#before i used to watch cartoons that featured music and dancing
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A-T-4 042 Art Of Versions
The Art of Noise follow the Into Battle EP with Beat Box. As you've probably guessed from previous ZTT and AON posts releasing many different edits and versions was their m.o. The image (I got at least) was the technology (most noticeably the Fairlight) and time in the studio gave you the ability to churn out endless variations (AON released at least 11 'diversions' of Beat Box). It was great advertising for Trevor Horn as he and his partner owned one of the most sophisticated recording studios on the planet at the time. It's easy to see similarities with Jamaican producers and studios that in the previous decade created dubs and versions, although the closest AON got to producing a riddim would be Moments In Love which has been covered, remixed, and sampled a lot a lot. We have had pop music factory production lines before and I suppose this is where Trevor Horn crosses over with his contemporary Pete Waterman, according to Phil Harding "Waterman watched Trevor Horn so closely that he would strike a deal with equipment suppliers to furnish him with whatever state-of-the-art gadgetry Horn had." Before his hit factory had been established Waterman produced a Relax sound alike track, complete with a look alike sleeve, in 1984 called The Upstroke by Agents Aren't Aeroplanes. Nowadays trap music can be made quickly for very little money and production is more automated and streamlined than it ever has been
Beat Box was the first track AON worked on and it came from JJ Jeczalik messing around with recordings of Yes drummer, Alan White's drums with a Linn drum machine, a Fairlight CMI Series II and Page R (music sequencing software) while Horn was working on the Yes album 90125 (the similarities between the Red + Blue Mix of Owner Of A Lonely Heart and Beat Box are unmistakable). "So JJ was screwing around in the back room and I remember him playing me that 'Beat Box' drum loop and I said 'Jees, that's fantastic, they'll love that in New York.'"
...And they did, Beat Box did very well on the Billboard dance and black music charts in America, reaching number 1 and 10 respectively. Writer Simon Reynold's has written Beat Box was popular with breakdancers in the US, I believe it's still popular with poppin and lockin dads (and granddads)
In June 1984 AON released their debut album Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? the title a pun on the 1962 play and later film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which is itself a pun on the song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? from the 1933 Walt Disney cartoon The Three Little Pigs... would we call this a meme?
On the album is Close (To The Edit) which would be released as a single in October 1984. There were five different 12" versions of Close (To The Edit) released, including a picture disk. As far as I can tell AON put out six different versions of the track at the time, including the LP version (that's if I ignore the cassette single). To make matters more confusing Close (To The Edit) evolved out of the afore mentioned Beat Box. Beat Box Diversion Two is a version of Close (To The Edit) and vice versa, as are Diversion Seven and Diversion Eight. Close (To The Edit) was named after the Yes album Close To The Edge and they had fun with the names of the various versions of Close (To The Edit) that they put out, Close-Up, Closer, Closest, Closely Closely (Enough's Enough), Closed
Close (To The Edit) features Anne Dudley playing a very familiar sounding walking bass on piano, if we ignore the car ignition sounds they also use a sample of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by The Andrews Sisters. I wondering if this comes from the Duck Rock sessions the then unnamed AON did with Malcom McLaren? I'm thinking Buffalo Gals is taken from a song reference in It's A Wonderful Life, that film was made in 1946 when boogie woogie was the sound. It's either that or they love boogie woogie and swing. AON do love film genre recordings Peter Gunn, Dragnet, James Bond, Robinson Crusoe...
There's another diversion on the Close (To The Edit) singles, a track called A Time To Hear (Who's Listening). Of course there's a few versions, Who's Listening goes into Beat Box and then Close (To The Edit), as does the version called A Time To Clear (It Up) ("all together now") - there's very little difference between these tracks, then there's A Time To Hear (We're Listening) which is the first minute and a half of A Time To Hear (Who's Listening) - the variations of names is more fun the tracks themselves when there's very little to tell them apart... unless the lesson is to accept being resold more of the same stuff in a slightly different package and disappointment
Oh and all these records have come out and Marley Marl still hasn't sampled a drum beat
Art Of Noise - Beat Box Live on the Tube in 1984
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Art Of Noise - A Time To Hear (We're Listening)
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Art Of Noise - Closely Closely, Enough's Enough
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12 versions of Beat Box personally I can see more appearing in time, that's what RSD is for
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Richard Elfman’s ‘Forbidden Zone’...
An Unknown, Absurdist, Avant-Garde Cult-Classic.
23.12.23
Overview
Forbidden Zone is what I, and many others, would consider a true hidden gem. Born from the underground alternative film scene of late 70s LA, the viewer is taken on a visual rollercoaster through the un-methodological madness of creator, director and producer Richard Elfman's mind, creating an experience unlike any other.
I highly recommend that you, if you haven't already, watch this movie. And you do it in a way that would support the people behind it. This is especially important to do for Forbidden Zone and films like it, for reasons I'll get into later… I'm aware that in the current and extremely annoying space of streaming it's tempting to delve into piracy but I'd advise against it. trust me it's worth it.
The Film Itself
The movie follows a french girl named ‘Frenchy’ (played by Marie-Pascale Elfman, the director's wife at the time) falling through a door in her basement into the sixth dimension. A place that is, for a lack of a better term, very horny. The hedonistic landscape consumes her and through a series of musical numbers she finds love and evil is conquered.
(Susan Tyrrell as Queen Doris)
This ‘evil’ is the scene stealing (reason I'm gay) Queen Doris, portrayed by the incredible Susan Tyrrell. Susan's performance is, in my opinion, the reason this film has had such an impact on me. Forbidden Zone is the reason I started taking film making seriously, not just as a hobby but as a career, and Queen Doris is the reason I love this movie. Her main musical number ‘witches egg’ is a charming and memorable scene (and I'm still upset it got taken off Spotify.) Her eye-catching appearance embodies the word camp. She's truly an incredible actress playing a delightful character that is a joy to see on the screen. I could turn this whole essay into a fan-girl spiel just about her, I adore her.
It would be impossible to brush over Hervé Villechaize’s Character, King Fausto. Although Fausto doesn't sing or dance, he does do something no other character does… he's the most annoying not-an-antagonist the entire realm has to offer. I mean, maybe I feel this way cuz I've got a massive crush on Doris and he doesn't realize how lucky he is- actually it is that. it's totally that. THE CHEATING SCUM!!!
(Danny Elfman as Satan with the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo)
Something I've mentioned already is the music. Forbidden Zone features music written and performed by the Mystic Knight of the Oingo Boingo, more specifically it's leader Danny Elfman, the directors brother, and his right hand man Steve Bartek. The Knights also have an appearance in the film, Danny plays a Cab Calloway style interpretation of Satan while Steve and the other Knights dance behind him, dressed in long black cloaks and painted head to toe in gray makeup. And yes I see you, reader at the back scratching his head, it's that Danny Elfman.
Frenchy herself is another joy to watch, her sweet voice and ditsy personality are just another layer of charm for the viewer to lap up. Along with playing the lead, Marie was also the production designer. The film had a low budget (less than $90,000) and she did an exceptional job using what she had to create the stylised world of the sixth dimension. The overall visual look of the film is that of a live-action cartoon. Along with animated segments by John Muto which tie a lovely bow over the whole thing.
Production
It's no surprise that a film with such a low budget and small cast and crew would go through a lot before release. Richard Elfman himself recalls losing his house often in interviews, along with the finished film entirely. After several decades it was rightfully returned to him. Most of the cast and crew were paid very little or nothing at all, surprisingly I found a video of DEVO’s Gerald Casale saying he and his bandmates originally approached to do the film's music, but they refused after finding out how little money was in it.
Along with the film's actual composer, Danny and his band with Marie being actors, writer Mathew Bright and other crew members played characters on screen, even Richard has a small scene. This leads me to say how the film has a passion running through it. Unlike many other movies we see more and more of, Forbidden Zone was truly a creative adventure for all involved with no intention of making the most money possible.
Richard, in 2019 said: "Doing anything original is taking a chance. Financially it bankrupted me and we lost our house. But I'm still glad I did it.
Conclusion
Forbidden Zone is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I've seen a lot of movies. Once again, I recommend taking a look for yourself and supporting the artists behind it.
Interviews referenced/sources used:
Richard Elfman talking about the film in 2019:
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rolling stone:
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Reflection
This project was fun to make. I decided to do something within a subject I like (kpop). There has been a large rise of ai idols which are idols who aren’t real and are animated. Even since I started this project even more groups have debuted and they all have different styles. some stick to a more game like 3D style and there are some that are more anime/cartoon drawn style. Most of them use body tracking to be able to track their dance moves before compositing them onto stage. Some groups are fully ai where others may have some humans and some ai idols.
here are some links to these ai idols:
MAVE - Pandora : https://youtu.be/IDFQdA2uroM
This is their performance stage where you can see they have been composited onto the stage.
PLAVE - Wait for you : https://youtu.be/T_gJpnjJsnk
This is also a performance stage, you can see how they have a much more stylised look compared to MAVE
Superkind - Moody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uz1MkI6YW0
This is their music video. They have composited it so well that some of the human idols look fake so that they blend in with the AI idol more. You can also see scenes where the humans interact with the AI.
I had some troubles with the pre-production process. Coming up with ideas was hard, my initial idea I had put a lot of thought into how each scene would look and the assets I would use. This got shut down at the crits so I had to come up with a more original idea and scrap my last idea. This caused me to lose some time as I had to quickly catch up before I would fall behind. I settled on doing the dance studio idea. I then had to find a location for this. luckily the gym I go to had a room in the back with a mirror with looked like a dance studio. Here are some photos of me using the cannon camera to capture footage.
After that I went onto maya and started making the idol. Modelling the character was easy as I had quite a lot of experience with modelling things due to our past coursework modules and projects. However, rigging the character I found great difficulty in. I hadn’t rigged a character to this depth before and so I struggled. some body parts weren’t moving the way I intended them to move and the joint orientation confused me. Perhaps my model was modelled with their limbs too close so things got attached to the wrong joints/ controllers. This is all things I can improve on for next time. Animating wasn’t too difficult either.
Lastly post production. This was the longest part as my computer was unable to keep up with rotoscoping. I used after effects to use the rotoscope tool to cut out the backgrounds of my animation. I also used it on the pillars in the video footage. I also used after effects to use tracking in the 3rd scene. Unfortunately the footage I filmed didn’t track too well especially at the end as I had shook the camera a bit too much during filming. On top of that there wasn't much to use as contrast as I was filming a white wall. I also used after effects to add the facial features in the final scene. instead of tracking the scene this time I tried to track the animation and it seemed to work alright. I then complied all the videos into premier pro where I added effects and music.
Overall it was a fun project and I learnt a lot about compositing and how much work goes into post production.
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Weblog 8: Photo essay
In this photo, you can see me when I was approximately eight months old. My parents took the photo when we were in a park in Malaysia, where I was born. I do not recall all the events that happened that day because I was too young. My family used to do many activities with me when I was a child, and this one has a special place in my heart because it was one of the first photos of me walking outside the house. This photo reminds me that contrary to other babies I walked without crawling. There was only one television at home. I wanted to view my favourite cartoon and my father was watching a soccer match. I was angry, so I walked to take the remote control from my father’s hands. That is how I walked for the first time. This photo exists because, in my family, it was and still is a tradition to keep souvenir pictures of special moments like birthdays, Christmas, etc. In the picture, I was happy because back then, I was carefree. Now grown, this photo makes me realize that I was not always an insecure person in life like I usually think. When people are asked to choose between intelligence and beauty, their answer is usually intelligence. I choose beauty. The more you grow, the more you acquire knowledge about the real problems of our world; you become more intelligent. This photo makes me realize that I overlook the moments of my childhood when the most important thing I was worried about was what I intended to eat. Naively, I had only seen the beautiful things of life.
I went to Michel Chartrand Park to disconnect myself from my phones and human life and connect with nature. The wind blew the trees that had lost their leaves because of winter. In the park, there are different sorts of trees like maple and conifer. The white snow had fallen the night before it was forming a mountain on the floor making it hard for the deer to displace itself. The deer seemed to be in his element and, it was not scared to come closer to me (even though I was scared). Unfortunately, I did not manage to get out five examples of natural environments that day however, a few days later, there was a beautiful colour gradient that played between pinkish and greenish.
Beyoncé's album is titled 'RENAISSANCE', and she pays homage to the era by referencing the historic painting of Lady Godiva. John Collier's 19th century painting features Godiva, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, who is mainly remembered for riding naked, covered only by her long hair, through the streets of Coventry.Beyoncé conceived and recorded Renaissance during the pandemic, seeking to inspire joy and escapism in listeners who had experienced isolation and to celebrate a club era in which marginalized people sought liberation through dance music. The album blends post-70’s black dance music styles such as disco and house and pays homage to the Black and queer pioneers of those genres. The album's lyrical content explores themes of escapism, pleasure, self-assurance and self-expression. I listened a lot to the album after its release and I still do listen to it a lot.
Most of my life, I grew up in Cameroon, in Africa. I remember that every Monday, before going to class, every student had the obligation to arrive early then usual to sing the national anthem. Students had to align themselves like in the photo and the teacher were in front of the student and horizontally aligned behind the flag pole, observing the students. Those who arrived late had to face serious consequences. At the end, one student will be responsible to lifting the flag up in the sky in front of the school. No one wanted to be the one to lift the flag and the teachers always chose the students who they suspected to lip-sync to lift it.
Mango is my favourite fruit of all times. I love eating mangoes because they are sweet and pulpy. My favourite part about eating mangoes is when we eat it with our hands and even though it becomes a mess, it is always worth it. Moreover, the memories I have with this fruit makes it even more special. During my summer break, we visit my village along with the whole family. Thus, during the hot summer afternoons, my family sits beneath the tree together. We take out mangoes from a bucket of cold water and sit down to savour them. Looking back at how much fun we used to have makes me extremely happy. Thus, I always get nostalgic when eating mangoes.
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something about me is that i LOVE classical music <3
#before i used to watch cartoons that featured music and dancing#aka angelina ballerina and little einsteins#and i always loved the music :D#it really helped rn because now i do ballet#and i'm familiar with more classical songs <3
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why blippi is rotting yr children's brains
preface: i literally expect no one to read this. it is an essay length, strong opinion piece critiquing a niche youtube-based children's show that i don't expect most of y'all to even have knowledge of lol. but like, i promise that even if you know nothing about what i'm talking about, in my incredibly, super humble opinion, it's a good piece of writing and interesting nonetheless. anyway if you read this whole thing for some reason yr really hot and we should kiss.
i thoroughly vet everything my child watches before he watches it, episode by episode. and we rarely watch youtube for entertainment; we usually just look up educational videos when he has a question about something and wants more detail than i can provide him. and that's mainly because children's content on youtube is so fucking troubling and distressing. i don't judge parents who give their children a tablet at a restaurant at all bc i've been there and sometimes it's easier on everyone to just put on a video and avoid a giant scene, but i do judge parents who just leave their children alone with youtube kids on autoplay.
take stevin john, a literal millionaire who got famous from dressing up as a silly character called blippi and going on tours of places like aquariums, zoos, construction sites, etc and posting it on youtube. this has branched into a whole empire of blippi videos, hulu shows and specials, live shows and tours (that he outsources to another character actor), merchandise and so on. this 30-something year old man cites his main influence as being mr. rogers, but i question if he's ever even seen an episode of that program.
mr. rogers had no background in early childhood development or media production, but he revolutionized the world of children's media, because he respected his audience and didn't shy away from real world situations, all while creating a show with an enormous heart. mr. rogers begins his episodes by inviting the viewer in, literally changing his attire to be more comfortable, and talking about/doing things he genuinely cares about. whereas mr. rogers calmly and maturely addresses the viewer, blippi puts on a high pitched, contrived voice, interjecting every other sentence with a forced exclamation such as, "teehee! we're having so much fun!"
i don't find it a coincidence that john (blippi) is a veteran, either. his videos are completely devoid of the absurd, abstract, childlike thinking that makes children's media fun, creative, and entertaining. his thinking and process is methodical, devoid of emotion, and very superficial. this line of thinking clearly shows the kind of creative sterilization and emphasis on sameness and conformity instilled in the military. blippi simply observes things and interacts with them in a stale, matter-of-fact way. "this ball is purple! this ball is pink! anyway... what's over there? teehee! a car! vroom, vroom!" objects are colors, toy cars don't do anything but drive, curiosity is simply not encouraged.
he uses the "it's educational!" excuse to hide the fact that his show lacks everything that makes media a valuable resource for children to consume in the first place. further than identifying colors, numbers, and the occasional letter or shape, there is just this total lack of children's need for social and emotional development. when mr. rogers breaks the fourth wall to address the viewer and let them know they're special, it feels authentic and natural, because we've spent the last half hour building whole worlds with diverse characters and unique stories in a pretend neighborhood, learning about and enjoying different musical instruments, being exposed to and making friends with (even if parasocially, it is still a real bond to children when done properly) children who are similar to us in character regardless of physical or environmental differences, feeding the fish, making art together, and so on. when blippi tells the viewer, "you are very special, and i enjoy spending time with you!" it falls completely flat and feels unearned, because the last half hour was spent running around a soft play center pointing at bright, colorful objects, visiting interesting locations like farms or fruit production factories while failing to acknowledge the humanity of the humans actually working there (everything is machine or product focused; the human workers are simply an extension of the machine), learning "fun facts" about elephants that just list attributes of elephants, not taking the opportunity to inform the viewers of elephants' intelligence, or diet, or matriarchal society. it is a loud, sensory overwhelming display of a man so disconnected from the social and emotional needs and desires of children that he assumes they're stupid, easily entertained idiots who only need some silly dances and fast-moving cartoon graphics to give their attention (meaning time and desire to purchase products meaning $$$). john clearly views his audience as a means to gaming the algorithm and ultimately a paycheck by the hollow way he addresses them.
the show is so narcissistic, so focused on all the fun blippi is supposedly having, but he lacks any of the character traits that make individual children's show hosts memorable, so much so that he was able to have someone else who doesn't even vaguely resemble him dress as blippi and impersonate him and host the show or appear at live shows, and it went unnoticed by most of his toddler and child audience. the show is so formulaic and the character of blippi is so unmemorable that instead of taking the blue's clues route of developing a story of the host leaving for college and his brother now stepping in, or making some sort of believable excuse for the change in actors, they can simply swap him out with some random guy and not acknowledge it at all. although a comedy show for older children, the amanda show in no way could or would try to replicate the show with the same name but swapping out amanda bynes with a random teenage girl who is clearly not amanda bynes. it's weird and nonsensical and shows that his character is so much of a farce put on for a paycheck that not even his dedicated audience is affected or even cares when he is replaced by a random, unknown person.
this is completely garbage content made by an opportunist with no experience with children who saw his nephew watching children's youtube content, took it at complete surface level and still hasn't realized that while children's content only looks and feels so easy, entertaining, and enriching because it is so hard to do well. even with outsourcing his music, that aspect of the show still sucks. famous and successful children's musician, raffi, is known for his song describing the life of a little white whale, called "baby beluga." it opens with a calm strumming of his guitar, followed by the lyrics, "baby beluga in the deep blue sea/swim so wild and you swim so free/heaven above/sea below/and a little white whale on the go." is it silly and kind of pointless? yes, but the point is that he is captivating children and showing them the fun of listening to music, dancing, singing, and appreciating art. the "excavator song" featured in an episode of blippi about construction vehicles opens with what sounds like a default garageband loop and the flatly sung lyrics, "i'm an excavator/i'm an excavator/hey dirt, see you later/i'm an excavator." i don't feel i have to meticulously analyze the aforementioned lyrics; the stark contrast should speak for itself.
i have a million more criticisms about both blippi specifically and youtube children's content as a whole, but this is already so long and i doubt many people will get this far anyway. it's an issue i was completely apathetic towards until i had my own child and had to wean him off these kinds of junk food shows because i realized the fast-paced visuals and bright colors and repetitive songs/lyrics were putting him in this spaced-out, fugue state, and he thought he could demand this show or that show whenever he wanted. the moment he started regularly yelling things like, "watch! cars!" or "no! click it!" i knew i had to be a lot more invested in the things he watched even if just for entertainment or as a soothing message. i showed him an episode of mr. rogers yesterday and feared it would be too slow to hold his attention, but he was mesmerized, greeting and interacting with mr. rogers verbally, asking me, "what's that?" to different objects on the screen. since purging this low-brow children's entertainment, he has had a noticeable increase in attention span and concentration, can focus on a task for longer amounts of times, is more likely to "read"/look through books without me initiating it, and doesn't throw a fit when the tv/my laptop is off.
i just know that for me, growing up with so much unsupervised internet access definitely led me to real-world pain and consequences, and it seems like now children are born with an iphone as an extension of their arm. if my child is going to be consuming videos, i'm definitely supervising every second and am going to be highly critical of the videos and the credentials (or lack thereof) of the creators and team behind it. but i also know, from pure observation admittedly, that parents letting youtube kids autoplay parent their children for hours at a time is not an uncommon occurrence. and it worries me that a generation of children are being raised on videos that rely on being as loud and bright and superficially enjoyable as possible. what's the use of a child knowing their colors and alphabet if they don't know how to treat people with kindness and empathy and respect? there is something wrong for a children's show host to plug the spelling of his name at the end of his videos ("well, that's the end of this video. but if you wanna watch more of my videos, just type in my name! can you spell my name with me? b-l-i-p-p-i!") after essentially rotting his audiences' brains for a half hour. there's something so insidious about the prioritization of naming different parts of construction vehicles over honest depictions of and conversations about dealing with feelings, or why someone with autism may act differently than you, or what to do when you feel lonely, or ways to make art and express yrself creatively. also, not to mention the blatant police propaganda and outright worship is seriously jarring; as a black mother to a visibly non-white child, i cannot sit there and watch blippi show kids how to be a bootlicker for the shittiest profession on earth, but that could be a whole essay in and of itself.
anyway, thanks for reading, if yr looking for quality children's content, i recommend, in no specific order: mr. rogers, sesame street, the electric company, molly of denali, daniel tiger, bluey!, blue's clues, the odd squad, word party, trash truck, puffin rock, uhh... that's definitely not an extensive list but that's just off the dome!!! ok bye y'all <333
#lil rambles#long post t#idk why it's formatted like this ig cos i copy pasted from my fb?#whatever anyway idk why i waste my writing skills on shit literally nobody else but me cares abt#blippi#children's television
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How about number 3? Like, tell us all about it if you want :)
Oh my gosh 🥺 thank you so much for giving me my first ask! 💖 I'm eternally grateful I get to spill all my pheels out.
3. What is my favorite Phantom tv/film adaptation?
My absolute favorite Phantom is the 1925 Lon Chaney silent film. He just embodies everything that I like about Gaston Leroux's Erik for me and he is both horrifying and pitiable. I dislike the ending but I can live with it given it's what test audiences wanted at the time. I truly love his Red Death costume. You can find it on Youtube and the Tubi app for free.
My first runner up would be Claude Raines in the 1943 because his Erique so soft and tragic in that film I cannot help but love him. This was one was my grandma's favorite 'classic monster' movies that she loved, so I have a special place in my heart for this one. I love his hair and appreciate that he was one fine silver fox before the revenge and jealousy issues set in. The opera parts are a little boring, but the costumes and the sassy diva rival to Christine are worth the watch. We get 2 handsome Raouls who end up going to dinner together at the end of the movie and a Christine who gets to bask in the limelight of her career while not choosing any suitor, which is the best possible outcome for her. Double play for the win in my book! You can watch it for free on the Peacock app.
My next runner up is a 3 way tie between Robert Englund, Gerard Butler, and Charles Dance.
I honestly enjoy all their performances because they each bring something unique to the role.
I cannot stress enough how violent the Robert Englund version is if you want to give it a go, but Erik Destler is insane, twisted, and fabulously murdertastic in this. I love the creepy, evil vibes the man gives off. Think of this film as a time travel AU of the original novel. I feel like he nailed Leroux Erik's darker, snarky personality that some people tend to forget he had and the gothic horror parts of the original novel are there. Bonus: they keep the Faust parallels like in the novel!
I'm gonna say it: I love the Charles Dance miniseries. I know it's not the best, but damn, he is so dry and sarcastic I cannot help but enjoy his performance. I want to pinch his cheeks and smother Cherik with the love his father never gave him everytime I see him. Again, this one focuses on the operas a lot, and for me it's a bit boring. But the backgrounds, settings, and props in this thing are fantastic and the costumes are wonderful too.
That leaves Gerard Butler in the 2004 movie. No he is not the world's greatest singing Phantom, but I don't care. I absolutely love his facial expressions and body language. The Phantom is an emotional, expressive dude and the Red Death costume scene is pretty good. I love how kind and sincere Emmy feels in this film and I appreciate she's not overracting and doesn't feel fake compared to some other Christines *coughSierracough* Being the film version of the ALW musical, this Phantom story focuses on the romance and Gerard excels at that. When he and Christine are singing Past the Point of no Return, I FEEL THEIR PASSION! And that's what counts more so than hitting the same notes we've all heard a million times before.
Now for the versions in the 'I will eternally like this' category 😊 :
The Phantom of the Paradise from 1974. This is also a very violent and dark film so fair warning if you haven't seen it. It's a bizarre rock musical, but if you're weird like me and enjoy Rock & Rule or the Rocky Horror Picture Show, this might be a film you'd like too. I don't want to spoil it too much but the Faust/devil parallels are here too, as is various pop culture references. His teeth and mask are terrifyingly cool, and so is the electronic voice box he uses. It makes sense Daft Punk was inspired by this film. Maybe G1 Soundwave was inspired by this film too, but that's a debate for another day 😉
Next is the animated 1988 film. This one features animation on par with other 80s tv cartoons of the time. I love that they kept the Persian and the torture chamber from the novel. The Phantom's death scene is pretty damn epic. Christine is kind of a flake, but animated Leroux Erik is hilariously insane and terribly charming, especially when he calls himself a Don Juan. It's worth watching just for his antics and his dialouge.
You might not expect a Goosebumps episode to do a Phantom story any justice, but here we are: 1995, The Phantom of the Auditorium is a spooky fun take on the story and honestly, I'd like to see the full play the kids at that school are putting on cause it looks better than some of the live Phantom stage scenes I've seen. Both young boys playing the Phantom are fantastic actors and the plot twist at the end is great.
I absolutely have to give a shout out to Wishbone's Pantin at the Opera. He is the best, cutest, most adorable Raoul de Chagney ever and I will fight you if you dare talk smack about this version. I'm not even a Raoul stan by any means but like, this dog is precious and I enjoy this episode so much.
Also in the animated category and cute dog category is Scooby Doo Stage Fright made back in 2013. This movie is one of my fave Scooby Doo films (yes I own almost all of them on dvd) and there are multiple Phantoms, a reality tv show contest, and Fred and Daphne finally kiss each other! Lots and lots of hidden Phantom references in the background and lots of voice acting talent for those of us who appreciate that.
Now for the versions I intensely dislike 😏
The 1962 Herbert Lom version. UGH where to start. The sets are so small and everything looks dirty and of the wrong time period. The color in the film looks washed out. The clothes look too modern somehow (maybe it's their hairstyles?) and it bothers me. It feels low budget in a bad way and it shows. This phantom is not likeable or pitiable even though his backstory is similar to the Claude Raines version. He has no romantic interest in Christine, so it feels off. This guy is such an old a$$ piece of sh*t, he literally slaps Christine as she's singing for him for no damn reason. His paper mache mask looks like a Kindergartener's botched art class project. His personality is like somebody locked up cranky grandpa in the basement and he's PMS-ing because y'all forgot to give him his daily prune juice. This squatter's lair lacks creepiness, and his bizarre sidekick is annoying and yet somehow more interesting than the Phantom. The pervert manager trying to bang Christine aggravated me and simultaneously made me want to vomit. Raoul is the only likeable character in the whole damn movie. The Joan of Arc opera scene makes up for some of the film, but it's still terrible.
Next on my meh list is the 1983 made for tv movie starring Micheal York and Jane Seymour. Now, this one has some likeable and applaudable scenes: the various murders and general creepiness of the Phantom, and the lair scene when she wakes up in his bed and the Phantom gets all up in her face is so intense and so Leroux I absolutely love it. The rest of the film is a jumbled hot mess at best, but Jane Seymour is 🔥 and she gets some damn good sex, so hell yeah to that!
And lastly, I do not like the Royal Albert Hall 25th anniversary recording. I should preface this by saying it is Sierra I don't like. I like Ramin, I love Hadley, everyone else is wonderful but I cannot stand Sierra. She tries too hard to make Christine a Disney Princess- and that doesn't fly with me. It comes off as insincere or mocking the source material at best, and at worst it makes Christine look like an airheaded ditz. Apparently Sierra played Ariel at one point which is hilarious because of all the Disney princesses, I dislike her the most. But that's a different rant for another day.
And finally, the one I hate most of all:
The 1998 Argento film. This is the worst Phantom adaptation I've ever seen. It is a whole lotta nope for me. Between the rats, the unecessary and pointless telepathy, the r*pe scene, and the unfunny weird vibe from the murder going on in this film it's a disaster from start to finish. Honestly, it's the rats and his hair that bother me from a visual standpoint alone and it's beyond disgusting the way this a$$🤡 treats Christine. I don't like any of the characters in here and for good reason. It's not worth watching and if you do, be ready to bleach your brain afterwards.
💖 Sorry if this was a long read! Thanks again for giving me an ask and I will cherish it forver!!!! 💖
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😇 - FANDOM(s): Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, and Game of Thrones (all male preferences)
𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬: I may have a slight introverted tendencies and awkward nature, I describe myself as fiery, swears like a sailor, confident, jokester, and, passionate. Religious, super talkative, sometimes hyper (because of excitement), giggly (I always laugh for stupid reasons), nerdy, actually sweet and nice though I can be aloof, intimidating, and scary when I get so angry. I tend to become really fiesty, stands boldly on what I believe (claiming myself as a realist though some of my views doesn't makes sense), and unbothered to be true to myself, clumsy, stubborn, young-at-heart, unfortunate and inattentive. I have "no bs" towards the people that I hate, sarcasam and savagery is my main language. But on the other side, I overthink a lot and cry over small things many times, small mistakes leads me to provoke me even more that sounds like a drama queen, yet recognizes a soft spot for dumb jokes, cheesy pickup lines and prefer people with a good sense of humour who see myself as equal. Chill in academics, but very competitive that manages to the top even for my dreams---I'm very dedicated on what I want for my life, and have modesty towards some people that deserves respect. One notable feature about her is her multi-potentiality due to being naturally gifted in artistic fields (this includes singing).
𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗦: Arts, choir, poetry, karaoke, literature, history, makeup, beauty pageants, fun/deep/dumb conversations, expanding my knowledge in Christianity, documentaries (about saints), reading interesting stuffs, talking about social issues, and creative writing, chilling both indoors and outdoors.
𝗛𝗢𝗕𝗕𝗜𝗘𝗦: Drawing, singing, dancing when nobody's around, sharing nerdy or opinionated thoughts, walking like a model (if I ever feel so confident), sleeping, listening to music (from rock to kpop), chatting or browsing on social media, watching videos on YouTube, making terrible jokes/puns, watching cartoons, writing, reading interesting things, and conceptualizing my artworks. I also used to study Italian language a bit
oh, so you're klaus mikaelson's?? gotcha
the first time he saw you was at an art gallery where he'd decided to put a few of his paintings; the moment he saw you admiring them he was enraptured
especially when he approached you and you called him arrogant in the first 60 seconds
obviously you had no idea who he was, that was also appealing to him
he would 100% teach you italian... and take you to italy... buy you a villa there, if you want
he catches you singing in the shower once and he thinks his heart may literally fall from his chest
he lavishes you in gifts but quickly realizes that you'd much rather have him over the objects
every time you make an incredibly cheesy reference or joke he just blinks at you for a moment before gifting a laugh, delighting in the way that your mind works
takes you to the oldest known christian churches in the world, and tells you his stories from those historic times
attends mass with you even though he feels incredibly out of his element sometimes
admires your drive and devotion
go to this post for fun stuff!
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The Beatles Cartoon, “And Your Bird Can Sing”, first aired September 23, 1967
I have no idea how long this will stay up, so you really need to check it out while you can.
Today, the three-season run of The Beatles cartoon from 1965-67 is considered a weird little back alley in Beatles lore, but lemme tell you something: there was a time when THIS version of The Beatles was more popular than the real thing, at least in the US. The Saturday morning series with the deceptively simple title “The Beatles” launched in 1965 with a 52 share, TV-nerd speak to say that of all the TVs that were turned on, MORE THAN HALF OF THEM WERE WATCHING THIS. This was absolutely at the heart of the heart of the mainstream of music, television, and American culture.
And yeah, it was weirder than shit. LOL The Beatles themselves famously had nothing to do with these, of course, any more than they sampled Beatles ice cream, or wore Beatles nylons. But especially to those of us too young to buy our own records, already sick to death of the stupid crap on the radio (yes, even in the 60s; maybe ESPECIALLY in the 60s), THIS was OUR Beatles. Not just just because it was The Beatles in general, but because it embraced the weird shit.
“And Your Bird Can Sing” was the opening theme song for the show’s third season, with the clip above being featured in the second episode. I’d only just heard the first bits of the song the Saturday before, in that opening theme to kick off the season, and I had no idea what I was listening to. Even though Sgt. Pepper was everywhere by then, this struck me as louder and weirder in every way.
Once I heard the whole song, I couldn’t believe how amazing it was. Even better than I was hoping and imagining. Yes, I screamed. I jumped up to dance along with it. It felt like the future. "And Your Bird Can Sing”, playing in a cartoon on a Saturday morning in September ‘67, was the beginning of my 50+ year love affair with Revolver.
Enjoy this while you can, friends!
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The Supernatural 70s: Part I - Corruption of An Innocent
"We're mutants. There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us - we're soldiers writers."
-- with apologies to the screenwriter of "Stripes"
Dear reader, I have the darkest of revelations to make to you, a truth when fully and wholly disclosed shall most assuredly chill you to the bone, a tale that shall make you question all that you hold to be true and good and holy about my personal history. While you may have come in search of that narrative designer best known for his works of interactive high fantasy, you should know that he is also a crafter of a darker art, a scribbler of twisted tales filled with ghosts, and ghouls, and gargoyles. I am, dear innocent, a devotee of horrors! Mwahahahaha!
[cue thunderclap, lightning, pipe organ music]
Given the genre of writing for which most of you know me, I forgive you if you think of me principally as a fantasy writer. I don't object to that classification because I do enjoy mucking about with magic and dark woods and mysterious ancient civilizations. But if you are to truly know who I am as a writer, you must realize that the image I hold of myself is principally as a creator of weird tales.
To understand how and why I came to be drawn to this sub-genre of fantastic fiction, you first must understand that I come from peculiar folks. Maybe I don't have the Ipswich look, or I didn't grow up in a castle, but my pedigree for oddity has been there from the start. My mother was declared dead at birth by her doctor, and often heard voices calling to her in the dead of night that no one else could hear. Her mother would periodically ring us up to discuss events in our lives about which she couldn't possibly have known. My father's people still share ghost stories about a family homestead that burned down mysteriously in the 1960s. Even my older brother has outré memories about events he says cannot possibly be true, and as a kid was kicked off the Tulsa city bookmobile for attempting to check out books about UFOs, bigfoot, and ESP. It's fair to say I was doomed - or destined - for weirdness from the start.
If the above listed circumstances had not been enough, I grew up in an area where neighbors whispered stories about a horrifically deformed Bulldog Man who stalked kids who "parked" on the Old North Road near my house. The state in which I was raised was rife with legends of bigfoots, deer women, and devil men. Even in my childhood household there existed a pantheon of mythological entities invented explicitly to keep me in line. If I was a good boy, The Repairman would leave me little gifts of Hot Wheels cars or candy. If I was being terrible, however, my father would dress in a skeleton costume, rise from the basement and threaten to drag me down into everlasting hellfire (evidently there was a secret portal in our basement.) There were monsters, monsters EVERYWHERE I looked in my childhood world. Given that I was told as a fledgling writer to write what I knew, how could anyone have been surprised that the first stories I wrote were filled with the supernatural?
"The Nightmare" by John Henry Fuseli (1781)
My formative years during the late sixties and early seventies took place at a strange juncture in our American cultural history. At the same time that we were loudly proclaiming the supremacy of scientific thought because we'd landed men on the moon, we were also in the midst of a counter cultural explosion of interest in astrology, witchcraft, ghosts, extra sensory perception, and flying saucers. Occult-related books were flying off the shelves as sales surged by more than 100% between 1966 and 1969. Cultural historians would come to refer to this is as the "occult boom," and its aftershocks would impact popular cultural for decades to come.
My first contact with tales of the supernatural were innocuous, largely sanitized for consumption by children. I vividly remember watching Casper the Friendly Ghost and the Disney version of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I read to shreds numerous copies of both Where the Wild Things Are and Gus the Ghost. Likely the most important exposure for me was to the original Scooby Doo, Where Are You? cartoon which attempted to inoculate us from our fears of ghosts and aliens by convincing us that ultimately the monster was always just a bad man in a mask. (It's fascinating to me that modern incarnations of Scooby Doo seem to have completely lost this point and instead make all the monsters real.)
ABOVE: Although the original cartoon Scooby Doo, Where Are You? ran only for one season from 1969 to 1970, it remained in heavy reruns and syndication for decades. It is notable for having been a program that perfectly embodied the conflict between reason and superstition in popular culture, and was originally intended to provide children with critical thinking skills so they would reject the idea of monsters, ghosts, and the like. Ironically, modern takes on Scooby Doo have almost entirely subverted this idea and usually present the culprits of their mysteries as real monsters.
During that same time, television also introduced me to my first onscreen crush in the form of the beautiful and charming Samantha Stevens, a witch who struggles to not to use her powers while married to a frequently intolerant mortal advertising executive in Bewitched. The Munsters and The Addams Family gave me my first taste for "goth" living even before it would become all the rage in the dance clubs of the 1980s. Late night movies on TV would bring all the important horror classics of the past in my living room as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Godzilla all became childhood friends. Over time the darkened castles, creaking doors, foggy graveyards, howling wolves, and ever present witches and vampires became so engrained in my psyche that today they remain the "comfort viewing" to which I retreat when I'm sick or in need of other distractions from modern life.
ABOVE: Elizabeth Montgomery starred in Bewitched (1964 - 1972) as Samantha Stephens, a witch who married "mortal" advertising executive Darren Stephens (played for the first five seasons by actor Dick York). Inspired by movies like I Married a Witch (1942) and Bell, Book and Candle (1958), it was a long running series that explored the complex relationship dynamics between those who possess magic and those who don't. Social commentators have referred to it as an allegory both for mixed marriages and also about the challenges faced by minorities, homosexuals, cultural deviants, or generally creative folks in a non heterogeneous community. It was also one of the first American television programs to portray witches not as worshippers of Satan, but simply as a group of people ostracized for their culture and their supernatural skills.
Even before I began elementary school, there was one piece of must-see gothic horror programming that I went out of my way to catch every day. Dark Shadows aired at 3:30 p.m. on our local ABC affiliate in Tulsa, Oklahoma which usually allowed me to catch most of it if I ran home from school (or even more if my mom or brother picked me up.) In theory it was a soap opera, but the show featured a regular parade of supernatural characters and themes. The lead was a 175 year old vampire named Barnabas Collins (played by Johnathan Frid), and the show revolved around his timeless pursuit of his lost love, Josette. It was also a program that regularly dealt with reincarnation, precognition, werewolves, time travel, witchcraft, and other occult themes. Though it regularly provoked criticism from religious groups about its content, it ran from June of 1966 until it's final cancellation in April of 1971. (I would discover it in the early 1970s as it ran in syndication.) Dark Shadows would spin off two feature-length movies based on the original, a series of tie-in novels, an excellent reboot series in 1991 (starring Ben Cross as Barnabas), and a positively embarrassingly awful movie directed by Tim Burton in 1991.
ABOVE: Johnathan Frid starred as Barnabas Collins, one of the leading characters of the original Dark Shadows television series. The influence of the series cannot be understated. In many ways Dark Shadows paved the way for the inclusion of supernatural elements in other soap operas of the 1970s and the 1980s, and was largely responsible for the explosion of romance novels featuring supernatural themes over the same time period.
While Dark Shadows was a favorite early television program for me, another show would prove not only to be a borderline obsession, but also a major influence on my career as a storyteller. Night Gallery (1969-1973) was a weekly anthology television show from Rod Serling, better known as the creator and host of the original Twilight Zone. Like Twilight Zone before it, Night Gallery was a deep and complex commentary on the human condition, but unlike its predecessor the outcomes for the characters almost always skewed towards the horrific and the truly outré. In "The Painted Mirror," an antiques dealer uses a magic painting to trap an enemy in the prehistoric past. Jack Cassidy plots to use astral projection to kill his romantic rival in "The Last Laurel" but accidentally ends up killing himself. In "Eyes" a young Stephen Spielberg directs Joan Crawford in a story about an entitled rich woman who plots to take the sight of a poor man. Week after week it delivered some of the best-written horror television of the early 1970s.
In retrospect I find it surprising that I was allowed to watch Night Gallery at all. I was very young while it was airing, and some of the content was dark and often quite shocking for its time. Nevertheless, I was so attached to the show that I'd throw a literal temper tantrum if I missed a single, solitary episode. If our family needed to go somewhere on an evening that Night Gallery was scheduled, either my parents would either have to wait until after it had aired before we left, or they'd make arrangements in advance with whomever we were visiting to make sure it was okay that I could watch Night Gallery there. I was, in a word, a fanatic.
ABOVE: Every segment of Night Gallery was introduced by series creator Rod Serling standing before a painting created explicitly for the series. Director Guillermo del Toro credits Serling's series as being the most important and influential show on his own work, even more so than the more famous Twilight Zone.
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Not a Cinderella Story
This is my contribution to @dukexietyweek 2020! The prompt was Fairytales and I followed it... very loosely. This is also a bullet fic because I scrapped my plot no less than three times over the course of writing this.
Pairing: Romantic Dukexiety, Implied/Background Mociet
Words: 2072
Warnings: jealousy, misunderstandings, toxic behavior
Synopsis: When Remus, Roman and Virgil were young, they were inseparable. They always played pretend--castles and princesses and dragons. But everyone has to grow up. Things change.
----
Remus Sanders and his twin brother Roman have always been close. “Attached at the hip” some would say. Specifically, their mother, neighbors, and preschool teachers.
They always do the same things. They like the same juice. The same snacks. They play with the same toys, and they always laugh at the same things.
Their bond is unbreakable. They are the perfect duo. They never need anyone else.
Until they meet Virgil Storm.
They meet him early in their second grade year. Virgil is… a weird kid. He wears a purple jacket with cat ears on the hood in the middle of August. He doesn’t try to talk to anyone at lunchtime. He wears different colored socks and carries a lunchbox with cartoon spiders on it that says “Happy Halloween” even when it isn’t October.
He’s odd.
Remus loves him. And because Remus loves him, so does Roman.
The three of them make quick friends, underneath the tree on the playground, sitting in the grass and sharing easy smiles, as children do.
Roman suggests that they play a game that he and Remus invented all on their own--Knights and Dragons.
Virgil is quick to agree, because young children don’t have anything to worry about beyond silly games with their peers.
Remus believes that Knights and Dragons is a much more fun experience with three people. Sometimes Virgil is a knight, with Roman, and they both chase Remus around the school yard, giggling and waving sticks like they’re swords. And other times, Virgil is a dragon with Remus, and the two of them roar and yell and flap their arms like wings.
Virgil makes Remus laugh in ways that he thought only his brother could. Virgil laughs with him, not at him.
Of course, all good things come to an end, and soon, for the imaginative boy that was Roman Sanders, Knights and Dragons is not enough.
Knights and Dragons are boring in the eyes of a third grader.
Roman suggests one day that they add a princess to their game of Knights and Dragons.
Remus (rightfully) thinks that this is a very stupid idea. Princesses are for Disney movies and fairytales. Remus Sanders most definitely does not live in a fairytale.
But Roman loves fairytales. And Roman loves Disney. And, unfortunately, so does Virgil.
So they add a princess to their game. Oftentimes, this princess is played by Virgil, but sometimes Roman steps into the role. Remus is just glad that he gets to stay a big scary dragon.
That is… Until just a princess being kidnapped by a dragon and saved by a courageous knight is not enough for young Roman Sanders.
No, Roman wants more. Roman wants to emulate his favorite movies and his new favorite theme of said movies--
Romance.
So Knights and Dragons and Princesses turns into… Playing Cinderella.
There definitely wasn’t a dragon in Cinderella.
Remus is quickly shoved into the roles of the ugly stepsisters and stepmother. Don’t get it wrong! He loves playing the villain. He loves laughing maniacally and calling his brother funny names and getting away with it without punishment, because it was just pretend.
He doesn’t so much like sitting in the grass of his own backyard, watching while Roman and Virgil twirl around, holding hands and “dancing” to imaginary music while they “fall in love.”
It’s boring.
He’s almost glad when Roman’s phase of playing pretend Disney princesses ends.
Except that he can’t be. Because it ends with the three of them turning twelve and entering the dreaded halls of middle school. It ends with Roman joining the school theater club and making a whole bunch of new friends.
It ends with Virgil and Remus suddenly being left to walk home from school alone one day.
Despite his brother’s popularity, both Remus and Virgil are… outcasts of a sort. And since they just downgraded from a trio to a duo, their friendship is a bit more… strained. They still have the closeness of five years of best friendship, but there’s something… missing.
Cue Janus Duncan.
Janus is also an outcast. Janus is like a fairy godmother who comes in to save the poor outcasts at the last second, turning bleak days into wishes come true (if eating school lunch under the bleachers and snorting with laughter as they mix all the slushie options at 7-11 into one cup can be considered wishes come true), and wearing a super cool leather jacket that was two sizes too big, but definitely influenced Remus’s punk phase.
Because, oh yeah. They definitely both start their punk phases after meeting Janus Duncan.
Honestly meeting Janus really is a wish come true for Remus. A miracle among the comedy of errors that was his teenage years.
Because after about a year of Virgil, Janus and Remus being the perfect trio 2.0, Remus starts to… notice some things.
One thing is the way that his heart seems to inflate like a little balloon in Remus’s chest when Virgil smiles at him. The way that his guts squirm when Virgil laughs at one of his jokes, true and bright. The way that Remus catches himself staring at Virgil’s crooked smile, or his chipped nail polish as his fingers twirl around in his hoodie strings.
The second thing has… a lot of the same signs honestly.
Because Remus starts to notice how Virgil always watches Roman when he’s over at Remus’s house. The way that Virgil always smiles and waves at Remus’s twin brother when they pass one another in the hallway at school, his pale cheeks flushing a soft pink.
It makes a terrible, sickly green emotion curl in Remus’s stomach.
Jealousy.
So when Virgil tentatively brings up trying out for the school play, and asks Remus if Roman would mind running some lines with him, Remus does something he isn’t proud of.
He snaps. He tells Virgil that he shouldn’t try. That he won’t even make it. That he isn’t popular kid material. That Roman isn’t his friend anymore, god, Virgil, can’t you take a hint?
He watches it happen like he isn’t the one controlling his own body. He sees the shock take over Virgil’s features. The years of easy trust crumble before his very eyes as Virgil reels back in horror. He can taste the jealousy on his tongue.
As Virgil leaves, Remus knows that he is the villain of this story.
He can see it as plainly as if he had shattered Virgil’s dreams right in front of him, like so much of a shattered glass shoe on the palace steps.
That night, Janus comes over and lets Remus have it.
For about five minutes, before Remus breaks down and tells the truth to his now one and only best friend and lecturing quickly turns to comforting.
By the time that they start high school, the original trio has withered down to just Remus. The other two thirds are nearly distant memories. One a locked door down the hall, and the other three lockers down, speaking to new friends.
Anyone would choose the prince over the ugly stepsister. He couldn’t blame them.
The spring of their sophomore year, the school announces that they will be putting on a production of none other than Cinderella.
Roman auditions, of course. He gets the role of the Prince.
Virgil doesn’t audition, but he offers himself up for the role of stage manager.
Virgil and Roman’s friends Patton and Logan audition. They get the roles of mice, but they don’t seem at all upset by that fact.
Janus auditions. He gets the role of the fairy godmother.
Janus asks Remus to audition.
Remus refuses. He doesn’t want to play a campy version of the ugly stepsisters in front of the entire school. He may not care about this hell hole, but he isn’t going to make his remaining two years any worse than they have to be.
Janus drags Remus to rehearsals anyway. Kicking and screaming.
By some miraculous happenstance, Remus suddenly becomes the set designer for the show.
He may be imagining things, but he is pretty sure that that has something to do with what Janus, Roman and the director were whisper-arguing about in the first week of rehearsals.
Remus is grateful for it. Not that he plans on saying so. He still can’t bring himself to apologize to Virgil, but watching him from afar still brings those butterflies to Remus’s stomach.
One night, after rehearsal, Remus is putting the finishing touches on the carriage prop, which has quickly gone from inconsequential to him to his very own magnum opus. He’s just testing out its mobility when he hears soft laughter.
Naturally, he follows the sounds.
Stage left, hidden in the wings, Remus sees his brother, in full costume, standing across from Virgil, who is chuckling and gently smoothing his hands across the front of Roman’s costume.
Remus sees green. His old friend Jealousy curls around him like the dragon that he used to love to play.
He barely restrains himself from breaking the very set that he worked so hard on.
Funnily enough, that is progress.
The night before the play opens, there is a house party. Remus isn’t quite sure who is hosting, but the cast and company are the only people invited.
Remus doesn’t want to go.
Janus makes Remus go.
Begrudgingly, Remus has a good time. He has a good time drinking soda and watching the other stage hands tell stories about past productions. He has a good time laughing at Janus as he unsuccessfully tries to flirt with the boy in the bright blue sweater who plays a mouse.
He is still having a good time when the girl who plays Cinderella herself caps a plastic bottle and places it on the ground, calling for everyone to gather around for a game of spin the bottle.
Remus finds himself sitting between Janus and his giggly mouse boy, and some other techie who wears sunglasses indoors.
There are a few fun rounds. Roman has to kiss the girl playing the stepmother. One of the mice has to kiss Cinderella. It’s all in good fun.
That is, until Remus isn’t really paying attention and the mouth of the bottle is suddenly facing him. He blinks.
From across the circle, the studious looking mouse speaks up. “Janus clearly touched the bo-” The hand of one of the set designers covers the mouse’s mouth.
Remus blinks again. “So who’s the lucky bastard I’m making out with?”
All eyes turn to Virgil, who looks like a startled mouse himself.
Shit.
Virgil is up before anyone can say anything, backing away from the circle and spinning on his heel before making a beeline for the kitchen. Remus follows, standing up before his mind even catches up with his body. He sees Roman making to stand up too, but he holds out a hand.
Even after years of not being close, Roman can tell what he means without a word.
Remus follows Virgil into the kitchen and finds him leaning against the counter.
“Didn’t want to kiss the ugly stepsister that badly, huh?”
“What?”
“You… You know, Emo, like that stupid game Roman always made us play when we were ankle biters.”
“Wh- First of all, you and Roman are identical twins. You look exactly the same. That was just a game.”
Remus shrugs, as if he hasn’t carried that game and all it implied with him for the entirety of his teenage years.
“And… No. It wasn’t- I just didn’t want to kiss you in front of everyone.”
Remus pretends like that doesn’t make his heart shatter into a hundred tiny pieces.
Virgil seems to see it anyway. “I mean that I don’t want to… have my first kiss in front of all of them. It’s nothing against you, they just- they just all know about my crush.”
Virgil says it like it’s something stupid. Like being in love is something shameful. Like liking Roman Sanders isn’t something that literally everyone in that room except for Remus has in common.
“Your crush on my brother?”
Virgil looks at him like he’s the biggest idiot on the face of the earth.
He probably is.
Because he doesn’t see it coming for a second when Virgil steps closer, cups Remus’s cheek in his hand like he is made of something precious and priceless, and closes the gap to kiss him.
#dukexietyweek2020#dukexiety#remus sanders#virgil sanders#roman sanders#janus sanders#Logan sanders#patton sanders#Remy sanders#sanders sides#ts sides#ts remus#ts virgil#ts roman#ts janus#ts deceit#deceit sanders#ts logan#ts remy#ts patton#intruxiety#remus x virgil#virgil x remus
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Josie and The Pussycats is the Spinoff Riverdale Deserves
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
This RIVERDALE review contains spoilers.
Riverdale Season 5 Episode 15
“Our story is about three young women bursting with talent.”
When last we saw Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray), she was in New York City trying to make her dreams come true on the ill-fated (and gone-too-soon) Riverdale spin-off Katy Keene. Often when characters are spun-off and their subsequent shows fail, they vanish into the pop culture ether — The Ropers from Three’s Company being the textbook case of this phenomenon. But not so for Josie. This latest episode debuts a new iteration of the character, one who has achieved her dreams but still finds herself wanting more. It is a decidedly more mature take on the previously underwritten character, and one that allows Murray’s considerable acting and musical abilities to shine.
In short, it is the Josie that fans have always wanted to see.
But what good is the character without the backing of her Pussycats? Drummer Melody Valentine (Asha Bromfield) and multi-instrumentalist Valerie Brown (Hayley Law) have been estranged from Josie since she blew off the Pussycats for a solo career when they were in high school. Seven years later and the wounds are still raw, even though Melody has since become a renowned author with movie rights optioned by Tyler Perry, and Valerie is a talented artist and actress.
When Josie returns to Riverdale to take stock following the sudden death of her father, she finds herself coming to terms with her past. More than that though, she has found her voice in every sense of the word. She dismisses Mr. Lodge, the show’s big bad in a hilarious kiss off that sums up many viewers’ opinions on the often irksome character. Better still, the episode allows her to get meta to discuss how Riverdale often sidelined the Josie character in her previous iteration on the series. “I didn’t have much to say in old times,” she plaintively declares, commenting on the problem that Riverdale had with diversity in its early seasons. She then accurately dismisses Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead not as old friends but as acquaintances. It’s a bold and surprising scene that takes responsibility for past sins that the series committed, further illustrating that it is aware that it can do better and has been attempting to do so.
After a steamy reunion with old flame Sweet Pea (Jordan Connor), Josie begins the work of reaching out to Valerie and Melody. It is here that the episode goes from great to an all-timer. The chemistry that Murray, Bromfield and Law possess is lightning in a bottle. As old injustices are aired and attempts to repair wounded hearts and egos are undertaken, these actresses embody the old friends they portray fully. But this backdoor pilot, fortunately, has zero interest in having its women of color tear each other down. The characters candidly discuss their shared past, and begin to repair the rift that will — if The Pussycats goes to series — lead them to becoming the global superstars they are destined to be.
Josie, Melody and Valerie are icons. They know it, and the world will soon follow.
Inspired by her renewed friendship with her once and future bandmates, Josie decides to do a concert with the Pussycats that will raise money to help reincorporate the town of Riverdale. It is a performance that highlights each of the women’s musical strengths, even if Josie does steal the spotlight for an emotional rendition of Nina Simone’s “Stars.” Despite being cut short when Toni goes into labor, the concert is enough of a success for The Pussycats to agree to go on the road together — playing in towns where Josie’s late father wanted his ashes scattered. The women consider themselves to be equals now, thus the “Josie and” is jettisoned from the band name. This still being Riverdale, a friend of Josie’s dad appears moments before she leaves town to tell her that her father may have been murdered in New Orleans, and that voodoo might be involved.
With this incredible/ridiculous plot development thrown at us, the full image of what The Pussycats will be as a series comes into view: A mixture of Fame and 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo that celebrates these characters and their comic/cartoon legacy in an unexpected way. (As an Archie comics historian even I was taken off guard by the last-minute introduction of the potential show’s mystery angle, and my mind reels at the possibilities).
Hopefully sooner rather than later a series order for The Pussycats will be announced. There is so much potential here to tell exciting, fun, music-packed stories featuring strong women of color that it feels like a surefire hit. “The Return of the Pussycats” is not only the best episode of Riverdale this season, but a perfect pilot episode. There desperately needs to be lots more long tails and ears for hats in our future, for these are the Pussycats we’ve been waiting for.
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Riverdale Rundown
While nothing has been officially announced as of yet, it feels ridiculous for The CW to not do a full series of The Pussycats, yes? This logo appearing at the end of the episode instead of the usual Riverdale bumper bodes well for things to come. Fingers crossed…
My guess is that this episode didn’t have Alexandra and Josie cross paths due to their Katy Keene past, which had the characters begin as enemies who were slowly forming a friendship before that series was cancelled. By not having them interact, the writers didn’t have to figure out where their relationship currently is — making this a narrative thread that The Pussycats could potentially pull on down the line.
The character of Alan M. briefly appears as Melody’s love interest, which indeed he is in the comics and fondly remembered 2001 movie.
Speaking of the Josie and the Pussycats movie, that film’s ever-growing cult continues to delight me. Thanks to multiverses, there’s no reason why that version of these characters and the ones of The Pussycats can’t co-exist in the same pop culture landscape.
Let’s give a special shoutout to Robin Givens, who not only reprises her role as Sierra McCoy here but also did a terrific job directing this installment.
Melody narrates this episode a la Jughead, except that her writing is bright and full of hope, a sharp and intentional contrast to her brooding counterpoint.
If you didn’t cheer when Josie and the Pussycats took the stage to their cartoon theme song, you are dead inside.
“Entertainment Tomorrow” enters the Riverdale fake product lexicon in this episode (which also includes the returning chestnut “Vanity Flair”).
Toni gives birth to a boy, Anthony.
Expect to see more about the franchising of Pop’s in upcoming restaurants, and Tabitha’s speech about the importance of the Chok’lit Shoppe being a black-owned restaurant in a time when Riverdale had no other such establishments was one of the most powerful scenes this series has ever done.
It’s worth noting that a franchise for real-life Archie restaurants did exist in the early 1970s. However the idea never really took off, and pictures of the three diners that were opened have never surfaced online.
What the hell was up with the Old Navy product placement in this episode, which felt like it was ripped from the Josie and the Pussycats movie, minus the irony.
Kevin’s dancing during the Little Shop of Horrors musical number was, unsurprisingly, everything.
Melody’s book being named Summer Storm is a sly reference to actress Asha Bromfield having a newly released novel called Hurricane Summer that was released in May.
Josie uses the alias Ms. Newmar to check into hotels. Julie Newmar famously portrayed Catwoman on the Batman TV series, which not only plays into Josie’s feline motif, but also is yet another of the show’s near-constant DC Comics references of late.
Mr. Lodge being called a “little bitch” was so unbelievably pleasing to watch. Josie is just SO OVER Riverdale’s bullshit.
In a nice character moment, Cheryl immediately leaps into action to help deliver ex-lover Toni’s baby.
Dr. Curdle Jr. being a Josie and the Pussycats superfan is comedic brilliance (as is the fact that nobody trusts him enough to have him anywhere near Toni’s delivery.
The post Josie and The Pussycats is the Spinoff Riverdale Deserves appeared first on Den of Geek.
from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3BQYwym
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07.03.21
We watched Penguins of Madagascar (2014).
IMDb link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1911658/
Penguins of Madagascar is a 2014 computer animated spy action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
The voice cast stars some big names including:
Tom McGrath as Skipper
Chris Miller as Kowalski
Christopher Knights as Private
Conrad Vernon as Rico
Benedict Cumberbatch as Classified
John Malkovich as Dave (Also known as Dr. Octavius Brine)
Penguins of Madagascar is a spin off from the Madagascar franchise, but post dates the TV series also called Penguins of Madagascar which was produced by DreamWorks and Nickelodeon and shown between 2008 and 2015.
See separate review on the DreamWorks TV shows above.
The Penguins of Madagascar was directed by Simon J Smith and Eric Darnell.
The film follows the elite squad of penguin spies Skipper, Kawalski, Rico and Private as they join forces with Agent Classified in the undercover organisation 'North Wind' to stop Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world.
See this link for full plot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguins_of_Madagascar
The penguins go on a round the world adventure and visited places including Antartica, North America, Venice and Rio de Janerio .etc
Penguins of Madagascar is incredibly fast paced and action packed, however one must see clip which features the penguins performing the German slap dance to the octopuses must be seen!
''We take this shame to our graves!'' - Skipper.
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCtetYaj-po
Another entertaining clip worth watching is the take flight scene where the penguins jump between air crafts to reach their destination.
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VmWe3LyUDM
A good example of the films creativity is when the penguins sneak into Fort Lock, to raid the snack machine!
Penguins of Madagascar was the final film produced by PDI (Pacific Data Images) before its closure in January 2015.
As a spin off from Madagascar, the film has no deep seated sense of origin. That however doesn't stop it from being highly entertaining.
Character development during the film is thorough and consistent, helping you to become fully engaged.
Other nice touches include the use of switching aspect ratios during action scenes to give the film a war movie feel.
The aspect ratio default is 1.85:1 switching to 2.35:1 during these scenes.
Penguins of Madagascar was created using DreamWorks preferred technology partners HP and Intel.
Penguins of Madagascar was released in both 3D and 2D formats.
The musical score was composed by Scottish composer Lorne Balfe who usually works on action movies and big television dramas like The Crown.
Despite its generally positive critical response, The Penguins of Madagascar performed much better across the rest of the world and was particularity strong in Russia.
The film received an overall rating of 73% and 6/10 which makes its poor performance at the box office rather surprising.
Penguins of Madagascar was released on Blu-Ray, DVD and Blu-Ray 3D in March 2015.
Here is a link to the Blu-Ray UK site:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Penguins-of-Madagascar-Blu-ray/119793/
Penguins of Madagascar DreamWorks Animation site:
https://www.dreamworks.com/movies/penguins-of-madagascar
There is no doubt that Penguins of Madagascar is very silly, but that is actually its strength.
The film is 91 minutes of fun and laughs that fly by very quickly.
I particularity like the way the penguins are humanised and stay true to their serious character all through the film.
Despite the film having a cartoon like feel, the visual effects and animation remained very strong. The highly detailed end credits are particularity worth noting.
King Julien XIII (a ring-tailed lemur) and Mort (a Goodman's mouse lemur) have a cameo appearance at the end of the film.
I recommend watching The Penguins of Madagascar, you will smile all the way through.
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Early 90s Tom and Jerry Movie
Anyone else here watch this movie as a kid before it became a meme years later?
I’ve got to be honest, I don’t think this is the worst thing to come out of the franchise (the tv cartoons from the 70s and 80s are much harder to sit through). A lot of critics make a big deal about Tom and Jerry talking, but there were times in the classic MGM shorts when they would have speaking roles (mostly for quick gags, but still). With that said, I wouldn’t call it a good movie but it does have that “so bad, it’s good” quality just from how bonkers it is. I also don’t mind the songs. Sure it’s pretty obvious that the movie was capitalizing on the success of the Disney Renaissance films from the time, but I have a soft spot for this and some of the other non-Disney animated musicals from around that time (The Swan Princess, The Pebble and the Penguin, and Cats Don’t Dance as notable examples). The animation in this movie is hit or miss. It looks like a made-for-tv cartoon through most of it, but then there would be moments where the characters look like they walked out of a Don Bluth movie:
The one big issue I have with this (along with the modern direct-to-video movies and the upcoming theatrical movie) is that Tom and Jerry have trouble carrying entire feature-length films. They work better as shorts. In most of the movies they’ve been in, they’re usually relegated to sidekicks. The same thing happens here where around a half hour into the movie, they kind of walk into another movie that involves the girl Robyn running away from her evil aunt. Speaking of the aunt, am I the only one who used to think that she was being voiced by Pat Carroll? She sounds eerily similar to Ursula from The Little Mermaid, but it turns out that the aunt was actually voiced by the late Charlotte Rae.
#tom and jerry the movie#1992/1993#film roman#review/ramble#2 am rambles#sorry about the incoherency#regarding the animation there actually were a couple of animators from Bluth’s studio that worked on this movie#from what I can tell from the end credits#which explains why Tom has the Bluth mouth in that screenshot lol#an american tail#henry mancini#tom and jerry
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Embers - male dragon shifter x reader, Chapter Eleven (sfw)
Another fluffy chapter, but I hope you enjoy seeing our boy opening up a bit more and learning to be ok with being vulnerable. Featuring Celia too, our niece.
Also it's way longer than I wanted it to be, but when the muse insists, you know? It's 2353 words, no warnings, sfw.
Next week, it's Murder Mystery Dinner evening!!
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten
Morning crept through a chink in the curtains and flashed gently off the glinting scales on his bare torso.
Mikaeïl lay fast asleep, his lips gently parted, exposing the points of his canines to you as you stared in wonder at him. Perfectly naked, though the sheet was draped rather artistically across his hips, he looked like a temple statue, his torso pale as marble until it seemed to catch fire with those coppery scales.
He didn’t stir until after nine, and you were perfectly happy to doze with your head on his shoulder. He hadn’t shifted back to his usual form after the exertions of the night before; his hands were still clawed, and the scales rippled up his arms to his elbows. He shuffled slightly and tugged you closer to his chilly body and you grumbled. “You only want me because I’m warm,” you grumped.
“Not true,” he slurred sleepily, nuzzling at your neck.
“Mostly true?”
“I can’t deny that I like how warm you are,” he said, blinking groggily. “But you’re gorgeous and funny and talented. And I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way you came so beautifully for me last night…”
You blushed at that and buried your face at his chest. Surprisingly, Mikaeïl turned out to be ticklish and you nearly got a spined elbow in your face for that.
Later as you sat at the table in his conservatory while he cooked eggs for the both of you, your phone buzzed and you saw the message preview from your brother. ‘Hey, I’m so sorry but can you take care of Celia tonight?’
You opened it and bounced a reply back. ‘I had plans with Mikaeïl this weekend… what’s up?’
‘Work’ he replied. ‘They need someone to cover the late shift’
Knowing he needed the money, you sighed just as Mikaeïl came over with a cup of tea in his now ordinary-looking hand. “Everything alright?” he asked, setting it down on the table and pushing it towards you. “Different blend this time,” he added while he waited for you to reply.
“It’s my brother,” you said. “He wants me to take care of Celia this afternoon and tonight. He’s got called in to cover a late shift at work.”
“That’s alright,” Mikaeïl smiled, reaching up and stroking your hair affectionately just above your ear. “Would she like to stay here? I’ve got plenty of spare rooms. We could have pizza and a movie and a sleepover or something?”
Unexpectedly, tears filled your eyes and you hugged him.
When your brother dropped her off, you saw the way Mikaeïl weighed him with his gaze. Your brother was taller and broader than you by a long way, and had the rough edges that made him good at his job with the police force, but there was a familial similarity between you. Celia barrelled out of the car a moment later and flung herself at you, and you spat a feather out of your mouth as the little half-siren flapped about excitedly. The moment she saw Mikaeïl, however, she went quiet and still, and looked a bit anxious. Glancing back at him, you realised that he’d slipped back behind his glacially cool mask again.
“Mikaeïl, this is my brother, Jon. Celia you’ve already met, I think.”
“Briefly,” he said, shaking your brother’s hand before crouching down to be at Celia’s eye level. “It’s nice to see you again, Celia. I suppose it might be strange for you to be here without your flute…” she shrugged and he smiled. “Well, you know where the music room is if you feel like going there.” He glanced up at you and added, “We thought we might have a go at making some pizzas for supper tonight. Would you like to help us with that?”
“Making them?” she asked, her eyes going wide, as if she’d never considered the possibility that you could make your own pizza. She probably hadn’t, to be fair.
“Mmhmm,” he smiled. “We’ve already got the bases. You can put whatever you like on top.”
She perked up a bit at that and offered him a wary smile, and your brother chuckled. “I can see she’ll be in good hands tonight. Not too much sugar afterwards though?” he said and you nodded.
“Take care,” you said, giving him a quick hug. He bowed his head once and climbed back into his truck after handing Celia’s bag to you and giving her a farewell hug and asking her to behave herself.
Celia trailed you inside, but didn’t seem to settle. She kept looking warily at Mikaeïl, and the more often it happened, the more distressed Mikaeïl seemed to get. Not that it really showed, but there were little cracks in that porcelain mask of his that seemed larger to your trained eyes now than they ever had before.
He ground his teeth and looked a little panicked. Then he blinked and smiled slightly. “Celia?” he asked in a quiet, gentle voice. “Do you like magic tricks?”
“Yeah…?” she said cautiously from her seat beside you in the conservatory full of plants.
“Do you know what a sparkler is?” he asked, going over to a kitchen drawer. You watched him curiously but didn’t intervene. He had captivated her attention completely.
“Yes,” she said. “We have them at Halloween.”
“That’s right. I know it’s not Halloween now, but I have some. Would you like me to show you a trick with one?”
“Like a magician’s trick?” she asked, unimpressed.
He shook his head. “No. I’m going to use real magic. You want to know a secret first?”
She nodded immediately.
“Well, you’ll have to promise not to tell anyone unless I say you can… Can you keep a secret?”
Celia’s eyes widened and she nodded again.
“Alright,” he said, and knelt down again, lowering his head to show her his horns. “You see these?” he said, tapping one and she stepped warily closer. “You know what they are?”
“Horns,” she said, patronisingly.
“Indeed,” he chuckled, still with his head bowed. “And which creatures have horns?”
She thought for a moment. “Frankie does,” she said. “But you don’t have sheep feet.”
Both of you snorted at that and Mikaeïl bit his lips for a moment. “No,” he said, still smiling. “I don’t. Can you think of any other creatures who have horns?”
Again, she thought about it. “Tieflings have horns, and minotaurs, and… uh… some lizards do. There’s a lizardfolk girl in my class who has little horns but they’re yellow not red.”
“What about a dragon?” he said quietly and she gasped.
“Yes! But… You’re not a dragon…”
“How about if I told you I can change my shape,” he said. “Like a werewolf can shift between wolf and man…”
“You’re a weredragon?!” she giggled, clapping her hands. “Can you only change on the full moon?”
Mikaeïl shook his head and sat back a little bit, still down on one knee, but more crouched now and resting his elbow on his knee. “No,” he said. “I can shift whenever I like, but it’s very painful because becoming such a big creature takes a lot of effort. But that wasn’t why I wanted to tell you what I am. What can dragons do that most others can’t?”
“Fly?” A reasonable guess.
“That’s right, but what else can they do. It’s related to that sparkler I mentioned…”
She went very still and her eyes got even wider. “Can you breathe fire?”
“I can,” he said, “But only as a dragon. When I’m like this though, I can still control it. Shall I show you?”
He stood and got out the box of sparklers from the back of a low drawer and held one between finger and thumb. With a click of his fingers, the sparkler lit and began to crackle and fizz. Celia laughed at the simple trick, but when he raised his other hand and began to gesture, she gasped again. The little sputtering sparks flew away from the stick and began to dance around the room. Somehow he kept the reaction going and they popped and danced all the way around the room until they finally fizzled out.
“Do it again!” she cackled immediately.
That set the tone for much of the afternoon. Mikaeïl became almost another part of the family to her, listening to her stories about her music and the things that fascinated her, even though they couldn’t have been of any interest to him whatsoever.
Pizza making was probably a mistake, given that you ended up with olives on the ceiling and flour all over the floor by the end of it, but she had a grand time and only made it halfway through the cartoon movie she chose from Mikaeïl’s online TV subscription before she collapsed in a snoring pile of feathers between you on the sofa.
“Let’s get her up to bed,” he smiled, and you nodded.
You led a very sleepy child up and helped her wash her face and brush her teeth before tucking her and her little stuffed minotaur into bed for the night. “I’m just at the end of the corridor,” you said, “So if you need me, you can find me, but I hope you sleep well.”
As you left, she wiggled in bed and sat up. “Are you and Mikaeïl like mummy and daddy were?” she asked.
You felt a tightening in your throat as she brought up your late sister-in-law. She’d been the life and soul of every gathering until she’d fallen ill. “Maybe,” you said cautiously. “I’d like to be, but we haven’t known each other as long as Jon and your mother did.” A moment later you asked, “Do you like him?”
“Yeah,” she mumbled. “He’s scary but I think he’s nice.”
“I’ll tell him you said that,” you laughed and she giggled. “Go on, lights out.”
When you went downstairs again, you found Mikaeïl in the last stages of cleaning up the bomb-site that had been the kitchen.
“I’m sorry about that,” you said. “I know that wasn’t how you intended to spend our first weekend together.”
He looked up at you then and you saw a strange, tearful expression on his face.
“Mikaeïl?”
A single tear rolled down his cheek and he set the cloth down that he’d been using to wipe the surface.
You crossed to him and held him, cupping his cheek in one hand. “What is it?”
“She’s a delight,” he said. “That’s all.”
“That’s not all,” you insisted gently, “But you don’t have to share if you don’t want to.”
His eyes darted to the sofa and he said, “I’ll join you in a minute…” and you backed off, knowing he needed another few moments to himself. The arrival of you in his life had been one huge change for him - he’d told you as much already - and you didn’t mind being patient with him.
When he did come and sit with you, it was with a whisky in his slightly trembling fingers, and he sat with one leg folded under him in a remarkably childlike pose. You hooked your arm around his shoulders and gently toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck. “Can I take it down?” you asked, tugging slightly at the hair tie.
He nodded, and a moment later his fiery red hair was falling loose around his shoulders.
“Thank you for the way you were with her today.”
“She was frightened of me to start with,” he said, staring at a point on the other side of the conservatory wall. Darkness pressed against the windows and you thought vaguely about shutting the blinds, but you didn’t want to move from his side. The length of his thigh was pressed against yours, as if drawing heat and comfort from the contact.
“She’s wary of most people,” you said. “I don’t think it was personal. She likes you now though… she told me so upstairs before I said goodnight.”
“Really?”
“Mmm. You worry too much, Mikaeïl,” you said, thumbing away the creases that lingered between his sharp copper brows. He still hadn’t really articulated quite what was troubling him.
After a sip of whisky, he said softly, “The ‘me’ that you’ve come to know…” he glanced around the kitchen, “Here, at home… It’s not the ‘me’ I present to the world. I find it difficult to reconcile the two people… you know?”
“I figured,” you said and he turned to look at you. “I mean, when I first met you, I thought you wanted to eat me or something. You looked so cross that I’d held up your day with a question about flute lessons for my niece…”
“I was cross,” he admitted with a chuckle. “And I was late to my lecture because of you.”
“You were?”
“Mmm.”
“I’m sorry.”
He laughed again and his shoulders dropped a good two inches as he relaxed. He surprised you by kissing you, not squarely on the mouth, but delicately, right in the corner. “I’m worried that at the fund-raiser next week… I won’t be the person you’ve come to know. I’m worried that you won’t like ‘Professor Mikaeïl…’”
You snorted and grabbed his whisky from his hand, setting it down on the low table before swinging into his lap to straddle him. He looked surprised, but pleased. “I’ve heard you being called ‘Kaeïl’ by Frankie, and ‘Mikki’ by Kiriavin, and I’m sure your sister has a few choice names for you as well, judging by what you’ve told me about her. You can be lots of different things to different people, Mikaeïl, but you are this to me,” you said, and you grabbed his horns and kissed him.
He bucked his hips up slightly into you at that, with his deep, sonorous, happy rumbling echoing in his chest, before holding your waist and then hugging you tightly while he kissed you back.
When you finally parted, he smiled, eyes glowing and glistening, and said, “I worry too much.” You both laughed at that.
—
Part Twelve
I really hope you folks enjoyed this one! Don’t forget to let me know if you did enjoy it by leaving a like and/or reblogging it!
For all early releases, character art and bios, upcoming story info, and much, much more, join me over on Patreon! (no new content planned in March (and no charge to existing patrons) but access to everything else is available)
You’ll have access to stories before anyone else, and you’ll get instant access Patreon-only content as well, including polls and an exclusive monthly story for those on the Pixies and Goblins tier or higher!
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#dragon shifter#dragon shifter x reader#dragon x reader#male dragon x reader#embers#weekly chapters#weekly story#nearly finished now though!!#not too many more chapters left!#hope you're still enjoying it
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The Little Jellyfish (Asra) - Chapter 1: So hold my hand
Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: Multi, Other
Fandom: The Arcana
Relationship: Asra Alnazar x Reader
Characters: Asra Alnazar, Reader, You
Additional Tags: MerMay, MerMay 2020, Mer AU, mermaid au, Alternate Universe, AU, Mer Asra, Jellyfish Asra, Merperson Asra (The Arcana), human reader, Reader-Insert, x Reader, gender neutral reader, male reader - Freeform, Female Reader, no specific pronouns used for reader, Frozen (Disney Movies) References, First Meetings, Movie Night, Frozen movie marathon, Sleepy Cuddles, Couch Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, One (1) forehead kiss, Mer Asra learns about the human world, Little Mermaid Elements, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Eventual Sex
Words: 1,949
Summary:
Merpeople weren’t real, they were simply stories told throughout the centuries to entertain people. They were myths, legends, folklore, or at least, that’s what you thought. So when you saw a person in his birthday suit stumbling around the beach near your house, your first thought "wasn’t omg what if that’s a merperson that just got legs and that’s why he’s falling over like a toddler?" No, it was "holy shit is he drunk out of his mind?"
Notes:
This is the first part of a series for MerMay 2020! Each part will be a separate story featuring a mer!love interest x human!reader. There will be 6 stories in total, one for each LI! Full disclosure, each one will end in fishy horizontal tangos👀
(Chapter title from "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men)
Chapter 2 ▶️
Series Masterlist
Merpeople weren’t real, they were simply stories told throughout the centuries to entertain people. They were myths, legends, folklore, or at least, that’s what you thought. So when you saw a person in his birthday suit stumbling around the beach near your house, your first thought wasn’t omg what if that’s a merperson that just got legs and that’s why he’s falling over like a toddler? No, it was holy shit is he drunk out of his mind? Though since it was the middle of the day and there hadn’t been any parties nearby last night it quickly shifted to oh my god he’s either on drugs or bat shit crazy. You tried ignoring him, but it was difficult watching him stumble around like a newborn foal, especially with the adorable pout he had every time he tumbled back down onto the sand. You sighed, grabbing a towel and heading outside, silently praying that you wouldn’t grow to regret this decision.
“Hey…” Vibrant purple eyes snapped to yours, the pure wonder and awe swimming in them surprised you, he looked like a kid set loose in a candy shop. If this was a cartoon he’d have literal stars in his eyes. Seriously what the hell is up with this person? You took in the rest of his appearance, pointedly avoiding anywhere below his waist. A white tattoo of an unfamiliar symbol rested right above his heart, a stark contrast to his golden brown skin. The sun shining favorably upon him almost gave him the illusion of actual gold. White fluffy curls danced around his head in every direction, almost like a cloud had descended from the sky just to rest upon his head. He was so gorgeous he couldn’t possibly be real. What the literal fuck. This was just getting weirder and weirder.
“Um… are you okay?” Your eyes finally drifted back to his, shocked to find he had been checking you out as well. Your cheeks grew warm, but you couldn’t blame it on the warm weather. Clearing your throat and avoiding his intense gaze you hold the towel out to him. He tilted his head curiously. “You, uh, you should cover yourself. This isn’t a nude beach so you’ll probably get in trouble.” His soft lips parted as he finally spoke.
“Oh, right, forgot about that.” His voice itself sounded like the world’s most beautiful song, yet what he said was the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard. Who in their right mind forgets they can’t be nude in public? Your heart sank. Maybe he wasn’t in his right mind… You swept your doubt under the rug, he obviously needed assistance and you were determined to see this through. Besides he seemed harmless. He took the towel, long slender fingers brushing against yours. You jumped, his fingers were freezing. Worry settled heavily in your chest. You were no doctor, but it was definitely not a good sign he was cold in the middle of one of the hottest days of the summer. “Would you like to go to my house?” You spoke before you could even weigh the pros and cons of that kind of offer. He blinked. “I could give you some proper clothes to wear until you can get your own.” You offered your hand to him. He stared at you for a moment, thinking over your offer. His curious expression broke into a wide smile as he took your hand. You helped him up but refused to let go of his hand, trying your best to transfer some heat into the icy limb. He did his confused little head tilt again and your heart skipped a beat. It's not fair that he's so other worldly hot and so goddamn adorable. “Your hands are cold, I’m just trying to warm them up.”
“Thank you.” He flashed his blinding smile again. Yeah, he’s definitely going to be the death of you. The both of you walked in silence, it was quite peaceful really. Until cold arms wrapped around you. You shrieked and jumped away from him. His eyes were wide, but he refused to look at you. Instead choosing to stare sadly at his hands, like they were at fault. “I apologize-”
“It’s okay!” You quickly cut him off, not being able to stand him looking like a kicked puppy for another second. “You just surprised me.” You opened your arms in invitation. It only took a second for him to throw himself into your arms, practically tackling you. The force nearly toppled you over but you managed to keep the both of you on your feet. He nuzzled his head against yours.
“So warm…” He whispered. You laughed, trying to suppress your shivers. It felt like hugging a block of ice, this definitely isn’t normal. You speed walked back to your home as fast as you could with a half naked person clinging to you. As soon as you got in the door you freed yourself from the handsome stranger’s embrace, a soft whine escaping him as you hurried to get him clothes and blankets. You returned to him with the large pile, dumping it on the couch as he watched you with curious eyes. He hadn’t moved from where you left him. You gestured him over and he came immediately, nearly tripping over the end table.
“I got some warm pajamas for you and some blankets so you can keep warm. Do you feel sick?” You inquired. He merely shook his head and went to grab the clothes from the couch. “Wait! You’re still covered in sand.” You smacked your head, how could you forget that so easily? “My bathroom’s down the hall so you can rinse off.” You pointed in the direction. He didn’t move, just staring at you. “Do you... do you need help with the shower?”
“Yes…” He sheepishly mumbled. You grabbed the pjs and then his wrist, guiding him down the hallway.
“It’s okay! I’ll show you how to work it.” You set the clothes on the counter and showed him the shower, demonstrating how to turn it on and off and how to change the temperature. He paid full attention to your mini lesson, very interested in the shower and how it worked. Once you felt confident he knew what he was doing you left him to his own devices. Making your way back to the couch you took a glance at the time. Oh it was 6 PM already. You headed towards the kitchen, deciding to make some Chicken Noodle Soup. It would quickly warm the mysterious stranger up and hopefully help with whatever was wrong with him.
As soon as you poured the soup into two bowls soft footsteps came down the hallway. You turned to smile at him as he entered the kitchen, trying to hold back a laugh. His hair was somehow even puffier now. Without thinking you reached out to feel how soft it was. Your hand gently drifted through what you swore could’ve been a real life cloud. A pleased sigh broke you from your trance. Embarrassed you pulled your hand back as if you'd been burned. He pouted while you quickly changed subjects.
“I made us some lunch." You carried the bowls over to the couch, setting them down on the table. You patted the other side of the couch, motioning him to sit next to you. As he sat down you realized the irony of what he was wearing. You had grabbed the first pajamas you could reach, which just so happened to be Frozen themed pajamas. You laughed, earning another curious stare from your beautiful companion.
"Why are you laughing?" He was confused but your good mood must have been infectious, for he was smiling along with you.
"Your skin is ice cold and I gave you Frozen themed pajamas." You snorted at the sight of blue snowflakes and Olaf scattered all over the white fabric while his brows furrowed.
"But… those clothes are not made of ice?" He questioned. He can't be serious. You observed his lost expression. Holy shit he's serious.
"Frozen is a movie about-"
"What's a movie?" He asked. You blinked, processing what he had said.
"You're… you're not from around here are you?" You wondered aloud. That would explain why he didn't seem to understand anything. It was a flimsy excuse but it was the best you could think of. A musical laugh brought your attention back to your guest. His eyes were mischievous, like he knew something you didn't.
"That is correct. I'm from a very different place than here." He didn't elaborate.
"Okay. Well it's probably better to just show you instead then." You turned on the TV and put the movie on. His violet eyes were glued to the screen as soon as the opening sequence started playing. He paid no mind to you as you wrapped the both of you up in a large fluffy blanket. His eyes only strayed when you handed him his bowl of soup. His eyes stayed on you, observing how you ate your soup before copying what you did. He hummed pleasantly as he devoured the warm food. You tried your best to focus on the movie but it was honestly more entertaining to watch him and his reactions to it instead.
The farther you got into the film, the closer the two of you got. By the end he was pressed up against your side as he cried onto your shoulder. You held him and patted his curls in comfort. As the credits rolled you were both practically cuddling.
"It's over?" He asked, disappointment laced through his voice.
"Yeah it's over. But there's a second movie!" He perked up at that.
"Can we watch that movie too?" He gave you puppy eyes. Even if you wanted to it felt impossible to say no to that face.
"Of course! It wouldn't be a Frozen marathon without the second one!" He happily hugged you. You hid your blush by starting the next film. His attention immediately focused back on the screen, but his arms stayed wrapped around you. You didn't complain, settling your head on his shoulder. You noticed he had grown warmer. He wasn't as warm as a person normally should be, but he wasn't freezing anymore. He felt more lukewarm than anything. Despite that though he felt so comfy. You imagined this is what cuddling a cloud felt like. The softness of him against you was like a siren's song lulling you to sleep. The events of the movie faded away as you succumbed to the gentle lullaby. Soft white locks tickled your face as you realized you were hearing a lullaby. Your new friend was quietly singing along to the movie, voice soft and sweet as you felt his song pull you deeper into the inky abyss of sleep. The last thing you could recall was something soft pressing gently against your forehead.
︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿🐚‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵
You awoke slowly, wiping the sleep from your eyes as you remembered the events of yesterday. You searched for the gorgeous stranger but he was nowhere to be found. The only trace of him was a conch shell left where he had been sitting the night before. It was as white as his hair with the same strange symbol as his tattoo carved into the smooth surface. You examined the shell’s beauty, wondering if you'd ever see him again. Your heart sank as you realized you never got his name, let alone a way to contact him. So it was not likely. It seemed that the movie night would be your only encounter with the mysterious person.
Oh how wrong you were.
Notes:
Fun fact! The Frozen pjammies in the fic are based on pjs I have irl😂
Also Frozen is one of my favorite movies so ofc I'm going to put it in a fic if given the opportunity🥰
Chapter 2 ▶️
Series Masterlist
#reader insert#x reader#x y/n#the arcana#the arcana au#au#alternate universe#mer au#the arcana mer au#mer asra#mermay#mermay 2020#the arcana x reader#merperson asra#mer asra x reader#merperson asra x reader#asra#asra x reader#asra alzanar x reader#asra alnazar#asra x you#mermaid au#the arcana mermaid au#the arcana asra#the arcana asra x reader#the arcana visual novel#fanfic#fanfiction#fic
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