#best star trek film character competition

[best-star-trek-character]

Round Two

[historyhermann]

Booming LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2021 [Part 1]

Two of the choices for “Fan Favorite Couple” in Autostraddle’s Annual Gay Emmys in September 2021 were in animated series. Both choices are highlighted here by yellow boxes.

In December 2020, I wrote that there is “hope in the future for diverse storylines and expanded representation,” adding that there is “a lot to look forward to in 2021 in terms of animated series…[which] will undoubtedly affect the ongoing war between streaming platforms for more subscribers, profits for themselves, and film distribution itself.” That still rings true, and 2021 has even more representation that I had imagined in December 2020, with continuing series like The Owl House, Disenchantment, Helluva Boss, Star Trek: Lower Decks, the third (and final) season of Final Space, and many others. The representation in 2021 is part of the “whirlwind” of LGBTQ representation which creator Noelle Stevenson described in November 2021.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs, my History Hermann WordPress blog on Jan. 15, 2023, and Wayback Machine. This was the seventh article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on January 5, 2022.

When Autostraddle, a digital lesbian culture publication, posted about their annual awards show, the Annual Gay Emmys, in September 2021, the influence of LGBTQ representation in animation was evident. [1] While most of the nominees for the categories were live-action series, there was an entire category dedicated to such series, “Outstanding Animated Series.” Harley Quinn, Blues Clues & You!, the “Obsidian” episode of Adventure Time: Distant Lands, The Owl House, “The Politics Episode” of One Day at a Time, and Magical Girl Friendship Squad were nominees. [2] The Harley Quinn episode “Something Borrowed,” was one of the nominees for the “Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes” category, and two couples in animated series were nominated for the “Fan Favorite Couple” question. When the results were announced Harley Quinn won for Outstanding Animated Series, although it was unfortunately the only animated series to win in a category. Of the series nominated, Magical Girl Friendship Squad and One Day at a Time ended in 2020, [3] Distant Lands ended in 2021, while three others are ongoing (Harley Quinn, Blue Clues & You!, and The Owl House).

Keeping this in mind, reviewer Jade King, in a review of The Owl House, said “we shouldn’t look toward giant corporations for continual queer representation.” While that still rings true, many of the shows with LGBTQ representation are produced and broadcast by such companies. For instance, of the over 20 Western animations noted in this article, almost all of them are produced by the subsidiaries of companies like Disney, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and Sony, which bring in more than $1 billion a year. [4] The same is the case with many of the Japanese anime series noted in this post, which tend to have more LGBTQ representation, generally, than Western animation, although the instances of representation between Western and Japanese animation is slowly reaching the same level, and Japanese anime often plays into “many problematic aspects” and stereotypes in one way or another. King also pointed out that queer representation is not a competition, but should be a collaboration, rather than putting down one show while elevating another, arguing that “queer representation isn’t a linear path to acceptance. It’s messy and inconsistent.”

In 2021, shows on streaming platforms lead the way when it came to representation. Netflix tops the list in this regard, with shows like Disenchantment, Carmen Sandiego (to a lesser extent), and City of Ghosts. With Disenchantment, the show was described as “queer through and through,” with what some would call queer vibes throughout, had its third part air on Netflix in January of 2021. Recurring characters Odval (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) and Sorcerio (voiced by Billy West) were shown to be a gay couple, while there was an implied gay couple between Big Jo (voiced by LaMarche), and his assistant, Porky. Furthermore, Princess Bean, called a “rebellious, alcoholic, adventurous princess” by one reviewer, the show’s protagonist, voiced by Abbi Jacobson, was shown to be bisexual or pansexual. This is illustrated through her kissing the elf, Elfo (voiced by Nat Faxon), trying to have sex with various men, seeming to have feelings for Lady Bowmore (voiced by Tress MacNeille), female explorer, and falling in love with a mermaid named Mora (voiced by Meredith Hagner). This is further supported by the fact that Jacobsen is bisexual herself, making the representation that much more genuine. As for Carmen Sandiego, it was more implied than anything else. In February, in Instagram Live interview, Duane Capizzi, the showrunner of Carmen Sandiego, said that it was intentional that Le Chevre (also known as Jean Paul) and El Topo (also known as Antonio) were together, and confirmed them at a couple, calling them villains which are “sweet,” but you “can’t help but love.” [5]

Carmen Sandiego and Julia Argent in the Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal animated film

Some fans also speculated that protagonist Carmen Sandiego had feelings for Julia “Jules” Argent, called “Carulia” by fans, but that has not been confirmed by Capizzi or anyone on the show’s staff. Similarly, for City of Ghosts, the LGBTQ representation was subtle rather than outward like in Disenchantment. In the case of that series, Thomas, one of the show’s protagonists, a specialist of the Ghost Club and voiced by transgender child actor Blue Chapman, was non-binary, confirmed as such by show creator Elizabeth Ito. One episode of the series also showed a character with two mothers. The series, more broadly, was praised for its simple animation and characters, but having “strikingly complex” stories and background art which reflects the “realities of one of America’s richest cultural melting pots,” Los Angeles.

Disenchantment, Carmen Sandiego, and City of Ghosts were not the only Netflix shows with LGBTQ characters. The kids-oriented Ridley Jones also included such characters. The preschool animated series included a non-binary bison named Fred voiced by Iris Menas, and two characters (Aten and Kosi) voiced by Andrew Rannells and Chris Colfer, two openly gay actors. The series was created by Chris Nee, who created series like We The People and Doc McStuffins, both of which featured LGBTQ characters. Nee described herself as gay and “relatively butch” in an interview in 2021. Jacobson, who had voiced Bean in Disenchantment, voiced Katie, the protagonist of the animated film, The Mitchells vs. the Machines. In the film, she wears a pin with a rainbow flag and later is noted as having a girlfriend named Jade at film school, with the representation relatively subtle. More outward, in terms of the representation, were Chicago Party Aunt, which included a a gay man named Daniel, and Q-Force, which featured an assortment of LGBTQ characters. The latter series, which had caused great controversy and consternation online due to its use of stereotypes, features a gay protagonist named Steve Maryweather (voiced by Sean Hayes), a gay man named Benji (voiced by Gabe Liedman), a lesbian woman named Deb (voiced by Wanda Sykes), and a gay drag queen named Twink (voiced by Matt Rogers). A late-comer to this article was Arcane, the first part which aired from November 6 to November 20. Show writer Amanda Overton confirmed that Caitlyn Kiramman was a lesbian, saying that there is no word for gay or stigmatization against it in Piltover, meaning that Caitlyn could “marry any gender or race suitor,” but such a person would become “a part of her house.” Overton also said that the relationship between Caitlyn and Vi is “naturally developing,” with the trauma that Vi’s parents were killed by Enforcers, with Vi also confirmed as a lesbian as well. On Twitter, Overton said that everyone on the show’s crew is “working together to tell the same story.”

On November 25, 2021, the final season of F Is For Family, aired on Netflix. It included Louis, the gay brother of Sue, a character voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, an openly gay actor. It also included Ginny Throater, who divorces her husband, Greg Throater, and is bisexual, while Greg is gay, and divorces her as a result. Additionally, Eileen, Frank’s sister, is lesbian and becomes Ginny’s lover. The second and final season of the Netflix series, Centaurworld, premiered on December 7. It featured three gay characters: Zulius, Ched, and Splendib. Zulius, who was hinted to be gay in the show’s first season was confirmed as such in the second season, while Ched was revealed to be gay. Furthermore, Zulius is voiced by Parvesh Cheena, an openly gay actor.

Other than shows on Netflix, there were multiple series on other streaming platforms included LGBTQ characters. For instance, Volume 8 of RWBY, running from November 2020 to March 2021, which streamed on the Rooster Teeth website, featured a trans woman named May Marigold, who is voiced by a trans woman, Kdin Jenzen, a bisexual catlike woman named Blake Belladonna (voiced by Arryn Zech), and various lesbian characters. The latter included Ilia Amitola (voiced by Cherami Leigh) and a couple (Saphron and Terra Cotta-Arc) who have a child named Adrian. At the same time, the first season of Invincible, which aired on Amazon Prime from March to April 2021, included a gay recurring character named William Francis Clockwell, voiced by openly gay actor Andrew Rennells.

HBO Max, also owned by Warner Media like Rooster Teeth, featured a gay couple, Jonny Quest and Hadji Sing, in Jellystone!, while Young Justice, which focuses on young superheroes from DC comics, has a rash of such characters. Specifically, Kaldur’ahm/Aqualad (voiced by Khary Payton) is polysexual, while Marie Logan (voiced by Danica McKellar) is bisexual or lesbian, Eduardo “Ed” Dorado Jr. (voiced by Freddy Rodriguez) is gay, Violet Harper (voiced by Zehra Fazal) is genderqueer, Wyynde (voiced by Robbie Daymond) is gay, and Harper Row (voiced by Fazal) is bisexual. The second half of the fourth season of Young Justice premiered in late October of 2021 and aired until December 30, 2021. While Kaldur reappeared in the newest season and with speaking lines, characters such as Ed, Bart, Violet, and Harper either had no lines, were only pictured, or only their voices were heard. At the same time, Logan died in Season 2, Wynnde has not made an appearance. These are unfortunate developments.

The HBO Max preschool series, Little Ellen, featured same-sex couples, with a second part of season one released in October, while Summer Camp Island, which also airs on HBO Max, includes a non-binary couple (Alien King and Puddle) and two presumably gay ghosts. It was also implied in various episodes that Timothy Brice Campbell in the HBO Max series Close Enough was either gay or bisexual. The second and presumably final season of gen:LOCK premiered on HBO Max and it featured a genderfluid character named Val(entina) Romanyszyn. Her character was not only groundbreaking as a genderfluid character by smashing apart tropes attributed to such characters, but is voiced by a non-binary pansexual voice actor named Asia Kate Dillon. Val confirmed that she was pansexual in the same season and Robert Sinclair was shown to be gay, with a boyfriend named Chris.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Continued in part 2

[ear-worthy]

Why Won't You Date Me Podcast: Before The Romance Comes The Dating!

"Dying is easy, comedy is hard” is supposedly a deathbed quote attributed to character actor Edmund Gwenn, who is most famous for playing Kris Kringle in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street.  

Gwenn was absolutely correct in his observation and comedy podcasting is exhibit number one. Comedy and true-crime are two of the most popular genres in podcasting. Popularity breeds imitation and comedy podcasts proliferate in the podcasting space like Tribbles in the famous eponymously named Star Trek episode. 

Comedy podcasts come in all shapes, sizes, and sounds. We have the "bros" who harken back to middle school with fart jokes and tales of their boogers. We have the edgy comics who think they push the envelope when, in reality, they're just splashing around in crude observations that aren't funny. 

In summary, there are many more people in podcasting trying to be funny than are truly funny. Nicole Byer belongs to the category of "just plain funny."   

Nicole Byer is an actress, comedian, writer, author and podcaster, she is perhaps most well-known as the host of Netflix’s Emmy-nominated competition baking series Nailed It! In 2020, Nicole made history by becoming the first black woman ever to be nominated in the category of “Outstanding Host for A Reality or Competition Program” and was nominated again in 2021 and 2022. Nicole can be seen in her debut solo stand-up special for Netflix, Nicole Byer: Big Beautiful Weirdo, and previously on the NBC comedy Grand Crew. Nicole can most recently be seen in Focus Feature’s The American Society of Magical Negroes, a satirical comedy and the 2024 American comedy film, Thelma. Both received rave reviews during their premieres at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Why Won't You Don't Me is a comedy and relationship podcast hosted by Nicole Byer which debuted on December 1, 2017.  The podcast features Byer and a guest exploring why she is single, while discussing topics related to love, life, and sex. The format of an episode typically involves Byer introducing her guest/s, as they then talk about their respective experiences with sex, dating, relationships, and love. In most episodes, the guest will critique Byer's online dating profiles, before closing the episode by discussing whether or not they would date her - and why.

While the featured guest is often another comedian, Byer has also hosted former partners and her own childhood friends. Notable guests who have appeared on Why Won't You Date Me? include Sasheer Zamata, Rachel Bloom, Jameela Jamil, Joel Kim Booster, Vicky Vox, and Trixie Mattel.

Ms. Byer even creates a new logo for every episode, as seen here with Jameela Jamil.

 In 2019, Why Won't You Date Me? won Outstanding Foreign Series at the Canadian Podcasting Awards, which is "awarded to a breakthrough show – across any format and category – produced outside of Canada." In 2021, Why Won't You Date Me? won the Best Overall Host – Female iHeartMedia Podcast Award. In 2023, it won best comedy podcast in the Ambies Awards. 

The show recently announced that comedy podcast network Headgum has acquired the rights to the podcast. The acquisition comes on the heels of a recent announcement that the network also added Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin’s podcast HANDSOME to its expanding lineup of comedy podcasts. Headgum is a premier comedy podcast network behind shows such as Doughboys, Handsome, The Lamorning After, Gayotic with MUNA, and Seek Treatment with Cat & Pat. As part of the deal, Nicole Byer will begin recording video episodes from Headgum’s LA and NYC studios. Headgum will also manage the show’s ad sales through Gumball, their marketplace for advertisers to buy host-read ads directly from podcasters. The first Why Won’t You Date Me? episode under Headgum is out this week, and features an interview with comedian and personal friend of Byer, Lauren Lapkus (Orange Is the New Black, Crashing, The Big Bang Theory). Other upcoming guests include Randall Park, Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Kimmel, and Nick Kroll, among others. In each episode, Byer and fellow comedians, friends, and ex-flings talk romance and share their wildest dating tales, from cringeworthy first dates to jaw-dropping hookup stories.

 “Nicole Byer says: "Why Won’t You Date Me? is my favorite podcast child - just don’t tell the others. I’m looking forward to bringing her back home to Headgum, where we first launched the show in 2017. I’ve hosted WWYDM for many years, and it’s scary and comforting to know that there will always be new content when it comes to dating - whether it’s fresh horror stories, new relationship scenarios, and unbelievably cute love stories - and I’m thrilled to be the host helping my listeners navigate it all every week." “There’s no question that Nicole is one of the top podcast hosts of all time - there is rarely someone who is so prolific and so consistently hilarious - and Why Won’t You Date Me? is a comedy podcast classic,” said Headgum VP of Content, Kaiti Moos. New episodes of Why Won’t You Date Me? are released on Fridays and can be found wherever you listen to podcasts, including on the Why Won’t You Date Me? YouTube channel.

[table-top-romulan-playing-games]

Got the idea from a friend to fill this out, but ill wait to post on the 31st since im starting this on the 23rd

1. First RPG bought this year: Alice is Missing. I havent gotten to play it yet, mostly bc the subject matter involved make it so i am picky about finding the right group for it, but its got a great concept and set up and being a silent game played through messaging apps, and deals with rather dark subject matter and makes sure that you are aware of how to navigate lines and veils respectfully without compromising the story.

2. Most recently Played: Fellowship, a game about being a bunch of guys trying to defeat an overlord... im playing a hedgehog... we got to do sick tricks at a sport event competition last session.

3. Most played Game: Again, Fellowship, its really the only titterpeg i have going on rn.

4. RPG with Great Art: This is a toss up between Mork Borg and Mouseguard, but for two different reasons. Mork Borg is described as a brutally realistic fantasy game, and its book art is absolutely gorgeous, designed to look like a Zine, uses black/white/yellow as its color scheme, and has beautiful typography while making sure the rules are legible. Mouseguard is beautiful for its gorgeous illustrative work by David Peterson, mixing in these cute watercolor illustrations against what is in fact a brutal backstory.

5. RPG with Great Writing: I assume this means Rules, so the rpg ive seen with the best clear cut rules in the sense that I havent had to ask a dozen clarifying questions for, would have to be Mouseguard.

6. RPG that is Easy to Use: Wanderhome. I finally got to play it at Gen-Con this year, and its just as good as i hoped. It does have playbooks, but there are no dice. Its very much a "Yes, And" type of game where you and your fellow players build the world together by going "what if we went to a lagoon..." "With and underwater graveyard?" "Yes, and perhaps there is cave nearby that has been turned into a shelter for wanderers" "and that cave is where you see the empty cocoons of the last of the monarch butterflies, sort of like a shrine" "and from that shrine is produced a fruit inside of the cocoons that tastes different to each person". It was such a good game and i would love to play it again!

7. RPG with Good Form: idk what this means but Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast had great form in the sense that it utilizes different mechanics, and that you are encouraged to play different characters every chapter bc you can change something about that character and hand it off to the next person who will add onto to the character as well and by the end you will have a character who has been changed by multiple different people.

8. An Accessory you Appreciate: when a Game comes with tchotchkes i am in love ❤️

9. An accesory you'd like to see: i actually dont know off the top of my head, ive got games that came with mini journals, coins, tokens, pebbles, dices, trinkets... i think i would like to see a game that uses that chart grades pre-k through grade 5 would use where you get a sticker for doing something. You hit for the most damage? Sticker. You successfully did a diplomacy? Sticker. You RP'd very good? Sticker.

10. An RPG you would like to see on TV: is it cheating if i say Star Trek Adventures lmaooo... I wanna say I would love to see a Call of Cthulu tv show. But it would have to be either styled like a 1980's thriller, or a 1920's psychological horror film.

11. RPGs with well supported oneshots: Monsterhearts, Mork Borg and its cyberpunk version, Babes in the Woods has a specific section for one-shots, Star Trek Adventures, The Quiet Year... imo most games can be adapted into oneshots.

12. RPGs with well supported campaigns: Star Trek Advetures has specific mechanics that only work in a long term game, such as reputation and spotlights, Monsterhearts as well because of strings. Fellowship and mouseguard i think work best as campaigns.

13. Evocative Environments: Wanderhome - You build the environments together and can come up with some beatiful and meaningful environments. Yazeba's bnb has a good background even if it really only focuses on a bed and breakfast. The Quiet Year - the environment you build together is important bc the environment can cause problems and thats a good thing.

14. Great characters: im just gonna list off my fave characters ive played bc all titterpegs can produce great characters- Tanner from Mouseguard, Echo my Wanderhome Character, Katz from Fellowship, Lyra from Lancer, and Devin from my Call of Cthulhu campaign.

15. Great Character Gear: Gun in a setting where Gun is not common is always funny. Any modern campaign where you can be like "okay so i pull out my smart phone and google it".

16. Easy to Learn: The Quiet Year, Mouseguard, most PBtA games ive played, wanderhome, and Yazeba's.

17. An engaging rpg community: Gen-Con in general has been amazing.

18. A memorable moment of play: i have so many but i still love that time i played a lowerdecks style one shot and i got the character that didnt have a lot to do, but i got the great final shot that involved my Caitian Security officer carrying an unconscious Romulan out of a DS9 holodeck, firemen style, while dragging Quark by his ear to the infirmary. This character also challenged a klingon to a homoerotic wrestling match as a distarction for others to snoop.

19. A Sensational Session: a play by post session i had with my Fellowship GM of the Consequences to Betraying the Overlord that led to my characters eventual redemption.

20. Amazing Adventure: Mouseguard was fantastic!

21. Classic Campaign: the Call of Cthulhu campaign was neat and was probably closer to a classic campaign at the time.

22. Notaable Non-Player Character: Joseph (i think that was his name, its been a few years) from my call of cthulhu campaign where he is the one who gets us all together and my first CoC character hands him a business card that says "Dr. Danny McSkully, Mortician" after helping him with his wife who was in medical need.

23. Peerless player: Ive met a lot of great players at the tables, and I cant narrow it down, especially since some of them ive met once and im terrible at remembering names, but the common denom has to be the ability to "Yes, And" in RP that i aspire to.

24. Aclaimed Advice: Just have Fun and respect the others at the table and the game will be awesome!

25. Desirable Dice: all of them

26. Superb Screen: I dont use screens often because i mostly play online, and the only ones ive used are for DnD which i do like bc they have the shortcuts for things typed out on them.

27. Marvelous Miniature: I also dont play with Miniatures too often, but i did have fun playing bloodbowl with my halflings.

28. Great Gamer Gadget: a Phone, to look up things in between turns bc sometimes i forget things...

29. Awesome App: imma be honest the only one i know off is Roll20, and i dont wanna say Roll20.

30. Person you'd like to play with: Anyone who has appeared on Clear Skies, but especially Sam and Erik, seems fun to play with and we can geek about Star Trek!

31. Game or Gamer you miss: I kinda miss playing Lancer, i only got to play a few sessions, but they were great anyways. I also miss playing Mouseguard a bit... and I want to play a Star Trek Adventures campaign, but i cant seem to find one that i can fit in my schedule or that i actually vibe with...

[statguypaul]

Brief Review: Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Rated the film 4 stars out of 5. Though viewing the film occurred over 8 months ago, the film remains memorable for its performances, the writing, and the entertaining absurdity of the whole production. Though some scenes are not family-friendly, the tale of a family understanding and resolving its differences over various universes is as moving as it is action-packed. Michelle Yeoh (Actress) and Ke Huy Quan (Supporting Actor) bring their acting and action talents to the forefront in their Oscar-winning roles, handling the universe switches with characters who are just as multi-dimensional. Jamie Lee Curtis (Supporting Actress winner) and Stephanie Hsu (nominee) are present more for comedic effect yet reasonably hold their own while veteran actor James Hong and notable comedienne Jenny Slate steal enough scenes in their lesser roles to make their mark. The motion picture impressively earned 6 Oscars in the 7 major categories, also deservedly adding an Oscar for coherent film editing to help with the multiverse concept. Its losses (Hsu above, score, song, and costume design) are understandable given the competition (which doesn't mean the best option always beat them), and there some story elements that prevent the film from a 5-star rating, yet writer/directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert managed to almost fully capture the current zeitgeist with a crowd-pleasing, diverse film that's certainly a step up from Daniel Radcliffe playing an extremely flatulent corpse in Swiss Army Man (2016), though EEAAO is as equally absurd, but in other ways. Not to be forgotten, this is the first science-fiction film to win the Best Picture Oscar (15th nominee all-time), so perhaps this impressive film also represents a larger, multiversal plot point of an ongoing odyssey of a genre that is far from finishing its trek. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6710474/

[trilobiter]

After reading into this story, I think that it's worth saying that the situation is a bit more complicated than it has been portrayed, or as the headline suggests. A human being, Jason M. Allen, used an AI program called Midjourney to create a work of visual art to his specifications, a process that he says took him over eighty hours. He entered the finished result into a contest and won first place.

I'm not an expert on art, but like many people I have a very strong relationship with it. Much of my thinking on art has been influenced by the common mythology around art and its role in modern society, a mythology which expresses the values we place on art. As I value art, I can't help having opinions on this - but since I'm not a visual artist, I'm not qualified to speak to the way this will impact those people economically. I am not optimistic on that front, but I won't get into it too much.

I think creative people of all types are right to be apprehensive about AI, because it seems that there is no reason, in principle, to suppose that it won't upend their livelihood in some way. Jason Allen says he was an active participant and creative controller of the process that resulted in his winning artwork, but as the technology improves it will be used to generate content in an increasingly automated way. I say "content" because what we're talking about is a kind of capitalist production of art-as-commodity.

If an AI program can generate an image that can win an art prize, then it can compose and record a number one pop song, write a best-selling novel, or direct an award-winning film. And I believe that when these things happen, the public will mostly accept it, because as odd as it sounds, it's not that different from what we've been trained to accept as culture. Pop music, popular books, and popular films have all been created in assembly-line fashion for over a hundred years, in a corporate structure aimed at maximizing returns from a market. Most people don't care that much about the ghostwriter of a bestseller, or the technical crew named in the end credits of a blockbuster. When AI gifts us with a bop, most people will shrug their shoulders, say "it's a bop," and dance.

A lot of people believe, intuitively, that making art should be difficult. AI makes art a lot easier, but in that sense, so does modern industrially produced paint, which comes in a variety of colors that Michelangelo could only dream of. We lionize the Renaissance masters because of what they achieved with simpler tools, though I haven't heard many people suggest that painters today limit themselves to whatever colors and techniques were available in 15th century Italy. Still, there's an inherent tension between possible through innovation, and what is thereby lost.

Like most things, issues like this make me think of Star Trek. Specifically, I think of Data from The Next Generation. Data is an android character with markedly android mannerisms, and is a futuristic depiction of what can only be called AI, who nonetheless is presented to the audience as a person with an interior life that is equally valid to a human being's. When Starfleet Command wants to compulsorily reassign and disassemble him, the show explicitly compares this to human slavery. We are meant to evaluate Data's character as we would a human crew member, and not as we would a typical piece of the show's futuristic technology.

Data wants to be seen as human, and he does human things like making art. He is shown to practice several creative arts throughout the show's run, including poetry, comedy, music, acting, and painting. He studies these arts, and attempts to replicate them, struggling along the way to find his own creative voice. His early attempts often seem to bear out the claim that, not being human, he cannot produce anything that is both original and genuinely moving. As time passes, however, this is no longer clearly the case. Attentive viewers will note that Data grows into an artist who does create with an original voice, even if that voice is characteristically like an android - in other words, characteristically like Data.

Optimistically, we may be looking at a future where an AI personality not unlike Data will create works of art that will move us all. But it is important to remember that Data is not just an AI, he is a person - and not simply because he is portrayed by a human actor. We as viewers can accept Data's legitimacy as an artist because the show takes pains to reinforce his legitimacy as a person. But Midjourney is not a person. It lacks anything like the interiority that defines Data as a person in our eyes. Midjourney is not learning how to paint so that it can become a real boy.

What Jason Allen did probably qualifies as art, and Midjourney can probably be seen as analogous to a brush or any traditional artist's tool. A tool like this could, conceivably, help artists achieve breakthroughs of the same magnitude as the discovery of perspective, or the conceptual leaps of modernism. But put that tool into the hands of people who aren't artists - say, the hands of a CEO who wants to cut costs on the latest product of the content assembly line - and I'm afraid I have to say that the result will only cheapen the art. It could be visually indistinguishable from the most beautiful human artwork I have ever seen, and it won't be worth remembering. It will have value only as a commodity.

When I think of some of my favorite works of art, music, or writing, I reflect on how what makes them my favorite is not simply that I appreciate the shape of a line, the resonance of a harmony, or the word order of a sentence. What makes the experience of engaging with these things meaningful to me is not just that they exist, but that they represent the attempt of a real human being, just like me, to communicate with other human beings just like me. What use is art without artistry?

The joy that makes art worthwhile, even art that was produced for commercial purpose, is the knowledge that it wasn't just produced for commercial purposes. It's not enough that the thing was made because the maker believed some one would buy it, but that they felt in their own soul that they could reach that person in a way that had nothing to do with money. If I can't believe that about an artwork, then I can't care about it the same way as the works I truly love. It has to be more than something to consume, at the cheapest prices available.

I don't think it can be denied that AI will change our relationship with media, or challenge some core assumptions we have about creativity. The real question is, what are human beings (and the truly sentient AI of the future) going to do about "art?"

[eyrieofsynapses]

Redemption Panel Highlights and Reactions

GATORS

i.e., Beth Riesgraf and Christian Kane (mostly Beth) talking about filming the scenes in (what I presume is) The Rollin’ on the River Job, where they’re pulling some stuff out of the water, and finding out the next day that there was an absolutely massive alligator pulled out of the same place just a little while after they filmed it

Beth’s impression of the wildlife folks warning them about the alligators

Beth scaring the hell out of Noah Wyle by yelling “GATOR” at him just after he finished his scene

seriously that was an absolutely WILD part of the panel

Everyone showering Aleyse Shannon with literally all the love!

Aldis Hodge in particular big-brothering her, and also the older actors calling her out for not giving herself enough credit, and Dean Devlin talking about how she blew him away at the auditions with her ability to turn on a dime

Seeing Kane with his glasses off wiping at his eyes, momentarily thinking “you okay dude?” and then realizing that he was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes

(same)

The The Bucket Job clip! I’ve been a bit meh on a lot of Redemption, just in how it didn’t feel quite right, but that is possibly the absolute closest I’ve seen it get to the original in the best way. Brilliant

Which comes as no surprise since BETH RIESGRAF directed the episode!!! And apparently put an insane amount of effort in!

Beth’s utter delight and joy at both directing the episode and having the crew behind her

THE CHAIR

So apparently she and Christian went to town on the fight scene and he winds up tied up in a chair somewhere along the line and there’s a whole wild scene, which I am really looking forward to

Beth knowing how insanely particular he’d be about things like zip ties vs rope and what kind of rope e.t.c. e.t.c.

Apparently this is also tied into a VERY DEEP scene with Eliot? It sounds like they’re going to go super hard on his backstory, which is terrifyingly exciting

Just. Beth and Christian going very hard on that episode together

Speaking of: the panel’s going amazingly, I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts, things are relatively light, and then, of fucking course—

Kane hitting us over the head about Eliot being a mass murderer who can’t be redeemed, is trying to stay static so that he can maintain the place he’s in, and is thus LIVING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH HARRY

What the FUCK. This is of course incredibly insightful and perfectly on point (because it’s Kane) but also, EXCUSE ME, OUCH, why would you DO THAT to us?

Everyone talking about having their families on set and their kids!

Beth’s son growing up on the original Leverage set and now going into being a director himself!

Gina’s daughter also growing up on set!

Noah Wyle’s daughter is playing Harry’s daughter I REPEAT NOAH WYLE’S ACTUAL DAUGHTER IS PLAYING AS HARRY’S DAUGHTER

Gina Bellman remaining relatively stoic throughout much of the panel (seriously, this woman, how the heck does she do it) and then losing it when they’re asked about running/inside jokes

A lot of them are, of course, apparently not appropriate to be spoken on-panel

(A lot of the others are the little inside ones that are special enough not to be ones they want to share, which is sweet!)

Everyone collectively losing it over having LeVar Burton on for The Bucket Job

Devlin and everyone laughing about collecting the various Star Trek people on Leverage

Beth talking about Burton coming over while she’s getting ready and asking her if she’s living on coffee and water, her laughing because he was absolutely right, and then him gently reminding her to remember to eat, which is the sweetest thing in the world oh my gods

Kane apparently choreographing an intense scene with Burton and being scared out of his mind, because Burton really wanted to go for it, but to Kane it was like he’s a figurine that’s not to be messed with because he was so worried about hurting him

Kane choreographing a massive amount of the show, which I knew already, but seriously, this guy blows me away

Gina and the crew talking about how he’d be away for a day of shooting a fight and all of them would be missing him and thinking about him

Family Vibes

Everyone talking about how they’re very noisy and loud together on set and it’s a bit like walking into a group of people having Christmas dinner (or something to that effect) because they’re just Like That together

Aleyse being the most surprised by Beth when she met her because she was like a little angel of light during the auditions but turned out to be an absolute ball of wild energy on set

Gina going “wait you were a MODEL” at Beth

Aldis talking about how much he loved how Parker and Hardison’s relationship had developed and grown!

Also, Aldis apologizing when the New York (iirc) background noise got loud and everyone going “no no we get you”

His outfit is ON POINT today

Gina saying that Christian is the goofiest and wildest out of them in terms of humor

(she goes “some of you may not know this,” which, fair, but also, if you’ve seen more than ten minutes of this guy outside of character you know he’s an absolute ball of sunshine)

Gina, Beth, and Christian talking about how they’d challenge each other to stay off sweets back on the original set, because they knew they needed to stay in shape and also just because they’re competitive (apparently all of them are major sweet tooths) and hide brownies and things from each other, while Aldis is just. doing pushups. eating all the healthy stuff. and then wanders into the room with a literal cupful of chocolates

(and Aldis going “well yeah I have to work off the sweets SOMEHOW”)

Beth explaining that sometimes they’d order a “Kane burrito” from Christian and he’d alter it slightly

Like, you know, chopping up hot jalapenos super fine and mixing them in, and Beth practically not being able to talk after the first bite

Apparently Aldis still went back a lot even after that

(Christian just seems very pleased with himself over it)

(THESE PEOPLE)

Gina goes “hey we should have an episode where we all swap roles,” Devlin going “WAIT FOR SEASON ONE TO BE DONE,” and then somebody (maybe the moderator?? I don’t remember exactly) going “uh actually. We did that”

Cue immediate scramble of “WAIT WHICH JOB WAS THAT”

(paraphrasing) “Yeah you remember the bit where you put on Parker’s harness and went off a building?”

Turns out half the cast had actually forgotten that that existed and only remember when reminded

The original cast all think of the episodes as “jobs”!!!!

Everyone talking over each other, Devlin going “it was with Sterling when we blew up the offices,” deciding that it was the season one finale, and then trying to figure out what episode title it was (eventually they figure out it’s the David jobs)

Moderator and Devlin accurately commenting that the fans know the show much better than they do

Noah Wyle very correctly explaining how Electric Entertainment is like a family and Devlin just. Keeps people

Aleyse and Aldis talking about typing when they’re hacking and going “WHAT THE HECK DO WE TYPE”

Aldis goes “yeah I just type all the bad words that we’re not allowed to say”

Aleyse saying that she’s always a little worried they’re hiding a Word document behind the blue screen and they’re going to pull up what she’s typing at the end of the day and print it out and put it in her trailer going “what the HECK is this”

Noah talking about filming The Golf Job and just getting to direct Jason Marsters and Christian together

Apparently their dynamic in that episode accurately mirrors the one with their characters in Angel!

Which promptly goes straight to the comment that it was very hard to make Marsters look like a golfer (pfft)

(Also apparently Christian plays golf for fun with his friends? Not necessarily something I would’ve thought of!)

Aleyse happily talking about how she loved the dynamic on set and it was very different from what she was used to

Also Aleyse talking about doing stunts and everyone else praising her for going whole hog

Beth especially praising her for the bit where she’s hit with the paralysis injection (I don’t remember which ep it’s from) and her acting for it, because it was incredibly hard to drop off screen in the particular way she did

Aleyse promptly answers that she was terrified with some of those, especially one where she had to keep a clock from falling and breaking

Everyone discussing how they see a new aspect of Breanna’s character in The Train Job

Also, to get serious for a moment, Kate Rorick in particular talks about how Breanna’s part of Gen Z and how we didn’t get the “days of yore” where everything was chill. We’ve basically been living in a world of hostility the whole time. It’s something I deeply appreciate, as someone who’s part of that group, and I love how they emphasize that for us.

This panel was pure chaos and I loved every moment of it! My stomach was actually hurting from laughing so hard, I swear. They had me cackling well over half the time. I would happily take panels double or triple the length of this, this was amazing. I also adore how the second you drop these six people in a room together, they immediately take off and literally just run and give you everything you wanted and more. (It is also evidently very hard to get them to STOP talking.)

I’m also just going to stop and take a second to fawn over the effects for the 3D room. It’s gorgeous—I love how they replicated the headquarters, especially with the stained glass ceilings! Super impressive, especially with all the photos, and I just love the whole thing. Kudos to whoever put that together.

Anyway, I’m definitely missing some stuff too; seriously, there wasn’t a second wasted in this thing, they were cracking some kind of joke or dropping some really interesting piece of information practically every thirty seconds. (And I haven’t even gotten into the clips OR the bloopers. I miiiight do a separate reaction purely for those.) It’s still up right now if you missed it and you want to watch it! I’ll probably watch it again, honestly.

[yourwannabekpopidol]

Project 15

Apprenticeship Program Name: Radio Campbuzz Project Name: RJ for Rangdhonu and script writer for shows Program Date: Fall 2017 – Fall 2018 Program Description: I joined this program when Kashfia Ma’am was the advisor for the program. She assigned me to a RJ position for a weekly show called, “Rangdhonu”. And I had to write the script for the show as well. What I had to do was be a host for the show and the show is about pop culture and entertainment. So we had to talk about any new update on Hollywood and Bollywood. Program Justification: What the show provided was to let the students know about any pop culture and to let them enjoy some entertainment before going back to class. There were other shows but this show made me realize how fun it is to be a RJ. Due to this show, I was even awarded the best RJ in Radio Campbuzz of Spring 2018. Program Name: Rangdhonu. Program Time: Every Wednesday from 12 pm to 1 pm.

Picture 1: This is me before the show of Rangdhonu at the station.

Picture 2: This is the poster that declared that Nabeela apu and I were the host of the show, Rangdhonu, on social media.

Picture 3: This was the award and the certificate of me winning the best RJ.

Script for the 5th Rangdhonu show: Written by: Wangkhem Thonglen

Link 1

Sonam Kapoor ties the knot! Celebrity marriages are always the talk of the town, especially when it is the much-awaited wedding of one of Bollywood's most beloved stars, Sonam Kapoor. In an event of grand celebrations, Sonam Kapoor has finally tied the knot last Tuesday, May 8, with her long-time boyfriend Anand Ahuja. For those who don't know, Anand Ahuja is a businessman who has founded his own fashion brand named Bhane. His Delhi-based business has made him quite successful despite his young age, and fans know him well for always being addressed fondly in Sonam's online posts. The couple is active on social media, and has never failed to win hearts through their messages of adoration and love. Radio Cambuzz wishes the couple a happy conjugal life!

SaRa May 12 marked the grand opening of SaRa's first showroom in Mirpur. The fashion house made a huge statement with endorsements from stars like Sara Zaker, Oyshee, Shahtaj, Pritom, Xefer, Azim, Doyel and many others. They were present during the opening, along with the owner S.M Khaled.

RABINDRA FESTIVALS AROUND THE COUNTRY The celebration of 157th birth anniversary of Tagore in Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka. Artistes performed in a programme by Jayita Rabindra Sangeet Shomillon Porishod in Mymensingh. Artistes did a cultural show in Rabindra Mela, Channel i premises, Dhaka. Artistes from Bangladesh and India performed in Rabindra Festival in Shelaidah Kuthibari, Kushtia. Also Sirajganj.

30 years of BAMBA - More than just bands After a break of almost four years, Bangladesh Musical Bands Association, better known as BAMBA, recently arranged a mega concert, 'BAMBA Live Chapter 1', in Dhaka. The turnout was huge, with the spacious hall room of the International Convention Centre, Bashundhara, filled to the brim with fans eager to get a glimpse of their favorite bands and listen to their all-time hits. 11 of the 27 bands under the umbrella of BAMBA, including Warfaze, Miles, Shunno, Aurthohin, Nemesis, Vikings, Feedback, Dalchhut, Maq O' Dhaka, Pentagon and Arbovirus performed at the concert. Star Showbiz recently invited BAMBA to participate at a roundtable discussion at The Daily Star Centre. Hamin Ahmed, President of BAMBA; Sheikh Monirul Alam Tipu, General Secretary; Fuad Naser Babu, Vice President; Maqsoodul Haque (Mac), Executive Committee Member; Mohammad Ali Shumon, Treasurer; and Doza Alan, CEO, SkyTracker Limited, took part in the roundtable discussion. It was facilitated by Star Showbiz Editor Rafi Hossain. The discussion focused on BAMBA's current activities and the way forward in the face of the challenges confronting our music industry.

Link 2

Zoe Saldana on the Hollywood Walk of Fame After smashing success as the alien warrior Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy films and more recently, Avengers: Infinity War, Zoe Saldana is on a path to eternal stardom, literally. She joins the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and her co-actor Chris Pratt, by receiving her very own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Zoe Saldana took to Instagram to express her gratitude, saying she is blessed and honored to be a part of the history of Hollywood. “May this open more doors for Latinx and all other under-represented community!” she further stated. Zoe Saldana has also appeared in James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar and the recent Star Trek trilogy. Being a constant presence in blockbuster sci-fi and fantasy films, Zoe Saldana is expected to become a top name in this specific genre quite soon. 2018 71st Cannes Film Festival From Tuesday May 8th til Saturday May 19th. Australian actress Cate Blanchett has been named as the President of the Jury. Asghar Farhadi's psychological thriller Everybody Knows, starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Ricardo Darín, opened the festival and competes in the Main Competition section The Han Solo spinoff Solo: A Star Wars Story touched down Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival, bringing its cast and a full-sized Chewbacca to the French Riviera extravaganza. Director Ron Howard, wearing a hat that read “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” introduced his cast before the film’s international premiere at Cannes. Sonam Kapoor wows at the red carpet of Cannes Film Festival 2018. Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai Bachchan once again stole the show as she walked the prestigious red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, this time in a stunning ultra-violet, blue and red gown that reflected the metamorphosis of a butterfly. History was made at this year's 71st  Cannes Film Festival on Saturday as 82 women, representing the limited number of women filmmakers selected over its more than seven-decade history, made a symbolic walk up the red carpet. The stars, filmmakers and other professionals ascended the steps of the Palais des Festivals at the Cannes Film Festival, protesting for the solidarity of the women in the industry who are struggling for a voice, equal pay, as well as a safer work place. The five female members of this year's Cannes jury-- Cate Blanchett, Kristen Stewart, Ava DuVernay, Lea Seydoux and Burundian singer Khadja Nin, along with Jane Fonda, Salma Hayek and Marion Cotillard were among the group of women.

Link 3 Mim Mantasha Superstar in the making Winning the country's biggest pageant is not an ordinary feat. Mim Mantasha has won not just a crown, but also the hearts of millions. Awaiting a new journey, the Lux Channel i Superstar 2018 winner shares her story with The Daily Star. A final year student of Fine Arts at Jahangirnagar University, Mim has always been a creative and curious soul. She was an avid follower of the contest for a long time. This year, she finally took the decision to compete. Taking part in the competition was certainly not a cakewalk. “We went through vigorous training sessions. We did yoga in the mornings,” explains Mim.  Before the task rounds, the contestants went through fifteen days of training for ramp walk, acting, dancing, and many other skills. The photo shoots, acting, and improvisation rounds were Mim's favourite tasks in the competition. “I was nervous but in a scene, I got to convince people through my acting that my child was lost. I enjoyed it,” Mim smiles, adding that the competition was an overall memorable experience. Although she is highly enthusiastic about working in the media, she wants to take more preparations before doing so. She is now Lux Bangladesh's brand ambassador and has also won the opportunity to work on television and feature film projects of Impress Telefilm. Before hitting the silver screen, Mim wants to explore the world of television. Being a painter at heart, Mim also wants to continue painting and have her own exhibition in the future. Further to this, she intends to work for children who need special care. “I am in a fortunate position and it is our duty to take care of those in need.” says Mim. With great intentions, we hope Mim Mantasha excels at every step of her future endevours.

Link 4

Avengers Infinity War Review The plot itself is pretty simple. There are six stones that possess mystic powers and he/she who possesses all the stones is by default the most powerful being in the universe. Our Marvel superheroes must forget their own conflicts and join forces against Thanos to restore the fate of the universe and its inhabitants. Of course, watch the movie to know how things pan out. Avengers: Infinity War is the movie of movies, and let me tell you why. Most, if not all, the characters of the MCU are present in this film and bring their own flavour into the mix. Thor is mourning the loss of his home and hammer, Stark feels he needs to take a break from saving the world, Captain America is still out to bring justice the right way, and Hulk has no control over himself. I don't know what formula the Russo brothers have applied in their direction but I watched in awe how all the characters blended to deliver multiple storylines within a movie. Yes, I have also compared this movie to a mega three-hour episode of your daily soap opera. Avengers: Infinity War is the comprehensive Marvel movie; it is the beginning of an end. It lifts you, it hits you, and leaves you with a cliffhanger extraordinaire. See it to believe it and it'll still be unbelievable. By next weekend, Infinity War will top $1.78 billion and could sit around $1.8 billion, ensuring Marvel's year-to-date tally exceeds $3.1 billion by next Sunday.

Deadpool 2 Marketing Right off the bat, you see how Deadpool has scratched out the 20th Century Fox logo and put “TBD,” which is a sly allusion to the ongoing Disney/Fox (and Comcast?) merger drama. The content of the letter is exactly what you might expect from the Merc with a Mouth. Pop culture references, silly puns, bad language, and Ryan Reynolds bashing. Then, at the bottom, instead of the #ThanosDemandsYourSilence, we get #WadeWilsonDemandsYourSisterSorryStupidAutoCorrectSilence. See, you guys, it’s funny! And not at all trying too hard. Kidding aside, the marketing for “Deadpool 2” has been pretty top notch, but perhaps not as great as the first film. Recently, the film premiered a music video for the soundtrack featuring Celine Dion singing an over-the-top ballad while a high-heel-wearing Deadpool does an interpretive dance around the diva. It’s ridiculous and fun. And also, the most recent trailer seems to have struck a chord with fans, who are coming down off their ‘Infinity War’ high.

Link 5

Top 10 Hollywood Box Office Weekend 1. Avengers: Infinity War - $62,078,047 (Total Grossing – $548,090,150) 2. Life of the Party - $17,886,075 (New) 3. Breaking In - $17,630,285 (New) 4. Overboard - $9,864,415 5. A Quiet Place - $6,455,396 (Total Grossing - $169,608,030) 6. I Feel Pretty - $3,805,437 7. Rampage - $3,462,442 (Total Grossing - $89,827,105) 8. Tully - $2,248,945 9. Black Panther -  $2,077,207 (Total Grossing - $696,331,818) 10. RBG - $1,188,186

Billboard’s top 10 Hits 1. This Is America – Childish Gambino (New) 2. Nice For What – Drake (Last Week: 1) 3. God’s Plan – Drake 4. Psycho – Post Malone Featuring Ty Dolla $ign (Last Week: 2) 5. Meant To Be – Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line 6. The Middle – Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey 7. Look Alive – BlocBoy JB Featuring Drake 8. Never Be The Same – Camila Cabello 9. Perfect – Ed Sheeran (Last Week: 12) 10. No Tears Left To Cry – Ariana Grande Learning and reflections: This program made me realize the inner potential I had to be so extrovert and be a good host. I learned what to do or say after getting stuck during a live session. I have improved my speaking skills and the flow of a RJ host on how to talk and say because they have a different tone when it comes to a live session. I have taken all these skills from this program and I even got selected and did a short commercial video for Spice FM Radio. I also learned how to write a script for a radio show.

[aion-rsa]

My Universe: BTS & Coldplay’s Sci-Fi Music Video Explained

https://ift.tt/3im7ht2

BTS and Coldplay went fully, gloriously sci-fi in the music video for their collaboration, “My Universe.” In the new music video, released at midnight on September 30th, the two bands exist in a futuristic reality where music is forbidden. In spite of the ban, and with the help of a space DJ, the groups come together for a high-energy, galaxy-spanning performance of their new song.

The “My Universe” music video/short film is directed by Dave Meyers, an American filmmaker best known for his commercials and music videos, which include MVs for artists Drake, Ed Sheeran, Pink, Normani, Ariana Grande, and many, many more. High-concept, genre-driven music videos are par for the course in the visually immersive world of K-pop, but are less common in western music videos, which (save for some outliers, like Janelle Monae’s funky, political sci-fi adventures) have more “grounded,” realistic aesthetics, even when they skew fantastical. A great example of the latter is Harry Styles’ “Adore You” video. Also directed by Meyers—it has a speculative fiction premise in which Styles has a literally blinding smile, falls in love with a fish, and is able to power his sailboat using the winds of his jarred yells, but keeps its visuals down to Earth to tell its fairy tale-like story.

“My Universe,” on the other hand, embraces the science fiction aesthetics of working class space operas like Space Sweepers or Guardians of the Galaxy, with some (and I mean this as a compliment) Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century thrown in for good measure.

Rebellion is a popular theme in the space opera subgenre, and it’s one that “My Universe” embraces. The video is set in an intergalactic future in a place known where all music is banned. Three different bands—BTS, Coldplay, and a fictional alien supergroup called Supernova7—who live on three different plans defy the ban to create music together via hologram. They are hunted by The Silencers, who enforce the no-music status quo.

Most importantly, the music video doesn’t prioritize either Coldplay or BTS’ worlds. While we may visit Coldplay’s dry, graffitied planet first, where we first meet BTS in their holographic forms, we also go to BTS’ industrial-dystopia home, where Coldplay visits as holograms. The music video’s best moment, in fact, comes when we follow a flickering, holographic V from Coldplay’s planet back to his own, where he—and, with him, the six other members—bloom into more tangible form.

Read more

Culture

Squid Game Competitions, As Played By BTS

By Kayti Burt

TV

Did BTS Invent Star Trek?

By Kayti Burt

The design and CGI for the video is impressive and varied, though a little too busy to fully appreciate the stunning outer space visuals, Tron-esque spaceships interiors, and alien planet-scapes. The video includes visual callbacks to the official lyric video for “My Universe,” which is beautifully designed to feature the multi-colored English and Korean-language lyrics zooming through space. The colors and premise are also reminiscent of the video serial that was part of BTS’ Muster Sowoozoo Concert in June. In the story, the seven members of BTS make their way across an alien landscape in a camper van, searching for a safe place to meet ARMY. While the Sowoozoo serial was much cozier and more chill than “My Universe” video, I’d love to hear some good head canon about how these videos exist in the same fictional universe.

What Does the “My Universe” Music Video Mean?

Both the “My Universe” song and music video have a pretty broad, easy-to-get-behind concept. The love song is about a relationship that transcends boundaries. Thematically, the idea of coming together across divisions or differences is particularly poignant when performed by bands from different sides of the planet. This is reinforced by the decision to include Korean-language lyrics in the collaboration. BTS has proven themselves more than capable of singing in English. Three of their latest hits—”Dynamite,” “Butter,” and “Permission to Dance”—are all sung fully in the English language by the Korean band. However, BTS and Coldplay chose to feature Korean-language elements as an integral part of the collaboration, emphasizing the multicultural nature of the song and its message.

The music video doubles down on the theme of people coming together despite distance and differences. In it, BTS and Coldplay (and, OK, alien supergroup Supernova 7) are excited to collaborate. Together, they make something beautiful and special that brings them joy despite the seemingly dismal worlds that surrounds them both. Here, the enemy is not difference, but a mysterious, totalitarian force that has banned all music. Personified by “The Silencers,” this antagonist can be broadly interpreted by the societal prejudices that can sometimes keep up apart, but also by a pandemic that has made the most basic rituals of togetherness more complicated. It doesn’t seem a coincidence that the fictional versions of BTS and Coldplay featured in this video are unable to be together in person. It’s a representation of the forced physical distance that has come to define much of the past few years. It’s why seeing the bands find a way, despite their harsh reality, to share a joyful experience so damn inspiring.

While the visuals of “My Universe” may be intentionally futuristic, the ability to play together across vast swathes of space is not. Just last week, Coldplay and BTS performed as part of the Global Citizen Live event. The bands were in two different countries—Coldplay in NYC, and BTS back home in Seoul—but came “together” on stage. The seven members of BTS were featured as holograms on a backdrop as Chris Martin sang both English and Korean-language parts of the song. (The Korean-language rap sections performed by Suga and J-Hope were pre-recorded.) Coldplay notably traveled to Korea to record “My Universe” during the pandemic.

“My Universe” Music Video Ending Explained

The breakout character from the “My Universe” music video is arguably DJ Lafrique, played by actress Joe Diao. DJ Lafrique is the character who is able to bring Coldplay and BTS together, across the universe. She is the most powerful figure featured in this story, and her rebellion comes at a high risk. At the end of the video, The Silencers find DJ Lafrique’s ship, which is making the intergalactic jam session possible. The Silencers’ power up their Death Star-like weapon in preparation to take out DJ Lafrique. However, BTS and Coldplay are able to buy her time by rocking out even more intensely (as you do); she powers up her hyperdrive and blips away before The Silencers can silence her forever.

The ending works for the video; it would be jarring to watch a music video featuring BTS that doesn’t end with a message of hope. The Korean band’s full name, Bangtan Sonyeondan, can be translated as “Bulletproof Boyscouts,” and the group has always seen it as one of their primary missions to act as a buffer between young people and the harsh stereotypes and pressures they face. While the group has always worked to be a balm in a harsh world, this has especially been the case since the outbreak of COVID, which has brought with it unprecedented mental health challenges. In the wake of the global crisis, BTS has worked to be a comfort to their global fandom, known as ARMY. When they released album “Be” in November 2020, member Jin said during the accompanying press conference: “Our goal with the music on ‘BE’ is that it can be a comfort to a lot of people … If many people can relate to it, I will be really thankful.”

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

What did you think of “My Universe”‘s science fiction concept? Let us know in the comments below.

The post My Universe: BTS & Coldplay’s Sci-Fi Music Video Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3kRPUSt

[anotheruserwithnoname]

This is turning into an awful week for fans of TV and film. Now we’ve lost iconic Canadian actor Christopher Plummer. There are so many films and TV shows of his that I have enjoyed over my life. The Sound of Music is arguably the best known (even though Plummer himself for most of his life wasn’t a fan). He also played General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (his scenery-chewing competition with fellow Canadian William Shatner was a joy to behold), Charles Lytton in Return of the Pink Panther, commanders and generals on both the Allied and Nazi sides in numerous war films and Rudyard Kipling in The Man Who Would be King. He also played Canada’s first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, in the miniseries Riel, and narrated an animated version of Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince that was a Christmas TV staple for many Canadian children in the 1970s.

Along the way, he also starred in the espionage TV series Counterstrike for a few seasons, and even found time to provide a character voice in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim video game. More recently, he was featured in the film Knives Out, and is the oldest actor to date to win a Best Actor Oscar for his role in Beginners. He was still filming roles as late as 2019.

A true legend. RIP.

[best-star-trek-character]

Round Two

[sol1056]

something fascinating from a sociological meta perspective about all these franchises going off the rails and ending bleakly is that it's in line with studios attempting to cash in on the modern nihilistic sense of humor. I saw someone describe it as "pop culture nihilism" and this feels so off-putting yet accurate, that instead of getting uplifting tales to make us feel and do better we get stories that only affirm that nothing we do will matter

we’ve always had stories like that. it’s just far more prevalent in the era of stories being gate-kept by corporations and/or producers from the one-percent. of course they prefer stories that emphasize nothing ever matters, because the last thing they want is change. or that’s the second-to-last thing they want, with the actual last thing being competition.  

it’s not just grimdark nihilism, either. you can see it in rom-coms where a successful big-city character experiences small-town life and discovers that doing small-town things on a small-town budget is just so much more fulfilling than wearing the latest fashions, having access to all the newest broadway shows, international cuisines, amazing museums... oh, no, that can’t possibly compare to truck rallies and small-town bake sales. 

while this is often gendered, with high-powered women forced to be a stand-in mother (or pretend wife) and discovering their previous material/physical success was a hollow substitute covering up their desperate need to be a wife and/or mother -- sometimes it shows up on the male side, too. 

where the high-powered corporate guy gets hit on the head or caught in a time loop or whatever gimmick and wakes up to find himself married to his high school sweetheart, working long grueling hours in blue collar, with three kids and too many bills to pay. yet somehow the lesson isn’t ‘thank god I made the choice I did not to get my girlfriend pregnant at sixteen and have to marry’ but ‘wow life is so much more fulfilling when you have little to no money, work in a brutal blue collar job, and have no prospects of affording college for those three monsters’. (or alternately, his car breaks down in a small town and he’s forced to deal with the locals and discovers they’re so much more ‘real’ and ‘true’ than the slick city types he’s used to.)

death of the author and all that, but in this case we have to look at who bankrolls these stories (at least in the US) -- and they’re very much the top-five-percent, financially. which means the story that’s supposedly affirming these situations as the ‘best’ thing (and all the limitations that come with that: less/lower education, less/lower job prospects, less/lower cultural exposure) are basically saying: oh, you should pity the person with the full bank account who’s just jetted off to Paris, or eats at the best restaurants, or shops at all the best tailors, who has corporate meetings all day and broadway tickets at night, the poor things, their lives are so hollow and empty what-with not knowing what it’s like to live in a ‘real’ place with its ‘real’ values. feel good in your small town with your limited prospects and your never-ending bills, because at least you have a ‘real’ life unlike these people with none of your worries. 

that’s a different kind of nihilism, but when you step back, you can see it’s just as bleak, in its own way. like stories that should be uplifting heroic sagas yet either end with nearly everyone (except the white people) dead or are gritty grimdark rise-to-the-top-only-to-get-stabbed -- there’s a common theme that trying to have more is gonna make you miserable and lonely (or dead, depending on the genre). and it’s all geared towards getting you to come away with the conclusion that those at the top are just miserable suffering bastards who have no friends other than their possessions and you’re so much better off not even trying. oh, those pitiful rich people. 

although sometimes it’s also gendered in another direction -- looking at you, Avengers and The Witcher -- where the story sets up the cards in such a way that a female character cannot simultaneously be powerful and a mother. Or that trying for both dooms her in some way, although more often she’s forced to ‘sacrifice’ being a mother if she’s to gain that power. And then, of course, she views herself as an aberration or as broken, as if an inability to bear children renders a woman somehow monstrous. (it’s only one step removed from the true monstrosity, culturally, of a woman who refuses to have children, which is also on the story gatekeepers’ list of characters that must be punished for daring to step out of line.)

but all that said, we need to look at the stories that have staying power -- and a lot of the stories that come to mind, right now, just haven’t been around long enough to demonstrate whether they’ll become cultural touchstones. 

whenever we talk about stories and the zeitgeist, I’m reminded of that avatar movie (the one with blue people) that was so lauded at the time for its technical stuff, that it’d stand up there with Titanic and It’s a Wonderful Life and whatever. But now (if it’s ever even mentioned) it’s mostly in terms of comparison of budget, or special effects. otherwise it was mostly seems a blip on the cultural radar, quickly forgotten, but you need that time and distance to see that it was barely a few ripples in the cultural ocean. 

compared to films like, say, the first Star Wars movie. or Lord of the Rings -- book or movie. or any of Jane Austen’s books. all of those fundamentally do posit worlds in which change can happen, there can be happy endings where the bad guys are put in their place and the good guys (even the little ones) can eventually prevail. there’s a ton of others, across every genre, but it takes time to see that long-term impact. 

which is to say, yes. over the past thirty years, there’s been a tremendous trend (especially in fantasy) to take a grimdark approach where nothing we do will ever matter and/or we shouldn’t try to do anything because it’s doomed to failure/misery. there’s tons of books and films and shows pushing that perspective. in the end, though, the stories that matter most, the ones whose lessons have the greatest impact, are those we go back to over multiple generations, remaking them, recasting them, revisiting them. 

those are the time-tested stories that speak loudest, and I would not be surprised if --- like A New Hope or Lord of the Rings or Star Trek --- those stories, overall, are ones that argue the exact opposite of this flash-in-the-pan nihilism. that even the smallest can play a role, that change is not only possible but worth the fight, and that the arc of history does bend towards justice. 

[papermoonloveslucy]

19th PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS

June 4, 1967

“The 19th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards” were held at the Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, and broadcast on ABC, on June 4, 1967. The ceremony was hosted by Joey Bishop and Hugh Downs. 

The nominees and winners, as they relate to Lucille Ball and Desilu Studios, were:

Outstanding Comedy Series 

The winner was “The Monkees”on NBC. 

Other nominees included the “The Andy Griffith Show” (filmed at Desilu), “Bewitched”, “Get Smart” and “Hogan’s Heroes”.  “The Lucy Show”, which had just completed its fifth season, was not nominated. A year earlier, “The Lucy Show” featured "Hogan’s Heroes” star Bob Crane and John Banner (above), who did a cameo as a Sergeant Schultz-type character uttering his famous line “I know nothing!” 

Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series

The winner was Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael on “The Lucy Show.”  

This was Ball’s third acting Emmy, having also won for “I Love Lucy” in 1953 and 1955. She will win again for “The Lucy Show” in 1968, her last competitive acting Emmy. 

Ball sat at a table with Gale Gordon and her husband Gary Morton. Clips of the their work are shown as the nominees names are read and Lucy’s brief clip is from “Lucy and the Rina-A-Ding Ring” (TLS S5;E5) with Gale Gordon. As her name was announced by Carl Reiner (co-presenting with Barbara Eden), Ball was stunned, saying “I don’t believe it.”  The orchestra played the theme from “The Lucy Show.” 

At the podium, she became visibly moved during her acceptance speech. While she mixes up her wins from the 1950s — thinking that her second Emmy came “because I had a baby” when that had been her first — she was clearly grateful for this honor from her peers. 

Ball’s 1967 competition included Elizabeth Montgomery and Agnes Moorhead for “Bewitched” and Marlo Thomas for “That Girl”.  Montgomery was then married to William Asher, who had directed Ball on “I Love Lucy.” Thomas’s father was Danny Thomas, Ball’s friend and collaborator on numerous projects. 

Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series

The winner was Frances Bavier a Aunt Bee on the Desilu-filmed “The Andy Griffith Show.”  

Nancy Kulp, who was seen on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show”, was nominated for “The Beverly Hillbillies”. 

Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series

The winner was Don Adams as Maxwell Smart on “Get Smart”. 

Nominee Bob Crane of “Hogan’s Heroes” guest-starred as himself on “The Lucy Show” in 1966. The episode depicted Lucy and Crane making a war film, not unlike the setting of “Hogan’s Heroes.” 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

The winner was Don Knotts as Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show,” his fifth Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Comedy, a record that still stands. 

In 1973, Knotts guest starred on “Here’s Lucy,” as a cousin of Lucy’s boss and brother-in-law, Harry, played by Gale Gordon. Coincidentally, Gale Gordon was also nominated in this category for playing Mr. Mooney in “The Lucy Show.” Gordon was previously nominated in 1955 for “Our Miss Brooks”. He would be nominated two more times, the last time for “Here’s Lucy,” but never won. 

Outstanding Drama Series

“Mission: Impossible” was the winner. 

"Mission: Impossible’s” first season was filmed at Desilu and “Here’s Lucy” did a satire of the show titled “Lucy’s Impossible Mission” (HL S1;E6). The series also won for best Dramatic Writing. 

Other nominees included Desilu’s “Star Trek”.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

The winner was Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter on Desilu’s “Mission: Impossible.” 

Bain was the first actress in the history of television to be awarded three consecutive Emmy Awards - 1967, 1968, and 1969 - all for the same role.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

The winner was Bill Cosby as Alexander Scott on “I Spy”. 

Martin Landau was nominated for Desilu’s “Mission: Impossible.” David Janssen was nominated for “The Fugitive,” a series alluded to when Lucy Carmichael is pursued by a one-armed fugitive on a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show.” 

Outstanding Variety Series

The winner was “The Andy Williams Show”. 

Nominees included “The Dean Martin Show” which Lucille Ball appeared on three times and “The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson” on which Lucy also appeared several times. 

Outstanding Musical Program

The winner was “Brigadoon” a television adaptation of the 1948 Broadway musical by Lerner and Loewe. It starred Robert Goulet, who had just appeared on Broadway in Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot. Goulet played himself (and two doppelgangers) on an October 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show.” 

Outstanding Variety Show

The winner was “The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special" on CBS. In 1968, Sid Caesar guest starred as himself and his criminal doppelganger on “The Lucy Show.”

Outstanding Children’s Show

The winner was “Jack and The Beanstalk,” a Hanna-Barbera adaptation featuring the voice of Janet Waldo, who played Peggy on “I Love Lucy” and Lucy’s sister on “The Lucy Show.” 

Achievement in Daytime Programming

The winner was “The Mike Douglas Show.” Lucille Ball made a dozen appearances on the talk show, including co-hosting for a week in 1978. 

Outstanding Dramatic Program

The winner was “Death of a Salesman”, a television adaptation of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Arthur Miller. The title was alluded to in a 1953 episode of “I Love Lucy.” 

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy

The winner was James Frawley for ”The Monkees”.  

Maury Thompson was nominated for “The Lucy Show.” Thompson had directed 49 episodes of the series from 1965 to 1967. This was his only nomination. 

In 1967, Emmy winner Lucille Ball had succeeded in making Desilu profitable again. Less than two months after the ceremony, she sold her shares of Desilu to Paramount Studios who renamed it Paramount Television. Lucille Ball formed Lucille Ball Productions (LBP) to produce “Here’s Lucy” while renting studio space from Paramount. 

The dress that Lucille Ball wore to the Emmy Awards in 1967 later came up for auction. The custom made, pastel blue, green and pink abstract floral, floor-length gown was ornamented with strings of silver sequins overall. The gown came with a matching clutch.

[luninosity]

2019 writing round-up post!

It's been an interesting year!

Once again, I suspect I wrote more overall than last year - but much more heavily original, and even less fanfic (but still some!) again. But a couple of those have been stories people really love, or seem to, from the AO3 comments etc. I didn't finish one thing I'd really meant to finish, but I did write a 254k novel, which, what even.

So...let's see what all those things are!

Academic (just to get this out of the way first) ~A book chapter on Disney's Robin Hood for an edited collection on Disney & pop culture (my chapter's around 5,000 words) ~The intro/my chapter/overall editorial work/bibliography for the Terry Pratchett book, coming 2020 (collectively, probably around 15k words of my own writing, plus comments on contributor essays) ~The book proposal for the Star Trek book (~3,000 words) ~The in-progress Neil Gaiman and Batman book chapter - currently around 2k, needs to be around 6k including references ~Plus one more successful grant application! Not listing all the conference/unpublished papers, but those too. Fanfic Stucky straight from your heart, E, 10,516 words - ah, yes, my contribution to the Bottom Bucky Fest! It was such a marvelous prompt, about Steve guiltily having a kinky fantasy about essentially rescuing and caring for the Winter Soldier (which also includes teaching him all about pleasure), and Bucky finding out about this, and them then negotiating ways to make this fantasy come true. I hadn't been writing as much Stucky, but this one flowed really well and felt really good, and people seem to like it! Evanstan (hmm - way less Evanstan this year! still some, at least...) Evanstan Round Robin 2019, T, 12,497 words overall, but my chapters total 2,528 words. The annual holiday collaborative masterpiece! So soft and fluffy this year - such a delight sharing this love and creation and fandom with everyone! Extra Sugar - My Evanstan epic fic-baby! I added chapters 30 & 31 in 2019, which brings the total to 107,533 words - which means, doing some math, that's + 4,000 words exactly, apparently! There'll be one more chapter. I know what it is, I just haven't had the time to write it. 2020 goal: finish off this series, completely, entirely, at the end. I'm still so amazed by this whole universe that I somehow made, and by the fandom response to it. *hugs you all* Cherik When It's Time, T, 2852 words - this one's not up on AO3 yet, though I think I can do that now, if it's okay with the @cherikzine  people! This was my story for the Bookends Cherik 'zine, and it's an AU with magicians in a sort of present-day fantasy setting version of the ending of Dark Phoenix, and it was fun to get back to one of my first real fandom loves, and I'm glad I wrote it. we are electric hearts, T,  2,732 words - fluffy little fun universe-crossover in which Erik and Charles meet Kris and Justin, my original Demon for Midwinter characters, written for @kernezelda <3 Original Fic (written and published in 2019) Gingerbread Dreams, M, 23,662 words - holiday m/m gingerbread competition baking fluff! A cranky judge! A cheerful ugly-sweater-wearing baker! The Grumpy One Is Soft For The Adorable One! The story I looked up medieval gingerbread recipes for, for a contestant challenge! Also contains a couple of familiar characters from "October Spice" in supporting roles... This story is also available as part of the Most Wonderful Time of the Year Trio Collection from JMS Books - three novellas bundled together, at a discount! October Spice, E, 3,130 words - the story that briefly made it to #1 Best Seller on Amazon in the LGBTQ Short Reads category! My super-short flash fiction romance for JMS Books, priced at only 99 cents! (Or even less, when on sale!) A first meeting, instant attraction (and some orgasms!), a Halloween-loving baker, and an adorable firefighter. (Evan and Matt (well, Matt in baked-goods artistic tribute) get a supporting role in Gingerbread Dreams, as mentioned above, if you want to know what they're up to...) (Also, Evan's last name is 100% an Ace of Cakes reference.) Bisclavret, T, 11,756 words - technically I had about 5k of this written YEARS ago, back when I first read Marie de France's 12th-century lai in grad school and immediately had to write an adaptation of it. But this version has extensive revisions, and ended up over twice as long. If you like stories about a medieval bisexual werewolf and the demisexual king he falls in love with, and a love of books and cuddling...well, that's basically what this one is! A Leather and Tea Morning, E,6,993 words - the first of the Leather and Tea sequels! (There'll be at least one more, about which more below.) Ben and Simon, a lazy morning, and some emotional comfort sex in the wake of Simon having been in a car accident. He's all recovered and everything - but there're some emotions that need to be dealt with, about Ben and protectiveness and tenderness and care and getting back to a very cautious-but-satisfying kinky scene. Sound the Fairy-Call, E, 5,545 words - the heavily rewritten (like, nearly twice as long, new original characters, world-building, all of that) original-fic version of my old Evanstan fic Glow, and it's basically the medieval fantasy healing-sex-in-a-forest story, with a fairy and a tired mercenary and Eastern European folklore references! Plus I've managed to quote Robert Graves in the epigraph! (To be precise, I wrote the first draft of this at the very very end of 2018 - I had literally just signed the contract before last year's writing round-up post. But then there was editing, revisions, etc, in 2019. So it counts!) This story is also available as part of the JMS Books 2019 Top Ten Gay Romance collection! Come pick up a copy and discover all the bestselling gay romance authors! The Ninepenny Element, M, 12,274 words - my first published lesbian romance! With a lawyer, a witch, some hexed earrings, a psychic younger brother, and a ghost puppy! This is essentially the sequel to Elemental (m/m, E, 12,776 words), since Verity's the older sister of Sterling from that story, but you don't necessarily have to've read that one first. There'll likely be one more - I have a vague idea about weather magic, and there's more to explore in this universe. The Pooka's Share, E, 20,205 words - a weary magical cop, an unruly faerie horse shapeshifter, and some creative punishments for apple-theft! More fun with folklore and sex and two people finding each other and turning out to be exactly what they both need, full of magic and compassion. This story is also available as part of the Legendary Loves Trio collection from JMS Books - three novellas bundled together, at a discount! Original Fic (written in 2019, publication contracts signed but stories not yet published) A Demon for Forever, E, 13,752 words - surprise! I thought I was done with the Demon for Midwinter universe - but JMS did a submissions call for stories celebrating LGBTQ marriage, and, well - I'd written the proposal story for Kris and Justin, so...we should get to see the wedding, right? This one'll be out in February. Justin may or may not wear a wedding dress. A sparkly one. :D Leather and Tea in London, E, 20,909 words - the third of the Leather and Tea stories! Written for the JMS Books BDSM collection call. Simon's brother needs a favor. So Ben and Simon head to London, bringing Ben's retired-spy skill set and also some fun toys for enjoying themselves... Original Fic (written in 2019, not yet under contract or published other than on AO3) Character Bleed, E, 254,099 words. Which means...since last year I had 40,371 words done...that's +213,728 words. In a year. Not even counting the Bonus Scenes (see below) or the sequel-in-progress. THIS STORY, YOU GUYS. I love it and these characters so much. It's the most ambitious thing I've ever tried to write, that whole story-within-a-story, being about actors filming a Regency-era gay love story, and falling in love themselves. I'm just looking at it all...and I'm in awe...and the response to this, oh wow. I've been so amazed and so grateful and so thrilled - the art, the trailer, the comments, the people thinking about these characters and loving them along with me - I'm so lucky to have all of you. *hugs everyone* And now I have to figure out what to do with it, and how and where one even publishes this behemoth, and how to cut it into manageable book-length divisions...! Character Bleed Bonus Scenes, E, 25,697 words currently - there'll be one more chapter, of which I have about a sentence written. I know exactly what that is, too - Colby getting to top, albeit still with Jason giving some directions. :D The untitled Character Bleed sequel, which is Leo's story - not up on AO3 yet, though I might start that with at least the prologue, later today or tomorrow. But it's already up to 15,511 words, plus my outline... Ember and Serenity, E, 20,752 words currently - I added chapter 4 in 2019, so about +5k words in 2019, I think? I do have plans for this one. Oh yes. My librarian-magician and his book-thief...yes. And if you're wondering who hired Serenity, well, there already has been a clue... :D

A few little scenes, odds and ends, plot bunnies like that necromancer/prince opening...not sure what the word count is there, probably a couple thousand. ~~ Okay, I THINK that's everything! Which is...a lot of words. Character Bleed alone...wow. Just...wow. It's definitely tilted even more toward original fic this year, and I didn't finish 'rain on tin,' which means it's been over a year since I've touched that one, so I'll have to get back to it!

But I did get to go back and write a couple things for my old Cherik loves, plus at least some Stucky & Evanstan, so that felt good, and I'm super-excited about lots of those original fic accomplishments - Amazon sales rank, sheer length, fun with medievalism, Top Ten achievements, my first lesbian romance, and of course everything about Character Bleed, which is, I think, my favorite thing I've written - it's so real in my head, and it was so weirdly easy to write, despite the length! Thanks for reading! I hope your year is starting off splendidly. <3

[jomalley-ferrisbueller-final]

A Closer Look at Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes, 1986)

The 1980s was the time of the teen film, with a number of iconic teen films coming out during that decade. One that has become a staple of the classic teen film is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes, 1986). Ferris’ legendary day off has become a dream for teens then and now still being quoted today within the halls of high schools around the country.

Bueller didn’t hit the big screen in the summer of 1986 without its fair share of long and tedious production issues. Director John Hughes took a lot of his inspiration from his own life growing up. Raised in Chicago, this city becomes the setting for a majority of his films. In fact, there are even websites that pinpoint exact locations all throughout Illinois where Hughes shot classic movies such as Bueller, The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985), and Home Alone (John Hughes, 1990). Looking at Buller specifically, a lot of aspects of the film reflect John Hughes. Ferris’s bedroom is created to look very similar to how Hughes’ room looked when he was a teenager, scenes for the film were shot in the hallways of his former high school, Glenbrook North and the character Ferris Bueller is actually based one of Hughes’ friends from his childhood with the same name. Edward McNally, a childhood friend of Hughes wrote an article for The Washington Post honoring the late director. As far as being named “the inspiration” for Bueller he is quoted as saying:

“…for years I was relentlessly pursued by a remarkably humorless Glenbrook dean about attendance, pranks and off-campus excursions -- and because my best friend was in fact named Buehler -- I've spent an inordinate amount of my life being unfairly accused of serving among the inspirations for Ferris Bueller.”

Looking at the production of the film, there were many different things that went into its creation. It only took three months to shoot the film between September 9, 1985, and November 22, 1985 which might not seem like a lot compared to how long shows or movies take to shoot today, but since a lot of their filming locations existed within miles of each other it was pretty easy to get everything shot in a short time. During the filming, John Hughes took some inspiration from Ferris on his impressive way to get the impossible done. The parade scene was shot during Chicago’s annual Von Steuben Day Parade. The float that Ferris is on was actually created for the film and was put in the parade route without the parade officials being aware of what was going on. With there being a real parade Hughes was able to get genuine footage of thousands of people enjoying a beautiful day in Chicago. When they needed to shoot more of the parade scene a week later, around 10,000 people showed up for the filming answering the call made on radio stations for extras to appear in a John Hughes film. In this scene, Ferris is featured lip-syncing the famous Beatles song “Twist and Shout” which came with its own set of issues. Paul McCarthy did not like the fact that Hughes had added the brass element to the song to make it seem as though the band was playing it at the parade. When John Hughes insisted on the Beatles song be used in the film, they ended up having to pay EMI $100,000 for the rights and allowance to change the song. While Hughes was adamant about some of the production decisions, they all proved successful in skyrocketing the film to one of the most fondly remembered films today.

The marketing for the film was very straight forward. There were a couple of articles written about the film in both the Daily News and well as The New York Times talking about the movie, giving an unbiased explanation of the film to promote it. There were also several 30-second commercials giving hints at Ferris’ crazy day off. Appealing to the teen audiences that Hughes is trying to relate to, the announcer narrates over scenes of the film saying, “it’s about life, it’s about liberty, it’s about the pursuit of recreation”. This phrasing attracts teenagers to the film because that is what they are looking for – freedom from the norm. 

Looking at the posters for the film it features many different slogans such as “One man’s struggle to take it easy”, “Because life is too beautiful a thing to waste”, “Leisure rules”, “While the rest of us were just thinking about it…Ferris borrowed a Ferrari and did it…all in a day”. Similar to the commercials, these phrases draw the teenager in because that type of thinking is really appealing to them. 

A teenager stuck in the rut of high school wants nothing more than to skip school and live out an amazing day with their best friends. This mentality is what brought teens to the theaters to live through Ferris.

The summer of 1986 saw a lot of hit films. Buller had some tough competition seeing films such as Top Gun (Tony Scott, 1986), Aliens (James Cameron, 1986), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Leonard Nimoy, 1986), and The Karate Kid Part II (John Avildsen, 1986) all hitting theaters in 1986. In the United States and Worldwide Box offices, Bueller placed in the top 10 of both lists sitting in the number 10 spot for all 1986 films. The budget for the film was an estimated $6,000,000 and not only broke even but made money-generating $6,275,647 during their opening weekend of June 15, 1986. Bueller, made nearly all of its money from domestic box offices bringing it $70,136,369 and only $1,469 in international box offices. Looking at the reception of the film it is easy to see how it was in the top 10 films of 1986.

Roger Ebert was one of the top movie reviewers of his time up until his death in 2013 after losing an eleven-year battle with cancer. Writing reviews for The Chicago Sun-Times for over 40 years, he became the first film critic to receive a Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. In 1986 he gave a review of Bueller and is quoted as saying “Here is one of the most innocent movies in a long time, a sweet, warm-hearted comedy about a teenager who skips school so he can help his best friend win some self-respect.” He talks about the plot of the film and ends his review by saying “…the film's heart is in the right place, and "Ferris Bueller" is slight, whimsical and sweet.” With Ebert’s review coming out on June 11, 1986, it’s easy to see that Bueller won over the hearts of teens and adults alike wishing that they were able to have a day off like Ferris did.

The non-critical reviews of this film are all pretty similar, it is regarded as a film of the generation that holds against the test of time. On Rotten Tomatoes, of the 728,405 user ratings, the average audience score is a high 92%. One “super reviewer”, Brendan N. is quoted as saying

“Classic cult film and a must-see for all generations. John Hughes created a lot of the teenage angst or coming of age films in the 80s and Ferris was quite possibly his greatest creation. Watching this on the big screen last night was a dream come true but having a film like this remaining so timeless does not hurt. The film is full of heart and the charm of Matthew Broderick is what elevates this from becoming just your average teenage comedy. I wish they would make more fun and creative films like this; no one tackles such a fun concept without falling into clichés and crude jokes. John Hughes created something truly special here. 12/11/2018.”

Since its release in 1986, Bueller, has remained a pivotal teen film for multiple generations. In 2016, Bueller turned 30 years old and Chicago celebrated the only way they knew how to: with a Ferris Fest. People were able to visit his heavily decorated bedroom, recreate the scene where Ferris pretends to be Sloan’s father picking her up from school, and of course a recreation of the famous parade scene featuring Twist and Shout. While this is more of a high scale remembrance of the 1986 film, you can see other companies paying homage to Bueller. During the 2017 Superbowl, Dominos aired a commercial where they recreated the infamous scene of Ferris racing home to get there before his parents find out he skipped school. Stranger Things (Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, 2016—) actor Joe Keery plays Ferris but this time he is racing home because his Domino’s pizza tracker just sent a notification to his smartwatch informing him that his pizza is about to arrive. When asked about the commercial the executive vice president of creative direction at CP&B said "This being an iconic movie we knew we had to pay homage to it and not deviate, not change it and put our own kind of spin on it outside of using Joe Keery and maybe making it a modern adaptation,".

Below you can see the original scene and then Joe Keery version. 

It can be agreed that this film has been relevant way past its release date. But why is that? Frances Smith looks to understand teen films as a whole and why they become so iconic. In her book Rethinking the Hollywood Teen Movie: Gender, Genre, and Identity, she explores this question and more. In Easy A (Will Gluck, 2010), the main character Olivia (Emma Stone) struggles to identify with the “hook up culture” happening around her within the high school hallways. She looks to the eighties to fantasize about a better life. 

Whatever happened to chivalry? Did it only exist in Eighties movies? I want John Cusack holding a boom-box outside my window. I want to ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist in the air because he knows he got me just once. I want my life to be like an eighties movie.” (138-139) 

To this Smith says:

This voiceover and the corresponding images reference Say Anything (Cameron Crowe, 1989), Can’t Buy Me Love (Steve Rash, 1987), Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which is presented for its musical number. With the exception of Sixteen Candles, all of these films center on male characters who, though cheeky, are portrayed as sexually innocent. The gestures to which Olive refers are particularly telling. Having her life ‘directed by John Hughes’ appears to involve her engaging in ostentatious courtship rituals in which the female partner is the grateful recipient of male affection, however dubious the circumstances in which it is bestowed.

Olivia dreams of having the production that teen heartthrobs would perform for their love interests. This is one reason that Bueller has remained so relevant today. No matter how the culture changes, everyone wants someone who would be willing to show the world how much they love them.

Another reason that this film has remained so relevant today is because of the underlying theme within the film is something that will never go away. The drive to find yourself and get out of your small town to explore is something that will always be a shared feeling among teenagers. In Kimberly M. Miller’s Clueless Times at the Ferris Bueller Club: A Critical Analysis of the Directional Works of Amy Heckerling and John Hughes she says 

A fine example can be found in the response to the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which received criticism for being too similar to Risky Business (Paul Brickman, 1983), as well as “lacking in irony,”10 and yet Ferris has become ingrained in the popular culture—even being ranked number ten on Entertainment Weekly’s “Fifty Best High School Movies” list (2012),11 in addition to being quoted by teens who see Ferris as a role model of “cool” despite the nearly thirty years that have passed since he took his day off.

Teens idolize him for doing what they have always wanted to do so they are able to live through him and his amazing day off.

Overall, Hughes has delivered a number of teen films that lasted well past their release date and will continue to be relatable in the future. Bueller is the perfect example of this because its underlying themes will never go out of style. Everyone wants to be a “righteous dude” and live their lives with the carefree regard for the rules that Ferris showed us back in 1986.

[charleskenny]

Animation Articles 03-2020

Animation Articles 03-2020

A selection of the best animation news, opinions, and features from around the world for the week ending January 11th, 2020.

Report: ‘Road To El Dorado’ And ‘Shark Tale’ Director Bibo Bergeron Indicted In France

Cartooon Brew

This news was quite a shock on a Monday morning; especially since A Monster in Paris is a favourite. But it’s a reminder that art and artist are not the same. Along with John K. this now makes two the number of alleged sexual predators I met at the 2013 CTN expo…

‘The Simpsons’ Star Hank Azaria Will No Longer Voice Apu

/Film

This is just a confirmation that the current status quo will continue but once again thrusts the argument over stereotypical portrayals into the limelight.

Aladdin’s John August Will Pen Animated Movie Musical About The Wizard of Oz‘s Toto

Playbill

If you thought Hollywood’s bar for flogging dead horses was too low, guess again.

Japan Academy Awards Announces Five Anime Films for Animation of the Year

Crunchyroll

Two live-action film adaptations of Japanese manga, Kingdom (based on Yasuhisa Hara’s historical manga) and Tonde Saitama (Mineo Maya’s comedy) are selected as “Excellent Film of the Year,” alongside Shimbun Kisha, Heisa Byoutou – Sorezore no Asa-, and Hachimitsu to Enrai.

Onward

/Film

The website /Film is helping put the marketing juggernaut for Pixar’s forthcoming feature ‘Onward’ into high gear with two articles this week. The standard puff piece may not interest you, but the more detailed article on the film’s production may deliver a more rewarding experience.

The Token Female Pixar Story Artist

Vulture

What was it like for Brenda Chapman as the only woman in a department of men at both Disney and Pixar? (Hint: not the friendliest places to work.)

Playmobil Movie Ends Theatrical Run With Just $1.1 Million

Comicbook.com

I want to see this movie as badly as I want to see Cats.

The Oscar Nominations

The nominations came out on Monday and depending on who you are and what you like, you were either very happy or very disappointed. Plenty of articles made at least a passing reference to Frozen II being ‘snubbed’, but aside from the usual ‘outrage‘ on social media, there were a few aspects that made it likely the film wouldn’t get the nod:

the competition was unprecedented this year (32 films!)

The Academy in general is still smitten with Toy Story

Box office performance tends not to matter at the Oscars

There’s also plenty of buzz about the impact that Netflix on the nominations, but I believe this to be overblown. Plenty of their animated films (and Klaus is certainly a specimen sample) are produced by third parties before being acquired by the company. Netflix is merely providing convenient distribution and opportunities. If I were GKIDS, I would be extremely nervous since Oscar nominations play a huge role in their marketing, and without a nomination their films become harder to sell to the general population.

Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli and the Citroën 2CV

Autoweek

Animators are not exactly famous for their cars (notable manga artists on the other hand…) but like any personal artefact, they can have a meaning and a purpose to the artist. Hayao Miyazaki’s Citroën 2CV says more about him than might be apparent on the surface, and Autoweek does a nice job of exploring why. For a take by the man himself, his essay in the collection ‘Starting Point‘ is a true insight.

Social Media of the Week

top 4 english filler texts 4. star trek's federation charter in patlabor 3. the lyrics to danger zone in sailor moon 2. the back cover of the muppet movie novelization in Black Magic M-66 1. an extremely bored vfx artist typing random shit in gundam the war for earth for ps1 pic.twitter.com/BdUf9KR0vD

— D?CFUTURE (@topherflorence) January 12, 2020

Oh hi #PortfolioDay a lot of my work is under NDA atm but here are some fun stuff I've done! I love making fun characters with candy colored schemes. https://t.co/cPi3tVnSDo pic.twitter.com/ue8all8Vh7

— SEN-PY NOTICES YOU (@pyawakit) January 15, 2020

Hello! I make cartoons and comics! My webcomic updates every Monday: https://t.co/rAyTEy99d1 You can buy my books and art at these fine places: ? https://t.co/MGCaXEIpKT ? https://t.co/IXdIoI51Fk ? https://t.co/SwGG2zE07R ? portfolio: https://t.co/aoTVVL35HT pic.twitter.com/zith3KsJub

— Brianne (@potatofarmgirl) January 14, 2020