Where reality and superstition collide

Motionless in White, Ghost, and Steam Powered Giraffe fan. An incorrigible nerd. 33, He/Him, Bisexual. 💙💖🤍💖💙

[shasta-dog]

Is Erik the Phantom of the Opera your comfort character or are you mentally stable?

[glassprism]

One gifset per production of ALW’s The Phantom of the Opera

- Oberhausen

[lingenmustdie]

not a saint, but does he have to be?

[savemefromysolitude]

hello

[nattousan]

ok so, I approached my local library with a proposal to donate a mural as a way to A: build portfolio/gain practical experience and B: give back to a beloved public institution. The director was very enthusiastic about it and i've been working on it since the beginning of March. Come with me as I endeavor to paint what is in all honesty an excessive amount of birds

I wanted the birds to look like they were actually in the space so first thing after doing the draft was to do a lighting study

after that I covered the walls in letters in lieu of a projector/vr headset bc i have neither of those :) Then i take a picture of the section of wall and superimpose the lineart over top of it so I can pencil in the lines

et voila

and that was a whole week on it's own so next comes the paintin' >:)

[nattousan]

and now, the birds

Birds 1 and 2/14: Red Winged Blackbird, Male and female, Agelaius phoeniceus

[nattousan]

Bird 3/14, American Robin, Turdus migratorius

[nattousan]

hoo boy, ok *out of breath*

GIVE IT UP FOR BIRD NUMBUH 5, THE CANADIAN GOOSE, Branta canadensis!!!!

this guy took me about 4 days to completely finish, all of those freakingk coverts were a bear to render

[nattousan]

speaking of obnoxious coverts:

bird 5/14, Bluejay, Cyanocitta cristata

the friggin stripes almost got me chat, i may not make it

[nattousan]

Madam....

[nattousan]

birds 6 and 7: American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, male and female

pleasantly simple to paint! next is the flickerrrrr

[nattousan]

*melts into goo*

BIRD NUMBER 8, (yellow shafted) NORTHERN FLICKERRRRR, Colaptes auratus

genuinely made me start questioning my sanity around day 3, it's half the size the of the goose, WHY did it take me 4 days to finish??

nothing but pain and suffering, i'm sure hope the next bird will be much easier and with FAR less barring :)

[nattousan]

in other news, I am losing my mind hairline

[nattousan]

SHE'S DONE!!

Bird number 9: Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

my chains are broken i am FREE. although i did have a great deal of fun with this, the barring on the wings itself took me like four days and i am READY to move on

this was a week and a half of continuous work so please excuse me for getting a little emotional in the bg 🙏

[nattousan]

*does a little jig*

BIRD NUMBER 10!!! The Male Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos

the male and female ones are gonna be posted separately bc they're taking a lot longer lol but yea! super happy i was able to capture the iridescent green of the head, i found metallic green and blue paint at a craft store that really made his head POP. it looks better in person i promise

ALSO!! As this is the 10th one, BIG announcement. The end is in sight!!!!! I plan to finish within the next 3 weeks and there will be a small dedication ceremony/ unveiling happening at the library to commemorate its completion on the 16th of May. If you live in the Western New York region and want to check it out for yourself shoot me a dm!

Also thank you everyone for your kind words and support throughout this whole process, it's been a genuine treat thinking there are potentially thousands of you out there cheering me on while I paint this 🥹

[bigandlong]

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

[jae-felidae]

Oh hey! Haven’t seen this in forever! Didn’t reblog it when it came across me before, not gonna skip it this time, I need some good vibes.

[wheel-of-fish]

Charles Dance & Teri Polo The Phantom of the Opera (1990)

[libraryleopard]

Some books I would personally recommend for the Trans Rights Readathon (sorry I don't have time for in-depth descriptions)

Transmasc/trans man rep

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Viscera by Gabrielle Squailia

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

Some Strange Music Draws Me In by Griffin Hansbury

Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas

Caroline’s Heart by Austin Chant

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff

How to Get Over the End of the World by Hal Schrieve

The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A.

The House That Whispers by Lin Thompson

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

Always the Almost by Edward Underhill

A Trans Man Walks Into a Gay Bar by Harry Nicholas

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee

Transfemme/trans woman rep

Cheer Up: Love and Pom Poms by Crystal Frasier and Val Wise

For the Love of April French by Penny Wise

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom

Nevada by Imogen Binnie

Little Fish by Casey Plett

Girlmode by Magdalene Visaggio and Paulina Ganucheau

It Gets Better…Except When It Gets Worse (And Other Unsolicited Truths I Wish Someone Had Told Me) by Nicole Maines

Wild Geese by Soula Emmanuel

kitten by Olive Nuttall

Bang Bang Bodhisattva by Aubrey Wood

A Short History of Trans Misogyny by Jules Gill-Peterson

Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary by Toshio Meronek and Miss Major

The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy

Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky

Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero

Tar Hollow Trans by Stacy Jane Grover

Little Blue Encyclopedia (For Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante

A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha Allen

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane

Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada

The Call-Out by Cat Fitzpatrick

OKPsyche by Anya Johanna DeNiro

Nonbinary, Agender, Genderqueer, and Other Gender Expansive Rep

Pantomime by L.R. Lam

Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta

Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing

The Palace of Eros by Caro de Robertis

Sing Anyway by Anita Kelly

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam

Something to be Proud Of by Anna Zoe Quirke

Really Cute People by Markus Harwood-Jones

Homebody by Theo Parish

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

How Far Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith

Manywhere: Stories by Morgan Thomas

Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

Intersectional Trans+ Rep Outside Your Own Experience (obviously depends on your own experience but here are some intersectional books in general)

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

Miss Major Speaks

Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Something to be Proud of by Anna Zoe Quirke

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

How Far Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

2Spirit, Indigiqueer and Indigenous Gender Expansive Rep

Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto

The Flicker by H.E. Edgmon

(I will have to do some more readings in this last section, clearly!)

[cinematvdaily]

Gerard Butler as The Phantom PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (2004) dir. Joel Schumacher

[a-silly-poll-side-blog-yay]

you have to survive a week in the last film you watched, how is it going?

good

bad

great

awful

results

Voting ended onFeb 9

[transgenderpolls]

Trans people who sing: Are you (or were you, pre-hrt/training) dysphoric about your singing voice?

transmasc - yes

transmasc - no, but i am/was dysphoric about my speaking voice

transmasc - no and i'm not dysphoric about my speaking voice either

transfem - yes

transfem - no, but i am/was dysphoric about my speaking voice

transfem - no and i'm not dysphoric about my speaking voice either

other - yes

other - no, but i am/was dysphoric about my speaking voice

other - no and i'm not dysphoric about my speaking voice either

see results

Voting ended onOct 4, 2025

[ahabfrost]

Yes, I was also dysphoric over my speaking voice. Luckily, my voice dropped a lot pretty quickly. I'm not a good singer by any means, but I went from Mezzo to Bass.

[jan-senkii]

masquerade

[brendadaaedestler]

Somehow, it has been over a year since I've done one of my Phantom polls, and @meilas has been harassing me to bring these back. Well, thanks to a conversation with @rose-margaritas, inspiration has finally struck, and I return with a new poll!

Which Phantom would you like to spend a thunderstorm with?

Jeremy Stolle—takes you outside to slow dance in the rain

Jon Robyns—stands in the rain sobbing uncontrollably while you watch

Ben Crawford—watches the storm while "in no way trying to be sexy"

Ben Lewis—cries through reading poetry to you by the fireplace

James Gant—makes you tea and sits with you to watch the storm from the window

Cooper Grodin—will only do anything with his wife, glassprism

Thiago Arancam—locks you outside in the storm without an umbrella

Josh Piterman—the power's out, so he makes you a candlelit dinner

Hugh Panaro—spins around in the rain yelling "WHEEEEEE" at the top of his lungs

Luke McCall—curls up on the sofa with you with a soft blanket, tea, and books

Voting ended onJul 28, 2025

Reblog if you would like to see me create more polls! If you have any requests for another "Which Phantom Would You Like To" poll, go ahead and send me an ask or dm! I enjoy requests!

[997]

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨

Sign the Petition

Defend the Internet Archive

[997]

[celestialrunes]

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOUR DONATIONS ON CHANGE.ORG DO NOT GO TO THE SUBJECT OF THE CAMPAIGN

That means that when you donate, it goes to change.org. Now, this isn't useless — it does mean that the petition gets boosted. However, you're pretty much doing the same thing by reblogging. I am concerned about people donating something like $40 dollars since I'm not sure if they realize it doesn't contribute to the legal fund or not.

If you want to donate to the internet archive's legal fund (and help with operation costs), then you can click here to go their donation page

[callmearcturus]

I saw this without that last bit before. READ THAT LAST BIT.

[lunetheweird]

Thinking about how Erik wasn't just left alone by people, but also had no support system in the century he was born. His traumas would never be taken seriously (specially considering the men in his time), his mental illness would never be treated, he would probably be locked in an asylum and endure horrific torture if he ever tried to search for help. His abusers were protected by this very system and got away with everything they did to him. He was left down by everyone, even in his family, anywhere he went he was met with abuse, discrimination and ableism, and there was no way to escape this monstrous society other than hiding from it.

Thinking about no matter how much Leroux evidenced Erik's humanity, his nuances, the good he was capable of making, how his crimes were circumstantial (and in a lot of cases even forced), but not from thoughtless sadistic satisfaction, how he had no chance of living as a normal person in the world that casted him out like a 'monster'... he will always be a "villain" in the eyes of so many people. Because it's easier to blame one single person that already doesn't have anything or anyone and is already down on his misery, poverty and trauma, than to aknowledge the very system and society that forced him to live that way. It's easier to create an enemy that won't be accepted by anyone as anything other than an enemy, an 'other'.

Just thinking about how tragic and sadly realistic Erik is.

[lacefuneral]

(original post)

[pasta-is-magnificent]

[kingscrown666]

[anarchist-rat-swarm]

M-M-M-MULTIKILL!

[what-if-doctor-who-was-yuri-yaoi]