#then again we all know alan can sing

[ilkkawhat]

wuh-wait…how come there’s a guitar in their apartment? did alan play guitar? did alice play guitar??? did they play music to each other???? 🥺

[aheathen-conceivably]

Long before the last note Antoine had grown aware of Zelda’s presence; but as he finished, he looked up at her with a newfound vulnerability in his eyes. As she stared at him unmoving, he absentmindedly moved his hand along the strings to fill the quiet left by the watching stars, “Was it alright, you think? Writing lyrics, it’s new. Harder than assembling notes, if you ask me.”

She looked at him in amazed silence. His original piano pieces had been brilliant, and sometimes he had written ditties for her to sing, but never before had she heard him sing his own lyrics. She had always known how much he loved it - this place that he had left but that walked alongside him everywhere he went; but it was so much clearer this way, so full of both love and hate, loyalty and disdain, longing and relief, that it was difficult for anything other than music to encompass it. 

She brought her hands together in something that may have been a clap if she wasn’t so afraid to disrupt the stillness of the desert air. On silent footsteps, she left her reverie behind and moved to sit where he had made room for her on the worn wooden bench.

She looked at him earnestly, trying to ease his fear with even just the movement of her eyes, “It’s brilliant, Antoine, truly.” And she meant it, not just because she was under his spell and not her own now; the judgmental eyes of God and her sisters were shut out when she was in his orbit. Now there was only him and his memories for her to get lost in. 

He left his hands on the strings, still playing the familiar notes as though they helped make the admittance easier to utter, “You were right, you know? When I play it’s like I can see it all laid out in front of me. Or better yet, under me. Like I’m above it, observing it all like a story. Makes me realize I loved it more than I thought I did. That house. That place. Her. I wrote it because I know it’s gone now, probably nothing but rubble under a cheap government build. I just don’t want to forget. Or maybe I don’t want the world to forget.”

The stars looked down on them as his smile widened with every inch she drew closer to him. They reflected brightly in her eyes as she leveled them to his, “Would you sing it again? So I can hear it better?”

He let out a small laugh, just as much in relief as in humor. “Surely you would prefer to sing it? With a voice like yours I would hate to imagine what mine must sound like.”

She brought her knee up on the bench with them, curling as close as she could without dislodging the guitar from his arms. “Hush and sing. You don’t need me now.”

“I always will, Mrs. Duplanchier. No matter what. But as you wish….” 🎶

Part 3/3

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(As Antoine is meant to have written House of the Rising Son in this universe, I’m going to leave a little disclaimer about this song and its origins under the cut, in case you are interested!)

The origins of the song House of the Rising Sun are much older and more complicated than I have presented here. Folklorist Alan Lomax has written more on it if you are interested, but it is commonly thought to have originated as an English folk song, morphing into the version we know today amongst various groups of American immigrants.

Perhaps best known for its 1964 version by The Animals, it has long formed a staple of American folk, blues, rock, and country recordings, with recorded versions by everyone from Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Doc Watson, Nina Simone, Dolly Parton, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Alt-J (amongst so many others). However, I have taken inspiration from the earliest known recorded version, which was done in Appalachia in 1933.

Of course, in having Antoine write this song I have compressed much of this history into a single figure, as well as slightly twisted the meaning of the song to fit the story line. The latter is mostly based on personal interpretation of the lyrics and is purposefully meant to draw a line from this family’s musical heritage through the 1960s and beyond. It also gives a face to the very real figures behind many of the staples of American music that have come to us from the early part of the 20th century, many of which were written or played by black men and women whose songs have continued onward while many of their names and stories may have been forgotten.

[oldmanfuckerbrigade]

please tell me you're going to expand on why the newsies movie is perfection and the musical is ass, I'd love to see it

(because you are right)

yknow, i was gonna save my rant for my imaginary video essay but it’s too in my head now so i might as well do the deep dive here. you asked so i shall deliver! (Be forewarned this is long as fuck i didnt know how much i needed to say until i started writing this)

Newsies is a (Gay) Love Story and That’s Why The Musical Fails™️

Ok. So. First and foremost, let’s talk about Newsies 1992. To be fair to my own biases, I have a very strong personal connection to 92sies, it was the first musical I ever saw on screen - one of the first movies I ever watched PERIOD - and some of my first memories are of listening to the soundtrack. So you could, on a certain level, chalk up my vehemence about its quality to my fondness for it, and I will gladly admit to that.

BUT. I have now been on this earth for 20 years, and in those 20 years I’ve watched a lot of movies, and a LOT of musicals (and am now studying film full time yippee for me). So I think I can say confidently, with my broadened tastes, that Newsies (1992) is a goddamn masterpiece of a movie musical.

It succeeds spectacularly in both regards, as a film and a musical. It had a stacked deck going in honestly, with directing and choreo both done by Kenny Ortega of High School Musical fame, as well as music by the inimitable Alan Menken. You know this shit was boutta pop off. From a filmmaking standpoint, it’s beautiful. Gorgeous matte paintings in the wide shots, fantastic set work and costume design, as well as the lighting and cinematography being on. fucking. point. every damn time it’s so good it makes me sick. You don’t even need me to say anything about the acting, cause we already know it’s phenomenal.

As a musical, it’s also right on the money. Every tenet of musical theater is respected, we have our intro ensemble number, introducing us to the world, the people within it, and the stakes of the story that we’ll follow. We have our absolute fucking BANGER of an “i want” song which Christian Bale puts his whole Baleussy into. And ofc we have some fantastic call-to-action, come-together, and uplifting songs and dance numbers.

But most importantly, every song does the one of two things any musical theater number should do: advance the story or give us insight into a characters thoughts and feelings. Let’s talk about them all in order (i promise this is gonna tie in to the stage show in a second just bare with me):

The Music

Carrying the Banner is ofc our opening theme, introducing us to the world and characters. Where and when are we, who are the heroes of our story? This is the “known” part of our hero’s journey, the home base and the place to which we will return. This is our Normal Time.

Santa Fe is, as we all know, Jack’s “I want” song, the song that tells the audience the hopes and dreams of our main character, so we can understand, well, what he wants. We can discover through this song what Jack’s character is all about. Through both what he has, what he lacks (or perceives he does) and what he hopes to gain. Jack has no family, he’s alone, but he has seemingly given up on ever being NOT alone, so he pins all his hopes for a better life on the mirage of Santa Fe. If he can pave his own way in the world, leave the city which has done nothing but take from him, maybe he can feel whole again. He’s a dreamer, despite his rough exterior, and he dreams of a life of freedom, beyond what he can find in New York. So there we get, all wrapped in a tidy bow, the essence of Jack Kelly’s character. a deeper look beyond what we have seen up until this point. Ok moving on.

In between Santa Fe and The World Will Know we have a small song which Medda sings. While that song in and of itself isn’t terribly important (it’s just part of her show), the scene that it’s in is VERY important. This is where we have an introduction to one of the few people we could consider part of Jack’s family, as a sort of mother/aunt figure. Overall it serves to give Jack more humanity, therefore giving our audience surrogate David (and hey i’m gonna go off about Davey just gimme a minute) more reason to trust Jack, and thereby the audience can trust him as well. We also get a little interaction between Jack and Davey that was pretty much ripped wholecloth from the movie and supplanted on Jack and Katherine in the show. It’s literally the same shit, Dave and Katherine are mistrustful of Jack and his intentions, they argue, it’s homoerotic as fuck, and it all takes place at the theater. (And also we get the one scene in the movie that does a weak ass attempt to un-gay David by having him drool over a pretty lady. It does not work lmfao).

The World Will Know is a standard call-to-action, but it by no means is mid-tier in any way. This shit slaps. HARD. We have Jack as the voice of the people convincing the gang of erstwhile children to band together with him on this, and stand up for their rights. This is also the first real time we get Jack and David teaming up to achieve a goal. Jack may be the voice of the people, but it’s David who’s the brains behind the operation, knowing what to say and do, while Jack has the respect and tenacity to put it forward. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. BECAUSE THE STAGE SHOW ALL BUT BRUSHES OFF DAVID’S INVOLVEMENT IN THIS SCENE, SO IT NO LONGER SERVES IT ENTIRE PURPOSE. A big secondary point of this scene is to illustrate that while Jack and David are strong boys independently, they work so much better together, and are able to achieve what they wouldn’t normally, alone. And the musical does not understand this. But i’ll get to that later.

Seize the Day is David’s first step towards standing in his own power. The newsies are losing steam on the strike train after Brooklyn refuses to join so David is the one to raise everyone’s morale and bring back their fighting spirit, getting all the other boys to take up the call, preaching brotherhood and community, the strength of standing together. Here is your come-together song. But this is the important thing: It’s David who does it. The song becomes an ensemble number as it goes on but HE is the one who STARTS it. David was hesitant to really rally behind the strike at first, but now he’s all in, he’s connected with the boys and he believes in the cause (thanks to the spirit that Jack brought to it, and how much Jack believe in it cough cough). He does start it in the musical as well, but the tone is very different, it’s only after Jack’s urging that he says anything. Bro didn’t even have to say shit in the movie. But whatever moving on.

King of New York is a hard song to mess up. It’s just good. and fun. and I like it. It probably has the least to do with moving the plot forward or giving us an internal look on any specific characters. It’s an ensemble and dance number. I do like it better in the movie rather than onstage, though that’s mostly personal preference. The stage show kind of beats it to death, like why is it 10 minutes long I swear to god. They know it’s a good song and they wanna capitalize on it, which makes it all seem kind of transparently cynical to me. it’s still like, good and the dancers are on top of it but….its too much y'know. The movie just has a good time with it. Because it’s a good time. Also Jack is there in the movie and he’s not in the stage show for some reason, I forget why. Probably because of some plot contrivance they got from trying to shove new elements into an already lock tight story. sorry ok back to actual critique.

Once and For All is like maybe my favorite song of the whole soundtrack. It just eats. Every time. This is the song we should play while smashing in the heads of the capitalist pigs that run our stupid fucking country. It’s a banger. AND it moves the plot forward, which is always a slay. Let’s make that underground pape and radicalize all the child workers being abused across the city!! yeah!!!

And then we got our TWWK and CtB reprises to tie up the ending in a neat little bow, bringing us back around the our beginning, a la the hero’s journey. We’ve completed our circle and are back to the beginning, changed but better for it, with our characters at transformed equilibrium, the evil vanquished, and bright days ahead. Jack realizes that he doesn’t need to chase the illusion of Santa Fe when what he really wants and needs is to be with the people who love him, the family that was right under his nose the whole time. David is a full fledged newsie, has come out of his shell, become more confident in himself, and his relationship with Jack is assured. So. Let’s talk about Jack and David.

Jack and David

Historians would call them “good friends”. This whole section is gonna be me preaching to the choir, so to speak, so I’ll try and keep this concise. We all know they’re gay, everyone and their mother knows they’re gay, so why is it important? It’s not like that shit is actually baked into the story right? WRONG. Jack and David are at the heart of the story of Newsies. Jack may be the “““main character”””, but David is the impetus for the events of the story, the driving force behind the plot. He is, in essence, the call to adventure that our hero Jack receives at the start of his arc.

He is also the audience surrogate. It’s through him that we learn the ways of the newsies, the ins and outs of the newsboy life, the trials and tribulations. It’s through him that we come to know Jack’s character on a deeper level. We only get Santa Fe after Jack has met Dave’s family (talk about U-Haul lesbians like my god he knew the guy for a DAY and he was already meeting the parents), and we get to see how seeing David’s loving family is painful for Jack, how he grieves that lack of connection but copes by pinning his hopes on Santa Fe. Most everywhere we see Jack go, we see it because David goes too. (MOST. There are exceptions, like his talk with Pulitzer. But of course, David is still RELEVANT in that scene). We see the story through David’s eyes.

Which is why the musical fails.

Because in the musical, David is so far removed from the narrative you could replace him with any guy and it would still work. He is an after thought, all but scrubbed from the script, and for why???

This I don’t have an answer for, which is really frustrating. My best guess is that it was a well-intentioned but misguided attempt to tighten up the script by placing Jack as the main character. And to make room for Katherine.

Oh Katherine….I used to really vehemently hate Katherine, and her addition to the story. I’ve obviously grown since then, I can recognize her importance as a woman within the story, and how that is important for young people to see in media. But also. She is unnecessary. TO THE PLOT. I won’t speak to her necessity from a larger, misogyny-on-the-world-stage level, but to the actual plot itself she is completely unnecessary. And you know how I know? Because they took movie David’s whole personality and just copy and pasted it onto her.

Ok now hear me out, I KNOW that it is not 1:1, but it really doesn’t have to be. If you step back and look at the bare essentials, it is the same shit. Jack and Katherine have the same enemies to lovers type dynamic that was Davey and Jack’s in the movie. There’s the initial mistrust, the dislike, she’s very professional, and kind of a know-it-all. Jack is the charming street rat, all dry wit and golden retriever energy. They tease and bicker and snap at each other. Exactly like Dave and Jack did in 92. Watching both versions back to back made this almost glaringly obvious to me. Like it was actually kind of shocking how obvious it was.

And the thing is, I understand why they did it! Sarah was such a nothingburger character in the movie (sorry Sarah, love you in fics, hate your actress with a burning passion) that they knew they had to add SOMETHING more to any potential romance subplot, and if they were conveniently sidelining David’s character anyway, why not take some cues from the most powerful relationship in the film? I understand the logic behind it, I really do.

But. That still leaves David, flopping around the script like a severed limb, with nowhere to go and nothing to do to help the plot. Cause here’s the thing, his and Jack's relationship is what makes the movie. I don’t care if I'm fandom-goggling this my tin hat is ON I have a MASTERS in FUJOSHI STUDIES. The movie is at its core, about brotherhood and community. It’s about boyhood and friendship and banding together with your peers to achieve great things. They give us this theme through Jack and Dave.

Dave is an outsider, unfamiliar to the ways of the street kids and working within a community like that. Jack is old hat to it, born and bred in it, it’s his home and his family. They come together through a twist of fate, Jack initially thinking only about what’ll earn him the most money at the end of the day, and Davey rightfully mistrustful of him. But they end up forming an organic bond through the strike, finding common ground with one another, and realizing if they team up they can accomplish great things. We see them struggle together, and break apart for a bit. We see Jack realize he’s gotten too close to this boy, brought him into something dangerous and now he genuinely cares for him which is even worse. David goes so far as to break Jack out of jail, but not before Pulitzer can get to him and threaten him with the one thing Jack will take seriously: David. Jack is forced to destroy David's and the rest of the newsies' trust just to keep them safe.

But through all this, facing incredible adversity, dangerous circumstances, gaining and losing a close friend, David is forced to come into his own, take on a role of leadership and stand up for what he believes in. In this way, his own character arc is fulfilled, by the end of the movie. And the one thing that gets Jack back to the newsies? Why David being in trouble, of course. The one thing he hoped to avoid by agreeing to Pulitzers terms. That’s all it takes for him to take it all back, the prospect of David being in danger.

BRO. WHEN I SAY. THAT THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS WHAT DRIVES THE PLOT. I FUCKING MEAN IT.

And y'know they make their own paper and radicalize all the kids in the city, they go to Pulitzer TOGETHER. BY THE WAY. TOGETHER. Which the musical cannot seem to understand. It’s only as a united front that they are able to beat Pulitzer and win fair terms for the newsies. And then jacks like ahhh yeah im goin to santa fe so long fuckers and then is like never mind actually i wanna come back and kiss Dav- I mean Sarah.

Which is also a hilarious fucking scene to me like that whole last interaction between Dave and Jack is so damn romantic in tone that the only way for the tension to break was with a kiss, so they had to have Sarah come in out of nowhere to kiss Jack 💀 like they knew that shit was leading to something but they couldn’t have the boys kiss obviously so they had to throw a woman in there real quick.

-

So. tldr. I meant this to be a lot more organized and make a lot more sense than it did but oh well. The reason the musical fails is because it fails to recognize that Dave and Jack are EQUALLY both the main characters, you can’t have one without the other, their partnership is the core force of the plot and story, without both of them you are left with something resembling the story you once knew, but with none of the heart and spirit of the original.

Other Technical Things That Are Bad

i wanted to take a second and just touch on some smaller details that also stood out to me, but are less connected to my central thesis.

//

Costumes. Oh boy did they fuck that one up on stage. Now to be fair, I’ve only seen the 2017 pro shot and one (1) local children’s production. Not any of the other runs or anything. So I'm only talking about what I’ve seen here. But what I’ve seen is Not Good. There’s already a lot of names and faces flying around in the movie which are hard to keep track of as it is, but everyone looks different enough from the person next to them that you know who your main players are. Each kid has his own way of dressing, unique color palette, accessories, and other styling choices that make them stand out. If you know who you're looking for, you can pick out any named newsie from any of the major ensemble scenes. You can't do that with the show. Everyone is wearing a variation of the same bland shirts and pants, and the color palette is dull gray-brown across the board. I'm not saying you have to go crazy with colors and shit, the costumes in the movie are believably period accurate, but I can still tell Racetrack from Mush without having to squint. (Also hey shout out to whoever decided to do that little red/blue color palette motif on movie Jack and Dave. I see you, and I appreciate you.)

//

The new songs suck but what can you do :/. Sorry to Alan Menken you ate with the movie my guy but you were just not on your A-game with this one. I didn’t even know it was still Menken doing the music in the stage show honestly, with how different and sucky the new songs were. Personal taste on this one I guess. But I don’t like them. Why does Pulitzer need a song. Literally why. If they had to give any pre-existing character their own song it should've been David! Like literally no question about it, it should have been David. Also why are we doing Santa Fe at the opening?? Did we forget how musicals work?? We never open with the "I want" song! ESPECIALLY if it's a ballad!!

//

The set. Yeah I’m really here to tear everything down ig, I didn’t know I had this many gripes until I started writing this sorry guys 😭 But yeah it’s not as gooood. And I'm like. ok. I know they were never gonna be able to do anything close to the movie. It’s onstage. They had to make sacrifices. But tell me why it all had to be cool toned?? The movie's color palette is so nice and warm, it feels antiquated but also real, it’s homey and nice. But also unforgiving and rough when it needs to be. They could’ve done that with lighting and shit onstage, changing the tone when it needs to, but instead they opted to throw out the warm tones for mostly cool gray steel backdrops. Whatever. I’m not a set tech. They know better than me.

//

THAT KID. IS SO MOTHERFUCKING ANNOYING. I AM SO SORRY. BUT IT IS HOW I FEEL. No hate at all to the kid playing Les in the 2017 pro shot, he was just a child he was doing his best not his fault at all. I’m choosing to blame the writing. But also goddamn if that kid's choices for delivery did not grate on my ears. His voice. just. did not sit right with me idk. Les in the movie is such a cute and endearing kid, I always adored him as he reminded me a lot of my own younger brothers. But this kidddd. is so unlikeable it’s like, going PAST annoying unfunny comic relief character straight into “how the fuck did anyone think this was a good idea”.

//

The ending suuuuuucks boooooo it’s bad I don’t like it I'm kinda running outta steam here but I still got shit to say so fuck it we ball. it’s so over explained that it’s just. just dumb. It just becomes dumb at a certain point. Jack going to do cartoons for Pulitzer??? What??? Don’t get me wrong I actually really love them giving him artistic talent I think that really adds some actually GOOD dimension to his character, but this????? Really????? Everything is just so like *perfectly* wrapped up that it totally destroys my suspension of disbelief. In the movie it’s definitely very wish-fulfilling and unrealistic, but it’s from the perspective of kids. It’s exactly as a kid would perceive it. And we don’t see exactly how the conceding of Pulitzer goes down and we SHOULDN’T!! Because then it gets all bogged down with the logistics of it all which is exactly what happened to the play! We don’t need all the details, we just need to know they won.

//

This one isn’t a gripe actually because I apparently DO have love in my heart: I love musical Crutchie. I love him, I love him so much my sweet boy. I love him being Jack’s little brother I love them having that deeper connection. I love Crutchie in the movie so to see him getting more screen time (so to speak) is just lovely. The one change I agree with. I love you forever Crutchie.

ok i’ve been writing for hours and my hands gonna fall off so im done now. if i think of anything else…well, you’ll just have to wait for my video essay i guess.

[spockanalia-archive]

Spockanalia #1: Record Review

By Dorothy Jones

Art by DEA

Record Review

by Dorothy Jones

In January of this year I sent Mr. Nimoy a copy of "The Territory of Rigel," explaining that it was a song text but that the music was yet to come.

"This leads to another point," I continued; "does Spock sing? Which is to say: do you? If so, what range?"

"I doubt that Mr. Spock will ever sing," he wrote back, "but Leonard Nimoy has on occasion. The range is very low, there have been some inquiries about the possibility of recording, and I frankly have not yet decided what to do about it."

It must have been only shortly thereafter that he did decide, and arranged to record with Dot Records. An album called Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space has been out for three or four months; a single, The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, is about to be released.

The five instrumental pieces in the album are among its weakest parts. The Mission Impossible theme and Music to Watch Space Girls By are purely fillers and add nothing to the record. The Star Trek theme—embellished with bongo drums, electric organ, and female voices going aaaaaaah—is not much better. Beyond Antares (an instrumental setting of Lt. Uhura's song in "The Conscience of the King" is much easier to listen to, although it suffers from the same embellishments. I would have preferred to hear it sung, either by Mr. Nimoy or by Miss Nichols. The fifth piece, Where No Man Has Gone Before, is a surprise: a competent arrangement of an interesting melodic line based on the few phrases (under "Space, the final frontier…") which led from the teaser into the Star Trek theme. Why weren't they all as good as that?

Of the three songs in the album, two were taken from musical comedies. Where is Love (from Oliver) is a beautiful song of its type: its tender melodic line is well suited to Mr. Nimoy's very gentle voice, and its lyrics are entirely appropriate to Spock. Mr. Nimoy selected the song for that reason. I consider it the best band on the record.

Lost in the Stars (from the musical of the same name, based on Alan Paton's Cry, The Beloved Country), the song of the man who feels God has forgotten him, is perhaps more suitable to the denizens of the Twentieth Century than to Spock. Though he may occasionally indulge in desperation, he never despairs. However, the song is again well written and beautifully sung.

The third piece, You Are Not Alone, was written for this album. It is a protest against the unpleasantness of mankind which is about to be directed against the inhabitants of other planets. The point is well taken, and both the writer and the singer are very sincere. (Mr. Nimoy is one of the people over 30 whom you can trust.) I wish it had been written with a lighter hand; it has an unhappy streak of corn.

The three narrative pieces are reasonably authentic Spock. In Alien he describes himself with fair accuracy: "so much like you, and yet so unalike…no feelings show in me. Perhaps I'm better off than you…but I pay a price to be from human feelings free. Perhaps in me you see your destiny."

Mr. Nimoy narrates Visit to a Sad Planet not partially but entirely in the character of Spock, with his level intonation and occasional pauses to check the suitability of a phrase. The material is an anti-war protest: Spock visits a ruined civilization and the last survivor tells him how they had destroyed themselves. Asked the name of his world, he says, "We called it Earth." (And so they undoubtedly did, in their language. Had you forgotten Spock's telepathy?) The tone is taken from You Are Not Alone (as are several of the melodic elements), but the treatment is more subtle.

The tongue-in-cheek Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Earth stretches the imagination a little, but only a little. We know, of course, that Spock doesn't drink. But there must be ways (short of viruses, spores, and the pon farr) of getting him to lower his guard. I can imagine the delighted consternation in the Officers' Club, and Captain Kirk grinning into his bourbon on the rocks while his First Officer solemnly declares, "Twinkle, Twinkle, little earth, how I wonder what you're worth…On Cestus Omicron Three, the all-time hit song is Earthdust…don't let the earth get in your eyes."

Mr. Nimoy is a true Russian bass: his voice has a dark, velvety sound and some wonderful low notes. He has a natural sense of what to do with a phrase, but he is not a trained singer. He tends to fade out at the end of a phrase, perhaps because of lack of breath. If ever he gets away from that 14-hour day (not likely, if NBC knows a good thing when it sees one), he should be able to correct this with a little study. Of the more common faults of untrained singers—harshness, nasality, pinched tone, or wobbling tremolo—he has none. There is a great warmth in his voice: a very tender and gentle sound, when the material permits it.

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins had not been released at the time of this writing, but it was performed on July 27th on a truly abominable television program called Malibu U. Mr. Nimoy lounged on a rock and sang to a half dozen addled females who will not, I hope and trust, be part of the record itself.

The song could have been better or worse. Its melody was lifted, I should think, about 50-50 from Davy Crockett and The Purple People Eater. In its general tone it is no more astray than the Ballantine cover of The Hobbit. It is perhaps a bit more patronizing, but not unduly so—the sort of attitude one of the Big Folk would have taken toward Bilbo's adventures.

The line describing Bilbo as "the greatest little hobbit of them all" might be taken as a slur against Frodo, except that the rest of the song, speaking of Bilbo in the present tense, can clearly be dated between 2942 and 3018 Third Age (1342 and 1418 Shire-Reckoning). Indeed, the piece might well have been composed by one of the Men of Bree; and, since Mr. Nimoy is the only man I ever laid eyes on who could play Strider, the effect is quite pleasant and not at all out of tune with Tolkien's universe.

When I met Mr. Nimoy last December, he had not read The Lord of the Rings. Indeed, I believe he had never heard of it. When Karen Anderson met him this July, she got the impression that he had at least read The Hobbit and had loved it.

If Bilbo Baggins goes well, she told me, he intends to do a whole album of Tolkien songs. This would be a very good thing. He might, perhaps, do the Flanders and Swann settings of some of these songs. Certainly, Mr. Nimoy is capable of doing justice to much better material than Dot has given him so far.

FOR SALE

Sets of 18 film frames from Star Trek 1966-67—suitable for mounting in 16mm slide holders or for projection. Shots of Kirk, Spock, various views of the ship. $5 per set.

TO BE AUCTIONED AT NYCON

Incomplete sets of frames as above

Scripts of Star Trek

Sketches of scenes from the new season's shows

Female's tunic, green velour, about size 12

ALL MONIES TO GO TO THE TRANS-OCEANIC FAN FUND (TOFF)

Interested parties contact the Trimbles, [Address Redacted]

Note: With the help and guidance of Open Doors, we digitized the first volume of Spockanalia and imported it to AO3, which you can view here. In order to meet AO3's terms of service, some of the content was edited or removed. The full version of the zine is preserved on this blog. The masterpost is here.

[lavalamps-and-ladydoors]

Hello! This is an ask game so we can tag phan!! shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up + if you think they can be related to DnP or not. Copy/paste this ask to your favorite mutuals!!

Suitcase Full of Sparks- Gregory Alan Isakov

This is one of my current favorite songs and it's VERY dnp coded. It's about a man traveling through the world trying to find someone he loves. Sound familiar?

"Took a train to Cataloo

Opened up my guitar case and all the songs were blue

I haunted all the alleys

Lord, I drifted down the valleys

Honey, I'm just trying to find my way to you"

Also! there's so many good little metaphors in this song, my favorite being,

"Learned the language of the Mockingbird She took and twisted all my words"

The Chain- Ingrid Michealson

I first heard this song at my summer camp. They would sing us to sleep every night. There was a mix of songs from Madonna to Peter, Paul and Mary. However this was one of my favorites. It's very melodic and I love Ingrid's voice. I think it can be related to 2009 era dnp, when they were going between Wokingham and Rawtenstall to visit each other. Not to get overly parasocial but I can understand the feeling of being cautious about falling for someone.

"I'll never say that I'll never love

But I don't say a lot of things

And you my love are gone

So glide away on soapy heels

And promise not to promise anymore

And if you come around again

Then I will take, the chain from off the door"

Slipping Through My Fingers- ABBA (Mamma Mia! Soundtrack)

Oh wow. Where to start with this? I love Mamma Mia! I've watched it hundreds of times, in High School I would watch it daily. I made a change .org petition when it got taken of Netflix. I'm banned from watching it in my parent's living room. The second my family hears the first line of I have a dreammm a song to singggg they have a physical reaction.

ANYWAY. Yes, even though this song is Donna singing about her daughter (Sophie) growing up. It's hitting her that Sophie is getting married and things are changing. I find it reminding me of hiatus/wad era dnp. Phil wanted to keep going with the gaming channel ect. but he knew Dan needed this, needed to heal, become his own person, and as Dan said, save his own life through performing the show everynight. This lyric hits hard.

"Slipping through my fingers all the time

I try to capture every minute

The feeling in it, slipping through my fingers all the time

Do I really see what's in her mind?

Each time I think I'm close to knowing

She keeps on growing, slipping through my fingers all the time"

Just. UGH. That's love. To hold and let go and hold again. I love them.

Homecoming Serf- Sidney Gish

I must say I will start out one of her songs for the lyrics but they're so catchy and I love the conversational nature, so sometimes I just listen to the beat. Her songs are so clever, one of my favorite lyrics from a Sidney song is "he's tripping balls he's tripping testes".

Hell yeah.

"I think that I'll rebel now

Not like my age is too late

I'm still half straight but I can easily

Act gayer than fck h8

And I'll tell kids to smoke cigs and weed

Despite the surgeon's warning"

I think this can be applied to dnp, especially with the idea that you have to a perfect role model, a perfect creator, but there's really no way to win. If you're too pg its cringe, if you curse too much its weird, too gay, too straight, not gay enough, not straight enough, too emo, too annoying, not annoying enough... even from an outsider's pov the constant barrage of feedback and opinions even when positive is exhausting. Obviously this song is ironic but it makes a great point and does remind me of tit! also I'm glad we have better boundaries now!

Mission to Mars- Rainbow Kitten Surprise

I'm a big RKS fan so I wasn't surprised one of their songs came up. This song is about what it's like to form a band and be in the world of entertainment. It's so dnp coded it's crazy.

"They say that viewership for launch is up by 50 this week We changed the format completely, cut the filler for meat It's just blood on your TV making killings for free The ticket lines are past the sign down at the end of the street Meet and greet, VIPs go a million a piece We delayed the show for entry and so expired on the lease Now we're gonna re-release it, T.B.D Change the title to Fuck You"

Even beyond the obvious connections to 'Why I Quit YouTube', dinok, and the hiatus, I think it speaks so much to monetizing creativity/something you love in general. Dan and Phil both started youtube when they were 18, well before you could make money from videos. They were in the first group of people to make a career from making these videos and they've done so much. Thinking back to the 'yes' era it hits hard. From books, massive stage shows, bbc radio jobs, award show presenting, regualr uploads, livestreams ect ect. They did so much (still do) and they've talked about getting caught up in regular uploads, pressure, and burnout. I'm glad things have changed and there's more self care (that we can see).

In conclusion,

I doth yap! and either I'm feeling especially parasocial today or I do indeed have a dan and phil coded music taste

[zu-is-here]

Hey zuu

Oh hii Gayfish! (*'▽'*)

UPD:

Oh no reason to worry about it! (ówò) Your family comes first so there's nothing wrong in delaying <3

My bad I'm empty-handed either but happy birthday to the twins! (〃ω〃) Your latest reblogs with them are such a nostalgia ☆

How are you doing today? *^* Heheh yours is sooo cute too! Pink rulesss (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)♪

Take your time╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

Bruh!! It was such a mistake to use mascara cause I cried all my tears out in the end ;w; Did you like it?

OH yay!! (*ﾟ∀ﾟ*)

[spoilers for Barbie]

Ah I can feel you! (ówò)

Perhaps I didn't take it so politically cause Ken's attempts were more ridiculous than depressing to me, although there's a deep message here.

I guess this is not so much about patriarchy or matriarchy, but about the right to be whoever you want without being obligated to anyone?

That's what made me cry in the final, when Barbie asked her creator to be a human and not an idea and felt what it's like to be one ;w;

Oh!! (°▽°) I suppose it's really individual cause I didn't cry at all when I watched Everything Everywhere All at once, and while everyone was talking about how Great this movie is (it is! *^*), I was like "?? Well that was 60% crazy, 30% fun and 10% sophistic :'D"

Looks like it's controversial indeed ("ó3ó) What do you think would be a better ending? *^*

Pff true, she acted so good xp I also enjoyed Alan, he looks so confused the whole movie XD

Speaking of the other movie— did you watch Oppenheimer? *^*

Sadly no cause we can't watch it in cinema now :') But if they'll make it legal, I'll definitely go the second time all pink! \(//∇//)\

Oh these men ε-(´∀｀; ) Alternative? :0

Awww true! (〃ω〃) That's some real things <3

> Also no I haven't seen the other movie, but my friend has, and she really enjoyed it! So has jan!

This is not as exciting as Barbie is heh, but I'm a big fan of Christopher Nolan's films, and he nailed it again <3 (The adult scenes were superfluous though, but a man can have at least one in his career right? x)

[text ahead cause of the images limit xp]

> Alternative? You know like goth, punk things like that

Ah I see! (ﾟ∀ﾟ) Looks like it's not common for them in our modern world x)

> Other then the movie zu, how have you been? What you been up to?

Working on the next part of Trapped! (☆ω☆) Hopefully I can finish it before opening commissions, that's when the real work starts xp

Do you have other news to share? *^*

> Good luck with commisons zu!!

Nothing new, just been listening to phantom still, I wonder if there were any songs left out of the movie that you might not have heard

Thank youuu Gayfish! <3

So addictive (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)♪ Oh I wonder too *^*

> Recently I've been super into Notes and Notes twisted every way. As well as Why have you brought us here? Have you heard any of these before?

Woah— I don't remember listening to the first one! (°▽°) And I like how leitmotif repeats in the second one ☆ The voices are ssso good... *^*

> Oh! Did you just go off and listen to them now?? I love them to!! The way the voices mesh in the argument, and how christens name being repeated 3 times is a common motive.

Yesss! ♪ The musical must be better in terms of listening to them, cause in the movie, watching them steals almost all the attention :'D

> And the tunes of "His eyes will find me there, those eyes that burn"

Is the same as "hunt down this murderer, he must be found" in the finally

OH right!! (*⁰▿⁰*)

> It's also sad, how much the songs are starting to reflect christens trauma. She's so frightened, and his fear is growing ever strong, its twisting her perception of it all. All up until the point kf no return, and then the phantom singing all I ask of you.

The moment she realises that he knew about her and her lover the whole time. And she hears his true motive has truly been her the whole time, and she stands up and rips off his mask

Trueee, that was so intense in the movie as well ;w; Thought that's where the viewer knows that Erik saw them and knew about them, but the music shows it another way *^*

> I still haven't seen the movie, but the musical is spectacular visually as well.

I wonder if you'd enjoy the 25th anniversary recordings, it's very well shot.

The only thing that turned me off from the movie si that the phantom was cast for his appearance, not his voice, when it really should have been the other way around for a character who's a musical genius.

Awww I would! *0*

I've heard that many actors tried to get this role (Antonio Banderas as well?) and they took vocal lessons for this cause singing songs on their own was a prerequisite ☆

> Did you know that the longest running Broadway phantom played the role for 7 years? Almost every night for 7 years! The way they hop from one song to the next, his poor voice.

He got the biggest round of Applause at the end of the show

FOR real?? \(//∇//)\ That's crazy yet respectable!!

> One thing that was pointed out to me, which kinda kills alittle bit of the tension, js when Eric is over hearing All I ask of you, he's hiding behind the horses bottom, in the statue XD idk if makes me.laugh.

In the book he's ontop of a very high up statue, and it's a wonder he even heard them.

You know I've actually been to that oprea house

PFF well he's hiding after all xd You've been there?? (*ﾟ∀ﾟ*)

> Also I'm sorry if you are getting tired kf talking, idk if you are busy with trapped and would rather take a break?

Oh I really enjoy talking to you about them! *w* We can both take a break though, no rush anyway <3

> Well if you do wanna watch it, you can rent it on you tube. It's my favourite versionnnn.

Of course if you get the chance to actually watch it ! Do!

I'm going to be keeping an eye on it, waiting for it to return, Andrew said that it should come back, so if it ever comes back to London, I will tell you just in case it co-alines with a time you could visit!

I know I want to see it againnn.

Awww that would be amazing, thanks! \(//∇//)\

> Ok! We can take a break heh, sorryy

But I'll see if I can find a picture of the oprea house and send it over!

It's alright! (ówò) I'll be looking forward to it *^*

@help-im-a-gay-fish OH wow!! \(//∇//)\ This is a great photo, "catching a moment" <3

He did a really good work at trying to make it as real as possible though *w*

> Me ans Jan found a night tour of the opera housessss I think we might goooo

*GASP* That's awwwsome! (〃ω〃)☆

[alathan13]

The Little Mermaid Live Action

I’m so freaking prepared for this movie and it’s not even funny!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve watched the trailer so many times since the full trailer was released.

The original Little Mermaid movie was and is still one of my all time favorite Disney movies. And now just seeing in come to life is amazing. I can already tell you I’m gonna be in tears probably halfway through the movie.

There are probably a million reasons why I’m so excited but I’m only going to talk about my top 3.

Halle Bailey: She such a beautiful woman and a wonderful singer. I heard her singing only a few times before, but when I really heard her voice was during the Disney World 50th Anniversary and she sang “Can You Feel Love Tonight” and she has such a beautiful singing voice. I also read this article somewhere online about Jodi Benson (the original Ariel) and her opinion about Halle playing Ariel. Jodi Benson has been very supportive of Halle as she plays Ariel and was there when Halle received backlash about her playing Ariel. So, Jodi Benson talked about how it doesn’t matter who you are, what you look, or where your from, it’s about the spirit of the character is what’s important. I 100% agree with her. Halle Bailey is going to do a wonderful job by bring one of the most iconic Disney princesses to life.

2. The Music and New Songs: Can we just take a moment and talk about Lin-Manuel Miranda?!?! As everyone should know, he wrote the Broadway musicals “In The Heights” and “Hamilton” and has also written music for other Disney movies like “Encanto” and “Moana”. Lin-Manuel is also a big Disney fan and he also named his son after Sebastian in the little mermaid. And now he gets to work with Alan Menken (the original music composer) and he was the one who inspired Lin-Manuel to compose music. He basically gets to work with his hero and that’s amazing!!!! I’ve also read somewhere that Lin-Manuel might be Chef Louis in the movie.

Ok, now the music. We all have to admit that the original soundtrack slaps!!!! They are classics and masterpieces. I can’t wait to listen to it again in the live action. I have a feeling some of the songs might be a tad different from the original, but that doesn’t bother me. The have done the same thing in all the other Disney live action movies and I love those movies.

I’m really excited to hear these new songs in the movie. As I said earlier, Lin-Manuel Miranda got up work with Alan Menken and wrote 4 new songs. Can’t wait to hear them and listen to them like a million times once the soundtrack comes out.

3. The Actors: Besides Halle Bailey as Ariel, I think they did an amazing job with the cast. I mean, you could have picked better than these actors and actresses to play these roles.

Awkwafina as Scuttle: If you didn’t know who she is, Awkwafina was in “Jumamji: The Next Level” and “Chang-Shi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”. She is a really funny actress and always makes me laugh. I think she will make a great Scuttle.

Daveed Diggs as Sebastian: I think everyone had a feeling that he would play Sebastian before the trailer even came out. He was in “Hamilton” with Lin-Manuel Miranda and also rapped a whole bunch in the musical. I read somewhere that he might rap in the movie and that makes me happy. He honestly fits the role of Sebastian perfectly.

Melissa McCarthy as Ursula: Just like Awkwafina, Melissa McCarthy also makes me laugh as well. She was in the movie “Life of the Party” and Netflix “Thunder Force”. I’m excited to see her bring out her inner diva while playing Ursula.

Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric: First of all, he is extremely cute and hot. When I first saw him I was like blushing like crazy. Also, he was in “A Dog’s Way Home” and the tv show “World On Fire”. I’m excited to see him play Prince Eric. Another thing to point out is that Prince Eric was my Disney Prince crush when I was little and that crush it starting up again.

Those are my top 3 reasons why I am excited about the Live Action Little Mermaid. I won’t be able to wait any longer as it approaches theaters.

[agentshades]

*****Alan Wake 2 Spoilers ahead******

***You Have Been Warned***

I cannot express to you all how many *e m o t i o n s* I have tied up in the We Sing/Herald of Darkness chapter of this game. If you are only getting in on the Remedy fandom with Alan Wake 2 (welcome, by the way) then you may not fully understand how incredible it is that Alan Wake 2 happened at all and may not have the full context for how much that song and sequence represents.

Back in 2010 when Alan Wake was first released, Remedy had originally planned to follow it up immediately with a sequel (hence why it ended on such a cliffhanger.) But this was the early 2010s. Multiplayer was king, and EA was doing stupid shit like saying "Single player games are dead" and Microsoft, Remedy's publisher at the time, had zero interest in doing a single player sequel, especially not with an IP they did not own, like Alan Wake.

So years passed with those of us who loved the first game essentially left to conclude it wouldn't ever get a sequel. We had a decade of teases, references, and nods that Remedy hadn't forgotten about us but it seemed like the stars were never going to align for poor Alan. It got even worse for a while when musical rights issues caused the original Alan Wake to be pulled from stores and become literal abandonware for a while. You could not legally buy the game. Not great for hopes of a sequel.

So for the sequel to finally, finally happen and incorporate everything Remedy has learned over the years between AW1 and AW2, take it all one step further, and then to include a fucking *20 minute choreographed interactive rock opera celebrating everything that is special about Alan Wake* just floored me. I've shed tears over how beautiful it is. It feels like Remedy literally singing from the rafters that no matter how bad it got they never forgot about us and that now that they can finally make the game they've wanted to make for over a decade they're going to celebrate it as much as we are.

That little *grin* on Alan's face at the very end after his cheeky sip of coffee from an Oh Deer Diner mug says it all. In the middle of everything, in a capitalist hellscape where artistic integrity and actually making stuff that makes people happy seems to constantly fall victim to parasites in corporate board rooms we got it *this.* We got the game we'd hoped for and not only did it live up to our expectations it blew them out the God Damn Window. I'm probably going to finish the game tonight, based on the climactic vibes I'm getting, and I literally felt myself getting emotional in the car on the way to work today because I will never get to experience this for the first time ever again and that moment is almost over.

And if you are looking to support Poets of the Fall as Old Gods of Asgard they dropped the single of Herald of Darkness today, so maybe give it a listen or twelve and let them know how much we appreciate their work!

[i-will-sing-no-requiem]

*note: I'm actually very bad at judging whether something is popular or not so some of these might be more popular but these are songs from artists I don't see talked about a lot on the parts of the internet that I'm on and a decent amount are ones I know because they are based out of closeish to where I live

(the lyric from each song that I think most fits them under the cut)

I Am The Night by Amelia Curran And I'm the one whose gonna fall apart When everyone else breaks your heart I am the song I am the hymn of sin I'm the addiction and I'm giving in

Where The Nightingales Sing by Alan Doyle Meet me at midnight Same old sweet song Tonight and tomorrow And on and on Stay with me sway with me Love's serenade As long as we stand And the band wants to play When the last waltz is over And the next one begins Lay me down, lay me down Where the nightingales sing Lay me down, lay me down Where the nightingales sing

Hey Now by Hillsburn Hey now, hey where'd you go? Paint me up and play me, honey, I'll pretend that I don't know That life's a struggle, a bright illusion, a hustle. Tell me through these harder seasons I'm the best part of this puzzle.

Hey now, hey wherever you been, Throw your older arms around me, Maybe we'll be young again. So I say hey now, hey wherever you go, Come on back home to me, honey, We'll pretend you missed me so.

Redacted by Leanna Firestone I'm not leaving because I don't care I have to go because the idea of being in love with you Makes me so scared and I don't know who I am anymore But I know that I never even question it before I met you, so

I'm so sorry that I have to go You'd be a casualty of my curiosity, so I think it's best if we never know If I like you or if I just hate being alone

Here For You To Love by Madison Violet But time and time again Yeah we're just friends No beginning and no end I keep waiting for the shoe to drop When you look at me and i'm enough Oh darlin' i'll be here for you to love

Not Allowed To Love You by Madison Violet When I look behind I guess I could have noticed And that's half the crime I was innocently hopeful Could have listened to your breathing It was heavy on my shoulder There were things I could have told you It was easier to hold you

Now how can I Be not allowed to love you anymore Can i be not allowed to love you Was the thing that I was best at That I didn't have to guess at It was all that I could say I knew for sure I can't say it anymore

Favourite by Ruth B. Rough around the edges, hates when people see him weak But I don't think he's thinking when he's all alone with me Blues turn to an auburn red I'll make my mark in his head (mm)

I see his walls come down One by one One by one

He writes poetry but no one knows I think I love him 'cause no one knows He don't have a favourite colour He says, "It's too hard to choose" But I'm his favourite girl (ooh-ooh) I'm his favourite

Safe Haven by Ruth B. When the world is caving, baby, you're my safe haven And when it all comes crashing I remember you saying If you show me, then I'll show you All the things that make me wanna know you And when the world is caving Baby, you're my safe haven, you're my safe haven

And when I leave you I stop looking for heaven 'Cause I found a piece of it wrapped up in your presence Oh with you and I there's love so divine On my darkest day, I know you'll be my shine

Ava by Hillsburn I'm not a pretty boy But I'm loyal and life's long You need folks to depend on Maybe I'm built all wrong But my love is true

Wash Me Down by Jim Cuddy I swear I’ve seen your face before Somewhere when I was young You make me feel the miles I’ve walked The things I’ve left undone Come here and lay beside me One more hour, that’s all When you leave I’ll close the door Maybe then I’ll fall

[agentnico]

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) review

Who the fuck cast this Churchill?? Looks nor sounds like the original Prime Minister. Where’s Gary Oldman when you need him?

Plot: Under the guidance of the British PM, a group of military officials hatch a daring plan to neutralize Hitler's fleet of German U-boats during World War II. Made up of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, the top-secret combat unit uses unconventional techniques to battle the Nazis and change the course of the war.

I’ll always make the effort to watch anything Guy Ritchie releases. He’s a proven director that has made so many films I truly adore, including The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Snatch and The Gentlemen to name a few. I absolutely love his writing style, with his characters spilling dialogue like they are proclaiming poetry, all the while cussing and using foul-mouthed lingo to the extremes. That being said, in recent years I have noted that Ritchie has been working a little too much. Don’t get me wrong, I admire his passion and work ethic, but I swear we’ve been getting about two annual projects from him for the past few years, and he’s already got 3 or 4 other directorial efforts on the way. If we look at his most recent movies, The Covenant was a surprisingly grounded and powerful war movie that was truly engaging, however before that we had a couple of throwaway action flicks with Jason Statham, the titles of both I can’t remember without needing to look them up on IMDb, and there was also that Aladdin live-action remake with a blue pre-slap Will Smith as the Genie, where honestly I questioned why Ritchie of all people was chosen to direct, as Disney is not what one thinks of when considering Guy Ritchie’s gritty gangster filmography. So there’s very much a quality over quality concern here, at least in my eyes, however again I would always be in line for a Guy Ritchie movie, so I have finally checked out his most recent directorial effort in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and here’s what I thought.

It’s an Inglourious Basterds-lite rip-off. Even the music score by Christopher Benstead, as delightful as it was, felt like it belonged in a Tarantino movie, and the villain is played by Til Schweiger, who if one recalls also starred in Inglorious Basterds as ironically one of the basterds. So in a nutshell this is another movie about smashing and slicing Nazis like butter, blowing shit up with reckless abandon and throwing about amusing quips that can be referred to as banter. However for a movie with a supposedly exciting set-up where Churchill acts as a somewhat Nick Fury-type, as he sets up his WW2 style Avengers team, the whole thing feels a bit lifeless. Stuff is happening and brutal killings are completed, but the movie lacks any sense of energy, tension or sense of urgency.

Supposedly this is based on a true story, however after seeing the movie I cannot name a single character. All the main team lacks any depth or layers, as such finding it hard to care for any of them. In the trailers Henry Cavill was showcased as this psychotic deranged man who sticks his tongue out and eyes maniacally wide open as he guns down Nazi scum, so I was looking forward to an unhinged performance from him, however in the final product it turns out Henry Cavill is just the regular soft-spoken Henry Cavill, now just with a longer beard and messy hair. So nothing special - he gets to kill some Nazis though. Alan Ritchson, known to most as Prime’s Jack Reacher, gets some great bow and arrow Nazi kills, but in terms of any personality he was given a couple of unfunny jokes and glasses. Henry Golding….was just kind of there? He also killed some Nazis. Eiza González sings a song, and kills one Nazi. Again, all the actors are playing supposedly real life people, but in no way does the movie take any time to get to know its characters. And again let’s not even about that miscast of Winston Churchill - like seriously what the hell??

Ultimately I was left disappointed. This is a moderately entertaining action flick, with a couple of fun moments, but overall it’s a wasted Guy Ritchie effort, and again a signal that the director should maybe slow down a little, and take more time in between films to actually cook up something worthwhile. C’mon Ritchie, be a gentleman, take a break. Have a Snickers.

Overall score: 4/10

[fancylala4]

So I read and watched some things about the Tangled tv series and it’s such a mess.

There’s magic everywhere in this series when the only magic in the movie was in that flower. I guess they realized that it would get boring fast and added more interesting lore into the series. There also steampunk stuff in it which is really weird because there was none of that in the movie. There wasn’t even a gun in the movie but there’s robots in the series?

They added in some black characters in it so they don’t look as white as the movie. I’m also sure they ripped off sinbad again and gave Flynn a friend that reminded me of cal.

They also ripped off of frozen as well. We have sister issues plot lines like the queen has one and rapunzel has one with cass. Rapunzel struggles with being a queen and is anxious about it like Elsa was( when she was super perfect at everything in the movie). She even copied Anna in being a funny sleeper and not being a morning person. There also was a special where a snow storm threatened the kingdom just like with frozen! Stans whine that frozen ripped off this movie like Elsa having a similar hair part to rapunzel (lol) or that Anna is a rapunzel clone (when rapunzel was already a Ariel clone) when this show clearly rips off frozen. I guess they wanted that frozen popularity.

Mandy still can’t voice act for shit. It’s so funny how she hasn’t improved in the role since she started it and it sounds like she did this for the money. For example, That scene when rapunzel was yelling out and crying when pascal sacrificed himself was so painful. I heard more emotion from a girl who drop her own phone. it’s embarrassing because you can see that she’s out of her league when the got great singers in the mix with the guy who voiced that 14 years old and cass. It also says a lot that the song that got an award for this show had a great singer (cass I think it was) and not any of the songs Mandy sings.

The series made three king look like even more of a dick than he already was in the movie and made gothel look less of a dumbass than she did in the movies. The reason why she never moved the flower from the spot was because of some rock spikes would grow everywhere for some reason and it can cause harm to people who live in the area. But the king didn't care about this at all and took the flower knowing the things it would cause. He also kept the original flower and said that anyone who steals it like he did would be a criminal. So he’s a thief who stole a flower and used all its power for his own selfish purposes (when it could have help anyone in the kingdom with a similar or even worse case than him) and didn’t care that it would cause harm to not only his own kingdom but the world.

The 14 year old kid (who is super popular because I’ve seen his design everywhere) in the show was made out to be the bad guy because his dad got caught into that rock thingy and he just wants to issue to go away because it can hurt anyone. Rapunzel also kicked him out into a snowstorm (or someone in the castle did and she did nothing to stop it) and didn’t give a fuck about him for two episodes. He was low key right about everything going by the wiki.

I would say that the king was an abusive piece of shit because how he treated rapunzel but I already said something about that in an another post! I still can’t believe he locked her up in a fucking tower and the show pulled the “he loves and cares about you! So the abuse is ok” crap!

I do have to say that the music in the show was way better than it was in the movie. It seems like no one was holding Alan back and they got someone who could actually write good lyrics unlike that guy from the movie. The song ready as I’ll ever be (it was every where at one point and I had no idea it was from this show) was so much better than the trash ass songs they had in the movie.

The art is a mix between lolirock and a storybook. I like it better than the movie’s but it’s not the best. I also liked rapunzel’s hair better here than in the movie since it didn’t look like plastic.

[sallysgrancanwrite]

Chapter Fifty-Two

Warnings; domestic violence.

Masterlist

Chloe hurried to her car and put her groceries in the trunk. She had to hurry home because she left the baby with Martha. She promised she would be right back. She was getting ready to pull out when Michael appeared.

“Let’s go have lunch.” He said.

“Michael I need to get home to the baby, I can’t. Emma needs me.” Chloe replied.

“So do i!” He yelled, grabbing her arms. “You know better than to tell me no! Get out of my face!” He was screaming now.

Chloe looked down humiliated and embarrassed. Everyone was watching and that included Alan. He was getting into his car and stopped to see what was going on. He walked over to see if he could help

“Hey Michael, is there a problem maybe I could help with? You seem pretty upset.” Alan said.

“Stay the hell out of it loverboy,” Michael said and then punched Alan in the face. “You better not be messing with my wife!” Michael just walked over to his car. He turned around and looked at Chloe.

“We aren’t done here. Wait till I get home. That kid will not come before me!” He got in and left.

Alan was still rubbing his jaw.

“I’m sorry for you getting hit,” said Chloe

“Hey I shouldn’t have interfered and just kept my mouth shut. Sometimes I don’t know when to be quiet.”

“Well, I better get home,” replied Chloe as she climbed in her car.

“Are you going to be alright tonight?” asked Alan.

“Oh, I’ll be fine, really.” Chloe lied. “I’ll talk to you later Alan.”

“Bye Chloe.” I hope you’ll be okay. He thought to himself.

Chloe got home and Martha was just getting Emma up from her nap.

“I’ll take her now, Martha. You are busy enough around here.” Chloe told her.

“Okay then, I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”

Chloe changed Emma’s wet diaper and put a little bit of rash cream on before the clean diaper. She had a tiny bit of diaper rash starting. Then she wrapped her in her blanket nice and warm and grabbed her bottle. She sat in the rocking chair in the nursery and started singing to her while she ate.

She heard Michael pull in. He’s home too early. Why? She thought. He won’t do anything with Martha there. Then she heard him talking to Martha.

“You can go for the day, Martha. We’re good for today. Everything looks fine. Thank you.” Michael told her.

Chloe’s blood ran cold. She made sure she had the beeper. And she decided tonight to leave the phone line to Beth and all of them open so they could hear and there would be a witness to whatever happens should she not survive. She stashed the phone in the night stand after she dialed it and got Beth to answer then left the drawer open just a crack. She wanted a record of the abuse.

He walked up the stairs after she had just put the baby down. She was walking out of the door of the nursery when he grabbed her and shoved her to the floor.

“Don’t you ever tell me no again! I have tried to teach you respect but it’s not sinking in is it. Why is that?!” He grabbed a vase and threw it at her head.

She ran into the nursery and locked the door. She put the rocking chair in front of it. She went to the nightstand table and picked up the phone.

“Is someone on the other end?” She asked.

“We’re all here,” Beth said.

“I’m in the nursery and he’s trying to get in.” Chloe whispered.

“Keep the line open so we can use this for documentation.” Beth said.

“No! He’ll find it!” Chloe whispered.

“You have to,” said Beth.

There was more banging and pounding on the door.

“Chloe when I get in there you’re in deep shit!” Michael screamed.

He got a screwdriver and unscrewed the door knob and took it off which in turn caused the chair to fall away from the door. In a heartbeat Michael was in the room staring down at Chloe, who was crouched down under the baby's crib.

He reached down and grabbed her by her arm and dragged her out, yanking her up in one swift move. Chloe was screaming already. Her shoulder was hurting so bad. She hoped it wasn’t dislocated or broken.

“You and your lover Alan meet every day at the grocery store Chloe?!” Michael asked her, screaming. His eyes were full of rage.

“Michael, I told you I am not having an affair with anyone. I just bumped into him by accident today.”

“I wanted to have lunch with you and you turned me down for your brat of a kid! I tell you what to do when to do it!” He said as he punched her in the gut. “And you will ever tell me no again!” He yelled, slapping her several times in the face.

“Michael, please stop. You're hurting me. And you’re upsetting the baby.” Chloe said, as she tried to run over and comfort Emma.

“Leave her alone, let her scream!” Michael told Chloe.

“Michael, she needs me!” Chloe cried.

“Again talking back. Time to see how long you can hold your breath.” He said grabbing her arm. “We’re going to the bathroom!”

He drug Chloe to the tub that he had already filled up with ice cold water. He made her strip to her bra and underwear and get in a small stool in front of the tub. He tied her hands behind her back. Chloe was frantic. She was crying and begging him.

“Michael, please don’t do this. We used to be happy. We can again. Just tell me how. Please.”

“Shut up and quit whining.” He told her as he shoved her head into the ice cold water.

Chloe felt like her heart would stop when she first was plunged in the cold water. She instantly started to shiver. Michael pulled her head out after what seemed like an eternity to Chloe. She had felt this would be a long night and she had to get her and Emma away.

[forensicated]

Smiffina Episodes - Episode 481

It's Smithy's birthday and he's a grumpy boy...

He hates surprises, he hates his birthday (at least this one!) and he's not feeling too happy about him and Kezia on top of it all!Whereas Tony and Roger are loving listening in on the gossip to hear what Kezia has planned for him that night! It's a secret of course!

The relief sing Happy Birthday to Smithy Dale... and he's still a pouty boy. As a special treat, Roger gets to go out with the birthday boy.

Roger asks if Smithy has anything planned and he quickly shuts it down with "No!" and says he could do without the fuss. He's also playing bad cop to Roger's good cop to even Roger's surprise!

"I'm not in the mood to be argued with!"

Smithy asks Kezia if the briefing singalong was her idea - it was - and he says he just wished she'd asked him first, "You mean I should ask if we can surprise you on your birthday?" He's already told her he doesn't like surprises to be fair!

He and Roger arrest a man for dangerous driving after he cuts them up. He's surprisingly helpful - too helpful to Smithy's mind. He sends Roger to the mans address to make sure he is who he says he is. Sarah Jones tells him that Alan Jones does live at that house and that he's supposed to be getting a job and not arrested as she's due to give birth soon.

With that in mind, Smithy has to release him, as much as he doesn't want to, bailing him to return to the magistrates court. Straight after, Smithy gets a call to meet Roger at the front desk. There he finds Roger with Sarah Jones and another man. Smithy updates her with the news they've bailed her husband...only they hadn't. The man they have bailed used a false name and address - infact he'd given the details of the real owner - Alan Jones - after he'd allegedly carjacked him. The cheek! The birthday boy is now even more grumpy!

Kezia knocks on his office door and tells him she has something that will 'definitely cheer him up' and hands over a gift bag. Smithy smiles and thanks her and puts it at the side of his desk to open later as he's told her he's really busy. Kezia pouts and insists he open it. Smithy gives in and pulls out a nurses costume (one that screams 'My First Nurses Costume from the Early Learning Center' at that rather than 'Sexy Times Ahead') and chocolate body paint. He tells her chocolate gives him headaches* and...well. He's not impressed as polite as he tries to be. Kezia leaves thinking he likes it, missing his expression dropping as she leaves.

Roger brings Smithy better news, whilst he's still tracking down the CCTV he does have the fingerprints, identity and record of their real suspect - Darren Carew. They leave to head to his address - after Smithy's dismissed the dress as 'a fancy dress thing, mate!'

Carew claims he didn't carjack Jones, pointing out he'd not know his name and address if he had. He insists he bought the car from him that morning and he's already posted the V5 to the DVLA. He says he lied because he's currently banned from driving for another three months. Smithy won't release him this time without some more checks. Carew's solicitor is getting heavy with them. "What? On the grounds he's fully co-operating with us and we have no evidence on him?" Roger smirks. "I know... picky or what!" Smithy scowls. Unfortunately with nothing coming forward yet he really does have no choice. Carew is cocky and asks if Smithy is to arrest him a third time that day, to make sure he has all the facts before bringing him in. Smithy and Carew stare at each other before Smithy mutters to Roger to show him out.

Smithy returns to the Jones' to question Alan and threatens him with arrest for wasting police time if he tries to lie again. He admits he saw a V plate Merc that was accepting offers for cash on an auction website. They accepted a cash offer of £5K and he thought he could get at least £7K when selling it on so he went to meet them at a carpark - that just so happens to have no CCTV with £5K cash. He lost his car too as well as the money. He proves he's telling the truth by giving Smithy the logbook for the car and says he didn't tell them the truth because he'd given his address in the first email he sent and that they'd clearly done their homework as they threatened him by telling them they knew where he lived and that his wife was pregnant.

Smithy returns to BIU search for further evidence. Roger tells him they should pass it to CID and he snaps that he will once he's looked something up. Kezia drops in for coffee and he snaps that he's busy working and up to his eyes in it - as he'd told her earlier in his office. Gina then calls in and Smithy doesn't snap at her, though growls that "it's like picadilly circus in 'ere!" "Oh, I love you too!" Gina drawls. Smithy sighs and tells her he's having "one of those days, and now Kezia has some big night planned and it's the last thing I want." Gina asks what he does want and Smithy shrugs, "A quiet night in. Some drinks with the boys?" he thinks before admitting he really wants to "go down to the gun club and shoot some holes in some targets." Oh you old romantic, you!" Gina gently mocks before handing him his gift from her - that finally does cheer him up. His favourite whisky. (I think it's an Aberlour which is a Scotch Single Malt Whisky. Not extra special Smithy stalking here I promise, my brother is Whisky mad - especially scottish ones and over the years I've got him thousands of the feckers it feels like!) He thanks her and she tells him to have a good night doing whatever it is that he ends up doing. Smithy finally cheers up... he's found an auction for the car scam.

Smithy takes it to CID, he's already spoken to the winning bidder of the second auction and he's agreed to meet him in a carpark in 1 and hour and 45 mins time. Stuart takes it over and agrees to set up an operation to target Carew - but can't resist a dig at Smithy for having let him go twice already. In the briefing, Roger and Smithy exchange knowing looks as Stuart takes over and insists that no one moves in to do the arresting without his say so.

Kezia leans in to tell Smithy that she's booked them into a sushi restaurant for the night as a treat for his birthday. Smithy tells her he's not too keen on fish and he prefers his food cooked. Between this and the body paint from earlier it's become rather obvious that they don't know each other very well...!

Smithy and Roger wait in a panda whilst Stuart takes his seat in a skip to watch the 'transaction'.

Carew and his associate threaten to kill Kezia if 'Andy' AKA: Mickey doesn't give them the money and the keys to his car too. Stuart gives the sign and Smithy and backup speed in with Smithy taking great pleasure in arresting Carew's friend - despite getting shot at! But unfortunately Carew gets away and the pursuing Sierra Two loses them. Smithy manages to get Carew's friend to give him a possible location and they track him down to a pub. Sam goes in to verify that he's inside and CO19 gather outside. Smithy mischievously takes the chance to get his own back once they've gotten in touch with Carew - in the pub - on his mobile, using Sam to tell him exactly what Carew is doing every time he moves. He tells Carew that he's surrounded and being watched - proving it with Sam's description of what he's doing - and that he must come out with his hands up, but first he must strip down to his underwear to show the officers that he's not concealing any erm... weapons.

Smithy has made up his mind to finish with Kezia, but he doesn't come off too well I have to admit (and I can pretty much handwave anything when it comes to him...) as he agrees to meet Kezia outside in 5 once he's gotten changed... and then stands her up, leaving her waiting there until a bunch of uniform leaves and tell her that Smithy's already gone and that 'he said he had to be somewhere'. Gina shouts 'I'd try the gun club if I were you....' after her.

Kezia heads to the gun club and finds Smithy taking shots at targets. She approaches him and snarkily points out she was stood up so 'has come to blow off some steam'. Smithy sighs and apologises but tells her that sushi, fancy dress and chocolate body paint are not exactly his idea of a fun time. He doesn't think they're going anywhere and that it was meant to be a bit of fun but now suddenly they're living together. Kezia tries to say it's only temporary whilst she finds somewhere else but Smithy gently points out that she hasn't tried to find anywhere else since she moved in. They've slipped into a routine relationship that neither of them wanted in the first place and they're not that compatible given there's so much they still don't know about each other - including really basic things after 7 months. Kezia agrees and says she'll go back to his and pack and that they should stay friends - Smithy agrees, smiling as she walks off - before turning back to take aim at another target.

*Why's he buying a kitkat in 480 then? ;) My eagle eyes miss nothing when it comes to this man!

If this (Feb 8th) is set as Smithy's canon birthday, it also means he was in prison for his last one :( That can't be an easy memory either!

[akkrosu]

Thai BL Favorites List

Thank you for tagging me, @ellaspore! It has taken me a while to finish this, but if you’re making me choose this harshly between my favorite shows and characters, my choices have to be well thought-through. Which doesn’t mean I’m capable of narrowing down pretty much anything to just one per category, so expect me to cheat a lot here.

Favorite Thai BL: I have too many Thai BLs I love, and I don’t really have one favorite that tops them all, so let me use this chance instead to rectify the fact that I forgot about one important show when I was asked about my nine favorite shows last time: KinnPorsche. My beloved.

Current Obsession: I’ll go with Be My Favorite here. But I have to say, Laws of Attraction is climbing the ranks fast and, after only two episodes, I have just about reached the same level of obsession I have for Be My Favorite. I’m still on the fence about Hidden Agenda, but this could easily become a favorite too.

Favorite Pairing: Oh no. Don’t make me choose. This might honestly be the hardest question on this list. One of the first couples I thought of was Akk and Ayan from The Eclipse, but my heart is also screaming at me to say Kluen and Daonuea from Star in my Mind, or Tinn and Gun from My School President. I can’t possibly narrow this down even more, three is already too few. Can I skip this question? 👀

Most Underrated Actor: I don’t know if he’s underrated in general or I just personally underestimated him for the longest time, but Gawin is doing really, really well in Be My Favorite (I also substantially underestimated his singing abilities). Other than that, I’m really impressed by how phenomenally Film is portraying Charn in Laws of Attraction.

Favorite Character: No. I refuse to answer this. You can’t make me. Everything in me is hurting at the idea of choosing one. Let me just dodge this question by listing like the first dozen people that come to mind (my brain works in mysterious and non-comprehensible ways, just don’t question it): Gun (My School President), Akk (The Eclipse), Kluen (Star in my Mind), Jeng (Step by Step), Yai (Big Dragon), Mark (Love Mechanics), literally everyone from Moonlight Chicken, but especially Alan (he is the most understandable and human and complex antagonist I’ve ever seen, and it makes me insane). I said what I said.

Favorite Side Character: Honestly, right now I’ll give this to Tien from La Pluie. There are so many other incredible side characters that deserve to be here, but I’m particularly in love with him right now.

Favorite Scene in a BL: I have a particular obsession with this one scene in ep 10 of Never Let Me Go where Palm returns to Nueng and they reunite in that abandoned building and promise each other eternal love and support. It’s the look on Nueng’s face when he sees Palm that gets me—all that longing and hope and unadulterated happiness and relief of getting to see him again. Then there’s also this one scene in ep 8 of The Eclipse where Ayan is the most patient and loving person ever in trying to coax out Akk’s feelings, which leads to one of the softest kisses in BL history (in my personal opinion). Oh, and I also frequently rewatch the one in Not Me where White runs away from Sean after Sean finds out about the twin thing, and Sean says all hurt and in love and confused, “I don’t even know what your name is”, and White tells him, and Sean immediately repeats it and hugs him like he finally has the right to his real identity, to the real him, and he’s in awe. And the soundtrack, ugh, it’s so good.

Favorite Line in a BL: Cake saying “Nobody’s hurt just because we love each other” to See-Eiw in My Only 12%. That line struck me so hard. Oh, and Akk and Ayan telling each other they are allowed to be weak with each other in The Eclipse. The way they promised each other weakness wasn’t something to be ashamed of, ugh. And then there’s the end credits of 180° Longitude Passes Through Us saying (amongst other emotionally devastating things), “To you who call yourself a parent: you can only give birth to them, but you don’t own them.” The way I wept when I read that. This show tried to destroy me, and it succeeded.

Most Anticipated BL (& Why): Only Friends, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has talked to me about it. I trust P’Jojo with all my heart and I trust these actors to create the queerest, messiest story in GMMTV history or even Thai BL history.

Healthiest relationship in a BL: Oh, I’m also really tempted to say Tinn and Gun from My School President. And for a bit of an underrated relationship—Fuse and Ana from Future.

Most Toxic Relationship in a BL: Korn and Knock in Together With Me. Mostly because of how Knock treated Korn like he was disposable and only for him to play with.

Guilty Pleasure Series: I will not answer with Star in my Mind like you did, @ellaspore, simply because I do not feel even remotely guilty for the love I have for this series. I’ll go with Big Dragon, instead.

So that was a wild ride full of conflicting feelings. Thanks for inviting me to try this! Not really sure who to tag here, but I’ll just go ahead and invite @recentadultburnout or anyone else who feels like it! And just for funsies, let me also ask @respectthepetty since I want to know if my theory on what they would pick for some of these, like favorite side character, are correct.

[dojae-huh]

jdjdjdjdjfkgljskl glad you like my jae description 🤣

here's the links to english profiles for lastart team. i wonder if you find anyone more interesting as a person or as an idol after reading their profile? 🤔

yusion and lastart trainee profile threads

https://twitter.com/969901z/status/1684936460129239040

https://twitter.com/969901z/status/1685290403854270464

https://twitter.com/969901z/status/1685652869645733888

daeyoung profile https://twitter.com/969901z/status/1692503810584010834

bonus yusion info compilation https://twitter.com/969901z/status/1674973991105167363

icymi i read on twt that ryu is jpop group exile tribe alan shirahama's younger brother and he was a graduate from expg, same performance arts school as shotaro. he's used to performing to some extent ig but i find him impressive anyway cos jp and kr training styles seem different. he looks less nervous than some trainees and has potential as vocalist and dancer both, lead for now but might move up with more experience.

ig anderson's half korean and canadian cos he doesn't speak jp and he kinda understands korean, just more comfy with english?

idk anyone's last name except ryu shirahama and kim daeyoung, the latter from a b*llying rumor which i hope isn't true. lots of allegations these days and some seemed legit but proven false later after damage's done so 😓

interestingly daeyoung got a bad rumor already. it's so quiet about the other trainees except old vids of ryu again. jungmin and minjae are korean and not a single singing vid even tho they got cast thru their singing vids? on the other hand daeyoung hasn't even debuted or sung yet. it could be a stretch to assume he's in the final lineup, someone knows and wanna ruin him with this rumor but that's not wholely impossible. or it's dark marketing combining with his new addition status at this point. maybe it will be months until we know since sm still not clearing wonbin and sohee allegations. lately sm new debut groups getting attacks just like karina was but sm cleared up and she got confirmation and support.

================================

im sorry i'm still not shutting up yet 😭 let's look at riize and lastart training time until debut or official reveal and think about their roles and suitability (source for riize, not officially confirmed like lastart https://twitter.com/riize_net/status/1691497735759769600)

wonbin - 7 years

eunseok - 6 years till nct, 7 years till riize

yushi - 5 years

sungchan - 4 years till nct, 8 years till riize

sion - 4 years

seunghan - 3 years till nct, 4 years till riize

sohee, anton - 3 years

jungmin - 3 years

minjae - 2 years

riku, ryo, sakuya - 1 year

heitetsu - 10 months

haruta - 8 months

shotaro - 6-7 months if i remember correctly till nct, 4 years till riize

anderson, kassho - 6 months

daeyoung - 3 months

ryu - 2 weeks

i heard sion debut got changed between nct tokyo and riize. he's not that neo yet but i think he can become neo later rather than fit in riize? riize is looking to be a heavily performance group with grungey, emo but youthful style?? i follow lastart more than riize lmao so correct me if i'm wrong. based on few materials that we have, shotaro, wonbin and seunghan are on the upper levels of dancing and seunghan could also be lead vocal. eunseok didn't impress me despite his long training but he might have other charms. anton is very popular but not a strong dancer yet. sohee is vocal. sungchan doesn't catch my eye when he dances but he has experience to guide others. tho not dancers, so far i see sohee and sungchan have unique performer skills in the group as main vocalist and main rapper. anton probably composes or plays music but he sure attracts fans and might grow or have surprise vocal or rap skills unrevealed by sm? eunseok is a visual ig, it's been a while since sm revealed him. having said all this, everyone looks cool in siren and the 4 non-dancers keep up with showonseung. idk if it's an effect of seeing their confirmed debut that made me biased and think they all fit riize.

i agree with another anon that lastart boys look not ready to be neo but i personally find a few trainees with more outstanding skills than a few riize members. i prefer riku's rap to sungchan and minjae's and jungmin's singing are probably better or around the same as sohee (tho to be fair, sohee hasn't shown much yet). the lastart boys need practice and experience for charisma and dance performance, which riize has more, and their own songs to see if they can nail it like riize nails theirs. sm probably wants us to root for lastart team and watch them grow like jpop idol groups as huh and other anons here pointed out.

looking back lastart boys are styled and portrayed similar to sr15b aka our first neos. xiaohenyang and kunwoocas too. i was a casual audience in sr15b era and neo concepts weren't explained fully back then so i had no idea sr15b needed to be neo like this 🤣 i felt they were youthful but saw their talents. obv they weren't as polished as now but more experienced than lastart overall tho. doie was an emotional singer from the start. taeil and jae less emotional than doie but in rookies time, they did perform better than minjae and jungmin in emotions and dance and jaeil dance better than doie anyways. jaedo did so well when t7s came out tho and without you had more emotions than jungmin and minjae's duet. after that doie keeps growing in stage presence, appeal and expression (besides emotional singing). even if jungmin and minjae don't become a skilled dancer like jae, they need to find other ways to captivate like the way doie dances with facial expression. riku, yushi, anderson, ryu, sakuya and sion look like they are on their way to becoming neo, on different extent. daeyoung is said to get good comments in dancing so we'll see.

ok my last comment for now 😅 agree with you and another anon too about the lack of correlation with previous nct units especially experience and memories. even memories, wayv has a gap with 127 and dreamies. when sungsho was in nct, yuta was the official bridge for shotaro and some members spent time with them but i bet the members were surprised by plan changes too, even if some of them were affected by unit or plan changes themselves. sm might do a show next year after the japan showcase for all units but now the gap feels even wider than sr22b. yuta probably won't appear in lastart survival show either.

Link, Link2, Link3, Link4, Link5

Link6

As I said before, Daeyong's answers were interesting. "Nevertheless", the lyrics of choice and "when I'm drenched with sweat (i.e. gave it my all)". He seems to have grit and desire to improve. History requires a lot of memorisation.

Some seem more suited to the idol job based on their answers.

Anderson probably just started with Korean, as he lives in Korea, there is more opportunities to practice around the clock.

Ryu's English is evidently good. The phrase that Anderson said wasn't easy (not the words, the meaning behind). It also improve his chances. Nowadays a group needs an English speaker. Not only for the West, many countries in Asia also use it. If Anderson is taken in, Ryu could be the of help as well.

What are the chances of Dae's classmates watching an idol show to release a rumour about him the day he was introduced? And to write on Pann of all places? Kfans can investigate, it's not hard to visit the school and ask around in the neirboughood or dig FB. More like someone didn't like an addition of a new contestant and a rival. We'll see. If the rumours are true, for SM it's easy to just not include him in the final line up.

Both the new bg and the Japanese unit were supposed to debut earlier (the were rumours about last summer). I guess some old trainees left seeing how many recent additions are in Lastart. The new SM gg was ready by Spring already, but their debut has been postponed as well.

Wasn't Sungchan a deer? Why frog emoji? Rebranding?

I can't support the convo about Riize, haven't watched anything sans Siren with them yet.

I keep comparing Lastart contestants to SR15B, which is unfair, considering their training period (with exeption of YuSion, and, perhaps, Jungmin). Not to mention, the numbers for the show aren't given time to be polished as much as a debut choreo would be.

No kidding, stright from NCT's pre-debut book.

Side note. I think now I get why there was little of JaeDo and a lot of HanDo during Rookies times. The two were supposed to debut in the Chinese unit...

Jaehyun was born on Valentine's day for a reason. The Universe created the Chinese ban for him, lol.

Back to the new neos.

SM wasn't happy with Minjae if they kept looking for more main-vocal material. Ryu and Daeyoung were casted very recently.

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 15th June

I have to say, just looking at the line-up this week, I'm quite excited. It feels like we haven't had a female artist - or a Brill Building songwriter - in a little while, and Lonnie's usually fun, too, when he's not trying to do comedy. So yeah, tentatively looking forward to seeing what this week brings us!

I Wanna Go Home - Lonnie Donegan (peaked at Number 5)

Oh, okay. I know this one! It's the Sloop John B, recognisable right away from the intro, which has a sort of calypso feel, complete with lots of Latin percussion, and lyrics about a trip around Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. A tropical hit, right in time for summer, then!

That said, the trip the song depicts is anything but a holiday - Lonnie and his grandfather are sailors on the Sloop John B. But we learn that we were drinking all day / And fighting all night, and that I feel so break-up I wanna go home. At which point you'd think Lonnie would quit the drinking, but apparently he's been driven to drenk by the captain, who's a wicked man / He gets drunk any time he can / And he don't give a damn for gradpappy and me. I think this is the strongest language we've heard so far? So yeah, Lonnie's having a properly miserable time at sea, despite the fun tropical sound.

None of this is typical pop fare - because this isn't a pop song. It's a Bahamian folk tune that dates back to at least 1916, probably earlier. There are some suspicions that it was a "manufactured" folk song, created for a chain of hotels owned by one Henry Flagler. But either way, it uses real events - there really was a sloop called the John B named for its owner, John Bethel, who sailed it around for a while until it was wrecked. No record, apparently, of whether the drinking and fighting's accurate, but it definitely was wrecked. The song spun out of that, and would have stayed in Nassau had it not been for folk enthusiast Alan Lomax, who travelled to the Bahamas in search of "purer", more African-sounding black folk music, which he suspected the islanders there would know. Lomax's recordings brought the song to the attention of the up and coming folk artists of the 1940s and especially 1950s, with the Weavers and later the Kingston Trio doing popular versions that you have to suspect inspired Lonnie - though he added the tango rhythms and castanets, it turns out. Not a bad addition, honestly, though Lonnie's take on the song then got eclipsed by the Beach Boys' much better-known 1966 version. Which is the main version I know, so there's that.

Mamma - Connie Francis (double A-side, 2)

Ooh, and after our (admittedly disastrous) trip to the Bahamas, we're on our travels again, this time to Italy, with a massive, dramatic intro, all deafening strings and harps. It's what experts would call "a bit much", but thankfully the song quickly puts and end to it, cutting to just Connie and a piano, and only gradually bringing the strings back in. The overall effect, once you hit this bit, is fine, if a little syrupy. I think a lot of the reason it just about works is Connie's voice, which as ever is excellent, just dripping in emotion. She almost sounds like she's starting to cry, a little, as she sings about how, when the evening shadows fall / And the lovely day is through, / Then with longing I recall / The years I spent with you. It's hard to sound vulnerable or to act while singing, but Connie manages it here, her voice catching, with these little breathy moments and sighs - skillful stuff. About as subtle as a hammer, but hey, if anyone has the right to show off, it's Connie.

And then we abruptly shift from English into Italian. And quite melodramatic Italian, too, addressing Connie's mother: Mama, just for you my song flies / Mama, you will be with me / You will no longer be alone. It's almost romantic-sounding, and combined with the teary opening, I was briefly confused - but then we shift back into English, with some lyrics that give a little context, as Connie sings about feeling safe in the glow of your love / Sent from the heavens above, promising her mother that I'll live in these memories / Until the day that we're together once more. Her mother is dead, it seems - hence the emotional delivery of the while song. It's sentimental stuff, and I'm not sure I really like it, to be truthful - it all just feels a bit emotionally manipulative and fake. And who's the target audience? Who's actually going out and choosing to listen to this, specifically? It all feels a bit morbid and mopey, at least for my tastes.

That said, the song was apparently a bit hit, at this point, and a familiar one, having been written all the way back in 1940 by Italian composer Cesare Andrea Bixio, and translated into English six years later. Tonnes of European singers then seem to have taken a stab at it throughout the 1940s and 1950s especially, including a version by David Whitfield in 1955 that only seems to have reached Number 12, and thus did not come up in this project - and thank goodness for that, beacuse I can only imagine how awful David's version of this particular song would be!

Either way, at the same time, over in the US, Connie Francis was trying to pull a Bobby Darin and get out of the whole "rock and roll" rut. As part of this transition to a more "adult" sound, her father apparently suggested she ought to make an album of Italian songs, with a mix of traditional folk songs and popular hits, all sung in a mix of Italian / Neapolitan and English for the sake of an audience not necessarily fluent in Italian. And thus was Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites born, despite the fact that Connie didn't speak either Italian or Neapolitan at this point. It included Mama and other well-known songs such as Santa Lucia and O Sole Mio, as well as some Domenico Modugno numbers, capitalising on Italian Eurovision success. And actually, now I think about it, the whole production on Mama is very "early Eurovision", heavy on the sentiment, and more of an easy listening vibe than anything you could traditionally consider pop. It's funny, nowadays, to think of that as something that an artist would progress to, after a rock and roll career - it really feels like a step back into the past, a return to a type of music you tend to assume was put to bed, immediately outdated, the minute Bill Haley came screaming into the charts. Which it obviously didn't, hence why folks like Connie and Bobby can still make money off records like this.

Robot Man - Connie Francis (double A-side, 2)

Okay, interesting as Mama was, this is what you buy a Connie Francis record for. It's a sparky little number, with plenty of quirkiness as Connie sings some properly silly lyrics. Seriously, this song is on par with I Go Ape - it's a similarly ambiguous "sort-of serious sort-of novelty" number, only with robots as the shtick, not monkeys, as Connie tells us all about how I want a robot man to hold me tight / One that I can count on every single night. Her robot boyfriend, she suggests, would be much more reliable than a real man. He wouldn't run around like other guys / I wouldn't have to listen to his alibis. Even better, I'd never have to worry that he wouldn't phone, plus he'd never dance with anyone but me. And as an added bonus, we would never fight / Cause it would be impossible for him to speak. An ideal solution, truly, and also, incidentally, a really nice bit of dated 1950s futurism - I love that Connie can imagine a robot boyfriend, but not a talking robot boyfriend. That would be too much.

Connie, in all of this, is back to being her usual bubbly self, no dead mothers or European pretensions in sight. Instead, we've got a song where she's just having a bit of fun. There's theoretically been a bit of heartache - hence lines about how she don't want a real-life boy, they give me grief / Always make me cry into a handkerchief - but Connie's not letting it get her down. Indeed, quite the opposite - if anything, her flaky real-life boyfriend's got her all fired up and savage. Which, as I've definitely said before, is absolutely Connie's best mode. It's not that she can't sell heartbreak or romance or any of those mushier emotions. But she's just really good at this sort of fiery sass, it's a good fit for her. She manages to sound playful but also imperious and kind of dismissive - it's great!

Throughout, there are some really nice "futuristic" touches, just to give the song that sci-fi vibe. The most obvious is the weird, whirring backing singers and whatever's making that clicking noise in the intro - the combination of which sounds like something experimental from an early Doctor Who episode, so job well done. And there are a few other boop-boop-boop-boop bits from the backing singers, too, which I like. And I appreciate that appart from that, this is basically just a standard-issue rock and roll-inflected pop song, complete with twangy guitar, hand-claps and backing yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah interjections. A perfectly charming mix of things to be.

Stairway to Heaven - Neil Sedaka (8)

Wait, Stairway to Heaven? I never realised that was a cov... oh. Right. It's not. It's just got the same title as the Led Zeppelin song. Disappointing. Not that the song's bad, but I really do enjoy the Zeppelin song. Plus I know a fair bit of their stuff's covers of earlier blues numbers, so I thought this could be Neil trying his hand at the blues. Which would have been out of character, I should have known it was too good to be true. Sigh.

Disappointment aside, I do think this is a decent song. It's a romantic, if slightly predictable, rock and roll-tinged pop number, much like Robot Man, all about how I'll build a stairway to heaven / I'll club to the highest star / I'll build a stairway to heaven / Cause heaven is where you are. Neil's love's an angel, you see? You get that? An angel! Needless to say, subtle this song ain't. Which is fine, not every song needs to have poetic, elegant lyrics. Sometimes we just need to be building stairways to heaven and climbing up over the rainbow to profess our love in slightly over-dramatic fashion. Add in a killer sax solo and what sounds like a tambourine and a glockenspiel, and you've got yourself a hit.

Actually, the instrumentation's notably good, here. That's a bit of a thing with these Brill Building hits, there's a real attention paid to how it's all been put together, and getting an interesting mix of instruments in there. They're not front and centre, they're more there for texture than anything, but I still appreciate things like including a glockenspiel, or the hit on what sounds like a timpani, which is then detuned to make a sort of pitch-bending effect at the end of each verse. They're not remarked on, but they're just there, making the song that bit more interesting and memorable - a step beyond your more standard "guitar, bass, drum and maybe sax" combo. And of course, it's all filled out with some deliciously daft-sounding wa-wap noises from the backing singers. Because what is a pop song without slightly silly noises from the backing singers, at this point?

I didn't mind any of this week's songs, and honestly, I thought they were quite interesting, as a sort of snapshot of things in the summer of 1960. We've got exotic foreign travel, calypso influences, British skiffle takes on an American folk tune, a rock and roll artist trying to branch back into something more traditional and adult, Italian sentimental balladeering, and not one but two Brill Building pop numbers, influenced by rock and roll but with more of a pop sensibility, both of them replete with overenthusiastic backing singers, jangly guitar and charmingly goofy lyrics. Good stuff, all round.

Favourite song of the bunch: Robot Man