#JOE MET HIS CHILDHOOD HERO

[ghibli-collector]

Another interesting article about the new Ghibli film Boy and the Heron with great insights into Miyazaki’s relationship with Joe Hisaishi and Toshio Suzuki making films over the years. Again it has a few spoilers

What’s it like to work with Hayao Miyazaki? Go behind the scenes.

News of Hayao Miyazaki’s retirement can’t ever be trusted.

The Japanese animation master’s repeated claims that he’ll give up filmmaking are a response to the strain that creating each of his largely hand-drawn universes entails. At least that’s what Toshio Suzuki, a founder of Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki’s right-hand man for the past 40 years, believes.

"Every time he finishes a film, he’s so exhausted he can’t think about the next project,” Suzuki explains. "He’s used up his energy physically and mentally. He needs some time to clear his mind. And to have a blank canvas to come up with new ideas.”

A decade after 2013’s "The Wind Rises” was heralded as Miyazaki’s final film, the 82-year-old auteur’s newest feature, "The Boy and the Heron,” is being released in the United States after major success in Japan over the summer, where it opened without any traditional publicity.

Though the director hasn’t given any interviews about "The Boy and the Heron,” Suzuki, 75, who is also a veteran producer, and Joe Hisaishi, 72, the longtime composer on Miyazaki’s movies, describe in separate video interviews the master’s working process and how their collaborations have evolved — or not — over the years.

Suzuki is casually dressed and speaking, via an interpreter, from Japan, where he sits next to a pillow emblazoned with Totoro, the bearlike troll that serves as the studio’s logo. He says the new fantasy film is Miyazaki’s most personal yet. Set in the final days of World War II, the tale follows 11-year-old Mahito, who, after losing his mother in a fire, moves to the countryside, where a magical realm beckons him.

"At the start of this project, Miyazaki came to me and asked me, ‘This is going to be about my story, is that going to be OK?’ I just nodded,” Suzuki recalls with the matter-of-factness of someone who’s learned it would be futile to stand in the way of the director.

For a long time, he says, Miyazaki worried that if he made a movie about a young male, inspiration would inevitably be drawn from his own childhood, which he felt might not make for an interesting narrative. Growing up, Miyazaki had trouble communicating with people and expressed himself instead by drawing pictures.

"I noticed that with this film, where he portrayed himself as a protagonist, he included a lot of humorous moments in order to cover up that the boy, based on himself, is very sensitive and pessimistic,” Suzuki says. "That was interesting to see.”

If Miyazaki is the boy, Suzuki adds, then he himself is the heron, a mischievous flying entity in the story that pushes the young hero to keep going. Director Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli’s third foundational musketeer, who died in 2018, is represented onscreen by Granduncle, a wise but weathered figure who controls the fantastical world Mahito ventures into.

Suzuki first met Miyazaki in the late 1970s, when the animator was making his first feature, "Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro,” an amusing caper. Back then, Suzuki was a journalist hoping to interview him.

But Miyazaki, who was working on a storyboard, had no interest in talking and ignored him. "Out of kindness, I thought it was a good thing to introduce his works to my readers, and for him to be very cranky and disrespectful, I was very angry,” Suzuki remembers.

He stuck around the studio for two more days of silence. On the third, Miyazaki asked him if he knew a term for a car overtaking another during a chase. Suzuki’s reply, a specific Japanese expression for such action, finally broke the ice and kick-started their long-term relationship.

"Miyazaki still remembers that first meeting, too,” Suzuki says. "He thought that I was a person not to be trusted. And that’s why he was very cautious about talking to me.”

Over the years, Suzuki has become increasingly indispensable for Miyazaki. "He always tells me, ‘Suzuki-san, can you remember the important things for me?’ And then he feels that he can forget about all the important things not concerning his films. I have to remember them for him,” Suzuki says.

Best friends more than mere collaborators, Miyazaki and Suzuki talk every day, even if there’s nothing urgent to discuss, and make it a rule to meet in person on Mondays and Thursdays. "What we talk about is very trivial most times, I guess he feels lonely or misses me, but it’s always him who calls me. I never call him,” Suzuki says, adding with a laugh, "Sometimes he even calls me in the middle of the night, like at 3 a.m., and the first thing he says is, ‘Were you awake?’ And obviously I was not. I’m in bed!”

In contrast, Hisaishi, the composer who first worked with Miyazaki on the 1984 feature "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,” has a strictly professional relationship with him.

"We don’t see each other in private,” Hisaishi, wearing an elegant sweater, says through a translator. "We don’t eat together. We don’t drink together. We only meet to discuss things for work.” That emotional distance, he adds, is what has made their partnership over 11 films so creatively fruitful.

"People think that if you really know a person’s full character then you can have a good working relationship, but that doesn’t necessarily hold true,” Hisaishi says. "What is most important to me is to compose music. The most important thing in life to Miyazaki is to draw pictures. We are both focused on those most important things in our lives.”

On "The Boy and the Heron,” Miyazaki didn’t provide Hisaishi with any instruction. The musician watched the film only when it was nearly completed but still with no sound or dialogue. At that point Miyazaki simply said to Hisaishi, "I just leave it up to you.”

"I feel he was just thinking that he could rely on me and expected me to come up with something,” Hisaishi says. "I feel like I was very much trusted to do this.”

For all of their previous collaborations, Miyazaki would bring on Hisaishi to discuss once three out of the four or five parts of the storyboard for a new film were ready. That the process changed this time was possible only because of their shared history.

"It’s as if we’ve been Olympic athletes making a film once every four years for 40 years,” Hisaishi says. "It’s been a long time of training and performing. When I look back I’m amazed that I could write music for these very different films.”

In his contemporary classical work, Hisaishi had been working on minimalist compositions with repeating patterns, and he took that approach to the new film.

While he maintains they are just colleagues, every January for the past 15 years, Hisaishi has composed a small tune, recorded it on a piano and sent it to Miyazaki as a birthday present. This tradition has now become the seasoned musician’s lucky charm.

"After about three times I thought, ‘This has probably run its course,’” Hisaishi recalls. "I didn’t send one the following year. That whole year I wasn’t able to work very well. It was sort of a jinx that I had not sent him something, so I started sending him the music again for his birthday,” he adds with a laugh.

Both Hisaishi and Suzuki say their interactions with Miyazaki have not changed much over the decades. On the contrary, the men have become staunch creatures of habit.

Asked why his profound connection with Miyazaki has endured so long, Suzuki says: "I don’t necessarily agree, but he once told me, ‘I’ve never met someone so similar to me. You are the last person that I will meet like that.’”

BY CARLOS AGUILAR

THE NEW YORK TIMES

#ghibli #studio ghibli #boy and the heron #hayao miyazaki #spirited away

[he1ian]

masked chimes au master post

(by boatem, convex-solos and me)

[convex centric superhero au where everyone other than joe hills suffers, is evil or both]

[disclaimer: this au is divided into 3 acts, as far as act 1 is kept light-hearted, act 2 and 3 bring up dark topics (manipulation, strong violence, death unhealthy relationships, etc.) so if it's not your jam, proceed with caution! or don't proceed at all]

[it also has elements of shipping (cubscar, bigren, biggri, solidaritimes) so, keep that in mind]

[also grian uses she/her. cause why the hell not]

designs (so far):

• jingler & (act 1) jangler

• stress, (act 1) scar, joe

• (act 2) jangler , cub, grian

• bigb, ren, doc

• cleo

• vault busters (iskall & mumbo)

• false, jimmy, pearl

• mother spore

• jingler & jangler (act 3)

• gem / dawnbreaker

• etho

the world is kept in modern times ableit not realistic, some people have hybrid body parts however it doesn't majorly affect their life, they're mostly just design choices

character roles (act 1):

- jingler: cub's persona, an undefeated supervillain, terrorizing the city for fun

- cub: scar's roommate, studied medicine but works retail, tired

- scar: cub's roommate, works at anything as anyone (barbie LOL) hence has money to support both him and cub, childhood best friend of mumbo and grian, extremely full of himself

- grian: a detective working on the case of the jingler, childhood best friend of mumbo and scar, crushes on bigb

- jangler: scar's hero persona, created for the sole purpose of fighting against the jingler, offers his help to grian (who in desperation, accepts)

- ren: in a day to day life he's the owner of the shop cub works at but has knowledge in spy gadgets, gets called for special jobs - currently working in espionage helping grain, has an unofficial thing going on with bigb

- doc: tech guy, met ren when he was tasked to create his prosthetic after an accident in the past, currently working in general tech helping grian, (later creates weapons for jangler to use)

- pearl: grian's boss, should've fired her on probably 5 different occasions

- iskall: villain (retired supervillain), currently focusing on robbery rather than causing chaos and violence

- mumbo: villain, iskall's sidekick, childhood best friend of scar and grian, was NOT made for the role of a villain but is scraping for money (rip), has no interest in harming anyone, he's just in for the cash

(they don't really go by any specific names and are rather seen as a complete duo of vault busters)

- stress: retired supervillain (who worked alongside iskall), currently living a peaceful life as an owner of a flower shop

- bigb: owner of a bakery, has an unofficial thing going on with ren, like the only genuine fan of the jangler

- false&jimmy: sheriffs (as in, police level) assigned the case of vault busters

(jimmy and lizzie are blood related and grian is their adopted sibling)

important events (act 1):

- scar and cub didn't know each other before living together. cub met scar one evening when the latter was going home after one of his many jobs, they briefly talked. scar spiked cub's interest as despite clear signs of a crime committed on his clothes were visible, scar didn't mention them at all. he later found out that scar was looking for a flatmate and offered himself.

- grian is overworked, not even close to revealing the identity nor capturing the jingler, without thinking too much about it she rambles about the case to scar whenever they meet for a friendly chat. that's when scar gets the idea to become the jangler ("someone would have to be insane enough to face jingler in combat") but not really because he cares about the greater good of the city - he sees it as an easy opportunity to get fame. [🟣][🟠]

- jangler would've easily lost to the jingler if it wasn't for the fact cub recognizes his roommate (it's painfully obvious really, he doesn't understand how no one else sees it, cartoon logic) and after some dodging he flees the battlefield leaving scar behind. for the first time, someone has survived a duel with the jingler.

- even though he never actually comes close to harming or even scathing the jingler, grian's new companion sparks fresh hope into her and the future of the case. her and her team of doc and ren start working on more complicated tech and weapons. (the success also makes grian not even consider scar to be the new hero. she greatly undermines his abilities).

- [ending of act 1]

jangler is awaiting the arrival of the jingler when the vault busters stumble upon him. past urges awaken in iskall as he senses a perfect opportunity to fight the only undefeated enemy of the jingler. long story short, they fight, mumbo messes up scar's face on accident (which leaves the left side of his face covered in burn scars), cub arrives and saves scar. [here's a fic of the scene written by our friend!]

character roles (act 2):

[if someone isn't mentioned, their role stays the same][the vibe turns a whole 180° from now on]

- cub: scar's boyfriend with no genuine feelings of love towards him, treats scar as his science project

- scar: cub's partner, borderline obsessed with him, craves all his attention

- jangler: now a supervillain working alongside cub, loves playing with fire

- ren: fucking dead (the jingler kills him 🙏)

- grian: a detective throughout the first half of the act. after jangler leaves and ren dies, the case is in shambles; gets demoted to vault busters' case and false with jimmy take her place

- mother spore: grian's vigilante persona, created after her demotion and finding out the identities of jingler and jangler. decides to take matters in her own hands and forms the resistance

- joe: silly character with massive plot armor [best explained here], film uni student who wants to make a movie about jingler and jangler for their thesis, best friend of cleo

- cleo: film directing student at the same uni as joe, accompanies him in his observations and recordings, admires jingler's ability to unnoticeably lead a performance, best friend of joe

- stress: accidentally gets roped into grian's resistance, reveals her knowledge of heroes and villains

- mumbo: the wettest rag of a character, gets his leg chopped off by the jangler (😢), retires as a villain after that

- iskall: after mumbo gets injured he blames himself for it (it's the second time his companion suffers meanwhile he leaves unscathed) - he turns himself in

- jimmy: now working on the main case, convinced there's a thing between him and scar - scar however uses jimmy's infatuation to gather information that might help him and cub [🟠]

- bigb: ren's death takes a huge toll on him, grian gets closer to him

important events (act 2)

- after the fight with vault busters, cub saves scar and takes him to his hiding spot. he reveals his identity and offers scar to join him instead. cub tells scar how actually weak he is and that people don't consider him great. he also offers that beside him, he will get a taste of real fame.

- scar and cub burn the old outfit of the jangler together. it awakens scar's love for fire meanwhile cub showcases and offers the new suit - revealing his plan has been in the making for a while. [🔵]

"Scar treats being the Jangler as a performance. He doesn’t really treat all the atrocities he commits with the seriousness they should have."

- in the meantime while scar heals, jingler keeps on the down low but isn't restless. during one of his shifts cub messes up and while chatting with ren, mentions information about the latest doings of the jingler only classified people would have access to. he's forced to and murders ren.

- grian is the person to break the news to bigb. they become closer.

- scar makes sure to make his return and reveal a big thing. the jingler calls grian and doc to announce he's holding the jangler hostage. upon arrival, they reveal there's no hostage. scar only craved an audience. after this scene, grian loses the case.

- the jangler takes mumbo's leg just basically as a revenge. lol. he didn't want to kill him but wanted to make him never forget.

- joe becomes one of the victims of jingler and jangler. or better said, was supposed to. the guy doesn't seem to be able to die and after a while the duo becomes so fascinated by him they just let him live. he offers to make a film about them, thinking of them more of as actors than threat. cub out of curiosity and sheer ridiculousness agrees and scar considers what he's doing to be a performance anyways. (joe never finds out their identities though)

- scar and grian end up in an argument over jimmy and cub which results in scar revealing to be the jangler. he promises grian that he will kill her. you can read a fic of this scene here!

- after finding out about mumbo's injury iskall feels incredibly guilty and turns himself in. he's judged only for his present crimes and gets a community work sentence (grian figures out mumbo must've been the other vb member but stays quiet. how she isn't fired is anyone's guess).

- cub and scar go into hiding and grian decides to take matters into her own hands, directly this time. she forms the resistance and mother spore.

[a great fic of one of the fights between mother spore and the jingler and jangler, by vexcraft our beloved]

- [ending of act II]

once again, a big fight, jingler and jangler are against the resistance (yet again)

this time the resistance comes out as victorious and the fight ends in cub getting gravely injured and scar turning himself in, considering it the better option than letting cub die.

act III (general info)

[this part is still a big work in progress so not many things are settled on]

- the main premise is basically that scar and cub end up in jail (losers). cub loses an eye after the fight with grian (both him and scar losing what matters more to each of them - cub utility and scar, appearance).

- scar doesn't cope well with being away from cub and not knowing his state

- false and jimmy interrogate them

- they manage to escape but as i said, it's only a brief outline, no details on when and how yet

[the post will get progressively updated]

#VERY long post #masked chimes au master post #masked chimes au #convex #uhhh if you read this you deserve financial recompensation

[greatqueenanna]

Lost Legends: The Fixer Upper

A GreatQueenAnna Review

Released: October 17, 2023

Type: Series

Age Range: 8 - 12 years

Audience Score: 4.4/5

My Score: 3.8/5

--------------------------

With the films focusing their attention on the sisters, sometimes Kristoff can feel like a side-character more than a tritagonist. So, hearing that Kristoff was getting a whole novel to himself, and exploring a bit of his past, I was of course excited for this book.

Overall, it was a cute story that gave us a much needed glimpse into Kristoff's childhood, with some themes being very compelling. There were some things that were a bit strange and the story does tend to move a bit slow, but overall it is very nice side content for Frozen fans. I can only hope that Kristoff continues to get more content in the future (especially within the films) that explore even more.

More in depth review under the cut.

The Fixer Upper seems like a more expansive version of the Disney Frozen: The Hero Within graphic novel by Joe Caramagna. Both stories feature Kristoff's difficulty within the orphanage, even Gustav comes in to play a major role. I do enjoy catching all of the connections made within the novel canon - it really makes it feel like the authors do indeed care about creating a coherent universe, even if the novels are not 100% part of the film's world.

The story begins with the family playing charades during game night. Kristoff is compelled to tell the story of his experiences as a child within 'human' school. However, his story first starts with Kristoff explaining to the sisters and Olaf how he met Sven and left the orphanage at 8 years old, and his relationship with Tor - his ice harvesting mentor.

After a few instances of the narrative going back and forth from the story to present day, we time skip to Kristoff going to school at 12 years old and then the instances of present day become less occurring, and the story becomes a bit more focused.

The narrative focuses on Kristoff trying to figure out where he belongs - with humans, or with trolls. He struggles to fit in with the humans, and he feels as though because he is not a troll, that the trolls don't' want him around as much anymore.

This is actually the most interesting part of the story for me - I understand how Kristoff feels as a mixed-ethnic person. Feeling like you don't belong in either part of your family or heritage because the other side of you is "in the way. " Kristoff couldn't get along with other humans because he was raised by trolls, but also felt he didn't belong with the trolls because he was human. This is incredibly compelling.

I really like the style of how at the beginning of every chapter, we get a quote from the The Ice Harvester's Guide to Ice and how the quote seems to match the scene. It was a very nice touch.

One this that was disappointing was how it seems that the Ice Harvesters are not specifically tied to being Sámi - even though this was alluded to in Dangerous Secrets. Unless I missed it (which is possible, my ADHD is all over the place when reading anything, especially novels), there were no references at all to Kristoff being Sámi or a fictional equivalent, like the Northuldra. Now, I know that this is probably not something the writers are allowed to delve into, but it would've been nice if a small reference was made - like in Dangerous Secrets.

Another thing that was a bit weird was how Grand Pabbie tells Kristoff that one of the reasons they were adamant on him going to 'human' school was so that he could meet his true love. Why would a 12 year old need to be told that he needs to interact with humans so that in the future he can meet a girl? He's 12. I get that the trolls are love experts, and this is meant to be a foreshadowing of his relationship with Anna...but come on. Again. He's 12.

#greatqueenanna/analysis #opinions and commentary #Kristoff #kristoff bjorgman #Frozen #Frozen 2 #Lost Legends: The Fixer Upper #Fixer Upper #Frozen Reviews

[theblindinfidel]

Hey! Here are my Photobomb thoughts I posted as a response on Reddit haha!

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS

Hi! Nice to meetcha! I’m glad you posted this because I’m curious to see what others will say as well!

When I first got into OMORI, I was actually not into any ships outside HeroMari and Sunburn. Sticking to the game and whatnot. It all started when I saw the cutest little meme on Twitter that Shrimp had posted and it featured photobomb. I thought:

“Hmm. I have never thought about this.”

And thus, I went down the rabbit hole and began to really enjoy it, even through watching my friend play the game. I really enjoy the childhood to lovers trope and I can get behind an enemies to lovers trope, though I don’t really see them as enemies.

So we can see the parallels between RW and HS. Sunny depicts a somewhat accurate representation of how his friends were in their childhood- (Aubrey and Kel arguing, Aubrey standing up for what she believes is right regardless of the consequences, Sunny always being regarded as quiet, Kel being goofy and oblivious but still a great friend with good morals, and Hero being the level headed member of the group.)

That being said, I believe there are definitely some truths in how the members perceive each other and their relationships to one another.

I really enjoyed how Aubrey was so worried about him in headspace. Even when his memory was being erased in Sunny’s mind, she would continuously get sad at his absence and grew distraught the longer he was gone. This is, of course, before she forgot him, alongside everyone else. She lamented about how she missed how he’d brush her hair and always gave him positive feedback. From this, it’s clear she cares a great deal about him as her friend.

When we switch into the Faraway segments, we learn she was actually the one to introduce Basil to the rest of the friend group. She grabs his hand and brings him along to introduce him. They are seen in the calendar art to work well together and you learn about them running a lemonade stand together and making fake plant decorations for the treehouse.

He calls Aubrey cute more than once which is neat because it shows he was much more outgoing when he was younger, albeit a little insecure. Now it isn’t specifically a romantic “cute”, but cute nonetheless. He could have been trying to push Sunny to agree or maybe he did like her a little but wanted to support Sunny. When he called her cute at the beach scene, his sprite turned away from her which I thought was a small thing that could be missed. Almost like he was a tad nervous to say it.

Those are all cute little things, but their dynamic is also intriguing.

Something people often miss about Basil is he is actually a relatively mischievous. You can see this from how he plays poker in the flashback, taking pictures of people when they least expect it (like Hero giving Kel some brotherly love), and a general humor in the way he lightly pokes fun but you wouldn’t expect it from him because he’s Basil.

He tends to cheer his friends on and genuinely believes in the best for them. He supports Aubrey’s cause to dye her hair pink which is also sweet.

Basil isn’t an angel, he has his flaws and issues, and he certainly isn’t an UwU flower boy by any regards. He could hold his own, he just doesn’t, he’s more of a pacifist. He DOES get angry and he DOES have moments where he is spiteful. (Bedroom encounter)

Then we have Aubrey. Aubrey in her youth was always nice to Basil and was quick to try and make him feel better about himself and he was receptive to her. It can be assumed or theorized they knew each other for awhile before they met the gang because they were neighbors, separated by a street, and she felt good enough about him to have him meet everyone. Aubrey isn’t the type to drag along some random Joe if she doesn’t feel right about it.

She and Basil both grew up in broken or weird homes and that is something only these two can really understand as opposed to Kel and Sunny (tho later on Sunny will understand the concept.) This is honestly a big deal as a kid because you feel comfortable with people like you. This is more of an emotional thing, a bonding kids don’t usually talk about, only feel. So my idea is they had a pretty solid friendship as kids built on trust and understanding. There was no judgement.

As time went on and the incident happened, Sunny, Basil’s best friend, went incommunicado. Basil, as we know, stayed out and eventually got the photo album back from Sunny even though it was ruined. That had to of hurt really bad. Regardless, he kept it with him and Aubrey eventually found it and BAM, bullying.

Lots of people have wondered why she bullied him so bad over that, but I think there’s a reason and it ties back to their friendship.

Remember when I said a lot of it was trust? That trust was murdered that day she found the album. It was shocking because Basil is Basil, how could he do that? It had to of hurt because she seemed pretty confident he would have at least told her of any anger he harbored. She felt abandoned and angry. Now this doesn’t make what she did right, it was really crappy, but she feels a ton of remorse as shown in the bad ending and to be honest, it takes a lot to apologize to someone when you are in the wrong, in front of friends and a friend’s caregiver at that! This shows she isn’t some demonic force who wants to belittle everyone. Aubrey has a heart, it can be in the wrong place at times and maybe even a little selfish at others, but when she sees she had done something wrong, she is quick to be angry with herself.

In the official art book, she is shown to be crying at the Lake Scene. She didn’t mean to almost kill him, she only wanted to push him away. This of course, parallels Sunny and Mari.

Their dynamic is interesting because Basil is really passive and hides his emotions and tries to stay gentle, although failing at times, and Aubrey being more loud with how she feels and failing when she goes too far. At their core, however, they both care a lot about each other, Basil going as far as trying to talk to her repeatedly while knowing the outcome, and Aubrey breaking down when something terrible DOES end up happening to him. She is shown in the hospital room visiting him which further indicates she really cares and is worried.

Also, big note here. It was Aubrey who recommended to everyone that they stay at Basil’s house the night Sunny has an encounter with him.

To summarize, there is a lot of cuteness and closeness in their friendship. Aubrey and Basil both come from a childhood of turmoil and have the depth to really understand each other in a nonjudgemental way if they wanted to try. The game has shown countless times how much they care for one another, and despite all odds, they end up friends again at the end. (Depending on how you interpret the end, but as far as the themes go, I’d say they do. Basil has been known to forgive quickly, as per the headspace version and pretty much everything else.) She would always stick up for him and would be taken aback by his teases and he’d be flustered and a nervous wreck, but it would be really cute.

They’re both also very nostalgic individuals! (Basil keeping the album, Aubrey then keeping it and returning to the hangout spot often)

In my experience a lot of angsty people take their angst out on the people they’re very close to if they feel they’ve been wronged by then. Hence her reactions to Sunny and Kel as well. She feels alienated in the same way Basil does, as though there is something innately wrong with them and that people won’t like them for them. They go about it differently but I think that would make them more comfortable with one another.

I like the concept of Aubrey having Basil branch out into things that he normally wouldn’t do and Basil just being a gentle person who can help her chill out. I think they’d set each other off or maybe be bad influences on each other, but more so in an innocent way.

I’m more of a timeskip person myself, I don’t think it could happen immediately after canon, but that’s just me.

Sorry for the ramble I’ve been meaning to write all this down anyhow!! Also it’s very late where I’m at so if something doesn’t make sense let me know!

#omori photobomb #wall of text #omori basil #omori aubrey #OMORI #omori spoilers

[joe-zone]

In honour of his birthday, fifteen facts you may or may not know about our beloved boy! (as requested by @gomezgal ) 🥰

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

⚽ Joe’s full name is Joseph (not Joe) Dave (not David) Gomez

⚽ He’s LFC’s second longest serving first team player (after Hendo) making his debut in 2015. He currently shares this title with Bobby and Milly but only for a few more days 😢

⚽ Joey was so good - and strong - for his age that he made his debut for Charlton's under 18 team when he was only 13!

⚽ His favourite film is ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’

⚽ He used to play football with Timothée Chalamet when he was young

⚽ He met his gorgeous Mrs on the school bus

⚽ His neighbour is Sir Alex Ferguson (Ali, Robbo and Ox also live on the same street!)

⚽ Joe was named Man of the Match on his first ever start for England (against Brazil in 2017)... and accidentally smashed the bottle of champagne he was awarded just after receiving it!

⚽ He celebrated that 4-0 Champions League win over Barcelona in 2019...by playing Monopoly all night with his mates

⚽ Joey is a big fan of Youtuber Tom Bilyeu and his Impact Theory self-development videos

⚽ He was eligible to represent Gambia as well as England at international level

⚽ When he first arrived at Liverpool, living away from his family for the first time, the Melwood canteen ladies took him under their wing and made him food to take home with him as he couldn’t cook for himself (Too cute!!!)

⚽ He has NEVER scored a professional goal...yet!

⚽ Like everything else, his feet are big too! He wears uk size 11 shoes / football boots

⚽ His childhood heroes were Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand

#request #joey g #joe gomez #lfc #liverpool fc #liverpool #jomez birthday bonanza

[crazyyanderefangirlfan]

Hey, how did the Kemonohito boys and their girls started dating/met?

A/N: Sorry f or the late reply, I've been busy today and different time zones. Also under the cut cause it's long

Jack and Joe are the childhood friends to lovers trope.

Jack met Roxy on his first day of school in America. He was wary of strangers, especially when they talk about their family. She tried to be as friendly as possible and make him see that she wanted to be his friend. It took time but they managed to be two peas in a pod.

Joe met Misty after a few months of getting used to his new home. He and his siblings were walking home when Zuri noticed following them, when she said that Misty ran away.

This continued for a few days before she managed take Joe away from his siblings. She demanded to switch places with him but he shoved her off and called her weirdo but she was persistent. Before long they were on the ground and misty breaking down yelling that she hates her sisters and would rather be in his family.

This made him stop and listened to her family plight, they became friends after that.

As they grew up the girls realize their feelings for them and get heartbroken and sad every time they watch them date and get their hearts shattered afterward. They tried their best to comfort them and be their best friends but it wasn't enough.

By the time Joe realized his feelings for Misty, she was already with another guy. He tried to be happy for her, but couldn't so he ended up avoiding her, it made her upset and tried to reach out for him causing her to make her boyfriend think she was cheating on him.

This made them argue a lot and caused a mar in their relationship, despite her constant assurance she'd never, he never believed her.

Finally it all came down when Misty caught him with the girl who hated her. She was so distraught that she went to Joe and told him what she saw, Joe was pissed but he needed to comfort her first.

The next day, Joe sent her now ex to the hospital and was never caught.

He helped her heal her whilst becoming closer again, during one night Misty finally revealed her feelings for him, making Joe reveal his feelings too when she started dating him.

She questioned on why he didn't say anything, making reply that he wanted her to be happy, she just kissed his lips and said he makes her happy.

Jack and Roxy ended up revealing their feelings for each other at their high school graduation and have been going strong since.

Vince and Malachite are different.

Vince meet Stephanie when the whole family was going on a camping trip, he was tasked to get firewood when he heard noises. Investigating, he found a man punching a girl tied to a tree, Vince rushed in and knock the man cold.

He quickly, untied her and took her back to camp. Everyone was panicking when they saw her, Vince explained what happened and they quickly packed up, tied the guy up and took her to the hospital.

It took an hour but she woke up, she was naturally scared but relaxed when she was in the hospital and given an explanation.

The police arrived shortly after and began to ask questions.

"My name is Stephanie Grimm and well..."

She explained how her ex tried to ask money from her, when she said she had none he became violent and kidnapped her, thinking she was lying.

Soon after that, her father and brothers came worried out of their minds. Her father thanked Vince repeatedly, and her brothers called him a hero.

Vince visited her as much as possible, his siblings teased him that he fell in love with her but he retorted that he was simply worried.

Then one day during his weekly visits, her ex broke into the hospital, demanding where she was and she was a lying whore. Like before he knocked him out in one punch.

When she was released from the hospital after few days, they went to court. Her ex tried to turn things into his favor but thankfully there were many witnesses and evidence against him.

Her ex got twenty years of prison and a restraining order against him to not get close to her within thirty feet.

After that Stephanie was sent to therapy after the whole ordeal. Her father asked Vince to take her there if he was busy and he agreed.

So almost a year, Vince drove Stephanie to her therapy sessions whenever her father was busy, and even hang out with him after those sessions.

It wasn't long before they fell in love with each other. At the end of her final session, he took her to the park and confessed to her which she happily accepted.

Elodie meet Malachite at on of the concerts they preform. She just became friends with Roxy, Misty and Stephanie who were already dating.

She was nervous because it as her first concert and wondered if the music won't hurt her head. When it began everything turned to white noise as she stared at Malachite.

In her eyes he was breathtaking and she couldn't help but go near. She couldn't take her eyes off of him through the duration of the concert and had to be snapped awake by her friends.

At the end, the girls began to say their good-byes to their respective bfs when Elodie sneezed, starting to feel cold. She rubbed her arms, regretting to not brining a jacket when one wrapped around her.

She was surprised it was Malachite's, he smiled and said she needed it more than him.

Elodie internally fangirled and thanked him ad walked home with her friends.

They began to hang out more, and Elodie loved his personality. Shamefully, she did stalked him a little, she just wanted to know who the girls in the band are and was relieved to be his sisters.

Unaware to her, Malachite was beginning to fall in love as well.

One day, Elodie didn't come to on of their concerts, which worried him. His siblings try to reassure him that maybe she was busy, but he argued if she was she would have texted him. He visited her apartment one day and saw her with her parents and overhearing that she was to be engaged.

Elodie tried to argue with them, but her father said that their decision was final.

Long story short (mostly cause I'm running out of ideas), the engagement as off cause the company of Elodie's fiancee had a scandal thanks to Cece leaking some information to the news. Malachite and Elodie celebrated her ex-fiancee's downfall with a kiss

#disney villain recruiters #villain recruiters #malachite kemonohito #vince kemonohito #joe kemonohito #jack kemonohito #elodie perrault #stephanie grimm #misty andersen #roxy carrol

[axdently]

𝑳𝑬𝑬 𝑱𝑶𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝑼𝑲, 𝑯𝑬/𝑯𝑰𝑴 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑵𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑺, 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴𝑺𝑯𝑨𝑫𝑬

                                     ( 𝑪𝑼𝑹𝑺𝑬𝑫-𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫, 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾𝑵 𝑻𝑶 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑷𝑼𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑪 )

To HAN JAE SONG, the whole world looks like an open page. With a leap of faith, their ability of FILTH MANIPULATION little stronger.  They are a BLUE RINGED OCTOPUS shade aligned to HOUSE FRASER. For THIRTY-EIGHT years, they have survived a world of magic with both their CLEVERNESS and MESSINESS. They work as an Infectious Disease Specialist, but if they could change their fate, they’d want to keep his family safe and away from his own blood thirsty appetite.

───  𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒.

You’re not the type to reminisce over your childhood since it was, to your knowledge, one of the worst in the history of mankind. But one thing you can attribute to growing up in such a tragic story was learning how to create a poker face– to this day you wear a mask to the world, and keep those awful parts hidden as much as possible. The memories fester deep within but they will never fully surface– never again. They’d dragged you out of the forest by your arm–

They covered your face with cloth, and you were taken to a facility with bars and locked rooms. You don’t remember the letters or numbers on those doors– but you do remember a glowing EXIT sign so visible yet so far away. You didn’t understand why or how people could do the things that they did to you. You remember other little boys and girls in the same experimental labs– they’re wounds seemed far less severe than the rotting immune system you carried with every tiny footstep.

Friends weren’t a luxury and bonding in that torment, you’d find never suit you, until you met a twelve year old to teach you the ropes. He was a hero with no cape, a brother you couldn’t keep and a friend you still have to this day. In many ways he saved your life, but the pair of you are good at shrugging those things off.

───  𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒.

NAME: Han Jae Song NICKNAME: Han DATE OF BIRTH: Jan 2, 1984 GENDER: cisgender man HEIGHT: 6'1" MARKINGS: acne scars from his past across his face, as well as a scar on his neck TATTOOS: a tiny series of tally marks calculating the number 27 on his neck PIERCINGS: none DECORUM: he prefers earth tones, and texture– tailored trousers with sweaters, since his office is always cold. SCENT: stale cigarettes with a vinegar tang which pairs well with wet earth and the ambroxan cologne he wears. GOALS: Survive & learn to live with his curse FEARS: Losing his family. POSITIVE TRAITS: resilient, assiduous, determined NEUTRAL TRAITS: innovative, quiet, cautious NEGATIVE TRAITS: sloppy temperamental, pompous ZODIAC: Capricorn Sun, Libra Moon, Aries Rising ALIGNMENT:  chaotic evil TEMPERAMENT: choleric ELEMENT: earth PRIMARY VICE: gluttony PRIMARY VIRTUE: pride TROPE: Ambiguous Disorder, Blatant Lies, The Corruptor, Devil in Plain Sight, Dissonant Serenity INSPIRATION: a mix of Eve, from Killing Eve, & Hannibal from NBC’s Hannibal; internally monologues like Joe Goldberg from YOU & and will leech to the psyche like Marvel’s Venom. OCCUPATION:  Infectious Disease Specialist RESIDENCE: A swamp somewhere, sometimes mushroom road, or a random cave. ( he’s homeless ) HOBBIES:  reading greek tragedies alone in coffee shops, relationship advice podcasts on early morning runs, fermentation– sourdough bread-baking, at home kombucha brewing & storages of kimchi, wine-tasting, and gardening ( he’s far more interested in composting though ). HABITS: he picks at his skin, chews on his fingernails, and is constantly smoking. he’s, generally a messy person and thrives in filth. he also falls quiet, uncomfortably quiet when he’s uncomfortable, often losing himself in his thoughts– he’s also irritable in plain white rooms– or around the color white in general.

───  𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒.

FILTH MANIPULATION the ability to manipulate all aspects of filth, rot and putrefaction. ; User can create, manipulate, shape, transform, etc. any matter that is rotten or filthy (grime, dirtiness, stains, grunge, etc.), ranging from generation and manipulation of pus/ichor, mucus, slime (mucous secretions of animals), earwax, sweat and saliva, to full-out control over dead and decomposed matter; the user can also control moldy and mildewed matter, spoiled, rancid food, fetid water, polluted air, urine, vomit and feces.

  VARIATION 1. FILTH CONSTRUCTS FILTH SNAPS - The power to create constructs from artificial materials with a snap of a finger inducing rot, speeding it up, negating it or sometimes reversing it. The user can even induce such foul conditions that makes water filled with bacteria and unsafe, making air (including breath) stifling and smelly, inducing rot and putrefaction in organic matter or even inducing bacterial infection on open wounds. DIRTY DUPLICATION - The ability to replicate oneself, others and/or objects through filth, rot or putrefaction

VARIATION 2. MIASMA EMISSION

MIASMIC MURMUR - The power to emit a variety of toxic gasses. User can exude toxic gasses, causing various effects on others who inhale these fumes including hyperstimulation, lethargy, coma. Because gas diffuses indefinitely in concentration, it becomes less potent and less concentrated once it has expanded.

VARIATION 3. MOLD MANIPULATION

MOLD MOLTING - The ability to manipulate mold and mold spores. The user can create, shape and manipulate mold, a large and taxonomically diverse number of fungal species where the growth of hyphae results in discoloration and a fuzzy appearance, especially on food. They can cause fungi to grow, move/attack or even rise from the soil and "walk", mutate fungi by rearranging DNA structure, etc. MOLD EMPATHY- The power to sense the overall well-being and conditions of mold spores, as well as fully interpret their emotions and communicate with them.

───  𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 .

1.HIGH SURGEON’S SCALPEL : Created by benevolent necromancers who study the mysteries of anatomy, this magic scalpel can deal death or perform medical miracles in the hands of a skilled surgeon.

2. PENMASTER’S POISON : A rare poison commonly used in letters, a bright green liquid when in a cool environment turns into lethal colorless and odorless vapors. If used in a letter, only a small amount is needed to be applied near the wax seal; so when the seal is broken, the liquid vaporizes and spells painful death to anyone present

3. RING OF THE RODENT : The wearer of this ring can speak to any rodent, especially rats.

4. BAG OF BEANS : When dumping the beans out on the ground, they explode in a 10-foot radius. If you remove a bean from the bag, plant it in dirt or sand, and then water it, the bean produces shriekers sprout as a diversion

5. DAGGER OF VENOM : A magical dagger coated with thick, black poison.

6. OIL OF SLIPPERINESS :  This sticky black unguent is thick and heavy in the container, but it flows quickly when poured. The oil can cover a Medium or smaller creature, along with the equipment it's wearing and carrying. Alternatively, the oil can be poured on the ground as an action, where it covers a 10-foot square, duplicating the effect of greased flooring.

7. TOME OF CLEAR THOUGHT : contains memory and logic exercises to help with meditation.

8. VIAL OF CRYPT MOLD : Found in swamps and caves– poisonous if placed on the skin, used for brewing embalming paste.

9. MOLDERING WET-STONE : Used to sharpen any blade, imbued with CONTAGION

───  𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 .

1. CONTAGION : Your touch inflicts disease:

BLINDING SICKNESS: Pain grips the creature’s mind, and its eyes turn milky white.

FILTH FEVER: A raging fever sweeps through the creature’s body.

FLESH ROT. The creature’s flesh decays.

MINDFIRE: The creature’s mind becomes a feverish swamp

SLIMY DOOM: The creature begins to leak black ichor from their ears uncontrollably.

2. BLIGHT : Necromantic energy washes over a creature of your choice that you can see within range, draining moisture and vitality from it.

3. CIRCLE OF GRIME : A sphere of decaying energy ripples out in a 60-foot-radius sphere from a point within range.

4. GENTLE REPOSE: You touch a corpse or other remains– the target is protected from decay and can't become Undead.

5. DISINTEGRATE- A thin green ray springs from your pointing finger to a target that you can see within range. The target can be a creature, an object, or a creation of magical force.

6. LIFE TRANSFERENCE - The ability to sacrifice some of your health to mend another creature’s injuries. The creature becomes stable as you become unstable. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs. This spell can’t return to life a creature that has died of old age, nor can it restore any missing body parts.

7. DANSE MACABRE - Threads of rot leap from your fingers to pierce up to five small creatures of decay you can see within range.. To receive the command, a creature must be within 60 feet of you. You decide what action the creatures will take and where they will move during their next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a chamber or passageway against your foes.

#cagintro #cag: intro #⸻𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕-𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒔: intro. #⸻ 𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕-𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒔 ; INTRO.

[briamichellewrites]

24

Chester would have loved to be here. Phoenix thought about that. To him, he was there. He missed him and he wondered what he would be doing in his life. His life hadn’t been great when he died. He had relapsed with his alcoholism and had attempted suicide. His marriage was deteriorating with his wife, Talinda and his oldest children weren’t talking to him. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the death of his best friend and role model, Chris Cornell.

Chris was everything to him. He sang at his funeral and then signed autographs for fans. They all beat themselves up when they found out he had lost his battle with addiction and mental illness. He had been fighting his entire life against childhood sexual abuse, his parent’s divorce, being bullied, depression, and a severe drug addiction.

At forty-one years old, he didn’t have the strength to keep fighting. Their fans mourned him. He was their hero because he spoke about his depression and he told them they weren’t alone. They were in shock that he was dead. The band went through the stages of grief separately. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. He was one of a kind and they were grateful they had their memories of him. Rob cut off contact with them for awhile while he went through grief.

He struggled with depression and anxiety. His mind told him he wasn’t good enough to be in the band and he was replaceable. He practiced for hours every day just to be good enough. They reminded him over and over that he was more than good enough. Still, he couldn’t believe it. As the youngest, he felt he had to prove himself.

Mike watched Bria get along with everyone. It was as if they had adopted her into the Linkin Park family as their little sister. She got Phoenix and Joe’s sarcasm and was able to match them. Joe had a dry sense of humor and not everyone knew if he was being serious or not. Phoenix just liked to joke around when the opportunity presented itself. He loved to make people laugh, especially when they were down. He had been the one who inspired him to come out as bisexual.

He didn’t know what happened but he found himself attracted to him, romantically and sexually. It scared him because he always thought of himself as attracted to women. He watched himself to make sure he didn’t accidentally act gay around him or the other guys. After working all day, he went to gay bars to experiment with his sexuality.

He was finally caught being hungover one too many times. It was Phoenix who followed him and caught him going into the bathroom with another man while drinking. He confronted him and took him home. The next day, he was taken to the studio where he was met by his band. Did he have a problem with drinking? No, he had a problem with depression and with himself. What was he going through? His sexuality. Through tears, he told them about being bisexual and how scared he was.

It was because of their support and love, he stopped going to gay bars every night. He learned how to be comfortable with his sexuality and embrace who he was. There was nothing wrong with him. They saved him from going further into his developing alcoholism. During a private conversation with Phoenix, he thanked him for following him. Why was he so scared? He didn’t know.

He just saw everything he worked hard for gone. How did he know? He couldn’t put a date on it because it happened so fast. One day, he just found himself attracted to men. One in particular. He nodded as he figured out what he was trying to say.

“Me. I love you but as my brother. I’m sorry.”

He nodded. “I know. I’ve been able to be okay with that. Jay told me that you can’t help who you’re attracted to. I thought I had to watch myself so I didn’t act gay in front of you guys because I thought that you would be grossed out. Your mind gaslights you into believing things that aren’t true, despite you knowing that it’s wrong.”

That’s what gaslighting was. Coming out was a relief and he was glad he was forced to do it. Now, he had a gorgeous boyfriend he never would have met had it not been for Bria. Being bisexual didn’t change who he was. He was still Mike Shinoda and nothing could change that.

After dinner, she excused herself and Stevie to get her ready for bed. It was almost her bedtime and she needed to get her pajamas on, go potty and brush her teeth before she got too tired. She held her baby under her arm. Did her baby need to brush her teeth? No, because she didn’t have any! The adults laughed. They said goodbye to them before they went upstairs.

Linsey commented on how great of a mother she was. Mike agreed she was. She wasn’t the type of parent to sit on her butt and not pay attention to her daughter or let her do whatever she wanted. Instead, she engaged with her and made sure she respected his house. She also made sure she stuck to a routine as much as possible. How old was she when she had her? She was fourteen years old, soon to be fifteen. He knew some of the details of what happened but it wasn’t his place to share.

They understood and thanked him for respecting her privacy. Stevie came back down in a tie-dye onesie. She had done everything without a fight. That meant she could stay up until seven as a reward. She was winding down and getting tired. It had been a long day for her. She rubbed her eyes before sitting down next to William. What time did she usually go to bed?

“It’s usually six thirty during the week and around seven or eight on weekends. I’m letting her stay up a half hour longer because she did a great job of getting ready for bed”, Bria answered.

“Is that hard for her?”

“Sometimes it is, especially when she’s already tired. Waking up in the morning is more difficult for her. She needs a half hour to wake up.”

“So do I. I need my coffee before I’m awake”, Joe joked.

They laughed. They were curious about Bria and her childhood, so they asked her about it after Stevie went to bed. She grew up in and around Los Angeles in different foster homes until she turned eighteen. That was when she moved into a subsidized apartment with Stephanie. What about school? She dropped out in seventh grade to be a mother.

She was going to study for her GED exam, so she could get that certificate. For herself and Stephanie. Did her parents finish high school? Her mother dropped out of high school after discovering she was pregnant at seventeen years old. From what she understood, her parents kicked her out.

So she had to quit school to work. She was the second in her family to be a teenage mother. That was why she was going to insist Stephanie finished school and went to college. She didn’t want to repeat the cycle. They didn’t know that. When did she die?

“She died after giving birth to me. From what I’ve been told, she and her boyfriend were driving home from a doctor’s appointment because she was close to her due date. They were hit by a drunk driver and the car rolled over before landing next to a guardrail. Her boyfriend died instantly but the force of the impact caused her to go into labor. After I was born, she died from blood loss and her injuries.”

Drunk driving was so stupid. They agreed with that. William mentioned he had been involved during the pregnancy but lost contact after she went into foster care. It wasn’t the right time for him to get custody because of personal reasons. He was in a situation that he didn’t want to bring a newborn baby into. It was only after getting out of that situation that was he able to find out where she was. They were making up for lost time.

They found out that Bria had ADHD and needed to listen to music to concentrate. She joked that if they ever came to the office when nobody else was there, they would find her jamming out to her Spotify playlist. They laughed.

What kind of music did she listen to? It was a combination of musicals to music from the seventies to the nineties. She thought she even had Shania Twain and Taylor Swift. Brad mentioned how there were times when he or Mike would stop by her desk and she would be listening to Cats, the Broadway musical, or Hamilton. They laughed.

@zoeykaytesmom @feelingsofaithless @alina-dixon @fiickle-nia @boricuacherry-blog

[mcuvsdceu2023]

With Great Power: Stan Lee

Have you ever wondered how much of Marvel's success comes from Stan Lee's influence? A Great Power is a documentary that talks about Stan Lee and his early career in comics.

This documentary starts with multiple cut scenes of Lee smiling and waving at fans, accepting a National Medal of Honor and signing different comics and badges that people brought to his meet and greets. A part of the cut scenes shows different actors who had met Lee and read his comics. They all  had many positive things to say about them. After this is done, the documentary shifts to a brief description of Lee's childhood. He tells the viewers about the apartment that his family lived in during the Great Depression and how his father could barely find a job. He also tells the viewers that he was constantly working throughout his childhood and that he got into the comics business by accident because he had seen a job advertisement in a newspaper and applied. 

The two people who were working there at the time were Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who were the “editor and writer and illustrator” respectively. During this time, comics needed a two-page filler for their final publishing, and so Lee was given his first assignment. For his two-page filler, he started writing the Captain America comics which became a huge success in America. After a while Kirby and Simon disappeared from Timely Comics, and Lee was left to run the company by himself, so he became the writer, illustrator, and editor.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which pulled America into World War II, Lee had Captain America and his other Marvel heroes fight in the war. In many of his comics, Captain America can be seen fighting villains of Nazi and Japanese origins. Captain America was constantly seen beating these “Nazi Villains” and aiding the American soldiers in the war. These comics boosted morale among the American citizens scared for their army heroes who were overseas. Michael Uslan, a comic book historian, makes the statement, " we were living our folklore, and we were winning the war through our superheroes and our heroes overseas," solidifying the idea that American citizens in America were using these comics to help them push through the struggles that the war put them through.

Stan Lee also created a club known as the Merry Marvel Marching Society or MMMS. Lee created this club to create an air of excitement around his comic book crew. Lee would make recordings of the group while they were working in the office almost like our everyday podcasts now. He would introduce himself to the MMMS then he would make jokes with his crew. In the video, Lee talks to Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko whilst they were working in the office. Towards the end of this recording, Lee says "out the window again! I'm starting to think he is Spider-Man," speaking about Steve Ditko.

Due to a psychiatrist, Fredric Werthem, Lee's comic company went bankrupt and Lee had to let all of his employees go because they couldn't sell comics. Werthem conducted research on juvenile delinquents from the time and all of them said to him that at some point in their life they had read a comic book. So Werthem determined that comic books must be the leading cause for youth delinquency, and would tell parents that it wasn't their fault their children were misbehaving but actually the comics fault. Parents were eager to accept this as truth and so they stopped buying comics and burned the ones they had already owned, making it very hard for Lee to sell comics.

By 1960 Lee was ready to quit the comic book business and try for something else, as comics weren't making enough money and he was being mocked by other people for his choice of work.  Lee told his wife that he was going to quit comic book writing, she told him that he could quit after he wrote one last comic the way he wanted to write it. In 1961 Marvel released the fantastic four and it became a huge success throughout the country. The fantastic four opened up the world of Marvel Comics which has now become one of the greatest movie franchises ever made.

This documentary doesn't talk about the MCU films, however, I do believe that it can answer my question from above. Stan Lee had a great deal of influence when the first Iron Man movie was created. In fact, Lee was given the 2008 National Medal of Honor for his work in the comic book world. Millions of people were reading his Marvel comics and these comics were changing their lives. Actors who appeared in the documentary talked about Lee's work and how it changed the world of comics.

Lee changed the world of comics through the humanity that he gave his characters. Starting with the Fantastic Four Lee focused more on the "human behind the mask than the mask itself." These characters showed humanity in many different ways. The characters in the Fantastic Four comics showed empathy and despair, along with humility and dejection. I believe that this is the reason why the MCU is so successful. It's not just because of the flashy superheroes or the crazy supervillains. Marvel comics and the MCU had characters who openly expressed emotions and struggled through trauma and injury.

I believe that Stan Lee's influence from his days as a comic writer also plays a great deal in the MCUs success. Lee's work to create an inviting atmosphere for his readers and his recreation of the comic world created a fan base that continued to expand with every new comic that he released. Lee's influence also allowed the creation of the Marvel movies, if the comic books hadn't been such a success the movies would have never been made. Without those books the MCU would not exist. The MCU alongside Marvel Comics would've been a distant memory for Lee and a dream that would've stayed a dream.

Though "With Great Power" answered many questions I had about Stan Lee and his comic book success it also brought up more. Were the fans going to watch the films because Stan Lee was in them? Why did Lee decide to make the comics into movies? Finally, How much influence did Stan Lee have over the production of the Marvel Movies?

(Image Source)

[joealwyndaily]

Joe Alwyn recently met his childhood hero. The 28-year-old was attending the Academy's annual Governors Awards for the first time, where a who's who of Hollywood had gathered to schmooze with Oscar voters and watch this year's honorees receive honorary awards. The hobnobbing eventually led Alwyn to cross paths with none other than Zorro himself, Antonio Banderas.

"It took everything in me not to challenge him into a sword fight," Alwyn admitted.

Banderas, of course, starred as the masked vigilante in 1998's The Mask of Zorro and its sequel. "I was such a huge fan of Zorro growing up," Alwyn grinned. "That's one of the reasons why I probably ended up acting somehow. I literally just shook his hand and said, 'Hi!'" As it were, Banderas is in the awards season shuffle with Pain and Glory, while Alwyn was out in support of his new film, Harriet.

"There was no competitive element, obviously," he said. Still, the Governors Awards serve as the first pit stop for any potential Oscars contender. "You're sitting there watching these four amazing legends being honored for the most amazing backlog of work, someone like David Lynch and Geena Davis. And then you run into people that you have grown up watching."

Now, Alwyn is the one being watched. After studying at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, as actors such as Sir Laurence Olivier and Andrew Garfield did before him, a then-unknown Alwyn was cast as the lead of Ang Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk in 2015. "That was the strangest experience when it ended," Alwyn said.

"Because it was such a surreal, full-on experience: Going to a country I'd never been to before, being on a film set -- which I'd never been in front of a camera before -- with a group of people who I'd grown up watching, it was the most intense experience I'd had, ever. And then suddenly--" He snaps his fingers. "It's ended. And you are back in London and everyone's still over there and you're back to walking the dog and it's raining and you're trying to compute what's just happened. It was very surreal."

When I met up with Alwyn after the Governors Awards, he greeted me at the door to shake my hand and promptly offered to get me a water. "Or Coke? Or coffee?" he asked, surveying the spread of beverages. All of which is to say, he's polite. And humble, too, whether it be over compliments of his wardrobe -- a peacoat over a cerulean sweater, khaki joggers and great boots ("Thank you! They're not mine!") -- or the trajectory of his career.

If Alwyn's unlikely start feels nearly impossible to match, he followed Billy Lynn with a run of meaningful supporting roles, which were only possible because Lee took a chance on him. "Every opportunity since is because of that," he said, arm draped over the back of the chair. "I owe him everything."

"I felt very lucky to work with someone like him for the first time, and I thought, if I can, I want to keep trying to work with really interesting, great directors and not just jump into something that's a big role or big for the sake of it," he explained. "Trying to find parts in really interesting projects and build that way rather than just blindly jump."

That thinking led to a truly breakthrough year in 2018, with Alwyn appearing in Operation Finale, as the Nazi son of Ben Kingsley's Adolph Eichmann, in The Favourite, as the airhead paramour to Emma Stone, in Boy Erased, as a troubled love interest for Lucas Hedges, and in Mary Queen of Scots, as hand to Margot Robbie's Queen Elizabeth.

All the while he was gaining recognition for his acting, there was another angle of interest about Alwyn, casting him into the public spotlight for his personal life as the longtime boyfriend of Taylor Swift. How, then, was he able to reconcile the two?

"I just don't really engage with anything that I don't want to engage with," he said. "And so if there's any kind of extra noise about things that I'm not so interested in, I'll just turn it off. And so it just disappears, to a degree."

Currently, he's engaged with his return to theaters in director Kasi Lemmons' soulful Harriet Tubman biopic. Harriet is the first time the abolitionist and activist's story has been adapted into a proper biopic, and Alwyn acknowledged that, before being sent the script, "I ignorantly didn't really know much about Harriet. Growing up in the U.K., she's not part of the curriculum. I'd heard of her name, I'd seen the iconic older image of her, but I didn't know really who she was or what she did and what she achieved."

Cynthia Erivo plays the titular role, with Alwyn co-starring as Gideon Brodess, the son of Tubman's enslaver. The Brodess family is a matter of historical record, though Gideon exists somewhere between composite character and fictitious creation. That posed a challenge for Alwyn as he began the process of finding his way into Gideon.

"It was tricky. I mean, he's obviously a horrible person," he said. "And a horrible family. And they stood for something that is impossible to connect with today. For any good human being, it's impossible. The idea of slavery is repulsive and abhorrent, and so trying to find a way in is hard."

Instead, Alwyn searched for any relatable human qualities he could latch onto. Harriet posits that Araminta "Minty" Ross -- the child who would grow to become Harriet Tubman -- and Gideon Brodess would have been born around the same time, and Gideon might have even considered Minty a friend during their childhood. "Then, suddenly, a line would have been drawn and he would've been taught to hate or told to hate," Alwyn explained.

Their ties are further knotted when Gideon's father dies and he becomes Harriet's enslaver. "Whatever feeling it is he has for her that we touch on throughout the film -- whether it's love that's buried there, or whatever it is -- I don't think there was a language to understand that for himself. So I tried to hold onto some kind of confusion as a human being. Or to an obligation and loyalty to a family, even if that family is completely horrible."

He had the fortune of navigating it all alongside Erivo, with whom he shares the majority of his scenes. Erivo signed on to the project before anyone else and had spent years with it, in addition to the research and physical training she did before filming. Ahead of production, Alwyn and Erivo met with their director for a week's worth of rehearsals, during which they walked through the duo's most difficult scenes.

"It wasn't the kind of film where it would have been helpful to play mind games and go and sit in the corner and not talk to each other," he chuckled. "Because of the nature of it, you want to be in a safe space with each other and give each other a kind of understanding and a reassurance and permission to do whatever you need to do in order to service the scene, service the story in the way that we're trying to tell it."

And that story, he decided, was not strictly about a historical figure and what she was able to achieve in her lifetime. Harriet speaks to what has come to pass, now as much as ever: "If you're scrolling through Twitter or you go on the news, you're inundated with stories of division and prejudice and racism and families being torn apart," he said. "That's something that the film touches on, and Harriet is -- as much as any figure I can think of -- someone who fought and overcame those hurdles and is a shining light against all of those things."

With Harriet playing in theaters, Alwyn's next projects are already lined up: He's playing Bob Cratchit in FX's dark reimagining of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, opposite Guy Pearce's Ebenezer Scrooge. Then there is an adaptation of Jojo Moyes' best-selling novel, The Last Letter From Your Lover. And then? "I'd love to do a big war movie," he grinned. "Like a World War movie or something. That'd be cool."

And there are more awards season events ahead, too -- the Governors Awards being only the beginning of the race to the Oscars -- which means future opportunities to proclaim his love of Zorro. Alwyn didn't do it the first time. "I was just like, 'Hello!'" But it's bound to happen sooner or later." As I leave the hotel that day, who should stroll past me inside but Antonio Banderas himself? Perhaps it will be sooner.

#joe alwyn #interview #harriet #omg i love this! #JOE MET HIS CHILDHOOD HERO #that's so cute!!!!

[bushidraw]

I was scrolling through my dash when I stumbled on @frostbittenbucky. She was talking about a story in which Bruce met one of his alternate counterpart who never lost his parents, and thus, never became The Dark Knight. I chuckled as I was reading through the many replies, until I had an epiphany.

Bruce doesn’t need to lose his parents to become a vigilante. Back in the days, during the golden age of comics, the Waynes were introduced as a family of adventurers. One of his last relative, Silas Wayne, couldn’t rest at peace knowing his grandnephew never accomplished anything in his life.

In the modern age of comics, it’s ridiculous how many influence he had growing up to push him in the life of a vigilante. Gotham has always been under the protection of a vigilante, but even without taking the first Green Lantern or Black Canary, he grew up with people from the superhero community. His childhood friend, Zatanna, was a magician. His butler, Alfred, a super spy. In multiple origins story, he even befriended Clark when he was Superboy !

Let’s face it, Bruce was always going to become a vigilante, one way or another. The question being… What kind of Batman would he be ?

More importantly, how would it affect his kids ?!

I think it would go something like this.

Young Bruce Wayne is easily overstimulated and needs a new hyper fixation. He’s already been going to multiple class, like escrima and jockeys. The lad even shows his first deduction skills. After all, he was named after one of his relative who is a detective himself. Alfred decides to take him to self defense class after yet another death threat Thomas and Martha received. Bruce faces his first challenge, and it only motivates him further to keep going. He doesn’t know it yet, but it’ll save his parents life.

When he stopped Joe Chill from murdering his parents, he found his life purpose : stopping bullets before they hit their victims. Inspired by Zorro, The Phantom Mask or real life super heroes like the Justice Society, he decides to become a super hero of his own. Once adult, he does what a lot of young rich people do and starts to travel around the world.

In his mind, if Alfred was Agent A, he would become Agent B. It’s not as flashy as The Bat-Man, but when he comes back to Gotham, it works. His secret operations are making ways in the underworld and they don’t know who to blame for it. Thomas and Martha are both clueless to their son’s secret identity.

Until a circus comes in time, and Bruce, despite is effort, isn’t Superman. He’s not fast enough to stop this bullet and he feels guilt. Robin is soon born after, and it’s when talking about the meaning behind his name and costume that Bruce takes on the mantle of Batman.

Because the Bat had always been the symbol of Gotham. The miagani, the bat-people who were before them, were the righteous owners of these lands, and Bruce’s ancestors. His father, Thomas, used to wear a Bat costume, so his son would be less afraid of them and because of what it meant.

Alfred talked him down, and told him he wouldn’t be prouder to see him become what he was always meant to be. He, himself, stopped being agent A a long time ago to wear a different kind of costume.

Thus was born the dynamic duo of Batman & Robin in an universe where Thomas and Martha survived.

Thomas and Martha didn’t really known how to react to Bruce becoming Dick’s legal guardian, but they did know their son needed a serious sit down. Bruce couldn’t expect his own parents to not recognize him once he was wearing a suit similar to his father, after all. But, in the end, they let it go. Bruce had already saved the city from a Napoleon wannabe and Monster Men and it wasn’t something he could come back from.

How do you think Thomas and Martha being alive would affect Batman & Robin ?

#batman #batman & robin #robin #nightwing #bruce wayne #thomas wayne #martha wayne #alfred pennyworth #wayne family #superman #agent a #fic ideas #dc comics #the miagani #autistic bruce wayne #dick grayson is robin #I wanted to do all the batkids but I don’t think I’ll come back to it later

[blackswaneuroparedux]

At the end of a pleasant evening Joseph offered to walk Jean home; she tucked her copy of Spengler under one arm as they set out. Jean was staying with an aunt who lived on Gay Street, just around the corner from the Greenwich Village apartment the Campbells would occupy for so many years. “We got to Union Square Park on Fourteenth Street and it started to rain,” Jean remembered. “Neither of us had a raincoat. Joe took off his coat, and I thought, ‘how gallant.’ But he said urgently, ‘Give me the book,’ and he quickly tucked it under his jacket. I knew then what I was in for.

- Stephen and Robin Larsen, A Fire in the Mind: The Life of Joseph Campbell

I hadn’t realised that the Larsens were longtime friends and students of the inconic writer, Joseph Campbell (1904-87). I was given this book as a farewell present from a colleague to read on the long plane ride back to Europe. So I was curious to try and read it in one sitting. 

It was an authorised biography of a remarkable man. Reading his personal journal entries and his prolific and insightful letters as he struggled to discover and follow his bliss should provide a rich context and understanding for his huge body of work. Campbell’s love of research, learning, and extensive study was known to be mindboggling. He learned new languages and dived deep into local cultures and traditions as he lived, traveled, and studied in Europe, India, Japan, and other countries in the early to mid-20th century, to become the 20th Century’s lezding expositer of world myths.

Despite having full access to Campbell’s papers this book turned out to be a pretty hard slog to read. I felt let down by how plodding the prose was and how dulled any critical examination of Campbell’s undoubtedly exciting life. This biography on Joe Campbell is strongest when talking about his childhood and formative years while in his 20's and early thirties. The authors were friends with Campbell and there is certainly a change in tone when the book enters the portion of his life in which the authors knew him. 

Plodding resolutely and diligently through Campbell's life, the authors begin with the early experiences that provided the impetus for their subject's research. Fascinated by Native Americans as a youth, Campbell, born in N.Y.C., absorbed their wood-lore and mythology through voracious reading and the guidance of an old naturalist neighbor. Early trips to the West Coast and Europe, plus later sojourns as a young scholar in Paris, Munich, and other cultural centers made Campbell a citizen of the world, and also brought chance meetings with other travellers who would become valued friends - the Indian mystic Krishnamurti among them. Another friendship led to John Steinbeck, Ed Ricketts, and their circle, while Campbell's studies eventually brought him, in 1934, to a teaching career at Sarah Lawrence, where he met future wife Jean Erdman, a student. By all acounts they had a happy marriage even if they had no children.

Joseph Campbell wrote and edited dozens of books on comparative mythology and religion. His books and thousands of lectures focused on finding the “monomyth” and core spiritual and psychological themes that all societies for thousands of years have used to deal with the challenges of life and find successful passage through life’s stages. George Lucas was highly influenced by Campbell’s classic 1949 book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces when he wrote and produced his blockbuster Star Wars movie.

Campbell often summarised his core philosophy with advice to “follow your bliss.” He doesn’t mean living a hedonistic life of pleasure seeking. Following our bliss is answering the call to adventure by embarking on our “hero’s journey” searching for our “holy grail” - finding our deep personal meaning and living an authentic life true to our values and reason for being. The great trap is following someone else’s path or what parents, friends, spouses, institutions, or society calls success.

#larsen #quote #literature #book #reading #joseph campbell #myth #biography #history #culture

[nonstoplover]

nonstoplover’s hbo war masterlist

about: after watching the pacific in january 2020 and band of brothers in january 2021 (and the latest, generation kill in november 2021), i became addicted to hbo war, let's just say immediate obsession. i even have a sideblog for hbo war things. and since i’m planning on writing a lot of fanfic with our soldier boys, i decided to make a separate masterlist just for them. a/n: i just want to note here that my written work is always based on the portrayal of these men in the tv shows, and i mean absolutely no disrespect to the real heroes of ww2 / invasion of iraq !

| B A N D   O F   B R O T H E R S |

RON SPEIRS:

☆ the benefits of a (pathetic) gunshot wound | ron speirs x nurse!reader — this is the story of how lieutenant speirs and a nurse girl meet, have an immediate connection, cross paths again, are there for each other through all the freezing hell of bastogne and stick to each other till the end of war. ☆ nightly shared cigarettes | ron speirs x secret agent!reader, requested — when on patrol in haguenau, soldiers of easy co. find a captured british agent. until further notice she has to stay with them and in the meantime she grows closer with one of the lieutenants, someone who's fully impressed by how badass she is. ☆ frustratingly protective | ron speirs x childhood best friend!reader, requested — ron incidentally meets the girl he’s been in love with since they were kids out on the frontline.

.*☆

JOE LIEBGOTT:

☆ told ya | joe liebgott x fem!reader — joe and (y/n) has been together for years before the war came around and dragged him away from her. the distance and the struggles they both have to fight eventually come between the two. will they find their way back to each other? ☆ accidental reunion | joe liebgott x austrian fem!reader — they met in austria on v-j day, it was just one night, still they can’t forget the other. ☆ protagonist | joe liebgott x german fem!reader — joe’s assigned to search for the perfect house for easy’s hq in the new town they’ll soon arrive to on their way through germany and finds one with a girl in there who’s like the protagonist of one of the comics he’s read - courageous, fearless, heroic.

.*☆

EUGENE ROE:

☆ the tipsy and the jealous | eugene roe x best friend!reader, requested — eugene doesn’t enjoy the sight of his best friend, (y/n) having fun with other men, even though there’s nothing he can do about it.

.*☆

GEORGE LUZ:

☆ a reason to survive for | george luz x english fem!reader — george is billeted at a family in aldbourne and finds love with the daughter. during the war he gets a letter from her that changes his perspective and gives him a reason to fight even more for his own survival.

.*☆

DICK WINTERS:

☆ the only couple on earth | dick winters x nurse!reader, requested — nix makes a joke which in the end becomes real life, ending in a slightly life-changing, happy event for dick and his fiancée.

.*☆

BABE HEFFRON:

☆ we're only human | babe heffron x soldier fem!reader, prompt request — babe is trying to distance himself from her and she can’t help but wonder why.

.*☆

| T H E    P A C I F I C |

BILL 'HOOSIER' SMITH:

☆ it doesn't matter | hoosier smith x australian fem!reader, requested — bill bumps into a girl on the streets of melbourne, sending her and all her belongings flying to the ground. neither would think in that very moment that in only a couple years, they’ll be over several unexpected turns, with the involvement of hundreds if not thousands of letters written and even a war bride ship. ☆ wanna dance? | hoosier smith x best friend!reader, hbo war secret santa 2021 — him and her have been best friends for a couple years before the war, and they keep in touch even when he's away - only to realise with time that they're in love, but for varying reasons neither confesses.

.*☆

EUGENE SLEDGE:

☆ bringing back the sunshine | eugene sledge x fem!reader, requested — how friendships - or more - can start just from someone being late all the time and the about only empty seat in an auditorium.

.*☆

© 2023 all rights reserved — nonstoplover. Do not modify, repost, plagiarize, or claim my work as your own.

#nonstoplover's masterlist #nonstoplover's hbo war masterlist #hbo war #hbo war imagine #band of brothers #band of brothers imagine #band of brothers fanfic #band of brothers x reader #the pacific #the pacific imagine #the pacific fanfic #the pacific x reader #x reader #reader insert #ronald speirs #ron speirs x reader #joe liebgott #joe liebgott x reader #george luz #george luz x reader #dick winters #dick winters x reader #lewis nixon #lewis nixon x reader #carwood lipton #carwood lipton x reader #eugene sledge #eugene sledge x reader #bill hoosier smith #hoosier smith imagine

[hafanforever]

As a collaboration project with @greatqueenanna​, we decided to discuss the books of the Frozen franchise and explain what makes some canon and what makes others not canon. Our reasoning for this is because there is a great deal of confusion among fans on what novels, comics, and guide books have reliable information about characters, motivations, and overall lore. We focused our attention on books because they are what specifically tend to have added information or significant prequel and post-movie content that adds both story and lore to the franchise.

In my post, I will be discussing which books have a strong case of not being canon; that is, they fall under the categories of Loose Canon and Non-Canon. greatqueenanna has her own post that begins the discussion towards what is canon (Hard Canon and Soft Canon). Please read it below to see the full collaboration effort, with the details on what books are considered canon and why.

- Canon Fodder Part 1 -

Which Elements Help Make a Book Canon?

As stated in Part 1 of this collaboration, when discussing the canonical strength of a specific book, two main components are examined to determine where it falls on the canon spectrum:

Collaboration with Filmmakers - Did the author(s) work with the main creative team of Frozen while writing the book?

Creation Time Period - If there is little to no evidence of the filmmakers’ involvement with the book, the time it was written or created during the films’ development is taken into account, since it means that the story and/or lore presented was taken directly from the creators to some extent.

Consistent Lore - Does the book’s story follows the lore presented by the main team?

Which Books Do NOT Have These Elements?

A Frozen Heart, Journey to the Lights, and the Anna & Elsa: Sisterhood is the Strongest Magic series are chaptered storybooks that offer a lot of lore to the franchise. A Frozen Heart alternates between the third-person perspective of Anna and Hans, giving readers a glimpse of their inner thoughts and pasts before they met, such as showing Hans’s life with his family in the Southern Isles. Likewise, Journey to the Lights and the Anna & Elsa series tell different stories of the sisters and their friends following the events of the first movie.

Pictured storybooks with unique stories vary in offering lore to the franchise, which may or not contradict that of the films. Their stories include Anna and Elsa’s childhood (Anna and Elsa’s Secret Playtime), the two traveling to another kingdom in which they encounter the Duke of Weselton (Across the Sea), Anna and Kristoff babysitting baby trolls while also sharing some information about Kristoff growing up in the Valley of the Living Rock (Anna Is Our Babysitter), and others set after the first movie as well as after Frozen Fever.

Despite their stories with the main characters and whatever lore they may or may not offer, it is unclear just how much or if these books’ authors consulted with the filmmakers while writing them, which makes their standing Loose Canon.

Like the aforementioned storybooks, the guidebooks A Frozen World and A Year with Elsa & Anna offer the franchise a significant amount of lore, including pieces of information that have already been confirmed by the filmmakers.

But also like said storybooks, they are considered Loose Canon due to them having a lack of involvement and/or acknowledgement from the creators. A Year with Anna & Elsa also recaps some the pictured storybooks mentioned above, making it somewhat dismissible. Additionally, both books were made years after Frozen came out, so they did not have the same access to the filmmakers’ notes and such as the novelizations and official guides did.

Comic books, whether they are in actual printed books or magazines, can also be sources of lore for the franchise. They include stories, both long and short, that take place after the events of both movies as well as those within the timeline by being in between. In other words, there are comics about Agnarr’s childhood before Runeard’s death, Anna and Elsa’s childhood before and during their separation, and Kristoff’s childhood before and during the time he lived with the trolls.

But the fact is, except for some retellings of the movies, these comics are virtually nothing more than glorified fan fiction in illustration, and they occasionally contain contradictions and inconsistencies to the films. Additionally, the creators were not involved with the making of them, making their standing in canon extremely weak.

However, it has been brought to my attention by @super-mam-te-moc​ that there are some comics that make an exception as being canon. As @greatqueenanna​ mentioned in “Canon Fodder Part 1”, from 2018 onward, author Joe Caramagna had collaborated with Black Horse Comics, apparently under the supervision of Jennifer Lee, and wrote four Frozen related comics series: Breaking Boundaries, The Hero Within, Reunion Road, and True Treasure.

Since these series of comics have the collaboration element, they are an exception to others and can be considered canon.

Conceal, Don’t Feel is part of A Twisted Tale, an anthology series of books based around alternate "what-if" spins on familiar animated Disney films. It is a retelling of the main Frozen story, but in an alternate universe in which Elsa and Anna do not know each other.

Because this main plot concept obviously contradicts the plot of the original film, and also because the creators appeared to have virtually no involvement with it at all, it is safe to say that this book is entirely Non-Canon.

#Frozen analyses #Frozen 2 analyses #Disney #Disney Frozen #Disney Frozen 2 #Frozen #Frozen 2 #Frozen franchise #canon #books #storybooks #guidebooks #comic books #greatqueenanna #my stuff #mine

[dasmuggler]

James F. Steranko (/stəˈræŋkoʊ/; born November 5, 1938) is an American graphic artist, comic book writer/artist, comics historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator.

Steranko was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and lived his early childhood during the American Great Depression. Steranko had begun drawing while very young, opening and flattening envelopes from the mail to use as sketch paper. Despite his father's denigration of Steranko's artistic talent, and the boy's ambition to become an architect, Steranko paid for his art supplies by collecting discarded soda bottles for the bottle deposit and bundled old newspapers to sell to scrap-paper dealers. He studied the Sunday comic strip art of Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond, Hal Foster, and Chester Gould, as well as the characters of Walt Disney and Superman, provided in "boxes of comics" brought to him by an uncle. Radio programs, Saturday movie matinées and serials, and other popular culture also influenced him.

Up through his early 20s, Steranko performed as an illusionist, escape artist, close-up magician in nightclubs, and musician, having played in drum and bugle corps in his teens before forming his own bands during the early days of rock and roll. By the late 1960s, Steranko was a member of a New York City magicians' group, the Witchdoctor's Club. Comics historian Mark Evanier notes that the influential comic-book creator Jack Kirby, who "based some of his characters ... on people in his life or in the news", was "inspired" to create the escape artist character Mister Miracle "by an earlier career of writer-artist Jim Steranko".

During the day, Steranko made his living as an artist for a printing company in his hometown of Reading, designing and drawing pamphlets and flyers for local dance clubs and the like. He moved on after five years to join an advertising agency, where he designed ads and drew products ranging from "baby carriages to beer cans". He initially entered the comics industry in 1957, not long out of high school, working for a short time inking pencil art by Vince Colletta and Matt Baker in Colletta's New York City studio before returning to Reading. In 1966, he landed assignments at Harvey Comics, under editor Joe Simon. His first published comics art came in Spyman #1 (Sept. 1966), for which he wrote the 20-page story "The Birth of a Hero" and penciled the first page, which included a diagram of a robotic hand that was reprinted as an inset on artist George Tuska's cover.

Steranko also approached Marvel Comics in 1966. He met with editor Stan Lee, who had Steranko ink a two-page Jack Kirby sample of typical art for the superspy feature "Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.". Steranko self-published it in 1970 in the limited-edition "Steranko Portfolio One"; it appeared again 30 years later in slightly altered form in the 2000 trade-paperback collection Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. This led to Lee's assigning him the Nick Fury feature in Strange Tales, a "split book" that shared each issue with another feature. Future Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, then a staff writer, recalled,

"[H]e came up to the office ... and I was sent out by Sol [Brodsky] to look at his work and basically brush him off. Stan was busy and didn't want to be bothered that day. But when I saw Jim's work, ... on an impulse I took it in to Sol and said, 'I think Stan should see this'. Sol agreed, and took it in to Stan. Stan brought Steranko into his office, and Jim left with the 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' assignment. ... I think Jim's legacy to Marvel was demonstrating that there were ways in which the Kirby style could be mutated, and many artists went off increasingly in their own directions after that."

Lee and Kirby had initiated the 12-page "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." feature in Strange Tales #135 (Aug. 1965), with Kirby supplying such inventive and enduring gadgets and hardware as the Helicarrier – an airborne aircraft carrier – as well as LMDs (Life Model Decoys) and even automobile airbags. Marvel's all-purpose terrorist organization Hydra was introduced here as well.

Steranko began his stint on the feature by penciling and inking "finishes" over Kirby layouts in Strange Tales #151 (Dec. 1966), just as many fellow new Marvel artists did at the time. Two issues later, Steranko took over full penciling and also began drawing the every-other-issue "Nick Fury" cover art. Then, in a rarity for comics artists of the era, he took over the series' writing with #155 (April 1967), following Roy Thomas, who had succeeded Lee. In another break with custom, he himself, rather than a Marvel staff artist, had become the series' uncredited colorist by that issue.

Steranko absorbed, adapted and built upon the groundbreaking work of Jack Kirby, both in the use of photomontage (particularly for cityscapes), and in the use of full- and double-page-spreads. Indeed, in Strange Tales #167 (Jan. 1968), Steranko created comics' first four-page spread, upon which panorama he or editor Lee bombastically noted, "to get the full effect, of course, requires a second ish [copy of the issue] placed side-by-side, but we think you'll find it to be well worth the price to have the wildest action scene ever in the history of comics!" All the while, Steranko spun outlandishly action-filled plots of intrigue, barely sublimated sensuality, and a cool-jazz hi-fi hipness.

Fury's adventures continued in his own series, for which Steranko contributed four 20-page stories: "Who is Scorpio?" (issue #1); "So Shall Ye Reap ... Death" (#2), inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest; "Dark Moon Rise, Hell Hound Kill" (#3), a Hound of the Baskervilles homage, replete with a Peter Cushing manqué; and the spy-fi sequel "What Ever Happened to Scorpio?" (#5). Steranko also had short runs on X-Men (#50–51, Nov.–Dec. 1968), for which he designed a new cover logo, and Captain America (#110–111, 113, Feb.–March, May 1969). Steranko introduced the Madame Hydra character in his brief Captain America run. With no new work immediately forthcoming, a "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins" fan page in spring 1969 announced that, "In case you've been wondering what happened to Jaunty Jim Steranko, ... [he] is working on a brand-new feature, which will shortly be spotlighted in Marvel Super-Heroes. And talk about a secret – he hasn't even told us what it is!" The referred-to project never appeared.

Steranko went on to write and draw a horror story that precipitated a breakup with Marvel. Though that seven-page tale, "At the Stroke of Midnight", published in Tower of Shadows #1 (Sept. 1969), would win a 1969 Alley Award, editor Lee, who had already rejected Steranko's cover for that issue, clashed with Steranko over panel design, dialog, and the story title, initially "The Lurking Fear at Shadow House".

Steranko returned briefly to Marvel, contributing a romance story ("My Heart Broke in Hollywood", Our Love Story #5, Feb. 1970) and becoming the cover artist for 15 comics beginning with Doc Savage #2–3, Shanna the She-Devil #1–2, and Supernatural Thrillers #1–2 (each successively cover-dated Dec. 1972 and Feb. 1973), and ending with the reprint comic Nick Fury and his Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 (April 1973).

In 1973, Steranko became founding editor of Marvel's official fan magazine, FOOM, which superseded the two previous official fan clubs, the Merry Marvel Marching Society and Marvelmania. Steranko served as editor and also produced the covers for the magazine's inaugural four issues before being succeeded editorially by Tony Isabella.

Steranko then branched into other areas of publishing, including most notably book-cover illustration. For the movie industry, Steranko has done sketches for movie posters, and was a conceptual artist on Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), doing production designs for the film and designing the character of Indiana Jones. He also served in a similar capacity as "project conceptualist" on Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

#marvel #art #artist #jimsteranko #comicbooks #marvelcomics #nickfury #AgentsofSHIELD #shield #popculture #foom #marveluniverse #thehulk #theincrediblehulk #captainamerica #hydra #marvel89 #horror #scifi #xmen #stanlee #jackkirby #roythomas #marvel6189 #indianajones #raidersofthelostark #mcu #Dracula

[archetypal-archivist]

Hermitcraft-What is Glass but Crystal Light?

There is a woman, sleeping in the heart of an eldritch being beyond mortal ken. There is a man, strapped into a chair, watched over by worried friends as his mind flies across the cosmos- looking for someone. There is a ship that sails the rivers of light that flow through the outer reaches of the void. And long ago, there were two boys who were nearly consumed by a star that should have stayed dead.

This is their story, split into ten parts, each inspired by a song and each part written within the song's duration. May they receive their happy ending yet.

Also known as, I took on a drabble writing challenge and came out with 1500+ words of Sad Grian the Space Sailor content. Links to the songs will be at the bottom. 

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The boat rocked through the waves, glowing light washing against its hull as nebulas and galaxies spun by. Grian stretched out his hand, letting the solar winds trail over and through his fingers, giving his skin a pale, silver glow. To Mumbo, standing stock still- near invisible in the light of the void, purple and dark and impossible to describe- Grian looked ethereal. Impossible. Like light in the void, like a man made of nothing, stretching out beyond his galaxy to see a glimpse of his lover across the cosmos... Was he talking of himself or of Grian? Best not to think about it. (Best not to think.) He was too boring for the brunet, he knew, but even if his redstone skills lacked the ability to hold his love’s attention, not like the starry seas could, it at least gave him this. Back at home, his body lay strapped into a cold metal chair and electrodes and wires poked harshly against his temples. Iskall watched helplessly as his friend’s eyes flickered behind his closed lids. Alas, if only his friend could see the heart that stood before him, wishing for a spark of that brilliant mind to be turned his way. (Sailor Song by Autoheart)

The seas were cold comfort, although few could tell. Grian knew that better than most. Mumbo was precious, truly, but he was better off without him. The seas had claimed him, marked him when they were younger, back when it was just him and the sea and the drowning feelings inflicted upon them both by a man too much like a black hole to be survived. He and the sea had come out changed, something less than human, in the case of his friend, and a bit less than whole for him. Mumbo really did deserve a whole person, not just a shell of one. But still, even if his heart had been eaten by the void, despite the sea’s best efforts, he could leave Mumbo this- a kiss, pressed to a sleeping temple, a key on the table, and a bottle of dreams. All he had left of his heart, all that he could give. (This is Not Goodbye by Sidewalk Prophets)

Taurtis was not always the sea. He was not always light. But always, as before and as always and as he always will be, he was not enough. Grian blamed him, he knew this too. He had come out of the mess of Sam and his pull just as broken as his best friend, but somehow Grian always spoke as if he had come out the poorer of the two of them. As if losing his physical form and his very name, his very identity, was somehow less of a burden than simply losing a heart. Perhaps that was why Grian was so cruel to him now, insisting that having Taurtis wasn’t enough these days. Perhaps losing a heart really was a burden. But compared to a body, to a soul set loose among the cosmos to join the solar seas and the stardust whipped up by the waves? Having to learn the art of surrender in all its brutal perfection? No, Taurtis had it worse by far. But even if he had lost his body, even if Grian blamed him for not protecting them both, even if he wasn’t enough (had internalized the blame, just a bit). Well. At least they’ll be together forever now. He would learn to be enough, maybe. Given time. Time enough in all the world. (Neptune by Sleeping at Last)

The void was not dark. The void was not silent. Beings roamed its reaches, things of light, borders and physics and string theory made flesh. The voids were treacherous, and those who sailed the cosmic seas knew its dangers well. There were things that lurked in the void’s fractalling, mind-hazing fog, in the light that was anything but. Things that ate men alive, bundled them up in contradictions and questions until their who unraveled from their what, until their atoms pulled apart at the seams. But the most eldritch of things in the void was hope. The most dangerous by far, it’s light cast out across the void, glimmered upon the waves and luring in the foolhardy and the desperate into its reach. And yet, it never struck. Never consumed, not as the other monsters of the void did. It didn’t need to. Any who caught glimpse of its might would throw themselves into its mass whole-heartedly. And yet. And yet. Not all who lost themselves to hope were devoured. Deep in its heart, there sleeps a woman. Her name is Stress, because that is what she is. And the heart of the hope at the center of the void is always breaking, because that woman, that Stress in the fabric of reality? She is trying to break free. And someday, she will succeed. And all will be torn bloody and new again. The seas know it. The absent skies know it. Taurtis knows it, in his piecemeal state. And oh, how hope pulls at him for the knowing. Best to leave his Grian in the dark. { Voidfish (Plural) by Rachel Rose Mitchell}

Vintage Beef knew better than to sell to traders and pirates like the man before him. Anyone who looked like they stepped out of a children’s picture book weren’t likely to be able to pay. Pirates belonged in a by-gone age, even ones that stank of light more than anyone he had ever met. But the man before him, edged in salt-spray golden glow, seemed so lost. So desperate. What was a drink, in the face of that? So he served the man a drink and a side of cow, as a treat to keep the man from hopefully getting too sloshed. No luck. And soon, the story came pouring out, a story of a pair of boys and a man who shone like stars, who blinded them with his light and sucked the life from their bones like marrow. A black hole in all but name. The fork in his hand clicked against the man’s teeth as he choked out the words, hands shaking. A childhood gone wrong. Beef just nodded, wondering, lost in the face of such loss. He could understand that, perhaps. But what was his own lost prospects, lost to his bar and his job, in the face of a lost life? He just hoped the man didn’t end up like all other men in story books. Stories ended. And, as the man stumbled out of the bar, starshine glittering around him like grief, he seemed as if he was rushing into his epilogue. Best wishes, Beef spared him a thought. He would need them. (Golden Leaves by Passenger)

Joe loved the sea, for all that he could not bear to touch it. As an ender hybrid, a bit like that prince in the far tower, its waters would burn him to the quick. And he loved the man he caught glimpses of when he stared out across the waves even more. The man had no name, not that he knew of anyway. Though, it’s not like he could ask, locked in his tower as he was. Part of the job description of a poet, of course. Call it an occupational hazard, just like falling for impossibly distant figures straight out of myth or legend and feeling your consciousness splinter across the cosmos to bring you inspiration in your dreams. (Sleep… hurt. He tried not to think about it.) But yes. The man on the edge of the sea, who rode the waves like he was made to. Perhaps he would write a story about him… (Venus by Sleeping at Last)

Grian knew that things were coming to a head. The sea beneath his boat was insisting that it was not actually the sea. Again. He must be going mad, too, losing his mind just like he lost his heart to that awful void-beast monster from so long ago. But somehow, it felt right, to listen to the sea. To lean over the prow and let his fingers trail through its liquid light waters, let the starshine climb up his veins and ooze through his pores, through his system. It was dangerous, yes, but when he cried tears that glowed like joy, it felt good. Cathartic. Like a piece of his was returning to him. He could never get his heart back, and even if he could, he’d turn right around and hand it to Mumbo. But maybe, just maybe, things would be okay. (It’s Alright by Mother Mother)

Taurtis knew the end was coming. And he was okay with it- longed for it even. He had a heart, unlike his friend. But where he was going, the woman who he had set that feeble organ on, he didn’t need it. Ha. This was why Grian really was stupid, as much as he was his best friend. As if you needed a physical heart to love someone. Deep in the heart of hope lived the most beautiful of women in existence, and she would wake soon. And her emergence would kill him in all the ways that didn’t matter. So in the face of that, why not give his best friend one last gift? A steady trail of heart’s blood was perhaps not quite equal to a heart, but for Grian- so caught up on the physicality of the world, the goof- it would do well enough. And perhaps, with this, he would stop moping. Heroes got their happy endings at the end of time, right? (Never Seen Anything “Quite Like You” by The Script)

Bloody hell. What a way to wake up. Stress stared out across the broken remains of a world blown apart by her emergence. How awful it was that her chance at life was paid at the price of a hundred thousand lives. Tears ran down her face. She did not want this. But soon, a man came to her, or a figment of one perhaps. A breath of comfort on the wind, blacker than pitch, black enough that pulled light from the void itself. It wrapped itself around her, kissing away her tears. Clothing her in mother of pearl- fitting, for she knew she was destined to bear forth a new heart of hope. She did not want this, but the affection was appreciated all the same. It would be the only kind touch she would receive in a while, the work would take up most of her free time for the next millennia at least. The void-black ghost introduced himself as Taurtis, at her service, to help her in her task. It was more freeing than service to his best friend, he explained. A service chosen, not owed or forced or bound. And besides, he whispered shyly. He loved her. And perhaps, as Stress turned her eyes to the newborn universe beyond, she could learn to love him too. (cover of On the Arrow by AFI, sung by Rachell Rose Mitchell)

In the distant black, a goddess bore forth a new universe, her shadow of a lover at her side. In the light of the sea, a ship capsized as the waters underneath shuddered and bucked, for the spirit that ensured the ship’s safety was dead. And the man aboard it did not drown. To his amazement, of course. He really had expected to die. But then, hearts full up of love are perhaps the lightest things around and instead of sinking, Grian floated. And when he saw he could do that, joy filled his heart, buoying him higher, and he swam. He had his true love to return to. And when he returned, soggy and beaming, he saw just what lengths his Mumbo had gone to watch him and he freed him from his prison of redstone and wire to kiss him awake. He laughed, giddy, despite Mumbo’s groggy confusion. They were free! Free of longing, of hoping, of heartlessness and cold metal substitutes for love. They could be together! Mumbo just blinked, once, twice, before breaking out into a bright peal of jingling laughter. They were free! He tried to pick up Grian to swing him into a kiss, but his long vigil in his machine left him loose-limbed and weak. Grian kissed him anyway. (Time to Run by Lord Huron)

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 (Sailor Song) (This is Not Goodbye) (Neptune) (Voidfish Plural)  (Golden Leaves) (Venus) (It's Alright)  (Never Seen Anything "Quite Like You")  (On the Arrow)  (Time to Run)

#hermitcraft #my writing #minecraft #space #minor hermitshipping #taurtis #grian #stressmonster101 #vintagebeef #joe hills #mumbo jumbo #trigger warning: sam is mentioned #fanfiction