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fandomlurker · 3 years

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A Ponderous Rewatch: Bubba Bo Bob Brain and Cameo

Can I just say that I think I’m somehow getting worse at keeping the screenshot count down?

Neither the cameo nor the main episode in this post are animated by TMS, so that’s not the reason for the surprisingly high screenshot count. However, the regular episode is animated by Wang Film Production, who are the same folks that animated the very first PatB segment and have done most of the episodes I’ve covered so far, including the previous one. I can tell they’ve gotten a better handle at animating our main duo in the skit we’re looking at today, especially Brain. Wang Film Production is no TMS, but they’ve gotten very, very good at expressions. They’ve also seemed to settle into a rounded and soft design for Brain, something that they’re kind of known for among fans if I recall correctly. Pinky can still be a little…off at this point in time, though.

Moving on, the cameo that we’re starting with is animated by Akom Film Productions. They’re the folks who usually do the animation for the Chicken Boo and Goodfeathers episodes, and they usually do a pretty good job with those characters. As far as our mouse duo go, though, Akom has only done “Opportunity Knox” so far. You know, the one with the oddly nightmarish Brain close-ups. Thankfully we get none of that since it’s only a short bit.

So yes, onto the cameo in “Noah’s Lark”!

So this is actually a Hip Hippos episode, but luckily we don’t have to deal with them at all right now. The premise is the story of Noah’s Ark, obviously, but the character of Noah is done as a parody of the stand-up comedian Richard Lewis, who was somewhat popular in the 80s. The most modern and notable media he’s been involved in that people on Tumblr might know him from (or at least, what I think folks here might recognize, it can be a little hard to gauge that since both millennials and gen z folks are the main demographic of this site) are Robin Hood: Men in Tights where he played Prince John, and Curb Your Enthusiasm where he plays himself.

Noah is rounding up two of every animal to go onto the ark (which is a popular depiction of how the story goes, but is actually false: it’s supposed to be seven male and female pairs of “clean” animals of each species and one pair of “unclean” animals of the same species, but that’s as far as I’m going into that topic). He’s nearly finished the list and has just been mauled by the wolverine pair, and…

“Lab mice?...”

The fact that he’s specifically asking for a pair of lab mice raises a lot of questions that I don’t think we have time to unpack.

The pair of lab mice that he gets is, of course, Pinky and the Brain.

And Pinky is, for the very first time in the series, crossdressing, presumably to pass as a female mouse so he and Brain can survive the great flood by boarding the ark.

…This is also a lot to unpack.

“Check!” they both exclaim, although Pinky does it in a very deep voice for some reason.

Wow, look at the surprise and then hostile suspicion on Noah’s face there!

Their outfits are very 1950s, with Brain even carrying a suitcase. Anachronisms aside, these two really went all out for the “we are a normal, heterosexual pair” ruse, didn’t they? Not only is Pinky in a dress and a blonde wig, but Brain even put on a little bowler hat. Why did he feel the need to do that? Did he feel left out of dressing up otherwise? Was he afraid he wouldn’t look “manly” and hetero enough without it? I have so many questions…

“Whew! These pantyhose are killing me, Brain!”

Wow, for once it’s Pinky physically hurting Brain, even if it’s a relatively minor tug on the ear.

“I think I prefer knee-highs…”

…Pinky, you’re not even wearing pantyhose. What the hell are you talking about?

Assuming that this is just the result of an animation oversight (which, honestly, I’m certain it was), we now know that his disguise went so over-the-top as to include pantyhose which Noah wouldn’t normally see…and also it’s a type of pantyhose that Pinky doesn’t even like wearing, which implies to me that this is something Brain acquired for him.

There is just so much going on in cameos like these if you think about them for even a few seconds.

Also, I agree with Pinky. Knee-high pantyhose are much less uncomfortable to wear.

BONK!

So the mice are allowed to board and the audience is left to think that their little ruse worked, but immediately after the two run off and are out of listening range Noah rolls his eyes and says

“Who am I to judge?”

Heavily implying Noah completely saw through it and let them on anyway. Wow.

That’s the end of their cameo. Who’d have thought that this little scene would be the precursor to Brain having Pinky crossdress to disguise him as Brain’s wife so many times in the series? And who’d have thought that this very first time wouldn’t fool anyone at all?

But now let’s move on to the meat of this rewatch post:

We open to Acme Labs at night, as usual, though I’ve never noticed until now how lonely and eerie the place seems if you ignore our mouse duo.

“Pinky… I believe I have conceived my most brilliant plan to date!”

Oh boy, we have another first for today! Brain is very much a fan of using temporary mind control for his plans. It’s the method he falls back on the most, which is very interesting when you consider his various psychological issues involving having control taken away from him all his life.

“I shall use subliminal mind control to take over the world!”

“…Pinky?”

The hand-on-hip pose here is great.

“Today’s inside story is country mega-star Willie Ray Cypress!”

Uh, Pinky? Considering that this is pretty much the expression you had while looking at Pharfignewton, I am very, very worried about you looking at the Billy Ray Cyrus parody the same way.

“Don’t tell my head, my empty hollow head!~”

“You know I wouldn’t understand!~”

Same, Brain. Same. It’s just like Pinky to enjoy a song as earworm-y as this (not to mention how relevant this parody is to his everyday experience with Brain’s plans), but lord was the real song this is making fun of annoying as hell back in the day. Like, I was a small child at the time this song came out, and I still hated how often this would be played on the radio.

Luckily, Brain pounces on the remote’s off button and puts an end to the nonsense.

But oh, the look of sad betrayal on Pinky’s face is heartbreaking! I’m sorry, sweetie!

“It must be inordinately taxing to be such a boob.”

Heh, Brain said “boob”. /inner six year old

“You have no idea…”

“Pinky, do you know what a subliminal message is?”

“Something you leave on a subliminal telephone answering machine?”

Nice try, Pinky.

“No. It is a recorded message perceived only by the subconscious human mind.”

Two things here:

This diagram bothers me because my mind always interprets the way they’ve drawn the bottom of the cerebellum as the person shutting their eyes extremely tightly.

Brain using his own tail as a pointing stick is very, very cute and I love this detail.

“I have recorded such a message.”

He’s still holding his tail, aaaa!~

“Citizens of the world, you are under my control. You will do whatever I say…”

“Nice mix, but it’s not exactly danceable, is it?”

Oh, Pinky. Only you would sincerely compliment Brain’s incredibly dry mind control message and then immediately point out a flaw that has nothing to do with its purpose. Bless you, you stupid and wonderful little mouse.

I like how Pinky’s interjection startles the hell outta Brain for a moment, too.

“If people heard this message enough times, they would succumb to my control and we could take over the world!”

Notice that despite Pinky being a minor annoyance and despite the fact that Brain claims that everyone will be under his control, yet again it’s still both of them taking over the world.

“What do you think, Pinky?”

And he still wants Pinky’s input. It’s small and scattered and very, very subtle, but in my opinion this is Brain’s most frequent way of showing that he cares about Pinky. Brain likely isn’t even aware that he does it. Pinky might not be aware, either.

“I think I’m getting dizzy and I rather like it! Ahahahahahoo!~”

“Sometimes you hurt my head, Pinky…”

And yet, Brain. And yet…

“The only problem: How to get this message repeated worldwide airplay…?”

Offscreen, Pinky turns the TV back on and startles Brain again, but only for a moment.

Another great pose and expression here: Mildly annoyed, but interested and on the verge of an idea.

“I just adore Willie Ray!”

“I listen to his song twenty times a day!”

I…really don’t know why they chose to have this shot done with Brain walking over the “camera” towards the TV so we get a brief close-up of Brain’s mousey behind. It made me laugh, though, so I thought I’d share.

“Pinky… Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

I’m also kind of obsessed with this brief expression of Pinky’s I unintentionally managed to capture. It’s a bit of a smug, knowing, and yet endeared look. I’m sure it’s completely unintentional on the animators’ part, but I love the idea it gives me of Pinky knowing exactly what Brain’s thinking but purposefully saying something entirely unrelated to playfully tease him.

“Well, I think so, Brain, but burlap chafes me so.”

To be fair, Pinky, I think burlap chafes everyone. And were you thinking about doing a potato sack race? That’s the only connection to burlap I can think of that would be in any way relevant...

“Country music, Pinky. I will go to Nashville and become the biggest country music star of all time! Everyone will hear my record and my subliminal message and I will take over the world!”

In all honesty, that would probably be easier to do in the early 90s when this takes place since country music wasn’t such a…well, “dead” is a bit of an exaggeration, but country music as a genre is incredibly unpopular nowadays with the occasional notable exception. In the early 90s? Not so much.

“Egad, Brain!”

This is the most enthusiastic swoon I’ve seen and heard from you yet, Pinky.

“Oh! But no, no… It takes people years of hard work to become famous, Brain.”

Well, that or they’re born into a famous family. Or they’re just rich.

“Why, take Kathie Lee Gifford for example: She did community theatre, and—“

I actually can’t find anything via Googling about Kathie Lee doing community theatre before she became famous. She seems to have studied music and drama in university, and had a folk music group in high school, but the only reference to theatre I can find is professional musical theatre in the late 90s.

It’s possible Pinky’s right, though.

BONK!

BRAIN! …Wait, where did you even get that tiny club?

“Stop talking, Pinky, I must think.”

You… Brain, I think I’m starting to see why some fans believe you may be as neurodivergent as Pinky is, but in a different way. I can’t in good faith elaborate on that myself, since I haven’t been diagnosed as such and it would be completely disrespectful of me to do so, but if anyone wants a good little theory on that, try here.

“I have calculated every ingredient necessary to become a country music mega-star. Read me the list, Pinky!”

He’s typing by hopping from one key to another, aww!

Eeeh, the lettering work on that computer is pretty bad, though.

“A cowboy hat.”

“Check!”

“A southern dialect.”

“Check, ya’ll!”

“Nice, Brain.”

The way Pinky says “nice” here reminds me of this meme. Also, aww, Pinky’s always ready with the compliments.

“Working class values…”

“I enjoy beef jerky and the comedy stylings of Gallagher. Check.”

His visible cringe at having to say he enjoys Gallagher is wonderful. I first heard about Gallagher through My Brother, My Brother and Me, but for anyone that doesn’t know, Gallagher is a frankly terrible prop comedian whose most famous act was smashing things on stage (usually fruits of increasing size) with a large mallet that he called the “Sledge-O-Matic”, ending with smashing a watermelon. It was apparently a mildly popular bit of comedy in the south. Does that sound entertaining? No? Yeah, that’s…that’s why Brain is cringing so hard.

“A song.”

“Check!”

A song titled “A Song”. Brain, sweetheart, I think you’re going to need to put in a little more effort than that.

“A name consisting of not less than three words.”

“From now on, I shall be ‘Bubba Bo Bob Brain’. Check.”

I would make fun of him for this name, but honestly it’s kind of genius in its bland simplicity.

“And…a height of at least six feet!”

“Aaa--guebuh…”

Whoops. Forgot about that one, huh?

“Drat!”

“There must be some way for me to increase my height…”

Gee, if only you had a fully operational mechanical human suit just laying around.

“Hmm, let me think…”

“Don’t hurt yourself, Pinky.”

He is trying his best!

“Faster, Pinky! Faster!”

…Why does Pinky have to spin the thread? The whole point of sewing machines like this is that they’re powered electrically, Brain. Are you just making him do this so Pinky feels included?

Oh. Oh no…

Brain’s “WTF?” face is great. He’s surprised and yet not at the same time, because things like this just happen when you have Pinky around.

“You amaze me, Pinky.”

“I do my best…”

A very cute exchange.

So instead of using the mechanical human suit they usually fall back on in times like these (maybe it’s under six feet tall?), the mice instead come up with…this.

“Proceed, Pinky.”

I have to give them some credit, regardless of how ridiculous this is, as sewing denim to make a very bizarrely thin and tall pair of jeans must have been an absolute nightmare.

“Ki-yi-yippee-yi-yo. How do I look?”

I’m getting flashbacks to the similarly deadpan singing of “Camptown Races” from last episode. Brain’s really on a western kick lately, isn’t he?

“Oh, very nice, Brain!”

Your finger-framing may be focused on the back of Brain’s head for some reason, Pinky, but your pupils are definitely pointed a bit…lower.

“It’s ‘Bubba Bo Bob Brain’.”

“You are my manager, Colonel Pinky.”

This is a reference to Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who was honestly quite the bungler when it came to managing Elvis’ career. I honestly don’t think Brain’s making a subtle jab at Pinky’s competency here for once because Brain’s grasp of pop culture he’s not already interested in is surface level at best most of the time.

“You discovered me playing the guitar on the front porch of my humble pig farm. Any questions?”

“Oh, just one: When you farm humble pigs, how far apart do you have to plant them?”

“…If I could reach you, I would hurt you.”

Hey now, you’re the one that asked, Brain.

“But for now, on to Nashville!”

“On to Nashville!”

BONK!

“This is a pain that is going to linger…”

That’s what you get for rolling your eyes at Pinky’s enthusiasm.

No perilous car trips this time! Instead, the boys are getting bus tickets to Nashville.

“Two tickets to Nashville, please.”

“Ooh-wee!~ You’re a tall drink a’ water, aint’cha, darlin’?”

…Ma’am? Excuse me, ma’am? Ma’am, are you flirting with The Brain?

Like, sorry, that “tall drink of water” saying is not just to point out that someone’s tall. It’s specifically for flirting with someone who is tall and gorgeous and a refreshing sight to see, like a tall glass of water on a hot summer day.

This lady is flirting with a mouse on stilt legs.

I know that Brain’s disguises are prone to inexplicably work even when by all rights they shouldn’t, but…

“Actually, I am a lab mouse on stilts.”

Brain does his usual bold and plain truth shtick and I’m a little surprised that he didn’t react to what she said beyond that. Then again, this is Brain and he’s quite terrible when talking to women in general, so maybe we dodged a bullet here.

“…At least he didn’t ask me to pull his finger.”

I’ve worked in retail and food service for years, ma’am, and if that’s the extent of your experience with unpleasant men, consider yourself lucky.

“EGAD, Bibby-boo-bop-Brain! Round trips are so exciting!”

“It’s ‘Bubba Bo Bob Brain’, Pinky.”

“Right! Sorry. Zort!”

Honestly, Pinky’s version is much cuter.

“Concentrate, Pinky, concentrate!”

BONK!

“YES! This pain will definitely be with me a while.”

Brain out here looking like a bad Minecraft texture.

Hello again, Warner Siblings! Gosh, that little fringed western skirt on Dot is cute.

“’The Rowdy Ranch Nightclub’… What are we doing here, Boobie-baa-baa-Brain?”

I checked the official subtitles for this and yes, that is exactly what he mistakenly calls Brain here. We have had both of these two call each other “boob” or some permutation of it this episode.

Pinky and the Brain sure is a show that exists.

“…It’s ‘Bubba Bo Bob’ Brain. And according to statistics, and inordinate number of country western superstars have gotten their start at this very establishment.”

You probably didn’t need me to tell you this, but there’s no Rowdy Ranch Nightclub in real life. There is, however, “The Rowdy Ranch”, uh, ranch in Texas.

“Egad! [gasp] Do you suppose Minnie Pearl performed here?”

“One can only hope…”

Man, Brain, you are really laying the sarcasm on thick this episode. Come to think of it, he’s been slightly more sassy towards Pinky than usual this episode as well. I suppose he’s still sore about the end of the last one. You know, for reasons.

BONK!

At least he’s getting some karmic punishment for it, I guess.

“I am a telephone repairman from this area!~”

This little ditty this man is singing has bugged the hell out of me for quite a while, as it certainly sounds like it’s a reference to something but I never knew exactly what it was referring to until just now thanks to an old Animaniacs Usenet group from way back in the day: It’s a parody of the song “Whichita Lineman” by Glenn Campbell. The writers are really giving it their all with the pop culture references this time.

“When I give the signal, play the subliminal message tape.”

“Right-o, Bippie Bebop Balloola!”

“…Sometimes you frighten me, Pinky.”

Why, though?! Despite it being a mistake it’s honestly a goddamn adorable one. Why must you fear affectionate, innocent, unknowing malapropisms, Brain? Pinky’s still going to do what you told him to.

Anyway, Brain is ushered onto the stage as a newcomer and he’s…not exactly any more eloquent than Pinky was just now.

“Howdy, you all. Here’s a little…ditty I wrote. Hope you enjoy it…you all.”

Here’s the thing: Brain’s not one to get stage fright, and while he’s not the best actor he’s still usually better than this. He was saying “ya’ll” and getting the country-isms perfectly fine beforehand, although he was still doing it in his deadpan Brain way.

Now, suddenly, after hearing Pinky cutely screw up his fake name and going on stage he’s starting to mess up. It’s like Pinky’s error is still in the back of his mind and flustering him enough to throw him off for a bit.

He gets back into the swing of things when he starts singing his song, though.

“I am a lab mouse, I escaped from my cage

Never had a job, never earned minimum wage.~”

“He ain’t half bad.”

“Ain’t half good, either.”

OUCH. That’s a little harsh. Sure, the lyrics are kinda blah but he’s a decent singer here. Really, it’s just not a genre of music that his voice fits very well.

Also, lady? You’ve got a suspiciously busty doppleganger in the back there. That’s got to be a bad omen for you.

“But you will respect me, YES, once my plan is unfurled!~

You will call me your leader, I’ll be king of the world!~”

Careful, Brain. Your complicated emotional complex is starting to show in those lyrics.

There’s some more nice facial expressions here too. I can’t really capture it with still images, but Brain’s got a very tender demeanor when he sings about being king of the world.

“Now, Pinky!”

…I just noticed that Pinky’s wearing a completely different outfit here at the nightclub than he was when boarding the bus to get to Nashville. He was previously in an all-white colonel outfit and now he’s in a more generic yet very sweet cowboy get-up. Did you make yourself an entire wardrobe, Pinky?

Another minor detail is that while Pinky’s cowboy hat is a generic tan colour (although before, it was white), Brain’s hat is completely black, which as per western film traditions marks him as a clear villain.

You and I know he’s not really a villain and is, at worst, an anti-villain…but I thought this was worth pointing out anyway.

“Citizens of the world, you are under my control. You will do whatever I say.”

I love how he does this completely unneeded strum on his guitar in the middle of his subliminal message. It's for the drama!

“Buy my record and listen to it twenty times a day.”

Corporations be like…

Who am I kidding? Corporations nowadays would have you pay a fee monthly to have a song on your phone playlist and you would never really own a copy.

“Let’s buy his record…”

“And listen to it twenty times a day…”

Lady, that doppleganger is still over there. Do you need a distraction while you sneak out the back?

This smug lil’ jerk. Gotta love him, though.

And so Brain’s cassette tapes fly off the shelves at record speed.

Man. Cassette tapes. I feel so fuckin’ old…

“I don’t know ‘bout ya’ll, but I can’t get enough of Bubba Bo Bob Brain. Let’s hear it again!”

JFC, that spittoon. Blegh! And just what do you need that rope for?!?

“Well, he’s the hottest thing to hit Nashville since my mama’s jalapeno grits! Here’s Bubba Bo Bob Brain!”

Having just recently learned what exactly “grits” is, I am very disturbed by the idea of jalapeno grits.

“I’m your biggest fan! What d’you say to that?”

Hi, Dolly Parton! I’ve gotta say that the animators nailed the caricature of 90s Dolly here pretty well. She’s instantly recognizable, unlike some other celebrity parodies Animaniacs does. It’s not just because of Dolly’s, uh…most renowned physical characteristics, either. That’s a very Dolly Parton smiling face.

Not much to say here other than that Dolly’s a sweetheart of a woman, from what I know about her, especially for a celebrity. She’s a staunch supporter of Covid relief and Black Lives Matter as well.

That said, she’s sadly—both in the 90s and now—most well known for…

“I’d say puberty was inordinately kind to you.”

BRAIN!

Well, yeah. That.

I guess now you can see what I mean about Brain not being very good at talking to women. Like, he’s definitely not ogling her here. In fact he’s just kind of…stating something he’s noticed and looking absolutely done with this whole celebrity thing. But Brain you don’t just make a joke like that about a woman’s bust size no matter how deadpan you do it, you ass!

“Haha, go on.”

She takes it well, though, just like Dolly seems to in reality.

Still, though! Brain, you retroactively deserved all those run-ins with doorframes.

Continuing on the buxom southern women thing this episode has decided to run with (seriously, what’s going on here?), we now have a brief parody of a Hee Haw skit.

“Hahahahaha!”

“Hey, Bubba Bo Bob Brain, I just got back from France!”

“How’d you find it?”

“I used a map.~”

“Hahahahaha!”

Yeah, that’s an accurate depiction of Hee Haw style humour.

“And the Country Tune Award for best male vocal goes to…”

“Bubba Bo Bob Brain!”

Here we have Garth Brooks and Crystal Gayle emceeing this awards ceremony. I had to look up who these two were supposed to be, though, since the caricatures are pretty vague this time.

“EGAD! YIPPEE! Narf! Ah hahahahahaha!”

Aww, he’s so happy for Brain! And oh, is that yet another outfit I see? And a much more appropriately sunshine-y yellow and flamboyant one at that! Pinky really went all-out for this.

Again with the tongue hanging out too, except this time it’s more understandable.

“You’re embarrassing me, Pinky.”

And you’re continuing to be a jerk, wow. Someone needs a nap or something.

“Pardon my effervescence, but your accolade is more than any bucolic mouse merits.”

“What’s he sayin’?”

“I don’t know.”

Yes, Brain just used the word “effervescence”, much like in that one Tumblr Twilight meme. To those reeling from the fact that this compares Edward to Brain via their shared pretentiousness: You’re welcome.

Also, a Brain-to-common English translation: “Pardon my bubbly enthusiasm, but your award is more than any countryside mouse deserves.” Would that have been so hard to say, Brain?

“…I’d like to thank my mama and Elvis.”

I wouldn’t thank Elvis. He was an asshole. But that’s probably not wise to say at a 90s country music award show, so I guess it’s understandable.

“Oh, how nice!”

“Well isn’t that nice!”

“I’m outside the Grand Ol’ Opry, where tonight’s concert featuring country music sensation ‘Bubba Bo Bob Brain’ is being televised worldwide.”

“In two words: Bubba is hot!”

I… That’s twice in this episode where a human woman thinks a tiny, big-headed mouse on stilts is hot.

Furries, come get these poor, confused women.

“You gotta know how to cut ‘em

Know how to shuffle

Know how to deal the cards, before you play Fish with me.~”

Hello, Kenny Rogers. I only know the song parodied here, “The Gambler”, again through “My Brother, My Brother and Me” and the long and hilarious conversation about it.

It’s kind of weird to have a song that was made famous by Rogers in 1978 sung like it’s a recent hit in an early 90s awards show, but ehh. Maybe the shelf life of hit country songs is a lot longer than songs of other genres.

And then you die in your sleep~

“Do you realize what will happen if the world hears my song just one more time?”

“An angel will get its wings?!”

If only, Pinky.

“NO, Pinky!”

I think all this country stuff is really getting on Brain’s nerves. He’s being snappy and irritable and lashing out an abnormal amount ever since arriving in Nashville, and there’s not a lot of joy in the minor successes he’s had so far. Like, compare Brain smiling and praising Pinky for his work during the alien encounter spoof they did together, the last episode with Brain cheerfully singing to himself when he was certain he’d win the race…to now where he’s yelling at Pinky for minor mistakes that no one but himself is aware of and being joyless and faking pleasantries and rolling his eyes at the country stars he’s surrounded by. This mouse is crabby as all hell, and I don’t think it’s just because he finds the whole country western thing stupid and below him. This is a mouse who’s done and will continue to do degrading things to achieve his goal of world domination without this much jerkishness.

I think he’s still fuming about the whole Pharfignewton and Pinky thing, and the current plan being a very rural, country-focused plan like the last one with the Kentucky Derby is just exacerbating it by reminding him of it. Like, you don’t even have to take it in the gay way I am and instead take it in a “how dare that goddamn horse take the complete attention of my friend/world domination partner away from me and my plans, this sucks and I can’t believe Pinky’s just being his usual dumbass self like everything is fine and the same” sort of way.

But the gay way makes way more sense, fight me.

…Okay, don’t fight me, I’m tired and old and I really don’t want to get in internet fights about cartoon mice.

“My subliminal message will take permanent hold, and the world will be under my control!”

Ooof! We’re back down to “my” control and not “our”. Jeez, Brain. You really are spiraling right now, aren’t you? Your attitude has quickly devolved from the beginning of this episode...

“Oh, that.”

And dang, even Pinky’s enthusiasm is starting to get deflated.

“Now, do you remember what you have to do?”

“Yes. I need to make a dental appointment. I have horrible plaque buildup!”

Pinky, you do realize that unlike a regular, non-sapient mouse you can just brush your teeth, right?

“The tape, Pinky, the TAPE!”

“Oooh, right! When you give the signal, I play the tape.”

“And now, I’d like to introduce…”

“This is it, I’m on.”

“Good luck, Booba Bip Bop Brain!”

Folks, I swear to you that I tried to get a decent screencap of Pinky slapping Brain to figure out if he slapped his back or his ass and for the life of me I could not get it. The slap goes by just that fast and I’d honestly have to go frame by frame if I wanted to get it, but my video player will not go that slow.

Either way, Brain is certainly startled by the contact but is fixated more on the continued mangling of his fake name.

“How many times do I have to tell you, my name is--!”

Uhh, Brain? Getting a liiiittle close there.

“—Bubba Bo Bob Brain!” exclaims Kenny Rogers. And oh boy are these screencaps exploitable. Again, you’re welcome.

“Yee-haw! Let’s start this hootenanny!”

Better than last time you came out on stage to sing at a show, at least.

This time the crowd even sings along with him, and they’re not even hypnotized yet. Much better.

“Now, Pinky!”

“You are under my control, you will do whatever I say…”

“I will do whatever he says… Whatever he says… Whatever he says… Whatever he says…”

A confusingly consistent detail here: Every woman in the crowd has swirly red hypnotized eyes and every man in the crowd has swirly green hypnotized eyes. Why? Who knows!

“Way to go, Blubber Boo Bean Brain. Narf!”

Heh, that hand flip.

It looks like Pinky is trying hard to suppress his verbal tic here for some reason? Or maybe he’s just realized that he’s messed up the name again and is cringing in anticipation of Brain yelling at him? Either way, poor guy… You really don’t deserve any of what’s coming.

And what’s coming? Well, given Brain’s heightened pissy attitude and his mental issues with not having things go exactly the way he wants them to, plus his obsessive need this episode to correct Pinky on this one thing that doesn’t need to even be addressed because no one else hears it, plus other repressed emotions…

“Do me a favour and forget my name. While you’re at it, forget you ever knew me!”

Holy shit.

…Now you fucked up, Brain. Now you fucked up.

Man, I hate the one thick facial hair on the dude in the middle. It’s so unsettling.

“Hey, who’s that skinny guy on stage?”

“Who is he?”

“Get him off!”

“Boo!”

“We wanna see someone famous!”

Yup. Look at what you did. You messed this up all because you were having a temper tantrum about Pinky messing up your stupid false name. You hang that head in shame. And you apologize to Pinky.

Later...

“Tonight’s inside story: A complete unknown somehow made it on to the stage at the Grand Ol’ Opry.”

“…Turn that off, Pinky.”

You know what? Keep it on for a bit, Pinky. Let Brain wallow in this humiliation just a bit more. He needs to have the lesson set in.

“I’m trying to concentrate on a better plan for tomorrow night.”

“Why, Brain? What are we going to do tomorrow night?”

“Same thing we do every night, Pinky:”

“Try to take over the world!”

Hey wait just a minute! You can’t just reuse this excellent ending from “Win Big” on this episode! Brain doesn’t yet deserve to get back to being cocky and determined after being such an ass!

Ahh well. He does get better, folks, I promise. This is just a rough patch. Brain is… He’s going through some things, I think. He’s not processing his emotions in a healthy way and it’s really coming back to bite him.

Listen, I understand this whole thing with Brain being extra grumpy and hostile after the whole Pinky dating Pharfignewton thing is largely coincidence. We don’t actually know what order these episodes were made in, after all, and the Animaniacs writers were not big on continuity.

Here’s the thing, though: I still find it fascinating that these episodes were aired one after the other…especially with a random cameo with Pinky and Brain disguised as a married couple in between. It makes for the beginning of a strange sort of arc that occasionally reminds us that, hey, these two mice are a duo and something is amiss when that duo is broken up or there is a strain put on that relationship.

I’ve read that after a while, network executives at the time tried to push for these mice to settle down and have families and for the skits and the eventual spin-off to largely abandon the whole world domination thing. They wanted it to be more sitcom-like to rival and imitate shows like The Simpsons.

That obviously doesn’t work. It can’t work. The writers, especially Peter Hastings, very much pushed back against the idea. When you have a duo of characters who fit together and play off one another so well, when the basic premise of a story is of a pair of characters working together to achieve a goal, and when those characters just mesh so perfectly and basically complete one another…trying to add another main character just puts the entire story completely out of wack and/or changes it into something unrecognizable. You can add reoccurring characters off to the side, sure. You can have a nemesis or two pop up and return every now and again. But with something like Pinky and the Brain where the main story is a small pair against incredible odds working towards a singular goal, disrupting that core relationship is going to cause a domino effect that will ruin the whole thing.

All this to say that I like this approach that’s going on here much more, even if it was completely unintended by the creative team: There is the element added of Pinky, off-screen, dating someone. It’s not something that’s brought up a lot and whenever it is brought up, Brain is irritated. We’ve seen at the end of the last episode where this development was introduced that Brain is unusually snappy, and now in the next episode he continues to be angry more often than he was before. It’s a more subtle and smooth way of seeing how these characters react if something or someone threatens to come between them, in a way that doesn’t immediately break the entire premise to pieces. Of course, it helps that Pharfignewton is…largely absent for all this and is only brought up every now and again. It’s not a perfect way to explore this kind of thing, but it’s preferable when compared to something like Pinky, Elymra, and The Brain.

However, after this episode Brain’s temper begins to de-escalate, and we won’t pick back up on this accidental “arc” for a few episodes. So to folks who are maybe a little bit bummed out about his behaviour here: don’t worry. We’re getting quite the breather next time with a very odd alternate universe skit courtesy of the Warner Siblings messing around with character placement, as well as an entire Animaniacs episode devoted to a Pinky and the Brain skit…fantasy style!

#Pinky and the Brain #PatB #Bubba Bo Bob Brain

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bloodybells1 · 3 years

Text

PROCESS, ONE: A READER’S JOURNEY

“The essays in this book were memoir until they couldn’t stand to be memoir anymore.” —Leslie Jamison

Had I read that quote even only six months ago (the book to which she refers is her much-lauded personal essay collection The Empathy Exams), I wouldn’t have known exactly what it meant.

How can a piece of writing evolve from memoir? In terms of simple, unvarnished truth-telling, I thought the memoir, as a genre of literature, was pretty much the vessel. Yet here a case is being made for something that sounds like the opposite: it seems one can go beyond even the once terminally-regarded memoir.

Let me think about this further, about my confusion. Maybe my framing is off. Maybe it’s not an issue of evolution or reduction. It’s not that the personal essay is somehow purer than the memoir, as far as autobiographical writing is concerned. The issue is not one of authenticity. It’s about application, or even misapplication, that the quest for truth for which one naturally uses the data of one’s own life could, depending on the circumstances, be more appropriately undertaken in a different genre. The two genres are merely looking at different subject matter. They’re examining completely different lifeforms on the slides, but they’re using the same authentic microscope, as it were.

I relate to the sense of frustration in the Jamison quote, that there’s a feeling that the mission she started out on—writing a memoir—became so inadequate for the real task at hand that it became unbearable, that the pressure of working under a false guise gave way to a different form of transmission.

The memoir became a personal essay collection. It had to. The questions she was exploring could not be undertaken by simply telling the story of one’s own life. Personal data was necessary for the full picture. But she needed other sources, the experiences of others, the realities of phenomena outside of her normal experience, even as they were phenomena that ultimately she ended up relating to in a deeply intimate manner. In her collection, she let us into those experiences, and then we were able to relate, by dint of her fearless storytelling and personal excavations.

Now I’m getting it: a personal essay is fixed on some question and that is what drives the exploration. Personal, say, autobiographical, details are needed for the exploration, and this can vary depending on the subject. But the focus is the external question. That is the different lifeform on the slide. It’s about the question being pursued.

But first, a look at where I started on this journey, with the memoir itself.

The memoir as a work of literature was my singular focus while I was crafting my book proposal a couple of years ago. Simply put, it was what was on the table. Owing to my provenance as a musician and an actor, and my express interest in writing about my life, the genre of the memoir naturally became a thing for me.

So I dove into acquainting myself, not with examples of celebrity memoirs or memoirs by politicians—perhaps the two most popular varieties—but with examples of the finer possibilities in those genres which—big surprise—happen to be written for the most part by writers. I found myself falling in love with the exercise of memoir writing, as opposed to, say, the gratuitous voyeurism that is often offered by the popular variants of the genre.

For me, what became valuable was the quality of the writing; most of the time I was reading the life stories of people with whose work I had, outside of the memoir being read, little to no familiarity. These windows into life were captivating in their own right, these portals into raw experience, the possibilities of narration within the genre of nonfiction, the enlightened self-awareness made evident in sculpting large-scale timelines of one’s own life.

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It’s difficult for me to overstate the degree to which these two books have influenced me thus far.

Nabokov’s memoir is well-known. It’s a work of literature in its own right. It is a great example of the possibilities of the memoir to accomplish something other than realism: the whole thing is a kind of Proustian meta-narrative of his childhood and abrupt departure from Russia after the revolution, like a dream of family life written down. Mary Karr, in The Art of Memoir, heads her chapter on this book, “Don’t Try This at Home: The Seductive, Narcissistic Count.” Indeed, the book reads somewhat Transylvanianly, a bold, exotic yarn full of strange characters unfurled for an audience unfamiliar with that way of life. It reads as alluring and dark, and, yes, quite vampiric. But it is also profound and gorgeous.

While it’s not really a memoir, more of an autobiography, and also not often regarded as exemplary of the form, My Lives, written by Edmund White is an incredible tour de force of portraiture of the most important people in his life, his therapists, his parents, his lovers, his friends, his subjects, they all get a chapter dedicated specifically to them. Imagine knowing a world-renowned painter who decides he wants to do a string of portraits of the most important people in his life and you are one of them. That’s what this is, in literary form. It’s less a story of him than of these people, but, by the end of the book, you, of course, end up knowing a lot about him. His ability to make you see the things that he is looking at, in a very concrete, physical way—the curves of a body, the angles of a face, the ambience of a train station—is unparalleled in my view.

Is there a difference between an (a) autobiography and a (b) memoir?

I think the difference is about scope. The autobiography is explicitly a functional genre that attempts to document a person’s entire life. It is a biography that is written by the person whose life is being written about. It does not usually try to invoke any literary devices and is intended to serve as an ancillary to consumption of the subject’s work outside of the autobiography. It is a kind of “reader” of the subject’s life. It’s main purpose is not to be written well (although if it isn’t it is a grave mistake), it is to convey the near entirety of the subject’s experience on earth.

By contrast, good writing is a bit more called-for in the memoir; otherwise the whole premise falls apart. The memoir, in carving out a specific “slice” of a person, either a period of time or some type of encounter or some activity that they always do, is explicitly intended to amplify and interrogate aspects of being. In this way, the memoir has more potential for inspiration and edification irrespective of the reader’s interest in the subject’s life outside of the memoir. This, to me, is the crucial difference.

For the most part, I am not explicitly a huge fan of the work of the writers below. But their memoirs have touched and inspired me. I don’t think I would have all that much interest in reading the autobiography of, say, Joan Didion. (I might, I can’t be sure, of course). But my point is that I’m not looking for her autobiography, whereas there’re a lot of Didion fans out there that would be waiting for said autobiography.

In this way, autobiography is a kind of fan service, whereas the memoir is a thing unto itself. It is a work of literature written for the purpose of refracting aspects of being alive. To appreciate that type of writing you need not be familiar with anything else that person has done on this planet, anymore than that it is necessary to be familiar with Herman Melville’s entire oeuvre in order to love and appreciate Moby Dick.

It was with the consciousness of the memoir’s self-sufficiency, the irony of its ability to communicate, in its more specific mode, even more broadly than the supposedly more capacious autobiography, that I continued my exploration of the genre and began taking notes for the writing of my own memoir (which is now a personal essay collection, but more on that later).

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Two classics of the genre, here.

Many of us have read Maya Angelou’s book in high school. Both focus on the same thing: a period of time starting from birth and leading just up to late adolescence. Both are written like traditional first-person stories with beginnings, middles, and ends, and, were it not for our knowledge of their source material, might easily pass as romans a clef. I also think that both are examples of “misery lit,” although I think that that genre is overly hip and reductive for Angelou’s work, which is about so much more than just her misery. But they both focus on their childhood traumas in such a plain, unadorned, simple way, it is shocking and, for those of us struggling with these same issues, healing.

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The Apology and The Year of Magical Thinking are examples of how the memoir can focus to a degree of incredible specificity. Both focus on pain but are concerned with different parts of experience. Didion writes only about one year of her life, while Ensler writes about almost the entirety of it, but with a focus on a single, prevailing experience. Both are harrowing in completely different ways and both are exquisite in the way they lift up their struggles to find meaning and truth, things that pertain to the reader’s own experiences and which he or she may also come into touch with in reading these books. They truly are gifts in that regard.

In a manner of speaking, these two books are like two, very long, book-length personal essays. They rigorously explore and interrogate their premises and do their best to extract whatever possible that is meaningful out of that exploration.

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More “misery lit”! I actually don’t mean to be reductive in saying that. Both of these are fabulous stories concerning completely different encounters with mental illness and they are far beyond some hipster term of art. But there is a lot of memoir writing out there that explores the darker ways some of us were brought up and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with simply naming a certain type of writing that courageously explores how our childhoods might have been compromised.

In The Glass Castle it’s about her father’s mental illness and in An Unquiet Mind, it’s about the author’s own journey discovering and treating her bipolar disorder. Walls writes her story very much like it’s a novel, like Angelou’s memoir, and, also like Angelou, she writes it from the perspective of her child self and it is a compelling account as a result, full of tragic innocence and complicated encounters far beyond the reach of a child to properly grapple with.

Jamison’s book is very clinical, although she recounts her episodes frankly and shockingly and really brings you in to her subjective experience of insanity. These two books—not to mention Eve Ensler’s—have given me the courage to begin exploring my own encounters with mental illness and childhood trauma and to commit those experiences to writing.

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As I continued to research I started coming upon a very interesting type of memoir, the experimental memoir. That’s really interesting I thought. How does one write a memoir as a form of experimental art?

Not that this one is expressly experimental, but Robert Graves’ book is slightly off-putting in that fecund, experimental way: the bulk of it is dedicated to his experience in the trenches and it’s told with grit and harsh realism. But it starts with his schooldays and ends briefly, and curiously inconclusively, with scenes of fatherhood and tutelage. It’s a rather unique rendering of a life. Towards the end he admits that his original idea was to use the notes that he took on the frontlines for writing a novel but changed his mind after realizing that he would be desecrating his experiences and his memories and his sacrifices by layering a plot and storyline onto them. He then decided to write it simply as a factual account.

Dark Back of Time, however, is a full-on experiment in autobiography and it is always slipping in and out of reality, imagination and historicization. He spends a large amount of time writing about an old soldier who died accidentally on a hotel balcony in South America but he gets to this through talking about the reactions that his peers in Oxford had to one of his novels which they suspected made use of their lives. Truly an eye-opening experience to read autobiographical material refracted in this way.

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I haven’t read these three yet. They are “on deck,” as it were. Eat, Pray, Love needs little introduction, obviously. The Speckled People was highly recommended by a fellow writer and Lying came up in an online search as a prominent example of the experimental memoir.

At this point, it was already clear to me that I was writing a different kind of memoir than any of these examples. I realized that I was in effect writing personal essays without knowing it. I knew very early on that I wanted to eschew responsibility for an overarching narrative of any sort. I wanted to commit myself to specific topics that could be covered discretely in one chapter each. When I read the Graves’ passage regarding the desecration of his time on the battlefield, I thought of my own “war stories” and thought similarly that trying to give them a plot, while not exactly a “desecration,” would feel unnatural and inauthentic. What was feeling natural was to pick separate experiences in my life and devote a chapter to those I felt were strong enough for further elucidation. The time I got stuck on a mountain overnight with a friend. The shock of coming to NYU. The decision to leave the music industry. There were so many other parts of my life that seemed to deserve specific treatment in this way. I naturally started coming upon essay collections as a result.

II.

I took an online course by Alexander Chee called, “How to Write an Essay Collection” and afterwards it became much clearer what kind of book I wanted to write. I read about half of his reading list for the class and, along with the volumes I’d already dug into, I learned what a personal essay really was and what it wasn’t, and knowing this difference demonstrated to me quite clearly that the book I was writing wanted to be an essay collection in the truest sense of what an essay really is. The Leslie Jamison quote at the top of this blog post became true for me as well. My memoir could no longer stand being a memoir and had become a personal essay collection.

During the class, Alexander Chee recounted an irony regarding his own personal essay collection. He said that he found it curious when readers of his book would tell him that they found so much of him in it. “There’s actually not very much of me at all,” he said; and he mentioned this in order to illustrate what a personal essay collection is and what it isn’t. The reason why there’s not that much “of him” in his essay collection, nor, for that matter, why there isn’t much of any author’s life in any of their personal essay collections, is that a personal essay, despite being “personal,” is primarily geared towards externals not internals. “Pity the personal essayist,” the author Sloane Crosley writes in her New York Times review of Jamison’s latest essay collection, Make it Scream, Make it Burn, “fated to play with a reader’s tolerance for that most cursed of vowels. Too many “I”s and you’re self-absorbed; too few and: Where are you in this piece?”

Self-absorption as a liability in writing is understood enough, though, when it comes to autobiographies and memoirs, the liability becomes unavoidable and, if anything, necessary. We read those books exactly for the purpose of the big drop into an author’s psyche, willingly diving down the subjective abyss, basically swimming in “I”s (the best ones allow us to do this gleefully).

Not so in a personal essay, where the restriction on egoistic license holds. And yet: how do we include and implicate ourselves into the topic? without stepping on traps of self-absorption? This is what Chee was talking about when he said that there wasn’t much of him in his essays: not that he didn’t implicate himself in his narrations—he very much did—but that he skillfully observed this precarious balance.

That balance is undertaken quite differently depending on the author (and in my synopses of the collections I’ve read recently I’ll try to speak about how they’ve assigned “percentages of self” into their essays, what the “lean-to-fat" ratio is, for example, when “fat” could be understood as the strictly autobiographical portion of the essay). It can also vary according to the essay. In some cases it’ll be necessary to fully implicate oneself. In others, perhaps only a passing mention of the author’s impression of the events is needed. But there’s an essential aspect to what makes for a great personal essay, irrespective of ratios of personal to objective, that Charle’s D’Ambrosio captures beautifully in the introduction to his own essay collection:

My instinctive and entirely private ambition was to capture the conflicted mind in motion, or, to borrow a phrase from Cioran, to represent failure on the move, so leaving a certain wrongness on the page was OK by me. The inevitable errors and imperfections made the trouble I encountered tactile, bringing the texture of experience into the story in a way that being cautiously right never could.

This is kind of a Copernican revolution to me. I mean, it had never really occurred to me that you could be wrong and that would be a good thing. In writing I had always striven to make sure that I didn’t insult researchers, journalists, experts and scholars by misrepresenting the truth. Yet, here was basically a license to get it all wrong and admit it on the page and have that be a virtue of the writing.

What this tells me is that what remains key in the personal essay is not some authoritative stance, but the very uncertainty of the perspective, and how that might invite opportunities for a much more intimate relational structure with the topic matter on the part of the reader. This isn’t about ingestion (of data, of info, of ideas, etc.) but about contact. I see that as being very similar to the relationship between reader and author in a memoir, this premium on relation. The only difference—and for me, a very consequential one—is that the primary target of a personal essay’s sight is not the self qua self, but some implication with the content of reality on the part of the self. That intersection is what fascinates me more at this time than simple self-narration.

In this way, a personal essay can kind of be like a stop sign, a signal to halt the gyrating (mostly online) world, with its hyperlinks and ads and other pseudo-references. In fact, in his brilliant collection Proxies, Brian Blanchfield takes on this very task and turns the internet off when writing each of his essays in the collections. In order to take solace within the much more subjective account housed within the pages, an account at once open and tentative, based as it is in doubt, and hermetically sealed, shunning the greater world’s insistence on certification and realism, the essay becomes a prismatic utility for investigation, where perspective and subjectivity are king and certainty and objectivity are actually limiting.

The memoir offers something very direct to the reader: the author’s own struggle with, or journey through, some issue or period in life. The author is the chief protagonist in the drama, the star of, say, the cinematic adaptation of the book. The issues swirl around the protagonist but the camera stays trained on him or her. What I started to notice was that my mental gaze was always scudding away from the protagonist (me) and over to what else was in the frame. And so the personal essay as I began to learn about it became a much more appropriate vessel for these concerns, even as I knew that I would need to implicate myself in the action, keep myself in the frame. Striking that balance in a way that is both specific to me and my experiences and yet observant of the proper limits of the genre, so as not to veer away and “regress” back into memoir, has become my chief objective with each of the essays that I’ve been writing.

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These three collections might be my bible for this project. Each are very different in style and application, but each is similar in that joyous experience of reading a paragraph and being so stunned by the insight that one has to turn the face away from the page for a moment (or two) to let it sink in. Baldwin is, of course, the king of this sort of thing. There were times while reading his essays when I actually had to straight up close the book and put it down in order to absorb what was going on. The title essay which is about Harlem, his father, and his early awakening to the depth of his country’s racism, is perfection on both the level of content and form. It does what an essay does best: leave you with the unequivocal residue of human feeling twisting around the grander issues with which that essay is concerned.

Each essay, in all of these volumes, is like a discrete nugget, a piece of writing, contiguous, open and alive, that can be read and reread, like an oracle you visit throughout your life, which, using the same words, speaks to you anew each time.

Ambrosio’s essays are absolutely nimble and virtuosic; his language is muscular and sinewy; his sentences are lean and long and you can ride them effortlessly and when you finish them and their paragraphs, you are left with an image of a truth that was planted in your sight without you knowing. It’s an exhilarating experience.

Blanchfield’s essays are a revelation of subjectivity. This volume was part of Chee’s reading list and I can’t express enough gratitude for having been directed to it. Perhaps Blanchfield is the master of nesting the autobiography within the confines of an essay. When he toggles between the external and the internal, you don’t notice it. It’s effortless. His ability to tell a giant story in one paragraph is inspiring. The tone and delivery is somewhat sacral, he’s a poet, after all. But it is also delicate, graceful, poised and elegant. And deeply personal. How someone can title an essay “On Frottage” and turn the reader’s attention to the true significance of the topic—AIDS and the gay scene in the 80s and 90s—and all of the social significance intertwined in it, along with implicating himself in a nakedly autobiographical way, is beyond me, but I am happy to be in the audience for it.

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What I love about these two collections are their stealth and form. Their stealth comes from how they read, not so much as casually but as without artifice or adornment, and how this aspect lets the reader’s guard down, only to have some extremely penetrating conclusion arrive at the end of each essay, in a manner that the more plainspoken style did not necessarily anticipate. Chee’s prose particularly comes across as either supremely and dryly witty or as modest plainness, but when you finish one of his essays the takeaway is anything but those things; it is profound. Jamison as well. As for their form, they tend to do some adventurous things. One of Jamison’s essays uses a kind of diagram of storytelling which she learned in a writing class to “tell the story” of a traumatic episode involving a horrific episode of violence she experienced in South America. The essay is called “The Morphology of a Hit.” It’s a perfect example of something else that I really love about personal essays which is their ability to take leaps in form when that form enables a type of storytelling that otherwise isn’t possible. Chee does this very thing in a somewhat humorous essay, the titular one of this volume, which is just a long list of life hacks and writing tips. I’m really grateful for the insight that this man has given me into the writing process. My copy of his book is signed, as I first became aware of him at a reading of his with Edmund White at NYU which my good friend invited me to. So I’m very grateful to that friend as well! He also introduced me to Edmund White so it’s a double whammy!

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I would’ve never encountered these collections of my own volition without their inclusion on the reading list in Chee’s course, but I’m very happy that I read these. McCarthy’s essays are quite old, dating to the 50s and 60s, I believe, when they were originally published in The New Yorker. They’re all centered around her childhood years, either living with her grandparents or in an orphanage and they are remarkable portraits of intimacy and observation. The same with Ginzburg’s collection, although she writes in a much more enigmatic style. What inspired me most about her essays was how simultaneously aloof and vulnerable they are: she has a way of, say, writing about England, without ever even mentioning the name of the country, yet contriving a recognizable and incisive portrait of it, all from the vantage point of her own experience of the country during a certain time. Finally, there’s really nothing quite like Wojnarowicz’ book. It’s slightly Beat in tone, sometimes surreal and ecstatic, and then progressively more plainspoken and political. But it is all so very raw and pulsing with the heat of experience and desperation and anger. Wojnarowicz was an incredible artist, a sculptor and photographer and he lived in the East Village of the 80s and reports from the frontlines on the AIDS crisis. His work bears the stamp of a deeply tuned in artist confronting the hypocrisies and injustices of his time.

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I put these three together mostly because these collections are explicitly comedic, although each has its own manner of using humor to communicate a deeper message. Jonathan Ames is well-known as a very funny novelist and the creator of the TV show Bored to Death. His essays are very short and very direct. There’s almost no commentary and he just narrates the events. The approach of leaving room for not knowing is very noticeable in his work, as he often qualifies his observations with humility and openness. The work comes across as very tender as a result. Irby is laugh-out-loud funny. I don’t know how she does it but she has a way of sending herself up and making fun of herself and her limitations that is both funny and painful at the same time. Commercialism, body positivity, and personal achievement are only some of the themes that are explored through that lens of self-effacement. Her ability to put herself under the most lacerating gaze of the authorial microscope and coming out the other end of that examination as a strong individual is unparalleled. I consider this volume must-reading material. In terms of exquisite construction and intelligence I would have to put Sedaris up high on the list, though his work is popular enough and his collections prodigious enough that his reputation for that kind of writing needs no further illustration here.

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Virginia Woolf is popular as an essayist for collections published much earlier than Moments of Being, such as The London Scene. The essays here are actually very raw and unedited and so very sprawling, though obviously of high literary quality. She wrote them down like diary entries and then they were found after her death. They feel similarly to McCarthy’s essays in their naked observations of early childhood and family life. Juxtaposing this collection with DFW’s Consider the Lobster is a bold choice on my part, but it’s for the purpose of elucidating my previous point about that delicate “lean-to-fat” ratio I spoke about earlier in this blog post. Woolf’s posthumous collection is “all fat,” one could say, in that her focus is almost exhaustively on her own life and personal upbringing and subsequent marriage. These essays are basically memoir writing in the guise of the personal essay. DFW’s essays, by way of intense contrast, are almost “all lean,” in the sense that he spends almost no time talking about his personal life. The closest he gets to that is his essay on 9/11 where he goes over the details of where he was when it happened. The rest are what you’d expect from the author: penetrating accounts of the subtleties and hidden motivations of the cultures and people he investigates. He is basically like the most intelligent wartime journalist where his “wars” are the John McCain presidential campaign of 2000, the AVN Awards Ceremony, or the Maine Lobster festival.

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I have yet to read these collections but I’m very much looking forward to them. Hemon’s essays are about his upbringing in the war-plagued Balkans of the Nineties and subsequent emigration to the US. Didion’s basically needs no introduction as its de rigeur for essay writing. I’ve included Benjamin’s because of his critical insight. He’s not writing about his personal life, but his gifts for analysis will be really helpful to be exposed to for anyone undertaking the task of writing a personal essay. I have not included a picture of Susan Sontag’s collection Against Interpretation because it’s on order, but that one is also on deck. As are two other collections not pictured: Mary Oliver’s Upstream and Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark.

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komaeda-writings · 3 years

Text

Circus AU: Peko x reader

Requested by: Anon!

TWs: few swearing, carnival acts that involves slicing, sword swallowing, human cannonball

This is really an interesting and unique request! Hope you like it! and apologies if it sucks sdhbfdh

‘I’ve been rejected again,’ You thought as you sat on a bench, troubled, thinking where you could get money to pay your water bill. As you’re worrying, you came across a newspaper and saw some advertisement that are offering jobs. You decided to skim through the newspaper, thinking one of the jobs might be an answered prayer for you.

“Alright, let’s see...” You said, looking through the newspaper to find a job. One job particularly caught your eye. “Human Cannonball Needed in Travelling Circus! Contact xxx-xxx-xxx for details!”. ‘Human cannonball, huh?’ You thought. You knew circuses were a hit these days, and as you’ve heard they pay at least a decent amount of money. And you’re desperate for a source of income, so you took it. You decided to call the number posted, hoping that you’re the first one to call or at least to get the job.

‘They’ll call you back’ they said. You waited a few days while working part time to at least get some cash while waiting. In all honesty, you were starting to lose hope until you received a call from the boss, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu. “(Y/N) (L/N)?” The familiar voice of Kuzuryuu boomed through the telephone. “Please come to the circus tomorrow morning. We should discuss more about the job, if you’re still willing.” He spoke. “Uhm yes! I’m still interested in the job! Thank you so much for calling back!” You were overjoyed, but nervous at the same time. Is he implying that other turned down the job? ‘Nah’, you thought, ‘I’m just overthinking this, whatever.’

You arrived at the said location, or so you think. There were really no clear directions so you weren’t sure if this is the circus you applied to. “It’s easy to find, actually.” He said, “Just a big, red tent in the middle of Osaka.”. You were about to call Kuzuryuu, until a short man wearing, what you think is, a magician suit with a matching hat came out of the big red tent. “Ah, you must be (Y/N).” He spoke, “Come, come! I’ll tell you the details inside.”

He led you inside the tent where the performers were practicing their acts. You can’t help but gasp in awe and admire them for their wonderful talents. You silently started to worry. ‘What if I’m not good enough like them?’ your thought got caught off as Kuzuryuu started to walk in, what you assume, the backstage.

“Alright,” He started once we were seated on the crates. “So, the job is about being a human cannonball, as stated in the newspaper. I assume you know what a human cannonball is?” He asked. You nodded slowly. “It’s about launching a human who��s inside a big cannon towards a safety net... right?” “Yes, however, that’s not all. A part of your job is also being Pekoyama’s partner. You’re both going to assist each other in each of your acts.” He then proceeds to explain more about the job. “As you may know, this is a travelling circus so we will tour around Japan in a couple of months, starting here. So, do you accept the job?”

Ah. You looked down at the floor, having and internal battle with yourself. ‘Why are am I suddenly having second thoughts?’ You thought. ‘I was so sure about it yesterday!’ ‘What if I couldn’t do it and ended up injuring myself and the others?’ You slowly looked back up, seeing Kuzuryuu’s concerning glance towards you. “Are you okay?” ‘But the pay is worth it...! I could pay my bills with this and have extra cash left!’ “Ar-“ “I accept the job!” You suddenly exclaimed, cutting Kuzuryuu off in the process in which you apologized profusely. “It’s fine... but glad you accept the job! Lots of people had turn this down. Glad to see you’re not one of those weak shit.” He stood up while you nervously laughed, dreadrfully thinking back about you might become injured and anyone else near you. “Alright, I should introduce you to the crew and show you around the tent. Is that alright with you?” “Of course! I would love to meet them!” He then smirks in response as he showed you around the place.

A tall man with animals surrounding him caught your attention. “Oh, that’s Gundham Tanaka, also known as Tanaka the forbidden one. He’s the animal tamer of the circus. He also performed with animals.” Kuzuryuu seems to have notice your interest for the tamer. Who wouldn’t? It’s amazing to see wild animals tamed and cared by him.

“Is this the newbie human cannonball?” A strange man with white and disheveled hair suddenly appeared beside Kuzuryuu. “Hello there! I’m Nagito Komaeda, otherwise known as Komaeda the lucky guy!” He extended his hand forward in which you shook, noting how sweaty it is. “He’s done life-or-death acts and somehow survives all of them.” Kuzuryuu explained.

“And, that’s Hajime Hinata. He’s the one who sells popcorns and drinks to the audience.” He proceeded to point to a man with a spiky, brown hair, and a large ahoge protruding in the middle of it, who was cleaning the seats. ‘Wow... I wish I wouldn't get that job. That’s so boring... And I mean this in a very respectful way... Poor guy’ You thought, as Hinata raged, saying things like “There’s a huge ass bubblegum stuck here!”

Then, Kuzuryuu led you towards a smoking hot woman with a big, fat cigar in her mouth. “Hey, Pekoyama! How’s it going?” He asked, going near the woman. “This is gonna be your partner, (Y/N) (L/N). If you’re not busy, can you help them practice?” “Sure, after I’m done practicing my stunts,” She spoke, walking towards you. “My name is Peko Pekoyama. I’m the circus’ sword swallower and somewhat the fire artist. I also slice various things with this sword for the show.” She said, showing of her sharp sword. “If you’d like, you can watch me perform my last act. You can sit on that crate if ever.” She pointed towards a crate near a caged lion, “Don’t worry about the lion, Tanaka already tamed him, they won’t be as aggressive as wild lions.”

You sat down on the said crate, looking at the lion from time to time, Peko’s word barely registering in your brain. ‘Is it just me or every act here is kind of dangerous? I take back what I said about Hinata, please take me with you...’ You thought, before gasping in shock as Pekoyama swallowed her own flaming sword with no struggles whatsoever. After her act, she bowed then took a peek at your surprised face. “Surprised? It’s totally understandable!” She chuckled, walking towards you with various fruits on her arms. “Now come, I’ll show you what you have to do, (L/N).”

“Toss one of the fruits high up in the air and towards me.” She instructed. You did as you were told, although you might’ve thrown it a little bit forceful which almost hitting Pekoyama on the face. “S-sorry!” You bit your lip as you felt the blood rise up to your cheeks. She chuckled, telling you it’s fine and that it happens. You continued throwing fruits and was amazed with how she skillfully sliced through the fruits.

“Alright, my next act is similar to this one, except it’s just a little bit dangerous...” She trailed off, going over to an open crate and taking out... bombs? Dynamites? Hello?

She, then, proceeded to light them off using the cigar in her mouth and tossing them into the air. You were internally panicking. How? What? What if we explode? But that didn’t happen as she sliced the fuse off the bombs before they hit the ground. “I-i’m- woah...” You were speechless. You were awestrucked with Pekoyama’s performance. “Heh, that’s not all, hun.” She chuckled before proceeding in lighting up the bombs once again with her cigar. It was similar to the previous act, except this time, she caught the bombs on the flat end of her blade before throwing it up in the air and letting it explode. If you were surprised with the previous act, I don’t even know how you would react to this one. Pekoyama just chuckled at your reaction. “Alright, now it’s your turn!” She smirked. “W-wait, me?” “Yes you! Get in the canon, dummy,”

You quickly snap back to reality as Pekoyama led you towards a huge, colorful cannon. ‘I’m scared’ you thought, ‘It’s risky, but all for the money, I guess’. “Scared?” Pekoyama asked as she positioned the cannon to make sure you hit the safety net, “Don’t worry, if anything goes wrong, I’ll save you.”

You blushed as you went in the cannon, preparing yourself for the launch. “I’m gonna light the fuse now, alright? Be ready.” You heard her voice far behind as you closed your eyes in slight fear. A few seconds later, the cannon fired, sending you high up in the air. You slowly opened your eyes, feeling like you were flying as the adrenaline pumped through your blood.

You were caught by the safety net afterwards. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding as you awkwardly laughed. Kuzuryuu clapped at you, who’s beside Pekoyama, as he actually saw what happened. Hinata helped you to come back down. “So how was it?” Pekoyama asked, removing the cigar off her mouth. “It was... fun, I guess,” You nervously laughed as you dusted off invisible dirt off your clothes. “You did amazing, (L/N). Now, practice some more as we’ll have a show in a few days.”

#Komaeda Writings #Peko Pekoyama #sdr2 peko #Peko Pekoyama x Reader #Peko x reader #Circus AU #danganronpa #danganronpa imagines #super danganronpa 2 #danganronpa goodbye despair #SDR2

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fmdrex · 4 years

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hello everyone ! i go by saylor and i’m very excited to finally bring in a muse here, even if it’s due to being stuck in one place long enough that i’ve stopped second guessing myself lmao. this is the introduction to my fierce son, rex on stage, or noah kim more casually. i’ll do my best not to ramble too much in his intro (no promises) ! my discord is available for anyone interested, otherwise give this a like and i’ll nyoom to you for plotting.

𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙛𝙛 !

how do i explain this ? he’s just an unpleasant person ?

but like ? is that a bad thing? does everyone need to be “likable” ??? i pose this question to you today, ted talk audience. you decide !

he’s a very bad boy tbh. he has a cw for bullying (not toward him, but him toward others)

in middle school he was kicked out of private for cheating, though he never got caught for bullying so that’s a blessing for him. suspended for fighting in high school. seriously a problem child. the kind of person you point to and say ‘stay away from that kid’, the *bad influence* kid, blah blah, exactly what you’re thinking of, and probably for good reason.

his mother and father were a bit neglectful and a combination of one laissez faire parent and another totalitarian one. together they managed to brew the perfect storm for an inferiority complex and all the acting out that came with it.

his mother was very much the an A- is failing type. his father was more invested in his work loads and never bothered to care at all.

noah is very angry ? ?? at the entire world ?

noah is not really gracious nor is he easy to get along with. has a huge tendency of shutting people out, his group is blessed because they were around him for so long now that he’s immune to them and hopefully the other way around. being around him feels like walking on hot pavement without shoes on like sure it’s tolerable but it still sucks honestly, and you aren’t really mad about it because it’s just how it is but like damn you wish you had thought about grabbing shoes. i heard like, trying to take it as fast as possible and planning your approach before you leave the top step will help a little? like definitely have an entry plan. or just go get shoes. in this case it’ll take like...a few years of being nice to him before he’s tolerable in the least.

especially don’t try to date him, he will break your heart.

to summarize, he’s very dramatic, a little quick to start fights, very fierce and cold? he doesn’t really understand people being the playful or soft types. he isn’t the snarky and grumpy but cute kind of young adult novel emo boy personality, he’s the aquarius guy you know from your high school class that you had a crush on because he’s hot but at the same time when you get to know him he doesn’t have a funny bone in his body and also thinks having kinky sex is a personality trait.

to point out a single reason to like him; he’s very extremely dependable, down right predictable. he’s a very good listener even if he won’t give you advice (that could also be considered a positive), very assertive- so follower types will feel comfortable? (never will you have the “where do you want to go eat” “idk what do you want” conversation, he’ll always be the one asking and if you say you don’t know he’ll decide for you), nicknames and other quirky stuff like calling you ‘dumbass’ in an inexplicable affectionate way.

i wish i could say more nice things, you’ll just have to see for yourself. he’s perfectly tolerable i swear.

ohh i can say that he’s the kind of relationship that really only pays off when someone puts in the time and effort?

when it does come to love he’s slow with deciding how he feels but when he does decide he really goes all in, fierce and intense as always. he really is a rewarding relationship to build? like if you put in the time to woo that one cold, intense guy just so you can see him be nice to you and only you. that guy is noah.

here is a link to his profile just in case you want to know more in depth !

𝙞𝙙𝙤𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙛𝙛 !

he’s the performance unit leader for charm.

he’s a main dancer.

he’s a sub vocalist.

it’s really not his strong suit to say he’s a singer. he’s got a stable vocal but it isn’t really powerful or capable of great range, and his vocal tone isn’t super spectacular or super unique. noah’s job as a vocalist in charm is to show up sometimes for the chorus or hook or killing part. he’s content with that.

he is well known for choreographing all of charm’s dances along with the occasional co-producers, since debut. it is the singular reason he didn’t murder someone to get out of his idol contract years ago. being an idol is meh. being a choreographer is the shit.

he signed to bc as a trainee in 2012 and debuted in 2015.

he has input for lyrics credit on almost every single album charm has released.

when it comes to being an idol for him it’s all about the performance and the art of it all, the fact that charm is a self producing group is the only reason he’s happy as an artist at this moment in time. and still i wouldn’t call him content with his life.

strong in the categories of: dance, choreography, performance and fan service. much weaker in all the others.

he was on hit the stage. a blessing to the world, i hear people are still talking about it.

a member of the charm u sub-unit but we’re not talking about that disaster.

his korean was kind of spotty and terrible for the first few years of his time in korea as a trianee and idol until he got himself together a bit more.

𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙛𝙛 !

97line friends

best friends (0/2)

close friends

a off and on again thing he refuses to call dating even though that’s what it looks and seems like by every definition of the word and by now it’s starting to make things really complicated

someone who used to be his friend but that’s very old news and now things are gross...

his first relationship (around 2015/2016?)

dancers squad

he’s just your muses type for some reason (i’m so sorry) and they get nervous/shy around him

your muse finds him very intimidating and him confronting them about it went well / horribly

his second, much worse relationship that ended in actual disaster

he was drunk and slept with your muse once (one time only) and now he’s so awkward around them it’s both hilarious and almost insulting

english speaking muses club and or foreigners squad

your muse makes him soft. (bonus points if they’re good at aegyo and once they realize he’s weak to it, are willing to abuse it to get their way with him)

your muse looks up to him as a dancer and choreographer

one sided crush either direction

he broke your muses heart somewhat ruthlessly

someone he just absolutely hates and can get very catty and aggressive with

muses to play online games with him when they’re both free or on opposing schedules

#fmdintro #fmdcall

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weaselbeaselpants · 4 years

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Hazbin Hotel Review part 2: Mistakes were made please don’t kill me

This pilot is polarizing at the moment. In between the two sides of the anti-fanbase (ppl crying “if you like HH you’re homophobic”, or the BWW with it’s cringey politics), you have lots of fans who are falling over themselves about how good this is. If you love Hazbin unconditionally that’s fine, but here’s the thing:

I like it too.

I’m the kind of person who’s naturally critical, pokes harmless fun at what I like, and is always rewriting and reimagining things within the fandoms I like. I want to be a ‘Hazbin’ fan but I don’t know if I’m allowed to since the fanbase can be so staunchly overprotective and Viv herself has said she doesn’t like criticism, no matter how valid or done in good faith.

Tbh, that’s why the drama revolving around @frootrollup1 upsets me: the fandom is fine with lumping all criticism or redesign stuff in the realm of ignorant hate, when redesign, rewrites, revamps and other fan dribble are kind of a labor of love onto itself in other fandoms. Guess that’s a talk for later though.

With all this in mind, let me go over my thoughts:

There’s no PROPER establishment of Hell as a place, setting, world, or proper establishment of the characters.

The armor-piercing question Hazbin needs to be asked is this:

“is this a generic version of Hell we should all be familiar with and need no introduction to, OR is this a unique take that requires it’s own rules?”

^ It feels like the latter but we don’t get a good rundown of said rules. Besides that, characters are one note and serve either no purpose or become flies on the wall to other characters’ purpose.

Things were said and places were shown but we honestly don’t get a good idea of Hell by the end of the pilot. It’s a ritzy(?) place where souls of the damned literally become demons and then get purged. I THINK. I THINK, that’s what the writer’s were going for here. TBH, it feels like they’re skipping ahead and thinking of the show as a finished, fully realized product with developed characters and plots already, and not an introduction to a series/standalone piece.

If I didn’t have some inkling or the lore prior to watching it, I wouldn’t have known that the demons sans-Charlie were once human. Angel says in passing in the car that he’s already dead, but really references to the fact that they were once human are rare.

Now I’m a simple woman - I ain’t picky with mah demonology - But, call me crazy, when I think Hell I don’t think of the people who end up there turning into demons, I think of people going there to be tortured. That’s the hell I’m used to seeing and is prevelant in like every religion that has a hell. Taking a spin on that and making demons the souls of sinners trapped in hell? A-okay, but I NEED MORE. Instead of talking in a car or spending time on this lolsofuny demon turf war, we really needed more time given to the fact that Vaggie, Angel, and others were once human. No, I don’t want a full flashback, but it would give us a better grasp of the mechanics of sin in this world if these two characters told a little bit more themselves than just having some lines offhandedly explaining how everything works.

EX- How to do revamp of a familiar setting right while still leaving certain details vague? One Word: Hadestown.

Hadestown doesn’t need to give you all the details of it’s setting cause that’s not the point. You don’t need to know if the workers of Hadestown are literally dead, metaphorically dead, or both or where other gods live. Those aren’t the things we need to know for the musical to progress. What we need to know is Hades’ underworld is a mining colony of doom, that Hades buys peoples souls so the workers can never leave, that Persephone and Hades are on the rocks which is messing up the seasons, and that oop! Eurydice had to go back. Between the commonplace to complex knowledge westerners have of Greek mythology and the revamped Prohibition-era setting, all is explained that we the audience need explained.

I have the feeling Hazbin Hotel wanted the same thing: explain what needs to be explained for the currant plot and leave bits and pieces in the dark. It just didn’t really work.

The flow of the narrative was bad.

So apparently on the PizzaPartyPodcast Vivziepop admitted there were things that were moved around or turned out rushed.

Fair enough but even with that excuse can someone please tell me why they thought it was a good idea to start the story after Angel has already been made a patron of the hotel?

Getting to know not only how the world works first and foremost, but who our main character (Charlie) is and what she is doing (the hotel), would be the easiest way to drop us into the action of the story and get the ball rolling. But instead we start off with an intro song that sort of shows us what this world is like but doesn’t explain anything about who or what we’re seeing until the newscasters come in. Angel’s introduced in this time and the build up and execution of this character is poor, rushed, and feels more like writers fudging around with a character they like than giving us, the audience, a proper introduction*.

After that, I’m sorry to say the spots where the story picks up, drifts off, lulls about, or comes around all kind of melt into this big slurry the characters are drowning in, without any real care for telling a story. BUT THIS IS A STORY!!!

This is not a little menagerie of random characters ala the Pastoral Symphony from Fantasia. This is not a collection of little things just for the fun of it to get to to know these people (it does a bad job at getting you to know these guys). This is a three act structure. I can tell where the intro, rising action, climax, and falling action are SUPPOSED to be, but they don’t stand out, don’t do their job, and melt into the fluff in a way that makes the emotional impact we’re supposed to feel null somehow...

The pacing was bad.

While some scenes go by far too quickly others go on for faaaaaaar too long. These are the bits that don’t surprise me when I hear this pilot was changed around, cut down, or fudged with a bit.

Scenes like this include Charlie’s back and forth with Katie Killjoy before and after her song, Charlie and Vaggie’s fight in the car, Alastor explaining himself to Charlie and Vaggie trying to talk him out of it, ALL of the Ser Pentious/Cherry Bomb terf fight bits.

Oddly, it feels like these parts are trying REALLY hard to get a point across but they end up being more of a hindrance to this otherwise snappy dialogue and supposedly simple set up. This pilot is 20+ minutes, but the bits we need to endear ourselves to our main cast are squandered on what the writers thought was “fun to write” at the time.

Too many characters, even in a 20 minute pilot.

Instead of getting a good idea of our leads, everyone is treated with the same level of importance or interest in a world that hasn’t even been fully introduced yet.

The truly important supporting characters to Charlie, Vaggie, Angel, and Alastor are Husk, Katie, and Nifty. Katie provides conflict to the first half of Charlie’s story, while Husk and Nifty are hires by Alastor for the hotel; they establish his power over other demons and his influence on the hotel and it’s success. Sir Pentious and Cherry Bomb needed to be cameos. Their characters should be glorified plot contrivances/resolutions, No More. I ain’t gonna care about a cast of billions from the start. We gotta start small first. Not only do we have four mains, we also have a bunch of little guys who need to eat up screen time...except they absolutely don’t need to and should be simple background cameos for now.

Sir Pentious and Cherry Bomb get as much character time as the four mains even though Angel is underdeveloped and Alastor is overdeveloped. When it comes to storytelling - unconventional or otherwise - priorities, is what this pilot needs.

Angel basically does nothing after Alastor is introduced.

Of all the characters in Hazbin to get left in the dust (lol) and be underdeveloped, Angel Dust would be my last guess. He’s popular with his creator and with the fandom but because of how the pilot is set up, his character falls to the back-burners and is kind of unnecessary: (Charlie uses him as an experiment to see if she can reform a sinner but he doesn’t hold up, so when Alastor comes into play the focus of Charlie’s plan switches almost entirely to Alastor and Angel is unneeded). If this were two episodes of a series; one about Charlie getting to know and trying to “fix” Angel, and another about Alastor coming in and taking over, that’d be fine. But this is a pilot so the plot and character development is kinda crushed in and neither Angel nor his existence amounts to much of anything.

I honestly forgot Angel was even in the latter half of the pilot. The poor demon-spider whore dies on the way to his home planet.

Not to fan-blurb here but I think it’d be more interesting if the conflict in the latter half wasn’t Vaggie trying to warn Charlie away from Alastor but Angel feeling shown up by Alastor and him being the one protesting to Alastor’s take-over of the hotel. It would have given Angel more to do and would cement him as one of our four leads.

Alastor gets a backstory because he is A) not the character I thought they were going for, or B), they’re jumping the gun on him. Alastor is a maddening character in my book because if he’s the character I thought he was supposed to be - our main villain - then they royally messed up a good villain by explaining his story. If he ISN’T the main villain, than color me confused on what he’s supposed to be.

It goes without saying that a good villain should remain somewhat mysterious throughout the rising action, which is what the pilot is building up to (I think?). Alastor’s personality makes him an absolutely wonderful villain and probably the most outwardly “demon”-like of anyone in Hell. Him being a rogue demon that scares the inhabitants of Hell should be alluded to, not stated.

Vaggie and Angel get passing “we dead” bg but our villain gets a backstory dumped on him? For the standalone pilot this episode is, his backstory doesn’t do anything for the plot. For the rest of the series, this feels like a big waste to reveal this guy’s history over anyone else. The rest of the HH cast are sorta small stereotypes and cliches that the writers want to endear to us because of what they do and what they go through, though since there’s too many of them they end up just being there. Alastor, on the other hand, is where they hit gold and really have a character who oozes personality and the feel of their show...but they kind of taint him by giving him an unneeded (at this point) history.

Big problem with him not only being explained but him outright stating his intentions with the hotel.

Maybe I’m wrong and Alastor is not the bigbadvillain in a cast of villains...in which case I don’t know what the pilot wants us to think of him or where the show’s going with him. Is he a demonic version of Harold Hill who learns to care about ppl and gets redeemed? Maybe that will change with future episodes....

Hazbin is confusing as a person not privy to the franchise/development prior ,and feels disappointing from the pov of someone getting hyped for these characters. As a follower of the project it feels like a let down to the respective characters and plots we’ve been anticipating. While, as newcomer, it’s hard to care about anyone. My sister, who had far less info on the pilot than me, was watching it the whole time going “who are you?” and by the end said “why should I care?” Really good summary from this IMDB review here:

Little harsh but my thoughts exactly.

TL;DR: The writers need to really rethink how to introduce their world to newcomers AND fans alike. -

There’s so much passion in Hazbin Hotel but I feel it’s misaimed and a prime example of why “write/draw what you like and what sounds ‘fun’!!!!” isn’t a good idea for storytelling.

There’s technically a story in Hazbin Hotel, but because of the bad pacing and lackluster approach to world and character development, for the kind of project that it is, it’s not very good.

Again, for the people in the back: if you think I’m a bully because I happen to be harsh with my criticism, sorry but harsh critique isn’t the same thing as bad faith criticism (CinemaSins, NC, Bad Webcomics Wiki) and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t lump me in with those turds because I don’t love every second of this. I may not be the best writer, but storytelling is my passion and I think this dropped the ball. IT DOESN’T MEAN I HATE IT. - Alternatively, if you love Hazbin unconditionally or disagree with me on these things: great! Like what you like as long as everything’s safe, which it is. Stuff is problematic but hey so is everything look at the stuff I like. Also, if you’re one of those people who unironically says “if you like HH than I’m blocking you teehee unfollow me”, you fittingly have a very special seat in hell set up for you. Don’t threaten my friends cause you don’t like something they like. =)

#hazbin hotel critique #vivziepop #hazbin hotel

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sweetsmellosuccess · 4 years

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Sundance 2020: Day 4

Number of Films: 5 Best Film of the Day: Bloody Noses, Empty Pockets

Promising Young Woman: It would certainly make sense that the world would be ready (and awaiting) a revenge thriller in the #metoo era. Unfortunately, this peculiar mish-mash of a film has far too many abrupt tonal shifts — more like a fly zipping around an outdoor picnic — to keep itself together. Carey Mulligan plays Cassandra, a young woman with a traumatic past, who seeks revenge against piggish men by posing as black-out drunk at clubs, going home with one hoping to score, only to turn the tables on them when given the chance. What she actually does to them is strangely vague (in the film’s opening sequence she dispatches Adam Brody’s character in a way that leaves blood spatters on her blouse — but we find out later he’s apparently fine), as is her exact motive, for a time. More confusingly, writer/director Emerald Finnel veers wildly in tone from one moment to the next: One minute, it’s a sweet romantic comedy; the next, a dramatic revenge thriller; before shifting to an archly satiric social commentary, all jumbled up into an unwieldy collage. In one crucial, dramatic scene, a character admits to her wrongdoing, but does so in a living room so notably gouache, with pink carpeting and frilly furniture, the characters actually acknowledge the weirdness of the setting to one another. The plot, which involves several unlikely convolutions, too often works against itself, all the way to a supremely unbelievable (if satisfying) ending. Milligan is strong, and the chemistry she shares with Bo Burnham, as a potential real love interest, is sparkly, but its tonal ambiguity eventually does it in.

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets: Filming the last day and night of a dingy, hole-in-the-wall bar in Las Vegas, the Brothers Moss imbibe their neo-doc appropriately enough with a distinct ‘70s vibe, in keeping with both many of the clientele themselves, some of whom display a post-hippie vibe, and the concept itself, which plays like something out of Cassavettes joint. We start at the beginning of the day, as Michael, the bar’s chief barfly, is woken up from the counter, goes to shave in the bathroom, and again takes his customary seat at the bar. For the day shift, he’s being served by the genial bear of a bartender, who has a surprisingly good singing voice on those occasions where he is inspired to pick up his guitar and croon. Shortly thereafter, Michael is joined by a bevy of the other regulars, including Pete, a sweet-faced man with a long pony-tail and many stories of past relationships; John, a large Aussie, who bring a heavy, mysterious paper bag with him and tells the bartender to hide it for him. There’s also a former military grunt who gets mildly belligerent, a smattering of younger people who saunter in, and a host of others, at various levels of decay. As the day progresses, and the sweetly fierce Shay comes in to tend bar on the last night, the clients get more and more soused, and things turn drunkenly chaotic. Amidst numerous confessions, admissions, and exhortations off the clientele being “family,” a claim the saucy Michael instantly refutes (“we’re bar friends,” he says sternly, “not family”), the cameras capture the anarchic spirit of the place, even as it exposes the fissures in the nature of their relationships. Michael, the bar’s patron saint and conscience, seems to best crystallize this dichotomy: When he finally does shuffle off the next morning he does it with zero fanfare, as if no longer having to maintain the illusion that the place is anything other than a sad, dilapidated wreck, where patrons get to shut off their minds from whatever pains have driven them there.

The Nowhere Inn: Carrie Brownstein, of both Sleater-Kinney, and “Portlandia” fame, has a penchant for slightly oddball riffs; Anne Clarke, aka St. Vincent, is known for many things, none of them personal, details she protects vigorously. The “documentary” they have made together, along with director Bill Benz, then, is somewhat predictably a mash-up of concert footage (albeit limited), set-up scenes with Brownstein attempting and failing to make a doc of her own, and creative flights of fancy that half play like sketch comedy bits. It’s certainly interesting, concerning itself with issues of performative identity and audience expectation — including, naturally, the film audience — but I found myself less than enthralled with these various manipulations. I understand all documentaries, even ones that purport to be straightforward, are still formulations, but by the end of this one, not only have we not learned much new about the pair, it’s possible we know even less.

The Nest: It has been 12 long years since Sean Durkin has made a feature film. His debut, the brilliant Martha Marcy May Marlene, earned him richly deserved praise, so this was one of the films most anticipated by critics at the festival. He does not disappoint. The film is an exceedingly slow burn concerning wealthy commodities trader, Rory (Jude Law), his wife, Allison (Carrie Coon), a horse trainer, and their two children, as he moves them from a comfortable life in New York, to a huge English mansion outside London. Shrewd and successful, Rory is still moving too fast for his own good, a fact that puts tremendous strain on his familial relationships. Played as it is, a bit like a monsterless horror film — the actual horror being our own alienation from ourselves, as well as the people we love most — Durkin’s careful, precise filmmaking, and attention to character detail, really pays off in the later scenes. Law is brilliant, as per usual, and Coon is a bloody revelation. Ironically, it’s a film that the hyper, inattentive Rory wouldn’t have been able to sit through.

Downhill: Well, we knew this was coming the second this film, an American remake of the remarkable Ruben Ostlund helmed Force Majeure, was announced. Ostlund’s film, about a family on a ski trip in the Alps, where the hapless husband flees for his life when a controlled avalanche seems to head straight for them, deserting his wife and children in the process, is all about the subtle mechanics of interpersonal relationships, and the lies we are forced into believing about ourselves. This film, from comic team Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, eschews many of these delicate details to focus on a more broad comic premise. True to form, Farrell plays his character without genuine delusion — unlike the original, it’s clear to him from the start that he ran from his family, and doesn’t really try to believe otherwise — which makes his denial far less palpable. Meanwhile, they have added in various bits to generate enough plot momentum to carry through to the finish, some of which seem to counter the film’s very premise. There are some funny bits, and enough of the original is kept in place to keep it at least mildly provocative, but everyone is still vastly better off watching the original instead.

Tomorrow: A little bit of a mix-n-match type thing: We will likely begin with the comedy Palm Springs; then switch to horror for Amulet; and take in Assassins for a lighter day.

Into the frigid climes and rarefied thin air of the spectacular Utah Mountains, I've arrived in order to document some of the sense and senselessness of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Over the next week, armed with little more than a heavy parka and a bevy of blank reporter's notebooks, I'll endeavor to watch as many movies as I can and report my findings.

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finalfantasyxivwritings · 5 years

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Know You More

AO3 Version

Relationship: Haurchefant/Reader (Miqo’te!WOL)

Rating: General Audiences

Summary: Haurchefant is almost sure that you feel the same for him as he does for you, but he's not certain. To check some suspicions, he looks into the fact that, whenever you smile at him, he notices that your tail seems to fluff up--do you do this when you talk to others?

He has to find out, if only to know that his feelings are mutual.

When Haurchefant first has suspicions about the truest feelings that you hold for him, they’re nothing more than that: simple suspicions.

He had no clear nor tangible reason to think the relationship as anything more than cordial allies. Despite this very respectable thought process, the Elezen also had quite the extravagant imagination and, honestly, he could never find himself at odds with the idea of you being ever so fond of him–Haurchefant in fact welcomed the idea with open arms and a less-than-appropriate mind that wandered quite often while going through paperwork, if he’s being quite honest.

Regardless, he had a suspicion that the feelings may very well be mirrored, if not entirely mutual. He knew almost for a fact that behind those beautiful eyes and that smile which graced each and every stoic nod of assurance you gave him, there was but a smoldering desire which could very well rival Haurchefant’s very own.

His reason for thinking so?

Your tail.

Well, pray tell not the fact that you have a tail, since that would be absurd. It’s what you do with your tail when you look at him, smile that glorious grin upon Haurchefant like but a beam of warm sunshine briefly offering Camp Dragonhead a mercy from the oh-so-common cold, cloudy days.

It puffs up. Specifically speaking, it puffs up when you speak to him, often in the same breath as when you flick your eyes to the ground and smile that very smile you do so often without realization in his presence. It appears so soft to the touch on any normal day, but in those brief moments it looks but as soft as silk and as fluffy as a newborn karakul that it almost pains Haurchefant that he cannot simply reach out and stroke down the length of such a wondrous part of you.

Though the man didn’t completely understand the physiology of the Miqo’te tails, he certainly knew enough about people in general context to understand when something questionable is afoot–and he knew that there was something behind that little tell of yours.

As a man of observation, Haurchefant began to take note of things whenever you spared a moment to visit Camp Dragonhead. He paid close mind to when you interacted with others, if only to see if such a difference came to perception or if it was all but a silly man’s affections run amok in his own mind.

Though he certainly did well not to outright follow you from one conversation to another, Haurchefant did find it easy to excuse himself about the camp as was needed, especially since his close alliance with you was no secret–the two of you had helped one another plenty in the past, after all. A run-in here, a convenient meeting there, it didn’t take much for the Elezen to pull the strings how he needed to get but a cursory glance at your interactions with others.

You smiled often and spoke with liveliness to all who cared to listen to you, though that in itself was obvious to anyone who but heard rumor about you as a person let alone esteemed warrior of light. Haurchefant was not interested in such things when he knew they were not the evidence he sought near-desperately.

There were moments where your tail twitched or ears flicked, though what few times he noticed was largely when he had reason to believe you were getting agitated–he didn’t let those moments linger for very long of course. Let it always be known that Haurchefant would not tolerate any sort of discrimination to anyone who placed foot within Camp Dragonhead, be they Elezen, Miqo’te or otherwise; he made quick work of what few young and very ignorant initiates decided to test the tolerance held in Haurchefant’s warm heart.

For many times he watched you as you visited, sometimes with business in the snowy lands and other times to visit him personally (of which Haurchefant was always lost in his head like a lovesick schoolboy). Despite all the time he had to figure things out, he just couldn’t quite note a moment that your tail did quite the same thing as he was curious about–not a single time did it puff or fluff up in quite the same way, though there were a multitude of other things it did in otherwise staunch conversation.

In fact, Haurchefant came to realize there was a lot of meaning in but the simple movements of a tail or the softest flick of the ears when it came to the Miqo’te. So much did he realize was lost to him when talking to you, so many queues and nonverbal messages he had missed without realizing it.

The way you flick your tail when you’re shy, the way you pull back your ears when your nervous. Did you ever realize that, when you’re trying to answer a particularly hard conundrum, you wrap your tail around your own leg?

Haurchefant found it endearing. Just one more thing to add to the ever-growing list, something he could speak about until his very breath ran cold and his mind had long since moved on into senility.

But no matter the breadth of knowledge and appreciation gained, the several days of observation offered little insight towards answering the very question which begun the man’s internal questing. With several visits and seemingly no closer to the end, it became clear that the only way the Camp Dragonhead lord may gain such a perilous answer would be to do what he considered as last resort:

He could ask you directly.

It would be a risky choice, as Haurchefant didn’t want his personal quest to be revealed, lest he lose all the carefully collected data–as well as put himself in a horrible state of embarrassment should he be wrong in his assumption.

The very last thing he wanted was to tarnish the friendship he had forged with you.

He waited an extra couple days, allowed himself to build up a convincing reason to ask such an odd question if only so your suspicion wouldn’t be aroused. Though Haurchefant considered himself somewhat capable of smoothing over a lie, he doubted his ability to convince you that he had a distant Miqo’te relative, whether by blood or adoption. He had scarce contacts in the Black Shroud or La Noscea, but he could pull upon some familiar names tied to Ul’dah if explanation was needed…

Too complicated.

When the day finally came for him to ask, he didn’t honestly have much of a plan in motion. It certainly didn’t help that your next visit after his decision came quicker than he thought, leaving Haurchefant to scurry for words and actions mere moments before they happened in much akin to the same lovesick schoolboy he often considered himself to be around you.

He was lucky there was naught amiss, leaving you able to spend time with him privately and talking of simple things over a drink together.

“I hope you don’t find it a bother,” Haurchefant tried to keep his words casual, swirling the dark liquid in his glass. “But I had a question for you I’ve been hoping to ask. It deals with matters you may be best suited to answer, dealing with something of a Miqo’te habit I’m unlearned about.”

You blink, curiosity filling your gaze and smile as it pulls at the corners of your lips.

“I’m of the understanding that Miqo’te are rare in these parts; far too cold to be comfortable and far too cloudy for worship of any sort.”

“Oh no,” the man said, the lie already starting to drip gently from his lips. “It’s not for my personal interest.”

“Oh?”

“You see I have a dear friend of mine who has become quite taken with someone-”

You feel one of your brows perk.

“-a Miqo’te. The details are certainly of no import in the matter, but he has found himself besieged with a question he cannot answer. Though I’ve implored him to but ask himself, he seems resigned to never know the answer.”

Haurchefant grew confident with every word, feeling the story twist together in a neat little plait in which couldn’t be easily unraveled. Certainly he would be able to ask the question without worry of suspicion, especially since you seemed so politely quiet in wait for it yourself.

“You see, he’s noticed that whenever they’re together, his love’s tail seems to-” Haurchefant feigns in the search for the right word, hoping the lapse of memory would only give credence to the story. “Ah, what did he say? Oh! Puff, that’s right–he says his love’s tail puffs right up, like a blowfish of somesort if only such a creature was covered in fur instead of spines.”

He mulls over the words for a few moments extra before letting his eyes fall to you, watching your expression with care as he takes a sip from the glass in his hand.

It doesn’t fall from pensive thought, though he does take a prideful note of how your ears twitch, flicking as if like a bird’s wings aiding it to take flight, though for you it is simply to launch yourself into a series of thoughts.

Was that weird? Perhaps that one was a bit weird, even for him.

“Well, there could be a lot of reasons, but is there any specific time that it happens besides being together?”

“Well, he says it’s usually when he catches a smile or a giggle from his partner.”

You pondered on it for a few moments, tapping a finger lightly at your chin.

“Sounds like a tell to me,” you laughed after a moment, shrugging your shoulders casually. “Nothing beguiling about that, no more than you are Haurchefant, perchance did you know that you tend to bite at your lower lip when your nervous?”

The man blinked, suddenly realizing that he indeed had some of his lower lip between his teeth. He swiftly shifted his weight in the chair and tried to make the act look aloof, just making himself more comfortable in the moment is all.

“D-do go on, dear friend. I hope that whatever may be unsaid between he and his love, my friend has nothing to worry for?”

“Of course not!”

The exclamation was made with no shortage of amusement. You couldn’t hold in the laugh for more than a moment before your hands fly up to your lips and hide what little dignity you can from escaping in the resulting uproarious noise of humor.

Haurchefant merely looked at you, looking something between worried and confused.

“Some Miqo’te do that when they’re happy,” you finally relent, wanting not to torture the poor man. “Your friend has absolutely nothing to worry about, though I’d insist he’d as his partner himself for their specific thoughts on the matter. Likely it’s just how his partner tells him that they love him dearly.”

Haurchefant all but feels his heart stop in the moment, mind trying desperately to put the words together in the way his mind needs, answer yet before him to the question he so very much wanted to solve. He doesn’t have much of a chance to continue the conversation however as you suddenly feel a ring in your ear–your linkpearl, alerting you of a recall back to the Waking Sands for something that seems at least mildly urgent.

You relay this information quickly enough to the Elezen and begin to make your leave, thanking him generously for his time and drink.

“It is I who should be thanking you,” Haurchefant says, gesturing towards you with a mild flourish, as if but words alone can’t accurately describe the meaning. “There are few who would come to these cold, deary mountains to visit even a close friend; your company is always welcomed here with a warm fire and attentive company.”

His words make you smile, a familiar send-off that you’ve grown so accustomed to that it almost feels like leaving Camp Dragon head is akin to leaving home. You begin to make your leave from the room but stop just a few steps short of the door, turning your head around to catch Haurchefant’s gaze with your own.

“Oh, one more thing,” you say, smile tugging at your lips and an unmistakable fluff to your tail. “You could have simply asked me outright about my little tell. I am very much fond of you in kind, dearest Haurchefant, and I’d love to know you more.”

And only then do you leave the room post-haste, catching one last sight of the man with a shock to his wide eyes, a flush upon his cheeks and his lower lip between his teeth in sudden realization that his ruse had been known from the very beginning.

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #haurchefant #haurchefant x wol #readerinsert #haurchefant readerinsert #sfw #sfw readerinsert #miqote!wol #writing #readershot #miqote!reader #sfw readershot

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santafeisafantase · 5 years

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@thattheatrefreak here ya go dood and others. it’s still just a rough draft and not me bashing newsies bc i love it so much, but i was interesting in doing the research so here we go. enjoy!!

Newsies vs. The Newsboy Strike of 1899

Did you know that back in 1899, the newsboys, also known as newsies, of New York City went on strike? The strike caused massive disruption to the city’s key services. Critical news stopped and strikes and protests halted transportation. At one point even the entirety of the Brooklyn Bridge shut down. This was such an important event in our history that Walt Disney Studios created a movie in 1992, which would later become a Broadway musical in 2012, about the strike called, ‘Newsies’. Disney’s Newsies represented the Newsboy Strike of 1899 inaccurately as evidenced by the fictional characters and plotlines.

Based on the Newsboys Strike of 1899, Disney’s Newsies creates many fictional characters to tell their version of the story. In fact, the main character and “leader” of the Disney’s Newsies strike did not exist in real life but was created to support their interpretation of the story..

Jack Kelly, the alleged leader of the strike, was a charismatic character created to further their story.. His character is loosely based off the actual leader of the strike, Louis ‘Kid Blink’ Balett(i)*. Kid Blink (sometimes referred to as Blind Diamond) was the leader and chief organizer of the Newsboy’s Union Strike Committee. Kid Blink was said to be between the ages of 13-18 and Italian, while Jack was 17 and (most likely) Irish. At the time, Italians were frowned upon, and otherwise not well perceived by others, including but not limited to- the Irish. So, although the change from Italian to Irish appears insignificant on the surface, due to tensions between these groups during this time it seems curious

Both Blink and Jack Kelly accepted a bribe from a newspaper, going back to work. Jack took the bride in order to keep his boys from going to The Refuge (a jail for underaged kids), and while there’s no apparent reason for Blink accepting the bride, it was most likely just for the money. Another difference between Blink and Disney’s Jack Kelly is their mannerisms during the strike. When Kid Blink came across scabs (boys who went against the strike), he would soak them (beat them up) into joining the strike, Jack used his way words to talk the scabs into joining the strike.

His more memorable speech from the Broadway production is as follows, “Listen fellas…I know somebody put yis up to this. Probably paid ya some extra money too. Yeah? Well, it ain’t right. Pulitzer thinks we’re gutter rats with no respect for nothin’, includin’ each other. Is that who we are? Well, we stab each other in the back and, yeah, that’s who we are. But if we stand together, we change the whole game. And it ain’t just about us. All across this city there are boys and girls who ought to be playin’ or going to school. Instead they’re slavin’ to support themselves and their folks. Ain’t no crime to bein’ poor, and not a one of us complains if the work we do is hard. All we ask is a square deal. Fellas…for the sake of all the kids in every sweatshop, factory, and slaughter house in this town, I beg you… throw down your papers and join the strike.” Disney’s Jack is more a verbal peacemaker than brute enforcer.

Along with Jack Kelly, David ‘Davey’ Jacobs, and the entire Jacobs family didn’t exist either. In the 1992 Newsies movie, the Jacobs family took Jack in when David and Les, two brothers, became newsies. Davey suggested the strike and became Jack's right-hand during the strike. Sarah, Davey and Les's sister, was Jack's love interest, but an otherwise unimportant character who was written out in the stage production. The Jacobs parents aren't in the stage version, as well. They’re mentioned a few times, but never shown or talked about in much detail. The family, in the movie, showed Jack what it was like to have a real family, as none of the newsboys really had families. This idea of a perfect family and Jack;s want of this idea becomes a recurring theme in Jack’s storyline. There’s a possibility Davey was based off Dave Simmons, the president of the Strike Committee who was voted out alongside Blink for betraying the strike. Simmons was treasurer for the second half of the strike after being forced to step down from his higher position. Davey could’ve also been inspired by/based off Morris Cohen, who replaced Simmons as president of the strike committee. Consistent with the transition of Jack from thug-ish to more of a charismatic leader, Disney gave Jack more relatable family ties and direction.

Furthermore, Bryan Denton did not write the big stories that won the boys the strike. In fact, those articles don’t exist at all! As well as that, Bryan Denton did not actually exist. He was originated for the movie. It’s likely he wasn’t based off anyone in particular, seeing as though the articles from the time came from all over the place. Bryan served to unify the storytelling in somewhat of a narrator fashion that the audience can rally around.

On the topic of the newspaper reporters, Katherine Pulitzer/Plumber (Plumber having been the name she allegedly published under) did not write for ‘The New York Sun’ or anywhere, for that matter. While Katherine Pulitzer was a real person, she died of pneumonia at the age of 2 years old. In the Broadway musical, she’s written to replace both Sarah Jacobs, as Jack’s love interest, and Bryon Denton, as the reporter for the strike.

Another misrepresentation is the infamous leader of the Brooklyn Newsies, Spot Conlon. Spot Conlon, and the Brooklyn newsies, according to the musical/movie, were major influences on the strike. Disney makes it out like without Spot they wouldn't have won the strike at all. Racetrack Higgins, in Disney's versions, is just a newsie from Manhattan who loves to play poker and bet on horse races, when in actuality, Racetrack was the real ‘voice of Brooklyn’ and is mentioned throughout the papers as a major influence on the strike. He also gave a speech at the rally in Irving Hall, claiming to have confronted the chief of police, as well as threatening the boys if they thought of betraying the strike. Racetrack was temporarily vice-president of the strike committee after Blink and Simmons were voted out.

Disney also claims after Kelly betrays the strike, he joins the strike again to assist in writing and printing their own paper that helps them win the strike. Joseph Pulitzer, the owner of ‘The New York World’, sees the paper and makes Jack and the newsies an offer. He would lower the raise of price by half if they went back to work. Jack rebutted by saying that ‘The World’ would also buy back whatever papers the newsboys don’t sell, full price. In truth, over the two weeks that the boys were striking, ‘The World’ made many offers to which the Union’s Strike Committee turned down. Most of the newsies disagreed with the Strike Committee refusing to accept the offers. Eventually, Pulitzer made an offer to the newsies, not the Official Decision Makers of the strike. Pulitzer offered them 100% return rights. The newsies immediately accepted the offer, agreeing to go back to work, while the Union Committee, who disagreed with their decision to accept to offer, said they would continue to strike.

According to Disney’s Newsies, Pulitzer decided to raise the price of papers because once the war ended, they weren’t selling enough papers. Joseph Pulitzer wanted to put more money into flashy photos and headlines, so they could sell more newspapers. In order to do so, they raised the price of the newspapers from $.50 per hundred to $.60, meaning the newsies would have to sell 10 more papers just to make the same about as always. When the newsies saw the raise in price, they were immediately enraged and decided to strike. When the boys organized their first rally, Pulitzer tried to get the mayor and Snyder (the warden of The Refuge) to arrest Jack and get the rally shut down.

In actuality, ‘The World’, and most of the newspapers in the city, raised the price of their papers during the war, knowing that the headlines were dramatic enough that papers would sell easily. When the war ended, all the newspapers brought the prices back down, except for ‘The World’ and ‘The Journal’. Because the war had ended, papers weren’t selling as well, and the newsies couldn’t make enough money to survive. That being said, the newsies didn’t strike immediately. The war ended in August of 1898, and they didn’t strike until July 1899. They elected a group of boys to lead the strike called the Union Committee which consisted of Kid Blink as chief organizer, Dave Simmons as president, Little Mikey as an orator, and Jim Gaiety, Young Monix, Barney Peanuts, Crutch Morris, Crazy Arburn, Scabutch/Scabooch, and Abe Newman. The intention of Pulitzer was not as ill-intentioned and specific as Disney indicated.

Even the conclusion of the strike was changed to suit Disney’s narrative! They make it out to be more willing and accommodating than what actually happened. So, all that said, Disney’s Newsies represented the Newsboy Strike of 1899 inaccurately as evidenced by the fictional characters and plotlines.

*according to some sources, it could also be spelled ‘Balett(i)’

Works Cited

Anonymous. “‘The Looker-on’ Observing Racetrack Higgins”. Brooklyn Life, 29 July 1899. cityhallpark1899.com/2015/07/29/the-looker-racetrack-higgins/

Nasaw, David. “Read all about it: The story of the newsies’ two-week strike against publishers Pulitzer, Hearst”. New York Daily News, 14 August 2017. nydailynews.com/new-york/story-newsies-strike-titans-pulitzer-hearst-article-1.2858550

Siegrist, Julie. “Newsies the Movie: Is it Historically Accurate?” When I Can Breathe, Blogger, 19 January 2014. whenicanbreathe.blogspot.com/2014/01/evaluation-newsies-movie-is-it.html

Romero, Kristina. “Newsies: The real story compared with the movie/musical”. Calling Extra, WordPress, 24 March 2012. callingextra.com/author/kristina/

Newsboys of 1899, Tumblr.

Torin. “Historical Context Newsies”. The Gilder Lehrman. www.gilderlehrman.org/content/historical-context-newsies

Stern, Liz. “Blast From the Past: Newsboy Strike of 1899 “. History Detectives, New-York Historical Society, 27 July 2012. historydetectives.nyhistory.org/2012/07/blast-from-the-past-newsboy-strike-of-1899/

Morisako, Kira. “Kid Blink”. Extra! Extra! Newsboys Take A Stand: The Newsboys Strike of 1899, Weebly. newsboysstrike1899.weebly.com/kid-blink.html

Anonymous. “Newsboys' strike of 1899”. Wikiwand, Wikipedia. www.wikiwand.com/en/Newsboys%27_strike_of_1899#/Louis_%22Kid_Blink%22_Baletti

Anonymous. “Newsies Historical Research”. Newsies History, Tumblr. newsieshistory.tumblr.com/post/91454605563/some-things-we-know-about-the-real-kid-blink-part

#newsboy strike of 1899 #newsies #research paper #this took me months to write bc procrastination #its not good

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deepflapranchdonkey-blog · 5 years

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Interpreting Media Messages S19072906

YouTube:

YouTubes appeal is freedom of speech, the global platform has utilised this growing phenomenon where everyone wants a say. There are many strong opinioned people in our society globally and YouTube relies on this. It also takes control of the media in a way where everyone has a say on certain global issues, such as, politics, immigration, veganism, feminism, refugees, racism. In my opinion, people are rarely single minded, unless of course the narcissists but they also dig from other opinions to form their own. We are conditioned to follow crowds, however there are a few people who think differently and have opposing opinions, these are the people that speak out and make positive changes to humanities current global and national issues.

Some issues in our society go unspoken of or still linger around but isn’t publicly discussed, this platform allows for people to raise opinions about topics that have been swept under the carpet, or they could be new dilemmas. YouTube in my opinion simply makes way for this. For example, YouTuber David So, has a comedy channel and comedically discuses and expresses his opinion on certain world issues, primarily racism, dating, cultural stigmas etc. It’s very insightful and makes you laugh. Never have I ever seen a TV show like it. This is where YouTube takes over, people from the public can also project there opinion. David So and many other YouTubers alike could be considered not news reporters or ‘experts’ but news commentators on their view of global matters.

Dan Price and author for MakeUsOf, mentions in his article, “It’s safe to assume that the majority of those 7 billion videos are not worth watching. And it turns out that we give short shrift to videos that don’t immediately grab our attention. More than 20 percent of videos are switched off within the first 10 seconds of playback”. This kind of content plus any content for the matter needs to be done in an entertaining manner. The most common form is quick and snappy editing. Preferably in the first 10 seconds.

References:

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/21-amazingly-interesting-youtube-facts-2016/ Makeusof, Dan Price, October 8 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6svpuIFcas YouTube.com, DavidSo, Man Loses Limbs To Spider Bite!, uploaded Oct 2, 2019.

Vines

We’ve all been on the good old vine binge. Every 15 second or less video releasing dopamine into our brains, causing us to feel happy and laugh at the ridiculous videos of these millennial's doing dorky, weird and cringe worthy things. Very much like memes, vines are video versions of them. Its so addictive to sit there and watch a fifteen min long video of ‘THE 50 BEST VINES EVER!’ and many of the liking. As you do nothing while you sit and watch video after video that makes you laugh and entertains you right from the comfort of your bedroom, without having to lift a finger. Very much like Netflix which I will be touching on shortly releasing a dopamine into our brains AKA, the pleasure chemical over and over making it much too difficult to turn it off and go to sleep like you should be. Are around high school and university you hear the sayings go around from various vines that make us all laugh in remembrance of the videos. Sayings like;

“he needs some milk”

“an adult virgin!”.

But why are they funny? “The key to all good comedy is timing. Vine’s strict formal constraints inevitably mean that it must become the Viner’s first priority. As a result, the punches must come more quickly, the cadence of a joke more finely calculated, any surprises more deftly hidden”. (Anna Leszkiewcz, NewStatesMan, 28 Oct 2016) With vines we can all relate to the fact that when we start watching one we are usually wondering, “when is the funny plot twist”, or “when is the surprise”. Well that is the nature and psychology behind them. The mystery and then the odd, strange, awkward least expected point or outcome is revealed, leaving the audience shocked into laughing. Evoking emotion is a strong part of Vines, and people are addicted to feelings, and that is why they are heavily addictive, there are even videos of vine compilations called, “Vines that cured my depression”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ5uX_mYfKY

https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/10/why-are-vines-so-funny

Instagram:

A picture and video sharing platform, which can be for anything such as; photography, art, sports, cars, fashion, makeup, fitness and quotes. People tend to mainly follow what they are interested in so it shows up in their feed. Instagram works off your lazy attitude that scrolls and scrolls and looks at pictures that make you satisfied and either depressed. Instagram can be a good motivator for inspiration especially anything on there that focuses on skill or persistence to acquire a certain level, however it can be detrimental on the health side of things. We have been conditioned to look at Instagram like it’s another world, another place where everything is where we want it, how we want it. It’s a dream world, full of fake unrealistic expectations. Due to Photoshop and many various editing software like FaceTune, expectations are set extremely high especially in the world of body image and fitness. “Look at the media, and the same perfectly honed (and electronically retouched) body shapes appear, over and over again. Women are expected to defy logic by attaining the “curves in the right places and not much everywhere else look”. (Ricky Derisz, 1 OCT 2019, Mind That Ego)

On the other hand Instagram can be a motivator, in my opinion if the app is abused and used too frequently you will become depressed, however used in moderation you will find boosted motivation to achieve more. For example if your into going to the gym a lot, and you look at workout quotes and videos and pictures of other fitness freaks, you can feed off their motivation. The app is also useful to keep up with latest news with celebs, fashions, music, sports and your favourite influencers. Follow what you want and look at what you want, we never had that with television, we have a choice at what we want to look at, and that is the power of Instagram, and keep scrolling and there’s more, heck the app even recommends other things you might want to follow.

https://www.mindthatego.com/author/mindth11_wp/ Mind That Ego, 1 Oct 2019, Ricky Derisz

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3RKeHZB_WJ/

Twitter:

A platform that only shares text, well…… seems boring right? Actually no. Its caught onto millions of people interacting with each other with diverse discussions deriving from anything. Politicians including Donald Trump is famous for his activity on twitter. They use it to control votes and influence their society to stay in or get voted into parliament. Many times, over twitter you will see two famous people passive aggressively bantering on this platform and the news has even been sharing these conversations, as they are public.

Twitter is also used for comedic purposes, people tend to write humorous pieces of text on the platform and it gets shared by millions of people tagging their friends and saving it on there phone. Twitter is limited to 50 words which keeps it short and snappy. People have short attention spans and so the short snappy posts are most favoured my viewers. Scrollers can just scroll down and quickly get updates on the latest news and events as well as seeing who is saying what. The difference with twitter to Instagram is it’s about seeing who is saying who instead of who is doing what. My guess that people afraid of having FOMO will be most present on twitter as you can’t get FOMO from watching convos, but you can from watching people’s lives on Instagram. Pictures and video are also posted on there, but they don’t perform as well as the short pieces of text. People love to gossip, and twitter provides this service, in the most efficient way possible.

https://www.mindthatego.com/instagram-influence-body-image-part-1/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3RKeHZB_WJ/

Memes:

An often commentative humorous statement that is either very relatable or is the use of satire in the form of humor. Usually by the form of a picture with text top and bottom. They are always intended humorous however some leave people triggered. Which brings up online debates and discussions. Many memes have expected inside knowledge on the topic for eg. The meme bellow explains a notion that the Mazda Miata makes you believe that there is a parking spot since 1987, that is obvious, but for most people what’s not obvious is how does it? Well it’s a shorter car and Is very small, and among the car community this is a known dilemma.

There are other memes from TV shows or certain movies, where if you didn’t know the movie you wouldn’t understand the humor behind the meme. Memes have to be relatable otherwise they lose their effect on the viewer. Good memes that are relatable to many people go viral and gather millions of shares and views etc. Much like a vine it has a punch line, somewhat corny however it still hits you with humor when you just get the joke. “The German zoologist and evolutionary biologist Richard Wolfgang Semon, for one, wrote about mneme, from the muse of memory Greek goddess Mneme, in the early 1900’s. There’s an argument that memes evolve via natural selection, just as in biological evolution, with less successful memes dying out, or becoming extinct”. (Kevin Bennette, PH.D)The concept of a meme has been around a log time, the science behind natural selection with Darwinian philosophy. The memes as explained above that are not relatable dye out and eventually become extinct in the vast space of the internet and the successful ones that have a good punch line stick around and are shared and liked and saved by millions of people online, just because of one emotion, humor.

References

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/basics/memes Kevin Bennett, Ph.D,

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medievalemma · 6 years

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emma’s secrets for a Great Presentation

hey y’all, it seems i’m becoming somewhat known among friends for making Really Good Presentations. here’s some secrets for turning your presentation from drab to fab :) there’s a tl;dr at the bottom if you don’t have the time or energy to read everything, but i recommend you do if you can. (also, if something i say doesn’t work for you, don’t worry. a lot of these aren’t hard-and-fast rules.)

APPEARANCE AND TIPS:

use a theme!!!! make it pretty!!! plain white slides are BOOOOORING.

visual interest will keep audience attention. you don’t need a super complex one, the premade ones are generally pretty good.

for maximum! effectiveness! go for something sleek/modern, with solid color blocks rather than patterns.

if you don’t like the colors you can change them. look past the colors to the underlying design.

if you add a new slide in powerpoint, it'll copy the format/layout of the slide you're currently on.

don’t just use the same format for every slide! quotes should use a different slide layout to photos or blocks of text.

you can hide slides that don't work, don't delete them just in case!

please don’t use slide transitions unless absolutely necessary they are a relic of the past and should be left there.

WRITING YOUR PRESENTATION SCRIPT:

MAKE YOUR POWERPOINT WHILE WRITING THE PRESENTATION. i cannot stress this enough. it is so much easier to do them side-by-side, so you can make sure that your slides are relevant to your text.

you are writing out a script, right? don’t do it off the cuff. save yourself uhhs and umms by having all your words already prepared.

i know y’all sciencey types don’t do this, which imo is stupid. having a script also ensures that your facts are kept straight.

that said, write your script the same way you talk. you don’t talk like an academic journal in your day-to-day life so don’t write a presentation like one.

keep it formal, but don’t be afraid of simple language and the occasional contraction or colloquialism.

remember, you’re writing something that will be spoken not read so you should be comfortable with the language.

a good guideline is to write as though you are telling grandma (or an interested stranger) about your presentation topic!

your concepts/arguments need to be clear and easy to understand for someone with only the barest context of your research.

remember: your audience doesn’t have your notes and experience with the topic. even if they do, assume they don’t.

you can assume a basic level of discipline-standard knowledge (i.e. historians shouldn’t need you to define terms and concepts specific to history but if you’re not presenting to an audience made up entirely of people from your discipline, you may need to give a brief definition and context for important discipline-specific knowledge.

i.e. i wouldn’t expect a chemist to tell other chemists what a titration is but i would hope they would briefly define it for a general science audience and i would expect a definition for a general audience including non-scientists.

if you have to turn your script in, cite as you go, same as you would with an essay.

if you don’t, do make sure to toss in a few informal citations so you know where you found bits you may need to find again. this can be as simple as an author’s surname or a short title and a page number.

don’t use in-text citations in your script -- use footnotes, which you can format as you would in-text citations. this is so you can smoothly read your script without having to skip over long-ass citations.

PICTURES ON SLIDES:

don’t just have text, please. put in pictures. audiences like pictures.

not clipart tho clipart is laaaame and so 2003

that said, how are your pics relevant? you gotta discuss them, don't just have a picture to have a picture. every photo has a purpose.

the bare necessary information for photos is licensing, year, and location.

full citations of images can go in your sources list, which should be your last slide. (have that up during your concluding paragraph.)

when it comes to diagrams and graphs please ensure they are:

informative

accurate

relevant

use common sense: pie charts should only be used when you are showing parts of a whole. it is a mortal sin to do otherwise. do not use pie charts if the whole does not add up to 100%. if there is category overlap such that it cannot be displayed as a separate category then do not use a pie chart.

i will make an entire post about this if i need to

TEXT ON SLIDES:

don't have tons of text unless it’s necessary: i.e. you're doing a textual analysis, and then highlight the relevant bits with color and/or bold.

i did an analysis using a list of criteria and i highlighted each criterion as i discussed it with color and bold, then changed the color to a darker one when i moved to the next but left it bold so the audience could see what we’d covered.

if you do have to have a ton of text use either multiple slides or the text animations (just have them appear or fly in, anything else is just...no.) so your audience doesn’t get info overload when you change slides.

when you’re using those animations, i personally prefer if the first bullet point is already on the slide. your header should not be the point of discussion -- it should tie all the points together.

when it comes to stuff you've quoted, put the full quote in its context in the slide. highlight the important stuff if it’s a long one. not necessary but it’s nice to see the full quote when you’re in the audience.

make sure the text is a size (and color) that is readable from a distance!

whatever the default size on your presentation application is should be fine, usually that’s around 16-18pt.

16pt is generally the smallest you should go for text you expect your audience to read

citations can be smaller, i generally put those around 14pt or 12 if they’re massive.

your text should be readable if your presentation is viewed in greyscale. easiest way to determine this is to take a photo and put one of the greyscale filters in instagram on it. don’t publish it tho nobody wants to see that

ACTUALLY PRESENTING:

have some method of knowing where you want to switch slides, i like to highlight the text where i plan to go to the next slide. however you do it, have something that means NEXT SLIDE in your script.

just as you've put the slides to your text, put the text to your slides. you know that bit you highlighted? put that in the slide notes so you can easily see if the slide is where it should be.

read your presentation with your slides BEFORE you have to present it. this is how you can ensure they work together.

also, since you're reading your presentation (you did write it out didn’t you?), don't read from a script that’s at 12 pt whatever font.

scale the font up so it is easily readable from a distance.

if you're reading from a device, try to get it in a format where there are no overt page breaks and you can just continuously scroll. i find the “web format” of most word processors that have page-breaks is generally the best way.

resize the window so it is no wider than a standard sheet of printer paper (A4/8.5x11″) -- this prevents you from having lines that are too long to comfortably read.

don’t worry about stumbling over your words. everyone does it. nobody really cares. it rarely distracts from your presentation. if you’re stumbling over the same part while practicing, fix it so you don’t.

have a bottle of water to drink from when you’re done, bc your throat will be dry af. you’re welcome ;)

TL;DR: make it pretty, everything in the powerpoint should be relevant to your script, and of course, write a script that you can read from a distance!

#in which emma posts OC #text #how to have a good presentation #speeches #writing presentations #studyblr #gradblr #good presentations #useful #for future reference #powerpoint #how to make a powerpoint #how to write a presentation #how to write a speech

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lfthinkerwrites · 5 years

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A Riddle for a Bat, pt. 14

Title: A Riddle for a Bat

Fandom: Batman

Pairing: Riddlebat

Rating: T

Chapter Summary: Edward gathers evidence against Thorne, but a face from the past threatens everything.

Previous Chapters: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13

AO3 Link

"So? Make any progress since we've seen you last, Mr. Nigma?"

Edward took a long gulp of water out of the glass Candace had given to him, all the while studying Thorne's facial expression. It had been slightly over twenty-four hours since he'd come face to face with Thorne and accepted his offer. Not long enough to make any kind of serious progress with his 'investigation', but long enough to have something to give to the crime lord. The man looked placid, almost friendly, sitting behind his oak desk, enforcers standing on either side of him, all with their eyes fixed on him. A lesser man might have trembled under such scrutiny, but not Edward. He was a man who relished an audience. He wet his lip, smirked and cleared his throat. This was the beginning of the greatest performance of his career. "Well, it's a bit premature to name names, but I have come up with a few deductions if you'd care to hear them."

Thorne extended a thick hand. He must have thought he looked magnanimous. "By all means."

Edward placed the glass on Thorne desk, then folded his hands. "Well, to start with, Batman, despite several feats that would suggest otherwise, is a man-"

"No shit," one of Thorne's men snorted. He was silenced by a steely glare from Thorne.

"If I may continue," Edward huffed. "He's a mortal man. He's also a singular man. His fighting style and approach to crimefighting is too consistent for it to be multiple men wearing the same costume. The man we're looking for is also somewhat older-"

"Older?" Candace questioned, standing beside Edward's chair with her arms folded. "I've seen him in action. He seems pretty spry to me."

"Older in the sense he's not a younger man," Edward clarified, resisting the urge to snap at being interrupted again. "Remember, he's been active for a decade, and we have to account for a training period before he donned the cape and cowl. He wasn't born knowing every martial art known to man. I would say that he's in his mid-thirties, forty at the oldest. Any older and his body would begin to break down from the physical stress."

"Well, that only leaves a few million suspects," Thorne said. "I hope you have a way to narrow that down."

"As a matter of fact, I do," Edward replied. "Figuring out Batman's identity is simple, depending on what direction you look at it from." The gangster looked at him dumbly and Edward had to bite back a laugh. And to think, Kristen thought he had to worry about him figuring out he was playing him. He didn't look like he could figure his way out of a wet paper bag. "The real question you need to ask is, how does Batman manage to stay active? Where does the money come from for his gadgets, his car, his plane? His upkeep can't come cheap."

Thorne rubbed his chin in thought. "Slush fund from City Hall and the GCPD?"

Edward chuckled a bit. "While that would explain this city's ridiculous tax rates, no. His tech is a bit too sophisticated to be funded by the city. GCPD clearly doesn't have access to it, or else they'd be using it as well."

Thorne's eyebrows raised. "You suspect he's privately funded. You think one of our rich socialites is moonlighting as a vigilante?"

"That would be ridiculous even for Gotham. I do think though, that he's being funded by them. The most likely scenario is that Batman himself is a current or former member of GCPD or some other law enforcement agency who also happens to be connected to one of the upper-class families in Gotham. Or perhaps he's a bodyguard. The best way to stop him isn't finding out his identity, per se-"

"But to cut off his funds," Thorne finished, a cold smile on his face. "Very clever, Mr. Nigma. So then, how do we figure out who's funding him?"

"Well, clearly, it has to be someone with an overdeveloped civic interest-"

"What about Wayne?" Candace interrupted. "Weren't his parents gunned down in an alley? He'd be pretty interested in wiping out crime."

Edward stiffened in his chair. He needed to get them off this train of thought, fast. "I've personally dealt with the man," he said quickly. "Nice, but a bit dim and no sense of discretion. He wouldn't be able to keep something like this a secret." Candace didn't look entirely convinced but didn't say anything else. "I have contacts in high places," Edward continued. "I can look into this question today, then report back what I find out."

"Good," Thorne said, pushing his chair back and standing up. "I have to say, Mr. Nigma, I'm impressed. In one afternoon, you've come closer to uncovering the truth behind Batman than anyone else in this city has for years."

Edward got out of his chair as well. "Well, I'm flattered, Mr. Thorne." Hardly. All he had done was tell Thorne basic conclusions he'd come to years ago, but the idiot didn't need to know that. "If I may ask," Edward asked. "What do you intend to do with the information I give you?"

Thorne chuckled a bit, then reached over to pat Edward on the shoulder. Edward inwardly bristled at the contact but showed no outward reaction. "Don't concern yourself too much with that Mr. Nigma," he said. "Just focus on your work. Come back here tomorrow afternoon with what you find out." His tone was final.

Edward picked up his cane. Nothing incriminating again and he only had two days left before he would put an end to this game. He needed to earn Thorne's trust and get him to open up. "Of course. Good day, Mr. Thorne."

It was dusk when Edward returned to his apartment, having run errands while he was out in case Thorne had him followed. He hung his hat and cane upon his coat rack before taking off his suit jacket and hanging it up. He loosened his tie and sighed. He'd held Thorne off for now, but he would need to deliver something tangible to him tomorrow to prevent any suspicion. He'd have to give a name. He ran a hand through his hair. Not Veronica or her family. She'd been too good to him. Not anyone who had been a client either. Candace had gotten too close to Bruce for comfort. No matter what, his name couldn't come up again. So then, who? Who was he going to expose to Thorne? He felt a slight breeze waft through his office and he relaxed slightly. "I haven't kept you waiting, have I?"

"No," Batman answered. Edward turned to see the man walk around his desk and up to him. He stopped inches away. "Are you alright?"

Edward nodded. "Thorne isn't any wiser to my game, but I'll need to give him information tomorrow to keep him that way."

"What kind of information?"

Edward rubbed his shoulder. "I...might have said that a socialite is funding Batman's activities to get him away from the idea of unmasking him specifically."

"I see." He wasn't angry, Edward noticed. He seemed matter of fact. "Will you?"

"I don't want to," Edward admitted. "But I don't see any way I can avoid it."

"I thought as much," the vigilante said. For the first time, Edward noticed that he was carrying a manilla envelope. He handed it over to Edward. "This is a fake profile I've put together. There's a picture and some basic biographical information. It should be enough to fool Thorne for the time being."

Edward pulled out the paperwork and looked at the photograph. It was of a square-jawed man with a hideous haircut and familiar blue eyes. He scanned the name and did a double take. "'Coleman Reese'?" Edward asked. "Mr. Reese? Mysteries? Seriously?"

"Thought you might pick up on that."

Edward put the paperwork back in the envelope and chuckled. "Never thought you'd have much of a sense of humor. So," he said looking up. "You just happen to have a fake profile ready to go? You really are prepared for everything."

"I try to be," Batman said. "There are some things though that I couldn't anticipate. Some people I never thought to prepare for."

Edward rubbed the back of his neck. "Was I-" his face flushed. "Am I one of those people?"

Batman was silent for a long moment. He took a step forward and Edward felt his heart begin to hammer in his chest. "Yes," he admitted. He was so close if he leaned down just an inch, he could-"Do you still feel safe around Thorne?"

Edward bit back a curse. "Yes," he said. He shook his head. "Honestly, you're a bit over-protective."

"I think I have a good reason to be."

"May I remind you that I personally dragged you out of a burning building and drove you to medical attention?" Edward placed his hands on his hips and glared up at the Dark Knight. "I can handle myself for two more days."

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Batman's glove on his shoulder. "I know. Hopefully, you'll only need one day."

For such a powerfully built man, he had a gentle touch. Edward craved it more than anything. He wanted to melt into it. Impulsively, he grasped Batman's other hand and leaned his face upwards. "You know," he said. "Once this is over, it would be nice to talk to you about something other than Rupert Thorne."

Batman's facial expression didn't change, at least not that Edward could detect, but he felt the vigilante's hand slowly tighten around his own. "Yes," he said. "It would." Edward's heart leaped up and he closed his eyes almost expectantly. Then he felt Batman's grip loosen. He opened his eyes to see him climbing out the window to the fire escape. "Be safe, Edward," he said without looking back. "I'll be back tomorrow night." Then he disappeared.

Edward stood alone in his office and pouted. He'd been so close. Tomorrow. He'd get Thorne and Batman to open up to him tomorrow or he'd die trying.

Standing in front of the desk, Edward watched Thorne thumb through the contents of the manilla envelope with a mix of impatience and apprehension. It was a masterful forgery, Edward had to admit, but would Thorne see through it? Finally, Thorne put the papers down on his desk and looked up at Edward with a smile. "Well done, Mr. Nigma," he said. "Two days and you've found a potential source of Batman's income?"

Edward shrugged. "One credible suspect at least. Mr. Reese, in his position as CEO of a Tech corporation, has the ability to funnel tech Batman's way. He also donates extensively to law enforcement organizations in Gotham City. I think he's a more than credible lead. I've begun going through his financial records for proof, but it may take a while. I'm also looking into a few other suspects."

"Excellent!" Thorne said with a clap of his hands. "I should have hired you a long time ago. You're certainly less messy than my last hired help was."

Edward's ears pricked up. O'Reilly. Thorne was smart enough not to mention him by name, but that was the only person he could mean. He had him. He had him now. "Well," Edward said. "I do pride myself on my efficiency."

Thorne got out of his chair and extended his hand out. Edward narrowed his eyes, but took the hand and shook it, thankful for his habit of wearing gloves. "How would you like to join me for dinner tonight at the Falcon Club?" Thorne asked.

"I'm flattered, but I do have work I need to take care of," Edward answered.

Thorne shook his head. "Busy man. I like that. Well, don't let me keep you from it. Just come back tomorrow at Three. Depending on what you find out," Thorne smirked as he spoke. "I may decide to offer you a more permanent position in my organization."

I'd sooner have myself committed to Arkham Asylum than have anything to do with you and your organization, Edward thought. He smiled all the same. "I'll consider it. Thank you very much, Mr. Thorne." Edward withdrew his hand and tipped his hat to the man. "Until tomorrow." He turned and walked out the door and down the hall.

It took all that he had to avoid giggling as he made his way to the elevator. He had him. The fat fool actually wanted him to join his organization! Just one more slip, and he'd have Thorne dead to rights. He'd finally bring him down once and for all. When he told Batman tonight, the vigilante would want to kiss him. Well, at least Edward hoped so. He'd be pleased with him regardless. He passed a group of men in the hall walking towards Thorne's office but was too focused on thoughts both vengeful and romantic to pay them much mind.

By that time tomorrow, he would regret not looking at one of the men more closely, for the man had noticed him. Noticed and recognized him.

"Hey, Rupe? A couple of the boys found someone they think you should see."

Thorne sat back down at his desk, reading through the paperwork Nigma had left him. The private detective had exceeded all expectations so far, which left him in a good mood. "Alright. Send them in, Candace."

His office door opened and two of his enforcers came in, half escorting, half dragging a third man between them. Thorne looked up. The man in the middle paled when he met his gaze. He was a tall, well-built man. He looked vaguely familiar. "And you are?"

"This is Tom Dougherty boss," one of his enforcers said. "He used to be one of your guys in GCPD."

Tom Dougherty. Now Thorne remembered. "Ah, Officer Dougherty," he said. "I remember you." He scowled. "I remember you stole from me! Then you ran away for five years!"

Dougherty trembled and might have collapsed if the two men on either side of him didn't have such a firm grip on his shoulders. "Mr. Thorne, I'm sorry, I-"

Thorne banged his fist on the table. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have you fed to the sharks!"

"No, boss!" Dougherty squealed. "I can explain-"

"We're a bit past explanations," Thorne growled. He gestured to his enforcers. "Take him to the docks-"

"No, wait!" Dougherty interrupted, with a desperate look on his face. "That guy who just left your office! The guy in the green suit! He's a cop!"

Thorne paused. "Mr. Nigma? Is that who you're talking about? There's a slight difference between a private detective and a cop, Dougherty. You ought to know that!"

"No, he really is a cop! His name's Nashton. Edward Nashton. I knew him in GCPD. Five years ago, he was a detective in Cybercrime's division!"

A detective? Was Nigma, or Nashton, or whoever he was, really attempting to take him for a ride? Was he really that arrogant, or was Dougherty that desperate? "Used to be? What happened?"

Dougherty had calmed down now, recounting the tale. "I used to date his dumb bitch friend in GCPD. I dumped her, she went crying to him that I beat her and he framed me! He's the reason I had to run, boss!"

Now Thorne knew Dougherty was lying. "He framed you for theft, did he? I suppose he magically made a couple thousand I was supposed to collect disappear, Dougherty? How stupid do you think I am? If he was a detective, why isn't he still in GCPD? Was he dirty?" Thorne could work with a dirty cop. It would explain quite a bit about Nigma, actually.

"No, he wasn't dirty! He hated mobsters! I'm telling you, he's playing you, boss! I can prove he used to be in GCPD!"

Thorne leaned back in his leather chair and considered this. Dougherty was lying about the money, that was obvious. He'd say anything to save his own skin. But if there was the slightest chance Nigma used to be in GCPD, Thorne needed to take care of that. Finally, he snapped his fingers and his enforcers stepped forward. "Walk Officer Dougherty through our GCPD files and see if he can spot Mr. Nigma. You have two hours." The enforcers nodded, then took Dougherty to a side room. Candace walked forward, shaking her head.

"What do you think, Rupe? Is he telling the truth about Nigma?"

"Oh, I'm certain he's lying about many things, but we need to be absolutely sure. It's not Nigma being a former cop that bothers me. Half the guys on my payroll are or used to be cops. It's the fact that if he was one, he's concealing it. He changed his name even. Why?"

Candace shrugged. "If he was as clean as Dougherty says he was, why would he be a private detective? Those guys are sleazy. He probably got turned down for a raise or a promotion and quit. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

Thorne rubbed his chin. "A man can change a lot in five years," he murmured. "But just to be sure...Candace, follow him back to his office and keep an eye on him. Make sure he hasn't been making any visits to GCPD."

#A Riddle for a Bat #three chapters left folks #edward nigma #riddlebat

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recentanimenews · 5 years

Text

7 Grimm We Want to See in RWBY!

In RWBY’s world, Remnant, people mainly exist in four kingdoms. The reason why they haven’t spread out much further is because of the creatures of Grimm, shadowy monsters with bone-like masks that are attracted to humans’ negativity.

Throughout the show’s current six seasons, it's been able to showcase a wide variety of Grimm. Broadly, most fall in to two categories: either inspired by real life animals or mythological creatures. Some of the animal-based Grimm are the Ursa (based on bears), Beowolfs (based on wolves), and Death Stalkers (based on scorpions). Some of the mythological creatures are the sphinx, manticore, wyvern and griffon, although for many of them, the name is not necessarily indicative of their actual abilities.

Some Grimm fall outside of the two main categories, like The Apathy, which functions similarly to a horde of zombies, but with the added twist that they passively drain a person’s strength and will, making them unable to run away, or the Seer, which seems to act like a crystal ball with tentacles.

As the main cast makes its way to the northern continent and the kingdom of Atlas though, the story opens up for entirely new Grimm to appear. Thus, here are a few Grimm that could fit in to the World of Remnant and give team RWBY and the other huntsmen and huntresses something new to fight.

7. More Dragons

This is the first on the list because it's not a specific type of Grimm. Instead, it's more of a genre. Thus far, RWBY has shown two dragons: one at the Fall of Beacon (pictured above), and the other attacked Blake and Sun’s boat when they were going to Menagerie. Despite how rarely they show up, the dragons seem to always be intimidating opponents that work as the main action set piece for an area--more of them, please. There are plenty of dragons from a variety of mythologies that the show could introduce nothing but dragon Grimm for multiple seasons and still not run out of new ideas.

6. Yuki-onna

For a mythological creature more well-adjusted to Atlas’ winter climate, the obvious idea would be a yeti or a similar creature. However, there would likely be a lot of crossover between Beringel, the Grimm based off of gorillas, and a yeti Grimm. A different snow-based mythological creature that could also fill a new role might be a Yuki-onna (Japanese for Snow Woman). Yuki-onna are supposed to have snow-white skin and clothes with pitch-black hair, so the Grimm’s normal coloration can still hold while also providing the first truly humanoid Grimm and the variety of story branches that could result from the Grimm adapting to the humans fighting back.

5. Snow Leopard

One of the more obvious Grimm to include in a colder climate are Grimm-ified versions of animals that exist in the snowier parts of the real world, like the snow leopard. A Grimm snow leopard might also try something we haven't seen before: hunting. Despite humans being out of their element in the wilderness, most of the time a Grimm will just charge up to them and attack. Both a Grimm based on a large cat and the previous Yuki-onna Grimm would open up the possibility of something that hunts the main cast. The snow leopard Grimm would potentially even coordinate with other members of a pack, rather than the pack just standing around like the Beowolfs of the early seasons.

4. Blizzard Gnat

Another niche that no Grimm has tried to fill yet is a stealthy predator. Something fast, small or outright invisible. An example of this might be a swarm of insect Grimm that act somewhat like a plague, doing almost no damage individually, but collectively becoming potentially lethal. Given the Grimms’ designs generally incorporate white plating, a swarm of these Grimm would be almost invisible during a snowstorm. Even better, at least in terms of being able to use the Blizzard Gnat swarm repeatedly: they would be undetectable in calm weather as long as the swarm was resting on snow, meaning that the cast would never truly know if their path was safe unless they started constantly spraying fire wherever they walked.

3. Rage Ant

The Apathy was the first Grimm that directly controlled human emotions in any way, draining people of their stronger emotions and making them feel constantly tired. In higher concentration (a horde of The Apathy instead of an individual), people become unable to move enough to escape, allowing The Apathy to catch up. Combining this kind of emotion manipulation with the Blizzard Gnat’s concept of a stealthy predator and you might create the Rage Ant: a Grimm that intensifies the subject’s emotional state and feeds on their aura. On its own, the Rage Ant wouldn’t be very dangerous, just be wary that people might be angrier than usual for seemingly no reason, but that anger will draw other Grimm to the area. Anyone utilizing the Grimm, like Salem or Cinder, would be able to weaponize the Ant by having it mark any priority targets.

2. Grimmoire

Thus far, all known Grimm are based on animals, and the few exceptions still seeming to be generally animalistic. As a result, this is almost certainly never going to happen in RWBY, but the idea of a Grimm mimicking a book is too fun of an idea to pass up. A Grimmoire would require first for a Grimm to exist that looks like an inanimate object, then for it to somehow make its way in to a library, bookstore or the like, then to make a strategy that eventually someone would pick it up, allowing it to attack. If Salem can make new kinds of Grimm, then this might be possible, but otherwise it will stay as a humorous, punny idea more suited for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

1. Primordial Grimm

Through Salem’s backstory, the audience learned that the pools of darkness the Grimm come from are not just a film of liquid, but actually have depth. As a result, it would make sense that there would be Grimm deeper down that we have yet to see in the show, and that those Grimm would be by far more powerful than a normal Grimm, since they have been submerged in the god of darkness’ power for so long. Perhaps some kind of Lovecraftian elder being, or a horribly-malformed version of humanity from when the god of darkness first tried to replicate his brother’s creation. Depending on what direction the show goes, the pools of darkness themselves might be considered the first Grimm, and an ooze creature the size of an island might turn into the final enemy under Salem’s control.

Those were my seven ideas for Grimm that could pose new challenges or open up new possibilities in RWBY. Do you have any other ideas? Any niches that the current Grimm haven't filled, or just interesting ideas for Grimm in general? Let me know in the comments below!

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Kevin Matyi is a freelance features writer for Crunchyroll. He's been watching anime for as long as he can remember, and his favorite shows tend to be shonen and other action series.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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cryoflyte · 6 years

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WE WERE WARNED

I was going to tweet this but it turns out Twitter only lets you thread up to 25 tweets in a draft. That’s insufficient. So fuck it, I’ll do it here. I’ve been ranting about this since season 1 (back when it looked like just a tiny blip on an otherwise great show, rather than our first warning sign that these people might have no fucking clue what they’re doing), it’s actually managed to get worse since then, I’m not over it, I’m not getting over it.

Gather round, dear Voltron Twitterati (or tumblrati or whatever y’all are called around here). Let Cryo the Salt Phoenix regale you with ALL the reasons why Pidge's gender flip being a plot twist was, and remains, completely fucking stupid.

First, a couple of external biases to acknowledge:

1) I feel Pidge was the worst possible character to gender flip, precisely because it was so obvious. He's spent 30+ years getting "lol DotU Pidge wore a headband and had a squeaky voice, maybe he was a girl!" jokes. Buying into them is a disservice to both the character, and the stated idea that VLD Pidge is supposed to represent people who don't fit a norm. Okay sure, you took the character who got mocked for not sufficiently conforming to his gender, flipped him, then went "look how our Pidge represents not fitting in with the norms!" Nah, guys. Not how it works.

2) ...of course that's if you believe them suddenly saying Pidge is supposed to represent people who don't conform to begin with. All we heard in the beginning was "We wanted to make him a girl! Look, he's a girl! Girl, girl, girl! No, not trans, not nonbinary, GIRL! Look how smart we are for making him a girl!" That and how Lauren didn't like DotU Pidge, so she decided she needed to make him more appealing. To her. Which...

3) Pidge has, in all prior canons (possibly excluding DDP? Was it ever fully explained there?), been an alien. In VF (which supposedly Lauren did watch but didn't like him any better in) he was explicitly an alien ninja. So, you know, forgive me for being a little bitter that we got "the only way to make Pidge appealing is make him a girl. Now here, have five seasons of Keith the alien ninja!"

4) My complaint is not really against the concept of gender flipping Pidge. Had they done it upfront as they did the changes to Sven and Allura, I'd have been somewhat irked for the aforementioned reasons, but hey, new reboot, new rules. My complaint is about them lying to our faces for three months (up to and including Bex bluntly saying "Pidge is a boy" in an interview) in service of perhaps the most pointless plot twist in franchise history.

And that brings me to our feature presentation. Get the popcorn, y'all, I've got the salt.

Someone name for me a single solitary moment, watching the first three episodes, where there was even a hint that Pidge was wrestling with his (gonna use male pronouns until the reveal) identity. No, not "oh hey if you go back with knowledge of the twist this was foreshadowing it!" A point where prior to knowing about the twist you went "huh, what is Pidge not telling the rest of the team?" and it was NOT answered by him revealing that Commander Holt was his father. Seriously—please point one out to me. Pidge's premise is very consistent in the first three (and a bit beyond, but I'll get to that) episodes: he has his own reasons and priorities for being there, he'll do the bare minimum of teamwork necessary to achieve his own mission, and he's not there to make friends. Everything he does is consistent with this read. Nothing is pointing to further complexity, him hiding something totally unrelated. There's the picture, but it's at best confusing: I just figured it was his brother with HIS girlfriend, to be honest. Were we really intended to interpret a sad look at an ambiguous photograph as "Pidge is hiding another completely different big secret related to that picture!" rather than "Pidge is sad about his family, like he keeps saying"?

It would have been simplicity itself to add actual hints. Instead of Hunk just presenting "look, it's his girlfriend!" as fact when he finds the picture, "who's the girl? She's cute!" and have Pidge get defensive over that. When they're putting on their armor, maybe skip Hunk making the first of 500 throwaway fat jokes in favor of Pidge looking uncomfortable at the thought of, you know... changing in front of the others? Have him duck behind the armor case? Do something. Do ANYTHING.

Even after the internal reveal in episode 3, we get nothing. Allura specifically drills her about "hey, do you have a big personal secret?" and she doesn't look the slightest bit worried or defensive, she just looks confused. Pidge is not that good an actress, we know that from Lance having to save her butt back at the Garrison. Also from seven seasons of watching her complete inability to keep her emotions in check, ever.

Pidge's internal struggle is never once presented as being about her gender, or about how the team thinks of her. It's about whether she's going to put aside her own personal priorities for the sake of the team. This is the struggle that's been built up. This is the struggle that she's invoked and settled in the climactic moment with Haxus: "I'm not a child. I'm a paladin of Voltron!" Haxus could just as easily have called her a "little girl" if we were supposed to be reading any sort of gender conflict into this.

(Of course as it is Haxus didn't know she was a girl—more on that later—but that's purely arbitrary. A show that wanted to sell Pidge having a gender conflict would have made Haxus realize she was a girl, especially given Coran's "we were supposed to think you were a boy?" in the next episode. You can’t just pretend it’s so obvious then have nobody else notice it ever.)

Now, I of course acknowledge not every worthy plot twist has to be able to be guessed by the audience prior to the reveal. But it doesn't work here. Because here's the reveal: Pidge is all "I was afraid you'd think differently of me" and the whole team is all "of course not!" and that's that.

Wait, she was WHAT now?

We have not seen Pidge struggling with this. At ALL. There is zero emotional weight to this scene because there were absolutely no stakes shown. You cannot have her say "I've been worried you'd think of me differently" when you haven't fucking shown her worrying that they'd think of her differently. This is writing 101, guys. And then Shiro is all "owning who you are is going to make you a better Paladin"—WHEN HASN'T SHE? Literally the thing she's been shown struggling to accept is THAT SHE'S A PALADIN! Not that she's a girl!

This reveal is bad. It's so, so bad. The only way I could make sense of it after first watching it was assuming they'd wanted to make her trans and chickened out at the last second. Nothing said in this scene seems to be part of the same show we've been watching for the past five episodes. It's not clever or interesting, it's just bizarre.

But now let's take a step back. Because in order to set up this terrible, pointless, non-event of a plot twist, we have also done great violence to certain characters. We have turned Pidge and basically all of Galaxy Garrison into morons.

Is Pidge not supposed to be a genius? What exactly was her thought process here? The whole wide world of possible disguises was open to her, and she went "I know! I'll pretend to be a boy, and I'll make myself look identical to my brother, the famously MIA space explorer. Nobody will catch on." Really, Katie? You couldn't buy some hair dye, maybe a spray tan?

And then nobody fucking does catch on. The Kerberos mission is so well-known it's being used as an object lesson for cadets, Pidge flips out every time the mission is brought up, and not one person thinks "hey, this kid who looks exactly like Matt Holt totally freaks out whenever the mission Matt Holt disappeared on is mentioned." This does not hold up if you think about it for more than two seconds.

Why does she even need to look like Matt for meta purposes? Oh right, because of the picture that was attempting to carry the entire load of this twist. Great. That's totally worth the blatant insult to everyone’s intelligence, not to mention the affront to common sense.

On that note, one specific point of the disguise: why does Pidge wear glasses? We know she doesn't need them. She takes them off to wear her helmet, Katie never wore them. And sure, they make her look less like Katie Holt... but they make her look more like Matt Holt. This was fairly weird even in season 1. It only gets weirder when we finally meet up with Matt.

Oh hey, guys. She's not just wearing a pair of fake glasses that make her look more like her famously MIA brother. She's wearing his literal glasses. Which, incidentally, we know are functional prescription glasses because he says he doesn't need them anymore because the Garrison fixed his eyes.

How many people did this go through without anyone pointing out that wearing glasses you don't need actively fucks with your vision?

Yes, I know this is a show about alien space cats that I'm holding to standards of opthalmological realism. But most television manages to understand how glasses work. And again, it's just pointless. Why not just have Katie wear glasses to begin with? Oh right, because we need the guy in the picture to wear glasses and the girl not to because SMART PEOPLE DOING A PLOT TWIST, DERP!

It didn't work, guys. It didn't work at all. You know how people figured it out early? Because you gave her a female VA and we've had thirty years of "lol Pidge looks like a girl" so hey look, the picture confirms the meta theory that people were pitching even before we saw the character designs. Doesn't add even a shred of impact to the reveal. The only way to add impact to the reveal was if she’d actually been worrying that the others wouldn’t accept her being a girl. But no.

And after all this dumb, what exactly is there to show for it? Well... nothing. Nobody else in the show knows she's a girl. Aliens consistently refer to her as male. The team has used female pronouns for her what, once in seven seasons? Miss the right four episodes and even a viewer wouldn't have a clue.

Don't get me wrong, I respect the stated rationale that gender shouldn't matter. Know how else they could've shown that? JUST MAKING HER A GIRL IN THE FIRST PLACE. I mean, if they're going to crow about how brilliant they are for "plot twist, she's a girl!" maybe people should at least be able to tell she's a girl after said twist. Or hey, even better, they could make her trans, or genderfluid, or non-binary, put in some rep that would actually be brave and interesting. But no, instead we get "she's totally a cis girl, but it doesn't matter and nobody can tell because she's there to represent people who don't fit neatly into a box!" That's pretty much the worst of all options, guys. Good job.

And then everyone went “OMG yes! You made Pidge a girl! Yay rep, you’re so smart!” without the slightest shred of critical thought on how it was handled, while a tiny handful of us hoped it was just a fluke, the product of a showrunner pet project that didn’t signify anything for the rest of the series.

Then we got Keith’s Galra reveal, which somehow managed to be even worse.

Then we got season 4 making the bulk of season 3 immediately irrelevant.

Then we got two years on a space whale.

Then we got season 7, where everything is garbage.

Every season has just been more and more ridiculous plot twists in place of character or consistency. It turns out nope, if we wanted to see where this show was going, the horrible Pidge twist was the ONLY part of season 1 we should’ve looked at. Let the salt flow freely.

Okay, I think that's it. Thank you for coming to my TED talk?

#voltron salt #voltron legendary defender #voltronlegendarydefender #voltron #vld pidge #we were warned #pidge was a way better alien ninja #hey lauren your plot twists suck #this would've been the best tweetstorm

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downinmybeastheart · 4 years

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Candle Cove Headcanons: Episodes, Disturbing Moments, and Other Details

Some more about the show itself!

Plot and Setting

Due to a lack of budget and the fact the audience is young kids, there isn’t much of a complex background to this show. Still, there’s a good deal of detail.

Candle Cove itself refers to, well, a cove, but also the neighboring coastal town. The cove gets its name from a myth about its past.

Horrific beasts once plagued the waters, and at night they would crawl up onto the beach and wreak havoc on land. At this point there wasn’t much of a town yet, more of a humble little settlement, so the creatures caused a good deal of damage. One night, a girl was awoken by a strange noise in her house, and when she went to find the source, it turned out one of the smaller creatures had gotten into her house! However, the candle she held scared it off. She chased it out, and in the morning she told others what had happened.

The people were skeptical, but they needed the monsters to go away, so that night everyone lit candles. They put them in the windowsills, right on their doorsteps, some even stuck theirs in the sand of the beach. Sure enough, the monsters did not come.

While it is treated more like a fairy tale now, the town still has a tradition of lighting candles during certain holidays and tough times. The cove itself also has a few big candles that burn during the night, to act as a lighthouse of sorts and to ward of the “monsters”, whether real or not.

As for the plot: the first episode has Janice arrive in Candle Cove. From here, she meets Percy, the Laughingstock, and Horace (Skin-Taker is introduced after a few episodes). From there on out, the episodes usually have a very similar format: Percy and Janice are looking for treasure/exploring/helping out/etc, a one-shot character for that episode asks for help or otherwise interferes with something, Horace gets involved, and Janice and Percy save the day after some antics. Overall that’s the plot, but the episodes are fairly good at mixing up the concept and keeping it interesting.

The show’s plot also seems linear, with previous characters showing up and changes remaining permanent like half the time.

Some Notable Episodes

(Names are TBA, suggestions welcome!)

Janice and Percy meet a mermaid with a beautiful singing voice. Horace also finds out about her and tries to kidnap her. Not only must the two heroes save her, but they must find a keepsake she lost.

While out exploring, Percy is pricked by an incredibly poisonous’s plants thorn. He falls ill, and Janice finds out there is only one person who can help them now... the Skin-Taker. This episode takes place mid-series.

The Laughingstock is injured during a storm, and the group find themselves stranded on a tropical island. Here, the meet a pirate who was missing for years. Now, he has dubbed himself the Banana King, and rules over a kingdom of small banana-loving humanoids. Percy and Janice get him to help, and antics ensue. This is an early episode, and the Banana King shows up a few other times.

Another later episode involves a volcano on the Banana King’s island about to erupt, and a sacrifice must be made!! Human? No, bananas! A race to save the island begins as Janice, Percy, the Banana King, and the civilians pull a cart full of bananas to the top of the volcano. Things go awry when the Skin-Taker and Horace show up with plans to disrupt the procedure.

Janice gets a new pet!... a weak baby bird(?) she found washed ashore. Percy thinks of what to do while Janice tries bonding with her new “friend”.

Janice sneaks into the Skin-Taker’s base to find something, and learns more about her adversary along the way.

Poppy, a semi-famous pirate, visits Candle Cove! He brags to Janice and the townsfolk about all his adventures, all while teasing Percy for his wimpiness. He even claims to have defeated the Skin-Taker, even being the reason why he’s only bones! However, this and many of his other tales are lies, and when word gets around to Skin-Taker, well... things go south.

Disturbing episodes and moments

Overall, the show feels rather...off. Whether it’s intentional or due to the poor budget, the show has a lonely and foreboding atmosphere. The show’s sets and soundtrack were minimalistic and empty. The cheap puppets and props didn’t help, especially because some like Pirate Percy and the Skin-Taker definitely fall into the uncanny valley. Many plot lines were also morbid.

While some episodes were fine besides the aforementioned weirdness, the others are all disturbing. Some have dark plots, others have frightening imagery, and some are just surreal and baffling. Some are also rather sad.

To be more specific

In one of the above episodes, where Janice takes in a somewhat mangled baby bird, the puppet for said bird is rather creepy. It’s rubbery with fades colors, and made with a bit too much effort. The gimmick for that episode was, Janice would do something with the bird, and whenever she introduced it to someone or talked to it, it would cut to a shot zoomed in on the bird lying motionless, all music suddenly silent. Then, she would go about like it answered her or whatever. Perhaps it was meant to be funny, but it’s rather jarring and the bird is hard to look at.

Also, the episode in which Percy is poisoned is distressing because of Janice’s horrified and incredibly genuine reaction to her friend’s condition. Near the end, when it seems Percy has died, she is sobbing very hard, and continues to cry when he is saved, hugging the pirate tightly. This is upsetting to both kids and people who wouldn’t expect such an extreme reaction. Even the Skin-Taker of all people becomes serious and solemn, as if his actor/puppeteer was at a loss for words himself.

The Skin-Taker and the episodes with him are all rather frightening. He is very clearly dangerous and malevolent, and has caused tragedy and peril onscreen. He’s even killed some characters, and can be very cruel to both Horace and the protagonists.

For an occasional gag, many of the characters will react wildly to a bad or shocking thing, with the camera zooming in on them as they shout and gesture in a very exaggerated way. This is probably supposed to be comical, but it’s just awkward and out of place. After Skin-Taker’s infamous “to grind your skin” line, the camera cuts to Janice’s reaction, a rather silly wide eyed scream as she runs to hide behind Percy in an obviously acted out manner. Once again, not all that disturbing but it can be seen as uncomfortable.

Janice’s actress sometimes appears uncomfortable or even upset for a moment, even when it’s not prompted. Some of her reactions to the perilous situations are acted out while other times she is genuinely panicked. Probably expected from a low budget show with a child actress, but jarring nonetheless. One would think they’d have another take, unless the budget or time was really that nonexistent.

Throughout the series, especially in the later episodes, Horace’s change in personality is certainly one of the more morbid aspects of the series. Initially introduced as a fairly intimidating pirate, the Skin-Taker’s introduction makes Horace out to be not that bad in comparison. While already somewhat comically before, from there on he’s seen as a fairly comical villain. However, as the Skin-Taker appears more and more, Horace finds himself in more high stakes. His character becomes somewhat more evil even as he is treated less seriously than the Skin-Taker. Despite the writers trying to portray Horace in a humorous way, his reactions to failure become more angry every time, and he becomes more neurotic.

This reaches a turning point in the volcano episode, where his mustache is singed off. He freezes up and faints, only showing up right at the end of the episode, appearing to have given up for good. The last shot of the episode is a rather restless and defeated Horace storming off into the night. He does not show up for an episode or two, and the episodes he does appear in from there are at least one of the three final episodes.

The first episode after this doesn’t acknowledge what happened, but the episode after that has everyone notice he has been gone longer than usual. The episode has a very foreboding tone, and while the three final episodes cannot be found, a handful viewers remember something bad happened to Horace.

Reception, Reputation, and other notes

Candle Cove’s existence is very obscure, but those who’ve watched it or heard of it have a good deal of interest in it.

Its viewers agree the show was odd and creepy, but while some dislike it or were scared of it, others still manage to look back on it fondly.

Both old and new “fans” often try to find any information about the show, and go about uncovering what little of it was saved.

There are many theories about the show, especially the “Screaming” episode, and the three-part finale, as well as the nature of the show.

After one forum user’s mother recalled that the show was just static, different reasons as to why surfaced. Some are more plausible than others.

There’s a handful of people who haven’t seen the show, but have taken an interest in its concept and started their own little fandom.

As for the Screaming Episode, not much is known about it, but those who saw it and/or the final three episodes seem to agree that unless it is the true finale, it didn’t really fit into the plot anywhere. It just aired and was never brought up again. There are many theories, but nothing can be confirmed or debunked.

#kidnapping mention tw #candle cove creepypasta #candle cove headcanons #candle cove #headcanons #horace horrible #janice candle cove #janice #pirate percy #pirate percy candle cove #skin taker #the skin taker #creepypasta #kris straub #long post cw #long post

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