#at this point kronk is in his 40s

[the-rewatch-rewind]

New episode! Script below the break

Hello and welcome back to the Rewatch Rewind, where I talk about the top 40 movies I watched the most in 20 years. My name is Jane, and today I will be discussing number 39 on my list, Disney’s 2000 animated comedy The Emperor’s New Groove, directed by Mark Dindal, story by Chris Williams and Mark Dindal and screenplay by David Reynolds, featuring the voice talents of David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, and Patrick Warburton.

I find this movie highly entertaining even though – or perhaps because – it has one of the strangest premises ever. It tells the story of the selfish and spoiled Emperor Kuzco (David Spade), whose spiteful and power-hungry advisor Yzma (Eartha Kitt)’s assassination attempt goes awry when her bumbling assistant Kronk (Patrick Warburton) accidentally turns Kuzco into a llama instead of poisoning him. Kronk is meant to finish the job, but loses track of the llama, who ends up on the cart of peasant Pacha (John Goodman), whose village Kuzco intends to destroy in order to make room for a summer palace. Despite this, Pacha sets off to help Kuzco turn back into a human, and to prove that there is some selfless good in the emperor.

I know I saw Emperor’s New Groove in theaters when it came out, but I don’t remember that experience particularly well, other than the scene at the end when they’re climbing on the side of the palace making me very nervous – I’ve always been scared of heights. Then we got it on vhs in one of those big puffy cases – remember those? – so I had definitely seen it multiple times before I started keeping track. Then I watched it once in 2003, twice in 2004, once in 2005, twice in 2006, once in 2008, once in 2009, once in 2011, twice in 2013, once in 2017, and once in each year from 2019 through 2021. For those who weren’t counting, that’s 15 times total.

First of all, this needs to be said: Yzma and Kronk are the best villain team in Disney history, perhaps even in movie history. They are hilarious yet unmistakably dangerous. Of course, most of the humor comes from Kronk’s ineptitude, but let’s not forget Yzma’s ridiculously convoluted original plan to turn Kuzco into a flea – a harmless little flea, and then put that flea in a box, and then put that box inside of another box, and then mail that box to herself, and when it arrives, smash it with a hammer! – it’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Yzma and Kronk don’t exactly work well together, but they understand each other, and it’s so fun to watch their dynamic. Kronk is too kind-hearted to be a very effective villain, but he is devoted to helping Yzma as best he can, until she turns on him and insults his spinach puffs. So if I had to point to one reason why I’ve watched this movie so many times, it’s gotta be the villain team. Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton are both fabulous and perfectly cast here. And really, the entire voice cast is excellent. David Spade is great at sounding like a whiny spoiled brat, and John Goodman’s voice is perfect for Pacha. There’s also a fun cameo from John Fiedler, whose voice I immediately recognized as the voice of Piglet in Winnie the Pooh, among many other things. However, I do think, since they went to the trouble of at least sort of setting the film in South America, that it would have been great if they’d cast even one South American voice actor. But if they were determined to have such blatant and frankly inexcusable lack of appropriate representation, at least they got the best possible non-South American voice cast.

Partly because of the excellent voicework and partly because of the writing, this movie is just, very funny. There are so many silly little touches that work together to make it an entertaining watch, from the random extra lever to Kronk being able to speak squirrel – and then there’s all the self-referential humor. Most of the story is narrated by Kuzco, so the 4th wall is kind of shaky from the beginning, and it’s completely broken by the time Kronk pulls out a map illustrating the biggest plot hole. And possibly my favorite moment in the whole movie is in the middle of the climax when it cuts to a palace guard saying, “For the last time, we did not order a giant trampoline!” and the trampoline guy replying with, “You know, pal, you could have told me that before I set it up” and then it just so happens that there needed to be a trampoline right there at that moment. For some reason that kind of humor really tickles me. I wonder if a lot of these jokes arose out of necessity because the story went through so many changes – apparently originally it was supposed to be a musical Incan re-telling of The Prince and the Pauper, with songs by Sting? I truly cannot even begin to picture what that would have been like. The movie we ended up with was sort of cobbled together at the last minute after it was clear the story had to be changed and a co-director quit when Disney wouldn’t postpone the release date. This is just speculation on my part, I haven’t seen anyone confirming this, but it kind of feels like instead of pretending they had a fully-formed story they just leaned into the parts that didn’t make sense and turned them into jokes, and somehow made it work way better than it had any right to. Or maybe they just realized it would be funny to intentionally write plot holes into the story. Either way, I love it.

Another thing that sets this movie apart for me is that it has no romance – well, almost. Pacha and his wife – who is voiced by Wendie Malick and whose name is apparently Chicha although they never say it in the movie – clearly love each other very romantically, and I’m actually glad their relationship is portrayed this way. It’s a refreshing departure from the tired trope of married couples who are sick of each other. This is promoting a healthy marriage and we love to see it. But the main storyline has nothing to do with falling in love. Most of the characters in this movie can easily be interpreted as aroace, which maybe isn’t the best representation because most of the characters are also objectively horrible people, especially at the beginning. Nevertheless I think this story successfully avoids perpetuating negative aroace stereotypes. Towards the beginning of the movie, there’s a brief scene where Kuzco is supposed to choose a bride from a line of women, and he’s not interested in any of them. In any other Disney movie, finding someone for Kuzco to marry would have then become an important part of the story – think about Aladdin or Cinderella – but in Emperor’s New Groove it is never mentioned again, and Kuzco goes through the entire rest of the movie without anyone even implying that he should be looking for love. So often in movies, when a jerk is against marriage at the beginning, part of their transformation into a better person is finding a spouse, indicating that not wanting to get married was part of what was wrong with them. Emperor’s New Groove allows Kuzco to become a better, more caring human being without forcing him into a romance. At the end of the movie, Kuzco has become friends with Pacha and his family, but he doesn’t have a partner, and there’s no hint that anyone thinks he needs one, which leads to the conclusion that his aversion to marriage was not part of what needed to change. I’m sure I didn’t consciously notice this as a child, but I think it was important for me to see. Most children’s films end with the protagonist getting married, or about to get married. The fact that this goofy talking llama movie almost feels revolutionary simply for allowing its main character to remain happily single speaks to just how pervasive the assumption that everyone wants and needs a long-term monogamous romantic relationship, an assumption known as amatonormativity, has become in our society. For people like me whose brains are not wired to experience that kind of attraction or to seek that kind of relationship, it’s incredibly confusing and alienating to see that portrayed not just as the default, but as the universal human experience. So every story that portrays not ending up in a romantic relationship as something other than a punishment is noteworthy. Even for people who do want that kind of relationship, it’s important to emphasize that becoming a good person is not synonymous with gaining a partner, despite what so many other films indicate. Don’t be a nice guy just so someone will date you; be a nice guy because that will make you and everyone around you happier.

I would like to point out that while Pacha is ultimately successful in his attempts to bring out the good in Kuzco, the message is not that people should pursue and put up with unhealthy friendships in the hope that toxic people will change. Kuzco is a sheltered 18-year-old, and this is really his coming of age story, which makes it even more noteworthy that it doesn’t include falling in love, since that’s usually portrayed as perhaps the most important milestone toward becoming an adult (in G-rated movies, at least). Pacha is really more of a mentor than a friend, especially at first, and he does leave Kuzco at one point, and only teams up with him again when Kuzco admits that he was wrong – a sign of maturity that I would argue is more important and universal than the ability to feel romantic attraction. Their friendship at the end feels satisfying and earned, and I think the fact that this aspect of the story is so solid is really what allows the movie to get away with the “we don’t know how to resolve this so we’ll turn it into a joke” parts I mentioned earlier. Zany as they are, the characters and their relationships and journeys feel surprisingly grounded and real, so it doesn’t really matter that there’s no way Yzma and Kronk could have gotten to the secret lab before Kuzco and Pacha. This movie takes a few important things very seriously and laughs at the rest, and I think that’s a big part of why I love it so much.

Looking back, the viewing of Emperor’s New Groove that stands out to me the most is the one from 2008 when I was a senior in high school. My two best friends and I were going to a school dance, and we met at my house to hang out beforehand to eat fondue and watch a movie. I don’t remember why but for some reason we decided on Emperor’s New Groove, and soon after we started watching, one of my friends turned to me and asked, completely seriously, if this was based on a true story. Now, granted, we weren’t very far into it at that point, but from the very beginning, the movie makes it clear that it’s about a person who is turned into a llama. So of course we had to make fun of him for asking if it was based on a true story, and of course I still remember that every time I watch or think about this movie.

The other anecdote Emperor’s New Groove always makes me think of is when my family was on a road trip and we got into a discussion about this movie, specifically the scene when Kuzco and Yzma almost run into each other at a restaurant. Kronk ends up taking over for the chef, and both Kuzco and Yzma are trying to order from him at the same time, and they both want potatoes but one wants cheese and the other doesn’t, and it’s confusing everyone, until finally both of them say, “On second thought, make my potatoes a salad.” We spent way too long debating about whether that meant they wanted a green salad instead of potatoes or they wanted potato salad. I had always assumed potato salad, but I think everyone else had always assumed just a regular salad, which is probably definitely the way it makes more sense. Although sometimes green salads have cheese on them and potato salads usually don’t, so I think it’s perfectly logical to assume that potato salad would resolve the cheese argument, even if “make my potatoes a salad” is a weird way of asking for potato salad.

When my brother and I went through all the Disney animated features in 2020, after watching a movie we each separately put it in one of 5 tiers, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. Then we decided what tier it belonged in on the combined list by taking the average of our two tiers. I put Emperor’s New Groove in Tier 1 and he put it in Tier 2 (although he asked me to emphasize that he does love this movie dearly), so it ended up tied in Tier 1.5 with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which he put in 1 and I put in 2. Those two movies are incredibly different, but somehow it felt right to have them at the same level, since they’re both unusual Disney movies that are surprisingly well done. I’ve only seen Hunchback 5 times since I started keeping track, so it makes sense that Emperor’s New Groove was the one of those I ranked higher. The other Disney animated films that I’ll be talking about on this podcast were all put in Tier 1 by both of us, so stay tuned for even better Disney movies in the future. But don’t worry, there will also be plenty of non-Disney films on here, so there will probably be something for you if Disney isn’t your jam.

Thank you for listening to me chat about another of my most rewatched movies, and thank you for your positive responses to this podcast so far. Remember to rate and if you want, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Emperor’s New Groove is very short – it clocks in at a mere 78 minutes – which is why I ranked it the lowest of the six movies I watched 15 times. The next movie I’ll be talking about is 18 minutes longer and is neither animated nor produced by Disney, so be sure to subscribe or follow on your podcast platform of choice if you want to hear something a bit different. As always, I will leave you with a quote from that next movie: “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands. They just don’t.”

#rewatch rewind #emperor's new groove

[jackgoodfellow]

Okay someone in an Encanto shitposting group said Bruno needed a himbo who could see the bright side of all his visions and

[Image descriptions in alt-text]

Imagine being Mirabel and getting stressed cause you hear that everyone is talking about a vision Bruno had and you're worried people will be unkind to him, only to find him surrounded by excited villagers asking for details about his latest vision while a huge muscular Peruvian dude goes "Now, now, everyone, give him some space. He can't stand around all day answering questions-- oh! Hey! Little girl!" Wait - is he talking to you? You're 15! Practically an adult! "Did you know this guy can see the FUTURE??? It's incredible!!!!"

#to account for the universe difference let's say kuzco is a wealthy business man who inherited his business and at this point kronk #kronk is his friend and body guard #and the whole entourage is visiting someone in the village #at this point kronk is in his 40s #he just naturally has a glow to him #don't worry they get better at communicating boundaries so kronk doesn't startle bruno #but anyway he is happy in this pic #just also having the gay panic of the century #not bc he can't accept he is gay - he knew that #but because he is gay and panicking #i made this on my phone #my art #encanto #tío bruno #isabelsa #kronk #bruno madrigal #pepa madrigal #we talk about bruno #lin manuel miranda #mirabel madrigal #isabela madrigal #no se habla de bruno #i LEARNED A NEW PROGRAM TO DO THIS #he probably ends up retiring to Encanto and being a scout leader #encanto fanart #encanto fan art #Emperor's New Groove #and in case it wasn't clear i do not think a 15 year old is an adult i just know that no one over 3yo is ok w being called little girl 😅

[mearnsblog]

"The Emperor's New Groove" (2000)

As previously mentioned, the turn of the century was not an especially enthralling era for the Disney Animation Studios. It was already a big drop in quality from the sensational "Mulan" to the just-fine "Tarzan," and neither "Fantasia 2000" nor "Dinosaur" turned out to have any lasting power. Most of the next several films after this one were not game-changers either.

Thankfully, "The Emperor's New Groove" is an exception in that it is exceptional in every sense of the word. What a fun movie! Sometimes, you don't have to think too hard to produce a quality animated film.

Such praise is somewhat ironic though. Behind the scenes of "Emperor's New Groove" was a vast story in its own right. It was originally planned as a classic Disney musical titled "Kingdom of the Sun" and would have featured a "Prince and the Pauper"-esque storyline with songs featuring Sting (like Phil Collins in "Tarzan"). There's a whole documentary about what happened to transform the film, but the short version is that Disney producers didn't like what was being made and told the team that they needed to overhaul almost everything. (Vulture recently did a great oral history on the whole process.)

So instead of a musical, we got a buddy comedy with two characters who look nothing like each other and a new story altogether. The funny thing is that the scramble to change everything (complete with a new director) worked like a charm. I would've been fascinated to see "Kingdom of the Sun," but I have no problems whatsoever with "Emperor's New Groove."

*A couple songs did sneak in, and they do work for what the movie actually turned out to be.

2000 was about the peak of David Spade's brand of sarcastic humor, and it's top-notch here as Kuzco. I've made my love of arrogant bastards known here before, and he works as a great antagonist of his own story in the first half of the movie. Yzma's a great villain, too! Eartha Kitt was an incredible get for this role, and while her song was cut since it no longer made much sense in the revised story, it's very good. There's a fine line to walk to be a standout Disney villain, and comedy is key. Both Spade and Kitt excel.

On the other side of the main cast, John Goodman is instantly likeable as Pacha and makes for a a fine audience surrogate to bear the brunt of frustration with Kuzco. You spend so much of the first 40 minutes or so of the movie furious that Kuzco won't stop being an asshole for just one minute and help the decent guy out! Of course when Kuzco finally gets humbled, it's rewarding to see their bond develop. I like that Pacha sets boundaries, too. He does everything he can to change Kuzco's behavior but finally does have to throw up his hands at one point and acknowledge that Kuzco must improve on his own. And he does!

Patrick Warburton? Patrick Warburton. Thank you for Kronk, Patrick Warburton. Nothing else needs to be said.

For simply being a straightforward, great movie, "Emperor's New Groove" gets a lofty spot on this list, and the only reason it doesn't place higher is that the movies above it are just elite. They take bigger swings and hit monster home runs. "Emperor's New Groove" is like a leadoff triple. No one's going to complain about it! Homers are just better.

It might be the Disney animated of its kind anyway. It'd be hard to top the pure comedy. BOOM, BABY.

Updated ranking

1. “Beauty and the Beast” (review) 2. “The Lion King” (review) 3. “The Little Mermaid” (review) 4. “Cinderella” (review) 5. “Mulan” (review) 6. “Sleeping Beauty” (review) 7. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (review) 8. “Aladdin” (review) 9. “The Emperor’s New Groove” 10. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (review) 11. “The Jungle Book” (review) 12. “The Great Mouse Detective” (review) 13. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (review) 14. “Fantasia” (review) 15. “The Rescuers Down Under” (review) 16. “Tarzan” (review) 17. “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” (review) 18. “Alice in Wonderland” (review) 19. “Lady and the Tramp” (review) 20. “Pinocchio” (review) 21. “Robin Hood” (review) 22. “Oliver & Company” (review) 23. “Hercules” (review) 24. “Pocahontas” (review) 25. “The Rescuers” (review) 26. “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” (review) 27. “Bambi” (review) 28. “The Aristocats” (review) 29. “Fantasia 2000″ (review) 30. “Dumbo” (review) 31. “Peter Pan” (review) 32. “Fun and Fancy Free” (review) 33. “The Fox and the Hound” (review) 34. “The Sword in the Stone” (review) 35. “The Three Caballeros” (review) 36. “Make Mine Music” (review) 37. “Dinosaur” (review) 38. “The Black Cauldron” (review) 39. “Saludos Amigos” (review) 40. “Melody Time” (review)

#disney

[the-vulgar-vegetarian]

Disney goes Veggie!

Hi Guys

How many of you have a favorite Disney movie? Or have been to Disney land? Or have imagined yourself as a Disney channel star?

The Walt Disney company is one of the largest, most prolific companies in the world and chances are you’ve interacted with them in some way. Most of us watched their movies as children and dreamed about a day at an amusement park in a pair of mouse ears.

Now as adults, or almost adults, Disney world may not be as available a dream but you can always get nostagelic with some food directly from Disney movies.

Here is a list of foods to recreate from your favorite Disney movies

Ratatouille

Ratatouille was an obvious addition to this list. This is personally my favorite Disney movie. I even got a Remi plush for my birthday the year it came out. Ratatouille it’s self is an inherently herbivore friendly dish. However what Remi actually makes is not traditional ratatouille. But you can still make it. The following recipe is courtesy of onesweetappetite.com

Ratatouille

Ingredients

1/2- 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1/2 onion chopped

2 tsp garlic past

1 small eggplant sliced

1 small zucchini sliced

1 small yellow squash sliced

1 red pepper sliced

1 yellow pepper sliced

4 Tbsp. olive oil

1/4 C. fresh grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Thinly slice all your vegetables using a sharp knife or a mandolin

Stir together your onion, garlic paste, and tomato sauce. Spread into the bottom of a 9 inch pan.

Line all of your chopped veggies in your dish. I started on the outer edge and worked my way in. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cover your veggies with a piece of parchment paper slid just inside your baking dish. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until your veggies are tender. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Gopher’s Succotash

Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, dah duh dah dah...

Ok so I don’t actually know all the lyrics but if the general tune doesn’t start playing in your head then you didn’t have enough Winnie the Pooh in your childhood. Now Gopher’s Succotash may not be the food that comes to mind when you think of Winnie the Pooh but gopher seemed to be the only one with any kind of workable diet. No friends, you cannot live off honey alone. Recipe courtesy of camillestyles.com

Summer Succotash

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 cup shelled edamame

1 small avocado, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

6 sprigs thyme

2 tbsp mint, minced

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

In a cast-iron or nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.

Add the bell pepper and red onion, and cook over medium-high until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.

Add the corn and edamame, and cook until the corn starts to caramelize, about 2 minutes.

Turn off the heat, and add the cherry tomatoes, avocado, thyme and mint.

Toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper.

Kronk’s Spinach Puffs

Well Fuck you Ezma. Kronk may not have much but he has those spinach puffs. Spinach puffs are and have always been a party favorite. Make this and enjoy before tossing a meddling old man out a window for throwing off your groove. Recipe courtesy of handletheheat.com

Spinach Puffs

Ingredients

1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 small onion, minced

1 garlic glove, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped dill (I omitted because I dislike dill)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17.3 ounce package), thawed, rolled out into a 12" square, kept chilled

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a standard size 6-cup muffin tin with nonstick baking spray.

Squeeze out as much water from the thawed spinach as possible, too much water will make soggy puffs. Mix the spinach with the feta, onion, garlic, olive oil, and dill (if using). Season to taste with salt and pepper. In a small bowl beat the egg to blend before gently stirring into the spinach mixture.

Cut the puff pastry into 3 equal strips. Reserve 1 strip for some other use (such as Nutella Palmiers). Cut each remaining strip into 3 squares for a total of 6. Place a square in each muffin cup, pressing into the bottom and up the sides, leaving the corners pointing up. Divide the filling evenly among the pastry cups. Fold pastry over filling, pressing the corners together to meet in the center. The pastry cups can be covered and refrigerated up to 3 hours ahead of time.

Beat the remaining egg to blend in a small bowl. Brush the pastry with the egg wash. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and puffed, about 25 minutes. Transfer the muffin tin to a wire rack to let the puffs cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Run a sharp paring knife around the edges of the puffs to loosen before turning the puffs onto the rack to cool slightly before serving.

“Hi Dad” Soup

How could I have chosen this over the leaning tower of Cheese-ah? The world may never know. Nothing will ever top the dancing Bigfoot from A Goofy Movie but the comforting taste of this soup may give it a run for its money. Recipe courtesy of serenabakessimplyfromscratch.com

Vegetable Alphabet Soup

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 whole Large Onion, Diced Fine Or 1 Small

3 cloves Garlic, Minced

6 cups Vegetable Stock

2 cups Water

5 stalks Celery, Diced

2 cups Carrots, Diced

1 1/2 cups Potatoes, Peeled and Diced

1/3 pound Green Beans, Cut In Bite Sized Pieces

1 cup Peas (Fresh or Frozen)

1 cup Corn (Fresh or Frozen)

29 ounces Stewed Tomatoes, Diced

1 teaspoon Granulated Garlic

1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning

1 teaspoon Rosemary, Chopped

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 cup Alphabet Shaped Pasta

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat and add onion. Sauté onions until starting to caramelize. Add garlic and stir until softened and fragrant.

Add all remaining ingredients and stir until well combined. Bring soup to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until potatoes, carrots and pasta are tender.

Season with additional salt and pepper as needed.

Cheese Soufflé

This one was really tough. I mean you have porridge, you have the mysterious “grey stuff”, you have a whole musical number to pick from. But Cheese Soufflé seems to be the internet’s most commonly copied dish from the movie so who am I to disagree. To bad I can’t get you a recipe for a dancing candle stick to go with it. Recipe courtesy of thekitchykitchen.com

Cheese Soufflé

Ingredients

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus more to butter a 6-cup gratin dish

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups cold whole milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

5 extra-large eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups grated Swiss cheese, preferably Gruyere (about 6 ounces)

3 tablespoons minced fresh chive blades

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

In a medium sized pot over medium heat, melt the 6 tablespoons of butter and add the flour, stirring and cooking for about a minute, until it smells nutty.

Add about 2 tablespoons of milk at a time, whisking to combine. At first it’ll be super thick, but just keep adding liquid and stirring. You should end up with a thick, velvety sauce. If a little thin, cook and stir it for a few minutes until it reduces, or if too thick, add a little more milk.

Take the sauce off the heat and season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust if needed.

Add the eggs, the cheese and the chives to the white sauce, and mix well to combine.

Pour into the buttered dish and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the soufflé is puffy and well browned on top. Serve immediately.

So there you have it, I’d love to do more so let me know if you’d like a part 2. I could also do some studio Ghibli food or anime or whatever you guys would like to see.

Let me know!

#disney #disney cooking #vegetarian disney #vegan disney #disney food #disney mock #walt disney #vegetarian #vegan #plant based #health #vegetables #nutrition #crueltyfree #healthy body #healthy diet #healthy #movie #movie food #disney movie

[dramallamadingdang]

Now that I’ve dumped stuff in the queue, time for...

REPLIES! :D

For @kayleigh-83, @jellybeanery, @clericalrodent, @acquiresimoleons, @dunne-ias. @sim-boo, @didilysims, @twofingerswhiskey, @penig, @nanashi-sims, @eulaliasims, @zoragraves, @taylors-simblr, annnnnnd @nerianasims...

kayleigh-83 replied to your photo “Steven’s grave got struck by lightning, so he popped out for a daytime...”

What the frick, I have catching up to do! I didn't know Steven died. :(

He did. Came home with a cold one day, went to work the next, and died on the sidewalk when he came home. So sad. Ah, RealSickness... Usually, I like it to hit later, when I’ve got a larger population that’s actually in need of culling. I’m just glad it didn’t kill the whole household, like it sometimes does, because otherwise there’d only be Sharon and Gwen’s daughter Amelia to spawn the third born-in-game generation...

kayleigh-83 replied to your photoset “Up-Front Confession: I am knowingly breaking the creator’s terms of...”

I'm absolutely DYING over their grinning faces in the last picture HAHAHAH

It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it? :D Although I don’t know why Cyd’s grinning, since he’s got Julien’s face impaling his abdomen. That just can’t be comfortable...

jellybeanery replied to your post “jellybeanery: @dramallamadingdang Do you still have the high-res...”

CuriousB's desert terrain works for me, so I don't think it's the chipset.

Hmmm...Well, I had a look at the uploaded file, and it appears to be the right one. :\ I have no idea what’s going on. Give me a day or two and I’ll make a new file and maybe also make a high-res one, and then you can see if one or the other will work...

clericalrodent replied to your post “Civilization V”

Thought I'd ask - would you like some tips that aren't in the in-game tutorial? Nothing absolutely necessary, but might make your life a bit easier.

Sure! I still haven’t installed the game, but I probably will this weekend since we have no plans and it’s too darn hot around here to do much of anything outside. Maybe send me an ask or whatever with tips?

acquiresimoleons replied to your photoset “Up-Front Confession: I am knowingly breaking the creator’s terms of...”

Omg. This is awesome, thank you, my sci fi hood is gonna get a swingers club now ����

Well, it’s certainly a perfect object for that! :) There’ll be other stuff you’ll probably be interested in for such a club, too. I just need the time to make it...

dunne-ias replied to your photoset “Up-Front Confession: I am knowingly breaking the creator’s terms of...”

I both want this and also would be scared about what would happen if I put this on a commercial lot in my story hood. I have the original, but honestly I think I only used it once, in a Bacc household full of romance sims because I had a rule against TV and well, what else would they do on their days off?

HAH! Sex is better than TV by a mile, so... :) Anyway, the advertising on the thing is set so that if you use this on a community lot Sims don’t get overly obsessed with it so long as there are other fun things of equally-strong advertising around. That’s how I wanted it to be because it’s basically going to be an avenue for Sims to meet people in this wacko neighborhood, but I do want them to do other things when they’re on the lot where this will be, too. 

But yeah, I suppose it has the potential to screw up stories. But it also might give you ideas, too. If you keep the characters for whom you have planned storylines away, others in the population might do interesting things to spark some ideas.

sim-boo replied to your photoset “Will took his boatload of scholarships and headed off to join boring...”

Lol personally id consider it a blessing to not be related to goopy gilscarbo ;)

Heathen! Nah, I kid. I know he’s an acquired taste. You have to like Romance Sims, and a lot of players seem to not like Romance Sims. You also have to like Sims who aren’t conventionally beautiful. I like Romance Sims (They’re my faves, actually), and I like “ugly” but not deformed-looking Sims. So he’s totally win-win for me! :) I do change his outfit, though, because that pixel-man has very questionable fashion sense. :)

I also like Ben Long a lot, but he’s a Knowledge Sim and I find them rather boring in general, so when I play him, I have to do terrible things to him to make him interesting. :)

didilysims replied to your post “Civilization V”

Never tried it myself, though from what little I've seen, it looks like something I could get interested in. All friends who have played it said Civ IV was better though. :P

I still haven’t installed it because there’s stuff for TS2 that I want to get done, and I know I’ll get distracted. But I’m really looking forward to trying it out. And as for the version...Well, Civ V is what was there at the shop. :) And for $5, even if I ultimately don’t like it it’s not like I’m really out much.

didilysims replied to your photo “I just noticed that the binoculars that Sims use to birdwatch have red...”

They always looked like nebulae to me. I figured they were really powerful lenses.

SO POWERFUL THEY REFLECT THE LIGHT OF THE ORION NEBULA!! Yeah, that should be the advertising slogan on those puppies. :)

twofingerswhiskey replied to your post “jellybeanery: @dramallamadingdang Do you still have the high-res...”

could be they have graphics chipsets that are defaulting to the maxis terrain due to inability to store it effectively in the graphics memory?

Apparently not in Jellybeanery’s case. :\ I’m still at a loss. If you’ve got any ideas about what else it might be, I’m all ears. Or eyes, as the case may be. :)

penig replied to your photo “I just noticed that the binoculars that Sims use to birdwatch have red...”

I think it's the light glaring off the lenses.

The light from the red district? :) No, you’re probably right, but...Geez, what color is the sun supposed to be in SimWorld? :)

nanashi-sims replied to your post “@bunsblr asked for a tutorial about how to do this a while back and I...”

Wow this is fabulous! So many objects that need to be recloned, but so worth it!

Yeah, there’s a lot of Maxis stuff that’s used outdoors that ought to be neighborhood-visible but isn’t. Especially when it comes to outdoor-type seating. And I don’t think the telescopes are neighborhood-visible, either, now that I think about it. Once you get used to doing it, though, it goes quickly.

eulaliasims replied to your photo “Steven came home from work the next day and….Oh, dear. Well. That’s...”

Steven! No! D:

I KNOW! I was bummed. Frankly, I could stand to lose Arcadia, but I was hoping Steven would spawn some more, if nothing else. I need more population that “counts,” and he had that convenient Family aspiration... 

sim-boo replied to your photoset “Arcadia and Aaron, as the only two non-infant people in the household...”

usually they cry for sims they have memories of. like if the dead sim taught them to walk/talk, i've seen before that they cry sometimes even if theres no blood relation.

I’ve never seen that happen in my game. In this case, I know Steven taught Will to talk, at least. But, no mourning from him. Now I’m wondering if I’ve got a mod that’s interfering. Hmmm.....

didilysims replied to your post “Aww you almost had the Aristocats in your game <3”

A lot of Disney is overrated. Emperor's New Groove? Seriously underrated. But I got The Aristocats for my birthday as a kid and watched it probably 100 times at least, so it's near and dear to my heart.

I really don’t know why I never saw The Aristocats. I mean, I was a kid when it was made and all, but I only ever saw the older Disney movies from the 40s or so. (Fantasia is another favorite.) I saw the later Disney movies from the 90s and 2000s because I had kids then, so we saw them in the theater, and I got them when they came out on video, and they watched them ad nauseum. (And The Lion King is one of Ethan’s favorite movies; it resonates with him because he lost his dad at an age when he really needed one. So, we watch that one a lot and I bristle because of all the hyena maligning.) But I don’t think I’ve seen any Disney movie from the 70s in its entirety,

Now as for Emperor’s New Groove: I will argue (and HAVE argued) that it’s the best buddy movie ever made. Kronk and Eartha Kitt’s scenery-chewing (She did it SO well, always did) is just bonus. 

zoragraves replied to your post “So, um....”

Now I want to know what those objects are, at the very least :D

Ohhhhh, you probably really don’t. *laugh*

taylors-simblr replied to your post “@bunsblr asked for a tutorial about how to do this a while back and I...”

Thank you so much for this, I might give it a go tonight! I surrounded my campsite with nengi's bigger bourgainvillas and it's been driving me crazy that they are invisible from any other lot ^__^

Good luck with it! I thought those bougainvilleas were already neighborhood-visible, though...Or maybe I made them so. I don’t remember... Anyway, let me know if you have any trouble!

nerianasims replied to your post “re. StarTrek Multi-PT: I'm pretty sure I remember someone creating the...”

What is this Enterprise show you mention? I am sure it does not exist.

I dunno, I heard a rumor about it. Something about a prequel sort of thing, only done way after the other shows were produced. Seems like kind of a dumb idea... 

(Seriously, I really wanted to like Enterprise. I really, really like Scott Bakula. Quantum Leap is one of my favorite shows. And while I enjoyed a few of the episodes, the writers just didn’t seem to know what to do with any of the characters, especially the poor helmsman dude, which is sad because he was a very pretty black man. I mean, I don’t even remember his name... And of course they had to sex up the female Vulcan. *sigh* They get points for destroying Florida, though. No, I’m kidding. Well, sort of...)

#kayleigh-83 #jellybeanery #clericalrodent #acquiresimoleons #dunne-ias #sim-boo #didilysims #twofingerswhiskey #penig #nanashi-sims #eulaliasims #zoragraves #taylors-simblr #nerianasims

[placetobenation]

The Emperor’s New Groove

Release Date: December 15th, 2000

Inspiration: “Kingdom of the Sun” by Roger Allers and Matthew Jacobs

Budget: $100 million

Domestic Gross: $89.3 million

Worldwide Gross: $169.3 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

IMDB Score: 7.3/10

Storyline (per IMDB): In this animated comedy from the folks at Disney, the vain and cocky Emperor Kuzco (David Spade) is a very busy man. Besides maintaining his “groove”, and firing his suspicious administrator, Yzma (Eartha Kitt), he’s also planning to build a new waterpark just for himself for his birthday. However, this means destroying one of the villages in his kingdom. Meanwhile, Yzma is hatching a plan to get revenge and usurp the throne. But, in a botched assassination courtesy of Yzma’s right-hand man, Kronk (Patrick Warburton), Kuzco is magically transformed into a llama. Now, Kuzco finds himself the property of Pacha, a lowly llama herder whose home is ground zero for the water park. Upon discovering the llama’s true self, Pacha offers to help resolve the Emperor’s problem and regain his throne, only if he promises to move his water park.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on our trek through the Disney canon with a pretty historical moment here as we have the 40th film in the canon which is pretty crazy to think that we’ve had 40 films in 67 years. This is one of the most interesting films in the canon in that it started out completely different from what we ended up getting, and sometimes that can be a good thing though sometimes it isn’t so good. This is a film that is sharply divided as well as some find it underrated and some find it disappointing, and hopefully this will pleasantly surprise me as it was one I never had interest in when it first came out.

Voice Cast: After having one of the smaller casts in history with our last film, we flip the script here as we have a surprisingly large cast for this film even though the majority of them are extremely minor roles and it is a predominantly new cast. We do have a few returning voices as Bob Bergen returns to voice Bucky the Squirrel and John Felder who voices Rudy the old man, and we also have Corey Burton, Jim Cummings, Phil Proctor, Rodger Bumpass, Steve Susskind, Joe Whyte, Patrick Pinney, Kath Soucie, Jess Harnell, and Frank Welker all return in minor roles. Moving onto the newcomers, we have comedian David Spade who voices Emperor Kuzco in one of his first animated film roles, and then we have another famous comedian in John Goodman who voices Pacha though I wonder if he was still alive that Chris Farley would’ve been offered the role to reunite him with Spade. We then have Eartha Kitt who voices Yzma as she was starting to wind down her career by this point, and then we have Patrick Warburton who voices Kronk as he was becoming better known at this time for voicing Joe Swanson in “Family Guy”. Next, we have Wendie Malick who voices Chicha as she was in the prime of her career by this point, and then we have legendary singer Tom Jones who voices the Theme Song guy that is solely here to sing the song “Perfect World”. We then have Kellyann Kelso and Eli Russell Linnetz who voice Chaca and Tipo respectively, and then we have Patti Deutsch who voices the waitress in the café in a small role and Miriam Flynn who voices the Pinata lady. The remainder of the cast was pretty much all returning actors that have been heard in other films though again they were mostly very minor roles, and while I feel not mentioning them is an insult to their work I feel like it would just be bloating up this category though we will see going forward if the casts stay bloated or are more streamlined.

Hero/Prince: This is interesting because we do have a hero to talk about for this film and while we do have an emperor and not technically a prince, he is in a similar spot like the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast”. First, we will talk about the villager Pacha who is summoned to the palace to learn that his home is to be destroyed so Kuzco can build a vacation home for himself, and after Kuzco is turned into a llama and ends up on Pacha’s cart Pacha offers to return him if he changes his mind about destroying his home though Kuzco refuses at first. Pacha eventually rescues Kuzco from the jaguars and they agree to help each other though Kuzco again tries to go back on his deal, but after they save each other again Kuzco agrees to spare Pacha’s home. When they stop at a diner at the same time as Yzma and Kronk, Pacha tries to warn Kuzco that they want to kill him though Kuzco doesn’t believe him until he finds out for himself and he resigns himself to living as a llama for the rest of his life. Pacha finds him and they forgive each other as Pacha’s family distract Yzma and Kronk briefly so they can get a head start, and they reach the lab only for Yzma to try and have them killed on the pretense that they killed Kuzco. They manage to outsmart Yzma by turning her into a kitten and Kuzco is restored to being a human, and he decides to build his vacation home on a hill next to Pacha’s home as he becomes friends with Pacha and his family. Pacha is a gentle giant who has a big heart and cares about his family to the point that he can’t tell them about Kuzco’s original plans, but he believes that Kuzco has some good in him and is eventually able to bring it out which causes Kuzco to have a change of heart. Speaking of Kuzco, he is pretty much a minor version of the Beast in that he is a selfish ruler who only cares about himself though he believes he is beloved by his people, and only after being turned into a llama and knowing that Yzma is plotting to kill him does he realize his folly. After he is turned back into a human, he makes amends with those he hurt including Pacha as he spares his home and builds his vacation home on a nearby hill while also having friends which he didn’t have before. While both Pacha and Kuzco will probably not rank very high against the other heroes, they were both fine enough for this film with Pacha being more of a hero than Kuzco though he does redeem himself in the end.

Princess: N/A

Villain: After our last film had probably one of the most generic villains in the Disney canon, we go back to having a unique villain here as we have the former advisor to Kuzco and that’s Yzma, and she tries to give orders as she desires the throne for herself when Kuzco relieves her of her duties. She creates a potion to kill him and entrusts her henchmen Kronk to add it to his drink during dinner, but he accidentally puts in the wrong potion and Kuzco is turned into a llama instead of being killed. She instructs Kronk to finish the job though he ultimately can’t do it and ends up losing him to Pacha, and Yzma takes the throne for herself on the pretense that Kuzco is dead until she realizes that he is still alive. She and Kronk search the land for Kuzco though are at first unsuccessful even when they nearly come across Kuzco and Pacha at a diner, but Kronk realizes this and they arrive at Pacha’s home to interrogate his family though Chicha ends up stalling them briefly so Kuzco and Pacha can get to the palace first. Yzma and Krono manage to beat them there and she takes the one potion that can restore Kuzco to a human, and she has the guards attack them by claiming they killed Kuzco though they manage to evade the guards by using the potions on them. Yzma herself ends up being turned into a kitten though she nearly is successful in keeping the human potion, but she is foiled by Kronk as Kuzco is restored and Yzma is relegated to being a Junior Chipmunk under Kronk while still being a kitten. Yzma is a pretty traditional villain in that she longs to be in power and the only thing in her way is Kuzco who gives her extra motivation by being as selfish as he is, but she tends to have ideas and plans that are way beyond her and it doesn’t help her that Kronk is a bit of a dimwit albeit a good-hearted dimwit. She ultimately is overcome by Kuzco and Pacha along with an inadvertent assist from Kronk, and she will probably not rank very high compared to the other villains though she is not the worst one we’ve seen.

Other Characters: Because we have one of the bigger casts than we’ve had in quite a while, you would think that would mean we have a lot of characters to talk about, but in reality we only have a small handful of characters that play a vital role and the rest are just background to the film. The first character to talk about is Kronk who is the henchman of Yzma though he is good-hearted and a bit of a dimwit, and he is tasked with giving Kuzco poison in his drink though he grabs the wrong vial and turns Kuzco into a llama instead. Yzma tells him to kill Kuzco though he ends up saving him and ultimately loses him to Pacha, and when Yzma learns Kuzco is still alive Kronk goes with her to find him though he is more interested in doing other things like cooking and playing with Pacha’s kids when they go to Pacha’s home. They finally corner Kuzco and Pacha in the lab though Kronk has a change of heart and tries to take out Yzma, but fails and is sent into the abyss though he inadvertently manages to stop Yzma from drinking the human potion. We then have Pacha’s family which includes his wife Chicha and their two children Chaca and Tipo, and Chicha is clearly the leader of the family though the kids show great affection to their father. When Yzma and Kronk arrive to interrogate them, Chicha is onto them and plays along with their act though Kronk spends more time playing with Chaca and Tipo, and after she learns about Kuzco she helps him and Pacha get a head start by stalling Yzma before sending her out in a humiliating way. After Kuzco is restored to a human and he agrees to build his vacation home on a hilltop next to Pacha’s, he becomes friend with Pacha and the family who accept him as one of their own. Other than that, the rest of the characters in the film were very minor like the other villagers, members of the palace, and several other random people like the waitress and the cook at the diner. It is always interesting to see a large group of characters with only a handful of them actually being important, but it does help to at least fill out scenes in the film and to provide some brief entertainment if needed.

Songs: When the film was first being created, the idea was that it would be in the same vein of the musical films from the early 1990s, and in a very big move for Disney they brought in music legend Sting to compose several songs for the film in the same way that Elton John worked on “The Lion King”. Unfortunately, after the original film was changed most of the songs had to be cut out and some of them never saw the light of day aside from being featured on the soundtrack. There was one song that did make it into the film which was “Perfect World” sung at the beginning of the film to put over Kuzco, and it is a fine song though it does feel out of place due to the film not being a full musical film. I also will mention the pop single off the soundtrack which is “My Furry Friend and Me” sung by Sting, and it would’ve been interesting to see how the film would’ve looked like if the original incarnation came to be.

Plot: As I mentioned in the previous category, this film was completely different from what we ended up getting and if you want an interesting look at the making of the film, track down the documentary called “The Sweatbox”. At one point, this was supposed to be similar to “The Prince and the Pauper” and serves as a romantic comedy musical, but it was reported that the higher ups felt it needed to be more comedic so it was changed to what we would end up getting. The film is about Emperor Kuzco who is a selfish ruler and he plots to build a summer vacation home on the hill where Pacha lives, and unbeknownst to him his ex-adviser Yzma schemes to have him killed though she and her henchman Kronk inadvertently turn him into a llama. Kronk is tasked with killing him though he saves him at the last minute and he ends up losing him to Pacha, and Yzma is named Empress under the belief that Kuzco is dead though she learns he is still alive and takes Kronk to find. Kuzco demands Pacha return him to the palace though Pacha says he won’t unless Kuzco changes his mind about destroying his village, and Kuzco is reluctant to do so until he learns that Yzma did try to kill him and no one cared that he was gone. He resigns himself to living his life as a llama only for Pacha to bring him back to the palace, but Yzma beats them there and they fight over the vials which results in Yzma being turned into a kitten. Kuzco and Pacha eventually retrieve the right vial and Kuzco is restored to being a human, and he decides to build his summer home on a hill next to Pacha as he becomes close friends with Pacha and his family. While the film ended up doing fine in the end, I do wonder how it would’ve turned out if they went with their original plan and if it would’ve done better or worse than what we ended up getting.

Random Watching Thoughts: “Long ago, somewhere deep in the jungle”; I believe this is the first time that the main character serves as the narrator not counting Dawson in “The Great Mouse Detective”; Kuzco tries to make it seem like he was an innocent victim; Even as a baby, he was a spoiled brat; Kuzco might be the first emperor to have his own theme song guy; The guy got thrown out a window for simply throwing off Kuzco’s groove; The empire must not be seeing a lot of invasions if the guards have been taught to dance rather than defend; Considering the film is called “The Emperor’s New Groove”, you would think that it would serve to be a film featuring a lot of music, but instead “Perfect World” is the only song we get and the “groove” referred to Kuzco’s way of life; Those seemed like some fine women, maybe Kuzco is just way too picky; Kuzco makes himself seem like the victim and Pacha is the villain in his mind; That old man was lucky to get caught in that banner or he was a dead man; Which was worse, Kuzco and his selfishness or Yzma who pretty much acted like a dictator?; Kuzco does have a point about Yzma’s wrinkles; Kuzco had to be through with the number of ways to tell Yzma that she was fired; Kronk is like the most lovable knucklehead you could ever meet; In the original film, there was going to be more of a focus on the Incan influence though that was heavily downplayed when the film was reworked; Kuzco builds Pacha up like he’s important only to tear him back down when he reveals his plans; Kuzcotopia; Yzma just owns numerous statues of Kuzco so she can destroy them out of anger; So Kuzco is 18 years old though he doesn’t look it; If the Emperor didn’t have any heirs, would the advisor automatically be the next in line for the throne or how would that work?; WRONG LEVER!!!!!!!!!!; They had to make their ride down to the lab like a roller coaster; She decides not to do her plan because she wants to save on postage; The song playing at the beginning of the dinner scene is called “The Girl from Ipanema”; I wonder what this dessert is since Kronk is so confident that it will be delicious; It is funny how every ruler in a film assumes themselves to be “King of the World”, like do they not realize there are other rulers around the world?; That’s quite the explosion that the potion made when put in the drink; Gotta save the spinach puffs, Kronk; If Yzma has been fired as advisor, why is she even still in the palace?; Kronk forgets which drink he poisoned so he just improvises and poisons all the drinks though wisely warns Yzma not to drink hers; Kronk was so proud of those spinach puffs; Why did Kuzco pass out briefly and also, wouldn’t he have realized that he was transforming into a llama?; So the vial was supposedly empty at one point yet when Yzma checked the label, there was clearly a liquid in the vial; Yzma was adamant about Kronk finishing the job yet she allowed them time for dinner, dessert, and even coffee; Kronk had to hum a spy song while he was heading out of the palace with Kuzco; While he was trying to hide, the fingers on the wall were literally pointing at him; We never did hear Devil Kronk’s third reason for killing Kuzco; It was weird that we got a shot of a bug and a monkey; Instead of making grunting noises as he’s falling, Kronk shouts out the body parts that are in pain; Of course a big crowd would come through while Kronk is trying to get Pacha’s attention; That’s quite the trek for Pacha from the palace to his village; The kids think they got Pacha to let them stay up only for Pacha to turn the tables on them; Chicha is so angry that she has to wash something to cool down; Kuzco still trying to convince everyone that he’s the real victim; It took this long for Kuzco to finally realize that he’s a llama; Kuzco thinks Yzma will just obey his orders even though he fired her and she tried to kill him; Kuzco’s not in a real spot to be giving out orders as a llama; Pacha really wanted to just let Kuzco go off and suffer in the jungle, but he’s too much of a nice guy to do that; He says he’s born with an inane sense of direction yet this is probably the first time he’s been out of the palace; He’s not seen much if a spider killing a fly is the freakiest thing he’s seen; I know Kuzco was mean to the squirrel, but that was pretty mean to wake all those jaguars up so they can attack Kuzco; The balloon popping doesn’t wake them, but Kuzco’s laugh does; Pacha says they’re safe now as they get tangled up on a log; Kuzco doesn’t even bat an eye when he learns they are about to go over a waterfall which sharp rocks at the bottom; He was trying to listen for a heartbeat yet wasn’t even close to his chest; To be fair, Pacha didn’t even get a chance to attempt mouth-to-mouth; Pacha manages to get a fire going four times on the same log; That was a quick turnaround from mourning Kuzco to Yzma becoming Empress; Kronk is being so calm about things while Yzma is about to blow a gasket; So the kids’ dreams were things that actually happened to Pacha; That awkward small talk; Apparently according to Pacha, shaking hands is the ultimate sign of keeping one’s word; Even though Kuzco is clearly being a dick to Pacha, he does have a point that llamas don’t have hands as they have hooves; They are so concerned with fighting each other that they are oblivious to the fact that they are hovering over certain death; Somehow the bridges collapses first before they start falling; Kuzco’s got a strong neck; Of course that tree would have scorpions in it; After all that, Pacha nearly dies when part of the cliff collapses though Kuzco saves him; They went from getting to the palace in one hour to now taking 4 days; I don’t think you should wear heels in the jungle; Kronk is more interested playing Exotic Bird Bingo; So as a Junior Chipmunk, Kronk can speak fluent squirrel; The squirrel won’t talk unless Yzma is far away from him; Pacha says there’s not a good chance he will carry Kuzco yet he ends up carrying him to the diner; The sign on the diner is striking similar to “Bob’s Big Boy”; You know Pacha would catch shit if Chicha found out about Kuzco posing as his wife; So the waitress is Jewish; Kronk tells Yzma to relax as she bends a fork in half with ease; The chef walks out leaving Kronk confused yet when he hears the order, he jumps right in like he’s been working there the whole time; Kuzco and Yzma keep going in and out of the kitchen yet somehow don’t bump into each other; Even back then, they had restaurants that did something special for someone on their birthday; Of course Pacha cares about his hilltop, that’s his home; That moment of realization for Kuzco that he wasn’t as loved as he thought he was; Narrator Kuzco still tries to make himself the victim, but real Kuzco shuts him down because he knows this was all his fault; Kronk first remembers Pacha because he didn’t pay for his meal only to realize that he was the one he was looking for in the palace; I low key kind of wanted Kronk to pull a Joe Swanson and yell “All right, let’s do it!!!”; Kuzco is at his lowest point that he is willing to remain a llama and even tries eating grass for the first time; Of course Pacha would be there telling his story to the other llamas; Yzma’s trying hard to put up this façade and Chicha just completely sees right through her; Leave it to Yzma to force the pregnant woman to bend down and pick up a cup even though Chicha is onto her; The jump rope was able to keep going even though no one was on the one end; Wouldn’t there be a handle on the inside of the door?; Kronk has great appreciation for the work done on the door; At least they had the courtesy to have a wet floor sign nearby where Tipo was buffing; So the Incan version of tarring and feathering is using honey and feathers; Give Yzma credit for taking that much of a beating from those kids; That was a bit weird that they acknowledge the map paths; A lightning bolt appears out of nowhere to zap Yzma and Kronk and then one little raincloud downpours on them before they fall into the abyss; Even Kuzco fell victim to the wrong lever; Wizard of Oz reference with the lions, tigers, and bears; Yzma using Kuzco’s own words against him; They are more scared of seeing her leg than the fact that she has a knife on her; Angel Kronk just had to be getting his hair done when Kronk needed him; She insults him constantly but when she insults his cooking, now she’s gone too far; Yzma was just skinny enough that the chandelier fell through her without hurting her; The guard who changed into a cow is the only one that gets to go home; To be fair, Pacha got Kuzco to change into an animal with wings; Kuzco keeps the same hair style regardless of what animal he turns into; So when the canals get drained, the water comes out of a nose; How was Yzma turned into a kitten if the vial got shattered?; That’s one strong vial to take some much damage and not break at any point; Kuzco has to choose between the vial and Pacha, and after some teasing he does the right thing by saving Pacha; Yzma should consider herself lucky that the trampoline just happened to be there so she could bounce back up; How lucky were Pacha and Kuzco that Kronk was there to crush Yzma so they could get the vial; I don’t know if that old man should be wanting to get thrown out of any more windows; That was very nice of Chicha to make Kuzco his own poncho; This was the last part of Yzma’s punishment that not only must she remain a kitten, but she must become a Junior Chipmunk under Kronk.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this was a decent film that was slightly better than Dinosaur, but it was still considerably worse than any of the films during the later Disney Renaissance period. I will say that given the turmoil that had to have been going on during the production of the film, the fact that they were able to get what they did out there on the screen was admirable. Having said that, I do wonder how things would’ve been if the original concept of the film had been seen to fruition and if that would’ve been either better or worse than what we gotten. Coming off a pretty successful decade, the 2000s are off to a bit of a shaky start and hopefully they can turn things around with the next film. As for this film, it is a fairly decent film though I don’t feel it is quite as underrated as some seem to think it is.

Final Grade: 6/10

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

[spinneryesteryear]

Spinner plays FFXIV ARR

SPOILERS AHOY (not that anyone cares about ARR in this day and age)

- For my first dungeon, I was a Roegadyn conjurer surrounded by three Lalafell. I’d figured out by that point that players just clip through each other (even if mobs don’t, lol), but I was still kinda worried about stepping on them. They’re like knee-high to me at best.

- - (Conversely, I once ran a guildhest w/3 Roegadames, so there’s that. We commented on how unlikely of an occurrence it was.)

- I admit it, I enjoy walking around as a Roegadame feeling morally superior to all the Miqo’te. And most of the Viera now, tbh.

- one of my favorite things to do quickly became dispensing free heals/raises after a FATE or when running across stray people having difficulty fighting mobs in the wild. People would clap and cheer for me. It’s a great feeling. Made a few friends this way.

-- (I definitely always look to see if that cyclops FATE is up when I pass through the Coerthas Central Highlands so I can go repeatedly raise all the poor noobs dying left and right thanks to that dang 100-Tonze Swing. I usually don’t even bother level-syncing for it. I just stand on the outskirts and raise. And raise. And raise again, haha.)

- I frequently forgot (and still forget) to do the MSQ bc I get sidetracked gathering and crafting. or just doing side quests, no doubt to Fray’s great chagrin

- ground CNJ to 30 to get my unicorn, then figured out I had to unlock actually using mounts via MSQ, so I went off to go fight Ifrit in shame

- I fully admit I picked my GC (Twin Adders) based solely on which company salute I liked best. Also, Gridania was my starter city. Still not sold on the yellow, though

- as a healer, I usually commend my tanks unless they have evinced such stupidity that I do not wish to reward their behavior. If my co-healer has done a fantastic job (not often, sadly), I’ll commend them. If the red mage or summoner raises me or other party members, they get the commend. (This is vanishingly rare, especially for SMN.) If the dragoon outlives the tank by not eating AOE’s, he gets the commend. If the tank is a jerk and the dragoon is perfectly lovely (and probably does a better job tanking the mobs than the blue moron), the latter DEFINITELY gets the commend.

- shout-out to that one red mage on story mode Titan who died almost as much as the rest of us combined (the dragoon defied his stereotype and was just as durable as the tank, ironically enough). It wasn’t even the backflip killing the red mage; it was the avoidable AOE’s. It must be the black mage in them that makes them allergic to dodging.

- the tank for that story mode Titan just said, “LOL,” in chat when we all died, so that has been my inspiration ever since to take wipes with good grace

- Cid was an instant fave from the moment I first met his character. I admit I wanted to kick Alphinaud off the airplane as soon as we recovered it. He was not endearing himself to me, at all.

- didn’t really care for Haurchefant until he came racing into the middle of our fight with that heretical fake inquistitor with the bad facial hair. If a NPC helps me in combat, I automatically like them more.

- the story made me super worried about story mode Garuda, but she went down so fast I almost missed the second phase

- entered Camp Bluefog for the first time into a scene of absolute chaos with like 15 players grinding the lvl-40 FATE’s so I jumped right in alongside them and started throwing stones at ahrimans and coblyns. it was such an exhilarating feeling

- in retrospect, my first Castrum Meridianum run (that left me dead on the floor several times and questioning my skills as a healer) was not really due to me being undergeared but mostly to the tanks not doing THEIR jobs and picking up all the mobs. It was such a chaotic mess that me sitting there and doing nothing, not even healing, so as not to grab aggro was the only way I could survive

- shout-out to that warrior with the plain white shirt and plain white pants glamour on my first Praetorium run who looked like he just woke up, grabbed his axe, and ran off to tank Ultima Weapon in his pajamas. He was also an elezen, I believe, for extra points.

- also shout-out to that guy killing the 2.0 endboss with a magic moogle stick

- look, if you’re not spending your MSQ roulette judging everyone else’s glams and mocking Gaius’s speeches, what are you even doing??? I admit, though, that I mostly grab a book and a cup of coffee for those 5-min cutscenes. I found their story riveting the first time around, but not on the 30th time.

- I actually really liked Urianger even in his ARR outfit? It suited him

---- me playing DFFOO: I don’t care for Thancred

---- me playing FFXIV: *cheers when Thancred comes onscreen*

- Thancred is my son who shall receive less alcohol and more sleep and encouragement and a gunblade and a very nice coat and possibly a pet squirrel. I know he’s my tank now but I feel the urge to take care of him. (And laugh at him when his various angry girlfriends show up again, of course.)

- I would like to thank that tank in my first run of Lost City of Amdapor who gave me a trial by fire in pulling everything wall-to-wall and indirectly teaching me how to manage big pulls (hint: spam Holy)

- not even making, “Pull the lever, Kronk!” jokes in Sastasha Hard can atone for that tank who pulled 12 things w/o warning and kept leaving me to die via aggro’d adds and THEN telling me to bring adds to him. Like, it was advice I needed to hear, but it does no good when zombie fish pirates eat me before I can reach him.

- I might actually rather heal through Aurum Vale again rather than Sastasha Hard

- oddly enough, I’ve had 0% problems tanking Sastasha Hard

- according to the laws of equivalent exchange, however, this means that I have all the problems while tanking in Aurum Vale, between hideously undergeared healers, DPS stealing my morbol fruit on the 2nd boss, lag murdering me via Bad Breath, and general lack of coordination among DPS

- I actually got pretty good at tanking Dzemael Darkhold, though? I finally figured how and where to pull the mobs to get out of the various AOE’s

- I also got pretty good at tanking Cutter’s Cry, between grabbing the adds, avoiding death via cactuar, not stopping on sand traps or geysers, and memorizing the chimera’s attacks. Somehow, I always get morons for DPS and sometimes healer as well in Cutter’s Cry, so it doesn’t count for much. The last time I was there (on WAR), I had to kill the chimera without a healer because they died to the first eyes-glow-purple and I wasn’t about to wipe and start over when they were barely achieving anything anyway. Thank goodness for a rare competent black mage on that run.

- I ran the Odin trial pretty much as soon as it was available (and via DF, too, whoops; I know better now) and we wiped at least 8 times before clearing. 75% of the time I was one of the last 3 or the actual last person standing so clearly I had improved from all the dying left and right I did in my first Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium runs.

---- on that Odin run, my Lalafell co-healer uttered this immortal line in chat: “I am trying my best, though I am but a popoto... now a baked popoto.”

- speaking of which, I trust AST and SCH as my co-healers far more than I do fellow WHM as it seems I’m always raising them. They don’t do party heals when raidwides are going out, waste their mana pre-pulling Medica II, or spam Holy on single-target, unstunnable bosses, smh. As a DPS or tank, though, I trust only AST and WHM. I’m fairly sure 50% of my SCH healers have been asleep at the wheel and Eos was driving.

- shout-out to that one paladin main-tanking Garuda Hard who started emote-slapping Garuda right before she went down. Thanks, man. You gave me a good laugh.

- before seriously settling down to level my crafters and gatherers, I never checked the market board prices before putting stuff up for sale bc I just wanted to clean out my inventory, so there were probably some very disgruntled omnicrafters out there who wanted to lynch me for underselling them

- #1 cause of death: fall damage with mobs aggro’d

--- (special mention to that time I jumped off the higher floating island at Camp Cloudtop, landed below with 1 HP, and was promptly pecked to death by a gastornis. I now kill those stupid birds whenever I see them to avenge my humiliation)

- I feel like there should be job-specific levequests where you go out and do things appropriate to your job, like killing a dragon as a dragoon (before Heavensward, anyway) or cleansing corrupted sprites as WHM or investigating contraband cargo as ACN, etc.

- on that note, I’m probably the only person alive who enjoys the CNJ/WHm quests. I genuinely felt like I was learning magic, and, later on in the 50 - 60 quests, like I was doing what a white mage should.

- players frequently dance while waiting on someone to finish cutscenes, return from AFK, etc. Usually, it’s the Hildibrand or some variant thereof. I... never dance. Except by accident. I just stand there with my arms folded, towering above the rest of the party and looking mildly disapproving.

#spinner plays ffxiv