#DISNEY PLUS (ALLEGEDLY)

[bl-bam-beyond]

BLL- BOYS' LOVE LITE (a series with gay/bl story or story arc)

Series: THE REVENGE OF OTHERS (2022, KOREA)

This series concluded with a secret as well as an accidental death of a bad guy.

Ok Chanmi (SHIN YE EUN) learns that her murdered brother Park WonSeok (KANG YUL) was gay and dating a bullied kid SeJin (KANG YI SUK) that he saved. And that they were photographed in the science lab by manipulative Gi OSung (CHAE SANG WOO) who used the photos to blackmail Park WonSeok into using his superior fighting skills to bully other students making him the most hated kid in school.

Initially viewed as a suicide, since he "fell" out of a window at school. The truth is Gi OSung set up another classmate suffering from a form of Dissociative Identity Disorder in which he shared the personality of his dead twin brother.

Interesting show..which also included a small support role by OK JIN UK (he played HaeBom in BL..Cherry Blossoms After Winter)

[brbzonedout]

-Movie Night

Pairing: E!42 Miles x Spider-person!reader

Warnings: Protectiveness…if that triggers you.

Outside of Miles’s window the streets buzzed with noise, from cars honking their horns to people yelling for their kids to come inside.

It was late at night as usual and Miles was sitting at his desk listening to music as he sketched out ideas for a creative writing paper that he couldn’t visualize properly.

knock knock…

That was unexpected.

Miles turned toward his bedroom window to see you standing out there with a excited smile. The boy smirked subconsciously wondering what you were doing here this late, especially without texting him first.

He opened the window and helping you crawl through.

“Don’t worry your mom knows i’m here,” you said landing on the hard wood floor of his bedroom.

“ho-”

“I texted her..anyways look!” you lifted your phone to his face showing him the disney plus app.

Miles squinted his eyes shielding them from the phones aggressive brightness, “What am I looking at?” he stifled a laugh.

You turned the phone back to your view, eye brows furrowed, “Are we not looking at the same thing? Little mermaid is on disney plus now so we can watch it!”

“You ran all the way here just to watch The little mermaid?”

The boy closed the window behind you and took your jacket off your back to hang in his closet.

“With you…” you stated with a smile kicking off your shoes.

With a sound understanding he turned back around to face you, “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I coulda gotten snacks and shit.” the question came with a concern glare.

“Number one…” You held up a book bag full of both your favorite snacks.

“And two you wouldn’t have let me walk over here myself,” you grumbled, sounding slightly annoyed, seated on his edge of his bed in your hello kitty pajama pants. “then I would’ve had to wait for you to get me…then walk here….then have you walk me back home, then wait for you to get back home and you like to take stops so-”

He rolled his eyes and joined you on the bed. “Well yeah ima walk wit you, you know where we live right?”

“You realize i’m the Spinner right?” said in a whisper, matter of factly.

Miles sighed not wanting to have this conversation for the 3rd time this month. “Yeah ok y/n…lemme see the bag….please.”

You snorted getting ready to chew the boy out for his lack of manners, “I was bout to say- here.” after digging into the bag you handed over a platter of caribbean food from the place down the block.

“Wha- this is food food…”

“I may have also stopped at Mrs. Kiyana’s shop…allegedly.”

Miles stifled a laugh and took the platter. As he opened it he noticed you got everything exactly the way he liked it, jerk chicken with Jamaican cabbage, and plantains.

He held back a smile, “Thank you..” said in a soft whisper like tone as he reached his hand into the platter.

“Of course,” you reached back in the bag pulling out two forks. “I know you not about to eat that with your hands-”

The boy stopped in his tracks and awkwardly took one of them out of your hand. “Right, my bad..”

I might make a part two to this one as well. BUT I KIND OF LIKE THE WAY THIS CAME OUT!! YAY! Anyways thank you for reading<3

©brbzonedout

[zoobus]

Not a lot of boy centered otome mobile games out there in English, which means recommendations are usually bad because within that limited pool, none of them are actually alike beyond being a probable attraction to men. Here's what I played in the desperate hope of fulfilling the same hole Obey Me did for me.

Love and Deepspace: the new girl on the block. Allegedly breaking ground by being for girls and you beat up aliens. Extremely well made, tons of money poured into it, boring. Lots of reviews in that "I'm giving it 5 stars because I want to prove women are worth this kind of investment and/or are interested in action dating sims!" vein.

If I'm honest, I've realized no brown skinned dateables = no interest, so there was no chance I would care about this game. I tried though!

Twisted Wonderland: Despite how often I heard "if you liked OM, you should play Twisted Wonderland," the two aren't alike beyond surface level. It's an all right time passer, especially the vignettes. I have more fun mentally comparing them than anything - I could probably write a whole post about how despite similar premises, they're clearly not even after the same demographic, plus all the things each excel at, PLUS all the things I wish OM had copied. Why the hell does the Disney property understand the importance of deranged anime boy diversity, but the fucking 7 deadly sin dating simulator does not?

I also enjoyed watching my character tier-list change in real time. It starts off like I think these guys are the hottest, so I'll probably like them the most (Leona, Jamil, Malleus, Professor Male!Cruella) -> Okay, seeing this guy in action made me realize how cute he is (Azul) -> hahaha holy shit, this guy rocks (Rook, Azul, Jade) -> Your good looks will not save you from dropping tiers after that stupid story (Leona) ->...but a horny-coded vignette might (Leona and Vil)

Also, the story is kind of terrible, so I've been ignoring it. "What if we gave all of our hot guys tragic backstories that contradict the premise of the game (Disney villains won in this universe and are idolized for their actions) and were just kind of. Needlessly pathetic. In an embarrassing way."

Lovebrush Chronicles: Tried to care. Could not. Sorry.

Nu Carnivale: Love how it jumps straight into you getting a blowjob from demons but the second they pulled that card based battle system out, I was done. I'm sorry, I can't do this.

What in Hell is Bad: I'm not done with this. I will try again. But I am truly baffled by their battle system. No idea what was happening or how I won. Also, the one sex scene I read was cringe and bad.

Mystic Messenger: I saw my own review for the game timestamped to 2016 and withered up. I did love it though.

[waeirfaahl]

Two characters, one design

Okay, let's talk about something, what almost every fan of Balto movie(s) discussed — the design of the iconic character(s). After the sequel was released, the fans started pretty aggressive debates, insisting the idea of Aniu and the White Wolf being one and the same character or two different characters. The ones, who considered them as one character, used as proofs the interview with the director of the sequel and words about low budget of the sequel. The others, who were fans of the original film and considered them as the two separated characters, used for agruments the official novel of the original movie and the fact that Aniu and the White Wolf allegedly have drastically different design. Here and here we discovered that the White Wolf from the original film is a male and a manifestation of Balto's wolf side and self-acceptance. Here we discovered that Aniu the white wolf from the sequel is the wolf goddess, as well as how the idea of her being Balto's biological mother is impossible, and why the idea of Balto's mother being a wolf is the main problem of the sequel and creates lots of plot holes, contradictions and morbid moments, so better to think that Aniu is not Balto's mother, but just a patroness, for who every wolf and wolfdog metaphorically is a child, since she is the Great Mother of all wolves, and Balto's real mother was a husky.

So, there are two different and separated characters. Aniu is the wolf deity, the white wolf is a symbolical character. However, ironically, their design is identical. Yes, I'm not crazy. After detailed studying and comparing these characters, I can confidently say that their design is absolutely identical. But why they look so distant from each other more than every other main character (Balto, Jenna, Boris)? Because the white wolf was drawn and colored in different style. You can notice that every character, except the white wolf, have black outline, while the white wolf has very thin and light-purple-greyish outline — plus, the light-purple mask on his muzzle has no outlines, i.e. the white wolf has higher quality animation and coloring, very close to Disney films of 90s era, he is drawn and colored different from any other character in the movie, i.e. he is unique visually. In contrast to this, Aniu has thick and black outline (including on her mask around eyes) — just like any other character in the sequel. Another simple answer — because in the original film wolves looked realistic and feral, while in the sequel they look very cartoonish. So let's cover every aspect. Fur color. Many fans told that Aniu isn't white, but light-grey. It's not true. She is white just like the White Wolf. People, who said this, just have no idea or ignore how the light works. Look at the place, where Balto encounters Aniu. The evening, the clouds, which make this area darker. Plus blue, red, orange, yellow and pink colors because of the sunset.

That's how it looked earlier.

Aniu sat in the shadow, in the dark, with her back to the sunlight. That's why her face and chest looked greyish, and lighter places are purple-pink.

In the river scene Aniu is white. And her grey-purple mask around eyes has no outline, just like the White Wolf's.

In the scene with wolverines she is white.

Like, compare the fur color of Balto and Nava, for example, in the day scene and evening scene. And there's the same pink lighting from the sunset.

The White Wolf from the original film looked snowy-white or creamy-white, because he was in blizzard under the sun.

Simply saying, Aniu is white too. Eye color and sclera color. People, who use that, ignore the fact that every character experienced animation errors and bloopers during the sequel. Especially eye color changing through the sequel. Not to mention that none of the eye color from the sequel was faithful to the original film. Like this: Jenna's eyes are red instead of golden, Balto's eyes are blue/red instead of brown, as well as his sclera is white instead of yellow.

In contrast to this, Aniu's eyes are yellow just like the eyes of the White Wolf.

The problem here exactly with her sclera. Her sclera is white instead of black, plus the sunset lighting made it seem pink. The same thing you can notice with Nava's sclera:

The animation error made Aniu's and other wolves' sclera to be white instead of black. And the lighting added pink shade.

Ear color and absent black tips on ears. The White Wolf and Aniu actually both share this blooper. In one scene the inner side of ear is pink, in other scene is grey.

Aniu's absent black ear tips can be explained with another blooper — in the original film Jenna had black ear tips too, while in the sequel she doesn't.

Plus, as you can see above, the White Wolf's mask around eyes has no outline. Aniu also has this mask around her eyes, just with black outline (I guess, they were afraid that in the shadow the color of the mask will be lost, so they added outline). Muzzle/head shape, eye shape. That's apparently was favourite argument from fans of the original film. However, they ignore one simple thing — the camera angle and how the character holds his/her head. Because, again, the shape of muzzle, head and eyes are identical. Compare:

Plus, you can notice here Aniu's black ear tips. And in previous screenshots you could notice that eye shape of Aniu and the White Wolf is identical, when eyes are open or closed too. And you again can see bloopers with outline etc.

Plus, the White Wolf was in snow storm, so it makes sense, why his eyes are more narrow, i.e. not fully open. Plus, don't forget about different color of outline. Fluffiness and shagginess. Oh yes, people point out how Aniu isn't fluffy in contrast to the White Wolf, but ignore the inconsistency of the White Wolf's fluffyness in different scenes. First of all, the White Wolf was in the blizzard, so the wind was ruffling him. Second, in some scenes the white wolf is very shaggy (not only fur on the neck, but also on legs), while in other he's less shaggy (again, fur in neck and legs), the same thing with Aniu (in one scene she is very shaggy, in others not).

So this inconsistency can be explained by the wind and animation being hard.

The size and proportions. Another argument from people, who have no idea, how the camera and symbolism work. The White Wolf seems way larger than Balto because of camera angle, it was made to emphasize the majesty of the White Wolf and Balto's fear and shame.

When Balto realized, who he truly is (a wolf), embraced his wolf half and howled with the White Wolf (his true self), the White Wolf still was bigger and taller than Balto, but not like in previous scenes before accepting wolf nature by Balto.

Aniu has the same proportions the White Wolf has. She is bigger and taller than Balto as well. Her height, head and muzzle shape and proportions are identical to the White Wolf's.

It needs to be blind or incredibly biased for saying that Aniu and Balto share the same size and proportions. I'd say she is taller than even Nava, who was bigger than Balto as well.

So, in conclusion. Aniu and the White Wolf are two different characters. Aniu is the wolf deity, the White Wolf is a symbol. But their design is identical.

[houseofbrat]

FROM 11 MONTHS AGO:

My friend works in PR in L.A. and while he hasn't said anything about potential Netflix/Spotify litigation, the rest tracks with what he's said. No one wants to work with them, they've burned every bridge either by running their mouths (true A-Listers value privacy, not Oprah tell alls), or by making "ridiculous demands and forgetting where she came from".  There's also something going on with her getting stylist/designer/retailer freebies. It sounds like they've been iced out of receiving those, too.

[AND]

My source is a film producer. It annoys the fuck out of him when I ask him for dirt because he says she's "a non-entity and a fucking literally-screaming-at-the-moon lunatic," but lately he's been texting me dirt without even being asked. I think it's all coming faster and more furiously these days.

I too have heard that she is struggling to find brands who will even let her merch their designs now, so that's another one of her final fallback cashcows that have dried up and it is making her even more desperate than usual. She apparently still takes no responsibility and is impervious to the idea that she is not A-list (in fact, she acts like she is better than A-list), and she is reportedly conpletely bewildered about why she is so unpopular with us plebes. Also my source was in fact being literal when he said she is a screaming-at-the-moon lunatic. Apparently (and allegedly) she was picked up off the street in the middle of a raging temper tantrum by either the police or her security detail. I'm not clear on whether that happened since they've been in the Montecito house or a while ago, so take that (and all) info with that in mind. In fact, there's confusion about whether or not either of them are even in that house any more, so... nothing is straightforward with this woman. I jokingly told my source to drive by the property and check it out, and he said, "Coke... I actually do have boundaries. Plus it would take a fucking hour and a half to drive up to Montecito and trust me, she's not worth it."

Yes!  This all tracks with my friend in PR. He was also disinterested as first, now he offers things. A couple months ago he said, "did you know she screams at people? Insert my name, she literally screams at people". He seemed shocked, and he's been there for 20 yrs, used to work for Disney, prior to that a firm with several old school A-listers who I always assumed were incredibly high maintaince, so this must've been bad for it to shock him.

[AND]

Yep! Same here with the increasing messages and increased interest. He admitted to understanding now why I've been so fascinated with this. She apparently makes your standard A-list Diva look like Shirley Temple. Ask your PR friend if he has heard anything about her being actually physically violent. Someone told my source that they heard that Harry has been seen with scratches and bruises. On. His. Face. ALLEGEDLY. Now that is at least three levels of hearsay, but given what we've heard about her behavior in Australia and over the Givenchy dress fittings, etc. I'm inclined to believe it. To me it seems like the puzzle pieces are coming together, and they are all showing the same picture.

[hecckyeah]

Hello there! I'll go with questions #4, 6, and 10 😁 May the Force be with you!

GENERAL KENOBI-

You got it!

4. Do you prefer the prequel, original, or sequel trilogy, and why?

Originals: cohesive storytelling, nostalgia, unmatched pre-CGI practical effects vibes, sock puppet aliens, harrison ford's apathy and stellar acting, mark hamill in general, carrie fisher the one and only, unscientific laws of physics and relativity, and of course. c-3po floating among the teddy bears.

Prequels: hot men with laser swords, questionable character motivations, early 2000s romantic drama, the most avoidable villain origin story known to man, tiny boba fett, even tinier skywalker twins, complete with a 5 month pregnant padme who somehow gave birth to two 13 pound babies.

Sequels: just a straight up pile of hot garbage. three dumpsters having a chat. there's a warning: toxic waste/hazard sign sitting next to them.

6. What is your favorite star wars meme?

This. Without question. The amount of times I have cried laughing at this are too many to count

10. If you could pull a George Lucas and sneak into Disney plus and edit any Star Wars scene, what changes would you make?

Okay listen. There's so much. SO MUCH. that I could change. But the one thing that has bothered me EVERY TIME I watch it is how padme, allegedly 9 months pregnant with twins, a) looks 5 months pregnant with a singleton, and b) can RUN down the ramp and across the platform to anakin. GIVE THE LADY A BIG OLE BABY BUMP AND A PROPER WADDLE please and thank you.

.

.

star wars ask game

[sassyfrassboss]

“Andrew is different because his circumstances were pretty serious. Harry is just a child throwing a tantrum.”

Andrew allegedly slept with a woman who was of legal age in the UK and was friends with a shady louse of a criminal who also was friends with and had dealings with Tony Blair’s right hand man, who btw made Andrew trade envoy.

Harry leaked security information, maligned the armed forces, chose Disney over his job/the armed forces, incited the Taliban, mocked our Head of State, fantasised about patricide, stuck his nose into other countries politics (colluded in the subversion of the platinum jubilee Caribbean tour) and also was abusive to the elders in his family ie our late Queen & Prince Philip. I am also convinced he was complicit in breaking peerage law and fraud.

Not a tantrum.

Yeah that is true...tantrum was too light of a word.

So Andrew supposedly slept with Virginia in New York where the age of consent is 17 which she was at the time. The legal issues regarding the sex trafficking and whatnot are where it cooks Andrew's goose. Plus he paid her off...$12M I believe. Andrew also has had some other shady dealings with other crooked characters so he needs to stay in retirement. Just because he thinks he is" innocent until proven guilty" and has paid his dues doesn't erase anything he has done. Him wanting to be a working royal again is more about ego than anything else.

As for Harry, yeah...he has done as much damage if not more than Andrew just in a different vein.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

What we know about Jackdaw so far

(EDIT Jan 21, 2023: This piece has been updated to include a little bit of new information as Jenna Coleman made her first media confirmation of the new movie in her recent Telegraph interview)

So, as Jenna Coleman begins what will hopefully be a successful run in the play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (stream please, National Theatre Live) my thoughts turn to a rather mysterious project she was involved in just before Christmas - somehow as she was in the midst of rehearsals for the play. Jackdaw - as the project has been referred, though this may not be the final title - has had only scant regional media coverage and I admit that if not for that scant coverage I would be starting to wonder if this project was real or some sort of nethoax like a certain alleged lost film Tumblr was on about for a while in the fall.

Since there have been numerous posts on the topic here in recent weeks (mostly by @oswincoleman who has done an amazing job keeping track), I thought I’d try and distil what major information is known (or not known) about this film so far. Spoiler break for length.

1. As I said, it is not known if Jackdaw is the official name, or a working title, or some sort of cover title like “Blue Harvest” disguised the filming of Return of the Jedi; but that would have to mean “Jackdaw” is connected to some major enterprise, which it doesn’t appear to be. Although I saw someone ask if maybe this was connected to Sandman coming a few months after its renewal by Netflix (and Netflix allegedly being connected to Jackdaw, not to mention a comics-accurate hair-colour change by Jenna), there’s no sign of any connection to Sandman or any other franchise (Mason Alexander Park of Sandman said the other day they don’t expect to resume filming till the summer); and despite the director having worked on Doctor Who before, there’s been nothing to suggest it’s related in anyway to that either (and they’d be talking Disney+ or BBC not Netflix if it was).

2. As of mid-January, all we have heard about it is from social media posts and a few “what are they filming?”-style stories on local/regional news sites, plus a casting call for extras that was posted in December. Recent major media coverage of Jenna - including about her hair colour change - have made no reference to the project.

3. Jenna herself has only made reference to this production by way of a couple of enigmatic Instagram Stories posts, one showing a motorcycle, another showing camera equipment. According to social media, she filmed her role over the course of about a week or so in mid-December. Despite this, people purporting to be insiders on the production have claimed she has a major role in it. Speculation is she might go back to film more after the play wraps. But social media reports filming on Jackdaw wrapped in mid-January. Filming apparently took place in the north of England, including Hartlepool.

3.5. Interestingly, Jenna has made no reference to the film in recent interviews, including the one with Graham Norton who surely must have been aware of the social media reports if nothing else; even when she was under her NDA for Sandman back in 2021 she was at least still able to acknowledge she was filming “something” recently even if she couldn’t say what. Jackdaw does not seem to something on the scale of a Marvel movie, so I can’t see her not being allowed to at least acknowledge the film - unless maybe the producers of the Lemons play asked her not to, perhaps so as not to take away from the play. To be fair, if you’re promoting a specific event it wouldn’t do to spend the limited time available talking about Jackdaw, Wilderness, Sandman S2, Klokkenluider, War Rooms... right?

5. Who is involved in Jackdaw? Other than Jenna, it appears the lead actor is one Thomas Turgoose, known for the This is England films and TV series in the UK (an unknown to me; he was in one of the Kingsmen films too; I see Jenna also began following him on Instagram at some point). A casting call for a scene suggested Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jenna’s co-star in the upcoming Wilderness, is also in it but I haven’t seen much more on that. And Jenna reportedly has a stunt double. Personnel from The Sandman are also involved such as the cinematographer as well as the director is reportedly Jamie Childs, Jenna’s current boyfriend who directed her main episode of SM. If reports are accurate it makes this an interesting hybrid of her most recent TV projects.

6. Around the time of filming, as we know, Jenna dyed her hair a bright blonde, a look she debuted at an event she found time to attend just before the holidays. It is not yet known if she did it for the film, for the play (as she’s kept it and yellowish hair for a play called Lemons, etc., makes sense), or both. Or maybe she just decided to go blonde. The fact she’s still dark-haired on the posters for the play suggests it was a decision made after the initial publicity photo shoots for the play were done.

6.5 Surprisingly, Jenna didn’t make an Instagram post about changing her hair colour. Indeed, except for a couple of play-related posts and one set of pics taken while preparing for a pre-blonde event, she was all but radio silent on Instagram during December (she didn’t do a year in review for Instagram Stories either, nor did she post anything related to the event she attended where she unveiled the new hairdo). Which does make sense if she was shooting a movie, commuting, preparing for the play, etc.

7. There’s apparently a rave sequence in the film with police (including apparently riot cops, at least based on the casting call), for which some photos from the set have emerged. Jenna, as noted, apparently has a stunt double possibly related to motorcycle riding?

8. Social media have said this is a film being made for Netflix, but Netflix has yet to make any announcement regarding such a production. Obviously, no hints of a release date have come out (and remembering the long wait for a release on Klokkenluider, scenes for which Jenna filmed 2 years ago, it may be a while). According to the social media reports, this is a feature-length film, not a short, intended for cinemas.

I’m sure I missed a few (and likely made some mistakes too) but these are the major bullet points as I understand them. Despite claims of Jenna having a major role in the show, I’m a little skeptical given how little time she appears to have spent filming (and the fact she squeezed this in while in the midst of rehearsals for the play). The fact we have a pretty clear indication of when she went blonde (between her event in early December with dark hair, followed a couple weeks later by her attending an event with blonde hair), I don’t think it’s a case of her having done more filming earlier that we don’t know about (unless she changes hair colour during the film ).

My gut is telling me it’ll be the same as Klokkenluider, for which Jenna indeed plays a major role but according to reviews does not actually appear throughout the film. In Jackdaw, Jenna could be playing a major role - but one that only involves her in a few scenes. Time will tell. And until or unless someone - production company, one of the actors, Netflix - actually releases some sort of info, we’re stuck for now with speculation, guesswork and Instagram posts.

Update: January 21, 2023: Jenna Coleman was the subject of a major interview with the Daily Telegraph magazine. The article is behind a paywall, but it does confirm that Jenna did film a movie called Jackdaw, dyed her hair for the film, and apparently plays a “pixie punk biker” in the movie. The plot thickens!

[insanityclause]

Do you have any clue what's going on with The White Darkness and White Stork? I checked IMDB, and white stork is allegedly in production, which is awesome. But no word about White Darkeness . I just wanna see Tom in more non Marvel projects. On bigger streaming platforms like Netflix or Disney Plus. In a lot of countries like mine, Crimson Peak is not on Netflix so we only get to consume Tom content via social media, illegally (which doesn't contribute to views) or as Loki on Disney plus. Don't get me wrong, I love Loki. But I wanna see Tom in a film/series that is more serious set in our current times. He did that when he was in The Night Manager (yippee!), but that was the last we saw of him. Apart from The Essex Serpent, which was set in the past.

White Stork was shelved a year ago (or more) due to Covid delays. The production company that was set up for it by Eleven was dissolved.

The White Darkness is supposed to happen after S2 of Pachinko is filmed, but no specific date is announced - though there are writers attached. Pachinko S2 is supposed to wrap filming in June.

And TNM S2 is supposed to start filming for Amazon this fall.

[elijones94]

🐾 This afternoon, as the preschool kids were asleep, I did some sketching to pass the time, quietly. The previous night, I watched a clip of narration for the train chase in the story “The Wind in the Willows”. After escaping from prison, a disguised Mr. Toad stows away on a Great Western engine to escape the law and eventually redeem himself. Earlier in the story, he faces trial for allegedly trying to sell a stolen motor car. Plus, the “New Adventures of Winning the Pooh” episode “The Good, The Bad, and the Tigger” came to mind too. In my head, I saw an image of Tigger at the footplate of a steam engine. Along with Tigger, I also sketched Alice, loosely based on their incarnations in the Disney Mirrorverse franchise. 🐯🚂

[nemo-in-wonderland]

OK Y'ALL.

I had a long day at work, and I need to unwind.

I want to draw Dorothea in a swish-swoosh dress.

Very princessy, very flowy, much graceful.

But I don't have enough energy to create one.

SO.

I want to put Dorothea in a Disney Princess/ Don Bluth's Heroine because I have a mighty need.

KINDLY HELP ME CHOOSE.

(plus, I kinda love to see what others' opinion is, because I have a very precise idea of what dress I would give her, but someone else might think differently, and I am all for that! also i might draw her prince with her. maybe. allegedly talking. circumstantially speaking.)

[lol-jackles]

You know how most of the movies are going straight to steaming services with either no theatrical release or else just one week of theatrical release. How does that affect the actors and other people involved in terms of making money? Is it good or bad financially?

It's mostly bad, which was why Scarlette Johannson sued Marvel when they dropped Black Widow onto Disney+ and theaters on the same day, thus undermining theatre box office performances which the percentage that Scarlette would have recieved is based on. Disney reportedly made over $60 million with rentals on Disney+, and Scarlett wouldn't see a penny from the profit made on Disney+ .

When WB decided in 2020 to drop their movies in theatres and streaming on the same day, at least they paid millions to their movie actors in compensation. Gal Gadot allegedly received $10 million for Wonder Woman II on top of her salary plus percentage of theatre total gross profit.

For high tier movie stars, they can demand a guaranteed sliding scale fee for each day that streaming infringes on the film’s theater run. Other stars have demand to be paid for their ability to drive social-media interest in a movie or series, which in turn drives subscriptions.  Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson charges a $1 million social-media fee to promote his films on Twitter and Facebook. like he did for Red Notice (X). When You third season dropped on Netflix, social media activity associated with Penn Badgley and his character surged and indirectly benefited Netflix, and so It wouldn’t surprise me if he asked to be compensated for it.

[notsocheezy]

Brain Curd #64

Brain Curds are lightly edited flash fiction - practically first drafts - posted daily and sometimes written with the express intention of being terrible… but, you know, in an endearing way. Please enjoy.

Disney’s The Girl Without Hands - Review

Why did they make this?

I’ve reviewed a lot of films in my day, but this one has to be the most baffling. After the middling reception to Wish, their previous feature, most hoped that Walt Disney Animation would take a step back and reorient themselves. If they don’t know how to get back to their roots, maybe they should try something new instead?

Sadly, that wasn’t the case here. Digging down to the bottom of the barrel, the studio decided now was a good time to make a musical adaptation of an obscure Grimm fairy tale about amputation. Despite the name of the story, the hand-less-ness is really just an incidental detail. It’s really a story about the devil trying to get a young girl to sin so he can take her soul, and when put that way it sounds like this could be a slam dunk. Maybe they could have come up with a different name to fit modern sensibilities - The Girl Without Evil, maybe, I don’t know. Their writers get paid a hell of a lot more than I do.

When you watch it, though, you’ll be forgiven for thinking not a single person working on this film so much as read a synopsis of the original story. There’s no devil, no climactic scene of the protagonist’s hands being cut off, nothing like that at all. She’s already hand-free when the lights fall in the theater. The opening song is called I Want To Have Hands. Yeesh. Yeesh and woof. Plus, it’s written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

I’ll give them this: it sounds like a real musical number and not a pop song, but it���s just embarrassing. It’s an unending stream of jokes about how having hand stumps makes it really hard to work on a farm - like, the tools are meant for people to use with hands. She lists every single farm tool that she can’t use, and then tries to use a hoe with her mouth during the song. I wouldn’t even know the lyrics of that section if I hadn’t been given access to the demo version, recorded by Lin-Manuel himself. Suffice to say, they don’t improve things.

The villain of this film is another one of those twist villains, but you can see it coming from a mile away. Of course it’s her father, he has four hands. He made a deal with an evil wizard so he could do more farm work at once, and the wizard gave him his daughter’s hands so he could hold two tools at the same time. It’s complete nonsense, and accusations of Disney having used AI on the script are only far-fetched in that I don’t think an LLM could come up with something so deranged.

So, what about our protagonist? What’s her personality like? Essentially, she’s clumsy. That’s her whole character. She’s always trying to grab things but her arm stumps knock them over. How can a person go her whole life without hands and forget that she can’t grab a glass of goat milk from the table? She should know by now she needs to use a straw.

Anyway, her father arranges her to marry a wealthy aristocrat, but her heart belongs to a winemaker with no feet. I have to give Disney props here for decent wheelchair user representation, but the motorized scooter really pulls me out of the medieval era this is allegedly set in. Ditto for the talking cow, Hope, voiced by Chris Pratt in falsetto, who regularly talks about taking selfies and how hard it is to do that with hooves. Read the room, Hope, it’s even harder to do that with stumps.

At some point, the film just ends. She gets her hands back, sure, but none of the other plot points are resolved, so one might suppose that they thought, “well, she has hands now, so we should save the rest of this for the sequel.” I don’t think they’ll be making a sequel. But maybe the avant-garde crowd will appreciate a big-budget animated feature without a three-act structure. All I can tell you is that I decidedly did not.

The animation was lousy, the music middling, the plot contrived and nonsensical, and it made me yearn for a time when Home on the Range was the worst we could expect from Disney. The popcorn was the most enjoyable aspect of seeing this film… and it was stale.

4/10

⭐⭐⭐⭐

[rabbitcruiser]

National Winnie the Pooh Day

Grab a pot of “hunny”, enjoy a game of Poohsticks and revisit these beloved childhood stories about a bear and all his friends

One of the cuddliest holidays around has to be National Winnie the Pooh Day, celebrated on the birthday of author A. A. Milne. It’s one special anniversary fans just can’t bear to miss! Every year, the occasion is marked with events such as teddy bears’ picnics, featuring plenty of honey on the menu.

History Of Winnie The Pooh Day

Winnie the Pooh first appeared on the printed page in 1926, together with friends Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore. All of them were based on toys owned by the author’s son, who also featured in the famous stories as Christopher Robin. The character later starred in a series of much-loved Disney films.

The name Winnie, for instance, came from Milne’s teddy bear Winnie. The “Pooh” part was from the nickname of a swan he’d met on holiday. The rest of the names, besides those mentioned above, were purely creations of his mind and allegedly did not refer to any objects in the real world.

The story and adventures of Winnie the Pooh are set in the ancient Ashdown Forest of East Sussex. The area features beautiful open heathland, wooded areas, and high ridges. Locals consider it an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Many stories in Winnie the Pooh have clear associations with locations in the forest. The illustrations that accompanied the original books often depicted scenes from this part of the world. Pooh, Tigger, and the crew are regularly seen marching through beautiful gorse, heather, bracken, and silver birch, all popular in the Ashdown area.

The landscapes were an essential part of what helped to make Winnie the Pooh such a compelling pop phenomenon. Like J.R.R Tolkien, Milne had found something unique and persuasive in the English countryside. There was deep magic about it that lent itself to pure escapism. The idea of friendly animal characters adventuring in such an area whisked audiences off to another world that had nothing to do with the pressures of the modern economy.

The first-ever Pooh stories appeared in a Christmas special edition of the Evening Standard newspaper in December 1924. The first book Winnie-the-Pooh emerged around a year later. It told the very first stories of Pooh and his compatriots as they humorously toured through idyllic country scenes, collecting honey and arguing pleasantly.

The Winnie the Pooh brand remained in the Milne family until 1930 until television and merchandising expert, Stephen Slesinger, bought out the rights. Milne received a $1,000 payment upfront plus 66 percent of the income generated by Slesinger’s efforts. Over the next thirty years, Winnie-the-Pooh transformed into a $50 million-a-year franchise – a testament to its tremendous popularity.

Pooh ceased being solely a storybook character. He soon grew into a film star, musician, and toy brand. No longer was the concept confined to the pages of a book. Winnie-the-Pooh had a very real presence in the world.

Throughout it all, though, Slesinger and the Milne family remained faithful to the original character of Winnie-the-Pooh. At first blush, everyone’s favorite yellow bear seems a little slow and dim-witted. But as the stories develop, you soon see endearing aspects of his character and profound emotional intelligence.

Pooh is keenly aware of his intellectual limitations, but this is an aspect that makes him so lovable. There’s no pretense about the bear. He just wants to live his life and find practical, hands-on solutions to problems. Examples of his down-to-Earth nature abound from his rescuing of Eeyore from a river to Poohsticks’ invention.

Pooh is also extremely fond of food and not afraid to indulge a little in life’s pleasures. He loves what he calls “hunny” and will go to great lengths to acquire it.

Most of the time, Pooh hangs out with his friends. He is a social creature, always interested in the lives of others. He makes a habit of spending time with the other animals of the forest and ensures that their needs are met. He is a kind of steward and a leader, without people realizing it.

When Disney bought the rights to the franchise in 1966, they were keen to keep Pooh’s lovable persona intact. Bosses at the studio knew that it was a winning formula and something people instinctively loved. Pooh hit the big time, thanks to animated productions from the cartoon maker.

The first production in 1966 was a theatrical “featurette” called Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Later, Disney followed up these productions with Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too in 1974.

Seeing the demand for a feature-length film, the studio combined all three into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Things kicked off for the franchise after 1980. Producers gave the go-ahead for a series of new movies and television series that exposed entire generations of children to the concept. The first of these was Welcome to Pooh Corner, which ran from 1983 to 1986. After that came The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and My Friends Tigger & Pooh.

Ultimate, Milne intended Winnie the Pooh as a work that would comfort, not challenge. And that remains very much the essence of the franchise to this day.

How to Celebrate Winnie The Pooh Day

Thanks to the sheer number of films, books, and TV adaptations, there are all kinds of ways you can enjoy National Winnie the Pooh Day. In fact, there’s so much content to consume, there’s no way you’ll get it all done in twenty-four hours. Oh well, there’s always next year!

If you’re the sort of person who loves the history of Winnie the Pooh, why not spend the day reading Milne’s original works, starting with the Christmas edition of the 1924 Evening Standard? Then move on to reading the compilation stories to get a sense of how the author originally envisioned the character.

After that, it might be fun to move on to later adaptations of Pooh to see how he evolved over time. Often, you’ll find striking consistency, and sometimes you’ll find small cultural context changes here and there. Overall, though, it is incredible how similar the modern incarnation is to his historical counterpart.

Indulging in a Winnie the Pooh movie marathon can also be a lot of fun. You could watch all the films from the 1970s until the present, back to back.

Winnie the Pooh was also a massive lover of food, especially honey. Nothing is stopping you from recreating his favorite recipes from the books and movies.

Finally, one extra-special way to mark the day is to visit Pooh Corner in Hartfield, East Sussex, where the books were written. You can pick up a map to follow in the characters’ footsteps, and even play a game of Poohsticks on the original bridge.

Celebrating National Winnie the Pooh Day, therefore, is way easier than you might think. Dressing up as a bear, eating lots of honey, and watching your favorite Pooh movies are all great options.

Source

[luciddreamslikeelectricity]

Feels like mrvl doesn't even want to write Bucky even when he's (allegedly) a main character. Because after like 4ish months of nothing, first new thing is some ugly cover reveals and a preview of his 15658135th "haha what if we rip off a prosthetic arm" joke. Very original /s

Like it's the same old that, or promoting that ugly white cat with highlight moments more than the (alleged) character, or more Disney-esque "physical disability is a sign of questionable morality"-style writing and/or design changes for the millionth time.

Glorified plot vehicle at best with throwaway and one-note character writing is all this he's getting tbh, even if it's a (slight) improvement from the last decade. But it's still very washed and boring.

sorry I'm just seeing this.....did you read the first issue of thunderbolts? it was certainly......something. I think, no matter what happens, I'm going to be upset about it because the premise is literally sharon and bucky go behind steve's ("the man they both love" according to #them. gag) back and kill the red skull, which is so Bad like, I'd much rather see steve or sam fight the skull, not this fake thunderbolts team where sharon is lying to her "extremely sensitive superhero boyfriend" like,,,, he isn't a child and has been fighting nazis since before she was born :/ I can't even be too upset about the way they're writing bucky because of how they're treating steve, who I like more, tbh but I totally agree with your observation about their ableism.....honestly, I'm not sure if it's an improvement, - maybe a slight one because the bar is so low? - what they're doing with bucky. That fuck ass cat didn't show up, which is a plus, I suppose 😭 The writing is bad and their writing for sharon is, for some reason, edgy teenager-ish.....I think they should just kill every character involved in this except natasha because I don't care anymore. And yeah, their attempt to make bucky a main character is a joke because it isn't like it hasn't ever been done but I suppose they just aren't very talented.

[first-impressions-gaming]

GAMING RECAP (October 1-13)

Microsoft Has Officially Acquired Activision Blizzard For $69 Billion

It's official: Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard, the company behind franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, for a colossal $69 billion. 

Earlier this morning, the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority approved Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The CMA was the last hurdle for Microsoft's acquisition after it received approval in more than 40 countries and regions, including the U.S. earlier this summer. The deadline for Microsoft to close this deal was October 18, but reports indicated the company was planning to finalize it today, October 13.

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Sony unveils "smaller" PlayStation 5 and PS5 Digital with £100 disc drive add-on

Sony has unveiled new "smaller" versions of its PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital consoles, which will launch this November in the US alongside an optional disc drive attachment for purchasers that wish to upgrade their digital-only machine at a later date.

The newly revealed PS5 slim console is said to mark a 30 percent decrease in volume compared to the previous PS5 model (and a weight reduction of 18 percent and 24 percent for the standard and digital edition respectively), and sports a design featuring two glossy panels on the top and two bottom panels that'll retain the matte look of the original machine.

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Ubisoft’s COD competitor xDefiant pushed back indefinitely

Ubisoft’s xDefiant is in hot water yet once more, according to the developer itself. After it failed to pass certification earlier this year, xDefiant has been indefinitely delayed.

Executive game director Mark Rubin recently took to Twitter to announce that the developers “have identified some things that brought us to the decision to take some extra time to fix or improve the experience for everyone.” The xDefiant team identified some key pieces of feedback collected from the game’s recent public test beta, and Rubin’s post explains that it’s going to take a bit to execute it.

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PlayStation 5 Cloud Streaming Arrives This Month For Premium Users

If you’re a PlayStation Plus Premium subscriber, you’re getting a new perk in the ability to stream select native PS5 games starting this month. Cloud streaming will be available for supported titles within the PS Plus Game Catalog, game trials, and personal user libraries. 

The PlayStation Blog post details the select PS5 titles that support the feature include Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon: Forbidden West, Mortal Kombat 11, and Saints Row IV. Additionally, you can stream game trials for Hogwarts Legacy, The Calisto Protocol, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, to name some. DLC and add-ons will also be available to stream. 

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Xbox Game Pass October games include Gotham Knights, Warhammer 40K: Darktide

3rd October:

Gotham Knights (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X S)

The Lamplighter's League (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X S)

4th October:

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (Cloud and Xbox Series X/S)

10th October:

Forza Motorsport (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S)

12th October:

From Space (Cloud, Console, and PC)

17th October:

Like A Dragon: Ishin! (Cloud, Console, and PC)

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Disney reportedly looking to acquire major publisher like EA

Disney is reportedly looking to acquire Electronic Arts or a company of a similar scale as a way back into games publishing.

As reported by Bloomberg, some Disney executives have allegedly suggested that CEO Bob Iger could transform the company from a gaming licensee to publisher by acquiring EA. Iger is reportedly "noncommittal" about the potential acquisition.

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Team17 layoffs could hit one-third of company

Team17's restructuring could end with the publisher laying off one-third of its employees, according to Eurogamer.

The outlet said the formal consultation for the cuts is expected to conclude next month, with up to 91 people's jobs at risk in the process.

Eurogamer had previously reported Team17 was planning to unload more than half of its QA staff, with up to 50 roles at risk.

Team17 also confirmed a round of layoffs earlier this year as part of "a re-alignment of elements within its studio operating business model."

Today's report added that the cuts are also expected to include parts of the publisher's marketing, usability, customer service, IT and HR teams.

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