#twas my favorite part(s) of the movie

[mizutdm]

why does he only have braces during sleepover episodes. he should get to have braces all the time. as a treat

- link

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Christmas Reruns 2023 Day 17: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Merry Christmas if you celebrate it and happy holidays if you don’t!  One of the things I love about Christmas is watching reruns of all the old classic Christmas movies–Christmas is a big time for nostalgia.  A few years ago, I decided to incorporate that tradition into my fandom life and post my CS holiday reruns.  So here you go!  Enough holiday (mostly) fluff to get you to New Year’s Day. (With a new story posting on Christmas Day.)

Rating: G

Word Count: 5090

Other chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Notes: This story was written for 2019’s CSSS. (Is it just me, or does 2019 feel like it was about 85 years ago?) It should hopefully be obvious from the story itself, but this is a canon divergence from 3x20.  It’s been a minute, so a quick reminder of what was going on in our favorites’ lives at this point in the story: Zelena cursed Hook’s lips so that the next time he kissed Emma, she’d lose her magic.  She threatened to kill Emma’s family, starting with Henry, if Hook told Emma about the curse.  Hook then decided to send Henry to New York where he’d (hopefully) be safe, but before that could happen, Zelena’s monkeys attacked.  With the help of Emma and the Charmings, Hook was able to defeat the monkeys, but not before Zelena showed up, told everyone about the curse and promised to kill Henry.  Emma and the Charmings are furious at Hook for keeping the curse secret.  This story takes place in the following episode just after Hook and Emma head to the farmhouse to confront Zelena.  Divergences for this story: 1. Snow hasn’t yet gone into labor. 2. Zelena and Rumple aren’t waiting for CS at the farmhouse.  3. It’s Christmas Eve. 4. Blizzard.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

Emma stomped into the farmhouse, ripping off her thoroughly snow-covered beanie and scarf and tossing them to the floor.  Of course she was trapped in the freaking Wicked Witch of the West’s creepy farmhouse–with Hook–on Christmas Eve–because of course she was!  That’s the way her life worked anymore.  Why’d she ever let Hook talk her into taking that memory potion in New York?  Her life was good there.  No monsters.  No over-the-top fairy tale villains.  No magic.  Just her and her son living their lives and being a normal family.

Granted, none of it had been real, she’d almost gotten engaged to a flying monkey and a part of her, even during the best moments in New York, felt like there was something missing, but that was beside the point!  She and Henry had been happy.  Was it really such a terrible thing to want to be happy?

Why the hell did Hook have to show up and destroy it all?

“We’re in luck, love,” the man himself called out cheerfully as he stepped inside and then, with some difficulty, closed the door against the bitter, howling wind.  “Zelena may be wicked, but at least she’s practical.  She left a nice, neat pile of firewood on the far side of the house.  Perhaps being stuck in a blizzard is’t the ideal way to spend Christmas Eve, but at least we’ll be quite comfortable.”

She rounded on him, wanting nothing more to wipe the smile from his face with a swift right hook.  “Not ideal?  Not ideal?!  Hook, my son, my parents, my baby brother or sister and the whole town are in danger from a crazy witch who wants to go back in time and wipe out my entire family line.  I think we’re a long way past not ideal.”

The smile slid from Hook’s face.  “It was not my intention to be flippant, Swan, but we must deal with the situation at hand.  You will be of no use to your lad or the rest of the town if you freeze to death, and at least we have the means to prevent that.”

“But Henry–”

“Will be fine,” Hook reassured, striding across the room until he could place reassuring hand and hook on her shoulders.  “He’s with Regina, and even at the height of her villainy, she loved Henry.  Protecting him will be her number one priority.”

Loathe as she was to admit it, Hook was right.  After the whole debacle yesterday–the storybook bringing back Henry’s memories, Zelena showing up and exposing Hook’s whole kiss curse situation, Zelena promising to kill Henry, Henry and Regina breaking the curse with True Love’s Kiss, the revelation of how the curse was cast in the first place (she still couldn’t believe her mother had actually crushed her father’s heart to cast it!)–Regina’s first act was to place a number of complex protection spells over Henry and every location he frequented.  Henry would likely suffer no lasting damage.

But Emma hadn’t wanted to take any chances. With Regina protecting Henry, and with Emma’s brother or sister still showing no signs of coming out to greet the world, Emma decided she was done playing defense. It was high time she take the fight to the Wicked Witch.  It was time to end this.  So armed with her magic and her faithful pirate, Emma had stormed out in the direction of Zelena’s farmhouse.

Stormed, it seemed, being the key word.  It began snowing just before she and Hook left her parent’s loft, and by the time they reached Zelena’s place, they were dealing with a full on blizzard.

Really, being home was the least Zelena could do given the fact Emma was giving up Christmas Eve with her son to kick her ass, but no.  She couldn’t even give them that.  There was no telling where Zelena and her Dark One puppet had gone, but it was clear they were not at home.

Emma hoped the witch froze solid in the blizzard.

Killian busied himself arranging the logs in the fireplace and then tried–without success–to start a blaze with the lighter he’d found lying upon the mantle.  Emma watched him struggle for a while, before growling, pushing him aside and calling on her reserves of anger and frustration to produce a fireball that soon had the fire blazing merrily.

“Bloody brilliant, love,” Killian murmured in obvious awe.  Despite herself, Emma felt her confidence soar in the wake of Hook’s constant, never-wavering faith in her.  

“You know Swan, it could be worse,” Hook said with a wicked grin.  “At least you’re trapped with a dashing rapscallion like meself.  There are any number of ways we could find to amuse ourselves that I can promise would be very enjoyable for both of us.”

When he waggled his eyebrows in that ridiculously over-the-top way of his, she lost it.

“Are you freaking kidding me right now?” she nearly shouted.  “We’re stuck here, my family’s in danger, a psycho witch and her equally psycho Dark One sidekick are still on the loose and all you can do is flirt!”

Growling, she turned to the fireplace, and tossed another fireball at the kindled wood for good measure, furious beyond belief at Hook, at Zelena, at the situation and, if she was being totally honest, at herself for the secret thrill that went through her every time he made outrageous or suggestive comments to her while giving her that look.  There was nothing between them!  There never would be.  She wouldn’t let it.

The farmhouse was silent for several moments, save for the crackling of the fire, and Emma eventually turned back toward Hook.  The look he gave her was a little too knowing, a little too understanding.  When he’d come for her in New York, he’d told her he knew her better than she knew herself, and though she hated to admit it, it was true.  It was a little unnerving how very well he understood her.

“Swan, what is this really about?” he asked simply.  

Emma growled.  “What do you mean, ‘What’s this really about?’  Did you forget about a certain green bitch with an insane grudge against her sister?”

“Of course not,” Hook said patiently, “but despite being snowed in, we are in no worse straights than we were yesterday.  You heard it yourself from your mother when you used your talking phone to let her know of our whereabouts.  Your family is fine, and Zelena hasn’t been seen since our confrontation in the boat house.  I reiterate.  What’s this really about?”

Emma glared at him for a long moment, before she finally sighed and dropped rather dramatically onto one of the ornate armchairs before the fire.  “It’s just…it’s just Christmas is Henry’s favorite time of year.  That kid loves Christmas.  Every year back in New York–and then in Boston before that–Christmas Eve was special.  We made a tradition out of it.  We’d sit before the tree drinking cocoa, reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’, singing our favorite carols.  Sometimes he even managed to talk me into letting him open a present or two.  It was the one night I never, under any circumstances, accepted a case or worked on one I had ongoing.  Christmas was for us.”

Emma felt the tears threatening at the back of her throat and she swallowed roughly, doing everything she knew to keep them from spilling over.  “And now, here I am on Christmas Eve, separated from him.  The kid’s going to be crushed.”

“Love,” Hook said gently, “the lad has a kind heart and a good head on his shoulders.  He understands the circumstances are beyond your control.  He knows how much spending this night together means to you, and he knows you’d never willingly miss spending it with him.”

“You know what the worst part of it is?” Emma asked bitterly. “The worst part of it is, as you’ve pointed out to me multiple times, none of it was real.  It didn’t happen.  It was nothing but the pleasant fake memories Regina gave us.”

Killian took ahold of her hand, and in a move that shocked even her, she let him.  “This past year, the lost year, was real.  Trust me love, Henry understands why you weren’t with him during the first ten years of his life.  He knows you didn’t abandon him.  He knows you did what you had to do to give him a good life.”

“Maybe,” Emma said, a lone tear breaking free and flowing down her cheek despite herself.

“Definitely,” Killian said with conviction

The lights flickered once and then went off completely, pitching the farmhouse into darkness, save for the flickering light from the fire.  Despite it being merely late-afternoon, the storm outside seems to have eclipsed the sun entirely.

“Fabulous,” Emma said with a groan.  “As if being stuck in a witch’s farmhouse on Christmas Eve wasn’t bad enough, now we’ll probably freeze to death without the heat.”

“I rather doubt that, Darling” Hook said with a flirtatious quirk of his eyebrow.  He slid his tongue along his bottom lip in a way that had Emma’s pulse racing, before invading her space and whispering the last bit.  “I’m sure we can come up with a way to keep warm.”

Emma leaned into him, actually leaned into him for a moment, before shaking herself out of it and taking a deliberate step back.

“Stop, Hook, just…stop!” she said through gritted teeth.  “This whole thing is your fault!  All of it!  We were happy  in New York, and you had to barge in and destroy it for us.  Then we get back here, and you manage to get yourself cursed–joke’s on Zelena by the way.  If she was smart, she’d have chosen to enchant the lips of someone I’d actually kiss.  Then you decide to take matters into your own hand instead of telling me about the threat to my son.  Hell, this is probably part of the plan too, isn’t it?  Get me alone, stranded in a blizzard and then try to seduce me.”

She’d hurt him.  She saw that clearly in his face for the space of two heartbeats, and then that hurt coalesced into anger.  “Despite what you may think of me, Swan, I’ve not yet developed an ability to control the weather.

Without another word, he stomped to the door.

“Where are you going?” she yelled after him, fire still flashing in her eyes.

“To gather more firewood,” he answered, voice hard.

And with a fierce slam of the door, he was gone.

For long moments after the door slammed after Hook, Emma continued to seethe.  Why was her life the way it was?  Why couldn’t she just be normal?  Why couldn’t she go back to her pleasant, comfortable life in New York with her son?  When she told people she was going back after this whole Zelena situation was over, why did they all look at her like she had just stated her plan to kick puppies?  This was her life, and she could live it as she pleased!  It was her prerogative to do what she felt was necessary to protect her son.  Where did Hook get off trying to convince her to stay with her family–and with him?

It’s not like she’d never see her loved ones again.  They’d still visit, and her family was welcome to come visit them.  But she was done.  She was done being the “savior”, done going after psychotic fairy tale villains, done being everything to everybody.  And most especially, she was done dealing with a pirate who made her heart race in a way she couldn’t control.

She’d done the whole “falling in love” thing before, and she had no intention of doing it again.

But as the minutes continued ticking past, Emma’s anger began to fade, and concern took its place.  Hook had been gone a long time; way too long to just gather up firewood.  What if….what if she’d finally driven him away?  What if he’d actually left her this time?  

A sick feeling took up residence in the pit of her stomach at the thought.  She wanted to tell herself she didn’t care; that she was glad he had finally stopped pestering her, but she couldn’t lie to herself anymore.  Hook had become much more than an ally to the heroes’ cause.  He’d become a friend, quite possibly the best friend she had.  He was her confidant, her support.  His endless faith in her gave her confidence when she no longer had faith in herself.  And the fact that he was so drop dead gorgeous and romantic that her insides turned to mush whenever he looked at her couldn’t be denied, at least not in the deep recesses of her heart where the truth resided.

Truth was, he’d been everything she needed during this whole stupid Wicked Witch business.  Despite what she might have said to him, she knew he pushed her not to further his own romantic interests but because he genuinely wanted her to find happiness.

And what did she do?  Time and time again, she pushed him away.  Time and time again she reforged the wall around her heart, trying to drive him away with cruel, cutting words.

Had she actually succeeded this time?  Was he ready to give up on her like everyone else had?  Gods, how was she going to handle it if he had?  Through everything, he’d been a constant in her life.  Why did she always do this?  Why did she always push away the people in her life that meant the most?

A small kernel of hope still lived inside her, reassuring her that he’d never abandoned her before, he wasn’t going to start now.

But that thought brought with it an entirely new concern.  What if something happened to him?  What if he was lost, freezing to death in the blizzard?  What if Zelena was lying in wait for him?  What if…?

As the minutes continued to pass, increasingly more fantastical worries about what may have happened to him took up residence in her mind until Emma feared she’d go crazy with the worry.  She was just on the point of going after him, when suddenly the door swung open, the furious blizzard winds blowing in both Killian and a fair amount of snow.

Without a word, Killian deposited an arm full of firewood beside the fire and then stepped outside to grab one more thing, before firmly closing the door again and shaking his head and shoulders like a wet dog.

The relief that suddenly flooded Emma was so strong that she couldn’t help herself.  She threw herself in his arms and buried her nose in his icy cold neck.  He was here; he’d come back to her.  He was okay.

For a moment, Killian stood still, but then his hooked arm came around her, and he hugged her to himself as tightly as she clung to him.  “Swan?” he asked.

Emma stepped back, wiping at her suddenly damp eyes.  “I’m sorry, okay?” she said, voice wavering with the emotion still at the back of his throat.  “I thought you’d left, and I get it.  The stuff I said to you–it was over the line and I’m sorry.”

Killian took a quick step back, unmistakable hurt back in his eyes.  “You thought I’d left?  Emma, haven’t I proven to you by now that I’d never leave you?”

“I know!” she was quick to reassure.  “It was stupid okay?  I just–I don’t know; I got scared, and when I get scared–” she shrugged.  “Wounds from the past tend to linger.”

His face softened.  “Well they needn’t with me,” he said gently. “I’m not so easily driven away.”

She smiled at him, a small, tenuous thing, but then the item in his hand caught her eye.  “Is that a pine tree?”

Killian smiled again.  “It’s not much, I’m afraid, but it was the best I could find in this tempest.”

“You got us a Christmas tree?”

Killian suddenly turned away, scratching at the back of his ear.  “I thought about what you said, Swan, about the traditions you are missing with your lad today.  I know it’s not the same as spending the day with him, but I thought–” he shrugged self-consciously, “I thought perhaps it would make your holiday marginally less bleak if we recreated some of your favorite traditions ourselves.”

For the second time that evening, Emma threw her arms around Killian.  “That’s one of the most thoughtful things anyone’s ever done for me.”

“I aim to please.”

******

Two hours later, Emma and Killian sat with each other before the fire, steaming mugs of instant hot cocoa in hand.  Emma smiled, looking over at the tree that they’d managed to decorate with bits and baubles they’d found scavenging through Zelena’s house (and leaving quite a mess in their wake, which felt rather satisfying).  Phase one of “Operation Christmas Cheer”, as Emma decided to call it in honor of Henry, complete, they’d turned their pillaging to the kitchen, managing to put together a haphazard meal of bread and cheese that Killian had toasted over the fire.  It was Emma who found the box of instant cocoa mix in Zelena’s cupboard, and, resourceful as always, Killian had heated it over the fire in a small saucepan.

Meal prepared, they’d raided every bedroom and closet, bringing all the pillows, blankets, comforters and afghans they could find and arranging a nest for themselves before the fire.

“I’m afraid we’ll need to bed down for the night here before the fire, Swan,” Killian said, once again scratching at his neck.  “With the storm still raging fiercely, we’d freeze in any of the bedrooms.”

Truth be told, Emma thought, as she bit into her grilled cheese sandwich, though she missed being with Henry, this Christmas Eve wasn’t turning out half bad.  

They ate in companionable silence, and when the last crumb had been consumed, Killian turned toward her with a smile.  “Are you ready for your story, Swan?”

“Story?” She asked.

“Of course,” he answered.  “That was an integral part of your Christmas Eve tradition, was it not?  Reading with your lad?”

Emma smiled.  “It was, but don’t worry about it.  It would be too much to ask that the Wicked Witch would keep any Christmas books around.”

“No matter,” Killian said, settling more comfortably onto his side of their blanket nest.  “I’ve no need of a book.”

“Oh really?” she grinned.  “How are you going to manage to read me a story with no book?”

“I’ve all I need up here, love,” he said, pointing to his head.  “Sit back and prepare to be transported into the holiday spirit.  ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house…”

Emma’s jaw dropped.  “Wait, you know ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’?”

Killian gave her a mock offended look.  “I do read, Swan.  Quite extensively in fact.”

Emma smiled, laying upon her pillow and pulling a comforter up to cover her.  “Well, by all means, then, continue.”

As Killian’s voice droned on, reciting the story of a man awakened by the arrival of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve night, Emma felt her eyelids become heavy, and before she knew it, she was drifting off to sleep, not visions of sugar plums, but visions of a thoughtful pirate that she just might be starting to fall for, dancing in her head.

************

Christmas morning dawned clear and bright, the blizzard finally at an end.  Emma woke to bright sunshine streaming through the front window.  For a moment, she was disoriented, wondering where she was and how she’d gotten there, but then the previous day rushed back to her.  Going after Zelena, the blizzard, being trapped in the farmhouse, taking out her frustration on Hook, being afraid Hook had left her, being overjoyed when he returned, his thoughtful Christmassy gestures.

Still thinking of Hook, Emma gradually became aware that she was quite warm and comfortable–and that was all thanks to the man who was currently spooning her, his strong arms holding her close.  They’d gone to sleep with a respectable amount of space between them; how did they wind up in each other’s arms?

For a moment, Emma wanted to run.  This was too close, too intimate, too–much.

But the more Emma thought about it, the more she realized she didn’t want to run, not anymore, not from this man.  He’d been proving himself to her over and over again since Neverland.  In the past few weeks alone, he’d been her rock as all this Wicked Witch crap had been going down.  He’d found her in New York–somehow; she was still fuzzy on the details–restored her memories, brought her back to her family, contributed an excellent strategic mind to planning sessions, been one of the best listening ears she’d ever had.

And then the harder to swallow stuff.  In these early morning moments, she could admit to herself that though some of the things he said to her were uncomfortable, they were uncomfortable truths.  Walsh’s presence in her life proved that she couldn’t get away from the fairytale crap, not really.  The fact that Henry had his memories back meant she couldn’t take him back to New York, at least not without a hell of a fight–with him, with Regina, with her parents, with everyone. He’d spoken the truth to her about all of it, even at the risk of her turning on him completely.  It was the mark of someone who truly, genuinely cared.

And all the while, she’d treated him like something nasty she’d stepped in.  She’d pushed, and pushed and pushed, but he’d stayed by her side.  He’d been so patient with her, he really ought to qualify for sainthood.

It was Christmas, the time to be with the ones you loved.  The time to tell them what they truly meant to you.  

She turned over in his arms and ran a hand over his stubbly cheek.  Still caught up in sleep, he mumbled “Swan” on a fond sigh, before opening his eyes–and then jumping to his feet faster than any person she’d ever seen.

“Swan!” he said, face flaming.  “My apologies love.  Not that I didn’t enjoy waking up with you in my arms, but I had no intention of taking advantage.”

Emma smiled, rolling her eyes fondly.  “Sit back down, you Victorian drama queen.  You didn’t take advantage.  Somehow we just–ended up like that over night.  Besides; I kind of liked it.  You’re warm.”

Killian did as she asked, sitting cross legged beside her as she sat up to mirror him.  “Just warm, love?  I’ve it on good authority that I’m hot.”

Emma laughed, playfully swatting his arm.  “Do you ever run out of these cheesy lines?”

“Haven’t yet in my three hundred years of existence.”

They laughed together for a moment, but then Emma turned serious, remnants of her musings of the morning still very much in mind.  “Hook, I think we need to talk.”

The smile slid from his face.  “As stated in Neverland, love, I find when a woman says that, I’m rarely in for a pleasant conversation.”

“You might be surprised this time.”

“Aye?” he asked, brow raising in interest. 

“I just–” she started, not sure how to even go about untangling all of the thoughts twisted up in her head.  “I get it; I get why you didn’t tell me about the lips curse thing.  I get that you were trying to protect Henry the best way you were able in an impossible situation.  I’m sorry I jumped down your throat about it.”

“You were concerned for your lad,” Killian said.  “I quite understand being angry at finding someone was keeping something about his welfare from you.”

“It’s not that,” Emma said, “or at least not just that.  Hook, I trust you; I really do.  I know you wouldn’t deliberately hurt Henry.  It’s just–hearing what Zelena threatened and what she did to you, it just brought it home again that I’m not enough.  Even with the whole savior thing, I can’t do a damn thing to help my family.  Zelena knows if she takes my magic, I’m useless.”

Killian straightened, frowning ferociously down at her.  “I cannot abide that kind of talk about the woman I–well, the woman I care for, particularly when it is blatantly false.  Emma, you are enough.  You’re more than enough, and it’s because she knows it that Zelena is going after you.  She said something similar to me.  She told me that she wants me to take away your magic, the thing that makes you special, but she was wrong as well.  Your magic isn’t what makes you special.  There’s not a bit of you that isn’t extraordinary.  Swan your determination, your goodness in the face of a difficult childhood, your strength and courage.  All of it make you who you are.  All of it convinces me without a doubt that even without your magic, you could defeat Zelena.”

Emma felt like a ball of warmth surrounded her, suffused her at his words.  She loved him.  She’d never admitted it to herself before, but nonetheless it was true.  She loved him, and she was done hiding behind her walls.

And she was certainly done letting villains try to determine her love life.

“Killian, can I ask you a question?” she asked.

“Anything, love.”

“Back in New York, when you first came to my apartment.  That was True Love’s Kiss you tried, wasn’t it?”

There was the scratching at his neck again.  “Aye.  I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try.”

“So you…you love me?”

His eyes widened.  “Swan, if you haven’t realized that by now, I don’t know what to tell  you.”

“No I mean, you truly love me, like curse-breaking true love?”

“For my part, aye,” he said, looking directly in her eyes.  “There’s no doubt in my mind, but for True Love to break a curse, it must be reciprocated.  New York proved that it is not, as is your prerogative, of course.”

Emma was silent for a moment, gathering her courage.  Finally she met his eyes.  “True Love’s Kiss also doesn’t work when one party doesn’t remember the other.”

He stared at her incredulously for a long moment. “Are you saying you think we share True Love?” he began, apparently unable to finish the sentence.

Emma shrugged.  “I mean, I don’t know. How could I?  But–I’m willing to test it out.  Are you?”

He swallowed hard.  “Gods know how badly I wish to kiss you, Swan, but are you sure?  Your magic is part of who you are.  I cannot be the reason you lose it.”

“You won’t,” Emma said, scooting forward and invading his space.  “I think this will work, but even if it doesn’t I know that there’s nothing our family can’t accomplish.  With or without my magic, Greeny doesn’t stand a chance.  So what do you say?  Are you willing to take a leap of faith?”

In answer, Killian leaned forward covering her lips with his own.  Emma sighed into the kiss, everything about it felt right.  Come what may, she was not denying herself this pleasure again.

Emma had just tilted her head to deepen the kiss, when suddenly a shockwave burst forth from their joined lips and suffused the entire farmhouse.  She pulled away.  “Hook–was that–?”

His face a mask of awe, Killian answered.  “I think so.  Give it a try, my love.”

Emma concentrated her emotions, directing them toward the place within her where her magic had always been.  Continuing to focus, she waved her hand, and suddenly a fireball shot forth, reigniting the fire that had burnt down to mere embers.

“True Love,” she said in shock.  “It’s true love.”

“Aye that it is,” Killian said, moving toward her once again.  “The question is, what are we going to do about it?”

“Well, for starters, this,” Emma said, surging forward with enough vigor to knock him to the floor.  Emma took his mouth with the kind of wild abandon she’d never even imagined displaying.  He gave back as good as he got, his hand tangling in her hair and his hooked arm molding her to himself.  

Emma’s hand had just moved to unclasp his vest when suddenly the farmhouse door opened and Leroy burst through, walkie talkie in hand.  “Relax your majesties,” he said.  “I found ‘em.  They’re at the farmhouse sucking face like a couple horny teenagers.”

Emma sighed in frustration before getting to her feet and then offering Killian her hand.

“You know, Swan,” Killian said when he was back on his feet.  “I think someone needs to muzzle that dwarf.”

Emma giggled, as the sound of her father’s shocked “WHAT?!” on the other end of the walkie came through.

She shrugged.  “What can I say?  It wouldn’t be Christmas without a little family drama.”

“True enough, love.  Shall we adjourn to your parents’ loft and face the music together?”

“Absolutely,” Emma answered, taking his hand and lacing his fingers with hers.  “Together is how I see us doing a lot of things in the future.”

NEXT CHAPTER->

[hausofmamadas]

Se llama CRACK | Ramón Arellano Félix x Crack homage - Part 1

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Okay, so Tumblr’s 10 image/post limit is the only reason why this is a two parter (-> if you’re interested in pt 2) … that and the fact that Manuel Mansalva is serving so many fucking quality looks, gestures, expressions, mannerisms throughout his entire crack sojourn in S2’s episode, Alea lacta Est. I really couldn’t just narrow it down to 10, so without further ado, cheers to our favorite little frenetic Arellano boi and his journey of self discovery.

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From Narcos: Mexico, Season 2, episode 2 - Alea Iacta Est

So, I basically decided to do this set with Spanish subtitles because I will n e v e r ever get over the way that Món says, “se llama CRACK.” Like how he accents the crack part for JEsus. I could prob even correct the first gif to read “se llama CRÁCK” with the tilde because our boy really emphasizes the fuck outta that “a” 😂

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The final two are where Mansalva’s physical comedy chops really shine. Again, was inspired to make these because of my own personal experiences with erm… not crack but crack adjacent substances again, yes I am okay. and no, I do not do drugs any more, ‘twas in back in my young adult youth times Because Y’ALL, if you’ve ever been around someone on uppers of any variety, then you may have witnessed something resembling the sheer intensity of that goddamn thumbs up. Mansalva’s mannerisms throughout this whole scene are equal parts accurate and hilarious. I particularly find the way that he positions his jaw and mouth after he takes that hit really compelling because it’s a subtle but noticeable shift from how he started the scene. He starts off much more relaxed and like loose and then pretty seamlessly transitions to like rigid tweaker jaw 😂. But at the same time, he’s not playing high over-the-top like I’ve seen in other shows/movies. And I think that’s due in large part to the fact that he looks fucking goofy. People under the influence look absolutely ridiculous if you, as the observer, are not similarly impaired and he really nails the absurdity of that perfectly. It’s the kind of creative choice that’s underrated on the show and it’s also what makes him really a talented actor. The whole thing is simply *muah* chef’s kiss to the max. I literally howled at my TV the first time I watched this because it’s so comically spot on.

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taglist: @tinylittleobsessions @cositapreciosa @carlislecullenisadilf @artemiseamoon @narcos-narcosmx @thesolotomyhan @criatividad-e @narcolini @ashlingnarcos @narcosmx

[headheartbellarke]

EIGHTEEN | Charlie Gillespie

PAIRING(s): Charlie Gillespie x sister’s best friend!fem reader

WARNING(s): mentions of abuse, trauma, fluff

WORDS: 3.9k

SUMMARY: “So kiss me where I lay down

My hands pressed to your cheeks

A long way from the playground

I have loved you since we were 18

Long before we both thought the same thing

To be loved and to be in love

All I can do is say that these arms

Are made for holding you.”

READ ON AO3 

OR READ HERE BELOW

    Charlie smiles, watching the sunlight dance on Y/N’s face, almost like little splashes of golden paint. She hums to whatever song is playing through her earphones, a faint smile teasing the corners of her lips. Her eyes are closed, and Charlie marvels at how peaceful and serene she looks. Her h/c hair surrounds her head like a halo, and he is tempted to reach forward and press a kiss to her temple.

  He doesn’t do that, of course. Instead, he gets up from his couch and joins Y/N on the floor, lying beside her. Her eyelashes flutter at his movement and quaint, kind e/c eyes hold his stare, eyebrows raised in question.

  “I thought you said that you were too mighty for the floor.” She teases, biting her lower lip to hide a smile. Charlie almost melts at that.

  “I never said that. Is everything okay up there?” He points his index finger at her head.

  The young woman of nineteen laughs mockingly. “Why, afraid you’re rubbing off your crazy on me?”

  Charlie rolls his eyes, and shifts closer to her, their arms touching slightly – and even that slight touch makes him feels butterflies in his stomach. It’s not uncommon, of course. Ever since he realized that he is indeed in love with her, anything that she does gives him butterflies. He doesn’t mind, of course – but he hates the fact that he is unable to tell her what effect she has on him. So, he resorts to ignoring or suppressing everything he feels for his little sister’s best friend instead.

  She pulls out an ear pod from her left ear and shoves it into Charlie’s ear. Eastside. She’s had this song on repeat, ever since she came to visit him in Vancouver, where he’s filming for the first season of Julie and The Phantoms.

  “I love this song. Reminds me of my first boyfriend. Remember him?” She says, softly.

  “Aaron. How could I forget? You begged me to cover for you at home so you could hang out with him.” He says, smiling softly at the memory. They were so young, Y/N just fourteen, and him sixteen. He remembers Y/N sitting beside him on the couch while he was watching a movie, all flushed and bothered, eyes continuously flitting to Charlie. He remembers saying, “I know you’re dying to tell me something.”

  She had nodded, looking around the Gillespies’ living room where they were currently seated in, apprehensively. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

  He had jutted out his pinky finger and wrapped it around hers. “Never.”

  “I think I really, really, super-duper like Aaron.”

  “Aaron as in your next-door neighbor?”

  “Yep.”

  Charlie had smirked. “He’s such a dork. I can’t believe that you like him.”

  “Shut up, Char. He’s the sweetest.”

  He chuckled. “His hobby is taking pictures of trees… if that doesn’t scream ‘dork’, then I don’t know what does.”

  She had glared at him while Megan had entered the room, plopping down on the couch beside Charlie. “What’s up?”

  “I’m telling him about Aaron, and he thinks that he’s a dork.”

  Megan shrugged. “What’s wrong with that? He’s really cute. Also, he was asking about you today.”

  “Really?” Y/N’s eyes brightened. Charlie laughed, shaking his head. “You girls are weird. But I approve. He’s a nice kid.”

  “I wasn’t looking for your approval?”

  “Yes, you were.”

  The girls had rolled their eyes at him and he had wrapped his arms around the two.

  Y/N’s voice brings him back to the present. “Simple times.”

  Charlie faces her. “Everyone after him were horrible.”

  She narrows her eyes at the boy beside her. “No, you were just too overprotective.”

  “Nope. They were all horrible.”

  They weren’t. Charlie just hated anyone who showed an interest in Y/N. At first, he thought that it was probably because he had literally watched her grow up. But a couple of months later, when he watched her kiss Levitt from the swim team, he had felt a smoldering rage rise in his stomach, along with his heart clenching. That day, he had realized that maybe there was more to it than watching her grow up. A couple more months later, on his eighteenth birthday, when she had kissed him on his cheek and handed him a present wrapped in shiny, blue paper, he had felt butterflies in his stomach. He also could feel the ghost of her delicate lips against his skin for days after, like the remnants of a fire brushing against his cheek.

  When he unwrapped the present, he found a vintage, hardbound copy of his favorite book, Les Misérables, along with a note, saying: ‘I might’ve read your journal. Only the part about how much you loved hardcovers and the part about how much you hated the fact that no bookstores nearby sold it. Well, I also might’ve read the part about how frustrated you are with microwave timers. I feel you, dude. But, yeah, remember when I said that I was going to visit my sister in Montoc? I lied, LOL. I went to a vintage bookstore in Fredericton. I’m sorry for lying, but ‘twas for a good reason, huh? Hope you like this. Also, you’re my second favorite person, after Meg. Happy 18th, Charles. Love, Y/N.’

  That moment he had realized that he was completely, utterly, truly, madly, deeply in love with his little sister’s best friend.

  It’s been about three years since that, and he still hasn’t told her how he feels.

  Now, Y/N looks at him, and rolls her eyes. “Sheesh.”

  She props herself on her elbow. “When are we going out today?”

  “Jeremy said that he made a reservation at 6. So, we’ll leave half an hour earlier.”

  “Okay. Is Owen going with us?”

  “Yeah. I don’t trust him to drive in Canada.”

  She grins. “He’s cool.”

  “Maybe sometimes.”

  “Savannah and Madi are the coolest, though.”

  “Definitely, yeah.”

  “You never told me that you had a cute roomie, though.”

  “Yeah – wait what?”

  Y/N flashes him a teasing smile and pushes herself upward with the palm of her hands. She brushes off her yoga pants and extends an arm to Charlie who is currently panicking inside.

  “Do you like Owen?”

  “What if I do?”

  Charlie must have looked as horrified as he had felt because she laughs and says, “I’m just messing with you.”

  “Thank god.”

***

  “Finally!” Y/N yells, kicking off her black, leather heels, which land near Charlie’s feet. He laughs, kicking them to the side.

  “You’re so dramatic.”

  “I dare you to wear heels like that for a day. See how you feel.”

  Owen pipes from behind them, closing the door to their apartment. “Oh, I did. My friend Dani made me wear them for a video. It was the most painful day of my life.”

  “See!” Y/N high fives his roommate as Charlie scrunches up his face. “How’d she find heels in your size, dude?”

  He laughs, and extends an arm toward the other two, who hand him their coats, muttering ‘thank you’ individually. He walks inside, yelling, “I’m fucking tired. Going to sleep.”

  “Don’t forget to check the stove!” Charlie yells back, hearing his roommate affirm his request.

  It’s just the two of them standing in the foyer now, and Charlie can’t stop staring at her. She’s wearing this beautiful red dress that compliments her skin perfectly, clinging to her body in all the right places – he had himself gifted her this dress on her nineteenth birthday. (Not really. His mother had picked the dress.)

  She hasn’t noticed him staring, though.

  “Ugh, I can’t wait to get out of this dress.” She walks inside.

  Charlie pauses and purses his lips, trying to stop himself from picturing him doing it. He breathes out raggedly and follows her inside – trying (and failing) to shove that mental picture away.

  Reaching the living room, he falls back onto the couch, which has been his bed for the past few days that Y/N has been here. She had protested, of course. But she already has so much trouble sleeping – she’s had it ever since she was a child.

  Y/N hadn’t had the best childhood. Charlie faintly remembers his mom pulling him and his sister into the kitchen one day when Y/N left their house after spending the whole day there.

  “Mom? What happened to Y/N?” Megan had asked, childlike innocence dripping off her tone.

  Charlie had nodded, saying, “How’d she fall down the stairs? That bruise looked nasty.”

  Their mother had sighed, and Charlie still remembers the pain in her eyes. “Honey. I want you to listen carefully, okay? And not tell anyone. You two think you can do that?”

  They nodded enthusiastically.

  “There are good people in this world – like Y/N. But there are also bad people, people who hurt the good people. And sometimes, sometimes, your parents can also be bad people.”

  “That’s not true!” Megan had protested, their mother smiling.

  “Maybe not for you. I hope so. But Y/N’s parents – they aren’t the best people, okay? They…uh… I’m not going to excuse their actions. They, uh, hurt Y/N.”

  “So, they pushed her down the stairs?” Charlie asked, his eyes widened. He could not understand how the people that loved you the most could do that to you, especially to someone like Y/N. He’s known her his entire life, ever since the Y/L/Ns moved next door when he was still in diapers.

  “I don’t know. Something happened. She was too shaken up to talk about it.”

  “But – but – she’s the best person ever! Why would her mom and dad do that to her?” Megan had protested, eyes welling with tears at the thought of her best friend getting hurt.

  “I don’t know, honey. I wish I did, I really do.” Their mother paused for a long moment. “I want you two to always be nice to her, alright? No matter what happens. Because, right now, she feels alone. I can see it in her eyes – she’s scared, confused, lonely. I know you two love her so much, and I want you guys to make sure that she knows it, okay? Make sure that she never feels lonely, all right? Make sure that she’s always safe and comfortable, as long as she’s with us, you.”

  They had nodded, their hearts welling up with love for their friend.

  After their mother hugged the two of them, Charlie’s twelve-year-old sister had run off to the other room, to call her best friend and tell her just how much she loves her.

  Charlie had lingered in the kitchen, too sad over what he’d just been told.

  “Maman?”

  “Yes, honey?”

  “Can’t we just keep her for ourselves?”

  “If we could, we would. I would like nothing more. But that’s absolutely not legal, mon chéri.”

  “Oh. That’s unfair.”

  His mother had flashed him a sad smile. He had taken both of his hands in his, and said sincerely, “I promise you, maman. I’m always gonna protect her. No matter what.”

  His mother had pressed a kiss into his tousled hair and whispered, “I expect nothing less.”

  It’s been more than seven years since, but Charlie still does everything in his power to make sure that she is always safe and happy.

  “Hey, Char?” Her voice brings him back from his childhood.

  “Yeah?”

  “That couch doesn’t look comfortable.” She shrugged one shoulder.

  “It is! I promise you.” He lied. It definitely wasn’t comfortable. The blinding pain in his neck is proof of that.

  “Don’t lie to me. Come on, sleep in your bed.”

  He shook his head.

  “You’re not gonna sleep on the couch, Y/N. Seriously. You’re right, it’s too uncomfortable.”

  “I wasn’t gonna. We’ll sleep together. That came out wrong. I mean, we can both sleep in the same bed, we’re both adults.”

  Charlie wanted to protest, but the hopeless romantic in him drowned all objections.

  “We’ll put pillows between us, okay? And it’s not like we haven’t slept in the same bed before. Remember my seventeenth? We were so drunk that we thought that the bed was a magnet, and we were screws.” She continued, looking away.

  Charlie smiled up at her, remembering the feeling he had the next morning when he had woken up to find Y/N curled up into him, her head tucked into the crook of his neck. “All right. If it’s okay with you.”

  She nods, walking into his bedroom, with Charlie following close behind. Both them wordlessly change and freshen up in the bathroom, and Charlie falls face first in his bed.

  “Oh. My. God.”

  Y/N laughs, sitting at the corner of his bed. “Knew it.”

  Charlie grins at her, feeling absolutely euphoric, especially with the buzz from all the drinks he’s had tonight still lingering in his head like a tattoo kiss. She slides under the covers, burrowing her face into the soft pillows. “I can’t function anymore. Bye.”

  He laughs softly, squeezing her shoulder, to which she softly smiles. He slides under the cover, resting on his side to face her, or rather a mess of h/c hair and soft, rhythmic breaths. He closes his eyes, switching off the light, but he knows that he will not be getting much sleep tonight, especially with the fuzzy citrus scent of her perfume everywhere and the heat from her body consuming him.

***

  It’s 1:20 AM and Charlie can’t sleep. Turns out that being in the same bed with the girl he’s been in love with since he was eighteen is a very, very bad idea. He’s put as much space between them as possible, yet he still feels vigilant and hot. His mind is betraying him: all he can think about is how beautiful she looks when the moonlight streaming through his window is casting shadows on her face, or how she’s sometimes saying things (really, really weird things, though – Charlie doesn’t understand anything), how much she looks like a little cat while she’s snuggled into the covers, or how she flails her arms while she’s asleep.

  He considers crashing in Owen’s room for the night. But as soon as Y/N starts moving around, still sleeping, he holds that thought and watches her instead.

  He can see her getting agitated, as she tosses and turns. She continues murmuring something, but it’s still all jumbled, and it hits Charlie.

  He props himself on his elbow and leans close to her face. “Y/N. Hey. Come back to me. Y/N. Honey. You’re safe. You’re safe.”

  She gasps, as consciousness floods in her system. She looks confused for a second, and Charlie sits up, right beside her. “Listen to me. You’re safe. I’m here. It’s okay. You’re okay. Everything is okay.”

  She exhales, eyes closing for a second.

  “Are you okay?” Charlie asks when her breathing has turned cadenced.

  Her eyes widen and lips part. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You don’t ever need to apologize for that. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. I just – ever since I left home, I’ve been getting these nightmares.” She says, softly. Charlie lays next to her, turning to face her, while she mirrors his actions.

  “What do you see?” He asks.

  “Mostly my childhood. You know, my dad pushing me down the stairs. Or my mother telling me that I’m a horrible person and no one will ever love me, and she should have aborted me. Or my dad breaking the mirror the one time I got a B in math. Or my parents fighting. Or – you know, just a montage of my parents’ greatest hits.”

  She breathes out shakily.

  “Getting away didn’t stop the nightmares, huh?” He asks, resting a hand on her warm cheek.

  She scoots closer. “No. They still text me sometimes, mostly to remind me that I’m a terrible person and that I’m gonna go to hell for walking out on them and not going to Harvard.”

  “Y/N, don’t you dare –”

  “No. I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Walking out was the best decision that I’ve ever made.”

  He smiles softly at her.

  “You and Megan… god, you two saved my life. I would never have had the courage to get this far if it wasn’t for you guys.”

  “No, honey. It was all you. You’re the strongest person we know.”

  “Shush. Let me compliment you in peace. You guys are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you know.”

  She smiles, reaching forward to tangle run her hands through Charlie’s hair. They were dangerously close now: Charlie could see the curve of her nose, the lingering red lipstick color on her lips and count the number of eyelashes she has.

  “You’re the best thing that’s happened to us, too.”

  Charlie can feel something in the space between them, something pulling them close. It is cold outside, but here, in the cocoon they’ve created, he feels warm and at home.

  “Like, thank you so much for pushing me to get into law school. Now, I’m learning how to help millions of little girls who are going through what I went through, and it makes everything worth it. I feel like I don’t say this enough, but Charlie. Thank you for everything.”

  He smiles, trying to retort something funny but her proximity has jumbled his mind.

  “I know you’re really busy with your life, but thanks for still thinking of me sometimes.”

  That breaks Charlie out of his daze. “What?”

  “You know. You’re in a Netflix show, working with Kenny freaking Ortega and all these incredible people – and I’m enormously proud of you, by the way – and… well, you’ll soon not have that much time for your little sister’s best friend, you know?”

  “You’re not just my little sister’s best friend, Y/N.”

  “Yeah, I’m your friend, alright. But soon you’ll be meeting celebrities and models and actors and then you wouldn’t have time for me anymore.”

  Charlie furrows his brows. “Where is this coming from, Y/N?”

  “I just had a lot of time to think today.” She turns on her back, facing the ceiling.

  He hates the fact that she is so unpredictable: he never knows what’s going on in her head or what she is feeling. That’s one of the reasons that he’s kept his feelings for her a secret for almost three years.

  “I saw you with that model today. At the bar. Uh. So, I thought that you’re probably gonna meet a lot of them in LA. Models and Hollywood girls and all that. So, you’ll probably not have any time for me anymore.”

  Charlie shakes his head, recalling the model he was talking to earlier today. Or rather, yesterday. Carol. She was really nice, sweet, and beautiful – and definitely interested in Charlie. But his focus had been on Y/N, who was having a dance off with Owen and Savannah, all evening – or rather, all the time. He had tried to focus on the Carol, he really did – but after an hour, she herself realized that he wasn’t into her and whispered a ‘good luck with her’ to him before leaving to go back to her friends.

  “Y/N, that’s not true –”

  “It’s okay, Charlie. It’s good. Your life shouldn’t be stuck in the same place. It should be getting better, and you should be meeting new people, you know? You’ve been alone for a weirdly long time and it’s freaking your mom out. So, I know you’re gonna fall in love with someone and then you’ll be too busy –”

  “God, Y/N, how are you so fucking oblivious?” Charlie snaps, annoyance coursing through his veins.

  Her eyes widen at his harsh tone of voice, and it shocks Charlie, too. He’s never, ever raised his voice at her.

  “What?”

  Maybe it’s having her so incredibly close that causes him to finally snap. “Y/N, I have been in love with you ever since I was eighteen. You’re the only person that I want, and you’re the reason that I’ve been alone for a weirdly long time.”

  He immediately regrets saying that. Y/N is sitting up, and she is looking around everywhere, trying to avert Charlie’s eyes. He hides his face behind his hands, sinking deeper into the covers and trying to create a hole and fall down to the center of the earth.

  “I think you’ve had too much to drink today.”

  He groans into his hands, glad that he’s under the covers and the girl can’t see his absolutely scarlet face. “Oh, for god’s sake. Dude. I wrote you an entire ballad when I was nineteen because I realized that this is exactly what’s gonna happen – that I’m always gonna be in love with you, and you’re always gonna think of me as your best friend’s older brother.”

  He feels the covers shift above his head, and is greeted with Y/N’s face, a vulnerable look in her eyes. “Do you really mean it?”

  “Of course, I do. You’re my family – do you really think that I’m gonna joke about something like this and ruin our friendship? The only reason I’m even telling you this is because I’m incredibly frustrated that you’re so oblivious and you’re so fucking pretty. And so close. See, this is exactly why I wanted to sleep on the couch. Because I knew that I would lose it.”

  There’s a sudden flurry of movement and her lips are on his’, and they’re kissing, kissing, kissing. Charlie is too shocked to do anything at first but as soon as the warmth courses through his system and the butterflies go wild in his gut, he pulls her closer, rising up. She sits in his lap, straddling him, their hands getting lost in each other’s hairs – both of them trying to be closer, closer, closer to make up for all the lost years and to keep feeling the contentment that they feel from just being close to each other. She tastes like Charlie’s mint toothpaste and his dreams – like everything he’s ever wanted.

  As they separate for air, Y/N rests her forehead on his. “I thought you knew.”

  “What?” He’s surprised to find his voice hoarse.

  “That I’m in love with you.”

  He can’t stop the grin on his face from escaping. “What?”

  “I thought Meg told you. Or your mum. Or anyone really. Everyone’s called me out on it. I’ve always had a crush on you but dating all those guys in high school made me realize that I was kind of, you know, in love with you.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Same reason as you. You’re my family, Charlie. I didn’t wanna lose what we have just because of… you know.”

  Y/N slides off his lap and lies on the bed, next to him and he mirrors her actions, and she rests her head on his chest, the frantic beating in his chest her background music. He drapes an arm around her shoulders, desperate to have her close.

  “We’re both cowards, eh?”

  She giggles.

  “Wait. Meg knew?”

  “Of course. She’s my best friend.”

  “You know, one day I got drunk and told her that ‘I’m 100% attracted to your best friend sexually and emotionally and everythingally.’ I kept wondering why she was laughing.”

  “I hate her.” She buries her face in Charlie’s chest, giggling.

  Charlie laughs and pulls her in for another kiss, desperate to hold her again, to feel the high he only feels around her. She smiles against his lips, before a thought occurs to him. “Wait. You were jealous of the bar girl, weren’t you?”

  “Shut up, you dork.”

  They’re only half aware of the snowstorm raging outside from the warm cocoon they’ve created in each other’s arms. Maybe miracles really do exist.

***

drop a message in my ask or in my messages if u wanna be on the jatp taglist!! requests are also open <3

[lady-tortilla-chip]

Author Self-Interview

I was tagged by the wonderful @praetorqueenreyna! Thank you sweetie this was fun.

Name: Kodi

Fandom: Oh so many. The ones I’m currently the loudest in are Bungou Stray Dogs and ATLA! Though I do still write for the mcu and have written in a range of other fandoms from Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji to Terminator Dark Fate. And I feel bad about absolutely none of them. 😌

Where do you post: Ao3 all the way! Occasionally tumblr too, not all of which ends up on Ao3 for a number of reasons. Usually, cuz the fic is unfinished but I desire validation for what’s there anyway. X.X

Most popular multi-chapter fic: Probably His Hands Were Warm, which was my first fic on Ao3 and at 59k is…unfinished. 🙈 For multiple reasons but the biggest was that I couldn’t figure out how to write the climax and then as more time passed I realized there was so much I wanted to change about it. I have been asked multiple times whether I’ll ever go back to it and though the answer is yes I can’t actually say when it’ll happen or if people will just one day get a notif for His Hands Were Warm 2.0.

Most popular one-shot: I’m not proud to say it but A Little Hostility is absolutely my most popular one-shot and well, most popular fic period with a whopping 8k+ hits and just fifteen short of 700 kudos. The reason I’m not entirely proud of that is because my heart wasn’t totally in it when I wrote it. Twas a simple salt fic I wrote in the middle of the night after watching Infinity Wars again and getting annoyed at certain….elements of the movie. 😂 I mean. It’s a fine fic I just wish I could get that kind of appreciation for some of my other works.

Favorite story you’ve written so far: Hm. Hmmmmmm. Fuck I hate these questions because I don’t like choosing and I love certain parts of all my fics…… atm my go to answer is The Way He Flies which is, as I’m sure all of my followers are aware because I bring it up so often, my jetaang fic. It is, incidentally, probably my least popular fic in ao3 which makes me love it all the more. The biggest reason I love though is because I really enjoyed getting into Jet’s head!

Fic you were nervous to post: All of them Seriously though? Every fic I’ve ever posted for other people. Every single one I have felt excessively nervous about posting because I never want someone to read what they requested I write and be disappointed by the end product. (Which is why a b-day fic I wrote for someone took an additional six months to get to them…)

Do you outline: Not usually. I have outlines for a couple fics, one I was rewriting and another I have yet to actually start though the outline is and has been complete for a long time. Why haven’t I written it? Because the fic will be a MONSTER. 😅

Complete: None of my multi-chapters….🙈 All of my posted one-shots are though! (However a lot of them are awaiting follow ups…)

Do you accept prompts: I absolutely do! I have some unanswered ones in my inbox right now actually that I’ve started working on just haven’t finished lol. I will though! Because I hate hate hate to leave people hanging. (I’m sure some of my followers can vouch for that. Yes I make them wait but no I never fail to answer. Eventually.)

Upcoming story you’re most excited to write: Hmmmmmmm I really want to start my Zukaang Soulmate AU!!! I have been stumped for a long time though because I don’t want assholes coming after me for the way I want to write it. I want to keep their ages in the canon timeline the same but building a romance between Zuko and Aang with same age dif as Kataang concerns me. I mean. It did. Maybe it wouldn’t now that I’ve actually written zukaang with their existing age gap (that is bigger). 🤔 Something else which has contributed a bit to my stalling is how much I know it’ll take out of me because I’ll be adding to the lore of the world by implementing the soulmate stuff.

Stories you’re most excited to read: All my friends have stuff in the works I’m super excited about but I’m most excited for a continuation of the series Pocketful of Stones (by @thetpot), The harder the pain, honey, the sweeter the sun (by @foxy-knowledgeseeker), @praetorqueenreyna’s upcoming dark!zukaang fic, aaand the tysuki fic @shifuaang is writing!!!

Tagging: Ok so Helaina tagged all our mutual writer friends so I’ll tag @stargirl720, @athina39, @voodoosgirl1, aaaand anyone else who would like to!

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD Holiday Special Clues

Hey Everyone! I watched the holiday special last night. I know not everyone can. At least not yet. (Not sure if they’ll air it eventually.) So I’ll report what jumped out at me from it.

The first thing is that I definitely noticed a “return vibe” running through it. But first thing’s first.

They mentioned “reuniting the Greene sisters” at least twice. Maybe three times. Chris said it in the intro. I’m paraphrasing but something like “Emily Kinney and Lauren Cohan are here. We’re gonna reunite the Greene sisters!” And then he repeated that again during the episode. So yeah. Side-eying that.

Then Emily sang her song, Up on the Housetop, pretty early. I wasn’t sure about this at first, but it did occur to me that they chose to have her sing a song about Santa returning stealthily in the night. And yes, I know that’s pretty weak on its own. I mean, it’s a Christmas special. Any song they sing is either going to be about Santa or the Christ child. But even so. It wasn’t Jingle Bells or anything more generic. They picked the song about Santa returning stealthily (he does that every year, after all) when and where no one was looking for him to be. I’ll talk about this more at the end.

(Just recorded this oon my phone, so not the best quality. ;D) 

 There were a lot of small things that MIGHT be clues, but also might not be. Things that we COULD read into but we really might be reaching. Things the actor (such as Josh McDermitt) said while telling stories about childhood Christmases, for example. I’ll skip those, for the most part, as they aren’t all that compelling on their own.

So then there were two 10-season things they did. They had the actors who play Ezekiel, Yumiko, Jerry, and Lydia sing a rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, except it was the 10 seasons of TWD. It was fun, and I want to read into some of the lines, but it’s hard to read into all of them. They basically picked one thing from each season, and they were all pretty random. They skipped over Beth entirely, and I’ll admit that IS kind of suspicious (I’ll tell you why in a minute) but at the same time they skipped over a LOT of important things, so I’m not sure we can call it a pattern.

So, for example, the season 2 line was “Hershel at his Farm.” That makes total sense because it encapsulates the gist of S2. So, if they’d stayed with that theme, you ‘d think s3’s line would have been about the prison or the Governor or Woodbury, right? They went with “baby Judith’s birth.” And obviously that was a big deal but it doesn’t exactly bring across everything that happened in S3, you know? So, kind of random. For S4, you’d think they would talk about the downfall of the prison, but they went with “look at the flowers.” 

So, they didn’t mention Beth or Grady at all for S5, and I find that suspicious bc Coda was definitely the biggest thing that happened in S5 with the biggest fan reaction. But again, they weren’t exactly breaking pattern here. For S5, they went with “Morgan Jones returns.” S6 was “Scary Saviors arriving” or something along those lines. (Understand I’m paraphrasing most of these because I didn’t write down exact words.) S7 was “Abe and Glenn in heaven.” S8 was Carl getting bitten. Sufficiently a big deal, of course, but there was also that burning Phoenix. Must not have been very memorable, lol. S9 was “Rick in a copter” and S10 was “Negan killing Alpha.” I think.

Not until they’d sung several more verses did the part about Morgan returning start to jump out at me. I mean, in terms of S5, that literally happens the last two minutes of the season. And yes, it was a big deal to the fandom, but it hardly represents all of S5, right? But using him as the “5th day of Christmas” part of the song automatically puts emphasis on it. If you think of the song, it slows down considerably and emphasizes “5 golden rings.” And for this it was “Morgan Jones return.” So it felt like there was a heavy emphasis on that.

So, an emphasis on the return of a character who hadn’t been on in a while before that. And of course there are all those DC al Coda parallels between Beth and Morgan. Just saying. Later in the special, they do another “return thing.”

Then they did an “In Memoriam” that covered 10 seasons of walker kills. This one was much more suspicious in a TD way to me. Like the song, they basically chose one iconic, epic walker kill to represent each season. And there are a lot more of these I think we can read into as Beth symbols. So, for S1, it was Teddy Bear Girl. For S2, Well walker. (Water.) For S3, that walker they killed when cleaning out the prison yard whose face slides off. The thing about this walker is that it’s wearing black riot gear. A lot like what the CRM soldiers wear. For S4, it was the Big Spot walker that falls through the roof. That one made me happy. For S5, that walker Daryl killed at Terminus with the crow bar. You know, the famous one whose face he caved in against the brick wall? 

For s6, it was the sewer walkers Maggie and Aaron ran into under Alexandria. Definitely side-eyeing that. For s7, they showed Winslow. And what was great about that is that it specifically showed the part where one of Winslow’s spikes when through Rick’s hands. (Stigmata, making him a Christ figure.) For S8, it was where Daryl was riding around on his bike shoot boxes with his gun that then blew up. He blew up one of the walkers that way. For 9, it was the walker that came up out of the river while Daryl was fishing (long hair after Rick left). And for S10 it was the walker horde hitting the electric fence before the Hilltop battle.

So yeah. We can definitely read into some of those as Beth parallels.

The end of the special had some weirdnesses in it, and my favorite TD reference.

First, Chris asked everyone to say what their character would bring to a holiday party. Lauren said Maggie would bring the turkey. Kaylee said Judith would bring the games. But we didn’t hear Emily or IRonE’s answers. I just thought it was weird because it cut very abruptly and we didn’t get to hear what their characters would have brought. I mean, it’s obvious they edit these, because they often jump suddenly to the next question and you don’t hear the segue. I don’t judge them for editing. They have to do this in a certain time frame, and there can lots of white noise when conducting zoom calls. But still, I have to wonder what, exactly, they’re cutting out.

So then Chris asks, again, as though he’s going to ask each person, with the show ending, who they think will be the “last person standing.” He didn’t say man, I don’t think, but the echo of Beth’s line was painfully obvious. And he asked Emily first. And who did she say? She said Norman, or Norman and Melissa.

So, she didn’t actually say Daryl, and the “Norman and Melissa” thing is pretty obvious given the spinoff. But we literally had them asking who the last “person” standing would be, and she said Norman/Daryl. Just saying.

Then Lauren did this mock, I-can’t-believe-you-didn’t-pick-your-sister thing and they all started laughing and Emily said something like, “just kidding. If I were writing the script, they’d kill all the walkers and Maggie would be queen.” I think IRonE answered the question as well, but I think what he said got lost in all the goofing around.

But yeah. Obvious Bethyl reference and they indirectly tied it to the spinoff. Just saying.

So, before I get to the final one, they they took Emily and IronE away and brought on Angela and Gimple. That part was kind of meh. Just nothing that really jumped out at me. Chris asked Gimple to give us some tidbits about the Rick movies. And Gimple did his usual, “we’re working on it but can’t say much” thing. So then Chris asked AK to talk about the bonus episodes. She talked a lot more than Gimple and Chris gave Gimple crap about that. But honestly, she pretty much just repeated what we already know from the episode synopses that were released: A Daryl/Carol episode, a Negan episode, with Hillary Burton, more on Eugene’s group, etc. So yeah. Nothing knew or exciting there.

They showed a very short clip of the table read from the episode where Daryl and Carol go their separate ways. I thought it was interesting that they used that particular moment. But I suppose they’re doing it to hype the spinoff.

Finally, they ended with Chris reading a TWD rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas. Most of it was cute little rhymes about the various characters, but one part REALLY jumped out at me.

“And that’s when they saw it high up on a shelf:

A new walking talkie. Was it left by an elf?

They heard static and crackling but nothing made sense

The room became quiet, so SERIOUS, so tense.

Together they gathered, a closer look they did take

When a helicopter overhead made the entire house shake.

And then a voice on the walkie was heard so clear and so bright

It was Rick grimes wishing “Peace unto all and to all a good night.”

 Now, there were other passages I found suspicious as well. Stuff about Daryl and Dog, and Connie and Kelly receiving tons of cats for Christmas. You’ll have to tell me what part stands out most to you.

But here, we have a voice on a walkie, Rick in a helicopter, and a serious mention. Of course they were never going to put Beth’s name in here. It would be too obvious, but given the parallels between her and Rick, I know I don’t have to explain why this makes me happy. AND in the story, it’s happening on Christmas Eve. The return of a character they think is dead.

So I think it also works with the Up on the Housetop theme I mentioned at the beginning. As I said, I wasn’t sure about that at first, but after hearing their poem, it made me think I was barking up the right tree there.

So, because there was such a heavy “return” emphasis here, it got me thinking of the weirdness of having a holiday special at all. I hadn’t really questioned it before now. Just something fun to tide people over. Because Covid, you know?

But now it feels like a clue that THIS is the Christmas after which she’ll return. They’re doing it this year, where they haven’t in years past, because THIS is the year Daryl will get something from Santa Clause.

Also, about a week ago (before the special aired) @wdway​ sent me an article about it. It was obvious this was filmed early, not live, because the article actually talked about some of what would happen in the holiday special. And the part they talked about was where Emily said Norman would be the last man standing.

So what we found suspicious about that (apart from what I’ve already talked about here; the blatant echo of a famous Bethyl moment) is that the article ONLY talked about Emily and that question. It mentioned who else would be on and such, but the entire emphasis of the article was Emily and her answer to that question.

So it felt like the special was entirely geared toward featuring Emily.  

Thoughts?

[thecozywhaleshark]

MASTERPOST

BTS

(f = fluff, a = angst, m = mature/smut) (dc = drabble challenge)

Kim Namjoon

Helicopter Seeds  (f)

Starlight (f)

God of Destruction, Queen of the Klutz (f)

Soaked (f)

Bones (f)

It’s Raining on the Inside (f)

That 70′s Dress: Part 1 (f)

Jokes (dc1) (f)

The Passport Pouch (f)

Accident-Prone (dc2) (f)

Sprinkling Tac-Tics (dc2) (f)

2AM (dc2) (m)

Aliens (dc2) (f)

Pretty in Plum (m)

You’re Mine, I’m Yours (m)

Mud Run (dc3) (f) 

Pretty Brown Eyes (f)

Flushed (m)

The Language of Flowers (f)

Chapter 1: Begonias 

Kim Seokjin

What You Want, Baby I’ve Got It (f)

Croissants (f)

Breakfast of Champions (f)

Want More (f)

Cravings (m)

King of Hearts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 (m/a/f)

Safety First (dc1) (f)

Tell Me You Need Me (dc1) (a)

Countertops (m) 

Paper Clothes (dc2) (f)

Cling to Me (dc2) (f)

More Than You Know (dc3) (f/a)

Feel Better Food (f/a)

Date and Nut (f)

Min Yoongi

“I like it here” (f)

Making It Better (f)

1,000 (f)

Middle C (pt.1) (f)

Heart and Soul (pt. 2) (f)

“And...Now” (pt. 3) (f)

The Wife Who Cried Wolf (f)

Murder in a Cup (dc1) (f)

BS (dc1) (f)

Cold Hands (f)

Hotline Ring: teaser Part 1 (m)

Min Yoongi and the Curse of Merlin (f)

Chapter 1: My Great Something Ancestor Ruins A Perfectly Good Nights Sleep 

Chapter 2: Journey to the Center of the Earth, but Worse 

A Crazy Little Thing Called Love (f/m)

Jung Hoseok

Just Dance (f)

Tiptoes (f)

Fireflies (f)

Walking on Sunshine (f)

On/Off (f)

Sunflowers (f)

The Sick Sleep (dc2) (f)

54 (m)

You’ve Got Me (a/f)

Kim Taehyung

Morning Mess (f)

Something Stupid (f)

Weighted Blanket (f)

T-Shirt (f)

Duck Duck Gray Duck (f)

Message On A Bottle (f) 

Chores (dc1) (f)

Blood Bagel (dc1) (f)

Kim Taehyung as a Dad (f)

One Night to Forever (dc2) (f/m)

Jack of All Trades: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 (a/f/m)

The Floor is Lava (dc3) (f)

Cuddle Bug (f)

Red Silk (m/f)

Pen Pals (f)

Stuck Like Glue (f)

Letters (a)

Hoops (f)

Park Jimin

Adults (f)

Chim Chim Chimmy (Halloween au) (f)

Mine (m)

Melting Point (f)

Weekend Thunderstorms (f)

So You Had A Bad Day... (f)

One of Each (dc1) (f)

6AM (dc1) (f)

Self-Control (f)

Breakfast To Go (f)

Shampoo & Conditioner (f)

Sinners Row (f)

Rhinestones (m)

Suit of Diamonds: Part 1 (m/a/f)

Hedgehogs and Mittens (halloween dc) (f)

Jeon Jungkook

Swings (f)

A love like... (f)

Milkshakes First Thing (f)

Dork (f)

Spoodermoon (f)

Climb or Coward (f)

Pigtails (dc2) (f)

Goat (dc2) (f)

Camp Councilor Kook (f)

Something Old (Part 1) (f)

Nailed It (f)

My Dude (f)

Noodle Loodle (f)

OT7

BTS as:

 Tastes  Scents  Sounds  Textures  Sights (f)

 Some of My Favorite Books (f)

 Favorite Movies  (f)

 Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales (f)

 Dragon Riders (f)

 Disney Fairies (f)

Pocket BTS (f)

Pocket BTS - Beach Day (f)

Pocket BTS - Camping/Road Trip (f)

Pocket BTS - Mom has a Date (f)

Pocket BTS - Origin Stories (f)

Pocket BTS - Reversed Roles (f)

Pocket BTS - Being Bad (f)

Pocket BTS - You Have A Bad Day (f)

Pocket BTS - LOST (f)

Pocket BTS - Cool Down (f)

Pocket BTS - Games (f)

Pocket BTS - Fall (f)

Pocket BTS - Back to School (f)

Pocket BTS - Harnessed (f)

Pocket BTS - Job Hunt (f)

Pocket BTS - Happy Holidays (f)

Pocket BTS - Valentine’s Day (f) 

Pocket BTS - Quarantine (f)

Pocket BTS - Birthday Boys (f)

Pocket BTS - Easter (f)

Giant BTS (f)

Spending the Night for the First Time (f)

Neck Kisses (f/m)

8 Gifts with BTS (Happy Hanukkah) (f)

Their S/O is Short (f)

Your Parents Yell At You (a/f)

First Kisses (f)

Fake Eyelashes (f)

Escort Series (m/a/f) 

Kim Seokjin - King of Hearts (9/10): Start

Kim Taehyung - Jack of All Trades (4/10): Start

Park Jimin - Suit of Diamonds (1/10): Start

~

MONSTA X

Son Hyunwoo (Shownu)

White Lace (virginity au) (m)

Paint by Numbers (m)

Fanfiction (m)

At What Cost (a/f)

Shin Hoseok (Wonho)

Want (virginity au) (m)

Pretty Little Lies (m)

Past Hurts (m)

Hugs and Kisses (a/f)

Yoo Kihyun

Art (virginity au) (m)

JENGA (dc3) (f)

Candle Sticks (dc3) (f)

Finders Keepers (m/f)

Stuck On You (f)

Lee Minhyuk

Everything (virginity au) (m)

Magical (dc2) (f)

Curly Q (f)

Chae Hyungwon

Pride Goeth Before A Fall (f)

Lee Jooheon

My Girl (virginity au) (m)

Public Indecency (m)

Dating Jooheon (f)

Hold My Hand (a/f)

In the Middle of the Night... (a/f)

Im Changkyun

By The Stroke of Midnight (f)

Anti-Itch (dc1) (f)

IKEA (dc1) (f)

Beautiful Things (f)

Asshole (dc2) (f)

Daggers and Roses (m/f)

OT7

Pocket Monsta X (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Beach Day (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Camping/Road Trip (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Mom has a Date (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Origin Stories (f)

Pocket Monsta X - You Have a Bad Day (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Being Bad (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Cool Down (f)

Pocket Monsta X - LOST (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Fall (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Back to School (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Home Alone (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Harnessed (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Happy Holidays (f)

Pocket Monsta X - Quarantine (f)

Neck Kisses (m/f)

You are Full of Rage (a/f/m)

~

GOT7

Im Jaebeom

Butterflies (f)

Breath Notes (f)

Tiny (f)

Baebeom (f)

Cat-Mas Tree (f)

Mark Tuan

62 Crab Rangoon’s (f)

Thumbelina (f)

Don’t Let Go (a/f)

Taste Testers (f)

Jackson Wang

Always the Left Shoe (f)

All That You Are (a/f)

Emotional Support Dumbass (f)

Shake It Off (f)

Privileges (f)

Park Jinyoung

Twas the Night Before Christmas (f)

Choi Youngjae

BamBam

Black Velvet (f)

Like, Ew (f)

A Little Birdie Told Me... (f)

Sucks to Suck, Buttercup (f) 

Things that go Bump in the Dark (f)

Kim Yugyeom

OT7

Pocket GOT7 (f)

Pocket GOT7 - Quarantine (f)

~

NCT 127

Johnny Suh

Coins Only (f)

~

GAMES

Pocket Pick N’ Mix

Kihyun (MX) + Jinyoung (got7): In a garden

Hyungwon (MX) + JB (got7): As Siblings

Jungkook (BTS) + Yugyeom (got7): Nap Time

Jin (BTS) + Bambam (got7): Ice Skating

Namjoon (BTS) + Jackson (got7): Picture with Santa

Jimin (BTS) + Youngjae (got7): Sugar High

Kihyun (MX) + Jungkook (BTS): Shopping Trip

~~

{DISCLAIMER: This is all purely fictional and meant for entertainment purposes only}

~~

Networks:

KSmutClub

HEARTSFORBTS

[papermoonloveslucy]

TOO MANY GIRLS

October 8, 1940

Too Many Girls was an RKO film musical based on the stage musical of the same title. It was produced and directed by George Abbott, who had also directed the Broadway production. The music was composed by Richard Rodgers, the lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and the book was by George Marion, Jr. although the screenplay was adapted by John Twist. 

Too Many Girls opened on Broadway on October 18, 1939, at the Imperial Theatre, running to April 21, 1940, and transferred to the Broadway Theatre on April 22, 1940, closing on May 18, 1940. The cast featured Desi Arnaz, Diosa Costello, Marcy Westcott, Eddie Bracken, Richard Kollmar, Van Johnson, and Hal Le Roy. Musical Staging was by Robert Alton, scenery by Jo Mielziner, and costumes by Raoul Pène Du Bois.

The musical takes place in Skowhegan, Maine and Pottawatomie College in Stop Gap, New Mexico.

Synopsis ~ Connie Casey, an energetic celebrity heiress, wants to go to Pottawatomie College in Stop Gap, New Mexico, her father's alma mater, to be near her latest beau, British playwright Beverly Waverly. To protect her, and without her knowledge, her tycoon father sends four Ivy League football players as her bodyguards, Clint Kelly, Jojo Jordan, Manuelito and Al Terwilliger, who sign a contract with an ‘anti-romance’ clause. They also join the college's terrible football team, which immediately becomes one of the best in the country. Clint falls in love with Connie, but when she discovers he is her bodyguard, she decides to go back East. The bodyguards follow her, leaving the team in the lurch. The people of Stop Gap go after them, and they are brought back just in time for the big game. Connie declares her love for Clint, and he leads the team to victory.

PRINCIPAL CAST

Lucille Ball (Consuela ‘Connie’ Casey) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. “My Favorite Husband” eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Desi Arnaz (Manuelito Lynch) was born in Santiago, Cuba on March 2, 1917. After leaving Cuba, he formed his own Latin band, and literally launched the conga craze in America.  It was on the set of Too Many Girls (1940) that he and Lucille Ball met. They soon married and approximately 10 years later formed Desilu Productions and began the “I Love Lucy” shows in 1951. Desi and Lucille had two children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. At the end of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1960, the two divorced. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and died on December 2, 1986 at age 69.

Manuelito: “I'm not conceited. I am the greatest player in fifty years, but I'm not conceited.”

Richard Carlson (Clint Kelly) makes his first and last appearance with Lucy and Desi, although his wife, Mona, was featured as one of Don Loper’s models on “The Fashion Show” (ILL S4;E20) in 1955. 

Ann Miller (Pepe) had appeared with Lucille Ball in three films: Stage Door (1937), Having Wonderful Time (1938), and Room Service (1938). In 1954, she appeared with the Arnazes on “MGM’s 30th Anniversary Tribute”. 

Eddie Bracken (Jojo Jordan) makes his only screen appearance with Lucy and Desi, although he was part of the Broadway cast of Too Many Girls and was friends with the Arnazes off screen as seen in the above photo with Ann Miller and Lucy. 

JOJO: “Well, I'm not exactly wonderful, but I'm awfully attractive in a dynamic sort of way.”

Frances Langford (Eileen Eilers) makes her only appearance with Lucy and Desi. She worked extensively with Bob Hope on his USO tours. 

Hal LeRoy (Al Terwilliger) makes his only screen appearance with Lucy and Desi, although he was part of the Broadway cast of Too Many Girls. 

Libby Bennett (Tallulah Lou) makes her only screen appearance in Too Many Girls. She had also been seen in the Broadway stage production. 

Harry Shannon (Mr. Harvey Casey) appeared with Lucille Ball in 1942′s The Big Street. On “I Love Lucy” he played Jim White the photographer in “Men Are Messy” (ILL S1;E8) in 1951 (above center). Musical fans will remember Shannon as Rosalind Russell’s father in the 1962 musical film Gypsy.

Mrs. Teweksbury says Mr. Casey is one of the richest individuals in the country. He reportedly has $7.50 more than Henry Ford. He is Connie’s father and Chairman of Casey Conglomerated Industries.

Douglas Walton (Beverly Waverly) was a Canadian-born actor making his only appearance with Lucy and Desi. He played poet Percy Shelley in the film The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He left film acting in 1950, before the advent of television. 

Beverley Waverly is a British playwright.  

Chester Clute (Lister) did four films with Lucille Ball before Too Many Girls and four after it. 

Lister is an alumni of Pottawatomie College, like his boss Mr. Casey.

Ivy Scott (Mrs. Tewksbury) was also in the stage production of Too Many Girls and only did one more film in Hollywood, Higher and Higher in 1943.

Mrs. Tewksbury is the proprietor of The Hunted Stag (or, as Mr. Lister calls it, The Stunted Hag), an Inn where the boys are waiters. 

Byron Shores (Sheriff Andaluz) makes his only screen appearance with Lucy and Desi. He was also seen in the stage production of Too Many Girls. His last film was in 1944. 

UNCREDITED FILM CAST

Iron Eyes Cody (Indian) made a career of playing Native American characters despite the fact that he was of Italian ancestry. He next worked with Lucy and in 1942’s Valley of the Sun, again as an American Indian character. He played an Eskimo in a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” but is probably best remembered as the Indian that sheds a single tear in the ‘Keep America Beautiful’ ads that ran from 1971 to the 1980s.

Jay Silverheels (Indian) also played a Native American character in Valley of the Sun (1942) with Lucille Ball. He was best known for playing Tonto on “The Lone Ranger”.

Chief John Big Tree (Chief)  

Harry James (Orchestra Leader) also played himself in Lucille Ball’s Best Foot Forward in 1943. With his wife, Betty Grable, he was seen in “Lucy Wins a Racehorse” (LDCH S1;E4) in 1958. 

Van Johnson (Chorus Boy) was also seen with Lucy in the films Easy to Wed (1946) and Yours, Mine and Ours in 1968. He played himself on one of the most popular episodes of “I Love Lucy,” “The Dancing Star” (ILL S4;E27) and played both himself and a look-alike on “Here’s Lucy” in 1968. He was also a member of the Broadway cast of Too Many Girls. 

Johnson has only two lines of dialogue in the film but is often visible in group scenes.

Shep Houghton (Chorus Boy) made two other films with Lucille Ball and was seen in the background of two episodes of “The Lucy Show” and one episode of “Here’s Lucy.”  Houghton was one of the Winkie Guards in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz and a Southern Dandy in Gone With the Wind (1939). 

John Benton (Chorus Boy)

Mildred Law (Coed) appeared on “I Love Lucy” in “Return Home From Europe” (ILL S5;E26) playing a TWA flight attendant who attends to Lucy’s cheesy baby, Chester. This was her penultimate screen credit. 

Pamela Blake (Coed) also appeared uncredited with Lucille Ball in Stage Door (1937).

Amarilla Morris (Coed) was seen with Desi Arnaz in the 1942 film Four Jacks and a Jill as the girl in the revolving door. 

Other Coeds: Janet Lavis, Ellen Johnson, Vera Fern, Peggy Drake, Zita Baca, Anna Mae Tessle

Homer Dickenson (Mr. Casey's Butler) immediately followed this film with A Girl, A Guy, And A Gob (1941) also starring Lucille Ball.

Grady Sutton (Football Coach) from 1935 to 1945, Sutton did five films with Lucille Ball.

Dorothy Vernon (Faculty Extra) also did The Bowery (1933) and Valley of the Sun (1942) with Lucille Ball. 

Dan White (Faculty Extra) had a small role in the 1970 TV special “Swing Out Sweet Land” in which Lucille Ball voiced the Statue of Liberty. 

Others: Sethma Williams (Marie), Tommy Graham (Hawker), Averell Harris (Detective), Michael Alvarez (Joe)

WHEN LUCY MET DIZZY

Lucille Ball met Desi Arnaz for the first time at the RKO studio commissary, while Too Many Girls was in rehearsals. She was in full costume and make-up after performing a fight scene for another film, Dance, Girl, Dance (1940, above): she wore a slinky gold dress slit halfway up the thigh and sported a black eye. Arnaz was seated at the same table as director George Abbott, who introduced the two. Arnaz was not impressed by Ball, thinking she “looked like a two-dollar whore who had been badly beaten by her pimp." After the encounter, he asked Abbott to fire Ball from Too Many Girls, claiming she was “too tough and common for the role."  He also advised that her reputation as Queen of the B movies might negatively impact his much-anticipated film debut, advice Abbott thankfully ignored. 

“A Cuban skyrocket burst over my horizon!” ~ Lucy about Desi

“Those damned big beautiful blue eyes!” ~ Desi about Lucy 

That night, Arnaz was rehearsing “She Could Shake the Maracas" when Ball walked in, now wearing a yellow sweater and tight-fitting beige slacks. Not recognizing her, Arnaz turned to the piano player and whispered “Man, that is a honk of woman!"  The pianist reminded Arnaz of his earlier meeting with Ball. Lucille approached them to say hello. "Miss Ball?" Arnaz said, just to make sure that there was no mistake. "Why don't you call me Lucille? And I'll call you Dizzy." 

Lucy and Desi have very little interaction in the film, but when he sees Connie for the first time, he gets weak in the knees and falls to the ground, in awe of her beauty. Despite this, Manuelito’s romance is with Pepe, not Connie. History re-wrote that chapter!

TOO MANY SONGS!

Heroes in the Fall - Male Chorus

You're Nearer - Connie, Pepe, Eileen, and Tallulah Lou

Pottawatomie - Mr. Casey and Chorus

'Cause We Got Cake - Eileen and Chorus

Spic 'n' Spanish - Manuelito and Pepe

Love Never Went to College - Eileen

Look Out! - Eileen and Pepe

I Didn't Know What Time It Was - Connie, Clint, and Jojo

You're Nearer - Connie, Manuelito, Eileen, Pepe, and Tallulah Lou

Conga

Songs cut from the Broadway show: 

Tempt Me Not - Manuelito, Clint, and Chorus

My Prince - Connie

I Like To Recognize the Tune - Jojo, Connie, Eileen, Clint, and Al

The Sweethearts of the Team - Eileen

She Could Shake The Maracas - Pepe and Manuelito

Too Many Girls - Manuelito

Give It Back To The Indians - Eileen 

TOO MANY TRIVIA!

RKO paid $100,000 for the rights to the Broadway musical. 

Filming on Too Many Girls began on June 22, 1940.

Camerman Russell Metty briefly took over shooting for Frank Redman when Redman had to attend a funeral.

Uncredited performers Van Johnson and Harry James would go on to be two of the film’s biggest stars, except for Lucy and Desi, eclipsing many of the film’s principal cast like Hal LeRoy, Douglas Walton, and Libby Bennett. 

Lucille Ball’s vocals were dubbed by Trudy Erwin, one of Kay Kyser’s singers. 

Everyone imported from Broadway (except Hal LeRoy) was making their screen debut with Too Many Girls. 

After making the film, Van Johnson and Mildred Law returned to the Broadway production. Instead of chorus roles, Johnson assumed the role of Jojo (originated by Bracken) and Law now played Tallulah Lou, originated by Leila Ernest. 

On Broadway the character of Connie was originated by Marcy Wescott in her final Broadway stage role. 

TOO MANY REFERENCES!

Each of Connie’s bodyguards plays football for an Ivy League college: Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. Manuelito is still deciding on a college, but is considering Princeton, where Clint goes. There is talk about a contentious game that includes Princeton. In Lucille Ball’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” (1948), George Cugat (later Cooper) hopes his future son will play for Princeton, his alum. Coincidentally, Lucille Ball did two plays at Princeton University’s resident theatre company, McCarter: Hey Diddle Diddle (1937) and Dream Girl (1947).

One of the characters mentions movie star Ginger Rogers, one of the top female box office stars of the time. She was also a good friend of Lucille Ball having done five films together. Rogers’ mother Lela tajght acting classes at RKO, later inspiring Ball to create the Desilu Playhouse at Desilu Studios. Rogers played herself on a 1971 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” 

Mr. Casey compares his daughter Connie with Lucretia Borgia (1480-1519) was the illegitimate daughter of a pope and his mistress,  a famous beauty, notorious for the suspicious deaths and political intrigue that swirled around her. Today her name has become synonymous with a beautiful, but scheming woman who would stop at nothing - including murder - to get what she wants.  In 1949, Lucille Ball’s friend played Lucretia Borgia for Paramount in Bride of Vengeance.

Although Pottawatomie College and the town of Stop Gap are fictional, Pottawatomie is the name of a Native American tribe, although they were mostly found in the Great Lakes region, not in New Mexico. The Pottawatomie Massacre occurred from May 23 to May 26, 1856, resulting in the death of five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas. This was one of the many violent episodes in Kansas preceding the American Civil War.

 TOO MANY CRITICS!

Too Many Girls premiered on October 8, 1940 at Loew's Criterion Theatre in New York. Critical reviews were generally positive, although Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that Too Many Girls was “a pleasant, light-hearted and wholly ingenuous campus film" but that director George Abbott "has permitted it to sag in the middle, at which point the thin spots baldly show. If the intention was to be impressive, it has failed. For 'Too Many Girls' is a simple, conventional rah-rah picture, without any place for pretense. And there is not enough to it, on the whole, for Mr. Abbott to squander dancers recklessly."

TOO FAST FORWARD

This film's earliest documented television presentations began in Los Angeles Tuesday May 8, 1956 on KHJ (Channel 9), much to the chagrin of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz who were embarrassed by it, and objected to its frequent showings to no avail.

In 1977, the music of Too Many Girls was rereleased on vinyl with performers Nancy Andrews, Johnny Desmond, Estelle Parsons, and Anthony Perkins! 

The film is referenced in “Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter” a 1991 TV movie about starring Frances Fisher (above) and Maurice Bernard, as well as “Lucy” (2003), another TV film in which Lucy (Rachel York) and Desi (Danny Pino) meet on the set; Desi in his football uniform and Lucy bruised from the filming of Dance, Girl, Dance.

Clips from the film are featured in Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie (1993).

[aion-rsa]

The 25 Best SNL Holiday Sketches

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The holidays are a special time around 30 Rock. While tourists flock to see the towering Christmas tree, the Saturday Night Live writers room is busy thinking of holiday sketches you’ll reminisce about as you put up the stockings for years to come. Some of SNL’s all-time great sketches illustrate the best of the holiday spirit or lack thereof as show’s biggest stars often shined the brightest just before the New Year. 

From unlikely Santas to unorthodox gift-giving, we’re looking at 25 of our favorite Saturday Night Live holiday sketches. We’ll be going in chronological order here. There is a big dose of modern stuff in there, but what can I say? The show might be more miss than hit these days, but they really hit it out of the park year after year with the Christmas sketches.

Santi-Wrap (1976)

Very early in the show’s run, we get this classic where an adult woman (Laraine Newman) is all about sitting on Santa’s lap like when she was a little kid. The initial laugh is that before sitting down, she puts pieces of toilet paper on Santa’s leg for protection, like one would do in a public bathroom. Dan Aykroyd, her companion on this trip, seems shocked by this. Not that she’s trying to protect herself from germs, but because she’s not going far enough!

Suddenly, it turns out to be a commercial for Santi-Wrap, a festive and plasticky take on toilet seat covers. Not only do those two sell the product concept so well, but John Belushi as the mall Santa pushes it further by coming off as a complete disaster of a man who is probably riddled with disease.

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One of the show’s all-time best line deliveries is Belushi’s drunken, “Ho ho ho…” which has both defiant gusto and the sense that he’s seconds away from vomiting all over himself.

Mr. Robinson’s Christmas (1984)

Saturday Night Live has been a stepping stone to superstardom ever since Chevy Chase became a household name during its first season. In the 80s, Eddie Murphy’s recurring roles on SNL helped raise his profile as he eventually became one of, if not the biggest star of the decade. It was around Christmas time when Murphy’s spin on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood became one of the sketches that came to define his tenure at Studio 8H.

Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood isn’t quite as nice as Mister Rogers’ but at Christmas time you have to make the best with what you have. Mr. Robinson was able to do that with a chunk of lettuce and a headless doll and Murphy was able to make the most of every opportunity he had on SNL.

It’s a Wonderful Life: The Lost Ending (1986)

If you’ve seen the 1946 American Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life, odds are you’ve been inspired by its heart-warming ending. Thanks to SNL and host William Shatner, we now have footage of the “fabled” lost ending to Frank Capra’s Christmas epic and it’s anything but heartwarming. Rather than end the film with everyone coming to George Bailey’s aid in his time of need and celebrating his lifetime of selflessness and kindness, it decides to give Mr. Potter a fate more explicit than being doomed to failure and loneliness. Phil Hartman pops in as Uncle Billy and not only remembers what happened to the missing money, but knows exactly who has it!

Dana Carvey makes the sketch as a George Bailey hell-bent on revenge. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without seeing him give Mr. Potter a beat down alongside his bloodthirsty loved ones.

Master Thespian Plays Santa Claus (1987)

Jon Lovitz’s characters were usually very hammy by design. Whether he was a pathological liar or the Devil himself, he always went to 11. One of his better recurring characters was Master Thespian, a scene-chewing Shakespearean actor who takes himself and his roles far too seriously.

In this installment, he would be playing the role of a mall Santa Claus.

Thespian doesn’t seem to have heard of Santa, but he’s down for the part. Finding out that there’s no actual script, he improvises and figures out the character via making mistakes and getting scolded by the Macy’s manager (played by Phil Hartman, choosing to base his performance on Frank Nelson because why not). To his surprise, Santa Claus actually LIKES children! These are notes a performer needs to know, man!

Seeing him play off the kids and Hartman is a blast. Speaking of which, one of the better gags is a fart joke that somehow proves how great an actor Master Thespian truly is. THANK YOUUUUUU!

Hanukkah Harry (1989)

Santa Claus (Phil Hartman) is violently ill with the flu, so it seems Christmas might be cancelled. Luckily, there is one man capable of fulfilling his obligations through the same kind of holiday magic. Hanukkah Harry (Jon Lovitz), Santa’s Jewish counterpart, is called in to help.

At its core, it’s a lengthy sketch about Jewish jokes and how lame Hanukkah is outside of it lasting eight days. Springing off of that, it actually makes for a really good, if a little touching, holiday story. There are definite laughs in there, but what was created to be a parody hits a little too close and becomes a genuine gem celebrating both holidays and the spirit of togetherness.

“On Moishe! On Herschel! On Schlomo!”

Motivational Santa (1993)

What started as a pep talk for troubled teens turned into Chris Farley’s iconic recurring character. Matt Foley, the thrice-divorced, sweaty, overweight man who lived in a van down by the river, crashed into our living rooms in 1993 and remained a fixture on SNL until Farley was fired from the show in 1995.

Sometimes a sketch is so successful that the writers are almost forced to bring one or more of its characters around again and Matt Foley was no exception. In one of the funnier times Matt Foley returned, he was hired to spread Christmas cheer as a motivational mall Santa, offering up this gem:

“‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the van Your ol’ buddy Matt fell asleep on the can. His children were nestled two time zones away, With his first wife and her husband, in sunny L.A. Matt woke up and realized with a chill and a quiver That he was living in a van down by the river!“

Though many of the same jokes and physical gags are recycled, Farley’s effort, from the painfully high pitch of his voice to crashing down the chimney, earns the Motivational Santa a place in SNL Christmas lore. 

Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah Song (1994)

Yes, we’ve heard Adam Sandler’s “The Hanukkah Song” a million times over, but we shouldn’t let that cloud our judgement. It’s one of the first clips that pops into your head when you think “SNL Holiday Sketches” and it will go down as a landmark moment when the history of “Weekend Update” is written 200 years from now. Sandler didn’t use his time to evoke images of being a Jew at Christmas, rather he chose to praise the Festival of Lights and name-drop all the famous people who celebrate it. Since debuting the song in 1994, Sandler’s updated it for his comedy albums and standup routine and given Jewish kids something other than “The Dreidel Song” to belt during during the holidays. Sandler’s clever, original moment is about as influential as it gets for any not-ready-for-prime time player.

It did lead to the movie Eight Crazy Nights, so it isn’t free from sin.

TV Funhouse: Fun with Real Audio (1997)

It’s rare for SNL to get poignant, but here’s a fantastic example. In this animated short, Jesus Christ returns to Earth and spends the first opening minutes being ignored and shoved into the background for disagreeing with televangelists who use his name to line their pockets with donations or to justify their hatred of homosexuals. These bits are, of course, animated over actual audio of said real life sociopaths. Jesus is able to give them their just desserts with his divine magic, but it bums him out.

Walking the city streets, unnoticed by the public at large, Jesus watches Christmas-themed TV through a store window and is disappointed with what he sees. That is, until he comes across Linus’ speech at the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas and we get a final moment that’s adorable, uplifting, and pretty hilarious.

NPR’S Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls (1998)

The dry, NPR-host banter between Ana Gasteyer’s Margaret Jo McCullen — who cheerfully admits that she leaves tap water and rice out for Santa because “Christmas foods really wreak havoc on the ol’ digestive system” — and Molly Shannon’s Teri Rialto as they discuss delectable Yuletide “balls” with Alec Baldwin’s Pete Schweddy is a can’t-miss skit. The trio makes monotone an art form, while remaining dedicated to the naivety of the characters involved. (In response to Alec Baldwin’s, “But the thing I most like to bring out this time of year are my balls,” their faces barely twitch.) It’s double entendre at its finest, and never fails to leave me in stitches.

Pete Schweddy returned in another episode where he introduced the women to his hotdogs, but having them show so much interest in putting his wiener in their mouths was a little too easy a joke to pull off.

I Wish It Was Christmas Today (2000-the heat death of the universe)

On one December episode, there was a short segment of Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, and Tracy Morgan playing a catchy, albeit incredibly stupid song about Christmas being on the way. Sanz played a skinny guitar while singing, Fallon occasionally pressed an elephant noise button on the keyboard, Kattan held the keyboard while shaking his head, and Morgan danced with a look on his face like he got dragged on stage against his will. It was silly and would have probably been forgotten soon after.

Instead, they returned a week later and insisted on playing it again despite being explicitly told not to. Soon they would start playing it during non-December months to show Christmas’ superiority over other holidays. After Simon Cowell insulted the group, he sheepishly agreed that he wanted to join them and broke out some maracas. One year, when Sanz was the only one left in the cast, he replaced his buddies with Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and Animal while Kermit the Frog danced in a way that you have to wonder if a Muppet is capable of snorting coke.

The song still gets brought out now and then, usually on Fallon’s show. It’s even been covered by Julian Casablancas and Cheap Trick of all people!

They did sing a completely different Christmas song one time, but nobody cared.

Glengarry Glen Elf: Christmas Motivation (2005)

Alec Baldwin seems to be the go-to host for classic Christmas sketches. Playing on his iconic Glengarry Glen Ross character Blake, Baldwin (in a way) reprises the role as 615-year-old “elf from the home office” sent to straighten out the subpar work of Santa’s elves. There couldn’t have been a more perfect break in character than when Baldwin says “Always Be Closing” instead of “Always Be Cobbling” as scripted. It’s a slip-up that makes for a perfect holiday sketch, full of deep-bellied laughs. 

TV Funhouse: Christmastime for the Jews (2005)

Not only is the witty “Christmas for the Jews” written by comedy legend Robert Smigel, but it’s sung by David Letterman’s Christmas angel Darlene Love. In “Christmas for the Jews,” the characters see “Fiddler on the Roof,” grab an early dinner, and enjoy dreamland Daily Show reruns. It’s an intriguing and catchy look at the other side of the Christmas season, complete with a very Rankin-Bass animation style.

Digital Short: Dick in a Box (2006)

Justin Timberlake is one of the most entertaining, versatile hosts that SNL has been gifted. A member of their prestigious Five-Timers Club, “Dick in a Box” is Timberlake’s most memorable sketch, filled with skeevy, disgusting come-ons from Andy Samberg and Timberlake, which has been viewed just millions and millions of times. In 2006, Timberlake had already impressed critics and viewers alike with his acting range in Alpha Dog, but his comedic turns on SNL solidified him as an actor. Timberlake has done a lot of impressive things in his time as an entertainer, but there are few more enjoyable (or laughable) than “Dick in a Box.”

These two R&B weirdos would return later on to sleep with each other’s moms as reciprocated Mother’s Day presents and later swear that being in a two-guy/one-girl three-way isn’t considered gay.

John Malkovich Reads ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (2008)

As quipped by the man himself, no one emits Christmas spirit quite like John Malkovich. This admission yields the self-reflexive irony of Malkovich reading “The Night Before Christmas” to the children of SNL’s staff. Malkovich, pausing during his reading of the holiday classic, asks the children about the suicide rate rising during the holidays, talking about how shooting a home invader in California is “perfectly legal,” musing about how the tonnage of Santa’s sleigh and reindeer would (scientifically speaking) burst into flames, how in Portugal their version of Saint Nicholas steals children’s toes, as well as reciting the gem: “You know what they say about hopes; they’re what we cling to when reality has left us nothing else.” If you’re in a lighthearted Christmas mood, Malkovich’s monologue is certainly one to enjoy.

Stefon on Holiday Travel (2010)

Bill Hader was highly respected for his versatility and range during his time at SNL, but it was his improvisational skills that turned a Weekend Update bit into a must-see recurring segment. Stefon, likely the defining character for SNL during the 2010s thus far, informed New Yorkers and tourists alike of the city’s hottest nightclubs – with Hader almost always breaking down in laughter as his cue cards were frequently changed from the rehearsal to throw him off.

Stefon knew how to get weird and you can imagine he’d save some fun things for the a “classic New York holiday.” Make sure to check out the Lower, Lower East Side dump hosted by Tranderson Cooper or find a club with the right amount of Puerto Rican Screeches or Gay Aladdins. Just don’t run over the Human Parking Cones.

Stefon would return with more Christmastime insight three years later, where he’d discuss a club called [loud Tauntaun noises], founded by Jewish cartoon character Menorah the Explorer.

Under-Underground Crunkmas Karnival (2010)

Good God, I wish there were more Under-Underground Records sketches. As a parody of the Gathering of the Juggalos, we’d regularly see DJ Supersoak (Jason Sudeikis) and Lil Blaster (Nasim Pedrad) excitedly talk up huge concert events that are needlessly violent and inexplicable in their randomness. For instance, there’s the Crunkmas Karnival, which features such musical acts as Dump, Boys II Dicks, Scrotum Fire, and…Third Eye Blind for some reason.

It’s just a bunch of loud humor that goes back and forth between being stupidly hardcore and being meekly out of left field. Yes, you can go check out a “dong tug-of-war,” but you can also see a special 2D screening of the Owls of Ga’hoole or meet Spaceballs star Pizza the Hut. Not to mention the return of their most fondly remembered running gag, the endless undying and dying of Ass Dan.

This Christmas-based event will take place in February. Sounds about right.

Ornaments (2011)

Every now and then, SNL will do a sketch towards the end of the show where the guest will talk about whichever holiday is coming up and awkwardly go into one of the aspects of it, such as Easter eggs or Halloween candy. In this instance, it’s Steve Buscemi unloading a box of Christmas ornaments and commenting on each one. All the while, Kristen Wiig plays Sheila, his girlfriend who appears to be more than a little off and doesn’t quite grasp tree decorating.

Buscemi’s descriptions range from delightful non-humor to outlandish and disturbing. He might make an intentionally lame joke about one ornament before holding up another and matter-of-factly letting you know that, “I put this one up my butt.”

And somehow he’s still the straight man in this bit.

You’re a Rat Bastard Charlie Brown (2012)

This sketch is centered on Bill Hader playing Al Pacino, playing Charlie Brown. The rest of the cast turns out bang-up impressions as well: Jason Sudeikis playing Philip Seymour Hoffman playing Pigpen, Kate McKinnon as Edie Falco playing Lucy (as Charlie Brown’s drug peddling therapist, causing a holiday-blues Charlie to say, “Oh yeah…I want something to take me sky high!”), Martin Short playing Larry David playing Linus, Taran Killam doing Michael Keaton as Schroeder, and Cecily Strong as Fran Drescher as Charlie Brown’s mother, all performed in front of a baffled childhood audience.

For anyone who grew up watching Charlie Brown and Co., watching Bill Hader/Al Pacino/Charlie Brown unleash the expletive-laden “You’re gonna hold that f***ing football?!” towards Kate McKinnion/Edie Falco/Lucy, and saying, “Ow, you bitch!” after she pulls it away is absolutely to die for.

Jebidiah Atkinson on Holiday Movies (2013)

For a time, Taran Killam played Jebidiah Atkinson, a Weekend Update character based on how an old newspaper editorial was discovered that panned Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Atkinson, somehow still alive, would appear and read review snippets about other big speeches he hated.

One of his return appearances had him discuss holiday specials and movies. Every single one of them he hates. Every single one of them gets roasted. His vicious energy is so over-the-top that the good jokes land and the bad jokes still get a laugh from the misplaced confidence. Over these several minutes, he screams about how much of a depressing bore A Charlie Brown Christmas is, how the Grinch stole a half hour of his life, and how every time they play It’s a Wonderful Life, an angel blows its brains out.

This one is admittedly a bit dated with its biggest joke, where his distaste for Snoopy is so great that he wishes Family Guy killed him off instead of Brian. The horror from the audience still makes it worth it.

St. Joseph’s Christmas Mass Spectacular (2014)

Ah, Christmas Mass. The drum solo for every childhood during Christmas time. It’s uncomfortable and especially boring. Ergo, liven it up by framing it as a big, in-your-face event via what amounts to a monster truck rally commercial!

It’s a brilliant use of contrast. Take an event that is so mundane with so many familiar and shared experiences and treat it like it’s some extreme thing. The familiarity of the pastor making corny jokes that get the most minor of laughs is treated like a once-in-a-lifetime event. It shines a light on the weird tics of the prominent people you see at church and feels amazingly universal.

The SNL cast is fantastic here, but the MVP is Cecily Strong as the middle-age woman who is way into doing a reading in the loudest, most overly articulate speaking voice possible.

Sump’N Claus (2014)

Getting gifts from Santa Claus is great and all, but when you grow up, you realize how hard it truly is to be nice all year round. Luckily, there’s an alternative. Introduced via an extremely catchy song, we meet Sump’n Claus (Keenan Thompson), a pimp-like offshoot of Santa who not only used to work for St. Nick, but also appears to have some dirt on him.

Sump’n Claus sings several verses about people who have had breakdowns and would be thrown onto the naughty list. Sump’n Claus doesn’t care about that. You be you. Every December, he’ll still be there to hand you an envelope full of twenties and fifties. He’s the holiday mascot for adults, basically.

One of the highlights is how he mentions that Santa is not your friend as friends don’t watch you while you’re sleeping.

The Christmas Candle (2016)

Christmas has been saved by many different things: ghosts who see through time, an angel trying to earn his wings, a reindeer’s glowing nose, New Yorkers singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and so on. Then again, sometimes you need a savior for something with lower stakes.

In the form of a mid-1990s all ladies group that gives me kind of a Celine Dion vibe, we’re given a wonderful song that starts with the tale of a woman who had to get a coworker a gift for Secret Santa. She found an old peach candle in her closet and just gave her that. The second verse is a similar situation where not only is a peach candle given as a throwaway gift to an acquaintance, but it’s THE SAME candle. Yes, somehow this one peach candle is re-gifted across the globe through latter December by women and gay men who couldn’t be bothered to put thought into their presents.

Truly a miracle.

First Impression (2018)

Beck Bennett plays a guy about to finally meet his girlfriend’s (Melissa Villaseñor) parents and he’s nervous as hell. She assures him that he’ll be fine, but he really wants to impress them. Sure enough, he tries to impress them in the weirdest way by hiding somewhere in the house and speaking in a high-pitched voice in order to dare them to find him. Her parents (Jason Momoa and Heidi Gardner) are notably confused, as is she.

It’s already a strange and silly bit, but Jason Momoa shifts it into gear by suddenly being COMPLETELY into it. Removing his jacket with purpose, Momoa excitedly starts searching the house for this guy. The fact that Momoa is playing an overweight 60-year-old man is enough of a novelty, but he brings this oddball zest to the role as he starts to literally tear the home to pieces in order to get a look at his daughter’s elusive boyfriend.

The boyfriend’s plans here are both overly complicated and half-baked, culminating in an ending that’s as happy as it’s inexplicable and off-putting.

North Pole News Report (2019)

When Eddie Murphy returned to SNL, there was much fanfare. A completely solid episode, it admittedly spent too much of its runtime revisiting his old recurring classics like Mr. Robinson, Gumby, and Velvet Jones. The final sketch of the night goes full blast with his manic energy as he plays an elf eyewitness on the elf news, screaming bloody murder about a horrible tragedy. Mikey Day is reporter Donny Chestnut, looking at the destruction of a toy factory. As he tries to make heads or tails of what’s going on, Murphy bursts onto the scene, screaming about a polar bear attacking the elves and eating them like Skittles. And just screaming in general.

The best line comes from the elf (who keeps declaring, “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT MY NAME IS!”) bringing over one of the survivors, and noting that, “This white, teenage elf girl ran out here, straight up to me – a black elf in sweatpants – and asked me to keep her safe. That’s how bad it is!” Despite this elf being right about the situation, Donny Chestnut keeps trying to sideline him for being increasingly erratic about Santa’s potential role in the slaughter and what it means for Christmas. Even as he trips over some of his lines, Eddie Murphy is so damn precious here.

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!

December to Remember Car Commercial (2020)

It might be in bad form to include a sketch from this very year, but man, this joke is not only long overdue, but the acting is top notch. Heidi Gardner’s barely repressed rage is something special.

You’ve seen the commercial a million times. It’s Christmas morning and someone reveals a brand new car to a loved one. As part of Lexus’ December to Remember, Beck Bennett reveals a brand new Lexus with a giant bow to his wife (Gardner) and their son (Timothée Chalamet). What initially appears as shock turns out to be fury and confusion over what is a selfish and short-sighted decision. Buying a car is a huge deal and isn’t something you don’t tell your significant other. More than that, Bennett’s character hasn’t been employed for about a year and a half and has no way of affording such a thing. The thread is pulled away, unraveling both how much of an idiot he is and how doomed their family life happens to be.

Then neighbor Mikey Day shows up and it hits another level. Beck Bennett is the expert at playing guys with misplaced confidence who haven’t come close to thinking things through.

The post The 25 Best SNL Holiday Sketches appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Which is our favourite extant recorded production of: -Le Prophète -Les Huguenots -Don Carlo(s) -Rigoletto

I might be misunderstanding a little bit, but I do believe you are asking about filmed performances, so here goes nothing:

Le prophète: there are only two available filmed recordings of this opera. I’ve seen one and I legit TRIED to watch the other but the overall quality of the video is so bad (and I just wasn’t a huge fan of the overall performance) that I gave up about halfway through Act II. Thus, by default, my answer is Toulouse 2017, although I will say that that is an excellent performance and production in general, and it would win even not by default.

Les Huguenots: While there isn’t a single production out there that is completely satisfying, I’d say the one that comes closest is Montpellier 1990, which has an all-around solid lead cast, great choral work, and few cuts (especially given that the critical edition wasn’t even close to being a thing yet).

Don Carlo(s): Hmm...probably ROH 1985 in large part for sentimental reasons (it was my first), but both iterations of the current ROH/Met coproduction were excellent as well. The recent Vienna one had its flaws but it’s probably my favorite in French. There are others I love.

Rigoletto: Again, primarily for sentimental reasons, I’d probably say the 80s movie with Wixell, Gruberova, and Pavarotti; however I did (a little surprisingly for me) VERY much enjoy the Met Vegas production and I still think about it a lot. ‘Twas an excellent show.

[canigetuhhhhsomenerdyshit]

2 to 25 but im reaaaaal tempted to ask for all the asks 👍

You are my favorite. I did the ones you asked for and just a few of the ones you didn’t.

2. What’s going on between you and the last person you kissed? We ended things; weren’t enough sparks.

3. If your boyfriend or girlfriend was into drugs, would you care? Well, I mean, no hard drugs, but some loopylettuce and the occasional shroom is fine by me.

4. Is your last name longer than six letters? It IS six letters.

5. Was your last kiss drunk or sober? Sober; I’ve yet to experience a drunk kiss, but I’m sure they’re great.

6. Have you ever wanted to have someone but you messed it up? To be so very honest, I don’t usually getfar enough to mess it up. I just bury my feelings until something elsedistracts me.

7. What does your last received text say? Lmao from my dad, he sent a picture of dinner and the caption is‘Zucchini Boat Pizza!!!’

8. How many times have you kissed the last person you kissed? Justonce; I didn’t want to lead her on :(

9. Where was your last kiss at? Myfront door; twas a goodnight kiss.

10. When is the last time you saw your sister? A few hours ago!

11. What do you drink in the morning? Water; I hardly ever remember to drink anything, so if I’m drinking, Itry to make it water.

12. Where did you sleep last night? My temporary home.

13. Do you think relationships are hard? They can be, but if they weren’t, you would never really know eachother. When things are hard, you see how people really are.

14. If you could go back and change something in the past 5 months,would you? Surprisingly, I don’t think Iwould.

15. You’re locked in a room with the last person you kissed, any problems?Nope, let her down easy and we’re nowfriendly acquaintances.

16. Would you rather it be sunny or rainy? Ooohh…If I’m inside, rainy, outside, sunny. Love me a tan but also lovestorms.

17. Do you know anyone with the same middle name as you? Nope!

18. Are you wearing jeans,sweatpants,or pajama pants? I am wearing shorts made out of none ofthat.

19. Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 years from now? Literally I have no fuckin’ idea. I loveit.

20. Does anyone like you? Ithink??? Maybe? Time will tell.

21. Have you ever kissed someone with a name that starts with an S? Nah.

22. Is the last person you kissed gay? Lmao duh

23. Is there a person you CANNOT stand? Yeah, my old boss. Fuckin’ bitch.

24. Have you ever considered getting a tattoo? I got one! Lil solar system on my arm.

25. In the past week have you cried? Nope! I hardly ever cry; I used to keep track of how long it had been,but one rough week made that so confusing, I just deleted it.

38. When you say you’re sorry do you mean it? If I say anything, I mean it. I live the most honest life I can, ‘causefuck liars.40. What made you start liking the person you like now? They make me laugh.

44. Does anyone disgust you? Thecurrent POTUS.45. Would you date someone right now if they asked? I’d have to really know them; I don’t dedicate that much time tosomething unless I really fuckin mean it.46. Are you in a good mood right now? Relativelyspeaking.51. Do you hate the person you fell hardest for? Nah, I kinda owe him one. Helped me grow, albeit indirectly.

53. Do you like rain? It’s in myname to love it.55. Have you ever liked somebody and never told them? Bitch, have I ever liked somebody and EVER told them? Spoiler alert: theanswer is no.  56. Do you like to cuddle? Ilove it. Wish I could be a part of it someday.57. Are you shy? Used to be! No longer.60. What do you carry with you at all times? My phone, my discount card for work, my keys, my watch, usually somegum…64. The person you like kisses you on the forehead, do you find this cute? If the person I like kissed me on theforehead, I would think about it for at least a week straight. Very, very cute.65. Did anything “cute” happen in the last week? A guy played a song that he showed me on the guitar, which was magicaltbh. Uhhh a boy called me pumpkin, and even though it was a joke, it made mehappy. 85. What’s the last movie you saw in theaters? I saw Christopher Robin yesterday!! Very good, exactly what I needed.

[seeksstaronmewni]

Saving the Day before Bedtime in Style: The Powerpuff Girls Then vs. Now

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.

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)...

...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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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​...

...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.

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...

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:

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...

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)...

...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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Speaking of location, current episodes have new places like The Snooty Rose and Penguin Pete’s...

...but what about Pete’s-a Pizza, Malph’s and La Donut King Donut?

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Prior to that, of course, the former emotions are also very wild and creative...

...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).

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.

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)

[marlosbooknook]

The Time of Our Lives- Ch.1

Ho Ho Ho! Santa is here for @owlish-peacock36! Sorry it took so long to finally get something written, but I hope you like what I’ve whipped up for you! since you gave me no restrictions, I thought I’d run with an idea i’ve had in my head for quite some time now! if you remember the clues I sent way back in what felt like the beginning time, you’ll remember that my present for you is inspired by a classic 80′s movie starring a late, great heartthrob! Well, that mystery movie is DIRTY DANCING, one of my favorite movies of all time! Even if you haven’t seen the movie (which you definitely should because it rocks), I hope you still like your fic! I’m having a great time writing it! So for all you readers, and @owlish-peacock36 in particular- Enjoy!

xoxo- Marlo (the not so secret anymore santa)

The Catskills, Summer, 1963

The beat up station wagon bumped along the narrow, winding roadway, laden with with the weight of its three passengers as well as an exorbitant amount of luggage. Commanding the vehicle was Henry Beauchamp, eyes intent on the road, with the lowered window blowing back his salt-and pepper hair. Seated next to him, delicately poised on the edge of her seat, sat his wife, Julia. Het cat-eyed sunglasses sat perched on the bridge of her nose as she flipped through the pages of a mystery novel. And crammed between the luggage in the back of the car, a misshapen shape of knees and elbows, sat Claire Beauchamp. She ran a hand though her mop of unruly brown curls, pushing back the strands that were slick to her forehead in sweat. She was deeply engrossed in her own reading; a medical journal she had stolen from the Oxford University library, the school she would be attending in the fall.

Her parents, called this trip a last hurrah, a final voyage as a family to visit her Uncle Lamb at his resort in Pennsylvania. They flew across the Atlantic, bags in hand, and immediately began the next part of their journey, in a shoddy rental car Claire was appalled to learn did not have air conditioning. If she were being honest, this was the last place she would like to be. She would be far more content in her cozy home in Oxfordshire, peeling through books of medical research in an attempt to prepare herself for the year to come.

“Claire, did you hear that?” Julia questioned.

“Mhm? Oh, no. Sorry. I was reading.”

“Your father said we were only a few minutes away now!” The excitement in Julia’s voice was palpable, but Claire could do little to share in the enthusiasm.

Joy, bloody joy! She thought to herself, snickering.

“Did you say something sweetie?”

“Oh no. Nothing at all!”

The gravel road sloped into concrete as the resort grew in from of them. Beauchamp Lodgings: Your Home Away From Home  the massive sign read in bold bright letters.

Claire scoffed as she wondered how her uncle had come to this. Without any children or wife, Quentin Lambert Beauchamp had traveled the world as an archaeologist, and Claire was eager to hear his stories of the deserts of Egypt of the heights of the Himalayas. It astounded her that something about this remote forest spoke to him and beckoned him to build a permanent home. Claire gazed out the window, observing the scene. Scattered bungalows law across the vibrant green grass. Happy faces strolled across the pathways, engaged in vibrant conversation, and decked in all their resort finery. As the car came to a stop, the car lurched forward, and Claire smashed her head on the back of the seat in front of her.

“Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!” Claire cried, clutching her hand to her forehead.

‘Language, Claire.” Henry admonished, but she could clearly see the smile creeping across his face. Claire opened the car door, and stepped into the bright summer sun. The light was astounding, and she momentarily felt like she had ascended into a separate plane of existence. But the aching muscles of being shoved directly from an airplane into a crowded car quickly sent her crashing back to reality. She jumped around in an attempt to stretch, rolling her joints and breathing a sigh of relief at the audible pop in her neck. A chuckle behind her sent Claire whirling around, crashing directly into a wall of muscle. She craned her neck to see who had so rudely laughed at her discomfort, and were momentarily taken aback by the figure before her. A pair of warm blue- eyes, crinkled with mirth greeted her, placed on an angular face, dotted to copper stubble. He has his red hair slicked back from his face, but Claire could see it curling cherub-like at the nape of his neck.  What she had run into was his  muscular frame, clearly visible through the thin white material of his tea shirt, and Claire could see a few curling strands of red chair creeping up above the neckline.

` Embarrassment flooded Claire’s features, realizing that the stranger was laughing at her peculiar post- car ride spectacle. She felt a flush creeping up her cheeks, crimson enough to match the hair of her mystery companion. He laughed again, and Claire’s mortification quickly dissipated and was replaced with a red hot anger.

“Can I help you?” She questioned, placing her hands on her tips in an effort to look intimidating. Clearly it failed, as the ginger giant only laughed harder. Fuming, Claire stuck her nose up at him. “ What exactly do you find so goddamn funny?

The man paused, taken aback by Claire’s language, but she was in no mood to back down. She arched one eyebrow in question, daring him to answer.

“I was laughing at you, lass! Ye made yourself look like quite the sight with your flailing about.”

It was Claire’s turn to be taken aback. “You’re a scot!”

“Aye. I am. And you’re an english woman if I’ve ever seen one. I take it you’re Quentin’s niece?”

“I am. How could you tell?”

“Ye have the same air as him. Stubborn. I like it.”

Claire struggled to piece together a response. She barely knew this man, and yet he was already complimenting her on traits he didn’t even know she possessed. Her friends had warned her about this type of boy, the type who oozed charisma and sent all girls within a 10-mile radius weak in the knees. She was not about to fall into his trap.

But before she had time to issue a clever retort, she was enveloped in the warm embrace of her Uncle, who seemingly appeared out of thin air.

“There’s my favorite girl!” His amber eyes, which matched Claire’s own, sparkled in excitement, and she held her back and looked her over from head to toe. “You’ve grown into quite the beauty, my dear. Wouldn’t you say so Jamie?”

He fixed his eyes upon the stranger, and it was Claire’s turn to smirk. His name was Jamie.

“Aye.” He replied, unsure of himself. “She’s a bonnie lass.”

“Indeed she is. And you best stay away from her!”

Claire and Jamie both turned and looked at Lamb in shock.

“I am only kidding! I’m glad you to have met! Claire, this is James Fraser, our resident dance instructor. He is one of a kind! You should go to one of his classes while you’re here”

Claire nodded, and Jamie stuck out his hand, which completely enveloped Claire’s on. “Please, just call me Jamie. ”

Claire felt herself shiver at the way he said her name. It was lilting, almost like a foreign language. She had never thought of her name as being beautiful until her heard it with his Scottish tongue.

He pulled his hand away, and Claire could still feel the warmth radiating off of her own palm. She was sure she looked like a dumbstruck fool.

Jamie smiled at her, and Claire felt herself smiling back, as though her muscles were acting completely on their own accord.

“Jamie, could you help bring the Beauchamp’s belonging to villa 10?” Uncle Lamb asked.

“Aye.” He turned to walk away. “‘Twas a pleasure to meet you, sassenach. I’ll be seeing you around” And then he was gone, suitcases in and, making his way down the gravel walkway before disappearing around a corner.

Uncle Lamb escorted Claire and her family inside the main building, chatting absentmindedly with his brother and sister-in-law. But Claire, couldn’t resist one more quick glance behind her, and swore she saw a mop of red hair quickly dart away.

Yes. she thought to herself I suppose we’ll be seeing much more of each other.

[weneverlearn]

"Our kids were conceived to that one.”

Chewing the fat with Marshall Crenshaw about his 1983 classic, just reissued on Intervention Records

It’s not often you get one of your all time favorite albums from your dentist.

So I’m in 9th grade, and making back and forths in the parents’ station wagon to the dental school at Case Western Reserve University because my four top front teeth were all agog. (My mom figured it was because I’d fallen down the basement stairs when I was one and landed on my face.) Numerous visits that included poking, prodding, and endless numbing shots into the inside of the top jaw was no way to enter the high school years. But having a hep craw doc helped. 

Dr. Sasthma (”It’s like asthma, but with an S” -- funny guy) was his name, and between spit suction and implorations to floss more, we fit in fun music discussions. On the last visit right before the big pulling and twisting procedure, Sasthma sits me down and says, “This one today ain’t gonna be easy, but I’ve got a little prize for you afterwards.” And for the next hour and a half, I sat there with my mouth open (some would say that would not be out of the ordinary), while the doc poked around and made chin-scratching/brow-furrowing decisions, all while my jaw muscles started to atrophy.

Finally, when it was done, he reaches behind the giant dentist chair claw machine thing and pulls out Marshall Crenshaw’s debut album (Warner Bros., 1982). After I had regaled him with how much I liked “Someday, Someway” at the previous visit, he said he tracked down the album for me, though the shrink wrap had been peeled. “Well, I had to give it a listen, and yeah, it’s great!”

L-R: Robert Crenshaw, Marshall Crenshaw, Chris Donato - Photographer unknown

Not only did that little act make me much more tolerant of dentist visits going forward, it gave me one of my favorite albums. Crenshaw’s revived Buddy Holly-meets-nervous with opening pickup lines pop classicism was like a fresh, new toothbrush over all the dreary, dusty, classic rock of my Cleveland radio dial depression, until I took a sharp left into college radio that summer where I first heard Crenshaw, and a lot more. (Thanks WCSB, WRUW, and WUJC!) 

It’s hard to imagine today, hearing Crenshaw’s should-couldabeen power pop nuggets, but his clean looks and simple two-minute tunes made him a little too throwback odd for mainstream radio back then. Who knows or cares, as he still piled up an impressive major label canon before furthering into a long-running career of solid albums and consistent touring. The days of figuring out the whys and hows of mainstream radio play now seems about as useful as wondering how to get better reception on your TV.

Crenshaw’s sophomore album, Field Day (Warner Bros., 1983)? Maybe even better, filled with a slightly wider songwriting palette and production to match it. The term “sophomore album” never fit better for me, as it landed right around my sophomore year, and was a perfect companion on my journey into hook-heavy rock’n’roll obsession and mythical, sun-setting summer romance mythology/reality. 

So imagine my excitement when I got a press release about an impending reissue of Field Day. Despite it’s initial hefty, if brief, publicity push, Top 40-sniffing hit single (”Whenever You’re on My Mind”), and big time producer (Steve Lillywhite), the record didn’t (say it with me) “sell as much as hoped for.” And though Crenshaw did not fall into the usual “got dropped” holes (three more major label albums followed), Field Day did lag just a bit behind the CD explosion, having fallen out of print, and was never given a proper CD version for a few years. 

I only point this out because, goddamn it, it’s a perfect guitar pop record and is one of the best of that fleeting, early-80s moment where bright-eyed corners of the record industry hoped the world might once again embrace melancholy-flecked, otherwise blue-sky singalong songs. ‘Twas that “skinny tie” moment where loads of slacks-sporting Midwesterners parlayed punk’s energy into their pre-teen guitar lessons filled with Beatles covers. And in even that, Crenshaw did not exactly fit -- kind of the front tooth along my otherwise straight top row.

Upstart vinyl reissue label, Intervention Records -- who seem to have a knack for snaring ol’ major label titles from oblivion --  recently released a fine, vinyl-only edition of Field Day, including an extra 12″ EP of remix and live stuff, and different artwork.

I caught up with Crenshaw internet-wise to get his take on the new update of his old classic. 

If memory serves, I saw you play "High School" by the MC5 at an outdoor BBQ fest thing in downtown Cleveland in, like, 1985/6. Any memories of that, and did you cover that tune often? 

I remember that event in Cleveland, like a fried-chicken festival, right? I remember that we used "The Greasy Chicken,” by Andre Williams as walk-on music that day (and on other days). The MC5 song would've been "Tonight.” I never played "High School,” except with DKT-MC5 in 2004. I played "Tonight" a lot over the years. I grew up in the Detroit area, was a big MC5 fan. "Tonight" was sort of a local hit single, got played on CKLW. A band that I was in played it at an audition for a dance at our high school, and I can still picture a girl sitting in front of me watching me play and sing that song, really enthralled by what we were doing. That girl was Ione. She and I are still together.

You grew up in Detroit, right? When did you move, and what were some early influences from living in Detroit, music and otherwise?

I lived in the Detroit area from birth (1953) until 1977, grew up with Rock and Roll music all around me, fell in love with the music during childhood. Detroit was a big test market for records. There were lots of regional hits, on national and local labels. Two that immediately come to mind are, "When You Walk In the Room" by Jackie DeShannon, and "Mind Over Matter" by Nolan Strong and The Diablos -- both massive Detroit hits, both part of my musical DNA. As far as influences besides music go, I don't know where to start. That could turn into a book.

Though the only book Crenshaw has done so far was this excellent compendium of rock’n’roll movies; also, his musical knowledge goes deep. If you can do so, track down this amazing hillbilly compilation he put together in 1989.

Field Day, in title and cover art, was a reference to high school, I assume. But I remember some reviews saying that that record was a kind of more mature version of you -- bigger production, some more serious themes, etc. So what was your inspiration for the high school nod?

I had nothing whatsoever to do with creating the packaging for that record. When we finished recording, I went on vacation with Ione and Robert to visit Robert's girlfriend at the time. She was working on location outside Prague on the movie Amadeus (which I've still never seen. I should see it, I saw it being made). And when I got back, the album cover had been put together by my then-manager. His father co-owned a big company that published magazines. My manager had worked for that company for a minute, and thought that the presentation of images was something that he knew something about. I hated the album’s front cover, got talked into approving it. OOPS! I don't think Warners was pleased that instead of using their art department, he'd hired an expensive design firm to create such a dodgy end-product. He came up with the title; I do like the title, didn't think of high school when he suggested it. "Having a field day" is just a figure of speech, doesn't refer to high school, necessarily. It just means "having a great time,” and indeed we really had a great time making the album.

It said the art for this reissue is how you originally intended. 

I wanted to change the front cover for the reissue, was extremely happy that Intervention Records was into the idea. The only thing that made sense was to use some pre-existing artwork from the time period, namely the front of the picture sleeve for the "Whenever You're On My Mind” 7″.

I just loved Field Day when it came out. I am sure you are more than aware of the "debates" over the production -- which to me made total sense for those songs and that point of your career. What is your take on what you asked of Steve Lillywhite, and how you felt it turned out, back then?

I'm really glad that you like it. I know that the album was "controversial" in the day. I think that all the criticism it got back then was completely lame. When I listened to the first playback of the finished mixes, I had my feet up on the edge of the console; I thought, “This is an album that can kick the world's ass.” We all loved working with Steve. He was the only producer that I talked to going in, my first choice. He said yes right away, and that was that.

I'll assume you were involved in this reissue. What were your thoughts on revisiting it?

I heard about the reissue project after it was already underway, and was just delighted about it. I'd even say that I felt a sense of gratitude that somebody wanted to honor the album, which is what Intervention has done. As a career experience, "Field Day" was an instance where the party-train just ran right into the ditch. I loved the album, didn't get why some people were perplexed by it. I got the test pressing from Intervention and was knocked out. It's just a unique and beautiful Rock and Roll record, if you ask me. And the people at Intervention love it as much as I do.

Your’s truly probably bugging Crenshaw about the MC5 again, post-back alley gig, August, 2012, NYC

Any good stories during the recording of Field Day? In-studio disputes, after-session shenanigans, anything like that?

I don't remember any disputes until after the record was done -- then the shit-storm began. We had nothing but fun while doing it, and there was a festive atmosphere at the sessions. They were all at night, and afterwards we'd go out. I remember going one night to the Roxy Roller Rink disco on the West Side with Steve and a couple of the other guys. This was when hip-hop was first starting to come downtown. When we finally got out of there it was broad daylight. "Monday Morning Rock" was partly inspired by that night...

"Whenever You're on My Mind" was a demo for awhile before it appeared on Field Day, right? How come it didn't make it onto the debut?

I wrote that one before I wrote most of the songs on my first album. When I did the first album I wanted to do all the newer ones first. I'm always most excited about whatever the new thing is. But then, going into "Field Day," I was really glad to have "Whenever" in reserve. And I'm glad that it got recorded when it did, under those circumstances.

The instrumental of "Blues is King" from that era is one of my favorite instrumentals, and just has one of those, maybe accidental, gorgeous, simple demo production vibes. Was that originally an instrumental and you decided to add lyrics later, or what?

I did that instrumental version after I'd written the music; the lyrics didn't happen until a few months later. I do like it as just a piece of instrumental music. And those are Mosrite guitars, which I love the sound of.

Field Day standout, "Our Town" -- when you made Field Day, I believe you'd been living in NYC for awhile. Did you pine to get on a train back to Detroit sometimes? What were the bad and good things about trying to get your music career going in NYC in the very early 1980s?

I never pined to get back to Detroit (although I like visiting there now). That song was written about New York. I'd been on the road for most of a year when I wrote it. I did take a train to Detroit once, from NYC. It was during the last days when Michigan Central Station was still being used by Amtrak. I'd never seen the station during it's heyday, but when I got there it looked not that different than what it looks like now, like an absolute wreck. I still remember the look on my mother's face standing there waiting for me. She looked like she felt ashamed, and like, "You had to take the train and make me go through this, right?" Getting my music career going in NYC in the early '80s was a blast. The scene embraced us right away. It was like dying and going to heaven. 

Did you find yourself attracted to the CBGB scene at the time? 

Yes, we played CBGB many times. I think we even held an attendance record there for a minute, or maybe I dreamt that. But our last couple shows there were mob scenes. I really had my ears and mind open in all different directions during those years in New York, and I can't overstate how much I loved the NY scene then, with all it's diversity, innovation, etc. I'm still proud to have been part of it. And I'm including NY radio in this declaration. I had lots of great go-to stations like WBLS and WKTU ("urban"), WLIB (Caribbean music), WFMU (free-form), WKCR (Jazz), WNYU, with "The Afternoon Show,” and the "Wavebreaker" countdown on Fridays, WNEW ('cause they played us). On and on...

There were a ton of "skinny tie" power pop bands around in the very early '80s too, many from the Midwest. Did you play with the Shoes, Knack, Romantics, Plimsouls, etc.? Were there ones that stuck out for you? I feel like you weren't roped into that signing frenzy trend though.

I played with The Plimsouls in NY once. I loved them, became friends with Peter [Case] back then. But one of my fears in those days was that anybody might lump us in with that Anglophile “skinny tie” thing. I hated most of it, not all of it. I didn't like The Knack, didn't identify with what they were doing, didn't want anybody to identify us with what they were doing. I feel bad saying so, but I'm answering your question. Again, we came out of the NY club scene which was really diverse and eclectic. I wanted our stuff to reflect that as best I could. Another one of my fears, since we took off so fast in NY, was that somebody might tag us as the "Next Big Thing,” and unfortunately that did happen. I had a real sense of doom when I read all that stuff about my first album in Rolling Stone.

Oh, also, we were never part of any signing frenzy. We got our record deal by packing out every NY club we played at, getting our stuff on "mainstream" FM rock radio when they never played local bands on indie labels. We earned it the way you did back then.

"What Time Is It?" -- how did you decide on that cover? I assume you were a big doo wop fan. Once you got to NYC, did you get to play with or meet any old doo wop favorites?

I don't think that happened, but now I wish that it had. It would've been great to meet Randy and The Rainbows, for instance. "Denise" is one of those records that gets me every time. Or Eugene Pitt of The Jive Five. It's too bad I never met him, even after I covered their tune (actually a Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer tune, but anyway).

Can you tell me about the making of the "Whenever You're on My Mind" video? Were you one of those who was suspicious of videos back then?

Hahahahaha! By the time we did that one I was really enthusiastic about videos, wanted us to get on that bandwagon. It seemed like most of my favorite ones were British, so we went over there and found a British director. I'm laughing thinking about it now. We tried.

Finally, where would you rank Field Day in your catalog? 

I was really on my game just then. It was some kind of a pinnacle, as far as that moment in my life goes. And it seems to be my most beloved album. People tell me all kinds of things about it, like, "Our kids were conceived to that one.”

[lextenou]

The Gayest Bunch of Songs I Ever Did Hear

AKA The Songs That Helped Lead to My Sexual Awakening.

I love music. I love having something playing in the background. I apparently know a lot of songs, if my record at pub quiz is any indication. In this spirit, I’ve curated this list of songs that mean something to me as part of my journey from child to adult.

Many a year ago, as but a spritely lad, I saw a movie. ‘Twas a rather pedestrian movie, all told, but well casted and well framed teen movie. What really threw it over the top was the blatantly “fuck you, I am in charge of me” feminist slant that the movie took. A baby Yeardley Smith was in it - notable as this was released three years before she would take on her lifetime role of Lisa Simpson. 

She was not what caught my eye and my burgeoning interest. No, that honor was reserved for the lead and namesake of the movie, Helen Slater. In her role as the confused and desperate teenager Billie Jean, Slater managed to create in me a respect for the autonomy of self, and a lifelong deep seated weakness for blondes with short hair. 

All told, The Legend of Billie Jean occupies a special place. Ostensibly inoffensive, it has as its crux the story of a girl who deals with unceasing, unrelenting soul crushing beatdowns of spirit. But then! In taking up protection for her brother, she finds in herself the will to stand up, fight, and demand what’s fair. Indeed, the mantra of “Fair is fair” rings throughout the movie, and the slimy douchebaggery of a crotch grabbing ass spelunking ephebophile attempting to convince her to accept payment in the form of his dick throws her past the breaking point. 

At which point there’s kidnapping and running from the law. 

The main song, and indeed, the theme of the movie is Pat Benatar’s “Invincible”. The video includes the standard clips from the movie, including scenes of Slater both before and after she cuts off her hair. Also, no, she and Christian are not actually brother and sister despite playing siblings in the movie.

I went through a lot of changes in 1999. Not the least of which was mourning the passing of the Prince song “1999″, I also had a magnificent few months in San Francisco, where I first listened to The Butches. Comprised of Kaia Wilson, Alison Martlew and Melissa York, they were iconic and pioneering. Every bit as much as Wilson’s first major band, Team Dresch, The Butchies managed to find an accessible and aggressive sound rooted firmly in dyke loving. 

Seeing them at San Francisco Pride remains a highlight of my life. 

While “Send Me You” is their most perfect song, “Sex (I’m a Lesbian)” was the first track from them that I ever ran across while silently tapping at my keyboard after everyone else had gone to bed. It’s frenetic energy rises and ebbs, bringing the listener to an abrupt crescendo that leaves you gasping. 

Much like an orgasm. 

Listening to The Butchies reminds me of a very simple adage: fuck ‘em. I owe no one an explanation for who I am. 

If you ever look them up, they are also quite attractive. I highly recommend it. 

The late 90′s had rather a zeitgeist of queer culture coming to the public. Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures burst on the scene, leaving everyone stunned that such a horrific murder could be made into such a beautiful movie. Lillith Faire was touring - and releasing compilation albums. 

I had the chance to snag one of those compilation samplers. Lillith Fair 1998 New Music Sampler had as track three “Everything for Free” from K’s Choice. 

From the moment I first heard Sarah Betten’s voice, I was captivated. Fronting the band along with her brother Gert, The band took a break a year after Sarah came out in 2002. They have formed and re-formed in the years since, and her solo work was able to be heard in numerous places, including on queer shows. K’s Choice did also perform “Virgin State of Mind” on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It is difficult to say which era of the band, or which of her solo songs is my favorite. At different times, each one has spoken to me in different ways. “Stay” is a beautifully sweet and romantic mid tempo ballad. “Come Over Here” with its driving bass and drum simplicity gets stuck in the head incessantly. “Killing Dragons” has some of the best harmonies I’ve ever heard. “Hide” gets me through some incredibly dark times. 

watch me, I’m coming closer

I am the mood you’re in tonight...

The first song I heard, however, remains near the top of the list. It’s story is not initially complex until it becomes clear that the narrator may or may not require institutionalization. It may just be a gay kid, locked up because their parents don’t want to deal with learning who their child is. It may be someone who’s had a break from reality. Realizing that the narrator is unreliable throws the entire song off kilter and completely transforms it from a straightforward tale to layered and mysterious. 

To bring it full circle, K’s Choice did do a song based on Heavenly Creatures. It’s called “Winners”. 

we will be winners, our heads glued together

and all is indefinite in you

In 1992, Nakayoshi magazine printed the first act of Bishoujo Senshi SailorMoon, finishing in 1996. In August of 1993, Bishoujo Senshi SailorMoon Musical Gaidan Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen was staged. For the next thirteen years, the musicals, or Myu as they are colloquially known, were staged. 

The Myu is notable for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that the original cast can be seen on an inside jacket of one of the issues of the original manga. They are canonical every bit as much as the anime is - though the Myu actually took Naoko Takeuchi’s direction. In the third story arc, the Infinity/Mugen/S arc, there are a couple new characters introduced. 

SailorUranus and SailorNeptune. 

They are always presented as a loving lesbian couple, so much so that directors have told the actresses to “Act like you’re married. You are a married couple.” In the Myu, this is seen much more than in other versions. The longest running actresses to play Uranus and Neptune were Nao Takagi and Asami Yuuhka. The two were fan favorites as well, leading to their roles being prominent in multiple musicals. The characters were also given multiple duets or group songs, all of which embraced fully their rampant lesbianism. Of these, the song that blew up the Myu fandom was “Destined Couple”.

A duet between Uranus and Neptune, it takes place as the closing of a fight between the senshi. They are admonishing SailorMoon that sacrifices must be made. The song is a powerful ballad that illustrates the love the two share, and their devotion to their mission of protection. 

Seeing these two for the first time, learning about the musicals and how downright blatant their representation is to this day...

It made me realize that I wasn’t alone. There were people who did feel the way I did, who did think similarly to how I did. It was possible to not be living according to the restrictive gendered norms that I grew up with. I could live as myself, be comfortable with myself, without apology.

Through SailorMoon and Myu fandom, I’ve met and made friends with more people than I ever would have imagined. The first time my wife came over to netflix and chill, the first thing she noticed was a Myu poster. I almost messed it up by correcting her that they’re not “scouts”. Everything went better than expected. 

I still have my Myu dvds. It’s almost time for a rewatch. I’m going to have a couple friends over and introduce them to Hikari Ono, the Lesbian Vampire Ninja Pirate. 

But first, the lesbian soldier love song. This version is a fanvid with Nao and Yuhka singing, but the video is of the current reboot, with Shuu and Sayaka. I chose this one because its subtitled. At the end, it switches to include Nao and Yuhka. 

I came out when I was a teenager. It was a difficult decision. I didn’t honestly know how my mother would take it. I knew she’d had close gay friends before, but I’m her kid. Would she kick me out? Would she stop loving me? Would she be able to accept me for who I am? I went to a record store and bought Melissa Etheridge’s “Yes I Am”. I put it on to play and sat my mother down. I told her. She was quiet for a while, then told me that she loved me and while it might take her a little bit to adjust, it was okay. Everything was okay. She hugged me as I cried in relief. I told her that I’d been worried. It was a catharsis I didn’t realize I needed. I’m significantly older now, and have been able to be there for my mother over the years. I am proud to call myself her kid, and she is proud to have me as her oldest. She loves and accepts me as I am. She told me more about her gay best friend in high school, who died of AIDS in the 80′s. I had always wondered why she’d gone to California when I was little, and why Dad was so upset about it.  When my sisters told Dad that I was out and proud and married to a woman, he put down his dinner fork and stared for a while. When I met up with him a few years later, he’d adjusted and was able to tell me he was happy for me and still loved me. 

I’ve never been shy about who I am. I’ve yelled at more than one person telling me I’m using the wrong bathroom. I surround myself now with good people, who love and respect me. I’m apparently able to make friends easily when we’re in bars and clubs, to my wife’s amusement. I don’t go to gay spaces much anymore. I spent my last birthday in our local Irish pub and made friends with a beer rep who is from the town that makes my all time favorite beer. I have no idea how many beers she bought me. It was magical. 

When I came out to my mother, I would have never imagined that my life now could possibly be the way it is. It is due to her strength and character that I am who I am and that I can stand up and be proud of who I am. 

In that spirit, I am including here “Mama, I’m Strange”. From Melissa Etheridge’s “Breakdown” album, this song resonates strongly with me. I find the message a powerful one, and the upbeat nature of the song lets me sink into the song without further thought. The first time I heard it, I sat stunned and remembered coming out to my mother. 

[thesweetlyfe]

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hey! thanks for the ask! sorry for the late response, i’ve been on the road with my wrestling company for the entire weekend and got home at 11 yesterday after driving for 11 hours. passed out after that and finally got back onto tumblr now lol. anyway, here’s the answers

1. selfie

2. what would you name your future kids?

If it’s a girl, i want to name her Elle, or Ellie. I’ve always loved that name for some reason. As for a boy’s name, no clue.

3. do you miss anyone?

oh, hell yes.

4. what are you looking forward to?

finally getting into the ring to learn bumps and rolls tomorrow as a pro wrestler.

5. is there anyone who can always make you smile?

Yes, and that’s @patheticallyapathetic

6. is it hard for you to get over someone?

yup

7. what was your life like last year?

Boring. (I was in college)

8. have you ever cried because you were so annoyed?

definitely.

9. who did you last see in person?

asides from my parents and the cashier that gave me my food last night?

my fellow trainees when we go to the ROH Dojo, then parted ways.

10. are you good at hiding your feelings?

I’d like to think so, but i probably suck at it

11. are you listening to music right now?

Kinda? I’m watching Elimination Chamber 2017 and a wrestler’s theme is playing right now, so i guess? (Randy Orton’s entering at Elimination Chamber 2017)

12. what is something you want right now?

uh. to be thinner and in better shape i guess.

13. how do you feel right now?

bored. and lonely. it’s valentine’s day, after all.

14. when was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you?

i think at least 5 minutes ago. Twas my mom leaving for work.

15. personality description

King of Self-Deprecation.

16. have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you didn’t

yes.

17. opinion on insecurities.

“We’re all self-conscious, I’m just the first to admit it”

18. do you miss how things were a year ago?

In a sense, kind of. But on the other hand, I like where i’m at right now.

19. have you ever been to New York?

It’s basically my backyard. my backyard that’s 30 minutes-1 hour away.

20. what is your favourite song at the moment?

Beyond The Sea (Alternate Version) by Panic! at the Disco.

21. age and birthday?

21 and December 24th.

22. description of crush.

a heel wearing, curb stomping, dick kicking, fanged queen of the moon and stars.

23. fear(s)

being forgotten/replaced by the ones i love.

24. height

5′8″

25. role model

My Trainers Cheeseburger, Will Ferrara, Delirious.

26. idol(s)

basically the same question. But I guess I’ll make Idols someone the people i haven’t met yet that I look up to as well.

Idols: The Hardy’s, Finn Balor, Daniel Bryan. Undertaker. Billie Joe Armstrong. Tyler Joseph/Josh Dun. AJ Lee. Beyonce.

surprises and saddnes me how i’m lacking many women idols. 

27. things i hate

being lied to, being manipulated. basically any signs of an unhealthy relationship.

28. i’ll love you if…

support me and don’t fuck with me.

29. favourite film(s)

Hitch, Pirate Radio, Matrix, Ran, The Maltese Falcon.

30. favourite tv show(s)

Game of Thrones, Preacher, The Marvel Netflix shows.

31. 3 random facts

Born prematurely and subsequently had a heart condition until I was 11. MY heart was underdeveloped.

got my license 4 months late.

I was in a bunch of bands throughout high school.

none of them really ever got far, my first band almost recorded an album, but asides from that nothing really happened. they had dope names though.

Street Lights

MidKnight

Vintage Gravity

StereoCupid

Damn, The Torpedoes

Panic Switch!

32. are your friends mainly girls or guys?

Honestly, it’s pretty even, but used to be mainly girls.

33. something you want to learn

How to be one of the best wrestlers in the world.

34. most embarrassing moment

recently, spoiling something for a wrestler in my dojo. Got heat for that.

35. favourite subject

Theatre or English.

36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill?

Become a Wrestler and win a championship

Publish a book

Have a play or musical I write go on broadway

37. favourite actor/actress

I have a mad crush on Hannah Murray, but i’ve only ever watched her on Skins. Don’t really have a definitive favorite actor or actress.

38. favourite comedian(s)

the members of Starbomb if they count. Bo Burnham. Eric Andre, Hannibal Buress. Lewis Black.

39. favourite sport(s)

Does Pro Wrestling count? Not really a sports kind of guy.

40. favourite memory

Recently, this past weekend working with ROH. Asides from that, tons of memories from my high school theater experience and my town’s youth group. too many to recall, but many that have shaped me into who i am today.

41. relationship status

Not dating anyone, but kind of hooking up with someone. so single? idk.

42. favourite book(s)

recently: Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore and How to Ruin Everything.

43. favourite song ever

goddamn, man. don’t make me choose.

44. age you get mistaken for

Mid-late 20s even though i am 21 currently lol.

45. how you found out about your idol

as for wrestling idols: just aw them wrestle. as for everyone else, idk. probably listened to their music as a kid or found them somehow.

46. what my last text message says

”Love you too”

47. turn ons

general affection. idk. i guess i have some kinks? idk.

48. turn offs

see 27

49. where i want to be right now

Long Island.

50. favourite picture of your idol

what’s with the idol’s questions?

51. starsign

Capricorn

52. something i’m talented at

Writing, and a bit of acting.

53. 5 things that make me happy

Meeting pro Wrestling fans

Great music

Pro Wrestling training

having a great time with friends

great movies.

54. something thats worrying me at the moment

politics, tbh.

55. tumblr friends

@patheticallyapathetic @pilot-on-the-moon

56. favourite food(s)

can’t go wrong with a good grilled cheese.

57. favourite animal(s)

Koalas when they’re chill and eating eucalyptus

58. description of my best friend

Long haired film hipster motherfucker.

59. why i joined tumblr

my friends had one so i just made one. I stayed because i liked using it as a public journal to hold all the things i like and to vent. on it now out of pure habit.