speaking as someone who mostly consumes media from the west, something I've been thinking about a lot of late is how so much of mainstream tv looks the same now. In the 2020s, there's a standardised high budget efficient look to everything that is technically good and fine, but visually indistinctive and boringgggg. say what you will of over-stylised tv shows from the early 2010s, but at least they looked interesting and distinct from one another. this was in part because that peak "prestige tv" era saw networks throwing money at productions that would previously have had way less money so the ppl making these shows just went "weeeeeeee!" and went ham on style, which they were allowed to do because streaming hadn't caught on enough to globalise and standardise visual styles. You hear ppl complain about dull lighting, colouring, etc in modern shows all the time. but we all know it's more than that! shows look and feel the same because they all look the same, stylistically. but it wasn't always like this. think back to shows in the early 2010s!! think peaky blinders season 1, early game of thrones seasons, c4's utopia, mr robot, in the flesh, preacher, the original season of the night manager, chewing gum, the first season of true detective, the get down, nbc Hannibal, orphan black, Atlanta, season 1 of stranger things, and even dare I say BBC Sherlock. say what you will of some of those shows (lord knows I have), but they had distinctive visual styles that were compelling and a huge part of why they were popular. what's interesting is that many of these shows have legacy seasons/shows made by the same ppl in the 2020s where that unique visual style has been almost entirely flattened and standardised into something that's just expensive and competent rather than interesting and distinct. sure, there are some exceptions to this in the last few years. shows like Ripley, Poker Face, Interview With The Vampire, Reservation Dogs, Industry, We Are Lady Parts, etc, are a few that come to mind for having really strong, distinctive visual styles. But even these styles are more subdued than they would have been 10-15 years ago. I have no real conclusion to this thought, but I do think this standardised for global streaming kind of styling is part of why graphic/picspam edit culture is a shell of its former self, and it's also why so much tv, even tv made by the same people who made these shows in the 2010s, is just so fucking boring to look at. I need the tv industry to be weird and bold and stylish again so badly.

tbh i've always found the musical's "glinda can't know" a little bit contrived and more of a necessity of plot more than anything. like, i can justify it from my understanding of elphaba and her thought processes, but it feels like it primarily happens because the plot needs it to happen. same with glinda earnestly believing that elphaba melted. you can argue "oh she actually knows and is grieving never being able to see elphie again" or "believing she's dead is psychologically easier than believing elphie wouldn't tell her" and they're very valid, reasonable understandings of the text but fundamentally i think the ending was written less as a logical progression of what glinda and elphaba would do/think and more as "it needs to end this way because we want it to." and don't get me wrong i love the ending i think an ending where they're together or glinda explicitly knows is narratively weaker but the fact that their choices/behavior in the end feel somewhat dragged along by the necessity of the plot will always be a weakness of the story imo

tags via @localgaysian

The concept of John M Chu claiming god spoke to him through a moment of yuri

The thing is it does seem weirdly convenient to have had a moment of (Christian?) religious ecstasy at the exact moment the stars of your movie who also have dating rumours just happened to be acting out one of the most overt visual metaphors for queerness that I’ve ever seen in a moving picture. especially if you maybe filmed the movie during a far more liberal political climate and now have to release it in an extremely reactionary one where gay rights and freedom of speech are under attack from the US government and public sentiment at large. However I am choosing to believe that Mr. Chu did genuinely feel the Holy Spirit visited him by way of Cynthia erivo and Ariana grande pretending to be in a closet.

anyone who has suffered health anxiety or health related ocd understands what its like to be truly and deeply in hell

I think another reason why the Ozdust Ballroom scene hits as hard as it does (besides the incredible acting) is the genre the story is taking place in.

This is a musical. It's normal for people to break into songs that somehow everyone around knows the lyrics and choreography for.

But Elphaba doesn't really get to enjoy the privilege of the genre she is in. Not at first at least.

"The wizard and I" has her dancing and singing all by herself. The few people who see her just run away.

"What is this feeling?" is a duet between her and Glinda where once again she's kinda on her own, everyone already deciding that "dear Galinda you're just too good".

When Fiyero starts a whole song and dance in the library no one bats an eye. Everyone was on board with the idea of just "Dancing through life".

And there comes the Ozdust Ballroom scene. Elphaba starts to dance -- in a club of all places, where dancing is normal -- and everyone just stares at her like she's the weird one.

So Glinda joining in and following along to Elphaba's dance, without taking over like in "What is this feeling?", showing her that she is no longer alone, is definitely a gut puncher.

does anyone else feel sooooo crazy and insane but in the most boring way possible

gillian flynn please a new book please gillian

My grandfather has a brain thing right now that makes it hard for him to talk in more than one word sentences but he can understand people just fine and lately it’s been kinda pissing me off how many healthcare providers talk to him like he’s five years old. Like he can understand you. He can answer yes or no questions. We just told you that. You don’t have to talk about him to me like he’s not here.

Also my grandmother is his primary caregiver right now. I’m basically just at their doctors appointments to push his wheelchair but the doctors and nurses still like hand the paperwork to me? And explain things to me? Like you were just talking to her earlier. What about this situation suggests I’m the one in charge here? I know nothing about his treatment plan but because I’m not old they just start explaining things to me and asking me questions that I have no business answering.

As a young person you don’t get a taste of the ageism in the medical system super often but then you help an older person with a doctors appointment and you’re like ooohhh this is why people get isolated as they get older. Because people treat them like toddlers.

Me: You know how when you were a kid and you’d wish that you’d get sick or injured in a way that would justify why you didn’t live up to your potential?

Everybody, apparently: No?

“How to Respond to Criticism” by Danny M. Lavery for The Toast

seems like plenty of people are lacking the Vitamin

The generation gap between me and ppl of my own age

also the way im soooo disappointed in the re:crave is that yes in it's core it's a sad song - the lyrics are depressing, lamenting one's inability to let go (the sentiment that was previously explored on last hope and taken even further on crave) but the delivery! the delivery makes it into something hopeful (again - think about 'gotta let it happen's from last hope). this song has to have this big chorus all the instrumentals swell and it drives home the message that yes you'll struggle but it's worth it because you still want to do things and you will do amazing things like bravo you made a sad song a sad song congrats lets put it on top 100 songs to cry to by spotify

there needs to be an easier way to convey the idea of "it's absolutely fine that you don't like this thing I like, and I don't even necessarily disagree with your reasons for disliking it, but I am sick to death of hearing your negative opinions about it."

op what you just said is 1000% perfect that’s exactly how you say it

obsessed with stories where you can never go home

you can never go home because you fell asleep for a thousand years and when you woke up and returned there, your society had changed, your house had fallen and all of your friends were dead. you can never go home because you made a choice and were shattered into pieces and your home was destroyed in your wake. you can never go home because someone took you and changed you against your will and although your home is the same, the person who belonged there is dead. you can never go home because you committed a crime and your family expelled you and even as they extend a hand of reconciliation, you will never forgive them. you can never go home because your home was a person and someone murdered her and now you drift and grieve to the point of insanity. you can never go home because you never knew your sister but she gave you every opportunity you have and now she's dead and your parents see nothing but her in your eyes.

the fact i can touch type/type without looking is so wild to me bc if you asked me to say the alphabet i’d have to do it w/the song but if you asked me to name the order of the keys from right to left i literally couldn’t do it like my fingers know where stuff is but my visual memory has zero clue and that freaks! me! out! the alphabet has no reason to be ordered like that!!! my fingers and my mind know two different alphabets!!! 

the executive dysfunction aspect of adhd is the WORST because no matter how much extra time i make to complete a task i know i will NEVER be finished on time because the more time i give myself the more time i feel like i have to waste getting distracted. im in hell.

a hyperfixation really is marie kondo’s ‘does it spark joy?’ to the extreme huh