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bestmusicalworldcup · 1 year

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The Best Snubbed Musical World Cup

The Best Snubbed Musical World Cup is a tournament to determine the best musical excluding those that won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Submissions are now closed! The final list of musicals in the Best Snubbed Musical World Cup is below.

& Juliet 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille 21 Chump Street 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 35MM: A Musical Exhibition A New Brain Ablaze The Act Adamandi Aida Alice By Heart Allegiance An American in Paris American Idiot American Psycho Amélie Anastasia Anne & Gilbert Annie Get Your Gun Anything Goes Anyone Can Whistle The Art Of Pleasing Princes Assassins Back to the Future the Musical Bandstand Bare: A Pop Opera Be More Chill Beauty and the Beast Beetlejuice The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Big Fish Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Bonnie and Clyde Bran Nue Dae Bright Star Calvin Berger Carousel Carrie Chess Chicago Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Cinderella (Rodgers & Hammerstein) Clown Bible The Color Purple Come from Away The Count of Monte Cristo Death Note: The Musical Dogfight The Dolls of New Albion Dracula Dreamgirls The Drowsy Chaperone Elisabeth Émilie Jolie Evil Dead: The Musical Falsettos The Fantasticks Finding Neverland Firebringer Fly by Night Frankenstein The Frogs Funny Girl Ghost Quartet Godspell Grease Groundhog Day The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals Gypsy Hair Hans Christian Andersen Heathers Hedwig and the Angry Inch Holy Musical B@man! Hoy no me puedo levantar The Hunchback of Notre Dame In Transit Into the Woods Jagged Little Pill Jane Eyre Jekyll & Hyde Jesus Christ Superstar Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat La Légende du roi Arthur The Last Five Years Le Roi Soleil Legally Blonde The Light in the Piazza The Lightning Thief Little Shop of Horrors Lizzie The Lord of the Rings Love in Hate Nation Love Never Dies The Mad Ones Made in Dagenham The Magic Show Magic Tree House: The Musical Mary Poppins Matilda Mean Girls Mentiras el musical Merrily We Roll Along Miss Saigon Mozart! Mozart, l'opéra rock Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 Newsies Next to Normal Notre-Dame de Paris Octet Oklahoma Oliver On the Town On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan Once on this Island Once Upon A Mattress Ordinary Days Parade Phantom (Yeston & Kopit) Pippin The Pirate Queen Preludes Pretty Woman The Prince of Egypt Priscilla, Queen of the Desert The Prom Ragtime Rebecca Ride the Cyclone The Rocky Horror Show Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour Sarafina! The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1964) The Secret Garden The Scarlet Pimpernel Seussical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers She Loves Me Show Boat Shrek the Musical Sidd Singin' In the Rain Six Soldaat van Oranje Something Rotten Spies are Forever The Spitfire Grill SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical Starry Starship Sunday in the Park With George Tanz der Vampire / Dance of the Vampires Tarrytown The Threepenny Opera / Die Dreigroschenoper Tick Tick Boom Timéo The Trail to Oregon! Tuck Everlasting Twisted Urinetown Waitress West Side Story Wicked Wiedzmin The Wild Party (Lippa) The Wizard of Oz (1987) The Woman in White Wonderland You're a Good Man Charlie Brown

#best snubbed musical world cup #broadway #best musical world cup #best musical #musical theater #musical theatre #musicals #theater #tony awards #theatre

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adhd-merlin · 2 months

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merlin S1 rewatch: episode 10 ⚔

how could I not love the tale of the weird misfit who returns home one day, bringing with him an even weirder assortment of friends, to teach everyone how to fight back against the oppressors who have been stealing their resources?

but enough about a bug’s life. let's talk about the episode.

• I see Hunith throwing herself at a bandit and I immediately go “oh that’s where he gets it from”. I love you Hunith, you mad gal <3

• Hunith’s audience with the king is interesting – not just because she’s pleading with the man who would kill her son without a second thought if he knew about his magic, and she goes so far as to call him “a good king” and “a caring man” while doing so, but also because Uther seems genuinely sympathetic, even if unwilling to intervene. I think that says something about Uther – I think in the eyes of the people who don’t care much about sorcerers and their ilk, Uther is a decent, perhaps even a good, king. Certainly not the tyrant that Merlin and Morgana consider him to be (justifiably so).

• “I wish that Camelot was able to help people regardless of how far away they lived”, Arthur says, almost as if there were a prophecy about a united Albion under his reign

• “I want to make him pay for what he did to you” -> when Merlin sees Kanen is ON SIGHT. I love protective Merlin.

• I love this so much you. “Most powerful sorcerer on Earth” well to his mama he’s just a little boy. have you considered that

• Merlin almost decapitating Arthur lol. It’s a good thing Arthur has good reflexes or this would’ve have been a much shorter story

• YAY! A NEW KILL

• When Arthur ruins Merlin and Will’s little reunion and Will is immediately unimpressed

• “Am I the only one wondering who the hell this is?” > Will really interrupted Arthur’s speech to loudly ask “excuse you who the fuck are you??” and I love him for it

• The fact that Merlin just straight up slept on the floor. Like I get it, they are poor, but you’re telling me he had nothing all the years he lived there? not even a straw mattress, nothing?? because that sounds kind of weird. I mean alright, I’ll accept it, but I think it’s weird. I think if you had to sleep on the ground every night for years you’d try to make yourself a bit comfortable even if you never “knew any different”

• Anyway, I guess that explains why Merlin was reluctant to part with his bed when Alice moved in with him and Gaius. “I’m not going back to sleeping on the floor thank you! I love beds now”

• MERLIN: “Life’s simple out here (...)” / ARTHUR: “Sounds… nice” / MERLIN: “You’d hate it” -> I like that Arthur was trying really hard not to say anything rude about Merlin’s old life, and that Merlin was like “it’s alright you can say it sucks”, because really he wasn’t cut out for that kind of life either. It’s also funny that Arthur later tells Gwen he fantasies about being a farmer, like SIR BE REAL. You'd hate it.

• Arthur pretending to eat Hunith’s food. Making fake noises like a toddler. Spoiled brat behaviour

• WILL: Why did you leave? / MERLIN: It wasn't what I wanted. My mother was worried. When she found out you knew, she was so angry. → it sounds like Will actually didn’t know about Merlin’s secret for very long before Merlin had to leave. And the fact that Will has to ask Merlin why he left implies Merlin did it without even a goodbye or a made-up excuse. Merlin’s departure being apparently so rushed because Hunith feared for his safety means that the attitude towards magic in Ealdor isn't actually very different from Camelot’s, despite it not being officially outlawed.

• Arthur is a good leader!! and in this episode he shows it in big ways, like in his “Battle of St. Crispin speech” moment, but also in more subtle ways, like when he notices during training that Matthew is a hopeless fighter, and instead of dismissing him he takes him aside and goes “Matthew my friend I have a special task for you :)”, as a way of keeping him away from the fight while still making him feel useful, and without hurting his pride. (Sadly, this backfires later.) I know the fandom likes to joke about Arthur being a dumbass but he can be very perceptive (at times). And he is good at strategic thinking.

• No comment. Just Gwen and Morgana sharing blankets. They are very good pals.

• Merlin telling Arthur: “We're going to make Kanen rue the day he ever came to this village” hits different when I remember he said he wanted to make Kanen pay for striking his mother

• “In this circle, we're all equals” → a circle is very much like a round table in this way

• I love moments like Arthur’s Rousing Speech™ – because they show why he is the one destined to unite Albion. He’s capable of inspiring people and gaining the support of those who initially disliked him (Merlin, Gwaine, Will himself, to name a few), because he is noble of heart, and brave, and caring, etc. And yeah, he’s also a brat at times, but to be fair to him he’s 21. And he has a shit father.

• “Food is scarce for these people, you shouldn't turn your nose up at it!” → Gwen is no shrinking violet okay!! She will lecture the prince, if the prince is being a brat. I’m thinking about Arthur telling Agravaine “I don't want a queen who spends her days floating around the castle agreeing with my every word” in ep 4x09. He loves Gwen because she’s not afraid of calling him out! (same goes for Merlin)

• GWEN: “I have faith in you. I mean. We all do” / ARTHUR:

• Arthur helping Merlin with his armour is a very sweet moment. I can’t believe Merlin was about to tell Arthur he had magic here. HE LITERALLY WAS ABOUT TO TELL HIM I'LL NEVER BE OVER IT

• Battle. Battle. Another kill for baby Merlin (!).

• IT FUCKEN WIMDY

• I’m not entirely sure what the windstorm did to be honest, it didn’t seem to kill anyone it just… scared the bandits away? Anyway, that doesn’t matter. Willing suspension of disbelief and all that.

• Arthur’s face when he marched up to Merlin and Will like “THAT WAS MAGIC WHO DID THAT?? IT WAS ONE OF YOU TWO”. This man is NOT ready for the truth (and yet Merlin was prepared to confess AGAIN. He was literally about to do it I HATE THIS SHOW)

• (sigh) well how convenient

• LISTEN I know Will was pretty much dead anyway but I can’t get over how NOBODY tried to do anything for him like?? They just put him on a table? And stared at him? Not even trying to do anything or. I don’t know, offer a word of comfort. If I were Will I’d be offended to be honest.

• Will’s last words being “Merlin, I’m scared.” EVIL

Merlin: *watching his best friend’s body burn on the pyre* Arthur: well when were you going to tell me he was a sorcerer

• Hunith: POWERFUL WARLOCK? NO HE IS BABY

• "When the time is right, the truth will be known. Until then, you must keep your talents hidden. It's better for everyone.” → kind of funny how Hunith went from "you should tell Arthur, he'll understand, he cares about you :)" to "never mind, BACK IN THE CLOSET!!" And by funny I mean tragic.

↳ prev commentaries

#unironically i do love a bug's life #when flik's all battered and bruised and he struggles to his feet and says “ants are not meant to serve grasshoppers!!”#well. it made child me feel some kind of way #rewatch1.jls #merlin's body count: 6

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thumpypuppy · 4 months

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how do you usually come up with melodies n stuff? also what program did you use to make the isat soundtrack? :-)

Oh my gosh our first ask!

I (Lindar) have a few different ways I do it.

The title theme was originally written on a Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator PO-28. Just a stroke of inspiration, I guess? Sometimes it helps to sit down with an instrument and see what works, and different instruments lend themselves to different ways of thinking about music and melody, so I try to switch it up a lot.

Another way I tend to do it is to find an interesting chord progression and then let the melody emerge from that pattern, which can be a little frustrating sometimes, but has yielded some interesting results. Honestly I've been writing music for over two decades, and the process can be a bit arcane at times having amassed a whole host of different techniques over the years, but the years of experience is not required to make something good and catchy. At the end of the day I think my favorite way to test the viability of a piece of music as game audio is to play it for someone and then see if they start humming it to themself some time later. Hummable music means it's catchy, and that's what you're after, isn't it?

As for working with my other musicians, here are some things I've observed:

Alice is very methodical in her approach. She sits down at her DX7 with her headphones on and will try things and then iterate upon them until she is satisfied, and then will write everything in a sheet music notation software and send me a midi file when she's done. She's a classically trained violinist, comes from a family of jazz musicians, and is a big fan of progressive rock, so a lot of that influences the way she approaches music.

Sadie is also a jazz musician and former orchestra performer, she went to school for it, and honestly it can be incredible to watch her work, because she will simply pick up any instrument and immediately improvise something catchy. She's had several bands, she's been composing for years, and it can be magical watching her work. (She is currently in a band called Dirty Twenties, and you can find her solo work as "Sadie Greyduck" on most streaming platforms.)

Sandra… well Sandra likes punk rock and metal. She has done some of her own work, and we definitely have a similar approach to writing music, but she can be very scattershot in her approach. Primarily she does percussion for the studio, but her constant leaning over my shoulder definitely influences things, and she's the voice of reason when I have the tendency to over-compose.

As far as software is concerned, the studio runs Ableton Live with a host of VSTs that craft the sound we have, and a handful of live instruments as well. Some of the more notable things you've heard in "In Stars and Time" have been Native Instruments MASSIVE, Spitfire Audio Albion ONE, Toontrack Superior Drummer 2 (with the Metal Foundry pack), and our Ibanez 8-string guitar. If you're interested in all of the gear and plugins we have I'd be happy to do a separate post with a rundown of everything.

Thank you so much for sending us our first ask! I hope that answers your question! ��👍💙

#isat #in stars and time #ask #ableton #game audio #game soundtrack #composer

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torbooks · 2 years

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Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, things have not been going well.

Tell Me I’m Worthless is Alison Rumfitt’s debut horror, and it has wicked teeth. So does The House. This is a story about trans people, the internecine legacies of trauma, the brain-breaking poison of supremacist ideology, and a hungry, hungry House haunted by fascism.

Check out this spine-tingling cover, and keep your eyes on that release date: January 17, 2023 from Tor Nightfire 😈

Pre-orders are, of course, available now for those misguided souls who would dare to encounter Albion as soon as they possibly can, for some reason.

“Ambitious, brutal, and brilliant.” — Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt

#tell me im worthless #alison rumfitt #this novel scared the shit out of me #trans horror #lgbtqia+#gay horror #manhunt #gretchen felker martin #tor nightfire #cover reveal #horror books

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yurious-george · 1 month

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rankings of the paul shapera's new albion series

steampunk opera/dolls of new albion: fuck yes no notes. has anabelle mcallistair in it

diselpunk opera/new albion radio hour: FUCK yes no notes

atompunk/new albion guide to analouge conciousness: starting to get confusing but pretty damn good once you sit with it for a while

the room beneath new albion: alexander is a bit of a nothing character but his songs perform their intended function extremely well. alice's character & the coal that sings hosanna are highlights of the series as a whole.

weird west cabaret: extremely interesting conceptually, best in the ballad of lost hallow series. ending WILL leave you legitimately lightheaded

happy funtime carnival: lore that recontextualizes the original new albion series in a really cool way. worth it for that alone, even if the lore is starting to get real messy

gabriella gadfly+: yeah i have no idea what's going on anymore /neg

#paul shapera #shaperaverse

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yellow-faerie · 3 months

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Could you talk about the “Long Live The Queen (Long Live the Monster)” wip?

[From this post of current WIPs, if anyone's curious :)]

Ahhh my Merlin fic! This is an Ygraine lives fic except she also goes batshit over magic! And a bit insane...so...

I have a lot planned out, because it starts from around the time that Uther and Ygraine met, but here's the basics:

Camelot had been in an era of civil war. Uther's father died without declaring an heir between his eldest (twin) sons and so they've been fighting. During this time, magic practise has been getting more and more difficult as people start using them as a scale goat for the civil war and then as a scape goat for anything that goes wrong, as often happens with persecuted groups throughout history.

Uther, who was younger than his brothers, won the civil war with the assistance and wisdom of the dragon lord's (and after one of both his brothers were killed). This was because the dragons had foreseen that his son would bring about the kingdom of Albion and free the people of magic from their current torment.

Having taken the throne, Uther invites all the noble houses of Camelot and the surrounding kingdoms to his coronation. Among those who come is Ygraine, representing the du Bois house for her elder brother Tristan (as Agravaine is not yet old enough and Tristan needs to stay in their lands as tensions are still too high) bringing with her her handmaid Bronwyn - who learned hedgewitch magic from her parents - and Tristan's trusted second-in-command, Captain Bedivere, who is probably having an affair with his wife.

They're attacked on the road but rescued by a young sorceress who says her name is Nimueh and that she too is travelling to Camelot for the coronation. She's the youngest of the nine priestesses and has been sent as a spy, of sorts, to see whether this man truly seems to be the sort of person to raise the king who will bring about Albion's return.

They arrive at Camelot together and go to the coronation; Ygraine and Uther meet when they are both wandering the castle at night (Ygraine because the attack on the road has rattled her and Uther because his new responsibility ways heavily on him) and they continue to make ways to see each other in between festivities before Uther asks her to stay on at the castle after the celebrations are finished.

Also on the castle: Balinor is the one who really helped Uther win the war as the main communication between the dragons and the crown, and so he is here to continue representing them and to continue to keep a firm eye on him (and Uther keeps him about because he Doesn't Trust Him).

Gorlois is the captain of the knights at this point, as one of the few people on the planet that Uther truly trusts.

Also, Gaius and Alice - they're both apprenticed to the current physician, Niamh, who is a very old woman who would have what we would call the beginnings of dementia - are there; as well as Cador, Uther's manservant and friend from throughout the war, who is an actual alcoholic and not a pretend one like Merlin.

Nimueh stays at the castle as well, both to keep an eye on the king like Balinor is doing and because she is genuinely very fond (read: probably falling in deep, unrequited love) of Ygraine. She gets the position of Court Sorcerer in Uther's court which makes her a permanent figure in the court life.

He and Ygraine are engaged to be married - and very happy about it - and during their engagement period, Uther puts out a declaration that all those practising magic must register their names and places of living; this does not help tensions as the magic people are furious because this new king was meant to start making things better and now he won't let them legally practise without registering.

Still, life goes on. Balinor spends a lot of time with Gaius and Alice because he hates court life and this is the closest he gets to a real escape; Bronwyn gets married to Cador and he cleans up his act as they start a family; Gaius and Alice are engaged to be married but are waiting until they both finish their training.

Vivienne, one of Nimueh's two blood sisters, comes to visit quite regularly and ends up married to Gorlois probably for political reasons. She then starts living in the court as well.

Ygraine and Uther are soon trying for a child but having little success; both Gaius and Alice do all the research they can but nothing works. Because of this, the king gets angry and more aggressive in his work, and there is a clear bias in his rulings against the magical people.

Vivienne and Gorlois return to Gorlois' castle during this time as Vivienne gets pregnant and wants the peace that Gorlois' own place would give him. (also because she's REALLY worried that the whole affair with Uther will be very real when her baby is born - thankfully, Morgana looks just like her)

Much like the general populace is doing, Uther's blaming magic for his personal problems. Because of this, he turns to Nimueh and asks for her help in conceiving magically.

She does her magic, against her fellow priestesses wishes, because she knows how much Ygraine wants to be a mother and she would do literally anything for her; but she doesn't tell her because she doesn't want to hurt her with the fact that she can't conceive naturally or smth.

Ygraine survives the birth! Yay!

Uther gets assassinated! Shouldn't have been oppressing people, Love.

Ygraine is distraught. She's always been a supporter of magic, mostly due to being friends with people like Bronwyn and Nimueh, but the wound inflicted on Uther was magic in nature.

This begins the purge. Ygraine is queen until Arthur is old enough to take the throne (although what that age is keeps getting older) and she uses this power for EVIL.

No but really - she never makes magic illegal but if you are found practising unregistered magic, you'll be executed, if you are registered to practise magic, your chances of being executed just shot through the roof, if you ever had someone who practised magic in your family ever, you are now a suspect in her husband's murder.

(even though, in reality, it was a one person job without a scheme at all)

Nimueh and Bronwyn, and Alice and Gaius, are protected because they are Ygraine's friends, trusted to within an inch of their lives. But there are others in the castle who are not so lucky.

Balinor is her first, chief suspect - she knows that he and Uther only grudgingly got on, and suspects that he and the dragon lords were in on it. She gets them all killed, imprisons Kilgarrah but Balinor escapes with Gaius' help. Nimueh convinces Ygraine not to go after him, saying that he would be completely gone now and won't return again.

Balinor and Hunith are married, have Merlin and then have a little girl called Ganieda about ten years later - she's just a little younger than Mordred.

The priestesses are targeted next because Ygraine thinks they are jealous that Nimueh chose her. Nimueh has to then choose between her sisters and between staying alive at Ygraine's side.

She chooses the latter and spends the next two decades growing to hate Ygraine with her whole heart for what she's doing to her people but also loving her for the person she was before. She constantly wants revenge but also wants to make sure that those she loves who are still protected stay alive.

Vivienne dies giving birth to Morgause, and Nimueh uses this as an excuse to leave the court. She visits Gorlois to help with the girls, promising to take them in if anything happens to him, and then goes to return back to the castle after a few months, as much as she hates it.

Eventually, something does happen to Gorlois, and when Morgana is 12 and Morgause 8 (and Arthur 10), the two girls come to live in the castle too.

Anyway, time rolls ever onward and Merlin is sent to the castle. Balinor is against it but Hunith tells him that Merlin's magic is too much for either of them and that Gaius and Alice (and by extension, Nimueh) are his best shot at learning to control the aspects of his magic that are just not within their knowledge.

Arthur is slightly less obnoxious because there's not so much of being raised as a macho man's man - however he is a massive mummy's boy which counteracts whatever character development not being raised by Uther gave him.

Like the first episode, Merlin rescues Arthur from the vengeful mother and gets assigned as his manservant. Some of what happens in the first series happens with Nimueh trying to get revenge on Ygraine while not revealing herself and also without killing Ygraine because her feelings are complicated.

The plot obviously won't be the same as the show but it vaguely follows the plot where it can.

The end of season 1 is Nimueh's reveal that she's kinda evil and then it's Merlin attempting to keep Arthur alive while Nimueh and Ygraine go to increasing lengths to get at each other, using everything they can.

Arthur becomes king and works very hard to make magic a part of society again. With both Nimueh and Ygraine gone by that point, there's no real antagonist against his reign other than Political Tensions and so it's Arthur and his many good friends/knights/advisors creating the kingdom of Albion with Love and Friendship.

Here's a little snippet from what I've written so far - this fic is mostly a bunch of disconnected snippets so far, so this is one of those:

The funeral is three days later.

Bronwyn stands two paces back from Ygraine – crowned Queen at her wedding, yes, but crowned ruling Queen again at her husband’s death – as she always has, holding the baby prince while her own children stand somewhere near the back with their grandparents. Thank the goddess for magic and her mother’s patience with a needle, or else none of them would have had the appropriate clothes.

Thank the goddess (although Bronwyn would never dare utter the words aloud) that Uther was the only victim that day.

Bronwyn does not know what might have happened if Uther had been the one to go through this grief, nor what might have happened if Arthur had been left parentless, nor if Uther and Ygraine had lost the child they had sacrificed so much for.

The vipers who Uther had fought for the throne some five years ago would be circling again if the throne was left empty, if there wasn’t someone showing a strong face to the crowds. If there wasn’t someone doing the job that Ygraine was doing so beautifully and with such a grace.

Still, Bronwyn had been uncertain if they would have managed a crowning so soon.

It had taken a bit of cajoling by the excellent seamstress in the castle’s employ and a little bit of magic to get Ygraine looking as if she hadn’t been through a very traumatic birth a mere few days before, and Nimueh now stands closer to the Queen than even Bronwyn as her ever-present pillar of support.

There’s the ceremony, led by Geoffrey, where the King is laid in the crypt and Ygraine is given the crown of state.

She stands on that dais for a few breathless moments, cutting a striking image of dark grief and power against the red drapery, and then she descends, sweeping out in a flurry of fabrics and skirts.

Nimueh is at her arm, and Bronwyn can barely keep up with the two of them.

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mightydyke · 1 year

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Alice and Alexander lying down holding hands like they're in a sunny meadow but it's a room full of dismembered dolls that are used as vessels for the souls of the dead

#Shaperaverse #The room beneath new Albion #I love Alice so much guys

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jaynedolluk · 4 months

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BOOKS OF 2022

Yes, you read correctly. I'm a ninny and forgot to post this last year so I'm posting it now so I can get all caught up. (2023's list is coming soon)

I got books on Inside No. 9 and Blake’s 7 (two of my favourite TV shows) plus a book about Alice in Wonderland (inspired by the V & A exhibition) and one about how Disney was inspired by rococo art (based on the exhibition that I think was held at the Wellcome but I could be wrong).

Also read Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s book, More More More which examined the art of maximalist interiors and Runway Bird by Irina Lazareanu which was sort of a style guide to being a rockstar’s girlfriend. I read Growing Up. Sex in the Sixties which looked at sex in society/popular culture at this time and Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall. I read Zoe Howe’s guide to witchcraft, Witchful Thinking plus Lisa Kroger + Melanie R. Anderson’s 2nd book, Toil and Trouble, which looks at notable women in the occult in America. Plus Dress Code by Veronique Hyland

Also managed to bag a copy of the book of Velour (the drag magazine) when I went to see Sasha Velour perform. I read And the Category Is by Ricky Tucker which examines the ballroom drag culture + voguing plus How You Get Famous by Nicole Pasulka which looked at the rise of some of the drag queens from the Brooklyn scene + the impact of Drag Race.

Read The Queer Bible which has various LGBT+ celebrities talking about the different people who inspired them and a couple of books which looked at the rise of lesbian popular culture in the early 2000s – The 2000s Made Me Gay by Grace Perry and Girls Can Kiss Now by Jill Gujowitz.

I don’t tend to read that many novels but I did read some really good ones this year – My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Yinka Where’s Your Husband? How to Kill Your Family and The Albion Initiative (the final part of the Newbury & Hobbes series of steampunk detective novels with an occult twist). And I finally managed to get round to reading Shuggie Bain (which I loved) as well as tracking down copies of The Elementals (Southern Gothic horror novel) and Interfictions (which contains the story about Nancy Spungen called Rats).

I read memoirs by Joan Collins + Esme Young (from Great British Sewing Bee) as well as an excellent biography on Jayne Mansfield called The Girl Couldn’t Help It and an oral history about Antony Bourdain called Bourdain.

I do tend to read a lot of music books. I read memoirs by Kid Congo Powers and Miki Berenyi plus Bodies by Ian Winwood (which looked at how the music industry affects mental health mixed in with his own story) and Exit Stage Left by Nick Duerden (which looked at what happened to a variety of stars after their fame dwindled). Also read Southend on Zine by Graham Burnett which was a history of fanzines in the Southend area which included interviews with a lot of the zine makers + touched on the history of alternative music/culture in the area.

One of my favourite books this year was Millenium Gothic by Dorian Bridges (known as of herbs and altars on YouTube) which deals with her growing up as a goth in the 00s but also deals with her mental health issues including anorexia and self harm. Another couple of favourite authors returned with second memoirs, Emma Forrest with Busy Being Free and Amy Liptrot with The Instant. Also Ione Gamble (who does the Polyester website + zine) wrote a brilliant book of essays called Poor Little Sick Girls which I highly recommend.

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