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squeeneyart · 3 years ago

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Breathe in the Salt - Chapter 25

AO3

Beta reader as always is @thesnadger

Nothing to do but talk.

Martin and Jon settle in for a movie night.

The documentary, if it could be called that, was absolute bunk.

Littered throughout were vague interviews and wild assumptions on the part of the very on-screen director, all tied together with a final push for people to purchase a very specific brand of smoke detector. And the low quality of the video couldn’t be blamed solely on Martin’s internet.

They watched the thing from start to finish, though, and by the end of its 70-minute runtime (“I should’ve guessed by how short it was,” Jon had grumbled partway through) their viewing had turned primarily to Jon taking the piss out of it. Academically, of course.

On Martin’s end the film itself was bad in an enjoyable way, and while he didn’t have the context for all of Jon’s complaints it was easy for him to listen. He’d even made some jokes that got Jon to snort.

He did have to sit uncomfortably straight to keep from leaning against each other. Jon had turned it a bit so they could both see, but when viewed from too hard an angle the picture looked even worse. So, Martin did his best to give Jon space and not let the effort distract him from the screen.

All of this being true, Martin was grateful for the horrible film. Nothing filled silence better than movies and television, so the nights following they settled into a routine. Someone would make dinner (with no further… outbursts) and then they would find something to watch. Afterwards they would say goodnight and Martin would escape upstairs to decompress with his little notebook.

Jon’s original idea had been to find something related to their goals. However, after another let down on night two involving a very old retrospective on the mid-century fishing industry (“Wrong century,” Martin had said about five minutes in), Jon dropped the idea, thus opening up a whole new world of cable television and old vhs tapes on night three.

“You bought yourself a laptop but never had a dvd player?” Jon yawned, getting comfortable on his side of the couch.

“We sort of… skipped it?” Martin dug through a box of tapes for something worth watching, sifting through sappier options and 80s action flicks alike. “Dunno how, but we never got one. The laptop ended up being the first thing I ever had to play dvds, but the telly is too old to be hooked up to it. S’fine, though. I like tapes.”

“And you never get bored of it? Flipping between tapes and whatever’s on at a given time?”

Martin rolled his eyes. “I have a phone for other stuff, obviously. To be honest I don’t watch a lot to begin with, nothing new anyway.”

“Hmph. Same for me,” Jon conceded, sinking further into the couch. “Feels like there are other things I could be doing.”

“Except for now?”

A wry smile. “Special case.”

Martin’s stomach did a flip. He didn’t feel guilty, per se, but he wished he had something for Jon to work on to stave off the boredom. Everything had been so quiet with Peter gone and Simon’s waiting that no new leads had popped up. It wasn’t fair that Jon had to sit around doing nothing after wandering about in the sea for weeks. The least he could do was provide some entertainment.

“Hm. Right, how about this one?” Martin looked back and waved a vhs set. It was some old fantasy series with a group of children on the cover standing in a hallway. “Haven’t watched it since I was a kid, but I remember liking it.”

“Two tapes’ worth?” Jon glanced up at the ceiling. “It’s in episodes, right?”

“Yeah, though if you’d rather find something else…?”

Jon waved his hand. "No, I can’t spend the whole evening making up my mind. If we don’t like it, then we can find something else.”

With that settled Martin popped the tape in and took up his seat. On the other end, Jon sat with the blanket pulled to his chest. He wore a new set of pyjamas Martin had picked up at the shop along with a few other things to save Jon from having to wear the same clothes day and night.

The show was a simple series meant for children, easy enough to follow in plot that some side chatter didn’t interrupt things too much. Honestly, Martin was glad they weren’t paying a whole lot of attention. He hadn’t watched it in years and wasn’t looking to be embarrassed.

A few minutes in, the children from the cover were running up the stairs to explore a large house. “Safe to assume you don’t have siblings?” Jon asked.

“Hm? Oh, no, it’s just me. You?”

He snorted. “Even if my grandmother wanted another child running around, I was enough to deal with.”

Martin raised an eyebrow. “What, were you a terror?”

“I’d use the word ‘adventurous’, but she would’ve agreed with that description. If we’d been in that house,” Jon gestured toward the screen, “she would’ve been in trouble. Until it ate me or something.”

“I don’t think that’s how it goes?”

Jon frowned. “That’s- No, I mean if it were real it would probably mean harm. Supernatural houses aren’t trustworthy entities outside of fiction. In fiction they’re mischievous at the least.”

“Can’t imagine that, a building that likes to mess with you,” Martin said, grimacing. He really didn’t remember much about this story. Maybe that was how it went? “I’m sure they’ll be fine. I wasn’t into spooky things back then.”

“I’ll take your word for it, but I’m not letting my guard down,” Jon said. He watched as the children walked up a spiral staircase. “Would you have wanted siblings?”

Martin considered this. “I can’t imagine having them? But an older sibling would’ve been nice. Someone to know better and help me with things.”

“I think any other child would’ve found me irritating, older or younger. Best to keep to myself,” Jon said dryly. “Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yes, you can imagine the additional worry of raising a child who could explore the ocean like it was the woods. It’s not like she could follow me in.”

“I bet… She wasn’t like you, then?”

Turning back to the television, Jon said, “No. She was from my father’s side.”

“Oh.” He couldn’t tell if the question was wrong to ask, so looked back to the show. It was luck of the draw, then, whether someone was born with a selkie skin. Perhaps there was nothing to do with genetics in circumstances like this.

Back on the screen, one of the children had chosen to wander outside into the beginnings of a snowstorm with no thought to the cold. Outside the real world window it had begun to hail, and Martin realized how frigid it had become both outdoors and in.

“Well, at least this story is right for the season,” Martin said, standing up. “I’m gonna grab another blanket.”

With a start, Jon looked at him and held up the one he was under. “Do you want this one? I don’t-”

“N-no, that’s fine!” He walked briskly out of the room, feeling rude and stupid. All Jon had offered was for him to use the damned thing, not share it. And it wouldn’t have fit both of them even if he had meant it that way!

Opening the hall closet, he tried to calm down. He peered at the pile of folded sheets and blankets, lifting each layer to search for one he liked. There was a flannel one somewhere, deceptively warm for how thin it was-

Oh.

Tucked far down into the pile, far back enough so it was hidden if the one above wasn’t lifted, Martin saw something dappled and grey and out of place amongst the linen. Jon had left it to dry completely beforehand, so the surrounding fabric was unwrinkled. Considerate. And in a decent hiding place all things considered. It was a shame Martin had gone and ruined it.

He sighed, grabbing one of the blankets at the top that he’d initially passed on. Once he reached the doorway to the living room, he stopped and stared at Jon who was doing his best to seem unperturbed.

“So, I saw it,” he started, squeezing the blanket in his arms into his chest. “I use that closet a lot, if you want to put it somewhere else.”

Jon winced and stood. As Martin let him pass, he mumbled, “Right. I’ll just-”

And then Martin was left to sit back on the couch and wait, pausing the tape out of courtesy.

When the skin had disappeared from the shower that first morning he hadn’t considered anything but Jon hiding it, and there was an awful satisfaction in knowing he was right. He rubbed his arm and stared at the blanket in his lap, still neat and folded.

After a couple of minutes, Jon returned empty handed and resumed his seat. Pulling his blanket back up, he said, “It’s nothing… personal.”

“I know.” He took a deep breath and pressed play on the old remote, letting the child continue their new solo adventure. “I figured you hid it.”

“I appreciate that you told me.” His voice was stilted and unsure. “That you found it.”

“Sure, whatever helps.” Unfolding the blanket, he pulled it up to his shoulders and leaned on the arm rest. He could feel Jon fidgeting in place, turning the blanket so it faced the right way and making it tuck under him in the right places. Martin kept his eyes ahead.

Finally giving up on any further adjustments, Jon slouched into place. “It does help. I know my caution can come off as distrust, but genuinely I just… I need to keep it hidden. I need to know where it is and to be the only one who does. For now.”

“You… don’t need to justify anything.” Martin sighed and had to fight back a yawn. “It’s your coat.”

A grunt of frustration. “No, you don’t- It’s not a rational thing. I trusted you enough to tell you the truth, and yet I was barely into my first night here before I panicked and stowed it away.” He sat upright and let the blanket fall to his lap, quiet distress written across the lines of his forehead.

Grasping for words, Martin said, “You still haven’t known me that long. It’s not wrong to be careful.”

“That’s not the point,” Jon replied quietly, resting elbows on knees. “It hasn’t been all that long in the grand scheme of things, but a lot has happened. I consider you a friend. And yet I can’t stop feeling like everything is about to go wrong if I’m not careful.”

The hail continued to slam against the window, almost overpowering the sound of the television and the faun describing the witch’s plans. On the far side of the couch, Jon remained hunched over his own knees with his face bent in irritation.

A wave of shame broke against him, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it. Carefully, Martin scooted over just enough to reach out a hand. His trembling fingers hovered just an inch away, brushing against the fabric of Jon’s shirt before coming to rest on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Jon whispered, massaging around his eyes with his fingers. He reached his free hand up to tentatively cover Martin’s, giving it a tiny squeeze. “Thank you for understanding.”

“Do you… want to keep watching?”

Jon nodded, shaking himself out a little. Martin released the gentle grip on his shoulder, though he didn’t move away. They both settled into the back of the couch and watched.

The child had gone back inside with the shivers, but no one was to be found. Around the halls she wandered, calling her siblings’ names with indignation that slowly turned to concern and then to fear. Eventually she was running, and it wasn’t until she was on the upper floor that one of her brothers popped out to scare the living daylights out of her.

Deep down he remembered this part making him cry. Perhaps siblings weren’t worth it with how cruel children could be.

Martin coughed. “You explored the sea as a kid, then?”

Jumping slightly, Jon said, “O-only a couple of times. And not far from the land. And it’s not as fun when you can only grab one thing at a time, with your mouth. I sorely missed my pockets and picking up sticks.” As he spoke, he resumed the more casual tone from before with modest success.

“You thought checking out the sea with no real limits was too much of a hassle?”

With a roll of his eyes, Jon said, “It wasn’t entirely that. Eventually my grandmother warned me away from it. Told me about dangerous animals that absolutely weren’t native to the coast where we lived.”

“Great white sharks?”

“Surrounding our seaside village on every watery side, ready to eat hapless little seal boys who didn’t listen to their nans.”

Martin chuckled, relaxing further into his seat and listening to Jon go on about all the ways his grandmother had tried and failed to reign him in. He could see it, a younger, scrappier version of the man next to him stomping around the woods and climbing fences.

The instinct wasn’t all that relatable to someone like Martin who’d kept to the front porch on nice days, but it sounded like an adventure. Maybe it meant he was less likely to get eaten by an evil wardrobe out of the two of them. In his position he could only hope that was the case.

They called it for the night when, out of nowhere, a man suddenly appeared at half opacity screen and let out a screeching noise to close out an episode, making Jon laugh in a way that only could’ve been from exhaustion.

Martin lingered downstairs for a while after they shut the television off. It was Friday, after all. For many reasons they couldn’t go out to a pub, but without the need to get up early he could afford to stay up a little longer and listen to a sleepy Jon talk over the tapping on the window panes.

Tim: not next weekend, but the one after i think. finally time to call it on preparation and get down to business, if this is something we can be prepared for

Martin: encouraging

Tim: look its been rough over here, alright?

Martin: i know, sorry. itll be easier to talk once we’re all in one place

Tim: yeah

Tim: things are ok over there, then? youre sounding better

Martin: ?

Tim: it was starting to get scary if im honest, how quiet you were

Martin: oh, sorry. things are fine, just didnt have a lot to say

Tim: yeah, i get it. its hard to fill the space. dont be a stranger though. in a few weeks we’ll be there to get you out of this mess

Martin: looking forward to it

Sighing, Martin looked from the private chat to Jon, who was ignoring his breakfast to type away at the laptop. “Sounds like the others are making plans to get here.”

Jon looked up briefly. “Good. It will be… nice to see them.”

“And show them you’re not dead?”

Ignoring this, Jon said, “How is Tim doing?”

He glanced back at his phone. “Worried. About a lot of things, I think.”

“Thinking of how he’s going to break my disappearance to you, no doubt,” he said, taking a sip of his tea. He avoided Martin’s eyes. “That’ll be resolved soon enough.”

Martin poked at the eggs on his plate. “He… lost someone, didn’t he?”

It was only for a moment, but Jon froze in the middle of setting his mug down. He seemed to struggle with an answer.

“It’s fine if you can’t say, but he implied as much,” Martin said gently.

With a frown, Jon shut the laptop. “Sasha knows more than I do, but yes. His brother, a few years ago.”

“Oh. That’s… really sad.” He leaned back in his chair. “He seems like he’d be a good brother.”

“I’m sure he was. He certainly looks out for us.” Jon took a bite of his toast.

“As best as he can,” Martin added sheepishly.

“Once this is all finished he’s earned a vacation.”

Yes, they’d all given poor Tim their share of heart attacks. Martin had managed to several times in the last month. But at least when the time came Tim would see that both of them were alive and themselves and able to apologize for making his and Sasha’s lives just a bit harder than they needed to be.

Once it was all finished.

#tma #the magnus archives #breathe in the salt #martin blackwood #jonathan sims #sasha james #timothy stoker #peter lukas #jonmartin #selkie au

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freudensteins-monster · 4 years ago

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Live From My Bedroom! It’s Darcy Lewis!

Based on a fic prompt I received forever ago and have been working on ever since.

Images used in the fake youtube screenshots were sourced almost entirely from Kat Dennings and RDJ's social media accounts.

Please note that this has been written in a very basic script/video transcript format. And has not been beta'd. Fingers crossed it's still easy to read. xoxox

Chapter One: Whatever Happened to Darcy Lewis?

[Title Card: A cheap animated explosion solely using colours from the Lisa Frank colour wheel with the text “LIVE FROM MY BEDROOM! IT’S DARCY LEWIS!” in the middle.]

[Video opens on a cheerful woman in her 30’s sitting in what looks like a teenager’s bedroom from the 90’s. The walls are covered in band/movie posters and the shelves are full of books, Barbies, and other toys from the era. The woman has long wavy brown hair and she is wearing a dark blue t-shirt with a Grumpy Bear symbol on it.]

Hello world! It’s Darcy Lewis here, cashing in on the childhood nostalgia train by launching my very own youtube channel. [winning smile] So… Whatever Happened to Darcy Lewis? This was a question posed to me by a random stranger after she had been staring at me for a solid five minutes as I stood in the tampon aisle of my local grocery store trying to make a decision.

[Cut scene]

[Text on screen: *Dramatic recreation]

[Darcy, dressed in basic t-shirt, staring at shelf of tampons]

[notices someone watching her]

[turns head]

Darcy dressed up like a yoga mom, caught staring: OMG. I am so sorry. It’s just that you look just like that kid from that tv show.

Darcy, dressed in a basic t-shirt, holding two boxes of tampons: [deadpan voice] I get that all the time.

Yoga Mom!Darcy: [deep in thought] Whatever happened to that girl anyway?

Darcy: [still holding up two boxes of tampons] I heard she moved to Florida to breed alligators.

Yoga Mom!Darcy: [shocked face] Really?!

Darcy: [still holding up two boxes of tampons] …No.

[End cut scene]

So, yeah, I am that kid from that tv show. In 1990, at the age of five, I was cast in the sitcom Live from Suburbia! If you don’t remember it you were probably watching Full House. That, or you’re just too young. It’ll be thirty years this month since Live from Suburbia! first aired, and come December I am going to be thirty-five years old.

[video goes black and white, zooms in on a distraught Darcy’s face]

[Psycho shower scene music plays]

[Darcy shakes herself out of it and video returns to normal]

So, yeah, I forgive you if you haven’t seen it.

[Text flashes on screen: HEY NETFLIX! PICK IT UP ALREADY!]

My parents have probably never even seen an episode they weren’t on set for either. They were never really keen on the idea of me becoming a child actor. They’re both college professors – they were prepared for, like, mathletes or debate club, not driving me to auditions and having me take classes with a tutor in a trailer parked outside a soundstage. [laughs] But I was super obsessed with Drew Barrymore in E.T. and when my mom explained that E.T. wasn’t real, and that Drew was an actress, I decided that was what I wanted to do. So when I heard people talking about auditions being held at a local shopping mall, and that they were looking for a “precocious” 5-6 year old girl, I kind of demanded that my parents let me go. That audition was for a cereal commercial – I didn’t get it, but the casting director liked me so when they were starting the casting process for Live from Suburbia! they asked me to audition for the role of Siouxsie.

[Text appears on screen: *NOT SUSIE. SIOUXSIE. LIKE SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES. #endthedebate]

Live from Suburbia! was about a wannabe rock star from LA, played by a pre-famous, pre-infamous, Tony Stark, who had to put his dreams on hold and move to the suburbs when he becomes the sole guardian of his two kids; Siouxsie and Hendrix, played by a pre-teen Clint Barton. You might recognise him too; his most recent album just went platinum.

[images of Clint Barton rocking out on stages around the world flash on screen]

The show was axed in 1994 and I pretty much went back to the real world for a few years and went back to school full time. My parents were pretty insistent on that. Towards the end of middle school they let me get back in contact with my agent and I soon got a recurring role as mean girl Kaitlyn on the Disney Channel show Total Drama Teens. And later on when I was a senior in high school I played Void, the goth hacker-slash-tech support to a brooding vigilante in one of the last great straight-to-video action duds of the Blockbuster era.

[sudden dramatic close up]

But we don’t talk about that.

[zoom out]

After high school I went to Culver University and studied full time. My parents insisted I get a “real degree” so I ended up majoring in Political Science with a minor in Drama, instead of the other way around, and without the Political Science, like I wanted. After I graduated, despite my parents’ concerns, I moved to L.A. to try and become an actress full time. You might remember me from such unforgettable roles as the “kooky” comedic relief-slash-best friend in five different rom-coms from the mid-2000’s – four of which were called Jenny. I am not kidding.

[Images of her characters appear on screen: Jenny, Jenny, Jennie, Madison, and Jenny.]

I’ve also had bit parts on every Law & Order and CSI series there is, and had recurring roles as the “kooky” girlfriend in about three different sitcoms over the past five years.

[Darcy sighs]

[Text on screen: SIGHS IN TYPECAST]

Most recently I finished work on my first serious dramatic role in an indie movie called Bottled Lightning. It’s been entered in a few film festivals, I’ve gotten some good reviews for my performance, but as of last week it had still not secured a distribution deal. So, yeah… That one’s probably only going to be seen by a dozen film critics from three different film festivals and then sort of disappear into the unknown. [pouts] So here I am. Taking a break from the grind of auditioning. In my time capsule of a childhood bedroom. Housesitting for my parents while they’re drinking their way across Europe.

[Darcy sighs again]

[Text on screen: SIGHS IN UNREALISED POTENTIAL]

My parents suggested I just give up on the whole acting thing altogether, move closer to them, get a “real job”… So I created a youtube channel instead. [cheeky smile] I’ve got a few ideas for upcoming episodes. Next week I’m going to be doing a reaction video to the pilot episode of Live from Suburbia! It’s been a good twenty-five years since I’ve seen it, but I’ve got the entire series on VHS. …just got to figure out how to get that digital so I can insert it into one of these videos…

[pensive music]

[Text on screen: COME ON NETFLIX! HELP A GIRL OUT!]

And then maybe a reaction to the first episode of Full House, or a review of the best child actor performances... Maybe if these videos get some traction I might even be able to do some interviews with other child actors – what do you think? Let me know in the comments. And I’m sure you know the drill already: Like, Subscribe, and Share. Thanks for dropping by! I’ll see you next week!

[Darcy blows a kiss to camera, screen fades to black]

NEXT VIDEO: Live from Suburbia! Pilot Episode Reaction (feat. Fizzgig)

*** ** ***

Notes: NEXT VIDEO is not indicative of what the next chapter is about but done simply to imply that Darcy has a whole lot of other videos on her channel that I haven’t written. Also, I named her parent’s cat Fizzgig for the 80s/90s kid vibes.

Tagging everyone who commented on the original tumblr fic prompt in case you wanted to see the end result. @zephrbabe @evieplease @endlesscalendar @lynnestra44 @founderofshield @oldenoughtobeyourmama @typhoidmeri @phoenix-173 @suzieqsez @kiaraalexisklay @slytherinstarkravingmad

#live from my bedroom!#it's darcy lewis #darcy lewis #steve rogers #tony stark #darcy lewis x steve rogers #whatever happened to darcy lewis #child actors #child actor au #actor au #youtuber au #freudensteins-fics

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majingojira · 4 years ago

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Brief Review of Every Dinosaur/Prehistoric Documentary/Educational Short I’ve ever seen (1923-1996).

And thanks to a certain project, I’ve seen a LOT!

Evolution (1923) - This is the oldest of the bunch, a silent film. Mostly it uses modern animals to represent ancient forms, with a few statues and brief animated bits to fill things out. The only real highlight? Seeing where some of the “film real” segment from Gigantis the Fire Monster comes from!

Monsters from the Past (1923) - A short documentary with original stop motion (this was pre-The Lost World, so that’s to be expected). Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, and Brontosaurus are the key creatures. Included as an extra on the second DVD release of The Lost World.

Prehistoric Animals (1938) - Reuses footage from The Lost World (1925) for its prehistoric segments. This will not be the last time it happens.

Prehistoric Times: The World Before Man (1952) - This thing is so quintessentially 1950s, it’s highly riff-able. It uses a mix of paintings, sculptures and some live animals to represent prehistoric life.

A World Is Born (1955) - Ya know what Fantasia needed? Overbearing Narration! That’s it. That’s what this documentary is. I saw this thing rebroadcast in the 90s on the Disney Channel, believe it or not.

The Animal World (1956) - Ray Harryhausen. Willis O’Brian. Their stop motion segment is the ONLY notable part of this documentary. This is also the only part that has seen some release in modern times, as a bonus feature on the DVD of The Black Scorpion.

Prehistoric Animals of the Tar Pits (1956) - Black and white, but also quintessentially 50s and riff-able. Aside from the bones, it shows some wooden models to represent the animals.

Journey into Time (1960) - Fantasia this is not, but it TRIES to be. Lord it tries. Or, rather, there’s a Fantasia-adjacent thing elsewhere which does the same thing. Has some unique choices for animals to represent, including showing Permian forms like Scutusaurus and Inostrancevia.

Dem Dry Bones: Archaeology, Paleontology, Identification, and Preservation (1966) - This was a lucky find, it was on Youtube for half a second. And not worth digging out, really. Stuffy, dry, and mildly condescending. It was still interesting looking at the dinosaur hall of the Smithsonian back in the 1950s.

Dinosaurs - The Terrible Lizard (1970) - The stop motion here is pretty neat, if slow and plodding, it’s refreshing after all this crap. The puppets for many of these would later be re-used for The Land of the Lost. Including Grumpy, Alice, and Spot.

NOVA: The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs (1977) - Robert Bakker’s first appearance in a documentary. HE HAS SUCH LONG HAIR! Not bad, a little dry, with National Geographic titles. It reminds me of 1990s documentaries, just so show how long it’s taken for various ideas to filter down. Currently, it’s available on Archive.org.

Dinosaurs: A First Film (1978) - The art style for this half-animated 70s abomination makes identifying various prehistoric animals almost impossible. Almost painful to sit through. Stops with the Dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs: The Age of the Terrible Lizards (1978) - Similar to the above, but available from Rifftrax, so much more watchable. Also, it’s actually animated!

Dinosaur (1980) - Wil Vinton Claymation with Dinosaurs. A few edits of this exist, the latter works a bit better, but the original is interesting to track down. Most of the edits are audio only, so you aren’t missing anything. The dinosaur sin this are top notch for color and design. They even have Corythosaurus and Tyrannosaurus not dragging their tails!

Cosmos (1980) - the animated segment covering Evolution is still wonderful if only for the narration from Carl Sagan.

The Age of Mammals (1981) - A follow up of sorts to Dinosaurs: The Age of Reptiles. Decent stop motion if a little slow. Decent variety for the time.

64,000,000 Years Ago (1981) - A solid stop motion short film. Still worth checking out for stop motion fans. Available on Youtube legally!

Dinosaurs: Fun, Facts, and Fantasy (1981) - Nostalgic for some, but aimed at a rather young audience. Some interesting stop motion bits in here too... if awkward in that way British stop motion can be outside Aardman Studios.

Reading Rainbow “Digging up Dinosaurs” (1983) - Definitely nostalgic for me. Besides, it’s Reading Rainbow! And opens with a clip from One Million Years B.C.! What’s not to love?

Prehistoric Beast (1984) - One of the best stop motion shorts on this list. Included because it INSPIRED a documentary from it. Phil Tippett firing on all cylinders. Well worth watching. And he uploaded it on Youtube himself!

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs (1985), More Dinosaurs (1985), Son of Dinosaur (1988), Prehistoric World (1993) - Gary Owens and Eric Boardman have a series of documentaries on dinosaurs and prehistoric life. The presenters are what really make these work. Colorful, fun, and yes, silly, these still hold a nostalgic gleam for people like me. The last one has Dougal Dixon talk about his After Man speculations. Fun times.

Dinosaur! (1985) - Hosted by Christopher Reeve, this is one of the best documentaries of its time. Reeves loved dinosaurs and was happy to work on this project with Phil Tippet behind the animation. Covers a lot in its hour long format, and well worth watching. Do you know how good this special was? When Reeve died in 2004, the Discovery Channel (or similar station) re-aired this thing as a tribute. It holds up that well!

Tell Me Why: Pre-Historic Animals, Reptiles and Amphibians (1986) - This is something I had when I was a little kid. Dry, straight forward, a “Video Babysitter” at it’s best. It consists of a narrator while looking at pictures of the Invicta Dinosaur Toys that were also on the poster.

Dinosaurs! A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time (1987) - Wil Vinton’s Dinosaurs! tied with a short setup/framing device with the kid from the Wonder Years involving a low-animation music video (this was the MTV age) and a guide through art from various dinosaur books from the 1950s through the 1980s. Rather meh, but Wil Vinton is why we are here. This was the only way to get Wil Vinton’s short back in the day, and is the version of the short shown in Museums like The Academy of Natural Sciences.

Digging Dinosaurs (PBS-WHYY) (1988) - Something I managed to record of TV back in the day, though not much of it, about the uncovering and preparation of Avaceratops. Bone Dry.

Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up (1988) - A VHS version of the picture book, with narration and the whole spiel. Actually not to bad for what it is, but it is what it is. The art for that book is rather wonderful.

Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives (1988) - David. Attenburrough. Need I say more? Not one of his best, but still wonderful. Hard to track down.

Dinosaurs (1989) - From the Smithsonian Institute, one of the video followups sold in various museums (I have one from the Royal Tyrell, but haven’t been able to track it down). Not great, but I’ve seen worse.

Infinite Voyage: The Great Dinosaur Hunt (1989) - A rather dry documentary, but one I find extremely relaxing and calming. Very nostalgic for me. But still dry.

Vestie Video Sitter: Dinosaurs (1989) - This is for babies. It hurt to watch.

In November, 1990, Jurassic Park (novel) was released, and thus began the great shift.

In Search of the Dragon: The Great Dinosaur Hunt of the Century (1991) - a.k.a. The Dinosaur Project, The Great Dinosaur Hunt, The Hunt for China’s Dinosaurs. Edited into a 1 hour NOVA special from a nearly two hour documentary, all about the joint Canadian/Chinese Gobi Desert Expedition in the 1980s that gave us Mamenchisaurus among many other species. With another stop in the Arctic for good measure. Some good stop motion and pencil animation for Troodon round this one out.

A&E’s Dinosuar! (1991) - There’s so many things named “Dinosaur” that I have to specify. Hosted by Walter Cronkite, this is rather dry, but still entertaining documentary series has some nightmare-fuel puppet-work. The ‘sad’ music gets caught in my head sometimes when I think about it. It is 4 episodes long. “The Tale of a Tooth”, “The Tale of a Bone”, “The Tale of an Egg”, and “The Tale of a Feather”

T. Rex: Exposed (1991) - a Nova Documentary on T. Rex. Not too bad overall, focusing on the Wrankle Rex unearthing. Parts of it are available on Youtube, but not all of it.

The Case of the Flying Dinosaur (1991) - the third in the “NOVA” 91 trilogy, this covers the bird-dinosaur connection as it was still contentious at the time.

PBS’ The Dinosaurs! (1992) - A gold standard for documentaries on dinosaurs. The hand drawn animation with colored pencil style still hold up today. The narrator has a bit of an accent and pronounces “Dinosaur” oddly, but that is the only complaint I can really give. It has 4 episodes: “The Monsters Emerge”, “Flesh on the Bones”, “The Nature of the Beast”, “Death of the Dinosaurs.”

Muttaburrasaurus: Life in Gondwana (1993) - A half-hour short about dinosuars and mesozoic life in Australia. Solid stop motion animation. Australian Accents makes it fun to listen too.

NOVA: The Real Jurassic Park (1993) - Jeff Goldblum narrates this bit of scientists going on about “But what if we really did it?” Quite fun, lotta fun details the movies and even the books didn’t get into. My favorite bit had Robert Bakker talking to a game keeper at the Rockefeller Refuge in a Louisiana Cypress Swamp about what could happen if they kept a few dinosaur there (Edmontosaurus, Triceratops, and T. Rex). Namely, he talks about housing ‘about a thousand” Edmontosaurs on the 86K acre facility, with 2 or 3 mated pairs of Rexes. It’s fun getting numbers like that.

Bill Nye the Science Guy “Dinosaurs” (1993) - BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! Not a bad kids entry for documentaries. Available from Netflix.

Paleoworld (1994-1997) - Running originally for 4 years, and being revamps once along the way, this rather dry, “Zoom in on paleoart” style of documentary was a good holdover for bigger things, and covered some pretty niche topics. Much of the later version has been uploaded to youtube.

Dinosaur Digs: A Fossil Finders Tour (1994), Dinosaurs: Next Exit (1994) - These films hurt me. They hurt me so much. I’ve seen some painful things, but these are hour long tour advertisements for road trips with annoyingly earworms. Available on youtube, but I ain’t linking anything!

Eyewitness: Dinosaur (1994) - Not a bad documentary, but I still hold a grudge on it for replacing Wil Vinton’s work at my local museum! Still, it is narrated by Martin Sheen. The clip selection is wide and varied, but we’re still getting The Lost World (1925) footage.

Planet of Life (1995) - This documentary series is rather dry, but boasts some interesting coverage of topics. Though some of it’s conclusions regarding dinosaurs are... not great. Still, the episode “Ancient Oceans” is a favorite of mine.

Once Upon Australia (1995) - The bests stop motion documentary on Australia’s prehistory. Has some humor to is, and Australian fauna that it does cover is solid. Though finding out how one of the animals is spelled, ( Ngapakaldia) drove me nuts for literally decades.

Dinosaurs: Myths and Reality (1995) - Like a little more polished episode of Paleoworld, with a lighter-voiced narration, this covers common myths about dinosaurs. Overall, a Meh. But it has a LOT of movie clips. Which makes sense given it was funded by the Disney Channel!

The Ultimate Guide: T. Rex (1995) - The Ultimate Guide series of docs were overall rather solid, as was the Tyrannosaurus one. Stop Motion animation along with puppets and some minor CG help round out the normal talking heads and skeleton mounts. Along with a solid narrator, it has a real mood to it.

The Magic School Bus “The Busasaurus” (1995) - The original Magic School Bus was a solid series, and their episode on Dinosaurs bucks trends even the reboot didn’t cover. The core thrust here wasn’t just dinosaur information, but the idea that Dinosaurs were not Monsters, but animals. And they conveyed it in a unique way.

I may do more of these mini-reviews, but there are a LOT of documentaries post The Lost World: Jurassic Park that don’t have as much easy access. Like, I’ve seen them, but digging out links/citing places to watch them is a lot harder.

#Dinosaurs #Documentaries #Documentary #Review #Dinosaur #Prehistoric

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thefloatingstone · 5 years ago

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We’ve gone from Self-Isolation to Quarantine and in some places to gradual relaxation phases, but that doesn’t stop the need for more nonsense you can watch on youtube while you wait for things to get back to normal. And recommending things and making lists are some of my favourite things to do but I have not yet figured out how to start or structure a video myself, you guys get another rambling tumblr post of things you can watch on youtube.

This time I’m once again just gonna recommend individual videos rather than full channels like I did in part 2.

Part 1

Part 2

In no particular order;

LOCAL58: The Broadcast Station that Manipulates You

I recently started watching the Nexpo channel when I went on a binge of creepy youtube videos. Most of his videos are really good although the ones where he himself goes into theory crafting can be a little asinine. However, this video is REALLY good. And before you get nervous, LOCAL58 is not a real TV station. LOCAL58 is a youtube channel created by the same guy behind the Candle Cove creepypasta. This video by Nexpo covers the various episodes of LOCAL58 and discusses them. Just be aware going in that this is abstract horror, and will probably get under your skin regardless if you’re unaffected by certain topics or not. although cw for suicide mention.

I also recommend most of the rest of this channel, although be careful where you tread. I don’t recommend his series “Disturbing things from around the internet” as it can sometimes include real life crime, abuse and such caught on security cameras. Everything else is really good tho. (although I was really annoyed by his 2 videos on KrainaGrzybowTV)

The Search for D.B. Cooper

LEMMiNO has a new video out covering one of the most unexplained crimes in the past century of the US. LEMMiNO is the guy I’ve recommended before who did videos on the Universal S. He is very down to earth and not someone prone to conspiracy or even really that fanciful of thinking. (He’s like the one person I feel covered the Dyaltov Pass incident and was confused by why this was even a mystery because if you read the Russian Autopsy reports and documents associated with the case it’s all pretty logical and easily explained)

D.B. Cooper is the name given to a man who, in 1971, hijacked an airplane with a bomb, asked for a large sum of money, and after receiving it, parachuted from the plane and was never seen or heard from again.

The Austrian Wine Poisoning | Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole also has a new video out, this time covering the Austrian Wine Poisoning event from 1985. A scandal that involved literally the entire country of Austria, affected multiple countries, and forever changed the way wine was made world wide. As someone who is generally pretty allergic to most artificial substances this one made me personally very angry. But luckily, it has a happy ending and a better world for us all... if I could drink wine which I can’t do anyway.

The Turbulent Tale of Yandere Dev - A Six Year Struggle

The Right Opinion is another channel I only recently subbed to after watching his cover on Onion Boy. I put off subbing to him simply because of his channel name and I thought it meant he would come across as smug and elitist. Luckily this seems to merely be one of those “I chose a bad channel name and now I’m stuck with it” type of situations. (IHE has a similar problem).

Anyway, I have a weird interest in bizarre internet personalities, so I’ve been enjoying his channel as he simply discusses and presents a timeline of events of certain individuals. In this video, he covers the developer behind the much maligned Yandere Simulator. It’s a tale of hubris, arrogance, immaturity, and an unwillingness to accept your own shortcomings due to ego.

Oh and there’s a meme game about Japanese school girls with anime tiddies in there as well.

The Most Relaxing Anime Ever Made | Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō

Kenny Lauderdale is a youtube channel which is slowly becoming bigger which I’m very happy to see. He exclusively covers anime and live action Japanese television no younger than the mid 90s (as is the case with YYK) and which usually never saw a release outside of Japanese Laserdisc. I do wish his videos were a little longer, but if nothing else his videos serve as an excellent starting to point to find some older and underappreciated shows... or hot garbage fires. In this episode he talks about the 2 OVA episodes made based on one of my favourite manga, Yokohama Shopping Log. A Post apocalyptic anime about an android who runs a coffee shop outside of her house, and the quiet solitude of living in a world of declining human population, brief encounters with travelers and other people, and just... existing. The anime was never released outside of Japan and is only available on Japanese VHS and laserdisc.... but hey guess what!! Somebody uploaded both episodes, subbed, to Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2HCVOH6DtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqSTwfkobME

YMS’ slow descent into madness as he uncovers just how bullshit the Kimba Conspiracy is

I’m linking a full playlist for this one.

YMS is busy planning his review on the “live action” Lion King remake as the original 1994 movie is probably his favourite movie all time (and also self declared what made him a furry). As part of the 2 hour review, he decided to what all 2000 hours of Kimba the White Lion just to mention how The Lion King potentially stole the idea. ....until he actually watched all 2000 hours of Kimba and realised that if you actually WATCH Kimba, it has VERY little to do with the Lion King at all apart from having the same animals in them because AFRICA. Watch as one man slowly loses his mind as he realises just how stupid this conspiracy theory is, just HOW DECEITFUL and straight up LYING people can be. People who write BOOKS. People who teach LAW AT UNIVERSITIES. Because NOBODY bothered to actually watch the entire show and just parroted the “Disney stole this” lie which got started by like 2 salty fans on the internet.

The man set out to just mention how Disney stole an idea, and uncovered one of the most infuriating rabbit holes on the internet. Screaming for SOMEONE to provide him with sources or evidence.

YMS will be publishing his full Kimba documentary this month which he has said is around 2 hours long before he continues to work on the Lion King one.

Science Stories: Loch Ness eDNA results, Poop Knives, and Skeleton Lovers

TREY the Explainer has a video giving us some updates in Archeology from 2019. In this video he discusses the findings of the eDNA results conducted on the Loch Ness to see what animal DNA the lake contains which will tell us what living animals currently inhabit the lake, ancient knives made of poop and if this is a real thing that could have existed, and a skeleton couple found buried together which were at first thought to be lovers, then revealed to be both male, and then how in this instance we cannot let our modern sensibilities dictate what we WANT this burial find to be, but to look at the evidence as presented to us and place in context finds of this nature. The worst thing an archaeologist can do is look for proof to a theory they already have.

The Bizarre Modern Reality of Sonic the Hedgehog

Super Eyepatch Wolf is back and he’s here to talk to us about the very very strange existence of Sonic. a 90s rebellious “too cool for School” answer to Mario, a lost idea as the world of video games changes and culture shifted, a meme and punching bag amplified by a unique fanbase and poor quality games, a transcendence into a horrific warped idea of what he once was, and modern day and where Sonic and his fans are now. As usual Super Eyepatch Wolf knocks it out of the park.

Kokoro Wish and the Birth of a Multiverse: A Lecture on the Work of Jennifer Diane Reitz

I don’t even sub to this channel as I’m not entirely sure what Ben’s usual content is about. But every now and then he has a “101″ class, where he explains to a room full of his friends in a classroom setting (complete with Whiteboard) an internet artist and oddity, the timeline, and what it is they have created. (wait... didn’t I say this already?). Unlike TRO however, the 101 classrooms are not a dark look into disturbed individuals (although the CWC 101 is debatable) nor is it a “lol look at this weirdo” dragging. Instead, of the 3 he’s done so far, it’s usually a rather sympathetic look at some of the strange artists on the internet who through some way or another, left a very big cultural impact on the internet space through their art. Sometimes they may not be the best people, but their work is so outside of what we’re used to seeing that just listening to him run you through these people’s internet history is fascinating.

In this episode he talks about Jennifer Diane Reitz. And although it is titled Kokoro Wish, the lecture is more about Jennifer’s larger work back in the early internet when being a weeb was unheard of, how being trans influenced her stories and characters, and her world building that is so rich and in-depth with it’s own ASTRO PHYSICS it puts any modern fictional world found in games or movies to shame.

Jennifer is not exactly a nice person... and in many ways can be seen as dangerously irresponsible, but she created something truly unique in a way that you kinda struggle figuring out if it’s terrible or a work of genius.

Anyway I think that’s enough for now

#Youtube #youtubers #recommendations #Self Isolation playlist #Long post #part 3 #videos #links

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michiganrag · 5 years ago

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Looney Tunes on HBO Max Review

Looney Tunes Cartoons (2020)

“Looney Tunes Cartoons” is a new series of Looney Tunes shorts made specifically for HBO Max. Intended to carry on the legacy of the Golden Age, the shorts have returned to seven minutes in length, a live orchestra has been hired to produce each soundtrack, and characters have been reverted to chaotic personalities.

The only season listed here shows ten episodes available to view. Each episode links to an eleven minute video containing two shorts. So 20 shorts in all are available to view at once (contrary to the rumor a handful would be released in weekly installments). This is not counting inbetween animations, which are roughly fifteen second gags bridging the shorts.

The art direction is the first notable thing about these cartoons in my eyes, it is a clear callback to the 1940s golden age. Going further in, one will find that every facet of this cartoon is a Animation is very good and the orchestration is fantastic, once again from a live orchestra. The writing on this show is storyboard driven, as it was in the original shorts, and allows room for visual gags and physical comedy. The writing evokes the characters original counterparts most convincingly out of anything I’ve seen this past decade. This is a difficult practice, and you can see every facet being done with admiration and enthusiasm.

I’m sure the voice acting helps with that as well, many voices are spot-on, and Eric Bauza’s Bugs Bunny is the closest to Mel Blanc’s I believe I’ve ever heard. Auditory gags, such as giving the cute animal characters a deep shouting voice, return to my great entertainment. Even what appear to be one-off human characters have distinct voices that seem straight out of a golden era cartoon. The amount of consideration, care, and quality in this show is extrodinary.

How Many Theatrical Shorts are Present?

There are 209 original Looney Tunes shorts are present (one not being theatrical the made-for-TV short Duck Dodgers in Attack of the Drones (2004)) The shorts are broken up over 31 seasons that vary in length from three to twelve episodes per season. Each season features shorts from differing years, although they are listed chronologically.

Season 1 starts with Foxy’s Smile Darn Ya Smile! (1932) and then skips to Hollywood Capers (1935). Interestingly, Smile is listed as episode 1, while Hollywood is listed as episode 4, perhaps implying that two more shorts will be released between them eventually. Each “season” listed has films numbered erratically like this, indication that we may see many more shorts in the future. The longest season lists its last short as “Episode 21″ which may indicate how long seasons can get in the future.

Broken down there are 17 shorts from the 1930s, 78 from the 1940s, 81 from the 1950s, 29 from the 1960s, and 4 from 1987-2004.

Are More Modern Television Series Present?

Some of them! All two seasons of the Looney Tunes Show (2011) are present, which I’m most excited about. Additionally, all five seasons of Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (1995)

There are again, some hangups for me. No other LT TV shows are present besides those. Duck Dodgers (2003) is a TV show I would have been excited to see. Hell, I would have watched Loonatics Unleashed (2005) if I was paying for it.

For fans of the spinoff characters, no Tiny Toon content, Baby Looney Tunes (except for a direct-to-VHS mentioned later), or Animaniacs media is available, the latter coming as a surprise to me due to its upcoming reboot.

It seems however, that they are still adding contnet! There is an HBO Max trailer for Wabbit (2015) available on the service, yet the full series is not currently available. This post may be updated when more content gets released.

Are Movies and Specials present?

Not really, no. Which is a huge disappointment for me. The two big modern theatrical films are not present: Space Jam (1996) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) are unavailable to watch. I’m especially surprised about Space Jam, considering the sequel in the works.

Direct-to-VHS Baby Looney Tunes: Musical Adventures (2003) is present, however, if you are inclined to watch that.

Is it Worth It?

To Support Looney Tunes Cartoons (2020) - 10/10 They deserve your support, please by all means.

To Watch Golden Age Cartoons - 7/10. I’m giving it a seven solely because this is the biggest collection of the classic shorts I have seen on streaming so far. This rating only reflects their current inventory of shorts.

Overall - 6/10. I’m still a little upset at the movies and TV series they are missing. I may have set my expectations too high, but for the high price point, I feel like there are some major gaps in HBO Max’s library. Again, this rating only reflects their current inventory of shorts.

HBO Max gives you a 7-day free trial before you have to start paying monthly. I may cancel during the free period of HBO Max after watching Looney Tunes Cartoons, and seeing some original shorts I haven’t yet. I would recommend doing this for anyone who wants to support the cartoons.

#long post #reviews #hbo max #hbo max review #looney tunes #looney tunes cartoons #looney tunes cartoons review #ltc #resources

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hasanprincblog · 3 years ago

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The Fascinating History of Netflix

Netflix is a giant of the internet today, but how did it start and who founded it?

By SM Khaled Hasan Prince

Stock Catalog/Flickr

For millions, Netflix is the de-facto place to go for movie and TV streaming. According to sites like fortune.com, its services alone constitute about 15% of all the world's internet bandwidth!

Not bad for a company that started by posting DVDs by snail mail. Here we explore the origins of the company and track some of the important milestones in history.

RELATED: HOW EXACTLY DOES NETFLIX RECOMMEND MOVIES TO YOU?

Who started Netflix?

Netflix was first founded in August of 1997 by two serial entrepreneurs, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings. The company began out in Scotts Valley, California, and has grown to become one of the world's leading internet entertainment platforms.

When it first opened, Netflix was purely a movie rental service. Users ordered movies on the Netflix website, and received DVDs in the post. When they were finished with them, they would simply post them back to Netflix in the envelopes provided. At the time, this was seen as a boon to those who did not have a video rental store nearby (remember those?).

Today, Netflix streams movies and has more than 151 million paid subscribers in over 190 countries around the world. It offers a wide range of TV series, documentaries, and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages, including original productions

Reed Hastings helped cofound Netflix back in the 90s

Source: Guety/Wikimedia Commons

Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997. He was an entrepreneur who in 1991 had founded Pure Software, which made tools for software developers. After a 1995 IPO and several acquisitions, Pure was acquired by Rational Software in 1997.

Hastings received a BA from Bowdoin College in 1983 and an MSCS in artificial intelligence from Stanford University in 1988. Between Bowdoin and Stanford, he served in the Peace Corps as a high school math teacher in Swaziland. Today, he is an active educational philanthropist, having served on the California State Board of Education and on the board of several educational organizations.

Marc Randolph is the other chap behind Netflix

Source: marcrandolph.com

Marc Randolph is a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. As co-founder and founding CEO of Netflix, he laid much of the groundwork for a service that’s grown to 150 million subscribers and fundamentally altered how the world experiences media.

He also served on the Netflix board of directors until retiring from the company in 2003." - marcrandolph.com.

Randolph graduated from university with a degree in Geology and would go on to found and run various mail-order and direct-to-customer companies before Netflix.

Throughout Randolph's career, he founded no fewer than six successful startups, including the magazine Macworld, and has mentored hundreds of early-stage entrepreneurs

When and where was Netflix founded?

As previously mentioned, Netflix was founded in 1997 in Scotts Valley, California. It was originally a rent-by-mail DVD service that used a pay-per-rental model.

Users would browse and order the films they wanted on their website, put in an order, and Netflix would post them to your door. After renters had finished with the DVDs, they would simply post them back.

Rentals cost around $4 each, plus a $2 postage charge. After significant growth, Netflix switched to a subscriber-based model.

With this model, users could keep the DVDs for as long as they liked, but could only rent a new movie after returning their existing one.

Source: Matthew Keys/Flickr

Netflix's mail-order rental model would directly challenge the market dominance of bricks-and-mortar rental giants like Blockbuster. In fact, Blockbuster could ultimately not compete with the move to online streaming and rentals and filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

But this never needed to happen. Years earlier, Blockbuster had the opportunity to partner with Netflix, or even buy the company out.

"In 2000, Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings approached Blockbuster about a partnership. Unfortunately for Blockbuster, their CEO just smiled and laughed at him.

In fact, Blockbuster even had a chance to purchase Netflix for $50 million. Netflix currently has a Market Cap of [$209.74B] (July 2020) and a share price of $476.89, while Blockbuster is out of business." - rewindandcapture.com.

Why is Netflix called Netflix?

You could probably work this one out for yourself. But in case you are still stumped, the name Netflix is a combination of "Net" (as in the abbreviation for "internet" and "Flix" (a variation of "flick", the common abbreviation for a movie or film).

Pretty straight forward really.

Source: Facebook

How was Netflix founded?

At the time Netflix was founded, Randolph was working as a marketing director for Hasting's company Pure Atria. He was also the co-founder of MicroWarehouse (a computer mail-order company).

Hasting would later sell Pure Atria to the Rational Software Corporation in 1997 for $700 million.

By all accounts, the pair came up with the idea for Netflix during a commute between their homes in Santa Cruz and Pure Atria's HQ in Sunnyvale.

Hastings would supply the seed capital, and invested $2.5 million into the startup in cash. Inspired by Amazon's e-commerce model, the pair explored various portable items they could use to sell over the internet in a similar fashion.

After initially considering and rejecting VHS cassettes, they settled on DVDs as the perfect product. They tested their idea by posting a DVD to their homes in Santa Cruz, and when it arrived in perfect condition, they decided the time was right to break into the market with their revolutionary model.

Netflix launched in April of 1998 as one of the world's first online DVD rental companies. They had only a few staff, and just under 1000 titles at the time.

Source: stockcam/iStock

Some of the key milestones in Netflix's history

Here is a brief timeline of some of the critical milestones in the company's history (courtesy, in part, of Netflix.com):-

It all kicks off 1997

Reed Hastings and software executive Marc Randolph co-found Netflix to offer online movie rentals.

Netflix launches its DVD rental and sales service in 1998

Netflix launches the first DVD rental and sales site, Netflix.com

Their subscriber-based business model launches in 1999

Netflix debuts a subscription service, offering unlimited DVD rentals for one low monthly price.

Source: Tero Vesalainen/iStock

2000 unveils subscriber personalization

Netflix introduces a personalized movie recommendation system, which uses members’ ratings to predict choices for all Netflix members.

Netflix goes public in 2002

With a membership count at 600,000 in the US, Netflix makes its initial public offering (on the Nasdaq, under the ticker “NFLX”). The stock is initially offered for $15 a share, with an initial offering of 5,500,000 shares.

The company ends the year with around 857,000 registered Netflix accounts.

Since then, Netflix has consistently been one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500.

The company celebrates 1 million accounts in 2003

This year, Netflix hits a new record for the number of members, with more than 1 million. The company also issues a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its subscription rental service, with some other extensions.

Co-founder Marc Randolph steps down as a member of the board and leaves Netflix in 2003.

Source: Dominic Smith/Flickr

2004 sees a doubling in the number of Netflix accounts

This year, Netflix's member base surpasses 2 million. At the same time, Netflix also faces one of its first encounters with the legal system when they are sued for false advertising in relation to claims of "unlimited rentals" with "one-day delivery".

The claimant accused Netflix of failing to deliver on these two marketing promises in the San Fransisco Superior Court, claiming that the company's 3 at-a-time plan precluded unlimited rentals, and there was no way to ensure the one-day delivery using "snail mail".

Netflix denied any wrongdoing, and both parties eventually agreed on a settlement.

By 2005, Netflix has doubled its subscriber base again

The number of Netflix members rises to 4.2 million.

Netflix accounts hit a record 5 million in 2006

Netflix sees huge growth in member numbers, reaching 6,3 million subscribers by years' end. The company also launches its "Netflix Prize", promising a whopping $1 million to the first person, or team, who can achieve a set accuracy goal in recommending movies based on personal preferences.

Netflix also released around 100 million anonymous movie ratings, using a system that rates films from one to five stars. This is the largest set of such data released to date.

Video streaming is introduced in 2007

Netflix introduced a streaming service, called "Watch Now", which allows members to instantly watch television shows and movies on their personal computers. This was a huge shift in the company's business model. Initially, the service launched with just 1,000 titles and only worked on PCs and Internet Explorer. It also offered a limit on the number of hours of free streaming (with a maximum of 18 free hours a month), based on the users' subscription plan.

Netflix was also careful to say that they felt DVDs would be around for a long time. Despite these limitations, it was soon clear that streaming was the future of entertainment.

By the end of 2007, Netflix had 7.5 million registered subscribers -- up almost 20% on the previous year.

Source: Stock Catalog/Flickr

Netflix teams up with various consumer electronics companies in 2008

Netflix partners with consumer electronics companies to allow streaming on the Xbox 360, Blu-ray disc players, and TV set-top boxes.The year ends with around 9.4 million subscribers

Netflix is added to Playstation and smart-TVs in 2009

Netflix partners with yet more consumer electronics companies to allow streaming on PS3, Internet-connected TVs, and other Internet-connected devices. Its member base also expands to an amazing 12 million accounts by the end of the year.

The "Netflix Prize" also finds a winner this year. "Bellkor's Pragmatic Chaos" team, consisting of seven researchers from four countries. Running for over three years, the contest had attracted tens of thousands of contestants from more than 180 countries worldwide

Netflix connects to Apple devices and expands into Canada in 2010

Netflix is available on the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, the Nintendo Wii, and other Internet-connected devices at this point. Netflix launches its service in Canada.

The year ends with more than 20 million subscribers on the books. This year also marked the point where the number of customers who were primarily streaming shows, outpaced those who were renting, leading Hasting to declare in an October earnings call that, "By every measure, we are now primarily a streaming company that also offers DVD-by-mail."

Source: Stock Catalog/Flickr

The Qwikster debacle of 2011

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dogcopter · 5 years ago

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Rose Quartz is Melon Mutt

and Lion (but only sometimes!) theory. I know this is an ancient one that is generally disregarded at this point, but please suspend your disbelief for a few minutes and entertain the thought, have some fun with me. After all, it’d be really funny if they revealed Rose a third time.

This stuff can probably be explained by some kind of magical connection to Steven’s gem. However, his actions can also be explained by Lion sometimes just being a lion and sometimes having Rose Quartz in his brain, no additional magic required. And I think that makes him the Melon Mutts too.

Spoilers for all of Steven Universe and the movie!

In “Escapism”, the melon dog sees Steven off on his makeshift raft with a worried expression.

Lion shows up to save him after being battered on the open ocean, knowing he’s Steven, and brings him back to the Temple to relay his message.

Bear with me question: What if Lion knows where Steven is and is searching for him on the ocean right now, because whoever is in Lion was just in the dog that saw which way he was headed?

We know that Steven can astral project, and that he has occupied other organic bodies like the Watermelon Stevens. He even controlled Lars’s body before he’d ever magically revived him.

We know that there’s some kind of distinction between the “soul” or consciousness and the body, in Steven’s astral plane powers.

We also know that the person can be represented by their projected body, organic body, and/or their gemstone (but the person doesn’t appear to be present if they’ve retreated into the gemstone to heal.) Could Rose be piloting another body without her gem or body? Maybe so.

We know Steven has the ability to leave his own body and communicate with other people this way through direct contact and across great distances in psychic ghost land and/or dreams, including both humans and gems. He even talked to Lapis in his dream while she was part of a fusion.

So we know that psychic ghost powers exist, and we know someone who has the Pink Diamond gem who can use them. We also know the manifestation of gems’ body can be altered through choice, or damaged through both physical trauma to the gemstone and mental trauma to the person. We know even shattered and corrupted gems retain some measure of their original personality and Clusters can be formed.

There are things we don’t know about the real nature of the gemstone/personality relationship, but it’s clear a Gem is more than their gem. We know that Steven also, for example, doesn’t need a gemstone within Watermelon Steven’s body to continue to be “Steven”.

This post doesn’t have an explanation for Steven’s Rose/PD dreams, but I don’t want to guess about Gem mechanics, this theory is strictly based on the hypothesis that Lion’s actions make the most sense if Lion is Rose.

And we know one other thing! A change in body is usually accompanied by a change in consciousness, at least for Steven. He needs to fall asleep to leave his body, and when it’s time to return, he wakes up. So piece 1: Steven’s Psychic Ghost Powers Are Real, Body Swapping Is Real. Lion being a body swap is in the Pink Diamond moveset.

- But why wouldn’t Rose have told him if she’s Lion by NOW?

Rose Quartz, the character defined by running away from her problems? I’m gonna say this is still plausible in the magical world where this theory is true. I actually think it’s more likely that RQ faked her death twice than that RQ trusted a lion and/or additional accomplices with some of her most closely guarded secrets. But don’t take my word for it, keep looking at the screencaps.

- But Steven we can’t both exist I’m going to become half of you?

Gems use “physical form” to mean their projected light body, but technically, their gem is their physical form. What if Rose gave up her physical form - her gemstone and body - but her psychic ghost (or part of it) is still dickin around somewhere? She also says in Nora’s version of the tape, “We can’t both exist but I won’t be gone”. The message of Lion 4 is that Steven is just supposed to be Steven, but imagine the speculation if that line had been in Steven’s video way back when.

This all establishes that astral projection is real, Rose would have had access to it during her time with Steven’s gem at a minimum, and it could explain the possibility of the same consciousness inhabiting both Lion around Steven and Melon Mutt around Watermelon Steven - particularly if the Rose ghost is linked to his gem or ghost in some way.

And rule of Crewniverse And Emotional Torment: the thing that sounds really frustrating and narratively terrible has often ended up being executed in an awesome, Steven-appropriate way. We love a reveal that retroactively makes the entire series more upsetting.

But back to the first question.

-What about all the other times Lion has found Steven on his own?

Well, what if they can also be explained either by Lion being Rose, or Lion having seen where Steven went?

In “Steven’s Lion”, Lion is first shown under Steven’s shirt.

This is how he spots Steven and recognizes who he is, because his gem is exposed. (Rose’s gem is also under Steven’s shirt.)

Hypothesis: Lion (Rose in Lion’s body) was also hunting the Desert Glass, and his meeting with Steven was by chance. Upon spotting the Pink Diamond gem, he came to Steven.

So question 1: Why did Lion know who Steven is? I think Rose recognized the gem, obviously, and would understand this is Steven.

This can be explained by magical connection as easily as by the Rose idea, even though we know now that Steven doesn’t have a magical destiny (Lion 4) and Lars doesn’t have a sixth sense for locating Steven in his moveset (Jungle Moon). Gems repeatedly recognize Steven as Rose or Pink based on his gem so it’s possible Lion knows to do the same.

We saw in Buddy’s Book that the lions were already pretty tame even when not-pink. We see Lion’s nose only, before the shot changes to Rose, but the other lions are gentle with Buddy. Lion’s tame behavior when acting as a normal lion is in-character for Rose’s lions.

Timeline recap: we know a couple of centuries ago, Rose had alive tame lions. At some point Lion died and was revived by her healing tears, but remained a secret from the other Gems, including Pearl, who is the only person we know of who knew about Pink Diamond. Rose later met Greg and was with him until they had Steven. At some point after meeting Greg, she put objects inside Lion’s mane. There is a VHS tape addressed to Steven in the mane dimension, while the Nora tape was abandoned in the desert, indicating that he was likely meant to find that stuff.

Remember what we just established about Steven’s body swaps being linked to a change in consciousness? What better character to mask body swapping sleep with regular sleep than a cat?

Lion finds Steven and his eyes are glowing.

We know that Lion’s eyes and mane sometimes glow when using his powers, like making wormhole warps or summoning objects from his pocket dimension. Sometimes his eyes just seem to glow for no reason, but what if they can also indicate a body swap taking place?

As soon as he catches up to Steven, Lion immediately falls asleep.

...and then acts like a totally normal very tame lion while Steven cuddles all over him.

Then when the Gems show up, Lion’s eyes are glowing again.

After this, he watches Steven and the Gems leave, looking alert, and shows up at the Temple to break things. Lion doesn’t always appear to switch bodies onscreen, but another time this happens is in “It Could’ve Been Great” when Steven is begging for a ride to the moon.

“No more Earth, no more naps...” Lion is napping, then suddenly stands up and roars. His eyes glow, then he teleports them all to the Moon.

Back in Steven’s Lion, here’s the Second Finding Of Steven to support my point.

Lion shows up to find Steven and finish beating the Desert Glass.There’s about a five-hour time difference between the Delmarva area and the Sahara IRL, so it could be noon or early afternoon in the desert at the same time that it’s early morning in Beach City, and Lion seems to show up pretty quickly.

How did Lion know who the Gems were? How did he know where to go?

Here’s a rundown of things we know about Lion and the Crystal Gems and Rose, that explain this scene based on knowledge and not mysterious magic powers.

The Temple is where Rose used to live.

And where the Crystal Gems and Steven still live.

When they are hunting a corrupted gem like the Desert Glass, they return to put it in a bubble here, or bubble it and send remotely.

Lion can make wormholes to travel across great distances quickly.

If he goes too far it tires him out, even by endgame in the series.

He can run very far without growing tired, but has to travel in realtime.

Lion had to travel across continents to get to the Temple.

Lion did not use our warp pad to get to the Temple, because he arrives outside the door.

Lion is energetic enough for this and a battle, which could mean he warped straight there.

It’s unlikely Lion had met the Gems personally before because the Gems didn’t know Rose had a lion and didn’t know the Lion was Rose’s until Steven confirms it later, even if it was “kinda obvious” per Amethyst. (Connie is actually the team member who has seen the most of Lion, and she doesn’t have preexisting Gem knowledge)

By the same logic, it’s unlikely but not impossible that Lion had ever been to the Temple himself before, as well.

The Gems don’t have Rose’s gem, so Lion wouldn’t have recognized them the same way he recognized Steven if it’s a Rose-magic-connection thing.

Rose would know who the gems are, where they took the Desert Glass that Lion was hunting, and she’s one of the few people who would even know Amethyst, let alone well enough to predict her slacking off on the bubbling job! Warping straight there matches the available facts about Lion’s abilities.

Sidenote to Lion Finding Steven: Lion also found Pearl in Rose’s Scabbard, and kept pace with her as she headed to a place special to Rose and Pearl. We’ll come back to this episode in a sec.

Remember, this initial bit is to establish that there’s a logical explanation for Lion finding Steven at other times, therefore lending credence to the idea that the Watermelon rescue was based on knowledge shown onscreen (dog seeing Steven leave) and not a one-off magical GPS.

Here are the other Lion Finds Stevens that I found:

In “So Many Birthdays”, Lion is shown dozing off at Steven’s party. The party location shown in the beginning is the cliff overlooking Beach City, from where Lion would be able to see Steven on the beach when he woke up.

Lion shows up later that evening to save old!Steven on the beach and drag him to the Gems. Then he stays by Steven’s side.

In “The Return”, Lion comes to get Steven and bring him back to protect the Gems with his shield.

Lion only shows up after Steven has popped out of the car in a bubble, and all his neighbors stop the evac caravan to check if he’s OK. If Lion were looking for Steven via non-magical means, he could easily locate the commotion from any Beach City vantage point as they’re in the valley right now.

After the events in Jailbreak when they crash back down, Lion comes running straight onto the beach searching for where Steven’s bubble landed and uncovers the gang.

Lion fought during Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem, but doesn’t fight Jasper in The Return. Couldn’t there be a reason he stayed out of sight when Homeworld gems showed up but came out of hiding to find them after the events on the ship happened?

Interestingly, despite Lion having run beside Greg’s car during the Lapis episodes and being shown around Greg before, in Full Disclosure Lion hears Greg’s van coming and immediately peaces out. Maybe Lion feels bad about showing up to grab the kid and then almost getting him sent to jail on Homeworld?

(Ronaldo voice) Rose Quartz, running away from the consequences of your actions yet again I see????

Either way, this can be explained by Lion seeing things from an ordinary Beach City vantage point. So an explanation is present when Lion finds Steven. Which also explains the times Steven is lost/in danger and Lion doesn’t show up to save the day.

Next part: In Steven’s Lion a big part of my argument is that Lion returns to the Temple because he knows things only Rose would know, not just because he can follow where Steven warped.

When does Lion know things only Rose would know?

Exhibit A: “Lion 2: The Movie”

Connie shows off some overhand deathstrike and Lion, uncharacteristically chatty this episode, says, “You need a real sword, am I right?”

Lion talks to characters repeatedly. He behaves like a normal cat most of the time, but on a few occasions he actually tries to respond verbally to someone talking to him with a kind of meow. We saw it in Steven’s Lion as well. Lion is obviously sentient with a will of his own and the ability to understand language, even though he doesn’t always respond. I think the super catlike behavior can be explained by body swapping as well as Rose picking up instincts from her nothlit body.

In “Lion 2″ we see Lion responding to speech again. Steven says he and Lion are both untrained, so Lion brings the kids on a field trip to get weapons and training.

Obvious belated notes: Heart shaped face, star shaped mane like Pink/Steven/Rose, color scheme, Rose had a sword, Rose loved humans and swords, Lion is Rose’s size, Lion’s themes involve Rose’s theme.

More talking. “Nyurry up”

“Come on Steven. Push the button.”

Then he takes a nap! and the kids get beat up by the training program. When he wakes, Steven asks for help. Lion judges Steven for running after asking for this training, but assents.

...Only to conveniently leave the wormhole open long enough for the robot to show up and the kids to HAVE to finish their training.

This is when they receive Rose’s sword. Lion appears to be able to summon objects from his mane. (Later, Steven claims Lion can’t get to things stored in his mane, but he might just be wrong.)

Interesting that Lion summons the sword through his forehead in this Utenatastic shot, which mimics the position Rose would have drawn a sword out of Pearl.

Note that Lion does hang by and look out for them right up until it’s clear they’re going to win.

We find out in Rose’s Scabbard that Rose’s Armory was another secret that Pearl thought only she and Rose were in on. It’s also in a location far from the desert that Pearl had to freeclimb a million miles to get to. The movie theater is in Beach City.

Lion can warp to these places, but unless he has Rose’s knowledge, would he know where to go?

Exhibit B: Speaking of “Rose’s Scabbard”.

In this episode, Lion’s not happy about the battlefield. Garnet and Pearl are telling war stories, but he busies himself with digging up Rose’s scabbard after Pearl suggests Steven find something he like.

Pearl and Lion are pretty antagonistic in this episode too. We know how Pearl feels. Under the assumption that Lion is Rose, I think Lion grouching at Pearl could be interpreted as friendly as well as “Please move on.” Notice also that Lion, who hardly interacts with the others and was surprised by a hug from Amethyst in “Ocean Gem”, watches Pearl intently in this episode and tries to talk to her twice. Despite the fakeout at the beginning while he searches for the scabbard, this his Lion’s least catlike episode by far.

The scene where Pearl knocks down the painting goes without saying. I think the Rose parallels are also echoed in the end when Steven and Lion chase her down, I think we’re supposed to read some of Steven’s dialogue as an echo of past times Pearl was upset and Rose handled it the same way.

Steven: Pearl! Did I... did I do something wrong? You got to tell me!

Steven: Pearl! Pearl, you have to tell me what's wrong. Pearl: Sometimes, you even sound like her...

We even get a rare glimpse of Pearl’s pent up anger toward Rose as she holds her sword.

Here’s what we have seen onscreen: So far Pearl has treated Lion as a slightly annoying animal that she tolerates for Steven’s sake. They hadn’t met before Lion found Steven. Their interactions in this episode are antagonistic up to the point where Pearl runs off.

Lion contradicts or ignores Steven sometimes, but this time they both take action immediately. Steven asks if he knows where Pearl went, and Lion responds in the affirmative. This is another example of Lion Finding People Because He Knows Where To Look (Because He’s Rose.)

Do you remember this place? Do you have any of her memories? We were right here, over 5,000 years ago.

They chase Pearl to the place where Rose and Pearl decided to stay on Earth and fight. Somewhere Pearl expects Rose to remember. The choice Lion and Steven both make to chase her down and demand answers reminds Pearl of Rose.

If Lion is Rose, it explains his motivation for helping Steven/Pearl despite not seeming to know or like Pearl very well, his knowledge of where Pearl will be, and the fact that Lion and Steven both reacted the same way Pearl expected Rose to.

Lion Knows Rose Things Exhibit C: Lion 3: Straight to Video

Steven wants to know more about his mom and Lion keeps pushing him into his mane in response. We see some treasures in there.

Some stuff from the war, some Greg related stuff, THE CHEST!! and Steven’s tape.

Consider this seriously for a moment: How did Steven’s tape get here?

We do see Lion manifest the sword for Steven and Connie, which we know is a physical object created by Bismuth and not a hard light construction, we see it here in the mane. We also see Lion cough up the key to Rose’s storage unit later, where Steven finds the Nora tape. In theory he would know how to put things in his mane, and we’ve seen him take things out.

We also know these things, continuing from assumptions in Steven’s Lion:

The gems didn’t know about Lion.

Lion had to be dead before his mane could be accessed, so Rose would have stored these things elsewhere as early as ~200years ago per Buddy’s book.

Rose would have placed the Greg items in Lion after meeting Greg, chronologically.

Greg and Rose made two tapes because they didn’t know Steven’s sex.

Only Steven (Or more likely, Pink Diamond gem holder) can enter this dimension, although he can take others with him.

Steven’s sex wouldn’t have been apparent until after Rose was gone.

The other tape is in the desert in Rose’s landfill.

The lion is from the desert.

The landfill is framed by Pink’s ship.

Steven doesn’t recognize the ship in Lion 4 or “Legs From Here To Homeworld”, but to the gems it is immediate and obvious what’s buried there.

So who moved the Steven tape into the mane and left the Nora tape in the desert after Rose gave up her physical form?

If Lion can put things in his own mane, and Lion is Rose, we have an answer. An accomplice is unlikely, given that only Steven can open Lion’s mane, and any gem who saw her possessions at the landfill could put the pieces together that Rose and Pink Diamond are the same. The Landfill clearly belongs to Pink Diamond and the objects in Lion clearly belong to Rose Quartz.

Pearl is the only Gem we know of who knows about the secret, because she started it, and Rose wouldn’t even allow her to speak of it after they staged the shattering. Rose didn’t even tell Greg about her past (which he respected). She didn’t tell the Gems about Bismuth, and Bismuth is in the mane. Any Crystal Gem would know Bismuth and know one of Rose’s secrets, so the likelihood of a secret gem collaborator who both survived the war and helped Rose cover up Bismuth’s bubbling is basically nil.

Given the timeline and Rose’s secrets, especially given her secrets from Pearl who otherwise knows the most Rose lore and spent the most time with her, it makes very little sense for someone else to be involved but a whole lot of sense for Rose to be Lion. Lion could have moved Steven’s tape into the mane after meeting Steven.

Sidebar: THE MOON

Isn’t it convenient that the being who can teleport them to the moon is so tired out by the trip that he’s then unconscious during the plotty Diamond reveals and we don’t see his reaction to anything?

Again, Lion didn’t know the Gems and wasn’t known to them pre Steven. But when he takes the gang to the moon, he heads straight for the moon base, which Rose would have been to before - another location previously visited only by Rose and Pearl that we know of. Amethyst has to open the door and check - “YUP, WE ON THE MOON!”

But we do get a shot of him with the Pink Diamond portrait in “Can’t Go Back”; a shot of PD’s mural pans down to Lion facing away from the camera as Steven initiates a cliffhanger.

As we all know, after this, Steven slips into Pearl’s memories and sees everything.

Which leads me to:

The thing about Rose’s portrait and Lion. (and that one (1) pic of Pink Diamond)

I think I’ve made clear why Rose = Lion seems plasuible in terms of mechanics and Lion’s behavior. Now for a couple thematic notes.

I’m just gonna dump some more screencaps for this one. Basically, we never see Lion’s face and Rose’s in the same shot. The only exceptions are panning shots that still don’t have both in the frame. And sometimes this happens while Steven is talking about his mom, or other people are.

I remember people speculating about the meaning of hiding Rose’s face. I was looking for Lion things on this rewatch, so I didn’t look closely at the painting, focusing more on character, but I don’t think Rose’s face being covered has to exclusively mean one thing; there may be other instances where it’s symbolic to the scene and unrelated to Lion. However, Lion is the only character for which this seems to be a hard rule.

Sometimes Lion is just being a goofy cat while Rose’s portrait hovers in the background, static, serene, complete.

This one pans down from Steven looking at Rose, to Lion looking back at Steven, much like the PD shot on the moon base.

(Lion, Steven and Bismuth waiting to see how the CGs will react to Bismuth appearing)

Ok, that’s a thing, and we know the art and story go hand in hand in this show. Moving on, just a few last thoughts.

Lion eavesdropping awake and asleep, & angst potential

The thing about a character that’s always napping in the background is, sometimes maybe they’re awake? And if a change in consciousness can trigger the body swap, which crucial conversations has Lion been present to overhear? Certainly not many of Steven’s complicated feelings about his mom? Wouldn’t that be a great long road to retroactively torture us all?

In “An Indirect Kiss”, Lion is dozing while Steven complains about not having the healing powers he already has - Lion’s annoyed with Steven’s moon in the beginning. While Steven tells his story, Lion’s tail is moving and at the end he opens an eye.

It's just... I mean, I don't know how to feel about you, but everyone else does. I wish I could have met you then this place would make me sad, and I could cry healing tears, like you.

So Lion probably heard the part that made Connie cry, when Steven is laying in statue Rose’s lap and lamenting how little he knows about her. We also discover later that Lion was revived by healing tears.

In “Nightmare Hospital”, Lion is awake to witness Steven hugging his mom’s sword while Connie hugs her mom. I invoke rule of Crewniverse emotionally devastating everyone in Steven Universe.

In “Ocean Gem”, Lion’s there for Pearl’s explanation of corrupted gems to Steven.

He’s present for the convo at the beginning of “The Test” about Steven learning the Sea Spire mission was a setup.

He’s there when Steven and Amethyst catch Pearl tricking Garnet into fusion.

And when Peridot is learning to love the Earth and accept things that don’t make sense.

He’s also hanging out with Connie at Kevin’s party and is there to hear Steven and Connie talk through their conflict.

Lion could still just be a lion that happens to know things only Rose would know but I choose to believe there’s somethin’ going on.

Finally, in the Tale of Steven intro to the movie, Lion is a Rose.

This brings us to the final question, which was also the first question:

Why why why would Rose not just come clean?

The simplest explanation is yeah, Rose still hasn’t learned to stop running and hiding. I have a theory below because it seems to line up, but I am pretty convinced that Lion is Rose. I know we’ll enjoy Steven Universe: Future regardless of what they’ve done but I just think it makes sense.

TL;DR: We know there are psychic ghost abilities and astral projection can be triggered or ended by sleep and that someone can be in someone else’s body in a non-fusion way. Lion sleeps a lot and occasionally seems to know things only Rose could have known. If Lion isn’t Rose, it doesn’t track with Rose’s secretive behavior. Lion is Rose.

SPECULATION from here on.

I’m inclined to believe we’ll find out Pink was responsible for the damage to Pink Pearl’s eye, maybe due to giving an illogical order-

-Or lashing out in anger?

We would finally understand the first choice Rose made that changed her, like what A Single Pale Rose did for Pearl. And if she had a core trauma unresolved it could explain why she kept hiding from the past. We’ve seen something similar with Lapis.

And what do you know, before Steven Universe wrapped, Lion got an adorable little one-eyed companion!

Rose genuinely being gone forever is a choice I like also, but to me, there’s too much about Lion that’s explained this way that is more satisfying than just “he’s magic and knew rose offscreen”

To cite another conspiracy theory, maybe this could be how Steven emotionally self-corrupts, if that’s a thing. I’m not attached to that one but this could trigger it. What could possibly be more upsetting than this? What could force him to deal with his own problems?

RECAP

Lion’s actions make sense if he’s Rose more than another explanation because

He has only warped to places Rose would know about

A number of which only Rose and Pearl know about, canonically

Rose’s big secret identity is compromised if anyone interacts with Lion. In fact Lion basically holds all of her secrets?

He gave a shit about Pearl’s feelings in Rose’s Scabbard despite Lion not knowing her

VHS tape conundrum

We know Steven can body swap without bringing his Gem along

Connie, a HUMAN from EARTH who has a SWORD and LOVES MAGIC and is Pearl’s FAVORITE STUDENT, is Lion’s favorite person*

Lion has a personality and sentience, why would he not have a character arc and motivations and knowledge that explain his behavior? Does it really make sense for him to be a handbag who takes Steven on quests? Isn’t that exactly what Pearl’s character arc was all about not being?

Offers the opportunity for Rose to face her problems

*this isn’t really evidence but I love Connie and so does Lion

(Lion is also Melon Mutt because)

There are 3 Melon Mutts but they all come to Steven immediately after body swapping

The Watermelon society episodes are clearly saying something about the story (Baby Melon = Pink Diamond and Steven Melon 1 = Rose), but my galaxy brain is too deep into Lion to actually understand the melons beyond that

Lion rescued Steven because he saw where he went

Why would we need Melon Mutt at all otherwise? What’s the point? We already have Pumpkin?

#steven universe theory #su meta #steven universe #rose is lion #rose quartz #rose is lion 2020

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that-shamrock-vibe · 5 years ago

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Disney+ What To Watch: My Top 10 Favourite Direct-To-Video Disney Sequels

#7. The Return of Jafar

I give this movie credit for not only being the first Direct-to-Video sequel Disney released but also trying to continue one of Disney’s most loved properties without the inclusion of potentially the original movie’s strongest asset which was Robin Williams as the voice of the Genie.

That being said, I have often said that if you take this movie out of continuity and go straight from the first movie to the third movie, there will be nothing lost in terms of story or development.

While Aladdin is one of Disney’s only properties to have its own trilogy and a television series tied in, there is unfortunately never an extended part of the franchise that compares to the original movie.

Having said that, this movie does deliver on the promise of its title which is showing the return of Jafar, one of Disney’s best villains.

An undisclosed length of time has passed from the first movie and Iago has managed to escape the prison of Jafar’s lamp and attempts to find a better life for himself away from Jafar who he dumps in a well.

Aladdin meanwhile is first seen robbing new antagonist Abis Mal and his cronies which sets the new bumbling villain on a vendetta against the street rat.

In the marketplace, Iago crosses paths with Aladdin and Abu after angering the entire marketplace and begs for a second chance claiming he has changed. This causes tension at the Palace though as when it is revealed that Aladdin is harbouring Iago, the Sultan and Jasmine find it hard to forgive him based on his actions in the first movie.

Meanwhile Abis Mal comes into possession of Jafar’s lamp and the Red Genie emerges promising Abis Mal riches and glory if he assists him in defeating their mutual enemy Aladdin.

What follows is a somewhat moderate evil scheme where Jafar apprehends the Genie and enlists Iago as his minion once again, Abis Mal and his cronies apprehend the Sultan and frames Aladdin for his supposed murder which leads to him almost being executed before Iago has a change of heart.and frees the Genie so he can save him and their friends before they devise a battle plan to defeat Jafar.

The ending of the movie is definitely one of the most dramatic in these direct-to-video movies not only with a Maleficent-style arena showdown where the heroes try to destroy Jafar’s lamp but are constantly thwarted, but also the culmination of Iago’s redemption story where he gets badly beaten by his former master but is still able to knock the lamp into the lava finally putting an end to Jafar...aside from a future one-off appearance in the Hercules animated series.

The final scenes of the movie see Aladdin being offered the role of the Sultan’s new royal vizier but rejecting it in order to travel the world, to which Jasmine decides to travel with him.

This sets up the television series that follows complete with Homer Simpson returning to voice the Genie and the same poor animation of this movie.

There is nothing really likeable about this movie. Aladdin had a certain edge to him in the first movie that Mena Massoud managed to capture for the live-action remake, here though he becomes the standard Disney hero with nothing more to him other than being the good guy.

Jasmine is relegated to simply being the girlfriend and Abu, Carpet and Genie are very poor comic relief.

But the movie being titled The Return of Jafar should mean that Jafar is the main character is Jafar and for the most part he is, but I don’t know if it is to do with the animation or the fact that he is partnered with Abis Mal but there is something slightly goofy about him in this movie. This works for him when he is later partnered with Hades but despite here knowing he is the one in charge even though he is the servant officially he doesn’t dominate the same presence as in the original movie.

The songs are really bad, not only is Homer Simpson singing (yes I know he has an actual name but its Homer Simpson as the Genie) a pale imitation of “Friend Like Me”, but also Gilbert Godfried effectively singing a love ballad is possibly more earsplitting than Cats.

With all this said, why is this #7 on my list? Well not only is this the first direct-to-video Disney sequel but this was also one of the first VHS’ I was a part of buying, I was excited to see Jafar back given that he is one of my favourite Disney Villains and I was happy to see the Aladdin series continue despite never quite living up to the original.

So what do you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Disney+ What to Watch Top 10s as well as more Top 10 Lists and other posts.

#disney #disney+#disney plus #disney+ what to watch top 10s #disney+ what to watch #my top 10 favourite direct-to-video disney sequels #aladdin #the return of jafar

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recentanimenews · 5 years ago

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Why "Bad" Dubs Are Good

When it comes to translating and adaptating anime, most people don't even know where the process begins or ends. Enter the world of dubbed anime. From the mid 1980s up to the early 2000s, dubbed anime experienced a transformative boom via the transition from video-only releases to cable syndication. Back in the day, you walked six miles in the snow to a sketchy video store to get your Neon Genesis Evangelion tapes supplied by only a handful of distributors.

Among these early birds were the dubs produced by licensor Manga Entertainment, which included the original VHS tape release of Oh! Production’s classic Devilman OVA dubs based off the popular horror manga by Go Nagai. Other notable early dub projects included Cyber City Oedo 808 which delivered perhaps the crowning achievement in anime dubbing history (warning: explicit language). All of these dubs have one thing in common: they deviate so much from their original scripts, they may actually be some of the best dubs ever made. They're so "bad" they redefine what we think of as good.

Devilman OVA (1995)

Let’s go back to 1995—Manga Entertainment had acquired the first Devilman OVA, The Birth, and had enlisted the voice talents of Alan D. Marriott as Akira Fudo and Adam Matalon as Ryo Asuka, two young men caught in the middle of some very angry and lewd demons. The dub was released on VHS tape and was definitely the sort of thing you wouldn’t see on front shelves at video stores.

This was a time before Pokémon, where anime was still a niche genre with a dedicated, but significantly smaller fanbase. For context, Fox Video had only just released My Neighbor Totoro’s English dub in 1993. Even earlier than that was the notorious 1985 home video release of Warriors of the Wind, a Frankenstein'd “adaptation” of Nausicaaä of the Valley of the Wind that promptly led to Studio Ghibli adopting a “no cuts” policy in future film dubs. Any future competent dubs were going to have to be better than that.

Artwork for Warriors of the Wind

The 1995 Devilman dub sat in-between this awkward era, a time where a “no cuts” was the established policy for Studio Ghibli movies, but adult-oriented anime was left to fend for itself. A story entirely about evil demons, horrification transformation, nudity, and heavy violence couldn’t be heavily edited or censored without destroying the final product. Hence, the 1995 Devilman dub is but a handful of dubs that take a wildly different approach to “adaptation” while still surprisingly remaining true to the source material’s intent. It remained true to the spirit of Devilman's intense themes and tone, but with its own truly biting twist.

Committing to the Bit

In the 1995 Devilman dub, as Akira and Ryo are being attacked by a demon crashing through a window, Matalon (Ryo) yells “f#%kin’ a run for it” in the less-than-impressed voice of a nineties young adult who just finished watching Clerks. While in the Japanese dub Ryo seems genuinely caught off guard, Matalon’s delivery of Ryo’s adapted lines sounds like something from The Evil Dead. The Devilman OVA dub did well enough to dovetail into a second volume, which continued this trend of believable yet totally different dialogue. Devilman’s awkward mid-nineties dub might be considered an early “gag dub” in the same way many consider the infamous story of Ghost Stories’ 2005 ADV release ten years later. When it comes to “committing to the bit,” this series adapted by Steven Foster truly challenged what it meant to be a “good” dub.

Ghost Stories

Despite being a commercial flop in Japan, the Ghost Stories dub found a much different audience with its definitely-not-for-broadcast adaptation. However, unlike the the Devilman dubs prior to it, cultural changes such as the rise of adult animation like South Park made potty-mouth cartoons slightly more acceptable. For example, Ghost Stories’ purple-haired schoolgirl Momoko is a reserved and quiet character in the original, but is transformed into a bizarre born again Evangelical Christian in the ADV adaptation. While this joke obviously wouldn’t make much sense in the original, the straight performance of the adapted script flies with these changes without pause. A dub that should be “bad” for the sake of technically being incorrect, in fact, excels in strange new ways that the original never could.

Although the Ghost Stories dub took full advantage of its artistic liberties, the spirit of the original characters and plot remain the same, albeit with a snarky bite maybe influenced from an era of MTV and Beavis and Butthead. For what’s now considered a “boom” in anime dubs and license acquisitions during the early 2000s, Ghost Stories took the risk of deviating from the norm and wildly succeeded. Like adapting a book to a movie or album to a musical, anime dubs too were finding their footing into a quickly growing market.

Broadcast Dubs and Donuts

As anime gained more mainstream acceptance (more notably with series like Pokémon and Sailor Moon meant for younger audiences,) this liberal use of colorful language drastically slowed down. However, the question of “how is anime accessible” still remained, resulting in a wide range of localization efforts from different licensors aiming for a demographic sweet spot. While many anime fans remember Brock’s strange description of “donuts” while obviously holding a rice ball, other less blunt localizations prevailed.

Broadcast dubs like Digimon notably changed little content, but made several script changes such as adding jokes and dialogue where there was once silence. While obviously different, these adaptations are still enjoyed as products of their time and lauded for the incredible hard work of the voice actors and script writers involved. These series, syndicated alongside the Americanized version of Super Sentai aka Power Rangers on Fox Kids, exemplify how much localization depends on the audience and the context in which they’re watching it. Digimon: The Movie—a Frankenstein combination of three different Digimon OVAs for theatrical release—even included a meta joke about the Power Rangers for good measure to drive the point home.

"Japanese donuts"

While not as crude as the pioneering dubs coming from licensors like Manga Entertainment, these 2000s dubbed television anime clearly took a page from their predecessor’s adaptation handbook. This is obviously how we ended up with an extended Big Lebowski reference in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX English dub. Rather than argue over “subs versus dubs” maybe we should judge our anime dubs by the number of jokes about capitalism.

So Bad It’s Good

Why do dubs like Devilman and Ghost Stories work, versus botched projects like the Warriors of the Wind movie? Anime fandom in the west was far smaller compared to today and it was much more difficult to know if your dub was technically accurate. “Gag dubs” as they’re occasionally called, aren’t so much “bad dubs” as they are a method of adaptation and localization—a challenging task that most translators find difficult on their own without outside help.

Anime with strong visual cues, like ghosts and demons, can clearly tell a story without much exposition given a surface-level understanding of fiction tropes. This is how we get jokes about politics and Walmart in what was once a kid’s show about solving spooky mysteries. But much more often, the owners of the source material dictate the tone of any adaptations: funny, serious, or in the worst case scenario—losing the original scripts altogether (hello Samurai Pizza Cats).

“Oh sweet Pipimi, is this really what you wanted?” “OH YAAS QUEEN”

While most anime might not be fit for a drastically ambitious dub, dubs for recent anime such as Pop Team Epic continue this long tradition of changing the script for better comedic effect. Pop Team Epic throws in a healthy “yaas queen” from Pipimi (Luci Christian) and includes riffs that might’ve not worked in Japanese, but are a perfect fit for its loose and quirky dub. But the English dub stays true to the source material and is also recorded twice with different female and male voice actors.

A truly purist approach might not always get the best delivery from a voice actor—Japanese grammar structures are almost entirely inverted from English’s and a rough translation can make a smooth dub performance difficult. Simple techniques such as changing the tone of jokes and a line delivery can quickly make a series more approachable. Anime, after all, is for everyone no matter how familiar they are with the genre, Japanese culture, or obscure sentai references only your uncle understands.

Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about jelly-filled donuts anymore.

Do you have a favorite anime dub? Let us know in the comments!

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Blake P. is a writer who loves his cat. He likes old mecha anime, computer games, books, and black coffee. His twitter is @_dispossessed. His bylines include Fanbyte, VRV, Unwinnable, and more. His newsletter is Boy Toy Box.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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fibula-rasa · 6 years ago

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August 2018 in Review

I have a weird memory. It’s highly pattern-driven and very visual. This means that my memory of films I’ve watched is based on images and series of images that made an impression instead of plot points. It’s why I rewatch movies so often. Even though I’ve been tracking my movie viewing habits for two and a half years, that doesn’t mean I’ve created strong memories for all those movies. That’s why I’m gonna start doing monthly roundups of the new-to-me films that struck me, one way or the other.

[If you wanna know all the films I’m watching, I keep full lists on letterboxd and imdb.]

The reviews below are essentially transcriptions of the notes I took right after watching the films. Because of Summer Under the Stars and my cosplay challenge, this month was pretty TCM heavy for me.

Full Roundup BELOW THE JUMP!

Teen Titans Go to the Movies (2018)

27 July 2018 | 84 min. | Color

Directed and Written by Aaron Horvath and Peter Rida Michail

Starring Greg Cipes, Scott Menville, Khary Payton, Tara Strong, and Hynden Walch

I’m already a fan of the show and the movie kicks it up a notch with its humor and style. [If you liked the original series, give TTG a chance already.] TTG to the Movies is a great superhero movie for anyone who’s down for superhero stories but is fatigued by the current spate of offerings. Grain-of-Salt warning here because I think Superman III (1983) is great.

Fun that they included some gags here and there for the parents out there who’ve had to hear the Waffles song a few too many times. Also, one of the best ending gags for a kid’s movie ever.

Where to Watch: Still in theaters, but I’d imagine Cartoon Network will be playing it soon.

Doctor X (1932)

27 August 1932 | 76 min. | 2-strip Technicolor

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Written by Earl Baldwin and Robert Tasker

Starring Lionel Atwill, Lee Tracy, and Fay Wray

I made the statement that Darkman (1990) is the most comic-book movie that isn’t adapted from a comic book. I hadn’t seen Doctor X yet though.

The set pieces are phenomenal. Each shot is artfully constructed and the way the shots are strung together makes the most of the production design. If one were to do a comic adaptation, it would take some imaginative work to not just mimic the film. The 2-strip technicolor is particularly effective in the laboratory scenes in creating an eerie aura. Sensational.

Lee Tracy is playing, as usual, a press man and he’s doing so perfectly. Tracy is so underrated.

Where to Watch: Looks like the DVD is out of print, so maybe check your local library or video store. TCM plays it every once and a while and, since Warner Bros has a deal with Filmstruck, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pop up there eventually.

The Half-Naked Truth (1932)

16 December 1932 | 77 min. | B&W

Directed by Gregory La Cava

Written by Corey Ford and Gregory La Cava

Starring Frank Morgan, Eugene Pallette, Lee Tracy, and Lupe Velez

You might very well think Lee Tracy was a featured TCM star this month. (Maybe next SUTS? Pretty please.)

Lupe Velez is so talented and natural it was nice to see her in a film where her wits were matched. I’ll be honest, I’m a big Lupe fan but, for most of her films, she’s the only good reason to watch them. This wasn’t the case here! There are a lot of wonderful moments with small movements and gestures that make Velez and Tracy’s relationship feel very real, as if they’re actually that caught up in one another. Eugene Pallette, Franklin Pangborn, and Frank Morgan round out the ensemble. The running eunuch joke might not be all that funny, but it’s a masterclass in not saying what you mean. Also, very cute chihuahua.

Where to Watch: The DVD is available from the Warner Archive. (So, once again, local library or video store might have a copy.)

The Cuban Love Song (1931)

5 December 1931 | 86 min. | B&W

Directed by W.S. Van Dyke

Written by John Lynch, Bess Meredith, and C. Gardener Sullivan

Starring Jimmy Durante, Lawrence Tibbett, Ernest Torrance, and Lupe Velez

Lupe is wonderful in this. She plays a Cuban woman who sounds an awful lot like a Mexican woman--which might be something you have to overlook to enjoy the film FYI. Lawrence Tibbett has a shocking dearth of charisma in the lead, but Jimmy Durante, Ernest Torrence, and Louise Fazenda take the heat off him well. It’s a little hard to root for Tibbett’s character and the ending is disappointing. (Spoiler: privileging of the affluent “white” couple.)

The songs are great. I love the habit of placing people in musicals so that they are singing full force directly into each other’s faces. I don’t know why I find it so funny, but it’s not a mood ruiner for Cuban Love Song. The editing is fun and energetic. Until the war breaks out, there’s a lot of solid humor.

After watching so many Lupe films this month, I’d love to sit down with people who do and don’t know Spanish to talk about her films. There seem to be some divisions on social media and across blogs about Lupe’s films that might be attributable to whether or not one understands Spanish. I myself understand Spanish reasonably well and I think knowing what Lupe and others are saying makes almost all of her films funnier. And boy, does Lupe like calling men stupid animals.

Where to Watch: This one seems kinda rare. Looks like there may have been a VHS release, but you may just have to wait for TCM to play it again!

The Night Stalker (1972)

11 January 1972 | 74 min. | Color

Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey

Written by Jeffrey Grant Rice and Richard Matheson

Starring Carol Lynley, Darren McGavin, and Simon Oakland

and

The Night Strangler (1973)

16 January 1973 | 74 min. | Color

Directed by Dan Curtis

Written by Jeffrey Grant Rice and Richard Matheson

Starring Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland, and Jo Ann Pflug

I loved that these films are exactly like the Kolchak TV series. My SO and I have been watching the show weekly as it airs on MeTV and so he surprised me by renting the movies that kicked off the series. Honestly, watching backwards may have made the movies even more entertaining. How is Kolchak still working for Vincenzo in Las Vegas?? The answer is in Seattle.

The TV movies were intended as a trilogy, but after the success of the first two films, it was developed into a series instead. It’s cool to see how every piece of the Kolchak formula was in place immediately and how firmly Darren McGavin had a hold on the character. His chemistry with Simon Oakland (Vincenzo) is spectacular--a great comedy duo TBH. If you like their shouting matches on the show, Night Strangler has a humdinger to offer you.

Night Stalker is a pretty straight-forward vampire story, written by Richard Matheson, one of the great spec-fic writers of the 1960s and 1970s. Matheson also wrote one of the best undead novels of all time, I am Legend. What elevates the film over the basic mythology, aside from the great performances, pacing, and editing, is that the story’s really about how suppression actually goes down--how mundane and frustrating it can be even in the face of the supernatural.

Night Strangler is a little more creative with its monster. They integrate the nature and landmarks of Seattle in fun ways. The stripper characters are delightful. Jo Ann Pflug gives a truly funny performance and feels like a natural contender for Kolchak. Even his romantic relationships should be affectionately combative. The ditzy lesbian, Charisma Beauty (Nina Wayne) is hilarious and Wayne’s timing is impeccable. (BTW: they don’t explicitly call her a lesbian but it’s still made very overt.) There’s also a wonderful cameo by Margaret Hamilton.

As far as I can tell, it’s easier to get access to these films than the series. They’re worth seeing even if you haven’t seen the Kolchak TV show. They’re also a good pick if you’re a fan of X-Files, as Kolchak is the mother of that show. Even though I’m an X-Files fan and grew up watching it, Kolchak is edging it out for me lately. Maybe because if you’re telling a story about fighting for truth against the suppression of information, you undercut yourself by making the protagonist a fed.

Where to Watch: Kino Lorber is releasing restored editions of the films on Blu-ray and DVD in October!

The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

1 July 1944 | 95 min. | B&W

Directed by Jean Negulesco

Written by Frank Gruber

Starring Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Zachary Scott

This was great! I loved Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet together. If you’re looking for a mystery story that flows and escalates well and presents a parade of interesting characters and locales, Dimitrios is for you. It’s also always nice to see Lorre in the lead.

Where to Watch: The DVD is available from the Warner Archive. (So, once again, local library or video store might have copy.)

Strait-Jacket (1964)

19 January 1964 | 93 min. | B&W

Directed by William Castle

Written by Robert Bloch

Starring Diane Baker and Joan Crawford

I mentioned in my Joan Crawford CUTS post that I’d been meaning to see this for years. My enjoyment of the film didn’t suffer a bit from that length of anticipation.

I like William Castle’s movies a lot. I like the campy humor and quirky stories. This one is campy still, but not as heavy on the humor--unless you have a real weird sense of humor. That’s not a strike against Strait-Jacket though. Castle builds so much tension that by the end of the film, you feel like anyone could be axe-murdered at any moment, which becomes absurdly fun. The ending might be a little predictable, but it’s fun to go along for the ride. I didn’t particularly like the tacked on ending but I guess every JC movie needs to end on JC?

Largely unrelated, but if you’re a Castle fan, have you checked out his TV show Ghost Story/Circle of Fear? The first episode, The New House, in particular is top notch.

Where to Watch: It’s on Blu-ray and DVD from Sony (your local library or video store might have a copy) and it’s for rent on Amazon Prime. It’s also still on-demand via TCM for another few days.

One I didn’t write up: Cairo (1942). I brought up in my Jeanette MacDonald post that I was hoping to find a MacDonald film I enjoyed watching on her Summer Under the Stars day and I did!

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frederator-studios · 7 years ago

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Meet Rory Panagotopulos, Creator of Thrashin’ USA

Rory Panagotopulos is a Boston native with a Venice Beach soul, whose lifelong love of skateboarding inspired his short “Thrashin’ USA” our 11th Go! Cartoon. When he’s not animating the crowd-pleasing interstitials of MTV shows like Girl Code, Rory is hanging out with his dog Bosco or creating skate-related content such as gifs of the Gundam robots catching phat air—quality content accessible on his Instagram. I caught up with Rory to talk sketch comedy, bad 80s action sports movies, and turning your childhood neighbors into over-the-top cartoon villains.

How did you start animating?

I always wanted to do art—funny art, if possible. I knew I wanted to animate but didn’t really know where to start. The first things I made were claymations In high school—my aunt and uncle were getting rid of their giant 80s VHS camcorder, so I used that and just hit ‘record’ and ‘stop’ really fast.

An illustrious beginning. Where’d that take you?

I went to college for Computer Science. It was back when the belief was that everything was going to be 3D animated from then on. So I started getting into 3D animation, and found that it wasn’t for me. I’ve always loved drawing and making characters, and I was got lost in all the technicality of 3D. So I started focusing on art in college instead, and realized I could easily use a computer to make 2D animations.

Wait, so… you became a Computer Science major just to do 3D animation?

Yeeeaah. I was so mystified by animation that I was like, “3D animation is done on computers right, so Computer Science major it is.”

Oh man.

It culminated with me and my friend sort of tricking our advisors into letting us make a movie our senior year. He was a film major and I was like an Art major, Comp. Sci. minor at that point. Our movie had 3D animations that I did the full animating on - way too much for one person, so it didn’t look great - but it was an animated movie.

That’s cool. Did you submit it to festivals?

Ohhh, yeah, noo, it wasn’t a fit for festivals. But we did meet people from MTV because of it. Randomly, a dude at MTVU reached out to us after seeing it. And oddly enough, the same person I first met at MTV, 10 years later, is the person I work with now at MTV.

What do you do for MTV now?

Technically the gig is with the independent production company that the executive producer of the shows I work on created. But I make the little explanatory animations for the show Girl Code.

Neat! So did you go straight into freelance animating after school?

Actually, no. Me and the friend I made the film with moved to New York and started doing comedy stuff at Upright Citizen’s Brigade. Just to make stuff, we’d make YouTube videos and would put animation in them.

Comedy stuff! Was that acting, writing, stand-up?

Sketch shows, which we did for about 5 years. They have house teams at UCB, so every month we’d host a different sketch show—it was great training for writing. And we did a few big shows, like one called “Dog Fleet”. It was like a live on-stage Saturday-morning Cartoon parody. Sort of like a Ninja Turtles toss-up, but with dogs.

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Actual dogs onstage?

Oh, no, that would’ve been bad, ha—just people. People with very rudimentary dog ears on their heads. And they were obsessed with beans instead of pizza.

Ah, gotcha. So this comedy stuff, it couldn’t have been paying the bills?

Not quite! I was working at a book publisher, Simon and Schuster, doing the #1 most boring job in the arts. I’d go through editor’s corrections for books and make sure they didn’t mess up the page layout too much. So scrolling through books all day adding commas.

And then you’d let out all that steam with the comedy at night?

Pretty much! I liked that job because it ended at 5pm, and I wouldn’t think about it again until the next morning. Lived that double lifestyle for a while. Then the guy I met at MTV started doing Girl Code, and reached out to me and was like, “Oh, do you still do animation?”. At first I was like, “No”.

Ha! Shut down.

I wasn’t exactly like “No” but I was like, “Oh, I dunno, this comedy thing is pretty cool.” But I eventually got too bored of the other job. So I reached out to him and was like, “Hey, are you still doing that?” And he was like “Actually no, I’m not.” But he graciously introduced me to the new person who was running the show. So that’s how that gig started.

Did you dream of making a cartoon as a kid?

Definitely, I was obsessed with cartoons. We didn’t have cable until I was like 12, so any time a cartoons came on TV, I was watching it. It was basically Ninja Turtles and all the action 80s and 90s cartoons like GI Joe and Centurions. And I was totally obsessed with the X-Men cartoon, which I actually re-watched recently and found to have the most insane complicated plot of any cartoon. I definitely didn’t understand what was going on when I was a kid. I guess I was just like “Oh my God! Wolverine!”

So what do you work on in your own time?

The awesome thing about doing freelance is I can take a full month here and there to work on personal stuff. I did an animated web series a couple years ago called “Garbage Time”. It’s about two kids sitting on the bench for a basketball team, something I did a lot of my freshman year of high school. I did everything for it: writing, casting, recording, animating. I learned why so many people work on animated projects—it’s a lot to make. If I’m more busy, I make wacky photoshops that I usually share on Twitter.

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So did you come to pitch to Go! Cartoons?

I knew of Frederator through Adventure Time or Fairly OddParents. I don’t know what landed me on the website... again with the theme of me not knowing what I’m doing. But I saw the Go! Cartoons program, and was like, “Oh, I definitely want to do this”. “Dog Fleet” was originally going to be my cartoon pitch, but my friend wanted to do it as a sketch show, so that’s how that went.

But I still wanted to make a cartoon, so I came up with two new pitches. My girlfriend and I were coming out to LA for a wedding, so I scheduled my pitch for then, and figured if I’m going all the way out there, I’ll wow them with two - not just one - pitches. In hindsight, neither was good. Eric (our VP Development) gave me great notes and a quick class on pitching, and I took his advice home, came up with and boarded “Thrashin’ USA”, and did a better pitch over Skype.

What was the advice you were given on pitching?

Well, because the shorts are only 5 minutes, character is key. You have to get a very good, likable character out to the audience as quickly as possible. And then you also want the story to be simple and to the point. The ones I’d pitched before, nothing really happened. They were kind of like mumblecore. So when I went back I tried to make a very tight story where actions happened in sequence, and you get to know a character, and you actually feel good at the end.

What inspired “Thrashin’ USA”?

I loved skateboarding in high school and college. I was terrible at it, but I’ve always loved it, and skate culture in general. And it was on my mind at the time because my nephew was turning 5 and wanted a skateboard for his birthday. I was like: #1, it’s crazy that you’re 5 and you want a skateboard; and #2, I was remembering how when you’re a kid, it’s so hard to get anything. So I thought about a kid trying to get a skateboard or get his skateboard back, and that’s where that idea originated.

Also, my neighbor growing up was named Mrs. Tracy. And before I had a board, they always had this old 70s banana board in the back of their garage that I would just see. I’d always think, “Oh man… I just want to get that board.”

Were you guys friendly... was she evil? Is she gonna see your short?!

I think she was a very nice woman - definitely not evil. We were always like, losing balls in her backyard, so I think she was more annoyed with us than anything. The way my dad is… I’m sure he’ll see her on the street and try to explain it to her and she’ll be like, “Okay.”

Who were the inspirations for Pau and Gabby?

Pau basically looks a lot like my nephew, so that’s true to life. With Gabby, I wanted there to be a cool skater girl, and to avoid any kind of ‘damsel in distress’ trope. She’s as good a skateboarder, if not better than Pau.

Did you know any cool skater girls growing up?

Not really. Mostly because me and my one friend in high school who also skateboarded were too bad to go to skateparks or anything. But I think some of the reason behind that was that back then, and still now, skateboarding has an annoying "boys club" vibe. I think part of my intention with Gabby’s character was to raise the representation, in a small way, of skateboarding being a cool thing for girls to do. I’d rather paint a picture of skateboarding that’s more open to everyone.

Well you know one now! Not sure I count as “cool” though. Do you still skateboard?

Nah; the last time I did was back when I was still doing sketch comedy. I was using a skateboard as a prop in a show, so I skateboarded 5 or 6 blocks from the train to the theater, and my knees hurt so much afterward that I was like, “Ok, well, that was fun while it lasted.”

Where you grew up, was skateboarding a big part of the culture?

I grew up in the suburbs of Boston, and definitely not. The things kids liked were baseball and hockey. I watched a lot of TV shows as a kid about skateboarding and California and it always seemed like this awesome fantasy world where everybody skateboarded. Really I only had one or two friends who also skateboarded. But it was this cool thing where we were from a place people wouldn’t skateboard, but we were doing it anyway. And being from Massachusetts, we had to have a chip on our shoulders because it’s cold all the time. So it was this point of pride like, “Yeah, let’s go skate even though it’s freezing.”

Do you know what you’d do with a Thrashin’ USA series?

Well I’ve drawn a lot from the bad skateboarding movies that were made in the 80s and 90s. There’s one called Thrashin’ that is definitely my favorite of them; it’s basically Romeo and Juliet set against a downhill skateboarding race. There’s a rollerblading one called Airborne. And they make no sense. They’re supposed to take place in the normal world, but it’s all over-the-top and skateboarding is the most important thing in the world for everybody. And I was like, these could be good, if the conceit was that this is a fantasy world where skateboarding is super important and everyone cares about skateboarding, cause that’s just not reality. So that’s the idea: to build that kind of world and treat it as a fantasy.

Have you thought about Pau and Gabby’s arcs?

Well I imagine that this world would have levels of competitions. So I see them both entering the town competition, then regional, state, and all the way up to universal competitions. And it’d become a dynamic where they’re working out whether they have feelings for each other, and whether those will be affected by the fact that they’re both very focused on skateboarding and trying to be the best in the world at it.

Would Mrs. Tracy remain a primary antagonist?

Yeah, I like her as an antagonist because one of the goofiest things about those 80s skateboarding movies is how ridiculous the villains are. It’s (dramatic voice) parents, teachers, COPS. You know, people who are generally just trying their best but because they’re enemies of skateboarding, they’re public enemy #1 in this world. So I like the heightening of strict teachers, crazy neighbors—Mrs. Tracy just trying to get vengeance for her azaleas.

What are your biggest influences and favorite cartoons?

For “Thrashin’ USA” specifically, the title comes from the song “Thrashin’ USA” by The Bones Brigade, that actually took their name from a skateboarding crew from the 80s—so doubly ripping off. They were like a thrash metal band I was really into in college that did a lot of songs about skateboarding and eating junk food.

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Some of my favorite movies of all time are the Bill and Ted duology. I think it’s had a big influence on my humor and ideas. I’m a fan of Genndy Tartakovsky’s stuff - definitely Samurai Jack, but I feel like his Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon gets overlooked. That was my favorite cartoon for a while. One of my favorite animated movies ever is called Interstella 5555. It’s basically a Daft Punk album that they made an anime over, and the story is of a super popular alien pop group getting corporatized by an Earth record company. I also really liked Daria and Beavis and Butthead. When Adult Swim and Toonami became a thing, I was all about that.

And what are you working on now, as personal projects?

Well I was inspired by the whole Go! Cartoons process, so I’ve just been like, coming up with a lot of pitches and character ideas. One that I’m working on now is about a BMX bike gang—sort of like Daria crossed with Akira.

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I’d watch! Thanks for the chat Rory. I’m excited to see the projects you slide into next.

- Cooper

#The Frederator Interview #Frederator Studios #Go! Cartoons #Cartoon Hangover #interview #animation #cartoons #frederator #Thrashin'#Thashin' USA #skateboarding

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britesparc · 5 years ago

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Weekend Top Ten #430

Top Ten Disney+ Movies to Rediscover

I am once more returning to the well of Disney+ content, and by extension, Disney as a company – a company I tend to write quite a lot about, especially if we count Star Wars and the MCU. I wonder at this point if I’ve written more about Disney-owned properties than I have about Transformers. Maybe I need to pull out some more Cybertronian lists, just to even the score.

(Note to self: write several lists about the original G1 Transformers comic, as that was published by Marvel, who are now owned by Disney, and thus kill several birds with one listicle stone)

Anyway: Disney+. It’s been on quite a bit in our house, overtaking Netflix as the kids’ viewing platform of choice. As I’m currently attempting a grand MCU re-watch, it’s left to my wife to keep the flag flying for alternative streamers by binging Death in Paradise on the iPlayer. My kids are particularly enjoying the Disney Jr content, which at first pleasantly surprised me, as my eldest seemed to have gravitated towards slightly older fare on Netflix and CBBC (only slightly; stuff like Pokémon, Horrible Histories, and Trollhunters), so it’s nice that she’s still enjoying being a little kid for a while. However, whilst shows like Vampirina, Sofia the First, Elana of Avalor, and The Lion Guard all have their qualities, as a wall of background noise they can begin to grate after a month or two. As such, I’d like to use Disney+ to edumacate my kids whilst also revelling in nostalgia. And I’m going to do this via the medium of older kids’ movies.

Yes, Disney+ is a treasure trove of classic kids’ flicks. Many, many movies from my childhood and beyond are there to be rediscovered. And in many (most) cases, these are films I’ve not seen for decades. Decades! And there is the rub: are they any good? Because let me assure you, children are not always the best arbiter of taste. Sure, they can enjoy something plenty when they’re young; maybe it’s even genuinely good on some small level if you’re small and not particularly inquisitive. But we’re starting to expect a little more sophistication from our children’s content. Look at shows like Steven Universe or She-Ra, or movies as diverse as Inside Out or even Smallfoot (seriously, check it out; it’s got its flaws but it’s essentially about a society using religion to keep its populace ignorant). Going back to the basic morality and surface-level humour of an ’80s cartoon might be a serious step-change, even if we’re lucky and there’s no unfortunate racism or sexism.

As such, it is with a degree of trepidation that I begin to approach the Disney+ back catalogue; however, that trepidation in itself also leads to excitement. What riches will we uncover? Will we love the films as much as we once did? Am I gambling big on Rick Moranis standing the test of time? Will talking animal movies resonate if the animals are actual animals and not CGI? And how young is too young to be traumatised by a dead dog?

These and many more are the questions that will be going through my head as I force my two small children and beleaguered wife to sit down and watch a bunch of films that I once saw on VHS whilst holding a Real Ghostbuster in one hand and a copy of the Muppet Babies comic in the other.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989): a rollicking adventure movie starring kids, taking place in a backyard, but it’s also a fantastical jungle of immense proportions. I remember this as being an incredible effects-fest, so it’ll be interesting to see if it maintains that level of wonder thirty years on. My kids loved Dora and the Lost City of Gold, so we’ll see how this holds up.

Willow (1987): an epic fantasy quest movie with an incredibly empathetic lead, I loved this film as a kid, and I’m glad it’s maintained a cult following (isn’t there a sequel series due?). But is it fun and interesting enough? I seem to remember – even back then – being aware that it wasn’t well-received. My kids like fairy-princess style fantasy, but will something more swords-and-sorcery hold their interest?

Cool Runnings (1993): so I’d have been about 12 when I saw this, quite a bit older than my two; but I loved it and thought it was hilarious. I hope it still is; I hope its gentle racial politics don’t seem cringy nowadays. I do wonder if a more-or-less straight sports movie will keep my kids enthralled, however.

Hocus Pocus (1993): I loved this, and so did my younger bro, who was exactly the right age to enjoy it in the ’90s. It’s got kids, it’s got witches, it’s really funny, it’s got an unkillable talking cat; I’m sure there’s enough to still love. I really think my eldest will adore it, but maybe the youngest is a bit too young.

Turner & Hooch (1989): a video rental staple in my house growing up (and then one of those films taped off the telly that I kept re-watching); largely responsible for my love of Tom Hanks. I am certain this holds up, absolutely certain. But will it skew a bit too old? Will they care about a dog that doesn’t talk? And – spoiler alert – will the ending not just completely fuck them the shit up? That’s my biggest worry, to be honest.

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993): another one that my bro loved, I seem to remember renting this and us both thoroughly enjoying it, him being basically an infant at the time. Whether it’s actually any good or not I don’t know; is it teeth-gnashingly sentimental? But more importantly, will kids weaned on the elaborate talking animal-ness of, say, The Lion King and Lady and the Tramp remakes buy into early-90s shaggy dog CG?

Splash (1984): another film where I’m fairly sure it will have stood the test of time, but one where I remember virtually zilch. Will my kids care about its romantic plot? Will they be disappointed it’s not full-on mermaid action? Will they be outraged at the digital censoring of an innocent butt shot?

Return to Oz (1985): I knew this film before I knew The Wizard of Oz was a thing, and I adored it; another serial rental. I have a feeling it’ll probably stand the test of time, even if its glorious edges may have been chipped away. But I also remember it being thoroughly, uncompromisingly creepy. Will the Wheelers and “the queen with a hundred heads” (to quote Scissor Sisters) haunt their nightmares? Is Oz, quite frankly, too odd?

Mrs Doubtfire (1993): this is definitely the film I remember best, and also the one I’ll have seen most recently; although even that is probably late-nineties. I remember it most for its rapid-fire Robin Williams wordplay, and I’m sure in that respect it holds up, even if its plot may get sappy. I think the cross-dressing farce and physical comedy will appeal to my nippers, and I hope the filthy dialogue (“She’s got a power tool in the bedroom, dear”) goes entirely over their heads.

The Rocketeer (1991): okay, full disclosure: this one’s a cheat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen The Rocketeer; if I have, I don’t remember it at all. And this is supposed to be a list of films I’m re-discovering! But what the hell, let’s go all-in on a brand new film that’s 29 years old. I’m hoping its old-fashioned adventurism and derring-do resonates, and gives us a fun film we’ll all enjoy. And – hey! – maybe it’ll be a gateway drug to both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Captain America: The First Avenger!

So there we are: ten films (okay, nine) that I’ve seen and want to see again but this time with small people nearby. I will do my best to keep you, my adoring public, informed as to whether the kids think they’re hits or misses. And sorry for swearing up there. Oh, and here’s another fun fact: did you know they remade Freaky Friday again? Yes! In 2018! It looks like it’s a made-for-TV musical. It’s a bit of a shame that it’s not got the star wattage of both previous versions though. I’d like to see them spend a bit of cash and do one with, oooh, Winona Ryder as the mum and Millie Bobby Brown as the kid, just to keep things all Stranger Things-y (let’s face it, that could actually be a plot in Stranger Things 4).

#top ten #films #movies #kids films #disney #disney+#streaming

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