#Frank Maguire

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1981 – Bobby Sands was elected to Westminster in the Fermanagh/South Tyrone by-election, while on hunger strike in Long Kesh Prison, as MP for the constituency.

Shortly after the beginning of the strike, Frank Maguire, the Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, died suddenly of a heart attack, precipitating the April 1981 by-election. The sudden vacancy in a seat with a nationalist majority of about five thousand was a valuable opportunity for Bobby Sands’ supporters to unite the nationalist community behind their campaign. Pressure…

[mask131]

So... Wicked is coming back in style. And as such I need to make a little informative post.

Because since as early as my arrival onto the Internet, in the distant years of the late 2000s, a lot of people have been treating Wicked as some sort of "official" part of the Oz series. As part of the Oz canon or as THE "original" work everything else derives from (literaly, some people, probably kids, but did believe the MGM movie was made BASED on Wicked...) And as an Oz fan, that bothers me.

[Damn, ever since I watched Coco Peru's videos her voice echoes in my brain each time I say this line.]

So here's a few FACTS for you facts lovers.

The Wicked movie that is coming out right now (I was sold this as a series, turns out it is a movie duology?) is a cinematic adaptation of the stage musical Wicked created by Schwartz and Holzman, the Broadway classic and success of the 2000s (it was created in 2003).

Now, the Wicked musical everybody knows is itself an adaptation - and this fact is not as notorios, somehow? The Wicked musical is the adaptation of a novel released in 1995 by Gregory Maguire, called Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. A very loose and condensed adaptation to say the least - as the Wicked musical is basically a lighter and simplified take on a much darker, brooding and mature tale. Basically fans of the novel have accused the musical of being some sort of honeyed, sugary-sweet, highschool-romance-fanfic-AU, while those who enjoyed the musical and went to see the novel are often shocked at discovering their favorite musical is based on what is basically a "dark and edgy - let's shock them all" take on the Oz lore. (Some do like both however, apparently? But I rarely met them.)

A side-fact which will be relevant later, is that this novel was but the first of a full series of novel Oz wrote about a dark-and-adult fantasy reimagining of the land of Oz - there's Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, Out of Oz, and more.

However the real fact I want to point out is that Maguire's novel, from which the musical itself derives, is a "grimmification" (to take back TV Tropes terminology) of the 1939 MGM movie The Wizard of Oz. The movie everybody knows when it comes to Oz, but that everybody forgets is itself the adaptation of a book - the same way people forget the Wicked musical is adapted from a novel. The MGM movie is adapted from L. Frank Baum's famous 1900 classic for children The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - and a quite loose adaptation that reimagines a lot of elements and details.

Now, a lot of people present Maguire's novel as being based/inspired/a revisionist take on Baum's novel... And that's false. Maguire's Wicked novel is clearly dominated by and mainly influenced by the MGM movie, with only a few book elements and details sprinkled on top. Mind you, the sequels Maguire wrote do take more elements, characters and plot points from the various Oz books of Baum... But they stay mostly Maguire's personal fantasy world. Yes, Oz "books" in plural - because that's a fact people tend to not know either... L. Frank Baum didn't just write one book about the Land of Oz. He wrote FOURTEEN of them, an entire series, because it was his most popular sales, and his audience like his editor pressured him to produce more (in fact he got sick of Oz and tried to write other books, but since they failed he was forced to continue Oz novels to survive). Everybody forgot about the Oz series due to the massive success of the starter novel - but it has a lot of very famous sequels, such as The Marvelous Land of Oz or Ozma of Oz (the later was loosely adapted by Disney as the famous 80s nostalgic-cursed movie Return to Oz).

So... To return to my original point. The current Wicked movies are not directly linked in any way to Baum's novel. The Wicked musical was already as "canon" and as "linked" to the MGM movie as 2013's Oz The Great and Powerful by Disney was. As for Maguire's novel, due to its dark, mature, brooding and more complex worldbuilding nature, I can only compare it to the recent attempt at making a "Game of Thrones Oz" through the television series Emerald City.

The Wicked movies coming out are separated from Baum's novel at the fourth degree. Because they are the movie adaptation of a musical adaptation of a novel reinventing a movie adaptation of the original children book.

And I could go even FURTHER if you dare me to and claim the Wicked movies are at the 5TH DEGREE! Because a little-known-fact is that the MGM movie was not a direct adaptation of Baum's novel... But rather took a lot of cues and influence from the massively famous stage-extravaganza of 1902 The Wizard of Oz... A musical adaptation of Baum's novel, created and written by Baum himself, and that was actually more popular than the novel in the pre-World War II America. It was from this enormous Broadway success (my my, how the snake bites its tail - the 1902 Wizard of Oz was the musical Wicked of its time) that, for example, the movie took the idea of the Good Witch of the North killing the sleeping-poppies with snow.

[teenagedirtstache]

[p-c-ba-dcforever]

Closing out October celebrating 80 years of Solomon Grundy!

[90ssuperheroes]

My Top 10 Superhero/Comic Book Movies

What are your's?

[celebclippinz]

Magazine clippings

[jiminysjournal]

Vampire Rat Pack as Derry Girls:

Joey is Erin.

Sammy is Orla.

Rickles is James.

Peter is Claire.

Frank is Michelle (minus her heart of gold).

And, of course, Dean is Bethany.

[makeminebronze]

Marvel Girl pt 3

[applesdefinitely]

aand that's it, that's the show (okay, seasons 1-3)

[the-patchwork-girl-of-oz]

The books and most adaptations he’s in: Boq is just a friendly, hospitable, rich little munchkin older man. :)

Wicked the Book: hold my beer.

*creates Wicked Boq*

Wicked the musical: *chugs the beer and eats the can*

*creates Wicked the Musical Boq*

[queerquaintrelle]

Staged Right: Exploring the Politics of 'Wicked'

[instructionsonback]

Ridin' thru the city

6” x 9”

by

jaevonn harris

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United 2-1 Brentford

Football, bloody hell.

Since we're quoting Fergie, I'd like to pay my respects to the Ferguson family and give my condolences on the passing of Lady Cathy Ferguson. She was a remarkable woman and gave crucial love and support to a man who provided so much joy to Manchester United football club and its fans. May she rest in peace.

How apt though that it was one of Ferguson's academy kids Scott 'McSauce' McTominay who came off the bench and rescued United from despair with not only the equalising goal but also the winner.

Not just that, but the winning goal was assisted by Harry Maguire; an almost loathed figure amongst the fan base at present but one of our best players today. He had a very resolute game in defence and quietly got on with his job. Perhaps he was aided by the veterancy of Jonny Evans and that calm support and guidance. Perhaps he simply cannot play with Victor Lindelöf.

We should roll back to the earlier parts of the game though, and what for 90 minutes was simply dire football. United seem to constantly suffer lapses in concentration, which meant we conceded a silly goal to Jensen in the 26th minute after Casemiro lost the ball and Lindelöf failed to clear properly. Onana could perhaps have done more to save it, but he is looking behind a crowded box of United and Brentford players, and should he not expect one of his seasoned defenders to be able to successfully get rid of a ball?

Both Casemiro and Lindelöf appear to be devoid of form, and Onana's not far behind. After the international break it will be interesting to see if other players force them out of the side. Starlet Kobbie Mainoo is close to a return, Hannibal Mejbri has impressed, and if a left back can return to fitness then Amrabat can stay in midfield as the anchor or pivot.

United's play seemed to lack not only intelligence, but also energy. Are we unfit? Are we tired? What is going on? Because at this rate I'm more inclined to put our poor performances down to a lack of willing or desire, and simply put that isn't on at Manchester United. You fight for the badge or you sling your hook.

Confidence is blatantly lacking though, and that's definitely impacting United's composure to retain possession and perform habitual passing patterns, whether triangle moves, give and go, one-touch retention... it's sloppy and uncoordinated and very frustrating as a fan.

For all United failed the eye test, the statistics show we were the better team which (Thomas) Frankly is embarrassing for Brentford. 64% possession to Manchester United, 21 shots, 8 on target, 7 corners... the intent was there but it's about the execution, and that comes from confidence and synergy.

Højlund looked poor today, for example, but he's still young and new and bedding in. This is why he was talked of as a second-fiddle for a star signing like a Harry Kane - he will take time.

Erik Ten Hag is as culpable as the players for poor results, and many fans will say we got away with it today and decry the lack of standards from other fans for enjoying a 2-1 win. That was, after all, the first time United had trailed in the 90th minute of a Premier League game and then won it.

To the bitter fans I say go boil your head, because if you can't enjoy United winning then what's the point of you. We're not owed success. We're owed a desire for success - from players and coaches. We're owed a determination to do well. That's where we should rightly be criticising people. McTominay's heroics at the end of the game bagged us two goals in under 5 minutes. Now imagine if we play with that urgency earlier in the match. We could have snotted this lot and given them the sort of rodding that would boost any ego and make Gary Neville or Jamie Carragher think he had a chance at pulling Beyonce.

I also believe that Erik is as deserving of praise when things go right as he is of criticism when it goes wrong. His choices to substitute Casemiro for Eriksen, Rashford for Garnacho, and Amrabat for McTominay proved to be excellent decisions. We know he has tactical intelligence, we saw it at Ajax. He's been on camera and broken his style down in interviews. The issue is players, man management, and in-game decision making. We don't know the whole picture, but fuck it, at least today he got the decisions right.

The man is under huge pressure at a club owned by people who only care for money. He will get some things wrong. He also has to let players try and prove their worth, which might cost him and United. How many fans would have been happy at McTominay coming on as a sub to try and win the game? Honestly? The answer is not many. Yet he bangs in two in Fergie Time, the Old Trafford crowd roars, and McSauce pulls off yet another textbook knee slide. Fuck yes.

United are in a bad way. The players are playing like shit, and the manager has made some dumb mistakes, but we have to be fair and give them time to fix up. That doesn't mean they are exempt of criticism, but there's a balance to be had that isn't just TEN HAG OUT, SELL RASHFORD, TAKE AWAY BRUNO'S CAPTAINCY, BENCH ONANA. Honestly, go and watch United in the early days of Fergie, or even before that in the void after Sir Matt Busby. Understand that there will be bad times - yes, even more than a decade - and that it's on us as fans to be loyal and support the club.

What next though... I already jumped the gun and said that the Burnley win might be the turning point, and the Palace cup match seemed to prove that, but we're still faltering. We need a good international break now and to regroup with fresh ideas and renewed confidence ready to go on a run to Christmas. We have the talent, but do we have the mental fortitude and that drive to bounce back? Now's the time to show up.

[p-c-ba-dcforever]

According to the 1978 DC Calender, it's Supergirl's birthday, and that sounds like Bronze Age Canon to me! Let's celebrate!

[jlbilu]

So I have, or thought I had, this ofc who is Oz-based because apparently there are times (not always!) I'm unable to give them an existence not based on another fictional... work.

God knows why, because I do not. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The thing is- do you know how many canonical books there are about Oz, its surroundings and its inhabitants??

Tons. There are tons of them.

Does it mean I should try read them all- despite I'd mainly look at Maguire's novels?

[beyondthedustjacket]

Shelf Unhaul Series (5/?)

What This Is — A way to read, or unhaul, some books from my shelves!

How It Works — I’ll be using a random number generator to choose a number between one and fifty (to keep it simple). I’ll then find the corresponding book on my shelf. If I don’t read that book by a certain date, I have to unhaul it!

I’ll mainly be using books I’ve had for a rather long time, but haven’t read yet. If the book that is chosen happens to be rather short, I’ll most likely choose a second one as well!

Inspired by BooksAndLala’s Closet Unhaul Series  

My New Goal — Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

My random number was 22! My deadline to read this book is April 30, 2023.

My Previous Goal — The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

I didn’t get to finish this book before the end of February, mostly due to work, so I gave myself until the end of March. Thankfully, everything worked out! Highly recommend reading The Fire Next Time.

The formatting of this post was edited on July 22, 2023.