#Comic Boom Inspired Clint

[lynlee494]

Chapter Seven is now available!

The Soldier’s understanding of the world begins to unravel after he completes a mission and finds a helpless and shivering kitten. Unable to leave, knowing the frail thing will die in the elements, the Soldier makes a choice...

Overwhelmed and now hiding from his handler's, things only get more complicated when he lays eyes on a picture of a familiar blonde face..

The Soldier can not risk contact, capture, and the inevitable return to Hydra and captivity would bring. He may remember Steve Rogers, but he also remembers Captain America. Similarly enhanced, the Captain would have the advantage, the Soldier’s movement would be limited with the kitten’s safety to consider.

He’ll seek out Steve Rogers, who seems to feature in nearly every memory with Bucky, but he’ll be cautious. Can hopefully glean from the exposure more about the time before Bucky – before he – was presumed dead in a war. From before Steve’s Bucky became Hydra’s, time stuttering by till the Soldier was born.

Now.

Clint Barton arrives in faded jeans and a rumpled shirt that reads ‘Sorry I’m Late. Had To Get To A Save Point’, letting out a startled yelp when Steve opens the door and yanks him inside. With Clint regaining his balance behind him, Steve gives a quick glance to the alley and finds it still vacant. The urge to just walk out there, to not stop until he finds Bucky itches under his skin. Yet he closes the door firmly against the view of the street.

[alphaflyer]

Fic & Music

So @mitch-pell asked people to share at least 5 songs they’ve either created a work from, plan to create a work from, or hope to create a work from. Consider yourself tagged if you’d like to play!

Well, first of all, I have written a ton of stories that have been inspired by some piece of music or other - sometimes the inspiration has come from a line or a couple of words, at other times a song has helped me find the mood I was looking for, or given me the inspiration for a title. So here’s but a sample, because otherwise we’d be here forever... 

The Andorian Incident

This is one of my very first fics, in the Star Trek:Voyager fandom, and my first attempt to write capital-P Plot - specifically, a B-grade, Western-infused adventure frolic. I'd become intrigued by Joan Baez’ cover of Dylan’s ballad, “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” and its odd assortment of characters. And so I went about constructing a plot that didn’t follow that of the song, but drew on elements of it (”Lily was a princess...”; “Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin' before he turned their heads;” “Rosemary... was lookin' to do just one good deed before she died”, that sort of thing). I listened to the song for the several weeks it took me to construct and write the thing; it still conjures up the story when it pops up on my playlist.

Locust Wind

This was going to be the sequel to one of my most popular fics, “Second Mouse”, an Avengers/007 crossover. I’d envisioned it as a totally hoaky caper thing (working title: “The Curse of the Elephant Star”), but this was just post-Captain America: Winter Soldier and I just couldn’t find the frivolous mood I needed. I was driving home from work when U-2′s “Rattle and Hum” came up on my iPod, with that line: “On the Locust Wind comes a rattle and hum...” And boom, everything changed. By the time I got home, I knew I had my title, a link to the emergence of Hydra from TWS like locusts about to devour the world, and most importantly, an underlying mood - of dread, and impending doom. I tossed what I’d already written (except for a couple of paragraphs I managed to repurpose, and started to write...

Rain on the Scarecrow

In some fannish exchange or other @bettybackintheday had suggested that John Mellencamp wrote “Clint-ish” music, and I agreed. Then we started to get the first teasers for Age of Ultron, and that mysterious farm was at the centre of everyone’s speculation. So based on the pretty dark and elegiac mood of “Rain on the Scarecrow”, I concocted my own ideas of what it might mean. Of course none of that came to pass - but I still maintain we’d have been better off if Marvel had used my version...  :P

Diamonds and Rust

Another Joan Baez song, and something i KNEW would be a title for a fic some day! I love that image, but also how can you listen to these lines and NOT think of comics!Clint Barton and comics!Kate Bishop:

As I remember your eyes Were bluer than robin's eggs "My poetry was lousy, " you said Where are you calling from? A booth in the Midwest...

We both know what memories can bring They bring diamonds and rust

Well you burst on the scene Already a legend The unwashed phenomenon The original vagabond ... Yes the girl on the half-shell Could keep you unharmed

....

Now I see you standing With brown leaves falling around And snow in your hair...

So, yeah. Had to be done (as a tag to the Fraction series.)

The Western Shore

Well, how could I listen to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” screeching through Thor: Ragnarok, see that ship of Asgardians looking for a new home, and *not* think of what would happen to them if they were to land in the US under Trump’s immigration policies? Exactly. This is that story.

So that’s a short sampling of my musical inspirations. Feel free to shoot me an ask if you want to know more!

[helloprettybb]

i don’t want to set the world on fire

The other Steve Rogers fic did surprisingly well. I have so many more ideas, so look out for those. Also, Peter Parker may come soon, but who knows. While writing this, I realized that I could probably write a part two, so would you all like that? Also, just warning you, I lowkey insult rock, but it’s only for the sake of the plot. Rock is great. I’m also writing a prequel for ‘i’ll be back’ which will be posted after this hopefully.

I have a plan to make this a series all inspired by old music. This first part is inspired by this song:

Warnings: almost rape

word count: 3.9k

“I didn’t mean to,” were the first words you uttered to the Avengers. Laying next to you was a man whose body was burnt to a crisp. Yet you, small and innocent-looking, were perfectly fine. Of course, they had some questions.

Your father was never in your life and your mother died from childbirth, so for most of your life, you were raised by your great aunt. Life was great, even normal, until she died when you were thirteen. Since you were a minor, you were placed in an orphanage while the house was up for rent. When you turned 18, you were allowed to move into her house. Although rather lonely, you were safe  and inherited a decent amount of money. Still, you had a part-time job to stay financially stable. 

You were walking up to your car when you noticed a piece of paper on your windshield. You knew what that meant so you quickly turned the other way but were too late. A man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed you. As much as you struggled, it was useless as he was much stronger than you. Before you could pull out your pepper spray, the man knocks you unconscious.

The first thing you see when you come to is a man hovering over you. He must have noticed you woke up because he cooed, “Don’t worry, I won’t take long,” You start to scream for help, but survey your surroundings and realize that you’re probably in the middle of nowhere. 

You panic as the man starts to unzip your pants. You can feel a heat burning inside of you. It feels like a volcano was erupting from within, extremely hot, but not uncomfortable. All of a sudden, a blast of fire erupts from your hands and shoots through the roof. You’re so taken aback that you don’t even notice the man burning to death until his screams of agony cut through your train of thought. You pull back instantly but it’s too late. The man is dying before your eyes and you are stuck frozen. Your brain starts up again and you look for something to put the fire out. You find a blanket and eventually put out the fire, but he is already dead.

All you could do is cry at the fact that you just killed a man. You’re so caught up in your tears that you don’t even realize that all your clothes are burned off. Shivering, you try to think of what to do. Noticing a dark bag in the corner, you hesitantly touch it and hope that it doesn’t burn to a crisp. Luckily, nothing happens so you rummage through it to find anything. You pull out a long shirt and clean boxers. Before you could think of an exit plan, you are startled by a blast through the door. 

You cower in fear as Iron Man flies and lands right in front of you. The rest of his team follow suit. They look at you, the burnt man and then back at you. Iron Man’s hand is glowing and pointed right at your face.

He towers over you, causing you to scoot back. He starts to say something when Captain America put up a hand and says, “She’s just a kid, Tony.” He squats down so that he’s eye level with you and asks, “Can you tell us what happened?”

You could barely talk since you were so nervous. Seeming to sense your fear, he removed his mask. You’ve seen him on television, but only as Captain America. But crouched in front of you, he didn’t seem like a superhero, but just an ordinary man. You rack your brain and finally remember his name: Steve Rogers. 

“H-he was trying to attack me. I don’t know how it happened, but one moment he was on top of me and the next he was on fire. I tried to put it out, but he was already dead.” you stutter, still shocked beyond belief. You start to hyperventilate as your actions finally sink in. “I didn’t mean to, honest. I didn’t even know I could do that. You have to believe me!” you cry unprompted. Steve moves to touch you soothingly before you quickly scoot away.

“Please don’t touch me! I don’t want to kill you too.” you exclaim, scared of your own body. Steve’s eyes are filled with what looks like sympathy and he glances at Tony.

He speaks up, “She’s right, Cap.” You suddenly notice the scanner on his suit. “Her temperature is off the charts. How are you alive, kid?”

Before you could attempt to answer his question, Steve speaks up, “We have to take her to the lab. Banner will know what to do.” With no further questions, you are escorted toward their ship, careful not to touch anyone. 

On the ship, you hear their muttered whispers and assume it’s about what they should do with you. After all, you’re just a stowaway. The ride feels like an eternity until the jet finally lands. The other Avenger separate, leaving you alone with Steve and Tony. They guide you inside the giant complex and you try not to gawk at the high ceilings and large staircases, but you’ve never been in a building this huge. 

You are directed downstairs to a high-tech lab. Tony types on a keyboard and does a retinal scan before the door opens. A smallish, fidgety man is in there and greets Tony. When he notices you, he asks politely, “Who’s this?”

Realizing he never caught your name, Tony turns to you and asks in an almost comical way, “Who are you?” You say your name and Tony continues, “Anyway, she uh, has some special abilities.” Bruce quirks an eyebrow at his wording and does a biological scan. His eyes widen when he sees your vitals.

“You have a temperature of 160 degrees Celsius.” he explains. You watch as he interacts with the projected screen.

“She also burned a hole in the ceiling.” Steve states, purposely excluding the part about you killing someone.

“This may sound like a stupid question, but can I touch people without hurting them?” you ask hesitantly. You don’t want to live the rest of your life in constant fear.

Bruce pushes the screen down and responds, “Well, I’ll have to do some tests before I know for sure. But seeing as you’re clothes are still intact, I assume that you are safe.” Bruce walks over to his lab table and starts typing something on his computer. You feel Steve’s gaze as you fidget uncomfortably.

“We’ll do the tests tomorrow. Let her get some rest,” Steve’s voice booms above you. Bruce just nods as you, Tony, and Steve leave the lab. As the three of you walk up the stairs, Tony’s phone goes off. 

He looks down and tells Steve, “It’s Pepper. Can you show Y/n to the residential area.” Steve nods and you two part ways with Tony. You’re silent as Steve guides you around the building and towards the elevator.

He presses the third button and you two stand in silence as the doors close. A familiar tune plays on the speakers. You smile after recognizing it. Steve catches your small grin and asks, “You know this song?”

“Uh, yeah. ‘Stop Pretending’ was one of my great aunt’s favorites. Personally, I prefer ‘I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire’” you comment lightly. Steve opens his mouth to say something when the doors open. He steps out and you follow him down the hall.

He stops in front of a door at the far end and says, “You can stay here for the time being. My room’s the first door on the left if you need anything,” Steve doesn’t know why he added that last part, but something about your wide, innocent eyes intrigued him and your affinity for old music sure didn’t hurt.

You open the door and start to walk in before turning around and tell, “Thank you, Steve.” He gives you a glowing smile before you close the door. You didn’t realize how tired you were until your head hit the pillow and you instantly fell asleep.

-

You’re woken up by a muted, yet pestering, alarm. “Miss Y/n, Dr. Banner requests your presence.” a disembodied voice says. You look at the clock and see that it’s nearly ten o’clock. You step into the elevator and expecting to hear smooth jazz music, are extremely caught off guard by the jarring rock music. Never a big fan of rock, you cringe slightly as the speakers blast the loud electric guitars and intense drums. Luckily you are spared when the elevator doors open to the living room. You see the Avengers, now in normal clothes, lounging on the couches.

They all get up and walk towards you. A man with only one arm goes to introduce himself, “I’m Bucky. Who are you?”

“I’m y/n.” you reply sheepishly, feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the new faces. You vaguely remember them from tv but an introduction helps. They go around and say their names. You remembered Natasha and Clint as Black Widow and Hawkeye but you didn’t know the man named Sam Wilson. You shake everyone’s hand and you mentally sigh in relief that you didn’t burn anyone.

They start a conversation with you and before you could respond a voice calls, “Y/n, aren’t you starting with Banner today?” You look over Natasha’s shoulder to see Steve. He’s wearing a fairly tight grey shirt and sweats that if you were in any other situation, would distract you greatly.

“Yeah, I was heading down there now.” you reply with a curt nod.

“I’ll walk you down.” he states, walking towards you. The others part so that Steve could get through. You follow him towards the stairs that lead to the lab.

“Sorry about them. They can be a little intense at first, but I promise they don’t bite.” Steve jokes and cracks a beautiful smile.

“No, it’s alright.” you reply with a smile to assure him, “They seem nice. I’m just not the best with people.” You realize how sad that sounded and it seems that he did too. It looks like he’s about to say something when the lab door opens.

“Y/n, come in.” Bruce insists. You and Steve walk in the lab and Bruce closes the door behind you. He leads you over to his work area and starts, “Before I test your abilities, I want to understand how your abilities work. I’ll do a couple blood tests, take some skin samples, and do a DNA test.” He pulls out a needle and you instantly stiffen. 

Steve notices and you half-joke, “I’m not the biggest fan of needles.” You expect Steve to leave when Bruce starts preparing the needle, but he stays. The more you think of the needle, the less you can control your shaky hands. You close your eyes to try and block out the image of the needles piercing your skin.

You feel a panic attack coming when you feel a hand slipping into yours. You open your eyes and look down at Steve’s outstretched hand. Before you could say anything, you feel the needle prick. Almost out of instinct, you grab onto Steve’s large hand. His calm, blue eyes ease your tension and divert your attention from the blood. Steve starts lightly caressing your knuckles and you feel yourself warm up. 

It’s a different type of warm than in the warehouse. It feels like a warm hearth spreading through your body. Your mind wanders 

“Okay, I’ll have the results in a couple days.” Banner states, interrupting your thoughts. You look down and see a band-aid on your arm.

“It’s done already?” you ask, surprised that you actually did it without passing out.

“Yeah, you did it, doll.” Steve replies with his hand still wrapped around yours. Doll. You wonder if you were just imagining that, but you have to admit, that nickname made you feel a certain way. 

You glance over at Banner who is dripping the blood into a tube. You start shaking again and start to feel the urge to throw up. Steve’s solid hand lightly squeezes yours and he asks Banner, “Does she need to do any more tests?” 

“No, not today at least. It’ll take me a couple days to perform tests since I have Tony’s side project to work on. You’re free to go.” he replies. 

Steve lets go of your hand and it immediately feels colder. You hop off the stool and follow Steve out of the lab. As you walk, your stomach grumbles and Steve asks, “When was the last time you’ve eaten?” 

You think back to the past 24 hours and realize you haven’t eaten since that man abducted you. “Not since yesterday,” you reply. 

Steve furrows his brow at that and states, “I’ll make you something.” Before you could protest, Steve walks into the kitchen and looks through the cabinets. “What would you like?” he asks politely.

“Um, anything. I’m not picky.” you respond, pulling out a stool from under the counter. Swinging your legs, you watch Steve as he begins to make you a sandwich. Something about Captain America making you a sandwich is so odd that you laugh to yourself.

You didn’t realize you actually laughed out loud until Steve looks up at you. “Sorry, I just think it’s funny that Captain America is cooking for me.” you explain. Steve responds with a small smile and light chuckle and continues cooking. When he’s done, he pulls out a plate and hands you your food.

You smile widely, surprised that he’s so nice and caring, “Thank you, I’m starving.” He hands you the plate and you sit on a stool by the counter. Steve stands on the other side, waiting for you to take your first bite. You moan with delight and mumble with food still in your mouth, “It’s delicious.” Steve smiles as you continue eating.

A comfortable silence forms around the two of you. When you finish, you wipe your mouth with a napkin and get up to put your plate in the dishwasher. “Hey, uh, thank you for not mentioning the guy dying.” you note awkwardly as you throw the napkin in the trash.

“Don’t mention it.” He replies, turning to face you and shooting a short smile. He sees you look down, presumably too ashamed to look him in the eye, “Hey,” he starts, drawing your attention, “If you ever need to talk, I’m here.” He adds an assuring smile that makes you melt a little.

“Thanks, Steve.” you convey before heading upstairs. You take the stairs to avoid the rock music and although it’s a tiring three flights, at least it’s quiet.

-

It’s not that you don’t like the Avengers, but being alone for nearly a decade gave you some certain habits. One distinct habit was eating alone, which you didn’t realize how odd it was until Natasha asked, “Hey, Y/n. Do you want to eat with us?”

You wanted to say yes, but your years of self-isolation made you reply, “Oh, uh, I’m just going to eat in my room. Thank you, though.” Steve gives you a brief wave before looking back at his crossword puzzle like a true old man. 

Natasha watches you walk out and hums a short, “Hm.” 

“What is it?” Bucky asks, eyes flitting over to Natasha who has a confused look on her face.

“I wonder why Y/n insists on eating alone.” she takes a bite of her food and thinks again, “Are we not inviting enough?”

Tony laughs and replies, “You’re about as inviting as the green guy.” Luckily Bruce is down at the lab or else he would have stared daggers at him.

Nat rolls her eyes and says, “Well, I showed her my knife collection and she seemed pretty entertained.” Tony, Bucky, and Natasha present multiple theories.

“Maybe she just likes her personal space.” Tony shrugs, proposing the most logical explanation.

“Yeah, I guess. But I don’t know, there has to be another-” Natasha starts before Wanda interrupts her.

“It’s because of her great aunt.” Everyone at the table turns to Wanda. 

“How do you know that?” Bucky asks skeptically. Wanda rolls her eyes and simply points at her head. “Oh, yeah.”

Wanda continues, “After she died, Y/n was left alone and stayed that way for years.” She takes one last bite and adds, “I think she isn’t used to all this company.” Everyone seems to accept this answer and they take their last bites before picking up their plates. 

Wanda remembers one last thing and states, “Oh, yeah, and because Steve held her hand.” Bucky wolf whistles and Natasha’s eyebrows shoot up.

Steve had been listening to the conversation, but after hearing his name, he speaks for the first time since dinner started. “Bruce was drawing her blood and she looked really nervous.” Steve explains with an eye roll. He walks away before they could bully him anymore.

-

Throughout the week, Banner performed a skin biopsy, MRI, and DNA test. While none of them were as bad as the blood test, you wished Steve had been with you for them. You knew he was busy, being Captain America and all. Occasionally, you’d see him around the Compound but you haven’t had a full conversation with him since that one time.

On your fifth day, you find yourself wandering the Compound yet again. It seems that no matter how many times you wander, you still find a new room to discover. You open a door on the first floor and see a vast ballroom. It isn’t the ballroom that catches your attention, but what lies in the corner.

A beautiful grand piano is tucked away next time a guitar, drums, and microphone. Strolling over, you remove the keyboard cover and press a key. The piano sings, sounding prettier than your great aunt’s old upright piano. Smiling to yourself, you sit on the bench and begin to play. You become so lost in the music that you don’t even hear the footsteps walking closer.

You come to the end of a song and a voice behind you asks, “You play?” You turn, even though you already knew who it was. Steve’s blue eyes are so intense that you falter a bit before responding.

“Yeah, or at least I used to. My great aunt taught me before she passed away.” you sigh and turn back to the piano. Steve sits beside you on the bench and you start a slow, pretty tune. “I haven’t played since.” you admit sadly. 

“I’m sorry,” Steve says, not knowing what to say at the moment.

You smile a little sadly and remark, “You would have loved her. She’d always have her record player on and it’d fill the house with The Ink Spots or Al Bowlly.” 

As you reminisce, Steve studies you. With everything going on, he hasn’t had the chance to truly see you. You’re beautiful, but Steve already knew that. He noticed all the little imperfections that seemed to make you even more flawless. He can tell that you’re scared and he admires your calm disposition with all of this. 

He focuses on your hands, elegant and graceful across the keys. You apologize a couple times for your mistakes, but Steve doesn’t hear them. Even if he did, he wouldn’t care. Everything about you seems effortless and beautiful. When he first met you, he thought you were just a kid, but now he couldn’t be more wrong. You didn’t look old, but you had a mature beauty and something about your essence tells Steve that you’ve seen things.

Your hands slow and Steve sees a sly smile spread across your face. When you start again, Steve recognizes the introduction. He matches your smile and asks, “I’m Beginning to See the Light?”

“Yes, it’s one of the first non-classical songs I learned.” you respond. Steve nods and you return your focus to the music. You get so lost in it that you don’t even realize that you’re singing quietly. 

Your trance-like state is interrupted when Steve says lowly, “You have a beautiful singing voice.” You blush a little since no one except your great aunt has heard you sing.

“Thank you,” you respond, a little embarrassed. He already heard you sing so mind as well continue. A little louder, you sing, “Then you came and caused a spark. That’s a four-alarm fire now.” When the song ends, a sudden thought strike you.

“Why does the elevator only play jazz when you’re on it?” you ask curiously, trying to change the conversation.

He chuckles lightly and responds, “The elevator is programmed to play certain music for each of us. For guests, it plays Tony’s rock playlist.” You roll your eyes and close the fallboard.

“It was awful. How could anyone enjoying something that loud, especially in the morning?” you joke and Steve laughs.

“You’ll find out sooner or later that there’s a lot of things about Stark that can’t be explained.” Steve jests and you laugh. 

“I’ve been avoiding the elevator ever since.” you admit and Steve chuckles. 

F.R.I.D.A.Y breaks the conversation and announces, “Y/n, you’re test results are in. Dr. Banner requests your presence.” Trying to hide your disappointment, you get up and Steve follows suit. The two of you walk out of the ballroom. 

At the top of the lab stairs, you tell Steve, “Well, I guess I better get going.” 

“Yeah, see you later.” Steve says, giving a quick wave. You give him a final goodbye before heading down to the lab.

-

“You said that was the first time it happened?” Bruce asks and you nod in response. For the past half hour, Bruce explained the many discoveries he made. Turns out, not only could you produce fire, but your body can withstand such high temperatures that you could walk through fire. 

He continues, “Well, it seems there was a stimulus that triggered your body to increase its temperature so high that you were able to produce fire.” You nod as he continues, “I think with proper training, you could learn to control and use your abilities.” 

You raise your eyebrows in shock. Obviously, these new abilities would change your life, but you never thought you could actually achieve something with them. You ask, “Well, um, how do we go about this training?” 

Bruce thinks a bit and responds, “I’ll ask the team and we’ll put something together.” Bruce turns to work on something else and you take that as your cue to leave.

You remember a distinct detail from when you used your abilities and ask, “Can you design a suit that doesn’t result in me being naked every time I set on fire?” 

Bruce blushes a bit out of embarrassment and replies, “I’ll tell Tony.” You walk out of the lab and up the stairs. Too tired, you grit your teeth and decide to use the elevator.

Bracing yourself for heavy rock, you plug your ears. But when the elevator doors close and you don’t hear anything, you remove your fingers from your ears. You smile to yourself as the song ‘I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire’ starts playing. 

[fanbun]

(previous part - 21)

[HERE IS THE BORING PART WHERE WE TELL YOU HOW IT ALL HAPPENED AND THANK EVERYONE AND STUFF]

We started this project quite a long time ago, around the beginning of the year 2000 with me, Sibot, and Felix Laband before the whole max normal thing got started, but then i had to fight with Roach and Fletcher (which was kind of like my fault) and i said i didn’t want to speak to them again. Then I got bored with the max normal project because it didn’t accomodate my need to make new songs all the time, plus i had just met Markus Wormstorm who is the only person who makes music as fast as me. Then I phoned Fletcher and said sorry for being a dick and he said it’s ok, then i asked him if he still wanted to work with me and he said ...mmm, ok... so we started recording again (i had said sorry to Felix a little while before that.) Me and Si were a little scared to leave our comfort zone, but we were both really happy to be living in Cape Town and working on a skill-oriented album, so we didn’t really mind being poor for a year and starting from scratch again. Me and Markus went into Tim Parrs studio and finished recording all the vocals in three days because of our incredible pre-production ability. Then Markus deleted the whole album on the last day by mistake... well, he said he did it on purpose because he thought I could do better, but nobody really believed him. So we re-recorded the album but then we went into this whole lengthy, unexpected process (capetown is wierd like that) which involved meeting a whole bunch of new artists who shared similar visions to us, working harder than any of us have worked in our whole lives, and kind of like stepping back and letting go a bit as this constructus thing started growing into its own creature. Anica the Snufling came to join us on vocals as well as Rick Flare, Darrel, Michelle, Johnny Stokes, Mr Rockadopolis, and Shabang. Then i met a truly strange character called Nikhil Singh who moved in with me and drew the beautiful comic which follows this. Nik also played the guitar on ‘hot-water’ as well as with my head which was in need of a little tampering at the time. Risk hit us with the idea for our constructus icon (the robot throwing up the ball)... Jan taught me these cool excercizes you can do on a jungle-gym, Devin helped me invent the BLOOD-NOSE PUSSY-BOY story (and might even help me out with it more, if i’m lucky)... Berlin East stole my underpants and wore them ontop of his pants to this one party, Si got a final scratch which he is very happy with, and we all started working on our live show because we didn’t rehearse properly for our first shows and our performances were pretty kak... but we’ve been working real hard and we like really, really good now. I also made this other song which I love more than anything with my friend Dan Roberts called ‘Scum Deluxe’ which is actually a present for my other friend Lux Janssen, but some of the lads from our camp were a little nervous of putting a country song on the album so i’m going to put it out with Alien on Chameleon Records (on ‘MY FAVORITE SONGS AT THE MOMENT’ project). Also we couldn’t fit the entire saga on one cd so we decided to put them on our web-sight so that people can download them for free and make their own double cd. You can also download our wonderful little motivational movie called: HOW TO BECOME A BETTER PERSON THE MUSICAL for free off our site plus a whole lot of other nifty this’ and thats’. Inca has been building a visual library of our constructus imagery that she edits live behind us when we perform so that the show expands into an entirely infinite virtual realm. Also all the music videos and movies we making are intricately laced to the plot so that, in about a year or so from now, you’ll be able to watch them all together like one of those cool, old-fashioned musicals. If anyone asks you what kind of music we make you must say that it’s called BOOM BAM, cos it’s new and we don’t really like hip-hop anymore cos it’s dumb. We feel that the spirit the art movement we represent needs a name that represents it properly, so there you have it: BOOM BAM. If anyone asks you what BOOM BAM is you can say that it’s computer game music. BOOM BAM artists (or programmers) create their own original alternate reality’s complete with their own characters and sound-tracks. The programmers assume a more background role while their characters become the celebrities. Daniel Levi introduced me to Random Boy and Kidtronic a long time ago (as well as inventing Kidtronic’s handwriting and being a huge inspiration to this whole project.) He’s going to be doing a whole lot of stuff with us which i’m really happy about cos Daniel is really clever and is also one of the illest directors alive on Earth as well as one of my favorite people ever. Magdeline and Timon played violin on the track he’s going to be making a video for soon called V. Marc Lottering has been looking after me the whole year, being my friend and also making sure i’m not hungry... dankie dankie dankie maneer, you have been the shark-net in my paddling pool... ...the fuel in my flame-thrower, the mushy stuff in my tinkie. William Shatner also helped me out beautifully using her advanced therapeutic techniques and so i’d like to say thankyou honey, you the shit xxx. African Dope Records are the coolest label i could have ever possibly dreamed to work with, plus they pretend not to notice when i steal fruit and veggies from their entrance hall. Roach is my daddy, i love him more than he knows. Heather looks after us so so nicely and Ian says wierd, clever stuff the whole time that i sometimes don’t always understand right away, which i dig. Also we thank Bell Roberts for recognizing what we doing and backing our shit... Maude, Johan, Cedwax and Benwar for looking after us so nicely in France and sparking our little international expansion... and Fletcher, Inca and Si thanks for the best time in the world ever. Maria, thankyou for being such a darling and for activating Metatron One. Also to my man Fungus the mutated lung for taking me out, giving birth to Johnny Stokes and for being so fuckin ill and Ginny Grindith for being so fuck you (the space between words is very beautiful man) Anwar, Jo#an, Turbeou Jones, the lovely lady Rosalux and everyone else who worked on HOW TO BECOME A BETTER PERSON - episode one... thankyou so much, we got lots of stuff to do now ...Jill for being written in our future Kriek for your entirely harmonic vibrational frequency. Brendan and Stephan from Session magazine for keeping this whole independent thing strong... and Clint, you can use any of my music for anything, whenever... you the motherfuckin man homie. Godessa and Squatter Comp for bringing it like you do. Anica says I have to say thankyou to her three times, so thankyou Anica for gracing us with your existence... all hail the voodoo-boogie shake-down queen.. thankyou so much for being such a brat, and thankyou for buying me this notepad i’m writing all this stuff in <3 ...Duncan, hello... thanks for making sure we always have vegetarian food on the planes, and for organizing our shit and for being able to handle me, here we go sir. Also we would like to thank The Venerable Emperor Of The Known Universe for establishing our communicative link with The Jellyfish. And to Si and Dunc’s mom and dad for being so nice to us and believing in us. And Markus and Anri’s parents, Rosa, Piet, Ben and Elna for raising their kids so well. And to Andrew and Goody for telling us we so ill. Mama, Boo, Dyl, and the Debsta, love you, love you, love you, love you for ever and ever and ever and ever, amen. And to other Andrew who won’t let me start an informative lifestyle magazine with his face on the cover called Andrew... punk, thanks for breathing life into our jellyfish. And Mark and Sean for all the good times and for all the music we made together and to Al my pal for turbo-charging my career... i’m glad we friends again. Ay rob, sick mix of ‘Body-snatchers’ (comming out soon) ta mister. Also Felix Laband, Sibot, and Markus Wormstorm are my favorite artists in the whole world, and Anica is my favorite vocalist ever and i know them. The Lensta’s not so bad himself but if he dyes my poodle pink one more time i’m going to tell his mom about the incedent with the old blind guy. Yo petru, thanks for being so cool... Yo Si, thanks for lending me that g and for having my back. Alien, you better quit with the late night pervert calls. My friend Bernie gave me the idea for The Ambrosial Hours. Markus Wormstorm let me stay at his house for the last month of this project which was very nice of him. He also engineered and mixed most of this album (even the songs he didn’t make, much to his dissaproval) so he’s gonna get a real nice birthday present from me for his 21st in december. (sorry, i have to interrupt myself here, i just finished the nicest song ever with Len called Touch The Sky... Cher says we excellent...) Anyway, Fletcher’s been the illest, most intuitive cat to work with. He did a whole lot of gorgeous soundscaping on this album, as well as final mixing and mastering. Sibot is Jimmy Hendrix on the decks... he has advanced beyond all competition as usual. Inca is often the invisible pulse that holds this whole sucker together and has been an absolute sweetheart through and through in everything she does. She has also rented her flat out to me for a very reasonable price. Oh ja, also... we did 90% of this album in our bedrooms and we could have done it all in our bedrooms but Tim’s got such nice, old analogue equipment to do vocal stuff and final touches through, plus he’s the nicest person in the world, so we couldn’t help but work with him. We also want to point out the fact that there has been no corporate assistance whatsoever on this project and that anyone can do this with low-fi pc equipment, some pirate software and a little love. Obviously we now going to go through some corporate channels to hit as many humans as possible, but we have complete creative control and they do what we say. We would like everyone who is interested in creating art for a living to follow our example. There is no excuse for not being able to make it because of the system and everything. The system is eating it’s own tail... we just helping to stuff it further down it’s throat, while dancing around jubilously with it’s entrails around our necks (Markus made me put that last bit in.) Love is entirely unpalatable to these parasites that govern this realm and they feed off your fear, so please would everybody be so kind as to remove their food supply and act like you know so we can exterminate these poor lost fucks.

metatron one_out.

(p.s. i got the name Snufflegruff and the Bazooka-Nuker concept from Alan Moore’s D.R. and Quinch, who Random Boy is kind of obsessed with and i read the Magic Ear story in this children’s book while walking through a shopping mall one day... my version is just an adoption. Markus Wormstorm wrote most parts of this story which involve Kidtronic, which he says are the most important parts in the whole saga. Also Julia Clark is the loveliest girl ever. we got big stuff comming. My little brother Lee told me ‘the two giraffes in a bar joke’ and Markus made up ‘the Boys 2 Men thing’ that happened while Kidtronic was interacting with an old-fashioned, alternate reality. But other than that me, Sibot, Markus and Anica invented this whole thing all on our own and we are very proud of ourselves because of it.)

(END)

[robertpatrick8]

‘Get Off My Lawn!’ How a Catchphrase Was Born and Grumpily Lives on

A four-word ode to grumpiness and grass turned into an enduring national punchline

Over the years, a beautiful yard has become a classic American one-liner in which a grumpy old man, spotting youngsters crossing his grass, rails, “Get off my lawn!”

What wayward kids today may not appreciate in this iconic duck-and-cover is the symbolic role that fine lawns have and continue to play in America’s cultural revolution.

Prior to the mid-1900s, American lawns came in three varieties: public grounds, a few fussy estates owned by the wealthy and a ginormous, undeveloped rural expanse primarily tended by cattle. There was the ugly incident in 1876, when Congress passed a law forbidding the Capitol grounds from being used as a playground after a rowdy Easter egg hunt. But for the most part, lawns were a peaceful rarity until the economic expansion that followed World War II. New suburban developments lured veterans into the sparkling new suburbs, and a love for lawns entered the national psyche as an important part of the American Dream.

While they didn’t use the phrase “get off my lawn,” Congress effectively banned young whippersnappers in 1876. The Easter egg hunt shifted to the White House. Source: Library of Congress.

Google’s Ngram Viewer, which tracks the use of phrases in books, says the phrase took off in popularity in the early1960s when the first baby boomers came of age. Baby boom youths, with their countercultural hippie movement, provided their parents with the trespassing youths to yell at, further embedding this humorous archetypal clash between old men and proud boys into the American consciousness. To the hippie mind, the scene came to represent the counterculture’s rejection of middle-class material goods, as symbolized by the well-trimmed suburban lawn.

David Letterman, ‘The Simpsons,’ Clint Eastwood popularize the phrase

Talk-show host David Letterman may not have created the phrase, but he popularized it. The Indiana-born boomer jumped at the phrase, adopting it as one of his signature tag lines beginning in 1980, barking “Get off my lawn!” into mainstream American consciousness.

Baby boomer humor grew to dominate sitcoms throughout that decade, ultimately elevating “Get off my lawn!” to iconic status. Homer Simpson helped spread its fame in a 1992 episode of the suburban satire, “The Simpsons.” His cartoon father, Abraham Simpson, expressed a similar pointless rage in the meme-worthy “Old man yells at cloud.”

Grumpy old men are a staple of the big screen, but veteran actor Clint Eastwood elevated it to a new, violent height in his 2008 film “Gran Torino,” in effect reprising his own catchphrase, “Go ahead, make my day,” from his 1983 Dirty Harry classic, “Sudden Impact.”

Musical ‘Get Off My Grass’ references

Popular music has yet to fashion a true Grumpy hit, although numerous songwriters have played with the idea. Perhaps best known of the contenders is a homemade YouTube backyard rocker, “Hey You Kids Get Off of My Lawn,” by two nongrumpy dudes cleverly named Auld Guise. Although Minnesota singer-songwriter David Stoddard’s 2016 album “Get Off My Lawn,” lacks an actual single by that name, Spotify lists one by Wormhole Effect, YouTube features a video of another by Grasscore and Shrapnel Records offers a 2006 recording called “Get Out of My Yard” by Illinois guitar shredder Paul Gilbert on which the only lyrics to the title track consist of “Get out of my yard” being screamed by the artist through his guitar pickups. There’s even a country-rock party band based in Conway, Ark., named Get Off My Lawn.

Memes, mugs and yard signs

By the ’90s, the internet had hit its stride, and what better way for a new, rebellious generation of young people to celebrate their presence than to officially ridicule all things old and grumpy, elevating the lawn exchange to a ubiquitous meme? What was becoming a symbol of generational clash not only spawned an assortment of online products, including yard signs, T-shirts, coffee mugs and towels, but its growing online presence helped it work its way into politics.

“The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening unwittingly embedded Grumpy into the political arena when he decided to add a cartoon version of President George H.W. Bush to his cast in 1991. The juxtaposition of H.W. and the Simpsons milieu and its success in humanizing one of America’s more remote presidents may have helped inspire the “Get Off My Lawn Podcast,” hosted by far-right Canadian commentator Gavin McInnis, and “Hey, Get Off My Lawn!!!,” a Sirius/PRX “reality radio” show hosted by stand-up comic Bryan Cox.

Phrase is here to stay

Keeping up with the times, the phrase has now been attached to Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, casting him as the political equivalent of the grumpy old man role in social media memes. The phrase has even been proposed as a character skin for the game Fortnite.

How is it that similarly dismissive catchphrases (“Gag me with a spoon,”  “Talk to the hand”) have faded while “Get off my lawn” continues to thrive like bluegrass in May? Perhaps the secret lies in the interchange between who’s on the lawn and who may soon be under it. Its value endures because we know we won’t. Young and old alike can easily picture themselves in this existential selfie.

The post ‘Get Off My Lawn!’ How a Catchphrase Was Born and Grumpily Lives on appeared first on Lawnstarter.

from Gardening Resource https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/lawn-care-2/get-off-my-lawn/

[daleisgreat]

Man on the Moon

Season’s greetings everyone! Now seemed like the perfect time to pull Andy Kaufman’s 1999 biopic, Man on the Moon (trailer) out of the ‘ol backlog box. People who are keen to the seemingly endless amount of Netflix original content hitting lately are probably aware of their recent documentary, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (trailer). That documentary is all about the behind-the-scenes tomfoolery Jim Carrey was up to as he portrayed Andy Kaufman for the film, but stayed in character off-camera to everyone’s dismay. I watched the documentary last week, and was surprised at the plethora of footage the studio captured of Jim Carrey embracing the spirit of Kaufman as he pulled modern day Kaufman-esque pranks on his cast and crew mates. After consuming that it seemed ideal to finally get around to watching my DVD of Man on the Moon after it sat in my backlog box since 2004 from a buy-two-get-one-free promotional offer with The Rundown and a director’s cut of Beyond the Mat. I barely had a clue who Andy Kaufman was when I first saw the film in the theaters back when it hit theaters mere days before the turn of the century. Astute readers of this blog know I am an ardent wrestling fan. All I knew about Kaufman going into this film was from reading wrestling magazines and websites of the time that chronicled how Kaufman had a feud with wrestling legend Jerry “The King” Lawler in his wrestling territory based out of Memphis, Tennessee in the early 1980s. Their rivalry garnered some national attention when the duo got into a tussle on Late Night with David Letterman. So when wrestling was having its ‘Attitude era’ boom period in 1999, I eagerly attended the film because WWE promoted it on their programming because they brought in Jerry Lawler (who was announcing for WWE at the time) to reprise his role in his feud with Andy in the biopic.

I was trying to ponder recent examples of Andy Kaufman to compare his style of comedy to and the best I could come up with is Sacha Baron Cohen. Both performers conjured up personas and were both pioneers in uncomfortable reaction comedy in real life scenarios on unsuspecting strangers not enlightened to their act. Sacha filmed his adventures as Bruno and Borat while Kaufman had the alter ego of Vegas lounge singer reject, Tony Clifton unleash his brand of havoc on the cast of Taxi. Most of the cast of Taxi reprise their roles in cameo appearances in Man on the Moon along with a handful of other celebrity cameos throughout the film. There is a fantastic bit at the beginning of Man on the Moon where Carrey does a bit as Andy with his trademark humor to scare away the casual moviegoer expecting slapstick laughs. The film perfectly captures how Kaufman was ahead of his time and doing daring bits of comedy and always trying to innovate and come up with something different every time he went on stage. He had help along the way with lifelong friend Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti) as the film captures how his improv act caught the eye of George Shapiro (Danny Devito). George opened doors for Andy for nationwide success with his infamous debut on the first episode of Saturday Night Live lip-synching the theme to Mighty Mouse and how that lead to Andy’s breakout success on the hit sitcom, Taxi.

Andy did not want all the fame and fortune however as he only complied to go along with the crowd-pleasing Taxi with the understanding that he would get his own special where he would do his own style of comedy. I love how Man on the Moon portrays Andy’s revenge when management tells Andy they would not run his special and how Andy reigned terror on the set of Taxi as Clifton to get himself off the show. That brought the film to what 16-year old Dale at the time was anticipating the most, the wrestling section as Kaufman turned his attention to his secret favorite passion, professional wrestling. Andy did not have the most intimidating musculature so he instead wrestled over 60 matches against women and proclaimed himself the intergender champion of wrestling. This did not sit well with Jerry Lawler, and he challenged him to a match that saw Kaufman leaving the arena in a stretcher. Andy loved his new ventures in wrestling, but wrestling’s showbiz background carried a stigma with Hollywood at the time and film fairly encapsulates how Andy’s wrestling endeavors blackballed him from Hollywood.

Unfortunately, Andy developed lung cancer around this time in 1983 and he passed away a year later. The final act of the film is a tearjerker, and attendees of the funeral state in the extra feature interviews that Man on the Moon nailed the atmosphere and vibe of Kaufman’s one-of-a-kind funeral. In the buzz following the Netflix documentary, I heard several commentators and critics recently state how they believe Kaufman is still alive and how he faked his death for the quintessential prank. There are a few noteworthy extras on the DVD. Spotlight on Location is a 19 minute EPK piece with standard cast and crew interviews promoting the film along with a few takeaway anecdotes on how Carrey stated how this was the first film in several years he had to audition for and how the cameos came to be. There are 12 minutes of delete scenes that I wish most would have made the cut where Kaufman has fun messing with the crowd during his standup and backstage antics after his wrestling performances. There is a text bio of Andy’s life that is quite thorough and covers a few more details the movie could not squeeze in and text production notes with several pages of behind-the-scenes information on what went on off camera during the film’s production. I ate up both features and devoured both entries.

Finally, this will probably be the only movie blog where I highlight the music videos as the standout extra feature, but that is the case today because this has two music videos from REM, with ‘Man on the Moon’ being the standout track and gaining fame beyond the soundtrack because it still gets regular nationwide radio play today. Whenever I hear it I cannot help but nod along to it as I recall a few of my favorite scenes from the movie. After gleaming more knowledge on Andy’s life over the years I was able to appreciate Man on the Moon exponentially more than 16-year old me did 18 years ago. I want to slap myself for having this awesome film sit in my backlog for well over a decade, and it took a kickass Netflix documentary that dropped from out of nowhere to inspire me to watch it, but as the adage goes, better late than never. If you have yet to see Man on the Moon then by all means check this out to learn about one of the most groundbreaking comics of all time and then track down the Netflix documentary, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond to discover all the craziness that transpired backstage. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Hercules: Reborn Hitman Ink Joy Ride 1 & 2 The Interrogation Interstellar Jobs Man of Steel Marine 3-5 Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets The Replacements Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars The War Wild The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past