#basically i know nothing

[faded-florals]

Hello! Just wanted to say that I love your blog! Please continue posting about Hadley/Raoul :D By the way, have you found any material on how Hadley got cast as Raoul? I LOVE him in the role but I've always wondered why they chose him, considering he didn't have any experience with POTO? Thanks!

There is very little if anything official written or recorded about Hadley’s time in POTO, and unfortunately I don’t think even Hadley himself could answer this question very well. So this is all just going to be speculation, stemming from a jumbled timeline built from limited interviews from Hadley and those around him. Some of my main sources of info are the podcasts he’s done, his official website, and some easily google-able articles from around that time.

Hadley was playing Javert in the West End starting in June 2011, which is no small thing. From what scrounging I’ve done while trying to be objective, his performance was well received, but that was (and still is) fairly typical for Hadley - he’s great at what he does and people often recognize him for that. Though he did not have much on his professional CV at the time, he was far from a nobody.

It’s a bit of a mystery why the directors of POTO 25 ended up choosing Hadley when they had multiple alumni Raouls to pick from. Maybe all of them didn’t have the availability for that intense 2 week rehearsal schedule? Or they just didn’t want to take on the role of Raoul again? Or maybe none of them felt right with Ramin and Sierra, who had a lot of potential to just steamroll whoever ended up playing Raoul with their unstoppable chemistry, experience or not.

Whatever it was, I do think Ramin played a part in Hadley landing the role. Their band Sheytoons was fairly active at the time, so they were running in the same circles and likely had more than a few friends/acquaintances/connections in common. Whether Ramin spoke to the casting directors and recommended Hadley, or Hadley caught wind of the production and put in an audition we just don’t know. Someone ask Ramin, maybe? God knows Hadley doesn’t remember.

Anyways, I personally think that Hadley was offered the role without auditioning, as something similar happened in reverse to Ramin shortly after POTO 25th, when he was offered the part of Valjean alongside Hadley’s Javert in Les Mis. Casting directors are well aware of how important chemistry is, and Ramin and Hadley have just that. I think the directors of POTO 25th saw much of the same thing when they cast Hadley opposite Ramin’s Phantom. Like I’ve been screaming into the rafters on this blog since the beginning, Hadley did wonderfully as Raoul in POTO 25, so I think ultimately he was the best choice for the role, especially when you consider the special circumstances of that production.

I wish I had a better answer for you, but thank you for your kind words and for asking anyways! 😬👍

[tomakeitbeautifultolive]

For me, my grief over Dany and rage at Jon has an ebb and flow. Some days I am able to remind myself that it wasn't him, that he was just as OOC as Dany was in the end, but other days I just can't compartmentalize that well. When I'm not able to resist reblogging a post that criticizes THAT version of Jon though, I always tag it "anti s8 jon" or "anti aegon targaryen" because even then when I'm being unnecessarily bitter, I still try to differentiate between the Jon from before S8 and after S8.

I thank you for the insight, anon! I actually wrote that recent Jon Snow meta to try to help people compartmentalize. My goal was to point out as many ways I could think of that the writers ignored his established traits and in-universe rules in order to get him to that scene in front of the Iron Throne with Dany - and the more I researched and composed my argument, the less I believe it's even possible to escalate to that point.

And that's only from the perspective of Jon Snow. I can only imagine how much more convoluted it looks once you more closely examine all the other characters, too. I know it's frightfully long - but it really might help you see a different perspective. Or at least, that was my goal with it.

Again I must reiterate, in perpetuum, that I'm no fan of the season eight portrayal of Jon Snow. To me, that's an impostor. As is Daenerys. I, of course, would prefer people to criticize S8 Jon Snow from the perspective of the writing rather than drag him as a character or try to help the writers retcon his character (just as I am sure, like me, you would rather people drag the writing rather than help D&D retcon Daenerys into some evil tyrant) but hey, at least I know which tags to filter now.

I'm curious - do you ever have a problem differentiating between Daenerys from before S8 and after S8 like you do with Jon?

This is going to be controversial, but if I were to humor season eight as canon (which I’m not), I would have to have a problem with what Daenerys did in King's Landing, because her actions go against everything that made me love her in the first place. Just as I would have to have a problem with Jon for being a treasonous and cowardly kinslayer - because it goes against everything that made me love him in the first place. But gods, that's no truer to his character than genocide is to Dany's.

That half-baked excuse for a season is never going to convince me that Dany could or would hurt an innocent child, just as it won't make me hate Jon Snow for the same nonsensical portrayal of his character - I won't let it. I've already given D&D too much power to hurt me, they aren’t allowed any more of it.

[fortheloveofwhatever]

Everything I know about hockey either comes from watching The Mighty Ducks films as child and tumblr.

[bluedabodee]

Gender identity right now for is like waking up one morning realizing there’s a final you didn’t study for In a class you didn’t know you were in With a text book written in Sanskrit And you you don’t have any writing utensils except for half an orange broken crayon you found in the bottom of your backpack

[pickyperkypenguin]

does anyone want to talk captive prince and writing with me? mostly because i have some fic idea, and i’m horribly unsure of basically everything

[secondchanceforoqarchive]

Hey :D Can you explain to me the theory about Regina's ring ? Thanks :D xx

Hey :D

I'd love to but unfortunately I'm really not the expert on this.. I think there's actually more than one theory but I think the consensus is that Regina and Robin at the very least crossed paths before and the ring is a token of that and then there's another aspect that it's something Regina has always kept safe, it's there at pivotal moments for her and it clearly means something 

That's about all I've got tbh

I'm pretty sure it was emily31594 who wrote a longer post on it a while back that explained her theory (I stupidly didn't bookmark it but remember loving it) so it might be worth sending her an ask (or if she happens to see this, hi Emily, she might be able to say more.. or if someone else remembers this post)

I also know outlawqueenluvr has a theory connected to the Rumple theory that Regina did actually go into the tavern and met Robin but Rumple wiped their memories so the ones of her running away are actually fake memories and the ring would be something Robin gave to her before the memory wipe so is basically a token of their relationship and I guess would explain it's (currently unexplained) importance to Regina 

This probably did not clear anything up at all but I'm publishing (hope that's okay) so hopefully people can add more to this and it becomes a lot more helpful 

You're very welcome for anything I did manage to explain though! xx

[lesbegays]

السلام عليكم وليكم السلام

[perkinssandknope]

I want to play with photoshop but I don't know what to do.