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peterstanslizzie · 4 years

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Reacting To: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Season 2 Episode 1)

Episode Title: Paw of the Jaguar

Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve already seen the episode or are able to tolerate spoilers.

1. Naturally, Season 2 picks up where things left off at the end of the first season; Kipo manages to avoid being captured by Scarlemagne by reining in (or still trying to) the Mega Flamingo that grabbed her. Wolf says that the flamingo is their best bet and so, she, Kipo, Dave, Benson and Mandu hop on it in the hopes of it leading them to Scarlemagne and Lio Oak, Kipo’s dad.

2. Back at Scarlemagne’s Court, we find the captured denizens/humans including Lio and Hoag, whom are all apparently separated from the kids of the burrow for some reason. Hoag is blaming Kipo for their kidnapping, which I have to be honest; He is right. She did unknowingly lead Scarlemagne to Site B. One of the mind-controlled mutes starts spraying the Puppet Pheromones on the humans, which includes Hoag. But Scarlemagne/Hugo doesn’t want Lio to get sprayed with the pheromones.

3. I have a prediction. I bet Lio and Scarlemagne used to be friends or co-workers and I’m pretty sure they had something to do with Kipo being part mute.

4. Before taking off, our heroes are spotted by Troy, Asher and Dahlia and they are wondering what’s up with Kipo’s arm to which she tells them she’s part mute. Troy wants to tag along to help out but Kipo says that it’s too dangerous and suggests that Wolf and Benson take them to the Timbercats while she and Dave go after Scarlemagne. Despite some push-back from Wolf, her plan is more or less agreed upon. I think not bringing Wolf along isn’t a very good idea since she’s the best fighter. Also, he has an entire army; What makes her think that only her and Dave could take them on?

5. As she makes her way over to Scarlemagne’s Court, she is making sure to leave some remnants of Dave’s exoskeleton to allow the others to know where they’re going. Suddenly, the mind-controlled Mega Monkey attacks them. Kipo tries to calm it down by singing the iconic song, ‘What We Have Is You’ again but it doesn’t seem to be working as well as before. Maybe she needs to play the guitar lol.

6. The Mega Monkey grabs Kipo and she tries singing to it one more time and thankfully, she manages to calm it down but for only a few seconds before the pheromone-infused collar it’s wearing starts to activate. Luckily, Kipo swiftly uses her huge cat arm to destroy it, freeing Mega Monkey from Scarlemagne’s control. Aww, I’m so glad because I can’t bear to see it being controlled any longer.

7. Kipo seems to understand what the Mega Monkey is saying because it tells her that it wants to come along with Kipo to stop Scarlemagne. Kipo does the right thing and convinces it to stay put because she doesn’t want it to get mind-controlled again. I agree with Dave; This moment was so cute and touching but I’m sure we will see Mega Monkey again. Plus, Kipo gave it her bracelet/wristband as a symbol of friendship. That’s so sweet.

8. Kipo tells Dave that the Mega Monkey is “special”. I’m now actually wondering if it’s somebody Kipo knows or has met before. Maybe it’s her mom, Song? But didn’t she die when Kipo was a baby or something? Hmm...

9. Meanwhile, I don’t really know what Wolf and Benson are trying to do with Troy, Asher and Dahlia. They want the three of them to learn how to wrangle Pierre in order to gain the respect of the Timbercats. They cover Asher and Dahlia’s faces with maple syrup to lure in Pierre, which catches its attention and it charges right at them. Troy tries to defend them but Benson pushes him out of the way and we get this moment:

10. STOP THE PRESS! Did y’all see this? They blushed! Not just one of them but both of them! OMG! This is lowkey confirmation that Troy is gay too. Well, we all suspected it but c’mon this blush pretty much confirms it. Plus, the little pessimist within me is fearful of one-sided crushes. But luckily, we didn’t get any of that; YASSS!

11. Anyways, back to the story hehe. Pierre starts licking Asher and Dahlia’s maple-syrup covered faces, which makes Benson and Wolf think that they’re doing a good job. Anyways, I love how Wolf doesn’t know how to fist-bump. I guess it’s because she was raised by wolves lol.

12. It’s already night time and Kipo and Dave have finally reached Scarlemagne’s Court but it’s strangely empty. We then quickly shift over to a shot of Scarlemagne and his army flying over (or is it to?) Ratland.

13. Oh, great. More lessons on how to impress the Timbercats in order to let Asher, Dahlia and Troy stay with them; Is this really necessary? Don’t they have better things to do during a time of crisis? This time, they want them to learn how to properly chop wood. They do a decent job with it but Dahlia (I think?) unexpectedly goes ham on the wood and according to Asher, it’s because it has been a long day for her.

14. Kipo eventually spots her dad inside a prison cell that is guarded by two of the primate mutes and she rushes in to attack. One of them sprays the pheromones on her but it doesn’t seem to do a thing. I wonder why? She then beats them and frees her dad.

15. More Troy and Benson moments! We basically see them talking some more and Benson comes up with an idea to have them give flapjacks to the Timbercats. He also says that he has the best recipe in the world to which Troy asks if it includes flour, milk and eggs and Benson replies yes. Don’t they know that those are the basics? LOL.

16. But please, go ahead and be your cute gay selves while you guys flirt and bond over flapjacks. And it’s pretty clear that Wolf, Asher and Dahlia can sense their chemistry.

17. We shift things over to Ratland and all of its patrons are freaking out whilst rushing to exit the theme park since Scarlemagne has arrived, without an entrance ticket for that matter. Scarlemagne reveals to Amy and Brad (two of Ratland’s personnel) that he plans to take over Las Vistas and rename it as Aurum. He envisions Aurum to be a city where mutes will reign supreme over humans. He then proceeds to order his army to dismantle Ratland, which upsets Amy and Brad. Aww, I feel so bad for them!

18. Benson, Wolf, Mandu as well as their new friends arrive at the Timbercats’ forest and they try to return Pierre back to Yumyan. Yumyan notices that Pierre is acting differently because he seems to be attached to Asher. Benson and Wolf try to convince Yumyan and the rest of the Timbercats to let them stay with them by telling them their story about losing their home and etc. And guess what? It’s working because Yumyan is in tears as he is overcome with emotion knowing how brave they’re being despite the hardships. Umm, okay??? And so, they manage to quickly win over all of them. Well, it’s mostly because they’re friends of Kipo but a win is still a win lol.

19. As Wolf and Benson are getting ready to go back to help out Kipo and Dave, Troy walks over to Benson to thank him. They then talk about what they plan to do once they hopefully reunite again; They’re basically setting up a date! And oh, before leaving, Troy gives him one of these:

20. Oh. My. God. A kiss, a gay kiss on the cheek! And it’s only the first episode? I’m screaming! I love these two; I ship these two! YASSS! I hope they meet up again soon because I need more Troyson moments. And Benson is obviously so happy about what just happened. Same here, Benson. Same here.

21. Now back to Kipo, Dave and Lio. Lio reveals to Kipo that he and Song had infused Kipo’s DNA with a mutagen in order for her to become a Mega Jaguar herself. And that is why Scarlemagne’s pheromones didn’t work on her because they only work on primates. What a revelation lol. I was kinda right; I knew that Lio had something to do with his daughter’s transformation. But why would he and Song want to experiment on their own daughter, even if it’s to save the world or whatever? That’s kind of....I don’t know, off?

22. Just as I was half-expecting for Kipo to get mad at her dad, she reacts in the complete opposite way and is excited about becoming a Mega Jaguar and wants it to happen now to get everyone to safety.

23. I have questions lol. If she becomes a Mega Jaguar, will it be permanent and she can she ever turn back to her normal human form? Or maybe switch between the two forms? Lio says that she needs to train with the Chevre Sisters (who we’ve never heard till now) in order to control her transformation or else she’ll never come back. What does that mean when he says “never come back”? Like is she supposed to learn how to switch between her human form and her Jaguar form?

24. They notice that the flamingo that flew them there is being taken away by the primate mutes and Kipo foolishly rushes to attack them to retrieve the Mega Flamingo. She is stopped by Lio but it’s too late because one of them manages to grab hold of Lio whilst trying to escape with the help of Dave who has now transformed into his flying hero mode. Kipo tries to fight back to rescue her father but there’s too many of them. Lio urges Dave to fly Kipo out to safety and the scene cuts off.

25. Back at Ratland, Amy and Brad are devastated at the destruction of Ratland by Scarlemagne and his army. He then grabs hold of two humans and sprays them with his pheromones. Here, we also find out more about Scarlemagne’s evil intentions, which is similar to how Planet of the Apes is and that is to overcome their oppression by humans for thousands of years and basically topple over them.

26. Please don’t kill the rats, please don’t. Scarlemagne wants to make an example out of Brad and Amy as he threatens to launch a bottle of explosive nectar at them. He advises them to run but unfortunately, the scene then cuts off. Oh how I hope they survived!

27. Back in the woods, Benson, Wolf and Mandu bump into Kipo and Dave. Kipo then tells them what happened and she totally regrets not thinking things through, which led to her unsuccessful rescue attempt of her dad. She feels like her instincts have betrayed her. Wolf and Benson try to console her by telling her all the good things she did in the past to which there’s a lot of them.

28. That immediately makes Kipo feel a lot better and we then get a nice group hug between all of them. But the love-fest ended quickly because they hear a loud rumbling in the background, which of course, as we know, it’s coming from Ratland. Again, I hope Amy and Brad are alright. Scarlemagne and his primate mute and human army are seeing flying away from the area, taking some of the wreckage from there.

29. We then see in the distance, a group of cloaked individuals looking at the result of the explosion. I wonder if they are mutes or humans? I can’t tell. One of them does appear to have a beak and two of them have really long ears. Although, their legs looks very human-like. Maybe they’re part-mutes like Kipo? But what we do know is that they’re against Scarlemagne, which is good news.

30. Thinking back, I suspect that they’re the Chevre Sisters, Lio was talking about to Kipo. And it would make perfect sense if they’re part-mutes too because they’re supposedly going help Kipo to learn how to control her transformation.

31. Well y’all. That is the end of my review of episode 1 of Season 2 of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. This episode absolutely exceeded my expectations; It was filled with so much excitement, action and of course, love. Stay tuned tomorrow for my review of episode 2. Thanks for reading! Till then, bye!

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romansrace · 3 years

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Season 13 Sassy Reviews - Thoughts on Episode 04 ‘Rupaulmark’ & 05 ‘The Bag Ball’

The edit is starting to shape up and the producers are trying eargerly to paint our favorites for us. The fans, predictably, aren’t having it. Chaos ensues, as it does basically every season. (This season, we even have girls insisting that fans having opinions is inherently problematic 🙃🙃🙃)

Let’s get into it.

So the best way to do this is probably to go down each of the girls one by one and break down what the edit and framing is telling us, vs what is actually happening.

So from the top:

Kandy Muse is probably the top queen production wants viewers to be invested in. So far Kandy has shown questionable fashion knowledge and skill in designing, decent performance chops regarding comedy and acting, and alright lipsync ability when gifted a prop to help her out. Personality-wise, Kandy is...let’s say, sure of herself. On a positive note she’s a plus size queen who’s comfortable in her own skin. And that’s kind of where her edit stops. Criticism, even justified, of Kandy, is verboten, and any queen who dares to do so is immediately slammed by other queens production favours - followed up by Kandy outside the show justifying and defending herself on Twitter. It’s A Lot.

Gottmik is the show’s attempt to show that they are woke and have always been so by...over a decade in, allowing 1 (one) trans contestant and never referencing the fact that they previously point-blank refused to to the point of forcing multiple queens to detransition before being considered, and blacklisting cis and nonbinary queens who questioned that decision. So far Gottmik has proven herself to be very skilled at makeup. The show has concealed as far as possible her weaknesses at performance, acting and dance, and overemphasised her design skills by gifting her a design challenge win off the back of the two designs in the challenge that professional designers made for her. So there’s that.

Tina Burner rounds out the triple top favourites trio. She’s an experienced comedy queen and actress with a bit of a snarky tongue, per her edit. Per what we’re seeing, she’s also insecure, overinvested in being part of a clique (with the above two) and being seen as a frontrunner. She also has an obsession with the colours red and yellow that 5 episodes in hasn’t been remarked upon once by any of the judges. The judges, as in every season, include Michelle ‘I hate green’ ‘don’t wear that same wig every week’ ‘show us something different’ Visage and Ru ‘give us something feminine or gtfo’ Paul. Selective amnesia?

Tamisha Iman is so far pretty clearly the Miss Congeniality contender of the season and the best narrator/talking head of the whole group. Which...production seems to somehow have not noticed, going out of their way to paint her as an old hag out of her depth and as an ‘aggressive’ black woman by Kandy’s white friends after getting into a spat with her. Stay classy.

Denali and Utica are clearly a pair with skills production didn’t anticipate in respectively performance and fashion design. The edit is trying manfully to downplay the skills of these two queens who out of the whole cast are two of the most likeable and compelling, especially as they don’t have the moneyed backgrounds of some of the contestants production is pushing hard.

Por ejemplo, Symone. An all-rounder and generally quite likeable herself, Symone is however relying heavily on her body in the runways and hasn’t yet been called on it. Still, the same schtick got Courtney Act and arguably Naomi Smalls to the finale several seasons ago.

LaLa Ri has thus far been a bit background despite being chosen to be one of the winners. Her runways have been generally underwhelming, culminating in her woeful design challenge in episode 5. Outside of being Symone’s shadow she hasn’t had much screentime. Oddly enough, the fact pushed in the Meet the Queens that she was Tamisha’s drag daughter was hardly hinted on in the show proper even after it was brought up ‘organically’.

Olivia Lux has been a little background too on a few episodes. I would say she was originally cast as the ‘young talent’ queen before they realised Symone, Gottmik and Kandy already had that category pretty filled out. Nevertheless, as one of the ‘winner’ group who thus far have been shielded from low placements, she’ll probably go far.

Joey Jay, Elliott with 2 Ts, and Kahmora Hall didn’t pick up much screentime either, with Joey’s storyline particularly being...Kandy’s crush on him. Elliott has been more infamous outside the show with some tone-deaf statements on race, and has been oddly uneven in the challenges, performing excellently in some episodes and being handed Safes and critiques, but on other episodes being just ok and overpraised. She feels like the definition of a filler queen.

And finally, Rosé, something of a dark horse of the bunch. Rosé continues to confuse me in terms of both what she is giving and her edit. Of all the queens except the Terrible Throuple, her edit is the most at odds with what her performances are serving us. Touted as an all-rounder, Rosé is nearly at every possible turn going the comedy route, giving references and kooky design elements rather than the classic drag out of the show she’s known for. I’m starting to wonder if it’s possible she’s actively trying to ape what Gigi Goode gave us in season 12 that the judges positively lapped up and couldn’t get enough of? In any case, it’s seeming like she’s being kept around to do well, but never quite good enough, an eternal Janning.

Once again at this stage I’m uneasy about this season. The heavy-handed editing jars particularly set against the extremely organic and natural-seeming Drag Race UK season 2, and the forcible ringfencing of Kandy, Mik and Tina in the face of really average performances over talents like Denali and Utica is really starting to smart as we go further in. Just let the queens’ talent speak for themselves! Or if you’re going to be manipulative, give us challenges suited towards particular queens’ skillsets like you did for Sharon in season 4, Raja in season 3 or Ginger in season 7! Come on, are you Emmy-award winning producers or not??

#drag race season 13 #rupaul's drag race 13 #rpdr 13 #rpdr13 #drag race #roman reviews #romansrace #rupaulmark #the bag ball

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succeedly · 6 years

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5 Reasons to Try a Whole Novel Approach in Your Classroom

Ariel Sacks on episode 185 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Ariel Sacks, author of Whole Novels for the Whole Class, shares five reasons to try a whole novel approach. She also explains how this approach works and some advantages for teachers.

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Below is an enhanced transcript, modified for your reading pleasure. For guests and hyperlinks to resources, scroll down.

***

Enhanced Transcript

5 Reasons to Try a Whole Novel Approach in Your Classroom

Shownotes: http://ift.tt/2lYeC7o From Audio File 185-Ariel-Sacks

Vicki: Today we are talking to Ariel Sacks about Five Reasons to Try a Whole Novel Approach in the Classroom.

Whole Novels for a Whole Classroom: a Student Centered Approach by Ariel Sacks

Now she does have a book on this topic, and I know that you’ll probably find it intriguing. So Ariel, help us understand — what is a whole novel approach?

What is a Whole Novel Approach?

Ariel: Ok, so the whole novel approach is really kind of like a workshop approach to a whole class novel study.

Instead of the teacher leading the students through all of the novels, bit by bit, students receive the novel, they receive the schedule, and then they receive a lot of individualized support to actually read the book independently. Or partners or small groups, kind of depending on the needs of the students.

So some students will finish way ahead of the deadline and some students will really use every moment of it, perhaps listening to it on audio.

Then when students finish at the deadline… We meet up, and we come together for student-driven discussion, where the students decide what we talk about.

We go back into the text. We re-read sections together. We investigate it and get to a deeper meaning, in all the ways that are wonderful about class discussions and whole class novel study. But it is really different because the teacher moves into a facilitator roll.

How do You Motivate Students to Read with This Approach?

Vicki: So what do you say to those who say, “They won’t read a chapter! How are they going to read a whole novel?”

Ariel: Right. So, I do get that question a lot.

Once you switch the focus to the students-supporting-students reading process, and really conferencing with them and being very open about where each student is a reader, and giving them the support that they need… They do read!

And they read much more than when the teacher is front and center. And the students can rely on the teacher to do the reading and interpreting for them. But those supports are really key to making sure that students do their reading.

Vicki: So what’s your first reason to try a whole novel approach in your classroom?

Reason #1 to Try a Whole Novel Approach: You’re Tired of the Traditional Model of Teaching Literature

Ariel: My first reason is just maybe you’re just sick of that traditional whole class novel study.

There’s so much wonderful work being done out there with choice reading, genius hour, project based learning.

And then, maybe you love whole class novels because there are really amazing things that can happen when a group of students reads together.

But you go back to teaching a whole class novel and it’s back to the traditional. And you find yourself bored. So you want to try something different.

Vicki: It’s a new way, so we can try something different and see how it works!

Reason #2: You Are Struggling to Have Enough Time for All of Your Novels

Okay, what’s the second reason?

Ariel: The second reason is time.

One of the big pitfalls of the traditional whole class novel study is that eat an entire marking period.

When teachers feel that students need to grasp every point that they see in the novel, and the teachers need to oversee that and help them through that bit by bit. It takes forever!

So that can lead to burnout, and when I say “burnout.” I mean getting burned out on that particular book.

So by the time it is finished, you never want to look at it again. But also, you’re not reading enough books throughout the year. You get the feeling that kids are stagnating.

Then when students finish at the deadline… Okay, so you can go faster. What else?

Reason #3: You Want More “Real” Reading

Ariel: Well, my next reason is you want more real reading.

So we kind of touched on this before, but I do think in the traditional model there is a lot of “fake reading” that happens.

Students will look for the answers to the teacher’s questions in the text, but they’re not actually reading through the text. They’re not actually experiencing it.

Another thing that happens — even for the student that is reading along and doing exactly what the teacher is asking for — sometimes the experience gets really chopped up. So it’s taking way too long, and it’s almost (I’ve actually had students tell me this) — It almost becomes hard to pay attention to the story, because they’re doing so much, in addition to actually reading. With the whole novel process, they’re really privileging that story experience. And trying to support that.

Vicki: That makes sense! I remember reading Jane Eyre in high school. Fantastic teacher, but I got so into it that I read it in three days. And then it was (discussed for) another eight weeks. It almost made me not like the book — except I liked it so much.

What’s next?

Reason #4: To Bring in More Student Voice and Agency

Ariel: So, next is student voice, for teachers who want a classroom that really welcomes student voice and gives students a lot of agency in their learning.

Students have voice in how they respond to the novel. They decide what’s important in the text. We do this through a very open forum of annotating during the reading process.

And then when it comes to those discussions which happen after all the students finished the reading, those are entirely student-driven so I do put on a facilitator role. It’s not a Socratic seminar where I sit back and just watch it unfold. But they’re deciding what we’re going to talk about. It’s really powerful.

Vicki: So you’re there, deciding what you’re going to talk about?

How Do We Direct the Conversation to Cover the Content When Students Are Leading?

So let’s say you’re an AP teacher, and you know that certain things are going to be on the AP test.

How do you direct the conversation, when you know there are certain things that need to be covered? Or do you let them have the conversation, and then redirect them?

Ariel: I definitely start by letting them have the conversation.

I think it’s really important for them to feel what happens when they have that power.

Nine times out of ten, let’s say I’m doing several discussions with different classes throughout a day. So every discussion begins in a different place.

But nine times out of ten, because of the power of the book itself and the literature, they will find themselves going to some of the same places in a natural way.

And if they don’t — if there are things that I know are really key — I do have tricks to have them pay attention to something. But (I do this) without really taking away from them — without jumping right into it and without taking away that experience.

Vicki: Ok, what’s our fifth?

Reason #5: to Have Fun

Ariel: The fifth is fun. It’s not boring. I can actually read the same text with students many years in a row, with many different classes. And every time different things come out of it.

Even though I said the literature will lead students in certain directions, the shape of those discussions are unique every single time.

Also, who kind of “comes out of the woodwork” in those discussions is really interesting.

We do it in half groups, so every student gets a more intimate experience.

So it’s a task for class, and every student gets more talking time. And the students that were empowered by the actual, authentic reading experience and come prepared for the discussion will speak way more than they may normally speak in class.

And they will share ideas with their classmates and amazing connections and moments come out of that. So it’s stays fresh. And that is because of the students.

Vicki: Ariel, tell us the title of your book.

Ariel: The title of the book is Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach.

Vicki: Okay, and we’ll link to it in the show notes because there are lots more ideas about how to do that.

You know, it’s hard to cover in ten minutes, but there are tricks and tips for facilitating conversations for helping kids read.

And if all you do is the traditional version, why not try the whole novel approach?

You might be surprised.

Bio as submitted

Ariel Sacks (arielsacks.com) has thirteen years of experience as a teacher of English Language Arts in New York City public schools in grades seven through nine. She writes about teaching and education issues on her blog at Education Week (http://ift.tt/2xcy5TG), and supports teachers around the world to implement student-centered methods, most notably the whole novels approach. She is the author of Whole Novels For the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach (arielsacks.com/book). She is a co-author of Teaching 2030: What We Must Do For Our Public Schools–Now and in the Future, and was featured in the book Teacherpreneurs: Innovative Teachers Who Lead Without Leaving.

She studied progressive pedagogy at Bank Street College of Education, where her mentor and longtime collaborator, Madeleine Ray, first introduced her to the whole novel concept. She is a member of the CTQ Collaboratory (http://ift.tt/1hEvWTR) and an advocate for teacher voice in education and leadership of the profession.

Blog: arielsacks.com

Twitter: @arielsacks

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post 5 Reasons to Try a Whole Novel Approach in Your Classroom appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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