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gucciwins · 1 year

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birthday gifts

harry and y/n celebrate twenty-nine

A/N: hi friends!!!!!! happy harry day! thought I'd write something for bel and harry on celebrating harry’s birthday. hope you enjoy! I love you, sweet angels. happy reading 💝

Word count: 1797

love on tour series

29.

Harry had spent 29 years on this beautiful earth. He had impacted thousands of lives in his short time, including yours. You sit in bed watching him sleep and pray to the stars above that you get to love him for the rest of your life. That’s all you’re asking for, and hope he loves you the same in return.

“Feel you staring at me,” he mutters, burying his face in your covered lap.

You giggle, running a hand through his soft brown hair. “Admiring you at 29.”

“That’s what you said last night.”

That is true. Harry went to bed early last night after a beautiful sold-out show, but for some reason, you were restless. You tossed and turned until Harry had enough, wrapped an arm around your waist, and kept you tucked at his side. Once the squirming was done, you traced his face with your eyes memorizing every freckle and wrinkle. “You were twenty-eight last night.”

Harry shrugs, not correcting you because he’s sure it was past midnight then. It doesn’t make a difference. He blinks his eyes open and finds you smiling down at him. “Feliz cumpleaños, mi vida,” you whisper in the quiet of the room.

He sits up, wrapping you in a giant hug. You press repeated kisses to his bare chest. “Happy Birthday, Harry. I hope all your wishes come true. I have no idea what this year has in store for you, but I want you to know that I love you. Te amo.”

You pull back when you feel his shoulders shaking. “Amor?” He’s crying, and you know he’s okay because his dimpled smile doesn’t lie to you.

“So happy you’re here, love. Thank you.” You lean and kiss Harry. Neither of you care about morning breath. You’re quick to get lost in your own world. The kiss is slow, allowing you to explore each other as if it were the first time. There’s no urgency because you have the rest of the day to enjoy each other. Harry doesn’t want to stop kissing you, but he knows you both must breathe.

“Fancy seeing my birthday suit?” He huffs out with a cheeky grin.

You roll your eyes and push him away. He pouts, but it’s quick to fade when you throw your (his) shirt, and it lands on the floor. “This is my gift to you. Now enjoy amor.”

It’s the best way to start his birthday celebrations.

Harry was happy. He was celebrating his birthday doing what he loved with the people he loved. His family called to wish him a happy birthday, and he promised to see them all as soon as possible. He’d leave North America to settle at home for a bit before preparing to head to Australia, trying not to think about the fact that he would be away from you for longer than he’d like since you were scheduled to start filming in a month.

“Mum loved the flowers,” Harry tells you as he stares at the large bouquet of flowers you’ve sent his mum as you did the previous year. “It’s kind of you.”

“Someone has to thank her for carrying that big head of yours,” you tease as you smile at the selfie he received.

“Heeyy!” He whines.

You roll your eyes, giving him a kiss to help him forget about what you said, and like magic, the topic is long forgotten, and instead, he gets lost in kissing you. He’s always shared how intimate kissing is and how he’d kiss you forever if he could. “Love you,” he mutters against your lips.

“Dork,” you push him away, going to look for his gift.

Harry sighs, “come here, baby.”

“So needy.”

He gasps, and you can’t help but laugh at his reaction. He makes it easy to tease him, and you know he loves it.

“It’s my birthday. You have to be nice to me,” he chastises you.

You apologize, making your way back over to him and hand him his present. You go to sit next to him, but Harry makes you sit in his lap. He’s been extra clingy today, not that you mind. You love being close to him. “Mermaids,” he giggles. It’s blue wrapping paper with mermaids and different sea creatures who look like they’re swimming around. The paper reminded you of Harry, and you knew it would be perfect for the gift you had for him.

“I didn’t need a present,” he reminds you as he’s already begun to tear into the wrapping paper.

He made you promise not to get him anything extravagant. Although you loved giving grand gifts, you knew Harry didn’t need anything he couldn’t buy himself, so you did the next best thing and made him a gift. You feel your palms beginning to sweat as Harry is close to seeing the gift you made him. You place your hands on top of his, stopping him from opening the box. “Do–m-maybe you want to save it for later?”

Harry frowns, picking up on your nerves. He lets you hold his hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze. “No matter what it is, I’m going to love it,” he promises. “Whether it’s a strawberry cake you made or socks you found at the market. I will love it because you bought it with me in mind.”

You let out a deep breath and know he’s right. “I’m going to make you your cake as soon as we’re back home.” With his schedule, there was no time to bake and decorate a cake–at least you didn’t have the time because he will have a cake for later tonight.

“I look forward to it,” he assures you. “Can I continue, baby?”

You nod, and he lifts the top of the box. There's a wrapped frame and a card waiting for him. He picks up the frame and turns it around carefully. You don’t look down at it. Instead, take in his reaction. You love taking photos. They allow you to look back at a memory. All you had left of your family were boxes of photos. Boxes of memories. You remembered a quiet night in your house with Harry photos scattered around you as you told Harry story after story. It’s one of your favorite memories. The frame opens up, displaying three images. It was a struggle to pick only three.

The first is one of you both at the beach. You’re sitting between his legs, both smiling at your phone. You managed to stand in front of you after a few failed trials. The second photo was taken during Christmas. You sat outside Anne’s home wrapped in his yellow puffer, both of you laughing at a dumb joke Harry made. You’re happy Anne was able to capture the moment. The last one was taken during your time in Italy during the new year. You set up the camera without telling Harry and captured the moment he decided to bring you in and dance with you. The photo was a bit blurry, but it captured his grin perfectly. Your love for each other was on display, loud and proud.

“For your bedside,” you whisper.

His eyes are full of tears. You didn’t think it was anything special, but it was the perfect gift for Harry. You picked out your favorite moments with him and framed them so he could see them every morning he woke up. Harry doesn’t say a word. No, instead, he leans in, slotting your lips together. The kiss tells you everything he didn’t say. Thank you. I love you. I love it.

“I love it, baby. So much,” he promises.

Harry looks down at the box and picks up the card, and you feel your throat close up. The card is a baby blue color reading “Happy Birthday” with a cake in the middle and the number “29” on top.

“Happy Birthday,” he reads. “Why thank you, Bel.”

You can’t help but laugh. Harry knows you so well he noticed that you were beginning to get lost in your head, your nerves almost getting the best of you.

“Para mi estrella.” His Spanish is good. Harry makes many things look easy. There were times when you spoke too fast you confused him, but he’s been practicing with you and Sarai. It means everything to you. “Still your rockstar.”

“Para siempre.” Always.

Harry opens the card and finds doodles of balloons and flowers. It wasn’t anything special, but you thought it’d be something he’d cherish, especially because of what you’d written inside.

Happy Birthday, mi amor.

Now, how about I be the last voice you hear at night?

And every other night

How about in the morning I be the first thing you see

And every morning after

When I wake, I want to see you staring back at me.

Now how about we add one more title to our lives:

From best friends to partners to mi corazón.

To flatmates. To housemates.

Yours, Y/N.

He doesn’t know what to think. Many emotions are running through him, but you can see the surprise clear on his face. “Baby, is this—what are you saying?”

You raise your hand and caress his cheek. He leans into your hold. “I know we’ve got a busy year ahead of us, but when I return to London, I want it to be at our place. One place we both call home.” Your life with Harry is so intertwined that you don’t want a part of you without him. “Only if you want that,” you add in a rush.

Harry laughs, trying not to let his emotions get the best of him, but this really is the best gift he could ever receive. “Baby, I have wanted this since we finished tour back in New York,” he reminds you.

“Worth the wait?” You ask.

“You will always be worth the wait.”

You believe him.

Harry stares at you as if memorizing every part of your face until he stands up with you in his lap, spinning you around. “We’re moving in together,” he yells. “Yes!!!”

“Harry,” you shriek in delight.

He settles you back down. “I love you, Bel. Thank you for the best present.”

“Doesn’t feel that big,” you try to downplay. You both know it means everything to you. There are many things to talk over, but for now, you’ll celebrate his birthday. Everything else can wait.

Harry pouts, “so you weren’t nervous to ask me?”

You pinch your fingers close together, “only a little.”

“I love you. Life with you is all I want,” he vows.

He kisses you pouring all his love into you, a reminder that you are his and he is yours. Together you are creating a beautiful life.

taglist: @alienorknight @harry-is-on-route-66 @myfavfanficsever @springholland @michellekstyles @harryismyfwend @japanchrry @charlessgf @golden-hoax @itsmycorneroftheinternet @harryspirate @tenaciousperfectionunknown @thurhomish @thelovecayon @shawnieeboyy @dontworrysunflower @a-strange-familiar @caramello-styles

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365days365movies · 3 years

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January 30, 2021: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

So, now that I’ve gotten through the first of these movies, it’s probably time to talk about the director of all four films, George Miller.

Miller’s an Australian director and medical doctor. Yeah, dude went to medical school, and in his last year there, started getting into filmmaking! Nice. He immediately came off as a budding director, and made his official directorial debut with his first film...Mad Max. Yeah. Very interesting guy. Today’s entry is his second film, and he’s since made films including Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo’s Oil, Babe (yes, the pig one), Babe: Pig in the City (yes, the OTHER pig one), Happy Feet (not the pig one) and its sequel, Happy Feet Two. So, a pretty good filmography!

But throughout it all, Miller’s flagship passion was the Mad Max franchise, continuing with this movie, and eventually ending with Fury Road. And from what I’ve heard about these remaining two films, I’m in for a ride. Pun half-heartedly intended. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

An elderly narrator brings us in, telling the tale of the Road Warrior, Mad Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson). He speaks of the downfall of modern society, punctuated by increased savagery, and the takeover of gangs on the world’s highways. People are ruined and forgotten, and they lose themselves. And these people include Max, who’s wandered out into the wilderness since losing his family. Yeah, Jess from the last movie? Dead. Guess she wasn’t doing so great after all.

Max and his dog are on the roads of Australia, where things have definitely changed. Ho longer around any vestige of civilization, the Road Warrior’s driving the Interceptor, being chased by punks on motorcycles, led by Wez (Vernon Wells), a cray, screaming dude with a bike and a mohawk..

After the chase, Max happens upon a recently-wrecked truck leaking gasoline, a much treasured resource in this post-apocalyptic landscape. Wez leaves, having been defeated, and Max gathers the fuel and goes his way. He drives through the desert until finding a mini-helicopter (a gyrocopter, it’s called), abandoned on the ground.

After taking care of a carpet python (Morelia spilota; don’t know the subspecies), he finds himself ambushed by the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), who holds him up for his fuel. However, using his dog, Max gets the upper hand. Frightened, Gyro tells him of a huge supply of fuel somewhere in the desert. He agrees to show him in exchange for his life. Max agrees, and does this.

Yeah, he tied a string to the trigger of a gun, and tied the other end to Dog’s bone. Fuck yes.

Gyro’s true to his word, and he takes him to an oil refinery in the middle of the desert. It’s being used and guarded by a gang of some kind. Max sets up camp, tying Gyro to a dead tree and spying on the gang. That night, many gang members leave the refinery, and return the next day. I should mention, at this point, that we start to see some of the crazy vehicles I love so much in Fury Road. Which, yeah, HERE for that!

Anyway, the bikers, including good old Wez, go after a guy in a tricked-out buggy, incapacitating him and...taking...his wife. Yeah, these movies are really leaning on that to vilify their bad guys, huh? First it was Toecutter’s gang and the young couple, and now it’s these random people. Not the best gimmick in the world, but...OK?

Well, Max goes down to take their gasoline, and finds that the man has lived. Max brings him back to a small settlement, where they take him in. Meanwhile, a child with a boomerang, called Feral Kid (Emil Minty), watches. Cool.

Max is taken into the settlement, where oil is being refined as well. The settlers definitely don’t accept Max, and are ready to take his car and oust him into the wilderness without fuel. And then, the bikers return. And there are a LOT of them.

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These are the Marauders, and they’ve taken some of the settlers captive. They’d gone out, only to be taken captive by Wez and the others. But Wez isn’t their leader. No...no, that would be the Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of rock-and-roll-ah! THIS...is Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson)!

...Am I in love with this movie? Holy shit, I might be I mean, LOOK at that dude! With his voice and his scraggly-ass hair and Jason mask, he notes that the settlers sent out sentries to find a truck, with which to carry their gasoline and take it out of the desert. And as this is taking place, Feral Kid pops up, throws his steel boomerang, and kills Wez’ right hand man. WHAT

YES. MORE PLEASE. Feral Kid’s boomerang is thrown at him, misses, comes back and severs the fingers of the hand of Humungus’ mouth of Sauron dude, Toadie (Max Phipps). Humungus tries to calm the throngs, Wez included, and ends up putting Wez in a Sleeper. He tells the settlers to “just walk away, and [he] will spare [their] lives. Just walk away.”

...Yeah, I love Humungus. And his inevitable death saddens me more than I can properly say. Anyway, the settlers start debating whether or not they should walk away, and Max uses a little music-maker that he found to befriend the Feral Kid. The leader of the settlers, Pappagallo (Mike Preston) tries to convince them to flee with their fuel to a safe place. They continue to argue, until Max interjects with an offer.

Max can get them the vehicle to carry the tanker of gas that they have, but demands as much gas as he can carry, and the return of his vehicle. They agree to his terms, and Max heads off into the night to get the truck from earlier, with gas canisters and Dog in tow. With a little help from Feral Kid, he escapes the notice of the Marauders waiting nearby.

He catches up to Gyro, who’s managed to break free of the tree (well, mostly), and is quickly caught by Max in order to carry the gas canisters for the truck. They get back to Gyro’s gyro, where someone has died after being bitten by his...nonvenomous snake. Yeah, these films haven’t shown very high knowledge of zoology, huh?

They take to the air in the gyrocopter, and easily fly to the truck from the beginning of the film. They get it started, and Max leaves Gyro behind, although he protests to this, and follows behind in the copter. And then.he drives past Wez, who’s still enraged after losing his partner to boomerang hit.

By the way, I didn’t mention this about the gang, but they’re literally all wearing what looks to me like leather bondage gear? Like...I’m pretty certain that’s exactly what that is; it’s pretty obvious. ESPECIALLY Humungus and Wez’s partner, lemme tell you. Just a note, as this change in visual tone and style is going to carry throughout the rest of the series.

The Marauders run Max down, and Gyro saves the day with his snake, throwing it at one of the cars chasing him. Max JUST makes it into the Settlement, but a couple of the Marauders make it in as well, Wez amongst them. He kills a Settler using his favorite weapon, HIS OWN HEAD (fuck, this movie rules), and makes his was through the compound.

Max climbs the top of the wall, and uses a flamethrower on some of the men. Feral Kid throws a boomerang at Wez, who runs off with the rest of the Marauders. Gyro also arrives, landing in the settlement. Pappagallo, in the process, is shot in the leg with an arrow. Unfortunately, the damage sustained to the truck will take 12 hours to fix.

The Settlers thank Max for his help, but that doesn’t mean he’s staying there. That night, however, Humungus retaliates, and strings up their captured settlers for all to see, torturing them throughout the night. Nobody will make it out alive, by his promise.

For the time being, Max and Gyro are still in the settlement, waiting for their chance to leave. Gyro tries to sneak away with a young woman, but she opts to stay out of loyalty to the Settlers. Also, her hair looks like a Who from Whoville. It had to be said...it had to be said. Pappagallo berated Max for just leaving, rather than helping the rest of them and driving the tanker. Max shoves aside Feral Kid, and he takes off.

However, this is NOT the best move on Max’s part, as he drives RIGHT THROUGH the Marauder camp, and Wez isn’t far behind him. Using a NOS system (EAT IT FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISE), they easily overtake Max and run him off the road, DESTROYING the V-8 Pursuit Special, and injuring Max something fierce. Somehow, though, he manages to escape. But one of them KILLS DOG WHAT THE FUCK MAN

Max crawls away and escapes, but is found by...Gyro! Gyro picks him up with the copter, and takes him back to the settlement. He wakes up in a medical tent, still quite hurt. Pappagallo details the plan: use the tanker as a distraction to allow the others to escape. Max, although still injured, volunteers to drive the tanker after all. He doesn’t say exactly why, but he is now stuck there without a method of egress, and he’s the best chance they have. I’m going to choose to believe that he does it for Dog. JOHN WICK STYLE BABY

The time has come. On both sides, they head for conflict. Gyro’s air support, dropping bombs on them. But he’s quickly shot down. Meanwhile, the settlers get out in vehicles of their own, taking advantage of the distraction of the tanker. And once they’re all out…

Now, all eyes are on Max and the Marauders! With the assistance of Warrior Woman (Virginia Hey), Feral Kid, and a few more settlers, Max tries to outdrive Wez and his group. And a LOT of shit happens here, so do yourself a favor and watch this video!

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Rebecca and the other two settlers die, leaving only Max and Feral Kid behind. A LOT of Marauders die in the process, and then Lord Humungus catches up. As they shoot out the tires, Gyro (still flyin’, baby!) and some of the Settlers show up as backup. And...yup, another video. Yes, really.

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After ALL OF THAT, Humungus ONCE AGAIN goes the way of Toecutter, and is killed by a head-on collision with a truck. Said truck careens off the road, and Mac and Feral Kid get out. It’s then that we see that the truck NEVER had fuel in it! No, instead it was a decoy! It allowed the vehicles, which actually contained the fuel, to escape to the safe North, away from the gangs.

The Narrator comes back, revealing that he’s the Feral Kid, and that their new leader was Gyro! And the Road Warrior. That was the last they ever saw of him. He lives now...only in his memories.

And THAT...was The Road Warrior, AKA Mad Max 2. WHOOOOOOOO!!! Second verse, same as the first; epilogue at the end of the weekend! LET’S GO PART 3

January 31, 2021: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

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liskantope · 4 years

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Some briefer(?) reactions to major Disney films 1989-1998

I consider the Disney Renaissance (around the period I refer to in the above title) to have been the last official leg of my chronological journey through major Disney features through Disney+ (for this one I need to mention that I’m excluding CGI animated ones on this journey, except when I feel like watching them on the side). I logged some thoughts on the films I watched in the two earlier legs of the journey here and here, where honestly I intended my notes to be short and not turn into full-blown mini-essays for each movie. Those posts turned out to be major timesucks and I can’t afford that now, but I thought I’d jot down a hodgepodge of reactions and just be briefer and sloppier about it. I feel like I have overall less to say about this set of films anyway, since they’re pretty much all very high-quality and are talked about extensively in the cultural discourse much more than films from Disney’s earlier eras.

As I was still trying to stick to taking one day for each year in the Disney Studios timeline and major film production by Disney picked up pace a lot at the start of this era, I wound up doing a rather intense marathon of one full Disney movie each evening: over ten evenings (corresponding to the years 1989 through 1998), I watched the ten movies The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and Mulan. I would have watched Tarzan the following evening, but I had very recently sort of re-seen it when it came on Netflix -- I didn’t see it for the first time until an outdoor event near the end of grad school not that many years ago; I didn’t bother paying full attention on seeing it the second time a couple of months ago and couldn’t much get into it on the second viewing.

The thing about the ten major animated Disney movies on this list is that, while I can’t say I love all of them, the uptick in quality is dramatic right from the start and never wavers. Every single one of these films just seems objectively better than Pete’s Dragon, The Fox and the Hound, or Oliver and Company. This will help me be a little shorter-written when talking about them, as it’s easier to expand on specific criticisms than to wax on about how great something is.

[EDIT: Okay, these still turned out pretty long and more on the polished side. Guess I’m just not that capable of being brief and sloppy.]

The Little Mermaid, 1989

Although we didn’t have the video at my house growing up, I somehow knew The Little Mermaid quite well; I guess I watched it quite a few times. I went a gap of many years before seeing it again in college (I’m fairly certain that my college girlfriend and I watched it together, in fact). My reaction at the time was that although it was well enough done with good music, the story was terrible. This was right around the time I watched a performance of Once on This Island, a musical based on Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid” on which, of course, the Disney movie was based. I thought the tragic tale told in Once on This Island was beautiful and scorned The Little Mermaid for cheapening it. In fact, my opinion was quite scathing in the way that my opinions more often were when I was younger. So I was a little wary on watching it again.

I’ve mellowed out since my college days and don’t hate the story quite as much now -- in particular, I can’t really blame Disney for Disnifying a mature tragedy into a more lighthearted tale with a happy ending -- but I still think it’s kind of bad. We’re back to Disney princesses (I think for the first time since my first round of Disney films?), this time with a Disney princess who had goals that didn’t involve meeting her prince, until she actually meets him and every other interest, including staying in the world she grew up with where to which all the people who ever loved her or knew her are confined, giving up her voice, and drastically changing her physical form. And this is all for a prince character of flatly generic personality who is superficial and dim-witted enough that he only knows his true love by her voice. (I don’t understand why this isn’t the Disney Renaissance-era film that routinely gets criticized for being anti-feminist rather than... a certain other one also on this list.) Also, while King Triton isn’t by any means a flat character, his sudden turnaround at the end and almost lightheartedness at saying goodbye to his daughter presumably forever doesn’t quite feel right.

I was very surprised at how much I’d completely forgotten among plot events and certain scenes in the movie. For instance, as the action neared the climax, I really had no memory of how Ursula would be defeated and watching it didn’t jog my memory.

This is the first of several films on this list where I noticed a sample of what I’m starting to think of a set of 90′s sitcom/romcom tropes, in this case the situation of the romantic leads courting very publicly with all the other characters watching and cheering it on and working behind the scenes to help it happen. This shows up again in Beauty and the Beast and (to a slight degree) Aladdin below.

Great music of course, even slightly better than what I remembered. Fun fact: you know that “Part of Your World” song, almost certainly the most widely popular in the film, the one that musical theater kids at my (and maybe your) middle school always used for auditions? Apparently it was almost cut from the film, mainly because it was shown to a test audience of little kids who all fidgeted and got visibly distracted.

The Rescuers Down Under, 1990

I don’t have too much to say about this one, the first Disney sequel ever. I had only ever seen the first Rescuers before and, as my previous set of reviews indicates, didn’t particularly like it, but came in to this one a little more optimistic since some consider it better than its predecessor. They aren’t wrong -- this movie was similar to The Rescuers but better, I think. Although the villain was just as forgettable, the setting was far more enticing (at least to someone like me who has never been to Australia and thinks of it as exotic), and the dynamic between the main mouse characters was more engaging. Here we have another subplot that somehow reminds me of a 90′s-ish sitcom/romcom, with the aborted marriage proposals and a love triangle -- not that love triangles hadn’t featured in movies for decades, but something about how this one was done felt distinctly more modern.

Beauty and the Beast, 1991

Ah, this is not only one of the Disney movies I saw the most as a kid but one which has only grown on me as I’ve gotten older -- I consider it one of the most groundbreakingly beautiful of the animated classics ever made, one of my very favorite Disney productions of all time. We got the video when I was only five or so; I remember distinctly that it came out on home video (right after coming out in theaters) right around the same time that 101 Dalmatians came out on home video and that my mom explained to me that she was choosing to buy Beauty and the Beast instead because of its superior music. She was right about this -- not that 101 Dalmatians has bad music, but it’s hard to measure up to Alan Mencken’s masterful compositions for Beauty and the Beast. For me it solidly ranks in the top three Disney movie soundtracks ever, one of the others being that of Mary Poppins and the third being from an easily-predictable film later on this list.

I’m pretty sure I remember watching portions of this movie every morning for weeks before leaving for kindergarten (this is what makes me think we got it when I was five), and I continued to enjoy it throughout childhood. I next watched it when I was much older, but I can’t remember exactly when. During college I got hold of the soundtrack of the musical, which since has been one of my favorite musical soundtracks to listen to. I never actually got to see the musical until last December when it was showing in my hometown, and I thought it was excellent. Interestingly, there were a number of scenes that I assumed had been added for the musical but I had actually forgotten were in the movie -- unlike with certain Disney musical films *ahemMaryPoppinsahem*, they didn’t take many liberties with the musical except to add a number of new (very good) songs.

Leaving aside the top-notch music and exquisite animation, the story in my opinion is one of the most beautiful and distinctively memorable stories Disney has ever told, not to mention entertaining without every being silly or over-the-top. It speaks of compassion, drawing out core goodness from an ugly exterior, and the fact that, to quote the enchantress from the start of the tale, “beauty comes from within”. Belle is also, to my mind, the most feminist Disney protagonist ever to be seen up to that time, which is why I get super super annoyed that so many people point to this movie loftily shouting “Stockholm Syndrome!” I feel it’s kind of inevitable that I quickly address that here, even though I’ve brought it up on this blog several times before. (Also, for an excellent takedown of the “Beauty and the Beast is a sexist story because Belle has Stockholm’s Syndrome” take, see this video essay of Lindsay Ellis.)

When watching the musical last winter I kept an eye out for justification for the Stockholm’s Syndrome take that I might not have remembered and couldn’t find any, but it pains me to admit that I did find a smidgen of justification, for someone determined to be a bit uncharitable, in a particular bit of dialog from the movie. I don’t recall it appearing with quite that wording in the musical, although it’s entirely possible that the musical has those exact same lines and I just wasn’t being observant. Here it is:

BELLE: What did you say?

BEAST: I release you. You’re no longer my prisoner.

BELLE: You mean... I’m free?

BEAST: Yes.

BELLE: Oh, thank you. Hold on, Papa. I’m on my way. [tries to hand mirror to BEAST]

BEAST: Take it with you. So you’ll always have a way to look back... and remember me.

BELLE: [in sweet, deeply moved tone] Thank you for understanding how much he needs me.

So okay, maybe Belle comes off as showing just a bit too much unqualified gratitude here, an oversight that the writers circa 1990 clearly should have avoided in case diagnosing female characters with Stockholm’s should ever become trendy twenty-something years later. But this could be remedied by a quick rewrite of the dialog in that one scene; it’s not as though the whole plot has to be changed away from its inherently misogynistic nature.

And that’s all I want to say on that one aspect of this absolute gem of a Disney production. Despite a few minor issues I noticed, such as Maurice being a little too innocent and helpless, and it lacking my very favorite line from the musical (“Belle don’t you recognize the beast within the man who’s now before you?” at the end), Beauty and the Beast comes about as close to perfection as it gets.

Aladdin, 1992

Although I didn’t see this major blockbuster hit when it first came out -- it was probably considered a bit too intense for me at kindergarten age -- this is the first time that I was aware on some level that a particular Disney movie was a new release. (One of my few sharp memories of kindergarten recess was a boy standing on a stump or low piece of playground equipment making proclamations to passersby for minutes at a time that alternated between, “You are a street rat!”, “You were born a street rat!”, and “You will die a street rat!”, and how this made me consciously contemplate the concept of present/past/future tenses for the first time.) When I saw it, I loved it -- it was clearly the most exciting animated movie out there. At some point in childhood I thought it was bested by its sequel, but a few years later as a teenager I decided that the tightly resonant plot of the original Aladdin made it the best Disney movie ever. I’ve definitely mellowed out my opinion on this, as Aladdin certainly has flaws and some other features are more deeply meaningful to me as an adult, but I still hold up Aladdin as one of the greats. I saw at least parts of it as an adult on TV and saw it very recently prior to getting Disney+ when it appeared briefly on Netflix, but I was perfectly happy to rewatch it yet again on Disney+ the evening after watching its predecessor as Aladdin is fun and entertaining every time.

In this animated production we have finally topped The Great Mouse Detective in terms of animated action. We have topped most movies that ever came out prior in terms of a manically funny yet also soulful character in Robin Williams’ role as the genie. The story is excellent, apart from having only one female character, and my being bothered just a little by the slough of magic tricks dominating the action towards the end -- I tend to prefer universes where magic requires scholarly study and careful training (e.g. The Black Cauldron) rather than “genie points his finger at you and now you have the ability to point your own finger and make anything happen that pops into your head”. The sultan continues the trend of old man characters who are portrayed as helpless and infantile -- in this case, even more intensely, since the sultan has none of Maurice’s brilliant smarts. But I’m mostly nitpicking here -- Aladdin is well deserving of its high status in the history of Disney.

The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993

I was very glad to finally get a chance to see this movie, because I clearly remember knowing about it from the time it was being advertised back in 1993, and I heard about it during my entire childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. Although it seemed that most of my friends had seen it growing up, it didn’t look much like my conception at the time of a “normal movie” or even normal content, and so I don’t recall ever asking to watch it. But my recent-day self recognized that it’s quite a classic and was curious to see it.

I don’t regard The Nightmare Before Christmas as one of the really great Disney productions, but I strongly admire how original it was (particularly for its time) in every single aspect, including use of claymation, overall aesthetic, intriguing characters, and story. It was also fun to see what seems to be the only Disney musical that is done in the style of opera, that is, where the entire story is told in songs without any extended non-musical dialogs. And the songs are quite good in their own way, too. I don’t particularly want to see the film again, but I might not mind getting a soundtrack of it.

The Lion King, 1994

This is the first Disney movie -- and I believe the first movie of any kind, in fact -- that I went to see in the theater. I remember it as a powerful and sometimes overwhelming experience, but as a movie I overall liked even as young as I was. This is remarkable especially considering that much of the story feels more adult in nature than almost any other Disney animated feature.

What can I even say about this one? I think the general reaction to watching it is almost unanimously shared. My impression is that what its creators were going for, more than anything else, was epicness, and they succeeded in a way that had never been done through animation before. Apparently the entire (incredibly epic) opening number was shown as the trailer -- a questionable move, but understandably it got people very excited about The Lion King’s release.

One of many particular things that makes The Lion King stand out is the profound darkness of its main villain, perhaps the most chilling that has ever appeared in Disney. An argument can be made that not only murdering a major protagonist halfway through the movie but convincing the child that he’s to blame is the most evil act we’ve ever seen from a Disney villain. I’ve seen it pointed out that it’s vaguely ableist to give the villain an ugly scar and even make it his name. Some have suggested that they should have made the villain the handsome and strong one and given the scar to one of the heroes -- Simba or Mufasa -- instead. I’m definitely sympathetic to this point of view, and I totally agree that Scar shouldn’t actually have been someone’s name. However, without getting bogged down into something that could be a lengthy post all on its own, I strongly feel that in a way it adds to the depth of our villain’s depravity through the backstory that it implies. And by the way, his ending is probably my favorite out of the fates of all Disney villains.

The music also follows the film’s ethos of being as epic as possible (well, with the exception of a couple of the songs, but they were still fine songs). “The Circle of Life” and the instrumental music propel The Lion King’s soundtrack to possibly the very best in all of Disney.

To be sure, this movie does have more flaws than I remembered. As I said, Scar is a terrible name to give any of the characters, especially in a story where everyone else’s name comes from Swahili. Pumbaa is basically just one big fart joke. (Although, I give the writers major credit for managing to switch the tone to accommodate fart jokes within like five minutes of Scar confronting Simba over Mufasa’s death.) The video essayist Big Joel has pointed out interesting things about the story and made some rather troubling points about it, although to me that almost just makes the film deeper and more thought-provoking rather than actually worse (I see the Chronicles of Narnia this way). But overall, The Lion King has well earned its high rank on the list of highest grossing films of all time.

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At this point in Disney’s history and my childhood, apparently I decided that I didn’t care to see new Disney films coming out because I was content with watching my old favorites over and over, and anyway I was getting older and discovering that non-Disney movies could be quite entertaining as well. Therefore, I didn’t see any of these last four until adulthood, even though they all came out when I was still a kid.

Pocahontas, 1995

I was glad for the chance to finally see Pocahontas for the first time, unfortunately not before hearing countless references to it as being Problematic while I would have preferred to go into it completely uninfluenced by popular opinion. I had actually seen songs from it and Disney books of it as a child and it didn’t interest me at all. On finally watching the film, I found that I got what I expected on both counts: it wasn’t terribly interesting or gripping, and it doesn’t really pass the muster of today’s higher standards of responsible storytelling about colonialism.

All that really sticks out at me looking back (after some delay in writing this post, so that it was over a month ago that I watched this) is that the plot felt a bit atypical in two ways. One, a character, who is neither a protagonist really nor a villain, is killed off around halfway through -- a daring move that The Fox and the Hound chickened out of doing, but I shouldn’t have been all that surprised given that Pocahontas’ very predecessor did this with a protagonist in a much bigger way. And two, the story ends sort of anticlimactically: I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed when a big Disney animated feature doesn’t end with a lot of action, despite realizing that this more peaceful kind of ending being a reasonable alternative is basically the entire point the story wants to make.

The songs are sort of meh, at least by the high standards of Disney movies of this period. Nothing more really to say on this one.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996

Here is another movie that I had never gotten around to seeing before, despite having been somewhat more interested in it than I ever was in Pocahontas. And this turned out to be the main breakout attraction on this list, as I found it nothing short of spectacular (save, perhaps, the music, which was “only” quite solid, maybe not spectacular).

I would nominate this for the award of most mature movie among all the animated features included in this journey. I would almost say its ideal audience is adults, not children. It showcases an abusive relationship with enough intricate care to be worthy of analysis through abuse discourse on Tumblr. It displays lust and sexuality in a way that I don’t think I’ve never seen anywhere else in Disney animation. Its violence and political undertones are quite dark. It examines religion deeply (which is as far as I know unique in Disney), and the capacity of religion to bring out both the best and the worst impulses in humanity is exposed. Its main villain is one of the more multi-layered ones. It treats physical handicaps and deformities in quite an honest way and subverts expectations with its love plot.

Perhaps the only thing one might reasonably criticize this movie for is the characters of the gargoyles, which are clearly present to lighten the tone a bit so that the film isn’t entirely heavy and austere. But I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised -- I think the gargoyle stuff could have been executed in such a way that may have made the whole film sag, but instead they were done just right: the gargoyles are depicted as being animated only in the mind of Quasimodo. This means in fact that in a way, they actually implicitly add some gravity to his situation. (Consider that in a more typical Disney film there would have been some sort of cheesy sentient animal friend instead whose existence would not have been confined to the protagonist’s imagination.) Here I’m going to choose to ignore the fact that the gargoyles do seem to interfere in the final battle with some explosives, a possible inconsistency which is minor enough to be glossed over.

Anyway, I think before I unsubscribe from Disney+, I might just give this one a second watching.

Hercules, 1997

Although I never saw this one growing up, I did get talked into watching it by my college girlfriend who had been fond of it growing up. I distinctly remember not caring much for it when I saw it with her. My reaction at this later stage of my life is basically the same. There’s something about the animation style that I find subtly grating and distracting. And there’s something about the story itself that feels like way too light and cartoony a take on ancient Greek mythology (although it’s not like the ancient Greeks had a particularly heavy or dark mythology, and what else could I expect from Disney, really?). I guess that stories that are so explicitly centered around a young man’s quest for hero-hood and being godlike just don’t speak to me that well, and I didn’t find any of the characters that appeared to be especially memorable or engaging.

I did like the muses and enjoyed their singing but can’t say I love any of the musical numbers. So, I respect the effort and earnestness and general respect for ancient Greek culture that went into Hercules, but my overall reaction is still meh.

Mulan, 1998

I had only seen this movie once before, during a trip with some grad school friends back some years ago. One of my best friends at the time, who was with us on the trip, highly recommended it as pretty much her favorite Disney movie as she especially liked father-daughter stories. At the time, the film didn’t make a particularly strong impression on me, although I could recognize its quality. Watching it again on Disney+ has given me a deeper respect for it as having quite a good story and characterization, fine animation, and pretty decent music. I like both Mulan and Mushu as characters, and I enjoyed their dynamic.

I guess it’s telling, though, that I don’t really have all that much more to say about it. Maybe I don’t relate closely enough, maybe the movie didn’t imprint itself on me at an early enough time in my life, maybe I don’t engage that well with any plot that involves organized warfare, I don’t know. But I think I can only really like this film on a more dispassionate, intellectual level, rather than feeling touched in any kind of resonant way by it.

I think it’s interesting to note that Mulan is actually pretty rare among Disney protagonists in having two parents who survive through the entire story. And that moreover, despite it being billed as a father-daughter story to me (and I’m not denying that it is somewhere at its core), Mulan never directly interacts with her father except at the beginning and the very end.

Anyway... since watching all of these, I’ve been watching the more recent major films sort of sporadically: The Return of Jafar (a favorite of mine at some point in childhood, but with maturity I can now see why it was direct-to-video), The Emperor’s New Groove (quite good, better than expected), the first half of Home on the Range (about as bad as I expected, hence my quitting halfway through), WALL-E (as good as I remembered from when it came out when I was in college), Enchanted (one of my favorites, not on Disney+ so I got it through... other means), The Princess and the Frog (a real treat, slathered with Louisiana flavor), Tangled (sweet but nothing outstanding), Frozen (one of my favorites from seeing it in the theater; however I had never seen the first ten minutes which makes a major difference!), and Frozen II (which I had been sorry to miss in theaters last winter, a bit of a weird story but not bad and absolutely the most stunning animation I’ve ever seen). And, of course, Belle’s Magical World, the infamous mid-quel to Beauty and the Beast; this was not a major film but I just had to see if it was as legendarily bad as people say and, yes, it was.

I’m very glad to have been able to get a break from Netflix by taking a tour through the main history of Disney -- including many childhood memories, would-be childhood experiences, and more modern things from my adulthood -- thanks to Disney+.

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tomasorban · 4 years

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Supernatural Stories of the Aboriginal People: An Interview with Steven Strong

Steven Strong (and his co-researcher/author Evan Strong) are no strangers to New Dawn readers. They are best known for their articles, interviews and publications on the controversial theory that Australia was the cradle of civilisation – the home of an Original humanity that branched out into other parts of the world to seed culture and a more advanced way of being.

Steven’s knowledge is steeped in secret Aboriginal lore and rituals that for obvious reasons cannot be divulged to the general public. His – and Evan’s – mission is informing the wider Australian community on the forgotten heritage of the Original people and the metaphysical changes happening right now in this country.

Recently Steven was interviewed by Jeffery Pritchett & Wahabah Hadia Al Mu’id (WHAM) for their online radio show. The interview covered the Strong’s work about Australia as the cradle of civilisation but Steven also shed light on personal encounters with the mysterious and supernatural. He speaks of an Original way of being foreign to the vast majority of Australians, but lived and practiced by members of indigenous communities, especially the Clever Fellas and Elders.

The following is an edited extract from Steven’s spoken interview with Jeffery & WHAM in April.

Jeffery Pritchett (JP): I’ve heard the Aboriginal people are connected in some way to the Pleiadians [ancient extraterrestrials from the star system of the Pleiades that have an interest in Earth]?

Steven Strong (SS): Way back at the start when I was given a very strong ceremony by the Ramindjeri [Aboriginal people of Kangaroo Island, South Australia], I sat down at the finish and they told us about circumnavigating the world in a figure 8 in ancient times. And one of the elders turned to me and said, “You do realise in the old days, there were other ways we travelled this earth?” I knew what he was talking about, he was talking about moving through the air.

They are absolutely obsessed with the Pleiadians. In fact, I’ve had elders who will finish their conversation by repeating the same thing time after time. They tell me the Pleiadians are their countrymen, they are part of them. Quite recently a genetic study has come out to confirm this. What we’ve now found is the Original people have a genetic strand that no one has ever seen before. And the scary part for the mainstream is they don’t know where it’s from. They cannot associate it with any hominid, semi-hominid, or other Homo sapiens on the planet. It’s only found in Australia with the Original people.

I know it’s the Pleiadian gene they’ve found. And the reason why they can’t find it anywhere on this planet is because they have their eyes permanently fixed down, they should be looking up. In fact, this is why we talk about this now, not because I had a chance but because I promised we would tell their story. I don’t meet an elder who will not talk about the Pleiadians. We are pushed into a story that I remember on one occasion I said we’d never touch. In fact our first three books, published by University Press in America, never mentioned it. We never mention this story. We’re coming into this story simply because we don’t have a choice. And the Original elders have made it clear, we must talk about this part of the story now. That’s what we’re doing, we’re only doing what we’re told.

JP: When it comes to the Pleiadians and the Aboriginals, what is the creation story?

SS: I’ve got two rocks, two marked rocks, and the elders have told me the full story with those two rocks. And they’ve shown me the rocks and they’ve shown me how it’s put together. Those two rocks are called Ros’ rock 1 and 2. My main elder is a Clever Fella and can do things you shouldn’t be able to do in any science book today, and I’ve seen him do it. He told me one day, after knowing I had this rock [Ros rock 1] for a couple of years. (I’ve got to tell you something about Original elders – when you’re working with them, don’t ask them a question because they’ll never answer it. They’ll ask another question you can’t answer and they’ll answer that question a year later.)

A year and a half passed when Karno told me the full story of that rock, and it’s basically the beginning. What he said was that way back in the Dreaming, at the very beginning, the Pleiadians came in the totem of the Goanna, which is the one that gives wisdom. When they came to this country (Australia), they asked permission. They didn’t barge in – they asked permission to come. They came here looking for the best that was on this planet and they found the Original people, but they said no. The story goes that the eagle and the crow fought against the Goanna, the Pleiadians. The eagle and the crow are the Original people. And they couldn’t come, they could not come. But one day, according to the elders, the crow saw the wisdom of the Pleiadians and changed sides. And then what happened was the fight continued and the crow and the Goanna defeated the eagle. And they came and landed on this country. Then what they did, because they’d won the battle, is the Goanna asked the eagle for some totem or memento of his victory, and he was given the claws of the eagle, and the laws of the Pleiadians were scratched into this rock we have now. The Original story is we were given this information from the Pleiadians, and the second rock talks about the Original people and their contribution.

They look upon this as a unification of two different species. The Pleiadians did not come to this planet to subjugate, or to mine, or anything like that. They came here to find a body to incarnate into. What we have according to these people is the best of both worlds. From this planet, the Original people, and from outside, the Pleiadians. Together they created a set of genes. I look upon something like the walkabout genes, where you go off and find your own salvation and your own wisdom. The Original people were told to spread around the world, and therefore every human on this planet has within them the Original and Pleiadian genes. And yes I know, some of us may have those Assyrian genes [a reference to the Anunnaki slave race creation], very much more compliant.

What we have today in our genetic bank is an absolute dog’s breakfast of genes from all over this planet. We’ve got Denisovan and Neanderthal genes within us, and genes from outside. The story goes that the day would come when each person would be demanded and asked to look for their Pleiadian genes and to strike out and find the truth. That’s why they seeded the whole of this planet with their genes – they had a long term plan. The story I’m told is it’s now time for every human being on this planet to access their Pleiadian-Original genes and find the wisdom and truth. Because if they rely on the other ones, they’ll end up on the wrong side of the equation when the cutoff line appears.

There is a long, long story about the Pleiadians being part of this particular continent. I can’t speak on behalf of Africa and places where other mobs came, that’s not our issue here. We just talk about what happened here. Now the Original people are telling us the time for the Pleiadian-Original genes to come to fruition, to give us wisdom and an alternative to what we have today, which is appalling, is now upon us. Original history and archaeology doesn’t run in a straight line – it runs in a circle. And the circle, ladies and gentlemen, has been completed.

JP: When it comes to the Dreamtime, I’m wondering your perception on it? When I was 17 I went through testicular cancer and chemo. And then a year later my dad died, and I started to attract UFO activity. Multiple witnesses have seen all kinds of stuff with me. And I’ve seen some different types of beings. I’ve seen beings made out of energy, what I call a luminous being or beings made out of light. And I’ve kind of come to the conclusion through talking to other shamans that they’re us without our bodies on some levels. I’m kind of curious, what is the Dreamtime?

SS: If I was to give a fairly reasonable description of the Dreaming it would probably finish in about three hours. But I think we’re going to have to go the 101 because it’s so difficult. Look, the Dreaming is about connecting with the Spirit and about connecting with our reality, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s not a religion. Original people don’t have churches, they don’t have steeples and they don’t have altars. How can I best put it? It runs something like this…

A young man or woman around 14 or 15 or 16, when it’s determined they become adults, goes through some very severe cuts and a lot of pain, because most Original learning comes through pain. What’ll happen is once the boy has been cut and he’s taken on site, he goes out into the bush on his own. Then the uncle will watch him from a distance, but won’t have a thing to do with him. He’ll be on his own for three or four months. During that period he makes his own connection with the Dreaming. Original people believe every human being has magic within them, they think it’s like breathing. Everyone of us has it. What that person then does is finds their own magic, finds their own way of communicating with the spirits.

You’ve got to remember, in our society the spirits are in the land, they’re in the trees, they’re in a blade of grass, they’re everywhere and they watch us eternally. I’ll give you a very good example of what happened to us when we offended the spirits and the Dreaming acted upon us. We went to a site. Our elder that takes us in, Auntie Beve [Darkinoong Elder], was unwell at the time and couldn’t smoke us, and we always get ceremonied before we go on site. I had another ceremony given to me by Uncle Jerry, six of us did it, and we walked into this place. It was full of orbs and we filmed them. As we came in a brown owl flew out and left a feather. We thought that was a good sign. Oh my god, it wasn’t. Anyways, we did our business for the day, filmed what we saw, and it was quite amazing. We did some work on the carvings and engravings and paintings there.

I went back that night to Gosford [New South Wales] and we sat around talking about what we saw that day, and I got a phone call from my elder. My elder lives in Kangaroo Island, that’s 3,500 kilometres away. We’d left that site five hours ago, and he rang me. I knew I was in trouble. Normally what happens is when the elder speaks, someone else rings you and tells you to ring them. They don’t approach you, you must approach them. This time he was approaching me. And I’ve had that a couple of times and it means I’m getting growled at. This time was huge. This is how the conversation went. He said, “You’ve been on country today.” I said, “Yes, but Karno it’s not your country.” He said, “I know that, but did you smoke yourself today?” I said, “Well no.” He said, “I have a red kangaroo here, and that red kangaroo is telling me the whole story of what happened. You did another ceremony, didn’t you?” I said, “Yes, I did.” He said, “Well that was just accepted but they’re not happy.” And he told me, “If you ever go on site again without smoking yourself, they will kill you. That is your last warning.” And then he hung up.

Now my question is, I never told him about this. How did he know 3,500 km away I was walking on country and had broken a law? That owl flew out and told someone else, who told another animal and went across and told Karno. I’ve figured that message travelled 700 kilometres per hour to get to him. How he got that message was through the animals. In the Dreaming, if you really are locked in with the Dreaming, you can communicate with animals, you can communicate with everything.

I’ll go to another story. This same guy [Karno], when [British author] Graham Hancock and I sat round a campfire, he disappeared completely. We all know that. He smiled as he did it, and then reappeared about three seconds later, about 50 metres behind someone else. We asked his wife how did he do this. She said, “I don’t know, I’ve never seen that one before.” He told me later, “The disappearing is nothing. I come from this place and we all do. The only difference is I know it and you’re not sure. Once you know it, everything is possible.” What is the Dreaming? It’s us finding our true powers, our true reality and our true purpose in life.

JP: Do the Aboriginals ever say anything about Yowies or Sasquatch?

SS: Yes they speak about them. I’ve been to Yowie country, and I’ve met the keeper of the Yowies. I won’t write about it, because you get smashed. I get smashed enough as it is. I just can’t afford another punch in the face for that one. Do I know they exist? Absolutely. In fact, on one occasion we went into country, and the elders made it clear because they’d been finding all these kangaroos and wallabies with their heads ripped off, because the Yowie is incredibly powerful. They made it clear that if we went on to that country, we had to sing the song of the Yowies before we could get there. He said don’t go in there without that song or they will attack you. There were six of us, and we all sung. None of us questioned for one second what they told us. So yes, it is very much a part of Australia.

We also had big robust people with massive skulls, 1540 cc, and they stood about 6 foot 6, but they’re not Yowies. We had tiny people that were 3 foot high, I’ve got pictures of them, a whole tribe of 150 people smaller than pygmies. Then there are other groups they talk about. My understanding is there’s at least four different types of Original people in Australia still existing to this day. It’s a very common story about the Yowies. But finding them is bloody hard because these guys are masters of deception and camouflage, and they will show themselves when they want to be shown. That’s the only way you’ll see one.

JP: What other stories of the supernatural can you share?

SS: Four days ago an elder rang me up, 4,000 km away. I’d been waiting four weeks for the phone call. I’d just set my 150 rocks into two formations. She rang me up and said, “Been waiting four weeks to ring you, I’m ringing you now because now’s the time to ring.” She said: “You’ve got those rocks in formation right now, haven’t you?” I said, “Yes.” She said, “You’ve got someone sitting inside there haven’t you?” I said, “Yes.” “He’s a good man, he can stay there, pass that on.” And then she hung the phone up. 4,000 km away. How did she know I just took the rocks out an hour before and put them in two circles and joined them up? That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we could do, all of us. I didn’t know that, I can’t do it, and I probably never will because I’m not as wise as they are. My job is to be pragmatic and try to convince people through logic and science it’s true. But I can tell you this now, I swear on a stack of bibles, what I’m telling you is true. That woman rang us up and said, “You’ve got your rocks in formation.” How did she know? She was 4,000 km away. This is what we could be.

Instead what we get is phones where we press buttons and play games. I remember recently I was in a train in Melbourne. I was with a friend and we were lost in the city and we didn’t know where we were going. There were about 80 people in four carriages and no one was talking, not one of them. All they were doing is sitting there pressing buttons, wasting their lives, and going to work and coming back the next day and then going back again. They don’t think they’re slaves, and they don’t think they’re trapped. They are, because they’ve been sucked into this system that’s wrong.

We’re trying to wake people up to the truth of what Original people know. Remember this, I’m not only talking about the Original people [in Australia], there are many people that have this story. We have to look to all our indigenous people because they are the only ones that can save us now. We go down this path [of materialism and technology obsession] and we are done for. We really are. And it’s time for the Original, and they are coming out, believe me, they are coming out.

Aboriginal painting of Baiame, a creator Spirit of the Dreaming, Baiame Cave, Milbrodale, New South Wales.

>read full article<

#aborigenes #anthropology #history #mythology #pleiades #mystery #extraterrestrials

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gumnut-logic · 4 years

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World Windows 2020

14 April 2020

Today’s Windows:

Visit Muriwai Gannet Colony, North Island, New Zealand with @onereyofstarlight

Visit Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain with @fictivekaleidoscope

Visit Port Lincoln, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia with me.

Thank you wonderful peeps for participating. If you have some favourite places you would like to share while we are all stuck at home, simply post some photos and tag #WorldWindows2020 (tagging me also helps so I can add your Window to the list). Remember, your backyard is exotic to people on the other side of the world (like me).

Today I’m taking you to the third peninsula in South Australia (we have three main ones - Fleurieu, Yorke and Eyre). This is the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula.

The Eyre Peninsula is massive and in some places, quite empty. The top half is dry and full of mallee and Outback red sands. The bottom drops enough latitude to catch the same weather as Adelaide and it has the greenery to match (which to the English and the Kiwis is possibly still quite brown, but I’m grabbing the green where I can get it :D).

Look a map to show you what I’m talking about :D

Geologically speaking (cos I’m a geek), the Eyre Peninsula is mostly comprised of ancient, ancient crystalline rocks. We’re talking the Gawler craton here. These are rocks that have been land since the Earth cooled. Australia has three cratons, two in Western Australia (one of which has the oldest rocks on Earth) and this one in South Australia. These rocks are tough and consequently, the coastline of the Eyre Peninsula is jagged, full of secret bays and dramatic. The western side of the peninsula is part of the Great Australian Bight - a place of wilderness and amazing things.

I don’t get over there very often. Port Lincoln, the main population centre of the region, is over 700kms from Adelaide. Equal to the distance between Adelaide and Melbourne. As the crow flies, it is much shorter, so many people just fly there and back, but I loves my car.

The last time I was there was in October 2003. I’m well overdue for a return visit. As a kid, though, I made it over there much more often and we used to stay in a beautiful place called Coffin Bay (named after a guy named Coffin, not the wooden box). I adore Coffin Bay, but I don’t have many photos, so that will be for a revisit special :D

In 2003, it was just me an Hubby and my one year old camera (so lots of blurry photos with my $1500 state of the art four megapixel camera...yes, you can laugh, I is old and prior to that it was film cameras and they just didn’t do it for me at all).

It was spring, so the weather was up and down like a yoyo.

You can still see my beloved Southern Ocean Blue :D

This is Port Lincoln itself - seventeen years ago (holy crap, I’m old).

It sits on Boston Bay, a place that was originally considered as a site for Adelaide. Also, Matthew Flinders (the first guy to circumnavigate Australia back in 1803) hated the place because he lost some crew while exploring it. If you look at the map, you can see that the bottom of the peninsula is riddled with complicated bays. These make for gorgeous, gorgeous harbours. In the background of this photo, you can see Lincoln National Park jutting out into the bay. It has a habit of burning down.

When we visited back then it was in bushfire recovery. It has had several bushfires since. But it is still beautiful.

I’ve always been a nut for taking photos of sunsets. This is facing west (funnily enough) behind Port Lincoln itself. There is water everywhere.

I took a photo of this glorious beetle (which I have since identified and forgotten again :D) at the top of a cliff in the howling wind and rain. Yes, I have experience for putting Virgil in his standing on cliffs environments :D There are lots of cliffs to stand on over there :D And plenty of howling wind.

But, of course, there are also lots of beaches. This is part of the Coffin Bay National Park which really deserves its own post (again, once I get over there again and take more photos). We are talking sand dunes for miles, hidden bays and fascinating underwater life (I saw my first scallop swimming when I was a kid off one of the limestone cliffs in Coffin Bay ...so many memories). I really need to take the kids over there. They haven’t been there yet.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed yet more photos of beaches :D I have plenty more to come :D

Nutty

(who was actually considering starting up a website to host photos of every beach in South Australia that my two wheel drive can get to).

#WorldWindows2020 #eyre peninsula #port lincoln #South Australia #South Australian beaches

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spaceorphan18 · 4 years

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The Rescuers Down Under

Nostalgia Fact: I remember the first time I saw it -- I was was spending Christmas with extended family, and my third cousins wanted to watch this on VHS. I found it really boring as a 10yo. Ngl, I still found it pretty boring.

So. The way Disney seems to work is that there’s the main animation studio -- and then a bunch of off shoot ones, which eventually do things like make the sequels to all the beloved films in main canon. This film is the first sequel, but it must have been made before the secondary animation studio started making all those direct to video films. It’s weird to me, out of all the classics they had at their disposal, that The Rescuers got a second go around. What about Robin Hood? Or The Great Mouse Detective? The the first Rescuers really do that well? Who knows -- but here we are with a sequel to a film that wasn’t that great to begin with.

From what I can tell - this film was made to fit the action-adventure market for kids. They did away with all the music, and basically recycled the plot of the first film, and stuck the whole thing in Australia. It’s... fine. It’s perfectly watchable, even if it’s treading on ground that’s already been walked on. The biggest issue -- is that it’s boring.

The story is of a little boy in Australia who’s kidnapped by a maniacal poacher who decides to use the boy to trap an Eagle. See - virtually same thing as the original film -- only the villain isn’t quite as lively (though still sadistic) as Madame Medusa.

Bernard and Bianca are back, too, though they really don’t have a whole lot to do since they spend a majority of the film just getting to the kid, and Cody (the kid) seems capable enough to get himself out of the mess. I almost wonder if the film would have been better suited to be an original story with Australian characters. The whole Rescuers bit kind of feels tacked on and obligatory. Anyway, they’re joined by Jake, the Australian mouse, who helps them out. There’s a wee bit of a love triangle going on here, but not that much, and it’s mostly just miscommunication going on. Of course Bianca is going to say yes to Bernard asking her to marry him.

Joining the cast, too, is Wilbur the bird - brother of Oliver - and voiced by John Candy. It’s not Candy’s best role, but it made me smile listening to him again. John Candy was a treasure.

The animation is a step up -- they started using digital techniques in the films now, and it shows. A lot of the flying sequences are really gorgeous.

The music score is really quite well done. But since this is not a musical, that means there’s more time for story to supposedly happen. Unfortunately, I think that’s what causes this film to drag. The action sequences are fine, but they just go on and on and don’t support the relatively thin plot.

Other thoughts:

Reptiles do seem to have a bad track record in these movies. Alligators are back, and the villain’s main henchman is a dragon lizard.

I don’t understand why some animals can talk and others can’t. It’s weird.

The best sequence in the movie involves Cody trying to get out with the help of other, Australian, animals held in captivity -- they were interesting characters, it’s a shame they weren’t used more.

The Eagle whom Cody kept flying on kept rising higher than the clouds -- I couldn’t stop thinking about how he wouldn’t be able to breath.

Ngl, I dozed off during this one.

Final Thoughts: Since it’s between Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, it’s often a forgotten about film. It’s not bad, and the animation is great, but it definitely pales in comparison to those around it.

#thoughts on disney

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dontreadthistrashgarbage · 5 years

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G o t 7 au pt.1

(((((AU where Got7 never debuted. Each member took on other roles mostly still in the music world.)))))

Jackson had invited JB over to meet his new puppy. It was apparent just by viewing the apartment that Jackson had gone to so.e lengths to control the red heeler puppy that was currently occupied chewing on a bone. One wouldn't realize from this snapshot that Jackson was overwhelmed and had been largely unprepared for the terror that this dog had turned out to be. He had met s dog of the same breed when visiting his brother, rugby player in Australia and had fallen in love. Despite being cautioned he thought he could do it.

He was wrong.

JB was overwhelmed and while he liked MinNao well enough, she was quite a handful. Jackson had turned on the tv to one of the music programs airing.

"There's a group that uses a dog in their comebacks." Jackson said excitedly.

"Oh yeah?" JB asked, lounging comfortably on the couch next to his friend.

"Yeah, it's cool, I thought Min could be like that too." He continued, "Have you heard of HEET?"

"Yeah, that's Byoungjin's and Minhwan's group." JB said, squinting his eyes as he remembered the two young trainees that had previously been with JYPE before he stopped being a trainee.

"Yeah that's them. Their mascot is a samoyed and this famous trainer works with them. Oh look! Look! They're on now!" Jackson pointed and leaned forward enthusiastically.

JB sat up to see better, watching the performance. Sure enough a fluffy white dog, was part of the performance. Even her shirt style matched the concept of the rest of the group. She wasn't out with them the entire time but had a role in the chorus as well as the finale where she ran out, jumped off one members back into another members arms and posed with them.

JB grinned as Jackson clapped and laughed, "Isn't that cool!"

"Yeah that's really good. That must be really hard." JB was impressed, "That's a cute dog."

"I'm gonna hire that trainer." Jackson said matter of factly. JB raised his eyebrows, looking over at his friend questioningly, "I am! Minhwan is the leader of HEET. He put me in contact with her. Once this comeback wraps up she said she'd meet with me."

JB shrugged and leaned back, "You'll need all the help you can get with that monster."

Almost on cue Jackson looked over to see that Min had decided to switch from her bone to one of his shoes. "YA! What are you doing?" He jumped up and she immediately went into a play bow then took off running, Jackson hot on her heels. JB watched, his mouth stretched in a line and eyebrows raised before turning back to the TV to see the next act.

JB was awoken by his phone ringing early in the morning. Seeing it was Jackson he almost ignored it but given the odd hour he decided to answer.

"Hello."

"Hyung." JB blinked as Jackson whined out the word.

"What do you need." JB sighed as he struggled to wake up more fully.

"Hyung can you come over and watch MinNao for a couple days?" Jackson pleaded.

"Watch... Min." JB was speechless. He absolutely did not want to do this.

"Hyung please. Jinyoung and Mark and filming right now and Youngjae is out of town. My grandma is sick, I need to see her." Jackson sounded genuinely desperate.

"Ahh... just a few days?" JB clarified rubbing his face.

"Yes yes please!" Jackson now sounded hopeful.

"Yeah, I guess I can." JB sighed, flopping back onto the bed.

"Hyung thank you! I'll buy you something delicious when I get back! Whatever you want." Jackson promised.

"I'll make it worth my while." JB threatened lightly.

"Oh, the trainer is coming this week too, I dont want to cancel with her, can you meet with her for me?" Jackson added almost as an afterthought. JB hesitated then agreed as well. Talking to a trainer wouldn't be a problem. Maybe they knew some cat stuff too, Odd had developed an annoying habit of missing the litterbox.

"Hyung, you're the best! I'll text you instructions." Jackson said.

"Yeah okay. You can stop sucking up now. I'm going back to sleep." JB hung up and rolled over, certain he had heard Jackson start another sentence and not caring.

Guerin made her way to the apartment after getting through security. Jackson was a well known rapper and it was reflected in his choice of home. She had researched him when he first hired her so she could be as prepared as possible, and Minhwan had assured her he was a hard worker and dog lover. While she had worked for celebrities before, Jackson was probably one of the most famous that had reached out to her.

"Stay back, stay!" Said a voice on the other side of the door. She couldn't help but smile, sure that the offending animal was not staying even a little.

The door opened and a red blur leapt over the foot attempting to block the way out. Guerin's reflexes saved the day as she dropped down and snatched up the escapee, grinning at the rotund monster that now flailed in her arms.

What her research had not prepared her for was the stranger that had opened the door. Out of habit she bowed politely and greeted him, which he reciprocated, thanking her for catching the puppy and seeming embarrassed as he invited her inside. Once the door was closed she set the puppy down who took off after a toy. Guerin might not have recognized him but he was easily as handsome as Jackson, if not more so. He was dressed stylishly grungy with loose fitting clothes, the first two button on his shirt undone. She felt suddenly self conscious in her plain khakis and work polo with her company named embroidered on the left (Pounce! Animal Training). She didn't look dirty but he looked like he could be chilling at a club and she looked like she worked for Best Buy.

"Ah... is Jackson here?" She asked after a beat of silence.

JB looked surprised then somewhat embarrassed with a hint of annoyance, he sucked in air through his teeth before answering, "He must have forgotten to tell you. He had to leave town unexpectedly and asked me to look after things here."

"I see." She nodded, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Sorry! I'm Im Jaebeom, most people call me JB. I'm a friend of Jackson's." JB bowed again.

"Nice to meet you, I am Go Guerin." There was another awkward pause, "Would you introduce me to the puppy?" She asked.

"Sorry, of course. Yes." JB turned to find the troublemaker that had managed to disappear.

Guerin was rarely this uncomfortable meeting someone in a professional environment, but she had been thrown for a loop by the unexpected face, let alone such a strikingly attractive one. The twin moles above his left eye were especially charming she mused to herself before pushing the thoughts out of her head as he reappeared with the puppy, writhing unhappily in his arms.

Guerin went into work mode, suggesting he put a leash on the puppy to keep her in the area and started talking about treats. JB listened well, asking thoughtful questions as she discussed treats, reinforcement schedules and behaviors to look for all while covering the basics of how to get her attention and basic commands like Sit and Lay.

Before they knew it the hour had passed, with Min showing significant interest and improvement. "It'll take time. She's still a puppy, and a highly intelligent working breed. But if you keep at it and keep her busy she'll grow into a lovely dog."

JB had been surprised to see how focused and eager MinNao had been once they started working. He was impressed with how easily Guerin worked with the dog, and how much harder it felt when he tried it himself. She kept assuring him that it would get easier with time with genuine smiles and praise.

"Do you work with cats too?" JB asked curiously, stepping out of the x-pen that Guerin had set up around them as a designated play area for MinNao when when was unsupervised.

"Yes, I can work with any animal." Guerin responded with confidence.

"I had a question about one of my cats..." he trailed off, looking at her.

"Sure, what can I help with?"

They spent the time talking about Odd and his new habit, what could have caused it and tips to address it. Eventually the topic shifted to different animals Guerin had worked with and both exotic and the more famous dog of HEET (JB learned the dog was named Eneoji), which led into JB talking about music and his work. Before they knew it 45 more minutes had passed.

"I'm sorry to have kept you!" JB looked shocked, "I'll make sure to tell Jackson to pay you for it."

"Don't be silly. Most of that wasn't work anyway." She waved him off, having morphed into casual speech unintentionally as they had spoken, "You should probably let MinNao out to potty soon though. Here's my card if you have any more questions about your cats." She passed him her business card, then the two of them said their farewells and she headed out.

JB closed the door after her, leaning against it before looking down at the puppy, who was looking up at him while ripping the stuffing out of a plush toy. He sighed then went to get the leash and a plastic bag to take the puppy outside.

JB texted Guerin to schedule an appointment. She had an opening the next day so she agreed to assess the current set up with his cats and give suggestions. The first part of the appointment went normally enough as she offered pointers and praised how most of his set up was very cat friendly. She then introduced herself to the cats by sitting calmly and allowing them to approach her as the two chatted, straying naturally from the intended topic.

"What other animals have you worked with?" JB asked.

"All kinds. Back in the states I worked at a few different zoos, with everything from tigers to spider monkeys to vultures to insects. I love all kinds of animals." Guerin responded, giving Nora scratches behind the ear.

"Wow that's awesome." JB's eyes were wide, "What was your favorite?"

"I like working with birds the best. I have a parrot too, and I take her out flying a couple times a week. Free flight is so fun."

"You fly your parrot? Like on a leash?" JB's eyebrows were high into his hairline.

"No, no leash. She flies where she wants and comes back to me on a cue." Guerin couldn't help but grin a little in pride. She knew it was a cool behavior.

"How hard is it to train that?"

"It's a lot of work, and a lot of patience and relationship building. But it's seriously so much fun." Guerin answered.

"It must be amazing." JB looked impressed.

"Do you want to come sometime?" Guerin invited him, looking up from petting Nora.

"Really? Can I take pictures too?" JB asked, almost disbelievingly.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Guerin shrugged, secretly happy to show off but also somewhat thrilled to have an excuse to meet up with JB, and this time not in a professional setting. The two of them hashed out a time and JB talked about his photography and how he used it as inspiration for his music. Before they knew it time was up and Guerin had to leave for her next appointment. She felt a bit embarrassed that the subject hadn't stayed on topic and told him she would do the follow up appointment pro-bono. JB accepted, also looking forward to see her again. She had turned out to be interesting to talk to and he learned a lot. The two parted ways, both feeling it was a bit too soon.

Jinyoung and Mark were monitoring the last shot they had completed for the drama Jinyoung was starring in. Mark, usually a model, had been recommended by Jinyoung for the small supporting role that required some dancing. Both of them had a background as trainees and while a bit out of practice they had picked it up again surprisingly quickly.

"Charlie." Jinyoung had looked up to see the foreign producer walking past, and gestured for her to come over, "May I make a suggestion?" She hesitated a moment but came over, Mark moving slightly to make room for her.

"I think this move isn't filming well from this angle. Is there a chance we can do something else instead?" Jinyoung pointed out, Mark nodding in agreement.

Charlie looked thoughtful, "What did you have in mind?"

Jinyoung and Mark gave a few options and Charlie agreed that one of the choices would look better on camera, "I'll run it by the director. I think you're right."

"Thank you Charlie, you have a way with getting him to agree with you." Jinyoung smiled disarmingly at the pretty fair skinned woman.

"You're the best." Mark agreed with a small smile while maintaining eye contact.

She couldn't help a slight blush at the flattery from the handsome men, "Oh stop, it's nothing."

Jinyoung had enjoyed working with Charlie, she did her job well, she was likable and thoughtful. He had also learned that she had an unusual amount of pull with the crew as they seemed to trust her opinion. He and Mark had learned to come to her with their requests, since if she agreed it usually went their way.

"I'm serious, we should treat you to something delicious soon for all your good work." Jinyoung smiled coyly, gaining an unnoticed and unreadable glance from his model friend.

"I'm just doing my job." Charlie protested lightly.

"We just want to express our gratitude." Mark pouted cutely which caused her to melt.

"Oh my gosh you two are too much." She patted her warm cheeks self consciously, glancing back and forth between their eager, increasingly cutesy expressions, "Fine if it means you'll stop looking at me like that, you're embarrassing me!" She turned and hustled away to talk to the director about their suggested change before they could butter her up anymore.

Jinyoung watched her go with a satisfied expression before turning back to the monitor, feeling accomplished.

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benbarnesfanforever · 6 years

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The Signs - Part II

Hey guys, here is part II of The Signs. Thanks again to my sweet friend @drinix for the cute idea! If you’d like to be tagged in the next story, please dm me. I hope you enjoy it!

Acronyms: UCLA= University of California, Los Angeles; LA= Los Angeles

Word Count: 4598

Tag list: @drinix @andreacvjetkovic @haritini2000 @lea----b

You shove the last blouse into your already overstuffed suitcase. You couldn’t believe that it was only a matter of hours before you would board your plane to Queensland, Australia. You were so nervous yet excited about this amazing opportunity. Working on a Disney movie production was nothing short of a dream come true for you. If you succeeded in this internship, your chances of becoming hired on to a permanent role would be even greater.

“Y/N, you ready chickie? Your plane leaves in 3 hours and my class starts in an hour. We gotta get a move on to the airport.” Jackie says, with her car keys already in hand.

“Almost ready!” You shout out from your room. You close your suitcase and brought it out to the family room. `

“Bout time.” Jackie says to you anxiously. “Let’s jet!”

You and Jackie drive down South Sepulveda Blvd, your beautiful brown locks blowing in the wind as you take in the warm day. Living in Southern California, you were almost guaranteed to have a nice warm day, especially during the month of September.

“Jack, do you think the weather in Queensland will be as nice as it is in Cali this time of year?”

“It should be.” Jackie says as she adjusted the radio to her convertible BMW, frantically trying to find a good song to listen to.

The second sign

Jackie stumbles across a 1930s jazz-age radio station, playing the following song.

I'll see you again whenever spring breaks through again.

Time may lie heavy between, but what has been, is past forgetting.

Your sweet memory across the years will come to me.

Though my world may go awry, in my heart 'twill ever lie,

Just the echo of a sigh, goodbye.

All my life I shall remember knowing you,

All the pleasures that I found in showing you,

The different ways that one may face,

The changing light and changing shade,

Happiness that must die, melodies that must fly,

Memories that must fade, dusty and forgotten bye and bye

“OMG I can’t believe they’re playing this song on the radio!” Jackie turns the radio up louder and you are bewildered by her actions. She begins singing the song while slowly turning her head from side to side.

Your heart began to pound as you listen to the lyrics. That strange feeling that you had as you watched Prince Caspian for the first time suddenly took control of you again. You close your eyes and took in the beautiful tune that caressed your ear drums. You could listen this melody all day long.

You inhale and exhale slowly.

You awaken from your trance and you see Jackie’s fingers snapping in front of your face.

“Y/N, you awake chickie?”

You sit up and smile.

“Yes, sorry. Wow, what a lovely song. Who is the man behind this beautiful voice?” You say, placing your blowing hair behind your ears.

Jackie let’s off a smirk.

“Y/N, don’t tell me you haven’t heard this song or seen the movie?”

You pull down your sunglasses and give Jackie a look of bewilderment.

“Here we go again with her jeopardy moment.” You say to yourself before responding.

“I have never heard this song before, nor have I ever seen the movie.”

Jackie laughs out loud.

“Oh God if this isn’t a sign!”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Prince Caspian remember?” Jackie points out.

You inhale and exhale again, slowly.

“Don’t tell me, is it from that hot guy, Ben Barnes?”

“BINGO!! It’s Ben Barnes singing a soundtrack from a movie he starred in, Easy Virtue.”

You look bewildered again.

“What if you guys are destined to meet, Y/N? Almost every time we’re in the realm of discussing your internship, a movie, song or something of Ben Barnes pops up. You know I am a huge believer in signs.”

You laugh and try to brush off what Jackie just said.

“Jack, I had no idea you were into the jazz-age genre, but why am I not surprised?!”

“Stop ignoring the inevitable, Y/N! You are gonna meet this man, I can feel it.”

You roll your eyes……but meeting Ben Barnes would be a dream of yours.

“Maybe you’ll meet him Jack, besides, I’ll be out of the country for 3 months so you have a better chance of meeting him here in states or in London than I do all the way from the land down under.”

“True, but you never know if or when your paths will cross.”

“Not a believer in miracles, but I’m glad you are my friend.”

You both laugh. You were going to miss Jackie dearly. Not only was she your roommate, but she was also your best friend.

Jackie pulls her BMW to the curbside section of the LAX airport terminal. You knew that it would be hard saying good-bye to your bestie, but you’d see her again over the winter break in several months.

You both step out of the car, feeling awkward to say good-bye.

“I’m so excited for you my friend, but I’m gonna miss you like crazy.” Jackie says, embracing you in a tight hug.

You hug her back, squeezing her tightly.

“Ditto.” You say, both of you blinking back tears.

“Ok, I gotta split, because good-byes make me crazy. So, take care you. See you in a few months.”

You let go of your roommate, sending her a kiss and wave as you enter the airport and disappeared.

“Tammie, I hope you know how much I love you and will miss you.” Ben says, dropping sweet pecks on Tamia’s forehead as he held her close. It had been two weeks since Tamia landed in Queensland, and now she was on her way back home to London.

“I know you’ll miss me Ben, as I will miss you too.” Tamia says, but Ben knew something else was on her mind.

Ben unraveled himself from Tamia’s hold and looked her straight into the eyes, holding her shoulders.

“But there’s something else, right?” Ben says to his girlfriend, looking concerned at this point.

Ben’s beautiful locks blew in the evening breeze, his eyes slightly squinted from the glare of the setting sun.

Tamia looked away, trying to fight back tears.

“Hey…Tammie….don’t cry. Oh…..come here.”

Ben embraces her with a cocoon hug, like a mom hugging her child in a time of pain.

Tears fell down Tamia’s rosy cheeks like a flowing waterfall.

“Ben, I love you more than anything else in this world. But……”

Ben felt a lump form in his throat.

“Tammie…..please….”

“….but….I want and deserve more…..” Tamia whispered, her voice shaking.

Ben’s eyes began to well with tears.

“Tammie, please. You know I love you, and you know that I would give you the world if I could. You know that, right?”

Both Ben and Tamia are sobbing at this point.

“I want to believe you Ben, but how much longer do I have to wait? It’s been two years and no one but our close friends and family know that we’re together.”

“But isn’t that all that matters? Why does the whole world need to know that we’re together when the most important people in our lives already know?”

Tamia wiped her tears and stood in front of Ben, her right leg slightly bent as she shook her head.

“Did I not show you a great time over the past two weeks here in Queensland?”

“That’s not the issue Ben, and even over the past two weeks, you kept me locked away in a hotel room during the day and I never even met any of your co-stars!”

“I’ve told you before that we have to keep things under wraps until we are done filming. You said it wasn’t an issue when we spoke about if before, so what’s the problem now?”

Tamia continued shaking her head, looking up at the sky before focusing her beautiful large hazel eyes back on Ben.

“You just don’t get it do you?”

“Get what? I told you that we’d go public after the movie. You know that would pose a risk to the production if we went public now.”

Tamia continued shaking her head, moving further and further away from Ben.

“You’ve said the same thing during your first film, then the second film, and now this. You know what? I am TIRED of waiting Ben…..I am TIRED of you making me wait just to give me a simple title and call me your girlfriend. I haven’t asked you to claim me as nothing more…...not your fiancé…...not your future wife….but just your girlfriend.”

“Tammie….baby….you ARE my girlfriend….you ARE my fiancé and you ARE my future wife. I’ve never denied that.”

“Don’t you see? You’ve denied me every day, Ben! I don’t feel like I mean anything to you in public.”

“I may not show my affection towards you in public, but you know how much I love you Tammie…….”

Ben’s voice is shaking at his point. He’s almost breathless and can barely get any more words out.

“……..you know how much I need you……” Ben muffles in a low whisper.

Tears fell down Ben’s dark orbs like a flowing river. He knew that Tamia wanted him to go public with their relationship and he knew it wasn’t fair to her. But he also couldn’t risk putting his career in jeopardy because of it. He feared that going public about his relationship with Tamia would put the entire Dawn Treader production in jeopardy. He just couldn’t take that risk right now. But at the same time, he couldn’t fathom the idea of losing the woman that he loved, the woman that he had planned to spend the rest of his life with.

The young couple stood in front of Ben’s Bentley for a few moments, in silent.

“Look, Tammie. I know it has been a difficult two years and I thank you so much for putting up with me. I just need some more time…..please…..just a little more time and I promise we’ll go public with our relationship and we’ll begin planning our wedding…..please don’t do this.”

Tammie’s eyes shut hard as tears continued flowing down her gorgeous pastel face. She began balling and covered her face as she sobbed hysterically.

“You still want to marry me…don’t you?” Ben asked, pleading for any positive response that he could get from Tamia at this point.

“I’m sorry Ben……but I can’t.” Tamia slowly wiped her tears away. She walked towards Ben, reaching for his dark brown locks by placing her hand around his broad neck, slowly running her fingers through his hair before planting a kiss on his perfectly shaped lips.

Ben placed his hands around Tamia’s slim waist. She felt so good and Ben didn’t want to let her go.

Before Ben could deepen kiss, Tamia broke it slowly.

They stared at one another, eyes red and watery with tears.

They held hands, still glancing at one another. Tamia released her right hand from Ben’s hold. He held her left hand tightly, knowing he may never hold it again. He had sudden images of placing a ring on her left finger, until he heard those cutting words as her hand slipped away from his, the last two of their fingers touching before they parted.

“Good-bye, Ben.”

And that quickly, Tamia grabbed her luggage and raced through the airport doors. Ben tried going after her, only to be stopped by a large shuttle bus passing by, nearly hitting him. He stood in front of his grey Bentley, watching Tamia disappear through the glass doors.

Your flight was underway and you couldn’t believe that within a few hours, you’d be landing in Queensland, Australia. You had never flown on a Jumbo jet before and never experienced such pampering. But after being on a plane for nearly 15 hours, you were ready to see land again.

“Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Queensland, Australia. This plane will be changing crew and headed to London, England.” Although your entire body clock was thrown off from the jet lag and the time difference, you were wide awake and still shook that you were actually in Queensland. You had no idea which movie you’d been working on, but you had an idea of some of the films Disney and Walden were filming, but not all. It was unnerving yet exciting that you didn’t know which film you’d be assisting in producing. Whatever the case, it was a dream come true for you.

You were so excited to get off the plane that you nearly forgot one of your bags in the overhead bin. You race off of the plane, walking in a fast pace as you always do, to find yourself bumping into a tall woman who was trying to get to the nearest gate agent.

“Oh, I am terribly sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” You say softly. The tall beautiful blonde haired gal gave you quick smile. You were so intrigued by her beauty but could also see pain and sadness in her eyes. She suddenly turned back to the gate agent, raising her voice hysterically as the gate agent tried to calm her down.

“Look, Ms. Edwards, there is nothing we can do. This flight is canceled due to bad weather in the Atlantic. The plane will leave tomorrow morning as rescheduled.”

Tamia could not believe what was happening to her. All she wanted to do was leave this blasted place, especially after just breaking up with Ben.

“I need to get home…..there is no way I can continue to stay here.”

“There is nothing we can do Ms. Edwards, please feel free to book with another airline, but as of now, there is nothing we can do for you.”

“Do you know who I am? I am a well-known celebrity in London and I should receive some sort of accommodations or compensation for my inconveniences.”

“Yes, ma’am, we will do our best to accommodate you; however, there are no guarantees. I suggest you arrange for lodging immediately as most hotels are booked due to the BIO International Convention.”

Tamia felt her stomach sink as she sat down on a nearby chair. Due to weather issues, the airline was not obligated to place travelers in a hotel room. How in the world would she find a hotel now with this BIO International Convention happening? Tamia had nowhere to go, but she couldn’t call Ben, there was no way in hell she could call him.

You heard most of the commotion happening behind you and felt so terrible. Your agent from Walden informed you that you had a studio apartment that could sleep four. Your parents always taught you to assist others in need. This was so strange for you, because you didn’t even know where you were going, let alone having some stranger tag along. But your heart told you to assist this woman who needed a place for the night, so you got the urge and asked her if she needed a place to stay.

“Uuumm…miss, first I want to say that I’m really sorry for nearly knocking you over a second ago. I just arrived from Los Angeles, from the same flight that you were going to take to London. I overheard your conversation and wanted to offer you a room at my place if you needed to stay somewhere.”

You felt incredibly embarrassed at this point. You could feel your cheeks burning with awkwardness.

Tamia looked up at you with a very large smile, as if you were her saving grace.

“Oh my goodness, that is so incredibly kind and so thoughtful of you…I have nowhere to go and would be stranded here all night. Yes, I will take you up on your offer.”

You smile, awkwardly.

“Ok, great. Uhhh…I’m Y/N by the way.”

Tamia stuck out her hand, waiting for you to stick out yours for a handshake.

“Oh…right…” you say as you stIck out your hand.

“I’m Tamia, Tamia Edwards.”

“Great to meet you…Tamia..Edwards.” You say, still feeling uncomfortable, but also good that you could assist this woman who looked so distraught.

“So what brings you to Queensland?” Tamia asks as you both make your way to the airport baggage claim.

“I’m here on a month internship opportunity. I start tomorrow and I am SOO thrilled!”

“Oh that’s amazing, what will you be interning for?”

“I’ll be in media production.”

“Congratulations, that’s every exciting. I am in the film industry myself, perhaps we can talk more when we get settled back at your place.”

“I’d love that.” You say as you grab your luggage.

You both walk towards the exit of the building. You check your e-mail from your phone and re-read the instructions sent to you a week before your arrival. The filming was taking place at many areas around Queensland and New Zealand, but its primary location is based at the Warner Roadshow Studios in Oxenford, near Gold Coast on the coast of Queensland.

When you both arrived at your studio apartment, you could not believe the astonishing views before you. It was like nothing you had ever seen and the views of the mountains and ocean were absolutely breathtaking. You sat on the sofa of your apartment, looking out of the balcony that faced the ocean.

“WOW, what an amazing view.” You say in a whisper, taking in the sun and crashing waves.

“This is very lovely.” Tamia says as she settled her things on the love seat near your sofa. “I am very grateful to you for allowing me to stay here. I had nowhere to go and would have been forced to call my boyfriend who I just broke up with.”

You looked over at Tamia and saw her sobbing. You sit next to her, trying to comfort her even though you just met. You’ve been through many heart breaks so you knew what she was feeling inside.

“I’m sorry….I…just….I miss him already but I know I did the right thing.”

You look bewildered, not knowing what to say but you did your best to be there.

“You can talk about it if you want….I am all ears…..”

“I don’t want to burden you with my problems…besides, you’re here in beautiful Queensland, you are about to start an amazing internship tomorrow. You don’t need me ruining things by dumping my problems on you.”

“I tell you what, why don’t we get showered, put on our pjs, and just veg out? Have you eaten yet? We can order take out and you can tell me all about this jerk who broke your heart. Sound good?”

Tamia wipes her tears and smiles.

“You are angel! Yes, sounds like a plan. I can’t wait…..and again…thank you so much for letting me stay here.”

“You’re welcome.”

Tamia got up to use the restroom when her phone began to buzzing with several incoming text messages.

“Hey……did you make it on the plane?”

“Look, I know I fucked up….but please don’t leave me…please take me back.”

“Call me when you land, I just need to hear your voice that you made it home safely….I respect your wishes if you never want to see me again.” BB

Tamia returns from the restroom and sees the text messages from Ben. She shuts off her phone to clear her head. She didn’t want to talk to Ben in fear that he would try to lure her back in. She was looking forward to talking to you and getting to know you over some much needed girl talk.

After you both settled into your pajamas and laid out all of your food, snacks and drinks, you turn on the television to find a good chick flick to watch.

“Oh, leave it here! I love Pretty Woman!” Tamia blurts out as she stuffs a large amount of popcorn into her mouth. She wore a cute pink night gown that fell just above her knees. She wore her hair pulled up in a twist with blond ringlets falling down her rosy cheeks. You wore a light blue laced tank top with boy shorts and a light blue sheer overlay, which showed off every curve of your body.

“Ok, sure. You say sitting down on the sofa next to Tamia, eating a few strawberries and cheese squares.

It was nice to see Tamia laugh after she seemed so distraught at the airport. You both enjoyed the movie and vegging out together over some desserts, such ice-cream, cake pops, candy and other sweet goodies. Although it seemed strange spending time with a complete stranger, you felt comfortable around Tamia and happy that you were lending her a helping hand. After all, what girl wouldn’t help another girl, especially after just breaking up with her future fiancé.

“So you were with your boyfriend for 2 years and he never claimed you?” You ask, wondering how Tamia’s boyfriend could be such a rude jerk.

“He just never wanted to claim me as his girlfriend in public. I understand that he is an actor and has to keep his life private, but I am an actress too and I just don’t know what the big deal is about letting the public know that we are together.”

You almost choked on your Klondike bar.

“WTF? This girl is a celebrity? Holy fucking SHIT!!”

You freeze at this point. You couldn’t believe you rescued a celebrity from having to sleep in an airport. Why couldn’t she find a hotel if she was a celebrity? At this point, it didn’t matter to you. You just couldn’t believe that she was sitting in your studio, eating your food and sitting on your sofa.

“I hope I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable, I mean, you have been so kind to me by letting me stay here. I really didn’t want to call my ex-boyfriend…I can’t believe I am calling him my ex….but you don’t have to worry about the paparazzi knocking at your door or anything. I’m more well-known London.”

You let out a sigh of relief.

“No problem, I just want to make sure you are comfortable. I’m glad I could help.”

You both continue eating your snacks and snuggled on the coach, continuing watching pretty woman while discussing relationships and having fun girl talk.

You and Tamia dozed off on the sofa, when you were both startled by a pounding sound at the front door. You jump off of the sofa quickly, followed by Tamia. You held your right arm out, as if you were protecting Tamia. You thought some strange paparazzi found her, so you were extra conscious before opening the door. You look through the peephole and see a man, but no cameras.

“Who is it?” Tamia whispers, hiding behind you.

“Some lost guy. Should I answer it?” You ask Tamia in confusion.

“I guess, but it’s almost 12 am…..maybe he’ll go away?”

The pounds on the door continues, slightly louder.

“He looks lost, I’ll answer it.” You say a bit nervously.

“Ok….but wait…I’ll get a knife in case he tries some funny business.”

“Good idea!” You say, before opening the door.

Your heart is pounding as you unlock the door, and you couldn’t figure out why. Your palms become sweaty.

The room became silent.

You open the door, and there stood the most beautiful man you had ever laid eyes on, one that looked so familiar to you.

You inhale and exhale slowly.

You could NOT believe that you were standing before him…….yes…..Ben fucking Barnes.

When your eyes met, they locked immediately. You felt that same feeling that you felt when you first saw him in the Prince Caspian movie a few weeks ago, you felt the same feeling that you felt when you were driving to the airport in the car with Jackie as that lovely song “I’ll see you again” massaged your eye drums. There was no noise, no other people, no thoughts or worries, no yesterday, no tomorrow. The world just stopped turning and you felt so happy in that moment.

His eyes were locked on you for what seemed like an entirety. Ben was a gentleman and wasn’t the one to eye ball a woman’s body, at least while she was aware, but there was something about you that made him want to scan everything about you. His beautiful dark orbs slowly scanned your entire face, and your plump red lips before meeting your beautiful round eyes again. He let off a slight grin as his eyes moved downward for the second time, this time, scanning your neck, your collar bone, your beautifully built arms and shoulders. Your dark mane fell to the left of your neck and shoulders, leaving the right side slightly exposed.

He inhaled and exhaled slowly.

“BEN!?!?!” Tamia shouts, shoving you out of the way.

Ben broke out of his trance.

“What on earth are you doing here?”

Ben parted his lips to speak, but the words just couldn’t come out. He actually forgot why he came to the this studio apartment to talk with Tamia, but suddenly his heart felt different, like he had been freed from a heavy burden that had been lifted off of his shoulders.

“Ben, do you hear me? What on earth are you doing here?” Tamia asks again.

Ben finally gears himself up to speak, eyeing his left side, where you stood.

“I…I….heard that your flight was canceled and I was worried. I heard from the gate agent that you left with some stranger, so I just wanted to check on you to make sure you were alright. But….I see…..you are in great hands.”

Ben looks over at you, giving you that look, that same look that he gave Susan in the Prince Caspian film.

You blush and grin shyly.

“How on earth did you find me? Well, it doesn’t matter. I am in great hands. So you don’t have to worry… Y/N is taking great care of me…..so…..you can go now.”

Ben felt really embarrassed at this point. He felt bad invading your apartment at such odd hours of the night, but after hearing that Tamia’s flight got canceled, he wanted to make sure she was safe since he was the reason she came to Australia in the first place.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I texted you several time and when I didn’t hear anything, I got worried. “

Tamia looked sad for a moment, but she didn’t allow herself to give in to Ben’s charm.

“Y/N, thank you for taking care of her. I was quite worried but I see that she is fine.”

Ben looks over at the empty cartons of Klondike bars, chips, dip and soda cans.

He smiles.

“Anytime.” You say shyly, feeling very awkward at this point.

Ben looks back at Tamia as if he wanted to hug her goodbye, but he continued for the door and let himself out.

“Good night ladies.” Ben placed his hands in his pockets and exited.

“Good night.” You say, wanting to stay in the presence of this man forever, but your body was telling you to go inside. You finally close the door behind you and exhale once again.

“Oh, thank God he’s gone.” Tamia says in relief, but you couldn’t stop thinking about Ben and wondered if you’d ever see him again.

You were beginning to think that there was some truth in Jackie’s prediction, however, you already felt in your heart that even if you found Ben, this journey would not be an easy one.

#benbarnes #binbons #the chronicles of narnia #voyage of the dawn treader #TheSigns #King Caspian #the signs #fancfic

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imjustthemechanic · 6 years

Text

The French Mistake

Part 1/? - A Visitor Part 2/? - The Kulturhistorisk Museum Heist Part 3/? - Cutscene Part 4/? - The Marvel Cinematic Universe Part 5/? - Breathless Part 6/? - Escape at Last Part 7/? - Fox in Socks Part 8/? - Things Go Wrong Part 9/? - Downey and Out Part 10/? - Road Trip Part 11/? - Temptation Part 12/? - An Awful Reunion Part 13/? - Unreality Intrudes Part 14/? - A Call for Help Part 15/? - Loki’s Guests Part 16/? - Stan Lee Cameo Part 17/? - Reassessment Part 18/? - Midnight Invasion Part 19/? - Elevator Fight Part 20/? - Courage Part 21/? - Unwelcome Back Part 22/? - Darkest Hour Part 23/? - They Are Here Part 24/? - The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Part 25/? - Word of God Part 26/? - Avengers Assembled Part 27/? - The Houston Underground Part 28/? - Houston has a Problem Part 29/? - Onward and Upward Part 30/? - The Chi’Tauri Queen Part 31/? - Through the Wormhole Part 32/? - Prisoners Part 33/? - Arm’s Length Part 34/? - A Moment’s Respite Part 35/? - Ravagers to the Rescue Part 36/? - What Happened to Hiddleston Part 37/? - Haven Part 38/? - Steve Has a Terrible Idea Part 39/? - Can’t Be Choosers Part 40/? - Stan Lee Cameo Redux Part 41/? - Shipjacking Part 42/? - The Gauntlet Thrown Part 43/? - The Queen’s Chamber Part 44/? - The Guardians Part 45/? - The Nest Part 46/? - Heroes Part 47/? - Homeward Bound Part 48/? - Loose Ends

Just a few things to tie up - like Johansson’s marriage, how they’re getting back, and what will happen to the tesseract.

A moment later Musa was called away again by a group of astrophysicists, who were hoping she could tell them about her home system. Steve wasn’t alone for long, though – the next person to approach him was Natasha. She was now dressed in a pair of jeggings and a shirt with a cartoon bone on it and the words I Found This Humerus. Next to her was Scarlett Johansson, wearing a blouse and skirt. Both had washed up and combed their hair, and they looked nearly identical, but Steve immediately recognized which was which. The two walked differently, Johansson gliding along like a glamour goddess, while Natasha moved with a determined stride that spelled trouble for anybody in her way.

“How’d your checkup go?” Nat asked.

“Nothing but bruises,” Steve assured her. “If I cracked any bones it was so minor they’ve already knit.” The bruises would be gone by this time tomorrow.

She smiled. “Good to be back?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “And possibly just a little more appreciative of how tough I am.”

“Oh, really?” Nat smirked. “Does that mean you’re going to start using a parachute?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

Nat laughed. “I’m going to Malibu with Scarlett,” she said. “We need to patch things up with her husband and daughter, and it’ll be easier to explain if I’m with her.”

That felt like something that had happened weeks ago, and Steve had almost forgotten about it. Now he groaned. It was true, they should do something about that, but whatever it was they ended up doing would be very, very unpleasant. “Do you want me to come with you?” he asked, praying that the answer would be no.

“Probably not a good idea,” said Johansson. “Romain’s had a bug up his ass about Chris for a while now, and I don’t think he’d want to see your face.”

Steve tried not to show how relieved he was. “Got it,” he said. “Text when you arrive, okay?”

“Yes, Mom,” said Nat. “Wouldn’t want you to worry about me.” She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek goodbye.

Once she was gone, Steve worried he’d be alone again – but it was only a minute or so after Natasha left when Evans came up to him. He had a few bandages and stitches, but he, too, had washed and shaved and changed his clothes. With no beard, wearing jeans and a dark blue t-shirt which, thanks to somebody’s sense of humour, had the image of the shield on the front, he looked so much like Steve as Captain America that it was downright eerie. He came and stood awkwardly facing Steve, hands in his pockets, as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t figure out how to word it.

“How are you doing?” Steve asked, deciding to take pity and give him an opening.

“Okay,” Evans replied carefully. “That was a hell of a thing but I… I’ll get over it.”

Steve had heard that phrase before, from people who would very definitely not get over it. Far too often, he’d been the one speaking it, himself. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” said Evans. He sat down on the bench next to Steve. “My parents are coming to pick me up. I told them guys, I’m thirty-five, I can buy my own plane ticket, but Mom wouldn’t hear about it. She actually said, I won’t hear about it, like little old ladies do in cartoons.” He chuckled.

Steve smiled back. He was glad he hadn’t called Evans’ parents when he’d been tempted to, but lord, he missed having that kind of loving, unconditional support. It would have been wonderful to steal just a drop of it, even knowing it was not rightfully his. Loki really had meant what he’d said – this world was full of everything Steve had ever wanted. It was just that to get it, Steve would have had to compromise everything he’d ever wanted to be.

“Sorry for freezing up when Musa grabbed me,” Chris added. “I, um… I have some… I’m good with a script, but actually talking to real people is hard for me sometimes. I almost turned down playing the role – playing you, I mean. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be…”

“To be that kind of movie star,” Steve finished for him. “Bob told me.”

“Yeah.” Chris nodded.

“What changed your mind?” asked Steve. Bob had offered an explanation, but he wanted to hear it from Chris Evans himself.

“Well… Captain America,” said Chris, with a shrug and a cockeyed smile. “You’re everybody’s hero. You’re… you’re everything I was raised to believe in. It sounds corny, but all that freedom, equality, and justice stuff, you embody that and you make it look cool. When I post about politics on my twitter I get comments from people who say things like here we see Chris Evans actually being Steve Rogers and it always makes me smile. I’m proud to stand for that, even if the fame part is kind of terrifying.”

“The fame part is terrifying,” Steve agreed. “At least you got warned about it. When I volunteered for the project nobody told me I was going to be a celebrity. Then they dragged me off on that tour with the chorus girls and the posters…” he shook his head. “And I end up standing there…”

“Wondering how the hell this happened,” Chris grinned. “That’s what I figured you were thinking. Reading the lines off the back of the shield was my favourite joke in the movie. Anyway.” He sat up a little straighter. “My point, which I’m getting to in a roundabout kind of way, is that it’s an honour to meet you in person, even if this is really, really weird.” He held out a hand.

“Thanks,” said Steve, giving him the handshake. He had to agree – it was weird, but he also felt a sense of kinship with this man. Not just because of what they’d just been through together, but because he realized that Chris Evans must have spent more time thinking about Steve, and trying to understand him, than anybody else he’d ever met. Which left one rather important question. “Bob told me about something you said in an interview…” he began.

“Oh, no,” groaned Chris. “This is about the teams thing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Steve said.

Chris spread his hands. “Well, for one thing, I never thought I’d be having this conversation. I thought it was all hypothetical. And I was talking about our world, if there were superheroes here. Our world isn’t run by people who thought nuking New York or approving Project Insight was a good idea. I mean, sometimes they’re not much better, but they’re not that bad. I just feel like real superheroes would have to accept limitations and be responsible when they hurt people. Even if it wasn’t on purpose.”

Steve thought about the pirates… they weren’t nice people, but nor had they asked to get into a fight with the Chi’Tauri. He wondered how many had died, and supposed he would never know.

“Well, thanks for not getting me killed this week,” Steve said. “I’m a rotten actor.”

“Same,” Chris agreed. “I’m the opposite – a good actor, a rotten hero. Better for you to live your life and me mine, even if yours does sound way cooler.”

Now there was a thought… would Chris Evans find the details of Steve Rogers’ life as tempting as Steve had found his? He decided not to ask, partly because that would involve admitting how tempted he’d been to call Evans’ parents, but mostly because the whole subject was better left alone.

NASA offered them all dinner in the Space Center cafeteria, which was fortunately not one of the buildings that would have to be torn down from the damage. Natasha and Scarlett had already gone to Malibu, and Scarlett had texted Chris Evans to let him know they would be staying overnight. Hemsworth also turned down the meal. He hugged everybody, and then left to catch a flight back to his home in Australia. Most of the other actors who’d come in for the charade were already gone, but Hayley Atwell hung around, as did Bob Downey. At dinner they all sat together and listened to Hayley tell stories about the props – and people – she’d accidentally broken while filming the Agent Carter TV series.

“I need to watch some of that before I go,” said Steve. He would probably regret it… but he would regret it more if he didn’t.

“I’ll get you some DVDs,” Hayley promised. “In fact, take them back with you and show them to Sharon. I can get confirmation from Emily if you like, but for my own part I’m sure she would want to see them.”

Steve could bet she would. “That would be great.”

“That gives me an idea…” Bob began, but before he could explain what it was, the conversation was interrupted as Thor and Steve moved aside to make room for Donny Glover and Kevin Farinas, who had come to join them. Kevin was proudly holding a tablet and a stack of binders, which she dropped on the table in front of her.

“Good news!” she declared.

“Good news? For us?” asked Steve.

“Careful there,” said Bob. “He’s an old man. Too much excitement might give him a heart attack.” He winked at Steve, looking uncannily like Stark in that moment.

Kevin opened the top binder in the stack and passed around some photographs. “I’ve been looking at the insides of your spaceship,” she said, “and it looks like their actual device for directing a wormhole runs on very similar principles to my hypothetical one. Here’s the switches.” She reached across the table to indicate a particular picture, which Hayley happened to be holding at the moment. “They’re hidden under the console, probably so the people on board couldn’t mess with them.”

Hayley passed the picture to Steve, and he saw two rows of twelve symbols, one in pink and one in blue. The symbols themselves were indecipherable to Steve, just messes of intersecting lines. “What do these mean?” he asked.

“No idea,” said Kevin. “They’ve called in some cryptography people, but figuring out will probably take longer than it would take to build a new one.”

“How is that good news?” asked Bob.

“I’m getting there,” Kevin informed him. “Now, as you can see, there are two lines – two ends to the wormhole. The pink one tells you where you’re starting from, the blue one tells you where you’re going. If I understand this properly, the ones on the right refer to the specific destination universe, and the ones on the left are your exit point within that universe. I have no idea how to program it. The left ones must be a space-time coordinate system of some sort, but I don’t know what their reference point is, while the ones on the right must refer to properties of the target universe, whatever those are.”

“I’m still not seeing the good news,” said Steve.

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” asked Kevin. “Look, they’ve got this thing set up to take them between a chosen point in this universe and their home port in yours. But if you can change the spatial destination coordinates for your universe to match the ones you leave from in ours, then when you activate it you’ll transfer to the other universe exactly where you left from ours with no programming or linguistic knowledge required!”

That did make sense. “So we appear over Houston in our universe… and we can fly right out over the Atlantic back to Wakanda,” said Steve. That would have the bonus that the Leviathan would end up in hands Steve trusted. He wouldn’t have wanted any other country on Earth trying to reverse-engineer any more Chi’Tauri technology, even the United States. Wakanda, however, would either destroy it or do good with it, whichever T’Challa decided was best. “Perfect. Can you have it ready by the time Natasha gets back?”

“Definitely,” said Kevin. “It seems to remember where it left from, too, so if it doesn’t work the way I think, you can just come back here and we’ll give it some more study.” She picked up her binders again, beaming. “You know, it sucks that we can’t keep that tesseract things. With that kind of energy we could explore the whole solar system and then head for Alpha Centauri.”

Steve blinked.

“Yeah, sucks,” Donny agreed cheerfully. “I’d ask to go with you guys, but my alternate in the Marvel Universe is a guy who finds Spider-Man hanging out in dumpsters, so nah. But!” he held up a finger. “Kevin, can you get me into the Star Wars universe?”

They were joking around, so Steve made himself smile as if he were enjoying the conversation. But he couldn’t stop thinking about what Kevin had just said.

#fanfic #steve rogers #natasha romanov

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orchidsonthewindowsill · 6 years

Text

Recollection from Carl’s sit-out (Melbourne 28/02/18)

@missoneminute already covered a lot and I’m so glad because there are things she wrote that I’ve forgotten already! What a night. These are the rest that I can remember for now.

After the show, a bunch of fans were loitering around the side of The Forum. At about 11pm Gary came out of one of the side doors. He was actually rushing to get to the Cherry Bar for his DJ set but he was sweet enough to stop for pictures and hugs. He also signed my shirt for me. I think somebody asked him if he was the one manning The Libertines twitter account and he made this face and went, “Oh, yeah! Sure! That’s totally me, mm-hmm.” So who knows, lol.

Then John came out, posed for photos and he’s such a dear, he made sure to have a quick chat with everyone. I got him to sign my shirt as well. He asked if this is the first time I saw them and I told them I saw them at Margate and he lit up at that. That Margate gig was like a homecoming, man, fucking special. Anyway, then the security came out and said that the band’s all left now and that Peter and Carl have left via another exit. John looked a bit annoyed, like, there was another exit? Lol, poor John. The security person was still talking when @missoneminute, @punk-rat, and @bergamotandbiggles mysteriously decided to leave the area and went across the street. I was like, what, are we going to Gary’s DJ set already, what what what, when I saw someone in a familiar leather jacket walking five feet ahead of us. Lol, it’s Carl! He was walking with these two other fans so then there was a small group of us walking and chatting with him and he turned to the graffitied back alley next to The Forum and stopped in front of Bartini by the “libertines” tag on the wall.

Somehow he ended up sitting down and everyone sat down with him and he was talking us up, sharing cigarettes, passing his drinks around, and doing accents and impressions for two hours. So these are what I remember:

- He asked if we’re going to Gary’s DJ set later and we said and that some of us went to the one in Sydney as well. Then he made this fake-horrified look and went, “And you’re going back??” Lol, shut up Carlos, you were fall-over drunk.

- “Have you heard the news?” No what? “Nothing, just trying to break the ice”. Then he went on in his news announcer town crier voice, something about Malcolm Turnbull and New Zealand. Did I hear wrong? Why New Zealand?

- After opening @bergamotandbiggles’ present he talked about putting cigarettes out in his tea. I thought I heard him mentioning Peter but he was mumbling quite a bit. He brought up the putting out cigarettes in tea several times.

- A fan told him the roadie who took the cigarette out of Peter’s mouth onstage just saved them a lot of money that night and deserves a raise. Carl did the whole eyeroll and that cute ‘tell you a secret’ face and was like, “Oh he’s doing fine for himself, believe me”. Then he assured us that if the roadie had not done it Peter would have gone over to someone to get them to take the cigarette out of his mouth anyway. He then proceeded to mimic Peter hissing through a cigarette “ge’ jis ou’ o’ me mouf!” - A fan told him she had to go to the UK to see The Libertines because Peter’s banned from Japan and Carl’s like, “Aaaaww, let him in! Let him in!” - He talked about going to the Mornington Peninsula to see the animals and something (an owl? I couldn’t quite catch what) bit him in his arm and he showed us the mark. Some fans then told him about the videos of people punching a kangaroo and a shark in the face and he was like, “Do you know Natalie Imbruglia?” Then he went on to talk about her telling him about somebody punching a shark in the face. - Ok so when he started talking about the silent film @missoneminute gave him, that was amaaaazing. Also, it was funny when he said he felt like he was in The Shining watching it in his hotel, except his was a “skanky hotel” with the winds rattling the windows. Oh, Carl. - At some point when people were asking about whether Peter’s single, a fan said that John’s the guy to marry. Carl agreed and called John “a keeper.” - He talked about how John was excited to meet Jeremy Corbyn during the gig last year and John told him “I’m going to talk to Jezza!” Then John went and came back saying, “he blanked me”. Carl didn’t go and talk to Jezza, “not after that,” he said. “We did the whole Jeremy Corbyn chant thing, he should be coming to talk to us!” I think he’s half-kidding. - Then he started talking about how when he was jumpstarting this “skanky car”, a man came with flyers and things and started talking to him, not recognising who he is. Carl said he was being all friendly and making small talk while trying to block his much fancier Audi the whole time. The man then started talking politics and asked who Carl’s voting for and Carl said Jeremy Corbyn. The man then started swearing and shouting at him and Carl was like, “Alright, calm down mate, who’re you voting for?” And the man said “UKIP”. Cue groans from us avid listeners. - He kept threatening to write Razorlight on our persons. All night. - A male, well-built fan asked Carl to write something on his arm and before he even started writing anything, he was running his hands all over the fan’s outstretched arm gleefully going, “You’ve been working out!” He then reached out to run his hand over the fan’s abs as well. I thought the fan looked a bit flustered and embarrassed, to be honest. Oh, Carl. - He said one of the things he like about Australia is how everyone is so chilled because back in the UK everyone take things so seriously. He then went on a mini one man show to play out how pub talks often go for him. “Who’re you?” “Me? Carl?” “I mean your team.” “Uh, Arsenal?” “WELL WHAT ARE YOU DOING SITTING OVER HERE THEN?” Then he made this ridiculous face and he muttered about how people take football way too seriously. “Where do you shop? ASDA? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE THEN? TESCO? WHY ARE YOU HOLDING THAT SALAD? MARKS AND SPENCER?” By now everyone’s laughing and fake-rioting over their shops and it got pretty incoherent. This man has a gift, he should do stand up comedy sometime. - I asked him to sign my shirt and he looked at it and declared, “Gary’s already done it!” and pretended to be upset about it. So I let him pick a spot on the shirt and he pulled and stretched it over his thigh and signed it near the middle. And all I could think of at the time was ‘omg my shirt has a hole in it’. Worth it, though. - Someone asked him what he thought of Julian Casablancas and he was like, “Oh, he’s fantastic,” then he immediately changed the subject, lol. He literally did the “Look! What’s that?” distraction, pointing out at some random people standing by the corner. “Somebody is standing there, who is that? What are you doing there?” - We were sitting against this wall with the words “libertines” written on it and a fan told him to tag the wall with his name or The Jackals. I offered him @missoneminute’s well-travelled sharpie and he was like “No it’s fine, I did it. I was the one who wrote that.” - He talked about how he heard of these yarn-bombs. John was the one who told him about “these rebels, society outcasts, they would run around the city and just, KNIT!” He contemplated writing Yarn Bomb on a fan’s arm for a tattoo but then decided against it, muttering, “I can’t do that.” Good call.

- A fan said he travelled from Western Australia to this gig and Carl was like, “Oh.” Pause. Then in all seriousness, “Adelaide?” and everyone looked at him like, ⁉️⁉️⁉️ Omg I love him.

- Another fan said she used to live in Bristol (keyword: used to) and after a while she said she’s leaving because she has a 20-hour drive that night. And Carl looking proper confused went, “What, where?” and the fan said she lives in a small farm 20 hours away. Carl laughed and was like, “I thought you were going to say Bristol.” Oh, Carl.

- There’s a pub called Bartini right across where King Carlos was holding court, and a fan who worked there came out and gave him a drink. He was sipping on it really slowly and about an hour in it’s still nearly full. So someone asked him what it was and he made this face and quietly said that it was pretty awful and right at that moment the fan came out of the pub and asked him how he liked the drink. Everyone just shared this look and he started really drinking it, this darling man. The fan then asked him what his favourite drink was and he was like. “…this” and lifted up his glass. A bit more digging and he said his favourite drink was Diesel. He described it as: quarter cider, quarter stella, two shots of vodka, two shots of absinthe, and a large port. Everyone of us just looked at him in awe/horror listening to it, lol. I looked at @punk-rat and we were just. Speechless. The bar then passed him a lager which he seemed to like more and he then passed his first drink around. Maybe it’s an acquired taste but I’m with Carl on the drink. I gave it a try but not even the idea of sharing Carl’s spit could convince me to have a second go, lol. Nobody wanted to finish it and when @missoneminute tried to give it back to him, he just paused in the middle of what he was saying and happily went, “Oh, cheers!” and clinked his lager with her and continued talking. Awful 😆 😆 😆 The fan from the bar came back out to ask if he wants that Diesel drink and he absolutely moaned, “Please don’t do that to me.” A few minutes later the fan came back asking really Carl, do you want that drink or not, and he answered “No!” so emphatically. I’m slightly less worried about his liver now. - He got talking about Neighbours several times it was hilarious. Everyone there have apparently seen that video of him talking conspiracy theories about it and were like, oh, here we go again. Fans were trying to convince him to crowdfund and buy Ramsay street off. Then a fan actually very seriously suggested he sell the Margate hotel for it and I wanted to kill that fan a bit. How very dare he. - A fan told him to visit a hot spring beach in New Zealand, where you can dig out a hole and lie in the hot water. Carl was like, “dig a hole??” and the fan had to clarify, “in the sand. It’s a hotspring beach.” And Carl was like, “if you dig a hole in Margate and lie in it, you’re going to get bit by something.”

Oh, man, Carl. I don’t have enough words to describe how kind and generous and funny and omg, how fucking beautiful he is in person. I could stare and listen to him talk all night, no matter how stupidly mumbly he gets sometimes. Anyway, Carl makes four. Until last night I’ve only ever met Peter in person, and that was just by chance. Turns out he’s the most elusive of them all, that unicorn.

@missoneminute, @punk-rat, @bergamotandbiggles, you’re the best and thanks for a fantastic night. 💖💖💖

#what a legend #he is the sweetest most amazing beautiful funny man #recollection

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octaviainthewasteland · 6 years

Text

from December to August

Fandom: Free!

Characters: Nanase Haruka, Matsuoka Rin

Summary: They folded the blanket, trying to shake the wet sand off, and for some time they did not talk, listening to the quiet wash of the waves, to the rustle of the sand beneath their feet, to the creak of sneakers, as they climbed the stairs.

Written for Maki @hinadoria Thank you @free-exchange17 for organizing the exchange!

You can read it on AO3

P.S. Maki, please tell me if I’ve put the correct nickname of the giftee on AO3

In the beginning of December, two young men, hidden from the view of an occasional passer-by, sat on a blanket, the corners pressed down by heavy backpacks, on the beach of a small coastal town Iwatobi.

Every winter Iwatobi was becoming a little ghost town, like any other resort town. Picturesque narrow and curvy streets were empty when artists cleaned their stands with watercolor landscapes, caricatures of celebrities and tourists, and postcards. The souvenir shops hid fake-gold and carved wooden figurines in boxes, so they were not just collecting dust on the shelves. Five-story buildings on the outskirts were emptying out, because no one was renting an apartment, while small villas by the beach were standing like forgotten exhibits in the museum's closet, with hollow black windows, electricity and water supply piped off, a canopy covered with tarp to protect from leaks of long winter rains and tramps that try to sneak in to spend the night. The sand seemed gray beneath the cloudy sky, and only a few brave men were walking around the embankment, wrapped from head to foot. Damp northern wind could find the smallest gaps – dare to go out without the scarf or do not zip up jacket and you’re doomed.

From the quay down to the sea, a staircase of wide concrete slabs was descending, edged with rocks, huge, faded and cracked under the sun and wind. At the bottom stood a crooked feeble foot sprinkler. Nonsense, of course. While climbing up the stairs, again one would end up with a shoe full of sand.

During the summer season, local people worked or escaped somewhere amidst the wild beaches and bays, away from the quay, crowded with beggars, thieves, and tourists. Yet in winter this place was always deserted, and since school days they stopped here, open to the winds and cold, and heavy salty air, that clamped their hair and salted their lips. There was a distant smell of fish and seaweed, from the market down the road. Haru used to accompany his mother to that market, she would squint, examining the mackerel, and he would look those fish in the eye, black and blank.

For some reason, he has never gone there without his mother. Instead, he went to the little store closer to his house, not that it was objectively better or worse. Sometimes Makoto would bring him groceries, but Haru had no way of knowing where he bought that, and he did not care enough to ask.

They sat leaning on their backpacks, watching the smooth dark surface stretched towards the horizon, occasionally disturbed by tiny ripples. Rin was glancing at Haru sometimes from the corner of his eye, maybe a bit jealous of how Haru’s unperturbed beauty matched the calm melancholy of Iwatobi. His skin that was almost translucent, all colors washed out by the gleaming waters of the swimming pool; his short black hair twisting underwater like some kind of wicked kelp; his face of sharp features, crinkle between brows, pointed chin, bony fingers and eyes of the palest blue. The high winter sky, pierced by a single cold sunbeam.

They were both pathetically poetic, yet Rin was just a tad more vocal about his thoughts.

Haru pulled the puffer coat over his knees and wrapped his scarf around his mouth so that only his reddened nose and the tips of his worn-out sneakers were sticking out. Rin snorted: like a neglected street kid, this punk was still wearing the same sneakers he did back when he was sixteen. Those were good shoes, sure, and the soles were still intact, but the thing was that Haru could have afforded five or ten pairs of new ones, he was just being difficult. Same swimming trunks, same sneakers, same hat with threads sticking out.

“You’re coming by tonight, right? Gou would be happy to see you, you know.”

Haru murmured something in reply, but it got muffled by the thick scarf. He was not bothered by being alone at the house, and then guys would often show up anyway. Nagisa would finish all his food for the week and would not even attempt to be subtle, nonchalantly dropping his sleeping bag in the living room. To be honest, Haru did not mind. It was nice.

It was a bit too early for them to be around, though, with the end of the semester and the middle of finals. Rin and Haru earned a small break after a competition, and they were chosen to be in the national team, and it meant that for the first time they were on the same team, and they’re off in a couple of weeks. It went without saying to board the train and find themselves on the Iwatobi station on a chilly morning. The station is a bit of a strong word; there was a stand with the name, a bench and a little pastry shop nearby.

They ended up on the beach, and Haru thought that he should have first gone to his house to turn on the heating. By the time he would come back, it would be nice and warm. His parents were in Korea, but they promised to come around for Christmas. Before their arrival, Haru had all the time in the world to himself. Constant traveling and locker rooms, and shared showers, and double motel rooms – it was tiring. Rin did not seem affected; he raveled in socializing, team-bonding, interviews.

They folded the blanket, trying to shake the wet sand off, and for some time they did not talk, listening to the quiet wash of the waves, to the rustle of the sand beneath their feet, to the creak of sneakers, as they climbed the stairs. Rin grinned and let out a loud ciao and shoved his shoulder, urging him to come to the dinner at their house. Haru waved him off, thinking about nothing – everything – and promptly realized at his doorstep that there was nothing to eat. On some bizarre whim, after dropping off his belongings, he got his wallet and rushed back outside. Not to the nearby store, a small pink building wedged between a used-items store, money from sales of which go to cancer research, and a building that was filmed either by the business school or by a local religious cult. On the door, the inscriptions were duplicated in English, although no one from staff spoke any of it. Haru passed it, heading down to the market. In summer the town turned into a lazy beehive of charred sweaty bodies in colorful shirts and straw sunhats, and the market turned into another attraction, red and golden paper lanterns, stalls with games, souvenirs, glass decorations and street food.

Now it was dead. No stalls, no music, no people. He just stood there, trying to remember the feel of his mother’s hand, the push of the crowd, the color of Rin’s yukata.

They had not talked much, both so busy, changing locations and phone numbers. Then they met at those trials, and Rin immediately went for a hug, and Haru somehow realized he was so so tired. Before he could remember that hugging back is a thing, Rin withdrew, and like a fool, Haru almost chased after him – next moment they were surrounded by people, who were for some reason amazed that they knew each other. Unabashedly, Rin blurted out that obviously Nanase Haruka was secretly his biggest fan, and everyone laughed.

Somehow afterward they never parted.

Haru came back home yet again without any food. He briefly considered delivery, but then decided to just go to sleep earlier.

Then the doorbell rang, and he knew who it was, and he stumbled at the door, the hand not quite touching the knob.

Who was he kidding? He always opened that door, and he always let him in, and followed him, run after him. All the teenage angst and ‘I wanna swim with you’s and knowing looks shared before races.

Rin was everywhere and everything and Haru let him shrug and complain about inside being even more freezing than outside, and put the food on the table, berating him for breaking Gou’s heart by being a freaky hermit.

At the end of August, two young men sat on a small balcony of a cheap hotel room, drinking Pocari and Coke, in the middle of Tokyo.

Summer was hot and sweaty, and they were both in shorts and tanks, Rin’s hair in a ponytail, he stretched over his plastic chair in a dramatic exhausted pose. Bandages were clinging to their skin, and they were waiting until the conditioner would bring the room to a less scalding temperature.

In two days they had to move: Rin back to Australia, Haru to semi-finals in Europe.

Haru got up, wincing, feeling the dull ache in his muscles. Without command, his fingers reached out and brushed the tanned shoulder, hooking the strap of the tank top.

“Rin,” he said, soft and easy.

Rin smiled with his eyes still closed.

#free! gift exchange 2017 #rinharu #rin matsuoka #haruka nanase #haru #hinadoria

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lifeonashelf · 5 years

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CHURCH, THE

I feel kind of bad for The Church. Here you have this outfit who perfected a strain of moody indie rock with lush psychedelic flourishes, except they did so a few zeitgeists too early and peaked about twenty years before the sound they were instrumental in shaping started being deemed stylish by hipster tastemakers (actually, they did it about twenty years before hipsters were even a thing, back when cassettes were fashionable the first time). If their most enduring record—1988’s Starfish—was released today, Pitchfork writers would be tripping over themselves while racing for their laptops to vigorously espouse its merits (then after everyone else caught on to how good The Church is, these same writers would inevitably turn against them and start including them in articles with titles like: “20 Crappy Bands That Hipsters Love”). The group would likely be enjoying the same level of chic esteem as squads like Interpol and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club—bands that are regarded as cool both because they actually are cool, and because people who regard themselves as cool also regard those bands as cool. It naturally follows, then, that The Church would be the third or fourth-billed name in the Saturday line-up for next year’s Coachella, after which assorted dudes with excessively-manicured facial hair would pause between gusts of mango-papaya vape to expound on how “ah-may-zing” their set was (though they would go on to insist the true highlight of the festival was Sia’s performance, which they would—also—designate as “ah-may-zing”).

The Church also arrived a bit too early to benefit from the 1990’s alternative explosion, an epoch during which they would have surely gotten along famously, probably sold at least as many records as the Gin Blossoms, and ostensibly been written in as a favorite band of the character played by Claire Danes on My So-Called Life (Angela Chase never specifically mentioned The Church on that show, but I still sincerely think she probably did like them and I’m reasonably certain “Reptile” was her go-to cut; I doubt Jordan Catalano enjoyed their stuff very much, though—Angela would have been all, like, “hey, let’s listen to this Church CD,” and he would have fluttered his eyelashes and been all, like, “nah”).

Unfortunately, even in their own era, the band’s timing was inopportune. An effective LP like Starfish had all the potential in the world to set up The Church as a benchmark of the thriving college radio circuit, which reasonably could have segued them to continued success in the decidedly guitar-friendly age to come. However, they had to settle for relegation to the middle-ground because they happened to release that record in 1988, a year during which numerous sonic purveyors who would ultimately define the impending alt-rock movement in The Church’s stead released seminal works that were so trailblazing they inevitably made Starfish’s more discreetly-admirable fare sound underwhelming by comparison. While the album boasts four stellar tunes and six solid others, I don’t think anyone could successfully argue that Starfish is anywhere near as exhilarating as Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing Shocking, Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything, The Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, Soundgarden’s Ultramega OK, or Dinosaur Jr.’s Bug—to name just a few of the 1988-alumni discs which effectively set the tone for much of the decade following their release. Even if The Church wrote ten songs as fabulously hypnotic as “Destination”, they couldn’t have possibly competed against a roster of that caliber.

As things stand today, the group’s legacy rests in the realm of far more humble peers such as Soup Dragons and Aztec Camera—which is to say The Church is fondly remembered by dudes in their late-40’s who still wear Happy Mondays t-shirts and scour vinyl bins looking for elusive Charlatans UK singles, yet they rarely earn more than a passing mention in broader critical symposiums about the fertile ambit of 1980’s indie rock. Most people under the age of thirty-five only know The Church even existed because their song “Under the Milky Way” appeared in the most slavishly overrated cinematic offering released so far this century, Donnie Darko (granted, Donnie Darko is far from terrible—in fact, it very well may be one of the best movies ever made about a disturbed teenager who hangs out with a demonic ghost-bunny and travels back in time to masturbate in front of Drew Barrymore—but for all its meandering allegories and figurative virtuosity, the film is nowhere near as mind-bending as its Cult Classic status suggests). And here’s the kicker there: even with their best song prominently featured on a popular soundtrack during an era when popular soundtracks were still a thing—a circumstance which would seem ideal to trigger a contemporary reappraisal of The Church’s prowess—the band was outshined yet again. And this time it wasn’t a cadre of future legends who shoved them into the backseat, it was a now-forgotten singer-songwriter named Gary Jules, whose admittedly first-rate cover of “Mad World” usurped “Milky Way” as Donnie Darko: The Album’s breakout anthem and sparked a contemporary reappraisal of Tears For Fears instead. Even though Tears For Fears was objectively a better band than The Church, it still kind of sucks that Gary Jules dropped a fucking jet engine on the latter’s shining moment.

I hope The Church at least takes solace in knowing they are responsible for one of the most killer tunes ever recorded. “Under the Milky Way” remains an utterly magnificent creation, a five-minute slice of brilliance which is nigh impossible to dislike. Though only a modest hit when it was released—the single didn’t crack the Top-20 anywhere, not even in the collective’s home country of Australia—“Milky Way” nevertheless demonstrates the sort of definitive song-craft most bands could only dream they were capable of summoning. Its hooks are melodic and mesmerizing enough to immediately satisfy the ears of the most jaded pop purists, yet the multifarious arrangement is layered with supple intricacies which invite, and richly reward, a more duteous immersion (to put it in more articulate terms: the song sounds really simple, but there’s actually a whole lot of shit going on there). The brilliantly ambiguous lyrical stanzas are ripe for personal interpretation, unfurling the sort of stream-of-consciousness reverie that any listener searching for revelations can self-apply as they see fit (“Something shimmering and white leads you here, despite your destination / Under the milky way tonight”… ah-may-zing). As for me, I’ve listened to the track well over a hundred times in my life, and I still have no idea what it’s about—although I assume it’s either about fucking or dying, since just about every song ever written is inevitably about one of those two things. “Milky Way” is so entrancing, not even the presence of a densely-processed solo which sounds like braying bagpipes can shatter its dark spell (an old joke comes to mind here: Why do Scotsmen always walk while they’re playing their bagpipes? They’re trying to get away from the noise…). The sole other tune I can think of that accomplishes a similar feat is Korn’s “Shoots and Ladders”, which would still be extraordinary even with ten sets of bagpipes pealing through it, since it holds the distinction of being the only song in the history of recorded sound which inspires moshing alpha-males to savagely pummel each other while growling the words, “Knick knack paddywack, give the dog a bone, this old man came rolling home” (these lyrics naturally lead me to assume “Shoots and Ladders” is about both fucking and dying, concurrently).

I need to back up for a second here, because the more I listen to The Church, I’m starting to think their interment in the crowded mausoleum of ‘80s one-hit-wonders is probably more fitting than not (this concession sort of negates my original thesis for this piece, but fuck it). I do dig several of the tunes on Starfish a whole lot (I have yet to mention “North, South, East And West”, which supplies five more of the finest moments on the record), yet none of them are remotely as transcendent as “Under the Milky Way”. And my appreciation for the band’s dexterity, while potent in single-serving dosages, has not inspired me to seek out the rest of their surprisingly voluminous discography. Until I started writing this, I wasn’t even aware they are still active, nor that they have issued a full dozen records since Starfish (I just now checked out a couple clips from their most recent offering—2017’s Man Woman Life Death Infinity—and they were about what I expected: competent, but not remarkable). I am much fonder of The Church than I am of Soup Dragons or Aztec Camera, I would definitely select one of their shirts over a Happy Mondays tee if it came down to it, and I would be far more excited to stumble across the 12” for “Destination” in a record store bin than a whole stack of Charlatans UK singles. Nonetheless, I can’t think of any persuasive criteria under which I could possibly contend that Starfish is as essential a record as Daydream Nation (although, it is a way better record than Sonic Youth’s 2000 release NYC Ghosts & Flowers).

Ultimately, I guess all I can really say about The Church with conviction is that they made at least one really great album that I own and enjoy. Which is good enough for me, even if that rote conclusion makes all of the needlessly flowery paragraphs leading up to this one rather pointless. But I already wrote all that other shit, so I’m not going to go back and excise it now; there were a few decent jokes in there, and at my age, I can’t really afford to delete pages that I squandered several nights working on. It was a dumb premise, though—who the fuck am I to insinuate that the dudes who wrote a timeless classic like “Under the Milky Way” somehow didn’t realize their full potential? Especially when they’re still touring on the strength of that creation 30 years later, and all I’ve really managed to do in the last 30 years is get myself savagely pummeled by alpha-males at a few Korn shows while Jonathan Davis scatted nursery rhymes at me from the stage.

I suppose if I ever write about The Church in the future, I’ll give my notions a bit more thought before I type myself into a corner. For now, I think I’m just going to close this piece and allow it to simmer in its averageness. If I start tweaking these entries just because they aren’t any good, I’ll never finish a single one. And then who’s going to author middling essays about the hundreds of bands in my collection I haven’t gotten around to yet?

Like a bagpipe-wheezing Scotsman, I’ve got to keep moving. It’s time for this old man to come rolling home.

June 28, 2018

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youremyonlyhope · 7 years

Text

The Pilot

DOCTOR WHO IS BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NEARLY A YEAR AND A HALF AND I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER.

AHH IT’S BILL. “Out of order” Doctor I love you. Aww that’s sweet he has a picture of Susan on his desk next to River. AND ALL HIS OLD SONICS. YES THE GUITAR AGAIN. DID HE JUST PEEK INTO THE ROOM?! So she’s not a student? Aww I was hoping for a companion who’s a student of the Doctor’s like Ace was. Oh well. I spoke too soon, he’s her tutor now! “Doctor what?” The new trend in companions is to get it just a little wrong. “It’s smaller on the outside” “Doctor what?” I was gonna say something I got distracted by the Doctor’s time lecture and I forgot. She has a foster mom? “Men aren’t where I keep my eye, actually” Oh no is her foster mom gonna be a homophobe? I REMEMBER NOW WHAT I WANTED TO SAY! I had forgotten this show’s British and I had a “...Ooooh... chips... not crisps...” moment. Calling it now, this girl is an alien. “Time and relative dimension in space. It means life” so the TARDIS=life. I nearly was about to go into the Doctor Who tag but nope I’m smarter than that I know the Brits will spoil me. “You’re not supposed to get involved” Nardole you KNOW that’s all the Doctor ever does. Girl. RUN. Don’t just wait to see if they heard you. I don’t trust this girl or her puddle. AWWWW SHE GOT HIM A PRESENT. THAT IS SO CUTE I LOVE THEM SO MUCH ALREADY. THE PAPER CROWNS. Doctor. Baby. Did you go back in time, meet her mom, take pictures of her, and hide them in the closet for her to find years later? YES. YES YOU DID. AND OF COURSE YOU KINDA MESSED IT UP. SHE’S WEARING THE SHIRT SHE WEARS IN THE PROMO CLIP WITH THE DALEKS. WHY? Heather’s reminding me of something... the Lady of the Lake maybe? OH NAH. OH NO. POOR GIRL. IT’S THE JEAN JACKET. IT’S THE WHOLE OUTFIT. NOW IT REALLY BEGINS. Oh Doctor. “Why do you run like that?” “Like what?” “Like a penguin with his arse on fire.” OH MY GOD. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. “Do you know any sci-fi” I JUST LAUGHED OUT LOUD SO HARD. I had a feeling it was going to end up being something like it’s your face the right way. Why don’t I write things down when I think of them? The water can move. This better not be the Waters of Mars all over again. Oh no is the foster mom gonna die? OK this is what I hate. The character goes “is someone else supposed to be home?” and someone answers “No why?” and they say “No reason” instead of saying “The shower/light is on/door is open so I’m gonna call the cops and leave. Call the cops too if I can’t.” There’s gonna be a jumpscare. OK I WAS PREPARED AND THAT WAS STILL CREEPY. I THOUGHT SHE’D JUMP OUT THE DRAIN BUT THE EYE WAS SOMEHOW SO MUCH WORSE. NO. I JUST SAID ‘NO” OUT LOUD. NO. NOOOOOO. SHE’S JUST FLOATING. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. BILL. USE YOUR BRAIN. DON’T GET ANY CLOSER. WAIT. MIMICKING. MIDNIGHT. IS THIS THE THING FROM MIDNIGHT? THIS IS ALL THE HORRIBLE MONSTERS OF SEASON 4 IN ONE AND IF THE VASTRA NERADA COME OUT THEN I’M GONNA SCREAM. NOPE NOPE NOEP NOPE NOPE. THIS IS THE SCARIEST EPISODE IN A LONG TIME. Oh yes Doctor. Taking off the out of order sign is a priority. “You’re safe in here and you always will be” Except when Journey to the Centre of the Tardis happens again. Or the Tardis becomes a paradox machine again. “What happened with the doors though, did you run out of money?” Love her. Nardole oh my god. “This is a lift!” She’s adorable. “Doctor it’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside!” “Hey we got there” Well, in her defense, the Doctor didn’t really try to explain it when she first went inside and she’d seen it up against a wall for months so. HOW. HOW. HOW IS IT HERE. I just laughed at my mom yelling at Siri downstairs, but then Heather came into view and my laughed turned into a sob/gasp. Are you guys going to go to the end of the universe? Will you see Lady Me or Captain Jack? “Have we traveled in time?” “No of course not. We’ve traveled to Australia!” Ok actually, Doctor Who hasn’t really covered time zones so that’s nice. “If you’re from another planet, why would you name your box in English?” THAT... is a very good point. Ha! Called it. End of the universe. ...Have we seen this before... Ok but Bill just interrupt and say “Hey there’s a puddle here. Not sure it’s her, but like... it’s a puddle so.” “Can I say no sir?” “No.” “Yes then!” So that’s how the Daleks come in!

Doctor meeting Martha: *Lies about the Time War* Doctor meeting Bill: *Brings her to a Time War battle*

Oh Doctor. Also I’m making that its own post now. That explains why she was saying “exterminate” in the promos and trailers. “Never underestimate a crush” Aww. “That’s the Doctor for you, never notices the tears.” Awww. He notices, he just chooses to ignore them because of the pain. DOCTOR. YOU OF ALL PEOPLE KNOW THAT MAKING PEOPLE FORGET IS BAD. “Imagine how it would feel if someone did this to you.” Oh Bill, you hit the exact right chord. OH NO THEY’RE PLAYING CLARA’S THEME I’M GONNA CRY. Even the TARDIS is judging him! That’s how you KNOW you messed up. “Time and relative dimension in space means what the hell” YES.

I just gasped out loud. OH MY GOD. So, we know from the pictures from the set (I’m about to maybe spoil a future episode so *POSSIBLE SPOILERS START HERE!!!!*) that Bill possibly lives in the house that Blink took place in or she has some connection to that house since they were filming there and the Doctor was super confused in the set pictures. So. Her mom is dead, we know that. What if, just bear with me, her mother is the daughter of Billy Shipton and the Sally he married. And then she had Bill. And that house has something to do with their past for some reason. Like Billy Shipton lived there or something or his family visited. Her name is Bill so what if she was named after her grandfather Billy? I don’t know, but imagine if this is all true. *SPOILERS ARE OVER*

Overall. I loved this episode. I thought it was great. And I love Bill so much already.

#doctor who #doctor who spoilers #dw spoilers #hope watches doctor who

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placetobenation · 4 years

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The Rescuers Down Under

Release Date: November 16th, 1990

Inspiration: Characters created by Margery Sharp

Budget: $30 million

Domestic Gross: $27.9 million

Worldwide Gross: $47.4 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69%

IMDB Score: 6.9/10

Storyline (per IMDB): Cody, a 9-year-old boy from Mugwomp Flats responds to a distress call about a trapped giant Golden Eagle called Marahute. Freeing her, he gains a close friendship with the bird. However, Cody is soon abducted by the murderous poacher, Percival McLeach, who is after that bird which is of a highly endangered species and therefore an extremely profitable quarry. In a panic, a mouse Cody freed from one of McLeach’s traps sends a desperate call for help to the Rescue Aid Society in New York City who assigns their top agents, Miss Bianca and Bernard, to the task. With transportation provided by the goofy albatross, Wilbur, the agents arrive in Australia and link up with the RAS’ local field operative, Jake the Kangaroo Rat. Together, the trio must race against time to find Cody, stop McLeach, and save Marahute.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: Our trek through the Disney film canon continues with the first film of the 1990s and also amazingly enough, it is the first official sequel to come out as it is the second Rescuers film. It is a bit funny that of all the films that have come out to this point, it is the Rescuers that is the first film to get a sequel even though by nature of the ending of the film it did open it up to a sequel. This is another film that was always one of my favorites growing up and after being pleasantly surprised by how good the Rescuers was, hopefully this one delivers as well and still remains one of my favorites.

Voice Cast: So as I mentioned, this is the first official sequel in Disney history and as a result, we have a break from tradition as instead of having the same actors come back for multiple films in different roles, we have returning actors reprising the previous roles that they had. Case in point, we have the return of Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor as they once again voice Bernard and Miss Bianca and this would ultimately be Gabor’s final film appearance, and we also have Bernard Fox returning as the Chairmouse of the Rescue Aid Society though he also does a dual role of Doctor Mouse. We do see a return as well in Frank Welker though he is part of the first example where he is in multiple films in different roles as he voices both Marahute the Eagle and Joanna in a dual role. Now moving onto our newcomers in this film, we start off with comedian John Candy who voices Wilbur and it is nice to see him more active in this film than the actor who voiced Orville in the first film, and then we have Adam Ryen who voices Cody in what would be one of his lone film appearances. Next, we have legendary actor George C. Scott who voices Percival McLeach as he was about to begin what ended up being the last decade of his career, and then we have Tristen Rogers who voices Jake in one of his lone film appearances as he was better known for being on the soap opera “General Hospital”. We then have Peter Firth who voices Red the kangaroo as he was hitting the peak of his career, and then we have Wayne Robson who voices Frank the Lizard as he was in the prime of his career as well. Next, we have Douglas Seale who voices Krebbs the koala in what would be one of only two appearances with Disney, and then we have Carla Meyer who voices Faloo the kangaroo and Cody’s mother in a dual role though she would be better known for being a dialect coach for the next three decades. We then have Russi Taylor who voices Nurse Mouse though she is better remembered for voicing another mouse named Minnie, and finally we have Peter Greenwood who voices the airplane captain and radio announcer in a brief dual role. While we did get a nice, fresh group of voices, it was good that at least a few of the actors from the original film came back and it will be interesting to see going forward if this trend continues as we see more sequels pop up over the years.

Hero/Prince: When it comes to sequels, they will usually feature the same characters from the previous film in addition to some brand new characters, and there are certain times where the sequel may feature all new characters and not have any from the previous film. However, that is not the case here as we see the return of Bernard and Miss Bianca as they have grown as a team and are considered the top agents of the Rescue Aid Society, and Bianca volunteers them to take this mission in Australia. After arriving, they meet Jake who is the Australian representative of the Rescue Aid Society and he helps them in their mission, and he is clearly smitten with Bianca much to Bernard’s dismay as he and Bianca have also been dating and he wishes to propose to her. Bernard is separated from them and despite his constant reservations, he finally finds his courage and saves Bianca and Jake along with Cody and Marahute, and in the end he finally proposes to Bianca who happily accepts and he has earned Jake’s respect. Obviously, we know what Bernard and Bianca are about from the last film so the focus here is on Jake who is a strong agent and is not afraid of anything, and he knows the lay of the land very well and has built up an impressive set of skills including subduing vicious animals and making them obey him. He is immediately infatuated with Bianca and does his best to impress her while also putting Bernard down even if it is not intentional, but in the end he shows respect to Bernard for his heroics and is happy for them when they become engaged. The three of them do end up making for a solid trio of heroes and it will be interesting to see where Bernard and Bianca rank when you factor in the two films, but they themselves are a good pair of heroes and may even be slightly underrated.

Princess: N/A

Villain: When it comes to a series like this, you know that you are bound to get a different villain than from the previous film, and we get that here as our main villain in this film is the poacher Percival C. McLeach along with his pet goanna named Joanna. He finds Cody when he stumbles upon one of his traps and he realizes that Cody has met Marahute, the golden eagle that he is looking for after admitting that he killed Marahute’s mate. He kidnaps Cody and demands he reveal the location though Cody refuses, and finally McLeach releases Cody by telling him that he heard someone else has killed Marahute. He follows Cody knowing he will head to the nest and as Marahute flies back to the nest, McLeach captures her along with Cody, Bianca, and Jake while sending Joanna down to the nest to eat the eggs. She is unable to eat them and she ends up tossing them off the cliff not realizing that Bernard had switched the eggs with rocks, and McLeach takes Cody to Crocodile Falls where he intends to feed Cody to the crocodiles and then sell Marahute. In the end, Bernard gets Joanna to chase him and she knocks into McLeach as they fall into the river, and Joanna makes her way to safety as McLeach fights off the crocodiles only to forget about the falls and he ends up falling to his death. McLeach is your typical poacher in that he is all about making money selling animals either while they are alive or dead, and he sees Marahute as his ticket to becoming a rich man and is willing to do whatever he has to in order to get her. Joanna stands by his side and assists him even though she does more to hinder him than actually help him, and this ultimately ends up costing McLeach his life in the end though Joanna manages to survive. While McLeach does appear to be more of a competent villain as opposed to Madame Medusa in the first film, he is still a fairly generic villain and will probably not rank very high amongst the other villains.

Other Characters: As I mentioned earlier, when it comes to a sequel you can see some characters from the first film return or you will see a bunch of new characters so that the sequel isn’t just seen as a rehash of the first film. This film has mostly new characters aside from the Chairmouse of the Rescue Aid Society who we saw in the first, and we also have the members of the Society who we might have seen briefly in the first film and see even more briefly in this one. We now move onto our new set of characters and the first is Cody who frees Marahute from a trap and becomes her friend, and he is captured by McLeach who wants Cody to lead him to Marahute though he refuses. Eventually, Cody is released unaware that McLeach intentionally did so to be led to Marahute, and Cody is recaptured along with Marahute and McLeach tries to feed him to the crocodiles only for Bernard, Bianca, and Jake to save him and Marahute. We then have the eagle Marahute who is caught in a trap and Cody frees her as they become friends, and she goes away briefly before returning only to be caught by McLeach though she is saved along with Cody by Bernard, Bianca, and Jake. We then have the collection of animals that Cody befriends while under captivity which include Red the kangaroo, Krebbs the koala, Frank the lizard, and others as they try to free Cody only for McLeach to discover this and he takes Cody away while leaving the rest behind. Next, we have Wilbur the albatross who is the brother of Orville from the first film and he meets Bernard and Bianca having heard about them from Orville, and he takes them to Australia only to hurt his back and he is treated by several mice much to his dismay until his back is healed. He is then coerced by Bernard into sitting on Marahute’s eggs as he goes to save everyone, but unfortunately Wilbur is forgotten about and he is left on the eggs as they hatch and one of them bites his wing. We then have the doctor and nurse mice that tend to Wilbur and his back though one might question their methods, but in the end Wilbur ends up having his back taken care of though the doctor in turn gets his back hurt. We then have the various animals that either help Cody find where Marahute is or the ones that relay the message to the Rescue Aid Society, and finally we have Cody’s mother who we only see briefly when Cody leaves the house and then when the Rangers deliver his backpack to her as she believes he has been killed. I always find it weird that there aren’t as many characters in a film than I remember when I first watched the film, but sometimes less is more as it puts focus on the main characters and the others don’t feel extra.

Songs: N/A

Plot: It is funny because the first film was based off an actual novel as opposed to this one which is just based off the characters, but in a way that allows you to be more flexible with the story though you still have to make sure the characters fit within it. For this film, Cody finds a golden eagle named Marahute that is in a poacher’s trap and he frees her from it, and they become friends as she shows him her nest and three eggs before giving him a feather as a present. Cody eventually falls into a poacher’s trap set up by McLeach and he intends to let him leave, but when he sees the feather he kidnaps Cody and tries to force him to lead him to Marahute. The Rescue Aid Society learn of this and they send Bernard and Bianca to Australia where they meet Jake who leads them to McLeach’s hideout, and after failing to convince Cody to reveal the location he lets him go though Cody is unaware that McLeach intends to follow him to the nest. When Cody returns to the nest just Marahute also arrives, McLeach captures Marahute along with Cody, Jake, and Bianca as Bernard is left behind, but Bernard protects the eggs from Joanna and then he convinces Wilbur to look after them as he goes after everyone. McLeach attempts to feed Cody to crocodiles only for Bernard to intervene and McLeach along with Joanna fall into the river, and McLeach ends up falling over the falls to his death while Bianca, Jake, and Marahute save Cody and Bernard as they fly away into the night. I do feel like this film could’ve been eventually turned into a novel and started a series, but it ultimately does not and basically serves as a standalone that happens to feature these certain characters.

Random Watching Thoughts: It is a bit weird that of all the films that have been released to this point, it would be the Rescuers that gets a sequel especially since it’s been 13 years since the original; It did make some sense to have this film take place in Australia since the Australian culture was still somewhat relevant at this point in history; This continuous opening shot through the Outback might be one of the best openings in Disney history; Cody needs to do a better job in keeping his room organized; Did Cody really think he would be able to sneak away without his mother knowing?; I like how they make it seem like Cody didn’t have to go far and that the Outback is not as vast as it really is; So Faloo blowing into the log makes the same sound as a didgeridoo; They point out Marahute is on a cliff and Cody is the only one that can reach her, but what if Cody was unable to climb up the cliff?; Considering how hard is it for mountain climbers, I wonder how they felt when they saw Cody climb up the cliff with no problems and no proper equipment; How did Marahute end up in that trap?; Cody should’ve realized that she would freak out when she saw his knife; I wonder how many kids actually thought Cody was going to die when Marahute knocked him off the cliff; Of all the places a group of flamingos had to be congregating; I don’t know much about birds, but I feel like Cody shouldn’t be able to stand on Marahute like that while she is flying regardless of how big she is; I know that Cody saved her, but the fact that Marahute was willing to show her eggs to him must mean she completely trusts him; Marahute looks so puzzled when Cody rubs the feather along his face; Classic foreshadowing when we see the villain appear on a wanted poster before we actually see him; McLeach did a lot of work to set up that trap to be wired to his truck via sonar; Cody can climb up a cliff with no issues yet he somehow can’t climb out of a hole; McLeach has no care for the environment as he set his truck up to just plow trees over to make himself a pathway; Joanna jumpscare; It’s not often that you see a shotgun with a scope on it; McLeach throws Joanna under the bus for making the hole, so I guess he would blame her for the beacon in there as well even though she’s an animal; That’s not too smart of McLeach to have Cody grab the muzzle end of the gun when he could accidentally pull the trigger; I remember that scene of McLeach falling into the hole was all over the trailers and I wonder if many thought that would lead to his death, but considering how early it is in the film you knew he wasn’t going to die from that; We hear a gunshot go off yet we don’t see any bullets come out of the hole unless the gun was fired into the sides of the hole; Getting a closer look at the gun, it looks like a combination of a rifle with the scope and handle along with the double barrels of a shotgun; McLeach was ready to finish Joanna off until he sees the feather; Does he keep that eagle’s feather on his person all the time?; McLeach has obviously eluded the Rangers for so long that he is able to mock Cody when he says that the Rangers will get him; The R.A.S. telegraph office is an old milk carton and has the design of a bar with the stools on the outside; So apparently mice are able to do Morse code; So the message went from Australia to the Marshall Islands, then Hawaii before reaching the mainland and bouncing to various cities; That tech looked so worried when the “R.A.S.” letters appeared on the screens; All the mice in Hawaii just also happen to be wearing Hawaiian shirts just in case you weren’t sure where they were; It doesn’t look like the R.A.S. assembly hall has changed much between the last film and this one; The poor Canadian representative was woken up for this meeting as he doesn’t even bother changing out of his pajamas; So in the previous film they take the time to sing their anthem even though they had an emergency with Penny disappearing, yet they don’t do that here; It is snowing pretty good in NYC yet some people were willing to go out to dinner; So cockroaches make pea soup in a thimble over an open fire; I do wonder how long the time was between the last film and this one because if Bernard wants to propose to Bianca, they must’ve been dating for a while in addition to being partners; Why would Bernard just have the ring in his pocket especially if it has a hole in it?; I feel bad for that mouse getting slapped when he did nothing wrong; I mentioned before the classic trope of two characters talking about two different things yet they think they are talking about the same thing as Bernard thinks Bianca wants to marry him while Bianca is talking about taking the mission to Australia; Bernard has come a long way from being the janitor to becoming one of the R.A.S.’ top agents; Bernard says that you can’t fly for 45 minutes after eating though I have never heard that before; I wonder how many people who watched the first film were looking forward to seeing Orville only to realize that he wasn’t in the film; Wilbur definitely is the younger, cooler brother of Orville; So on the weekend this film was released, another film came out that featured John Candy and that film was a tiny film called “Home Alone” so it was a good weekend for Candy; “Albatross Air: A Fair Fare from Here to There”; Wilbur should know that even though they would live in June when it is summer in New York, it would actually be winter when they get to Australia; Wilbur spits his drink out yet only Bernard gets splashes while Bianca stays dry; Wilbur asks if it’s a little kid kind of boy, what other types of boys are there?; It seems like Bernard has gotten over most of his phobias because we don’t see them climbing the steps onto Wilbur and he can’t mention the number of steps; Wilbur causing an accident; Did Bianca actually think Wilbur would be able to fly from New York City to Australia non-stop?; McLeach says the rangers could hear Cody yell as they are pretty much in the middle of nowhere; So I did look it up and there are multiple opal mines throughout Australia; Once again, Bernard mentions taking the train though it’d be hard to find a train to Australia; You have to really be bad at Checkers to lose to a fly; That silhouette of the Albatross was pretty big though Wilbur didn’t seem to be that big; Much like in the first film, they treat the birds like they are airplanes; I wonder if using the bra as a drag line and Wilbur wearing it at the end was a nod to the controversy from the first film involving the picture of the topless woman; Jake is ranting and ranting until he sees Bianca coming down the steps; Wilbur’s back must’ve been really bad if it went out when he tried to grab those small suitcases; It would’ve been even funnier if Wilbur said he was ready to do the polka in a nod to John Candy’s character in “Home Alone”; The doctor is cranky because he missed tea to work on Wilbur; I don’t think it’s smart to shoot those needles out of a shotgun; Ironic that Jake asks them if they are married and Bianca says they aren’t not knowing Bernard wants to propose; So Suicide Trail has more snakes, but less quicksand which makes it the better trail in Jake’s eyes; You do feel bad for Bernard because he loves Bianca and yet Jake is clearly flirting with her; Where did McLeach find a box of animal crackers that big for Joanna?; God forbid McLeach had real bad aim because he was playing with fire throwing those knives at the map trying not to hit Cody; Bernard is willing to look for Jake even though he thinks Jake is trying to woo Bianca; Jake was lucky that he wasn’t pierced by those snake’s fangs; It is still weird that some animals have the ability to talk while others don’t; Krebbs is pretty pessimistic considering he saying that the animals will get out by becoming numerous accessories like a belt and a wallet; Frank needs to stop thinking so hard if it hurts his head like that; That’s quite the contraption they made, and in such short time; Joanna must have super hearing if she heard them getting the keys that easily; Jake, Bernard, and Bianca are using a lot of animals to make their way towards McLeach’s hideout; Wilbur says that his head feels like it’s in a vice and sure enough, it is in a vice; What was Wilbur doing during his X-Ray as he looks like he was in pain?; The epidermal tissue disrupter aka the chainsaw; They must not be that good if they actually have an alarm for if a patient escapes; Wilbur was walking around fairly well despite having an injured back; Wilbur’s back is all better only for the doctor to now have a bad back; You’re telling me that McLeach didn’t notice Joanna had the egg wrapped around her tongue?; McLeach says that his brain is twice as big as Joanna’s yet Joanna was able to eat all the eggs behind his back; Frank was determined to get that lock open using his tail; They tell Frank to get something to stand on and the first he grabs is a slab of wood that does nothing especially where there is a box right next to it; They tell him to be quiet and yet he decides to loudly kick the keys to the ground; He has the keys to unlock the cage yet he decides to throw them away and use his tail instead; Talk about having luck on your side as Frank got shot at by a shotgun yet didn’t get hit at all; Jake was so happy thinking him saying “Open sesame” caused the door to open; If third grade is the farthest you got in school, I don’t think you have much to brag about; I know Cody got a head start, but you’d think he would hear the truck and realize that McLeach is following him; Wilbur is so exhausted from flying until he sees who is beside him and then he is Mr. Big Shot; So we have to believe that Cody ran from McLeach’s hideout all the way to the cliff where the nest is without stopping to rest?; That was a good shot by McLeach to nab Marahute; Joanna was so willing to eat the eggs until she saw she had to go over the cliff and chickened out until McLeach kicked her over; How much time elapsed that Bernard was able to hide the real eggs and put out rocks to throw Joanna off?; You would think after not being able to eat the first one that Joanna would realize immediately something is wrong; Joanna grew her nails back very quickly after scratching them to the knuckle on the rock; I don’t know if Bernard should be rolling those eggs like that; Wilbur was adamant about not sitting on the eggs yet somehow he ends up sitting on them in the end; Again, how far did Bernard end up running without taking a break to follow the tracks?; Bernard was lucky to happen upon a warthog so he could use him to catch up; Here’s the beginning of the end for McLeach as instead of just throwing Cody into the river, he decides to toy with him and becomes extra arrogant that he is about to win; That’s pretty mean of McLeach to call Bernard a rat; You would think Cody would swing back and forth to give McLeach some problems in getting a clear shot; Joanna is so bent on catching Bernard that she doesn’t realize that she was going to cause McLeach and herself to fall into the river; Joanna at least had some sense to find her way to dry land while McLeach just stayed and fought with the crocodiles; It’s a good thing those crocodiles stayed focused on McLeach even when Cody fell into the water; McLeach seemed so happy when he thought he beat the crocodiles only to realize they swam away to avoid the falls; That last little wave from Joanna because she knew McLeach was dead; Poor Bernard was so scared that he wouldn’t let that rope go until he realized they were safe; It’s a good thing Bianca accepted Bernard’s proposal because that would’ve been a major downer if she rejected him after everything they went through; I wonder how shocked Marahute will be knowing that her babies now consider Wilbur their father.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, the film was a solid one and I still like it just as much as I did when I was a kid though I will admit it was not up to the same level as the original was. There is a certain sentiment that the sequel always tends to not do as well as the original though there are some sequels that exceed the original, but this one didn’t and after the success of the Little Mermaid this had to be considered a disappointment. Now that’s not to say it was a complete failure as it did do fairly well and it just seemed like a minor blip on the radar regarding the Disney Renaissance, but the next film does have a bit of pressure on it to see if it can rebound from this one. As for this film, it is still a good film though not quite as good as the original and it is still one of my personal favorites of all time.

Final Grade: 7/10

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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thesydneyfeminists · 5 years

Text

An Open Letter to Australia from New Zealand

Kia ora, big bro. Pehea e koe?

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written to you. I’ve been meaning to for ages, because I feel like our relationship has soured a bit. But I guess I was afraid.

I really wanted to write when you started sending Kiwis back to Aotearoa just because they were mixing with ‘bad eggs.’ Some of the people you sent back hadn’t set foot on Kiwi soil since they were kids. Thought that was a bit rough.

I know you don’t like your brown brothers over your way, and I’m grateful New Zealand is better to its people. Well, I thought we were. Seems like an Aussie export somehow found his way over here and went and shot up a bunch of people who were just praying in a mosque, bro. Just praying. Far out.

What are your police up to these days? I know they’re familiar with all the names of the African kids running around, kicking time. My friend said he gets hassled all the time when he’s just hanging out with his mates! I wonder why the police didn’t know the name of the shooter.

Had a bit of a google and he reckons he’s just an ‘ordinary white man.’ I dunno, not a lot ordinary ‘bout buying a whole bunch of guns and filming a video killing people. Might be ordinary in America or over your way, but not here, not in Aotearoa. Shit is peaceful as, down here.

That video was some next level, wild shit though huh? I couldn’t watch it. My heart is heavy enough. It made me think though, imagine if your little bro or my little sis had seen that video on YouTube. Imagine that? Yeah nah, too heavy. Kids shouldn’t see that stuff. No one should see that stuff.

I gotta say there are a lot of sad people round now. Everyone in New Zealand feels a lot different than they did before this all happened. It helps to go online and see the solidarity people are showing us. It’s nice to know we aren’t forgotten, all the way over here.

Image Description (sourced @mamamia): A close-up photo of the New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Adern, who is pictured speaking. The photo is in black and white and shows her face/ shoulders. Her hair is pulled up out of her face and she is looking down and to the right. A quote by Jacinda Adern is imposed over the left-hand side of the photo, next to Adern’s face. It is written in white, black letters on a dark grey background. It reads, ‘He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, which I speak, be nameless. He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give nothing, not even his name.’ Both the quote and Adern’s face are bordered by a thin, white line in the shape of a square.

Bro, how awesome is our Prime Minister, though? She is one mana wahinē - makes your lot look like a bunch of dildos ha ha. Do you remember when that politician got hit in the face with a dildo up by Waitangi? I watched that video so many times on YouTube. Still cracks me up.

Oh! That’s right, didn’t some old white dude get an egg dumped on him for being an egg? Someone at work said a politician in Australia made a big deal in the newspaper about how if New Zealand didn’t let immigrants in, then that lunatic wouldn’t have shot all those people. Don’t know about that. Ma reckons if the guy was a brown fulla, everyone would think that too and she is probably right.

Am gonna go check out that egging on YouTube, for a laugh. BRB.

Bro, that was whack! I mean, I laughed cos watching a politician get an egg smashed on him is funny as. But it was a bit much watching the dude then smack the kid for doing it. Ended up like a night out on Courtney Place – scallywag gets the strong-arm. I feel real bad for the kid. Just being a punk, doing what a lot of us wanted to do to that politician, then gets cracked in the face three times! Is the guy that punched him going to jail?

Image Description: Image by an internet user called Tariqah. It reads, ‘people will talk more about that egg boy than they will about islamophobia in the spaces they inhabit and the islamophobia of those they interact with. I am proud of that kid but he by no meansshould be the face or at the fore front of this conversation. You are obscuring islamophobia on purpose and it’s obvious.’

I gotta say, bro it was a bit much. I didn’t want to watch any more violence. I didn’t even think the egg thing was that funny, not the kind of humour we need right now. I did see something funny online though. James Nokise, you know him from way back, he tweeted the funniest thing. I’ve put a pic in the letter for you to read. You will laugh, it’s funny as and helps with the sadness, even if it’s just for a minute.

Seems like egg boy is getting a heap of attention in Australia. You guys think some real strange people are heroes, eh? A real hero is Abdul Aziz who threw that eftpos machine at the gunman. A real hero is Husna Ahmed who was shot in the back helping her husband in a wheelchair. He survived and has even forgiven the gunman. Islam seems to be a really misunderstood religion.

Image Description (sourced @JamesNokise): Image of a retweet. Tweet by @rnz_news reads ‘Abdual Aziz: Saved lives by running at gunman in mosque’ and shares a link to the story. It is retweeted by @JamesNokise who comments, ‘A eftpos machine – the bro chased a gun-wielding terrorist off with an eftpos machine to save his whanau. I don’t care where he was born, that is the most kiwi-as hero move.’

Do you guys know the names of any of the people who died in Christchurch? Do you know the name of egg-boy? Or that scummy politician who said those awful things? Your media seems to really whitewash a lot of its content. I know ours can too, but the New Zealand spirit really comes through despite our all faults.

It starts at the top though, bro. Our Prime Minister sets such a good example of what it means to be a leader who cares about people. I know the Māori community really respect her. I know the Muslim community really respects her too. You know why, big Bro? It’s because she respects them and respects their differences; because she genuinely believes all people have the right to practice their religion in New Zealand, whether they are citizens or visitors. Your politicians could learn something from her example.

But she is no pushover, bro. She is in talks with your government about sending the gunman back to you lot after his trial. He really should be your problem, now. He took advantage of us, bro, of our lax gun laws. He brought hate like we haven’t seen before onto our shores. But the way our country is responding to this, bro, makes me so proud. The Prime Minister, she really cares and listens to the Muslim community. The government is going to pay for all the funerals and financially support the families for as long as they need. That is probably the least they can do.

We are gonna follow an example you set, big bro, when this happened in your country at Port Arthur and you changed your gun laws. I wish we’d done that before this happened. I wish the intelligence agencies didn’t think they just had to keep an eye on brown fullas. I wish dudes didn’t feel so entitled to kill people because they have a chip on their shoulder. Wahinē don’t do this, bro. I wish our relationship wasn’t so strained, big bro. I wish you guys could treat all the people in your country better.

Anyway, I hope you read this in the spirit it was intended – to heal rather than inflame. We are allies. As Abe Lincoln said, ‘We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.’

Much aroha, big bro. Stay in touch.

Your little sis, Aotearoa.

By: Rachael Thurson

Author Disclaimer: The author of this piece is a New Zealander and chose to write from a perspective that could be readily identifiable as such. The use of Te Reo Māori (the Māori language) by non-Māori is a mark of respect for language, culture and custom, as it is an official language of New Zealand.This article is not intended to be a formal argument on structural racism nor is it intended to reflect the experiences of Māori who were oppressed and wronged by colonialisation.

TSF Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sydney Feminists. Our Blogger and Tumblr serve as platforms for a diverse array of women to put forth their ideas and explore topics. To learn more about the philosophy behind TSF’s Blogger/ Tumblr, please read our statement here: https://www.sydneyfeminists.org/a

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