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project-shereshoy · 3 years ago

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Development History: The Mandalorian Alphabet

Below the cut is a timeline describing the development of the Mandalorian alphabet over the years and different phases of canon. I put together this imgur gallery of relevant screencaps to go along with it, though it stands on its own as well.

The Beginning - 2002 The Mandalorian alphabet first appeared in Ep 2: Attack of the Clones on the various displays in the cockpit of Jango’s ship (Slave I). The alphabet was developed by Philip Metschan, a graphic designer that created many of the holographic and flavor text assets for AotC. Notably, he was not a linguist, a hobbyist conlanger, or even an typographer. First and foremost, Metschan's goal in developing the Mandalorian and other alien fonts was aesthetic and distinction from English. In an interview, Metschan said: "But George is very, very keen about noticing things that look like English, because he's very against any kind of English looking characters in any of the screens or signs."

Image ID: Screencap from Attack of the Clones showing various readouts in the Slave I cockpit featuring the Mandalorian alphabet

The Mandalorian alphabet in AotC does not appear to spell anything in English or the very few other languages I could recognize. The font is used horizontally, vertically, and even sideways.

A Language Forms - 2003 through 2004 Jesse Harlin, the principle music composer for the Star Wars: Republic Commandos game, invented lyrics for a choir to sing. This was the first instance of Mando'a, though it wasn’t named that yet, both verbally and overall. Harlin passed the songs, his notes, and a 22-letter version of Metschan's alphabet on to Karen Traviss, the author hired to write the Republic Commando novel series. Traviss used Harlin's lyrics as a starting point for building out the language, inventing a grammar to go with the words. Traviss published Metschan's alphabet along with her Mando'a lexicon on her blog, and may remain through the wayback machine as the only published instance of Metschan's alphabet.

Fan Solutions - 2004 Because it was so difficult to find Metschan's alphabet, many fans couldn't write in the Mandalorian alphabet. That was until Episode IV: A New Hope was released on DVD. On the Tatooine-themed menu specifically, once you selected "options", the screen would cycle through several in-universe typefaces before resolving to English. Notably, one of these typefaces was the Metschan script. The script overlapped in some places and was completely upside down in others, but Erikstormtrooper was able to decrypt the font into English, recreate the font digitally, and publish it on his website.

Image ID: Menu screen on the A New Hope DVD. Erikstormtrooper used this screencap to decode the Mandalorian alphabet. The letters are a jumble of alphanumeric characters and don't spell anything.

This first version contained several mistakes that distinguishes it from Metschan's, but because of lower-resolution formats, these mistakes wouldn't be corrected or even noticed until after version 1 saw widespread use. How widespread? Well...

The Clone Wars (2008) - 2010 The next time we saw the Mandalorian alphabet was in episode 2-12 of The Clone Wars, "The Mandalore Plot". We see the script on holographic boards behind Pre Viszla when he comm's with Count Dooku. In some frames, the letters are in clear, bold view that makes it easy to translate, but not if you were using Metschan's alphabet as the key. Why? The Clone Wars used Erikstormtrooper's version 1 alphabet. While the script is fairly accurate to most of Metschan's alphabet, there is an unmistakable difference with the letter "P" that appears on the board, transcribing as "Target: Peace Park".

Image ID: Screencap from The Clone Wars episode 2-12 "The Mandalore Plot". The Mandalorian letters behind Count Dooku spells "Target: Peace Park".

The two other instances of the Mandalorian alphabet in The Clone Wars are in episodes 3-5 “Corruption” and 3-6 “The Academy”.

Star Wars Insider #117 - 2010 To solidify the canonization of Erik's version 1 alphabet, the article "The Duchess and the Jedi" in Star Wars Insider magazine #117 features several English quotes with direct Mandalorian transcriptions that used Erik’s script instead of Metschan's. Now in print, there was no excuse of poor quality, lighting, or angle to explain the discrepancy and confirmed that TCW had indeed used the wrong alphabet.

Image ID: Clipping of Star Wars Insider #117 article "The Duchess and the Jedi". The quote, in both English and the Mandalorian alphabet, says "I almost fell off that speeder once... I wish that could've really happened!"

Rebels - 2016 The Mandalorian alphabet did not return until Rebels episode 3-11 "Visions and Voices", where we can see suspiciously blood-red letters painted on the walls of Maul's lair.

Image ID: Screencap from Rebels episode 3-11 "Visions and Voices". The Mandalorian alphabet behind Maul spells "Kenobi".

This is the first instance of the newest version of the Mandalorian alphabet, often referred to as the Disney alphabet or as MandoAF. However, because the visible letters are shared across all the alphabets and are stylized as handwritten to boot, it was only in retrospect of The Mandalorian show that we could confidently say it was the beginning of a new alphabet. The Mandalorian alphabet does make one more appearance in Rebels with the season 4 pilot, but it's exclusively in the form of numbers in a Mandalorian visor's UI.

The Mandalorian - 2020 It wasn't until the second season that we saw the namesake's corresponding alphabet. In episode 2-6 “The Tragedy”, Boba displays his chain code for Din, English words spelled with Disney-alphabet Mandalorian letters. Disney's version actually closely resembles Metschan's original alphabet, with some letters slightly simplified in a manner similar to English non-serif fonts. The only true changes are the letters "E" and "H", though you'll find the structural difference is still minimal.

Image ID: Screencap of The Mandalorian episode 2-6 "The Tragedy". Boba's chain code is written in the Mandalorian alphabet.

SWTOR Banners - 2020 Banners featuring Mandalorian alphabet were added to the game as part of the Spirit of Vengeance flashpoint, which was released with game update 6.2 on December 9, 2020 (thank you @bored-gay-artist!). Originally, it was English words in Mandalorian script but was later updated to be Mando'a in Mandalorian script, making it the first instance of Mando’a written with the Mandalorian alphabet in any version of canon. Both versions used the Disney/MandoAF alphabet.

Image ID: Banners from the MMO game Star Wars: The Old Republic. This is the only existing example of Mando'a written in the Mandalorian alphabet.

The Future Mandalorian-themed merchandising produced and sold by Disney features the newest Mandalorian alphabet, though it appears all of it is strictly English words transcribed into the alphabet. Many fans are holding out hope for a reintroduction of Mando'a to the Star Wars franchise and with the upcoming Book of Boba Fett and Mandalorian Season 3, we may get to see it happen.

Wookiepedia Discrepencies While researching for this write-up I noticed that the Wookiepedia article on Mandalorian writing is pretty inaccurate. A good chunk is because of KT's inaccurate statements about hers and others' work, but some of it has no source at all. For instance, Wookiepedia alleges that traditionalist/True Mandos use Mando'a the language in conjunction with the alphabet and cites the displays on Slave I as proof, despite the fact that AotC predates the language by at least two years. It also claims that New Mandalorians don't write in Mando'a because the script can be translated into English rather than Mando'a, despite the fact literally no Star Wars script of any language translates to anything other than English. Wookiepedia also claims that Erikstormtrooper invented the letter "C" in his alphabet and that it "doesn't appear in any other media" when really he integrated a character seen in AotC but not officially listed on the Metschan alphabet. For some reason Wookiepedia does not acknowledge that TCW uses Erik's v1 alphabet. If anyone knows what's up with the Wookiepedia discrepancies, has info to add or update, ideas/theories to discuss, or (ka'ra duumi bic) have incredible high-res images for us to decipher, throw in a comment. Until next time, k’oyacyi!

#mando'a #star wars #mandalorians #conlang #the clone wars #rebels #attack of the clones #extended universe canon #legends canon #disney canon #the old republic #alphabet

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1962dude420-blog · 3 years ago

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Today we remember the passing of Daniel Johnston who Died: September 11, 2019 in Waller, Texas

Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – c. September 11, 2019) was an American singer-songwriter and visual artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone in his home, and his music was frequently cited for its "pure" and "childlike" qualities.

Johnston spent extended periods in psychiatric institutions and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonald's in Dobie Center in Austin, Texas. His cult status was propelled when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was seen wearing a T-shirt that featured artwork from Johnston's 1983 cassette album Hi, How Are You.

Beyond music, Johnston was accomplished as a visual artist, with his illustrations exhibited at various galleries around the world. His struggles with mental illness were the subject of the 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. He died in 2019 of what is suspected to have been a heart attack.

Johnston was born in Sacramento, California, and grew up in New Cumberland, West Virginia. He was the youngest of five children of William Dale "Bill" Johnston (1922–2017) and Mabel Ruth Voyles Johnston (1923–2010). He began recording music in the late 1970s on a $59 Sanyo monaural boombox, singing and playing piano as well as the chord organ. Following graduation from Oak Glen High School, Johnston spent a few weeks at Abilene Christian University in West Texas before dropping out. He later attended the art program at Kent State University, East Liverpool, during which he recorded Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain.

When Johnston moved to Austin, Texas, he began to attract the attention of the local press and gained a following augmented in numbers by his habit of handing out tapes to people he met. Live performances were well-attended and hotly anticipated. His local standing led to him being featured in a 1985 episode of the MTV program The Cutting Edge featuring performers from Austin's "New Sincerity" music scene.

In 1988, Johnston visited New York City and recorded 1990 with producer Mark Kramer at his Noise New York studio. This was Johnston's first experience in a professional recording environment after a decade of releasing home-made cassette recordings. His mental health further deteriorated during the making of 1990. In 1989, Johnston released the album It's Spooky in collaboration with singer Jad Fair of the band Half Japanese.

In 1990, Johnston played at a music festival in Austin, Texas. On the way back to West Virginia on a private two-seater plane piloted by his father Bill, Johnston had a manic psychotic episode; believing he was Casper the Friendly Ghost, Johnston removed the key from the plane's ignition and threw it outside. His father, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, managed to successfully crash-land the plane, even though "there was nothing down there but trees". Although the plane was destroyed, Johnston and his father emerged with only minor injuries. As a result of this episode, Johnston was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital.

Interest in Johnston increased when Kurt Cobain was frequently photographed wearing a T-shirt featuring the cover image of Johnston's album Hi, How Are You that music journalist Everett True gave him. Cobain listed Yip/Jump Music as one of his favorite albums in his journal in 1993. In spite of Johnston being resident in a mental hospital at the time, there was a bidding war to sign him. He refused to sign a multi-album deal with Elektra Records because Metallica was on the label's roster and he was convinced that they were Satanic and would hurt him, also dropping his longtime manager, Jeff Tartakov, in the process. Ultimately he signed with Atlantic Records in February 1994 and that September released Fun, produced by Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers. It was a commercial failure. In June 1996, Atlantic dropped Johnston from the label.

In 1993, the Sound Exchange record store in Austin, Texas, commissioned Johnston to paint a mural of the Hi, How Are You? frog (also known as "Jeremiah the Innocent") from the album's cover. After the record store closed in 2003, the building remained unoccupied until 2004 when the Mexican grill franchise Baja Fresh took ownership and decided that they would remove the wall that held the mural. A group of people who lived in the neighborhood convinced the managers and contractors to keep the mural intact. In 2018, the building housed a Thai restaurant called "Thai, How Are You". Thai How Are You permanently closed in January 2020. The building remains empty

In 2004, he released The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered, a two-disc compilation. The first disc featured covers of his songs by artists including Tom Waits, Beck, TV on the Radio, Jad Fair, Eels, Bright Eyes, Calvin Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie, Sparklehorse, Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips and Starlight Mints, with the second disc featuring Johnston's original recordings of the songs. In 2005, Texas-based theater company Infernal Bridegroom Productions received a Multi-Arts Production/MAP Fund grant to work with Johnston to create a rock opera based on his music, titled Speeding Motorcycle.

In 2006, Jeff Feuerzeig released a documentary about Johnston, The Devil and Daniel Johnston; the film, four years in the making, collated some of the vast amount of recorded material Johnston (and in some case, others) had produced over the years to portray his life and music. The film won high praise, receiving the Director's Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The film also inspired more interest in Johnston's work, and increased his prestige as a touring artist. In 2006, Johnston's label, Eternal Yip Eye Music, released his first greatest-hits compilation, Welcome to My World.

Through the next few years Johnston toured extensively across the world, and continued to attract press attention. His artwork was shown in galleries such as in London's Aquarium Gallery, New York's Clementine Gallery and at the Liverpool Biennial in 2006 and 2008, and in 2009, his work was exhibited at "The Museum of Love" at Verge Gallery in Sacramento, California. In 2008, Dick Johnston, Johnston's brother and manager, revealed that "a movie deal based on the artist's life and music had been finalized with a tentative 2011 release." He also said that a deal had been struck with the Converse company for a "signature series" Daniel Johnston shoe. Later, it was revealed by Dick Johnston that Converse had dropped the plan. In early 2008, a Jeremiah the Innocent collectible figurine was released in limited runs of four different colors. Later in the year, Adjustable Productions released Johnston's first concert DVD, The Angel and Daniel Johnston – Live at the Union Chapel, featuring a 2007 appearance in Islington, London.

Is and Always Was was released on October 6, 2009, on Eternal Yip Eye Music. In 2009, it was announced that Matt Groening had chosen Johnston to perform at the edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he curated in May 2010, in Minehead, England. Also that year, Dr. Fun Fun and Smashing Studios developed an iPhone platform game called Hi, How Are You. The game is similar to Frogger, but features Johnston's art and music. Johnston played it during its development and liked it, although he was not familiar with the iPhone.

On March 13, 2012, Johnston released his first comic book, Space Ducks – An Infinite Comic Book of Musical Greatness at SXSW, published by BOOM! Studios. The comic book ties-in with the Space Ducks album and an iOS app. Johnston collaborated with skateboarding and clothing company Supreme on numerous collections (consisting of clothing and various accessories) showcasing his artwork.

On March 1, 2012, Brooklyn-based photographer Jung Kim announced her photo book and traveling exhibition project with Johnston titled DANIEL JOHNSTON: here, a collaboration that began in 2008 when Kim first met Johnston and began photographing him on the road and at his home in Waller, Texas. On March 13, 2013, this photography book was published, featuring five years of documentation on Johnston. The opening exhibition at SXSW festival featured a special performance by Johnston along with tribute performances led by Jason Sebastian Russo formerly of Mercury Rev. The second exhibition ran in May and June 2013 in London, England, and featured a special performance by Johnston along with tribute performances by the UK band Charlie Boyer and the Voyeurs with Steffan Halperin of the Klaxons. On October 10, 2013, Jason Pierce of Spiritualized hosted the New York City opening of the exhibition, which included special tribute performances led by Pierce and Glen Hansard of The Swell Season and The Frames.

In November 2015, Hi, How Are You Daniel Johnston?, a short documentary about Johnston's life, was released featuring Johnston as his 2015 self and Gabriel Sunday of Archie's Final Project as Johnston's 1983 self. The executive producers for the film included Lana Del Rey and Mac Miller.

In July 2017, Johnston announced that he would be retiring from live performance and would embark on a final five-date tour that fall. Each stop on the tour featured Johnston backed by a group that had been influenced by his music: The Preservation All-Stars in New Orleans, The Districts and Modern Baseball in Philadelphia, Jeff Tweedy in Chicago, and Built to Spill for the final two dates in Portland and Vancouver.

On September 11, 2019, Johnston was found dead from a suspected heart attack at his home in Waller, Texas, a day after he was released from the hospital for unspecified kidney problems. It is believed that he died overnight.

#September 11 #2019 #R.I.P.#Daniel Johnston

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astroboyart · 4 years ago

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shadamygirl commented:

Wait there was actually a series to that? Oh my… I used to love watching this movie way early before school each morning, you’ve made my day

There is! Many current Astro Boy fans were introduced to Astro Boy through the 2009 movie in fact.

There are multiple versions and adaptations of Astro Boy:

Ambassador Atom (also known as Captain Atom) ~ April 1951 - March 1952

The first appearance of Astro Boy! Atom was not the main character in this manga, but he became very popular through this manga. It was because of Atom’s appearance in this manga that we got the Astro Boy manga! This was authored by Osamu Tezuka.

Astro Boy ~ April 3, 1952 - March 12, 1968

The manga for Astro Boy, and where the Atom we know and love came to be! This was authored by Osamu Tezuka.

Mighty Atom (tokusatsu series) ~ March 7, 1959 - May 28, 1960

The first television adaptation of Astro Boy! It is a live-action version of the manga.

Astro Boy (1963 series) ~ January 1, 1963 - December 31, 1966

The first animated television adaptation of Astro Boy! It’s a long series: 193 episodes!

This was the first regularly running half-hour anime ever produced! It was also the first widely popular Japanese animated series ever. Without the 1963 Astro Boy series, anime as we know it would likely not exist.

It was produced with direct involvement by Osamu Tezuka and his company, Mushi Production (he later went on to form Tezuka Productions).

Astro Boy (1980 series) ~ October 1, 1980 - December 23, 1981

The second animated television adaptation of Astro Boy! This was the second and final TV anime of Astro Boy produced with direct involvement by Osamu Tezuka. It was produced by Tezuka Productions and is a much shorter anime: 52 episodes.

Astro Boy (2003 series) ~ April 6, 2003 - March 28, 2004

The third Astro Boy anime! It was the first Astro Boy anime produced after Osamu Tezuka’s passing and one of the last anime to use cel animation. It was produced by Tezuka Productions, has 50 episodes, and is a very popular adaptation of Astro Boy!

Pluto ~ September 9, 2003 - April 5, 2009

A manga adaptation of one of the popular arcs from the Astro Boy manga. It was authored by Naoki Urasawa.

Astro Boy (2009 film) ~ October 8, 2009 (Hong Kong premiere), October 23, 2009 (United States premiere)

The widely released feature length 3D animated film for Astro Boy! I’m sure you’re very familiar with this. It was produced by Hong Kong based Imagi Animation Studios.

Little Astro Boy ~ March 22, 2014 - April 26, 2014

The first Astro Boy animated adaptation produced not mainly by Tezuka Productions! While it was produced by Tezuka Productions, it was also produced by Yomiuri TV Enterprises in partnership with Nigerian broadcaster Channels TV. It debuted first in Nigeria in 2014, before being released in Japan on a DVD set on November 3, 2015.

It is geared towards preschoolers. It is a short series, running for only 8 eleven minute episodes. It can be watched in full in only about 90 minutes!

Atom: The Beginning ~ Manga: December 1, 2014 - present; Anime: April 15, 2017 - July 8, 2017

A prequel series to Astro Boy, authored by Tetsuro Kasahara! A 12 episode anime adaptation was made by OLM, Production I.G, and Signal.MD in 2017.

Go Astro Boy Go! ~ August 2, 2019 (first worldwide premiere in China), October 3, 2019 - October 1, 2020 (Japan airing)

The most recent Astro Boy series! It is the second Astro Boy series produced not mainly by Tezuka Productions. In fact, it was almost entirely produced by Planet Nemo Animation and Play Big + Something Big; Tezuka Productions did assist with the series.

Like Little Astro Boy, it is geared towards young kids. It has 52 episodes which run about 13 minutes each. 51 episodes aired in Japan.

Future series ~ Release dates to be determined

There is even more Astro Boy coming out! A third Astro Boy overseas adaptation was announced on June 8, 2014 by Shibuya Productions called Astro Boy Reboot, and an anime adaptation was announced for the Pluto manga on June 13, 2017. Release dates for them have yet to be determined, but they are still being made!

There are many adaptations of Astro Boy! There’s even a few other ones that I didn’t mention here, but these are the main ones. Choose one, dive in, and enjoy. :)

#Astro Boy

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mostlymovieswithmax · 3 years ago

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Movies I watched in June

Now I think I’m comfortably in a rhythm to get these posts out. For one, I’m writing up short reviews either straight after watching a movie or sometimes it might take a few days. But June was a fairly good month in terms of the amount of films I watched. I got to go to the cinema quite a bit which is always fun. Anyway, let’s get on with it! If you’re looking for something good to watch (or maybe even something bad), I hope this list can help in some way to introduce you to new and different movies that maybe you’ve never heard of, or were thinking of checking out. Here is every film I watched from the 1st to the 30th of June 2021.

Bo Burnham: Inside (2021) - 10/10 Everyone was going off about how great this film is. An hour and a half of Bo Burnham in lockdown, singing songs and being upset is definitely a powerful hook and I have to agree with the general consensus because Inside blew me away. More thoughts on this in my podcast: The Sunday Movie Marathon episode 34.

Bo Burnham: Make Happy (2016) - 7/10 After watching Inside, I figured I’d rewatch some of Burnham’s older stand-up shows on Netflix. Make Happy is a lot of fun, injected with a lot of introspection from Burnham that really makes the special stand out, despite a lot of gags that just didn’t land for me.

Bo Burnham: What. (2013) - 6/10 It’s plain to see just how much Bo Burnham has grown over the years and how he has honed his comedy and music. ‘What.’ is a good stepping stone in the comedian’s career, showcasing loads of promise in him from a young age. There are some jokes that haven’t aged as well and some that straight up dragged, but overall the show is still enjoyable.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) - 3/10 Packed theatre for this one, obviously. People love a Conjuring movie, and I’d also say people love a good scare… but this movie isn’t scary, or good for that matter. More thoughts on episode 35 of the podcast.

The Conjuring (2013) - 6/10 After the horrendously disappointing debacle that was the third Conjuring movie, I decided to watch James Wan’s original movie and man, if this wasn’t better in literally every way. I don’t tend to love James Wan movies but I can’t deny he’s got so much talent in how he makes movies and it makes The Conjuring a lot more fun to see competent filmmaking in the horror genre in a way that actually creates an eerie atmosphere with creative uses of camera-work and editing.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - 8/10 Normally I’m not big into the old slasher movies. I appreciate that for the time, perhaps they hit differently, but now I just don’t tend to connect with them. Wes Craven’s ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ is a bit of an exception. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not particularly scary, though it does employ a lot of interesting techniques and designs. Undeniably, the design for Fred Krueger is a staple in cinema, with the striped jumper, hat, scarred face and knives for fingers not leaving the mind of the general public any time soon. Elm Street doesn’t have too many kills but when it does, it is so effective and fun to watch. Craven was one of the greats, truly.

One Cut of the Dead (2017) - 8/10 This has to be one of the most engaging zombie movies I’ve seen in a long time. There’s a lot to spoil with One Cut of The Dead but I won’t go into that here. It is clever and funny, subverting expectations in ways I really didn’t expect. I really cannot recommend it enough.

Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones (2019) - 8/10 Since we’re watching Chappelle's Show for episode 45 of the podcast, I wanted to get an idea for what I was in for, so I watched Dave Chappelle’s stand-up show from a couple of years ago. Yeah, really funny, which I suppose is what you want from a stand-up special, but what makes it better is Chappelle’s commentary on the world at large and how he’s able to combine humour with intelligent criticism.

Fear(s) of the Dark (2008) - 4/10 A few years ago I think I watched this animated black and white anthology film on a New Year's Day when I had foolishly decided to pull an all-nighter and then go out with mates for ice cream. Never again. But I’d forgotten what I thought of this movie and decided to get the DVD for cheap on eBay. Perhaps I am doomed to watch Fear(s) of the Dark only when I am tired because I popped this on when it was nearing midnight. I was lucid enough to understand what I was watching though… and it was quite boring. These short films emulate the filmmakers’ nightmares - an interesting premise in theory, but pretty weak on execution.

The Bourne Identity (2002) - 3/10 We marathoned the first three Bourne movies for The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast, episode 36 so check that out for my expanded thoughts on this, the best Bourne of the three.

The Bourne Supremacy (2004) - 2/10 Immediately after, we did the deep dive into Supremacy, the second Bourne and the worst of the three (albeit by a very slim margin). Check out episode 36 for more.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - 2/10 I really couldn’t care less about these terrible movies. It was a horrible chore to sit through them. Ultimatum was also rubbish. More gripes and discussion in episode 36 of the podcast.

The Father (2021) - 10/10 Another trip to the cinema for this masterpiece. I tried very hard not to sob loudly in the theatre where aside from myself, the audience totalled three people. More discussion of The Father in episode 36 the podcast.

Drag Me To Hell (2009) - 2/10 I’m pretty shocked that Sam Raimi directed this. Usually when I watch one of his films, I can see his staple of fun gore, practical effects, crazy camera movements… but there was none of that here. It just felt like a really bad horror, indistinguishable from the regular affair, with no personality or passion. Drag Me To Hell might even have been one of those movies I’d avoided in the past when I was younger because it seemed too scary but no, it was just boring and bad and I feel like there’s something I’m not getting out of this that other people seem to be.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - 8/10 At this point, I feel I have to admit Wes Anderson as perhaps my second favourite director. His movies are just so nice and beautiful to watch. Moonrise Kingdom is a quirky love story between two kids and honestly, with any other director, could have been handled poorly because the story is quite simple. But Anderson injects so much of his signature style and personality into the film. A powerhouse of actors with the likes of Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis and Tilda Swinton, among a few of Anderson’s regulars, make Moonrise Kingdom a breeze. Good for a dark day to lift the spirits.

Nobody (2021) - 8/10 I needed something to fill an otherwise uneventful day, so I hopped on a bus and booked a ticket for Ilya Naishuller’s new action movie, Nobody. The film started and to my annoyance, the lights in the theatre were still on. When I go to the cinema I don’t really want to see the other people sitting around me, so I got up from my seat, abandoning the first two minutes of the film to find a member of staff to turn the lights off. After showing them that the lights were in fact still on, I took to my seat and watched the movie for what felt like a little while before the lights went off. Nobody is a really fun action movie. Perhaps similar in a lot of ways to John Wick, but with more personality to the main character. More thoughts on episode 37 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - 8/10 After procuring the Criterion blu-ray from my local hmv, I delved into all the supplements it had to offer, including a making-of documentary, chats with the director, and a gallery of polaroid pictures from when they were shooting the film in India. The Darjeeling Limited is perhaps not peak Wes Anderson, but I do kind of love it. It makes me want to go on a journey to another country with my brother and sister, perhaps in ten to fifteen years. Here, the main characters are three brothers who travel to India seeking some kind of spiritual experience. Things don’t seem to work out that way, however, because I’m not sure how spiritual an experience you can have when you plan out an itinerary to schedule it. Fantastic performances all round and of course, beautiful direction and cinematography.

Face/Off (1997) - 3/10 Was I supposed to laugh? Maybe I was just too tired but I really couldn’t stand Face/Off. It didn’t feel particularly special and despite a couple of fun ideas, it was mostly quite boring.

Luca (2021) - 5/10 The new Pixar movie leaves a lot to be desired. The animation is really second to none and I can’t fault how beautiful the movie looks, more so when it’s set in this little Italian town than under the sea. The story is so uninspired though, with the basic premise being that the protagonists want a Vespa so they enter a competition to win the money to buy one. Also they’re fish that turn into people on dry land. Maybe that’s enough for some people, but I couldn’t shake the familiarity of Luca. It never went in any interesting directions and basically did exactly what I figured it would do. I don’t believe it’s out here to subvert expectations but I would like some creativity when it comes to the writing. Perhaps if I watched it again, I might like it less. It was pretty dull.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - 10/10 I’m a little disappointed with the Criterion blu-ray for Punch-Drunk love. It’s supplements host a couple of low-quality deleted scenes that were clearly deleted for a reason, and some weird artsy music videos that incorporated footage from the movie. I was quite shocked at how low-effort it all seemed. The movie itself is fantastic though and I do believe it to be Adam Sandler’s best performance (and I really liked Uncut Gems). He portrays a man who is constantly put down by his family, clearly has some kind of social disability, and on top of it all he’s getting scammed by a sex line. Amongst all this, he’s trying to navigate a new relationship and it’s so sweet to watch all the interactions between Sandler and Emily Watson. It’s a perfect melding of romance, comedy and anxiety, beautifully directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Fargo (1996) - 9/10 Another movie you wouldn’t expect to be so funny, especially since it’s based on this horrific true story about murder, deceit and money. But the Coen brothers know how to handle it. Excellent performances, beautiful colour palette, and a story that just gets more and more insane as it goes.

House (1977) - 7/10 House (or, Hausu) was a recommendation for episode 37 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast so check that out for more discussion. Generally speaking, this Japanese horror/comedy was bonkers. Insanely creative and abstract (which at points can detriment the film) with an almost Balamory-esque presentation. I was happy to find that the comedy was not lost on me at all; this is a hilarious film, albeit maybe not all the time.

The Princess Bride (1987) - 10/10 I reviewed this in my May wrap-up but this time around, I had recommended The Princess Bride for the podcast, the discussion for which you can listen to in episode 37. It all clicked this time around. It is such a fun, warm movie with a lot of laughs and superb production.

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) - 8/10 Another Rob Reiner joint, a few years before The Princess Bride. This Is Spinal Tap is lauded as a masterpiece in comedic cinema and I might agree; this movie is hilarious. Shot in mockumentary fashion, it follows a band playing shows and trying to get gigs, coupled with the inevitable screw-ups of live performance and creative disagreements. It lost me every now and again but it’s still a must-watch.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) - 6/10 A decent Disney flick but certainly not their best. One highlight includes the villain singing a lament about wanting to have sex with Esmerelda and calling her a witch for giving him a boner.

Ponyo (2008) - 4/10 Not sure if I’ve ever disliked a Miyazaki movie before but I did not vibe with Ponyo. It came across as very baby and as such, there really wasn’t much to read into. The animation is fantastic as always but so much of it felt specifically tailored to a younger crowd.

Roman Holiday (1953) - 9/10 Classic romance at its best. I had heard on a podcast that this was the sexiest movie the guest had ever seen and while maybe not in the traditional sense of the word, I do get where they’re coming from. I was tearing up with just how lovely it all was, following a princess who runs away and spends the day with a man she meets in Rome (where it was shot on location), doing all the things she’s wanted to do but never could because of royal responsibilities. Fantastic performances from Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck who sell the chemistry of the characters so well.

F9 (2021) - 2/10 I’ve never seen any of the Fast & Furious movies and after watching the ninth in the series, I don’t want to. This is basically the Vin Diesel show; we watch him drive cars fast and punch people a lot. Wow! I don’t really understand what it (and forgive the pun) driving people to see these movies if they’re all in this same vein. As far as I can tell, F9 is the goofiest of the series so far and I’ll admit I had a chuckle or two at some of the truly implausible moments, such as a part where one of the team gets shot by about ten men with machine guns, yet manages to kill them all without being affected by the bullets… but overall, in this two-and-a-half-hour experience, I was largely bored.

Shaolin Soccer (2001) - 7/10 I love this movie! Shaolin Soccer is so much fun; it is goofy and out there and completely crazy, all by design. Steven Chow knew what he was making when he set out to craft this insane story of a group of guys using Kung-Fu to play football. The basic story itself is nothing new but it’s elevated by the infectious comedy and implausibility of what’s happening. Balls are kicked into space and across fields so fast the very ground is torn asunder. A man eats an egg off a dirty shoe. This is cinema.

Casino Royale (2006) - 7/10 I had seen a trailer at the cinema for the new Bond movie and I have to say, I’ve never really given 007 the time of day, aside from a few of the very first movies I’d tried watching a while ago. But the new trailer kind of got me hyped, so I wanted to watch all of the Craig era Bond movies, starting with Casino Royale. I had a great time! Even though there’s not loads of fighting or weapons or fast cars, the meat of the movie actually comes from this poker game Bond is playing against the villain, played brilliantly by Mads Mikkelsen. I was surprised to witness a bit of cock-and-ball torture in this 12-rated movie but I would be lying if I said it didn’t stick with me.

Quantum of Solace (2008) - 5/10 Immediately after Casino Royale, I jumped into the second of Daniel Craig’s Bond movies, Quantum of Solace. Sadly it’s quite weak, with not much going on aside from the general Bond fare. Mathieu Amalric’s villain lacked a lot of menace or motivation and generally, I’m not super worried about a brilliant story in a Bond movie, but even the action felt weak in this. Quantum of Solace didn’t exactly upset me but it failed to wow me in any way either. The saving grace of the movie is certainly Daniel Craig as the hero, capturing Bond and what he’s supposed to be.

Skyfall (2012) - 6/10 A marked improvement from its predecessor, Sam Mendes helms Skyfall, Craig’s third outing as Bond. Skyfall delves into Bond’s past as he seems to be slipping a bit, not as much the expert operative he once was. It would have been nice to see more of his fall from grace, as they don’t really show us how he’s become less efficient as much as they give other characters expository dialogue telling us how he drinks and does drugs and is haunted by childhood trauma. For me, that’s where the meat of the story lies and I would have preferred more of a character piece if indeed they were delving into that side of the character anyway. That being said, the fights are still better choreographed than the last instalment and the colour grading and scenery is often very visually interesting. Everything in Skyfall is better than its predecessor and it’s surely thanks to Sam Mendes who does a great job at directing.

Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - 8/10 Another go round for Howl's Moving Castle, as this was a recommendation for my podcast, The Sunday Movie Marathon. My opinion, I feel, is unchanged. It's a fantastic film, and you can listen to more of what I have to say in episode 37. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 - 3/10 A pretty poor end to a poor series of movies. I'm surprised I've watched the Twilight movies as many times as I have but I also know I'll watch them again. Part 2 I watched with the YMS commentary track on YouTube which, again made the experience a lot better. But otherwise the series seemed to get better as it went along… until the last movie. Ultimately my biggest problem with it is that nothing actually happens and the plot feels like a late addition rather than a natural progression of the story. It’s basically a whole movie of set-up to a payoff that doesn’t even canonically happen. A big thing with YA adaptations in this era was making a final book into two movies, regardless as to whether it needed that much time or not. Breaking Dawn does not need to be two movies at two hours each. About ten new characters are introduced here and the film is afraid of killing even one of them off. It's the last movie! We're not going to see these characters again! Kill some of them! There's just no emotional weight to any of it and I hate to say I was disappointed with the ending because I have such low expectations for these films but man, this was so unsatisfying.

Frances Ha (2012) - 8/10 Life is hard. And I hate this movie because it shows me so much of what terrifies me about being alive. And I love this movie because it shows me so much of what I’m alive for. Noah Baumbach’s brutally honest depiction of growing up and fending for yourself struck me in a way I wasn’t expecting and I think it’s because I’m at a point in my life where I’m worrying a lot about how it’s all going to turn out. The titular character is burdened with the stress of working low-paid jobs and paying rent while juggling school and making time for her passion of dancing as she tries to connect with people she’s lost, as temporary friends and housemates come and go. She feels like a lonely character despite often being around a lot of people. Frances Ha is fantastic and heartbreaking and uplifting… but it made me feel bad so I hate it.

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cosmicsponge2004 · 3 years ago

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HBO Max & Cartoon Network are RUINING MY LIFE!

HBO Max Family just uploaded this:

https://youtu.be/0sXa7xqkEW0

I didn't think too much of it & clicked on it. Most clips were cropped from their original 4:9 aspect ratio to the modern, 16:9 widescreen. I didn't care much until the last clip, from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy Season 6 Episode 11A: "El Dia de los Muertos"

First, a mini history lesson on TGAOBAM & Aspect Ratio:

In it's first 5 seasons from 2003-2006, The show was produced in a 4:3 aspect ratio at a resolution of 480i. With the advent of HDTVs in 1998, most channels (worldwide) had fully moved to making all their programs in High-Definition (1080p HD) & Widescreen by mid-2005 (Nickelodeon didn't have any Widescreen animation until 2009) while North American & Asian feeds (still mostly being in SD despite making shows in HD) would simply crop the shows from the modern 16:9, to the more standard at the time, 4:3.

Before Season 6 of Billy & Mandy, there was a movie in 2007 called "Billy & Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure". It was the first of many things for the franchise. The main thing here is, it was the first piece of TGAOBAM media to be made in High-Definition (16:9 Widescreen & 1080p HD). It was also released on DVD with 2 Apsect Ratios options (4:3 for Old TV's, labeled as "Full Screen" & The native 16:9 version labeled as, "Widescreen". Downscaled to 480p because it's a DVD). Later, Season 6 of Billy & Mandy premiered & just like Big Boogie Adventure, was made in High-Definition (16:9 Widescreen & 1080p HD) & cropped to 4:3 for TV Airings. No one knew Season 6 was Widescreen until Cartoon Network HD (UK only) started Airing it uncropped around, 2010-2012. Then, when CN UK & CN South Africa started uploading clips to their respective YouTube channels, they were also in Widescreen. Bringing minor international attention to this. Seen here, https://animesuperhero.com/forums/threads/how-to-convince-wb-to-release-animated-titles-in-widescreen.4725711/page-5. From that time onward, the only way to watch Widescreen Billy and Mandy was from DVR recorded UK Airings (which were sped up, pitched up, & had a pretty big CNHD Screenbug at the top right).

When it was announced that on January 1st, 2021, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy would be added to HBO Max in the USA, fans (including myself) were EXTATIC! When the moment came, I started binging Season 1. First, I noticed that the season 1 episodes were listed out of order. No biggie. Then, in the middle of watching Season 2, I thought about Season 6's aspect ratio. TIP: One way to tell if a Season 6 episode is in Widescreen is, The Widescreen Masters have the original intro (which was made in 4:3) cropped to 16:9 & letterbox to fit in 4:3 (Stupid, I know.). I looked it up & clicked on the first Season 6 episode only to discover a horrific sight! With the exception of Wrath of the Spider Queen Part 2, Season 6 used the CROPPED 4:3 MASTERS on HBO Max!

Comparison (Ignore the US 2004-2008 Screenbug):

In a fit of Rage I abandoned the show & started watching Chowder. When my HBO Max Trial expired, I did NOT renew & called it a "Boycott"! (It probably isn't) Lesson Over!

Anyway, the clip in the video (which isn't Wrath of the Spider Queen) was in UN-CROPPED HIGH DEFINITION! HD, Widescreen! So, it's not just CN losing the NTSC Widescreen Masters (which is what I assumed) but rather, seemingly, HBO Max & CN just don't wanna give it to us! They hate me, they hate YOU, They hate ALL OF US!

Unless, They just added the Widescreen masters to HBO Max in the 6 months that abandoned HBO Max! If you have HBO Max & TGAOBAM Season 6 is in Widecreen, Let me know but until then, the boycott continues. This is why I usually only post about Sonic & Nickelodeon All Star Brawl!

#tv animation #aspect ratio #cartoon network #CN #the grim adventures of billy and mandy #billy and mandy #tgaobam #maxwell atoms #Billy and Mandy Season 6 #season 6 #YTV #cn city #hbo max #warner bros #space jam a new legacy #Space Jam 2 #grim and evil

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mouthtrashworld · 4 years ago

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HEAR ME OUT: PARIS HILTON INSPIRED ME TO GO TO ART SCHOOL

HEAR ME OUT: PARIS HILTON INSPIRED ME TO GO TO ART SCHOOL AND BECOME A FILMMAKER.

My sister and I played it cool until my parents dark purple grand caravan left the driveway. We knew we had to conceal our excitement of being home alone for a few hours in order to not seem suspicious. It was our chance to watch whatever trash was on television that day without the normal censorship our parents had set on us. My mother strived to win the gold medal for being a helicopter parent and my dad just agreed with whatever she said. Somehow we were always a step ahead of them. There was a vast lack of communication within my household which lead me to crave answers and sneak around to get them.

We really made a day of it. We pulled our big fluffy comforters off our beds and brought them to the couch, gathered every unhealthy snack from our cabinet (which was difficult as my mother kept a strict, low carb, low sodium, no sugar menu to chose from in our house) and hung heavy blankets over the windows to block out the glare on the 30 inch Panasonic VHS combo unit. My older sister, Cate, had control over the remote, she knew which channel number MTV played on and she memorized the Parental Control Password that was set on various channels that aired the exact rubbish it was to protect us from, but quickly became our favorite shows. At the time I didn’t even really know how Cate found out these shows existed. Our amount of media consumption was little to none. Living in a tiny town in Pennsylvania, attending private Christian school and hardly having a social life; our only connection to whats out there

would be the local blockbuster that my mother skirted us in and then quickly out of after renting wholesome family movies. I remember slipping away from my moms watch just long enough to find the “1 Night in Paris” sex tape DVD that was made in 2004 with Rick Salomon (who by the way has been married to Pamela Anderson TWICE!) and Paris Hilton as the star. A few years later, The Simple Life, featuring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie became a huge success for Fox and was later taken over by E! network. The glimpse of the DVD cover was so scandalous I felt guilty just for looking at it. We were a few years late, really just catching the reruns of the show that E!, MTV or VH1 would play during the middle of the day, but we ate it up nonetheless.

The first episode I ever watched was on Season 5. The two girls become camp counselors and every week a different theme and set of campers come in to encounter their shenanigans. This episode was “Fat Camp” and the first order of business was for Paris and Nicole to give the campers enema’s before they start their week of dieting and exercise. It was absolutely ridiculous. I felt bad that these campers who fell victim to their bratty comments, yet my sister and I couldn’t take our eyes off it. Reality TV works in that way you know, where you feel bad, but not bad enough because its not your life.

Soon Cate and I started adding other reality shows to our pallet of rebellion. The Girls Next Door, a reality show about Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends living in the Playboy Mansion. Real World Cancun, AKA Jersey Shore before there was Jersey Shore. And of course The Hills where Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag live it up in Orange County, a place I

thought was made up until I visited there in 2014. But the Simple Life remained my favorite of them all. But Paris Hilton was my first glimpse of glamour, so she always remained my favorite. Granted, Kim Kardashian has seemed to surpass her on many levels after starting out as her intern. And sure maybe Paris is an heiress who will never run out of money or resources and people behind her, producing her, but Miss Hilton found a savvy way to brand herself right at the pinnicale of the internet and she still had to work for it. As a filmmaker I am hyper aware of the way we consume media, which is why I’ve taken such an interest to Paris and this manipulation she had turned into an art form.

Before we go on, in case you don’t know how Paris got famous, I’m here to give you a brief backstory. Paris Hilton, heiress to the Hilton Hotels empire, was actually raised a lot like me. Her parents were strict. She wasn’t allowed to wear makeup or have much of a social life. I believe her parents knew what kind of name she bared and the harsh reality that could come with it, so they kept her on a tight leash. Despite their efforts to keep her tame she slipped away, out into the world long enough to meet famous photographer David LaChapelle, who became enamored with Paris and her sister Nicky, and insisting he take their photo. She knew it was highly against her parents rules to engage in that kind of activity but she went for it. He designed an elaborate set and costumes for them and they went ahead naively thinking the photos would be just for them to admire in private but were later were published in a 2001 Vanity Fair issue, getting her in a whole lot of trouble. She later had to turn down and offer to do Playboy because her parents would disinherit her. By the time she was 18 her career as a model

and professional partier could really take off. Paris became absolutely obsessed with fame. She came up with a formulated routine on how to grab the paparazzi’s attention. She would find all the places photographers would be hanging out that day and go to every single location just to be seen and her plan really seemed to work. She was the bright and shining star of every tabloid in America. She describes in the documentary film, “American Meme” how desperate she was, spending hours searching for a place with someone, anyone to take her picture no matter what it took. Her paparazzi access seemed responsible for Paris to become a household name. — add on?

We have to remember that this time, 2007-2009, was a turning point, as smart phones and blackberries were now in almost every American’s pocket and we were craving the tea more than ever. Tabloids started working around the clock to deliver us the latest scoop at the now possible all hours of the day; i.e. the tragedies of Amy Whinehouse, LiLo and her drug escapades, Britney Spears and her hairless melt down, the list goes on. We asked for it, we got it and kept asking for more. After Paris sought out these outlets, the offers poured in. Her own show, movie roles, modeling for brand name designers, she became a DJ, became an author, a business woman, a fashion designer she owns hotels in Dubai and is currently carrying a hefty 10.5 million instagram follower count.

I know what you’re thinking, like okay so who cares about this rich “bimbo” (dubbed courtesy of a New York Post article circa 2007) but just hear me out. Most of us can relate to her story and if not, at least to some of her tactics. What I grew to realize after becoming social media obsessed (possibly because I was deprived as a child) is that

no matter how information changes or what new technology comes to pass it along to us, we will always be doing it in the same way. I watched Myspace come and pass, seeing thousands of singers, bands and actresses get discovered through that site, even some playmates in Playboy magazine. I saw Facebook allow us to put every single thing about our lives on blast at any minute of the day. Twitter allows us to barf our thoughts up in once 180, now 280 characters, Vine stars made 6 seconds videos and now make 6 figures from their fame and last but not least Instagram, and trust me when I say I cringe having to say this, “influencers” sell to us with every photo or video they post. Whether that be a lifestyle, a product or just themselves as a person. A vast majority of us have to admit that we are drinking the juice. We ourselves are partaking in marketing our “best life” being lived via Instagram. So ask yourself, what is the difference between what we are doing on the Gram versus what Paris was doing in 2006, showcasing her persona to the media in the only way it was accessible at the time? Why not manipulate it the same way it manipulates us? Find out where the quote on quote Paparazzi are and market yourself the same way reality stars did.

Not that I have the intention to come up in the same way some of these heiresses who’s names are already famous or these vine stars or twitter comedians did but I have the power to show a portion of the world who I am and what I can do to earn my career as a filmmaker and communicator via social media.

I realized that what I was doing as a little kid, waiting for my parents to leave to seek a world outside my own is exactly what Paris did. She took the risk and got the answers.

Her obsession with fame coincided with my obsession with social media, to communicate and or get my work out there. I’m just trying to work system to brand myself. My research shows that the reality show we down load from an app store and place in our pockets has led me to some big wins. Upon getting hired for shoots or my work recognized in some way, I see there is a formula to the entire thing. When to post, how to post, who to follow, etc. I have no producers behind me to curate my Instagram, I have no connection to someone with a big name. All I have is myself to show for what I can do and if I keep going back to the place with the most access to the loudest voices , like Paris did I may have a shot at getting my own voice out there and I will say more important things than “thats hot” I promise you.

In the end I think that the reason I clung to Paris and her story so deeply was because it was virtually first and foremost example I had and to as impressionable young woman, that kind of thing sticks. The definition of success and how to obtain it was taught to me was by sneaking her show on a Saturday afternoon while my parents when to Shop Rite without me. I’ve just stayed observing all the ways fame has developed via internet and can lead to success. But the beauty of the defying gravity factor is that this blond “bimbo” and many other “bimbos” like her have done the same thing, most without the Hilton name. All I did was think twice before I believed that reality television was just a trashy phase. Instead I realized that I, like many others, am still consuming similar content in 2009 now in 2019, the difference is its in the palm of my hand and I’m deciding to take advantage of it.

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danwhobrowses · 4 years ago

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So Children in Need did a Dick and Dom Segment today

If anyone isn’t familiar, the show ‘Dick and Dom in da Bungalow’ captured many kids’ intrigue for Saturday and Sunday mornings for its bonkers gameshow mechanics between skits and other cartoons

So hearing about this hit home as I was reminded of February 2004

Specifically, this episode

youtube

The grand final of the game Bogies on Trafalgar Square, deep within Season 3 at episode 41. The kids were 6 schoolkids about 11 or 12 in primary school since the age of 12 was the limit, the winner would win a TV, a brand new PS2 and the groundbreaking new game ‘Sonic Heroes’, Runner up got a Stereo System and Third got the Gag Prize of ‘Tartan Paint’ - this was before such things as Facebook, DVDs, the I Like Turtles Meme and Shame and thus the kids were the subject of games like jumping into a pool full of beans, putting chocolate spread on your body to stick hair on and using kids as human shovels You know why this one episode sticks out for me? Get to 4:09 when you’re introducing all the contestants That buck-toothed piece of awkwardsauce in the coral necklace and ‘cool jacket’ is yours truly

Oh yes. That’s me, not that I can watch without my hands over my face. The things you get embarrassed about while you’re young huh? I did hint one day on the PS2 anniversary that I would tell this story and this seems probably the most appropriate time, for one because there’s actually footage of it - something that I had been convinced was not possible given that the contestants were the only ones who had the tapes on VHS, but alas 1 day of it has somehow found itself in the outskirts of Youtube - this may indeed be the only internet proof that I was on this, and I was backfill.

Late 2003 in our primary school I had heard of this show but not watched it, one day Hannah and Alex (girl Alex) approach me during our break asking if I would join them in applying for the show, because they needed six people. I agreed and filled out the application, then spent every Saturday and Sunday morning studying the show. December 2003 comes along and the BBC want a screen test, they set up in our school’s dinner hall during classes and ask us questions about the show, to ensure we were enthusiastic enough, when prompted on ‘what would you say to Dick and Dom to get you on the show’ I climbed on a table and directly threatened them with all the in-show nasties to let us on. And it worked!

In January we each got a letter saying we would be going to Hammersmith for a travel and hotel expenses-paid trip for the weekend, we could bring only one relative within these expenses, anyone else who wanted to tag along would have to pay themselves - which my brother and my dad’s then-girlfriend-now-wife did (my parents are divorced, my Dad stated that since this was a weekend we would be with him he should take us). We played Bogies on the train ride, though I vividly remember me, my dad, his girlfriend and my brother having McDonalds (they had Digimon spinners as the happy meal toy) while the rest of the group went to a fancy Italian - I don’t know whether that was in the expenses plan though.

I will preface though that this experience had little revelation aside from the ‘behind the camera’ stuff, we only had one pre-recorded segment in case one of us got ‘locked in the lavatory’ with 3 singing old ladies. We actually arrived earlier than the presenters themselves, our first proper interaction being us pulling faces at each other through a window in the BBC Hammersmith Studio’s lobby.

Behind the main set was a bungalow (so the shape of the name tags)-shaped room for the contestants, piled with sweets, we also had a monitor to watch the cartoons between clips, our chaperones would stay in the green room for the most part.

The first day is what you see, aside from me pulling the curtain a little by not using the ‘stairs’ to get to the pool full of baked beans everything was on the fly - we had Alex (boy Alex) do Do Not Laugh or You Will Lose (thank you Mr. Camera Man for keeping my face in frame trying to play too -_- that didn’t stick with me at all) because he hadn’t competed in enough games. The Pigeons in Pool game though...we were not prepared for that game, ruined my shoes and socks and the Minnie Mouse slippers given as replacements were not so well fitted XD And No, I did not know there were handles on the other side of the pigeon outfit! I know it looks obvious from the screen but all I got to see was the art side, they didn’t tell us there were handles on the other side so why would I think that!? Threw me off Baked Beans forever. We were strictly kept away from learning Hannah’s magic trick with threat of having points docked but other than that the producers just let us be ourselves, the only other time was at the end when I got ‘one last’ bit of ‘creamy muck muck’, I had intended to grab two - one for each - but the producers mouthed to me ‘last one’.

Afterwards I overheard that I almost broke Dick’s nose after pieing him in the face, of course I followed through a bit too hard in my enthusiasm, he was a good sport about it though.

And that was Day 1 of my Claim to Fame. Unless footage of Day 2 shows up you’re gonna get little else from me, wouldn’t wanna spoil that, I feel like I’ve already said too much as it is XD

#dick and dom #dick and dom in da bungalow #cbbc #claim to fame #was paige robbed? Vote on your phones now #I had not heard of the Danny Boy song before this so I was confused as well as starstruck by live tv #you could consider me the original I Like Turtles Kid #actually don't I love turtles but I don't think I could be memeified #I already pull an austin powers face with those teeth #yes I was the one who smacked his ass with a spoon they were not clear about what they wanted!#the uploader doesn't have day 2 and I have no idea where the VHS is so it's up to you

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atomicwinterwonderland · 4 years ago

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Best triggered angry bitch girl coming to the rescue for kristopher lmao

Robotech (TV series)

Robotech (1985) is an original story adapted with edited content and revised dialogue from the animation of three different mecha anime series:

Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982–1983)

Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross (1984)

Genesis Climber MOSPEADA (1983–1984)[6]

Harmony Gold's cited reasoning for combining these unrelated series was its decision to market Macross for American weekday syndication television, which required a minimum of 65 episodes at the time (thirteen weeks at five episodes per week).[7]Macross and the two other series each had fewer episodes than required, since they originally aired in Japan as weekly series. On some television stations, the syndicated run was preceded by the broadcast premiere of Codename: Robotech, a feature-length pilot.

This combination resulted in a storyline that spans three generations, as mankind must fight three destructive 'Robotech Wars' in succession with various invading forces, each of which is motivated in one way or another by a desire for a powerful energy source called 'protoculture'. While each of the three animated series used for its footage informs its content, the Robotech storyline is distinct and separate from each of them.

The First Robotech War (The Macross Saga) concerns humanity's discovery of a crashed alien ship and subsequent battle against a race of giant warriors called the Zentraedi, who have been sent to retrieve the ship for reasons unknown. In the course of this chapter, Earth is nearly annihilated, the Zentraedi are defeated, and humans gain knowledge of the energy source called protoculture. Humanity also learns of the Robotech Masters whose galactic empire the Zentraedi protected and patrolled.

The Second Robotech War (The Masters) focuses on the arrival in Earth orbit of the Robotech Masters, who have come seeking what turns out to be the sole means in the universe of producing protoculture. Through a combination of mistrust and arrogance, their attempts at retrieving this meet with opposition from the humans and unleash a war that leaves the Masters defeated and Earth awash in the spores of a plant called the Flower of Life—the source of protoculture and a beacon to the mysterious Invid who scour the galaxy for its presence.

The Third Robotech War (The New Generation) begins with the arrival on Earth of the Invid, who are lured by the Flower of Life and rapidly conquer the planet. References in the previous two chapters explain to viewers that many of the heroes of the First Robotech War had left Earth to seek out the Robotech Masters on a preemptive mission, and it is this Robotech Expeditionary Force that sends missions back from across the galaxy to attempt a liberation of their homeworld. The storyline follows one group of freedom fighters as they work their way towards the final battle with the Invid.

Robotech: The Movie

Main article:

Robotech: The Movie

Robotech: The Movie, also called Robotech: The Untold Story, is a feature film and was the first new Robotech adventure created after the premiere of the original series. It uses footage from the Megazone 23 – Part 1 OVA (original video animation; made-for-video animated feature) combined with scenes from "Southern Cross" and additional original animation produced for the film.

The original plan for the film was to have it set during the Macross Saga, parallel to the SDF-1's return to Earth from Pluto. The film would also have served as a prequel to the Sentinels, as both projects were initially meant to share many characters. Harmony Gold producer Carl Macek worked with the OVA's original creators to make the story and the new ending work. The film had to be changed again after the distributor of the film, Cannon Films, saw an incomplete rough cut of the film and were upset by it. They ordered Macek to remove multiple scenes from the film and to add more violence (most of the scenes removed were scenes setting up characters and showing female characters interacting). Macek reluctantly did what they ordered, and created a new script and rough edit for the film in less than 24 hours. When the distributors saw Macek act out the new film, they were much more pleased with the new cut.[8] The opening night in Texas received a positive response, but Cannon Films pulled out after noting that most attendants were adults; the bulk of the scheduled advertising for the series was targeted to children. The film had limited success in Argentina and Belgium.[citation needed]

In 2011, A&E Home Video released, as a part of their Robotech: The Complete Series collection, a 29-minute version of Robotech: The Movie containing only footage used from "Southern Cross". There was no attempt to remaster the footage.[9]

Robotech II: The Sentinels

Main article:

Robotech II: The Sentinels

This aborted American-produced series would have followed the continuing adventures of Rick and Lisa Hunter and the Robotech Expedition during the events of The Masters and The New Generation. The feature-length pilot is composed of the first three (and only) episodes that were produced. The Sentinels featured characters from all three Robotech sagas and introduced the SDF-3 along with an overview of their new mission. The series was planned to have a total of 65 episodes.[10]

In Robotech Art 3: The Sentinels, Carl Macek blamed the cancellation of the series on the crash of the Yen/Dollar exchange rate,[11] which caused toy partner Matchbox to withdraw from the project. Harmony Gold lacked the funds to produce the series on its own, and production ceased after only three episodes.

Robotech II: The Sentinels was released on VHS by Palladium Books.[12] In 2011, a "remastered" version was released on the A&E DVD set, Robotech: The Complete Original Series DVD. This version has opening titles resembling those found on the "Robotech Remastered" DVDs, as well as a new ending with text explaining the fate of the SDF-3. Also, all of the flashback footage used from "The Macross Saga" has been removed, including the re-used footage from the episode "Wedding Bells".[13]

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles

Main article:

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles

In 2002, Tommy Yune announced development of a new sequel film, which was untitled until 2004 as Robotech: Shadow Force. The storyline overlaps with and continues from the unresolved ending of the original series. The title of the story arc was soon changed to Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. The first trailers with finished animation were shown at Anime Expo and Comic-Con International in 2005. It was not until February 2006, when Kevin McKeever, operations coordinator at Harmony Gold, was able to confirm that the pilot movie had been completed. After a series of delays, FUNimation Entertainment was finally announced as the home video, broadcast, and theatrical distributor at the 2006 Comic-Con International in San Diego with the possibility of producing further sequels. Harmony Gold premiered the movie at various film festivals in 2006, and it was first seen by a public audience at MechaCon on August 9, 2006, where it was showcased as a charity screening to help raise funds for the ongoing Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita recovery effort. A limited theatrical run followed in January 2007, and the film was released on DVD on February 6, 2007.[14] A two-disc collector's edition was released in November 2007.[15]

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girl4music · 6 years ago

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Madman/Viavision AU DVDs

Cheapest you will find this box set anywhere online. This is where I bought it.

BUY: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xena-Complete-Series-Ultimate-Collection-DVD-New-Sealed-OFFICIAL-AU-RELEASE/332766132434?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l9372

This is a breakdown of all the special features and additional footage that comes with this box set. There is a lot so I thought I’d make a post about it. The discs come in 9 parts which represent the 9 cases. 2 of the audio/video commentaries from season 2, ‘A Day In The Life’ & ‘Destiny’, are not in my box set. This may be because the audio/video commentaries and cast/crew interviews are taken from the old Anchor Bay releases. However, you might get them because not all the Anchor Bay releases missed them out. Please check with the seller before buying the box set!

Part 1 - Season 1 - Disc 1

- Still gallery

Part 2 - Season 1 - Disc 7

- “What You Didn’t Know About Xena” - 60 minute featurette from the directors of season 1

Part 2 - Season 2 - Disc 1

- Still gallery

- Weblink

Part 2 - Season 2 - Disc 2

- Lucy Lawless & Renee O'Connor - ‘Return Of Callisto’ audio/video commentary

Part 3 - Season 3 - Disc 1

- Rob Tapert & Liz Friedman - ‘The Furies’ audio/video commentary

- ‘The Furies’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Been There, Done That’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘The Dirty Half Dozen’ cast/crew interviews

- Still gallery

- Weblink

- Credits

Part 3 - Season 3 - Disc 2

- ‘The Deliverer’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Gabrielle’s Hope’ cast/crew interviews

- Rob Tapert & Lucy Lawless - ‘The Debt (Part 1)’ audio/video commentary

- ‘The Debt (Part 1)’ cast/crew interviews

Part 3 - Season 3 - Disc 3

- ‘The Debt (Part 2)’ cast/crew interviews

- Ted Raimi - ‘The King Of Assassins’ audio/video commentary

- ‘The King Of Assassins’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Warrior...Priestess...Tramp’ cast/crew interviews

Part 3 - Season 3 - Disc 4

- ‘The Quill Is Mightier’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Maternal Instincts’ cast/crew interviews

- Lucy Lawless & Renee O’Connor - ‘The Bitter Suite’ audio/video commentary

- ‘The Bitter Suite’ cast/crew interviews

Part 3 - Season 3 - Disc 5

- Lucy Lawless & Renee O’Connor - ‘One Against An Army’ audio/video commentary

- ‘One Against An Army’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Forgiven’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘King Con’ cast/crew interviews

Part 4 - Season 3 - Disc 6

- Steven L. Sears - ‘When In Rome...’ audio/video commentary

- ‘When In Rome...’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Forget Me Not’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Fins, Femmes & Gems’ cast/crew interviews

Part 4 - Season 3 - Disc 7

- ‘Tsunami’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Vanishing Act’ cast/crew interviews

- Hudson Leick - ‘Sacrifice (Part 1)’ audio/video commentary

- ‘Sacrifice (Part 1) cast/crew interviews

Part 4 - Season 3 - Disc 8

- Season 3 revisited - 30 minute featurette with cast/crew

- Season 3 bloopers

- ‘Sacrifice (Part 2)’ (alternative/extended scenes)

- ‘Sacrifice (Part 1 & 2)’ - A retrospective

- Hudson Leick - 'Sacrifice (Part 2)’ audio/video commentary

- ‘Sacrifice (Part 2)’ cast/crew interviews

Part 4 - Season 4 - Disc 1

- ‘Adventures In The Sin Trade (Part 1)’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Adventures In The Sin Trade (Part 2)’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘A Family Affair’ cast/crew interviews

- Still gallery

- Weblink

- Credits

Part 4 - Season 4 - Disc 2

- Lucy Lawless & Renee O’Connor - ‘In Sickness & In Hell’ audio/video commentary

- ‘A Good Day’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘A Tale Of Two Muses’ cast/crew interviews

Part 4 - Season 4 - Disc 3

- ‘Locked Up & Tied Down’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Crusader’ cast/crew interviews

Part 5 - Season 4 - Disc 4

- ‘If The Shoe Fits...’ cast/crew interviews (this is actually just Lucy and Renee)

Part 5 - Season 4 - Disc 5

- Rob Tapert & Chris Manheim - ‘Paradise Found’ audio/video commentary

- ‘Paradise Found’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Between The Lines’ cast/crew interviews

Part 5 - Season 4 - Disc 6

- ‘The Way’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘The Convert’ cast/crew interviews

Part 5 - Season 4 - Disc 7

- ‘Endgame’ cast/crew interviews

- Lucy Lawless & Renee O’Connor - ‘The Ides Of March’ audio/video commentary

- ‘The Ides Of March’ cast/crew interviews

Part 5 - Season 4 - Disc 8

- Season 4 bloopers

- Bringing Monsters To Life At K.N.B. EFX Group (Part 1) featurette

- “Cabin Fever” (with Bruce Campbell & Ted Raimi)

- Renee O’Connor - ‘Déjà Vu All Over Again’ audio/video commentary

- ‘Déjà Vu All Over Again’ cast/crew interviews

Part 5 - Season 4 - Disc 9

- “Adventures In The Sin Trade” - An Exploration

- “Between The Lines” - Director’s Cut (alternative/extended scenes)

- “A Good Day” - Director’s Cut (alternative/extended scenes)

- “Locked Up & Tied Down” - Director’s Cut (alternative/extended scenes)

Part 6 - Season 5 - Disc 1

- R.J. Stewart & Eric Gruendemann - ‘Fallen Angel’ audio/video commentary

- ‘Fallen Angel’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Chakram’ cast/crew interviews

- Still gallery

- Weblink

- Credits

Part 6 - Season 5 - Disc 2

- ‘Animal Attraction’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Them Bones, Them Bones’ cast/crew interviews

Part 6 - Season 5 - Disc 3

- ‘Back In The Bottle’ cast/crew interviews

- Lucy Lawless & Renee O’Connor - ‘Seeds Of Faith’ audio/video commentary

- ‘Seeds Of Faith’ cast/crew interviews

Part 6 - Season 5 - Disc 4

- ‘Lyre, Lyre, Hearts On Fire’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘God Fearing Child’ cast/crew interviews

Part 6 - Season 5 - Disc 5

- ‘Eternal Bonds’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Married With Fishsticks’ cast/crew interviews

Part 6 - Season 5 - Disc 6

- ‘Lifeblood’ cast/crew interviews

- Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Rob Tapert & Michael Hurst - ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ audio/video commentary

- ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ cast/crew interviews

Part 7 - Season 5 - Disc 7

- ‘Livia’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Eve’ cast/crew interviews

Part 7 - Season 5 - Disc 8

- Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor & Rob Tapert - ‘Motherhood’ audio/video commentary

- ‘Motherhood’ cast/crew interviews

- Gabrielle’s wardrobe test

- Bringing Monsters To Life At K.N.B. EFX Group (Part 2) featurette

Part 7 - Season 5 - Disc 9

- Season 5 - Exclusive interviews with cast/crew

- On set: The 100th episode

- “Motherhood” - Director’s Cut (alternative/extended scenes)

- “Animal Attraction” - Director’s Cut (alternative/extended scenes)

Part 7 - Season 6 - Disc 1

- ‘Coming Home’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Heart Of Darkness’ cast/crew interviews

- Still gallery

- Weblink

- Credits

Part 7 - Season 6 - Disc 2

- ‘Who’s Gurkhan?’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Legacy’ cast/crew interviews

Part 7 - Season 6 - Disc 3

- ‘The Rheingold’ cast/crew interviews

- Joel Metzger - ‘The Ring’ audio/video commentary

- ‘The Ring’ cast/crew interviews

Part 8 - Season 6 - Disc 4

- ‘Old Ares Had A Farm’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Dangerous Prey’ cast/crew interviews

Part 8 - Season 6 - Disc 5

- ‘You Are There’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Path Of Vengeance’ cast/crew interviews

- Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Rob Tapert & Michael Hurst - ‘To Helicon & Back’ audio/video commentary

Part 8 - Season 6 - Disc 6

- ‘Last Of The Centaurs’ cast/crew interviews

- Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor & Rob Tapert - ‘When Fates Collide’ audio/video commentary

- ‘When Fates Collide’ cast/crew interviews

Part 8 - Season 6 - Disc 7

- ‘Many Happy Returns’ cast/crew interviews

- ‘Soul Possession’ cast/crew interviews

Part 8 - Season 6 - Disc 8

- Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Connor & Rob Tapert - ‘A Friend In Need (Part 2)’ audio/video commentary

- ‘A Friend In Need’ - Director’s Cut (this is also included in the bonus footage)

- Bringing Monsters To Life At K.N.B. EFX Group (Part 3) featurette

- “To Helicon & Back” dailies (behind-the-scenes raw footage)

Part 8 - Season 6 - Disc 9

- Season 6 - Exclusive interviews with cast/crew

- “Dangerous Prey” - Director’s Cut (alternative/extended scenes)

- “To Helicon & Back” - Director’s Cut (alternative/extended scenes)

- “Legacy” - Director’s Cut (alternative/extended scenes)

- Final episode b-roll footage

- Xena convention 2004

- Xena season 1 original series promo

- “In The Beginning” - Original interviews from season 1

- Season 1 & 2 bloopers

Part 9 - Bonus Disc 1

- Lucy Lawless & Renee O’Connor - ‘Sins Of The Past’ (only audio commentary)

- Fan reenactments (narrated by Robert Trebor) (Salmoneus)

- Comic relief (with Robert Trebor) (Salmoneus)

Part 9 - Bonus Disc 2

- ‘A Friend In Need’ - Director’s Cut (includes audio commentary with Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Connor & Rob Tapert as an optional watch feature)

- Behind-the-scenes raw footage of “A Friend In Need”

- Still gallery

- Screen saver (if you can access CD/DVD-ROM drive on your PC)

Part 9 - Bonus Disc 3

- Xena’s Hong Kong Origin’s (with Rob Tapert, Liz Friedman, Doug Lefler & David Pollison)

- Mythology vs. Xena (with Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite), Sheila Briggs & Amy Richlin)

- Seeing Double - All about the stunt doubles (Xena’s stunt double; Zoë Bell)

- “Extras” - A Documentary

- “B” is for Bruce

I’m done! Well... not quite yet. @markthexenaaddicted asked me to explain what the ratio looks like on the episodes. It’s a concern because the original ratio for the Anchor Bay DVDs is 4:3. In these DVDs, it’s 16:9 widescreen full height anamorphic. I’m assuming to achieve that, they would have had to knock off some of the image. But the episodes look fine. Season 1 & 2 look a bit grainy but that’s expected considering they were broadcast in 1995-1996.

I’m afraid I can’t do any screenshots because the 16:9 ratio only shows up on my TV and it doesn’t have a screenshotting feature. You’ll just have to trust me.

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seeksstaronmewni · 6 years ago

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Saving the Day before Bedtime in Style: The Powerpuff Girls Then vs. Now

THE CITY OF TOWNSVILLE!

I remember growing up a little with The Powerpuff Girls, namely the pre-2002 episodes on CN and a promo for the show on my VHS of Animaniacs: Wakko’s Wish. That show is a part of my childhood. My sister had an Easy-Bake Powerpuff Girls “Cookie Makin’ Bake Set” and a Burger King 2002 figure of Bubbles. The length of the series’ run is now 20 years old, though the franchise as a whole is over 25 years old, if you count A Sticky Situation.

In the past, I watched little of PPG because I neither understood nor appreciated action at a very young age; the same went for Samurai Jack & Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003), though I did watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), which included a former PPG writer, Brian Larsen. Now, “Cartoon Cartoons” like @crackmccraigen‘s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Dexter’s Laboratory, Grim & Evil, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Ed Edd ‘n Eddy, Chowder... I grew up on those. I remember little about 2 Stupid Dogs (now officially available on MOD Disc DVD) and Captain Planet. I didn’t see the PPG marathon in 2009 with the final McCracken-produced episode so far, The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! (my sister watched it, though). I began to return to PPG as I saw excerpts from the show on Netflix in late 2015, prior to the reboot. Tara Strong’s tweet of dismay, I think, was how I heard of the new PPG episodes.

The first time “Painbow” was encored (that is 2nd airing), during like 6 in the morning, I began to love Ms. Keane, their teacher, who’s voiced by Jennifer Hale (I knew her best for voicing Gladys, Billy’s Mom, in Grim & Evil / The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, whose voice is nearly identical to Keane’s). What I love about Keane is that she’s sweet, somewhat perky but usually mellow, and kind, in addition to her voice, big blue eyes, and hair style, that I find to be attractive, but ultimately she is very nurturing to her students, like a mommy. Ms. Keane is why, in 2016, I became really into The Powerpuff Girls... and, including regard for the former CN Studios team, hyped for the return of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack (season 5, which featured Craig Kellman and other familiar creatives). However, though The Powerpuff Girls is my personal favorite of Craig McCracken and I grew up somewhat more on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, I do feel that Wander Over Yonder is Craig’s greatest achievement as it excels at not only humor--both slapstick and... well... “modern”--but also some very important life lessons and ultimately the heart.

Now, many PPG fans were upset with the new episodes for many reasons that were, in my opinion, nostalgically incorrect. Personally, like many fans, I mostly prefer the former art styles of the series (specifically the 2002 movie and episodes, as well as the following designs by art director Paul Stec and character designers Carey Yost & Stef Choi) but I also highly admire @cheyennecurtisart for adding more defining details to our favorite crime-fighting and now ex-kindergarten students (and also for designing my other favorite woman, Star Butterfly, whose title show @crackmccraigen, creator of The Powerpuff Girls, wanted to produce for CN). The main reason for the hate is apparently that the new actresses replaced the former ones for the title characters. They are fairly good voices, but I still prefer the former, namely Tara Strong as Bubbles (No offense, Kristin Li, but, to me, it feels impossible to turn down Tara’s acting). Natalie Palamides as Buttercup is probably the closest-resembling to the original voices, but she still stands out differently; likewise Ms. Keane’s voice, though akin to the voice direction of Jennifer Hale by Craig McCracken and later Colette Sunderman, also has an accent that stands out, while Tom Kane is generally true to the nature of Utonium’s voice. Of course, once the casting and/or voice direction changes, maybe Cavadini, Daily and Strong will return. Also, E.G. Daily said in an interview that Cavadini, Daily & Strong originally did record for, I believe, Escape from Monster Island, until someone else replaced them; if bonus features exist on future season releases of the Jennings-Boyle PPG episodes, then an original dialogue recording track for the episode should totally be on it.

WHAT LOOKS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE POWERPUFF GIRLS?

Another reason for dislike from PPG fans is all about the art direction. Although @eusong Lee worked with Craig Kellman on Storybots and current art director Roman Laney designed and painted backgrounds for Craig McCracken’s Wander Over Yonder, their art direction resembles that of a more streamline, smooth, round, futuristic, not-so-cartoony look contrasting with the simplistic, storybook-like art direction of Craig Kellman, the cartoony but simple art direction of @donshank, and the defining and Hanna-Babera like art direction of Mike Moon, Paul Stec and Sue Mondt. The buildings in the Jennings-Boyle episodes are more straight, detailed and lineless, whereas the former designs were more extreme and exaggerated with building shapes.

Comparing the designs above of Andy Bialk & Stef Choi (whose designs were of many shapes and sizes; former monsters had sometimes simple but also very wild designs)...

...with those of Alan Stewart & Steve Lambe and Dean Heezen & Carlos Nunez reveals great contrast. The character design of current Townies, like the backgrounds, are more round-edged and of more simplistic, specific shapes and sizes. The monsters are different too; props are more realistic and explosions usually look simpler and more streamlined, round-edged, etc. Also, character & prop outlines aren’t really thick, which many CN/H-B cartoons are know for having. As the current designs from Memory Lane of Pain show, the Mayor and Robin Schneider are seen, along with an elderly woman who looks similar to the usual one in former episodes and a kid who somewhat resembles Mitch; next to those 2, there’s also a big guy whose model appears... shrunk for some reason.

Now, some Season 8-9 designs look a little more familiar, like the disguise character of an alien in Never Been Blissed, Locan Logan. He looks fairly akin to the works of Craig McCracken. Could the alien be disguising himself as Mac (from Foster’s) at an older age?

Not belittling @cheyennecurtisart‘s contributions, character designs developed for The Powerpuff Girls Movie are some of the finest ever done for the series, lead by Carey Yost; these designs were eventually implemented into the series, supervised by @andybialk and Chris Reccardi and designed by Stef Choi. Ultimately, though, @cheyennecurtisart and Carey Yost plus Andy Bialk (2002-2004 only for the latter two), did my favorites.

As you can see here, Man Up 2: Still Man-ing was the one of the few current episodes where the Mayor’s mouth is visible... but it wasn’t the first time. Paul Rudish storyboarded the Mayor with his mouth for transition in Boogie Frights; some official models of him (as well as a comic book cover) show the mouth as well. It’s unorthodox, but honestly I’m not hating on the new creatives for that. In most of the episodes excluding Man Up 2, it’s probably a mistake, since in those episodes he also does the mustache lip-sync thing he tends to do.

On the bright side regarding nostalgically correct art direction, the Pokey Oaks flashback in The Wrinklegruff Gals (art direction by Eusong Lee) was very true to that of Paul Stec (I’d think that Ms. Keane’s in the first shot, but these shots are 1.78:1 and not “letterbox” widescreen like the DVD covers of most CN shows in the last decade claim them to be in). They included students Mitch Mitchelson, Elmer Sglue, Robin Schneider, Harry Pitt, Suzie Jenkins, and Clara (the African girl in purple dress, called by Ms. Keane in ’Twas the Fight Before Christmas; in other episodes Jennifer Hale voiced her and the other dark-skinned girl in a pink dress). The new art creatives were so good at that, that I wondered if they’d contribute to season 5 of Samurai Jack. Speaking of that, the series finale of Samurai Jack, EPISODE CI (as did EPISODE II and Comic Issue 19), referenced The City of Townsville with the city of dogs that Jack saved! I also recently noticed a background from The Powerpuff Girls Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, cleverly called “Powerpuff Mall” (tweeted here), and the episode “Universal Remonster” features a PPG with a mohawk on a Spring Break Cancun shirt!

Also, there’s the reference to Abracadaver in Memory Lane of Pain, where Blossom realizes how different she looked then and a re-orchestration of the PPG’s theme plays in the background, as in the new intro itself. The shot in reference is a digitally traced, cleaned-up version of a shot with models by Andy Bialk & Chris Battle.

Relatively, former character designer @chrisbattleart designed for the PPGs in the Teen Titans GO! episode “TTG vs PPG” which were true to the improved designs of @cheyennecurtisart...

...though they sometimes resemble the pre-2002 models, which he reflected in the last Craig McCracken-produced episode, The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! As with both specials, the PPGs have thick outlines & black-colored mouths and are in model-rigged or “puppet-ed” animation.

Also relatively, Wander Over Yonder, which referenced both PPGs & Samurai Jack, featured @lambebeardo, who storyboarded the PPG-referencing episode The Boy Wander, who did some character design on season 8 PPG episodes.

The new theme song implements the general PPG theme within, as I said before, but there’s more nostalgia than that: the extended version of the current intro/theme song, “Who’s Got the Power?”, opens up like the original intro, with the original Tom Kenny narration, score and certain sounds. “Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girl, but Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction...” Yes, except that Utonium didn’t break the bottle of CHEMICAL X by throwing his fist in success, though; Mojo rammed him into it. That is an error of continuity, which some episodes have, namely The Power of Four (regarding a rival of Utonium, Netronium, creating the perfect little boy)... though there is one thing that that episode did right...

TV PUPPET PALS PUPPETS! These character originally appeared in a few episodes like Mommy Fearest, and were created by either Genndy Tartakovsky and/or @crackmccraigen for The Justice Friends, whose pilot was about TV Puppet Pals. Once again, some nostalgia is preserved; thanks to Prop Designer Nathan Alexander Rico (and/or the act’s character designers/storyboard artists)!

In case no one noticed: I refer to the current seasons of The Powerpuff Girls, produced and directed by Nick Jennings & Bob Boyle, as the 7th, 8th, and 9th seasons, since, to me, it’s still the same show; despite different art direction and other styles. The other reason is that some episodes did call back to former events, like I said about Memory Lane of Pain.

Another thing that seems to be lacking in The Powerpuff Girls is the visually cartoony stuff. Memory Lane of Pain is the only episode to use a “pow” cloud as the Rubber Bandit streaks out of a shot. This was common in earlier episodes, often accented visually with words like “POW”, “ZIP”, etc. In most current episodes, characters run out of a shot more realistically.

WHAT’S WITH THE ANIMATION?

Additionally, most of the animation direction, though still with Robert Alvarez, Randy Myers and Richard Collado, is pervasively slow-paced, compared to the pre-2016 episodes, namely those of seasons 5-6 and, of course, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, on which Genndy Tartakovsky was the main animation director. Unlike most current CN Studios programs, however, Samurai Jack season 5 did its “sheet timing” very well, particularly in EPISODE XCVIII and its scene of Ashi owning a whole army of orcs (Sheet Timing by Rob Renzetti & Robert Alvarez; storyboarded & written by Bryan Andrews & Genndy Tartakovsky).

As with that and most CN Studios programs, both Samurai Jack and The Powerpuff Girls have animation that is checked by CN’s Sandy & Julie Benenati. Speaking of creatives still involved, there’re at least 25 people still working on The Powerpuff Girls just as they did decades ago... including @joltumblingart, a former BG/Prop designer! At least us nostalgia-craving fans can appreciate that! (By the way, if you crave classic CN Studios projects, you can watch the ENTIRE series of Samurai Jack here!)

WHAT OF THE NEW GIRLS AND GUYS ON THE SHOW?

Now, I can say that some of the new creatives could serve The Powerpuff Girls well:

Character designer @cheyennecurtisart did designs for Star vs. the Forces of Evil; the show’s art direction (namely season 1/Joshua & Justin Parpan, but also including Israel Sanchez, who all worked on Wander Over Yonder) is similar to the works of @crackmccraigen and closer to the Mike Moon / Paul Stec styles I prefer, specifically elements of background/location design and character design. Some designs of Princess Bluebelle in the Emmy-winning episode Once Upon a Townsville seem to resemble the looks of Star Butterfly. Also, SvTFOE location designer Larry Murphy did background design for PPG episodes “Save Mojo” and “Substitute Creature”. A number of creatives from SvTFOE should work on current PPGs too, regarding art direction/design/storyboarding action, in addition to former creatives involved with Samurai Jack (including season 5) and Paul Rudish’s Mickey Mouse, including clean-up artist king Robert Lacko. Relatively, SvTFOE location designer @peteremmerich served as the art director on Netflix’s Harvey Street Kids, whose background design is very much like the PPG locations under Paul Stec’s art direction.

Character designer @lambebeardo did storyboards for Disney’s Wander Over Yonder, created and executively produced by @crackmccraigen, as mentioned before, including “The Boy Wander”, which ends ala “The Day is Saved!” segment. There’re 2 specific creatives for a season 7 (or, in reboot terms, season 1) PPG episode...

Power Up Puff features storyboard artist Roque Ballesteros, who storyboards for Star Wars: Forces of Destiny and did animation/layout on CN’s Enter Mode 5 at Ghostbot. One could compare that to Bryan Andrews who did storyboards for Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005) at Cartoon Network Studios, where Power Up Puff was produced; Brian Larsen, who worked with Bryan Andrews, also did storyboards for PPG and Samurai Jack, as well as (the non-Cartoon Network Studios) Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2019)...

...and then there’s animation director Shaun Cashman, who did animation/sheet timing for another CN Studios original, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Sym-Bionic Titan. Cashman also supervised the timing on Disney’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil and produced Grim & Evil AKA The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy for CN. I think that there’s some good animation timing in Power Up Puff, which’s rare due to the way CN Studios and SMIP do the animation these days.

One episode I intend to note here is Save the Date, which’s about Ms. Keane, as was Keen on Keane. A few aspects on design are covered below. One is about the title cards as shown above (which uses props/characters to reflect the episode’s subject/theme) and below.

These cards swipe to the right, rather than having the PPGs beam by and then reveal the storyboard artist/writer and art director. Originally the text was still, until after the movie and they’d zoom in slowly, not italicized and even glowing the tiniest bit. Also, some of the writers aren’t storyboarding, and the art director’s listed on the credits.

Lastly, of course, every single episode is directed just by Nick Jennings and Bob Boyle, aside from a supervising director. Can’t someone from Samurai Jack, Wander Over Yonder, Star vs. the Forces of Evil direct instead? Often, an animation director like Robert Alvarez or Randy Myers would direct The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Grim & Evil, etc. For that matter, someone on the show should get, like, Genndy Tartakovsky (currently at Sony Pictures Animation) to direct. High-octane action and slapstick are a big part of his direction.

Since the Season 7 episode People Pleaser, @deanheezen is the main character designer, in place of @cheyennecurtisart; @carlosluisnunez still contributes, but usually Dean Heezen or Gordon Hammond (and sometimes Steve Lambe and Alan Lambe) are the only designers for an episode. From the episode Save the Date onward, Ms. Keane has only one bang, when she usually has 2, though there is one shot in Keen on Keane where she has one bang, (in various shots of the episode, she has 3 bangs).

In Save the Date, Ms. Keane’s fashion is different from hers in Keen on Keane, which was modified in Octi-Gone. Also, Keane didn’t walk well in high heels in Save the Date, unlike Keen on Keane.

Pertaining to certain fashion, like Keen on Keane, more of Ms. Keane’s body shape is exercised, namely on her legs. Unlike Keen on Keane Ms. Keane’s calves aren’t as obvious if [one of] her legs are straight. Usually, her legs appear shorter as well... kind of stubby, which I think is cute. In some shots in Save the Date, Ms. Keane’s hands are sharper-looking, as were the designs by Carey Yost and Stef Choi.

Relative to both animation and design, compare Ms. Keane fighting the giant, radioactive ant in Save the Date with the aforementioned sequences in Samurai Jack EPISODE XCVIII:

Now, in these 2 shots, you can see more detail to the design/form of the legs in action. If Carey Yost did the designs of Ms. Keane like those they did in Keen on Keane, the look and form to Keane’s legs in action would appear maybe somewhat stylized, but far more realistic.

In the fight in Save the Date, there’re a few pieces of fast-paced animation, but only a few as, like I said before, animation in CN shows these days are usually slow-paced. In Samurai Jack, of course, there’s much balance between both fast and slow-paced animation which helps convey more realistic (and intense) action. Robert Alvarez was an animation director with Sherri Wheeler (supervising) & Randy Myers for Save the Date and did sheet timing with Rob Renzetti for Samurai Jack EPISODE XCVIII.

Now, like Samurai Jack, Ms. Keane here shows good form in an action pose. The lines in the PPG shot are similar to the shot of a falling catapulted rock in Samurai Jack EPISODE III, too.

Relative to Samurai Jack EPISODE XCVIII, the Dexter’s Laboratory episode Dexter Dodgeball has a very nice sequence of well-timed, balanced traditional animation including much fast-paced animation; Dexter’s hair animates somewhat as well. In addition to being filmed and animated with cels, the timing/animation direction gives to moments of this scene movie-level quality of traditional animation. “Additional Animation Direction” is claimed to be done by Robert Alvarez, @crackmccraigen and Rob Renzetti.

Ms. Keane’s homes vary in the series: Dave Dunnet designed 74A in Keen on Keane and another house in ‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas, while Santino Lascano & Clark Snyder revealed a much bigger home for her in Save the Date.

Speaking of location, current episodes have new places like The Snooty Rose and Penguin Pete’s...

...but what about Pete’s-a Pizza, Malph’s and La Donut King Donut?

One interesting thing to note about Save the Date is a matter of size (this’s also the first time in the entire series that sweet Ms. Keane cries). Of course, she’s not the only one with concerns of size.

The PPGs themselves were made to be giant by Mojo Jojo, too, in What’s the Big Idea?, one of the last McCracken-produced episodes (and starring @donshank as a protest leader. He’s the Townie in that fallen building).

The other thing notable about this episode... “WHAT ABOUT THE GIANT ANT” in Bubblevision? Of course, that was a different ant that looked more realistic and just gnawed on stuff at random, but I like that more. The giant radioactive ant in Save the Date was only pushed back by the heat ray of the PPGs, but in Bubblevision the giant ant totally burned up.

One thing I don’t like about the credits--aside from lacking BiS’s popular hit, The Super Secret City of Soundsville Song, which’s the PPGs’ End Title [Theme] Song--is that they don’t specify the voice of the episode’s lesser characters (such as “Todd”, who kind of sounds like Tom Kenny... just a hint of Commander Peepers in his voice). Of course, Samurai Jack season 5 sometimes did this too. Typically, they don’t credit sound designers or foley artists/recordists, either; at least The Powerpuff Girls Movie gave credit to Joel Valentine and his team for Sound Creation and Design and foley.

Now, there’re approaches to character design in current episode that I do enjoy. In this shot from Buttercup vs. Math, Blossom recoils from intense emotion with a very funny yet simple face.

Prior to that, of course, the former emotions are also very wild and creative...

...but that doesn’t mean that Andy Bialk, Carey Yost & @chrisbattleart didn’t do that either (though rarely), as this shot from A Very Special Blossom proves. Art Director @donshank and Models guy Carey Yost, like many great CN Studios creatives, were formerly involved with Spumco, particularly on The Ren & Stimpy Show, which could account for this wild, somewhat detailed design.

Unlike most of Craig McCracken’s former works, except for Wander Over Yonder, character reactions in design weren’t usually as exaggerated as they are in the new PPG episodes. Such design extremes tend not to apply to Ms. Keane as she’s rather mellow and more realistic with emotional reactions, and usually not in grave danger or needful otherwise, compared to another woman designed by Cheyenne Curtis, Star Butterfly, who tends to be highly poignant with emotion (in most ways I love her more than Ms. Keane because Star’s been through a lot, needful and emotional).

In very rare cases, though, like these shots in Keen on Keane and Speed Demon, Ms. Keane shows catchlights in a closeup, which may contribute to either intensely poignant emotion and/or close-up detail (including lighting). Her look in Keen on Keane (Carey Yost) does suggest a needful emotion, but not too exaggerated.

As I said before, I don’t care for the current art direction as much, except for @cheyennecurtisart‘s part; eventually Dean Heezen took over until Gordon Hammond started doing all of the character design, which aren’t really much different. Some others don’t like the designs currently with The Powerpuff Girls, including one artist who decided to re-design and re-animate the promoted scene from Man Up. The designs of the PPGs look very much like the SSN 1-4 models, and the rest vary; some resemble Andy Bialk/Stef Choi or Stephanie Ramirez. The backgrounds are very detailed but similar to the original art direction.

Tom Kenny’s famous, lovable narration that began and ended all pre-2016 episodes has been absent in most current PPG episodes (except for a few, like Painbow, Little Octi Lost, and Fashion Forward). Even worse is a talking snowman voiced by Maurice LaMarche narrating instead--and on-screen--which is one of the major crimes to The Powerpuff Girls in their second Christmas episode, You’re a Good Man, Mojo Jojo. “I BEGIN AND END EACH EPISODE OF POWERPUFF GIRLS, ME, THE NARRATOR!” he claimed at the end of Los Dos Mojos. Next to Scaramouche, Spongebob and Commander Peepers, his narration on The Powerpuff Girls is one of his finest and most memorable roles.

Also missing are more familiar and specific Townies like the Chief of Police, the Pokey Oaks students (excluding the flashback scene), Floyd & Llyod... Also, since Chuck McCann died, I wonder who’d voice the Amoeba Boys now. Perhaps former creative Lou Romano could, since he was their original voice in the pilot/Craig’s student film A Sticky Situation. Some creatives and production staff on the show made cameos, namely @donshank (voiced first by Tom Kenny and then Shank himself), who, himself, served as a supportive character in What’s The Big Idea? leading a protestant group against the PPGs. This Easter egg is rare in cartoons these days (though a recent Teen Titans Go! episode put @chrisbattleart and other creatives in a city crowd), but the episode Electric Buttercup implemented creatives like @cheyennecurtisart, Nick Jennings & Bob Boyle, Kyle Neswald, and others in “THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF SHAME”.

In general, the approach to sound design on the show is a bit quieter but uses more Disney sound effects and other typical Hacienda Post sound design, as well as aural gags thematically associated with noting a certain subject (e.g. a cash register opening and ringing accents a thematic element pertaining to the Monopoly-esq game in Rainy Day, as money is a relative/thematic element). Although Hacienda Post (namely the team) has always been involved with the series since 1998, the original “Sound Creation and Design”, debuting on the episode Crime 101, was by Joel Valentine (Samurai Jack, Big City Greens, Wander Over Yonder), one of my favorite sound designers, who was only credited on The Powerpuff Girls Movie; episode credits would mention only Twenty-First Century Entertainment, Inc. for “Sound Editing”, though they obviously did sound design and foley too. Whether or Joel or all Hacienda, foley members are usually uncredited on the show, yet they bring our favorite Townies to aural life. Joel used his funny little castanet sound to accent many emotions, and the “SINGLE MAGIC WAND HIT” among other sfx to accent the PPGs beaming away. The classic H-B/Universal explosion often accented big feet, impacts and explosions, as well as the original title reveal in the intro; Joel would use some more tweaked variants of that sound too, and, next to Skywalker Sound, Joel is the only one whose consistent use of that sound excuses the general cheesy nature of that sound. Of course, in my opinion “ROCKET LAND SPEEDER: START AND AWAY”, which often accented the PPGs flying (usually for relatively fast/increasing speeds), seemed particularly exaggerated, but Hacienda Post seems to avoid overusing that.

Also, the music style often is more pervasive compared to former episodes, and Mike Reagan did some very nice cartoon-y music, like in the beginning of Rainy Day, though the style feels different from that of Thomas Chase & Steve Rucker in episodes like Pet Feud. The stylized sound of horn sections and strong techno beats in the score by James L. Venable (AKA “DJ Avalanche”) are very cool but aren’t so common in the current episodes, though respectively the action doesn’t live up as well as former episodes, like Live and Let Dynamo.

Near the end of this post, I note that I found great value in The Ren & Stimpy Show as many creatives on it/at Spumco worked on The Powerpuff Girls, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Samurai Jack, Spongebob Squarepants, The Iron Giant, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and many other great animation, including a gem of a Cartoon Network “Minisode”, Buy One, Get One Free*. My love for the work of John Kricfalusi/Spumco boosted with [adult swim]’s airing of the Yogi Bear/Ranger Smith episode “Boo Boo Runs Wild” on August 13th, 2016 A.D.

To conclude: The Powerpuff Girls is an iconic show that deserves to still have some design that feels signature to it, over 25 years after the pilot, @crackmccraigen‘s CalArts student film A Sticky Situation (originally with a mildly profane name for the trio, though Paul Rudish came up with their official name). In my honest opinion, there’re 5 original people whom I wish and pray would contribute to The Powerpuff Girls again: Carey Yost (with or without @chrisbattleart), Tara Strong, Dave Dunnet (with or without @shinypinkbottle), and at least Joel Valentine. Honestly, regarding Star vs. the Forces of Evil, I hope and pray that Joel Valentine, Genndy Tartakovsky’s band of excellent writers/storyboard artists, and even @crackmccraigen could/would contribute to that franchise’s future media. Additionally, the new creatives in season 5 of Samurai Jack, like Dustin d’Arnault, David Krentz, @stephendestefano and Amanda Qian Li, should contribute to these shows too. Again, I also suggest that the former voice of The Amoeba Boys, Lou Romano (in A Sticky Situation), should replace the late Chuck McCann. While Craig’s first words to me suggest that he may not return, more or less, to PPGs, still at least members of his team deserve to, and who wouldn’t want to come back? Meanwhile, at least Craig’s working on new stuff to be announced, including Kid Cosmic for Netflix.

I leave you with not only a petition image to suggest ways to bring nostalgia back to our favorite kindergarten crime-fighters, but also IMDb lists of appropriate creatives for future media of PPG, future media of Dexter’s Laboratory, and even future media of Samurai Jack (pre-Season 5 events to fill a more or less “50-year” story gap). Spread the petition (and/or IMDb lists), and perhaps our childhood days will be saved--thanks to fans like you! GO, POWERPUFF! [z, z, z-z-z-zuuu...] *cue H-B swirling star* (also a Tumblr post)

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papermoonloveslucy · 4 years ago

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HORSEBACK RIDING

April 15, 1949

“Horseback Riding” (aka “Liz Takes Horseback Riding Lessons”) is episode #39 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on April 15, 1949 on the CBS radio network.

Synopsis ~ George’s female co-chair for his horseback riding club's upcoming weekend breakfast ride has Liz so jealous that she's determined to overcome her fear of horses and learn to ride herself.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Gale Gordon and Bea Benadaret do not appear in this episode.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz (above right), a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

GUEST CAST

Frank Nelson (Salesman) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. This is one of his 11 performances on “My Favorite Husband.” On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.” Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs.

Whenever there was a salesman role, Nelson was top of the casting list. He perfected the ingratiating and infuriating salesperson on Jack Benny’s radio and television shows. “Yeeeees?”

Doris Singleton (Audrey Peters) created the role of Caroline Appleby on “I Love Lucy,” although she was known as Lillian Appleby in the first of her ten appearances. She made two appearances on “The Lucy Show” and four appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

Alan Reed (Mr. Lloyd aka ‘Little Ole Lloyd’ / Farmer / Land-Owner) is probably best remembered as the voice of Fred Flintstone. He started his acting career in 1937. In 1963 he played a café owner in “Lucy Visits the White House” (TLS S1;E25). In 1967, he made an appearance on the Desi Arnaz series “The Mothers-in-Law”. He died in 1977 at the age of 69.

Coincidentally, Reed’s only appearance with Lucille Ball on television also had Lucy on horseback!

Pinto Colvig (Gulliver) was the original voice of Disney’s Pluto and Goofy, until his death in 1967. In 1993, the Walt Disney Company honored him as a ‘Disney Legend.’ On May 28, 2004, he was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He provided the dog barks for “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer” (TLS S2;E23) in 1964.

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers, we find Katie the maid serving Liz her breakfast. George is upstairs getting into his riding habit as this is the day he meets with his horseback riding club.”

Katie wants to know why Liz never goes with George to his horseback riding club. Liz says she had an incident with a horse as a child. They had to stop the merry-go-round. George comes down to breakfast and tells Liz that he is getting a ride to the stables by Audrey Peters. They are chairing next weekend’s breakfast ride. Liz is instantly jealous.

Audrey rings the bell. Liz is icy toward her, at best. Audrey asks Liz why she won’t come with them.

AUDREY: “Are you afraid of horses?” LIZ: “No dear, I’m allergic to cats. It’s too bad I won’t get to see you ride, though. George says you look like part of the horse.” GEORGE: “Audrey’s been riding since she’s a child and she’s never lost her seat. Can you believe it?” LIZ: “Believe it? I can see it!”

When George and Audrey have gone, Liz tells Katie she’s going to learn to ride a horse.

Liz is shopping and asks the salesman (Frank Nelson) to show her some riding clothes.

FLOORWALKER: “A habit?” LIZ: “No, I’m just starting.”

Liz gives her sizes as “thirty around the withers” and “seven along the fetlocks.” He shows her some English riding clothes. Although he suggests a size seven boot, Liz insists on a six.

At the stables, he meets with Mr. Lloyd aka ‘Little Ole Lloyd’ (Alan Reed). She tells him she wants to talk lessons. He suggests a swayback, toothless horse named Gulliver. Liz is afraid of Gulliver.

She insists she can mount him on her own, but gets on backwards! Gulliver falls asleep before they take their first trot!

Next day, Liz returns for her second lesson. It seems Gulliver has developed an affection for Liz, perking up as soon as she comes in the stall. Gulliver sighs in love when Liz smiles at her.

At her sixth lesson, Lloyd says Gulliver won’t eat unless Liz is there, and he won’t allow anyone else to ride him. Liz still hasn’t even gone once around the ring without falling off. She finally masters walking once around the ring on her twelfth lesson. Now if she can only do it with Gulliver.

On the day of the breakfast ride, Liz is anxious for Audrey to come pick up George and take him to the stables. Audrey honks the horn.

GEORGE: “I’d better go.” LIZ: “Yes. She mustn’t keep her broomstick running.”

ANNOUNCER: “George is out on a breakfast ride with his horseback riding club. Liz, to surprise him, has secretly learned to ride and is going to make a grand entrance by galloping up to greet them.”

Lloyd lets Gulliver out of the trailer about a half mile from the breakfast ride location. Gulliver trots up to the spot but a farmer (Alan Reed) tells them they rode on another ten miles to Hickory Falls.

Arriving at Hickory Falls, Gulliver is winded. The land-owner (Alan Reed again) warns her that the breakfast riders were trespassing and he shooed them off to Buzzard’s Roost. He charged them ten dollars for trespass and does the same to Liz. She rides on to Buzzard’s Roost but ends up back where she started from!

Back at the Cooper home, Katie answers the doorbell and finds Liz lying on the welcome mat exhausted.

LIZ: “What a wild ride. I felt like Paul Revere. Come to think of it, we probably had the same horse!”

Paul Revere (1734-1818) was a silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and Patriot in the American Revolution. He is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord. In a 1964 “Jack Benny Special” Lucy and Benny played Mr. and Mrs. Paul Revere. In the sketch, it is Mrs. Revere who makes the famous midnight ride, not Paul.

Liz asks Katie to help her get her riding boots off - but they don’t budge. Liz’s feet have swollen and the boots won’t come off. Katie she suggests Liz go down to the store and ask the salesman for help. Once she gets there, the salesman gloats that he warned her to buy sevens. He thinks he knows the trick to getting them off, but he can’t do it. He struggles and the boot finally comes off - but he has shattered the store window in the process!

Liz comes home. The boots are off but her feet look like two thermometers. George comes home. He says that Audrey was thrown, when as a joke she attempted to mount an old swayback named Gulliver!

LIZ (laughing): “I’ll have to send over a nice bouquet of flowers. GEORGE: “Audrey will appreciate that.” LIZ: “Who said anything about Audrey? I’m gonna send them for the horse!”

End of Episode

The announcer reminds listeners that Lucille Ball will soon be seen in the Paramount Picture Sorrowful Jones.

Coincidentally, Sorrowful Jones was also about horses!

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run-the-secret-show · 7 years ago

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Trip to the Collingwood & Co Studio

On Thursday I arrived per invitation to Tony’s studio in Acton-Town to attend a meeting about TSS with Glynn Hayward and Helen Shroud. Andrea Tran also popped in later on and we all had a wonderful chat together. I was there for 4 hours (for what was supposed to be a 1 hour meeting), with Helen and Tony regaling me with tales of inside info and what-could-have-beens. I was allowed - even encouraged - to record the whole “interview”, but it turns out that the phone I was using didn’t actually save it (A real “Secret Spider” moment for sure). Everyone was absolutely charming, and apart from the recording flub it was a lovely day that couldn’t’ve gone better.

Highlights include, to the best of my recollection:

• If the website is to return it might have to be heavily re-structured to cope with Flash essentially being a dead platform at this point. • Roy was voiced by Tony’s son Harry • The Commander in Secret Spider is called Vin, and the female actor from World Savers is Jilly • Ray’s name is Raymondo not Ray Mondo - and it’s Zebulons not Zurbulons. • VANITOR IS CANON AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN CANON • CD “drinks too much” - the lines “I’ll stay here and hold the port” and “12%? That’s all the proof I need!” are references to this, in addition to his wine-bottle wrapping in Secret Santa and his favourite food in one of the books being Madeira cake, the main ingredient of which is wine. • Victor’s lesser-noticed catchphrase of “Aw, c’mon..!” is inspired by the fact that Alan Marriott actually says it quite a lot in real life. • Masters were located for 2 full 1/2-hour Nicktoons broadcasts, completely uncompressed, and there are likely more - although we still don’t know exactly how many were modified.

• Masters for 4 previously-unknown shorts were discovered, with the theme of “What’s The Deal With _____?” - Helen was greatly surprised they weren’t on the DVDs as the Profile shorts had taken their place. (can’t find the photo of the master as we only found it towards the end of the day but I have a pic of Helen’s copy)

• An unused villain was going to be The Puddle Heads, sworn nemesis's of The Floaty Heads - he couldn’t find the concept art for them so he drew one in front of me to keep! I shouldn’t say much about them except that you might be seeing them sooner than you think... • There were initially plans for each 4-digit code in the episode to each unlock something different individually on the website - this was never implemented as they never made enough goodies to cover 52 different codes. • Helen used to have a copy of the show’s entire soundtrack on her iPod until it broke. • Tony knows about the DeviantArt fanfics. To hear him actually say the site’s name out loud was a very surreal moment indeed. • The disclaimer that the Bogie Ball blooper was “deemed Too Gross for national television” is actually true - everything except the end of that scene was actually going to be in the original episode but the BBC said it was too much. • There’s a 4th BTS called “The Music Of the Secret Show”, which would’ve been with Roger Jackson - we found the master for the 3rd one (“The Sounds Of The Secret Show”) but not the 4th. • There were also 4 PP Lectures made, which means there are two of those that have never been released either. • The Space Wasps (from What’s In The Box and Planet PP) have a different origin in both simply because they needed to reuse the assets. • Tony had the entire plot to the potential Series 3 opener all planned out, and gleefully recounted the first half of it to me in great detail. I’ll keep the specifics mum for the time being just in case it ever ends up happening after all - but I’ll say that it would’ve been amazing. Also Tony totally should’ve been a VA, his voices were great. • Everyone was fascinated by the number of international dubs I’d managed to collect, and when I showed them the Latino-Mexican intro there was much groaning and laugher all ‘round. Speaking of which, we discovered a sampler-disc of the Catalan dub that even Tony was surprised they had:

• The reason why it’s never revealed what CD won his medal on the Mantlepiece for is because nobody could think of anything funny enough to warrant revealing. • Unbeknownst to anyone, the physical masters for episodes 7 and 28 were AWOL from their designated boxes and remain unaccounted for, although they are still stored digitally - I know this because I re-sorted their entire TSS disc-archive for them while I was there. Andrea was happy for the heads-up and Helen gladly suggested I make a note of it on the box. • Martin Hyder was hired almost by accident - he was called in just to record the Temp Track for Stephen Fry’s lines in the pilot as Fry had to record them separately. Someone asked Martin to fill in a line for Ray, and he suited the role so well that they casted him on the spot. • The One Breath Lady was both voiced by and inspired by one of the writers, Jimmy Hibbert. Tony recounted that Jim had a habit of speaking in run-on sentences for so long that your eyes would be watering on his behalf, willing him to actually inhale some air and take a goddamned breath once in a while. • There was an event known as “Spy Day” in which a whole bunch of children were brought together to do TSS-themed spy activities. There are two separate recordings of this. • Tony knew that Nicktoons had once broadcast The Martian Dub (Sep 20th ‘08) but Helen was unaware. Her reaction to finding out was amazing. • Anita’s parents were never given a backstory simply because they were never relevant to the plot - Anita’s aquatic origins shall remain a mystery.... • Glynn and I both agreed that due to internet speeds and technology advancing a truly substantial way since 2006, remastering the site’s audio from 22050Hz to 44100Hz is completely feasible, and that I could even help resample it. Tony and Helen admitted they’d lost us completely during our nerd-out which we all had a good laugh over. • Tony asked completely of his own volition if I knew of TheSecretShow4You, which is of course our friend and empress, the Vanitor Queen. He greatly admires how much she has come up with over the years and says he loved the 10th Anniversary video. • Helen was very surprised to learn that the first 24 episodes had reaired all throughout last April this year in Germany - presumably Disney Germany renewed their licence. Speaking of which:

• The Spider was supposed to appear in Secret Sleep - about 6 minutes in, crawling on the front edge of the bed just before PP falls asleep. Neither DVD nor Broadcast version has this due to a rendering error, although they didn’t actually believe me at the time:

The top photo is from “The Book Of Revelations” - a pair of .pdfs that track every single hidden thing from every episode along with a few other things. They are now in the Google Drive folder under “Books” for your viewing pleasure. • I gave Tony my still-shrink-wrapped copy of the Italian Vol4 DVD as a gift for basically putting up with my wall-of-text emails over the last three years. In return I was presented with a take-home copy of the 2004 Pilot version of Lucky Leo as Tony still had a few copies left. It is now in the Drive under “Rare Broadcasts” - you will notice more than a few differences to the final version, I’m sure:

• There was an entire marketing pack produced of which only two exist. Photos of literally everything from it are in the “Studio Visit 02/11/17″ folder, along with all the master discs that we found in the cupboard.

• Two Betamax masters were found as well - I don’t know about you but I thought that was absolutely amazing:

The second tape contains an 11-minute Interview with Tony about the show which has never been shown outside the industry. • A prototype of the UK version of Vol2 was also discovered, along with two different prototypes of Vol1 - Sadly none were found of 3 or 4 as BBC WW were actually the ones who pressed them, Col & Co simply handing the files over to them to compile.

And last but certainly not least: • This morning, the day after the meeting, Glynn emailed me several files from his archive of the website which were previously lost - the U.Z.Z./T.H.E.M. Doorhangers, the CD Cutout, The Spiderbikes game (literally called spaceinvaders.swf) and the rarest of all, the 2007 Easter Exclusive Site Map - available now at your local Website Downloads folder. He also kindly sent some original concept art for the games that he’d drawn himself back in the day, including one that never made the cut, of which I will make another post about separately. (if you want a sneaky peek, look in the Cocept Art & BTS folder...!) One final thing, for now at least - While I was there Helen and Tony deigned to show me the trailer for their newest series, “Thorgar” - I was “the first person under 30 to see it” and I can tell you now it’s absolutely amazing. Seriously, as soon as it starts airing you guys need to watch it immediately, it’s spectacular.

#The Secret Show #Innumerable Goodies #Original Masters #Tony Collingwood #Helen Stroud #Andrea Tran #Glynn Hayward #These People Are Some Of The Greatest Humans Currently Alive #Also I'm not joking Thorgar is great #the secret show website #Downloadables #It was the best day ever charlie brown #MK's finest hour(s)

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keepingupwithlinmanuel · 8 years ago

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The Complete List of Lin-Manuel Miranda Projects

Where possible I have noted availability for purchase/viewing/listening. For future projects I’ve included as much detail as we have and I’ll keep updating the post when we have more. Cameos are listed separately at the end. If you think I’m missing anything, drop me a message/ask.

This is a very long post because Lin works a lot, so I have saved your dashes and put the content behind a read more. Let’s go.

Freestyle Love Supreme (2003-)

What is it? Freestyle Love Supreme is an improv hip-hop comedy troupe started by Lin, Anthony Veneziale and Tommy Kail. It has had a long life playing clubs and comedy festivals all around the world and spawned a TV show in 2014.

What did Lin do in it? Lin is one of the main MCs in the group.

How do I find it? For answers to all the FLS questions you’ve ever had, please see my incredibly comprehensive masterpost. The TV series is available for streaming if you have a Seeso subscription and can be purchased from iTunes/Amazon if you have US accounts.

In the Heights (2000, 2007, 2008, 2010)

What is it? In the Heights is a musical originally conceived, written and directed by Lin while a college sophomore. It was eventually developed into an Broadway show.

When was it on? Off-Broadway at the now defunct 37 Arts in 2007, on Broadway from 2008 to 2011. It had a US touring production from 2009 to 2011 and numerous authorized international productions since.

What did Lin do in it? He wrote the music and lyrics. He also starred as Usnavi in the entire off-Broadway production, the first year of the Broadway production and for the LA and Puerto Rico stops of the touring production.

How do I find it? You can purchase the cast album wherever you buy music. It is also available on Spotify. If you want to see a production, there are plenty of regional/local productions running in the US, including the first authorized all-Spanish version in DC. Here are some clips from the Broadway production.

In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams (2008)

What is it? Chasing Broadway Dreams is a fantastic documentary by PBS on the making of In the Heights. Handily it also contains performance excerpts from the show.

How do I find it? Right here on Youtube.

Working (2008)

What is it? Working is a musical with a book by Nina Faso and Stephen Schwartz and music by a small group of composers that originally ran on Broadway in 1978. In the late 00s Schwartz put together a new version (known as the 2012 revised version), adding new songs and trimming characters.

When was it on? The new version has had a bunch of regional productions and is about to debut in the UK (as at May 2017).

What did Lin do in it? He contributed two new songs, Delivery and A Very Good Day. The first is about his own experiences as a McDonalds delivery boy, and the second about an immigrant nanny and an elderly care worker.

How do I find it? You can go here to see Lin talk about writing the songs and there are some videos floating around Youtube from regional/local productions. The London production produced a cast recording which includes Lin’s new songs.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (with Karen Olivo) (2008)

What is it? A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Junot Diaz about a nerdy Dominican boy growing up in New Jersey

What did Lin do in it? He read the UK version of the audiobook with Karen Olivo.

How do I find it? Amazon, Audiobook.com and an excerpt here.

West Side Story (2009)

What is it? The classic 1957 musical by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins, recently revived by the surviving members of the original creative team (Sondheim and Laurents).

When was it on? The most recent Broadway revival opened in 2009 and closed in 2011.

What did Lin do in it? Lin was hired by the creative team to translate the dialogue spoken and lyrics sung by the Puerto Rican characters into Spanish. This included translating iconic songs such as I Feel Pretty, Tonight and A Boy Like That.

How do I find it? There’s a cast recording which is available for purchase and on Spotify. Here’s a sizzle reel of performance clips.

Sesame Street (2009-2013)

What is it? You know.

What did Lin do in it? Lin made his first appearance as the villainous Freddy Flapman in season 40 and also voiced a lamb (Lamb-Manuel, ahem) and performed the theme song of the Murray Has A Little Lamb segment. He composed the music for 5 songs in seasons 42-45, including “Rhymes with Mando”, which was nominated for a Day Time Emmy.

How do I find it? Should you wish to explore this aspect of Lin’s career, here is the segment with Freddy Flapman. Here is Lin as Lamb-Manuel. Here is the Emmy-nominated Rhymes With Mando and here’s a very familiar voice singing the Murray Has A Little Lamb theme.

The Electric Company (2009-2010)

What is it? Classic 1970s children’s TV series from PBS, revived in 2009 for 3 seasons.

When was it on? The revival produced 3 seasons which ran on PBS from 2009 to 2013. Members of Lin’s hip-hop comedy troupe Freestyle Love Supreme were heavily involved in the production as musical directors, cast members, composer/lyricists and guest stars.

What did Lin do in it? Lin wrote a number of songs and appeared on the show to perform them. He also appeared briefly as a character in season 2.

How do I find it? Here are all the songs and clips I can find:

Hard/soft 'c' Silent 'e' is a ninja Hard/soft 'g' Bossy 'r'

Here’s One Bad Apple parts 1 and 2. (A rap battle between an apple and Lin as a hot dog. Yep.)

Here’s a cute BTS segment with Shockwave and Lin.

House (2009-2010)

What is it? A medical drama that ran on Fox from 2004-2012.

What did Lin do in it? Lin guest-starred in season 6 episodes 1 and 21 as Juan “Alvie” Alvarez.

How do I find it? On DVD, Bluray and streaming, if you are that way inclined. Here is a BTS interview about Lin’s return in which he refers to Alvie as “the other woman” who comes between House and Wilson.

Sad Sad Conversation (2010)

What is it? Hard to explain. Lemme quote from my own masterpost: Sadsadconversation was an experimental Youtube vlog series started by the comedian Michael Ian Black and the actor Josh Malina in which a bunch of semi-famous people trying to make it in the entertainment industry posted videos of themselves, in MIB’s words, “bitching about our careers and how badly everything was going”. The videos gained an interactive element as the “cast” grew - the participants responding to each other’s videos and to comments below the line. It became a bit of a group therapy session between internet buddies.

When was it on? 2011-ish.

What did Lin do in it? Lin was invited by Josh Malina to join and participated enthusiastically for a while, although as the other founder Michael Ian Black later said, “you never really fit in because you’re never sad.“

How do I find it? I have helpfully compiled a masterpost of all Lin’s appearances for your viewing pleasure.

Vivo (2011-)

What is it? An animated movie musical about a “capuchin monkey with a thirst for adventure – and a passion for music – that makes a treacherous passage from Havana to Miami to fulfill his destiny”, originally developed by Dreamworks Animation.

When was it on? Good question. Lin started working on Vivo around 2010, only for the project to flounder in pre-production. It was picked up again by Sony in 2016 and is now slated for a 2020 release, with a script written by Lin’s good friend and frequent collaborator Quiara Alegria Hudes.

What did Lin do in it? He wrote all 11 of the songs.

How do I find it? In movie theaters in late 2020, if all goes well.

Tonys Awards Closing Number (2011)

youtube

What is it? The closing number of the 2011 Tony Awards, a patter verse written by Lin with the help of Tommy Kail which recapped the events of the ceremony itself.

What did Lin do in it? You can see Lin and Tommy writing the thing during the Tonys in this BTS video.

Modern Family (2011)

What is it? A comedy that’s been running on ABC since 2009.

What did Lin do in it? He guest-starred in episode 22 of season 2 as a dodgy salesman named Guillermo. My favourite thing about this whole deal is that he looked way too respectable so they had to give him a dodgy haircut and weird glasses.

How do I find it? On DVD, Bluray and streaming, if you are that way inclined.

Bring It On (2011-2012)

What is it? A musical very very loosely based on the movie of the same name, directed by In the Heights and Hamilton choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, with a libretto by Jeff Whitty and music and lyrics by Tom Kitt and Amanda Green.

When was it on? Bring It On premiered in Atlanta in 2011 and toured the US before playing a limited engagement on Broadway in 2012.

What did Lin do in it? Lin wrote about half the music and lyrics in collaboration with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green.

How do I find it? There’s a cast recording which is available for purchase and on Spotify. Here is a sizzle reel of clips from the Broadway production. Here is Lin and a few cast alumni doing selections from It’s All Happening at Ham4Ham.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012)

What is it? A Disney fantasy comedy drama film starring Jennifer Garner.

What did Lin do in it? Lin played Reggie, a botanist who was old friends with Jennifer Garner’s character.

How do I find it? On DVD, Bluray and streaming, if you are that way inclined.

Merrily We Roll Along (2012)

What is it? A musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim that was directed by Hal Prince. It opened in 1981 to disastrous reviews and closed after 16 performances.

When was it on? In 2012 Encores mounted a limited concert production incorporating significant revisions which ran in February of that year.

What did Lin do in it? Lin played one of the main characters, lyricist Charley, at the request of Stephen Sondheim.

How do I find it? Miraculously, there’s a cast recording which is available for purchase and on Spotify. You can see some clips from this production here and here.

Tony Awards Opening/Closing Number (2013)

What is it? Lin teamed up with Tom Kitt to write “Bigger”, the opening number of the 2013 Tony Awards. He also repeated his 2011 trick with the closing number, but this time with a twist - he and Tommy rewrote Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys to fit the events of the evening as they happened. (“Bigger” was an enormous success and won Lin his Emmy.)

How do I find it? Here’s the opening and here’s the closing.

How I Met Your Mother (2013)

What is it? A sitcom that ran from 2005 to 2014 on CBS.

What did Lin do in it? He guest-starred in episode 11 of the final season as Gus, a fellow passenger on the bus with Marshall. (Fittingly, an episode written entirely in rhyme.)

How do I find it? On DVD, Bluray and streaming, if you are that way inclined. Here’s a small clip from Lin’s appearance.

Do No Harm (2013)

[Don’t ask me why this photo is the way it is. Let’s just say it made the series look a lot more interesting than it actually was.]

What is it? A very short-lived medical drama that was cancelled by NBC after airing only two episodes due to horrific ratings. There were 13 episodes filmed.

What did Lin do in it? Lin played Dr. Ruben Marcado, a pharmacologist who is friends with the main character (played by Steve Pasquale). In his own words:

Do No Harm was like a writing residency for me. It was a bad NBC show and I was sixth on the call sheet and I took the job because I was like, it shoots in Philly and you’re going to be killed off in the 11th episode. So it was like signing a potential seven-year contract, which I was not interested in doing or going to L.A. I wanted to have time to write. I would have days free in Philly to write.

How do I find it? Should you wish to watch it, the show is available on NBC.com, Hulu and Amazon. Here’s a clip of Lin doing technobabble like he’s been in sci-fi all his life.

200 Cartas / Looking for Maria Sanchez (2013)

What is it? An indie romcom about a struggling Nuyorican comic book writer who falls in love at first sight with a woman named Maria Sanchez and goes on a journey to Puerto Rico to find her. Also starring former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, and Jaime Camil.

When was it on? Limited release in 2013 in New York, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. The film also played a bunch of festivals.

What did Lin do in it? He played the main character, Raul.

How do I find it? It is available on DVD, although you will have trouble finding it. I have also heard that it is available on HBO Go and would appreciate confirmation. Here’s the trailer with English subtitles.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2013)

What is it? An award-winning coming-of-age YA novel about queer Latinos set in Texas.

What did Lin do in it? He read the audiobook.

How do I find it? Here it is on Amazon, Audible and Audiobooks.com. Here is an excerpt of Lin reading it.

21 Chump Street (2014)

What is it? A 15-minute musical based on a true story reported by This American Life, starring Hamilton’s Anthony Ramos.

When was it on? One night only in 2014.

What did Lin do in it? He wrote the musical.

How do I find it? There’s a cast recording which is available for purchase. You can also buy the video of the live performance here. Here’s a taster of the first song. Warning: incredibly catchy.

…tick tick BOOM! (2014)

What is it? An autobiographical one-man musical by Jonathan Larson, adapted into a 3-actor piece after his death.

When was it on? Encores mounted a production starring Lin as Jon in June 2014 with the other parts played by Leslie Odom Jr and (at Lin’s invitation) Karen Olivo.

How do I find it? Unfortunately there is no cast recording. There are a bunch of clips on Youtube from the production though: here and here. And you want to watch this dress rehearsal video.

Hamilton (2015)

What is it? Hamilton: An American Musical began its off-Broadway run at the Public Theater in 2015 and moved to Broadway - you know what, if you’re here, I assume you know.

When was it on? On Broadway at the Richard Rodgers since 2015, in Chicago at the PrivateBank Theater since 2016, on tour in the US since 2017, and at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London starting in November 2017.

What did Lin do in it? He wrote the book, the music and the lyrics and co-arranged the music with Alex Lacamoire. He also starred as Hamilton during the off-Broadway production and the first year of the Broadway run, and in the #andpeggy company for the Puerto Rican stops on their tour.

How do I find it? See above. The cast album is available to purchase everywhere and on Spotify. Here are some clips from the off-Broadway and Broadway productions and from Chicago.

Ham4Ham (2015-2016)

What is it? In hindsight, difficult to explain. Ham4Ham was originally the name for the live Hamilton lottery outside the Richard Rodgers. Due to the number of people who showed up to the first one, Lin and Tommy Kail decided to do a little something for the waiting crowd. The frequency and medium of the performances varied over time and they’ve now stopped being a regularly scheduled thing but there are over 130 for you to enjoy in clip form.

When was it on? The very first Ham4Ham took place before the first preview performance of Hamilton on Broadway. The very last featuring Lin was on the day of his last performance.

What did Lin do in it? He organised and hosted the majority of the Ham4Hams and performed in quite a lot of them.

How do I find it? I’m glad you asked. Here is a comprehensive masterpost for your viewing pleasure.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

What is it? Lin jokingly offered to write the cantina music for Force Awakens when he met JJ Abrams in 2015 and JJ Abrams took him up on it. (He did not tell the Moana people that he’d taken on yet another gig while he was starring in Hamilton and writing songs for Moana.) The song, as described by the Star Wars Wiki:

A lyrical song performed in Huttese, "Jabba Flow" was named after Jabba Desilijic Tiure, a Hutt crime lord. It's opening verse began by repeating "Oh, Jabba," followed by a repeated "No bata tu tu, muni, muni," which roughly translated as "No, lover, lover. It wasn't me," in Galactic Basic. The song featured mellow instrumentals, which included a hypolliope horn cluster, a seven-string hallikset, and a xyloxan.

What did Lin do in it? Lin co-wrote the song and sings on it.

How do I find it? The track is available for purchase and on Spotify. There’s also a Rick Rubin remix. Here’s Lin and JJ performing it on Star Wars Day.

Hamilton: the Revolution (2016)

What is it? Hamilton: The Revolution (aka the Hamiltome) contains both an annotated libretto of Hamilton and a moving, engaging account of the making of the show written by Lin’s good friend Jeremy McCarter.

What did Lin do in it? He contributed the annotations (which are not the same as the ones on Genius) and read them in the audiobook.

How do I find it? There is an ebook but I don’t recommend it. (This is a gorgeous book and the ebook doesn’t do it justice at all.) The actual book can be bought wherever you buy books. Here’s the audiobook.

Drunk History (2016)

What is it? A comedy series produced by Comedy Central which features comedians getting sloshed and retelling historical events, and having that retelling simultaneously re-enacted by other famous people.

What did Lin do in it? Unusually, the show devoted the entirety of season 4 episode 9 to Lin telling the story of Alexander Hamilton, being hyperverbal and giggly, singing loudly and drunk dialing people.

How do I find it? You can find the episode on DVD and via various streaming sites. Here are some clips from the episode.

Saturday Night Live (2016)

What is it? An American institution. For fellow non-US people, SNL is a late night TV sketch comedy/variety show which features a different celebrity guest host every episode.

When was it on? Lin hosted the second episode of season 42 which aired in October 2016. His opening monologue, which was built off My Shot from Hamilton and written the night before the show by him with the help of some of the SNL writers, went viral both because of its virtuosity and because it directly attacked one of the presidential candidates. Other notable sketches included one about Stranger Things, a sketch about a Latino immigrant which was almost entirely in Spanish, and an ode to high school cast parties.

How do I find it? If you are in the US you can watch the sketches and opening on NBC’s Youtube channel. I believe the episodes themselves are available for purchase on iTunes. The ode to high school cast parties is also available for purchase as a single.

Hamilton’s America (2016)

What is it? A movie-length documentary about the making of Hamilton and about Hamilton the man, featuring performance footage and interviews with everyone from Obama to Nas.

When was it on? Hamilton’s America premiered at the New York Film Festival and then on PBS in October 2016.

What did Lin do in it? He was one of the producers, featured heavily in the documentary as a performer and interview subject, and conducted some of the interviews in the film.

How do I find it? If you are in the US you can stream it on PBS’ website. Otherwise here are a bunch of clips on YT.

Moana (2016)

What is it? A Disney animated movie musical set in the South Pacific and starring Pasifika/Maori actors in all the speaking roles.

What did Lin do in it? He co-wrote the music with Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i and performs on the track We Know the Way.

How do I find it? The movie’s out on DVD, Bluray and streaming and as someone from that region I really do wholeheartedly recommend it. The soundtrack can be purchased wherever you buy music and it’s also on Spotify.

The Hamilton Mixtape (2016)/#hamildrops (2018)

What is it? A collection of demos, remixes and songs inspired by Hamilton, some with music videos.

What did Lin do in it? He co-produced the album, organised artists and basically oversaw the whole operation. He also contributed some unpublished Hamilton demos and a deeply personal verse to the track Wrote My Way Out. He performs on Found/Tonight and Cheering For Me Now.

How do I find it? The album can be purchased wherever you buy music and it’s also on Spotify. Here is a link to the Hamildrops.

Ducktales (2017-)

What is it? Reboot of the 80s animated series with an all-star voice cast.

What does Lin do in it? Lin plays Gizmoduck, aka Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera — a superhero who protects Duckburg, but also spends his days as an intern for Scrooge McDuck’s personal mad scientist, Gyro Gearloose.

How do I find it? It airs on Disney XD/Disney channel.

Curb Your Enthusiasm (2017)

What is it? HBO comedy starring Larry David.

What did Lin do in it? He guest-starred in 2 episodes of season 9 as an AU mean version of himself, complete with America Ferrera playing Vanessa.

How do I find it? On DVD, Bluray and streaming, if you are that way inclined.

Gmorning, Gnight! (2018)

What is it? Collection of Lin’s good morning / good night tweets, illustrated by Jonny Sun.

How do I find it? Available in all the usual places books are sold. Also available as an audiobook read by Lin.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

What is it? A Disney musical fantasy comedy film directed by Rob Marshall adapting more of P L Travers’ Mary Poppins books. (So it’s a sequel to the 1964 classic, not a remake.) The film stars Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Angela Lansbury and Colin Firth.

When does it come out? It is schedule for release on 25 December 2018.

What does Lin do in it? Lin plays Jack the lamplighter, a friend of Mary’s. He’s doing a lot of singing and dancing.

His Dark Materials (2019)

What is it? BBC/HBO adaption of the beloved Phillip Pullman trilogy with an all star cast and crew. Already renewed for a second season.

When does it come out? No idea at this stage. Season 1 was filmed in Wales in 2018.

What does Lin do in it? Lin plays the balloonist Lee Scoresby.

Fosse/Verdon (2019)

What is it? Limited series about the famous choreographer and his muse.

When does it come out? No idea at this stage.

What does Lin do in it? He is executive producer. The rest of the Hamilton Cabinet are also heavily involved.

In the Heights (2020)

What is it? The long-awaited movie adaption of Lin and Quiara’s show, directed by Jon M Chu.

When does it come out? June 26, 2020!!!

What does Lin do in it? Lin is co-producing and might possibly write a few new songs. (I say this because he wrote extra music the last time the movie was in development back in 2010.) He has the last word on casting.

Kingkiller Chronicle (?)

What is it? A series of fantasy novels by Pat Rothfuss which are being adapted into films and a TV series. John Rogers has been announced as showrunner for the latter.

When does it come out? No idea at this stage.

What does Lin do in it? Lin is the “creative producer” of the whole enterprise alongside Pat Rothfuss and will be in charge of writing all the music. Rothfuss has expressed a desire for Lin to also be involved as an actor.

The Little Mermaid (?)

What is it? Disney’s live-action remake of the classic animated film.

When does it come out? No idea at this stage.

What does Lin do in it? He’s not quite sure himself, although Alan Menken is going around telling everyone that he and Lin will be writing new songs for the movie. The rest is all rumour-mill stuff.

Tick Tick...Boom (?)

What is it? A film adaption of the musical by Jonathan Larson (the one Lin starred in a production of in 2014).

When does it come out? No idea. Filming hasn’t even started yet.

What does Lin do in it? This will be his directing debut!

Cameos and guest appearances:

The Sopranos (2007)

Legally Brown: the Search for the Next Piragua Guy (2008)

The Polar Bears (2012)

Submissions Only (2012)

Smash (2013)

Studio Heads (2014)

Inside Amy Schumer (2016)

Difficult People (2016)

Love Make The World Go Around (2016) (and video)

Speech & Debate (2017)

My Brother My Brother & Me (2017)

Residente (2017)

BoJack Horseman (2017)

Bartlett (2018)

#lin manuel miranda #masterposts #don't ask me how long this took #anyway #happy almost 2500 followers!#thank you all

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beardcore-blog · 5 years ago

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A Princess Diary

"What’s Wrong With Cinderella?"

I finally came unhinged in the dentist’s office — one of those ritzy pediatric practices tricked out with comic books, DVDs and arcade games — where I’d taken my 3-year-old daughter for her first exam. Until then, I’d held my tongue. I’d smiled politely every time the supermarket-checkout clerk greeted her with ”Hi, Princess”; ignored the waitress at our local breakfast joint who called the funny-face pancakes she ordered her ”princess meal”; made no comment when the lady at Longs Drugs said, ”I bet I know your favorite color” and handed her a pink balloon rather than letting her choose for herself. Maybe it was the dentist’s Betty Boop inflection that got to me, but when she pointed to the exam chair and said, ”Would you like to sit in my special princess throne so I can sparkle your teeth?” I lost it.

”Oh, for God’s sake,” I snapped. ”Do you have a princess drill, too?”

She stared at me as if I were an evil stepmother.

”Come on!” I continued, my voice rising. ”It’s 2006, not 1950. This is Berkeley, Calif. Does every little girl really have to be a princess?”

My daughter, who was reaching for a Cinderella sticker, looked back and forth between us. ”Why are you so mad, Mama?” she asked. ”What’s wrong with princesses?”

Diana may be dead and Masako disgraced, but here in America, we are in the midst of a royal moment. To call princesses a ”trend” among girls is like calling Harry Potter a book. Sales at Disney Consumer Products, which started the craze six years ago by packaging nine of its female characters under one royal rubric, have shot up to $3 billion, globally, this year, from $300 million in 2001. There are now more than 25,000 Disney Princess items. ”Princess,” as some Disney execs call it, is not only the fastest-growing brand the company has ever created; they say it is on its way to becoming the largest girls’ franchise on the planet.

Meanwhile in 2001, Mattel brought out its own ”world of girl” line of princess Barbie dolls, DVDs, toys, clothing, home décor and myriad other products. At a time when Barbie sales were declining domestically, they became instant best sellers. Shortly before that, Mary Drolet, a Chicago-area mother and former Claire’s and Montgomery Ward executive, opened Club Libby Lu, now a chain of mall stores based largely in the suburbs in which girls ages 4 to 12 can shop for ”Princess Phones” covered in faux fur and attend ”Princess-Makeover Birthday Parties.” Saks bought Club Libby Lu in 2003 for $12 million and has since expanded it to 87 outlets; by 2005, with only scant local advertising, revenues hovered around the $46 million mark, a 53 percent jump from the previous year. Pink, it seems, is the new gold.

Even Dora the Explorer, the intrepid, dirty-kneed adventurer, has ascended to the throne: in 2004, after a two-part episode in which she turns into a ”true princess,” the Nickelodeon and Viacom consumer-products division released a satin-gowned ”Magic Hair Fairytale Dora,” with hair that grows or shortens when her crown is touched. Among other phrases the bilingual doll utters: ”Vámonos! Let’s go to fairy-tale land!” and ”Will you brush my hair?”

As a feminist mother — not to mention a nostalgic product of the Grranimals era — I have been taken by surprise by the princess craze and the girlie-girl culture that has risen around it. What happened to William wanting a doll and not dressing your cat in an apron? Whither Marlo Thomas? I watch my fellow mothers, women who once swore they’d never be dependent on a man, smile indulgently at daughters who warble ”So This Is Love” or insist on being called Snow White. I wonder if they’d concede so readily to sons who begged for combat fatigues and mock AK-47s.

More to the point, when my own girl makes her daily beeline for the dress-up corner of her preschool classroom — something I’m convinced she does largely to torture me — I worry about what playing Little Mermaid is teaching her. I’ve spent much of my career writing about experiences that undermine girls’ well-being, warning parents that a preoccupation with body and beauty (encouraged by films, TV, magazines and, yes, toys) is perilous to their daughters’ mental and physical health. Am I now supposed to shrug and forget all that? If trafficking in stereotypes doesn’t matter at 3, when does it matter? At 6? Eight? Thirteen?

On the other hand, maybe I’m still surfing a washed-out second wave of feminism in a third-wave world. Maybe princesses are in fact a sign of progress, an indication that girls can embrace their predilection for pink without compromising strength or ambition; that, at long last, they can ”have it all.” Or maybe it is even less complex than that: to mangle Freud, maybe a princess is sometimes just a princess. And, as my daughter wants to know, what’s wrong with that?

The rise of the Disney princesses reads like a fairy tale itself, with Andy Mooney, a former Nike executive, playing the part of prince, riding into the company on a metaphoric white horse in January 2000 to save a consumer-products division whose sales were dropping by as much as 30 percent a year. Both overstretched and underfocused, the division had triggered price wars by granting multiple licenses for core products (say, Winnie-the-Pooh undies) while ignoring the potential of new media. What’s more, Disney films like ”A Bug’s Life” in 1998 had yielded few merchandising opportunities — what child wants to snuggle up with an ant?

It was about a month after Mooney’s arrival that the magic struck. That’s when he flew to Phoenix to check out his first ”Disney on Ice” show. ”Standing in line in the arena, I was surrounded by little girls dressed head to toe as princesses,” he told me last summer in his palatial office, then located in Burbank, and speaking in a rolling Scottish burr. ”They weren’t even Disney products. They were generic princess products they’d appended to a Halloween costume. And the light bulb went off. Clearly there was latent demand here. So the next morning I said to my team, ‘O.K., let’s establish standards and a color palette and talk to licensees and get as much product out there as we possibly can that allows these girls to do what they’re doing anyway: projecting themselves into the characters from the classic movies.’ ”

Mooney picked a mix of old and new heroines to wear the Pantone pink No. 241 corona: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan and Pocahontas. It was the first time Disney marketed characters separately from a film’s release, let alone lumped together those from different stories. To ensure the sanctity of what Mooney called their individual ”mythologies,” the princesses never make eye contact when they’re grouped: each stares off in a slightly different direction as if unaware of the others’ presence.

It is also worth noting that not all of the ladies are of royal extraction. Part of the genius of ”Princess” is that its meaning is so broadly constructed that it actually has no meaning. Even Tinker Bell was originally a Princess, though her reign didn’t last. ”We’d always debate over whether she was really a part of the Princess mythology,” Mooney recalled. ”She really wasn’t.” Likewise, Mulan and Pocahontas, arguably the most resourceful of the bunch, are rarely depicted on Princess merchandise, though for a different reason. Their rustic garb has less bling potential than that of old-school heroines like Sleeping Beauty. (When Mulan does appear, she is typically in the kimonolike hanfu, which makes her miserable in the movie, rather than her liberated warrior’s gear.)

The first Princess items, released with no marketing plan, no focus groups, no advertising, sold as if blessed by a fairy godmother. To this day, Disney conducts little market research on the Princess line, relying instead on the power of its legacy among mothers as well as the instant-read sales barometer of the theme parks and Disney Stores. ”We simply gave girls what they wanted,” Mooney said of the line’s success, ”although I don’t think any of us grasped how much they wanted this. I wish I could sit here and take credit for having some grand scheme to develop this, but all we did was envision a little girl’s room and think about how she could live out the princess fantasy. The counsel we gave to licensees was: What type of bedding would a princess want to sleep in? What kind of alarm clock would a princess want to wake up to? What type of television would a princess like to see? It’s a rare case where you find a girl who has every aspect of her room bedecked in Princess, but if she ends up with three or four of these items, well, then you have a very healthy business.”

Every reporter Mooney talks to asks some version of my next question: Aren’t the Princesses, who are interested only in clothes, jewelry and cadging the handsome prince, somewhat retrograde role models?

”Look,” he said, ”I have friends whose son went through the Power Rangers phase who castigated themselves over what they must’ve done wrong. Then they talked to other parents whose kids had gone through it. The boy passes through. The girl passes through. I see girls expanding their imagination through visualizing themselves as princesses, and then they pass through that phase and end up becoming lawyers, doctors, mothers or princesses, whatever the case may be.”

Mooney has a point: There are no studies proving that playing princess directly damages girls’ self-esteem or dampens other aspirations. On the other hand, there is evidence that young women who hold the most conventionally feminine beliefs — who avoid conflict and think they should be perpetually nice and pretty — are more likely to be depressed than others and less likely to use contraception. What’s more, the 23 percent decline in girls’ participation in sports and other vigorous activity between middle and high school has been linked to their sense that athletics is unfeminine. And in a survey released last October by Girls Inc., school-age girls overwhelmingly reported a paralyzing pressure to be ”perfect”: not only to get straight A’s and be the student-body president, editor of the newspaper and captain of the swim team but also to be ”kind and caring,” ”please everyone, be very thin and dress right.” Give those girls a pumpkin and a glass slipper and they’d be in business.

At the grocery store one day, my daughter noticed a little girl sporting a Cinderella backpack. ”There’s that princess you don’t like, Mama!” she shouted.

”Um, yeah,” I said, trying not to meet the other mother’s hostile gaze.

”Don’t you like her blue dress, Mama?”

I had to admit, I did.

She thought about this. ”Then don’t you like her face?”

”Her face is all right,” I said, noncommittally, though I’m not thrilled to have my Japanese-Jewish child in thrall to those Aryan features. (And what the heck are those blue things covering her ears?) ”It’s just, honey, Cinderella doesn’t really do anything.”

Over the next 45 minutes, we ran through that conversation, verbatim, approximately 37 million times, as my daughter pointed out Disney Princess Band-Aids, Disney Princess paper cups, Disney Princess lip balm, Disney Princess pens, Disney Princess crayons and Disney Princess notebooks — all cleverly displayed at the eye level of a 3-year-old trapped in a shopping cart — as well as a bouquet of Disney Princess balloons bobbing over the checkout line. The repetition was excessive, even for a preschooler. What was it about my answers that confounded her? What if, instead of realizing: Aha! Cinderella is a symbol of the patriarchal oppression of all women, another example of corporate mind control and power-to-the-people! my 3-year-old was thinking, Mommy doesn’t want me to be a girl?

According to theories of gender constancy, until they’re about 6 or 7, children don’t realize that the sex they were born with is immutable. They believe that they have a choice: they can grow up to be either a mommy or a daddy. Some psychologists say that until permanency sets in kids embrace whatever stereotypes our culture presents, whether it’s piling on the most spangles or attacking one another with light sabers. What better way to assure that they’ll always remain themselves? If that’s the case, score one for Mooney. By not buying the Princess Pull-Ups, I may be inadvertently communicating that being female (to the extent that my daughter is able to understand it) is a bad thing.

Anyway, you have to give girls some credit. It’s true that, according to Mattel, one of the most popular games young girls play is ”bride,” but Disney found that a groom or prince is incidental to that fantasy, a regrettable necessity at best. Although they keep him around for the climactic kiss, he is otherwise relegated to the bottom of the toy box, which is why you don’t see him prominently displayed in stores.

What’s more, just because they wear the tulle doesn’t mean they’ve drunk the Kool-Aid. Plenty of girls stray from the script, say, by playing basketball in their finery, or casting themselves as the powerful evil stepsister bossing around the sniveling Cinderella. I recall a headline-grabbing 2005 British study that revealed that girls enjoy torturing, decapitating and microwaving their Barbies nearly as much as they like to dress them up for dates. There is spice along with that sugar after all, though why this was news is beyond me: anyone who ever played with the doll knows there’s nothing more satisfying than hacking off all her hair and holding her underwater in the bathtub. Princesses can even be a boon to exasperated parents: in our house, for instance, royalty never whines and uses the potty every single time.

”Playing princess is not the issue,” argues Lyn Mikel Brown, an author, with Sharon Lamb, of ”Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketers’ Schemes.” ”The issue is 25,000 Princess products,” says Brown, a professor of education and human development at Colby College. ”When one thing is so dominant, then it’s no longer a choice: it’s a mandate, cannibalizing all other forms of play. There’s the illusion of more choices out there for girls, but if you look around, you’ll see their choices are steadily narrowing.”

It’s hard to imagine that girls’ options could truly be shrinking when they dominate the honor roll and outnumber boys in college. Then again, have you taken a stroll through a children’s store lately? A year ago, when we shopped for ”big girl” bedding at Pottery Barn Kids, we found the ”girls” side awash in flowers, hearts and hula dancers; not a soccer player or sailboat in sight. Across the no-fly zone, the ”boys” territory was all about sports, trains, planes and automobiles. Meanwhile, Baby GAP’s boys’ onesies were emblazoned with ”Big Man on Campus” and the girls’ with ”Social Butterfly”; guess whose matching shoes were decorated on the soles with hearts and whose sported a ”No. 1” logo? And at Toys ”R” Us, aisles of pink baby dolls, kitchens, shopping carts and princesses unfurl a safe distance from the ”Star Wars” figures, GeoTrax and tool chests. The relentless resegregation of childhood appears to have sneaked up without any further discussion about sex roles, about what it now means to be a boy or to be a girl. Or maybe it has happened in lieu of such discussion because it’s easier this way.

Easier, that is, unless you want to buy your daughter something that isn’t pink. Girls’ obsession with that color may seem like something they’re born with, like the ability to breathe or talk on the phone for hours on end. But according to Jo Paoletti, an associate professor of American studies at the University of Maryland, it ain’t so. When colors were first introduced to the nursery in the early part of the 20th century, pink was considered the more masculine hue, a pastel version of red. Blue, with its intimations of the Virgin Mary, constancy and faithfulness, was thought to be dainty. Why or when that switched is not clear, but as late as the 1930s a significant percentage of adults in one national survey held to that split. Perhaps that’s why so many early Disney heroines — Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Wendy, Alice-in-Wonderland — are swathed in varying shades of azure. (Purple, incidentally, may be the next color to swap teams: once the realm of kings and N.F.L. players, it is fast becoming the bolder girl’s version of pink.)

It wasn’t until the mid-1980s, when amplifying age and sex differences became a key strategy of children’s marketing (recall the emergence of ” ‘tween”), that pink became seemingly innate to girls, part of what defined them as female, at least for the first few years. That was also the time that the first of the generation raised during the unisex phase of feminism — ah, hither Marlo! — became parents. ”The kids who grew up in the 1970s wanted sharp definitions for their own kids,” Paoletti told me. ”I can understand that, because the unisex thing denied everything — you couldn’t be this, you couldn’t be that, you had to be a neutral nothing.”

The infatuation with the girlie girl certainly could, at least in part, be a reaction against the so-called second wave of the women’s movement of the 1960s and ’70s (the first wave was the fight for suffrage), which fought for reproductive rights and economic, social and legal equality. If nothing else, pink and Princess have resuscitated the fantasy of romance that that era of feminism threatened, the privileges that traditional femininity conferred on women despite its costs — doors magically opened, dinner checks picked up, Manolo Blahniks. Frippery. Fun. Why should we give up the perks of our sex until we’re sure of what we’ll get in exchange? Why should we give them up at all? Or maybe it’s deeper than that: the freedoms feminism bestowed came with an undercurrent of fear among women themselves — flowing through ”Ally McBeal,” ”Bridget Jones’s Diary,” ”Sex and the City” — of losing male love, of never marrying, of not having children, of being deprived of something that felt essentially and exclusively female.

I mulled that over while flipping through ”The Paper Bag Princess,” a 1980 picture book hailed as an antidote to Disney. The heroine outwits a dragon who has kidnapped her prince, but not before the beast’s fiery breath frizzles her hair and destroys her dress, forcing her to don a paper bag. The ungrateful prince rejects her, telling her to come back when she is ”dressed like a real princess.” She dumps him and skips off into the sunset, happily ever after, alone.

There you have it, ”Thelma and Louise” all over again. Step out of line, and you end up solo or, worse, sailing crazily over a cliff to your doom. Alternatives like those might send you skittering right back to the castle. And I get that: the fact is, though I want my daughter to do and be whatever she wants as an adult, I still hope she’ll find her Prince Charming and have babies, just as I have. I don’t want her to be a fish without a bicycle; I want her to be a fish with another fish. Preferably, one who loves and respects her and also does the dishes and half the child care.

There had to be a middle ground between compliant and defiant, between petticoats and paper bags. I remembered a video on YouTube, an ad for a Nintendo game called Super Princess Peach. It showed a pack of girls in tiaras, gowns and elbow-length white gloves sliding down a zip line on parasols, navigating an obstacle course of tires in their stilettos, slithering on their bellies under barbed wire, then using their telekinetic powers to make a climbing wall burst into flames. ”If you can stand up to really mean people,” an announcer intoned, ”maybe you have what it takes to be a princess.”

Now here were some girls who had grit as well as grace. I loved Princess Peach even as I recognized that there was no way she could run in those heels, that her peachiness did nothing to upset the apple cart of expectation: she may have been athletic, smart and strong, but she was also adorable. Maybe she’s what those once-unisex, postfeminist parents are shooting for: the melding of old and new standards. And perhaps that’s a good thing, the ideal solution. But what to make, then, of the young women in the Girls Inc. survey? It doesn’t seem to be ”having it all” that’s getting to them; it’s the pressure to be it all. In telling our girls they can be anything, we have inadvertently demanded that they be everything. To everyone. All the time. No wonder the report was titled ”The Supergirl Dilemma.”

The princess as superhero is not irrelevant. Some scholars I spoke with say that given its post-9/11 timing, princess mania is a response to a newly dangerous world. ”Historically, princess worship has emerged during periods of uncertainty and profound social change,” observes Miriam Forman-Brunell, a historian at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Francis Hodgson Burnett’s original”Little Princess” was published at a time of rapid urbanization, immigration and poverty; Shirley Temple’s film version was a hit during the Great Depression. ”The original folk tales themselves,” Forman-Brunell says, ”spring from medieval and early modern European culture that faced all kinds of economic and demographic and social upheaval — famine, war, disease, terror of wolves. Girls play savior during times of economic crisis and instability.” That’s a heavy burden for little shoulders. Perhaps that’s why the magic wand has become an essential part of the princess get-up. In the original stories — even the Disney versions of them — it’s not the girl herself who’s magic; it’s the fairy godmother. Now if Forman-Brunell is right, we adults have become the cursed creatures whom girls have the thaumaturgic power to transform.

In the 1990s, third-wave feminists rebelled against their dour big sisters, ”reclaiming” sexual objectification as a woman’s right — provided, of course, that it was on her own terms, that she was the one choosing to strip or wear a shirt that said ”Porn Star” or make out with her best friend at a frat-house bash. They embraced words like ”bitch” and ”slut” as terms of affection and empowerment. That is, when used by the right people, with the right dash of playful irony. But how can you assure that? As Madonna gave way to Britney, whatever self-determination that message contained was watered down and commodified until all that was left was a gaggle of 6-year-old girls in belly-baring T-shirts (which I’m guessing they don’t wear as cultural critique). It is no wonder that parents, faced with thongs for 8-year-olds and Bratz dolls’ ”passion for fashion,” fill their daughters’ closets with pink sateen; the innocence of Princess feels like a reprieve.

”But what does that mean?” asks Sharon Lamb, a psychology professor at Saint Michael’s College. ”There are other ways to express ‘innocence’ — girls could play ladybug or caterpillar. What you’re really talking about is sexual purity. And there’s a trap at the end of that rainbow, because the natural progression from pale, innocent pink is not to other colors. It’s to hot, sexy pink — exactly the kind of sexualization parents are trying to avoid.”

Lamb suggested that to see for myself how ”Someday My Prince Will Come” morphs into ”Oops! I Did It Again,” I visit Club Libby Lu, the mall shop dedicated to the ”Very Important Princess.”

Walking into one of the newest links in the store’s chain, in Natick, Mass., last summer, I had to tip my tiara to the founder, Mary Drolet: Libby Lu’s design was flawless. Unlike Disney, Drolet depended on focus groups to choose the logo (a crown-topped heart) and the colors (pink, pink, purple and more pink). The displays were scaled to the size of a 10-year-old, though most of the shoppers I saw were several years younger than that. The decals on the walls and dressing rooms — ”I Love Your Hair,” ”Hip Chick,” ”Spoiled” — were written in ”girlfriend language.” The young sales clerks at this ”special secret club for superfabulous girls” are called ”club counselors” and come off like your coolest baby sitter, the one who used to let you brush her hair. The malls themselves are chosen based on a company formula called the G.P.I., or ”Girl Power Index,” which predicts potential sales revenues. Talk about newspeak: ”Girl Power” has gone from a riot grrrrl anthem to ”I Am Woman, Watch Me Shop.”

Inside, the store was divided into several glittery ”shopping zones” called ”experiences”: Libby’s Laboratory, now called Sparkle Spa, where girls concoct their own cosmetics and bath products; Libby’s Room; Ear Piercing; Pooch Parlor (where divas in training can pamper stuffed poodles, pugs and Chihuahuas); and the Style Studio, offering ”Libby Du” makeover choices, including ‘Tween Idol, Rock Star, Pop Star and, of course, Priceless Princess. Each look includes hairstyle, makeup, nail polish and sparkly tattoos.

As I browsed, I noticed a mother standing in the center of the store holding a price list for makeover birthday parties — $22.50 to $35 per child. Her name was Anne McAuliffe; her daughters — Stephanie, 4, and 7-year-old twins Rory and Sarah — were dashing giddily up and down the aisles.

”They’ve been begging to come to this store for three weeks,” McAuliffe said. ”I’d never heard of it. So I said they could, but they’d have to spend their own money if they bought anything.” She looked around. ”Some of this stuff is innocuous,” she observed, then leaned toward me, eyes wide and stage-whispered: ”But … a lot of it is horrible. It makes them look like little prostitutes. It’s crazy. They’re babies!”

As we debated the line between frivolous fun and JonBenét, McAuliffe’s daughter Rory came dashing up, pigtails haphazard, glasses askew. ”They have the best pocketbooks here,” she said breathlessly, brandishing a clutch with the words ”Girlie Girl” stamped on it. ”Please, can I have one? It has sequins!”

”You see that?” McAuliffe asked, gesturing at the bag. ”What am I supposed to say?”

On my way out of the mall, I popped into the ” ‘tween” mecca Hot Topic, where a display of Tinker Bell items caught my eye. Tinker Bell, whose image racks up an annual $400 million in retail sales with no particular effort on Disney’s part, is poised to wreak vengeance on the Princess line that once expelled her. Last winter, the first chapter book designed to introduce girls to Tink and her Pixie Hollow pals spent 18 weeks on The New York Times children’s best-seller list. In a direct-to-DVD now under production, she will speak for the first time, voiced by the actress Brittany Murphy. Next year, Disney Fairies will be rolled out in earnest. Aimed at 6- to 9-year-old girls, the line will catch them just as they outgrow Princess. Their colors will be lavender, green, turquoise — anything but the Princess’s soon-to-be-babyish pink.

To appeal to that older child, Disney executives said, the Fairies will have more ”attitude” and ”sass” than the Princesses. What, I wondered, did that entail? I’d seen some of the Tinker Bell merchandise that Disney sells at its theme parks: T-shirts reading, ”Spoiled to Perfection,” ”Mood Subject to Change Without Notice” and ”Tinker Bell: Prettier Than a Princess.” At Hot Topic, that edge was even sharper: magnets, clocks, light-switch plates and panties featured ”Dark Tink,” described as ”the bad girl side of Miss Bell that Walt never saw.”

Girl power, indeed.

A few days later, I picked my daughter up from preschool. She came tearing over in a full-skirted frock with a gold bodice, a beaded crown perched sideways on her head. ”Look, Mommy, I’m Ariel!” she crowed. referring to Disney’s Little Mermaid. Then she stopped and furrowed her brow. ”Mommy, do you like Ariel?”

I considered her for a moment. Maybe Princess is the first salvo in what will become a lifelong struggle over her body image, a Hundred Years’ War of dieting, plucking, painting and perpetual dissatisfaction with the results. Or maybe it isn’t. I’ll never really know. In the end, it’s not the Princesses that really bother me anyway. They’re just a trigger for the bigger question of how, over the years, I can help my daughter with the contradictions she will inevitably face as a girl, the dissonance that is as endemic as ever to growing up female. Maybe the best I can hope for is that her generation will get a little further with the solutions than we did.

For now, I kneeled down on the floor and gave my daughter a hug.

She smiled happily. ”But, Mommy?” she added. ”When I grow up, I’m still going to be a fireman.”

– by Peggy Orenstein, for the New York Times Magazine (December 2006)

Posted by lukewho on 2007-01-01 19:50:52

Tagged: , fremont , christmas , 2006 , jacinto , princess , disney

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