My blog (#myblog)

Im. Fine and normal.

Assorted song ideas (Songdeas)

ACT I

Overture / Waking up Alone

An orchestral number which incorporates motifs of other songs,

There’s Something in the Sky I

upbeat number Grace with explaining to his classroom about the many great discoveries of humanity motivated by asking what’s in the sky, interrupted by a child asking about the Petrova line—song becomes far more somber as Grace explains the crisis, noting that ‘there’s something in the sky.’

[title pending]

Rather long exposition song, showing grace being recruited and working on the project Hail Mary and getting to know Stratt and the other scientists

Heer Halewijn / Eva’s Song

The karaoke scene, Eva sings a Dutch folk song that’s essentially about the Bluebeard Myth (we’re meant to see she regards herself as the villain of the song)

Adrian

Song about. The planet Adrian, I guess?

Me Believing in You

Act I finale, Stratt’s betrayal and the audience finally learns that Grace was forced on the mission. In present time, Grace sings to Rocky, telling him that he needs to wake up so they can save earth and Erid together.

ACT II

There’s Something in the Sky II

Grace’s motif again, when he realizes Rocky will die without his help and that he must turn back.

Heer Halewijn (Reprise)

After watching Grace’s messages, Eva sings a few bars to herself, smiling (the part of the song where the heroine tricks the wicked prince) Scene transitions to Erid.

There’s Something in the Sky III (Finale)

•Ryland is 110% the kind of teacher that all the single (and sometimes not so single) parents flirt with and hit on. He is almost entirely oblivious to this. Simon is not so oblivious to this. He's not really jealous more so that he is incredibly annoyed with the parents for continuing to do this nonsense and endlessly endeared by Ryland's inability to notice when someone is actively trying to sleep with him

•even after he and Simon are married there are still times where Ryland won't catch on to when Simon is trying to get him to come to bed for reasons other than sleep

•Simon is *so* fucking endeared by it

•there are the rare nights where Simon can sleep but Ryland can't bc his insomnia is acting up. Those nights are honestly some of Ryland's favorites, even if he's grumpy in the morning due to lack of sleep. Simon is a cuddler when he sleeps (I mean, they both are let's be real), and Ryland will play games on his phone until he gets sleepy while Simon holds him and it's just. Really nice

•Simon does eventually meet up with his mother after she reaches out to him. Ryland goes with him for that first meeting, and Simon, despite all his nerves about this meeting and how unsure he is about seeing his mother at all, is absolutely delighted to introduce Ryland as his fiance

•Simon's mother is so happy when she hears that, because him having a fiancé means that he still managed to give himself a normal life and find people who love him despite everything that he's gone through

•(I don't entirely have the backstory for Simon and his mom fleshed out yet, but I know part of the reason she gave him up does have something to do with the whole Living With A Cult thing. Like. She didn't *want* to give him up, and there is not a day that goes by where she doesn't regret it, but at the time she genuinely believed it was the best thing for him and the only way she could keep him safe and away from Eden and The Father)

•I do think that, while Simon and his mother will never have a normal relationship, they do manage to reconcile

•Simon might eventually forgive her, but I don't think that Ryland ever will

•He's supportive of Simon tho. Always

•Simon and Ryland do get another cat at some point. Ryland finds a little orange and white kitten outside by one of the school dumpsters in the morning on his way into work. He keeps her in the classroom that day with him simply because he doesn't like. Have anywhere else to put this kitten he randomly found. His students name her Peaches And Cream. Peaches for short. They had a whole Google survey set up to vote on the names. Obviously Ryland can't get rid of her now

•Simon was on a dive with this happened. When he comes home to see Peaches cuddling with Felicette on the couch he just kinda. Stares for a moment. He doesn't remember having two cats before he left, but you know what he's tired and incredibly sleep deprived and he just spent a month under the ocean he can deal with this tomorrow

•Simon was also on a dive when the whole 'Colt Getting Framed For Murder' thing happened, and even though everything turned out alright in the end, Simon is still so mad with himself for not being there for Ryland when it all happened

There I saw you standing

***book spoilers ahead***

I want to do a quick dive into the infamous scene between Grace, DuBois, and Shapiro in chapter 17 (pp. 283–285 in my copy) because an idea occurred to me and I can’t rest until I dig into it. This is the scene in which DuBois informs Grace of the sexual nature of his relationship with Shapiro.

Something about the conversation didn’t sit quite right for me. Upon reflection, I wanted to take a step back from (or perhaps, as it happens, a step further into) my aroace reading of Grace and get to the bottom of what Weir’s intention was in writing it. While I do believe that the aroace reading is strongly supported by the text, I don’t believe that it was specifically intended, which brings us to these points:

stratt saying she isn’t mysterious made me realize.. well… she really isn’t (it’s easy to sum up her personality as cold and brutal but she wears her heart on her sleeve- specifically with grace- we can tell that she likes his company.. she wants him to succeed… she’s visibly distraught when he refuses to go during his flashback)

I also was really thrown off at first by her believing in god but thinking about it in terms of ‘it beats the alternative’ aka believing she’ll go unpunished actually added so much to her character for me (idk like her factual/reality side vs her belief/hope)

grace and rocky’s relationship mirroring stratt’s relationship with earth/humanity (I will be brave for you)

AND THE KARAOKE SCENE her gesturing to grace while singing the line ‘remember everything will be alright’ and suddenly getting a little more somber and making eye contact for ‘we could meet again somewhere somewhere far away from here’ before abruptly leaving ohhh ohhh

just the amount of movie references grace makes in both the book and movie (so far I’ve noticed he’s mentioned predator and mad max in the book then rocky ofc, hellraiser, and superman in the movie)

When a typeface you've banned for use on middle school science projects follows you lightyears away to an alien planet 🤦🏼‍♂️

Grace tapping or stomping twice to signal a question.

Grace doing the jazz hands.

Grace doing that thing when Rocky is counting that he uses his fingers (even if Grace isn't actually counting with them, he picks up the gesture)

Give me Grace being a weirdo and walking on all fours like Rocky. Rocky thinks it's hilarious how slow he is like that.