#Kimba got the moves

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Ugh...

Here we go again with this... Something something, "It's not my fault Disney is making these sequels! I avoided their latest original movies because they sucked! I shouldn't be to blame for that!"

A) These Disney Animation and Pixar sequels were likely always going to be made regardless of how the recent original movies performed financially. In the biz, if a movie makes a shit-ton of money, it's likely getting a sequel. It ain't 1997 anymore.

B) There is no blame or punishment, per se... The system in the world of mainstream American feature animation is working as intended. It's capitalism 101. It sucks, yes, but that's how it is. The performance of one movie dramatically affects the slate, or even the studio's survival. Must we dredge up what happened to Blue Sky after The Walt Disney Company bought them and their first movie released by them lost money at the box office? Better yet, all the times Disney Animation faced shutdown for many decades.

C) What if... Hear me out... These sequels are all pretty good? Better than the recent original stuff, even? Impossible! Something can be a critically-acclaimed audience favorite, and you'd still have gaggles of people online insisting the thing in question is garbage. Just look at TURNING RED, for example. It's all fuckin' subjective at the end of the day.

D) It's never gonna be good enough anyways, so why bother? I don't think I can name a *single* Disney animated movie where almost everyone was on the same page, praising it... Since THE LION KING? The latter-years Renaissance movies all had their detractors, as did the early 2000s movies, as did all the "Revival" movies (why don't they do 2D anymore? Because a lot of people avoided PRINCESS AND THE FROG and WINNIE THE POOH). I remember there were at least a few people who didn't like TANGLED, WRECK-IT RALPH, etc. etc. Were very vocal about that or didn't think they were "Disney enough" or whatever. Hell, even LION KING used to get flack for the KIMBA similarities. Plenty of the now-beloved films overseen by Walt Disney himself were largely greeted with mixed or negative reviews upon initial release. It'll never be perfect, it's just the nature of the beast. How the movies live on, is the more important part. Not the opinions of self-appointed "experts" on the Internet. Again, it's all personal preference.

The thing is, the movies Disney chooses to make is kind out of our control. No one should be obliged to pay for a product so that you get the next one like it ("vote with your wallet!"), but unfortunately, that's how the biz works. If you're not game on the latest films from the studio, you're also not to blame for what they do next, but they're gonna do what they're gonna do. That's just that about that. Hell, the thing can be a big success... And they'll still do the opposite of what people want! Off the top of my head, not an animated movie, but WORLD WAR Z 2 not moving forward despite how well the first one did. Again, it sucks. But... If WDAS ever got to a point where they were making things that I just did not want to see whatsoever? Then I'd go watch something else. It's ultimately the higher-ups' decisions that are at fault.

Very rarely are financial failures looked at logically, very rarely do executives ever try to pick up the pieces from there. Instead it's "never make this kind of thing again" or "shut this place down". It happened to Blue Sky. It happened at DreamWorks, projects cancelled (B.O.O., MONKEYS OF MUMBAI, etc.), staff laid off, a whole animation unit closed down (Pacific Data Images), etc. Disney Animation threw 2D features out twice, cancelled many movies, laid off tons of people multiple times, they faced complete shutdown multiple times. Animated movies are expensive and require lots of people and resources, they're fragile as is. COVID-19 really cut into their box office, and it doesn't help that going to the movies costs a fortune.

I'm not saying this is all a good, it's not. I've just made peace with it, and can only hope films keep getting made, staff still have work and roofs to keep over their heads, and maybe... Just maybe, I'll like the movies, too?

Anyways, I hope I like MOANA 2. I'm curious to see what the director and writers and artists and musical talents all bring to this world that was created by the first film.

[k-white]

hello peeps!

I am finally making my personal interpretation of the songs in the playlist Jojo made for OF and how I think they relate to the characters

So I put on my investigation glasses and listened to the songs wile reading the lyrics to be sure of the meaning of the song(I did this for now only for the english songs cuz spotify doesn't give you a translation but only the lyrics written in the characters for that language like a thai songs lyrics are in thai and a english one in english so I would have to look up a translation wich I will try to do but for now only english)

Mind you this relates to the trailer and as we know mock trailers are just an overall presentation for the series and might change! and also this is subjective to me!

The order in wich I am doing this is the order in wich I listened to them

Here they come:

-Memories by Conan Gray- Listening to this I got the feelings it relate the most to Mew and Top, it doesn't fit the other characters and how their relationships where presented, Mew loving top but having to let go of him because of the hurt Top put him trough and Top being selfish and clinging to Mew making him unable to move on, could relate to San and Ray in a way but San feels more strongwilled and less prone to wallow in sadness and self pity!

-Who'd have known Lily Allen- this could relate to Mew, San and even Nick so here the reason: the first one is kinda obvious but the others less so, for San the "are you mine?" could be he asking himself and I say this thinking back on San and Ray and how he says he doesn't want to be one of the choices, for Nick it looks like he has feelings for Boston but the relationship they have is more of the just phisical type but he wants more, and in a way both San and Nick pararrel eachother tho it is debatable that this is a much more softer and sweeter song and it would suite Mew and his more idealistic and naive views on love and sex and how he wants a "real" relationship

-Can you love me tonight? KAIRO- this one was trikier, I felt like it could refer to both Top and Ray, but by the end it felt more like Ray than Top, and it felt like it could be meant to both Mew and San, like in 2 different stages of Rays life: at the beginning It was meant for Mew even if the song implies a past relationship it still a song about being loved by smeone that seems to not want to tho as time passes it shift to San, and specifically in a period where they are not together cuz Ray couldn't realize his feelings and San left but he realize after loosing him that he is in love but it's too late but he still wants San to love him but it's too late, I wrote this a wile back and I do still stand by the idea that this could be very much so be Ray but it does fit a lot for Top as well cuz we know he is gonna screw up with Mew so him wondering if Mew can love him still after he screwd up can fit the song

-Somebody that I used to know Gotye Kimba- NOT THIS SONG🤣 the most overplayed song ever! I still like it tho... ok so! This is a dialogue between 2 people that used to date and had a major fallout and I don't think it refers to none of the couples(no RaySan and MewTop tho they could in a way fit as well but to me the sock doesn't fit that well) we see in the trailer other than Boston and Top: Boston relates to the Gotye part and Top relates to the Kimba part, and I feel like this is after Top starts dating Mew and Boston gets jelous and bitter about loosing someone he had a pull over, so Boston playing kind of the victim and still being hung up on Top but Top just wanting out from it; but It could also fit with relationships that wheren't shown in the trailer, but thaks to Jojo we got a relationships chart for the characters and got shown that San is more connected to the other characters than we originally thought, so this song could refer to San and Nick or San ans Top tho I cam only speculate who each characters relate to on the duet Gotye or Kimba? I feel like San could be the one still holding on the the others and that influences how he feels about being "just one of the choices"

-Be my Mistake 1975- Ok this is a BostonTop song! like come on! what else could it be? "you make me hard but she makes me week"? This literally fit the narrative of Top hooking up with Boston wile he is dating Mew, falling in love with the second but still sleeping with the first! nobody else fit this come on!

-You know I am no good Amy Winehouse- this could be Boston to Nick, they have something going on between them but he still sleps with other people and they both know it, cuz I don't feel like this fit with Mew And Top cuz clearly the fact that Top was still having sex with Boston was a secret, and for San and Ray... San does seem to be involved with others either romantically or sexually but we still don't know if it's a past thing or present and if we go with what he says to Ray about not wanting to be one of the choices... I don't know if he would go and hook up with others and be open about it but he could be a huge hipocrite for what we know, anyway my best bet is BostonNick

-Traitor Olovia Rodrigo- this one I feel like is the one song that is up to the most interpretations! The obvious one San about Ray and his feelings for Mew even if Ray and Mew never start something cuz the line between them is onesided, or Boston about Top starting a relationship with Mew and Boston being bitter about it, Mew fit the least this song cuz it is about your lover leaving you for a friend and less about Cheating so his storyline with Top doesn't fit that well cuz we know Top is probably gonna cheat on him with Boston and Mew is gonna dicover probably the hard way...Tho I do have a little treat tho it is a stretch but hear me out! Ray about San leaving him for Nick! Ray wasn't able to admit his feelings for San so this decided to ask Nick to pretend to be his new lover to make Ray jelous and realize he loves San! And make Boston jelous as well! This are probably catles in the sky but it is fun to imagine!

-Take me Home Jess Glynne- Always liked this song a lot! it's a sad and beautiful song about vulnerability and a person relying on someone else in the moment of need when they are at their lowest... so the only ones that resonate to me with this song are Ray and San to be honest... I don't know but they feel like they are the most lost and broken in the group and they just need to find their confort and maybe they will help eachother in that sense, being there for each other during their worst moments taking confort in oneanother, the others don't really fit here maybe the only other one is Top refering to Mew

-Anti-Hero Taylor Swift-(finally learned where the "I'm the problem it's me" audio came from! in my defense I don't listen to Tswift!) Ok this to me is both Ray and Boston, if I think about it Mew is probably the only genuine person in this whole shit show of a friend group and he snaps only when he reache dhis limit, San feels like he is headstrong and take no shit but isn't the nicest person, Top and Nick live their lives for themselves tho not really making up a front to please others so Ray and Boston I feel fit the AntiHero vibe! For Ray it's about how he lives his life but also how his relationship with San develops, and how he goes about life masking his actions as genuine wile he has ulteriors motives, like with Mew, he acknoledge his flaws and but basically does nothing to get better, and Boston as well he plays the part of the good helping friend for Mew but on the sides still sleeps with Top and he also does nothing to be a better person, tho I feel at the end Ray could came out of this whole story as a better person tho Boston on the other hand I feel could end up burning himself.

-Kill Bill SZA- I don't wanna even think about the implication this song could have lol! like I hope it is taken in a more metaphorical sense and a character has so much unbrideld hate and rage torwards his ex that he imaging killing him but never really doing it... I hope... tho it would be a cool twist, we saw violence and killing in bls before but the context was VERY different!

-abcdefu Gayle- well this could basically be any character like: Mew, San, Nick even Boston! refering respectively to: Top, Ray, Boston and Top again! it is such a fun song! I can imagine the betrayed ones singing it to the betrayers! It could be a fun scene if the wunded ones sang it wile drunk to the others!

Drunk Text I am pretty sure people on twitter said something regarding this song and how it applied to Ray if I am not mistaken I have no way to check so we'll never know🤷🏻‍♀️ so here my interpretation: This for me represent both Ray and San! Ray and his feelings for Mew how he is safe and confortable in their friendship but he's in love with Mew and he hopes Mew cpuld feel the same that maybe if he was braver and risked it he could be with him, for San it's about Ray and how he is starting to have feelings for him but they are still just sex friends and he knows Ray loves Mew but he started to be more boyfrendy with San blurring the lines, bonus points if this also could be a drunk Ray crushing at Sans appartament after a night out and spit out all his feelings for Mew to San too drunk to realize!

-Drunk Ed Sheeran- Mmm I am uncertain about this song🤔 this could be Ray about Mew but before he meets San, or San about past relationships before he meets Ray, it could also refer to drugs and not just alchool cuz from the trailer we know drugs are involved in the boys lifes, tho it could also refer to Top if he and Mew have a fight and they split up he could be drawning his sorrows in alchool and drugs cuz he feels guilty for being the reason of their break up but it's hard to be a better person(also Top is the only character that we actually see take pills pointing to a possible addiction)

Ok I am gonna stop here for now cuz this is already waaaay too long and I had already did them and I still have half of the playlist to do so I will do a part 2!

[mermaidsirennikita]

I enjoy reading your reviews, because I share almost entirely the same taste in books as you, and have a very high threshold for Badly Behaved men and Unlikeable Women. Plus. Sierra Simone and Kresley Cole.

Now, I belong to a book group of women who, in most things, seem to have a high threshold for impolite topics of conversation. However, my appreciation of the genre of romance has been treated as an ongoing, wave-of-the-hand, humorous pasttime for a while by my friends.

So...one of the women in book group read "The Love Hypothesis" and (she was surprised) she liked it a lot and after talking, the whole of my book group wanted me to choose _any_ romance novel I want for Februrary. This is a first in ten years. They want a contemporary. And it is to be "spicy". Honestly. Though. Love Hypothesis spicy isn't, well, very spicy. Given the shit I read. There's one woman in the group - after we read Lessons in Chemistry - who remarked that it was all tied up too clean at the end. She "likes the European movie endings". I guess tragic. This woman jokes about my "bodice rippers" laughingly all the time. Honestly. I love her but she doesn't get the genre at all and I worry that the "happy ending" requirement will feel "too tidy" to her and secretly I want to throttle her for discounting a genre that (to me) has some incredibly progressive and boundary pushing work being done by women/BIPOC/LGBTQ+ authors for the same audience. Also secretly - I want to choose a book that makes her eat her words.

SO. I'm wondering if you have any go-to contemporary fiction romance recommendations for reticent/new/romance-curious women? I have been racking my brain and came up with The Soulmate Equation (which isn't my fave of CLos but I don't think my fave is "clean" enough for this crowd). Or. Georgie All Along. Then I thought that maybe KA Tuckers The Simple Wild might do it?

Sigh. I'm stumped.

Thank you for reaching out! I am happy to hear from someone who gets it, lol. And I can definitely sympathize; for me, there's always someone who dismisses the books I read as pornography~ or just not Serious. The thing is, I can absolutely enjoy and value tragedies (The Godfather Part I and II are in fact my favorite movies). And I won't write it all off as emotional torture porn. But romance enjoyers are always forced to defend the work we read and prove that it has merit, right?

Georgie, All Along is a really solid choice for beginners. I will say, if you haven't read Love, Theoretically, you might want to put that up on the block as the one person already read and enjoyed TLH--it's definitely hotter than TLH (but still not too hot--I think there's an oral/digital scene and two-ish p in v scenes), and there's some interesting lore for discussion about Ali Hazelwood admitting that her agent suggested her cutting the sex down for TLH (compared to the original fanfic it was based on). I also found its examination of the physics "debates" and the grayer issues in academia (especially re: mentorship and blacklisting) really good.

I would definitely recommend considering Kennedy Ryan! She writes a fucking beautiful contemporary, and it's always hot, and it's always very complex morally. My faaavorite books of hers are the Kingmaker duology, but those definitely veer into more romance-y OTT territory (hero is the son of a billionaire, there are presidential elections involved, kidnapping happens). It's fucking 10/10, but might be a lot for newbies. I believe Queen Move, which is a spinoff of that series, is a little more approachable--the heroine is a high level campaign manager, and the hero is her childhood friend she got separated from. They reconnect at her dad's funeral, but she believes he's still with his child's mother (he's not). Both of the leads are Black, and Kimba's identity as a Black woman is really crucial to the novel, as is how that interacts with the hero's identity as a biracial Black man. Definitely on the hotter side, as is Kennedy Ryan's way.

Another one from Kennedy that's gotten a lot of play recently is probably the closest to women's fiction I've read from her is Before I Let Go--it's another Black romance, and it's about a couple who are co-parenting after divorcing, which itself following the stillbirth of their third child. It's really, really emotional, and it touches on issues like communication, therapy (and masculinity), and it's very fair all around to supporting characters... like the woman the hero tries to move on with, for example. Also? Hot, but not quite as intense as QM.

If they're open to queer romance, I will plug Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid. Y'all can talk about the recent hockey romance scandals~ lol while reading the best hockey romance ever, which is somehow NOT getting the play it deserves? It's m/m, rivals to lovers, the heroes begin a casual fuckbuddy thing that lasts on the low for YEARS. It's very much a "vibes" romance that is heavy heavy heavy on the character development, which makes it lovely. Ilya is maybe my favorite bi rep ever, he's like sexy but also very perceptive and a good examination of the "slutty hero", imo. Shane is also amazing; he's less comfortable with his sexuality, but it's not a typical case of "man is toxically masculine", which I found refreshing. There is a lot to his internalized homophobia than the standard. And... it's hot, I won't lie, lol. But I think the juxtaposition of sex v emotional development is a great way of communicating why explicit sex scenes are important in some books. You realize they're falling in love as the way they have sex shifts.

A possible recent release that harkens back to the classic romcom (still critically revered, so maybe they'll like comparing them on a srs level, and for the Ali Hazelwood reader, this is by a friend/former cohort of Ali's) is You, Again by Kate Goldbeck. It's a contemporary update on the WHMS formula, but this time the "Sally" is a quiet male chef who's obsessed with the idea of finding the one and settling down, and the "Harry" is a bisexual standup comedian who met him while they were fucking the same girl, lol. The relationship is a slow burn and builds up perfectly--you really buy them falling for each other, and there are some really clever subversions of the gender norms in m/f romance. It's a love letter to a golden era of romcoms, and it's very hot but doesn't have too many sex scenes (2, I think, nothing crazy).

The Art of Scandal by Regina Black may also be their speed. The heroine is the local mayor's wife whose husband is trying to run for something bigger when she finds out he's been cheating on her. The marriage was already meeeeh because she felt like her (white) husband was using her Blackness for political capital, which is a very real issue the book explores. She makes this connection with a young (26 to her 37) artist, and they have immediate chemistry--and though she agrees with her husband that she'll stay with him for the time being, there's this real temptation. It's written in a way that's way more literary than it may sound, and though there is sex on the page, it's a little softer and more dialed back--more on a Kate Clayborn level, versus a Sierra level, lol. It has enough drama to keep you interested, but I really loved the way it went into issues like respectability (for her) and machismo (for him--the hero is Latino, and his relationship with his father is written in a way that really doesn't pull any punches emotionally).

Jana Goes Wild by Farah Heron is one I just read and loved--it's definitely on the softer side of steamy (one open door sex scene) but it's like, so fun and compelling. It's more of a romcom than a drama, but it does delve into some serious stuff, especially re: the heroine's relationship with her mother and her own need to trust and forgive, as well as slut-shaming. But again, it's very fun, and the heroine's relationships with her friends are big aspects that I appreciated. It's basically "what if Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill from Emma hooked up in the modern era and had to co-parent". She falls hard, finds out he's still married, gets pregnant, has to co-parent with him, then they end up in the same wedding party in Tazania, with their four year old in tow.

Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne is one you can pitch as a contemporary Pride and Prejudice remix, in which Lizzie is a Black activist and Darcy is a Filipino billionaire who is very literally her opposition. It has great send-ups of P&P, and it's definitely hot without being OTT. The politics are super relevant to right here, right now, and it's really not easy to find an interracial romance that doesn't involve a white person. For sure a good discussion book, especially if they have familiarity with P&P. I think there are 2ish sex scenes, one that's oral and one that's p in v.

If you're feeling a little more daring, I love The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. The heroine is on the autism spectrum and feels the pressure from her mom to settle down, but she also has never had bad sex and due to... culture, and the way her autism has been treated by people in her life, she thinks it's a her issue. She hires a sex worker to teach her how to be good at it, but he is LOVELY and is like, um, let's work to making you feel comfortable. Great on the emphasis on sexual pleasure and imo, it handles sex work well. The author also is on the spectrum, and the hero connects to her in a representational sense as well as he, like the author, is of Vietnamese descent. Definitely on the hotter side, but still not insane, imo.

Good luck! I hope that whatever you choose, they approach it with open minds--and I hope they get that the genre is more than they realize.

[cindylyns]

This was "Kimba Abercrombie Sexton". She was my first cat. My only cat in my lifetime. I was going through books to sell on eBay. When I came across this book I had "Siamese cats in color" by Madeline Miller. I opened it up and these pictures fell out. About a couple weeks ago I thought about these pictures that I took of her many many years ago. I thought they were lost forever. I immediately burst into tears. The middle name Abercrombie came from my brother. We didn't think that Kimba had Scottish origins, but it was a cool name. Kimba was a good judge of character. She scratched and bit people that she thought would hurt me. She was right. Everyday I would come home after school. She would be waiting for me. One day I was late coming home after school. As I stepped through the door and she was nowhere to be found. As I walked through the room, she jumped out in front of me and started meowing excessively. I tried to move around her but she got in front of me and spoke her piece. She was mad that I came home late. Then she let out this last meow and walked away. I looked at my mother and said this is the first time I was ever cursed out by a cat. I miss her so much.

[cavenewstimes]

The Miracle of a Cat Named Kimba

By Deborah Paris, Western Australia When Jason and I got married, I had five cats—all from rescue homes, and all pure white. Unfortunately my husband had allergies, which meant that certain rooms were out of bounds for my furry friends. The years passed, and my little companions eventually reached old age. One by one, they moved on to the higher worlds, until only Kimba was left. This gave him…

[whitneydaniell]

by: Kennedy Ryan Published: Oct 25, 2019 Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Fiction 344 Pages, E-Book courtesy of NetGalley

★★★★

GoodReads Synopsis:

Raised to rule, bred to lead and weaned on a diet of ruthless ambition. In a world of haves and have nots, my family has it all, and I want nothing to do with it.

My path takes me far from home and paints me as the black sheep. At odds with my father, I’m determined to build my own empire. I have rules, but Lennix Hunter is the exception to every one of them. From the moment we meet, something sparks between us. But my family stole from hers and my father is the man she hates most. I lied to have her, and would do anything to keep her. Though she tries to hate me, too, the inexorable pull between us will not be denied.

My Review:

Oh my, this book is hot & heavy. *Spoiler Alert* There are many, many, too many sex scenes. Outside of the sex, what I really loved most about this story is the dedication to speaking about Native Americans / American Indians and their experience and history erasure. The amount of detail that went into curating their stories and highlighting their traditions was well-written and well-received. Now on to the story...

We read from both the perspectives of Lennix a young driven and fiery woman and, Maxim a determined, wealthy young man. Both are destined to make waves in their own right and very early in the story, we see how motivated and determined these two are. I really loved that for 90% of the story, these two are forging ahead in their lives and focusing on their individual desires, dreams, and destinies. I hate stories where the women (or even the men) give up on their goals and dreams to follow/chase behind men (or women).

Lennix is strong in her own right and doesn't need Maxim (or his wealth and famous name) to make it. Maxim is bull-headed and willing to bull-doze any and everyone in his way, and he's going to do it without the wealthy backing or support from his father. Noble, I guess. Here's where I got frustrated:

Maxim absolutely should have been honest. Lennix was right to say, he took her opportunity to choose away. However, Lennix also held onto that lie by omission, for yearssssssssssss.

For all intents and purposes, Maxim is actually controlling and a seemingly narcissistic man. He kept tabs on Lennix for years, going so far as to look into her boyfriend, finding out where she eats breakfast, pretty much tracking her down -- that's a red flag and very scary coming from a man with so many resources and with his amount of money. Stalking is not cute. Throughout the second half of the book he also comes across as emotionally manipulative and demanding; the conference room scene, wow!

All in all, once I got over the hump of his very "red-flag-like" tendencies, I enjoyed the story as a whole. I'm chopping at the bit to grab the next book in this series because I need to know:

What happens with Owen?

Is Daddy Cade (Warren) going to move heaven and earth for Lennix because Maxim tells him?

Or, is Maxim going to start a war over Lennix?

Give me more Kimba. Does she pick up with Dave?

Her mom, where is her mom?

I can't wait to keep reading this series.

One-Word Summary: Passionate

[breserker]

hands down horticular is one of the best games of its kind i've played out of the gate in terms of polish. (and potential! but i don't want to pigeonhole it into "this is gonna be GREAT later" no no no, it's great NOW). it doesn't take 80 quadspillion processing power like planet zoo and is clearly developed by people who really love these games and it's probably the most perfect sandbox/open approach to them as possible. you can set up a very lovely walkable garden or you can let it run wild. me personally, i'm the latter; I don't even have paths set up for my little guys other than boardwalks to get over rivers and swamps faster.

i do wish it was a little more clear on like, where to find and set up the "how do i test this land to see if it's ready for an animal to move in" thing rather than just tracking the requirements which are vague. and part of that is fine, there's the puzzle aspect of figuring out just what an animal likes, and even the grid guide only works on percentages and doesn't tell you specifics, but for a while i was really struggling with just what exactly the game wanted from me BUT after finding that menu it's a little bit better now

on a tangent vastly less related than one might think, i can't ever think of jerboa now without that one clip from the fucking. kimba the white lion/jungle emperor leo sequel series that didn't air in america until 20 years afterwards and it was horribly dubbed by a hyper christian network. kimba gets mad at his son and picks him up and runs super far with him then drops him in unfamiliar territory then just fucking dips. after runi runs and sobs and cries and struggles and gets into dangerous situations, kimba shows up at the last fucking minute before he gets gutted to save his ass and then is all "heh. got 'em son :J" and IMMEDIATELY runi starts sobbing into his leg like "JERBOA...MY FRIEND IS DEAD MY POOR FRIEND" and the voice acting is terrible and i can't help but think of that damn line every time i see jerboas ANYWAY I HAVE TWO JERBOAS IN THE GAME

yeah i just retreated into a cave to play horticular today

[anachronisims]

Meraki Year 1, Day 8 (Autumn 2nd) Summary

* This was more of ‘quiet grind day’ and less ‘eventful happenings’ day.  I still enjoyed playing it, though.  Let’s summarize, shall we?

* Stachia of the Icicle Eyes, Nadii’ya of the Brown Eyes, and Saphir of the Golden Eyes departed in the morning for the hunting meadow, arriving in the early afternoon.  Gameplay-wise, this was accomplished by “moving out” Stachia, cheating her enough household funds to buy the meadow lot as a residence, then inge-teleportering Nadii’ya and Saphir into the household with her.  I cheated the hour to 1300.  I Visitor Controller banned all visitors, including Dan, whose hollow is around the corner/in another dimension, because 1) he doesn’t come out in daylight (right now) and 2) at night he was occupied in town.  

* The hunting party gathered lots of useful food for the village.  I decided not to be ornery about weight limits carrying things back in their inventories, because I am a just and benevolent goddess.  The hunt haul will be revealed when it is divvied up amongst the households tomorrow.

* Rubati and Tammuz of the Green Eyes declared their platonic love only for each other, and have decided to continue living as they do, while woohooing other sims and never, ever, each other, ever again.  Rubati has a miniscule attraction-crush on Junia, the partner of her partner’s paramour.  So that’s fun.

*  Gandu and Junia had a little fight about how militantly atheistic they should be

* In the wee hours, Dan came a-calling to the Golden Eyes cave, giving mysterious instructions to Lehabim about how he may claim the title of village leader tomorrow once the hunting party (including his professional rival, Stachia) returns.

* The village carpenter, Gandu of the Sapphire Eyes, finally produced some stuff with all that wood the others have been handing him all week: two flutes (one for his partner, Junia, and the other promised to Lehabim of the Golden Eyes), a toybox, and a highchair (both for his son, Nehorai).  He was rewarded for this hard work with a promotion to Journeyman Carpenter, unlocking construction/purchase of barrels, barrel-shaped furniture, ladybug houses, and additions to wooden homes that do not yet exist.

* Rubati of the Green Eyes and Tobiah of the Brown Eyes also went to work today, but neither got promoted.  

* Kimba of the Amethyst Eyes missed work as a healer due to ongoing flu.  Ironic, don’tcha think?

* Tobiah was struck by an ROS-mandated depression, which has officially made him Grumpy and unable to hold onto Fun motive.  I felt a bit like Ron Swanson going “Boom, melancholy,” for every picture of him I took today.  It is scheduled to last another day.  Sorry in advance.  At least Nadii’ya will be home tomorrow.

* Toddlers be toddlin’.  the Icicle Eyes twins, Darah and Hasrah, both got potty-trained, but only Hasrah (who is notably Charismatic) has learned to talk (yesterday by Stachia) and walk (today by Pallu).  Linus of the Brown Eyes didn’t learn any new milestone skills today, but did have a good playdate with Hasrah while his da was at work.  Nehorai of the Sapphire Eyes got potty-trained and learned to walk today.  Tzivia of the Golden Eyes, who only aged up yesterday, hasn’t learned any yet.  Gaia of the Amethyst Eyes learned a new nursery rhyme, but nothing else yet, either.  Finally, Japhia of the Green Eyes is a potty-trained walker-talker, tying her with Hasrah for most skills learned so far.  As most of the birthdays of these firstborns occur tomorrow night, I am beginning to think that penalty traits scheme I mentioned in the last summary is probably in order.

* There’s no word on the street because today held the record low for number of Fishin’ Hole trips.  Just kidding.  Everyone is worried about not having enough food for winter, it’s pretty much all anyone can talk about if they happen to find themselves around someone from another household.

*  There is still. No. Bread.

[purplexflamingo]

A little piece of a scene I just wanted to write out that had been stuck in my mind. I will try to continue it this time hopefully. But it’s a start!- 

------

  Days had gone by and Kimba was quick to notice the silence. She hadn't heard from her Prince in nearly a two weeks and it was peculiar. Yet part of her attempted to be understanding after all he is a royal and there is most likely a lot on his plate. But she couldn't ignore this growing gut feeling she had been feeling, something was off and this caused her to set foot inside of the palace undetected and she could careless if she were caught, she had to find out. This time she wouldn't be ignored. As she quietly crept around the palace, she was not entirely sure where to start. Never once had she been invited back or shown around. Kimba only had vague memories from when she visited one time with her close friend as guests. 

 Eyes trailing off as she scoped everything around her in the lengthy halls. It was extravagant and beautiful giving her strange feelings, as if she truly didn't belong there. Though she tried to push that feeling back. What if she were to marry the Prince? She could only dream. Suddenly she felt a grip on her wrist and she'd been pulled away from the portrait she had been viewing. " I told you, you are not to see the Prince ever again if you want to live." It took her a moment to process, but it was her father. General Han, he knew his craft well and was able to spot her out anywhere. After all she learned from the best. Kimba harbored a bit of mistrust and hatred because Han turned out to the spy Azulon sent after Ozai and her. Part of her wanted to blame him for Ozai ignoring her.

 Of course her father was not happy about this situation, instead he only wanted to shelter her even more so, and she was done with that. There was a possible future for her, a future that had a high probability of happening. " Get away from the palace now. Azulon doesn't know you were the cause of his son behaving strangely. I didn't tell him, I am trying to protect YOU." She looked mortified, she didn't expect to see him, was he spying on her again? Pulling from his grip she bite back. " Stop trying to father me now after all these years. I know what I am doing, I am not some helpless child." Han let go and he let out a long sigh. " Yes, you are not a child...But you should stop acting like one for the sake of yours. If they find out what your night with the Prince has done. You might be sentenced to death." Pausing she furrowed her brows and it was on her to contemplate what she fully intended to do when she found him. " I refuse to let anything happen to you. I will protect you. I never told the royals you were involved." Her father continued to confess and now it weighed heavily on her chest. Could she trust him? Shifting her gaze, she didn't want to think of the worst, but she did worry and the fact her father spared her caused her to feel some emotion. Without a second thought she took off before he could furthermore talk her out of it.

  Leaving Han there with his eyes widened in horror  and he only hoped she'd be careful because at this point it would be out of his control. Deep down in his gut he felt everything around them would begin to explode very soon and his ever growing paranoia spiked. This was not how it was suppose to go. His feelings only worsened when he turned and took a glimpse at a Fire Lord Azulon portrait near him. Feeling the ever looming threat grow and realizing how his loyalty for him was no longer. He was now only loyal to his daughter.

 Kimba kept a low profile as she continued her search, up until she spotted the Prince on the path way leading through the gardens to another half of the building. One quick glance around for any guards then she began to approach him. Matching his pace as he walked. He didn't dare look back at her, but it was obvious he knew someone was following him. It was extremely odd behavior. " Prince Ozai?" Respectful she called, she would've gotten on her knees if he'd stopped and acknowledged her. Silence had been received from his end. " Ozai?" She softly asked again. Ozai paused and barely looked to the side, only slightly. " Why haven't you written back, why are you ignoring me? What did I do wrong?" Then he began to speak cutting her off. " I never want to see you ever again. I thought my attempts of ignoring you made it clear, clearly you are fool if you could not take the hint. I'm done with you now." There was no emotion in his voice, he was stern and serious. It was painful to hear after their last affair. Curving her brows upwards as rejection consumed her, she could barely hear anything around her at this point. Only slight ringing as she felt her heart sink. Dropping to her knees behind him and lower her head. " Please, what have I done?"  He scoffed at her efforts as if her pain was humorous to him. “ I’ve moved on, you knew this was something that wouldn’t last. What did you expect me to marry someone of your status? I was bored and you were entertaining while it lasted.”  

 The words continued to strike her one by one and left her completely confused. Everything was fine up until recent events. What was she just a play thing until he found better? It was a lot to take in at this point. “ You can’t be serious.” The words escaped her as she tried to process everything at once. “ Leave or I’ll have you escorted out. I could do worse if you want to disobey me.” There was a look of horror on her face as she felt her blood boil. A mixture of emotions filled her, she wanted to cry and she wanted to show. She wanted to strike him and she wanted to love him. It left her silently on her knees with her eyes streaming tears. Redness covering her cheeks. Was she not good enough? She was before. “ Ozai...” That was the last straw he turned to her with a look  trieof sheer anger that she dared to question him. “ I said I want you gone! I can have you imprisoned for defying orders. Leave at once!” Instantly she rose to her feet, trembling now as he pointed off into the distance and had this look of pure hatred. 

  Her heart pounding and every fiber in her being told her to flee. Panicking she took off running and struggled to see through her tears, it was very disorientating. Turning the corner she collided with two guards. Her emotions clouded her thoughts and she misjudged her course of action soon she’d pay for it. Especially as she began to catch on to the guards hollering and taking hold of her. “ We’ve got her!” Faintly she could hear the men discussing, but she continued to try to free herself. “ Someone inform the Lord!”

[magmahurricane]

A decade of friends - in no order, here’s to all the amazing people in my life old and new!

@shinkumancer : I remember following your work waaay back in the Archie Comic days. I had always been too shy to approach you, but I loved your work. I still remember so much of your Egg Boss art and it’s insane how far you’ve come. You’re still one of the sweetest, kindest people I know and I always enjoy the little drawpile sessions we have! 

@zlatis-art : We haven’t been friends for very long - it’s roughly been a year, now, but it feels like we’ve been friends longer. Something just... clicked when we met, and god I came on strong looking back! I don’t regret it tho - taking the plunge and letting you into my life was such a good call. You’re super patient and you strive so hard to treat everyone fairly and give people so much love. You’ve come such a long way with both your OCs and your art, and our calls are always so much fun! 

@sege-h : Would you believe I actually don’t remember exactly how we met...? I know it had something to do with the Sonic RPC iirc. But you’ve always been such a wonderful source of optimism and joy, and I love our talks! You’ve always been so supportive of me and I don’t know how to thank you for it?? I need to draw Storm and Carey doing more shenannigans when I get better!

@rainingautumn : I also don’t recall how, other than vague recollections of the Sonic RPC I think. I feel like I learned so much from you - you’ve provided me with different perspectives, which really helped me open my eyes to a lot of things. You’ve always been such a warm, positive presence while still standing firm and speaking up for yourself, which is so hard to do. I love your little messages, even if I don’t always know how to respond to them!

@boy-of-silence : You’re legit one of my oldest friends around and looking back on where we started it’s honestly kind of insane? We met on dA and we were practically babies like??? It’s insane, I remember so much and it all blurs together like mad, but we’ve always just sorta stuck by each other and I’m always so happy to see you on my dash. You got me into Homestuck, and you made me curious about Bioshock (I still need to finish Infinite), and I still remember the little art collabs we used to do...! I got nothing but good memories!

@kismeti : We don’t talk much, but I’m hoping to change that soon! I love your work, and you’ve put so much into your OCs. Seeing you tweet about petsites makes me think about Neopets and I age 500 years every time,, You honestly seem so sweet and kind and I can’t wait to see what more you’re gonna share with us in the new year!

@fini-mun : I don’t talk with you as much as I should (purely because I’m shy as all get out) but you’ve honestly been such an inspiration to me. You’re so incredibly kind and patient -- I still have that doodle you sent me while I had been down in the dumps. I remember I found you so intimidating when I first met you on dA, when I first tried to commission you -- and watching you grow as an artist and getting to know you has been so great! You don’t know how much I smiled that night when I expressed how I knew nothing about BatIM and you up and streamed the entire game live. I know we were both excited to play FO76 together and that was a let down for like, the entire fandom. But we should definately hang sometime and do stuff! Give your ratties my love!!

@oddpastrys : JAAADE,,, I vaguely remember meeting you in one of Kaden’s streams,, and then in Joan’s weird campaign. You’ve always been such a fun, energetic person and you always bring the best jokes. Deadass, watching RWBY with you both ruined it and enhanced it. You’re so much fun to be around and you always work so hard to cheer everyone up and please everyone, and we don’t say thank you often enough - I don’t thank you often enough. You’re so sweet and fun to be around and I’m 100% not sorry about all the horrible, horrible things I’ve made you see. 

@calderscauldron : Kaden!!! You’re another one of my oldest friends, and it’ll never be wild to me how insanely lucky it was that I happened to move to the same state as you. I remember when we were dumb kids on dA, and how you used to joke about kidnapping me -- and how my first thought when getting to Texas was “I should see where this guy lives and meet up!” sjkfdjkfs It’s been a helluva ride and I don’t regret it. We had our bumps and fallouts but we’ve always worked through it all -- and your art has come such a long way. You’re always so sweet and so much fun to be around.  You deserve so many nice things and I can’t thank you enough for sticking by my dumb ass for so long!

@haunted-pixel : Yet another decade-old friendship! Bronwyn it’s been such a fucking wild ride. I still remember your old OCs from back in the day; I remember our gryphon friend group, and our lizard group and screaming about digimon, I remember getting really into Kimba/Jungle Emperor Leo cos of you and your OCs, I remember all the drawings of Z and Miki. I remember Nuki and the others. It’s been such a long time and so much has changed around us both. We don’t talk as much anymore but I’m always thrilled when we do hit eachother up on twitter!! I seriously gotta draw more Carey x Zanity sometime. You’ve also just, improved so much as an artist and branched out so much?? Your plushies and your fursuits are absolutely amazing and I can’t believe how far you’ve come! I also still have the sketches you and your sister did for me when I was technically homeless and stuck in the hospital and I’ll always treasure them - and the Nack you made for me is still sitting cozy on my shelf, along with the yeen and Sonic you sent!

@nuttyrabbit : My absolute best friend!!! And probably most unexpected friend! I remember seeing your posts in the Archie Sonic tag way back when, and how my asshole ex used to rant about how she hated you for w/e reason. I used to be so intimidated by you because you told it how it is, and I respected your opinion so I was always lowkey afraid you thought I was stupid and hated my ideas/OCs. But even before we got close, you stuck your neck out for me when things got bad between my ex and me. And in 2018, we finally just started to click with our OC stuff.  Lady Luck became a huge comfort dynamic for the both of us. You always argue against it but I still say you’re one of the kindest people I know. You always try to look out for me and find ways to lend a hand when things get tough, you’re always trying to help me when I’m down and you go out of your way to cheer me up and I can’t thank you enough. Meeting you at RTX this year was incredible.  Thank you so much for being you. <3 

@finitevus : We don’t talk much but I can’t not add you!!! You’ve been so kind and supportive to me, and artistically you’ve always been such a big inspiration. I love your character designs and your writing is so so good, and you always strive to be so positive and warm to others and I promise I’m not ignoring you when you reach out; I’m just very shy and dumb ankjdjkfs I need to,,, say hello on discord sometime. And draw you many things!

@lightdax : You’re always a whole lot of fun and I refuse to apologize for your eyes with half the shit you’ve been exposed to by proxy. You’ve always been really sweet and you’ve really been pushing to improve this past year and it shows! Take time off your mayoral duties for the town of Cuckoldia and put up your OC bios tho! @nvllspace : I,, gotta tag ur RP blog cos IDK ur personal but JACKKIIEE. You’re so sweet and fun and your art is always such a treat. You came through with helping me realize just how toxic a certain person I needed to cut out of my life was, and you’ve always been so kind and supportive. You’re always a blast in our calls and I love your AUs so much! Also you need to stop having so many gorgeous characters cos holy shit,,,

@frecklefacefromouterspace : Nixe!  You’re usually busy these days but whenever we do catch you it’s always fun. If it wasn’t for your old server, the current server wouldn’t have even existed and you brought us all together! You’re always so sweet and bubbly and you have one of the cutest, most distinct styles I know.

And to all my other mutuals - thank you all so much for sticking by me!  I’m having difficulty typing now so I’m sorry I couldn’t get to everyone but sincerely: thank you, all of you, for making these past years such an amazing ride. I’ve learned so much from each of you and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2020!

[primedoverlord]

I’ve been thinking really hard about a TLK AU lately. And today I’ve been toying with alternative styles. Yes, base inspiration was Kimba/Leo. 

As for the AU. It started with a what if. “What if Kopa really was Scar’s cub and Nala fled the pridelands to safely give birth?” 

It escalated from there.  

So now we’ve got Nala trying to raise her first cub in a desolate place I’ve given the placeholder name the Dustlands(Pretty much shrublands that’s on the edge of the big desert at the border of the pridelands). As the cub grows, he’s oblivious to Nala’s real struggles of trying to survive and raise him, she even reconsiders leaving the pridelands once he’s old enough to travel long distances. As he’s busy exploring the world around him, the animals call him ‘Young Prince,’ leaving him baffled about the title. For the time being, Nala lies to him, telling him that they respect him for he’s an apex predator. 

One afternoon he’s busy chasing after a bird, thinking it quite a game. At least until he finds himself in buffalo territory and surrounded by buffalo. With Nala’s words echoing in his mind, he announces who he is and uses his status brazenly. But it doesn’t work on the buffalo. 

Nala is not far off when she hears her son crying for help. But she arrives too late and can’t get through to rescue Kopa. It’s in the late afternoon before the buffalo move on that Nala can get to the cub and finds his lifeless body. After a period of mourning, she takes the initiative and leaves the Pridelands, striking out across the desert, where she’ll later meet a familiar face. 

So yeah, very roughly thought up while I was sketching. I guess it’s kind of a Reverse Bambi AU. 

No, you may not repost or edit my art. Please be respectful. 

[powerborntouch]

“The Altered Adventure: Fear of the Prophecy (Chp 7)”

If you don’t want spoilers, stop scrolling down and blacklist “altered adventure spoilers” or “fear of the prophecy”

Bludder sharks are the smartest animals in Altered...does that include Powerborns and Justments? Smart fishies.

Apparently, the bludder shark wants to help Gail because it foresees a great destiny for her...whatever what means.

So apparently bludder sharks are great at deductive reasoning and foreseeing the future.

I’m just confused. Seems like deus ex machima to me.

Omg, that rebellion battle is so awesome.

However, I’m not that happy with Vantor’s sudden change of ways.

I guess Vantor’s change is a “easier said than done” kind of thing. It is easier for Vantor to declare vengeance and murder, but he can’t actually bring himself to do it.

But it all seems so sudden and unfitting. Letvia didn’t even have the chance to tell Vantor that Gail was alive.

I think the book is trying to say "forgive and love your family members uwu" But honestly...I'd prefer it if Vantor sees Gail alive and THEN reconsiders everything. Not reconsider on his own, because there is no way he can reconsider on his own..

Vantor is just a traumatized child who needs better role models and healthier coping mechanisms. The novel didn't do him justice. That was anticlimactic.

Wow, Tayren. That is a jerk move. In the roleplay, Tayren accidentally killed Gail because she blocked the way. But here, he purposefully kills Gail.

Alpha has arrived. Now everyone is bamboozled.

Hmm, I don’t like how the Rebellion is treated as one unit. It’s a bit cartoony. How they all disagree with Tayren murdering Gail. How they all decide to change their ways when Alpha arrives. It’s not a diverse group with different attitudes and intents, even though it should be.

Omg, Alpha screams at the ocean.

Kimba, NOOOOOO.

Kimba statue: *exists* Beta: owo, what’s this??

And Ratchet. Seriously. He got disowned again?! WHEN WILL MY SON GET A BREAK?!

Hmm, Gizzy being forced out of the Observatory seems forced.

I know the book has to get Gizzy out of the Observatory as soon as possible because Woof and Omega are on their way, but this feels way to convenient.

Lucky’s around. Couldn’t the book have used Lucky and the Bowsmen instead to force Gizzy out of the Observatory? Beta’s powers still could have been involved.

Dang, this chapter was a ride.

[ashwolfforever]

What "The Lion King" Means To Me

If you haven’t seen the discourse over -clears throat- the Live Action Adaption of The Lion King, where do live? Under a rock? It’s gotten a little out of hand. So this video, I am going to talk about TLK and what it means to me.

For me, the original Lion King film came out around the first semester of third grade. Otherwise known as when school had barely started and I was already out of sick days. My low immune system forced my parents to move me to homeschooling. I’m self-motivated, and when I wasn’t behind in my classes due to missed school days, finishing early was a common thing. So homeshooling was a lot of free time on my hands.

During this transition, I was TLK crazy. I had almost every book they’d made, and tried to resist reading them before I finally saw the movie with my cousin and grandmother - which that’s a story by itself, as we got lost and came in just at the end of Be Prepared and had to stay to watch the beginning after we’d seen the rest of the movie.

I colored pictures of Mufasa and Simba, one of which I put my name and my dad’s on and gave to him. It ended up over his workbench. My dog was named Mufasa, I had a cat named Simba. The very first thing I learned to “freehand” draw was Mufasa and what would be called my fursona today. TLK was everything to me for a long time.

Simba’s Pride came out around the time I turned thirteen. That year, I underwent Confirmation, one of the biggest Catholic rites. It’s still one of the most potent memories of my life. I connected Kiara and Simba with myself and my father. It wasn’t long after this that my parents and I moved from my childhood home to the house where, about two years later, my father would suddenly pass away, one month after I graduated high school.

He Lives In You took on a new meaning after my father died. Before he passed away, I made a TLK / Kimba crossover with two VCRs and my stereo. I’ll never forget the grin on his face as he pointed to the screen when I showed him and mom. The sucker was two hours long and took me days. This might explain why my crossover still means a lot to me years later.

What I am saying is, The Lion King means a lot to me. It is tied to some of my most important milestones. And… I’m excited. The new clips, the new songs, everything I see, makes me feel nine years old again. Thirteen again. It’s a happiness I haven’t felt in a long time.

And even if it comes from a “cash grab piece of crap”, I’ll take it. 

Hakuna Matata.

[hornyliverpudlianputz]

What are your favorite Monkees episodes, and why? :)

Oh my gosh Anon you are both my favorite person for asking me this question and my worst enemy because HOW CAN I PICK ONLY A FEW?? I shall do my best.

Personally I tend towards the dry/satirical side of humor, so I like a lot of the second season episodes when they were riding the edge before their humor got too cynical. Season one episodes I find funny for a different reason (mostly slapstick as opposed to wit/satire), and I tend to favor specific bits over whole episodes because they were a little too “childish”, for lack of a better term. (This is unsurprising as they were originally written for children and I am in my 20s.)

But I will give you my top 5, in no particular order except the last one:

“Royal Flush” - I am partial to this one if only because it was the first one I watched, but it has some very funny parts as well. Davy’s sword fighting while Mike and Micky distract the goon (the part where they pull the curtain away to reveal the brick wall and then shake hands has me in stitches every time), Peter saving the day by phoning in the time (how dated is that reference?!), Micky’s sales pitch for the chair, the boys bluffing their way into the room (You know wool hats dontcha? That’s him!”), and the use of freeze frames.

“I’ve Got A Little Song Here” - I love this episode because it’s one of the ones where the boys dedication to each other is basically the whole plot of the episode. The scene where they try to cheer Mike up after he realizes he’s been had is so heart warming and relateable (I think I’ll just sit around the house and fail, big ass mood Mike) with Micky doing his best James Cagney and Peter telling him his mother thinks he has the best posture and then making a stellar pun accidentally (We won’t let you take this lying down!) never fails to make me smile. And then the entire second half with Micky as “MD” is just brilliant. (Peter turning his notebook to face the camera to show he’s been scribbling nothing and just staring down the lens gets me every time.) Also, MONKEE MEN.

“Hillbilly Honeymoon” - This is one of the ones where they start getting a little edgier with their humor, which I adore. They start breaking the fourth wall in a different way that I can’t really describe except that it’s…more real? Not sure, but regardless Mike leaning into his twang to go 110% into the hillbilly disguise is great. And then making a face at Peter’s accent. The whole bit with the pig, the naming the cousins, Davy “you bruised the gin” Jones, the resolution of the wedding at the end, the “yeehaw” joke outta no where, all excellent. (I also really like the way Micky looks in that hat, what can I say.)

“Monkees Marooned” - This is another one that I just find very funny because of the writing. (Who writes this stuff?) The fact that it’s parodying “The Most Dangerous Game” really tickles me because that short story is the antithesis of this show and the fact that they did it anyway is great. Other highlights include the guys pulling together behind Peter despite the really dumbass move of the whole treasure map business, explaining the “small set” problem to Micky, Peter “translating” for Kimba, Pshaw randomly being Australian, and the specific way that Mike says “wham!” when he’s telling Micky that Kimba ran into a bush.

“Fairy Tale” - I saved this one for last because it is the one I call my favorite, if I am forced to name just one. This is peak second season humor for me because it is the epitome of “we couldn’t be bothered to try” and yet it is hilarious. And Mike absolutely kills as Princess Gwen and himself slavering over her simultaneously. This episode is peak Mike Nesmith comedy acting and it is brilliant. Favorite bits besides Gwen are the downright witty lines (Grovel! No, not gravel, concrete tile! and Glad to see your/you’re back), Peter’s magic saddle shoes, the most shitty excuse for a gingerbread house I have ever seen, and the dragon’s riddle. The interview at the end is also one of my favorites.

Thanks again for the ask, anon, even if I did run away with it! If anyone else ever wants to ask me something, my box is always open.

[kukuandkookie]

Ah, yes. This age-old debate.

It’s actually really interesting!! Since I’m basically swamped and drowning in research for my thesis (comparing Nezha 1979 and Nezha 2019 with a focus on national style), the history of Chinese animation (which is interconnected with the history of Japanese animation) is on my mind, so I guess I’m cracking my knuckles and prepping myself to talk about the “godfather of anime” and creator of Astro Boy and Kimba himself, Osamu Tezuka.

Creation is...circular. People are always influencing one another.

As my research has taught me, Osamu Tezuka actually saw the first feature-length 1941 Chinese animated film (also the first feature-length animated film in all of Asia), Princess Iron Fan, as a teen. It heavily inspired him.

You can actually see the impact Princess Iron Fan had on him from this clip of his autobiographical film:

https://youtu.be/36OfEZ3e4xY

(Fun fact: at the time of Princess Iron Fan’s release, Japan was occupying China, so a lot of Japanese people actually saw the film. Japanese critics even said their animation industry should learn from the movie. It did technically have an anti-Japanese message in that it encouraged people to band together and fight the enemy, but Japan let it slide, especially since the creators of the film, the Wan brothers (who are essentially China’s Disney), played up the fact it was an accomplishment for all of East Asia, which Japan wanted united under Japan, so they touted it as an achievement of Japan’s too.)

(Fun fact continued: the Japanese navy also saw Princess Iron Fan and commissioned a Japanese director to make Japan’s first feature-length animated movie, Momotarō Umi no Shinpei, which was a propaganda film for the Japanese side of the war that they could show their colonies, with an anti-American message. It was released too late in 1945 when the war was winding down though, so most of Japan’s colonies didn’t see it, but Osamu Tezuka did, and I believe he’s quoted as saying he was moved to tears by it).

Okay, now back to the story:

Osamu Tezuka found inspiration in Princess Iron Fan, even making manga centering around Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. Sun Wukong is a popular Chinese mythical hero who’s been adapted into media a lot (including by the Wan brothers), and Princess Iron Fan is one of the stories from the Ming dynasty novel that featured Sun Wukong, Journey to the West.

(Bonus fun fact: Sun Wukong is actually the inspiration for Dragon Ball too! Son Goku’s name is literally just Sun Wukong in Japanese.)

In fact, he was so inspired, when he got to adapting the Princess Iron Fan part of Journey to the West for his manga, he admitted he couldn’t stop thinking about the 1941 animated movie and felt like he plagiarized it too much in his manga. Kind of ironic, considering the Kimba and Simba debate. 😆

Osamu Tezuka’s very own first animated film was in fact an adaptation of Sun Wukong with Toei Animation (the movie was imported into the US as Alakazam the Great. God that title... Turning Sun Wukong’s name into Alakazam sure is...something).

Osamu Tezuka saw Wan Laiming, the most famous of the Wan brothers, as an inspirational figure and wanted to meet him. He got his wish, going to China to meet Wan Laiming in 1981 after Osamu Tezuka learned he himself had cancer, with the two of them even drawing their most famous characters together:

(Astro Boy hanging out with the Wan brother’s version of Sun Wukong, which is also one of his most famous renditions—most Chinese people will instantly recognize this design of Sun Wukong from the 1961-64 film Uproar in Heaven).

Osamu Tezuka even made a speech about the impact the Wan brothers and Sun Wukong had on him at the event, which is pretty cool!

He’s even written a greeting card for Wan Laiming:

Fun fact (I know, I know, I’m inserting a lot of fun facts): Osamu Tezuka also received influence from Disney (as did the Wan brothers—they arguably mostly learned from the Fleischer brothers, but Princess Iron Fan happened because Wan Laiming and his brothers saw Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in China). Pictured below is a card that Osamu Tezuka wrote Carl Barks, who made Disney comics:

As for Osamu Tezuka and Wan Laiming’s budding friendship from their 1981 meeting, I believe he unfortunately passed away soon after, preventing them from meeting again. 😔

Now before I continue on about Osamu Tezuka, some of you might be wondering why China doesn’t have more notable animated movies from the twentieth century if they started innovating with Princess Iron Fan. You can actually blame the Cultural Revolution for that, as things got super complex after China was left devastated from the Second World War. Mao Zedong took over and while at first he supported the arts and wanted to elevate artistic standards, letting artists create whatever they want, he eventually changed his mind due to Soviet influence as China tried to stick with socialist realism (making mostly realistic cartoons that could also serve as propaganda).

This is actually why the first part of Uproar in Heaven, released in 1961, was well-received and celebrated while the second part of Uproar in Heaven, released in 1964, was criticized and later banned. At first, it was seen as good art, with Sun Wukong rebelling against China’s old gods. But by the second part, the Cultural Revolution’s focus had shifted and it thus became seen as a sign of rebellion against Mao’s government and/or a sign of art that didn’t serve the common people (because it wasn’t realistic).

It wasn’t until 1979 that China would make another iconic animated movie (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King). But by then the damage had been done and China was forced to play catch-up in the industry, with Japan already having set itself as a powerful innovator in the animation industry.

And of course, as the “godfather of anime,” Osamu Tezuka played a large role in establishing Japan as the animation powerhouse it is today.

Kind of ironic and really fascinating!

Especially since China is now making its own animated series (donghua), and many of them have a clear anime influence on them. As I mentioned in a video presentation (made for my Chinese class) about Chinese animation, this is also because in playing catch-up, Chinese animation studios did a lot of outsourcing for Japanese animation. That, and because after China opened up in the 1980s, they got a lot of animated series imported from Japan, so plenty of today’s donghua creators grew up watching anime.

(Wow, would you look at all that anime influence? Guess what comes around, goes around... From Fleischer & Disney -> Wan Brothers -> Osamu Tezuka -> anime -> Chinese donghua... And even then, inspiration is again circular, and not nearly as neat/linear as what I just listed. 😉 )

Now a few more thoughts on Osamu Tezuka himself before I finish this post...:

The warthog with a spanking kink thing makes me think again about how...Osamu Tezuka’s art definitely wasn’t always for children (he had his...fetishes? Including transformations).

Saberspark also recently reviewed his adult animated movie, Cleopatra.

He was definitely an artistically creative man and an important forefather of the anime industry, but he had his unique points. And based on the summary of Kimba and how it even has pro-colonization themes, I guess he had some yikes to him too. Kinda makes sense...he did grow up during Japan’s aggressive military conquering in the Second World War... 😬

I guess what I’m getting at is that yeah! Stories get told over and over again and influences are everywhere. Even the mighty Osamu Tezuka, who so many put on a pedestal due to his innovation and his creation of Astro Boy (which gets even furthered by people who believe Disney plagiarized his Kimba in making their Simba), actually pulled inspiration from other places too—and from an unlikely, not-often-talked-about source too: Chinese animation, the Wan brothers, and Sun Wukong.

[turning-a-critical-eye]

Turning a Critical Eye on: The Lion King Teaser Trailer

So the teaser trailer for the remake of The Lion King came out, and people are eating it like it's being spoonfed to them. That of course means there's absolutely no risk in me saying... I'm not impressed. In fact, I'm worried. The main reason I'm worried is because every shot in that trailer is just a CGI rendering of the original. And no, beyond this point, I'm not going to complain about how it can't even hide behind the tissue-thin excuse of 'it's live-action, not animated this time around' because it's still animated, just in a computer. No, what worries me about this trailer is just the sheer lack of creativity on display here and the cynical nature of the studio bringing it to us.

Now, that's always going to be a tall order when remaking a classic as iconic as The Lion King. I don't think it's hyperbole to say that when it comes to iconic moments in movies, this could very well be the king, pun intended. Maybe not winner by default, but definitely a strong contender. So that's something director Jon Favreau was always going to be struggling against, and this trailer suggests that he lost that struggle. And before you go off on me saying that it's unfair to judge a movie strictly by its trailer: it is. That having been said, I'm not only judging this movie by its trailer, but by the broader precedent that has been set by the previous Disney remakes. My least favorite movie of 2017 was the Beauty and the Beast remake, not for being the worst movie functionally, but for what it represented and how it got rewarded for that. It doesn't really help that I think a lot of the elements in play don't work and that it screws up on pretty much every level in key areas, ranging from narrative, to theme, cinematography, writing, directing, and especially singing, but because it sticks pretty close to the original, when you strip it down all the way to ground level, it's good enough. That turned out to be enough to draw people in, because it made over a billion dollars. And yeah, that stings. It stings that a childhood classic of mine, a movie so good that and unfinished rough cut got a standing ovation at the New York Film Festival, a movie so good that it was nominated for Best Picture, which was unheard of for animated movies, is reduced to nothing more than basically functional, and then gets rewarded for it.

And that's why this Lion King trailer bugs me too. I am not worried that this movie is going to be bad, far from it. I'm worried that it's going to be basically functional and nothing more. Something that's very important here is the movie landscape it's being released into. You see, back in the mid-'90s when the original came out, we were in the middle of the Disney Renaissance. The origins of that period can be drawn back basically to the death of Walt Disney himself back in 1966, after which the animation department of the studio was really struggling to keep the movies coming, and even worse, keep good movies coming. In 1985, The Black Cauldron bombed so hard at the box office that Disney was seriously considering shutting the whole animation department down permanently. That was until Jeffery Katzenberg took over as studio head, and revitalized the Disney brand by taking it back to its roots, starting in 1989 with The Little Mermaid. These movies took the original concept that made Disney movies great in the first place and ran with them, but in an evolved and modern way. We went back to a fairy tale, a musical that wasn't trying so hard to be hip and trendy, but instead to be timeless, and it worked out. Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, these were great movies, and that brings us to The Lion King.

Finding its roots in Shakespeare's Hamlet more than anything (don't even bother bringing up Kimba the White Lion, that's an old joke that doesn't make sense when you think about it for more than ten seconds), The Lion King was a profound risk for Disney with how dark it was going to be. The other three major hits of the Renaissance had their darker moments, but none were as graphic as this one. The scene I'm referring to is of course the iconic 'Long live the King', where Scar kills Mufasa, and it's in the middle of a brutally intense action scene, and right on screen. It's not like Bambi, where the mother gets killed off-screen, no, this was front and center, killing off a major supporting character right at the end of the first act. That took balls. So did making the hyena army analogous to the goose-stepping Nazis, the scene in the elephant graveyard being quite dark, and the climax being appropriately hell-on-earth-ish.

And being dark is not the only way in which this movie was a big risk. Unlike this new remake, the trailer you got to see when you went to theaters in 1994 was just The Circle of Life, exactly the way it appears in the movie. Just the opening four minutes, that's all that was needed. A lot of people at Disney were nervous about this at the time, because they were worried that the sheer size of that scene couldn't be met by the movie itself, and that it would turn people away. Now, while of course not the entire movie is that big, the most important scenes definitely are, and that's not just in the animation. It's in the characters, the narrative, the way the story is told and the visuals are scored. This was rewarded by the public in droves, making it the highest-grossing 2D-animated movie to this very day, a record that's unlikely to be broken any time soon.

So with that kind of pedigree working against the remake, my concerns start coming into sharp focus. Again, even if they do a shot-by-shot remake, which this trailer is suggesting, it probably won't be bad, but basically functional. If you're expecting this movie to make you feel like a kid again, all wide-eyed and innocent, crying at the moment where Scar killed Mufasa, you will be bitterly disappointed. Nothing can make you feel that way anymore. Not just because you'll be in a 'been there, done that'-attitude, but because so many movies have since tried to capture a shock and awe moment like that. That's the thing about shock and awe, it only works when you're not expecting it.

And that brings us to this remake's reason for existance. With everything I've told you about the original, it's very clear that the creative team wanted to push the boundaries on what movies predominantly aimed at children, particularly Disney movies, could get away with. They wanted to adapt a story that's as well-known by adults as Hamlet, and introduce it to a new audience of children who weren't familiar with it yet. And it does that but filling the movie with colorful characters and catchy songs, but when it comes to the narrative, they didn't really pull any punches.

So what can the Lion King remake offer that the original can't? It's not going to shock us in the same way, there's a perfectly good kid-friendly adaptation of Hamlet already out there, so why make it at all? I'm not going to insult your intelligence by pretending that you don't already know why: to transfer money from your pockets into Disney's pockets. Now, all movies are business ventures that want to make money, but there should be some creative spirit on display. When it's doing nothing but copy-pasting what's already popular, it doesn't challenge us as an audience, it doesn't treat us like people. It treats us like a statistic, that because you're of a certain age, you've got some disposable income to spend on movies and are likely to have children ripe for this movie or are about to, and therefore you are statistically very likely to spend money on this. It's banking on your nostalgia for the original classic, that it's trying to lull you into a false sense of comfort, that if you pay it money, it'll make you feel all child-like and innocent again for a good hour and a half. It's a cynical move on Disney's side, treating you not as a member of the audience with the potential to be introduced to a new and exciting story, but instead as a bank account number that they can try to drain. I firmly believe that we as an audience have both the right and the obligation to ourselves to demand better than that, and that what the movies studios are giving us should be more than basically functional. That we deserve to be both challenged and treated as thinking, feeling people, and not just a wallet full of nostalgia dollars waiting to be extracted.

Unfortunately, it's unlikely that's going to happen, and that I'm mostly alone in that actually wanting to see that belief through. Judging by the successes of movies that came before like the remakes of Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book and the reaction to the new trailer for The Lion King, it's going to work again, and so we'll get nothing more than this treatment for the foreseeable future. And that is why I'm worried.