dangerousdame

I never tire of that reverse-gender meme.  This time, I'll be doing the Discworld, specifically the City Watch:

Samantha Vimes: Tough but honest cop, haunted by experience fighting, and looks at war as just another crime.  Thursday Next.

Carrot Ironfounderson (no name change): Ridiculously perfect cop, naive at times but good at what she does, and really doesn't understand why people would want to be mean to each other.  Detective Marge Gunderson from Fargo.

Angus von Uberwold: Born a monster but fights against his instincts, achingly cool and deeply in love with his fellow crime-fighter.  Hellboy.

Nobbie Nobbs and Frieda Colon: A compulsively criminal ex-street urchin and a slightly dense mother whose friendship prevents either of them from doing any serious thinking.  Squeaky Fromme and Sarah Jane Moore from Assassins.

Regina Shoe: Wide-eyed idealist and occasionally annoying revolutionary; not stupid, but clueless as to the actual consequences of a revolution.  Hope Cladwell from Urinetown.

Bloodstone (since girl trolls have names of gems): A tough girl troll.  Jade from Monstrous Regiment.

Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets (no name change): Kindly religious fanatic with a desire to convert everyone in reach, including criminals.  Sister Lilian from Happy End.

And two non-watch characters as a bonus...

Simon Sto-Helit: Snarky travellor of time and space, usually has to save the world with female companions who need everything explained to them.  Can you say Doctor Who?

Hadriana Vetinari: Machiavellian ruler both loved and hated by the people, constantly thwarting attempts at being overthrown.  Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth.

I finally saw Phantom!!! (Discworld fans will know what the excess of punctuation means...)

Since most of us know about the show, I'll give a rundown on characters portrayals in this version:

The Phantom: John Cudia. What I really liked about him was how his Phantom had this childlike edge, especially during the final lair scene. When Raoul comes in and gets trapped, he has this whole "Nyah nya!" attitude, but he was also good and threatening. And I felt sorry for him once again, despite verse!Erik.

But the best thing about him? At the end of MOTN, he looked DIRECTLY AT ME. Really- when he went "Niiiggghhhttt!" and lifted up his hand. Total sue moment, and I loved every bit of it.

Christine: Jennifer Hope Willis. She had some MAJOR chemistry with Raoul, and genuinely freaked by the Phantom (especially during PONR, when she realized she was singing with the Phantom- whose whole face and body were covered by a cloak.) She was sweet and had an air of intelligence overall.

Raoul: Geoff Packard. I AM IN LOVE. His voice wasn't the most beautiful I've ever heard, but he was just unbelievably sexy and dashing and heroic (even if I did giggle during his Ingenious Plane.) If ALW expects me to think he became an abusive drunk, he's dead wrong.

Carlotta: Patricia Phillips. She was so good as a singer that I wondered why the hell the Phantom would want her replaced (I can only assume she rejected him.) And she didn't play her over the top, so even though she was still a diva, her arguments made sense- who wouldn't be angry about a stalker trying to give some whelp their job?

The Managers: George Lee Anders and David Cryer. Totally adorable- I loved how they scared each other by dressing as the Phantom at the Masquerade, and they actually seemed to have distinct personalities. And Andre was totally crushing on Carlotta.

Madame Giry: Janet Saia. Fine, not much new. Though when I read she'd played the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd (regionally), I got pretty amused at her during the Masquerade, acting all nervous and trying to get Christine off the dance floor.

Piangi: Evan Harrington. Funny guy, nice chemistry with Carlotta.

Meg: Polly Baird. I actually got onesided Meg/Christine vibes from her- don't ask me why.

All in all, a great show. Then ALW announced the sequel and made me lose all the respect I'd regained for him.

Happy birthday to me!

My tags are starting to crowd my profile, so this will be my tags page from now on (I'll be updating it, of course.)

I do too many memes.  I don't care.

Choose a fandom.  Put your ipod on shuffle.  Write a drabble based on each of the first five songs.

My fandom: Sweeney Todd (big surprise.)  Revival-verse.

1. Mercedes Benz (Janis Joplin)

 

2. Milneburg Joys (Dr. John)

3. Relax (The Who)

4.  The Ballad of Booth (Assassins Revival Cast)

5. Weill: What Keeps Mankind Alive? (Tom Waits)

 

Pick 10 characters from whatever fandoms you like -- and pick LJ usernames for them. Don't peek at the questions until you've made your list!

1. The Emcee: hot_naziboy111
2. Reg Shoe: 1life2give
3. Mrs. Lovett: cockney_pie_wench
4. The Persian: 4gottendetective
5. Magenta: a_domestic
6. Phillip Marlowe: plus_expenses
7. Carmilla: bloodandkisses
8. The Bride: blackmamba
9. Renfield: rats!!!1111
10. Irene Adler (book, not RPG): contraltoXdiva

*Is now a High School graduate*

And here's a meme...

 "The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed."
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you really love (and strikethrough the ones you hate!).
4) Bold and Italicise those you've started, but never finished
5) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them

...also known as my thoughts on Jesus Christ Superstar.

A few things to get out of the way first: I'll be purely treating this as a story.  Whatever you believe, a musical adaptation is not the same as what really happened.  I'm Jewish and didn't go into listening to the CD with the image of Jesus as God, but even so, I thought of the characters as, well, characters, and the show remains ambiguous as to whether or not its hero was divine.

That said, I don't think the show is anti-semitic.  If you can have Jewish heroes you can also have Jewish villains, and even if all the villains are Jews, that doesn't make it anti-semitic any more than having all Italian villains in the Godfather makes it anti-Italian.  (Granted, I do think this is anti-semitic, but that's a directoral choice, not in the script.)

Judas may be an antagonist, but he's in many ways the star of the show.  I found myself crying a bit during his death song, which may well have been the intention.  I imagine that depending on how Judas is played, his final accusations that Jesus chose him to enact the crime could either be an acceptance of Jesus's divinity and anger that the all-knowing God didn't stop him, or a claim that the self-proclaimed (and human) martyr set him up to make his martyrdom complete.

One thing about the Priests grievences about Jesus is that, as most audiances probably wouldn't know, their worries were in some way deserved.  The Bar Kochba rebellion (circa 135 A.D.) consisted of a man who claimed he was the messiah and led a revolt against Rome, and it ended with a third of the Jewish population slaughtered by the much stronger Romans.  I'm not saying this justifies what they do in the play, but if they hadn't been made such cartoony villains they would have a valid point to make.

Pilate is another humanized antagonist, and he has some wonderful songs, but thanks to Monty Python I will forever think of Pilate as a lisping fop to whom the Jews cried out people with R in their names to hear his bungled mispronunciated.

A souvenier from the days when, as my father put it, Andrew Lloyd Webber wasn't pretending his songs weren't pop music, Jesus Christ Superstar was a very interesting listening experience.  I should probably see the movie now...

I have an idea for a Discworld crackfic that I will never, ever write- the Watch putting on a performance of Sweeney Todd!  I even cast all the roles...

Sweeney- Hmm, a violently angry man made violent by his hated city's corruption.  Who could possibly play that?
Anthony- Carrot, of course.  The man IS Anthony.
The Beggar Woman- Sally, enjoying her harassment of Carrot a bit too much.
Mrs. Lovett- Cheerey.  She'd have to stand on a box for the dances with Vimes, but if her pies contained dwarf bread, it would be no wonder they were horrible.
Turpin- Visit-the-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets.  His "Mea Culpa" would be a joy to behold.
Beadle Bamford- Detritus.  Come on, wouldn't you love to hear him sing "Ladies in Their Sensitivities"?
Johanna- Angua.  She's pretty and blond and has a lousy family situation, though poor Visit would be afraid to really menace her, what with the werewolf thing.
Toby- Nobby Nobbs.  He really was a street urchin, even if he was never adorable.
Pirelli- Colon, struggling to reach the high notes.
Fogg- Igor.  I imagine it would come quite naturally to him.

To bad I'll never write this.

First of all, I should state that Waxwork is a stupid movie.  Yes, it's a horror comedy, but so were The Lost Boys and the movie version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, both of which are scarier and funnier than anything in this movie.  Which character will be the Final Girl (TM) is painfully obvious, as is the ultimate fate of her trampy best friend.  And I have never rooted so hard for the villain as when the devestatingly seductive Marquis de Sade had the nominal hero at swordpoint.

On the other hand...

Waxwork contains the following:

*An evil waxwork museum with displays that are tributes to classic horror movies, from The Mummy to Night of the Living Dead to The Invisible Man.
*Miles "How Much Keefe?" O'Keefe as a surprisingly debonaire Dracula.
*A midgit butler the likes of which I haven't seen since my favorite cult TV show.
*A Final Girl (TM) who is secretly a fan of the aforementioned Marquis.
*Dracula's inbred rapist son, a prime example of 'castle trash'.

With all of this, how could I not enjoy the hell out of Waxwork?  I believe I actually let out a squeel of glee when they played the actual music from the 30's Mummy during their mummy sequence.  Sigh...

I eventually will finish the Threepenny one, but for now, here is...

Dracula (the version with Mac Warren)!

( With minimal Sweeney references... )

That is all.

They said it couldn't be done.  They were wrong.

Behold, I have written a Bertolt Brecht/Discworld crossover! http://community.livejournal.com/6impearfics/10268.html

I have accepted the challenge on the comm 6impearfics to write a story for each of these prompts...

Bewitching Brews
Blood Kiss	Lush, creamy vanilla and the honey of the sweetest kiss smeared with the vital throb of husky clove, swollen red cherries, but darkened with the vampiric sensuality of vetiver, soporific poppy and blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk.
Calico Jack	Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, and the memory of plundered spices sprayed over worn leathers, rough musk, and the salty wooden floorboards of the Revenge.
Intrigue	A sultry, exotic scent that inspires devious plotting and clandestine affairs. It is a scent painted in artifice, veiled in deceit, and slithering with whispered secrets. Black palm, with cocoa, fig and shadowy wooded notes.
Lurid	Shocking, horrific, fierce, savage, sensationalized, luminous and hazy: black currant, Bulgarian lavender and white musk with a dollop of thick resin and a voltaic charge of ozone notes.
Ode on Melancholy	Beauty, joy, pleasure and delight: devastated. This is the scent of the hopelessness, torment and despair of love. Lavender and wisteria, heart-wrenching pale rose, desolate white sandalwood and thin, tear-streaked white musk.
Ultraviolet	Electrifying, mechanized and chilly -- the scent of crushed blooms strewn on cold metal. Lush violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint.

Discworld is the fandom I will use. I'm insane.

My friends list hasn't been too responsive to memes in the past, but I'll give it one more try...

Comment with the name of a character you'd like to get a message from. I will reply in character as that person and write you a letter. Then post this on your journal and I will comment asking for a letter from one of my favorites.

So, this is part 1 of my condensation of...

THE THREEPENNY OPERA, 1931

 I have a deviantart account now: http://dangerousdame.deviantart.com/

I'm slowly uploading my better icons onto it.  If only I could draw...still, it's worth a look!

Comment and I'll...
1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ.

 Select ten characters from any fandom (multiple fandoms are fine)

13 Questions underneath 

Alright, as my fandom, I'm choosing musicals!

1. Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd)
2. Jenny (Threepenny)
3. John Wilkes Booth (Assassins)
4. Magenta (Rocky Horror)
5. Amos (Chicgo)
6. Raoul (Phantom of the Opera)
7. Enjolras (Les Miz)
8. The Old Lady (Candide)
9. Fagin (Oliver!)
10. The Emcee (Cabaret)

1. 5 and 9 are in a sporting event for charity, what event do they participate in? For what charity? 
Amos and Fagin.  A dance-off for the rights of prisoners.

2. If you could be 3's best friend for twenty-four hours, what would you spend the day doing? 
John Wilkes Booth.  Um...well, if he was my friend, I guess he couldn't put up a fight about my dragging him to Grant's tomb...

3. Is 8 more of a cat or a dog person? 
The Old Lady. A cat person.

4. Create a live journal name for 10. 
The Emcee.  hot_naziboy110.

5. Out of 7 and 4 who would make a better preschool teacher? What type of games and activities would they do? 
Enjolras or Magenta.  I'll have to give this to Enjolras, since Magenta would not be trusted with little kids.  As activities, he'd have them paint the entire classroom in red and black.

6. Where would 6 like to spend an extended weekend? 
Raoul.  Well, I think in the book they run away to Finland, so I'll go with that.

7. 9, 4, and 8 have three seats in a row on an airplane; who gets the window seat, the aisle seat and the middle seat? What do they discuss? 
Fagin, Magenta and The Old Lady.  Fagin gets the window, Magenta the aisle, and The Old Lady is in the middle.  They discuss...sex?  Yeah, that seems a reasonable assumption.

8. Write a haiku that 1 might write for 10 (5, 7, 5 syllables) 
Ms. Lovett for The Emcee.

Suspenders are nice
But they'd look even nicer
Across me bed, love.

9. Out of 2 and 7 who would you rather perform a talent show with? What would be your talent? 
Jenny or Enjolras.  I'm going with Jenny, since she'd be more likely to compete seriously for money.  Ans i'm sure she can act, so we'd just do one of her scenes.

10. 3 finds a wallet with two hundred dollar/pounds/etc with ID what does s/he do? 
John Wilkes Booth.  He's already well-off, but he'd take it as a sign and use it to finance his escape.

11. What is 1's greatest fear? 
Mrs. Lovett.  Being left alone, and forced to be accountable for her actions.

12. 5 was just arrest for ____, would 2 bail them out of jail? 
Amos is arrested and Jenny could bail him out.  I'd really expect it to be the reverse.  Anyway, Jenny would feel for him (she knows about dysfunctional relationships) but she doesn't spend money on other people, on principle.

13. 6 decides to throw a party, what are they celebrating? Is the party a success? 
Raoul.  Getting away sucessfully, and since the 'party' is a private one for him and Christine, it's turns out great.