#lucky and zorba

[syppys-den]

Interspecies Adoption appreciation post

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[marine-indie-gal]

The Crossover that a lot of People didn't know if they asked for it. From what we have here is Lucky and Zorba and Sam and Pattie from "Argonuts/Epic Tails".

If I had a nickel for everytime that I'd watch a Foreign Animated Film where the Dynamic would be a Responsible Cat Dad raising their own Foster Child (who is in the Opposite Prey Species) and it's both Heartbreaking and Emotional in every tear, I'd have Two Nickels.

Which isn't a lot but it's Weird it happened Twice.

Lucky and Zorba (c) Luis Sepúlveda Sam and Pattie (c) TAT productions

[budbudiovich]

An eedit of one of my childhood movies :D

The movie is '' la gabbianella e il gatto '' (lucky and zorba in English) I've frist watched in my first grade class and I've rewatched yesterday :)

Song is quelli che benpensano

[maimoncat]

For the music ask, 27!

Oh fuck, I know which one(s) this is:

There are two songs from the italian animated movie "Lucky and Zorba" (La gabbianella e il gatto) that always, ALWAYS make me cry. While the final song, "I can fly" (so volare) does get a stronger reaction from me, I always founf Kengah's song in the beginning the most heartwrenching. The dreams of a dying mother who regrets not being able to see her child grow up, and having to trust a stranger to be able and raise it.

[tinyirnfistforever]

A short AMV featuring a classic song about rats.

[thelastunicornflipouts]

I was today years old when I found out that Diderot from ‘La gabbianella e il gatto’ (Lucky and Zorba) has the same voice actor as Schmendrick in the Italian dub of TLU.

[blimbo-buddy]

Holy shit it's Smudge

[red-rann]

Just saw The Wild Robot. Reminded me of The Iron Giant and a small film called Lucky and Zorba.

[sgiandubh]

Your answer earlier today mentioned the fandom was bored and cantankerous and it actually seems like the series ended when 7a did: no fan engagement, no details about the second half of the season, no trailer, no interest from the actors and on and on it goes. It's like it's over but there was no closure so people are basically being jerks (more than usual) because they are at loose ends.

Dear Loose Ends Anon,

While I globally agree with your assessment of the situation, I think there's no possible excuse for a bunch of supposedly adult women to act like an overexcited high-school clique, and then some more. There is no possible excuse for the borderline obsessive preoccupation regarding the whereabouts of a perfect stranger, even if that man was 'very lucky, very blessed' to be cast as JAMMF. There is no possible excuse for knowingly ventilating fake homosexuality rumors, based on proven & deliberate 'evidence' planting on Wikipedia and/or some laughable rants on an obscure American gay forum. And there certainly is no possible excuse for the pervasive hypocrisy amongst the 'Best Fans Ever'.

All the above are WRONG. So no, no excuses, as far as I am concerned.

Add to this a narcissistic writer, who either does not want or is unable to properly manage the most difficult part of any project - its end. A greedy TV network (***) facing financial turbulence and willing to milk the OL franchise until the last drop - BOMB and the Stalinist paranoia surrounding its cast is evidence enough. Two leads who simply try to exist beyond this crushing pressure and who, somehow, will always be found wanting.

By the same logic, there might never be a closure, since I already could bet the farm, Bebe the dog, Zorba the car and all the rest of my worldly possessions that the last episode of Season 8 will be just the start of thunderous and frustrated wailings, all over the world. Hell, depending on its solvability, *** might even consider a Downton Abbey type marketing strategy, finally catching up with madame Gabaldon's turtle sprint. And churning out at least two or three motion pictures based on the inextricable Book 9 (and of course, 10) gibberish.

The only silver lining in all this disaster is that, after all, this is but a storm in a teacup. Consider the scale, Anon - it should be optimistically sobering.

[summitclan-chronicles]

SUMMITCLAN CHRONICLES (SCC) is an 18+ roleplay inspired by xenofiction like Warrior Cats, Watership Down, Ratha's Creature, Zorba and Lucky, and the New York State Adirondacks.

Life is hard in the mountains. Creatures fight for every mouthful - for every birth is a death.

But does it have to be cruel forever, always? The cats of Summitclan came together not for battle but for the color of the leaves, the shine of the moon, the hush of fallen snow; together their ancestors brought forth a world where cats have carved a gentle soul into the slope of the harsh mountains. Where food is hidden away to feed the sick when the cold times come; where there are plants that quicken the healing of splintered bones; where one's newborns are always safe and loved. A kitten of Summitclan is a kitten that was told through act and word how wanted they were - and an elder never passes alone.

Life was hard in the mountains. So they changed how life was lived.

Could Summitclan be the perfect refuge, high on those wooded mountain peaks, in the eye of those ancestors who cared so deeply?

We offer you..

• A calm, loving, adult Warrior Cats community that assumes the best in you & others.

• A unique single-character model where every member has one cat with whom they experience Summitclan - in birth, through life, and in death.

• Exclusive lore and worldbuilding that must be taught to new generations & incomers.

• A system of real-time years and seasons with extended days and nights for extra roleplay time, with weather reflecting the Adirondacks themselves.

• A slow-burn style experience where characters are expanded upon as if they were living beings, evolving as they experience, conflict, learn, reflect and adapt.

• A series of unique festivals year-round to bring the community and clan together as a unit, each themed after a season and its associated needs.

• Resources and prompts members can access to give them ideas for interactions & relationships during slow periods or writer's blockages.

• Staff with high expectations and explicit instructions on how to settle disagreements and keep members lighthearted.

• A support system for less experienced roleplayers to learn from more experienced members.

• A stable design made to last beyond any single member, easily passed down so that it does not abruptly die.

And before you join, I want to inform you ...

This roleplay features feral cats living wild in the Adirondack Mountain Range. Everyday activities including hunting small to medium animals, possibly fending off small to large threats, cats being born + possibly not surviving long after, and cats recieving varying injuries, contracting varying sicknesses, or even losing their lives in tragic ways. All things will be handled with grace, and the roleplay is designed to be balanced rather than leaning toward good or bad events, but you will not be able to avoid these themes upon joining.

Who Are You Looking For?

We are looking for people that are creative, gentle, patient, open-minded, friendly and considerate. If you're someone who indulges in lightheartedness just as often as you do the dark side, and can see the gentle edge in everything, this might be for you...

Our Application:

Grand Opening applications have closed! This area will soon have a link to an app for kittens & loners.

[co-mixed]

Doctor Doom - The Loveable Autocrat 

Fantastic Four #247 is quite an issue. It impressed me so much, I decided to dedicate a whole post to a single issue. If you’ve been around for a while, you know I almost never do that. There’s usually not enough to say about just one single. And yet, this one forced me to reflect on real-world history and very controversial ideas presented in the book. 

What’s Up

In this issue, the Fantastic Four are forced to help Doom reclaim his place as the monarch of Latveria. Since he was defeated by, well, also the Fantastic Four, his rightful (according to him, obviously) place has been taken by Zorba. Doom can’t think of anything better than taking FF on a tour of the new and improved Latveria in order to show them how much worse life without Doom actually is. 

Now right off the bat, I have plenty of issues with this whole premise. First of all, Doom is a dictator. A nasty, unapologetically evil dictator, whose country is messed up no matter which way you look. We know that from the issues #84-87 in which the FF with Crystal on their team, end up traveling to Latveria to witness the beauty of Doom state. It’s not a pretty picture either: it looks like the land of the free, dressing like it’s the 1910s instead of 1960s, and fachwerk. 

It’s impossible to hide the fact that the people are brainwashed and afraid of their own shadows.

You are free to call me out on imagining too much, but we all know exactly how these states function. 

The Background

In Latveria, the people are forced to love and praise Doom. As long as they keep their head low, do their job, don’t ask for anything, and don’t cross Doom directly- they can live a normal life. This illusion of normalcy comes from everyone knowing their place and the rules to follow. And on paper, it even sounds like a textbook Utopia. It's anything but.

In one issue, for instance, Doom is exercising a favored trick among his peers: a peasant bumps into him, and Doom pretends to forgive him.

But we as readers aren't that easily fooled. He's obviously terrified because he knows the rules, and the main one is to love and obey the "leader". Already sounds culty if you ask me. But what this does in terms of narrative is it establishes the condition of Doomism — his state is built on fear, not on respect. 

When the FF approach the border, they are immediately informed that neither side (neither the soviet bloc nor the democratic countries) can protect their people within Latverian borders. Latveria does not recognize any international agreements or laws which means absolute, unlimited, uncontrolled power in one set of metal hands. If you underestimate the severity of it, imagine that your absolute authority on all matters including basic freedoms is one man who may or may not be insane. 

Like any self-respecting dictator, Doom has a private guard. The one that shoots people if they try to escape his land (which hey, is one of the basic freedoms, shocking.) Doom is clever enough to know what he’s doing, and not nearly naive enough to imagine that if he had allowed his people to move about freely, they would move outside the border and never come back. You can trust me on that. 

When Doom is once again consumed by his desire to destroy the accursed Fantastic Four, he doesn’t think twice about sacrificing a whole village of his “beloved subjects”. And even before that, when his private bot guard gets out of hand, he even informs the populace that anyone who dies would be considered a hero. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it? If it doesn’t, consider yourself lucky. But keep in mind that the whole situation is solely Doom’s fault. And he handles it in the worst possible way with little regard for his people. 

None of this screams “a leader who truly cares.”

After reading this issue I figured it would've been better and made Doom more sympathetic if his subjects were actually happy. He could've been established as a just and respected leader, especially considering how his predecessor mistreated the people. 

Even with all that, It's hard to imagine such a scenario since power corrupts indiscriminately. Sure, that could've given a complex twist to his character as well as added conflict to the decision the FF ultimately had to make. It could have been a commentary on cultural and historical differences since:

a: monarchies are not that rare in Europe. 

b: Latveria was surrounded by communist states, so it had enough struggles as is. 

That, of course, didn't happen and we got a plain and simple dictator, who follows every other page from the dictators' handbook. A very black-and-white view that was not uncommon for comic books in the '60s and the '70s. 

Changing Spots

In issue #247, John Byrne takes it upon himself to retcon the essence of Doom. This makes sense, the ‘80s have elevated comic book narratives and gave depth to many characters. 

Doom was not an exception. With the FF walking the streets of Doomstadt, we see the devastation that his successor brings to the land. And to top it off, we hear the tragic story of the last few months since Doom has been ousted.

Zorba Fortunov is the heir apparent to the Latverian throne. His father and brother were both murdered by Doom but you shouldn’t feel too bad because they were terrible people and even worse rulers. So is Doom, but we know Doom and we don’t know those guys. 

Doom also tortured Zorba (because, and I don’t want there to be any confusion, torturing your political opponents is exactly what Dooms do.)

Now initially Zorba was portrayed as a member of the resistance who was looking to restore democracy in Latveria. Well, restore would be a loud word. Long story short, with the help of American superheroes (who shamelessly collaborate with the government) Zorba comes to power. 

But democracy is apparently too hard to handle for the state. Because turns out (according to Doom and his loyalists), the repressive laws were actually for the good of the people. They were too afraid to commit crimes. For some reason, they also immediately stopped working which may or may not indicate forced labor. And the ‘prosperous nation of Latveria’ fell into complete disarray. That’s confirmed by a few destroyed streets and fearful citizens but other than that, there is only Doom’s word to prove that. 

This is a great time to note that any major economic transformations are risky and may result in poverty and a rise in crime. Especially in a society that’s not prepared to said changes in stages. We have actually seen that with post-soviet states. 

Either way, Zorba revoked Doom’s cruel laws and punishments (from what we have seen so far, they include murder if “the master” is in a bad mood and you are in his proximity). People were promised an election (which it seems like Zorba really planned to have.) But some happy and liberated citizens of Latveria chose violence and it became so bad, Zorba declared martial law. Which naturally gave him all the power… that he was supposed to already have as an absolute monarch. But who cares? 

Zorba reprogrammed Doom’s personal guard to police the streets and they are referred to as ruthless (as opposed to Doom’s tender and caring ones?)  

So slowly, learning this story, the Fantastic Four figure that the devil they know is actually pretty good compared to the devil they helped install. Despite there being little difference except the fact that Doom was planning to rule till the day he dies (and possibly after). 

And then we see that he cares so much, his main priority is restoring Latveria to its former glory. 

But… why?

Of course, my main question is the idea behind this whole narrative. Are we supposed to believe that a shaky democratic state is much worse than the iron rule of one leader with order? Or is it something very specific to the people of Latveria? If Doom is so great, why does the Fantastic Four fight him relentlessly when he tries to take over the world? And why do they feel entitled to repeatedly make decisions and instigate conflict on behalf of the people of the country? 

I don’t have the answer, I see the story and the attempt to rewrite Doom’s history into something that can justify keeping him around. But if he’s a dictator, if he’s a tyrant, we probably shouldn’t romanticize him that much. Because once again, I want to look at the Latverians here - we rarely really do. They went with a democratic choice, with a possibility of change. And there must have been reasons for that, I mean they were NOT happy. In one of the issues, Doom murders the Ambassador of his own country (ok it was a doombot but if you ask me, same difference). So how exactly does that align with the just leader narrative?

If the idea was to not interfere and let things flow naturally as they are supposed to, why does the FF help reinstall Doom?

Let’s be honest, Zorba doesn’t care much for the people. He proves it in that same arc. But neither does Doom, that’s no secret. And neither do Reed, Sue, Johnny, or Ben. Everyone is this story has their own interests and not one of them is the prosperity of the country. 

They might be able to rewrite Doom and turn him into a good leader, I wouldn’t be surprised because I’ve seen heroes shake hands with him later on. But it still will always feel like a hypocritical joke. 

The suggestion that Doom might be better for the country is one I have a hard time with, on so many levels. We can’t trust the collective amnesia of the populace, caused by the trauma of drastic changes.

At the end of the day, either option is bad for Latveria. Doom is vengeful and bloodthirsty and so is Zorba. Both occasionally had good intentions. In both cases, they didn't matter. Zorba was the rightful monarch, while Doom was an usurper yet both revolutions happened with the participation of the FF. And it doesn't seem like free Latveria is this team's priority.

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

fuck it question for specifically non-americans. tell me your favorite animated movie from your country

i'll start please watch uhhh. this one

apparently google says its called "lucky and zorba" in english but i know it as "la gabbianella e il gatto", aka "the little seagull and the cat", and it's about a group of cats adopting a baby seagull after her dying mother made them promise they'd make her learn to fly. the little seagull however grows up thinking she's a cat too.

it's very sweet and makes me cry a lot. try to find a way to watch it

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Round 1B

Tony-winner Karen Ziemba (1957) earned critical acclaim for her winning role of the unnamed Wife in Contact (2000), as well as other excellent turns on and off-Broadway in shows like Chicago, And the World Goes Round (1991), and Steel Pier (1997). One of Broadway's best veteran dancers, Karen debuted in A Chorus Line in the late 70s. She will next be appearing in the world premiere of Prelude to a Kiss at the South Coast Repertory.

With a career of triumph after triumph, Marin Mazzie (1960-2018) was an unfathomable talent. With lauded roles in powerhouse shows like Passion (1994), Ragtime (1998), and Kiss Me, Kate (2000, and sleeper hits like Carrie (2012), and Fire and Air (2018), Marin was born to make something beautiful. She earned three Tony nominations, and posthumously was awarded a Special Tony Award for her women's health advocacy. In 2015, the morning of her opening night in Zorba for Encores! at NYCC, Marin was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. That night, she opened the show with the lyrics "life is what you do while you're waiting to die." After three years of treatments, remissions, and relapses, Marin died on September 13, 2018. She was 57. She died at the same age and from the same disease as the great Madeline Kahn.

PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT:

"Though she may be up against dear friend and Broadway's leading light Marin Mazzie, Karen Ziemba is a talent in her own right. It takes a real dancer to hold her own next to the dancing legend that is Bebe Neuwirth, and they both perform wonderfully in the above clip."

There are no words I could possibly string together that would do the late Marin Mazzie justice. Instead, I'm going to let Marin's friends and fellow Divas tell you why it will be your honor to vote for her.

"I used put on my cd of Passion or Ragtime to sing along with her. I wanted to sound just like her. That blend of warmth and strength and soul. She was a light to all and we are so lucky to have known her for the time that we did. Love to you Marin. A beautiful inspiration." - Kate Baldwin

"Her smile could light up an entire theater, her laughter was liquid gold, and that voice that channeled the gods. For everything you gave us Marin, thank you. I miss you already and forever." - Victoria Clark

"The first time Marin sang “Back to Before,” I remember thinking, “I will never hear that song sung better.” Since then, I’ve heard it sung magnificently by others, but Marin will always own it." - Lynn Ahrens

"She was it for me... I hate that that beacon of light, even though it will always be how she left us, that it's not continuing to move so I can continue to follow it. We need something to follow. And I was following a light that's out." - Kelli O'Hara

"She would always be the first person to say "how are you doing?" That kind of kindness and selflessness in a way--it's not that I didn't appreciate it then--I really did. So I don't need to smack myself in the head and say "why didn't you realize how rare and beautiful it was?" I did. What I couldn't calculate was how much I miss it." - Donna Murphy