Cal Wakes Up From A Nap. Oops, Fell Asleep On The Couch Again. He's So Dozy, So Comfy, Maybe He'll Drift

Unmute !

tumblr should have an ” i feel u” button on posts

A couple years ago I saw a production of Sweeney Todd done by my university that featured an extra song, the Beggar Woman's Lullaby. Sondheim added it briefly after the show originally opened, but then cut it back out again because he felt it slowed down the pace of the ending scenes. Essentially it's a moment when Lucy enters the barbershop searching for the beedle, she stops for a moment and has a moment of near lucidity as she starts to remember her surroundings. She goes to Johanna's empty cradle and sings a lullaby to the tune of "Poor Thing" to "my Jo, my Jing." Sondheim wrote it originally to address the issue of audiences not figuring out the plot twist in time for the dramatic ending, but removed it again when he realized that everyone ends up figuring it out at various times throughout the show anyway.

Anyway all this to say, I think that song should be restored in an official capacity. I think that whether or not it serves the plot twist is immaterial. I think what it actually does is bring a much needed pause in the middle of the frenzy of the final scenes, it gives Lucy another dimension, and it makes what immediately follows so so SO much more heartbreaking because she was THIS CLOSE to remembering everything. Literally every time I listen to the final scene, everything happens so fast it feels almost unsatisfying. Like we're just rushing through everything to get to the end. And I think that song gives it a badly needed breath of air, without interrupting the flow.

Lord of the Rings was published in the fifties, and largely written in the forties. Tolkien’s opinions on society and morality and technology are at some points genuinely more conservative than what I’m comfortable with. And yet, the more I think about it, the more sure I am that Tolkien actually deconstructs most of the clichéd fantasy tropes he supposedly originates. Some examples.

The long-lost heir is not the hero, he’s a side character who deliberately uses himself as a decoy.

The real hero actually fails in his quest, his goodness and determination and willpower utterly fail in the face of evil, and the world is saved by a series seemingly unrelated good deeds.

The central conflict is not between destroying the world and preserving it. An age of the world will come to an end, and many great and beautiful things will perish, whether the heroes win or lose. The past may have been glorious, but preserving it is impossible, and returning to it is impossible, time has passed and the world has moved on. The king returns, but the elves are gone and magic fades from the very substance of Middle Earth. The goal is not to preserve the status quo, the goal is the chance to rebuild something on the ruins.

Killing the main villain seems to instantly solve the problem, eradicate all enemies and fix the world, except it doesn’t, not wholly, since the scouring of the Shire still has to happen.

Also, the hero gets no real reward, and what he gets, he cannot really enjoy. He is hurt by his ordeal, and never fully recovers.

There is a team of heroes, a classic adventuring party, except the Fellowship is together for less one sixth of the series. The Fellowship is intact from the Council of Elrond to Gandalf’s death, four chapters. The remaining eight are together until Boromir’s death, an additional six chapters. This is nothing compared to LOTR’s length of sixty-one chapters, if I count correctly.

Tolkien is not classic high fantasy. If you actually think about it, there is very little magic. The hobbits’ stealth is not magical, most elven wonders are not unambigously magical, wizards are extremely rare, and even Gandalf hardly uses magic if you compare him to the average DnD wizard. Most magic is indistinguishable from craft, there is no clear difference between a magic armor and a very good armor, between magic bread and very good bread, between magical healing and competent first-aid plus a few kind words.

TLDR: Stop praising recent fantasy for deconstructing Tolkien if they’re “deconstructing” something Tolkien has never actually constructed.

and very, very often, self care is not plants and ice rollers and fluffy blankets of peace.

it’s standing over your kitchen sink and crying while doing the dishes because you just want to go back to bed but the dishes need done. and you don’t know why you’re crying but you're trusting you need it. and you aren’t listening to the music that pulls you into a spiral; you’re listening to some cheerful shit your friend sent you. it’s getting up and staring at your fridge and closing your eyes and then cooking yourself food even though you hate it and it’s miserable. because you know that you’d cook for your friend, and you are trying to befriend yourself. it’s dragging yourself into the shower because you know you’ll feel better afterwards. it’s doing mundane tasks with patience, cursing under your breath, trying desperately to give yourself grace. grace is the beginning of care. care is the beginning of love.

we think it’s supposed to be peace and yet the most powerful self care moments are when we hate everything but especially ourselves. and life does not feel worth the loving. to look into that pain and yet choose to care for yourself in however many pieces you are — that is care. love. grace. trust. belief. it hurts because it’s love where there was no love before. it heals because it believes there will be love, one day, soon.

I started using Head and Shoulders ten years ago for itchy scalp and dandruff, and then for ten years I have not had itchy scalp and dandruff, so I thought “why do I still buy shampoo to combat itchy scalp and dandruff when I do not have itchy scalp and dandruff,” so I stopped buying the shampoo for itchy scalp and dandruff and can you guess I have now? Can you predict what currently afflicts me? It’s alright if you can’t because apparently I fuckin couldn’t either

Kermit for pope

I was trying to find out if Kermit was eligible to be pope and I found a blog that says he's the perfect example of a catholic priest

Padawan Obi-Wan, Master Qui-Gon Jinn and kid Anakin Skywalker:

Anakin seeks the father figure of Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan is the pilot with his smirk that gets everyone out of trouble

Qui-Gon is the one who dives into trouble and brings "home" pathetic life forms

Every REBLOG helps my art a lot 🫶

Instagram | stickers and print

Hosea is so sweet here. This is when he talks about his own struggles with addiction.