#(also look! Harold! my boy! but he's not the one making the movie reference so not actually tagging him 😔)

[doesthebatfamknowpopculture]

Oswald Cobblepot has seen The Birds

[hughjidiot]

Total Drama Level Up Chapter Six Behind-the-Scenes

Time for another look at the writing process of TDLU, and I have a lot to say about chapter six.

For starters, this chapter was supposed to come much later on. For a while in my drafts I had the zombie apocalypse challenge in mind for episode six while the music challenge would take place post-merge. But then I decided the band challenge would work better for the team portion, so I swapped them.

Before the switch, I also envisioned this challenge as being more like karaoke, with Trent, Cody, Justin and Harold of the Drama Brothers as special guest stars playing the actual music. After making the switch I then thought I'd make them guest judges instead. But it was during this brainstorming that I came up with the idea to have past competitors guest star in the murder mystery challenge, so I scrapped any appearances here so as not to double-dip.

Speaking of which, I also initially planned to have Zee casually reveal that he's a metalhead, rather than simply having family into the metal scene, drawing humor from someone so chill being into hardcore metal. But I'd done a similar reveal just a chapter before revealing Zee to have a sudden interest in skateboarding, and I didn't wanna repeat of that. If I had made Zee a metalhead, I would've had a joke like this when someone expressed surprise that someone like him would be into metal: "Hey man, not all of us metalheads burn churches or practice devil worship or use a picture of our dead bandmate as a bootleg album cover." (looks directly at the nearest camera) "I'm not making that up by the way; that actually happened."

And yes, Zee really isn't making that up. I'm not giving you the album name obviously, but if you're morbidly curious, look into the history of the band Mayhem.

By far what gave me the most trouble was trying to figure out what everyone would sing. I went through so many choices, it's crazy.

For Millie I decided she'd be into oldies, since that felt like a good hit for her "Wow, my generation is messed up" attitude from season one. I went through a whole list of potential songs, almost going with "Message in a Bottle" by the Police before ending on "Walk Like an Egyptian."

For a while I thought to have Bowie singing David Bowie, but that felt a little too on-the-nose. I ultimately went with Elton John after hearing "The Bitch is Back" on the radio and deciding that would be perfect for Bowie.

For a while for Axel, I'd planned on having her sing an Iron Maiden song. I headcanoned her as a fan as metal makes for great workout music, and she'd appreciate the literary and historical references in a lot of their songs. It was a toss-up between "The Trooper" and "Flight of Icarus;" if I'd gone with the latter, the plan for the performance was to have Bowie in a winged harness like Greece's Pieces from World Tour, flying over the stage to a giant sun prop where he'd ignite the wings, detach himself and drop down. Obviously all of that changed when I decided a Guns n Roses song would better fit Axel's vocal range.

Side note: I really liked having Axel be the one to paint her team's backdrops here. I couldn't resist throwing in a nod to her artistic side, one of my favorite things we got from Axel for season two.

For Zee, once I'd headcanoned him as being a fan of soft rock, I almost instantly decided on "Brandy" by looking glass. Initially for his performance I was gonna put emphasis on Lauren admiring him as the beginning of her crush, but decided to save it for their dance during MK's number instead.

Lauren's performance of reenacting the murder of Paul Allen from American Psycho was one of the first things I came up with when finalizing this challenge. For the song itself, I actually had "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves picked out, which is also part of the movie's soundtrack. But in the end I decided to go with the actual song from that scene, "Hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis and the News.

MK, hoo boy. She easily went through the most songs, since I wanted to find something that felt like a good match for her scratchy voice and something semi-romantic for Zee and Lauren to dance to. For a while my choices were "Love Gun" by Kiss, "You Shook Me All Nite Long" or "Touch Too Much" by AC/DC, or "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns n Roses (before deciding to give Axel the GnR song.) I ultimately went with "Butterfly" by CrazyTown since I figured MK wouldn't be one for singing, so she'd rather rap.

[saigonharrington]

Movies - Steve Harrington fanfic

word count: 2,3k category: fluff/angst warnings: cursing, crying

and a couple of old movies' references

i'm actually scared how quicky I wrote it and how emotional i was during some of the moments. enjoy! and don't forget to reblog as it helps me grow ♥ -> want to request something? <--> have an idea for the next superache fanfic? <-

—————

Working at Family Video quickly became a boring, mundane task for Steve. The only things excluded from the routine were his conversations with Robin. As the days flew by, they felt like they overshared a lot and created way too many weird games to keep themselves busy. But Steve had something, or rather someone else in his mind that made him busy. He started to space out a lot since the first day he saw you at his workplace. To say he was head over heels with you was an understatement. The boy became obsessed quickly, hearing how you talked to yourself while picking movies.

He either was too stunned to speak around you or said the most stupid things ever, only embarassing himself again and again.

"Hey Dingus, whatcha doin?" Robin approached him while he was trying to sort films on the shelves. "Your girl hasn't been here in ages, when do you think she's gonna come?"

"That's not my girl" He replied confused and afraid that you might ener the door right now and hear everything.

"Well it's the only girl beside me that you talk to lately. Where did your womanizer attitude go? All the girls from the Hawkins are waiting. Oh wait, half of them has already reject you."

"Hey! That was rude. I'm just too busy for dates. I have things to do, I have a job, kids that need to be taken care of. You know, usual stuff."

"I think there's still space for a girlfriend. You just need to think before you start opening that stupid mouth of yours."

"Thank's for the advice Robin. I'm obviously gonna listen to you becouse you are the romance expert and have a girlf... oh wait. You don't"

"Don't come at me! I just want to help. What do we know about... what's her name again?

"Y/N. Isn't it beautiful? I swear I haven't heard of anyone with that name from here. She's extraordinary."

"Yeah yeah okay. Let's start with simple things that we can figure out. What genre of movies is she into?"

Steve was a little embarassed, but he went to the counter and pulled out a little piece of paper. "I actually keep a list of the movies she rented..."

"You psycho! That's a bit too much of an obsession. Cute, but also TOO MUCH. So, what did she watch lately?" Robin seemed to change her attitude every ten seconds, but she wanted to be the best wing(wo)man to her best friend. Robin took the list and started analysing it.

"Y/N movies list:

"Grease" "Annie Hall" "Harold and Maude" "Breakfast at Tiffany's" "The shop around the corner" "His girl Friday" "Roman holiday" "What's up, Doc?"

"I've been meaning to watch them but it's so hard to watch every single one..." Steve felt the urge to explain himself as the Robin kept staring at the list

"Your girl slash not your girl is a cheesy romantic comedies enjoyer. I think you're fucked up, you're never gonna meet her expectations. Girl has standards, that's what she has. Well, good luck."

"I know, I'm trying. I enjoyed some of them. But every time I try to reference them and compliment her choices it feels like I'm making fun of her and the films. What's wrong with me?"

"That's a whole different story, dingus. Oh look! Here she comes! Alone! It's your time to shine." Robin patted Steve's arm and took a couple of casettes from the shelf to try to look busy and unbothered by your incoming. "Steve, go to her. Recommend her something." She whispered, making sure you can't hear it.

"I'm going. I'm gone, yeah yeah."

"You need to actually move. Do you want me to push you and force you to talk to her? It's going to look awkward. Here I go, your last chance before I'm gonna embarass you."

"Fine, I'm going."

Steve approached you quietly without saying anything. He tried to rehearse his speech in his head, but your silent soliloquy made it hard for him to focus.

"Looking for a romance?" He asked semi-confidently while leaning onto the shelf that moved under his weight. You looked at him confused, frowning, and trying to decipher what he wanted to say. "Shit. I mean, the movie genre. Something with secret pen pals or kissing in the rain?" He added, trying to impress you. "Not today. I came for something different. I think I need something animated."

"Oh, cute. For a date or what?" The words came out of his mouth way too quickly. He stared at you in silence, afraid that you might confirm his predictions."

"Yeah kinda." He almost puked. "If you count babysitting as a date." You smiled at him.

"Don't tell me more! I have been a babysitter once, I mean, more than once, almost every day since... nevermind, you came here to get a movie and I started oversharing out of nowhere."

"No, it's nice. You can talk." You calmed him down by patting his arm. "I'm actually surprised you can tell more than mumble three words. Guess I misjudged you. By the way, I must ask you: Are you making fun of me?"

"What?! No!" He almost screamed "Why do you think so?"

"Every time I come here I hear snarky comments about my movie choices. Is something wrong with me? You referenced couple of them minutes ago, so I assume you've seen them."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. They were not supposed to sound like that, these films are great. I just get a little stressed around you and it's a weird uncommon feeling that I have never felt before and that's why I'm babbling whatever comes to my mind. Actually, nothing comes here because my mind is a blank space but anyway I do like these movies I think I saw Roman Holiday more than once and..."

"Stop talking," You looked at his badge to note his name. "Steve. I'm quite happy to meet another romance movies enjoyer. People say that it's cheesy but I consider them realistic. I'd love to hear your opinion. Which should I borrow the next time I come here?"

"I think you saw every romantic comedy that we have here. But I'd love to debate with you tomorrow evening, maybe by the milkshake...?" He scratched his head waiting for your reaction.

"Have you been stalking me, Steve? How can you tell what have I watched?" You made a pause. "But I'd love to meet you tomorrow, since today I'm babysitting. So, see you?" Steve nodded his head, pulling off the best smile that he could.

"Thanks for coming to Family Video, glad that we could help you."

And that's how it all started.

From one date to another, you immediately fell in love with him, thinking of him as a perfect match. The relationship was still fresh, you were in 'the honeymoon phase' enjoying every minute with each other, watching your favorite movies, and imagining yourselves as the characters. Today was your one-month relationship anniversary and everything has been planned out perfectly. You were supposed to go to an amusement park dressed up as Danny and Sandy, but Steve was late.

You were preparing yourself for hours, only to find yourself waiting at the bench near your house. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours. You wanted to be patient, and understanding. You even romanticised this moment, thinking that maybe he's stuck at workplace desperately wanting to get out and see you, or he finished late and is preparing himself now. The thought of him doing his hair while humming the grease soundtrack and cursing every lock of hair that wasn't cooperating with him and his hair gel was making you smile through the tears. But he wasn't coming and you've grown too tired and resigned to try justifying his absence.

You came home after three hours of waiting, careful not to be seen by your parents. The last thing you wanted is for them to see you cry, especially after the boy they adored.

After shutting your door you fell on your bed, not changing your clothes or wiping the make-up that you have worked on for so long. You just didn't have the energy to do that.

You fell asleep almost immediately, trying to erase the events from the day. But in the middle of the night, you heard your door opening and someone entering through. "Y/N I'm so sorry I'm that late. I know we were supposed to go to that amusement park but I got stopped by Nancy and you know that crazy Vecna shit is happening and we had some stuff to figure out... are you awake? What's with the face? Why do you look like that?"

"I don't know, why do you think my face is looking like that? Maybe because I waited for you for like 4 hours and you never came? So I decided to cry myself to sleep? Have you thought of that? Or maybe I realised that everything is wrong! Why didn't you tell me that you have things to do! That you were too busy to spend some time with me on our anniversary?"

"Y/N please calm down. I said I'm sorry. I want to make it up to you. Let's take care of you and wash that pretty face. You need to hear me out before jumping into conclusions."

"What did I misunderstand that time? I know weird things are happening in Hawkins, I'm not a baby, Steve. Why do you always exclude me from this narrative? Why can't I get involved?" You cried while wiping your face because of arguing and because wiping things off mixed with tears was hurting you.

"It's dangerous, Y/N. I don't want you to get hurt. It's not the best time to explain everything."

"When's the time? Don't play the 'overprotective' card right now! Love's nothing like the movies! I thought I would be giggling and shit but you left me all by myself. Don't you think that it's dangerous for you too? Or for Nancy?! Seems that you two can manage but I'm the damsel in distress? I should have known. I should have known, Steve."

"What do you mean by that? What do you imply? Is it bad now that I want you to be safe? Don't be ridiculous."

"No! You don't be! Can't you see what it looks like? Open your eyes, Steve. For the last seven days, you have always abandoned me for the sake of solving 'the Vecna thing'. But why's it always you and Nancy? Nancy! Your ex-girlfriend who you seem not to be over with. For fuck's sake, leave me alone. Just say that you got bored of me and go. I'll understand. I'm no longer a movie enjoyer."

"I love you Y/N! I want to protect you, I'm sorry I didn't understand what it looks like from your point of view. You can get involved. I want you there if that's what you want. I didn't get bored of you, I'd never do that. It's not always me and Nancy, the kids are there, Robin is there, and you can be there too. I'm so so sorry. I'll never do that again." He touched your arm to calm you down. Seeing that you didn't walk away he hugged you and continued his monologue. "I'm a terrible boyfriend. But isn't it just like the movies? The climax point where everything gets so intense and the main characters are arguing or having some kind of problem to solve? Life is like the movies. Maybe not always romantic comedies, but we're obviously something with a happy end. Danny and Sandy ended up together after all, didn't they? I love you like the movies. Crazy, obsessed like I meet you for the first time every day. You're the smell of the strawberry milkshake that we shared on the first day. The rain surprising us when riding a Vespa. The paper and the pen that we used to pretend that we were secret writing pals. We literally live our movie lives. And it's perfect. The clouds will fade away after today, and I'm gonna make it up to you starting from now. Don't cry, darling. You said you consider romantic movies realistic. Isn't it like that now? We're facing the hardship to get our happily ever after. Think about that. Think how far we came. Let's not waste that. I don't wanna waste that. Do you?"

"Steve you're messing with my head. I don't know. I don't want to break up with you, but the truth is you're my first boyfriend and I don't know how to feel. I don't want to be treated like that. I don't want to be forgotten. I don't want to be excluded from your friends' group. Please talk to me about everything."

"I will, I will, I'm sorry. Don't cry anymore, I don't want to see you like this. Let's go to sleep and talk in the morning. Is your dad home? I hope he won't kill me for sleeping here. But I don't want to leave you again. I will stay. Do you want to take a walk? Or sing you to sleep?

My huckleberry friend Moon river and me"

Steve hummed the song from Breakfast at Tiffany's "I want to kiss away the tears from your face. Please forgive me."

"You talk a lot. And you're very annoying. It's hard to say no to you when you're cupping my face with your hands. My parents are away, they were supposed to leave at night to drive to my grandma's."

"I'm very lucky tonight, damn. And hey, at least I'm not mumbling three words to you. Let's go to sleep. I love you I love you I love you. My little girlfriend from the movies.

[biolizardboils]

its been 10 days since the movieversary but my CU hyperfixation's still going so heres another one of those Scattered Thoughts posts (minor movie spoilers!)

So i updated the playlist at treehouseblogsinc this week! Idek if Wikplayer still works for most people, but this streak’s five years long and i aint quittin yet! (Usually i just replace song links when they break, but this time i removed a song too cus the guy it references has been Bitch lately)

Speaking of, i did my semi-annual reread of the whole blog too and... man :’’’) Its still mind-blowing how many people played along (and got pissed at Melvin when he took over lmaooo). All the silly, sweet, and angry asks i got there still warm my heart to this day

You know what else i still do to this day? Draw things Pilkey-style! Sometimes i try to follow a rigid anatomy when i draw and feel stuck when it doesnt look right. When that happens, i step back and make a quick Pilk-ish sketch as a reminder to keep things loose. Works every time :)

Something i still love about the movie and the months leading up to it is how much of it felt like a grand... I dont wanna say joke, cus that kinda implies they didnt care when its obvious they truly did. Lets go with prank — it all felt like a grand prank! Like the decisions they made worked in the end, but were also super funny to read and hear about. Like oh my god, they rented Abbey Road Studios to record a choir playing kazoos and singing the word “underpants!” They got the biggest up-and-coming horror director to voice white-ass Melvin Sneedly. (Tho i guess now it can be argued that he’s white-passing in movie!verse, so thats cool)

My fave example of this is how they got Lil Yachty for the album. On one hand, whatever chunk of the limited budget they spent to get him probably could’ve been put to better use, like actually animating the Turbo Toilet fight or something? (While moving the Flip-O-Rama to another scene of course.) On the other hand, its hilarious that they got him to rap the word “cool” 15 times to a cover of Oh Yeah, and then didnt even put it in the movie. Its like George and Harold themselves wrote the stupidest lyrics possible just to see if he’d agree to them, and he did?? Thats comedy gold???

Why didnt i bookmark all the production stuff posted to Instagram. There was so much cool stuff i wanna see again but the search function there is still garbage and uuuughh

So i dont remember if it was production art or fanart but theres this one Instagram post i saw once thats lived in my head ever since. it looked like the cover of Action Comics #1, but with Captain carrying a school bus. If by some miracle somebody has it saved, please send it to me ill be forever in your debt

Im still scared of getting what’s coming to me when the Dog Man movie drops, but now im also wondering if theyll still have George and Harold as a framing device. Ngl i havent caught up with the new books in a hot minute, but ive heard that the boys have stopped appearing in them? if that’s true, that’s Dav’s choice and i have to respect that. ....but also i really wanna see them in CG again. pretty please dreamworks, i miss my sons so much

It mustve been a while since i last watched the movie, cus when i did on the 2nd, the Origin Issue sequence like... broke me all over again. i wrote about why its so great once for a thing that never got made actually, lemme dig that up and paste it in here

The score begins with chiptune and kazoos, two common motifs for childhood whimsy, and already a great fit for this sequence’s simple, handdrawn look. 

But it doesn’t stop there! It goes from what sounds like just two or three people playing kazoos… to a whole chorus of them… which gives way to a full-fledged orchestra. It’s as dramatic a transition as… oh, say, a one-man children’s book to an animated movie by one of the top studios in the industry.

And in turn, as the comic continues, we’re brought closer and closer to the panels until the white gutter between them vanishes, and they engulf the screen. The medium through which this story’s being told has faded from awareness; all that exists now is the story itself. 

But just as suddenly, we’re brought back to our true surroundings. The orchestral music ends, the chiptune returns for one last gentle sting, and we remember this epic tale’s humble origins: a comic book, written and drawn by two 4th graders. *sniff*

Another Score thing i love: you know how Captain is one big Superman parody? I think Shapiro mightve had that in mind when he composed his theme tune, because it starts with a triumphant first three notes (the “Underpaaaaants” part) — just like some of Superman’s! I dont know the right musical terms but cmon, theres a pattern there! And its so touching that they found Captain worthy of a song of that caliber!! Like yes, he IS a true superhero!! heres the epic theme song to prove it!!

Oh wow okay. So to dig up that Writing Thing, i had to open some folders i havent touched in years. And there were outlines for 10 different fanfics in there. I remember not really meaning to finish them ever, just writing them down cus the ideas wouldnt leave me alone. Hell i still dont have time to finish them now

But. Man now i feel bad for never doing anything with them. I have half a mind to post the outlines at least?? Cus someone out there might get a kick out of them?? You know what, if this hyperfixation doesnt peter out in another few days ill probably do it

Speaking of things i havent looked at in years, i listened to this song while typing all this and im tearing up now send post

[365days365movies]

February 16, 2021: Carol (2015) (Part 1)

...Harold...

Yeah, I had to do this one. Partially because I knew about this film previously, as it was kind of a smash hit when it came out in theaters. It was about as big of a deal as Blue is the Warmest Color, which...we might get there. But, yeah, Carol was already on my radar when I decided to dip into LGBT cinema.

But also...you can thank my girlfriend again. There she is (as she’s choosing to represent herself through GIF form) below.

We love The Owl House. Anyway, I wasn’t aware of the meme until we were watching a movie, and she just screamed “HAROLD THEY’RE LESBIANS!” And after doing some research on that statement...that’s goddamn hilarious. And it all started with Carol, so the writing’s basically on the wall there.

Here’s what I know. This movie stars Cate Blanchett...OK, that’s it! Shall we find out more firsthand? SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

In New York City, a man enters a bar and restaurant, where he sees an old acquaintance, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), who is having dinner with another woman, Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett). And, uh, lemme just say, we’re jumping off RIGHT away, and my girlfriend immediately starts screaming “HAROLD” at the screen.

Anyway, Jake invites her to a party with mutual friends, and Carol and Therese end their dinner date early. As Therese looks out of the window of a car on the way to the party, she thinks backwards through time, and takes us with her. FLASHBACK

Therese wakes up one morning around Christmastime, only to see her boyfriend, Richard Semco (Jake Lacy), ready to take her to work on a bicycle though Central Park. They talk about going to Paris on vacation, an idea about which Therese seems nonchalant. Therese works at Frankenberg’s, a department store that doesn’t exist. As is typical of the season in NYC, shoppers and their children flood the place. We went there on Christmas of 2019, and I grew up in the area. Trust me when I say Christmas in NYC is FUCKIN’ NUTS.

Therese works at the toy counter, and that’s when Carol arrives to get a doll for her daughter. Unfortunately, they’re out of the doll she’s looking for, so Therese offers a model train set to her instead, and the two hit it off basically immediately. And when I say hit it off, they HIT IT OFF. Like...the chemistry is IMMEDIATE. Maybe that’s Cate Blanchett’s pure charisma, but I’m just saying...they have the fastest chemistry establishment that I’ve seen yet.

But oh no! Carol’s forgotten her gloves! However, it doesn’t seem like much results from that, as the work day is soon over, and Therese and Richard go to a movie and a beer with friends Phil (Nik Pajic) and Danny McElroy (John Magaro). That night, having returned home, Therese looks at Carol’s gloves. Using information obtained during the department store visit, she mails the gloves to Carol, at her gorgeous mansion.

Carol is combing her daughter’s hair, as her husband Harge Aird (Kyle Chandler) arrives home with the mail. Things seem somewhat amiss, as Carol seems extremely unhappy. She later calls her at the department store to thank her for the gloves, and offers to buy her lunch that afternoon. She agrees, and the two head to a nice restaurant.

Over the course of the meal, it’s revealed that Carol and Harge are going through a divorce (yeah, that tracks), and Therese’s conflicted on how she feels about her relationship with Richard. Carol invites her to come over at some point, and she agrees.

Later on, while in traffic in the car of a friend, Abby Gerhard (Sarah Paulson), she seems to acknowledge potential attraction between her and Therese, although it’s not exactly set in stone. She heads to a party that evening. Meanwhile, she visits her friend Danny, an aspiring writer, who inquires about her hobby of photography, and then...kisses her...even though she’s dating a friend. Fuckin’ OH BOY, DANNY.

Harge takes Carol home, and he’s 100% still in love with her, and she’s just not feeling it. This may be related to the fact that she and Abby were also once a couple. Yeah. Harge is aware of this, and they were DEFINITELY a romantic couple in the past, which means...yeah, Carol’s a straight-up lesbian, it would seem. Harge says it “shouldn’t be like this,” and it’s not clear whether that refers to Carol’s attraction to women, or the divorce in general. It is the 1950′s, after all.

OH WAIT. Forgot to mention that, didn’t I? This film takes place in the 1950s, I think? Hasn’t been made super clear as of yet, but the aesthetic is certainly the 1950s, without much doubt. The next day, Carol goes to pick Therese up, and meets Richard. Richard tells Therese he loves her as they depart. Therese doesn’t return the sentiment. FUCKIN’ OOF.

As the two drive through Lincoln Tunnel together, their dialogue is quieted, and we get some interesting close-up shots of their eyes, lips, faces. And it’s definitely meant to suggest something more physical, something without words. In other words...Harold’s wife is starting to get the idea. Harold’s not quite there yet, though.

Carol and Therese go to Carol’s home in New Jersey, where she meets her and 4-year old Harge’s daughter, Rindy, who Carol obviously loves VERY much. That night, Therese plays the piano, and also shares her passion for photography with Carol. Carol shows interest in her hobby, when Harge suddenly shows up to take Lindy unexpectedly for Christmas with his family, away from her.

The argument that this results in quickly envelops Therese, as Harge confronts Carol about her presence there. The ending result, though, is that Carol is forced to let Rindy leave early with Harge. And yeah, it’s sad for her. Harge, on the other hand, is being an absolute dick. The two have a verbal and PHYSICAL argument outside, which Therese partially overhears.

As an apology for bringing Therese into this marital struggle, Carol gives her a ride to the train station, so she can make her way home that night. On the train, Therese cries. Is this because of Harge, because of Carol, because of a struggle with her own feelings? I’m honestly not sure. And it’s a good question.

Carol seems to believe that it’s because of her, though, as she turned her away somewhat abruptly. However, she quickly tries to make up for it by calling and apologizing. Therese says that she has questions for her, and Carol is more than willing to answer them. The next day, Carol goes down to her divorce attorney’s office, only to discover that Harge is trying to take away ALL of Carol’s custody.

And the reason for it? You guessed it! Carol’s a lesbian! Sooooooo, FUCK HARGE!!! With this otion, Carol won’t be able to see Rindy for several months, which hurts her greatly. Again, fuck Harge, he’s a dick who’s taking away Carol’s joy and time with her daughter solely because Carol isn’t attracted to him. GODDAMN, that absolutely sucks.

Meanwhile, Therese’s struggling with her own feelings, some of which may be for Carol, and actually STRIGHT-UP asks Richard his opinions on the origins of homosexuality. He believes that it can’t just happen like heterosexual love, which...I mean, 1950s, what can I tell ya, it wasn’t great. He point-blank asks her if she’s in love with a girl, and she says no, and leaves him in the street in a huff. And real talk, I feel bad...for Richard. Therese, too, but dude is genuinely in head-over-heels with Therese, and is just NOT getting the hint.

Carol and Abby go to have lunch, where Carol breaks the news. They share tenderness, as they have in the past, and Abby’s pretty clearly out of the closet, as much as one can be in the 1950s. Also, quick aside to note that Sarah Paulson rules...and moving on.

Carol then visits Therese, and gives her new camera equipment as a kind gesture. Carol shares with her the news of the struggle with her husband, and says that she’s going on a trip, to get away for a while. She invites Therese to come with her, quite spontaneously, and Therese equally spontaneously says yes! Fuckin OOOOOOOF to Richard, goddamn.

Also, exactly the halfway point! See you in Part 2!

[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCY SHUNS AUDITIONS

July 21, 1950

[In the below article, reprinted verbatim, Johnson writes using a lot of imagery and insider jargon.  This sort of article was common in trade papers like Variety, but seems odd in a daily newspaper.]

Hollywood—(NEA) Lucille Ball slipped me the lowdown on her failure to pin to the canvas the dumb chick role in “Born Yesterday” and make it holler uncle. (1)

She’s got a touch of Francis the mule in her when it comes to auditions. (2)

Instead of scrimmaging for the role with Evelyn Keyes, Judy Holliday, Marie Wilson, Shelly Winters and Jan Sterling, (3) Lucille went bolting the other way. 

The “let’s-see-if-you’re-it” boys pleaded and cajoled. 

But Miss Anti-Auditions wasn’t having any of the competition, thank you. 

“I figure if they want you, they want you,” Lucille plainspoke it. If you’ve got to read and test for it, to heck with it.’

She isn’t chronicled in Hollywood history, but once, badgered by her RKO bosses, Lucille went tripping over to David O. Selznick’s office for a whack at the Scarlett O’Hara role in “Gone With the Wind.” 

That’s what curdled her in the first place. 

“It was awful,’’ Lucille shudders. I was shaking all over when I hit Selznick’s office. My knees gave way. I did the whole audition in scrubwoman position. Selznick laughs and says thanks a lot. (4)

Judy Holliday landed the junkman’s doll role and Lucille grabbed a railroad ticket for a personal appearance tour with hubby Desi Arnaz. She strutted to Latin rhythms, swung a glittering purse in a manner dear to runaway girls and wisecracked for the customers. (5)

MIMICS OSCAR WINNER 

At the last moment she nixed a dancing and singing routine. The star with the forest-fire hair shrugged: 

“I decided it would be silly to compete with Grable.” (6)

A lot of movie queens laid in fresh supplies of smelling salts, ice beanies and copies of “Release From Nervous Tension” when word got around that Lucille was about to whoop it up on the six-a-day circuit. (7)

She’s a blister-raiser from way back and the air was shrill with ouches about a year ago when she whipped up an impression of an Academy Award winner. 

But the girls can go back to worrying about other things—like shrinking from larger-than-life to television screen size. 

Lucille didn’t let any “furriners” see the routine. 

“It's for Hollywood only," she said. “I should take radio-active material on the road?” 

Her Oscar-grabber routine is strictly for unreal anyhow, she says. and no blood relation to Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Ingrid Bergman or any other Screen Duse. (8) She insisted:

“She's any movie star, even me. This character has to go up on that stage and act surprised. She’s only been rehearsing what she's going say flor eight weeks. So she says, ‘Ye gads, me?  But I’m so unprepared. Really, I didn’t dream...” Lucille is generally is as unflinching about the movie queen business as Pearl White was about onrushing trains. (9)

But her knees executed some wobbles that aren’t in Arthur Murray’s rhumba dance book when she checked into her first vaudeville dressing room. (10)

“Those stages—they’re so big.” she gasped. “Hey, I’d hate to get caught in the middle of one of those stages without bread and water.” 

Lucille didn’t take any chances with out-of-town press interviews, either. “I once did a personal appearance tour with Maureen O'Hara and had to show up at a press party,” she grinned. (11)

My sinus - I just die from it - was acting up. The reporter next to me didn’t understand my puffed eyes and cold sores. He called Maureen a lady in his story. But he referred to me as a whisky tenor with red-runny eyes.” 

Lucille’s brain cells work on direct current and she’s not one to make with the figure eights when a straight glide to home base would get her there quicker. 

They still laugh about her exit line to Louis B. Mayer. (12) Mayer always referred to her as a thoroughbred and sometimes compared her to his famous horses. "Yes, and like your other nags, I'm leaving your stable," Lucille said when she decided to bow out of her contract. 

She has high hopes for her new picture “The Fuller Brush Man.” Not that she enjoyed it: (13)

“Honey, this ones that I don t enjoy turn out be the best ones.  This one put me in the hospital. My feet are still bandaged up. I’m a mess. No more physical-type pictures for me.”

#   #   #    FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) The 1946 Broadway hit comedy Born Yesterday by Garsin Kanin was bought by Columbia Pictures. Things got complicated when its stage star, Judy Holliday, swore she would not do the film version. Columbia used this as fuel for publicity about who would win the role.  Naturally, Lucille Ball was considered a top contender.  As the article states, she was not eager, however, to prove her worth to the ‘let’s-see-if-you’re-it’ boys (aka producers).  There was talk of Lucille performing the play in London, or summer stock, but her film contracts would not allow her time off for a stage run. 

(2) Mules are supposedly notoriously stubborn animals - just like Lucy. Francis the Talking Mule was the star of seven popular Universal-International film comedies. The character originated in the 1946 novel Francis by David Stern III, adapting his own script for the first entry, simply titled Francis.  On “I Love Lucy” Fred Mertz sometimes called Ethel “Francis” to indicate she was being stubborn about something. 

(3) These were some of the Hollywood stars looking to play the part of Billie Dawn in the film Born Yesterday. Evelyn Keyes (1916 – 2008) was best known for playing Sue Ellen, Scarlett O’Hara’s kid sister, in Gone With The Wind (1939).  Judy Holliday (1921-65), changed her mind about playing the role she originated on Broadway, but by then the casting net was cast, and she was just another performer on the short list. She eventually got the role, which defined her career. Marie Wilson (1916-72) was a zany comedic actress in the style of Gracie Burns. She was widely known as the star of radio and TV’s “My Friend Irma”. Shelley Winters (1920-2006) would be nominated for an Oscar the year after this article. She was adept at playing drama and comedy, and had a long-lasting career in Hollywood.  She appeared on “Here’s Lucy” in 1968; Critics raved about her Jan Sterling’s portrayal of Billie Dawn in the Chicago touring company of Born Yesterday and Columbia brought her out to the West Coast to test for the film. At one point, she was actually announced to play the part but the role ultimately went to Holliday.

(4) Lucille Ball did indeed read (not screen test) for the role of Scarlet O’Hara, just like nearly all of the women in Hollywood in 1938. Ball told the story several times on television, each time with varying details, but probably most completely on “Bob Hope’s Unrehearsed Antics of The Stars” (1984).

(5) This is a vivid description of the “Cuban Pete / Sally Sweet” portion of Lucy and Desi’s nightclub act to convince sponsors to buy them as a couple. 

(6) Betty Grable (1916-73) was considered one of the most famous pin-up girls in history. In addition to her million dollar gams (legs), she could sing, dance, and act, too. She guest starred with her then-husband Harry James on “Lucy Wins A Racehorse”, an installment of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” aired on February 3, 1958.

(7) “Release from Nervous Tension” was an actual best-selling book by Dr. David Harold Fink, published in 1950. Vaudeville and Burlesque shows were often known as the ‘six-a-day circuit’ because sometimes there would be as many as six performances of the same act in a day.  Naturally, this did not apply to Lucy and Desi, who were big film and radio stars at the time. 

(8)  These were some of Hollywood’s top-line dramatic actors. Bette Davis (1908-89) had won two Oscars, and was nominated for several others during her long career. She was supposed to guest-star on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in “The Celebrity Next Door” in 1957 but dropped out after a horse-riding accident, leaving the role to Tallulah Bankhead; Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020) had also won two Oscars, the second the year this article was published. She was best remembered for playing Melanie Wilkes in Gone With The Wind (1939); Ingrid Bergman (1915-82) was a Swedish-born actress, who, by career’s end, had scored three Academy Awards.  When Johnson talks about “any other screen Duse” he is referring to Eleonor Duse (1858-1924), an Italian-born stage actress known for her grand, dramatic style.  

(9) Pearl White (1889-1938) was best known as the silent film actress who was tied to the railroad tracks in “The Perils of Pauline” (1914).  

(10) Arthur Murray (1895-1991) was a ballroom dancer and businessman best known for the chain of dancing schools that bear his name. Murray was often a punchline on “I Love Lucy,” especially when the subject of dancing came up. The Rhumba was a Latin dance that took America by storm in the late 1940s and 1950. Desi Arnaz often called his orchestra a ‘rhumba band.’ 

(11) Maureen O’Hara (1920-2015) and Lucille Ball had starred in Dance, Girl, Dance in 1940. As a result, the two went on a promotional tour that took them to several US cities, including the nation’s capitol. 

(12) Louis B. Meyer (1884-1957), along with Samuel Goldwyn and Marcus Loew of Metro Pictures, had formed a new motion picture company called Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1918. Over the next 25 years, MGM was "the Tiffany of the studios," producing more films and movie stars than any other studio in the world. Mayer became the highest-paid man in America, and one of the country's most successful horse breeders. Both he and MGM reached their peaks at the end of World War II, and Mayer was forced out in 1951, just a year after this article was written. 

(13) Erskine Johnson gets the title wrong. Lucille had madeThe Fuller Brush Girl, a sequel to The Fuller Brush Man (1948).  The film was released in mid-September 1950. 

[starlightinkwell]

From website: Pittsburgh Music History.

Pittsburgh Dance Instructor becomes Oscar wining star of  

"An American in Paris"

and "Singin' In the Rain"

Gene Kelly was the leading star in the classic Hollywood movie musicals from the mid 1940s through the late 1950s.  Multi-talented he was a singer, dancer, choreographer actor, film director and producer.  Audiences love his delightful singing, his athletic dancing, his charming good looks, and his likeable characters.  He is credited for reviving movie musicals and redefining dance in films.  Kelly was honored with lifetime achievement awards from the Academy Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Screen Actions Guild, and the American Film Institute. The American Film institute ranks him 15th on their list of “Greatest Male Stars of All Time”.  His most memorable performances include starring roles in Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, On the Town, and Anchors Aweigh.  Gene was the star and choreographer of the film ‘An American in Paris” which won 8 Oscar awards including best picture and a special Oscar for Gene recognizing his contributions to screen choreography.  Singin’ in the Rain, called "a movie masterpiece" by Vincent Canby of the New York Times, has been voted the most popular movie musical of all time.  

Growing Up in Highland Park

Born Eugene Curran Kelly in Pittsburgh on August 23,  1912, Gene Kelly grew up in on Mellon Street in Highland Park. He attended St. Raphael’s elementary school and was an altar boy at the church.  His Canadian born father James Patrick Joseph Kelly was as sports lover and a sales executive for the Thomas Edison's Columbia Phonograph Company.  Every winter James, who loved hockey, flooded the backyard to make an ice hockey rink for the family. Gene learned to skate at age 5.

Gene's mother Harriet, who as a hobby performed in local stock productions, made all five of her children take music and dance lessons.  She enrolled the eight year old Gene in dance classes at Blinsky’s School of the Dance on 6th and Penn in downtown Pittsburgh. The Kelly kids Jay, Jim, Gene, Louise, and Fred began performing dance routines around 1921 as "The Five Kellys" at amateur vaudeville nights and charity events.

After getting in fist fights with neighborhood kids who called him a sissy, Gene quit dancing.  He preferred sports. He played on a men's amateur hockey team age at 14 and dreamed of playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Kelly's moved from Highland Park to 7514 Kensington Street in the Point Breeze neighborhood near Frick Park in 1924. Gene attended his first year of high school at the Sacred Heart School.

At age 15 Gene thought dancing would be a good way to meet girls, so he began dancing again. He took dance lessons while also playing on his high school football, baseball and hockey teams.  He also participated in gymnastics.  

Graduating from Peabody High School in 1929 he enrolled at Penn State to study journalism.  With the 1930 stock market crash hurting the Kelly family’s finances, Gene left Penn State planning to cut costs by living at home while studying at the University of Pittsburgh.  He dug ditches, pumped gas, worked as a soda fountain jerk and carpenter's helper, and danced to earn tuition money. Gene and his younger brother Fred devised dance routines and found work dancing in local nightclubs as the “Kelly Brothers”.

Gene Kelly Studio of Dance

Gene’s mother took a job as a receptionist at Boulton's dance school in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. When the owner Lou Boulton skipped town leaving behind a pile of unpaid bills, Harriet took over the dance school.  She paid the bills and renamed it the "Kelly School of Dance".  Gene at age 19 and his brother Fred became dance instructors.  Gene worked as a dance instructor while he attended studies at Pitt.  He taught tap, toe and ballet.  To learn routines Gene went to night clubs, movie musicals and vaudeville shows. He'd teach them the next day in his classes. With Gene’s growing reputation as a teacher the studio was renamed The "Gene Kelly Studio" of the Dance in 1932.  The Kelly’s opened a second dance school on the main street of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1933.  Gene taught at the Johnstown school on weekends.  He continued to teach dance for six years.

The dance school was a great success, but Gene was not content being a teacher.  He want to be a choreography and director.  Gene wanted to combine the styles of ballet and tap-dance into a new American dance for.  To learn ballet he took classes from ballet masters in Chicago and New York during the summers.  Gene attened classes at Chicago Association of Dancing Masters.  Seeing his talent the school asked him to a few classes.  Gene also read every book that he could find on ballet in English and French.  He practiced constantly.  Putting his skills into practice Gene danced in an choreographed musicals while attending at the University of Pittsburgh.

Pitt's Cap and Gown Musical Reviews

Gene enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh in 1931 studying economics.  At Pitt he joined the Cap and Gown Club, which staged four times a year at the Stephen Foster Memorial Theater along with an an annual event at the Nixon Theater.  Gene performed in the original musical comedy productions written by members of the Cap and Gown Club.  Completing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1933, Gene then enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh’s Law School.   After two months of study groups and torts Gene decided that he wanted to be an entertainer and dance teacher.  He dropped out of school to pursue his entertainment career full-time teaching at the dance studio and doing performances.  Gene remained a member of Pitt’s Cap and Gown Club serving as its serving as its dance director from 1934 to 1938.  He was the assistant director of their 1936 Nixon Theater show "Out for the Count".  Gene first created his rolling skating dance routine in the Cap and Gown's production of "Tt's Always Fair Weather".  Gene directed the club's 1937 production of "Trailer Ho" at the Nixon and then took the show on the road for performances in Johnstown, Bradford and Erie. In 1938 Gene Kelly choreographed and directed the Cap and Gown show "Pickets Please" at the Nixon.  

In addition to his work with the Cap and Gown Club did choreography for vaudeville and other organizations. Vaudeville acts that passed through Pittsburgh during the 1930’s hired Gene to create dance routines. In 1931 the Rodef Shalom Synagogue hired Kelly to teach dance and stage the annual Kermess show. He kept that position for seven years. Gene continued to perform with his brother. The Kelly Brothers performed in a theater for children at the Chicago World's Fair in 1934.

Broadway Stardom

In 1937 at the age of 27 Gene moved to New York City to become a choreographer. Unable to find work on Broadway, he returned to Pittsburgh to be the choreographer of the musical revue “Hold Your Hats” at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in the spring 1938. He also danced in the production.  At the Playhouse, Gene was seen by Broadway choreographed Robert Alton.  Alton brought Gene to Broadway making him a star.

On August 5, 1938 just before his 26th birthday, Gene packed one small suitcase and returned to New York for his first role.  Alton hired Gene for a Cole Porter musical giving him his first dancing role on Broadway in November of 1938 as a chorus boy in "Leave It to Me".  Alton gave Gene a feature singing and dancing role in his next production “One for the Money”.  In 1939 Gene choreographed and danced in in the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Time of Your Life".  Also in 1939 he choreographed Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe. He danced his way into the heart of cast member Betsy Blair, whom he married in 1941.  Gene became a major star in 1940 with his leading role in Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey choreographed by Robert Alton.

Movie Musical Superstar

With his rise to stardom, Hollywood called.  His role in Pal Joey captured the interest of Louis B. Mayer and Judy Garland. Gene signed with MGM's David O’Selznick in 1941.  He was cast as Garland's romantic lead in his first movie For Me and My Gal (1942),  His breakout move role was in Anchors Aweigh in 1945.

After a long career as one of the world’s most beloved musical performers Gene Kelly died in 1996.

Singin' In The Rain

The Five Kelly's

The Kelly Brothers

Cap and Gown Club Production 1938

Pal Joey

All Music Guide

Gene Kelly Internet Movie Database

References

Pitt Cap and Gown Club In Annual Show at Nixon by Harold W. Cohen Pittsburgh Post Gazette April 23, 1936

Pitt Club Plans Show -The Pittsburgh Press April 7, 1936

Annual Pitt Show Satire on Dictators Pittsburgh Post Gazette April 2, 1938

The Kelly Kids -Harold W. Cohen Pittsburgh Post Gazette September 4, 1940

MR. KELLY, OR PAL JOEY; Portrait of a Dancer, From Pennsylvania To the Barrymore Theatre - Robert Van Gelder New York Times March 02, 1940

Gene Kelly Got to the Top Via a "Different" Route -Pittsburgh Post Gazette Dec 3, 1942

Gene Kelly Said He Never Wanted to be a Movie Star -Tom Shales Pitsburgh Press June 29. 1974

How Did Gene Start Dancing -Debra Gene GeneKellyFans.com Jul 20, 2011

[tornrose24]

I watched the EtoCU holiday special again and here are my thoughts on the second viewing.

-Ok, so why couldn’t Melvin for the ham nog recipe from the company that made it, rather than buy out all the remaining nog and keep it preserved? Plus he could of made new tech to make it if he didn’t want to do it himself.

-So Melvin asked Santa for a mustache, but a soul patch would suffice. I wish we saw this with Melvinborg, but since his disguise as the Superintendent had a mustache, I suppose he did get his wish.

-Alright, so Krupp says that Hurd died and her ghost directed the show LAST year, and wouldn’t do it THIS year because her ghost is retiring. So by that logic:

1. The school dance happened before she died, so part of season one took place during the first half of the school year. Which would explain the huge time jump in the 12th episode of season one.

2. But wasn’t Hurd alive in season 2? Didn’t she make a cameo in season 4? (double checks) Yeah she was conducting during the Melvin song! What the heck is with the timeline on this show?!

3. So did everyone redo 4th grade?! Because the boys should either be in fifth or 6th grade by this point!

-Again, was it THAT hard to read book five and see that Krupp is actually Jewish? Ironically Dreamworks did a special holiday 2020 clip and it showed other characters celebrating Hanukkah.

-And was it REALLY that hard to include Heidi? She didn’t have lines in the book–you could have given her a non-speaking cameo and all would have been good.

-Also I really don’t think Krupp WOULD openly celebrate Christmas or have decorations in his office. Remember how in the movie Harold said Krupp hated it? (And at least he’d have several reasons to hate it, including that he’s Jewish.)

-Now I remembered that Krupp liked how the Grinch stole Christmas and that would have made a great reference. Except I don’t think the writers are as knowledgeable as the fans are about that fact.

-Speaking of the Grinch, does anyone know that George’s VA (Ramone Hamilton) was in the 2018 film as one of Cindy Lou Who’s friends? (I think he was the tall kid).

-Krupp wanted Hurd’s retirement as an excuse to cancel the music program, but then he said that the parents like the pageants. So wouldn’t that make the parents angry and realize something’s wrong?

-I just realized that ALL the parents assumed Krupp was behind the pageant and were pissed at him. Meaning that we FINALLY got to see the parents pissed at Krupp over something and that makes me happy.

-If Santa is real, then how did he become practically immortal? Also, if the history of the CU world was ANYTHING like the history of our world, that poor guy must have seen a lot of terrible stuff.

-I know they couldn’t do a Disenchantment reference/actor allusion, but it is hilarious to hear Nat Faxon as CU saying ‘elves’ when you know that he voiced Elfo, (Also, I’m happy that season three of Disenchantment is in January (ABOUT TIME!) and if the season 5 of TetoCU comes out of February like I’m assuming, then I have a way to fight off the waiting).

-Since Todd Grimes pointed out that Edith was in the line for that robot event, I am STILL convinced she was there the whole time and saw CU fighting. And there’s a lot of potential with that.

-Something I caught is that in addition to being more competent this time, CU is... actually a little more smarter than usual. He took one look at Jacked!Santa and immediately recognized him, which feels a little out of character. That and he was wondering why the huge Santa bot was glowing, which–yeah what was with that again besides Santa turning back to normal?

-Actually, what if CU was gradually getting smarter and Krupp was gradually getting dumber? Because that would explain a lot.

-So during the memory where everyone is singing around the tree, I caught that it was ‘Noel.’ So they acknowledged the religious part of Christmas, but then that means there IS a CU version of God and Heaven and Hell.

-So the egotistical Santa gets replaced with the nicer Santa on the very same year an egotistical President gets replaced with a nicer President. Coincidence?

-Gooch’s puppy is adorable. Did Bo get a block of marble from his parents?

-Mr. Grimes, I am happy that Edith’s cameo means she exists in the cartoon, but it also raises so many questions. Also, if the series doesn’t have a satisfying enough ending, I now have a way to come up with a ‘fix it fic/fan art/comic.’

-I just realized this version of Krupp has family members he could have spent the holidays with, and yet we didn’t see that happening (probably for story/timing reasons). But I don’t blame him for not spending the holidays with his mom.

[newstuck-liveblog]

chapter 7 :)

i want to say i loved this chapter with all my heart, twunk or no twunk

so, we open with harold and the teenage fuckup gang trying to get out of their little clown murder oopsie doopsie. this is normal by now and they are viral sensations. harold is losing is shit, however, as he is now friends with a fugitive, his girlfriend fugitive, and his girlfriend's ancestor clone.

so, naturally, he is going to hide the terrorist fugitives in his house :)

and the terrorist fugitives leave the dead clown in the closet. you know. normal things! i expected weirdness but jesus christ that's illegal

and then we meet some ACTUAL terrorists. notably karkalicious and memenah. i know there's one karkalicious on a ship though, so idk what's going on with this one. they're both angry dudes though so i suppose they're twins??

anyways nvm nvm memenah throws some absolutely golden lines and becomes one of my favourite characters. the terrorists, for reference, have been blamed for clown jesus dying, and karkalicious is pissed because hello?? it was THEIR job to kill the clown. fuck vriska, apparently.

karkalicious has also fucked said clown jesus.

this clown has fucked TWO separate people from what i'm gathering and that's unfair.

but nevermind, as we are back with harold and the not-terrorists. turns out, harolds parents (who are divorced, and one of them is also on the ship with karkalicious from before but?? two twins??) are home - which isn't good for hiding terrorists.

i skipped the epilogue thing because spoilers for actual homestuck ewie

so, harold and jonathan go for a drive and roxy?? goes to get snacks yum yum. this is prime time for the terrorists to sneak in a window to harolds room

i'm presuming harold likes hamilton btw. i think he wants a "the office" musical or something. he also makes clothes that ancestor vriska likes wearing :)

tavvy fails a vibe check amongst this, and harold returns. vrissy looks good in a photo (she was told by TWO boys wow go vrissy) and harold is kind of confused but. he's now hiding 3 terrorists in his bedroom, like some dumbass disney channel movie

papa jonathan is home! he finds out his kid is assisting terrorists and absolutely breaks down in laughter because OF COURSE it's his kid

also john is going to take down a dictatorship idk

overall 10/10 this was a very good chapter. i loved the characters. i loved the plot. please let these ones have a happy ending. thank you for this bountiful chapter

Also WHERE ARE THEIR ARMS GONE

[go-events]

GO Rom Com Spotlight: @summerofspock

We come to you on Groundhog Day to discuss something very on-theme! The fair and lovely @summerofspock (also summerofspock on AO3) has claimed the movie Groundhog Day to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.

For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!

About Groundhog Day: A cynical TV weatherman finds himself reliving the same day over and over again when he goes on location to the small town of Punxsutawney to film a report about their annual Groundhog Day. His predicament drives him to distraction, until he sees a way of turning the situation to his advantage.

We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @summerofspock a little better!

* * *

goromcom: Here’s my favorite opener: So you know how if you open a Tumblr chat with someone you haven't chatted to before, Tumblr tells you two things they post about? I wanted to tell you that yours reports that you post "about #spirk and #text." That's a fandom classic, that Spirk. Between that and your URL, I'm guessing you're a Trek fan. ;)

summerofspock : I'm @summerofspock everywhere you can find me (AO3, Twitter). And yes, I've been on Tumblr heading into a decade and Star Trek has been my fandom of choice for more than half of that time. It's a classic!

goromcom: One of the very first modern fandoms!

But now, about your rom com!  You chose to adapt Groundhog Day as your rom com. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?

summerofspock : This movie is a favorite of mine. I love the themes. It's all about making your own opportunities and finding joy in the mundane and the repetitive. The overlap of the idea that life is long and life is short so you should seize the day is fascinating to me. I chose it for that reason and also because the Groundhog Day is such a popular trope in fandom, and I wanted to give it a whirl!

goromcom: What's your favorite moment of Groundhog Day, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?

summerofspock : My favorite part of Groundhog Day (hard to choose, I love most of it) is when Bill Murray gives up all hope and just starts trying to commit suicide, convinced that the groundhog itself is the cause of the time loop so he tries to take the groundhog out with him. It's hilarious and bleak and so ridiculous.

I do have some loose plans for that scene. It is perhaps more ridiculous than the original in some ways, but I'll never be Harold Ramis so I doubt it will be quite as funny.

goromcom: Wherever you are now, Harold Ramis, you’re an icon and a genius and we miss you.

Do you plan to stick very closely to the story beats of the original movie, or make bigger changes?

summerofspock : I'm sticking fairly close to the beats of the story in that I intend to include the well-known parts (waking up to the same song, a newscaster and his producer, grouchy boy becomes less grouchy through circumstance), but because there are some inherently sleazy parts of the romance in Groundhog Day, I'm moving away from that and attempting to make it sweet.

goromcom: That is my favorite part of this event, that we have so many opportunities to modernize these storylines to bring them up to date with our more evolved cultural sensibilities.

What's an interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?

summerofspock : Groundhog is a strictly US-based holiday so I had to do some research on UK festivals that could be considered equivalent. Y'all do some wild things and I picked one I think will be really fun. I won't share simply because I think it's a bit more exciting for people to see it when it comes out!

goromcom: Holy cheese, how America-centric was I up until now when I’d failed to consider how this holiday is really only a thing here in the states!?! Apologies to the rest of the world!

I think that’s about all you can share without giving too much away, so let’s move on to the last question, which (as always) I am blatantly stealing from The Good Place: The Podcast. Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.  

summerofspock : Well, first of all, happy Groundhog Day! Secondly, I'd like to thank the Good Omens fandom for being welcoming and kind and positive. Seeing the creativity, depth of feeling, and kindness among all of you has been truly inspiring.

goromcom: Awww, there’s so GO fandom love for everyone out there. <3 Stay tuned for the GO adaptation of Groundhog Day, coming right at your eyeballs very soon!

[heyyyharry]

Be Here

(from the Flatmate!Harry Series)

…in which Y/N has to go home for two weeks and Harry misses her terribly.

Warning: nothing, there’s only fluff in this one haha. Also I just updated my flatmate masterlist. If you notice, I update every time I post a new part so you guys will know what the next part is gonna be. *wink wink*

“Do you really have to go?” Harry whines, pouting like a little boy on his flatmate’s bed while watching her pack for her trip back home, away from him for two long weeks.

“Yes, I do,” answers Y/N as she continues folding her clothes. “Violet needs me.”

Violet is Y/N’s best friend from high school. They’re very close, she’s like the sister Y/N wishes she had. That’s why when Y/N received the phone call from John, her other best friend (also Violet’s boyfriend) telling her Violet had just got into a car accident and was staying in a hospital, she knew she couldn’t hesitate, even if Violet was just slightly injured.

“But I need you.” Harry quickly realizes what he just said and has to come up with a good excuse for those accidental words, “without you I’m going to starve, I’m the assistant, not the chef.”

Y/N pauses to smile at her flatmate. “You cooked me soup once.”

“Yeah after four fucking hours in the kitchen!” Harry widens his eyes, raising both of his eyebrows. “And, you hated it.”

“I didn’t!”

“Well, did you love it?”

“Not really.”

“Then you hated it.”

“So order a pizza then!” Y/N giggles as she puts the last piece of clothing into her suitcase, then closes it to move from the floor to her bed, sitting down next to Harry. “You sound as if your life hadn’t begun until you met me.”

It almost feels like it, says the voice inside Harry’s head.

“Two weeks’ too long.” He frowns.

The way he’s looking at her at the moment almost makes Y/N change her mind, but she knows she cannot fall for that. She has made a promise to herself to not let her feelings take over whenever she’s with him (which she fails most of the times, but definitely not this one). After the other night when she literally confessed her feelings for him and he replied with only silence, she knew it was hopeless, and it’d be best if they stayed friends, though it’s just so hard when he keeps sending her mixed signals like this.

With a soft smile, she tells him, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

...

Harry sets his alarm at 5 in the morning the next day so he can see Y/N one last time before she leaves. It’s not like she’d be gone for years, or even months, it’s only two weeks, but Harry starts to miss her already. He helps her bring her luggage to the taxi parked outside the building, complaining about how she should just let him drive her, but Y/N constantly tells him she’ll be fine on her own.

As the taxi driver opens the door for Y/N, she turns to stare at Harry one last time with a longing look on her face.

“I’ll see you in two weeks. Try not to burn our flat down.” She gives him a timid smile and receives one in return.

“I’ll try.” I’ll miss you a whole lot... “Take care, okay?” ...and I love you.

There are so many things both of them need to tell the other person before they separate. Such words remain unspoken as they stand still for what seems like three seconds, craving for a hug (or more) but neither is brave enough to take the initiative. Y/N eventually gets into the backseat of the vehicle and closes the door. 

Watching the taxi slowly disappear from sight, Harry wishes she could take him with her.

...

“Finally, some men time!” Niall cheers as he throws his arm around Harry’s neck, causing his best friend to stumble forward. This morning, Harry ran into Niall in the lecture hall and told him the bad news that Y/N would be gone for a while, Niall’s first reaction was the complete opposite of Harry’s.

“Oh, come on, I’m sure I can make you happy too.” Niall pinches Harry’s cheek as a joke, but Harry is quick to remove his best friend’s arm and push him away with a slight sneer.

“Sure you can.” 

“I’m going to pretend it wasn’t sarcasm.” Niall slightly shakes his head and adjusts his backpack straps as they’re heading to the parking lot. “But, mate, you haven’t spent much time with me and the boys ever since you’ve got a girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Harry replies with a straight face. “She won’t ever be.”

“Are you seriously still lying about not being in love with Y/N?”

“Feelings is a topic we’ve been avoiding since the other night.”

“You’re just gonna let her go after all the things she said?”

“I’m doing what’s best for her.”

“Jesus! You’re like some angsty teenager, Harold!” Niall’s eyes are rolled skyward. “You know what you need? A night out, some beer. How about tonight?”

Harry reaches his car and pulls out the key from his pocket. “Not sure mate. Y/N will probably call me tonight.”

Niall opens the door on the passenger side and stands with one arm resting on the top of it, squinting his eyes at Harry. “If you keep acting like you two are dating, what will happen when she’s got a boyfriend, huh?”

Ignoring his friend’s remark, Harry gets into the driver seat and buckles up his seatbelt, leaving Niall thinking his advice is like water off a duck’s back. But the truth is, what Niall said has really got Harry thinking. 

...

Y/N’s best friend, Violet, is fine. She’s got a broken leg and a few shallow cuts on her face, which will eventually heal and won’t leave any scar according to the doctor. She’s just unable to leave the hospital bed at the moment so Y/N has to spend a lot of time here. But seeing how her presence makes her best friend so content is enough to warm Y/N’s heart.

“Check this out!” Violet pulls her boyfriend closer by the arm to show him a meme on her phone, which makes both of them burst into laughter.

“Where’s the lie?”

Violet snorts at John’s comment. “You know, whenever I hear that question, I automatically think of the whole nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother.”

“Right?!” Y/N, who’s sitting on the armchair by her friend’s bed, joins in. “I made Harry watch the entire nine seasons with me, but he refused to watch the last episode, because of the ending.”

It doesn’t take Y/N more than two seconds to notice the way her two best friends are looking at her.

“And I mentioned Harry again...” She presses her lips together and shifts her eyes immediately back to the opened book on her lap, blushing a little bit when she hears Violet’s soft giggles.

“What are you two gonna do about this?” Violet questions, clearly interested in her friend’s love life.

“Nothing, I guess? He literally said nothing when I talked about my feelings so maybe that’s our solution.”

“Are you serious or sarcastic? Sometimes I can’t even tell,” says John, but the girls ignore him anyway.

"You should never leave a problem unresolved, especially when it comes to feelings. Do as I say, when you get home, straight off tell him ‘I’m fucking in love with you so if you don’t feel the same, we can’t be friends’.”

Y/N puckers her forehead as a response to her girl friend’s advice. “What if he doesn’t feel the same? I can’t just move out!”

“Oh, he feels the same, trust me.”

“Vi, you haven’t even met him.”

John cuts in, “you told us he kept begging you to stay. This guy’s kind of obsessed with you.”

“He is not. He just...wants me there because I cook for him and remind him to do chores.”

Violet stares at Y/N, frustration crinkles her eyes. “It seems to me that you just don’t want to believe he has feelings for you but doesn’t do anything about it, so you try to convince yourself he doesn’t like you at all. I’m sorry to inform you sister, this boy is obviously in love with you, and he’s probably just scared of not being good enough to come forward and admit it. You should just give him time or even a little push, because apparently, this is as new to Harry as it is to you.”

“I...” Y/N is taken aback. “I never thought of it that way.”

"Trust me, I’m an expert when it comes to love.” Violet throws an arm around her boyfriend’s neck, laying her head on his shoulder. “Right baby?”

“Can’t agree more!” John smiles then leans down to peck Violet’s on the lips, the sight of them being heads over heels for one another never fails to put a beam on Y/N’s face. She’s always adored her best friends’ relationship, the real-life high school lovers concept in every teen movie, and it’d be a lie to say she doesn’t crave things like these once in a while. 

Y/N’s not lucky like Violet, she’s experienced love in all the worst ways. Her first boyfriend, Will, whom she lost her first kiss to, cheated on her not so long before Prom night. She then lost the second important first, her virginity, to her Prom date whose name was Brad and he left the next morning before she woke and never called her again. Her second relationship was with an older boy named Noah, it was just a brief fling in the summer before she entered university. He used distance as an excuse to break up with her, but she wasn’t so bitter about it, she didn’t like him that much anyway. 

So looking back, it’s a shame to admit, she’d never really been in love until she met Harry. He’s the biggest plot twist in her life so far, and she’s glad that certain things happened the way they did to lead her to him. 

...

"The wifi sucks! I can’t hear you! Give me a sec,” Harry says in annoyance as he ends the video call and tries to call Y/N again. Her face pops back up on the screen, smiling at him, this time in much better quality.

“Can you hear me now?”

“Yeah.” Harry nods, smiling back. “Where was I?”

“You were telling me about-”

Y/N’s interrupted, this time by some muffled shouting in Harry’s background.

“Is the TV on?” she asks, but he shakes his head ‘no’ then turns around to look over his shoulder.

“Our neighbors are arguing.”

“Ben and Mark?”

“Yup.” Harry rolls his eyes. “Can’t you believe we were like that when we first moved in? Now I feel sorry for our neighbors back then.”

“We’re friends now, thank God.” 

Y/N’s choice of word leaves Harry a little uneasy. How is he suddenly so uncomfortable with her referring to them as ‘friends’? That’s what they are, that’s what he wants them to be. Right? Is it because them being friends also means she can be with someone else and he cannot do anything about it? Or maybe because recently it doesn’t feel like they’re friends anymore. They’ve been video-calling almost every night and texting throughout the day during these two weeks. She’ll be home before noon tomorrow, and then what? He doesn’t want to just go back to being somewhere in-between and risking losing her to someone else. What Niall said two weeks ago has really done him damage. 

Well, speaking of Niall...

“Harry, lend me your car keys!” Harry’s best friend bursts through the front door just in time Harry stands up from the sofa to go get a glass of water.  Niall doesn’t see Y/N on the screen since the laptop screen is turned away from him.

“I’ll be right back,” Harry says to Y/N. Niall, however, thinks that sentence is for him. He watches his friend disappear into his room and suddenly feels the phone vibrate, notifying him of a call.

“Hello?” answers Niall. Y/N stays silent while she’s waiting for her flatmate to return. 

“Yeah, Harry and I will definitely be at the party. Did Lara ask you to ask me this? I know she doesn’t care about me and only wants to make sure Harry will show up.”

Niall laughs, unaware that Y/N’s been listening this whole time. “She was all over him the last time. Sure Harry told me he thought she was hot but...Look, just tell her she’s on her own this time, I’m not going to be her wingman or whatsoever. Okay? Good.”

The phone call ends just in time Harry returns with his car key, sighing happily as he gives it to Niall. “Almost thought I lost it.”

“Thanks. See you at the party tonight, mate?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Harry replies indifferently and watches his friend make the exit. Once Niall’s gone, Harry returns to his previous spot on the sofa, Y/N’s still there, but she doesn’t look as happy as she was just a minute ago. Harry can tell right away.

“What’s wrong?” he asks. As usual, when it comes to this question, she lies.

“Nothing. My mum called. I gotta go.”

“But I was in the middle of telling you the cat story.”

“Tell me when I get back.” 

“But-”

The chat window disappears before Harry can even finish his sentence, leaving him shocked and confused at the same time.

...

It’s two in the morning. How ironic it is that all the interesting things usually happen to Y/N at two in the morning, whether she’s asleep or awake. This time, Y/N’s still lost in dreamland when she receives a voice call from her flatmate. She normally doesn’t answer calls at this hour, but the moment she sees his name on the screen, she does it without pause.

“Y/N?” His voice is raspy. She guesses that he’s either drunk or just woke up, or maybe both.

“Harry, why are you calling me?”

“’Cause I miss you.” 

Yup, definitely drunk.

“Are you still at the party, Harry?” Y/N calmly asks as she flips onto her back, her arm comes to rest on top of her forehead.

“No, Niall drove me home...with a pretty girl.”

Y/N feels a lump in her throat. “Is the pretty girl still there with you?”

“Of course not! She tried to kiss me but I told her no, no, noooo.” She can imagine him wiggling his forefinger from left to right drunkenly and the thought of it makes her smile. 

“So you’re home alone now?” 

“Yesss.”

And the next thing he says really gets her staring at the ceiling with cow eyes.

“Don’t want to be with anyone else, I just want you.”

She doesn’t know exactly how to response to that. She doesn’t even know if she can count on his drunken words to draw a conclusion! But what else can you possibly think when someone just blurts out that they want you only? 

Despite the reply of silence, Harry carries on with his speech anyway, “have you noticed...how I’ve stopped going out and inviting girls over?”

She has. She just doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it, though it makes her glad, undoubtedly.

“I just want you...No other girls,” he repeats as if to make a statement. 

Y/N’s biting hard on her bottom lip, trying to come up with something to say to him but her mind is empty at the moment.

“I wish you were here. When will you come back home, Y/N?”

“Tomorrow morning,” she finally speaks, fingers pinching her bottom lip slightly. His voice sounds so soothing, she knows if she continues this conversation, she may not be able to wake up on time, but she cannot help it, she finds comfort in what he’s saying and how he’s saying it a bit way too much.

“Do you miss meeeee?” Harry asks another question, stretching out the final word in a playful tone. Can he be any cuter? Y/N thinks, beaming to herself.

“I do, very much. But only a few hours more and I’m there with you.”

“Okay...you should go to bed, it’s late. Don’t want you to be sick...”

Y/N snorts in response to his reminder, since he was the one who came between her and her sleep. “You should too. I’ll be home when you wake up.”

“Okay, good night, love,” Harry says softly. “Just know that...I love you very much...”

Just like that, Harry hangs up. Y/N lies in the same position, staring at the ceiling, her phone’s still on her ear. With her lips slightly parted and a shock expression on her face, she nearly shuts down her entire system for almost a minute, just because of those five words Harry said to her on the phone. 

She feels so good, no, she’s over the moon! But at the same time, worried, maybe scared? Harry wasn’t sober! He probably won’t remember anything tomorrow morning! But people say you’re most honest when you’re drunk, does that means he was telling the truth, that he loved her very much? But what if he just thought he loved her because he was in a vulnerable state? What if he changes his mind once he’s been refreshed?

Y/N, now drowning in her own inquiries, decides that she won’t be going back to sleep.

...

Harry’s brushing his teeth when he hears the front door open and shut. In a flash, he manages to finish his morning routine, throws on a white t-shirt, and almost trips over a few objects on his bedroom floor as he rushes to the living room. 

The moment Y/N sees Harry after two weeks apart, she takes no time to literally jump ontop of him. Harry has his arms secured around her waist, eyes opened wide as he’s amazed by his ability to keep the two of them in balance and how he didn’t get knocked over by her sudden attack. Y/N locks her arms around her flatmate’s neck, her legs around his waist leaving no space between them.

“I’m home!” she finally says, making Harry chuckle. His face is in her hair and he cannot enjoy this moment anymore than this.

“Yeah, I know. You just jumped on me.”

Y/N pulls her face away from Harry’s neck to look at him. This is the most intimate they’ve been to each other, her lips are just a few inches away from his and the way his minty breath is fanning her face makes her want to kiss him so bad.

“Are you happy I’m home?” she asks.

“Too happy,” he answers.

Then comes another question from Y/N, “do you have anything you want to tell me?” 

This one leaves Harry thinking for a second before he says, “welcome home?” 

The look of disappointment on Y/N’s face really says it all, she jumps off of him and turns to leave. However, Harry grabs onto her wrist just in time to pull her back into his arms.

“I love you,” he finally says, face buried in the crook of her neck, arms tightened around her waist. There’s no turning back now that the words are finally spoken, but his inner self is jumping for joy as he finally gets the heavy weight off his chest. 

Harry feels Y/N hands move from her sides up to his back, then stop at the back of his head, her fingers locked in his hair. He cannot see her face, little does he know, she’s in seventh heaven right now.

“What? You thought I didn’t remember what I’d said? I wasn’t that drunk.”

Y/N immediately pulls away and smacks him on the arm, making the poor boy jump in shock.

“Hey! What was that for?!”

“Why didn’t you just say it like a normal person huh?!” She tries to look pissed, but the radiant in her eyes say otherwise. “Why didn’t you say anything when I fucking poured my heart out for you, asshole?!”

Harry cracks up and reaches out for her hands, at first she shrugs him off but eventually lets him hold them anyway. She hates that he knows she’s loving it, the smug on his face is just so attractively despicable.

“I was really scared!” he confesses, the way his green eyes are looking at her lets her know that he’s being genuine. “I didn’t think I was good enough for you. I thought it’d be better if I let you go and eventually be with someone more worthy.”

“What made you change your mind then?”

“Well, not gonna lie but it’s alcohol.”

“You’re just begging for me to punch you, yeah?” She widens her eyes, but grinning this time.

“Okay, okay, just messing with you.” Harry wraps her arms around his waist so he can stand closer to her like before, a cheeky grin spreads across his lips. 

“One night last week I sat down and thought of two possible outcomes.” He raises one finger. “One, if I let you go, it’s not unlikely that you’ll end up with an asshole who’s even less worthy than me, then I’ll have to beat him up and see you cry for another guy.” Then another. “Two, if I give us a chance, I can try my best not to be an asshole and make you happy, in this case I won’t have to beat up anyone. I went for the latter option.”

Y/N squints her eyes at him. “Gosh, why am I so lucky to fall for someone this romantic?”

“Stooooop, you make me blush!” he rolls his eyes and they both laugh.

“So...” Harry trails off, not taking his eyes off the girl in front of him, secretly wondering to himself why he didn’t meet her sooner. 

“Will you let me kiss you now?” he asks to receive a look of surprise from his flatmate.

“Are you seriously asking for my permission to kiss me? Who are you?!”

“Just so you know I’m also very blessed to fall for someone this romantic.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page,” says Y/N. Now both of them are sure that the only thing stays constant in their relationship after this moment is how they just enjoy being sarcastic to each other. 

“You’re allowed to kiss me then.” Y/N nods happily, and judging by the way Harry’s been staring at her lips this whole time, he wants this as much as she does. With no hesitation, Harry attaches his mouth to hers, eagerly yet gently. It’s like all the suppressed feelings from the past weeks are put into this one kiss. He’s been dreaming of how she’s tasted for so long so this is like a dream comes true. Of course this is not the first kiss for neither of them, but without any doubt, the first kiss that’s actually meaningful.

And as they pull away, breathless, Y/N finally tells Harry what he thinks he’ll never forgets.

“I love you too.”

[amplesalty]

Christmas 2019: Day 4 - A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Four rounds of sliders!

So, turns out I had the title of this movie wrong, it’s not just A Harold & Kumar Christmas, it’s a 3D Christmas! Which also answers the question of where we go from the second movie, apparently out goes all that racism and in comes just so, so many shots of things flying at the camera.

It’s 2011 by this point, have we not left all this in the past? Hell, they were doing this in House of Wax when I watched that last year and that was back in the 50’s. To their credit, they do poke fun at the whole 3D thing at times, like near the start Harold’s assistant brings in a big ass TV meant as a present for Harold’s father in law. Harold questions if the whole 3D thing hasn’t jumped the shark by now but his assistant disagrees, exclaiming that it’s going to be ‘amazing’ as he points down the camera for emphasis. Harold just dryly asks who he’s looking at.

Harold has been moving up in the world it seems, now a very successful businessman on Wall Street. Unfortunately this comes during the whole ‘Occupy Wallstreet’ movement and the streets outside his office is lined with protesters wanting to eat the rich. Perhaps with a side of eggs which they throw at him by way of the camera lens.

Like a good soldier though, his assistant steps into the line of fire and takes a barrage of eggs to the face. RIP in peace. They have this whole musical sting whilst it’s happening, I feel like this has to be referencing something but I’m not sure what, war movies aren’t my thing.

Harold’s father in law by the way is played by non other than Danny Trejo, which is a rather scary thought. Trying to impress the father in law is bad enough without factoring that into the equation. He’s predisposed to disliking Harold as well given that his mother was killed by a bunch of Korean street thugs when she came over to America.

We learn that in his youth, Mr Perez dreamed of celebrating Christmas with a Christmas tree but would never get his wish. It was only upon reaching America that his mother promised they would have one every year, only for his life to be cut short. That’s why he holds this season and Christmas trees in particular in such high esteem. We also learn that apparently he was born with his moustache, which honestly wouldn’t surprise me with Danny Trejo. Also, someone being viciously murdered by street thugs seems a bit dark for this franchise.

Speaking of facial hair, Kumar is still a layabout bum who got kicked out of medical school for failing a drugs test. I do dig the beard though. Vanessa has left him though and he lives in filth with a neighbor who rents out his bathroom to let homeless people take a shit. So yeah, little bit of a mismatch on how our two heroes lives panned out over the last 7 years. I’m digging the beard though, but he promptly shaves it off under the pretense of trying to finally mature somewhat when he finds out Vanessa is pregnant.

Although, he is a little distracted during this revelation by the unfolding scenes of A Christmas Story and Flick getting his tongue stuck to the flagpole. Clearly an Xbox man as well, seemingly playing some Crackdown and Gears of War recently. This isn’t like that time I kept seeing It’s A Wonderful Life everywhere, is it? I’m not going to start having A Christmas Story pop up in all these movies, am I?

H&K are reuinited for the first time in two years when a package turns up at Kumar’s apartment addressed to Harold, which turns out to be a massive joint. Kumar lights up, only for Harold to play narc and throw it out of the window. Miraciously though, it curves around and flies back in a different window, lighting up Mr Perez’s Christmas tree and nearly burning down the whole house. This only reinforces what a negative influence on Harold’s life Kumar is and it looks like our duo are going their separate ways again. But, this does give us our impetuous for another hour and a half of whacky shenanigans because if Harold doesn’t fix that tree, there’s a good chance Mr Perez might kill him.

So we get the odd foursome of Harold and his new white bread bestie, Todd (and his daughter) and Kumar and his neighbor, Adrian, out on the lookout for a tree. This does lead to perhaps the most racially driven portion of the movie as they head to a tree lot run by two African-American guys trying to do this ‘good cop, bad cop’ thing, the Fat Albert looking guy playing nice and the other wondering what a pair of honkey, cracker, white ass fools are doing coming up in their turf.

Turns out Mr Perez isn’t the only one out to kill Harold though, as the tree search takes them to a party by way of Adrian who has a hookup waiting for him that he met online. She’s a virgin because apparently all the guys at school are scared to go anywhere near her. Adrian realizes that’s because her dad is notorious Ukranian mobster Sergei Katsov. At first I thought this was Chris Meloni making his third outing in the series but no, it’s actually Elias Koteas who was Casey Jones in the Ninja Turtles movies.

After Adrian goes soft upon finding out this information, Mary will settle for anyone at this point and goes to start blowing Harold right in the middle of the party. An inopportune time then for Daddy to come home and find what looks like an Eiffel Tower situation going on.

Even after they barely escape though, the nightmare is far from over as they start tripping and think they’re in the middle of a multi storey evil snowman attack. And, this all takes place in claymation. This is a really awesome scene, the design of the snowman is great and the level of destruction going on is amazing.

I could do without Kumar showing off his clay cock though, I only dread to think how much worse this is in 3D with him waving it about in your face.

Luckily, old buddies Rosenberg and Goldstein are there to shake them out of their bad trip and take them to White Castle to relax. Man, they have a much easier time getting their this time. They’ve clearly learnt from their past experiences. Along with the whole 3D into the camera gimmick, the racism angle has been replaced somewhat with religion, notably here with a whole speech about how Goldstein’s wife had him convert to Christianity and him just going in on those ‘dirty Jew bastards’.

That and the use of his son as a distraction so Harold & Kumar can go steal a tree from a church. ‘Pillow fight in the altar boys room, last one there is a rotten egg!’. Going in on the Catholics as well, I see.

And of course, the big one, the main man JC. Apparently Heaven is like a nightclub and we get the story of how NPH was ushered in the front door following his altercation at the whore house. Only, Jesus didn’t take kindly to NPH macking on his ladies so put in a word to the big man upstairs to send NPH back down to Earth. I mean, it’s not 100% to the letter but I’ll take this as I fucking called it.

The third part of the trifecta of racism replacements in this movie is metaness. There’s a good example here how they call out NPH coming out of the closet in real life, only to reveal that NPH is as big of a poon hound as he’s ever been and this is all just a trick to get the ladies. David Burtka? He’s not his husband, he’s just his dealer!

There’s a couple of other moments like someone referring to Harold as ‘Sulu’ or Adrian saying he lied to Mary and said he was Robert Pattison’s acting coach and that Kumar worked in the White House.

NPH is starring in some big festive stage show and sweet talks one of the dancers back to his dressing room, suggesting she strip down so that he can give her a massage. Hey, it’s cool, we’re all girlfriends here, right? Now just give him a minute so he can squirt some of his special lotion on your back...

He hooks up H&K with a tree from the set but before they can head home, the gangsters catch up with them take them to a secluded part of town for an execution.

But as they make their escape, Harold finds his dick has become stuck to the pole they were tied to. Okay, firstly, between this and Office Chrstimas Party, I’ve seen just about enough dicks to last me til the end of the season. Secondly, maybe this is God’s way of reminding me that I have some unfinished business with A Christmas Story. Sure there was the original and that sequel no one asked for but there is another...

And just in case you forget this is a Christmas movie, Harold inadvertently shoots Santa out of the sky and Kumar has to perform impromptu surgery, because he always does. Santa being played by Richard Riehle who was in Grounded for Life and, relevant to this blog, Chillerama and the Rob Zombie Halloween II. Turns out he was the one who sent Harold the massive joint so that the two of them could reconcile. I never knew Santa cared so much about the friendship of two potheads. I don’t know if he’s a good fit for Santa though, a little too gruff and mean. Doesn’t have the heart of say, an Edmund Gwenn. That could have been an alternate way to do this actually, have a totally sacherine by the numbers Santa that gets corrupted by H&K when they get him to smoke with them, he’s on too much of a bad trip to deliver the toys like normal so it’s up to them to save the day.

I think I would have to put this above the sequel but behind the original in terms of quality. As one note and as fleeting an appearance as he is, the Ukranian gangster somehow feels more of a threat than the entire US government in the second film. Keeping this adventure local again makes it feel much more grounded and there’s just a more light hearted atmosphere to the whole thing when you don’t have that massively racist and oppressive tone pressing down on it.

[chroma-asks]

Out-of-Context Chroma System Quotes

(Good luck guessing who said what if you don’t already actively know)

-Motherfuckin’ Spaghetti-O rectum

-Candied baboon ass

-You wouldn’t happen to have a blow torch, would you? (Followed by) The fuck do I look like, an inventor?

-Would you care for some hot grapes…?

-Pls don’t snu-snu the puppet

-Carbonara bananas

-A meme cowboy who says “Yeetthot”

-What if we had an alter named Bacon

-Skyward Sword isn’t bad, it’s just that the boy’s nose is stupid

-Weiss needs more buttcheeks to fill in for her many assholes

-You ever sit and think that battering rams were probably actually designed to look like dicks but history books didn’t like that?

-Fuck me vibrating spider

-It has a daddy kink and hit on Cthulhu, I’m gonna call it what I want

-I put the romance in ‘necromance’

-Go eat Donald Trump’s toenail clippings

-If you say ‘hachacha’ one more time I’m ripping off your dumb nose to put ice cream into

-Hail the Irish, bitch.

-Yes, please don’t ruffle my onesie, it’s Gucci.

-Stop eating all the orange flavored candies you pathetic weenie

-That’s like eating a burrito on Taco Tuesdays

-How are you doing that you have no pupils

-So If Orion walks around without a shirt, he’s completely naked

-You know your house has thin walls when you can hear grandma farting in the bathroom

-So the plural for tooth is teeth like foot with feet. So why isn’t the plural for boot…. beet?

-Gwen puts the “tit” in “competition”

-(in reference to the crusades)Ye Olde Mosh Pit

-Considering Damon’s been harkin’ Harold’s balls all week, I’d assume the latter

-We’re going on the road to El Dorito

-61 vagànias

-What’s this, the Cryptid Lottery?

-That’s it, I’m calling CPS…….Clown Protective Services

-They are seriously playing Blurred Lines in this old people dance club

-Make your ballet shoes 99.9% better by installing syringes filled with chemo in the back

-Black holes are like the Cotton Eye Joe of space. Where do they come from and where do they go

-Wouldn’t it suck if hurricanes and tornadoes were 96% gas?

-Imagine if Vague’s name was pronounced “vagoo”

-PAKA YOU CANNOT NICKNAME JELOSE “JELLO HENTAI” I SWEAR TO GOD

-Anything is mayonnaise when you put your mind to it

-Hhhhhh smells like gonorrhea

-So wait if YOU’RE me, and I’M me, then who’s piloting the flesh jaeger???

-It’s Meat Time™️

-I dance like a freshly peeled lizard

-If I punch a blunt out of someone’s mouth does that make me a weed-whacker?

-“If we get mistaken for an anime enough do you think somebody out there might write an Mpreg fanfic about Damon” “Dear god I hope not”

-I am become symbiote

-If Naraku can also spin webs can he knit a sweater too????

-REPTILES ARE ASLEEP DO ALL THE THINGS NOW

-Beans beans the good for your heart, the more you eat the more you…… love your girlfriend

-Silence you lesser potato

-So I know beefcake is supposed to refer to really muscly dudes but what is it actually like is it a cake made entirely out of beef or is it a cake shaped like a beef

-My love for cheese is canon

-TASTEY MAN

-That really peels my grapes

-Mom said it’s my turn on the flesh jaeger

-Fish-slapping has an entirely new meaning when it’s Damon and Mero going on a date

-Hello would you like to purchase some salmonella

-You must add the phlegm

-Please don’t put your dick in the Christmas water

-The fuck is a ceviche

-By process of elimination…. you are a bitch.

-You are the Mac to my cheese

-It’s the cloaca.

-SOMEBODY HELP TORY’S BEEN HIT WITH SEXY BITCH DISEASE

-Hey just poppin’ in to let you know the Bethesda thing is happening again, k thanks I love u

-Because stabby stabby blood freezy

-sumfin smlel liek toileeeeeeet

-do you want the beesing phuckchurger or not

-I vote we get a pole cause I wanna be the Lord of the Dance 2, Stripper Edition

-don’t forget to water your Satan

-funky funky chunky chunky, monkey butter pet a bee, beep beep sheep sheep, I’m a baby don’t bite me

-No you absolutely canNOT name my theme “Icy London Icy France”

-What is a serial killer but a humble door-to-door death salesman?

-“Deep-fried for your pleasure” “Only the finest of dildas for our resident slut~”

-Take me down to the paradise city where the cows are green and the grass has tiddy

-“An all nutter” you mean a bukkake

-They gonna make us eat at home like some dirty commoner???

-What was that one Disney movie? Humpback of Notre Dame?

-There is no Iceland, only California 2, Electric Boogaloo

-What if the Earth wasn’t actually rotating, it’s all just water currents pushing the continents at a steady pace

-“Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s gasoline”“what the fuck”

-What am I, a BDSM version of a Tickle Me Elmo?

-Fanmade STDs

-Naraku, or as I like to call him; Prime Minister of Sluttington

-Take my gratitude and shove it up your ass

-The inside doctor listens to your insides, the outside doctor listens to your outsides because he forgot to use anesthetics

-Like and subscribe to die instantly

-Have you accepted Beefus as your lord and savior

-Go eat one(1) entire lettuce you fuck.

-up the shut slut

-Where there’s a will, there’s a gay

-WHAT DO YOU MEAN POODLES AREN’T A TYPE OF SHEEPDOG?? THEY’RE THE SHEEPIEST LOOKING MOTHERFUCKERS OF THE DOG WORLD

-I don't know if I wanna do the smashing or the mowing. Either way, your ass is grass

-Treat him gently, he’s just a meatball

-I refuse to believe I know big words

[icanbehardcore]

My top 10 Powerpuff Girls episodes

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WAS WRITTEN BACK IN NOVEMBER SO SOME OF THIS IS A LITTLE OUTDATED SO WE’RE NEARLY INTO FEBRUARY...ABOUT TIME I FINISH THIS DAMN REVIEW!) For some reason, @princess-peachie‘s love for PPG made me want to do this too haha!  Can you believe that The Powerpuff Girls -one of the greatest Cartoon Network shows- has turned twenty? I know it's a little late but I get such great fond memories watching this as a little kid. The Powerpuff Girls was a spunky, energetic, entertaining, action packed, heartwarming and funny show. I indulged myself into watching this whenever I could and I always looked forward to it. It didn't matter if I saw the same episodes repeated again and again, The Powerpuff Girls would never shy away on putting a smile on my face. I LOVED this cartoon, it’s pretty special to me because it came out on the 18th November 1998 (my 10th birthday),  at the time, we didn’t have access to Cartoon Network so I wasn’t aware of this show until early next year. My first glimpse of the Powerpuff Girls was a mention and a brief clip shown of the girls flying and staring at the camera during a line up of Cartoons showing at the time. I actually got curious straight away and had no idea whenever I’d get the time to finally watch it.

Finally one evening after 2 Stupid Dogs finished, The Powerpuff Girls was announced next and this finally gave me a chance to watch it in peace. I was alone in the living room and I quietly sat there like ...well a kid, waiting, I was excited, I would finally get to watch this show after trying to. 

Unlike most Cartoon Network shows in which it took me a while to get into such as Ed, Edd n Eddy, I already found myself smiling to myself and even quietly laughing. If I can remember correctly, the first episodes I got to watch fully for the first time were “Fuzzy Logic” and “Tough Love”. I don’t know why but somehow I knew I was really going to enjoy this show more than I’d expect. The Powerpuff Girls isn’t JUST your average typical cutesy show starring three female leads. It has more than that, it had action, it had a great stories, it had great adventure, it had great voice acting, speed, pizzazz and most of all…IT was actually very funny! Craig McCracken had come a long way since making these characters onto a small card he drew, to his own animated shorts to then one of the most iconic and important shows Cartoon Network had ever put onto their channel.

I loved it more for what it produced, I really liked how it pulls your audience in thinking it’s a cutesy girly show with all rainbows and giggles, but really, it’s a cartoon that captivates the audience with it’s humor, voice acting, soundtrack, atmosphere and even the sneaky pop cultural references and of course: adult humor. I would constantly tape the show whenever I could and when it came to those memorable ones, I KNEW I’d enjoy them again after more than one watch. There was something about this show that really appealed to me and sometimes I couldn’t quite lay a finger on it. When I first watched this show, I was glad I had instantly become a fan because this was one of those shows that I got into and enjoyed before anyone else did in the household. I’m glad it wasn’t just a girly girl’s show. I was happy that the main heroes were unique in appearence and seemed all sweet innocent looking kids which do nothing other than fighting crime, play around and act like little kids. I think what grabbed male audience’s attention more were the villains and I can see why. They were all funny, engaging and their use of dialogue and voice acting were terrific. All well done to a tee!

When you’ve got voice talents such as Tom Kane, Jennifer Hale, Cathy Cavadini, EG Daily, Tara Strong, Roger Jackson, Jim Cummings, Tom Kenny, not forgetting the late Chuck McCann and even occasional to major and minor voice appearances from Kevin Michael Richardson, Rob Paulsen, Kath Soucie, Jeff Bennet and  even Mark Hamill, WHERE can you go wrong? With a good cartoon, comes a good cast of voice artists.

Craig McCracken put his heart into this show and I am glad to have grown  up with this masterpiece. The Powerpuff Girls is no doubt one of my favorite animated shows of all time and I will continue to watch them again and again and never get tired at watching the many episodes that are so dear to my heart. Craig really knew how to create a masterpiece and one that would go onto become a cultural phenomenon. He really knew how to create great characters young, old, male and female, and yet have the main lead cast all female that would appeal to both girls and boys is quite a milestone in cartoon history.

In honor of this series, I will be counting down my top ten greatest Powerpuff Girls episodes. I will however not be including the movie, the Christmas special or the Dance Pantsed Special, also I am only focusing on the original 90s show and not the 2016 reboot. WARNING: Spoilers ahead.

With that being said here are what I consider the greatest episodes.

10 - The Bare Facts This was one of the first episodes I ever got to record onto vhs, I remember so well on Christmas eve and I couldn't wait. I would constantly watch it played back again and again and you can see why.

Most episodes focus on the girls fighting crime and succeeding, but here, all the action is unseen...at first.

Sometimes when sibling characters argue in animation, it can be degrading, unpleasant and makes you want to lose interest in the characters all together, but here, it's done right, to a point where the arguing isn't degrading or stale and actually pretty funny. Also I love how clueless the Mayor is about everything, especially the scene about "the note", this scene always had me laughing as a kid.

Throughout this episode, the setting is all in the Mayor's point of view, complete with various styles of the girls versions of the story on how it all happened, done with an art style shift for each girl. This idea is hilarious and I love how they constantly jump in with different story telling patterns as follows: Blossom tells it mostly focusing on her (all about her, nobody else), complete with a light red tinted scene.

Bubbles tells it in a rather light hearted but adorably accurate way, complete with crayon drawing scenes.

And Buttercup tells it in a rather shadowy olive-green scene, mostly focusing on the action and not the details like Blossom did.

The Mayor however is oblivious to what has happened and is only wondering why the girls were laughing earlier.

I will NOT spoil the ending for this episode for those who haven't seen it, although I really could have done without the narrator's little puns to go with the moment. Again, the episode title just may give you some ideas.

Overall, this episode was great and was even nominated for an emmy with it's brother episode "Bubblevicious".

KEY MOMENT FOR ME: The "pretty clouds" scene. Seriously cracks me up!

9. Just Another Manic Mojo 

I can't think of any episode focusing on Mojo Jojo to be as brilliant as this one, sure "Child Fearing" was hilarious, "Monkey See, Doggy Do" is a classic and "Mr Mojo's Rising" is one that shouldn't be ignored. But if I had to pick any of the Mojo Jojo themed episodes, it would be this one. Just imagine, a day in the life of a villain: Waking up miserable, going through so much hell each day and reading the news to such goody-goody acts.

Watching this episode back to back constantly, I never got tired of it and I knew it almost word for word at some point.

The first half of this episode focuses on Mojo getting up, regular routines such as showering, doing his teeth, ceasing the day and readying up for breakfast...until he discovers drama in the kitchen...ONE EGG LEFT! I just love the little ramble he does here, over a single egg, what follows is an ingenious rollercoaster of comedy gold. Whenever Mojo's onscreen, you can't help but laugh, with his hilariously bad Japanese accent and repetitive Speed Racer-esque sentences, you can see why he was a fan favorite.

What follows the events is the girls accidentally having their ball crash through their window and what do they do? They ask for it back (well, better than busting in through the roof and looking for it, eh?).

I would probably give it away if I were to describe what follows afterward, but if you really want a laugh, then this episode is the one for you. Of all the episodes where the girls drive Mojo insane, this has got to be the funniest.

KEY MOMENT FOR ME: Just Mojo Jojo, he's absolutely hilarious in this episode, the girls being a runner-up too for not keeping still. Also one word: "curses".

8. Supper Villain This episode is hilarious on many levels, most of the story  is done for laughs and the setup is well...average...averagely brilliant. It's great to hear Kath Soucie on the Powerpuff Girls again (true fans should know that Soucie started off voicing Bubbles in the two pilots via What a Cartoon before Tara stepped in for the role).

The repetitive dialogue is great, played out for laughs and builds up for even more laughs, mixed with great voice acting.

The story? Harold Smith spends his life working at a mustard factory, bored with his life, he longs for something more, with a dark secret. But when his beloved wife Marianne invites the neighbors over for dinner, Harold is vulnerable and finally breaks free and shows his true colors.

His outfit reveal (obviously home made) is enough to make anybody laugh off of your seat. With his newly found identity, Harold reveals his first villainy. From here, we get some hilariously unforgettable gags, and one of the best scenes that eventually became an Internet meme:  "Eat your pea, Professor!". No matter how many times I watch it, the dinner scene is just classic. Being a comedic show with guests at dinner, I'm pretty sure you can figure out what happens next. 

Key moment for me: "Eat your pea Professor!" No doubt about it. 

8. Jewel of the Aisle I'd like to point out here that this episode aired right as Kelloggs released a Powerpuff Girls themed cereal. Sadly it was limited and has since discontinued, so good luck on throwing your pennies onto ebay to grab a box. Now, this episode never really gets talked about enough, maybe because the main villain here is a nameless crook who you never really see again. The story's premise is simple, the girls fail to track down a thief who had just stolen a priceless diamond from the jewelry store. Unable to locate him, they retire for the night, swearing they will meet again. The crook however, hiding in a cereal factory accidentally drops his prize into one of the boxes, which then ends up in the local supermarket.

When the crook fails to find his precious gem, he's down to one box -which ends up in the hands of the Professor. The crook follows him home stealthily only to his horror to find out that Professor Utonium is the father of the Powerpuff Girls. Upon his spying, he notices a commercial (with terrifically shifted fluent animation that almost feels Disney or Warner Bros. esque) and comes up with a cunning plan...dressing up as  "Lucky Captain Rabbit King", the cereal's mascot, I'll leave it up to you on what cereal brands they were parodying here.

While these cereals weren't so big here in Europe, heck, I only ever remember eating Lucky Charms in my own youth a lot until they went up in price later on.  I still got the reference easily thanks to the internet. This still didn't stop me from getting laugh, gag after gag.

Think of this episode as a Yogi Bear cartoon, but instead of stealing a "pic-a-nic" basket or a pie cooling off on the window sill (or a plate of hog jowls if you're thinking Ren and Stimpy), you've got a box of cereal with a hidden unknown prize not included in most boxes. The comedy in this episode is hilarious, for example, how much cereal did the girls go through and not notice a diamond? Also, the classic usage of oblivion and determination is brilliant, it's like watching classic golden age cartoons of the 40s and 50s again. The crook taking on a role parodying the Trix Rabbit is just so funny to watch, no matter what he does, he is being outsmarted by three adorable kindergartners. I love how the girls just play along with the gag and constantly kick him out,. My favorite part would have to be when the crook disguises himself as a monster outside off the front window complete with a Townsville scenery. YOU know you're going to laugh out loud when an idiot pulls this gag out of his hat and fails to succeed.

On a spoiler's note, I felt a little sorry for the crook when he broke down, forgetting about the jewel and focusing on the cereal, I don't know, maybe it's when Bubbles (who is honestly the sweetest little living being on two legs in cartoons) actually gives in and offers t it to him. While most stories like these do tend to have a happy ending for the determined victim, we don't get that here, which is why this episode works. Again, while I've probably spoiled most of the plot, it's too simple anyway. With that being said, "Ridiculous Lucky Captain Rabbit King, Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets are for the youth!". Okay, I'm actually craving junky cereal now, especially imported from USA!  Key moment for me: The comedy in this episode. 

7. Telephonies This is another classic episode, the comedy and timing is perfect, the plot is great and gives us a look into the lives of the villains when they are chilling out and not plotting evil schemes. When something is funny, it has to have speed at exactly the right time, otherwise the joke falls flat and loses it's cool, that's if you can pinpoint that in your head and understand where I'm going with this.

When the Gang Green Gang start making crank calls throughout Townsville, they are lacking in great ways to pull them off. So, after calling the Mayor with Grubber impersonating Ms Bellum, making him leave to "cut the ribbon for the new mall, declaring it open", giving them the free run of the Powerpuff Hotline. What we get is a  rather "interesting" insight of the villains at home doing their own thing as the girls burst in and constantly beat the living hell out of them, only to learn that they were NOT even committing any crimes. Here, we learn that Mojo Jojo is more sophisticated than you think (yet we see him in Manic Mojo actually buying eggs at the supermarket), he listens to classical music and reads the paper and even takes naps in an armchair. Also, what can be more funnier than the "evilest of all evil" ("Him") working out in complete aerobic equipment? That is just friggin hilarious, I also love how polite he is when the girls break in, but the one that gave me the most laughs out of the villains was Fuzzy Lumpkins. Nobody likes having their privacy invaded, especially when you're taking a relaxing bath, the delivery here from the girls was priceless, especially when Bubbles ended it. I love how the violence and beating up here is played more for laughs and not action itself.

Another thing that still cracks me up in this episode is that these villains are all pretty close friends and even keep in touch by landline, that's right, even down in the depths of hell, HIM has his own phone to make calls. When's the last time you've seen cartoon villains in conversation over a phone? Brilliant!

The ending too is pretty funny and I like how the girls don't believe the Mayor after three cock-ups in one day.

Key moment for me: As I said, Bubbles' delivery to Fuzzy was "tell it like is is funny",  BUT the true comedic gem in this episode personally is Professor Utonium. The running gag with him still at the receiver on hold is fantastic. I will forgive the fact that near the end, you see him outside the girls door but I guess that adds to the comedy. 

6. The Powerpuff Girls Best Rainy Day Adventure Ever. That's right, that is the actual name of the episode and by god it's a mouthful. Now THIS episode just gets better and better every single time with each watch, whose genius idea was it to create an episode where the girls play pretend? In this case, literally playing The Powerpuff Girls. This includes them playing various roles for other citizens in Townsville and as all kids do when playing together, arguing on who gets to be who? 

Honestly, this episode's premise is spectacular. I love how the girls hardly even use superpowers at all, not to mention the unforgettable one liner from Buttercup while playing as a monster. Also, it was nice to actually see the girls here get more comedy than they usually do. For most of the part in the series in general, the comedy is thrown around depending on the characters, story and situation, but here, the girls really do steal the show. 

I'm pretty sure a lot of us as kids can relate, with our friends or siblings role-playing as our favourite characters from cartoons, but as each other, that's unique. 

PPG Best Rainy Day Adventure Ever is definitely one of the funniest episodes of season 2, so next time you're having a bad day and it's raining, not up for walking the dog, cos it's rai-, okay, enough spoilers. Go watch this one next time you want to see a lead female cast of kindergartners at their funniest. 

Key moment for me: The Mayor. You'll have to watch it so not to spoil it.

  5. I See A Funny Cartoon In Your Future Seasonal rot is painful, especially cartoons that were so highly well received by critics and fans alike. After the Powerpuff Girls movie, the show followed the upgraded animated style which kind of watered down the true charm of the first four seasons, as well as lacking in great ideas for stories, most of seasons five and six were...mediocre with sour pickles on top.  Luckily, this one made me laugh. A hell of a lot!

The entire story is told like episodes of Jay Ward's Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, complete with cheesy but hilarious and witty puns, fourth wall breaking and running gags. We also have the main one off villain here voiced by the late June Foray (voice of Rocky and Natasha Fatale). I like how she and her goosey sidekick are drawn to mimic the style of Jay Ward's characters and the little commercial near the end of the episode spoofing the Nicotine Patch. It's such a shame this episode wasn't traditionally animated, for I would have really liked to have seen some lush fluid animation to boot up this episode more. Interestingly, I never saw the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons as a kid, since they weren't very big in England, but  I got into the franchise when I watched the movie on VHS non-stop and loved it (it's a guilty pleasure haha), so you can see why this episode gave me loads of laughs. 

  Also note that sadly, June Foray passed away in July 2017, leaving a legacy of cartoon voices behind and fond memories. Since her passing, Mrs Strong herself went on to provide the voice of Rocky for the new Rocky and Bullwinkle series, keeping the spirit alive as always. Good one Tara! Great work. And I mean it!  KEY MOMENT FOR ME:  The voodoo dolls. Seriously, I quote this a lot haha! Also, just the whole episode being a tribute to Rocky and Bullwinkle.

4. Meet The Beat-Alls Okay, this is definitely getting close to what a WatchMojo list would look like, no? WELL I'm gonna jab this list and have it up before you can say "Ringo Starr's a Powerpuff Girl!", but how can I NOT make a top 10 Powerpuff eps. list and NOT include this episode, and I quote @UmbraMagna, "This episode is absolutely fantastic!", never have truer words been spoken? Telephonies made way with great laughs, but that was more focused on the Gang Green Gang, here this episode focuses on Him, Mojo, Princess Morbucks and Fuzzy in what is probably the funniest Beatles parody I've ever seen.

  Craig McCracken himself has always been a huge fan of the Beatles, so when season 3 was ending soon it ended with the sister episode to Moral Decay and you know what? It saved the season finale. Every second, there's a reference to...well, the Beatles. Sure, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" of The Simpsons was fun and had lots of references to the band and other acts, but an entire episode where it's nothing but Beatles second after second, how can you go wrong? 

From the Abbey Road walk, to the musical style, to the Yoko Ono reference, to just everything about it, it's one episode that will have you laughing after a Hard Day's Night. EG Daily (voice of Buttercup) has stated during a Comic-Kaze guest panel that this was one of her favorite episodes. 

Show creator Craig McCracken himself even listed this episode as one of his top ten favourite episodes of all time. There is one little nitpick, but I guess it doesn't matter, since it still makes way for great comedy and I like how a SINGLE rock actually defeats the girls (back when cartoons weren't very pc, just the way I like'em). Whether you like the Beatles or not, Meet the Beat-Alls is a great episode with the villains at their best. Key moment for me: The whole episode, brilliant! 

3. See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey. NOTE: WATCH THIS EPISODE WITH CAUTION! CONTAINS FLASHING IMAGES!  I LOVE THIS EPISODE! Remember what I said about seasons five and six suffering from seasonal rot and mediocre episodes? Well, here's one that I probably consider one of the best of them during the Chris Savino era. The entire episode is much longer since the intro is cut short to make way for what comes next. An unbelievable half hour of a pure masterpiece. 

For many, being a  great voice actor means they have to know how to sing and here, we have a lot of it. It really gave the voice actors' chance to show off their singing voices a great workout and boy, did they nail it right out the park? While it's not the most comedic, it's still epic, fun and unforgettable. This episode was like an evil apocalypse, not even fighting on who gets to defeat the girls or who gets to cause destruction or rob banks. It's a real shame they never released this as a true soundtrack, it's so beautiful. 

It's got an Andrew Lloyd Webber and Pink Flloyd's "The Wall" feel to it. I really wish this was the episode's true finale, since it's been debated and rumored to, unfortunately the true finale (not counting the specials) was that of What's the Big Idea, a complete let down, since both McCracken and Savino agreed that the show had run it's course, even though Cartoon Network did ask for a seventh season. If only...sadly, we can't have everything. 

The Gnome -the main villain of this episode- was quite interesting, exchanging peace to Townsville for the girls' superpowers, yet making everyone bow down to him. Sadly, this episode was banned from airing in the USA, some say it was because of the message of communism, but the true reason for the ban was for the red and white blinking lights that flashed during the Gnome's spell. It's too bad this was never edited for safety so the US audience could experience it at the time but luckily, it was included in the complete tenth AND twentieth anniversary box set, just proceed with caution, I'm saying this for your own safety. I love the Gnome's setting, in a large rose where he lives in peace, I forgot to mention that he was voiced by the legendary Jess Harnell and boy, was he a perfect choice? Have you ever heard Jess sing OUTSIDE of cartoons? Why don't voice artists get more love? Seriously.

Speaking of which, Tara Strong and EG Daily (who only just recently released a song "Impeachable" (parodying Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful") together for charity) really got to show off their vocal talents here more.  Also not to leave her out since I love all three of these amazing talents, Cathy too has a remarkable singing voice! God bless these ladies!  In conclusion, See Me, Feel Me Gnomey is a fantastic episode, mixed with action, drama, music and sheer brilliance from start to finish. Key moment for me: The whole episode. I can't pick one moment. I really loved the harmonizing from Strong and Daily during Cavadini's singing solo in "You Wanna Make Us Feel Real Good". Seriously, once these three sing, it just seems unreal, yet magical.

2. The Rowdyruff Boys Okay!  I'm pretty sure a lot of fans saw this one coming, I mean it's one of IMDB's highest rated episodes, as well as another one of Craig McCracken's favorites. This episode not only marked the debut of the titled characters of the same name, but was the first of many half hour episodes and of all of them, this one was at it's best.   While not the MOST comedic and the boys at the time didn't have as much personality as they did in their later appearances, this episode still left a huge impact on the fans, in a good way. The action in this episode is some of the best I have seen during the McCracken era (something the later episodes lacked), probably along with Stuck Up, Up and Away and Bubblevicious. Tired from constantly being defeated day after day and thrown into jail, Mojo Jojo comes up with the perfect plan to get rid of the girls by creating a trio of kids of his own. Instead of the sweet ingredients for the perfect little girls, Mojo gathers up several ingredients to create the not so perfect little boys. I love how the idea was a reference to the little rhyme "What Are Little Boys/Girls Made of?". 

There's some pretty funny but questionable moments, such as...why would the prison serve escargot? I love how the caterer actually smiles in response. Also, why is the Talking Dog suddenly a prison guard? Oh what the hey? It still makes for hilarious gags such as having his tail snatched to finish the ingredients. What I don't get though is Mojo's breath as he flushed the ingredients down the toilet...then again, maybe it was because of when the girls were born causing the chemical reaction to still have an affect which in return passes on to others, in this case, the Rowdyruff Boys. Interestingly, the boys named themselves, while the Professor named his girls. What made this episode great was the voice acting, Roger L Jackson as Mojo yet again was perfect, as well as providing the voice of Butch, Buttercup's counterpart. Cathy, Elizabeth and Tara's energy in this episode were spot on and we even get to hear the legendary Rob Paulsen as Brick and Boomer. 

When the two teams meet face to face, they start a huge brawl, the action as I said is amazing, some of the best in any episode, it's like the teams have lept right off the screen.

There is a little problem I have with this episode and...well...it's the whole counterpart vs counterpart thing. I mean...is it really that hard to tell the difference between a little boy and girl with the same hair color? Especially when they use the same chunks of animation for each member fighting against each other, take  the cartwheel scene for example.  Other than that, the animation in this episode was terrific.

This was also one of the first episodes in which the girls were defeated and nearly for good. But with the Disney-esque tears of life trope, they are revived in seconds. I can forgive this trope here but NOT in Pokemon: The First Movie.  Shamed and crestfallen by their defeat, the girls decide to leave Townsville, only to be given a pep talk by Ms Bellum. 

And what we get after a little subtle adult joke followed by a defeat from the girls...without the violence, in Sara Bellum's words, "try being nice".  I just love how the boys are distracted by the girls as they are standing looking pretty...well, pretty. Pretty as any little girl could be, I laugh my head off every time in this scene, it's both cute and funny, especially with the flirtatious "come hither" eyelashes and sassy “Hey boys!” expressions on the girls that aren't usually seen. You'd expect this kind of thing on a more mature character, one with an hour glass shaped figure and heels. But alas, being kids, the boys can't stand the thought of ...cooties and somehow, this kills them. Literally. No, seriously, they actually die, in a rather humorous way after a long battle with the girls. What makes this scene great is that there's no dialogue, not until the boys scream at the top of their lungs. 

I may have spoiled it a little but hey, visualizing it in your head isn't the same as watching it and believe me, it is a really funny scene. Think of it has a "distracted by the sexy" trope but toned down. Also, what I said earlier about the counterpart trope, I'll make this an exception since it was clearly obvious that it was going to happen. 

This episode is a fan favorite, unfortunately, it did have a reputation of inspiring fanart and fan-fictions and McCracken himself actually poked fun at this scenario in The City of Clipsville. This episode was not afraid of almost killing off the main characters and three children in fact, but then again, there was so much edge in this show, there was nothing like it at the time. The mix of action, humor and drama is perfect. It's too bad the follow-ups with the boys didn't get the same impact as this one. In conclusion, The Rowdyruff Boys is incredible and really shows that girls are tougher than they look. Take Buttercup's quote "It takes more than a couple of cheap shots to make us cry!". Inspiring. 

Key moment for me:  The boys' defeat...by cooties. Hilarious. After nearly an entire episode of nothing but non-stop action, violence and a huge brawl in Townsville, we get a comedic flirt scene. 

NOW before I finally get to number one, here are some honorable mentions. 

Him Riddle Diddle - I love the suspense and how it already started with peril, it felt like some kind of action movie. HIM sets the girls up on a riddle-fest or else the Professor will -in Him's words - pay. I could have had it on this list but...the one bit that bothered me was Buttercup piloting a helicopter...umm...when did she learn to...okay, Uh-Oh Dynamo, they are controlling a large robotic being of themselves but a helicopter? I don't know, maybe it was all done for comedy but yeah, it's still a great episode. What makes this episode great is that it builds up with suspense, from one riddle after another, still filling comedy in the cracks and gaps of course. Also when you have Him as the main villain, he's always coming up with something unique, yet nasty. I won't spoil the ending but it is hilarious, I love the girls' reactions after working their butts off to save their father ONLY to...well see for yourself.

  Superfriends - @KarToonComics has already kind of gone on about this episode and I have to agree with her on what she said. I have had lonely problems growing up and found it hard to make friends and socialize.  Also, I've personally lost friends due to someone else cutting in the way and excluding me by taking over them and. I don't like to go into it, but we have all had that experience. 

The girls meet Robin, their new next door neighbor and befriend her, it's really satisfying to actually see the girls being kids, having fun and playing together for once. 

I shut this one off the list though,  because...well, some of the later episodes, I can't stand the sharpness in Bubbles' accent, it's noticeable especially in her Ls. It's like she's getting a bit of a Spanish brogue in there (which probably makes sense since she can speak the language), but I just find it really distracting. 

Also, while I really liked Robyn, she somewhat looks similar to one of the other kindergartners in school. Watch Stuck Up, Up And Away and see for yourself. Her friendship with the girls was cute, I really like how they all bonded together like all little kids, but of course, being superheroes, the girls didn't always get enough time to meet their new friend, their next door neighbor in fact. That's pretty sad, you can tell the girls themselves could feel it inside them that they wish the hotline would once not ring and they could do their own thing but Townsville seems to have problems every single time. 

Robin and the girls walk to school together the following week when a limousine pulls up carrying Princess Morbucks as a passenger. She offers the girls a lift in the car IF they let her be a Powerpuff Girl, the girls' decline the offer (by the way, I love Blossom's expression during Princess's little bribe). 

I can't really go on more without totally spoiling the episode so see for yourself what happens from here. It's a great episode, also a BONUS for Robin's hilarious one liner and of course the entire sequence set to the song Signal in the Sky by The Apples in Stereo, damn, why couldn't we have more episodes like that, that'd be just brilliant. I'd have loved to have seen a cameo appearance of Bis, or Dressy Bessy. 

Helter Shelter - I don't know why but I wish this episode was longer, then again with a premise as stupid yet funny as this one, it would probably lose the comedy after a while.

Bubbles loves animals, we all know that. In fact, she loves them so much, she has a habit of bringing them in the house. 

The following afternoon, Bubbles brings in a baby sperm whale into the house and the results of trying to hide it from the Professor are hilarious. I love the way the girls panic and all the hiding spots aren't very well hidden for a large mammal such as a whale calf. 

The dialogue and gags are some of the stupidest yet funniest in any episode, yet they somehow add up nicely. I also love the running gag of the Professor yelling out Bubbles' name, he kind of reminds me of Dave Seville in Alvin and the Chipmunks. . 

You'll have to watch the whole episode to find out what happens but I can't say if it will make you laugh or not. 

Equal Fights - This was a great episode, in fact I felt it could have been longer, but then it would probably drag on and go nowhere. The girls become sexist to all males after meeting and releasing Femme Fatale, a master thief, bank robber and also bit of a hypocrite. 

While Grey Delisle did a fantastic performance with her role here, I felt that Femme Fatale was one of the more forgettable minor villains.

If this were a double length episode, I would have liked to have seen more of a backstory on why she's a misandrist. 

Also I felt the character was eye-candy and fan-service material, from her slender figure to her skin-tight outfit. Also, I love how precocious the girls themselves are on a brief history lesson about Susan B. Anthony. 

The morals were great but personally, this along with a similar episode Members Only just didn't quite make the cut for me.  I did love the references to the Justice League though. 

Child Fearing - I love the Mojo Jojo themed episodes, especially where he's with the girls throughout and they make each other's lives a living hell. Unfortunately, some were a fluke and hit and miss while others like Slumbering with the Enemy and this one; Child Fearing are great.

Late for science presentation in a rather clumsy fashion, the Professor hires a babysitter to look after the girls. There's a wonderful reference to a certain N64 game here, I don't want to spoil it in case you may haven't seen it. But it's a great laugh if you know your games.  I also love the little smirk the girls give each other when they know they are alone and the Professor forgot to ring for a sitter.

Anyway, the Mayor is too busy to sit for the girls because he's playing video-games, so the girls get an unexpected visit from their arch-enemy Mojo Jojo and the results are pure hilarity, one after the other. 

The girls aren't stupid, without a simple huddle or plan, they immediately decide to take advantage of all this and become incredibly obnoxious, mischievous and bratty as any little kid can be. I usually hate obnoxious characters but it's played here perfectly. 

It's impossible not to laugh at Mojo here, but also feel sorry for him at the same time. It's a real shame there weren't anymore episodes that had this kind of comedy, because this one is absolutely hilarious from start to finish. Also, the TV scene is absolutely brilliant, the highlight of the episode. 

Buttercrush - This was one of the many episodes that immediately got me into the show. Already silently into it that is lol. Anyway, this was an episode I felt went on just too quickly, but if it was extended, it would drag on. 

The Gang Green Gang reek havoc at a playground and when the girls show up, the gang's leader Ace throws drops to his knees and does a pathetic routine of guilt. Reluctant, Blossom (being the leader of the girls) agrees, but Buttercup begins developing a crush on Ace, after a tip of his shades, a soft thank you and a wink of charm, Buttercup believes she has just met Mr Right. 

Interestingly, Buttercup barely has any dialogue in this episode, heck she only has one or two lines top and tail (if giggling counts). This episode was not afraid to tackle the precocious crush issues, here we have a kindergartner falling for a teenager. It's amazing what the writers got away with in this show.

 Buttercup would sneak out every night to visit the gang, I don't know HOW she managed to avoid the Professor checking in on her or anything. 

This is one of the few Buttercup themed episodes that was actually good, if not the best one. Although I put it in the honorable mentions because...well...Buttercup's crush didn't last long, in a way it's a good thing otherwise her sisters would have been history, but makes you wonder how much love suddenly poured out of her own heart. 

Overall, it's a wonderful episode and deserved a mention. 

Cat Man Do - I was SO close to putting this one in the top 10, I saw this episode a lot on Cartoon Network when I was a kid, seriously, they repeated this one again and again yet it never bothered me. 

I guess I put it here because...well...the origin of the cat is unknown and who was his master? We never see or hear from him again (minus a brief cameo). 

While I haven't found of thought up any theories, that doesn't stop this episode from being a classic. I did feel like the heist scene with the Professor went on a bit too long for a ten minute short. Also, if I were to pick a moment that had me roaring with laughter (not just this episode, but the entire show) every single time, it would be the "We can keep Kitty" scene. The reactions of the girls are priceless and I love how they suddenly lighten up in seconds. Comedy like this in cartoons is rare now, especially with such speed. Also a bonus for the cat himself being voiced by Mark Hamill. 

Bought and Scold - Of all the Princess Morbucks themed episodes, this has to be one of the best. Here, she buys all of Townsville and makes crime legal, making the girls' and other citizens' lives miserable. This even leads to everybody's belongings becoming property of the Morbucks household and the villains get to do what they want. Most of all, the Mayor gave the key to the city to Princess, causing her to take over Townsville.

 That is until the girls think up a plan to get all they had stolen from them back in a rather hilarious twist. I also love when Morbucks finally snaps and eventually agrees to make crime illegal again, the girls just go off to do what they do best. Seriously, how can you not love the dialogue free scene with the Gangreen Gang, also Blossom's little smug expression when she shows Ace the legal and illegal papers is just brilliant. 

As satisfying as it is to see a happy ending again, I can't help but feel bad for Princess here, yeah she's rotten and spoiled but maybe she was raised like that. In fact, you never see or hear of her mother in this show and her father comes off as a bit abusive as seen here with the newspaper, obviously not giving his own daughter a chance to speak. That's why I left it out here. 

Super Zeroes - Kids will be kids! Whether they play make believe, go on adventures with their toys or are influenced by cartoons and comics. Which is pretty much what inspires the girls to create their own alter-egos here. Well, sort of. 

The girls are sad because they don't feel like "better" superheroes. They don't have an interesting backstory, nor are they dark and tormented, nor do they even have interesting costumes.  So they decide create their own alter egos complete with new costumes. 

Don't question where or how they got these outfits or maintained the little abilities, I guess that adds to the comedy. I love how when a monster does hit Townsville, the girls go their own way in their own fashion, very slowly and the results are hilarious! I love how Buttercup's alter-ego "Mange" only goes out at night, kind of a not to Batman. I love how Bubbles' alter-ego resembles My Melody and other Sanrio esque characters while Blossom's got a Wonderwoman vibe to it. I can't really give the episode away without spoiling the plot truthfully but I guess the moral is to be yourself and stick up for it. Which is exactly what the girls did at the end. Only a little spoiler. The moment that really makes this episode is the fact that the girls take so long to fight, you'll have to see it for yourself to get the laughs.

Mime for a Change- Season 1 of the Powerpuff Girls was terrific, there were so many memorable and great episodes and one that particularly comes to mind when you think "Craig McCracken" is this one. I used to watch this episode a lot back in the day and loved the concept of it. I'm not too keen on clowns but Rainbow is just the average friendly harmless kind of person who does his job. She he sounds pretty obnoxious and irritating but he doesn't have many speaking roles. His villain alter ego was pretty unique power-wise, but the question I'm pretty sure we're all asking is...was the bleach radioactive? Was there Chemical X in it? Guess we'll never know, but in a way, that's what adds to the charm. Either way, the bleach seeps out not only the color on Rainbow, but his cheerful personality too. His good kind heart and light sense of humor has gone sour and his love for bright colors has switched to black and white. 

Upon realizing what he can do, Rainbow or in this case, Mr Mime can now takeover Townsville by draining all the color right out of it. Not only that, but also affecting those cheerful moods of the citizens of Townsville, also they can hardly speak due to the power of mime. It's really clever. We also discover in this episode that Bubbles loves to draw and colour, especially with crayons like most little girls her age. Upon discovering the black and white atmosphere, she goes on a rampage scraping wax of colour with every crayon she has. Seriously, it's like her box of crayons never ends or run out! Ah cartoon logic. 

I have to admit, Tara Strong's performance for Bubbles here during her little panic is pure gold, just listen to those vocals! Keep in mind that she was only 25 at the time. Mega talent! 

Her sisters soon take action and look for the suspect. When they finally find Mr Mime, they make chase until they are at a dead end and are ambushed by him. Why couldn't the girls just fly away? Bubbles meanwhile, thinking she had proudly saved the day all by herself wonders where her sisters went and when she discovers them depressed, colorless and mute, she sobs but brightens up immediately remembering she had a crayon but to no avail, it doesn't work. Realizing that her crayons aren't magical, Bubbles thinks up the next best thing...of all 90s cliches in cartoons, she and her sisters save the day...with ROCK MUSIC! Yeah, it's cheesy and all but also a beautiful message. A message of love. Love Makes the World go round is one of the few times the girls ever actually did a musical number and oh my god was this one memorable? I wish there was an extended version of it and an official release, but I guess we'd have to make do with the hidden track on the Heroes and Villains CD. Just listen to that chorus. This is the song that Cavadini, Strong and Daily all used to warm up their performances and vocals whenever they were together in the studio.

I put this episode in the honorable mentions because of the ending, it was a bit hypocritical, one minute the girls are singing and putting a smile on everyone's faces, the next thing, they send Rainbow to jail when it wasn't his fault. Of course, he may have been forgiven later on. But who knows? Overall, this was a memorable episode. KEY MOMENT: Seeing the girls hug, it was adorable! 

Ice Sore - Blossom discovers that she has a power that her sisters don't have, causing her to show it off. I put it in the honorable mentions because it deserved it, I felt that Ms Keane making all her class go outside in the frying heat to be a bit irresponsible though. 

A Made Up Story - Phyliss Diller's performence as the villain was great and the comedy in this one a bit slow but did have some hilarious moments, plus that ending! It feels like what would happen if Stephen King’s Carrie was turned into a comedy. 

Tough Love - One of the first episodes I ever saw and caused me to fall in love with the show as so as I watched it. The concept is dark, creepy and yet unique. When I saw those girls get beat up, punched, kicked, beaten up (heck even by adults), I couldn't believe it. I knew this was the cartoon I waited for, all my life. 

Bubblevicious - While not a favorite of mine, I still had to put it here in the honorable mentions list, because, well Strong's performance as Bubbles was absolutely brilliant. Hearing her growl that epic drawn out "haaardcoore" was the cherry on top of Bubbles' character and we see a more stronger side to her. Fed up with being treated like a baby, she does things her way, something even Buttercup probably wouldn't do. My problem though was the way she treated the Talking Dog, threatening to hurt him, a bit hypocritical for Bubbles' taste since she loves animals. This episode was Craig McCracken's all time favourite and you can see why it was nominated for an emmy. 

Speed Demon - I gave this episode a mention for the creepy-factor and I mean real creepy. Sometimes I don't know if I'm watching a creepypasta or an episode of the Powerpuff Girls. The show is usually full of action, bit of drama but going as low as this is unusual, this was another dark episode. Everyone chanting "your fault" to the girls  is like the equivalent "They're all gonna laugh at you" from Carrie. Can you just imagine travelling so fast that you went fifty years into the future? The concept of this episode is both creepy, unsettling and disturbing. 

Knock It Off - Again, an episode that isn't often talked about. This double length episode is one of the darkest in my honest opinion. Dick Hardly is one of the nastiest, sadistic and cruelest one time villains I have ever seen. Cloning the girls with a full vile of Chemical X and shipping them all over the world just sounds like yet another creepy pasta. 

Also, have you seen how deformed these clones looked? Enough to disturb any audience. The scene where the Professor discovers the base and suddenly freaks out at all the hideous deformed clones is probably how anyone would react if this happened in real life. Also, seeing the girls die onscreen was heart wrenching, of course, if this show ended now, it would have been one sad finale.

 Did I forget to mention that Dick Hardly's monster form was just terrifying! Those tentacles on his chest just really seemed off.  On the funny side, I love how it’s like the writers were trying to push it on how many times the girls say “Dick”. Also, what was that nerd doing with his PPG doll? 

The Boys are Back in Town - The sequel to The Rowdyruff Boys, this half hour romp sees the girls meeting their match for the second time. The girls learn that the boys were brought back to life from HIM and had given them a cootie vaccination, so they are now strong against the girls. I left it off the top ten list because...well, again, the counterpart battle technique just got stale and I found that the boys personality resulted in some rather gross and painfully vulgar scenes. It's like they were trying to compete with Nickelodeon's 90s shows. 

Also just a side note and personal opinion: I do prefer the boys' hairdos here. Also the scene where the girls discover the weakness was hilarious. A bonus for Blossom’s cheeky little one liner. 

Beat Your Greens  - This was a classic episode. I remember watching it a lot as a kid. The moral is simple: eat your vegetables. 

This was the time when Craig McCracken was still at high stakes on the show and this was only it's second season. A time when morals weren't  always the key of the show. Also Buttercup's brief pep talk/speech to one of the kids was great and really motivating. Also I love the little Star Wars reference. 

Curses - I left this one out because this trope has been done before in other shows including Spongebob Squarepants and Arthur. But that doesn't stop the episode from being funny. The villain was hilarious, a literal talking potty-mouth who basically just talks gibberish as if he's swearing and every time the girls swore, it was bleeped out with various sound effects and the results are hilarious. I think the funniest moment was when the girls flipped out on the Mayor all over a pickle jar complete with swearwords and their mouths washed out with soap. Overall, this was a funny episode but sadly, when a trope has been done to death, is there really any high stakes for it to be in a top ten list? 

And the number one greatest Powerpuff Girls episode is...

1. The Powerpuff Girls Rule! I am counting this one as an episode! Argument invalid! WHERE do I begin? This was all drawn and animated on Flash and released as the 10th anniversary special and you know what? It's absolutely brilliant. Everything is thrown at you in seconds, the humor, the pacing, unpredictable moments, the voice actors returned again and are just as great and the best part? Craig McCracken came back to write this masterpiece!

Not only was this special a breath of fresh air for the fans, but it felt like a new revival for the Powerpuff Girls done right! Sadly, this was Craig's last involvement with the Powerpuff Girls...when you think about it though, it’s not the same without Craig McCracken as writer and director, so you can see why there are lots more funnies here compared to seasons five and six. 

Originally, this was planned to be an hour long but instead was reduced to a full length episode, which is why everyone suffers from motormouth syndrome throughout!

I love all the little callbacks to the classic episodes, including the villains and nearly every second had me laughing with tears streaming down my cheeks! THAT'S the true essence and formula of The Powerpuff Girls. Try watching this special with a straight face if you are a die hard fan of this show, seriously! It's impossible!

Ten years before, the reviews poured in calling this cartoon "gut-bustingly funny", well, this really shows! It's like the show had won back the brilliance when Craig came back and I really wish there was more!

The plot is so ridiculous yet hilarious and I quote the PPG wikia: The key to the world is sent to Townsville, and The Mayor has the responsibility of keeping watch of it. However, he misplaces it, and all the villains of Townsville break free from prison to search for the key, each one of them wanting to obtain it and rule the world, especially Mojo Jojo. The Powerpuff Girls must find the key and return it to The Mayor, before the villains get to it.

Everything about this episode is absolutely fantastic. I will forgive the little reference to a certain 2000s meme thrown in, although it wasn't really needed, but who can complain, right? It was bound to happen since every decade, cartoons tend to have that trend that will blend in with show's plots.

The moment all the motor-mouthed dialogue starts, it's impossible not to sit back with an enormous smile on your face. This was like a true love-letter to everyone who worked on the show, filled with crazy gags and some of the funniest build up on the show, complete with crazy references and everyone filling in on tickling the funny-bone.

The moment Blossom does her impression of Mojo Jojo (COMPLETE with camera angles, close ups and a shot of the entire planet earth) is hilarious! Her sass and smug attitude here just makes it!

I love how cartoony and slapstick this special was, although a little out of character, I don't care, I find it rather hilarious! There's surprise after surprise, after surprise! I've never seen The Powerpuff Girls go beyond the mark of full-on craziness!

I will admit, the motor-mouthing did feel a little forced and rushed but the plot still made up for it with all it's glory! I can't give anymore away without spoiling the entire cartoon so go watch this special when you can!  

The Powerpuff Girls Rule! is -in my opinion- the greatest episode of all time. Now ten years old, it makes us all wonder what is in store for the twentieth anniversary. With the reboot having mixed reception and the merchandise still selling, we can only dream on having another special just as fresh and funny as this one.

"Key" moment for me (okay, that pun was lame): The whole episode was filled to the brim with timeless and hilarious moments but if I were to pick one, it would have to be Mojo singing a Jimmy Hart version of Part of Your World. Honestly, the funniest thing ever done on the show, period! Kudos Craig McCracken! You can’t spell slaughter without laughter and this episode did just that almost! A new meaning for the term: gut-bustingly funny! 

And with that, ends my top 10 greatest PPG episode list! What are your favorite episodes of all time? Which ones make you laugh the most? I'd love to read and/or hear your opinions! :) With that being said, after twenty years, this show still holds up and I will always enjoy it again and again whenever I have a bad day. If you really want to see every classic episode again, then go buy the complete dvd set, it’s just been re-released as a twentieth anniversary box set!  Thanks for reading and thank you to @crackmccraigen for this masterpiece! 

[bbclesmis]

King Of The Castle: At Home With Dominic West

As the star of HBO's The Wire and The Affair, Dominic West made his name playing conflicted Americans battling their demons and struggling to find their places in the world. And cheating on their women. In real life, he's a self-deprecating father of four from outside Sheffield, and among his chief preoccupations is how to preserve the 800-year-old Irish castle inherited by his wife.

"Excuse me," says Dominic West, "I’m just going to wipe this so you can sit down and you won’t be infected with disease." About seven crumbs on his otherwise clean kitchen table disappear with the swipe of a tea towel, and he gets back to the business of making lunch. We’re in the kitchen of his house in Wiltshire, where he lives with his wife Catherine and their four children.

His head turns from cupboard to cupboard, like he’s watching a tennis match. “Where has the rice gone? Would you like rice?”

Yes please, if that’s what you’re having.

“I am, if I can fucking find it.”

He fucking finds it and a pan of rice goes on the hob next to the pan of leftover beef stew. “So I’m on the cover?” he says, looking out of the window. “But doesn’t that mean you’ve got to try and make it interesting?”

In 2000, Dominic West joined an Argentinian circus. This was the year before he auditioned for and won his breakthrough role of Detective Jimmy McNulty on The Wire and the year after he had a single line (“The boy’s here to see Padmé”) as a guard of one of those science-fiction sliding doors in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. He was 30, five years out of drama school and father to a one-year-old daughter.

The circus, De La Guarda, had a show, also called De La Guarda, at the Roundhouse in Camden. It was the hottest ticket in London that year. The audience entered the round to ambient music under a low paper ceiling. Performers would burst through the paper, on ropes, and eventually a pounding live soundtrack accompanied a dozen or more roped performers as they ran around the walls of the circular venue. Water rained down. Some audience members would be lifted into the air; others, perhaps more fortunate, would be pressed into urgent dancing with attractive, adrenalised Argentinians unclipped from their shackles. Or indeed, West himself.

‘What’s amazing,’ says Keira Knightley, ‘is that Dominic can play characters who should be total dickheads, yet he manages to give them a point of view and his own incredible charm. It is a great skill’

“Why did I do it?” says West, somewhat incredulously. “You saw it! Wouldn’t you want to run away and join that circus? It was such a sexy show. I saw it in London and New York, then heard they were auditioning in London and I had to do it. I did a lot of shows in five months with those amazing men and women, then they went to Vegas. It was a disaster there. The water. People dressed up for a Vegas show — of course they didn’t want to get wet.”

West didn’t want to go to Vegas. But he would end up spending a lot more time in America, filming five seasons of The Wire and four seasons of The Affair, with a fifth and final one due to start filming a couple of days after we make lunch.

“The toughest part of making these big episodic American television shows is missing my family and the boredom,” he says, gearing himself up for the process to begin again. “Sitting around waiting and not being bored is hard. There was a time when I had a play in the West End [Butley, 2011] and was learning Iago [for Othello] and I had more on than usual. That was hard work, but the harder that aspect of the work gets, the more enjoyable it is. Actual graft is what’s great about acting. That’s something I relish, because most of the time, it’s about coping with tedium.”

To stop himself being bored on set, West likes to have fun. “You can’t not have fun with him,” says Keira Knightley, soon to be seen alongside West in the film Colette. “I think fun is something that Dominic brings to everything. He very much likes a night out, is always up for a laugh and is, in the best way, wicked. And he is a phenomenally good actor, he really is. So effortless.”

“For a lot of us,” Knightley says, “who do actually need to concentrate when we’re working, it’s, ‘How are you that good when you're chatting and joking until the very last second?’ Even I had to tell him to shut up so I could concentrate. Which I had to do quite a lot.”

West is not about to shut up. And he’s not the only one. “I just did a thing with Olivia Colman [a BBC mini-series adaptation of Les Misérables] and: fuck me! Ha ha ha! The whole thing is like playing top-level sports with her. How frivolous can you be up to ‘Action!’ and then be amazing. She doesn’t do that consciously, she is just really fucking good. She is way, way, way better than me. I had to stop listening to her because she is so funny.”

Then a more serious thought occurs. “Malcolm Gladwell’s thing about 10,000 hours [the writer’s theory, from his book Outliers, that to be expert in any field requires that exact amount of practice time]? I worked it out and I’ve had at least 20,000 hours. I’ve acted so much now I can turn it on and off, and that’s maybe where the humour thing comes in. I have had an awful lot of practice at this.”

Dominic West first got the taste for drama when he was nine years old. His mother, Moya, gave him a part in her amateur production of The Winslow Boy, at Sheffield University’s drama studio. His father, George, had a factory in Wakefield that made vandal-proof bus shelters. George’s father, Harold, a managing director of a steelworks in Barnsley, fought in WWI and was wounded at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. “After, he wrote a note to go with his medals,” says West, “that said, ‘Here are a few mementos from a deeply happy part of my life’.” West has found documentaries commemorating the centenary of the Armistice “deeply moving.”

He is the sixth of seven children, with five sisters and an elder brother. They grew up in a large house on the edge of the Peak District, about 10 miles southwest of Sheffield. He boarded at Eton and hated it to begin with. “I was very homesick, had no reference to it, didn’t know anyone who had gone and I felt I was in the wrong place.” Inspiring teachers and school plays gave him something to be excited about and set him on his path.

“It’s pretentious to say, really, but my acting education was defined by doing Hamlet at Eton, reading Ulysses when I was doing my English degree at Trinity College in Dublin, then War and Peace, which we put on at Guildhall [School of Music & Drama in London]. That’s it, really. All I learned anywhere.”

Legend has it that in the audience watching his Prince of Denmark was Damian Lewis, a couple of years behind West at school, and later the star of Band of Brothers, Homeland and Billions. So taken was the younger lad by what he saw that he decided to become an actor.

“Categorically: no,” Lewis tells me, over the phone from Los Angeles. “I had always acted at school and always enjoyed it. Me thinking it was something I could do more seriously didn’t happen until I was 16 years old, after seeing Dom do Hamlet. He was very charismatic. A big, booming sonorous voice, especially for a 17-year-old. I was very taken with him, he was very captivating up on stage.”

Since graduating from Guildhall, West has worked solidly. He is not a huge movie star but is highly successful and versatile. There aren’t many men who could convincingly play both Fred West and Richard Burton, as West has done. He won a Bafta for his Fred West. He’s most memorable as Jimmy McNulty, not least because he and The Wire are so good, but also because constant reminders of those two facts have become standard reference points in the increasingly vast conversation about the New Golden Age of TV.

He has, in his own words, played “a long line of philandering cads”, from McNulty on to Hector Madden, the Fifties news anchor in two seasons of The Hour for the BBC, to Noah in The Affair and Willy in Colette. “What’s amazing,” says Keira Knightley, “is that he can play characters that should be total dickheads, yet he manages to give them a point of view and his own incredible charm, so you sort of forgive them for how terrible they might be. It is a great skill.”

But he is far from typecast. His five film roles previous to Willy in Colette are: Lara Croft’s dad, a sort of country-gent Indiana Jones, in Tomb Raider; a quietly pompous pyjamas-wearing modern artist in the Swedish film The Square, which won the Palme D’Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival; Rudder, a comic-relief Cockney sea lion in Pixar’s Finding Dory; a Teflon swine of a CEO opposite George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Money Monster; and, in Genius, Ernest Hemingway.

There have been stage successes, including star turns in the West End. Following up the blockbuster and critically lauded play Jerusalem, the writer Jez Butterworth and director Ian Rickson could have done any play with anyone on any stage. They chose Dominic West to star in The River, a short, intense play with one man and two women in the 90-seater upstairs room at the Royal Court Theatre in London, for which West won universal praise.

‘It is a bad thing to be self-deprecating. It’s quite an English thing, which you become very aware of in America. People don’t understand: why do yourself down? I sort of agree with it, now’

“Dominic is able to unleash his unconscious in a really ‘present’ way,” says Ian Rickson. “It allows him to fuse into the darkness of Fred West, for example, or the troubled soul of McNulty. In terms of archetypes, he has a trickster quality hiding a warrior/lover inside. That’s exciting. There’s very little ego and a lot of generosity of spirit. He actually has a refreshingly comic sense of himself, so he does really value the opportunities he has, and doesn’t take them too seriously.”

West feels he does and he doesn’t. “I suppose deep down there’s a feeling that what I do isn’t desperately serious. It might have been Mark Boxer, the cartoonist, who said he went to some lunch for cartoonists, an awards maybe, and he was having a piss and the guy next to him said, ‘Cartoonist. It’s not a real job, is it?’ And he said, ‘No, it’s not. Isn’t that great!’ He took great comfort from that and I feel the same about acting. But there is something in me which feels, partly because I have been doing it all my life and did as a hobby before I did it professionally, that this is not a serious job for adults.”

Perhaps this is why he’s so self-deprecating. Twice during our conversations, he says that he’s not a “real actor”, bringing up Daniel Day-Lewis’s commitment to doing an accent the entire time he makes a film, on and off set, and his own inability to match that; and pointing out Robert De Niro’s weight gain for Raging Bull. For Colette, West wore a fat suit.

And yet, during our conversations, he trots out seven perfect accents and imitations: Mick Jagger, the German film director Werner Herzog, Northern Irish, Irish, Australian, New York and a deep, thespian-type voice to convey mock indignance. He’s not showing off. Some of the voices were to make anecdotes funnier and others were just as anyone might do an accent subconsciously when you think of someone with an accent. You know, for fun.

But he can be serious. “It is a bad thing, to be self-deprecating,” he says, a little bit disappointed with himself. “Maybe it’s an educational thing. It’s quite an English thing, which you become very aware of in America. People just don’t understand why on earth you would do that. There are enough people who would do you down, why do yourself down? I sort of agree with it, now. It is tiresome.”

Clarke Peters, who played Lester Freamon in The Wire, and Othello to West’s Iago on stage in 2011, has a different view of his friend’s dilemma. “As good an actor as he is, his self- deprecating comments are his truth. He would prefer to be playing than talking about himself; exploring a character, discovering nuances, dissecting a character’s arc, is where he’s comfortable. Presenting all that unseen work is nerve-wracking. And actors are never the best judges of their own work. So, to be safe from criticism and microscopic scrutiny, self-deprecation is the best defence."

The fat suit in Colette was no cop-out. “I was then about to play Jean Valjean,” West says, more forgiving of himself now, “a man who has been in prison for 19 years, so there was a clash of waistline imperatives.” He plays the lead in a song-free, six-part Les Misérables — the project in which Olivia Colman out-joked him — the BBC’s first big drama of 2019, with the opening episode broadcast on New Year’s Day.

According to Keira Knightley, the extra padding, and a walrus moustache, did not mute West’s physical attractiveness. “Nobody looks good in that,” she says, “but he somehow manages to be dangerously sexy through it. It was a main conversation between the rest of us on set: how he managed to ooze sexuality while he was farting in two fat suits. Quite extraordinary. I can’t think of another actor who might be able to do that.”

Sarah Treem, the showrunner of The Affair, could not conceive of anyone else but West as her leading man, Noah Solloway. “He didn’t audition. I wrote it with him in mind,” she says. “I was a huge fan of The Wire and I just loved how complicated he could be — both likeable and unlikeable at the same time.”

The Affair begins with Noah, a married father of four, embarking on a fling with a waitress, Alison, played by Ruth Wilson, and then follows the fall-out for the two of them, their spouses and extended families. West, Wilson and the wider cast are terrific, as is the show’s central conceit of telling the story from the point-of-view of different characters, usually two in each hour-long episode.

“Dominic is so good at playing all different facets of Noah,” Treem continues. “His intelligence, his lust, his insecurity, the pain of his childhood, his love for his children. He lets Noah be a very complicated, sometimes deeply generous, sometimes horribly selfish, man.”

West concurs, with a caveat. “I have had difficulty wondering why someone who I can identify with — he’s my age and has a bunch of kids — would do the things he does. Sarah, a very brilliant woman younger than I am, looked at me with a raised eyebrow when I said, ‘Men my age just don’t do that. Why leave your wife and kids for a waitress and start another family?’ She told me the stories of several real people who had. Not that I want my characters to be sympathetic, but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and I have struggled with Noah in that regard.”

West has five children: a daughter, 20, with former girlfriend Polly Astor, and two sons and two daughters aged 12, 10, nine and five, with his wife, the landscape designer Catherine FitzGerald. It is Catherine’s beef stew we have been eating for lunch, their children’s clothes drying on the Aga behind us. On a smaller table in a nook in the corner of the kitchen, next to some half-completed maths homework, is a pile of dad’s hardbacks: The Flame by Leonard Cohen, William Dalrymple’s retelling of the Indian mutiny of 1857, The Last Mughal, and Changing Stages, Richard Eyre and Nicholas Wright’s history of 20th-century theatre.

Out in the driveway, a small child’s BMX has been discarded in front of mum’s Audi A3, in perfect position to be crunched into the gravel next time the car sets off. At lunch, West didn’t know where the rice was because he and his family have only lived in this house, a former brewery in a Wiltshire hamlet, for a few weeks. They used to live in Shepherd’s Bush, in a house that once belonged to another actor from Sheffield, Brian Glover.

“I have led my family out of London slightly against their will,” West admits, “and quite legitimately want my children to be around plants and animals more than they perhaps might be in London. My wife said I’m trying to create my childhood home here and I said, [now, the thespian accent] ‘No I’m not! Preposterous! What do you mean? It’s nothing like that!’”

His wife’s childhood home is Glin Castle in County Limerick, Ireland, a true country pile (15 ensuite bedrooms, 380 acres, secret bookcase doors) that, in various versions, has been in her family for nearly 800 years. (It’s the house you can see in the background of the photographs on these pages.) She and West want to hold on to it. To do so, the house needs to become a going concern as an events and private hire venue to cover its annual £130,000 running costs.

“I do like history and I do like old buildings,” West says. “I’m also conscious of my wife’s father and his and her legacies. He worked in conservation in Ireland, to try and preserve these old buildings, which were out of favour for many years. It’s up to us to try and keep that going, because when they’re bought by hotels and the like, they’re often destroyed.”

This Christmas and New Year, he says, “we have a super-A-list celebrity taking it. Who, I can’t possibly divulge. Actually, can you do us a big favour and put the website, please, at the end of the piece? ‘Glin dash castle dot com.’ It would make my life easier.”

It’s time to do the school pick-up. “We can keep talking in the car,” he says, and leads the way to a silver Chrysler Grand Voyager. “It has,” West says, buckling up, “the biggest capacity of any people carrier.”

Precisely something a turning-50-next-year dad-of-five should say. “I have no problem getting older,” he says. “For male actors of my age there is less emphasis, and I have already started to play the dad of the lover instead of the lover. The pressure is off. Some swami said that the key to happiness is ‘I don’t mind what happens.’ You mind less about things, let go of them. Turning 50 is great. My daughter is also turning 21, so we should have quite a party.”

He has regrets. “I suppose I wish I had played more Shakespearean roles.”

What about the old-man ones? “Only Lear is as good as the young ones.”

What about not being James Bond? “Fuck no! I’m delighted now that I didn’t get it.”

Auditioning for Bond, in 2005, West turned up in a T-shirt and tatty jeans. “I remember the director, Martin Campbell, saying, ‘Thank Christ you haven’t turned up in a tux like everybody else’. It was for Casino Royale. At the time, I really wanted to get it. I love Bond, and I was the right age for it. They asked me, ‘What do you think should happen with Bond?’ And I said something deeply uninspired like, ‘I think he should go back to being more like Sean Connery’. I thought then that it was the best job you can do. Now, I’m not so sure. You have a year-and-a-half of hell doing publicity.”

West pulls up opposite the school. “Wait here. Enjoy the smell. Kids’ banana skins,” he says, opening the driver’s door. Puzzled, I sniff the air. There is no unpleasant aroma. The interior of Dominic West’s car smells perfectly fine. But, of course, he claims otherwise. He’s a terrific actor and a thoroughly likeable chap, but that self-deprecation still needs some work.

Colette is in cinemas on 11 January; glin-castle.com (https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a25557268/dominic-west-interview/)

[starcchild]

(AAAH I’m so happy you enjoy what I’m writing fr! Ofc I’m okay with you quoting anything from what I write, all credit goes to you and the team of the MCU. I’m so honored you like what I write enough to incorporate it to your own writing!! Also Carter knowing Obadiah for the footsteps, I added it because it’s an actual trauma response, and Quentin making jokes in a serious situation is also a response to fear- if he ridicules Stane/treats him like a joke, he won’t show how afraid he is. Anyway here’s some more chaos because fiction is a lot better than irl and I think you ((and everyone else)) could use a good laugh! Also! Carter getting referred to as a girl/lady here is because 1. She’s 13 and maybe was not aware of her gender identity, and 2. She’s not present and therefore can’t correct the characters. It was important for me to clarify that. It’s context!)

((midge edit: added a readmore))

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“What do you think?” Happy inquired. James Rhodes looked at Quentin Beck. Then at Harold Hogan. Then at Beck. Then at Hogan. “Is this the…?” “Yeah.” Hogan nodded. “The loony,” Quentin said. “It’s okay. You can say it.” “I was going to say the friend of Carter,” Rhodes replied. “Why are you so defensive, boy?” “Um… because you two are scrutinizing me while I’m just trying to fix up Droney.” Quentin replied, petting the drone that was in front of him on top of the desk at the lab, all empty except for the three of them. “That’s an excellent point.” Rhodes mumbled, looking at Hogan. “Do you think he’s a good friend for Carter?” Happy said. “Be honest, James. I want to know what you think.” Quentin rolled his eyes before he slammed his forehead against the desk, causing the drone to release a small cloud of green smoke at the sudden movement. “I mean… is she happy around him?” Rhodey asked. “Yes, very. And I do think he’s a good friend to her, but I needed someone else’s opinion.” Happy insisted. “This isn’t happening,” Quentin whispered, his voice muffled. “Wake up, Quentin.” He hit his forehead against the desk. “Wake up, wake up, wake up…” “Okay, okay, easy, kid. Easy.” Rhodey gestured at him to stop. “Don’t do that, you’ll hurt your brain, and since you’re part of Stark Industries to begin with, I assume your brain is a gem.” Quentin let out a short, high-pitched laugh, as if he heard a joke that he found funny but not too funny. Yeah. A true gem, my brain. “But I mean,” Hogan lightly pulled at Rhodey’s shoulder. “What worries me is… would Carter be friends with him if she was… doing better?” “Aw, thanks, Hogan, love you too,” Quentin placed a hand over his heart and smiled fondly, as if he had just watched a really sweet scene in a movie. “Beck, I do think you’re an okay kid. But that doesn’t mean Carter would think the same if she wasn’t as fragile as she is right now,” Happy sighed. “We already talked about this.” “I’ll tell you both why she likes to hang out with me,” Quentin grumbled. “It’s because everyone else treats her like a celebrity, or like she’s completely worthless, or like she’s about to break under the weight of her grief. I’m the only one who treats her like a normal person.” “Okay, what?” Rhodey blinked. “Who treats her like she’s worthless?” Quentin bit his tongue so hard he felt a sting. Carter had told him that he couldn’t tell anyone about how horribly Obadiah treated her, and especially not Happy, Rhodey or Pepper. As if it wasn’t obvious that Stane had been crafted by the hands of Satan. He really wanted to tell them, but he had to respect what Carter wanted. “Beck,” Rhodey tried again. “Who treats her like she’s worthless?” “Uh, her classmates did, okay?! Her classmates did.” Quentin huffed. “She told me.” Rhodey sighed, and Happy shook his head. “Kids can be so cruel at such a young age…” the latter said. “Yes, they can,” Quentin knew it. “But I only try to make her laugh. I try to help her listen to music. I try to get her to jump and run and I try to tire her out because…” “… Because since Tony died, she can’t sleep.” Happy nodded softly, his expression sad and serious. “We know.” Rhodes looked down, and Hogan gave him a pat on the shoulder, knowing, sharing his pain. No one was suffering as much as Carter was, but they were all grieving. “You…” Rhodey mumbled. “I may be mistaken, and excuse me if I am, but you lost your father too, didn’t you, Beck? Or at least that’s what some people say.” “I don’t want to talk about this,” Quentin said sharply, his eyes slightly wide with panic. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Rhodey quickly added. “I am only trying to understand what motivated you to befriend her.” “Easy. I have no friends,” Beck replied, partly because it was true, but partly because he couldn’t tell them that he stood up for her when Obadiah was forcing her to give up the dog that day, at the cafeteria. “And she’s smart, which I like.” “Which you like?” Happy narrowed his eyes. “Do you like her, Beck?”

“Duh. Why would I be friends with someone I don’t like? That’s just weird. And stupid!” the boy replied. “No, I meant like…” Happy sighed. “He means that you’re at a very complicated age.” Rhodey said, trying to help Hogan out. “Exactly!” Happy nodded. “So it’s safe to assume that you have noticed girls,” Rhodey added. “That’s totally natural.” “And girls probably noticed you as well,” Hogan continued, his voice coaxing; maybe if he fed Quentin’s ego, he would be more open to speak. “You’re the stereotypical pretty boy, with your blue eyes…” “Exactly,” Rhodey nodded, understanding what Hogan was trying to do. “Ladies are probably all over you!” “And you are so smart, too!” Happy said. Quentin had been moving his head as if he was watching a tennis match, his eyes repeatedly shifting between Rhodey and Happy. “What the fuck are you two on?” he spoke. “Nothing, we’re just trying to talk to you about ladies!” Rhodey said with finger guns. “Like best pals do!” Quentin got up from his chair and ran towards the lab’s door. “Help! An adult is trying to relate to me!” he screamed. “Oh, God.” Happy rolled his eyes. “Two adults!” Quentin was already outside the lab. “Wait, wait!” Happy yelled. “This is for you!” He pulled another takeout cup from a bag nearby. Quentin slowly entered the lab again, an almost offended expression on his face as he approached them. “Are you trying to bribe me? Do you seriously think I’ll put up with this stupid conversation for coffee?” he said, pointing at himself. “Because if that’s the case, you are correct.” “Great,” Happy nodded as Quentin quickly snatched the cup from his hands and returned to his desk, sipping the coffee. “Back to our conversation about girls; what’s your type?” “O negative.” Happy facepalmed with both hands, dragging them down his face until his eyes only showed white, and Rhodey inhaled deeply through his mouth. “Like the band.” Quentin added. “Can we have one conversation where you don’t bring up a gothic rock band?” Happy said. “No, not really.” “You can see, right, boy?” Rhodey tried. “Yeah?” “And you see Carter.” “Yeah.” “Do you happen to think that Carter is a pretty girl?” Rhodey said slowly, making sure that Beck wouldn’t be able to misunderstand the question. “No, I think she is a kid and I am a slightly older kid who is only having this conversation because you two gave me coffee.” Quentin replied before taking another sip. “That’s a good answer,” Rhodey mumbled with a nod, looking at Happy. “I think we have nothing to worry about.” “Carter plays the piano,” Happy insisted, looking at the kid. “Do you play any sort of instrument?” “I play dead when I am asked too many stupid questions, so would you be so kind to bring me a pillow?” “Beck.” “Fine,” Quentin huffed. “The electric bass. Since I was twelve.” “Not bad.” Rhodey was impressed. “May I know now why I’m being interrogated?” Beck muttered, sipping his coffee. “It’s not because of you, kid, it’s because we care about Carter,” Rhodey explained. “And as you can tell, Hogan can be a little paranoid. He’s probably trying to make sure that you won’t drag her into any sort of demonic ritual.” “I’m not that paranoid, Rhodes!” Happy yelled before he looked at Beck. “But you won’t drag her into a demonic ritual, right?” “Don’t worry,” Quentin sighed, deadpan. “My Bar Mitzvah ceremony took place when I was thirteen.” “So you do believe in something, after all?” Happy inquired. “Fuck no,” Quentin chuckled. “Jewish atheism is a thing. I was only following the tradition of my mother’s side of the family. I believe in coffee. And science. And Carter. And then myself. In that order.” “That’s really sweet,” Rhodey smiled, visibly touched. Happy looked at him. Rhodey looked at Hogan. “What? It was sweet.” “Aren’t you too young to be so disillusioned, Beck?” Happy crossed his arms. Just wait until you learn about how Carter actually feels. “Dude, atheism basically tells you to bow to no gods, follow no rules and eat whatever you want.” Quentin shrugged. “I can’t see the issue.”

“I meant disillusioned with life, not only faith.” Happy specified. “I knew what you meant, I just wanted to talk about atheism. But no, I wouldn’t say I’m disillusioned, I just have no sense of hope, purpose or self-worth. But then again, it’s Monday, so.” Quentin said, before tinkering with his flying drone once more, as if Happy and Rhodey had never been there. The two adults exchanged a look. Happy reached inside the takeout bag where he had kept Quentin’s coffee, grabbing a chocolate muffin and biting into it. He picked up another one and offered it to Rhodey, who shook his head no, before leaning over the desk. “What’s wrong with your drone?” he asked. “Oh, nothing. I’m just trying to improve it,” Beck replied. “So I can use it with my voice and not only the remote. It’s not easy, but…” he sipped his coffee and scratched his head. “So you’re a perfectionist?” “Yup.” Quentin sighed, his eyes still focused on the drone as he worked on it. “My cousins use the term control freak to describe me, but I prefer perfectionist.” Rhodey offered a nostalgic smile. Tony had been a perfectionist, too. One would believe that his absence would become easier to tolerate as the days passed, but it was the opposite. “Is it true that you’re learning ASL for Carter?” Quentin paused before looking up at Rhodey. “I’m learning ASL with Carter,” he spoke. “I do think it’s an interesting thing to learn, yeah.” Rhodey turned to look at Happy. “I think Carter is safe, Hogan,” he said. “I am wanting to be best pals with him myself.” “Please, stop using words that you think people my age use,” Quentin sighed. “Please. I am begging you.” “Fine, fine.” Rhodey walked over to Happy. “He’s okay, but I really hope Carter will stay focused on her studies. I’m serious. If Carter gives up her future for a jawline I will sue her.” “What jawline?! I’m fifteen! I don’t even have a fully developed neck yet!” Quentin yelled from the desk, his tinkering becoming more aggressive, causing the drone to release tiny clouds of green smoke. “I will also sue her, I agree,” Happy nodded, chewing on his muffin. “By the way, James, do you know any sort of infallible method for winning at UNO?” “What?” Rhodey replied, baffled. “No… I don’t play UNO because I’m not a child.” “Told you. Who has fun with that?” Quentin said, somehow able to hear them and work on his drone at the same time, before taking another sip of the takeout coffee cup. “I need to find a way to win at UNO.” Happy insisted. “If you hate losing against me at UNO, we should play chess someday.” Quentin spoke. “I think I’m done here.” He added, standing up. “What?” Happy narrowed his eyes. “That was quick.” Rhodey mumbled. “Thanks for the coffee, but don’t interrogate me or my artificial child ever again. Droney? Follow.” Beck spoke in order to test the upgrade out. As soon as he said the words, the small drone proceeded to fly, following him as he left the lab, the drone leaving behind it a large, dense cloud of green smoke. “Whoa, what the f-” Rhodey mumbled, hiding behind Hogan. “Can we breathe that? Is it safe?” “I mean…” Quentin shrugged with a smirk. “It should be, yes.” “He’s joking,” Happy quickly added. “Carter has breathed in this green smoke before and nothing happened to her. You’re joking, right Beck?” The kid shrugged again before leaving, the drone stuttering in the air as it followed him. “Beck!”

——

((it is your writing, so I definitely wanted to double-check with you first!! <3 but thank you!! Once I can figure out the idea I have and write it, I’ll be sure to post it! :3c Also thank you for reminding me those are trauma responses - I forgot about that, so my apologies!

before I get into the fic (which I love and thank you for the laugh!!), you’re right with saying Carter wasn’t aware of her gender! In her main canon, she didn’t figure out she was genderqueer until she was 18, but she was definitely uncomfortable with being referred to as a girl/miss when she was younger - she just didn’t understand why. And, in the ikau, it’s… definitely trickier? because she’s repressed on many levels, including her gender and sexual orientation - she has a feeling of who she is, but she’s reluctant to acknowledge it to herself or anyone else (which means she wouldn’t be correcting anyone), and doesn’t fully understand that she’s genderqueer. So, for them to refer to her as a girl in this case, it makes complete sense, and it’s fine! I do appreciate the lil disclaimer, but don’t worry, you’re all good! <3

but poor Quentin omg - he just gets grilled by Rhodey and Happy in the most awkward way possible SDFGJHFGDSJH Carter’s not gonna be thrilled if/when she hears Happy was so worried/paranoid he dragged Rhodey into it xD I’m glad Rhodey’s chill with Quentin, though! But,,, still, poor Quentin fdgjfsdhj

also the whole bit between Happy and Rhodey trying to talk to Quentin “subtly” about whether or not he likes-likes Carter and not just likes her is hilarious xD It would’ve been so much easier for them to have been like, “so… do you have a crush on her?” instead of doing that, but that was definitely 10x funnier and far more fitting considering they don’t really know what to make of him fully SDFGJHGSFDJH - I will say, if Carter ever hears about that, she’ll be absolutely mortified SDFGHJDSFG

actually, she’d absolutely want to die now that I think about it sfgdjhsdf - I mean, she mainly got crushes on other girls as a kid, and didn’t realize she was interested in all genders until she was older, so that would definitely play a role in it lmao, but also because he’s her only friend and it’s just like,,, “really? because my friend is a boy we have to like each other that way?” SDFJHGDSFJ

poor kids xD