Daily Diary Doodle - #001 - Oh Joy

Daily Diary Doodle - #001 - Oh Joy

One square book, 366 blank pages, and the life of many in one: the Doodle Diary! Last year we did around 200 drawings in all different mediums, expressions, and efforts, pushing ourselves to experiment more over anything. Yes, we didn't do all 366, but I'm damn proud that we got as far as that. ⠀ New Year, New Book; and this year it’s an exercise in restraint-- to understand that quick and scribbly is fine even in comparison to neat and perfect. Ultimately, we're trying to keep it more on the simple side: one or two mediums per, more typography, etc. Hopefully our social media will reflect that too; we’re trying to not be so specific on what we post, to lessen the grip of the algorithm mentally.

Alistar

Do you think that Charlie and the chocolate factory is the most underrated musical? I think it’s pretty good and pays nods to the original book.

Of the ones we've seen? Absolutely.

I think a lot of people dismiss the source material as they grow up- 'it's a horror story for children'- forgetting that it's as much wary warning to adults as it is kids. And I think this lead to a lot of people seeing a Musical version of this as nothing more than 'a kid's play'.

But oh god, anyone who's seen the musical... [insert nervous laughter] knows that's not the case.

--

For context, since versions differ: We saw the original West-End run in its final year, with Jonathan Slinger as Wonka. Which... whereas Hodge went more book-Wonka, and Jennings had this almost uncaring selfishness, Slinger's Wonka was unhinged. He was the perfect mix of 'I am genuinely terrified for my own safety, but if I don't follow this man, I will be all-consumingly curious for the rest of my life'.

He had the same vibe as creatures of myth that would lure people to their demise. You could tell me Slinger's Wonka was a fae, and I could easily believe it. You would have to have the willpower of the gods to not follow him into the dark.

I say all this, because I think a lot of adaptations ignore the cruelty of Willy Wonka. There's a cognitive bias in the story, as it's told from a star-struck child's view of a man who can do no wrong; and let's be honest, Charlie shrugs off trauma after trauma in that factory because of it. But the musical's Wonka makes choices and comments that just feel more true to the character?

The musical felt more adult, like it understood the assignment in a way no other adaptation did. It understood how- mind the language- utterly fucked up the whole tour is, it understood that Wonka is Ambiguously Evil, it understood that it is essentially a horror story mixed with a Wonderlandian Tale. And it didn't shy away from that.

And as someone who, as a child, was utterly confused on how no-one else saw these things of the story... it came out as, easily, our favourite version of the story altogether.

Perhaps it's because we've since grown up, perhaps it's due to our *ahem* personal biases within the system (see: our introject of Wonka was our primary persecutor during childhood), but the take not sugarcoating the whole story as 'look at the wonderful Willy Wonka!' and seeing it for what it is, was so utterly refreshing.

I wish more people had seen it. I wish Jonathan Slinger's run was recorded.

--

It wasn't perfect though. The first act is slow, but we do like that it took more time to explore Charlie as a character (we also still prefer that Wonka turns up at the end of act 1; something we know BW!CatCF changed).

The kids also felt incredibly flat. I think Charlie was a strong character, but all of the children in that version felt quite bland and too generalised? There was no subtlety to them, and they were incredibly in-your-face- which I guess is closer to the book, but if you grew up with the 71! & 05! versions, it's just a bit of non-taste.

Also 'Vidiots' is a boomer song about 'Technology Bad', and I know Mike Teavee is essentially that whole concept (even though that boy is obviously just undiagnosed ADHD, and hoo boy we have thoughts about that) but that song is very out of touch and could do with being removed or potentially taken from a more sympathetic angle. The only good thing that came out of it was Doris Teavee Jam Session lessss goooo baybee. hi we love west-end mrs. teavee if you could not tell, she's adorable and relatable when you're hitting 30 and stressed all the time.

That's all we can think of off the top of our head, but tl;dr: absolutely.

- Vi & Atticus

We all Scream, for Ice Cream! And Mr. Joy will make sure of that.⁣~ -- sketches by miss k & atlas --

Some character concepts for our newest OC, Jamerson Joy. He's your friendly, reliable neighbourhood Ice Cream Man! Except, you don't remember having a neighbourhood Ice Cream Man. And it's the dead of Winter...⁣ ⁣ So why is he outside your house? And why does he look at you like he's... Hungry?⁣ There’s more info on our Ice Cream God over on Toyhou.se.

We’ve got some things from our Instagram queued up for the next few days. Not sure if there’ll be a consistent schedule or anything; it’ll all depend on if we continue passively using tumblr I imagine.

the way our brain works, is if it’s not in sight, it’s not in mind.~

as said, Instagram is the best place to find us. But I wouldn’t say no to moving here a bit more, with how brutal the algorithm has been.

- Atlas

the boys are back in town (the boys are back in town)

Have some mildly menacing Oompa Loompa for an upcoming mental health Q&A video.

As much as a part of us is considering coming back to tumblr, if there’s anyone still around these parts that follows us: we’re mostly at Twitch & Instagram.

A warning, however, that due to dissociative amnesia we remember barely anything of the tumblr days. I do hope to eventually go through our blog backup and see if I can jog anything; but alas, for now, it remains a fog. You’re welcome to reach out to us, but to the majority, we likely won’t know who you are.

And I am not even the Alice you once knew. Nor am I Alistar. They’re both here, but they are not me.

Hello, by the way, I’m Atlas.