Thoughts on a Quiet Night

Vincent Van Gogh: Look at the sky. It’s not dark and black and without character. The black is, in fact deep blue. And over there, lighter blue and blowing through the blues and blackness the winds swirling through the air and then shining, burning, bursting through… the stars! And you see how they roar their light. Everywhere we look, the complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes.
The Doctor: I’ve seen many things, my friend. But you’re right. Nothing quite as wonderful as the things you see.

(Source: a-torvs)

Like I said before: Calm your faces, white racists. It’s better for all of us (even if your panic is extremely lollerrific).

Sidenote:

Yes, it is racist. As rational as this guy comes off, he’s still pretty deluded and his argument is really flawed. I get what he means by bringing up the statistics and that there is clearly a difference between the races demographically, but he fails to analyze exactly why there is a difference. He seems to chalk it up to biology rather than take into consideration the institutions that have historically privileged white males. These are institutions such as slavery, which have set blacks back generations by preventing them from first off, being considered whole citizens, from owning land, making any money for themselves and from participating in politics, going to school, etc. for GENERATIONS so of course, there are going to be statistical differences between whites and blacks in terms of socioeconomics and education (and in terms of violence, people aren’t angry and violent for the sake of being angry and violent. When you’re in a community that lacks resources, you’re going to have to fight for those resources). Same with the Native Americans and Asians (Chinese Exclusion Act, Alien Land Act, Japanese internment, etc.). These setbacks cannot be reversed by throwing money at it for a year or two because these institutions and the attitudes that stem from it have been and are still ingrained in our society (as for Asians and the model minority stereotype, that first came to media attention during the 1960s when the Cold War caused the US to want to attract more immigrants who were more educated and excelled in science, when the Hart Seller Act lifted the immigration quota that had been set to zero for most Asian countries and when the Civil Rights Movement was happening. You put it together).

So yes, I agree that it is wrong to think of everyone as blank slates but it is not because some races are inherently inferior to others, it is because we are not all starting from the same socioeconomic background or circumstances. Also, because we are not all blank slates, the idea that no matter who you are, if you pull yourself up by you bootstraps, you can live the American dream is bullshit.

And that whole thing about white culture and civilization being under attack. First off, the idea that civilization=white/european kind of isn’t true (case in point, the Chinese civilization is the oldest continuous civilization on earth). Secondly, calm your tits, white culture still dominates and that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. You know why? European colonization. Though, for the most part it’s not going on anymore, the former colonial powers are still benefiting from the money and the influence that they gained when they were colonizers. White still sets the beauty standards world wide (the popularity of whitening creams and double eyelid surgery in Asia (not saying that people who buy these creams, get these surgeries or dye their hair blond are actively and consciously trying to look white, they’re just trying to live up to a beauty standard. However, we have to examine where these beauty standards come from) and the lack of minority portrayals in mainstream media in the US (this can also be seen in Latin American media in which there is an over representation of light skinned latin@s despite the diverse and heavily mixed population)). According to what we’re taught in school, white men are the ones who make history (there even has to be a separate course designed in order for African Americans to even be mentioned, not to mention there’s hardly any representation of Asian or Latino Americans). Hell, even when you’re describing someone, he/she is almost always assumed to be white unless noted otherwise (unless, you’re describing a criminal). Also, racism against a white person, while still unjust and otherwise bad, is not the same as racism against a minority. Same with sexism. This is because yeah, it would be hurtful on an individual scale, but at the end of the day whites and males still have their privilege, they are still in power. Whereas racism or sexism against against minorities reinforces the years and years of oppression. It’s kind of like kicking someone when she’s already down.

Furthermore, this guy also speculates that racial hostility comes from whites being passes over for jobs because of afirmative action and other such things. However, this makes no sense because racism and racial hostility against minorities has existed way before affirmative action. Racial hostility does not happen because whites are being oppressed. It happens when whites (not all of them, just the racist ones) feel that the privilege that they have and think they are entitled to is threatened by people they see as being inherently inferior.

About the biological differences between races, I don’t know as much about this as I do all the more social science aspects of this argument, but according to Cavalli-Sforza there are no clear cut biological differences between races, instead there are this things called clines, which basically means that there is a gradual shift in variants across a geographical space. Contrary to popular belief, there are no specific genetic differences between races and there is no such thing as a ‘race’ gene. That being said, even though race is a social construct, it is still real in that people believe that it is real and treat others and themselves accordingly.

There are many people who are more knowledgeable and way more articulate than I am on this subject. I highly recommend checking out Racialicious (a blog about race and media), Racismschool (a tumblr dedicated to dispelling misconceptions about race), lacigreen (a vlogger that talks mostly about sex, gender and sexuality but also occasionally goes into race and religion) and I highly recommend taking a look at the Understanding Race Project, which not only talks about the social aspects of race but also goes into biology and genetics. The project is also affiliated with the American Anthropological Association, which makes it pretty credible.

Just found another clip of the Mayerling Waltz from the Korean production taken at a better angle. I really like how confident and in-control der Tod looks in this compared to how Rudolph’s being tossed about and completely at his mercy. Der Tod looks really predatory but also like he’s patiently waiting for Rudolph to break. The part where der Tod’s minions lift him up also kind of reminds me of the Hungarian production.

Another clip from the Korean production. This one is of the Mayerling Waltz. I really wish it showed more of the choreography :( but I’m just glad I found some footage from the actual musical.

Here’s a fancam of Mama, Wo Bist Du from the Korean production. OMG der Tod has such a creeper entrance. Little!Rudolph is so cute! And Junsu seems to have mastered that der Tod sitting position.

Here’s a fancam of Junsu singing the Korean version of Der Letzte Tanz in concert. To be honest, I wasn’t too happy about him being cast as der Tod at first. I’m a fan of DBSK and I think he’s a good singer but I never really liked the quality of his voice. I also thought that his look didn’t suit such a dark role. All I’ve seen are some promo clips and rehearsal footage and I’ve heard some audio but I guess after a while, I came to like his version.

lonelytitania:

Michael Kunze talking about Elisabeth and how die Kaiserin became the perfect protagonist for his Musical.

Have I mentioned how much I adore this man? very wrong recent Cast choice apart.  

I’m now working on writing two musicals and I just started reading Don Quixote so I thought this would be a fitting post (though, I’ve never actually seen Man of La Mancha).

I’m only on chapter 4 but already I’ve realized that this is the story of my life (if only I was slightly more deranged and much less cynical).

Prologue (which can be paraphrased as “When in doubt, make shit up”) -How I write.

Chapter 1:

“He commended, however, the author’s way of ending his book with the promise of that interminable adventure, and many a time was he tempted to take up his pen and finish it properly as is there proposed, which no doubt he would have done, and made a successful piece of work of it too, had not greater and more absorbing thoughts prevented him.”-How I almost write fanfiction.

“In short, our gentleman became so immersed in his reading that he spent whole nights from sundown to sunup and his days from dawn to dusk in poring over his books, until, finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his braid dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”-How I tumblr.

“His fancy grew full of what he used to read about in his books, enchantments, quarrels, battles, challenges, wounds, wooings, loves, agonies, and all sorts of impossible nonsense; and it so possessed his mind that the whole fabric of invention and fancy he read of was true, that to him no history in the world had more reality in it. He used to say the Cid Ruy Diaz was a very good knight, but that he was not to be compared with the Knight of the Burning Sword who with one back-stroke cut in half two fierce and monstrous giants.”-How I fangirl.

“The first thing he did was to clean up some armour that had belonged to his great-grandfather, and had been for ages lying forgotten in a corner eaten with rust and covered with mildew. He scoured and polished it as best he could, but he perceived one great defect in it, that it had no closed helmet, nothing but a simple morion. This deficiency, however, his ingenuity supplied, for he contrived a kind of half-helmet of pasteboard which, fitted on to the morion, looked like a whole one. It is true that, in order to see if it was strong and fit to stand a cut, he drew his sword and gave it a couple of slashes, the first of which undid in an instant what had taken him a week to do. The ease with which he had knocked it to pieces disconcerted him somewhat, and to guard against that danger he set to work again, fixing bars of iron on the inside until he was satisfied with its strength; and then, not caring to try any more experiments with it, he passed it and adopted it as a helmet of the most perfect construction.”-How I cosplay.

Right now I’m having writer’s block so brace yourselves for some musical spam.