#today's high school musical parody is

[katethevampire]

All right so the new episodes just came out like 20 minutes ago for me (oh yeah me from the future here it ended up taking me about 3 hours to finish watching the episodes cuz I kept pausing to write stuff in between so uh yeah lol) so everything under the cut will be my live reaction to everything. I'll add time stamps so you know where I'm at in the episodes. I can guarantee you that I will be sticking to my promise about potentially eating paper if I'm wrong about Sir Pentious not dying. Which honestly now I'm not sure if anyone will die, it was pretty much confirmed in a live stream that angel dust isn't going to be the one to die so my money is on one of the Angels. Also I'm using voice to text and while I'll try and fix any misspellings or wrong words I might miss them.

LOTS OF SWEARING PROBABLY also I very much abuse capslock

EPISODE 7

00:51- I love Sir Pentious looking at Keke I just thought I should mention that

01:03- OH MY GOD NO KEKE MOVED TO HIS LAP AND HE'S PETTING HER I LOVE HIM SM

01:10 aw Alastor was sleepy you guys woke him up!

01:22- I CAN'T EVEN APPRECIATE RAZZLE AND DAZZLE BEING CUTE CHARLIE IS CRYING

01:29- he did the gay little hand thing

01:50- okay so I've already seen this part because of the small leak but I cannot get over the fact that Alastor has his shoes on the bed!! Like man take those off you're getting it dirty!!!!

01:59- mfs kicking his feet on the bed acting like a high school girl about to ask out her crush on the phone at a sleepover like dude you're a serial killer you can't do this to me 😭 also I should probably slow down cuz I'm making an update literally every 2 seconds

02:18 BROS CHECKING HIS NAILS AND DOING THAT POSE WHILE MAKING FUN OF HER ABOUT THE FACT THAT SHE UNINTENTIONALLY MIGHT HAVE CAUSED THE DEATHS OF MILLIONS 💀💀💀 so fruity i love

2:33- Alasto be like "it's called masking deary. Ever heard of it?"

2:44- if he wasn't saying this in such an evil manner right now I'd be saying he's so me frfr

3:07- what do I even say to that line. He popped off but also like respectfully I think I've heard a third grader say the exact same thing

3:53- OKAY SO I WAS GOING TO SAY SOMETHING BUT I'VE COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN LOOK AT THIS FRAME, this could easily be the profile picture for someone's film review channel and I'm not 100% sure that people will understand what I mean by that unless you know a very specific person

04:38- Alastor is in his hat man era

4:33- okay so a few things, thank you subtitles for telling me that the music is edgy I feel like just the word tense would have worked on its own but I appreciate it nonetheless. Number two, I don't like seeing the girlies be mad at each other :(

05:34 I will support my boy Sir Pentious through and through he did nothing wrong!!

06:54- not the voice I was expecting for Rosie but pop up Queen she speaks the truth

07:24- ROSIE KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE ALASTOR. Also his confusion, I love him so much

11:04- she's kind of like that one Pokemon

Ad time!- I DON'T CARE ABOUT VITAMIN PILLS THAT DOUBLE MY LIFESPAN

11:13- catabettes! Cannibals and catabettes!!! This is going into my vocabulary from now on. Also this frame that I paused at I love her face.

11:57- ugh, susan. All my homies hate Susan

12:54- I have a dream, I'm here to cause a scandal in the cannibal square

13:37- :( well it wasn't obvious to me I just thought the x over the eye was to look cool :(

14:35- SONG FUCK YEAH

15:26 If this song came out years ago I know for a fact there would have been an undertale parody version of it. Also I just got a cosmic brownie and some chocolate milk let's go guys we're eating good tonight

16:00 HOLY FUCKING SHIT SHE CAN JUST GROW BACK HER WINGS

16:30- therapist Rosie is not something I thought I'd be seeing today but honestly I love it. Also I don't think I'm going to be able to finish these episodes today because I'm only a little over 15 minutes through and I've been watching for like almost over half an hour and also I just realized that what if Lucifer is the one that dies?

18:12 ALASTOR GAVE HER HIS MICROPHONE I'M GOING TO EXPLODE INTO A BAJILLION CRYING PIECES RAHHHHHH

19:38 I'm going crazy I'm going insane right now bro literally what how I don't know what to say I love this act I don't know, it's just really good I don't know what to say like this is cool I don't I DON'T KNOW! IT'S I I LIKE IT everybody in cannibal town is cool and I like them and it's like 10 seconds later now and they're literally So based like free food like so me I don't know I'm just rambling at this point

20:56 ALASTOR AND ROSIE'S LITTLE DANCE THEIR LITTLE TIPPY TAPS OH MY GOD YES

21:06- alastor, you know it's not right to make someone your political puppet. Your little dances are cute though so I'll allow it for now.

I don't know why it thought I was speaking Spanish for a second but anyways that episode was really cute and good and I liked it but I'm also scared for the next episode cuz like now I'm wondering is someone actually going to die or were people just lying. I feel like either Adam is going to be the one to die or it's going to be Lucifer cuz they mentioned a lot in the previous episode about how Charlie needs to take up the throne and get ready to take her place on the throne like why does she need to take her place on the throne? Isn't that her dad's job??? Please don't kill Lucifer off please please please 🙏 also I'm still not on board and probably will never will be on the whole political puppet thing. Like I just know I just have a feeling in my bones that alastor's favor is going to be something like "Let me be the ruler of hell lololol" or something anyways

EPISODE 8

01:01-Why are you watching other men get fucked?🤨 (/j)

01:19 🥺 I love 🥺 I oove him so 🥺 so much 🥺🥺🥺 does he have a spatula like spongebob

02:02- wait so how is Vox watching them like does he have bug cameras in the air like those little guys in v3 (woah now I have to put a Danganronpa spoiler on this)

03:42 SOFT ALASTOR FANFICTION WRITERS QUICK WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN!!!

04:18- I'm not even the biggest huskerdust shipper but awwwww also I don't ship him with anyone but I just want to see Sir Pentious happy pleaseeee also the little Melody of loser baby in the background

04:48- ugh I am clutching my heart right now Sir Pentious is my SON and I LOVE HIM

04:58- what the fuck that ao3 tag was canon this WHOLE TIME???? WHEN DID YOU GUYS HEAR ABOUT THIS?????

05:05- I told you angel dust wasn't going to die

05:38- it's like the song but different! Reprise it's called a reprise also is Mimzy gonna come back

07:15- Vox, you know that you guys are going to die if they lose too right?

Okay I can't timestamp this cuz I'll just be pausing every 2 seconds but just know that everything I'm saying after this is from 07:52 to whatever number I put after later right here->09:47

Okay, so this might be a weird comparison but you know like My Little pony Battle scenes? This feels like that in the very best way possible where they have the scenes with all the different characters fighting with the different music.

Oh my God yes Cherry bomb and angel dust I love them also that was a fire transition also I JUST NOTICED THAT SIR PENTIOUS HAT ALSO HAS THE EYE DOES HE JUST HAVE I HATS FOR EVERY OCCASION

Uh oh Adams angry he's going to do a my hero academia

Oh shit it actually worked that's not good.

I TOLD YOU I CALLED IT VOX IS HORNY

Oh my God that is such a cool shot guys someone should make that frame of Alastor their computer background

OH MY GOD WHOEVER ANIMATED THAT SCENE I LOVE YOU I'M LITERALLY GIVING YOU A METAPHORICAL KISS ON THE MOUTH IN THE PLATONIC SENSE ALASTOR LOOKED SO COOL

Guys I think Adam's going to die

😨 okay so Alastor's microphone just broke and I paused it to add that emoji but as I did the people I live with got home so I'm going to have to pause it for there? I'll update if I get prime working on my phone. Also isn't alastor's microphone alive? Maybe that's the character that died.

Update: all right I got it set up on my phone about 30 minutes later now we're resuming

09:47- okay so I think it's interesting that Alastor pretty much lost all his powers as soon as his microphone broke, my guess is probably that whoever has his soul (lilith, eve, or anyone else) gave the mic to him.

09:53- I like the detail that Alastor is still smiling even though he literally just got slammed against the wall, also Vox has the biggest hate boner for Alastor like

10:02- Alastor: "Have to disagree with you there, radio's not dead." Hun you are bleeding out I'm sorry but I don't think you can gaslight girlboss your way out of this one, also I'm sorry to tell you but the only thing they play on my local radio station now besides music is like, a show that's only on at like 7 in the morning where people call to complain about how their husband wraps Christmas presents

10:38- haha silly also EGGS!!

10:43- NO WAIT MY BRAIN DIDN'T REGISTER THAT THAT EGG WAS CRACKED THEY KILLED THE FUCKING EGG!!!!!! Angel, kill them.

11:12- no no no Sir Pentious you better not I don't want to eat paper

11:21- good for him

11:44- NO GOD DAMN IT PLEASE HAVE A REVEAL THAT ALASTOR OR LUCIFER OR SOMEONE ELSE SAVED HIM PLEASE 🙏🙏🙏 I AM BEGGING ON MY HANDS AND KNEES

12:03- okay this is really cool but is he actually dead cuz I'll legitimately be really sad if so

12:50- *that one vine* "*gasp* Adam."

13:23- KILL HIS ASS CHARLIE

14:12 yes Vaggie, queen shit

SIR PENTIOUS ARE YOU DEAD /J OR /SRS?????

14:35 I KNEW IT I KNOW HE WAS GOING TO COME BACK I MEAN I GOT KIND OF SPOILED CUZ I I SAW THE COVER OF THE EPISODE BUT WOAH 10/10 ENTRANCE

14:44- gasp! His face!

15:00- he is, so stupid. I love him.

15:51-okay I went quiet for a minute cuz there were so much happening but oh my God what do I even say this is just so cool also I don't know if this is intentional or not but the blood stain on Charlie's hair is shaped like an apple

16:34- NIFFTY RAHHHHHHH

17:08- wait okay I had a brief thought that maybe lute was actually Eve but I think I'm wrong on that

17:13- Sir Pentious would've liked pancakes :((((((

Ad Time! I don't care about hard Rock Cafe I just want to know whether or not Sir Pentious is actually dead please I'm going through all the stages of grief right now and Brandan Rogers just came on my screen as Katie killjoy please

18:04- Keke :(

Oh my God they're going to find him in the rubble right? ... Right?? Right guys right???????

18:10- fat nuggets survived that's good I see a rock that looks suspiciously shaped like Sir Pentious military hat whoa guys I wonder if that means anything and it looks like it's up like someone is standing? Whoa I wonder if they'll check behind that rock please

18:16- wait is he actually dead I'm genuinely about to cry

19:16- I am not crying about his death until the episode ends I am not crying until it is 100% CONFIRMED that he died

20:50- omg alastor's alive, he's in his Jack's skeleton era that means that maybe Sir Pentious is also-

21:08- friends :) he said friends just saying

22:04- I TOLD YOU I FUCKING TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU THAT BY DYING IT WAS JUST A CHARACTER BEING REDEEMED I TOLD YOU I'M SO SMART I'M NOT EATING PAPER HAHAHAHAHA I'M THE GREATEST MAN ALIVE HE'S NOT DEAD MY SNAKE BOY ISN'T DEAD HOW DID I GET SO ATTACHED TO HIM I DON'T KNOW BUT I LOVE HIM YES I CAN'T EXPRESS MY EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW I'M GENUINELY SO HAPPY THIS IS WHY THIS IS WHY I WAITED UNTIL THE VERY END TO CRY ABOUT HIM I KNEW HE WASN'T GOING TO BE DEAD THEY WOULDN'T KILL HIM OFF THEY WOULDN'T KILL MY SNAKE BOY OFF JUST LIKE THAT

22:34- you're telling me Lilith was just doing hot girl shit on the beach for 7 years.

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

COMPLEX CHARACTERS

Opening today:

Freud's Last Session--The "session" in question is fictional, or at best nervily speculative--a meeting of the titular psychoanalytic pioneer with the Christian apologist C. S. Lewis. It's September of 1939; England has just declared war on Hitler's Germany, and Freud, who has fled Austria for England with his obsessively devoted daughter Anna, is in the agonizing homestretch of terminal mouth cancer. Irked by Lewis' parody of him in The Pilgrim's Regress (1933), Freud has invited the young Oxford don to his house in London for a civil but contentious chat.

Freud is played by Anthony Hopkins; Lewis is played by Matthew Goode. The direction is by Matthew Brown from a script he co-wrote with the American playwright Mark St. Germain, based on St. Germain's play (which I saw well-produced by Arizona Theatre Company in 2013). The play is a two-hander, but this handsomely-produced movie expands on it with scenes involving Anna (Liv Lisa Fries) and her partner Dorothy Burlingham (Jodi Balfour), flashbacks to Freud's childhood traumas and to Lewis' PTSD from the trenches in the earlier war, his eyebrow-raising cohabitation with Janie Moore (Orla Brady), etc.

But the juice in the film is still in the theatrical sparring between the two leads, especially Hopkins as the chuckling, cheerfully furious Freud. He's as lovably cantankerous here as he was as Pope Benedict in 2019's The Two Popes. For his part, Goode is smart enough not to make Lewis saintly or jolly; he gives him an edge of defensive aloofness alongside a deep decency.

It's hard to say which, if either, of the two men's viewpoints St. Germain and Brown are most in symapthy with. Many of us are likely to feel ourselves somewhere between Freud's staunch and bitter rationalism and Lewis' somehow rather half-hearted pose of orthodoxy. But the point of the film seems to be that what underlies both is, at least partly, existential terror, of a sort to which intelligent, intensely imaginative people like these two are particularly subject. Neither strict nonbelief nor strict belief seems to offer much deliverance.

Mean Girls--"It's a cautionary tale..." So the Greek chorus characters Janis and Damian sing to us at the beginning of this musical remake of the well-loved 2004 teen comedy, pared down from the 2018 Broadway version. This may be the secret of Mean Girls, in each iteration: it really is a moral tale with a cautionary point, and the heroine really does go to the dark side.

As you'll recall, Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is a smart kid who grew up in campsites in Africa; her mother (Jenna Fischer) is a researcher. When she lands at a suburban American high school for junior year, the divisions in cafeteria clique and caste strike her as similar to those in the animal kingdom. She gets sucked into spending lunches with "The Plastics," a circle of glamorous sycophants led by uber-mean girl Regina George (Renée Rapp). Cady agrees, initially, at the urging of artsy girl Janis (Auli'i Cravalho) and big gay Damian (Jaquel Spivey) to serve as a double agent in a revenge plot against Regina. But gradually, of course, the plastic begins to take over for real. 

Or maybe the secret is just that the film, scripted, like the original, by Tina Fey (freely adapting a book by Rosalind Wiseman), is funny and sweet, but not so sweet that it forgets to be, you know, mean. Or maybe it's that most of the songs, by Nell Benjamin and Jeff Richmond, are delightful, and buoyantly staged by directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez, Jr.

Overall, these actors don't have the vibrancy or distinctive personalities of the original film's cast, but they make up for this with terrific musical performing. Rapp brings such a baleful moan to "Meet the Plastics" that she really is a little scary, and Rice shades herself from guileless to conniving very believably. A few vets are around; Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles from the first film, and Busy Phillips and Jon Hamm contribute funny bits. The standouts, however, are Cravalho as Janis and Spivey as Damian, both equipped with gorgeous voices and the ability to act while they're belting.

Fey's generous-hearted--and sensible--take on popularity and self-esteem has provided a solid and unsentimental piece of role modeling for teens (and the teens that endure within most adults) for twenty years now. Maybe this movie will extend it for another twenty.

[musicalrecs]

Today's shameless promotion is for a show you likely haven't heard of: The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!

This show is actually five shows in one, each using the same basic storyline but in the style of a different composer/lyricist. The introduction to the show spells this out:

For those of you disinclined to watch a minute-long clip or read the handy Wikipedia link above, allow me to summarize:

Young woman: I can't pay the rent! Villain dude: You must pay the rent! (Interlude in which older woman gives advice) Hero dude: I'll pay the rent!

This basic story is then played out five times, each in the style of a different composer/lyricist:

Corn! - Rodgers & Hammerstein A Little Complex - Sondheim Dear Abby - Jerry Herman Aspects of Junita - Andrew Lloyd Webber Speakeasy - Kander & Ebb

If you recognize at least a couple of those names and enjoy spotting references, you'll have a good time.

Can I watch it online? Much to my shock, yes! There was a benefit version made just a couple years ago, to raise funds for York Theater after a water-main break (plus the whole covid thing happening).

Through the "magic of green screen" it stars a truly ridiculous number of people you very likely have heard of, giving perfectly adequate performances (green screen...). The opening is one of those long, eye-rolling bits where people who aren't actors do their best to tell jokes/sing and you're like "is the real show starting soon?" but hey, it's Youtube and a benefit production, you can just quietly skip all that.

The best sequence in the above is probably the Kander & Ebb parody, which features Chita Rivera, Ethan Slater, Colleen Ballinger, Randy Rainbow, Jackie Hoffman, and personal favorite of mine Christine Pedi, but results will vary wildly by production and your personal musical tastes.

In addition, more than one local production has been filmed and put online, so you've absolutely got viewing options that were unimaginable to me a couple decades ago. (I'm old.) (On Tumblr, anyway.) In fact, I actually prefer the local productions, as this is the kind of show that really benefits from the unpretentiousness of a small auditorium, a bake sale at intermission, and names you recognize in the program because you went to high school together. (See also: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown)

So, if you're the kind of person who thought "A Musical!" from Something Rotten was peak theater, give The Musical of Musicals: The Musical! a try. And then, consider joining your local tenants' union and work to prevent unreasonable rent increases.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I’m at the HowTheLightGetsIn festival in HAY-ON-WYE with my novel Red Team Blues. Today (May 29) at 12PM, I’m on a panel called Danger and Desire at the Frontier.

Tonight (May 29) at 7:30PM I’m at OXFORD’s Blackwell’s on with Tim Harford.

Tomorrow night (May 30) at 6:30PM, I’m at the NOTTINGHAM Waterstones with Christian Reilly.

Then it’s Manchester, London, Edinburgh, and Berlin!

#10yrsago DIY turd-transplants https://web.archive.org/web/20130608030455/http://blogs.plos.org/publichealth/2013/05/29/why-diy-fecal-transplants-are-a-thing-and-the-fda-is-only-part-of-the-reason/

#10yrsago I Love New York people censor I Coffee Cup New York logo, want to send them a bill https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/nyregion/new-york-challenges-a-coffee-shop-logo.html

#10yrsago Schools and the cloud: will schools allow students to be profiled and advertised to in the course of their school-day? https://web.archive.org/web/20130603053407/http://www.safegov.org/media/48269/safegov_ponemon_uk_school_survey.pdf

#10yrsago Danish “Gangnam Style” mayors threatened with copyright lawsuit by Universal https://torrentfreak.com/universal-music-tells-gangnam-parody-mayors-pay-42000-by-tomorrow-or-else-130530/

#10yrsago RIP, Henry Morgentaler, Canadian abortion pioneer https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/dr-henry-morgentaler-s-death-highlights-abortion-divide-1.1344197

#10yrsago Science fiction story in the form of a Twitter bug-report https://web.archive.org/web/20130527235924/https://twitter.bug.quietbabylon.com/

#5yrsago Design fiction, speculative design, and “creepiness” https://www.wired.com/story/the-creepy-rise-of-real-companies-spawning-fictional-design/

#5yrsago The TSA has a secret enemies list of people who’ve complained about screeners https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/us/politics/new-watch-list-tsa-screeners-.html

#5yrsago Spectacular read: a profile of Anna Sorokin, a con-artist who convinced New York that she was a high-rolling socialite trust-funder https://www.thecut.com/article/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html

#5yrsago Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria death toll is 70 times higher than the official count https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1803972

#5yrsago An analysis of all those Internet of Things manifestos sparked by the slow-motion IoT catastrophe https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3173574.3173876

#5yrsago Quantifying the massive premium paid to people who work in “bullshit jobs” https://popularresistance.org/the-more-valuable-your-work-is-to-society-the-less-youll-be-paid-for-it/

#5yrsago White Americans abandoned democracy and embraced authoritarianism when they realized brown people would soon outvote them https://web.archive.org/web/20180528185731/http://svmiller.com/research/white-outgroup-intolerance-democratic-support/

#5yrsago Ad brokers are selling the fact that you visited an emergency room to ambulance-chasing lawyers https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/05/25/613127311/digital-ambulance-chasers-law-firms-send-ads-to-patients-phones-inside-ers

#5yrsago Efail: instructions for using PGP again as safely as is possible for now https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/05/how-turn-pgp-back-safely-possible

#5yrsago EFF on Cockygate: trademark trolls vs romance literature https://www.eff.org/takedowns/author-trademarks-cocky-earns-ire-romance-writers-everywhere

#1yrago Apple’s Cement Overshoes https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/30/80-lbs/#malicious-compliance

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Hay-on-Wye, Oxford, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[giantkillerjack]

Junji Ito makeup test #1

OR

Figuring out what I need in order to create a music video parody of the song "Gloria" by Laura Branigan, but make it about Tomie. I will be playing the part of a 1980s pop disco singer in the style of Junji Ito. This is high art in progress, people! 😘😂😅

photos of first test:

additional digital notes made using Clip Studio:

main takeaways:

So first off, where the fuck did my stage makeup go??? I had no idea it was missing until today!! I ended up using the makeup from when I used to perform as a mime. (Not a joke, but in a larger, cosmic sense, kind of a joke. 😆 I'll probably do it again sometime. I was adorable as a little soft butch gay mime!)

I now remember why I stopped using the dry cake face paint and switched to wet paint in a tube BUT I CANNOT FIND THE TUBESSS

I'm out of eyeliner in general, but for this, I need some kind of extra thin/fine eyeliner and preferably more than a thimble-full of paint for it.

Maybe I can thin out some matte black face paint and also get like a really nice fine brush? I guess it depends on if the paint is water-soluble.

I should probably check to see if I already have these materials, which would be SO MUCH EASIER IF I COULD FIND MY FUCKING STAGE MAKEUP--

Either way the lines need to be super thin, straight, clean, and parallel to each other. Or I could look at the rougher cross-hatching Ito sometimes uses, but I suspect tidier lines will look best with makeup.

Luckily, I already have an entire burlesque/drag act where I make myself look like a character from a black and white film. Between that and the mime thing, I theoretically have all the white gloves I will ever need lol. I guess I'm going to need white leggings, since the light gray ones won't work for this. Junji Ito is not generally greyscale as much as literally black and white.

Do I own makeup primer? I feel like yes. It definitely sounds like a good idea.

I KNOW FOR A FACT I DIDN'T THROW OUT MY STAGE MAKEUP because I had quality skin-safe glitter in basically every color, and only a FOOL would throw that out!!!!

Gloria is a song from 1983 with disco balls in the music video. Do I want to incorporate more style choices from 1983? Should I buy a wig? Something with shoulder pads maybe?? I guess that means I can keep the thick eyebrows...

Actually upon further research, I do need a sequinned shirt for this. Possibly a sequin leotard with a shiny belt. And leg warmers. OH! And a jacket with just the biggest shoulder pads I can find! Or at least the closest thing I can find to this outfit in one trip to a thrift store

Every 1980s music videos seems to have a person with their hair and clothing flowing in the wind. Now, I could buy a fan. But much funnier and cheaper would be a shot of my hair blowing in the wind that then pans to a friend furiously fanning me with a piece of cardboard or something. (Which means I'd need either two people helping with this shot, or I just have to accept that the shot's going to look kind of blurry by doing the zoom-out in post. Oh gods, I would have to write a proper shot list ahhhhhh--)

Honestly, blurry footage seems fine in some parts. I'm probably going to add some dreamy soft filters anyway to make it look like pre-digital 35mm film from an 80s vid.

I'm going to need some fake blood to splatter at me in the middle of the video. Obviously. So I guess that bit will need to be filmed outside.

The good news is the fact that the nearest easiest filming location for me is a alley full of dumpsters is actually really appropriate for this video. XD

Should I do the distressed eyebrows that a lot of Junji Ito characters have? Note to try that in the next test along with a The Crow-like smile. (My go-to high school Halloween costume. Damn, I have been painting my already pasty-pale face even whiter for a while now! 😅)

Other progress made on this project today:

I recorded myself singing a voice memo along to the rhythm of the karaoke version of Gloria that's on YouTube, but in it, I'm singing in the key that is appropriate to my voice. (A couple half-steps down, I think.)

Next step will be to load that clip onto my computer and adjust the karaoke version to match its pitch. And then like, practice the song with my new personalized backing track.

If i actually finish this, I'll have to re-record the backup vocals to say the right name.

Also the next step will be to see if my interest in this lasts long enough to at least get me to find my frickin' stage makeup.

Additional notes:

The original music video for Holding Out for a Hero is exactly the right energy for this, and now I absolutely need shots of me in front of (badly green-screened) flames, on my knees while singing passionately and directly at the camera and presumably wearing kneepads tbh

Omg what if I included a little "photoshoot" sequence and really fucked with the photos to make them all blurry-body-horror nasty as they flash by real quick?? Get like, a glitch effect in the mix hell yeah 😎😎😎

Edit: Omg i just remembered I have these short-shorts with a reanimator quote on the ass! ("Blasphemy? Before what god?") i know what shorts to wear for this now!!

Oh! Another idea! What if the video starts with me reading Tomie and then closing the book and picking up the nearest microphone-shaped thing and using that to start singing - and every 30 seconds or so of footage, it quietly changes to a different item (one of which is absolute the black wand vibrator that I have XD)

Note: I can easily shorten the song if I only have funny shots planned for like 2/3 of the song length. No need to get too repetitive.

[twinge-of-cosmicangst]

On my laptop and I decided to look at my tumblr archive for the first time in years. Out of curiosity I looked at the month my dad died in 2016, the day he died I reblogged 3 posts, one of a dumb cartoon, one of a high school musical parody gif and one of a clothes shop mannequin in a sexy pose. The day after he died I reblogged 19 posts so I must of been trying to distract myself with tumblr. I reblogged a post two days before his death that read “@July please be good to me. I am tired.” My dad was extremely ill at that time, I was expecting him to die within the week, and because of my incredibly fucked family dynamics I also knew that the last time I saw him (about a week before) would likely be the last time I ever saw him (although I did end up getting to speak to him on the phone a few hours before he died, although I didn’t say much, couldn’t think what to say) So I knew that July probably wasn’t going to be good to me but perhaps I was just hopeing that July would be good and that he wouldn’t die that month, and that he’d hold out until the next month or the month after, that’s pretty sad for a kid who just turned 18. At end of the month I reblogged a post that read “We are gathered here today because SOMEBODY *glares at coffin* couldn’t stay alive” obviously a shitpost, I honestly find it kind of funny that I reblogged that, the month my father died, but at the time I probably resonated with that post in a literal way even though it was a joke, because I was angry at my dad back then for many reasons, but I was mainly angry at him for dying.

[septembersghost]

(twitter.)com/chrislhayes/status/1617985302118948865?s=20&t=LY5pMS4s4ozRSQrxEYhgCg While in high school, he continued to work on music for some of his father’s major motion films. He continued to compose music for major motion pictures. He wrote parts of the original score for the ‘07 film Music & Lyrics as well as "Dance With Me Tonight" performed by Hugh Grant. Along with Cody Fitzgerald- composed the entire score for the ‘19 Disney+ film, Noelle, starring Bill Hader & Anna Kendrick. Wikipedia

ahhhh - okay, so, i was JUST thinking about music & lyrics yesterday, oddly enough because of the song that was released from the soundtrack of daisy jones & the six. the reason for this being thus: i think one of the most difficult tasks that could be given to a songwriter for a film (or series) is to craft music that sounds like a bona fide hit from a specific time. come across too heavy-handed and it's going to sound contrived, don't lean into the time period enough and it's going to sound anachronistic, crib too much from other real hits it's going to sound uninspired...you have to find such a sweet spot to make it work. perhaps one of the most successful famous examples of this is the title track written for that thing you do!, because adam was a genius. but i've always thought music & lyrics manages this quite well with its pop songs, making them catchy and fun (and funny without being parody), and it gives the movie charm. so while i was listening to regret me yesterday, and pondering its spiritual influence from fleetwood mac, for some reason my memory instantly drifted to that, which makes it wild that you'd mention this today!

[itsawritblr]

*takes long inhale because man, do I have feelings for this*

Grew up in the 60s/70s. "High art" was part of the American social fabric, even back in the 30s when Warner Bros were first making these cartoons. Movies had references to operas, plays, ballet. Radio played songs from musicals, operas, and ballets. Most people would recognize the music, though they might not be able to tell you which opera it was from.

So there were a lot of parodies and satires of operas, which most people would get. Barber of Seville included. Which made the satire even funnier. These cartoons originally were shown in movie theaters before the main attraction. They were for a broad audience, not an Arty Elite.

Today, does anyone under the age 40 get this satire? Have they ever heard, or even heard of, The Barber of Seville? Most have never attended live theater of any kind. Most of their schools eliminated the Arts, particular theater and music. What band and choir classes that are left know pop or hip hop songs, or songs from Disney movies.

I'm so glad this Bugs clip is making the rounds. I have issues with a lot of the cartoons (as products of their times there's racism and of course sexism), but at least those done by Chuck Jones (like this one) are clever. (Chuck Jones loved literature and the arts, and stuck them into his cartoons as much as possible.)

Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Of Seville | Director: Chuck Jones Studio: Warner Bros. | USA, 1950  

[breathenbounce]

FIVE RANDOM THINGS FOR NOVEMBER

So this week, I want to screw around a little bit. We all have other interests besides yoga and mindfulness. Yoga and mindfulness are fun for me, but also essential. Without them, I may be a little off. However, I also have some other interests. I like movies, football, WWE, and just working out all the time. So once a month, to be fun and funny, I will give five random thoughts about these things and other stuff that has affected me. I used to do this on another blog so once a month to be silly, let's go.

So I am a huge Miami Dolphins fan and their quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is a mad man. The dude has had four concussions in the last 2 years and yet there he is, still out there playing football. However, there is a whole new energy when he takes the field. The stoner actually tried to tackle a player head first after he threw an interception (which is when you pass the ball and the other team catches it.) He is a madman. However it is that spirit that motivates his team. It's beautiful when it works but he needs to be careful.

2. My daughters just participated in a version of the musical Chicago at their high school. One was part of the ensemble onstage, the other did sound design. I am so proud of them, however if you have never seen Chicago, I would totally check it out. It kind of is an parody of what our world is today is some ways.

3. It seems every time I work out my recovery time takes longer. So I strained my hip flexor a while ago and being the dumbass I am, I kept working out on it. This is most likely has something to do with my love for working out. So when i finally decided to take care of it, I was on the shelf for almost two months and I feel like my workouts are kicking my ass and I need an extra day to recover. Not a fan of this at all. In fact my ankles are burning today. I tried an aqua class Monday. I blame that. LOL. Well not really.

4. I saw this crazy ass movie called the Substance a week or so ago. It stars Demi Moore as an aging fitness celebrity who gets booted on her 50th birthday. She then discovers a "substance" that creates your best self. Little does anyone know, it literally creates another person, played by Margaret Qualley, who I enjoyed since her days as Jill on the Leftovers. (That was a phenomenal HBO series) You would think the movie would be dumb, which it had dumb parts, but Demi Moore should win an oscar her performance. It was crazy. I think it is worth checking out if you have time.

5.I started watching wrestling again a few years ago. I was a fan since I was eight years old. I think since I am on this inner child journey it most likely came up for that reason. Triple H, who always was one of my favorites has taken the reigns (no pun intended if you watch) of the creative side, and this has been some of the best work I have ever seen from the WWE. If you are a fan that has strayed now is a good time to get back in.

So yes, five random things for the month of November. Nice light hearted, I hate to tell you, next weeks will not be as its my least favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I will explain next week, until then...

Namaste

M

[joanna-lannister]

favorite teen flick (if any)🎬🎀? (Stuff like Mean girls, Clueless, Highschool Musical, To all the boys I've loved before etc)

I GREW UP WITH HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL! I have good memories of it with old friends, so obviously I love it. Probably my fave out of this list.

I aboslutely love Mean Girls too. Rachel McAdams as Regina George is iconic and I love Amanda Seyfried so much (I'm a mouse. DUH!). 

I think Clueless is bit overrated tho, I've rewatched it some years ago and I didn't enjoy it quite as much as when I was younger. 

Never seen To All The Boys I've Loved Before so I can't tell my opinion. 

Otherwise, I don't know if it's considered a teen flicks, but Mamma Mia! I loved it so much, it was so entertaining. Also Not Another Teen Movie, it's a parody but it's so funny. Haven't watched it in years tho, so I don't know if I would still like it today. Same I don't know if it's a teen flicks, but Twilight, it was the last years of my teenage years, so I have fond memories.

[noneofthisisreal]

The "crazy little thing called Kiiiiiii" has released their first DVD - an action-packed half-hour of original songs, skits, live performances, promotional videos, movie parodies, special effects, set pieces, stuffed animals,and hand puppets. Follow Gold & Silver, the coolest two-girl band in their high school, battle with their rivals, u.t. and Lakin' from Kiiiiiii. The DVD also comes with a huge load of extras - outtakes, videos, secret scenes, and a musical exhibition of Kiiiiii's original illustrations. Bring the legendary Kiiiiiii experience into your home - today!

(via Kiiiiiii - Gold and Silver (2006) - YouTube)

how did i never find this before!!!  OMG and SQUEEEEE! 

new (to me and less than seven hundredd views most of the world) kiiiiiii just dropped!!

four little joeys is my first choice walk out song of all time

[twinkgami]

you all should see whats happening on my stage today. a business school is rehearsing high school musical parodies about graduating college. tom should be here for this

[driftwooddestiel]

party was sososo fun … me and my jesse pinkman friend sung a brba high school musical song parody that i wrote earlier today

currently in my walter white fit on my way to the halloween party where me and my friend will be jesse and walt cosplaying 🔥

[anxiouspandatheatrekid]

Favorite songs from musicals I know:

(Feel welcome to debate w me I want to talk about musical theatre badly also if there is one of your faves missing, give the rec to me!)

&Juliet- Confident

13 The Musical- It Can't Be True

21 Chump Street- One School

36 Questions- Our Word

The Addams Family- Crazier Than You

Alice By Heart- Isn’t It A Trial

Ani: A Parody- Ani

Amelie- Times Are Hard For Dreamers

A Very Potter Musical- Gettin Back To Hogwarts

A Very Potter Sequel- The Coolest Girl

A Very Potter Senior Year- Wizard of the Year

Bare- All Grown Up

Be More Chill- The Squip Song

Beetlejuice- No Reason

Black Friday- What Tim Wants

Bonnie& Clyde- This World Will Remember Us

Bridgerton- Oceans Away

Bring It On- It's All Happening Now

Cabaret- Mein Herr

Carrie- In

Chicago- Cell Block Tango

Cinderella- Bad Cinderella

Clueless- She's So High

The Color Purple- African Homeland

Come From Away- Prayer

Company- Getting Married Today

Dear Evan Hansen- For Forever

Dreamgirls- It's All Over

Evita- Buenos Aires

Falsettos- A Day In Falsettoland

Fangirls- Silly Little Girl

Firebringer- The Night Belongs to Snarl

First Date- Safer

Frozen- What Do You Knoe About Love

Funny Girl- Don't Rain On My Parade

Gossip Girl- G

Grease- Born To Hand Jive

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals- Inevitable

Hadestown- Wait For Me (Reprise)

Hamilton- Yorktown

Heathers- Fight For Me

Hedwig and the Angry Inch- Tear Me Down

Holy Musical B@man- Super Friends

If/Then- Always Starting Over

In The Heights- Carnaval Del Barrio

Jagged Little Pill- All I Really Want

Kinky Boots- The History Of Wrong Guys

The Last Five Years- Moving Too Fast

Legally Blonde- So Much Better

Les Misérables- Master Of The House

The Lightning Thief- Drive

Little Miss Perfect- Fallin' Fast

Little Shop Of Horrors- Grow For Me

The Mad Ones- Freedom

Matilda- My House

Me And My Dick- Ready To Go

Mean Girls- Apex Predator

Moulin Rouge!- Crazy Rolling

Mrs. Doubtfire- What The Hell

Natasha, Pierre...- Letters

Next To Normal- Superboy And The Invisible Girl

Once On This Island- Mama Will Provide

Ordinary Days- Gotta Get Out

The Prom- You Happened

This Could Be On Broadway- Just My Luck (Reprise)

Rent- I'll Cover You

Ride The Cyclone- What The World Needs

Six- Ex-Wives

Spies Are Forever- Spy Again

Spring Awakening- The Dark I Know Well

Starlight Express- A Lotta Locomotion

Starship- Kick It Up A Notch

Trail To Oregon!- Wagon On Fire

Twisted- Twisted

VHS Christmas Carol Live- Christmas Day

Waitress- Bad Idea

We Are The Tigers- Before The Breakdown

West Side Story- America

Wicked- No Good Deed

I think those were all! I didn't really include movies that also exist in musical form but that I barely know in theater form. Also I'll probably keep this updated so it might change. If you want to chat about any of those, pls comment or dm me!

[jeanbie]

ATTACK ON TITAN! AND THEIR ICKS ★ masterlist.

⏤ these are mostly for fun ^__^ sorry if u think some of these are not icks...ur wrong....but fair enough...

reiner always posts thirst trap work out stories on instagram

gabi has a sticky ipad screen

whenever eren is on discord his microphone is always so crackly and loud and he’s always asking if everybody can hear him

connie and jean genuinely love minecraft parodies and did not get the message when the creeper song stopped being funny

zeke smells his underwear to see if it’s still ok to wear for a second day in a row

sasha and hange own galaxy print leggings

historia takes pictures of her starbucks

connie and sasha scream when the teacher turns off the lights

ymir pushes people off their chairs at lunch because she finds it funny but it isn’t and nobody laughs

connie always tries to throw his trash into the bin and it misses every time and he never picks the litter up

falco knows all of the fortnite dances

eren was subscribed to onision when he was younger and found him funny

erwin claps when the plane lands

berthold listens to imagine dragons

historia always complains about how short she is

reiner and connie bully falco on roblox

pieck never washes her hands after using the toilet

mikasa owns a “normal people scare me” t-shirt

armin reminds the teacher about homework and tests

marco chews with his mouth open and talks when eating so the food goes absolutely everywhere

erwin fights with people on facebook

levi uses really out of date memes and it’s just cringey and awkward

hitch tells other girls that they belong in the kitchen and that she’s one of the boys

sasha had a dan and phil phase and drew whiskers on her face to go to school

erwin says “who’s that” when you show him a meme

jean plays his music out loud and tries to sing along to it but he’s really awful

reiner tries to show off in the library but gets yelled at in front of everybody and it’s awkward

petra never swears and she always says “oh DARN” or “dang flabbit”

porco listens to xxxtentacion

armin takes harry potter houses a little too seriously

mikasa always calms eren down after fights by being like “don’t worry i’ll calm him down. eren, it’s me, it’s mikasa, it’s me”

reiner burps and blows it at people

levi asks to speak to the manager

floch makes misogynistic jokes but nobody laughs

zeke constantly smells like cigarettes

pieck wears her pad for a little bit too long than normal

colt sends thirst traps but gets left on read

connie still tries to send streaks but only sasha replies

mikasa wears those tattoo chokers

erwin and levi sign their names at the end of text messages

marco uses XD

eren enters instagram giveaways

armin says doggo

connie has no social awareness and farts in public

sasha eats really loudly and you can’t hear the tv over her eating

jean pushes people as a way of flirting

all of them say twitch emotes out loud except for maybe levi and erwin

annie is terrible at eyeliner but she still posts pictures saying “makeup looked good today”

reiner never crops his screenshots when he posts them

berthold carries a chessboard everywhere with him

porco thinks he can dance but he can’t

historia drinks wkd and pretends she’s drunk when she isn’t

reiner, jean and connie moan in class

armin pretends like he’s best friends with the teacher

levi bulk bought essential supplies at the start of corona lockdown and didn’t care that there was nothing left for anyone else

olou does not wear a mask

gabi picks her nose and eats it

erwin always wears a swimming hat even if he’s in a paddling pool or the ocean

annie has a monster energy can collection

ymir and porco make fun of people’s dead parents

historia fakes her sneezes to be more high pitched

armin and eren used to make song parodies on youtube but forgot the password so they can’t delete the videos

zofia is a horse girl

mikasa thinks liking lana del rey makes you unique

armin runs to classes

eren constantly has dirt under his fingernails

sasha eats loudly over zoom in class and never goes on mute

jean and connie renegade

you can always hear armin biting his fingernails and skin if the class is quiet enough

jean loudly asks questions during movies

[nonasuch]

Today I listened to the Rent cast album for the first time in... a number of years, and it sure does hit differently now that I’m an adult and not an extremely sheltered suburban tween.

(the first time I heard any of the songs was at Jewish sleepaway camp in the Poconos. yes, really. we sang it on hikes. the girl who actually owned the cast album was in a different bunk, so I exclusively heard the ‘as sung by 12-14 year old girls’ version until I got home. yes, the lyrics were bowdlerized)

anyway! some notes:

Mark’s mom is still very funny and her voicemail is, perhaps, the most realistic thing in this musical.

I was definitely well into my 20s before I noticed that a Tom Collins is also a cocktail? whoops

wow but Benny looks different to me that he did when I was younger. like. the things his friends are mad at him for are Very Different from the things he does that are actually bad?

actually let me break this down.

Things Benny’s Friends Are Mad At Him For:

leaving them behind to marry a bougie lady

gentrification

‘stealing’ Mimi from Roger

Things Benny Does That Are Genuinely Bad:

cheats on his wife with a 19-year-old HIV+ heroin addict

okay, yeah, gentrification, I’ll grant you that

Things Benny Does That Are Good, Actually:

lets his friends live in the building he owns rent-free for a year

pays for Mimi’s rehab

left what must have been an absolute nightmare of a living situation, to marry a bougie lady

seriously can you imagine what that apartment was like

an unheated squat occupied by Benny, Mark, Roger, Collins, and Maureen? nope, no thank you

also Roger has only been clean for six months at the start of the musical, so he was still a full-blown heroin addict when Benny left

actually I would bet that the sequence of events went: April kills herself (IN THEIR BATHROOM) -> Roger spirals even further -> Benny gets the fuck out of there

and tbh good for him

anyway

I don’t love that they make the same “Maureen is a lesbian now, lol” joke twice in the space of like five minutes

the timeline of “Maureen dumps Mark, keeps him as her production manager for a month, then replaces him two days before her show” is... bad. Mark, you have a noodle for a spine.

Joanne’s parents’ voicemail: also still funny. “and wear a bra!” is perfect.

btw Joanne and Mark are both clearly slumming so idk why it’s only bad when Benny does it

hey it’s actually very fucked up that Angel killed Benny’s dog???

not sure when I first noticed this, but Mark, Roger and Collins all use he/him pronouns for Angel, and Mimi, Joanne and Maureen use she/her. huh.

“I’ll Cover You” is still extremely good.

Collins and Joanne are the only adults in this musical.

“Over the Moon” is a perfect parody of bad performance art, so props for that

oh good, “La Vie Boheme” still slaps

I have a lot more sympathy for the Life Cafe waitstaff than I used to, though

btw please envision 13-year-old me, on a hike in the Pennsylvania woods, with 20 other 13-year-olds who are all word-perfect on “La Vie Boheme” but definitely don’t know what a dildo is and kind of mumble their way through the swears.

god I loved “Take Me Or Leave Me” so much as a kid but WOW Maureen would be a nightmare to date IRL

tbh everyone except Collins and Angel should just like. be single for a while. take some time to work on themselves.

you know what, my decision to skip “Contact” on most play-throughs was both correct and, in retrospect, a Big Ace Mood

unsurprisingly, the reprise of “I’ll Cover You” still makes me tear up.

“What You Own” isn’t bad, as such, but it does make me roll my eyes at both Mark and Roger. Especially Mark. my dude, you have by far the fewest problems of any of your friends, and you need to take it down a notch.

the little moment where Mark corrects “Muffy” to “Alison” is really interesting to me? the implication is that they know her well enough now to feel bad about the nickname. I choose to believe that Alison is actually way too good for Benny and his friends all come to recognize that.

aw, Roger. “Your Eyes” is very heartfelt. it’s not good, but it’s heartfelt.

I still like the finale a lot, but boy, these kids have a LOT of problems, huh.

hm apparently I have extensive opinions about what would happen to the characters over the next 25 years.

okay just right off the bat: I doubt that Mimi lives more than a year. sorry! but her odds are Not Good

I would like to think that Roger makes it a little longer than Mimi -- at least long enough to record an album

does Benny bankroll the album and get him a record deal, out of guilt? probably.

does Roger, when he dies, leave the IP and royalties to Mark anyway? also probably

his album reaches a Jeff Buckleyesque level of posthumous cult fame, which is nice for him

sometimes he is featured in listicles about 12 Artists Who Recorded Their Last Albums As They Died

assuming Alison doesn’t leave his dumb ass, I would like to think that Benny chills the fuck out and learns some empathy once they have kids

regrettably, he probably does manage to become a dot-com billionaire

Joanne is 100% married and living in DC by today, and she and her wife both work on the Hill. I can guarantee that they send their kids to either Sidwell Friends or the Maret School. maybe Duke Ellington for high school

Maureen has joined a cult at least once and has almost no contact with her friends from her New York days 

I bet she’s the only one who actually lives in the Southwest now

she goes to Burning Man every year without fail

Mark has never made a commercially successful film

he still lives in New York, though

mostly because the royalties from Roger’s lone album let him buy into a co-op before he could get priced out of Manhattan

some of his old footage has made its way into various documentaries, most recently on Netflix

in his free time he volunteers at an after-school program where he teaches filmmaking to at-risk youth

they keep trying to get him on tik-tok but he doesn’t understand what that is

Collins is happy, healthy, gainfully employed in meaningful work, and in love.

FIN