#it reminds me of disney animated movies from like the 60-70s

[makoami]

I finally got to watch more magical girl anime from the 60s and 70s and am now going to analyze them.

Some elements I'm looking out for in the "magical girl formula" are: 1. Animal Sidekick, 2. Transformation sequence, 3. main romance subplot, 4 saving the day, 5. Special Attacks, 6. Becomes someone older, 7. Becomes an Idol, 8. Magical powers.

Himitsu no Akko-chan - 1969 

All this time I thought, Creamy Mami and Minky Momo were first magical girls to use a compact to transform, but by the looks of it, it's Akko-chan that started it all. She has a magical mirror compact that gives her the power to transform into anyone, typically someone older. I was only able to see one episode but really enjoyed it. In the show Akko-chan has a pet cat so I'm gonna count that as the animal sidekick.

Mahou no Mako-chan - 1970

Once again, only one episode was available but the story reminded me a lot of The Little Mermaid. Obviously this is before the Disney movie came out but there could be some influences from the original fairytale. There is a main romance subplot, Mako-chan falls in love with a human and decides to become human herself. While she is no longer a mermaid she has the magical ability to change outfits.

Majokko-Tickle - 1978

This one was pretty good and very 70s. It centers around a girl named Tiko who is given a book as a gift. Inside the book is a witch named Tickle, who ends up escaping the book. Like Sally, and Majokko, Tiko can use magic with a wave of a hand.

[laurenhufflepuff2]

A list of fandoms I'm in (in no particular order, will probably be updated regularly. Some fandoms are more intense and some are more casual. Depending on the fandom, I could go on and on about fandom topics for HOURS. Let's get into it!)

Harry Potter, Disney, Marvel, DC comics, Miraculous Ladybug, Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra, Star Wars, Literature, Winx Club, Nintendo, Minecraft, Little Witch Academia, Voltron, Coraline

Details:

Harry Potter- I got into Harry Potter in 7th grade and now I am the resident expert in my family and in my friend group. I read all the books, watched all the movies (notably the British version), and I've seen the Fantastic Beasts films as well. I've also read Tales of Beedle the Bard (the Warlock's Hairy Heart was traumatizing) along with the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them textbook (plus an updated edition). I also read The Cursed Child script and while I mean no hate to anyone that liked it, I hated what it did to the canon. I am in Hufflepuff with some Ravenclaw tendencies (I took the Pottermore quiz 3 times, 2 out of 3 I got Hufflepuff, the other time was Ravenclaw). I had a pottermore account and I was so upset when it got converted to the Wizarding World page. I cosplayed Hermione in 7th grade complete with British accent and even monologued as her for a talent show (classmates and teachers would recognize me as the Hermione girl all the way through high school). I was obsessed and I still love it even if J.K. Rowling has gone off the deep end on Twitter... yeah... my favorite character is Hermione but I also relate to Luna

Disney- there's so much that goes into the Disney part of my fandom list. I'm excluding Marvel and Star Wars from this part as they were originally separate entities before Disney got the rights to them. I have seen almost every animated Disney film ever and often use random movie quotes in conversation. My favorite villain is Maleficent, my favorite princess is Ariel (followed by Belle, Rapunzel, and Anna). I relate to so many of the characters. I'm not sure who my favorite Pixar character is though (I love Violet, Sadness, Dory, and Piper (from the short)). My favorite Disney fairy is Fawn. My favorite characters overall are Ariel and Stitch. Disney is definitely on the list as one of my biggest obsessions. My favorite movies are Lilo and Stitch, the Little Mermaid, Inside Out, Alice in Wonderland (original), and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Marvel- I mostly get my Marvel exposure through the MCU, other movies, and animated TV shows. I have difficulty reading graphic novels so most of my comic book knowledge comes from friends, posts, or wikis. My favorite characters are Spider-Man, Captain America, Peggy Carter, and Scarlet Witch. I also like Gwenpool, Deadpool, Spider-Gwen/ Ghost-Spider, Venom, Squirrel Girl, Daredevil, Mantis, Gamora, Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor, Loki, Bucky, Black Panther, and most MCU characters. Out of the X-men I really like Professor X, Wolverine, Mystique, Magneto, Nightcrawler, and Quicksilver (either version- MCU or Fox).

DC- this was the franchise I was more familiar with growing up but again, graphic novels aren't easy for me to read so most of my knowledge comes from information pages about the comics or from tv/movies. My earliest experience with DC came from the 60s Batman series, with Catwoman and Robin being my favorites. I also watched the Wonder Woman series from the 70s and a handful of CW shows, my favorite of which being the Flash and Arrow. I also managed to watch all 5 seasons of the Teen Titans Cartoon Network series from 2003. With that being said, my favorite characters are Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Flash, Batman, Nightwing/Robin (Dick Grayson), Green Arrow, Starfire, Raven, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Alfred. I also like most of the bat family, and when it comes to CW I LOVE Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost and Cisco.

Miraculous- this is one of my guilty fandoms but since this is Tumblr I'm not too worried about it. I love Marinette and I relate to her on an astoundingly deep level (minus the stalking and obsession with potential lovers, that's creepy). If I had a miraculous, I'd probably want the Ladybug one, but the Cat miraculous, fox miraculous, and snake miraculous are good too. My favorite character is Marinette/Ladybug.

Atla/Tlok- I jumped on the avatar bandwagon just when it was starting to get popular, so I managed to get through the series before the memes took over everything. Same with Tlok, although i couldn't completely avoid the spoilers for that when i started it. I've been wanting to get into the comics because of the short story comics I've read, they seem easier to read than superhero comics. My favorite characters are Aang, Katara, Ty Lee, Iroh, Korra, Jinora, Asami, Suki, Appa, Momo, Naga, and Pabu. I also like Sokka, Mai, Zuko, Lin, Kuvira, Varrick, Zhu Lee, and Azula. I feel really sorry for her and while I understand that a redemption arc would undermine the importance of her corruption arc, I still wish she could have one. I would love to be a waterbender or an airbender... maybe a waterbender raised in the air nation? Obviously, being the avatar itself would be awesome. The show has taught me a lot of great lessons and put a lot of stuff into perspective for me.

Star Wars- oh boy, talking about this one is dangerous. I've seen firsthand the horrors of the Star Wars fandom but then again no one will probably see this anyway so... I've seen all the movies and I remember watching the clone wars series with my brother when I was younger but we fell wayyy behind and it's taking us forever to get back into it. I've also seen the Mandalorian and quite enjoyed it. I like the prequels unironically, in fact, the prequels are some of my favorite movies. I especially like how they switched from lightsabers being heavy weapons to light weapons that can be used for all kinds of tricks that make for epic battles like the ones we see in Revenge of the Sith. The sequels were fun to watch but when I would analyze them along side their predecessors, I came to the conclusion that, for me, they were good to watch but did not do anything good for the rest of the franchise. My favorite characters are prequels/clone wars Obi Wan and Anakin, Padme, Ashoka, Leia, R2D2, BB-8, R4-P17, the Mandalorian (Din Djarin), and Grogu. If I had a lightsaber I'd want it to be blue, but when I was little I got a purple one like Mace Windu because it was closer to pink and I was into pink at the time. I still have that lightsaber and none of my friends have a purple one so it's one of my flexes. I feel like I wouldn't make a good jedi because of attachments being forbidden, so I'd probably become a grey jedi.

Literature- this is a broad term I use to cover all the random books and stories I liked reading and have studied. So we have Shakespeare (Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet), The Great Gatsby (bored while reading, loved to analyze), Grendel (HATED reading, loved to analyze, Grendel really needed a hug and a friend), The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, Dark Life (+ the sequel Riptide, both are by Kat Falls good reads, sci-fi and kind of dystopian), The Once and Future King

Winx Club- I think the show is trashy but I still love watching it. I haven't been able to get through season 6 though and I hated what they did with season 8 and Fate: the Winx Saga. My favorite character is Bloom along with Stella and Flora. I prefer rai to nick. My favorite transformations are magic winx, enchantix, and harmonix. My favorite member of the Trix is Icy followed by Darcy. My favorite Pixies are Chatta and Lockette.

Nintendo- mainly Pokémon above all else, followed by Animal Crossing. I have also played (mostly as player 2 or just never beat or watched my brother play) mario games, legend of zelda, pikmin, and kirby. Games I haven't played but I just liked the characters/the lore and probably learned about through Super Smash Bros. are Fire Emblem (Lucina mostly), Metroid (Samus and baby metroid), and Kid Icarus. Pokémon is where I'm most knowledgeable but you'll most likely beat me in battle. I am however great at MarioKart and I always destroy my friends at it. Terrible at fighting games though.

Minecraft- I like playing this casually. Sure, I'll play for hours and hours on end for months, but I prefer to stay exclusively in peaceful when playing Survival mode and I don't make anything too ambitious in Creative mode. I like to write, so sometimes I'll make a rough layout of the settings of my stories in different worlds. I prefer interior design and decorating when building, and when in survival mode I focus more on mining and gathering while my brother works on ambitious building projects. I just bring him the raw materials and furnish the interior when he finishes the outside.

Little Witch Academia- this takes up a smaller portion of my fandom list because there were only 2 seasons and a couple movies and I watched the whole series years ago, but I still enjoy it. At one point I wanted to cosplay Akko, and I loved the nod at Twilight through the Nightfall series. And I especially liked the twist that Shiny Chariot was Ursula, which I suspected for some time. The blend between magic and technology was fun to see, but I was so sad that the series ended RIGHT when Akko finally showed signs of magic proficiency. Also, Shiny Chariot being the reason Akko couldn't do magic was heartbreaking.

Voltron- this takes up a much smaller portion of my fandom list mainly because I haven't even finished it. I know hardly anything about Transformers aside from the Bumblebee movie so to me I just watch it for fun. It reminds me of power rangers, star wars, and star trek, and then there's just a transformer insert. But I don't know anything about Transformers so maybe the show is more rooted in canon than I think.

Coraline- I am in a love-hate relationship with Coraline. I have watched the movie several times, I've read the book, I've watched hours of theories and analyses on youtube, I've watched behind the scenes videos by Laika, and I even wrote a script for a fan film parody. I am amazed at how original the story is and how impressive the stop motion animation is but I also have recurring nightmares from it and it scares me/creeps me out to the max. If anyone asks what my scariness limit is, it's definitely Coraline.

[luvuwite]

all, go

i hate you

1. What was the last present you gave?

uMMMM probably a commission i gave to pancake (archie/vivi)

 2. What was the last present you received? 

i dunno? if its a doodle then i got that a week back!

3. What animal best represents your personality? 

from the oOoOO spirit animal tests i took im a snek

4. What are you most afraid of? 

sometimes my own mind EYES EMOJI

5. Who is your favourite villain? 

HMMMMMMM probably like,, megamind i love him

6. Who is your favourite family member? (we all have one, admit it)

MY SISTERRRR

7. If you could name your own planet what would it be called? 

myanus

8. Stars or Moon? 

stars!!

9. Do you have/want kinds? 

if my other partner wants them, sure

10. What is your greatest life goal? 

making it this far

11. What is something you can’t live without? 

soup

12. What is a place you associate with your childhood? 

one of the parks near the store-area

13. How was your first kiss/how would you like your first kiss to go? 

i never kissed, so i wouldn’t know, but pls,,,ask for consent,,, and warn me if we gonna kiss or not,,,,,

14. What is some life advice you have acquired? 

ive learned a lil’ bit, but one of em probably has to be to just be like,, dont cry over something you know is fake, at least thats what i remember atm HAHA

15. Who in history has influenced you? 

bruh i dont like history idk

16. What is something strange that you think about often? 

h,,,hopless romantic noISIJEIORQ AHHAHA i like to think about weird scenarios in my head basically

17. Baths or Showers? 

showrr i get shy with myself in baths

18. Tea of Coffee? 

coffee

19. Alcohol or soft drink? 

alchohol bad brisk brisk brisk

20. Writing or typing? 

typing since its easier

21. What is you most favourite thing in your bedroom? 

my bed its sexy and comfy

22. Spontaneous holiday! Where are you going and with who? 

wait what UH I DONT KNOW probably just close close friends and family

23. Introverted or Extraverted? 

i have my moments with both

24. Describe yourself in two words. 

small and aggressive

31. What do you think of when you hear ‘portrait’? 

a picture or image of someone/something

32. Tell me about your partner/ideal partner? 

i mean no one is perfect yeah? i just want them to be honest with me and accept my AHEM struGGLES with relationships since im not the best partner

33. Tell me about your siblings, if you have any? 

my sister is what you call a “girly girl”, she likes disney movies, outdoors, being loud and running around, yknow just like any other child ever

35. What are you a big advocate for? 

my friends!!

36. If you’re comfortable to answer, what is the sickest you have ever been?

migraine + stomach bug + mental in trash +  stomach pains + lil appendix pain

37. When were you the most scared in your life? 

when i broke my arm

38. Ever had a paranormal experience? 

ACTUALLY YEAH i thought i heard someone yelling help outside my window and i peaked out and realized it was nothing and i figured i was just tired but i was still kinda freaked

39. Biggest celebrity crush at the moment? 

im not like other girls,,,,....

40. What is something happening in your life right now? 

uhhh just general anxiousness/paranoia(?) tbh

41. What is your favourite mythological creature? 

DRAAAAGOOOOOON

42. Marvel or DC?

dont know what those are

43. What object would be on your family’s banner? 

soup

44. Favourite flower? 

pink rose

45. One characteristic you like in a partner? 

s,,,support/reassurance pls

46. What planet/star would you travel to if it were possible? 

i wanna,,,, actually i dont know i think i would just enjoy floating around in general 

47. What is your favourite meal… ever? 

soup

48. First time…. doing anything. Describe your first time doing something? 

first time i drew was twiggit sperkl and that was the most proudest i ever felt

49. Who is your favourite superhero? 

bRUHHH I DUNNO I DONT WATCH THAT STUF

50. What is your favourite poem? Recite it?

i dont read

51. What is an exercise you despise doing. 

burpees

52. Secret talent? 

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

fite

53. Current song on replay replay replay? 

[x]

55. If you weren’t in your current occupation what would you be doing? 

sleeping probably

56. What is the first thing you notice about the person you fancy?

,,y,yo they kinda,,,, scrumptious,,, AHUIWRWQI 

57. If you had one wish that would definitely come true, what would it be? 

yes

58. If you could time travel, when and where would you visit? 

i would go to future bc i wanna see what i look like

59. What is your lucky number? 

5

60. If you adopt a pet what would it be and what would you name it? 

a cat!! and i actually am planning a name and calling them clementine!! 

61. Do you believe in fate/everything happens for a reason?

i believe your fate is decided by ur own actions/words

 62. What is your favourite thing about your personality? 

im not too hard to get along with,, i hope

63. What is your favourite thing about your appearance? 

uhhhhhhhhhhhhh

64. What is your favourite clothing store? 

primark bc everything is like 2 bucks

65. What is your favourite online store? 

i dont do online shopping too much

66. Use one word to describe your most favourite person? 

observant 

67. How do you usually have your hair?

down with a clip, then ponytail next day

 68. What was your favourite subject in high school? 

math

69. What makes you feel empowered? 

power over something/someone(as a joke/in games, not in a bad way)

70. What motivates you to do something? 

a prize at the end

71. What advice would you give someone who is going through a rough time? 

it gets worse before it gets better, and in the worse ill be there for you so you dont have to go through this alone

72. Ideal date? 

wendys!!! sweater weather!!! cuddle!!! left 4 dead!!! comfy clothes!!!

73. What is the best date night movie? 

i am not that attractive to be taken out on a date

74. What is something you are currently looking forward to? 

nothing atm tbh im just here bc i have to beIEOJRWIOE

75. Tell me a funny joke? 

oo wa oh wa ooh

76. Do you like musicals? If so, what’s your favourite? 

never listened to one actually

77. What is your favourite song currently? 

sweater weather. always.

78. What song never fails to make you dance? 

POP EYED JOEEEEE IVE BEEN LIVING???? LONG TIME YOOO

79. What is your favourite “classic?”

gnomeo and juliet

 80. What is the best advice you have ever been given? 

obese paragraph and comfort doodles? lets go

81. Where did you ancestors come from? 

puerto rico

82. What have you learned from your parents/guardians? 

be tough nugget and dont take shit seriously till you have to

83. What is a phrase you heard a lot growing up? 

dont step on the crack or youll break ur mothers back

84. Do you believe in magic? 

nnno

85. What reminds you of your best friend? 

overwatch

86. What are you passionate about? 

dance dance dance

87. Tell me a story from middle school? 

one time

the end

88. Who was your favourite teacher and why?

i love my bio teacher rn bro shes such a sweetheart

 89. Can you roll your tongue? 

yes

90. What made you pursue what you are studying? (including school subjects) 

my little pony

91. Where would you like to travel to? 

japan for those toys gimme gimme

92. What is something on your bucket-list? 

i wanna see coral reef

93. What is home to you? 

place that brings feeling of comfort/security

94. What do you do in your free time? 

draw

95. If you could buy anything right now, what would it be? 

food

96. If you could see anyone, living or dead, right now, who would it be? 

probs one of my online friends

97. If you could choose, what would your last meal be? 

soup dumplings brisk and rice

98. How would you like to die? 

happy

99. List five of your favourite pieces of art (paintings, books, songs etc) 

ruby eyes / sweater weather / ponyo / wall-e / idk

100. What would you change about this world?

global warming SHOOO U FAT

[ylove-bandaesthetics]

Complete Themes! 🖤

Hey my Darlings here’s an official list of ALL my aesthetic themes! Hope you guys like them! Happy Requesting! Please be clear in your requests! 🥰

Reminder-I accept bands & artists,(not BOTDF, Marilyn Manson & Madonna tho. Also any artist associated with Diddy & his crimes) Music groups are included, k-pop & international artists as well!

Only Rule-EVERYONE GETS A 3 REQUEST MINIMUM!

✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨

Bands/Artists & Monsters! ☠️🤘🏼 -Your fav bands/band member/artist as a mythical creature or anything in the paranormal/supernatural in general.

Bands/Artists & Colors! 🌈 -Your fav bands/band member/artist with your favorite color or colors! You can also request pride flag colors.

Bands/Artists & Disney! 🐭 -Your fav band member/artist as a disney character!

Bands/Artists & Fairytales! 🌹✨ -Your fav band member/artist as a fairytale character!

Bands/Artists & Anime! 🇯🇵 -Your fav band member/artist as an anime character!

Bands/Artists & Gods/Goddesses! 👑 -Your fav band member/artist as gods and goddesses from greek mythology or other, please nothing that will offend other people’s religion/beliefs though!

Band/Artists Shipping Aesthetics! ❤️ -Romantic moodboard of whichever two band members you ship together! You can also request brotherly/sisterly love (not talking about incest people lol) and friendship aesthetics as well!

Bands/Artists & Holidays! ✨ -Your fav bands/band member/artist with your fav holiday of the year!

Bands/Artists & Superheroes/Villains!💥 -Your fav band member/artist as a comic/tv superhero or villain! (marvel, dc, video game etc.)

Bands/Artists & Zodiac Signs! 🌙 -Your zodiac sign with your fav band member/artist or your fav band member/artist and their zodiac sign! (sun signs only!)

Bands/Artists & Hogwarts!⚡️ -Rep your hogwarts house with your band member/artist or give me a band/band member/artist and what you think their hogwarts house would be.

Bands/Artists & Horror!🔪 -Your fav band member/artist as a horror/halloween/spooky/supernatural in general movie or tv series character!

Bands/Artists & Seasons! ❄️🌸☀️🍂 -Your fav band member/artist with your favorite season of the year! (winter, summer, fall, spring)

Bands/Artists & Nature! 🍃 -Your fav band member/artist and what you love about nature (the night sky, sunset, space, oceans, certain flowers, etc. I do not include animals or planets.)

Bands/Artists & Elements! 💧🔥🍃🌬 -Your fav bands/band member/artist with your favorite element (water, fire, earth, air)

Bands/Artists & Decades! 🕰 -Your fav band member/artist and your fav decade (50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s etc)

Bands/Artists & Fashion! 👗👠 -Your fav bands/member/artist with your fav fashion style! (Edgy, Glam, Sexy! Etc!) or your fav designer brand! (Not Balenciaga though!)

Bands/Artists & Gemstones! ✨💎✨ -Your fav band/member/artist with your birthstone or your fav gemstone in general!

Au Aesthetics! 💫. -Ever imagine what your fav band member/artist would be doing if they weren’t on stage? 😉

Bands/Artists & Albums! 💽 -Your fav bands/artist and their album covers/album meanings! (Plz give details when requesting this, ex, what vibe does the cover give you or what the album is about to you.)

Bands/Artists & Travel! 🌏 -Your fav bands/artists and anywhere you would like to travel! Or you can also represent where you’re from!

By Yessylovely! 🖤

[shvdxs]

i don’t know if i could ever go without

51. Are you a good friend? What makes you a good friend? If not, what makes you a bad friend? i think im a great friend if i enjoy the presence, although my best friends ever i’ve known since a child but if i love my friends ill literally sacrifice anything for yall 

52. Do you honestly learn from your mistakes? no because im repeating a lot of them rn and had to be reminded of how dumb i am

53. What have you learned the hard way? definitely 

54. What is the most important thing to have in order to attain happiness?  humor ngl

55. Which medium do you use for expressing your artistic emotions? (Singing, writing, etc.) i guess my style and the ratchet music i play

56. Are you a creative or a logical thinker? logical but its important to be creative

57. What is the smartest thing you have ever done? my entire stem career i’m a science queen

58. What is your ideal meal? guacamole and sushi.. or just alcohol

59. What is the worst thing someone could do on a date? not be funny id fucking kill myself

60. Do you like animals? Which kind is your favorite? cats and any kind of cat breed and species

61. If you could turn one legal thing illegal, what would it be? can we actually enforce separation between state and church? because that would be sweet

62. Do you have any guilty pleasures? ik people would call them “guilty” pleasures but as an unemotional emo bitch i love garbage rap and pop music that slaps

63. What is the best thing that the internet has ever created? beans after dark

64. Do you like playing video games? Which video games? i mean i have a list but currently i have a switch so y’all can assume its smash and animal crossing

65. What is your opinion on beauty in today's society? i wish i had smaller ribs

66. Are you a morning person? When do you usually wake up? now that we’re in QUARANTINE 9:15

67. Do you have a favorite Disney movie? Character? nightmare before christmas and yk its jack next question

68. Would you rather live in the city or in the countryside? city ez

69. Would you rather live near the ocean or in the mountains? very hard i love small cities in the mountains but the beach at sunset makes me feel a diff kinda way sis

70. What are the best things about winter? everything. no cons. goodnight.

71. What scares you most about the future? let’s not i have severe anxiety and panic disorder

72. What makes you feel old? tiktok

73. How many hours do you spend on the computer or phone on average? now that we’re stuck inside 8+ LMAO

74. What are some of your New Year's resolutions? i dont

75. What is your life story in 6 words? i have not been happy ever

76. Describe yourself in one word. passive

77. What bad habits do you do? let me chew my gum and eat my mints

78. What genre of music do you listen to? alternative, punk, indie, emo, idfk

79. Most prominent childhood memory? me stepping on a weed while running onto my slip n slide at my old house in maybe 2000

80. Imagine if you had an older brother. If you already have one, what is it like? If you don't, how would this change your life? i hated him for a long time but now we’re fuckin homies and i’m grateful he gave me the best personality ever

81. Spirit animal? lynx

82. Do you believe in horoscopes? not entirely but i AM a pisces

83. What is the worst advice you've ever been given? those dumbass tiktoks that r like “im a small page so yk this is real, this is a sign that...” and its so generic but i still believed it

84. List the 3 most important people in your life right now. kevin, kyle, k8

85. Favorite memory of your family. cant pick i love my 3 immediate too much

86. What do you look for in a relationship? for them to leave me alone

87. Do you have a role model? Why or why not? cher and lana

88. What is your opinion on social media? i’ve had a complicated relationship

89. Are you a pessimist or an optimist? very pessimistic unfort but one study i had to remember for an exam said that although the pessimistic died earlier they were remembered more and gave more to their remaining family so that gave me hope

90. List some things that you think are overpriced? anything apple, any kind of transportation, college, coffee, nut butters

91. What is your worst memory or creepiest experience? i’d rather NOT

92. What superpower would ruin the world? hard to say because any kind of power would destroy the world idc watch the incredibles

93. What is something you swore you would never do when you grew up, but you did anyway? abuse drugs, drink, date people, become basic and i did all of those

94. What lessons have you learned from movies and which movies were they? stop being gullible because i am the most trusting person ever and im trying so hard not to be

95. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? anywhere in europe, south america, canada, new zealand, australia

96. How do you approach people? i dont

97. What is your opinion on first impressions? important, you have to be caring or hilarious to get my respect

98. What are some things you did as a child that you no longer do? listen to hannah montana

99. What languages can you speak? english, i can speak basic french and polish

100. What do you think society will be like in 30 years? with corona? recovering

[alexswak]

Notes on Animation Quality in Anime

I had a rare chance in 2017 to meet Hiromi Matsushita, one of Minky Momo’s most prominent animators. Matsushita is still active in the industry, and when I entered the room he was focused on drawing a scene, which he finished in around 10 minutes. I think he didn't lose his skills yet. I asked him for a drawing, of Momo of course, a request he found too hard even with the help of an image of Momo from google. More than 10 minutes passed, a lot of drawing and redrawing on the same paper, he handed me the illustration saying: “I’m sorry, this isn’t the real Momo.”

Now, I’m not saying he couldn’t draw her correctly because he got used to the radically different anime drawings of today, it may be because he just forgot how to draw Momo, or any other reason for all I know. Whatever the reason was, anime drawings and character designs had changed radically, evolved if you will, through recent Japanese animation history. The common answer to the reason behind this change always seemed funny to me, which is “because technology.” It’s not enough to just deny this claim, so I’d like to elaborate more on why and how anime drawings change over time. This is obviously a big topic, so what I’ll say here would be more of my (personal) perspective on the matter. Take it however you like.

I should start with defining what I mean with drawings. I’m not talking here about coloring, effects or the like, I mean the bare drawings themselves. This is literally the key drawings (frames), and to a lesser degree the in-betweens. Character designs are their own thing as well. This means that advancements in image quality and related technologies don’t count, since remastering a movie from the ‘70s in HD doesn’t mean the drawings themselves changed at all, forget about improved. Another point is the difference between the drawings on their own and how they move, i.e. the difference between animating and drawing, still there’s a direct influence between these two I’d like to talk about as well.

Sometimes, I feel like people look at the animation industry the same way they look at the gaming industry in this regard, not helped by the fact that mainstream high-budget animation productions in the US adopted the same technology for animating (CG). As for the Japanese industry though, it’s and has always been the pencil and paper. I’m not denying all the technological advancements that happened, but they weren’t fundamental changes that improved the quality of a drawing on paper. Even then, there were mostly only two new major technologies used introduced in anime production in the last decade: Digital coloring in the late ‘90s, and Xerography in the late ‘60s.

Xerography is basically a technique to copy drawings from normal paper to cels for coloring. Cels obviously can’t be drawn on due to their fragile nature, I believe. I rarely saw anyone talk about this technology before (in anime) so I’ll try to do a simple and short introduction. It was first introduced to Japanese companies through Disney’s Delmants 101, which caught the attention of Toei Douga (Toei Animation now). Toei took the device and modified it, most importantly adding an extra camera used for tracking perspective. Mainly to make drawings larger/smaller as they moved towards/away from the horizon. This device first saw use in Toei’s “Ken and Wolves” TV show early ‘60s. It wasn’t cheap nor easy, so Toei sought a better alternative, one of which was a device called “Trace Machine - ツレースマシン”, first used in “Sasuke” late ‘60s. It’s hard for me to point out how these two devices differed, but one advantage of the Trace Machine was conveying the original delicacy and feeling of the traced drawings better, something Disney’s machine didn’t manage to do quite well. Sasuke was praised for capturing the original soul of the manga, and it wasn’t Sasuke alone, Gekiga adaptations saw a rise in that era due to this machine making capturing the roughness of Gekiga drawings possible. Just look at Tiger Mask or Samurai Giants. I’m not sure here, but it seems like Xerography didn’t saw mainstream use until later in the ‘80s, probably because of costs. Anyway, here’s a Japanese article for more info.

As well-known it may be, we need a quick review: Astro Boy. Toei was aiming for a “Disney of the east” status, and really the idea of periodically producing anime was so strange back then, in Japan at least. The ~2 hours movies of the time needed years, so 20 minutes weekly was just insane. And insanely different were those TV productions from the quality movies of the time. You may have heard this before, but really watching clips of Astro Boy is the only way to understand how primitive it was. Nonetheless, it succeeded in becoming the standard for TV anime, and TV anime becoming the standard for anime in general later on even for movies. All the downgrade in quality of animation and everything.

This is where most people would start bashing the TV industry, yet I have a different perspective on the matter. The huge output of the Japanese industry is the main reason it reached its current international success and behind Japan’s status as the animation capital of the world. TV in America may have had a catastrophic effect on the industry, and wasn’t without negatives in Japan, but the way TV was handled and evolved is vastly different between the two countries and in turn the two vastly different outcomes we have now. TV in Japan presented a steady stream of relatively quick and flexible projects for Japanese creators to learn and experiment, a stream that only grew further increasing the variety of works and styles, the best thing the Japanese industry is known for now. Almost all well-known Japanese creators today had their start learning and experimenting in TV.

The huge amount of works produced was pretty useful for training creators in an environment that relies on learning by doing and still, to this day, mostly lacks any effective prior training system. Look no further than Tomonori Kogawa, who had a degree in fine arts, to see the important addition for properly studying and learning art. Kogawa kinda reminds me of Akino Sugino, not that their styles are similar or anything, it’s just that both care a lot about drawings quality. Ashita no Joe, which he supervised, had probably the best drawings quality of its decade.

When it comes to animation though, Toei Douga movies followed a similar realistic approach to Disney in treating characters as if they are actors on a stage. After TV anime emerged the principle remained the same, so creators just tried to replicate life in a working condition much more limited and restrained than that of Toei. Quality improved generally after some adapting and experimenting in this new landscape, but the focus mainly wasn’t on animation quality anyway. It was stories and direction that counted, Tomino and Gundam as a prime example. Even the “anime boom”, initiated by Yamato’s movie in ‘76, didn’t change that. The real change in that regard only came after treating animation in a more free way, free from the obligation of imitating real life I mean, which was the way Yoshinori Kanada treated it.

I won’t get into Kanada and his style, sources on him are enough anyway, what we need here is just the result of his wild popularity in the early ‘80s: Changing people’s view to anime. Before Kanada came, the only industry celebrities were directors, while animators stayed unknown. Not anymore. Kanada was maybe, for a time at least, number one in the industry, and this just goes to show the change in mindset: Animation is at the forefront now. And how did Kanada animate? Pretty unrealistically.

Let me detour a bit to talk about realism first. I remember some saying that Akira ushered in the age of realism in anime, a claim certainly far from the truth. Akira is rather the pinnacle of this long going approach. Pinpointing a start isn’t of much use in this discussion anyhow, and if not for my appreciation of documenting such info I wouldn’t have brought this up at all, but my argument is that the start of realism in animation is the start of animation itself.

Yet an important question must be addressed here: What realism are we talking about? If you think of it as just replicating life, then you’re oversimplifying animation as a whole. There’s only one way for things to move in real life, restrained by physics and all, but animation offers a multitude of approaches to represent movement, ways that imply realism nonetheless. And different approaches were popular at different times throughout anime history.

Take Utsunomiya for example, who wasn’t sure about joining the industry at first. He knew how the situation was, and how hard it would be to create anime in the same or similar to Disney and early Toei movies’ style that he so admired. I personally always found it weird how people held Utsunomiya’s style for realistic. His style is maybe considered as the epitome of what Toei’s theatrical realism aspired to achieve, and the main characteristics of that are exaggerated acting and theatrical movements, which is maybe not strictly realistic or natural. Nonetheless, as for weight and spacing, there’s no denying his accuracy and fine execution. Akira, and to a lesser extent Gosenzosama-banbanzai, are the embodiment of his and Takashi Nakamura’s approach in animating.

See this scene from Utsunomiya 

I don’t know much about 70’s and 60’s realism, but the main description I read at least was, again, the theatrical realism influenced by Disney. The Kanada “revolution” was more of an abnormality, since realism returned to be the dominant style of anime after a while, and its evolution didn’t stop anyway. A lot of the pioneers of the next realism wave started or matured under the Kanada age, such as Takashi Nakamura or Utsunomiya.

There are different aspects to realism as well. One of Takashi Nakamura’s famous scenes, his scene in Gold Lightan, is considered to be a very realistic depiction of debris and stones in his time at least. Others depict effects and liquids realistically and so on. I feel like this is just a matter of approach and perspective. Utsunomiya for example saw the characters as actors on a stage, Ohira saw them a lot of times as gelatinous almost liquidy shapes, but all those approaches and depictions induce a realistic feeling in a sense, and are finely (and realistically) timed and weighed in their movement.

See this scene from Takashi Nakamrua. Notice hand and mouth movement. 

Of course not all animators can do realistic movement well. Miyazaki and others complained about every other animator in the early 80s’ being a Kanada knock-off, a bad knock-offs in a lot of cases, yet Kanada’s style wasn’t hard to imitate, maybe not perfectly but definitely to a “good enough” degree. Realism on the other hand is hard, even harder in shows that lack talents such as Utsunomiya or time and budget. It was obvious after Akira, or even a while before Akira, which style the industry (or the audience) will prefer. And at that point the industry took a different approach to realism, not the realistic movement approach seen in Akira and movies that established this style in Japan to begin with, but an approach that gives the feel of realism in different ways, first being character designs and increasing the lines and details in drawings generally.

If we go back to the ‘60s and some of the ‘70s we can see many shows with designs rich in lines or styles close to realism, but it was mainly the exception and didn’t represent the main trend, some of which being caused by things like Gekiga or personal styles such as Sugino’s or Osamu Dezaki’s. Late ‘70s and early ‘80s mainly had simplistic designs which really helped Kanada’s style grow and spread. Simplicity contradicts realism by nature, and adding more lines or details to a drawing makes it harder to draw/animate. Straightforward, and this is just what happened after the demise of Kanada’s style, more realistic designs that barely move. Just look at any OVA from that period and compare it to any OVA from the Kanada wave. Amazing what 5 years could do!

Vampire Sensou in 1990. Interesting character designs, not much movement though.

Difficulty of drawing isn’t the sole problem here. Kanada’s style, despite its energetic nature, doesn’t require a lot of frames, actually the low number of frames is one of its strong characteristics. It’s a style born from the constraints of the Japanese industry to begin with, and if you think about it probably no other industry would have given born to such a style but the Japanese one. While you need a substantial number of frames to achieve a convincingly real movement. Maybe I’m over exaggerating here, but the Japanese TV industry tried two decades to achieve realism in an environment not suited for it and found Kanada’s style that embodied the sole of this industry, just to abandon it for an unconvincing realism.

Kanada’s OVA “Birth” in 1984 is probably the important turning point. Maybe you could say that the story of OVAs is also the story of Japanese anime, as OVAs reflected the state of the industry in general in each period. Maybe because OVAs were the direct way to reach the audience without the need for a TV channel or a distributor or even a high budget, in turn being a demonstration of the audience’s preference. It was definitely the free expression window for creators, young independent ones especially, free from any obligations for any big company. Obviously big companies were there, even more so in the late ‘80s after OVAs matured, but all in all it was the will of the creators that shined through. OVAs also played a decisive role in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when anime (TV especially) was facing a hard time due to different reason beyond the scope of this article. This led to OVAs influencing the development of the industry in interesting ways, hard to imagine if you look at the state of OVAs now.

The Japanese industry relied heavily on TV since pretty early on, so any problem facing TV anime is a problem for the industry as a whole. Middle/Late ‘80s wasn’t the best time for TV, a long story with multiple causes such as the change in demographics and emergence of video games, but our concern here is the paradigm shift that happened. For the most part and up to that point anime revenue came from games or manga or something else, a separate product. Not the show itself, meaning that its quality wasn’t a concern as long as it supported the primary product well. This obviously didn’t hold Ichiro Itano back from doing his wonderful circus scenes, or Tomino from executing his different depiction of mecha anime, but those again were creative acts on the personal level not the project as a whole, and in the end it wasn’t Tomino’s direction and vision that saved Gundam, it was the Gunpla.

It’s a fine system as long as the audience keeps on buying your primary product, something a lot of companies struggled with later on, reaching the OVA system where you just sell the show itself rather than a separate product. A similar system to movies, but simpler, safer and with less parties involved. We take internet for granted today, but in the ‘80s OVAs were the only choice for creators wanting to self-publish something weird or radically different, something that obviously won’t be backed by big companies.

Anyway, selling the show itself is completely different approach with completely different focus points. Quality comes first now, and first of all is drawings and animation quality, since anime is a visual medium after all. Without constraints or demands from distributors or any tight schedules, and with making less episodes, you’re able to raise quality considerably, the main selling point of OVAs. Patlabor, Gunbuster or Gundam 0083 all had high quality and were big successes, not only setting the standards for visual quality in anime, but also showing how important visual quality in anime is, both for companies and audiences. After this model matured, attempts to replicate this success in TV anime started, where the potential is much bigger due to the wider reach, which led to the contemporary late-night model we have now, maybe the most successful anime model till quite recently. Evangelion is considered to have played an active role in establishing this model, and in increasing visual quality in TV anime generally, and Ryusuke Hikawa claims that what he calls the “Quality Revolution” in the anime industry started in the ‘90s. I also think that Evangelion played no small part in establishing the production committee system we have now in every show, but I’m not quite sure.

Before I end this I want to link two nice resources for further reading. The mecha history research and an article that came in Akira’s Animation Archive, both by Ryusuke Hikawa. 

[thegreatwhiteferret]

87 Random Questions

I was tagged by @edwardtheloser because JJ just wants the world to burn. 💖💖💖

1. Where do you live? I currently live in Delaware...yeah, the tiny ass state everyone forgets about.

2. One cool item you own? I’m trying to think of something really deep and meaningful...I have a Texas charm with golden star on it that I wear with a cross on a chain around my neck and never take off. 

3. Moon or stars? The stars (High key one of the things I miss most about Texas)!

4. Places you’d like to travel to? Either to London or to Disney...both are related to Peter Pan for reasons.

5. Favorite song? I cannot possibly pick just one song...music is everything. Praying by Kesha has me all sorts of in the feels right now.

6. Do you have any fears? I am afraid of so many things. I am afraid of the dark, germs, going into anaphylaxis, letting people down, not being good enough...I should stop now, right?

7. Do you feel different than you did last year? I mean I guess. The past year has been really bad for me, but I’ve just recently started feeling really hopeful about the future.

8. What is your race? I am white as white can be. I’m 75% Canadian (25-British, 25-Irish, and 25-French with a bit of Native American mixed in) and then 25% mystery that is most likely German or Dutch. 

9. Pet peeves? People being assholes when they disagree with something and people smacking when they eat. (These two just stuck out, there are more, I’m petty as hell)

10. Any siblings? I have 3 sisters.

11. Are you a gamer? Only if The Sims and Dream Daddy count. Hand eye coordination is not there.

12. Sexual orientation? Pansexual Princess 

13. Does a broken mirror mean bad luck? I don’t know, but I will steer the fuck clear!

14. What do you feel is your mental age? Depends on the day. Sometimes I feel like I’m sixteen some days I feel like I’m forty. There is no consistency. 

15. How old were you when you started dating? My family was super strict, so no dating officially until after I went to college.

16. Where do you do most of your online shopping? Forever21 and Amazon.

17. Favorite animal? Bears

18. What’s one film from the 2000s that you like? Psssssh, so many. School of Rock and Mean Girls were my shit though.

19. What’s your favorite scary movie? IT. I am a scaredy cat, so the fact that I love this movie so much is amazing.

20. Fun fact about yourself? I convinced my 5th grade teacher that I had elaborately schemed to get rid of my baby sister when I was only three years old to avoid actually having to write a serious paper. I won a damn award for my story too.

21. Shoe size? 9.5 or a 10 in Women's. 

22. Which fictional character(s) do you relate to the most? Junie B. Jones. She’s a real hero of mine. (JK, Stanley Uris and I are one in the same).

23. Where do you see yourself living in ten years? Philly, Boston, or Chicago. I need some excitement in my life.

24. Ever wore clothes that were just wayyy too tight? I mean I wore a corset around just for the hell of it the either night so....

25. What’s on your mind? How many stories I have in my queue to write and the fact that I am not doing that right now...whoops.

26. Are you religious? I’d still identify as Christian, but I have a lot of questions. I also don’t believe in pushing your religion on people, that’s an asshole move.

27. How tall are you? 5’8″

28. Favorite band? HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO PICK ONE??? Jesus, I’m going to see AJR in a few weeks so let me give them a shoutout.

29. Do you remember 2009? Yes. It sucked.

30. Cats or dogs? DOGS! You can fight me on this one @edwardtheloser they are freaking flawless and amazing.

31. Fruit or vegetables? Por que no los dos??

32. Do you want to get married? Yes. That would be nice.

33. Do you want children? I DO. So so bad. It’s a problem.

34. Flamingos or peacocks? Meh. Birds. (Only difference between me and Stan tbh)

35. What superpower do you wish you had? Telekinesis or Shapeshifting.

36. Are you a germ freak? Yes. I have severe food allergies and I break out when I touch the allergens, so I kind of have to be. Also, people are gross.

37. Did swearing baby, ghost car, or ghost caught on tape scare you as a kid? I don’t know what any of these are...

38. Do you prefer sweet or salty? Por que no los dos?

39. Tea or coffee? Give me all of the non carbonated caffeine.

40. Are you superstitious? Yes. I knock on wood. I won’t walk under ladders or on cracks in the sidewalk. I do counting things as coping mechanisms. I’m so bad.

41. Do you like stripes? Sure, but plaid is better.

42. Favorite shows as a kid? The Big Comfy Couch, Rugrats, The Wiggles, Doug, Arthur, Zoom...I liked TV a lot.

43. Favorite shows growing up? Lizzie McGuire, Boy Meets World, That’s So Raven, Sabrina the Teenage Witch...again, I liked TV a lot.

44. Favorite musical? I LOVE MUSICALS. Hamilton, Hairspray, High School Musical, Rocky Horror, Annie. All of them. RENT is my absolute favorite though, I bawled my eyes out when I saw it live.

45. Favorite movie? Inglorious Basterds, IT, and Goonies.

46. Birthday? October 1st.

47. Are you a grammar Nazi? Yes. It kills me not to correct people.

48. Ever gotten drunk? Hahahahaha. Yes.

49. Do you have a carrier bag? I switch between a small backpack, a big satchel bag and a small hot pink cross body purse. As long as my epi pen and wipes fit, I’m good.

50. What would you do if you were the opposite gender for a day? Some very NSFW things...I’m not sorry.

51. If you were the opposite gender what would you change your name to? Oliver, Ollie for short.

52. What song is stuck in your head? The Kids Aren’t Alright by The Offspring

53. Celebrity crush? Hilary Knight, Taron Egerton, Chris Evans, Hayley Williams, Joe Keery...so many. I love all the people.

54. If you could live in a non-English speaking country, where would it be? Sweden

55. Are you a good dancer? I try...

56. Have any allergies? Gluten and Dairy. Deathly allergic and people think it’s just a diet fad smh...

57. Any bad habits? Procrastinating and shoving my feelings down.

58. Ever broke a bone? Yes. My mom broke my leg when I was three, we fell down the stairs and if she hadn’t pushed me behind her and landed on my leg I would have gone head first into a brick wall. My mommy saved my life. 💖

59. Are you a city or country person? Both. I like the feel of the country with the convenience of the city.

60. Do you like your home country? United States of Go Fuck Yourself

61. Sunflowers or daisies? Sunflowers 

62. Tulips or roses? Tulips, they remind me of living in the Netherlands as a kid.

63. Oak or maple? Maple. I’m Canadian, eh.

64. Disney or Nickelodeon? BOTH! I WILL NOT CHOOSE!

65. WYR be obese or anorexic? I’m in recovery for both anorexia and bulimia and have been since I was twelve years old, body dysmorphia since I was seven because I’ve been overweight my entire life, and this question can go fuck itself. Jesus fucking Christ. Those are serious issues not choices. Fuck.

66. WYR be over 6 feet or under 5 feet? Under 5 feet, I hate being tall.

67. Rubies or sapphires? Sapphires

68. Are you stubborn? I am so stubborn that it hurts.

69. Have you been in scouts/Girl Scouts? Yes! And I loved it.

70. What type of music do you listen to? Everything. I love music.

71. Favorite vine? Uhmmmm...I was never into vines...sorry.

72. Beaches or castles? Castles. Real life Disney Princess y’all!

73. Pick the closest book to you, and write the line you opened to:

"I mean, a superhero. My heart almost squeezes to a stop. Blue loves superheroes.” -Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

74. Anyone in the same room as you right now? Yup. My mama and the dogs. Pip is sleeping on my lap.

75. Which is worse; throwing up or diarrhea? I mean I don’t love either...

76. Butterflies or lady bugs? I don’t like bugs...butterflies qualify as well. 

77. Do you say “K” when you’re not mad? I never do this, because I am so cautious of how others will feel from it. You can’t take back hurt feelings.

78. How do you react when purposely scare you? I usually have some form of anxiety attack. My sister has made me cry and panic just from making me watch a YouTube video...I’m easy to scare guys.

79. Most overrated celebrity? Every Kardashian except for Khloe, I love her.

80. Do you have a globe in your room? No, I have a print of the world, but that would be so cool!

81. Do you have a dream catcher in your room? No, this would also be cool.

82. What do you see when you look out your window? Well it’s nighttime now so darkness.

83. Have you been on an airplane? Yes, I’ve been flying since I was a month old.

84. Do you believe in aliens? Yes. It’s stupid to think that we are alone in the universe.

85. Do you believe in ghosts? Absolutely. I don’t fuck with spirits, all respect.

86. Do you believe in God? I believe in a higher power, and I do still have faith in the Christian God, but I do have so many questions.

87. Do you believe in yourself? I’m working on it, y’all. That’s all I can say.

I am tagging randomly because I don’t know who has done this yet... @billbenbev @its-reddie-bitch @not-reddie @theriodiaries @demianhill @dannybriereisaliferuiner @thebroadstreetdarling @milagric and whoever else would like to do this, consider yourselves tagged! 💖💖💖💖💖

[gregolry]

1 to 69 and also 70

thank u I made a playlist instead of working on my finals

1. A Song you’re ashamed of liking

None, all music is good and great2. Favourite lyrics

Constant Surprises (Little Dragon)3. Favourite band/artist

Probably Paramore or Janelle Monae based off of time listened/lyrics known etc.4. Top 5 Favourite songs at this moment

These aren’t really my favorite songs at all but they’re the ones I’ve been listening to this week.

Mystery of Love (Sufjan Stevens), Don’t Act Like A Stranger (Cathedrals), If It’s a Light (Mavis Staples), Dim All The Lights (Donna Summer), I Belong To You (Brandi Carlile)5. Latest song that made you smile

Psychic City – Classixx Remix(YACHT)6. An overrated band

Don’t @ me but Fall Out Boy7. An overrated song

Really most of the songs from the above band8. Latest song that made you cry

Send in the Clowns (Glynis Johns)9. Artist/band that saved your life

None but also let’s say Carole King, she got me through a time10. If you could see any band/artist live, who would it be

Paramore11. What song/album/band/artist always brings back memories for you

Katy Perry’s album One Of The Boys always puts me exactly where I was every time I ever listened to it.12. saddest song you know

Silver Springs (Fleetwood Mac)13. Favourite song to sing in the shower

Really anything by Fleetwood Mac but probably Dreams14. If you played an instrument in grade school, what was it

Piano~15. What song would you like to have your first dance to at your wedding

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (Carole King)16. 5 Songs to have sex to

None but also it depends on the mood but probably something by Arctic Monkeys (Dangerous Animals comes to mind)17. One band you’d have get back together/bring back from the dead

This doesn’t really count I guess but PWR BTTM with different members who weren’t garbage? Like take that concept and that exact sound and give it to people who weren’t pieces of shit.18. You’re forced to listen to only one album for the rest of your life, what album is it

Carole King’s Tapestry or Paramore’s After Laughter19. A song that gets you through shit

Cry, Cry, Cry (Judith Hill)20. A song to shut everything out

Any song really 21. A song that’s a joke between you and your friends

Anything by Creed

22. A song to jam out to at 4am

Janglin (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros)23. A song that punches you in the gut every single time

You Were Meant For Me (Jewel)24. A song that calms you down

Thunder Love (Little Dragon)25. A song that makes you feel alive

Q.U.E.E.N. (Janelle Monae)26. If you could get any lyrics tattooed, which would you choose

Tbh Something from the above song27. What band/artist would you get your children addicted to at an early age

You know good and well my children will be listening to Janelle Monae all day28. Can you play any instruments, if so, which

Piano and anything piano adjacent that follows the same rules29. If you could be a member of any band for one show, who would it be

That’s too much pressure30. CDs or Vinyls

Digital…31. 25 songs to play at your funeral

Just play What’s New Pussycat on repeat32. What are some song titles that you love

It Hurts Until It Doesn’t (Mothers) and their album title “When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired”33. If your life ended today, what song would you choose to represent it

See Above34. Can you give me a 10 song playlist on ____

No35. A heart wrenching song

Un-Break My Heart (Toni Braxton)36. A band/artist you’re proud of

Paramore because why not they’re doing a good job37. A song that has a lot of meaning to you

As You Are (Kimbra)38. A song that reminds you of school

Right As Rain (Adele) (not for any specific reason other than it played a lot on my way to class from high school to now)39. A song not sung in your native language

Palabra clasica (Florencia Nunez)40. An instrumental song

Whoacean (Yesway)41. A classical song

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5 (Beethoven)42. A song with no percussion

Want My Love (Cathedrals)43. Something you’ve heard performed live

Mardy Bum (Arctic Monkeys)44. Something you’d give ANYTHING to hear performed live

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Whitney Houston) (assuming this would involve dark magic rituals of some sort)45. A song from a band/artist that’s from your town/city/state/province

Keep Lying (Donna Missal)46. A song made suddenly precious because of a special someone

*shrug emoji* (that’s a lie but I can’t say)47. A song made suddenly painful because of someone special

*shrug emoji* (probably the same answer as above though)48. A song that demands lip syncing and a makeshift microphone

Real Love (Mary J. Blige)49. A song from a band/artist you met/know

*shrug emoji*50. A song that you would rock at karaoke

I’m The Only One (Melissa Etheridge)51. A song you can’t help but dance to

One Of The Boys (Katy Perry)52. A song that makes you want to dance on a table

Do My Thing (Estelle feat. Janelle Monae)53. Your 10 song striper playlist

Just What’s New Pussycat 10 times54. Favourite Disney song

Snuff Out the Light (Eartha Kitt) (It was never in the movie and that’s a damn shame)55. A song that starts with the first letter of your name

Change Of Coast (Neon Indian)56. A song from an artist still alive

400 Lux (Lorde)57. A song from an artist who’s dead

I’ll Be Seeing You (Billie Holiday)58. A song you love by an artist/band you hate

*shrug emoji* I guess anything by PWR BTTM because the band is garbo but their music was good59. A song you love with a colour in the title

Rose-Colored Boy (Paramore)60. A song you love with a number in the title

One For The Road (Arctic Monkeys)61. A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about

Raja Vocative (The Mountain Goats)62. A song that needs to be played LOUD

Square Biz (Teena Marie)63. A song that makes you think about life

Oh My God (Ida Maria)64. 15 Songs that get suck in your head easily

What’s New Pussycat 15 times65. A song that you think everyone should listen to

That’s Alright (Laura Mvula)66. A song that makes you want to fall in love

As the World Falls Down (Girl In A Coma)67. A song that makes you think about ‘him/her’

They All Want You (Lissie) (tbh.. mood)68. A song that you remember from your childhood

Say You’ll Be There (Spice Girls)69. A song that reminds you of you

It Hurts Until It Doesn’t (Mothers)70. Okay what’s the real answer to number 1

Still true

[cover2covermom]

Hello bookworms!

Today I thought I would share a batch of mini book reviews of the audiobooks I’ve been reading with my children over the past few months.  Listening to audiobooks together with my children has been a delight!  BUT more on that in a later post 🙂

*Books included in this batch of mini book reviews: Frog and Toad (Frog and Toad #1 – 4) by Arnold Lobel, Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh #1) by A.A. Milne, Matilda by Roald Dahl, My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, and Amelia Bedelia (Audio Collection) by Peggy Parish

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» Frog and Toad (Frog and Toad #1 – 4) by Arnold Lobel

Recommend to: younger children aged 4-7 years old; fans of animal stories

Themes: friendship

This collection of Frog and Toad stories was the perfect little book to dip our toes into listening to audiobooks together as a family.  Since my youngest is 5, I wanted to start with an audiobook that was short & very easy to follow.   I wanted to gauge how well she was able to listen to an audiobook & follow along with the story.

This book is the perfect audiobook to listen to with younger children!  If you are thinking about crossing the bridge from picture books to short chapter books with your child, this is a great place to start.  I had my doubts about my 5 year-old’s ability to listen to an audiobook, but she kept up just fine.  I made sure to stop frequently to check her comprehension.

Frog and Toad is a feel-good book that the whole family can enjoy.  The stories are simple enough for younger children to understand, but still entertaining for every age.  We really enjoyed the dry humor of Frog and Toad, and found ourselves laughing at Frog & Toads antics.  It was a delight to read and amused us all, even the 12-year-old.

» Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh #1) by A.A. Milne

Recommended to: children aged 7-9 years old; fans of classic children stories

Themes: friendship & silliness

This one was not as big of a hit as our first read together book.   I think this has to do with it being published in the 1920s & the writing style.  The dialogue could be very long-winded at times, which caused both my kids to lose interest.

This book was a bit more challenging for my 5-year-old to follow because of the narrative structure.   The portions with Pooh & friends in the Hundred Acre Wood that are of told in 3rd person were easier for her to understand, but the portions where the narrator is telling the story to Christopher Robin were confusing for her.

Let’s talk about the audiobook format.  I really think audiobook, or at least the version we listened to narrated by Peter Dennis, is NOT the way to go with this book.  For one, the music in between chapters was WAY too long.  I’m all for a little music to break up chapters & enhance the story, but it did not work here.   I also found Dennis’ narration a a bit overdone at times.  The way Dennis snorts after every word Piglet says was WAY too much.  We found it very disruptive to the story, and frankly it was annoying.  I’m wondering if I would have acquired the physical copy with illustrations and read the book aloud myself if we would have enjoyed this book more.

Since I fondly remember watching the Disney adaptation as a kid, I can say that it was very true to the story.  Aside from the story where Rabbit comes up with the idea to kidnap Rue (I can see why that one didn’t make the adaptation lol) I recognized most of the stories.

Overall, this was a nostalgic read for me, but not a big hit with my kids.

» Matilda by Roald Dahl

Recommended to: children aged 7 – 11 years old; book lovers; underdog story lovers

Themes: justice, importance of education, loyalty, cleverness, and unconventional family

This was my first time reading Matilda, and I was so glad I got to experience it with my kids.  I was familiar with the story since I’ve seen the wonderful film adaptation that came out in the 90s, so there was definitely some nostalgia feels.  We listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Kate Winslet, and we highly recommend it!  Kate does a wonderful narration, which wasn’t surprising at all.

I feel like one of the best parts about Matilda, is that at its core it is an “underdog story.”   From the very beginning, Matilda is basically on her own since her parents are not interested in caring for her.  Matilda learns to care for herself and even teaches herself to read.  Once she starts school, she must go up against her principal, the formidable Ms. Trunchbull.  Since Matilda is just a small child, she must use her intelligence to out-wit Ms. Trunchbull.

How could I write a review for Matilda and not mention Miss Honey?  Miss Honey is such a lovely character.  She is basically the perfect elementary school teacher:  she’s kindhearted, warm, and cares deeply about her students.  Miss Honey is the first adult that takes notice of Matilda and her special abilities.  The friendship that develops between Matilda and Miss Honey is charming.

Matilda is what I like to call a “bookworm’s delight.”  Matilda discovers a magical place: the library.  She sets off devouring one book after another until she’s made her way through all the children’s book and moves on to adult books.  I adored Matilda’s thirst for books & knowledge.   Books become Matilda’s escape from her dreadful family life.  Dahl perfectly captures the essence of what it means to love books.

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She traveled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.

Matilda is one of those books where child and adult readers of this book will have very different take-aways.  My kids thought it was awesome that Matilda was so independent & even able to walk to the library alone as a 5-year-old child.  They also liked the idea of Matilda getting even with the adults in her life that had done her wrong – her father & Ms. Trunchbull.  As an adult, my heart broke for Matilda and the neglect she suffers from her parents and principal.

The ending to this book is heartwarming and will give you all the feels.

Matlida was a bit over my 5-year-old’s listening level.  I think one thing that hindered her in particular was the fact that Roald Dahl was a British author, thus she was unfamiliar with the slang.  To offset this, I paused the audiobook often to help go over what was happening in the story.  After we finished listening to the book, I rented the film adaptation from the library and we enjoyed watching the movie together as well 🙂

» My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

Recommended to: younger children aged 4-7 years old; fans of animal stories; fans of the picture book The Gruffalo

Themes: courage, cleverness, and adventure

This book was listed in The Read-Aloud Handbook as a good book to read-aloud with younger children, so I gave it a go via audiobook with my 5-year-old.

If you have a 5 or 6-year-old that is ready to cross over from picture books to short/simple chapter books, this is an excellent book to start with.  Like I mentioned, we read this via audiobook, however after reading some of the reviews, print form may be the way to go with this one as many of the reviews mentioned the lovely illustrations.

My Father’s Dragon is the story of a boy named Elmer who travels to Wild Island to save a baby dragon that has been enslaved by the animals that inhibit the island.  In order to save the baby dragon, Elmer must go up against the animals that are keeping the dragon captive.  With each animal that Elmer encounters, he must use his quick wit, and a little ingenuity, to distract the animals in order to continue on with his quest.

If your children enjoy picture books like The Gruffalo, where the main character gets themselves out of trouble by using their cleverness to trick others, then they will really enjoy this book.  My daughter highly enjoyed this one, even without the illustrations, and asked to read the other books in the series.

» Amelia Bedelia (Audio Collection) by Peggy Parish

Recommended to: children aged 6 – 9 years old; fans of off-the-wall characters like Anne from Anne of Green Gables or Pippi from Pippi Longstocking

Themes:  language/communication, forgiveness, and humor

I listened to this audiobook collection with my 5-year-old daughter.  We really enjoyed listening to this collection of stories about Amelia Bedelia.

Amelia Bedelia is the story of a young girl that starts working as a maid for Mr. & Mrs. Rogers.  Amelia takes speech very literally, which causes all kinds of problems for the Rogers, for example when Mrs. Rogers asks Amelia to “run an iron over the tablecloth” Amelia takes the iron and walks all over the tablecloth.  They quickly get over any of Amelia’s blunders however because as it turns out, she is an excellent baker.

Amelia is such an endearing character that you can’t help but love.  Actually, Amelia reminded me a bit of Anne from Anne of Green Gables. mashed up with Pippi from Pippi Longstocking.

Since these stories were first published in the 60’s and 70’s, the language was a bit dated, which made it a bit more challenging for my daughter to totally understand all of Amelia’s misunderstandings, but it was a great opportunity to talk to her about words & phrases with multiple meanings.

  Have you read any of these books?  If so, what did you think?

Comment below & let me know 🙂

      Mini Book Reviews: Audiobooks I Read With My Kids (April - June 2019) #BookReview #ChildrensBooks #Reading #Books #BookBlog #BookBlogger Hello bookworms! Today I thought I would share a batch of mini book reviews of the audiobooks I've been reading with my children over the past few months. 

[mssng-lttrs]

thank you so much for tagging me, @studywithbread! a bit late, but i had fun answering!

Rules: Answer these 92 89 statements and tag 20 people

LAST: 1. Drink: water (it’s important to stay hydrated, kids!) 2. Phone call: a call from my great aunt telling me that she was waiting out front 3. Text message: sent - “ohh” (my friend told me that jacob stegosaurus got hacked lmao) received - “good night” (a text from my family group chat) 4. Song you listened to: Trade Mistakes by Panic! at the Disco 5. Time you cried: i honestly don’t remember?? i’m just not a big crier. the last time i cried was also the first time i cried in public. i stayed after class to ask my teacher to input some assignments (this was after the deadline for late work and he didn’t accept any more emails). he went off on me, saying that i should’ve emailed and blah blah blah. i walked out to lunch with my friend who had waited and then started to cry

HAVE YOU: 6. Dated someone twice: no 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: is it lame that i’m sixteen and haven’t even had my first kiss?? 8. Been cheated on: no 9. Lost someone special: um, not in the aspect of friends, but i have lost family members 10. Been depressed: not really 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: i aM a gOod kiD!! (the answer is no.)

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14: yellow, purple (lilac or very dark purple), and black

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: yes i have 16. Fallen out of love: i don’t really have any experience with love lmao 17. Laughed until you cried: i don’t think i’ve ever laughed and ended up with tears, but i have laughed until i ran out of breath and ended up just clapping my hands together like a seal 18. Found out someone was talking about you: no, i have not 19. Met someone who changed you: i don’t think i’ve recently met someone with that much impact on my life 20. Found out who your friends are: i think i have 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: i honestly don’t even know how to use facebook

GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: ^see above 23. Do you have any pets: no, but i really, really, really want a dog!!

HYDRATION REMINDER #1: drink a glass of water! yes, right now!

24. Do you want to change your name: no, i do not. i’m really proud of my name (despite not choosing to disclose it on here) because it has a certain meaning to it 25. What did you do for your last birthday: my last birthday was actually pretty fun! for my sixteenth birthday, i decided to have a party (after not having one since like fourth grade) with a bob ross theme. it was pretty small, i only invited a few friends over, but we had a lot of fun just chilling and painting along to bob ross :) 26. What time did you wake up: i woke up at 7:15 due to my alarm, but then went back to sleep until 8:45 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: falling asleep 28. Name something you can’t wait for: this sunday. i’m part of a teen advisory board at my local library and i came up with this idea for a program. i’ve spent a few months working on putting everything together for this, and it’s going to be on sunday! 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: this morning when she left for work 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: um… i’m not sure, i think i’m pretty okay with my life at the moment 31. What are you listening to right now: Black Mambo by Glass Animals 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: i am very shocked that my answer is no 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: my little brother’s temper tantrums 34. Most visited websites: youtube and tumblr

LOST QUESTIONS. I JUST PUT IN RANDOM INFO ABOUT ME 35. Mole/s: i have one below my right eye and a few light ones on my cheeks by my mouth 36. Mark/s: i have a birthmark on the back of my thigh that i can’t see myself unless i sit in front of a mirror and lift up my leg. i also have a scar on my stomach right next to my navel from surgery as a premature baby 37. Childhood dream: my childhood dream was to own and manage my own restaurant and to be a writer. i don’t remember if one came before the other or if they came about at the same time. the restaurant dream has faded away over time, but i still love to write 38. Hair color: black, but the ends have gotten a dark brown from the sun 39. Long or short hair: when i was little, i really did not want to get my hair cut. so, i only ever got it trimmed until two years ago. i decided to actually cut it and donate the hair, because my hair was long enough to do so. my hair ended up a few inches past my shoulders, and i actually really liked it. then i let my hair grow out and back in december i decided to cut it again to donate. this time, it went up to about my collarbones. i don’t really prefer one hair length over the other, though 40. Do you have a crush on someone: no, i do not 41. What do you like about yourself: i like my creativity and my ability to make others laugh 42. Piercings: i only have two, one on each lobe. i love the idea of other piercings (eyebrow bars, septums, snake bites, etc.), but i wouldn’t get them myself 43. Blood type: i have no idea 44. Nickname: in real life, i don’t really have any nicknames. i prefer people to call me by my full name, but i’m fine with people coming up with nicknames that don’t have to do with my actual name. on here, i go by o.a.a (here’s why) 45. Relationship status: single, but i would really like to be in a relationship 46. Zodiac: pisces

HYDRATION REMINDER #2: go and get yourself another glass of water!

47. Pronouns: she/her 48. Favorite TV Show: i don’t watch a lot of tv because we have amazon prime 49. Tattoos: i don’t have any. but, like with piercings, i really like the idea of it. i would want one on my right bicep of a planet, or something related to space, but i don’t think i would ever actually get it (mostly because i am not a fan of needles) 50. Right or left hand: i am right-handed 51. Surgery: i underwent surgeries when i was a baby because i was born two months premature. i don’t remember/have never really asked about the exact purpose of them, though 52. Hair dyed in different color: i have never dyed my hair, not even with a temporary hair dye, hair chalk, or kool aid 53. Sport: what is this sport you speak of?? haha i am a very lazy person, but i do go to the gym with my family 54. Vacation: i think my favorite vacation was during spring break this year. my family and i went on a road trip up to portland, oregon. we stayed there for a couple days. then we went on a day trip to vancouver, washington. after that, we went to san jose to stay at a friend’s. the next day, we went on a day trip to san francisco and the day after we went back home 55. Pair of trainers: i don’t know how to answer this question

MORE GENERAL: 56. Eating: i’m not eating anything at the moment, but i had cereal for breakfast 57. Drinking: i am currently drinking water 58. I’m about to: reblog some gifs of dan and phil probably 59. Waiting for: my mom to come home from work 60. Want: to be able to explore more of the world; go to more museums and bookstores; become a cultured person; be happy in life (and get a dog!!) 61. Get married: i really want to get married sometime in the future 62. Career: i’m planning on becoming a pharmacist as my career (because it’s sensible, financially-speaking) and write on the side/in my spare time (which is the more risky job)

WHICH IS BETTER: 63. Hugs or kisses: hugs 64. Lips or eyes: eyes 65. Shorter or taller: idk? i am a very short person (4’ 11.5”) so everyone’s taller than me. i wish i was at least in the 5’ range, but i don’t particularly mind being a small person 67. Older or younger: i guess older? but i am friends with people that are younger than me

HYDRATION REMINDER #3: yes, drink even more water!

68. Nice arms or nice stomach: nice stomach 69. Sensitive or loud: loud (to balance out my sensitivity) 70. Hook up or relationship: relationship 71. Troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER: 72. Kissed a Stranger: no, i’m too shy for that 73. Drank hard liquor: nope 74. Lost glasses/contact lenses: yes, and here’s the story behind it: my mom took us to a party thrown by her boss. they had a home theater, so my brothers and i spent the rest of the time in there. at some point, i took off my glasses and set them down. when we went to leave, i couldn’t find my glasses, anywhere. i never left the room except to go the bathroom, but i didn’t find them. i ended up buying new ones (which look better than the old ones) in december. last week, my mom came home from work with my old glasses. turns out, her boss found them under the seat. 75. Turned someone down: yeah 76. Sex on the first date: I’M ONLY SIXTEEN 77. Broken someone’s heart: sorta (it ties in with turning someone down) 78. Had your heart broken: no 79. Been arrested: nope 80. Cried when someone dies: i know this makes me sound soulless, but i have not cried when my family members died. i did grieve deeply, though 81. Fallen for a friend: the same person who sorta had their heart broken and was turned down by me

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 82. Yourself: yeah 83. Miracles: yes 84. Love at first sight: i do (this was intentional wording) 85. Santa Claus: as a kid, yes, but not anymore 86. Kiss on the first date: sure if the date went well

OTHER: 87. Current best friend name: alex 88. Eye color: a deep brown 89. Favorite movie: any disney movie or studio ghibli movie (but i do really like ratatouille and spirited away)

HYDRATION REMINDER #4: the very last one now that you’ve gotten to the end of this list! drink another glass! now you’ve at least met half of the daily goal in only the time it took you to read this post!

NOW, TAG 20 PEOPLE:

@philester // @wishes-and-stars // @philscurls // @studywitheva // @hufflepuffwannabe // @tbhstudying // @donthavetobebrave // @h2ostudies // @needacuddle // @dannyhowell // @cosyphan // @scholarc // @permanenthugfromyou // @studie-s // @studybrite // @miepeachy // @saturday-studying // @gradespiration // @studyrelief // @notesworthtea

*it’s all good if you don’t want to answer these! i honestly just went down my following list and tagged whoever came up. sorry in advance if i just come off as a creepy, random follower

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND May 25, 2019  - ALADDIN, BOOKSMART, BRIGHTBURN

It’s the Memorial Day weekend of one-word-titled movies, because yes, “Booksmart” and “Brightburn” are indeed single words, as much as I want to make them two words each. Sadly, I’m still running behind on stuff, and I’ve only seen a few movies, so we’ll see how I do this week. (Sadly, it’s looking more and more like this column is going to have to be put on hiatus so I can focus on paying work.)

Hey, look, it’s another Disney movie I haven’t seen yet for reasons I won’t get into. Anyway, I have a ticket to see Guy Ritchie’s ALADDIN (Walt Disney Pictures) on Friday, not because I necessarily need to see Will Smith as the Genie. In fact, I’ve never even seen the original animated movie or the musical, but I am a fan of Ritchie and his work and want to give it a look.

Fortunately, I have seen Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, the raunchy R-rated comedy BOOKSMART, being released by U.A. Releasing moderately wide, and I have to say that it’s pretty effin’ funny with a really talented young cast, led by Beanie Feldstein (Ladybird) and Kaitlyn Dever (Detroit), who could very well be the Jonah Hill and Michael Cera for a new generation. While I hate to outright call the movie Superbad for women, it’s definitely a movie in that vein but this one from a teen girl’s point of view. It also has some amazing side characters, particularly the one played by Billie Lourde, who is quite hilarious (and isn’t even in any of the trailers!). While I saw the movie too long ago to write a full-on review, this is the movie of the weekend I recommend more than any other movie, regardless of your age and gender. Its 99% on Rotten Tomatoes is no fluke!

Lastly, there’s Screen Gems’ BRIGHTBURN, which is a dark take on superheroes from one of James Gunn’s brothers and one of his cousins, and of course, James Gunn produced it. It’s directed by David Yarovesky, who has done some shorts and music videos, and it stars Gunn regular Elizabeth Banks, who appeared in Slitherway back in the day, as well as David Denman, plus Jackson Dunn as Brandon Breyer, the young kid with superpowers. Since I’ve seen this one more recently, here’s my….

MINI-REVIEW: Anyone who reads a lot of comics might be aware of the concept of “Elseworlds,” essentially DC’s version of a “What If?.” If you consider yourself a connoisseur of good comics than you probably have read Alan Moore’s “Miracleman” comics. The general idea was to look at what happens when someone with superpowers allows the powers to go to their head, and they use those powers for evil purposes. It’s even more interesting when said person is still a child without the maturity needed to handle having such power.

In that sense, Brightburn isn’t a completely original idea, though it is for the world movies where there haven’t been that many alternate superhero films, let alone ones treated like horror.  It takes the mythos of DC Comics’ Superman, of a baby from another alien taken in by a kindly Kansas couple, then twists it into a gory horror movie. It also deals with something I’ve always found interesting in what a kid might do if they discover they have superpowers and whether they would use them to get revenge on their oppressors, even if it’s their parents. Going by this film written by James Gunn’s brother and cousin, then the answer is “Yes.”

Brightburn begins with Elizabeth Banks and David Denman as a young couple trying to have a kid when a meteor lands nearby. We then see a montage of young Brandon Breyer growing from a baby to a pre-teen boy, and we see that he’s been having difficulty adjusting to school and life in Kansas

The results aren’t perfect and some of my issues might be due to how much is given away in the trailers, but in terms of combining things I like – superheroes and creepy kids who go on a wanton killing spree – it’s a high concept that keeps you entertained for all 90 minutes without a dull moment. That has much to do with David Yarovesky’s direction, as he has all the faculties needed to make a solid horror film, including some highly disturbing gory scenes, but also his small but capable cast.

Kind of the ultimate Richard Donner mash-up – part-Superman,part-The Omen– Brightburn isn’t perfect, but it’s a conceit that actually works to create a fun and gory time that’s more horror than superheroics.

RATING:7/10

You can read what I think of the above’s box office prospects over at The Beat.

LIMITED RELEASES

I wish I could say that I’ve seen more of this weekend’s limited release, but I’ve only watched a couple of them.

Opening at the Metrograph Friday is Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s surrealist comedy DIAMANTINO (Kino Lorber), an odd Portugal-set film about a world-famous soccer superstar, Carloto Cotta, who gets caught up in a controversy over statements made about refugees. He has some evil twin sisters who like glomming onto their brother’s fame and fortune, as well as a government conspiracy. It’s a rather amusing and entertaining film for sure, which reminded me of some of the stranger films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Terry Gilliam, but it won’t be for everyone.

Opening on Wednesday i.e. today is Noble Jones’ THE TOMORROW MAN (Bleecker Street), starring John Lithgow as a cranky survivalist Ed Hemsler who meets Blythe Danner’s Ronnie Meisner, who he sees as a like-minded individual. This is another boring romance movie geared towards the over-50s (that me)that doesn’t really go anywhere, and I couldn’t even enjoy it for the performances by the two leads because the material just wasn’t up to snuff.

Jill Magid’s doc THE PROPOSAL (Oscilloscope) is about architect Luis Barragan, whose work was locked away in a Swiss bunker on his death in 1988, which the filmmaker has tried to bring to light as she negotiates with those keeping charge of it. Opening in L.A. at the Landmark as well as the Quad Cinemathis weekend is Frédéric Tcheng’s doc HALSTON (1091) about designer Roy Halston Frowick, who rose to fame in the ‘70s.

Next up is a trio of music docs beginning with the one I’ve seen, Barak Goodman’s Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation (PBS Distribution / American Experience FIlms), which premiered at Tribeca and will get a nominal theatrical release before airing on PBS.  (It will be celebrating is 50thAnniversary in August, too!) As someone who admired the more famous 1970 Woodstock concert film by Michael Wadleigh – it even won the Oscar for documentary that year! – but Goodman’s movie finds new avenues into the 1969 music and art festlval by showing its development and the lead-up to the festival as well as all the problems it faced along the way. Probably the more interesting aspect of the movie is Wavy Gravy’s contribution to the festival security with his commune of artists who actually end up saving the day more than once.  (This doc will also premiere at the Quad this weekend with special guests.)

Having special shows across the country tonight and again on May 29 is Tom Jones’Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock n’ Roll (Trafalgar Releasing) about how the power of music and musicians like Steven Van Zandt, Southside Johnny Lyon, and of course, Bruce Springsteen, helped save the troubled Jersey town.  You can get tickets for these special shows at the official site.

Another neighborhood music community is being honored in Andrew Slater’s Echo in the Canyon (Greenwich), which celebrates the music coming out of Laurel Canyon in the mid-60s including the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Sprinfield and the Mamas and the Papes aka the California Sound.It opens in L.A. Friday and then in New York on May 31.

If you happened to see Paul Rudd in the film The Catcher Was a Spy last year, then you might be interested in learning more about his character Moe Berg, Aviva Kempner’s’s doc The Spy Behind Home Plate, which opens in Washington, DC this Friday and then In New York, Philly and other markets on May 31.

Gotta start wrapping up here but there’s also Rob Heydon’s thriller Isabelle (Vertical Entertainment), starring Adam Brody and Amanda Crew; as well as the Scott Adkins action-thriller Avengement (Samuel Goldwyn), directed by Jesse V. Johnson.

STREAMING AND CABLE

The movie I’m most excited about this weekend is for people to see Richard Shepard’s THE PERFECTION, streaming on Netflix Friday. It stars Allison Williams from Get Outand Logan Browning (Dear White People), and I’m not really sure what I can say about it, since I don’t want to spoil your experience. I can say that Williams plays a cello prodigy who has been off the circuit for a few years. When she returns, Browning’s character has kind of taken her place, but the two become close… and then stuff happens. Crazy stuff… stuff that you’re not going to forget anytime soon. But if you liked Get Out and Us and last year’s Hereditary, you’re probably going to like this movie that premiered at Fantastic Fest, as well.  I’ve loved Shepard’s dark sense of humor from movies like The Matador and Dom Hemingway, and he has two terrific stars in this one, who seem to be up for whatever is thrown their way… and a LOT is thrown their way. I also got to interview Richard for the fourth time recently, which you can read over at The Beat.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

This year’s 26th New York African Film Festival begins on Thursday at the BAMCinematek in Brooklyn with FilmAfrica, a series of fairly recent films from a continent that just doesn’t get enough attention in the cinematic world. The opening night of the BAM leg is Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’sSew the Winter to my Sky, a Western-inspired heist film about South African bandit John Kepe. On Saturday, you can see Raoul (I Am Not Your Negro) Peck’s 2005 film Sometimes in April starring Idris Elba about the Rwandan genocide. The movie will then move next week to Film at Lincon Center, as the program continues through June 4, so I’ll write more about their offerings next week. The festival wraps up its last few days from June 5 to June 9 at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem. I honestly wish I had more time to see some of this series because it looks fantastic and many of the films may never get U.S. distribution, but I just have too much on my plate right now.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

This weekend’s Late Nites at Metrograph is Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira  (1988) while the Playtime: Family Matinees is Jacques Perrin award-winning doc Winged Migration  (2001) on Saturday and Sunday morning. New York Times critic Glenn Kenny is presenting Elia Kazan’s 1969 film The Arrangement, starring Kirk Douglas and Fay Dunaway, on Saturday while poet and novelist Barry Gifford is showing a double feature of Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street (1953) and Jack Garfein’s The Strange One  (1957) on Sunday.

THE NEW BEVERLY  (L.A.):

Tarantino is in Cannes presenting his new movie (to absolute raves) but his rep theater is showing Vincente Minnelli’s 1953 film The Band Wagon starring Fred Astaire on Weds. afternoon. The week’s upcoming double features are Barbra Streisand’s Yentl (1983) and Crossing Delancey (1988) on Weds and Thurs., Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (2003) and Somewhere (2010) on Friday/Saturday, and Honor Among Lovers (1931), Craig’s Wife (1936) and Sarah and Son (1930) in a Dorothy Arzner triple feature Sunday and Monday. The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is the Tom Hanks-Penny Marshall movie Big (1988) and the midnight movies are the doc Full-Tilt Boogie (about the making of From Dusk til Dawn)on Friday and once again, The Love Witch, on Saturday. Next Monday’s matinee is the ensemble drama Now and Then  (1995) and then Tuesday’s GRINDHOUSE double feature is Kao Pao-Shu’s Blood of the Dragon  (1971) and The Master Strikes (1980).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own (1992), also starring Tom Hanks. Film Forum is also starting a new three-week 40-film (!) series called The Hour of Liberation: Decolonizing Cinema, 1966 – 1981, which includes screenings of The Battle of Algiers  (1966), Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl  (1966) and other films imported from “Third World” countries with support from the Academ of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Concurrently, Film Forum is kicking off The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema, which begins this weekend with the 1937 film The Dybbuk with a few other films running through June.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Cassavetes/Scorsese: Love is Strangecontinues with After Hours (1985) with Rosanna Arquette (!) and Gloria (1983) on Thursday and  Raging Bull (1980) and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) on Friday. Personally, I wish I could be in L.A. Saturday for a six-film Godzilla-Thon that includes some of my favorite films from Toho including the original 1954 Gojira. Then Sunday, there’s a double feature of the Uganda-set Bad Black  (2016) and Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010).

AERO  (LA):

Not to be outdone by the Egyptian, the AERO presents a Memorial Day in 70mm with Hook (1991) on Thursday, a double feature of The Thing and Starmanon Friday, 2001: A Space Odyssey on Saturday and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) on Sunday. Have I mentioned how I’d love to live in L.A. this weekend?

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Back in New York, Fighting Mad: German Genre Films from the Marginscontinues through Thursday as well as the doc Doomed Love: A Journey Through German Genre Film.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

This week, the Roxy is showing Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette(2006) in 35mm, as well as a screening of Joanna Hogg’s Exhibition(2013). They’re also showing Patrick Wang’s recent A Bread Factory, Part One (Friday) and Part Two (Saturday).

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance screens Rosemary’s Baby and Serial Mom on Memorial Day weekend, while Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad  shows Ozu’s Late Spring (1949) and Late Night Favorites: Spring continues withDavid Fincher’sFight Club, Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER(NYC):

This weekend, Lincoln Center begins its own Czech New Wave series with Ester Krumbachova: Unknown Master of the Czechoslovakia New Wave, running from May 24 through May 29. I still don’t know anything about the Czech New Wave then I knew a few months back, although apparently, she was a writer, director and costume designer and the series includes examples of all three.

MOMA (NYC):

It looks like Abel Ferrara: Unrated will run for the rest of the month, and this week, we get R’ Xmas  (2001) on Wednesday, The Funeral (1996) on Thursday, 1989’s Cat Chaser on Friday and Saturday as well as Napoli (2009) on Saturday. Sunday sees Mary (2005) and Crime Story (1986). The Jean-Claude Carrière series continues with Luis Buñuel’s The Phantom of Liberty (1974) on Thursday, Milos Forman’s Valmont (1989) on Friday and Saturday, Cyrano de Bergerac on Friday and Sunday as well as Andrzej Wajda’s Danton  (1983) plus more over the weekend. Basically, lots of interesting movie options.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

See It Big! Action is going full-throttle on Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series, showing ALL SIX movies between Friday and Sunday. What a perfect Memorial Day treat! I wish I lived closer to Astoria, Queens.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

This Friday’s Midnight Movie is Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo(1958).

I also want to quickly add that the Maysles Cinema is having a Manfred Kirschheimer retrospective of sorts, in that it’s premiering his new movie Dream of a City, showing it with some of his earlier documentary works, both short and long format. Just another example of the amazing cinema that you can see in New York on any given day of the week.

[justabrooklynkid-blog1]

RULES.  repost, don’t reblog. tag ten. TAGGED.  nicked from @quietresistence​ TAGGING.  @ijustcantseemtomiss, @the-blackest-spider, @jane-buchanan-barnes, @starkinternational, @hydrasweapon, @redstainedballerina, @mostlylows, @theotherbarnes, @tillvalhclla, @ouronlyhope, @scmethinginbetween and literally everyone else, it’s so in depth, I want to see all of yours!!

BASICS.

FULL  NAME.   Steven Grant Rogers NICKNAME.   Steve, Cap  (there are others but none he really likes) AGE.   canonically, where we’re at in the timeline right now, he’s 98 and, physically, 32 BIRTHDAY.   July 4th, 1918 ETHNIC GROUP.   Irish-American, white / Caucasian NATIONALITY.   American LANGUAGE.   English, bits of German, French and Irish Gaelic SEXUAL ORIENTATION.   bisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION.   biromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS.   depending heavily on the verse CLASS.   used to be working class, and I feel like he never quite stopped considering himself that HOME TOWN / AREA.   Brooklyn, New York CURRENT HOME.   Brooklyn, New York  (though also verse dependent) PROFESSION.   soldier, agent, avenger

PHYSICAL.

HAIR.   blond, cut short EYES.   blue NOSE.   average, slightly crooked  (has been broken before) FACE.   square LIPS.   full bottom lip COMPLEXION.   pale, sometimes slightly tanned BLEMISHES.   none SCARS.   a few small ones like a cut on the knuckles TATTOOS.   none HEIGHT.   6′2″ WEIGHT.   205 lbs / 93 kg BUILD.   mesomorph FEATURES.   mostly even, rather sharp and angular ALLERGIES.   none USUAL HAIR STYLE.   natural, modern short USUAL FACE LOOK.   entirely dependent on the mood USUAL CLOTHING.   when off duty, usually jeans and shirt / henley

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR.   losing loved ones, loneliness ASPIRATION.   protecting people, finding a place for himself in life POSITIVE TRAITS.   brave, caring, loyal, open-minded, just, strong  (physically and mentally) NEGATIVE TRAITS.   stubborn, reckless, uncompromising, controlling, overly internalized MBTI.   ISFP - The Protector  (details) ZODIAC.   Cancer  (details) TEMPERAMENT.   melancholic  (details) SOUL TYPE.   caregiver, leader  (details) ANIMALS.   sable  (details) VICE HABIT.   recklessness FAITH.   father protestant, mother catholic GHOSTS?   no AFTERLIFE?   maybe REINCARNATION?   probably not ALIENS?   obviously POLITICAL ALIGNMENT.   social democrat ECONOMIC PREFERENCE.   probably welfare capitalism, but he wouldn’t say he knows enough details to really be able to tell SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION.   liberal EDUCATION LEVEL.   high school education

FAMILY.

FATHER.   Joseph Rogers MOTHER.   Sarah Rogers, née O’Leary (Ó Laoghaire) SIBLINGS.   none EXTENDED  FAMILY.   family in Ireland that Steve has never met NAME MEANING.   Steven - crown or wreath, Grant - great or large, Rogers - ‘son of Roger’ / derived from Hrothgar - fame and spear HISTORICAL CONNECTION?   he possibly met a President after coming out of the ice

FAVOURITES.

BOOKS.   H. G. Wells - The War of the Worlds,  Günter Grass - The Tin Drum,  Lewis Carroll - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,  Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn,  Jack London - The Call of the Wild,  J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings,  Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials MOVIES.   anything that has a good, gripping plot, also Disney movies MUSIC.   he doesn’t have one favorite artist but loves the music from the 60s and 70s DEITY.   Thor :) HOLIDAY.   Christmas MONTH.   May/June SEASON.    early Summer PLACE.   Brooklyn Bridge WEATHER.   moderately warm, sunny SOUND.   heartbeat, laughter of certain people, cackle of radios of old SCENT.   freshly washed sheets, worn leather, pie fresh from the oven, grass and earth after rain, vintage aftershave TASTE.   everything fresh and / or pan seared, sandwiches, pasta, roast birds with gravy, sweet pies, chocolate pudding FEEL.   that feels impossible to answer. nice things ANIMAL.   dogs NUMBER.   no specific one COLOR.   blue

EXTRA.

TALENTS.   leadership, art, fighting, inspirational words, listening BAD  AT.   dancing, flirting, accepting defeat TURN  ONS.   confidence, capability, enthusiasm, thick hair, nice lips, shaped ass TURN  OFFS.   spuriousness, disinterest, ridicule, pain, disrespect HOBBIES.   drawing, painting, reading, sparring, catching up on pop culture, watching baseball, driving his motorcycle TROPES.   honestly? too many to count here AESTHETICS.   wrapped knuckles, open night sky, combat boots, aging sepia photographs, paint-smeared hands, bountiful breakfast table, sunshine filtering through light curtains

FC INFO.

MAIN  FC.   Chris Evans ALT  FC.   - OLDER  FC.   - YOUNGER  FC.   - VOICE  CLAIM.   Chris Evans

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1.   if you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about? A1.   for me, CA:TWS was pretty much the perfect movie, I don’t think I’d change a thing about it

Q2.   what would their soundtrack / score sound like? A2.   there are quite a few instrumental songs I know that remind me of him, for example from the Thin Red Line soundtrack or Arctic by Sleeping at Last

Q3.   why did you start writing this character? A3.   because I love everything about him and, before I started, I’d seen one too many portrayals that drove me crazy

Q4.   what first attracted you to this character? A4.   honestly, his storyline with Bucky in CA:TWS

Q5.   describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5.   how he’s being abused by something like the Secret Empire storyline? I don’t know, I don’t actively dislike anything about his character the way I see him, even with all his flaws

Q6.   what do you have in common with your muse? A6.   I’d like to think that we have a similar moral compass

Q7.   how does your muse feel about you? A7.   that question twists my brain too much to answer properly

Q8.   what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with? A8.   is this question asking about which writing partners? because oh boy, I’m blessed with so many interesting characters and threads

Q9.   what gives you the inspiration to write your muse? A9.   wanting to explore him in interpersonal relationships with other people more in depth than would ever be possible in the movies

Q10.   how long did this take you to complete? A10.   ages

[here-on-earth-blog1]

99 Things I Love

1.  My sweet Lord who loves so well 2. My joyful parents whose constant love and support is beyond measure 3. Corgis and French Bulldogs 4. My home in the Eucharist 5. Adoration. Sweet time spent with my Lord. Grateful for all of the tears, laughter, love, stillness, silence, and inspiration found here. 6. The joyful blessing I have received through our Blessed Mother 7. Trader Joe’s Simply Almond, Cashew, and Chocolate Trek Mix 8. My beautiful sisters who always radiate God’s goodness and help me strive for holiness 9. Peanut Butter. Peanut butter with apples, PB&J’s, peanut butter with a spoon, just peanut butter. 10. The man, the myth, the legend; Father Mike Schmitz. His words have done wonders for my faith life. Meeting him was pure bliss 11. My dear friends back home. No matter the time or distance we can still pick up right where we left off 12. Sarah’s Day & just YouTube altogether 13. Longhorn Awakening 14. Playing Werewolf at UCC game nights 15. St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic Church 16. Roy and Ann Butler Trail 17. Basketball, Zach Lavine, Devin Booker, the Arizona Wildcats, the PAC 12 Tournament NBA Summer League 18. Thrift Shopping 19. Bookstores and the books that lie within them 20. Journals. I have far too many journals. 21. The beach: sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling, paddleboarding 22. My sweet little flower, St. Therese of Lisieux. Her intercession has been incredibly fruitful, and her childlike faith serves as such a darling example 23. Studying/reading at a new coffee shop. Bennu’s forever has my heart, but it’s fun to look around 24. Warm jammies in a cold house 25. When the leaves change in the fall 26. Whole Food’s salad bar 27. The feeling you get after an intense workout 28. Stargazing ESPECIALLY at Longhorn Awakening 29. I love Mother Teresa’s heart and humility. Her words are so full of life and wisdom. 30. Bluebonnets in the spring 31. My goofy cousins who are always down to have game nights, complain about my cooking and are the siblings I always wanted 32. The smell after a good hard rain, when the breeze is blowing just right. Light and crisp. 33. Heart to hearts, deep conversations, being vulnerable with others 34. Chats by the fireside, with a nice cup of hot cocoa, and a blanket to snuggle under 35. Reconciliation. It is far less scary than it used to be. Grateful for the outpouring of mercy our Father so graciously gives to us 36. Making unnecessarily long lists 37. Traveling. Seeing the beauty of God’s creation only reveals a slight piece of heaven that I never knew before 38. Reading a good book on a rainy day 39. Warm hugs 40. The sun right before it sets and leaves streaks across the sky. Beautiful enough to take anyone’s breath away 41. BoY mEEtS WoRLd 42. Early mornings. When everything is still, and only a few people have started their day 43. Cooking. Not America’s Next Top Chef but I sure do try 44. The smell of blueberry muffin candles 45. Beachbody Workouts (holla) 46. Kauai, HI. No place more beautiful, green, or serene. 47. My faith constantly leaves me in awe. I love the traditions, the people, the word, the sacraments. 48. Quokkas. They are my spirit animal. 49. Farmer’s Markets. Their coffee and produce is stellar 50. The New York Yankees 51. Looking at Christmas lights while jamming out to JB’s Christmas album 52. String lights 53. Scavenger hunts 54. Long walks…on the beach, on a trail, through the city. Good company makes them even more wonderful 55. Chatting with strangers & I wonder why my mom says I am too trusting… 56. Ziplining. Maybe I’ll be able to fly one day. 57. My mass journal. Every time I go to mass I write down things from the homily. My current one is almost full :) 58. Making people smile 59. Hikes, chacos, Patagonia, ENUs, camping, maps 60. Babies!!! Especially my sweet cousin Paisley 61. Concerts. 1D, For KING AND COUNTRY, Bruno Mars, and Matt Maher have to be my favorite 62. Nuns. What a gift. They are so joyful and so full of the goodness of the Lord that it overflows in everything that they do. 63. Mama’s Fish House (Poho Pi, HI) Their seafood is incredible!! 64. Loose T-shirts & Birkenstocks 65. Sporadically waving my arms around while jumping up and down. I call it dancing. 66. The Perfect Game is and probably always will be my favorite movie of all time 67. My confirmation saint, St. Agnes of Montepulciano. Her deep devotion and love to our Heavenly Father is such an inspiration. 68. Massages. Rub my back, and I will love you forever. 69. Pretending I can take super fabulous photos 70. The sweet smell of a hotel lobby with a hint of coffee in the air 71. Headbands. The more, the merrier!!! 72. When your tummy hurts from laughing so hard 73. My Podcast. Homegirl loves her podcasts: UMD Newman, Catholic Stuff You Should Know, Pints with Aquinas, Among the Lilies, Do Something Beautiful 74. Big sweatshirts 75. The old Disney Channel: That’s So Raven, Hannah Montana, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody especially. 76. Watermelon. I once ate two in two days. It messes you up hahah. 77. Avatar: The Last Airbender 78. Taking a long shower after being outside all day 79. Water. With lemon, limes, oranges, cucumbers, by itself, I don’t discriminate…unless it’s sparkling, ew. 80. Super cheesy teen romance novels 81. Small goats in tiny sweaters 82. When friends or strangers remind you that you are where God needs you to be 83. Wolfgang Puck’s spaghetti and meatballs 84. Classics; The Little Giants, In the Heat of the Night, 10 Things I Hate About You, Happy Together, Spiderman, Can’t Buy Me Love, The Graduate, & Space Jam 85. Scented candles 86. Puerto Rico. The people are so welcoming, the water is great, the food is fantastic, and the cities are brimming with history 87.  Pinterest. Bible study, fun activities, food, new doodles, Pinterest does not disappoint 88. National Parks. Adventure, oh yeah!!! 89. Austin, TX & The University of Texas, hook ‘em 90. Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk Leave-in Conditioner; the only thing that can tame the mane. 91. The Holy Spirit who blazes through my heart and the hearts of those around me. Your fire burns bright and never fades. 92. Acting like a child :) 93. Old couples who are still very much in love 94. Fuzzy socks, socks with dogs, thick socks, long socks, short socks, socks that have been washed a hundred times… 95. Planners and/or calendars. Have a plan. Stay organized. 96. Anything from the 1960’s!!! 97.  When you call someone to ask a question and end up talking to them for two hours 98.  Succulents. I love being a mommy to my plants. 99. This wonderfully crazy life

[paradox-oflife]

massive q and a post part 4 ignore this pls

1. Is the grass greener on the other side? It depends on perspective I guess. To me, not really. All of us are going through some stuff in the inside.

2. If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one around to hear it does it make a noise? uuuuuh yeah, i’d say so!

3. Why does it always rain on me? (idk how to respond to this)

4. Have you ever sailed a boat? One time. It was kinda scary ngl but my brother basically did most things for me.

5. Do you love or loathe Harry Potter? Love. Bro, 2nd grade me reading books under the covers. Catch me with some Percy Jackson or HP.

6. Do you do your utmost for the environment? Of course mate. Though one person won’t have much effect on global warming, you gotta respect your surroundings.

7. Do you love or loather Eurovison? I only watched it once. Reminds me a lot of the Voice. I don’t really watch that type of stuff though.

8. Have you ever wielded a sword? YEAH. I got a plastic one for a skit in school and god it was so much fun doing choreographed fights. I felt cool.

9. If you were famous would you want a statue or a building names after you? Maybe something small. Nothing too big. Depends what I did to become famous too.

10. Whats your favourite type of fish? Why the Blobfish of course.

11. Which do you prefer pony tails or pig tails? Ponytails. I wear low ponytails like everyday because my hair makes my face irritated sometimes.

12. Whats the ultimate cake topping? Fruit. Enough said.

13. Do you like marzipan? It’s no bad.

14. Whats better? Center Parks or Butlins?  (I’m assuming this is another British thing for hotels)

15. If you were in a band, what instrument/role would you play? I actually was in a band during high school with my friends, except we barely performed. We just hung out in the garage playing songs we liked. I was the bassist, or sometimes when the keyboardist couldn’t make it I’d play piano. I wanted to try drums but i can’t move my limbs independently enough. I tried picking up the guitar but there’s too many strings lmao i can’t memorize enough chords

16. Can you erect a tent? Nope

17. Do you suck or bite lollipops? Suck it until I get bored, then i CRONCH it

18. Have you ever used a telephone book? (yeah im old enough to remember these things) I used it as fuel for a fireplace lol

19. If you have an mp3 player what size is it? I used to have one. It was smaller than my hand.

20. Do you still have any music on vinyl or casettes? No :( I don’t have a vinyl player but I have old casettes of Chinese Children songs lmao

21. Do you still have a camera that uses conventional film? My dad has one, but it’s out of batteries.

22. Approximately how many DVD's do you have? A lot. I have one of those books with DVD holders and they’re just movies like Shrek.

23. Approximately how many Albums do you have? Downloaded on my phone - a lot.

24. Do you talk to yourself? When I’m alone. I’ve done it before at school and I got crazy looks

25. Do you sing to yourself? ONLY when Im by myself. God forbid anyone hears me singing.

26. Do you know any identical twins? I know two pairs that’s my age, and a pair that’s 27 I believe.

27. Have you ever given blood? No, I really should as someone with blood type O+ but im a big WUSS when it comes to needles.

28. Could you ever be a medical guineapig? Nah. I need something that’s been tested. Because if they screw up, chances are they won’t know how to fix it.

29. Whats your favourite radio station? Classical music station for short drives because I don’t know like any of the “mainstream” stuff. But I just connect my phone to the car and listen to my own playlists.

30. Whats your favourite letter of the Alphabet?  X feels so exotic

31. Which is better? rollerblade or rollerskates? Rollerskates.

32. Have you ever written a love letter? No

33. How many valentines cards did you recieve this/last year? 5. They were all from my friends :)

34. What are cooler? Dinosaurs or Dragons? Dragons for SURE

35. Have you ever made your own ice lollipops? No

36. Have you ever made your own Ice cream? No

37. Which foreign language did you have to learn at school? and do you still remember enough to hold a conversation in that language? I did two years of Spanish in middle school, but for high school I went the easy path and took Chinese. Then again, most people who take Chinese already speak Chinese. I did it to jump to AP faster.

38. Do you know CPR? Only from the Office, but I’ve never had to do it before. I heard you have to keep pushing until the ribs break?? 

39. Do you have any swimming badges? Nah, I can swim but I sure am slow

40. Do you prefer digital or rotary/analogue clocks? I’m alright with either

41. How tall is the tallest person you know? 6′7″. Mate, I’m 5′1″, I literally have to tilt my head so high just to talk with him.

42. Have you ever got lost in a maze? omg yeah in New Zealand there’s this thing called a sensory maze. And at one point you go into this room where the seizure inducing lights are flashing on and off super quickly and it’s filled with mirrors. Me and my cousin were basically crawling on the floor because we kept crashing into mirrors.

43. Have you ever been attacked by a wild animal? No and I hope I never do

44. Have you ever ridden a camel? No. Don’t see a lot of camels in California

45. Whats your opinion on rats? They’re alright. As long as they’re not in my house

46. Have you ever been to a gym? Yeah.

47. Have you ever been in a helicopter? No, but it seems kind of fun

48. Have you ever cheated at a test? Okay, maybe a couple times but after 9th grade i STOPPED

49. Have you ever ridden a tractor? Yeah, I even wore a bandana.

50. Are you a gossip? No. I only spill tea around people I know who can keep secrets.

51. Have you ever cried at a film? Yeah. The last time was during Avengers Endgame when Black Widow sacrifices herself.

52. When you're ill do you struggle on regardless or just curl up in bed as much as possible? Well, coming from an Asian family, I developed that type of mentality where if it’s just a cold, then I keep going. If I have a fever, then I stay home.

53. Do you need to write down things to remember them? Most of the times

54. Do you keep a diary/journal? I’ve kept one since 6th grade. It’s so interesting to see how my mentality and thinking has changed over the years. From my lowest points to my highest, it’s so cool.

55. Are you scared of thunderstorms? Nah, unless there’s lightning close by. One time I was at Taiwan and there was lightning like right outside my house. Bro it’s the scariest thing ever. You see a flash of lightning next to the window and the house rattles with a BOOOOOM. Legit, it’s so loud

56. Do you have any unusual fears or phobias? I mean, needles are a pretty common fear so I guess not.

57. Whats your favourite disney movie? Lion King. The remake wasn’t that bad imo.

58. Have you ever slept in a caravan? Nope

59. Have you ever painted a house? I’ve painted inside one

60. Have you got green fingers? I mean, I’m alright with plants. 

61. Whats the tallest tree you've ever climbed? Not that tall because I slipped and fell one time and had the air knocked out of me. Thought I would die there lol

62. Have you ever dialed the talking clock? (another uk thing)

63. Do you always wear identical socks? I try to but hey, if I don’t care, then it’s a free for all

64. Do you live by any motto or philosophy? A couple actually. A lot of comes from the Bible, specifically the whole  Matthew 5-7 sermon on the mountain

65. Do you lick the yoghurt or desert lid? Yes, there’s so much on there.

66. Do you lick the spoon clean after making something sweet? Usually, unless it’s like raw or something

67. Do you like the sound of music? (the musical/film) I remember watching that on those old TVs during elementary school. I think it’s a pretty nice film!

68. Have you ever made your own orangejuice? Yeah

69. Have you ever sucked on a lemon? yes and i think i had a sweet lemon because it was honestly not sour

70. Have you ever licked a battery? no WTF

71. Are you a good aim with a rubber band? Ah, not really.

72. Have you ever played golf? Yee

73 .Whats the most unusual name you've ever come across? I met a Jezebel before. The name meaning itself isn’t bad, but that character in the Bible is associated with pretty bad things

74. Do you prefer to wash in the mornings or evenings? Evening showers>>>> you literally CANNOt change my mind

75. Have you ever danced in the rain? No. because I hate getting my shoes wet.

76. Do you like long or short hair? Long hair

77. Have you ever sworn at an authority figure? Nope. I’m a good kid

78. Have you ever walked into a wall? Yes. So embarrassing.

79. Whats your favourite precious metal? N/A

80. Whats your favourite precious stone? N/A

81. Could you ever hunt your own meal? No way. 

82. Have you ever read any comics? None of your standard American DC Comics, but yeah.

83. Where do you like to go to on a first date? Somewhere personal. Doesn’t matter where really. I mean personal like, a picnic on a grassy plain, or under a starry sky. Studio Ghibli vibes.

84. Do you prefer vertical or horizontal stripes? Horizontal I guess

85. Have you ever baked your own bread? Yeah and it came out like pita chips lol

86. Can you believe I can't believe its not butter is in fact not actually butter? I don’t eat that much butter, but I guess it’s what it says in the title?

87. Can you name all 50 American states? Yes. Capitals though? Maybe 70%

88. Have you ever owned a goldfish? Ive had a beta fish and two guppies in second grade. 

89. What was your favourite school subject? Orchestra and Literature. A lot of people are surprised at my choice of lit. But I actually love reading and analyzing, though writing papers kind of suck. The problem for me when it comes to writing papers isn’t coming up with a topic, it’s wording it in MLA format. Like I could discuss with people all the time but its hard to organize my thoughts.

90. What was your least favourite school subject? Math. Which is a bit odd because I’m actually not too bad at it. But I’ve had the most mental breakdowns when it comes to math. Geez, AP Calc was a ride. I also cried in Chemistry once. 

91. Have you ever passed wind in an embarassing situation? Not that I can’t think of. And Im sure if I have, it would be engraved in my memories.

92. Have you ever played the bongos? Yeah. Pretty fun.

93. Have you ever handled a snake? Yeah it was a smol milk snake. He was a shy boy.

94. Have you ever assembled furniture by yourself? OMG YEAH from Ikea it was such an experience. The satisfaction of sitting in a chair you built all by yourself is so satisfying.

95. When did you last go to the beach? Like... a while ago. A year ago maybe.

96.  When if ever did you last go to london? Haven’t been there, but totally would!

97. What do you do to cool down when its hot? Sit inside with a fan, or A/C

98. Whats the most unusual thing you've ever eaten? Okay now don’t judge me on this one but i LOVE century eggs. It’s not too uncommon to find them in Taiwan.

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Firefly, Lou Antonelli, Nintendo 1985, Robot Anime

T.V. (Medium.com): Every generation has their white whale of a concluded series. Baby boomers got hooked on Star Trek and made a big noise about it until they got movies, spinoff shows, more movies, more spinoff shows… Generation X kept the love of Star Wars alive until they got novels, video games, comics and, err, prequels. Milennials got Firefly. And three years later, Serenity, a movie that, while excellent, reminded us that the story worked better on TV.  And then nothing.

Author Interview (Liberty Island): It was four months of Hell for the Sad Puppy finalists– from the announcement of the ballot in April until the WorldCon in August – and essentially a left-wing lynch mob. In the end, the whole fiasco can be considered useful because it made the secret manipulators come out of the closet. Larry Correia has been completely vindicated.

Fiction (Paperback Warrior):  “East of Desolation” was Jack Higgins’ (real name: Henry Patterson) 22nd novel, published in 1968 by Berkley and then reprinted dozens of times using different cover art. The book arrived seven years prior to Higgins becoming a mega-bestseller and household name with his 1975 novel “The Eagle Has Landed”. While booming sales never supported the material, the 1960s produced some of Higgins’ finest literary work, evident with this ice-capped adventure starring brush pilot Joe Martin.

Westerns (Mostly Old Books): A taut and violent short western that finds young Jess Remsberg, consumed with avenging the rape and murder of his wife, scouting for an Army wagon train that finds itself outnumbered in a brutal cat-and-mouse battle with a band of merciless Apaches. The tension remains high as the brilliant Apache warlord Chata matches wits step for step with young and ambitious Army Lieutenant McAllister who is close friends with Jess.

Book Review (Pulp Fiction Reviews): New Pulp writer Derrick Ferguson is best known for his action packed adventures, be they the exploits of Dillon, Fortune McCall or Sebastian Red. All of these should already be on your reading list. But back in 1914, Ferguson wrote this truly amazing novella, “The Madness of Frankenstein” that is his homage to the great Hammer horror flicks of the 60s and 70s. Having finally picked up a copy, we were eager open its pages and discover what special grisly treats Mr. Ferguson had whipped up for his unsuspecting readers.

Cinema (Scifi Movie Page): Disney+ has officially arrived, with all the force and weight that Uncle Walt’s 600 lb. entertainment gorilla can muster. The Mouse plays for keeps, and the buzz around event releases like The Mandalorian and the various MCU projects immediately put their streaming service in the top tier alongside Netflix and Amazon.

But Disney’s strengths go beyond their acquisition (and undeniably strong shepherding) of hot IPs such as Marvel and Star Wars. Their library stretches back over 80 years, and a large amount of it is available for streaming.

D&D (Walker’s Retreat): You know you’ve got something worth watching when you get a comment like this: “Yes. Monotheism is the missing link that D&D needs for a medieval authentic feeling in your game. I use it. In addition it does one of two things. It either keeps SJWs away from your game, or it attracts them because they want to break your game or be an antichurch outsider. In those cases they always end up quitting because they don’t get what they want.”

Gaming (RMWC Reviews): The Nintendo Entertainment System represented a sea change in what video game consoles could do and how they were received at home. Released in 1985 in North America, the NES came out at a time when the American market was still reeling from the great industry crash of 1983. Compared to the Atari 2600 which was the previous home console of choice, the NES had better graphics, sound, processing power, and yes, gimmicks. The 1985 launch was actually limited to New York City for the holiday season, and was then expanded in 1986 when it was clear to be a success.

Anime (Wasteland and Sky): As anyone who knows anime knows, there are two kinds of mecha series. First there were the originals, the super robots, then there were those created with Mobile Suit Gundam, the real robots. The former were pulp heroes that went on adventures to stop the villains while the latter were based on soldiers fighting in wars. Different approaches and aims allowed for very different legacies.

Book Review (Matthew Constantine): The second book in The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron is somewhat more complex and more interesting than The Book of Three.  Having already been introduced to many of the characters, we don’t need to go through that again and can instead jump right into the action.  Taran and friends are tasked with finding and destroying the Black Cauldron aka the Crochan, the magic item used to create near invincible Cauldron Born, undead warriors.

Tolkien (BBC): A pub made famous as a meeting place for fantasy authors CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien is to be made into a hotel. The Eagle and Child in St Giles’, Oxford, has a plaque inside commemorating the writers’ get-togethers. Known as The Inklings, they would regularly meet up with other academics at the Grade II listed pub. The application was approved by Oxford City Council’s west area planning committee on Tuesday.

D&D/Cinema (Tenkar’s Tavern): Comicbook.com shared an article about the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie (due Summer of 2021) – Thanks to Luke Gygax for sharing the article on Facebook. The upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie will feature at least one character with ties to the Forgotten Realms and will focus on a quest for an iconic magical object. ComicBook.com can exclusively report that the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie currently in development by Paramount will focus on a group of adventurers looking for the Eye of Vecna, a powerful artifact that dates back to the earliest days of the game.

Pulp Hero (Black Gate): I have to confess that writing The Spider is a completely different experience for me than writing the Wild Adventures of Doc Savage, Tarzan, John Carter, or any of the other classic pulp heroes I’ve been privileged to bring back to life in new novels. With these other pulp heroes, it’s largely a matter of concocting a logical plot and having the heroes go through their customary pieces, although I seem to have quickly become an accidental king of crossovers since I’ve managed to convince the various license holders to permit me to have a few of them collide, such as Doc Savage and The Shadow, Tarzan of the Apes and King Kong.

Review (Porpor Books Blog): Men of Violence: All Review Special’ ($5.99, 93 pp) features reviews (limited to 250 words for an individual book and 500 words for a series) of over 100 paperbacks and comics published from 1953 to the present day, that fall (more or less) into the genre of ‘Men’s Adventure’ fiction. Needless to say, we live in an era in which men rarely read for pleasure, the genre of Men’s Adventure is regarded as affront to a Woke society, and any adolescent who brings a copy of Torture Love Cage (Jack Savage, 1959) to school probably will be expelled, and obliged to receive Counseling before being readmitted.

Book Review (Rough Edges): Almost a year ago, I read the first book in the Casca series by Barry Sadler and really enjoyed it. I didn’t mean for so much time to go by before I got back to the series, but that’s the way it happened. I’ve finally read the second book, GOD OF DEATH, which picks up the story of Casca Rufio Longinus, former Roman soldier who was present at the Crucifixion and was cursed with immortality because of it. Wounds or illness that would kill a normal man can’t claim him, and he’s doomed to wander the world, always making his way as a mercenary soldier.

Novel Excerpt (DMR Books): Wulfhere and Eanhere and their army of bears crept down the valley silently. From a cliff they could see Penda’s men as they sat in a little grove eating their midday meal. Eanhere took half the bears and crept round to the other side of the grove while Wulfhere waited on this side with the rest. Wulfhere crept quietly closer till only a small knoll stood between the Mercians and himself, and he could hear their loud talk and laughter. “Ha, we will root this bear out of his den, and he will go the way of his people!” one said as he emptied his horn of mead.

Art (Karavansara): Turns out this is a Robert Maguire cover for a novel called The Deadly Lady of Madagascar, bt Frank G. Slaughter (nice name for someone writing about deadly ladies) that I will try and find somehow. If I can’t write it, I can certainly read it.

Alt. History (Enter Stage Right): Alternative history (popularly called “alternate history”) is sometimes termed “uchronia” or counterfactual history. It is important to remember that alternative history pertains to events that are in the past at the time when the narrative is being written. So, for example, the 1920s projections of Hugo Gernsback about the 1980s cannot be properly termed as being alternative history – even though his vision of the world of the 1980s is much different from what has actually occurred.

D&D (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): So, I just got a comment on my post back in September on the new film documenting Arnesom’s role in the creation of D&D. Since the comment seems to come from the filmmaker himself, thought I’d feature it here so as to give the filmmakers a better chance to have their say. Here’s their comment.

Gaming Magazines (Silver Key): Later issues of White Dwarf introduced readers to Thrud the Barbarian. The loinclothed barbarian stereotype born in the pages of sword-and-sorcery (Brak, Thongor, Kothar and their ilk) was by then quite pervasive, and strip author Carl Critchlow had fun with a character that was literally all muscle and no brain—a tiny head upon a massive, muscular body. Issue #50 (February 1984) has Thrud invoking “the sacred jockstrap of Robert E. Howard” before hacking his way through a horde of castle defenders, whom he (mistakenly) believes are holding a princess captive in the tower.

Science Fiction (Tellers of Weird Tales): I’m going back farther now into the past, into spring when, in a week when I was sick, I read The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis. Things To Come (1936) was still fresh in my mind when I read these books. That freshness may have influenced my thoughts on Out of the Silent Planet (1938), Perelandra (1943), and That Hideous Strength (1945). I shouldn’t spend too much time on this, but I’m sure I will. There is a lot in The Space Trilogy and it’s hard to move past some of these things without commenting on them and applying them to issues current in this blog and in our world of today.

Weird Tales (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Seabury Grandin Quinn would begin his writing career in The Thrill Book, an early Weird Tales precursor devoted to strange and off-trail fiction. Street & Smith, the future publisher of The Phantom and Doc Savage, ran The Thrill Book for sixteen issues, from March 1 to October 15, 1919. The magazine would publish Francis Stevens’ The Heads of Cerberus, one of the first science fiction novels about parallel worlds.

Sensor Sweep: Firefly, Lou Antonelli, Nintendo 1985, Robot Anime published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[jonasmaurer]

73 questions

Hey friends! Happy Thursday! Hope you’re enjoying the week. 

It’s been a fun and crazy one over here. The girls have had half-day camps, Liv auditioned for dance team, the Pilot has been flying nights, and madre’s birthday was on Tuesday! We got together for a *small* family dinner (we joke that we’re just a small party of 28), and ate Mexican food, cake, and sang “Happy Birthday” to the amazing lady who gives so much to everyone in our family.

 My fave picture from the night! 

(The cake was from Whole Foods bakery and so so good.)

Workout-wise, I’ve crushed every day this week. Sunday, we filmed Summer Shape Up videos (the party starts June 24)! Monday, I hopped on the Peloton bike for a 30-minute ride, Tuesday was barre, Wednesday was a BODYATTACK class On Demand (my link is good for 21 days FREE of the amazing Les Mills workouts), and today and tomorrow are off since I’m traveling to Chicago for a blog trip. I’m looking forward to catching up with Anne and Julie, and meeting some new blogger friends. I’ll be sure to share some of the adventures on IG stories!

I originally planned to post this one while we were on our cruise, but since internet was a bit sketchy – and I blasted through the ship’s plan in a mere 24 hours – I didn’t get the chance to get this one published. I originally saw this survey on my friend Ashley’s blog, and then Julie’s. I loved reading their answers so much, so I thought I’d join in the survey fun. 

1.  What’s the best thing that happened to you this month? Taking a Disney Cruise with the fam! 

2. What’s your favorite game? We don’t usually play board games at home, but our favorite games is a hide and seek and tag hybrid. I hide, the girls try to find me, I jump out and go “AHHH!” and they scream, I chase them around until I tag them, and then they hide. 

3. When are you most inspired? Mid-morning, usually after I’ve had breakfast and survived the school drop-off. 

4. If you could teach one subject in school what would it be? Math

5. What’s your favorite beverage? LaCroix 

6. What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received? A friend from the gym sent a text message while the Pilot was deployed and basically gave me a pep talk. She said she was proud of me for doing so well with work stuff and solo parenting. It was very unexpected and really made my whole month. It was a great reminder to let other people know when I’m inspired by them or think they’re crushing it. 

7. What is your favorite birthday cake? Yellow cake with chocolate buttercream

(That was my bday cake last year!)

8. What is one thing you still have from your childhood? A photo album that my mom made for me when I was 4 and we’d taken a trip to California. I was with all of my aunties, my parents were still married, and my uncle was still alive. Our dog chewed around the edges of it when I was younger, and the small plastic photo album contains quite a few happy memories from being a kid.

9. What is your favorite movie? Love, Actually

10. What is something you can’t do? Play the flute even though I faked it for an entire year in 5th grade. I could do all of the finger work, but no sound would come out. So I just pursed my lips and acted like I knew what I was doing. 

11. Window or aisle seat? Aisle so I can get up a thousand times if I feel like it. 

12. What makes you laugh no matter what? P makes the most ridiculous faces that make me laugh every day. We get a kick out of zooming in on photos that she’s in, because you never know what you’re going to get.

13. What does creativity mean to you? Free from any perceived restraints or judgments. 

14. What are your favorite lyrics of all time? “Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now.” I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of Hamilton.

Or hanging out with Betsy  

15. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving

16. What’s heavily played on your music playlist right now? “Far Too Good” by John Smith. 

17. If you could raid one woman’s closet who would it be? My friend Annie’s! Whenever she posts Instagram posts, I want her outfit and her shoes

18. Must have purse item? Color Intense lipstick in at least 3 shades

19. What did you want to be when you grew up when you were 12? On Broadway

20. What is something you will not be doing in ten years? Wondering where the heck we’ll be living in a couple of years. It’s so crazy to be able to know and plan where we want to live. 

21. What is an important life lesson for someone to learn? Your gut instinct is always right.

22. How do you start your day? Scrolling through my phone with one eye closed.

23. Would you ever live anywhere besides Tucson? Yes! We’d love to make it back to San Diego one day but love being in Tucson for now.

24. What is your favorite dessert?  Anything super chocolaty.

25. Is there a dessert you don’t like? Creme brûlée is gross.

26. It’s brunch! What do you eat? Eggs, breakfast potatoes, turkey sausage, and a mimosa because brunch without cocktails is just a sad breakfast. <— words of wisdom from Prep & Pastry

27. Where was the best vacation you’ve ever taken? Positano

28. Favorite Disney animal? Stitch

29. What is a book you are planning on reading? “Educated” is downloaded on my Kindle but I haven’t started it yet

30. What did you read most recently? “Where the Crawdads Sing” and loooooved it

31. Favorite solo artist? Michael Bublé for life

32. What is something you’re tired of? The Instagram algorithm. They want to turn it into a “pay to play” platform, which was the downfall of Facebook

33. What’s a city you wish to visit? Paris

34. Heels or flats? Wedges

35.  Where does one go on a perfect road trip? To Sedona. It’s just an easy drive from us and has an incredible energy.

36. What do you do on a rainy day? Try to find indoor activities to entertain the kiddos! We’ll do art, visit a museum, go rock climbing, or see a movie

37. What’s your favorite exercise? Spin, barre and BODYPUMP are tied

38. What was your worst subject in school? English which is a hilarious thing since I write a blog for a living

39. What is your spirit animal? An otter. I want to spend the day in the pool, floating on my back, eating salad

40. What do you usually eat for breakfast? A giant egg patty and either oatmeal with almond butter or a brown rice tortilla

41. What do you usually eat for dinner? We change it up every night but some classics are salmon, sweet potato and salad, Harney Cobbs, or sushi roll bowls

42. Cooking or Baking? Both!

43. Favorite baked good? Cookie dough on the bottom, Oreo’s in the middle, and brownies on top

44. What is something you wish you could be good at? Organizing photos on my laptop. It’s a hot mess

45. Skiing or Surfing? Paddle boarding 

46. First celebrity crush? JTT — Jonathan Taylor Thomas — I became a vegetarian for him when I was 8

47. Most recent celebrity crush? Aaron Tveit. I love his voice!

48. What color was your prom dress? Junior year it was bright pink and senior year it was light purple and silver

49. How do you manage stress? Try to do the most challenging/inconvenient item on my to-do list first

50. What do you do to relax? Read or cook

51. Age when you were first kissed? 12

52. Place you were first kissed? Playing “spin the bottle” after musical theatre class

53. Favorite fashion trend of all time? Low-top sneakers with dresses

54. Best fashion advice you’ve ever received? If you have to convince yourself that you like it, you’ll never wear it, so don’t buy it

55. What is your current favorite piece of clothing that you own? These embellished sandals. I wear them all the time and am constantly asked where I bought them

56. Shoes or Bags? Bags! I love a good crossbody

57. How do you know if you’re in love? When you know, you know

58. Television show you’ve binged on recently? The Bachelorette! We’re almost caught up for the season

59. Who do you turn to when you’re sad? My mom – she always knows exactly what to say to make me feel better

60. Leather or lace? Lace

61. Vintage or new? New

62. What is your Kryptonite? Chocolate or guacamole

63. What are you most enchanted by? Surface level: Moms on social media who have 18 children, homeschool, are all matching in neutral clothing with zero stains, and elaborate mermaid braids in their hair. Deeper: I’m beyond enchanted with Liv and P. They surprise me, make me laugh, and make my heart explode every single day. I often find myself wondering how they’re so darn amazing?

64. What is your biggest strength? Hustle

65. What is your biggest weakness? Stressing over all of the details

66. What are 3 words to describe living in Tucson? Picturesque. Hot. Eccentric.

67. Cutest thing on planet earth? Baby koalas

68. Favorite color? Peach

69. Best first date idea? Something active, like a low-key hike, followed by dinner and drinks

70. Favorite time of day? Late.. probably around 9 or 10pm. I enjoy the quiet and downtime

71. What do you first notice about someone when you meet them? Their smile 

72. What’s your guilty pleasure? Take a jar of almond butter, sprinkle chocolate chips into the jar, scoop out with a spoon

73. Favorite band? I wouldn’t say I’m super into bands at the moment and my music taste is all over the place. Back in high school, I was obsessed with Dashboard Confessional

That was a fun one! I always love surveys because it gives me the chance to get to know you all better.

So, tell me friends:

When are you most inspired?

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received? 

What’s one thing you cannot do? 

Cutest thing on planet earth?

What do you do to relax? 

Or pick any of the questions above and share your answers below! 

Have a lovely day.

xoxo

Gina

  The post 73 questions appeared first on The Fitnessista.

73 questions published first on https://olimpsportnutritionde.tumblr.com/