#Apple Original documentaries

[queerism1969]

#netflix #what to watch #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbt pride #lgbtq community #lesbian #nonbinary #queer #sapphic #nonbinary lesbian #serie #netflix series #apple tv #gay girls #serie tv #documentary #original document #trans pride #pride #gay pride #lesbian pride #queer community #lgbt history

[snot-licker]

imagine my surprise as a recently emo-fied pre-teen sitting through a documentary about steve jobs in computer class when this mf appears on screen and i'm supposed to act like this isn't the most random and bizarre thing i've witnessed in my entire life

#fob #fall out boy #pete wentz #fob fandom #snot originals #why does no one talk about this???? #did i miss this in my fob lore introduction? #peter lewis kingston wentz iii #pete wentz what are you doing in my falafel #2011 fall out boy #steve jobs #apple #steve jobs documentary #random pete wentz #igenious steve jobs #2011 apple documentary

[artistmarchalius]

Cockney Rhyming Slang! ✨

I’ve seen a good amount of rhyming slang from Hobie in fics and I love to see it! I love language and slang; I find the origins and usage of words fascinating, so I thought I’d make a little post about it to offer up some knowledge, tips and suggestions that I hope will be helpful or interesting to both those currently incorporating it in fics, as well as to those who want to use it but might not know where to start. Or even to those who don’t write but want to know!

So here we go!

First, a very brief history!

Cockney rhyming slang originated from the East End of London in the early 19th century. It was originally used by Cockneys so they could speak in front of the police without being understood and was very handy if you had some dodgy dealings going on. It has since passed into common language and is no longer restricted to use by Cockneys.

So you can see why it would make sense for Hobie to know a lot of it if he’s running around rebelling against a corrupt government run by supervillains!

How does it work?

Cockney rhyming slang works by taking a word and using a rhyming phrase of about two to three words to replace it. For example: “Daisy roots” means “boots” and “Ones and twos” means “shoes”.

There can be multiple phrases used for the same word, for example: both “Trouble and strife” and “Duchess of Fife” mean “wife”.

A Cockney rhyming slang tip:

A little shortcut to make your Cockney rhyming slang more authentic to a day to day Brit is to only use the first word in the phrase. For example:

If I wanted to write “Use your head”, I could write “Use your loaf of bread” and that would be accurate, but it would be even more accurate to just say “Use your loaf”.

Another example:

“I haven’t got a clue”, which if you’ve seen Across the Spider-Verse, you would know is “I haven’t got a Scooby Doo”, is commonly shortened to “I haven’t got a Scooby”. This actually threw me off when I saw it in the cinema and I never knew why until I learned about the “first word rule” in an East End documentary the other night 😂

Other examples:

Bread and honey = money. “I don’t have enough bread for that.”

Rabbit and pork = talk. “He don’t half rabbit on”. Chas and Dave wrote a song called Rabbit, which is a bit casually rude towards women as many things from the 80’s can be, but it did give us the line “You’ve got more rabbit than Sainsbury’s“ which I find quite funny.

Butchers hook = look. “Let’s take a butchers at that”

Donkeys ears = years. “I haven’t seen you in donkeys!”

I believe that back in the day, only using the first word of the phrase was an added level of secrecy to keep the police from knowing what you were talking about since it took away the rhyming portion of the phrase which the police might have been able to guess the meaning of. Only those who knew the rest of the phrase would know what the other was talking about. It has since become a more common practice to the point where many people don’t even realise they’re doing it (as I did until recently).

However, it is still perfectly acceptable to use the full phrase. For example, I’ve called someone on the old “dog and bone” (phone) and I’ve heard the stairs be called “apples and pears” but not really just “apples”.

Other examples:

Donkeys ears = years. “I haven’t seen you in donkeys!” as mentioned above. It’s also commonly mistaken for Donkeys Years. “I haven’t seen you in donkeys years”. Although technically it isn’t the full phrase, I’d say this still counts.

Shortening and adaptations:

Over time, some of the phrases have been shortened and adapted to form new slang. For example:

Bottle and stopper = copper (police). I’ve seen a lot of use of bottle and stopper in fanfics and that’s perfectly acceptable. However, the phrase is more commonly shortened to “Bottle” or adapted to “Bluebottle” or “Mr Bluebottle” due to the colour of their uniforms. Also, “bluebottle mob” can be used to mean the police force.

Another example of shortened and adapted Cockney rhyming slang is:

“Pork pies” = lies. More commonly shortened to “Porkies”. E.g. “she’s telling porkies.”

Here are some other slang words that have their origins in Cockney pronunciation:

Wotcher - an informal greeting originating from the Cockney contraction of “what cheer” (basically meaning “hello” or “what’s up?”). E.g. “Wotcher.”

Bruv/Bruvver - brother. Used the same way one would say “bro”. Bruvver is a cockney pronunciation of “brother” which has been shorted to the more commonly used “bruv”. E.g. “Good to see ya, bruv!”

And there you go, some quick knowledge about Cockney rhyming slang! I don’t claim to be an expert on the topic, a true Cockney would know far more than I do, but I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring and share the knowledge I do have in the hopes that it will help or entertain someone.

I’ll make another post going into police specific slang terms since that seems to be something that is intrinsically tied to the Spiderman experience, as well as Hobie’s, even more so as an anarchist arachnid, fascist punching punk rebel.

I might also make another post about general British slang words. Let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in or if there’s a specific area that you’d like to know about!

#hobie brown #cockney rhyming slang #hobie brown fanfiction #hobie spiderverse #spiderman across the spiderverse #hobie brown atsv #atsv hobie #atsv fic #fic help #spider man: across the spider verse #across the spiderverse #Spiderman #across the spideverse fanfic #spider verse fanfic #spiderverse fanfic #british slang #apologies if I made any mistakes #I can only speak from my experience of being British and surrounded by other British people

[jwcartoonist]

How to Watch Looney Tunes

With hundreds of Looney Tunes cartoons leaving HBO Max recently, several of you are probably wondering how to get your Looney Tunes fix. Luckily JWCartoonist is here, with a guide on the best ways to find and watch the Looney Tunes in the modern day.

First option are the various DVD and Blu-Ray collections of the shorts. There have been a ton but the ones most recommended by fans are the Golden Collections, the Platinum Collections, and the Super Stars series (most of them, some of the discs feature repeats of previous sets). These sets feature the shorts remastered in the highest quality, and the Golden and Platinum collections include behind the scenes documentaries and features going into the making of the cartoons. A must for any Looney Tunes fan.

Important note about these sets: The cartoons in these releases are the versions completely uncut, which includes many of the jokes that haven't aged well such as the racist caricatures and stereotypes. Each of the sets with controversial content have a disclaimer at the beginning stating that while WB doesnt approve of these stereotypes, the cartoons are "presented they are originally created because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed."

Second option is the first streaming home for the Looney Tunes, Boomerang. This includes hundreds of cartoons (including several of the reboot series), though their organization of the classic cartoons is a tad confusing. You also get access to several other classic animated series from the Warner, MGM, and Hanna-Barbera libraries for only $4.99 a month.

The main con with watching Looney Tunes on Boomerang is that most of the copies of these cartoons are the unrestored versions that were airing on Cartoon Network since the early 90's, thus the picture quality varies from short to short. (Boomerang on left, HBO on right). The same issue apples to the Boomerang TV channel, which to make matters worse, also stretches out the cartoons to fit widescreen TVs.

Your best option to watch Looney Tunes on TV is MeTV. On weekdays they air as part of the show "Toon In With Me" (@tooninwithmetv) (along with cartoons from Tom and Jerry, Popeye, and Pink Panther), and on Saturdays they air for a full hour on "Bugs Bunny and Friends."

MeTV probably treats the Looney Tunes (and the other cartoon series they've shown) the best in terms of TV broadcasting, as the versions of the cartoons they've aired are the restored high definition versions found on Blu-Rays and formally HBO Max. DVR it if you have MeTV in your cable package, or if you're feeling nostalgic, get up early in the morning and watch them the old fashioned way.

Well, that's all the best ways to watch Looney Tunes in the modern day. Let me know if there's any other options I've forgotten (no pirating). Till next time...

#Looney Tunes #Classic cartoons #Bugs Bunny #Looney Toons

[holmesxwatson]

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes dir: Billy Wilder, 1970

I only watched The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes for the first time a few days ago but it lights my brain up in that special way that I know I’ll revisit it a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it’s far from perfect, for one thing Colin Blakely’s Watson is a little too shouty for me, but it’s very worthwhile to check out despite its shortcomings, which I think mostly come from the fact that so much was cut from the intended script.

I absolutely love Robert Stephens as Holmes. His face is so good, he has a way of looking at Watson when he doesn’t know he’s being observed that is very soft. I thought I was hallucinating the beginning of this movie with Holmes telling the ballet dancer he’s gay and in a relationship with Watson. I thought it was going to be played for a joke, and it was a bit, but it didn’t just end there. Holmes and Watson have a conversation about the repercussions in a lengthy scene that turns very serious by the end. I can’t believe this was 1970 and no one has since tried to build on this specific dynamic in a more meaningful way. Someone needs to remake this into a mini-series exactly how Billy Wilder intended it to be, here’s hoping public domain can make it so.

[above: script page from the cut story The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room, where Watson creates a fake case to make Holmes feel better]

Also, the backstory of the making of this film is so out of control: Robert Stephens’s nervous breakdown and suicide attempt during the production, the amount of years Billy Wilder was trying to write it and get it made, the interference of ACD’s son, the Loch Ness monster prop that the crew lost in actual Loch Ness, the immense scope of the episodic story they were going for, the way it got cut down from its original 3 hour 45 minute runtime and how that cut footage was lost forever! (this is crazy! everyone go check your attics and storage lockers right now).

In one of the interviews I found, Robert Stephens says “if something is boring — if it’s three minutes long it’s too long, but if it’s interesting it’s never long enough…you don’t want it to end.” Big same Toby Stephens’ dad, big SAME. I didn’t want it to end. I read the uncut script and I am just floored at what we missed out on. Thankfully some footage and audio remain of some of the cut scenes (but still! check your basements too).

Just fully let it settle into your brain that they filmed all of these stories in the script, and then cut most of it away. Like that is mind-blowing to me, it existed at one point as it was fully intended to be. If this was made now during home entertainment times, they would have no problem releasing an almost four-hour movie, but at the very least there would be a big director’s cut dvd release and we would be enjoying all the small Holmes x Watson moments we deserve.

Anyway, in pretty short order I found a bunch of interesting links to stuff, details below. I also consulted my very well-thumbed Conversations with Wilder book by Cameron Crowe, but there wasn’t that much more information in there. I have Robert Stephens’ memoir Knight Errant and the TPLOSH blu-ray on order so I’ll add to this post if I find any more good resources. Let me know if I’m missing anything, and enjoy!

Full movie on YouTube (x) <-update: this link went private, but it's also streaming for free on Tubi and Freevee, and available to rent on YouTube, Google Play, and Apple TV

Original roadshow draft of script on Internet Archive (x)

Missing footage: Prologue [sound only plus stills] (x), The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room [sound only plus stills] (x), The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners [footage and soundtrack only, no sound dialogue] (x), alternate ending [sound only] (x)

Making of documentary that includes behind-the-scenes snippets of some of the cut scenes [this doc is in German, but you can turn on the auto-translate to English in the YouTube settings] (x)

Interview with Ernst Walter, film editor of TPLOSH (x)

Interview with Christopher Lee “Mr. Holmes, Mr. Wilder” 2003 (x)

My YouTube playlist with all of the above links in one place plus an excellent fan vid by Just Bee that I added to the list because it’s just so good (x)

Missing Movies: A Case for Sherlock Holmes from 1994 BBC Radio 2 on Soundcloud [includes interview with Robert Stephens and folks involved in the production] (x)

Articles about the lost Loch Ness monster prop (x) (x)

The soundtrack by Miklós Rózsa (x)

#sherlock holmes #the private life of sherlock holmes #robert stephens #billy wilder #tplosh #sh movies

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I’m not sure but I think I remember reading from Tina Brown’s book that what happened with Sophie and Edward made the palace stricter about other members of the family and their side businesses/other jobs. Sophie got involved in some scandal (I forgot the details about it) and she had to give up her professional job to be a full time working royal.

I also remember from Valentine Low’s book that Meghan was given the freedom to choose what she wanted to do after marriage. She was asked and she was given the option to keep her job as an actress/celebrity, but Meghan reportedly said she wanted to focus on philantrophy.

Also, there are differences in some of the examples the other anon gave. For examples, Zara Tindall and Peter Philips don’t belong to the half in/half out category because they were never in, by “in” of course I mean working royals. Zara and Peter are not working royals. They’re members of the family but not working royals.

I would also like to point out that the royals have been doing documentaries for as long as we can remember, but I don’t think they profit from those. It’s just a part of their royal work, I suppose. And William and Kate guesting on podcasts to talk about topics related to their work is also a different thing from Meghan’s deal with Spotify. With Charles’ duchy originals, I guess Duchy of Cornwall business is an altogether different thing. The duchy of Cornwall was established for the heir to the throne to be able to support himself. I guess what I’m trying to say is they’re apples and oranges. If Meghan had stayed, she could do documentaries and podcasts but cannot profit from them.

I just wonder if Meghan knew what she was getting into when she she decided to give up her profession and said that she wanted to focus on philantrophy. I truly wonder what went through her mind or if things were thoroughly explained to her. I think Tina Brown’s conclusion was that Harry sold a different life to Meghan. And reading Harry’s book, I can totally see that as well. Harry talked about dreaming about becoming some sort of foursome with Will and Kate and his future wife. He said he often told William about that vision of his.

I think Meghan really wanted to be a working royal because she very much saw this new life with Harry as her next big break. She knew about Diana. She saw how Kate’s life transformed when she got married. She expected the same thing to happen to her. I just wonder if she realized from the beginning that she wouldn’t exactly be like Diana and Kate because she was marrying a spare and not THE heir.

Sophie's scandal was that a reporter pretended to be a sheikh and, while secretly recorded their conversation, got her talking shit about the royal family and the government.

Meghan was as blind to the reality of royal life as Harry was to the reality of life without them. Like I said yesterday, they sold each other a PR narrative that crumbled the second they said 'I do,' and they've been scrambling to keep those narratives going ever since.

[retronator]

I never played Karateka in the 80s, but as a big fan of Prince of Persia and Jordan Mechner's journals, I was stoked to hear that an interactive documentary about Jordan's prototypical cinematic platformer was in the works by Digital Eclipse.

Released this week, The Making of Karateka on the surface looks like any other game you buy through Steam ($20, Windows-only), GOG, or whichever favorite store or console you prefer (available also for Xbox, PS4/5, Switch). Once the thing loads though, you really get 3 things: a documentary, the original Karateka, and a new remaster.

The documentary part is an audio-visual slideshow retelling Jordan's development story starting with his teenage years pitching his earlier title Deathbounce to the publishing house Brøderbund. It's an interesting look into the iterative process, seen through correspondence letters, journal entries, and many playable builds at various stages of completion. After we reach the eventual rejection of that title, Jordan comes back with a prototype of a visual-narrative experience unseen on home computers. We get to follow Karateka's full life cycle from pre- to post-production, ending with the conception of its sequel (which eventually turned into Prince of Persia). It's a real treasure trove! Fellow pixel artists will appreciate the many graph-paper sketches and interactive overlays of final game sprites compared to rotoscoped outlines and filmed footage. There are also video segments, from a comprehensive breakdown of the music to interviews with other developers reflecting on the impact Jordan's games had on their careers. You'll even encounter a fan letter signed by the one and only "John Romero, Disciple of the Great Jordan and worshipper of the Magnificent Mechner!" (I kid you not, you can't make this stuff up).

Perhaps just as crucial for an interactive documentary like this, you can launch any of the floppy disks in the emulator, trying out various iterations and ports of Karateka.

The emulation is fantastic and lets you fiddle with display settings (monochrome or color display, scanlines, pixel perfect or zoomed) as well as enhance the frame rate. You can even rewind the many deaths you will face if you've never played the game before (like me). If you spend some more time obsessing over the weird artifacts of the Apple II hi-res graphics, you might even go down the rabbit hole of realizing that on the Apple II you didn't really paint colors as much as you used different monochrome dithering patterns that the graphics display would then turn into 4 different hues. A fascinating learning experience if you include some of your own research online!

Add to this the Commodore 64 and the Atari 8-bit versions to compare how the graphics got adapted across the earlier ports and you have a nice way to relieve the mid-80s with a bit of help from modern emulation (I did beat the C64 version without rewinding though!). I'd love to see more art from the other remakes, especially the 16-bit Atari ST port, but I understand their decision to omit playable versions of those due to the lower quality on the gameplay side of the translations.

This brings us to the final part of the package, the modern remaster. Unlike the 2012 complete reimagining of the game (with 3D graphics and all), Digital Eclipse approached the remake as the ultimate port of the original to an imaginary system along the lines of a 90s VGA PC.

It's well done. Some of the fully-redrawn scenes are a bit overpainted for my taste (I'd prefer a pixel art rendition of the castle than a blurry photographic collage, although there were many games in the 90s that did take this approach), but the in-game graphics are really in style, including the smooth animations that are like one would imagine granted a beefier CPU. It's also a sort of director's cut with previously unseen scenes added, in particular, the battle with the leopard as a clever action-puzzle in the middle. The AI is unfortunately even less challenging than Jordan's implementation. As great as the 6-move fighting system could have been, you yet again resort to simply kicking away opponents as they tirelessly crawl into your range. There isn't even the nuance from the original where you were the one who had to approach some enemies with skilled timing. On the other hand, you now have optional goals and achievements that make the repetitive/easy combat work in your favor (stringing various combos, beating opponents or the level under a time limit …). As the Digital Eclipse president Mike Mika admits at the end of the welcome commentary mode, they didn't manage to achieve their perfect port, but they did come close.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed playing both the original as well as the remake and while the combat system lacks any sort of depth beneath its stunning animations, Karateka is instead a monumental experience for its presentation. Big characters with personality and realistic motion are displayed through cinematic camera cuts and story vignettes (3 years before Ron Gilbert came up with the word "cutscene"). There are details like animating the unfortunate falling off the cliff at the start of the game, or respectfully bowing to the first guard as they bow in return. Jordan's creative work is precious and worth the attention this release gifts it.

I highly recommend The Making of Karateka to all retro gamers and/or game developers for its immersive documentation which provides an experience that goes beyond the usual video documentaries. It's interactive—just like the subject it's talking about—something I want to see more in the future. And if the $20 by any chance seems high to you, consider that the original retailed at $35 (and that was in 1984 dollars).

#Feature #Gaming #Pixel Art #Digital Eclipse #Jordan Mechner #Platformer #Documentary #cover2 #title3

[daniistopg]

hehe

Yes, this is what you think it is. Me, Dani Wilson is making a documentary about Choi Jongho from ATEEZ. Now don’t call me crazy because I will get into the basics of everything from top to bottom of this man. 

Choi Jongho was my first official bias in ATEEZ, although before I fully stanned ATEEZ, I thought Mingi was my bias due to his deep voice and amazing rapping, but Jongho proved it wrong. I remember just being at my best friend’s sister’s room and she was talking about ATEEZ. I just remember being so intrigued by this beautiful, scrumptious, breathtaking, ass-slapping, toe-sniffing man named Choi Jongho. And then when my sibling told me all the little things about him and showed his talents I couldn’t look away. He is the best singer I’ve ever seen, he can rap, and he can dance, and his visuals are just so yummy.

He might hate wearing stuff that shows his skin, and I respect his opinion, but could he please just once wear a crop top it would make me delighted. I mean once I saw him in shorts and the other day he was wearing SHORT SLEEVES RUFUFUFUF, I practically suffocated right there in that moment. I need to eat his pterodactyl ahh fingers and toes right now otherwise  I’ll commit a crime. I’ve never loved a man as much as Jongho other than Straykids and that’s a lot coming from a Straykids ult. 

People really only talk about how he’s buff or can sing really well, but lemme just talk about his rapping. That man can rap faster than the main rapper himself. Also, I know I just sided his singing to his rapping, but goddamn his singing/vocals make me ascend to the heavens. His high note in Kingdom for Wonderland has got me into a literal trance that whenever I hear the original version, I can’t help but sing the high note (but not without sounding like a wet hotdog my bbgs) And partly the same with Black Cat Nero, but he actually does the hight note in real life like the baddie he is. And goddamn just his strength, bro literally was singing his ass off but at the same time, breaking an apple straight in half, like can I have a piece, please.

Also, have you seen his eyes holy moly I would sell my soul for him just to look at me like how he looks at the seats/ATINY/cameras in stage performances. I just love his lips so much like omggggggrrrrrrguyfkfyff I’d literally transform into a furry right then and there if I met him. And his no makeup/eepy face???!!  RUFFFARDFFSNJTE. Can we just talk about his long, dark-red hair, I remember I almost cried over it, he’s so scrumptious and if anyone tries to take him or say that he’s bad then I’ll eat them.

So this is why/how(much) I love Choi Jongho. Tell me which ATEEZ member you like the most, and why you like him so much. Hehe.

#jongho birthday #atz jongho #ateez jongho #choi jongho #jongho #ateez jongho smut #jongho smut #jongho x reader #ateez wooyoung #ateez fluff #ateez gifs #ateez #ateez angst #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #ateez hard hours #ateez hard thoughts #ateez headcanons #ateez hongjoong #ateez imagine #ateez imagines #ateez mingi #ateez ot8 #ateez reactions #ateez san #ateez scenarios #ateez seonghwa #ateez smut #ateez x reader #ateez x you

[brokehorrorfan]

Basket Case will be released on 4K Ultra HD on April 30 via Arrow Video. Sara Deck designed the cover art for the 1982 horror film; the original poster is on the reverse side.

Frank Henenlotter (Frankenhooker, Brain Damage) writes and directs. Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, and Beverly Bonner star.

The limited edition set comes with a double-sided fold-out poster and a booklet with writing on the film by Michael Gingold and a Basket Case comic strip by Martin Trafford, all housed in a slipcase.

Basket Case has been restored in 4K from the original 16mm negative by MoMA with Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) and original uncompressed PCM mono audio. Special features are listed below, where you can also see the full packaging.

Special features:

Audio commentary by writer/director Frank Henenlotter and actor Kevin VanHentenryck

Audio commentary by writer/director Frank Henenlotter, producer Edgar Ievins, actor Beverly Bonner, and filmmaker Scooter McRae

Basket Case 3-1/2: An Interview with Duane Bradley – Short film by Frank Henenlotter

Interview with writer/director Frank Henenlotter

Interview with actor Kevin VanHentenryck

Interview with actors Florence and Maryellen Schultz

Interview with actor Beverly Bonner

The Latvian Connection – Interviews with producer Edgar Ievins, casting person Ilze Balodis, special effects artist Ugis Nigals, and Belial performer Kika Nigals

Interview with film critic Joe Bob Briggs

Basket Case at MoMA – Footage from the 2017 restoration premiere

What’s in the Basket? – 2012 feature-length documentary on the Basket Case franchise

In Search of the Hotel Broslin – location featurette

The Frisson of Fission: Basket Case, Conjoined Twins, and ‘Freaks’ in Cinema – video essay by Travis Crawford

Basket Case outtakes

Belial’s Dream - 2017 animated short directed by Robert Morgan

Slash of the Knife - 1976 short film directed by Frank Henenlotter with optional commentary by Henenlotter and playwright Mike Bencivenga

Slash of the Knife outtakes

Extensive image galleries

Trailers, TV spots, & radio spots

Also included:

Double-sided fold-out poster

Booklet with writing on the film by Michael Gingold and a Basket Case comic strip by Martin Trafford

Slipcase

Duane Bradley seems like a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed creature who lives in a wicker basket. Arriving in the Big Apple and taking up a room at a seedy hotel, the pair set about hunting down and butchering the surgeons responsible for their separation.

Pre-order Basket Case.

#basket case #horror #80s horror #1980s horror #frank henenlotter #arrow video #dvd #gift #80s movies #1980s movies #cult classic #sara deck #joe bob briggs #horror comedy #exploitation

[bambi-kinos]

About Get Back/Let It Be.

Because I'm been wondering about the changed clipped and cuts from from the original. Both Estates and Paul and Ringo approved it. Do you think Paul and the rest are aware of it? And if they are, why is that? they should know by now that the fandom knows about the original clips. I don't mind the changed parts or that it made it look lighter because the way he said it, that it feels like it saved his life and that it showed his talent but he must be aware more than anyone that some parts of the fandom are saying that he is trying to re-write the history. Or maybe he really did see it they way it shown as more accurate. I mean he was there. What are you thoughts on this. I don't bring Ringo in this because I don't think he knows much + he seem to have left it behind him.

They're definitely aware of the cuts because Peter Jackson had to get approval from all four sides in order to get the documentary on D+. Apple Records is still the owner of the footage, the only thing Disney is doing afaik is licensing the footage and other Beatle products. This is to sell subscriptions to their failure of a streaming service. So I would imagine that 1) Paul and Ringo have watched all the remastered footage in full; Peter said he remastered all of it and 2) they got final say on what went into it, as well as Dhani/Olivia, and Sean Lennon as the executor of John's estate. (Yoko is no longer in the picture, the industry rumors online are saying that she is currently dying of dementia and that Sean has been fully in charge of the estate for a few years now.)

It's also important to think broadly about who the documentary is for. The number of people who are intimate with the Beatles, know the full story about their woes, the people who don't fall for Yoko's bullshit, and the people who have actually listened to the Nagra tapes, is a tiny tiny tiny TINY slice of Beatles fandom. I would even posit that this portion of the audience is only 5,000-10,000, maybe 15,000 people at best. That is a tiny slice of a global audience that numbers in the millions.

Paul and Ringo are completely safe and they know it. They know that their audience is made up of passive normies that believe everything they see without question. If you show a normie Beatle fan a picture of John and Paul gayzing at each other and tell them "these men are heterosexual" they will immediately go "of course they're heterosexual!" And they will not question it further. If you have them listen to a piece of the Nagra tapes, the normie would declare it "boring." These are the types of people who make up 95% of the Beatles global audience. Everyone on the estate side knows this very well which means they have carte blanche to do whatever they want, edit however they want, say whatever they want, and there will be zero (0) appetite to question them.

Just look at the wealth of interviews where Paul says insane shit and the journalist never ever questions him on it! It never occurs to them to question it or investigate further. This is not because they are dumb, it is simply because these people are normies. They passively accept everything they are told and there is no desire whatsoever to act any other way. They would be confused and distressed by anyone who wants to dig deeper.

Why Paul and Ringo and the estates called for certain cuts and edits is unknown and unknowable. We have no idea what they mandated, what they had Peter cut, or why. We also have no idea what Disney made Peter cut to put it on D+. Don't forget that the Beatles are not the only forces at work here. We don't know and will likely never know.

Re: your last sentence, I don't think Ringo has moved on at all. He loves the Beatles and is protective of them as a property. IMO it is more accurate to say that Ringo has grieved for the Beatles and that he let go of his survivor's guilt about the Beatles and John's murder as a part of his recovery from substance abuse. As part of that he finally integrated Beatle Ringo into Richard Starkey and now he can be fully comfortable in his skin as both. But he still loves the Beatles and still cherishes them deeply, he just doesn't get involved in the negative aspects because he's done his time with them. The cruelty, meanness and greed is what he's moved on from.

#paul mccartney #ringo starr #the beatles #get back #olivia harrison #dhani harrison #sean lennon #anonymous asks #my meta #beatles meta

[cavehags]

Severance searches for a savior: Can Ben Stiller pull off a salvage job on Severance Season 2? The Apple TV+ series, which earned 5 Emmy nominations for Season 1, has been plagued for months by pricey problems, including scrapped scripts and the dreaded showrunners who don’t speak to each other. Dan Erickson, a newbie creator who wrote the original pilot, and Mark Friedman, a more experienced writer-producer who was paired with Erickson, ended up hating each other on the first season, per multiple sources. Friedman was gonna bail on Season 2, but Stiller, who directed most of the first season and is returning for a big chunk of the second, interviewed potential replacements and couldn’t find anyone he liked. So he and Apple went back to Friedman and decided to replicate the toxic environment of Season 1. Shocker: That didn’t work, scripts were a problem, and Apple—disappointed and embarrassed that they’d gone down the wrong road but looking at Severance as a hit and an awards magnet—started talking about Seasons 3 and 4. So Stiller interviewed several writer-producers to come in and beat out a third season before the likely WGA strike, and ended up quietly hiring Beau Willimon, the House of Cards creator who most recently worked on Disney+’s fantastic Andor (that show’s creator, Tony Gilroy, secretly consulted on House of Cards), and who Stiller is already working with on a feature adaptation of The Seven Five, a documentary about police corruption. Willimon got a rich deal to come in for Season 3, but he quickly saw that help was needed on Season 2, with episode costs ballooning to the $20 million range. So for a few months now, Willimon has helped craft a back half of Season 2 and a template for Season 3, with the show being delayed significantly in the process. (Apple TV+ declined to comment.)

#why can apple tv+ only produce hits if everyone involved is at each other's throats lol #severance

[talkinfanfic]

Episode 306 - Talkin’ U2, Bono, and Bedge with Tory from the Retro Fanfic Retrospective Podcast!

Sara welcomes the great and wonderful Tory, best known for their reliably insightful analysis of fanfiction on the Retro Fanfic Retrospective podcast (found wherever you get your podcasts!) Tory shares their lifelong love affair with the legendary band U2, and their knowledge of the band’s history and music. Tory also digs into the amazing feat of how the band’s joyful, sublime chemistry seeps into the very music they produce, sustaining fruitful artistry for nearly fifty years. 

Other topics include: Irish history, and the Christianity of U2, along with comparisons with Oasis. We also talk Bedge and RPF! And we dig into a mini-RFR discussion of likeamadonna’s Bono/Edge fanfiction within a fanfiction, “Fictitious Characters”.

🎧 Find Talkin' Fanfic on your favorite podcast app such as Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Or stream Episode 306 here!

Show notes below the cut 🧡

Contact and Credits:

Intro Theme: Kyle Laurin "Oasis Supersonic Theme" (Twitter: @cobrakylemusic)

Clip used - Noel Gallagher on The Late Late Show | RTÉ One 

Outro clip - “Beautiful Day” by U2, from the album ‘All That You Can't Leave Behind’ - pulled from Youtube licensed via UMG (on behalf of Universal-Island Records Ltd. ℗ An Island Records recording; ℗ 2000 Island Records Limited

Tumblr: talkinfanfic.tumblr.com 

Instagram: @talkinfanfic

Email: [email protected] 

Time caps:

00:00 - Introduction

06:03 - Start of episode

16:02 - Tory’s music background

24:25 - U2 in bloom right now!

35:06 - A little Irish history 

45:19 - The Troubles, a climate for the formation of U2

56:03 - U2’s Bigness, America, and ‘What is Bono??’ 

01:02:45 - Bono’s useful celebrity, vs individualism of Oasis. Or, “do-gooders” vs “do-badders”

01:08:22 - Bono the Energizer Bunny, and U2 in Vegas

01:13:07 - The other members of U2 (Larry, The Edge, and Adam)

01:20:35 - Christianity and U2

01:31:45 - Religion, U2 vs. Oasis

01:34:50 - Religious imagery in the Achtung Baby-era, and Bono’s ‘characters’

01:41:42 - U2 fanfiction and RPF fandom

01:51:20 - “Fictitious Characters”, by likeamadonna

02:02:26 - Fitting Ali into the Bono/Edge

02:07:20 - Start of Rapid Fire! (which lasts nearly an hour, lol)

02:12:27 - Tory’s Top 5 U2 Tracks

Episode References

U2 Fanfiction.com (Tory mentions they used to read fanfiction from this now defunct archive; link via Wayback Machine) 

The Retro Fanfic Retrospective podcast (Podbean, you can also search for it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts)

Link - Band bio, from threechordsandthetruth.net great U2 overview and biography

U2: The Origins Of The Biggest Band Of The Early 2000s a decent youtube documentary on U2

A live performance of ‘Until The End Of The World’ from ‘Achtung Baby’, filmed during the US leg of the Zoo TV tour in 1992. Kiss for the camera at 2m34s <3 

"One" - U2 Music Video (Anton Corbijn Version) feat. Bob Hewson, and U2 in drag! 

Bono interview with NPR Podcasts -  at 14m46 Bono starts speaking about the concept of ‘Surrender’. “Shut up and listen…is kinda where I’m at.”

Noel Gallagher on The Late Late Show | RTÉ One  - “Who puts the batteries in that guy??” 

Youtube Clip - Noel Gallagher, on U2 (for NME) 

 “Electrical Storm” - U2 Music Video directed by Anton Corbijn (starring Larry!)

Photo via Pinterest - Liam and Bono kissing. According to Bono, Liam had a guitar pick in his mouth and dared Bono to try and retrieve it in front of paparazzi. The photo was printed in a 2002 issue of Rolling Stone.  

Reprint of article - “When Oasis Hit the Road with U2” The Daily Telegraph, June 26, 1997

Bono’s ‘characters’ - Here is MacPhisto making a phone call to a taxi to take him home. This was in Syndey, Australia during the 1993 Zoo TV Tour.

Retro Fanfic Retrospective - Special Episode - Fanfiction Hypothesis The RFR crew discuss…what is and what is not fanfiction? (Spotify link) 

Fic discussion - "Fictitious Characters" by likeamadonna (Ao3 link)  

Bono and The Edge - NPR Tiny Desk Concert (2023) Bono asks Edge to “do an Edge thing!”  

Bono and The Edge - BBC Radio 2 Piano Room (2023) Bono and the Edge vibing together through a string-laden performance of classic U2 songs. Bono serenading the Edge during “Vertigo” around 7m30s, lots of fond looks. 

Fic mentioned - The Scientist or: How Edge Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bono by spacemonkey 

Tory’s Top 5 U2 Tracks (slightly deeper cuts, in no particular order): Red Hill Mining Town , Bad, Lemon, Every Breaking Wave, and Stay (Faraway, So Close!)  

“Ordinary Love” acoustic version, U2 on Jimmy Fallon (2014) with Roots. One of Sara’s favorite U2 live vids ever!! 

Tory is listening to - Leith Ross, an indie-rock Canadian singer-songwriter. Here’s a song from their Youtube channel.

Bandcamp - Her Dilemma the bass player that played for Leith Ross during the set Tory watched. “Mathy”, a bit like Slint!

#fanfiction #talkin' fanfic #fanfiction podcast #rpf #U2 #Bono/Edge #bedge #U2 RPF #band fic

[animenostalgia]

The Anime Nostalgia Podcast - ep 122: The Legacy & Influence of Kamen Rider with Mach Dent

With Kamen Rider's 50th anniversary celebration still going strong, and the recent release of Shin Kamen Rider in North America, what better time to talk about just how huge an impact Shotaro Ishinomori's original creation had on Japanese pop culture...including it's huge influence on anime, manga, and fandom in general! And joining me to chat about it is none other than the Tokusatsu Troubadour, Mach Dent! Listen as we discuss how everything from shonen anime to magical girls to video games have been influenced by Kamen Rider, how easy it's gotten to get into the franchise now in the US, and going on random fun tokusatsu tangents! Listen in and join the shenanigans!

Stream the episode above or [Direct Download] Subscribe on apple podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

Relevant links:

Read Kamen Rider: Behind the Mask on Zimmerit

Read The Broad Spectrum of Shotaro Ishinomori's Manga

Watch the original Kamen Rider, free with ads in North America, on Tokushoutsu, Pluto.TV, and Tubi!

Watch selected Kamen Rider episodes, specials, and trailers officially in English on the Toei Tokusatsu World Youtube channel!

Get the original Kamen Rider manga by Shotaro Ishinomori in English from Seven Seas at Rightstuf or Amazon!

Watch the Kamen Rider: Gaia fan documentary here!

Check out Vintage Henshin on Youtube and here on Tumblr!

Follow Mach on Twitter & Twitch!

A playlist of Official Tokushoutsu promos made by Mach!

My theme song music was done by Kerobit! You can find more about them on their website!

Support the work I do on this podcast by leaving me a tip on Ko-fi! Want to have your name read in the special thanks segment on the next episode? All you need to do is buy me 2 or more “coffees” on Ko-fi!

As always, feel free to leave me your thoughts on this episode or ideas for future episodes here—or email me directly at [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

#the anime nostalgia podcast #Kamen Rider #70s manga #shotaro ishinomori #tokusatsu #mach dent #affiliate links #classic manga #henshin heroes

[clarkes-and-god]

💯 for Beth and Joanna!

agh sorry this took so long to answer!!! have been attempting to build up my queue. love ur blog!!!

joanna:

1. she has like, level 6 writing skill and was originally going to be a writer a la gay girl, good god. but i watched a really interesting documentary on netflix called pray away. colossians is like a medium amount of inspired by exodus (the organisation in that documentary) but the people in it are much nicer than the ricciardis (at least while they’re filming in the present day). i’m lowkey sad i didn’t do the writer idea now that kelly havens is writing overly affectionate purple prose about her female friends to announce her pregnancy.

2. antonio and her are currently working on a under the sea themed puzzle. it’s summer in my game so nice and seasonal.

3. her and jessica actually never officially broke up. then she was her maid of honour at her wedding to mr conversion therapy guy. a bitch move and poor jessica.

beth:

1.she has hypertension/high blood pressure! she’s not on medication for this and instead just drinks a whole bunch of water. i’ve gotta hope this works out for her but at least she’s hydrated ig.

2. natan told her that if you swallow apple seeds, a tree will grow in your stomach when they were kids. she still believes this and is very careful to spit out any seeds.

3. her kids are planned to have my most interesting name theme so far. very excited for when the babies are born and i can share this with you.

#ask game #asks #bethesda #joanna

[pixelgrotto]

Karate History & Box Art Redemption

About a year and a half ago, I mentioned Jordan Mechner's seminal 1984 game Karateka in a post about Sifu, a newly-released beat ‘em up with a similar martial arts theme and tough-as-nails difficulty level. Sifu's a good game that garnered a certain amount of scrutiny from people who pointed out that it was an interactive experience steeped in Chinese culture but developed by a predominantly white team. This is not inherently a bad thing (Sifu’s devs did a respectful job), but considering Western media’s track record of misrepresenting Asia as an exotic place full of Fu Manchu-mustachioed bad guys and subservient women, it’s always worthwhile to be cautious. At any rate, Sifu reminded me a lot of Karateka, another game by a non-Asian creator that owed its lifeblood to Asian culture...and even featured the main protagonist and his love interest as white on the box art, despite the fact that the game clearly takes place in medieval Japan.

The Making of Karateka, a just-released interactive documentary by Digital Eclipse, explains the logic behind this decision via extensive notes that detail every step of the game's creation. From what I can discern, the box art design doesn’t appear to have been Jordan Mechner’s call. (Though the playable Karateka beta included in this package reveals that Mechner had some wacky non-Japanese names in mind for the game’s villain and damsel in distress... Akuma and Mariko were once dubbed “Kratang” and “Tiger Lily.” Yikes!) Rather, publisher Brøderbund’s marketing team seems to have been the division that assigned artist Thomas Blackshear II to paint the cover, instructing him that the titular Karateka was supposed to look like "a young Chuck Norris" or "Luke Skywalker" while Mariko should resemble an "American blonde." Meanwhile, only Akuma was specified as "Japanese."

Brøderbund’s promotional strategy followed the typical American metality of the era: it's okay to portray a bad guy as a foreign race, but leading men and ladies should be white and ideally blonde. It didn't have to be this way, since Bruce Lee had dominated cinemas with Enter the Dragon only a decade earlier and proved that audiences could accept an Asian hero. But Brøderbund decided to go the safe route, despite the fact that Thomas Blackshear is a person of color renowned for his Black and American Indian paintings. (He also portrayed a decidedly unblonde and possibly Asian main character in his early cover sketches.)

My intention here is not to hate on Karateka or any of the individuals involved. The original Karateka game for the Apple II did, after all, feature white hair for its leading man's sprite that could easily be interpreted as blonde (though that was likely due to hardware color limitations more than anything else), and Brøderbund justified their decision by claiming they were inspired by the multicolored hair of Japanese manga characters. (Eh, sure.) Also, if we're being honest about it, Blackshear's final art is a beautiful composition even with the questionable racial depictions.

Rather, I'm fascinated with Karateka's box as an example of mildly problematic '80s promotion, and I love how we gain insight into its development thanks to Digital Eclipse' painstaking efforts with what they call the first in their "Gold Master Series" of playable documentaries. Aside from these marketing details, The Making of Karateka delves into Jordan Mechner's early life in precise timeline fashion, letting us explore planning documents, early rotoscoping footage and prototypes of not only Karateka, but the games that preceded it, including Mechner's take on Asteroids and a shooter he was trying to develop called Deathbounce. There's even glimpses at the bones of a platforming puzzle game that started out as Karateka II and would later evolve into Prince of Persia.

Just about every review of The Making of Karateka stresses how this package sets a new standard for preservation in the video game industry, a business that is terrible at chronicling its own past. I won't repeat these arguments too much other than to say that I fullheartedly agree. Behind the scenes featurettes used to be a thing when it came to games — as a kid, I remember being utterly absorbed with the "Making of King's Quest VI" footage that came included on the CD-ROM — but these days you're unlikely to see too many of them, especially for titles that were released decades ago. In a world where Nintendo has yet to localize Mother 3 and customers need to rely on emulation and all types of hacks to revisit old games, Digital Eclipse's commitment to curating digital museums dedicated to works like Karateka is an incredible worthy goal — possibly one of the most important goals that a video game company has ever embarked upon. I can't wait to see more volumes in the Gold Master Series, and can think of many potential entries off the top of my head. Pitfall! Ultima! Doom! Maybe even one day...Sifu? (Likely a stretch, but stranger things have happened.)

But going back to the discusson of art for a moment, one of the most monumental things that The Making of Karateka does is offer a "remastered" version of its title game, complete with impressive graphical flairs, a more managable difficulty level, and even...revised box art. While Thomas Blackshear's original Karateka painting is still displayed prominently throughout the package, when you go to select Karateka Remastered under the list of playable games, you'll see a new mockup box. No longer is Akuma a dehumanized Japanese baddie, no longer is Mariko an all-American girl, no longer is the titular Karateka Luke Skywalker. All three characters are Asian...and get this, the central Karateka is not only Asian, but blonde too.

In one swift stroke, The Making of Karateka not only captures history and chronicles its mistakes, but also revises them for a bright future. Take that, 1984 marketing.

Update: An earlier version of this article stated that the new mockup cover art was illustrated by Digital Eclipse in-house artist Mae Livingston. Mike Mika, the president of Digital Eclipse, reached out to me on Twitter to explain that while Mae was responsible for Karateka Remastered's in-game artwork, the actual box image was made via Midjourney, and the characters were tweaked multiple times to look more culturally appropriate. He added that this methodology was an experiment that Digital Eclipse does not intend to rely on in the future.

I have very mixed opinions on AI art, and I do wish this box had been created by a human. I don't know if I would've written this piece if I'd known that the artwork was made by Midjourney, frankly. Nevertheless, I appreciate Mike actually reaching out to me, and the ultimate message of this article still stands. I hope Digital Eclipse considers the power that an image like this holds — especially for multiracial people like myself — and chooses human artists in the future.

#pixel grotto #musings #karateka #the making of karateka

[insanityclause]

Lakeshore Records will release a soundtrack album for the Apple TV+ documentary series Big Beasts. The album features selections of the show’s original music composed by Ruth Barrett (Bodyguard, Victoria, Sanditon, The Terminal List, Collateral, Harry Brown). The soundtrack will be released digitally this Friday, April 21. Check back on this page for the streaming/download link. Big Beasts is executive produced by Tom Hugh-Jones, Martha Holmes & Grant Mansfield and takes audiences on a journey around the globe, from freezing poles to tropical rainforests, to meet nature’s most captivating giants. The 10-parter narrated by Tom Hiddleston was filmed across seventeen countries and captures rare footage using specialized equipment and next-generation filming technique. The series will premiere on April 21 exclusively on Apple TV+.

Here’s the track list of the album:

. Ostrich in the Savannah (3:53) 2. Pacific Whales (2:41) 3. Mother Octopus – Ruth Barrett & Claudio Olachea (3:00) 4. Okavango Flood (2:02) 5. Elephant Calf Survival (2:16) 6. Gorilla Makumba (1:35) 7. Magnificent Mandrills – Ruth Barrett & Claudio Olachea (1:29) 8. Enter the Congo Bai (1:49) 9. Giant Otters of the Pantanal – Ruth Barrett & Claudio Olachea (3:21) 10. Brazilian Anteater (2:39) 11. Orangutans of Borneo (3:04) 12. Proboscis Monkey – Ruth Barrett & Claudio Olachea (1:22) 13. Indian Tiger Kingdom – Ruth Barrett & Dom James (3:30) 14. King Cobras Duel – Ruth Barrett & Claudio Olachea (3:15) 15. Bearfight in the Rockies (2:25) 16. The Polar Bear’s Voyage (3:28) 17. Antarctic Elephant Seals (2:27) 18. Orca Attack – Ruth Barrett & Claudio Olachea (1:10) 19. The Albatross Learns to Fly – Ruth Barrett & Dom James (2:45) 20. Leopard Seal vs. Gentoo Penguin – Ruth Barrett & Claudio Olachea (1:57) 21. The Humpback Whale’s Miracle (2:28)

#Tom Hiddleston #Big Beasts #Apple TV+ #Youtube