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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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maddiesmt-morphina · 5 years

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7 MINUTES IN HEAVEN Chapter 12- Plans for the summer

#Before you guys kill me please read the final notes!#

Megumi's golden eyes were glued in front of the television. The bluenette girl had never seen such a beautiful story. On the screen, Prince Charming woke Snow White with a gentle kiss. The scene made the girl blush, but her trembling hands revealed the enthusiasm of seeing that the princess was truly saved.

Nothing else mattered beyond the beautiful conclusion of the story before her. At her side, Takumi had long since lost interest. He had found in the girl besides him a much more interesting and beautiful scene to watch. And when he saw her eyes full of tears, overwhelmed by the protagonist's love, Takumi that knew he would never regret his last-minute invitation.

FLASHBACK

Takumi Aldini was officially bored. His brother, Isami, had gone out to participate in a shokugeki and asked to go alone. Apparently, the younger Aldini was unsure of himself after what happened in the Azami administration.

Without many options, the Italian decided to search the television for something when the bell rang, removing him from the inertia of skipping the TV channels.

"Isami, I already told you not to forget the keys to ..." The blonde stopped the sentence in the middle when he noticed that the presence before him was not his brother's.

"I'm sorry to bother Takumi ... I sent a message to ..."

The blonde didn't hear anything. She really was in front of him. With all the glory that radiated from the tip of her blue hair to her golden iris. With the warmest smile Takumi had ever seen in a person and accompanied by a wonderful smell of freshly baked pie. It was then that Takumi noticed the package in the girl's hands and noticed that he had to stop staring at her and turn his attention to what the girl was saying.

"And in appreciation I brought you a freshly apple pie"

And then she smiled at him. That smile that killed him little by little. He hadn't understood the purpose of the pie. Appreciation? For what exactly? But he thought it would be rude to ask again because that would mean he was blantlaly staring at her as if he was a pervert. Even if it was just to admire the beauty of her charming smile.

"Ahh yes..ahh thanks. And please Megumi, come in."

"Ahh I don't want to bother"

"You never bother" The boy saw the girl blush and then added in an embarrassed way "And also I ... I'm a bit bored here, Isami left and I would very much appreciate your company. I can make some tea to accompany the pie, what do you think?"

"If it's not trouble"

"Not at all, please come in"

Megumi shyly entered and handed Takumi the pie as she removed her shoes. With a brief glance she noticed how neat the house was. She didn't imagine that boys could be so organized, although the only reference she had were her dorm friends, so she didn't dwell on detail.

When he saw her so nervous, Takumi decided to forget his own nervousness to make the girl feel at ease.

"Megumi, this pie looks wonderful!"

"I hope you like apple pie."

"Apple? Is not poisoned, is it?" He could not stop himself from making the joke, and soon realized that the girl hadn't understood it.

"Hm? Poisoned? Why would I do that? no no no no no ! I assure you..." With her eyes wide, stuttering words, and hands swaying fervently in the form of denial, Megume made him realize how cute she was when she was nervous.

"Calm down Megume, it was a joke... a bad one indeed ... you know ... poisoned apple. 'Snow white' ... no?"

" 'Snow White?' What do you mean, Takumi? "

"Megumi, don't tell me you've never seen Snow White before? It's a Disney classic?"

Noticing the girl's curious gaze and expression, the boy sighed and shook his head slightly.

"Megumi ... have you ever seen a Disney movie?" "Snow White," "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," "Tangled"?

"Hm ..." The girl seemed to reflect on the titles and in the end gave the answer that Takumi already expected

" Not that I remember"

"I'm sorry, Megumi, but I'm going to have to show you each one of those movies! That is a promise!" he swore, his fist clenched in the direction of his heart.

The girl laughed at his seriousness and just nodded.

"For today we can start with 'Snow White'. It will be a perfect match with your apple pie. I'll make some chamomile tea to go with and we can see it in the living room, what do you think?"

"Perfect"

END OF FLASHBACK

Takumi memorized every route the crystalline tears made as they rolled down her cheekbones. And he couldn't help himself by reaching out and touch them. He needed to know if those tears would heal him from all the diseases known by human kind.

But the moment his fingers brushed a few loose strands of her hair, the girl turned to face him. Red eyes and the weak smile of those who had cried of emotion and not of sadness.

Megumi didn't expect to find Takumi as thrilled as she was, but she didn't expect to meet the big blue eyes so close to her golds ones either. She fell, as usual, into the spell that ran around that turquoise blue, and for a brief second she wished that he was the prince destined to save her from the curses of the world.

The world became slower at that moment, in that intense exchange of glances, the sound of the final song of the movie playing, their breathing getting heavier and closer. Everything was in favor of the flow that brought her closer to him. Until the sound of the lock announced that they were no longer alone.

Both of them moved away so quickly, that Takumi almost fell as he turned to the other end of the sofa.

"Oni-chan, I'm back. Ah! Megumi! It's good to see you here."

"Ahh yes ... Isami ... equally."

"I hope you had a great afternoon. I'm sorry I didn't stay to taste your pie"

The girl smiled and shook her hands anxiously. That nervous, ungainly way that only she knew how to do.

"Ahh, don't worry, Isami. We keep a piece for you."

At that moment, Takumi frowned. Something was bothering him, but he would take his theory clean once he was alone with his brother.

"Well, I'd better go. It's getting late anyway." The girl got up and automatically the blond boy did it too.

"I'll take you home, Megume."

"Oh No. You don't have to bother Takumi. I can go by myself."

"I insist. It is not good to be walking alone at this late."

"But if you go, won't you be coming back alone by yourself?"

She was right, but he wouldn't let her go alone that easy. Luckily, Takumi didn't have to expose his fears.

"Then let us all go. So nobody comes back alone, " Isami suggested.

And so the three of them left. They talked about the film, the pie and the other films unknown to the girl.

As they left Megumi at the dormitory door, Isami said goodbye quickly and distanced himself to answer messages on his cell phone.

"Thank you for coming with me, Takumi."

The girl kept the blush on her cheeks and was not the only one.

"Oh no! I should thank you for the pie and ... well ... for make me company. I ... I would very much like to repeat it any of these days ... I mean ... if it's all right with you."

Takumi stared at the floor, disappointed at his lack of composure and already expecting a refusal.

"I ... I would love to ... actually."

"Really?" He smiled so sincerely and intently that the girl felt compelled to do the same.

"Really".

"So we ... hm ... we can watch some movies this summer.. I ... hm ... I ... I can text you."

"Sure. I ... I ... I'll be waiting"

"No more than I." The boy sighed, and when he realized the girl's face turned even redder, he understood that he had said it aloud.

"I-I'm going then. Ehh Good night Megumi."

"G..Good night Takumi."

The two bowed still nervously. And they went their different ways.

Finding his brother not to far away, Takumi decided to make things clear.

"You can stop pretending to talk on the phone."

"How did you find out?"

"The screen is dark Isami. How could you exchange messages with the screen like this?"

"Ahh yes ... well ... it worked for my purpose."

"Which was?"

"Let you and Megumi say goodbye alone."

"What are you talking about ?!"

"Ahh, you can call it the sixth sense or brother's feeling or something"

"You're not making any sense. But tell me, how was your Shokugeki?"

"Hm ... about this ..."

"You didn't have any, did you?"

"You're very perceptive, Oni-chan."

The blonde rolled his eyes and looked at his brother from the corner of his eye.

"Fake messages , lying about shokugeki ... what do you want to get with that, Isami?

"Oh well ... hm ... it's true that Megumi sent me a message that she was going to bring a pie this afternoon. I just wanted you guys to spend some time together. It's good to see you happy Oni-chan and it's been a while since I've been realizing how she makes you happy."

"Where did you get this ?!"

"Maybe it was from yesterday's game, or a few weeks ago. Fact is, your shoulders relax a little after talking to her. You started paying more attention to others and cooking with more passion ... not that you didn't have it before, but something in her ... changes something in you ... positively, of course."

" I....I..."

"You don't have to say anything, Oni-chan ...just take notice…I'm sure you will have all your answers as soon as you start paying attention to the details."

Takumi sighed loudly. And both brothers continued the journey in silence.

"You are home. Safe and sound."

Hayama's attempt at humor worked. Hisako smiled easily and he was proud to have made her smile several times that night.

"Thank you for everything Hayama. I ... I really appreciated your gesture."

They exchanged their glances before they turned their attention to the ground again.

"Arato ... I ..." the boy couldn't understand why throat was dry and his voice was hoarsed. He scratched his throat in an attempt to recover his voice. "I understand that all of this was only due to Alice's challenge ..."

Before he could finish the sentence, Hisako could feel the tears begin to gather in her eyes. Of course it was fake. Everything that happened between them that night was just an excuse for a stupid challenge. She should know before planting feelings that shouldn't grow. The girl prepared herself for what was to come. A rejection, a bored apology. And worst of all. She couldn't fault him. He had never promised her anything. Only that he would accomplish the challenge set. But it was so hard to believe that everything had been unreal. That everything was planned just to meet the requirements of a silly joke.

"And I'm so sorry for that."

"What?" The girl directed her pink eyes to meet his green ones.

"I said ... I'm sorry our first date started with a pretend. I had a lot of fun and I hope we can do it more often. This time without Alice or games. What I'm saying is that I intend to do it the right way, so ..."

The young man shortened the distance between them. Hisako could see every groove of the greenish iris, felt his breath as heavy as hers, and felt her heart speed up even more as he held her hand delicately and tenderly.

"Would you like to go out with me again? This time on a real date?"

Hisako's mind took some time to process what was happening and she had to blink several times until she realized she was not in a dream. One moment she was ready to be rejected, and in the other she was actually being invited to a date by the boy who made her smile and sigh several times in one night. There wasn't much to think about. Not when he was so close and with a perfume that totally inebriated her.

"Ok" That was all she could manage to say. Still surprised by the whole situation.

"Great. We can do something this summer, then"

"Sure"

The boy brought her hand to his lips and stared at her as he kissed the top of her fingers. Hisako couldn't breathe.

"Once again, thank you for the lovely company, Arato."

She just nodded and watched him distance himself, breathing only once the boy was already beyond the gates of the mansion.

Just a thought in her mind: WHAT THE FUCK HAS JUST HAPPENED?

Alice woke with a start. She looked around and found that she was in her own room. She sat up in her bed trying to understand why she still wore the same clothes of the afternoon and why she had slept with them.

She touched her face lightly, felt the traces of old tears, and remembered why her eyes seemed to burn. Apparently, after her collapse in front of her cousin, Alice fell asleep crying. Erina probably asked for help from one of the security guards to take her to her own room. The girl felt new tears forming and she squinted at the attempt to avoid crying. She took a few deep breaths, and when she was sure she wouldn't cry anymore she opened her eyes, her vision still blurry.

The darkness outside the window told her that it was past ten o'clock and Alice felt her heart clench. He searched for the time and found it on her cell phone, lying on the head of her bed. 11:59 p.m. It certainly was past 10.

Alice's red eyes stayed alert. She could feel the seconds being dragged as dust on a dry summer day. When the clock reported that the challenge was over, the girl heard nervous knocks on her door. Without even blinking, she rushed toward it, knocking over bed sheets, cell phone, and anything in her path.

She met him with the tired look of those who hadn't slept for days and couldn't contain herself by wrapping his neck and pulling him into the room in a hug full of meanings for both of them.

"Please don't leave" she whispered in his ear.

Ryo let her hide her face in his neck and cry softly. He had much to say to her. Things he discovered just by spending a whole day without her presence. But He would do it later. Now he'd just concentrate on having her in his arms. And with a quick movement, he closed the door with his foot and carried her to her bed.

It was past midnight, and Erina still kept her eyes fixed on the message Soma had sent her earlier. After leaving Alice in her bedroom a few hours ago, the heiress began rehearsing possible answers that might lead her to call the red-haired boy out on a date.

"Useless! This is absurd and useless!"

Erina dropped her cell phone between the pillows and sighed in defeat. Since when did she become insecure to the point of giving up on one of her goals? She took another breath and put one hand on her chest and another on her stomach. She didn't understand why she had no control over the butterflies in her belly and why her heart speeded up just imagining his golden eyes reading her messages in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, not so far from there Soma faced the same dilemma. The message he wrote was still there and the blue lines confirmed that she indeed had read it. Had he crossed the line with what he'd said? He just wanted to be honest with what he was feeling. Didn't she feel the same way? Then why she chose to ignore his message?

No ... it couldn't be ... The way she had kissed him the day before still made him shiver. It didn't seem to be fake. He touched his lips lightly and vowed to feel her tongue move down that path once more. He needed an answer. He needed her. And that's why he sent a second message.

Yukihira [00:20 a.m]:

I hope you're not angry.

The blue lines confirming that she already read the message appeared instantly, as if she was waiting for it.

Yukihira sighed as he shook his head. This woman was driving him crazy to the point of imagining that she would be as thirsty for him as he was for her.

Erina blinked several times before deciding that the message seemed real enough to be answered. Heart racing faster than a speed car in its final race. Why did he think she was angry? Far from being angry, she wanted to see him and understand why her own body wanted so much the warmth of his body.

Nakiri [00:22 a.m]:

Should I be?

Yukihira [00:23 a.m]:

Well you ignored me for almost the whole day.

Ahh so that was it. The fact that she didn't know how to respond to his earlier message made him worried enough to think she would be angry.

Nakiri [00:25 a.m]:

Ah yes ... about that I ... I've been thinking and ..

Yukihira [00:25 a.m]:

Good, because me too. Actually I... I wanted to know if...

Yukihira [00:27 a.m]:

If you would like to go on a date with me?

Nakiri [00:27 a.m]:

I think we should go on a date.

The messages were sent at the same time and each one of them had had the same reaction. In the stillness of midnight, two fast-paced hearts beat in one single rhythm.

#FINAL NOTES#

So ... I'm alive ... I know, I know ... I'm sorry for the delay ... there's so much going on that if I tell you everything it would be bigger than this chapter. The good news is that I already have the chapters more or less planned so I won't delay it anymore (I hope) the bad news is that this fic is already at it's final chapters ... I'm really sorry I can't write more and update more often but unfortunately the time has been getting shorter and I need to focus more on my academic duties this year since I'm going to get my PhD and things will get pretty tense. So to not give up the fic and disappoint you guys, I decided that is time for this fic to end... I'm planning two more chapters ... but we'll see how it goes...I really hope that you had fun while reading it and if I have make you smile or sigh at any moment then my mission has been accomplished successfully. It has been a huge and amazing ride write this fic and of course read all your comments! I just have to thank everyone for the love and support! THANK YOU! See you next time! x.o

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stringnarratives · 5 years

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What You Leave Behind: “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”

[This post brought to you with major spoilers for Disney’s 2001 animated film “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” along with some history and math.]

For many, there’s a sense of magic around Disney films. Whether it’s romantic happily ever afters, selfless anthropomorphic animals, or arcade characters run amuck, most films in the Disney Animated canon achieve some sort of joyous acceptance, even if just in the memories of its viewers. However, as with any perceived rule, even the charm of Disney has its exceptions, and a few films in particular have drawn the short straw when it comes to that fan nostalgia.

Wedged in-between the Disney Renaissance Era’s last film “Tarzan” in 1999, and “The Princess and the Frog” in 2009 (in 2008, “Bolt” would would be the transition film leading to our current era, known as the Disney Revival), eleven “Second Dark Age” or “Experimental Era” films were released with on-average lower levels of financial and critical success immediately following the turn of the 21st Century. On Box Office Mojo’s ranking of total gross for every Disney-parented studio film, “Lilo and Stitch” (2002) ranks the highest of this era’s films at #80, and “Treasure Planet” (also 2002) comes in the lowest at #317 (and is also the only of these films to gross less than its total budget). However, while it may rank in the top 100 for Disney overall, the same site reports that “Lilo and Stitch” earned $167,061,223 less in theaters than Disney’s hardest hitter in the traditional animation category, “The Lion King” which came out 8 years before.

The films produced in this "Second Dark Age” were both transitional and non-traditional for the company, shying away from the Renaissance films’ proclivity for musical numbers, leaning more heavily into computer animation, and exploring new genres of film to pay homage to, including science fiction, buddy comedy and Western. Whether the decade-long dip in popularity was due more to wobbly-leggedness that came with the experimental productions, a greater saturation of competition for animated films in the market, a defiance of the audience’s expectations or a combination of any or all of the above, there seem to be an Internet-full of possibilities. (I recommend researching them yourself, if you’re interested.) The overall consensus is that the majority of Disney films released between 1999 and 2009 are generally less beloved than their Renaissance or Revival counterparts.

While I didn’t realize it at the time, I came to prime movie-watching age in this era. Where I learned language, colors, numbers and animals to the tunes of the Renaissance Era songs, I developed artistic fascination, a sense of humor, and interest in what it takes to actually tell a story alongside the adventures of this Disney dead zone (and, to be entirely fair, some of DreamWorks Animation’s competitive offerings of the same period: “Road to Eldorado” [which apparently also was not considered a commercial success] and “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” [which seems to have done alright]). I spent many summer breaks popping those DVDs in to play one after another, memorizing the exposition of “Treasure Planet,” singing along to Rob Thomas’s closing number in “Meet the Robinsons.” They still make regular appearances on rough, rainy adulthood nights.

While the “Second Dark Age” films may not have left much of an imprint on the popular consciousness as a whole, they certainly left their mark on me, and one in particular has legacy buried deeply in its DNA.

“Atlantis: The Lost Empire” -- released in 2001-- centers around a 1914 expedition to find the titular lost city, a technologically advanced island civilization lost to the sea centuries before. Funded by an off-beat millionaire (John Mahoney), and guided by the inherited knowledge of linguist and cartographer Milo Thatch (Michael J. Fox), a team of mercenaries and specialists discover that the lost city is not only still intact below the Earth’s crust, but still inhabited by its long-lived citizens under King Kashekim Nedakh (Leonard Nimoy) and his daughter, Princess Kidagakash Nedakh (Cree Summer). When the mercenaries betray the party, kill the king and kidnap the princess, who has melded with the city’s power- and life-source, the expedition specialists are roused to action to protect the city they had once considered an artifact.

From the beginning, the viewer sees Milo as a man driven by legacy: Between the research of his explorer grandfather, who raised him with stories of Atlantis, and the writings of The Shepherd’s Journal, which serves as a guide to the city, his whole life is dedicated to the pursuit of both personal and ancient history. He both seeks to fill his grandfather’s shoes as a scholar and provide the scientific world with proof that Atlantis isn’t just a fairytale, but a real civilization that once flourished. At the beginning of the film he (like some, but not all adventure archaeologists before him) seeks to return proof of Atlantis to the surface to solidify a legacy for both himself and his grandfather, but abandons this soon upon realizing that the city is still inhabited, opting instead to preserve the legacy of Atlantis’s culture by helping to rebuild after the events of the film.

“Sometimes I get a little carried away. But, hey, you know, that's what this is all about, right? I mean, discovery, teamwork, adventure. Unless, maybe, you're just in it for the money.”

Up to the point that the mercenaries forcibly take Kida, Milo’s attitude is placed in some contrast with that of the other specialists on the crew, who admit flat-out that they joined the expedition to make money, though these perspectives are not without nuance. Soon, the crewmembers open up to Milo about the legacies they carry as well: "Vinny" Santorini's (Don Novello)’s family flower shop, Dr. Joshua Sweet (Phil Morris) following in his father’s footsteps as a physician and maintaining a connection with his mother’s Arapaho culture, Audrey Ramirez (Jacqueline Obradors) taking over her retired father’s machine shop. Later in the film, Milo references back to this conversation, implying that a few had plans to continue their family businesses - investment in their own legacies - with the money they would have received upon returning to the surface.

“You're wiping out an entire civilization, but, hey, you'll be rich. Congratulations, Audrey. Guess you and your dad'll be able to open that second garage after all. And, Vinny, you-you can start a whole chain of flower shops. I'm sure your family's gonna be very proud. But that's what it's all about, right? Money.”

When the crew decides to fight for the Atlanteans and forfeit their payment, they place themselves in direct opposition to the true antagonists of the film, Commander Lyle Rourke (James Garner) and Lieutenant Helga Sinclair (Claudia Christian), who describe themselves as “adventure capitalists,” interested in getting rich at any cost. If they have any legacy that they’re trying to protect, it’s never mentioned in the movie, and the lack of regard they display for the Atlantean legacy set them apart from the rest of the characters in a significant way.

In addition to our explorers’ legacies, the Atlantean characters -- especially Kida. In her 2018 SYFY FANGRRLS article “All Hail Kida Of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney’s Forgotten Queen Of Color,” writer and podcaster Afiya Augustine not only describes Kida’s legacy as Disney’s first animated queen of color, but also succinctly describes the history she carries with her, both as a preserver of her people and the heir to historically royal responsibilities, like bonding to the city’s main source of power.

“Turns out, the crystal must bond with a royal host — and Kida, much like her mother, was chosen by the crystal in order to unleash its immense power to protect its world. That’s right — Kida is not only a protector by choice, but she’s been chosen to be such by blood. Like their precious stone, Kida powered the survival of her people.”

Which means that, by the end of the film, Kida is charged with not only restoring her civilization to its former glory, but also carrying the legacy of both her parents, now deceased. It’s a heavy load for a strong character, and one that Kida handles with gravity throughout the film.

And that’s just the character design.

In addition to being the first Disney film to feature a queen of color (rather than the “princess” title that had been utilized in previous films), “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” was also Disney’s first animated science fiction film, launching a jaunt into the genre that would include a other “Experimental Era” films like “Lilo and Stitch” and “Treasure Planet,” leaving its own (generally unacknowledged) mark on the canon itself. It, like many adventurer archaeologist stories before it, pays homage to many a story of lost world before it, from Jules Verne’s depictions in the mid-1800s on through the pulp adventure novels and into the territory of one Indiana Jones. Its art style, with its blocky shadows and angular motifs, pays serious homage to production designer and comic book artist Mike Mignola, an item of his legacy in turn.

“Atlantis” may not be a popular Disney film. It may never have gotten its true sequel or its spin-off television show. Your average casual Disney fan in 2019 might not would have known it existed if it weren’t on Netflix (for now, anyway). But this is not to say that the film didn’t leave its mark, both on the people who did see it and enjoyed it and still enjoy it almost 20 years later, and on the canon in which I truly believe it has rightfully earned its place.

#atlantis #atlantis the lost empire #movies #movie #film #films #disney #title #titles

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that-sokovian-bastard · 6 years

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LILLY’S WRITING CHALLENGE!

To celebrate 7000 followers, I am hosting my own writing challenge because I enter so many. Y’all probably know how this work, so let’s get to the fun stuff.

RULES:

no smut

any marvel character or mcu cast!

reader insert! can be x reader, kid reader (like tony is the dad or something) or whatever works out with a reader insert!

do not have to follow, but it is appreciated!

reblog or like this post and send me an ask with what prompt and character you would like

au’s are allowed!

I will make a masterlist for this

DUE BY APRIL 30, 2018. If you need more time, just message me! I get life gets busy :)

When you post it, tag me and put the tag “TSBwritingchallenge” so I can see it! If I do not reblog within 24 hours, message me and bother me because I want to see it.

PROMPTS:

The way this is going to be done is that the prompts are split into different categories based on, well, whatever I deem worthy. These categories kinda fit my likes of writing and just in general, so that’s why they’re like this. The different categories are: Songs (a lot of them are older songs that I love), based off AUs, and random that range from disney scenes that i love and just random in general.

if, for some reason, a lot of people want to join, I will add more on. But I started with 30, because I don’t think 30 people will actually do it xD. I mean that would be awesome, but realism…

LILLY SHUT UP JUST SHOW US:

SONGS:

1. Bad - The Cab

2. Do It Now Remember It Later - Sleeping With Sirens @typewriting-angel pietro maximoff x reader

3. Hollow - Mayday Parade

4. International Smile - Katy Perry

5. Made In The USA - Demi Lovato

6. Na Na Na - My Chemical Romance @one-night-stories peter quill x reader

7. New Man - Ed Sheeran

8. Somewhere In Neverland - All Time Low

9. Vegas Lights - Panic! At The Disco

10. Wonder Years - The Summer Set

BASED OFF AU’S:

11. “Excuse me, are you going to just stare at me or hand me my drink?” Coffee shop au. @this-is-moonfairy peter parker x reader

12. “I can defend myself, stop following me around!” Royalty au. @ourdreamsrealized thor odinson x reader

13. “Listen, this may sound crazy: but you’re trying to get your crazy ex off your back, and I need a date for a few upcoming parties, soooo-” Fake dating au. @dorned bucky barnes x reader

14. “I don’t even know how it keeps getting in here, but if this dog keeps showing up inside my apartment, I really am going to keep it.” Neighbor au. @thegoddessofvampire pietro maximoff x reader

15. “For the third time, you hit your head really hard and have amnesia. We just have to try and get you to remember some stuff, and to do so, we are going to relive some very memorable days of your life!” Amnesia au.

16. “Did you see? We made a twitter moment! Apparently we’re dating, and we were so good at hiding it, we didn’t even know!” Random “dating” au. @sgtbxckybxrnes bucky barnes x reader

17. “At this point, dropping out and becoming a stripper seems like my best option.” High school or college au. @i-am-not-the-real-alice with a lot of characters

18. “Lucky would mean we would be soulmates. But that’s crazy.” Soulmate au. @winter-soldier-vibes wanda maximoff x reader

19. “Yes, he may be a dragon, but he acts like a little puppy. We have to keep him!” Dragon/fantasy au. @this-is-moonfairy pietro maximoff x reader

20. “Don’t touch- crash- anything. Ugh.” Time travel au. @killmongers-bitch peter parker x reader

RANDOM:

21. Rapunzel healing Flynn and Flynn falling. Hard. Scene. @i-jus-wanna-writehappy sean cassidy x reader

22. “I am not some prize to be won!” Jasmine yelling at her father, Jafar, and Prince Ali from Aladdin. Scene. @briebear4

23. The beauty that is Almost There from Princess and The Frog. Song. @writing-flowers-music peter parker x reader

24. Jumping into paintings on the street like they do in Mary Poppins. Meeting cool characters. Scene. (I really love this scene)

25. “Woman up.” From Big Hero 6 when Go-Go tells Hiro to “woman up” and kicks booty. Scene. @swellwriting peter parker x reader

26. "I take photos for my school/a professional magazine and for some reason you pop up in every single on of them. Does that make me a stalker or is this fate telling me that you belong in my life?” @imaginingadifferentlife steve rogers x reader

27. “I saw you dancing and you looked like you were having fun and I didn’t want to interrupt you, but here I am, interrupting you. Hi.” @honeybadgerwhodoesntcare natasha romanoff x reader

28. “You actually miss me?” @spnavengerss bucky barnes x reader

29. “You love me? Ha, who would have know you had a sense of humor. I guess I wouldn’t have, since you were never around.” @rainydaysrnevergrey

30. “Look, I can’t sleep. And if you don’t shut up, I can’t sleep. So, shut up, so I can sleep. Or I’ll be grumpy. And grumpy is bad.”

if I need to add more, I will! :)

UPDATE I’M ADDING SOME MORE BC IDK HOW MANY PEOPLE WANT TO PARTICIPATE:

31. “We can befriend them! If we don’t attack them, they won’t attack us. They’re just dragons.” Dragon/fantasy au.

32. “Yes. I’m getting coffee for Tony Stark. Do you have a problem that I used his name instead of mine?” Coffee shop au (ft my boy tony) @xx-multi-fandom-imagines

33. “I will not be forced into marrying someone I do not love. I can make my own decisions!” Royalty au. @marrvelle tom holland x reader

34. “You’ve come over everyday this week asking for some sort of baking item. So, do you own a bakery and terrible at grocery shopping that you have to rely on your neighbors, or just need an excuse to talk?” Neighbor au.

35. “Man it would be a real shame if we were soulmates. Then you would have that stupid sentence I just said to you when we first met, tattooed on your body your entire- oh. Shit.” Soulmate au. @901seconds sam wilson x reader

36. “So, don’t kill me, but I adopted two dogs, a cat, and a turtle. For science. The science? Uh…to see how you react? How much love they give?”

37. “That girl on How I Met Your Mother reminds me of Maria Hill for some reason. Do you know what I mean?” @theperksofbeingahugenerd peter parker x reader

38. “Why is he your background? Shouldn’t I be your background?”

39. “I bought Fatheads of all the Avengers. I should be in charge of decorating the base.”

40. “There is a 12% chance that this could work. The other 88% is either going to end awesome or fail.” @whatfandomsareforus loki x reader

IM TAGGING PEOPLE WHO MAY WANT TO ENTER OR JUST SIGNAL BOOST BECAUSE I LOVE MY FRIENDS:

@imaginingadifferentlife @sgtbxckybxrnes @i-am-not-the-real-alice @nataliarxmanxva @this-is-moonfairy @rainydaysrnevergrey @fangirlingisajob @winter-soldier-vibes

#lilly rambles #writing challenge #avengers x reader #avengers imagines #avengers imagine #marvel #marvel imagines #marvel imagine #marvel x reader #x reader #imagines #imagine #TSBwritingchallenge

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brown-rice · 6 years

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Tagged by @cafe-et-tiramisu for the “Truths Tag” thing (*・∀-)☆

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you respond with truths about you and choose 25 people to be tagged.

Tagging @transbakugoukatsuki @rmxstudiojd @leetaliel @kronchip @disney-princess-izuku @bean-paste-man @maytheamazing if you wanna do it.

I wrote so much OTL

Last:

Drink: Earl grey tea + milk

Phone Call: My sister telling me she was outside w/ my boba and food

Text Message: From my new friend Dean asking for help on the lab and about watching Violet Evergarden

Song you listened to: Kyouran Hey Kids!! - The Oral Cigarettes

Time you cried: Uhhhhh Tuesday morning having a meltdown over my midterms :^)

Have you ever:

Dated someone twice: If cheesy middle school romances count, then yeah

Been cheated on: Hmm, no even tho we were together all but in name

Kissed someone and regretted it: OML YEAH FUCK THAT GUY FROM AX

Lost someone special: Oh yep, last year I lost a lot of close friends b/c we’d just grown too far apart and they didn’t care about me anymore

Been depressed: /sweats nervously

Been drunk and thrown up: During fam reveal, I went too hard and overdid it, but was also proud b/c my limit is higher than I thought it would be KEK

In the past year have you:

Made a new friend: I made quite a few chill friends from the server and have slowly been making friends here and there at school!

Fallen out of love: I think so, I was in love w/ my childhood friend for a long amount of time, but I feel alright about it now

Met someone who changed you?: I don’t think I’ve met just one person who changed me since the “me” now is a culmination of my experiences/interactions w/ a lot of people

Found out who your true friends are: Sort of, although a little unfortunately haha. I’m thankful for those that did stick by me, but it resulted in me realizing that some people I thought would be a “true friend” were just taking advantage of me. srry im still a little salty/bitter abt this but im working thru it

Found out someone was talking about you: Yeah? Past hs me would have been really mad about it, but current me doesn’t care enough lol

General:

How many people on tumblr do you know in real life?: I know quite a few friends from band and high school, my server friends (who I’ve seen in pics or have heard in calls), and mutuals I’ve messaged

Do you have any pets?: YES I LOVE MY DOG HACHI, we also have a lot of fish in tanks and the koi pond back home. By extension, my roommate’s cat Sake is pretty much my cat now huehueh

Do you want to change your name?: Nope, I’ve never been much fixated on it besides how long my full name is

What time did you wake up this morning?: I technically didn’t sleep since I was studying for my ochem midterm and i got my ass handed to me in test form anyway

What were you doing last night?: procrastinating, lab hw, and studying for ochem

Name something you cannot wait for: On a smaller scale: AX. Long term: I just wanna be out of school, in a job that I kinda like and is stable enough so that I can commission all my friends and finally have a place of my own that I can decorate and call home without feeling lonely or suffocated

Have you ever talked to a person named Tom?: My brother-in-law’s name is Tom haha

What’s getting on your nerves right now?: Mainly classes and school since I still feel wrong about my career path, I had to drop a class, and my anal chem lab is frustrating the shit out of me. I miss cc

Blood type: I’m pretty sure it’s O+, but it could be O-

Nickname: Besides “Steph,” I’ve had a lot of nicknames over the years. Memorable ones are Stephie/Stephy, Steve, Vending Machine, Beanie Head, and “mom.” Neko and Mocha told me to add “daddy” and I die a little inside

Relationship status: Single and don’t really care to mingle LMAO

Zodiac sign: Ox and Cancer w/ Gemini ascendant

Pronouns: She/her, but don’t mind they/them

Favorite show: If we’re talking actual TV then Friends, B99, ATLA, Chopped, Voltron, Gravity Falls, and Danny Phantom. If it’s anime then /sweats as I look at all these shows

College: Transfer student from Mt. Sac now going to UCSD and i wanna mcfuckin die ayyy lmao

Hair color: It’s dark brown/black w/ light brown where the sun hits

Do you have a crush on someone?: Currently no, but I am low key flirting with Dean oops

What do you like about yourself?: Maybe the fact that it’s very hard to make me legit mad, but beyond that /sweats profusely

Firsts:

First surgery: Unless wisdom teeth removal counts, none yet

First Piercing: My mom got my ears pierced when I was like 1

First sport you joined: I think I took karate for a little in 4th grade?? I joined tennis and marching band at the same time officially in 8th grade

First vacation: Hmmm, I think I remember one of the first things we did when we came to America was go to Disneyland

First pair of sneakers: Oddly enough I remember my little slip-on Sketchers that were purple and white with pink, purple, and blue flowers

Right now:

Eating: Dino nuggets /w bbq sauce, and I might make some noodles b/c I’m still so hungry oml

Drinking: A fresh cup of early grey + milk

Listening to: Whatever’s playing in the DJ booth, which is Reach You - Sako Tomohisa

Want kids?: At some point yeah, I’m also pretty sure I’m gonna adopt at least 1 kid whether I have my own or not

Get married?: Maybe. That’s a problem for future me, but if I happen to meet someone(s) good for me, then sure

Career: After bouncing around a bit, I think I’ve settled into chemistry for forensics w/ specialization in pharmacology and toxicology. It still doesn’t feel quite right to me, but it’s the best I’ve got

Which is better?:

Lips or eyes?: Eyes, since I think eye contact can tell you a lot about a person

Hugs or kisses?: Hugs, but I’m big on personal space and barely accept hugs from even my closest friends, plus there’s some weird belief that I don’t like hugs?? and idk where that came from

Shorter or taller: I oddly like being the shortest person in a group?? So I prefer if people are taller than me

Troublemaker or hesitant: Troublemaker, I really can’t stand it when people are super hesitant or can’t make decisions. I’m rly tired of having to make decisions all the time

Romantic or spontaneous: Both, but I think I lean a little more towards spontaneity since I’m a person who likes careful planning. Romance is whatever for me, so I’d rather have someone push me to be a little more spontaneous

Sensitive or loud: A balance of both would be preferable, but if I had to pick, then loud. I’m a lot more introverted than I was before and prefer if people are a little more extroverted than I am but have a level of chill where silences are comfortable

Hookup or relationship?: Relationship. I don’t really do hookups. I know I could, and I’ve been asked to before, but I’m not really big on sex

Have you ever:

Kissed a stranger: Technically AX boy counts b/c I met him 2 days before we made out lmao

Drank hard liquor: Yeah, but I’m not super big on drinking and just enjoy a smirnoff ice/mike’s hard every so often

Lost contacts/glasses: Nope, surprisingly I haven’t lost my glasses yet

Sex on first date: Likely never, they’d have to be someone who I mesh with super well for that to happen

Broken someone’s heart: A few yeah. Apparently I broke my friend’s roommate so bad that every time he’d drink he’d just talk about how I was the one who got away

Been arrested: Not yet

Turned someone down: /sweats Yeah, a lot. I don’t mean this in a bragging way, because I always feel ridiculously bad about it, but my friends joke about me being “unattainable” and a heart-breaker all the time _(:3」∠)_

Fallen for a friend: I’ve only ever fallen for close friends oops

Do you believe:

In yourself?: Not at all

Love at first sight?: I think it’s out there, just not for me

#tagged #personal #about me #ty for the tag friend #just chilling before maybe another nap and then i get up to do actual work LMAO

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monkey-network · 7 years

Text

Two Cent Riffs: My Little Pony Movie, BAYBEE

#BackAtItAgain #TSPOILERS #PonyCinemassacre

Julien: Why is it “The Movie”? It can just be “My Little Pony”. We all should know this version and the superior version that was the 80s. Roy: Excuse me? Julien: Hey, the Smooze song made that movie for me.

Roy: Man, I’ll never stop liking stain glass windows. Julien: Hold up. Twilight has wings? ...Okay, I have missed a lot apparently. Roy: Yeah, but it’s nothing to worry............. Julien: I can sense a pause. What’s up? Roy: Oh, I’m just getting flashbacks....of people bitching online [shudders]

Julien: AH YES, MOVE the sun, and MOVE it back. Roy: Doesn’t seem like a big deal for this celebration. We’re just depriving people from some possibly needed sunlight and fucking with the tides to sooth the feng shui of it. Julien: Can I call the “Pony Privilege” card?

Julien: Huh, I forgot Applejack existed. Roy: She’s a main character, bruh. Julien: Yeah, it the background. Am I right lads, or am I right lads? Dom: “You’re all right, lad.” Julien: Cheers lad.

Roy: Guess we know which couple’s getting the focus this time. Julien: Do we really have to ship right now? Roy: It’s been 7 years, dude. Fans practically learned about “shipping” thanks to this show. Julien: Hmm...that sounds pitiful, but I’ve wanted Princess Bubblegum to melt on Marceline since the beginning so what can I say?

Julien: Looks like Pinkie had her climax.

Roy: Okay, I’m all for Sia pony here (does have a lovely voice), but are there any rapper ponies? Julien: They’re an underground niche of pony musicians after 2Pon and Biggie bit the bullet. Roy: What about DJ Pon-3? Julien: Dub is not rap, brother.

Roy: Bowser’s back?! Julien: And we’re only what...12 minutes in? That’s an academy record. Shit, this movie’ll be over in a blink.

Julien: Okay, I’m liking this new villain here. Design wise, very coordinated. Color scheme is on point. Roy: I just wonder how she’ll be forgiven. Julien: Come on, man. Villains aren’t always meant to be redeemed. Roy: Ye, you need watch the rest of the show.

Roy: Oh no, all the other 3D piloted ships are slowly coming this way. Julien: Yeah, Futurama’s done better.

Julien: Oh shit, that is a fucking sweep down and over Pele kick. Roy: She would be great in WWE.

Julien: Well there goes two of the most powerful ponies in this series. Roy: Well hold on. Maybe Celestia, and Luna are only powerful in the fields or cutie marks they’re given. Like yeah, they’re powerful, but only in raising the sun and moon and whatever Cadence does. So really, they probably couldn’t beat Tempest’s rock spells as much as any powerful unicorn could have... Julien: So, they were useless to begin with? Roy: Kinda, yeah.

Roy: Hey, it’s Crissy. Julien: Wha? I thought her named was Derpy. Why Crissy? Roy: Oh no, Derpy is her name; won’t deny that. But Crissy’s just short for Criss Cross, like her eyes that are the ONE DEFINING TRAIT FOR HER EXISTENCE. It feels like a better name, you know? Julien:...You got me there. That does sound better.

Julien: WELL, after a daring escape via a gigantic waterfall, now they’re on their way to go seek the hippos. Roy: Hippogriffs. Julien: Goddammit man! *sigh* I mean what if they were hippos and I could actually see some awesome hippos in this movie or show?....Fuck, you know?! Hippos are cool. They’re big, strong, and awesome and you jus- *sigh* tch, you’re a bastard. Roy: Jesus man, I’m sorry. Julien: No, I’m sorry but it’s like...I just think hippos are neat is all.

Roy: Oh snap. It’s Ray Donovan. Julien: Okay, this may be a screenshot, but I could already tell Liev Schreiber was tap dancing for his check and was just having a blast doing so; like Jason Mamoa in the Justice League movie.

Julien: How I feel about Michael Pena. Roy: Come on, he’s got his good roles. Julien: Name one that’s memorable. Roy: Well..........................................................

Julien: Woo, that place looks like shit. How come the ponies haven’t help them out, they could spare the resources. Roy: Maybe the town didn’t want any help? Julien: Dude, no. How can just ignore a town that looks broken down, industrial, probably impoverished, smoggy, with some pretty disgusting water surrounding it? HOW can any pony worth their riches just ignore this practically desolate area while continuously celebrating whatever they want? Roy: Let’s....never mind all that.

Roy: Oh no, 1/5 of the fanbase. ⁽ᵂᵉ ᵃʳᵉ ⁿᵒᵗ ʲᵒᵏᶦⁿᵍ. ᵀʰᶦˢ ˢᶜᵉⁿᵉ ᶜᵒⁿˢᶦˢᵗˢ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᵗᵒʷⁿˢᶠᵒˡᵏ ˡᶦᵗᵉʳᵃˡˡʸ ᶜʳᵒʷᵈᶦⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵒⁿᶦᵉˢ ᵗᵒ ᵇᵘʸ ᵃⁿᵈ/ᵒʳ ᶜᵒˡˡᵉᶜᵗ ᵗʰᵉᵐ. ᴬⁿᵈ ʷʰᶦˡᵉ ʷᵉ ʳᵉˢᵖᵉᶜᵗ ᵃˡˡ ᶜᵒⁿˢᵘᵐᵉʳ ᶠᵃⁿˢ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉᶦʳ ᵈᵉᵈᶦᶜᵃᵗᶦᵒⁿ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠʳᵃⁿᶜʰᶦˢᵉ, ᵗʰᶦˢ ʲᵒᵏᵉ ᶦˢ ᵃ ᶜᵒⁿˢᶦᵈᵉʳᵃᵇˡᵉ ᶠˡᵃᶜᶜᶦᵈ ᵖᵘⁿᶜʰˡᶦⁿᵉ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᶜʳᶦᵖᵗ ˢʰᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵈᵉˢᵉʳᵛᵉ ᵇᵉᵗᵗᵉʳ. ᴺᵒʷ ʰᵉʳᵉ’ˢ ᵃ ᵏᶦᵗᵗᵉⁿ ᶠᵒʳ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵘʳᵉ ʷʰᶦˡˢᵗ ʷᵉ ᶜᵒⁿᵗᶦⁿᵘᵉ.⁾

Awwwww, she’s sleepy

Julien: Oh boy, we got attractive felines in this universe. Roy: Eh, furry love aside, I’m more attracted to the comic’s nubian felines

Roy: Hello “Friend like me” Julien: Oye, don’t go pointing out the better things others have done. We’ll be here all week.

Roy: Can I say, “Suggestive?” Julien: Hey, they’re old enough to get some pussy in their life.

Julien: Okay, best character in the movie. Roy: Eh, I’m not convinced.

Roy: Okay, now I am.

Julien: That...is gonna cost ‘em. Roy: Pfft, like they’re gonna pay for it. Julien: I thought the ignorant rich of America were annoying.

Julien: Okay, there’s one thing that’ll never make sense here. So they’re oppressed and they work under the Storm King’s rule and they couldn’t be pirates. But it takes ONE song and they decide “Fuck it. We’re pirates again.” Roy: Have you ever had a song dedicated to helping you get your confidence and groove back?

[Gasp] The lesbian call.

Roy: I love how they play dramatic angry music over the colorful destruction that is their ship.

Julien: Hey, this reminds me of my Steven Universe fanfic. Roy: What? Julien: I dreamed and started a fanfic about Connie being an Arcane Knight that is seeking the original gems that helped salvage the land from the tyrannical Homeworld generals and this was where Lapis resided because she was originally master of nature but went into hiding after she, Peridot (master of metal) and Amethyst (master of animals) had a fallout.

Julien: When she goes so deep, she’s feeling your sunken place

Roy: WE GOT OUT THE MERCH SELLER, BABY! Julien: WE GOT THE MONEYMAKEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Roy: Now to be fair, she was trying to save her civilization while her friends were fucking around. Julien: Yeah, stealing from a civilization that suffered from the same enemies they’re dealing with now. Why didn’t the ponies help the hippogriffs when they clearly could have? This feels racist in a way. Roy: Specist? Julien: Yes. Thank you.

Julien: Okay, I can see where both sides are coming from, you know? However, I have a neutralizer that, possibly(?), erases both sides of this argument. How did it take them (the ponies) this long to try and stop the Storm King’s reign when it started to affect them personally? Where were any of them when the Storm King’s armada took over the Hippogriffs, the pirates, that city? I mean, I wouldn’t worry about this so much if the movie wasn’t so full of its “Friendship Solves All” theme to drive home how this will resolve when it could’ve been resolved LONG AGO! Roy: Jesus dude, it’s not that big a deal here. Julien: NO BRO, it is a big deal. Because they made 4 comics, so much merch, got good players like Sia, Liev, Emily Blunt, etc. all for movie that barely tries to integrate its new universe to a series that’s been around for 7 fucking years!

Ah good, we’re entered the third act.

Roy: Song time. Julien: I’ll allow it. Tempest is honestly the only best thing about this movie. Also, was Emily Blunt in Chicago???

youtube

Julien: So...let me get this straight. This girl stood up to a fucking bear and she gets shunned for her suffering? Fuck those kids! Roy: Yeah, I can see where she’d want revenge.

Roy: Okay movie, these Hippogriff designs are good. You live this time. Julien: This time? It’s still getting the slaughter, honey. [revs chainsaw]

Julien: You know Twilight fucked up when Sia pony is staring you down. Roy: With what eyes? Julien: Eye. Roy: I didn’t know you were Scottish.

I won’t question how they could breath in there.

Roy: Aw jeez, she was out for blood today. Julien: He’s getting creamed out there.

Julien: JESUS CHRIST, they brought flames to the party. Seriously, they are burning these beasts alive without fear.

One got consumed in the flames. Like, damn movie.

Roy: Okay, I get that Storm King’s a playful villain, but now he’s just monkeying around. Julien: Liev just wanted his paycheck. He’s doing just as good as everyone.

Roy: Looks like Pinkie Pie is on her a game this time. Julien: When she’s not yelling all her lines. Am I right lads, or am I right lads? Dom: “You’re all right, lad!” Julien: Cheers, lad.

Roy: Betrayal, I never knew could the Storm King could do such a thing. Julien: All I can think of is Twilight yeeting her into the cloud.

Gone with the wind.

Julien: Jesus christ. Roy: Exactly.

Roy: HA. He didn’t expect somebody to jump in the way of the bomb, only to then tag them and infect them with the spell as well. This doesn’t make sense in a way. Julien: Who cares, he’s fucking dead.

That’s right. Dead. On Screen. Full High Definition. YOUR MOVE, “DISNEY”.

“YEAH, WHO WANNA RIDE THE WHITE THUNDER?!”

Roy: So wait, what if Tempest actually got her horn back? Julien: Mass Genocide, everybody in Equestria incinerated; but hey: SPARKLY, COLORFUL EXPLOSIONS RIGHT?!

Julien: And that’s the My Little Pony Movie, ladies and gentlemen. Final thoughts? Roy: Fizzlepop Berrytwist is one of the worst names you could ever give your child. But other than that, I enjoyed what I got, mediocrity and all. Hell, I’m just glad there’s a 2D animated film in American theaters again. Could spell potential for the 16 mil. it earned at the Box Office. 👍👍 Julien: I thought it was alright and could’ve done better for their story beats than taking stuff from other better movies. A fun romp nonetheless.👍👎 Well, what now? Roy: Well, it’s Halloween. Wanna howl at the moon together? Julien: Sure.

#mlp #mlp:fim #my little pony #mlp movie #my little pony the movie #jokes #roy macintosh #and friend #tv recap #awesome #ye #Two Cent Riffs #rifftrax

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 7 years

Text

The Start Of Something New

So I hear there’s a serious lack of mlm content in this fandom? I’ll do my best to help fill the void... Here, have some ridiculously fluffy and cheesy Kimax, with so many High School Musical references that if you haven’t seen it then just don’t bother reading this

Also here on AO3

Kim often liked to listen to music while doing work. It either helped him concentrate by keeping his mind entertained enough to not get bored, or he could use it as an excuse to procrastinate while he picked out the perfect playlist. Music was good no matter what.

The library was fairly quiet, with only him and Max in here, but he decided to use headphones anyway. That would stop Max getting distracted, at least. They both had different tastes in music anyway.

Feeling in the mood for a surprise, Kim put his phone onto shuffle mode and sat back to listen. Huh… this was familiar. What was it? It sounded like something he hadn’t listened to in a long time.

Livin’ in my own world, didn’t understand…

Wait – he knew this! It was from High School Musical!

He had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself laughing. This movie! He used to be obsessed with it when he was little. He didn’t even realize the music was still on his phone!

That anything can happen, when you take a chance…

It didn’t surprise him that he still remembered every word off by heart. There was something so nostalgic about hearing this, like it made him feel like a little kid again. Memories of being glued to the TV, memorizing all the dialogue, all the dances, pretending to be the characters…

Oh yes, of course! He always pretended to be Troy. Heck, he lived it. Troy Bolton was the entire reason Kim got into basketball in the first place, something he still enjoyed playing. And when he was younger, he used to fantasize about going to high school and being the basketball star, meeting a beautiful mystery girl who was good at maths, singing with her, falling in love…

Real life was nothing like that, of course. He wasn’t in lycée quite yet but he knew it wasn’t going to be anything like a cheesy musical. And when he had ended up having a crush on Chloé a while ago, he knew she was not the mystery girl he had always been dreaming about. Chloé was not remotely nerdy, or anything like Gabriella Montez whatsoever. If anything, Chloé was more of a Sharpay. A Sharpay who went and broke his heart.

Well, never mind. Maybe Kim’s nerdy mystery girl was still out there somewhere. Maybe he really would have to wait for lycée after all.

And I know that something has changed, never felt this way, and right here tonight…

It took a lot of restraint to not start singing along out loud. The High School Musical soundtrack was so good! How had he ever forgotten about it? How had he not gone back and listened to it after all these years?

Looking back down at his homework, it all looked like a confusing muddle to him. He just wasn’t in the mood for work right now. Glancing across the table, he saw that Max was concentrating hard on his own work. How did he do that? He was so smart, it was unbelievable. Even after all this time Kim found it hard to believe that someone as smart and awesome as Max was somehow best friends with an idiot like him.

This could be the start of something new, it feels so right to be here with you…

Yeah, Chloé couldn’t be the nerdy mystery girl, there was no way. For starters, it never felt “right” to be around her. She was cute, sure, and did seem to treat Kim a tiny bit better than she treated most other people. But he just felt nervous around her. Asking her out had been one of the most nerve-wracking things he had ever done in his life. Being akumatized straight afterwards had not helped matters.

Was this nerdy mystery girl someone else that Kim knew? There were plenty of people he felt “right” around. And maybe he shouldn’t limit it to just girls. After all, he was 100% certain his first crush had been on Troy Bolton himself, of all people.

What about Marinette? Well, she was awesome, but she wasn’t nerdy. And anyway, Kim had already thought about her before and come to the conclusion that he preferred having her as a friend. Hmm, what other people felt “right”? He had plenty of friends. But none of them were nerdy enough to fit. Adrien was a great friend, and probably more of a Troy Bolton than he was… Juleka and Rose counted as friends, but he was fairly sure there was something going on between them… hanging out with Alix was kind of fun sometimes, though he didn’t like to admit it…

None of his classmates were nerdy! None of them were his Gabriella! Why couldn’t there be someone in the class who liked maths, who would win a scholastic decathlon with no effort, who actually liked doing homework and–

“AchOO!”

Max had sneezed.

“Bless you,” Kim said. Then he froze.

Max.

Max was doing his homework. Max liked doing homework, in fact.

And Max liked maths. He was good at it. He joined all the academic school challenges, and always came first place.

Max was nerdy. Max was geeky.

Max was a “freaky genius guy”.

Could it be?

I feel in my heart, the start of something new…

The start of something new…

“Kim are you alright?”

Max had put his pencil down and was looking at Kim in concern.

Kim hadn’t even realized he had been staring. He had never even considered Max! Max was just his friend! They had been best friends for ages. Kim never had any reason to consider him. But now…

He gulped and tried to think of something to say. It was like his brain had completely shut down. The song carried on playing in the background, and every single word was resonating in his soul.

And the world looks so much brighter with you by my side…

Everything did feel right with Max. Everything did look bright. But that was nothing new. Things had always been better with Max around. That was why they were friends! Usually people found Kim annoying when he showed his true colours, talking too much and being a reckless idiot. But with Max he felt like he could always be himself. Max never judged him. Of course it felt right.

At this moment, though, it was starting to feel different. Like something had changed. And he had never felt this way.

Could it really be?

Was Max the mystery guy that Kim had always been dreaming of?

“Kim? Hello?”

Max waved a hand in front of Kim’s face.

“W-what? Oh… uh… yeah, I’m just…”

His brain still wasn’t working. Something really had changed.

He cleared his throat and said without thinking, “My head’s in the game but my heart’s in the song.”

Max chuckled. “You still have to do your homework though, Troy Bolton.”

Kim hadn’t expected Max to get the reference, but clearly his nerdy expertise extended to Disney Channel Original Movies too. He was so smart – it was just so cool!

Kim smiled and looked back down at his homework, but it still didn’t make any sense to him. Not right now. Not when he was so distracted suddenly. He wondered how that would go down tomorrow in class.

“Kim, why haven’t you done your homework?” “Well I was too distracted yesterday because I realized I’m in love with my best friend…”

In any case, he was not going to get it done at this exact moment. Perhaps later. Right now he needed time and space to think. He pushed his chair out and stood up.

“I’m going home,” he announced.

“Now?” Max asked.

“Yeah, I just feel like going home. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay then. See you later!”

Max smiled up at him, the same way as always, but for once it looked so cute that Kim hurried out of the room, feeling sure he would melt otherwise.

Kim did not go straight home. He wandered around the streets of Paris, not knowing or caring where he was going. All he could think about was Max. He had put the headphones away but that song just kept playing over and over in his head.

Now, looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart…

Thinking about Max’s eyes certainly did make his heart go a lot faster. Was he really in love with his best friend? Was this actually happening? All because a High School Musical song made him think about it?

Well, if he was Troy and Max was Gabriella, then he had to do something about it. He couldn’t just let this knowledge sit inside him. He had to let Max know how he felt.

But how? Last time with Chloé, things had been a disaster. Sure, Max would certainly be nicer about it. But what if it made things awkward? Kim hadn’t been friends with Chloé, he knew that her potentially turning him down probably wouldn’t change too much. But what about Max? If Max didn’t like him back like that, if he turned him down…

Kim realized his feet had carried him to the bakery that Marinette’s parents owned. He loved this place. Maybe a snack would do him good. And maybe he could go see if Marinette was around. At least she was someone he could trust, someone he could confide in about all this.

A few minutes later he left the bakery again, a snack in hand. Marinette had been up in her room apparently so he hadn’t got to talk to her. Never mind. It had been nice to see her parents again, anyway.

He was roused from his thoughts when he heard familiar voices coming from somewhere high up.

“…isn’t that right, princess?”

“Oh you silly kitty cat, I’ll be waiting!”

“Well I promise I won’t keep you waiting long.”

“And I promise I’ll try not to be asleep!”

Kim took a few steps away from the bakery and looked upwards. Up on Marinette’s balcony, he saw her standing there, talking to Chat Noir, who was sitting on the railing. No wait, they weren’t just talking! He was holding both her hands in his, looking right into her eyes. It almost looked like they were going to kiss.

Marinette and Chat Noir? Were they a couple or something? Kim rubbed his eyes and looked again, sure he couldn’t have seen that right. But nope – they were still there, still giggling and flirting with each other on that balcony. And their faces were even closer now. Closer and closer, until – there! Chat Noir gave her a little kiss on the cheek, slightly too long to be mistaken for a normal Parisian cheek kiss, and then hopped onto his baton and slid down to the ground. He landed right at Kim’s feet.

“Oh hi Kim!” Chat Noir said, waving.

“You… and Marinette…!”

“What? Oh, you saw that?” There was a slight blush on his cheeks. “I like to go visit my friend sometimes.”

“Friend? Are you sure?”

“Well yeah! She’s my friend!”

I didn’t know it before, but now it’s easy to see…

“Are you sure you don’t have a crush on her?” Kim asked. Chat blushed even harder.

“Alright, maybe a little crush. But don’t tell anyone.”

“It’s okay, I won’t. I know what it’s like to have a crush on a friend.”

“Chloé, huh?”

Kim shook his head. “No. Someone else.”

“Ah, okay.”

“So does Marinette like you back?”

Chat shrugged. “Who knows? She tells me she’s in love with a boy in her class. He’s probably a lot cooler than I am.”

“What? But you’re a superhero! There’s no one cooler than you!” Kim hoped he himself wasn’t blushing now. He had known for quite a while that he had a bit of a celebrity crush on Chat Noir. On Ladybug, too. Though who didn’t? They were amazing!

“Gee, thanks!” Chat winked and finger-gunned at him. “But anyway, I think she sees me as someone she can trust, someone she can confide in. To tell the truth, that’s how I saw her at first too. I don’t even know where this crush came from. It just suddenly hit me one day. One minute I liked her as a friend, and the next thing I know, I’m in love with her.”

I never knew that it could happen ‘til it happened to me…

“I know that feeling,” Kim said. “It literally just happened to me and uh… I don’t really know what to do…”

“Why don’t you go give your friend-turned-crush a little balcony visit?” Chat said, winking again. “Seems to be working fine for me.”

“Yeah, maybe I will…”

“What? I was kidding! Don’t climb onto a balcony, you’ll get hurt.”

“But Troy Bolton did it,” Kim said, memories of the first High School Musical movie flooding back into him suddenly. “He wanted to apologize to Gabriella, so he climbed up onto her balcony and then… sang her a song…”

A strange, stupid idea was forming in his brain. And as much as he tried to make it stop, it just wouldn’t.

“So you’re a High School Musical fan,” Chat Noir said.

“Are you?”

“Of course I am! Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat. Anyway Kim, go get’cha head in the game! Whatever you do, I’m sure it’ll work! I believe in you!”

“Thanks. And I believe in you and Marinette too.”

“I’ve gotta go now for a patrol, but I’ll see you later.”

Chat winked one last time, then ran off out of sight.

The reckless idea in Kim’s brain was now too strong to ignore. If he was going to be Troy Bolton then so be it. He would do it. It was cheesy, it was stupid, it was utterly ridiculous. But maybe it would be at least a little romantic. That would be better than nothing.

Quickly making his way over to Max’s house, he sent him a quick message.

Max, totally hypothetical question here, what would you say if I climbed up onto your balcony? Would that be creepy?

He got a reply quite quickly.

Totally hypothetical answer: it wouldn’t be creepy, since it’s you. If it was someone I didn’t know that well then I would consider it creepy. But I would just assume someone had dared you to do it and you didn’t refuse.

Oh, thank goodness. He could go ahead with his plans. Holding his phone in his teeth, he used his arms and legs to climb up the nearby tree…

Kim, do you happen to be actually climbing onto my balcony right now? I am at home, you know. If you need me to go get you a helmet then I can do that. Or a bowl. I don’t want you injuring yourself.

So who challenged you to do it? Is it a race against someone? If it’s against Alix then I’m sorry but you have a 98% chance of losing.

Kim, that question definitely wasn’t hypothetical, was it? I’m standing on my balcony right now and I can see you climbing that tree. Next time just put your phone in your pocket. You’ll get drool all over it.

Kim made the final leap from the tree branch onto the balcony, landing in front of Max. Just the sight of him made Kim feel such an odd twinge in his chest that he wondered if he should just forget the stupid idea and run away. But no – he had made up his mind. He was going to do it. After all, he had climbed up here, hadn’t he?

“So, where is your opponent?” Max asked, looking over the edge.

Kim took his phone out of his mouth and wiped it on his hoodie. “There’s no opponent, actually. I came up here on my own.”

“Really? Why? I have a front door that you can use. It would be easier. Though if you were going for improving your physique by athletic activity then you’re certainly doing a good job.”

Seeing Max adjust his glasses and look Kim up and down as he was saying that…

He shook himself out of his lovestruck stupor and cleared his throat. “I have something to do. Just listen and um… don’t laugh or anything…”

He had the song he wanted on his phone. The song that had been stuck in his head all day. He tapped his phone screen, tapped the music icon… only to suddenly notice that his phone was only on 1% battery. And the next second the screen turned black.

No! He had forgotten to charge his phone earlier! Stupid, forgetful brain. It was going to ruin everything.

“Max, can I borrow your phone for a minute?” Kim asked.

“Sure.”

Max handed it over. Kim unlocked it – he knew the passcode of course, and Max knew his – and had a quick scroll through the music selection. Nope, it wasn’t there. He would just have to look it up instead. He opened up YouTube and typed in what he was looking for. Ah yes, there, results! So this wasn’t going to be a total loss after all!

Preparing himself to sing, he tapped on the first result.

Sorry, this video cannot be viewed on mobile.

Grrr! No! He tapped on the second result.

Sorry, this video cannot be viewed in your region.

What? Why not??? It was just a harmless song! He tapped on the third result, hoping that this time it would work.

There, yes! It was loading… that little circle going round and round… yes, this was promising… he knew Max’s wi-fi speed wasn’t the best, so of course it might take a moment or two to load fully, that was okay, as long as it didn’t buffer too much…

He turned up the volume and braced himself, forgetting all his fear.

And then a 30 second ad for Minecraft started playing.

“Oh forget it!” Kim snapped, going back to the home screen and giving the phone back to Max. “This isn’t working, never mind, just… just forget I even came here…”

He turned around and swung a leg over the balcony railing, wondering if he could jump down from here without breaking both his legs. Then he felt Max’s hand on his shoulder.

“Kim, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Really? It seems like it’s something important…”

Forget being subtle, forget being Troy Bolton. Kim sat on the railing and looked at the floor.

“I was just trying to do that thing! Like in High School Musical! That bit when Troy goes onto Gabriella’s balcony and sings that song to her, and it’s really sweet and everything. And I was going to do that but the music wasn’t loading! And now come to think of it, Troy didn’t even use background music, he just sang, ugh… I should have just done that too… actually what am I thinking… I can’t even sing…”

He put his head in his hands, knowing he was blushing so hard his face must have been the colour of his hoodie.

“You were going to sing to me?”

It was impossible to tell what Max was thinking based on his voice alone. Kim just nodded, hoping he wasn’t about to get pushed off the balcony when Max inevitably started freaking out.

Except that Max didn’t freak out. In fact, Max started giggling.

“Yeah, I know, it was stupid of me,” Kim muttered, knowing he would probably laugh at himself too for doing something so ridiculous.

“No, no! I’m laughing because… well… it’s cute.”

Cute?

Most people thought Kim was annoying. Occasionally, kids who didn’t know him personally thought he was hot. Adults thought he was a troublemaker.

But no one, no one, thought he was cute.

Hearing Max say it almost brought tears to his eyes.

He looked up slightly, still not daring to look at Max’s face. “You think I’m cute?”

“Yes! Climbing onto my balcony – with my permission first, too, which is a good deal better than Troy Bolton – and then wanting to sing to me? I would say it’s very cute indeed.”

I know that something has changed, never felt this way, I know it for real…

Kim finally looked at Max to see his cheerful, adoring expression. It was a face he had seen many times – when Max had given him the brooch on Valentine’s Day, when Kim congratulated Max on his win at the gaming tournament with Marinette, when they were at the zoo together and Kim was being a fool as usual…

And it was wonderful.

“Well, uh, I think you’re cute too,” he managed to say, though rather quietly.

“Thank you,” said Max, stepping a little closer, a little smirk on his face now. “In fact, I would go as far as to say that you’re What I’ve Been Looking For.”

Kim couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re a High School Musical fan too?”

“Contrary to what most people would expect, I absolutely love High School Musical. I always used to imagine myself as Gabriella, since I can relate with being considered the ‘genius kid’ when moving to a new school. And because I certainly have a thing for very cute jocks.”

That smirk was still on his face. Wait, was he flirting?! This was not at all what Kim had expected, yet he was far from disappointed. He took a deep breath and said, “Well I have a thing for very cute nerds, and you can Bet On It.”

Max laughed again. “I’m glad you told me! It was Now Or Never.”

“Yeah! There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach!”

“We’re certainly going to Bop To The Top!”

“We are so Fabulous.”

“I guess you could say that The Boys Are Back.”

“And that this is… well…” Kim put the tiniest hint of a melody into his voice. “The Start… Of Something New?”

Max’s eyes almost looked like they had stars in them, they were so full of affection. “And it feels so right, to be here with you…”

“And now, looking in your eyes…”

“I feel in my heart…”

The start of something new.

The words of the song couldn’t have been more accurate.

The memory of Chat Noir kissing Marinette’s cheek popped into Kim’s mind, and he decided to do it before he chickened out of it. Or wait… why just the cheek? Max liked him back, right? Why not kiss him properly?

He leaned forwards…

“OH HEY KIM! YOU DID THE BALCONY THING! YAY!”

Kim whirled around to see Chat Noir sitting on the roof of a nearby house, yelling at him and waving.

“Yeah, I did the balcony thing!” Kim called back.

“GOOD! I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU! ANYWAY I’M GONNA STOP SPYING ON YOU NOW, SO SEE YOU LATER!”

Chat Noir scampered over the edge of the roof and disappeared. Kim turned back to Max, his earlier courage having gone, and settled for pulling him into a tight hug instead. It was a running joke that Troy and Gabriella kept getting interrupted before they could kiss, right? Maybe that would happen with Kim and Max too.

But it didn’t matter. What mattered was that things had gone right. This really was the start of something new. And now, what kind of musical adventures would follow them? Would lycée really be like High School Musical?

No matter what, at least he had Max. They were all in this together.

#also there's some marichat because why not. i haven't really written it before so i may as well #miraculous ladybug #kimax #le chien kim #max kante #ml fanfic #random stuff #i literally just wrote this on a whim because i felt like it #it is honestly BIZARRE how little attention this ship gets #aish writes

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shinewithalltheuntold · 7 years

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So, I had the pleasure of attending the Once Upon a Time panel at Phoenix Comicon today. Sean Maguire, Karen David, and David Anders. I expected to be entertained. I did not expect to almost ruin my makeup because they made me laugh so hard I cried.

Seriously, I cannot overstate how flipping funny these three were together. And adorable and thoughtful and just...this was one of the best panels I have been to in a long time - which is saying a lot because I’ve been to some really good panels.

A few highlights Many highlights under the cut because OMG they were just so entertaining:

- Karen David trying to come up with a way not to spoil people in the audience who hadn’t seen the finale yet (the mod rightly pointed out that anyone going to a panel without having seen the finale of a show knows what they’re getting into. Still, Karen was adorable about it.)

- David made a comment about Sean looking cooler with his bow and arrow than Stephen Amell and the audience all gasped. David took mock offense because they were at a Once panel and not an Arrow one. He then randomly dropped references to Stephen Amell for the rest of the panel. So funny.

- Sean of course got asked about Robin’s death. He said he was obviously disappointed about it, but emphasized that an actor’s job was to serve the greater story and that as a writer he understood that (didn’t know he was a writer so that was an interesting tidbit.) He sounded more zen about the whole thing than the interviews I read at the time - understandably so.

- He then made joking references to Robin’s death off and on, including that if Robin had been in the musical episode the only thing he could have sung about was being in a box. This led to David Anders singing a Robin Hood theme song.

- David Anders can sing. Both he and Karen sang during the panel. Sean sort of halfheartedly sang at one point, but he deferred to the other two. Karen serenaded us with a Galavant song. It was glorious.

- Karen and David would have loved to be in the musical episode, but Karen pointed out that the regular cast has a lot of talented people and they should take center stage over recurring characters. Sean would not have wanted to be in the musical episode, but was happy it was well-received and that his castmates did well.

- Karen enjoys teasing Colin. He apparently tried to get her to crack at various points and she took that as a challenge so now it’s a bit of a thing with them. (She apparently tweeted a picture of a ham to him at one point.) Also, apparently someone tweeted “#pantydropper” to Colin once and it makes him turn red whenever it’s mentioned. So Karen makes sure to mention it.

- Oh, and in the finale scene where Hook calls Snow ‘mom’, the first few takes apparently Colin played it all over the top sexy just for laughs.

- David enjoyed working with Sean on the couple of scenes they had together. He was impressed with Sean’s ability to cry (holding Peanut) and not break character even when dealing with cheesy lines.

- Sean finds that the more serious a scene is, the more he wants to joke around (which I so relate to). He made a comment about that possibly being the reason he was let go.

- Karen was really excited to with Ginnifer Goodwin in her first episode. She shared a care package her dad sent to her with Ginny. And then gave little care packages, including tea, to her castmates a lot. She stopped when she realized how expensive it was going to be. She apologized to Sean because she stopped it before he came back.

- She talked about what a pro Lana is and how when she’s playing the Evil Queen she is totally into it. But in the diner scene where the Evil Queen is force choking Jasmine, Karen made this really weird, loud choking noise that she broke character and apologized for. Lana cracked up, and Karen said she had to be looking away in the rest of the takes so she wouldn’t laugh.

- When asked about props or stunts that were memorable, Karen said she absolutely loved the flying carpet stuff. And working with Joanna. She is totally in love with being a Disney princess; she referenced it a lot. It was too cute. Sean talked about riding the fake horse in the streets of “New York” and how ridiculous he looked and how the people watching the filming looked at him like he was nuts. He also talked about how sometimes the arrows he used were CGI because “apparently the producers didn’t want him accidentally shooting his castmates. Or the crew. Or random citizens of Vancouver.” David joked that the heart he used in his scenes was real, donated by someone named Doug who died and donated his organs to Once.

- They all love Eduardo and his costumes and what he did for their characters. Sean talked about how it helped him find the character. Karen said Eduardo told her she’s be on a liquid diet to fit into her costume so she loved when wore the cape because she got to eat that day. David loved the steampunk look to his costume.

- Someone asked what spinoff they’d like to do for any of the roles they played. David said there had been talk of a Sark spinoff for Alias at one point. Sean said he’d love to play the version of Ian Fleming he played in Timeless in a spinoff. Karen just said she wanted more Galavant - maybe a movie or a musical.

- All three of them geek out whenever they get the chance to act with Robert Carlyle. They all think he’s amazing.

- David doesn’t know how to play anything but villains.

- David and Sean were fucking savage about Trump. Sean did an impression of him that I’m pretty sure was the start of my tearing up from laughing, and when asked which real life hero or villain he would be he said he would be Trump so that he could shoot himself in the head. Then at the end when they were asked who they’d take a magic carpet ride with, David said Trump so that he could push him off. Sean said that David stole his answer verbatim and then looked out and said that they might as well do it right so he would take Pence on his carpet ride.

- Sean’s favorite thing to do besides acting is napping. A highly underrated pastime. (Clearly a man with a small child.) Karen likes going into the studio to make music, and is learning golf. David agreed to help teach her.

- Karen is moving into Sean’s neighborhood. Sean is helping her move. Karen joked that she just wanted to see Sean in a tank top and then Sean talked about as actors how they’d all have the perfect “moving day” outfits and that if his clashed with Karen’s husband he’d have to go home and change.

- David moved recently as well into a “cooler” neighborhood and apparently someone wrote something about hipsters not being welcome in the neighborhood. He left it up because it amused him and was actually kind of cool looking. He referenced Banksy in describing what it looked like.

- Sean liked doing Once Upon a Time in Wonderland because it let him develop his character a bit more. And because getting two paychecks is always good.

- Now that I’m thinking about it, Karen did reference wanting to do a spinoff called “Once Upon a Time in Agrabah.” She said she would take the magic carpet with Hook, and pick up Robin and Whale on the way because after spending the weekend with Sean and David she was bummed that she never got to have scenes with either of them. (Seriously though, they seemed to have hit it off really well. They were having a great time together and were really comfortable with each other.)

- A gentleman talked about how his wife had been battling cancer and Once was a godsend to her because it helped keep her mind off the pain of chemo and he was really grateful to the show for being so important to her. Sean said something really lovely about how he thought he spoke for all the cast that being able to create something that was so meaningful to so many people and to hear stories like that was what made their jobs worthwhile.

- Karen talked about her parents and how inspirational they were to her. They weren’t allowed more than $20 when they emigrated first to England and then to Canada. Her dad framed the $20 to remind her and her sister of how important it was to work hard to achieve your goals and how supportive and awesome they were.

- She also talked about being bullied growing up and dealing with racism and how seeing Disney princesses like Jasmine and Mulan and Pocahontas helped her to recognize that those things she was being bullied for were what made her special. When she was done talking, David leaned over and gave her a hug.

I’m sure there’s more stuff that I’m missing because the panel was pretty much an entire hour of amazing and I am so so glad I went. Karen David is sunshine personified, Sean Maguire is witty and sweet and charming, and David Anders is so much funnier than I was expecting (and also had moments of sweetness.) I highly recommend attending any panel any of them do, separately or together. But especially together because it was just truly delightful. (And I am really bummed that I missed the chance to do the photo op with the three of them together now. Alas.)

#phoenix comicon #ouat #sean maguire #karen david #david anders #the whole weekend was fun #but even if it had been total crap #it still would have been worth it #for that panel alone

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placetobenation · 4 years

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Saludos Amigos

Release Date: August 24th, 1942 (released February 19th, 1943 in the USA)

Inspiration: N/A

Budget: N/A

Domestic Gross: N/A

Worldwide Gross: $1.135 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

IMDB Score: 6.2/10

Storyline (per IMDB): Live-action segments show members of the Disney staff touring South America and recording their impressions in sketches. These segue into four animated sections: “Lake Titicaca” depicts tourist Donald Duck’s troubles with a stubborn llama; “Pedro” tells of a little mail plane’s adventures flying over the treacherous Andes; “El Gaucho Goofy” transplants an American cowboy into the Argentine pampas; and in “Aquarela do Brasil,” Jose Carioca shows Donald the sights and sounds of Rio de Janeiro.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We now hit one of the more interesting periods in Disney history as we have the first of the 6 upcoming films known as “package films”, which means these films are just a collection of shorts put together to make a film. This was done as most of the animators were either drafted to serve in World War II or to create propaganda films, and in addition this film was based on a trip that Disney took to South America. These films are commonly ranked on the lower end of the canon in terms of popularity and I can honestly say I have never seen this or any of the package films, so it will be interesting to see how I enjoy them and if they can hold up with the previous 5 films released thus far.

Voice Cast: After having pretty much a full cast of actors for the previous films that we saw, we are stripped down to the barest of bones as we only have a grand total of four voices in the film with one pretty much dominating the amount of screen time. That voice belongs to Fred Shields who plays the narrator of the film and he does a good job in setting the scenes as well as doing the voiceover for the animated scenes. We then have Disney regulars Pinto Colvig and Clarence Nash voicing Goofy and Donald Duck though they are kept pretty short even though we see Donald twice, and finally we have Jose Oliveira voicing Jose Carioca as he speaks in Portuguese for the whole film until the end. In the end, it was pretty much a one-man show by the narrator as we were basically watching 4 animated shorts surrounded by some live action scenes.

Hero/Prince: N/A

Princess: N/A

Villain: N/A

Other Characters: So aside from Donald Duck, Goofy, and Jose Carioca, we didn’t have many other characters and no, the animators that are featured don’t count and they are not animated as well. However, we do have the family of planes that appears with the main focus being on the young plane named Pedro, and none of them speak so it is up to the narrator to carry the short which he does very well. Considering this film was only 42 minutes, there was only so much they could do and this was more about putting over the culture of Latin America than introducing any memorable characters.

Songs: This is an interesting film as they were putting a lot of focus on the culture of Latin America, but there weren’t many songs in the film even though they did touch on the music towards the end. That being said, we did get a few songs for the film as we had “Saludos Amigos” during the opening credits which was a fun, upbeat song to lively up the mood, and then we close with the combination of “Brazil” and “Tico Tico no Fuba” which was used by Jose Carioca to introduce Donald Duck to the world of Samba. While these songs probably will not rank high against many of the other songs in the Disney canon, they fit the theme of the film and were a good representation of Latin America.

Plot: As mentioned earlier, this was the first of what would be several package films released by Disney which means that it is just a series of shorts edited together into a film, and they clearly were running a bit short on time since this film is only 42 minutes. The main plot of the film is to highlight Disney’s trip to Latin America with his animators and how they came up with the inspiration for the four shorts included, and each short was focused on one certain aspect of Latin American culture. While it would introduce the character of Jose Carioca into the Disney canon, there was nothing much here as we got some interesting shorts that took the aspects of the culture and tried to make them entertaining which did work though I wonder how many were not that impressed with it.

Random Watching Thoughts: This is the first film I’ve watched during this run that doesn’t have the Radio RKO logo at the beginning even though it was released through them; Interesting they mention there will be live action scenes along with the animation at the very beginning; Not often we see a behind-the-scenes feature in the main film; The over-animated map is back; I wonder if any children were upset to see these live action sequences when they were promised an animated film, and also if parents thought this was just a documentary on Latin American culture; It is pretty cool seeing how the trip did influence the animators when they were making this film; How often do you hear a llama being called dignified?; Donald Duck making his big screen debut in a film; I wonder if places featured in this film saw a spike in tourism following this film; Clearly that boat was not indestructible in the hands of Donald Duck; How does that lady not realize that Donald landed in her dough?; So llama handlers are similar to snake charmers in that the llama moves in time with the flute like a snake does?; That llama was having none of Donald’s bad flute playing until he got good real quick; So llamas can apparently walk on air briefly too; Donald being told not to lose his temper is a classic “pot calling the kettle black”; Ahh, the days of animating verbal puns; The animators have great memories if they can make pristine pictures of the environment just by memory; So airplanes have families just like animals; Could they have picked a more Latin name than “Pedro” for the young plane?; Planes apparently go to school too and also get colds; They wasted no time in throwing Pedro out there into a dangerous flight; To think it would be nearly 70 years later when we got a film about planes made my Disney and Pixar; That was very anticlimactic when Pedro went past the tallest mountain, but it came back with a vengeance when he was going home; I love the narrator telling Pedro to forget about the mail when it falls, does he not know that it’s Pedro’s job to deliver the mail?; I love how the narrator was so somber when he thought Pedro had not made it before changing his tune when he survived; Buenos Aires looks like a beautiful city back in the 1940s, one could only imagine what it looks like now; Very nostalgic seeing Walt Disney on screen with his staff as they watch the gauchos in action; Of all the characters to use to symbolize the cowboy, they would of course pick Goofy; I wonder if they released the short with Goofy as a separate short; This is about as typical a Goofy cartoon in that the narrator makes everything seem so simple, but Goofy makes it more complicated that it has to be; Only Goofy could manage to eat part of his knife while eating the rest of his meal; I never thought I would see a horse dressed up like a farmer’s daughter; Rio de Janeiro is another place that looks like it would be fun to visit, especially during Carnival; We get the debut of Jose Carioca who will become more prominent in the next film; I wonder if anyone in the audience were like Donald when they were having a hard time understanding Jose; How many foreign language books does Donald need?; Funny how Jose was talking in his native language that whole time only to reveal that he can actually speak English; So Donald getting the hiccups shows that he has the spirit of the Samba.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this film ended up being a fine enough film though it was easily the weakest of the films I have watched to this date. It’s hard to fault them for this film because they were hurting after losing some of the animators to the U.S. government for World War II, and I get the idea of wanting to use a film to make the US audience familiar with a culture they didn’t know a lot about. It was also smart having at least two familiar characters in the film as Donald Duck and Goofy were popular enough that many would like seeing them, and it was jarring to see the film end up being so short at only 42 minutes. Given the track record they had established to this point, they were allowed to have at least one mulligan though it would be interesting to see if the upcoming package films are better than this one. As for this film, it is a pretty decent film to showcase Latin American culture, but one that ultimately can be passed over unless you are a completist.

Final Grade: 4.5/10

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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theothermodulesideblog · 7 years

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In defense of Anastasia (1997)

20th Century Fox’s 1997 animated film Anastasia is.... let’s face it, not very well thought of by most animated film fans. It’s widely thought of as Don Bluth’s worst work, due to what most of them thought of as pandering to the Disney audience. It was a princess musical from the creator of The Secret of NIMH, of course animation nerds left and right were gonna call bullshit on that.

I can kind of see where they’re coming from here, but the film itself is gorgeous. The animation is clean and (mostly) devoid of what I like to call “90′s face animation slide”, which is when a character’s face tends to slide around between frames as they move, which is something I noticed a lot of in late 90′s animated features like Beauty and the Beast. It also has some of the best motion I’ve ever seen in a 2D cel animated/cg film, probably only bested by the more action-packed animated movies of the late 90′s, like DreamWorks’ Prince of Egypt and Disney’s Mulan, both of which required a lot of smooth motion scenes and believable kinetic moments. The art direction -- especially the backgrounds -- are stunning, and do a great job representing pre-Revolution Russia. They do a great job immersing the viewer in the aesthetic of the time when it was set; all the decadent golds and reds of the Romanoff palace contrasted against the greys and browns of the rest of the city is a powerful image.

Another aspect in which it does well is the character building and designs. Dmitri is a whiny little bitch and no mistake, but his character grows with Anastasia and they have an incredibly cute romantic arc (I really love the idea of two people that approach each other as equals and have natural chemistry that manifests in being annoying and teasing each other). His bestie Vlad, and his love interest Sophie (who enters in the middle of the second act, if memory serves), are my favorite part of the whole film. These two characters are adorable and sweet, and they flirt with each other for pretty much all of the time they’re on screen. Anastasia herself is.... Meg Ryan with red hair that magically changes length, probably due to some oversight on the animators’ part. She’s not really a very compelling character to me, but I do like the final (long hair) design. She has some very good costume choices (the blue dress and ponytail she wears on the boat is lovely, as is the sparkly midnight blue dress she wears to the French Opera -- tangent: apparently they had to devise a new technique to animate that dress), and, as she is voiced by Meg Ryan, is very facially expressive. I also love that she has a dog, but then again, I love dogs.

The musical score and songs are great. There’s really no question there. I haven’t seen this movie in 5 years and I can still call to mind pretty much any of the songs from it. They’re memorable and catchy without breaking the character of those singing it, besides maybe I Can Learn to do It, which, okay, I can’t imagine Dmitri going with that. But Rumour In St. Petersburg and Once Upon a December (the first two songs in the film) are incredibly strong, and the animated sequences that accompany them are great. Rumour has a big group scene where everyone in St. Petersburg is complaining and gossiping, and it shows in the animation how miserable the revolution made them (historically inaccurate, yes, but we’ll get to that), and Once Upon a December has a haunting ghostly ball in an abandoned ballroom at the Romanoff’s palace that’s just lovely. It has all the hallmarks of a scene from Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice (2005) -- revolving camera view, yellowy colorscheme, ballroom, tension -- and I love that. The song itself gives me goosebumps just recalling it. The songs from the second act (Paris Holds the Key To Your Heart and In the Dark of the Night) both have slightly lacking lyrics, but the animated sequences still hold up after 20 years. I have to give special credit to Paris Holds the Key because it went for some pretty ambitious visuals and had quite a few references to period-appropriate 20th century French thinkers/writers/artists, which both my sister and I find pretty great. The end song, At the Beginning, is probably the weakest song (it was written by Richard Marx, what can ya do), but I can forgive one song not being as great as the rest.

Yes, I will admit this film has quite a few shortcomings, not the least of which are the glaring historical issues. The Russian revolution wasn’t brought upon by some evil sorcerer hellbent on killing the aristocracy. There were no evil sorcerers in 19th century Russia to begin with, let alone to incite some big revolution. And I’m no expert on the revolution aftermath, but I’m willing to bet they weren’t secretly wishing there was one Romanoff left to guide them back to their previous ways, because yes early Russian socialism was pretty shit, but I doubt they’d want to go back to having all the issues they wanted to rectify in the first place. Also Anastasia was missing and presumed dead, but I think they actually confirmed her as dead at some point in the last 100 years, so yknow, also there’s that.

Another criticism which I mentioned earlier is that this is seen by most discerning animation fans (read: animation nerds) as Don Bluth selling out. His last few animated features, Rock-A-Doodle and The Pebble and The Penguin, were meh at best, and hot trash messes at worst. They’re really not well-thought of, and are nowhere near as beloved as The Secret of NIMH and Fern Gully, two of his best-known films. This man was well-known and well-loved for not pandering to his audiences, and giving them dark children’s content, which may be coming back into vogue now, but wasn’t really a big thing back in the 80′s (unless you count Jim Henson). To see him creating what is essentially dumbed down Disney content was disheartening to a lot of his fanbase, and upset most of them. And it’s not hard to see where they’re coming from; if Alex Hirsch had decided to cop out and make more seasons of Gravity Falls, or if Over the Garden Wall had been extended further for the sake of making money, I’d be really upset too. I’m a drama queen about this sort of thing, so I’d most likely wail about how my favorite creators were losing their integrity to the great machine of capitalism, and I wouldn’t be completely off. But the fact of the matter is that market trends change, audiences change, and art changes as a result of them.

Anastasia is probably a copout, yes, and is probably the worst of Bluth’s filmography if you grew up with his darker 80′s material, but it is by no means his worst work. This is a film very near and dear to my heart and I will fight whoever says it’s not at least worthy of a viewing, because it’s kind of a masterpiece. The animation style is gorgeous, the songs and score are literally haunting, and the characters are well-written and expressive, and they grow as characters -- something not a lot of animated films care about anymore (absolutely throwing shade at all the Smurfs movies). It may not be Bluth’s best work but it is SUCH a far cry from his worst, sellout or no.

#personal essay #personal writing #film #don bluth #anastasia #long form writing #my writing #animation #(kind of an animation nerd if you can't tell)#this isn't technically research #notes #i guess?

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televisor-reviews · 7 years

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“Pocahontas (1995)” Movie Review

Please help me get my name out by following me on Letterbox: http://letterboxd.com/AnimatorReviewa

“Pocahontas, the tree is talking to me.”

I know this is technically late, but Tumblr was down for PCs (at least it was for me) for the last few days. That used to not be a problem for me, but writing on my new phone is one of the biggest pains I’ve ever had in my ass, so I have to now do these on my laptop... it also didn’t help that I really didn’t want to watch Poca-fucking-hontas. Anyways, I’m not counting this as late.

Pocahontas was a Native American princess(?) when a bunch of New England settlers came & founded Jamestown in Ye Olde ‘Murica. She’s planned to marry one of her tribes’ heroes, but she falls in love with a settler known as John Smith. Pocahontas seeks him out despite her father’s warnings, & over time, he & her tribe may come together to trump their prejudices against each other.

Before I get into how much I really hate this film, I want to start with a positive: the music is amazing! I’m pretty sure you all know what I’m talking about, it won 2 Oscars for them: Just Around The Riverbend, Savages, & (of course) Colors Of The Wind. I genuinely really like all these songs! Just one problem, there aren’t that that many good songs, that short list is pretty much every one of them. As much as I do love these 3 songs, they are clearly outnumbered & outmatched by earlier, better Disney Princess movies such as The Little Mermaid or Aladdin... hell, newer Disney movies have better soundtracks than this! Pocahontas’ is very good, but it’s not as good as the high standards this company has set for itself.

Its message is well meaning but a bit half-hearted & insincere. I’ll admit, it is very refreshing to see a piece of art admit that whites aren’t the only ones who can be racist... but Zootopia told the exact same message a million times better. Not to mention how John Smith started out racist, but is turned around after just one conversation. Sorry, but you can’t make a liberal out of a Neo-Nazi that easily! And honestly, the biggest thing holding this movie back is itself; if the film was better, the moral would come off better. But alas, this movie sucks.

Now into the stuff I really hate about this damned film, starting out with its most notorious problem, straying from reality way too much. Before anyone even thinks about mentioning it, I understand that many animated Disney movies I love have been based on books & strayed from their original material just as much as Pocahontas does. Originally Ariel died at the end of The Little Mermaid, Hunchback Of Notre Dame, The Jungle Book, & Pinocchio were much darker, Snow White had bigger tits, & plenty of other examples. The difference being that there is a difference between adapting a book compared to real life events. With a book, you can change many basic facts & no one would be that upset as long as the message stays true & is well made (it helps that I’ve never read any of the books those other films were based on). But with real life events, you need to adapt it as well as you possibly can or else it can be very disrespectful. Take Titanic for example, say what you want about its story not really happening, at least the fucking ship sinks! You can’t say that about this movie, everything is way too happy go lucky & easy for this to be anything like what really happened! And I’m not saying Disney should’ve shown Pocahontas being raped & then dying from AIDS or whatever shitty thing happened thanks to white people, but at least not have racism solved by the end. At least some way to tell that the filmmakers cared about the people whose lives were lost while Pocahontas was apparently singing about whatever a “blue corn moon” is!

The animation looks just awful for Disney standards. I’m not saying that it’s like Hoodwinked or Rock Dog bad, but this looks fugly! And I think the reason is because it tries to look more realistic but they don’t look realistic, having them fall at the edge of the Uncanny Valley. They’re not scary looking, but they do look ugly.

None of the characters have much going on & I honestly don’t remember a large majority of them (if her name wasn’t the damn title, I would’ve probably forgotten about Pocahontas). One of the only ones worth mentioning is John Smith played by Mel Gibson, who was a raging racist (the character also). I already talked about how quickly he’s reformed, & blah blah blah. What I really want to talk about is how fly he is constantly, he is always trying too hard to be swaggy & a heart throb. All of his acting comes off as insincere & I never felt like Gibson really cared about this film or his role within it.

The other character worth mentioning is Ratcliffe, one of the least threatening & least interesting Disney villains of all time! His motivation is gold... that’s it, he just wants gold. Sure he’s racist, but so are pretty much all of the other characters, so it doesn’t make him any more interesting than the other characters I don’t care about. He’s also defeated too easily, there’s no big fight or anything like that, everyone just decided that he was an asshole & told him, “fuck you.” Really, the only interesting thing about him is that he is the main villain.

The film is about an hour & 10 minutes, excluding ending credits & that’s a problem. And it wouldn’t be if its 3 acts felt well written & established, but the 3rd act goes by in a snap! Maybe, instead of just ending the movie 20 minutes shorter than most films, why not dedicate that time to making Ratcliffe’s inevitable defeat more epic or memorable? I can only assume that everyone just got lazy & I hate assuming that because it’s goddamn Disney! This shouldn’t come off as lazy, dammit!

There’s also a few scenes of Pocahontas’ raccoon & Ratcliffe’s dog fight each other, in order to parallel the struggles between her tribe & his men. They’re pretty funny at times & I enjoyed their screen time much better than the actual characters’. But this does bring up an interesting problem with this film, there are too many stupid metaphors that the writers think are smart but they really aren’t. That’s not a huge problem, the book Speak has the same problem & that’s still above average, but in Pocahontas, this is like tomatoes on a turd sandwich.

Overall, Pocahontas is easily my least favorite Disney animated film, let alone my least favorite Disney princess movie. It’s pretentious, disrespectful, & mostly uninteresting. To me & many others, this signaled the beginning of the end of he Disney Renaissance, but really, this movie sucks.

2.5/10

#pocahontas #Disney #Disney Princess #Disney Renaissance #john smith #movie #film #review #critique #analysis #mel gibson #animation #native american #colors of the wind #just around the riverbend #savages

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