#he also tends to not like most songs when the singing starts and almost exclusively just listens to music at the gym so | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rosymorns · 1 year

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AAAA ok pls beginnings, training, songwriting, fans, voice, and wild card for bbgirl florrie <3

WAAAAAAH THANK YOU BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL MOLLIE 💖💖💖

under cut becos long

Beginnings: When and how did they know they wanted to be a professional musician? Was there a deciding factor?

I mean, it's always been a pipe dream, right? She was very much the realist in Sev dreaming up their selling out stadiums. Music was something she liked doing with her friends, and if they made a few hundred bucks playing at a bar on a Saturday night, all the better. It was really everyone else that wanted to go professional, and only after like six months where her expenses were covered entirely by gigging did she accept that it was something that could really happen. Yknow?

Training: How did they learn to sing? Have they had any formal training? How do they continue to maintain and develop their singing voice?

Her daddy got her started. I'm talking from the time she was able to talk, she's been singing. There's video of her at age, like, four singing with her dad in his studio. She did do, like, *some* formal training. She was her middle school choir director's golden girl, and one of her high school friend's mom was a classically trained soprano who gave her free lessons every now and then. Other than that, she just practices? I don't know enough about singing to know how she'd actually develop it lmao.

Songwriting: What’s their process? Is it different than it was when they used to write songs with Seven?

Oh, definitely. Songwriting with Sev was... for lack of a better word, shallower. It was a lot of love songs since duets are conducive to that, and they did love each other, and the emotions were real, right? But if you need to put a pound of heart into a song, they're each only giving half a pound. When she's writing by herself, she's giving the whole pound, so she has to carve a lot deeper. If that makes sense. I think most people would agree that it produces better songs, especially in their genre where sadgirls writing about their trauma is better than gold. Generally her process is just that something will stick in her head -- some emotion, some image that strikes her, and she'll write it down, and then work at unfurling it. She writes almost exclusively at night.

Fans: How is their relationship with their fans? Do they go out of their way to interact?

Oh she absolutely does. Golden Hour has a disproportionately high superfan:casual listener ratio because she loves interacting with people and having Florrie say something sweet or funny to you is a rush unlike any other <3 She interacts w memes people make and comments on fancams and stuff, and she's even been known to cover songs that people request on, like, tiktok or IG.

Voice: What does their singing voice sound like? Do you have voiceclaims(s) for them?

Oh, I'm so struggling to describe a singing voice, lmao. I imagine her kind of. "indie girl welcome to my kitchen vine" voice, maybe -- airy, but a little clearer and less slurred. She has a huge vocal range, though she tends to sing a little lower. Voice claim is somewhere around Michelle Zauner from Japanese Breakfast.

Wild card: Tell us something about your MC! Feel free to really just roll us over with an emotional steamroller and crush the souls out of our bodies, if you’d like. (You’re also welcome to choose one of the other questions to answer!)

These are kind of linked together. She doesn't usually play any instruments on stage, but if a song requires a lead guitar and rhythm guitar, she picks up the latter because Rowan is head and shoulders above her in guitar-ing skill, obviously. The guitar she will break out in that case is one of her dad's. Most of his instruments were sold over the years, but she salvaged a few of them when she moved out at like sixteen.

Elvis died the year her dad was born and he would joke, ENTIRELY tongue in cheek, that he was the King himself reincarnated. So Florrie has been working, very slowly and very off-and-on and honestly mostly as a way to deal with grief when she really misses him, on an album of covers of Elvis' greatest hits, played mostly on her dad's instruments, spliced up with recordings of her dad's own covers like a duet across time. It's extremely unlikely that it'll ever really be finished, and even in the case that she does some day decide, "that's enough" -- it's not like she's going to release it. But it's called, like on her hard drive, To the King, from your Princess.

#she posts her to the king covers very occasionally. it's an open secret that it's a personal project and as open that it's never coming #BUT one of the ones she posts right after botb starts is a cover of now and then theres a fool such as i #and all the florrie x seven shippers (fleven?? sorrie??) are like. making the most pathetic ship fancams about it.#she does NOT interact with those.#carly.txt #carly's ocs #oc: florrie

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rylandjennings · 1 year

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「 mr. ryland jennings 」

Full Name: Ryland Thatcher Jennings

Nickname/s: Ry, RJ, Ry the Music Guy

Faceclaim: Nathan Dean Parsons

Gender // Pronouns: cis male // he/him

Age // Date of Birth: 33 // February 7, 1990

Hometown: Pontiac, Illinois

Occupation: Songwriter

Neighborhood: Downtown

Time in Nashville: 17 years

「 quick links 」

nashvillehq | full bio | connections | tags

[ tw: parental death, car accident, mentions of drug use and bullying (sibling) - all triggers are tagged by bullet point throughout the intro below! ]

「 the introduction 」

[tw: parental death, car accident] Ryland’s parents were killed in a car accident when he was three and he was raised (along with his older brother, Cade) by his grandparents on their small farm in Illinois.

Ryland always had a thing for music. Started guitar lessons at age 8, got his first guitar at age 10, and visited Nashville for the first time at 16.

[tw: mentions of drug use/addiction] Ryland's older brother is a real dick to him and their grandparents, and he's a hardcore addict. Ryland hasn't seen him sober since Cade was 16 and Ryland was 14.

Ryland moved to Nashville just three days after graduating high school. He worked as a bar back at The Tin Roof, eventually working as a bartender and playing on the stage sometimes.

After being in town for 4 years, he finally got noticed by a record label employee, but not for his singing. The guy broke the news that Ry was a pretty face with a decent voice in a sea of decent voices and pretty faces, but his songwriting really stood out, so he offered him a job as a songwriter.

Ryland signed with his first label (label tbd) in 2011 and decided to go freelance in 2014 when his contract ended. Now he writes with artists across all labels, but he is exclusively country in genre.

Ryland has gone on tour with some folks across the industry from time to time, and he's pretty good at guitar and keys. He's the kind of guy who has no trouble filling in for someone on short notice, but touring is hard on his mental state when he is gone for too long.

「 deeper dive 」

Ry is a hopeless romantic at heart, and he’s notorious for thinking each new girlfriend he finds is “the one.” Ryland is a sucker for love. It doesn’t help that most country songs are written about something so incredibly consuming, so absolutely fascinating to the boy. Maybe it’s the fact that his parents were so open with their love in photos and videos, who knows?

Despite the chaotic relationship shared with his older brother, Cade, and the many issues Cade struggles with, Ryland tends to see the potential for good in everyone he meets. He's one to ignore the red flags or lackluster signs, which is obviously always a great idea, right?

Ryland has over 150 songs that he’s written or co-written that have been recorded and released. There’s a dozen more in production now, or songs that haven’t been handed off to be recorded just yet. The boy has written for and with the likes of Kelsea Ballerini, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and more names that dominate the country music scene, but he’s never one to brag. In fact, he almost never brings up the people he's written for, and despite being friends with many of them, almost never admits that he wrote a song until he's asked point-blank.

Writing is his shit and he’s literally been known to forget to eat for 24+ hours when he gets in the zone. He does everything from tweaking tunes and lyrics to starting from scratch and writing entire songs, and you'll always find him with a notebook nearby, if not in his hand.

Because he spent the last 14 years in Nashville, Ryland’s Illinois accent isn’t as profound as people would expect. He also has a habit of picking up accents from people so he can make sure words actually rhyme when they sing it themselves, so people sometimes have a hard time pinning his accent to a certain region.

Totally important fact: Ryland has a massive crush on Sara Bareilles and probably has since “Love Song” blew up back during his senior year of high school. Please don’t get him started on it, it’s so embarrassing for the both of us.

「 at-a-glance timeline 」

1990: Born in Pontiac, Illinois

May 2008: Graduated high school & moved to Nashville, Tennessee

June 2011-March 2012: Dated Maggie Devereaux

2011-2014: Under contract as a songwriter (label tbd)

2014-Present: Worked as freelance songwriter

Nov. 2020 - April 2021: Dated Emilia Madden

#nahq.intro

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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

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Starkid Musicals Ranked from Worst to Best

Salutations to you, random people on the internet who most certainly won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Welp. I finally did it. I've watched the entire Starkid musical library, and I must say, most of these plays fit my writing style perfectly:

Humor that is cynical yet random

Leaning in with comedy while sprinkling in some well-executed drama

An understanding that any type of story works as long as the cast of varying personalities of characters is dynamic enough to result in some phenomenal chemistry.

This is in almost all of their plays, excelled through fantastic writing and stellar performances driving the overall quality. And it inspired me not only to review each musical, but also ranking them all from worst to best. Or, more accurately, least good to most good. Because even at their "worst," Starkid still provides a funny, enjoyable experience that will keep you laughing with its comedy and your toes tapping with its catchy music. So strap in as I go in-depth into how Starkid proves how they are the masters of humor and melody.

(I'll also provide links to each musical, which is all for free on YouTube, so you can check them out yourselves. Just know that their early work is impossible to enjoy without subtitles, so you might want to have Closed Captions on when watching.)

#12-Holy Musical B@man-Everything about this play makes it seem like it's the weakest to me. The jokes, songs, and characters in Holy Musical B@tman just don't hit as hard as Starkid's other plays. It's still good, but compared to their best, the cracks show a lot more. That is, except for the ending. Not only is there a great speech that shows what makes superheroes so beloved, but "Super Friends" might just be my favorite finale song Starkid has ever put out. Holy Musical B@tman may not be the best, but it's at least worth the time.

#11-Firebringer-This was stupid. Really stupid. Funny as f**k, but still pretty stupid. Although I will give credit to one of the central pairings being LGBTQA+...Even though it makes little to no sense based on the characters' previous interactions. But in fairness, Starkid really sucks at writing good romantic relationships, so at least Firebringer has the benefit of being gay. And as we all know: The gayer, the better. The play is still stupid, though.

#10-Me and My Dick-The world in this musical makes little to no sense. Penises and vaginas are sentient and can communicate with their humans. And yet the penises and vaginas can also talk with each other, form relationships, leave their humans, and reinsert themselves into others--Yeah, it makes no sense...But, DAMN, is it funny! Every joke and innuendo Me and My Dick has about human anatomy works, and I could not stop laughing at each of them. Especially the names that were given to the vaginas, which are just...I mean, I'm laughing just by thinking about them. That should tell you how funny they are. This play might be illogical in every way, but if you turn your brain off and watch it for the humor, you'll definitely be in for something fun.

#9-ANI: A Parody-What's weird about ANI is that its best qualities are also weaknesses. A good chunk of the jokes are hilarious and expertly delivered. The issue is that most of them are about taking potshots at the Star Wars prequels, which might be the laziest jokes to make in a Star Wars parody. Then there's the soundtrack, having several songs that are a bop to listen to. The problem is that ANI suffers from the same issues as Tarzan and Brother Bear: Yes, technically, it is a musical, but it's one where none of the characters sing, and some people in the background do all the singing instead. It's all an odd balancing act of quality content made through questionable choices. ANI is still an entertaining play, but the force isn't as strong with this one.

#8-Black Friday-This might be the least funny play that Starkid has ever put out. Not just because it leans extra hard into drama, which was pretty effective during certain scenes. It's just when there are jokes in Black Friday, they tend to fall flatter more here than they did in other plays. Also, the plot of Black Friday might not be the best one to play straight. The serious moments work best when focusing on the characters and their personal struggles, but through the big bad that's supposed to be threatening? Not so much. Even if it was meant to be funny, well, I wasn't laughing. And believe it or not, I consider that to be the best judge of whether or not something is funny. That being said, while Black Friday isn't the most humorous Starkid musical, it's still pretty good. The characters are excellent, the songs are awesome, and the story is somewhat easy to follow. I would have appreciated a few more laughs, but I can respect these talented people wanting to challenge their strengths.

#7-Starship-This play feels very...Disney. It follows a familiar formula we've seen several times: The main character wants more than what he has in his crappy life, miraculously gets the exact thing he wants, falls in love with a girl in a short amount of time, faces off against a campy/over the top villain, realizes the hand he's been dealt isn't so bad, and in the end, gets what he wants anyway. Starship is still pretty entertaining through its jokes, characters, and songs, but it also feels weird that Starkid leans into these tropes when they would eventually make a much better play by making fun of them. The end result is not bad in the slightest, but it's also nowhere near their best.

#6-A Very Potter Musical-Starkid's first production, and boy, what a start to something wonderful. Every one of their gimmicks and motifs is present in A Very Potter Musical. The use of parody to playfully mock characters and stories they love, making songs that are as funny as they are emotional, and creating characters that work because of their lines and the actors' performances. Oh, and also, it's funny. And it’s not just through a parody angle, like making Cedric be a perfect boy who's always smiling. It's also funny through its jokes that work, even if you ignore the fact that it’s a parody altogether. Case in point, there are these two bits, one involving Voldemort and Beatrix with the other involving Ron and Hermoine, that are written and delivered so well that I was in tears much more than with any other Starkid play. When watching A Very Potter Musical, you'll not only understand how parody works, but you'll also gain an understanding of why Starkid turned out as successful as they did.

#5-The Trail to Oregon-What can I say? I'm a sucker for comedic dysfunctional families. And seeing a family of idiots make their way to Oregon via The Oregon Trail parody? Yeah, that's a win for me. The play may be another family road trip narrative, which some people might get sick of at this point. But because the dynamics and comedic chemistry everyone has with each other are on point, the end result proves that you don't need an original story to tell an entertaining one. Although I will say that out of all of Starkid's productions, The Trail to Oregon has by far the worst ending. Without giving anything away, the play spends way too much time on this one stupid joke that any of the characters could make. Comedy is defined by personalities, as are most things, so making the joke work for anyone is a bad move when this one, in particular, doesn't fit as well for some characters as it would for others. Plus, the finale song "Naked in a Lake" is a really poor choice to cap off this musical. It's catchy, but to me, a finale song should encapsulate everything about the story, characters, and themes. Not paying off a joke that I honestly wouldn't want the payoff for. So while the ending could have used a lot more polish, that doesn't change how The Trail to Oregon is a pretty funny play that I won't mind revisiting when I have the chance.

#4-A Very Potter Sequel-Hey, sometimes a sequel is better than the original. Sure some jokes don't land, and some story beats aren't as impactful as they thought they were (Serious Black's introduction, for example), but there are far more improvements to this play than the last one. The performances are stronger, the jokes are funnier, the music is catchier, and the characters are much more entertaining in this play than in A Very Potter Musical. Especially new additions like Lupin and Lucious Malfoy, who provide great comedy and sublime drama at times. And Umbridge. Sweet Mother of all that is holy, Umbridge. While A Very Potter Sequel never made me laugh to tears as the first play did, twice, Professor Umbridge carries the comedy so well that she surpasses all of that. Plus, on top of it all, this play nails its ending through a bittersweet note that really captures what makes Hogwarts so special to these characters. I always feel like Starkid's plays tend to lose steam during the last few minutes, but A Very Potter Sequel is one of the few instances that it just builds and builds to a perfect ending. A Very Potter Sequel might not always hit the right marks, but the results are just magical when it does get it right.

#3-The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals-This one is pretty clever. The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is one of those stories that manages to be explicitly hilarious yet implicitly disturbing. For instance, people suddenly bursting into perfectly choreographed musical numbers in a world where songs are exclusively diegetic is pretty funny (especially through the characters' reactions to it). However, knowing what happens to these people and why they sing and dance so expertly helps make the whole situation pretty dire. It's an excellent balancing act that not many stories can accomplish. And while The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals leans one way or the other at times, it's still all handled really well. Oh, and also, you know how most people say the villain song is the best one in any musical? Well, technically speaking, nearly every song in The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is the villain song. Including the finale, which is just too brilliant for me not to give a round of applause. If you're a person who unfortunately doesn't like musicals either, I'd say be more than willing to give this one a chance. It's funny, catchy, and if you think of the implications, pretty damn disturbing.

#2-A Very Potter Senior Year-...You know how Avengers: Endgame is a bit of a mess, yet people still love it for how much of a perfect (sort of) finale it is? It's the same regard with A Very Potter Senior Year in my eyes. It's far from a masterpiece, but the many, many solid scenes that cap off this series help make me willing to overlook the mistakes. The characters, callbacks, and overall message about how things end was done so expertly well that I physically can’t hate this one. I can understand how it's more of an ok play when compared to the rest of Starkid's productions, but sometimes, ok is wonderful.

#1-Twisted: An Untold Story of a Royal Vizier-...It's Twisted. Everyone loves Twisted! And how could they not? Everything about this play just screams Starkid at their best. The comedy is uproarious, added with the fantastic delivery of the actors and the characters' personalities. Everyone feels as though they have one step in reality and the other in insanity. This, to me, seems like the best type of character work when going for the parody angle. Parody is about giving slight yet snide remarks toward the work you're mocking, which I feel works best when characters drop the suspension of disbelief audiences have when enjoying such a story. And Twisted definitely nails its satire in not only poking fun at Aladdin but also making jokes towards Disney as a brand. From their movies to their inside jokes to their formulas to even their corporate dealings with Pixar, nothing about Disney is sacred in Twisted. But on top of being funny, Twisted might just be the most successful Starkid has been with telling some really compelling drama. The jokes allow themselves to take a back seat to let serious moments play out, and even comedy is added, it provides more for the experience rather than taking anything away. You see this not only through the actors giving it their all but even through some really gorgeous and heart wrenching musical numbers. Oh, and also, Twisted has the best Starkid soundtrack, featuring songs that are epic, funny, and, as I said, heartbreaking. You cannot get better than this and, if you want to get a friend interested in Starkid as a whole, this might be the play for them. Scheherazade may have a thousand tales, but his one is a tale I wouldn't mind hearing for a thousand nights.

And that's about how I feel about Starkid and each and every one of their plays. Odds are your ranking would be much different from mine, and I'm all for that differing opinions. Feel free to make your own ranking if you want because I'm honestly curious where fans would place these plays above or below others. I'm relatively new to enjoying their work, so I have no idea what the consensus is. I do know one thing, though: If Starkid can still be incredibly entertaining through over ten years of content, then I am excited to see what they can accomplish next in another ten years.

#starkid #holy musical b@man #firebringer #me and my dick #ani: a parody #black friday #a very potter trilogy #the trail to oregon #the guy who didn't like musicals #twisted: the untold story of a royal vizier

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shelovescontrol91 · 3 years

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In order to lure Camila Cabello to “Cinderella,” Kay Cannon borrowed a page from Prince Charming’s playbook. Sony told Cannon she could direct the film — she had already been writing the screenplay — provided she could convince the pop star that “Cinderella” should be her acting debut. So off Cannon went to Miami to meet with Cabello, having packed a glass slipper she’d bought on Etsy, even though her producers told her that would be “weird,” she says.

“I was there for, like, 30 seconds. And I’m like, ‘I hesitate to do this!’ And I pull out this glass slipper. ‘Does it fit?’”

However embarrassing, the gesture worked. In May, Amazon Studios bought “Cinderella” from Sony — with Cannon’s blessing — and it will premiere on the streamer on Sept. 3. While it’s disappointing that the movie musical won’t primarily play in theaters, the director, who has a daughter too young to get vaccinated, sees only the bright side.

“If the goal is for people to feel joy,” Cannon says, “I think we’re going to reach more people.”

At 47, Cannon is among the still-too-small group of women directors who have a Midas touch for mainstream, feminist comedies. After getting her start as a writer for “30 Rock,” Cannon wrote the three “Pitch Perfect” movies and directed “Blockers,” an emphatically R-rated comedy with a dirty mind and a loving heart.

In summer 2017, Cannon had just completed filming “Blockers” when her agent told her that James Corden wanted to speak with her about a “Cinderella” project. She jumped at the chance — but only because she wanted to meet the late-night talk-show host, not because she had any interest in fairy tales or princess culture. In fact, Cannon was certain that any new “Cinderella” would be a non-starter, since Disney’s 2015 live-action version, starring Lily James, had grossed more than $540 million worldwide so recently. “Nothing’s going to come out of this,” she remembers thinking.

But when Corden and his Fulwell 73 producing partner Leo Pearlman pitched her the idea of a “Cinderella” musical with contemporary songs, saying she could rewrite the fable however she liked, she immediately changed her mind. “I have no poker face,” Cannon says. “And I was like, ‘I want to do this!’”

Cannon’s “Cinderella” has a thoroughly modern message. Ella isn’t interested in marriage, wanting instead to travel the world and be a designer. Cannon also toned down the canonical cattiness of Ella’s stepfamily, and upped the story’s comedy potential. All the while, characters such as the stepmother (Idina Menzel) and the prince (Nicholas Galitzine) are singing songs like “Material Girl” and “Somebody to Love” and “Pitch Perfect”-style mashups like “Whatta Man” with “Seven Nation Army.”

At every step, her guiding principle was “How can it be different?” “I wanted people to get their money’s worth,” Cannon says, “or why do it at all?”

In an interview with Variety, Cannon talks about how COVID-19 affected “Cinderella,” her experience as a woman director and how things have changed in comedy.

The Cinderella story has been told and retold, and had just been a live-action movie when you signed on to write this. How did you want your version to be different? And is it significant here that Camila Cabello is a woman of color?

Yes, I wanted to make sure it was incredibly inclusive. And her being Cuban Mexican is no small thing, and what she represents to millions of people — not only her fans, but to millions.

The story has mostly been told and retold almost exclusively by men: I feel it when I watch. The 2015 Kenneth Branagh “Cinderella” was hugely successful, and it was beautiful. And I love the Whitney Houston, Brandi “Cinderella.” It just feels a little told from their gaze. And I really felt like it was important to me to tell it through my gaze.

Can you talk about creating the Fab G, and what you wanted from that character?

So many amazing actresses have played that role — so I’d written that role to be a man. And, quite honestly, the only one who fit all of everything I wanted was Billy Porter; I wrote it with him in mind. He’s just such a great singer. He’s just so talented. Because I wrote it specifically for Billy, the character kind of came easy. I just wrote it in his voice, and tried to make it funny. I had actually had another song in there, and then as soon as Billy was confirmed, we picked “Shining Star.”

Is the Fab G gender non-binary?

We talked about it. In having many conversations with Billy, I was like, “I think the answer needs to come from you.” He has said “they/them,” and “magic has no gender.” Non-binary for sure.

You started filming in England in February 2020. Tell me about shutting down because of COVID.

We had shot the ball the first week of March, which is something I do not believe I would have been able to do coming back — and it wasn’t a super-spreader. I’d shot all of the Fab G stuff, and all the basement stuff.

It felt like something out of “The Amazing Race” — like, pack up all your stuff! I’d been in the U.K. for like four months, and my family was there. My daughter was going to school there, and my husband was the writer on set. So we packed everything up, and then Camila and her family and my family, we flew back. My husband’s family is in Maine, and so we just stayed in Maine the entire time.

That sounds so nice, actually.

I did all of post in a boathouse in Maine. It was pretty awesome, actually.

During the break, what were you doing?

It was like getting a second prep, really. I was working with my editor, Stacey Schroeder, and we were putting together what we had. And then I was able to see what I needed and what I didn’t need. And I was doing a ton of rewriting, and I was doing a ton of prep that we didn’t necessarily have. Because I had all the opening, I had the finale, I had “Somebody to Love,” I had “Am I Wrong,” “Material Girl” — all these big numbers.

Movie theaters have reopened, and this was obviously made with a theatrical audience in mind. How did the Amazon of it all happen?

Sony is a business, first and foremost. I know that Sony loves the movie, and that partnership was really great on that level. So I think it was hard for them to give it up, but I’m really quite happy that people can see this in this safety of their own homes with loved ones. And it is a wonderful theatrical experience, especially with the music and the sound and everything. And it will open theatrically in some theaters.

It not being a wide release in theaters means that we’re not healthy yet. And so that’s what’s the most upsetting — that we’re not healthy.

As you were moving from being a performer to being a screenwriter, did you always have directing in mind, or was that something that you discovered you wanted to do?

I was led to it. When I was at “30 Rock,” by like Season 5, I really wanted to direct an episode. And I was too chickenshit to ask. I was the writer/producer who was always on set — at that point, I’d spent my 10,000 hours on set for sure. And it wasn’t until I had a meeting with Nathan Kahane at Lionsgate, and he was like, “You should be directing your own stuff.” I have such a respect for academics, and I never went to film school, so I just didn’t think I could do it. And then once he put that in my head, I was like, “Yeah, you know what? I can do it.'”

And is that how “Blockers” came about?

Exactly. Yeah, they sent me the script with an offer to direct. And with no questions asked. I didn’t have to do any kind of auditioning.

That is very rare! Obviously, things have gotten better for women directors in the past few years, after years of the most appalling statistics. What obstacles do you feel like you’ve faced as a woman director?

Especially with “Blockers,” I had a very good experience. I feel like the obstacles I have to face really are from the powers that be that still fight me at every level on what women want to watch, or think is funny. Or what is funny — forget gender.

My stuff happens to have female leads, and it’s female driven. So the jokes are coming out of women’s mouths. And I cannot tell you the amount of fighting I have about what they think is going to work, and what they think isn’t going to work. And there’s a lot of like, “I have all the expertise, you do not have the experience.”

And it’s just like, ‘I’ve been working in the comedy side for 15 years now — successfully.” And so what ends up happening is, I fight and fight and fight, and then I just do it and get it in. And then it gets put in front of an audience and the audience laughs. And then they have to say, “OK, that does work.” And you might not think that that’s that big of a deal. Maybe that’s creatively for everybody. Maybe it’s not gender specific. I tend to believe that it is gender specific.

Is that at the studio level?

From my experience, it’s mostly the studio level. And maybe I’m just sensitive to it or whatever. But I just feel like there’s a lot of conversations about what is funny out of a woman’s mouth. What’s allowed. And I feel like no matter how much success I had with “Pitch Perfect,” I think it’s still as much of a fight now as it was then. Which doesn’t make sense to me.

With “Cinderella” too?

Oh, especially with “Cinderella.”

And now we’re back on the record after going off for a bit! I rewatched the “Black Tie” episode of “30 Rock” yesterday, which you wrote with Tina Fey, in which Paul Reubens plays an afflicted prince. That was the moment in Season 1 when I realized, OK, I love “30 Rock.”

[Affects Prince Gerhardt voice] “THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY BIRTHDAY.”

That was the first thing I ever wrote! You know, professionally.

An unbelievable calling card to have as your first screen credit.

Yes! I was asked recently who is my Fab G, and my answer is Tina Fey. I wrote stuff as a friend she was reading. And I never thought that she would consider me for her staff, and she just grabbed me and was like, “You’re gonna do this!” I thank her every day for giving me that opportunity.

There are so many conversations right now about what’s acceptable in comedy. As a screenwriter who’s done mostly comedy, how do you feel about that?

Right now I think we’re in the muck, and I think we’re striving for equality. And we’re trying to work things out! Of course we should look back at things that were done 15 years ago, and be like, “Oh, no!”

I don’t know if this is a story I should tell. But I can remember getting notes to put the f-slur into “Pitch Perfect” as them being bullied like by the cool athletic guys. And I was like: “No! I can’t do that.” I think I put it in for a draft, and a friend of mine read it, and she’s like, “You cannot have that in.” And I was like, “It’s a note I was given!” I was told to do that, you know?’ And then like realizing, no, it’s unacceptable. You cannot use that word. Even if you’re trying to show that it’s awful, don’t do it.

You have to have your moral compass, and know what’s right for you. And there’s just some things we just shouldn’t tolerate anymore. And they’re just not acceptable. I’m certain if I looked back at stuff that I would cringe, you know? Or just, that’s how people thought then. And I was one of those people. But certainly now if you know better, you do better, right? Is that too soapboxy?

This interview has been edited and condensed.

#kay cannon #camila cabello #cinderella

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flightfoot · 5 years

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On Apollo and the nature of identity

Throughout the Trials of Apollo series, Apollo has struggled with his identity; who he is now that he isn’t a god, what it means to be himself. His new alias - Lester Papadopoulos - helps to exemplify his identity crisis. The name is a perfectly ordinary human name to reflect his new state of existence. He doesn’t particularly like it (especially at first), but uses it occasionally nonetheless. It seemed kind of odd to me how Rick has characters use “Lester” vs. “Apollo”, but I think I may have an idea of why.

I think “Lester” may be serving as a kind of epithet for Apollo - as a sort of additional name describing his current circumstances and form, and everything that goes with it. It’s why, especially in the early books, he tends to think of himself as Lester in a somewhat derogatory manner, such as when he’s failing at archery in THO:

Zeus had cursed me with mortality. I was not going to pretend that everything was normal. I would not be Apollo until I was really Apollo. For now, I was just a stupid young man named Lester Papadopolous. (143)

Sometimes his friends would call him “Lester” too, like how Leo referred to him as “Lester man”, or just because.

In TDP Commodus exclusively refers to him as Lester... until the end of his rant at the finale of the book.

Commodus scoffed. “You’re damp and speckled with bat poop, Lester. You’re a pathetic child who has been dragged through the darkness. That darkness is still in your mind. I see the fear in your eyes. This is your true form, Apollo! You’re a fraud!”

Apollo. He had called me by my name. (371)

Commodus associates “Lester” with weakness and fear, with his new mortal form... but he still calls him “Apollo” at the end, in an attempt to combine what he thinks of “Lester” with what he thinks of “Apollo”, I believe. Because “Apollo” is him as a whole - “Apollo” in total, while “Lester” only describes his current circumstances. “Apollo” was powerful enough to kill Commodus, but “Lester”? Maybe not.

Apollo still considers, well “Apollo”, to be his name, because, well, it is, AND I suspect because of how he associates his current form with powerlessness, a helplessness that he didn’t have as a god... or at least didn’t recognize in the same way. This can be seen from the ending lines of TBM:

But from now on, I would be more than Lester. I would be more than an observer.

I would be Apollo.

I would remember. (419)

He was unable to save Jason as Lester, as a mortal. As an observer. But with the strength he associates with being Apollo, he may be able to.

But things change in Tyrant’s Tomb. This book, Apollo doesn’t seem to associate Lester with weakness and fear to the same extent. Or at least, he doesn’t seem as depressed about it. He actually jokes about it a little with Meg when trying to reassure her:

“When we summon godly help, I can ask for complete healing. I’m sure I’ll be as good as new. Or at least, as good as a Lester can be.” (189)

He’s also called Lester a decent amount this book, by Reyna mostly, weirdly enough. When she calls him up to speak to the council, it’s as “Lester Papadopoulos”, not as Apollo. And just in general, she calls him Lester by default. Kinda contrasts with Frank, who mostly calls him “Apollo”, but does call him Lester in certain circumstances, such as when talking about the new birthday he was assigned (as Lester)

“You’ll have to leave for Sutro early on Lester’s birthday.” (186)

Frank calls him “Lester” here because he’s referring to Apollo in his capacity AS Lester. Most of the time he calls him “Apollo”, which I’m betting is because he looked up to Apollo as a god - and still does to an extent. It probably helps that Frank’s awesome with a bow and arrow, and Apollo was one of the few cases where Romans respected that.

Anyway, back to Reyna. She does refer to “Apollo” and “Lester” separately later, when laughing about him awkwardly offering to be her boyfriend:

“Apollo. When you were a god...” She struggled for breath. “Like, with your powers and good looks and whatever-”

“Say no more. Naturally you would have-”

“That would have been a solid, absolute, hard-pass NO.”

I gaped. “I am astonished!”

“And as Lester... I mean, you’re sweet and kind of adorkable at times.”

“Adorkable? At times?”

“But wow. Still a big-time NO. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” (237-238)

She views him as being the same person sort of, but in different capacities. And she actually seems to like him as Lester more. Still doesn’t want to DATE him of course, but she was less vehement about the second one.

You kind of see this again later, after Reyna finds out about what Apollo did to Coronis and the crows, how she seems to view him MORE highly as a mortal than as a god.

“But you’re the- you used to be the god of music, right? If you can charm a crowd, you should be able to repulse one. Pick a song those birds will hate!”

Great. Not only had Reyna laughed in my face and busted my nose, now I was her go-to guy for repulsiveness.

Still… I was struck by the way she said I used to be a god. She didn’t seem to mean it as an insult. She said it almost like a concession - like she knew what a horrible deity I had been, but held out hope that I might be capable of being someone better, more helpful, maybe even worthy of forgiveness. (255)

I don’t think she’s calling Apollo “Lester” as any sort of insult. To me it seems like by calling him Lester, she’s acknowledging this new side to him, this mortal side, and how he’s different from how he used to be.

This is actually kinda shown during the confrontation with Harpocrates, with how Reyna and Meg defend him:

In front of me, Reyna and Meg stood shoulder to shoulder, facing down the god.

They sent him their own flurry of images. Reyna pictured me singing “The Fall of Jason Grace” to the legion, officiating at Jason’s funeral pyre with tears in my eyes, then looking goofy and awkward and clueless as I offered to be her boyfriend, giving her the best, most cleansing laugh she’d had in years (Thanks, Reyna.)

Meg pictured the way I’d saved her in the myrmekes lair at Camp Half-Blood, singing about my romantic failures with such honesty it rendered giant ants catatonic with depression. She envisioned my kindness to Livia the elephant, to Crest, and especially to her, when I’d given her a hug in our room at the cafe and told her I would never give up trying.

In all their memories, I looked so human… but in the best possible ways. Without words, my friends asked Harpocrates if I was still the person he hated so much. (288-289)

He’s still Apollo, but they DON’T consider him to be the same person he was exactly. He seems pretty human, but in GOOD ways, and that change? That part of him? I believe they’re associating that with “Lester”, as that’s the name he’s been given as a human. He’s still Apollo - just because he’s changed, it doesn’t absolve him of what he’s done, and it is all part of him - but Lester represents the new experiences and new attitude he’s acquired, the person he’s become. “Lester” isn’t just the weakness and powerlessness he associates with being mortal, but also the strengths he’s gained from his new friendships, from seeing himself and the world clearly - well, mostly clearly anyway. Clearer than he ever has before.

“Lester” was originally a name assigned to him by Zeus as part of his humiliation, same as the rest of his “turning mortal” punishment. But like the rest of the punishment, I think it’s going to backfire. If the name “Lester Papadopoulos” exemplifies his time as a mortal, an experience Zeus is putting him through in order to punish and humiliate Apollo, frighten him and other gods from stepping out of line, then I doubt that, like the growth Apollo has experienced, that he would cast it away. I suspect that it will end up as an alias that he reclaims, a name that starts out as derogatory but that is soon worn as a badge of honor. He may be Apollo, but I can’t see him being ashamed of who he was as a mortal, as Lester Papadopoulos.

“Apollo” is the sum total of who he is, but “Lester” represents a new part of him that he’s just now realizing is there, is actively growing and changing. He’s still struggling to integrate his new realizations into himself, but when he does, I think he’ll truly be himself.

We see some of this identity struggle hinted at throughout the book, like when talking with Lupa:

“My time,” I said. “For what, exactly?”

She nipped the air in annoyance. To be Apollo. The pack needs you.

I wanted to scream I’ve been trying to be Apollo. It’s not that easy! (95)

“Being Apollo” here obviously represents something deeper than just existing. But it doesn’t seem to really refer to just regaining power. Apollo actually says that he DOES know what she means - and to a certain extent, I think he’s right.

“Fine,” I relented. “I know what you mean. The last lines from the Dark Prophecy. I’ve reached the Tiber alive, et cetera, et cetera. Now I am supposed to ‘jive’. I assume that entails more than dancing and snapping my fingers. (96)

“Jiving” in this case appears, I believe, to refer to Apollo’s new revelations about who he is as a person, and the kind of person he wants to be. This is supported by what the arrow says when Apollo asks it how he’s supposed to “start to jive’, and the arrow basically says that it will think about that matter. After Apollo complains a bit about how he needs to know NOW, because they’re about to face Tarquin, this piece of conversation occurs:

“I appreciate a good boon as much as the next person. But if I’m going to contribute to this quest and not just cower in the corner, I need to know how” - my voice cracked “how to be me again.”

The vibration of the arrow felt almost like a cat purring, trying to sooth an ill human. ART THOU SURE THAT IS THY WISH?

“What do you mean?” I demanded. “That’s the whole point! Everything I’m doing is so-” (138)

Here, Apollo’s still associating being “himself” with his godly power, but the arrow implies something different. And is trying to comfort him about it, which is a sharp departure from its usual attitude in previous books.

Apollo talks to the arrow again later, while on the excursion with Meg and Reyna, and it has this to say:

THOU HAST FOUND THY GROOVE. AT LEAST THE BEGINNINGS OF THY GROOVE. I SUSPECTED THIS WOULD BE SO, GIVEN TIME. CONGRATULATIONS ARE MERITED. (266)

I have my suspicions about what his “groove” is here. This takes place just after the three of them fend off the ravens, after Meg and Reyna found out about some of the horrible things Apollo had done in the past, and he comes to these realizations:

“Can we talk about this later?” I pleaded. “Or perhaps never? I was a god then! I didn’t know what I was doing!”

A few months ago, a statement like that would have made no sense to me. Now, it seemed true. I felt as if Meg had given me her thick-lensed rhinestone-studded glasses, and to my horror, they corrected my eyesight. I didn’t like how small and tawdry and petty everythin looked, rendered in perfect ugly clarity through the magic of Meg-O-Vision. Most of all, I didn’t like the way I looked - not just present-day Lester, but the god formerly known as Apollo. (252-253)

I wanted to sing for Reyna, to prove that I had indeed changed. I was no longer the god who’d had Koronis killed and created ravens, or cursed the Cumaean Sibyl, or done any of the other selfish things that had once given me no more pause than choosing what dessert toppings I wanted on my ambrosia.

It was time to be helpful. I needed to be repulsive for my friends! (256)

I think this realization - of how horrible he had been while a god, of how he had changed, of his determination to BE a different person than he once was, while still acknowledging who he’d been in the past - I think THAT is his groove. His jive. Not just him realizing who he was, but turning his determination to make things better into power.

It’s reinforced later with him thinking about how hollow he feels:

When had I last felt “whole”? I wanted to believe it was back when I was a god, but that wasn’t true. I hadn’t been completely myself for centuries. Maybe millennia.

At the moment, I felt more like a hole - a void in the cosmos through which Harpocrates, the Sibyl, and a lot of people I cared about had vanished. (316)

Honestly, I don’t know that he was ever really “himself” in the way he thinks. Some of the worst things he did, he did in ancient times. He just may not have recognized it as such at the time. But as the time passed, I’d imagine that existence would have grown more hollow, as he doesn’t seem to have formed many deep bonds - mostly surface-level ones that he fooled himself into thinking were deep, like when he convinced himself that he loved the Cumaean Sibyl.

His comparisons between himself and the Emperors when referring to his encounters with Harpocrates shows this to some extent:

The emperors would’ve considered Harpocrates just another dangerous, amusing plaything, like their trained monsters and humanoid lackeys.

And why not let King Tarquin be his custodian? The emperors could ally themselves with the undead tyrant, at least temporarily, to make their of Camp Jupiter a little easier. They could let Tarquin arrange his cruelest trap for me. Whether I killed Harpocrates or he killed me, what did it matter to the Triumvirate in the end? Ether way, they would find it entertaining - one more gladiator match to break the monotony of their immortal lives. (273)

This description sounds an awful lot like the Olympian gods attitude, with them not caring what happens to demigods much, just using others as entertainment. So long as they weren’t majorly threatened, why should they care? They can just sit back and watch, like Apollo talked about doing back in The Dark Prophecy when he was a god:

When I was a god, I would have felt delighted to leave the mortal heroes to fend for themselves. I would have made popcorn and watched the bloodbath from a distance on Mount Olympus, or simply caught the highlight reel later. (283)

Apollo’s directly compares himself to the emperors soon afterwards, when reliving Harpocrates memories from his point of view:

The god glared at me. He forced painful images into my mind: me stuffing his head into a toilet on Mount Olympus; me howling with amusement as I tied his wrists and ankles and shut him in the stables with my fire-breathing horses. Dozens of other encounters I’d completely forgotten about, and in all of them I was as golden, handsome, and powerful as any Triumvirate emperor - and just as cruel. (279)

Apollo hasn’t been the kind of person he really saw himself as - the kind of person he wishes to be since - well, I don’t know if it was EVER. Certainly not for a VERY long time. He and the Emperors aren’t as different as he’d like... or WEREN’T, at least. Though the Emperors were more outwardly cruel, with none of Apollo’s good qualities, it seems.

But that’s changed now. Apollo can see who he was and is trying to change, to be someone better. He can’t fix everything - an apology won’t undo the Cumaean Sibyl’s or Harpocrates suffering - but he can make things better NOW.

As the Emperors invade, his summoning seems to have failed everything looks hopeless:

The emperors obviously wanted to send a message: they intended to dominate the world at any cost. They would stop at nothing. They would mutilate and maim. They would waste and destroy. Nothing was sacred except their own power.

I rose unsteadily. My hopelessness turned into boiling anger. I howled, “NO!” (340)

This - now this is when I think he TRULY jives. He rejects hopelessness, he rejects weakness, he rejects despair. The world may be going down in flames, but he’ll fight it. He can’t change the past, but the present? Now THAT he can do something about.

He charges in and fights against hopeless odds, without a plan even, because he’s NOT going to just stand by and watch people die. Not anymore.

His divine powers return somewhat. He survives a blow that should have killed him, he punches Commodus so hard his armor dents, and after Frank’s supposed death, he literally screams Commodus into ashes. Even before that, when he truly thinks he’s about to die fighting Commodus, he doesn’t waste time worrying about his death. He fights to at least hobble Commodus first, to cut his tendons so that even if he dies, he’ll have made it easier for someone else to take him down. He never stops fighting, he never gives up, even when he believes he can’t save himself anymore. He’s at least begun to figure out who he is now, and to act on it. He’s been having his old self torn down and rebuilt nearly from scratch, and this is the result.

His heroism, how he’s changed - it’s reflected in another character at the end of the book. Don the faun has appeared before, both in TTT and SON, and he’s supposedly been pretty useless, like most fauns. But here, in this book, he was useful, though scared. He even helped the other nature spirits to sabotage the Emperor’s weapons, staying behind on the ships, sacrificing his own life to ensure that it was done right. He survives, but not for long. As he’s dying, he talks with Apollo:

“Hey, Apollo, you- you know the difference between a faun and a satyr…?”

[…]

A moment later, his body collapsed with a noise like a relieved sigh, crumbling into fresh loam. In the spot where his heart had been, a tiny sapling emerged from the soil. I immediately recognized the shape of those miniature leaves. Not a hemlock. A laurel - the tree I had created from poor Daphne, and whose leaves I had decided to make into wreaths. The laurel, the tree of victory.

One of the dryads glanced at me. “Did you do that…?”

I shook my head. I swallowed the bitter taste from my mouth.

“The only difference between a satyr and a faun,” I said, “is what we see in them. And what they see in themselves. Plant this tree somewhere special.: I looked up at the dryads. “Tend it and make it grow healthy and tall. This was Don the faun, a hero.” (398-399)

The difference between a satyr and a faun, in other words, is nothing physical. It’s societal and psychological. I believe that Apollo is also, to an extent, talking about gods and mortals. The gods have long believed that they can’t change and mature like mortals, but also, largely, that they don’t need to because they’re gods; they’re above mortals. But Apollo has seen - has experienced - that that isn’t true. That mortals and gods may have different power levels, but at their heart, they’re not so different.

It also says something about his more recent state, as Lester, when he’s considered himself useless - when others have considered him... well, not exactly useless, but not all that useful either in the early books. But sort of like with Don, the difference between him and the demigod heroes, who are at sort of similar power levels, more has to do with what people see in him, and what he sees in himself. How he’s thinking about himself now. What it means to be a hero. To be a good person.

By the end of the book, Apollo’s regained a lot of his godly power, but it hasn’t changed who he’s become. Because it was never godhood that made him who he was, him beginning to regain that godhood isn’t changing who he is, who he’s become, what he’s gained from being Lester. I know some people have worried about Apollo potentially rejecting godhood, but I really don’t see that happening. He’s already regaining his godhood on HIS terms. The power from godhood was never the problem. Only what that godhood was used for.

Personally, I suspect that he’ll continue to use Lester sometimes, as a reminder of that part of his life, of what he’s learned, of what he’s become, even after he’s regained all his power. He may even keep something similar to his Lester form (though I suspect with less flab and acne). But he’ll keep the power. Because he can use that to help others, to try to make up in some small way for all that he’s done.

#trials of apollo #ttt spoilers #lester papadopoulos #the tyrant's tomb #the tyrant's tomb spoilers #toa #ttt #analysis

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louisapennyfeather2021 · 4 years

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Part 2/5 Of my Newsies as Camp Half-blood Headcanon!

@a-fight-we-have-to-win and @morris-delancey-street for the headcanon ideas!

Morris Delancey- Son of Hecate. Morris feels uncomfortable with being Jack's brother, but he learns to accept it and even grows close to Jack and his friends. He's not the best at magic, but his ability to control the Mist is unbelievable. Morris is surprisingly different from Oscar. He's tough because of the lifestyle he was forced to grow up with before finding camp, but he is a bit more approachable compared to his brother. Morris tries to be more open at camp, but he always feels like he's letting Oscar down. He always craved approval from his brother, so he keeps any interaction with others that's even slightly friendly a secret. Because of this, he has a few friends. Secretly, Morris is a book nerd. He loves reading, he feels like he can just run away to a world where everything is alright. He never reads when Oscar is nearby, or anyone really. He mostly sticks to reading on his bunk at night. Because of how he acts in front of different people, Morris sometimes loses a sense of who he really is and it drives him insane. Morris is creative in the ways that he can be so many different people at once and still keep it all in control. He tries to use the Mist to hide most of himself from others, but they are all demigods so he has to put forth a lot of effort.

Spencer "Specs"- Son of Hades. He's unusual social for a child of Hades, but besides this it makes sense. He has a darker side that he reserves for times when the people he cares about are hurt or in danger. Specs is very aware of himself. He feels awkward because he's so sarcastic and he jokes around sometimes, so he struggles with self esteem. He's very optimistic and hopeful though. This distracts him from worrying about how he is around others. He's very patient and considerate of others because he knows what it's like to want to be better than what you already are. He's similar to Romeo since he likes helping others, but he works better with being a listener instead of things like camp tours or showing a new camper the ropes.

Elmer Kasprzak- Son of Demeter. Elmer is unbelievably peaceful, unlike half of his siblings and similar to the other half. He can be intense if he needs to be, but he's more of a peaceful camper. He's helpful, but he prefers his friends and being outside more than anything. Elmer tends to bottle up his emotions because he doesn't know how to truly express himself. He doesn't want to scare off any of his close friends because of his emotions, so he doesn't really open up much. Elmer likes to think what he has is enough, in a sense that he doesn't go looking for danger, so he's not very ambitious with camp competitions or quests. Elmer likes his life at camp and he wouldn't trade it for anything.

Benjamin "Buttons" Davenport- Son of Hephaestus. Buttons has OCD. If he seems something is slightly off, he has to fix it. There are noises that bother him and activities at camp that just make him twitchy. He can't really focus, like all demigods, so he plays with the buttons in his pockets that he carries around in case he needs them, hence the name. Buttons likes to be busy because he can distract himself from memories from his past. He hasn't had the easiest life, but he tries to keep a smile on his face because not a single person at camp has had a good life, not one. Buttons is always a valued player during Capture the Flag because he comes up with the most outrageous plans that somehow work out. He's creative and initiative with using what he has around him to create a plan. He works with Davey during Capture the Flag to make the ultimate plan.

Mush Meyers- Son of Apollo. He's not as bright and sunny as the others, but he's still a character. Came to camp with Davey and Les because they were like his adoptive family. His mom died when he was little and the Jacobs always took care of him. Mush didn't really take on a roll as a brother in the family, but he was always there for both Davey and Les. Mush doesn't really talk with anyone other than the Jacobs and a few others. He's generally quiet and this makes it difficult for him to communicate properly. Mush is never really bothered by much, but when he is he almost completely shuts down. He found that archery is a good outlet for dealing with his inability to properly communicate.

Jojo de la Guerra- Son of Bellona. He's slightly different from Katherine because he came from a different background. He lived a great life with his dad and step mom, but he lost both of them to a car accident unlike Katherine who just ran away. He's like Katherine in a sense that he prefers camp Half-blood over camp Jupiter. He can often take things for granted because of the life he lived before camp. He sometimes forgets who he is, whether it be who he is at camp or who he was before camp. He likes to tell stories, which is odd to his friends. He's surprisingly good, so he'll lead campfire stories after they sing songs. He can relate to a lot of the younger kids that had good lives until camp. He helps them adjust and comforts them. He's oddly approachable for a child of Bellona, but he's just as smart and battle ready as any other child.

Finch- Son of Athena. Finch is very intelligent, but he doesn't show it often unless he needs to. Finch has been at camp longer than any of the other "Newsies", as the boys like to call themselves. Finch is quiet and he always has a slingshot at his side, which is useful for scaring off the Hermes pranksters and the rest of the jokers in the group. He occasionally joins the gags, but only when it's against someone he has a small vendetta against. He is a very careful kid, although he's very intelligent. He's focused, for a Demigod with ADHD, and he has a very powerful mind. Finch is classified as depressed because he's been at camp so long, but he works hard on trying to be happy as much as possible. His friends support him and give him as much or little space as he needs. His mood swings are unpredictable, but he works with Albert especially to be happy. He wants to be happier, to move past the memories of living at camp since he was little. Finch likes to feel like he's in control of just himself. He knows he can't control everything, so he settles for just himself. He expressed himself through writing, and hardly anyone sees his writing. Finch isn't very trusting of anyone outside his friend circle, which he keeps exclusive.

Mike and Ike- Sons of Hermes. They are worse than Race. They are basically the Stolls, maybe worse. Both worry that they have to be the pranksters and they have to be funny, so they try too hard to be people they aren't truly. Yes, they are mischievous, but they are also very reasonable kids. Both are worried that they'll lose each other over anything. It's happened before and even though they don't show much in front of everyone else, they both worry for each other constantly. They mostly stick to their group of friends and they like it that way. To sum it up, they are a more mischievous duo than the Stolls. Their greatest weakness is their loyalty to each other and those they are about because they are willing to do anything for each other. This is also their greatest strength.

Hotshot- Son of Hades. Hotshot is opposite of Specs and more like how people picture a son of Hades. Hotshot is a very competitive camper, but he's also discreet. He's like a behind the scenes guy. Spot's his best friend, so they work well together. They are a more physical Davey and Buttons during Capture the Flag. He doesn't socialize much at all, but he's extremely intelligent. Basically, Hotshot keeps to himself and he gets by easily. Hotshot is very paranoid because he was with Spot on the quest that took one of their best friends. Both have PTSD, but Hotshot has more paranoia than anything. Hotshot can mostly handle his paranoia and PTSD by himself, it's how he copes, so he works better by himself. He occasionally confides in Spot, but it's rare. While Hotshots past tends to make him falter often, but he mostly has it under control because of his determination of never let the past repeat itself.

Henry- Son of Hebe. Henry tries to drink in his youth and he enjoys life as it is, although he won't just be lazy. Henry is very self reliant. His father owned a Deli and he wants to start his own Deli after his father died. He's always been self reliant and he's very knowledgeable of the Demigod world. He's very creative and also very understanding of all campers, even Oscar. He might not always like them, but since he knows so much about the world they live in, he knows that everyone acts the way they do for a reason. He helps campers like Morris become more comfortable with themselves at camp. Henry is very close to all his friends, but he isn't afraid to give them all a piece of his mind if they do something too stupid or reckless. Despite how he is with friends, Henry feels lonely without his dad. They shared an unbreakable bond and it haunts him to think his dad is gone. His biggest fear is losing those he loves. He only really cooks and bakes because of his dad, but he doesn't mind.

#specs #mush #morris delancey #elmer #jojo #buttons #henry #hotshot #newsies #newsie #newsies memes #newsies imagines #newsies broadway #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #greek gods #greek goddesses

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citialiin · 4 years

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ZIGGY ✰ STARDUST

i jacked this from @cardinalrot. thank you dad. tagging: @gothsic ; @blossomingbeelzebug ; @betelguide ; @thatcertainnight ; @prophesyed ; you, specifically, reading this.

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬

FULL NAME. [ redacted ] * NICKNAME. ziggy GENDER. agender (he/him or they/them) / typically presents as a “man” for simplicity’s sake and also because he doesn’t care enough to think about it for more than 4 seconds HEIGHT. 5′10″ AGE. 26 (earth years) ZODIAC. ??? (he wasn’t born under our stars ... so .......) SPOKEN LANGUAGES. any/all (he doesn’t really know them, though, he uses an internal translator)

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬

HAIR COLOR. bright red, seemingly unnatural -- but it’s natural EYE COLOR. left pale blue, right black SKIN TONE. very, very, very pale BODY TYPE. skinny. very skinny/slender/svelte. willowy and tall and bony. good for looking waifish on magazine covers but bad for lifting even vaguely heavy objects. VOICE. posh, nasally, low, the slightest bit condescending. speaks with an english accent despite not being english, let alone human. drawls his vowels and enunciates his letters. his voice is strangely clear and bright when he sings, unlike his somewhat unpleasant speaking tone, and he tends to sing in higher pitches than his speaking voice. DOMINANT HAND. ambidextrous -- but he can only play the guitar left handed POSTURE. very straight and proper, holds his head high and his shoulders square. uncertain if it’s height alone or if he really is looking down upon you. SCARS. small incision in the back of his neck where the translator was placed. barely there and usually covered by a collar or his hair, anyways. TATTOOS. none BIRTHMARKS. a large yellow disc on his forehead, rimmed with a slightly darker yellow/bronze with the slightest hint of a chromatic shift affect due to reflecting/light catching pigment in skin cells. this isn’t unique to him, however, as every member of his race has it. has the tiniest hint of a freckle above his lip, on the left side, and he hates it and wishes he could nuke it off his face. both of these are usually covered, anyways. MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). the circular mark, his unusual eyes, his sharp features, his bright hair. everything about him is weird and outlandish and strange, but it helps him maintain a striking, marketable image.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝

PLACE OF BIRTH. far away. HOMETOWN. faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar away. SIBLINGS. [ grabs the steering wheel and veers straight into worldbuilding headcanon territory ] the society he comes from is no longer sexually dimorphic and typically doesn’t reproduce the natural way. having evolved far beyond such icky things, they use genetic samples from large swaths of the population to make consistent batches of new individuals -- the genetic samples are screened for defects and aberrations and sort of tossed together into a genome salad, and out comes however many individuals they need to fill in gaps in the population. there’s a lot of consistency in his species due to this: everyone has reddish hair, everyone has heterochromia, everyone is about the same height, etc. so technically, he’s related to everyone in his “batch.” PARENTS. he wouldn’t ever know -- a lot of people, probably

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞

OCCUPATION. rockstar -- cultural icon -- celebrity -- musician -- singer -- model -- jerk CURRENT RESIDENCE. london, LA, NYC, but he’s constantly moving and tours quite often CLOSE FRIENDS. few and far in between -- he’s friends with his drummer who is named priscilla but usually goes by the stage name WEIRD, as well as siddharth, his bassist, who goes by sid in his personal life but GILLY on stage. they were the first two humans to encounter him and taught him everything he knows, from how to tie his shoes (aliens wear boots, and you should know this) to the C major scale -- because they are among the few humans who know his secret, he views them as his closest and dearest friends. his stardom isolates him from them, just a little -- he likes the spotlight but they don’t mind just being “the drummer” and “the bassist.” they don’t quite have the star power that he does. his manager -- tama ahinariki, some guy from new zealand who seemed to bumble his way into becoming in charge of one of the most successful musicians of the decade -- also knows he’s an alien, but they tend to be more business partners than close friends. tama is more interested in the money side of things whereas priscilla and sid are only interested in the music. ziggy has stock in the music, money, and his personal brand.

via rp, he’s made some friends with other characters! a few. very few. RELATIONSHIP STATUS. single -- he intends to stay that way. he gets all the action he could ever need from his legion of devoted fans and groupies. even in situations where he’s romantically involved and emotionally invested, he would never consider himself exclusive or monogamous. a lot of tabloids make rumors that he’s involved with cardinal copia, fellow rock icon, but he tends to be sneaky at hiding any time they spent together. it’s hard to keep things private when you’re both massively popular public figures, though. he goes out of his way to be sure no one knows about his predilection for spending time with thomas, because the last thing an awkward alien in disguise needs is a lot of public attention because people think you’re dating a celebrity (who they don’t know is also an alien). he hangs around annie a lot, too, but this is extra extra under wraps, because annie has a stalker named jonathan who may or may not go apeshit and try to tear his head off or something if he finds out. FINANCIAL STATUS. filthy rich. should be guillotined. DRIVER’S LICENSE. doesn’t have one. he has some paperwork, somewhere, with a “real” name and all that, but he has no idea where it is and lets his manager deal with that stuff. CRIMINAL RECORD. none ! clean slate. that doesn’t mean he doesn’t do illegal things, though. he just doesn’t get caught. VICES. smoking, drinking, la cocaina, sex, impulsive spendng, rockstar stuff.

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

SEXUAL ORIENTATION. bisexual. PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch | top | bottom | verse. this doesn’t really come up in rp because i dont write nsfw. the way i view it is that he’s lazy and would rather you take care of him than the other way around LIBIDO. pretty high, but it’s difficult for him to have as much sex as he might prefer because, uh, he has, uh, alien..............parts...........and stuff ..... like ....... some parts down there look different ....... so he’s stuck having sex with usually in the dark, under sheets, and he has to zip his pants up really quick afterwards. maybe it’s a little bit hilarious and i just think it’s funny idk LOVE LANGUAGE. selflessness (which is big, for him, king of all douchebags and lord selfish dickhead the third), rambling to you about his day, physical affection, gifts, letting you see him without make up, opening up to you about his life before earth. he might play you music, sing to you or write you songs if he’s feeling particularly sappy. this is stuff reserved for people that he finds himself incredibly romantically/emotionally attached to, though, not the people he has one night stands with. and he almost never forms any sort of lasting attachment to the people he sleeps with casually. RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. he tends to fall for people who challenge him in some way, who aren’t easily beguiled by his status and physical looks, but who aren’t outright mean to him. that being said, he is very vain, and he loves being showered in compliments, praise or attention. he matches well with people who can put up with his antics and moodiness and odd behavior. he likes the idea of being someone’s muse or someone’s idol, so he finds himself drawn to other creative types. he has the most intimate/special connections with other nonhuman beings, especially other aliens, cuz he feels like they Get him and he wouldn’t be really giving himself in his fullest form if he had to still play pretend that he was a human being. for whatever reason he goes apeshit for goth guys/dudes with black hair who wear a lot of black. he really doesn’t like people who are too much like him, because HE’S HIM, and you’re YOU, and he really wants it to stay that way. GET OUT OF MY DRESSING ROOM

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG. there’s a whole album about him .......... theres a song called “ziggy stardust” ....... HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. singing, music, writing -- he lives for that shid. he likes art in all forms, so he reads, watches movies, looks at paintings -- he has a lot of human culture to catch up on, and he loves all of it, from any time period and any culture. he also likes buying things, shopping, looking nice, gossip. he tends to be a party animal (party alien?) and often indulges in more hedonistic fun. LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. his brain is not structured like a human brain. also, head empty. no thoughts. FEARS. being perceived as ugly or untalented, being outed as an alien, being rejected for being an alien, becoming a nobody, losing his social status, becoming a conformist, becoming “outdated” or “uncool” SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. somehow sky high and on the floor at the same time. he usually thinks he can do anything and he’s pretty perfect, but that may just be from a solid few years of repeating that to himself and empty praise given by people who are just crazy obsessed with him -- he built his confidence level on a very shaky foundation, so it’s easy to start making him doubt himself and panic if you know what to criticize him on VULNERABILITIES. a lot of things, and im sick of typing

* pay me 100000 USD to unlock my LEVEL 20 ZIGGY STARDUST LORE pack now with NAMING/TITLE INFORMATION, HOME PLANET CLIMATE/WEATHER PATTERNS and PAST OCCUPATION/EDUCATION information. includes a piece of gum i found on the floor.

#ooc #meme #I'm so close 2 being done with finals just like one more week i turn in terrible project after terrible project #i am typing this as i wait for a group member to send me the first five pages of our cumulative 10 page essay. i hate him. i hate him.#why is he taking so long. i need to write this thing.#but after that i will go back to what i need to do ...#i run this account like a shitty ship careening into rocks #but i will go down with it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#KEEP YOUR 'LECTRIC EYE ON ME ; queue

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sparkyboye · 4 years

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Shadow Runner, Imperial Seal and Art of War for any F/O?? :)

thanks for the ask !! ill do these w karma !!

shadow runner: how do you and your f/o bounce back from a fight or breakup?

so, me n karma have Very different personalities, so we do tend to clash a lot. when this happens, the others have to pull us apart because we both get really heated in fights (even tho im normally p calm). after that, its usually best for us to be separate for a while. we both have people we go to about this stuff (i got to izuku while karma goes to nagisa bc if he talked to anyone else hed prolly rip their head off lmao) n so we have time to talk abt it w them n cool down. eventually we’ll talk to each other again (by “eventually” i mean two days maximum) n at this point i usually start crying bc i got rlly upset abt the fight n he comforts me n then we talk it out !!

imperial seal: what is the most prized possession you and your f/o have from each other?

okay, i need to start this out by saying something: karma’s family is really rich, n he usually buys us almost exclusively gag gifts. shouto + hitoshi r the only ones who get “real” gifts from him actually. this being said, one time he saw tht i was sad n he jus ?? ordered me a webkinz signature calico cat off of amazon ?? like i didnt even know abt it until it arrived but when it did i Cried,,,, those things r pretty expensive (like. $80 last i checked ?) n i was jus,,, really happy bc ive always wanted one !! n he got me one !! i then later get upset at him for spending that much money lmao

now, if u were to ask him what his favorite gift from me was, he’d prolly joke n say it was a carton of strawberry milk or smth like that. however, the seven of us annoyed him into sayin what his favorite gifts from each of us were, n it turns out his favorite gift from me was the lil stuffed gengar in his “school uniform” (which isnt actually the uniform bc hes a lil shit) that i made him for his birthday 🥺🥺

art of war: how do you and your f/o help boost each other up when you are feeling discouraged?

so, normally, karma would rather Die than let someone know he feelin even a lil bit off n discouraged. however, he goes to school w gakushuu who is way too observant, so gakushuu tells me. at this point, hes prolly getting really stressed bc he Knows he needs to do stuff but just cant figure out how to get enough energy to do so, so i end up having to come over. we end up doin some crazy shit, like pullin pranks on bad people or stealing endeavor merch from any n every store we see that sells some. thankfully, this helps him a lot n he finally feels like doin stuff again !! it also gave him some new prank ideas hjuhdkygygdy

when it comes to me,,,, he usually jus tries to get someone else to help bc hes not v good w emotions. the most he’ll do is cuddle n watch disney movies w me while obnoxiously singing along to every song which helps me cheer up lmao

#oh heck i didnt mean for this to be so long aaaaaa #ask #gengar ❤️#headcanon time #sacredempressnatlyia

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aarcanefool · 4 years

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Apprentice April asks #2

Again, shout out to @waitforawonder for their wonderful Meleena and inspiring me to do the rest of these. Answering for Taliesin/Julian, though some of them wandered over to the more general side of things

Question list here

1. What does your character feel when they see their LI for the first time each day?

A mixture of excitement, affection, and comfort. Neither of them have the most predictable sleeping patterns, so whoever wakes up first could go either way. If Taliesin is up first, he’ll do his best to let Julian sleep, and either snuggle close to try to get a few more minutes of sleep or sneak out to make or get breakfast for the two of them. If Julian is up first, Taliesin will join him as soon as he can.

2. What things does your character love about their LI?

So Much – Julian has a lot going for him. He’s a brilliant, caring, charismatic man who gives so much to the world and those he cares about. It’s hard for Taliesin not to be swept up in his energy. Most of all, he loves how loved and accepted Julian makes him feel, and hopes he can do the same for Julian.

3. What things about their LI annoy them?

You know that spiderman meme where they’re pointing at each other? That’s them with each other’s bad habits. As relatable as Julian’s self-deprecating humor is, it’s also makes Taliesin sad – not that he’s the coping mechanisms police or anything. Also, Julian’s habit of self-sacrificing/protecting early on made Taliesin uncomfortable (in the sense that he was worried that he didn’t deserve it), but they’ve both worked on their own sense of self worth and trust in the other’s ability to take care of themselves.

4. Who does what chores?

They really try to split them evenly. If one of them cooks, the other does the dishes or if they both make a meal, they’ll both do the dishes. They both try to make it so the other doesn’t have sole responsibility over any one chore, and if one has had a long day/etc. then they’ll try to

As for both of them being a bit disorganized, they have a policy that whoever’s bothered by whatever clutter is welcome to move/stuff it into a closet somewhere or ask the other to do so, as long as they remember where it all went (or is otherwise marked as Do Not Move).

5. Do they prefer to stay at home, or do they like to go out?

Out, for the most part. While Julian may enjoy the rowdier, more populated parts of the city, Taliesin is more comfortable with the outskirts of the city. So, they may start off an outing with a trip to the market, then wander over to the docks, or spend the day wandering the forest and come back for a drink at the Raven.

6. What are some little things they do for each other throughout the day?

They’ll check in on each other fairly often, usually to share something. Taliesin will bring offerings of food or something to drink, just for Julian to try. Julian will share interesting news or something interesting he’s found in his research. While they’re not exactly in the same field (Taliesin is pretty much stuck with being a magician), they’ll give advice and suggestions if the other is stuck on something.

7. What are some private jokes they share?

When they’re having a rough day, they like to cheer each other up by reminding each other they already beat the Devil, what else could stand in their way. Occasionally, Taliesin will claim, completely deadpan, that a minor inconvenience is worse than that was.

Taliesin also gets into Julian’s love of drama, and will try, usually while cracking up, to reenact scenes with him.

8. What are some embarrassing couple stories?

see above?

Every so often, one will wake up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep and creep around the shop before accidentally stumbling across the other, who is also not sleeping

9. Is their relationship open or exclusive?

Hm, this is tough. I just want more poly ships I’m sorry. Taliesin isn’t opposed to having a polyamorous relationship, in fact with the right partners he’d probably really enjoy that. He’d prefer having a romantic attraction/relationship over a purely physical one, and he’d prefer a third partner (involved with both Taliesin and Julian) to almost any other arrangement.

10. How often do they need to be intimate?

Regularly? Fairly regularly. It’s not that Taliesin has a particularly high drive, but they’re both physically affectionate people and ~intimate moments~ are just one of the ways they can both show their affection, share comfort in each other.

11. Have they ever fought?

They’re both fairly conflict avoidant, so disagreements tend to stew until it boils over. Usually it’s never that serious, but they’ll always do their best to work through it, find out what was bothering the other and come up with solutions together.

12. Describe their perfect date

In general, Taliesin’s idea of a perfect date is something mellow; start with breakfast in bed or a picnic in the woods, and spend the day away from crowds – gathering herbs or maybe gardening – lots of hand holding and spoiling his S/O with snacks and flowers or seashells (really, whatever he happens to find). When night falls, he loves stargazing, finding constellations and making up their own together, that kind of thing.

13. Do they have an evening routine?

Sorta, kinda? They try to do something before exhaustion takes over, Taliesin will usually make a soothing tea, and then bathe and change into sleep clothes. They’ll usually spend the rest of the night talking about their day or reading together until they finally fall asleep.

14. Describe a “paid scene” with your character and their LI

Honestly, I can think of a few options and they wouldn’t necessarily be exclusive to Julian so, here are some just in general:

baking together, something a little silly and a little soft, and definitely sweet.

Again, star gazing – cuddling together under the stars, telling stories or just enjoying the night together

Singing together – teaching each other the lyrics of their favorite songs, something silly or something soft.

15. Would they go on a double date?

Definitely, they’d probably have a lot of fun with that too. They’d probably go with Portia and Nadia, or maybe ask Asra and Muriel (though I doubt Muriel would enjoy that). Taliesin’s idea of dates are fairly casual, so it might not end up feeling very date-like.

16. Who pops the question?

That would probably fall on Julian, if for no other reason than Taliesin just isn’t that invested in the concept of marriage. If he’s committed, he’s committed, a ring and a signature isn’t going to make that mean anything more to him than it already did, but he can understand the practical reasons for it and would happily accept if Julian asked.

17. Describe the wedding

It would be something small but festive. Friends, family, food, drink, music and dancing until the sun rises.

18. Any babies?

At the moment, no. While I think Julian would probably be a pretty good parent, and Taliesin isn’t against the idea, they’ve decided that’s a “maybe someday” conversation. They’re focusing more on each other and their work for now. Taliesin is a little hesitant, because well, he doesn’t remember his own upbringing or his younger cousins, so he doesn’t have a lot of examples on how to raise a kid. He’s also a little uneasy with the idea because it wasn’t that long ago that he could barely take care of himself. That said, with Julian and the other members of his found family, (especially Portia and Mazelinka) he’s reassured that any kids they have in the future would be very well taken care of and loved no matter what.

19. Do they stay in Vesuvia, or eventually move somewhere else?

They leave to travel fairly often, but they will always return to Vesuvia. It’s home for them now, and they have a lot invested there; the shop, Julian’s clinic, their friends and family. They’re both willing to travel, but Vesuvia is really the only place that Taliesin will see as home.

20. Talk about that family life. What’s it’ like?

Again, no kids yet so I’m taking this to mean their extended family It’s fairly lively, with the two of them and their circle of friends. When they’re in Vesuvia, they try to spend a lot of time with Nadia and Portia, and Mazelinka, and Asra and Muriel… It can get hectic keeping up with them, but they wouldn’t trade that for anything. They’ll do family dinners together with Mazelinka and Portia, help with Nadia’s projects,or just visit with Asra and his family.

#oc: taliesin #apprenticeapril #these are really fun #would it be okay if the others ended up being answered in may #im procrastinating on studying for my final but i need to not do that lol #ill probably do it anyway time is fake

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dekuimagines · 5 years

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can I get some random headcanons you have for Tokoyami, Aizawa, and Dabi? you can make it as many or as few headcanons as you want :3

♬ Well, we already know that Tokoyami is in the band but after that, I can see him practicing when he’s bored or just stressed. He enjoys playing MCR songs and would possibly make acoustic covers of his favorite screamo bands with Jirou.

♬ He molts when he is really stressed ( I do not care if the wiki says that its hair he has feathers so yeah). Like he’s really good at hiding it but then he sneezes and looses like eight feathers.

♬ He gets really cold in the winter so he wears lots of layers. Also drinks a lot of tea in the colder months.

♬ When he is really comfortable or calm around someone his feathers start to puff up. It’s super embarrassing to him so he has to genuinely enjoy that person presence for that to actually happen. ( Midoriya was the first one to experience it ).

♬ While he loves rock and punk music he secretly sings Toxic by Britney Spears in the shower without fail. Nobody knows this and one time he was caught. Well, let’s just say Mineta is very scared of the dark now.

♬ Can’t eat large meals and need to eat several small meals throughout the day. He tried to hide his snacks at first but soon people in his class were bringing him snacks when they noticed he forgot something to eat.

♬Is actually very good at English but only because he learned it to read Poe’s writing not translated. His favorite piece is The Raven ( cliche I know )

♬ He is very much an early bird but that is because he never wants anyone to see his feathers in such disarray and usually takes an hour to get ready which includes preening.

♬ Feathers also puff up when he’s tired fluffy sleepy boy ( wish I could draw this but I can’t )

☾ Aizawa had a goth phase in high school, and it still shows in his hero costume. ( I’m not saying he’s not still goth he’s just got it a little more under control now. )

☾ Look at this five o’clock shadow, I imagine it takes a lot of effort for Aizawa to actually be cleanly shaven. He is too tired most of the time to care about shaving every morning. That being said he probably shaves after he gets home from late patrol and he just grows hair really fast.

☾ Drunk Aizawa this would be a very rare sight he tends to be the dd for Midnight and Yamada. Drunk Aizawa is well, eager. He could be found singing screamo karaoke. Has to be dragged from the bar. Regrets it every morning.

☾ Aizawa only owns one suit, and he hardly wears it. His wardrobe consists almost exclusively of black pants and shirts. He might have a dark grey shirt strewed in there somewhere but what can he say he looks good in black.

☾ Has like three cats, each one of them is very precious to him won’t use a cat voice on them but his face will visibly soften each time he sees one of them.

☾ Contrary to popular belief does not drink coffee, he would prefer to nap a lot over drinking the caffeinated beverage.

☾ Doesn’t have a circadian rhythm, due to being a night hero he just takes small naps through the day and a slightly longer one when he gets back from his patrol shifts.

☾ Has thought about settling down but a hero has always been first in his mind.

☾ Also a very affectionate drunk. Possibly mildly clingy when intoxicated but it takes a lot to get him to that state.

✩ Two words, Sarcastic Bitch. That is all I can think of when I see him honestly. He just gives such strong sarcastic bitch vibes and I love it.

✩ Probably wears some really good smelling cologne to cover up the smell of burning flesh when he uses his quirk.

✩ Has to dye his hair every two weeks to hide his red roots, Spinner has tried to see what his roots actually look like has never succeeded.

✩ Confidence is like his middle name or something for looking like a burnt chicken nugget he still thinks he is hot shit ( which i mean he is but besides the point. )

✩ Is very good at taking care of sick people. Mostly because he was the oldest sibling in his household so he often took care of his siblings while his mother was protecting Shoto.

✩ Probably doesn’t sleep well, that’s okay you can’t see the bags under his eyes anyway.

✩ While his hair looks like it wouldn’t be it’s very soft. If he ever lets someone get close enough to touch it is another question entirely.

✩ Does not like being touched unless it’s on his own terms. He always has to be in control of the situation.

✩ Can give really good ( brotherly) advice. Though he will hide it in insults if someone read between the lines it would show that he cares.

#tokayami fumikage #tokoyami fumikage headcanons #random headcanons #dabi #toya todoroki #todoroki toya #aizawa shouta #bnha tokoyami #bnha dabi #eraserhead #shouta aizawa #headcanons #i have no tagging system

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noramoya · 4 years

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youtube

“MAN IN THE MIRROR”

“IF YOU WANNA MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE, TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF, THEN MAKE A CHANGE”...

“Happy New Year fellow Moonwalkers! Our articles are back and we promise you a year full of MJ info... We choose to start our weekly column with probably the most inspirational and motivational song Michael has ever written, “Man in the mirror”.

January 16th marked the song’s 32nd anniversary since its release in 1988 and we are here to talk about the song in general, its messages, lyrics, music video and how it affected the world.

“Man in the mirror” was released in January 1988 and was the fourth single from Michael’s seventh studio album “Bad”. It was written and composed by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett (who also sang “I just can’t stop loving you” alongside Michael) and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael himself. Before analyzing the song we have to acknowledge that Michael was involved in the whole process of creating, composing and writing the songs even if they weren’t exclusively written by him.

So, even from the title “Man in the mirror” Michael wants us to think of ourselves standing in front of a mirror, immediately leading us to think of our reflection and what it is that we are doing for our lives, others’ lives or the world in general. The song starts with the motivational phrase “I’m gonna make a change for once in my life” and implies that this change “gonna make a difference” hinting us even from the very beginning that change should always strive for the better. He refers to the kids in the street who have “not enough to eat” and strongly suggests that we cannot be blind to situations like these.

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways”, here Michael clearly states what he hinted us with in the title, that in order for us to change anything in this world, it is important to start with ourselves first. It goes on with the most powerful phrase of the song “if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself then make a change”.

He sings that he’s been “a victim of a selfish kind of love” possibly referring to the fact that this world has made us so narcissists and selfish that we only care about our well-being and how we will be materialistically rich and have everything in our lives, while we tend to forget that there are people in this world who not only in lack of the basic stuff but some of them are homeless, live in the streets and are in desperate search of food. He says that these people were deprived of their dreams which became “washed-out” because of what life put them through and their current state.

There is a constant repetition of the chorus in order to make the message as clear as it can be while later the Winans and the Andraé Crouch choir join in to give a gospel essence. Also, in between the choir’s repetition of the chorus and the song’s melody, Michael powerfully inserts and repeats words and phrases like “when you close your heart”, “you can’t close your mind”, “change”, “gonna feel real good now”, “just lift yourself now” and “you’ve got to move” to enhance and strengthen the main message of the song. It ends with the choir singing the word “change” as Michael touchingly weeps “Make that change”.

Although we somehow referred to the messages of the song though the interpretation of the lyrics, we think it is important to state them once more. Michael used this song to help people understand that the change they seek comes from within, comes from themselves and that there is not a single change that can be done in this world unless they start changing their own lives and perspectives. You can’t make a positive impact on this world if you don’t make the same positive impact on your life first. Furthermore, it smashes the doubters who don’t believe that they can change the world if they want it and expect others to do it.

It reminds us of what Michael said at the end of the “This is it” movie that the people always wait for the government or the politicians to take care of things or save the world but in reality there is no “they”. It is each and every one of us who can make even the slightest change in order for things to improve and get better. Michael tried to show all of the above even in the music video for “Man in the mirror” which does not resemble any of the videos he’d done before because Jackson himself does not appear in the video (only towards the end) but rather preferred to send his messages otherwise.

It featured a montage of famous historical figures that positively impacted the world like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela, others who almost destroyed the world like Adolf Hitler, various major news events like the Kent State shootings and infamous organizations like Ku Klux Klan. The video was produced, directed and edited by Don Wilson. Michael performed the song live on many occasions throughout his career.

In the 1988 Grammy awards (above video), Michael performed an extended version of the song, a performance that left everyone stunned and gave him a standing ovation. It was the closing song of the Bad World Tour’s second leg concerts and mostly of the Dangerous World Tour. The last time the song was performed live was on the “United We Stand” concert which was held for the victims of the September 11th attacks. The instrumental intro of the song was played at the end of Michael’s funeral as his casket was walked out of the arena and it was supposed to be the final number on his “This is it” tour.

Let’s never forget that Michael sought us to be the best version of ourselves in order to be able to make huge changes in this world.

#MAKETHATCHANGE!

#MichaelJackson #MJFam #MJ4EverInOurHearts♥️

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fyeah-bangtan7 · 5 years

Text

The Greatest Showmen: An exclusive look inside the world of BTS

Maybe you saw them piled on the klieg-lit couches of Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon, trading light bilingual banter with their starstruck hosts. Maybe it was when they spoke solemnly on mental health and self-love at the United Nations General Assembly last September, or when a wall of dolphin-like screams greeted them as they rolled into February’s Grammy Awards in trim matching tuxedos, their hair tinted various shades of pastel macaron.

Or maybe the cover of this magazine is the first time you’ve truly noticed BTS. (Stranger things have happened in 2019.) But it seems indisputable to say that sometime over the past two years, the septet have taken over the world: two No. 1 albums on the Billboard chart in the span of three months; more than 5 billion streams combined on Apple Music and Spotify; a string of sold-out concert dates from the Staples Center in Los Angeles to London’s famed Wembley Stadium.

That hardly makes them the first boy band to dominate a cultural moment, but the fact that they are all Korean-born and -raised, singing Korean-language songs only occasionally sprinkled with English, feels like something brand-new. And it speaks to an unprecedented kind of global currency — one where pop music moves without barriers or borders, even as geopolitics seem to retreat further behind hard lines and high walls.

On a blindingly bright March day in Seoul five weeks before the release of their upcoming sixth EP, Map of the Soul: Persona, the band is holed up at their record label Big Hit Entertainment, preparing. Buildings like this are where much of the magic of the phenomenon known as K-pop happens, though Big Hit’s headquarters on a quiet side street in the city’s Gangnam district (yes, the same one Psy sang about in his 2012 smash “Gangnam Style”) look a lot like any other tech office: sleek poured-cement corridors and glass-box conference rooms scattered with well-stocked mini-fridges, plush toys, and the occasional beanbag chair. Only a display case stacked with a truly staggering number of sales plaques and statuettes, and a glossy large-scale photo print of BTS at their sold-out concert at New York’s Citi Field last October, give away the business they do here.

Down a long hallway, all seven members lounge in various states of readiness as they gear up to pretape a thank-you video for an iHeartRadio award they won’t be able to accept in person. Jimin, bleached blond and pillow-lipped, is having his hair carefully flat-ironed in a wardrobe room filled with racks of coordinated denim and neon streetwear. Dozens of pairs of pristine Nikes and Converse are piled in a corner; a lone fun-fur jacket the color of strawberry ice cream slumps on a hanger behind him, like a neglected Fraggle.

Jung Kook, the baby of the band at 21, sits obediently in a folding chair in the dance studio, also having his hair tended to; J-Hope strides by in a white dress shirt emblazoned with an over-size silk-screen of Bart Simpson, then grins and disappears. Suga, V, and Jin huddle together on low sofas next door, scrolling through their phones and occasionally singing fragments of American R&B star Khalid’s “My Bad.” Twenty-four-year-old RM, the group’s de facto leader and lone fluent English speaker, is the last to arrive.

They run through their speech for a camera crew and do maybe four or five takes until the director is satisfied. Then they settle in for a conversation in an airy break room upstairs, accompanied by their longtime translator, a large, amiable bald man in a business suit named John. (Unless noted, the answers of all members other than RM come through him.) Several weeks after returning from their first Grammys, they’re still riding high off the experience: presenting the award to H.E.R. for Best R&B Album; chatting with Shawn Mendes in the men’s room — “I was like, ‘Do I need to tell him who I am?’ ” Jimin remembers, “but then he said hello first, which was really nice” — and being seated only a sequin’s throw from Dolly Parton. (“She was right there in front of us!” marvels Jung Kook. “Amazing.”)

As happily dazzled as they still seem to be by other celebrities, seeing BTS in the flesh triggers the same disorienting but not unpleasant sense of unreality. On screen, the band can look disconcertingly pretty; avatars of a sort of poreless, almost postgender beauty who seem to exist inside their own real-life Snapchat filters. In person they’re still ridiculously good-looking, but in a much more relatable, boyish way: bangs mussed, even the occasional chapped lip or small (okay, minuscule) blemish. Take away their Balenciaga high-tops and the discreet double Cs of Chanel jewelry, and they could almost be the cute college guy next to you at the coffee shop or on the train.

Except riding public transportation or casually dropping into a Starbucks stopped being an option for BTS a long time ago. In Seoul, their faces are plastered across makeup kiosks and street signs and the sides of buses — even on massive digital billboards that are bought and paid for by private citizens to acknowledge a beloved member’s birthday, or just because. In cities like São Paulo and Tokyo and Paris, fans camp out days in advance for concerts and public appearances, obsessively trading trivia and rumored sightings. When the band posted their takethis link opens in a new tab on Drake’s #InMyFeelingsChallenge, it became the most liked tweet of 2018; this summer, Mattel will release an official line of BTS dolls.

In the still center of this bizarre fame hurricane, the boys have managed to find a few pockets of normalcy. Jimin wistfully recalls a time in Chicago when they were able to slip out of their hotel rooms undetected “late at night, just to get some fresh air.” But most places, he admits, “that’s really out of the question” unless they split into smaller groups. “I mean, look at us,” RM adds with a laugh, running a hand through his own silver-nickel bangs. “Seven boys with dyed hair! It’s really too much.”

Instead, they focus on the things they can do, like sneaking out to the movies (“Always the latest or earliest show,” says RM, if they want to stay unseen), shopping online (V loves eBay, especially for clothes), going fishing, playing StarCraft at home. Group housing is actually common for K-pop stars, and BTS seem to appreciate the shared stability: “We’ve been living together for a while now, almost eight, nine years,” says Jimin. “So in the beginning we had a lot of arguments and conflicts. But we’ve reached the point where we can communicate wordlessly, basically just by watching each other and reading the expressions.”

Though they’re unfailingly polite and attentive in interviews, there’s a certain amount of contained chaos when they’re all together — a sort of tumbling-puppy cyclone of playful shoves, back slaps, and complicated handshakes — but also a surprising, endearing sweetness to the way they treat one another in quieter moments. When a question is posed to the group, they work hard to make sure each one of them is heard, and if someone is struggling to find a word, they’ll quickly reach out for a reassuring knee pat or side hug.

Even with the language barrier of speaking to an American reporter, though, their individual personalities quickly start to emerge: Asked to name their earliest pop memories, the answers land all over the map. “I loved Pussycat Dolls’ ‘Stickwitu,’ ’’ says J-Hope, the group’s most accomplished dancer, snapping his fingers and cooing the chorus. For RM, who started out in Seoul’s underground rap scene, it’s Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” (“I think that’s, like, a life pick for so many people around the world,” he admits, “but I can’t forget when I first watched 8 Mile and heard the guitars. That was my turning point.”) For Jung Kook, who has released covers of Justin Bieber and Troye Sivan songs, it was Richard Marx’s deathless lite-FM ballad “Now and Forever.”

The soft-spoken Suga cites John Lennon’s “Imagine” as “the first song I fell in love with,” which feels like a fitting gateway to ask where BTS see themselves in the pantheon of musical heartthrobs that the Fab Four essentially invented. “Sometimes it feels really embarrassing when someone calls us a 21st-century Beatles or something like that,” RM concedes. “But if they want to call us a boy band, then we’re a boy band. If they want to call us a boy group, we’re a boy group. If they want to call us K-pop, then we’re cool with K-pop.”

Ah, K-pop. In South Korea, where the genre has become not just a prime cultural commodity but a multibillion-dollar export, the players, known as “idols,” go through rigorous Fame-style schooling in song and dance and media training that often goes on for years before they’re considered ready for the spotlight. And it’s paid off: Business has been booming since the early ’90s, with stars from Girls’ Generation to G-Dragoncrossing over to various markets across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. But while the sound has remained fairly consistent — a canny mix of club-ready beats, hyper-sweetened choruses, and the more urban inflections of Western hip-hop and R&B — it’s never before landed with the lightning-bolt impact of BTS.

Bang Si-Hyuk, the CEO and founder of Big Hit, began putting the band together in 2010, when all the members were in their tweens or teens: RM and Suga were coming up on the local rap scene; Jimin and J-Hope studied dance at performing-arts schools; V, who focused on singing early on, joined officially in 2013. Jin was an aspiring actor recruited off the street for his striking looks; Jung Kook, now the group’s main vocalist, joined while he was still in junior high.

Though fansites tend to lean on their extracurricular differences (Jung Kook is a Virgo who loves pizza! V collects ties and clenches his teeth in his sleep!), each member genuinely does hold a unique space in the group’s process, whether it’s leaning more toward production, lyrics, or the supersize hooks the songs rest on. “With seven members we have seven different tastes, of course,” says RM. “So when it comes to songwriting, it’s like a big competition.” Occasionally, adds J-Hope, “we’ll write a lyric and decide, ‘This sort of reflects me [more], who I am and my own color,’ so we’ll want to keep that for a solo song.”

Because Big Hit doesn’t restrict their right to funnel some ideas into side projects — and because the appetite for more BTS-sourced material online is seemingly unquenchable — members regularly release solo work through EPs, SoundCloud, and mixtapes. But the primary impact still comes through the official album releases, and the particularly weighty subjects those songs take on — a notable departure from the narrow, often strenuously upbeat topics other K-pop artists typically cover.

“I promised the members from the very beginning that BTS’ music must come from their own stories,” says Bang; their subsequent openness about their own struggles with depression, self-doubt, and the pressure to conform took them all the way to the U.N. last fall, where RM addressed the band’s Love Myself campaign and #ENDviolence youth partnership with UNICEF.

“They stand out,” says Japanese-American DJ and producer Steve Aoki, a top-selling global dance artist who has also collaborated with the band on several tracks. “And I’m not just talking about K-pop. They add so much of their personality to the music and into their stories and how they present themselves. And the world has fallen in love with them because they are showing that vulnerable side that everyone wants to see.”

It helps, too, that the group’s more pointed messages are often slipped into the sticky aural peanut butter of anthems like “No More Dream,” “Dope,” and “Am I Wrong.” But they always appreciate the chance, Suga says, to get “a little more raw, a little more open.” RM elaborates: “I think it’s an endless dilemma for every artist, how much we should be frank and honest. But we try to reveal ourselves as much as we can.”

Honesty has its limits, of course, when you’re the biggest band in the world. Asked to describe the new album, due April 12 (at press time, it had already hit over 2.5 million in preorders), members offer up cryptic but enthusiastic koans like “therapeutic” and “refreshing crispness.” To be fair, they can’t say much in part because the new album’s track list isn’t actually finalized yet — late decisions being a luxury of in-house production — though they do agree to play one song, a propulsive rap-heavy banger called “Intro: Persona.” (It was released as a teaser March 27; you can watch the video herethis link opens in a new tab.)

When it comes to more personal questions about the challenges of dating or the goals they might want to pursue post-BTS, they pivot so gracefully to evasive, nonspecific answers, you almost can’t help but be impressed; it’s like watching a diplomat ice-dance. They want you to know that they are incredibly grateful for the devotion of their fans, and so blessed to be exactly where they are; that they really don’t think in terms of five- or 10-year plans. But they turn reflective when the subject of American pop’s holy grail, the Hot 100 singles chart, is raised. They cracked the top 10 last year with “Fake Love” but have yet to reach a higher spot, largely because mainstream radio airplay—a huge component of Hot 100 domination—still eludes them Stateside.

“It will have to be a great song,” Suga acknowledges, “but also there’s a whole strategy that’s associated with getting all the way up. And then there has to be a measure of luck, obviously. So what’s important for us is just to make good music and good performances and have those elements come together.” Does a Spanish-language smash like 2017’s “Despacito” — which spent a record 16 weeks at No. 1 — make them more optimistic about their own odds? “You know, Latin pop has its own Grammys in America, and it’s quite different,” RM says thoughtfully. “I don’t want to compare, but I think it’s even harder as an Asian group. A Hot 100 and a Grammy nomination, these are our goals. But they’re just goals — we don’t want to change our identity or our genuineness to get the number one. Like if we sing suddenly in full English, and change all these other things, then that’s not BTS. We’ll do everything, we’ll try. But if we couldn’t get number one or number five, that’s okay.”

Aoki, for one, has faith they’ll get there. “I think it’s 100 percent possible that a song sung entirely in Korean could crack the top of the Hot 100. I firmly believe that, and I really firmly believe that BTS can be the group that can do that. It’s going to pave the way for a lot of other groups, which they’ve already been doing—and when that happens, we’re all gonna celebrate.”

Back at Big Hit, though, the band has more immediate work to do. RM offers a quick tour of his production room (each member has his own dedicated space on site). The door outside is guarded by a quirky assemblage of figurines by the renowned street artist Kaws, but inside feels, incongruously, like stepping into a tiny, luxurious Sundance lodge that also just happens to have a soundboard: There’s a beautiful coffee table made from a single piece of black walnut; Navajo-style rugs; tasteful art on the walls. RM talks easily about his admiration for producers like Zedd and the Neptunes (“Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were my true idols in 2006, 2007. Pharrell’s voice! It’s so sexy, how he sings”), and plays down his own skills (“As a beatmaker, Suga is way better than me. I don’t even know how to play the piano — I just do the chords like this,” he insists, miming keyboard Muppet hands).

Then it’s back to the dance studio, where they’ve changed into track pants and T-shirts to run through new steps with a choreographer. It starts with a rough triangle formation, and an elaborate hip-swivel-into-pelvic-thrust/crotch-grab combo that actually plays much more innocently than it sounds, mostly because they keep stopping to crack each other up. Soon, though, they drill down — repeating the moves until they seem crisp but easy, almost an afterthought. It feels like time to leave them; the boys wave happily, shouting out a rowdy chorus of goodbyes. Then they turn back to the mirror, and keep dancing.

#bangtan #jimin #jungkook #v #suga #jhope #jin #rm #o:interview #190328

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vampire-himbos-of-santa-perdita · 5 years

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the only mcr songs i’ve listed to r black parade and na na na na na but u make me wanna listen to them lol do u have any suggestions? what r ur favorite songs of theirs?

Oh boy. Alright. Ok. Everybody sit down, we’re about to have a masterclass in everything MCR.

The thing about My Chemical Romance is they’re a concept album band, which means each of their albums tell a story as a whole. For that reason, I can’t just recommend my personal favourite songs because they’re all part of a big whole. I’ll do my best to break them down in order of personal preference.

TL;DNR: For those of you who don’t have all day to scroll through full album analyses:

My Faves:

(Absolute all time faves are in bold; *** indicate I love these songs too much for my own good and I must be stopped.)

The Black Parade:

***Teenagers***

***Mama***

***Welcome to the Black Parade***

Famous Last Words

Cancer

Disenchanted

The end. / Dead! (you can’t really listen to one without the other)

Kill All Your Friends (TBP B-side)

Heaven Help Us (TBP B-side)

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge:

***Helena***

***I’m Not Ok (I Promise)***

Ghost of You

***Cemetery Drive***

You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison

Thank You For the Venom

To the End

The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You

Hang Em High

I Never Told You What I Did for a Living

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys:

***Planetary [Go!]***

***Na Na Na***

SING

Bulletproof Heart

The Only Hope For Me Is You

Party Poison

Vampire Money

Conventional Weapons:

***Tomorrow’s Money***

Boy Division

AMBULANCE

Kiss the Ring

Make Room!!!

Miscellaneous:

***Desolation Row***

Fake Your Death

Common People (BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge Pulp cover)

***Hazy Shade of Winter***

Happy Together*

*these last two are just Gerard Way covers, but considering they’re featuring Ray Toro, that’s half the band right there…

The Black Parade

Concept: A man known as The Patient dies and accounts his life and death, dealing with his struggles with war and disease, and his fears about where he’s going to go in the afterlife.

Track Listing:

The end.

Dead!

This is How I Disappear

Sharpest Lives

Welcome to the Black Parade

I Don’t Love You

House of Wolves

Cancer

Mama

Sleep

Teenagers

Disenchanted

Famous Last Words

Blood

The whole album is honestly so good. It’s worth a listen from start to finish at least once. I’ve got absolutely no bad things to say about the songs that aren’t my faves, as they’re equally as explosive as everything else. That said…

Personal Faves:

Mama

Teenagers

Cancer

Famous Last Words

Welcome to the Black Parade

Dead!

Disenchanted

If you want the stuff that’ll psych you up/empower you, go for Welcome to the Black Parade, Teenagers, Famous Last Words, Mama, and Dead. If you want some real sad shit, go for Cancer, Disenchanted, and I Don’t Love You. I have yet to find out how to not weep all the way through WttBP, Famous Last Words, or Cancer, so you have been warned.

Dip your Toe in the Water With…

Welcome to the Black Parade

Teenagers

Famous Last Words

Things to Keep in Mind

Mama’s got an extra special guest appearance by one Liza Minnelli, and oh man, is it absolutely worth checking out. Next to Welcome to the Black Parade, this one might just be the most theatrical song in the entire album??? Bold statement, but I like to call it the Bohemian Rhapsody of MCR. It’s SO. GOOD.

Blood is the hidden track at the end of the album. There’s about 2 minutes of silence in the original album before it starts. If you want the version without the false start, nab the version from The Black Parade is Dead live album.

If you’re madly in love with this album, you can find their Black Parade concert live in Mexico, The Black Parade is Dead for free on their youtube channel. Throw it up on your tv screen and it’s like you’re there in person.

B-Sides

Kill All Your Friends

Heaven Help Us

My Way Home is Through You

All the Black Parade B-sides are great, but Kill All Your Friends is the real standout (and has the biggest connection to Umbrella Academy, if that excites you reference-wise).

Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge

Concept: This is a bit of a split narrative, partially a loving tribute following Gerard and Mikey Way’s grandmother’s passing, and partially a revenge plot. The full plot Gee had in mind took a bit of a backseat after they shifted focus on the grief side of things, but the full original concept is worth the price of admission either way. The revenge plot follows a man who makes a deal with the devil to reunite with his lost lover, if he can collect 1,000 evil souls. He sets out on his murder quest and finally reunites with the woman he loves, only to find she never loved him. He vows to take her down with him, but discovers he’s the 1,000th soul.

Track Listing:

Helena

Give ‘Em Hell, Kid

To the End

You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison

I’m Not Okay (I Promise)

The Ghost of You

The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You

Interlude

Thank You for the Venom

Hang 'Em High

It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Deathwish

Cemetery Drive

I Never Told You What I Do for a Living

This one is loud and dark, and fast as fuck. I use it almost exclusively as workout music because it will make you want to punch everything in the face. You wanna feel like you could take down all your enemies at once? Listen to this album. This one’s a lot easier to break down in terms of listening to songs here and there instead of all at once.

Personal Faves:

Cemetery Drive

You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison

Thank You For the Venom

I’m Not Ok (I Promise)

Helena

Ghost of You

Some Underrated Gems:

The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You

To the End

Hang Em High

I Never Told You What I Did for a Living

Dip Your Toe in the Water With…

Helena

I’m Not Ok (I Promise)

Ghost of You

Things to Keep in Mind

Helena is essentially what got the band off the ground. The music video is really something and really set the tone for what early 2000s emo culture would become. If I didn’t love The Black Parade as much as I did, I’d recommend starting with Helena above everything else.

The Ghost of You music video is also a masterpiece. Gerard went to his director and asked for Saving Private Ryan, and that’s what he got! This video also happened to come out around the same time Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends video came out and Gee was worried the anti-war rethorics in both would be too similar, but Billie Joe Armstrong sat him down and gave him a pep talk about how even though their concepts are similar, they’re always going to be coming at it in different ways.

If you want to get a really solid insight into where the band came from, see the boys goofing off, and see how Gerard’s struggles with mental health and addiction drives so much of what he does, check out Life on the Murder Scene, also free on youtube. It also gives a brief sneaky peek about early days concepts for the Umbrella Academy comics!

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Concept: In a post-apocalyptic California in 2019(!!!), four rebels who call themselves the Killjoys (Party Poison, Fun Ghoul, Kobra Kid, and Jet-Star) set out to recover a young girl from the evil corporation, BL/ind. Their progress is narrated by Dr. Death Defy, a radio dj who maintains public morale in an otherwise gloomy new world where electricity is a rare commodity and people worship at the hands of Destroya, a giant dormant robot expected to deliver everyone from evil.

Track Listing:

Look Alive, Sunshine

Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)

Bulletproof Heart

SING

Planetary (GO!)

The Only Hope For Me Is You

Jet-Star And The Kobra Kid/Traffic Report

Party Poison

Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back

S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W

Summertime

DESTROYA

The Kids From Yesterday

Goodnite, Dr. Death

Vampire Money

This album is radically different than the others in that it’s much mellower. The songs are interspersed with narrative interludes by Dr. Death Defy to better explain the storyline. Danger Days came after one scrapped compilation album (which I’ll get to soon enough…) At this point, Gee’s comic career had started to take off with Umbrella Academy, and things had started to naturally wind down with the band. Gee’s mindspace was clearly in comic-mode, and he upcycled a comic book idea he had kicking around with a comic writer friend of his, Shaun Simon for the new album. After the band’s breakup, Gerard took whatever concepts they couldn’t realize through the lyrics and music videos back to Shaun Simon to make a Killjoys comic. Much of the concept backstory explained above is pulled from this.

Personal Faves:

Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)

Bulletproof Heart

SING

Planetary [GO!]

The Only Hope For Me Is You

Party Poison

Vampire Money

This is the album where I tend to get bored halfway through and switch over to The Black Parade (whoops…) But it is 100% worth listening to it from start to finish, again, at least once, if anything, because Destroya and Vampire Money are something else… Bulletproof Heart, SING, and The Only Hope for Me Is You are, at least in my opinion, the standouts of the more mellow songs. S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, Summertime, and The Kids From Yesterday are also super mellow if you’re into the vibe of the previous three and want more of that.

Planetary Go! is… possibly one of my favourite MCR songs of all time??? (Considering how much I love The Black Parade, that’s a pretty bold statement). It’s the only dance track they ever made, and is it ever a Bop. This is one of my go-to’s when I just need to take a break from whatever’s stressing me out and have a silly little dance party.

Dip Your Toe in the Water With:

Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)

SING

Planetary [Go!]

The Only Hope for me is You

Bulletproof Heart

Things to Keep In Mind:

Danger Days is an incredibly visual album! You really need the music videos to get the whole story. Na Na Na and SING tell the whole story pretty succinctly.

If you’re really feeling that cliffhanger from the end of the SING music video, check out the Killjoys comics. It’s a single volume under the same name as the album, following The Girl a few years after the music videos’ timeline.

S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W was inspired by Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds by the Beatles, which really speaks to the overall vibe of the song.

Something I literally just discovered now, looking up the album, there’s an EP of basically fight scene tracks off a special edition of Danger Days called The Mad Gear and Missile Kid. I’ve not listened to them yet, but from the looks of things, it’s got a pure punk rock vibe and they’re apparently what the band imagined the killjoys listened to on the road.

Fun trivia that I personally get a kick out of: Vampire Money was written out of spite after Gerard refused to contribute a song to the New Moon soundtrack for Twilight (Stephenie Meyer was a huge MCR fan and approached them numerous times to get involved in the films).

Conventional Weapons

Here it is! The scrapped compilation album! These songs were written pre-Danger Days and were presented at a concert in Japan, at which point, Gerard realized it wasn’t the sound they were after and it was promptly nixed. It’s a real shame, because there are some jams up in here, but at least they (or their record label, I can’t remember which at this point) eventually did decide to release the full “album” in 5 two-single EPs at a time.

Number One:

Boy Division

Tomorrow’s Money

Number Two:

AMBULANCE

Gun.

Number Three:

The World is Ugly

The Light Behind Your Eyes

Number Four:

Kiss the Ring

Make Room!!!

Number Five:

Surrender the Night

Burn Bright

Personal Faves:

Tomorrow’s Money

Boy Division

AMBULANCE

Kiss the Ring

Make Room!!!

Things to Keep in Mind:

I often like to give a shout out to AMBULANCE and Kiss the Ring for having opening chords that sound exactly like they’ve come straight off a Queen and Green Day album respectively.

See Tomorrow’s Money for the spectacular way they rhyme “vampire/empire/brush fire/tap wire” all in one verse.

See also Gun. for the far sillier way they rhyme “gun/sun/fun/run”.

You can tell with some of these songs that there was the stirrings of Danger Days in here. Make Room!!! is the most obvious, with the same mantra of “everybody wants to change the world” from Na Na Na making an appearance toward the end.

I think in some iteration between Conventional Weapons and Danger Days, there were some songs that did make it to the Danger Days album that were called something else. Party Poison, for example, had originally been Death Before Disco.

Covers

My Chemical Romance, in one form or another, have done some spectacular covers over the years. I’m including the Umbrella Academy covers Gerard did with Ray because that’s basically half the band right there.

Desolation Row (Watchmen soundtrack)

Hazy Shade of Winter (Umbrella Academy)

Happy Together (Umbrella Academy)

Common People (BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge)

Under Pressure (ft. The Used)

Those are the ones I’m aware of. If there are more good-quality covers I’m missing, please, send them my way– I would love that!

I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love

Ok, look, I’m gonna upset some people by having this on the bottom of my list. I’m sorry, I feel bad about it, but the fact of the matter is, I’m only now getting into their earliest stuff. Bullets is a bit of an acquired taste because it’s incredibly raw both sound-wise and in terms of content. They recorded it before they had the resources to really put out a crisp sounding album, and they were still learning about how to construct songs, but there’s still a lot of beauty in that that I know plenty people appreciate far more than I do. MCR wouldn’t have gained an underground following without this album, after all!

I have exactly zero stakes in this album, so I’m sure someone else out there has a better grasp of this one than I do.

Concept: I know very little about what’s going on in this album, aside from the fact that Gerard was driven to create the band after being in New York, watching the Twin Towers fall during 9/11. A bunch of his more end of the world storylines from many of his works (including Umbrella Academy) are inspired by 9/11. This is a prevalent thread throughout the album, though I’m not familiar with the how beyond Skylines and Turnstiles.

Track Listing:

Romance

Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us

Vampires Will Never Hurt You

Drowning Lessons

Our Lady of Sorrows

Headfirst for Halos

Skylines and Turnstiles

Early Sunsets Over Monroeville

This Is the Best Day Ever

Cubicles

Demolition Lovers

Personal Faves:

Headfirst for Halos

Honey, This Mirror isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us

Vampires Will Never Hurt You

Our Lady of Sorrows

I’m playing fast and loose with my faves here. I’ve only heard these songs a handful of times, but they’re the ones I’m inclined to at least listen to for the guitar work, which at times, is quite fantastic. I will say though, from what I’ve seen of the lyrics, there’s some stellar stuff in here I hope to properly get into some time soon.

All the guys are still plugging away and releasing music either in their own bands (most recently, Frank Iero andthe Patience and Mikey Way’s band, Electric Century) or solo (in the case of Gerard Way and Ray Toro). I wish I was more well-versed in their goings-ons, but I’ve not been following their musical careers beyond Gerard’s (come back and talk to me if you want to get into his Hesitant Alien solo album and his more recent releases).

And that is your crash course in all things MCR.

#mcr #my chemical romance #i'm so sorry i butchered Bullets so hard #my knowledge on that album is Limited #but I know pretty much everything else like the back of my hand #i love them SO MUCH #i've honestly been preparing for the moment this kind of ask fell into my lap for weeks now #Anonymous

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pk-rockinly · 5 years

Text

!! These HCs are my own interpretation of Ness, his backstory, and family, all exclusively made by me and not related to in-game content unless otherwise stated. Don’t steal them :> !!

I’ll divide it into “ chapters ” , so that it’s easier to find the topics.

INDEX 1. Ness’ Family ( parents, sibling, pet ) 2. Ness’ Family ( mother’s side ) 3. Ness’ Family ( father’s side ) 4. Ness’ Family ( others ) 5. Significant Other ( Lucas ) 6. Ness ( a li’l bit about my portrayal of him )

1. - ̗̀ NESS' FAMILY ( parents, sibling, pet) ̖́-

For starters, RPing with a Ninten or an Ana muse has always been a struggle for me because I HC them to be his parents ( I assume that everyone has figured it out by now because I leave hints and I make it SO obvious ) . It’s so obvious because you would often read in my threads that his mother is Christian or that his father is also a baseball enthusiast but because of his asthma, he had to adjust to a different profession. The reason why I don’t straight-up say it is because I know that not many people share this HC and I know that it also makes some uncomfortable. So I leave hints rather than saying the actual thing.

!! Of course, this doesn’t mean that I won’t interact with any Ninten or Ana muses but understand that it’ll be a bit hard for me since, from my point of view, it’ll be Ness seeing their parents in their childhood !!

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ FATHER — NINTEN

It’s canon that Ness’ father works at a hamburger industry. I also HC that, because of the job keeping him busy, he returns home during weekends and holidays — he works abroad. He sometimes takes a week off or two, depending on workflow.

Also, on an important side-note, he paid back the loan to the Minch family!! But they would still hold a grudge on him and on Ness’ family because it took him a while to pay it back.

Ness’ father is … a dork, really. Ness has probably inherited his playful side from him. He’d sit at dinner and crack jokes out of the blue and because they’re so sudden it’s always entertaining. Those dad jokes no one wants to listen to? He’s got plenty!

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ MOTHER — ANA

It’s canon that Ana likes drama fiction... I HC that Ness does too. You will sometimes see him watch soap-operas either alone or with her, or even discuss characters and their role with his mother. He doesn’t really like to show that he has a certain fondness for drama, so he tends not to say anything about it.

Ana is a skilled cook and every day feels like a Thanksgiving dinner. Every meal she makes is made with love and she will always spoil her kids with their favorite food and treats.

She’s a very loving woman. You will see her kiss her kids’ forehead goodnight every night, even when they’re older.

!! Both his parents know and can use PSI ( Ness has inherited it from them ) , but they never use it in public and / or in front of their kids / family . !!

!! They haven’t told their kids about their own adventure or about Giygas / Giegue but they will when Ness is older ( when he’s approximately 16-17 ) !!

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ SISTER — TRACY :

The game doesn’t state Tracy’s age but it makes it clear that she’s younger than Ness, so I HC that she’s at least 4 years younger than him.

The game canonically has her work at a delivery agency, so that she can help Ness store / deliver his items, but she quits it right after Ness defeats Giygas.

I HC that she wasn’t born with PSI but with instead impressive intelligence for someone her age. She’s a child, of course, but she already seems to know how the world spins.

I HC that, when she’s more or less Ness’ age ( 13 yo ) , she starts developing a soft crush towards Picky Minch, their neighbor, and, because of it, Ness grows incredibly protective and he even sounds bratty when Picky is around or when he’s mentioned in a conversation. It’s something that any sibling does, no? Squinting when your sister’s crush is home, mmm…

Ness combs and braids her hair before she leaves for school.

!! Because of Tracy unable of using PSI, the family has set some sort of ‘ rule ’ in which no one will read each other’s mind nor use PSI between family members. This rule is for now for Ness only since both he and his sister don’t know that their parents can use PSI !!

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ PET — KING :

I HC that King is a Mastiff Tibetan, three years older than Ness.

Ness’ parents have adopted him when he was only two weeks old and a few months after Ninten’s dog, Mick passed away. The puppy was nameless for a couple of days ( he had silly nicknames like Mick II or Mick-on-all-fours since Ninten’s dog was capable of standing on two legs for a long time ) , until Ana playfully placed a crown made with carton box on the puppy’s head and called him King.

The puppy grows strong and big and he becomes a well-adored family member ; he gets to be part of many events happening in the family’s life.

King played a sort of ‘ nanny role ’ during Ness’ childhood. He was always there, making sure that the kid would avoid getting in trouble when Ana or Ninten were looking away. He would even make sure that the kid got the right amount of rest.

Because Ness could only mutter words and / or broken sentences in his early years, saying King was a little hard for him ; he used to call him Pooch and this nickname kinda stayed as he grew up.

King begins to speak with the family almost right away when he’s adopted ( only people with telepathy can, of course, hear him ) ; so, I kinda like to think that King has also helped Ness to speak when he was a toddler.

// it started as a joke but then became canon in the blog : King will be part of the family’s events for a pretty long time ; he’s developed a certain fondness towards the family and he will stay alive as long as his body will let him. And let me tell you … he’s going to stay for a very long time, still. //

2. - ̗̀ NESS' FAMILY ( his mother's side) ̖́-

I don’t have many HCs for Ness’ grandparents from his mother's side, individually speaking. It’s still a WIP. But they get to visit the family every now and then, especially during the holidays.

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ GRANDMOTHER :

she lives with her husband in a snowy town distant from Ness’ homeland.

When Ness will be aware of his parents’ adventure, he will find out that his grandmother had once been kidnapped by Giygas and that Ana joined Ninten to search for her.

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ GRANDFATHER :

he’s a priest living with his wife in a snowy town distant from Ness’ homeland.

3. - ̗̀ NESS' FAMILY ( his father’s side) ̖́-

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ GRANDMOTHER — CAROL :

Carol’s character is very similar to Ness’ mother in-game. She also likes to cook and because of it, I like to think that she lends a helping hand in the kitchen when the family is reunited for the holidays.

When she visits, she always brings gifts for the family, plus a few homemade delicacies.

She lives with her husband in Podunk.

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ GRANDFATHER :

he works full-time in a business agency and lives with his wife Carol in Podunk, a town distant from Ness’ homeland.

At first glance, he looks secretive but he’s in truth a dork, really ; Ninten has probably inherited his playful side from him, but unlike him, his playfulness is controlled and limited.

!! His grandparents can’t use PSI. !!

-ˏˋ ☆ NESS’ AUNTS — MIMMIE & MINNIE

Aunt Mimmie and Aunt Minnie are Ninten’s twin sisters.

Ness doesn’t really get to see them often but only during specific holidays, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year.

They travel a lot, sometimes on their own and sometimes together.

They’re both professional photographers. Writing books and novels is considered a hobby for them, even if their publications have made some numbers around the world.

They share an apartment together but it’s almost always empty because they’re always outside or traveling.

When the family wants to book a vacation somewhere away from Onett, Ness’ aunts are both willing to book tickets for them and plan their vacation, with or without Ana’s consent.

They keep in touch with their brother almost every day. They’re probably the ones who stay the most in touch with the family.

4. - ̗̀ NESS' FAMILY ( others ) ̖́-

This section is about Ninten’s and Ana’s friends who are not related to them in any way but because they’re their close friends, they’re considered part of the family. Ness grew up calling them uncle / aunt .

-ˏˋ ☆ TEDDY ( uncle ) :

When Ness was only a kid, he felt admiration Teddy. In fact, during those times he visited he even defined him the ‘ cool uncle ’ ;

Ness owns a couple of CDs made by Teddy, which he listens to every now, and then ; the genre is enjoyable and his songs have a good rhythm. The lyrics are strong and powerful : some songs tell a bit about himself, while others … he can’t tell ;

Every time Teddy releases a new CD, a copy is sent to Ness two days before its actual release date.

Teddy is also the owner of his family’s repair shop of which he was named after, but because of his singing career, he hired someone else to run the store for him.

-ˏˋ ☆ LLOYD ( uncle ) :

Ness doesn’t know much about him. His parents say that he used to visit more often when he was younger, but he got busier and busier with his studies and experiments that nowadays it’s very rare to see him in person.

Lloyd grows to be a successful scientist. He, every now and then, writes books about his theories and experiments, and sometimes he can be seen on TV on those scientific channels, guest of an interview or merely stating facts and thesis about a specific argument ( we could say that that is the only time Ness gets to see him ) .

!! I don’t HC that Lloyd is Dr. Andonuts merely because Dr. Andonuts is way older than how Lloyd should be in Earthbound, despite the both of them hiding in trashcans, wearing round glasses or having white / gray hair. !!

-ˏˋ ☆ PIPPI ( aunt ) :

okay, comin’ up with something for Pippi was a bit of a struggle, but I like to think that she becomes a professional painter ; she’s energetic, creative and she likes to give life to a thought through colors on a canvas.

She likes to visit quiet / abandoned places to find inspiration, to then paint her own versions of these places visited. Her paintings are famous for the feelings they convey and for the breathtaking and realistic colors she uses.

she would also paint portraits ; she has a few of Ness and his family and her portrait gallery progressively expands as she meets new people.

when she visits, it’s always a good occasion to take a few pictures to paint later.

Farms and quiet villages are often protagonists of her paintings.

5. - ̗̀ NESS' SIGNIFICANT OTHER ̖́-

-ˏˋ ☆ LUCAS ( it’s canon in this blog ) :

they met in the Smash tournaments and have clicked almost immediately thanks to their similarity and thanks to the fact that they both share PSI abilities.

Outside of the Smash tournaments, they’re in a long-distance relationship ( Lucas’ timezone is six hours behind Ness’ ) ;

Ness pays him a visit every weekend by teleporting to his village – only during the weekend because Ness has school during the other days and can’t find free time in between his homework.

!! Ness is aged up to 16 years old when RPing with pk-lovely’s Lucas only to make it easy for me to RP very soft romance !! This Lucas’ interpretation is pk-lovely’s ♥

6. - ̗̀ NESS ̖́-

His full name is Ness Yusha Omoto ( Yusha is his middle name for ’ brave ’ given by his father when he was born ) . If we consider his mother’s last name, his full name would be Ness Yusha Hayes Omoto, but we’ll just go with the first one.

It’s canon that he was born with PSI. His parents found out when the baby bottle started to move on its own. He taught himself most of his PSI, starting with recovery ones.

Later on, as he grew up, he taught himself more useful PSI and begun to develop a special one based on his favorite thing.

-ˏˋ ☆ PHYSICAL APPEARANCE :

Ness weighs 95lb ( 43kg ) and he’s 5ft tall ( 150cm ) . He has short, messy, and greasy black hair and he wears a baseball cap to mostly hide this messy mane but to also show his passion towards baseball, his favorite sport.

His eyes are black ( not as black as his hair but they’re close to a dark grey hue ) and when he uses his psychic powers they turn purple-ish, so you can tell when he’s using them.

His skin is naturally tanned, with very light freckles across his face and under his elbows.

he’s ambidextrous.

-ˏˋ ☆ LANGUAGE(S) KNOWN :

He speaks English and Japanese ( thanks to his father who has Japanese origins ) , and also ASL language but not very fluently. He’d rather read your mind, honestly …

-ˏˋ ☆ CLOTHING PREFERENCE :

[ I wrote a post about it here ]

He wears striped shirts, baseball tees, and hoodies ; jorts, capri jeans, sweats, and sneakers. His preference in clothing tends to vary but he likes to wear comfortable clothes regardless if they look ugly or don’t match well with the others.

He’s uncomfortable in long-sleeved garments, so you will always see him wear short-sleeved shirts even during winter ( but only indoors ; if he falls sick, he can heal himself, so … ) . He hates winter.

Oh, and let’s not forget backpacks!

-ˏˋ ☆ PROFESSION :

Student.

He’s the Captain of his school’s baseball team, “ The Starmen ” ( which will then become his own baseball team ) . It doesn’t have an actual mascot because of Ness’ discomfort in people wearing large mascot suits.

The uniform has several stars across the sleeves, the name of the player is written on the back, while on the front is written “ Onett ” together with the initials “ SM ” ; the Captain’s uniform has two stars as background for the initials and they’re light-blue.

The team has its own baseball cap but Ness still prefers to wear his own.

-ˏˋ ☆ FOOD PREFERENCE :

Ness is a foodie! He LOVES to eat and his stomach is often compared to a bottomless well! There is not a food he doesn’t like and thanks to his high and active metabolism he rarely gains weight despite eating so much.

However, he suffers from indigestion only when he eats too much sugar on a daily basis : the amount he can get is awfully limited, but it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t like sweets, because, to be fair, they’re his weakness. But because of his indigestion, he’s very careful with them and grows a little paranoid when eating a tart or any other sweet treat.

Now, though, perhaps because of the lack of sugar in his system, the boy has grown very fond of salty snacks since they don’t cause his stomach to twist in agony ; so, expect this kid to eat a lot of salt.

-ˏˋ ☆ FAVOURITE FOOD :

Salisbury Steak ( canon ). It’s basically made from blending ground beef with other ingredients, topped then with bitter-sweet and slightly spicy sauce. His mother serves it with gravy and mashed potatoes as side-dish. But he likes anything that contains meat, honestly …

He also likes Sukiyaki and Mori Soba ( canon in game ) and Yakisoba ( my HC ) .

Since we’re on the topic, it’s canon that Ness likes dog food as well ( it’s in the Japanese version of the game, replaced by salmon in the English version ) ; so I kinda HC that as a kid he ate a can of dog food out of curiosity and kinda liked it … uh …

Pretzels are his favorite snack.

-ˏˋ ☆ MUSIC PREFERENCE :

His genre varies and he’s always open to new hits. He likes rock, hip-hop, lo-fi beats, and instrumental tunes.

Ness has a sort of celebrity crush on Venus but he doesn’t say it openly because he’d feel embarrassed. However, you can hear him hum her songs every now and then - and you can find a collection of all of her albums on his shelves plus a few autographs. She’s his favorite singer and it will never change, not even when he’s older.

He’s also a fan of The Runaway Five and DCMC ( thanks to his boyfriend who has introduced them to him ) .

Ness can play guitar. He has an acoustic guitar in his room that he plays every now and then ; he’s been playing it since he was five years old and can play any song by just listening to it — and, of course, after a little practice.

-ˏˋ ☆ FAVOURITE COLOUR :

Ness likes the color pink for reasons he won’t tell ( it reminds him of his boyfriend’s cheeks when he blushes, hhh ) .

Other favorite colors are: yellow, red, blue, and white.

-ˏˋ ☆ FAVOURITE ANIMAL :

Rabbits, especially dwarf rabbits with very tiny ears. The boy would scream for a bunny but, because of their sensibility, they might not keep up with his energy — so it’s really not recommended to get him a bunny for the sake of the poor thing’s sanity. But he will sit at a pet shop for hours just to look at the bunnies, hm.

-ˏˋ ☆ DOMINANT TRAIT :

his courage, of course.

Keep in mind that now because he’s brave, he’s not afraid of anything. Wrong. He has fears as well just like everyone but he doesn’t share them openly ( and he considers them more states of discomfort rather than actual fears ) .

-ˏˋ ☆ NEGATIVE TRAIT(S) :

As already mentioned, Ness is a jealous person when it comes to his loved ones because he feels the urge of protecting them and keeping them away from what might hurt them. So, to state an example, when his sister’s crush is around, Ness will keep an eye open on his behavior and on the way he talks to his sister and interfere with annoying jokes or facts that might relate to Picky when he thinks that he’s walking out of the line. But it always ends with Tracy either holding a grudge on Ness or punching his shoulder ( a light punch, just to make it stop ) . Another example is Ness crinkling his nose ( please keep this trait in mind for it tells a lot of how Ness is feeling in a certain moment ) when Lucas talks fondly about another person he doesn’t know — he starts saying things like “uh”, “oh yeah?”, “uh-hu”, “pssh”, “tch” every now and then as he speaks to kinda control his jealousy.

It starts low but if it grows uncontrollably, he then becomes paranoid ; you can clearly tell when it happens by reading his movements : if he’s sitting down, his legs shake, or if he’s standing up he struggles to find a comfortable pose. he hides his mouth behind his palm, he rubs the back of his head, he begins scanning the area around him, he sighs loudly and sometimes even whines. In worse cases, he starts walking around in circles or even bites his nails.

He calms down on his own without someone else to do anything for him, but it might take a couple of hours if not less. He will feel better and even apologize to you for his behavior afterward.

Greediness ( only when it comes to sharing his food ) , clumsy and possessive ( light stage of possession, he doesn’t go all yandere on his enemies, please … ) .

-ˏˋ ☆ POSITIVE TRAIT(S) :

aside from his negative traits, Ness is in truth a loving and considerate person. When he loves he loves with all his heart and let’s just say that another person’s contact and warmth are always necessary, almost vital, for him.

He’s extrovert, so being in contact with the outside world is fundamental.

he’s adventurous, affectionate, assertive, friendly, fun-loving, and curious. Now, his curiosity is where most of his reckless decisions are made. He’d venture without hesitation in a dark cave because led by his own curiosity ; he’d run outside in the middle of the night to go look at a meteorite that just fell on the hilltop next to his house even if his parents say no ; he would trust his neighbor Lier X Agerate down his basement to look at a statue he dug right under his house … Just to make it clear, the boy is very curious and if he ever asks inappropriate questions, it’s because his curiosity led him to do so.

He’s also generous, hard-working �� (a trait inherited by his mother | canon ) , optimistic, self-assured, and determined.

He likes to spoil his loved ones with gifts ; so, expect him to buy you stuff every now and then. If you ever see something you like, Ness will buy it for you without hesitation.

Loyal, warm-hearted, patient ( except for the line at fast-foods, he grows really impatient then ) , and playful ( inherited by his father ; he, much to everyone’s misfortune, very often cracks up jokes even in the most inappropriate moments, especially while shopping : he’d grab food and make jokes out of it. An example : Near to the fridge counter section, the raven, smiling with anticipation at the joke forming in his mind, grabs a random portion of meat, which happens to be minced meat but it doesn’t matter and shows it to his boyfriend next to him. “Nice to meat you!” )

-ˏˋ ☆ FEARS ( more like ‘ stages of discomfort ’ as he would call them ) :

People wearing costumes — it’s the reason why his school baseball team doesn’t have a mascot. People wearing big costumes, in general, make his skin crawl. Although aware that it’s just a person inside a costume, he can’t calm his nerves in the moment. He will act uncomfortable for the entire time until they eventually walk away from them.

Clown & Mimes — although the fear of clowns is almost overcome completely, mimes are still a problem and he cannot explain why. Whenever he sees one, he just has to walk as distant as possible from them.

Tight places — perhaps the most common one. Ness is not claustrophobic as he can stay in closed spaces quite well, but when these closed spaces happen to be tight, he might grow tense and anxious. If he stays in them for a long time, he might go into panic.

-ˏˋ ☆ BAD HABIT(S) :

swearing ( only when furious ) , muttering under his breath ( jealous, paranoid, doubtful ) , oversleeping, snacking between meals, leg jiggling ( paranoid, nervous ) , gesturing while talking ( he’s an open book, he expresses himself a lot through non-verbal communication ) , chewing lips ( nervous, paranoid ) , procrastinating ( furious ) , rubbing hands through hair ( nervous, paranoid ) , drinking from the bottle, messy, competitive.

#☆ || Onett's li'l dreamer ;; headcanon

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letterboxd · 5 years

Photo

Spiritual.

“It just goes to show you can give four people similar ingredients and they will absolutely not make the same movie.”

In Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit, aspiring teenage singer Violet (Elle Fanning) pursues her pop dream via a TV reality competition show. The Cinderella plot-line is common enough in underdog stories, but Teen Spirit uses the setup to mount a textured, vibrant, uplifting film enhanced to no end by a clear love for the power of pop music.

A lot of the credit goes to Fanning, who does her own singing. The 21-year-old has enjoyed an auspicious career thus far, but none of her previous roles suggested the power of her performance in Teen Sprit as Violet, a Polish immigrant high schooler living a meager existence with her mother on the Isle of Wight (off the south coast of England).

Violet lies about her age to sing on the weekend in dingy pubs, and sees an opportunity when the titular TV show comes to town for open tryouts. Her mother doesn’t approve, but Violet needs a guardian, so she ropes in a local drunk, Vlad (Croatian actor Zlatko Burić), who happens to be a former opera star. Together, Violet and Vlad will face the stark odds of trying to make it as a modern day pop star.

Teen Spirit is an assured writing and directing debut for Minghella, who is best known as an actor (The Social Network, The Handmaid’s Tale). He’s also the son of Academy Award-winning filmmaker, the late Anthony Minghella, director of The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain.

Letterboxd met up with Minghella in Austin recently, following a well received screening of Teen Spirit at SXSW. Minghella developed and produced Teen Spirit with his old friend, actor Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, King Kong), so when he says “we”, it’s Bell he’s referring to.

Max Minghella and cinematographer Autumn Durald on set.

How did you know the drama of this film would go beyond the usual drama that feeds the kind of reality shows it takes place around? Max Minghella: You don’t know. You hope. It’s interesting because I don’t know how interested I was really in reality shows. I mean, I love reality shows, but it wasn’t what I was really thinking about making this movie. I was kind of fascinated by the mechanics behind them, what we don’t see, and I’m always interested in back rooms. I’ve always been a very voyeuristic person—that’s quite evident in the film. I love seeing things I’m not supposed to see, and the movie almost takes place exclusively in those sorts of spaces.

There’s a lot going on thematically in the movie between these people. I think the relationship is quite unique and unconventional for a film like this. We’re constantly trying to subvert the poppiness of it. Like the music does in the film, which is very melancholic, [the music is] very kind of candy-colored. There’s two things which should be diametrically opposed, yet they turn into something that’s quite cinematic.

I really wanted this movie to be a big cinematic experience. Movies right now are in a difficult moment, and we really hope that this will be a film that can play as a theatrical experience, and make people wanna go and see it on the big screen. Those are the movies I love. It’s a medium I love so much. That’s my church.

The songs feel very deliberate. How much freedom did you have to choose the ones you wanted? We wrote all the songs that you see in the movie into the original script. And we didn’t think we were gonna get them. To be honest this movie never felt real. That’s the honest truth. I didn’t feel as if this movie could happen at any point, until we were shooting. It felt ridiculous. There’s too much music. It’s got subtitles in it. It’s about an immigrant. There’s a thousand things about it that don’t feel plausible. It’s not a hundred-million-dollar Fox movie, it doesn’t feel as if the house was riding on it, so there was no reason not to be crazy. Because it didn’t feel like it would ever happen.

We were very, very lucky—every movie’s a miracle, our miracle was music. And the fact that [Teen Spirit producer] Fred [Berger] happened to have made La La Land, which he wasn’t even making at the time that we met him. He happened to go and make this film while we were writing Teen Spirit. It happened to work. It happened to involve Interscope Records. The songs that we had in our script happened to be with Interscope Records, 90 percent of them. It wasn’t planned. We don’t know anything about music. We were just going “we like this one, and this one” and it all happened to be the same place, and it happened to be a place that we had to go. So it worked out. If Sony BMG or somebody had released the soundtrack, this movie would be full of completely different songs, and not the ones we wanted.

Elle Fanning as Violet.

Elle Fanning is so powerful in this, yet so subtle at the same time. It’s a deeply nuanced performance for a film like this, and that’s what’s brave about it. She doesn’t do any of the ostentatious things or the loud things that people react to. People like acting when they see the “acting”. Those tend to be the kind of performances that are rewarded or applauded. It’s quite brave to take a role like this, which can be very showy and takes a lot of emotional range, and then not ever take the obvious hit. Never. She does what I think is always the most human honest choice in those moments.

Does it concern you or did it occur to you that Teen Spirit is coming out amongst a rash of movies about pop stars? Her Smell, Vox Lux, A Star Is Born… It wasn’t like we were aware that everybody was making music movies. We’re friends with Brady Corbet, who made Vox Lux, so I was very aware of Brady’s movie, and he’s somebody I hugely admire and have a constant dialogue with. But I also knew how different it was. So I wasn’t nervous about it. We’re very close to the A Star Is Born people, in fact they made both these movies, Interscope, so they’re actually kind of almost like a part of the same team, so it doesn’t feel competitive with them at all, it’s always felt very supportive. And Alex [Ross Perry], who made Her Smell, is a friend of mine. So none of it feels antagonistic.

What’s so fascinating is they’re so completely different. A lot of them have female protagonists. I don’t think anyone has said “this movie looks like this movie or feels like this movie”. It just goes to show you can give four people similar ingredients and they will absolutely not make the same movie. It’ll just turn into something very different. I feel like now there’s a huge appetite for films like this, an increasing appetite.

The reality show elements in the film feel highly authentic. I researched the actual truth. Everything that happens with [Teen Spirit judge/producer] Rebecca [Hall]’s character was very grounded in reality, that is sort of what happens on these shows, and I wanted all of it to be: what would happen? And how would these two people react to those things? The thing we studied the most was music tour documentaries, I would say. Like the Madonna movie, and the Katy Perry documentary, those are beautifully made. The behind-the-scenes stuff is so endlessly compelling and cinematic to me.

You’ve said that you wrote Zlatko’s role with him in mind—why did you want him in your movie? I’d just seen him in stuff, and he’s so unique. And if you’re going to do a Cinderella story and have a Fairy Godmother, he seems like a really unique way of doing a Fairy Godmother. I genuinely don’t think anyone else could’ve played the part.

Why did you choose to set it on the Isle of Wight? Well, my dad’s from the Isle of Wight, so that was sort of just a silly narcissistic thing. And then I think it’s a good metaphor. This girl is on an island, away from something, a place she wants to be. Looking at a horizon that she can’t quite reach, it’s another layer of alienation, which makes sense to me.

How do you feel now that Teen Spirit is being shown to audiences? It feels so masturbatory making a film, it really does. And I’m extremely happy with where we’ve gotten to with it. It’s the film I wanted to make. For better or worse. And it’s lovely to share it with people. But at the end it is a slightly selfish exercise I think. I’m at peace with what I’ve made. I feel good. And now I’d like to move on and start thinking about something else. But it feels good to have finished this process—I don't think we squandered it and didn’t waste people’s time. It’s a lot of people’s energy, a lot of people’s hard work and kindness. You make a movie and a hundred people are going too far and doing too much for you and not sleeping enough and you want to be responsible to those people.

‘Teen Spirit’ is in New York and LA cinemas now, and opens US-wide from April 19.

#teen spirit #elle fanning #max minghella #pop star #reality tv #jamie bell #sxsw19 #letterboxd

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