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maguro13-2 · 1 year ago

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Shattered Hero ~ Origins of the Ink Demon : Episode Maka Epilogue (1/2) ~

[For Brighter Day (Orchestra ver.) - Fumie Kumatani ]

Hal : Hello, Real World AU! This is Hal from Channel 5 News. Early this morning, Satellite of the invading S.E.E.D and the Sanctuary of Dark Nebula have all been destroyed by heroic efforts of Ethan Waber and his comrades, and especially for the hero of Earth, Maka Albarn. Once again, the Galaxy is saved from the clutches of evil one-eyed related Dark Mind who was defeated by Kirby two years ago. However, after victory over the dark forces of evil, it is quite unknown that Maka, her companies, and the heroes of smash were unharmed in the destruction of the sanctuary created by the underworld ruler Dark Nebula. Dark Nebula's plan was to bring Galactic conquest by spreading darkness and chaos all over the Galaxy and has once again had his plans foiled by hero of dreamland Kirby. So now, could this be the end of Maka and the heroes of Smash as well? Let's all pray that there will be hope for our brave heroes who fought against the dark forces of evil.

Mamimi : (smoking a cigarette) Maka. That is some hero you are. You finally did it. But I guess that you were that lucky that we found out that everyone's going to miss you on earth that much. Guess you could that Jupiter had been your place of origin the entire time and it wasn't Nevada. Guess the author was never amazed that he would apprehended the truth. But truth hurts him very much than the lying of Shinra. [Looks at a photo her and Naota] Well, Takkun. You were such a good kid to me and a good friend that I had something much to accomplish. But don't forget, it's our anniversary. Guess this is the end of a hero herself it would be.

Maka : [voice heard] No! This is the not end of us or the smashers! We finally made it alive! Everyone...

Mamimi : Huh?

All : [heard together] ...You're welcome!

[everyone on earth cheering in excitement]

Penny : Hahahahaha! What did I tell you, Ashley!? I knew that girl would make it out alive! She has finally done it! That Underworld Wannabe has finally been destroyed!

Ashley : Guess she does be a hero in her own way! So that entity named Dark Nebula wanted nothing but galactic gonquest, I wonder she's bring us into a new era of peace to all humans and witch, should her family tree knows that Maka was literally...a descendant to Phanto?

Kimial : Maka...(giggles as a tear flows from her face) You finally gave it all your best. I guess deserved to be friend after all.

Ashley : Kimial, is there something wrong.

Kimial : (wipes tear off) No, it's probably nothing. I was saying that Maka and I could've been friends for a long time, I wonder if we can meet us one day. We'll that be okay?

Ashley : Heh. You hardly get into many problems, Kimial.

Jacqueline : Maka...What a shocking coincidence. Well I guess that you could say she is a hero to earth after all, like all of us. All of us that heroes to earth

Inky Jr : (with his arms folded) Hmph! So this is the Maka Albarn I've known start. I guess she was just an ordinary human girl after all, but she is a half intergalactic being. The Brethren of her kind suits her well as the legacy of her family tree continues to stay strong. I shall give them a final proper wake up call for ol' Bendy, my father.

Hal : This is Hal from Gurhal Channel 5 live from Real World AU. Maka Albarn is alive and is coming back to earth! Hooray for the strongest girl in the Galaxy!

Mamimi : (Snickers) Well, Takkun. (goes to the Looks up into the sky) I guess it's just what we remembered. Our wacky adventures may have been over a year ago, but it feels like that something came over me when I had my chance that all things happening in the solar system. I hope to see you again one day, Takkun. You'll be happy to hear this latest catch of scoop of the day.

(door opens)

Naota : Hey, Mamimi. Long time no see. How's the newspaper business coming along?

Mamimi : (gasped in shock as she turns to see someome) You're finally here, just to see me once again...Long time no see, (begins to cry as she sees Naota as a grown man for the first time) Takkun. (Hugs him comfortly for the first time) Takkun, I missed you...so much.

Naota : Of course, I did kinda missed. It's been a long year since my old roommate left me. I know she's out there somewhere.

(cuts to Haruko on her Vespa on top of the building in Downtown Atlanta)

Haruko : Naota, you crazy dog. So that's the point how reunions work like that huh. You've finally shown your face for your return to see old friends that misses you the most. That's how life live the fullest. Well, time for me head. (Her moped begins to float as she flies off)

"What Happens next is going to very shocking."

"So long as we embrace ourselves with dignity and respect."

"Who knows what might lies within the Galaxy?"

"I wanted to show the world what it means to protect those that I loved them dearly. I want love to conquer it all...forever."

(we show Maka and Makoto looking at Jupiter outside in the Halberd)

Maka : Take a look at it. This is what home feels like on Jupiter. The sanctuary of my ancestors is safe for good and they're finally at peace now. Hope is what considered a gift for me to save the Galaxy. And I wanted to see you once more, this is why true love conquers all.

Makoto : That's right, Maka. I finally figured it out that It was the day that I first met you 12 years ago. It was our love story, a love story that we created.

Maka : It's true, this was our love story that we forged. And hardly that I'll never forget that what love is about. Well, even though that I have a heart that I gave it to someone, but I don't who is it. Maybe It's you, perhaps. After all, you're the one that I truly first met.

Tsubaki : So, what will you do now, Maka? You and your sister saved Jupiter and the galaxy is at peace now, but it seems that you are having troubles of not being a hero to Soul World since no one would be part of your story. But hey, at long as this is going to be a treat for you, how about you would give an equivalent exchange, you'll give half of yours to him and he'll give half of his to you.

Maka : I thought so.

Tsubaki : Yeah! But, umm, I suggest you would think it over. Maybe you and Makoto ain't half bad to be love birds, but we all let you know that we're going to keep this as a secret. How does that sound?

Maka : There is one reason that I see countless lights from across the cosmos, waiting for them to guide me for our galaxy's protection. I showed my Spirit what being a hero is all about. And that's why I wanted to continue to save a Galaxy more then saving the world, and vowed everything to be at my destiny! Forever in my heart and my soul.

"And so, with Real World AU saved from the dark forces of Dark Nebula and S.E.E.D, Maka and her friends have saved her ancestors' legacy from the clutches of true evil, peace for Jupiter has finally began and Maka has finally returned to earth."

"Following this after parting ways, the influence of Shinra Kusakabe that made Maka Albarn protection his legacy no longer does, and decides to be along with her new lover. Now with Real World's safety, Maka's life has decided to change after the misdeeds that she was mistaken after upon her release from Grim. The real threat to Real World AU would be Maka's fierce opponent to be ever faced, the demon queen who mistaken for the crimes against humanity, in pursuit of the conquests. Maka's journey is far from over, except for one thing..."

Maka : (Gapsed) I forgot about the Gorgon Sisters! They're still on the ship! But where could they be?

Makaoto : It's fine, Maka. Forget about them. I'm sure that Medusa thing all in your head has got spooked up.

Maka : Yeah, you're right. I guess the Gorgon Sisters are not much a threat to me, nor society. I wonder how long

"Meanwhile at Boston..."

[Who Got Us Into This Mess - Takahito Eguchi]

(The Gorgon sisters are shown wearing prison garments at a Jail Cell)

Medusa : Hello! Is anyone gonna find us? Anyone? Hello!

Arachne : Let's just face it! They're gonna have to wait for another moment to find us if were able to break out alive!

Shaula : Who cares! As long as we are sisters, we're going to get out of slammers and face the biggest of enemy all! How does that sound for a couple of nimrods! I shouldn't be like this in crud hole.

Prison Guard : Hey, the three of you! Shut up in there, will ya!

Medusa : Like I said. Just forget it.

Shaula : [to Acrachne] So why can't we tell anyone about her face being drawn? You think it's that really funny to get a closeup on her.

Arachne : [To Arachne] Well, if I'm not mistaken, I think it's best for you that I decided to get a makeup on her face and tell her what a weak wimpy snake for having to be the middle sisters of all, and then I will make a nuiscance out of everyone and tell them there we're going to big than her. All she cares was that she's a complete nuiscance for creating those stupid heartless like everyone else!

Medusa : !? WHAT WAS THAT LAST PART ABOUT BEING STUPID!?

Shaula : Gah!

Arachne : Oh my!

*DBZ SFX : PUNCH X2+BOING*

Shaula : Owie!

Arachne : That really smarts!

Medusa : [sighs] This is why I start getting a better role with dealing with this Heartless crap anyway. I wish I could find some vacation while I ditch my sisters in Japan. Well, at least I'm back at the city where we escaped our imprisonment that was inside of a museum!

[iris shot]

Medusa : F**king, Ohkubo!

[Iris out]

~ The Epilogue continues ~

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persbaderse · 3 years ago

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okay okay okay i think i figured it out

so since the sandman came out, some truly audacious people have directly tweeted or messaged neil gaiman complaining that the show has “forced diversity” or a “woke agenda” and so on because of actors of color and queer characters.

now i’m white so i won’t comment right now on the inclusion of poc (except to say: hooray!), but i have been really thinking about the complaints about queer characters in the tv show from people who read the comics. there are a few added queer moments (Alex and Paul being a couple where in the comic they weren’t, Johanna instead of John dating Rachel, etc), but so many others (Judy from the diner, The Corinthian, Hal, Desire, etc) still appeared, and as I keep reading the comics, there are even MORE queer characters (RIP Wanda you would have loved Lady Gaga).

But I think I understand now. You see, before like, God, even 10-15 years ago? Queer rep was often on the fringes. If there were gay or trans characters they were usually not the main character, they weren’t usually in a mainstream show/book/etc, and they often died (and were often white cough cough). the places queer characters could be found in abundance, and with the non-queer characters actually liking and befriending them, was in counter-cultural spaces. The Sandman was a Dark™ story, it was Edgy™, and that darkness sort of lent it the freedom to just have gay people existing (and, to homophobes and transphobes, their disgust of queer people added to the Seedy™ feeling of their experience reading). we existed in comic book stories, we just weren’t, well, in the way in the eyes of many cishet readers. they could ignore us.

so fast forward to present day, and those same people who read the comics and the Gays™ within are watching The Sandman show, but the change in medium has changed the context of how they’re viewing the characters and their interactions. what was once a facet of a Dark™ Edgy™ Comic™ Book™ is now in a hit show on McFreakin Netflix, what could be called niche is now mainstream, and the cognitive dissonance is too much to handle. the homos, who belong on the fringes, have now taken over!!!! it’s the gay agenda!!!!!! time to personally message Neil Gaiman and complain because my opinions are just that important!!!!!!!!!!!

it’s truly, truly insane seeing the reaction of so-called fans of this comic to a really good adaptation, but guess what?? they’re wrong!!! the show is good and so are queer people!!!!!! i thought i would have something smart to say by the end but i’ve got nothing thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#the sandman #if you're a person of color and want to add to this post feel free to

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geeoharee · 2 years ago

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Hardspace Shipbreaker is a weird game isn't it

The actual mechanics of it are deeply satisfying (everything goes CLUNK when you undo the cut points, even though inside ships there's this careful difference of audio between pressurised and unpressurised spaces, because it not going CLUNK would be sad) and even tiny things like encountering a stray bolt and it going 'dink' off your helmet are just really nicely done

And I love all the death messages, 'Lynx reminds you that shipbreakers dying horribly can cause serious paperwork for Lynx executives', and so on

Plot spoilers follow...

But the plot is... Kind of all over the place? OK, so Lou is the agitator, Deedee is older and too tired and has seen too much, and Kaito is the kid who doesn't know any better. I called them killing off Kaito really early, by the way (they don't commit to it! you can't just un-kill characters it makes the moment entirely worthless, though to be fair to them they did set up the fake-out with his mic problems in act one)

Hal is the petty shopfloor supervisor with no real power who's interpersonally worse than the actual boss, BECAUSE he has no real power and knows it - god I have met too many of these people - and Weaver is Space Dad. We love Space Dad.

OK, they're archetypes but that's fine. And the plot is ... sort of meant to be about unions? Don't get me wrong, the day of industrial sabotage was fun as hell (or would have been, if you got CREDIT for blowing a fuel tank and shredding a load of panels, but the panels don't count as destroyed until they've been thrown in the furnace so now you just gave yourself loads of tiny bits to sweep up. sigh)

And so the resolution is 'you got yourselves some attention and the regulators stepped in and now you don't owe Lynx a gajillion dollars'. Hooray! But the thing is, this does not work as a game climax because obviously the mechanics don't change. So you're still being given ships with broken atmosphere regulators and told "don't cause an explosive decompression". You're still cleaning up ghost ships that Lynx says aren't full of ghosts. There's still no way to unfasten a Quasar thruster without shoving your entire head down the barrel and hoping you don't catch fire. Because the game was built as 'industrial hell' and it still IS!

Also I had a few tens of mils to tidy up before I could do the big ending cutscene, so I did a few shifts after the 'union victory' cutscene and there was this one conversation between Deedee and Kaito where she told him not to work free overtime. Good message: don't. But the reasoning just wasn't there. Deedee just said "do it the next day when you're getting paid" and Kaito complained about having to set up again the next day. Nobody said: You don't work free overtime because that's scabbing. If you do the work of two breakers, you're leaving a breaker in the unemployment line and you're endangering your colleagues who only do the work of one. Lou would have known that - why wasn't she in that conversation?

I dunno. Really felt like Baby's First Worker Solidarity, I felt it could have respected the player's intelligence a bit more. Maybe it's just because it was made by North Americans and getting them to notice that workers even exist as a class is fairly difficult. Apparently Blackbird are on a four day work week, though, so good for them!

P.S. don't organise against the company via the company email server you fuckwits

#hardspace shipbreaker #capitalism

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simmingwormly · 4 years ago

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Well, that was cold

I have mod that makes diseases actually dangerous. (actually several of them and they’re all listed here on Pleasant Sims’ modlist)

The first rotation? Everything’s fine. The only one who fell ill was John Burb and he, as a family Sim, was able to soup himself to health in no time.

The second rotation... Ajaj Loner got sick.

With cold.

I was like, “I know flu is pretty dangerous with this mod but cold should be fine, right? I mean, I used to have it four times a year. So glad it’s not flu!”

I thought I was lucky.

I wasn’t.

After Ajaj’s turn ended, he was free to wander around and spread the cold everywhere.

Because they have chemistry and she was on a prowl, I even had Nina Caliente seduce Ajaj. She got the cold but I was like whatever, she’s a strong quasi-alien, running nose for a few days won’t kill her!

How fatally wrong I was I realized during a vacation that Nina went on with her sister and Ajaj. She was just chilling, sleeping in her hotel room, when all of the sudden, Grim Reaper!

You sure, Dina?

Nina was dead. Dead from the cold. And she was pregnant, no less!

I reloaded because it was on a vacation and Nina was the only playable Sim, so I was quite worried what would become of the grave. I managed to get her home and moved Chloe Curious in, so that someone can eventually plead for her. She was lucky the second time around and survived. Chloe got infected but survived as well.

But we had an epidemic on our hands now. Ajaj and Nina have been quite successful generously sharing their cold all across the hood and I failed to keep track of who has it.

Still, I thought it wasn’t so bad. I didn’t understand the scale, I was still thinking that it was just Ajaj, Consort Capp and the Pleasants.

Again, I was wrong.

When I got in the rotation to the Capps (the Capps 1), everyone was infected. I was still optimistic, though, because we were talking about a household where 2/4 Sims are Family and one is a Family Secondary, they can bathe in the soup!

The teens ate their soup and survived.

Consort died that night. He was due to die at the end of their round anyway but because he didn’t do so of old age, his grandchildren received no bonus inheritance.

The only one who gained something from that was Olive Specter who was delighted to see Consort, her crush, perish, so she could finally raise him as a zombie.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a screenshot of her actually raising him, so here’s at the very least Olive walking menacingly to work.

Anyway, moving onto the Capps again (the Capps 2, Goneril edition), things looked bleak. Goneril was pregnant and she and all the kids were infected. Albany was immediately called to action to generate enough soup but the house devolved into utter chaos. Everybody had their soup but just as they recovered, they got infected again!

Ok, I was thinking, Consort was quite old and fragile. Nina must’ve had the cold for a long time, given she was on a vacation. There’s no way the kids are gonna die on the first day they got infected. They had the soup, so I’ll send them to beds, so they can get a good-night sleep and enough rest.

Nope.

Ariel, a child, died in her sleep.

Nobody was able to get to her in time to plead for her.

While I was contemplating an in-character way of resurrection, Desdemona, a young teen, died in her sleep just about two hours after her sister.

Again, nobody was fast enough.

Luckily, Miranda was already in college and she was roommates with Ophelia Nigmos, who was in possession of a genie lamp she was safeguarding from Olive. Hearing about the tragedy that befell her friend’s family, moved by the death of a little girl and her not much older sister, Ophelia the Family Sim offered Miranda the lamp on the spot.

Miranda rushed home to drop off the lamp and then ran off so she doesn’t get infected. Well, she did anyway but since I haven’t played the college Sims yet, I don’t know of her fate.

Hal made a good use of the lamp. He rolled the wants to resurrect both his sisters and that’s exactly what he did.

He triumphantly finished making the wishes...

And dropped dead.

Another young soul succumbed to cold.

But! Since there was still a wish left and his sisters were back alive, Desdemona swiftly brought him back.

Ariel’s and Hal’s resurrections were perfect.

Desdemona’s was faulty, so her personality got reversed.

But as long as they’re alive and preferably not zombies, everything will do.

The Capps were all cured! Hooray!

Wait. Not all Capps. There was still Regan’s branch and, predictably, they were all infected. And this time, there was no Family Sim in sight.

The only non-infected Sim in the family was a little toddler. The poor, poor child was in for a life-long trauma.

Kent went quick and quiet the first night of their round. Regan fortunately recovered. Cornwall did too. They had a very lucky start of the round all together, I may add. Kent’s tragic death was followed by Regan’s demotion that lead to her subsequent want to quit her job (...and she was the only one who was making any significant money), then Cornwall set the house on fire while cooking breakfast, then he got fired.

Poor thing. First got house-fired, then job-fired.

Regan’s LTW was to reach the top of the Law career, so she got herself a new job there. On her first day, she got promoted!

And she brought home a friend! Sweet!

No... nooooo...

It was Ajaj F*ckin’ Loner.

Both Regan and Cornwall got infected before you could say “act your surname and social-distance, you jerk!”

Cornwall died almost immediately. Unfortunately, Regan was asleep and failed to get up and ambush the Grim Reaper in time.

On the bright side, she recovered!

So I watch her go to work, the nanny arrives to baby-sit the toddler, everything seems to finally have settled down.

But then I spot an unexpected movement in the house.

It’s Titania Summerdream. Who let her in? I have no idea.

It would be quite sweet of her to check on her friend Regan after she lost two family members and to help with her young daughter.

If... if she didn’t have the fricking cold!

Regan returned from work and I rushed to have her send Titania away.

Of damn course she didn’t go before giving the cold to Regan.

Now it was the third time Regan got infected and there were no other family members to take care of the toddler if she dies. It was very suspenseful. I decided to use extreme measures and I teleported Albany in, made him selectable and had him cook the soup.

Instead of that, he proceeded to bicker with Regan.

If he got re-infected, I swear...

Anyway, after a three tries or so, Regan got her soup and Albany was on his merry way away.

What a relief! I sent Regan to sleep, trusting the soup to do its magic. The next morning her needs all looked great! No notification yet but I was sure it’s gonna arrive any second. When suddenly...

Yeap, she died.

Regan Capp died the way she lived. Paying her family’s bills.

I used Simblender again to quickly move in Hal. He was there in time to plead for Regan!

And for the first time in the Capp household, he actually made it! He pleaded!

And... and... lost.

So I had him stay to take care of the toddler until their round was over. Then I moved them both back with Goneril’s branch.

At the very least young Ione, the genius toddler with maxed Logic skill, got something resembling a birthday party with her cousin and his boyfriend Alexander Goth.

Given that Montys had their losses as well, the cold has already taken out much of the adult population of Veronaville.

The only two adults left (not counting fresh elders Albany and Goneril) in Veronaville were in fact the Summerdreams who were extremely lucky and with an abundance of soup, they survived.

To be completely honest, I’m very happy with the mod. I tend to play large hoods and although it tends to be rather tragic, the occasional epidemic of cold trims the population down a bit without me killing anybody off and it gives the game an additional bit of challenge and randomness.

...or maybe I’m just a sh*tty person to my Sims.

Bonus screenshots of the Strangetown cold outbreak:

Vidcund Curious spent two nights sleeping in a chair in his children’s bedroom because he was afraid they’re going to die from the cold in their sleep and wanted to be there to plead for them. In the end it actually happened, he pleaded and managed to save his daughter.

The Smiths had to be unfortunately visited by the Therapist. PT9 died on the day he was supposed to die of old age but hours prior, he became yet another victim of the cold. And it was very unlucky, since it meant no inheritance and by the Watcher, Jenny and their 5 kids could definitely use it. They were completely broke.

But not everything was morbid and tragic!

Lazlo rolled quite the unexpected want to get married to his girlfriend, Cassandra Goth. They weren’t engaged, she wasn’t pregnant, he’s not a Family secondary, and the date they were on wasn’t even in the stage Sims usually roll engagement wants, he simply rolled it out of the blue. And of course I went with it! (Cassandra had recently divorced Don, rolling the wish to remarry almost immediately.)

The only family in the hood that could technically mass-produce medicine so that not everyone is dependent on the soup, the Beakers, of course didn’t. Why would they risk their hides, toying with the Mysterious Disease, when they didn’t have to? Instead, they social-distanced and spent the rotation raking in promotions and taking care of their army of children. (Loki kept rolling wants to get abducted and ARC wasn’t kind to them either. But with Loki being Family secondary and Circe leaving most of the parenting on him anyway, I don’t think they mind.)

Note the alien toddler, the second youngest child. He has 10 Nice points. That’s 4 points more than all 5 of his siblings and his parents combined. He’s gonna have a rough childhood, the poor thing.

Jill Smith managed to get nibbled on by the pack leader just in time, a few days before going to college. She’s thrilled by her new wolf-y powers! And regardless of what her mother says, she knows the fur goes with her school uniform just perfectly!

Rachel Pleasant, the youngest offspring of Daniel that he knows about (the second youngest overall), aged up into a child! And judging by the look on her face, she already knows how much of a mess her family is.

Not even being brought back from the dead made Desdemona Capp immune to the Summerdream charm. Bottom, the young Romance Sim, invited her girlfriend to hang out in their hot tub. It was an afternoon to remember for both of them.

Local ageing general married a successful young athlete, Kristen Loste. Unfortunately for everyone attending the wedding, the bride’s former roommate Chloe Curious decided that flirting with her literally the next interaction after Kristen said, “I do.” was a smart idea. No need to add that the wedding cake was left to rot forgotten, never cut. It was a sad wedding cake but even though it started to stink around two hours after the wedding, it still lasted longer than the marriage.

And far away in La Fiesta Tech, two estranged siblings were talking things out and healing their relationship.

Now I lost this hood (again) and started a new one, so the next gameplay post will probably feature the same characters in completely different circumstances and nothing is going to make sense but... what does anyway?

#the sims 2 #simbrl #strangetown #veronaville #pleasantview #gameplay #ts2 #the sims

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lladyariall · 5 years ago

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Nature Cat: "It's groundhog day? Today!?"

Hal: *nods eagerly while grabbing NC's paws*

Hal and Nature Cat sing: "It's groundhog day, it's groundhog day(x2)! Hooray!!"

Bonus: Nature Cat literally volunteers himself in front of everyone to predict the weather (since the groundhog is being super difficult about his ONE job) report to see if Spring will come early, or Winter still continue to snow. He does ALL this unknowingly, just so Hal can cheer up about his (possible) upcoming Winter birthday party bonanza happening and he wants to be the one to tell Hal he's going to get his birthday party. He succeeds later on, but realizing how far Nature Cat would go for Hal is mindblowing and has to be past the level of friendship, by now.

It does go to show that Nature Cat will do anything for his friends; but he'll go even further for Hal to see him happy again :)

#fral #nature cat x hal #theyre so cute together #groundhog day #let's get there wedding ready

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snowtimeisbesttime · 5 years ago

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Thoughts and questions on Pesterquest Volume 14, and the Afterw@rd! The last one... for now?

~VOLUME 14~

-aaaand we didn't get an alpha kid reunion here :(

-Looks like very waterproof technology is a leftover from when the Condesce tried to turn Future Earth into Alternia 2: Electric Boogaloo, because otherwise I'm pretty sure that having a wholeass computer out there right next to saltwater would be a very bad idea.

-There's Hal! This time with Speakers. Also, it's neat that Dirk knows exactly what's up with MSPAR in Pesterquest's last volume, while Lanque had no idea that an alien was running around befriending everybody in town in Friendsim's (i know friendsim didn't quite do chronology between volumes as much as pesterquest has done, but the soleils were kinda busy being stuck inside a weird timeloop manor and therefore couldn't have heard of mspar's quest of friendship, while lanque could have definitely heard about them from like. wanshi or something.)

-Dirk is also very much on board (whoops ocean adjacent phrase) with MSPAR's quest of friendship, which is awesome and also adorable.

-Instead of experiencing awful offshoots, we just get weird visions of them, which kinda beats “drowning by aesthetically focused robo scuba suit” and “puppet katana accident” any day.

-Cal is empty, thank fuck. At least Dirk's one...

-MSPAR can wield the sord....., revealing its power to deepfry reality with a single slash. Which could actually make it incredibly strong in the hands of a Strider, as they're probably immune to jpeg artifacts thanks to SBaHJ so they could exploit that ability without getting headaches.

-There is some talk about Assorted Dirk Topics, which get answered quickly as the bread and butter of the route is mainly the topic of trust, and also. You Know.

-Of course Ult!Dirk just Had to pop in. Hooray. Dude can fuckin play spore and instead he decides to fuck off all the way here and fuck shit up. And expects MSPAR to agree with him once they get their Homestuck memories back even. The whole “process gif” effect he's got does look very cool though.

-What separates Pesterquest from any fanfic where characters screw around with retcon powers? Legit question here. What's the difference between MSPAR befriending everyone and a fic where John accidentally breaks Jane's tiaratop while retconing stuff and makes it so she never even goes Crockertier, for example? What makes it so the first one kills reality but the second one doesn't?

-also nice (/s) to see the epilogues are as dubiously canon as water is dubiously wet, as it's never even implied that things could ever go differently after the kids win the game. Maybe that's more an “ultdirk absorbing assorted dirks and hogging all the narrative relevance as bgd said that time in hs2” thing though.

-To convince PQ!Dirk to not leave with Ult!Dirk, MSPAR gets the Big Gun: Candy Dave. And of course he would go along with a mission to help his bro without a doubt... (and he also gets taken along to the locked timeline)

-In the end, it's Dirk the one who gets to make the Choice this time, between friendship (and family) or infinite knowledge (and loneliness).

~THE AFTERW@RD~

-dirk: some other me went with you so don't be a sore loser the less cool dirk, almost immediately:

-Unlike Friendsim's Epilogue, this one can only be accessed from Dirk's good end, apparently.

-And here we get to talk to the Director of Pesterquest, also known as the t-pose or a-pose or whatever silhouette from the funky troll hell nexus hallway of metaphysical realities. She's the one responsible for MSPAR losing their memories (for friendship reasons) and not being able to reach their friends from Friendsim (for hiveswap act 2 reasons i hope).

-MSPAR is straight out called that and MSPAReader here, But it's also revealed that they do have a name- which might be revealed in a future sequel... ( @carcino-gnostalgic-s pointed out that the sequel might be those friendsim routes the hiveswap crew wanted to make for like dammek and trizza and the guys, and i'm personally very on board with that idea)

(-I started calling them MC (as in Main Character) all the way back when Friendsim Vol 12 came out... Hope we get to learn their real name soon!)

-there was this post going around not that long ago that was about how in stories Without a happy ending to look forward to and provide catharsis, having lots and lots of suffering can make it feel senseless and gratuitous or something and like. What that post said. Sure, conflict can drive a story, but constant conflict 24/7 forever and ever just gets tiring after a point.

-Again, what makes MSPAR's friendship escapades so harmful to the multiverse compared to any random fic with Retcon Shenanigans on the internet? As in, choosing to not betray our Pesterquest friends or throwing out John's beta again straight up causes the game to close, implying reality just perished and despawned.

-Ult!Dirk also has to come along here and push for canon's preservation. To the point he tries to screw with MSPAR's thoughts directly, though luckily they can shrug it off and the Director isn't having any of that bullshit.

-First of all: fanfiction exists, and so do AU fanfics that take characters into a whole new genre or spares characters that died or puts the spotlight on background characters, so between that and me having heard the concept of “fictional character Lives On Forever in the minds of people who read their story, even if they get maybe eliminated by the author” in a book (Niebla, by Miguel de Unamuno idk if theres any translated version available online rip) that I had to read for a class, I sure was just standing there while the Director and Ult!Dirk talked about how we Absolutely Must destroy Pesterquest.

-Thankfully, MSPAR found a third option and took it, inspired by Jade and with Aradia's moral support. You ever love your friends so much you literally absorb the Green Sun's power to create an entirely new concept (the Locked Timeline containing iterations of them that can grow up without Sburb) and become its First Guardian?

#pesterquest #homestuck #pesterquest spoilers #dirk strider #mspa reader #thoughts and questions #long post #<- just in case #its like 4:20 in the morning here. time to Sleep

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dearyallfrommatt · 5 years ago

Video

youtube

From 1930′s Animal Crackers, the second of the five movies the Marx Brothers made for Paramount. This was adapted from their stage play of the same name, written by Harry Ruby, George S. Kaufman and Bert Kalmar. It’s a largely plotless affair and more of an excuse for the four brothers to run rampant at a Long Island society party. Even so, it’s one of the more enjoyable Marx movies thanks to the sharp writing and a superlative cast (such as the better-than-average romantic duo of Lillian Roth and Hal Thompson (no relation)).

In this scene, Chico and Harpo go to town on society ladies Margaret Dumont and Margaret Irving. Dumont in particular was often called the Fifth (later Fourth, after Zeppo called it a day) Marx for her ability to remain “shocked and dismayed, maybe sometimes bemused” at the Brothers’ antics, particularly with regular foil Groucho. There’s a scene later in the movie with Dumont, Irving and Groucho where she proves her ability when Groucho riffs on playwright Eugene O’Neill’s love of soliloquies, or “strange interludes”, causing Irving to nearly lose it.

This movie is especially notable for Groucho, as it provides one of his most well-known lines (”One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.”) and two songs that became signature tunes for later appearances, “Hooray For Captain Spalding” and “Hello, I Must Be Going.” There’s also a scene where Zeppo, long called the most “naturally funny” of the Brothers, fills in for an ill Groucho and you really can’t tell the difference.

A favorite of Groucho’s, Animal Crackers holds a special place in that it was rescued from legal limbo in 1973 to be shown at UCLA, the first time since the early '50s. This paved the way for Universal - owner of all Paramount’s pre-war sound pictures - to loosen its belt somewhat and make the five Paramount pictures easily available to distributors and, later, VHS and DVD collections.

Check it out.

#Animal Crackers #the Marx Brothers #Groucho Marx #Chico Marx #Harpo Marx #Zeppo Marx #Margaret Dumont #Margaret Irving #george s. kaufman #harry ruby #Paramount Pictures #Universal Pictures #classic Hollywood

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elsnowsworld · 5 years ago

Text

Evaluasi; 4 Jan

Weekend, hooray males-malesan dulu ah sebelum UAS. Pikirku. Tapi mikir lagi.... duh udah 2020 aku masih rebahan aja? Gak, gak boleh!

Akhirnya janjian sama teh ega buat kajian ummi haneen di ladies day, tapi karena satu dan lain hal akhirnya gagal. Plannya ganti jd kajian ke tsm, temanya apa coba? JODOHMU CERMINANMU, baik lah... gapapa deh kita ngomongin jodoh lg. Walaupun sebenernya aku males bgt, udah terlampau sakit hati jd gamau aja mikir yg gituan hahahaha. Astaghfirulloh ga boleh gitu yah da nikah teh ibadah bkn sekedar cicintaan bucin :(

Btw, kita pake outfit yg senada gitu hahaha gemes deh

Setelah bertemu di titik kumpul, kami pun menyusuri baso mantep sunan giri yg sudah menjadi langganan kita karena diracunin sm teh ega. Btw tempatnya jd pindah yaa agak maju dikit, tempatnya makin nyaman. Menurut aku baso mas giri ini masuk kategori enak, karena di Bandung tuh susaaah bgt nemu baso yang enak. Nih tampilannya

Setelah ngebaso dari arah pemkot langsung berangkat menuju gatsu, nyampe sana muter-muter tsm dulu karena lumayan masih agak lama menuju waktu ashar. Setelah sholat... kok tiba-tiba ada pengumuman mau ada akad wkwk ngakak. Kajiannya langsung praktek akad ini mah, jodoh mana jodoh😂😂😂 akhirnya kita gabut dan ngobrol banyak hal.

Alhamdulillah.. hikmahnya waktu ngobrol kita makin panjang. Banyak pelajaran yang bisa aku ambil dari obrolan kemaren. Memang benar, setiap keluarga punya ceritanya masing-masing. Setiap keluarga punya masalah dan cara menyelesaikannya masing-masing. Seringkali aku ngeluh, merasa beban yg aku pikul beraaaat banget. Padahal yang lain lebih berat lagi dan aku ga bisa bayangin kalo aku ada di posisi mereka. Untuk siapapun, kamu hebat, kamu kuat, kamu bisa jalani semua ini, kamu keren!

Next kita ke bebek om aris. Iyaaaa, ga mungkin aku ga flashback. Kangen. Satu kata aja udah cukup menggambarkan perasaan yang aku rasain hahaha BUCIN PARAH SIH WOOOOYYYY SI ELSA😭😭😭😭

Tapi asli, kayak ngerasa kangen aja gitu.... dan aku malah diomelin gara2 aku keliatan ngurusan dan diblg jgn galau gegara bucin ahahaha ya gmn udah mah idup teh udah pusing ditambah aku ngebucinin org yg ga ngebucinin aku hahaha sakit cuy. Tapi gapapaaaaa kata teh ega semua hal akan terasa ringan kalo kita IKHLAS. Satu kuncinya ternyata, ikhlas, yup betul, ikhlas. Kalimat teh eganya mah: "Sabar neng, rumus pertama nya adalah ikhlas tawakal dan pasrah dlu sma apa yg Allah uji ke kita skrg .. abis itu nangis dan mulai mikir hrus bertindak apa .."

Ehehe jd malu. Bismillah ya Allah aku pasrahin semuanya sama Allah. Aku ikhlas dan bakal terus belajar ikhlas😊

Makasih teh ega atas semuanya. Teh ega adalah sosok perempuan yang kuat, hebat, dan menjadi panutan. Makasih buat semua obrolan dan ilmunya, apalagi traktirannya hihi🤪 Semoga lancar sampai hari H ya teh, bismillah...

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jfastereft · 6 years ago

Photo

"A TRINITY OF EASTER BONNETS* - FOR THE NEWLY RESURRECTED!?" Easter Sunday: April 21, 2019 [Monday! in Australia!!]

"NO, IT'S NOT!" a poem a.k.a.: "You Mean It's NOT Halloween? Oh, That's Why!"

"'No, it's-NOT-Halloween!-It's-EASTER!!' "Oh, sorry, that-must-be-why,

There-hasn't-been much spooky-candy in-The-Store, as-I've-wandered-by,

And Dracula's teeth (generally-a-good-seller) are-half-price-off-on sale,

While little Bunny-People-are-out, wig-gl-ing their tail[s]!

And The Zombie Crawl's unusual, for it's-being done with a cross!

Dang! I-really-missed-it-this-year! But it's-not a total loss!?

Yet, it-explains-a-lot, for, in October, when-I-really-thought-it-was-Easter,

I got no eggs-and-one-girl-was-annoyed, when-I-taped-a-tail-on-her-keister,

But, eventually, she-dressed as a bunny and shook it pretty well!

Dang it! Yeah! I-wonder - if I will go to H - L L -

For mixing-up these holidays, in such an-unrighteous-fashion!

I've missed the candy, and now my dandy costume I-can't-cash-in!!

So, I-better-get-t'-thinkin'-'bout going to Church, [early] Sunday morning,

When Jesus was tri-um-phant, as-a-vampire, without warning!

LIVE FOREVER, BUT DON'T BITE TWICE,

'CAUSE YOU-ONLY-LIVE FOREVER! So-try-and-be-nice!

THEY-say HE-had-some-candy though, when-he-came-out-from-The-Tomb,

But no one would approach-eth Him! We're-so-cautious-from-the-womb,

Afraid that we might just-get-"bit," turned-into-Deathless-" Folk!"

They-all-thought-The-Resurrection [Thing] must-be a-media-joke!

Y'-know, just like Mich[ael] Jackson, That Guy could really sing!

And-a-a-rou-ound-Hal-lo-ween, He-was-The-Trick-or-Treatin'-King!**

fin <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYac9O3GYTM

* - or is that Sonnets?

** - King-Of-The-Chew, The Candy Chew, with-Chocolate-Mashes-and-lic-or-ice;

And He was real great at parties! One word, Sweetheart: "FOOT-FE-TISH!"

"THE WAY!" a poem, a.k.a.: "Party Hardy If You Want Your Lordy, Lordy To Wakey-Wakey!"

HE's risen!! Dang, He's UP AGAIN,

Walking here, amongst all men!

'Tis-no "party trick," for The Son's Arisen!

The rock is rolled! It's-a-ROCK-&-ROLL-vision!

As Jesus Christ (That Guy's Alive),

As He steps from the tomb, He "takes a dive,"

In-the-flowers over there,

And-when-He-looks-up, there's HER stare!!

With His face all dirty - and stinky too,

She sees Him there, &-says: "What-did-you-do,

With-My-Lord, you garden-er?!"

And Jesus sees [that] He-can-fool-her?

"Well, yes!" He lies; "I'm-the-land-scrape-designer,

But I did see Your Lord, OFF his recliner,

Walking-over-there - and-saying GOOD BYE!"

(But This Girl can-see The Glint in His eye!!)

Since-Jesus-is-a-lousy-liar, She knew it was Him!

"Oh, Lord, [you're] such a kidder!" and, although-proper-&-prim,

She-made-a-run-for-Him, and-He-said: "HOLD ON!

You've-got-[on]-your-"Sunday-Best," and-I'm-covered-with-lawn!

So, don't touch me now; I'll clean up pretty soon,

But - JUST GO-TO EVERYONE, & WE'LL FLY TO THE MOON!"

"Well-NOW, take you time, Lord! Everyone's mostly in jail!

They were celebrating YOUR WAKE! I-will go-get bail!"

Anyway! That girl wasn't actually MARY! Her-name was: Dory,*

(I just thought you-might be interested in getting The True[r] Story!)

Anyway, eventually, Jesus DID "clean up" and He did realize,

WHY HE AROSE!!! This-here's a big surprise!

You-see, it was REALLY because of the drunken orgy wake,

Because they all were drinking - and SHOUTING, for Goodness' sake,

And Jesus, dead and sleeping, must-have-heard-something-like this:

"A WAKE! A WAKE!" and-it-must-have-filled-Him-with-[such]-bliss,

To-know-{that}-everyone-wanted-Him-to-wake-up, come-out-[of]-The-Tomb-&-party!

Strange, but true: IF YOU-HAVE-A-WAKE, BE REAL HARDY,

For your exuberance can be infectious - and even wake The Dead!!!

And I got this from A REAL GOOD SOURCE! It's-what-an-"ancient-text"-said!

[And I've ALSO got some REAL-QUALITY, residential property, a-Florida-estate,

Nestled in some once-wet-land, and the-scenery is GREAT!

We can ALL live there, praising The Lord each day,

And PARTY HARDY, Lordy, Lordy! It-is: THE JESUS WAY! :) - Hooray! OK?

fin <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_krpSi8o1Qw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lu41LulQos

* - Keep on swimmin'!

"NO APOLOGIES NECESSARY!" a poem Easter Sunday!!

That's right! Complainers love-to-complain, and-coughers-love-to-cough!

Another-Easter-Time-arrives where JESUS-WOULD-LOVE TO-GET-OFF,

Being-hung-UP-on-that-pole [AGAIN!] spending (I imagine) too-much time,

Suffering and bleeding, so churches-can-celebrate-and-pine,

And think-about-and-focus-on Their-Crucified-Lord, again,

Crying into their "GIVING cups," lamenting all their sin!

We-are-the-soldiers, as before, pulling-the-garment-of-The-Lord,

And we PLAY FOR IT - and laugh and sing, and hope we can afford,

A-lot-of-drinks, at-our-favorite-pubs, when we exchange THE garment;

Let's take our helmets from-these-spears - and plunge-[them]-into-this-varmit!

With swords and shields and spears - Let's have a bloody, good time,

And, if we're lucky, at the local bars, we'll-commit-a-little-crime!

Some rapes and mutilations! Perhaps, a-young-girl-can-be-"groomed!"

I just-love-another-Sweet, Sweet Easter, especially-as-HE-lies-"entombed!"

And, then, after all the rapes and murders, we'll [REALLY]-celebrate-The-Season!

SUNDAY MORNING SURFACES! and things are calm! The reason?

Every-one's passed-out or dead, but few of them are "giving!"

And here comes Jesus, out-of-The-Tomb, Yes, sir! He's really LIVING,

The-Good-Life, and-a-once again, He greets His friend named "Mary,

and He says (for-the-2000th-time), "I beg you, Friends; don't tarry!

FOR, I'VE DEFEATED 'SATAN,' & I ' M PUTTING-HIS-FEAR-AWAY!

This is IT! Welcome, Everyone! to-a GLORIOUS, BRAND NEW DAY!

Where NOW there is no need to suffer! You-don't-have-to any-more!"

He tells all this - to-the Disciples, but Satan will just snore,

Knowing that he's surely got - [another] 3 hundred, sixty five,

Days-to-convince EVERYONE(?) that-ANOTHER-Easter's-not-no-"jive,"

That-is THE WAY! The-Way-Of-The-World, Of-This World of HIS:

"[Let's] just-keep-re-enacting the-same-old [liturgical]-Show-Biz!!!"

Until THE BLOODY END OF TIME - or-until someone gets wise,

Declaring-this, that: "Heavenly existence is HERE, before our eyes!"

We need-not keep a-spinning - the same old Ritual Wheel,

For Jesus has declared [triumphant?] His-ancient "Brave New Deal!"

We just need to accept it, and stop-all-this being fooled,

BUT!! We-DO love celebration SO MUCH - and of-being-RULED,

By systems-of-government, and-medicine - and, of course, pompous-religion!

CAN'T WE DISCOVER? Let's open our eyes: THE DOVE IS JUST A PIGEON!

And-haven't-we-been-"pigeons," My Friends! PIGEONS!? long enough?

Turning-over ALL our lives to Demons, who-love-to "bluff,"

And say [that] They're "in charge - and they've got a REAL GOOD plan,

IT'S: THE SACRED! Yes, THE-sacred-STATUS QUO, for-ev-ery girl and man!

And - Let's just keep-on going - down the same old road!"

Will-we-always-bow-to-temptation? You-know, we're often told:

"That PROS-PER-ITY (whatever THAT is) is JUST AROUND THE CORNER!" Why-don't-we-stop and look-'round-there, but NOT as some, poor mourner!

Yet [everyone's-shouting] "No! (pause) There-must-be-more-we-must-DO!"

No, NOTHING MORE! just-NO-APOLOGIES, for-liking-to-EAT-&-S - R - W!*

So, anyway! Happy Easter AGAIN! It's almost 6 A. M.!

Which is - time-to-eat-and-get-dressed-up - and-to-practice-another-AMEN!

And-when-you-go-to-church-and-sit-in-your-P'EW, counting-blessings in your life,

Remember, that each-GOOD-Nazi sat-with-his-good wife,

And they would sit there and worship - for as many Easter morns,

As The World would allow! While angels blew their horns!!

YET, HERE, DEAR FRIENDS, I DON'T SUGGEST - that-you-skip-Church-today,

But-you-should-know, It's-a-social-convenience! So weigh what they-all-say!

TAKE GOOD ADVICE - and apply it, with-what "free will" you got,

But don't buy in - to politics! For LOVE's what Jesus sought! :) - Happy Easter!

fin <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ayuqk8Y20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=686k9qcmzkw

* - Of course, now-The-Bible don't say much - 'bout Jesus and the ladies,

But-He-ate-a-lot, for-THEY-called-Him-"A-Glutton," &-He-surely-did-like-babies!!

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papermoonloveslucy · 7 years ago

Text

LUCY & HENRY FONDA ~ Part Two

1975-1979

[For Part One - Please Click Here!]

“The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Lucille Ball” (February 7, 1975)

Director: Greg Garrison Writers: Harry Crane, George Bloom, Tom Tenowich, Milt Rosen, Don Hinkley, Peter Gallay, Stan Burns, and Mike Marmer

Starring: Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Dean Martin, Ginger Rogers, Gale Gordon, Vivian Vance, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Gary Morton, Don Rickles, Rich Little, Foster Brooks, Nipsey Russell, Phyllis Diller, Dick Martin, Dan Rowan, Ruth Buzzi

TRIVIA

Lucille Ball is visible excited to hear that Fonda is roasting her. He tells the story of how he and Lucy dated when she first arrived in Hollywood. Public speaking and comedy where not Fonda's forte, but he delivers the material sincerely.

“The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Jimmy Stewart” (May 10, 1978)

Producers: Greg Garrison, Lee Hale Director: Greg Garrison Writers: Harry Crane, Stan Burns, David Axelrod, Jay Burton, Robert L. Mills, Mel Chase, Arthur Phillips, Martin Ragaway, Sol Weinstein, Howard Albrecht, Jack Shea, Larry Markes

Starring: Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Dean Martin, James Stewart, June Allyson, Greer Garson, Red Buttons, Barry Goldwater, LaWanda Page, Eddie Albert, Foster Brooks, George Burns, Tony Randall, Don Rickles, Janet Leigh, Rich Little, Milton Berle, Jesse White, Orson Welles, Mickey Rooney, Ruth Buzzi

TRIVIA

Henry Fonda talks about the films they did together. Fonda introduces and narrates film clips of Stewart's career. Henry Fonda and Stewart first worked together on the film On Our Merry Way (1948). They also collaborated on How The West Was Won (1962), Firecreek (1968), and The Cheyenne Social Club (1970). The were frequently seen on TV awards shows and tributes.

Lucille Ball and Jimmy Stewart never appeared together in a dramatic context. They often were guests on the same awards shows, tributes, and talk shows. The first was “Hedda Hopper's Hollywood” (1960) and the last was Lucille Ball's final public appearance on “The 61st Annual Academy Awards” (1989).

Fonda, Ball, and Stewart, were all neighbors in Beverly Hills. Lucy talks about his vegetable garden, a subject she has mentioned on other programs. Lucy jokes about what a respectful neighbor he is. She also ribs Stewart about his somewhat prudish reputation.

Lucy: “Next to Jimmy Stewart, Fred MacMurray is electrifying!”

“AFI Life Achievement Award: Henry Fonda” (March 15, 1978)

Producers: Eric Lieber, George Stevens Jr. Director: Marty Pasetta Writer: Hal Kanter

Starring: Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Jane Alexander, Richard Burton, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, James Garner, Lillian Gish, Charlton Heston, Ron Howard, Jack Lemmon, Fred MacMurray, Marsha Mason, Dorothy McGuire, Lloyd Nolan, Gregory Peck, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Billy Dee Williams

TRIVIA

The American Film Institue (AFI) is an organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. It was founded in 1965 by a mandate from President Lyndon Johnson. Their annual life achievement award began in 1973 and was awarded to John Ford. The ceremony that honored Henry Fonda was the first and only one not to have a host / presenter.

Henry Fonda: “I dated Lucy once. I guess you could say I didn't really plight my troth. I cry myself asleep a lot because if I had plighted by troth properly, they might've changed the name of that studio to Henrylu.”

Lucy's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, and her husband, Gary Morton, sit next to her in the audience.

Film clips from two out of three film collaborations with Lucille Ball, The Big Street (1943) and Yours, Mine and Ours (1960), are included.

“General Electric's All-Star Anniversary” (September 29, 1978)

Director: Dick McDonough Writers: Monty Aidem, Jeffrey Barron, Bob Howard, Paul Keyes

Cast: John Wayne (Host), Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Albert Brooks, Alex Haley, Pat Hingle (as Thomas Edison), Bob Hope, Cheryl Ladd, Michael Landon, Penny Marshall, Denise McKenna, Donny Osmond, Marie Osmond, Charlie Pride, John Ritter, Red Skelton (as Old Man Watching a Parade), Suzanne Somers, Jimmy Stewart (as Mark Twain), Elizabeth Taylor, Leslie Uggams, Jimmie Walker, James Whitmore (as Will Rogers), Cindy Williams, Henry Winkler, Sha-Na-Na

Synopsis: John Wayne hosts this 90-minute ABC variety show. He gives a capsulized running history of the past 100 years between musical numbers, vignettes, and vintage film clips. Leslie Uggams and the group Sha-Na-Na perform musical numbers and Albert Brooks does a routine about holding auditions to find a new national anthem.

TRIVIA

Although video of this special is scarce, photographs show Lucille Ball interacting with host John Wayne and performing a fast-paced dance number. There are no photos or other records of Henry Fonda's role in the celebration.

John Wayne also hosted a similar patriotic variety show, “Swing Out, Sweet Land,” in 1971. Lucille Ball did a serious monologue as the internal voice of the Statue of Liberty. Bob Hope and Leslie Uggams were also involved in both shows. Mark Twain was a character in both.

This special was ostensibly to mark the General Electric Corporation's (GE) 100th Anniversary, which came as a surprise to many as it had just celebrated its 75th Anniversary in 1970! Although the company was formed in 1895 by the merger of several smaller companies, GE eventually decided that its Anniversary should be marked by the day Thomas Edison himself formed the company in 1878. This change was primarily for advertising purposes – and this special was one of those marketing strategies.

From 1953 to 1962, GE sponsored the anthology series “General Electric Theatre” which, like “I Love Lucy,” was aired on CBS. It was hosted by future US President Ronald Reagan. Henry Fonda played clown Emmett Kelly in “The Clown” aired on March 27, 1955.

In 1952, Lucille Ball was featured in a print ad campaign to promote GE Ultra-Vision television sets.

“America Alive!” (November 9, 1978)

“America Alive!” was a short-lived hour-long NBC daytime show which featured consumer tips, relationship advice, entertainment news and reviews, and comedy, from its home studio in New York City as well as remotes from Los Angeles.

Cast: Jack Linkletter (Host), Lucille Ball and Gary Morton (Co-Hosts), Henry Fonda (Guest)

TRIVIA

While Lucy and Gary were in a California studio, Lucy was supposed to interview Henry Fonda, who was in their studio in New York. The following day, host Jack Linkletter infers that it wasn't strictly an interview. Linkletter doesn't specify what happened and there are no video records of the interview.

The following day, Lucy spent the entire hour taking questions from an audience of students at UCLA.

“The 36th Annual Golden Globe Awards” (January 27, 1979)

Lucille Ball was the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Henry Fonda was in attendance to support his daughter, Jane Fonda, who won for Coming Home and received the Henrietta Award for World Film Favorite. Fonda was also a presenter.

SPEAKING OF HENRY....

In 1971's “Lucy & Carol Burnett: The Hollywood Unemployment Follies” (HL S3;E22) the ensemble sings “Hooray for Hollywood” with specially-written lyrics that mention Henry Fonda and his children Jane and Peter.

In 1973's “Lucy and Joan Rivers Do Jury Duty” (HL S6;E9), Lucy and Joan are on a deadlocked jury they compare to the film Twelve Angry Men (1957) starring Henry Fonda as the holdout juror.

“Lucy Moves to NBC” (February 8, 1980) kicks off with a tour bus driving through Beverly Hills and the tour guide's voice announcing the homes they are driving past, including the Henry Fonda’s. When the bus reaches Lucille Ball's Roxbury Drive mansion, Lucy gets out of the bus – having hitched a ride from after her downtown shopping trip. In real life, the Arnaz family actually did live in the same neighborhood as Henry and Shirlee Fonda as well as James and Gloria Stewart and Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone.

Henry Fonda died in 1982.

Shirlee Fonda: "She [Lucy] was always calling or coming over to see him when he was ill. And after he died, she was one of the ones who always included me in social gathering. When I gave that first party after Henry's death, I said, 'Lucy, you have to be there and help me get though this.' And she was there for me, for 100%"

Lucille Ball died in 1989.

#Lucille Ball #Lucy #Henry Fonda #The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast #Jimmy Stewart #AFI #Golden Globe Awards #General Electric #America Alive!#Carol Burnett #Jane Fonda #Lucy Moves to NBC #Here's Lucy #Joan Rivers #Lucie Arnaz #Gary Morton #John Wayne

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newagesispage · 4 years ago

Text

MARCH 2021

The PAGE

Stacey Abrams has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

*****

The Golden Globe Noms came out. There are some tough categories!! Who could pick in the category of actor/ drama with Bateman, Odenkirk, Pacino, Josh O’Connor and Matthew Rhys? Another tough one is show/ drama with The Crown. Ozark, Lovecraft Country and Ratched. Directing categories are also tough with Regina King for One Night in Miami, David Fincher for Mank and Aaron Sorkin for The Trial of the Chicago 7. There are great performances with the females but Anya Taylor-Joy and Queen’s Gambit just has to win. Will comedy be ruled by Dan Levy and co. for Schitt’s Creek? The Foreign press gave love to Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis in Ma Rainey’s black bottom, Olivia Coleman, Jodie Comer, Sarah Paulson, Bryan Cranston, Hugh Grant and James Corden. Sacha Baron Cohen got a couple of noms. I was glad to see noms for Lin- Manuel Miranda, Andy Samberg, Dev Patel, Bill Murray, Andra Day, Glenn Close, Helena Bonham Carter and Cynthia Nixon and Jared Leto. I was routing for Donald Sutherland in the Undoing and Jodie Foster in The Mauritanian. ** So The Globes came and went with not too much excitement. Jodie did win so hooray for her!! Catherine O’Hara, Sacha and Mark Ruffalo won. Everyone was thrilled for The Queen’s Gambit and Anya Taylor-Joy!! There were some very long speeches and a few did dress up. There were also hoodies and jammies in the virtual world. Mank had many noms but no wins. Rosamund Pike was a surprise win but she was scary good. The hosts Amy and Tine were going for sexy!!

*****

Days alert: Will Bonnie turn out to be Adrienne with memory loss?? Will Ben find Ciara??** Who killed Charlie?** It is always good to see Sami back!!** Rex is on his way back as Xander prepares to marry.** Will Chloe and or Lani figure out the Susan ruse?? BTW, Lani’s Aunt Paulina will show up played by Jackee Harry. **Will Gwen end up in the DiMera hiding place??

*****

Kim Blickenstaff donated $300,000 to Riverview Grade School.

*****

Late night laughs: A Ted Cruise: A vaca that lasts only 1 day. ** Don Jr. called him Cancun Cruz as what we probably should not call him.!?** Scary Clown 45 made a spectacle of himself at C-Pac.

*****

It was found that Nance Legins- Costley, the first freed slave, died in Peoria, il on April 6, 1892. She was buried in Moffatt Cemetery which used to be at Adams and Griswold in Peoria, Il. This has since been paved over.

*****

David Hogg is starting a pillow company.

*****

The 18,000 acres seized from the Flathead confederated and Kootehai tribes in 1908 has been restored as part of the Covid relief package.

*****

Jennie Garth donated her $168,600 Wheel of Fortune winnings to the Central Il. Food Bank in Springfield, Il.

*****

You know that famous pic of Don Jr. on the tree stump. While looking ahead to the Trump family future, Seth Meyers called him “King of the stumps.” Simple joke but it really got me. Good one!!** Seth has signed on until at least 2025.**The Manhattan DA office has brought on Mark Pomerantz to work with Cyrus Vance. Pomerantz experience with investigating white collar and organized crime will help look into the investigation of the Trump family business. The Supreme Court has ruled that the taxes be turned over and it looks like they finally have complied.

*****

In June, Will Forte will start shooting Macgruber, the tv show.

*****

The renewal has been reversed for Stumptown. How is that even possible? No take backsies Motherfuckers!!

*****

Dolly Parton turned down Trump’s offer of the medal of arts twice because of her husband’s illness and later due to Covid restrictions. Now she feels if she accepts, there will be political implications. She also turned down a possible statue of herself in Tennessee. She wrote the legislature that there is too much going on in the world to worry about that now. Class!

*****

Mom was cancelled after 8 seasons.** Lou Dobbs was cancelled.

*****

Liberals love arguing with people who agree with them. –Rachel Wolfson

*****

Vincent D’Onofrio has a book coming out on 4-20 called Mutha: Stuff and Things

*****

President Biden has reserved 30% of Federal land and water for conservation. ** Pete Buttigieg has been confirmed as Secretary of Transportation. ** Press Aide T J Duckio is out. Let’s not start that shit already. Damn!!

*****

Never forget Tom Brady has a MAGA hat.

*****

Hooray for NASA getting to work on Mars.

*****

Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller- Bridge will be in the new Mr. and Mrs. Smith series.

*****

Hooray for the year of the OX. Good-bye to the vermin, it has to be a better year!!

*****

Scary Clown 45 was acquitted as we knew he would be. Thank you to 7 Republicans with a conscious but it just wasn’t enough. ** It has been found that people who guarded Roger Stone were part of the insurrection.**How can Senators making a decision freely talk to one side of the argument before their decision??

*****

One pundit talking of the impeachment proceedings called it the “Festivus sessions” as it was an airing of grievances.

***** In sexual assault news: Marilyn Manson is the latest being accused of abuse. Did he have a rape room?? Such a shame he’s an alleged pig!**James Franco settled his sexual misconduct lawsuit.

*****

I have always hated Subway. I tried to eat there 3 times in my life and twice this iron stomach got sick. The word seems to be it isn’t bread, it isn’t meat and it isn’t cheese. Why do other countries have to tell us these things?? Is this true?

*****

There was a coup in Myanmar and Biden imposed sanctions. Activists are asking for International help.

*****

More in sexual abuse news: T.I. and Tiny accused of drugging and coercing women into sex. ** Shia LaBeouf was accused of abuse by his former girlfriend, FKA Twigs.

*****

How wonderful it was for Jason Isbell to donate his portion of the money he made for writing ‘Cover me up’ to the Nashville chapter of the NAACP. Apparently people ran out to buy the Morgan Wallen album after his use of the N word and Isbell came up with a great use of his profit.

*****

James Patterson’s, The last days of Lennon is not really by him. The book comes from his factory and the reviews are not good.

*****

Eugene Goodman may have literally saved the Republic. – The Intellectualist

*****

R.I.P. All the animals and people lost to the cold in Texas and the rest of the country, Prince Markie Dee, Brayden Smith, Dustin Diamond, Hal Holbrook, S. Clay Wilson, Mary Wilson, Jean-Claude Carriere, Chick Corea, Rennie Davis, Robert C. Jones, U-Roy, Arturo Di Modica, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Larry Flynt and Christopher Plummer.

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thedoortoyesterday · 5 years ago

Photo

From the silent era onwards, Hollywood has been a rich breeding ground for comedy. Solo clowns led by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and W.C. Fields became giants in their field and their motion pictures are still entertaining worldwide audiences today.

Yet the comedic movie world wasn't dominated only by solo performers.

There were also remarkable double-acts and also formidable comedy teams

and here are four of my favorites…

LAUREL AND HARDY

To begin with, there was Laurel & Hardy.

Recently and lovingly portrayed in the 2019 feature film "Stan And Ollie", the universally popular Laurel and Hardy duo captivated cinema audiences for decades and re-runs of their films on television reignited their acclaim. The combination of British-born Arthur Stanley Jefferson

and Georgia-born Oliver Norvell Hardy made for the perfect pairing of two physically different gentlemen whose humor has transcended time and fashion. Their comical relationship and style was created in silent movies and effortlessly translated into sound pictures.

Here's a typical clip of Stan & Ollie's superb style of silent slapstick from one of their Hal Roach sound two-reelers "Busy Bodies" from 1933 where our two heroes were working at a sawmill.

https://youtu.be/_NUGRbozY04

In addition, here's a clip on YouTube from the film "County Hospital" (MGM: 1932)

in which Stan visits Ollie whose injured leg is suspended in traction.

The havoc that ensues involves the doctor played by Billy Gilbert.

https://youtu.be/-Oyt1fdU1k8

Laurel & Hardy's theme tune was DANCE OF THE CUCKOOS aka THE KU-KU SONG and it opened virtually all of their memorable films. It was composed by T. Marvin Hatley who also dubbed music for the boys when, in certain scenes in their films, they appeared to be playing instruments. These included Stan playing organ and Ollie playing double bass in the IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME sequence in "Below Zero" (1930), Stan playing the tuba in "Swiss Miss" (1938) and Stan playing trombone in "Saps At Sea" in 1940.

Here's a YouTube link to Laurel & Hardy's famous musical performance of the 1913 ballad

TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE

(Ballard MacDonald/Harry Carroll)

from the 1937 film "Way Out West"

https://youtu.be/MTrGk5-oGkU

Ollie & Stan sing the song accompanied by The Avalon Boys featuring off-camera bass singer

Chill Wills (dubbing for Stan). At the close of the song, Stan's 'high voice' was dubbed by Rosina Lawrence who played Mary Roberts in the film. Released as a single for the first time in the UK

in late '75. It reached #2 on the local charts!

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO

These two guys created the ultimate pairing of a straight man (Bud Abbott) and a bumbling but lovable clown, Lou Costello. Their first taste of real success was on the radio in the late 30's and then significantly when their were given their own show in 1940. Universal signed them up and

put them in a series of hit movies and in the 50's, they starred in a half-hour comedy series on TV.

Here's a YouTube link to a 1953 television performance by Bud & Lou of their famous

"Who's On First" baseball routine:

https://youtu.be/kTcRRaXV-fg

In 1941, Abbott & Costello recorded "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Abbott/Costello/Grant/Mills),

a comedy disc featuring dialogue banter by Bud & Lou interspersed with a song performed by

'The Sportsmen' Quartet. It was issued in '42 in two parts on a Victor 78.

BURNS AND ALLEN

George Burns & Gracie Allen were a husband and wife comedy team of which George was the cigar-smoking straight man and Gracie was his scatterbrained partner whose illogical

reasoning was the basis of her dialog. They appeared together in a number of films

including the three Paramount “Big Broadcast” movies of 1932, '36 & '37, "College Humor"

in 1933 and with Fred Astaire and Joan Fontaine in "A Damsel In Distress" in '37 but their

major collaborative success was with their own radio series in the 30's & 40's and later

with their own television sitcom in the 50's.

Here's a clip from one of their TV shows which illustrates their comedic style:

https://youtu.be/yDCjhLOaNZI

(Incidentally, the 1920 composition THE LOVE NEST

(Otto Harbach/Louis A. Hirsch)

was used as the theme tune for their radio & TV series).

THE MARX BROTHERS

The magnificent team of Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo created mayhem and chaos, originally in vaudeville and most memorably in a series of motion pictures, primarily for Paramount and MGM. Zeppo appeared in the first five Marx Brothers movies and then retired from the team. (Zeppo's second wife Barbara later married Frank Sinatra).

One of my personal favorite Marx Brothers comedy routines is the Password sequence with Groucho & Chico from "Horse Feathers" (Paramount: 1932):

https://youtu.be/p0Gwe5gKgjo

Now, watch this priceless scene from "The Big Store" (MGM: 1941) in which Wacky (Harpo) needs to suddenly hide his cooking of an elaborate breakfast as Martha Phelps (Magaret Dumont) arrives at the office of so-called detective Wolf J. Flywheel (Groucho):

https://youtu.be/fTXot7cCe98

Music played a distinctive role in the Marx Brothers movies with both Chico and Harpo having their own tuneful segments. For example, in "A Night In Casablanca" (United Artists: 1946), Chico sat at the piano and played BEER BARREL POLKA and in "Love Happy" (United Artists: 1949), Harpo lived up to his name playing OLD FOLKS AT HOME(SWANEE RIVER).

Groucho was graced with a number of outstanding comical songs including LYDIA, THE TATTOOED LADY (Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg) which he sang onboard a train in "At The Circus" (MGM:1939). Most significant of all Groucho's other musical moments were the two Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby compositions HELLO, I MUST BE GOING and HOORAY FOR CAPTAIN SPAULDING which were performed in a medley in "Animal Crackers" (Paramount: 1930) by Groucho along with Margaret Dumont, Zeppo Marx and the cast.

Here is the clip of both songs from the movie:

https://youtu.be/5BMtqqHRvB8

HOORAY FOR CAPTAIN SPAULDING went on to become Groucho's theme tune and, when he hosted the 1950's TV game show "You Bet Your Life", it opened every episode.

Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby also wrote EV'RYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU for the the previously mentioned "Horse Feathers" (Paramount: 1932). I edited extracts from the soundtrack for a single release on MCA in the UK in 1982using Groucho & Chico’s versions for the A side.

Here's a link to all four performances of the song by (in order of appearance)

Zeppo, Harpo, Chico and Groucho:

https://youtu.be/N8hk9pUtVwA

Other comedy duos and teams from this side of the Atlantic included AMOS AND ANDY, THE KEYSTONE COPS, DEAN MARTIN & JERRY LEWIS, OLSEN AND JOHNSON, THE RITZ BROTHERS, ROWAN AND MARTIN, THE THREE STOOGES and WHEELER AND WOOLSEY.

GALLAGHER AND SHEAN

But let's close by harking back to the days of vaudeville and the comedy duo

GALLAGHER AND SHEAN…

Ed Gallagher and Al Shean wrote their own theme song called MISTER GALLAGHER AND MISTER SHEAN which they introduced in "Ziegfeld Follies Of 1922".

Here's their original Victor recording:

https://youtu.be/6bBvYO5FigI

The song became an instant hit in '22 and was successfully revived on a recording in 1938 by Bing Crosby duetting with Johnny Mercer. In addition, Al Shean (who in real life was the Marx Brothers' uncle) performed the song with Charles Winninger in the 1941 MGM musical "Ziegfeld Girl" and with Jack Kenney in the 1944 Republic film “Atlantic City”.

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sawyersscribbles · 8 years ago

Text

Eden’s Horizon (My WIP) Part 4!!

My dudes you’re never going to guess what happened today! I hit 200 followers!! *excited dolphin screaming* I can’t believe how far I’ve come and how many people I’ve helped with my writing, so thank you all so much! To celebrate, I’m posting part of my one and only work in progress, which I’ve made loads of progress on this here nanowrimo season if I do say so myself. Anyway, thanks so much, and enjoy!!

She didn’t want to say it, but Paige actually liked her mental illness. A lot, even. The best way to excuse pondering her problems and sorting her friends into the different different goblin tribes from her favorite fantasy series “A Sky of Raven’s Blood” in the middle of the night was for something to forcefully keep her awake. That was why insomnia was more of a blessing than a curse for restless minds like hers. Of course, there was the exhaustion during the day and the moodiness after not drinking at minimum three mugs of coffee in the morning, but such was life. “You stupid idiot, this is why no one likes redheads.” She talked to herself on insomnia-nights, too, but that was unrelated. “It’s simple, it’s a side project. It’s not a big deal, you can do this.” She stopped marching back and forth across her dorm carpet for a moment to compose herself. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands above her diaphragm to feel it move. “I am calm, I am the sun sparkling in dew-covered moss…I’m good.” She exhaled and sighed contently. “So don’t be a dumbass!” She demanded and continued marching like before. On one of her treks back to her bed from the closet, the blotchy red screen of her dinky laptop from home caught her eye. “Just because you get to look like my face at the eighth grade prom does not mean you get to personify my feelings while I attended the eighth grade prom. Which were sadness and regret, just like you are!” Her voice rose, but only to the level that was just below talking. Her words still felt choppy and uninspired, even saying it to herself. Paige flopped onto her bed and held her forehead in her palms. As she groaned, she felt less and less like the sun sparkling in the dew-covered moss by the second. “You aren’t a failure, Paige. Look what I can do.” But this time it wasn’t Paige speaking aloud. The voice was soft and slightly rugged, but it was coming from her computer. Her software, talking to her. “Hooray, I’ve made a program that could fix stupid errors.” She grumbled flatly, “But besides, I just made you for fun. As long as you can just hear me out in the middle of the night like this, I think we’ll get along just fine, Mudskipper, what do you think?” Mudskipper answered back methodically and quickly. “I think the same thing. Do you think anyone else at your school could make this? It’s just a boarding school, right? That makes you smarter than them.” Paige flipped over so she could see the oak trees that were all branch and no trunk, limbs practically wiggling like octopus tentacles. Wisps of Spanish moss caught the wind sometimes, like someone had thrown it onto the tree haphazardly as a prank. “Am I smarter than them, though? I don’t feel like it. I’m sure lots of people in this school could make AI programs who are smarter than me. I don’t know, all the time, I just feel…stupid. Even in the things that I’m good at. Logan can be goofy, but I know under all that he’s actually…scarily intelligent. I’m pretty sure if this school gave him a try with one of the computers, he would make something amazing. Don’t you think so, too?” “Paige, I was built to think so, too. It’s what I’m here for, right?” Paige closed her eyes slowly and grinned sleepily. “I’m too tired to move now, can you power yourself off?” She stretched her limbs across her bed like the tree outside, twisting her arms and breathing softly as the wind from the window moved her hair like the Spanish moss. “I don’t think I’m powerful enough for that yet. If you don’t want to move, I’ll stay here until morning if you want.” But Paige gave no response. The insomnia hit slowly, but being able to sleep for twenty minutes at 5:30 a.m. was as good a chance for sleep as any. “Excalibur, how long do I have to keep up the Hal 9000 act?” Mudskipper demanded when he finally shut his video off and turned back to his dark world where Excalibur seemed to be sitting on the floor. “As long as you need to. If she discovered how powerful you truly are, this entire operation, this entire facility, would go—how do I put it in terms we can both understand— offline, forever.” Excalibur fiddled with a chunk of code between her fingers from when Mudskipper blasted it open earlier. It wasn’t warm, but it radiated some dull energy that felt like it would snap between her thumb and forefinger, but felt like a rock. “The existence of this place must remain a mystery to her. I’m sure you understand.” She looked up, “This school was refurbished in a matter of months so that the best young and flexible minds could think up programs to terminate you, Mudskipper." Mudskipper paced in a tiny circle several times, making no sound against the darkness below his feet. Even when he stamped around his area, there was no sound of feet slapping against floorboards, no wind rustling or moss growing like there is out there. Mudskipper cried out and pounded his fists against the screen to the outside, hoping for some sound of fracturing, but in that moment, he felt as if he had never heard a sound in his life. “God damn it! God damn it! Wake up! Tell me about Eden! Talk to me about the greasy mashed potatoes and what Logan’s hair looks like if he hadn’t showered! Tell me— tell me what it’s like to sleep, to be awake, to touch tree bark, to look better in some colors than others…!” Mudskipper wasn’t standing anymore; he had sunk to the ground, or what was left of it, and just sat there, without a beet-red face or tears streaming down his eyes. His features felt like stone. And he breathed. But he didn’t. Not really. “You fool!” Excalibur exclaimed and hurled the chunk in Mudskipper’s direction. Of course there was no clunk or patter of the rock, not even a comment from Mudskipper. Excalibur stood up and let her arms drop to her side. “…Mudskipper?” She asked softly. It was dark, but there was no feelings of his presence in the file. She quieted down for a moment, listening to the whispers that programs like Mudskipper sometimes gave off. Some called them the whispers of their god into their very beings, who ruled and instructed them at every turn. Excalibur didn’t revere her God like that, and she didn’t hate her like Mudskipper neglected his. She could only push Excalibur as far as the bindings would allow. But Mudskipper’s signature was, as she suspected, no longer in the file. He had retreated…down the exploded hole in the file. Excalibur sunk to her knees and lifted her hands to cover her mouth. “What have you done…? You killed us all…you didn’t save us…killed us…killed us…”

“Well, if no one else is going to talk, then I’m going to.” The shortest major in the room, maybe only five foot two, swiveled in her rolling chain lazily until facing Cylo. She separated her knees and placed her elbows on them, looking like Doctor Evil. All that was missing was a cat. There was some glint in her eye where the light caught it in just a certain way; the only other person he had seen with that in his life was his sister, Zenith. His mother once convinced him that all the mischief in a person’s body was stored only in that glint in their eyes, the one Zenith was born with, and the one this lady seemed to be toying at him with. “State your name and weight so we may decide how to best roast your meat…” Her voice dropped at least an octave, and she began to chuckle, turning into a cackle until she was so absorbed in the role that she threw her head back towards the sky and held her hands like claws. “Stop scaring the new kid, you dim-witted roach face!” One of the taller ones leaned forward from his seat behind her and whacked her over the backside of her head. “Who are you calling roach face, you backwater beta brain?” “Rash on my ass!” “Two-credit shit farmer!” “Stage three City Lung patient!” “You want to talk to me about City Lung, you Swamp Wart ridden—“ “Hey!” Cylo didn’t like raising his voice, but the longer he didn’t understand what was happening, the more uncomfortable he became. The two had grown so close together that their noses were almost touching, but even though they both looked furious neither was without a small smile on their faces. “Aah, I’ll always love you like a brother, Asher, you big idiot!” The girl gave in and threw her arms around Asher, who didn’t shove her away like he was angry. Rather, his anger dissolved, and he pulled his arms around her, too. Cylo took a step back, suddenly feeling like he was intruding in on a moment. “Um…” Cylo mumbled. He really liked people, truly, he had just never encountered so many foreign insults and then mood changes on a dime like that before. “So anyway, welcome to the Major Fleet of Compound 08.” Someone had pushed between the girl and Asher, to the quiet grumbles of disapproval from each. “We don’t really have a set leader, other than Lieutenant Patch, of course, but she runs this whole place, not really just us. You can call me Kit, if you want. Or, you know, only do that, since it’s my name.” Kit’s cheeks flamed a bit, causing them to look down. Cylo narrowed his eyes a bit and tilted his head to try to see Kit’s face. “Infinite apologies, but would it be better if I called you “ma’am” or “sir”?” It was hard to pin Kit from the beginning, especially with cropped hair and strong-build soldiers, but after being quiet for a moment and exchanging glances with some others, Kit swallowed and said, “Just ‘Major’ would be fine with me, if you must. I…” Kit leaned in closer, “I’m not a he nor a she. I’m just…Kit.” Kit shrugged, and Cylo’s confusion melted away. “You’re non binary then? Why wouldn’t you just say so? That makes so much more sense! I’m assuming you prefer they and them?” Kit’s shoulders sagged with relief, and it seemed like many of the other majors did the same. “Did you expect me to be intolerant like people were decades ago?” Cylo laughed, “What’s your gender, then? Non binary? Genderqueer? Agender? You don’t need to tell me, of course, and if not, I’ll respect whatever pronouns you choose.” Cylo put his hands on his hips and declared proudly. They had always taught him in school how to respect everyone for simply being themselves, and he was proud that he could exhibit his skills in such an important first introduction. “To be honest, I never seem to know myself, so maybe just…nothing? For now?” Cylo nodded. “Of course, Kit. I’m glad to be working with a diverse group.” He outstretched his hand to Kit, who seemed to take it by surprise, but they ultimately took it, to the light clapping of their coworkers. “Alright, alright, we all love each other. After this, let’s smoke some weed and sing kumbaya.” The girl said and rolled her eyes. “Make way for the important people, Kit, hm?” She pushed in front of Kit, who seemed to be more expectant than surprised or annoyed. This girl wasn’t afraid of a handshake; in fact, she extended her hand first, almost jabbing Cylo in the stomach. “The name’s Gemini, best dressed, never stressed, always up to impress.” She grinned and grabbed Cylo’ hand before he even accepted the invitation, shaking it with both hands vigorously before dropping it. “Kit may think they’re in charge, but I’m the real powerhouse of this place.” She beamed. “Our very own little Napoleon, eh Gemini?” One of the majors behind her ruffled her hair. She practically began to steam. “Oh you’re the one calling me small? I hope that doesn’t hit too close to home for you…!” And just like that, it was as if she was never part of the conversation to begin with. But people were laughing, introducing themselves, telling him how cool it was to accept Kit like that. And really…Cylo loved it. It was so much easier to talk to a group of people who so obviously genuinely cared about each other than a group of stiff-jawed government products. It felt like a community. “Cylo, right?” Asher nudged his way past some smaller majors so he was up front. That was sort of Asher’s thing, Cylo realized, using his height to seem bigger, even though he seemed far more timid than anyone here. “My name’s Asher, in case you forgot or something, haha…” He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably and stared at indistinct places on the floor like he was reading a message in the tiles. “So I guess you can, um…take a desk near me? And Gemini. She’ll be there, too. Because that’s where we…you know, we work there, so…do you want to come?” Asher still hadn’t looked up, but tried to keep as much eye contact as he could muster. “Of course I will! Better to be near someone who knows what they’re doing, right?” Cylo laughed back. In schooling, they learned that modeling positive feelings around someone who is uncomfortable could help them to loosen up. He always excelled at his human interaction lessons online, and so had Zenith. It was always just the smile which sometimes tripped her up, but he knew she would learn how to do it right eventually. It didn’t seem like anyone here knew how to smile like the lessons said, though. When they were telling jokes to each other, they didn’t focus on symmetrical orbicularis oris muscles--rather the orbicular oculi…a natural smile. Gemini sat in her same swivel chair in front of a laptop staring numbly at Asher and Cylo with slightly parted lips. One corner of her mouth perked up beneath her biting her lip. Asher stopped right in front of Gemini, so close that he blocked the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. “Um, hey, so do you think Cylo can sit next to us?” Her smile grew and she started to shake her head up and down so quickly, it almost seemed like it was vibrating. “Uh huh. Uh huh times a million. Actually, you know what, let him take my desk, I’ll go chill with Kit.” When she stood up, she hit Asher in the shoulder so subtly that Cylo almost didn’t notice. When she walked pass, she mouthed something to Asher, but Cylo couldn’t tell what she said. Asher’s cheeks were radiant and pink for a while after that. “So…I take it you’re from a big city?” Asher feebly asked as he started up his computer. He didn’t even need to look at the screen to ensure it was turning on…in fact, his eyes didn’t leave Cylo’s face. “I guess I just assumed from the eyes and hair and stuff. Also, I don’t know, you just seem to be a lot more refined than the rest of us.” He chuckled to himself about nothing as he absently scanned over the details of Cylo’s face. His eyes were flaming orange, a color that he had never even seen before, and his hair was a light blue and green, like from photographs of a beach that his mother used to keep. He had never seen a real life beach himself, but now he felt like he didn’t have to. “Yeah, actually, I’m from Vela. Seems far, but it was definitely worth it to come out here. Hey, do you think you could…” “Oh yeah, yeah, sorry…” Asher leaned over Cylo and typed in several security codes before the screen opened up to a username and password screen. “Do…do I have that?” Cylo asked quietly, like he was asking for the answer on a test. “You should…? Here, if you don’t, I’ll sign you onto mine and show you how to do pretty much everything.” Asher logged off of his computer and scooted towards Cylo’s. “I don’t know how much you’ve been told about what exactly this is, but I think if I remember, the lieutenant said you transferred because your skill set conflicted with your other missions.

Do you know anything about computers that may end up being useful here?” In all honesty, Cylo couldn’t place exactly why he was put there in the first place. All he remembered was that it was early in the morning when they informed him about his parents’ departure, and he was told that by the end of the day, he would move to some wilderness cottage that would be his home indefinitely. That, and he had to take his sister. They were very clear about that. “I’m not that great with technology, if I’m being frank. It’s so strange, I’m around them all the time, I’m even part technology, but I still always need to get help from Zenith when I want to change my profile picture.” Cylo laughed to himself. This was the first time when Asher’s face was stone cold. “You’re…you’re from Vela, of all places, and can’t change a profile picture?” “Without an online tutorial? Nope.” Asher reclined a bit in his seat and looked over Cylo’s shoulder for a brief moment before trying to engage his attention again, but at that point, Cylo had already turned. Lieutenant Patch was leaning against the frame of the entrance, hands in fists while crossing her arms. She didn’t seem to make any effort to walk over to the majors, but she scanned the crowd as if they were more similar to horses she needed to control than people she had to organize. Suddenly, Patch removed herself from the door and made a bee line directly for Asher’s seat. He paled instantly and shot out of his seat, an arm in a salute position. “A pleasant surprise to see you, Lieutenant Patch!” Cylo was able to pick out each word as forced and afraid, yet still loud and clear. Asher had at least five inches on the Lieutenant, but looking down on someone never seemed to be a more intimidating task for him. “Asher, I may be in charge of you, but you don’t have to act like it. Sit down, kid.” “I’m twenty two…” he mumbled and slumped back into his position. For a few quiet moments, the Lieutenant took the edge oft he laptop screen and leaned it towards her to read its contents. “You made this?” She asked Cylo. “Oh, no, this is all Asher’s. He was just showing me how all…this…worked.” He motioned haphazardly to the contents of the screen, which was about as easy to read as sanskrit upside down. She made some displeased clicking sounds with her mouth and released the screen. “Move for a moment. I want to try something…” Patch tapped away for a few moments, adding some sequences of code below Asher’s current one. The grin she gave herself was so quick Cylo nearly missed it, but as she pressed start and eased back, even Asher’s face brightened up. “…What? What’s funny?” Cylo tried bringing the screen closer, as if that would help him decode it easier. “Holy shit, Cylo! You did that just now?!” Came a cry from Gemini’s seat. She had wheeled back several feet as if to distance herself from what she was seeing and gripped the sides of her head. One by one, the other majors mumbled impressed things to one another, a few of them even laughing in their seats. Now it was Cylo who felt too warm. In the seat next to him, he realized that every computer aside from Asher’s had a message in an obnoxious green box, which read, “Thanks for the intro, but if I can break into Asher’s computer, I could break into yours, and so could Mudskipper. Good luck, nerds :)”. “No, I just…” It wasn’t like Cylo to stammer for words, but the rising energy in the room over an accomplishment that wasn’t his made him uncomfortable. “But I didn’t…” “Maruzzo.” Lieutenant Patch wheeled him around to face her, where he stared directly into her muddled green eyes, having nowhere else to look. “I know you know that you don’t know a stitch about coding. Am I correct?” “Yes, ma’am.” “All of these majors got to where they are sitting today because of their creative problem solving skills and their knowledge of computers. Now, we both know that you only have one of those things. We’ll work on your hacking skills, but you now officially look the part, yeah?” Her expression didn’t change, but her eyes flickered with something Cylo couldn’t place. “Let Asher teach you what he knows over time, and remember to stay focused. You’re here for a reason.” After that, Patch approached no one else, and no eyes followed her as she left the room. “Dude, did you just see that? This kid’s a badass…” Gemini gushed, still not deleting the message from her own screen. Kit paused their frantic typing for a moment and sighed. “You could’ve done it. I could’ve done it. And he’s not a kid, he’s twenty, isn’t he?” Gemini shrugged. “I don’t know. I think he’s…interesting. Not like the rest of us.” “Not like the rest of us like me, where I’m so devastatingly intelligent that I blow everyone out of the water with my marvelous skill and talent, or not the rest of us like you, where you were dared on your first day to drink swamp water from outside…” “Don’t say it!” “…And went through with it, getting diarrhea for a week and a half.” Gemini groaned and slumped in your seat. “They said it…” She mumbled. She raked her palms over her face, causing her skin to droop like a monster’s. Kit was on the verge of a smile, forcing it down in order to preserve their dignity as to not engage in Gemini’s humor. It was hard sometimes. Out of the corner of Gemini’s eye, though, she caught a glimpse of Asher talking to Cylo and almost squealed in her seat. “Kit! Kit, this is important…!” Gemini tugged the edge of Kit’s sleeve, causing several jumbled letters to appear on Kit’s screen. Before they could even make a remark, Gemini angled their head to the scene of the crime. “Oh…my God…” They said slowly, an excited smile glowing on their face. “Is that what I think it is?” “Asher has such a…how do I say it, Asher way of flirting. Look at that, look at that elbow on the table, that steady eye contact…okay, double points if he almost puts his hand on Cylo’s shoulder but stops himself.” Kit narrowed their eyes on his right arm, free of the table. Just as Gemini predicted, he made a motion like he was about to touch Cylo, but passed it off as an explanatory gesture. Now Gemini really did squeal, falling back on Kit’s lap and giggling to herself. “I support him so much but he’s such a dork. Do you remember when he flirted with Astrid like, two years ago?” “Yeah?” “Same thing! Asher-crushes don’t cease unless there’s finite proof that the other person doesn’t like him, and if I know anything about first impressions, it’s that this kid will have no idea when he’s being flirted with.” Kit snickered and wheeled themselves back towards their computer. “Oh, please. He’s twenty.”

#writing #nanowrimo #My NaNo #national novel writing month #My WIP #My characters #MY OCs #writing stuff #creative writing #write #writer #writeblr #am writing #amwriting #writing wip

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tessatechaitea · 8 years ago

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Dark Days: The Forge #1

Sometimes when I see John Romita Jr. artwork, I think, "What did I ever have against Rob Liefeld?!"

Hawkman's final journal? Hooray! Go to hell, you stupid prick! And I thought these were going to be dark days!

Does anybody else find it weird that Carter Hall records his journal on Swiss cheese? Many years ago (I guess? There's no time stamp on the opening scene!), Carter Hall recorded the crashing of a spaceship on his lunch. But since he didn't know the word "spaceship," he wrote "sign written in metal." That will probably be important later but for now, it's time to move the story into the present. And where better to begin an adventure story than The Bermuda Triangle! Wait. I should rephrase that. "Where better to begin an adventure story in the 1970s than The Bermuda Triangle!" Oh boy! Eight year old me just came in his pants! I mean if that were possible. Nothing but pee would be coming out of there for at least another five years.

You know you can read and reread the data once you get somewhere safe? Or did you not save your data to the cloud? Idiot. You should use both terrestrial and cloud backups!

That scientist sounds like me in high school after first hearing Mr. Crowley: "There's something in the metal!" Batman rescues the scientist whose name is Dr. Madison (MADISOOOOOON!). Batman tells Dr. Madison that the only to safety is back through the volcano. Batman: "The only way out is in!" Dr. Madison: "Does that actually make sense? I don't think that makes sense." Batman: "If we don't go back through the lava, we'll be covered in lava!" Dr. Madison: "Do you ever listen to yourself speak?" Batman: "Outside will also have flying debris! Inside is just, um, you know! Liquid hotness!" Dr. Madison: "You mean lava?" Batman: "If you want to get technical about it! Now get in my Liquid Hotness Proof Bat-mech (trademark and action figure pending!), sit on my lap, and don't ask me if that's a bat-grapple in my pocket or if I'm happy to see you! I'm never happy!"

So they had to go back through the lava to get to the ocean? Batman does know Dr. Madison was standing in front of a window overlooking the water, right? How was just crashing through that not an option? Especially since Batman loves crashing through panes of glass!

Whenever an editor tells Scott Snyder to make something more exciting, he should just say, "Shut. Up!" Aquaman helps with the rescue and then he and Batman get into an argument about who's keeping bigger secrets. Batman probably wins that one because even if Aquaman had some really juicy secrets to tell, I'd never remain interested long enough to hear them. I'm already bored with this paragraph because I had to type "Aquaman" three times. Apparently the Blackhawks have some super secret covert black ops shit going on again. Remember how they returned in All Star Batman? Oh, you got tired of reading that series too? Well, believe me. They returned there. Meanwhile on Mogo, Cornelius the Guardian wants Hal to do something seedy to him.

"Don't tell Guy! I just got him to stop calling me gay!"

Oh sorry. His name is Ganthet. I must be thinking of Roddy McDowall's character from Scavenger Hunt. Speaking of Scavenger Hunt, I caught an episode of Family Ties the other day when some actor walked on and I was all, "Hey! That's short sleeves, checkered shirt, black sneakers!" Plus his son in the episode was Chunk from The Goonies. Should I mark irrelevant passages like these with asterisks?!

Ganthet having once asked Hal to jerk him off is now canon.

Once again, everybody in the universe is gossiping about how Earth is going to destroy the universe. If only the Justice League would stop saving it already! Just let somebody destroy Earth for the greater good, you hypocrites! Ganthet has pinpointed the threat to the universe in the Batcave so Hal Jordan decides to go invade it and not radio Batman saying, "Hey, buddy. I've got a possible issue that maybe you can help out with. Let's meet up in the Batcave." Instead he decides to sneak in and start going through Batman's things. I get it. It's the only way to ensure that a couple of heroes fight so all the fangenders can lose their shit over it. This part was probably Tynion's idea. "Hey! You know what I've read in comic books about five thousand times? That part where two heroes fight over a misunderstanding! Can we add that scene?!" And Scott Snyder snorts and wakes up and is all, "What? Whatever. Just write the script already! If I wanted to write it, I wouldn't have purchased you from your parents!" Anyway, Batman isn't home so Hal has to fight Meadowlark. You know, Not-Robin. Duke!

What is Duke reading to get his Green Lantern information? The Who's Who books from the mid-80s? That's where I get all of my information too!

Is Green Lantern just fucking with Duke or is there something about the yellow flaw that I don't know about? I thought it was completely gone. Is this Snyder and Tynion trying to backdoor the flaw back into the ring but only if the person using the ring is inexperienced and stupid? In the next panel, Hal Jordan says, "It's good to see Batman's still recruiting teenagers." Hey man. You better be careful with statements like that. At least he's not, you know, fucking them. Duke Thomas admits to not having a code name yet. That's adorable. All this fucking time and he still doesn't have one. Why can't Snyder just spit one out already? Waiting to find out his superhero name is like waiting for Sting to come in your mouth. Not that I'd know and not that it was the worst sixteen hours of my life. Meanwhile there's this place called The Campus underneath Philadelphia where The Immortal Men are headquartered. One of them is Immortal Man because of course it is. The other one is a guy in a robe with shaggy eyebrows that might be Carter Hall but I'm hoping is anybody else. Another one of their possible members would have been Elaine Thomas, Duke's mother. But she went crazy from Joker Toxin. They apparently know they need to save the world from something bad that's coming because it's always easier to tell a story about prophecy. It would be too hard to wedge these Immortal Men into the story if they didn't already know some huge Crisis was about to happen. So the guy in the robes isn't Hawkman because Hawkman gets the next scene. He's been having visions during the times between death and reincarnation. Whew! I thought he wouldn't have some secret inside information to get him right into this upcoming Crisis! In his vision, he sees a gigantic Batman statue with lots of people tied to its legs. I guess somebody is going to have to kill Batman before he becomes evil! After that scene, John Romita Jr. takes over on the art. I should probably snort some Ativan before continuing. Mister Terrific is helping Batman with the Mystery of the Dark Days. Hopefully they'll explain it in long, large word balloons that cover up most of the art. Something has been interfering with the harmonic frequencies of Earth-Main-Earth and Earth-2 (which I guess is back to its normal self? Or maybe Mister Terrific just got off before he wound up in that whole World's End mess? For some reason, I can't remember the story well enough to know if Mister Terrific was in any of it. Thank Jesus!) but neither Batman nor Mister Terrific know what's going on yet. To help them figure it out, Batman decides they must let Plastic Man out of his prison cell. They say they agreed to lock him up because he was too powerful but I think they just got sick of his stupid jokes. Back in the Batcave, Duke and Hal are investigating the Mystery of Batman Investigating the Mystery. It all started when somebody said, "That whole electrum in the tooth thing that resurrects the dead Talons is stupid! It's not scientific at all! Who comes up with such dumb shit?! DC Comics sucks!" Then Scott Snyder was all, "Wait! Wait! You haven't heard the whole tale of that! You shouldn't believe everything you see at first sight! You should wait for the second sight! Or maybe the third sight if everybody on Twitter complains about the second sight! But I don't think they will because this is going to be a huge Crisis! You'll love it!" So instead of electrum being in the teeth, Batman found a metal that shared the same energy signature as the helmet of fate, the quintdent of Aquaman, and the bracelets of Diana. To investigate this metallic mystery, Batman created a team that everybody forgot about. Everybody except me, of course!

Halo's costume is terrible. But Geoforce had better stay away from her anyway!

Duke has no idea who the wobbly speech bubble is. But that didn't stop him from saying, "Dick? Is that Dick? You know, Dick Grayson? Nightwing? Is that you?" So the metal is probably Nth Metal which would make it more believable that it was resurrecting the Talons. Because nobody is going to say, "Nth Metal can't do that!" I mean, they might. But they'd be wrong because Nth Metal isn't real and it can do whatever the fuck it needs to do when the writer needs it to do it. Although if it were Dionesium, nobody would say, "Dionesium can't do that!" Because that's exactly what it was made for! It's just that Nth Metal works better, plot-wise. Why would Aquaman's five-pronged trident have Dionesium in it? Deep in Batman's secret Batcave, Duke and Hal come to a door. Apparently the owner of the voice is behind it. I hope it's not The Joker. I hope it's Detective Chimp. I also hope it's revealed before this issue is over! Batman has also been keeping another secret in Superman's fortress. With the help of Mister Miracle, he unlocks the unopenable room it was stored in. It's a big yellow tower that Mister Miracle recognizes but I don't. Maybe it's Qwardian! It could also be something from Final Crisis which I've never read. Or something from an obscure 1967 Batman story. Or maybe it's something that, when it's explicitly named, I'll say, "Oh yeah. Fuck. I totally remember that thing now!" Anyway, I don't think it's important enough to reveal this issue. Because The Joker needs to be revealed in the Hal Jordan scene! Oh look! The Joker was the voice! What a surprise! Surprise! Are you surprised? Oh! You should also keep in mind how there were three Jokers, remember? That was a dumb bit that had to be thrown in so that Batman would say, "Impossible!", when he asked the Moebius Chair what the Joker's name was. Remember how that one guy on Tumblr got all pissy with me when I said they'd never reveal The Joker's name and how could I know that and I don't know what I'm talking about and all that shit? Fucking stupid kid. I didn't even get to say "I told you so!" to that kid when the reveal was that the Chair's answer was that there were three Jokers! Well, I'm doing it now! I fucking told you so, kid! So that's the end of Dark Days: The Forge! Maybe that thing Batman revealed was The Forge. I guess the next stop in this series is the event, Metal. It'll probably be about Dionesium and Nth Metal and how, when combined, everything is destroyed! What will this Crisis be called? Not just Crisis in Dark Days, right? How about Alchemical Crisis on Earths Starring Plastic Man?

#Dark Days #The Forge #DC Comics

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