thou noble thing

alex. lit student. speaks german and english. 20s. ~ I try my best with my image descriptions, but corrections/advice is always appreciated.

[xalatath]

You misused thou/thee in a joke post and provoked my ire.

[warpweighted]

love never dies doesnt necessarily suck bc it's a bad musical i mean it does suck bc it's a bad musical but that's not why i dislike it so much. i am deeply personally offended by the way that they set erik and christines character arcs right the fuck back to zero except with a kid this time like. What They Did To Meg and What They Did To Raoul notwithstanding (I will not withstand havingto talk about it), christines whole fucking THING was about escaping her abuser and detangling his grip on her psyche, and eriks whole fucking THING was about coming to grips with the fact that he cannot treat people the way the world treated him and he cannot force someone to love him no matter how unjust it is the way hes been treated and no matter how unjust it is that he has never been loved. even fully in the grips of the phantom, christine wants "freedom/ a world with no more night/ and [Raoul], always beside" her so WHY Beneath A Moonless Sky and WHY christine choosing the phantom at the end of it all. and erik LEAVES THE MASK BEHIND. HE LEAVES THE MASK BEHIND you cannot have clearer symbolism than this and from the beginning of lnd we have the phantom of fucking. coney island. because nothing can meaningfully change and we will always be using what worked last time to beat more money out of this dead horse so i guess the real meaning of love never dies is you will eternally be forced to perform your stagnated persona in increasingly cheap and flanderized ways in order to make money doing the thing that was supposed to be your greatest passion but is now just the necrotizing amalgamation of whatever sells.

[hyphen-8-it]

Since they just announced another Love Never Dies concert, I will use the occasion to finally post this 3 year-old rant I wrote after I saw the show when they put it on in London in 2023.

I'm sure all of this has been said before, but that was the first time I saw it, so bear with me, if you will. This is a long rant that I have put under the cut. Feel free to read it and talk to me about it, as long as you're being nice :) If you don't want to read any negative opinions about LND, keep scrolling.

What messes me up about this story is that, at the same time, some characters are completely unrecognizable (*cough* Meg Giry) while others are the exact same. Like Raoul for example. Christine must be on her second marriage already because who is that guy? There is no connection whatsoever between him and Raoul from PotO. And the Phantom? 10 years and he's still the exact same bitch (derogatory). Like, completely. He's still "in love" with Christine and hung up on her rejecting him and his plans for them together, as well as being the same entitled creep that makes outlandish bargains with people, that have them decide between him and the safety of the people they love. Like genuinely what the fuck.

I know full well that I am not the target audience for this story (tho I do question who even is) but wouldn't it be a much more compelling story if he HAD changed? What if 10 years after the fact, you met the guy again, who you connected with through music but ultimately left because of all the wild shit he put you through, and that connection still persisted/can be revived but he is different now? He isn't unhinged like before and has built his own performing venue that he writes music for and it's doing okay. And maybe your marriage didn't quite turn out as you expected. Not the weird neglect/abuse plotline they decided to run with and more like it was a reunion with a childhood love that burned brightly but not as long as you thought it would and he supports you but doesn't really get the music thing on a deeper level, but he's still a sweet guy who loves you and is a good father to your child (father being Raoul, FUCK that 'Beneath a Moonless Sky' bullshit) so you're doing fairly well on that front. But that man from before is still there and your connection could be rekindled, but should you upend your life of comfort and security for this untested variable, for a man who IS functionally still a stranger, despite your connection? Wouldn't that be a much juicier, more interesting conflict? (And more importantly one that could actually center Christine and her lived reality in a meaningful way.) But nay, unfortunately this musical operates under the truly wild idea that what the Phantom did 10 years ago wasn't that bad in the first place and that the choice Christine made was really between shallow beauty vs. deep artistry concealed by an ugly exterior, instead of between a man who is well-meaning and treats her well and someone who would use other people's lives as bargaining chips to get her to stay with him.

This musical feels like it's retconning all the points that PotO made, while still super heavily relying on it. I'd have to listen to another version of this to be able to tell how many musical references to PotO there are in LND or if it was something they put in for this concert specifically, but they were Abundant. And it's honestly not doing this story any favours that it's constantly reminding me of what I could be watching instead. Like I have thoughts about the discrepancy between how PotO is written and how it's marketed/perceived by people, but that show has like Mariana Trench levels of nuance in comparison to whatever is going on in this musical. The absolutely random and unfounded character assassination of Raoul is only the tip of the iceberg, because what the hell did they do to Christine? The only time she sings a song alone is "Love Never Dies" which is basically like "I happened to fall in love with this guy ten years ago... and that is obviously everlasting which means I can't move on and oh yeah I have no choice in the matter". There is not even a single "I" pronoun in the entire song. Also, if the Phantom is supposed to be her One True Love, why on god's green earth is that song so grim?! This is allegedly her soulmate that she's secretly still longing for or whatever and the best we can do is "life may be fleeting / love lives on" and various lines on involuntary submission and loss of agency?! Girl, this is prison! Whoever wrote this couldn't have come up with anything even remotely positive? Whereas in PotO Christine has the beautiful song that is "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" that gives her a fairly rich background and illustrates to the audience her conflicting feelings about her father's death and her life going forward, and also "All I Ask Of You" which is a duet tbf but still centers her emotional state mostly, there is nothing like that in LND, certainly not the titular song! And then the fact that she barely gets to make a decision for her own. Granted, that's also present in PotO, but like that's a point of the story that's referenced multiple times and is kinda central to the conflict, whereas in LND that's just unquestioned. Everyone around her is making decisions about her and her family and she doesn't even get to say anything about it. Even her death is a fucking accident that she had no control over! It's not even intentional self-sacrifice.

And then the awful "look with your heart and not with your eyes" bullshit. Like, sure, cool message, IF that were even at all close to what was happening in PotO! But it's not! It's ridiculous to say that the only reason Christine didn't stay with the Phantom at the end was because she still thought he was ugly and Raoul was prettier. Honestly that's an insult to all three of them in that situation. First of all, it makes Christine look like a complete asshole (that she isn't). Secondly, it pretends that Raoul is just a good-looking cardboard cut-out that someone has been carrying from scene to scene as if he never did anything. And lastly, that anything the Phantom might have said explaining his tragic backstory was completely inconsequential because nobody cared because he's so hideous (which, harsh). It just feels like either a complete misunderstanding of what PotO is about, or a deliberate misrepresentation. And I don't know which is worse. And I understand that ALW is probably not even a pretend feminist but the way Christine's character is treated in this story is so puzzling. On the one hand, she is the Phantom's ultimate love without whom his life has no meaning, but on the other hand she's supposed to be really superficial and have cared more about looks than true connection. In which case, why should he (still) want to be with her?

Last question out of genuine interest: Do you like this musical? If so, why? Because I truly cannot imagine the appeal for anyone who previously enjoyed PotO. Also, are the other versions of this musical super different? I've read that they already changed stuff when it premiered in London because of the negative reviews and that the later versions were received more positively, so I suspect what I saw was closer to that latter. Begs the question, what the Hell was before??

Also this is all completely about the musicals. I have read neither the Frederick Forsyth novel, nor Leroux's original story (but I really want to get to that one soon.)

[hyphen-8-it]

is there a helpline or something for people who love Hadley Fraser but think Ramin is a nigh unsalvageable moron...

[hyphen-8-it]

I have some lukewarm feelings about Cloudward, Ho! that I put under the cut, so keep scrolling if you don't want to read that :)

I'm kinda bummed out by this series because I think the setting and characters really had potential but the execution imo didn't quite do them justice.

One problem for me was that we were switching locations so quickly. Including the ones in Gath, they we're all super interesting but we never really spent more than one episode there. So at some point the party's actions in a new place became sort of formulaic, like 'find where Mordecershire is here' and 'get parts for the ship' and leave. One reason that A Starstruck Odyssey was so good, was that the places felt so real. Obviously, the fact that its an adaptation helps, but I think CloHo could have benefitted from using a similar structure as that season by going to fewer places but exploring those more deeply.

Also, to me the tone in CloHo felt unserious in a way that nothing really matters. I'm noticing this especially in the finale. It just doesn't feel like anyone is ever Really in trouble, and the moments of seriousness don't quite land, because they're undercut by bits that feel too distracting (e.g. the Nat 20 for Hatwell to not die, imo it just tone- and plotwise derailed the fight) and rolls not mattering as much, because you could get a second (or third, fourth...) chance. In comparison, Fantasy High also had its moments of outrageous dice rolls, like the first season's Nat 20 to be alive moment, or the whole K2 craziness in Junior Year. But to me those were much more acceptable, because they were very rare incidents and/or felt like deserved results because of the PCs prior actions in the campaign, not just giving out more chances to achieve a desired ending.

Also both Starstruck and Junior Year are heavily comedic with plenty of bits, but they still have really cool characters and emotional weight, and this season kinda doesn't. With all the interdimensional travel, I felt like the PCs backstories also felt quite distant at times because it was rooted in Gath and they we're kicking around in Zood. I think this story might have been better spread across 2 seasons, with the first one spent travelling around Gath, finding out bit by bit the havoc Comfrey has been wreaking and putting together a way to get to Zood. All the while they would need to manage the different Gathian factions but could actually introduce the new generation to the Windrider history, where it actually happened. And in the next season there would be plenty of time both to explore Zood and solve the interdimensional conflict, with characters that feel more established and purposeful.

TLDR, I found CloHo somewhat rushed and would have liked more character development and deeper exploration in Zood.

[oorione]

The man who brought Thjazi Fang to heel

[summerscaries]

Frumpkin’s shadow clawing at the window being his “I was so sure. I was so sure. Until I wasn’t.” moment is actually insane and evil and perfect.

[hyphen-8-it]

it's amusing watching the Mighty Nein Animated Series as a German because the parts of the script that are in German have so far been basically perfect, but you can definitely tell when they hired someone who's a native speaker for the voiceover versus when it's an anglophone actor reading out the Zemnian lines. And honestly I'm really enjoying it, because often when there's 'German' in American tv and film it's gibberish with "bitte", "danke", and "Guten Tag" thrown in (if that), but here it's noticeably correct German sometimes said in an American accent—HOLD UP, MARK STRONG?!! Woher kannst du so gut Deutsch?!! Okay, second thing, watching this show makes you find out that Mark Strong's mom is Austrian so he speaks German. Damn, ich dachte zuerst er wäre einfach nur krasser als alle anderen xD Good for him.

[hyphen-8-it]

michael bully herbig count your damn days I didn't sign up for seeing gifs of your shitty homophobic star trek 'parody' on here. leave me aloneeee with this bullshit T-T

[hyphen-8-it]

I'm trying to find a French edition of the Phantom of the Opera book (for language practicing purposes) and it's fucking dire out here. It seems that the notoriously awful German cover design that I'm familiar with has really met its match in France. Is there any version that at least remotely looks good?

[hyphen-8-it]

Hopefully, we get to live in a world one day where attempts to justify unpopular business decisions by spreading fatphobic rumours are universally and wholeheartedly ridiculed, instead of something people fall for hook, line, and sinker the second their esteem of a person ticks over into dislike.

Hopefully, we also get to live in a world where the concept of a 'revenge body' is nonexistent. I personally take no pleasure in all the people who feel like their inappropriate behaviour has been validated, because they view a skinny person's decision to get slightly skinnier as a product of their involvement.

For Luka's sake, I hope this was motivated by an internal desire for change, instead of all the fatphobic things people have said about him (although I can't imagine they haven't had an impact). Because if it wasn't, I don't think that transforming your body is ever going to satisfy these people, or at least not for very long. There have already been people talking about how losing weight in the offseason is irrelevant, if you gain it back during the season. I've also seen people claim that he has already gained some of it back. Or that he looks the same, which, yeah, because he was never overweight in the first place.

I think there's two recurring themes in all of this: Firstly, these people do not see others' bodies how a regular person would. They have deluded themselves into seeing something that isn't there, either because they believe what others say uncritically and then see it retroactively, or because their spectrum for what an athlete should look like is so narrow that unless you have ultra defined muscles and no fat on your body, they will never be able to see you as 'in shape'. Secondly, these people will always keep moving the goalposts. After the playoffs it was "He needs to get in shape!", he appears to do that very thing and suddenly it's "well, he also needs to keep the weight off during the season!" and I'm sure that if he also manages that, they will find a new thing to criticise again. And if not, there will be a lot of smug people feeling like their criticisms were always right and we'll go right back to the beginning of the cycle. It. Is. Endless.

To conclude, other people's bodies are none of your business. Stop commenting on them.

[idontknowwfc]

Germany’s hero

[butchfoden]

ann-katrin berger, 103'

france 1-1 germany, weuro 2025 quarterfinal

[butchhamlet]

YouTube feels so completely deprived of good shakespeare studies videos when I search, are there any youtubers or videos you've seen that come to mind??

i fear that i do not watch a lot of youtube because i have the audiovisual attention span of a fucking fruit fly </3 but i am opening this question up to my followers!

[hyphen-8-it]

I can recommend this video by GlutenbergBible about Hospitality in Macbeth, which I found really insightful and it opened my eyes to a part of this play that I hadn't previously thought as much about. She just finished her PhD on that subject in Early Modern English drama at large, so she's really knowledgeable about it.

I don't know that she posts about Shakespeare specifically that often, but there are more videos she has made about Early Modern plays by other writers, which I would definitely check out as well.

[thepigeonsart]

Seeing that the whole les mis fandom love Daniel Diges' Enjolras (los mis madrid) I feel the moral obligation to inform you of the fact that he went to eurovision

[hyphen-8-it]

A while ago I found these German editions of Les Mis at a little free library! The translation was done by Paul Wiegler and Wolfgang Günther and it comes in three volumes. Here pictured with my English Brick for scale.

Not sure if I would have taken them otherwise (jk, I probably would've), but they come with these cool illustrated endpapers. I'd love to tell you who they're by, but it just says they were created based on contemporary illustrations.

Volume 1:

Volume 2:

Volume 3:

Also I'm not sure whether they show actual scenes from the book or they're just there for the aesthetic, but if anyone knows what's depicted here, I'd love to know!

These editions were published by the GDR publishing house Verlag Volk und Welt, which, according to Wikipedia, was the country's most important publisher of international literature. This also means they would have been subject to censorship prior to publication, so I wonder if/what they might have taken issue with in these. They're clearly still plenty long, soo... I'd read them and check but I'm still not done with the English translation so that has priority rn 😅

Anyway, if you have some scenes you would like me to take a look at or have any questions, I'd be happy to answer :)

[symphony-in-silver]

It’s Francis Crozier’s penguin, everyone!