#musical theater but less boring
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HOW TO PLAY AS THE BELCHERS IN DND 5E
Today, we're going to explore how to build the Belchers as a DnD Party. Plus Teddy. We're not really going to touch on stats. Let's be honest, the Belchers aren't really great at anything. If we were building them accurately, they'd all be super low level and/or with terrible stats. But it's your character and your campaign, so you can make them more or less optimized as you see fit. They're also all basic Humans, so we're pretty much just focusing on their classes and subclasses.
BOB BELCHER
PALADIN
OATH OF DEVOTION
Bob is largely defined by his principles and values. As Tina puts it, Bob is a good business owner, but a bad businessman. He cares more about providing a quality service and succeeding his way than making money. And in Little Hard Dad, he's shown to say "It's the principle of it" way too often. This to me reads as a Paladin. Given his belief in quality service and moral principles, I label him as an Oath of Devotion Paladin.
VARIANT BUILD
FIGHTER
SAMURAI ARCHETYPE
Bob is pretty boring and straightforward, which makes Fighter really fitting for his personality. If he was going to model himself after anyone, he'd choose Shinji Kojima/Hawk. Thus, the Samurai archetype. However, if we're leaning purely into the boring practicality and straightforwardness of Bob, I might suggest Champion instead. It's the most Fighter-y Fighter you can build.
Regardless of his class, make sure to pick up proficiency with Cook's Utensils or the Chef Feat.
LINDA BELCHER
BARD
COLLEGE OF DANCE
Telling Linda Belcher not to sing or dance is like telling Tina not to talk about horses or telling Bob not to cook. It's just not going to happen. She loves the theater, she sings all the time, and she was once in an amateur garage band. All the makings of a classic bard. Given her love of dancing, I went with the College of Dance.
TINA BELCHER
CLERIC
LIFE DOMAIN
Tina is the family member who puts the most stock in things like fate, true love, karma, and damnation. She is also one of the characters that mentions religion more than anyone else. More specifically, she strikes me as a Cleric of Sune, the Faerunian Goddess of Love and Beauty. Sune's virtues include following your heart wherever it leads, championing love and romance at all costs, taking any risk in pursuit of love, being true to your heart and your passions without shame, and trying to make the world a more beautiful place. As such, Tina is the perfect candidate for a Cleric of Sune. Sune has two domains: Life and Light. Given that Tina has at least some interest in nursing, the Life Domain seems more in-line with Tina's values as a follower of Sune.
GENE BELCHER
SORCERER
WILD MAGIC ORIGIN
I know, I know. It's a sin that he's not a Bard. But Gene and Linda are very similar characters, and both work as Bards. The best thing for a party is diversity. So, I looked at Gene's personality beyond just his music. And the core of Gene is whacky nonsense. Usually, when Gene tells stories, it's an excuse for weird imagery. The Banana-fullo, Fart School, radioactive pizza sauce. Thus, the Wild Magic origin for Sorcerers spoke to me. Gene loves whacky randomness, so he would be drawn to Wild Magic. Plus, he's not really a good bard. He hates practicing, he's unfamiliar with the concept of a workbook, and kind of just expects a music career to be handed to him. Hell, when he got cast in a play and had all of two lines, he didn't memorize them, and wanted to ad lib every take. Gene's a sorcerer with the Entertainer background, but he is NOT a bard. He doesn't take his craft seriously the way Linda does.
LOUISE BELCHER
ROGUE
ASSASSIN ARCHETYPE
One of Louise's main skills is her ability to pick locks. Bob is literally afraid to go into her room as he expects boobie traps to hurt him. She's a clever tactician, masterminding several heists and revenge schemes. She's good at tricking people and lying to their faces to get what she wants. As for why she's an assassin, in the episode where Louise is uncertain of her future, one vignette paints as a John Wick style Wedgie-Sassin. She's also a fan of Francine, a Special Girl doll that spied on the Russians during the Cold War. She's not typically a fan of girly things, but she does like the one that's a spy. She's definitely the family member who would be the outlaw punk of the group.
RANGER
GLOOMSTALKER CONCLAVE
In more recent seasons, we've seen a newfound interest in archery, with Louise even making a zombie movie centered around her blossoming hobby. The Gloomstalker/Assassin multiclass is also a very good multiclass in combat, which is why I felt it was the most fitting for Louise. She's also pretty accurate with other ranged combat like spitballs and throwing things at people.
TEDDY THE HANDYMAN
ARTIFICER
BATTLE SMITH
This one pretty much goes without saying. He's a mechanic and handyman, he's used to moving and hauling heavy objects, plus he's burly, making him a great fit for the party's tank. The Battle Smith is an artificer built for the front line, and they get to be joined by a mechanical ally. Teddy would absolutely take a hit for any of the Belchers. The guy also fell off a roof and walked it off, so he's definitely got the highest Constitution score of the group.
I think this party turned out alright. Bob and Teddy are on the frontlines, Linda and Tina are the primary support, Gene is a ball of pure chaos and uncontrolled energy, and Louise is sniping people from the shadows. Everyone's doing what they should be doing to work as a unit, and also happen to be a fairly well-balanced party as well. This is an especially good party for low stakes and silly campaigns, but probably not the kind of party you want to bring to Barovia or Avernus.
#dungeons and dragons#dnd#dnd 5e#dungeons & dragons#dnd 5th edition#dnd fifth edition#wizards of the coast#wotc#bob's burgers#bob belcher#linda belcher#tina belcher#gene belcher#louise belcher#teddy the handyman
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HEYYYY THIS IS PT. 2 TO THE JEGULUS BALLET AU FIC HOPE U ENJOY THIS TOOOO @ashshmee
Sirius and I are still waiting in the hall of the theater by the time the whole place is almost empty. It's quiet and serene, but it does nothing to quell the excitement coursing through my veins. I'm actually going to get to meet him. The picture of him on stage still lingers in my mind. It was as if until now I was living in a universe without stars, and I can't fathom how I've survived until now. Sirius is still staring at me like I'll combust at any given moment, worried and scared at the same time. "So... You wanna tell me why you want to see my little brother so badly James?" I freeze slightly, my mind racing a million times a minute—even more than it usually does— trying to figure out a coherent way to describe this to his older brother of all people. "I- I just thought he was really good. He danced beautifully." That wasn't a complete lie, but the way Regulus danced... I couldn't truly do it any justice with any words I knew. Beautiful didn't cut it; And neither did spectacular, amazing, graceful, or even surreal.
When Regulus comes out, he is just as graceful as on stage. The poise he has, the way he carries himself, commands respect and awe. But he looked completely different to how he was on stage somehow. He still has this quietness to his steps that speak so loud somehow, and it just keeps your attention on him. But differently, he now seems more sad, like a part of him was left on the stage. He hides it well, but there's less of a shine in his eyes than there was on stage that wasn't just performance. And through all of this, he still manages to look scarily similar to his brother, yet still so different. His black hair and his eyes both match his brother's, but where Sirius' features came off more roguish and angular, Regulus was less rugged and slightly softer. That wasn't to say he didn't have the same pointyness all Black's seemed to possess, whether in personality or looks, he was just more... Ethereal. As if a dream. Sirius walks up to Regulus, pulling him into a hug and whispering into his ear, making Regulus raise his eyes to stare at me. A small smirk dances on his lips and I feel like I might faint. The breath I had been taking in was gone. He quite literally breathtaking. Not knowing what to do, I try to feign some type of confidence and strut over to Regulus. "You were wonderful in the show. It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm James Potter." I try not to stumble over my words as I talk to him as if he's not some godly incarnate. His words are just as melodical as he is, "Regulus A. Black. Thank you very much for convincing my brother to come see me. He's always hated ballet—too boring he says." Regulus chuckles the slightest bit, and it takes everything in me to stay grounded. "You make me sound like a child Reggie." Sirius huffs, fake pouting at his brother. "I won't make you sound like one when you start not acting like one," Regulus replies unfazed. The two brothers go back and forth for a bit longer, but I can't contain the one thought that's been running through my head.
"Will you dance in one of our music videos?" I ask Regulus, taking one small step closer to him, basking in his radiance.
Regulus raises an eyebrow. "I'm a classically trained dancer, Potter, not your random street dancer. So while thank you for the offer, I don't dance to the type of music you create.* His rejection is just as poised and swift as he is.
I nod, knowing that this answer was a possibility. "I'll make a song you can dance to then. Something worthy of someone of your training and caliber." Sirius stares at me incredulously, in shock of what I've just asked. Regulus shakes his head once more. "I find it hard to believe that you could. You do realize that my type of music is a complete and utter inverse from what you usually make? So once again, no I cannot I'm afraid." Challenge rises in my chest at this moment. I need him to dance in our video, and the song I make would be just for him. Especially for him, made with only him and his dance in mind. Regulus turns to go back to talking go his brother when I declare,
"I'll do it. I'll prove it to you I can create a song just for you to dance to, only for you. And if I do, please be in our video."
Regulus with no hesitation puts on a devilish smirk and counters, "I'd like to see you try, Potter."
AAAAAAND THAT'S PART 2 FOLKS, PT.3 WILL COME VERY SOON(sorry I have to keep splitting them up 🙏🙏😭 plz be patient with meeee)
#writing#my writing#marauders fic#marauders fanfic#jegulus#james fleamont potter#james potter#james x regulus#jegulus au#jegulus fic#regulus black#james loves regulus#marauders era#marauders#the marauders
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...You Make Lemonade
A little snippet based on a comment made by @straight4joekeery in my "When Life Gives You Lemons..." post. "Women are like lemons, I love lemons!" I loved it so much, I had no choice but to write an entire fic about it!
~*~*~*~
Everyone knew that Eddie Munson was a weird kid. He had long hair, listened to music that was more screaming than singing, and never bent to fit any mold. So why would he conform to society’s boring sayings when he could make his own? Ever since he was a kid, he’s had a habit of constructing his own phrases and idioms.
Sometimes it would be something close enough to the original idiom that no one would call him out on it. The phrase, “I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it” has become a common one amongst the boys of Hellfire. He used to say “he’d kill for less” but that seemed a little too brash in light of what occurred over Spring Break what with his murder accusation and innocent teens dying.
Nevertheless, some of Eddie’s more outlandish sayings had worked their way into everyday speech for the Party. It wasn’t uncommon to hear one of the kids talking about the “devil kicking their kidneys” during physical exertion or mentioning how “neutral, and not even chaotically” people were when they bored them (a reference to Eddie’s least favorite moral alignment in D&D). However, the sayings always seemed stranger coming out of Lucas’ or even Dustin’s mouths than they did Eddie’s.
The point is, everyone that has ever met Eddie knows that he can say some pretty off-the-wall things. However, Steve had never been privy to the sayings with Eddie’s odd twists until a random weekday afternoon spent getting high in his trailer. It all started because the weather was getting warmer. Eddie was supplying the weed so Steve brought refreshments for the both of them to enjoy.
“Do you want some lemonade?” He asked him, his hands already passing him a bottle.
Eddie nodded. “Well, you know what I always say. Men are like lemonade and I like lemonade.”
Then he took the bottle and a long gulp.
Steve paused for a moment and just stared at Eddie. Was this a big coming out like it had been with Robin in the movie theater bathroom? What had Robin told him to say in this situation?
“Um, thank you for telling me. I’m honored that you trusted me enough to divulge that information about yourself and I accept you.”
Eddie turned to him with barely concealed panic in his eyes but that quickly turned to mirth upon hearing Steve’s reply. “That was the most rehearsed and scripted response I’ve ever heard. How’d you learn that, did you see it in a PSA?”
“No! Ro- my friend told me that’s what sh-they wished someone had said to he-them,” Steve stumbled. Holy shit, he almost outed Robin. That’s like the worst thing you can do to a friend!
Eddie looked at him fondly. “That’s adorable, Stevie. Also, I know about Robin.”
“What?! How do you know about Robin?”
“Birds of a feather, Steve. They flock together,” he commented wisely and took another drag of their shared joint.
“Oh, that makes sense. That’s probably why I’m friends with you guys. You know, because I’m bi.”
Immediately, Eddie’s eyes went wide and he took a sharp inhale which caused him to cough uncontrollably. Once his breathing started to return to normal, he choked, “bi?”
Steve nodded sagely, “yeah, bi. As in bisexual. That’s what you call it when you like both guys and girls.”
“I got that,” Eddie said, rolling his eyes dramatically. “Just you? You’re the straightest person I’ve ever met.”
“Hey, don’t insult me! Just because I still like girls doesn’t minimize my attraction to guys. I’m going to tell Robin that you-”
“No, no, no! I’m not judging you, I’m just surprised. But uh, thank you for telling me.” Eddie leaned over the space between them and gave Steve’s shoulder an awkward pat.
“Okay, what the hell was that?” Steve asked him in the bitchiest tone he could muster. “Give me a hug like a normal person.”
Eddie gave a long-suffering sigh but the grin on his face showed his jest. “If you wanted to get your hands on me, you should’ve just said so.”
When Wayne walked in on his nephew and Steve Harrington making out on his couch just a few hours later, he couldn’t even say he was surprised. Scarred forever and washing his eyes out with soap? Yes. But not surprised.
Permanent tag list:@doubleb11 @nburkhardt @zerokrox-blog @newtstabber @i-less-than-three-you @carlyv @pyrohonk @straight4joekeery @trippypancakes @conversesweetheart @estrellami-1 @suddenlyinlove @yikes-a-bee @swimmingbirdrunningrock @perseus-notjackson @anaibis @merricatty @maya-custodios-dionach @grtwdsmwhr @manda-panda-monium @lumoschild
#it takes months for Steve to be able to look Wayne in the eye#The kids are embarrassed that the weird comments Eddie's been saying for months got them together#Robin gives Eddie a shovel talk so brutal that he almost flees the state just to escape her threats#but Steve's puppy eyes make him stay#stranger things#steddie#fanfic#steve harrington#eddie munson#robin buckley#uncle wayne
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Making a fun "Magne High" Au for Hazbin Hotel, starring more modern day teen human versions of the Hazbin characters, with a Magical Boy/Girl twist that involves the demon forms. Of course, since he's my favorite character, I created Alastor first (sketches, will not be the comic quality).
The colors of his clothes in his human design are heavily referenced from how canon Alastor looks when he's in a musical number combined with a less saturated set of reds underneath to contrast with the strong colors. I also added a few of the symbols that show up. His schoolbag is a radio, could not pass it up. I also added a small radio and music symbols design on his shoes.
As for his demon/magical boy form, nothing changed, aside from the fact that he's a teenager in this AU.
Facts about Alastor in this AU:
-He is a theater kid. He lives for the drama, and he will gossip with Rosie.
-His childhood friend is Mimzy (to go along with the canon where they were friends when alive), though they are not as close anymore due to Mimzy's tendencies.
-Jambalaya is still his favorite meal, along with most forms of venison
-Still likes black coffee
-He hates Vox, who won't leave him alone
-He has an A average regardless of not paying much attention in class
-Doodles when bored
-Can be a bit of a prankster, but gets away with it due to his "poised nature" in front of adults
-Has insomnia, so he reads books while listening to the radio or a few podcasts
-Has a podcast of his own, it does pretty well.
-Doesn't like to be touched
-Will crossdress on occasion, usually while being petty
-His "sunglasses" are actually just purple tinted glasses.
-The vision in his left eye improves in his demon form, but his right eye stays the same
-Has a deer tail in his demon form
-Is aroace (as per cannon)
-Parents are divorced, and Alastor lives with his mom
#hazbin hotel#hazbin alastor#hazbin art#hazbin au#living alastor#alastor#hazbin high au#teenage alastor#concept art
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Today, on 8th February, 1976 - Queen Story!
New York, NY, USA, Beacon Theater
'A Night At The Opera Tour'
🔸Freddie Mercury was taking tea on the 47th floor of his New York hotel. In his suite. The Royal suite, of course. It was the morning after yet another triumph for Queen - that brilliant and highly original British rock band built around the outrageous ideas and stage presence of the exotic Mr.
Mercury. They had played their fourth concert in as many nights at the battered but fashionable Beacon Theatre, and wvith an album and a single in the American charts, they were riding high.
Warm tea was permitted to slide down Mr. Mercury's regal throat as he prodded gingerly at some nasty looking bruises on the side of his neck.
He explained, My very promising pop career nearly came to an untimely end last night. Two young girls outside the theatre decided to claim my scarf as a souvenir. They quite forgot that it was wrapped around my neck at the time, and they very nearly strangled me. I'm sure Her Majesty doesn't have to put up with this sort of thing. But then, she doesn't have anything in the charts at the moment does she?"
He is a wicked man, Mr. Mercury.
He is also everything that a rock idol is supposed to be, and New York has been quick to recognise this. Like Mick Jagger, Freddie has off-beat good looks. Jagger has those pneumatic lips, and Freddie has the most out- spoken set of teeth ever to have found their way on to a pop fan's wall. He also enjoys the lifestyle of a true superstar - he lives out our fantasies for us far more effectively than we could ever manage to do for our- selves. Even if we had his kind of money.
His dress sense is sensational. He seldom looks less than spectacular, and he is not the sort of chap who believes in going unnoticed. Satin is his favourite fabric, with silk coming a close second. And he loves those loose, floppy, Japanese-style jackets.
But as he is quick to point out, There is a quiet side to me too, you know.
My home life is very civilised, and I hardly ever dress up to watch the tele- vision. Unless I am watching a Royal occasion of course. Then, my dear, it's on with the tiara and the emine ..
the LOT!
But Freddie felt there were better things to do in the city of New York than sit around sipping tea and discussing sartorial matters. He in- vited photographer Terry 0ʻNeill and me to join him on a shopping expedition, and it seemed a reason- able idea. Freddie was his casual self in short fur coat, white satin slacks, white clogs and silver snake bracelet.
The problems we encountered were little ones. Like young girls sobbing softly outside the door of a shoe shop while Freddie sought some- thing for the regal feet inside. And then there was the confusion of the young lady in Bloomingdale's depart- ment store who began to give Freddie a free manicure, only to discover that the nails on his left hand were already painted with black lacquer.
Freddie said, I love America. But l cant imagine ever coming here to live.
Our music is successful over here because it is so distinctively English.
We must keep it that way. I have just bought a new house in London, and an enormous car that looks like a boat on wheels. I could never leave all that.
And I have far too much fun ever to worry about a silly little thing like tax.
I know l'm terribly extravagant.
I always have been. My life these days is one perpetual spending spree. So I suppose l am the sort of person who needs to find ways of reducing tax.
But it's all such a bore. Why don't you buy a pair of these beautiful glitter shoes? They 're outrageous. And they 're cheap. And they re much more interesting than tax, don't you think?
I did think so. But I decided against buying the lurid footwear. You have to be a star to wear shoes like that.
Somebody rather like Freddie Mercury, in fact.
#1976#a night at tbe opera album#a night at the opera tour#freddie mercury#queen band#london#zanzibar#legend#queen#brian may#john deacon#freddiebulsara#roger taylor#new york#usa
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Ask me anything.
(Anonymous questions will be turned on for a while. But if anyone is mean, I will turn them back off and you will ruin it for everyone.)
I'm bored and tired and lonely. I could use some interaction. All answers will be posted publicly unless requested otherwise.
I don't have a lot of energy for long involved answers. Plus I want to challenge myself to write with brevity. So I am going to limit myself to answer in 2 paragraphs or less.
You can ask anything. Personal questions are fine. I'm quite the over-sharer. I give decent life advice due to being old as heck.
Things I know a lot about...
Consumer technology (phones, TVs, computers, audio, etc)
Photography
Lighting
Photo editing and restoration
Corgis
Home Theater
Comedy
Writing (but not poetry)
90s Alternative Music
Classical Singing
Guitars
Guitar Pedals
I'm a bit of a know-it-all in general. Outside of those categories I am pretty much this character...
Let's see how this goes.
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Excerpts from Daniel Radcliffe's interview with the New York Times on 30 April.
Daniel Radcliffe caught the first batch of Tony nominations during the announcement at 8:30 a.m. He texted congratulations to his “Merrily We Roll Along” co-star Jonathan Groff, who was nominated for best actor in a musical.
But then dad duty called before his own category, featured actor in a musical, was announced at 9:00.
“I was in the middle of doing breakfast and trying to put my son down for his morning nap, so I got a text from a member of the cast letting me know I was nominated,” said the actor, 34, who stars as the lyricist and playwright Charley Kringas in the acclaimed revival of the 1981 Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical, “Merrily We Roll Along.”
Radcliffe’s Tony nomination — for his fifth Broadway role since his 2008 debut in “Equus” — is the first of his career. And it’s extra special, he said in a phone conversation from his New York apartment on Tuesday, because not only Groff, but his other “Merrily” co-star, Lindsay Mendez, was also nominated, for featured actress.
“People in your line of work probably get bored of actors talking about how much they love each other, how much they enjoy working with each other,” said Radcliffe, who is best known for playing Harry Potter onscreen. “And we do say it a lot, but this group is really awesome — Lindsay, Jonathan, the whole cast. I feel so lucky.”
You recently were the ring bearer at Lindsay’s wedding, for which Jonathan served as the officiant. How did that come about?
It’s what I do in the show — when Jonathan and Katie Rose Clarke are getting married, I’m the ring bearer. So we were in Lindsay’s dressing room on the Saturday or Sunday before she got married, and she just offhandedly was like, “Would you be the ring bearer?” We found that funny. So I did! But also I suddenly went from going to a wedding with zero responsibilities to going and having to not screw something up; to not drop the rings and suddenly have them flying around Central Park! But it was fine.
All three of you have been with the show since its Off Broadway run in 2022. How has your performance grown and changed?
When we first met, we were getting on really well, but we were still getting to know each other, so we were having to act the friendship more. And now so much of it is just there. That’s not a feeling you get all the time as an actor. It’s rare, and I feel very lucky that I just have to look into Jonathan’s eyes or Lindsay’s eyes and get everything I need to get through whatever moment we’re doing.
What initially attracted you to the “Merrily” role?
When I saw this production in London, I had the reaction of going, “Oh, I’m really right for this part.” I could hear my voice in the character pretty early on. I love musical theater, but it’s not something I’ve done my whole life the way Jonathan and Lindsay have, so the vocal aspects and the musical aspects are the stuff I’ve really enjoyed, especially when the music is as incredible as Sondheim’s. “Franklin Shepard” in particular was pretty challenging to learn initially. But now that it’s in me, it’s incredibly fun.
There’s no challenge in musical theater like a Sondheim patter song.
The first few times I was doing it, it was genuinely terrifying. The one time Off Broadway where it kind of went wrong was one of the most terrifying things that’s ever happened to me onstage.
What happened?
I got ahead of the band by like half a beat, so I was out of sync with them for — it felt like 30 seconds, but it was probably less. Thankfully there are enough musical things happening in that song that I recognized one of them and was able to reorient myself.
Who is the person you’ve been most nervous to have come see the show?
Meryl Streep was in the audience one night, and I was very thrilled to find that out after the show was finished.
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INTERVIEW from Dec. 2, 2023
Actor Christoph Waltz: “Anti-Semitism is a very deep disease in a society. But it's not a fact that you just have to accept."
In an exclusive interview with “NZZ am Sonntag”, the Austrian talks about opera, anti-Semitism in his childhood and neuroses as a family legacy.
Christoph Waltz, do you find films boring?
Christoph Waltz: How did you come up with the idea?
Because you started directing operas after over 120 films and two Oscars.
But not out of boredom! I have always found opera, a story embedded in music, to be extremely interesting. Of course I could pursue this medium at home on the couch with a textbook. But I'm always interested in the activity, the doing. That's why I'm not yet an opera director. There are plenty of great ones out there.
So why do you stage operas?
You always talk about intention and approach, but you also have to be given the chance to implement it. And Aviel Cahn, the director of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, was looking for someone who could tell a compelling story. He didn't ask me because he expected an incredibly innovative concept that would revolutionize opera.
In a conversation with Daniel Barenboim you described yourself as a “conservative fart”. Is this a good starting point for staging an opera in 2023?
I said that because I am following with some interest how a new convention has become established in the cultural world. Look, the iconoclasm has long since been done. All texts are deconstructed. In principle, almost all theoretical approaches have been exhausted. What are you doing now?
Tell us.
Anyone who claims to be iconoclastic or unconventional is simply conforming to this new convention. And as a viewer I'm disappointed because I already suspected that.
That doesn't sound conservative. By conservative I would imagine that you keep something as it is.
May I be very rude: That's just how you imagine it. Words are filled with meanings and we are attached to them.
How do you imagine it?
For me, a work does not have to be new in its form. It's about the viewer. The work is intended to enable him to find a small gap in his beautifully crafted imagination and to let a little light shine through there. I prefer to sit back and be served in the “Kronenhalle”, it costs just as much and takes just as long.
Christoph Waltz
The most elegant of all villains
Born in Vienna in 1956, Waltz grew up in a family of theater makers and psychoanalysts; he has the same stepfather as the director Michael Haneke. Waltz studied singing and acting. He won an Oscar each for “Inglourious Basterds” and “Django Unchained” by Quentin Tarantino. Since then he has been known as a cool, elegant villain.
Richard Strauss' “Rosenkavalier” moves in a time-schizophrenia. A past is imagined, but with waltz sounds that didn't exist back then, and it's about topics that are relevant today, such as #MeToo. What are you after?
I don't have to follow what's already in the story, it's there. And I wouldn't like to claim that I'm so much smarter than Hugo von Hofmannsthal or Richard Strauss that I have to help things along. Although when it comes to Hofmannsthal, I'm not what you would call a fan. The year in which “Rosenkavalier” was performed was the year in which Schönberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire” was written. Hofmannsthal indulged in Kakanien for a bit.
Christoph Waltz rehearsing “Rosenkavalier” at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Dougados Magali
In the k.-u.-k. During the monarchy, Vienna's cultural identity was very Jewish. It was the time of Sigmund Freud, Karl Kraus, Oskar Kokoschka, Joseph Roth. Did this mean there was less anti-Semitism in Vienna?
I'm not sure about this. I experienced anti-Semitic things myself as a school child in Vienna. But they weren't problematized in the 1960s. I had a teacher who told my best friend in geography class to stop making stupid Jewish jokes. Nobody was outraged back then. The teacher was just an old Nazi and an idiot, we knew that. My boyfriend didn't mind at all either. I was more itchy than him.
Because your own father's mother was Jewish?
No. Nobody has tied their identity to humiliation. It wasn't scratched.
How is identity determined? At the family? Your grandfather, Rudolf Urbantschitsch, was a psychoanalyst, your grandmother an actress.
A psyche, especially a child's psyche, is occupied with concepts that this brain did not produce on its own. This is inevitable. This is how we shape our personality and our identity. But this is different than one that is consciously and intentionally accepted due to external circumstances.
You need to explain this in a little more detail.
I mean, this identity politics today isn't really about identity. It is identity. I haven't thought this through carefully, but I'll say it anyway: it's more about an agenda than an identity.
Since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict on October 7th, the German cultural scene has been forced to position itself.
This compulsion is akin to the formation of a new convention that we spoke about earlier. Nobody asks exactly, and nobody is interested in the facts. But everyone wants to represent something. Because they don't know exactly what, they just represent themselves. And since they don't have much to do with it, it's made all the more loud and extreme. This is a tragic development that can definitely be attributed to the decline in educational standards.
That's why you're worried about the state of our culture?
The viewer's judgment is hindered. We can only make progress through the judgment of the observer.
Her grandfather coined the phrase: “Neurosis is the emblem of culture.” Was he right?
I think this is a “sound bite” that was already used for marketing back then. This opinion puts me at odds with my siblings, who view the matter with more reverence. My grandfather sometimes formulated something cryptically, not least because he wanted to cover up his less-than-scientific approach.
Why do you view him critically?
That was his conflict with Freud. That Freud said he wasn't scientific. They were together in the Vienna Psychoanalytic Association. My grandfather was, in a sense, a student of Freud. But who wasn't in psychoanalysis at that time?
Was it and was it considered good manners in Vienna to be somewhat neurotic?
Can I say: There are more psychotherapists and psychoanalysts in Zurich than in Vienna. And significantly more.
But any amateur Freudian would be delighted with you because you first married a psychoanalyst and then a costume designer - which was your mother's job.
Yes. Of course all of this influenced me. That would have been the case if my grandfather had been a locksmith and my mother had been a physicist. Everything that has happened to you shapes you. So we all need to be a little more careful about what we do with it.
What do you mean?
Because we are not simply the victims of our conditioning. If we are interested in a particular matter, we must handle the matter responsibly. You have options for action. This also applies to anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is a very deep disease in a society. But that doesn't mean it's a fact that you just have to accept. Even if you are an anti-Semite yourself. You could also leave it be. This is available to you.
Don't you overestimate us humans?
The question would be: How can I, on my own initiative, decide that it would be much more beneficial not only for myself, but for the general public to let it go?
And how is that supposed to succeed?
No idea. It is the task of those who have already recognized this to show others these possibilities. And not as a moral obligation, but as a practical possibility. This is how cognitive behavioral therapy works. You don't say: You're bad. Because that is – speaking of childhood – the best way to create opposition and neuroses.
Art has to play a role here. The mass medium of film in particular has a very significant impact on young people. But when the threshold of shame falls and the level of education falls, what can art do?
I'm afraid art can't change much. And I fear something even worse: that's not what art is intended for.
Rather?
Art is a way into a dimension that we cannot reach any other way.
But something could happen to me there that reminds me: Be the individual you believe you are. And act accordingly instead of what a group tells you to do.
Of course, you are right. Art can open up a perspective on problematic topics. But she cannot agitate, i.e. reverse the dynamic and intervene didactically.
She could, but she shouldn't.
It can create nothing but vehement opposition if someone throws this thing in my face. Art can only invite me, as a viewer or listener, into this dimension, and I must also be able to venture into it. The change is up to the viewer. But the artist cannot force this on me.
As an actor, you have to trust that the finished film will open doors like that. It is, so to speak, beyond your responsibility how your role affects the audience.
But it is my responsibility to give you a response. Your own and not something I would ask of you. It is a great responsibility not to stand in front of the role and the story and say that you think I, Christoph, are great. But to make room – ultimately for you. But this is one thing that is currently not being taken care of.
So, is your defining characteristic as an actor and director is humility?
I almost said arrogance. But that's not it either. But it is by no means modest.
What then?
It's a completely different consideration: how I open the content. And how I invite you into the content.
You actually want to be repelled by the Bond villain Blofeld, who you played, but you can't. That's one such reaction.
Wondering why you can't manage to dislike the villain? I can't get any higher praise. Because you're asking yourself that, but not me.
They wouldn't even be able to answer it.
No, I don't know what brings you to this.
Why do you like playing these elegant, chilly villains so much?
I don't live out evil. If I played a murderer and wanted to live that out, I would have to go kill someone now. As an actor, I synchronize myself with a story, like you do when you read a novel, for example.
Christoph Waltz as a 20-year-old in the children's show “Amdamdes”
youtube
You studied singing, you can play the cello, piano, saxophone and guitar and you almost became a musician. Is the emotional, romantic opera your balance to your villain roles?
Already. But maybe not for the reasons you mentioned.
Then why?
Because of the music. What is inside her alone. It gives what is being told an additional dimension. Although in the case of “Rosenkavaliers” Strauss may not be at the top of his craft in terms of craftsmanship. The fans had condemned him for this work after his “Elektra”. It's too banal. Not that I have a bad conscience - but I ask myself: Can I really allow myself to talk about Strauss like that?
Why not? As a director, Strauss is your work material.
No, not material, but leadership.
This is too humble an attitude.
Well, I'll allow that, please. Thanks. I'll take advantage of that. This may pose a risk if I don't question the source. But I believe that just as I hinder your viewing when I stand in front of a role as an actor, I hinder your reception when I stand in front of a work as a director.
Are you against interpretation?
If I wanted to put a context on this that I claim I am the only one to recognize, and compel you to share that view, it would be for me as an old practitioner developing a worldview as if the horse was being bridled from the tail.
The music also provides a reading.
There are directors like Michael Haneke who reject music in their films because they say it is a rule for the viewer, a misdirection into emotionality. A film without music is still a film. If you take the music away from the opera, it's no longer opera.
In “Rosenkavalier” Baron Ochs is a terrible philanderer, but he sings very sweetly and naively.
Assuming that you are in a relationship, if you could sometimes smack your partner against the wall, would that mean you love them less at that moment? Definitely not. Conversely, it could be that you can't stand him right now, but in moments you are carried away by a reaction, a behavior. No person who wants to claim to be human consists of only one characteristic.
And you also find that in “Rosenkavalier”?
“Rosenkavalier” is such an incredibly psychologically nuanced piece that the whole Mozartkugel packaging in which we are always fobbed at it doesn’t come close to capturing the dimension of its humanity.
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Hi! I was wondering if I could get matched up with a Hazbin Hotel character
• My pronouns are she/her
• I am bisexual
• I'm quite reserved and introverted, one to Belen's into the crowd and not one to stand
out, but once you get to know me I can be very open and expressive. An introverted theater kid essentially. I'd also say l'm pretty kind, but can also be sarcastic. I can also be a bit mischievous as l like to do random stuff because I think it's funny. Despite all this I'm still a more lower energy person and am pretty calm, the mediator and quite mature I'm told). The therapist friend who also needs a therapist if you will. But that more hyper part of me definitely comes out more intensely if something I like is involved
• My interests are in drawing, writing, engineering, and ESPECIALLY music as I have a very large imagination and am constantly thinking up new scenarios with different characters. I also loves rocks and have a rock collection, and find interest in other small things that I'll dip my toes into (like abandoned Disney animatronics, mechanics of roller coasters, Ancient Rome history, etc) but I also love media such as anime (Naruto specifically), NATM, Hamilton, Greatest Showman, and more
• I am also an INFJ
• Uh... I have epilepsy (not photosensitive), I get very socially anxious depending on the scenario but am getting better about it, don't like fake people, and I have trust issues. I am also in a choir
I hope this is enough information for you! ^^
HI!!! Yes its enough!
I’ve decided to pair you with….VAGGIE!
Vaggie LOVES that you’re introverted. So is she! She’d rather have someone who blends into the crowd. It takes less attention away from her constantly.
She also loves that you can be yourself when you open up to her, especially if you are truly kind to her!
She loves theatre too! She would always sing with you, and definitely a shower singer!
She likes that you also have a kick to you! It shows that you don’t always need her to stand up for yourself.
Although she doesnt say anything about the random things, at times she’ll find it funny. She needs something that wont make her life boring??
And if you are willing to listen to her talk, and be her therapist? She’d love you.
It was bad after the exterminations, but losing her eye and falling? She never would confide in anyone.
And she NEEDS to.
She loves that you have multiple interests! And would totally ask you to write stories of you both together with some drawings. She’d probably ask you to read it to her.
Engineering? Thats so cool! She’d think you’d be a great addition to the hotel. :)
She loves to sing too, and if you guys sang love duets, her heart would melt.
She would LOVE to hear about the stuff you love. Like why do you have a rock collection?? What do they symbolize?? Oh a new show you like? Whats it about ??
She would help you thru anything you need! If you confided in her about epilepsy ? This girl is ON TOP OF EVERYTHING. She’ll make sure you are always taken care of. 😍
~~~
Hopefully thats okay!
#hazbin hotel x reader#hazbin lilith#hazbin cherri bomb#hazbin nifty#hazbin vaggie#hazbin charlie#hazbin angel dust#hazbin husk#hazbin alastor#hazbin hotel#hazbin lucifer#hazbin vox#hazbin velvette#hazbin carmilla#hazbin zestial#hazbin rosie#hazbin adam#hazbin sera#hazbin lute#hazbin emily#hazbin spoilers
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Hiii! So, I'm kinda nervous to try but I wanna try the whole matchmaking thing for DC if you don't mind?
So, I'm 5'1, have shoulder length fluffy black hair, I have brownish yellow skin, have a scar above my left eyebrow from some stitches I got there, and dark-ish brown eyes.
I'd say I'm an energetic person, but at the same time have almost no energy for anything if that makes sense? I'm energetic if it's something I like, tired 24/7 otherwise. I'm self diagnosed with Autism and ADHD, waiting on an official diagnosis when I have the money for it. My favorite colors are green, blue, purple, red and black. I like dancing, singing, am super into music, learning how to skateboard right now, I love riding bikes, I am obsessed with reading, I enjoy theatre and am probably a theatre kid. I also like watching anime. I don't really have any close friends, but I do have a lot of friends and acquaintances! I'm a social butterfly and can Yap about anything I'm passionate about. I'm bisexual (masc leaning) and Genderfluid. I love animals and currently do ballet. I'm also a math whiz and a science whiz.
My fashion sense leans on more goth, punk, emo, alt, and Cottagecore. I constantly wear platforms and spiked rings, sometimes dangly earrings. I also wear fingerless gloves a lot. And I mostly wear black.
I dunno what else I can use to describe myself, so I hope this is enough?
Your DCU Ship: Tim Drake
Explanation: starting off with physical attraction, I think he would be very attracted to you. He’s not much taller than you. He’s about 5 inches taller than you and I think that he likes that you’re shorter than him because it’s often hard to find a person that is shorter than him.  he would also probably find your scars pretty bad ass cool and definitely ask lots of questions about where you got them and if you were ever insecure about your scars, he would just tell you how cool they make you look. he also thinks that your brown eyes are really pretty, and if you ever tried to insist that they were just plain brown eyes, and there was nothing special about them then he would definitely start comparing them to all sorts of pretty brown things like the rich soil of the earth or the darkest chestnut wood, chocolate, and coffee or things like that. yes this does make sense. I’m kind of a similar person and also I think that you and Tim would be a great balance. He’s always kind of tired and he doesn’t really sleep or he’s alarm clocks and he’s always kind of drained so I think that you guys will make a good couples, especially with your constant energy. I feel like it would energize him a bit, and he would make you a little bit less chaotic and give you a little bit more motivation to do things. If you were ever tired because it was a boring day then I’m sure he would make coffee with you and then try to cheer you up a little bit and you guys will be just cute little coffee, grumpy people together. He would also totally do a lot of outdoorsy activities with you even though he’s more of a stay and read person. He’s more of an introvert so I feel like your social butterfly would kind of bring him out of that a little bit and he could help you kind of not overwhelming yourself with social interaction. also, if you’re into math and science, you guys would totally geek out together like I feel like you would be so cool. You guys could just go into a room and talk for hours about that stuff and never get bored and I feel like he’d be very happy that you share some of those more similar hobbies to him and I mean he is literally a better detective than Bruce Wayne himself. He’s extremely intelligent so he would love discussing those things with you, as a kid, he listens to musicals. I feel like not a theater kid himself, but he would listen to musicals with you, and I feel like he would listen to his musicals on his own anyway, and he would come to all of her shows and always be super supportive. he also really loves your fashion taste and I feel like that’s kind of what made you stick out to him in the first place as he was like oh my gosh that person is so cool and I’m such a nerd. I’m such a dork like and he was super awkward approaching you and then you approach him and started talking to him and he probably got pretty flustered and awkward and I don’t know. I just feel like it would kind of be a really funny interaction for you to guys to have because I mean, I have a theory that he’s incredibly confident as red Robin his superhero persona but when he’s Tim Drake, he is so awkward man. He cannot hold a conversation and then red Robin. He’s like so smooth talking that’s my theory. anyway yall r cutieee 💙
#urlocalnonbinarybastardwritesanswers#tim drake x you#tim drake hcs#tim drake headcanons#tim Drake#the bat boys dc#dc univerise online#dc fandom#dc#dc robin#dcu#dc comics#dc universe
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I just went to the kny premiere and this is my OOTD.
Since my hair is partially dyed pink, I went for a Mitsuri inspired look. I braided my hair, wore her shirt (that I got from the swordsmith premiere) and wore all her colors (pink white jacket, green skirt, and flower patterned socks.) Also close up of my pink hair below.
I got this idea when me and my friend were window shopping for clothes. We were talking abt which clothes the kny characters would wear and which ones our oc would wear too, so that's how we thought of doing some casual cosplay during the priemere.
My friend went for a subtle Tengen look, with a simple black outfit, since Tengen doesnt wear a haori. He also wore some jewelry as an homage to Tengens flashiness. He also loves Zenitsu so ofc he wore a Zenitsu bag.
The theater has less people and wasn't as lively as the Swordsmith premiere, probably cuz we went at the wrong time, but hey, more room for us to be unhinged without disrupting anyone tho haha. (I was sad not to see any cosplayers, we intended to bring our cosplayer friend too, but she was busy)
There was a display so we took lots of pictures. We even made sure to stand next to our fictional crushes, me with Giyuu and my friend with Tengen.
Anyways here's what I thought abt the movie so far
-first of all I LOVE IT. I have no idea how much I miss seeing the rest of the characters so much. The Hashira Training arc is an arc that I really adore, bc it's one of the few moments where we get to see the characters slow down a bit. My friend says he finds it to be the most boring arc, but idk, with all the action in KNY I dig for some "boringness" once in awhile. Also we were joking abt how this arc is like the "school festival arc" or "beach episode" of KNY, again, one of the reasons to love this arc.
-I Never thought much about Sanemi and Obanai's dynamic before. I just know they are a besties, but this filler really made me interested in them! Snake breathing and Wind breathing visuals were just sooo cool!!
-Have I mention that I miss the cast so much, but also I find myself foaming at the mouth everytime I see Giyuu 💀🤣 I noticed that there seems to be a sad piano music that's playing when he was trying to leave the meeting (I wonder if that is his ost) meanwhile my friend is foaming at the mouth everytime he sees Tengen.
-I feel bad for anyone in the butterfly estate who had to sleep next to Zenitsu and Inosuke. XD
-Also it's so nice to see some Kanao and Shinobu moment! Shinobu looks extra gorgeous I noticed. They really yassified her this season, and I'm not complaining. Also I like how even after Giyuu left, Shinobu tried her best to include him when they were discussing the pillar training. I wish they didnt cut it short though, I wanna know what they talk about Giyuu behind close doors so bad lol.
-Mitsuri's "Tanjiro speech" was so well executed and adorable, and just when I thought it couldn't get more expressive in the manga, then they even added her ost, and it was just perfect! Kanahana knock it out of the park with this one too! Even if there weren't alot of people watching. I did hear some giggles in this scene (including ourselves)
-Overall, it was a very satisfying watch. I really enjoy this arc for being some of the slower moments before the storm that is the final arc, and I think they managed to nail that! All the little things such as the filler of Tamayo being informed about Shinobu helping her, and some scenes that were rearranged, made the flow of the story go more smoothly.
-Also yes the op really slaps.
Speaking of our cosplayer friend that we mentioned before, after we were done with movie, it's almost as if there was some fate or foreshadowing going on bc we did end up stumbling upon her (though not in cosplay) and we ended up going back to take better pictures with her in it!
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Circle, Circle: Dieter Bravo X f!reader
A/n: written for my @yearofcreation2023 Year of Kisses. This prompt was a kiss for comfort, and a whole lot of real life happened between when I started this and now. This is a love letter to the theater nerds I knew in high school and the theater nerd I became later in life. This one turned out different than I thought it would. This story refused to be smutty. This story refused to be sexy. I don't make the rules. Inspired largely by this.
warnings: drug and alcohol use, angst, implied fatphobia, insecurity, cuddles and fluff, being dieter's best friend implies it's own warning.
You saw the clip. Annika belting Dieter in the chops in the middle of some posh party while Kate looked on with the kind of face you make when your drunken best friend barfs in a potted plant at your parents house.
You never loved me! You never loved me at all! Dieter's hands thrown up in self defense, grinning at the cameras as security goons hook their arms around Annika's waist and pull her out of the shot. Day in the life.You saw the clip and knew what was coming. Dieter fuckin Bravo.
You've known D since middle school, gravitating towards each other because no one else wanted anything to do with either of you. The girls called you stupid and fat and ugly. The boys called him faggot. So you'd banded together, smoking cigarettes you stole out of your Gramma's dresser, smoking shake-weed out of pop-can pipes at the edge of school grounds, right under that stupid sign that read 'drug free school zone' and then kicking it into the tall grass when some terminally bored teacher's aide came to round up you and D and the rest of the burnouts. Nobody ever gave you more than the cursory straighten up and fly right speech. Neither of you were actively failing so no one cared. Then, in high school Dieter discovered the theater program and so did you.
You saw the clip and knew your phone would ring eventually. Or buzz rather. Coming home, he texts. Can you pick me up? Sure. What time? Knowing exactly what will happen. He'll say he won't be any trouble, that he'll book a room at the holiday inn and you'll tell him no and invite him to stay. Because you always do. Because home has turned on him for getting out. He's won an Oscar out in the world, but here? He's sneered at, deep well of contempt for those who strike out and fail and come home licking their wounds. Who does he think he is? Who do you think you are? Hurts less for you because you never tried to leave as much as you wanted to.
You should try out, you told him. If I'm trying out you should too, he told you. Little Shop of Horrors. He was gunning for Seymour so you learned Audrey, so you could practice the songs with him. I can't try out are you kidding me? You can, D told you, you sound...rested his hand on your upper arm the way someone might touch a live nuclear warhead. You sound good. We sound good together. You know that right? And inside you do. The way his voice weaves through yours, the way you can let go when it's just the two of you. His garage or your basement, singing over the piano track the music teacher made.
He's a mess. He looks about four days out from his last shower, his curls sticking up in greasy quills, his eyes are red-rimmed, from drugs or crying, you can't tell. This is how it is for him. He fucks up spectacularly and then he comes slinking home. No one cares here. No one gives a shit about his Oscar here. Just that no good Bravo boy limping home like a kicked dog. But you care. Dragging his carry-on along behind him, broad shoulders slumped, you feel that unwilling, unwitting spike of pity lodge in your chest.
They'd laughed. At the audition. When you and Dieter took your positions on stage, a bit of rough blocking you'd worked out between the two of you. Not loud braying laughter, snickers and titters of girls expecting a debacle and you feel your chest constrict and your eyes burn--
"Lift up your head
Wash off your mascara
Here, take my Kleenex, wipe that lipstick away
Show me your face, clean as the morning
I know things were bad, but now they're okay--"
But Dieter has you, grips your chin with finger and thumb just like you practiced, those big brown eyes terrified and deadly serious hold yours as he draws you to your feet. Audrey's lines pour out of you in a rush, the accompaniment a hair slower than the recording, I blew it, I blew the song and then you find the tempo, you find your voice and it rings out like it did all the times you and Dieter ran it together, belting it over the cast recording, rings out into the dark auditorium, the way you've heard it in your head this whole time, and you feel your skin prickle as Dieter's voices threads through yours like a grounding touch, and you finish together, singing into each other's faces.
The accompaniment stops and there's polite applause.
"You saw?"
"Everybody saw--"
"Fuck."
He smells like stale beer, fast food and no sleep.
"You knew it wasn't gonna last with her right?" You keep your eyes on the road, but you can feel D bristle in the passenger's seat.
"How do you mean?"
"Come on, man, she's, like, half your age. Even if you hadn't cheated on her with Kate--"
"Hey--"
"You and her have nothing in common other than being trapped in that weird quarantine bubble," you say, "That's not love, that's fucking Stockholm syndrome."
"You're probably right."
"I'm always right. Haven't you figured that out by now?"
"This is some bullshit!" Dieter jabs a chipped black fingernail at the list of names tacked to the bulletin board outside the auditorium. "Your name is nowhere on that list. We sounded so good together! They--"
"Dieter it's fine," you say.
"They cast Emmy Lancaster as Audrey! What the fuck?"
"Emmy's fine. She's got a nice voice."
"Yeah, but she's not you! How'm I gonna do it if it's not you?"
"D! Stop it!"You grab him by his upper arms and shake him a little, and those big brown eyes lock onto yours and he looks like he's drowning. "You've got this. I know you, dude, you're gonna be great." His eyes flick back and forth like he's searching for something.
"Will you still run lines with me?"
"Of course I will, you asshole."
"You hungry?"
"Starving."
"Mabels?"
"Mabels."
"Oh, man, I forgot how good this is."
You and Dieter order the same thing as ever, garbage omelets with and order of biscuits and gravy split between you. D slathers his plate in hot sauce and you wrinkle your nose like you always do. And the question comes up as it always does. Can I stay with you? Just for a little bit-- and the answer is always yes, because D is a disaster but he's your disaster.
He's held your hair while you puked, you babied him when his girl dumped him right before senior prom. You ran lines together, even though you couldn't act with him. You don't have the right look for Audrey, they told you, but we do need a stage manager, and you threw yourself into it even though it hurt, because what where you expecting? And you had a knack for it, which surprised you and everyone else.
The Audrey Two puppets were rented, but everything else had to be built and you found that you loved it, sketching out the sets, figuring out how to make the pieces light enough for you and the half-dozen other nerds you'd press-ganged into being stage crew to lift easily. We can do most of it with scrims, paint right on the fabric and then light it on from the back, or we could project the images right on them, like what Nine Inch Nails does. We can get with the AV club, see what they think.
"You can always stay with me, Dieter." You reach across the sticky table and wrap your hand around his forearm, "You know that right?" And there's a flicker across his face that says no, and it feels like a spike in your belly--
"Everyone's saying-- Christ. It's like everything I touch turns to shit."
"C'mon, that's crap and you know it, Hunger Strike--"
"That was different!" He surges forward and takes your hands in his, a bit of coffee sloshed between you, turned ears and cocked heads of the few patrons haunting Mabel's this time of night. "I had something there! It was like, something entirely outside of me--"
"Like catching lightning in a bottle?"
"Exactly like that!" And he smiles, brilliantly, the real one, not the cool little smirk reserved for the red carpet, for the press junkets, the smile that lights him up, the one you remember from way back when the lights came up and the orchestra played the main theme, the cast linked arm and arm, ready to take their bows and Dieter broke ranks, deviated from what you'd done in the previews, running the show for a cadre of bored teachers who'd rather be doing just about anything else, he sees you in the wings and catches your eye, waves you out two handed, a huge clownish gesture that requires a response, so you and the tech crew pour onto the stage, while the actors slide down to make room for you and you dip your outstretched hands to the orchestra and raise them again to the soundboard and spot operator the way you've seen every night this run and then everyone links arms and bows in a wave and suddenly Dieter's arms are locked around you, releases you and then turns to the crowd, raises your hand and his together, as the applause comes up.
"Do you know how that feels?" And you remember the way you and him sounded together, how Audrey poured out of your lungs like she had always been there--
"Yeah, D, I do," and his eyes flicking back and forth across your face still and hold yours, his hands warm in your grasp.
"Yeah," he says, and squeezes your fingers in his, "Yeah, I think you do." And you stay like that a beat, hands folded together across the sticky table, ancient cigarette smoke and old coffee and hand sanitizer. The waitress brings the check. One of Mabel's spray tanned granddaughters. You draw your hands away like you've been caught.
You've kissed Dieter exactly once, under the much-graffitied overpass, neon slurs and pentagrams and pigeon shit, both of you drunk on Wild Irish Rose, him smelling of weed and his mouth was warm, tentative against yours, and you'd laughed about it afterwards, circle-circle dot-dot now i've got my cootie shot, and you'd leaned together with your arms around each other, warm and solid against each other.
During tech week you'd pulled double duty, running lines with Dieter because outside of the auditorium Emmy Lancaster wouldn't even look at him, rolled her eyes all through rehearsal as if she was doing the world a favor by being there. She wanted nothing to do with him outside of scheduled rehearsals and Dieter was scared. The tech crew you'd rounded up was a different story all together, the lights are down and they can't see us so go nuts, so backstage you'd gone full goth, all black and dramatic makeup, and some of the others had followed suit, a little bit of rebellion behind the curtain where no one could look at you.
After one particularly grueling night, you and Dieter find yourselves side by side on the futon in your basement. Your bedroom proper is upstairs but your folks have let you build a nest down here so won't bother the rest of the house. They've mostly given up on you but that gives you some freedom.
"I don't know what I'm doing," he says, looking up at the crappy drop ceiling and glow in the dark stars that you've decorated it with. "Emmy hates my guts. She thinks I'm a creep. How'm I supposed to make this work?"
"Pretend she's me."
"What?"
"Pretend. She's. Me. You're good singing and running lines with me, so just imagine it's me and not Emmy fuckin Lancaster up there with you."
"Will that work?"
"Dude, I don't fuckin know, but you better figure it out quick. We open in a week."
The ride home is silent save for the scrape of windshield wipers, low, warm spit of rain, winding back roads and Dieter's fallen asleep, head turned away, slumped against the window, comes blearily awake at the sound of your tires on the gravel driveway.
"Hey, D, we're home." He stretches in the passenger's seat and yawns hugely.
"I can still get a hotel. I don't want to be a problem--"
"Too late. C'mon."
You fall asleep under fake plastic glowing stars and wake to find you and him wrapped together, his forehead pressed to yours, your arms tucked around his ribs, his hand folded over the curve of your hip, his breath warm against your face, and you're not sure how this makes you feel, because you've never been close with someone quite like this and you're not sure what might happen next, but at the same time this is Dieter and you've known each other for what feels like a million years and he looks so different asleep, face all slack like a little kid who's zonked out in the back on the car on some long road trip.
"I'll take the couch."
"The fuck you will. I know the wire-work on Cliff Beasts 6 tweaked your back."
"Was it that obvious?"
"I could tell."
"You can always tell."
"D. Hey, D." You try to squirm out of his grip without waking him, but you haveto resort to a good hard poke in the ribs. His eyes fly open and the two of you launch up and out of bed and away from each other like two magnets forced pole to pole.
"hoooomygod. Oh shit I'm so sorry, I didn't mean--"
"Dude, it's okay, I didn't mean either-"
"I was just so tired holy shit," his eyes are wide and his cheeks are fire engine red and you can feel the embarrassment and anxiety pouring off him like radiation. You start laughing. You can't help it.
"What?"
"You remember that scene from Planes, Trains & Automobiles?" Dieter brays laughter and the embarrassment flicks out like a candle flame.
You offer your hand and he takes it. You lead him upstairs. You need to get cleaned up. You smell like the floor of a taxi-cab, and Dieter laughs, a small one that just barely touches his eyes, his big be-ringed hand folded around yours, stroking your knuckles with the pad of his thumb, eyes down-turned.
"You always let me come back to you. No matter how bad I fuck up. You don't have to- you shouldn't--"
"Don't tell me what I should or shouldn't do Dieter Bravo. You can always come to me. Unless you become a serial killer. Which seems unlikely considering how squeamy blood makes you."
Dieter laughs, a real one this time, that dimples his scruffy cheek and crinkles his eyes closed, and he knows you're talking about the time in Mrs. Wilson's home economics class when Lola Stevens sliced her thumb opening a can of peaches to make cobbler and Dieter got one good look at the running blood and slithered bonelessly out of his chair, eyes rolled up to the whites.
He laughs and pulls you into a crushing hug, his arms banded around your back, pressing you into him and it catches you off guard and you stumble against him, sorry. I didn't mean, and you don't give him space to elaborate, tuck your face into his neck, wind your arms just as tight around his middle. He smells like skunk weed and whiskey sweat and fast food and exhaustion but also like home, like those fevered days leading up to opening night, like when your first serious boyfriend had dumped you, like when he'd held your hair while you puked in the weeds by the side of the road, walking back home from a kegger that he cops broke up, the two of you creeping into the basement, got you a big sweating plastic tumbler of water in the ugly yellow light from the range hood, his eyes big and dark and serious, afraid of waking the rest of the house, and laughter had come bubbling up silent giggles that he caught like the plague, did you see the way Greggie ran?-- shut up you're gonna get us caught--
"Christ I missed you."
"Missed you too, D, but you really need to shower."
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah, that bad."
With some coaxing Dieter sleeps beside you, curled away from your nightstand lamp. Can't ever sleep without reading a little first, a horror yarn you've read a half-dozen times, plucky hero and damsel in distress threaded through with Dieter's even breath. He looks oddly frail in the soft light, back hunched in and knees tucked up like he's cold. You kill the light and slide the book under your pillow. You already know how it ends.
You kill the light and tuck yourself against his broad back, slide your arm around and his hand finds yours, folds your fingers into his, tucked against his chest. He smells like your soap and your shampoo because his toothbrush and a hair-clotted razor were the only toiletries that made it into his tangle of luggage. Walmart, you think, need to go anyway. You feel him soften, relax into your embrace, his weight settling against you, press your lips to the back of his head before tucking your face into the warm join of his shoulder.
His voice, sleep heavy and slurred-"Did you just kiss me?"
"Circle-circle, dot-dot"
#year of kisses#year of themes 2023#better late than never#dieter bravo x f!reader#dieter bravo best friend imagine#dieter bravo#pedro pascal
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Hi, Sorry If This Has Been asked before . I am looking for stories where they break up in the storybut get back together. the breakup is not the main point of the story it just happens..like Syrup and Honey? I checked the Reunited!Klaine tag but a lot of them started at a breakup, I'd like the breakup to happen in the middle. sorry if I'm making less sense, English isn't my first language.
Sorry for the delay in this one, most fics will have them get together, then break up in middle and get together at end. Here are a few. @heartsmadeofbooks definitely uses this structure well! Here are two more of her fic, but check the rest of her fics out. ~Jen
Sitting, waiting and wishing By @heartsmadeofbooks
Kurt Hummel can't find a man worth dating to save his life. Tired of waiting for his elusive Prince Charming, Kurt decides to start a family on his own. But what if Prince Charming is neither opportune nor charming? Kurt is about to start a journey in which romance and fatherhood might go in different directions, and Blaine Anderson might as well be an obstacle… or a destination.
~~~~~
Underneath it all By @heartsmadeofbooks
Blaine first meets the mysterious Kurt Hummel at his brother's engagement party, and he's immediately struck by the quiet, handsome stranger. He doesn't expect their paths to cross again, but when life gives an unexpected turn, Kurt might be the only one with the power to help him save everything he cares about.
~~~~~
Someone Like You by @iconicklaine
Kurt and Blaine keep up their very own version of “When Harry Met Sally” for years, a friendship fraught with sexual tension and longing, until the agendas of Adele (yes, THE Adele), a bored NY socialite and a super-sweet hetero couple bring our boys together. The only problem is… they’re both in committed relationships. TW: infidelity
~~~~~
Butterfly Wings By @hkvoyage
A fashion blog started at University launched Blaine Anderson’s fortune and fame. As Vogue’s new editor-in-chief, he is struggling to find an original angle for an upcoming issue. Kurt Hummel has recently arrived in New York City after finishing high school, and is having no luck building a musical theater career, so he decides to explore another passion of his: fashion. He applies for an internship at Vogue, and Isabelle sees in him the perfect fresh face to liven up the magazine, and convinces him to try out as a model. Kurt meets Blaine, and in spite of their 10-year age difference, sparks fly. Can they overcome misunderstandings and sabotage to find their happily-ever-after? Klaine model AU.
~~~~~
Angel in a Red Vest by dontbefancy
A case of two men, two lives, and two stories and how combining them can change everything. Yeah, it’s a basic love story with a firefighter!Blaine twist…and maybe a little more.
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bro I've never even SEEN the greatest showman but the song from it plays at my work all the time (work at a children's clothing store so its a lot of movie soundtrack stuff) and by GOD its some of the worst shit I ever heard in my LIFE so I'm glad someone shares the same contempt
🤝🤝🤝 YEAH IT SUCKS!!!!!!!! I made the mistake of going to see it in a THEATER with my FAMILY. so I HAD to just SIT THERE while the BORING, PREDICTABLE GARBAGE unfolded before me on the screen. It was the most torturous movie experience I've ever had, and I saw Jurassic World 2 in the theater while I had an aura migraine.
Worse, it had the gall to be PRETTY and boring. I was horrified to imagine how much effort that hundreds of artists had put into this for no good reason besides that Disney wanted to check "expensive star-studded original musical about following your dreams" off of its schedule for that year. The costumes were beautiful. The choreography was lovely. The sets and special effects looked massively expensive.
And I understand that the general target audience of the movie was not history buffs. But they really should've just renamed everyone and called the resemblance to P.T. Barnum "inspiration." I understand that fiction that idealizes ugly histories has always existed but that doesn't make it any less annoying to watch.
When my brother and I got home we just sat around talking about everything it did wrong for like 20 minutes straight. I've never had a harder time, PHYSICALLY, sitting through a movie in my life. I genuinely considered pretending to go to the bathroom just for a change of pace multiple times. GOD I hated that movie.
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-My Personal Mean Girls Movie Musical Song Ranking-
*The ranking will be based on the song in comparison to the Broadway show (how well it changes and/or honors the source material), how good it stands on its own, and my own thoughts. I have not/am not planning on watching the movie so this ranking is purely based off of the soundtrack available. I feel overall neutral when it comes to the OG musical and movie. I will not be counting Not My Fault; it's a bop but not part of the musical.
12. Stupid With Love: Same energy (or lack thereof) as What Ifs. It is very clearly modified to sound like a modern pop song. Just like What Ifs, Kady’s singer is not in a character voice. There are repetitive back vocals added, it reminds me a lot of Toe Jammer from My Singing Monsters. Stupid With Love (movie ver.) is so low energy that it doesn’t really match the situation our main character is in (falling head over heels for a boy in her math class). Much more boring/annoying than What Ifs and overall not a good song, in a pop OR musical setting.
11. Meet the Plastics: A lot less dramatic and a lot more serious/”adult”. The whole song sounds like the start of World Burn (Broadway). Grechen and Karen don't even sing or introduce themselves; it's only Regina. This song takes itself SO DAMN seriously. They do know that the reason Mean Girl’s is a cult classic is its humor and over the top nature, right?
10. Someone Gets Hurt: The song has a Billie Ellish quality to it; it is very soft-spoken for the most part and includes a lot of whisper singing. Someone Gets Hurt sounds very underwhelming, especially when you compare it to the original Broadway song. The song is supposed to be seductive but also powerful and dramatic. I think they only focused on the seductive part. The instrumentals are all toned down so much that it doesn’t fit the scene it is sung in (Regina kissing Katy’s crush, a big betrayal of their “friendship”). Ignoring the context, I don't think it works as a non musical song either.
9. Apex Predator: This cover is a total enigma to me. It is so weird sounding; the singing, instrumentals, tone, background vocals, pacing. Apex Predator is SO all over the place. Maybe it makes sense in the context of the movie? I honestly have no idea what was going on with this song but it didn’t sound…good. No disrespect to Auli’i or Jaquel; they did the best with the direction they were given. Really disappointing considering Apex Predator was a pretty strong song in the Broadway musical.
8. Revenge Party: This song feels a bit disconnected from itself. The instrumentals don't match the singer’s energy, especially Janis’ strong singing voice. This is a song about getting revenge so why does it sound so mellow? Auli'i vocals are really nice in this song but everything else falls pretty flat. Janis saying “Yes, bitch!” did make me chuckle though; caught me a bit off guard.
7. What’s Wrong With Me?: It is fine for what it is; it gets the job done. Not really a lot to say.
6. What Ifs: A new song written for the movie. The song sounds kinda somber and low energy; very different from the upbeat and hopeful song it is replacing, Roar. Angourie Rice has a nice voice; it’s just very soft and fits much better to a genre like pop. Speaking of pop, that is the weirdest part about What Ifs, it doesn’t sound like a musical theater song at all. What Ifs is a totally fine pop song but in my opinion, it fails in the context of a musical. The song tells us pretty much nothing about Katy or her circumstances. It's just a fine pop song.
5. A Cautionary Tale: The first song (and impression) of the Mean Girls musical movie. A lot more edgy sounding; it sounds like the musical was trying to really stray away from the classic Broadway style as much as they could. It has a lot less singing variety (less note variety, belts, etc.) Some of the stuff that they change, I really don't like (like the background oohs and cut of Janis and Damian’s witty banter). It feels more foreboding and boring than fun and exciting.
Less energy, less of a campy atmosphere :(
4. I’d Rather Be Me: Auli'i vocals are great in this but the instrumentals are underwhelming. I don't know why this movie is straying away from loud and powerful musical choices. Mean Girls is all about drama; why isnt that energy showing up in the music? I’m confused and tired.
3. World Burn: Another song that is super dramatic in context but not in execution. Renee’s riffs and belts are awesome (as always). It's not bad but not very good either.
2. Sexy: Thank you Avantika for giving us some much needed joy to the soundtrack💗! She totally embodies Karen in this song. Sexy has a funky instrumental. Sexy in the movie is very fun!
I See Stars: It’s pretty good. The instrumentals match the energy of the song, the singing is great, the background vocals add a lot, it's just an overall good cover.
Songs cut from songs from Broadway: It Roars, Where Do You Belong?, Fearless, Stop, Whose House Is This?, More Is Better, Do This Thing
Overall: I saw this movie making a bit of negative buzz and as a musical theatre nerd, I wanted to know what everyone was talking about. Based off what I've seen/listened to, Mean Girls is a musical that doesn't want to be a musical. This negatively affects the music. Hopefully studios see the reception and improve this movie's flaws in future projects.
#magpieposting#mean girls#renee rapp#mean girls musical#mean girls movie#musical movies#soundtrack#musicals#musical theatre#broadway#regina george#cady heron#theatre kid#tina fey#mean girls 2024
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LU Opera AU
Links, Zeldas and other major characters run a moderately successful opera house/musical theater. Some are onstage, others are in the orchestra pit or are working Behind The Scenes (special effects, costuming, etc)
Wars is the headlining diva singer
I love it
I can see Four and Flora as like, the special effects crew, they handle anything and everything that isn't the actors and they're fantastic at it.
Lullaby is their director/the owner of the opera house, and Time is her trusty right hand who also acts as the choreography director and main stunt writer. He doesn't preform, but he runs the actors through their hoops before they can even think of stepping out onto the stage.
I see Wind less as a performer and more like the gopher, and Legend is less an actor and more a jack-of-all-trades. Costume department had a flummox? Call Legend, he'll fix it. One of the props is missing? Legend will find something you can use until that one shows up again. Someone's sick? Get a wig and a dress, Legend will fill in tonight. Just, dude does everything, but never consistently, and never without complaining at least a little.
Warriors would totally be a diva 100%, but he also works hard for it and puts his all into every role. Blood, sweat, and tears, baby, literally. He loves his work and will do whatever it takes to keep his role and status (short of harming someone else of course)
I see Twilight as playing one of two roles, or potentially both. He's the top stunt guy, but he also does the heavy lifting backstage and helps craft the sets with Four. Both are decent actors to boot, so if they need a large cast, both will fill in roles that suit them (Four ends up playing the villain a lot for some reason) as long as someone else can cover their asses in other departments (Flora had lights/sounds covered, no worries)
Wild is that one actor who plays random roles whenever is needed, and he's a comedy genius. My current manager's husband and I were in theater club together and he was brilliant with turning boring moments into comedy gold, and Wild does this 100%. He's best when paired with Fable (they make a good team in SMASH I hear) and they're a brilliant duo, although Legend threatens Wild about his sister a LOT.
Dusk and Artemis are both Warriors' most common co-stars (besides Twilight, Lullaby likes playing up their contrast with each other on stage) and Dusk takes an almost mentorly role with the younger woman. They and Warriors make up the Diva Trio of the group and are the ones who's names pull in teh most money. The only downside is that while Artemis and Wars can both sing, Dusk cannot and it's kinda acting as a road-block in her career.
For this reason, I can see Malon as a music coach Time hired (and is totally not falling in love with, what are you talking about) who kinda just works beside Ravio (their in house prop maker)to get this group of dedicated idiots to take care of themselves. not that Time's sisters and brothers (Saria and the others) don't try, but they don't work there.
Honestly, i'm running out of ideas. But to finish off Sky would be Time's best student. I mean, his sword-fighting and stunts are through the roof (sometimes literally) and he enjoys most of his work. maybe because he has a sword-fighting instructor outside of work (Fi) but that's beside the point.
Hyrule is the new kid who signed on to help Legend and Ravio with props and costumes and stuff, but he's like, really talented and crap and all the teams are trying to poach him from Leg and Rav, despite how fiercely protective of him they are. He's not exactly comfortable with the idea of performing yet, but everyone is trying to have him at least try (were this a story, warriors would try and coach him, end up mysteriously and plot-relevantly sick/injured and Hyrule would have to heroically step up and fill his role because Legend can't for some reason)
....
Okay that's all I got, sorry for the dump, but inspiration hit me like a lightning bolt to Legend's boat
#theater au#that i definitely will not be writing#linked universe#linkeduniverse#lu warriors#lu twilight#lu four#lu flora#lu fable#lu dusk#lu lullaby#lu artemis#lu hyrule#lu legend#lu sky#lu wild#lu wind#lu time#lu malon#lu ravio#opera house au
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