#referencing the movie blue (2002)
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
jellofiishh · 5 months ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
a thing I drew for my daily maraporr account on twitter. Happy yuri day lesbians
89 notes · View notes
lovesongbracket · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Reminder: Vote based on the song, not the artist or specific recording! The tracks referenced are the original artist, aside from a few rare cases where a cover is the most widely known.
Lyrics, videos, info, and notable covers under the cut. (Spotify playlist available in pinned post)
Lay All Your Love On Me
Written By: Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson
Artist: ABBA
Released: 1981
Cover included: Amanda Seyfried & Dominic Cooper for Mamma Mia!, 2008
“Lay All Your Love On Me” explores the high emotions and passions that can emerge when falling in love, and documents one woman’s shift into erratic behaviors as she falls under the spell of her new lover. The song hit number one in the US dance charts in 1981, but has lasted in popularity over the years, becoming an ABBA staple. It was featured in the band’s jukebox musical (and its movie adaption), Mamma Mia, and in 2006 was named the 60th greatest dance song of all time by Slant magazine.
[Verse 1] I wasn't jealous before we met Now every woman I see is a potential threat And I'm possessive, it isn't nice You've heard me saying that smoking was my only vice [Pre-Chorus] But now it isn't true Now everything is new And all I've learned has overturned I beg of you [Chorus] Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me [Verse 2] It was like shooting a sitting duck A little small talk, a smile, and baby, I was stuck I still don't know what you've done with me A grown-up woman should never fall so easily [Pre-Chorus] I feel a kind of fear When I don't have you near Unsatisfied, I skip my pride I beg you, dear [Chorus] Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me Don't go sharing your devotion Lay all your love on me [Verse 3] I've had a few little love affairs They didn't last very long and they've been pretty scarce I used to think that was sensible It makes the truth even more incomprehensible [Pre-Chorus] 'Cause everything is new And everything is you And all I've learned has overturned What can I do? [Chorus] Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me Don't go sharing your devotion Lay all your love on me Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me Don't go sharing your devotion Lay all your love on me Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me
youtube
youtube
Demolition Lovers
Written By: Matt Pelissier, Mikey Way, Ray Toro & Gerard Way
Artist: My Chemical Romance
Released: 2002
The Demolition Lovers are the couple seen on the cover for MCR’s next album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. This song, along with much of the album, is a prequel to the story of Three Cheers… in which a man makes a deal with the devil to get his dead lover back by killing 1,000 evil men and giving the devil their souls in exchange for her. This song is most likely where the lover dies. The two “Demolition Lovers” are featured on the cover of the album.
[Verse 1] Hand in mine, into your icy blues And then I'd say to you, "We could take to the highway With this trunk of ammunition, too" I'd end my days with you, in a hail of bullets [Chorus] I'm trying, I'm trying To let you know just how much you mean to me And after all the things We put each other through and [Verse 2] I would drive on to the end with you A liquor store or two keeps the gas tank full And I feel like there's nothing left to do But prove myself to you, and we'll keep it running [Chorus] But this time, I mean it I'll let you know just how much you mean to me As snow falls on desert sky Until the end of everything I'm trying, I'm trying To let you know how much you mean As days fade and nights grow And we grow cold [Post-Chorus] Until the end, until this pool of blood Until this, I mean this, I mean this, until the end of [Chorus] I'm trying, I'm trying To let you know how much you mean As days fade and nights grow And we grow cold But this time, we'll show them We'll show them all how much we mean As snow falls on desert sky Until the end of every… [Interlude] All we are, all we are is bullets, I mean this All we are, all we are is bullets, I mean this All we are, all we are is bullets, I mean this All we are, all we are is bullets, I mean this [Guitar Solo] [Bridge] As lead rains will pass on through Our phantoms forever, forever Like scarecrows that fuel this flame We're burning forever and ever Know how much I want to show you You're the only one Like a bed of roses There's a dozen reasons in this gun [Outro] And as we're falling down, and in this pool of blood And as we're touching hands, and as we're falling down And in this pool of blood, and as we're falling down I'll see your eyes, and in this pool of blood I'll meet your eyes, I mean this forever!
youtube
214 notes · View notes
thenicestthingiveseen · 10 months ago
Text
one year of fanfiction!
this was my first year writing fic after years and years of reading it off and on.
i published my first fic on February 10, 2023. As of today, (exactly one year)I have written [insert number] of fics for Harry Potter and Red, White, and Royal Blue.
My top 5 favorite fics I've written are:
5. i want that late night sweet magic forever lasting love
4. love songs
3. almost doesn't count
2. every thing i need is right here by my side
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
I'm currently working on two longer fics:
in all chaos there is calculation
untitled RWRB htgawm AU
My writing and posting has been slower in the past few months. Which, I have a love hate relationship with. Real life has been busy and ideas haven’t been flowing the way they used to, but also I’m forcing myself to be better with what I put out and how I share it. I’ve never really considered myself much a writer - I wrote little stories in grammar school, but by middle school other people seemed to be much more well equipped for fiction (I could still write kick ass academic essays - I’m very proud of research papers I’ve written about Beyoncé, Chicago (2002), and the history of House Music). Now I’m rambling. The point is. Writing fiction lead me to reading more fiction and reading more fanfiction (I’ve been lurking in the HP Fandom since idk when, ily hgnetwork.co.uk) and re-learning how to tell stories, well. Telling long ones, actively planning, being organized, all of it. I fell into the RWRB fandom, I need people to scream with about Kennedy Ryan’s ‘Before I Let Go’ trilogy, I was recommended books I would have never ever found in my life and loved them. I’ve watched movies, shows, documentaries that have been referenced. Listened to more Taylor Swift in this year alone than I have since 2009.
I’ve grown so much and still feel like I’ve come back to myself so much.
All of that to say, thank you to every one who has ever read anything that I've yeeted out into the universe, thank you for your ideas, your feedback, your comments, book recs, fic recs -- all of it means so much to me and here's to the next year of fics!
8 notes · View notes
world-cinema-research · 1 year ago
Text
Final Course Essay - Grant Montoya
Of all the films we were able to watch this semester, these chosen four best illustrate my personal insight into the evolutionary process films have undergone in the past decades. Each are similar in structure I'd say, but each are very different in which aspects are most highlighted or worked on.
youtube
The oldest of the bunch (Five Easy Pieces) was released in 1970 and is a part of the American New Wave film era. Many films from the seventies undermine their own narrative goals by mixing irrelevant plot details and stylistic choices that clash with the main story. This is seen in the character dialogue, atmosphere, and plot, and these creative choices have seemed to be inseparable from the way movies are created. Having picture along with words and audio simply allows directors to integrate challenging things!
Here, the character lead Bobby Dupea says this: "Where the hell do you get the ass to tell anybody anything about class, or who the hell's got it, or what she typifies! You shouldn't even be in the same room as her, you pompous celibate!" We never see the spoken-to character again. This happens more than a few times throughout the movie.
youtube
"I felt that the character that I was trying to write the movie about should be about a man who was condemned to search for the meaning of his life- and not a very happy search at that."  - Bob Rafelson
Five years later emerges the film Deep Red, a film that is best described as “the underrated Jaws that didn’t quite make it.” This was near the end of the New Hollywood Cinema Era, entering the blockbuster era. In the film we see an increased use of associative horror methods, especially touched up by the director because it is his natural style. We see this in the music cueing, imagery, scenery, and other subtle conventions.
This article informs us in short that Deep Red was a transitional film in Argento’s career, bridging the gap between his earlier gialli and his later leanings towards the supernatural in features like Suspiria, Inferno, and Phenomena. The thing I like most about this film is how it reflects the daring nature of directors of the era, mega franchises haven't been established yet, and the notable, most-referenced flicks of today were still in the making. A simple slasher of a movie such as this is true to the director's vision because there wasn't much to replicate or steal from.
In the mid-eighties, the VHS era was in its mid-life and Blue Velvet was there to endear audiences with its strange vibe. The power of music was harnessed in this film, and like Argento, the power of association via the resurfacing of images, audio, etc. was apparent in the directing of the film.
youtube
Frank Booth - "Have you ever been to pussy heaven?"
Out of all films, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions were most prominent from here onward, in this instance there was a strong presence of inescapable masculinity, roles that were inflated and satirized in the most general way concerning characters that were supposed to be part of a thriller/mystery film. 
1986 was one of the most progressive years for the feminist movement, with protests that aimed to keep abortion and birth control legal. “The largest march for women’s rights in U.S. history occurred on March 9th in Washington, D.C." Although Blue Velvet wasn't based off of this event, the transformative years of the US and the arrival of a new digital age probably gave filmmakers a lot of inspiration and motivation to implement these new themes into their movies...
Finally, enter Punch-Drunk Love, the newest film I have watched in this class (2002). I think it perfectly epitomizes everything that even the modern age films today are trying to go for, which is relatability with elements of surprise. The style, lead, and visual chops of the films today are praised more so than the content of their character or the deeper message of the movie. Punch-Drunk Love lands itself in a healthy midrange, while even referencing a one-off event concerning a man 4 years from its release.
"In 1999, the civil engineer from California catapulted into fame after he earned a whopping 1.2 million airline miles by taking advantage of a Healthy Choice mail-in promotion by purchasing a ridiculous amount of pudding." The idea of a single man taking advantage of a coorperation is a wacky instance of the situations we can find ourselves in, in a super modernized world.
While the artsy side of films grew, you still expected a more polished narrative than from something many years before it. To me, the cultural model of Indulgence vs. Restraint is followed but through a more personal way, as the film represents the journey of a person who cannot thrive in an indulgent society. I do not think necessarily that my chosen films nationally represent cultures, however, I can see how this could be the case if my film selections were a bit different and held those discussions.
"Punch-Drunk Love captures the contingency at the heart of post-romance romance. Instead of the layers of expectation habituated into institutional engagements of two subjects meeting, there is the accident of the event of love within which various parties are arrayed with various affects and desires." Even here, the author of a critical evaluation of this movie does one of the deepest dives beneath the surface of any critical resource I've seen yet. After I read this, I wondered just how much I was missing or under appreciating the films I had watched once and got nothing from. To what extent are directors pouring meaning into the meaningless side events in a film? How much have I misinterpreted?
After taking the same writing approach for a couple of months now for many different films, I see now what the course has aimed to achieve and I think it has done so in the best way, a way that only social media could allow. Firstly, social media gives the sense of being a free writer, or making observations of your own volition. The effect is an easy writing process that feels natural, and sometimes I go beyond the expectations and answer my own questions. By collecting critical, historical, textual, and contemporaneous events for a film and listing them out on a platform with your thoughts, it’s clear that a greater understanding of the film era landscape, people involved, deeper messages, technological limitations, and style of contemporary films will be learned about. Feedback from classmates is the cherry on top.
The way I see things, movie discussion, as well as music discussion, will seemingly never be an interest that the majority will partake in. I never hear about the use of Tumblr outside of this course, and I have never had an account before it. There are many independent media discussion forums on the internet, and I think the best hope for a film buff would be to find a niche online and contribute what they can in their little corner of the internet. In critical discussion of film, people not only sharpen their writing skills but also immerse themselves in cultures old and new; it is simply a learning experience like no other.
0 notes
chloefashionthroughtime · 2 years ago
Text
Disney
Tumblr media
This logo shows the entertainment company Disney which produces films, series and cartoons. The Walt Disney Company's emblem is a beautiful castle, which initially featured on the company's logo in 1985. The picture is a recreation of the Cinderella palace from a Disney animated film. It is a symbol of fantasy and enchantment, generating feelings of joy and creativity. On a black backdrop, the initial Walt Disney logo included a lined picture of Mickey Mouse, the most famous Walt Disney figure. The logo also had a sleek wordmark "Walt Disney" and the words "home entertainment" underneath. Walt Disney created the Cinderella Castle, which is still a crucial component of the present emblem, in 1995. The animated emblem appeared as a white light ball with a shooting star tracing an arc behind it. The Walt Disney Company is one of the world's most recognised entertainment organisations, founded in 1923 and named after its creator. The corporation specialises in the creation of cartoons and family films, but it also creates toys, amusement parks, books, music, video games, and television channels.
History of Disney's logo:
Tumblr media
The logo was shown on a deep blue backdrop, and the castle was a lighter shade of blue with a basic design. Later, as the Walt Disney emblem appeared in movie trailers, the "Walt Disney Pictures" tag was added, and the castle began to take on various animated looks. The Snow Dogs edition (2002), for example, included an arcing line with icicles and snow falling from it; Lino and Stich wore a blinking and beeping UFO-like object creating the arcing line; and finally, the logo gets caught in a green spotlight and flies off like a space shuttle. The Disney logo was designed to resemble a lovely castle. Although the initial "fairytale castle" had a true prototype, the corporation eventually dropped the comparison to the actual ancient castle. The logo was altered several times before becoming a prototype for the Disney Castle in Paris. Later, the revisions affected both the stylized castle and the logo itself, while the picture gained references to Peter Pen and other "born" fairy-tale characters by the studio.
youtube
Colour Meaning of Disney's logo:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Black is associated with sorrow, gloom, night, and desolation. It’s the hue of assurance and authority, and when contrasted with white, it represents the unending conflict between day and night, good and evil, and right and wrong. White represents purity, its simplicity undimmed by any other colour. White represents everything nice and right, and it is used figuratively in contrast to dark. White represents assurance, light, and insight, and it is associated with knowledge and learning. White is impenetrable, the hue that displays the repulsive in relation to its purity.
Referencing:
1 note · View note
iesnoth · 3 years ago
Text
Rating Redheads #3: Meilin Lee
Meilin Lee of Turning Red is such an interesting case because she's a rare instance (in film) of the magic of a redhead being tied to their character identity and arc. But how does it fare for representation?
(No spoilers except what's in the trailers.)
Tumblr media
Meilin (or Mei) is a Chinese-Canadian 13-year-old girl in 2002. She is in a close but domineering relationship with her mother, Ming, and as she enters puberty she begins to rankle under her mother's helicopter parenting. Their relationship comes to a head when the family gift/curse falls on Mei, turning her into a red panda whenever she gets emotional. This transformation permanently turns her black hair red.
As stated, Mei's hair color is an odd case, but does that mean she's a "bad" ginger?
1) Accuracy to the redhead experience: 2/5 Not to diminish the existence of red-headed Asians-- redheads of every race are valid and valuable-- but the way Turning Red goes about showing it is, obviously, unrealistic. In real life, red hair is a recessive gene that can lay dormant for generations: in the film, Mei comes from a long line of Chinese ancestors, and the red hair comes from a magical gift. As far as Mei's daily life, she has the unique experience of waking up one day to be surprised with red hair, which would be wild (to wake up with an unwitting color change of any kind). Mei's friends are 100% on board with the new hair, and no one makes fun of her for it. A common experience for many redheads is being bullied, and since Mei has her own bully in the movie, it's weird he doesn't comment on it. I have nothing against the film for its many different representations, but for the purpose of this rating, having magic red hair isn't realistic.
2) How Mei's gingerness is used: 5/5 This whole film is about Mei being a redhead in some respect, whether in human form or panda. But why a red panda? Well, according to Embracing the Panda, the documentary about the film, the director Domee Shi liked the look of red pandas and went from there. But of course, there's a lot more to it than that.First, and the age-old staple on this blog: Mei is an outsider, and red hair is the telltale sign of the Other. Though, unlike other characters, Mei doesn't start out an outsider. She has a friend group, she's active in school, connected with her family. But the red hair, when it arrives, separates her from all that. When the panda appears, Mei hides from her friends, keeps secrets from her parents, and doesn't attend school for a while. Mei's red hair is a catalyst for change in her life. Red hair is also a symbol of puberty in the film: to be specific, female puberty. Pads and symptoms of the menstrual cycle are referenced throughout the film. Mei's initial horror and embarrassment of the panda and her red hair mirror how female puberty has been made taboo by society. But puberty/the panda isn't the first time red is associated with Mei's character. Like many films, the characters are color-coded, and you can tell their personality or relationship to other characters by their color. Mei's color is red from the beginning, with some blue thrown in, possibly to connect her to her mother, who contrasts Mei's red tones with cool greens and blues. Finally, red the color has cultural significance. Not only is the red panda native to China, but red is considered a lucky color, and is prominent in their architecture, celebrations, and fashion. I really enjoyed how much thought went into the themes of this film, and how the panda/ gingerness factored into that.
3) Stereotypes used:0 (Mild spoilers) One could make the argument for the "Special" stereotype, but I'm not including it because Mei isn't the only redhead in the film with panda powers. This film could have easily made Mei a Special, or a Nerd, but instead they made her a normal, weird girl, which works best for a film normalizing being weird.
Final score: 7/10
Though Meilin isn't a "realistic" redhead, the director used her red hair in innovative and respectful ways, which I think will positively impact real redheads.
20 notes · View notes
britesparc · 3 years ago
Text
Weekend Top Ten #498
Top Ten Movie Cameos
The first time I think I ever noticed someone cameoing in a movie was Steven Spielberg. I was watching The Blues Brothers, and there was this guy, who I was sure was Mr. The Berg. I must have seen him in some behind-the-scenes something or the other. But he was a director, not an actor, so it couldn’t have been him, right? Then years later I was reading Empire, and sure enough, I was vindicated. It was indeed the play mountain himself. But more on that later.
So, cameos, then. What is a cameo? Now, in my opinion, I think it really has to be small. Really, it should just be one scene – or even one shot. The smaller the better. I’ve seen people online refer to Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love or Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder as cameos, which is very, very daft, as those are clearly supporting roles – even if they are quite small (and remember, Dench didn’t win her Oscar for “Best Cameo”, she won it for “We Meant To Give You This Last Year”, which is a very important category in the Oscars). I also think the best cameos should be unexpected; a nice surprising treat. And usually they’re funny – the incongruity of seeing that person in this film. Because that’s the other thing: for a cameo to really work, the person cameoing has to be kinda famous. For instance, some might say that Ashley Johnson in The Avengers is a cameo, but whilst she’s obviously awesome and prodigiously talented, I don’t think she’s instantly recognisable enough (which, y’know, she’s mostly famous as a voice actor); also there’s nothing inherently funny or surprising about her role, she’s a waitress who’s saved by Captain America. It doesn’t feel like it’s saying anything to have Johnson play that role, other than I guess Joss Whedon wanted her in the movie (it’s actually funnier that her brief scene is referenced in Loki, because Kate Herron had the whole of the MCU to draw from in a montage, but chose to use an unknown character who’s in one tiny bit of one film, entirely because she’s a huge fan of The Last of Us – see, that is arguably a cameo).
So my rationale for what is and isn’t a cameo might seem complex or even arbitrary, but when has that stopped me in the past? And so, with no further ado, we now get deep into the weeds of it and celebrate my favourite movie cameos of all time. Oh, and there’s no Bill Murray here; I know, I know, it’s a really famous cameo, but, er, I’ve never seen Zombieland. Sorry.
Tumblr media
Stan Lee in Pretty Much Everything (2000-2019): I mean, who else? The absolute King of Cameos. Lee was a massive publicity hound all his life, and passed up no opportunity to get in front of the camera, so once big, proper movies were being made of his comics, he was right there, selling hot dogs in X-Men (2000), rescuing children in Spider-Man (2002), and then right through every MCU film until his sad death in 2019 (and even popping up in Teen Titans!). Hearing him tell Miles Morales “I'm going to miss him,” in Into the Spider-Verse chokes me up every time.
Carrie Fisher & George Lucas in Hook (1991): this has always been one of my favourites because unlike virtually every other entry in this list, you only know this if you’ve been told. But it’s funny and it’s sweet. When Tinkerbell takes Peter to Neverland, she flies over a bridge, where a silhouetted couple are seen canoodling. Her pixie dust falls across them, and they begin to float into the air. And apparently the unrecognisable couple are played by Princess Leia and the director of Star Wars. Which, I think you’ll agree, is pretty cool (Hook is really good for cameos).
Brad Pitt in Deadpool 2 (2018): having an invisible character offers plenty of opportunity for some good gags, especially in a Deadpool movie, but the real laugh in the film comes when the Vanisher is electrocuted and we get to see his face for a split second. And – ha – it turns out to be the hugely mega-famous Brad Pitt. It’s funny because he’s a massive star.
Martin Sheen in Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993): it’s one thing for the movie to do an Apocalypse Now gag, as Charlie Sheen’s Topper Harley sails down a river on a military boat, but hanging a lampshade on it by making it cross over with Martin Sheen’s Willard from the classic seventies Vietnam epic is another thing entirely. And then both actors notice each other – ha, funny, they’re father and son in real life – and say in unison, “I loved you in Wall Street!”. Very on-the-nose all the funnier for it.
Steven Spielberg in The Blues Brothers (1980): well, I mentioned him, and here he is, a totally nonplussed-looking administrator bloke just merrily eating a sandwich. He’s frightfully young (I’m guessing he was probably about 32 or 33) and he’s got a big brown tache instead of his usual ‘Berg Beard, he’s dressed very smartly and he’s awfully polite. His demeanour is hilariously in stark contrast to the mayhem around him, and his public persona is also hilariously in contrast to the raucous and ribald mood of the movie.
Cate Blanchett in Hot Fuzz (2007): this is one I didn’t even notice till I read about it after seeing the movie. In a very funny scene where Simon Pegg’s Nick Angel chats to his ex-girlfriend Janine, she is head-to-toe in forensic gear throughout, with a mask covering her face, so all we see are her eyes. But the gag of it is, she’s played by the phenomenally famous Cate Blanchett. You get a megastar to do one scene but make her unrecognisable. So funny it beats Peter Jackson’s evil Santa.
Don Ameche & Ralph Bellamy in Coming to America (1988): this is another one I remember finding hilarious when I was a kid. Walking down the street late at night with love interest Lisa (Shari Headley), Akeem (Eddie Murphy) nonchalantly gives a huge wad of cash to some poor homeless bums. But it turns out that they’re played by Murphy’s old Trading Places co-stars Ameche and Bellamy – and they refer to each other by their character names from that earlier film. “We’re back!” declares Ameche, referencing the end of Trading Places, when their crooked broker characters were defeated and ruined by Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. It’s a great bit of shared-universe tomfoolery, and very funny for fans of Murphy’s movies. Oh, and speaking of Aykroyd…
Dan Aykroyd in Casper (1995): in 1995 it had been six long, bitter years without a new Ghostbusters film; back then, we could still hold out hope for a proper Ghostbuster 3. Sadly that never came to pass, but it was a very pleasant surprise when Ray Stantz himself popped up in Casper, of all things, fearfully running out of Whipstaff Manor in full ghostbusting regalia and declaring, “Who ya gonna call? Someone else!”. I mean, after facing down Gozer and Vigo and who knows what else, you’d think three sarcastic arsehole ghosts would be no match for him, but maybe the ‘busters were having tough times. Maybe this will all be backstory in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Maybe Cathy Moriarty and Eric Idle will return the favour and do cameos of their own. We can but hope.
Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, & Sam Neill in Thor: Ragnarok (2017): twenty years ago you could point to Goldmember as the, er, gold standard in multi-character cameo pile-ups. And while that is great – Danny DeVito giving the finger, Spielberg back-flipping – I think it’s been surpassed by this minor gaggle of stars hamming it up. Matt Damon – famouser than anyone actually billed in the movie – is An Actor Playing Loki. Dr. Alan Grant from Jurassic Park is An Actor Playing Odin (whilst Odin’s actor, Anthony Hopkins, plays Tom Hiddleston playing Loki playing Odin – do keep up), and Thor’s Real-Life Brother plays An Actor Playing Thor. It’s all delightfully meta and hilarious.
Ollie Johnston & Frank Thomas in The Incredibles (2004): this one’s really sweet, and like the Hook cameo, would very easily slip you by. At the end of the film, after the climactic battle, two old men cheer on the superheroes – “That’s old school!” “Yep, no school like the old school!” – but what’s great is that they’re voiced by – and designed to look like – Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, the last two surviving members of the famous “Nine Old Men” group of Disney animators, who’d worked on many of the classic Disney films. This was Pixar and director Brad Bird giving a tip of the hat to the legends who came before them, and made all the sweeter by the fact that Johnston and Thomas (both sadly now deceased) were absolute best buds in real life. A cameo that educates and makes you think! How nice!
There you go. Sadly no room for any of the many great Star Wars cameos, from Daniel Craig through to George Lucas’ entire family. Oh well!
9 notes · View notes
justforbooks · 4 years ago
Photo
Tumblr media
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI, was born on January 20, 1920 in Rimini, then a small town on the Adriatic Sea. He was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. His films have ranked highly in critical polls such as that of Cahiers du cinéma and Sight & Sound, which lists his 1963 film ​8 1⁄2 as the 10th-greatest film.
For La Dolce Vita Fellini won the Palme d'Or, was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, and won four in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, the most for any director in the history of the Academy. He received an honorary award for Lifetime Achievement at the 65th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. His other well-known films include La Strada (1954), Nights of Cabiria (1957), Juliet of the Spirits (1967), the "Toby Dammit" segment of Spirits of the Dead (1968), Fellini Satyricon (1969), Roma (1972), Amarcord (1973), and Fellini's Casanova (1976).
Personal and highly idiosyncratic visions of society, Fellini's films are a unique combination of memory, dreams, fantasy and desire. The adjectives "Fellinian" and "Felliniesque" are "synonymous with any kind of extravagant, fanciful, even baroque image in the cinema and in art in general". La Dolce Vita contributed the term paparazzi to the English language, derived from Paparazzo, the photographer friend of journalist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni).
Contemporary filmmakers such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Emir Kusturica, and David Lynch have cited Fellini's influence on their work.
Polish director Wojciech Has, whose two best-received films, The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) and The Hour-Glass Sanatorium (1973), are examples of modernist fantasies, has been compared to Fellini for the sheer "luxuriance of his images".
I Vitelloni inspired European directors Juan Antonio Bardem, Marco Ferreri, and Lina Wertmüller and influenced Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973), George Lucas's American Graffiti (1974), Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire (1985), and Barry Levinson's Diner (1982), among many others. When the American magazine Cinema asked Stanley Kubrick in 1963 to name his ten favorite films, he ranked I Vitelloni number one.
Nights of Cabiria was adapted as the Broadway musical Sweet Charity and the movie Sweet Charity (1969) by Bob Fosse starring Shirley MacLaine. City of Women was adapted for the Berlin stage by Frank Castorf in 1992.
​8 1⁄2 inspired, among others, Mickey One (Arthur Penn, 1965), Alex in Wonderland (Paul Mazursky, 1970), Beware of a Holy Whore (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1971), Day for Night (François Truffaut, 1973), All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979), Stardust Memories (Woody Allen, 1980), Sogni d'oro (Nanni Moretti, 1981), Parad Planet (Vadim Abdrashitov, 1984), La Pelicula del rey (Carlos Sorin, 1986), Living in Oblivion (Tom DiCillo, 1995), ​8 1⁄2 Women (Peter Greenaway, 1999), Falling Down (Joel Schumacher, 1993), and the Broadway musical Nine (Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit, 1982). Yo-Yo Boing! (1998), a Spanish novel by Puerto Rican writer Giannina Braschi, features a dream sequence with Fellini inspired by ​8 1⁄2.
Fellini's work is referenced on the albums Fellini Days (2001) by Fish, Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964) by Bob Dylan with Motorpsycho Nitemare, Funplex (2008) by the B-52's with the song Juliet of the Spirits, and in the opening traffic jam of the music video Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. American singer Lana Del Rey has cited Fellini as an influence. His work influenced the American TV shows Northern Exposure and Third Rock from the Sun. Wes Anderson's short film Castello Cavalcanti (2013) is in many places a direct homage to Fellini.
Various film-related material and personal papers of Fellini are in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives, to which scholars and media experts have full access. In October 2009, the Jeu de Paume in Paris opened an exhibit devoted to Fellini that included ephemera, television interviews, behind-the-scenes photographs, Book of Dreams (based on 30 years of the director's illustrated dreams and notes), along with excerpts from La dolce vita and ​8 1⁄2.
In 2015, the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps of Concord, California, performed "Felliniesque", a show themed around Fellini's work, with which they won a record 16th Drum Corps International World Class championship with a record score of 99.650. That same year, the weekly entertainment-trade magazine Variety announced that French director Sylvain Chomet was moving forward with The Thousand Miles, a project based on various Fellini works and first developed with Demian Gregory and Tommaso Rossellini, including his unpublished drawings and writings.
Filmography
As a director
1950 Variety Lights co-credited with Alberto Lattuada
1952 The White Sheik 
1953 I vitelloni
1953 Love in the City Segment: Un'agenzia matrimoniale
1954 La strada
1955 Il bidone
1957 Nights of Cabiria
1960 La Dolce Vita
1962 Boccaccio '70 Segment: Le tentazioni del Dottor Antonio
1963 ​8 1⁄2
1965 Juliet of the Spirits
1968 Spirits of the Dead Segment: Toby Dammit
1969 Fellini: A Director's Notebook
1969 Fellini Satyricon
1970 I Clowns
1972 Roma
1973 Amarcord
1976 Fellini's Casanova
1978 Orchestra Rehearsal
1980 City of Women
1983 And the Ship Sails On
1986 Ginger and Fred
1987 Intervista
1990 The Voice of the Moon 
As a screenwriter
1942 Knights of the Desert
1942 Before the Postman
1943 The Peddler and the Lady
1943 L'ultima carrozzella Co-scriptwriter
1945 Tutta la città canta Co-screenwriter and story author
1945 Rome, Open City Co-scriptwriter
1946 Paisà Co-scriptwriter
1947 Il delitto di Giovanni Episcopo Co-scriptwriter
1948 Senza pietà Co-scriptwriter
1948 Il miracolo Co-scriptwriter
1949 Il mulino del Po Co-scriptwriter
1950 Francesco, giullare di Dio Co-scriptwriter
1950 Il Cammino della speranza Co-scriptwriter
1951 La città si difende Co-scriptwriter
1951 Persiane chiuse Co-scriptwriter
1952 Il brigante di Tacca del Lupo Co-scriptwriter
1958 Fortunella Co-scriptwriter
1979 Lovers and Liars Fellini not credited
Television commercials
TV commercial for Campari Soda (1984)
TV commercial for Barilla pasta (1984)
Three TV commercials for Banca di Roma (1992)
Documentaries on Fellini
Ciao Federico (1969). Dir. Gideon Bachmann. (60')
Federico Fellini - un autoritratto ritrovato (2000). Dir. Paquito Del Bosco. (RAI TV, 68')
Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (2002). Dir. Damian Pettigrew. Feature documentary. (Arte, Eurimages, Scottish Screen, 102')
How Strange to Be Named Federico (2013). Dir. Ettore Scola.
Fellini died in Rome on 31 October 1993 at the age of 73 after a heart attack he suffered a few weeks earlier, a day after his 50th wedding anniversary. The memorial service, in Studio 5 at Cinecittà, was attended by an estimated 70,000 people. At Giulietta Masina's request, trumpeter Mauro Maur played Nino Rota's "Improvviso dell'Angelo" during the ceremony.
Five months later, on 23 March 1994, Masina died of lung cancer. Fellini, Masina and their son, Pierfederico, are buried in a bronze sepulchre sculpted by Arnaldo Pomodoro. Designed as a ship's prow, the tomb is at the main entrance to the Cemetery of Rimini. The Federico Fellini Airport in Rimini is named in his honour.
Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com
37 notes · View notes
wildshadowtamer · 4 years ago
Text
A Different Path (What If?)
Summary: June 15th, 2002. The Day Of Death.The day Candace Flynn's life got turned upside down.And the day that A Different Path was chosen for all.
Tags: Ducky Momo - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Character Death, car crash, burn scars, burn victim, Fluff and Angst, warning: this fic is dark, especially the first chapter, Inspired by Fanfiction, Based on a Tumblr Post, AU, what if au, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Notes: Credit to @woulddieforperrytheplatypus for suggesting i write this fic! this au belongs to me. Ahead of time TW for Car Crashes, Character Death, Orphaning, and Burns
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Read It On Ao3 
or
Read It Here!
~~~~~
Chapter 1: The Day Of Death
June 15th, 2002
It was a bright morning in Danville, not a cloud in the sky, and little Candace Flynn was in the car with her mother and stepfather, on the way to see the recently released Ducky Momo movie. She could hardly keep still from excitement.
“Oh i can’t wait to see this movie!” Lawrence, her father, exclaimed in his usual british accent, as optimistic and enthusiastic as ever. Candace had always looked up to him for those reasons, she liked his near constant cheer.
“Aren’t you a bit old for a ducky momo movie, dad?” Candace asked curiously, Lawrence chuckled, glancing back at her in the rear view mirror. “Yes, yes i am. But you’re not!”
Linda, her mother, rolled her eyes fondly, a smile tugging at her lips “well we’re almost there, so neither of you will have to wait long.” Candace cheered, hugging her ducky momo plushie close to her chest and adjusting her ducky momo baseball cap
“What a beautiful day it is, wouldn’t you say, dear?” Lawrence asked his wife, whom he married this very day exactly one year ago, “yes it is, dear” Linda responded, watching the people walk by with their strange and interesting pets of all shapes and sizes, she recognised a few of the owners as her friends.
“A beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, why this reminds me of when i was a lad, out fishing on the lakes of britain. You can’t get a more perfect day than this.” Lawrence reminisced, keeping one hand on the wheel and the other resting beside the open window of the car.
Candace got a strange feeling, like a cloud of dread suddenly appeared in the clear blue sky. She looked out the window and saw a single grey cloud slowly rolling in the direction of their house, she felt her stomach drop suddenly.
Something was going to go very, very wrong.
As the car crossed an intersection, an old black car sped down the upper section on their left, barrelling towards them seemingly uncontrollably. Candace turned her head to look at the car moments before it smashed into the side of the vehicle, flipping the car onto its hood and shattering the windows.
What happened next, Candace can’t recall clearly. All she remembers is seeing her parents unconscious in the front seats, and the car going up in flames as she struggled to undo the seatbelt trapping her in the flaming wreckage.
There was yelling and panic from the surrounding witnesses, and the fire department swiftly arrived, pulling all three of them- and the driver of the other car- to safety. But Candace couldn’t understand anything that was happening, her vision blurry with tears, and a screaming pain went through her entire left side and lingered there.
She saw the blurry remains of the flaming car, and everything went black.
Many Days Later, 
Candace stood sobbing in front of her parent’s graves, her little brothers clinging to her sides, teary-eyed. Phineas was too young to really understand what happened, but he still cried, as he hated seeing his big sister upset. Ferb, however, stood silently beside them, one hand on Candace’s shirt, the other loosely holding the half-burnt Ducky Momo plushie Candace loved so dearly. Even at 4, he understood the situation, and mourned in total silence.
The Graveyard felt bitter and cold that evening, and the children stayed there for several more hours, not moving even when the sun set and the city went dark.
It felt like the whole world was against them.
2 notes · View notes
bjsmall · 4 years ago
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
We watched Pixar's For the Birds (2000) IMDb link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248808/ For the birds is a 2000 computer animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by Ralph Eggleston. It was shown along side the theatrical release of the 2001 Disney Pixar feature Monsters' Inc. In 2012 it was re-released in stereoscopic 3D and shown along side the 3D re-release of Monsters' Inc. The short film is 3 minutes and 24 seconds and tells the story of a big blue bird and its encounter with a flock of small blue birds. See wiki for details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Birds_(film) The film is called ''For the Birds'' as it is an American slang phase meaning foolish, worthless or useless. The small birds regard the big blue bird as being foolish and worthless and pick on him. However, he has the last laugh when the small birds become victims of their own bullying and are left naked and exposed! The film has been used as a tool in anti bullying teaching throughout the world. I saw this with Chris when I went to the Abbey School. The short film won the Best Short Animated Film in the Academy Awards 2002. For the Birds is referenced in both Cars (2006) and Inside Out (2015). These references are known as Easter Eggs as they have to be hunted for. They can be found in many Pixar movies. 
For the Birds is shown in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. 
I particularly liked For the Birds as it delivers such a pure and simple message.
3 notes · View notes
theyanderespecialist · 5 years ago
Text
Yandere Horror Fandoms Headcanons and Scenarios And Rules (Request On My Page)
Hello My Sexy Readers, Yes you read the title right, this is another series for requests.
Now first The List of All The Horror And Slashers Movies I can think of that I know, I may add more later on.
-Movies (TV Series will be after)
A Nightmare On Elm Street (Seen Most Of these movies)
Alien (Seen All Of Them)
Alien VS Predator
The Boy
Candyman
Carrie (Only the Original )
Child's Play (Seen the original one in 1988 not the sequels and FUCK NO TO THE REMAKE!!!)
Children Of The Corn
Deep Blue Sea (both)
Dracula
Evil Dead (2013 Remake)
The Exorcist
Final Detestation (Only The Third One)
Frankenstein
Freddy VS Jason (GO JASON!!!!)
Friday The 13th (All of Them)
Get Out
The Grudge
Halloween (Seen Them All)
Hannibal
Hannibal Rising  
Harry Potter (ALL MOVIES) (ADDED THIS BECAUSE I SAID SO XD)
Hellraiser (All of them but cannot remember most of them)
I know What You Did Last Summer (Seen it once)
IT (Original 2 parts and part 1 of the 2017 remake)
Jaws
Jeepers Creepers (1 and 2)
Meat Train
Orphan (Seen once)
Pet  Sematary
The Phantom Of The Opera
Predator (All Of Them)
Prom Night
Psycho (The first and second one)
The Purge (first one)
The Ring (2002)
Saw (All Of Them)
Scream (Just first one)
The Shining
The Silence Of The Lambs
Silent Hill (First One)
Silent Hill (1999)
Split (Yes it is under Horror)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon On Fleet Street (Can't remember which one)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (All Of Them)
Village of The Damned
When A stranger Calls
The Wolf Man
Wrong Turn (Some of them I cannot remember )
Zombieland
---------
Next the tv shows which is shorter for reasons (Dont question me)
Bates Motel
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Hannibal
The Walking Dead
------
Horror Games as I now a lot of you will want that :D
Alice The Madness Returns
Baldi's Basics
Bendy and The Ink Machine (Half of it so far)
Corpse Party (The First One)
Danganropa (all of 1 and some of 2 and 3)
Dead Before Daylight
Detention
Doki Doki Literature Club
Dream Daddy (Because Of The Cult Ending and Cause I said SO >:3)
Emily Wants To Play
Friday The 13th The Game
Five Nights at Freddy (ALL OF THEM)
Hello Neighbor
Little Nightmares
Lucius (The First One)
Mad Father
Misao
Outlast (All Three)
Resident Evil 2 (The Remake)
Resident Evil 7
Ride With Strangers
Silent Hill (A Couple of Them)
The Sinking City (Only a bit)
Tattletail  
Unforgiving The Northern Hymen
Until Dawn
We Happy Few
Welcome To The Game (1 and 2)
The Witches House
Yandere Simulator
And Finally the rules before everyone starts saying what they want :D
-Headcanons:
Hehehehe you can ask as many Slasher or horror movie character  as you want with Headcanons
Such as the following
Can I get Jason headcanons with blind Male Reader
-Jason
.He was surprised when you did not scream when you were looking right at him, holding the head of one of your friends.
.He was curious like a child never meeting a blind person before.
.Unfortunately for you, your hearing is much higher than normal as you are blind and you rely on it  and you do not know where you are running because Jason took your cane and broke it.
.As a man you think you can defend yourself to a degree and do not let your handicap well handicap you.
.When he sees you with one of those sinful teens he does not take kindly to this.
.Killing her and tripping you before throwing you over his shoulder.
.No matter how much you fight against him or how strong you are he is the man here and when he learns just how much he wants you their is no way you are going to defend your virginity as him.
.You may be able to hear better but this is his territory and their is no escaping.
You may also asks Questions such as
Who would be aggressive to their love and who would adore them or both, Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Hewitt, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers,
-Aggressive:
.Freddy Krueger
.Michael Myers
-Adore:
.Thomas Hewitt
.Jason Voorhees
-Both
Hannibal Lecter
Also Questions like what nicknames they have and so on.
This is how you Requests
.What yandere or yanderes you want to know more about
.Reader
Male or Female
.Can also be any type of reader.
Chubby
Bi
Straight
Gay
Blind
Small
Tall
Incest
And so on, anything really except child (Unless it is platonic) And If With Freddy it can be referenced that he did stuff with you at a young age but it will be light and no full scenes on it.
-Scenarios
This is like Oneshots and Headcanons smashed into one you can ask as many as you like with any reader you want but the Scenario must be the same for all the ones you are asking
like
Can I get one with pregnant female reader and with Brahmas, Chucky, The Demon from Evil Dead
Or
Suicidal Reader with Jack Torrance, Pyramid head, Pennywise, Jeepers Creeper
.Ask for which yandere and Yanderes
.Ask for what type of reader
.Male Or Female
And anything else you hearts want :D
Their will also be OCS with me my OC Michelle and my co author OC Marie
No Child sex scene Reader must be Fifteenth  years or older for sex scenes.
You may also Choose Yandere Or Yanderes Character(S) X Love Interests Characters (Non reader or OC like)
Yandere Jason X Freddy
And Genderbents (Female or male version) of characters are a yes.
And ask for any version of reader even ones that are not just in movies
Like Jason from when Jason was in Space.
Or Freddy Krueger from the 2010 remake
and so on
And Also if you want AU (Alternate Universes)
Priest Hannibal Lecter
Doctor Norman Bates
And so on
You can choose with more than one yandere to a: share b: Seperate C: Fight for reader D: Poly
Poly is short for polygamy and it has where more than two people in a relationship.
Enjoy and stay Sexy!
NSFW Will be posted else where as Tumblr sucks 
83 notes · View notes
seeksstaronmewni · 6 years ago
Text
Saving the Day before Bedtime in Style: The Powerpuff Girls Then vs. Now
Tumblr media
THE CITY OF TOWNSVILLE!
I remember growing up a little with The Powerpuff Girls, namely the pre-2002 episodes on CN and a promo for the show on my VHS of Animaniacs: Wakko’s Wish. That show is a part of my childhood. My sister had an Easy-Bake Powerpuff Girls “Cookie Makin’ Bake Set” and a Burger King 2002 figure of Bubbles. The length of the series’ run is now 20 years old, though the franchise as a whole is over 25 years old, if you count A Sticky Situation.
In the past, I watched little of PPG because I neither understood nor appreciated action at a very young age; the same went for Samurai Jack & Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003), though I did watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), which included a former PPG writer, Brian Larsen. Now, “Cartoon Cartoons” like @crackmccraigen‘s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Dexter’s Laboratory, Grim & Evil, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Ed Edd ‘n Eddy, Chowder... I grew up on those. I remember little about 2 Stupid Dogs (now officially available on MOD Disc DVD) and Captain Planet. I didn’t see the PPG marathon in 2009 with the final McCracken-produced episode so far, The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! (my sister watched it, though). I began to return to PPG as I saw excerpts from the show on Netflix in late 2015, prior to the reboot. Tara Strong’s tweet of dismay, I think, was how I heard of the new PPG episodes.
The first time “Painbow” was encored (that is 2nd airing), during like 6 in the morning, I began to love Ms. Keane, their teacher, who’s voiced by Jennifer Hale (I knew her best for voicing Gladys, Billy’s Mom, in Grim & Evil / The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, whose voice is nearly identical to Keane’s). What I love about Keane is that she’s sweet, somewhat perky but usually mellow, and kind, in addition to her voice, big blue eyes, and hair style, that I find to be attractive, but ultimately she is very nurturing to her students, like a mommy. Ms. Keane is why, in 2016, I became really into The Powerpuff Girls... and, including regard for the former CN Studios team, hyped for the return of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack (season 5, which featured Craig Kellman and other familiar creatives). However, though The Powerpuff Girls is my personal favorite of Craig McCracken and I grew up somewhat more on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, I do feel that Wander Over Yonder is Craig’s greatest achievement as it excels at not only humor--both slapstick and... well... “modern”--but also some very important life lessons and ultimately the heart.
Now, many PPG fans were upset with the new episodes for many reasons that were, in my opinion, nostalgically incorrect. Personally, like many fans, I mostly prefer the former art styles of the series (specifically the 2002 movie and episodes, as well as the following designs by art director Paul Stec and character designers Carey Yost & Stef Choi) but I also highly admire @cheyennecurtisart for adding more defining details to our favorite crime-fighting and now ex-kindergarten students (and also for designing my other favorite woman, Star Butterfly, whose title show @crackmccraigen, creator of The Powerpuff Girls, wanted to produce for CN). The main reason for the hate is apparently that the new actresses replaced the former ones for the title characters. They are fairly good voices, but I still prefer the former, namely Tara Strong as Bubbles (No offense, Kristin Li, but, to me, it feels impossible to turn down Tara’s acting). Natalie Palamides as Buttercup is probably the closest-resembling to the original voices, but she still stands out differently; likewise Ms. Keane’s voice, though akin to the voice direction of Jennifer Hale by Craig McCracken and later Colette Sunderman, also has an accent that stands out, while Tom Kane is generally true to the nature of Utonium’s voice. Of course, once the casting and/or voice direction changes, maybe Cavadini, Daily and Strong will return. Also, E.G. Daily said in an interview that Cavadini, Daily & Strong originally did record for, I believe, Escape from Monster Island, until someone else replaced them; if bonus features exist on future season releases of the Jennings-Boyle PPG episodes, then an original dialogue recording track for the episode should totally be on it.
WHAT LOOKS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE POWERPUFF GIRLS?
Another reason for dislike from PPG fans is all about the art direction. Although @eusong Lee worked with Craig Kellman on Storybots and current art director Roman Laney designed and painted backgrounds for Craig McCracken’s Wander Over Yonder, their art direction resembles that of a more streamline, smooth, round, futuristic, not-so-cartoony look contrasting with the simplistic, storybook-like art direction of Craig Kellman, the cartoony but simple art direction of @donshank​, and the defining and Hanna-Babera like art direction of Mike Moon, Paul Stec and Sue Mondt. The buildings in the Jennings-Boyle episodes are more straight, detailed and lineless, whereas the former designs were more extreme and exaggerated with building shapes.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Comparing the designs above of Andy Bialk & Stef Choi (whose designs were of many shapes and sizes; former monsters had sometimes simple but also very wild designs)...
Tumblr media
...with those of Alan Stewart & Steve Lambe and Dean Heezen & Carlos Nunez reveals great contrast. The character design of current Townies, like the backgrounds, are more round-edged and of more simplistic, specific shapes and sizes. The monsters are different too; props are more realistic and explosions usually look simpler and more streamlined, round-edged, etc. Also, character & prop outlines aren’t really thick, which many CN/H-B cartoons are know for having. As the current designs from Memory Lane of Pain show, the Mayor and Robin Schneider are seen, along with an elderly woman who looks similar to the usual one in former episodes and a kid who somewhat resembles Mitch; next to those 2, there’s also a big guy whose model appears... shrunk for some reason.
Tumblr media
Now, some Season 8-9 designs look a little more familiar, like the disguise character of an alien in Never Been Blissed, Locan Logan. He looks fairly akin to the works of Craig McCracken. Could the alien be disguising himself as Mac (from Foster’s) at an older age?
Not belittling @cheyennecurtisart‘s contributions, character designs developed for The Powerpuff Girls Movie are some of the finest ever done for the series, lead by Carey Yost; these designs were eventually implemented into the series, supervised by @andybialk and Chris Reccardi and designed by Stef Choi. Ultimately, though, @cheyennecurtisart and Carey Yost plus Andy Bialk (2002-2004 only for the latter two), did my favorites.
Tumblr media
As you can see here, Man Up 2: Still Man-ing was the one of the few current episodes where the Mayor’s mouth is visible... but it wasn’t the first time. Paul Rudish storyboarded the Mayor with his mouth for transition in Boogie Frights; some official models of him (as well as a comic book cover) show the mouth as well. It’s unorthodox, but honestly I’m not hating on the new creatives for that. In most of the episodes excluding Man Up 2, it’s probably a mistake, since in those episodes he also does the mustache lip-sync thing he tends to do.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
On the bright side regarding nostalgically correct art direction, the Pokey Oaks flashback in The Wrinklegruff Gals (art direction by Eusong Lee) was very true to that of Paul Stec (I’d think that Ms. Keane’s in the first shot, but these shots are 1.78:1 and not “letterbox” widescreen like the DVD covers of most CN shows in the last decade claim them to be in). They included students Mitch Mitchelson, Elmer Sglue, Robin Schneider, Harry Pitt, Suzie Jenkins, and Clara (the African girl in purple dress, called by Ms. Keane in ’Twas the Fight Before Christmas; in other episodes Jennifer Hale voiced her and the other dark-skinned girl in a pink dress). The new art creatives were so good at that, that I wondered if they’d contribute to season 5 of Samurai Jack. Speaking of that, the series finale of Samurai Jack, EPISODE CI (as did EPISODE II and Comic Issue 19), referenced The City of Townsville with the city of dogs that Jack saved! I also recently noticed a background from The Powerpuff Girls Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, cleverly called “Powerpuff Mall” (tweeted here), and the episode “Universal Remonster” features a PPG with a mohawk on a Spring Break Cancun shirt!
Tumblr media
Also, there’s the reference to Abracadaver in Memory Lane of Pain, where Blossom realizes how different she looked then and a re-orchestration of the PPG’s theme plays in the background, as in the new intro itself. The shot in reference is a digitally traced, cleaned-up version of a shot with models by Andy Bialk & Chris Battle.
Tumblr media
Relatively, former character designer @chrisbattleart​ designed for the PPGs in the Teen Titans GO! episode “TTG vs PPG” which were true to the improved designs of @cheyennecurtisart​...
Tumblr media
...though they sometimes resemble the pre-2002 models, which he reflected in the last Craig McCracken-produced episode, The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! As with both specials, the PPGs have thick outlines & black-colored mouths and are in model-rigged or “puppet-ed” animation.
Tumblr media
Also relatively, Wander Over Yonder, which referenced both PPGs & Samurai Jack, featured @lambebeardo, who storyboarded the PPG-referencing episode The Boy Wander, who did some character design on season 8 PPG episodes.
The new theme song implements the general PPG theme within, as I said before, but there’s more nostalgia than that: the extended version of the current intro/theme song, “Who’s Got the Power?”, opens up like the original intro, with the original Tom Kenny narration, score and certain sounds. “Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girl, but Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction...” Yes, except that Utonium didn’t break the bottle of CHEMICAL X by throwing his fist in success, though; Mojo rammed him into it. That is an error of continuity, which some episodes have, namely The Power of Four (regarding a rival of Utonium, Netronium, creating the perfect little boy)... though there is one thing that that episode did right...
Tumblr media
TV PUPPET PALS PUPPETS! These character originally appeared in a few episodes like Mommy Fearest, and were created by either Genndy Tartakovsky and/or @crackmccraigen for The Justice Friends, whose pilot was about TV Puppet Pals. Once again, some nostalgia is preserved; thanks to Prop Designer Nathan Alexander Rico (and/or the act’s character designers/storyboard artists)!
In case no one noticed: I refer to the current seasons of The Powerpuff Girls, produced and directed by Nick Jennings & Bob Boyle, as the 7th, 8th, and 9th seasons, since, to me, it’s still the same show; despite different art direction and other styles. The other reason is that some episodes did call back to former events, like I said about Memory Lane of Pain.
Another thing that seems to be lacking in The Powerpuff Girls is the visually cartoony stuff. Memory Lane of Pain is the only episode to use a “pow” cloud as the Rubber Bandit streaks out of a shot. This was common in earlier episodes, often accented visually with words like “POW”, “ZIP”, etc. In most current episodes, characters run out of a shot more realistically.
WHAT’S WITH THE ANIMATION?
Additionally, most of the animation direction, though still with Robert Alvarez, Randy Myers and Richard Collado, is pervasively slow-paced, compared to the pre-2016 episodes, namely those of seasons 5-6 and, of course, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, on which Genndy Tartakovsky was the main animation director. Unlike most current CN Studios programs, however, Samurai Jack season 5 did its “sheet timing” very well, particularly in EPISODE XCVIII and its scene of Ashi owning a whole army of orcs (Sheet Timing by Rob Renzetti & Robert Alvarez; storyboarded & written by Bryan Andrews & Genndy Tartakovsky).
As with that and most CN Studios programs, both Samurai Jack and The Powerpuff Girls have animation that is checked by CN’s Sandy & Julie Benenati. Speaking of creatives still involved, there’re at least 25 people still working on The Powerpuff Girls just as they did decades ago... including @joltumblingart​, a former BG/Prop designer! At least us nostalgia-craving fans can appreciate that! (By the way, if you crave classic CN Studios projects, you can watch the ENTIRE series of Samurai Jack here!)
WHAT OF THE NEW GIRLS AND GUYS ON THE SHOW?
Now, I can say that some of the new creatives could serve The Powerpuff Girls well:
Tumblr media
Character designer @cheyennecurtisart did designs for Star vs. the Forces of Evil; the show’s art direction (namely season 1/Joshua & Justin Parpan, but also including Israel Sanchez, who all worked on Wander Over Yonder) is similar to the works of @crackmccraigen and closer to the Mike Moon / Paul Stec styles I prefer, specifically elements of background/location design and character design. Some designs of Princess Bluebelle in the Emmy-winning episode Once Upon a Townsville seem to resemble the looks of Star Butterfly. Also, SvTFOE location designer Larry Murphy did background design for PPG episodes “Save Mojo” and “Substitute Creature”. A number of creatives from SvTFOE should work on current PPGs too, regarding art direction/design/storyboarding action, in addition to former creatives involved with Samurai Jack (including season 5) and Paul Rudish’s Mickey Mouse, including clean-up artist king Robert Lacko. Relatively, SvTFOE location designer @peteremmerich served as the art director on Netflix’s Harvey Street Kids, whose background design is very much like the PPG locations under Paul Stec’s art direction.
Character designer @lambebeardo did storyboards for Disney’s Wander Over Yonder, created and executively produced by @crackmccraigen, as mentioned before, including “The Boy Wander”, which ends ala “The Day is Saved!” segment. There’re 2 specific creatives for a season 7 (or, in reboot terms, season 1) PPG episode...
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Power Up Puff features storyboard artist Roque Ballesteros, who storyboards for Star Wars: Forces of Destiny and did animation/layout on CN’s Enter Mode 5 at Ghostbot. One could compare that to Bryan Andrews who did storyboards for Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005) at Cartoon Network Studios, where Power Up Puff was produced; Brian Larsen, who worked with Bryan Andrews, also did storyboards for PPG and Samurai Jack, as well as (the non-Cartoon Network Studios) Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2019)...
Tumblr media
...and then there’s animation director Shaun Cashman, who did animation/sheet timing for another CN Studios original, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Sym-Bionic Titan. Cashman also supervised the timing on Disney’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil and produced Grim & Evil AKA The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy for CN. I think that there’s some good animation timing in Power Up Puff, which’s rare due to the way CN Studios and SMIP do the animation these days.
Tumblr media
One episode I intend to note here is Save the Date, which’s about Ms. Keane, as was Keen on Keane. A few aspects on design are covered below. One is about the title cards as shown above (which uses props/characters to reflect the episode’s subject/theme) and below.
Tumblr media
These cards swipe to the right, rather than having the PPGs beam by and then reveal the storyboard artist/writer and art director. Originally the text was still, until after the movie and they’d zoom in slowly, not italicized and even glowing the tiniest bit. Also, some of the writers aren’t storyboarding, and the art director’s listed on the credits.
Tumblr media
Lastly, of course, every single episode is directed just by Nick Jennings and Bob Boyle, aside from a supervising director. Can’t someone from Samurai Jack, Wander Over Yonder, Star vs. the Forces of Evil direct instead? Often, an animation director like Robert Alvarez or Randy Myers would direct The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Grim & Evil, etc. For that matter, someone on the show should get, like, Genndy Tartakovsky (currently at Sony Pictures Animation) to direct. High-octane action and slapstick are a big part of his direction.
Tumblr media
Since the Season 7 episode People Pleaser, @deanheezen is the main character designer, in place of @cheyennecurtisart​; @carlosluisnunez​ still contributes, but usually Dean Heezen or Gordon Hammond (and sometimes Steve Lambe and Alan Lambe) are the only designers for an episode. From the episode Save the Date onward, Ms. Keane has only one bang, when she usually has 2, though there is one shot in Keen on Keane where she has one bang, (in various shots of the episode, she has 3 bangs).
Tumblr media
In Save the Date, Ms. Keane’s fashion is different from hers in Keen on Keane, which was modified in Octi-Gone. Also, Keane didn’t walk well in high heels in Save the Date, unlike Keen on Keane.
Tumblr media
Pertaining to certain fashion, like Keen on Keane, more of Ms. Keane’s body shape is exercised, namely on her legs. Unlike Keen on Keane Ms. Keane’s calves aren’t as obvious if [one of] her legs are straight. Usually, her legs appear shorter as well... kind of stubby, which I think is cute. In some shots in Save the Date, Ms. Keane’s hands are sharper-looking, as were the designs by Carey Yost and Stef Choi.
Relative to both animation and design, compare Ms. Keane fighting the giant, radioactive ant in Save the Date with the aforementioned sequences in Samurai Jack EPISODE XCVIII:
Tumblr media
Now, in these 2 shots, you can see more detail to the design/form of the legs in action. If Carey Yost did the designs of Ms. Keane like those they did in Keen on Keane, the look and form to Keane’s legs in action would appear maybe somewhat stylized, but far more realistic.
Tumblr media
In the fight in Save the Date, there’re a few pieces of fast-paced animation, but only a few as, like I said before, animation in CN shows these days are usually slow-paced. In Samurai Jack, of course, there’s much balance between both fast and slow-paced animation which helps convey more realistic (and intense) action. Robert Alvarez was an animation director with Sherri Wheeler (supervising) & Randy Myers for Save the Date and did sheet timing with Rob Renzetti for Samurai Jack EPISODE XCVIII.
Tumblr media
Now, like Samurai Jack, Ms. Keane here shows good form in an action pose. The lines in the PPG shot are similar to the shot of a falling catapulted rock in Samurai Jack EPISODE III, too.
Relative to Samurai Jack EPISODE XCVIII, the Dexter’s Laboratory episode Dexter Dodgeball has a very nice sequence of well-timed, balanced traditional animation including much fast-paced animation; Dexter’s hair animates somewhat as well. In addition to being filmed and animated with cels, the timing/animation direction gives to moments of this scene movie-level quality of traditional animation. “Additional Animation Direction” is claimed to be done by Robert Alvarez, @crackmccraigen and Rob Renzetti.
Tumblr media
Ms. Keane’s homes vary in the series: Dave Dunnet designed 74A in Keen on Keane and another house in ‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas, while Santino Lascano & Clark Snyder revealed a much bigger home for her in Save the Date.
Tumblr media
Speaking of location, current episodes have new places like The Snooty Rose and Penguin Pete’s...
Tumblr media
...but what about Pete’s-a Pizza, Malph’s and La Donut King Donut?
Tumblr media
One interesting thing to note about Save the Date is a matter of size (this’s also the first time in the entire series that sweet Ms. Keane cries). Of course, she’s not the only one with concerns of size.
Tumblr media
The PPGs themselves were made to be giant by Mojo Jojo, too, in What’s the Big Idea?, one of the last McCracken-produced episodes (and starring @donshank as a protest leader. He’s the Townie in that fallen building).
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The other thing notable about this episode... “WHAT ABOUT THE GIANT ANT” in Bubblevision? Of course, that was a different ant that looked more realistic and just gnawed on stuff at random, but I like that more. The giant radioactive ant in Save the Date was only pushed back by the heat ray of the PPGs, but in Bubblevision the giant ant totally burned up.
Tumblr media
One thing I don’t like about the credits--aside from lacking BiS’s popular hit, The Super Secret City of Soundsville Song, which’s the PPGs’ End Title [Theme] Song--is that they don’t specify the voice of the episode’s lesser characters (such as “Todd”, who kind of sounds like Tom Kenny... just a hint of Commander Peepers in his voice). Of course, Samurai Jack season 5 sometimes did this too. Typically, they don’t credit sound designers or foley artists/recordists, either; at least The Powerpuff Girls Movie gave credit to Joel Valentine and his team for Sound Creation and Design and foley.
Tumblr media
Now, there’re approaches to character design in current episode that I do enjoy. In this shot from Buttercup vs. Math, Blossom recoils from intense emotion with a very funny yet simple face.
Tumblr media
Prior to that, of course, the former emotions are also very wild and creative...
Tumblr media
...but that doesn’t mean that Andy Bialk, Carey Yost & @chrisbattleart​ didn’t do that either (though rarely), as this shot from A Very Special Blossom proves. Art Director @donshank​ and Models guy Carey Yost, like many great CN Studios creatives, were formerly involved with Spumco, particularly on The Ren & Stimpy Show, which could account for this wild, somewhat detailed design.
Unlike most of Craig McCracken’s former works, except for Wander Over Yonder, character reactions in design weren’t usually as exaggerated as they are in the new PPG episodes. Such design extremes tend not to apply to Ms. Keane as she’s rather mellow and more realistic with emotional reactions, and usually not in grave danger or needful otherwise, compared to another woman designed by Cheyenne Curtis, Star Butterfly, who tends to be highly poignant with emotion (in most ways I love her more than Ms. Keane because Star’s been through a lot, needful and emotional).
Tumblr media
In very rare cases, though, like these shots in Keen on Keane and Speed Demon, Ms. Keane shows catchlights in a closeup, which may contribute to either intensely poignant emotion and/or close-up detail (including lighting). Her look in Keen on Keane (Carey Yost) does suggest a needful emotion, but not too exaggerated.
As I said before, I don’t care for the current art direction as much, except for @cheyennecurtisart‘s part; eventually Dean Heezen took over until Gordon Hammond started doing all of the character design, which aren’t really much different. Some others don’t like the designs currently with The Powerpuff Girls, including one artist who decided to re-design and re-animate the promoted scene from Man Up. The designs of the PPGs look very much like the SSN 1-4 models, and the rest vary; some resemble Andy Bialk/Stef Choi or Stephanie Ramirez. The backgrounds are very detailed but similar to the original art direction.
Tom Kenny’s famous, lovable narration that began and ended all pre-2016 episodes has been absent in most current PPG episodes (except for a few, like Painbow, Little Octi Lost, and Fashion Forward). Even worse is a talking snowman voiced by Maurice LaMarche narrating instead--and on-screen--which is one of the major crimes to The Powerpuff Girls in their second Christmas episode, You’re a Good Man, Mojo Jojo. “I BEGIN AND END EACH EPISODE OF POWERPUFF GIRLS, ME, THE NARRATOR!” he claimed at the end of Los Dos Mojos. Next to Scaramouche, Spongebob and Commander Peepers, his narration on The Powerpuff Girls is one of his finest and most memorable roles.
Also missing are more familiar and specific Townies like the Chief of Police, the Pokey Oaks students (excluding the flashback scene), Floyd & Llyod... Also, since Chuck McCann died, I wonder who’d voice the Amoeba Boys now. Perhaps former creative Lou Romano could, since he was their original voice in the pilot/Craig’s student film A Sticky Situation. Some creatives and production staff on the show made cameos, namely @donshank (voiced first by Tom Kenny and then Shank himself), who, himself, served as a supportive character in What’s The Big Idea? leading a protestant group against the PPGs. This Easter egg is rare in cartoons these days (though a recent Teen Titans Go! episode put @chrisbattleart and other creatives in a city crowd), but the episode Electric Buttercup implemented creatives like @cheyennecurtisart, Nick Jennings & Bob Boyle, Kyle Neswald, and others in “THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF SHAME”.
In general, the approach to sound design on the show is a bit quieter but uses more Disney sound effects and other typical Hacienda Post sound design, as well as aural gags thematically associated with noting a certain subject (e.g. a cash register opening and ringing accents a thematic element pertaining to the Monopoly-esq game in Rainy Day, as money is a relative/thematic element). Although Hacienda Post (namely the team) has always been involved with the series since 1998, the original “Sound Creation and Design”, debuting on the episode Crime 101, was by Joel Valentine (Samurai Jack, Big City Greens, Wander Over Yonder), one of my favorite sound designers, who was only credited on The Powerpuff Girls Movie; episode credits would mention only Twenty-First Century Entertainment, Inc. for “Sound Editing”, though they obviously did sound design and foley too. Whether or Joel or all Hacienda, foley members are usually uncredited on the show, yet they bring our favorite Townies to aural life. Joel used his funny little castanet sound to accent many emotions, and the “SINGLE MAGIC WAND HIT” among other sfx to accent the PPGs beaming away. The classic H-B/Universal explosion often accented big feet, impacts and explosions, as well as the original title reveal in the intro; Joel would use some more tweaked variants of that sound too, and, next to Skywalker Sound, Joel is the only one whose consistent use of that sound excuses the general cheesy nature of that sound. Of course, in my opinion “ROCKET LAND SPEEDER: START AND AWAY”, which often accented the PPGs flying (usually for relatively fast/increasing speeds), seemed particularly exaggerated, but Hacienda Post seems to avoid overusing that.
Also, the music style often is more pervasive compared to former episodes, and Mike Reagan did some very nice cartoon-y music, like in the beginning of Rainy Day, though the style feels different from that of Thomas Chase & Steve Rucker in episodes like Pet Feud. The stylized sound of horn sections and strong techno beats in the score by James L. Venable (AKA “DJ Avalanche”) are very cool but aren’t so common in the current episodes, though respectively the action doesn’t live up as well as former episodes, like Live and Let Dynamo.
Near the end of this post, I note that I found great value in The Ren & Stimpy Show as many creatives on it/at Spumco worked on The Powerpuff Girls, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Samurai Jack, Spongebob Squarepants, The Iron Giant, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and many other great animation, including a gem of a Cartoon Network “Minisode”, Buy One, Get One Free*. My love for the work of John Kricfalusi/Spumco boosted with [adult swim]’s airing of the Yogi Bear/Ranger Smith episode “Boo Boo Runs Wild” on August 13th, 2016 A.D.
To conclude: The Powerpuff Girls is an iconic show that deserves to still have some design that feels signature to it, over 25 years after the pilot, @crackmccraigen​‘s CalArts student film A Sticky Situation (originally with a mildly profane name for the trio, though Paul Rudish came up with their official name). In my honest opinion, there’re 5 original people whom I wish and pray would contribute to The Powerpuff Girls again: Carey Yost (with or without @chrisbattleart​), Tara Strong, Dave Dunnet (with or without @shinypinkbottle​), and at least Joel Valentine. Honestly, regarding Star vs. the Forces of Evil, I hope and pray that Joel Valentine, Genndy Tartakovsky’s band of excellent writers/storyboard artists, and even @crackmccraigen​ could/would contribute to that franchise’s future media. Additionally, the new creatives in season 5 of Samurai Jack, like Dustin d’Arnault, David Krentz, @stephendestefano and Amanda Qian Li, should contribute to these shows too. Again, I also suggest that the former voice of The Amoeba Boys, Lou Romano (in A Sticky Situation), should replace the late Chuck McCann. While Craig’s first words to me suggest that he may not return, more or less, to PPGs, still at least members of his team deserve to, and who wouldn’t want to come back? Meanwhile, at least Craig’s working on new stuff to be announced, including Kid Cosmic for Netflix.
Tumblr media
I leave you with not only a petition image to suggest ways to bring nostalgia back to our favorite kindergarten crime-fighters, but also IMDb lists of appropriate creatives for future media of PPG, future media of Dexter’s Laboratory, and even future media of Samurai Jack (pre-Season 5 events to fill a more or less “50-year” story gap). Spread the petition (and/or IMDb lists), and perhaps our childhood days will be saved--thanks to fans like you! GO, POWERPUFF! [z, z, z-z-z-zuuu...] *cue H-B swirling star* (also a Tumblr post)
14 notes · View notes
lovesongbracket · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Reminder: Vote based on the song, not the artist or specific recording! The tracks referenced are the original artist, aside from a few rare cases where a cover is the most widely known.
Lyrics, videos, info, and notable covers under the cut. (Spotify playlist available in pinned post)
Can't Help Falling in Love
Written By: George David Weiss, Luigi Creatore & Hugo Peretti
Artist: Elvis Presley
Released: 1961
Covers included: A*Teens, 2002; Ingrid Michaelson, 2008; twenty one pilots, 2012; Kina Grannis, 2017; Ice Nine Kills, 2021
A tender ballad about being unable to resist falling in love, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” is one of Elvis' most famous and romantic songs. Originally recorded to tie along with his movie, Blue Hawaii, the song has since been covered by various other artists, from U2 and Britney Spears to twenty one pilots. Rolling Stone ranked it as the 5th best Elvis song of all time, and it was also ranked as the 50th most popular wedding song by Billboard magazine.
[Verse 1] Wise men say "Only fools rush in" But I can't help Falling in love with you [Verse 2] Shall I stay? Would it be a sin If I can't help Falling in love with you? [Chorus] Like a river flows Surely to the sea Darling, so it goes Some things are meant to be [Verse 3] Take my hand Take my whole life, too For I can't help Falling in love with you [Chorus] Like a river flows Surely to the sea Darling, so it goes Some things are meant to be [Outro] Take my hand Take my whole life, too For I can't help Falling in love with you For I can't help Falling in love with you
youtube
youtube
youtube
youtube
youtube
youtube
Work Song
Written By: Hozier
Artist: Hozier
Released: 2014
Alternate version included: Live in America, 2015
This is the only song on Hozier’s self titled album to have a title that is not entirely composed of lyrics from the song. The song is about the love of a worker’s life lending him strength during a hard day’s work. The song encompasses indie with strong influences on folk, blues and negro spirituals.
[Verse 1] Boys, workin' on empty Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat? I just think about my baby I'm so full of love I could barely eat There's nothin' sweeter than my baby I'd never want once from the cherry tree 'Cause my baby's sweet as can be She give me toothaches just from kissin' me [Chorus] When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her [Verse 2] Boys, when my baby found me I was three days on a drunken sin I woke with her walls around me Nothin' in her room but an empty crib And I was burning up a fever I didn't care much how long I lived But I swear, I thought I dreamed her She never asked me once about the wrong I did [Chorus] When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her [Bridge] My babe would never fret none About what my hands and my body done If the Lord don't forgive me I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me When I was kissin' on my baby And she'd put her love down, soft and sweet In the low lamplight, I was free Heaven and hell were words to me [Chorus] When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her
youtube
youtube
67 notes · View notes
seharker-blog · 6 years ago
Text
Education of Memorable History in a Post 9/11 World; or, “We Care, You’re Just Not Telling the Story Right.”
Every year on September 11 I make a usually long-winded Facebook post about my thoughts on the event and the way we regard it however many years after the event, because every year the perspective on it seems to change. This is an event that occurred when I (and most of my friends) were in our early grade school years, and as such it’s treated with a level of tragedy from people who are older than me because it’s assumed most of us either don’t remember it or don’t care. As with most things that are new in our time (cell phones, laptops, social media, plague-like anxiety and depression), older generations assume that Millenials and Gen Z have a severe and fatal case of Just Not Getting It when it comes to the severity of September 11.
I was born on March 23, 1996. I was five years old on September 11, 2001, and I have spent much of my life studying and struggling to understand the tragedy and the implications of it to the best of my ability. Let’s dive in.
I don’t own as many books on the subject as I used to, but for today I’ll be referencing the CBS News book “What We Saw,” released in 2002 with a foreword by Joe Klein in 2011.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was in my kindergarten class, probably reciting the ABC’s or practicing counting by 5′s. The event didn’t reach me until later in the afternoon, because I went from school at 12:45 to go to my grandparents’ (who took care of me while my parents were at work) house. My grandfather watched TVLand, my grandmother watched Law & Order, and my three- and seven-year-old cousins were not going to turn on the news to see what was happening. When my father arrived to pick me up at around 4:30, he was baffled that my grandparents had no idea what had happened. He took me home, called my usual babysitter (who lived next door) to come distract me while he kept an eye on the news, and waited for my mother to get home.
When she got home, they stood in the front hallway and hugged each other for a while. I wasn’t there to see it as my babysitter was doing a great job at keeping me away from them. They talked about the implications of a major terrorist attack on our country, considered what this would mean for our future, and eventually went outside to sit on the porch swing and think about what would come next. That day often feels like it lived within its own bubble, as though everything slowed to a halt for the day while everyone took their own time to process what was happening. 3,000 people were dead, and what their deaths would mean for the future of the world was beyond our comprehension.
I ran into the living room that night about an hour after my mother got home. My parents were sitting on the couch watching the news. At first I thought they were watching a movie (apparently I thought it was Independence Day), but they rebuffed this and told me it was the news. Then I believed it was downtown Cincinnati, where a great aunt of mine lived, and started to lose it. They sat me down and told me about what happened, choosing transparency over sheltering, because they believed I needed to understand.
What you need to understand about young people is this: We will care passionately about the things you allow us to care about.
The reason I remember 9/11 is because my parents chose to inform me rather than protect me. If you treat younger people like actual people willing to learn and understand, they will.
The decision to tell me about what happened on 9/11 shaped who I would become. My fascination with history and the nature of mankind began with sitting on the couch with my parents to watch the news about what happened. The sight of smoke rising into the air and filling the impossibly blue sky with a thick haze is something I will never forget. Papers were fluttering through the air, smothering the ground in a deafening silence that would last, it seemed, until the fires from the towers were finally put out in December of 2001.
Oh yeah. In case you didn’t know, the fires from the towers burned until December of 2001. Exactly 100 days after the attacks, the fires were extinguished on December 20. The fences surrounding Ground Zero were covered with missing posters, people stood by the site every day praying that their loved ones would be pulled from the rubble. The death toll on that day was 2,996. Thousands of bodies were pulled from the rubble of the towers, the Pentagon, and the burning hole in the ground that was left by Flight 93. The most recent body to be identified was in July of this year (2018). There are, right now, 1,111 bodies that have yet to be identified.
September 11, 2001 is the most prolific day in my own personal history. It shaped so much of who I am now that I don’t know who I would be if I’d walked into the living room, asked my parents “Are you watching a movie?” and they’d simply chosen to say yes. I was given an unprecedented chance to show my parents that I cared. That I could rise to the occasion and choose to be informed about the tragic events that occurred that day. I, a five-year-old kindergartner who was only just learning how to read, was allowed a chance to be a person before I was dismissed as a child. 
That is why I care. That is why I feel so impassioned about not only 9/11, but about current events from the time of 9/11 until today. Because my parents, the people responsible for instilling a love of learning in my still-forming brain, decided that they needed to do just that. They let me be an adult in a five-year-old’s body for the day, and as a result I have a passion for learning that I often see the older generation crying that my generation does not have.
Passion and interest are not inherent (at least not in most of the cases I’ve seen). They need to be drawn out of people when they’re young or oftentimes they will never come out. If you feel disdain towards young people in regards to their attitude toward 9/11, I want you to think about the way they were told about the event when they were young, if they were told at all. Did you inform your children of what exactly went on? How old were they when they knew they had lived through it? Did you give them the chance to have a real impression of the event, or do you only complain because they “just don’t get it” now that it’s 17 years in the past? Did you allow them a chance to have a feeling about this very harsh reality before you blamed them for not caring?
My parents are divorced now. After more than 20 years of marriage, they just couldn’t be happy with each other anymore. The reasons why don’t matter now, what’s important is that two very different people with two very different views on the world came together to create a person whom they wanted to not just be a good kid, but a good person with real views on the world that they could formulate based on the experiences they had in their formative years. My parents didn’t get lucky that I was an eager learner who wanted to be informed. They instilled this attitude in me during the most tragic day they’d ever lived through. They breathed in, considered their options, and on the exhale brought me into the living room as a member of the family who needed to know more.
We aren’t stupid. We aren’t apathetic or  vapid. We just need to be given the chance to understand. We just need to hear from you that you care about us caring about the world, and we will, undoubtedly, care.
So stop blaming young people for the decisions you didn’t make when they were children. We can’t control the people you raised us to be. We want to care. We desperately, rabidly want to be part of the adult world with adult feelings and opinions from a young age and your reluctance to allow us is not our fault when we grow up and have no passion about the events of the past. That’s on you.
Tell the story better. Allow your children a chance to care, and they will.
I promise.
2 notes · View notes
dweemeister · 7 years ago
Text
An embarrassing (?), incomplete list of popular films I've not seen
Yes, this is a film blog... albeit a blog dedicated to older movies. I try to watch more pre-1980 movies than post-1980 movies each year, so this of course means there are major newer titles that I have never gotten around to and are somehow still on my watchlist. So I guess that’s sort of embarrassing? My rationale sometimes is that those truly popular post-1980 movies - because they are on TV so much - make me think: “Oh, they’ll always be on TV so I can wait a bit longer.” Movies that are the beginning of long franchises I haven’t begun are things I avoid for some strange reason. The 1980s are also my least favorite decade of filmmaking. In addition, it should be noted I was a sensitive child. There are many R-rated movies from the 1980s-late 2000s I’ve never seen because I was sheltered and I was easily scared.
For my energetic, vocal followers who are versed in Indian cinema... there are no Indian movies down here. I’m not embarrassed over my lack of knowledge in Indian cinema because the lack of availability and platforms to access in the U.S.
Anyways I’m rambling. Here’s a list of movies I’m sort of embarrassed - I really shouldn’t be, though - to not have seen by this point. I’ve done this sort of list before, but I can’t find the post. So I expect all of you to lose trust in my movie tastes and expertise after reading this! I’ll try to explain what’s preventing me from seeing some of these, too. Without further ado (in chronological order and most embarrassing bolded... so I guess the juiciest stuff that most of my followers will be aghast at will be at the bottom):
Little Caesar (1931)... “Is this the end of Rico?” I wouldn’t know! This iconic gangster movie’s been on my watchlist forever.
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)... The Weissmuller Tarzan is on TCM so often. Because I know it’s a long-running series makes me less-hesitant to get into it.
Screwball comedies including: Libeled Lady (1936), My Man Godfrey (1936), The Philadelphia Story (1940; oh my god it’s always on TCM too)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
Sansho the Bailiff (1954, Japan)... so. much. praise.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)... I mean, knowing the premise, I’m preparing for it to be really meh despite Stanley Donen directing (if you say so @halfwaythruthedark)
Oklahoma! (1955)... not really familiar with this R&H musical in the first place
Two Federico Fellini films in particular: La Dolce Vita (1960, Italy) and 8½ (1963, Italy)... I’ve seen plenty of his stuff but these are glaring holes
It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
Andrei Rublev (1966, Soviet Union)
The Omen (1976)
Animal House (1978)... okay okay Little Red Reading Hood (you know who you are) get ready to be horrified even more in a few moments
Caddyshack (1980)
The Shining (1980)... I’ve seen bits and parts but otherwise I’ve refused to watch it because I don’t want it being chopped up by commercials
The Thing (1982)... because I really like the original and I’m meh on John Carpenter
Flashdance (1983)... because if there’s anything that can make me roll my eyes and sort of enjoy at the same time... it’s ‘80s power ballads. Like Seven Brides, I’m expecting this to suck hard.
Footloose (1984)... ffs
GhostBusters (1984)... never been a Bill Murray fan and it’s ALWAYS on television (I’m procrastinating, remember)
The NeverEnding Story (1984)... too many friends have grown up with it and I’ve never gotten around to it
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
The Black Cauldron (1985)... here only because I wanna stick it to my Disney-loving friends
Blue Velvet (1986)... not a fan of David Lynch... so am I missing out on something?
Top Gun (1986)... great soundtrack but... do I have to? :|
Dirty Dancing (1987)... *grumbles about ‘80s power ballads again*
Full Metal Jacket (1987)... seen in parts. I’m Viet-American and I hate Vietnam War movies. And I do not like the parts that I have seen.
Die Hard (1988)... the recent movement proclaiming this as the best Christmas movie ever is pissing the hell off of me. I don’t care if this might be the action movie ever... that kind of fanboyish behavior is off-putting.
Ghost (1990)... because all of the folks a generation above me in the family have seen it. Whoopi is always a plus, but I don’t care for Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore?
Free Willy (1993)
Groundhog Day (1993)... see GhostBusters
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)... I’ve seen more than half of it but never all the way through
Chungking Express (1994, Hong Kong)
Dumb and Dumber (1994)... I don’t like Jim Carrey. It’s something that will come up later in this list.
Braveheart (1995)... referenced so often but Mel Gibson? *sigh*
Casper (1995)
Ghost in the Shell (1995, Japan)... a lot of anime-centric fans have badgered me with this one over the years
Jumanji (1995)... it scared the heck out of me when I was younger and I never completed it
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)... haven’t seen a single Austin Powers movie all the way through. Something tells me it may not be worth it.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)... I actually only saw the first movie in late 2013. Too frightened of dinosaurs when I was younger. And a lot of people I know have seen the sequel. 
The Big Lebowski (1998)... this is a biggie. I know it’s Coen Brothers. I know it’s supposed to be really funny, but it’s really hard for me to like a raunchy comedy... is it witty and intelligent? Maybe a good message?
The Truman Show (1998)... people have tried to describe this to me but it never makes any sense each time they try. I dislike Jim Carrey and think his brand of humor is on the cruel, hyperactive side.
Fight Club (1999)... because fuck David Fincher (those are three words that could get me in serious trouble with fanboys) and all the toxic masculinity in his movies not nearly as well-critiqued as people think
The Green Mile (1999)... it was big with dad and my uncles back in the day... the 3+ hour runtime for a movie that isn’t an epic is keeping me away
The Sixth Sense (1999)... Remember I was a sheltered, easily-scareable kid!
X-Men (2000)... I’ve never seen the one that started it all. Superhero media has never been something I’ve sought too much. Even as a young kid.
Amélie (2001, France)... it’s just not been available on any platform that I have access to and I prefer to see non-English language movies legally if I can (supehero movies though? fuck it I’ll theater hop; Marvel doesn’t need more money)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)... a few of my friends love it. I’m skeptical of Baz Luhrmann movies always.
City of God (2002, Brazil)... see explanation for Amélie
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)... chalk it up to Jim Carrey and me being sheltered
Rent (2005)... lots of girls in middle school and high school liked this movie. Its popularity drew me away from it.
Before you doth protest too much, remember that this blog is concentrated on pre-1980 stuff and I limit my post-1980 movie consumption so that I’m well-rounded chronologically and can understand film history better. I’ve seen plenty of obscure stuff that should find a larger audience, regardless of how old that movie is, and I promote those movies a lot. And considering Roger Ebert passed away having never seen The Sound of Music (1965) and I’m only in my mid-20s? I’m not doing too bad.
3 notes · View notes
thatbanjobusiness · 4 years ago
Link
One of my favorite moments in life...... was finding out a banjo magazine did an in-depth, almost-played-straight interview of Kermit the Frog. There’s jokes in here particular to banjo pickers, and a number more jokes that are typical Muppet tongue-in-cheek.
Like seriously, they start the article by comparing Kermit the Frog with EARL SCRUGGS.
Take away his meteoric rise to superstardom in the movies and we could be hailing Froggy Mountain Banjo as a barometer of banjo bliss right beside Earl’s magnum opus. Academy Award nominations... Grammy nominations... TV stardom... blockbuster movies... a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (four years before that other Hollywood banjo guy... what’s his name...)... whew... not bad for a little green banjo picker from Mississippi.
FROGGY Mountain Banjo is a great pun, referencing Earl Scruggs’ 1961 album Foggy Mountain Banjo, which is the ultimate staple solo banjo album for pickers. I also had to look up Kermit the Frog’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star... Kermit got a star on November 14, 2002. Earl Scruggs also has a star, which he got on February 13, 2003, so yeah, Kermit beat him. Admittedly I’m not sure who “the other Hollywood guy” is they’re mentioning; I was looking up famous names, and found that Roy Clark got his ceremony February 12, 1975, so it can’t be him. So I don’t know. I looked through the people who got their stars in 2006 and 2007 and so and there wasn’t a name that caught my eye. I only skimmed it so maybe I missed something. Anyway.
Then the article goes into famous banjo pickers like Tony Trischka supposedly giving praise to Kermit’s banjo abilities. Which gave me a huge laugh. Especially when they’re saying things like, “in many ways, Kermit has been as important in the resurging interest in the banjo as Pete Seeger was.” Come to think of it... they’re probably........ not wrong.
Ira Gitlin also remarked on how little Kermit’s hands move. “That kind of economy of motion can only be the fruit of many hours of practice. Yet he chose not to indulge in empty showboating and virtuosic display, but in playing simple music that touched people’s hearts. That’s the sign of a true artist; we could all learn a lesson from this modest amphibian!”
Like holy cow this article went all out pretending Kermit’s a real performer.
BNL: I’ve seen you use a flatpick, but on some songs you play Scruggs-style.
KF: I love Scruggs-style, but I think it’s good to be able to use a flatpick too. Unfortunately, I sometimes have trouble using a flatpick: Animal keeps mistaking them for chips and eating them.
Elsewhere:
KF: I’m self-taught. No one in the swamp had ever seen a banjo before. I just had to figure it out as I went along. Lucky for me, one of our neighbors had an old Flatt & Scruggs album, so I had some guidance from that. (Though I admit my family got very tired of me practicing Foggy Mountain Breakdown.)
And as I said...... there’s some spot-on Muppet humor....
KF: It helps to be able to get that full loud sound, but the real reason I chose the banjo was because a banjo floated into the swamp one day and I decided to give it a try. (I’m lucky, too. The following week, an accordion floated into the swamp.) Somewhere out there is a music store that floods regularly.
BNL: What was the first song you learned to play on the banjo? For most people it is Cripple Creek... but you’re from Deer Creek...
KF: Actually, it’s an amphibian variation on Cripple Creek called Cripple Croak. Same basic tune, but with more of a hip-hop beat.
(I can attest... the first song I was given in lessons was Cripple Creek. It is the standard beginner’s first song.)
And given as banjo players suffer through banjo jokes, I’m always trying to strengthen my arsenal by memorizing all the banjo jokes I can. See, I can take control of the situation if I am the one to make the jokes instead of being the victim of the jokes. And they had some new funny ones I hadn’t heard before:
BNL: Do you have a favorite banjo joke?
KF: Playing the banjo is a lot like being a blindfolded javelin thrower: you don’t have to be very good to get people’s attention.
BNL: Do the other Muppets know a lot of banjo jokes?
KF: Fozzie has a lot of banjo jokes. Actually Fozzie has jokes about almost everything. I know his personal favorite is: “You can tune a banjo, but how do you tuna fish?... By adjusting it’s scales”... To which I add, as Fozzie would: “Wocka! Wocka!”
BNL: You’re from the Delta, home of the blues. A lot of people feel the blues started on banjo. Do you play the blues?
KF: I can play blues, but I mostly play greens.
So yeah like. The first time I saw this article, it made my life.
0 notes