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sugarcarnation · 3 years

Note

Any Klaine fic recommendations?

I read more wlw pairing fics but Klaine has like 17k on AO3 so I figured I’d try some out

ohh yes i do. this list ended up pretty long so i hope theres something you enjoy

shorter fics (under 10k)

(b)romance by klaineanummel (@klaineanummel)

kurt and blaine meet at a party and become friends. kurt eats 35 diet pudding cups. somewhere along the way they start dating

You Know I'm Waiting For You by readfah_cwen

this one is great because it has blaine being friends with all the girls. and the girls are amazing. also awkward flirting

Until Our Stitching Unravels by AntarcticBird

this one is just fun. it’s about kurt puppet and blaine puppet getting married and what’s not to love about that (you do need an ao3 account to read this one though)

Boop by lovetheblazer

a reaction fic to tested and just a lot of fluff. i’m not even the biggest fan of fluff but i can make an exception for this one

Heresy by mailroomorder

im not actually sure how to describe this one. it’s an au. it’s kinda haunting. it definitely left me wanting to read more. i’d say it’s definitely worth checking out

Welcome Home by justgleekout (@justgleekout)

i love this one. it’s pretty much just kurt picking up blaine from the airport but it’s so adorable and good

longer fics (pretty much everything between 10k and 100k)

The Hating Game by coffeeorder (@coffeeorderwrites)

this fic is so good. enemies to lovers with kurt and blaine (but especially blaine) being oblivious idiots. and it made me permanently feel a lot of emotions over kurt calling blaine cheddar so theres that as well

id say check out all of her other fics as well but especially Warbler's Lonely Hearts Radio Show which is currently still a WIP but amazing and hilarious and definitely worth checking out

now I know my ABCs (next time won't you sing with me) by villiageidiot

all the tropes. literally all the tropes. it’s a collection of aus and all of them are amazing

Don’t Do It by BeautifulUnseen

kurt is an idiot. that’s the fic. he works for a letter-writing service and pretends to be the guy blaine is dating. his only job is to not be caught and to not fall in love with blaine. things don’t go according to plan

Pride & Prejudice & Superheroes by a_simple_rainbow

blaine develops superpowers. he also really can’t stand kurt. the feeling is mutual. somehow they work it out in the end

eighteen going on extinct by klaineanummel (@klaineanummel)

this is basically a mamma mia au. kurt is quinn’s child and wants to find out who his father is. blaine is the new transfer student. it might not sound like it from just this description but this fic is kinda dark sometimes so i’d encourage you to read the tags

Sum-verse by flaming_muse

im just gonna rec all the flaming_muse fics here. but this one is especially cute in my opinion. it’s canon compliant and covers a lot of the missing klaine moments between original song and the end of season 2

Friends in Low Places by Esperanto (@esperantoauthor)

blaine is a bad boy (or at least something resembling a bad boy). kurt meets him in a dumpster. and if that premise alone isn’t enough to convince you there is also a podfic version available (even if the podfic isn’t finished yet)

Sing to me Instead by heartsmadeofbooks (@heartsmadeofbooks)

another author where i encourage you to check out all of her works. but i chose this one because roommates au. with a lot of drama and a lot of slowburn. it’s really good

the really long fics (over 100k)

Near Misses by flaming_muse

another flaming_muse fic because i love this one so so much. it’s an au in which kurt and blaine never met in high school. now they’re going to the same college and almost immediately get off the wrong foot after they hook up at a party. this fic is basically a lot of miscommunication but i can’t stress enough how good it is

All The Other Ghosts and it’s sequel Grey by rainjoy (i linked the posts where you can find the pdf and epub versions of these fics but here is also the podfic of All The Other Ghosts)

atog is a classic and im pretty sure that most people can agree that it’s amazing. it’s a superhero au and i don’t even normally care that much for superhero aus but this fic is still one of the best things i’ve ever read. basically kurt is the ghost of new york. blaine is a fanboy who also has some powers of his own. they meet and everything starts to escalate from there (fair warning this fic gets really dark)

Hell & High Water by mmerainbows

full disclosure i haven’t finished this one yet but i read the first half and i remember it being very good and i definitely plan on rereading and finishing this fic. it’s a dystopian au in which the world has been taken over by the others. kurt is just trying to survive but then blaine shows up and things get complicated

#kurt hummel #blaine anderson #klaine #fic rec #asks #i definitely forgot about some fics here #so if anyone wants to add something to it then feel free to do so

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joshstambourine · 3 years

Text

Greta Van Fleet as Dad's

Haven't been able to un-see this idea since it showed up on my dash and uggggh. I couldn't get over how cute all of this was.

For this imagine, I'm sort of picturing them with younger children, anywhere from 3-5 years old as they are all still crazy young hehe. Also. All of these imagines work with any gender of child. It's all sorta just what I imagine them having and being like in general 🖤

Taglist: @anditsmywholeheart

JOSH

Josh is such an interesting guy. He is both so deeply smart... but also at the same time he is the equivalent of a conversation between my last two brain cells.

The sheer amount of energy this man has means he'll not only keep up with a kid but also tire them tf out.

There would always be so much screaming and laughing in the house.

Lots of games of tag and the floor is lava

No matter what he has, son or daughter --- there will be so much dancing. Josh would be the kind of dad who loves to hold his kid and just dance around the house with them.

Not to mention all of the goofy songs they would be singing together.

I can see Josh conversing with his kids like adults even when they are little. Meaning there will be some very serious conversations about very silly things. Potato chips can make you a fly? On it. The floor is both lava and also the arctic? Josh is ready to hear all about how that's possible. There aren't mermaids but there are human sharks? Josh needs to know where he can find them asap.

I can very easily imagine him dressed up and sitting at a table that is far too small for him with his legs crossed.

His daughter would have started by putting one necklace on him and it soon escalated to a crown, sunglasses that didn't fit, and a set of fairy wings. Surrounded by many stuffed animals and dolls.

"Mmm, this is great tea! What kind is it?"

"Grape."

He'd look at his tiny tea cup filled with apple juice. "Huh I could have sworn it was Apple. Did you change it on me?"

She would shake her head, "No daddy! We already drank the apple tea!" She'd laugh.

"What?? You drank all the apple tea without me?!" He'd exclaim, "why did you drink all the apple tea with out me?"

Josh would inch over and begin to tickle her, just loving to hear her laugh really.

"Daddy! Daddy no! You can't tickle me, I'm the princess!!"

Jake

Jake immediately strikes me as such a chill laid back dad. The kind of cool dad you'd definitely want during your teenage years.

He'd be the kind of dad to sit and watch cartoons religiously with his kid, there's no way he'd be missing them. Doesn't matter if it's cool or comedy gold, if his little one loves it they're gonna watch it together.

I think Jake would really want to teach his kid how to play guitar. It's something he's so passionate about that I think it would bring him a lot of joy if his kid had at least the knowledge of techniques and things, even if they weren't a huge fan of playing themselves.

Jake as well strikes me as someone who would be psyched about making dad jokes, of course with a straight face.

That is just a long winded way of saying that as a very young child this kid would know more about music than I do now after 20 years of living on this planet.

"What did the Buffalo say to his little boy when he dropped him off at school?"

"Bison!"

For a gender of a kid I'm split right in the middle when it comes to Jake. I think either would be equally as adorable but for this imagine I'm going with a girl to keep things even.

With a little girl I can imagine him sitting quietly as he watches her tiny hands try their best to paint his nails cleanly.

There is pink nail polish everywhere. Everything is a mess. Everything smells of chemicals. But it's fine.

"After I do your nails can I braid your hair too?" She'd eagerly ask, not looking at his hands anymore but she is still trying to paint.

"But your show is going to be on soon...! I thought we were gonna cuddle?"

"....can I braid your hair and watch my show?"

Jake would look at her seriously before smiling, moving quickly to give her a small kiss on the cheek, "of course you can, only if you give me lots of cuddles after."

"Okay daddy!"

*insert a child who is only half heartedly braiding hair while fully enthralled in their show. Head tilted on a 45° angle to see the TV with half of Jake's hair in a frizzy mangled braid.*

Sam

I really think Sam would want his kids to listen to really good music from a young age.

I mean don't get me wrong I think all of the boys would be like this... but I see him being the kind of parent that buys into the "smarter babies listened to music in important development periods"

The ultimate "my kid is so smart" kind of parent that then shows you 20 drawings that don't look like anything, but clearly they look like something to him.

All those drawings get tucked away somewhere safe so he can go back and look at them proudly as his little one grows up.

"Maybe they'll be an artist?!"

He also strikes me as a parent who wants to be really involved in teaching his kid things. ABC's? Sam's baby has them locked and loaded. Numbers 1-20? Still has trouble remembering anything with a nine but we are working on it.

Ultimate joy is achieved when Sam gets to teach his little one how to ride a bike. He feeling like its a right of passage for every kid to have with their dad.

I pictured Sam sitting with his little boy at the kitchen table, puzzle pieces sprawled all over.

"Dad, I have a joke for you." He'd say as he fiddled with a piece.

"Oh yeah? Go for it buddy." Sam would reply as he connects another edge piece.

"Knock knock!"

"Whose there?"

"Banana!"

"Banana who?"

"The Banana man!" Snickering coming from across the table, hands banging on the table and nearly knocking several pieces off the table.

Sam would laugh a long, "Y'know I've never heard that version of that joke---"

"Dad I'm not done"

"Oh I'm sorry, continue." He'd say beginning to look for a few more pieces to go together.

"Knock knock!"

"Whose there?"

"Banana!"

"Banana who...?" Sam would respond slowly, prepared for the same poorly created joke.

"TWO BANANA MEN!"

Sam would have to lay on the table. It was such a freaking terrible joke but so funny to see the amount of joy it brought the little boys features. "You have to tell that one to mom, okay?"

Danny

Danny is such a loving guy in general, I feel like parenting for him would just be so easy. Not saying that there wouldn't be troubled times--- just that he's just one of those people that were born to parent.

The very dependable parent. Always going to make time for any small thing his little one needs.

Danny is going to encourage his kid to do whatever they love with all of his being.

"You like rocks? We should get a rock polisher."

"You're right these cookies are pretty good, maybe we should get the stuff we need to bake them together."

He is going to have a series or specific book he reads to his little one until they fall asleep. Its something he would refuse to miss, they have to do their chapter! Even if he's on tour somewhere he's going to call home to make sure they can read together.

Danny is over the moon to have a little golfing buddy. As soon as this kid could walk he bought them their own set of clubs so they could play along with him. He just couldn't wait to start teaching them.

Golf time is bonding time. They'd get to walk together and talk about anything and everything.

I've been crazy torn about whether to write about him with a son or a daughter, both are equally as cute. For the sake of evenness though I decided on a boy.

"Okay so for your driver buddy you need to hold your arms waaay out." Danny would tell his son holding his arms out.

"Like this?"

"A little more."

Little eyes look to Danny curiously as his arms become fully extended from his body.

"Perfect! Make sure you stand straight, and keep your eyes on the ball." He says with his hand on the middle of the boys back, "And then you just---"

"SWING!"

Danny nearly getting clocked in the head with a golf club but leans back just in time. The satisfying ting of the little one's club hitting the ball sounds,

"DID YOU SEE HOW FAR IT WENT DAD?!"

*Insert the face Danny made when he pretended Sam's margarita's were good*

~ If anyone wants a full fic written for one of these please let me know because I will 100% write out fluffy family fics without hesitation!! ~

#jake gvf #danny gvf #josh gvf #sam kiszka #greta van fleet #jake kiszka #josh kiszka #sam gvf #danny wagner #greta van fic #greta van fleet fan fiction #greta van fleet imagine #greta van fleet roleplay #gvf fanfiction #gvf #gvf imagine

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sodone-withlife · 3 years

Text

i know who i am

summary: really, he never saw himself ever willingly letting anyone in on his broken past, but here he was, sitting in across from Waipo in the tiny cramped office at the back of the shop and nervously sweating about what he was about to tell her

read it on ao3: chapter 1 is the original version with Mandarin, chapter 2 has everything translated into English

the movie really hit me hard as an ABC, and I really wanted to write something for it. even though she barely had any screentime, I loved Waipo—she reminds me of so many of my relatives—so I decided to make her be one of the most important people in Shangqi’s life, and it turned into this wonderful mess (i had to stop writing this for a bit because I literally made myself cry). there is mandarin in this, it's kind of intended to be a physical manifestation of how my bilingual brain works (i did put the English-only version first, the original version with Mandarin is under that one but the formatting for it one is better on ao3, so i suggest reading it from there). apologies for my shitty mandarin; I have mediocre language skills, but I'm still so excited to be able to incorporate it in my writing. in regards to the character's names: I only know for certain the Chinese characters used for Shangqi and Wenwu, but for Xialing, I'm going to go with what it apparently was in the hong kong release (夏灵, with 灵灵 as the nickname)

English Translation:

“Waipo, do you have a bit of time?” Shangqi stood in front of Katy’s grandma, fidgeting nervously as fluent Mandarin rolled off of his tongue with an ease he's never felt in any other part of his life. “I want to talk to you about something."

She pinned him with a knowing stare. “Does it have anything to do with the trip you and Katy went on this past week?" she asked, Not waiting for his answer, she got up from the shop register and beckoned him into the back office. Feeling oddly like the first time he came into the store years ago as a teen—when he first met Katy’s family who had since taken him under their wing—he followed her into the familiar, cramped space.

He wasn’t exactly sure what within him prompted this interaction. He had come to San Francisco for a normal life, to get as far away from his father’s reaches as he could and to outrun the blood that stained his footsteps.

Never did Shangqi imagine that he would end up claiming the ancient rings that now sat in a heavy-duty (thanks to Xialing, with whom he now keeps in regular contact because of the promise they made to each other before he left the compound because he already left her behind once, and he’s never doing it again damn, my baby sister is running the Ten Rings now, and she’s trying to turn it into something better) and a very well-disguised (thanks to the sorcerers in the New York Sanctum and holy shit he’s in contact with famous superheroes now) back in his mess of a studio apartment.

Never did he imagine letting anyone in on his broken past, and even though his hand had been forced when it came to telling Katy, here he was going to the second person who truly saw something in him when he first started his new life and planning to tell them everything.

(Okay, fine, Shangqi wasn’t actually planning on letting anyone else in on it after telling Waipo, not even the rest of Katy’s family, but he really didn’t want them to be so involved yet—he still had no idea what he himself was doing and he wants to preserve what normalcy he can.)

(Also, he’s been reliably informed that anyone close to a public figure is bound to be targeted for attacks—which he figured out when the mercenaries attacked on the bus because yes, Lingling, he does have brain cells thank you very much.)

“Little Dragon, what’s on your mind?”

Little Dragon.

He started at the nickname, the one originally given to him by his mother. Somehow, it had completely slipped his mind that Waipo also called him that, starting a few weeks after he first met the Chen family. He barely kept it together, the long-unused nickname dredging up memories he had thought left him forever.

You have the heart of a dragon, she had declared firmly when he asked her why she decided on that particular nickname.

(That was exactly what his mother had told him right before she died, and yet he stood by, hidden behind a door, and did nothing while the men beat and killed her, the heart of the family.)

(He would carry the guilt with him for a lifetime.)

It was a while before he could bring himself to visit the family again—there were a lot of awkward excuses before Katy reluctantly backed off—and it took even longer for him to get somewhat used to the name again, but he eventually started seeing it as a gift with each faint impression of happier days that he got every time Waipo called him that.

Old, weathered hands gently covered his own, which were shaking and clammy with nervousness. Shangqi wondered how Waipo would react to the darker side of the lost boy she had basically adopted all those years ago, wondered if the legends of Ta-Lo and the Great Protector were known outside of the rather insular communities that continued to tell the stories, wondered if she had heard about his father through the stories that were passed down for thousands of years, from generation to generation…

(It can’t be wrong to miss him, can it? Even with the years of hell Wenwu had put him through, he was still his father. Shangqi still faintly remembered the man his father had been when his mother was still alive, the happy times they shared as a normal family…)

(But those times were long gone, ripped from their grasp by the past Wenwu wanted so badly to leave behind. Grief had shattered the whole family, and it ultimately led to the children fighting the father who had been driven to near madness in his denial, in his quest to put his broken family back together again.)

Mom, I miss you so much.

(And now Wenwu is dead, just like his beloved wife.)

(But just as she died to protect her children, he did the same. Now, his children are reunited and in contact again, getting ever closer despite living as far apart as they did, and he was reunited with his love in the afterlife.)

Finally, he straightened his posture and took a deep breath, looking directly at Waipo, who he’d come to view as the grandmother he never had.

“Waipo, have you heard of the legend of the Ten Rings?”

And Shangqi told her everything.

He told her everything and more,

She listened.

She listened as he described the legends behind the Ten Rings, Ta-Lo, and the Great Protector; his father’s history; his own history, from witnessing his mother’s death to ripping open the throat of the man who killed her when he was barely a teen, from leaving Lingling behind to seeing her again in the fight club she built from the ground up, from returning to the compound after a decade away in San Francisco to the battle in Ta-Lo…

Finally, he fell silent and stared at his hands but it wasn’t long before Waipo moved, slowly standing up with one hand on her cane. He made to help stabilize her but was quickly waved off with a stern look. He sank back into the chair and felt her move behind him. The shaky weight of her hands on his shoulders as she gently pressed down and straightened his posture was familiar, even after years of not having his posture deliberately—so gently—fixed like that every time he saw Waipo.

“You are the legacy of all who came before you, but you are your own person.” she finally said gently, and the tension in his shoulders slowly loosened under her familiar touch. “You decide your own fate.”

~~~

That night, Shangqi knelt before the altar he had in his apartment, the only part that was carefully maintained in all the years he had lived there. But now, two smiling faces stared back at him, a joy reflected in their eyes that he knew would disappear in less than ten years after the photo was taken.

Am I still your pride and joy? Lingling grew up, but I didn’t even take care of her like I should have.

I swear to you, I will never abandon her again

Even as his life got even more unbelievable as the years went by, the altar and his copy of his parent’s wedding photo would remain a constant. He and Lingling dove deeper into their family history—of the Ten Rings, of Ta-Lo, of both the good and bad—and both worked to carry on their parents’ legacy.

(With all of the proper discretion agreements and threats when needed, of course.)

Lingling is dating my best friend now, and they’re so happy together. Mom, I know you would have loved Katy. Dad, I know you didn’t like her much, but she really is a wonderful person.

Life went on.

There were the good days, when he went out with others and could almost feel normal, and there were the bad days, when phantoms pains plagued him and he woke up from a restless sleep expecting to see bruises mottling his body like they did so often when he was younger.

(Also, he was considered a superhero now and holy shit that’s still insane, even years after he first got in contact with the Avengers and the sorcerers in New York. Now he was going all over the West Coast, to help the locals take care of whichever crazy supervillain decided to wreak havoc that day.)

Dad, I hope you find this story as funny as I did: I helped a group of American superheroes yesterday. They’ve never been to San Francisco before and were extremely unfamiliar with the roads, especially Lombard Street. They spent half an hour trying to drive down the street, but I ended up driving them down myself.

(San Francisco was still home, and he had found a life there with all his friends and Xialing whenever she visited. He had a job now, too, at the local youth center teaching martial arts and self-defense, teaching and guiding the youth in a way he wishes his father had with him.)

People came into his life; some stayed, some left, and some even got together.

Mom, Dad, Lingling and Katy are getting married today and everyone is so excited for them. I’m taking over the Ten Ring within a month so Lingling can take a break. She’s led the organization for so long, it’s my responsibility now. I hope I can live up to her standards, she’s done really well. She’ll be back in a few years, but even after, I’m going to be much more involved to lessen Lingling’s workload.

Shangqi walked the path knowing who came before him and who was still with him.

Most importantly, he walked the path knowing who he was—demons, flaws, strengths, and all.

Mom, Dad, don’t worry. I’ll take care of them.

I hope you’re happy together in the afterlife.

~~~

Don’t be afraid, Shang-Chi, for you have heart of a dragon and the power of the Ten Rings.

We will always be with you and Xialing.

Original Version w/Mandarin

“外婆，您有没有一点儿时间？” 尚气 stood in front of Katy’s grandma, fidgeting nervously. “我想告诉您一些事情。”

She pinned him with a knowing stare. “是不是跟你和瑞雯这前个星期去的旅行有关？” Not waiting for his answer, she got up from the shop register and beckoned him into the back office. Feeling oddly like the first time he came into the store years ago as a teen—when he first met Katy’s family who had since taken him under their wing—he followed her into the familiar, cramped space.

Never did 尚气 imagine that he would end up claiming the ancient rings that now sat in a heavy-duty (thanks to 夏灵, with whom he now keeps in regular contact because of the promise they made to each other before he left the compound because he already left her behind once, and he’s never doing it again and damn, my baby sister is running the Ten Rings now, and she’s trying to turn it into something better) and a very well-disguised (thanks to the sorcerers in the New York Sanctum and holy shit he’s in contact with famous superheroes now) back in his mess of a studio apartment.

(Okay, fine, 尚气 wasn’t actually planning on letting anyone else in on it after telling 外婆, not even the rest of Katy’s family, but he really didn’t want them to be so involved yet—he still had no idea what he himself was doing and he wants to preserve what normalcy he can.)

(Also, he’s been reliably informed that anyone close to a public figure is bound to be targeted for attacks—which he figured out when the mercenaries attacked on the bus because yes, 灵灵, he does have brain cells thank you very much.)

“小龙，你有什么心事儿？”

Little Dragon.

He started at the nickname, the one originally given to him by his mother. Somehow, it had completely slipped his mind that 外婆 also called him that, starting a few weeks after he first met the Chen family. He barely kept it together, the long-unused nickname dredging up memories he had thought left him forever.

你有神龙之心，she had declared firmly when he asked her why she decided on that particular nickname. You have the heart of a dragon.

(That was exactly what his mother had told him right before she died, and yet he stood by, hidden behind a door, and did nothing while the men beat and killed her, the heart of the family.)

(He would carry the guilt with him for a lifetime.)

Old, weathered hands gently covered his own, which were shaking and clammy with nervousness. 尚气 wondered how 外婆 would react to the darker side of the lost boy she had basically adopted all those years ago, wondered if the legends of Ta-Lo and the Great Protector were known outside of the rather insular communities that continued to tell the stories, wondered if she had heard about his father through the stories that were passed down for thousands of years, from generation to generation…

(It can’t be wrong to miss him, can it? Even with the years of hell 文武 had put him through, he was still his father. 尚气 still faintly remembered the man his father had been when his mother was still alive, the happy times they shared as a normal family…)

(But those times were long gone, ripped from their grasp by the past 文武 wanted so badly to leave behind. Grief had shattered whole family, and it ultimately led to the children fighting the father who had been driven to near madness in his denial, in his quest to put his broken family back together again.)

妈妈，我太想你了。

(And now 文武 is dead, just like his beloved wife.)

Finally, he straightened his posture and took a deep breath, looking directly at 外婆, who he’d come to view as the grandmother he never had.

“外婆，您听说过 ‘十环’ 的传说吗？”

And 尚气 told her everything.

He told her everything and more,

She listened.

She listened as he described the legends behind the Ten Rings, Ta-Lo, and the Great Protector; his father’s history; his own history, from witnessing his mother’s death to ripping open the throat of the man who killed her when he was barely a teen, from leaving 灵灵 behind to seeing her again in the fight club she built from the ground up, from returning to the compound after a decade away in San Francisco to the battle in Ta-Lo…

Finally, he fell silent and stared at his hands but it wasn’t long before 外婆 moved, slowly standing up with one hand on her cane. He made to help stabilize her but was quickly waved off with a stern look. He sank back into the chair and felt her move behind him. The shaky weight of her hands on his shoulders as she gently pressed down and straightened his posture was familiar, even after years of not having his posture deliberately—so gently—fixed like that every time he saw 外婆.

“你是所有在你之前的人的遗产，但你是你自己的人，” she finally said，“你决定你自己的命运。”

You are the legacy of all who came before you, but you are your own person. You decide your own fate.

~~~

That night, 尚气 knelt before the altar he had in his apartment, the only part that was carefully maintained in all the years he had lived there. But now, two smiling faces stared back at him, a joy reflected in their eyes that he knew would disappear in less than ten years after the photo was taken.

我还是你的骄傲吗？灵灵长大了，但我也没好好照顾她。

我向你发誓，我再也不会抛弃她。

Even as his life got even more unbelievable as the years went by, the altar and his copy of his parent’s wedding photo would remain a constant. He and 灵灵 dove deeper into their family history—of the Ten Rings, of Ta-Lo, of both the good and bad—and both worked to carry on their family’s legacy.

(With all of the proper discretion agreements and threats when needed, of course.)

灵灵跟我朋友最近开始谈恋爱，他们俩可开心了。妈，如果你还在我们身边，我保证你会喜欢她。爸，我知道你一开始不太喜欢她，但她确实是一位精彩的人。

Life went on.

爸爸，我希望你跟我一样觉得这个故事很好笑：我昨天帮了一组美国超级英雄开车。那是他们第一次来旧京山，对道路非常陌生—尤其是 Lombard Street。他们开也开不好，花了半个小时慢慢的开下去。最终，我把他们的车开下去的。

(San Francisco was still home, and he had found a life there with all his friends and 夏灵 whenever she visited. He had a job now, too, at the local youth center teaching martial arts and self-defense, teaching and guiding the youth in a way he wishes his father had with him.)

People came into his life; some stayed, some left, and some even got together.

妈，爸，灵灵她今天会跟我最好的朋友结婚，我们都很兴奋。我一个月之内开始接管十环的业务，让灵灵休息休息。她干了多少年了，现在是我的责任。我希望我能辜负她，她管的非常棒，帮了许多人。她几年后会回来继续当领导，但我好像在领导方面发挥更大的作用。

He walked the path knowing who came before him and who was still with him.

Most importantly, he walked the path knowing who he was—demons, flaws, strengths, and all.

妈，爸，你们放心吧，我会照顾他们。

我希望你们俩来世都幸福。

~~~

尚气，你别怕，你有神龙之心，十环的力量。

我们永远会在你和灵灵的身边。

#i’m so sorry if the mandarin is shitty #the format is better on ao3 #but i’m so excited to be able to at least try it #shang chi spoilers #shang chi and the legend of the ten rings spoilers #shang chi fanfiction #shang chi #shang chi and the legend of the ten rings #marvel fanfiction #mcu #shang chi imagines

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oveliagirlhaditright · 3 years

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This is probably a strange question since KH is already a crossover in and of itself, but... KH-Crossovers you'd love? XD Not limited to Disney or any medium in particular btw :)

Fun question!

Hmm... Off the top of my head? Things that I love, because I’m selfish like that. Haha. Something like Inception comes to mind (and I’ve actually written a KH and Inception crossover. Though it would never entirely work out, but shh). But they lend themselves well to each other. Mainly because DDD was clearly inspired by Inception. What?

The Mortal Instruments, Percy Jackson, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as I think all three of them would mesh well with KH. Also, Dark Angel (and a lot of Fox shows, like Dark Angel and Tru Calling), because again with the selfishness. Also, Fox movies. More on some of that later.

Edit: ABC shows, like Alias and LOST, as they’re mystery box stories like KH.

W.I.T.C.H. Gargoyles too, though I barely remember it.

Kilala Princess, probably. And perhaps Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey (at least the villain from it would be great for KH).

I know there are some companies out there who have adapted fairytales that Disney already has. And it would be cool to see their take on them in KH. In my Namiku multi-chapter story--that I’ll sadly never finish--this was going to be a thing. There was something wrong with Kingdom Hearts, so the characters would go to a world and be like, “Wait... I know this is supposed to be Cinderella’s world, but something is off about it.” But that could also work with things like Once Upon a Time and the new Disney live-action movies.

That being said: Once Upon a Time.

National Treasure... that could actually potentially be in KH (as a few on these list could be), but I doubt it ever will be. So I might as well include it. Enchanted, too.

Phantom of the Opera or Phantom of the Megaplex. Preferably the former.

Some DCOMS Pixel Perfect and Disney Channel shows, tbh. Kim Possible!

I think people, like Shire Folk, who have written the characters with Digimon are on point.

Things like Soul Eater... and probably other animes, Square Enix made or not.

Syfy Alice, because it’s my favorite version of Alice in Wonderland.

Pokémon. Because I think Ash and Sora have a lot in common, of course (perhaps also Misty and Kairi, and somewhat SoKai and Pokeshipping). And because, as weird as it is to say... in the first game, where they made a big deal about the Keyblade choosing its master and choosing Sora (and it was very much sentient), the bond that Sora made with his Keyblade (that eventually chose him over Riku) somewhat reminded me of Ash and Pikachu’s journey. To a lesser extent, of course. But still.

Square Enix worlds...

I don’t think I want a “Beauty and the Beast & the Enchanted Christmas” world per se, but I want a Forte boss fight, somehow and some way.

Winx Club.

A crossover with Clamp could be interesting. Especially since Tsubasa and KH are so similar.

I’m down for the Muppets and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to be cameos.

Anastasia and Titan A.E.

Tales of Vesperia or something? Just because I once made a manip of Estelle and Naminé together, and someone commented that that wasn’t a bad crosier idea and I kind of agreed?

It would never happen in a million years, for so many reasons, but A Song of Ice and Fire could be interesting. They’re both fantasy theories that keep you guessing, with a lot of theory crafting in both.

People have often theorized what KH would be like if it had been Nickelodeon or something. LOL People say “Spongebob would have taken on Mickey’s role”, and I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing what could be done with a Nickeloden crossover, a Cartoon Network one, or what have you.

Grimm’s Fairytales, maybe? Or even the show Grimm? -shrugs-

I could maybe give the Star Wars, Marvel, and Indiana Jones ideas a try...

Roswell?

Tenchi could be interesting... The sword from that/Master Key reminds me of the Keyblade, somewhat.

Madoka Magica?

Sabrina: The Teenage Witch? I have no freaking clue. But I’ve been rewatching episodes of that show on some week nights lately, so it’s on my mind.

Firefly could probably work, and I am trying to write that. And parts of Dollhouse would lend itself beautifully to KH.

Oh. Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Danny Phantom.

People have been saying stuff like Naruto for years, and I agree.

I also wouldn’t say no to DC. I once wrote a Smallville and KH crossover once, but that was wish-fulfillment. I don’t know how much it would actually work. Haha.

Static Shock. Teen Titans and/or Young Justice. Batman Beyond.

I’m also someone who thinks a High School Musical could work, and would like to see it. XD. I once wrote a KHxHSM crossover, and at least one reviewer seemed to think I handled it pretty well. So it can be done, imo. .

..Maybe even things like Boy Meets World, even though it shouldn’t work. But ever since the fandom joked that Jason Marsden will be announced for KH, and then the fandom will war over whether he’s voicing Max Goof, Noel Kreiss, or Kovu, and I added on that, “You guys are forgetting Eric’s friend on Boy Meets World. Don’t forget that Boy Meets World is Disney owned”, I’ve weirdly been thinking of Boy Meets World in KH. Mostly as a joke. But meh.

Perhaps “I am Number Four”...

Oh! Harry Potter! Duh! People have been doing that for years, and it works.

People have also written Fullmetal Alchemist/KH crossovers, I think. And I haven’t seen FMAB yet (for shame, I know. It’s been on my list for ages, and hopefully I’ll get to it soon), from what I know of it, I love the idea.

The Kingdom Keepers series would probably be good for KH, even though I haven’t read it yet. Descendants?

Phineas and Ferb!

I’ll just add Sailor Moon, because. Actually, you know what? Sailor Pluto’s staff was pretty much the first Keyblade. So it works and works well.

And why am I now imagining things like NCIS and Castle? IDK.

Hocus Pocus!

And can we get Rinoa in the series, already?

Wizards of Waverly Place. Maybe not as a world, but something. I think that exploring what went wrong with Jerry, Kelbo, and Megan’s relationship could be a good warning for Sora, Riku, and Kairi, perhaps. And there are other things you could, too. To a lesser extent: Phil of the Future and That’s So Raven. Again, they probably wouldn’t work as worlds (maybe cameos). But I think there are interesting things there the games could use. Like, “Oh, you can time travel, Xehanorts? Well, let me hop in my friends’ the Diffy’s time machine and beat you at your own game.” Or, “You can see the future Master of Masters, so can my friend Raven.”

Doctor Who.

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.

Moana.

This is everything that I can think of right now...

I also think it would be fun to add in little cameos, like Proud Snacks from the Proud Family.

Edit: I want Max Goof in this series.

Edit 2: Oh! The Swan Princess and Quest for Camelot!

Edit 3: Hanna Barbara and Paramount’s monster movies could be a good idea.

Edit 4: Studio Ghibli!

#and the host maybe? I don't freaking know #oh. the headless horseman would be cool #and though I've yet to watch the movie: transcendence with Jonny Depp would probably good from what I know of it #the world is still beautiful because why not?#I'd say death note but I don't know how well it would work with kh. but I'd be all for it #beyond the boundary #teen titans #x-men evolution?#eternal sonata?#maximum ride. because books 1-3 are solid. and probably even book 5 though the rest of the series is a mess #supernatural perhaps #among the hidden #agent Cody banks #robotech?#kimba the white lion?#I want kairi to meet mia thermopolis #Alex rider #totally spies #the magic school bus #cyberchase #kh could potentially crossover well with other crossovers like voyagers or time tunnel but that might get too confusing #double identity #powerpuff girls?#people have also joked about loony tunes but I don't think that would really work #the tinker bell movies?#tangled the series!#the king and I? the thief and the cobbler? the road to el dorado? Dave the barbarian?#kotoura-san just because sora would be nice to kotoura?#Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet #Narnia if Disney hadn't lost the rights

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tcm · 4 years

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Van Johnson: The Leading Man with a Boyish Charm By Susan King

If Frank Sinatra was the favorite singer of bobbysoxers in the 1940s, Van Johnson was every teenage girl’s dreamboat. And for good reason. He was adorable: tall, athletic, freckle-faced with reddish blond hair, a warm smile and a charming screen presence. He was the perfect boy-next-door any mother would want her daughter to marry. In fact, when he went to the New York premiere of A THRILL OF A ROMANCE (‘45), a Technicolor romantic comedy also starring MGM’s aqua star Esther Williams, he was waylaid by the bobbysoxers who even ripped the buttons off his shirt.

Johnson was also a lyric in the Prehistoric Man number in ON THE TOWN (‘49): “What has Gable got for me and Mrs. Johnson’s blond boy Van, I want a handsome Joe from ages ago, a prehistoric man!” But he was more than just a pretty face. He more than held his own opposite Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne in his first major starring role in the romantic fantasy A GUY NAMED JOE (‘43), and he was moving as a real-life flier who loses his leg in the stirring THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (‘44).

In my L.A. Times interview with him in 1991, Johnson, then 75, told me, “I never expected or thought about the movies. It was a never-never land out there. It was soooooo glamorous.” During his years under contract with MGM, he noted that he would pinch himself to realize he was in fact a movie star. “Every day I drove on the lot, I looked up at Leo the Lion and I couldn’t believe it was me, this little kid from Newport, R.I., up there with all of those famous people. I never got over it.”

Born in 1916, Johnson’s childhood was less than idyllic. His alcoholic mother abandoned the family when he was young. His Swedish-immigrant father was cold. But young Johnson found solace in the touring companies that appeared in Newport. After he graduated from high school, he went to New York. He was 19 when he got a part in the Broadway revue New Faces of 1936, followed by roles in the musicals Too Many Girls and Pal Joey. He came to Hollywood to do the 1940 film version of TOO MANY GIRLS.

It was Lucille Ball, star of TOO MANY GIRLS, who introduced him to the MGM casting director Billy Grady. Johnson recalled in a 1963 interview that Ball told him, “I’m going to introduce you, and at least you’re going to act like you’re the star I think you are.” Johnson began to work his way up the MGM ladder when he got a role in A GUY NAMED JOE. But he nearly died in early 1943 when his DeSoto convertible was struck by another car. He suffered a fractured skull, major facial injuries, a severed neck artery and bone fragments that pierced his brain. After several surgeries and several months, his forehead was left with major scars. He also had a metal plate put into the left side of his head.

He later remembered he was told he had been nearly decapitated. “But I never lost consciousness. I spent four months in the hospital after they sewed the top of my head back on,” Johnson noted. MGM wanted to replace him, but Tracy and director Victor Fleming insisted production be halted until he was well enough to return to work. And a star was born. Ironically, bobbysoxers would abandon him in 1947 when he married pal Keenan Wynn’s ex-wife. His popularity waned but he continued to work usually doing three or four films a year.

I think he did some of his best work once he lost the matinee idol moniker in such films as the World War II drama COMMAND DECISION (‘48); William A. Wellman’s gritty acclaimed World War II action-drama BATTLEGROUND (‘49); THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS (‘54), a romantic drama based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Babylon Revisited” and most notably in the classic THE CAINE MUTINY (‘54), which also starred Humphrey Bogart as the maniacal Capt. Queeg. He also drips with charm in IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME (‘49) and the perfect partner for Judy Garland in the delightful musical remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s romantic comedy THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (‘40). MGM didn’t renew his contract in 1954, so he went to Columbia to do such movies as the romantic drama THE END OF THE AFFAIR (‘55) with Deborah Kerr. Johnson also starred in a dual role in the truly bizarre NBC musical The Pied Piper of Hamelin, which aired Thanksgiving weekend in 1957.

In the 1960s, Johnson not only had two bouts with cancer, he saw his film roles dry up. So, he began touring in such musicals as Damn Yankees and The Music Man. He said in an interview why he turned to theater: “Because the phone didn’t ring. Because the film scripts were getting crummier and crummier. Because I sat beside my pool in Palm Springs one day and told myself, ‘Van, you’ll be 45 this year. If you don’t start doing something now, you never will.”

Besides doing an occasional movie, Johnson appeared on countless TV series, movies and miniseries, earning an Emmy nomination for the ABC miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man. He returned to Broadway in 1985 in Jerry Herman’s Tony Award-winning musical La Cage Aux Folles and that same year he appeared in a small role as an actor in Woody Allen’s enchanting THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (‘85). “These are supposed to be my September years” he once told an interviewer. “I’m supposed to be at home enjoying them, but I still love to tour.”

When I interviewed Johnson, he was in town to appear in a production of Show Boat in Pasadena. He was set to play Cap’n Andy, a role he had done several times. Even at 75, he still was boyish and charming. But I felt bad for him. He had damaged his ear drums after flying with a cold and was extremely hard of hearing. And he was fighting a bad case of bronchitis. Johnson never went on stage because he developed pneumonia before opening night. He retired in 1992 and died at 92 in 2008.

Though many actors bristled being under contract, Johnson confessed in a 1985 interview he loved his years at MGM. “It was one big happy family and a little kingdom,” he noted. “Everything was provided for us, from singing lessons to barbells. All we had to do was inhale, exhale and be charming. I used to dread leaving the studio to go out into the real world, because to me the studio was the real world.”

#Van Johnson #bobby soxer #1940s #1950s #MGM #classic hollywood #old hollywood #Lucille Ball #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #Susan King

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shannendoherty-fans · 3 years

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People, September 9th 1991

High School Confidential

By Tom Gliatto and Michael Alexander.

Photos by Mark Sennett.

Beverly Hills, 90210 Gets Its Heat from a Dangerously Cute Cast of TV's Hottest New Stars CONFIDENTIAL MEMO: FROM: The Vice Principal TO: The Faculty, High School U.S.A. I'm sure I don't need to remind you what happened when we didn't prepare for Bart Simpson last fall. The school was flooded with rude, antieducational T-shirts. Some cows were had. Well, as a new school year gets under way, I believe we face another daunting challenge: Brace yourselves for Beverly Hills, 90210. That's the Fox drama about unworldly twin teens Brandon and Brenda Walsh (played by Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty), recent transferees from Minneapolis to the Hills of Beverly. There they struggle to assimilate into the fast-lane lifestyle of West Beverly Hills High School, where the kids come equipped with BMWs, call waiting and designer surfboards. In the process, the teens examine their emerging identities and the problems that adolescents everywhere face.

The show languished in the Nielsen ratings against Thursday powerhouse Cheers last year. But Fox had no replacement, so it stayed. While we were on summer vacation, new 90210 episodes began airing, and the show landed in the Top 20, becoming the most popular show among teenagers. To some extent, I take responsibility for having ignored 90210. I made the mistake of reading newspaper critics instead of my daughter's diary, and so I believed, as Howard Rosenberg sniffed in the Los Angeles Times, that the show was merely a "ZIP code for stereotypes and stock characters." Little did I know that this show would mesmerize teens by doing emotionally realistic shows that involved adolescent rebellion, alcoholic; parents, a breast-cancer scare and plenty of worrisome teen sex. "Most shows for adolescents," says 90210 creator Darren Star, "seem like they are written by 50-year-olds who think teenagers behave like 7-year-olds."

It also doesn't hurt that the show's male stars, Priestley and Luke Perry (who plays brooding loner Dylan McKay), are "to die for," as my daughter puts it. These two have each been receiving about 1,500 fan letters a week. So be vigilant: Surely some of these will be written by our students...during class! And I'm afraid that 90210 is only going to get bigger with our kids, if producer Aaron Spelling is to be believed. "I thought The Mod Squad and Charlie's Angels got a lot of publicity in their heyday," says Spelling, whose company produced those shows, "but it doesn't compare to this. It's crazy. We have merchandising coming out of our ears"—a complete line of T-shirts, beach towels, notebooks, etc. "And now these actors can't walk down the street!"

Or even streak through malls. You probably saw those alarming news reports about a frenzied mob of 10,000 fans that stampeded Perry when he appeared at a south Florida mall last month. "It's a little scary," says Perry. Scarier is the amount of time students will waste this fall discussing Luke. And Jason. And who is sexier. I provide some information on the two. Jason Priestley, 22, plays Brandon Walsh, a model of thoughtful level-headedness. In real life, however, the brown-haired, blue-eyed star, who started acting in commercials at age 4 and played an orphan on that very nice NBC sitcom Sister Kate, is no Oliver Twist. He likes dirt bikes, bungee jumping and is a chain-smoker (just about the whole cast puffs it up—but not on-camera). Vancouver-born Priestley likes to hang out in Las Vegas. As for his real romantic life, he was reportedly dating actress Robin (Doogie Howser, M.D.) Lively last spring, but it seems likely that now he is too busy for such dalliance;. He must be on the set 14 hours a day, five days a week. To avoid ever-present fans, Priestley says, "I look different from my character when I'm just walking around. I don't shave, I don't dress like Brandon."

On the show, 26-year-old Luke Perry (Brenda Walsh's boyfriend, Dylan) sports a leather jacket, dagger sideburns and a squint that spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e. Although he grew up and graduated from high school in Fredericktown, Ohio, he seems to have attended James Dean wise-guy classes. Perry, who played country-boy Ned Bates on the ABC soap Loving, entertains the 90210 cast by strutting around bare-chested making jokes. Does he have a girlfriend? "No. You know how I can get in touch with Linda Hamilton?" What kind of music does he listen to? "Tom Jones is awesome." Are he and Priestley ever mistaken for each other? "He's mistaken for me on his good days." And 90210, he says, is "the best show on television, except for Jeopardy!" We should act quickly, faculty, when we see any signs that Beverly Hills, 90210 is disrupting normal student activity.

How abnormal might things get? Consider: "It's almost like there are cults," says Brian Austin Green, 18, the North Hollywood High grad who plays the cutely dweeby David Silver. "Girls go to school the day after the show, and they actually become these characters. They say, 'Okay, today I want to be Dylan, you can be Brenda, you can be Brandon.' " Needless to say, students caught pretending to be TV characters should be brought directly to my office for detention. But you know, it might not be a bad thing if our students could show some of the good sense that the 90210ers display in coping with the pressures of fame and fortune. Jennie Garth, 19, who plays the very sexy, very blond, very snotty Kelly Taylor, is particularly admirable. The youngest of seven children, she grew up on a farm near Champaign, Ill., until her schoolteacher parents moved to Phoenix when she was 13. "Living in a small town and coming from a very tight and close family instilled a lot of standards that I need to live up to," says Garth, who just bought a home in Sherman Oaks. She also recently supplied her parents with the down payment for their new home, setting a splendid example for today's youth.

According to a tabloid that someone left in the faculty lounge, Memphis-raised Shannen Doherty, 20, a veteran of such wonderful shows as Little House: A New Beginning, is the only cast member to be accused of behaving like "a spoiled brat" on the set. But she maintains she is no such thing. "I think everybody gets in a bad mood," Shannen says. "You do not work 16-hour days and not start feeling it. But I have never thrown a tantrum. I've gotten upset on the set, but it's never been just to be a bitch. You have to stand up for yourself in this business. That was something I was told when I was 12 years old and working with Michael Landon."

As with about half the cast members, Doherty is in a relationship—in her case, a real-estate developer with whom she's exchanged commitment rings. "You really have to date a while before you decide if this is the person you want to marry," she says with Brenda-like candor. Almost sounds like the relationship could be a future 90210 plot. "The problems of young people have accelerated," says Aaron Spelling, "and so have their feelings and thoughts." The show, he says, has kept pace: Even with their Clearasil-perfect complexions and plump allowances, the students at Beverly Hills have encountered their share of problems. "We had the guts to make Luke Perry be a member of AA," says Spelling. "We had Jason, our star, drinking and driving. That's reality."

And, apparently, the adulatory fan mail often includes a sad dose of that reality. "I got a letter the other day from a girl who mentioned the show we did on parental drug abuse," says Perry in a rare moment of seriousness. "She wrote about catching her father freebasing in the basement. I get letters like that all the time, from people all over the country." Gabrielle Carteris (at age 30, she's 90210's oldest cast-kid), who plays Andrea Zuckerman, the bright student who comes from the wrong side of Rodeo Drive, remembers an encouraging close encounter in a grocery store. "One girl came up to me after we'd done the breast-cancer show," says Carteris. "She said, 'I went home with all my friends and we checked our breasts for lumps.' "

In conclusion: Maybe I didn't need to write this memo. Maybe things won't be that bad, even if every locker in every corridor has a picture of Jason, Luke, Shannen or Jennie in it. Perhaps our dear little school is more like West Beverly Hills High—at least the TV version—than I thought. That's what Ian Ziering, 27, thinks too. "The reality on the show pretty much mirrors the way life is all over, in terms of teenagers," says New Jersey—bred Ziering, who once did Fruit of the Loom underwear ads and now plays 90210's curly-headed jock, Steve Sanders. "There's a mystique about Beverly Hills. But that's not what keeps people tuning in. The show could have been Montana E-I-E-I-O." By the way, should any student pronounce his name "eee-an," correct him or her, please. It's "eye-an."

-- WHEN BEVERLY HILLS, 90210 PREMIERED last October, Highlights, the student newspaper at Beverly Hills High, ran articles mocking the school's TV counterpart, West Beverly Hills High. "They said that the show was a joke," says Jenny Brandt, 14, a sophomore at the 1,900-student school. But as the story lines improved and Jason Priestley and Luke Perry became stars, the jokes stopped, and Brandt found herself, like many of her pals, glued to the set on Thursday nights from 9 to 10 P.M. "No phone calls allowed," says Brandt. "Except during commercials." Hope Levy, a 17-year-old senior, has taken fandom a step further with her friends. "We have little handmade cards," she says, speaking from her mom's car phone. "They say you're a member of Club 90210." While some kids think the show treats them as snobby stereotypes, most agree with sophomore Jordan Rynes when he says, "It's like a soap opera for teens. The shows dealing with drinking and drugs are the most real—adults don't realize how accurate it is."

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captains-log-reviews · 4 years

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Disney’s Peter Pan (1953)

Summary/Overview:

I’ve been considering a Hook-themed review blog for some time now, and what better way to start off than with the classic 1953 Disney film? Originally slated to be Disney’s second animated film after Snow White, the idea for a production of Peter Pan was in Walt’s mind long before it hit the big screen. Walt himself had played Peter in a school play as a boy and had retained a fondness for the story ever since. The first major film version to feature a boy (Bobby Driscoll) in the titular role, Disney’s Peter Pan has since become perhaps even more widely known than Barrie’s original. That being said, I think it’s probably unnecessary to give much in the way of a summary, but for the sake of developing a consistent format for my reviews, here’s the super quick version:

Wendy Darling, a young girl with an active imagination and a love for storytelling, is distraught when her practical father decides that it is time for her to grow up and move out of the nursery with her brothers. Later that night, after her parents have gone out, Peter Pan—the flying boy hero of Wendy’s stories—shows up at her window and offers to take her and her brothers to Neverland, a magical island with mermaids, “Indians,” and pirates where they will never grow up. Unfortunately the kids get caught up in the plans of Captain Hook, who wants revenge on Peter for cutting off his hand and feeding it to a crocodile. Ultimately, Hook captures the children and nearly kills Peter with a bomb in the guise of a present from Wendy, but Tinkerbell, Peter’s loyal fairy friend, saves him just in the nick of time, allowing Peter to free the children from Hook’s crew and fight the captain in a final duel that results in Hook being chased off into the sunset by the crocodile. Wendy and her brothers return home safely, and Wendy realizes that she isn’t so afraid of growing up anymore...only to have her father admit that maybe holding onto her childhood a little bit longer wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

What I Liked:

Those of you who followed me over here from my other Hook blog, not-wholly-unheroic, already know that I am more than slightly biased when it comes to Disney’s Hook. I distinctly remember the first time I saw him on screen when I was twelve. The sequel had just come out on video, and ABC was doing its usual Sunday Disney movie (and advertising) by showing the original Peter Pan one weekend, followed by the sequel the next. I was bored and had never watched the film before, so I decided to give it a shot...and I was instantly struck by how different Hook was from any Disney villain I’d previously encountered. While most of the classic villains are motivated by greed, vanity, or the desire for power, Hook’s feud with Pan is at least somewhat justified considering he not only lost a hand but also faces the constant threat of the crocodile as a result of our supposed hero’s actions. Additionally, prior to Peter Pan, Disney’s major villains (Queen Grimhilde/The Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, the Queen of Hearts) were typically rather flat and lacking in personality. We see only their wicked side (or in the case of “Man” in Bambi, we don’t see them at all!). Hook is a major departure from this trend in that while he is clearly made out to be the bad guy, we also see him in moments of fear, weakness, and self-doubt. We see him sick and in pain and ready to give up at times. Suddenly, he isn’t just a villain anymore... He’s a person we can empathize with. Walt himself recognized that the audience would “get to liking Hook” would not want him to die as he does in Barrie’s canon, opting instead to have him “going like hell” to get away from the crocodile but ultimately still very much alive at the end of the film.

Aside from Hook himself, I love the dynamic he has with Mr. Smee. While Hook admittedly doesn’t treat Smee well, there is clearly a bond of trust between them. Early on in the film, for instance, Smee prepares to shave Hook with a straight razor. It’s a moment that is ultimately used for comedic effect, but when one considers that Hook has a crew full of literal cutthroats, it says a lot about Smee that Hook feels totally at ease with this man putting a blade to his neck. Smee repeatedly attempts to intervene to save Hook when he doesn’t have to, and Hook unfailingly looks to Smee when he’s afraid for his life or when he needs to send someone out to complete an important mission for him. It’s a villain/sidekick dynamic that borders on friendship, and I think it adds a lot to the film and to Hook’s complexity as a character.

As far as artistic choices go, it is a rather minor thing, but I love that they kept the stage tradition of using the same actor for both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook, giving the film a rather dreamlike feel and subtly reinforcing the enmity Wendy feels toward her father in real life as she faces off against Hook in the Neverland. Speaking of the actor, Hans Conried isn’t just voice for Hook, as many would assume... He IS Hook as much as any live-action actor could be. I love the old hand-drawn animation style and how they used to use the actors as live-action reference models. (You can see some shots of Hans as the reference model vs the final images of Hook in the film here.) If you’ve ever seen a recording of Hans in one of his other roles, you’ll notice he doesn’t just SOUND like Hook...he makes the same facial expressions (particularly in how he speaks with his eyebrows) and hand/arm motions. It’s small details like this that make Hook (and all the characters) more human and show just how much time, effort, and love the animators put into their work.

What I Didn’t Like:

RACISM. With a capital “R.” There’s no sugar-coating it. Unfortunately, Disney’s film falls victim one of the many problematic tropes of the time when it was made and portrays the island’s native characters as highly caricatured, ignorant, and—in the case of Tiger Lily—romantically exotic people. Their signature song, “What Made the Red Man Red” is lyrically painful to modern listeners with any sense of decency, and the villagers’ character design—from their bright red skin to their large noses and often extreme body shapes (very fat or pencil thin)—along with their badly broken English is highly uncomfortable, to say the least. On the other hand, Tiger Lily, the most realistically drawn native character, is shown dancing flirtatiously for Peter and subsequently rubbing noses with him in what is meant to be a sort of native kiss (based on the concept of the “Eskimo kiss” which in and of itself is not a politically correct term).

Aside from the glaringly obvious issue of racism, my only real complaint with the Disney film is the music. While the songs are pretty standard for films of the day, I personally don’t find most of the music particularly memorable or catchy. “You Can Fly” is alright, I suppose, but the next few songs have their issues. “Following the Leader” and “What Made the Red Man Red” both have racist undertones, and Wendy’s lullaby, “Your Mother and Mine” puts the kids to sleep for a reason... It’s sweet but rather boring and drags on for far too long to keep the audience’s attention. Less time on the lullaby and more pirate sea shanties, please!

On the flip side, Hook is arguably the first Disney villain to get his own theme song, which is pretty cool. The original pirate song (which you can find here) is a bit more sedate than “The Elegant Captain Hook” we end up with and focuses more on the joys of pirating in general than why Hook, specifically, is someone the kids should want to work for. Personally, I’m glad they chose the song that they did, though I do wish they’d given Hook more lines as originally planned. (You can find the lyrics to the full version here.)

Would I recommend it?

Despite its flaws, Disney’s Peter Pan has had a major impact on the legacy of Peter Pan and how we view the characters as well as Neverland itself. It has long been a personal favorite of mine and acted as a gateway into the fandom for me. It introduced me to Hook as a likable, sympathetic, and complex villain and I’ll always be grateful for that. I definitely recommend it to anyone entering the fandom, those with a fondness for the nostalgia of classic Disney films, and kids at heart of all ages.

Overall Rating:

As much as I love the film and want to give it a perfect score, I’d be remiss if I didn’t deduct at least a few points for the depiction of the “Indians.” Otherwise a lovely version of the story so... 4/5 stars

#captain's log reviews #disney peter pan #peter pan disney #peter pan 1953 #disney captain hook #captain hook disney #reviews #disney reviews #movie reviews #film reviews #captains-log-reviews

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not-a-christmas-tree · 4 years

Text

i just watched the dallas theatre company les mis here are my observations

IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THIS PRODUCTION I SUGGEST YOU DO! DON’T READ THIS IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS THOUGH!

so, in case you didn’t know: in 2014, Dallas Theatre Company did a modern interpretation of les mis. i just watched it on youtube (i will link it later, i promise) and took SO MANY GODDAMN NOTES so here they are!

ACT ONE

(Look Down-WHID)

starting out strong! we got some HARSH TRUTHS ABOUT THE JAIL SYSTEM!! blatant police brutality happening BASICALLY the entire first part of the song. it hurts me.

note on the cops costumes: they legitimately terrify me and they are dressed in like. full riot gear.

okay so,,,valjean wraps the rope from his bag around his neck at the end of WHID. this is interesting bc, a) he’s trying to find a solution as to what he should do after the Bishop and that’s a direction I’ve surprisingly seen no one take, but b) this part has the same melody as javert’s suicide, when javert is ALSO trying to figure out what he should do after his perception on life is altered. for a moment there, they both are on the same page, the page being suicide. however, only one of them takes that choice.

the above makes the lines (in both songs) “i’ll escape now from that world / from the world of valjean” ESPECIALLY interesting because. in two different ways, they did escape, but they ALMOST had the same conclusion for a brief second.

(At The End Of The Day)

in ATEOTD fantine ends up being the last one working, causing everyone to look at her with varying degrees of annoyance or frustration. She do be hardworking doe

OH SHIT KIDS IN THE FACTORY!! three little kids run up to the foreman when he’s giving daily stipends to the ladies!! (they’re also the last to be paid, giving significant sass to foreman who also sasses back)

Girl #5 mockingly calling fantine “innocent sister” when 5 is white and fantine is a WOC...that’s kind of interesting given that that can be read as SERIOUS racial profiling on 5’s part

foreman looks like bob’s boss in the incredibles but like. tall lmao

(I Dreamed A Dream)

her look of like,,shock-but-not when everyone from the factory exits and she takes off her bandana,,,that. that is good acting

her transitions from chest to head voice are so good

i’m kinda sad she isn’t younger?? or just. doesn’t look super young bc fantine is supposed to be like. early twenties. she’s not 45 and had a decently long life before she died, no, she’s young. she was taken advantage of. that’s the whole point. but that’s sUPER little like this lady is way too good

she has the perfect mix of sadness and regret plus anger and shameless hope. like. kudos to you allison blackwell you’re a dope fantine

the cry on “killed the dream i dreamed” brb sobbing

(The Dock Scenes)

MALE PROSTITUTES I REPEAT!! MALE PROSTITUTES!! (no idea what wig he’s wearing tho. he was done dirty in the wig department)

oh male prostitute is prostitute #1!

oh damn there is. lady def on some bad drugs with her kid passing behind fantine on the bench. ouch.

hoo okay they did n o t censor lovely ladies!! (mini note: camera person has the camera down an AWFUL LOT on these docks scenes lmao)

there are cops on the docks. gross.

(Who Am I-Confrontation)

OH SHIT THEY HAVE A FALSE JVJ IN THE BACKGROUND OF WHO AM I

jvj comforts not-jvj for a second!! (money note was FANTASTIC btw)

fantine being WOC and DYING in a modern hospital also is,,yeesh because. you know. racist doctors.

jvj cries after fantine dies JUST STAB ME NOW OKAY—

confrontation is really funny when u see that javert has a GUN and jvj has A CHAIR

JVJ DID THE LIL RUN ON “live within my care” YAAAAY

(COAC-Master Of The House)

oh boy baby cosette,,so small,,so pure plus classic baby head shake when she sings I STAN

MADAME T LOOKS—OH GOOD GOD

DID SHE SPIT ON MY BABY--

cosette: “please do not send me out alone—“ madame t: “oooooh my gOOOOOD” omg

what the fuck is thenardiers hair i—

WHAT THE FUCK IS THENARDIER IN G E N E R A L

random idea regarding thenardier’s prison tattoo: he has the same number on his chest that jvj has. Meaning he was in jail too. so why isn’t he as messed up as jvj? i wanna say maybe he was in for less time, but like. I doubt it. However, he has a whole ass gang. did the thenardier gang break their boss out of jail? please say yes

him listing things for baby éponine to charge i love it

OH MY GOD THENARDIER FLAUNTS HIS NUMBER WHILE JVJ DOESNT!! jvj hides his past because he believes it will get him into better places (it does, he becomes mayor for god’s sake) while thenardier shows off his past with stubborn pride. while thenardier cheats his way to success, jvj lives an almost honest life where he ultimately suffers due to the stress all the hiding he does gives him

i love that éponine looks like neither of her parents,,,madame t got around huh?

(The Bargain)

I JUST REALIZED THE STAGE HAS A CATWALK DOWN THE CENTER INTO THE AUDIENCE THAT IS THE COOLEST OMG

Instead of madame correcting thenardier on cosette’s name he asks cosette herself which prompts the CUTEST ANGRY YELL OF “it’s cosette!” I HAVE EVER SEEN

also thenardier fuckin MANHANDLING cosette i’m DYING

JVJ LOVES HER SM I AM SOFTTT

(The Beggars)

omg marius is so ADORABLE i love him

gavroche is a style icon

kid holding sign saying “my mom got laid off” POOR BB

i love éponine

that’s it that’s the note

wait a sec was that montparnasse with the prostitute earlier in beggars??

ALSO I SEE AZELMA AND OTHER THENARDIER KIDS PRESENT FOR “turn on the tears!!” THANK YOU FOR UTILIZING THAT LINE PROPERLY

why does enj have a bat?? If it;s not a bat then,,,what is it? someone please help me

marius saves cosette from bad guy gang!! 🥰🥰

bruh javert misses jvj running by like,,,MAYBE two seconds that is hilarious

jav looks so done when thenardier is trying to get out of this lmao i love it

javert looks so cop-like it scares me

(Stars)

the line “safe behind bars” in stars kind of kills me here because as the audience you SEE the cruelty that the convicts face. you see the guy on the ground getting beaten you SEE the chains around their throats and yet. yet javert still somehow thinks that putting jvj in jail is safe? i think the thing to focus on here is not whether it’s safe, because it obviously isn’t. the focus is who it’s safer for, jean valjean or javert?

has it always been “your father” rather than “her father” when marius asks éponine to find where cosette lives?? if they changed it that is SMART because yk. jvj would be ALARMED if he found out he’d been found by éponine but he wouldn’t hurt her. he’s not the guy she has to worry about, it’s her own father. thenardier gave her a job and she’s straying from it, he’s what would endanger her.

THE PLAYFUL BOOP AND SHOVE FROM MARIUS 🥺🥺🥺

(The ABC Café)

“note-ruh daym”

hee hee pretty enjolras

pretty enjolras in skinny jeans even better

OOH we have,,,angry enjolras in this version o k a y

grantaire raises his hand before agog/aghast part omg

“i’ve never heard him ooOOOOh and aAAAAh *excited squeal*

“dan joo-wan” i love texas

bossuet spotted :)

longing gay looks NOT spotted :(

i love enjolras okay but this one is just,,,a little too aggressive. enjolras isn’t just angry all the time, he’s not that one dimensional. of course, there is more of the show to see and i hope he changes a little bit, but so far red and black isn’t doing much for me. enjolras is hopeful, not just angry.

A CAPELLA SECTION IN RED AND BLACK?? I think YES

the amis finding out lamarque is dead has “fuck trump just won the election” energy

okay i was hoping that enj would change his aggression thing when they find out lamarque is dead (bc that’s when most enjolrai figure out what may happen and kinda sober up yk) but. it doesn’t look like he did. there is hope for barricade scenes

OMG LIL NOTE ON COMBEFERRE GIVING OUT FLYERS TO AUDIENCE MEMBERS: that is fucking pERFECT and yk why?? because it’s a call to action!! it’s less obvious in DYHTPS because they’re mostly singing to each other but later in epilogue when the words and melody is repeated, it’s meant as a call to action! “will you join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me?” is a cALL TO ACTION AND THEY ARE HANDING FLYERS TO AUDIENCE MEMBERS—that’s officially the only way to break the fourth wall THANK YOU

hey fantine doubles as a student i think!!

HARMONIES ARE C L E A N OOOOH

(In My Life-Heart Full Of Love)

okay yes i already love cosette because she plays awkward-teen-in-love-for-the-first-time PERFECTLY.

book-ish cosette hell yes a cutie

father-daughter forehead kisses 🥺

awkward mARIUS TIMEEEEE

placing marius, éponine, and cosette in a triangle is a MARVELOUS decision thank u for that symbolism

marius checking if he looks good and ép giving him a thumbs up omg

*aggressively tries to sit normally* same cosette

*awkward curtsy* also same cosette

(Attack On Rue Plumet)

robbery time let’s see how they do this

ooh marius and cosette run off but i can’t tell if they notice gang before running

thenardier fuckin SLICES éponine after her scream

NOOOO HER LIL WHIMPER AFTER BEING THREATENED AGAIN

(One Day More)

this lil part between robbery and one day more is interesting bc i legit have NO idea what jvj is thinking here. he keeps looking between his watch (i think it’s a watch idk) and cosette after she runs off to pack so like. what. is he doing here bc he looks like he’s choosing between two things but i don’t,,know,,what things

red berets on the amis are dope btw

i think marius is discussing what to do with éponine here, which is FUN because we all know why she goes to the barricade in the brick :’) éponine might be convincing marius to go to the barricade knowing this is her chance to die with him like in the book

omg

OMG

that stomp bit with the students was the coolest fucking thing i’ve ever seen

END OF ACT ONE

act two will be posted shortly :D

#enjoy my super long analysis on WHID and Stars lmao #i went ham with the english brain #les mis #les miserables #dallas theater company #modern les mis #les amis de l'abc #les amis

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passionate-reply · 4 years

Photo

Created by @tremblegay and I wasn’t really tagged by anyone to do it, but I thought it looked interesting and took it upon myself to do it. I suppose I did originally see this on @pozzima‘s blog and they wrote that anybody could do it, so I have permission, kinda.

1. A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF SUNSHINE.

JOHN FOXX - “ENTER THE ANGEL”

John Foxx’s 1985 album In Mysterious Ways is suffused with sunshine from the get-go, and this song was the lead single and clearly the most accessibly sunny of the bunch. It’s easy to imagine it as the mood music for when the one you love most enters the room, or is sighted from across some distance...

2. A SONG THAT YOU’VE CRIED TO.

PET SHOP BOYS - “JACK THE LAD”

Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant has remarked that the duo create quite a lot of “happy-sad” sounding music, and “Jack the Lad” seems like an excellent example. Released as a B-Side to their well-remembered hit “Suburbia,” its use of historical perspective and reassurance that “we all fall, even Jack the Lad” made it a mainstay of my pervasive teenage frustrations.

3. A SONG THAT MAKES YOU FEEL WARM.

ULTRAVOX - “I CAN’T STAY LONG”

Today I learned I don’t listen to a lot of very “warm” feeling music, despite being one of those people who always feels cold in everyday life. But this track, on 1979′s Systems of Romance, gives me that sort of sense. “I’d like to glide, in the long green light of a July afternoon”...

4. A SONG THAT MAKES YOUR HEART ACHE (IN A GOOD WAY).

THOMAS DOLBY & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO - “FIELD WORK”

Thomas Dolby is the guy from “She Blinded Me With Science” or whatever, but he also wrote an absolutely beautiful ode to the glories of inquiry into the workings of our world. The scientists of the world deserve this sort of anthem, if you ask me. When I was younger I actually dreamed of becoming some sort of scientist, and this song reminds me why. It fills me with the urge to work hard and experience things and learn.

5. A SONG THAT MAKES YOUR HEART ACHE (IN A BAD WAY).

HEAVEN 17 - “LET’S ALL MAKE A BOMB”

There are any number of songs I could have chosen that deal to some extent with major real-world issues, but I went with this one because it strikes me as especially...”achy.” It’s a rather forlorn dirge that leads me to imagine what sorts of activities I’d be up to if I knew I was about to die. I mean, one does always need a contingency plan.

6. A SONG THAT GETS YOUR BLOOD PUMPIN’. A SONG THAT MAKES YOU FEEL ALIVE. THE MUSICAL VERSION OF A PEP TALK.

BILL NELSON - “QUIT DREAMING AND GET ON THE BEAM”

This might seem like a surprisingly slow-paced song for this question, but it does work on yours truly like a pep talk. I mean, just look at the name! Whenever I’m tempted to lie low or not pursue something that will take some hard work, the words of Nelson drift through my mind: “People who do things are people who get things done!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

7. THAT ONE SONG THAT MAKES YOU TRANSCEND REALITY WHEN YOU’RE DRIVING AROUND ALONE AT 3 AM.

KARL BARTOS - “NACHTFAHRT”

I’ll let you guys in on a little secret--as much as I like Numan’s “Cars” and Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn,” I actually, uh, can’t drive. (At least Neil Tennant is also a grown adult who never bothered learning either, so I have some company.) Since I can’t really relate, I’ll give you a song that makes me at least try to imagine such an experience: one of my favourite tracks from the solo work of ex-Kraftwerker, Karl Bartos.

8. YOU KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO THIS SONG BY HEART.

ABC - “4 EVER 2 GETHER”

Hard decision--I know the works to almost every one of my ~700 songs by heart. Well, except for the instrumentals. So I went with something that seemed especially fun, lyrically. I know I’m just about the only person who’d describe themselves as some sort of “huge ABC fan” but can we appreciate Martin Fry’s positively wicked lyricism for a minute. “The Twelve Disciples might kiss and tell”...

9. A FAVOURITE SONG FROM WHEN YOU WERE A KID.

GARY NUMAN - “BERSERKER”

Also a hard decision, since music has been extremely important to me for pretty much as long as I can recall! Well, that, and my taste hasn’t changed a whole bunch since I was younger. So here’s a song I definitely remember hearing as a kid, and having my mind utterly blown by it, hahaha. Wait a minute, you’re telling me it’s possible for music to sound like THIS? Maybe I’m still a little amazed...

10. A SONG YOU BELT AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS.

VISAGE - “LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE”

What better diva to idolize than Steve Strange, the grand dame of the New Romantics? The sheer drama of this song is beyond infectious. Oh, to be so beautifully despised...

11. COCAINE, IF IT WAS A SONG.

CABARET VOLTAIRE - “L21ST”

A song with quite a lot going on, sonically, despite kind of an innocuous name. I love this sort of busy, industrial clang-and-bang sound. “Keep it up!”

12. A COVER OF A SONG, THAT YOU THINK IS BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL.

PETER BAUMANN - “STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT”

As you may know, I’m pretty much interested in a single genre of music, so there are tons of covers out there like this, that take a song from some style that isn’t “dark synth” and reinterpret it that way, and to me it’s more or less a brand new track, hahaha. But I picked this one because I think it’s very fun: Peter Baumann, originally of Tangerine Dream, tackling an oft-covered tune made most famous by Frank Sinatra.

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myrecordcollections · 4 years

Photo

BB King

The Best Of BB King (ABC Label)

@ 1973 US Pressing

****

In spite of 1972 being one of the stalest years in the history of popular music, the spate of reissues from all the major record companies and countless minor ones picks up more speed all the time, and the results (uneven as they are) are generally encouraging. All four of these albums represent attempts both at recapitulating the contributions of three black titans and cashing in on the belated widespread recognition of those contributions. Curtis Mayfield had a long string of hits with the Impressions but it took Super Fly to make him a household name. Ray Charles may have been bigger in the late Fifties and early Sixties than he is now, but he was more vital then, too. His earlier work deserves the endless repackaging. As for B.B. King, I can still remember the first time I saw a couple of kids in a department store line, audibly opting to chance $3.50 on an album called Lucille because some Limey speedfreaks had made it hip, and I’m sure that both they and I are glad they did, but B.B. King’s career didn’t begin when the royalties began pouring in from flash guitar covers and he was invited to tour with the Rolling Stones, so a thoughtful collection of vintage King is imperative.

Ray Charles doesn’t have as many hits these days as he used to, but he’s more renowned than ever before anyway. He’s become something of a national institution, like the Duke Ellington of R&B; even Pres Nixon has made an official declaration of Charles fandom. But the Pres ain’t exactly the type to do back-flips for “What’d I Say” or “The Right Time,” and Ray’s been hacking his way ever deeper into the tissue veldts of MOR for a full decade now. He still makes a good record every once in a while, but in his prime he was raunchy enough to split your skull and rock you into fundamentalist frothing fits. He created rock ‘n’ roll as much as Berry or Little Richard or anybody; he practically drew up the blue-prints for an entire era of gritty Stax R&B, and nobody ever wrenched their way deeper into the soaring terror of the blues. If you want to hear him really rip the joint apart and put it back together again with a cry, go back to those great Atlantic sides. The essence is on three albums: The Genius of Ray Charles. The Genius Sings the Blues and The Greatest Ray Charles. Or, for a fantastic overview, Atlantic’s four-record compilation The Ray Charles Story. Ray’s move from Atlantic to ABC made him rich and, initially at least, the musical rewards were probably as bountiful as ever and an idiomatic breakthrough besides. In search of a buck-grabbing formula, ABC sent him through albums like The Genius Hits the Road (“Georgia on My Mind,” “Mississippi Mud,” “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” etc.), and miraculously he came up with brilliant, deeply soulful amalgams of gospel roots and mainstream pop. But the real turning point was a record called Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, which was released about 12 years ago, at which time it promptly became the Number One album in America and changed the face of the milder strains of radio pop as irrevocably as his early work had done for rock ‘n’ roll. All through the Sixties the marriage of C&W to blues or bluesy euphemisms reigned, and whether you picked up on Glenn Campbell or Lee Hazelwood or any one of the rest of the multitude exploiting this new form, it all began with Ray Charles.

Ray himself exploited his innovation till the power of the original purveyor began to pale, and not everything on All-Time Great Country & Western Hits is great. But enough of the prime is here to make it worthwhile, especially if you haven’t picked up any of the many previous Charles reissues. “I Can’t Stop Loving You” was his first big move at this amalgam, and it’s still as tearfully puissant today as it was in 1961. Add the occasional C&W standard rendered in R&B style fully as uncompromising as any early Charles (the boiling “You Are My Sunshine” being the earliest and most potent example here), and you have a record as profound and essential as anything out today.

Lots of people think the Super Fly soundtrack the best soul album of 1972, but those unfamiliar with the Impressions owe it to themselves to discover what Curtis Mayfield was up to in the times before the most vital expression of black music was almost forced to deal with heroin death. “Freddie’s Dead” is already a Seventies standard, and His Early Years with the Impressions is a fine reminder that Mayfield possessed a consistent gift for creating hits destined to become classics all through his career. The vocal harmonies of the Impressions could be as mellow a balm as anything by Smokey Robinson and, like Robinson, Mayfield was never saccharine.

In fact, this late rehearsing of his past achievements impresses you firmly, even if you missed it first time around, with the fact that Mayfield was a groundbreaker in the nascent status of black popular music as a direct expression of the changes in black consciousness. When “Keep On Pushing” was a hit it was fairly easy to find shadings of meaning in its lyrics which formed as clear a link between the oldest gospel message and something far more topical, as it was to revel in the perfect evolutionary link between the purely musical freight carried out of church and the AM soul stylings which reached their summit in the mid-Sixties.

“It’s All Right” illuminates the same historic junction, and “We’re A Winner” takes it out of the realm of ambiguity, straight across the threshold of blatant backbeat radio anthem. Meanwhile, if you’re only familiar with things like “Gypsy Woman” in the eviscerated cover versions of white fluff-boys, get ready to be moved to the shoals of your soul by a whole other, more masterful and authentic type of vocal dramatics.

Again, the packaging is pretty bland, and another caveat is that lots of this stuff has been observed in the original albums selling for far less in bargain bins around the country (plus the fact that lots of those original packages were a joy in their very crassness, like that great Keep On Pushing cover observed among Dylan’s most conspicuously prized possessions on the Bringin’ It All Back Home jacket). But if Super Fly was your introduction to Curtis, you’ll want to make a point of picking this up before his pre-soundtrack solo albums, which qualitatively fall way below both what preceded and followed them.

B.B. King has in his belated flush of success become almost as frustrating for the aficionado of the Real Shit as Ray Charles. B.B. plays Vegas now, no fault there, and hits both the colleges and TV talk shows. So he’s finally out of the scuffle, at late long last. Unfortunately, his music has also gotten less interesting with each successive album. Vintage King wasn’t just something for punks to prove they could tell a good blues guitar solo from a bad one; it was stark, evil stuff. Troubled and troubling.

The difference between these two B.B. albums is the difference between chills and chips, between hearing a raw edge that makes Back in the Alley more than just a good colorful title, and satisfying your curiosity about how B.B. King would work in the context of a standard Leon Russell Hollywood camp meeting. And it’s not just a matter of backalleys vs. proximity to pop-stars: There is just no way a cut from the legendary Live at the Regal album, which molded countless Sixties guitarists and stands alongside things like James Brown at the Apollo as one of the all-time classic in-person R&B disks, there is no way something like that is not gonna shut down a pleasantly perfunctory session cut at Cook County Jail two or three years after Johnny Cash made it both righteously hip and fiscally sound to jam for jailbirds.

Actually, the chronological distance between the two albums is not all that great. Back in the Alley begins in 1964 and leaves off just short of where The Best of B.B. King picks up, but the difference in mood and meat is sufficient to make the choice clear, even if Best Of does have the incredible “The Thrill Is Gone.” It’s the fine line between a man playing with total commitment to an audience he has probably had for years which can savor his peaks and bear an off night, and a man playing for people who’ve been sold his legend and will love anything because they know they’re supposed to. But you don’t have to be any kind of connoisseur to tell the difference.

Rolling Stone 1973

#bb king #The best of #ABC #Blues #Rock #Best Of

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tonystarktogo · 5 years

Text

Finally, the second part of Part II: [Or read the whole chapter on AO3]

Most of Tony’s tech — the really good, impressive stuff that would be illegal to keep in your basement if anyone knew that Tony keeps it in his basement — is locked away in his workshop. A hidden room in the basement — because clichés have survived for a reason and Tony would build himself a laguna filled with flesh-eating piranha if he thought he could get away with it — that can only be accessed via a biometric scan, four separate passwords and a security question posed by JARVIS. [The answer to said question is irrelevant, considering acceptance depends on voice recognition, voice modulation and the fact that you have to sing your answer. Not that Tony is paranoid or anything but JARVIS.]

continues below the cut

But because Tony is a sensible person [and would rather carve out his own heart with a screwdriver than lead some unknown assassin with unclear motivations straight to his best, most precious inventions, his family] he’s stuck with the official computer in his office. It’s as up-to-date as can be, of course. Even has some nifty improvements and upgrades that probably violate some terms of agreement or another, but it’s still not the same thing. It can’t match JARVIS’ processing power, for one, and also, it doesn’t joke back.

Tony has nothing if not high expectations when it comes to his tech.

The USB stick Agent-Definitely-Not-J has handed him is a bit of a nightmare — that’s the only bright side on this whole disaster of a night. Say what you want, but Tony delights in a challenge and the program on this USB stick presents him with one. There aren’t just multiple layers of encryption Tony has to crack, there’s also two separate failsafes in place that will wipe the information if triggered. It’s decent coding — again, Tony is a bit of a snob when it comes to these things — and makes good work of the onion concept. Tony could probably lose himself in this, play around a little with the code, see what else it can do, if he wasn’t hyper-aware of the armed asshole glowering at the screen over his shoulder.

Harry Tasker Version 2.0 doesn’t appear to be as fluent in coding as Tony is — few people are, and the guy wouldn’t be here in the first place if he didn’t need Tony’s help, that much is clear — but Tony suspects that he gets a lot more than he lets on. Not stupid, this guy. Not stupid at all.

It’s a shame his manners are a lost cause.

[There’s a gun aimed at the back of Tony’s head that he’s doing a marvelous job of pretending not to notice. Cleary, Red October has never learned how to play nice. Still, this isn’t the first time Tony’s been held at gunpoint. It’s not even the first time someone has been stupid enough to threaten Tony in his own home. And he would have retaliated already, except—

If Steve’s really in trouble — is dead — then Tony needs to know. Getting the information home-delivered is a lot easier and less traceable than alternative methods he’d have to use. And besides just because you have a few aces up your sleeve doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play along when it suits you. Because contrary to what Mister Stane liked to accuse him of, Tony is anything but stupid. This James guy has shown up out of the blue, grief and fury at war in his eyes, but that doesn’t mean anything. That doesn’t mean James might not be the person that killed Steve — or is currently hunting him.]

“Who was Steve working for?” Tony asks eventually, leans back into his seat with a sigh and watches his latest program work its magic.

Wannabe-Bond has been careful not to let any names slip so far. On the one hand, that seems like a sensible precaution, if what Tony suspects turns out to be true. [There’s many ABC agencies civilians aren’t supposed to know more about than the occasional rumor or scandal. And then there’s SHIELD, the governments’ preferred way of keeping their hands squeaky clean and burying all their ugly secrets and inconvenient truths in the seedy underbelly of an organization that doesn’t even exists. Not that Tony would know anything about that one, of course.] On the other hand, the truth will likely come out anyway once Tony gets his hand on the data on this stick. And there’s no question that he will get the data— only how long it will take him and how hard he’ll have to work for it.

Tony can feel the Mission-Impossible-Character’s calculating stare on the back of his head, measuring him. He refuses to turn around and meet those cold eyes. It’s easier to keep his voice even when he doesn’t.

“You don’t want to know.”

And well, that’s not exactly an answer that inspires confidence in you. It’s also a pathetic threat as far as those go. Tony narrows his eyes. If there’s one thing that ticks him off, it’s not being taken serious. So this is how you wanna play it, big boy? Fine. Let’s play.

Opening another three taps almost simultaneously, Tony starts typing again. Faster this time. He switches back and forth between the different programs — most of them trying to isolate the program on the USB stick, ensuring that it doesn’t do anything, attacking the outer layers of the encryption. One of them though is a tiny program Tony has designed to be compatible with every computer system he could think of — and all it really does is communicate with JARVIS. Because, as Tony likes to remind Rhodey regularly, what’s the point in building Skynet if you don’t have it on your side? For some reason, his bet friend doesn’t find that joke as funny as Tony. But then Rhodey knows him better than most people— knows what he can do.

"What’cha doin’?" Wannabe-Bond’s drawled question interrupts Tony’s internal ramblings. He does’t look interested in the answer though, isn’t even looking at the screen any longer. Though where he pulled the knife from that he’s flipping around with his left hand, Tony doesn’t want to know.

"What does it look like I’m doing?"

The words come out too sharp, too harsh. A testament to his fraying nerves perhaps. Either way, Tony bites his lip, but refuses to take them back. He’s not a pushover, and it takes more than a home visit from an assassin to change that. Besides it’s not like spending time with Steve felt anything less than juggling flamethrowers while standing ankle-deep in gunpowder.

"Are you all bark or can you actually back that big mouth of yours up?" Killer-Cat asks. The fun part is that he doesn’t look angry, just curious. He’s still playing with that knife, twisting and spinning it around his fingers. There’s a not-quite-smile on his lips that looks out-of-place— or maybe out-of-practice. Tony wouldn’t know. He’s leaning against the wall next to Tony’s desk, all loose lines and relaxed muscles. It’s probably not a coincidence that he’s also blocking the door that way.

Not that Tony would use the door if he wanted to get away.

"Let’s hope you won’t have reason to find out," Tony snipes back, not once stopping to type. It’s one thing to play games with an isolated program — though that does require his attention, he doesn’t have JARVIS to secure it, has to do the legwork himself — it’s another to simultaneously coordinate a hack with his precious JARVIS without tipping the trigger-happy time bomb he calls his guest off.

On the bright side, it’s still a challenge. Tony loves challenges.

Gaining access to the data on the stick is a painfully slow-going process. It’s far from impossible — Tony doesn’t think the security measures were meant to keep anyone with decent programming abilities out, only to slow them down — but without JARVIS to take over the boring parts, the process drags on. It’s not that Tony can’t do it, but he’s forgotten how much he relies on JARVIS for the parts he doesn’t want to be bothered with.

Oh well, this is still preferable to introducing Double-0-Nothing to JARVIS. Tony would have to kill afterwards — and he doesn’t think the murder strut would suit him as well as his quiet companion.

To be honest, it’s the silence that’s bothering Tony more than the tedious coding or even the fact that he has a killer in his home. [Ha! Like that’s new.] Tony doesn’t do well with silence. There’s a reason the radio is always turned up when he’s working, rock music echoing from the walls, hard enough to envelop him in sound. And it’s not because he aims to be deaf at fifty, no matter how many pointed comments Pepper throws his way.

Still. Two bottles of coca cola — fresh out of the refrigerator this time — and fifteen variations of "Are you done yet?" later, Tony pulls up the files on the stick.

"Well…" he says slowly, not sure what exactly it is that he’s seeing.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Wannabe-Bond jerk around. The next moment, he’s leaning over Tony’s shoulder, his cheek almost brushing against Tony’s, gaze flickering over the different documents that Tony keeps on opening.

"Mission logs." The murmur is barely audible, but nonetheless distracts Tony from his internal musings of the pretentious secret agents’ smell — a little like dried sweat, a little like rain, a little something else entirely.

He’s right. But that isn’t everything. Oh no. Some of the documents have been scanned, others photographed. Some bear SHIELD’s insignia, some are signed by officials — some names Tony recognizes, most he doesn’t — some have no official capacity. Notes. Scribbles. Sketches. Pictures. Security footage.

Tony inwardly thanks the gods for his eidetic memory as he shifts through the stream of data. Someone would probably kick up a fuss about what is clearly sanctioned kill orders for a couple of high-up foreign politicians, but what really makes Tony twitchy is that none of it is blackened. The agents involved. The addresses of SHIELD’s offices. The handlers. The victims.

It’s all there, black on white. The sort of information a white hat hacker would sell his soul for — and so would a black or grey hat, now that he thinks about it.

"This makes no sense," Jamie McJameson says after they’ve scrolled through a dozen more reports — everything from a psychiatric evaluation of Barton, Clint after a level 7 mission in Luisiana of all places to an order for new pencils by Hill, Maria, personal assistant of Director Pierce.

Tony isn’t sure he agrees. It’s certainly nothing dramatic like he half-expected — evidence for a huge conspiracy that has been working towards turning the entire US into a totalitarian regime, for example — but.

Information is a tricky business. It doesn’t always reveal its true value at first glance.

"That’s a lot of sensitive information," Tony states. Because Are you sure it isn’t worth killing someone? seems like an impolite thing to ask outright, considering the circumstances.

Wannabe-Bond shakes his head, too long hair flying everywhere. "It’s not enough."

"If you say so."

Maybe the case isn’t up to his usual escapades? Imagine spending your whole life living in an action thriller, only for your friend to get killed over a mundane robbery. That would drive Tony mad for sure.

Tony is about to suggest they run a couple analysis programs, see if something stands out or any information has been embedded in the data — the photos maybe, you never know — when he notices something odd in the meta data.

"Wait." Tony narrows his eyes and leans closer towards the screen. "All these files are copies and they’ve all been created at the same time — two weeks ago, on Thursday."

It’s the kind of odd JARVIS would’ve pointed out within moments of accessing the stick, but Tony tries not to think too hard about that. Steve would forgive him for not investigating his apparent death with his full capacity. Probably. It’s hard to say, Tony and Steve spent most of their time together arguing.

"Someone pulled all this data on the same day?" The furrow between Fake-James’ eyebrows deepens.

"Looks like it. And not just the same day, within the same three hours. I— Oh." Tony bites his bottom lip.

"Oh?" There’s a dark undercurrent in Wannabe-Bond’s tone that one word that makes 'killer' sound real for the first time.

"It’s not all data, just the first part. There’s— bundles of it, I guess you could say." Tony murmurs, hands flying over the keyboard. "Around five gigabyte of it, dated from every Thursday of the last month." Tony skims a few more briefings, a budget plan, a handful of complaints for inappropriate workplace behavior. "These files were copied from internal SHIELD servers. Maybe it’s not the information itself that’s valuable at all. Maybe—"

"SHIELD’s been hacked," his murderous guest states with a sort of calm certainty that sends a reflexive shudder down Tony’s back. "Repeatedly. That means-" He abruptly cuts himself off, lips white from how tight he presses them together.

Whatever it is that has just occurred to him, he doesn’t share and he sure as hell doesn’t look happy. So he does what Tony always does when he’s nervous: He babbles.

"It looks like they were just randomly copying stuff. Might not have even been a person at all, maybe an algorithm. But that implies that they’ve been in the system for a while."

"Can you find out who it is? Backhack them?"

Tony tilts his head. Considers it. "It depends. But to even attempt that, I’d first have to hack SHIELD myself."

Wannabe-Bond — because Tony is getting tired of trying to come up with new nicknames and he’s fond of this one — raises an eyebrow. It looks unfairly cool. Tony may or may not want to kick him in his stupid face for it. "So?"

"So I’m not hacking an international secret agency with half a dozen secret prisons across the world from my home computer," Tony says slowly, and yep, that’s a sentence he’d never thought he would say out loud. [Okay, there was that one time when he was fifteen and drunk, but they’ve all unanimously agreed that that was Loki’s fault.]

Wannabe-Bond crosses his arms, handsome features turned to stone and looking about as yielding.

"Let’s find another computer then," he says like it’s really that simple, and oh, Tony can see how Steve and this guy must get along. They’ve got the same brand of insane stubbornness that makes Tony want to run around in a circle screaming or alternatively ram his head against a wall.

Fucking wonderful.

#ReRe writes #Tony Stark #Bucky Barnes #Secret Agent Bucky #Hacker Tony #Mechanic Tony #fic #WIP #WinterIron #bad language #lots of bad language #Tony likes his nicknames #Bucky is a murder kitten #not much else to say really #let me know what you think please!!

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