kLutris

Stuff... Mostly cute things

[synthient]

The story of Cats is that in the 1930s, the famous poet T.S. Eliot wrote a book of cutesy little cat-themed poems for his godchildren

And then 40 years later, Andrew Lloyd Webber found a lost cat poem that T.S. Eliot had cut from the cat book for being too sad for children, and ALW was like “woahhh. A cat….that’s sad. That’s deep, man. I wanna make a musical out of this”

So the producer assigned to the project was like “okay, I guess you could maybe read these cat poems as a satire of 1930s British society? We could probably do something sort of interesting with that, I’m thinking a cast of about 5 and–”

And ALW was like “no. Forget the satire. Also I want a cast of dozens and the most advanced special effects technology ever seen on stage. I’ve taken out a second mortgage on my house to fund this”

And the producer was like “wh– you– wh– do you even have. a plot”

So ALW got a bunch of actors and writers and artists together and they holed up and did cocaine workshopped for 5 weeks, and at the end of it they emerged and said “the plot is that a bunch of cats are having a dance contest for the right to take a ufo to cat heaven :)”

and then it made 2 billion dollars.

[castielcampbell]

[gallusrostromegalus]

You know how the best genre of rock song is “There’s a Wizard”? CATS is good because it’s two and a half hours straight of “There’s a Cat”, which shares a lot of the same musical DNA.

Though curiously, the “There’s a Cat who is a Wizard” song is actually the worst one in the whole play. It’s not great on its own, but it’s REALLY not done any favors by the song right before it, “There’s a Cat Who Has Done Every Crime Ever And Everyone Is At Least A Little Horny For Him.”

[klutris]

I beg your finest of pardons but the magical Mr. Misstofelees and his song had me in a choke-hold at the age of 8 after we saw it in London (Virgin Airlines was doing a special of $99 tickets to London and my mom was like screw school were going to Europe) and I dressed up as him for Holloween that following year. No, no one knew who I was and yes, everyone argued with me about dressing up as a “boy character.” Man I sang the song thinking it would help people know who I was. Loved him, totally convinced that people also would be at least familiar.

[unhinged-soapbox]

So I just saw the most incredible production of Macbeth that wove parental grief into the whole regicide plot in such a fascinating way.

So at the very beginning of the play there was a scene where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are at a funeral as the primary mourners. A stretcher is carried on with a covered body. The body was notably very small. They laid flowers on it and Macbeth immediately left for battle.

Now *I* studied Shakespeare in college so I immediately knew there is one single line that implies that the Macbeths lost a child at some point. Most of the time this isn't utilized in productions; it's just a throwaway line, intended to paint just how determined Lady M is for this regicide thing to work and how furious she is that her husband has cold feet. In this production she delivers "I have given suck, and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me" nearly in tears. She takes a moment to steel herself before saying, "I would while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains pit, had I so sworn" and she very nearly SCREAMED this in Macbeth's face.

Also noted was how the Macbeths looked at Macduff's children. Lady M was clutching her heart, nearly breaking watching them embrace their parents. Macbeth could not even look at them.

At the end of Lady Macbeth's plot, when she is sleepwalking and sleeptalking, she is typically portrayed as speaking to no one or to her husband. However, at a certain point of her monologue she got on her knees, raised her voice to a comforting octave, and began miming tear wiping, hand holding, hair and face stroking, around a child-sized figure. "Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave." Then she stands and appears to take the child's hand. "Go to bed, go to bed. I can hear knocking at the gate-" then she looks down and realizes that no one is there, followed be the most heartbreaking shriek I've ever heard followed by a full minute of her just weeping while curled up on the floor before she stood up, finished her monologue and left the stage.

Most of the time when the loss of a child is utilized in a performance or adaptation, it is assumed that the child was an infant and lost some time ago. To imply that the child died IMMEDIATELY prior to the events of the play and had been cared for and loved by their parents for a few years adds such a fascinating layer to the desperation to ascend to the throne, Lady M's madness, and Macbeth's initial hesitation into "in for a penny, in for a pound" attitude, Macbeth's fury that Banquo's, not his, children will take the throne, and even Macbeth's eventual demise following a frenzied final battle.

How far will grief push you to fill a hole? How far will grief push you to desperation? And what happens when none of your new pursuits are filling the void left by the one you lost? And what happens when you realize you have nothing left to lose?

It was a PHENOMENAL production.

[unhinged-soapbox]

@the-tin-dog it is now my turn to say what dozens of reblogs have: "Ough"

[starwalkingpotato]

Ok, here is the OFFICIAL AND ONLY CORRECT GUIDE to starting reading Prachetts Books. Its a multiple step process, so read all steps carefully otherwise you will be wrong and shunned to eternity.

1. Go outside.

2. Trust the universe for once in your life.

3. Find any of these: Library, Thriftstore, secondhand bookshop, a cupboard with free books, ...

3. Locate the Prachett Book.

4. The universe has now deciced with which book you must start with.

5. Compliment the universe for its wisdom.

6. From there on repeat the steps above.

[hotelsongs]

Chat should I be worried??? Is this a sign they'll go radically off-book??? I ask you as Tumblr's resident Measure for Measure expert. Many thanks.

should you be worried that a forthcoming measure for measure production will be bad?? bestie YES! assume that is ALWAYS the expectation! but nonetheless you have to go for me if you can and report back <3

[klutris]

^it’s true it’s one that’s often one that makes me give it a side eye BUT I saw MEASURE FOR MEASURE at the RSC in the 2011-2012 season and those warnings, spot on for that production. Actually for the sexual references look forward to it? They also had a church history play one that season and I was in the front row and the merken (it was a sheilanagig thing) OML had to have been made by a wig maker because those hairs were individually threaded/hooked. So yes, buy the tickets.

[revoltingchild]

[mxlabradorite]

I will reblog this every Christmas season I’m on tumblr.

[drunkygoesonadventures]

It’s beginning to look a lot like shit scram

[midnight-spectrum-again]

Oh my god

[acebreathesfire]

“I’m the Labor Day Fairy and I’m here to teach you the true meaning of collective bargaining.”

[everythingfox]

Interesting hobby

[everythingfox]

An artist needs to draw this

[transarsonist]

i think a LOT of you with chronic conditions should learn this one magical phrase to get your hospital doctor to shit his entire pants, which is leaving the room and saying "im going to go discuss your behavior with the ethics committee, i think you might need a reminder of what your job is"

[transarsonist]

examples of when this would get a doctor to shit himself: if he mentions that you need to loose weight, go straight to the ethics committee and ask if its ethical to withold treatment until weight is lost, the answer is no and they know this. if a nurse etc, wont wear a mask and you NEED them to, the ethics committee, upon review of the case, will not be happy many such cases, remember that doctors and nurses at hospitals have an Oversight Board

[saintjosie]

while this is well intentioned, also please remember that this is only really an option for white people.

bipoc people have been loudly stating tor a long time that doctors are to bipoc women what cops are to bipoc men.

not saying don’t try this but also consider bringing someone with you, being on the phone during an appointment, or recording your appointment. solidarity is an effective tactic when appealing to the system is not.

[superdillin]

Patient Advocate here to a. validate everything Josie has said above and b. add some extra advice from things I have seen in my career as an advocate.

BIPOC women and Queer folks tend to be more likely to receive retaliation when advocating for themselves. Red Flag notations like "noncompliant" or "malingering" get resorted to much faster for these patients and can impact your care going forward. My suggestion instead of the OP advice is, if you request something that is denied, ask "can you document my request?" This is less likely to trigger defensiveness but sometimes, this will prompt a physician to rethink their decision. However, if they still don't honor your request, do not tell them you are reporting them to Ethics (or Patient Relations, or your local Department of Health, etc), simply walk out and do it. The documentation can't be deleted once your visit is closed, so there will be a paper trail of your request.

These scrutinizing bodies are ruthless, and even if Physicians themselves don't act frightened by them, the organizations they work for absolutely HATE having unnecessary case reviews on their plate. In some cases, citations from the DoH can lead to the hospital being reimbursed less money from insurance providers. That speaks the language of shareholders and CEOs and can move a lot of needles, if you catch me.

[nora-yoko]

[saywhat-politics]

[saywhat-politics]

[captainjonnitkessler]

Me: In November, either Trump or Biden will win. There is no third outcome, so we should vote accordingly for the option that will mitigate the most harm.

The people in my notes: Oh, so you think direct action is bad? You think voting is literally the only thing we can do? You hate activism? You love Biden and endorse everything he does and think nobody should criticize him ever? You think voting will just magically solve all our problems? You think protesting is wrong? You love the status quo and think everything is fine?

[kvothbloodless]

Im Still occasionally getting people tagging me in that post to get mad at me for agreeing with you, its so funny (depressing)

[sonneillonv]

I keep seeing people saying things like "Don't @ me with your weak-ass harm reduction argument/lesser of two evils argument" like bestie, literally, what is the alternative? You have a schedule for the glorious revolution I don't know about? Have you worked out how to have a glorious revolution that won't kill a bunch of people? 'Cause last time I checked..... (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

[traycakes]

I know living in Oregon and having vote by mail I'm pretty spoiled with how little time it takes me to vote. I know there are lots of areas that make it hard, particularly if you are working class and can't get the day off, but voting is only a few days a year at most the people who vote have plenty of time to do other stuff as well.

If you want to do a revolution against the current power structure you need to pay attention to how that power structure works, and what needs people have that it isn't fulfilling. So it's not like ignoring current politics saves you time to work on other stuff either. You're making the other work you are doing harder through willful ignorance and not using all the tools available to you.

[kirkwallhellmouth]

I have also seen people on other social media sites implying that the only people calling voting “harm reduction” are people who live in blue states or states that are currently leaning heavily blue (aka “people who have it ‘good’”)

My sibling in internet, I live in fucking Alabama and cannot name a currently elected Democrat anywhere in this state off the top of my head—I would have to Google for it—and I am seriously begging people to vote for Biden because another Trump term with Things As They Are is not something anyone in the world should be subjected to.

[everythingfox]

Happy dog

(via)

[everythingfox]

Snow nose diving

(via)

[johntorrington]

satire about capitalism isn’t funny anymore when actual ads start looking like this

[systlin]

Had a doc appt (just my yearly checkup) a couple days ago and I asked her about checking to see if my measles vaccine from when I was a kid was still good, since I’d heard it could lose effectiveness over time. She nodded and had a lab done and turned out I was NOT still immune to measles, so got my booster today.

Get your vaccines, folks!

[systlin]

“I have a question about a vaccine,” I say, and the look of ‘god fuckin dammnit not again’ that flashed across this poor doctor’s face, followed by abject relief when I said “I’ve heard that the measles vaccine can lose effectiveness over time and I’d like to make sure mine is still good.” says everything really. 

“Oh thank god,” she literally said. “Yes of course. That’s true, and we can do a blood test and see. If you don’t still have antibodies we can get you a booster scheduled.” 

“That question goes poorly a lot, doesn’t it,” I say. 

“You have no idea.”

[cupiscent]

Boosting this (lol, pun unintended but allowed to stand with pride) and adding: measles often needs updating in adulthood, they’ll usually throw in a rubella update with it; chickenpox might also need updating, mine did; and get your whooping cough updated, especially if you spend time around pregnant folk or small babies. (I say this from an Australian perspective.)

[sharpestasp-deactivated20241106]

U.S. Americans - check this cdc site

I have had boosters as an adult. I like the way the CDC breaks this out by both age and by indications.

Others in the world, check your Health Orgs; I bet they have similar charts.