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thatsonemorbidcorvid · 7 months ago

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““The girls are unable to say anything because they are always being policed. You can’t ask questions, you won’t get the evidence on a silver platter. But when you are going around, you hear things and see things,” Singh explains, sitting in a nondescript office, piles of cardboard files all over the floor, documenting the thousands of girls they have rescued over the years, approximately 4,000 at last count.

“Most of the time the girls are locked up and they are only allowed out when a customer comes in. To ensure they are not interacting with the customers, the brothel keepers are always banging on the door and take away the mobiles of the customers.”

As a result of an 11-month long operation, conducted before the pandemic, Guria India were able to rescue 136 underage victims of traffickers, resulting in 61 brothels being shut down.”

In the narrow alleyways of Meerganj, the notorious red light district in the city of Allahbad, a man dressed in a brown kurta with a rucksack walks past the dilapidated brothels shouting ‘lipsticks for sale, good prices.’

He barely warrants a glance, one of dozens of street sellers who stroll down the alley daily, hawking their wares, a common sight in the hustle and bustle of cities in India.

Word has got around that he’s selling good quality products like Max Factor and other brands the brothel girls recognise from billboards featuring their favourite Bollywood actresses. He’s cheaper than the other sellers and lets them pay in instalments.

A group of young girls flock to him, picking up bright lipsticks and face powders, to make them look older than they are, or perhaps not, depending on the client’s preferences.

But this is no ordinary seller. He is from Guria India, an organisation which rescues and rehabilitates women and underage girls trapped in the sex trade.

He has been working undercover, disguised as a cosmetics seller, gathering evidence of victims of traffickers who have been forced into sex work, many of whom are underage and often thousands of miles away from home.

“You are working on a razor’s edge. There are no second chances. One wrong move and you could be killed. It’s not like a movie where you get a retake,” says Ajeet Singh, Director of Guria India.

The nature of trafficking is changing and so activists are having to find new and innovative means to take them on.

Singh said he came up with the idea of posing as a make-up seller after he found that the brothel owners were always one step ahead of him.

“It was always very difficult to rescue the girls because someone would leak the information and the brothel keepers would move the girls. The girls were not a priority for the system, so the police were not helpful. We had to be proactive in getting the evidence.”

Using rudimentary equipment he bought from Delhi, including spy cams concealed in a pen and button, he began scouring the streets of the red light district for almost a year.

“Make-up is something very enticing for girls. If you go to India, you’ll see street sellers in every city so I knew I would blend in,” he said.

“The girls are unable to say anything because they are always being policed. You can’t ask questions, you won’t get the evidence on a silver platter. But when you are going around, you hear things and see things,” Singh explains, sitting in a nondescript office, piles of cardboard files all over the floor, documenting the thousands of girls they have rescued over the years, approximately 4,000 at last count.

As a result of an 11-month long operation, conducted before the pandemic, Guria India were able to rescue 136 underage victims of traffickers, resulting in 61 brothels being shut down.

Social media ‘weapon of choice’ for traffickers

The sting, which was signed off by local people, used undercover filming to collect evidence against offenders. When enough had been gathered, ten members of the Guria India team joined police as they carried out dawn raids, using iron cutters to access properties where the victims were being held.

There are an estimated 1.2 million children under 18 working in brothels in India, many of whom have been victims of sex traffickers. Approximately 75 per cent of the cases Guria India dealt with involved under age victims ranging from just six months to 17.

The majority of these trafficked children are from lower castes and more than half of them are from families living below the poverty line.

While many of the girls sold to brothels are trafficked by relatives or family friends, in recent years, social media, with its low-risk and high rewards, has become the weapon of choice of traffickers, luring victims in with lucrative job offers or promises of marriage.

“The internet and exploitative romantic relationships are key factors for trafficking in recent times,” said children’s rights activist Bharti Ali.

“Often, the police don’t start their search in cases of adolescent girls immediately as they believe it to be a case of elopement. Many cases end up in girls being sold further by the boy/person they trusted or who promised them false marriage.

“When girls go missing, parents often try to search within their own community, her friends and relatives. This is when they lose critical time. When they suspect that she may have eloped, they may tend to not report at all to protect family honour … The girls too are unable to report as the traffickers keep a close watch on them.”

For victims of traffickers, their introduction into the world of prostitution is a brutal and violent one, in which they face beatings, gang rape and starvation. Some victims also reported having chilli powder placed on their genitalia and being subjected to electric shocks.

Among the girls they have rescued is Sarita, who was just 12-years-old when she was sold to a sex trafficker by her older brother and was transported 700 km away to work in a brothel.

“My mum was working in Mumbai and I lived with my sister. My brother was a drug addict. He told me he was taking me to see my mum but instead he sold me to a trafficker. I was locked in a room and beaten and raped by several men. I managed to find a phone and called my mum,” she said.

Sarita’s mother, along with the police and Guria India activists, were able to rescue her and relocate the family. However, the majority of victims are not so lucky. India remains a socially conservative society and victims of trafficking will often be ostracised by their families and community.

Rescuing victims of trafficking is only half the battle, while keeping them out of the hands of traffickers presents another challenge.

Rehabilitating victims back into a society which was already hostile to them in the first place is difficult and often the girls will end up falling back into the hands of traffickers.

In one case, 57 girls who were rescued by Guria were sent to a shelter home in Agra for rehabilitation, but were re-trafficked by the superintendent of the centre. Just this week, the superintendent was acquitted by the Supreme Court and Guria India is currently fighting the decision.

Despite the setbacks, Singh remains hopeful. “Although I don’t think we can eradicate child prostitution in my lifetime, I’m hopeful we can set the foundations to make the change,” he said.

And sometimes all it takes is a rucksack and a Max Factor lipstick.

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i-cant-sing · 8 months ago

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Oh man, there's just something about weddings- no matter what religion/country, that each have their certain features that is just oh so endearing and I'd just love to have it all😭

Okay, so take Hindu weddings. There's a lot of things to love, but my fav? The sindoor, because it's just so so intimate and like- some people say that if some of that red powder falls on your nose, it means that your husband loves you very much 😭😭😭😭 oh not to mention, I saw some guy touching his forehead with his brides to apply the sindoor and I just- 🫠

Then take Muslim weddings, and like yes, indo obviously love the whole "mehr" thing, but it's always so adorable to see what the bride asks for her mehr (which is often money, but not always. Some brides ask for a kitten, a trip, or even a verse from Quran)🩷🩷🩷 and also the first halal hug- oh its just so heartwarming to see the way the groom embraces his bride in his arms with the utmost carr, maybe a peck on the forehead if they're into PDA.

And then there's catholic weddings, where they do the vows- "in sickness and in health" omg😭 and and the bride wearing something "blue, borrowed" etc that's cute too- BUT ALSO THE "ANYONE HAS ANY OBJECTIONS?" omg I would die if some (handsome and wanted) guy did actually object to my matrimony.

But apart from religious weddings, I also love everyone's traditions- I saw a video of Hunza people in Pakistan, where the couple make rotis (bread) together to signify the bond of their relationship- teamwork.

I know some of u guys would LOVE this- in Roma weddings, the guy kidnaps the girl of his liking (as far as I know, the guy already has the blessings and permission from the girl's parents) and then after negotiations, a wedding happens.

*gasps* I JUST REMEMBERED when I was little I used to watch Indian soap dramas and I was so jealous when I found out that not everyone does that ceremony where there's a bowl of milk with rose petals in it, and they drop a ring in it for the bride and groom to find and whoever finds it first, will mean that that person will be more dominant in the relationship- and EVERY SINGKE TIME THE GUY WOULD FIND THE RING FIRST BUT DISCREETLY PASS IT TO HIS WIFE SO THAT SHE COULD BE THE WINNER ONGGGGG

And then the Arab countries just practically frowning the bride in gold and money... I like that very much.

Wait omg I remember that Pakistanis have these GRAND welcome for the new bride in their home. I mean, first the groom brings her home in a fancy car or something, then the entire house is lit up with fairy lights and then they do FIREWORKS 😭😭

And in Indian, Pakistani, Bengali weddings, there's the henna tattoo ceremonies, and I love that so much, maybe because I grew up watching bollywood and desi shows, so I'm just gonna say they have amazing weddings.

*sniffle* I get it- I get why women dream of their weddings all their life.

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thistransient · 6 months ago

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Stage 3: the pilot announced it was 43°C (109.4F) in Delhi as we landed.

There was barely an immigration queue for foreigners with e-visas, the agent who stamped me in was bizarrely attractive (not that immigration agents can't be hot, it's just not usually their defining feature, especially when middle-aged). I loitered a bit in the arrivals hall and took out some cash before enacting my plan to take the airport metro down one stop and walk to my hotel. I fended off the lone cabby who complimented my hairstyle and made an unsuccessful go at convincing me my hotel wasn't near the metro. I managed the metro security and ticket-buying largely because I'd watched an 'intro to Hindi' video in which the teacher warned that he who attempts to queue nicely in India will be waiting for an eternity. I loitered in the metro station when it became clear that finding the hotel was NOT as easy as google maps might have indicated (on account of an intervening construction site). I made a confused loop back to the entrance before my GPS finally deigned to cooperate, but a tuk tuk driver had already smelled tourist blood in the water and started following me. I told him I was walking "to see the world" and "have an experience". Either baffled or convinced I was insane, he gave up.

My hotel had been around the corner all along, I got a bit misgendered while checking in, and felt out of place in a 5 star establishment with my backpack and dusty sneakers, but they did confirm my reservation, take my money, and give me a room key. I had added on all meals, to save myself having to go looking for sustenance in a new land after a long flight and this is where the real delight began: dinner was a buffet, and perhaps I was making a fool of myself (sometimes there's no getting around this stage) because the waiters came to help me, but eventually I had eaten so many amazing starters, curries, naan, and desserts that I thought they would have to roll me back to my room. I had warned myself not to set my expectations with Bollywood movies but the dining room singer did perform Ikk Kudi from Udta Punjab...

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Tomorrow it's back to the airport, but today's been alright.

#on the plane i had to evict a child who'd already set up camp in my seat and seemed indignant at being misplaced #sorry but if you wanted the window seat so badly you could have reserved it as i in fact did #ok maybe not HER cause she was like 6 but her parents at least #i still ended up sitting next to her brother who i thought was perhaps elbowing me repeatedly in retaliation #til it became clear he had a motor control condition #otherwise i just put in the earplugs ignored the screaming children and seat jostling watched the clouds had a lil nap

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murcielagatito · 1 year ago

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do you miss cable but cant afford it? is pirating too daunting? are you tired of paying for a subscription that shows you 2min+ ads anyways?

get tubi its free! the commercials are relatively short and they give you a heads up when theyre coming up! not only that but they place ad breaks at the most ideal times!

they have a VAST and excellent selection of movies and shows and also have live television channels you can tune in on and just watch without having to worry about what to pick (im literally watching a how its made channel they have right now)

they feature many categories such as “highly rated on rotten tomatoes” “art house films” “películas en español” “audio description” “black cinema” “killer thrillers” “pride month” “sword and sorcery” and more! and a LOT of international stuff ie: kdramas, bollywood, british tv, etc (200+ in each category!!!)

theres no sign up required and the only reason to sign up would be to save progress or shows to your list! so if you wanted to try it out or if youre sick n tired of making new accounts and always forgetting ur password it’s honestly pretty ideal!

try tubi out its free! they dont have everything but they have something for everyone!

>>>link for easy access<<<

ps: tubi also has an app you can download on most if not all devices! yes your tv too!

#not getting payed to do this but i wish i was!#tubi #television

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strangestcase · 1 year ago

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My ideas for a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen theatrical musical which will never come to reality:

-based off the movie (if loosely) because the comics would be a pain to adapt

-also the songs would really help hiding the writing issues

-Mina’s actress wears a secret contraption that stretches into bat wings on command, and special makeup that highlights her features under certain types of light- thus allowing her to go Dracula mode onstage. She also gets costumes she can take off in one piece so that as her character develops she gradually ditches a more traditional Victorian getup for a modern, goth outfit.

-the Invisible Man is played by an actor in a bodysuit wearing a removable mask and moving puppet arms around (which represent face makeup and gloves respectively). To become invisible he simply drops them and moves around the stage, as other actors pretend they can’t see him.

-Hyde is a large stage puppet maneuvered by various actors, with Jekyll’s actor moving his face and providing his voice. The transformations consist of Jekyll simply entering or leaving his place in the puppet, the other puppeteers building it up around him or removing key pieces. And the mirror scenes are done with projections and pre-recorded audio.

-Lots of Puppets just. So Many Many Puppets. For the Nautilus for the Phantom’s men for Dante for all that sea life etc

As for the music:

-cheesy intro number on the line of “deviation from the norm will be punished unless its exploitable”

-We need at least one (1) sad song about Mina’s tragic backstory, or rather how she feels about it. Not very good this is.

-she also is given the role of protagonist back

-Jekyll is going to be framed as her love interest through and through btw. Same as Dorian. Tom already has his getting adopted by Allan arc. Literally a YA love triangle but they’re all goth middle aged queens.

-listen this is my idea so I make the rules

-EPIC NEMO THEME -the hunt for Hyde becomes a short but catchy dance sequence.

-The Nautilus is introduced with a HUGE high level song worthy of a Bollywood musical with the aforementioned sea life puppets. Please ignore how incredibly dark the lyrics are.

-YES I KNOW THOSE MOMENTS ARE LITERALLY BACK TO BACK IN THE MOVIE. I’LL FIND A WAY TO SPACE THEM OUT.

-Mina and Dorian MUST have a duet that makes it into Lovers To Enemies To Lovers To Enemies playlists I SWEAR TO GOD.

-Confrontation 2

-Jekyll and Hyde literally have Confrontation 2

-Captain Nemo is going to get a solo song about his past and his motivations and here he should figure out M first, like in the comics (Allan has more of a mentor role / common thread between the other characters)

-Dorian Gray villain song complete with a little dance! A jaunty little gothic vaudeville song that uses his motif (which will sound whenever he’s onstage)

-Moriarty doesn’t dance because he thinks he’s above dancing but he does sing. He also has a villain song but it’s way more serious than Dorian’s

-Allan doesn’t sing a single line until the last song (as he’s dying)

the musical ends with Mina becoming the new leader of the League and getting her final costume change which will include a question mark motif as a nod to the original comics

And then intro number reprise but with a more tongue in cheek cynical tint and a final hopeful note. I need people to come out of the theater as full blown anarchists.

#the league of extraordinary gentlemen #lxg #loeg

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swoopswrites · 11 months ago

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shoulder to shoulder hc's

Remus

is a really good cook from looking after Gracie but refuses to look after himself properly so only ever makes pesto pasta or noodles at uni, but when he's home and in a good mood he whips up the turkish dishes of his childhood for his sister

had a lightning bolt shaved into his short back and sides as a kid because he thought it'd make him faster on the field

originally played nine because he was a mouthy motherfucker at age twelve but when he hit puberty he grew too tall and his coach moved him to fifteen, but he ended up loving it

is actually still on good terms with his secondary school girlfriend, who sometimes takes Gracie on day trips with her and her little sister

he still has all his old jerseys in a box under his bed, saving them for if he ever has kids.

was filmed shirtless for a promotional video for his first world cup and overnight became a figurehead for body positivity and had instagram accounts dedicated to his abs. Sirius finds the latter hilarious and encourages to post thirst traps to his own professional account to give them new content. Remus begins working with charities on campaigns that help children feel comfortable with their visible differences, publicly talking about his scars in a way he thought he never would.

used to tell people Gracie was his daughter when he was eighteen for a laugh and to see the horror on their faces.

moves into a flat in Bristol with Sirius after graduating; equal distance from Remus' training and James' parents house. Gracie moves in with them after four years, after another accident forces Lyall into rehab.

Sirius

joined rugby in year seven because his first proper friend James said it was really cool and he knew it'd piss off his mum

got his tattoo's with a fake ID at seventeen the week after he moved in with the Potter's because he couldn't think of a better way to retake ownership of his body

a prolific vinted seller, makes bank by upcycling the cast-offs of his friends and re-selling them. in his final year, it gets featured in Teen Vogue and the exposure gets him fashion internships for post graduation.

(follow on) can sew. Effie taught him on the long nights he couldn't sleep post-running away, and so many of his clothes he's made himself

aside from his one night stand in first year, Remus is the first person Sirius has done bits at uni with because he was always too scared Peter would find out

swore himself off rugby boys and was so rude to Remus at first because he couldn't bear to admit his attraction

ends up working with NGO's to help queer youth, pioneering for the inclusion of queer kids in sport, helped by Remus' professional connections

Lily

had a weeny crush on remus when she first met him, and spent the first two weeks of uni gushing to her school friends about 'the cute welsh guy in my lectures' until she realised he really needed a friend, and she did her best to be that for him

likes her sleepovers with remus bc as a kid her and petunia used to share a bed but petunia stopped when they were fifteen and Lily always sleeps better next to someone else

used to hate being Ginger but her year 10 crush once told her it made her 'unique' and now she loves her hair

always wearing black winged eyeliner, even just to make a tesco run

has a tiny butterfly tattoo on her ankle that she got matching with her sister before her sister went to uni, back when they were on better terms. she hates it now, and tries to always wear socks

lowkey such a daddy's girl. watches the rugby with him and they have matching Ulster jersey's and scarves

James

had initially wanted to be a cricketer like his dad but his primary school had had a rugby club, and it was love at first training session

was genuinely shocked to be voted captain, doesn't realise how widely loved he is

obsessed with pickled onion monster munch

favourite song is unironically the rockerfeller skank by fatboy slim

his mum insisted he also take bollywood dancing lessons as a kid because she was scared private boarding school would make him lose his connection to his culture

was the main love interest in his year eleven school play after auditioning for a joke with Sirius and now has a genuine love of theatre and can still rattle off his lines

went to primary school with Peter and didn't know how to say no to him when he asked to join their second year house

gets invited to join the England team at the end of his final year of uni, and is genuinely more excited at the prospect of playing against Remus than he is to play for nationally.

he and Remus become known as a 'dynamic duo' amongst rugby fans, and create a fake twitter rivalry as a laugh, before staging a huge 'reconciliation' in the form of running their own summer training camps for underprivileged and disabled children. Gracie is the first to sign up.

#shoulder to shoulder #ao3 fanfic #remus x sirius #remus lupin #sirius black #wolfstar #lily evans #james potter #jily #marauders #marauders fic

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playermagic23 · 7 months ago

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Heeramandi: Aditi Rao Hydari fights for freedom as Bibbojaan in new video; replaces ghungroo with a revolver.

Set in the opulent yet tumultuous setting of Heeramandi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming series, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, promises a story of intrigue, desire, and rebellion. At its core lies Bibbojaan, portrayed by Aditi Rao Hydari. Through a new video where she is removing her gunghroo and replacing it with a revolver, the character's complexity is hinted at—a delicate balance between allure and defiance.

#Heeramandi

#Aditi Rao Hydari

Bibbojaan, a courtesan in Mallikajaan's esteemed house, embodies the dichotomy of her world. She is both a symbol of beauty and a harbinger of revolution, wielding her looks as both a seductive tool and a weapon for freedom.

Set in the backdrop of pre-independent India and as revolutionaries clamour for freedom from British rule, Heeramandi becomes a microcosm of the larger struggle. As the trailer teases, the battle for supremacy within Heeramandi escalates, pitting Mallikajaan against Fareedan in a clash of wills. Yet, amidst the turmoil, there lies a yearning for freedom—for both the nation and the individuals trapped within the gilded cages of Heeramandi.

Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar promises to be a captivating exploration of power, desire, and the eternal quest for liberation. The series will premiere on Netflix on May 1.

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bolllywoodhungama · 1 year ago

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Shilpa Shetty credits her first co-star Shah Rukh Khan for teaching her how to face the camera: "I learned how to face the camera from him."

During the filming of Baazigar, she recalled how her first co-star, Shah Rukh Khan, assisted her in learning acting and even Hindi. Sukhee, starring Shilpa Shetty, will be released on September 22, 2023. The actress has started promoting the film. During the promotional cycle, she reminisced how her first co-star, Shah Rukh Khan, helped her learn acting and even Hindi during the filming of Baazigar.

Shilpa Shetty remarked in an interview with Siddharth Kannan, "Bahut sukhee moments the because I was a newcomer unhone bahut patience ke sath mere sath kaam kiya." Acting in Hindi is not for everyone. Toh maine jo bhi seekha us procedure mai Shah Rukh se bahut kuch seekhne ko mila mujhe kyunki, Camera ko face kaise karna, jis patience ke sath unhone mujhe scenarios mai help kiya woh bahut hi sukhee moments rahe hai mere liye [There were so many joyful times because I was a beginner and he worked with me patiently because I didn't know how to speak Hindi or act. So whatever I gained in that process, Shah Rukh taught me a lot since he was a stage performer. How to stand in front of the camera and the patience with which he assisted me in the situations were both very happy times for me]."

Meanwhile, Sonal Joshi makes her directorial debut with Sukhee, which is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra, and Shikhaa Sharma. Radhika Anand wrote the script, and Paulomi Dutta wrote the screenplay.

#Baazigar #Down The Memory Lane #Features #Flashback #Shah Rukh Khan #Shilpa Shetty #Shilpa Shetty Kundra #SRK #Sukhee #Throwback #bollywood latest news #bollywood hungama #bollywood news

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sszeemedia · 3 months ago

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BFI distribution to release Cannes Grand Prix winner “All We Imagine as Light” in UK & Irish cinemas

BFI Distribution has announced the UK and Irish cinema release of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner, “All We Imagine as Light”, on 29 November 2024. The acclaimed film, directed by Payal Kapadia, will also be available on BFI Blu-ray and BFI Player in early 2025. “All We Imagine as Light” features Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, and Chhaya Kadam in leading roles and is notable for…

#All We Imagine as Light #BFI #Bollywood #Cannes Grand Prix #Featured #Irish #Movie News #News Entertainment #News Of The World

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 1 year ago

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tuesday again 9/5/2023

moving closer to your best friend means hanging out in big groups a lot of the time. while this is theoretically good for mental health or whatever, in practice i overextended myself this weekend and am going to wake up tomorrow with the mental equivalent of a sore lower back

listening (2x bonus)

very fond of måneskin's new single HONEY (ARE U COMING?). sonically different from their other stuff, lyrics and tone-wise another incredible sad banger! spotify

youtube

my sister viewed the film Party Girl (1995, dir. von Scherler Mayer) last week at a party in philly and sent me this song featured in the film with no further explanation. Double Cross by First Choice (a Larry Levan remix) has what i want to call bollywood strings, a flute, and the funkiest bassline backing up some really classic disco vocals. First Choice were a group out of philly, which no one at the party knew at the time, and this blog calls this specific remix "dancefloor soul" which is probably as good a descriptor as any. i have had it on loop for a solid week. lyrics include

Love stealing, double dealing, two-timing lowdown son of a gun

which is just so much fucking fun to sing in the car. spotify

youtube

reading (2x bonus here also)

i read the mandalorian comics in between volumes of berserk, which feels a bit like saying i took a break from watching the evil dead franchise to watch some cocomelon.

the mandalorian comics are a remarkably uninspired nearly shot by shot breakdown of the episodes. not in the way most film/tv comics are, where they’re very clearly traced screencaps, but screenshots redrawn. this would be interesting if the artist was not contractually obliged to the very flat marvel comics style. i am constantly reminded of how the mandalorian is simply…not very good. it’s entertaining as a spectacle of television to watch, but there are not a lot of fun ideas in there. something that made me fucking scream with laughter are these panels of baby yoda

pápá, your son is So high

back to the other series with a dark haired, roaming, grouchy, reserved man on a mission. unfortunately i don't have a lot of berserk thoughts just yet, i am waiting on vol 4 to come off my library holds and my brain is still digesting it. anyway i think not wanting random "friendly" embraces from strangers is a very reasonable thing for guts to dislike and i truly do not understand why ppl in-universe get so fucking offended. unfortunately reading these late at night did lead to an unpleasant sleep experience.

bitches love a fucked up interior space that can't ever actually exist (it's me i'm bitches)

not to be all therapeutic but im trying to be Curious About and Gently Interrogate why i get a real bee in my bonnet once a year to read some horror comics/manga when i am big squeamish baby about film depictions of those things. i think mostly bc comics gore is so much more stylized than some of the very effective practical and cgi effects? and crucially nothing is actually like writhing around on screen it’s a still image? does anyone else’s brain have a much easier time handling still images over moving images of gore? much to consider

as with many other things, me reading berserk is indirectly @dying-suffering-french-stalkers ' fault

watching

i have viewed the first four episodes of Fire Force, the urban fantasy mercenary firefighter anime and do not think i will be continuing. while i have a great many questions about the worldbuilding (gravitational anomalies?? genetic predisposition to spontaneous human combustion?? solar god nuns??) it has a dead mom plot, which i am allergic to. this is also a 7.5-8 on the Ass part of the Weeb Ass Shit scale, and has a lot more casual assault than i try to encounter in anime. it's by the soul eater guy, remember the level of Stuff going on in soul eater? a little bit more ramped up groping and stuff that makes me say out loud "wow i don't like this" than soul eater.

the animation re: aforementioned fire is really top notch tho. visually complex and interesting television program.

youtube

how i found this: me and my best friend and my best friend's husband morosely poking around the anime section on hulu, looking for something to fill the spy x family void. this ain't it tho

playing

i have no fun genshin tidbits to share bc i am grinding talent mats while catching up with the podcast episodes of the road to partizan and i don’t have much to say about the not-fun parts of gachas. why am i playing something if it’s not inherently fun? great fucking question

making (3rd 2x bonus)

very uninspired (derivative, even) abbreviated sofrito thing over rice. with heavy application of Worcestershire sauce it was fine. no pics

also i finally bought a couch bc salvation army had 50% off everything for Labor Day. this is a question of ethics vs money i have decided for myself, and encourage you, the reader, to go off and quietly make your own philosophical choices without explaining them to me in detail.

it will be arriving on friday bc that is when the strapping young men who own trucks are available. my front door is a very non standard size and i have a very awkward front stair, so i needed something that could fit under the overhang while standing on its end. this one was the best size and (fortunately) the cheapest at $150. it is some sort of extremely flammable early polyester and 100% has a grandma’s soul trapped within its fibers. i will probably buy a cover at some later date to deter miss macaron but in the meantime we will do the strips of brown painters tape, which does successfully deter her. this really really does not want to be steamed so i will also be procuring some chemicals.

here are some other couches i could have bought but didn’t.

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

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alex-the-nonsensologist · 1 year ago

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Disney Dreamland - Part 5: Create-It-Land

Quite possibly the most visually eclectic of all the lands. This land embodies creativity and the arts, and quite frankly there is no one way to be creative or artistic, so I think the motley visuals are perfectly on theme. That said, I decided to tie the land together by having giant objects themed to each area. For this reason, I specifically wanted Wonderland and 100 Acre Wood next to the border of Fantasyland/Create-It-Land, so that the giant plants and cards of Wonderland and the giant book facade of Pooh would help transition to the giant toys of Toy Box Land and/or the giant art supplies of Toontown. The parade route exits down here.

Showtime Boulevard

The entrance street of the land from the hub. Dedicated to the performing arts. Would resemble a city street, like a small town version of Broadway, but then transition to include giant objects. Giant instruments of the music playground. Giant sheet music. The ballet house could look like a giant music box. Even the normal buildings could have giant props on them, like giant comedy and tragedy masks, or giant film reels and clapperboards. There would also be a decent amount of performers to bring energy to the area, so that it doesn’t feel like a regular city street. Living statues and street musicians.

Journey Into Imagination: If EPCOT isn’t going to put back Dreamfinder, I’ll gladly take him. Heck, I’ll even settle for a pseudo-sequel with an older Figment now taking on the role of Dreamfinder in honor of his friend. Sets and scenery from the original incarnation are mandatory. There could be a path leading off the boulevard to an area between Create-It-Land and Discoveryland where this ride could be placed, since it does reflect the spirit of both lands.

Fantasia Music Hall: In the spirit of Walt’s original idea for Fantasia, certain classic segments would be permanent fixtures of the show (such as Sorcerer’s Apprentice) and performed by Animatronics on instruments and as dancers in the same vein as the former Mickey Mouse Revue show, while other segments could be animations shown on screen and switched out throughout the year (such as the segments originally planned for Fantasia 2006 that were later released individually). I would love it if the Animation Studio could create new unique animated segments exclusive to the attraction. Permanent animatronic segments would include characters from Pastoral Symphony, Rhapsody in Blue, Dance of the Hours, Night on Bald Mountain (though I could also work with it being a seasonal segment during Halloween), and The Firebird. Playing the full versions of every song would take too long, so the show would feature abridged versions in a medley.

“Music Playground”: Interactive playground of giant musical instruments. Think of the piano scene from Big, but on a grader scale. Piano slides, trampoline drums, xylophone bridges, brass instruments the size of trees. I’ll admit, I don’t know if the audio results of this attraction would be wacky fun or pure tortuous chaos. I was originally imaging this as an outdoor attraction, but it might be better if this were indoors with each type of instrument given its own room with soundproofing.

“Russian Animal Ballet House”: I just wanted an excuse to see animals in fancy costumes performing ballet. Could be costumed actors or animatronics. Nutcracker performances during Christmas are mandatory. Building would resemble a giant music box. Alternatively, the stage could also be used for any original cultural performances from countries not already featured elsewhere in the park (Greek dramas, Bollywood dances, etc.).

Muppet Comedy Theatre: Would have the same mixed media techniques as Muppet*Vision 3D (a screen movie, actual puppeteering, and costume characters), but features a new original story. Could also feature a small meet-and-greet area with Kermit and friends.

Hollywood restaurant: American cuisine. Themed to the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.

Toontown

I want this area to have the same energy as Seuss Landing from Universal’s Islands of Adventure, which I personally feel makes for a better Toontown than Disney’s actual Toontown. The buildings would be slightly more distorted and more stylized. I’m wondering if it would also be possible to put some buildings on a moving platform so that they could tilt back and forth for a squash and stretch illusion. Maybe even have a few with giant faces that can emote. This area prominently features giant art supplies that are implied to have brought the land into existence, including giant paintbrushes that are poised in the middle of putting “finishing touches” to the buildings. The entire area would have lots of kinetic sculptures (think of the new Super Nintendo World at Universal) to make the land feel alive. Interactive gags like the Post Office and the Fireworks Factory would of course be included. I would remove the residential area and have the area only themed around Maroon Cartoons Studio, and the downtown area. Characters that don’t fit in any other area of the park could walk around here.

“Mickey Mouse presents…”: Guests would take on the role of camera crew with Mickey as director. The star of the movie is late and we follow Mickey as he accidentally crashes various movie sets looking for the missing actor, who turns out to be none other than Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The various movie sets would portray different genres of cinema. Based on the Mickey short cartoon Roll ‘Em (which, by the way, would have been a more appropriate replacement for the Great Movie Ride than Runaway Railway). While I intended for this to be part of Toontown, I am also okay with this being the last building on Showtime Boulevard to help transition into Toontown.

Backstage Meet-and-Greet: Again, I personally do not care much for meet and greets (With the exception of Goofy. Goofy is the best.), but for the people that do, here you can meet Mickey and Friends including Oswald, Roger and Jessica.

Maroon Cartoons Studio Tour: Based on Roger Rabbit Cartoon Spin but using the art style of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (but with actual sets, not screen projections), as well as an interactive element (partially inspired by Monsters Inc Ride & Go Seek in Tokyo). Guests would interact with the sets by “spraying” paint or thinner from the paintbrushes attached to their vehicles. Based on the video game mechanic from Epic Mickey, where paint brings objects into existence, and thinner erases them. For example, a guest could “paint” an anvil that would drop onto Roger’s head. Even spraying the animatronic characters would elicit funny dialogue, “Hey! Watch where you’re spraying! I just got a new paint job yesterday!” While the sets would be physical, the paint and thinner effects could be projections. The trickiest part is projecting a physical object to look like it’s been erased, and since it would set off chain reactions, the projections would have to hide certain objects’ movements. It would be very difficult, but I insist that this ride does not follow the Toy Story Mania route (I’m looking at you, Web Slingers). Please consult actual engineers.

Art of Animation Academy: History of animation exhibit, with animation from all over the world. Japanese anime, Soviet animation, stop-motion, etc. With acknowledgements that Quirino Cristiani and Lotte Reiniger’s films actually pre-date Snow White as the world’s first animated features. Drawing workshops included.

Happy-Go-Lucky Merry-Go-Round: In the same wacky spirit as the Caro-Seuss-el in Seuss Landing. Like the Caro-Seuss-el, the music could speed up and slow down when it operates. Rather than just having wacky versions of real animals, this carousel would have hybrid animals, like the Wuzzles! Also, what if the carousel could run backwards?

Jolly Trolley: The vehicles would run on an elevated track to solve the problem of crowds blocking the way. The track could wind around Toontown, the same way as The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! does in Seuss Landing. Originally I was only going to have it stay in Toontown, but then I realized the wind-up key on the roof could make it pass for a toy, so why not have it travel through Toy Box Land too, for an even more scenic route.

Goofy’s Bakery Studio: Decorate your own cupcakes and cookies with edible paint.

The Art of Disney: Disney prints, paintings, figurines, and other art. Get your caricature drawn here.

Minnie Mouse Fashions: Disney apparel and headgear. Design and customize your own ears.

Handwich cart: I dunno about you, but I think the Handwich is pretty neat.

Toy Box Land

Yes, Toy Story Land has been both overused as a land and under-utilized as a proper theme, but I simply love the giant toy aesthetic. It feels like being inside an I Spy book (does anyone remember those books?). I probably could have just made this land fully original with no ties to IP (like I did with choosing not to theme Winter VIllage to Frozen), which I am still open to, but also found it too irresistible to include everyone’s favorite lovable rascals. The movies’ existential themes of jealousy and self-worth, moving on and letting go would be difficult to adapt into attractions, so Toy Story’s inclusion here is to embody reconnecting with your inner child and creativity through play. The name change is just my attempt to make the IP sound less in-your-face. The giant art supplies from Toontown could transition into giant crayons in this area. Also, like Toontown, the entire area would have kinetic sculptures to bring energy to the area, like giant windup keys and pinwheels. To keep with the playful and friendly energy of the land there should be plenty of characters walking around interacting with guests. Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and Bo Peep should preferably be characters that can talk, not just silent costumes, and there would not be any giant static statues of them in the land. Bullseye and the Green Army Men are okay to keep as silent costume characters. Potato Head, Hamm, Rex, Slinky, and Wheezy are talking animatronics, preferably mobile animatronics that can roam the land alongside costume characters. I think the Little Green Aliens and Bo Peep’s sheep are the only characters that are okay to portray as static statues. Sid’s toys could be available characters during the Halloween season.

“Rube Goldberg Machine roller coaster”: Dual track wild mouse roller-coaster, based on a classic, over-convoluted Rube Goldberg design. One track has guests ride in giant toy karts, the other has guests inside giant marbles for a giant marble run track. Vehicles would set off chain reactions, possibly help other vehicles move forward, or create “obstacles” for others. Pulleys and wheels and dominoes galore. This is another one of those ideas where I only know how I want it to function without knowing how to accomplish it. Please consult actual engineers.

“Andy’s Playtime Theater”: Basically Mad Libs / Choose Your Own Adventure. This could either be a show or a ride, but I personally prefer the ride idea. If it were a show it would be part improv, involve guest participation, and have lots of giant props and gags. The Toy Story gang would mingle with the audience and be on stage at the same time. If it were a ride, guests can choose the path their vehicle takes. Andy narrates and has his toys act out a story. At several points, Andy offers two options on how the story can proceed. Stories would have wacky scenarios, like that of the opening scene in Toy Story 3. Multiple endings. Would have plenty of animatronics, and NOT just be screen-based.

“Giant Toy Playground”: Build with LEGO bricks the size of your head, climb actual towers made of alphabet blocks, play on a chessboard with human-sized chess pieces.

“I Spy Scavenger Hunt”: I absolutely loved looking at Walter Wick’s I Spy and Can You See What I See? illustrations for hours, and this activity is basically that come to life. I really want this land to be super detailed (and I mean absolutely LOADED) with lots of toy props hidden everywhere. The search criteria can change everyday for different routes. Winners can earn exclusive pins.

Pizza Planet restaurant: Customize your own pizza. Mix your own slushie. Gluten-free and vegan options. Also serves the Alien Mochi from Tokyo. Would follow the retro space building design of the movie .

“Build-A-Toy” shop: Inspired by the former Toys R Us Times Square location. Would include things like a Build-A-Bear Workshop, “Build Your Own Potato Head”, a LEGO play area, a nuiMOs plush modeling studio, and a mini indoor Ferris wheel.

Disney Dreamland Railroad Create-It-Land station: “Built” out of blocks and tinkertoys.

World Galleria

Adventureland

Mysteryland

Fantasyland

Discoveryland

#disney parks #disney dreamland #armchair imagineering #journey into imagination #disney's hollywood studios #toontown #toy story land #theme park design

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