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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years ago

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Natalie Holt's timeline was turned upside down last fall when she landed the highly-coveted composer gig for Marvel Studios' Loki series on Disney+.

"My agent got a general call-out looking for a composer on a Marvel project," she tells SYFY WIRE during a conversation over Zoom. "So, I didn’t know what it was. It was [described as] spacey and quite epic ... I sent in my show reel and then got an interview and got sent the script and then I realized what it was for. I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ It was amazing ... Loki was already one of my favorite characters, so I was really stoked to get to give him a theme and flesh him out in this way."

***WARNING! The following contains certain plot spoilers for the first four episodes of Loki!***

Imbued with glorious purpose, Holt knew the score had to match the show's gonzo premise about the Time Variance Authority, an organization that secretly watches over and manages every single timeline across the Marvel multiverse. The proposition of such an out-there sci-fi concept inspired the composer to bring in uniquely strange sounds, courtesy of synthesizers and a theremin.

"I got my friend, Charlie Draper, to play the theremin on my pitch that I had to do," she recalls. "They gave me a scene to score, which I’m sure they gave to loads of other composers. It was the Time Theater sequence in Episode 1. The bit from where he goes up the elevator and then into the Time Theater ... I just went to town on it and I wanted to impress them and win the job and put as many unusual sounds in there and make it as unique as possible."

The end result was a weird, borderline unnatural sound that wouldn't have felt out of place in a 1950s sci-fi B-movie about big-headed alien invaders. Rather than being turned off by Holt's avant garde ideas, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige embraced them, only giving the composer a single piece of feedback: "Push it further."

Holt admits that she was slightly influenced by Thor: Ragnarok ("I loved the score for it and everything"), which wasn't afraid to lean into the wild, Jack Kirby-created ideas floating around Marvel's cosmic locales. Director Taika Waititi's colorful and bombastic set pieces were perfectly complimented by an '80s-inspired score concocted by Devo co-founder, Mark Mothersbaugh.

"To be honest, I tried not to listen to it on its own," Holt says of the Ragnarok soundtrack. "I didn’t want to be too influenced by it. I watched the film a couple of times a few years ago, so yeah, I don’t think I was heavily referencing it. But I definitely had a memory of it in my mind."

After boarding Loki last September, Holt spent the next six months (mostly in lockdown) crafting a soundtrack that would perfectly reflect the titular god of mischief played by Tom Hiddleston. One of the first things she came up with was the project's main theme — a slightly foreboding cue that pays homage to the temporal nature of the TVA, as well as the main character's flair for the dramatic. "He always does things with a lot of panache and flair, and he’s very classical in his delivery."

She describes it as an "over-the-top grand theme with these ornate flourishes" that plays nicely with Loki's Shakespearean aura. "I wanted those ornaments and grand gestures in what I was doing. Then I also wanted to reflect that slightly analog world of the TVA where everything has lots of knobs and buttons ... [I wanted to] give it that slightly grainy, faded [and] vintage-y sci-fi sound as well."

"I just wanted it to feel like it had this might and weight — like there was something almost like a requiem about it," Holt continues. "These chords that are really powerful and strident and then they’ve got this blinking [sound] over the top. I just came up with that when I was walking down the street and I hummed it into my phone. There’s a video where you can just see up my nose and I’m humming [the theme]. I came home and I played it."

As a classically-trained musician, Holt drew on her love of Mahler, Dvořák, Beethoven, Mozart, and most importantly, Wagner. A rather fitting decision, given that an actual Valkyrie (played by Tessa Thompson) exists within the confines of the MCU.

"I would say those flourishes over the top of the Loki theme are very much Wagner," Holt says. "They’re like 'Ride of the Valkyries.’ I wanted people to kind of recall those big, classical, bombastic pieces and I wanted to give that weight to Loki’s character. That was very much a conscious decision to root it in classical harmony and classical writing ... There’s a touch of the divine to the TVA. It’s in charge of everything, so that’s why those big powerful chords [are there]. I wanted people almost to be knocked off their socks when they heard it."

With the main theme in place, Holt could then play around with it in different styles, depending on the show's different narrative needs. Two prime examples are on display in the very first episode during Miss Minutes' introductory video and the flashback that reveals Loki to be the elusive D.B. Cooper.

"What was really fun was [with] each episode, I got to pull it away and do a samba version of the theme or do a kind of ‘50s sci-fi version of the theme," she explains. "I can’t say other versions of the theme because they’re in Episode 5 and 6…or like when Mobius is pruned, I did this really heartfelt and very emotional [take on the theme] when you see Loki tearing up as he’s going down in slow motion down that corridor. It was cool to have the opportunity to try out so many different styles and genres. And it was big enough to take it all. It was a big enough story."

The other side of the story speaks to the old world grandeur of Loki's royal upbringing on Asgard, a city amongst the stars that eventually found its way into Norse mythology.

"I went to a concert in London three years ago and I heard these Norwegian musicians playing in this group called the Lodestar Trio," Holt recalls. "They do a take on Bach, where they’re kind of giving it a folk-y twist … [They use] a nyckelharpa and a Hardanger fiddle — they’re two historic Norwegian folk instruments. I just remembered that sound and I was like, ‘Oh, I have to use those guys in our score.’ It seemed like the perfect thing. I was like, ‘Yes, the North/Norwegian folk instruments.’ It just felt like it was the perfect thing for his mother and Asgard and his origins."

That folk-inspired sound also helped shape the music for Sylvie (played by Sophia Di Martino), a female variant of Loki with a rather tragic past. "Obviously, we’ve seen in Episode 4 what happened to her as a child," Holt says. "I just feel like she’s so dark. She’s basically grown up living in apocalypses, so she has that Norwegian folk violin sound, but her theme is incredibly dark and menacing and also, you don’t see her. She’s just this dark figure who’s murdering people for a while."

And then there were all the core members of the TVA to contend with. As Holt mentioned above, fans recently lost Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson), may he rest in prune. We mean peace. What? Too soon? During a recent interview with SYFY WIRE, Loki head writer Michael Waldron said that he based Mobius off of Tom Hanks's dogged FBI agent Carl Hanratty in 2002's Catch Me If You Can.

"There’s this thing that he loves jet ski magazines," Holt says. "I had this character in my head and then when I saw Owen Wilson’s performance, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s actually a lot lighter and he plays it in a different way from how I’d imagined.’ But I was listening to Bon Jovi and those slightly rock-y anthemic things. ‘90s rock music for some reason was my Mobius sound palette."

Mobius is pruned on the orders of his longtime friend, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), after learning that everyone who works for the TVA is a variant who was unceremoniously plucked out of their original timelines. A high-ranking member of the quantum-based agency, Renslayer has a theme that "is quite tied in with Mobius and it’s like a high organ," Holt adds. "It doesn’t quite know where it’s going yet. But yeah, we’ll have to see what happens with that one."

Wilson's character isn't the only person fed up with the TVA's lies. Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) also became disillusioned with the place and allowed Sylvie to escape in the most recent episode

"Hunter B-15 has this moment in Episode 4 where Sylvie shows her her past, her memories. I thought that was a really powerful moment for her," Holt says. I feel like she’s such a fighter and when she comes into the Time-Keepers and she makes that decision, like, ‘I’m switching sides,’ so her theme is more like a drum rhythm. I actually kind of sampled my voice and you can hear that with the drums. I did loads of layers of it, just like this horrible sliding sound with this driving rhythm underneath it. So, that was B-15 and then her softer side when she has her memory given back to her."

Speaking of the Time-Keepers, we finally got to meet the creators of the Sacred Timeline...or at least we thought we did. Loki and Sylvie are shocked to learn that the red-eyed guardians of reality are nothing but a trio of high-end animatronics (ones that could probably be taken out by a raging Nicolas Cage). Even before Sylvie manages to behead one of them, something definitely feels off with the Time-Keepers, which meant Holt could underscore the uncanny valley feeling in the score.

"When they walked in for their audience with the Time-Keepers, it was like this huge gravitas," she says. "But you look up and there’s something a bit wrong about them. I don’t know if you felt that or if you just totally believed. You were like, ‘Oh, this is so strange.�� I just felt like there was something a little bit off and musically, it was fun to play around with that."

Holt is only the second solo female composer to work on an MCU project, following in the footsteps of Captain Marvel's Pinar Toprak. Her involvement with Loki represents the studio's growing commitment to diversity, both in front of and behind the camera. This Friday will see the wide release of Black Widow, the first Marvel film to be helmed solely by a woman (Cate Shortland). Four months after that, Chloé Zhao's Eternals will introduce the MCU's first openly gay character into the MCU.

"I just feel like it’s an honor and a privilege to have had that chance to be the second woman to score a thing in the MCU and to be in the same league as those incredible composers like Mothersbaugh and Alan Silvestri. They're just legends," Holt says. "Another distinctive thing about [the show] is that all the heads of department are pretty much women. Marvel are showing themselves to be really progressive and supportive and encouraging. I applaud [them]. Whatever they’re doing seems to be working and people seem to be liking it as well, so that’s awesome."

Holt's score for Vol. 1 of Loki (aka Episodes 1-3) are now streaming on every music-based platform you could think of. Episodes 1-4 are available to watch on Disney+ for subscribers. Episode 5 (the show's penultimate installment) debuts on the platform this coming Wednesday, July 7.

Natalie isn't able to give up any plot spoilers for the next two episodes (no surprise there), but does tease "the use of a big choir" in one of them. "Episode 6, I’m excited for people to hear it," she concludes. "That’s all I can say."

#Natalie Holt #composer #Loki #OST

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twh-news · 3 years ago

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Loki' composer on how her MCU score reflects the main character's flair for the dramatic

By Josh Weiss

Natalie Holt's timeline was turned upside down last fall when she landed the highly-coveted composer gig for Marvel Studios' Loki series on Disney+.

***WARNING! The following contains certain plot spoilers for the first four episodes of Loki!***

The other side of the story speaks to the old world grandeur of Loki's royal upbringing on Asgard, a city amongst the stars that eventually found its way into Norse mythology.

Wilson's character isn't the only person fed up with the TVA's lies. Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) also became disillusioned with the place and allowed Sylvie to escape in the most recent episode

"When they walked in for their audience with the Time-Keepers, it was like this huge gravitas," she says. "But you look up and there’s something a bit wrong about them. I don’t know if you felt that or if you just totally believed. You were like, ‘Oh, this is so strange.’ I just felt like there was something a little bit off and musically, it was fun to play around with that."

#Loki #loki series #natalie holt #Loki spoilers #loki series spoilers #Article #Interview #SYFY #Long post

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queen-of-my-goofball-army · 4 years ago

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Favorite Voice Actors

For those of you that know me, you know that my number one special interest is cartoons and the people that voice my favorite characters. Studying my heroes and watching them in interviews became a favorite pass time of mine. A lot of my friends thought that it was really weird and they stopped talking to me because of it. For a long time before I got diagnosed as having aspergers I talked forever about it. I think that both bored and confused people. For me, I love voice acting because anybody can be anything. You can watch a show and years later be like I know that voice it’s insert name here if you’re like me. True, certain actors have something that is brought to every character (I can think of one prime example later on down the list) but it is always about the heart that they put into their characters.

10. Charlie Adler: I’ll admit that I am mostly a fan of him due to the amount of work that he has done and the quantity. This man was the voice of Cow, Chicken and Big Red guy in Cow and Chicken. True, this show was past my time (and if it wasn’t I feel like it would get the Fairly OddParents treatment where my parents would forbid me to watch it.) When I listened to his episode of Talkin’ Toons I found his story’s really interesting and compelling. I can only imagine how much work and effort went into all of his characters in that show. To develop one character is one thing but to be able to switch between them like a deck of cards is a completely different thing. I did however watch a lot of Brandy and Mr. Whiskers when I was younger!! Growing up with that show and hearing him play Mr. Whiskers brought me a lot of joy when I was sick at home and for that I will always be a huge fan of his voice and his work.

9. Jim Cummings. If I were to say that one voice actor had a ton of versatility it would probably be him. I was a major Tigger fan when I was growing up. Not just that but I loved Raymond when Princess and The Frog came out. He is actually my mom’s favorite voice actor. But I also loved CatDog when I would see that on reruns, I grew to love Darkwing Duck and countless other shows that he leant his voice to. Studying voice acting and the people that do it has led to me finding some things out that I would rather not. Especially when I found that he wasn’t actually the nicest person in real life. But, to me that doesn’t matter when it comes to this list. He is here because so many of his characters made my childhood just a little bit happier. When I was thinking about favorite voice actors I considered two things, personality and character content. This one is here just for character content.

8. Bob Bergen: I reblogged a post a long time ago with this man at the helm. What he can do every time I see him do it blows my mind. Bob has been the voice of Porky Pig since pretty much Tiny Toons back in the early 90′s. He has stated that there have been some others but when I think Porky this is the name that comes along with it. Watching him do his thing is something that continually blows my mind. Listening to his life story on Rob Paulsen’s podcast Talkin’ Toons is something that inspired me more than anything. It’s this story of persistence and resilience from a young age. He is one of the few voice actors that actually got to talk with Mel Blanc when he was fourteen. I love his genuine heart and the ability that he has to jump into his character full force. Porky was a big portion of my childhood and I grew up laughing at his “silly” stutter. It wasn’t until I got older and learned that the stutter is an actual art form that I learned something entirely different.

7. Richard Horvitz: Most of you that know me might be surprised at this rather seemingly low placement for somebody that I greatly admire. I mean he was Invader Zim and Billy from Billy and Mandy for crying out loud!! I just bought a print for the man but really when I thought about it, he hasn’t really inspired me as much as my top six have. I love his sense of humor and his love of musical theater but he hasn’t taught me anything life altering. I think that he is hands down the funniest voice actor in Hollywood. I could listen to him make jokes forever and just talk in his voice but at the same time he is so other worldly and knows so much about the craft that it inspired me that way. He is as most of his fans joke “the dad voice actor” complete with dad jokes. I love Invader Zim so much, the show has helped me through a lot of loneliness and emotional moments in my life reminding me to keep laughing at life’s craziness. I also love Moxxie from Helluva Boss. All in all Richard is a fabulous man and actor. He has helped me figure out the kind of person that I wanted to be and I owe him a lot of laughter hours.

6. Greg Cipes: Can I talk about probably my OG hero for voice acting? When I was six I spent a lot of time in front of the television watching the original Teen Titans. My favorite character was Beast Boy his character that he played. When I say that BB changed the way that I think about my life that is not an exaggeration. He was one of the first characters that made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt. Growing up I had to fight people for his validation. It seemed like nobody loved him as much as I did. Cut to me in middle school I’m a bit more grownup and I start channel flipping. I wind up on Nickelodeon and see the reboot of Ninja Turtles. I figure I’ll watch it and see what all the hype is about. I hear Mikey open his mouth and instantly I get this rush of my childhood coming back. It was one of the first times that I made the connection between voice actor and character. Greg taught me so much vicariously through his character. He taught me about fun and laughter, about the importance of feeling lonely doesn’t mean that you’re alone in the world and even if you’re the goofball that doesn’t mean that’s all you have to be. The fact that he is such a relaxed and genuine person only adds to the admiration of this vegan beach bum.

5. Corey Burton: This is a very personal hero of mine. It’s one that I hold very close to me because of one thing. As far as I know, there have been very few voice actors on the autism spectrum. Corey is the only one that I have ever found. He’s the man that actually surpassed every expectation and said screw live performing it makes me anxious I’m going to get my experience through something that I know I’m good at radio. So he does radio and becomes really good at that. Then he goes to cartoons. He does Dale in Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers with a certain feminine icon of mine. He gets Ludwig Von Drake and has been that voice actor since the original DuckTales. Then he hits the peak, he was Mole in Atlantis Lost Empire a big budget Disney movie. I am so often inspired by my top six favorite voice actors. They are the ones that took me by the figurative hand and told me hey you can do get through whatever it is that you are struggling with. It just takes a little bit of laughter through the bad times, and an optimistic attitude that things will slowly but surely get better. Corey was the one that actually got himself to the top of the mountain and got to say that he did it. I admire that about him so much because for a while I thought to myself “Hey, he did it so can I”.

4. J Michael Tatum: In terms of anime voice actors, even though I love a great many, only one has ever remained of legend status. It comes yet again with a rather personal story. I was 17, lost and a little bit confused. I knew that I was ace but I had no idea how to tell my parents. It was around this time when I was getting back into anime due to Yuri On Ice, Space Dandy and Princess Jellyfish. I decide what the hell I’m going to watch some panels of my favorite voice actors for anime haven’t done that since I was thirteen. I had always loved Tatum as Kyoya Ootori in Ouran High School Host Club and France in Hetalia but other than that I didn’t know very much about him. I looked up panels for him and came across one for Florida Anime Con filmed that year. In it, he talked about being gay a lot. It implanted a seed that would inspire me. If he could be out and proud then why was I stoping myself? It might sound silly or stupid to some but to me it changed everything. From that moment on I loved everything Tatum. It led me to discover my love for Rei in Free, Okabe in Stein’s Gate and many other countless roles of his.

3. Tom Kenny: This man right here, he is the OG voice actor special interest of mine. He is the first name that I remember hearing because he did so much for Nickelodeon showing children how he did his most iconic voice. Who is that iconic voice you may ask yourself? Well it’s Spongebob flipping patties Squarepants. If that alone doesn’t put him at this spot then I don’t know what does. Like so many children in the early 200s I spent a good chunk of my childhood with me and my parents on the couch and this show on the television screen. You want to talk about legacy? This man voiced his way into the hearts of millions of children across the united states. I remember the first time I saw his actual face. I was flipping through channels and I saw this man on Nickelodeon. He had a goofy smile on his face and I figured what the hell I’ll give this a watch even though it’s not a cartoon. Then he started talking he introduced himself as Tom Kenny. Then he starts doing Spongebob. My five year old mind was blown. I never forgot his name ever since. Every time I would watch Teen Titans and Mambo would be on that episode I would be like “Oh that’s Spongebob’s voice actor”. It was that moment that changed everything for me. I have never looked back from my main special interest ever since. He has helped me through so much. Whether he be my favorite exorbitant yellow sponge, or Dog on CatDog, or Lazlo on Camp Lazlo part of me will always be with Tom Kenny. Keep making children happy Tom you’ve been doing a great job so far.

2. Tress MacNeille: Hoo boy this is a big one for me. For those of you that haven’t ever been around here before and don’t know the name of my character on my icon her name is Dot Warner (the Warner sister) and this is her voice actress. I hope that she changes your life and inspires you as much as she has mine. When I was nine I had an incredible fourth grade teacher. She showed us Yakko’s Nations Of The World for geography class. She also encouraged us to watch the rest of the show because it was full of educational songs and humor. I went home that day with on thought in mind. I wanted to watch the rest of that series. I go home and I make one distinction, hey that Warner sister I can kind of talk like her a little bit if I try hard enough. It was a little bit harder back in those days and I talk a lot more like her now with the reboot out in the world. This is the first and only impression I can do. I can do Dot and that’s it. And to me that was what mattered I didn’t need to be able to do anybody else. There aren’t a whole lot of woman voice actress’s that can keep working. All we have is Tara Strong, Cree Summer and the one and only goddess Tress MacNeille. Tress has helped me out so much in my life. I have never been the most confident person alive but from a young age hearing her absolutely smack down the actors of her brother’s in the show (Rob Paulsen and Jess Harnell) something about that inspired me. It was around this point in my life that I learned I can speak my mind and just not give a hoot if anybody feels the same way that I do. I can make my opinions known to other people. I was sixteen when I made that discovery and Tress was there for me all the way cheering me on in her Dot voice. I owe a lot to her and I wish that she was more active on social media so that I could have the opportunity to thank her for everything that she has done vicariously for me.

1. Rob Paulsen: If you were surprised by this, we probably haven’t talked before. At least not extensively because my dog do I love this man!! He has inspired me more than any other and he is not just my favorite voice actor but I consider him my ultimate hero in life. Where do I even start with him? There have been so many moments where I’ve fallen in love with one of his characters. I suppose one should start at the beginning. As I mentioned with Tress, my introduction through Animaniacs was Yakko’s Nations Of The World. This moment it changed everything for me because this was the first time that I could actually remember seeing Rob do a role. Yakko was the first cartoon character to actually make an impact on me. It was the first time that I ever loved a character that deeply. It was also the first time I ever made my own character to pair up with a canon character not even knowing that I was doing it. Ever since then a part of me has known okay that’s what Rob talks like. Now thanks to Tom Kenny I can recognize him in other places. And recognize him I did. From there I found that he was Carl on Jimmy Neutron, Mark Chang my favorite character on Fairly OddParents and countless other roles that we could be here all day for. As I mentioned, I was in middle school when the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were originally airing. When I watched that first episode, Donatello sounded really familiar to me. So I waited to the end credits only to find out that holy hell that was Rob!! The same person that played my favorite fast talking older brother. I found out about his fight with cancer a few years after it happened. This is when he went from favorite voice actor to hero legend status. He fought his way out of hell so that he could continue to sing “United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Heidi, Jamaica, Peru” until the end of his days. Reading his book changed my life forever as it gave me insight to not just the man who made me laugh, cry and cry laughing listening to his podcast but that same man had a whole ass heart and soul that he put into every character that he did. I find it really hard to explain what he means to me. He’s my hero, the one that made me laugh when I was a sad and lonely elementary schooler and the one that continues to bring me back to my childhood every time I see him in a show. I don’t feel the compulsion to give strangers hugs very often but if I ever met Rob I don’t think that I would be able to stop myself from giving a hug and just telling him thank you. Thank you for making my childhood and the childhoods of countless others much better than they would have been without you.

And that’s it folks!! Whew that’s a lot of me rambling but I feel a bit better now. Finals preparation week has officially started for me and I just wanted to give myself this big ol’ boost of serotonin before I went into it.

#Voice acting #Charlie Adler #Jim Cumings #Bob Bergen #Richard Horvitz #Greg Cipes #Corey Burton #Michael Tatum #Tom Kenny #tress macneille #Rob Paulsen

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alwaysahiccupandastrid · 4 years ago

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I saw you reblogged a Peter Pan gif set; what are some of your favorite older Disney animated movies?

Ooh thank you for the question! I really love that you asked this since I just got Disney+ last weekend!

I think it depends on what your definition of “older” movies is - like I know that some that may seem “old” to me aren’t actually that old compared to other Disney films. Like some films from the 80s and 90s might not be considered that old but they seem that way to me since they were made before I was born!

The Golden Age (1937-42): I wouldn’t say these are my absolute favourites, but I do like Snow White and Bambi!

The Silver Age (1950-67): I LOVE Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland - 2017-2019, my family and I went on holidays each year to Disneyland Paris, and all three years I met Peter and Wendy, and then for both 2018/2019, I met Alice and the Mad Hatter as well! (To be honest though, my Wonderland love is mostly because of the mature video games by American McGee!) I also absolutely adore Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians to be honest - I’m a sucker for dogs! (Also I had Lady and Tramp plushies when I was young so that’s lovely!)

Bronze/Dark Age (1970-1988): So these are seen as the bad ones but honestly? I love the Fox and the Hound so much, I even still have my Todd plushie on my bed from when I went on my school’s French immersion trip to Disneyland Paris when I was 15! I also really loved The Black Cauldron growing up - I know that that’s probably an unpopular thing to say because I know now that there’s books and the film apparently did no justice to them (I got the whole series for Christmas so I’m hopefully going to start reading them soon!), but I honestly really liked that film as a kid. I really think Eilonwy is an underrated princess, and I already like the relationship between her and Taran (also Gurgi is cute in the film!), so hopefully I’ll love the books even more!

Renaissance (1989-1999): these probably aren’t classed as “old” but I’ll include them anyway! I love pretty much every one of the films made in this period, but my ultimate favourite - and it’s my ultimate favourite Disney movie to this day - is Beauty and the Beast. I remember being so happy and excited as a kid watching it because Belle was a princess who loved to read, and I loved to read so much as a kid (I still do when I have time), and it’s such a beautiful movie in every way - the story, the songs, the animation... I love it so much. I also really love Tarzan (I used to do that knuckle-walking thing when I was little and so the Tarzan cry, plus I had a Terk plushie), The Lion King (I had a Simba and a Nala as a kid), Mulan, Hercules (the fact her name is Meg is icing on the cake, plus it gave me the idea to use her full name “Megara” for my Skyrim/RPG characters!), Hunchback of Notre Dame, Little Mermaid... I absolutely love this era of Disney.

I’ll end the list there since 2000 onwards is definitely considered “modern”, but there’s quite a few ones from 2000 onwards I enjoyed! (If you do want to hear about my favourite Disney films from 2000, just ask!)

Speaking of Peter Pan though, while I love the Disney Peter Pan, I acknowledge that its depiction of Native Americans (I.e. the Indian tribe) is not okay. Even in the book, the depiction is really bad and offensive. I happen to just love the idea and story in general of Peter Pan though, the whole flying away to Neverland and Lost Boys stuff (and obviously Hook/pirates). I just love Peter Pan in general! I even have a Peter Pan tattoo that’s a silhouette of Peter and the Darling children flying, and it’s the Disney one - not just because I love Peter Pan, but because my Nan used to take me to see Peter Pan at the pantomime growing up (I saw other pantos of course but the Peter Pan ones were my favourite), and I wanted to get something in memory of her that she wouldn’t haunt me for (because I’m 100% certain she’d have haunted me for life if I’d gotten her name or something similar tattooed on my body). It’s a subtle nod, and it’s not just because of her, but it’s still a nod nonetheless. I feel I should add though that the Disney adaptation isn’t my favourite adaptation of Peter Pan (though I do love it, don’t get me wrong - I love meeting Peter and Wendy at Disneyland, and I have Peter AND Wendy dolls on my bed): my absolute favourite version of Peter Pan is the 2003 one (which isn’t Disney but still). The Disney version, however, is more easily recognizable as silhouettes, plus it’s easier to get merch for Disney stuff than anything else!

(PS: if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend going to a Peter and Wendy meet and greet - they’re so much fun and they give great hugs! There are pictures somewhere on this blog but I look awful so I won’t add them here 😅 the pictures are there though, and I tag everything so you could probably easily find them by looking at the Peter Pan or Disneyland tags on my blog. Also Alice and Hatter are a riot as well - we mimed having UnBirthday tea and they asked if my flower tattoo spoke to me!)

#disney #peter pan #this was longer than I expected it to be tbh!#disneyland paris #disneyland

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creatingnikki · 5 years ago

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Dearest Cat,

How has your experience as a 23-year-old been? I’m a month in – exactly – and I think it’s going pretty well. Of course, it’s not like I see any instant growth or changes but I see little new patterns and my stance growing stronger in things that matter, and it’s all been building for the last few years. It’s nice to see it getting finally materialised in actions, however.

I’m sorry about your breakup. I’ve never been in a long-term ‘official’ relationship but I have been in relationships that have fucked with my mind while breaking my heart so I know how it can significantly affect you for a while to come. And take it from someone who tried the long-distance thing for 6 months, it’s never worth it and it never works out anyway.

I have been, quite uncomfortably and amusingly, been watching a lot of Daniel Sloss stand up comedy and I literally just heard him talk about something I think you should hear too:

“When I was seven years old, my dad said something to me that to this day is the reason I will die alone. Very happily, I may add. But I was seven years old, I didn’t know what life was. I didn’t know what existence was, how the fuck would I know? So I thought I’d ask my dad ’cause he can fix a computer, so he must know. So I was like, “Dad, what do we all do? What’s the meaning of life? Why are we all here? What what the fuck?” And my dad loves his kids, so he wants to explain to his son in a way that he’ll understand, but unfortunately, his son’s a fuckhead. So he has to explain it in a way that a fuckhead will understand, and he accidentally did it perfectly, and it’s stuck with me since then.

This is what he said, right? I’m seven years old. He goes, “All right, buddy. Just imagine that your life, my life, everyone else’s individual life. Imagine all of our lives are like our own individual jigsaw puzzles. As we’re going through life, we’re just slowly piecing it together, bit by bit, based on experiences and lessons that we’ve learned until we get the best picture, but the thing is everyone has also lost the box for their jigsaw. So none of us know what the image we’re trying to make is, we’re just confidently fucking guessing. So the best way to do a jigsaw, when you don’t have the image to work off, is to start from the outside, the sides and the four corners. Family. Friends. Hobbies/interests. Job.

Now obviously, as you go through life, some of these bits are subject to change. Sometimes you’ll make new friends, and you’ll lose contact with old so you gotta move this corner around a bit. Sometimes you’ll get a job. That means you can’t have certain hobbies. You gotta decide then, “Do I want more me time or do I want more work time?” You gotta move the stuff around. Sometimes you’ll have a family member that dies, and they’ll leave a big hole in your life. In that moment you’ll have to find a way to fill that void, otherwise you’ll be incomplete forever. ”

Now, that made perfect sense to me, because I was seven years old. I fucking loved jigsaws. So I was like, “All right, okay. So once you’ve got the stuff on the outside, what’s the main bit of the image? What we are all working towards?” And he goes, “Well, that’s That’s the partner piece. You and this perfect person who you’ve never met before to come out of nowhere, fit your life perfectly, complete you and make you whole for the first time in your life, much like your mother did for me. ” Seven. Seven years old. I wish you just said, “Ice cream!” And we could have fucked off.

And even though what he said sounds sweet and whatever, what it manifested in my seven-year-old brain was this, “If you are not with someone, you are broken. If you are not with someone, you are incomplete. If you are not with someone, you are not whole. ”

And that’s not just something my dad made me feel, that’s something that we as a society have made every single child born in the last 40 years feel. Every Disney princess has a prince, every prince has a princess, every television show or movie always has a character in it that doesn’t want to be in a relationship. They’re happy with who they are. But then by the end of the series, guess what. They were wrong! They were wrong for wanting to be alone, what a fucking idiot. Everyone needs someone, yeah. They were just a toasty little marshmallow, weren’t they? It’s all to do with love.

Divorce, an entirely common thing that there is nothing wrong with. When you’re growing up and your friends’ parents get divorced, you’re told to not talk about it or mention it to them because it’s taboo, and it is taboo is because every relationship on the outside is perfect, because none of us are willing to admit that none of us know what the fuck we’re doing. And when you raise children in that world, where everything points towards love and everything’s perfect on the outside, when you’ve raised them for 18 fucking years, when we become an adult for the first time in our late teens and our early 20s, we’re so terrified.

We’re so trying to be an adult that some of us will take the wrong person, the wrong jigsaw piece and just fucking jam them into our jigsaws anyway, denying that they clearly don’t fit. Oh, we’ll move pieces out the way, I don’t need this hobby, I don’t need this opinion. Mom who? The bitch with the tits. What’s she done for me recently? I’m gonna force this fucking person into our lives because we’d much rather have something than nothing. Then five years later, you’re stood looking at a jigsaw you don’t recognize, being like, “Ah! There’s a fucking cunt in the middle of this.”

Maybe you do meet the perfect person. Maybe you meet them, you go out. They make you laugh. You make them laugh. They’ve got a stupid laugh, but you fucking love it. They like what you like. They like your idiosyncrasies. It’s great. It’s perfect. Oh, my God, they’ve completed you. For three months. Every relationship is perfect for three months. And here’s why. ‘Cause after three months, that’s when you realize that nobody else is a jigsaw piece.

Everyone else on this planet is as deep and as complex and individual as you are, which means they too have spent the last 20 or so years of their life working on their own jigsaw puzzle, in the same way that you’ve been working on yours. You can’t suddenly expect them to give up everything they’ve come to achieve to suddenly fit into yours in the same way that you’d be pissed off if they asked you to sacrifice everything you’ve done, suddenly come fit into theirs, but now, because you like each other and because you’re interested in each other, now you have to make a jigsaw together. And we all know how fucking annoying that is. But you do it ’cause you’re in love and you’re interested, and maybe for the first couple years, it’s great. It’s like, “Oh, my God, you love this bit of me. I love this bit of you. Oh, my God, we got the same thing, yeah!”

But time does not equal success. You can spend five or more years with someone, and only then, after all the fun you had, be looking at the jigsaw and realize you’re both working towards very different images. Only then realize that you want different things. And in that moment, you have a very, very difficult question to ask yourself. One. Do I admit the last five years of my life have been a waste? Two. Do I waste the rest of my life? 55% of marriages end in divorce. 99. 0% of relationships that started before they are 30 end. If those were the stats for surgery, none of us would fucking risk it. But because it’s love and we’re stupid, we just lie on the operating table like, “Maybe this time I won’t die inside. ” My generation has become so obsessed with starting the rest of their lives that they’re willing to give up the one they are currently living. We have romanticized the idea of romance, and it is cancerous. People are more in love with the idea of love than the person they are with.”

You should definitely watch his whole special on Netflix. That guy makes you uncomfortable. But he also makes you laugh. And sometimes, like in his above sketch, he makes you really think.

I think he has said all I would want to tell you about your break up – and I hope it’s helpful because I spent 30 minutes trying to find its transcript haha. And I don’t know what his conclusion really is, I still have the rest of the show to watch, but I think….I think love will come to us when it has to. Until then we just have to live our lives with joy and love for ourselves anyway.

Your meaning of love…I described something similar when I spent 13th Feb – the night before Valentine’s Day making my profile on Hinge. And that’s the thing that most people don’t understand – while 90% people I know first care about the physical appearance of the person, I care about whether we connect and have a spark. Whether we can make each other laugh and kinda just be at the same level/frequency. As you said…Connection of minds and souls and knowing each other to your core. Interestingly, there’s something that hit me like a fucking truck a few months ago and I scribbled it down before it had the chance to move on and leave me confused:

All this. Writing in your journal, underlining sentences in books, taking pictures you’ll never put up on social media or show anyone. All this is your consistent and earnest effort to try to communicate and connect with your past self and get to know your future self and coordinate between the three dimensions of who you were, are and will be. It’s all for you. By you. No one else needs to validate you. Or understand you. Or question you. It’s not their place, it never was.

You need to realize the person your past self was trying to become. The person your future self will need to be. You need to have patience when you can’t figure it out. When you feel betrayed. Because no matter how lacking you may be, you will never have any malicious intentions. You’ll not be flaky, you’ll not be weak, you’ll not throw yourself under the bus. Writing letters to yourself, making playlists so meticulously to capture every season, every mood and continuing despite being uncertain and confused…it’s all you reaching out to yourself.

And I think…it’s when we’re earnestly and constantly trying to connect with ourselves when we come across a person who does the same…we will easily and naturally connect with them, their energy.

I realize that due to the Jigsaw sketch by Daniel Sloss this letter has gotten pretty lengthy. But I still want to talk to you for some more. I hope you’re with me and have connected with my words up until now

About the work friends and how they were there for you and made you feel…isn’t that one of the most comforting, lovely and reliving things? Kinda unexpected too, no? I remember last year, a random lunch on a random workday, I looked around at these 4 smart, brilliant, kind and strong women – my co-workers and friends – at the round lunch table talking about meaningful things – personal and worldly – as we always did and just thinking – wow, finally, I finally belong! I’ve always been a very one-to-one person when it came to friends and was never part of a group (other than groups that feel absolutely uncomfortable and unwelcomed) that was so accepting, loving, sensitive and sincere. And smart! Gosh, so damn smart!

Soon after, each of us left that company – horrible management – and it’s been a year now. We are in touch but of course, it’s never going to be the same as before. And that’s okay. Just thinking of those times and them is enough to make me feel as loved and accepted as I did back in those days. And that’s what I want to tell you – you will come across such people who will truly care about you and help you nurture yourself but their life will overlap with yours just for a while. As a child, this would make me sad and angry! Now, it only makes me super grateful and mindful about being present in the moment that is now, in the life I am living right now. And I hope you can too

So, Cat, I don’t know how many months you have of being 23 but I hope they are all, as well as the coming years, full of connecting with yourself, with people that genuinely care about your well-being and growth and with everything that brings you joy and peace.

Lots of love,

Nikki

I wrote this letter for Nura basis some questions they answered. You can read the questions and their answers here.

Guys - I have received 29 people’s responses for The Love Project - 29 days of love letters. So I won’t be accepting anymore, however, you can read other letters here.

I may do this again later in the year and if you would want to receive a love letter from me then, you can drop in your email ID here xoxo

#the love project #29 days of love letters #letter 12 #love letters #february 2020 #happy february #valentine's day #let me write you love letters #creatingnikki #love #heartbreak #break up #daniel sloss

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simatomica · 6 years ago

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- GET TO KNOW ME -

Thank you to the lovely @awolzai for the tag! <3

Find the icons HERE :)

TAG TIME!!! I tag anyone who wants to do this because it’s a lot of fun :) also I’ll add @cupcakegnome @simperbly @themoonglitch @elisabettasims

FEEL FREE TO DO IT EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT TAGGED!! Just tag #get to know me zai OR tag me so I can see :D

Sooo the point is to make a simself (yup, that sim up there is me) and put your traits, things you like and whatever you wanna share. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to!

After the keep reading thingy are +100 questions I found that you can answer if you want, but you don’t have to (it’s tiring as hell)

1. What is your full name? L

2. What is your nickname? Lizer, Lizard, Turtle. Idk why.

3. Birthday? August 13th.

4. What is your favorite book series? Harry Potter series.

5. Do you believe in aliens or ghosts? Both ._.

6. Who is your favorite author? Richard Matheson, the original master of horror stories.

7. What is your favorite radio station? Oldies station

8. What is your favorite flavor of anything? Vanilla and/or birthday cake stuff.

9. What word would you use often to describe something great or wonderful? That’s awesome. I’m a 90′s kid I still use those words dude.

10. What is your current favorite song? I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME - Do It All The Time

11. What is your favorite word? Mhm. I mean it’s not really a word but there you go.

12. What was the last song you listened to? Blind Deaf & Dumb

13. What TV show would you recommend for everybody to watch? The Office.

14. What is your favorite movie to watch when you’re feeling down? Anything from Disney.

15. Do you play video games? Yep

16. What is your biggest fear? Water. (Like the ocean, lakes, or rivers)

17. What is your best quality, in your opinion? my good manners

18. What is your worst quality, in your opinion? my social anxiety.

19. Do you like cats or dogs better? Both! I refuse to answer just one.

20. What is your favorite season? Autumn <3

21. Are you in a relationship? Yup.

22. What is something you miss from your childhood? How easy life was back then.

23. Who is your best friend? @xanezephyr

24. What is your eye color? Dark brown

25. What is your hair color? Black

26. Who is someone you love? My furry babies (My dogs and cat)

27. Who is someone you trust? My mother.

28. Who is someone you think about often? My childhood friend Cyndy.

29. Are you currently excited about/for something? Getting a new computer upgrade so that’s pretty sweet!

30. What is your biggest obsession? Food.

31. What was your favorite TV show as a child? Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

32. Who of the opposite gender can you tell anything to, if anyone? My nephew Aaron.

33. Are you superstitious? Hell yes I am.

34. Do you have any unusual phobias? Water like I stated before. Aquaphobia? I’m too lazy to look up the actual name.

35. Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? Controlling the camera.

36. What is your favorite hobby? Sims.

37. What was the last book you read? Gone Girl

38. What was the last movie you watched? Bohemian Rhapsody.

39. What musical instruments do you play, if any? Piano

40. What is your favorite animal? I love all animals, can’t discriminate.

41. What are your top 5 favorite Tumblr blogs that you follow? @deathseeksyou @teanmoon @fuchsiateasims @tekri @mizushiba

42. What superpower do you wish you had? invisibility

43. When and where do you feel most at peace? In the forest, or anywhere green and naturey

44. What makes you smile? My fur babies

45. What sports do you play, if any? Hah no

46. What is your favorite drink? Green tea

47. When was the last time you wrote a hand-written letter or note to somebody? It’s been years I can’t even remember now

48. Are you afraid of heights? yes

49. What is your biggest pet peeve? Spitting. It’s so gross to hear people spitting.

50. Have you ever been to a concert? Yup

51. Are you vegan/vegetarian? I’ve tried both and they just weren’t for me.

52. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Rock star

53. What fictional world would you like to live in? The Wizarding World.

54. What is something you worry about? Yeah I worry about everything

55. Are you scared of the dark? sometimes

56. Do you like to sing? Not as much as I use to

57. Have you ever skipped school? I use to skip certain classes back in high school and would go over to my friends house that lived a few blocks away from the school and just sleep until school was over.

58. What is your favorite place on the planet? Home

59. Where would you like to live? Up in the cold mountains, or in a green lush forest.

60. Do you have any pets? I have 4 dogs and one cat.

61. Are you more of an early bird or a night owl? Early.

62. Do you like sunrises or sunsets better? Sunsets.

63. Do you know how to drive? Yup

64. Do you prefer earbuds or headphones? headphones

65. Have you ever had braces? Oh yeah

66. What is your favorite genre of music? Rock, Alternative, Oldies, Electronica, Classical. I listen to everything.

67. Who is your hero? Don’t really have one but I do adore Freddie Mercury.

68. Do you read comic books? yes, especially mangas

69. What makes you the most angry? Rude people

70. Do you prefer to read on an electronic device or with a real book? real book please

71. What is your favorite subject in school? history!

72. Do you have any siblings? I have a sister >_>

73. What was the last thing you bought? dog treats

74. How tall are you? 5′8

75. Can you cook? Kind of, depends.

76. What are three things that you love? My family, my animals, and food.

77. What are three things that you hate? social situations, hypocrites, and being broke.

78. Do you have more female friends or more male friends? Female

79. What is your sexual orientation? Pan baby.

80. Where do you currently live? California

81. Who was the last person you texted? Mario

82. When was the last time you cried? Not too long ago. Just shit going on with my dad.

83. Who is your favorite YouTuber? I don’t like a specific YouTuber but my favorite channel is Lutch Green. I like those spooky crime docs.

84. Do you like to take selfies? Nah

85. What is your favorite app? Tumblr

86. What is your relationship with your parent(s) like? Good.

87. What is your favorite foreign accent? British accents are so nice.

88. What is a place that you’ve never been to, but you want to visit? Japan

89. What is your favorite number? 13

90. Can you juggle? I don’t want to brag but yeah *cool glasses emoji* lol

91. Are you religious? I’m spiritual.

92. Do you find outer space of the deep ocean to be more interesting? Both. Though deep ocean sounds terrifying.

93. Do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? Nope

94. Are you allergic to anything? Cat dander

95. Can you curl your tongue? yeah

96. Can you wiggle your ears? no

97. How often do you admit that you were wrong about something? I’ll admit it most of the time.

98. Do you prefer the forest or the beach? forest

99. What is your favorite piece of advice that anyone has ever given you? Expect the worst but hope for the best.

100. Are you a good liar? Probably?

101. What is your Hogwarts House? Slytherin, hence my user name.

102. Do you talk to yourself? yes

103. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? introvert

104. Do you keep a journal/diary? yeah

105. Do you believe in second chances? Depends

106. If you found a wallet full of money on the ground, what would you do? Turn it in.

107. Do you believe that people are capable of change? I’ve never seen it in person but who knows.

108. Are you ticklish? oh yeah

109. Have you ever been on a plane? yes

110. Do you have any piercings? My ears. I use to have my nose and brow pierced but you know my boss was being a bitch.

111. What fictional character do you wish was real? Dracula.

112. Do you have any tattoos? Yes I have 2.

113. What is the best decision that you’ve made in your life so far? Moving to a new town.

114. Do you believe in karma? yeah, it’s always instant for me -_-

115. Do you wear glasses or contacts? Glasses, I can’t afford contacts.

116. Do you want children? idk

117. Who is the smartest person you know? My friend PK, she’s got a Masters in Psychology.

118. What is your most embarrassing memory? I have so many, and they mostly involve me falling somewhere in public.

119. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter? Almost, I was like 2 hours shy.

120. What color are most of you clothes? black

121. Do you like adventures? sure

122. Have you ever been on TV? I have but like as a walking background extra on some cop show in LA.

123. How old are you? I’m a grown ass adult.

124. What is your favorite movie quote?

125. Do you prefer sweet or savory foods? savory

#ts4 tag #ts4 #ts4 sim self #ts4 self sim #self sim #sim self #faqs #tag meme #about me

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paulisweeabootrash · 6 years ago

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Series Review: Read or Die (R.O.D. the OVA)

Welcome to another episode of Paul is Weeaboo Trash! Today’s topic is a show I’ve previously seen one episode of, so long ago that I’m almost going in fresh: the OVA (what we in the US would call a “direct to video release”) of Read or Die (2001–2002)! I was lucky enough to grow up in a household where education and fun were not portrayed as opposites, and we had the means to find plenty of fun educational things to do. My parents searched for all kinds of potentially interesting activities, and living in southern New Hampshire, the Boston area was not prohibitively far to go for them. And so I was signed up for Splash, a program one weekend per fall in which MIT students teach middle- and high-school-age kids seminars on a wide variety of topics.

What counted as topics worthy of education was quite broad, however. I ended up in a "class" that consisted of watching one episode each of several anime that the student running the class was a fan of. This was back in the days where anime fandom spread person-to-person by recommendations and there was more emphasis on developing a background knowledge of "classics" among the more informed and/or snootier fans. (I still feel this way a bit because certain tropes and references are so common or influential that being familiar with the original sources can make newer shows suddenly make a lot more sense, but I disapprove of the gatekeeper tendency to look down on people who don't yet know the things "everyone knows".)

I don't remember how many shows we sampled there, but the two that made an impact were Hellsing, which in retrospect was at best questionable for the age of the audience, and was very much not my thing because I have a low tolerance for gore, and the topic of this post, Read or Die, which was very much the kind of thing I wanted to see: a nerd being a badass in a fantastical way. Especially since I was also really into James Bond at the time, so I was probably primed to eat up other media involving a British spy fighting a mysterious secret organization. Since I'm incredibly averse to media piracy and had no clue where to buy anime, though, I never followed up to finish watching it, and eventually it faded from my mind. Until I stumbled across the first volume of the manga for super-cheap at Saboten Con last year, and it flicked some nostalgia switch that reminded me how much I'd enjoyed it at the time, although I barely remember any actual details, so I am practically going in fresh here.

Read or Die follows Yomiko Readman, a teacher, obsessive book collector and reader, and superpowered secret agent who can manipulate paper in nearly any way. Any paper available, from money to ribbons to a briefcase full of blank looseleaf she apparently just brings with her. She uses this power in the course of her service as a secret agent, codename The Paper, working for the British Library?! Along with Miss Deep, who can selectively phase shift, and Drake Anderson, a gruff and dismissive military type (and apparently potter in his cover job), she is assigned to a plan to save the world in a way that vaguely involves collecting books. Saved from whom? The I-jin, clones of historical geniuses with superpowers related to their areas of expertise, such as... knowing stuff about insects, or... uh... spreading Buddhism to Japan... who are going to flashy and violent lengths to steal books the British Library is trying to acquire legitimately. Trust me, it eventually gets explained, and the Big Reveal, although pretty goddamn weird, fits in with the rest of what has been established. Suspend your disbelief enough to accept the I-jin at all, and it’s fine, although still a bit ludicrous.

And I submit that all that is still less weird and ridiculous than your typical superhero or spy movie, and this show does after all have elements of both genres in one. Or, well, more and more superhero and military action as it goes on. Although the theme music uses 60s guitar sounds, chromatic chord changes, and blaring brass hits that are virtually guaranteed to evoke the James Bond theme, and our main cast do work for a secret intelligence agency, they are in quite open military-style conflict with the I-jin -- with the approval of the UN -- and very little that’s actually covert occurs, with the notable exception of something I can’t spoil that happens at the end of ep. 2. And because of the superpower angle, some of the instances of weirdness are not flaws at all but pretty creative implementations of the characters’ powers (using a paper airplane as a lethal weapon?!).

This last point didn’t really fit in organically, but I'd also like to mention a couple of things about the art that I love but don't see often. The very first shot of the series uses multiple flat backgrounds at different distances moving in relation to each other to convey the camera moving across the scene, which I have seen in other animated works (at the moment, I can only think of examples from very old Disney movies off the top of my head), but not in recent ones. I don't know whether it's simply out-of-fashion or this is a result of the shift to CGI so animators figure "why would we do this when we can actually render a city with realistic perspective?" This show also has a particular kind of fluid motion in characters that I’ve seen in many reasonably-high-production-value shows from the 90s and 00s, but rarely in newer shows (Space Dandy being a notable exception). Maybe I'm watching the wrong recent shows, maybe it's just a stylistic choice that's out of fashion, maybe it's harder to pull off convincingly when you're not animating by hand.

I’m glad I finally got to watch this. It’s even better than I remember. Now to get to work on the rest of the manga and the other series. Oh yeah, haha. The abbreviation "R.O.D." stands for both "Read or Die" and "Read or Dream", which are different parts of the same larger series. The Read or Die manga (4 volumes), this OVA series, the Read or Dream manga (also 4 volumes), and a 26-episode TV series all take place in the same narrative universe, rather than the usual model of the anime being an adaptation/retelling of the manga. There is also a light novel series I know nothing about, but it sounds from the Wikipedia article like that is the single ongoing series that is the source for the two manga and two anime. (There is also apparently a barely-related future side story manga.)

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W/A/S: 1/3/3

Weeb: I don’t think there’s much, if anything, in here that would require explanation to a typical Western audience and which isn’t also explained in the dialogue.

Ass: There is a single implied nipple in the opening sequence. Gasp! And Miss Deep's costume design is pretty fanservicey, but only barely more explicitly so than you're likely to get in American media deemed suitable for older children.

Shit: Until the Big Reveal, it's just unclear why anyone involved other than Yomiko should be this interested in acquiring the specific books that serve as the show’s MacGuffin, nor is it clear that the I-jin’s plans extend further than searching for them in a very destructive way, leaving me baffled that the Library immediately makes the connection that the books are key to saving the world. There are a few minor errors in the subtitles and a visual glitch (Blu Ray remaster, please?), and a couple of places where faces just... don’t... look right. Oh, and if you’re watching the dubbed version, add another half point of Shit for Crispin Freeman’s British accent.

And for the first time I feel the need to add a CONTENT WARNING. Usually, I think the review is sufficient to give you the idea whether there is anything likely to be disturbing in a show, but this is different, because the first two episodes have the sort of over-the-top stylized combat you might expect from other action anime or Western superhero media, where even a death comes off as un-shocking. But in ep. 3 of this, there is a shocking pivot. There are several short instances of graphic and sudden violence of kinds that are quite a bit more disturbing and distressing (even when they involve the use of powers) than anything that occurred previously.

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Stray Observations:

- Yes, those of you who know a little Japanese caught that joke: "Yomiko" could be loosely translated as "read girl". Her name is "Read Girl Read Man". Because she likes to read. Get it? Ha! Ha! Ha!

- In the manga, Yomiko is also established to be a literal bibliophile. As in "books, regardless of content, turn her on". I'm kind of glad this is not a plot point in the anime.

- The “secret” operation in the last episode, which is conducted with UN approval and involves an actual military attack with an actual goddamn naval fleet (and collaborating with North Korea to keep the US too distracted to notice it, even though this is a British operation against an organization that literally burned down the White House in the first scene of the first episode) might actually beat the first few episodes of Full Metal Panic! for “worst undercover operation ever”.

#R.O.D.#Read or Die #anime review #weeaboo trash

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timepetalscollective · 7 years ago

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Of Time Lords and Disney Movies

Fandom: Doctor Who Author: @darthtella Rating: All ages

The Doctor really didn’t know anything about himself anymore, except for a few things. He knew that he had a slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle of his wrist. He delightfully had more hair than he had before, but he was disappointed when Rose told him it was just sort-of brown and not ginger, and the same was probably true for his newly acquired sideburns. He also thought he had really bad skin, but he loved the mole situated between his shoulder blades. He was also a bit thinner than his previous self, which he knew would take some getting used to. He knew that sometime during his post-regenerative coma he was relieved of his leather coat and dressed in pajamas. He felt that this had to be the work of one Jackie Tyler and would just add to the awkward encounters he had with that woman.

He was learning new things as well. Like how he might just be rude given how he just shouted at Rose for giving up on him. Like how the sense of taste could go a long way to discovering the truth of the matter. For example he just figured out that the Sycorax were controlling every human with A positive blood by just dipping his finger into the small pool of blood resting inside a control matrix and tasting it. Oh, and he learned that he just LOVED pressing great big threatening buttons that must never-ever be pressed under any circumstances.

“Blood control is just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force.” The Sycorax leader bellowed at the Doctor.

“Well, yeah, you could. Yeah. You could do that, of course you could.” Rambling. That was also something new for this body. It was like his mouth needed something to do while his brain worked out problems. But something that wasn’t new, something that he had since his very first body was compassion for humans, and he felt it bubbling up inside this new body. “But why?” He asked putting an almost pleading tone into his voice and extending his hand at the small group of humans standing nearby. “Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and, blinking, step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than… No, hold on.” He lapsed into a brief moment of quiet contemplation. He recognised those words from somewhere, but with his newly rewired brain it took him a moment to remember…

—

It all started with Rose’s humming.

She had sauntered into the console room humming happily to herself when Jack’s ears seemed to perk up and he started humming in return. The tune was familiar, and he knew there were lyrics. He hummed a few more bars and then started quietly singing “Hakuna matata what a wonderful phrase…” Rose turned to look at the ex-time agent with a bewildered look on her face.

“You know the words?” She gaped at him. Jack responded with a disarming smile.

“Rose, in the 51st Century, Walt and Roy Disney are considered to be two of Earth’s greatest storytellers.”

“Don’t see why!” A gruff northern voice rang out from somewhere beneath the Time Rotor. Jack and Rose looked down and watched as the Doctor wriggled his way out from where he was making his repairs and glared up at them. “They just regurgitated what other writers had done before him, watered the stories down and turned them into children’s films! A great many of them weren’t even written by them anyways. You want great story telling; try actually reading Hans Christian Anderson or Shakespeare!” Rant over, the Doctor lowered himself back under the Time Rotor and began sonicing the wiring indiscriminately. Rose rolled his eyes at the Doctor.

“Have you ever actually watched any of them?” The Doctor turned his head so he could see her through the floor grating with his patented ‘you just dribbled down your shirt, you stupid ape’ look on his face.

“I’m 900 years old. You really think I’ve any interest in watching films made for children?”

“Says the man I caught crying while reading Harry Potter…” Jack snickered. “Got a really nice photo of that moment too.” The Doctor ratcheted his glare up a couple more notches and quickly heaved himself up on to his feet.

“Book seven was really…” He started to speak but cut himself short when he realised he was saying a bit too much. “Anyway, I really don’t see what you people find so facinatin’ about Disney films. I mean you’re adults and you’re still singing songs out of those things!”

“Oh c'mon, Doctor. They’re fun!” Rose smiled at him.

“Fun?!” He almost shouted. “I can’t see how a film made for children is fun!”

“Says the man who was laughing his head off whilst riding the dogem’s at that 300th Century fair last week, where I’m sure 90% of the people around us were children.” Rose deadpanned. The Doctor opened and closed his mouth several times trying to conjure up a witty response, but only was able to manage a very grumpy sounding “Shut up.”

“There’s no convincing you, is there?” Jack piped up.

“Nope!” The Doctor smiled sarcastically. Then Rose got an idea.

“You fancy yourself a scientist, don’t you Doctor?” He furrowed his brow and crossed his arms in front of him, unsure of where this random line of thought was coming from.

“Suppose I do.” He relented.

“Then I propose an experiment.” One of his eyebrows shot up. “You watch one Disney film with us.” He dramatically rolled his blue eyes. “An’ if you don’t like it, you never have to watch another one ever again.”

“Does that also mean you’ll stop whistling show-tunes while in my presence?” He looked pointedly between Rose and Jack. The two humans shared a look between them and both nodded their assent.

“Fine, one film.” The Doctor sighed waving a single finger in the air. “Just one. So you better make it count.”

Five minutes later, the three of them were seated on the couch with great big bowls of popcorn in the TV room that had materialised on the TARDIS just shortly after Rose arrived on board. The Doctor made sure to seat himself between Jack and Rose lest the two humans decided to start any shenanigans during the film, not because of that uneasy, almost jealous feeling he felt whenever Jack was around him and Rose (at least, that’s what he told himself anyway).

“So, which one is it then?” The Doctor asked around a mouthful of popcorn as Jack pointed the remote at the screen. Rose shot him her signature tongue in teeth smile.

“My absolute favourite: The Lion King.” The Doctor sighed heavily as the lights in the room dimmed and the film started. He cringed when he realised it was a musical, although the first number was quite impressive, but the whole “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” thing was almost cringe worthy (especially since the humans flanking him couldn’t help but sing along off-key). He also tried several times to point out that animals on Earth really couldn’t talk like that, but was always interrupted by a sharp elbow to the ribs. So, they could sing along and he couldn’t point out scientific inaccuracies? Fantastic! He grumpily shoved more popcorn into his mouth as he watched the two lion cubs run away from three hungry hyenas before being rescued by who he assumed was the titular lion king (who sounded amusingly like Darth Vader).

Then a section of dialogue came up that grabbed his full attention.

“I was just trying to be brave, like you.” The little cub sobbed.

“I’m only brave when I have to be. Simba, being brave doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble.” His father said softly. Well, if only a certain jeopardy friendly girl he knew understood that. With a smug grin, he playfully nudged his shoulder with Rose’s, hoping she’d take the hint.

“But you’re not scared of anything.” Simba continued.

“I was today.”

“You were?”

“Yes. I thought I might lose you.”

His smile suddenly faded. Thoughts of being stuck in Downing Street trying to stop the Slitheen ran through his mind.

“I could save the world, but lose you.”

He felt his hearts constrict. How could a film designed for children no less convey those emotions so perfectly? He was so lost in thought, he didn’t even know that he had slid his arm protectively around Rose’s shoulder until he realised she was staring at him. His face turned a deep shade of crimson and he was about to remove his arm, but Rose only laughed softly and leaned her head on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time. He hugged her even tighter when Mufasa died, knowing exactly how she felt when her own father was killed. When Rose and Jack sang along to the song they were humming in the console room earlier, the Doctor actually found himself smiling during that song too, realising he was actually striving to live the “Hakuna Matata” lifestyle every day. (At least, that was the plan…)

Then the next song started, and Jack couldn’t contain his laughter.

“Is our trio already down to two?” He joked, seeing how the Doctor had his arm around Rose and how she in turn had slung her arm around his middle.

“Quiet, tryin’ to watch here.” The Doctor shot back, not budging an inch. It was perfectly fine for two best friends to sit like that, he reasoned.

They watched the rest of the film in silence. The Doctor felt surprisingly elated when the evil Scar was vanquished and Simba took his place as the rightful king of the restored Pride Lands.

“So, what'cha think? Not so bad, eh?” Rose asked as she sat up from her surprisingly comfy Time Lord pillow. He just shrugged non-committedly.

—

“Sorry, that’s The Lion King.”

#ficandchips #doctor x rose #fic submission #submission

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okiedokievariantloki · 3 years ago

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On Continuity, Plot, and Story: Each Thor Movie (including Loki on Disney+) Is Telling A Different Story...Part 1: Thor (2011)

One of the things I hear a lot in fandom is how a lot of characterization in the MCU is inconsistent throughout the movies. This goes especially for a lot of the earlier Marvel movies (Iron Man, X-Men, 2000′s Spiderman) before MCU was even a thing, but all of the films to some extent fall prey to this.

First off, this is not going to be a ship-centric post, so please don’t take it as invalidating or supporting any relationship/romance/pairing. That’s not the point, so if you’re looking for that kind of content, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Secondly, I’m not a hardcore fan of the MCU. I’ve watched all the movies and shows I will be talking about today. In fact, I have watched them in order of release because my beloved is a big comic book fan and I support them even though I’m more of a fan of silver age DC comics, weird science, indie comics, and seinen manga.

Third, I’m not a *huge* fan of how a lot of superhero comic books have characters literally vomit paragraphs of extrapolation in speech bubbles, but I understand the reason for it, and I grew up in the 90′s, when a lot of superhero comics basically decided to fanboy all over Frank Miller’s Sin City aesthetic and so a lot of superhero comics were both super grimdark and really violent, which was not the kind of stories I preferred to read. Add that to the time I watched that truly horrible Captain America movie from the 80′s or something on afternoon broadcast TV where he wears a motorcycle helmet and The Red Skull gave me nightmares for a week because their interpretation of the character is a guy whose face was just...glistening muscles and it was horrifying, and you can see why I might be a bit skeptical of the whole spandex-and-punching-baddies thing.

Anyway, let’s get started or this is going to be a rogue thesis paper.

You might laugh when I say this, but when I first heard about the Thor movies, it was on the back of Dr. Pepper cans. They had cans with images of all the Thor characters on it, and I remember looking at Anthony Hopkins as Odin and wondering why he was such a round butterball. The outfits *were* kind of ridiculous, but they also felt oddly overly shiny if that makes any sense. Like they weren’t wearing clothing that actually made a lot of sense for battle. It felt like they were trying to pull from the comics (which, to be fair, looks like someone decided to combine Conan The Barbarian with psychedelia, so I am fairly certain the costume department was doing their best), but also from the late 2000′s aesthetics popular at the time. I remember there were short “making of” shows on TV, including interviews with the cast, and I was familiar with the director (he also made a film version of Hamlet that he starred as Hamlet in) so from that information alone, I could pretty much guarantee that this movie was going to be like Shakespeare on steroids with a good hint of self-congratulatory auteur nonsense.

And I was not disappointed! The parts on Earth clashed terribly with the parts on Asgard, and I found it really funny because it was kind of like that meme where the detailed horse drawing gets more and more sketchy and terrible.

Like so:

You could really tell that the director just wanted to make an entire movie on Asgard without Thor going to Earth at all. The Earth parts were cringey and made me flash back to the early Iraq War Bush years (if you don’t know what I’m talking about it, it was a Whole Imperialistic Jingoistic Patriotic Bullshit Thing that I don’t want to go into).

The fight scenes were...ok...but they were also just...exhausting. I find this to be pretty much the case in most early to mid 00′s superhero movie. They are so obsessed with having The Big Fight To Make The Hero Look Really Powerful that the destruction ends up going on for so long that I get physically tired (I think I legitimately dozed off when Superman and Zod were fighting in the reboot film). The character development was ok, but once again, every character wasn’t really a character, they were an archetype.

And so, I wanted to stop here for just a second and go into that a bit more.

Thor 1 wasn’t really written as a Thor movie. Remember, the guy who had his fingers in this thing from day 1 is a Big Shakespeare Guy, and it shows. In plays like Hamlet, we don’t look at Hamlet and go “wow, I wanna headcanon Hamlet’s favorite breakfast and what he wears on Tuesdays.” (Though, of course, you are welcome to do so if you like- friendly reminder that Hamlet is in the public domain so go out there and write about him all you want!).

Hamlet isn’t really a “person” so much as an assortment of plot archetypes (prince, coming home after time away, depressed, vengeful, intelligent, calculating) wearing funny shorts. Nobody watches Hamlet because they want to know what Denmark was Like Back Then just like nobody thinks that Romeo And Juliet is a Very Accurate Depiction of Verona in Its Time, Actually. (Also, as an aside, for some reason, I always had this sneaking feeling that Shakespeare “borrowed” tropes from Oedipus and put it into Hamlet, but that’s an essay for another day).

In the movie, Thor isn’t meant to be a person. He’s a list of tropes because he is the Heroic Protagonist Archetype. In a lot of ways Thor’s personality and character (his pride and hubris) are part of the traditional heroic storyline. The hero has to have a fall before he can pick himself back up and reach the climax and resolution of the Hero’s Journey. Having him thrown out of his element and humbled by making him “mortal” (I’m still not sure what that means, but it doesn’t matter! It’s a plot point that serves the story, not the other way around!)

I do think that one of the reasons Loki is set up as a brother instead of as an uncle or older character is because Loki is known in the comics, and the whole “neglected brother who backstabs his golden boy brother to take the throne” thing is definitely a plot point in Hamlet.

I could see where the director and his team were stymied by the rules thrust upon them by the property they were trying to use. The story itself is a pretty standard heroic journey with other stuff sprinkled in. Loki has to be at least slightly villain coded for most of the film to serve the story, and the audience must unquestioningly believe he is “sneaky and devious” because it serves the story of Thor going through the growth he needs in order to be a hero.

BUT ALSO, Loki can’t be made into an irredeemable villain because in the comics as well as movies, these characters have to be allowed to have enough open-ended characterization to allow for them to be slotted into other stories. If Loki is a complete black-hearted monster, then the only part he can play in any heroic journey story is to die definitively at the end. By pulling back before making him go too far, it does weaken the archetype a bit (as absolute evil is a lot more cathartic to dispatch once and for all), but it serves a specific narrative purpose.

Which brings me to character design and how the audience takes it.

I remember when LOTR was first coming out in theaters. You had all the macho dudes going off when Gimley and Aragorn came on screen hacking and slashing, and then Legolas would show up and you’d hear a ton of screams from the teen girls in the audience. Feminine coded male characters are often really popular with with AFAB people, but they’re also popular with queer folks, especially villains due to queer-coding (villains often dress better and there’s a history of effeminate and queer Othering in media and society), so that’s definitely a Thing).

One of the main reasons I think this might be is that most films with a main male lead tend to be really man-character-heavy in general. If there’s a female character, she’s usually cast as the “cis-white-generically attractive love interest archetype” which literally exists specifically because the sausage fest of male friendships with close connection (in spandex) is very, very easy to turn into a gay romance. There is a reason one of the first and enduring fanfic pairings is Spock/Kirk.

A few more archetypes:

Thor’s three friends are basically versions of god Thor:

- A glutton who likes to boast/tell stories

- A battle-lusting solder who refuses to speak while he’s killing.

- A womanizer/narcissist

There’s also Lady Sif, who plays the roll of The Girl, No Homo on Asgard.

Thor’s parents, who are supposed to be incredibly powerful and capable, are basically kneecapped for story purposes as well.

If you want to ask yourself “why is Thor 2011 so irritating” it’s because it’s trying to tell a story despite the characters.

Well, actually...I lied.

It’s trying to tell TWO stories.

Oh yeah, that’s right. This is where the plot thickens.

You see, when this movie came out, people were highly derisive because it was an unknown property. Most people are familiar with Captain America (even if it was only the nightmare fuel movie from the 80′s) and they know who Iron Man is. Even the Hulk is pretty ubiquitous, though the main issues with Hulk are tied to the fact that pretty every superhero film that came out in the early ‘00′s appeared to be contractually obligated to include an hour long origin story because apparently nobody in the history of anyone is familiar with comic books other than a handful of [insert comic book nerd stereotype here] and in order to make a cash cow, the superhero genre needed to be attractive to South-Park-and-Jackass-watching-teens in the mainstream. If I can remember the movie posters and commercials correctly, most of it was being billed as a pure-action flick with clips of the fight scenes and manly men punching faces, because that’s basically the male power fantasy right there.

No think, just rage and beat because he good guy self insert, and that bad guy.

So basically, the whole Asgard part of the movie is a movie in and of itself that’s being rushed through to hit specific plot points- it’s an origin story, telling you who Thor and the Asgardians are so that when they tell the story about Thor on Earth, the entire theater of (and let’s not kid ourselves, this is for an America-centric audience) macho suburbanite young adults who take one look at Thor in his weird costume and weird speech don’t then start making up emasculating terms to refer to him and then walk right out of the theater because the movie is too lame and genuinely nerdy to be comprehended by the apparent dude-bro majority.

This was yet again another example of “We need to make this popular with the wrong demographic for money purposes so we need to spoon-feed them non-threatening hyper masculine narratives so that they don’t take one look at a property that is in effect a magic buff dude with long fabulous hair wearing very little and flying around with a hammer over a rainbow bridge and talking like Errol Flynn while he does it.“

I mean, they tried (insert gold star meme here) by making Jane a scientist (with all the PhDs, because more degree is more smart amirite guyz?), and the meet cutes where she keeps running him over with the car is funny enough, but in the end, she is still falls into the “OMG LOVE INTEREST AFTER LESS THAN 24 HOURS MY HERO” category and that is...annoying.

I mean, it’s better than Lady Sif, who...let’s face it, we don’t care about because she doesn’t matter and I literally had to look up those other guys’ names up on Wikipedia after watching them all get merked in the first five minutes of Ragnarok.

In any case, the movie doesn’t really even end in a satisfying manner because it’s trying to tell two different stories, and the stories themselves don’t really work well with one another. The whole Frost Giant/Loki part of the movie is largely just meant to be a hamfisted way to villain-code him from the beginning (if the blatant feminine coding doesn’t give that away). And the part at the end where he dies is, as far as I can tell, supposed to be a tragic end for Loki.

Of course, though, we all know Loki comes back, and characters in comic books are quite well known for dying and coming back from the dead when conveniently needed for a plot anyway, but you could definitely feel a huge tonal shift from the begining (Asgard/Jotunheim) to the middle (Earth) to the end (Asgard). It’s almost worse than having an Asgard origin story with a focus there and then moving to the superhero story and ending there, but they needed to have an excuse for Thor to be in the Avengers, so...there ya go.

Watching this movie is like watching one movie on one channel, flipping over to find another movie you like better, and then flipping back at the end of the second movie to find yourself in the last fifteen minutes of the first film. It’s jarring and the tonal change reduces the impact of the climax of the film.

In the end, the stories being told here are warring with themselves, which means that there are way too many unanswered questions, and a lot of the characters you’re supposed to hate/dislike (from a dudebro spoonfed perspective) end up becoming interesting and easy to fill in the blanks for. Loki is a prime example of this. His character does have a fair amount of screentime and his backstory has to be at least somewhat developed because it’s a driving force for the story of Thor’s hero journey. Loki provides some of the conflict that keeps the story from stagnating, and his character contrasts well with the hyper-macho, entitled Thor character by having more feminine characteristics, being thoughtful, cunning, and making plans. In a lot of ways, the intense love/hate (but still love one another) relationship between the two (and the “it’s not incest because my sibling’s adopted” porn trope) is one reason why people ship them so hard.

Loki is popular with a lot of AFAB folks because he represents a lot of common AFAB experiences- being smart, trying hard, yet still treated condescendingly and less than worthy by authority figures, and never good enough as The Dude Who Just Showed Up. A lot of people deeply identify with the casually abusive and dismissive way that Loki is treated, as though he is a monster, despite him trying so hard to be accepted. He falls into the abusive family trope under the Scapegoat archetype, but in the movie, there are explicit plot points that try to explain why he “deserves” to be scapegoated (thanks mainstream dude bro movie focus groups!). His character is often treated as sinister and suspicious long before he actually behaves in an antagonistic manner, which doesn’t help things. A lot of how Loki is treated in the film follows very closely to how a misogynist society treats AFAB folks.

Even if we discount the comic books and mythological lore, the bottom line is that this movie is designed to tell a certain story, and in this story, a certain type of person is lauded and shown as the example of Who To Be, and a certain type of person is reviled and minimized and shown as an example of Be Afraid Of This And Don’t Be This Or You Are Evil Garbage. This mirrors how marginalized people are treated in society so heavily that it makes a lot of sense why Loki is so beloved by fandom despite not being the focal character of this film, and why people have often deeply identified with Loki or associated deeply personal things with his character in fanart, fanfiction, and headcanons. A lot of people see his character as an excellent place to do introspective work and to work through personal traumas. I have also seen a fair amount of people look at Loki as a Sad Pale White Boi Who Needs to be Saved, which isn’t exactly true from a canon point of view, but I can see how there’s plenty of reasons to write or imagine the character that way, or to place him in situations where he can be validated or find romantic fulfillment.

Beyond Loki’s role in this film, you can definitely see that most of the characters are victims of the story they find themselves in, and this story is a Shakesperian tragedy coupled with easily digestible Hit Bad Guys With Hammer action segments. In a way, I would almost consider something like the Asgardian parts to have been better suited to a mini series, while the actual superhero movie part would be Thor being sent to Earth and then doing a Thing there. But that wasn’t really a thing back in 2011.

Thor is a very, very long, convoluted film because of the two stories that it is trying to tell while pretending that it’s only one. It’s so long that the novelization actually ends during the fight in the desert on Earth. And, speaking of long, this post is too, so I think I’ll post this now and if there’s interest, I’ll talk about Dark World and Ragnarok in subsequent posts.

Feedback, as always, is appreciated.

#Thor #Thor 2011 #meta #thoughts #loki #characterization #story versus plot #stories can be consistent but characterization is a bitch #characterization is inconstant if the story you're telling serves a different purpose

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samibetache2000 · 4 years ago

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How Streaming services and youtube are taking over modern day tv:

I mean when was the last time you turned on your tv, I mean it’s probably on all day every day right but are you watching actual tv and unless your over fifty I think theres a big chance the answer is no.

When I ask someone what they’re watching on there tv there answer is simply Netflix or Youtube or something other streaming platform but what exactly is Netflix and let’s actually take a second to look at its dominance.

Netflix is an American streaming platform founded in 1997 in Scotts valley, California by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, on this platform there is a enormous library of films, series’s and Netflix original’s.

Its available worldwide bar a few countries due to political reasons, grossing 24.96 billion dollars last year with around 203 million paying users that’s about the entire population of England, France and Germany combined, if we keep it uk focused with the population of 66 million in that figure 15 million have a paid Netflix account averaging 1/4.5 people which is crazy considering that most people share accounts too.

The reason for Netflix’s dominance in my opinion is due to many things, the interface is so easy to navigate giving you genres and recommendations based on previously watched content and also a simple search bar, the variety of content is unmatched from kids to +18 movies and series’s available in a multitude of different languages and also translation and subtitles on almost everything.

And in my opinion the main reason for there success is there Netflix originals as there only available to watch on Netflix, the success of shows such as Stranger Things, 13 reasons why, black mirror, You, Money Heist (La Casa de papel) …. Etc makes a Netflix subscription a must have.

However Netflix although currently unmatched are starting to face stiff competition form the likes of Amazon Prime and Disney+, Amazon prime might sound confusing as Amazon is usually the delivery service and prime being the option for next day delivery however in recent years they begun taking there streaming service seriously also by making amazon exclusive Films and Series’s and securing the rights to hundreds of popular movies and elite shows like Vikings.

Disney+ however is a relatively new streaming service which was only launched 15 months ago and has already amassed a whopping 95 million paid subscribers which is almost half of what Netflix has despite Netflix being 21 years older, and this success is due to the fact everyone loves Disney and is also the parent company of two of the most popular franchises in TV history in Start Wars and Marvel, and they started of right with a Star Wars exclusive in the Mandalorian and now debuted one of three marvel tv shows announced in Wanda Vision on top of that they have every Disney movie ever made which includes some of the biggest movies of all time like Frozen, Home Alone and Cars. If I has to bet on any service dethroning Netflix at the top Disney+ is definitely the one.

The only thing that is really going for “Normal TV” at the moment is live sports as personally for me it’s the only reason I have actual channels, and that probably explains why the TV right for live sports are so expensive, some of the numbers are stupid.

Just from UK based Sky and BT alone pay over three billion pounds a season for rights to showcase there matches and the premier league are believed to actually bank 5.5 billion globally when you include other companies, ESPN pay the NFL 1.9 billion dollars a season for there rights, with ESPN, ABC, and Turner Sports paying 2.7 billion dollars a year for the NBA.

No tv shows or anything else on TV even comes close to these figures and that’s why I think that if it wasn’t for live sports “Normal TV” would be dead.

Even networks like BBC and ITV have realised this starting there own streaming services in BBC iPlayer and ITV HUB respectively showcasing all there programs on there essentially for free however to access the BBC iPlayer you need to have paid the £165 tv license fee however, even a 5 year old can get around by literally just lying when they ask as theres no verification process whatsoever.

The major issue approaching for “Normal TV” is that even Live sports are realising this and are looking into streaming services with many already making the switch, think of WWE despite having multi billion dollar deals with USA network and FOX respectively there main shows are all shown on the WWE network from there pay per views to there documentaries to a library of classic event and matches and guess what its been extremely successful for them and you can’t be surprised, with 1.5 million paid subscribers and an annual revenue in the millions.

UFC are also trying something similar with UFC fight pass broadcasting lots of different fighting promotions and also a library similar to WWE’s where you get historic fights and events and anything fighting related you want to watch really.

However most of the UFC pay per views are actually on another streaming service and probably the most successful sport streaming service in the US in ESPN+ with 11.5 million paid subscribers funny enough also owned by Disney, ESPN+ showcases live UFC PPV events for a discounted price, live Major League Baseball, Major league soccer, National hockey league and much more.

Another thriving sports service is DAZN which is currently the main destination if you’re looking for boxing as its become the main sponsor and partner of Match room Boxing showcasing fights like Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz jr in over 200 countries worldwide, DAZN also shows tons of other sports including Football, Cricket and basketball making it a way more diverse platform then ESPN+ however is lacking the big brand behind it.

This leads to another blow to “Normal TV” as it brings the slow death of PPV, pay per view is a service where a spectator can purchase events to view privately whilst the broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it.

However PPV is dying as it’s always been expensive paying around £40-£90 per event however nowadays that’s no longer the case for example WWE pay per views happen once a month however if you have the WWE Network you watch the PPV for free so instead of paying around £50 for the event, you pay £9.99 for the monthly subscription.

Same thing goes with boxing as most fight are on DAZN or ESPN+ so why would you pay for the PPV instead of $19.99 or $4.99 respectively.

The only ones that really still use the PPV system is The UFC but like I mentioned before with ESPN+ you get a discount, however UFC president Dana White has spoke multiple times about making UFC PPV’s fight pass exclusive.

Now lets move on to the holy grail of them all and that’s YouTube, and why is that you may ask ? Well simply because it’s free you don’t have to pay a penny to watch youtube, well you do sit through a few Add’s here and there however you get the watch all your favourite content for free.

Well I highly doubt it but if you’ve never heard of Youtube, it’s an online video sharing platform owned by google and the second most visited website in the world, its available worldwide bar a few countries again for political reasons with an estimated 2 billion daily users grossing around 15 billion dollars a year Available content includes video clips, TV show clips, music videos, short and documentary films, audio recordings, movie trailers, live streams, video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.

Basically it has everything you need and more, and the impact it has on this generation is immense you can just pick up a camera talk and upload it and have the Internet do the rest, it helps as its an easy way to exercise freedom of speech by sharing political views.

Kids nowadays don’t re want to watch TV they would rather watch they’re favourite YouTuber, they grow up idolising people like KSI, Pewdiepie, and Ssniperwolf. These you-tubers literally have the power to influence a generation as people who consider themselves fans would do anything for them.

Unfortunately sometimes they take it too far like back in 2019 PewDiePie was battling it out with T-series on youtube for the n*1 subscribed YouTube channel But what happen next can never be expected a terrorist unleashed fire on a mosque killing 50 people and writing subscribe to PewDiePie on the wall, the Terrorist was definitely an Islamophobe but he thought it would be a good idea to help PewDiePie as he knew that this would generate lots of attention and bring lots of light on PewDiePie’s channel.

PewDiePie later condemned his actions describing it as a terrible incident that he prays never happens again and essentially gave up on the battle with T series and stoped the subscribe to PewDiePie meme.

Another incident where fans have got out of hand is with popular YouTuber Roman Atwood where he’s had to deal with a stalker for years and even had to get the FBI involved As the stalker Would threaten him and his family, change there mail address, Hack into the security cameras and take pictures and send them to the family and even call in a false Bomb threat to a family funeral.

However YouTubers still have the power To manipulate and influence certain things by Just shining a light on them they can increase the value and inflate a certain market. And example of this is when YouTuber Logan Paul who has recently been making Pokémon content where he opens 22-year-old packs which are worth a ton of money to try and pack certain rare Pokémon cards and the rarest of them cards is a PSA 10 1st edition base set Charizard and before Logan Paul Was doing the Pokémon stuff a Charizard was worth around $250,000 however now a Charizard is worth around 3 quarters of a $1 million. And all type of Pokémon prices have gone up, he has basically made Pokémon popular again and it seems to be the talk of YouTube.

YouTube, Netflix and all other streaming services have really killed off classic TV And they have way more influence than classical TV ever had and the scary thing is this is just the beginning.

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years ago

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30 Minute Experiment: Movie Theaters #30ME

Okay, let’s do this. Very early on in doing this experiment, and even back when I started this blog, I wanted to use it to talk about something other than movies. I’ve written more than enough about movies for one lifetime, and that probably won’t stop anytime soon, but in the last 24 hours a few things happened that made me think that I probably should address the elephant in the room that no on can agree on: When to reopen movie theaters. After I already decided to share some of my ideas and queries about how to handle this, a few things happened. In fact, a lot of things happened, but we’ll get to those in due time.

So yeah, I’m definitely on the forefront of people who really want to be back in a theater or even a screening room seeing movies again. Unlike so many people out there, I don’t have a giant display screen or a home theater or anything that allows me to have any sort of satisfactory experience watching movies at home. I mean, I do it because sometimes the job entails it. When I wrote reviews for Film Journal, MOST of the movies I was reviewing were only available to review via screener link and many of them would barely get a theatrical release. In some cases, my review was and maybe still is the ONLY review of that movie on RottenTomatoes. That’s how small these movies are.

As the various politicians in Washington and our own state and local politicians try to figure out how to reopen the economy, there’s only one thing I want to know and that’s when theaters will be able to reopen, when all those hard-working and under-appreciated people like the projectionists and ticket takers will be able to get back to work. But more importantly, when can we all get back to seeing movies in theaters safely?

As many probably know, I’m not one of those guys who necessarily needs to go see a movie on a crowded Thursday or Friday night among the first audiences. I didn’t get to see Avengers: Endgame until the Tuesday after opening for some reason, maybe cause I wanted to see it in IMAX in the same theater I saw Avengers: Infinity War.

I’m used to going to movies and press screenings where there are just a handful of people there and there’s so much social distancing already that it shouldn’t be a concern. I’ve been perfectly fine going to the movies and not having anyone sitting around me for years now so it’s not like I need to cozy up to some stranger now anytime soon.

A few of the things that happened in the last couple days included a bit of a war of words between AMC (the biggest theater chain in the country and in the NYC area), NATO (the organization that runs the entire theater franchise) and Universal Pictures, who chose to skip a theatrical release for a few of their films including this month’s Trolls World Tour and June’s The King of Staten Island (which was supposed to premiere at SXSW and play Tribeca). As you probably know, a lot of the festivals have already been cancelled or going virtually in order to provide content, support the filmmakers and themselves while still allowing viewers to be safe.

It just so happens that the day after this feud, John Fithian, the head of NATO spoke with Variety (no idea how long ago this was conducted) about the situation, which you can read here:

https://variety.com/2020/film/features/theaters-reopening-plan-coronavirus-john-fithian-1234592228/

(Also, a very angry friend of mine went off on social media about the very idea of movie theaters being up and running by July, but I’m not gonna call him or her out as I know where they’re coming from, and I consider him/her a dear friend.

So I’m gonna talk about some of the issues and how they can be handled even while hundreds of theaters owners and representatives from NATO and the movie studios are probably having these very discussions on how to reopen movie theaters safely.

First of all, if Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is the first big studio movie that will be released on July 17 (which is 12 weeks a way, give or take?) followed by Disney’s Mulan the following week, that gives those involved a LOT of time to make sure everything is safe and that numbers have come down appropriately before reopening. Remember that a lot of this is being determined by the governors of various states as well as local politicians and the CDC. Things are being rolled out in phases.

Let’s just assume that movie theaters might be Phase 2 or 3 and in New York, I doubt we’ll see those phases before June. Still, that gives theaters a lot of time to figure things out.

The big concern is that a packed theater will mean no social distancing. Well, you know what? You don’t have to have packed theaters. Just sell 25-50% of the tickets depending on the size of the theater, and with reserved seats being the norm these days, it’s mostly easy enough to figure out how to make sure people are watching movies safely by alternating seats and spreading the audience out across the theater.

This might be a problem for places like my dear, beloved and much-missed Metrograph since their smaller theater only holds 54 people and when it’s full, it is PACKED. Then again, I’ve also seen press screenings when there’s only five or six of us in there and it’s comfortable and safe. It might be a bigger problem when they premiere movies in there with guest QnAs. That’s definitely going to be one of the first problems the owners of Metrograph will have to figure out, but they also have a restaurant upstairs and make a good amount of money from events that are equally packed. I mean, you can barely get around at some of those events when the 150-180 seat theater lets out.

But most of these theaters have reserved seating and the ones in New York that don’t like the Film Forum and Quad Cinema... they’ll just have to figure out a way to block off or remove seats or make it a little more dummy proof for their patrons, who are often older folks who might be in the worst danger if infected by COVID.

Limiting seating also leads to other issues because it’s not just a matter of having one seat open, then block off every other seat. You have to remember that couples and groups of friends want to go to movies together, and listen, these groups are going to get together to do other things regardless of whether they’re expected to social distance or not. They’re young people and they want to hang out. There’s also the consideration of families. Are you gonna make some three-year-old sit six feet away from their parents, and then separate them as well? No, that’s just silly. What can be done is that you can sell reserved seats in groups so if someone is buying just one ticket, they’ll have a selection of single seats. If there are two people going together, they can buy a block of two. Families? They can buy a block of four or six or whatever’s needed. This isn’t that hard and concessions can and will have to be made.

I feel like theaters were already taking some precautions like wiping down seats and limiting seating even BEFORE things went completely crazy and so far, no one has come forward and said that it was specific movie theaters that caused CORONA to spread even more rampantly in NYC. The last movie I saw in theaters was The Invisible Man in a moderately full 200 seat theater on a Saturday afternoon, and the theater (which had those reclining seats) already had so much separation between patrons that it was relatively comfortable and didn’t feel packed or unsafe. I’m not really sure what places like the Alamo or Nitehawk will do since they also serve food and anyone who’s gone to either one knows that two people next to each other share a table. Sometimes, at more crowded screenings, you’re sharing a table with a strange and you’re sitting WAY TOO CLOSE. Again, just sell tickets in blocks. If you’re going solo, then you’ll have a number of choices, and if you’re going as a couple, you can share a table.

This idea gets a little more complicated when you realize that most regular moviegoers like to sit in certain seats. Like I prefer an aisle seat and not too far back either but also not right at the screen. This adds another issue when people are as picky as I am and don’t want to be stuck in the middle of a row (or want to be in the middle) and don’t want to be too close or too far back. Again, these are all easy things to figure out and I’m sure it wouldn’t take much tinkering with the technology to make it work in the way it needs to work.

At this point, there really shouldn’t even be a need for ticket sellers unless someone can only pay in cash (which I’m sure is a thing) and I’m sure concessions can be made to sell tickets safely even if it’s a matter of there being plexiglass in front of the ticket seller who will have to wear gloves and mask while dealing with customers. Honestly, we should be at a point where everyone has a smart phone or a printer at home where they can just bring that to be scanned... and scanners can wear gloves and masks as well. You have to realized that 90% of the day, especially in hours where I go to see movies, there is so little business that the people who work at a theater can safely take off their masks... there’s also this thing called testing which is continuously being ramped up and I’m confident that some of the ideas being thrown out there (like having temperature scanners making sure no one might have a fever).

The way to deal with smaller theaters where you can’t really do much social distancing? Just play movies on more screens so that an audience that might fill five medium size theaters would be spread out over a bigger space... Oh, damn. My timer just went off which means I’ll have to continue this subject at another time.

The fact is that there are a lot of things to keep people safe when reopening theaters and no one involved with movies, whether it’s the studio or filmmakers or theater workers or moviegoers themselves wants anyone to get sick or worse die just because they want to go out and see movies in the way they were meant to be seen. Anyway... to be continued...

#30MinuteExperiment #30ME #movietheaters

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britesparc · 5 years ago

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Weekend Top Ten #425

Top Ten Things Missing From Disney+

It’s been about a month now since Disney+ finally – finally! – launched here in the UK, and what a ride it’s been. It’s totally taken over my daughters, in the sense that now they don’t watch TV, they watch Disney+; apart from token gestures to the iPlayer for the more educational endeavours of the likes of Numberbots or Do You Know, they’ve not seen anything not produced by the House of Mouse.

But at least I now know all the words to the Vampirina theme song.

Of course, it’s not all kids’ stuff; we’ve been enjoying visiting and re-visiting some classic movies, and The Mandalorian – which I pretty much figured I’d enjoy – has totally blown me away. It’s true that I adore The Last Jedi, but Mando is more of what I want from Star Wars going forward; singular takes that employ the classic iconography we know and love, but with fresh storylines and characters, giving us something familiar but different. It’s the Lone Wolf and Cub breezy space western I didn’t know I needed.

But the more I look at what’s on offer, the more I see things that aren’t there. This isn’t me being greedy and demanding more and more content (well, not exactly); rather, it’s things I find curious by omission. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of stuff on here that I really want to see; but at the same time, I don’t really get whey it’s not there. Or even if I do, I also find it a little odd. There are some obvious rights issues at play; but this is Disney, could they not fork out the money? And I’ve left off other films where I guess they’re timing the release to maximise publicity – for instance, whilst they brought Frozen II to the US earlier than planned, I sorta get why keeping it back in the UK might make financial sense. Similarly, the Christmas-themed Noelle was essentially a Disney+ “launch title” in the States, but I imagine we’ll eventually see it come November. Again, adding fresh content throughout the year makes sense, from a brutal capitalist perspective.

So this list isn’t a whine, necessarily; nor is it a deep-dive into Hollywood rights issues. It’s really just me pondering the reasoning behind what we got and what we didn’t. But make no mistake: I’m seriously pissed off we didn’t get number one.

The Ewok movies: Caravan of Courage (1984) and Battle for Endor (1985) were video rental staples of my childhood and really synonymous with my early love for Star Wars in general and Ewoks in particular. I am absolutely certain that they will not have aged well, and I wonder if their low-fi cheesiness is what keeps them off the service. Plus, maybe Disney doesn't want to acknowledge their continuity? Regardless, I think they’re missing a trick by not acknowledging the weird hinterland of Star Wars stuff pre its late 90s renaissance.

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars: not the more famous Dave Filoni CG one, but the earlier series of shorts from the beloved Samurai Jack creator that ran from 2003-05. Beautiful, elegiac, and filling in minor plot points between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith (we all wanted to know how Anakin got that scar, didn’t we?), these were fantastic tone poems dedicated to our favourite sci-fi universe, and I'm a bit mystified by their absence. Surely these at least are still canon?

1960s Marvel cartoons: y’know, like Spider-Man (1967-70) – the one with the theme tune. There were several of these shows, often adapting the comics, sometimes very literally (the Hulk one is practically a motion comic). Their quality now is perhaps variable, but they’re fascinating artefacts of their time. I'd love to see them again (especially as we’re probably not gonna see the Sony Spider-Man films any time soon).

The Hulk movies: Hulk (2003) and The Incredible Hulk (2008) are, neither of them, very fondly remembered; Edward Norton's solo outing very much the MCU’s red-headed stepchild, and Ang Lee's film predates the idea of shared universes to deliver a very singular vision. The rights to the Hulk are tied up in complex pre-Disney contracts, meaning a solo Jade Giant movie would need to be released via Universal, and I imagine that holds true for streaming. But come on; he's a major Avenger. Surely they could come to some arrangement regarding The Incredible Hulk at least, just to try to bolster the MCU playlist? It's not as if Disney can't afford it.

Droids and Ewoks cartoons: in the Eighties ('85-’86 to be precise) young Star Wars fans could relive adventures in a galaxy far, far away with two different classic animations: one following the high-camp adventures of Threepio and Artoo, and another focused on Wicket W. Warrick and his furry friends. I've not seen either since I was very little, but I remember them both with enormous fondness, and I find their absence from D+ to be a personal attack. Even if – let’s face it – these are definitely not canon.

Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess (2012): see, this one's a bit strange. Sofia the First – the pleasant Disney Junior cartoon about a young village girl becoming a princess – is on D+, as expected. But its double-length pilot, released essentially as a TV movie, is not. The Tangled series had a similar debut, with its pilot “movie” Before Ever After, and that's on the service; so whither Sofia? It's not as if they’re gonna cause a Twitter storm by releasing it later. Did they forget? Is it down the back of Bob Iger’s sofa?

Logan (2017): yeah I know why this one isn't on there; it's full of effin' and jeffin' and blokes getting their arms lopped off. But it's a bit weird to only get two of the three Wolverine movies. True, the continuity of the Fox X-Men films is all over the place, but all the same, to miss out the “last” one feels a bit off, ultraviolence notwithstanding. Skipping Deadpool is more understandable, mind.

Futurama (1999-2013): Disney have rightly made a big deal about The Simpsons. But Futurama is more-or-less equal to Simpsons at its height (and being a much shorter run, less variable in quality). Whilst it skews a bit older, I don't see it as being unsuitable for Disney+, so not sure why it's not there. My guess is they're waiting to release it with a big splash somewhere down the road (unless there's some rights issue I'm not aware of).

The Indiana Jones movies (1981-2007): this is either another rights issue (do Paramount still own the distribution? Are they signed up to another service?) or they’re waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Because, really, this is a no-brainer; Indy is right in Disney’s wheelhouse. Sticking Harrison Ford’s weathered but beautiful face on their advertising is a huge draw. But if somehow they can’t show the Indiana Jones movies, then it’s gonna be weird come Christmas 2022 or whenever it is that James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and the Quiet Sunday at Home Watching Antiques Roadshow reaches the service. Say, they’re not gonna make us wait that long for the other films are they?!

Star Wars Holiday Special (1978): no, wait, hear me out. This could be big. I get why it’s not there, really I do; it’s a much-lambasted relic, a TV variety special kitted out with emerging Hollywood glamour, made when Star Wars wasn’t really Star Wars and therefore a perennial embarrassment to George Lucas. But its naffness is now legendary. Disney should give it a rudimentary nip and tuck, clean up the noisy VHS transfers that flood the internet, and whack it on National Geographic or something, maybe with a humorous retrospective documentary from the guys who did The World According to Jeff Goldblum or something. This could be a huge, and that’s a hill I’ll die on.

Right, that’s ten big ones whose omission either baffles or offends me. There are others, both large (whither Titanic?) and small (I find it a bit weird that Garfield 2 is on there but not Garfield 1). My eldest also noted that The Nightmare Before Christmas is missing, although I’d wager that’ll pop up before the year’s end (EDIT: turns out it is up there. I'm pretty sure it wasn't at launch, though). Disney is playing a clever game with content that is, to some degree, limited (in the sense that it can only really add new movies or shows that it makes itself, and there’ll only ever be a few of those a year); holding back some prestige flicks for opportune moments makes sense. But, c’mon; give us our Ewoks, man.

#top ten #disney #disney+#movies #tv #streaming #indiana jones #star wars #futurama #sofia the first #mario

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poppan3rd · 8 years ago

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When I was kid, I was really into Japanese Anime. Now of course back than there were more options for cartoons. The odd thing is as a child I didn’t know there was a difference. A matter of fact, I didn’t understand the two genres into my pre-teen years. Once Pokémon came out in the US that was the first time I realized that these type of cartoons are classified as Anime and they come from Japan. Also I realized that a lot of Americans do not like anime. Most major studios fought to censor a lot of the Japanese cultural out of the content. As I got older and more into my teens, I started to love anime more than US cartoons. Now as a father, I would rather have my child watch anime than cartoons. For this post I am going to be comparing US Cartoons that appear on the TV. I will not be putting in Pixar or Disney movies in the comparison. What is the difference? Well besides the obvious of origin country, there is quite a bit of difference between the two. The first thing that sticks out is the drawing styles. Anime are meant to depict actually people. I am not here to argue on weather their bodies are realistic or not, I am just stating that they are actually people. American cartoons are typical drawn in a more comedy sense. So a lot of their body parts are disproportional to add to the act. The content of the both are very different as well. Both have they adult type genres where they discuss more mature topics. However in the children section, they both split dramatically. Anime tend to focus more on friends, and coming of age. US cartoons are more towards immature comedy and stunts. The length is also something that differs when geared towards the younger generation. US cartoons tend to be about 5-10 minutes long, so have about 3 mini shows in one full episode. While anime are usually 20 minutes long.

Censorship!

Now this has always been a big issue with me. Japanese anime gets censored like nobody’s business. The American studios listen to every moment of every second and take out anything they deemed inappropriate for children. Yet US cartoons are known for sneaking in little adult jokes here and there. You can see a huge difference in 90’s when it came to these two genres. Dragon Ball Z was reigning champ for anime at the time, they also got censored so much in the US version it was damaging to the story in some sense. It was mind blowing how they censored so much, yet Rocko’s Modern Life and Ren and Stimpy were being played on Nickelodeon.

Granted the 90’s were a very strange time for media, but this gave anime a bad name. Going forward society tend to look at anime as adult TV shows geared towards children. When Pokémon came out, a lot of Americans refused to let their children watch it due to fear of its content. Yet this is still during the time of Simpson and South Park. Now I know certain parents wouldn’t let their children watch those shows either, but it was more acceptable to some than Japanese anime. The truth of the matter is anime geared towards children have nothing inappropriate for the children to watch.

Which do you prefer? Well of course this is obviously a personal choice. There is no right or wrong answer. As for me, I rather have my children watch Japanese anime than US cartoons. Now don’t get me wrong they’re lot of bad anime, just as they’re a lot of bad US cartoons. My decision comes from the content of the two. I can’t tell you how many times I walk pass the TV screen to see my watching terribly written jokes about farts and burps. US cartoons to me seem mindless. They really don’t teach much and it’s more about laughing for 5 minutes rather than teaching about deep life lessons. Anime allow us the viewer to grow with the character and see how he progresses through life. For example, Pokémon follows the journey of Ash. When I use to watch the show back when it first came out in 1999, Ash was more concern with his imagine to be the very best like no one ever was. Well it just so happens that my son is a huge Pokémon fan. Now a days Ash is more concern with proper training and building his team through his leadership. If you would sit down and watch all 20 some season, you would see how much he has grown (mentally, I know he is still like 10 years old). Of course some of these anime’s are gear towards teens and adults, so we as parents have to be a little bit more cautions than cartoons. Just remember, US cartoons aren’t as innocent has they seem to be.

The reason for this post is not to force anime on you, it’s just to open up some eyes. The truth is some may not even let their children watch TV, which is perfectly acceptable too. I am not here to pass judgement on the way you bring up your children. I just want to simply state, don’t judge others on topics you may not know anything about. What do you prefer? What non main stream anime’s do you enjoy to watch with your children? What are your favorite cartoons?

Japanese Anime vs US Cartoons When I was kid, I was really into Japanese Anime. Now of course back than there were more options for cartoons.

#anime #cartoons #censorship #children #Dragon Ball #family #Fatherhood #Japanese #Nerds #Pokemon #TV Shows

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pxrtgasdace · 7 years ago

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Mun question: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz - which do you like best and why and what are your thoughts and ideas on those worlds as AUs for One Piece/Ace & co? (If you hate them or some of them I'm sorry but in that case I'd also like to know what makes you despise them. Well, I at least know you like Peter Pan going by your already existing AU ideas. Thank you for your time!)

Oh, first of all, thank you so much for the unexpected question and for a very sweet theme, too!

I hate none of the three but maybe I should talk a bit what I know of/from them?

Peter Pan is, answering your question, my favourite out of the three. Of course my first big contact with the story was through the Disney movie. I don’t know what year it was when I got the VHS but love was an instant thing. If you have pirates and fairies together, what’s not to like? Plus my version was the Brazilian dub and contrasting it with the English original many years later, I believe it has more humour than the original. Smee always cracked me up.

But the reason why I truly loved Peter Pan - and I know this now - was because of the projection it had compared to my favourite book from my childhood, another pirate staple - Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. It was the first ‘big book’ I read as a child, and from a copy that belonged to my mother, too, and it is to this day one of my favourites. I love how Stevenson blended the childish wonder kids have for pirates with the more adult part of the theme, for being a young boy hiding in a barrel of apples listening to talk of mutiny can’t be anything other than scary, right?

Unfortunately, Island never got the adaptation it deserved (from Disney). In the 90′s what I had was the 1950 live-action and the 1996 Muppets version - which I really love but never watched back then. Treasure Planet came out in 2002 and… I don’t hate it but… My favourite book did not need a sci-fi twist to make it more appealing or modern or anything like it. It’s a classic.

So, Peter Pan was the closest I had to a pirate story before POTC appeared. And you know Disney does their homework too well with marketing, meaning there was an access to Pan that there wasn’t to Island. I bought The Complete Peter Pan in the beginning of this year and I must say I am glad for Disney’s take on the story, as Barrie leaves some details rather abstract, albeit on purpose. Disney unified our vision on Peter Pan without limiting, for each person can still add their personal twist to Neverland while sharing a ‘common ground’.

Likewise, I am a big fan of the Disney Fairies franchise. It’s a great addition to canon, what with Pixie Hollow, the sparrowmen, the different talents for the fairies… It’s a new part of Neverland that doesn’t mangle Barrie’s work.

I admit most of my ideas for Neverland!Ace are fueled by the franchise and the Disney work as a whole rather than Barrie’s original precisely because of how it crystalised certain aspects of it while it enhanced others. My ideas about it are already on the verses page and also here. I never considered this world for One Piece as a whole, only for Ace but, if anything, it fits ASL.

For instance, if there’s only Ace and Ace alone, he might be the leader of a gang of boys akin to Peter’s - for I do not replace Peter for Ace but would rather have both. They support Ace’s idea of making a crew and one day leave Neverland behind in search for adventures other than the ones they’re used to, with the othe inhabitants of Neverland. If Sabo exists, perhaps there is no need for a gang of kids and it’s just the two brothers trying to set out to sea someday. Whichever the scenario, Ace will still want to find Pixie Hollow to see the pixies and get some pixie dust for his ship to fly & he doesn’t like pirates very much - because he knows his father, Roger, was one and he left him alone in Neverland. Just like Peter, he doesn’t like James Hook very much but his hatred is different - it’s angrier, it’s on principle, it’s because of the bad things pirates do to innocent folks of Neverland - and irony, a pirate’s what he’ll become. Alas, being a child, his morals are still in grey and he doesn’t see or wants to see that stealing pixie dust for a crew is… piracy.

Alice In Wonderland I knew through illustrated books and, of course, the Disney movie. It was never a favourite. Don’t get me wrong, pushing those ‘twisted’ aspects or readings people make of it aside, it’s another wonderful children’s story. I do love new worlds! But… where them pirates at, you know? When there are so many great stories, one if just bound to touch you more than others and that’s what Pan did for me - just like I expect Alice did to others.

I have no ideas for an Alice AU for Ace or One Piece as a whole - and I guess that is mostly to blame on my ignorance. If I recall correctly, Carroll mentioned more creatures/beasts in his works (so beyond Wonderland) and made-up words and everything and for an AU to be believable, those would have to be included. That demands research and knowledge. So… I am very sorry I can’t provide an accurate answer. All I can say is that for Carroll’s works I would never set a verse for Ace that is exclusively drawn from the Disney movie when I know the books are richer and they ought to be considered.

The Wizard of Oz. Kill me but I haven’t yet read Oz though I have the complete ebooks! I know the basic story, yes, but Baum wrote so much more! You know what’s funny, though? I know of the darker adaptations of it: The Wicked Years series by Gregory Maguire - of which the first book spawned a very different musical - and Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. Those I have read but not Baum’s originals (or the other novels considered canonical).

Oz I do consider for an AU! At least there is enough space for many One Piece characters, considering the geography/size of Oz and all these different takes. For the original ‘verse’, I would have to assign Ace to a county/race and build my story around that. I gues using Dorothy Must Die as a base would be easier for me and smoother, too, as pirates could be part of The Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. Perhaps this would be more appealing than Baum’s story, too, as Paige made this world more adult - don’t know if you know the story, and without spoiling it for you, imagine Dorothy as a tyrant and those sweet characters - the Lion, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman - are some seriously sick bastards.

Maybe if I reread DMD I might make a fitting verse for Ace - again, in this particular Oz rather than the original. But that will have to wait a while as I am currently working on establishing another verse for him!

#✕ [anonymous]#[sorry it's long but since you mentioned 3 stories...]#✕ set the world on fire [answer]#✕ [ic answer]

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