#children need to watch the old animated hobbit movie

[nostalgiafactor08]

LOTR in a modern world headcanons? I think yes.

I did this on one of my old accounts that i ended up deleting for some reason, i don’t remember, but here. Back on my Lord Of The Rings BS, let’s gooooo. This’ll be the fellowship with everyone intact, no one is dead.

As always requests are open and let me know if you want more!

LOTR x GN! Reader, general headcanons for if you had to take care of them today, in 2023. Enjoy!

The ring most likely has no power in this dimension, so yay Frodo is free from torment!

Sam loves watching cooking, gardening and home renovation shows, and he gets very invested in the former two. You learn a lot you didn’t really need to know from his commentary

Once Pippin learns about pyjamas and fuzzy slippers he never goes back, you literally cannot get him out of them

Boromir and Aragorn, being human and coincidentally two of the most responsible members of the fellowship, are the easiest to take in public to the grocery store and such.

You can pass off the hobbits (if they cover their ears with their hair) as children, and Gimli is your friend with dwarfism.

Gandalf you can pass off as your grandfather, and Legolas looks pretty normal if you cover his ears.

Pippin is the type to bounce in his seat in the car and ask “Are we there yet?!” every 5 minutes

Frodo really likes to draw, especially when there’s so many cool places and movies to draw inspiration from.

Movie nights? No horrors. The hobbits are terrified by ‘em.

Movie nights are literally so difficult because they all have such different tastes

Merry really likes James Bond movies.

Pippin is obsessed with nail polish when you introduce him to it. Boromir gets his repainted every time the polish come off. His nails need serious help after a while

Pippin and Merry often start pillow fights, and drag everyone else into it

If you have space for a garden or plants in your home, Sam is on it. He finds it calming, so now you have some home grown plants :)

Taking the hobbits in public? Bad idea. You can trust Frodo and Sam, but Merry inevitably drags Pippin off to do something dumb and possibly dangerous.

Gandalf has an old man rocker. There is no discussion.

The hobbits do the classic “getting one sibling to ask for fast food because whoever’s in charge will say yes”, they get Frodo to do this because he has the best puppy dog face and he’s unsure about asking for things normally.

Pippin and Merry cannot handle too much caffeine or sugar or they go crazy

You thought Legolas’ hair was good before? He steals your hair care products and his hair is literally perfect.

(He’s also willing to do skincare with you, not that his face needs it. Again, flawless)

Game nights are so chaotic. You can’t play a lot of games since they don’t know what many things from this world are, so games like Trivia and Charades are off the table

Gimli and Legolas verse each other in video games, often enough it ends with Legolas winning and Gimli rage quitting

Aragorn is so responsible he’s literally the perfect man to do anything with, and he can hold the fort down if you need to leave

Pippin is so clingy, he trails you wherever you go and asks you random questions but it’s adorable

Boromir insists on carrying your stuff, bags of groceries, all that

Frodo often goes to the library to find new books to read, with you of course

There’s a whole debate on whether 3D or 2D animation is better, i would not get involved if i were you.

Pippin and Merry are also avid fans of quoting their favourite movies, once they see them

Legolas and Frodo are the best listeners, they will just sit there and not judge or try to give you advice they just. sit there. like the perfect men they are.

Legolas would have a meme for everything. Like any situation. You text him like “PIPPIN FELL DOWN SOME WELL WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A WELL HELP” and he just has a meme that fits the situation perfectly.

Frodo and Legolas would watch Avatar: The Last Airbender together because it’s their favourite show. Aragorn jumps in also.

Those three are also avid tea drinkers.

Boromir likes Game Of Thrones. I don’t know anything about it, he just does. Please confiscate Pippin while he does.

Pippin gasps dramatically whenever a plot twist surprises him.

Sam loves to cook, and he does a lot of cooking in the house once he arrives. You two just work together in the kitchen (if you can’t cook, he’ll teach you) and have nice sweet conversations

Legolas is great at doing people’s hair. If you ask him to, he’d probably agree, though he’d probably be a bit flustered as that is a courting ritual in his culture.

Ask Legolas to talk to you until you fall asleep. His voice is so heavenly istg-

The hobbits get sleepy when their hair is played with and it’s adorable

Won’t lie this hyperfixation came back then it circled back to TMNT and today i watched these films with my friend and now i’m back to LotR love. Most of this has been sitting in my drafts for a couple weeks.

Anyway, I think that’s about it from me, I hope you guys enjoy! :)

If you want to request, rules are pinned on my page! Let me know if you want a general part two or a set of modern headcanons for a specific character. I love LOTR in the modern world content so much.

Have a good day, and remember that you are loved!

[azzie-mazzie]

„ ...and these children

that you spit on

as they try to change their worlds

are immune to your consultations

they're quite aware

of what they're going through...“

- david bowie

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welcome to my girlblog!

azzie , sixteen , november sagittarius , any pronouns , polish-ukrainian , trilingual , reading , writing , enfp , pinterest girlie , oldest child , cabin 7 , slytherin , thought + thot daughter

wifey!!: @myhyperfixationisbooks

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

currently reading; good omens, by neil gaiman + terry pratchett

currently watching; brooklyn 99

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socials;

spotify!! <3

pinterest!! <3

tiktok!! <3 - @ lady_grinning.soul

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im a girl who loves...

david bowie , heels , jeans , red pandas , sylvia plath , fashion , my guitar , ootds , lana del rey , fruit salad , history , ancient greece , languages , halloween , late nights , vivienne westwood , poland , dark red , black , (coriolanus) snow , music , reading , fall , yelling at the tv whenever poland plays soccer , kiss me kiss me kiss me by the cure , horror , coffee , fashion shows , concerts , movies , dancing , jules verne , traveling , people with asymetrical faces and big noses , fangoria magazine , nyt games , going out , cold weather , birthday parties , new york , charli xcx , troye sivan , doing my hair , learning new words , making new friends , talking , daydreaming , piercings , being borderline delusional , ranting , shopping , chai tea lattes , procrastinating , blackberry everything , the roaring 20s , 1970s+60s , 1980s + 90s , sleeping , girlbloggers , messy girl lifestyle , makeup , flowers , animals , being goth and punk , tea , being dramatic , etc <3

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

fangirl favorites

spotify deep dive;

david bowie , hozier , bikini kill , the cramps , the cure , arctic monkeys , lana del rey , hole , the rocky horror soundtrack , puzzled panther , gogol bordello , babes in toyland , bauhaus , soft cell , charli xcx , ayesha erotica , le tigre , dazey and the scouts , p!atd , t.love , paramore , siouxsie and the banshees , sisters of mercy , lebanon hanover , cocteau twins , echo and the bunnymen , sanah , fleetwood mac , the smiths , duran duran , misfits , abba , the cranberries , mommy long legs , L7 , emilys sassy line , bratmobile , grlwood , slutever , etc <3

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film files;

the rocky horror picture show , the princess bride , the highlander , evil dead , 10 things i hate about you , childs play , house of 1000 corpses , scary movie , the devil wears prada , scream , austin powers , corpse bride , edward scissorhands , labyrinth , the dark crystal , the craft , heathers , the perks of being a wallflower , the lost boys , monster in paris , heathers , the breakfast club , sixteen candles , ferris bueller's day off , die hard , the shining , the outsiders , men in black , pride and prejudice , beetlejuice , the neverending story , the wizard of oz , dirty dancing , grease , a cinderella story , white chicks , she's the man , mean girls , legally blonde , thirteen , girl interrupted , twilight (ironically) , old disney <3

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tv show archive;

the powerpuff girls , young sheldon , the office , the dragon prince , stranger things, good omens , a series of unfortunate events , derry girls , ash vs evil dead , the witcher , anne with an e , the umbrella academy , the end of the f***ing world , supernatural, avatar the last airbender, the moomins (1978), brooklyn 99, seinfeld <3

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bookshelf;

good omens , anne of green gables , renegades , the bell jar , the darkest minds , the hunger games , the metamorphosis , percy jackson , pride and prejudice , lord of the rings, the hobbit, a good girls guide to murder , the song of achilles , shades of magic series , vicious , the night circus , red queen series <3

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please please please dm me if we have the same interests , need to chat , or wanna be moots!! i love meeting new ppl and being able to interact with yall xoxo mwah 💗

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!! dni if you are nsfw , 18+ , a mature themed blogs, racist , homophobic , misogynistic , and rude. this is a safe space for myself and others, do NOT ruin it by being oppressive !!

^if you are over the age of 18 and a girlblogger you are exempt from this

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i am atheist , pro choice, pro lgbt and do not support russia in the war. i don't typically talk about these topics, but if you can't deal with with my views and beliefs , simply do not interact with me. thank you!

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[umbralrosa]

15 Questions For The Writer

Tagged By: @uppermoonkoku

Tagging: @s-talking, @cursesavior, @brazenlystrong, @astra-stellaris, @casketdweller, and anyone who wishes to do so

are you named after anyone?

I'm named after the Elysian Fields in Greek mythology: Elysia.

when was the last time you cried?

When my old dog of 17 died in September '23. I ugly cried for 2 days straight. Talking about her or thinking too deeply of her is quick to make me emotional.

do you have kids?

No. I will never have kids – unless you count dogs or cats. I loathe children, and have no patience for them. Being the first of 7 in my house made that idea very quick to burn out.

do you use sarcasm a lot?

Not exactly, only when I'm mocking something for the sake of being funny. I'm usually just blunt and metaphorical about things with no need for sarcasm.

what’s the first thing you notice about people?

I'm like a sensitive animal – the living vibe check. I can notice how chill someone is, if they have underlying motives, or how they are feeling based on how they sound or behave. Probably because I am ever paranoid and trust nothing.

what’s your eye colour?

Blue-grey.

scary movies or happy endings?

I cannot for the life of me handle scary movies. I am far too paranoid inherently, and watching anything spooky can and will give me days worth of paranoia even though I am aware it isn't real (when I was on TikTok a few months back, a lot of cryptid content would come up with people's experiences, and it fucked me up one week regarding s***w******). Happy endings are too typical for me to enjoy unless it is well earned, such as Lord of The Rings or The Hobbit movies.

any special talents?

I have a correct-guess rate of 70% at all times. I have also been dubbed by friends that I am 'lucky' in all videogames I play, "Sold skill for luck".

where were you born?

United States of America, Virginia.

have you any pets?

I had a long-haired chihuahua ever since I was about 8 years old, until September '23, when she had to be put down due to her long life giving her complications. I plan to get a cat next, when I'm not swamped by school.

what sport do you play/have played?

I ran in elementary school, so much so I was elected twice in 4th and 5th grade to run for the baton pass. I dropped out of it thinking I wasn't ready yet in 4th grade, and won my school first place in 5th grade. I have done nothing sporty since, nor care for sports at all.

how tall are you?

5'1". Short gang.

favourite subject in school?

Art and english.

dream job?

Currently aiming for it right now. Studying graphic design and photography at my university until spring '25.

[frostyreturns]

The Hobbit (1977) Review

Since there has been no new Middle Earth media since the Hobbit movie trilogy I thought it was a good time to revisit this classic from the late 70's. Since the books cannot be improved upon, and the movies were done in the exact right way at the exact right time...there's no need for there to be any new movies or tv shows based out of Tolkiens middle earth. Thankfully this indisputable fact is acknowedged by everyone and no future Tolkien projects are even in the works. This as a fan is something to be thankful for because any Tolkien work produced today would be absolutely cancerous and the kind of thing that nobody should or would want to watch. And so it is into the past fans must look for a good time in middle earth.

I've read the Hobbit three times in my life, normally I only ever read a book once, maybe twice if I really liked it so to have read a book 3 times means I not only consider it to be a very good book…I consider it to be one of the best books ever written, a book that's near perfect. A book that was as enjoyable as a child as it was as a full grown adult. I've also played the hobbit video game a couple times, and of course watched the Hobbit movies a few times as well. This 1970's cartoon version of the story however I have never seen before now. Partly the reason I avoided it was because the interpretation seemed different than both what I had seen from Peter Jackson which I loved and from what I myself imagined from the books themselves. Particularly I did not care for the character designs at all. Bilbo in particular looks like a giant frog that just somehow has white skin instead of green. Elrond was the weirdest with a weird sparkly halo that surrounded his face, and Gollum was a weird homunculus fish creature, Smaug looked more like a cat wolf hybrid than a dragon. The wood elves looked like goblins on stilts and had a weird accent that was part Indian, part Russian and part French. Even the spiders look like crosses between spiders, rabbits and bats. The characters faces look somehow both creepy and severe while also being cartoonish and silly. It's a bizarre merger between a fantastic art style and horrible design choices. However character designs aside the rest of the art looks terrific and I love it. The backgrounds look phenomenal and everything looks painstakingly drawn with great care and detail.

The sound quality isn't great and at times it can be hard to hear what the voice actors are saying, the voice acting is also not very good. It's almost more like it's an audiobook being read to you with visuals than it is a movie. It comes across like it could be just one guy sitting there with the book in his lap doing all the voices himself, the way a teacher or a parent would read a book to children. Smaug for example sounds like a bored old man waking up from a nap. The background music however is very good and suits the story and the art. The foreground music and original songs I don't care for though. Although I do finally get the reference from the Lemmywinks episode of South park though. I half expected Biblo to have to answer the catatafish riddles. It just doesn't work for me as a musical.

The pacing is also a little strange, you've barely been introduced to any of the characters and already ten minutes into the story and they are up to the part of the book where they run into the trolls. Which also look kind of stupid. Actually now that I look the art somewhat reminds me of a studio Ghibli anime, it looks like it had to have been animated in Japan at least. It's also got the signature classic cartoon style of the Rankin and Bass Christmas specials. It's like a combination of studio Ghibli anime and Rankin Bass holiday cartoon special. I'm not sure if I expect Totoro to show up or if I expected it to be animated with stop motion puppets.

The movie doesn't spend much time on major parts of the story, things are glossed over probably for time and animation costs. Major plot points are treated like slight diversions and some are resolved in minutes. At the approximate 45 minute mark they are dealing with the spiders, which leaves only about 30 minutes for the encounter with the wood elves, the stay in lake town, the journey into the mountain, the encounter with smaug, the death of Smaug, the battle of the five armies and the conclusion and journey home. That's a lot to stuff into 30 minutes. It's like the opposite of the problem with the Hobbit movie trilogy which stretched things out too much.

One other weird thing was the song placement, at one point there were lyrics about the trolls debating how to kill the dwarves but it was played during their escape from the goblins with the Eagles much later on in the story.

All in all I think this is a weird vestige from the stories past, something interesting if not anachronistic to watch once if you've never seen it before or as a way to introduce kids to the story. However I don't think it's good enough to be considered a definitive version of the story. I didn't hate it, it was okay and I can see myself liking it if I had watched it as a kid.

[nautiscarader]

2020 in animation - recap

So, 2020. 

Yeah, I have to say I’m not entirely satisfied. Would not recommend, 1 star. 

But I would be willing to bump it to 1.5, if only because of one factor: the animation. 

Because I have to say, this was the best animated end of the world so far! And if there was something that kept our spirits up, it was the cartoon industry!

Just like last year, I should preface this by saying that this is highly subjective selection. Even when one is confined to their Hobbit holes for better part of the year because of *waves hands* everything around, 

day still only has 24 hours, so I have missed a few shows. (I should also apologise for omitting a few major ones last year, like Milo Murphy’s Law S2, Ducktales, or She-Ra. This is why I started keeping a track this year). I’m sure I will catch up with those I missed this year some time in the future, but for now, let’s see what this year has gifted us with.

And right from the start, January opens the race with very interesting propositions. We were still riding on an incredibly high wave from last year, with Infinity Train season 2.

This one focused on Tulip’s mirror, and pushed the season towards a much darker and complex story, diving deep into one’s personal journey and identity. There were tears, math, deer, and cops being murdered. Brutally. 

t was followed by two newcomers: The Owl House and first season of Kipo and The Age of the Wonderbeast. Both of them would dominate first half of the year, with The Owl House’s traditional, week-to-week airings, and Kipo's seasons appearing in  June and October.

The Owl House, a strong contender in "What will be the Next Gravity Falls?" contest, invited us to a world full of magic, mystery, elongated owl demons and some dark secrets. It has also created a milestone for Disney, introducing an LGBT couple with characters of bisexual Luz Noceda and lesbian Amity Blight. Their Grom dance has risen to the top of my animates scenes, polling very closely to the unforgettable Kataango.

On the other hand, Kipo has taken us to the post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant animals, revealing that despite the end of the world, our old vices and animosities have survived in underground burrows, and we have infected the overworld of giant doggos and suit-wearing frogs with them. 

Kipo did not pull any punches regarding commentary about our society, at the same time giving us hope in the form of the main protagonist, who was able to spread friendship and understanding amongst the mutes, as well as the humans that had to survive. And in the world that we have found ourselves in, it was a pretty darn good lesson.

February would bring end to two seasons of airing cartoons, Big Hero Six season 2 and Miraculous season 3, as well as another newcomer that won the hearts of fans: Glitch Techs, with its "second" season arriving in August. And while in my opinion he show wasn't as good as the other two new titles, I am clearly in minority, as the show about Ghostbuters-like team of game console technicians gained huge popularity... though not enough to keep the show afloat. As of writing this, it is currently in limbo, which is a shame, as the second set of 10 episodes finally added some much needed ongoing story.  

in March, another show from last year ended - Steven Universe Future. As we have expected, it tackled slightly more mature themes, showing how much Steven needed that therapy we have wished him, telling an important tale of finding one's worth and one's self. its ending might not have been as explosive as those of the original show, or the movie, but it left Steven’s story as open as an open road, and deep in our hearts, we all knew it would look like this.   

March was also the time when majority of western world caught the coronavirus, and that caused quite a turmoil with the movie and animation industry. One of the first victim of changed schedule was Disney's Onward, which was released on-line on Disney+ quickly after its theatrical release.

I have mixed feelings towards “Onward”. For such interesting promise, I think it made a few questionable and down right boring turns, though the unorthodox message at the end of it was its strongest point, and it was one I haven’t seen in a while, so it was worth watching just for that.  

April was relatively quiet (aside from more end of the world stuff); brought us third season of Ducktales that spread throughout the year, while May gave us final, fifth season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. 

To my eternal shame, I missed on this show when it premiered, and due to the lockdown, I binge-watched the previous four right in time for powerful and explosive season 5. And even though Catra and Adora finally gave us exactly what we needed, some fans felt slightly unsatisfied, calling for a movie, like the Steven Universe one to be made. And I’d be all for it, the rest of universe needs saving from the Horde! Also, cats in space - hilarious. 

May also revealed a new player on the streaming field: HBO Max, who surprised us with new Looney Tunes Cartoons, much more in the spirit of the legendary originals than the often-criticised Looney Tunes Show from 2011-2014. And in my opinion, it did; one could feel the same fluidity in animation, dedication to slapstick, and synchronisation with music than in the very first cartoons with Bugs and Daffy.

HBO Max would, however, return in June with first of series of Adventure Time original movies called "Distant Lands". The first centred around BMO, with second one - Obsidian giving us a glimpse into Bonnibel and Marceline's lives.

Distant Lands allowed people to revisit the odd, odd world of Ooo and learn about its colourful inhabitants, taking turns to seeing their past and the future, an, as usual, showing us that post-apocalyptic world can teach us valuable and meaningful lessons.   

Just in time for full lockdown in our burrows, aforementioned Kipo season 2 premiered in June, together with another cartoon movie, this time featuring We Bare Bears. While their movie wasn't anything to write songs about, it was exactly like the show, providing some wholesome content right when we needed it.

And just in case you needed more wholesome adventures, Craig of the Creek's second season ended, and its third season began, reminding us of HOW COOL LIFE WAS WHEN OUTERNET WASN’T SCARY AND WE COULD STILL WALK OUTSIDE FOR FUN AND NOT TO HUNT TOILET PAPER.

Just like last year, July was not dogs' days, but frogs'. Amphibia season 2 started raining on our heads, but unlike last year, its schedule wasn't a daily one, spreading the episodes throughout the Summer and early Autumn, with its second part arriving in February of 2021. There were more roadtrips, more mysteries and MORE MARCY.

August was equally strong: aforementioned Glitch Techs "season 2" premiered, offering better and more plot-heavy episodes than the first ten episodes. Unfortunately, the show's future is unclear; the uneven divide of plot between the seasons probably contributed to the show not being renewed. 10 new episodes apparently are written, but await in sleep mode, until Nickelodeon remembers about it.

HBO MAX picked up Infinity Train for its third season, after being derailed by Cartoon Network. And if you thought that killing a mirror cop was shocking... then this season has pushed the limit of what can be shown in modern children's cartoon to a frightening degree. The schedule was once again, weirder, with first five episodes airing on the day of the premiere, ending with a cliffhanger (literally) that only contributed to the shock factor and made us wait anxiously for its conclusion. It was bold, it was dark, it was memorable. 

And just like Glitch Techs, Infinity Train waits on a side track, unsure if it will be picked up, or will it be abandoned and left as a canvas for graffiti artists.

However, to end the Summer, a truly amazing TV movie has arrived on Disney Plus, where we came back to good, old Danville and could witness Candace against the universe. The new Phineas and Ferb movie brought back the glorious memories of this fantastic show, with the same humour, writing, abundance of catchy songs and a surprisingly deep moral.

In September we have seen the start of Big Hero 6 season 3 and a odd change of format. Instead of standalone 22-minute episodes, the show now consists of two 11-minute segments. In opinion of many, this weakened the stories, forcing them to be more comedy-oriented, and shortening the potential emotional drama. Still, it gave us funny, short stories, but they did clash with the two previous season, not to mention the movie.

However, if that wasn't up to your taste, Ducktales season 3 also started airing, and continued its first part up until December with more action- and plot-driven episodes, including the Darkwing Duck crossover, serving as a pilot of the spin-off. 

Later in December fans have learned that Season 3 will be its last, which broke the hearts of many duck fans; however, it seems that the season has been written as the last one in mind, and the news of the ending was known to the creators, which gives us hope for a kick-ass finale somewhere in 2021.

Miraculous New York, telling arguably one of the most mature storylines, opened the "Heroez" world to some new characters and new opportunities, with two more specials, taking place in Shanghai and Brazil, meant to air somewhere next year. AND I DO HOPE WE WILL SEE MORE LOCAL FOOD VENDOR SUPERHEROES LIKE HOT DOG DAN. 

October was the month of two season 3's: Carmen Sandiego and Kipo. In case of Carmen, as it is usual with Netflix, the "season" was only a half-one, with just a handful standalone episodes, and just a dash of more ongoing plot. 

For Kipo, however, season 3 was the end, and what a glorious one it was. Fans were saddened to learn of it, but Kipo was always imagined as a 3-part story, and it showed. The finale proved more than satisfying ending to the plot, elevating Kipo to one of the smartest cartoon characters we should all try to aspire to.

In November, Distant Lands: Obsidian aired, focusing on everyone’s favourite candy/vampire couple, and the long and complicated love between Bonnibel and Marceline. And as usual, it showed us that relationships are not always as straightforward as we would like them to be, but with enough music and teamwork, no enemy is big enough. 

For the next new show, I’ve waited with the most amount of excitement and anxiety. Because while I was completely fine with other reboots and re-imaginings to take creative takes, new Animaniacs, (airing on Hulu) had to be perfect and had to be the lightning that struck twice. 

And sadly... it wasn’t. It was still good, but some people criticised (incorrectly imho) the amount of political topics, while I mourned almost total cast-ration of additional characters, aside from Pinky and the Brain. This truly weakened the possibilities it could have had. It was still very good, but you can feel that some of the original charm was lost, due to these odd, odd limitations. 

December brought us a new original Apple TV movie, Wolfwalkers. A beautifully animated folk tale of friendship and social divides, and how short-sight can cause the collapse of both arguing sides, reminding me very much of the intelligence and heart of original “How to Train Your Dragon”.  

We’ve had to wait two years for the return of arguably one of the most wholesome shows out there: Hilda. Second season dived into deeper mysteries that permeate the rich and colourful troll-ridden land, we saw the return of some familiar characters, and introduced a whole new storyline, that ended with a surprising cliffhanger. Still as wholesome, but now with a tiny bit of Police incompetence. Also Twig, lots of Twig.   

Just like Onward, Pixar’s highly anticipated Soul aired on Disney+, telling a very mature story about finding one’s purpose in life, what that purpose actually means, and whether it exists at all. Beautifully animated, with fantastic soundtrack, it was a stunning tribute to creativity, and it never dumbed down its profound, open message about following your dream.   

And just if you thought that Soul was going to be 2020′s last note (pun very much intended), right before the year ended, DC Super Hero Girls concluded its first season on a rather anti-climactic two-parter. That being said, the season, running from March of last year, was packed with short, bite-sized, funny stories, taking interesting spins on existing comic book characters. For a comic book noob like me, it was perfectly fine, and I can’t wait for the second season next year. 

And so, we have reached the series finale of humanity. 

2020 ends in just under a day. What will 2021 bring us? I do not know, and if the animated shows of this year have taught me anything, is that the future is an always open book, full of worries and challenges, but also opportunities and possibilities. 

...

And in reality I was too lazy to check any news sites about upcoming projects.

[chiseler]

Larger Than Life

In 1927, Albert Bertanzetti and his three-year-old son, William, were taking a stroll when they stopped to join a small crowd watching a film being shot on the streets of Los Angeles. During a break in the shoot, Albert suggested his son go show the director, Jules White, his little trick. So William toddled over to White and tugged on his pant leg. When he had White’s attention, William flipped over, went into a headstand and began spinning in circles. White was so taken with the trick he gave the young Bertanzetti a small uncredited role in the two-reel short, Wedded Blisters. Afterward, William earned a regular role in the popular Mickey McGuire series of shorts, where he played Mickey Rooney’s younger brother Billy. Taking prevailing anti-Italian sentiments into consideration, in the credits he was cited as “Billy Barty.”

Barty had been born in Millsboro, Pennsylvania in 1924, but when it was determined he had hay fever, Albert decided to move the family West, to the dry, clean air of Hollywood. Depending on how you look at it, hay fever was the least of Barty’s problems. Or maybe not, given how things worked out.

Apart from hay fever, Barty had also been born with cartilage–hair hypoplasia, a form of dwarfism. Being extremely small for his age at three (as an adult he stood three-foot-nine), when it came to early film roles he was almost exclusively relegated to playing diaper clad infants. It was a director’s dream—having an infant on set who could not only take direction, but could walk, run, talk and do tricks as well. As a result, along with the Mickey McGuire shorts, he played infants in everything from the all-star live action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (1933) to Golddiggers of 1933 (1933) to Bride of Frankenstein (1935). In fact Barty, tiny as he was, would play diaper-clad infants until he hit puberty.

Over a career that would span seven decades, along with infants, Barty would play his share of elves, leprechauns, imps, Hobbits, trolls, assorted other fairy tale and fantasy characters, clowns, court jesters, pygmies, sideshow performers and mad scientist assistants. Ironically, for having appeared in over two hundred films and television shows, Barty did not appear in the three touchstones of American Dwarf-centric cinema: Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932), Sam Newfield’s The Terror of Tiny Town (1938), or Mervin LeRoy’s The Wizard of Oz (1939). No, although he would appear in the behind-the-scenes comedy Under the Rainbow (1981), contrary to the general assumption, Billy Barty was never an original Munchkin. There are reasons for this.

In 1932 when Browning was working on Freaks, Barty was only eight, he was not a professional carnival freak, and he was too busy with the Mickey McGuire shorts. And after the shorts’ seven-year run ended in 1934—two years before casting began on Tiny Town or The Wizard of Oz—Albert Bertanzetti, recognizing talent in all of his children, pulled Billy out of the movies and sent the whole family on the vaudeville circuit.

Now, 1935 was hardly the most opportune time to try and break into vaudeville. As an entertainment form it had been on life support for a decade already, with theaters either closing down or becoming movie palaces with performances, almost as a sad afterthought, taking place after that evening’s double feature had ended. Those performers who could were trying to break into pictures, and those who couldn’t were vanishing without a trace. Now here was Barty, who’d been working regularly in films for nearly ten years, trying to break into vaudeville. Nevertheless, Billy and Sisters, as they were touted, marched on, with a musical act featuring Barty’s sister Evelyn on piano and accordion, his other sister Dede playing violin, and Barty himself on drums. They all sang and danced a little, and the adolescent Barty told jokes and did impressions. In his later years he remembered the time fondly, mostly because it gave him a chance at that early age to see much of North America.

In 1942 Barty enrolled in college in Los Angeles and majored in journalism, hoping to become a sportswriter. While there, he joined the football and basketball teams, where he was both a novelty and a ringer. He also played second base on a semi-professional baseball team for a spell, where by his own account he was walked forty-five times.

Instead of pursuing work as a sports columnist after graduation, he returned to show business. Later he was quoted as saying, “You don’t see any little people doing newscasts, you don’t see any doing sports writing, you don’t see any sports announcing, you don’t see any coaches, but there are little people who are capable of doing these things, who have proven themselves.” You get the sense there was a little personal bitterness there, hinting he may have been forced back to Hollywood because that was the only place he could find work.

By 1947, now an adult with a gravelly but high-pitched voice, Barty sported a boxer’s face on a disproportionately large head. In many ways he resembled a diminutive William Demarest, and in many roles would adopt Demarest’s gruff but lovable demeanor. Shedding the diaper at last, he nevertheless picked up where he left off, playing assorted pygmies and leprechauns and elves, usually for cheap laughs.

In the early Fifties he became a regular member of Spike Jones musical comedy ensemble, The City Slickers, and was a big hit on Jones TV shows, where he became especially known for his slapstick, spot-on Liberace impression, and his ability to roll off his piano bench into a head spin, a trick which continued to serve him well.

Growing up, Barty said, he had no idea he was different, that his parents never told him there were things he couldn’t do because he was too short. By the time he was thirty, however, he’d come to learn the rest of the world was not quite as accepting as his parents. In 1957, Barty put out a call for little people from around the country to join him for a get together in Reno. Only twenty people showed up to that first convention, but it became the foundation for Little People of America, a support and advocacy group pushing for equitable treatment and civil rights for dwarfs, midgets and other people of unusually small stature. His aim was to ensure little people across the country would be treated fairly, would be able to get jobs, and would be granted the same accessibility rights afforded the normally-sized. It always struck me as a little odd that, for all his tireless efforts lobbying to normalize perceptions and treatment of little people throughout American culture, Barty, without much apparent gumption, would continue to take roles some might call demeaning, or at the very least helped cement those stereotypes he was fighting so hard to break. Perhaps to him it was simply paying work, it was showbiz, and he knew full well what his role was within that world. But the apparent ironic contrast between his activism and his work would lead to a public tiff in the Seventies with fellow small actor Hervé Villechaize of Fantasy Island. Barty, who’d appeared on the show, felt Villechaize was undercutting all his work when he said bluntly that people like him and Barty “were midgets, not actors.”

After the second annual Little People of America convention, Barty began courting Shirley Bolingbroke, a little person who had attended the meeting. When he proposed, however, she declined, telling him she was a devout Mormon, and so would never consider marrying anyone outside the faith. In 1962 Barty relented and converted to the church of Latter-day Saints, and the two were married. Although Mormon insiders and publicists have made a big deal of Barty’s enthusiastic True Believer status within LDS, it would be many years before he agreed to get baptized and receive full member status, and then only to participate in his son’s baptism.

Around the time of the marriage, as Barty was making regular TV appearances on various comedy and variety shows (including a recurring role on Peter Gunn), he also began hosting a weekday afternoon local kid’s show in Los Angeles which was called either Billy Barty’s Big Top or Billy Barty’s Big Show, depending on who’s doing the remembering. That stint may well have brought him to the attention of the sinister Sid and Marty Krofft, who in the late Sixties conscripted Barty to become a regular on several Krofft shows including H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and later Sigmund The Sea Monster, where he played the titular sea monster opposite Rip Taylor and aging child star Johnny Whittaker.

For all the low-brow antics and his uncredited roles in Elvis movies, it must be said Barty was always a compelling and charismatic screen presence, a, yes, larger than life character. In those few rare instances when he played roles that made no references at all to his height—like Abe Kusich, the shady drunken cockfighter in Day of the Locust or Ludwig, Rod Steiger’s sidekick in W.C. Fields and Me, he proved himself an electric onscreen presence who could dominate any scene.

(Just a quick aside, in 1980 Ralph Bakshi rotoscoped Barty to portray both Bilbo and Samwise Baggins in his animated version of Lord of the Rings. I wasn’t aware of that at the time, but thinking back on it now, the way both characters moved, it seems so obvious I was watching another Billy Barty performance.)

In 1975, around the same time he opened a Southern California roller rink he called “Billy Barty’s Roller Fantasy, Barty established The Billy Barty Foundation. As an adjunct to Little People of America, the Foundation aimed to provide practical assistance—money, adaptive equipment, etc.—to little people in need, particularly children. And after campaigning for George H.W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign, he sat on a panel of advisors working to hammer out the details of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which President Bush signed into law in 1990.

At the same time he was sitting on that panel, Barty was also producing, directing and starring in Short Ribs, a syndicated sketch comedy series featuring an all-dwarf cast including Patty Maloney, Jimmy Briscoe and Joe Gieb. The show, which was modeled after SCTV and SNL, only aired in the Los Angeles area and ran thirteen weeks. After the show went off the air, Barty was slapped with two lawsuits, one from the show’s co-producer William Winckler and one from the show’s co-writer Warren Taylor, both of whom claimed Barty owed them money. The suits ended up, inevitably, in small claims court. Barty lost both suits, and even though few people had ever heard of, let alone seen the show, news of Barty in small claims court was too much for reporters to resist, and the case received smirking national attention.

After the suits were settled, Barty continued to work, but a bit more sporadically. He had one-off roles on Frasier, Jack’s Place, and a few low-budget quickies, and seemed to be edging more into voice roles, providing characterizations for a Batman cartoon and The Rescuers Down Under, to name a couple. But he was still working until the end, when he ended up in the hospital with cardiopulmonary issues in late 2000. He died on December 23rd of that year at age 73.

In the late Eighties he told an interviewer, “I’ve never looked at acting as ‘Ahhh!’ and ‘Gee!’ I started in vaudeville when I was five and for me it was just walking on a stage and I’m gonna perform. Later on I was impressed by many things, like when I worked with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Tough Guys. That was an ‘Ahhh!’ for me. When I look back, even today, I guess I can go ‘Ahhh!’ because I worked with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell in Gold Diggers of 1933 when I was nine. Then they were just grown-ups on the stage. As I look back, I’m more awed now than I was when I was actually doing it.”

Those who knew and worked with Barty always recall what a joy it was, how kind and enthusiastic and funny he was, a real spark who could enliven even the most questionable production. I would never deny that. I’ve always loved and admired Barty, and have sat through countless godawful films and TV shows simply because he had a role, no matter how small.

That said, I do have to wonder if at the end, after all his decades of work fighting for the dignity of little people everywhere, he felt like a bit of a hypocrite for spending those same years and more cementing the stereotype in the American consciousness. I also wonder if he died still wishing he’d become a sportswriter for a Des Moines daily instead.

by Jim Knipfel

[koalas-koalas-everywhere]

Live-blogging The Hobbit

Since I said I’d talk about how much I love Bilbo.

Also, live-blogging might be a generous description. A report from the brim every few chapters, maybe.

Might be annoying to my current followers, but they’d do well to remember this is how I got most of them, even if the live-blogging was for a different fandom. 

Now, to start! The first two chapters!

An Unexpected Party

The very first page, with the description of Bag End, had me doing a lot of double takes, mostly because of things I already thought I knew because of, you know, osmosis, so it went a bit like:

 “the hobbit was fond of visitors” ????? Didn’t Bilbo use the One Ring specifically to avoid unwanted visitors? 

However big you thought Bag End was, you’ll have to guess again. The most generous illustration probably got the size wrong. It not only has multiple bedrooms (not enough for all of the dwarves, though), it has wardrobes (rooms dedicated to clothes), and kitchens, and dining rooms.

“most Bagginses were rich” Clearly the best use for their money would have been to redistribute it, but are you trying to tell me some of them weren’t and the rest just said it was none of their business?

The fact that the Bagginses are described as reliable/predictable and Bungo doesn’t get much personal description while Belladonna, of the Took clan, outstanding/odd, does get further insight into her place in her family and is described as both famous and remarkable? *kisses fingers like chef*

Like, up till now, the only description he personally gets is, like, “Bungo, that was Bilbo’s father, built the most luxurious hobbit-hole for her (and partly with her money)” and it’s still a description of Belladonna because the paragraph’s about her still, you can tell because, even though in the last sentence Bungo was the subject, Bilbo is still referred as “her” son.

Also fitting because Bilbo’s arc is about accepting his heritage from both parts of his family, and we’re about to get into how much of a Baggins he is, so extra emphasis into the Took side will be good for the next few chapters.

So, it says Gandalf last visited before the Old Took died, which was in S.R. 1320, when Bilbo was 30, a.k.a. 20 years before. While Gandalf is definitely remarkable enough, given the time lapse, I can forgive Bilbo for forgetting about his appearance. My reasons are that my own memory begins to get blurry about faces some five minutes after someone’s gone out of my sight.

“‘Good Morning!’ said Bilbo, and he meant it.” [to Gandalf]“‘All of them at once,” said Bilbo. “[...] If you have a pipe about you, sit down and have a fill of mine! [tobacco]’” and I’m going to skip a bit here, [to Dwalin] “‘I am just about to take tea; pray come and have some with me.’ A little stiff perhaps, but he meant it kindly.” Just... he’s so nice? Often in interpretations of the Shire and of Bilbo himself, when hobbits are nice it’s a matter of politeness for its own sake, as a ritual, but he’s so earnest? It’s really politeness as a kindness, as it should be. The only times this isn’t the case is when, after Gandalf reveals he’s looking for a fellow adventurer, when he just shit-talks adventures and looks at his mail hoping Gandalf will just go away instead of telling him himself... until he gets tired and does so. Then later when he gathers from Balin that a lot of people might be showing up and you can sense some reluctance in his decision to go without, and a focus on duty. And last as the night goes on and the dwarves keep being rude af. 

Also, I once saw someone wonder why Gandalf would mention Belladonna in the movie when he supposedly knew the Old Took, and someone said it was just to make the connection more direct, son->mother, instead of son->mother->grandfather. Well,

[Picture of my book, relevant quote: “To think that I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took’s son; as if I was selling buttons at the door!”. End description]

Read ‘em and weep.

A funny thing about the book is the narration. It’s supposed to be Bilbo’s account, just compiled by Tolkien, right? So, Bilbo’s descriptions, meaning how he is described, are noteworthy. Admittedly, I don’t read autobiographies, so I don’t know what’s a common way to describe yourself in third person, but this narrator is kinda... distant from Bilbo? In that you don’t get the sense he’s writing the story. He’s at once roasted relentlessly and praised, mocked and defended. All in all it’s an affectionate voice, although one that feels the need to go “listen, I know how this all looks and that you doubt him now (and honestly? same), but he’s a pretty cool guy, once you get to know him.”

“Bless me, life used to be quite inter-- I mean, you used to upset things badly in these parts once upon a time.” Lmao

“Very amusing for me, very good for you” - Gandalf about sending Bilbo to his death.

Bilbo, to Gandalf: “Come tomorrow!”

Bilbo, to himself: “what”

Himself, to Bilbo: “I also don’t want me to be doing what I’m doing.”

Strange dwarf (with a blue beard?): *basically pushes his way into Bilbo’s house*. Bilbo: ............... wanna eat?

“The poor little hobbit sat down in the hall and put his head in his hands, and wondered what had happened, and what was going to happen, and whether they would all stay to supper.” Hero. Those are appropriate priorities. Meanwhile, there’s people waiting for him to open the door lmao.

*banging at Bag End’s door with a stick instead of ringing the bell* 

Bilbo: who’s the fucking beast.

“Bilbo sat on a stool by the fireside, nibbling at a biscuit (his appetite was quite taken away), trying to look as if this was all perfectly ordinary and not in the least an adventure.” They [the Valar] can’t see you if you don’t move.

I like how “Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold” is about both the gold and treasure and the sheer history, represented by song. Yes, the lyrics are mostly about the treasure, but the book itself says it can barely be called a song without the music. The dwarves’ work is talked about without equating it with their craft, but more as a cultural activity that builds identity, again, like songs. They’re mentioned both in the context of being sung deep in the mountain, only for dwarves ears. This comes to a head later, when the last line says “to win our harps and gold from him!” From this, I’ve reached the conclusion that dwarves don’t just want the Mountain for the economic benefits, but because of the sense of cultural identity, represented by songs and harps, that they lost along with Erebor. I’m sure this isn’t surprising in general, or a new reading of dwarves in general, or even a new reading of the song in particular, but I just wanted to put it out there.

I like how immersed in, well, everything Bilbo has been up to now. I get this feeling of constant movement in the inside from him. Every smoke ring fascinates him, and every suggestion of adventure appalls him, and everything that happens is the best and worst thing that’s ever happened to him, not (just) because of his (sometimes, this doesn’t happen that much) exaggerated reactions, but the time he takes to tell us his feelings and thoughts about things. 

Also, him being snapped out of his adventurous daze by a sudden fear for his home (comfort), A+ Baggins/Took conflict.

“I want these dwarves to think I could fuck someone up, which is made all the easier by my desire to fuck them up”

“As soon as I saw your funny faces in the door-step, I had my doubts.” Bilbo that’s racist.

Gandalf is like that meme of the driver who’s threatening to turn the car around because his children are being rowdy, only instead he insists he will not turn the car around no matter how much they beg.

I don’t know if this is the I’ve Watched The Movie Where He Was A Main Character Syndrome talking, but I’m feeling much more compassionate towards Thotin this time around.

I noticed what I’d written the moment I finished the word, but this is too fucking hilarious to correct.

Bilbo: “uhh, five feet high is pretty noticeable for a door”

Tolkien: you’ll have to forgive him, he was born with dumb bitch disease. The buffoon. The absolute animal.

Also, “He loved maps, and in his hall, there hung a large one of the Country Round with all his favourite walks marked in it with red ink.” In this house we love one (1) nerd.

Thorin: *bitches*

Bilbo: Not in my house. *bitches harder*

Thorin: you fucking hayseed.

Bilbo: prob, bob?

Roast Mutton

I commend Bilbo for actually going - if I had to run for 15 minutes they’d still be waiting for me.

Did Gandalf bring Bilbo an actual bag or did he just decide pipe weed and handkerchiefs were the only thing he’d need for a five month minimum journey.

If he has time to complain about it, he also has time to sew himself some clothes out of the kerchiefs ig

“[Gandalf] had eaten most, talked most, and laughed most. But now he was simply not there at all!” Gandalf you ass.

“Dwarves can make fire almost anywhere out of almost anything” this has so much comedic potential.

I relate to Bilbo because I always catch on to the fact that I’m supposed to be lying way too late.

Kinda reminds me of that post about the fae who’ve learned how to tell the truth in a very specific way so it will be misunderstood being flabbergasted by someone who just comes up to them and lies.

Bilbo: *is caught lying*

Trolls: 

Bill said burrahobbit rights!

Dwarves:

Gotta hand it to Tolkien, though, Bilbo does have dumb bitch disease.

I love how Sting is supposed to be just as special as Orcrist and Glamdring, yet the narration makes such a small deal of it. It’s clear from the start it’s of the same make as them because, although it’s not mentioned along with them at first (which makes sense, since it’s sheath’s not as pretty, Thorin and Gandalf’s taking of the swords isn’t even separated from Bilbo’s by a stop, just a semicolon, yet it doesn’t get a second though.

I like how in the movie it’s all Gandalf: “Imladris” Bilbo: *delighted gasp* “Rivendell” while in the book it’s Gandalf: “Rivendell” Bilbo: “Where’s that?” Gandalf: “Don’t interrupt!”

So that’s that! Don’t know if I should stick to doing it like this, every two or so chapters, or every chapter as soon as I finish, or try to do my impressions as I go and then publish them when I’m done, because this actually took me longer than I thought it would.

[koffiehuis-love]

TAGGED BY: @gaekkebreve  thank u boo sweetie!

TAGGING: @crimson-sunflower @thistlewhiskey @lilli-of-the-mountain @hrafnsnjor @carolinus-rex​ @ehrendame​ @thegermanicofold​ @potatisgris​ @seanrenton​ @ceannuidhebard​ @oneoutofmany Just wanted to tag some people that I’ve just started interacting with or not quite yet! Hey, skogland, it would not let me tag you!

NAME: Prudence as in Dear

STAR SIGN: Virgo

HEIGHT: 157 cm/63 in

MIDDLE NAME: Lynn after my late uncle who died in a car crash as a teen.

PUT YOUR ITUNES WMP ON SHUFFLE. WHAT ARE THE FIRST 4 SONGS THAT POPPED UP?

Wouter Hamel “Cheap Chardonnay”

Muse “Hysteria”

The Searchers “Sugar and Spice.”

The Wombats “Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)

GRAB THE BOOK NEAREST YOU AND TURN TO PAGE 23. WHAT’S LINE 17?

Not noticed that I’d leaned into his grip? Not know that I didn't want him to let go of me? - “Call me By Your Name” by André Aciman. Book is better than the movie, ya’ll.

EVER HAD A POEM OR SONG WRITTEN ABOUT YOU? Yes

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PLAYED AIR GUITAR? About 20 minutes ago. I also air drum with decent accuracy.

WHO IS YOUR CELEBRITY CRUSH? Armie Hammer, natch! And Selma Hayek.

WHAT’S A SOUND YOU HATE + SOUND YOU LOVE?

Hate: animals in pain. Feedback on a PA, children in pain.

Love: A rumble of thunder for a rainstorm. My kids laughing. Birds. Wind in the trees.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? Yes, absolutely.

HOW ABOUT ALIENS? Sure!

DO YOU DRIVE? For many moons now!

IF SO, HAVE YOU EVER CRASHED? I almost bought the farm when I wrecked my 89 Mercedes into an Italian mac truck when I was stationed there back in the early 2000s. Ripped the entire front end of my car and I walked away.

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? How to motivate someone with Asperger's by Asperger Experts. I read a lot of things like this. I need to finish it.

DO YOU LIKE THE SMELL OF GASOLINE? Strangely it depends on the country. Brazil and Italy yes, the US, no.

WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU SAW? Christopher Robin.

WHAT’S THE WORST INJURY YOU’VE EVER HAD? Got my shoulder damaged by my Bam-Bam of a son when he was holding my hand as a toddler. He’s strong as an ox! Took a few years to finally heal with self therapy. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY OBSESSIONS RIGHT NOW? Versailles, Father Brown, (Hey I am an old lady!) La Casa de Las Flores, The Crown and several binge-able shows. My kids are old enough to watch Hobbit/LOTR so I get to relive my obsession again!

DO YOU TEND TO HOLD GRUDGES AGAINST PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE YOU WRONG? I know some might THINK that, and the thing is, I forgive but never forget. Keeps me from being hurt over and over. I’ve had people get me to unfollow certain blogs all while they pretend to do, only to keep being friends with them. Why the secrets, why do that, and accuse me of having grudges?  So strange, yes? So, because of that, I no longer allow myself to be so easily influenced, a lesson I learned as a noob out here in Indieland-I follow and unfollow who I want! You should too!

ARE YOU IN A RELATIONSHIP? Yes and it is a hilarious one that works.

[perennial-princess]

A List of Mori Movies

Now that’s it’s getting colder, it’s time to find more indoor activities to do. One of my favorite things to do is to put on something peaceful while I sketch, knit, cook, or just cozy up on the couch. So warm up your tea, wrap up in a quilt, and put on a warm movie to get you in the mood for the cold months ahead... 

“Harry Potter” Series

Of course we all know the Harry Potter movies, but they never get old. The first few movies are my favorites, but they’re all fun to watch, especially in the fall. After all, October is the season for witches and warlocks!

“Lord of the Rings” Trilogy

These movies are of course well-known, too, but they always make me full so cozy and adventurous. The characters are memorable, and watching the hobbits in the shire makes me wish I were one of them. I’ll definitely be re-watching this series this fall!

Ghibli Films

Nature is a common theme in all Ghibli films - I don’t think I could name one where the outdoor themes aren’t gorgeous to look at. I love the beginning scenes of “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, the tall trees in “My Neighbor Totoro”, and the lush forests in “Princess Mononoke”. Which one is your favorite? Now is a good time to watch it!

“Wolf Children”

If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I highly recommend it. It’s the story of a woman named Hana and her two children, Ame and Yuki, who can transform into wolves. Hana moves them to the country to hide their strange ability and start a new life, and their life changes quickly as the siblings grow into adolescence. 

“The World of Beatrix Potter and Friends”

Truthfully, I’m not sure where you can still watch these animated short movies, but they were my favorite as a kid. I particularly remember watching “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”, “The Tale of Tom Kitten”, and “The Tailor of Gloucester”. They always ended with scenes of an actress dressed as Beatrix Potter and her dog walking through the country side, painting and drinking tea. 

“Bambi”

Okay, everyone knows this movie. Some people like it, some people don’t, some people find it too sad. But it’s a nostalgic movie with forest scenes that make it a necessity for watching in the fall. “Bambi 2″ and “The Fox and the Hound” are two other good Disney/mori movies.

“The Secret of Kells”

This animated film is a story about the Book of Kells, a boy named Brendan living in a monastery behind walls to prevent viking attacks, and how one day he sneaks away into the real world. In an enchanted forest he meets Aisling, a spirit of the forest, and their adventure to defeat a deity of death Crom Cruach begins. This movie is peaceful, captivating, exciting and perfect for the fall!

“Ernest and Celestine”

In a world where bears and mice are enemies of each other, two become friends after committing a series of crimes together. The content in this movie isn’t exactly mori-themed, but the style of animation and the comical moments will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. 

“Peter Pan”

Everyone knows Peter Pan, and who doesn’t love the idea of being whisked away to another world in the night? The relationship between Peter and Wendy and the Lost Boys and their adventures in nature put me in an imaginative and serene mood every time I watch. 

“The Secret of Roan Inish”

This is the story about a girl named Fiona, who learns about the island Roan Inish from her grandparents she has gone to live with and other villagers. She’s hoping to unlock the secrets of her missing baby brother Jamie and believes Roan Inish has something to do with it. The outfits, scenery and colors in this 90′s film are what really get me in the mori-moodset, not to mention the outfits, especially her knitted cardigans!

“Anne of Green Gables”

Anne of Green Gables is a classic about a red-headed girl who’s smart and headstrong and dramatic and always getting herself into trouble. I love her outfits in this movie, and I always wanted to visit Green Gables myself as a child!

“The Secret Garden”

Another classic I watched a million times as a kid! I was always jealous that all the characters got to live in a castle, play with animals and nature all day long. Literally this entire movie is perfectly mori, from the weather to the costumes and music and more.

Jane Austen films

Jane Austen’s stories are always whimsical and lovely stories about smart girls. The relationships between sisters, colors, outfits, and family love make these movies a top choice for the fall. 

“Flyaway Home”

Okay, so this movie is so filled with 90′s fashion it’s hardly mori at all. But I think we can all relate to a girl going through adolescence, feeling lonely and wanting a friend, and finding it in her goslings who see her as their mother and need her to teach them to fly south. As a kid I was always so jealous of her bird children and how much they loved her, and of course now is the time that geese are flying south, so fall is the perfect time to watch this movie!

“Phoebe in Wonderland”

This movie isn’t very well known, but I saw it on Netflix one day and I watched it so many times over. Not only because Phoebe’s vintage outfits in this film are so charming, but because Phoebe’s character is so relatable. Phoebe is a young girl who starts to develop some OCD-tendencies and begins hurting herself and she doesn’t know why, and to help cope she begins to see visions of characters from Alice in Wonderland, the play she’s staring in at school. This movie is a bit odd but a perfect testament to childhood and growing up with a mental disability.

“A Tale of Two Sisters”

Now this is a horror movie, so if you spook easily I wouldn’t suggest this one, but it’s one of my favorites! This is a South Korean movie about two sisters, Su-mi and Su-yeon, who return from the hospital after an accident that killed their mother to live with their father and his new wife. However, his new wife is abusive to them and their family dynamic quickly begins to dissolve. The reason I include this is because of the scenery, the house and their outfits are perfectly mori-themed. I mean, look how cute they are!

And this is just one of them. Their bedroom is something I’m also quite envious of. Not to mention the soft piano and violin music gets me every time. If you haven’t seen it yet, and you’re not scared easily, I highly recommend it.

What are some of your fall favorites? Let me know! I’m always looking for more mori-spiration!

[queen-of-the-nerdlords]

Movies To Watch if You Ever Want To Cry

Wolf Children Ame and Yuki - Have you ever wanted to see what it’s like to be a single mother due to tragic circumstances, raise two lovely and cute children from infancy and then watch them grow up and move on from you? This is your movie.

The Prince of Egypt - Even though this movie does have a lot of strong religious themes, it isn’t too pushy on them and conveys them in a way that most fantasy and fiction movies do. Watch as you grow to love the characters, even the deeply flawed ones, and then watch them break apart or go through hardships.

Ed Edd N’ Eddy’s Big Picture Show - Even though it will be more heartfelt to long-term fans, if you know the simple premise and dynamics of the original show, this is a good one to watch. A lot of it is filled with comedy but there are many parts within it that invoke not only sadness but relief and contentment, especially the big reveal at the end.

Jersey Girl - Watch as a man falls in love with a wonderful woman and then watch as that woman dies in childbirth, the man loses his job, and that same man try to raise a wonderful daughter on his own while trying to let go of the past and move on to a brighter future.

Futurama: Bender’s Big Score - This movie is mostly a wonderful comedy with swiftly timed jokes and a stable plot that is not only enjoyable for newcomers but for long time fans of the show. There are many twists and scenes that will definitely make you cry as well as laugh.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - Hoo boy, well, I was able to understand this movie before I read the comics or even watched the first movie, so if you have critical thinking skills the plot should be easy to understand. This movie pulls a lot of punches with its characters, and makes you feel and sympathize for them even between the gory and brutal action scenes. The relationships feel real and you can get a sense of joy when they succeed and sorrow when they fail.

Kaguya-hime no Monogatari - Based off of the Japanese myth of Kaguya, this movie takes you into what feels like a fantastical world based off of fantasies. The emotional turmoil of the heroine, Kaguya, will have you crying at the very least near the end.

Meet the Robinsons - Have you ever wanted a family that loves you, or even a family at all? Have you ever felt so worthless that you tried to do anything to have people want you? Do you feel as if you do nothing but fail? If so, you’re going to definitely cry about and relate to the protagonist and even the antagonists in this movie. Though over all, it is good at taking those things you’re sad about and cheering you up.

Rogue One - What are you doing? Go see this movie if you haven’t already.

The Last Unicorn - Ah yes, there’s nothing like a star-crossed romance and the process of learning that the world is bittersweet and cruel to get those tears a-flowin. The animation in this movie is beautiful despite the time it came out, and the soundtrack is unforgettable and entirely fitting to the film.

Up (2012) - You know why this is on here.

Train to Busan - This film is about a busy capitalist father and his daughter, a group of baseball teens, and an expecting wife and husband facing the beginning of an outbreak of zombies while on a train in Korea. This movie will play your heartstrings like the Devil plays a goddamn violin, it is a must see.

Romeo + Juliet - An exciting and colorful rendition of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”. The relationship between the Capulets and the Montagues was made a lot clearer to follow and the relationship between Romeo and Juliet felt much more real and passionate despite the short amount of time. You could sense the chemistry and the ill-timed infatuation of the two, and even get attached to their characters. A good adaptation for the modern age.

Inside Out - While the film does have its flaws, the experiences of the protagonist and the topics brought up within the movie are very touching and relatable for almost anyone. The movie itself is a fun entertaining one, and there are a few scenes that’ll definitely start up the waterworks.

Princess Mononoke - In this film, there really isn’t a clear-cut “good” or “bad” side. Both sides do bad and destructive things. Both sides are necessary and are needed in their own ways. And with the two protagonists, that distinction is made very clear. Beautiful heartwrenching music, stunning visuals, and characters so well-written they feel real, this movie is a must see for everyone.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Yeah a lot of fans hate this movie but let’s be honest, no matter your thoughts on the series, Thorin’s descent into madness and then his death is utterly heartbreaking to watch, and made even sadder by the friendship (or potential romance depending on how you view it) between him and Bilbo.

When Marnie Was There - Ignore the lesbian undertones, you will be disappointed in where they lead, but other than that this is a beautiful movie and one I highly recommend seeing.

Mad Max: Fury Road - This movie is jam-packed with fast-paced action and loud fiery excitement but also lots of dramatic and heart-wrenching moments. You will end up caring about the characters and their world so their fates are made even more tragic in the end.

The Land Before Time - A baby Apatosaurus loses his mother and his home and goes through the 5 stages of grief.

Shaun of the Dead - A very funny take on the zombie apocolypse with a heart-wrenching scene near the end and a slightly uplifting ending. A must see for all fans of comedy and zombies.

Kung-Fu Panda 2 - Mostly filled with comedy and fuzzy and cute protagonists, this movie delves deep into themes like death, abandonment, inner peace, dictatorship, descending madness and genocide. A must see.

Heart and Soul - Four people with busy lives die in a bus accident just as a baby boy is born in a car that was nearby the scene. Those four people haunt the baby and become his guardian angels until he can grow up and finish their unfinished business. Very touching and highly emotional, this movie is a strong recommend.

Charlotte’s Web (1973) - I think you know why this is here.

Whale Rider - A young Māori girl wants to become chief of her tribe and tries to make her stubborn and closed-minded grandfather proud of her. While it has a happy ending, there are a lot of sad scenes in this movie.

Marley & Me - The dog dies. You get to practically raise that dog from when he was a puppy up until he gets old and passes away. That’s enough to make most people cry.

Spirited Away - A young girl’s family ends up in debt with the spirit world and so she is kidnapped and forced to work in a bath house for an unspecified period of time. The longer she stays, the more she forgets about her old life. A must see for anyone ever.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Sounds shallow but was surprisingly deep and sincere on a lot of hard topics. Very strong in its female solidarity and very relateable and touching to many people.

Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch - Surprisingly, this one is more emotional than the first. Stitch is revealed to have a genetic problem with his body that causes him to “glitch” and ruin things. If this glitch is not fixed, he will no longer function and he will die.

All Quiet on the Western Front - I was never a fan of black and white movies, even less black and white war movies, but this was quite the surprise. Based off the book, the movie centers around a young man named Paul who enlists in the German army to fight in the war against France. Though it is dated, and some parts I did not agree with, you can still relate to things about most of the characters and feel bad for all of them for the things they have to witness and go through. No one is safe in this movie.

Holes - This movie is sad mainly because of Kate Barlow and Sam. It is the best book-to-movie adaptation I think humans will ever get.

Paranorman - It’s made by Laika what are you doing go see it!!

Kubo and the Two Strings - This one is sadder and also still made by Laika, go hecken see it!!!

The Rise of the Guardians - Abandonment and Isolation Issues the Movie.

The Game Plan - Dwayne Johnson plays an egotistical football star who finds out that he has a daughter who is now in his custody.

Monster Squad - A bunch of cool classic horror movie monsters come out to play in this feature-length film but also Frankenstein gets the friend(s) he deserves.

All Dogs Go To Heaven - A gambling stray dog manipulates a sweet young orphan into making him money to pay off a debt.

The 10th Kingdom - A young woman gets put into a fantasy world with her father by a prince who’s been turned into a dog by a witch who conspires to take the throne. She and her father try to find a portal home as the witch herself tries multiple times to kill them. There’s a lot of drama, cool fairytale references, and lots of smart writing and plot that A must see for most!!

[necropxlis]

4, ,7, 8, 14, 17, 19, 21 sorry not sorry this is a lot

And for 21 I want you to do the music shuffle thing I did for my number 21!

Ya know what I’m not even gonna complain 🤣 only cause it comes from you 🤍

4. Are you likely to blush when a sex scene comes up or can you read/watch it with a straight face?

LOLOL NO. Okay lemme put it this way: depending on the fic I can more than likely read it with a straight face. Unless I get super into it and I’m just like OOP OOOOOPPP NOPE. Like that one time I was at work reading an actual book and the girl and guy were getting into it and I was like IDWDJQLDBQLS and constantly looking around to see if anyone saw me blushing. But watching a sex scene? AHAHAHAHAHA NO. I could be alone or with other people I get FLUSTERED and will look away or look at my phone one. I can barely even handle HEAVY make out in movies and shows because I just get FLUSTERED so badly. Considering there’s no intimacy in my life that’s probably a main factor and cause of how I was raised. My mama would always cover my eyes so I’m always like uhhh where’s my cover???

7. Name a character you wouldn’t mind naming someone after.

I’m actually dying at this because the first name that popped into my head was Sephiroth 😂😂 but I would not name my kid that. However if we are talking about naming children after characters: I wouldn’t mind naming my son Levi, Alistair, Eren, or even Rin. For a daughter: I would probably name them after Eowyn or Arwen because I love those names so much and they come from strong characters. This is funny because I actually have a list of names I want to name my kids and majority of them are from movies, games, books, and anime.

8. Do you prefer happy, bittersweet, or sad endings?

It depends actually. I’m not the biggest fan of a lot of happy endings, if it’s written or plays out well then I’m okay with it. Most of the time I like bittersweet or sad endings, mainly because I’m always into the sad stuff and I don’t know why. I know when I’m reading a book if it ends with like a fairy tail happily ever after I’m like meh about it. The only time I was okay with that was the ending for the Tigers Curse series, and the only reason I was okay with it was because of Kishan’s letter at the end. I went on a whole tangent but ya it really just depends on the story to be honest, but I do see myself leaning towards the bittersweet more than the others.

14. Name a fandom, ship, or character that you love that others would send you hate mail for liking.

This is really hard because I have to sit here and actually go through my list of characters I actually like.

Boromir: I’ve had this conversation with a lot of people. They really don’t see Boromir as victim and just as a power hungry, daddy pleasing, idiot who wanted the ring. Like he has more to his character than that plus he made up for it in the end.

Connor Kenway: 🤣 people hate on Connor so much but I love him. I love his character even tho the amount of times I heard “Where is Charles Lee” is enough for one lifetime. He’s interesting and his story is a little on the sad side.

Ravus Nox Fluret: I’ve stayed away from a lot of stuff FFXV because of the lack of love for Ravus. I don’t think I would get literal hate mail, but I see people arguing about this.

Adam (Nier Automata): I love Adam because he’s so intelligent but the things he did to 9S was inexcusable. I tend to overlook it because it was good character development and made me feel things for him and for 9S that I needed.

Overhaul: I guess this can be one because I really stayed away from everything Overhaul for a long time. So I’m mainly putting him here because my friends hate him and I don’t.

ACTUALLY I KNOW A REALLY GOOD ONE.

Soowoon (Yona of the Dawn): HAHA I have no reason for this one other than 🤷🏻‍♀️ hes cool I like him.

As far as ships? I don’t really think I have any ships that people would come at me for?? And fandoms?? I mean I’ve had some people come at me cause I like Dragon Age before. I used to be in the Voltron fandom so I think that’s about the biggest issue I got 😂

17. Are there any tropes you wished were used less often?

Umm honestly I’m not sure if I can pinpoint one trope cause I know I see flaws in a lot of them. I know the whole “weak but gains crazy power” thing is getting a little old. I don’t mean that in a bad way if it’s written well, but a lot of it just feels repetitive. I also am not a fan of overly loud main characters or overly loud characters in general. Don’t get me wrong I still love them but like I wouldn’t be complaining if they were never there to begin with. That’s just my opinion. I’m sure I have more tropes I could throw out there but my brain is fried from all this thinking ☠️

19. If you could be a part of any story, which story would you want to tag along in?

OH SO MANY!!

If I wanted pure adventure for sure Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. If you don’t think I wouldn’t try and save Thorin’s life you’re wrong 😤 Other ones I would be interested in is the Modern Day story for Assassins Creed. Again, gonna try my best to save Desmond. Final Fantasy 7 & 15. Okay now here’s the struggle. I honestly feel like I wouldn’t stop Sephiroth..but I feel like I would be beside him. BUT DANG IT IF I WOULDNT TRY MY BEST TO SAVE ZACK!! Same thing with 15, I would do my best to make sure Iggy didn’t loose his eyesight, Ravus didn’t die, and save Luna and Noctis. 😤 I also would wanna be in Seraph of the End to see what my demon weapon would be and so I can be friends with Shinya 😂 and Haikyuu so I could replay volleyball.

What I was trying to get at was basically I just wanna save some people who didn’t need to die...and have fun 🤣

21. Bonus+Create your own question.

But you told me to do “Choose a song at random, what ship does it remind you of?”

I cheated a bit and I’m doing two songs cause I can’t decide between the two.

Fingertips by OneRepublic for Luna and Noctis

And August is Over for 9S and 2B

[49scribes-a]

{--Everybody in this stream was fucking HIGH.--}

He's either also cold or he's going through withdrawals, one of the two.

No he's having a seizure

STOP BOUNCING DEAK

All those burnt corpses look like bacon to me

Crispy dragon-charred bacon

Human jerky

I’d love some jerky rn

Id push you

BACKFLIP BACK FLIP

you're a COWARD. GO TO THE TOP

NO

EMBRACE THE JUMP

EAGLE JUMP

jfc

theres a hay pile at the bottom waiting to catch you. youll be fine

because physics works for you in this game

t his isn't assasin's c r e ed

yes it is. right?

Wrong game

that's what we're watching?

theres is clearly hay

i see parkor

hay and parkour= ass creed

exact

HRDCORE PARKOR

lavi looks like a hobbit ngl. i mean deak

hes gonna steal the ring from gollum

can u see the eye of mordor

hes carrying it

it is

jump. you'll live

Holy shit I survived

TOLD U

the eye of mordor is mobile now

it was great

7/10

TOLD U UR IL CHILD BEARING BONES WOULD CATCH YOU - THEYRE SPRINGY AND RESILIENT

U did it

congrdeurtions

am i having a stroke

Ashdjsjdk

idk - were all varying seconds behind of each other. so mavbe

Who keeps a deer pelt with bread smh

makes sense

That’s why they all sick in Skyrim

the deer pelt is surprisingly sterile

can't have the babes

its the most sterile thing in thie fucking game

you're right

i cant believe deak is aa hobbit

idk if its gonna keep your bread all spongy tho

just wrap it tight. it'll be fine

I mean it was stale so probably not

and your breads gonna tste kinda funny

tHTAT'S PRETTY

SKYRIM IS PRETTY

Noice

AESHTETIC

I CAN TYPE I SWEAR

straight up

r U havin' a stroke?

mE VISION KEEPS BLURRING

I wanna go somepe similar to skyrim, take up residency in n bandoned castle. spruce it up

go to europe

and then pretend im a ghost haunting it when visitor come

they have random "castles"

tHAT SKY THO

SCREEN SHOTS. NICE. GOOD CHOICE

I dont want [castles] I want C A S T L E S

we all have dreams

sweet dreams are made of thiiissss

My dream is to be able to spell astetic

who am i to disagree

you men bees

Asthmatic

mean*

travel the world and the seven seas

Jesus Christ

aesthetic?

Yes that one!

antsthetic

I wanna lick the sugar candy in the sky

Aesthetic !!

antstetic?antstatic?ant static

aunt stacy

A e s t h e t I c

that sounds like something Ant-Man would say

sunnylantern gets it = w=

DUN DUN DUN DUN DUND UN DUN DUN ANT MAAAAANNN H A

Why is that corpse thiccer then I am

duran duran hungry like the wolf

wait, I missed the corpse

we have to go back for the corpse

go back for the corpse, tho

leave NO man behind

you mean jeky

jerky*

no it's jeky

nO

okay, I thought I saw a shadow back there and it looked like a werewolf

we do not waste jerky

Bacon

Mmmmm Bacon....

bc u cannibals wanna eat them

it might have been

don't waste good meat

jfc

Meat is meat

meat is meat. yes

they dead they don't care

exactly

bacon is delicious as hell

MEAT MEAT MEAT

HEATHENS

sos jerky

ALL OF U

U'R A HEATHEN 2 DON'T PLAY COY

scuse you - were pagan

i'm an angel

sounds fake

idk what ur talking about

wOW

it does sound fake

Im pure so I mean

We're all heathens

sounds fake

we're all heathens yes

all my friends are heathens

take it slow

take it slow

(twenty one pilots voice) all my friends are heathens-GDI

TOO SLOW.

TAKE IT SLOW

LMAO

wait for them to ask u who u kno

please don't make

i forgot the damn lyrics

any sudden moves

any sudden moves

AAYY

pfffbbbbt

u don't know the half of the abuse

Y’all remember all that smh

XD

hell yeah man

it catchy

Can’t even remember my middle name

s AM E

same

adopt a child. it's time

tbh - replace remembering our names with more important infrmation, like musical lyrics...people use those alot

my middle name is simple as heck. it's only 3 letters

adopting children usually doesn't go well; just look at doug

dic

Hige. No.

ann

but

No

Mine is four and yet :->

dick:smiley:

mine is 5 letters

NO. Dicks.

mINE IS FOUR

yep, that's my middle name. u caught me

mines four too

Ahsjdjdjd

Maybe we all have the same middle name

i'm Liz Dick now

LMAO

Liz dick taylor

'cause we all have the same middle name

has a nice flow

it does doesn't it?

not me

i'm proud of my name

mine is 3 letters

naw. it's Dick now

its four now

Nope, it three

FINE. Dic

ass

U CAN BE THE HALF SSED DIC

there u go

Hjssjjs

oh yeaaaa

sounds like that's yours, isa

OOOHHH

wow

DANG

: )

SNAP

isa ass

isass

has a ring

ees ass

isa sass

Eat a ss

thees assthesis

isa's ass

prometheous

you're all terrible

w he e z e s

WHERE DO U GET THAT. FROM ISA ASS.

rhymes with thesis

prometheass

that name makes me uncomfortable

I want that as my new name

hahahahahah

Prod the a sa

i blame the movie and all the movies that's connected to that one. I get nightmares

don't worry i'll protect you

really tho, me middle name means darling in french so

aren't u special

i'm an angel

meanie

all of u can fight me

u'r an angle, isa

ur no angel, isa

My middle name is from my great grandmother

I was named aftar a slutty country singer. and a car

PHHHHTTTT

i was named after *no one*

a car and a country singer. fuck me

my middle name is Spanish

lucky

QUESO

i'm hispanic and my middle name ain't hispanic :confused:

UR MIDDLE NAME IS QUESO

THREE LETTERS, HIGE

KSO

3 LETTERS, HIGE

osHIT

I'm hispanic and all my names be hispanic

THAT HAPPENED

the kink cavern

the falling cavern

u and deak gonna kink it up in here

WHy

wait ....still children in this. nvm

because it's expected

Looks like stds grow there ngl

deak is a child. cover his eyes

WH A T. WHERE DID THAT GO TO. WHY IT COLLAPSE JUST NOW

See that’s the stds falling from the roof

you guys are behind me, my gosh. that happened like 10 seconds ago

too much sex in this ramshackle place

No one cleans that place

no one needs to. don't get paid enough for that shit

its the jizz....it gets between the cracks and degrades the foundation

between teh /cracks/

KEK

Can’t people f uck in the bed like normal humans

naw son. too vanilla, they get bored

i

omg

wow

Back in my day we used beds and called it woohoo

this is not SIMS

back in my day, we got in bed and wrestled

i'M CR YGIN

AGSHDJSJ that’s where all my sex ed comes from shdjsjd

Back in my day we fucked on the floor like REAL MEN

WHOA NOW. CALM URSELF

COVER THINE EYES, CHILDREN

Crying my lord

I'M TOO ACE FOR THIS

YOU BETTER BE PRAYIN TO UR LORD AND NOT CRYIN

back in my day, we walked 4 miles with ONE FUCKIN' SHOE

relatable

and we shared between 5 of us

Through the snow

ok but same

bc I ate the other shoe

gdi hige

hige thought it was jerky

I did

it was jerky

Must of burnt it

Anything chewy nd tough is jerky

ye bro. learn from hige

...skin?

def

ye

n o

y e

skin is the jerkiest of all

And I’m the one that needs to pray

and the people are jerky, too 'cause they're jerks sometimes

Take the pot

smoke the pot

^^^^to both

I mean-cogh

dO NOT SMOKE THE POT. JFC HIGE

taste the pot

smell the pot

be the pot

BE the pot, yep

be the pot

It’s pn legal now

why are you HERE

smoke that khajiit drug thing

why did you come back to the kink dungeon

DO IT

we're all pots now

i'm a potu'r a pot

we're all pots

or drink it, i don't remember what it is

moonshine

Does the room smell like pot?

I put a pot on me head and nw im a pot head

. . .

IT'S ALL OGRE NOW

I...

y did u make me read that with my own 2 eyes

wait wrong reference

NO

-leaves-

That’s a bad ref

i h8 isa

whe ez e s

Nasty

i'ms or ry

Talk about HEATHEN

go sit in the corner and think about what u've done

u'r no angel

they cant, the corners are mine. all of them

fuckin' share

u already knew this, liz

i did

I Still remember that video like tbwas uesterdyayb

lucifer was an angel too

Was

yesterday

T'was

luifer is still pretty hot I hear

Gdi

SHUT UP

-eye brow wiggle-

omg

hoNHON

EIFFEL TOWER

ur banned from my next stream, hige

BAGUETTE

NO TEW2 FOR YOU

EIFFEL TOWER

NO. PLS. ILL BE GOOD

BAGUETTE

The Eiffel Tower reminds me of something else but idk why

B A N N E D

ILL CALL YOU MASTER AND WEAR A SHOCK COLLAR AND EVERYTHING

goodbye hige

PLS

doug's got that eiffel tower dick. bye

-pBFT

that pill dick

Hm.

i'll see myself out

more like

Wait was there an anime with an Eiffel Tower :thinking:

there was a show with an eiffel tower. and a lady bug,and a cat, and moths

chaat noir

it was cray

Miraculous Ladybug

Nah thinking of something ten times as traumatizing

wow u guys got it

sCREAMS

y that

o 3 o

sCREAMS TOO

But it might of just been a Tower

I watch it every now and then

are u sacrificing deak to the old gods

and the new

the new season?

gotta go fast. gotta go fast

Are u making jerky

OH new gods

gOTTA GO FASTER FASTER FF -FF-F-F-F-F-FASTER

honey you've got a big storm comin'

SANIC X

I was singing that during one of my streams

u didnt stutter over the Faster part. it doesnt count

I did tho

i have to go make jerky

this music still makes me think of South Park Stick of Truth

pats gently

Sleep is for the weak

And i. Am v weak

whimps. sleep is for the dead

grnted. we are all very dead inside already so....

Guess y’all better get me a coffin then cause imma be sleep in an hour probs. Maybe two. Depends on how much my dog wants to piss me off tonight

SCREAMS THO I FINALLY GOT A FIRE STARTED AND IT CRASHED

LMAO

Rip fire

RIP KIT

no fire

It burned too bright

only suffering

tiger tiger burning bright

Face the dark and cold like a dragon

fuckin capitilism

U can do it kit. Build that fire

How do u skill up in camping ?

Desk looks short.

Deak*

no. hes desk now

he's always been desk

your kindling loks like dog turds

They do I know my dog turds

ive stepped in enough dog shit to know my turds

I’ve picked up enough dog crap to know mine

baaah

Except those look like old ones. All cold and dried out

why do u need the fire anyway

Warmth, light, happiness

DEAK WAS STRANGLING A RAT BEFORE IT CRASHED

Yuh oh

I HEARD ITS LIL ANGRY RAT SOUNDS

The rat crashed the game to live

Rat god

rat ruh raggy

Why kill a werewolf when u can date kne

This little meter shows wet and cold. Gotta keep em down.

thats bswe all know lavis always wet bc hes a horny rabbit

IAHSJSJSJS

I mean u know rabbits...

Wear a coat and u will be warm

gotta hump like theres no tomorrow

Sex keeps u warm..I think

Actually I don’t know:thinking:

id imagine to bodies that sit at 98 degrees F while doing nthing get pretty hot when pressed together and doing activities that raise your blod pressure

thats like a 400 degree sauna right there if my maths right. pretty toasty

....that makes me wanna never do anything cause Thats HOT

goodsex is bad - its how babies are made and we dont want none of that

Condoms are a thing

so are holes and accidents

Ajsjsjsj being gay means no babies

Why do u think Im here

W o w

U

bruh

They’re happy accidents

Tru, Hays where the other half of my sex ed comes in. One half is sims the other is p orn

they are good teachers. pornhub is good to us

Yeah on what not to do I found some kessed up stuff. That’s where I found that shrek video

Spongeknob squarenuts

I can honestly say I have seen worse. Anime p orn is another layer of hell

And then there were three

Wow what a cool dog

THE THREE AMIGOS. THE THREE MUSKETEERS. NOW WITH LESS BLACK SPOTS. or was that treasure island-squints-

That was treasure island

Wood looks so crunchy

I read moby dick, the three musketeers, treasure island, huckleberry fin, tom sawyer and a few others but. fuck me if I remember them in their entirety

I read that as “I read my dick” and I was very concerned

wood - the original forbidden fruit

DEAK GT TURBERCULOSIS

Is that a naked man

prbsi mean this is sex dungeon

My god. Worst kink

why two lil kids re crwling around it giving themselves aids is beyound me

This is the least sexy sex dungeon let’s be real here. No mood lighting, cold. No r and b music. Where’s the pizzazz

maybe they played music on the bones

Yeah cause that’s sexy//

it is if ur a skeleton fucker in the undertale fandom

Do NOT. I have nightmares about that fandom

I can no longer look at a naked anatomical skeleton in all casual and comfort anymore

Wow really just moved the money for that gold

Honestly seeing them with dicks that are blue and glowing is just. V bad. I have seen so many things. and every time I see an actual factual human skeleton now. its all I see

I’m glad are the men here in this dungeon are napping so well

and I am very uncomfortable with naked skeletons

Aren’t all.:.skeletons naked ?

Guess they are wearing skin...

Deaks hair is Cheeto colored which is honest such a look:tm: you rub your hand through deaks hair. your fingers come back stained with neon orange dust

Cheeto dandruff

whose playin the meat sticks again

what

i heard the meaty slaps

i still hear them

alright. go gather your quotes you quote whore

[artbyanca]

2010′s Art stuff

Since it’s going to be the 20′s in a bit it seems like the right time to look back at all the work done over this decade, appreciate the improvement, be embarrassed with the early stuff and so on. This should be particularly interesting for me because I started taking art seriously when this decade began(2009 to be more precise) and also stuff like high school and college happened. 

                                              2010-2012

Back in high school I was drawing really complex abstract stuff, watching anime and getting ready for my college entry exam. I always liked weird stuff and luckily for me so did my first high school art  teacher, so with a little guidance I started to explore the abstract side of weird, which had the advantage of looking good without me knowing any basics of drawing. 

So for the first years I was drawing super detailed stuff that took forever to complete, to compensate for my lack of knowledge of form, line, composition, perspective, anatomy and so on. These below are much more representative of my overall art from that time, cause I did draw a lot of fan art and such. Sorry for the bad quality, I used to photograph my work with a potato back then and I didn’t think these were worth scanning when I still had them.  

I should also mention the architecture, cause it was the only drawing related thing my parents wouldn’t freak out about so I decided to pursue it. To get into architecture school you need to take a drawn entry exam so I spent my high school free time  at a prepatory course. Sadly I can only show a few sketches from that course cause all of my old work from it is in my parent’s attic and I’m only going up there if my cat’s life depends on it.  

I did learn some fundamentals at that course like shape, forms, perspective, a bit of composition and how to intersect a hexagonal pyramid with a dodecahedron; I just didn’t think of applying any of it in my personal art until                                                                                            

                                                       2013

I saw the first Hobbit movie at the beginning of the year and it reminded me how much I love Tolkien’s world so I reread all the books and also felt like illustrating them and I was super committed to doing everything, characters, backgrounds everything. And...well if you’ve been avoiding for the longest time to draw the things you’re bad at when you finally do everything, everything sucks. I was also really not helped by the fact that I didn’t know when to stop with the shading. But I’m glad for my commitment, cause things didn’t stay sucky forever.  

I still do weird stuff in 2013 but I had enough confidence to move away from abstract drawings and towards surrealism which has always been my favorite thing in the world. 

By the way, I did get into architecture school but I haven’t gotten any of my work back from the school so I can only show some sketches I did in 2014 for one of the courses. 

This transitions us into 

                                                    2014

The year when both my illustrations and surreal work were Tolkien themed. Still too heavy shading and not very happy anatomy, but things were looking up. 

 In 2014 I also experimented with some colored inks and started my Blue Book series, which is a series of surreal paintings that might make your eyes bleed from the extremely contrasting color scheme that is the same all throughout, but I was always a fan of high contrast so I enjoyed filling a sketchbook with them. 

                                                      2015

Was my best year creatively, so much so that I can’t narrow down my favorites any more than this, sorry.  

It was also the first year I did inktober completely. Drew a bunch of hands for that.

Also this happened at the end of 2015. It’s not representative of anything really, but it does mark the one time my sister got drunk so it needs to be remembered:  

                                                                                                            2016

This was my best year in terms of technical skill; stuff finally stopped looking so wonky all the time. I also started working freelance and since most of the jobs I got were for children’s books I started doing more kid friendly stuff to build a portfolio in that direction, cause who doesn’t love to get paid for doing what they love. 

I continued working in my Blue Book and experimented a bit with an abstract style that we’re going to revisit soon. 

I also did sort of a story for inktober, but I didn’t like it enough so it went nowhere after the challenge. 

                                                         2017

Due to my professional work for children more color crept into my illustration work. I also did some of my best surreal work ever; I’m still so proud of that, whoa! 

The Blue Book kept going

And I started the design100somethings challenge; I choose to do sphinxes for it, which to be honest facilitated more evolution in faces than overall design skills. 

And I did inktober again, only half though, cause doing detailed old buildings was a bad idea for a daily challenge. 

                                                       2018

A lot of stuff happened in 2018. I kept adding to my illustration portfolio. 

I finished my Blue Book 

Did the bulk of the sphinxes

Did MerMay and my favorite inktober series so far. 

And started doing comics, which may not look as impressive as my other stuff but it’s a really important little step (especially if I manage to stick to a schedule next year).

                                                      2019

I can’t show the bulk of what I did this year because it’s either freelance work or comics that are not yet in a state fit to be seen. I did manage to finish the design100sphinxes. 

Remember that abstract style I said we’re going to revisit? This is what it turned into and I did a lot of art just for fun in it this year. I find it kind of funny that I started the decade doing abstract art because I didn’t know how to do anything else and after getting a reasonable grasp on the fundamentals I got back to it. Someone will enjoy comparing the old stylized stuff because I couldn’t draw to the new art in an actual intentional style. 

In terms of improvement, and that’s probably what people want to see, the most important step forward this year was dipping my toes into digital art. Just digital coloring so far, but everyone has to start somewhere. 

And that’s my 10 year art journey. Thanks for reading, if you just looked at the art hope you enjoyed that, here’s to the 20′s holding more art and inspiration for everyone(and more comics for me specifically). 

Happy New Year everybody! 

[theprincessoffrost]

ALL OF THEM ;DDDDDD

oh boy all of them? You mad man.   Sorry in advance for the long post.

send me some countries!

America: What is your favourite place to eat?   I tend to like places that serve noodles. I really like this hibachi place called Huhot

Australia: Do you have any quirks when speaking? I sometimes end up stuttering but most of the time I will forget words. Sometimes its simple words like car door. Its quite embarassing.

Austria: What kind of person do you wish to be? The type of person people see as kind. The type of person who brings comfort to others.

Belarus: Is there anyone you love? Family, friends, romantic interest?   I love my friends and for the most part my family. I am not really romantically involved at the moment.

Belgium: What do you think of your siblings?  I am close with my younger brother to the point he sees me as a (non creepy) mother figure. My older brother and I used to not get along, but that has changed over the years.

Botswana: Do you like to sing? Why or why not?  I love to sing I am just shy about doing it around other people because I am not confident in my singing voice and sometimes I hear lyrics wrong so I feel like a fool if I were to sing the wrong lyrics

Bulgaria: Who do you consider close to you?  Most of my friends are close friends because I am kinda choosy about those who are close to me.

Cameroon: Describe your culture.    Um… Midwestern?

Canada: Favourite wintertime activity?   Cuddling under blankets watching movies/shows

China: What was the best moment of your life?  There are so many moments, but I guess one of my tops was being part of @spamaramakins ’s wedding

Cuba: What sort of grudges do you hold if any?  I hold one against my ex and his girlfriend for what they put me through

Cyprus: What hands-on activities do you like (drawing, carving, building, etc.)? I love to knit especially when I’m watching stuff because it keeps my hands busy. I also like small sewing projects. Coloring is also pretty fun

Denmark: Do you wish for something of your past?  I am not quite sure what this question is asking me.

Egypt: Do you stand up for what you believe in? How?     I am steadfast in most of what I believe in.

England: Are you controlling?    I think I kinda am to a point. I have anxiety so typically I try to control situations so as not to give myself an attack.

Estonia: Do you think people often misunderstand you?    I don’t think they misunderstand me I just think I am not clear with what I’m trying to convey at any given point

Finland: What do you prefer, kindness, sternness, or apathy?   Kindness

France: How do you show love for those you care for?   Spoil them to the best of my ability.

Germania: What is the hardest thing you have ever had to do?  Admit to myself that he was no good and that I deserved better than what I got and to move past it.

Germany: Do you have a hard time forgiving yourself?  Yes

Ghana: What is your favourite sport?  I am not really a fan of sports at all.

Greece: Do you let other help you when in need? I try to be open to advice. If its financial things I am a bit less open because I dont really like people spending money on me.

Hungary: Who is the person you trust most?  My close friends

Hutt River: What is the most memorable dream or nightmare you have had?   When I was a child I lived in this old farm house in the middle of town. The basement was not really a basement more of a shelter from tornado. It had a cinder block side and dirt floor.  I had nightmares where this Dr Seuss character lived down there, but the basement was more of a vast desert and he wanted me dead.

Hong Kong: Do you fear death?   Not really

Iceland: Do you hide your real personality? Why?    Sometimes? I can get a bit harsh on my opinions of others sometimes and I try to hide that.

India: How important is family to you?  For the most part it is pretty important. I do believe in loyalty, but sometimes you have to admit that family can be wrong.

Japan: Tell us a secret about yourself.  I am not very confident in the stories I post.

Kenya: What is your favourite wild animal? OH this is a tough one!  Its between Foxes(all sorts), Tigers, and  Wolves

Korea: What is one thing you accomplished by yourself?  … nothing springs to mind

Kugelmugel: Is there anyone you have a love-hate relationship with?  There was this girl back in school. I havent seen here in years.

Latvia: Do you believe you are brave?  I guess to a point I am.

Ladonia: What is the internet site you visit most often?  Its a tie between Ao3 and Tumblr

Liechtenstein: How do people underestimate you most often?  When I am helping people move(which is kinda a surprising amount) I am often seen as weak and not strong enough to help move furniture.

Lithuania: Do you desire power?   Nah. That is for others

Macau: What is your favourite festival or celebration?  Im a fan of Halloween because of all the decorations and such. Like seriously if I lived on my own most of my decor would be Halloween

Molossia: Do you consider yourself strong?  I guess in the same regard as being brave yes?

Monaco: Do you think you are a lucky person? To have the friends I do yes I am pretty lucky

New Zealand: Would you rather be an elf, dwarf, Hobbit, or wizard?  Elf those guys are graceful as hell

North Italy: What is your least favourite part of your personality?  I get timid in the face of conflict

Norway: What was the most disappointing time in your life?   The end of my relationship with my ex. There was a lot going on that was really not good.

Netherlands: Most generous thing someone has done for you? Just about anything anyone does for me is really freakin generous.

Poland: Hardest thing you have gone through? I was cheated on and treated like dirt and was in a very bad situation for quite a while

Prussia: Would you prefer to live forever or die alone? I guess between the two id rather live forever?

Roman Empire: How would you like to be remembered?  For my awesome personality

Romania: What is something you are very ashamed of? The fact I didnt leave a clearly bad situation sooner

Russia: Have you ever suffered from low self esteem? Do you still?   Yes and yes

Sealand: Who is your best friend?  That is a loaded question I will choose to bypass

Seborga: What is your favourite beverage?  TEA!!!!

Seychelles: How do you handle people being rude to you?  It depends on the person. If its someone I know ill try to make it clear they are being rude. If its not someone I know I kinda try to be passive aggressive.

South Italy: What is your favourite part of your personality? How generous I can be

Spain: What would you tell to the person or people you hurt most if you had a second chance? Thing is despite what my answers are saying about my past I try not to dwell on who I have hurt and who has hurt me. I do hold a grudge against persons but I wouldn’t change that past nor would I change what I have done. Better to look forward than to constantly be looking back

Sweden: Are you a leader, follower, or independent?  It kinda depends on the people im with and if things would be done faster if I lead. Overall im a follower

Switzerland: Would you consider yourself evil, good, or neutral?  Good neutral

Thailand: How good is your poker face? Pfft no

Tibet: What do you value most? trust

Taiwan: What do you think of the people or person who raised you?   I do take issue with them overall

Turkey: Would you ever want children?  At present I do not imagine myself with children. I am not a fan of them overall

Uganda: How would you like others to see you?  As a kind if quiet person

Ukraine: What is one thing that has made you stronger in life?  The past hardships ive overcome

Vietnam: What is something you are proud of about yourself?  My wrighting even if I am not confident in it

Yemen: What kind of art do you like?  If we are talking styles Art Deco has a place in my heart

Zimbabwe: Who is your favourite character from any folklore?  I would have to say the lady in white

[caspinn]

Repeating Apologies - Chapter 3

Summary: The Winchester’s start their search for Dean’s soulmate (who is supposed to help him get rid of The Mark of Cain) by travelling to England.

Warnings: Some more violence.

“Why would I even help you if you couldn’t even kill Crowley for me, boy?” Rowena asked with a big mischievous smile. Dean glanced at Sam. What was Rowena talking about? But Sam ignored Dean’s questioning eyes.

Awesome, so if Rowena wasn’t going to help them, neither would Crowley, thanks to Sam. Dean turned around and walked out of Rowena’s cell without saying a word, leaving his brother alone with the witch. Dean didn’t want to give Rowena the pleasure of seeing that she managed to piss him off.

Dean walked upstairs to get a beer. He passed Cas and Charlie, who were sitting at the table; Charlie behind her laptop and Cas in front of her, talking while she was working. He had a book before him and must have been shifting through the pages. Probably just to keep him busy, because Cas knew that there wasn’t any lore about the Indigo Children.

“Whaddup, Dean?” Charlie asked when Dean sat down next to her.

“Rowena doesn’t want to help us, like we predicted,” Dean mumbled while he unwittingly ripped the brand off the beer bottle.

“Okay, so what does she want?” Charlie tried.

“What does she-?” Dean didn’t finish his sentence. This here was yet another sign that Dean couldn’t focus or concentrate on things as well as he used to anymore. He was constantly distracted by his own anger.

Oh, no. Dean cursed as he jumped back of his chair startling both Charlie and Cas, and sprinted to the stairs to get back to Sam and Rowena. He ran into his brother, who was just walking upstairs. Dean grabbed his shoulders and grasped them unknowingly hard.

“What. Did. You. Do?” Dean hissed in a menacing whisper. Sam clenched his jaws by Dean’s strong grip. It was clear on his face that he knew exactly what Dean was talking about.

“She wanted a deal, Dean,” Sam said quietly.

“No,” Dean answered curtly.

“We can always hunt her down later, Dean! You need to survive the Mark of Cain first!”

That was when everything started to look red in his eyes. Dean’s head simply exploded. His brother promised freedom to a freaking evil witch?! Wasn’t this kind of thinking what put them in trouble again and again?

Sam seemed to know what was happening immediately. As if he saw Deans fist coming before he even decided to throw the punch, the younger hunter quickly dove away, freeing himself from his brother's furious grip. He ran to the room where Charlie and Castiel were sitting, still seeming a bit confused about Dean’s sudden departure. The fact that they’re no longer sitting down was clear enough that they were about to go in pursuit. They both looked surprised when Sam sprinted towards them and picked up the chair Cas had been sitting on not five minutes earlier.

“Sam, what-?” But the angel never managed to finish his question when he saw Dean stomping in right behind Sam.

“Get Charlie out of here, Cas!” Sam yelled. His voice was just vague inside Dean’s mind, though. He immediately recognized that he had reached the blind part of his anger. The one he couldn’t really control anymore the moment it was triggered. Though right now all he wants to do is smack his brother on the head until he realized how stupid he was being, he couldn’t help but agree. Cas should get Charlie back to safety, pronto!

Charlie protested immediately, because that was just the thing she would do, though. Somehow, in this twisted world, this brave woman wanted to help Dean. Dean, the person who didn’t even deserve anything like that at all.

After some small arguing that Dean clearly missed, Charlie huffed out a breath and hurried back upstairs. Cas didn’t follow her up, instead staying down there to help Sam.

No, Dean thought. Don’t make me hurt you, too.

But it was hard to concentrate any further. The animal inside of him finally broke through completely, and instantly, the only thing Dean could focus on was smacking Sam’s face. Who did his brother think he was, making stupid decisions like that?!

When Cas tried to hold him back, Dean quickly turned around, freeing himself from Cas's hands and planted his fist right in the angel’s face. This didn’t really hurt Castiel as much as it would hurt a human, but he still backed off a little by the shock which gave Dean, in less than a second, the chance to attack Sam. Or so he thought.

Before Dean could turn back around to Sam, the younger Winchester smashed the chair he was holding with all his strength on Dean’s head, making Dean see black immediately. He fell down with a grunt and laid still. The last thing he could remember before he blacked out was how he was messing up the floor with the blood that was probably dripping from where the chair hit him.

  The next morning Charlie was reading a book in the old sofa that had never been replaced since the men of letters left this place, when Dean walked in. He sat down in a fauteuil that was standing in front of Charlie’s sofa. Dean rubbed his sore head and just sat there, thinking, silently.

He watched Charlie as she was reading The Hobbit, again. It was a peaceful sight, or well, it should have been a peaceful sight. But nothing felt peaceful for him anymore and it was exactly that thought that was already giving Dean stress that morning. He looked for something that could distract himself, so he took a chair, put it behind Charlie and read her story along with her over her shoulder. It was a weird sight, but he really needed to empty his mind. Dean never read the book, nor did he see the movie, so he couldn’t really follow what was happening. The fact that she was near the end didn’t help either.

“Wait what?! Is Thorin going to die?” Dean asked, figuring that this Thorin-character was quite a big deal in the story. In return Dean got himself a smack on the arm for speaking.

“Dean! Don’t spoil it!” Charlie snapped back, but clearly faking the anger because of the sudden grin that showed up on her face. Of course she knew how the book ended, she had read it, like, a thousand times. She even said that her mother used to read it to her as a bedtime story.

At that moment, Sam walked in, stretching his back. Dean stood up and looked a little bit awkward.

“Sam, did you knock me down with a chair, yesterday?” he asked carefully, trying not to sound too angry about it – which he wasn’t, of course. Sam nodded slowly and watched Dean with watchful eyes. Dean nodded back with a sad smile.

“Smart move, look, I’m-“

“Yeah, I know,” Sam looked at Dean, and the older brother felt a bit of annoyance upon having his apology interrupted like that. “We have to take action, right now, though.”

It took a few hours before Rowena could locate the three Indigo’s. In the meantime, Sam, Dean, Castiel and Charlie were discussing their plans.

“Should we go alone? You know, at the same time but split so one of us goes to Greece, one to Belgium and one to England?” Dean proposed. Sam looked doubtful, but it was Castiel who answered.

“I don’t think that would be wise, we all don't know that much about the Indigo Children. We don’t know their powers, their weaknesses, so we better face them together.”

Dean nodded. “So who comes along and who stays here? Someone has to keep an eye on the bunker…” He really wanted to finish that sentence with ‘and the witch, but oh no, wait, Sam let her free’ but he knew they would just start to argue about it and he would get mad. Again. So he chewed on the inside of his cheek as hard as he could, just to shut up and not trigger himself.

“Well, Dean has to go, of course. Cas knows at least about the existence of the Indigo Children, so he has to go too.” Sam looked at Charlie, who already knew she would lose. “Rock paper scissors?”

Charlie seemed surprised that the younger Winchester really wanted to give her a chance to go. She looked so mollified by Sam’s trust that she played the game with big sparkly eyes. Charlie threw rock and Sam scissors so she won. Grinning she threw her arms in the air.

“YES! YES!” she yelled out. Sam scratched his head, looking a bit surprised that he actually lost – normal, since he normally always won with Dean.

“So, I guess I have to stay-“ he started, but Charlie shook her head.

“Nah,” she interrupted him “I’ll stay, I wasn’t really planning on going, you know. Just wanted to see if you would actually have let me go.”

Dean snorted. That sneaky girl, he thinks fondly. “I wouldn’t. You know I love you, Charlie, but-“

“Yeah, I know.” Charlie smiled widely and side-hugged Dean, and then Sam. “I’ll babysit the bunker!”

“And don’t go hunting on your own!” Dean said. Charlie gasped in shock then, putting a hand on her chest as if she was offended.

“Why, Dean, why would you even think I would do such a thing?” she asked, and then she winked at him. Dean just snorted again, already knowing he was going to miss her sense of humor.

The moment they were packed, the guys put their luggage in the car and said goodbye to Charlie. Rowena was freed one hour before that, the moment she went to give them the specific addresses of the people they were looking for.

“I know you’re scared of planes, Dean, but don’t try to faint!” Charlie called out jokingly, but Dean didn’t think it was funny at all. He really, really, really wasn’t looking forward to the flight. Their first stop was going to be London, England. Besides, how the hell did she even know about that? He never told- oh right, she read the books.

When the plane moved to take off, Sam didn’t do a thing to calm Dean’s nerves, who was freaking out a little. This felt like revenge for all those times Dean laughed with Sam’s fear of clowns. Dean, who was biting his nails and was constantly checking his belt, really wanted to smack the grin from his brother’s face. In the meantime, Cas, who was seated next to Sam but with the hallway between them, was really enjoying this very human thing to do (much to Dean’s surprise, because honestly, he just felt like dying on the spot). He normally only used his wings to fly, which was way quicker of course. The fact that his wings were fried (literally), meant that he couldn’t fly off anywhere, anymore, until they were healed. Cas explained once to Dean that it could take years until they were back to normal, and Dean had noticed how regretful Cas had sounded about that.

Dean didn’t know what was passing through the Angel’s head right now. His stare seemed ensless, as he was looking all the way through Dean’s window.

Dean was still gnawing his fingers when his ear started to hurt from the pressure of the take off. Sam grinned and offered his brother a piece of chewing gum. Dean grabbed the package and took three out of them, instead.

“Casssh,” Dean said with his mouth full of unchewed chewing gum “You’re ssshitting by the aisle. When you see a ssshtewardesssh, assshk a drink for me, will you?” And because Cas was Cas, he first ordered a lemonade, then looked at Dean’s face and heard Sam snorting, and seemed to remember that Dean loves to drink alcohol. So he corrected himself and told the stewardess to bring some cognac instead.

“Is that okay?” Cas asked Dean after the stewardess walked away. Dean nodded while trying to chew the big amount of chewing gum he stuffed in his mouth.

After some time in the plane, Dean started to feel the sorrow leaking back into his brain. When Sam noticed his elder brother’s grim faced, he asked what was wrong.

“These Indigo’s, they are killers, Sammy. So whoever my soulmate might be, it is something we would hunt…”

Sam nodded softly. “You know Rose and Violet said that they weren’t sure that all the Indigo’s killed the persons they were fighting with, right? Maybe not all three are killers.”

Dean remembered, indeed, but he couldn't help doubting.

 “Avebury, please,” Sam said to the taxi driver after they got into his wagon. They had to drive two and a half hours to get to the small town. After driving this amount of time, they passed some typical English cottages some fields and… some freaky, big stones actually standing in these green fields.

“What are those?” Sam asked the cabdriver curiously, feeling like he was a little bit of a tourist after all.

“These are megaliths, a stone circle like Stonehenge, but they say these megaliths are even older than the Stonehenge,” the man explained with a thick accent on his voice. One Dean couldn’t really place, since he would just simply call it ‘Brittish’.

“Did they have a purpose?” Sam wondered out loud. The nerd…

The cabdriver scratched his nose before answering. “They believe the stone circle had some kind of prehistoric astronomical meaning or use. But nobody knows for sure,” The man explained. “The only thing I know about them is that every year there are teenagers dancing around the megaliths, with bed sheets wrapped around their bodies. First time I saw that, I thought it was a cult, you know? But actually it’s a yearly school trip from god-knows-what-school from somewhere in the Benelux. Oh and the sheets? Well, I’ve an aunt living in the neighborhood and she walked past the field one day and she saw these teens, so she got curious and asked them what the heck they were doing. You’ll never believe it! They were dressed as druids for a school assignment. And the teachers were laughing with them of course, because these teens were dancing in sheep-shit, dressed as a bunch of idiots. I laughed my ass off when I heard that and my aunt –“

Dean wasn’t listening to the cabdriver’s chatter. This town looked so peaceful and innocent. It was hard to imagine the weird creature, the Indigo, walking around here and not being noticed. The Indigo must act strange, different than normal people. Dean was sure about that and his hands already started itching. It felt like a good hunt, he could take this Indigo down and it would be one creature less that lives from killing humans.

The cabdriver dropped the guys off at their hotel. The hotel was located close to the address of the first Indigo, that’s why Sam booked it. Dean watched as Sam plumped down on his bed, mumbling something about sleep. Dean felt tired too, his eyes burned of exhaustion, but he wouldn’t be able to sleep. If Dean would lie down at that moment, he would be alone in his head, overthinking things. Just him in his own head could be very dangerous, or maybe just depressing. His stomach already hurt from just thinking about it. Cas was, as curious as he was, reading the hotel brochure.

Dean grabbed his coat and decided to search for a bar nearby, when Castiel suddenly said something. Dean wasn’t really focused so he hadn’t heard what the angel was saying.

“Sorry, Cas, what did you say?” Dean asked after turning to Cas, while putting his coat on.

“I want to play Ping-Pong!” What? It took Dean a second to get what the angel was saying. Cas saw Dean’s confusion and tried to explain himself “Look, they have Ping-Pong tables in the hotel and I thought that it would be better for you to play some Ping-Pong than go to a bar to distract yourself with alcoholic beverages.”

Ah, Cas was just the same old blunt Angel he always was. The Winchester felt kind of busted, like a teen who wanted to sneak out of the house, but he didn’t have the chance to argue about it with Cas as the angel already opened the door to leave the hotel room.

“If you really don’t want to go to bed and save yourself from a jetlag tomorrow, then just go play some Ping-Pong with the angel, Dean…” Sam muttered sleepy with his face buried in a pillow. He just laid there on the bed with his clothes still on.

“Weren’t you supposed to be asleep?” Dean grumbled bitterly while hanging his coat back on the coat rack.

It took a while before Cas got the game, but once he understood how it went, he became as competitive as Dean. Watching the angel struggle and grumble when Dean scored, actually enlightened Dean’s mood a bit. He still wasn’t happy, but his little smile every now and then didn’t feel so fake or plastered on his face.

But as soon as they stopped playing, he felt his mood already going backwards as they were climbing the stairs back to the hotel room. Castiel’s happy chatter drummed in his ears. Cas didn't talk that much, though, but it felt that way in Dean’s head. And with every word, Dean felt a thick, dark wave going through his head.

[chiseler]

LARGER THAN LIFE

In 1927, Albert Bertanzetti and his three-year-old son, William, were taking a stroll when they stopped to join a small crowd watching a film being shot on the streets of Los Angeles. During a break in the shoot, Albert suggested his son go show the director, Jules White, his little trick. So William toddled over to White and tugged on his pant leg. When he had White’s attention, William flipped over, went into a headstand and began spinning in circles. White was so taken with the trick he gave the young Bertanzetti a small uncredited role in the two-reel short, Wedded Blisters. Afterward, William earned a regular role in the popular Mickey McGuire series of shorts, where he played Mickey Rooney’s younger brother Billy. Taking prevailing anti-Italian sentiments into consideration, in the credits he was cited as “Billy Barty.”

Barty had been born in Millsboro, Pennsylvania in 1924, but when it was determined he had hay fever, Albert decided to move the family West, to the dry, clean air of Hollywood. Depending on how you look at it, hay fever was the least of Barty’s problems. Or maybe not, given how things worked out.

Apart from hay fever, Barty had also been born with cartilage–hair hypoplasia, a form of dwarfism. Being extremely small for his age at three (as an adult he stood three-foot-nine), when it came to early film roles he was almost exclusively relegated to playing diaper clad infants. It was a director’s dream—having an infant on set who could not only take direction, but could walk, run, talk and do tricks as well. As a result, along with the Mickey McGuire shorts, he played infants in everything from the all-star live action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (1933) to Golddiggers of 1933 (1933) to Bride of Frankenstein (1935). In fact Barty, tiny as he was, would play diaper-clad infants until he hit puberty.

Over a career that would span seven decades, along with infants, Barty would play his share of elves, leprechauns, imps, Hobbits, trolls, assorted other fairy tale and fantasy characters, clowns, court jesters, pygmies, sideshow performers and mad scientist assistants. Ironically, for having appeared in over two hundred films and television shows, Barty did not appear in the three touchstones of American Dwarf-centric cinema: Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932), Sam Newfield’s The Terror of Tiny Town (1938), or Mervin LeRoy’s The Wizard of Oz (1939). No, although he would appear in the behind-the-scenes comedy Under the Rainbow (1981), contrary to the general assumption, Billy Barty was never an original Munchkin. There are reasons for this.

In 1932 when Browning was working on Freaks, Barty was only eight, he was not a professional carnival freak, and he was too busy with the Mickey McGuire shorts. And after the shorts’ seven-year run ended in 1934—two years before casting began on Tiny Town or The Wizard of Oz—Albert Bertanzetti, recognizing talent in all of his children, pulled Billy out of the movies and sent the whole family on the vaudeville circuit.

Now, 1935 was hardly the most opportune time to try and break into vaudeville. As an entertainment form it had been on life support for a decade already, with theaters either closing down or becoming movie palaces with performances, almost as a sad afterthought, taking place after that evening’s double feature had ended. Those performers who could were trying to break into pictures, and those who couldn’t were vanishing without a trace. Now here was Barty, who’d been working regularly in films for nearly ten years, trying to break into vaudeville. Nevertheless, Billy and Sisters, as they were touted, marched on, with a musical act featuring Barty’s sister Evelyn on piano and accordion, his other sister Dede playing violin, and Barty himself on drums. They all sang and danced a little, and the adolescent Barty told jokes and did impressions. In his later years he remembered the time fondly, mostly because it gave him a chance at that early age to see much of North America.

In 1942 Barty enrolled in college in Los Angeles and majored in journalism, hoping to become a sportswriter. While there, he joined the football and basketball teams, where he was both a novelty and a ringer. He also played second base on a semi-professional baseball team for a spell, where by his own account he was walked forty-five times.

Instead of pursuing work as a sports columnist after graduation, he returned to show business. Later he was quoted as saying, “You don't see any little people doing newscasts, you don't see any doing sports writing, you don't see any sports announcing, you don't see any coaches, but there are little people who are capable of doing these things, who have proven themselves.” You get the sense there was a little personal bitterness there, hinting he may have been forced back to Hollywood because that was the only place he could find work.

By 1947, now an adult with a gravelly but high-pitched voice, Barty sported a boxer’s face on a disproportionately large head. In many ways he resembled a diminutive William Demarest, and in many roles would adopt Demarest’s gruff but lovable demeanor. Shedding the diaper at last, he nevertheless picked up where he left off, playing assorted pygmies and leprechauns and elves, usually for cheap laughs.

In the early Fifties he became a regular member of Spike Jones musical comedy ensemble, The City Slickers, and was a big hit on Jones TV shows, where he became especially known for his slapstick, spot-on Liberace impression, and his ability to roll off his piano bench into a head spin, a trick which continued to serve him well.

Growing up, Barty said, he had no idea he was different, that his parents never told him there were things he couldn’t do because he was too short. By the time he was thirty, however, he’d come to learn the rest of the world was not quite as accepting as his parents. In 1957, Barty put out a call for little people from around the country to join him for a get together in Reno. Only twenty people showed up to that first convention, but it became the foundation for Little People of America, a support and advocacy group pushing for equitable treatment and civil rights for dwarfs, midgets and other people of unusually small stature. His aim was to ensure little people across the country would be treated fairly, would be able to get jobs, and would be granted the same accessibility rights afforded the normally-sized. It always struck me as a little odd that, for all his tireless efforts lobbying to normalize perceptions and treatment of little people throughout American culture, Barty, without much apparent gumption, would continue to take roles some might call demeaning, or at the very least helped cement those stereotypes he was fighting so hard to break. Perhaps to him it was simply paying work, it was showbiz, and he knew full well what his role was within that world. But the apparent ironic contrast between his activism and his work would lead to a public tiff in the Seventies with fellow small actor Hervé Villechaize of Fantasy Island. Barty, who’d appeared on the show, felt Villechaize was undercutting all his work when he said bluntly that people like him and Barty “were midgets, not actors.”

After the second annual Little People of America convention, Barty began courting Shirley Bolingbroke, a little person who had attended the meeting. When he proposed, however, she declined, telling him she was a devout Mormon, and so would never consider marrying anyone outside the faith. In 1962 Barty relented and converted to the church of Latter-day Saints, and the two were married. Although Mormon insiders and publicists have made a big deal of Barty’s enthusiastic True Believer status within LDS, it would be many years before he agreed to get baptized and receive full member status, and then only to participate in his son’s baptism.

Around the time of the marriage, as Barty was making regular TV appearances on various comedy and variety shows (including a recurring role on Peter Gunn), he also began hosting a weekday afternoon local kid’s show in Los Angeles which was called either Billy Barty’s Big Top or Billy Barty’s Big Show, depending on who’s doing the remembering. That stint may well have brought him to the attention of the sinister Sid and Marty Krofft, who in the late Sixties conscripted Barty to become a regular on several Krofft shows including H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and later Sigmund The Sea Monster, where he played the titular sea monster opposite Rip Taylor and aging child star Johnny Whittaker.

For all the low-brow antics and his uncredited roles in Elvis movies, it must be said Barty was always a compelling and charismatic screen presence, a, yes, larger than life character. In those few rare instances when he played roles that made no references at all to his height—like Abe Kusich, the shady drunken cockfighter in Day of the Locust or Ludwig, Rod Steiger’s sidekick in W.C. Fields and Me, he proved himself an electric onscreen presence who could dominate any scene.

(Just a quick aside, in 1980 Ralph Bakshi rotoscoped Barty to portray both Bilbo and Samwise Baggins in his animated version of Lord of the Rings. I wasn’t aware of that at the time, but thinking back on it now, the way both characters moved, it seems so obvious I was watching another Billy Barty performance.)

In 1975, around the same time he opened a Southern California roller rink he called “Billy Barty’s Roller Fantasy, Barty established The Billy Barty Foundation. As an adjunct to Little People of America, the Foundation aimed to provide practical assistance—money, adaptive equipment, etc.—to little people in need, particularly children. And after campaigning for George H.W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign, he sat on a panel of advisors working to hammer out the details of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which President Bush signed into law in 1990.

At the same time he was sitting on that panel, Barty was also producing, directing and starring in Short Ribs, a syndicated sketch comedy series featuring an all-dwarf cast including Patty Maloney, Jimmy Briscoe and Joe Gieb. The show, which was modeled after SCTV and SNL, only aired in the Los Angeles area and ran thirteen weeks. After the show went off the air, Barty was slapped with two lawsuits, one from the show’s co-producer William Winckler and one from the show’s co-writer Warren Taylor, both of whom claimed Barty owed them money. The suits ended up, inevitably, in small claims court. Barty lost both suits, and even though few people had ever heard of, let alone seen the show, news of Barty in small claims court was too much for reporters to resist, and the case received smirking national attention.

After the suits were settled, Barty continued to work, but a bit more sporadically. He had one-off roles on Frasier, Jack’s Place, and a few low-budget quickies, and seemed to be edging more into voice roles, providing characterizations for a Batman cartoon and The Rescuers Down Under, to name a couple. But he was still working until the end, when he ended up in the hospital with cardiopulmonary issues in late 2000. He died on December 23rd of that year at age 73.

In the late Eighties he told an interviewer, “I’ve never looked at acting as ‘Ahhh!’ and ‘Gee!’ I started in vaudeville when I was five and for me it was just walking on a stage and I'm gonna perform. Later on I was impressed by many things, like when I worked with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Tough Guys. That was an ‘Ahhh!’ for me. When I look back, even today, I guess I can go ‘Ahhh!’ because I worked with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell in Gold Diggers of 1933 when I was nine. Then they were just grown-ups on the stage. As I look back, I'm more awed now than I was when I was actually doing it.”

Those who knew and worked with Barty always recall what a joy it was, how kind and enthusiastic and funny he was, a real spark who could enliven even the most questionable production. I would never deny that. I’ve always loved and admired Barty, and have sat through countless godawful films and TV shows simply because he had a role, no matter how small.

That said, I do have to wonder if at the end, after all his decades of work fighting for the dignity of little people everywhere, he felt like a bit of a hypocrite for spending those same years and more cementing the stereotype in the American consciousness. I also wonder if he died still wishing he’d become a sportswriter for a Des Moines daily instead.

by Jim Knipfel