#wonderful land

[all-action-all-picture]

Wonderful Land by The Shadows. One of their record 5 UK instrumental Number 1's. Written by Jerry Lordan and originally released by The Shadows in 1962, staying at No. 1 for 8 weeks. After Apache, which was also written by Lordan, this was probably The Shadows best known hit (although I think they should also have tried to get a catchy one word title for this).

This performance was broadcast 31 January 1970 and sees The Shadows using their 'other guitars'. Hank Marvin is most closely associated with his red and white Fender Stratocaster but here he and bassist John Rostill are seen with their black and white Baldwin-Burns Guitars. If you watch John, on the left, at the start of the clip it looks as if he wasn't expecting the backing track to start when it did. As far as I can tell Hank is playing live but its hard to tell at times as he can just play note perfect every time.

Rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch is missing as he had temporarily left the group. Other long time member Brian Bennett is on drums.

Completing the line-up is Alan Hawkshaw seated at the piano. Many won't realise he was in The Shadows for a while but may be familiar with his name and the music he composed for UK television shows such as the music from Countdown, the theme to Dave Allen's comedy shows and the library music that was used as the themes to both Grange Hill and Give Us A Clue.

John Rostill died in 1973 and Alan Hawkshaw in 2021.

[sohannabarberaesque]

Poetry Corner

A free stage, a bandshell you might say. Some cheesy tourist trap on a warm summer's night, otherwise dominated by ennui and predictability even if the tourism leaders have as their trope "where something's happening every minute."

An evening concert series sponsored as much by local tourism promoters as much as civic such to provide some Wholesome Family Amusements besides excesses of beer and debauchery bound to produce a bad aftertaste in the end.

And for some reason, due to Circumstances Unforseen beforehand, the performance originally advertised is unable to appear. Luckily, for some reason, The Banana Splits are in the area-- and the Cattanooga Cats likewise.

Two crazy-type music acts. One Giant Show. Both taking their performance-type turns, both having their fans and both getting laughs when the commentary requires it. And both having quite the singalongs with the crowd.

A crowd somehow driven by curiosity over what the local performance stage hath in musical offerings, or just to kill time before heading off to the local taverns or back to the resort.

And for The Finale: Unexpected though it may be, someone comes up with a joint insturmental of the old "Wonderful Land;" don't ask me how this came into being, or who suggested that number for the joint concluding number.

And though their styles musically may differ, the synthesis ensuing must have turned out to be something extraordinary or memorable. Memorable enow for the local gazetta to make note thereof in the front page of the next edition. (Obviously for want of anything otherwise newsworthy.)

And what could have been especially memorable more than to have members of both bands turn up at the end for selfie requests and autographs as well, and for both to show much in the way of affectation from the fans who were attracted thus more out of ennui and curiosity.

Heads up: Next week, the Poetry Corner will be in hiatus; however, a special Minnesota State Fair edition of the Postcards from Snagglepuss will fill this space at the usual time. Look for the next Hanna-Barberian poesy exercise in two weeks' time (as in September 10th). Otherwise, I'd like to see some poesy of yours inspired by the Hanna-Barbera cartoons of our youth, as well as your comments on these poetic exercises and displays.

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

@warnerbrosentertainment @a-gang-of-silly-bananas @theweekenddigest @thebananasplitsblog @archive-archives @themineralyoucrave @thylordshipofbutts @princessgalaxy505 @thebigdingle @screamingtoosoftly @warnerbros-blog1 @the-banana-splits-blog @jellystone-enjoyer @groovybribri @warnerbrosent-blog

[retrogamingblog2]

[captainhancock006]

Mike Oldfield - Wonderful Land

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: October 31, 1980

Lyrics: Instrumental

Songwriter: Mike Oldfield

[bluerosefox]

I've been seeing a few DPxDC Dad!Damian ideas so I'd like to toss my idea into the void of the internet.

Damian is on a lead about a glowing green puppy, that can apparently change size and go through walls, and finally manages to track it down before even his father hears about it. The puppy seemed to be stealing random things too.

He was fully ready to use all the tricks in the book to get the puppy to trust him... and after a few days/weeks he manages to gain its trust.

He just wasn't expecting the puppy to drag him to abandoned warehouse and drop him in front of a few kids that were hiding out in it.

"Oh! Cujo you finally brought your new person over!" says the only red-haired one in the group, and she was holding a baby, as two almost identical toddlers ran over to the excited pupper that began to run around them.

[mishalogic]

Good morning tumblrites Hello from Astralia We have so many mysteries to explore knowing more about our nation is a national desire in this wonderful land of ours ... Misha

[thatgaywizardoverthere]

Arthur “Disaster Bi” Pendragon learning about true loves kiss as a cure like:

Gwaine: For fuck’s sake, he’s not enchanted every time he smiles at someone else, Arthur! He was literally just laughing at my joke!

Arthur, aggressively frenching Merlin on the council room floor: YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL OKAY-

[mask131]

So... Wicked is coming back in style. And as such I need to make a little informative post.

Because since as early as my arrival onto the Internet, in the distant years of the late 2000s, a lot of people have been treating Wicked as some sort of "official" part of the Oz series. As part of the Oz canon or as THE "original" work everything else derives from (literaly, some people, probably kids, but did believe the MGM movie was made BASED on Wicked...) And as an Oz fan, that bothers me.

[Damn, ever since I watched Coco Peru's videos her voice echoes in my brain each time I say this line.]

So here's a few FACTS for you facts lovers.

The Wicked movie that is coming out right now (I was sold this as a series, turns out it is a movie duology?) is a cinematic adaptation of the stage musical Wicked created by Schwartz and Holzman, the Broadway classic and success of the 2000s (it was created in 2003).

Now, the Wicked musical everybody knows is itself an adaptation - and this fact is not as notorios, somehow? The Wicked musical is the adaptation of a novel released in 1995 by Gregory Maguire, called Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. A very loose and condensed adaptation to say the least - as the Wicked musical is basically a lighter and simplified take on a much darker, brooding and mature tale. Basically fans of the novel have accused the musical of being some sort of honeyed, sugary-sweet, highschool-romance-fanfic-AU, while those who enjoyed the musical and went to see the novel are often shocked at discovering their favorite musical is based on what is basically a "dark and edgy - let's shock them all" take on the Oz lore. (Some do like both however, apparently? But I rarely met them.)

A side-fact which will be relevant later, is that this novel was but the first of a full series of novel Oz wrote about a dark-and-adult fantasy reimagining of the land of Oz - there's Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, Out of Oz, and more.

However the real fact I want to point out is that Maguire's novel, from which the musical itself derives, is a "grimmification" (to take back TV Tropes terminology) of the 1939 MGM movie The Wizard of Oz. The movie everybody knows when it comes to Oz, but that everybody forgets is itself the adaptation of a book - the same way people forget the Wicked musical is adapted from a novel. The MGM movie is adapted from L. Frank Baum's famous 1900 classic for children The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - and a quite loose adaptation that reimagines a lot of elements and details.

Now, a lot of people present Maguire's novel as being based/inspired/a revisionist take on Baum's novel... And that's false. Maguire's Wicked novel is clearly dominated by and mainly influenced by the MGM movie, with only a few book elements and details sprinkled on top. Mind you, the sequels Maguire wrote do take more elements, characters and plot points from the various Oz books of Baum... But they stay mostly Maguire's personal fantasy world. Yes, Oz "books" in plural - because that's a fact people tend to not know either... L. Frank Baum didn't just write one book about the Land of Oz. He wrote FOURTEEN of them, an entire series, because it was his most popular sales, and his audience like his editor pressured him to produce more (in fact he got sick of Oz and tried to write other books, but since they failed he was forced to continue Oz novels to survive). Everybody forgot about the Oz series due to the massive success of the starter novel - but it has a lot of very famous sequels, such as The Marvelous Land of Oz or Ozma of Oz (the later was loosely adapted by Disney as the famous 80s nostalgic-cursed movie Return to Oz).

So... To return to my original point. The current Wicked movies are not directly linked in any way to Baum's novel. The Wicked musical was already as "canon" and as "linked" to the MGM movie as 2013's Oz The Great and Powerful by Disney was. As for Maguire's novel, due to its dark, mature, brooding and more complex worldbuilding nature, I can only compare it to the recent attempt at making a "Game of Thrones Oz" through the television series Emerald City.

The Wicked movies coming out are separated from Baum's novel at the fourth degree. Because they are the movie adaptation of a musical adaptation of a novel reinventing a movie adaptation of the original children book.

And I could go even FURTHER if you dare me to and claim the Wicked movies are at the 5TH DEGREE! Because a little-known-fact is that the MGM movie was not a direct adaptation of Baum's novel... But rather took a lot of cues and influence from the massively famous stage-extravaganza of 1902 The Wizard of Oz... A musical adaptation of Baum's novel, created and written by Baum himself, and that was actually more popular than the novel in the pre-World War II America. It was from this enormous Broadway success (my my, how the snake bites its tail - the 1902 Wizard of Oz was the musical Wicked of its time) that, for example, the movie took the idea of the Good Witch of the North killing the sleeping-poppies with snow.

[bbbbbbbbatman]

The worst day of Jason’s life is when he learned Bruce and Wonder Woman once slept together

[yourangle-yuordevil]

Crowley, the Snake of Ithaca when he was just… Bildad from Ithaca 🐐 He stole one (1) goat from all his different neighbors so that they'd think it would have been eaten by wolves (if only one is missing is not such a big deal, right?), and it worked! He ended up having one of the biggest herds of goats for free. Athena was like… damn bitch, that was smart. Blessed 👌✨

[sporkberries]

Robin(1993) is a comic where things happen

[olowan-waphiya]

if usamericans are excited about the concept of anti-colonialism in other countries oooh boy do i have some exciting news for you...you can practice decolonization right here at home!

[nelkcats]

Unexpectedly normal

John Constantine falling in love with an Eldritch creature wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever loved. After his dates with King Shark and some demons, this was among his most normal romances!

Phantom seemed like a creature of darkness and ice but he was the opposite: attentive, kind and loving; things that generally shouldn't be combined with Constantine (given his usual tendency to blow his chance with anyone who treated him well), but something made him stick with him.

Sure, the Justice League Dark judged him every time they saw him but he couldn't care less. When Phantom nervously told him he had something he wanted to show him, John was prepared for anything: a cult, a corpse, some crime he'd have to feign ignorance of (he didn't mind helping with a crime or two).

He hadn't expected Phantom to decide to show him his "true form" (Unexpectedly his boyfriend looked human, usually the opposite happened to him!), and sheepishly admitted that the first time he came to the dimension his powers had gotten out of control, leaving him in a form he used very little. And fuck, his boyfriend was hot as hell.

Constantine remembered when they met, he remembered the cult summoning "the most powerful creature in existence", he remembered the dread he felt when he saw Phantom appearing in all his Eldritch glory, but most of all, he remembered his disbelief when the creature started scolding the cultists as if they were children.

Phantom admitted his name was Danny (Danny Phantom, he just forgot to mention it), and he didn't know how to tell him, he looked so nervous that John couldn't help but joke with him.

"Are you human? These are things you talk about in time, bloody hell" Constantine pretended to be offended, pulling a cigarette out of his jacket "you know damn well I don't date normal humans sweetheart."

Danny looked confused, but understood what was going on in a matter of seconds.

"Lucky for you I'm not a normal human" Danny joked, taking the cigarette from his hands "I'm half ghost, a walking physical impossibility, is that enough for your dating standards?"

John pretended to think before shrugging and kissing him; sure, he'd have to get used to the lack of darkness, and extra organs (though he was sure he could persuade Danny to switch between forms), but as far as he was concerned, this was just a win-win.

Danny wondered if he should have started with Phantom's form first but he had no desire to give the hellblazer more ideas. He was aware of his partner's odd tastes, so he was actually nervous that he would reject him for being human (which was definitely a big difference from Amity), but as John kissed him just as intensely as always he guessed there was nothing to worry about.

[kalmiopsis]