Really Is Soooo Sick That Ppl Think That Overuse Of The Em Dash Is A Marker Of Ai Now. Like Why Are You

The Rehearsal (1877) by Edgar Degas

A heartbreaking Davis Gaines hand thing.

Edit: Boots are cinema because do you SEE how this master lets the camera linger on the empty space even after Christine leaves the frame? Do you understand we give filmmakers oscars for this kind of thing?!

I'm ruined.

John Cudia + Jennifer Hope Wills

2006 U.S. tour

A Sentimental Soapbox Essay on Fandoms and Archives and Why Your Hyperfixation Matters

Offline, I'm a grad student/historian in training who studies a community that is systemically under-archived. A significant part of my day job involves helping that community craft the archive from what's "left" while coming to terms with what they've already lost. In the meantime, I'm also navigating how to write the dissertation I want to write without the sources I want/need.

Aside from providing the fodder for my gothic romance hyperfixation, fandoms are a breath of fresh air because they remind me that it only takes a few passionate people to build an archive and, eventually, a preservation ecosystem. It all starts with someone who records things, collects stuff, and accumulates niche knowledge--and then shares it with others--just for the joy of it.

Two episodes of a (now obscure) Jane Eyre BBC adaptation have been missing for years, and today an anonymous superfan/de facto JE adaptation archivist who never gave up announced that they've been found after all this time. Masters take the time to make elitist or ephemeral artforms like musicals more accessible for present and future generations' enjoyment and now several Phantoms who performed the role before I was even born are among my favorites. Stuff like this warms my heart as a fan, historian, and a human.

Don't take for granted that some institution is studying and stewarding that "thing" you care about. Universities, museums, and the internet are flawed systems and, yes, instruments of power and capitalism. They also just can't (and shouldn't) do it all. Preservation runs on informal archivists and spaceholders like @glassprism and @wheel-of-fish and @behindthemirrorofmusic and trading economies (in the case of POTO) and so many other people/spaces. It thrives on us investing in the things that bring us joy. And that investment doesn't have to be financial; it often just looks like collaborating with others for free and finding time to channel our intellects and energies toward what we love.

The things that matter to you...matter lol. Don't let *gestures wildly* all the stuff going in the world convince you otherwise. Now or somewhere down the road someone's going to be glad you cared this much.

Oh shit, I started a fanfic!

Welp, we've gone this far. Follow me on AO3 and tune in to a POTO retelling lol.

Rewatching Lindsey Ellis's review of Love Never Dies.

I honestly love this play so much. Not even because it's so bad it's good (it's really a little too boring for that). But because I used to write terrible POTO fanfiction when I was like... 8? And at least half my terrible ideas somehow made it into this way-past-its-prime fanservicey sequel.

"Erik has a son" is a complete nonsense pandering idea that undoes the character arcs of the first play's ending. And now people have to argue in the affirmative why it's not canon. It taught me that "real artists" plagiarize fans, and that nothing is too stupid to be made. And that's honestly the best gift I've ever been given.

It's why I'm so confident about "Slippin Kimmy". Love Never Dies taught me to stop worrying if I'm good enough and embrace this affectionate cynicism about art and the entertainment industry.

Me: *Has the thesaurus open in multiple tabs.*

Also me: *Opens another tab and types in "redundant synonym."*

*a few minutes later opens another tab and types "excessive synonym."*

*and another tab: "compulsive synonym."*

Can I please open my door to this?

The chat next Saturday is going to be so unstable and I am totally here for it 💀

Saturday, May 3, 2025: NO STREAM

I try my best to schedule around Saturday evenings, but it's an event night! I might be back in time, but I don't want to risk it. See you next weekend!