#i never had any cartoons except for PBS kids

[laptoparmageddon]

Looking at all the games I never got to play over the years simply due to poverty sucks. I've never played a pokemon game. The only Mario game I ever touched was Mario cart and that was at a friend's house. I had no clue how to make a Club penguin account simply because no one would teach me. And I'll never get to experience most of these games because everything is too expensive or it's too late.

This isn't ment to undermine more serious problems. I was homeless as a kid so I know the struggles, but it really dose suck that kids out there will feel alienated because they can't enjoy the things other kids do. It's heartbreaking...

[dalt20]

Tooning in 6. Greg Bailey part 1 of 7

DL : So who are you and what are you best known for?

GB : I am Greg Bailey and known best as the director of the PBS series, Arthur.

DL : So growing up, how was your childhood?

GB : I had a pretty average north American suburban middle class upbringing and grew up in a family

of 5 kids. I lived most of my childhood years in Windsor Ontario under the Detroit skyline.

DL : When did you discover that you wanted to work in cartoons?

GB : I do remember being about 8 or 9 years old and discussing with a friend about what we wanted

to be when we grew up and I mentioned "cartoonist" since no one new the word animator

back then. My friend was shocked and pointed out that you had to draw like a million

drawings just to make the character blink. But I didn't really know it was that bad but it

made me think that it might be a pretty cool thing to do. I think more practically it wasn't

until late high school that I learned that some schools were teaching it and Sheridan

College in Oakville was pretty close to home and sounded like a possibility.

DL : So what were your favorite cartoons growing up?

GB : Popeye, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Beanie and Cecil, George of the Jungle, and any of those old

shorts they used to run early on Saturday like from Fleischer Bros or Merry Melodies.

DL : So no "canadian cartoons" like Spider Man or Rocket Robin Hood?

GB : I never thought of Spider Man being Canadian. I remember Rocket Robin Hood and would watch

it ,but either I was a bit old for it or just the quality didn't interest me. It was like

Hercules, I would watch it but it seemed like animation had gone down hill a lot in that

Time.

DL : Well, these cartoons were from american producers but made in canada for cost and laws there.

GB : I think another reason not to have followed them much was that they weren't funny. I really

prefer comedy animation and there were some pretty good funny cartoons at the

time. I wasn't much into superhero animation or realistic style characters.

DL : Ah makes sense, not really an action guy myself. So how was Sheridan College?

GB : Sheridan was quite small when I started the course and it was quite a risky course to take at the

time since there weren't really many studios in Canada. My graduating class in third

year had only 14 students. The school increased enrollment a lot even in the 2 years

after I was there. I was very hands on. you had your own desk that no

one else used and we basically just went back and forth from the animation room to the

life drawing studio. All the instructors were from outside of Canada from the US or the

UK and I guess Kaj Pindall was from Denmark. He came in the final year I was there. But

it was a very small compact group of students and teachers in the class I graduated

With.

DL : So you attended in 1976 right?

GB : Yes my first year was 76 I believe. I think I graduated in 79.

DL : So you knew John Kricfaculsci or Lynne naylor? They were in the same class as you.

GB : John was always a real character for sure. At school I remember is that he was a Sunshine Boy

in the Toronto Sun one time and I remember overhearing a big fight he was having with

the instructors when they were reviewing or grading the group project he was doing at

Sheridan. He left after that. I didn't see him much after that except at DIC when he

was fired. He was doing Beanie and Cecil. I was supposed to meet him for dinner but

he got fired that day and I remember him taking his belongings out of the studio

including a big moose head that was on a little dolly that he was pulling. It was just

kind of a nice image that stuck in my head.

DL : That was something. So anything on Lynne?

GB : I don't remember her much except she was with John. They went to LA together and she worked

at Filmation but I was at Hanna Barbera so I didn't see them in that period.

DL : Ah ok. so at sheridan, did you have an assignment where you drew your favorite cartoon

character? Because John said for the assignment where he drew Merlin from Sword

in the Stone and Lynne also drew Merlin.

GB : Yeah probably I did the same, Merlin. I guess we didn't have much to draw from in those days.

DL : Wow you all like Sword in the Stone, huh?

GB : I guess. I don't really remember it much. The course was very focused on Disney Style classical

animation. I don't remember anyone doing anything that was Disney now that I think

about it. Maybe they made it a requirement otherwise I would have done Olive Oil or

something more interesting and comedic character.I meant no one did anything

that wasn't Disney.

DL : Also was Glen Kennedy in the same class?

GB : I know Glen but he was a year later than me.

DL : So when did you leave for the states for the only time?

GB : I went to Hanna Barberra directly after Sheridan so that was 1979 and was there for a year. In

1984 I worked for the LA company DIC but I was working in Tokyo. I did that for

about 4 years. I was returning home from that when I was working at DIC LA and

saw John with his moose head. Last year I was working for Bento Box in LA but

I am working from here remotely. Other than that, I have been in Canada.

DL : So how was Los Angeles when you got there?

GB : I loved it. I still like LA a lot though it is really crowded now compared to when I was there. It was

a very interesting place to start working in animation. It was a very unionized kind

of workplace. It's the only place I ever worked that had a firm lunch hour break and

15 minute coffee breaks at the same time twice every day. It was a huge studio with

about 500 people so it was very interesting and lots of fun for a young person just

venturing out into the world. I found the people friendly and it was easy to strike up

a conversation with strangers. It was also very smokey in September because they

had fires all around Hollywood and the smog was incredible. I was trying to get by

with only having a moped for transportation and everyone there thought that was

crazy because you had to have a car. The shows we worked on were quite bad

when I look back at them now. It was Scoobie Doo and Casper and the Space

Angels and Flinstone remakes. It was a real factory kind of environment but I

figured that was how things were in animation since I was just starting. I had a lot

to learn so I look back on it fondly and was able to learn a lot in that first year.

DL : So how was Hanna Barbera? Did you like it? How was Joe barbera?

GB : Joe I never met. Bill Hanna was more the guy who looked after the animation studio. Joe's daughter Jane Barbera was a producer that kept tabs on the studio. I don't know her title but it would be something like a line producer. I bumped into Bill Hanna in the hallway a few times but mostly I just remember him assembling all the Canadians and other foreigners on visas and said they would not be able to renew our visas next season. I remember he suggested getting married to someone if you wanted to stay in the US. More interestingly though was that Tex Avery worked there as a designer and he was very old but he would also be standing in line with us at the coffee truck at break time. I think I was always too star-struck to say anything more than hi how are you to him.

DL : wow! John said he left the country illegally in a documentary. So he was an alien.

GB : We were all aliens but I was there with a work visa. I think he always was illegal down there. He went down on his own without a job offer or a work visa when I went there. He is more of a risk taker than I am I guess. John was not at Hanna Barbera.

DL : Yeah, he still doesn't have dual citizenship after he left Filmation and Hanna Barbera. And John

isn't deported yet puzzles me.

GB : I don't think he ever worked at Hanna Barbera unless it was after I was there. I do remember on

the day he left DIC with his moose that someone said he was upset because he

couldn't find the visa application papers that he had in his office when he left. I

think by that point he could have even applied under the amnesty that they had

down there in the early 80's. He should have been there long enough to get that

if he had tried.

DL : Oh ok. So how was Casper and the Angels?

GB : I just used that as an example. There were about 10 series that I must have worked on in that one season at HB. One was Casper and the Space Angels, another was The Harlem GlobeTrotters, along with Scooby Doo and Flintstones. All Saturday morning was made up of either Filmation or HB shows. Both companies' shows looked exactly the same. The shows like Casper were completely generic and forgettable and the characters and props and even the stories were exactly the same on each series. So I guess Casper was very generic except it had the character Casper the ghost in it. But everything then was really stiff and they all had the same blinks, the same mouth charts for lip sync . It made it so animators and ink and painters could easily move from one production to the another without learning to draw a new style. You could even hop from studio to studio without any significant drawing learning curve. The characters didn't move or walk forward in perspective and things were very flat. The big actions all happened off screen and they reused as much animation as possible using a xerox machine. All this got destroyed when DIC came along and started making shows with more perspective and effects because they were making the animation in Japan. It destroyed HB and Filmation quickly because their shows were too dull.

DL :

yeah, one person reviewed casper and summed it up perfectly "what is popular? uh charlie's angels. What's a character we haven't used in a long time? uh casper the friendly ghost? What are the kids into now? outer space!"

GB : Everything was a space something or other that year. Sales run by marketing people never makes a memorable show.

DL : like Buck Rogers or the Star Wars hype train? Or Battlestar Galactica?

GB : There was something with the Shmoo from L'il Abner as well. The Harlem GlobeTrotters all had some super hero power. Like one guy would pull objects out of his afro like bulldozers or ray guns. They all had some bizarre and ugly super power.

DL : the Harlem GlobeTotters! One of them had a basketball for a head!

GB : Another one was rubbery or could get really tall or something. I've tried to block out the memory of all that. I only remember drawing someone that turned in a big plate of spaghetti noodles for some reason. I only remember because it's a nightmare to draw all those lines of spaghetti.

DL : It's hard to draw lines in general!

GB : One thing about HB was that I learned how to draw perfectly clean lines through. It is still a struggle through. They were really fussy about perfect lines especially in the facial features and hands. So it was necessary at least for me to learn that still after Sheridan.

DL : So, did you drew anything off model at Hanna Barbera?

GB : Not after I handed in my initial scene to the supervisor. They sat you down pretty quickly and showed how they keep it in model. I am surprised now when people say HB shows were badly drawn and off model. I don't remember anyone getting away with that or maybe I was just not aware of others.

DL : Oh well, I guess some must slipup or it just smear frames or inbetweens.

GB : Maybe they were done at outside studios. Sometimes they sent extra work out to places like Ruby and Spears and they would handle surplus. At one point I picked up some extra freelance work there. I remember fixing a scene that was very fully animated scene of a character flying and rolling in and turning in perspective. It was ok but it just needed to be put on model on all the inbetweens. It was a lot of drawing like 200 full figure drawings. It was something from Filmation but I got it from Ruby and Spears.

DL : How was The New Shmoo?

GB : Same as everything else. Maybe they did it because it kind of looked like Casper. Round and white. It was probably a space something I don't remember it much , although I did a scene that kept some model sheets for a long time that had a waitress but she had some Jetsons type of features in her costume.

DL : Ah ok. Was Scooby Doo and Flintstones more happier and familiar?

GB : Scooby and Flintsones were more the high end show for them . They ran more than a season and they had lots of designs from previous years. Scoobie had been running for a long time when I got there. Remember they had the voice from Casey Cassum(?) doing Shaggy. We used to see him around the coffee truck sometimes and people would point him out. But I think they were more fussy about those 2 shows though and it was really the bulk of the work that I saw. Perhaps they kept those shows more in house and we would only see the other shows when they didn't have enough work for us on Scoobie for the short term. All the other shows I can only remember working really briefly on them like a few weeks at most. After the season at HB a studio Canimage opened in Toronto and we did work on Scooby and the Flintstones. By that point the HB LA studio was not doing animation anymore. It was done in Toronto and Taipei.

DL : Wait, what was canimage? Was that a new Canadian studio Hanna Barbera opened like Wang Film in Taiwan?

GB : An animation company in Toronto that was around for a few years. 3 guys from a few years before me at Sheridan had been working at HB and when we got sent home they opened a studio in Toronto. They did HB for one season and then they did some overload work on Heavy Metal and I think that was all they did before it closed.

DL : Did you work on Heavy Metal? That film’s production was spread across Toronto, Montreal ,London and Los Angeles!

GB : Yes I did. In Montreal at Mike Mills and some freelance from Potterton Studio. The main production was centered in the main studio in Montreal. It was also in Ottawa besides the ones you mentioned. There were 3 studios in Montreal plus Ryan Larkin in his own studio.

DL : Oh ok. What segment did you animate on?

GB : I was at Mike Mills and there was a legal dispute that arose so our parts got redone at Halas and Bachelor really fast right before the delivery. We were animating the opening sequence where the car comes to earth and goes to the farm. And then there were parts that connected the different stories with Grimaldi. We were animating a carousel that was turning and had characters from each of the segments in the film. The carousel was growing and growing each time we saw it. Anyway this was all locked away and they made it really simplified with a green ball instead of the carousel and they made the car falling from the space station a really simplified-looking car. I animated a scene that I kept that was used for a publicity still in the Heavy Metal magazine. It was a guy in a space suit putting his helmet in the trunk of the car.

DL : Very interesting! So I can find anything from 1980-1983. Why is that? From IMDb credits.

GB : You mean I don't have Heavy Metal and Canimage listed in my profile. I should update that.

DL : Yeah or on imdb!

GB : I should go on IMDB and fix it.

DL : Do it! So what did you do in those years after Heavy Metal?

GB : I did commercials at Mike Mills which was really why I wanted to go there. It used to be an interesting job in animation because there was a good variety and the quality of the animation was often good and you got to work on the entire film including shooting it on the Oxberry. You would do everything from design and storyboarding and editing unlike working at a studio like HB where you only ever did one job like animation or in-betweening. For one year I went back to school to study in a technical engineering program because animation really fell apart in the early 80's. I started a film with a grant that I never finished, before I went to Tokyo.

DL : Well, wasn't Nelvana a thing?

GB : They were but not so much in the early 80's. That would have been when they pretty well lost it all on Rock and Rule . At least my timing was never good for going there.

DL : Oh yeah, I almost forgot. At least they were working on Inspector Gadget and Care Bears for DiC and American Greetings. So how did you get to Tokyo?

GB : Since I had worked in an American studio I knew how the lip sync system worked. And a company Aces in Toronto was doing some track breakdown and voice recording for DIC. When DIC in LA couldn't find animators willing to go to Tokyo they asked Aces if they knew anyone and I found out through a friend of a friend. About the only requirement they cared about was if I knew how to do lip sync in the US system of Saturday morning shows. I worked over there in the same little space with the creator of Gadget in fact. Bruno Bianchi.

DL : How was Bruno Bianchi?

GB : A nice person and very funny. He would spend a lot of his time drawing caricatures of people he worked with. He was really talented and had a great track record of creating new shows. He had started long ago with Jean Charlopin when he started DIC in Paris. So Bruno was a real old timer at DIC. DIC was an American company when I started there and it was partnered with DIC Tokyo.

DL : So how was Tokyo? Did you learn to speak japanese?

GB : Very interesting place. It was in the 80's as it was really the center of the universe and it looked like things would never slow down for them. It was definitely the hot spot in the world for animation. They were so far ahead of the west or anywhere else for that matter. The economy did collapse really shortly after I left because of the real estate bubble. I did learn to speak and I would take courses during the off-season or slow time. I forget almost everything now though. I could probably pick it up quickly again if I had a use.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

since we know how starkingly different marceline and bonnibel are, do you think they share any similarities?

Well yeah. Theyre not actually complete opposites.

Forrrr example theyre both immortal teenagers. At varying degrees of immortal.

PB actually has way more practical survivability than Marceline because she can be put back together majin buu style from the smallest of leftovers as long as they have her heart/brain, and she's not weak to this thing we call "the sun", but if they started fighting, say, a giant molten lava dragon, Marceline would survive a good while whereas it'd be instadeath for Peebs if she got hit. Marceline also instantly regenerates. In "Stakes" she survived getting cut in half, and apparently she can't get poisoned. Marceline is a heavy hitter, and if she's hit, she can get back up straight away. The reason Peebs thinks she's going to die prematurely is because she has a huge kingdom to protect which, due to the narrative forces of the show itself, keeps drawing disaster after disaster. Including the Lich that one time. She's usually left unprepared for whatever attack, which is why Finn and Jake do so much - theyre good at improv. Lots of candy people straight up died in the show, even the guardians - It's a miracle Pb, Finn and Jake survived so long. I guess that's the OTHER narrative forces keeping them alive ;) Marceline meanwhile had ONE near death experience in the entire main show - Stakes. Well two if you count the Simon and Marcy flashback. She's never really in danger as a vampire. Except for the sun!!!!!

Im aware you didnt ask me how their apparent immortality differs or what impact being a cartoon character has on death rate so I'll just go into their other similarities

They talk similarly. A little bit. They both use heavy Adventure Time slang. Marceline uses it slightly less, because most of her dialogue is more serious and straight to the point.

They both have a fondness for music. They both love rock, and songs - PB was always big on Marcie's stuff, after all. Marceline has the skill to make this type of music. PB isn't the sing-out-your-feelings type so just makes "experimental" music instead. She also likes music from the 1900s, whereas Marceline prefers modern rock.

They're both very creative. Marceline expresses her creativity through music while PB expresses it through science. It's why the science experiments tend to be a bit unstable or impractical....

Very fashionable. If you look towards the end of the series theyre often seen wearing clothes that work well together. Especially in episodes like "Broke his Crown", "Seventeen" and "Obsidian". They also wear each other's stuff sometimes. Marceline stole PB's sweater AND jacket.

Theyre both older than Finn by a few (biological) years and see him as the little brother type, but grow to respect him as a peer of sorts by the end.

Theyre both super badass. Theyre powerhouses. Marceline has her crazy vampire powers while PB has her god tier technology. If you remove Marcie's powers and PB's tech, theyre both still really strong and resourceful in a fight. They are also potentially the two strongest magical beings in Ooo, besides Sweet Pea - PB won the Elements power struggle, and Marceline resisted her magic with sheer willpower. Marceline hasn't unlocked all of her vampire abilities yet. PB obvs hasn't gotten too familiar with elemental magic and tends to fuck up. If we caught up to them in a thousand years, who knows what theyll be capable of?

EDIT: Crap I nearly forgot - They both survived in the early years of the apocalypse as scavengers who had to fight in self defense. Where they differ is their coping mechanisms - Marceline had parental figures on and off in her life, who kept leaving her or letting her down, and she kept feeling rejected by the human soiciety, so once humanity left for the islands and she had to split from them for being a vampire, she decided to be all by herself.  PB originally started in a hivemind full of very innocent naive gum creatures, but ended up as a small kid with no support whatsoever, so she decided to make relatives, but also tried to be in charge of them, because she has a need to be in control. Once they turned on her, the resentment led to her taking on her uncle’s dream and building a kingdom with some sturdy defenses, so she could have “safer” company and nobody would mess with her. 

[atarahderek]

Surprisingly Relevant Children’s Media: Liberty’s Kids

I’m sure some of you remember a certain PBS cartoon series called Liberty’s Kids. It was an edutainment show following two young journalists and their tagalong kid companion as they navigated the American Revolution. It was extremely noteworthy for looking at both sides of the Revolution, never attempting to vilify, over-glorify or over-simplify anything about the Revolution (with one exception). The show repeatedly emphasized the importance of a balanced approach to journalism--an idea that is considered so outdated in today’s mainstream media that trying to write a balanced article is liable to get a journalist “cancelled” for “bigotry.” While that in and of itself, as well as the subject of the Revolution and the founding fathers, makes Liberty’s Kids still plenty relevant to today’s volatile political and social atmosphere that repeatedly questions the purity of the intentions of the founders and Constitution, I want to focus today on one particular subject discussed in the show: Protests and patriotism vs. mob violence and terrorism. Which one is truly the correct response to oppression and injustice? And where’s the line between them?

Today, we’ll be focusing on episode 3, “United We Stand,” and episode 27, “The New Frontier.”

We open episode 3 with a crew taking shore leave in Philadelphia, and they are advised to avoid getting involved in local politics. We will be following the young blond man in the white shirt and blue cap.

The characters formally meet the Adams cousins for the first time. James admires Sam Adams, leader of the Boston Tea Party, for being a man of action, while Sarah respects John Adams for taking an unpopular position on the Boston Massacre of 1770. James criticizes Adams for defending the British soldiers who fired on American colonists in that event, but Adams had his reasons for acting as their defense attorney.

Hindsight is 20/20, and history shows that Adams was right; this action of “police brutality” was actually one of self-defense. The colonists the British fired upon were, as Adam describes them, “a drunken mob spoiling for a fight,” rather than actual patriots. James isn’t convinced. In his mind, the “patriots” were peaceful protesters.

Later that night, while assisting with loading up donations for Massachusetts colonists adversely affected by the closure of Boston Harbor, James, Sarah and Henri witness the young sailor, a Mr. Parker, earning the ire of a group of drunks coming out of a tavern. The head of the group accuses Parker of refusing to drink with them because he doesn’t want to join their toasts cursing Parliament, while Parker claims he simply doesn’t drink and doesn’t want any trouble. The drunks decide he’s a tory rather than a patriot, and proceed to drag him off to be tarred and feathered.

Once Parker has been covered in feathers, a mob parades him through the city streets. James runs off to join the crowd in their “patriotic” mockery of a “tory,” while Sarah, a British loyalist, continues the real patriotic work of helping with relief efforts for innocent colonists in Massachusetts.

Sarah laments that on the same city street where an act of incredible compassion is taking place, an act of brutal bullying is happening just a block away--and James, who calls himself a patriot, is swept up in it.

Later, Moses takes James to visit Parker, and James is confronted by Parker’s doctor, who explains the process of tarring: Boiling hot tar is poured over the victim, and once it cools and hardens, it cannot be removed without also removing skin. Sure, that makes debriding a bit easier, but no less painful. And Parker’s injuries have already caused infection. Nonetheless, James tries to defend the actions of the assailants, but the doctor’s having none of it.

James is dragged into Parker’s room to get his side of the story. He’s shocked at the condition Parker is in and immediately regrets the part he played that night.

Let us jump forward five years, to 1779 and the episode “The New Frontier.” America has declared its independence by this point, but one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Judge James Wilson of Pennsylvania, has withdrawn his support for the war and largely disappeared from public view.

Wartime inflation has made it difficult for most citizens of Philadelphia to keep their heads above water financially. The Pennsylvania Gazette can’t afford ink, and mothers are struggling to afford food for their children while their husbands are away serving George Washington in the army.

Growing dissatisfaction with how the local government is handling the situation has put all the denizens of Philadelphia on edge, with the wealthier residents retreating into their homes to wait out the storm brewing among the poorer residents. Eventually, Wilson and some of the other wealthy Philadelphians start to worry about their safety.

A local man gives a speech, voicing the people’s frustrations, declaring himself and his supporters the real patriots, and announces that he will host a meeting at a nearby tavern that evening. James agrees to report on the meeting for the paper.

The leader of the meeting gives his opinion and plan for what should be done with Wilson and tories like him. But this time, James isn’t taken in by the patriotic fervor. He’s learned to distinguish between patriotic protest and criminal acts of violence.

James is then threatened by the speaker for trying to talk the growing mob down, but he stands his ground. The crowd ignores him and goes after Wilson.

James does his duty as a journalist and reports on the ensuing riot, which comes to be known as the Fort Wilson Riot. Wilson had been warned and retreated into his home, where he was able to remain safe until Joseph Reed, formerly one of Washington’s staff, dispersed the mob. The riot is not without its casualties, as James reports five deaths and 17 injuries.

In his article, James forwards the lesson he learned half a decade earlier from John Adams and Mr. Parker.

Today, we see riots in the streets juxtaposed against peaceful protests of government overreach. We see the peaceful protesters called irresponsible due to an ongoing pandemic (for the record, a pandemic was happening during the Revolution too). But the violent mobs are praised. We see people being gunned down within the mobs by both their own side and authorities trying to stop the riots. We see innocent bystanders gunned down by rioters for having a dissenting opinion, or even for just trying to keep their heads down, like Parker. We see black lives being destroyed by an organization that claims with its name to believe that black lives matter. We see a rash of churches being razed--including black churches--by that same organization and its associates. Both the peaceful protests and the riots are being done in the name of justice and liberty. But clearly there is a line. Anger at injustice and infringement of liberty is understandable. But when anger turns into destroying the lives of the innocent, or into vigilante mob violence against an actual guilty party, it is no longer justified, and it is no longer useful to accomplish the goal that the crowd claims to have.

And that’s today’s episode of Surprisingly Relevant Children’s Media! Thanks for reading!

[lovemesomesurveys]

[created by: --rainboweyes--]

Why did you last feel like crying? Ever since the pandemic started almost a year ago and we were in quarantine, I’ve put off seeing one of my doctors. Well, I’m going to have to bite the bullet and make an appointment soon and I’m just really nervous about it because it’s been so long and I worry there could be something wrong. I always expect the worst.

How long ago and why did you last feel infuriated? Hm. It’s been awhile.

Do emotions control you or do you control your emotions? Oh, my emotions most definitely control me.

Do you keep your friends secrets/private information to yourself? Yes.

What negative quality do your friends bring up the most? I don’t have any friends, but in the past I’ve had friends tell me I’m too hard on myself.

What quality do you think you have that others don't think you do? I’m weak, not strong. <<< Yeah, people tend to think I’m strong and brave and I’m so not. I’m weak and scared.

Do you often "jump" to conclusions? When it comes to stuff relating to myself, yes. Like, I jump to the worst case scenarios all the time.

Would you let your best friend babysit your younger sibling? My younger sibling is almost 22 years old lol.

Do you find being alone with strangers scary, interesting or indifferent? It’s uncomfortable and makes me anxious.

Do you think you know a lot about the world? I wouldn’t say a lot. There’s so much to learn and much I don’t understand.

What about the world do you wish you never found out? I don’t know.

Do you know first aid? No. Does the sight of blood make you feel sick? Yes. 

Does your first name have an L in it? Nope.

Middle name have a C in it? Nope.

Last name have a R in it? Yes.

Do your initials spell a legitimate word? If so, what? Nope.

The word above, does it have any connection to you at all?

Do you prefer classic rock or alternative? Alternative, but I like both.

Do you like Kings of Leon? Yeah.

How about The Script? Yes.

Does crying make you feel better? It can help a little.

Do you know a girl called Becca? Nope. How about a guy called Gregory? Nope.

Does someone’s background effect whether you'll be friends with them or not? It would have to be something really bad.

How about their religious background? No, I can be friends with people who have different religious beliefs than I do. 

If someone admitted cheating in a past relationship of theirs, would you trust them? That would make things difficult, for sure. I think I’d always have that in my mind and it might cause me to look for or see things that make me think he’s cheating. Like, I might not think anything of a particular thing had they not told me that, but since they did I see it differently, ya know? I’ve never been in that situation so I can’t say for sure, but I think it would affect things.

Do you drink tea and/or coffee every day? Yes, I have to have my coffee.

Did you ever want to be a cook as a kid? No.

How about a fashion designer? No.

Do you wish that magic was real? I mean, it’d be pretty cool. And convenient. But of course there’s a bad side to it cause it could be used for the wrong things.

What food would you love to wipe off the face of the earth? I don’t feel that strongly about foods I don’t like, I simply just don’t eat them.

Can you use a bottle opener? Yes?

Do you own a cheese grater? No.

What time will it be in 38 minutes time? 11:18PM.

What day/date will it be in 11 days time? Thursday, February 4th, 2021, my brother’s birthday.

Have you ever owned a pet fish? I had a fish tank full of fish when I was a kid.

Do you prefer fire or ice? I like cozy fires in the fireplace and bonfires. 

Do you rap along with rap songs? Ha, I can attempt to.

When happy, do you become more talkative? Yeah, I do.

Bowling or sailing? Why? Neither. Not my thing.

What color is your kettle? I don’t have one.

How about your microwave? It’s black.

Do you prefer sitting in the front or back of a car? I like sitting in the front.

How about in a train? I’ve never been on a train.

On the bus? I had to sit in the middle cause that’s where the wheelchair seating was.

Do you care about politics? I do.

Blair or Brown? Who?

When did you last cook something from scratch? I don’t cook from scratch. Or cook at all, really, except for ramen.

What things make you jealous? I feel envy more than jealousy. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt jealous.

Are you offended easily by non politically correct language? No, I wouldn’t say that.

Do you think the censors/fcc go a bit too far or are just right? I never understood how they chose which curse words you can and can’t say on TV or in songs. 

Do you feel hungry, thirsty, sleepy or none of the above? I’m hungry, but I’m waiting a little bit before I make some ramen.

What's your I.Q? I don’t remember the number, but it fell under above average. IQ tests are whatever anyway.

What's your Mum's Mum called? I called her grandma.

How about your Dad's Dad? I call him papa.

Do you prefer crepes, pancakes or waffles? I like each of those, but waffles are my favorite.

Do you have ice-cream in your fridge right now? I think we do.

How about chicken nuggets? No.

Do you eat fish often? I don’t eat fish ever. Or any seafood.

Have you ever taken a martial art? Which one{s}? Nope.

Do you know anyone who is scared of you? Uh, no.

Do you like watermelon? Yeah.

Can you remember the month of your first kiss? It was October, 2015.

Do you make friends easily? Not necessarily friends, but I got along with everyone.

What makes you different from everyone else? Being a paraplegic makes me different than a lot of people.

I give you a piece of paper. What do you draw/write on it? When I doodle, I tend to write random stuff in cursive as well as like hearts, stars, and squiggles all over. 

What pictures or photos are up in your lounge? Is that my bedroom? I have a few giraffe paintings and a couple beach ones.

Do you like purple and white patterned things? Sure.

Do you know anyone called Pipa? I just think of Pippa Pig lol.

I say purple, you think... Grapes.

What do you think is the most interesting thing about you? Nothing at all.

Do you like being complimented or does it make you uncomfortable? I mean, it’s nice, but I’m just so awkward. And in my head I’m like, “ew, no not true” cause I think negatively about myself.

Does the description of your starsign correspond with your personality? Not at all. I’m so opposite of how a Leo is described.

Do you have a photo album? We have a ton of them. And I have a lot of digital photo albums, too.

What artists paintings do you find the most beautiful? There’s numerous beautiful paintings. 

What about the most disturbing? I can’t think of a specific one offhand.

Have you ever gone to a camp or summer school? Yes to both. I’ve been to science camp and Girl Scout camp. I also did summer school once in middle school cause I missed a lot of school due to a long hospital stay, and the other times were mostly voluntary while at community college to get classes out of the way quicker. There was just one time I had to retake a math course. 

What was your favorite cartoon as a child? I was into the cartoons on Nickelodeon, PBS, Disney, Kids WB, and Fox Kids in the 90s.

What was your biggest fear as a child? The dark and bugs. 

Would you rather be able to fly or breathe underwater? Fly.

What about invisibility or mindreading? Invisibility. 

Do you like what you see in the mirror? Not at all. :/ 

Which stereotype do you dislike the most? There’s many, but I came across this and it’s worded well, “The burden of disability is unending; life with a disabled person is a life of constant sorrow, and the able-bodied stand under a continual obligation to help them. People with disabilities and their families -- the "noble sacrificers" -- are the most perfect objects of charity; their function is to inspire benevolence in others, to awaken feelings of kindness and generosity.”

Can you remember all your past teachers names? Not all, but a lot of them.

Do you like talent shows? Which ones? I like The Voice.

Have you ever failed an important exam? In what? Yes, in math.

Do you find people taller than you intimidating? As someone in a wheelchair most people are taller than me except for small children. I do feel awkward around really tall people. 

Do you think you are better than people of a different country/background? Absolutely not.

Who is your favorite bzoinker? I don’t go on Bzoink. 

What websites do you have bookmarked? I have a few on the bookmark toolbar: Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Do you use bows and ribbons to decorate your gifts? I just use the bows that easily stick on.

Do you listen to the same type of music as your parents? What type is that? We like a lot of the same music. What TV show scared you as a kid? Are You Afraid of the Dark? <<< The intro always got me haha. I still liked watching it, though.

Family Guy, The Simpsons or South Park? Why? None of ‘em.

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK] [WATTPAD] [QUOTEV]

Characters © Frederator/Cartoon Network and so forth. Story ©2020 to me! All rights reserved.

This little fic was commissioned by MorbidHero. Enjoy! I'm not a superfan but I hope I still did the fandom justice, more or less. Even though there are no bacon pancakes or appearances from Billy.

Orono Or DIE.

The sign was unique enough to attract attention. That was probably the idea. Still, the girl with the long, black hair and the red-and-blue striped sweater seemed a little surprised when a car pulled over on the long, lonely stretch of Highway 95. Her eyes narrowed to slits as headlights attempted to blast the pupils wide, and she shadowed them with a pale hand.

"Hello!" cried a voice that sounded like a music box. "Are you in need of aid?"

"Uhhhh…" The squinting eyes shifted. "There a person in there?"

"Of course! I am a person! Please, it's too cold to be out here alone!"

The stranger approached the passenger window, bending down to look inside. By the light of the dash screen, she saw a rosy complexion and bright pink hair to match. The girl's round face held the sweetest, most angelic smile she had ever seen.

"I… whoa."

"Yes?"

"N-nothing. You're really gonna give me a lift? I could be an axe murderer."

The driver's eyebrows raised. "Are you an axe murderer?"

"Sorta." She opened her black guitar case, covered in stickers from all manner of bands and destinations, to display a red bass that actually was shaped like an axe, a snarky half-smile displaying some prominent canines. "I slay on this thing alllll the time."

"Oooh! A wandering minstrel! Prithee, do not tarry thither, but let us away in mine chariot!"

"I… huh?"

Cheeks turning a bit rosier, she whispered, "Just get in the car."

With her bass, cardboard sign, and knapsack stashed in the cramped back seat, the two pulled away from the shoulder and back onto the near-deserted highway. There reigned silence for a moment or two until the driver decided to attempt pleasant conversation.

"What's your name, minstrel?"

"Not Minstrel. Marcy. Or Marce, Marceline, Nightmarce… Elvira, if you're everybody in my high school."

"That sounds very unkind, and I am not from your high school so I will not do that." She smiled over at her. "I'm Bonnibel, or Bonnie."

"Cool. This, uh… this car seems weird."

"Oh!" she piped up animatedly. "It is a hybrid, but I have converted the combustion engine to run on used peanut oil."

"Is that why I have a craving for a PB&J out of nowhere?!"

Bonnie laughed, and Marcy wore a smile of her own. That was bizarre; why would she smile at some stranger who just picked her up to give her a lift? "Perhaps! It is also why I will eventually have to visit a Five Guys restaurant to refuel."

Chuckling quietly, Marcy fought down a groan as she struggled out of her black leather boots and propped her feet up on the dash. "Sorry, but I've been walking for hours. Nobody else would pick me up, except for this creepy trucker who would probably have murdered me. With my own axe."

"It is alright! I can't blame you, that sounds like a terrible day. How did you end up out here all by yourself? With no car?"

"Ash, ugh."

"Gesundheit?"

Rolling her eyes, Marcy explained, "No, Ash is my ex. Also the lead guitarist of our band, Vampire Queen. But like, he's been impossible since we broke up, and he threw his guitar at my head during our last show. I told him I wasn't riding in the van with him anymore and they took off without me. Jerkfaces."

Bonnie's expression was completely thunderstruck. She reached over to pat Marceline's thigh. "That is just unacceptable, you could have been hurt!"

"Uh… yeah?" She thought that was obvious. And the sudden physical contact made her squirm.

"No, I mean you should remove him from the band. He is clearly dangerous and you have every right to feel safe on the stage."

"Oh. Well… it's not that easy. He writes half our songs, and he's no great singer but he does know all the guitar parts already. But… I guess he's more replaceable than Fionna or Jake."

"You should send him to prison. Or castrate him," she added, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

Which is what finally made Marceline realize neither of her hands were on the wheel. She sat up quick and shouted, "HEY, we're gonna crash! Are you insane?!"

"Hm?" Glancing ahead, she calmly stated, "No we aren't, we're driving perfectly straight. And there are no other cars."

"Well… yeah, but…" She watched their course correct very slightly, still glancing at Bonnie's hands. "Oh, is this one of those self-driving things?"

"Yes! Oh, I see; you thought I was neglecting the wheel." The pink-haired oddity giggled as if Marcy were the weird one.

"Do you just pick up random strangers and scare them to death? Messed up hobby, girl. I can respect it though."

At that, Bonnie's smile lessened as she stared ahead again. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget that not everyone has access to the technology I do. I didn't mean to cause you any undue strife."

"Not everybody swallows a dictionary for breakfast, either." When that wiped the smile away entirely, the rocker turned to look out the passenger window as she tightened her arms around her stomach. "Nah… I'm sorry, I'm a bitch."

The car was silent for a few seconds. "You aren't. I just don't spend a lot of time with other people. When I do, they tell me I am awkward."

"Yeah? Agoraphobic or something?" She paused. "Yeah, I know some big words, too."

"I never said you didn't. But no, that isn't the problem. I'm a workaholic. Even when I'm not in my lab, I'm still focused on inventing or revising previous inventions. I like speaking with people, but there never seems to be any time…"

"Dude, nerdslut. Got it."

"WHAT?!"

The outburst was harsher than Marce expected. "Sorry," she muttered, head ducking lower. "I didn't-"

"I'm not a slut! I'm…" Her cheeks began to glow. "I've never even been on a date."

"I was kidding, man. I didn't really mean…" Her fingers ran through her fringe. "Look, you told me you don't get out much. So I'll do my best not to tease you like I normally would, but no promises. I'm pretty edgy." She even threw up devil horns to add to the effect.

"You're teasing. Yes, I understand." The bubbly girl sighed and relaxed, smiling again. Apparently, it was that easy.

"What do you do for a living, anyway? All the inventing…"

"Oh! Have you heard of PeebleCo?"

A brief pause. "If I say 'no', does that mean I'm dumb?"

"It's alright. I am the president and CEO. Though the board members make most of the day-to-day decisions, they consult with me before making any large changes. And I am also the head of the R&D department."

"Whoa. And you're what, like, eighteen?"

"Nineteen."

"Excuse me," she snickered. "But yeah, that's pretty young to have your whole future figured out. I'm still kind of drifting through life in the shadows."

Bonnie shrugged as she pulled off the highway. "It is okay. I know I am strange, and that most people have to take some time to find their true destiny."

"Where… are we going?"

"To this hotel! I have been driving all day."

"Oh. Guess this is where I get off, then."

"It is if you want. Or you are welcome to share my hotel room and I will continue to ferry you to your destination in the morning."

Marceline raised an eyebrow as she watched Bonnie smoothly guide the car into a parking spot — having to use her hands this time, of course. "Are you totally insane, or just the nicest person on the planet?"

"Does it have to be one or the other?" she asked with a huge grin. And yet again, Marcy found she was grinning back.

                                                      ~ o ~

Once they had brought their bags inside, the hitchhiker plopped herself on the bed and kicked off her boots again. Then she started tuning her bass. Bonnie started unpacking her little pink rolling suitcase immediately, though she cast a casual glance over at her guest now and then.

"What? Am I bugging you?"

"Not at all. I have just never seen someone play a guitar in person before."

"Never?!" When the inventor shook her head, Marceline chuckled softly. "Damn, you really don't ever crawl out from under that rock to see what the sun looks like. Not that I do, either."

"It's because I'm working," she protested with a slight pout. "Not because I don't want to meet people. I love people!"

"Oh yeah, me too. They're delicious."

Bonnie cackled as she plugged her BMO's charger into the wall. At least she got that joke. "You're so funny and cool! I wish I was like you."

"No you don't, trust me. I'm kind of a cunt."

"Are you? Well, I think that's still preferable to being boring. I might have an important job but as a person, I am… vanilla pudding."

"Yeah? Well I mean, vanilla pudding can be pretty good. Add a little red food coloring to make people think you're eating ketchup? I like red things, they look more badass."

"Vanilla is not interesting," she sighed as she seated herself on the other twin bed, pulling off her Uggs. Marceline tried not to pay too much attention to how her white leggings hugged her shapely calves and thighs. "Being a vanilla pudding when there are so many chocolate puddings around me… that is why I focus on my work."

The hitchhiker thought that over as she played a couple of notes, a few chords she used in their sets. The hook from "Smoke On The Water", then the bassline from "The Chain".

"I think you're cool, Bonbon."

"You do?" she asked in pure shock. Marcy looked up — and immediately averted her eyes when she saw her company was wearing only her underwear.

"WHOA, hey, warn a girl or something!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she hissed, arms trying to hide parts of her body pointlessly. "The other girls in gym class never cared!"

Pale cheeks flooding with color, the rocker cleared her throat and studied the carpet, watching pale pink toes curl nervously into the fibers. "Gym, yeah. Um… I'm sorry, that was stupid. Me flipping out. If you're cool with stripping down in front of me, like… it's your hotel room…"

"No, you are right, it was my mistake. We have only just met today. And I am decent." When Marceline chanced another glance, she saw a long pink nightgown covering Bonnie from neck to ankle. She was also wearing an embarrassed little smile that was more adorable than it had any right to be.

"You're definitely decent."

"Jingo-jango!"

"Gesundheit?" she re-joked with a slight smirk.

"Free candy!" She practically pounced on the little mint laying on her pillow, unwrapping it and devouring it in mere seconds. "Mmmmhhh… oh, divine!"

The moans of pleasure definitely made Marcy have to clear her throat again. Desire was stirring within her in a way that blindsided her; Bonnie was a girl. One she had met literally that day! Was she losing it?! Sure, she had always known she liked girls as much as boys, but she had never really been serious about one.

"Marcy?"

"SHIT!" she gasped out when she saw those beautiful features only a couple of inches away from her own. It seemed Bonnie's concern had brought her over to the other bed. "I… what? I'm fine, you can go back to getting ready for bed or whatever."

"You are flushed. What if you have a fever, from being out in the cold too long?"

Then the bouncy inventor touched their foreheads together, to check her temperature. Marceline knew that was the reason… yet she still felt her heart speed up, her sweat glands stirring to life.

But she was no shrinking violet. Anti-social, sure, and inexperienced hitting on girls versus guys. But she figured she might as well give it a shot and see what happened.

"You give me fever," she began to sing in a smoky voice. Bonnie's concerned eyes shot wide. "Fever when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight."

A tiny whispered "What?" fell from small pink lips. And not even the oblivious shut-in could miss the rock star's meaning. "Me?"

After they held each other's gaze for a few more seconds, Marceline burst out with a chuckle and looked away, strumming her bass. "Couldn't resist. You're such a cute little marshmallow, it's too easy."

And that was that. Or so she thought. After she had played a few more notes and glanced up again, expecting that Bonnie would have rushed off to the bathroom by now, she saw she was being studied carefully.

"Sorry. Told you I'm a bitch."

"Why are you sorry? If you meant it… which you did…"

"Who says I did?" she grunted. "Hey-"

"I do," Bonnie told her in even tones as she finished pulling the guitar strap from around Marceline's neck. How could this awkward bean be so bold all of a sudden?! "You are blushing like I am blushing. That means you meant it, doesn't it?"

"No. It means… maybe I was out in the cold too long. Whatever."

Sighing like a patient teacher facing an obstinate student, Bonnie leaned over and took her lips gently. And poor Marcy felt her brain short-circuiting. This girl was going for it! How?! This girl?! Even more shameful was that it took three or four seconds for her to pull back from the kiss, panting and clutching at the bedspread.

"WHAT THE WHAT?!"

"Oh wow," Bonnibel whispered, reaching up to touch her own bottom lip with delicate fingers. "I did that."

"Yeah? Like, what, you're surprised you kissed somebody? That's fucking weird!"

"I am. I have never done it before, I didn't think it would be so easy. But I wasn't afraid like I expected to be, and I enjoyed the feeling."

One single fact kept Marcy from harping on about how bold of an assumption it was to kiss her out of nowhere. "Whoa, hold up. I'm really your first?"

"Yes," she breathed, cheeks warming to match Marceline's as she fidgeted with her fingers.

"That… amazing one you just planted on me was your first kiss?!"

Bonnie raised her eyebrows at her. "Oh, it was good?"

"Dude, I'm practically at full sail down here already!" When the hapless girl didn't seem to have any idea what she meant by that, she clarified, "Yes, it was good!"

"Oh. Then it was a successful experiment! Hooray!" Marceline just gaped at her open-mouthed. "We should do more experiments, I think."

"Yeah? What, you think I'm that easy?" she scoffed, trying to focus on reaching for her bass instead of blushing scarlet. But she barely touched the neck before firm hands were pinning her to the bed. "HEY!"

"You will assist me," the girl she had once mistaken for a marshmallow ordered her with a sly smirk.

Marceline finally understood that she had been hoodwinked. Well, not really; she believed this girl had no experience, but she had made the erroneous assumption that also meant she would be timid. Nope.

"I will? That's pretty interesting, I thought I got to decide that part."

"You do. But I already know you will decide to help me." Her hips started shifting on top of Marceline's, eyes briefly falling shut. "Mmm… mm?"

The rocker looked away, waiting for the backlash. Bracing to be shouted at, or called any number of names. She had been down that road before — most recently with Ash, who had no problem doing that to her but only when he was angry.

"You're a transgender person."

Stunned by the bluntness of the phrasing, she finally looked up to see nothing but surprise in Bonnie's features. No judgment, no disgust. "Um… yeah. Well, we prefer just 'trans'."

"Oh! 'Justrans' then." She shifted a few more times, prompting a little groan from both of them. "This will certainly make the experiment easier; I already know how to work with one of these from anatomy class."

Marcy knew she wasn't trying to be cruel. She could tell. But she still hissed up at her, "Can you like, not act like I'm some kind of sex slave robot? There's a real person with a real blackened soul down here."

With a little gasp, she covered her mouth. "Bloobalooby! I'm sorry, you're right." Her hips rolled again, sending a wave of heat down into the rocker from their point of contact, blinding her with pleasure. "Do you consent to experimenting with me sexually, and taking my virginity?"

Marceline could only sputter. And she almost told her 'no' simply because she was so shocked at the entire situation. But it was beginning to feel way too good. Why? Why did she want to?

"Sure. If you really don't care that I'm some problem you picked up off the side of the road."

"You are perfect." For just a second, Marcy felt a flutter in her stomach from such praise. Then Bonnie elaborated, "I'm comfortable with you, and I can tell that you are an adequate size to give me a wonderful first experience."

"Oh. That kind of 'perfect'. Right."

Genuinely puzzled, she tilted her head and asked, "What other kind is there?"

Instead of answering, Marceline pulled her down for a heated kiss. They kept that up while rolling around on the bed, running their fingers through each other's hair, humming into the contact. By the time they came up for air, she realized her sweater had disappeared.

"Can I see you?"

"Oh, is that going to help with the experiment?" Bonnie lowered her voice. "Am I… sexy?"

"Well, duh," she laughed as she dropped her jeans. But she fell speechless when she saw the shapely pink body coming into view. "I'm… yep. Definitely stand by my statement."

"I think you are sexy as well." But she was saying it shyly, as if stating a secret, rather than in a flirty way. This girl really didn't understand human sexuality but she was trying her best.

Weird but cute. And her face was glowing red like a stoplight… and Marceline liked red things.

They fell into each other with eagerness, kissing all over faces and necks as their bodies combined. Bonnibel was so soft inside, and her skin smelled like flowers. The little gasps and mewlings at the foreign sensations only made Marcy throb harder, willed her hips to begin moving.

Minutes later, she broke yet another kiss to whisper urgently, "I'm… I'm gonna finish, I d-don't have… a condom…"

"I'm on birth control, to regulate my cycle. I will not become pregnant." But she was biting her lip. The sensations had changed how she reacted. "Will you…? Please?"

She would. Moans fell freely from both of them as their bodies shifted faster and faster, until the dam burst and Marceline felt both their bodies convulsing with the proof of their pleasure. It was an instant, it was an eternity. It was everything.

As they lay curled up together, silence reigned for a few minutes. Experiment complete. Neither of the new quite what to say. Until finally Bonnie whispered, "You sang."

"Huh?"

"When you ejaculated. It was like singing." She closed her eyes, a small smile on her lips as her hand drifted up to cover her own heart. "It was so sweet…"

Marceline scoffed, resisting the temptation to roll over and away to protect her own feelings. "N-no way. I don't do 'sweet', you're loopy. Literally fucked your brains out."

"No, my brains are still intact," she teased with a light chuckle as she began to draw little circles on Marcy's pale shoulder. "And you sang. And I am very, very satisfied with your 'axe'."

That prompted a gleeful giggle from both women. "Told you. I slay all day, Bonnie-bae."

                                                      THE END

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #233

lalala song lyrics i’m about to go home so copy/pasting time.

What subject do you seem to struggle with the most? Various forms of mathematics. Have you ever solved a Rubik’s Cube? Noooo. I don't have that dedication. What’s the worst feeling in the world? Specifically? Giving someone everything you have physically and emotionally with full force and finding out you weren't enough. Who do you think is the easiest to talk to? Sara, probably. What is your favorite genre of movie? Horror, probably. What’s the best thing that happened to you today? Being told I don't have strep throat. Do you have a favorite metal band or do you not like metal? Metal is my favorite genre. I claim a lot as "favorites," but the reigning king will always be Ozzy Osbourne. What’s your favorite kind of science? Genetics. What’s your homeroom? We don't have those in college. If you had to move, where would you move to? Well, my only choice would be to move in with my dad, his wife, and her son. I'm not financially independent. Who did you last go to the movies with? Dad. I think. Have you ever read anything written by Shakespeare? I'm not going to include things assigned in schools because everyone had to read like, Beowulf or something similar at some point. I once started to read the full Macbeth (we read a condensed version in school) during a hospital stay, but I didn't finish it. Who’s the cutest person you know? Have you fuckin SEEN Sara when she's excited because- How about the funniest? Girt's funny as fuck. What is your current desktop picture? An adorable meerkat pup looking at the camera al;sdjfal;kjwerads If you could be reincarnated into anything you wanted, what would it be? I don't know if I'd even want that, but let's just say I was. Maybe... I was gonna say a lioness, because they're high on the food chain, beautiful, and social animals, but yeah I'd prefer to not be poached. Perhaps a house cat. What talent would you like to have? I wish I could draw hyperrealistically. What New Year’s resolutions did you make? I don't make those. What are three songs that mean the most to you? "Pretty Woman" by Van Halen, "The Only Exception" by Paramore, and probably "It's Alright" by Mother Mother. What do you think of your parents? I love them. What is one thing you would do to make the world better? I wish with a snap of my fingers I could just make all litter disappear or something like that. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do? ... Wow. I actually thought about it, and the first thing my mind drifted to was "go to Jason's just to see he's okay," and I don't like that. We pass his house every day to go to school and come back, and I think it's only natural that I get curious, particularly when his car is there, but I don't want to care. How much cash do you have on you right now? Just a few dollars from Mom to get something from the snack or drink machine from school if I need to. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do in your life? Move on. Let go of people. Forgive. How do you measure intelligence? I dunno, how do you? Define the *type* of intelligence. What cartoons do you watch? None actively. Have you ever used drugs? Not illicit ones. Are you into tattoos? *blinks* Do you like photography? I fucking read this as "pornography" first aslkjweoaider. But yeah, I love love love photography. What’s the biggest celebrity you’ve ever seen in real life? The only celebrity I think I've ever seen is Alice Cooper, and it was at a concert. What person in history do you admire most? I don't know enough about any historical figure to really answer this with passion. What is the most daring thing that you have done in public? I don't know considering I'm not that daring. Probably a kiss momentarily going too far or something. Are you afraid of anything that most people are not afraid of? Whale sharks lmao. But pregnancy is the biggie. Well, maybe most are to a mild degree at least, idk. Have you ever watched someone struggle with addiction? Yeah. Who do you look up to for your style? I don't look up to a certain person. If you were to invent something, what would it be? I don't know off the top of my head and I don't feel like sitting here- OH NO WAIT! Remember that one year deviantART's April Fools prank was that it produced some sort of technology where you could visualize a drawing, and by scanning your finger or some weird shit while you envisioned it, it could produce it on the screen? Yeah, something like that. I'd pay big bucks for something that could put my ideas on paper. Who would you like to get to know better? One of my RP partners that I've known since childhood. She's just extremely private online. What’s your favorite thing to order at a Chinese food restaurant? Pork fried rice is my jam. In your opinion, what is the greatest challenge the world faces today? Greed, probably. What have you achieved that you once thought was impossible? Getting over Jason. What have you tried to quit, but weren’t able to? Meat. Not for lack of motivation, but health needs. What was the last rumor that you heard? I don't know. What country star would you most like to meet and why? I'm not interested in meeting any. Have you ever been in a car accident? Yeah. What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done? Overdose. What is the meaning of life? I don't pretend to know anymore. I think everyone gives their life its own meaning based on values, goals, beliefs, etc. Do you prefer cupcakes or muffins? That's hard, man. Depends on the kind, I guess. What is the funniest movie you’ve seen in your whole entire lifetime? White Chicks never fails to get me. What’s the worst nightmare you’ve ever had? My dad about to molest me. What’s your favorite amusement park ride? Merry-go-rounds lmao. Who are your musical influences? This seems like a question for an aspiring musician, which I'm not. What’s the best pick-up line that’s ever been tried on you? I don't know if anyone's ever tried one on me. How many drinks can you handle? I wouldn't really know as I've never reached the point of being drunk, but seemingly quite a few. Weak ones, anyway. If it has a high alcohol concentration, I'm not drinking that shit. What was the longest phone conversation you’ve ever had? Idk, most of the afternoon or evening. I think one occasion with an old best friend went past five hours. Do you know where you want to go to college? I'm happy at my current college. They care a lot about their students. Are you satisfied with the picture on your ID card? Permit, fuck no. School ID, it's alright. What fruit did you last eat? An apple. Aside from yourself, who was the last person to see you naked? My mom. How many classes are you taking? Four, currently. Jumping up to six next semester... though not really by choice. My adviser wants me to have like a safety net by having two classes I CAN drop if I need to, but she's realistic in pointing out that the school path I visualize doable for me will be a VERY slow one and ultimately cost so, so much more money, so she wants to nudge me along as best she can while keeping my limitations in mind. I'm definitely going to try the best I can to do this in four years, but yeah... unlikely. But that's okay to me, so long I get there in not TOO long of a time. Have you ever lost anything down a toilet? I don't think so... but I do recall when my older sister was tiny she flushed a little toy truck down the toilet. We had to get a plumber to save it lmao. I think my mom has kept the truck. Are you someone’s best friend? One of hers. Do you have any goldfishes? No. Have you ever had a pet that you disliked? I absolutely hate my sister's dog that for whatever fucking reason lives with Mom and me. Why we keep a dog that does nothing but annoy us and piss us off is a subject of more than frequent arguing. When was the last time you saw hail? I don't know, a long time ago. What color eyes do you prefer: Green or Brown? Green. Have you ever given a nickname to your pet(s)? Oh yeah. Of my living ones, I call Venus "Miss Venus" and "pretty girl" a whole lot, while Teddy has a whole lot, but mostly "booga," "bub(by)," "boogie," and "Teddy-boo." I just call Roman "butt" a lot, lmao. I don't really have a common one for Mitsu, but I sometimes use "baby girl," I think. Ever been on a boat before? Like, fishing boats. Which is better: Skiing or Snowboarding? I wouldn't know, never tried either. Can you change the oil on a car? I have no clue how. Ever ran out of gas? Not while I myself was driving. I don't even know if I've ever been in the car while that's happened. Favorite kind of sandwich? Most of the time just an 'ole pb&j. Best thing to eat for breakfast? mmmmmmm cinnamon rolls are the GOOD SHIT. Are you horny? Nah. Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Nope. Which are better legos or lincoln logs? Lincoln logs or GET OUT. Are you stubborn? Yeah, most of the time. Are you afraid of heights? YEAH. Ever used a gun? Nooooo and I don't want to. Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer? Idk if the guy who did my school ID card was an actual photographer? I dunno? Ever eat a pierogi? I hate those goddamn pockets of disgust. Favorite type of fruit pie? I dun like pie. I used to be okay with apple, though. Do you believe in ghosts? 110%. Ever have a deja-vu feeling? Yes because our world is just a simulation and it's a glitch- (I'm only semi-kidding btw idk I kinda believe it) Why do you think others get deja-vu? Because our world is just a simulation and it's a glitch- Take a vitamin daily? No. I need to, though. Wear a bath robe? No, I get dressed right after the shower. What do you wear to bed? Pajama pants and a tank top. First concert? Alice Cooper. Outside. During a thunderstorm. Shit was badass. Peanuts or sunflower seeds? Both are ew. I can handle a little bit of peanut better, though. Ever take dance lessons? I grew up taking a lot through middle school and some of high school. I tooook... clogging (I was embarrassingly good at that omg), jazz, modern (my fave), lyrical very briefly 'cuz I am NOT graceful, and hip hop. I always hated the music, but the dancing itself is fun. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing? No. They can do whatever they aspire to. Have you ever cried because you were so happy? Yeah. Own any record albums? Not anymore, Mom sold them. I wish I had them now, ahhhh. I love 'em. Own a record player? No. Who would you like to see in concert? I am seeing Ozzy next year or I will fucking riot, Metallica, and Rammstein. Many others would be cool, but those are the biggies. I'd love to see Manson and Otep, but their shows are... yeah. They do gross and/or really disrespectful shit. Hot tea or cold tea? THERE ARE SO MANY TEA OR COFFEE QUESTIONS IN SURVEYS but they tend to be different so I just keep them in alsdjf;awe. The usual: I hate tea. Can you swim well? I guess I swim fine? DJ or band, at a wedding? DJ. I want a variety of music. Ever won a contest? A few, don't feel like trying to remember 'em. Ever have plastic surgery? No. Which are better black or green olives? Olives are fucking gross. Best room for a fireplace? Living room. Who was your high school crush? My first was either Sebastian or Kyle. Or Girt. Then Juan, though that crush was questionable if it was serious or not. He really flattered me a lot, but I've told the story before plenty. Idk if the emotion was romantically reciprocated, though honestly I think it was mostly because of his reputation? I only knew him as extremely sweet. BUT ANYWAY, after that, do I even need to say "Jason?" When he came along, whether or not I really liked Juan was totally forgotten. What do you believe happens to us after death? Hell if I know. Have you ever cheated on someone? No. Does the thought of growing old frighten you? More like the thought of my body deteriorating does. Have you ever hurt someone for your own entertainment? um the fuck. I've done it out of heartbreak and pain, but never for my entertainment. What is your favorite song of all time? Of all time, probably "False Flags" by Massive Attack. Has anyone you’ve known died on a holiday? Possibly, idk. If you could write a book, what would it be about? Sometimes I wish I could make a series out of the meerkat RP I engage in, but I don't have the motivation or dedication for that. And I wouldn't be comfortable revising our "tribute" characters for the sake of legality and just respect in general. What are some lyrics that speak to your soul? "For such a little thing, you sure are in your own way" from a Mother Mother song. I'm not exactly small for a human ha ha, but in the scope of the universe perspective, we're all less than microscopic. Have you ever been in love with more than one person at the same time? Not in love, not. Attracted to, yeah. What is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to you? I remember, though it's a tad blurry, the occasion I was having a serious "grieving session" for Jason at Colleen's house, and her sister was there alone with me. She was talking me through it and grabbed my shoulders at one point, looked me dead in the eye, and told me so firmly yet gently how beautiful a person I was and that I deserved the world and more. I won't forget that, like ever. Do you have any taboo fetishes or preferences? No. What is the thing you are most ashamed of? I've talked about this enough. Well, that or just being a general "this is all your goddamn fault and I am the only victim here" cunt to Jason following the breakup. Actually, yeah, I'm probably more ashamed of that. What is the emotion you seem to feel most strongly? Hm. Embarrassment? Heartbreak? Love? Idk. Do you think of yourself as a unique person? Yeah, honestly. I mean not incredibly, but unique, yeah. What is a movie from childhood that you loved? I've talked about TLK and Finding Nemo and that kinda stuff a lot, so here's a STUPIDLY underrated one: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron. That movie is fuckin beautiful wtf. Are you afraid of death? Aren't we all at least to a small degree? What are your top three biggest fears, actually? Losing my mom, being raped, and all those I love just abandoning me. Do you have an accent of any kind? You can detect a Southern one sometimes. What do you want to be remembered for? Sending a message of love, especially to animals. Are you currently sad about anything? I am literally permanently sad about my weight, though it's not like, an *active* sadness at this very moment? Have you ever changed your spiritual beliefs? Three times now. Catholic to Christian to theist. What is your favorite alcoholic drink? MARGARITAS gotDAMN Do you ever talk to yourself? Sure. Have you ever cried yourself to sleep in your adult life? Oh yeah. What do you think is the meanest thing you’ve ever said to someone? "Thanks for sending me to the ER again." Fucking bitch. Do you have a favorite book? If so, how many times have you read it? Johnny Got His Gun and The Outsiders. Only read both once. I almost never read a book more than that. Have you ever wished you were from another country? Half the time, especially as an adult, I wish I lived in Canada. What are you thinking about currently? My throat is absolutely killing me and I'm ready to leave school. What is a subject that makes you uncomfortable to speak about? I'm more uncomfortable talking about sex than I used to think. Do you have anything you are extremely particular about? When I'm in the passenger seat controlling the music? Oh my god, Mom, DON'T turn the volume down manually. I can do that on my iPod myself, but can only turn it back UP but so loud as it gets lower by the car itself. She knows I turn it down when we're talking, she is, or we slow down, but she does it anyway sometimes and I get unreasonably annoyed by it. Have you ever seen the ocean? Only the Atlantic. What is your most fond memory of your current S.O, if applicable? THE FIRST KISS Y'ALL it was fuckin CHEESY but I LOVE IT Do you find yourself confused often? Oh hell yeah. What was the best time of your life? It's so funny to me how I can answer "2017," the very same year I OD'd. That's rapid growth, my friend. Have you ever been on a cruise? No. Do you miss any of your exes? I only miss the memories of him. Are you religious? I mean I believe in some ultimate creator, but I don't really like calling myself "religious" anymore. I don't worship it, I don't pray to it. I'm thankful to exist, but that's. It, I guess. ANY entity I would respect wouldn't demand me to kiss its feet. Do you think you are attractive? HELL NO. How many people have you slept with? Do you mean like, as in having sex? One. Slightly fooled around with, two, including the previously-mentioned guy. Do you consider yourself a catch? Besides my looks, I do think I'm a good girlfriend. What kind of sauce do you eat your chicken nuggets with? Honey mustard, actual mustard... that kinda stuff. What do you think you could do to improve your life? Get a goddamn job, I'm just really not capable right now. What song is playing right now? "Hag" by Otep. What is your LJ name? I don't have a LiveJournal. I don't even want to EXIST on the same site with a particular fat-headed, bigoted fuck of a bitch. Holy shit I've nearly made an account multiple times JUST to talk that cunt back to Earth. What was the most recent movie you watched? UHHHHHHHH I don't remember actually. How many times have you got stitches? UHHHH twice or thrice? What are your pets’ species and names? I'm excluding the dog I hate because he's not even "mine." Teddy is a beagle/cocker spaniel/probably something else mix. Roman is a cat mix; he seems to have Siamese or something similar in 'im. Mitsu is a fancy rat. Venus is a champagne ball python. What is your most recent musical crush? Mark is a fucking singer, DON'T EVEN @ ME ABOUT IT. Which is better; immense heat or extreme coldness? God, the latter. I literally can't handle like anything above 70 for even like 10 minutes. It's not just that I find heat uncomfortable, but I sweat to a disgusting degree and get extremely weak, dizzy, and sometimes nauseous. Do you have a disease? Just mental ones. I have at least one physical disorder, but not a disease. Do you like gore? BITCH yes. Especially in art. It's the smell irl I can't really handle, as well as seeing like, human gore, but also exclusively in the real world. It feels too personal and close to home, y'know? Do you stutter? YEP. Name a cool person you have lost touch with? Megan, particularly. Who was the friendliest person you have met on the internet? MAN, I don't know if I could pick!! Maybe uhhhh... Megan again? She was nice to like... everyone. Or Connie for the same reason, and she's also chill as hell. I really don't know, I've met a load of great people. Name a song that is overplayed. I don't listen to the radio, so. What websites do you visit frequently? Kalahari Manor, deviantART, YouTube, Facebook, the Silent Hill wiki to make sure it's not exploding from mental cases again to not make it to fucking video game and horror sites/blogs again, and especially lately, Tumblr. There's more, but those are the regularly frequent ones. Does counting sheep help you fall asleep? Never tried. What is the biggest mystery? Where the universe came from and why.

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 104: Kindergarten Kid

“I'm smarter than your average Peridot.”

Oof. I need a break. Do you need a break? Let’s take a break.

When I was a kindergarten kid, my family had a firm policy against “commercial TV,” as in any children’s television programming that included commercials. Our house didn’t get Cartoon Network until 2003-ish regardless, but this meant pretty much everything that wasn’t PBS (and later Disney Channel, which had commercials but not for toys) was restricted to friends’ houses until I was about eight. I was born in 1990, so the ban lift came right on time for Digimon and Pokémon to debut (in that order, fight me), but until then my access to cartoons was largely limited.

So yeah, unlike others of my age group, I didn’t grow up with Rugrats or Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and due to the continued lack of Cartoon Network I also missed out on Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls until reruns in the aughts. But I did have The Tapes, and The Tapes had Looney Tunes, so I was more than satisfied.

I still remember sitting up straighter when I first realized what Kindergarten Kid was doing back in 2016. The southwestern setting is a pretty big hint from the start, but we were cleverly introduced to the area in Beta and Earthlings and aren’t primed to see the Road Runner and Coyote connection until the plot revs up. And yes, these rivals are the clearest inspiration for Peridot’s futile attempts to outsmart a faster, “dumber” foe with intricate traps. But with an exception here or there for comic relief, Messrs. Coyote and Runner are silent, while Peridot is anything but. And as much fun as it would’ve been to go full throttle and make the entire sequence silent, I’m so glad to see Raven Molisee and Paul Villeco instead have Peridot emulate another icon from the Looney Tunes roster. And no, it’s not Porky Pig.

It’s ironic, because his best work sees him fail to come out on top, but I legitimately can’t think of a better cartoon character than Daffy Duck. Like, out of all cartoons, from every country, from any time period, period. Bugs Bunny is no slouch—he follows the legacy of Loki, Anansi, Reynard, and Maui as modern America’s most notable trickster deity—but Daffy perfected an archetype that’s largely unrepresented in myths of yore, and stands head and shoulders above all other examples, including Wile E. Coyote himself (and Daffy’s fun but better-in-the-comics counterpart, Donald Duck). Aptly referred to in Babylon 5 as “an ancient Egyptian god of frustration,” Daffy evolved from a perfectly good screwball character (Daffy Doodles is the best of this era) to the embodiment of self-inflicted pain.

I’ve already compared Peridot and Ruby to the little black duck before (seriously, stop what you’re doing and watch Daffy Doodles if that weird nickname doesn’t ring a bell), but Kindergarten Kid seems to go out of its way to evoke the essence of Daffy. Wile E. Coyote’s ploys may have the same convoluted detail as the Peri-Plans we see, but going on at length about how a scheme is going to work only for it to immediately fail? That’s Daffy Duck. Puffing up in confidence at the infallibility of said plan, and having it collapse in the middle of a smug victory lap? That’s Daffy Duck. This episode pulls its pacing straight out of the Hunting Trilogy (from which we get the famous “Rabbit Season!” “Duck Season!” debate), with Steven subbing in for both Elmer Fudd and Bugs depending on who Daffy is allied with at any given time, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch. 

We even get variations of classic gags to keep things fresh. It would’ve been acceptable for Peridot to slowly dismantle an injector to crush Gem Runner, only for it to not fall until she’s right beneath it. But no, she realizes the risk, takes a step back, then gets crushed by falling rocks. I still would’ve laughed if her cannon refused to fire until she stepped in front of it, launching her over the horizon. But the recoil launches her backwards, crushing her with more rocks. Rehashing the exact same classic gags would’ve been an easy way out, but the gags are classic for a reason and I would’ve appreciated the tribute; that we see actual creative changes instead brings Kindergarten Kid to even higher heights. Yes, the final plummet is directly based on Wile E. Coyote’s own falls (sadly without the sound effect), but there’s a level of innovation here that’s compelling for an episode referencing the past so vividly.

Still, the biggest difference between Kindergarten Kid and vintage Looney Tunes is that unlike Daffy or Coyote, Peridot can make a change. The episode is similar to Barn Mates, in that both are a series of sketches that show Peridot and Steven trying and failing to accomplish a goal (which is perhaps the most clinical way to describe the standard Looney Tunes short). Both episodes end with a victory for Peridot when she realizes she must rethink the core problem, but Kindergarten Kid works better by halving the number of characters that need to grow. Barn Mates is by no means bad, but it’s hard to balance the story of its two leads, so Lapis is left without much focus behind her actions. This time the opponent is something of a force of nature, so we can spend more time digging into why Peridot’s plans aren’t working.

Peridot has already changed quite a bit, but her superiority complex remains a central tenet of her personality. It’s been tempered when Steven is involved, but she still treats most other Gems as intellectual inferiors even when she gets along with them. So of course she sees outbraining a Corrupted Gem as a cakewalk, and of course Steven teaches her the error of her ways with a lesson in empathy. These are obvious story beats, but old habits die hard, and I like that Peridot still has issues with her ego despite how far she’s come as a Crystal Gem.

It’s hard to compare any voice actor to Mel Blanc, in the same way it’s hard to compare any English-speaking playwright to Shakespeare, so I’m not gonna give praise that lofty, but Shelby Rabara still nails the fury of a gremlin who's smart but thinks she’s way smarter. It’s not easy on the throat to shout this much, and in such specific nonverbal ways, but I still think her best moment is when her confident front falters, and she yells that she’s doing the best she can. She’s as angry as ever, but that glimpse of vulnerability shows that she’s not a lost cause like Coyote.

Steven also returns to old habits, focusing all his energy on helping Peridot and not mentioning his mother once. I can see how this might make Kindergarten Kid seem too flippant, but as we’ll confirm in Mindful Education, our hero is pushing down the bad feelings instead of dealing with them. I think it’s crucial to have a few episodes where he seems okay to lull us into the sense of security that his breakdown destroys, and just like Bubbled, it’s clear that his coping mechanism is putting others before himself. He never complains about the physical injuries caused by Peridot’s poor planning, instead making sure his friend is okay.

Like Log Date 7 15 2, the show leans into Peridot’s brand of comic relief to cool us down from a major event. This is an even sillier episode, to the point that the other Crystal Gems are watching it for entertainment value, but it comes after an even more harrowing Diamond reveal. And because this one has more to do with Steven, he gets more to do in the episode: he’s not reliving a Peridot montage, he’s participating in her adventure, and the episode is stronger for it.

I understand that comedy is subjective. For instance, I’m not huge on meta humor in the style of our next episode; I acknowledge that it’s done well, but it’s not for me. So I don’t expect everyone to be huge on this episode, especially if you tragically lack a childhood full of ducks getting their beaks blown off and rabbits dancing up to bulls to slap them in the face. But hopefully folks who were let down in their first viewing, expecting more drama and lore in our post-shattering reality, can give Kindergarten Kid another look, perhaps after downing some classic cartoons, and enjoy it for the outstanding love letter that it is.

(I still don’t know why she references Yogi Bear, that’s a whole other era of cartoon, but nobody’s perfect.)

If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have inconsistencies…

I know it’s absurd to nitpick unrealistic elements of such a cartoony episode, but Steven’s endless bag of marshmallows bugs me. At least it gives us another Peridot-as-raccoon reaction.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

It barely misses the cut, but boy do I love this episode. Like any great Looney Tunes short, I can watch it and laugh no matter how many times I’ve seen it; the gags are so pure that rather than getting bored of them, I now chuckle in anticipation before the hits even come. 

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

When It Rains

Catch and Release

Chille Tid

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

No Thanks!

     5. Horror Club      4. Fusion Cuisine      3. House Guest      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

(I’m almost happy there’s no promo art for this one, because hot damn do I love this pic from Dark Tarou.)

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

Camp Camp REVIEW:

 Hello there, everybody. My name is JoyofCrimeArt and the Summer season has just come to an end. It's that time or year where the heat starts to die down, as the brisk Autumn breeze comes blowing forth to refresh our minds and bodies, and to remind us that-wait hold on. Yeah, okay. So I just checked Google and it turns out that it's currently ninety degrees outside exactly. Sorry Autumn, better luck next month. Anyway, with Summer "technically" wrapping up I though now would be as good of a time as any to talk about Rooster Teeth Production's Summer themed adult animated series "Camp Camp."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4c6JUBauBg

(By the way, this intro is so frickin' catchy.)  For those who don't know "Camp Camp" is a online animated series that comes from Rooster Teeth Productions, the studio that brought us Red vs Blue, RWBY, and the Youtube Red original movie, Lazor Team. If I had to describe the show I would describe it as "Total Drama Island" crossed with "South Park." So what's the plot? Camp Camp centers around Max, a cynical ten year old who hates the entire world around him. He's the typical cynical, bitter type of character you see a lot in these "adult animated" shows. Max's goal in the series to escape from Camp Campbell, a crappy run down summer camp in the middle of nowhere, and make his way back to civilization. He also has help from his two friends, Neil and Nikki. Neil is a science nerd who is very quick to angry outburst. He and Max share the role as the straight man in most episodes. Then there's Nikki, a hyperactive wild child and self proclaimed "agent of chaos." Out of the main trio she's probably my favorite. She just has some much energy, and it's actual nice to see a character who is actually happy to be at the camp, even though she still tries to help Max and Neil escape.  There's also the two camp counselor, David and Gwen. David is an optimistic yet dim counselor who tries to make the three (mainly Max) see the joys of camping, without much success. He often will suffer torment form our main protagonist, sometimes indirectly but often directly. However despite the universes punching bag he's still manages to stay cartoonishly optimistic. I really like David, and he is one of my favorite, if not my favorite character in the show. His constant optimism is really funny but he's not a static character either. In a lot of these type of cartoons we get characters who are either always happy or almost always happy, and they end up being very one dimensional a lot of the time. David is different because while we see him being happy most of the time we see that he does have limits. We see that he gets stressed out by things and is trying his hardest to stay optimistic anyway. It's not like in Spongebob, where Spongebob is always happy because he unaware that things around him aren't perfect. David knows that things around him aren't perfect, but still tries to stay upbeat about it. It's a lot more relatable in that way, at least in my humble opinion. Gwen meanwhile, is the smarter and more snarky counselor who just tries to stay out of everything and just read her trashy magazine. Gwen will often act as the foil to David and it works really well comically. I also really like Gwen's voice actress, Lee Eddy. It's a great voice that really works for her deadpan deliveries, and as we later learn she also a great singer!  The show also has a large plethora of side characters. The show uses a clever strategy when it comes to introducing the side characters, usually giving each of the side characters one episode each to shine. Plus they break those episodes up with episodes that are just about Max, Neil and Nikki. This makes it a lot easier to manage all of the side characters, and the stereotypes that the side characters represent makes it very easier for the audience to immediately know what the characters are about. The show has a pretty large cast, so I'll try to hit most of the more notable side characters real quick here. There's Cameron Campbell, the camp's immoral founder who is on the run from the government. There's Space Kid, a kid who likes outer space and always has a glass dome around his head. There's Preston, the psychotic theater kid (Who is a really funny character by the way.) There's Nurf, the camp bully. There's Ered, the cool kid. There's Harrison, the magic kid. There's Nerris, the other magic kid. There's Dolph, who may or may not be a clone of Hitler. Y'know, all of the normal character archtypes. None of these character get to much development beyond there stereotypes, but there still enjoyable and funny in there own rights. Oh, also there's a platypus as the camp mascot, because when in doubt, add a platypus.

(Muack!)  Now, as stated before, this show is not for kids. As we learned from "Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared" the more kid friendly something on the internet looks the more horrible and vulgar it probably is. But they do adult humor very cleverly, usually not going "too far." with the joke. There are a lot of adult cartoons out there that just try to be vulgar for vulgarities sake. Show's where every character is just an irredeemable jerk wad. Camp Camp, luckily, doesn't fall into this category. There's some vulgarity in it, but it never feels like they are trying to force it in where it doesn't belong. This shows humor is very clever and funny, and just happens to incorporates some adult themes sometimes. What I like about this show is how closely it does feel to a show that could air on television. The episodes are about the right length, and so is the theme song. Plus the animation in this series is beautiful by web series standards. It looks TV quality, on par with something like PBS Kid's "Wild Kratts" or something like that. Just like Don't Hug Me this makes the adult humor a lot funnier. Since it looks so much like a kid show it makes it more unexpected when they do something very adult and thus makes it more comedic. I admire Rooster Teeth so much for always putting so much effort into there animation, even though they only do web series. It's all done in flash but it's done well, so that all that really matters.  Similar to the point above about content being juxtaposed with the animation, this show also has an odd thing with it's music. In the show itself the music matches, but during each episodes end credits the music is always some kind of rap song, for whatever reason. It seems odd but thinking about it it really does works. I think it's because everything in this show has such a weird mishmash of elements that one more weird element doesn't really feel out of place. Plus it's sort of matches Max's anti-authority mentality, so in a way it actually match in a weird kind of way.  This show is also really fun to watch if you are already a fan of Rooster Teeth's other works. About half of the cast of Camp Camp are returning actors from RWBY. Max is Sun, Neil is Mercury, David is Jaune, Space Kid is Ruby, Ered is Pyrrha, Nikki is FRICKIN' WINTER OF ALL PEOPLE! It's greatly amusing to see the voice actors from the mostly child friendly RWBY saying such vulgarity. It's a nice extra level for RWBY fans. Same thing I would think would apply if you watch this and then watch RWBY, except backwards. Speaking of voice acting the show has a pretty all star cast for a web show. Big name anime and animation voice actor Yuri Lowenthal voices Neil, Travis Willingham is Cameron Campbell and they even got Dante Basco in one episode! It's really cool hearing all these big name actors voices in a web cartoon like this.  Now the show obviously isn't perfect. My biggest problem with the show is honestly, the main character. Neil and Nikki are cool characters but I honestly don't like Max very much. Now Max can be a funny character for sure, but he's not very likeable, at least to me. He's just a cynical A-hole. Which I know is the point and all, but still. I don't hate him or anything, but out of the main three characters he's probably my least favorite. It's just hard to care for a character who doesn't care about anything. Also I sort of don't like how David is the shows punching bag a lot of the time. David is an awesome character, but it's lame that we always see him suffer. Again, I know it's the point but it's still hard to watch. That being said the show does sort of make up for it in the final episode when we get the sorta "moral." of the series, and what the David/Max conflict was leading up to. I don't want to spoil the ending for anybody who hasn't seen the show, but the scene in the season finale with Max and David (If you seen the show you should know what scene I'm talking about.) Is so powerful. From the lack of music to the voice acting to the beautiful message of it all. I would just rewatch that scene over and over on Youtube because of how well done it was. So even the flaws of this show do have a point. It's just kinda a grind getting to that point, but overall I think it is worth it for the message the show is trying to teach. Also it looks like these flaws might be toned down in season two, but it's kinda two early to tell at this point. But that all might just be a personal preference kind of thing, and other people might not mind at all. Especially if you happen to be a fan of cynical or sadistic humor.  ...Y'know what I just realized. This show in a lot of ways in just a backwards "Camp Lazlo." Think about it, Camp Camp is about a cynical camper who tries to annoy an overly optimistic camp counselor and show him that life is a sad and pathetic place. Meanwhile Camp Lazlo is about an overly optimistic camper annoying a cynical scoutmaster, trying to show him that life is great and awesome place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssnw2GA657s

Random thing. Only recently, when rewatching some of the episodes in preparation for this review did I think to myself, "Why is Nikki's hair green?" Like, I had been watching this show every week for over three months, and I knew her hair was green but only then did I really question-wait a minute. Green hair. Self proclaimed agent of chaos. Oh my God....Nikki is the Joker! It makes so much sense! It was always there in front of us, we were all just to blind to see it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssnw2GA657s

Another random thing. Just one month before Camp Camp came out, another camp themed adult cartoon came out. Camp WWE. If you are unaware, Camp WWE is a show about the WWE superstars being children in a summer camp run by Ric Flair.  I've never seen the show, but I just found it an interesting thing to bring up. The show was created by Seth Green and more importantly IS AN ACTUAL THING THAT EXIST IN THE REAL WORLD FOR REAL! Anyway, I'm not saying that Camp Camp ripped off Camp WWE, as both would have been in production for long enough that they couldn't copy each other. But it's quiet a coincidence. Or is it a coincidence? Hmmmm. Coincidence?....I think NO-  In conclusion, Camp Camp is a funny, well written, Amazingly animated web series that I think you all should consider checking out. While not perfect in any way I had a ton of fun watching through the series and all the episodes are easily available on Youtube. So Campe Diem! Have you seen the series? If so what did you think of it? What's you're favorite episode? (Mine is episode 12! Ugh, it's so good!) Tell me what you think about the show in the comments down bellow and I would really appreciate it. I love hearing what other people think about cartoons, and starting a discussion. Any suggestions for things I should review. Suggest them down bellow and maybe I'll do em if I find them interesting enough. Please fav, follow and comment if you liked the review and want to see more and have a great day!

https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/Camp-Camp-REVIEW-636395864 DA Link

[rainey-staerie-daize]

𝒜𝒷ℴ𝓊𝓉 ℳℯ

Internet alias: Raine Daizie Staer, or just Raine. It may sound completely made up, but "Raine" is actually my legal middle name, and "Staer" is based on my legal last name. And I just like daisies.

Age: 18, born 8 days (one of my faveorite numbers) before Halloween of 2000.

Gender identity: cis female. However, I probably come off as more masculine at times. Sometimes I wonder if I was supposed to be born a male, but oh well. I like being a woman anyway.

Personality type: INTP-T, same as my sister Kat.

Zodiac sign: Scorpio. However, some sites say Libra, since October 23rd is on the cusp (edge) between the two. The Libra horoscope is more accurate than the Scorpio one sometimes, so I guess I'm kinda split in two.

Faveorite color: rich purple or bright blue if I had to pick only one, but I like many colors and aesthetics.

Faveorite pizza place: Domino's

Location: Good ol' United States of America, being ruled by a Cheeto puff with a toupée. I've been in the same Sin City my entire life. I won't tell you my address or anything, but if you're in my area, you might see me without even knowing it.

Class: broke. I had no idea when I was younger, but as I grew older I learned just how much I didn't know about our living situation. We lived in a decent house when I was a child, but I didn't see Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network until I was 12 and moved in with a guy who paid for stuff like that to keep his daughter Ashe happy. I grew up off of PBS Kids and leftovers in cottage cheese containers.

Family:

Mom, 37

Dad, 69

Skye-Kat, sister, 13

Bry, half-brother, 10

Xan, half-brother, 5

Kare, half-sister, 3

... Along with a half-sister I've never met (Alex, 36) and Xan and Kare's half-sister that we don't live with any more (Ashe, 16).

Education: I went to 14.5 years of school without being held back. How? I got a year and a half of free preschool for being disabled, which included speech therapy in the middle of the day. I am autistic, and would mostly scream when I was little, so I needed some help. I still got great grades and made great friends throughout elementary school though, to the point where the teacher would tell me to stop talking during class. At one point, I went to Stanford Elementary, so I guess I can say "I went to Stanford" without lying. My elementary experience was split between three different schools though.

Sometime during middle school I think, shit kinda started unraveling. I became a bit less social, my memory is kinda iffy from that point on, and my grades weren't straight anymore. I got my shit together for the most part, but my memory and social skills have remained shoddy at best through to now.

The very fact I went to a high school with the initials D.P. makes me very happy, since Danny Phantom was the very first cartoon I really got into. The fact that there were also pine trees was great too, because of Gravity Falls. Coincidentally, I applied for their animation magnet program before I knew any of this. School there was okay I guess, and I got mostly good grades, but I felt immensely awkward quite a few times. Tried to join clubs only to either not enjoy them or for them to disband. Was never that great at sports, but joined a dance class junior year. Hated English essays with a passion. Tried to make friends and hold onto the ones from middle school, but after nobody I invited came to my sweet 16, I'm pretty much "I don't need friends; they disappoint me" and stopped sitting with them at lunch. Their table was too crowded anyway. One of my friends from another school came, but my mom invited her, not me personally.

Despite growing up in what I've heard to be one of the worst school districts in the country, I graduated two months ago wearing a white cap and gown with an Advanced Honors diploma. It's been difficult, what with autism, transportation issues, (unconfirmed) bipolar disorder, and memory issues, but I fucking made it. Class of 2019!

I'll be joining the rebellion in August.

Beliefs: If you ask my parents, they would say I'm Christian. I'm not. I've never set foot in a church except for weddings, and I don't believe half of what the Bible teaches (or what I've heard it says, anyway. I couldn't make it past the first few pages). I go off of what I believe to be the right thing. Will that change depending on new information I receive? Probably. I like to keep an open mind. I consider myself a witch/Wiccan/Pagan, and occasionally reblog stuff from Wiccan/witchy pages. ⛤ Everyone is equal in this universe, whether some people want to believe it or not, and everyone deserves their basic human rights. Just because you don't understand something someone does, doesn't mean you should be absolutely vile to them.

I try to stick to what I believe in, but everyone's got at least a bit of hypocrisy in them, and I'm no exception. I used to scream and act violently towards others when I was upset, and old habits die hard. Only when I'm really pissed at someone though. I mostly just shut down when I'm upset nowadays. Except for in this house I'm currently in apparently.

My controversial opinions:

Pineapple pizza is great. Especially from Domino's with asiago cheese.

That Snapchat update a while back wasn't that bad. In fact, I kinda liked it.

Screw the red ones, I like the yellow Starbursts. In fact, certain cherry-flavored candy makes me feel nauseous, especially Redvines, Twizzlers, and any other kind of licorice.

[helihi]

The Adventure Continues...

Aventure Time wasn’t my childhood.

I was 15 when it came out, and I didn’t watch it then.

The promos at that time didn’t make it seem interesting. To me it was just a show about a boy and a magic dog saving a princess from an evil dude. It sounded boring and very uncreative, plus, like the little arrogant teen I was, I thought the lack of proportions and noodle arms/legs somehow made the show less valid.

However, one day I found out Olivia Olson, the voice of Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, played a character in the show. I love the way Olivia sings, and I could and can listen to her for hours. So, I decided to watch only the episodes where Marceline showed up.

Boy, am I glad I did that.

Two episodes in, I realized I really liked the show; the style, the characters, the comedy, everything. I fell in love with Adventure Time just after watching Evicted! and Henchman. Those aren’t even close to the best episodes of the show, and yet they captured me in such a way I had to watch AT as a whole.

There are many things I want to thank Adventure Time and its crew for: this show has made me laugh countless times (and has the only fart joke I will ever accept: the one where Jake farts at the end of an episode after spending the whole time in Finn’s shirt pocket), it made me cry (I Remember You kills me even to this day),  it had songs that got stuck in my head for years (Bacon Pancakes and I’m just your problem), it has some of the best comedic characters I’ve seen (LSP and Lemongrab steal the show), it has characters that are develop no matter how minor and secondary they might seem at first, it taught me about world building, it gave me a million reasons to why I should keep drawing and...

It also taught me about myself.

It was 2011, and I remember back then, while browsing on dA, I learned that the major ships were Fubblegum and Finnceline. Back then, I didn’t like any of them, and whenever I was forced to choose, I just shrugged it off and said “Finnceline” without feeling good about myself.

I didn’t ship Fubblegum. Finn was too immature for someone like PB, and it almost seemed too forced. Well, except for that one episode where PB is a kid.

I didn’t ship Finnceline. Marceline didn’t seem too mature for Finn, but she was clearly carrying some serious baggage, and I didn’t feel like a kid like Finn could  match that, regardless of his age.

I was raised in a catholic environment. My only interactions with anything not-straight was through Yaoi. As fetishizing as it was/is, it was/is a common discovery for any young girl who watches anime. Back then, I didn’t think there was a third option to the whole Bubblegum/Finn/Marceline discourse.

I didn’t hate Finnceline or Fubblegum. I never attacked anyone for shipping them. I just... I just felt empty... Like... Something Was Missing.

Go with Me didn’t feel out of the ordinary when it aired. It came and went, and when I finally got to watch it, I didn’t expect much: just an episode where Finn wants to ask a clearly uninterested PB out (how boring).

Then, Marceline showed up.

With an exchange of two words, two names to be exact, my whole world changed:

We learned PB’s first name. We learned that PB and Marceline knew each other. You could feel even the tension, you could see it: there was history between them, and Marceline... Marceline wasn’t being a good friend who didn’t know who Finn was trying to impress, Marceline was sabotaging Finn.

I remember, at the time, the Finnceline fans used this as proof of Marcie being jealous and purposefully ruining things so Finn would go out with her instead of PB, but that— that was completely wrong: when they actually go out, Marceline makes a joke about “no tongue” and then has fun with Finn in the most platonic way possible.

That episode opened my eyes. The third option to the discourse appeared: Bubbline, and most importantly, I became attached to something that I didn’t know meant so much to me.

Figuring out one’s sexuality is a mess, specially when you are raised in a conservative environment where “we don’t talk about those things” or “God doesn’t want that”.

Bubblegum and Marceline were, somehow, a way to learn about myself.

When What Was Missing came out, I was vibrating with excitement. What I saw on Go with Me wasn’t just a hunch, it was there! The subtext, the everything! I told my brother they were going to become canon!

Then Mathematical! got shut down... It felt horrible, and somehow it made Bubbline more valid. The subtext was really there.

7 years have passed, and I promised my brother that if they explicitly confirmed Bubbline, I would do a victory dance, and yesterday... I got to do so.

Nobody can take this from me, from us. As stupid as getting excited for a cartoon same sex couple might be, it isn’t. Bubbline means so many things to me, specially the fact that I’m valid.

I love the finale.

I love how LSP and Lemongrab continued being hysterical to the end. I love how BMO continued being so fun and cute. I love how they resolved many of the character’s arcs, specially Fern’s and PB’s. I loved how they integrated a dream sequence and made me question if I was high with how crazy and psychological it was. I loved Betty and Simon’s bitter sweet ending. I loved how Gunther turned into the new Ice King.

I love how, after years of build up, Marceline and Bubblegum get to be together again.

I’m going to miss this show. I’ll miss the mini series. I’ll miss it’s characters and themes. I’m going to miss the times I spent obsessing over the show, and watching it with my siblings.

But I’m glad it ended this way, on it’s own terms (kinda).

Thank you.

Thank you to every single crew member that was part of the Adventure Time crew, even if they weren’t there by the end.

[amandahalligan]

I grew up in Texas. When I was a child the only area code was 817, 682, & 940!! A lot of my clothes came from Sears & Kmart. If you had a pool you were the KING of the block, otherwise you played in a sprinkler to stay cool. Eating out at a restaurant was a huge deal that only happened for very special occasions. Fast food was a bologna/ham or pb&j sandwich to take outside in the yard. Eating ice cream was a treat on a hot day. You took your school clothes off as soon as you got home and put on your play clothes. We had to do our homework before being allowed outside to play. We ate dinner as a family. We went to school everyday. Our phone hung on the wall in the kitchen and had a long cord. There were no private conversations or cell phones! We played Mother May I, Basketball, tackle football, 1,2,3 Not It, Red Light Green Light, Red Rover, Hide & Seek, Truth or Dare, Tag, Kick Ball, Dodge Ball, and rode bikes. The girls I knew were as rough as the boys in our neighborhood. We went through tunnels to see where they would lead us. We used to go flying off our scooters and bikes from going too fast. Staying in the house was a punishment. The only thing we knew about being “bored" was “You better find something to do before I find it for you!" We ate what mom made for dinner or we ate nothing at all. There was no bottled water so we drank from the tap or the water hose (warm) at any house in the neighborhood. Water hose water is the Best! We watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. We rode our bikes for hours a day and ran around in the streets until the street light came on. We weren't AFRAID OF ANYTHING!! Except the neighborhood dog that we thought was gonna eat us alive when we rode or walked by. School was mandatory and teachers were people who we could TRUST and RESPECT. We watched our MOUTHS around our elders because ALL of our Aunts, Uncles, Grandpas and Grandmas AND our Parents best friends were also our PARENTS (they COULD & WOULD WHOOP THAT ASS!) Plus, you didn't want them telling your PARENTS if you misbehaved. These were the good ole days. Kids today will never know how it feels to be a real kid. I loved my childhood!!! Kids these days will (at Decatur, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBbCmFXpXHW/?igshid=1ug3fsyulkb63

[the-locoman]

Locoman Watches The Magic School Bus

So you might not know this, but The Magic School Bus was probably the second-biggest influence in my young preschool life after Thomas The Tank Engine. I lived and breathed this show for a solid eight years of my existence- to this day I can still quote the theme song pretty much by memory. Miss Frizzle was probably one of my childhood inspirations and definitely the spark that ignited my love of science and biology.

So I was intrigued when, way back in 2014 when they announced a reboot, and moreso when promotional images and trailers started to hit the net late in the summer. The reaction was… probably not what the folks behind the show were hoping to see. Within hours, people were taking to social media to scream about it being the “WORST REBOOT EVER.” Which is quite an accusation, really, considering how many goddamn reboots there are nowadays. I’m sure that in the time it took for me to write this post eight more have been announced.

On Wednesday, there was a stream on the Scholastic website of the premiere episode – it doesn’t seem to want to work for me now, but I did feel obliged to sit down and see what it was like. And goddamn it, I’m 23 years old, I can do what I want and what I want to do is sit down and write down my rambling thoughts about The Magic School Bus. Seatbelts, everyone.

(spoilers ahead)

The animation was the first aspect of the show that got everyone talking, and not in the good sense. And... yeah, even after 20 minutes of watching it, I’m still more linclined to side with the haters on this one. I’m not sure if it’s done in Flash or Toon Boom or what, but there’s a certain rigidity in the animation that reminds me of Johnny Test or any of the other dozens of bad cartoons that my country poops out on a regular basis because the government tells us to. It’s not like the original series was exactly Studio Ghibli, and I get that they have a budget and they probably wanted to use most of that on Lily Tomlin and Kate McKinnon, but even so, this is probably the biggest hurdle the show is going to labour under.

 The first thing that really threw me for a loop is the fact that the kids in the class ARE the same kids from the original PBS show, with one exception (I’ll get into that later.) It’s… a bit offputting, to say the least. The kids look nothing like how they did in the original, to the point that when I first watched the trailer I had just assumed that this continuation was set at least several years after the conclusion of the original show, and that the new Miss Frizzle would go on to teach a new generation of kids. It’s weird, to say the least.

 The MSB kids are shown using modern technology like smartphones and tablets (DA now has an tablet PC instead of her book bag from the original show, which fills the bibliophile in me with a sense of sadness); as far as I remember the original show was set in the 1990s, so I can only assume that a) the children tampered with the bus in such a way that they all time-travelled 20 years into the future, or b) that this is a slightly different continuity from the original MSB, where the events of the PBS show occurred in the mid-2010s. Either way I await the publication of Crisis on Infinite Frizzles to explain more about this crucial continuity hole.

 So, about that one exception: they did add a new kid to the cast named Jyoti, which Google tells me is a Hindu name. As new kids go, she’s… alright, I guess, you don’t really get to see a lot of her in the episode. Her big ‘hook’, per se, is that she’s, like, the technology expert of the class, which I guess is sort of a need that you have to fulfill in a 2017 educational kid’s show that just didn’t exist in 1994. But, of course, for some reason, the decree from on high is that there can only be eight children under the tutelage of a Frizzle, which means...

 …Phoebe is gone. Arnold says that she apparently went back to her old school, which is a cute reference to the original series, I guess, but… why did they choose Phoebe out of all the kids to lose? Was it because she was too bland? Too forgettable? Did she not have any qualities that made her stand out? Come to think about it my only memory of Phoebe was that no matter what crazy shit was going on around her she was always whining about her old school, so maybe it’s not entirely a loss. Jyoti seems to have potential to develop beyond this.

 Still, it’s a little odd that nobody seems to miss Phoebe much, or even bring her up beyond that one reference. Then again, I suppose after you hear her whining about her old school for the 37th time while you’re time-warping into deep space to learn about stellar fusion you might get a little tired of her too.

 So the big set up for the plot, for those of you that live under a rock devoid of magic school buses, is that the original, Lily Tomlin-voiced Miss Frizzle from the original show is now Professor Frizzle (I guess she was working on her doctoral thesis over the summer) and so she’s leaving teaching behind to explore the world. Her sister, who is now the Miss Frizzle, is taking over the class.

 And this is probably where my opinion diverges from basically everyone else: I really like the new Miss Frizzle. She’s exuberant, she’s fun, you can tell that she’s a little more vulnerable and new to the job than her sister and trying her best to live up to her predecessor’s reputation, and you can definitely see that McKinnon is having a blast voicing her. I get that Lily Tomlin is getting on in years and is busy with Frankie and Grace, so having her be a guest star on the show now and then (as this is the direction she seems to be set up as) is a nice compromise.

 Most of the class seems to warm up to her right away; she does a nice little exposition sort of thing where she goes around and namedrops the class for the benefit of new viewers, but Arnold doesn’t like the idea of having a new teacher in the class. It’s sort of nice; from what I recall of the original show, Arnold was fond of Miss Frizzle; most of his grumbling was fairly good-natured and you could tell that he really did respect her underneath it all. So having him be the most affected by the change is a neat little idea.

 There’s a cute scene where Professor Frizzle gives Miss Frizzle the keys to the bus; the show plays it as a sort of passing-of-the-torch moment. It’s a nice way to ease the show in from one “era” to the next. Is the bus like a family heirloom that gets passed from one Frizzle to the next? The world may never know…

 Liz is still there. She doesn’t really do anything over the course of the episode, but she’s there.

 Prof. Frizzle has a new animal companion, a tamarin named Goldy. Which is, again, an interesting touch, but I can’t help but feel that it would have worked better if Liz went with Professor Frizzle and the new Miss Frizzle brought Goldy as her animal companion.

 So anyway we get into the educational part of the show; for the first episode, the class goes to the Galapagos Islands, which is not something I think I’ve ever seen an educational kids’ show tackle before. Arnold is still mad at her for not being able to drive the bus well.

 I was really curious to see if the show was going to tackle the “E-word,” or maybe a dude named Darwin, but they skirt around it by just saying something to the effect of “the animals and plants here are unique,” which is TECHNICALLY true, but...

 So now we get to the fun science part of the show, where the kids learn about ecosystems and how the plants and animals interact with one another (I think this was a topic they covered on the old show, too?) They turn into animals to learn how birds eat the ticks on the tortoises, then shrink down and climb around on a guy’s boot, where they see that there are gypsy moth eggs stuck on the guy’s boot. Miss Frizzle talks about invasive species and how they can damage an ecosystem. Arnold is angry and compares Miss Frizzle to an invasive species, which is… damn, that’s pretty cold, Arnold.

 For those of you that haven’t picked up on the nuanced subtext here, Arnold is mad at Miss Frizzle and tries to sabotage her by hiding her magical plant on the island. It immediately grows into a big Audrey II-thing right after all the kids go home.

 This is… I dunno, Arnold complained about the crazy field trips, but him going out of his way to actively sabotage the teacher feels just sort of wrong and bad and I don’t like it.

  Anyway, back at the school, Arnold talks with Professor Frizzle about change and invasive species, so the prof tells him about how not all new species are bad by using honeybees – and their introduction to North America – as an example of how ecosystems can change but find a new balance. This is definitely a more nuanced take on the science lesson of the day than what I was expecting. At any rate, Arnold still isn’t entirely reassured, so Miss Frizzle takes the class into the future to show them that life will still continue.

 Also of note is that Professor Frizzle now rides around on an entirely different vehicle, a little yellow motor scooter with eyes. So what I can surmise is that there is more than one magic vehicle in the Frizzle family? Are they all related to each other? I kind of want a spinoff show about the lore of the Frizzle clan and their secret collection of sentient shapeshifting vehicles.

 Thirty years in the future, Miss Frizzle a) will be teaching the children of the MSB gang, who will all attend the same class, and b) has not physically aged at all. These raise many questions that frighten me so I will not explore this avenue any further. At any rate, Arnold The Second is doing a class project about the Galapagos crisis that his dad caused, because the ecosystem has been totally overrun by Miss Frizzle’s plant.

 Good going, Arnold, you fucked up one of the last wildlife refuges on Earth.

 The class goes to the Future Galapagos and learns that they were overrun by the plant, so the Chilean government brought in rabbits to eat the plant, which then also got out of control. This is like that bit from the Simpsons where they bring in lizards to deal with the invasive birds, and bring in snakes to deal with the invasive lizards, and then bring in gorillas to deal with the invasive snakes….

  Miss Frizzle thinks its all her fault so Arnold goes to talk with Professor Frizzle, realizes he’s screwed up, apologizes to Miss Frizzle, yada yada, they go back in time and fix it so that none of this ever happened. Miss Frizzle stays, Professor Frizzle goes off to see the world.

 Also a fun touch is that in the original series they did a little end-bit Q&A session where kids would call the directors of the show to explain things they overlooked or missed. In this version, Arnold calls Professor Frizzle, who explains some biological facts related to invasive species and ecosystems in more detail then they went into in the main show. It’s a cute touch and a nice way to update the original while still feeling fresh.

So… overall, how is it? Honestly, for the most part I found it fairly enjoyable and a decent update to the original. Maybe I’ll watch some more episodes tomorrow when the full show hits if I have time, but I’d give this a 7/10. It’s a bit hit-and-miss, and there’s definitely a feel of the new cast trying to find their stride, but it’s worthwhile enough in what it’s set out to do. And besides, in the words of Miss Frizzle, if you don’t take chances and make mistakes....

And besides, it will never, ever be the worst reboot.

[spncanonbigbang]

Masterpost 2017

Under the read more you’ll find the list of all the mini and big bangs from this year’s event. Enjoy and see you next year!

| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020

MiniBangs

Shut Up and Dance, Dean Winchester by Ailuromatron | art by emmatheslayer 8,3k; Teen and Up Audiences; Castiel/Dean Winchester

Dean is not going to think about the way Cas’ sudden withdrawal overlaps with the mental feedback Dean’s been experiencing here. He wouldn’t know what to make of it anyway, whether it’d be ironic or fitting or what. But if Castiel shutting him out turned out to be because Dean is loosening up, letting ideas form in his head more clearly than before—that would burn like a hot blade, and it just doesn’t bear looking too closely. It’s not the only thing tonight that doesn’t bear close inspection for the sake of Dean’s sanity. He damn near trips over his own feet when confronted by the south side of a north-facing Cas—seriously, when and where did he get that pair of ink-black jeans and in what universe is the way they fit his thighs not illegal?—and he’s pathetically grateful for the excuse of a rough patch of asphalt to blame it on when the others turn back to see what happened to him.

Misery & Solace by theackles | art by thruterryseyes 5k; General Audiences; Dean Winchester/Castiel

It’s been a week. One long, painfully numb week. The days went by one by one until Dean didn’t know what day it was anymore. Dean can feel the ache in his bones. He can’t move, he can barely think. He’s gotta get Cas back, even if it means working with Rowena and (almost) killing himself in the process.

A Lesson in Adapting by distortedrain | art by emotionallyunstabl 5,6k; Teen and Up Audiences; Castiel/Dean Winchester

The Winchesters settle into the Bunker and learn to hunt a little less a live a little more.

Fin ad Infinitum (The End Evermore) by AmberAnnh | art by lux-tuli 8,5k; PG-13; Gen

In “The End” Dean got the chance to see the future, zapped to a 2014 where the consequences of his choices had played out. Now, it’s Sam’s turn. Transported from 2009 to 2014, he must grapple with a demonic virus from his past, angels using the remnants of humanity as disposable vessels, the devil in his nightmares, and—perhaps worst of all—why Dean said “yes” to Michael.

If These Rooms Have Memories by KelpietheThundergod | art by malallory 12k; Mature; implied Castiel/Dean Winchester

Sudden light and sound make him flinch, but then, oh—cartoons! Awesome. Except then, the tall man comes over and takes the button-thingie out of his hand and shuts the cartoons off. “Dean, listen. The witches are gone, and they’ve got the Grimoire. We’re gonna do a spell to slow down the curse to buy some time, and then—” The man cuts himself off and his serious expression turns into one of exasperation. “You forgot again, didn’t you?”

Something Special by Durenjtmusings | art by Busy Squirrel 11,3k; General Audiences; Gen

What makes something special? Special enough for people to pay any price, beyond even their lives? Welcome to Lost and Found, Ltd., experts in finding very, very special things. Things that can be yours if you are willing to trade something very special in return. Well, and often even if you aren’t. [Canon-compliant possible backstory for both characters and objects in Supernatural: Dean, Sam, Bobby, Ruby, Jimmy Novak, Daniel Elkins, the Impala, Ruby’s knife, Dean’s Colt, Sam’s Taurus, the Samulet and The Colt.]

Exit: Light by hexmaniacchoco | art by quiescentcastiel 22,5k; Teen and Up Audiences; Gen

Dean, Sam, and Cas are relaxing in the bunker when Sam finds them a case involving three college students who’ve gotten themselves into trouble while playing a summoning game they found online, resulting in a nearly fatal incident. After investigating and figuring out what people are summoning into their homes, they decide to summon it as well in order to kill it. However, things aren’t quite what they seem at first, and a misjudgement of the situation finds TFW with the disadvantage as they walk around a pitch-black bunker trying to search out the creature they’re hunting without mistaking each other for it instead.

Mirror, Mirror by Jerksarehot | art by emmatheslayer 10,6k; Explicit; Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester

A witch with a taste for human souls reveals a secret to Dean before escaping with a promise to return. The boys recruit some help from Bobby to find a way to track and kill her. Dean must now decide if he should tell Sam the truth and risk losing him, or keep his dark secret and risk Sam’s life and his own soul.

The Night Goes By by indigoneutrino | art by Loracine 8,3k; Mature; Gen

It’s a long night when Sam and Dean first arrive at the prison, separated from each other to be strip searched, manhandled and humiliated before being thrown into cramped concrete cells. The nights that follow are longer.

Some Kind Of Monster by Hermit9 | art by Dmsilvisart 6,8k; Teen and Up Audiences; Gen

After leaving the Bunker and the Winchesters, Castiel attempts to earn his penance (again) by tracking down the escaped Lucifer. Crowley tagging along is both a blessing and a curse, the silver-tongued devil an asset during the investigations. If only he didn’t drive Castiel out of his mind. Set during and around “American Nightmare” up to “Rock Never dies”

A Mother’s Love by Leahlisabeth | art by kuwlshadow 5,2k; Teen and Up Audiences; Gen

Mary loves her boys, really she does, but she can’t quite seem to click with Sam. She’ll need to figure it out when a mother’s love is the only thing that can save him from a witches curse.

BigBangs

Always Stuck In Second Gear by ThayerKerbasy | art by dmsilvisart 29k; Teen and Up Audiences; Gen

After Wendy Vincente spilled the location of her brother’s secret cabin, Agents Beyoncé and Jay-Z had a lead to follow. Tracking Lucifer while confined to a pickup truck wasn’t exactly Crowley’s preferred modus operandi, but at least he was in good company.

and by me, i mean us by puckity | art by winchesterchola 16,5k; Explicit; Sam Winchester/Dean Winchester; Very Light Sam Winchester/Castiel

After what they think was just a routine case, Sam starts feelings things that he can’t quite put a name to. Things that aren’t really his but aren’t not his either. So he does what he always does: runs some tests, collects the data, and starts drawing conclusions. And then Dean does what he always does–comes in and tangles everything, including Sam, up. Timelined in early Season 12, prior to “First Blood” (12.09).

Blue Moon Rising by Treefrogie84 | art by Mayalaen 56,1k; Mature; Dean/Castiel, Dean/Lisa Braeden, Castiel/Dean/Lisa Braeden

Dean promised Sam that he would walk away from hunting, walk away from his family, and live some normal apple-pie life with Lisa. He did his best to do that– pulled the weapons out of the trunk, turned his back on Cas and Bobby, started spending his evenings with Lisa and Ben at Little League practice. But monsters don’t stop hurting folks, Hell doesn’t stop being Hell, and Heaven doesn’t start caring about humanity just because Dean’s retired.

Thunder on the Mountain by Skitty | art by kuwlshadow 23k; PB-13; Gen

A string of strange and seemingly unrelated tragedies are plaguing the Appalachian region. Children disappear. Men go insane. Hikers are mauled by large animals. And always…traveling Northward. Sam and Dean pick up the hunt in a small town outside the national forest. The creature they’re hunting is one of legend, feared by the native tribes that once populated the area centuries ago. With the unexpected aide of a strange woman also appearing to hunt the creature, the boys must attempt to bring it down before they lose their minds completely.

An Even Trade by PaperAnn | art by GlitchedWings 42,7k; Explicit; Sam Winchester/Gabriel

You’d think being relentlessly pursued by a tall, dark and handsome hunter would be an exciting game of chase. Until it wasn’t. Gabriel was growing bored of Sam Winchester’s constant tailing, still obsessed with getting his brother back, even though the Trickster was doing the kid a favor by offing Dean, thank you very much. He had to make this entertaining again, this new merciless killing-machine-Sam was no fun. They entered into a deal: Sam would work a case under the guise of a Trickster to see the reason behind the mischief by serving up a case of Just Desserts. If Sam won? He got Dean back. If he lost…well, Sam wasn’t going to lose, no matter the cost. Except, seven days of living on top of one another made Sam see beyond the monster who ruined him and back to the witty, cute janitor he met at Crawford Hall. There was also the problem of the two men, who were clearly attracted to each other, alone in a motel room for a full week. It was an accident waiting to happen. The puzzle was, neither knew who was manipulating who, if it was all a ploy or real emotions were coming out to play. The only thing both men recognized was something real was happening. And they were running out of time.

Lock & Key by MyShipWillNeverSink | art by Gabedrawz 18k; Explicit; Dean Winchester/Castiel

Canon divergent from 9x03. Dean and Cas set off on a hunt as a distraction from the guilt Dean feels for betraying his brother’s trust (again). Things go awry when Castiel falls through a frozen river, and things aren’t at all what they seem.

Build a Home by domesticadventures | art by myukur 20k; Teen and Up Audiences; Dean/Cas; background Sam/Eileen and Krissy/Josephine

After they save the world, Dean expects Cas to come back to the bunker with them. He doesn’t.

What Went Wrong Yesterday by cinnamonanddean | art by stormbrite 16,2k; Explicit; Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester

With Broward County in their rearview and a new case in their laps, Sam struggles to come to terms with the six months he spent alone after Dean’s death - and the fact that it never happened at all. And on top of it all, he now has to deal with the feelings for his brother that have been dragged to the surface.

The Heart of Ophelia by anyrei and mugglerock | art by nonexistenz 39k; Explicit;  Dean Winchester/Castiel

Always throwing himself in harm’s way for the Winchesters, Castiel ends up getting hit with a love curse. Under the influence of fabricated emotions, Castiel learns just how dangerous unrequited love can be. And Dean learns what it means to doubt everything he’s ever believed. They have a week to find a way to lift the curse, otherwise the intoxication of “love” will kill Castiel. Literally.

When Words Fade, Music Speaks by Pinkmink | art by Dreymart 16,9k; Explicit; Dean Winchester/Castiel

The Brits have Dean running ragged all across the country. When Cas returns from his not-so-brief time in Heaven, Dean finds them a case in New Orleans. It’s supposed to feel like a Winchester version of vacation - voodoo, good food and a simple salt and burn. But the trip turns out to be a far more cathartic release than he bargained for.

Fight or Flight by ellispark | art by emotionallyunstabl 23k; Mature; Dean Winchester/Castiel, Sam Winchester/Eileen Leahy

Just when Dean’s started to feel good about his life — the end is not nigh, and his brother and his angel are safe in the bunker — Sam and Cas start keeping secrets from him. It’s not a big deal, at least not at first. Everyone needs to play some things close to the chest. But when Dean finds out what they’ve been hiding, the bubble of carefree happiness he’s carefully placed around his family finally bursts.

Long Distance by grey2510 | art by Marsjay 18,9k; Teen and Up Audiences; Jody Mills/Asa Fox, Dean Winchester/Castiel, Sam Winchester/Eileen Leahy

Losing someone is never easy, nor is having them far away, no matter how often it happens in a hunter’s life. When Jody, Sam, and Dean travel up to Canada for the wake and funeral of Asa Fox, each is forced to confront some truths about family and who is really important in their lives.

Entwined Souls by sweet-sammy-kisses | art by lux-tuli 16,3k; Teen and Up Audiences; Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester

Sam was all prepared to spend eternity in the cage trapped at the mercy of Lucifer and Michael if it meant that Dean would be safe. What no one counted on was Chuck to come back or turn out to be God. With Ellen, Ash and Jo brought back as a thank you gift for all the boys have done Dean and Sam are at a loss of what to do when Chuck announces he is taking the angels back to heaven and closing the gates of hell up. There is one thing the boys both want and that is the one thing they are afraid to go after, each other. But after almost losing each other one too many times they decide to take a chance and now the life of retirement is discovering the next step in their relationship.

Humanity's Angels by Ami Rose | art by sevenspirals 94k; Explicit; Dean Winchester/Castiel, Background Sam Winchester/Eileen Leahy, Background Original Characters OT3

To get their minds off of Kelly Kline, Lucifer, and the BMOL, Dean and Sam take a case in Northern Arizona where a rogue angel was seen flashing his wings at a film festival and ranting about blasphemy. They quickly realize that there might be more to this case than they’d initially thought. The angel fits all the characteristics of being a ghost—EMF readings, see-through body, air chilling ability, and all. A local man is found with his eyes burned out like he was the victim of a smiting keeps them in town after salting and burning the angel’s buried vessel in hopes of dispelling his ghost.

Between all of this, Dean is finding it hard to keep his feelings for Cas under wraps. Especially when everywhere he looks and everyone he talks to reminds him of how much energy he’s spent hiding his sexuality from his family over the years.

Will watching the ghost angel’s grieving best friend mourn the loss of the angel he’d loved spur Dean into confessing his own feelings before it’s too late? Will an angel from Cas’s past be able to succeed where Ishim failed? Who the hell has Sam been texting? Will someone please tell Mary what the hell is going on with her sons? Will any of Team Free Will learn to use their damn words?

[reggies-shield-escort]

The forgotten people of the American revolution

AND WHEN I SAW THE IMAGE ABOVE I THOUGHT “I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW….”   You see, it was the first time I’d ever seen Native Americans portrayed in any film or television series about the American revolution. ( With the exception of the wonderful Liberty’s Kids, a PBS cartoon.) So scarcely 1 second of screentime was enough to make me rejoice.

 It is possible that the role of American Indians as Patriot allies is one of the most overlooked aspects of the American War of Independence.

 For a long time, the standard narrative, was that Native Americans played a minor role, too far away along the frontier to have a real interest in the conflict. With most siding with the British when they did join in the action. The reality is far more complex. The native people of this land were present at nearly every major event of the revolution, often on both sides.

 But this is rarely portrayed onscreen or even mentioned.

 There are no Indians in The Patriot (2000), despite the fact that South Carolina, the setting for the film, considered the contributions of the Catawba tribe valuable enough to give some of their men pensions. Nor will you see any in The Crossing (2000) though they were present on both sides at the battle of Trenton or A Question of Honor (2003) despite the fact that Benedict Arnold himself mentioned his reliance on Indian scouts in his letters.

 They were scouts and foot soldiers, sailors and drummers, serving in the ranks of every state’s militia.

 They came from the tribes of the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Oneida, Tuscarora, Narragansett, Mi’kmaq, Natick, Ponkapoag, and Mashpee and countless others. The price they would pay was heavy, with some, like the Stockbridge losing nearly half their young men. At Valley Forge, Polly Cooper, an Oneida woman, cooked the corn her tribe had brought to feed the starving soldiers.

 Let us never forget their sacrifice, and hope that one day their story is as much an integral part of the American story as Bunker Hill or the surrender at Yorktown.

After all, they were there for all of it.

 (Screenshot from John Adams HBO: Episode 2 Independence, 34 mins)

[lovemesomesurveys]

1. What do you like to do in your free time? So what do I do everyday? Tumblr, surveys, watch TV, watch YouTube, eat, sleep... sometimes read and color.  2. Are you more of an indoors or outdoors person? I am an indoors person all the way. The only exception is if I’m at the beach. 3. Who is the most fascinating person you’ve met? Hmm. 4. What was the last book you really got into? Burying the Honeysuckle Girls by Emily Carpenter.

5. What are some movies you really enjoyed? There’s several. 

6. What amazing adventures have you been on? I haven’t really been on any. 7. What pets have you had? Dogs, fishes, hamsters. 8. What’s your favorite alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink? I don’t drink alcohol anymore, so none, but my favorite non-alcoholic drink is coffee.  9. What are you kind of obsessed with these days? My food obsessions come to mind at the moment. My appetite is all over the place and I’m either an endless pit or hardly eating anything at all. Each week is different in terms of that and what I’m into. This past week it’s been breakfast burritos, deli sandwiches, deli pasta salads, and ramen. I also had a really good pizza last week that I’m craving again. 10. Where have you traveled? To beaches, mountainous areas, Disneyland, Arizona, Idaho, Georgia, Mexico. 11. What’s your favorite international food? Italian. 12. Are you a morning person or a night owl? I’m barely a person. 13. What’s your favorite restaurant? Applebees. 14. How many siblings do you have? 2. 15. What would be your dream job? I don’t have one. :/  16. What would you do if had enough money to not need a job? Travel.  17. Who is your favorite author? I have a few. 18. What was the last show you binge-watched? Orange is the New Black.  19. What TV series do you keep coming back to and re-watching? I’ve seen The Golden Girls, Roseanne, and I Love Lucy countless times in syndication.  20. What hobbies would you like to get into if you had the time and money? Hm. I don’t know. 21. If there was an Olympics for everyday activities, what activity would you have a good chance at winning a medal in? Taking surveys. 22. What would your perfect vacation look like? Somewhere involving a beach house and private beach area. 23. Among your friends, what are you best known for? I don’t know. 24. What music artist do you never get tired of? There’s a lot. Well, at least their music itself I never tire of. I may not necessarily keep up with the artist.  25. What are some accomplishments that you are really proud of? I honestly don’t feel proud of myself for much of anything in my current state. It used to be getting my BA, but now not even that because I’m doing anything with it and I really don’t have any plans to. I feel like it was a waste and I’m a total failure and disappointment. 26. What are some obscure things that you are or were really into? *shrug* 27. What are some things everyone should try at least once? I don’t knowww. 28. What fad did you never really understand? There’s been many where I was just like, wtf, why??

29. What’s the best thing that has happened to you this month? Going to the beach last week was great and very much needed. 30. What would your perfect morning be like? I’d be in a house with a beautiful ocean view and I’d be out sipping my coffee on the balcony overlooking said view.   31. Is there any art or artist you are really into? No. 32. What are you always game for? Coffee. 33. What do you do to unwind? Listen to ASMR. 34. What’s your favorite app on your phone? I use YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Kindle app the most. 35. Cutest animal? Ugliest animal? Awwww I think majority of animals are cute.  36. Who is the kindest person you know? One of my nurses. 37. What’s your favorite piece of furniture you’ve ever owned? My bed. 38. Who are your kind of people? People with a good sense of humor. 39. Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever been? Uhhh. 40. What’s the silliest fear you have? I have a lot. Like for one, sometimes when I’m in the shower I get this scary thought about the pipes just bursting. That’s just one of many. 41. What would be the best city to live in? I don’t know. 42. What household chore is just the worst? I’m not a fan of any chore. 43. If you could give yourself a nickname, what nickname would you want people to call you? *shrug* Steph is fine. How original, I know. 44. What odd talent do you have? I don’t feel I have any. 45. If you could give everyone just one piece of advice, what would it be? Just try and be kind and understanding. 46. What would you like to know more about, but haven’t had the time to look into it? Hmm. 47. What country do you never want to visit? Any country where it would be dangerous for me to be in? <<< Yeah, I agree. 48. What wrong assumptions do people make about you? People think I’m “strong” and “brave” and give me way more credit than I deserve. I’m none of those things. 49. Do you prefer to work in a team or alone? Alone. 50. What has been the best period of your life so far? Childhood. 51. How have you changed from when you were in high school? That was over 10 years ago and a LOT has changed. Not for the better, either. 52. How techie are you? Uhh techie enough? I don’t know. I mean, I like the latest phones and laptops and stuff like that.  53. Where is the most fun place around where you live? Nowhere in my city, that’s for sure. You gotta travel out of town to do anything fun. 54. Have you ever joined any meetup groups? No. 55. Where would your friends or family be most surprised to find you? They’d be surprised to find me out at all at this point, ha. 56. What’s the most relaxing situation you could imagine? Lying out on the beach. 57. What is the most beautiful view you’ve seen? Ocean and mountainous views. 58. What’s expensive but totally worth it? For me, it’s my MacBook. 59. When do you feel most out of place? I often feel that way. 60. What’s the most recent thing you’ve done for the first time? I can’t think of something at the moment. My days are very routine and I do the same the things. 61. How did you come to love your one of your favorite musicians? Probably first seeing their music videos on MTV back when they actually played music videos. 62. How did you meet your best friend? She gave birth to me. 63. What small seemingly insignificant decision had a massive impact on your life? I don’t know. 64. Where would you move if you could move anywhere in the world and still find a job and maintain a reasonable standard of living? I’m not sure, but somewhere where it doesn’t get unbearably hot and has actual fall and winters.  65. Would you like to be famous? (If yes, what would you want to be famous for? If no, why not?) No. I don’t want that attention and focus on me. I couldn’t handle it. I hole up at home and have avoided people in my personal life, why would I want people all over all up in my business and judging my every move? No thank you. 66. What did you do last summer? Complain about how hot it was and was dying, mostly. What I do every summer. 67. If you lived to 100, would you rather keep the body or the mind of yourself at 30 until you were 100? What. 68. Before you make a call, do you rehearse what you are going to say? Oh god, yes. I HATE having to make calls.  69. What are you most grateful for? My family. 70. What’s the most essential part of a friendship? Being able to trust them and talk to them about things and enjoying common interests. 71. When was the last time you sang to yourself or to someone else? Yesterday. 72. If you knew you were going to die in a year, what would you change about how you live? I don’t like questions like this. 73. When was the last time you walked for more than an hour? Yearssss ago.  74. What did you do for (last holiday)? Or What will you do for (next closest holiday)? We didn’t do anything for Memorial Day. Next holiday is Father’s Day, and we’ll probably go to lunch and/or see a movie.  75. Best and worst flavor ice cream? What would make for an excellent new ice cream flavor? Strawberry or mint chocolate chip.  76. Who’s your favorite actor or actress? Alexander Skarsgard. 77. All modesty aside, what are you better at than 90% of people? It doesn’t have to be useful or serious, it can be something ridiculous. I don’t feel I’m great at anything. 78. What’s the strangest phone conversation you’ve ever had? I don’t know. 79. How much personal space do you need to be comfortable? I don’t want someone all hugged up on me. 80. What’s the most interesting fact you know? I couldn’t choose just one. 81. What fad or trend have you never been able to understand? A lot of them, honestly. 82. Who’s your favorite character from a TV show, movie, or book? I’ll just pick one of the many shows I watch, Riverdale: The main crew, Betty, Veronica, Judghead, and Archie. 83. What TV shows did you watch when you were a kid? Stuff on Nickelodeon, Disney, PBS, and WB Kids. Oh, and the Saturday morning cartoons that came on ABC like Recess and Pepperann. 84. What do you like but are kind of embarrassed to admit? I don’t feel embarrassed about anything I like. 85. What’s your favorite smell? When an attractive guy smells good, oh my. <<< That really is nice. And the ocean/beachy air, rain, patchouli, sandalwood, fruity scents, minty scents, cinnamon, coffee, freshly baked goods and the smells of my favorite foods... 86. What skill or ability have you always wanted to learn? I wish I took piano more seriously back when I used to practice. 87. What’s the best meal you’ve ever had? Recently, it was the pizza I had last week.  88. Where was your favorite place to go when you were a kid? Anywhere with my cousins. 89. What’s the most amount of people you had to present something in front of? Like 30+. Presenting in front of anyone is a nightmare. 90. If you could go back in time as an observer, no one could see you, and you couldn’t interact with anything, when would you want to go back to? Ooh. I’d have to really think about that. 91. What’s something that most people haven’t done, but you have? Hmm. 92. What says the most about a person? How they present themselves. 93. What machine or appliance in your house aggravates you the most? None, really. Unless it’s not working for some reason. 94. What places have you visited that exceeded your expectations? Certain vacation spots and restaurants. 95. If you opened a business, what type of business would you start? I wouldn’t. 96. What’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a really bad movie. 97. What’s the best road trip you’ve been on? Trip to Idaho back in the summer of 2010. A lot of my family on my mom’s side went and it was really fun. We had no idea it would be the last time we’d see my grandpa before he died the end of that year. It happened really fast. He wasn’t even sick like that when we visited him that summer. At least, he didn’t appear to be. That trip ended up being even more special. 98. If you found a briefcase filled with 1 million in 100$ bills in front of your door, what would you do with it? Check for ID or if anyone has reported it missing. Otherwise, I’d keep it. 99. What’s the worst advice someone has given you? I don’t know. 100. Besides your home and your work, where do you spend most of your time? I’m always at home.  101. If you could have the answer to any one question, what question would you want the answer to? Hmm.  102. What are your top 3 favorite things to talk about? Common interests, celebrity/entertainment gossip, some current event type stuff. 103. What do you care least about? It would seem like myself. 104. Where would you like to retire? I’m not even thinking about that right now. I’m not even working. :X 105. Who is the most bizarre person you’ve met? Uhh. 106. What are people often surprised to learn about you? What happened to me that made me a paraplegic. 107. Would you rather live full time in an RV or full time on a sailboat? RV. 108. What would you do with the extra time if you never had to sleep? I really wouldn’t want that. I want my sleep. I need that escape. 109. When you were a kid, what seemed like the best thing about being a grown up? You think you can do whatever you want. 110. What’s the strangest way you’ve become friends with someone? I can’t think of any strange ways. 111. What’s your go-to series or movie when you want to watch something but can’t find anything to watch? If I can’t find something to watch on TV then I tend to just put it on the ID channel. 112. What were some of the turning points in your life? My accident, surgeries, graduating, health related things. 113. What companies made you so mad that you would rather suffer bodily harm than give them any more of your money? I’ve never been that upset with a company.  114. What small things brighten up your day when they happen? When what happens? 115. What sports would be funniest if the athletes had to be drunk while playing? I still wouldn’t care to watch sports. 116. What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve done because you were bored? Just sleep. 117. If you could send one letter to yourself in the past without the goal of making yourself rich (no lotto numbers, stock picks, etc.), what age would you choose and what would the letter say? I’d go back to like...high school days and warn myself of some things and tell myself to take better care of myself. 118. How many other countries have you visited? Just one. 119. What’s your favorite band NAME (not necessarily your favorite band)? Panic! At the Disco. I just like the “Panic!” part, ha. And why at the disco? What happened? 120. What do you miss about life 10 or 20 years ago? My life wasn’t ran by my health. 121. What’s your favorite holiday? Christmas.  122. What’s getting worse and worse as you get older? What’s getting better and better as you get older? Worse: health and life. Better: .... 123. Where’s the best place in (your town or city) to have a picnic? I guess a park. 124. What’s your favorite thing to do outdoors? Go to the beach.  125. How often do you dance? Silly/ironic dancing counts. I may bob my head while listening to music. 126. What do you never get tired of? Coffee. 127. What habit do you wish you could start? Better self-care things. 128. What’s the best way to get to know who someone really is? Just spending time getting to know them. Oh, and seeing how they act in public situations.  129. What’s the last new thing you tried? A new type of pizza last week. 130. Who besides your parents taught you the most about life? I’d say experiences have. 131. When are you the most “you” that you can be? In other words, when do you feel most like yourself? At home in my comfort zone. 132. What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve done? *shrug* I’m not very spontaneous. 133. What’s happening now, that in 20 years people will look back on and laugh about? A lot of things, I’m sure. Like how easily people get all up in an uproar about literally everything. 134. How much social interaction is too much? I can’t handle much. 135. How different do you act when you are with acquaintances vs. people you are comfortable with? I’m just more guarded and aware, I guess.  136. On a weekend or holiday, what’s the best time of day and the best time of night? All the days are the same to me.  137. What are you looking forward to that’s happening soon? Beach trip. 138. What really cheesy song do you love? There’s plenty of those. 139. What’s the worst or best job you’ve had? I’ve never had one. 140. What’s been the most significant plot twist in your own life? I never saw this downward spiral coming after I graduated in 2015. It really went downhill after that. 141. Where did you take family vacations to when you were younger? Disneyland and beachy, touristy places. 142. What’s your go-to funny story? I don’t know. 143. If the company you work for / the college you go to had an honest slogan, what would it be? I don’t work and I’m done with school. 144. If you could instantly receive a Ph.D. in any discipline including all the knowledge and experience that goes along with it, what would your Ph.D. be in? I don’t want one, though. I’m not even doing anything with my BA. 145. How well do you cope when you don’t have your phone with you for an extended period of time? I’m fine. 146. What were some of the happiest times of your life so far? Various times in my life with family, childhood, vacations. 147. Would you rather have an incredibly fast car or incredibly fast internet speed? Incredibly fast internet speed. 148. What are the top three social situations you try to avoid most? Any social situation? ha. 149. What friendship you’ve had has impacted you the most? The friendship Ty and I had. 150. What’s something you’re interested in that most people wouldn’t expect? I don’t know. 151. What’s your favourite quote or saying?

152. If you had the power to change one law, what law would you change? Uhhhh. 153. What’s the hardest you’ve worked for something? My BA degree. Ha. What a waste now. 154. What took you way too long to figure out? My stubbornness caused me a lot of problems. I didn’t think things could get the way they are, but they sure did.  155. What nicknames have you had throughout your life? Steph and Sis. 156. What do you do differently than most people? A lot of things, probably. 157. Where’s the last place you’d ever go? Space. 158. What fact floored you when you heard it? I can’t think, man. 159. If you unexpectedly won 10,000$, what would you spend it on? I’d want to travel for sure. Take me awayyyy. 160. Who is the best role model a person could have? That depends on you and what you’re aspiring to be.