#keep one eye open bob iger i will get you for this

[askfarfromhome]

i want a tergaia ratatouilles story from you 0.0

well i want all the scripts, concept art, storyboards, and the go ahead to fix gigantic to make it into a workable if not decent movie AND WE CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT WE WANT

[spooner-the-trinity]

Ni Hao a Aloha Mai - Chapters 2 and 3

Michael Eisner watched the two gentlemen walk out of the room with a trumphant glimmer in their eyes and had called in Bob Iger to inform him of the results. 

"You did the right thing, Michael." Bob congratulated his mentor. "We need Pixar as much as they need us."

"What can I say, they're practically part of the family." Michael retorted. "At least it'll buy us some more time with them and who knows… if all goes well, we could be owning three major Animation houses by the end of the decade."

"I'm glad to hear that you're taking thi… three?" Iger did a double take. "You mean, you're keeping the Florida lot?"

Eisener nodded back. "With California now focusing on CGI, we'll need to keep a homestead for the classic pen and paper approach. The Pixar guys proposed this as a condition for the continued relationship."

"Mike, isn't three Studios a little too much?" Iger argued. "Heck, I'd like to think two's more than enough."

"Well, it does help to have a counterpoint around to keep us on our toes." Eisener mentioned. "If we can make money off the inverse of our storytelling. Why not draw from both opposites in terms of the art."

"You heard what Katzenberg said!" Iger protested. "Hand Drawn is a relic of the past, you yourself said you wanted to centralize it all under CG."

"You're right, Bob." Admitted Michael. "We can't afford to be left in the past, but that doesn't mean we can just give up on what is an important part of our history. We gotta fight on and keep the craft going for as long as we can."

"We'll be throwing away money if you do this."

"We'll be throwing away Talent if we don't!"

Iger was dumbfounded. "You’ve finally lost it. After two straight decades on the job, you’ve let it go to your head.”

“Honestly, if it were earlier in these dismal days, a part of me would have agreed with ya.” Eisener shrugged. “But this is the voice of a man who’s willing to take the power back. Who’s ready to pull out all the stops and find new ways to help the medium keep up with CG’s rapid evolution. Who’s willing to see Disney’s magic remain vigilant in the face of a changing culture. This is a pivotal part of the plan going forward, our olive branch to Roy.”

“Are you seriously roping Roy into this?” Iger probed to his superior. “Especially when he’s dusted off his Save Disney campaign with Stanley Gold? You know, what got you in there in the first place?”

“Why not?” snarked the master to the apprentice. “After all, we wouldn’t have all this without it.”

“I don’t have time for this…” Iger facepalmed. “If you wanna play Ghandi, do it when there are human rights on the line instead of our pocketbooks.”

Michael took a look at his famed portrait of Walt and then his cover on Time Magazine before pulling out a pink sticky note. “Then I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do.”

“I get it.” Bob Iger proceeded to walk towards the door. “If you’re really taking it seriously, then try to calm down.”

“I’m trying, sir.” Iger added. “But this albatross you’ve chosen to keep around your neck is more than concerning.”

“So you’re that on edge, huh.” Eisener narrowed his stare. “Fine, if you’re just gonna walk off like this, you’re not walking back in. Do ya hear me? I didn’t take any crap from Katzenberg, I sure as hell ain’t takin’ any crap from you!”

Robert Iger opened the door and took in the gravity of the predicament and spoke: “I don’t really feel clean quoting a show that killed off your likeness in one episode… But in the words of Glenn Quagmire: Giggidy-Giggidy-Giggidy-Giggidy-Piss off, Jew!”

With a blunt slam, Michael Eisener watched helplessly as his protege left behind the destiny he had been planning for him. And once more, he felt like a failure.

Back at the Animation building, longtime veteran Berny Mathison looked to Iger as he made his way out for the final time. If these walls could talk, he would be hearing a faint, yet mournful roar when Iger got into his car and drove out the parking lot. 

As for Iger, he tried to keep himself calm in the face of throwing away the biggest opportunity of his career as he drove into the snowy January road ahead. His mind continued to wander until his eyes spotted a little girl watching a smaller boy on his tricycle make his way to the sidewalk… while the girl herself was right on the road. 

Iger honked as hard as he could to get her attention, his focus on the two making their way onto the sidewalk instead of the looming toy truck in front of the windshield. 

WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE! ARMORED VEHICLE!

D23=3

SMAAAaaash!!!!  

(Robert Iger has left Disney and may very well leave this mortal plane of existence, +10 to Eisener's Stress)

Dan DeBarde

...and done!

Darn, your hand was sore.

Who knew there would be so many papers to sign when producing an animated feature. "Your new partner's waiting for you in the other room, sir."

"So you must be Eric, Welcome aboard…" You shook hands and walked your guest through the door. "How was your flight?"

"In a word, bittersweet. I mean, yeah, you stood up for the Florida place, and hand drawn as a whole." Eric Goldberg smiled back. "A shame I had to leave behind a bunch of my colleagues back home."

"Now you know how 88 of us felt when Eisener shipped them in the opposite direction." You deadpanned to the warmer gentleman.

"Hey, I’m more than happy to pull my own weight around these parts given the second chance you gave us.” Eric confided to his fellow executive. "Though don’t expect me to come in on time for at least a couple months."

“Yeah, I get it. It’s 10 in the morning on the west coast.” You joked. “I’m just glad I didn’t pick Berny, he’d probably would have croaked mid-flight.”

(Eric Goldberg installed as Creative Executive of Feature Animation)

“Just heard from him, by the way...” Eric sighed. “Turns out the half of us that’s stuck in Burbank is being forced into an 18-month crash course in computer animation for Chicken Little. But god bless him, he’s doing his best.” 

“Guess that’s why they call you guys lifers.” You joked back. 

Eric's eyes wandered over your office and found a plushie of a familiar blue creature and picked it up. "So this is Mickey of the Floridian Generation, huh."

“Yep.” You leaned back into your cozy chair, your one solace in this difficult job. 

(Stitch Recognized as Mascot of Walt Disney Feature Animation)

“Can’t say I’m shocked, the little fella’s become an icon of the decade right now.” “See, we actually have him headlining the new tour video with Mushu cause y'know, we've had Back to Neverland for so long, It’s high time we sunset it in favor of something more modern."

“I understand.” Eric smirked. “So what’s the plan, boss…”

“Funny you brought up that crash course, Mister Joe Ranft actually ended up on the shortlist for the position you’ve just filled by taking the initiative to provide the tutelage.” You recounted before pulling out a phone number. “And he pitched the idea of our mascots alongside Mickey and Woody interacting with an old friend.”

You then pull out a photograph of Walt Disney, and Eric was gobsmacked. "Of course, we'll have to heavily vet the actor we bring to fill his carbonite-frozen shoes. But I've interned on Jeopardy long enough to get Trebek's phone number so I'm sure I could get him to stop by for an audition."

"I'd like to think a quick dinner with Roy would work." Eric smiled back.

(Because we're Curious locked in four the tour video)

(Alex Trebek added to Voice Pool)

"Now, Mike decided to call in a few favors from Miyazaki." He continued. 

"The Ghibli Guy?" You tilted your head. "With the long ears."

"Totoro's a production of Ghibli, yes." Eric corrected. "He got in touch with Tezuka Productions and Mike was offered one of three potential titles to adapt into a film."

"Couldn’t we just fix Peoples?" You asked. "I'm sure Kirk and Gary could patch together something presentable from a hot mess like that, just look at Beauty and the Beast for crying out loud."

"Well, you did promise four hand-drawn films."

"Doesn't say we can't still dabble in CG every now and then." You shrugged in your office chair before continuing. "Go ahead, give them a call."

(Roll for Wisedale)

D23=17

"Oh, alright." Eric sighed. "But you better lobby Mike to give Burbank a 2D flick to do in return."

"I'll see what I can do." You then picked up a TV remote. "Like I said, we had to pick a title. And this is what we picked."

You hold up the remote to click on the television to unveil the teaser trailer to their current project. The screen opened with a flip book of frames depicting Doc, one of the seven dwarves, belting out the opening 'High-Hoooooo!' We then see the Blue Fairy waving her wand over Sorcerer Mickey as Ink and paint is being applied to the two. Dumbo and Bambi slide into frame as screens depicting shots of Disney's back catalog of movies and shorts zoomed in to the voices of an entire crowd that was far larger than the other six. "High-Hoooooo!" Silence hit as the screen showing Mary Poppins being served by the Animated Penguins was followed by one of Baloo and Bagheera dancing off into the sunset. The post Walt era films would flow in to the voice of Phil Collins joining in for the chorus and into the Renaissance with a billowing. "High-Ho! High-Ho! High-Hoooooo!"

High-Ho! High-Ho!

Ni hao a Aloha Mai

To All who come to this happy place

ALO-HA MAI!

The screens were congregating into the background as the logo flew in its CGI golden glory: Walt Disney Feature Animation.

"Gorgeous." Eric complimented. "Though a bit self-indulgent."

"Yeah, even I thought it was a bit much, but Phil was at the wrap party and rallied the troops when we announced the save. So I thought we could use it for our calling card." You smiled. "We've even got plans to animate Stitch into it."

"Gotta milk that mascot, eh?" Eric laughed with you, yes this was going to be a fun partnership. "Now, about that Tezuka flick."

"Right! It was back and forth between Melmo and Dororo, both incredibly wild projects, wilder than Astro Boy believe it or not." You elaborated. "One has a little girl jumping back and forth through puberty and the other has a guy carved into literal pieces, one for the 48 demons that carved him up for a warlord."

Eric's eyes widened and his blood churned. "Yikes."

"Yeah, pretty heavy stuff all things considered." You admitted. "But we already locked in Mary Gibbs as the little girl for both of them so let's get to reading." You tapped heavily at the box of tankobans printed by the Tezuka estate as if you were doing a drum roll "And the winner is:"

(Dororo Becomes the fourth or fifth film from Walt Disney Feature Animation!)

"Fun fact, the animators proposed a sequence where Melmo would undergo a rough initial transformation going through all the rough parts of puberty." You joked to your partner. "Yeah, she was just not worth the parental cries of 'The Children'. Maybe next time if this partnership pans out."

"We just gotta wait and see, right?" Eric smiled back. 

"For now, we gotta call up the Beastie Boys and figure out how the carved into pieces bit can work out for us." You go back to your desktop PC only to find a frown on Eric's jovial jaws.

"So... you've heard about Iger, right?"

(Is he okay?)

D23=16

Two sleepless months went by for Willow Bay where she would do her job on CNN or MSNBC as an entertainment industry correspondent, then spend the twilight hours tending to her wounded husband. The now former Chief Operating Officer of the Walt Disney Company would lay unconscious as the days bled into weeks, and to say that Michael was devastated was an understatement. 

He pulled out all the stops for him, calling in all sorts of talent from across the industry to share their wishes for Iger's full recovery. Gift baskets, wine, toys, gift baskets with wine, and letters from concerned children. 

There was even a collection of voice-mail messages from familiar voices of Disney's past from Jim Cummings to Robin Williams, most of them were When you Wish upon a Star (and would see reuse in Once Upon a Studio for the 100th Anniversary) but what ultimately stirred him from his coma was Jennifer Hale's message. She had invited Ilane Woods to sing 'A Dream is a Wish' together, and when Willow played it for him like she usually did for every message. Iger's eyes began to flutter open and muttered: "Hell of a winter, eh."

The road to recovery was relatively rough on the man, not only did he have to get readjusted to his body but he also needed a job to get himself back on his feet financially. Luckily, Fox President Gail Berman has been looking to relaunch Fox Kids as a full network and thought that he could be the best choice for the studio and could very well be the best pick for the job. Given his ties to Disney and the guilt Eisener had meant that Fox could easily buy back the Fox Family Worldwide Library from Eisener since he's been doing a decent job burying it all, but it wasn't enough.

For Fox Kids to bounce back from its demise at the hands of the mouse, they needed a long-term strategy to re-establish itself. Then a sudden idea hit him: Fox was looking to enter a cozy relationship with [adult swim] to rerun its animated shows like, if he could perchase that for Fox Kids,  it would be mutually beneficial due this would cut out the middlemen of licencing and rope in the audience that grew up with Fox Kids back in the 90s. So, once he checked out of the hospital, he took the position and got to work on negotiations. 

(Robert Iger is courting adult swim, bruh. What's gunna happen, bruh?)

D23=22

AOL Time Warner, rapidly bleeding money and looking to shed some deadweight, decided to feed them all of Turner Broadcasting in October of 2004 for keeping everything that would be rendered redundant by the exchange including CNN, TBS and TNT as well as the Looney Tunes shorts from the Turner Library and the complete portfolio of Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry (The latter of which would be folded into the Looney Tunes lineup) due to a few projects being in production. All for a total of $22 Billion Dollars. This Irked Carl Icahn, and prompted him to accelerate his plans to dismantle the AOL Time Warner merger, but that debacle is another story and shall be told another time.

[tomhollandnet]

Will there be a third Spider-Man movie? And will you, as Spider-Man, appear in other Marvel movies?

Yes is the answer to that question. I’m super happy about it. We will be shooting “Spider-Man 3” in July in Atlanta.

As for me showing up in other Marvel movies, I’m not sure as to what they want me to do.

And will Zendaya play Spider-Man’s girlfriend again?

In “Spider-Man 3,” Zendaya will most definitely be in the film. As to the relationship between Peter and MJ, I’m not too sure what it will be.

How do you cope with all the attention since you rose to fame with Spider-Man?

I’m very lucky in my career to have people I look up to who are readily available for whenever I need them. For example, Chris Pratt in this film, “Onward.” Since I got cast as Spider-Man, he’s been like a big brother to me. He’s always on the other end of the phone should I need to ask him advice about dealing with this concept of being famous and people feeling like they own a little piece of you.

It’s really my friends around me in the industry, because I look up to Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr. I’d like to be like them in the future, so it’s very easy for me to just copy them, and see how they’ve dealt with stuff.

When you were growing up, which animated films did you love?

For me, growing up, the original “Robin Hood,” with the fox and the vixen, was a massive film. In recent years, “Coco” has been my favorite Pixar movie, hands down. I have an amazing relationship with my granny, Tess, and she’s quite similar to Mama Coco in that film.

“Onward” brings to mind road trips. Have you experienced a road trip that was a journey of self-discovery?

I wouldn’t say a road trip. But I’ve been on the road my entire adolescence. So, you could say I’ve been on a road life for the last 10 years, which has been amazing. I’ve spoken to you in five or six different cities around the world, and that’s a really amazing thing to be able to say.

You learn a lot about yourself being on the road because you’re always with new people, seeing new faces and having to adapt to new environment.

And, as in this film, metaphorically—have you had that walk across a bridge?

When “Spider-Man 1” came out, there was a very clear fork in the road of where I could go. I could go one way or the other. I chose the way that I think my parents probably would’ve wanted me to go. So maybe there was a step made as to what kind of man I would be in the future.

As a former child actor, did you ever take a kid actor under your wing because you know how it feels to be a kid surrounded by adults on set?

I remember being a kid working with Chris Hemsworth for the first time on “In the Heart of the Sea.” He was obviously Thor and I was a huge fan of the Marvel Universe. I remember him being so nice and welcoming. We got along really well.

I just make sure whenever there’s a young kid on set that he walks away having a good time, rather than having a negative experience.

And do you have any bad memories as an actor?

I broke my nose a bunch of times. I dislocated my ankle six weeks ago on “Cherry.” Those aren’t the best memories ever. But the bad memories are easily outweighed by the good ones.

Earlier, you were talking about being grateful to your brothers for bringing you down to earth because it’s easy to get lost, so to speak, in Hollywood. Can you elaborate on getting lost in Hollywood?

Yeah, I knew that was coming (laughs)! Getting lost in terms of dealing with the idea of being famous, giving up your privacy, love life. You have to learn quickly because unfortunately in this business, you will be taken advantage of.

And you have experienced that?

I’ve been lucky with my studio experience. Tom Rothman (Sony Pictures chair) is a great friend of mine. That’s the same for Disney. Bob Iger, Kevin Feige, Victoria Alonso and Louis D’Esposito have all been like godparents to me.

So, any tricky situation I’ve ever found myself in, it’s only been one phone call away before I can get it handled.

What about people who like to exploit you?

Yeah, I don’t like those people very much!

So, talk some more about how your brothers bring you down to earth.

They’re the first people to say no. I sit here, and I can say, “Excuse me, can someone get me a coffee?” I go home and say, “Harry, would you make me coffee?” He goes, “F**k off, I’m not making you coffee.”

How do you deal with having relationships when you have no privacy?

Dealing with a relationship in this industry is not very easy because it means that going to dinner isn’t just going to dinner. It’s, “Oh, I have to look nice because I know there’s going to be paparazzi waiting around the corner.”

So, when it comes to that sort of stuff, I just keep a low profile.

Are your fans generally respectful when you have those private moments?

My fans are really supportive of everything that I do. People ask me for photos when I’m out and about, and that’s part of the job. I’m always happy to make a little kid’s day.

What can you share about two movies that you have completed, “The Devil All the Time” and “Cherry”?

“The Devil All the Time” isn’t a comedy. It’s a strange departure from Spider-Man. I’m playing a kid from the deep South who ends up murdering a bunch of people. He thinks he’s justified in what he’s doing. But I will say it was the first time I’ve ever pretended to murder someone.

I think “Cherry” is my best work. The Russo brothers (Anthony and Joe, directors) have done such an amazing job of saying goodbye to the Marvel Universe and opening up this new chapter to the future of their careers. I’m so glad that they would have me along on that journey with them. When you see “Cherry,” you’ll be pretty shocked at my transformation.

Can you describe your character in “Cherry”?

My character doesn’t actually have a name in the film. He’s a kid who decided to join the army and became a medic. He served in Iraq for over a year and had a really hard time out there.

When he came home, he was self-diagnosed with PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) and started abusing OxyContin, which then spiraled into a serious opioid addiction. To feed his drug addiction, he starts robbing banks and ultimately ends up in prison.

It’s the story of this awful spiral that he found himself in, and the problem we have with how we treat veterans when they come home and the lack of support that we give them. It will be eye-opening for people around the world to see that film.

[sepdet]

Plus— and I cannot stress this enough— if Disney gets away with doing this to a big-name actor, they will keep doing it to everybody elee you haven't heard about.

After all, we know she's not the only one. This comes four months after #DisneyMustPay, the grassroots effort demanding Disney pay royalties owed to popular 1970s SF author Alan Dean Foster, contracted by Lucasfilms to write the novelizations for Star Wars: A New Hope and the first-ever Star Wars spinoff novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and contracted by 20th Century Fox to write the novelizations for the Aliens movies.

As Foster put it in his open letter published by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America:

"...I know this is what gargantuan corporations often do. Ignore requests and inquiries, hoping the petitioner will simply go away. Or possibly die [Foster is fighting cancer]. But I’m still here, and I am still entitled to what you owe me. Including not to be ignored, just because I’m only one lone writer. How many other writers and artists out there are you similarly ignoring?

[...] as a guy named Bob Iger said….

“The way you do anything is the way you do everything.”

Many writers and artists from these franchises are reporting to the SFWA that Disney won't pay them what they're owed, either.

From The Verge:

According to SFWA president Mary Robinette Kowal, Disney is arguing that when it bought Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox, they bought contract rights — but not the legal obligation to pay Foster for his work. “If we let this stand, it could set precedent to fundamentally alter the way copyright and contracts operate in the United States,” Kowal wrote. “All a publisher would have to do to break a contract would be to sell it to a sibling company."

Remember, with the acquisition of Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox, Disney now owns dozens of popular franchises and cultural institutions from Sesame Street and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Deadpool, not to mention Star Wars, Aliens, Indiana Jones, the X-Files, Glee, Goosebumps, and many more.

That's thousands of actors, production crew, artists, writers, etc, whose contracts Disney may be trying to wriggle out of based on technicalities.

So by all means, let ScarJo use her fame, fortune and access to better lawyers to hold Disney accountable in both the courts and the public eye. We, the public, should back her up and ask how Disney is fulfilling its obligations to other actors, writers and crew too.

I’m seeing a lot of posts/takes that start out “I simply can’t feel sorry for ScarJo…” and I’m just. like. who’s asking you to feel sorry for her? who’s asking for sympathy? nobody’s asking you to open your hearts, let alone your wallets. you don’t have to feel anything positive for her at all. legal right doesn’t require sympathy.

the question at hand is not “is scarjo a poor pitiable victim,” the question is “does Disney, as a corporate entity, have an obligation to fulfill its contracts, carry out its obligations, and keep its promises” and, yes? the answer is absolutely yes? your feelings on scarjo as a person should have absolutely zero bearing on the answer to this question

if anything it’s Disney who’s asking for pity, for sympathy, to be let off from having to do things it doesn’t want to do because its life is just so haaaaaard right now with the pandemic, and you know what? I simply can’t feel sorry for disney.

[davidmann95]

It is official: Disney has bought Fox. So, the question now is, how does Marvel handle the integration of the X-Men and the FF into the MCU or not into it?

So apropos of nothing, I for some reason feel the need to post this Marvel Boy panel up front here:

Huh. Anyway, cheers to the mouse swallowing another double-digit percentage of American pop culture whole like a whale devouring krill.

Anyway, the big change to how I assumed this would go down is that Jackman’s pivoted and said he’s not interested in coming back as Wolverine for the sake of an Avengers team-up after all (which could obviously be a play for a larger paycheck, but he went out as on top as possible with Logan and the dude isn’t getting any younger). I had a whole idea involving Kang and the catastrophes implied in The Gifted and Logan for how the current X-movies could be retroactively inserted into the MCU, and you could get him back for a couple more movies and do an Avengers vs. X-Men flick with the ‘classic’ version of the latter team before moving over to Dafne Keen’s Laura permanently, but that’s out the window given Jackman was the only reason to bother keeping the old stuff as far as the powers-that-be would be concerned rather than reboot. Well, aside from the other guy I’ll get to shortly. And speaking of retirements, will Evans and Downey be convinced to stick around for a few more films, so Marvel can get the big money shot of the Guardians, FF, X-Men, and (original) Avengers all standing together?

So INFINITELY more importantly than the X-Men, Marvel now has the Fantastic Four back, so not only will they finally get some good movies, but all their associated cosmic concepts will be able to spill all over the place, and Doom will shortly be able to take over for Thanos as the big bad of the universe as a whole, which is good because unlike Thanos, Doom is great. As far as ‘integrating’ them goes, I’ll maintain my previous idea that they were a 60s/70s superteam who’ve been in space for awhile (not aging much due to time dilation) and are now back; not for the sake of some narrow-minded “they’re inherently rooted in the Cold War!” idea that’s gotten a disappointing amount of traction, but to preserve their place in the larger universe as the first family. For the X-Men keep it bare-bones, they’re super-teens and they deal with relationship stuff and fight Sentinels, hold off on Magneto and Wolverine until a solid foundation is built so that people will care about the other characters too.* When they do introduce Wolverine, do it via Enemy of the State: to Disney and to the world at large his inclusion is going to be the most important part of this, so it needs the proper scope, and this can additionally repair the idea of him as a frightening yet sympathetic victim who could loose control at any moment after years of him being a team player and likable household name by opening with him loosing control to fatal consequences, setting the tone going forward. Also, cast a short dude this time.

As for the elephant in the room, literally change nothing with Deadpool. Keep Ryan Reynolds, let him keep doing his R-rated stuff in the corner with X-Force the way Bob Iger is implying he’ll get to; he already pisses in the face of continuity and hasn’t met anyone aside from Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, so no one’ll bat an eye at him at him surviving a reboot. If he shows up in the Avengers or X-Men stuff, just have him turn to the camera and say “Hey kids! Disney bought me, so I get to play with all the other kids now! It’s great, except I can’t say ‘fuck’ anymore, aside from that one time just now I’m allotted in a PG-13 movie! Chimichangas!” And while I doubt we’ll get the Spider-Man/Deadpool teamup movie everybody’s wanted, no matter how badly I want to see Holland’s babyface Peter Parker finally snap thanks to Wade’s prodding and yell fuck at the top of his lungs - for that matter I don’t see many Marvel mainstays at all dipping their toes into his particular family-unfriendly pond - have Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury show up in one of his flicks and finally let him call somebody a motherfucker.

Oh, and keep doing Legion, its place in the larger universe be damned, it rules.

* Incidentally, who wants to place odds on Ms. Marvel being a founding member of the MCU X-Men? Guaranteed some higher-up at Marvel Comics today just pulled a file that’s been on a shelf for a couple years now with the plan for how to retcon Kamala Khan into being a mutant.

[jschaeferreviews]

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Set between Episode III and IV, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” sheds light upon the famous opening crawl which opened “A New Hope” back in 1977.  It follows the rebel alliance as they infiltrate deep behind enemy lines to steal the plans for the Death Star allowing Luke Skywalker to destroy the mega weapon years later.  While not an official installment to the numbered trilogies, “Rogue One” is the first of many planned universe expanding films.

The film wastes no time jumping into action.  With a flashback of a young Jyn Erso, daughter to weapons architects, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) as he is forcibly recruited to join the dark side and design the ultimate force of destruction for Darth Vader.  While Star Wars has never shied away from dark or violent story elements, this opening flashback sets the much darker tone which hangs over the rest of “Rogue One.”  That being said, “Rogue One” is not excessively dark or violent, just a bit more so than the episodes.

The tone is one of the strongest aspects of the film.  In the midst of the rise of the Empire, this small sect of rebels rise to face insurmountable odds against the powerful Sith.  It is a classic underdog story, like most of the Star Wars installments, but given the unrest in so many sections of the world this sci-fi film becomes surprisingly relevant.  

It was interesting to see just how deep into this territory Disney allowed their franchise to go, but with a story about rebels against an all-powerful force of evil, you aren’t going to be able to have all sunshine and rainbows.  If you really look back through The Vault, Disney has never exactly shied away from darker story elements.  Think back to “Bambi” where a poor fawn’s mother is murdered in sport or “The Lion King” where a young lion’s father is killed at the hands (paws?) of his brother in front of his son’s eyes.

Turning our attention back to the film, “Rogue One” gets off to a bit of a rocky start.  Once the opening flashback and the title card pass, we are bombarded for the next fifteen or so minutes hopping from planet to planet, character to character.  It is a lot of to keep track of, but once the story is established and we move into the lengthy second act it all settles down.  Unlike 2015’s revitalizing “Force Awakens,” we have a whole new host of characters safe for Darth Vader and some of his commanders.  There is no real connection to the main story of the episodes, yet it fits in snug as a part of this ever-expanding universe.

When we start looking at the key players of the truly ensemble cast, no one really stands out as memorable. The rag-tag crew of rebels is led by Jyn (Felicity Jones) and Cassian (Diego Luna).  Both leads are very safe and likable choices and they play their roles well but once the credits roll they begin to fade from memory.  Forest Whitaker plays Saw Gerrera who looks like a character with a lot more story behind him than the script allows which is a real shame.

The character who stuck with me the longest after the film, and unfortunately not in a good way, would be the droid, K-2SO (Alan Tudyk).  This dry-humored robot ends up being more of a nuisance than anything.  If Sheldon Cooper of “The Big Bang Theory” were a robot, he would by K-2SO.  Sure, he means well, but the delivery and the comic relief he is meant to bring does not go over quite so well.

The third act is where the film truly exceeds.  The infiltration of Scarif is a battle choreographed with such a steady hand it is both easy to follow yet still exciting.  The camera never moved by accident in the final twenty or so minutes of the film and it was refreshing to see such restraint in an all-out battle sequence. Where lesser directors would opt to have shaky cam and lots of movement, Gareth Edwards gave us a carefully thought out and orchestrated battle.  Having given us 2014’s “Godzilla,” Edwards proved he knew how to hold back and deliver the action when it would make the most impact on the audience.  With “Rogue One” he solidified his standing of one of the more tempered and careful action directors working today.

Characters and nitpicking aside, the biggest disappointment for me was the score.  Composed by Michael Giacchino, there are many familiar elements in the music, but the variances almost seem like a missed chord rather than part of the composition.  It is a tough call to make, the music associated with Star Wars is so iconic and “Rogue One” sought to be a part of the universe yet be its own stand-alone film. This is evident by the lack of an opening crawl, but when you open with the beginning of these character themes we all grew up with, and then change them a few measures in, it doesn’t feel quite right.  The truly original music written all work well, but the, for lack of a better term “inspired by” pieces took me out of the action on more than one occasion.  

All nitpicking aside, “Rogue One” itself was very enjoyable experience.  Even though we all know how the film would end thanks to some major spoilers in “A New Hope,” it still manager to be an exciting feature.  It will be interesting to see how Disney works their Han Solo solo film, but if they use the same care they did in crafting “Rogue One” there is not much to worry about.  It just begs to ask, when will they pilot forward and expand the universe in places other than the past.  They have the next trilogy of episodes, but in a galaxy as wide as Star Wars, there has got to be room for more stories… Though I would pay good money to see a Darth Maul centric film; Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Iger, I hope you’re listening!

[marcusssanderson]

60 Creativity Quotes About Expressing Your Real Self

Our latest collection of creativity quotes on Everyday Power Blog. Enjoy!

Creativity can be defined as the ability to use our imagination and unique ideas to make something. It is a habit of life that comes in many different forms.

Creativity is one of the most important traits we possess as human beings. It is because of creativity that we are able to achieve success in life. When we come across challenges and obstacles, it’s our creativity that allows us to see the opportunities hidden in them.

Every one of us is creative. In fact, we are all born creative and use our innovativeness and imagination to negotiate life. But due to self-doubt and other limiting thoughts, we sometimes find it difficult to express who we truly are.

When you feel like you’re stuck and that you’re not good enough, reading some words of inspiration can get your creative juices flowing again.

Here are some powerful creativity quotes that will awaken your imagination and inspire you to be true to yourself and your dreams.

  Creativity Quotes About Expressing Your Real Self

  1.) “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

  2.) “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” ~Erich Fromm

  3.) “Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.” ~ Julia Cameron

  4.) “Creativity itself doesn’t care at all about results – the only thing it craves is the process.” ~Elizabeth Gilbert

  5.) “Creativity comes from trust. trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.” – Rita Mae Brown

  6.) “I’m experimental by nature… always exploring my creativity. – Christina Aguilera

  7.) “If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.” – Pablo Picasso

  8.) “The thing about creativity is, people are going to laugh at it. Get over it.” – Twyla Tharp

  9.) “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath

  10.) “Make an empty space in any corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it.” – Dee Hock

  Creativity quotes to awaken your imagination

  11.) “Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.” – Dorothy Parker

  12.) “Creative isn’t the way I think, it’s the way I like to live.” – Paul Sandip

  13.) “Creativity requires input, and that’s what research is. You’re gathering material with which to build.” – Gene Luen Yang

  14.) “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein

  15.) “Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas” – Donatella Versace

  16.) “The heart and soul of the company is creativity and innovation.” – Bob Iger

  17.) ““Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso

  18.) “Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” – William Plomer

  19.) “Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.” – Eric Hoffer

  20.) “Creativity is nothing but a mind set free.” –Torrie T. Asai

  Creativity quotes to inspire you to be true to yourself

  21.) “The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.” ~Pablo Picasso

  22.) “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” ~Scott Adams

  23.) “The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself.” – Deepak Chopra

  24.) “Rational thoughts never drive people’s creativity the way emotions do.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

  25.) “In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” – Rollo May

  26.) “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”– Vincent van Gogh

  27.) “Creativity is nothing but the way to solve new problems.” – Diana Santos

  28.) “Creativity is one of the last remaining legal ways of gaining an unfair advantage over the competition.” – Ed Mc Cabe

  29.) ” Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” – Martin Luther King

  30.) “You don’t have to be ‘a creative’ to be creative.” –Droby Ben-Menachem

  Creativity quotes to motivate and inspire you

  31.) “Creativity makes a leap, then looks to see where it is.” ~Mason Cooley

  32.) “Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing.” ~Edward de Bono

  33.) “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” –  Steve Jobs

  34.) “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without” – Cecil B. DeMille

  35.) “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will” – George Bernard Shaw

  36.) “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” – Brené Brown

  37.) “The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau

  38.) “Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.”– Bruce Garrabrandt

  39.) “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” – Arthur Clarke

  40.) “Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience.” – Masaru Ibuka

  Creativity quotes that will inspire you to look at things differently

  41.) “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” ~Albert Einstein

  42.) “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” – Mary Lou Cook

  43.) “Creativity is breaking out of established patterns to look at things in a different way.” ~Edward de Bono

  44.) “The artist is not a special kind of person; rather each person is a special kind of artist.” – Ananda Coomaraswamy

  45.) “Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” ~Charles Mingus

  46.) “Creativity is contagious, pass it on.” – Albert Einstein

  47.) “You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club” – Jack London

  48.) “Solitude is creativity’s best friend, and solitude is refreshment for our souls.” – Naomi Judd

  49.) “If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.”– John Cleese

  50.) “The best way to predict the future is to create it” –Abraham Lincoln

  Other inspirational creativity quotes

  51.) “To be creative means to be in love with life.” ~Osho

  52.) “The field of creativity that exists within each individual is freed by moving out of ideas of wrong-doing or right doing.” – Angeles Arrien

  53.) “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein

  54.) “Your soul is infinitely creative. It is alive and expansive in nature. It is curious and playful, changing with the tides of time.” – Debbie Ford

  55.) “Almost all creativity requires purposeful play.” – Abraham Maslow

  56.) “Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics.” – Victor Pinchuk

  57.) “Creativity is the way I share my soul with the world.”- Brene Brown

  58.) “My humor is my creativity, and my skepticism is a gift.” –  J. Tillman

  59.) “I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity.” – Gilda Radner

  60.) “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”– Henry David Thoreau

  Which of these creativity quotes was your favorite?

  Creativity is crucial if you want to succeed in life. Although many people may not realize it, all of us are born with massive creativity. It’s upon you to cultivate it so you can discover the endless opportunities around you.

We all have a wellspring of creative energy within us. Hopefully, these quotes have inspired you to live better and to be true to yourself and your visions.

Did you enjoy these creativity quotes? Which of the quotes was your favorite? We would love to hear all about it in the comment section below. Also, don’t forget to share with your friends and loved ones.

The post 60 Creativity Quotes About Expressing Your Real Self appeared first on Everyday Power Blog.