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neon-dynasty · 4 years

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Kamigawa was a failed endeavor. Released in the autumn of 2004, Champions of Kamigawa promised some new things for Magic the Gathering, and the return to some old things as well. Most importantly, in my opinion, it showed that Wizards was paying attention to what fans were interested in (outside of Magic) and wanted to provide a way of relating to the fans. However, just about everything they did with the setting and game either couldn’t live up to expectations or outright failed. Here’s why I think the original Kamigawa block failed, and why I think a return would be a resounding success.

This came out much longer than I’d expected, so hit the jump.

For its entire existence up until 2004, most of Magic’s settings were a hodgepodge of fantasy tropes, and the storyline had been following or tying into a single thread for years. Kamigawa was the first setting to truly be free of the ongoing Magic story. Nowadays, however, Magic is known for its settings based on real-world places and cultures. Just this past year, we’ve visited Eldraine (Arthurian Britain), Theros (ancient Greece), and Ikoria (less a real culture and more about giant monster tropes). Back in 2004, however, visiting a clearly defined theme world like this was something that hadn’t been done in a long time. In fact, it’s something the franchise traditionally shied away from. 1996’s Mirage block took place in Jamuura, a continent on Dominaria based on sub-Saharan Africa.1995’s Ice Age was set in a Viking-inspired Terisiare. (You could say that Arabian Nights and Portal Three Kingdoms also count, but those were more wholesale copies than homages.) Based on ancient Japan, Kamigawa was the first herald of a new worldbuilding philosophy for Magic, one that would see the creative team at Wizards of the Coast put their own spin on familiar cultures and mythologies, while still keeping them distinctly their own. Kind of like Disney movies.

The mechanics also promised to shake things up. While I don’t remember any of the card announcements, Kamigawa block introduced many new pieces for the game. Samurai and ninja had their own keyword abilities in bushido and ninjutsu, and most of the sorcery and instant cards dealt with arcane and spirits. Legendary had its own theme as well, with 138 unique creatures (139, if you count the other Yamazaki brother) and 39 other permanents, with a number of cards that cared about the supertype. Finally, there were flip cards, a mechanically and visually interesting way of getting more value out of those creatures and introducing a sort of sidequest to your game.

Kamigawa was gearing up to be something special in Magic. But as I said at the very beginning of this piece, it failed.

The mechanics were kind of a disaster. Splice onto arcane was parasitic and to get any value out of it, you’d need to go all-in on overcosted cards. Bushido, sweep, offering, and most of the rest of the keywords were similarly underwhelming, either providing minuscule value or actively getting in the way of what you wanted to do. Putting the legendary supertype on a card is a downside when Commander doesn’t exist and singleton formats are not a popular way of playing. It doesn’t help that having too many legendary creatures in a set thend to make them feel less special, as well. Flip cards, while cool in theory, wound up being a logistical mess that didn’t add much to the enjoyment of casual games, and barely saw tournament play. All of this meant the cards didn’t really impact Standard, and Limited was a clunky ordeal more often than anyone would have liked. Following Mirrodin block, the most powerful three sets since Urza’s block, was also a tall order, and one that almost no set was equipped to fulfill.

Admittedly, while I love the card game, I absolutely adore everything else about Magic. The storyline intrigued me when I started playing during Onslaught block, and knowing that there was this vast body of lore kept me hooked. Hearing that there was a Japanese-inspired setting coming up was pure hype for someone who’d also been into anime for years and video games for years before that. The early 00s were an interesting time for entertainment, as Japanese animation had finally infiltrated American mainstream media. Pokémon had been a successful card game for years (another story for another day), and Yu-Gi-Oh had just hit the scene in America after doing well in Japan for a few years. With all this and a burgeoning internet, fans of anime, video games, and Japanese culture had certain expectations. To say Kamigawa did not meet them would be an understatement.

The general setting was based on an older Japanese culture, one which didn’t see much representation in media. Samurai, ninja, youkai, along with other popular figures and tropes were either later inventions or had a more solidified image hundreds of years after the source material took place. While I remember many Magic the Gathering fans being worried that the game would take on an anime aesthetic to capitalize on what was popular with the wider geek audience, they actually took it in the opposite direction. Instead of bright colors and bold outlines, Kamigawa was a dark and gritty place, which was made even more evident by the increasing demand for realistic detail in the art department. The kami themselves, one half of the conflict, were alien and foreign to behold. These weren’t based on images that otaku would have been familiar with, Japanese or Western, but based on much older stories that had been phased out of the public consciousness.

In short, there is no “in short.” There are many reasons why it didn’t succeed, but ultimately, it came down to being something that no one really expected or wanted. Instead of taking the cheap, easy, and profitable route by leaning into anime culture, Wizards bucked the trend and used a setting that most Magic fans would not have been familiar with, forcing it to fit within the franchise. They also filled the block with parasitic mechanics that were clunky and actively detrimental to play. And yes, I’m leaving out dozens of other reasons why Kamigawa failed, but those are the main ones that I personally feel hurt the setting.

Sadly, as public-facing employees remind us constantly, Kamigawa is a very difficult sell to the higher-ups. It was one of the company’s biggest failures, and they can’t use tweets and Tumblr asks from enfranchised fans as justifications for its return. And yet, the requests still pour in. I believe that the reasons for this desire are the key to a new set based in Kamigawa.

Let’s start with the biggest one: Commander. In many ways, this format is kind of the anti-MtG. It’s a long, drawn-out process that uses decks built with your whole collection, rather than the newest releases. Cards that are awful in most other formats are amazing in Commander, and one of the biggest drawbacks a card can have - the Legendary supertype - is a major boon here. It’s also the current most popular format for old and new players alike. I think that more than anything else, Kamigawa’s legendary theme is what draws new players, as Commander enthusiasts will inevitably find some interesting cards that would never have worked well in the old days.

I also think that Wizards of the Coast has learned a lot since 2004 (and whenever they started work on the original block). Remember, Kamigawa was the first of its kind: a real-world inspired setting completely separate from what the entire franchise had been doing for years. There were bound to be mistakes, and they’ve clearly learned how to rectify them. The following setting, Ravnica, used an Eastern European city aesthetic to compliment its two-color guild theme, but was still constrained by the block structure. Upon our return there, they changed the block structure to better fit what the themes and story wanted. On the other hand, Zendikar, their D&D-inspired adventure world, was beloved for its fast and fun mechanics, as well as the feeling of exploration on the cards and in the media. The return, however, involved destroying all of that in favor of an extradimensional war setting. Guilds of Ravnica and Zendikar Rising each supplied what the fans wanted out of those settings, to varying degrees of success.

Wizards also keeps showing us glimpses into Kamigawa through Core Sets and supplemental products. Tamiyo showed up on Innistrad and Ravnica. They printed new shrines (compatible with the old Honden) in Core 2021. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow, is one of my favorite commanders of all time, and she’s from the 2018 Commander set. They still value the setting, and don’t seem to be interested in ignoring it to the point of obscurity (like, for example, Mercadia).

And, obviously, there are the rumors. With a blog name like mine, you have to have known this was coming. The three planeswalker concepts from surveys could point to anything: Commander products, supplementary sets, etc. However, I think that the web domains for Kamigawa Neon Dynasty point to a full set of some kind.

Interestingly enough, the events of the original Kamigawa block take place in Magic’s very distant past, so it’s been a tantalizing prospect to see how the place might have changed in the past few thousand years. Skipping over medieval fantasy and bringing it past the present into a cyberpunk future might be an excellent way to go about it. Aesthetics from early 90’s anime could still be stylistically unique in Magic, while keeping elements from the old setting would root us to the original block. I could see the new story centering around a conflict between one faction clinging to ancient traditions and another pushing magical technology to its futuristic limits. After all, Tamiyo still dresses in old-fashioned robes and reads from scrolls, and the moonfolk were known to be almost completely isolated from everyone else. I wonder what the kami would look like, if we even saw them at all.

Ultimately, I think that Wizards is in the perfect spot to try Kamigawa again. Between their worldbuilding experience, the rise of the Commander format, and a willingness to push the aesthetics of their game in different directions, there’s a lot of reason to hope that we’ll be heading back sooner or later.

Please feel free to let me know if I missed something or got any details wrong. And please discuss what you’d like to see in a return to Kamigawa, either new stuff or old.

#mtg #kamigawa #kamigawa neon dynasty #tamiyo

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justmelagain · 3 years

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100 Truths...

1. last beverage → water

2. last phone call → spam

3. last text message → security code verification

4. last song you listened to → no idea

5. last time you cried → last night, watching on old movie

HAVE YOU EVER:

6. dropped your phone in the toilet → No

7. depended on someone → Yes

8. dated someone twice → yes because I was an idiot to trust them...over & over & over

9. been cheated on → yes

10. kissed someone & regretted it → Yes

11. lost someone special → Yes

12. been depressed → Yes

13. been dumped → Yes

LIST FOUR FAVOURITE COLORS:

14. Purple

15. Fuschia

16. Blue

17. Black

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU:

18. Made new friends → nope & not ever again

19. Fallen out of love → nope. unfortunately for me, I pretty much love forever, regardless

20. Laughed until you cried → All the time

21. Met someone who changed you → unfortunantly most people that I get close to change me in some way...be it small or massive ways

22. Found out who your true friends were → more like found out who WEREN'T true at all (spoiler alert: everyone)

23. Found out someone was talking about you → Do I really care if they are??

24. Kissed anyone on your friend's list → nope

25. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life → not on Tumblr

26. How many kids do you want to have → 0

27. Do you have any pets → 3 cats & a dog

28. Do you want to change your name → I'd change it in a heartbeat!

29. What did you do for your last birthday → just another day in paradise 🙄

30. What time did you wake up today → 8:30 am

31. What were you doing at midnight last night → playing Bingo Blitz

32. Name something you CANNOT wait for → winning a massive lottery/sweepstakes

33. Last time you saw your father → June '00 at his funeral

34. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life → my health

35. What are you listening to right now --> my fan

36. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom -> Tom at MySpace?! lol I can't remeber any other Toms 😜

37. What's getting on your nerves right now → Mama

38. Most visited webpage → Facebook

39. What’s your real name -> Melissa

40. Nicknames→ Just call me Mel

41. Relationship Status → NEVER AGAIN

42. Zodiac sign → Taurus

43. Male or female or transgendered -> Female

44. Elementary → Murmil, Watson

45. Middle School → Rogers

46. High school – EHS

47. Hair color → light brown & gray

48. Long or short → shoulder length almost

49. Height → 5' 1 1/4"

50. Do you have a crush on someone → nope

52: What do you like about yourself → My openness

53. Piercings → ears got double-pierced when I was 16 but I let them grow up by the time I was 18. Was alergic to every possible jewelry composit so gave up.

54. Tattoos → Technically 6 (1 is a coverup)

55. Righty or lefty → Righty

FIRSTS :

56. First love → kitties

57. First piercing → Ears

58. First best friends → (LA) Dana (AR) Tanya

59. First sport you joined → none on purpose! lol

60. First pet → a white bunny. I was 2. Don't remember his name

61. First vacation → 1st that I can remember was Tampa/Disney when I was 4

62. First concert - no idea was most likely some religious crap that Mama drug me to, though I do remember The Statler Brothers, The Gatlin Brothers, The Oak Ridge Boys, & my aunt & uncle had a Christian band too...these were all around the same time, no idea who was first

63. First crush → Michael. 😭 He died several weeks after a car hit him while he was riding his bike home from school. He was 10, I was 12.

RIGHT NOW:

64. Eating → Nothing

65. Drinking → water

66. I'm about to → kill Mama

67. Listening to → my fan

68. Waiting for → dinner

YOUR FUTURE :

69. Want kids → Nope

70. Want to get married → Hell to the no!

71. Careers in mind → can't manage a career anymore; just want to win lotto so I can take care of my health

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX? :

72. Lips or eyes → eyes

73. Hugs or kisses → neither

74. Shorter or taller – definitely taller

75. Older or Younger → Doesn't matter

76. Romantic or spontaneous -> neither

77. Nice stomach or nice arms → doesn't matter

78. Sensitive or loud → Gah! Sensitive. Loud usually = obnoxious

79. Hook-up or relationship → NEITHER

80. Trouble maker or hesitant -> oh, hell. Don't care AT ALL for trouble-makers!

HAVE YOU EVER :

81. Kissed a stranger → Define stranger? LMAO

82. Dined & Dashed → Nope

83. Lost glasses/contacts → Nope

84. Sex on first date -> Well, guess that depends on how you define "date"! 😜

85. Broken someone's heart → doubt it

86. Had your own heart broken → into ashes!

87. Been arrested → once

88. Turned someone down → Not easily

89. Cried when someone died → Of course

90. Liked a friend that is a girl? → DUH 🤣

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

91. Yourself → not at all

92. Miracles → No

93. Love at first sight → no

94. Heaven → No

95. Santa Clause → No

96. Kiss on the first date → Currently? No

97. Angels → No

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:

98. Is there one person you want to be with right now → no, I just DESPERATELY want to be ALONE

99. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time → yes, went down that road once upon a time

100. Posting this as 100 Truths → ok, sure 😄

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jobrosupdates · 5 years

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The Jonas Brothers Are Getting Used to Being Interviewed Again | VICE

We met the brothers in a deserted London bar, to talk about the past decade and how they finally care enough about pop music to return to it.

The Jonas Brothers don’t know where to sit. We’re standing in a cordoned-off area in the sort of central London bar that resembles the results of a greenhouse and fancy department store’s brief fling. The three siblings eye up four identical green, lip-shaped couches in each corner of the room. “Maybe we should take one each and just shout at each other,” Joe says with a grin.

I laugh nervously, hoping he’s not serious, before suggesting that he and his older brother, Kevin, plop themselves on one sofa, while Nick, wearing a very noisy jacket made of plastic, makes himself comfortable on a red stool. Kevin settles in first, but not before moving four slightly lukewarm coffees onto a low table.

Joe seems buoyant; the other two not so much. “I got some good rest last night, so I'm doing pretty good,” he says, picking up a cup and taking a sip. “I don't know if they got the most amount of sleep. But I had a massage at the hotel and it just put me in a deep, deep sleep.” When I glance at Nick, his face is blank. He doesn’t seem as impressed with his brother’s gentle gloating.

Still, six years ago you might’ve thought that the Jonas Brothers wouldn’t ever trade brotherly jibes with each other in front of a music journalist again. But here they are, promoting their first album in ten years, Happiness Begins. In the US, its lead single, “Sucker” became not only their first Billboard Hot 100 number 1, but the first from a boyband in the US since B2K's "Bump, Bump, Bump" in 2003 ("Sucker" peaked at 4 on the UK charts). They’ve also announced a world tour, done the requisite carpool karaoke – they’re back back.

A newer band might be climbing the walls with excitement at such success. The JoBros, however, have been through this rigmarole of travel, promo, album, tour before. Not that they’re fully jaded – they tell me how happy they are that people still give shit about them – but, rather, they’re reserved. And given what they’ve been through over the past decade, I get it. Happiness might now be beginning, but it’s been difficult to find. A little hesitation is natural.

Now, for the story every super-fan already knows. After starting small, as a teen pop punk act in 2005, the band signed to Disney’s Hollywood Records in 2006 and immediately blew up. In the US, they were the teen pop phenomenon of the late 00s, starring in sitcoms, movies and selling millions of records. But slogging it as poster boys for Disney purity for seven years can leave you in pop purgatory, unable to evolve. In 2013, when they released “Pom Poms”, it was clear that the band had failed to mature with their fans. The song stalled at number 60 on the Hot 100, while its follow up, “First Time”, failed to chart in the UK overall.

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Not that they seemed that bothered by that commercial plummet. What they had was broken and when I ask if they were disappointed that the rest of that material never got released, Joe and Kevin both give off something between a huff and a grim laugh. “Truth is, we weren't really happy with the material and didn't feel like we were artistically in sync,” Nick says quickly, his jacket crinkling as he sits forward on his stool. “It’s one of the reasons the group ended. And we were isolating ourselves and limiting our creative potential because we didn't know if we could really progress.”

"I think we were all in such different places,” Joe adds. “Kevin was starting his life with [his wife] Danielle. Nick and I were in and out of relationships. We'd get in the studio and we couldn't land on anything lyrically. I wasn't as inspired to be in there. It kind of felt like I was just going through the motions and I knew that the music would be created” no matter what, with or without passion. “So I'd come in when I was needed. I just wasn't connecting with what we were creating.”

Why not get new writers, you might ask? Well, the Jonas Brothers’ involvement in the writing process felt, to them, fundamental. Sure, their breakthrough hit was a cover of a Busted song, but “Burning Up”, “SOS”, “Love Bug” and “A Little Bit Longer” were legitimately strong pop songs, and their own. Anyway, their lack of musical progression had incubated a fear of rejection. “Knowing that things were on the decline,” Nick says, “I was afraid that we would ask to work with someone and they would say no.” Panicked, he called a meeting and in 2013, mid-way through recording a new record, he broke up the band.

The next bit is well-trodden. Nick buffed up, posed in his underwear and released one of the greatest post-boyband pop songs of all time, “Jealous”. Joe joined dance pop group DNCE. Kevin retreated into family life. He had two children, Alena in 2014 and Valentina two years later. It wasn’t that simple, though. “I didn't even know if I wanted to do music again,” Joe says now. The air isn’t tense but sombre and Nick’s eyes are cast to the floor. “I had to find my own place. I went on and worked on different projects, but it took time to get inspired. Nick had that all figured out. I just didn’t.”

Meanwhile, Kevin says that he was hurt. Joe and Nick had performed as the Jonas Brothers at a final gig without him and, after the birth of his first child, he felt like he didn’t have his best friends. “It's not that I said that I didn't want to do music anymore, but I think, looking back at it, there was some pain there. So I wanted to look at some other passions of my own and see what else was out there.”

As they talk, each brother is careful to allow the other to share their piece. Nick especially is quiet, often faced away from his brothers examining something off in another corner of the room. They’re respectful, almost detached, as if they’ve plodded through that murky period with the wounds, scars and wariness to prove it. The last six years, the brothers tell me, was about rediscovering their relationships as a family. Once Kevin's kids brought them together, “We made time where we could just rebuild as friends," Joe says," not even bring up anything music-related. We didn't really dive into that stuff. We just said, 'Let's just move on.'” Moving on, in this case, involved making 90-minute documentary, Chasing Happiness.

“It seems like a jump,” Joe agrees when I put it to him, before Nick cuts him off for the first time.

“We were made aware of some offers that were coming in for a Jonas Brothers reunion,” he says, carefully. “There was one at that point which could have made sense. Kevin flew out to LA and we talked through it but not everyone was on board.” He eyes Joe. “But it opened up a dialogue about what we could do together, to touch on that period of our lives.” Nick and Kevin flew to go and meet Joe while he was acting as a coach on The Voice Australia. Aside from a dinner in London a year prior, that meeting was the first chunk of time the three brothers had together, just as a trio. Nick, though, hankered after a reunion. And so, like any responsible adults, they decided a play a game where they got drunk and aired out their grievances to figure out their shit. It worked.

After ironing out the details, the Jonas Brothers were soon recording music as a group again, pulling in pop producer and writer names with the weight of a few tonnes: Max Martin, Shellback, Justin Tranter, Greg Kurstin and Ryan Tedder (Tedder executive produced the album). For Kevin, though, it was a learning curve. In the six years he’d been out of the game, a lot had changed. Session writing, streaming and the way that digital communication has opened up the songwriting process has altered not only how people make music, but how they consume it. “There's been so many times where I've asked them, 'Is this a good metric to look at?'” he says, almost sheepishly, “Streaming wasn't really a thing. The way, dynamically, you work with your label, to pretty much all of it has changed.”

Thankfully, the music on Happiness Begins is really good. “I Believe”, which Nick wrote with Kurstin, sits between “Jealous” and the slick romance of “Hold On We’re Going Home”, while “Every Single Time”, a reggae-lite bop produced by Tedder, could easily have belonged to DNCE. And unlike a lot of current pop, you really can’t imagine anyone else singing a song like “Only Human”, a wonky horn-filled track that, when pushed, could be described as baby’s first foray into ska, or lead single “Sucker”, that grabs those Jonas power chords and drags them into 2019. It’s the Jonas Brothers on a molecular level.

I catch their publicist waving at me to wrap things up. The band have a photoshoot next and then they’re playing an intimate gig for fans. But as we all stand up and exchange pleasantries, I tell them I’m glad that they’ll finally be able to spend a holiday like Thanksgiving together as friends. They all pause and look at each other awkwardly. “We do have a day off and we'll be in the New Jersey area,” Kevin says. “We could go to your house?” Nick asks. I turn to Joe. “Oh, we have no idea,” he shrugs. “We're still bandmates at the end of the day. We're just trying to figure it all out.” And with that they file out of the room.

Source: VICE

#jonas brothers #vice #text #article #interview #2019

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unexpectedreylo · 5 years

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The Straight Dope On Galaxy’s Edge

I went to Disneyland Aug. 7-10 for my birthday because where else would I rather be than in the GFFA?

It’s amazing! It’s like a Ralph McQuarrie painting come to life. Even though it is “set” during the ST, it tries to have a little bit of something for every Star Wars fan. And maybe even for your friends and family who aren’t into it as much as you are.

Don’t believe the hype that it’s not doing well. Disneyland has had annual passholder blackout dates to keep attendance below crazy levels and while overall attendance is down 3% (probably due to fears of massive crowds as well as higher ticket prices), I can safely tell you that there was a great deal of interest in Galaxy’s Edge by attendees. On Thursday and Saturday, everyone made a beeline for it just as the park opened in the morning. I was doing the Griswold family dash to Wally World myself, power walking the best my middle aged/out-of-shape self could as kids and teenagers went past me. Requiring reservations for Oga’s Cantina and Savi’s Workshop (where you build the lightsabers) prevented hellacious hours-long lines for those attractions. Smuggler’s Run has had waits as long as three hours over the course of the summer. It reached its 1 millionth rider in mid-July. On Thursday, the longest I wait I saw was 80 or 90 minutes and that was on a weekday blackout date. The section of the park was busy both Thursday and Saturday mornings. For what it’s worth, it seemed like half the people at Disneyland overall had some kind of Star Wars t-shirt on. It was like a Celebration with rides.

Attendance isn’t the only metric. What really matters is whether people are spending money there and I can vouch that people were buying. The lightsabers are $200 a pop alone. There were merchandise I wanted to get but weren’t available, such as the japor snippet necklace and the Rey vest (sizes XS-L were sold out). White kyber crystals are still sold out. I saw signs everywhere limiting certain items to one per person. People were packing the cantina and all of them got drinks. Ronto’s Roasters did pretty steady business.

Just bear in mind that parks play the long game and it probably serves Disney’s long term interests to allow paying attendees and not just local APs the chance to experience Galaxy’s Edge. Hell crowds would just make people angry they spent all of that money and couldn’t see or do a thing.

Now, here’s where I’m going to dish some advice to those of you who are planning to go either to the one in Anaheim or at WDW. The WDW version is at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, so some of this won’t apply to the Mouse House East but I think a lot of it will.

Tip #1--Your best bet is on a weekday, first thing in the morning as the park opens. If it’s an AP blackout date, that’s even better. Remember, Disney is like con...you don’t come to sleep.

Tip #2--Stay at a Disney hotel to take advantage of Magic Hour. I know, I know, they’re $$$ while there are many cheaper alternatives but if you really want to beat the crowds this is the way to do it. Galaxy’s Edge will not be accessible during Magic Hour (at DL it’s just Fantasyland that’s open) but you can start lining up at the ropes in front of Frontierland and Adventureland. While GE at DL has three entrances, they will send you the looong way through New Orleans Square and Critter Country when the park fully opens. If you’re at WDW, stay at the Art of Animation, Caribbean Beach, or Pop Century resorts...they’re the ones closest to Hollywood Studios though you’ll still have to take the Disney bus to get there. (The Swan and the Dolphin are on Disney property but are NOT Disney resort hotels, so no Magic Hour.)

Another perk to staying at a Disney hotel now is that as part of our travel package we all got free exclusive Galaxy’s Edge lanyards with a pin!

Tip #3--Ladies...I think with the exception of the First Order boutique and the cosplay items, I liked the a lot of t-shirts and stuff for kids more than the ones for adults! So if you are on the small side, you might be able to fit in the bigger kids’ wear. For instance I got a great Black Spire hoodie for $40 at Jewels of Bith...the adult hoodie was like 20 bucks more. My mom liked it so much she got one for herself and my niece. Note: the merch you buy inside GE don’t say “Galaxy’s Edge” or have Star Wars logos. If you want those, you’ll have to buy them in the regular Disney stores.

Tip #4--Oga’s Cantina. Reservations are required so as soon as you plan your trip, go on the DL/WDW app and reserve right away. I think now you can reserve up to 60 days in advance...if not, definitely 14 days in advance. You are NOT guaranteed a seat. You are given an area to hang out in (at the bar, at a table, or at a booth) and you are to remain there. You can’t run and grab a booth for instance if a party leaves. Your limit is 45 minutes and two drinks. I will say though that service is fast (I guess most drinks are pre-mixed) and in our case, we didn’t even need to stay the entire 45 minutes. I got the Cliff Dweller (I don’t drink) while my brother got whatever they call the beer and my dad got the teal-colored “white” wine. My older niece got the blue milk with the Bantha cookie. She gave rave reviews for both. The younger niece got the stuff that came from the creature tank. It sounds gross but she liked it. There are no restrooms inside the cantina btw.

Tip #5--Savi’s Workshop. Again, reservations are required and they should be made as soon as possible. The lightsabers are $199 and you pay when you check in. The day I went they were running behind, so while my reservation was at 3:00, I didn’t actually get in the building until like 3:30. The process takes about 20 minutes. You are ushered into a shop and there’s a whole narrative and everything. The “gatherers” have harvested scrap metal and kyber crystals and crafted lightsaber parts. Based on the “theme” you selected at check in (stuff like “power and control” or “peace and justice”) you are given trays with parts to choose from and a crystal (blue, green, purple, or red). Your guides are in character and sometimes it’s all earnest af, but then again so are the movies. I found it surprisingly easy to put these together. The “gatherers” put the blade in for you then you step forward, turn on the switch, and yay, you got a new lightsaber! You get to wave them in the air and stuff. On the way out you are given a free sheath bag to put it in. If you don’t want to lug your new lightsaber on a plane or have to check it in, you can have it shipped home for $17 at the First Order boutique (though I don’t know if other stores will do it for you too).

Tip #6--Smugglers’ Run. The best time to go on the ride, since to date there are no fastpasses, is right when the park opens. Thursday morning at 8:10 a.m. had the shortest wait, 15 minutes but I pretty much walked right onto the ride. The next best option is going single rider, which is what my brother and I did the second time we went on it. It was about half the regular wait time. Have your camera ready to get that chess table photo op because you will get called right away for your “boarding group” (assigned with a color). Two pilot, two shoot, two “engineer.” The light up buttons make it easy to figure out what you have to do but accuracy is tough. I piloted the first time, shot the second time. The good news is I did not crash either time. Which is miraculous.

Tip #7--Other food and drink. Unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to eat at Docking Bay 7 or Ronto Rosters. I’m told the breakfast wrap at Ronto Roasters is phenomenal. Don’t expect typical Disney fare in Galaxy’s Edge; the closest it comes is the Star Wars popcorn. No galactic churros or Mickey ice cream pops here. In fact an in-character cast member and Chewbacca were really curious about our churros when we went into Galaxy’s Edge on Saturday. My younger niece even tried to give Chewie a piece to try, LOL. What you can get is blue milk and green milk. We got one of each on Thursday to try. Both were better than the notoriously sweet butterbeers at Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Tasty and refreshing on a hot day. But I kinda think we all leaned more toward the blue milk. In fact the nieces insisted on another round of blue milk when we returned on Saturday. You can get the Aurebesh label soda and water at a variety of stands and at Docking Bay 7. (Maybe Ronto Roasters too.) They’re pricey but everything at Disney is 30-50% more expensive than they would be anywhere else. And the Aurebesh bottles make for low cost souvenirs.

Tip #8--Characters. Chewbacca and FO stormtroopers were around quite a bit. I saw Vi Moradi twice and Kylo a couple of times (Chewie and Kylo get treated like rock stars), but I totally missed Rey. My parents saw her though. Characters here do NOT sign autographs, something my nieces found out the hard way when they tried to get them from stormtroopers. LOL.

Tip #8--Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. This is where you buy your holocrons and loose kyber crystals (only with purchase of a holocron). They were still out of white crystals so I bought a red one. When you put a red crystal in your Jedi holocron, Yoda warns you about the dark side. Bonus: the kyber crystals you buy here can be put in your lightsaber from Savi’s Workshop. So if you buy both a holocron and a lightsaber, make sure you get a different color crystal for each so you can switch them around! Here you’ll find a lot of Jedi cosplay, Leia cosplay, and the headdress Padme used in AOTC as part of her peasant disguise, among other goodies. The stained glass portraits of Leia and Queen Amidala were stunning but they were kinda big and 95 bucks apiece. They had a set of ceramic busts of everyone’s favorite mother-daughter duo for $55 but I didn’t feel like lugging those around at the time. For older Star Wars fans, this is probably going to be your favorite store.

Tip #9--Other merchandise/shopping. The First Order boutique is located right next to Kylo’s parked shuttle and across from the “milk” stand. The Resistance has two carts at the entrance in front of the (unopened) Rise of the Resistance ride. I kinda like that the underground Resistance is on the “outskirts” of the outpost while the conquering FO is right there in the center of town. Makes sense for the narrative. Savi’s and the store where you can build a droid (no reservation necessary...this was a hit with kids) are next to each other. Everything else is in the marketplace in a series of smallish stalls. Keep an eye out because nobody has signs. (Note: layout might be slightly different at WDW.)

Tip #10--Wear a hat and sunscreen. The marketplace is the only area in GE with shade. The rest of it is out in the sun, so be prepared because in CA it’s easy to get a sunburn and in FL, it’s easier still. Bring a rain poncho if you’re at WDW because of those hit and run thunderstorms.

Tip #11-- You don’t have to be a passive tourist. Some cast members get into it more than others but you’ll get more out of Galaxy’s Edge if you play along. As Star Wars fans, you’ll get the lingo (for instance they do call kids “younglings” and talk about money as credits) so that’s no problem. When you’re inside of Galaxy’s Edge you can go on the DL/WDW app and activate your “datapad” and scan stuff at various locations. My brother did this with his phone while we were poking around and you can earn rankings and stuff within the different factions.

Overall I think what Galaxy’s Edge is now is just the beginning. Rise of the Resistance opens this winter at both parks and from what I’ve heard, more attractions and shows are in the works. Personally, I’d love a hair braiding station where you can get your hair done like Leia or Rey or Battle of Geonosis Padme since that’s probably her easiest style! I want a Reylo night time show! But it’s absolutely worth visiting as it is. You can easily spend half the day or longer there, depending on how much you want to do. Few Star Wars or Disney experiences will ever top entering Galaxy’s Edge, huffing and puffing from having to go up and down hills, hearing the music over the loudspeakers and the cast members and various characters coming out to wave hello to everyone. Even the stormtroopers. I felt like I’d just finished the Batuu 5K! And then seeing everyone gawk at the Millennium Falcon in front of Smuggler’s Run.

#galaxy's edge #star wars #disney #reylo #geekylife #geek travel

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changesxnight · 6 years

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The gang as Gen Z?

- when I saw Gen Z, I mean the millennial-gen z hybrid that was born from 1997-2003 - the best generation- aka my generation (and most of ours) so prepare for this to be long

- Darry was born in ‘98- that makes Sodapop and Steve 2001 babies and Ponyboy a 2004 kid HAHA WHAT A BABY- so Johnny was born in 2002 whereas Dallas and Two-Bit were born in 2000- you better believe that when Dallas learns Pone was born in 2004, he makes fun of him for it constantly. like “Pone’s 14. Makes sense. WAIT HE WAS BORN IN 2004? WHAT IS HE, SIX??”

- the economic crisis in 2008 wasn’t kind to the Curtises. A lot of their clothes were second hand, or in Pone’s case, hand-me-downs- They got most of their toys from yard sales too- Because of this, they really connect with 90s kids cause they got old 90s toys

- The gang grew up with the best shows - The boys didn’t like Victorious but loved iCarly?? okay - Darry loved Boy Meets World You can fight me on this. He watches reruns every day after school- Dallas, Steve and Two loved cartoons. Especially Total Drama, Chowder, Ben 10, Johnny Bravo, Codename: Kids Next Door, Flapjack, Johnny Test and Camp Lazlo- Two-Bit, Dallas and Steve are Ed, Edd n Eddy- Darry won’t admit it, but he LOVED the Powerpuff Girls. Two-Bit, on the other hand, will admit it. He even had a crush on Blossom

- Since Brenda, Two-Bit’s sister, is significantly younger than him, he saves all their VHS tapes of his favorite movies- he also only lets her watch reruns of his favorite shows

- y’know how we made Pone’s red bouncy balls a meme? well he had a blast as a 2000s kid- got them at every yard sale - bouncy balls are all over the house. when he’s like seventeen, they’re still haunting him

- Ponyboy watched General Hospital with Johnny after school when no one was around - He won’t ever admit this and the only proof they ever did is in Ponyboy’s journal (diary)

- y’know Malcolm in the Middle? that’s the Curtis Brothers - someone Ponyboy is Malcolm AND Dewey at once- NO- Johnny is Dewey

can you tell I watched a lot of tv as a kid?

- Dallas used to steal candy - his favorite were the push pops that came with the sour juice. y’know what I’m talking about?? - Steve would call him a baby if he ever caught Dal with a Baby Bottle Pop

- y’know those off brand composition notebooks we got in elementary and middle school?- Ponyboy has always loved to write and he used to fill those things up - on average, he went through two composition notebooks a year- and his teachers knew he was a good writer. even in first grade, he paid attention to his descriptions

- Dally’s father didn’t care what he watched, so Dallas grew up on Adult Swim and Fox cartoons- shit like King of the Hill, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers and the Simpsons- he also loved Tim and Eric sketches

- when the Curtis boys couldn’t sleep, they’d watch late night shows with their parents until they fell asleep - so Dare, Pone and Sodes have faint, distant memories of shows like Home Improvement, that one George Lopez show, Friends, Full House, Boy Meets World,

- there were a LOT of weird food things that companies made in the 2000s and lemme tell you, Sodapop has tried them all- he fuckin’ loves sprayable cheese- and totally made s’mores in the toaster oven

- Dallas got his sass from Judge Judy sorry I don’t make the rules

- the gang loves watching game shows and playing along with the contestants - Dallas screams at the tv when people give stupid answers

- the Curtis boys loved Full House- Darry had a crush on older D.J., Pony had a crush on Stephanie and Sodapop wants a daughter like Michelle - Mr. and Mrs. Curtis liked that their boys watched wholesome shows. They were totally oblivious to what they watched when over at Dal or Steve’s houses

- Johnny loved webkinz but couldn’t afford them- well, his parents never got them for him- the Curtises would though and he still has them in his closet

- you best believe they all have depression now- and they’re really stressed cause of school- and broke cause everything is so expensive but minimum wage hasn’t budged in so long- they’re just like us, guys!

- Two-Bit destroyed his furby because it creeped him out

- Ponyboy, whenever driving in the car, would imagine someone beside the car that could only travel by walking on fences, jumping from cracks of sunlight between tree shadows or just plan followed them along beside the car- (Apparently this is a sign of an active imagination??) - Sodapop still does this- Ponyboy just day dreams about his current story

- Two-Bit refuses to acknowledge the new Disney and Nickelodeon - old school Disney and Nick or none at all- he’s just really disappointed in his three favorite channels

- Ponyboy and Soda’s room was once littered with Hot Wheels cars - you can still find them under their bed or in the closet corners

- when Dallas was a freshman and sophomore, he had an iPhone where he illegally downloaded about 1000 songs - most of them are 2000s emo music (he was in high school from 2014-2018) - he wishes he was old enough to be a true emo in that era- but he keeps his music taste a secret and pretends he listens to modern rock- but he totally listens to 80s-00s rock, punk and all the classics

- they all love memes- Dally, Steve and Two like offensive memes where as Soda and Two like surreal memes - Darry uses iFunny to find his memes, Ponyboy and Johnny use Instagram and Steve, Two, Dal and Soda use Reddit like the rest of us - the four of them make reddit videos and I’m notonna lie, they’re fucking hilarious (even though all they do is earrape and curse)

I could go on forever but here’s the gang was Gen Z and honestly?? I love it. Let’s change the book. It didn’t come out in ‘67, J.T. came out in ‘17.

#The Outsiders #the outsiders headcanons #Ponyboy Curtis #Sodapop Curtis #steve randle #dallas winston #darry curtis #johnny cade #two bit mathews #my hcs #mine #this was amazing and I kinda wanna do it again

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lookbackmachine · 5 years

Text

Manny The Uncanny Oral History Transcript

00:07 Speaker 1: When you're a kid, there's a few television moments that make you say, "What the hell was that?" Those shocking moments in which you're exposed to something wholly different than you've ever experienced. This doesn't occur often because most television shows created for kids are trying to replicate what has already worked in the past. It's why after a juggernaut like Ninja Turtles you get Biker Mice from Mars, Street Sharks and Moo Mesa. Children's television breaks with the old adage, "everything old is new again". Instead it's everything new is new again. In addition as a child, you are limited in what you can see. Your movies generally go up to PG, PG-13 if your dad was cool or if your older brother was cool, and NC-17 if your grandmother was weird. Profanity, sex, and violence are beyond your cultural scope. Not to mention as a kid you don't have the cultural framework or vocabulary to describe what you've seen. It's a purely internalized experience of the weird. That's why when there's something truly different it's so memorable. In the '90s, Manny the Uncanny definitely falls within this distinguished, "what the hell" category. Not only because he's weird; he certainly is, but because this...

01:21 Speaker 2: Why don't you go talk to the head potty guy? Come on! And Mr. Jim Langely, the head potty guy, is going to be telling us all about what happens with our potty bits. Tell me about potty bits.

01:32 Speaker 3: Potty bits?

01:33 Speaker 2: Potty bits.

01:33 Speaker 3: Potty bits.

01:34 Speaker 2: Grandma's trousers!

01:38 Speaker 1: Was on a Disney-branded Saturday morning. It begs repeating, What the hell? This character creation comes from the brilliantly deranged mind of Paul Rugg, and he spent the majority of his adult life making your childhood strange. But first a little history. Steven Spielberg has made several attempts to be Walt Disney. There was An American Tail, which eventually launched his own animation company Amblimation. There was Roger Rabbit and the Roger Rabbit shorts. And of course there was his most famous endeavor, DreamWorks. And yes, he's not Walt Disney, but he's damn close. And what puts him even closer to the heights of Walt Disney's pencil thin moustache was his run at Warner Brothers Animation in the '90s.

02:24 Speaker 1: It had been 20 years since the studio had created an animated short. The days of Termite Terrace were long gone, and that's where Spielberg saw opportunity. He thought maybe a Looney Tunes movie would work, and was working on one in 1987 about young Tunes learning from the greats at the Acme Academy, but it never panned out. Instead, the movie was put into television development, which was better suited for the wonderful short form zaniness of the Looney Tunes, and thus Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures was born.

02:55 Speaker 1: The show borrowed the Disney television animation model and infused historically cheap television animation with cash resulting in smoother animation and live orchestration for every show. Before the first episode, $25 million had been spent on Tiny Toons. After all, there was a daunting legacy to live up to, and it did. In its second year it was beating Darkwing Duck, Ninja Turtles, and DuckTales. Buoyed by that initial success, Spielberg and Warner Brothers Animation created the Animaniacs, which gracefully captured the essence of the old Looney Tunes classics, that have long evaded reproductions. Because the classic Looney Tunes shorts are perfection. That's not an exaggeration or an opinion; they are perfect. If you're a non-believer, imagine writing a joke that's still funny 70 years later. Imagine doing animation 70 years ago that is still seen as some of the best to this day, which is why its spirit has been so difficult to recapture. But the Animaniacs are the closest thing to the Looney Tunes since Looney Tunes. An integral part of the team that captured the bygone era was Paul Rugg.

04:02 Paul Rugg: I was in, sort of a offshoot of The Groundlings, called the Acme Theatre, which was founded by some people from the Groundlings. Where the Groundlings was more Hollywood-based, we were more San Fernando Valley-based, just because we were all very lazy and we all live in the San Fernando Valley. I had written some sketches for a show. Sherry Stoner, her partner Mark Sweeney, he was the director, and she started liking my stuff along with John McCann, and she said, "You know, I think you should come and we're developing this show." And I was like, "Oh, okay." And I didn't really know what they were talking about. They sent over a bible, which is everything about the characters, what the characters are. And I think I read that a couple weeks, and so did John McCann. And then we went in to meet Tom Ruegger to just get one script. He sort of told us more about characters, that they were very similar to the Marx Brothers, which is all I really needed to know. Over a week sort of wrote one and then got hired the day I turned it in, and that was it. When I saw that all of the scripts were being sent to Steven and we were waiting for his approval, and then I was like, "Wow, so he's gonna read these, huh?"

05:15 Paul Rugg: When they started doing the auditions, backgrounds, he was... We're always pending Steven's approval, so after a time I was like, well, he really does read this stuff, and he looks at this stuff and he listens to the record. And then I'd written something that never actually made it, but he sent me a memo saying, "That was really funny," so I was like, "Wow, he really is reading this stuff! My gosh, this guy really is involved". We really were writing for ourselves, and luckily he sort of liked that style. We never wrote for him, or oh, he likes this or he likes that, we were just doing what we thought was funny. And luckily he was liking it.

06:01 Paul Rugg: Once or twice, I think I might have written a joke and Tom Ruegger would say, "There's no way a kid's gonna know what that means," and I remember changing it. But maybe that happened twice out of all the scripts that I wrote. So, no, we never really thought about kids. We always wanted to keep it clean, but I can't remember ever catering a joke or a line or any of the ideas for a kid. I remember we did a parody of... Not of Apocalypse Now, but the documentary that Coppola's wife made about his making of Apocalypse Now, which is so totally obscure, and it was like, yeah, make that. So [laughter] I don't think... If we were really writing for kids, we never would have done that.

06:47 Speaker 1: Then there was Freakazoid! Which Paul voiced, wrote, and eventually produced. Freakazoid! Came along during two major changes, Time Warner would create The WB, and the Warner Brothers Animation shows would be transferred from Fox Kids to the new network. And the second, Spielberg made his final attempt to become Uncle Walt.

07:07 Paul Rugg: They were developing Freakazoid! For Steven. It was Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, and Steven wanted to take a really quirky turn and make it more very, very comedy-based. Tom Ruegger took over, and then he took John McCann and I off of Animaniacs and said, "You know, you really gotta help me, this show airs in like eight months, we don't have anything." By that time, I of felt that I had written as much as I could about Animaniacs, and as much as I loved the character I was looking for something new to do, so it was perfect.

07:38 Paul Rugg: The WB just didn't like it at all. I just don't think they liked it, which was a shame because we were having a great time with it, and Steven was really having a good time with it. We would send him a script, he goes, "This is crazy, I can't believe you guys are doing this, this is nuts". So we were all just loving it. But the WB was trying to think about... Well, in the second season, they asked us to do half hour stories in the hopes that it wouldn't be so bizarre. All that really did was [chuckle] give us a license to do more bizarre long-form stuff. Yeah, I don't think they were delighted with what we were doing.

08:20 Paul Rugg: Our demographics were coming in. Well, they weren't coming in right at the sweet spot that they want, we were really appealing to an older group, more high school, college, and some very intelligent younger children. Well, I don't wanna say The WB changed everything, but it did change everything. I think The WB in and of itself was sort of the demise of Warner Brothers Animation as we knew it then. They had a definite agenda, and that was to compete in this broader field of children's television. And they had a certain idea about what that should be. Well, they wanted Pokemon, they wanted... Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was doing really well, they wanted stuff that wasn't what necessarily we were doing. They wanted hits. While I think Warner Brothers Animation was doing very well, you know Animaniacs was doing well, they didn't care what it was, they wanted big hits. And well Freakazoid! , while it was doing really well with the critics and Steven was happy, it didn't fit in their wheelhouse.

09:34 Paul Rugg: They didn't really understand what they had. They had Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, they had the golden chest, in my opinion. And then they had the Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. I don't think they ever really truly understood what they had. The way Disney sort of takes care of their characters... I think for reasons that I've never really understood, I think that they didn't really understand the characters. And therefore you got things like Space Jam, which you might like Space Jam, but it was... I remember we all watching and we're like, "Oh my gosh, what are they thinking?"

10:12 Paul Rugg: When he formed DreamWorks, we still had, I think, some Freakazoids left to do, Animaniacs left to do, but we knew that, that sort of partnership was over. And then there was a lot of talk about us all maybe moving over. I think we all got interviews at DreamWorks when they were just starting it, we all went over there and had a meeting. And then some of us decided to go, some of us decided to stay. I was one who decided to stay because I really liked working for Ruegger, I really liked working for Jean MacCurdy. As far as bosses go, they didn't get any better.

10:54 Paul Rugg: We used to work at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, and there was this fountain where we would all... We would go down from the lobby and sit and talk, and I remember sitting there and somebody came up and said, "Hey, Steven's starting this big new thing." And we all went upstairs, and I don't think there was the internet then, but somebody got a copy of Variety and we read it. We're like, "Wow, this is big." And I think... As I recall, we were still doing the first season of Freakazoid! So I started putting that in some of the Freakazoid! Scripts, there's a Lord Bravery script that mentions DreamWorks. And in typical Warner Brothers fashion, we made fun of it because that was our job, so. Nobody was scared, I don't remember being scared because I remember we were really happy working at Warner Brothers and we really liked the anarchy there, but I think maybe people were ready to move on, to try different things.

11:53 Speaker 1: Peter Hastings was a writer who had his fingerprints all over Warner Brothers television animation. And this resume led to Disney putting him in charge of creating the vibe of Disney's, One Saturday Morning. He based the program around Bob McAllister's '70s kids show, Wonderama and Late Night with David Letterman. The colors were bright, the jokes were fast. And if you were wondering if an elephant could crush a blueberry pie with its foot, you could find out here. And within this wonderland train station was a man, a beacon of weirdness, an 11 on the dial, if you will. Manny the Uncanny.

12:32 Speaker 2: How's it going? I'm Manny the Uncanny today with the US Mint in Philadelphia to see how they make the coins. Come inside and don't be lazy. How does, how does, how does it... This is the build, large epoxy quarter. Here it is. This is touching, feelings. It transfered here, into this machine which is drilling it in there. It goes from shrunk down to this, which will make our coin.

12:53 Speaker 5: That's exactly correct.

12:54 Speaker 2: Wow, you learn... So much. Does Amos make you nervous? Okay Tim, now you're... Hey, I'm Manny the Uncanny. Do you ever wonder where all of your potty bits go when you flush them down? It comes here to the sewage treatment plant. Let's go talk to the head potty guy. Come in. Hey, hi there and all of that, this stuff. I'm Manny the Uncanny and today I am at the Bazooka Joe where... Sorry, Joe Blasco Cosmetics where we're going to learn about the make-ups. But not the make-ups for going to market or going to the fishing store, it's the makeup of scariness to be in the movie. So I tell you what, let's...

13:37 Speaker 1: Manny is delivered to each destination by a hot air balloon man, known as Mr. Lighter Than Air. He's suspended below the man's belly by cords that are similar to a baby's jumper. His glasses are thick, his suit God-awful plaid and he looks like a cartoon exiting a dynamite explosion. He's of course not the first bizarre children's TV show host. In fact, Linda Ellerbee and LeVar Burton come to mind as the only normality within this group. At the top of the list is of course, Pee-wee Herman. The voice, the suit, the bike. Strangely enough, his world is so off-kilter that Pee-wee, despite the odds, is the straight man in many of his scenes. A weirdo pointing to bigger weirdos and saying, "Isn't that weird?" In fact, Pee-wee Herman loves who he is and goes home to his amazing house filled with warmth and friends. He's undeniably happy. Manny, on the other hand, is desperately trying to relate in man-on-the-street segments with real people while having a complete inability to do so and lack of understanding of how to do it.

14:40 Speaker 1: And you can't imagine Manny going home to a magical talking chair. Instead his one counterpart is a mechanized cat puppet which you know Manny controls and voices. There's no magic, just desperation and loneliness. Because even though the shows are titled, "Manny Goes to the Mint" and "Manny at the United Nations", they might as well be titled, "Manny tries to make a friend." It's tragic comedy. This isn't Greek by any standard, but there is something incredibly human about this fictional farce that comes from Paul Ruggs's performance, which is real and grounded. But he's playing off the wall insanity.

15:20 Paul Rugg: Because we knew that Freakazoid! Was cancelled. So myself, and John McCann and Doug Langdale were developing a Daffy Duck show based loosely on the Larry Sanders Show where Daffy had his own extravaganza sort of like the old Carol Burnett Show. And it was sort of behind the scenes and in front of the scenes, and then it was clear that the WBJB counter didn't really want anything like that so that's when I decided to leave Warner Brothers. I had shot a couple of things for Peter Hastings who was... Who really wanted me to do Manny the Uncanny for One Saturday Mornings. Manny developed out of a thing I had been doing at Acme. He was this sort of washed up, cruise ship entertainer, he was the worst magician ever. So that's what I would sort of do on stage. And Peter always liked it, and I sort of always liked it, and the audiences always liked it. Which is why [laughter] I was more surprised than anyone that give me... Sort of said we should do it there but that's all Peter.

16:21 Paul Rugg: I mean Peter wanted to have fun, that sort of goes back to what we learned at Warner Brothers. If we think it's fun, hopefully it'll be fun. And then he said, "Well, maybe Manny should just go out and sort of meet people." a la Cole Huaser who was sort of a very famous guy on public television here who used to go out and visit with various people in the LA community. He would go to a bagel maker and spend time with the bagel makers. And we said, "Well let's do the same things." So Manny's segments basically became, where are the really weird places that we can go where Manny can be the world's worst interviewer. So he took a camera while I was working at Warner Brothers and decided to film some stuff of me doing Manny. I guess they really liked that. And I was writing the Daffy show when he asked me to come actually be Manny for the wrap arounds that they were doing, the on set, the whole digital set they had created. So I took two weeks off of Warner Brothers and filmed that. And then, came back to Warner Brothers. And then, I left Warner Brothers because they didn't pick up Daffy. And he called and just wanted to know if I wanted to come be a part of it.

17:38 Paul Rugg: I helped him pitch it. I remember sitting in front of the executives [chuckle] who were sort of horrified because I had dressed up in my whole Manny costume and I was, I was sort of doing my whole Manny act for them. And I don't remember them being very enthused that there was this really weird guy with funny hair in front of them, but. Which was, [laughter] which was kind of funny, but. They were liking it but they didn't wanna be a part of the Act, meaning, executives are very funny, they're like, "Great we like it, just don't put us in the position of having to sit there and be a part of this", they were just more like, "Don't look me in the eye, stop it" and so we was like, I think that day Peter and I learned a very valuable lesson. Never go pitch and sort of make those people you're pitching to part of the act. Because Manny was very abrasive he was very silly and I remember literally picking out people who we're pitching to and these are the big, big wigs and I'm insulting them and they were smiling but you could tell they wanted it to end like now.

18:51 Paul Rugg: Peter and I were having a great time I think we just did the whole thing, we were just having a blast we heard later that you probably shouldn't do that, but then we were Walt... Warners and we were more pushing the boundaries having some fun. Because I helped Tom Ruegger do the same thing at Warner Brothers when he was pitching Hysteria and he had me come as Nostradamus and do my whole act in front of the president of Warner Brothers and they were all very happy about it. So it's just a different culture at Disney it's a little more... I found it to be a little bit tightly wound, let's just say, and the Warner Brothers vibe was a little bit more it wasn't that I had never worked at Disney and so, and I was so stuck in that Warner Brothers we can do anything it never occurred to me that they wouldn't like it. So I was never surprised that we were getting away with it 'cause I didn't know that we were getting away with anything if that makes sense. I didn't know sort of what I know about Disney which is a fine company and stuff but they are definitely hands on and they want it done as a certain way, but back then I don't really remember knowing that.

20:09 Paul Rugg: Well after I left Warner brothers and did other things, I went back in for a meeting once when all of the people that I had sort of known were gone and it felt like walking into Disney and I remember going that's a shame. Because I think it was a very specific time a group of people got together and were just having a great time doing what they were doing. Manny works in very minimal doses. Anything beyond five minutes you sort of are like okay he's really beginning to annoy me which I love but no, we really didn't get any notes the biggest shout was stop screaming and that was it.

20:54 Paul Rugg: 'Cause Manny is very energetic and very sort of excitable and that is where I would play it on stage but when you put a camera like two inch in front of him it basically looks like he's gone insane. So we sort of modified him a bit and I wasn't quite sure how the bits were gonna cut together but we really lucked out and the first editor whoever took a crack at sort of putting the Manny's together was the lead editor on Waiting for Guffman and he was sort of in between gigs he just got this footage together in a way that was so surprising and fun that it really set the tone for all future editing then he eventually got busy and had to move on but we decided to sort of copy his style which was making the editing even more bizarre and it really worked. Peter Hastings and I came up with at Warner brothers and I have no idea why I think we were in the elevator, once and doing weird voices or doing something we came up with it's true.

22:00 Paul Rugg: And I have no idea where it comes from but I remember we just started giggling and then when he came in to say we need Manny song for his intro. I remember we wrote that in about 30 seconds, because we realized Manny didn't make sense so I remember, I just went into his office he goes, "I need this now". And we went in there we recorded it and that was it. I think we recorded at once it was just dumb and it made no sense, and It made us laugh and we're like okay we got that.

22:28 Speaker 2: Where are we going today miss Mr. Lighter than Air?

22:34 Speaker 6: Well, Manny some place wonderful.

22:40 Speaker 2: Hi there oh and happy days let's have some fun. And not be lazy it's true.

22:46 Paul Rugg: Yeah, I was trying to think about how Manny would get around and it just made me laugh my friend Mark Dropman was super, super, super funny guy I said I have this idea what do you think he goes, "That sounds great", so yeah, we filmed it I don't think we could get away with that now, but gosh it made us all laugh and I remember being in that harness and I think a couple of the execs might have come in and go, "Why are you in a harness?", I go, "Well I'm floating below Mr. Lighter than air." And they're like, "What the heck is that?"and I'm like, "Oh, never mind I think I've said too much already". So I don't think we would have the same budget today. We had this great makeup person and she always wanted to get Manny's hair perfect. So I think we went through literally 10 gallons of hair spray and she would sit and work on his hair and I remember that being like, Wow, I never thought anyone would be working on my hair. I remember they had been shooting a lot. They only needed me for a little bit. I came in one day and they said, "Stand here", and I was doing obviously my Manny thing very broad, very big, and the elephant wasn't liking it and they told me to not move so much 'cause the elephant was freaking out.

24:05 Paul Rugg: The trainer came over and said, "Really this elephant is about to kill you, so... " So, I might have changed a little bit. Maybe if you see it now because I hadn't seen if for years. But maybe you'll notice a very rather muted Manny who doesn't wanna get trampled by a very large elephant. I think maybe they separated me from the elephant at one point, but the elephant didn't like men. People, depending on who they were when they sort of saw what we were doing and how we were conducting the interview. And then was just all a bunch of fun, they really got into the fun. Some places didn't really like it. There was a... I remember we did something for the Egg Board of California. And we got... I think I got five minutes in to the interview, and they thought we were making fun of them and kicked us out. So, they literally put their hands in the in front of the camera and told us to leave because they thought... I don't know who they thought we were, but then as I just started airing, people were like, "Yeah yeah, you can come and do that." They saw that we were just having fun. But yeah, some people didn't really like it.

25:25 Speaker 1: Despite the Egg Board, most people seem to be enjoying themselves. They're in on the joke, which eliminates any cynicism. And they're as nice as they can be to Manny. It reaffirms acts of charity that deep down all people are good, or maybe they just wanna be on TV. Either way, it humanizes them. Likewise Manny never gets the best of someone. The ordinary people constantly try to help him understand. In the same way they would help an over-questioning kid understand. It's actually kinda sweet. The guy who is in charge of the State Quarters, or any of the knights at medieval times are for once, cooler than the TV personality, with Letterman, Conan, and Leno, that's never the case. Those are smart asses picking on the defenseless. While Manny is less than defenseless. It's this dynamic that provokes the wonderful moments in the sketches. In which an ordinary person who probably thought they had a lame job smiles. And it reads on their face "Yeah, I guess my job is pretty cool after all". As for Manny, there's a respite for the strange ones. In spite of everything, the security guard that Manny once feared... Well, see for yourself.

26:35 Speaker 2: Thank you very much. It's been a great pleasure. You wanna go get a soda or something?

26:44 Speaker 7: Sure.

26:46 Speaker 1: In that moment, there's hope for anybody weird, awkward, to meet at least somebody for a soda. Make sure to check out Paul Rugg's Freakazoid! Celebration Freak-A-Con on March 15th on Facebook Live.

#disney #one saturday morning #mannytheuncanny #retrodisney

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thedandeliondays-blog · 6 years

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• sometimes you just need a few bad-ass females to perk up your day. •

1. WILD A biographical book-turned-film based on the true story of Cheryl Strayed. A recent divorcée with no prior hiking experience, Cheryl embarks on a motivational, inspirational journey of self-discovery and healing - hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

2. Colonia Also known as ‘The Colony’ - stars Emma Watson (Hello, ultimate feminist Queen!!) as Lena, one half of the young German couple who the film is based around. During the 1973 Chilean coup d'état her boyfriend Daniel is abducted by the secret service after getting caught up in a military operation where supporters of the President Salvador Allende are being rounded up by the military. Lena tracks him to a secret organisation ‘Colonia Dignidad’ which presents itself as a charitable mission run by a preacher. She joins the organisation in hopes to find a way to Daniel, only to then realise that it is actually a cult which no one has ever left alive.

3. Bend it like Beckham A romantic comedy based in London, telling the story of Jess, an 18 year old girl who breaks the mould. Raised in a family of Punjabi Sikhs her family expect her to go on to university, secure a high-end job and become a model housewife for her Sikh husband, but Jess has other plans. Jess has a love and remarkable skill in football, her family’s worst nightmare as ‘girls don’t play football.’ She secretly joins a local girls team, meeting her best friend Jules (Kiera Knightley) and eventually falling for her coach Joe. It all seems like the perfect secret, a double life until the all important final is scheduled for the day of her sisters wedding!

4. Memoirs of a Geisha A Japanese-American epic drama based on a novel by the same name. Chiyo, born to a poverty-stricken family is sold along with her sister into a life of servitude. Satsu, her older sister is sent to a brothel while Chiyo is bought by the ‘Mother’ of a geisha house in Kyoto. Chiyo strives to become a world-renowned geisha with a lot of troubles and setbacks on her way, mostly from the cruel and jealous rival she has in older geisha Hatsumomo from the same okiya. A story of love, strength and self-worth - I recommend both the film and the book.

5. Matilda Although it’s a film aimed at the younger generation, Matilda addresses some major subject matters such as sexism, child neglect and personal identity. Matilda is a gifted child from a broken home, constantly put down by her slob parents and favoured less than her older brother. She teaches herself to read by visiting the library when her parents leave her home alone as a young child (the film and book imply that she is around four or five), her parents do not value education but she begs them to let her go to school. At Crunchem Hall elementary Matilda meets the tyrannical headmistress Agatha Trunchbull who abuses her position to bully the children in her care. Along with the help of her kind teacher Miss Honey, Matilda rids the school of Trunchbull and eventually is adopted into a loving home with Miss Honey.

6. The Help An insight into the world of African-American women forced to work in White households in Mississippi during the 1960′s. Skeeter, an aspiring writer from a White family who has been raised by her beloved Constantine, a maid who brought her up and then was cruelly dismissed by her Mother when Skeeter was away at university - works in secret with the housemaids around Jackson, collecting stories and insights from those who have experienced life as “The Help” - some accounts describe generous and loving households while others reveal the cruel, brutal lives they have faced as employees of White families. This book adaptation is not just a pivotal movement for women, but especially for people of colour too.

7. Cadet Kelly You may have come across this one if you watched Disney Channel during the early 00′s. Starring Hilary Duff, Cadet Kelly is the story of an 8th grade girl sent to military school by her Stepfather who is a commandant of the George Washington Military Academy, where she initially has trouble fitting in, especially with her Cadet Captain who dislikes her instantly. It’s a story of growth and acceptance, resulting in a happy ending - like all Disney’s!

8. Carrie A classic film with many remakes, Carrie tells the story of a troubled girl - neglected by her overly religious Mother who frequently locks her in a cupboard to pray for repentance. Carrie is bullied at school, one of the most cruel attacks being when she begins her period in the school showers, something which her Mother hadn’t warned her about - and thinks she is bleeding to death, causing a hysterical reaction which the other girls find hilarious, cruelly chanting at her and banging the doors to the showers until a kind PE teacher rescues her. Carrie experiences unexplained powers which she regards at first as miracles, but then researches Telekinesis and realises that she has a gift. She uses the gift to fight back against her Mother, determined to go to prom which her Mother declares a sin. The prom is a disaster after the school bully rigs the voting of prom Queen so Carrie is up on stage in time for a bucket of pigs blood to drench her, the bucket knocking her date unconscious. Full of rage Carrie releases uncontrollable powers that kill all but 11 of her school peers, setting the gymnasium on fire and causing carnage throughout the town.

9. Mulan A classic Disney movie based on the true story of Hua Mulan, it tells the story of a female warrior from the Han Dynasty in China. Conscription means one male from each family must join to fight against the Huns, Mulan’s father is an elderly war veteran who wouldn’t be strong enough to make it home from war, so Mulan cuts her hair and dresses in his armor so she can pass herself off as a man eligible to enlist. Mulan fights against the Huns, falling in love with her Captain but of course she can’t reveal her true identity or she faces being killed for her deception.

10. Tracks Based the memoir of the same name by Robyn Davidson, tracks chronicles her nine-month journey on camels across the Australian desert, documented by a National Geographic photographer. The cinematography is exceptional in this film.

11. Erin Brockovich A dramatisation of the true story of Erin Brockovich who fought against the ‘Pacific gas and electric company’. Starring Julia Roberts, Erin is an unemployed single mother of three children who has recently been in a traffic accident and is suing her doctor. She loses the case and after a lot of persuasion her lawyer feels sorry for her and gives her a job. She begins researching the case notes in the files she’s employed to file away, eventually finding a loophole in a case against the PG&E, she takes them to court - resulting in $333 Million for the victims of the case. Erin herself receives a $2 Million bonus, enough to set her and her children up for life.

12. Belle Both empowering for women and also for people of colour, especially those who are mixed race. Belle is inspired by the 1799 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate, mixed-race great-niece of the 1st Earl of Mansfield. She is found living in poverty by her father and entrusted to the care of Mansfield and his wife. The fictional film centres on Dido's relationship with an aspiring lawyer; it is set at a time of legal significance, as a court case is heard on what became known as the Zong massacre, when slaves were thrown overboard from a slave ship and the owner filed with his insurance company for the losses. Lord Mansfield rules on this case in England's Court of King's Bench in 1786, in a decision seen to contribute to the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.

13. 10 Things I Hate about you So much more than a 90′s chick-flick! 10 things is a modernisation of Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’ - revolving around Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) who plays a headstrong, feminist with no interest in social hierarchy or boys. Her sister is forbidden to date boys until Kat does, spurring off the beginning of Patrick’s (Heath Ledger) interest in her. Paid to date her by the popular boy who wants her sister, Patrick eventually falls for her and she him but this is so much more than a love story. We get to watch witty Kat verbally destroy sexist classmates, high school norms and social status, making this one of the best girl power movies of the 90′s.

14. Pocahontas Another Disney classic based on a true story, Pocahontas is the adapted version of the life of Matoaka (later nicknamed Pocahontas) the daughter of Chief Powhatan, also the name of their tribe in North America. A free spirit, she fears being married off to Kocoum, a brave yet serious warrior from her tribe. She visits Grandmother Willow, a talking willow tree for advice - who alerts her to the Englishmen arriving in the new world. Though historically inaccurate in significant parts, Pocahontas became the first Native American Disney Princess and first woman of colour in a leading role in any Disney film.

15. The Craft A film showcasing female empowerment and sexuality, also showing dramatic examples of what can happen when women tear each other down instead of building them up. The craft tells the story of a coven of modern-day witches, using witchcraft and black magic for their own gain, and the negative repercussions they encounter.

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bogarimme · 4 years

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Get to know me

1. How old are you? 25

2. First celebrity crush? Orlando Bloom

3. What is your Hogwarts house? Ravenclaw

4. Favorite Marvel character? Iron man

5. Chris Evans or Sebastian Stan? Chris Evans

6. Are you a dog or cat person? Both

7. What did you want to be as a kid? Journalist

8. What is your dream job? I don’t know

9. What is the last thing you bought? Flip flops

10. What is your hair color? Dark brown

11. Would you rather explore space or explore the ocean? Ocean

12. Would you rather talk to animals or understand every language? Talk to animals

13. Would you visit the past or visit the future? Past

14. Who is your current celebrity crush? Jamal

15. 6 songs you listen to the most? Recently: My only one – Sebastian Yatra; Always – Gavin James; Olhos castanhos – Luísa Sonza; Scars to your beautiful – Alessia Cara; Hey mama – David Guetta; Woman like me – Little Mix.

16. Have you ever had a pie or song written about you? A poem

17. What does your latest text message say? Mother sending news

18. Do you have any strange phobias? I really don’t like clowns

19. Do you prefer to be behind or in front of the camera? More comfortable behind but trying to change a bit.

20. What was the last lie you told? I don’t remember

21. Texting or calling? Texting a random person and calling someone i love.

22. Texting or FaceTime? Texting day to day talk

23. What is your screen time? 21:00

24. What is your favorite smell? Rain when i’m indoor

25. What kind of movies do you like? Action/adventure

26. Favorite musical? Not my type

27. Favorite Marvel movie? Captain America and the Winter Soldier

28. Favorite singer? Don’t have one

29. Favorite band? Neither

30. Who is your favorite actor? I think its Robert Downey Jr.

31. Who is your favorite actress? I would say Jennifer Aniston but i like many

32. What was the last movie you saw? Holiday in the wild (i’m in love with it)

33. What was the last song you listened to? Daisies

34. Are you wearing socks right now? No

35. Are you wearing glasses or contacts right now? No

36. A song you always randomly sing: A lot lol

37. Favorite album? Nope

38. What is your phone wallpaper? Same since i bought the phone

39. Which app are you on the most? Instagram

40. Can you sing or do you believe you can sing? Definitely not

41. Favorite subject at school? Literature and history

42. Have you ever smoked pot? No

43. Have you ever been in love? Yes

44. Have you ever confused love with lust? YES

45. Organized or disorganized? Organized with books and paper work and starting to be with other things. Feeling like my mom.

46. Favorite animal? I really don’t have a favorite animal

47. If you could be any animal in the world what what you be? Dolphin

48. If you could be any character in a movie or show, who would you be? A strong woman, with voice. Can’t think of just one.

49. What is something you hate about yourself? My insecurity with appearence sometimes

50. What is something you love about yourself? My intelligence lol

51. If you were given the chance, who is the celebrity you’d marry? My teddy bear

52. Do you still believe in Santa? No

53. Do you know how to swim or no? No

54. What was the last thing you ate? Pizza

55. Your favorite number? 7

56. If you were famous, what would you be famous for? I never thought about being famous. I never did anything to be famous

57. What would your lifestyle be if you were famous? Lowkey, not a big fan of PR moves

58. Describe your style? Mix of classic and modern and completely based on the occasion and mood

59. Old school music or new music? Both

60. Are you in a relationship? We never talked about it

61. Are you afraid of falling in love? It happened but no, not now

62. Do you think anyone has feelings for you? Yes

63. Were you single on Valentine’s Day? Yes

64. What is your comfort movie? Harry Potter

65. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night

66. Would you rather have a big ass or big tits? My ass is enough. Tits however...

67. Are you friends with the people you were friends it’s two years ago? Some of them yes

68. What is something you wish you had more of? I don’t know. Right now i don’t really need anything

69. Favorite candy at the moment? I’m a candy person. Can’t choose just one.

70. Do you get along with girls or boys more? Both

71. How tall are you? 5’3

72. Do you pour milk first and then cereal? Or do you pour cereal first and then milk? Milk

73. Have you ever pulled an all nighter? Oh yes. Lost count

74. When was the latest you stayed awake? 6am

75. What are 3 things you like about yourself? Appearence: eyes, lips and beauty marks. Personality: assertiveness, loyalty and honesty

76. How do you cheer yourself up after a shitty day? Shower, lotion, perfume, relax and sleep.

77. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Introvert trying to be more extrovert

78. Would you rather have a large group of friends or a small group of friends? If close friends i’d rather have it small

79. Would you travel by car or by plane? Plane

80. What fantasy world would you like to visit the most? Hogwarts

81. What perfume are you wearing right now? Linda Summer oBoticário

82. Are you a creative or a logical thinker? Logical

83. What is your opinion on beauty in today’s society? More diversity than before but we still have a long way to go.

84. New York or London? It used to be London now i’m not sure

85. What genre of music do you listen too? Almost everything

86. Do you have any other siblings? Yes

87. Would you rather have an older brother or older sister? Brother

88. Makeup or go natural? Natural because i’m lazy

89. Who is your role model? I’d rather not have a role model

90. List things that you think are overpriced? Bikini and lingerie

91. Which actress/singer do you have a girl crush on? I don’t have girl or boy crush.

92. How do you approach people? I’m shy. I don’t really approach people. They just find me.

93. Coffee or tea? Coffee

94. Do you enjoy talking or listening? Listening when i don’t know the person very well.

95. How often do you daydream? All the time

96. Biggest turn on? Biggest turn offs? Maturity and relationship games

97. Ham or Turkey? Turkey

98. What is you McDonald’s order? I don’t really eat McDonalds. Rare.

99. What time do you usually wake up? Up to my anxiety meds

100. Do you usually initiate hugs? No

101. Twitter or Instagram? Twitter now

102. Are you clumsy? In the kitchem i’m a disaster

103. Stucky or Stony? Stony

104. What is your style inspiration? Sometimes more old fashion and lady like and sometimes a tomboy.

105. What are some places you would like to visit? Mexico and Egypt

106. How often do you curse? More than i should

107. How do you like your eggs? I don’t like soft boiled

108. Who is your favorite Disney princess? Mulan

109. What is your favorite Disney movie? Hercules

110. What is your favorite Pixar movie? Never chose

111. Heels or sneakers? Or flats? All of them

112. YouTube or Netflix? Netflix

113. Netflix or Disney+? Not fair

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slurmsnapple · 7 years

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Tag

answer the questions and tag some peeps (20 peeps to be exact) THE LAST:  1. Drink: milk 2. Phone call: mom! 3. Text message: sent-Yayy !!! received-yep 😁 4. Song you listened to: Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande 5. Time you cried: this morning bc I cry at EVERYTHING 6. Dated someone twice: never dated someone twice and based on my past choices probably never will 😂😂😂 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: It was last summer 😂 8. Been cheated on: not technically 😒 9. Lost someone special: yes 10. Been depressed: yes siree 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: once LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS:  12-14: maroon, mustard yellow, PINK!! IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:  15. Made new friends: yes!! 16. Fallen out of love: yes, sadly 17. Laughed until you cried: many times 18. Found out someone was talking about you: yeah 😂😂 19. Met someone who changed you: yes  20. Found out who your friends were: yes?? 21. Kissed someone on your fb list: yeah 😂😂 GENERAL:  22. How many of your fb friends do you know ill: <– is that supposed to be irl? if so, all of them 23. Do you have any pets: nope 24. Do you want to change your name: nahh 25. What did you do for your last birthday: ate ribs at the restraunt my brother works at 26. What time did you wake up: 9:00 am 27: What were you doing at midnight last night: drawing a comic 28. Name something you can’t wait for: band camp!!!! 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: a few hours ago 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: change my voice 31. What are you listening to rn: my brother invading my fucking alone time 🙄 32. Have you talked to a person named Tom: yes siree 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: my BROTHER 34. Most viewed website: INSTA 35. Mole/s: nah 36. Mark/s: a birthmark on my stomach and scars on my arms from a while ago 37. Childhood dream: I wanted to be a singer/movie star 38. Hair color: brown but it’s turning blonde?? 39. Long or short hair: long 40. Do you have a crush on someone: YEAH MAN 41. What do you like about yourself: i like my nose. It’s cute. 42. Piercings: ear piercing! 43. Bloodtype: B i think?? 44. Nickname: Katie, Kate, Sis… 45. Relationship status: happily taken ☺️ 46. Zodiac: Libra 47. Pronouns: she/her  48. Favourite TV show: There’s so many! How can you choose just one? I guess…Big Brother? 49. Tattoos: nah 50. Right or left hand: left  51. Surgery: nope 52. Piercing: again, ears 53. Sport: Marching Band (ITS A SPORT) 55. Vacation: well, the last vacation I went on was DC over spring break. Super fun!! 56. Pair of trainers: got my reeboks to tear up during marching season 😎 MORE GENERAL:  57. Eating: mac and cheese! 58. Drinking: nothing but I’m craving tea 59. I’m about to: FINALLY relax and watch riverdale  61. Waiting for: my bf to text me back 62. Want: food and to know what I wanna major in college 63. Get married: YES PLEASE! 64. Career: no idea tbh WHICH IS BETTER ?  65. Hugs or kisses: kisses ☺️☺️☺️ 66. Lips or eyes: eyes 67. Shorter or taller: taller  68. Older or younger: older  70. Nice arms or nice stomach: arms 71. Sensitive or loud: sensitive  72. Hook-up or relationship: relationship  73. Troublemaker or hesitant: both is good HAVE YOU EVER:  74. Kissed a stranger: no 75. Drank hard liquor: yup 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: nope…unless you count fake glasses 77. Turned someone down: yes 78. Sex on the fist date: virgin 79. Broken someones heart: I hope not 😨 80. Had your heart broken: oH yes… 81. Been arrested: nope! 82. Cried when someone died: yes 83. Fallen for a friend: yep DO YOU BELIEVE IN:  84. Yourself: sometimes 85. Miracles: yes 86. Love at first sight: yes but it’s rare 87. Santa Claus: no 88. Kiss on the first date: if you wanna 89. Angels: yes OTHER:  90. Current best friends name: Maddie and Gracie!! 91. Eye colour: brown (mine) blue or green (favorite) 92. Favourite movie: I really love Disney movies I dont really have anyone to tag but thank you for tagging me @lowercase-aesthetic now MADDIE DO IT @david-vetas-rain-boots

#tagged

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destressjournal · 3 years

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DCOM Rankings #83: Lemonade Mouth

I would say there’s maybe one more DCOM after this that I’ve seen before but other than that, this is one of the last ones.

Last time I watched it I wasn’t REALLY watching it, I was silently protesting because as I said in my last review I was almost 16 and was kinda done with Disney Channel, they were ending all of my favorite shows and moving onto a new generation of viewers so I was like pshhhhh whatever.

So what do I think about the movie now that I’ve viewed it in it’s complete entirety....?

I’m gonna start out by saying this. Many people LOVE the 90’s Disney animated movies because they are so iconic. And when I watched them again for my Disney movie ranking last year, I realized that there were a lot of logic issues that just wouldn’t make sense, yet I still ranked them like near perfect. That’s what this movie is.

While obviously it’s not as iconic (or as good to be honest) as the 90’s animated films it premiered JUST far enough back that there was some nostalgia in there. And despite the flaws it has, I don’t really care as much, because this movie got me emotional. And when a movie gets me emotional, especially a Disney channel movie, it’s automatically one of the greats. I FELT for the characters and cared about all of them, and that’s all I could ever want in a movie, just GET ME TO CARE about your characters. I wanna root for them, cry with them, feel empowered by them, and in this case, sing with them!

That being said!! This movie still has flaws and I’ll get them out of the way now so I can get to the good stuff.

- this movie overall is very fast paced. They played at ONE high school halloween bash and suddenly everyone wants their CD. Even further back, the night they met they all played music together without really getting to know each other...idk, I’m one of those people that likes things to progress more naturally. But I guess one way to explain it would be that all 5 had the same passion for music and they all happen to be in the same room for the first time. But still, from the time they met to the time they played their first gig it was like 3 scenes. I know it’s most likely because of the movie time constraints which is why I want this movie to be 2 full hours and not just 90 minutes. I want some deleted scenes people!!

-I don’t really like the ship between Wen and Olivia. I never could see them being together, cuz Wen is kind of awkward and says the wrong thing all the time. What he does for Olivia is sweet, but I just don’t see the connection. There wasn’t much chemistry. Wen is probably my least favorite character out of the 5 band members.

-so I also think people like lemonade mouth because it touches on some hard topics. I’m sure they pushed the boundaries as much as they could, but I wished they were pushed further. For example, I just watched a video comparing the lemonade mouth book to the movie, and *spoilers ahead* wow was the book a LOT more mature. And realistic. But thinking about what Disney could have done was have Stella have a learning disability and have her IQ test score be mentioned. Like I really feel like Disney could have done something like that for the movie, they had a dyslexic character. Plus, they show a physical disability in the movie with a background character, I think showing a learning disability is not that far out of reach, and would explain a lot of her rebellious behavior. Disney y u no do that?? You’ve done it before! Sesame Street has done it before!

Also I wish Charlie’s brother actually died instead of “being away at college” it would have made his scenes hit that much harder. But not died like at the time he was born, but died after he won all those soccer trophies and went to Stanford. Or at the VERY least, maybe have the older brother get into an accident and he can’t play soccer anymore. Disney I feel like could have easily done that. Idk, Disney channel was a lot more hardcore in the 90’s and early 00’s. The late 00’s and early 10’s were like that Christian version of Netflix. I have no idea what the more recent DCOMS are like, I hope they get better....okay rant over! The other mature stuff in the book is very understandable that it’s not in the movie, and if you’re a fan of caitlovesdisney on YouTube, like I am, go watch her video explaining the differences between the book and the movie. It’s wild!

-so this goes along with the movie being so short, but the characters really needed to be fleshed out more. I think Olivia was probably the most fleshed out. But Charlie I feel like barely had anything. Especially because his development was overshadowed by his crush on Mo. The crush is fine and adds to his character in a different way but it hides his personal development.

-I like to think of this movie as the Disney channel version of the breakfast club. I mean it’s the same beginning. 5 high school strangers have detention together and they end up having a very strong connection. The breakfast club is just way better and if I wanted to watch characters talk about their lives and build on each other, I would rather watch that instead of lemonade mouth. The DCOM tried so hard to make that “breakfast club” scene where they lie down on the grass be a gut punch, but it was wayyyy too fast. I didn’t have time to feel sad cuz the next song was starting to play. (Kinda wish they did flashbacks of their past or their insecurities during the song). Again, cuz the movie was too short.

- the movie does seem to be preachy at times with it’s “be heard, be strong, be proud” or whatever it is. But I get it, and it’s a good message, I guess I just didn’t like the conflict that came with that.

-oh and Scott being redeemed?? I don’t really care haha. The popular girl just felt his biceps, idk I don’t consider that cheating but I guess it’s all in the subtext. I know people have a lot of beef about it but I don’t really care, in fact I forgot to write about this and this was the last paragraph I wrote before this review was posted.

So most of the flaws stem from the movie not being long enough. This really needed a full 2 hours to completely flesh out everything and slow down the pace.

Good things time!!

-the obvious one. The music. SO. GOOD. I think my favorite is She’s so gone because of the emotion behind it that i connect to the most. But honestly all of the songs were good. Even the rival band songs (not as good but still good enough)

-I love the main cast of characters and how each has to overcome their own challenges in life. Like I said, breakfast club. It also reminds me of the cheetah girls and gotta kick it up because it tried to do the same thing, but it was a lot more spelled out in this movie. Yes I said Wen was my least favorite of the band members but I said “least favorite” and not “most hated”. I still like him and his struggles are real but I just don’t like him as much as the rest of them. But yeah, the band means something different for each member and it’s really cool to see.

-as I said in the first few paragraphs of this review, this movie displays emotions that are very real and portray insecurities that lots of kids/teens can relate to, heck even adults! It’s not just a cute story about a band coming together, it’s about how 5 people learn to just let go of whatever is holding them back, and combat their insecurities head on. We all have insecurities, and I think it’s so powerful to watch a character going through a similar thing and be like “no I’m done with this” and does something about it. Or finally tells that person off, or finally opens up about what they’re dealing with. It’s that kind of raw emotion that I like to see in movies because it’s real.

Now it’s grading time...So I feel like I shouldn’t give this movie any lower than an A+, and the movie being too short was probably it’s biggest flaw. I feel weird giving it an A+ though...I don’t know why, I think it’s because I have like 15 movies that I considered to be A+. And this is why I want to re-do my ranking system. Because A+ should be considered like THE best movies. But it’s also hard when you have 100+ movies in this list altogether. But for now, I’ll leave it at A+ until I figure this out.

Next movie, I guess a spin-off movie?? Never seen it and it sounds like some cutsie direct-to-video spin off that’s just there to make people money. But we’ll see!! See you soon!

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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Kim Jong Un’s Undercover Adolescent Years in Switzerland

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/kim-jong-uns-undercover-adolescent-years-in-switzerland/

Kim Jong Un’s Undercover Adolescent Years in Switzerland

João Micaelo, then the 14-year-old son of Portuguese immigrants, clearly remembered the Asian boy in a tracksuit and Nike shoes walking into 6A, a class of 22 students at his small public school in Bern,Switzerland, in 1998. The kids were already seated at their desks when the new boy was brought in and introduced as Pak Un, the son of North Korean diplomats. There was a spare seat next to João, so the new boy, who simply went by the name of Un, sat in it. The 12-year-old had a pudding-bowl haircut and the start of what would one day become a very pronounced double chin.

The pair soon became close, bonding because of their seat placement but also because neither was particularly academic. In sixth grade, classes were split into two streams, and both Un and João were sent to the group of academically weaker students. Un was embarrassed when he was called to answer questions in front of the class—not because he didn’t know the answers necessarily but because he couldn’t express himself. So João helped him with his German homework, while the newcomer helped his new friend with math. João remembers Un as quiet but said that he was very decisive and capable of making his point.

Story Continued Below

It wasn’t until years later that João and his other schoolmates from Bern realized who the new kid was: Kim Jong Un, the future leader of North Korea.

When he was announced as his father’s heir in 2010, some analysts hoped that Kim Jong Un, having spent four years in Switzerland during his formative teenage years, meant that he would be a more open-minded leader of North Korea. That he might embark on reforms that, while not turning his family’s Stalinist state into a liberal democracy, might make it a little less repressive. After all, in many ways,Kim’s time in Switzerland reveals an adolescence and education that was not so different from a typical Western one: There was a love of basketball, a curriculum that required him to learn about Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela and a wardrobe packed with brand-name tracksuits (jeans were still out of the question).

But these formative years, of which this is the most complete account to date, might have had the opposite effect on the future leader. Kim’s years in Switzerland, in which he was enrolled in both a tony private school and a small German-speaking public school, would have taught him that if he were to live in the outside world, he would have been entirely unremarkable. A nobody. Far from convincing him to change his country, these years would have shown him the necessity of perpetuating the system that had turned him and his father and grandfather into deities. The years also reveal some of the same interests and temperamental characteristics that would come to define the man who is the biggest foreign-policy thorn in the United States’ side. For instance, the same Kim Jong Un who had his uncle and half-brother killed was also known as a teenager for lashing out at his classmates when they spoke in German, a language that he had struggled to master himself.

Kim Jong Un was still very much a child when he departed for Bern, the capital of Switzerland, in the summer of 1996 to join his older brother Kim Jong Chol at school. He found himself in a chocolate-box picturesque city that that felt more like a quaint town than an international capital. Bern was famous for its clock tower, known as the Zytglogge, which had led a young patent clerk called Albert Einstein to discover the theory of relativity some 90 years earlier. Einstein, riding home from work on a tram one evening in 1905, solved the mystery of “space-time” that had been bothering him for years.

The August Kim Jong Un arrived in Switzerland, Mission Impossible was on at the movies, and Trainspotting was about to open. Top-of-the-line personal computers used floppy disks and ran on MS-DOS.

The North Korean princeling emerged from his cloistered childhood into this new, open world. It wasn’t his first time abroad—he had traveled to Europe and Japan before—but it was the first time he had lived outside the confines of the North Korean royal court.

He joined his older brother, who had been living in Liebefeld, a decidedly suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of Bern, for two years with their maternal aunt, Ko Yong Suk, her husband, Ri Gang, and their three children. “We lived in a normal home and acted like a normal family. I acted like their mother,” Kim’s aunt told me when I tracked her down in the United States almost 20 years later. “Their friends would come over, and I would make them snacks. It was a very normal childhood with birthday parties and gifts and Swiss kids coming over to play.”

They spoke Korean at home and ate Korean food, and the boys’ friends didn’t know that Imo—as Jong Chol and Jong Un called her—was Korean for “Aunt,” not for “Mom.”

They enjoyed living in Europe and having money. Their family photo albums contain pictures of the future leader of North Korea swimming in the Mediterranean on the French Riviera, dining al fresco in Italy, going to Euro Disney in Paris—it wasn’t Kim Jong Un’s first trip there; his mother had already taken him a few years before—and skiing in the Swiss Alps. They relaxed at a luxury hotel in Interlaken, the swanky resort town outside Bern that is the gateway to the Jungfrau mountains and home to a famous amusement park.

All the members of the Kim family had carefully constructed identities to conceal who they really were. Ri was registered as a driver at the North Korean embassy and went by the name Pak Nam Chol. Pak is one of the most common Korean surnames after Kim. Ko, in keeping with Korean practice whereby women keep their surnames after marriage, had paperwork naming her as Chong Yong Hye.

Kim Jong Chol was officially Pak Chol, and Kim Jong Un was Pak Un. But the aliases were not new. All of them had been accredited to the North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva since 1991, and these diplomatic documents would have allowed them to travel freely in Europe.

Under this identity, Kim Jong Un settled in Liebefeld, where the architecture is more ’70s concrete block than Alpine village. It is not dissimilar to the brutalist style of Pyongyang. Behind the main street in an “industrial alley,” as the sign puts it, next door to a large wine trading company that looks like a monastery, is Number 10 Kirchstrasse. This was Kim Jong Un’s home while he was in Switzerland. It’s in a three-story, light-orange sandstone building surrounded by hydrangeas.

The North Korean regime had bought six apartments in the building shortly after their construction in 1989 for a price of 4 million francs—a little over $4 million at the time—for the family and some of the other North Korean dignitaries living in the Swiss capital.

The apartment was more modest than what he was used to back home, with no pictures on the walls, but the teenage Kim Jong Un had gadgets his classmates could only dream of: a mini-disc player, which was the cutting-edge way to store music in the years before iPods; a Sony PlayStation; and lots of movies that hadn’t yet been released in theaters. The few friends who went to his apartment loved watching his action films, especially those featuring Jackie Chan or the latest James Bond.

In Switzerland, Kim Jong Un could live a relatively normal existence. He joined his older brother at the International School of Berne, a private, English-language school attended by the children of diplomats and other expats in the capital. Tuition cost more than $20,000 a year.

No one batted an eyelid when Kim Jong Un, sometimes wearing the school T-shirt, complete with Swiss flag and a bear, the symbol of the capital, was delivered to school in a chauffeur-driven car. Many other diplomats’ kids arrived at school the same way.

The school, whose student population today contains about 40 nationalities, touts itself as being “perfectly situated in a neutral country.” Indeed, Switzerland, famous for its discretion about everything from bank accounts to the schooling of dictators’ children, was the ideal location for the secretive North Koreans.

When the news first emerged that Kim Jong Un would be the successor to Kim Jong Il, many former acquaintances, who had known both brothers under different names and were now unsure which one had been named the successor, reported tidbits of information that were in fact about his brother. Classmates recounted how the North Korean was introverted but was relatively fluent in English, but it turned out they were remembering the wrong North Korean, “Pak Chol” instead of “Pak Un.”

One snippet—a penchant for the action star Jean-Claude van Damme—did, however, appear to apply to the two boys, both of whom apparently loved to watch movies featuring the Belgian action star. In a coincidence that would play out later, van Damme costarred in a Hollywood movie called “Double Team” with a certain basketballer called Dennis Rodman. The film came out in 1997, while Kim Jong Un was in Switzerland.

Kim Jong Un was obsessed with basketball. He had a hoop outside the apartment and would play out there often, sometimes making more noise than the neighbors would have preferred.

Every day at 5:00 p.m., when the school bell rang, Kim Jong Un would head to the basketball courts at his school or at the high school in the nearby city of Lerbermatt, less than a 10-minute walk away. He always wore the same outfit for basketball: an authentic Chicago Bulls top with Michael Jordan’s number—23—and Bulls shorts and his Air Jordan shoes. His ball was also top of the line: a Spalding with the official mark of the NBA.

Kim’s competitive side came out on the basketball court. He could be aggressive and often indulged in trash talk. He was serious on the court, hardly ever laughing or even talking, just focused on the game. When things went badly for him, he would curse or even pound his head against the wall.

From his base in Europe, he was even able to see some of the greats. He had been to Paris to see an NBA exhibition game and had photos of himself standing with Toni Kukoc of the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.

It was his mother, Ko Yong Hui, who first sparked his interest in the sport. There’s an old tale that Korean mothers, North and South, like to tell their children: if you play basketball, you’ll grow taller.

Kim Jong Un was short as a child, and his father was not a tall man—he was only five foot three, and famously wore platform shoes to try to compensate—so Ko encouraged her son to play basketball in the hope the tale was true. He grew to be five foot seven, so maybe it worked a bit.

She was thrilled to see her son taking to basketball, a sport that she believed would help him clear his mind and loosen his childhood obsession with planes and engines. Instead, Kim Jong Un’s mother and aunt soon saw that basketball had become an addiction too—the boy was sleeping with his basketball in his bed—and one that came at the expense of his studies. His mother would visit Bern regularly to scold her son for playing too much and studying too little.

She arrived on a passport that declared her to be Chong Il Son, assigned to the North Korean mission at the United Nations in Geneva since 1987, but the Swiss knew exactly who she was. After all, she arrived in the country in a Russian-made Ilyushin 62 jet bearing the insignia of Air Koryo, the North Korean state airline. The plane, which bore the tail number P882, was for VIPs only. It even had a full bedroom onboard.

All sorts of bags and merchandise would be loaded on and off the plane, watched carefully by Swiss intelligence. They monitored Ko Yong Hui closely, keeping records of everything from her shopping expeditions on Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse, one of the world’s most exclusive shopping avenues, to her hospital bills at fancy private clinics on Lake Geneva.

They also knew who her children were. In private conversation, they called Kim Jong Chol “the tall, skinny one” and Kim Jong Un “the short, fat one.” But the new Swiss attorney general, Carla Del Ponte (who would later become chief prosecutor in the international criminal tribunals of Yugoslavia and Rwanda), had forbidden the Swiss authorities to monitor the children. In famously discreet Switzerland, they were allowed to just be children— even if they were the children of one of the world’s most notorious tyrants.

But two years into his stay in Switzerland, Kim Jong Un’s world was turned upside. His mother had been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and was starting intensive medical treatment in France. Her prognosis wasn’t good.

The illness could also prove terminal for Kim Jong Un’s guardians, his maternal aunt and uncle.Their link to the regime, the relationship that had vaulted them into this privileged position, was becoming weaker by the day.

They decided to abandon their charges and make a dash for freedom.

So after nightfall on Sunday, May 17, Kim Jong Un’s aunt and uncle packed their three children into a taxi and went to the U.S. embassy. Only their oldest, who was then 14, the same age as Kim Jong Un, knew what was going to happen next.

When they arrived at the embassy, they explained that they were North Koreans, that Ko was the leader’s sister-in-law, and that they were seeking asylum in the United States. The U.S. government didn’t know at that stage who Kim Jong Un was, so Ko and Ri didn’t initially mention that part. They were granted asylum in the United States and settled down in Middle America, started a dry-cleaning store like so many other Korean immigrants and watching their children flourish in their new environment.

Kim Jong Un’s mother lived for another six years, dying in a hospital in Paris in 2004.

***

When he returned to Bern after spending the summer of 1998 in North Korea, Kim Jong Un did not go back to the private international school. Instead, he made a new start at the German-speaking public school in his neighborhood, Schule Liebefeld Steinhölzli. That way, he wouldn’t have to explain why his “parents” had changed.

The school was less than 400 yards from the apartment block where the North Koreans lived, a five-minute walk down the concrete staircase, past the supermarket and other shops, and around the traffic circle.

When Kim Jong Un attended the school, a cluster of two- and three-story functionally designed buildings, in the late 1990s, it had only 200 students and nine classes. The education department liked to have many small schools so that no student would have to travel too far each day.

When he first enrolled at the school in Liebefeld, Kim Jong Un started in a “reception” class for children who did not speak German, spending several months learning his lessons in German but at a slower pace with simpler instruction.

To find out more about what the young North Korean learned in school, I took the bus to Köniz one day and visited the municipality office. Marisa Vifian, head of the Köniz education department, pulled out a big white binder containing the school curriculum from the 1990s. There was the usual lineup of classes—German, math, science, health, foreign languages, music, art and sports—as well as units like “The World Around Us,” which taught world religions and cultures.

Once he finished in the preparatory reception class, Kim Jong Un joined the regular sixth-grade class.

While his friend João remembered Kim Jong Un as “ambitious but not aggressive,” according to an unpublished interview with a Swiss journalist, other students remember the new kid being forceful because he had trouble communicating. While lessons were in High German, the more formal variety of the language spoken in official situations in Switzerland, families and friends spoke to each other in Swiss German, former classmates recalled. This is technically a dialect, but to an outsider, it sounds so different that it may as well be Dutch. It was frustrating to Kim Jong Un, who resented his inability to understand. “He kicked us in the shins and even spat at us,” said one former classmate.

In addition to the communication problems, the other students tended to think of Kim Jong Un as a weird outsider, his school friends recall, not least because the North Korean always wore tracksuits, never jeans, the standard uniform of teenagers the world over. In North Korea, jeans are a symbol of the despised capitalists.

One classmate remembered him wearing Adidas tracksuits with three stripes down the side and the newest pair of Nike Air Jordans. The other kids in the school could only dream of having such shoes, said Nikola Kovacevic, another former classmate who often played basketball with Kim after school, estimating a pair cost more than $200 in Switzerland at the time.

A class photo from that time shows the teenagers decked out in an array of 1990s fashion, with chambray shirts and oversized sweatshirts, is assembled under a tree in the schoolyard. Kim Jong Un stands in the center of the back row wearing a tracksuit, gray and black with red piping and big red letters reading “NIKE” down the sleeve. He’s staring unsmiling at the camera.

Another photo taken around this time shows Kim with a smile, wearing a silver necklace over his black T-shirt and looking like a typical teenager. Another reveals some fuzz on his top lip and a smattering of pimples on his cheek.

As he moved into the upper years at school, Kim Jong Un improved his German enough that he was able to get by in class. Even the girl who got kicked and spat at conceded that he “thawed” over time as he became more sociable.

Still, he remained introverted. At a time when teenagers are usually pushing boundaries, Kim Jong Un was no party animal or playboy in training. He didn’t go to school camp, parties, or discos, and he didn’t touch a drop of alcohol.

Kim Jong Un “absolutely avoided contact with girls,” the former classmate said, adding that she never had a substantial conversation with him. “He was a loner and didn’t share anything about his private life.”

His test scores were never great, but Kim Jong Un went on to pass the seventh and eighth grades and was there for a part of the ninth grade at the high school, the Köniz education authorities confirmed.

The education that Kim received in Switzerland presented a very different worldview to the one he experienced in North Korea. Kim Jong Un’s lessons included human rights, women’s rights, and the development of democracy. One unit was even called “Happiness, Suffering, Life and Death.” Students learned about Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi. There was a strong emphasis on cultural diversity; religious, ethnic, and social groups; the rights of human beings; and standing in solidarity with the disadvantaged.

It’s hard to know what Kim Jong Un thought during these lessons. No such rights existed in North Korea. But this may not have been as jarring to Kim as it sounds because he had encountered very few North Koreans and almost none in situations outside of those that were carefully choreographed to show smiling citizens who beamed contentment at him. Kim could have told himself that his people didn’t need all those fine ideals because they were evidently very happy under his father’s leadership.

Anyway, Kim Jong Un didn’t stay at school for much longer.

One day, around Easter 2001, with only a couple of months to go until he completed ninth grade, Kim told Micaelo that his father had ordered him back to North Korea and that he would leave soon. He offered no explanation for his sudden recall.

Kim’s other friends received no such notice. The boy just stopped coming to school one day. Their teachers said they had no idea what happened to him either.

Just like that, Pak Un was gone. His classmates wouldn’t see him again for almost a decade, when he would appear on the balcony of a majestic building in the middle of Pyongyang with his father, having been crowned The Great Successor.

#Foreign #Politics #Switzerland #years

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mindset-of-me-blog · 6 years

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Put Your iPod on Shuffle & Write 10 Songs That Pop Up.

Day 11 04/06/2018

1. Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo - The Bloodhound Gang

I listened to this song constantly in high school. I almost got into trouble for writing it on my Biology notebook... It is also on my yearbook for that year, in pretty gold lettering on the front.

2. My Sacrifice - Creed

Wow. This song brings back a lot of memories. I listened to it in the 6th & 7th grade after I moved to Gainesville. Something with it resonated inside of me. I still listen to it quite a bit, but not as much as I use to. And it’s still one of my favorite songs to sing when I’m in a really good singing mood.

3. Let It Go - Idina Menzel

I have this entire soundtrack on my phone for one reason. I had to drive my son several hours to meet with my aunt, and it’s literally the only thing that he wanted to listen to. And this was before I actually watch the movie. I like the movie, but the soundtrack will always have a special memory attached to it. And I also sing this to my youngest son to help him go to sleep some nights.

4. Ocean Front Property - George Strait

This song brings back memories from when I was much younger, riding around with my older brother. He is where my love for 80′s, 90′s and early 00′s comes from.

5. Colors of the Wind - Judy Kuhn

Who honestly doesn’t love Pocahontas?! I love Disney movies. I still watch them now, and not just with my children. I will literally spend whole days watching them in bed while I do my work. And I can sing most of the Disney songs. I’d rock at Disney Karaoke.

6. (I Just) Died in Your Arms - Cutting Crew

Classic song. Songs like this makes me remember my daddy. And I miss him. I can remember all the CD’s that he had me rip to his computer so that he could listen to them full blast.

7. It’s Been Awhile - Staind

This is one of those songs that I listen to a lot when I get down in my feelings and I’m trying to get over myself honestly. It’s a really good song for that.

8. Circle of Life - Carmen Twillie & Lebo M

I did mention that I love Disney right?! Lion King is an all time favorite. I have it on DVD and it gets played often enough.

9. Freak On a Leash - Korn

So, this song will always be an all time favorite. I don’t like a lot of Korn’s music, but this one is amazing. I remember playing it on Guitar Hero. And it is still on a playlist that I listen to multiple times a week.

10. King of Everything - Anarchy Club

I was introduced to this band when I got really big in Amtgard. And several of their songs fit different friends personas at the time. And this song fit my brothers persona very well indeed.

#writing challenge #music #memories #shuffle

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theworstbob · 7 years

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yellin’ at songs, week forty

oops

brief considerations of the songs which debuted on billboard on 10.11.1997, 10.13.2007, and 10.14.2017

10.11.1997

1) "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something in the Way You Look Tonight," by Elton John

princess diana seemed like a nice person and i don't agree that it is good that she passed on. i think she should have continued to live, and finally, i found a song that agrees with my worldview.

44) "Too Gone, Too Long," by En Vogue

So real talk this is late because one week I saw two Post Malone songs and I said fuck it because, like, it's, and I just, I don't think it's fair when older generations yell at younger generations? But the average '90s R&B track was infinitely better than the average '10s anything. You could drive down the street bumping the radio and a song like this, with that small miracle that happens around the 3:00 mark, and this would be like the seventh-best song you'd hear. Kids these days are just listening to songs that don't make any stabs at greatness, they just exist in a way that doesn't motivate you to change the station. The problem is with the children. I'm not actually talking about this song, I'm talking about the way people consume music. This song is heckin' great and everyone should listen to it 20 times and then try to get through a Post Malone song.

58) "Heaven," by Nu Flavor

In this overly intense '90s R&B slo jamz, the R&B boys plead to God to convince this woman to fuck them. That sentence is the last thing I wrote for YAS before taking a weeks-long sabbatical and I'm glad I found it.

63) "Love Gets Me Every Time," by Shania Twain

Where do we rank Shania Twain in the diva pantheon? Like, this is a song with a hook I recognized when I heard it, after 20 years of just not thinking about this song I heard "dolgurn gone and done it" and was like "oh yeah! This jam!" and not all singers can dig that deep into your memory, but in terms of historical import, where does she rank? You can't really argue that "country needs a rep in the pantheon" because um hello? Dolly? but there's at least four Shania songs that are absolutely legendary. Does that merit inclusion among the greats? Or is Shania just on that second tier with a Kelly Clarkson or a Carrie Underwood, reliable but not as powerful as the women we'll tell our grandkids about?

65) "Electric Barbarella," by Duran Duran

One of the things that struck me as odd about the film Sing Street was the reverence with which the film treated Duran Duran. I always sort of thought Duran Duran was a boy band, but there was a film set in the heyday of Duran Duran's popularity, with a scene where an older brother extols the virtues of Duran Duran's musicianship to a younger brother, and I'm just like, "I never would have guessed this band was at the vanguard of new wave?" But I guess maybe they were a less dark Depeche Mode and I should check this out because this song from 1997 probably isn't indicative of peak Duran Duran? Hello welcome back to YAS I'm already asking questions to no one instead of offering criticism, it's like I never left.

70) "They Like it Slow," by H-Town

Sometimes, when you abandon a project for a while and come back, you notice things about the thing you're doing that you never would have noticed if you had worked on it in the last two months. To that end: I just realized all the 1997 and prolly most of the 2007 music videos were shot in 4:3. Like, when they filmed these music videos, they were composing shots with the idea they would be on TVs. That's kind of interesting! Like, when you go to film school, you probably have the idea you're gonna direct films, so having to compose shots for a smaller aspect ratio probably fucks you up a little bit. Anyway, I can't tell if this '90s R&B slo jamz is a parody or not.

87) "A Smile Like Yours," by Natalie Cole

"I have seen the bluest skies/Rainbows that would make you cry." It's absolutely amazing which lines in these songs gain significance from 20 years of events. Like, that line about rainbows takes on a whole new meaning now that we've all enjoyed and then forgot about the Double Rainbow video.

91) "Alright," by Jamiroquai

groovy! i’m okay with this! this is like what all the calvin harris songs would sound like if they were good.

92) "Spin Spin Sugar," by Sneaker Pimps

there's so much cool stuff happening in this song and i really just wanna sit down and get to know this band a lot more because they've always seemed like something i was supposed to like and now i realize that i do actually like them, unfortunately WE'RE LISTENING TO 100 SONGS TONIGHT GOODBYE GOOD SONG I WILL KEEP THIS MEMORY WARM IN MY HEART UNTIL THE END OF TIME

10.13.2007

58) "Tattoo," Jordin Sparks

This is a song that just barely missed the lyric video trend. If any song needed to have words appearing on random actors' skin, it was this one, it would have been such a no-brainer decision. Like, you do it right, hire some calligraphers and tell them to take it up a thousand notches, you have a classic lyric video. Wasn't e'er to be, though. Just a standard music video, and I guess a nice song? It's very2007. It's very the sort of song you'd give to the winner of a forgettable Idol season. "Oh, that? Uh, yeah, keep it. It's either going on this album or in that trash can, might as well use every part of the buffalo that is my brain."

80) "The Way I Am," Ingrid Michaelson

this is the sonic version of a scarf worn indoors in june

86) "Our Song," Tay Tay

"Our song is a slammin' screen door." Did you know Tay Tay's dad was an investment banker? I have reason to believe Tay Tay's only seen a screen door in movies. I dunno. Do rich people have screen doors? I've never been in a mansion, but I don't think screen doors would be appropriate for mansions.

91) "Shoulda Let You Go," Keyshia Cole intro./Amina

I like how Billboard gave Amina an "introducing" credit. You don't see that in music nowadays. Now it's just "hey this 17-year-old has a million plays on Soundcloud, what do you mean you 'haven't heard of him,' he's already been responsible for thirteen memes and they're all dead, we're actually over him already, he's lame now." It is now known that Amina was actually a woman who was okay at rapping. The point still stands, I'd at least like to know that the randos on these songs are people no one but the people who made this song know.

96) "Hypnotized," Piles ft./Akon

"I know she wet 'cuz she told me." I don't know why, but this line tickles me! "Piles, you got me so wet." "YO, SHE'S WET! I MADE HER WET, GUYS!" "You touch mine and I touch yours." Piles must be hypnotized because in my (admittedly limited) experience with his work he doesn't seem like a man who gives head. He seems like a man who needs to be coerced into reciprocating pleasure.

97) "Nothin' Better to Do," LeAnn Rimes

OK so real talk, while I was listening to this song I got distracted because I realized I hadn't updated my Poke Bank subscription in like a year and I have so many precious little babies I need to keep forever, and you know what? This is a fun song. I didn't really need to pay attention to it! It's a song about being naughty that keeps it PG enough to play on country radio, and I wouldn't mind bumping into it again!

100) "Fake It," Seether

So Amy Lee and the dude from Seether broke up. After the break-up, Evanescence hit first with "Call Me When You're Sober," which isn't a particularly devastating song, but the title is incredibly unsubtle, and, like, Seether's a shitty post-grunge band, of course he's an alcoholic, and Amy Lee is right to say "yo I'm kinda done with this, I don't like dealing with the drunk you." Seether strikes back by saying Amy Lee is a liar and that he "feels so raped," and Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'm gonna go ahead and say that's #problematic! Amy Lee made a dumb but fair song about how she was out of patience, and here comes Donald Trump by way of Creed to say "YOU ARE RAPING ME WITH THIS BREAK-UP." Like, I'm gonna go ahead and say that the part using rape metaphors to describe their feelings is the one in the wrong in this mediation.

10.14.2017

65) "I Fall Apart," by Post Malone 100) "Go Flex," by Post Malone

i could have spent eight minutes sitting perfectly still listening to ambient noise and have had the same emotional reaction. "never caught a feeling this hard/harder than the liquor i pour." oh fuck off already.

70) "Good Old Days," by Macklemore ft./Kesha

FINALLY. The pop music gods have heard my prayers: Macklemore rapping about nostalgia. Everything I love, in one delightful package! ...He shouts out Minnesota and this is probably gonna end up being the best song from this week because of that and also because this week is lookin' pretty horrible.

94) "Losing Sleep," by Chris Young

OK so real talk during this bro country joint I got distracted because I was looking at new music releases and APPARENTLY THERE'S AN ANIMATED MOVIE BASED ON "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU?" IT WAS MADE THIS YEAR? THIS YEAR. YOU CAN BUY IT ON DVD TODAY AND OWN IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR FUCKING LIFE. I'm sorry. I'm not going to bother processing whatever bullshit this song is about, sex I guess, because THIS WORLD IS CAPABLE OF SO MUCH MORE. This is a movie. This is also a movie which presupposes that this entire time "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is about a puppy that Mariah Carey needed for a... charity fashion show? "Great! We're short one girl with a dog!" "Oh..." This is a cinematic masterpiece and my life is better for having stumbled across it. This and Pokemon Christmas Bash.

95) "Like I Loved You," by Brett Young

So the writer of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You is one Temple Mathews, who has also written The Little Mermaid II, Peter Pan II, and 101 Dalmatians 2. That is a fucking nuts credit roll, Temple. Dude also goes multiple years between projects, which suggests to me he's like someone at Disney's cousin, and every couple years that person at Disney goes "hey, Temple, wanna make $100,000?" and Temple says "fuck yeah bro" and Temple just lives off that. He makes smart investments and lives in a cabin in Montana and has never actually seen a movie because why would you look at pictures when you've got mountains in your backyard? Temple is living the best life. Dude's my hero. He has someone describe a cartoon to him and writes something based off that and never has to write a second draft.

97) "Round Here Buzz," by Eric Church

Listen, if Eric Church is gonna give us repeats of songs he's done before, at least he's giving us repeats of "Give Me Back My Hometown." It's a slower, sadder version of that song, one that can't be misconstrued as an "I'm poor AND PROUD OF IT!" anthem, this is a song that can only be about a dude thinking about a girl living a life without him while he lives a life with her ghost, but also "Give Me Back My Hometown" is more fun? I dunno, this still prolly gets 2017 SOTY, I've just heard it before. Also, Eric Church? Welcome to the Decade Dance Club. You are the 36th member, and the tenth white male country artist.

98) "Plain Jane," by A$AP Ferg

ok nvm this is song of the week, simply because in the first verse Ferg raised and lowered the volume of his voice. this song went somewhere! this song actually did something! it didn't just bleep and bloop for three minutes or be about how it's nice when things are good, Ferg had things he wanted to say and delivered his lines with actual emotions! he did the bare goddamn minimum, and by 2017 standards, that's pretty good! i'm actually going to remember this song a little bit!

Who won the week?

1997. Like, of course 1997 won. It had Sneaker Pimps and Shania, if 1997 lost to these other wack-ass years it would’ve been stunning.

Standings: 1997: 15 2007: 12 2017: 13 oh god all the songs for the next edition look awful, welp

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alloftheangels · 7 years

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for that ask thing if youre up for it just answer the whole thing. i'll read every answer even if no one else wants to take the time to

musorry it took me so long to do this ahhh but you’re so sweet thank you

200: My crush’s name is: Steven 199: I was born in: Newfoundland, Canada198: I am really: sleepy197: My cellphone company is: bell196: My eye color is: blue195: My shoe size is: 10194: My ring size is: 8193: My height is: 5′2″192: I am allergic to: nothing afaik191: My 1st car was: i haven’t had one of my own lol190: My 1st job was: never had one189: Last book you read: Girl, Interrupted188: My bed is: so comfy and needs the sheets changed187: My pet: s are nerds186: My best friend: Lucy!!185: My favorite shampoo is: don’t really have one?184: Xbox or ps3: uhhh ps3?183: Piggy banks are: rlly good because i find money i didn’t know i had182: In my pockets: no pockets on my pajama shorts181: On my calendar: don’t have one oop180: Marriage is: special and exciting to me c:179: Spongebob can: ????178: My mom: is probably the best parent i could have asked for177: The last three songs I bought were? Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, Hurt by Johnny Cash and I don’t remember any other than those lol176: Last YouTube video watched: primitive technology-mud175: How many cousins do you have? 2 second cousins lol174: Do you have any siblings? older brother173: Are your parents divorced? nope172: Are you taller than your mom? i think we’re the same height171: Do you play an instrument? yup, guitar, bass, clarinet, a little piano170: What did you do yesterday? went to visit lucy in the hospital, hung out w some friends[ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: nah168: Luck: yes167: Fate: yes166: Yourself: nope165: Aliens: yes164: Heaven: i believe in a good and bad afterlife 163: Hell: ^162: God: nope161: Horoscopes: kinda, for fun?160: Soul mates: yes159: Ghosts: yes158: Gay Marriage: yes157: War: nope156: Orbs: what155: Magic: kinda[ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: hugs153: Drunk or High: neither lol152: Phone or Online: phone151: Red heads or Black haired: both150: Blondes or Brunettes: blondes (i’ve always had a thing for blondes idk why)149: Hot or cold: neither 148: Summer or winter: summer147: Autumn or Spring: spring146: Chocolate or vanilla: chocolate145: Night or Day: night144: Oranges or Apples: oranges143: Curly or Straight hair: on me, straight hair142: McDonalds or Burger King: mcdonalds141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: milk chocolate140: Mac or PC: PC139: Flip flops or high heals: flip flops138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: how is this even a question, sweet and poor137: Coke or Pepsi: not a fan of cola136: Hillary or Obama: ehh obama?135: Burried or cremated: buried so i can have a neat headstone134: Singing or Dancing: singing133: Coach or Chanel: neither132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: who131: Small town or Big city: big city130: Wal-Mart or Target: target129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: neither128: Manicure or Pedicure: manicure127: East Coast or West Coast: east coast126: Your Birthday or Christmas: christmas125: Chocolate or Flowers: flowers124: Disney or Six Flags: never been so idk123: Yankees or Red Sox: nope[ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: bad121: George Bush: b a d120: Gay Marriage: yes?? duh119: The presidential election: ew118: Abortion: pro-choice117: MySpace: dead before i got the chance to meet it116: Reality TV: entertaining sometimes 115: Parents: mine are good114: Back stabbers: fuck em113: Ebay: good112: Facebook: meh111: Work: meh110: My Neighbors: nice lady109: Gas Prices: too expensive jesus fuck108: Designer Clothes: unnecessary 107: College: idk 106: Sports: ew105: My family: good104: The future: scary[ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: like an hour ago102: Last time you ate: about 7:00101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: i think like three weeks ago?100: Cried in front of someone: today99: Went to a movie theater: almost two years i think damn wild98: Took a vacation: i don’t really do that97: Swam in a pool: couple years96: Changed a diaper: never95: Got my nails done: like more than a decade ago (at a salon i do them myself frequently)94: Went to a wedding: three or four years?93: Broke a bone: never have92: Got a peircing: 3 years ago91: Broke the law: never that i know of90: Texted: today[ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: Steven88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: Molly (my dog) and steven87: The last movie I saw: Star Trek 486: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: nothing really85: The thing im not looking forward to: going to homewood84: People call me: by my name83: The most difficult thing to do is: get out of bed82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: never81: My zodiac sign is: Leo80: The first person i talked to today was: my mom79: First time you had a crush: second grade78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: mom lol77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: i dunno76: Right now I am talking to: steven75: What are you going to do when you grow up: no idea74: I have/will get a job: hopefully in the new year73: Tomorrow: sunday72: Today: saturday71: Next Summer: 201870: Next Weekend: october69: I have these pets: dog and cat68: The worst sound in the world: ice scraping 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: idk honestly i just cry a lot66: People that make you happy: lucy, steven65: Last time I cried: today64: My friends are: amazing people63: My computer is: kinda shit62: My School: nope61: My Car: isn’t mine 60: I lose all respect for people who: i have a lot of answers for this59: The movie I cried at was: i don’t remember aaaaaaaaa58: Your hair color is: bleach blonde rn57: TV shows you watch: nothing consistently 56: Favorite web site: this hellsite for some ungodly reason55: Your dream vacation: i wanna go to bora bora but also tour europe54: The worst pain I was ever in was: when i overdosed 53: How do you like your steak cooked: don’t like steak52: My room is: a mess51: My favorite celebrity is: frank iero50: Where would you like to be: sleep49: Do you want children: i think so48: Ever been in love: yes47: Who’s your best friend: lucy46: More guy friends or girl friends: guys45: One thing that makes you feel great is: people complimenting my makeup44: One person that you wish you could see right now: not sure43: Do you have a 5 year plan: i don’t even have a 5 minute plan lol42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: not a physical one41: Have you pre-named your children: no40: Last person I got mad at: probably steven lol39: I would like to move to: not sure38: I wish I was a professional: guitarist or bassist [ My Favorites ]37: Candy: sour patch kids36: Vehicle: idk35: President: no34: State visited: never left the province 33: Cellphone provider: i guess my current one32: Athlete: nope31: Actor: not sure30: Actress: not sure29: Singer: don’t28: Band: don’t even27: Clothing store: wh26: Grocery store: who has a favourite grocery store25: TV show: don’t really have one24: Movie: the rocky horror picture show23: Website: tumblr i suppose22: Animal: opossum21: Theme park: never been to one20: Holiday: christmas19: Sport to watch: hockey18: Sport to play: nope17: Magazine: nope16: Book: laura jane grace’s autobiography 15: Day of the week: friday14: Beach: sandy cove beach13: Concert attended: the first time i saw marianas trench12: Thing to cook: i hate cooking11: Food: nachos or taquitos10: Restaurant: boston pizza9: Radio station: we only have two lol8: Yankee candle scent: never seen one irl7: Perfume: i have this dove spray i rlly like but it’s discontinued :(6: Flower: gerbera daisies5: Color: blue4: Talk show host: nope3: Comedian: bo burnham2: Dog breed: alaskan malamutes1: did you answer all these truthfully ? ye

#long post #Anonymous

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