#its in the name dumbo

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

Does anyone else get really annoyed at the incompetency of murderers when watching true crime docs?

Like you really just going to google ‘how to burn a body’ and think no ones gonna see that??

[rassicas]

Frye is not a Vampire Squid.

It's one thing to headcanon something, but it's another to pass it around a fact, which is why i have to say: Frye is not canonically a vampire squid. This idea originated from a popular twitter thread made at the time of Splatoon 3's direct, and the evidence it's based on is...weak. And yet I still see this info passed around... Yeah I think Frye is just supposed to be a regular Inkling.

the splatoon team has shown us that inklings, like humans, can have a lot of diversity. while our player character models are limited, in-universe its a different story. these are all considered regular inklings. look at the varied eye masks, faces,...they can even have blue skin! So i think that frye is just the splatoon team showing us how more diverse inklings can be.

I made a google drive folder of Inkling hairstyles with a lot of concept art, you can see many diverse examples. To address the other specific points of evidence used:

Long fangs: All Inklings have sharp "teeth"/ beaks. Inkling beak shapes can vary. the last one appears to have a snaggletooth.

Long ears: Ear shapes can vary as well. compare ears of the squid sisters with the player character. Pearl has short ears. hell even the player inkling ears between s2 and s3 are different.

purple fingertips: prior to S3, fingertip coloration was something only seen on octolings, not on inklings. with how her and Shiver can freely change finger tip colors according to their ink, it seems like just a thing inklings and octolings can Do and we just haven't seen much of until now, like how we didn't see much varied hairstyles until s2. Perhaps with how integrated octarian culture is in the splatlands, inklings have caught onto this style as well? Her earrings, the sharp pointy bits in her design: Yes this was used as evidence for the vampire squid thing. That's all eel motifs.

Now the biggest reason she cannot be a vampire squid... vampire squids are NOT squids! They're more closely related to octopuses, but really, they're their own thing (also they're called 'bat octopuses' in japanese... the language the splatoon developers speak. nothing to do with vampires or squids)

With how splatoon's designs have been so far, other species of cephalopods are not guaranteed to look like inklings, especially if not closely related to ink-producing squids and octopuses (and vampire squids are not) Here we have a dumbo octopus (not octoling). also nautiluses. In the case of a species that would be more closely related to the playable species, what seems to be an octoling based on a blue ringed octopus.

Going off this, if the splatoon team were to make a vampire squid character, it most likely wouldn't be a subtle 'inkling/octoling but 2 inches to the left,' For such a unique species, I think they would be pretty explicit about it in the design itself. And considering that they are deepsea creatures that do not produce normal ink, a vampire squid in splatoon might look pretty odd! In conclusion...please stop claiming frye is "supposed to be" or "canonically" a vampire squid, it's a flimsy headcanon based on superficial traits at best and there is zero evidence that was the developer's intent.

(And while I'm here, Pearl is not confirmed a pygmy squid, marie is not confirmed to be a firefly squid, marina is not a webfoot octopus etc. That's fanon based on their japanese names, not canon. As far as we know, the player inklings and inkling idols are all just one species of inkling. inklings and octolings seem to take inspiration from multiple species, but it's not confirmed if they are those species.)

[fidenciocryptidcreechur]

Concept: peacock harpy vil or lady Amherst pheasant vil but we amp up the wonderland fever dream qualities of the world. Like really pump in that wonderland quality of "wtf is going on" vibe, "pink elephants" alcohol acid trip from Dumbo, and fever dream-esque stuff. I want Vil to bedazzle and entrance people, the eye spots move and follow you, absolutely mesmerizing.

Need to work this out and flesh it out obviously but basically poison feathers like the colorful corvid (adds extra color and also added reason for why he must maintain his upkeep), eyefeathers that have working eyes but it's still "eyespots", Sure he's gorgeous but that Amhersts Pheasant hood also is out but it's covering his face cause insecurity but also its for "looks". <- "is he showing off like the Show Bird he is or hiding his true face" type of deal

v Vv this is the Pheasant I speak of btw

Not Sure what to Call this au but the Vibe is: over Saturated colors, eldritch but in a "colors, haze, dreams" way & not "flesh melting, mind bending, contorting" way. For a lot of the world this holds true: Intentions & perceptions & emotions shape the world So for above Vil is an idol and he is watching & being watched & is wary of this thus all the eyespots that also do eye things. All eyes on him, it's how he thrives but he also must keep an eye on others. Still figuring it out but it's like if Symbolism & Perceptions (both internal & external) affected the physical world.

fever dream au Shall be the current name holder. I'll figure it out. Yuu/reader can be whatever technically but for this fever dream au default is regular human who Fell into a portal or something Idk. basically usual Yuu. Yes I am imagining romantic and/or Platonic, basically whatever pops into my head.

am open to suggestions & Yaps. still figuring the au out honestly

will add as it comes to me.

[factoidfactory]

Random Fact #6,600

Named for its ear-like fins that resemble the Disney character Dumbo, the Dumbo octopus (Grimpoteuthis) can live at depths of over 4,000 metres.

[vestaignis]

Гримпотевтис- глубоководный осминог Дамбо.

Осьминог Дамбо или Гримпотевтис (лат. Grimpoteuthis)– это мягкотелое глубоководное животное, которое получило свое название благодаря двум плавникам, расположенным на мантии, которые напоминают слоновьи уши. Известно, что в природе существует порядка 37 всевозможных разновидностей осьминогов Дамбо, классифицированные на 4 семейства. Обычно в зрелом возрасте эти осьминоги достигают в длину 20 см, однако самый большой когда-либо зарегистрированный представитель этого рода был в длину около 180 см и весил около 6 кг. Гримпотевтис обычно обитает на глубине от 100 до 5.000 метров, хотя некоторые виды были обнаружены на глубине 7.000 метров.

По сравнению с другими моллюсками, осьминог Дамбо предпочитает заглатывать пойманную добычу целиком. Разновидности Гримпотевтиса, обитающие на дне, питаются, в основном, ракообразными, червеобразными животными и двустворчатыми моллюсками. Уникальны Дамбо ещё и тем, что из-за специфики среды обитания лишены способности изменять окраску. Их пигментные клетки имеют весьма примитивное строение, оттенки Дамбо варьируются от фиолетовых и пурпурных, до бордовых и шоколадных. А ещё у Гримпотевтисов нет чернильного мешка, зато они умеют становиться совершенно прозрачными.

The Dumbo octopus or Grimpoteuthis is a soft-bodied deep-sea animal that gets its name from its two fins located on the mantle, which resemble elephant ears. It is known that in nature there are about 37 different varieties of Dumbo octopuses, classified into 4 families. Typically, these octopuses reach a length of 20 cm at maturity, but the largest representative of this genus ever recorded was about 180 cm long and weighed about 6 kg. Grimpothevis usually lives at depths between 100 and 5,000 meters, although some species have been found at depths of 7,000 meters.

Compared to other mollusks, the Dumbo octopus prefers to swallow its caught prey whole. Bottom-dwelling species of Grimpothevis feed primarily on crustaceans, worm-like animals and bivalves. Dumbo is also unique in that, due to the specifics of its habitat, it lacks the ability to change color. Their pigment cells have a very primitive structure; Dumbo's shades range from violet and purple to burgundy and chocolate. Grimpoteuthis also does not have an ink sac, but they can become completely transparent.

Источник:/dzen.ru/a/X_09EE58QV3ubin1,https://ok.ru/video/2576867396185, /mirfactov.com/ushastyiy-osminog/,//kenichi-kitsune.livejournal.com/93368.html,://dzen.ru/a/Xl0j1WacH3jaklCA,/ucrazy.ru/animals/1404275966-krylatyy-osminog-dumbo-ili-grimpotevtis.html,https://masterok.livejournal.com/1943943.html

[squartsquartson]

Squart here with more midnight zone critters.

-The dumbo octopus is the deepest living species of octopus found to date.

-The frilled shark is one of the oldest living species of sharks, it might even date back to the late Jurassic!

-The gulper eel, true to its name, can swallow prey 11 times its size.

-The yeti crab uses those long hairy arms to catch bacteria from hydrothermal vents as its main source of food.

Want merch? Check our shop!

[idanart]

A new OCs is coming 🐙 It is a cephalopod and the name of this octopus is Grimpoteuthis (Here it is known as "dumbo octopus" because of its ears on the sides of its head). There are still things I need to do for this nervous boy, like giving him his name and colors.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

what are some of your favorite deep sea dwellers?

I am a big fan of giant isopods, giant squid, barreleyes, anglerfish, lanternfish, the Pompeii worm, and dumbo octopuses!

Giant isopods are adorable and fascinating animals due to their gigantism, not to mention they are a part of that valuable cleaning crew of the ocean (I partly based Caroline, my fursona, on deep sea isopods), giant squid are similarly very aesthetically cool to me and interesting in their elusiveness, barreleye too with their translucent head, anglerfish are a deep sea classic and a hidden biology buff gem (seriously, bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria AND extreme sexual dimorphism!??), lanternfish I can only respect for being one of the most common vertebrates period, so abundant they created false bottoms with sonar and make up even most of the global vertebrate biomass, and the Pompeii worm puts me at awe just as much if not even more due to its crazy temperature tolerance that I have ranted about to all of my family members multiple times by now. Straight up, please ask me about the Pompeii worm!!! ....And, I'll be honest, I really like dumbo octopuses because my old favourite character of all time that I was obsessed (OBSESSED) with had an animal version of him and it was a dumbo octopus, and the association from that made me really like dumbo octopuses. Afterwards I came to appreciate their cool features as well!

I could sit here and start naming other awesome deep sea animals, but then at that point they wouldn't be my favourite, they would just be deep sea animals that are fascinating for many reasons but haven't quite ticked that final box in my heart that makes me go "woah MAMA!!!!!!" ^^'

[mysticpear]

running list of my favorite moments from Paris 2024

the rapper who now sponsors women's wapo

stephen from penn state and everyone being obsessed with pommel horse now

SIMONE BILESSSSSSSSS literally eating after tokyo and at age 27 (dont fact check me im not doing google searches)

jade carrey's grace after her quals on floor

womens gymnastics having qualifiers on every event in the top 3

womens gymnastics leading all teams by FIVE WHOLE POINTS and the 2nd/3rd difference being 2 TENTHS (aka 5.0 vs 0.2)

synchronized diving bros tm

the new womens gymnastics commentators who are focusing on the incredible skill of the athletes and their resilience and safety rather than a single flexed foot like in the past

aly raisman is there love

waiting for track events bc i just want to see hurdles and sha'carri richardson

womens rugby absolutely demolishing great britain

con't:

12. snoop memes 13. simone's response to reporters asking about hezly, simone's caption under the team gold win, simone's response to aly raisman asking what the team nickname is 14. stephen from penn state again for becoming an overnight national hero 15. the main woman on the rugby team (ilana?? not sure) whos fully an icon and a beast and knows it as she damn well should 16. my friends and coworkers tolerating my gymnastics infodumps

con't part 2:

17. SIMONE GETTING BLOCKED BY MYKAYLA LMFAO 18. continuation of stephen memes i love them keep it up 19. just saw that apparently martha stewart is joining snoop for equestrian events bc "he's afraid of horses" 20. ILONA MAHER MY ICON MY LOVE 21. tom daly's sweaters and children 22. simone biles' husband (no he will not have a name) sitting with her parents and keeping their scorecard. v wholesome 23. aly raisman asking the team what their name is and simone fully glitching on how to not say "fuck" at a press event

WAIT SAME DAY BUT I THOUGHT OF MORE

24. pregnant fencer winner, can u imagine growing up like "yeah i technically medaled at the olympics bc my mom had been growing me for SEVEN MONTHS already" that kid is gonna have incredible stories 25. simone and her biggest competitor Rebeca Andrade cheering each other on even tho they're both going to all around medals on different teams. they FUCKING GET IT that's girlhood 26. katie ledecky eating it up year after year

part three of the day:

27. the gymnast who's sponsored by cheese?? jealous 28. the swimmer whos obsessed with the muffins so true king chase your passions 29. i found my favorite meme, allow me to quote: "gay men thirsting over the lithe sun-kissed swimmers' bodies of Team Italia and lesbians thirsting over a woman in a backwards hat and severe bob doing shooting - this is what those people at Stonewall died for" with a gif of the pistol icon queen (do not know her name) (also this is obv dramatic, we know Stonewall is a deep and complex history, don't @ me) 30. a clip of synchronized divers from (i think) china and the commentators were talking about how they had to come up with a new term to describe their water entry and it was something along the lines of splash disappear magic or smth. crazy

I'm back and worse than ever 31. HAPPY SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON IS RUNNING DAY 32. Alice Bellandi, who i just found out about. LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GOOOOOOO 33. i just.. something about the olympics exposing how much progress there is to be made in the world. year after year. from women's rights to gay rights to trans rights to racism to sexism and on and on and on. some dumbos were like "yay international competition" and instead got lesbians celebrating their gold medals w their gfs and women sharing about how they had a therapy appt right before they competed. its kind of a beautiful testament to the validity and worldwide nature of these issues 34. simone sharing that she met w her therapist the morning of her all around gold win 35. once again SIMONE'S FAMILY AND THEIR SHIRTS IM CRYING 36. im kind of obsessed with seeing noticeable mistakes intermixed with perfection 37. PIN TRADING specifically the clip of ilona maher trading w simone

anotha one

38. Jade Carrey medaling on vault 39. Suni medaling on AA 40. stephen again. SLAY individual PH medalist!!!! one of my best friends texted me to make sure i'm also obsessed with him and i told her about my deepdive into his gf's NCAA career lol. PS stephen you should come visit ur alma mater because you genuinely seem like one of the coolest people ever and i wanna meet you. 41. shoutout to frederick richards (also men's usa gym) for tearing it up all the damn time. i think he posts a lot on social media and the men's all around gymnasts should be getting a whole bunch of hype 42. Sha'Carri Richardson. so beauty so grace. she didn't even look like she was trying for the last quarter of her 100m qual. 43. related: im obsessed with the purple track like hello???? iconic 44. video of the camera man for trampoline. just up down up down up down 45. honestly every new thing i find out about the shooting events (incl the post about america not medaling at all but phrased as a clear dig at our firearm policy) 46. how (and maybe this is just me) women are fully dominating the news cycle in terms of what i hear about the olympics. the only men i've heard about are stephen and the Dad energy guy shooting for turkey, everything else is THE GIRLS 47. katie ledecky holding so many consecutive spots on every event record list she's on

hello again

48. Snoop ACTUALLY with martha stewart and both of them in full esquestrine (??) fits 49. WOMEN HAVE WON THE V A S T MAJORITY OF USA INDIVIDUAL MEDALS YAAAAA 50. ilona maher still shes just. ugh. (as i write this i get a post w a pic of her and stephen captioned "asking a bisexual woman to explain her type" lmao) 51. KAYLIA (?) AKA ALGERIA'S FIRST GYMNASTICS MEDALIST 52. proposal 53. the mixed doubles couple in ?? badminton?? who broke up to focus on their sport then won together and got back together <3 love is real 57. not only the pregnant fencer but I also just saw about a pregnant shooter??? again these kids are gonna have top tier bragging rights. also women are sick as hell 58. maybe already said this but im not reading the last fifty seven entries to check so any of the women's gymnasts and their just proud af smiles when they hit an incredible stick. like the way they just stand there for a sec and slowly bring their arms down bc they previously accounted for an extra beat while landing. chefs kiss ugh 59. whoever the hell made stephen an american flag cape 60. omfg saw a post with a bunch of people talking about stephen and one of the connections was "so and so who is in the pommel horse specialist group chat" because a) that is a thing that exists??? im so delighted and b) what he was saying was that he usually logs on to see that stephen is playing some NERD ASS VIDEO GAME (i am not that direction of nerd so i dont remember which it was). obsessed 61. IMANE KHELIF. get angry yall. saw someone say "all it took was the other woman saying she had never taken a hit that hard. but girl ur in the hit people hard sport. at the most elite level." like ya. reading up on the "transvestigation" which is a term i just learned and genuinely needs to be cut tf out because the implication that ALL men will be and are biologically stronger than ALL women is absolute bs. 62. Noah Lyles: "America. I told you. I got this" so true king 63. the medal counter that added a ring category for the couple that got engaged lol very wholesome 64. jade carrey coming back to the olympics simply because she didn't perform up to her standards at Tokyo 65. omg the pic of simone touching up her lip liner SO iconic 66. oh the other name for the womens gymnastics team (other than fuck around and find out) being the golden girls because they're the oldest team to compete maybe ever? for usa 67. the owner of stephen's former (? current?) gym saying the phone has been ringing non stop with parents signing their sons up for classes 68. DID I ALREADY SAY LAURIE HERNANDEZ COMMENTATING + HER W ALY AGAIN??? 69. as the sixty ninth entry this feels appropriate. the paris pole vaulter who didn't win bc his dick caught the bar. 70. also sha'carri richardson's silver but also her in team USA and a ponytail... idk if i love or feel a Type of Way bc shes so known for her own style but also this feels super affirming that she's competing for team USA but not in a way thats something she needed, more like we needed. does this make sense

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Konotako

Debut: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

It has been too long since we’ve talked about some obscure little Game Boy freaks. The kind of enemy to appear just a few times, in just one game, and whose highest resolution image is a scan of its black-and-white art from Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten. These have always felt like THE Weird Mario Enemies to me! But we’re running out of them. So sad. They don’t make Mario games for the Game Boy anymore. Now they make Grimace games for the Game Boy. We still do have a bunch of Game Boy creatures that we can talk about! But there is a finite amount, and we have already talked about most of the most interesting ones. And that is sad. But this post isn’t to make you sad! It is to teach you about a little digital freak that someone drew thirty years ago!

Konotako is a bunch of weird things at once! A bunch of things that don’t have anything to do with each other, but all are important to its identity. It is a Bomb, and it has batty wings, but truly, taxonomically, this is a cephalopod! It is an octopus creature of some kind, and those are its suckers on the bottom! And as an octopus, that means the “wings” are more like the fins of a dumbo octopus! These features kind of relate to each other after all! Not the fuse though. That is just a whole artificial-looking fuse attached on top.

I would love to hear Konotako roll around on a smooth surface! It would be so enriching! Suction on and off and on and off like one of those suction cup balls! Konotako does not actually need a smooth surface, though, because it is even able to stick to Wario’s lumpy face. It does this because it wants to kill Wario, as many creatures attempt to do, and as few succeed at. This is one of the games where they can succeed, though!

An exploding creature always seems counterintuitive if it’s not intentionally an expendable soldier, like some worker ants or all walking bombs. But Konotako being an octopus-like creature of all things makes this a bit more interesting! A female octopus dies after laying and tending to her eggs. Maybe the Konotako seen in game are guarding nearby, unseen clutches, and, knowing they have little time left for this world, are willing to use their last remaining energy to do away with any formidable creatures that may threaten their eggs... be nice to creatures, you never know what their noble goals are!

“Konotako” is a Japanese phrase meaning “you idiot”. Hey! Be nice! I just said that! I don’t know if it’s calling Konotako an idiot for exploding, or Wario an idiot for getting a bombtopus stuck to his face. I sure hope it’s not directed toward me or you! We’re not idiots! We’re cool and smart!

[twistedtummies2]

Top 15 Disney Animated Movie Villain Songs

Earlier in the month, in honor of both the Halloween season - Disney’s Season of the Villain - and the fact this year marks the 101st anniversary of Disney as a company, I talked about my favorite portrayals of Cruella De Vil. I’m still in a Disney Villain mood (which, to be fair, is far from uncommon with me), so to continue our Halloween series of lists, I think it’s time I discussed a subject that I’ve actually had brought to my attention several times: Disney Villain Songs. While Villain Songs have existed practically as long as musical theatre, in any of its formats, existed - from the opera to Gilbert & Sullivan’s operettas to beyond - I think most would agree that Disney has effectively “cornered the market” when it comes to these particular parts of many musicals. Whenever people talk about great villain songs, you can be darn sure that not only are you going to see at least one Disney bad guy number in the list, but it’s honestly quite likely you’ll see multiple entries.

This is what made making such a countdown properly REALLY difficult. Because, just as there are numerous Disney Villains from all sorts of mediums and properties, there are all sorts of dastardly musical numbers related to them. So, I decided to apply the same basic rule to this list that I’ve applied to other villain-related countdowns: I’ll only be including movies, and therefore songs, from the core sixty-something movies in the Walt Disney Animation Studios catalog (with one film’s exception, and I doubt that film’s title needs to be named; you’ll find out which, regardless, in the rundown). I’ll probably do a second list for other villain songs from Disney that DIDN’T fit those criteria, but for now, that’s going to be our focus. Also, I’ll only be including one song from every movie, because some of these films actually have more than one villain song. The only exception to that rule will be reprisals of the same tune. With that said, let’s waste no more time! Sing along (most deviously) with me, as I present My Top 15 Favorite Animated Disney Movie Villain Songs!

15. Heffalumps & Woozles, from The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh.

I initially considered placing either “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Dumbo, or possibly “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto, in the bottom spot. In both cases, I felt neither song was really a VILLAIN song, so much as just…well…sort of spooky and weird. They have the VENEER of villain songs, but Bruno in the latter film is decidedly NOT the bad guy, and that’s revealed within about five minutes after the song takes place, if even that. And in the case of Pink Elephants…that’s literally a trip-out scene about a small elephant being drunk. Everything about that sequence is INSANE, but it’s hardly a VILLAINOUS scene in the strictest sense. It was at that moment I remembered this number: “Heffalumps and Woozles” is actually pretty similar to “Pink Elephants." It is a very strange and surreal number with a lot of cartoonish and absurd imagery, and takes place in the form of a sort of dream sequence. However, the titular monsters that silly old Pooh Bear imagines are much more overtly villainous, and the lyrics paint them as such, describing them as bizarre and frightening beasts who will steal and devour everything you care for most (in Pooh’s case, this primarily means his precious honey). Later spin-offs of this compilation feature would actually feature Heffalump and Woozle characters, and often (though not always) they were, in fact, evil creatures. So at the end of the day, it counts a bit more easily than the two that might have been. Plus, it’s VERY catchy.

14. Prince Ali (Reprise), from Aladdin.

I’m counting this one low on the list because it’s extremely short, as it isn’t so much the villain’s OWN song as it is just a sort of “dark reprise” of an earlier number in the story. But hey, it’s become as iconic as many of the other “proper” villain songs, and when people think of Jafar getting a musical number, they usually think of this sequence first and foremost. This song is a pure celebration on the villain’s part; Jafar has just gained control of the Magic Lamp, and with it, he’s made first a wish to take over Agrabah, and then another to dub himself as the most powerful sorcerer in the universe. Jafar is on a power high like no other during this whole scene, unhinged with glee as he toys with his victims, revealing Aladdin’s true identity to Jasmine before sending the street rat rocketing into space. All the while, he’s giddily dancing and prancing about, and the scene ends with him letting out the mother of all evil laughs: easily one of the greatest bits of diabolical, utterly deranged cackling EVER put to the screen. Jonathan Freeman’s exuberant performance, and the power of the animation, sell every second, and while the scene is short and goes by pretty fast, it still makes a BIG impact. Jafar would get his own TRUE villain songs, all his own, later on, but his mocking reprise of “Prince Ali” is still more than worthy of a spotlight here.

13. Shiny, from Moana.

Tamatoa might be one of the best villains to come out of Disney in recent years, which is funny because he’s really only onscreen in his respective feature for…what, five minutes? Under ten, tops? But what he lacks in screentime, he makes up for in personality, and a HUGE part of that comes from his villain song. This musical number actually does quite a lot in a rather limited time, and yet it never feels bloated or overpacked with information: it sets up Maui’s origins, establishes his rivalry with Tamatoa in a more direct fashion, explains exactly who and what this monster is and what he’s all about, provides a malevolent counterpoint to the titular protagonist’s philosophy…and it does all of this with interesting visuals and a glam rock style directly influenced by Jareth the Goblin King-I mean, David Bowie, and performed by Jemaine Clement. Like Tamatoa himself - and, indeed, like a LOT of the greatest Disney Villains - the song fluctuates between campy humor and dark, half-crazed menace throughout, both lyrically and in its instrumentals. Speaking of, the song is the work of the mighty Lin-Manuel Miranda. If that doesn’t earn it a few points just right off the bat, I don’t know what else will.

12. Gaston, from The Beauty and the Beast.

This may be the single jolliest of all the songs on this list. It almost doesn’t sound like a villain song at all, and I think that’s the point. “Gaston” is a pretty simple number, but that’s exactly what makes it so catchy and memorable. There’s not a whole lot that happens: basically, Gaston needs a pep talk after being rejected by Belle, so LeFou and the other townsfolk in the local pub all begin singing a song about how awesome he is. Gaston - being…well…Gaston - quickly buys into the hype over himself and soon begins bragging in-between bouts of praise from the rest. It’s literally just a comical ode to the character’s own narcissism, not much else. However, one could argue it also establishes an important factor in the story: Gaston is NOT going to change his ways. Any chance of him re-evaluating himself or his approach to things is quickly squashed by everybody else singing his praises, and he’s certainly not going to complain or look into changing on his own terms under those circumstances. It’s only moments after the first take on the song that a reprise occurs (so soon after I wasn’t even sure if I should name said reprise directly in the title), and it’s at this point Gaston goes from just being sort of an annoying jerk to a true villain, as he plots to send Belle’s father to the madhouse and force her to marry him. From this point on, it’s clear who the bad guy is, and the fact we were just enjoying watching him flaunt his own silly superiority makes the moment a bit more tense. Very well-written storytelling there.

11. Mother Knows Best (and its Reprise), from Tangled.

Like “Gaston,” this song also has a reprise, but since the latter takes place much later in the story, I did feel I needed to address it separately in the title. (And I did want to include the Reprise because, in some ways, I like it more than the earlier, fuller rendition.) This song is sung by Mother Gothel to her adoptive daughter, Rapunzel. Years before the main part of the plot, Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel from the palace of the King and Queen of Corona. Why did she do this? Not because she wanted a daughter of her own, but because Rapunzel’s hair contains magical properties that heal wounds and restore one’s youth. Fearing age and death, Gothel obsessively uses the power of Rapunzel’s golden locks to effectively make herself immortal. Not wanting to lose her “medicine,” nor have her crimes revealed to the world, she forbids the captured (and unknowing) princess from venturing out in the outside world. In the first iteration of the song, Gothel tries to convince Rapunzel to stay by singing a song about all the dangers out the outside world, not-so-subtly demeaning the teenaged girl in the process by claiming Rapunzel would never survive if she left their tower. There’s a grand string of irony in the song, brought on not only by the fact that Rapunzel has shown she’s extremely intelligent (albeit admittedly naive) before this fact, but also in the tone the song has, as the melody is spritely and playful, contrasting hilariously with lyrics that literally include mentions of cannibals, quicksand, and the Black Death. (Yikes.) Later in the story, the song takes a much darker, more vicious turn, as Gothel tracks down the escaped Rapunzel and tries to convince her to return home. When Rapunzel refuses, Gothel flies off the handle, starting off slow and passive-aggressive before plunging into a snappy tantrum, deriding the girl as a fool and saying that if things go wrong, she shouldn’t come crying to her. This is all just further manipulation, but it’s dramatically intense, and is heightened by much more foreboding instrumentals. One interesting thing I noted in the reprisal is that you can actually hear what sound like church bells going on at points, and there’s a sort of ticking-clock quality to the melody in both renditions; perhaps foreshadowing of Gothel’s steadily deteriorating state. That, or it just sounds spooky and cool, which…hey, I’m all for that.

10. The Headless Horseman, from The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad.

This is one of the more underrated songs on this countdown, although I have noticed it’s gained more and more of a following over the years, fittingly and especially around this time of the year. Much like “Heffalumps and Woozles,” this song isn’t so much a song BY the villain, so much as a song ABOUT the villain: it’s a description of the antagonist put to music, told by another party. In this case, the song is a musical retelling of the legend of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, iterated by Brom Bones as a means of scaring the heck out of Ichabod Crane. The song is both upbeat and sinister at the same time, with a sort of jazzy beat that’s contrasted by eerie wailing and the spooky story the lyrics tell. It’s arguably the best and most catchy song in the movie, and it’s only made better by the fact it was originally performed by the crooner himself, Bing Crosby. (Proving he can be just as much the voice of Halloween as he is Christmas.) The song has been covered more and more frequently over the years, the most famous probably being the one by Thurl Ravenscroft. It works great within the context of the story, but it also makes for a fun, jaunty, yet appropriately creepy Halloween ballad on its own terms: versatility is always appreciated, in music as in other things.

9. Trust in Me, from The Jungle Book.

As a couple of songs so far have shown, sometimes the best tunes aren’t the ones that belong to the main baddies. In fact, in cases like this, sometimes the main baddies don’t even HAVE songs: Shere Khan is the main villain of Disney’s Jungle Book, but he never really gets a song in the original film. Instead, musical kudos goes to the secondary and tertiary antagonists of the movie: Kaa and King Louie. While Louie’s song is a lot of fun, I think most agree that “Trust in Me” is a real standout among bad guy songs. The tune happens during the second encounter Mowgli has with the hungry serpent, as Kaa successfully hypnotizes him, and sings this lullaby-like melody to help keep Mowgli in his power. All the while, the python toys with his prey before coiling him up, ready to lazily consume his victim. The tune is as slinky and serpentine as Kaa is, and is one of the surprisingly few in the film that holds the sort of Indian styling the setting would allow for. Sterling Holloway sells the music with a dangerously mischievous lilt, giving the song both a sinister, almost seductive quality, while also injecting humor into it, given his vocal mannerisms and choices. It’s the closest Kaa comes to being a real threat in the movie, and I’m pretty sure it’s the main reason so many people remember this snake the way they do. Heck, one of the biggest upsets I hear people complain about with the live-action remake is that, despite including two of the songs from the film in the form of “Bear Necessities” and “I Wanna Be Like You” (both of which sort of just come right the heck out of nowhere and interrupt the story, anyway), “Trust in Me” was cut from the film and relegated to only playing over the end credits. Thank goodness the original will always be around on its own terms.

8. Cruella De Vil, from 101 Dalmatians.

This is the last song on the countdown that’s more a tune ABOUT the villain than anything else, and it’s arguably the most famous of the lot. The context of this famous, blues-y ballad is pretty simple: Roger Radcliffe, one of the main human characters, is inspired by the appearance of Cruella De Vil at the home of his and his wife, Anita’s, domicile. While Cruella annoys Anita downstairs, Roger - who very clearly does NOT like Cruella (and who can really blame him for that?) - begins to compose this mocking tune that describes Cruella with a series of utterly deplorable lyrics that frankly would make the Grinch a bit envious. What’s funny is that, while the song doesn’t really do much for the story, and is meant to be an exaggeration of a humorous nature…the song actually ends up being sort of an anthem for Cruella, as it’s quickly made clear she is, indeed, just as nasty and wicked as the song (somewhat inadvertently) describes her to be. Much like with Kaa, I’m frankly convinced that this song is a big part of why Cruella is so well-remembered, as the song and the character almost seem to go hand in hand with each other when either one is referenced. Indeed, many would argue people remember this song more than they remember the character or even the movie in general. That fact alone easily earns it placement in the Top 10 for me.

7. Be Prepared, from The Lion King.

Of all the choices on this countdown, I am pretty sure placing “Be Prepared” so low in the ranks is going to be one of the most controversial. Just as most people would probably name Scar as one of their Top Three favorite Disney Villains, I’m pretty sure “Be Prepared” would be in most people’s Top 5 Disney Villain Songs. Heck, it would probably be in most people’s Top 5 Villain Songs PERIOD. Well, I am not “most people”: just as I love Scar, but simply don’t love him AS much as other Disney Villains, I do love “Be Prepared,” but I just don’t love it as much as other Villain Songs. Do not misconstrue this, however, to mean it’s a bad song in ANY way: this mincing, malicious, and quite ominous song is, in my opinion, the moment where I think a lot of people figured out Scar was going to be a GREAT Disney Villain. Sure, he had some fun scenes before this, but “Be Prepared” is the point where he ascends to the ranks of such characters as Maleficent and Chernabog: a truly iconic baddy. The tune occurs as Scar spells out his plans of domination to the hyenas, and offers to give them all the food they desire if they join forces with him. The song once again has a sort of playful edge to its evilness, but also has a haunting, dangerous quality; it’s a tune that both revels in its own dastardly side, while also sort of acting as a warning of things much less enjoyable still to come. And considering it’s not long after this point that - spoiler alert - SCAR KILLS MUFASA? Yeah, I’d say that’s an accurate description of the situation, if nothing else.

6. Poor Unfortunate Souls, from The Little Mermaid.

This is another song that I’m pretty sure most people would put in their Top 5 Disney Villain Songs, and which only barely misses that mark on my own personal list. Once again, don’t take this to mean I dislike the tune, because I absolutely do not. The song is performed by Ursula the Sea Witch, as she offers Ariel a deal that will allow the mermaid princess a chance to romance the human Prince Eric. However, if Ariel cannot fulfill her end of the bargain properly, then her soul will belong to Ursula, and she will be transformed into a deformed polyp in the Sea Witch’s most unsettling little undersea garden. The song never lets up on its darkness; the first half is a sort of waltz-like tune, very smooth with swooping moments of grandness, as Ursula tempts and lures Ariel by presenting herself as a well-meaning, misunderstood figure, who really only wants to help. However, once Ariel is “hooked,” the song intensifies, getting louder, faster, and more aggressive in its lyrics and orchestrations. This culminates in the glorious, eerie climax, as Ursula casts the spell that will transfer Ariel’s voice over to her own power. As the song goes on, not only does the music intensify, but so does Ursula herself. Her movements become sharper and more sudden, and she forgets all about personal space. Her expressions become increasingly deranged and frightening as she clearly gets a rush out of what she’s doing. My only problem with this song, and it’s the reason it doesn’t make it into the top five, isn’t the song itself…it’s Ariel. And it’s kind of a problem I have with the movie, to be honest: I know everything Ariel has gone through by this point, and I know she’s absolutely head-over-heels and clearly naive, but…considering everything within the film itself, disregarding even spin-offs and such…why does she NEVER turn away from this deal? She’s clearly uncomfortable and unsure, but it’s hard for me to buy she’d see this incredibly scary lady and her incredibly scary lair and NOT try to run away at SOME point. I guess she’s just that desperate to know what sand feels like between her toes. Spoiler alert: not as good as everyone makes it sound, my dear lady. :P

5. The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind, from The Great Mouse Detective.

Before Ursula and Scar essentially reinvigorated the villain song formula, there was Professor Ratigan. And just as it’s a little surprising that this movie, in general, often seems to be overlooked by Disney fans, I’m kind of surprised this tune is, too. Especially since it’s really one of only two proper, full-out songs in the film. That, and it has VINCENT PRICE SINGING. (pauses) Honestly, having said that…I don’t think I need to say anything else about why this musical number is awesome. IT’S VINCENT PRICE. SINGING. AS A RODENT VERSION OF PROFESSOR MORIARTY. Any other arguments about why this should or should not be in the Top 5 become automatically invalid at that point, so let’s move along…

4. Oogie Boogie’s Song, from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Yeah, you all knew this one was coming. Anytime I make lists like this, I ALWAYS make an exception in the rules for TNBC. This is partially because the film has sort of been “adopted” in to the core canon, in a way…and partially because it’s a strong candidate for my favorite movie of all time, as well as, by extension, my favorite Disney movie of all time. Keeping these facts in mind, it’s no surprise that Oogie Boogie’s Song gets high marks on my countdown. Inspired by the work of jazz singer and musician Cab Calloway (in fact, there’s a direct quote from a Calloway music number in the sequence), this menacing, almost ragtime-esque tune presents the menacing Oogie to us in lurid blacklight, as he taunts and torments his captured prey: Santa Claus himself. Oogie laughs in Santa’s face, deriding him as a joke, literally throwing his weight around as he shows off his casino-themed torture chamber. Oogie has been teased a few times before this, so his entrance is appropriately as gigantic as he is, creating one of the broadest and most fun Disney Villain songs of all time, while also having the weight, power, and sense of cruel brutality that make it one of the freakiest introductions to a Disney Villain, as well. The imagery is wild and in-your-face, matching Oogie’s bullying and somewhat mercurial personality. If any moment in the film indicated Christmas might be doomed beyond all others, this gambling boogieman teasing Santa with how he’s going to torture and eat him is probably your best candidate.

3. Savages, from Pocahontas.

Pocahontas is far from the greatest of Disney Movies, and its central antagonist - the greedy Governor Ratcliffe - is, in turn, hardly one of the company’s most lauded villains. Indeed, many consider him to be one of the weakest bad guys in the Disney film canon. But, for any faults the character may have, you have to give him this: he had not only one, but TWO absolutely fantastic villain songs, just in his first appearance. The first one, “Mine Mine Mine,” is a fun enough tune on its own terms…but it’s the latter, much more menacing “Savages” that takes the cake. This song takes place after the Powhatan Tribe of Native Americans capture Captain John Smith. They plan to execute Smith at dawn, before declaring war on the “pale-faces” who have invaded their land. Meanwhile, Ratcliffe - who wishes to exterminate them in totality, after finding out if they know where the treasure he seeks may be found - rallies his men to plan an assault on the tribe at the same time. After a brief interlude, where Pocahontas officially decides to intervene (so brief I’m not even sure if the second part of the song counts as a “Reprise” or not), the two factions march towards each other, still spilling their sadistic vitriol. This is one of the most bloodthirsty, vicious, and yet strangely tragic songs of the entire Disney canon: the Powahatans are retaliating largely due to a massive misunderstanding, but they’re just as much at fault here as Ratcliffe and his cronies. It’s the moment where Ratcliffe, himself, goes from a generally comical, pompous figure to a genuine threat. The war-mongering hatred both sides express as they march towards seemingly inevitable, mutual doom, makes for probably the darkest part of the entire feature, and one of its most memorable sequences.

2. Friends on the Other Side, from The Princess and the Frog.

While the soundtrack for this movie is, generally speaking, somewhat “meh” (none of the songs are BAD, but I wouldn’t say most of them are among Disney’s best), most people agree the best tune in the movie - and, indeed, probably the best part of the film in general - is this one. Occurring early in the film, “Friends on the Other Side” is a bit like “Poor, Unfortunate Souls” in storytelling placement, among other elements, yet I would argue is even better. The tune takes place when the evil voodoo master, Dr. Facilier - a.k.a. The Shadow Man - lures Prince Naveen and his servant, Lawrence, into his shop. He offers to read their fortunes, and in the process, tempts Lawrence with a chance at a revenge the butler has always craved, while also tricking Naveen into making a sort of Faustian deal at the same time. You can’t really blame Naveen for being fooled, because a.) it’s established in-universe that he isn’t exactly the brightest bulb to begin with, b.) he’s a stranger in a foreign land who has no idea who and what Facilier really is, and c.) he doesn’t even fully realize he’s entering INTO a deal with the Shadow Man in the first place. It’s all a con game, and it’s one that’s displayed in glorious fashion. All throughout there are not-so-subtle hints to Facilier’s true, evil nature, but it’s not till the pair shake hands with the witch doctor that things go totally off the rails, visually, musically, and in terms of the plot. The song is catchy, vibrant, wild, and has that wonderful balance of fun and fear so many of the best of this sort do. It’s once again a huge part of what makes Dr. Facilier such a well-remembered villain, and in my opinion, there hasn’t been a villain song in any Disney movie since that’s topped it.

1. Hellfire, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

For once, my opinion seems to align with the popular vote: most people seem to agree that this is the greatest Disney Villain Song of all time, and I see no reason to dispute that. In fact, it’s not only my favorite Disney Villain Song, but one of my top three favorite villain songs IN GENERAL. This haunting, forbidding, almost operatic number is performed by the corrupt Judge Claude Frollo, as he reflects on his sudden feelings for the Romani dancer, Esmeralda, and muses on how he feels he may be going mad as a result of them. He vows by the end to capture the beautiful young lady - no matter the cost - swearing that if he can’t have her, then the fires of Hell can instead. Gothic in style and thematics, with a Latin choir chanting meaningful prayers between Frollo’s frenzied spiel of denials, inane questions, and promises of retribution, it is one of the single darkest and most risky scenes in any Disney film. It’s yet another example of a song that’s become so well-known, I think more people know about the tune than the film itself, or even the villain who sings it. There are more covers and even analyses of this scene, this song, than perhaps any other Disney Villain song out there, and it’s not without good reason why that is. From the animation, to the orchestrals, to Tony Jay’s divinely devilish vocal performance (it was NOT an easy song for him to perform, and he knocks it out of the park by a nautical mile), it is perhaps the ultimate Disney Villain moment, at least in terms of musicals, there has ever been. In fact, the song has become something of an anthem for the Disney Villain lineup, as various live shows at the parks tend to use this song as a musical synonym for evil itself, even when Frollo isn’t involved at all. For these reasons and many others, “Hellfire” more than earns its place as My Favorite Animated Disney Movie Villain Song.

HONORABLE MENTIONS INCLUDE…

We Don’t Talk About Bruno, from Encanto. (Hey, I said it didn’t count for the main list, doesn’t mean I can’t count it here. It may not ACTUALLY be a villain song, but lyrics like "he sees your dreams and feasts on your screams" definitely allow for an Honorable Mention, in my opinion.)

Mad Madam Mim, from The Sword in the Stone.

The Elegant Captain Hook, from Peter Pan.

Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee, from Pinocchio. ...And no, "This is the Thanks I Get" isn't ANYWHERE here, because - like most people - I don't like that song very much. I used the screenshot as a banner just to make you all panic. It's almost Halloween, give me a break. XD

[extraordinaryhistories]

#15 – 'Kill' (A Sun Came, 1998)

In 2016, a man named Marc Rebillet (yes, that Marc Rebillet) decided to search through a dumpster outside Sufjan’s studio in DUMBO, Brooklyn, which is a very mature and adult thing to do and reflects fantastically on Marc as a person, and certainly should have no consequences on his thriving music career. In that dumpster, he found an odd-looking CD – an unreleased album with a black-and-white cover titled Stalker, claiming to be performed by Sufjan Stevens. It had been recorded some time in the 1990s, and on a quick listen (the album was swiftly leaked online), it certainly sounded like early Sufjan, back when he did wild electric guitar freak-outs; his hushed but nasally vocal tone from that era is unmistakeable.

Everything seemed normal, except for the fact that the album was about tracking, sexually assaulting and then murdering people. It contained songs with titles like ‘I Know Where Your Kids Go to School��, ‘Baby Give Me a Feel’ and ‘U Kan Wrun But U Kan’t Hyde’. None of it was metaphorical. Sufjan recorded a noise rock album in the 90s that was quite literally about fucking stalking people. And then, not five years later, recorded ‘For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti’. It boggles the mind.

At the time that Stalker was released, a significant portion of the Sufjan fan community cast doubt on the veracity of the leak. One of the major concerns was that the subject matter was far too direct, far too gruesome, for a Sufjan song. He would never be so brutally direct. He would never. Right?

‘Kill’ is a song by Sufjan Stevens that features the following as its chorus: ‘I want to kill him / I want to cut his brain / And when it's over / I know I'll feel okay’. Ah. Case closed.

The third-last track on A Sun Came, ‘Kill’ is a knotty piece of songwriting that may be the most multi-layered lyrical construction in his early work. Even purely on inspection one can see this to be true – it is a song with a clear narrative, some clear themes, a roiling balance of light and dark within it, which is far more than can be said for much of this era. But then you get to the allusions this song pays to other literary and musical sources, and things only begin to complicate further. I, personally, have not quite made my mind up about ‘Kill’. It is a song loaded with possibility.

An initial reading of ‘Kill’ gives the strong suggestion of a relationship narrative, and I do think that this is what lies at the song’s core. The relationship in this song need not be romantic, but given the sheer depth and fury of the passion here, it seems highly probable. There is a narrator who exists in what is very much a lopsided power dynamic with another (male) figure; very rarely is the narrator an active subject in this song, instead being subject to the figure’s curation and exploitation. The figure ‘took the stable / Bred me to be a mare / Made the brethren able / Gave me a room’, all of which are ostensible acts of kindness that nevertheless confirm a ruler/ruled dynamic. 

We receive that same confirmation in the next verse. ‘I never asked him / I never meant to stay’, says the narrator, and very quickly the song sours. The narrator finds themselves being used and abused, ‘never [leaving] the stall’ while their partner readily leaves their side. Any sense of a romantic relationship in an ideal sense – two partners, ‘riding side by side / Into the frontier’, tackling the world’s challenges as a single, symbiotic unit – is long defunct. Only misery remains for the narrator, with hope long-dashed by a pattern of careless exploitation.

With this as our narrative foundation, we reach the song’s climax, one of the most striking and instantly memorable moments in his catalogue on account of how utterly depraved it is. We are left with no doubt that Sufjan’s narrator is in a state of abject misery up to this point. But misery in Sufjan songs is so often detached, poetic, dejected, somehow fundamentally stoic. Not in ‘Kill’. The narrator has no remaining emotional bandwidth for stoicism. All that’s left is a carnal desire to exact onto the narrator’s partner some fraction of the pain that the partner exacted onto the narrator, and the only way to do this is through murder. 

You will not find a gnarlier image in the Sufjan catalogue than ‘I want to kill him / I want to cut his brain’, and the reason it has so much guttural power is because it does not quite read as psychopathic or unstable. The narrator only wants to do this. They never will, and likely never even could – the verses of this song are in the past tense, and by the time we reach the present tense of the pre-chorus, the partner has left the narrator forever. ‘Kill’ is a logical conclusion, an exhausted final attempt to lash out in a situation where the narrator knows they have no power to do so. When the chorus finally breaks down at the end into a futile repeated ‘I want’, the song’s message is complete. It is violent, but the violence is less a horror tale, more a tragedy.

This is the interpretation that a direct reading of ‘Kill’ provides us, but there are all sorts of semantic curios in this one that complicate interpretation. I am, of course, referring to the extended horse metaphor that this song seems to be pushing. Both narrator and villain are referred to as mares in this song; there is talk of stalls, of stables, of riding into battle in a literal sense. It is rather late for me to mention that ‘Kill’ has a source text, but it seemingly does – Sufjan cites an obscure Sherwood Anderson short story named ‘The Man Who Became a Woman’ as the basis for this song, but has refused to elaborate further. The surface-level parallels are very clear given that ‘The Man Who Became a Woman’ is a story about a horse trainer, but from there the complications begin, because Anderson’s story is a) incredibly obtuse and b) seems to reckon far more with gender, and to a lesser extent race, than it does dysfunctional romance as a theme. The narrative in ‘Kill’ certainly does not retell that of its source material, at least not in a manner discernible to the listener. But the connections are there nonetheless.

A Sun Came is an album that brims with loving, albeit surface-level, tributes to Sufjan’s musical and literary influences, and ‘Kill’ is one such example. But Anderson isn’t the only reference point for ‘Kill’. It is highly probable that Sufjan is intentionally referencing Elliott Smith’s ‘Roman Candle’ in the chorus of this one. Sufjan sings ‘I want to kill him / I want to cut his brain’; years earlier, Smith sang ‘I want to hurt him / I want to give him pain’. And this is almost certainly intentional given Sufjan’s professed admiration for Smith and the various comparisons that have been made between the two songwriters over Sufjan’s career. (What makes things even more interesting is that ‘Roman Candle’ is a song about Smith’s violent step-father. The same systematic patterns of abuse are present in the lyrics of both songs, albeit expressed with more eloquence in Smith’s. Even if not Sufjan’s own stepfather – Lowell Brahms is by all accounts a beautiful, caring soul – one wonders if the subject of ‘Kill’ might have a real-life referent.)

One could spend days attempting to decode ‘Kill’, and this is fortuitous, because musically it does not offer much. The bulk of the song consists of a repeating guitar figure that has a sort of leaden weight to it, dragging it down into the muck. It is vaguely reminiscent of – and inferior to – the ‘Abraham’ ostinato that Sufjan would pen a few years later, but this one is played almost entirely on the lower strings and as a result lacks the same ethereal pop and spring that many Sufjan songs capitalise on. There is some double tracking, especially in the chorus and pre-chorus, but it doesn’t add anything substantial to the arrangement. Neither does Sufjan’s strained, upper-register vocal melody, but there is certainly a sort of confessional quality to it that suits the subject matter. 

All of this comes together to create a song that is resolutely, undeniably un-fun to listen to. It is most likely for this reason that Sufjan chose never to play this one live, unlike some of the other stripped-back folk ballads on A Sun Came. When Sufjan dips his toes in depravity – ‘John Wayne Gacy Jr.’! ‘Saturn’! – incredibly compelling, listenable, rich things tend to emerge, but at this early stage of his career, it seems that the pieces are just not quite in place yet. But there’s no denying that ‘Kill’ is a fascinating and in many ways remarkably compelling song, just one that does not feel as listenable as it could be. It’s fine. Early days yet. All of these songs helped create our modern concept of Sufjan Stevens.

[rtfics]

Tim Burton Compares Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice 2 Performance to 'Demon Possession'.

via CBR:

For Tim Burton, it was like Michael Keaton never stopped playing Beetlejuice Beetlejuice's titular bio-exorcist.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly on the sequel to his 1988 horror comedy classic, Burton admitted even he was suprised by how naturally Keaton re-learned the part after more than 30 years. Comparing the sight of Keaton in costume to "a weird out-of-body experience," the director added, "He just got back into it. It was kind of scary for somebody who was maybe not that overly interested in doing it. It was such a beautiful thing for me to see all the cast, but he, sort of like demon possession, just went right back into it."

Once again, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be directed by Burton -- marking the director's first movie since 2019's live-action Dumbo -- with his Wednesday collaborators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar co-writing the screenplay. However, ideas for a Beetlejuice sequel were pitched for decades, with Burton listing "Beetlejuice and the Haunted Mansion" and "Beetlejuice Goes West" amongst the unused alternate titles. While none of these came to pass, the film's success led to the release of various spinoffs and re-interpretations, including a four-season Beetlejuice animated series co-starring Beetlejuice and Lydia Deetz (played in the film by Winona Ryder) and a Broadway adaptation.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Has Gotten a First Trailer

Beetlejuice fans finally received their first look at Beetlejuice Beetlejuice's trailer earlier this month, reuniting Keaton with Ryder's adult Lydia and Catherine O'Hara as Lydia's mother Delia. Wednesday star Jenna Ortega, meanwhile, will play Lydia's teenage daughter Astrid, teasing their complicated mother-daughter relationship as "very important" to the story and Beetlejuice's unexpected return to the Deetz family's lives. Additional castings for the movie include Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, and Burn Gorman, though their official character names have yet to be revealed.

Along with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton and Ortega will return for Wednesday season 2, which, according to Ortega, will focus more on the horror side of the Addams Family character's teenage misadventure. The first season not only received largely positive reviews and won multiple Creative Arts Emmys, but was a massive ratings hit for Netflix, obtaining more than 5 billion minutes of viewership within its first two weeks of its streaming release. However, according to a recent report, season 2 won't drop on Netflix until sometime next year, due in part to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes halting production on all films and shows last year. Keaton, meanwhile, will lead the upcoming comedy Goodrich and recently partook in an Oscars reunion joke with his Batman Returns co-star Danny DeVito.

[mbari-blog]

A farewell tribute to Cephalopod Week. Until next year! 🦑🐙👋🏼

The dumbo octopus, Grimpoteuthis, is named for its likeness to the Disney elephant character. They live near the deep seafloor from a few hundred meters deep to over 4,000 meters (about 13,120 feet). They usually hunt for prey by hovering over the muddy bottom, but this one was observed by ROV Doc Ricketts swimming above the seafloor.

[chunkfunkgunk-offishal]

I decided to ask around on all the fish/ocean blogs I follow: how do you learn more about the ocean?? I love the ocean and I really wanna learn more about my favorite sea creatures and beyond but I have no idea how to get started. Are there documentaries or shows your recommend? How do you go about doing research for fun (the American school system has failed me, go figure)? How do you even remember it all? I crave to learn but where I could possibly start is as vast as the ocean itself.

I am probably the least helpful source for this specifically haha

I don’t know as much about the ocean, I just love aquatic creatures! Most of my posts have very little facts or information about the animal themself because I truthfully don’t know much. I google the animal’s name and a few different key terms and check at least 6 different links (Typically 4-5 aquarium/conservation sites or scientific papers and then Wikipedia)

However, I am also from America, so maybe I can be a little helpful!

Most of my in depth information comes from talking with scientists, aquarium staff, and locals and/or fishermen on beaches. I like talking to people about things that they’re passionate about, and asking questions in person can help you quickly and easily get the answers you want. Plus people tend to be more interesting to listen to than a documentary or a scientific paper since they can make more jokes and/or give you little stories from real life about the subject. I adore the Georgia Aquarium, the staff there are amazing and the animals are incredible too!

For documentaries, I’ve watched the BBC’s Blue Planet a lot of times in my life. I also believe that there’s a scientific crew that do a livestream annually of various ocean life and provide commentary as they go. (The streams are Nautilus Live - you might have seen them if you’re familiar with the video of the shy dumbo octopus that hid in its tentacles.)

Last but not least: how I go about research for fun and remember it! It’s actually a little silly, but I actually used to make research slideshows about different animals when I bored and had time in class. I tend to do things like that—get interested in a topic and then go through different sources taking notes for really no reason other than that I want to.

It’s for that same reason that I can remember it, just that it’s interesting to me. When I enjoy learning about something, it sticks and doesn’t disappear. I have ADHD, though, so I can’t say if that’s good advice for someone without it.

I hope this was at least somewhat helpful! Sorry for rambles!

[disneytva]

Disney Television Animation X Walt Disney Imagineering Collaboration "San Fransokyo Square" Sets Opening Date, Confirms Big Hero 6 The Series Easter Eggs

After being promised at the recent D23 Expo, we are now getting an update from Walt Disney Imagineering, revealing that San Fransokyo Square is arriving at Disney California Adventure, August 31, 2023 as part of the 100 Years of Wonder at the Disneyland Resort.

The area will have some elements debuting in the month and a half as a lead-up.

During a PR Preview provided by Laughing Place, it was confirmed that the area will be featured with easter eggs from the various iterations of the Big Hero 6 story, including the Disney Television Animation's Big Hero 6 : The Series and Walt Disney Animation Studios Baymax! provided by both studios.

Starting in mid-July, you’ll be able to sample new San Fransokyo selections at Lucky Fortune Cookery, and the Port of San Fransokyo Cervecería will officially open. In the weeks following, additional dining options, unique shopping and more will be introduced as the transformation of this thriving seaside plaza continues through its official debut on August 31st.

When the transformation is completed, locations across the area – from the Cappuccino Cart outside the San Fransokyo Gate Bridge to The Bakery Tour – will be decked out in street art and colorful banners celebrating the Big Hero 6 team after their victory over Yokai.

The diverse array of flavorful fare in San Fransokyo Square will include current favorites and new creations inspired by Asian cuisine, as well as the Big Hero 6 themselves. Aunt Cass Café, the second bakery café operated by Hiro’s loving aunt, will serve dishes, soups in freshly-baked Boudin sourdough bread bowls and more inspired by Japanese cuisine. On the outside of this quick service restaurant, you’ll find a mural of Aunt Cass’ lucky pet cat, Mochi.

An old fishing net tannery across from the café is being converted to Rita’s Turbine Blenders, a giant drink dispenser offering delicious margaritas and icy beverages. This refreshment stand is owned and named after the repair technician who maintains the floating wind turbine, resembling a giant koi fish, that sits atop the structure.

Guests will also be able to meet with Baymax, who will talk for the very first time!

"San Fransokyo Square" is the lastest Disney Television Animation X Walt Disney Imagineering collaboration between "Mickey And Minnie's Runaway Railway" at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Toontown, "Aqua-Mouse" at Disney Wish from Disney Cruise Line, Passholder Magnets for Disney Springs and Disneyland with animations from "The Wonderful World Of Mickey Mouse", redesings from Paul Rudish and Asia Ellington for "Orange Bird","Dumbo" and "Figment", "DuckTales World Showcase Adventure" and providing redesings and decoring for the "Toontown" refreshment with "Goofy’s How-To-Play Yard","Donald's Boat",Chip ‘n’ Dale’s GADGETcoaster,"The EngineEar Souvenirs Shop" featuring various Disney Afternoon characters and locations.