

I was tagged by @bedeliainwonderland Thank you so much! This was a lot of fun to do.

1. How many titles are you happy with?

I’ve published 39 (!) fics on Ao3, and I’d say I’m unhappy with the titles of about 7 of those... which means I’m happy with 32! I think that’s a decent percentage.

2. How many are…not great?

A good number of my fics are song titles, which means that if someone doesn’t know the song in question, they might not understand how it relates to the fic. Even if they do know the song, sometimes I think I could do better when picking the proper lyrics to use. So... I’d say at least a handful of the song titles I used are... not great. 

3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute?

Almost all of them! I write the story before I pick a title, which means that I’ve usually finished filling out literally everything else on Ao3, and then I just sit and stare at the title box for a very long time. (Hence some of the “rushed” song titles).

4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning?

Only three of my fics had titles before I started writing them: Sir, Spare Your Threats, boil and bubble, and to bed, to bed, to bed! The reason Sir, Spare Your Threats came so easily to me is because that is my favorite Hermione monologue, and the fanfic is meant to loosely follow the plot and characters of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, which I believe is one of the best plays ever written. (Hamlet... new phone, who dis?)

boil and bubble and to bed, to bed, to bed!, are also borrowed from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which I usually refer to as the Scottish Play. Clearly, I’m only certain of my titles when Shakespeare is involved. 

5. How many are quotes from songs or poems?

A whopping 17 of my fanfic titles are from songs or poems! I don’t know if I should be embarrassed by that or not. The poem titles are a lot more subtle, I think, than the lyrics... but some of the lyrics are just so fitting, I can’t be mad at myself for them.

6. How many are other quotes?

Technically a great miracle happened there comes from the four sides of a dreidel. While I am not Jewish, my neighbors growing up were, and we went to their house every morning because their mother was supposed to “watch’ me and my siblings until the school bus came (I put “watch” in quotes because we were largely unsupervised. it’s a miracle we ever made it on the bus). Anyway, whenever Hanukkah came around, we would play dreidel for hours and hours. I was notoriously bad at it. So. I guess that counts as a “quote?”

7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork?

This is a really hard question! I feel like a lot of these questions are meant for people who have less than 10-15 fics published. With almost 40, it’s really hard to narrow this down. I think should’ve worshipped her sooner was a great choice for my Five Times + One Zelda fic. 

8. Which best reflects the theme of the story?

before that, and colder comes from a Margaret Atwood poem: “Marriage is not / a house or even a tent // it is before that, and colder:" This fic explores the ramifications of the Caligari spell being cast on Zelda during her honeymoon, so I thought it was extremely fitting.

9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/pov of the fanwork?

laissez les bons temps rouler ! This one got some flack for the title having extremely poor Parisian French grammar, but that is because this phrase is used almost exclusively in New Orleans in the context of Mardi Gras. Since Marie LaFleur canonically lived in New Orleans for long enough to consider herself part of the “Fourth Ward” (the French Quarter, I believe), I assumed that would mean that she’s participated in many Mardi Gras celebrations, and would’ve said this phrase at least once. It translates to: “let the good times roll.” (word for word from French to English... hence the poor grammar, since French generally has a different sentence structure.)

10. Which is your favorite title?

just to sit outside your door. I’m soft for some Hozier, what can I say? The full phrase is: “I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door.”

I tag @saturn-silk @bainelland @anneofgreengaybles @jyou-no-sonoko19 @alexusonfire @its-a-goode-day @hb-spellman @allaboutthatgillybox @paradox-n-bedrock @asterleaf

[mirandagoing4baroque]

Field of Streams: Rodelinda at the Met, Over Breakfast

I had intended for my next post to be all of my opinions about that staged Handel Messiah, because lord knows (pun intended) I have enough of them to fill several blog posts and then some. But then the Met announced that it was making one of its streams this week Rodelinda, so I’m shuffling some things around.

Finally, the Metropolitan Opera has deigned to throw us some crumbs of Handel opera, more than three months into these daily streams. They have chosen, from the few Handel operas that have ever been performed at the Met (five total, and only a three in the HD era), to begin with Rodelinda. I had seen this recording before, but unfortunately at the time it was performed at the Met I was in college in Chicago, so I couldn’t make a trip to see it live. That was the season I got to see Rinaldo at the Lyric Opera, so it wasn’t all bad.

There is a lot I like about this production. As I have complained before, when large houses put on Handel opera, there can be a temptation to resort to gimmick, to update the story, or to engage in some other shenanigans. This production rose to the grandeur of the house without sacrificing its core identity. Both the costume and sets were classic and tasteful. I suppose I should really say ‘set’ singular, because, from the audience’s point of view, there was only one large set piece that moved from side to side like a level of Super Mario Brothers, to reveal different aspects of the palace. 

In the interviews with the director and the actors during the intermission, the importance of continuity of action was mentioned multiple times, both in relation to the scenery, and to the action taking place upon it. I couldn’t agree more. Keeping the on stage action moving is so important when staging Handel operas, especially in the de capo arias. Yes the words are repeating, and the music is similar, but there has to be a change--the character should have changed, or be expressing a new, but related concept. I love this staging and would like to see more staging of Handel operas that are more like it.

There’s a lot of historical backstory that really doesn’t matter all that much for the plot of Rodelinda, so I’m gonna give you the short version. Rodelinda is the queen of Lombardy. Grimoaldo has come to usurp the throne of her husband, the king. He kills the king’s brother, and the king has fled and is presumed dead. As part of the negotiations Grimoaldo has agreed to marry Eduige, the king’s sister, to legitimize his claim to the throne. As the opera begins, Grimoaldo comes to Rodelinda and her son and announces that he has changed his mind--he is in love with, and would prefer to marry, Rodelinda rather than Eduige. Rodelinda tells him to go pound sand. Eduige tries to bribe Garibaldo, Grimoaldo’s thumb headed henchman (this isn’t confusing at all), to kill Grimoaldo. Meanwhile, Unulfo, the king’s plucky sidekick, has received word that the king is in fact alive (this should surprise no one who has even a passing familiarity with opera plots). 

The king, dressed as a commoner, is hiding in the stables. Aforementioned stables are conveniently right by the king’s “grave,” which Rodelinda is visiting, so he can see all of what is about to transpire. Garibaldo (the henchman, not the usurper), comes to Rodelinda and says that unless she marries Grimoaldo, they will kill her son. She says that Garibaldo should send word to Grimoaldo that she will agree to marry him. The king, who has been watching, despairs that his wife has forgotten him so quickly.

Rodelinda tells Grimoaldo (the usurper, not the henchman), that she will marry him on the condition that he kill her son in front of her with his own hands, proving him to be a brute, and the marriage to be a sham. Grimoaldo cannot do it, despite Garibaldo’s urging. Unulfo takes Rodelinda to see her husband, and the king begs forgiveness for doubting her. However the joyful reunion is interrupted by Grimoaldo and the king is taken captive. Eduige and Unulfo help the king escape by smuggling a sword into the cell where he is being held. 

Grimoaldo is tired and settles in for a nap. Meanwhile Garibaldo is fed up with Grimoaldo’s unwillingness to kill small children, and decides to level up his evil by killing the sleeping Grimoaldo. But just as he is about to strike the murderous blow, the escaped king intervenes to save the usurper’s life. Grimoaldo awakes, and, in gratitude, he yields the throne of Lombardy back to the rightful king and everyone rejoices.

Yes, that was the “short version.” And okay, yeah, it’s kinda ridiculous, but you could do worse (looking at you, Il Trovatore). As for the music, let’s start with Renee Fleming, who headlined the show, playing Rodelinda. There’s a lot to like about her voice, but I would have liked a clearer sound throughout, and especially at the top of her range. The trills were good but I would have preferred more fluid runs. The ornamentation was fine, but not mind blowing. Her acting was poignant, especially in her scenes with her son.

The king was played by Andreas Scholl. As readers will remember, I often find the countertenor voice reedy, and unfortunately that was the case here. But I found his acting moving, and in all other respects I have no complaints. However, of the two countertenors in this production, I think Iestyn Davies, who played Unulfo, stole the show right out from under the king. Davies’ voice was clear and fluid in every aria. He played a character that tends towards the Captain America/Pollyanna with depth and nuance. This was apparently his Met debut, and regular readers will remember him from many other performances I have reviewed on this blog. I almost always find him delightful.

I enjoyed Joseph Kaiser’s Grimoaldo (the usurper, not the henchman). His tenor voice was lovely, and he portrayed the indecisive king well. Now that I think of it, the plot of Rodelinda can be described as Hamlet, but Claudio (the villain), Fortinbras (the invader) Hamlet (the angsty prince) are all the same character.  I would certainly like to hear him again. I thought his Prigioniera ho l’alma was a particular highlight. Garibaldo, (the henchman) was played capably by Shenyang, who had a lovely rich bass. He was effectively menacing throughout the show. It is not his fault that the character of Garibaldo is an over the top villain who is hard to take seriously.

Stephanie Blythe is at the top of my list of “people I haven’t yet seen sing Handel live, but I really really want to.” Her arias were period appropriate, and her voice was graceful and powerful. She also blended beautifully with the orchestra. The Met orchestra was in fine form under Harry Bicket--the instrumental sections were sublime, and the tempos chosen perfectly so the dance rhythms shone, but never stagnated. Handel opera does not need to be done on the scale of the Metropolitan opera, but I love to see it on such a big stage. I hope some people tuned in to this excellent stream and discovered the wonder of baroque opera for themselves.

[unapologetically-infinite]

I was tagged by @punkenglishnerd to answer these questions. Thanks for the nomination, it took me a while to narrow down my answers lol

Your favourite album: My answer to this question changes at least a dozen times a day but at the moment, the title belongs to “Cleopatra” by The Lumineers. It’s one of those albums that you could listen to straight through without skipping a song on repeat for the rest of time. You’d think I must be exaggerating but I’m really not.

Your favourite song / favourite song from that album: My favourite song in general is such a hard question, there’s at least twenty answers I could give to that but I do hold a soft spot for “Cherry Wine” by Hozier. My favourite song from “Cleopatra” is definitely “Ophelia”. I think what makes it all the more amazing is that that song along with several others on the album make up the ballad of Cleopatra which is basically a story told through songs about a real life woman who lost the love of her life - and it relates to Ophelia from Hamlet which is one of my favourites even if it is slightly depressing.

Most listened to artist(s): I go through rotations of different artists but at the moment I’m mainly listening to The Lumineers, Picture This, Hozier, The Kooks and Mild Orange.

An album that’s important to you: Just one? Okay there’s “Kid Krow”, “Manic”, “Norman Fucking Rockwell!”, “Cleopatra” obviously, “Politics of Living”, and “Cigarettes After Sex”, I could go on but you get the point.

A song that’s important to you: “We might be dead by tomorrow” by Soko. I don’t think it’s possible to listen to that song and not feel something.

What makes you like a song: Obviously there're the songs that are incredibly catchy and never leave my head but mainly it’s the songs I can connect with emotionally or personally. There’s this one Halsey song that was released on her new album called “More” and every time I hear it without fail, I will cry.

Your favourite instrument to hear in a song: Anything not traditional that somehow works with the song is a sure thing for me.

A song from your childhood: “Toxic” by Britney Spears, god that song brings back a LOT of embarrassing memories.

A song to dance to: Slow dance - “In My Veins” by Andrew Belle, for other kinds of dancing - “Raise your glass” by Pink.

A song that reminds you of love (any kind not just romance): “Heather” by Conan Gray. The song is about a boy who loves another boy but that boy is already in love with Heather. The whole song is heartbreaking and I bet you anything you’ll cry listening to it. 

A song you love lyrically: I love the lyrics from Hozier’s “Take me to Church” and “929″ by Halsey. The first one feels as if I’m reading poetry which I suppose the lyrics are but I also adore “929″ because it’s so deeply personal.

I’m tagging a few others to answer these questions but anyone is welcome to answer them!

@sunshxnebxtch

@dustybooksintheforest

@crowdaze

@b-r-o-k-e-n-h-e-a-r-t-e-d

@creepinglaciers

[thefeministpress]

6 and 25 for the Bookworm Asks? :)

Hey there! Thanks for the questions!

6) What stereotypical “bookish” things do you like or own?

Oh boy. Besides, you know, all the books … where do I even start? When I was young my family and friends realized that literary/bookish gifts were always a safe choice for me—a fact that has never changed—so between gifts and the purchases I make for myself, I’ve acquired quite the collection.

In high school I discovered Out of Print as a freshman (around 2010ish), and immediately bought the Nineteen Eighty-Four Sweatshirt they were selling at the time. It was mint green and borrowed its design from the cover of the first edition. I actually think I might have taken my first-ever Instagram selfie in that sweatshirt. (Out of Print doesn’t have it anymore, but they do sell this one now, and it looks just as comfy!) Shortly afterward I bought a Catch-22 t-shirt from them (I think it was this one) and I got these banned books socks either that year or the following year for Christmas. I also got this banned books pouch, which is perfect for holding various charging cords, and this Edgar Allen Poe pop art shirt. My shirt must have been an earlier version of the same shirt, because it was this grayish brown color instead of the current blue color. People kept asking me if the person on my shirt was John Wilkes Booth. The audacity. (Also, excuse me!? I would never!) 

In high school I also got this Edgar Allen Poe candle (which smells absolutely amazing), was given this Edgar Allen Poe lunchbox from Powell’s Books as a gift, purchased this scarf featuring the end of A Tale of Two Cities, and got this Thomas Jefferson’s library mug on a trip to Washington DC at the Library of Congress.

Right before heading off to college I got this t-shirt to rep one of my all-time favorite local institutions, the aforementioned Powell’s Books, as well as this literature-themed Nalgene water bottle. (They also come in sci-fi, philosophy, mathematics, and women authors—oh my god, that last one is definitely new and I NEED IT).

Since high school I’ve acquired two more pairs of Out of Print socks.

In college, friends gave me these Shakespeare and Jane Austen bandaids and this banned books mug.

In college I also started to obtain literary wall art and posters. I have some framed book illustrations from an antique collection of Shakespeare’s plays, a Kenyon Review poster (it’s, uh, obviously not blurry in person—I just couldn’t find a better picture), and a vintage poster from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Since graduating from college, I’ve obtained tote bags from AWP 2018, the Poetry Foundation, The New Yorker, (couldn’t find pictures/links for all of them) and a grocery bag from Powell’s Books. I also got a vintage Oregon Shakespeare Festival t-shirt as well as this t-shirt from their most recent season.

Since I’ve been in New York I’ve gotten yet more tote bags from Words Without Borders, the Feminist Press, Drawn and Quarterly, and the Strand. I also bought this sticker, this keychain, and this t-shirt from the Strand.

I know this is probably leaving quite a bit out,* and I’m sorry if by any chance you see this post and notice that I’ve left something that you’ve given me out—this is just off the top of my head!

Oh, and just in case you’re wondering, I’m eyeing these socks for the upcoming holidays; this McNally Jackson tote bag; and this Community Bookstore tote bag. I already have too many tote bags. Oh, and the Powell’s Nalgene women authors water bottle that I discovered in the process of answering this question.

*This list, it should be noted, doesn’t include any of the comics-related stuff that I own. So … yes, there’s more, haha. I’d be happy to write about that as well if anyone would like—just send me a message!

—

25) What books do you read over and over?

Paradise Lost ● John Milton

White Teeth ● Zadie Smith

Pride and Prejudice ● Jane Austen

Persuasion ● Jane Austen

Against Memoir ● Michelle Tea

Wuthering Heights ● Charlotte Brontë

Sabrina ● Nick Drnaso

A Christmas Carol ● Charles Dickens

Citizen: An American Lyric ● Claudia Rankine

The Sherlock Holmes canon ● Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Pericles, the Henriad ● Shakespeare

Bad Feminist ● Roxane Gay

And, of course, I know there are some I’m definitely forgetting!

Interestingly, there are plenty of books that I love just as much as these ones that I haven’t read more than once. I guess it’s because I rarely re-read books. There are so many good books out there, and I want to read as many of them as I can rather than reading the same ones again—at least, most of the time. When I do read books more than once, it’s usually because 1) I really, really loved the book, 2) I’m craving a story that’s really comforting, 3) I know I’ll get more out of the book if I read it more than once, or 4) the book is the only reading option (or one of the only reading options) I have at the time.

—

Thank you so much for sending in these questions, and I’m sorry it took so long to get around to them! Hopefully my responses were interesting. :) I promise to provide swifter responses in the future!

In solidarity,

Your local FP intern

[goodticklebrain]

Q&A August: David Prosser of the Stratford Festival

Remember back when I called Austin Tichenor my Comedy Fairy Godfather? Well, the subject of today’s Q&A August interview is my Shakespeare Fairy Godfather. David Prosser is the Literary and Editorial Director at the Stratford Festival of Canada, and is also indirectly responsible for much of Good Tickle Brain’s growth and success. (Also, if he’s reading this, I would like to sincerely apologize to him for all grammatical errors in today’s post, most likely related to misplaced punctuation, the correct disposition of which I have never properly mastered.)

I met David on Twitter a scant four months after I had started Good Tickle Brain. Fresh out of the gates, with few followers or readers, I was desperately trying to get my work in front of as many eyes as possible. To that end, I went on Twitter and promptly followed everyone I could find who was remotely associated with the Stratford Festival. One of the people I stumbled upon was David, whose wonderfully dry and witty tweets immediately attracted my attention. On day, embroiled in a bit of an ongoing brouhaha with some Oxfordians, David tweeted a riff on “Duke of Earl”, rewriting the chorus as “dupes, dupes, dupes, dupes of Earl”. Never one to shy away from a song parody, I provided the rest of the lyrics. David was amused enough by my efforts that he followed me, and started retweeting my comics. I cannot tell you how much that meant to me at the time.

Later on that year, I was visiting the Stratford Festival with my family, and (of course) tweeting about it when David slid into my DMs and invited me up to the Festival offices to have tea with him before that day’s matinee. I jumped at the chance, and we spent a wonderful half an hour or so chatting in the sunshine on the Festival Theatre balcony. It was like meeting my long-lost benevolent Scottish uncle. David was not only immediately supportive and encouraging of my work, but he also began actively brainstorming ways in which to help me reach a larger audience, specifically among the theatre community. To that end he introduced me to the Shakespeare Theatre Association, which quickly became my Shakespeare family and has helped me grow and develop Good Tickle Brain into what it is today.

There is absolutely no reason why the Literary and Editorial Director of the largest classical repertory theatre in North America should have given the time of day to a random person on the internet who drew sub-par stick figures and routinely committed egregious spelling errors in her text. However, David did not hesitate to lift me up, and has been a constantly warm, supportive, and thoroughly entertaining presence in my life since then.

But I’ll let him talk now. He’s much better at it than I am. 

1. Who are you? Why Shakespeare?

Who am I indeed? Isn’t that the mystery that haunts us all? “Who’s there?” asks Barnardo in the opening words of Hamlet, and that same question echoes down through centuries of subsequent literature. Call me David. Or Prosser, David Prosser.

I was born and grew up in Scotland, where, in early childhood, I first encountered Shakespeare as the author of the “Scottish play” and didn’t realize till some time later that he’d written anything else; came to Canada in my twenties; had a fourteen-year career at a small daily newspaper, where, among other things I was the theatre critic (boo, hiss) and editor of the TV listings (zzzzzz….); then quit in order to spend more time with my wife and cats and to pursue new opportunities for financial ruin; and finally washed up on the shores of the Stratford Festival, where, under various unconvincing job titles (most latterly that of Literary and Editorial Director), I have been an in-house wordsmith for the past quarter-century.

And why Shakespeare? As a nearly dead white male myself, I have a particular affinity for the work of dead white males in general—and Shakespeare in particular has intrigued me ever since childhood, when my father (an English teacher) showed me some black-and-white slides of scenes from a staging of that Scottish play referenced above. I’m sure if I could see them now, those images would prove cheesy; at the time, though, they haunted my imagination; it wasn’t till some time later that I began to discover that there were words to go with them.

As I started to discover the actual plays, I found to my excitement that they had the mind-expanding power of dreams, in which human life is transformed into something rich and strange—an alternative universe of experience, if you like, but one that brilliantly illuminates the “real” one.

2. What moment(s) in Shakespeare always make you laugh?

Sticking with the Scottish play, I generally laugh at Macbeth’s (oops, said it) “‘Twas a rough night,” and I always smile whenever an actor has to tackle the unsayable “O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart / Cannot conceive nor name thee!” Also, I’m afraid I can never suppress a schoolboy snigger when Mountjoy, in Henry V, comes in and announces himself with the words “You know me by my habit.” I can’t remember where I heard it or read it, but someone, somewhere, made a joke about the entire English army responding with rude gestures suggestive of that habit, and I have never been able to get that out of my mind.

3. What’s a favorite Shakespearean performance anecdote?

See Mountjoy above. Also this, one of the many stories from the late Richard Monette’s memoir This Rough Magic: an autobiography “as told to,” er, well, me. Peter Ustinov was playing King Lear at the Stratford Festival in 1979; Richard was playing Edmund.

“At one performance,” Richard recalled, “Peter began, ‘We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage. . . .’ and then he dried. ‘We’ll sing . . .’ he repeated, ‘and then we’ll sing some more. Oh, we’ll laugh. . . . We’ll dance. . . . And then . . . we’ll sing some more.’ Realizing what had happened, I tried to save him by coming in early with my line: ‘Take them away.’ He regarded me with mild curiosity, then waved me away with his hand—'Foof, foof, foof’—and began the whole speech over again, determined to say it all.”

4. What’s one of the more unusual Shakespearean interpretations you’ve either seen or would like to see?

In 1998, or thereabouts, at a theatre festival in Quebec City, I saw a production of The Tempest directed by Robert Lepage. More precisely, it was La Tempête, a translation into French by Normand Chaurette. What was novel about it were the settings, which were computer-created projections—but not just flat background images. The audience wore polarized 3D glasses throughout, which created the illusion of a three-dimensional landscape and objects (such as the royal ship) that seemed to come floating out into the auditorium. It was a stunning effect, perfectly suited to the magical powers referenced in the play, and it had a huge effect on me.

5. What’s one of your favorite Shakespearean “hidden gems”?

An obvious one, obviously, but it’s the “wretched strangers” speech from Sir Thomas More.

6. What passages from Shakespeare have stayed with you?

I am constantly on the alert for opportunities to work any of the following into my conversation:

“Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul, / And there I see such black and grainèd spots / As will not leave their tinct.”

“I’ll no pullet sperm in my brewage.” (Have to be careful about that one when placing an order in a bar or restaurant, though, or the server might spit in my Sauvignon.)

“For this relief much thanks.” (Always apt in washrooms.)

More seriously, I always get a wave of nostalgia for the homeland when I hear Macbeth say, “Light thickens, and the crow makes wing to the rooky wood.” For some reason that line evokes Scotland for me so strongly for me that I feel sure Shakespeare must have toured there when the plague was on in London.

7. What Shakespeare plays have changed for you?

When I was an undergraduate, a professor told me that Titus Andronicus was an absolutely dreadful play, what could Shakespeare have been thinking; and for many years I believed her. Then I actually read it, and thought, wow.

8. What Shakespearean character or characters do you identify the most with?

Wow, that is a question, isn’t it? Erm, well…. Oh, I don’t know: it might be…. Or, no, maybe not. No, shoot, I just can’t make up my mind. Sorry, I know I’m procrastinating, but I’m going to have to set this aside for a while, while I think on it more precisely. Maybe get a bit of sea air to clear my mind….

Okay, that’s better. I’d like to think it maybe would be Benedick, but I’m very much afraid it might be Falstaff. Or King John.

Actually, a few years ago, I really identified with the King of France, but, lacking a Helena, I had surgery for it, and I’m fine now.

9. Where can we find out more about you? Are there any projects/events you would like us to check out?

I pop up from time to time on Facebook (though not Instagram, which I’ve never seen the point of). Occasionally I make snarky remarks on Twitter. Otherwise, I can sometimes be found in the lobby of the Festival Theatre, giving Lobby Talks before selected performances. C’mon down! They’re free!

(Back to Mya) Thanks so much to David for taking the time to answer my questions! If you can, pick up a copy of former Stratford Festival artistic director Richard Monette’s memoir, This Rough Magic, which David worked on. It’s a wonderful read.

COMING THURSDAY: My other self, my counsel’s consistory, my pocket dramaturg!

[misterspectacular]

From Eden - Good Omens Music Video

So this song is about someone who's in love with another who is unattainable. It's honestly a very sad song about pining and longing and suits Crowley because that's exactly what he's dealing with in the series.

I wanted to first break down the song and explain it as it was intended (at least as far as I see it) before I get to explaining why it fits Crowley and Aziraphale and why I used certain scenes with the lyrics. I’m going to use “him” and “her” just to make it easier to understand, but I don’t think it necessarily had to be about a man and a woman.

Babe There's something tragic about you Something so magic about you Don't you agree?

(Basically this guy is in love with someone, who's both tragic and beautiful.)

Babe There's something lonesome about you Something so wholesome about you Get closer to me

(This guy sees how lonely she is, he's lonely too. He sees what a wholesome person she is, is drawn to it, and wants her to get closer to him, wants to get closer to her. Wants to be in her company, etc)

No tired sighs, no rolling eyes, no irony

(I feel this is him asking her not to do these things, but she does, and he wishes she wouldn't)

No 'who cares', no vacant stares

(Same as above)

no time for me

(And then the last bit takes a turn and it's where he comes out and says that she has no time for him and he's obviously sad about this)

Honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago

(He can relate to her, sees himself in her, from a time before)

Idealism sits in prison

(Idealism: the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically. Basically saying that he fantasizes about being with her, and maybe she does too, but they can't act on it. So it sits in prison)

chivalry fell on its sword

(Chivalry: courteous behavior, especially that of a man toward women. Basically this guy is thoughtful and attentive and considerate toward her, but it does nothing for him anyway. It fell on its sword - bit him in the arse, so to speak)

Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know

(this part isn't made entirely clear right away, but we later find out in the song that this guy and the woman he loves are having an affair. I feel this is what he was referring to when he said the innocence dies screaming, because she is being unfaithful to her other man. And he is familiar with this loss of innocence, maybe because he's cheating too, or there could be some other reason - perhaps he just feels that he is generally a sinful person)

I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door

(He sees himself as sinful and wrong. He slithered to her from Eden, just to sit outside her door, just to waiting for her to love him)

Babe, there's something wretched about this

(the affair, cheating)

Something so precious about this

(he loves her all the same, she's beautiful to him)

Oh what a sin

(self explanatory)

To the strand a picnic plan for you and me

(to the strand, I saw that as meaning it's a strand from the rope that's in hand, which is mentioned below. Basically they have a plan to go on a picnic and it's adding to the strands of this rope)

A rope in hand for your other man to hang from a tree

(Basically, the other man knowing she's cheating on him with this guy. What would happen if he did know, which in a literal sense would be hanging himself, but could also be metaphorical for just being distraught)

Honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago

Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door

(same as above)

Honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know I slithered here from Eden just to hide outside your door

(same as above)

So now that I explained what the song was intended to mean, I can take it and explain how it fits with Crowley and his relationship with Aziraphale.

Babe - “Didn't you have a flaming sword?" There's something tragic about you - "I gave it away", "You WHAT?" "I gave it away!" Something so magic about you - *Crowley staring in awe* Don't you agree? - "I do hope I didn't do the wrong thing", "Oh, you're an angel, I don't think you can do the wrong thing", "Oh thank you, it's been bothering me"

(For this part, I wanted to show how Aziraphale is indeed a bit tragic. He's so worried about doing the wrong thing, he's quite pitiful. And despite all this, he DOES do the things Heaven doesn't want of him, and Crowley loves that part of Aziraphale. I feel because he's able to relate to it, and he sees that Aziraphale is not your regular angel, that he's different, like him. Doesn't really fit it.)

Babe There's something lonesome about you - *comes into Globe Theater, Aziraphale smiles* Something so wholesome about you - *smiles at Crowley for the Hamlet miracle* Get closer to me - *Crowley coming closer (wall of Eden)*

(Aziraphale is lonely, I think it's clear that Crowley is the one who excites him, his one true partner through the centuries. He's always very happy to see him when he comes around. I used the smile he makes at the Globe Theater because you can see so very clearly how pleased he is to see Crowley, and it's for no reason other than that he enjoys his company. Crowley’s not there to save him or anything, he’s just THERE, according to Aziraphale. Aziraphale also has this wholesomeness to him - I mean obviously, he's an angel. And the way he smiles at Crowley is nothing but wholesome. He lights up entirely.)

No tired sighs - *that sigh during the globe theater scene* no rolling eyes - "oh, good lord" no irony - "get thee behind me foul fiend"

(Irony is basically when someone says one thing but means the opposite, which is exactly what Aziraphale did when he told Crowley to "get behind him" and referred to him as a "foul fiend". Just after, he then tells him "after you!")

No 'who cares' - "heaven will win, it’s going to be rather lovely"

(When Aziraphale acts like he doesn't care about the end of the world which would ultimately be the end of he and Crowley's relationship because they'd be separated, both going back to their sides, Heaven and Hell)

no vacant stares - staring ahead

(on bench, won’t look at Crowley)

no time for me - *leaving (during knight scene), Crowley upset*

(Aziraphale rejecting his offer of the arrangement, turning and leaving)

Honey, you're familiar

(Aziraphale is familiar to Crowley, he's what he is, just the opposite. They're in the same position just on opposing sides. I felt showing their wings would be good way to emphasize that.)

like my mirror years ago - Standing on wall of eden

(This is obvious. Crowley used to be an angel, years ago. I also threw in David Tennant as King Richard because he looks like an angel there and somewhat similar to Crowley, I thought it'd be fun to do a cross-fade with that)

Idealism sits in prison - "I’ll give you a lift, anywhere you want to go"

(Crowley wants to take Aziraphale somewhere, to spend time together, but Aziraphale won't allow it.)

chivalry fell on its sword - "you go too fast for me, Crowley"

(Despite his offering to drop him off, being chivalrous, Aziraphale only declines.)

Innocence died screaming - "I’ll be damned"

(I thought this scene was perfect. Aziraphale's fallen for Crowley, quite some time ago. And you can see how excited he is about the two of them being Godfathers. And not only did he just give in to Crowley's plan, to stop Armageddon, which is against what Heaven wants, but he comes out and says "I'll be damned" which works nicely with the lyrics.)

honey, ask me I should know - "not so bad once you get used to it", Aziraphale's loses smile.

(Crowley's already fallen)

I slithered here from Eden - *slithering*

just to sit outside your door - *Aziraphale won't agree with Crowley. Zoom out, them on wall of Eden*

(Not only is he literally slithering to Aziraphale from Eden, being the serpent who tempted Eve, but this is also metaphorical. Aziraphale won't agree with Crowley, he won't let him in, so to speak. He is rejecting Crowley in so many ways, and so Crowley is forced to either wait or just deal with the fact that Aziraphale won't give in. Just to wait outside his door, perhaps you could even say this "door" is Aziraphale's "walls". Fitting that we see the wall of Eden in this case.)

Babe there's something wretched about this - "It's over"

(Instead of using the "cheating" idea for this part, I used the whole, Aziraphale refusing to give in, idea. And breaking up with Crowley. That really was wretched.)

Something so precious about this - *blowing away stain, Aziraphale smiles*

(Self explanatory)

Oh what a sin - *watches after Aziraphale*

(Crowley's always sinning, but I was thinking more of Aziraphale during this scene, because he's the one that's not supposed to, but he is. He's in love with a demon, there's nothing more sinful, according to Heaven.)

To the strand a picnic plan for you and me - "one day we could, I don't know. Go for a picnic, dine at the Ritz"

(Literal. Couldn't be more perfect. You know a song's right for the pairing when there are lyrics and scenes that fit together like this.)

A rope in hand - Aziraphale handing over holy water

for your other man to hang from a tree - Gabriel looking at proof of their meet up

(Heaven is basically what Aziraphale is cheating on with Crowley. It's always stood for that in the series, subtextually. So of course I showed Aziraphale handing over the Holy Water that he stole from Heaven, and Gabriel finding out Aziraphale and Crowley have been meeting up and have a thing.)

Honey, you're familiar - going to heaven/hell through escalators

(Again, shows that they are the same, as is common with all opposites. It's how yin and yang works. Two sides of the same coin. A coin, but different sides of that coin. Opposites are never really different, they're actually exactly the same, just one's on THIS side and one's on THAT side.)

like my mirror years ago - "You were an angel once", "that was a long time ago"

(This song is literally perfect for them)

Idealism sits in prison - "we're hereditary enemies!"

(Aziraphale continues to reject Crowley)

chivalry fell on its sword - *handing over books* "How long have we been friends?" "Friends? We're not friends!"

(He always does things for Aziraphale. He's not only saved Aziraphale, but he's saved his books as well, and after all of this, all the favors, Aziraphale only denies that they're friends. Chivalry fell on its sword, indeed.)

Innocence died screaming - *Aziraphale in trouble with angels*

(Aziraphale 'cheating' on Heaven with Crowley, is the reason his innocence dies. He's at risk of falling because of his 'affair' with Crowley. This was the theme throughout the series, and in the original script, there was going to be a scene where he's falling for Crowley and there are some neon signs behind him, looking like a halo, that's flickering on and off. As he falls, he FALLS. I love how they did that. Falling in love with Crowley means falling from Heaven.)

honey, ask me I should know - "I didn't mean to fall"

(He's already fallen - could say from Heaven and for Aziraphale, as well)

I slithered here from Eden, just to sit outside your door - waiting outside of bookshop "well that was a thing"

(Couldn't be a better scene, especially considering in the book, it says that Crowley suddenly ‘’felt very alone’’. And he's also literally waiting outside his door, after Aziraphale basically told him to leave. I don't think Crowley had intended to leave, he got out of his car for a reason. I think he'd planned on going inside with Aziraphale up until the angel made clear that he wanted him to go.)

Honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago - "we have a lot in common, you and me", "I don't know. We may have started off as angels, but YOU are fallen."

(So perfect. This shows us that Crowley feels he and Aziraphale are similar. Familiar. Like his mirror years ago, both started off as angels. This also shows us that Aziraphale is still rejecting Crowley.)

Idealism sits in prison - "We can go off together!", "we are an angel and a demon!" bandstand scene

(Crowley wants to run away with Aziraphale. That's the idealism. Aziraphale refuses, that's why it sits in prison.)

chivalry fell on it's sword - "We have nothing what so ever in common, I don't even like you!" "You do!"

(Crowley offers to take Aziraphale away with him, only for Aziraphale to say he doesn't even like him.)

Innocence died screaming - Aziraphale watching Crowley after he saved books

(This scene was also meant to be one that signifies Aziraphale's falling. There's a poster based on the scene, where the wings of the burning bird are placed perfectly behind Aziraphale, to make it look like his wings are on fire. AKA he's falling. And then the books are in the middle of them, and Crowley's off to the side. His falling in love with Crowley is his falling from Heaven, same idea.)

honey, ask me I should know - "I only ever asked questions!"

(same as before)

I slithered here from Eden - driving to bookshop

just to hide outside your door - puts on his sunglasses outside of bookshop

(I wanted to kill everyone, so I had Crowley "slithering from Eden" [driving to Aziraphale's burning bookshop], just to "hide outside his door" [put his glasses on, trying to be cool, trying to hide from what he's feeling, outside the bookshop once he's left and thinks Aziraphale is dead. In the book script, it's actually written that he was trying to hide from his feelings and trying to stay cool about the whole thing, in typical Crowley fashion]).

And I ended it with him talking about his being a demon, not meaning to fall, because his being a demon is the main reason why he and Aziraphale couldn't be together in the first place and also why he probably thinks Aziraphale was killed (for meeting up with him in secret, which they wouldn't have had to do if they were both still angels and wouldn't have been an issue if he hadn't fallen. I don't think a lot of people realized that the reason Crowley brings up his fall after something bad happens with he and Aziraphale is because he believes that's the REASON for it; his being a demon, his falling. If he were still an angel, it'd not been an issue.

It's not a music video that I felt should end happily, because the song doesn't end happily. It's a sad song. Like I said, it's about wanting someone you can't have.

But it ends just before Aziraphale returns to Crowley, which is really the moment that everything gets better.

When I made this, I had to take some clips and remove the music from them, which ended up distorting the dialogue somewhat, but you can still hear what they're saying for the most part. I also had some scenes that couldn't be edited very well, so I had to leave them, and then I couldn't put the music too low or too high for certain bits. It was tough to get that audio where it is, hopefully it won't be too distracting.

I saw that a few other people made music videos for this song and this pairing but I wanted to have my own shot at it. Enjoy!

[nat-20s]

Top 5 Breakdowns over David Tennant- any fandom/show/ play you've seen? I really liked the dw one you did, just hoping you could expand over/ include other things he's been in.

Oh anon you are QUITE the enabler thank you.

So this is like half actual breakdown list and half just like David Tennant recommendations in general because I love that funky little scot.

+1. This isn’t going on the official list because I already did the previous list you mentioned (i’m glad you liked it, btw!!!) but yeah. Doctor Who. He plays the doctor in a very fuckin uhh mercutial way (he plays a lot of characters that way and I am 100% enamored by it every fuckin time he just does it SO WELL AUGH) and like highs were so high and the lows were so low and he was so FURIOUS AND CRUEL but also so GENTLE AND KIND and like oof!! The multifacetedness bitch!!!! That’s what it’s all about babey!!!

5. Good omens. I mean, duh. There was no fucking way I was gonna survive good omens. Like, honestly, even without miss tennant I wouldn’t have survived it because HA HA HA HA H O L Y SHIT MY FAVORITE BOOK FOR THE LAST DECADE WAS GETTING AN ACTUAL SCREEN ADAPTATION I GENUINELY DID NOT THINK WE WOULD EVER BE HERE THIS SHIT IS LIT. but then but THEN it was like. The way that he portrayed crowley definitely fit into a particular niche that david tennant KILLS. Like god okay I could spend an whole fucking essay on this point so I’m gonna distill this down to just. THE moment that I was like “okay okay okay okay fuck I’m GOING THROUGH IT” was when his voice cracks as he tells aziraphale that he lost his best friend because like in context OOF and out of context I have been Pavlovian trained for the past decade to Utterly Lose My Shit when David Tennant is like this close to crying and he expresses that with his whole body THE ASSHOLE! LET ME REST. I THOUGHT I WAS OVER THIS MISTER!!

4. The Escape Artist. Lesser known (I think?), but a VERY GOOD miniseries! The tone is much darker, and he’s a much more serious character. Similar vibes, role wise, to broadchurch. I’m not sure how much rewatch value it has but watching it for the first time had me like MISSION STATUS: SICK!!!! It’s like a cat and mouse mystery and like. I’m not gonna go to in depth into the story because I think it’s more enjoyable to go into it not knowing much and too me it was one of those things that took like 3 hours to watch all of and a full week or two to like. Process. Also I’m not usually one for drama and I was ABOUT it so I would recommend!!!

3. JESSICA JONES (season 1). Holy FUCK dude. Definitely his darkest and most evil role, and the subject matter is VERY heavy and I definitely would NOT recommend it for everyone because it could be, how you say, triggering as fuck or even just because it is incredibly dark and that might not be your thing. Funnily enough, it’s DEFINITELY not my thing, personally, I tend to avoid narratives about sexual assault because so many of them are, uh, ya know, bad, but Jessica Jones season 1 really is done FANTASTICALLY! The David Tennant breakdown was just a level of cognitive dissonance because I had never seen him play like a VILLAIN villain. I mean, yeah, he was Barty Crouch Jr., but that was for like 30 seconds and while the dude was creepy there was a layer of campy over the topness that is present in most fun fantasy franchises. I remember when he was cast as the purple man me and my parents were like. Yeah he’ll obviously crush the role because he’s talented but in the back of our minds we’ll probably still be thinking of like the doctor and I wonder if we can fully accept him playing the role. Yeah there was fucking NONE OF THAT. When he played Purple Man I never ONCE thought of his other roles and I didn’t even, like, think of David Tennant, ya know. I was just like oh shit this man is evil and terrifying and I want him dead! Please die!!! And yes, I know that that’s how acting works or whatever but also ACTING ya know!!! Of any of the roles on this list this one definitely made me be the most like SHE HAS THE RANGE because I really think it highlights how INCREDIBLY GOOD at his job he is!!! I have not ever rewatched Jessica Jones season 1 though because while it is honestly like a triumph of television it is also A Lot to deal with and I am very rarely in the kind of mindset where I’m able to watch it. But yeah. David Tennant knows what the fuck he’s doing and it is very good.

2. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING BABEY. Literally I knew nothing about the play or why I should care but the promo material was like. Catherine Tate and David Tennant are costars again and I was like OKAY SIGN ME THE FUCK UP HELL YEAH HELL YEAH HELL YEAH. For real I think on screen chemistry Catherine Tate and David Tennant are one of if not just straight up my favorite duo of all time. They are just so DELIGHTFUL and ENCHANTING and BEWITCHING and basically I want them to costar in everything ever. @azirafeathers was like “sherlock holmes adaptation where she’s sherlock and he’s watson” and I haven’t stopped thinking about that since!!! I would give my left thumb or at least like a solid $60 to see that. Like PLEASE it would be PERFECT. I LOVE THEM. And god this production of much ado is definitely like. “Here’s Benedick and Beatrice. They’re two chaotic dumbass bisexuals that are like fives on the kinsey scale and they fall in love much to their surprise” and it’s TERRIFIC. That’s exactly what I like to see. Like it’s set in the 80s and the set design? The visual gags? The costumes? The soundtrack? THE PHYSICAL COMEDY? It all SLAPS. David Tennant really balances “fun and funky slut” and “utterly PINING idiot” so fucking well. I have said it before and I will say it again David Tennant peaks when Catherine Tate is being mean to him. Also really iconic to give him the role that is like the only man in the play that is (after a bit) CHUGGING his respect women juice. I mean LOOK at this utter buffoon.

I’m in love. This play made me a proud morosexual. Plus it’s all FREE ON YOUTUBE THE NEXT TIME YOU HAVE THREE HOURS AND WANT TO HAVE A GOOD FUCKIN TIME GO WATCH MUCH ADO!!

1. H A M L E T. So imagine that you’re 14 and it’s 3 am and you’re casually watching David Tennant’s hamlet on youtube or at least the parts they put up and you’re painting stars on your ceiling with glow in the dark paint and it makes you realize that you have an excess of black bile and a melancholic temperment and you’ll understand why, while this might not be my all time favorite david tennant role (though it definitely is high up on the list) , this is absolutely my number one David Tennant Related Breakdown. Hoo boy. This probably doesn’t come as a shock to literally anybody that knows me irl bc I Will Not shut up about Hamlet and it is this productions fault. Different people will respond differently too it, and I’m definitely 1000% biased because a: I love him and b: it was the first production I ever watched and it’s what got me On My Bullshit, but this production honestly makes me like. Get Hamlet. Or not get hamlet, personally, as a character, we’re never meant to fully understand him honestly, but it made me understand the ALLURE of the play. I watched it and I was like oh. Yeah. Okay. I can see why people have been obsessed with this for 400 years. I know why it’s considered one of the greatest roles and one of the greatest plays of all time. And I went absolutely feral for it. It solidified Horatio permanently as one of my all time favorite characters in anything ever. David Tennant has this tendency to put manic and desperate energy into the characters that he plays, and that of course works extremely well for hamlet. Plus, like, he plays characters that are drowning, that need the assistance and kindness of love to try and float, and even with that might not be able to keep their heads above water, and the characters that are opposite him are basically always wonderful. Because I am deeply deeply predictable, the core dynamic of Hamlet and Horatio’s relationship is probably like THE most appealing and interesting and important aspect of the play to me, and Peter de Jersey (who is absolutely INCREDIBLE in this production) and David Tennant pull it of breathtakingly beautifully. Every time I watch this I have to lie down for a while. Every time I THINK about this I have to lie down for awhile. So, yeah, number one David Tennant based breakdown is over his hamlet.

Honorable mentions

this gifset-I have not seen what this is actually from but it made me have a conniption. I’m in love with her. She’s my idealized self. I don’t know what to do with myself. I spent 5 hours looking at this now. What the fuck. 

The Decoy Bride- I didn’t have a breakdown over it BUT it is a recommendation. Very silly rom com, very much a comfort movie like music and lyrics or singing in the rain for me. Great for sleep overs or rainy sunday afternoons. 

Richard II- I haven’t seen it but based on one (1) clip and some stills I would be lost in the sauce for a week after a viewing. 

Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger- watch nativity 2 danger in the manger. 

Fright Night- jesus fucking CHRIST mister tennant went full slut

Casanova- Mister Tennant Goes Full Slut part 2- has blue colored contacts and it’s weird