#mouse of minsk

[mice-rats-daily]

Today's mouse is the Mouse of Minsk from An American Tail (1986)!

[organizedchaotics]

Insert a quirky oneliner here, cause it was 11 pm when I finished this and couldnt be bothered. Helene doesnt really like to go feral like this (she usually worries too much what people like Basil and Dawson think), but she accepts that it is part of her "repertoire" as she calls it.

[mintybreakfast]

[champagnedrunkandhorny]

Daemon Targaryen x Reader x Rhaenyra Targaryen

"Her lips, her skin, her nose, her eyes, her legs around my head, that is what I want, Syrax" said Rhaenyra to her loyal she-dragon, "and I´m going to get it."

Her half-sister wasn´t like any Hightower spawns. as Daemon would call them. She was determained, soft when anyone was looking, but behind her mask, she was coniving little minsk. Not even a few days ago, Daemon caught a Gold cloak climbing down from her window. After that, the princess was moved to the highest tower in the Red Keep, how ironic. If the green queen thought that would stop the shenigens, well she thought wrong. The little minsk was twrilling around. Her silk skirt moving in circles as she glides with the who-counts-anymore lord. Everyone in the ballroom tried not to stare at the little Targeryen. But her impish eyes moved only to Rhaenyra, enjoying the heiress´ full attention, and to her current partner, keeping him on his toes. "You look ravishing, when you are jealous, wife." Daemon chuckles behind his glass. Rhaenyra rolled her eyes and angled her body away from the little minsk. "Shouldn´t you be also jealous, husband." Daemon shakes his head "Oh, I am rather intrigued by your cat and mouse game." Don´t be fooled, Daemon is the Rogue prince and will cut down any idiot that tries to even look at his wife. But seeing Rhaenyra so preoccupied with his other niece, seemed to only stirr his cock, and sometimes, almost always, he allowed the small man to lead him.

As they were talking, the princess was getting slowly more annoyed. The once intresting Lord of who-knows-what couldn´t get his greasy gaze away from her, she can´t think of any more conversation´s topics and this spiel is only so long intresting as she gets to play it with Rhaenyra. She scrowls as she watches Daemon, she doesn´t call him uncle, take the heiress´attention away from her. "Lord, would you be so kind to acompany me to my table. I am parched." She doesn´t even have to look his way. Already knowing, that his mouth will water at even getting 2 feet away from the royal family. She suddely signals him to wrap his arm around her ellbow.

She could practically feel their gazes on her. Oh, what a coincidence, that her chair is right there, where they could see the young couple. "Let´s see what will the dragon do, when you pull it´s tail." the minsk thought as she angles her chest to the lord and puffs out her chest, widdening her eyes a little bit and pouting out her lips.

Rhaenyra and Daemon stopped what they were doing and watched as the princess grips the man´s biceps and whispers something. He looked as if his brain stopped working. His eyes were focused on her breasts. Rhaenyra gripped the glass under her fingers.

What none of them expected was to watch as the lord grips the lower back of the young princess, traps her in his arms and moved his wine-painted small lips her way.

That´s where the chaos started.

Daemon, that was already on the edge of his seat, sprang up. Sure, he doesn´t like Hightowers, but he is not going to watch a small, unimportant, non-Valaryen decent defily his family member in front of him.

Before he could get to him, the previously mentioned Princess, swingged her arm and smacked him across the face. Not only the smack was heard, but also the breaking of the glass Rhaenyra was holding.

The lord that was strucked, didn´t even have time to come to his senses as the Rogue prince grabbed him along with some Golden cloacks and dragged him away from the scene.

Luckely, Rhaenyra caused enough comotion for the ball attendees, that they didn´t see the other scene. Half of them were drunk or too far away to witness it going down.

The servents quickly jumped to clean away the mess. In that moment, the younger princess seemed to come to her senses. She looked around. Luckely, her mother and brothers were already in their chambers. If her mother or grandfather had witnessed that, she would be already on her ship to the Oldtown or whatever hellhole they found for her.

"Princess, you don´t seem well. Why don´t I guide you to your chambers?" A silver voice made it´s way into her ear. The girl looked up to meet her violet eyes with her older sisters.

here is the full work if you wanna read the smutty part

[brunhielda]

Because this is becoming THAT blog-

The one where I review old movies we all have already seen, but I personally, have not seen for years until recently.

I just watched “An American Tale.”

If you were a child of the 90s, you just thought- “There are No Cats in America 🎶? THAT American Tale?”

Yes.

If you had that thought, you likely already know. If you have not had the absolute joy- buckle up. I am going to rant about a classic.

First of all- This is Don Bluth.

His movies do not get worse with age.

They get BETTER.

And American Tale is example number ONE.

No, it is not fond memories or nostalgia glasses, you can breath, and then go treat yourself to a viewing.

Secondly- the man did not dumb down or sanitize his history.

He said “I’m going to tell the immigrant story” and then opened with a fucking ethnic cleansing.

I said what I said.

The movie is set in the early Russian Empire, a time full of anti-Semitic sentiment and enforced laws, also seen in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Fiddler on the roof might actually be tamer on the subject.

Every other historical note in this movie is on point and easy enough to look up in a history book, if you have the common sense to realize that names have been altered.

The Statue of Liberty was not built by a pigeon, for example. It was built by a Frenchman. (Frederic Auguste Bartholdi).

I don’t know of an ���honest John,” but I did guffaw out loud when he started taking names of the dead at funerals to add to his vote count. Ghost votes were very real, one of the reasons people are still so twitchy about voter fraud today.

I do not recall a moment in 1886 when the minorities of New York managed to run off prominate members of authority… but with how on point everything else is? It would not shock me.

Thirdly- Bluth DID NOT FLINCH

I don’t remember who said it first, but both Bluth and Spielberg had a belief that you could put very sad and scary things in children’s films, as long as the ending was happy.

This movie has multiple nightmare moments. Cats, monster waves, more cats, bugs and fish, and of course, the horrifying “Mouse of Minsk” (iykyk).

The thing is, it’s not even how they are drawn. Like, yes, the image is scary, but it’s the storytelling around it. It’s the lighting change. The soundtrack. The horrific sound effects. Seriously- whoever did foley on this film deserves all the awards- you make me scared of the kitty kats, and I LOVE cats. 🐈

Some people will question whether or not it is appropriate for small children. I would say maybe wait until they are six, and watch it with them, but they should watch scary things if they can. Being scared in appropriately safe space teaches you how to react to fear and handle moments when you are scared in real life. It is my major argument for Halloween. But each parent has to do as they think is best for each individual child. In any case, watch this one first before showing it to your kids- definitely more scary than you remember.

Finally- the animation on this film is a national treasure. I honestly hope this film is in the Library of Congress collection.

There are animation techniques here that don’t exist anymore.

Sparks. Sparkles. Glimmers. Stars in the Night Sky. Smoke billows.

Actually, I almost paused the film on a smoke billow. Sony is doing some things in the recent “Spiderverse” trilogy that are insane- and part of it is their mixed animation.

All the smoke billows? Hand drawn.

They look the same as Bluth’s smoke in this film, which is making me wonder if one of their artists studied under him. Maybe not- maybe they just did their homework on good hand drawn cloud formations. Either way, realizing how close they got to the master work in this film made me appreciate them even more.

Speaking of insane animation-

I don’t know WHO Bluth felt he had to show off to, but this man could DRAW WATER and he fucking knew it.

Like water is hard to do, ok? Like hands, Da Vinci had notebooks full of sketches of the substance, proving it to be the bane of the artistic existence.

Most water in hand drawn animation comes in two forms-

Flat water color with pretty things floating in it to distract you-

Or drawn over a live video of water that they spliced into the image.

Even that was hard to do, and they used a technology no longer available to us. It looks pretty cool honestly.

But no, not DON fucking BLUTH.

Not only can this man hand draw water without the underlying video, but he draws it moving in multiple different ways. He shows it from the top, side, and sinking underneath (with moving bubbles and shifting light, no flat blue for him).

He turns it into a NIGHTMARE FUEL WAVE MONSTER.

He ADDS it to SCENES it DIDNT HAVE TO BE IN!

The more I watched this film, the more I realized that if Milt Kahl had the head swaggle, Don Bluth had water, and by God was he going to use it.

He wrote plots AROUND the idea of water, so he could showcase it in every scene. “Rock-a-doodle,” and “Pebble and the Penguin” come to mind. “Anastasia,” “Thumbelina” and “All Dogs Go to Heaven” all feature action scenes in water. Heck- the one in “All Dogs Go To Heaven” came out of no where, and makes so much more sense if it was just Bluth wanting to show off.

“An American Tale” had the travel by boat sequence and our main hero being thrown over board. He could have left it there. NOPE. There were puddles and sewers and fire hoses and action scenes at the docks.

And the few scenes without water? Let’s throw some scary sparks in there. Maybe some smoke billowing. For funzies.

Also- we’re going to have a Love Song with the most incredible Night Sky you have ever seen and a Comedic song featuring fun house mirror distorted reflections because WHY NOT???

I think he was trying to make sure Disney regretted him leaving, the way you dress up when you know your toxic ex will be there, and I love that for him. 🩷

Also- the backgrounds are all beautiful water color. I love a good water color.

Also- yeah, the sound track holds up. The songs are just as catchy as they ever were- if you have ever seen this movie you WILL find yourself singing along.

As previously mentioned, when it comes to the scary parts, the composer UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT and the music easily fits into a good horror film.

And finally- the music at the finale when everything is made right, and the happy ending is finally here, is the most heart breaking thing you will ever hear. You will cry. Watch the movie, but bring the tissues. 🤧

This movie is definitely worth a watch.

This movie is more than worth a watch, it should be mandatory for elementary history and college animation classes alike.

But also it’s just fun. 🤩

[hopeforkitten]

Astarion in his relationship with Tav did not ignore her words in the house of hope, he will definitely remind about them

"- Really? So all my sweet verified speeches pale for you before the appeal "little mouse" from the mouth of Raphael?"

Astarion usually did not leave his tent until lights out, but this time something made him linger. Tav decided not to wait for him and sat down on the mat and continued reading the last book that they started together. Of course, The Necromancy of Thay attracted the most attention, but the memories of trying to read it were fresh, which is why this creepy book lay untouched, shone with a purple crystal and made indecently many sounds for the book.

- What a little mouse is gnawing pages in my library - Astariona barely touching Tav with his hand drew a line along her shoulders.

Tav looked up from her book and gave Astarion a condescending look, as if after a bad joke.

- If you were an archdevil, it would have a much greater effect - she still couldn't help but smile

- I'm afraid this whim will be the most difficult for me, - he was already sitting next to Tav - I'm sorry to hope that vampires still excite you - he turned his face away from she and rolled his eyes

- You can be sure of that - the book finally fell on the mat. Tav turned to him and gently took his chin and pulled him to her for a kiss.

- And what made you stay late?

- it seemed to me that it was logical to ask a question about necromancy to the Withers, but he does not want to answer them. To be honest, skeletons just look much nicer than skeletons with leftover skin," he grimaced

- This creepy thing does not give me peace - he pointed to the necromancy folio - you need to put it away in a drawer, or give it to the Minsk animal, it's still no use

-We still haven't visited the magic tower in the city, as Gale recommended. Most likely, the solution is very close. A little more and you will send an army of dead on the heads of our enemies. - Tav ran her hand along the horizon and turned back to Astarion - Do you like it?

He intercepted her hand and pressed it to his cheek, blissfully closing his eyes.

- Very like

[charlieslowartsies]

This might be a dumb question, but if the Knight Guard AU were to become a show, what style would you want it in? Would you want it live action or animated, and if animated, what style? 

ohh Anon my college thesis was basically "lemme tell you why animation is SO IMPORTANT TO ADULTS AND CAN TEACH US THINGS" SO NO THIS IS NOT A DUMB QUESTION. I think I'd always imagined KGA as an animated series--leaning toward a mixture of Don Bluth with Atlantis mixed in. A TINY bit of animated Beetlejuice with Tex Avery for the Marionette. (His mask is mostly unmoving except in extreme situations, so making him more fluid everywhere else would stand out nicely I think against the other animatronics.) Hand drawn but mixed with 3D elements as needed. If you've seen An American Tail, the Mouse of Minsk is how I picture the elements of creepy.

[squishyproductions]

My wife drew this gif of one of my dnd characters years ago.

Her name is Desi, aka The Molotov Mouse of Minsk. Back before she became a druid she came across a town called Minsk. The town's prosperity was based, almost entirely, on the profits of animal fighting rings. One of the few places where it was legal, people would come from all over the watch, submit animals to fight, and to bet.

She released the animals before she burned half the town down.

On the run from the law, she came across the grove of a druid who took her in and trained her. Even though she's now armed with druid magic she still keeps a stash of molotovs in her backpack.

Race: Mousefolk (Meadowgard)

https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Mousefolk_(5e_Race)

Class: Druid (Circle of Wildfire)

[leseigneurdufeu]

Grond has nothing on the Giant Mouse of Minsk

[sheepscot]

I think that the lack of villains in children's movies also plays a role in this, everyone talks about there not being good Disney villains anymore and not a lot of other studios have classic villains either. They're sympathetic, get redemptions, or are nuanced.

And while it's good that children are (hopefully) learning that from those stories, these softer villains don't hit the same itch that Ursula, Scar, Maleficent, or the Evil Queen bring by how dastardly they are.

There's a story my mom has told many times about my older brother and that sleeping beauty was his FAVORITE movie when he was 6, but he couldn't watch the ending where Maleficent turns into a dragon alone, so Mom would watch it with him. But she'd always fall asleep by the halfway point and my brother would tap her arm and demand she wake up during that one scary scene. (And once the movie was over he'd rewind the VHS and immediately watch the movie again, and inevitably my mom would fall asleep again. Thus the wake up call would repeat every time sleeping beauty would be watched. Which. Was. A. Lot.)

And in the animation community (and also outside of it?) There's a saying that Don Bluth could put all of the traumatizing shit he could in his movies as long as there's a happy ending.

Secret of Nihm? Everything's terrifying.

A land before time? Child me was convinced the T-Rex would eat me.

An American tail? That puppet/machine giant mouse of minsk is nightmare inducing

But now it's all rich guy with a money scheme or actually there is no villain- just misunderstandings. which are fine stories to tell. but where's the threat of death, the world being destroyed, our protagonist being stuck in a worse situation than they started out in?

idk how to say this without sounding really boomer-ey, but like, what happened to horror content for kids? maybe i’m using the word “horror” a little liberally but i remember when i was a kid there was SO much out there that existed solely for the purpose of scaring kids in a safe, fun, age-appropriate way. just off the top of my head there’s goosebumps, scary stories to tell in the dark, tales from the crypt (little before my time though), coraline, mirror mask, monster house, dark crystal (more incidentally scary but w/e), even courage the cowardly dog; all these really fantastic books and shows and movies that let kids explore being scared on their own terms.

now there’s idk, those new addams family movies? but those aren’t really scary.

i see people talking about the “kid-ification” of horror games and i can’t help but wonder if part of the reason kids latch onto that stuff so much now is because there’s nowhere else for them to experience healthy, safe fear. a little kid wants to get the thrill of being scared, but their parents won’t let them watch any actual horror movies, so they go on youtube and what do you know, there’s markiplier playing another cheap horror game set in a toy store or whatever, and now that kid’s fear quota is being met. (obviously there’s more to it than that, but it’s a theory i have)

this like, doesn’t really matter probably but idk, i feel bad that ~kids these days~ aren’t getting the experience of something scary made specifically for them with their genuine enjoyment in mind, rather than whatever the next fnaf ripoff is that just wants to sell them merch. being a kid and watching a well-made scary movie feels like you’re finally being taken seriously; you’re not being babied or coddled, you’re being trusted to face the skeksis and the other mother and the nebbercracker house and not back down. i wish people were still making media that respected kids that much.

[housano]

I mean .. they're not wrong. I watched it as a kid, but considering I was already traumatized by Don Bluth's children's movies (Littlefoot's Mom's death [Mufasa could never], Charlie going to Hell, the Giant Mouse of Minsk, etc.) It didn't phase me as much. Just made me sad especially that damn Bright Eyes song.

Also fucked up fact about that song, the songwriter, Mike Batt wrote it thinking about the look in his father's eyes as he was dying of cancer. Stated it was the most difficult song he ever had to write.

[govindhtech]

Chernobyl: A History 30 Years ago in Decision-Making

Once upon a thirty years, a Chernobyl Zone replica Soviet computer starts up

Restoring Exclusion-Zone hardware while encroaching on a contemporary.A functional PC that uses the same hardware as the models used in and around the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has been put together by Chornobyl Family, a Slovakia-based YouTube channel that specialises in locating and restoring Soviet-era equipment.

As you might expect, it’s challenging to find hardware and software that even enables such a Frankenstein build to function. However, it still functions in black and yellow.

They produced the original mainframe-style computers they were inspired by (and used components from), including difficult-to-find clones of Intel’s 8086 processors, by Minsk Mainframes. Only 80,000 EC-1841 mainframes were produced; some remained in service well into the 1990s; this was a symptom of semiconductor yields in the 1980s. It has an enduring rhythm of transformation. But there’s a catch: they claim that the Chornobyl Family’s particular CPU is a military variant of the ES-1841 CPU known as the ES-1845, which was commonly utilised by the KGB.

No, you couldn’t run Crysis (or an AI model…) on it because the CPUs in these mainframes typically ran at 5 MHz. However, it was capable of running alphaDOS, a DOS clone heavily translated by the Soviet Union. Software is a limited resource as well, which usually forces electronics restorers to go on a virtual software quest.

Can you imagine how difficult it would be to search through the few floppy discs still in use today to discover the particular ones required to run the mainframe? How recently have you seen one? Did they also include five-inch floppies produced by Kyiv’s Electron Mass Factor? he haven’t, especially not in a carefully designed casing that would be camouflaged in an urban battle zone.

Because the mainframe has built-in modules, its two modules can each accommodate a different processing board. The power delivery subsystem for each module was present, and the modules’ cards could be coupled to access different processing options.

The beautifully pieced-together mainframe Chornobyl Family retrieved had five processor boards installed in its seven accessible slots, including two RAM boards, a board for COMs, a board with a four-trigger mouse controller, and one board each with an Intel 8086 clone CPU and a graphics processor. The largest RAM board has a storage capacity of 512 kilobytes, while the smallest one has 128 kilobytes. That’s around the maximum amount of data you can have for a website icon with current compression techniques. It seems as though that is the only image your phone can store in memory.

The cabling and communications systems (COM) ports that allowed the various components of PCs from the 1980s to communicate with one another presented some challenges in the recovery of legacy technology. Missing COM wires would necessitate the reverse engineering of a full hardware and communications design system due to how specialised the drivers and electrical design of the era are. There is some documentation, but you can see how difficult it would be.

Fortunately, attaching a 12-inch Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) monitor wasn’t necessary because graphical output was provided by the Electronica MS-6105, a copy of Western technology. The workstation’s graphics card was capable of 16-bit colour precision rendering.

The interface of the patched-together PC is remarkable as soon as it starts up: it is a two-tone of black and the overly bright yellow of a fluorescent balloon. As the glowing, yellow interface changes on the screen, reality cries. In Slovakia, which borders the contemporary Exclusion Zone of Ukraine, a reconstructed computer from a previous and current Exclusion Zone starts up.

However, something about electronics is peculiar. also DOS. and studying the past. The ever-familiar yellow-chrome pie chart that is being drawn before our eyes slowly clears the air and functions even in yellow lighting. link here

[dadvans]

i've seen so many valid responses to this, some which make me want to change my answer, but others where people haven't experienced or don't understand the traumatic parts of most of these films. so here's a crash course in nightmare fuel for 80s/90s kids:

i don't remember much from NIMH or Rock-A-Doodle, except that they scared the bejesus out of me. basically:

if you look it up, however, Rock-A-Doodle does have THEE most fucked cut number about baking a skunk pie that you can watch here

An American Tail: starts out with an allegory for anti-semitic pogroms. the main character gets thrown overboard off an immigrant ship and is attacked by demonic looking waves. the fucking mouse of minsk?????? gives me nightmares as an adult

The Land Before Time: a T-Rex continually attacks a group of dinosaur children, starting here. after the first attack, there is a huge earthquake that separates them from their families, and the mother of the main character succumbs to her wounds from the t-rex and dies, leaving the child on his own.

**notably 15 minutes were cut from the above movie giving it a running time of 69 minutes because they were too violent for children

All Dogs Go To Heaven: the main character is literally murdered in the beginning of the movie. he escapes heaven to return to earth but is subsequently haunted by dreams where he's pulled into hell.

**again, the hell dream sequence has more fucked up shit that was cut because it was terrifying

Anastasia: i don't understand why so many are voting for this one. a little body horror never hurt anyone.

Honorable mentions that aren't Don Bluth:

Once Upon a Forest: the entire basis of this movie is that a gas tanker crashes by a forest, and poison gas leaks out and kills many families. a small rodent child tries to save her family and fails (spoiler: she lives!), and when another rodent child goes to save her, you see the deceased family members strewn about the burrow

Brave Little Toaster: what WASN'T fucked up about this movie!!! sentient cabin household appliances think their owners abandoned them!!! an air conditioning unit COMMITS SUICIDE. a vacuum almost dies in quicksand!!! there is a JAZZY NUMBER sung by cars being CRUSHED TO DEATH in a junkyard!!!! and the toaster almost does get crushed to death. this movie leaves even the most normal child with deep-rooted abandonment issues. DNI brave little toaster!!!

The Chipmunk Adventure: okay, I actually love this movie, and it's not traumatizing at all, but at one point a Chipette does get sold into sex slavery, and the entire movie is an allegory for the cocaine trade, which is pretty on the nose for 1986. 5/5 stars

i made this poll because i thought Once Upon A Forest and The Brave Little Toaster were also don bluth movies, but no, there were just multiple sickos making kid films in the 80s

[burrocelestial]

inktober Day 15: an American Tail

made my own prompt list of horror movies/ horror adjacent things because why not?

there's always that moment in a Don Bluth movie that is super creepy, and the giant Mouse of Minsk always scared me the most

[vito303arts]

Always thought the mouse of minsk was creepy as hell from american tail