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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

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Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-2nd Place

If you’ve been paying attention to Disney’s televised animation, you’d noticed that there’s been a weird trend going on with their shows. Recently, most of Disney’s shows begin as random comedies only to have a deep story to them in later seasons. Some shows soar as they do this right, and others tend to flail as they do it wrong. Personally, I would like to think it’s all because of one show that Disney has made. And since its series finale, the network tries their hardest to replicate it due to how well received it was. And despite the many attempts, no one can do better than--

#2-Gravity Falls (2012-2016)

The Plot: Twin siblings Dipper and Mabel Pines are forced by their parents to spend the summer in Gravity Falls, Oregon. But don’t worry, their parents are not entirely careless. They just sent their only children to spend the summer with their con artist of a great uncle with a deep, dark secret...okay, so they're a little careless. In fact, the parents might be more irresponsible than you think because Gravity Falls isn’t the small backwater town as it seems. Soon enough, Dipper and Mabel will learn that it’s a town with monsters, demons, and a mysterious author who recorded all of the town’s weirdness in his journals. Will the Pines twins solve the town's mysteries, or is their summer going to be over sooner than they thought?

By the way, I FREAKING love this premise! The idea of an entire town being filled with mysteries and monsters is so compelling to me because the possibilities are endless. One episode could be dealing with zombies, and another could be dealing with an entire society dedicated to keeping the town’s weirdness a secret. On top of that, every monster/weird oddity that Dipper and Mable face is just so creative, from a multi-headed bear to even the main antagonist being (and I kid you not) the Illuminati symbol wearing a top hat. And even when the show does use monsters you’ve seen before, they utilize them in a way you wouldn’t have expected. For example, there are two episodes where the characters deal with ghosts. In both scenarios, the methods these ghosts use to haunt the living are not just creative and scary, but in some instances, they can also be kinda funny. There’s just no telling what this show is going to pull off. Or at least, not entirely.

Because another great thing this show has is its mystery element. And I don’t mean just how well it handles mystery within a single episode (although it does that phenomenally too). What I mean is that Gravity Falls has a great overarching mystery that you, the audience, can solve for yourself. With that comes the show’s impressive attention to detail. From the secret codes to solve, to the lines/scenes you wouldn’t have thought twice about, to even a single license plate. That’s right. A single license plate is an essential clue to the show's most significant twist ever. In fact, it’s a twist that fans have solved years in advance due to all the hints that were left within previous episodes. And most of the credit goes to Alex Hirsh and his team. They really put a lot of effort into what many would describe, a kids cartoon. Even though this might just be the most adult kid's cartoon that I have ever seen.

You know how Pixar movies try their darndest to make films suitable for both children and their parents? That’s basically what Gravity Falls does. Whether you’re an adult or child, odds are you will be entertained in nearly every episode because rarely does it feel like an episode leans too far in either direction. If there’s an episode with a serious story, there’s always a silly/lighthearted subplot to keep the kids entertained. And if there’s an episode that is just silly all the way through, there are adult jokes that make you ask, “How the hell did a Disney cartoon get away with that?” Even when the show gets genuinely creepy, it works just perfectly above the line of going too far for kids (except in “Northwest Mansion Mystery." S**t gets real in that episode). Many kid's shows in the 2010s struggled to find this balance, and Gravity Falls is another one of those rare exceptions that somehow feels like it does it without even trying.

And what keeps that balance? The show’s sense of humor, that’s what. Even in the darkest episodes of the series, there is almost a well-placed joke to lighten the mood. And with Gravity Falls, the show relies on four types of humor. Being random, being surreal, being smart, and being dark. And not just dark for a Disney cartoon. I mean that Gravity Falls has a dark sense of humor that I would have expected in something like Rick and Morty (which is fitting because the creators of both shows are actually close friends in real life). As for how funny the jokes are in this series, they. Are. SO. Funny. I’m not kidding when I say that every single episode--and I do mean, every. Single. Episode--has made me laugh at least once. Not even the best comedy shows that I’ve seen have been capable of doing something so spectacular.

But do you want to know why the comedy is so hilarious? And do you want to know what really kept me invested in all 40 episodes? The answer is simple: It’s all because of the characters. Most jokes are funny because the right person said them. I care about the show’s mysteries because the characters make me care about those mysteries. And when the stakes get high, I’m invested because I care about the characters so much that I fear they’ll get hurt. In fact, I was so invested in all of these characters that the series finale made me cry FOUR TIMES due to how heart-wrenching it was. And I don’t weep that often when it comes to specific media. Most of the time, I get a little misty-eyed, and even when it feels like a scene has yanked at my heartstrings, I usually get myself under control before any real tears show up. But with the series finale of Gravity Falls, I was so emotionally invested with this cast that I was tearing up with them as tearful goodbyes were said. This is because Gravity Falls’ writers know that the key to making any story work is to have a great cast of characters. Because it doesn’t matter how epic your plot is. If I’m not invested in the characters winning the day, then I won’t be invested in the story.

Now at this point, you’re probably wondering what is wrong with this show. To that, I say virtually nothing...Okay, that’s not true. There are some problems the show has, but trust me when I say that the good heavily outweighs the bad. Are there occasional continuity errors? Yes. But they’re usually intentional for misdirection or made up with really great attention to detail in other scenes. Are there occasionally bad jokes? Of course. But like I said: EVERY. EPISODE. IS. FUNNY. So who cares if not every joke lands? Are there also a couple bland characters? Obviously. However, they’re either made better in later episodes or forgotten quickly due to even more memorable characters. And now the big one: Are there bad episodes? And there are...in comparison to the show’s usual quality. Even when Gravity Falls is at its “worst,” the writing is still somehow entertaining in its own right. Hell, the real complaint I have involving the series isn’t even about the show itself. It’s about other shows on the network.

Like I’ve said in the beginning, as of late, there has been a lot of modern Disney cartoons trying too hard to be the new Gravity Falls. And they’re all best intentions met with poor execution. The best (or should I say worst) example I can think of is Tangled: The Series, a television series based on Disney’s Tangled. The first batch of episodes was cute, harmless, and downright charming. Then halfway through the first season, it becomes dark, dark, and even darker. And unfortunately, the show’s quality feels like it took a dip with its direction. As for other Disney cartoons, they follow a similar pattern, with the thought that Gravity Falls did the same thing. The problem is that it didn’t. From the very first episode, the show started off by hinting that it isn’t as cute and innocent as it seems. Sure the stories got significantly darker in season two, but they slowly worked their way towards earning that by slowly becoming more dramatic with each episode. And like I said, even at its darkest, the writers still knew when to keep the tone light. So that’s really the only logical problem I have with Gravity Falls: It made people think they need to be more like Gravity Falls.

When I hear that people wish the show was brought back, I honestly don’t get it. The series ended on a perfect note, with very few questions left unanswered. And the unanswered questions were actually answered through other media such as books or comics. And if you ask me, I’d rather have the series come to an end in the way that it did. It had a perfect premise told with fascinating mysteries, funny comedy, infesting characters, and even a kickass theme song (I know that I didn’t mention that last bit, but trust me when I say that it’s so GOOD). Why ruin that by turning it into something like The Simpsons, where a show would just get stale after too many seasons? In the end, while I was sad to see it go, I’m still happy to say that this is always going to be a show that will make you Fall in love with it.

(But the real mystery is: What series is going to top a cartoon that was practically perfect?)

(...)

(Who am I kidding. You’ve probably already figured it out by now.)

#top 20 of 2010s #gravity falls #what i thought about

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pluto-art · 4 years

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Pinky and the Brain - Animation Studios: An Essay

Howdy kids,

During production of Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and other shows, animation was outsourced to various studios -- TMS Entertainment in Japan, Wang Film Productions (also known as Cuckoo’s Nest) in Taiwan, and AKOM Productions in South Korea being a few. The quality, style, and fluidity of the animation varied per episode depending on who was given the work. The studios that had a hand in Pinky and the Brain, specifically, are as follows: - TMS Entertainment (Japan) - Wang Film Productions (Taiwan) - AKOM Productions (South Korea) - Rough Draft (South Korea)

For Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain, only Wang and Rough Draft contributed. On the Pinky and the Brain segments in Animaniacs, StarToons (USA, Illinois) was also given work along with the other studios. For this essay, however, we shall only be reviewing the studios that worked on the Pinky and the Brain spin-off.

Although a post or two has gone around detailing the differences in studio styles (I give credit to @mx-sid-warner for creating one of these posts), I wanted to submit a more comprehensive list, complete with a plethora of screenshots for better comparison purposes. My apologies in advance for the low resolution of many of the images. Had to work with what was available to me.

- TMS Entertainment (Japan) -

• Expressive, bouncy, fluid

TMS is undeniably one of the best, if not the best, studio that Warner Bros. turned to for outsourcing work, as they provided the most dynamic animation, shots, and expressions. Oftentimes, they would push the characters to their limit when it came to squash and stretch, compromising keeping them on-model for impactful poses. They were a “no holds barred” company and have stood the test of time, still churning out animation to this day.

Going for a cuter, goofier look, TMS didn’t always draw Pinky on-model, but it didn’t matter... ‘cause he looks so darn adorable in their style:

With Brain, TMS always ensured that his large cranium was kept as such, and, as with Pinky, they weren’t afraid to eschew correct proportions for the sake of making a character really ‘pop’ emotionally.

Depending on what worked better emotionally, they’d either set Brain’s eyes further apart or bring them really close in.

When it came to squash and stretch, TMS were masters at their craft. The following screen shots are from the short Brain Meets Brawn.

They didn’t have to animate him swallowing the potion like that, but they freakin’ did, and it’s much more impactful as a result. Even the thimble is pliable. I really like this angle and background, as well. It was probably done by an artist at the Burbank studio instead of at TMS, but it’s still worth pointing out.

Extreme stretches to emphasize the character’s current emotional state. They pushed that neck and held it, helping you feel the moment.

Another fun bit is when he turns into a rather beastly state after having drunk a potion that turns him into a Mr. Hyde version of himself:

These are some GREAT poses -- very bold, fun, and hilarious.

TMS is also known for having worked on the Christmas special, which had some wonderful moments in which Brain confronts his sentimental side:

Bonus screenshot ‘cause, I dunno, I like this shot:

Even these images don’t quite do TMS justice. They’re my favorite in regards to animation for just how bouncy and expressive it gets. It’s a good example of how veering way off model can work in your favor if done correctly.

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- Wang Film Productions (Taiwan) -

• Cute, sentimental, pliable

Although not as risk-taking as TMS when it came to animation, Wang is my absolute favorite of the studios for one thing alone: style. I can’t describe how they draw these characters as anything other than adorable, and when drawing Pinky and Brain myself I tend to take a leaf out of Wang’s book in particular.

Instead of following the standard when drawing Brain’s skull, they opted instead for a softer, cuter touch, slimming down his cranium a little and giving him a more pronounced forehead that gave him a sweeter, “babier” look.

Pinky gets a similar treatment, keeping his proportions cute, albeit more solidified:

Like TMS, Wang had a penchant for strong, palpable emotions in their work, and seemed to have a blast portraying everything from fear to smarminess:

Wang kept the proportions of the characters more petite, with their heads and limbs closer to their bodies. They would stretch them now and again, albeit not as often as TMS would, and the characters were given a lot of leeway and pliability in regards to expressions. They also seemed to have been given the more saccharine episodes that pushed the relationship between the characters and that explored the more tender sides of themselves -- episodes such as The Pink Candidate, This Old Mouse, Megalomaniacs Anonymous, Brain’s Night Off, and Broadway Malady.

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- AKOM Productions (South Korea) -

• Minimalist, direct, metamorphose

AKOM is... interesting. They are altogether simple in their performances of the characters, keeping the animation fairly direct and unmalleable, while at the same time being somewhat metamorphose in style. They seem to have had a difficult time sticking to a specific design, with the characters ranging in size and shape from short-to-short and sometimes even within one episode:

Brain is generally given a head quite a bit larger than his body (this is standard, of course, but as opposed to TMS and Wang, AKOM pushes it even further; it’s almost bobble head-ish at times), along with a more pug-nosed look and eyes set farther apart:

Pinky varies, going anywhere from his general form and big-nosed profile...

... to a literal pixie:

Occasionally, you get a cute pose that has a nice little spurt of emotion in it, but, generally, Brain is kept very straight-faced and dull against Pinky’s boisterous demeanor.

AKOM is known for animating the Brinky episode, which featured Brain and Pinky’s son/clone, Romy. I’ll give them credit in that there are some sweet Romy poses to be found throughout the episode:

That being said, I do wish that they’d pushed the emotional element more. Take this shot from The Maze, for instance:

Had TMS or Wang been in charge, we probably would have gotten much more dynamic expressions here. Not that these are bad, but they could have been pushed more than this.

AKOM is by no means the worst, but they’re not the best either.

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- Rough Draft (South Korea) -

• On-model, solid, sketchy (occasionally)

Of the four studios involved in the Pinky and the Brain show, the one that kept the characters most on-model was probably Rough Draft. They were somewhat conservative when utilizing squashes and stretches, rarely deviating from the model sheet and pushing the characters only so far animation-wise. While this resulting in stiffer performances, particularly in regards to Brain, they didn’t deprive their audience of cute expressions either.

The following screenshots are from Two Mice and a Baby, It’s Only a Paper World, and Pinky at the Bat.

Rough Draft harbored a couple of cute little ticks that, while not necessarily unique to them, tended to show up in their work.

One is that, when Brain was ruffled, they’d appropriately ruff up his fur, as well:

It’s a cute look that I wish had been put into play more often.

Another is what I call the “squirrel paws” pose, in which Pinky brings his hands up to his chest like a squirrel would do. They did this a lot, and it’s adorable:

When it comes to squashes and stretches, Rough Draft certainly didn’t take advantage of it as much as TMS or even Wang did, but the poses would still be expressive:

Animation-wise, Rough Draft kept it limited, but sweet and very on-model.

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So what’s the tally? That’s entirely up to you. Everyone is going to have their own, personal preference, depending on which style they favor. Speaking for myself, TMS is, in my opinion, the best studio overall, but Wang remains my favorite for how charming their drawings of Brain were and how emotive their facial expressions would get. Here’s my final ranking in terms of skill:

TMS: 10/10 Wang: 9/10 AKOM: 6/10 Rough Draft: 7/10

How about you? Which studio is your favorite?

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Episodes shown:

A Pinky and the Brain Christmas (TMS) Brain Meets Brawn (TMS) Megalomaniacs Anonymous (Wang) This Old Mouse (Wang) Fly (AKOM) The Maze (AKOM) Brinky (AKOM) Two Mice and a Baby (Rough Draft) It’s Only a Paper World (Rough Draft) Pinky at the Bat (Rough Draft)

#pinky and the brain #animation #studios #animation studios #pinky #brain #animaniacs #warner bros #analysis #essay

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lanonima · 4 years

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10 Reasons I like Chinese dramas better than American shows

I'm actually only going to be talking about fantasy shows because that's what I like. The only "modern style" shows I tend to like are mystery shows, but I've only seen one mystery show from China so I can't actually talk about that yet.

That being said, these are reasons why I've come to really appreciate Chinese military, historical, and fantasy dramas. I'm not putting this under a read more, because it doesn't deserve to be hidden.

1) Absolutely amazing female characters. There are so many female characters, so many, and they're always fantastic. Not only fantastic but different. These are female characters who are huge breakaways from American stereotypes (although there are archetypes in Chinese media and they're great, like the overbearing and unyielding badass lady warrior who uses a whip. Excellent archetype, I really love it). They're so much better written and so much more enjoyable. They almost always seen like real people, you know, how women are real people with diverse personalities, interests, and goals? Even on the more comedic side where they’re not as realistic, they're still so much more diverse. Also they can be super badass, and usually don't become not badass as soon as a dude enters the picture.

With the exception of Guardian which was based on a BL series, I haven't found a single drama with bland or boring female characters, and even that one had some interesting lady characters.

2) The costume design is absolutely incredible. Traditional Chinese clothing is so pretty and I just love looking at it. While period shows made in America and Europe can be interesting, they usually use costumes from periods of time where I think the outfits were honestly pretty boring. I’m much more into folk outfits and traditional clothing so watching Chinese dramas for that reason, you can't ever go wrong. Because the source material is so interesting, their fantasy takes on it are also interesting and beautiful.

3) The backgrounds and set designs are gorgeous. I wanted to talk about clothing specifically, but it should be mentioned that Chinese dramas just look good. The country itself is gorgeous and so they have so many places where they can film, and traditional Chinese architecture and aesthetics are beautiful in a completely different way from traditional Western looks. Basically from an aesthetic standpoint Chinese dramas are amazing.

4) Dramas are a single season which tells a contained story. While they may have between 50 to 80 episodes usually, they're all filmed at once, released at once, and are a contained story, one with possibly many subplots but one overarching plot. There may occasionally be a sequel, and there are still some issues with pacing and filler depending on the show (like Lingjian Mountain, which is based on long source material and so it has a very abrupt ending when they decide to stop telling the story), but they don't drag on for years and years and years like American shows do. For that reason they seem much tighter and well-written, and I always appreciate a story that is actually planned and not the writers making shit up as they go along.

5) A lot of them are based on books. This is really cool, because it allows stories to be told from many different writers and sources. A lot of them are based on published novels, and a lot of them are based on popular web novels, so things don't get stagnated and bogged down. It also kind of goes along with something that I wish Americans would do which is really embrace the miniseries as opposed to movies as far as book adaptations are concerned. Also it gives me lots of new things that I want to read in the future.

6) Chinese dramas based on gay source material are better than American shows that are gay. Yes, censorship is an issue in China and it probably will be for the foreseeable future. However the people making the shows (at least now) care so much and try so hard. The relationships are still very obvious to a Western audience, and so much effort is put into portraying them in the best way possible that they come off as so much more sincere than queer media here, which I almost always dislike.

7) Honestly even straight relationships in Chinese dramas are better. While I don't dislike sexual content, it's way oversaturated in the American market. People seem to think that a show can't be for adults unless there is sexual content, and a romance isn't complete without it. Comparing something like Game of Thrones (which I hate anyway but you know) or the Witcher (which I love) to something like the Story of Yanxi Palace, or the Untamed, or the show I'm watching now the Legends… There is no comparison. I think the reason why the censored gay relationships still work in Chinese media is because even the straight relationships are very tame. They take a long time to build up, which gives them ample time for chemistry to develop, before any sexual content happens or is alluded to. Basically! If you like yearning, and pining, and slow burn, watch Chinese dramas. If you don't like overly sexual shows, watch Chinese dramas. You will not be disappointed.

8) The cheesiness of their special-effects is constantly entertaining (to me). When it comes to 3D animated shows, China is way ahead of the curve and their animation is fantastic. But when it comes to their live-action shows they don't usually seem to devote a lot of budget to it. But every obviously fake weapon, and piece of foam armor, every line of red paint to indicate an injury, every weird CGI monster, they all fill me with such delight. I understand that this is not for everyone but I personally love it.

9) They're not held back by a fake idea of "historical accuracy”. We all know that Western fantasy is bogged down by stupid ideas of "the way things were back then" which are actually not true, but people refuse to think in any depth about the past whatsoever. And they refuse to take advantage of the fantasy genre to make their own rules. How can a fantasy story be historically accurate? Don't ask me, ask a lazy white male writer who does not care about thinking.

In Chinese dramas anything goes. Do you want there to be more women in fantasy, women with agency? Watch Chinese fantasy dramas. Do you want historical dramas that include really strong interesting female characters? Watch Chinese historical dramas. Same goes for queer characters as mentioned above. Do you want historical and fantasy stories wherein sexual assault is not a constant factor for female characters? Watch Chinese dramas. I won't say it never happens, but they do so many more interesting things and the times were does happen actually seem important to the plot. Chinese history is so long and interesting, but they also don't seem to care about historical accuracy a lot of the time. And that is so refreshing. Even though in doing so, they probably are being more historically accurate, but compared to the idea of “historical accuracy” that is wedged in the American subconscious, it's such a breath of fresh air.

10) The dialogue is amazing. If there's one thing that I really wish I could take away from the books and dramas that I'm consuming, it would be how to write dialogue like a Chinese author. God damn. What the fuck. There are so many lines that I remember Word for Word because they're just that good. There are lines that make me literally yell. There are lines of dialogue that I think about on a daily basis. I want to be able to write like this!!

BONUS ROUND: Xianxia is an incredibly unique genre. It's exactly what I was missing in fantasy, and this doesn't only apply to shows and movies but books and the entire Western fantasy genre as well. Actually when I started reading it, I realized that a lot of ways that I conceptualize magic in my work is kind of proto-xianxia. The history that led up to this genre, the tropes that it has, the character archetypes, the kinds of stories that are told… They're all so interesting and unique. It's a whole new world to explore, and I really wish people would give it a chance because it's absolutely full of interesting, hilarious, wild, and downright bizarre things. For anyone who wants to be a writer you should always try and expand your horizons and this is a great way to do it.

#basically Chinese dramas are good #long post

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fnlrndcllctv · 3 years

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REVIEW: Mortal Kombat (1992)

Developed by Midway in 1992 as a response to the wildly popular Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat took a slightly different direction thematically than the cartoonish sprites of other fighting games. Opting for digitized photos of actors as the game’s fighters, Mortal Kombat looked stood out as looking more realistic and placed a much higher emphasis on strong, bloody violence in its gameplay.

It’s this violence that made the game incredibly controversial and, alongside games such as Night Trap and Lethal Enforcers, is partly responsible for the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a governing body that requires all games to be rated.

The game was also originally intended to be called “Van Damme” and based on the muscles from brussels himself Jean Claude Van Damme, but a deal was never made, so it didn’t come to fruition. The inclusion of Johnny Cage, a diva-esque Hollywood movie star that could do the splits, in the game was a clear reference to the game’s origins (and an indication that the development team had a pretty snarky sense of humour!).

Gameplay

In comparison to its peers such as Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury, Mortal Kombat is definitely much trickier to control. With special moves that require longer, more precise inputs and blocking now being triggered by its own separate button (as opposed to simply holding back on the joystick/d-pad), getting good at the game was more challenging, but arguably more rewarding as a result.

The game also introduced the concept of “Juggling” to fighting games. Juggling takes advantage of the fact that when a character is knocked into the air, the player is unable to control their character until he or she lands and gets up again. It’s so satisfying to watch an opponent helplessly rage as you bounce them into the air to inflict more damage.

Then there’s the most infamous aspect of the Mortal Kombat games - FATALITIES. Each character has their own specific fatality, and requires a particular set of inputs to trigger them in the short gap of time between when game commands players to “FINISH HIM/HER!” and the opponent collapsing. Ranging from the still-beating heart being ripped from an opponent’s chest, heads being viciously removed with the spinal cord still attached to Scorpion removing his mask to breath fire and Liu Kang transforming into a dragon, these finishers are hilariously grim, and are one of the greatest parts of the game.

These gruesome finishing moves have become firm fan favourites across the series, and inspired many future fighting games to implement the same vicious elements in an attempt to “outdo” Mortal Kombat.

Story

The game’s main storyline centers around a tournament being held by the powerful Shang Tsung on an island in Earthrealm. For 500 years in a row, the dragon prince Goro has been undefeated in the tournament, and initially helped Shang Tsung take over the tournament in an attempt to doom the realm. This, the 10th tournament, sees a new generation of fighters enter in an attempt to become the new Grand Champion.

Mortal Kombat’s lore has grown massively since the first entry in the franchise, but here, things are kept relativelysimple. Each character has their own backstory and specific reasons for entering the tournament (instead of, ya know, just wanting to win a tournament?), and the introduction of the “earth is doomed” multiple realms and magic abilities make the whole thing feel like a martial arts movie mixed with the fantasy genre, while keeping things gritty and grindhouse-ish with its strong violent content.

Roster

Mortal Kombat features seven unique playable characters, each with their own backstory that ties in to the game’s general lore.

Johnny Cage - A martial arts superstar trained by several great masters from around the world. Utilising his fighting talents on the big screen, Cage is the star of such movies as “Dragon Fist”, “Dragon Fist II” and the award-winning “Sudden Violence”.

Kano - a thug who lives a life of crime and injustice as part of the Black Dragon gang, a dangerous group of cut-throat madmen. An expert mercenary and thief, Kano is feared and respected throughout all of crime’s inner circles.

Raiden - A deity known as the “Thunder God”, Raiden was rumoured to have received a personal invitation by Shang Tsung himself to take form of a human to compete in the tournament.

Liu Kang - A former member of the secret White Lotus Society, Liu Kang represents Shaolin temples in the tournament, and has a burning hatred of Shang Tsung.

Sub-Zero - At this point, Sub-Zero’s real name and identity is unknown, but due to the markings on his uniform, it is believed that he belongs to a legendary clan of Chinese assassins known as the Lin Kuei.

Scorpion - Much like his blue-colored counterpart, Scorpion‘s identity in this game is a mystery. From time to time, Scorpion has been known to show distrust and hatred towards Sub-Zero, which suggests that he belongs to an opposing clan.

Soya Blade - A member of a top U.S. Special Forces unit that was hot on the trail of the Black Dragon organisation. After tracking Kano and his men to an uncharted island, Blade‘s team was ambushed by Shang Tsung‘s personal army

Each fighter is equipped with various different fighting styles, the most recognisable being Scorpion’s ability to hurl a roped blade at his opponent to bridge any gaps between them (along with the iconic “GET OVER HERE” yell), Sub-Zero’s ability to literally freeze an opponent where they stand (living up to his namesake), and Raiden’s ability to teleport around a stage (thanks to being a god and everything).

Even the game’s non-playable characters are incredibly recognisable, especially the quad-armed Goro, who is an absolute nightmare to fight against.

Graphics

Mortal Kombat’s graphics have aged surprisingly well considering that it is now almost 29 years since its original release.

Vividly coloured backgrounds, large digitised character sprites and a very kung-fu/martial arts movie vibe that’s carried across almost every aspect of the game all work together to create an experience that isn;t just fun to play, but good to look at.

It wasn’t the first fighting game to make use of the graphics style (games like Pit Fighter beat them to the punch a couple of years prior), but it was one of the first to do it well.

The following 2D sequels improved on almost every aspect of the game’s look and feel, but having a more realistic approach to the game’s graphics in this first game certainly made a lasting impression in the genre.

Stages

There are a total of seven stages to fight on in Mortal Kombat;

Courtyard – Shang Tsung sits on his throne and looks on as fights take place in front of a crowd of monks in this Enter The Dragon-esque stage.

Palace Gates – Located at Shang Tsung‘s old island fortress, with a large statue of Buddha looming in the background.

Warrior Shrine – A shrine dedicated to honour the contestants of the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament.

Throne Room – Where Shang Tsung sits on his throne in his island domain and watches as the combatants fight each other for his amusement.

Goro’s Lair – Home to the tournament’s Grand Champion Goro, this level with stone walls and several dark passageways; human bones are scattered on the floor and a skeleton hangs from a few shackles at the center of the arena. Many pairs of glowing yellow eyes appear and occasionally blink in the dark portions of the back area.

The Pit – a bridge suspended over a sea of steel spikes, which is the source of death for anyone unlucky enough to be knocked off. When an opponent is defeated on this stage, they can be uppercut off the bridge where they will land on the bed of spikes. This is the game’s only stage fatality. There are many severed heads at the bottom of the pit, including those of the game’s creators Ed Boon and John Tobias.

Pit Bottom – This stage is only accessible when the player is fighting Reptile.

The stages show a wide variety of interesting locations around Shang Tsung’s island, and even though some of the background characters look a bit weak graphically (those monks in the audience of the Courtyard ALWAYS looked rough), there’s enough charm and impressive architecture here to make each stage feel incredibly unique and memorable.

Replayability

There’s not much in the way of unlockables in Mortal Kombat, but there are some cool bits in terms of bonus stages and hdden secrets.

Mortal Kombat‘s bonus stage is called “Test Your Might”. The minigame consists of the player’s character standing above one of five blocks of increasing hardness, depending on how far the player has progressed in Test Your Might. The player would have to hammer multiple buttons until the gauge next to their character passed a certain point, and then would have to press the Block button to strike. If they were above this point, their character would break the block in front of them. Otherwise, their hand would bounce off the object sitting in front of them.

Not the most original of minigames, as several other earlier titles had similar levels, but this one would return in later Mortal Kombat games, and become quite popular in the meantime.

Then there’s the main hidden secret in the game - Reptile. Although we would see the green-clad Reptile appear in future Mortal Kombat titles as a playable character, he remains a secret non-playable fighter in the first game. In order to face him, players had to execute a Fatality finish after fighting on The Pit stage, assuming a shadow flew over the moon in the background, without taking any damage or pressing the block button in the winning round.

It’s an incredibly specific process, but being “in the know” about it (and successfully pulling it off) during the pre-internet era felt bloody fantastic.

Final thoughts & overall score

Mortal Kombat is a nice start to an iconic franchise.

While the sequels were way more sophisticated in terms of graphics and moves, the first game holds a special place in fighting game history for its innovative gameplay tweaks and its hilariously bloody violence.

Do you agree with our review of the original Mortal Kombat?

Let us know in the comments section below!

#Review #Mortal Kombat #1992

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ckret2 · 5 years

Text

Specimen 1, Specimen 2, Specimen 3, Monster 0

Summary: Your family has bred dorats for centuries, passing the business down from mother to daughter. You do what you must to preserve your business and your family. And when the Xilien military marches in and requests three dorats for a classified experiment, you're unable to refuse.

No matter what kind of monster they make from them.

A King Ghidorah origin story.

Continuity: Godzilla, Monsterverse continuity; borrows from Showa and Heisei Characters: three dorats that are going to become King Ghidorah, a 2nd person perspective Xilien OC, and assorted other Xiliens as necessary. Wordcount: 7500 Notes: This is a blend of King G's Heisei and Showa portrayals. ME-319 (the viewpoint character) is intended to be a Xilien expy for Emmy Kano. "Female Xiliens are parthenogenetic" is an explanation for why they all look the same in Astro-Monster that doesn't depend on them being some sort of mass-produced clones. Pronouns! "She" = "Xilien who identifies as a parthenogenetic woman," "xe" = "non-parthenogenetic Xilien, regardless of sex," "he" = "person/animal from a species with no capacity for parthenogenesis, regardless of sex." Assume that all pronouns, names, terms, and everything else are translated to more familiar references for ease of the human reader's comprehension, ex: "There's a reference to pineapples, are you saying there are pineapples on Planet X?" No. No I'm not, that's a translation. Loosely inspired by this prompt:

Anonymous said: hi! if you're taking prompts, wouuuld you be willing to write another ghidorah x reader insert? i'm especially intrigued by your past idea about how if someone called them by their original names, they'd start bawling lmao i'd just love to see these guys get some of the aDORATion they deserve (i'm so sorry but i had to, this just can't be mere coincidence)

###

You're a dorat breeder.

The breeding bit isn't difficult; for the most part, the dorats are perfectly happy to handle all of that themselves. Dorats have been domesticated since before recorded history, and have no trouble living and mating in indoor aeries as long as the rooms are large enough and the windows are tall and let in plenty of sunlight, natural or otherwise.

Your job is to keep them happy and healthy while they get on with their business: maintaining and cleaning your centuries-old three-story facility and the aeries suspended by chains far above the floor, keeping a close eye out for any dorats that look unwell or radiate sickly emotions to get them to a vet, keeping their food well-stocked, scheduling enough outdoor trips to ensure that the flight morphs get adequate exercise, and eventually selling them off to pet owners or to professionals whose work needs trained dorats.

You're a woman—that is to say, in a more biological sense, you're parthenogenetic—and although you've got distant cousins and a half-sibling who have fathers, you yourself only have a mother. You are the product of a single unbroken matrilineal line stretching back for over three hundred documented generations. And for several centuries, every cloned daughter in that line has been a dorat breeder. Not because you had to be—but because every one of you has wanted to be. You don't know whether it's in your genes, or whether anyone would want to work with dorats after growing up around their indoor aeries. Nature or nurture? It doesn't really matter, you suppose; you're satisfied with your job, whatever reason you chose it.

You like working with dorats. You like the way they rush up to you in a concerned huddle when you arrive for work in a bad mood, threatening to bowl you over by hopping up on their legs and beating their wings for balance because they want to get closer to your face. You like the colors they come in, from pale jade greens to citrine oranges to a thousand different shades of yellow—gold and neon and amber and more—to warm silvers and pearl whites. You like the broad wingspans and commanding presence of the flight morphs, and the acrobatic energy and even the occasional hive mind-induced stampedes of the spinetail morphs. You like their songlike cries, their shiny scales, the comforting weight of their emotions, the way they switch instantly from sinuous grace to floppy wiggling messes.

You like how small and surprisingly soft the babies are, so little you can cradle them in your hands: their teeth like rows of tiny needles when they yawn, their heads a third of their weight, scrunching up their legs and tucking their wings around them to form little balls when they sleep. You like how agile and elegant the adults are, long and serpentine, their wings simultaneously delicate and powerful, smooth scales and sharp horns and spines—you can see why museums the world over are full of ancient artwork of dorats made from precious metals and gems. But you like the adolescents the most: that's when they're long, ridiculous, uncoordinated noodles, just shifting from the infants' mix of slithering and bipedalism to full quadrupedalism, curious and hyperactive and quarrelsome with each other, constantly tripping over their rapidly expanding wings or getting their new tail spines tangled in everything from blankets to bushes to their own legs.

You've got about three dozen adolescents right now. You started with more hatchlings, but several have already been adopted. It's an orangish-gold pack, all things told, although it wasn't when they first hatched. The ones that are more green and white get adopted out fast as hatchlings, since they're comparatively rare; so much so that when you sell them, you make your customers sign a contract stating they're willing to bring them in to breed so that you can keep the colors in your gene pool.

Your current batch of adolescents is just beginning to head through puberty—as usual, at wildly different rates. Some already have horns that could pass for small but fully developed; some look like long babies, their heads and tails smooth and wings tiny. Most are in between. They still all play together, but already they've begun segregating themselves by morph when they're relaxing, the adolescent flight morphs lounging near (but not too near) the adult flight morphs, the adolescent spinetail morphs piled together in a pack right next to the adult spinetail morphs.

As hatchlings, they already gave you solid impressions of their personalities—who's withdrawn, who's outgoing, who's active, who's lazy, who's quarrelsome, who's cooperative. As they enter adolescence and their mating instincts begin to activate, you're starting to see more facets to their personalities.

And right now, you're thinking very hard about the personalities of three specific adolescent dorats—their quirks, their oddities, their likes and dislikes, their talents and flaws, their futures.

You're thinking about them because two soldiers and two scientists, wearing thin black shades and crisp gray uniforms, have dropped three reports on your desk: dossiers about Noodle, Sunshine, and Pineapple, as if they were persons of national interest rather than three baby pets.

###

Noodle has pretty white-ish gold scales, and—like many near-white dorats that are more gold than silver—he also has awful flaky sheds that come off in strips and tend to cling for days, which makes him a far less appealing pet than most dorats as pale as him. (Some breeders try to sell flaky near-white dorats in between sheds and let the buyer deal with the periodic draconic dandruff, since it doesn't count as a health issue that they’re legally required to report; you consider that unethical and always warn your prospective buyers.)

He's sedate almost to the point of lethargy; his best skill is napping. Noodle's definitely destined to be an indoor pet, which limits who you can adopt him out to. Hopefully even with his shedding problem, you'll be able to find someone who wants him for his ability to lounge about looking pretty rather than for an exercise companion. Though he will play enthusiastically and energetically with his peers, he tends to bow out early to watch the others play, passively absorbing their enjoyment via proximity rather than contributing to the empathic cloud of fun himself.

You suspect there's an edge of sly intelligence to Noodle's apparent idleness—perhaps he's realized that by lounging in the right place, where he can empathically benefit from the other hatchlings' entertainment without having to play himself, he can get more rewards with less effort. Would he be more active by himself, you wonder, if he had to work for his own entertainment? You might need to find someone to foster him for a few weeks to see what his personality is like when he's not around dozens of other dorats before letting someone adopt him. But aside from the possibility that he might be a clever little slacker, Noodle's a very unremarkable hatchling, all told.

Now that he's reaching adolescence, though, and the first few spines on his tails are coming in, he's demonstrated a new behavior quirk: when the adolescents separate by morph, rather that sitting with his fellow spinetails, he follows after the flight morphs and flops down amongst them. You wonder why. Does Noodle prefer the lighter psychic load of a crowd of flights? Does he think that if he socializes with them casually, then once they're old enough to start worrying about breeding, his preferred choices in mates will consider him favorably without his having to expend any extra effort wooing them? Or perhaps he wants to be part of the audience when his fellow spinetails come by to make their first childish, halting attempts at mating displays: their heads lowered, small wings tucked away, and tails waving high in what they'll soon have the muscles to develop into the spinetails' signature whip crack/rattle. And if Noodle does want to watch, why—to learn from his peers' techniques, or to admire them?

Broadly speaking, flight morphs tend to be more withdrawn than spinetail morphs—less inclined to socialize, less open with their ambient emotions. (Although there's wide variation, of course, since the reach of a flight's empathy is far broader but also under far more voluntary control than a spinetail's. They can reduce their psychic influence—but they can also choose to cast it across a far greater distance than a spinetail ever could.)

But even taking into consideration flight morphs' inclination toward tucking their emotions away to themselves, Sunshine—named for scales so bright yellow they're almost fluorescent—is one of the most withdrawn flights you've ever seen. You actually took him to a veterinary neurologist to ensure he doesn't have any kind of brain damage. The conclusion was he doesn't, he just keeps his emotions clamped up tight inside his little head.

However, aside from that, Sunshine's not skittish or sullen, and he doesn't act like he's being bullied or neglected by other dorats. He's more violent than most, which along with the clamped up emotions is a warning sign for trauma or high stress. But he keeps his violence to play fighting, has never done real damage, and always stops when his playmate cries for mercy; so you think he's just fond of fighting rather than lashing out due to anger. So you concluded that he's just remarkably introverted and left him to it.

With the onset of puberty, though, Sunshine's started to come out of his shell. He's one of the most rapidly-developing dorats in this batch, both physically and emotionally. He's already developed a couple of horns and a massive wingspan. He might have reached his adult wingspan, even, although the rest of his body hasn't quite caught up with his wings yet; he looks terribly awkward strutting around, wings akimbo and chest lifted too high when he walks.

Sunshine was also among the first flights to take an interest in showing off for the spinetails; he's been galumphing over to rear up on his legs and show off his wings since before they grew in. Now that they have grown in, he's attracting a lot more attention. (You wonder if the fact that his wingspan is disproportionate to the rest of his body makes spinetails think they look larger than they really are.) Some are flirting back, trotting up to rattle their tails or clap them on the floor if they don't have spines yet, at which point Sunshine rebuffs them and galumphs back over to the flights' company.

You wonder if he wants to flirt but not be flirted with because he doesn't yet understand the purpose of the displays he's practicing, or because he isn't yet pleased with the quality of respondents. Showing off wings doubles as a mating display and a threat display, depending on who it's directed at, so maybe he's just doing it on instinct without having quite figured out the nuances of how to use it. Or maybe he’s hoping to stir up more play fights.

However, you suspect that Sunshine is deliberately flirting. You've seen him off by himself, loner that he is, practicing popping—the mating display used mainly by flights, but sometimes by spinetails, where they stretch their wings as high as possible and then snap them down, producing a sharp pop of air and simultaneously shooting up. (You suspect that this display—and its effect on ceilings and light fixtures—is probably the leading cause behind most pet owners' decisions to spay their flight dorats.) You don't think he'd be training so diligently if he wasn't aware of what he was doing.

Conversely, among the spinetail morphs, the most physically developed so far is Pineapple—named for his unusually rough brownish-gold scales and their faint undertone of green. (In your opinion, he has the most interesting scales out of this batch of hatchings, which makes him your favorite, appearance-wise. The jades and pearls might be a hit with pet owners; but they're easy to breed for with the right parents, while you don't know if you could recreate Pineapple's scales if you tried. Your pictures of him are a hit in breeders' circles.)

He's incredibly observant, and he's strong-minded for a spinetail, able to break out of a strong emotional hive mind with next to no effort and inject new emotions without thinking. You've seen games stumble to a stop because Pineapple noticed a prospective buyer come in, or someone trip and fall out of a nest, or a kerfuffle break out across the room, and whatever new emotion the sight inspired in him was enough to disrupt everyone else's concentration. You've had far fewer spinetail stampedes while he was here, at least among the hatchlings.

His capacity for inflicting emotions on his peers is almost on par with flight morphs', except that as far as you've seen he can't consciously regulate its effect. You think that Pineapple's unique talent could make him a useful asset if he received professional training, although you don't know of a specific field that would need a spinetail dorat with that kind of ability.

Pineapple is already larger than most of the other adolescents, has developed an impressive set of horns, and has a more even coverage of spines on his tail than any of the other spinetail morphs. They already rattle, which he seems to do involuntarily as he wiggles around in play, although he hasn't made any whip cracks with his tail yet. However, emotionally he's one of the slower developers. He’s practically still a hatchling in his behavior. He plays like he's half his age. He bounces back and forth between flights and spinetails with seeming no recognition of how they've segregated themselves—although once he calms down he inevitably settles down amongst his fellow spinetails, so evidently he's got some recognition of their new social division. He neither joins the spinetails that go over to show off for the flights, nor acknowledges the flights that come to show off for them with anything more than vaguely curious disinterest.

Pineapple's one of the last adolescents for whom you've developed some sense of whether he's likely to be an active or reactive partner—the one who approaches the opposite morph to put on mating displays, or the one who waits to be approached so that he can judge the display he's presented with. It's only in the last few days that you've seen Pineapple begin to watch the flirting flights more keenly, which suggests—but doesn't guarantee—that he'll be a reactive partner.

Noodle, Sunshine, and Pineapple. You don't see their personalities in the dossiers on your desk. The photos on each cover sheet have them posed awkwardly and uncomfortably, heads raised and tails flat on the ground, just like all the photos of the adolescent dorats that the four military representatives took during their first visit weeks ago. In their photos, they look withdrawn and tense.

They're listed by number rather than name.

###

Most of the dorats you breed become pets. But quite a few are taken to be trained to perform public services. Spinetail morphs are the most common service animal on X, and flight morphs are commonly used in counseling and psychological therapy. Many are trained as search and rescue animals: after fires, bombings, or natural disasters, when buried people can't be found with sight, sound, smell, infrared, sonar, or x-ray, often dorats can still detect their minds. Dorats are absurdly adaptable to different environments and atmospheres; they're often sent to new colonies to carry mail, pull heavy loads, and defend Xilien colonists from aliens. Low-empathy dorats can have the last of their empathy trained out of them or chemically suppressed and be used by the police or military.

You've never bred dorats for specific functions—hunting or therapy or what have you. You maintain thorough records of each dorat's family tree, and some of their trees go back dozens of generations—calling on records kept by your mother and her mother and her mother et cetera—but none of them are what anybody would call "thoroughbreds." All the same, plenty of your dorats have been snapped up for professional services before. Thoroughbreds have a higher chance of having the physical, psychic, and personality traits a job called for, yes, but also a higher chance of carrying detrimental genetic conditions. Many people who work regularly with dorats recognize the downsides of thoroughbreds and try to find the traits they need in aeries like yours.

So you were apprehensive, but not surprised, when four representatives of the military came in and asked to speak with you about your current selection of dorats.

In the style mandatory for all soldiers, police, and public officials interacting with civilians, they didn't present you with so much as their ID numbers, much less their personal names. They instructed you to refer to them as Soldier 1, Scientist 2, Scientist 3, and Soldier 4. They referred to you by your matrilineal ID number, ME-319, which felt slightly more personal than calling you by your national ID number, but not by a lot.

"We are conducting a medical experiment with potential military applications that involves dorats," Soldier 1 said. "Controller 0 has authorized very few details to be shared with civilians. We can tell you that we need three in early adolescence. We can tell you that this will be our seventh trial, and the first six concluded in a 100% fatality rate for our dorats specimens. We do not tell you this so that you will think that we are carelessly killing off dorats, but so that you will understand that we are frustrated and vexed every time another experiment fails and recognize that we are taking the utmost care with the dorats." (You can tell that xe's repeating something Controller 0 told xem to say—or, if not, at least that xe must work closely enough with Controller 0 to have picked up its mannerisms. The computer has a tendency to instruct the populace on how they should feel about its pronouncements and decisions; the inside of a Xilien mind is one of the few things it can't control directly, and so it puts the onus on its citizens to control their minds for it.) "We are not, as you can tell, testing them en masse in hopes that one or two will survive, but testing only two and three at a time, and pouring our every resource into ensuring their survival in each trial. Their deaths are incompatible with our objectives."

Despite yourself, you did find yourself thinking that they must be exercising a great deal of caution with the dorats, 100% fatality rate notwithstanding. Still, though, you had to ask— "Why are you testing two and three at a time, then? Why not one?"

Soldier 1 was silent for a moment, and you suspected xe had a direct link to Controller 0 and was waiting for it to provide xem an answer that xe was allowed to share. "Because the very purpose of the experiment requires multiple test subjects," xe finally said. "Our first four tests used only two dorats each. We found two insufficient for stable results. Our results improved when we began using three."

So what was it, you wondered. Was the experiment about dorats' empathic capabilities? Something else concerning their brains? Some new breeding experiments? What could require multiple dorats?

You suspected you'd never find out.

"What qualities are you looking for?" you asked them, with no further questions about the nature of the experiment; because, ultimately, it didn't matter what they told you and whether or not you liked it. No matter what, you were going to comply. You have to comply when Controller 0 comes knocking. Your only recourse for objection is if Controller 0 asks you for something and you know something it doesn't that will help it get what it wants more expediently.

Shortly, Soldier 1 answered, "Compatibility with each other."

"In what sense?" you asked. "Dorats that play together well? Genetic similarity?"

"Not genetic similarity," Soldier 1 said. "Our initial tests were conducted with dorats of the same breed, to poor effect." Xe grimaced almost immediately after speaking, and the next statement came from Scientist 2: "We have our own criteria by which we'll determine compatibility. Once you have presented your pool of available dorats, we will monitor them ourselves until we have made a selection." From the switch in speakers, you suspected that Soldier 1 had overstepped xir bounds and Controller 0 had revoked xir permission to lead the conversation.

"Monitor?" you asked. "In person? Or will you be setting up recording equipment?" You didn't like the sound of either option.

"Both, most likely," Scientist 2 said.

And so it was. Cameras designed to pick up visible light and heat energy were set up around the aeries. Most days, at least one of the four from the military was there—usually either Scientist 2 or Scientist 3—watching keenly while the adolescent dorats played, relaxed, and interacted; taking notes; and recording even more footage from various angles. After a few weeks, all four came in again, asked to speak with you in your office, and presented you with the three dossiers.

And here you are.

###

Here you are.

Looking down at the military's records on Noodle, Sunshine, and Pineapple. Here you are.

"Why?" you ask. You wouldn't have pegged the three of them for any sort of compatibility. You don't know that you've ever seen any of them interact one-on-one with each other, much less all together.

There's a pause as they wait for instructions from Controller 0; and then, with grim solemnity, Scientist 2 takes out a translucent badge and hands it to you. Congratulations: you're now one clearance level above the average civilian.

Scientist 3 speaks. "These two, because Specimen 2—" xe taps on Sunshine's dossier, "is sexually attracted to Specimen 3." And then Pineapple's. Something squeezes inside you. These are adolescents. They're only playing around with flirting—when a flight and spinetail at this age do pair off, they tussle and cuddle. Who was this army biologist with only a few weeks' worth of footage to say that this awkward little thing with disproportionately large wings was anywhere near anything like sexual attraction?

You don't say any of that. You say, very evenly, "Oh?"

"You've seen, no doubt, that he's been putting on mating displays for the spinetail morphs," Scientist 3 says. "We've analyzed multiple displays from multiple angles, and are absolutely certain that Specimen 3 is the only spinetail morph whom Specimen 2 is always facing when he displays. His brain activity and body temperature elevate when Specimen 3 takes note of his displays, but not when any other spinetail morphs do."

Specimens 2, Specimen 3. They've already been numbered.

"Specimen 3 does not appear to reciprocate Specimen 2's sexual attraction," Scientist 3 goes on. "But this is irrelevant. As long as Specimen 2 views Specimen 3 as an object of desire, he will remain invested in both protecting and impressing him—which should yield the behavior we want to see from them."

You think of Sunshine off by himself, getting used to his new wingspan, practicing launching himself higher and higher into the air each time he snaps his wings; and wonder what it is the military plans to use that young enthusiasm to train him to do.

You think of Pineapple, tail rattling accidentally as he wiggles in play or suddenly stopping to stare in fascination at an odd sunbeam or an aerie swinging on its chain; and mentally recoil at the thought of him being an object of desire—a prize to manipulate quiet little Sunshine into doing what they want.

You think of Noodle. Curling up to snooze, or scratching at his flaking scales, or flopping down between the flight morphs with his little wings curled tight around his chest. "Why Specimen 1, then?"

"Because he has demonstrated homosexual inclinations." The way Scientist 3 says the words is so clinically precise it almost sounds pathologizing. It feels like a slap on the face. (Even if hearing the word "homosexual" applied to a dorat is momentarily disorienting, when it's so natural to assume that's the default in non-parthenogenetic species. It's easy to forget that, by a biologist's definition of the term, they do have two sexes, not just two body shapes.)

"How do you know that?" You would have noticed if any of your dorats had progressed past practicing their mating displays, and Noodle doesn't even do that much.

"I'm sure you've noticed that he lounges with the flight morphs. When he watches spinetail morphs present their mating displays, his heart rate increases and eyes dilate in a manner indicating arousal, and his—"

"Okay." You don't want to hear more. You feel like you're peering in someone's bedroom window with night vision goggles. "But, what—what does that have to do with anything?"

"Had we chosen a heterosexual flight morph or spinetail morph, it could develop a sexual rivalry with the other two specimens," Scientist 3 says. "A heterosexual spinetail morph could perceive Specimen 3 as an obstacle to obtaining Specimen 2's attention; whereas Specimen 2 might perceive a heterosexual flight morph as a potential threat to his chances of wooing Specimen 3. However, a heterosexual flight morph will not demonstrate attraction to a homosexual spinetail morph, and a homosexual spinetail morph will not demonstrate attraction to a heterosexual spinetail morph, so neither Specimen 2 nor Specimen 3 will see Specimen 1 as a rival or vice versa. We can reap the benefits of Specimen 2's attraction to Specimen 3 without concern that it will produce a schism with Specimen 1."

You almost laugh at their bizarre, mating-obsessed logic. What are they going to do if one of the spinetails is bisexual, but hasn't "demonstrated" his "inclinations" yet? What are they going to do if it turns out that Noodle likes lounging with the flights because he has as yet unrecognized intersex traits, and he suddenly sprouts a set of wings to rival Sunshine's? What then?

But you can't ask. You're silent with horror.

Because dorats don't act like that. They don't develop sexual rivalries. If two set their eyes on the same mate, their competitions don't escalate past wrapping their tails around each other and rolling around, or battering each other ineffectively with their wings and hissing until someone gives up. Often, the competition stops early when the potential mate demonstrates a willingness to produce an egg with each. Two competing over one would never escalate to the point where it would pose a threat to their ability to healthily cohabitate or cooperate.

Unless the dorats are in miserable, confined, stressed conditions. So stressed their natural empathy shuts down so they don't have to feel their peers' suffering, so miserable that losing a chance to mate means losing a chance at what may be the only pleasurable activity they're allowed, so confined that they can't flee from an infuriated rival or an unwanted mate. The kind of conditions found in illegal doratfighting pits or unlicensed breeding mills.

What the hell is the military putting their dorats through that they have to be concerned about sexual rivalries?

How the hell did their previous sets of dorats die, for this "compatibility" to be their top criteria?

What the hell are they going to do to Noodle, Sunshine, and Pineapple?

You look through the window in your office door, where you can see your dorats. You spot Pineapple first, trying to climb one of the chains anchoring an aerie to the ground by twisting about it and inching himself up. Noodle is sleeping in a pile of flights, one leg sticking up inelegantly. Sunshine you finally spot high above, peering over the side of an aerie, watching Pineapple climb. There is nothing you want more than to run out there, scoop the three of them up, and carry them somewhere far away.

But you can't defy Controller 0. The best you could hope to do, now that you understand the military's criteria, is try to suggest a better trio; but each and every little dorat out there is just as precious as Noodle, Sunshine, or Pineapple. You can't sacrifice any of them in their stead.

The military representatives give you a moment. Then Scientist 2 takes back the dossiers. Soldier 1 says, "If you have no objections, we are prepared to take them now."

You say nothing.

"Very well."

###

You'd like to think that you're putting on a good show of stoicism for the military representatives. But the moment you step outside your office, you're swarmed by concerned dorats desperate to comfort you. Under the circumstances, it only makes you more miserable.

You reassure them as well as you can, push them off, and begin collecting the three... specimens.

Noodle flails when you scoop him up, but once it's clear you plan to drape him over one shoulder, he clambers around to position himself: head draped over your chest, tail tip dangling past your butt, claws curled into your chain mail shirt for stability. He flicks his tongue at your chin in concern a couple of times, then droops down and almost immediately falls back asleep.

You have to shake the chain Pineapple's climbing to get his attention, but he sees how Noodle's laying and copies him on your other shoulder. He covers your head with one wing as he scrambles onto you, but once he's settled he nuzzles against your cheek, attempting to cheer you up. You feel his confusion as he presses his head against yours.

You don't even need to whistle to get Sunshine's attention. He's already watching you—or maybe watching Pineapple on your shoulder. You point at the ground and stamp a foot, and Sunshine, well-trained, glides down off his perch and flops at your feet. You don't have any shoulders left for him, but he stays close, rubbing his head between your shins. Smaller dorats sometimes weave between their owners' legs when they want their attention or want to comfort them; when they get too big for that, sometimes they do this instead. You rub him just behind his jaw, partially to thank him for the attention and partially to coax him out from between your legs so you can walk, and you take all three of them to the door where the military representatives are waiting.

Their ship is just outside. A compartment in the back is already open. At least the dorats aren't going to be in separate cages. You pat inside the compartment, and Sunshine jumps up and in, followed by Pineapple slithering off your shoulder. Sunshine immediately huddles in a back corner, watching as Pineapple explores the space. You have to slide Noodle off yourself, and he stirs and sits up as you set him down.

"You three are getting adopted by the military," you tell them. You feel guilty, like you're lying to them, even though it's not technically untrue and even if it was they wouldn't understand you. "Be good for them, okay? The future of X depends on its soldiers."

"Make your farewell quick," Soldier 1 says stiffly. You're probably lucky that you get to say farewell at all.

You force a smile, lean into the ship, and tug them close one by one to press your forehead against theirs. You focus your entire mind on your love for them instead of your worry. "Noodle. Sunshine. Pineapple." You say their names as you're touching them; this will probably be the last time they ever hear them. You pull back from Pineapple before he can pick up on your sudden sadness. "Stay safe."

You step back and Soldier 4 closes the compartment.

You watch from the door as the ship takes off and disappears into the sky.

###

You never see them again.

###

That's not true. If it was true, it would be less painful.

Years pass. You have a daughter; she grows, takes over the family business, and has a daughter and a child of her own. You start giving talks about dorat behavior.

After one of your talks, a soldier waits in the back while the chairs empty and the people who lingered behind speak to you. Only when they're gone does xe approach you. A generation has passed since you last saw xem, and xe looks far older; but you still recognize xir face instantly. An ache that you haven't felt in years stirs in your chest again. "Soldier 1," you say, nodding.

Xe nods back. "Specialist 8." And before you can question the title, xe offers you a new clearance badge.

###

There's a heavy, oppressive feel in the lab, although you can't tell why. It's clean, well-lit. There's no signs of suffering. But the air weighs down on you anyway.

Maybe it's because you're on a moon. You've never been on a world with a sky that's always black. You feel like you're clinging to the side of a marble hurtling alone through the void.

Something about the oppressive feeling is familiar.

"At this point, we doubt the fact that you raised our specimens will give you any particular insight into them," Specialist 3 tells you as xe escorts you down the hall. "We have, after all, been working with them for far longer than you knew them. But we're very impressed with your expertise on dorat psychology."

You've already been told that they're still working with the three "specimens" you gave them. You're relieved they've survived this long. They'll be getting near old age by now. You wonder if they were ever allowed to interact with any other dorats. You wonder if the three of them were enough company for each other. Dorats that aren't pets usually live in groups with at least a dozen adults, and pets benefit from regular opportunities to socialize with other dorats. Did they ever get those opportunities? Did they ever go outside? Did they give their flight morph enough chances to fly?

You suspect not. You don't know why you suspect not. Something about the heaviness in the air.

As Specialist 3 approaches a massive set of double doors and slows down, you realize what about the heaviness is familiar: it feels like entering a doratfighting pit to rescue the captive dorats. This is what it feels like when dozens of dorats' empathy have collapsed and crumpled in, forming a dense despairing ball of shut down and suppressed emotions. They can't cope with their own misery, much less their peers', and so they close in on themselves. Your hand flutters up to your head, pressing your temple where you can feel the psychic weight.

But this is so much heavier than you've ever felt before. There must be hundreds, thousands—"How many dorats are kept in this facility?"

Specialist 3 hesitates. "Just the three," xe says. "Maybe some of the scientists have personal pets in their quarters, but I doubt it. They wouldn't want to bring their pets to this environment."

You don't think xe's talking about the airless moon. Xir gaze flicks to your hand pressed to your temple, and xe says, "You see what I mean."

"This can't be just three. How?"

"You'll see. This is what you're here to address." Specialist 3's hand hovers over the door controls. "Moment of truth," xe says. "From here on out, everything you see is absolutely classified. Controller 0 values the secrecy of this information more than your life. If you tell anyone..."

You nod. You know. It was spelled out to you very explicitly. Any intel leaks that can be traced to you mean the execution of ME-319, ME-320, and ME-321: you, your daughter, your granddaughter. The termination of the ME matrilineage. Of course, you'll never tell—but you're terrified that someday, someone else might, and the blame will accidentally fall on your family. You would have refused to take this assignment if you could have; but you have to comply when Controller 0 comes knocking.

Specialist 3 nods and opens the door.

You step through and the weight closes in on your mind so heavily it feels like your vision is going black around the edges.

For a moment, you can't understand what you're looking at. The room resembles a ship hangar, but directly in front of you is what looks like a mountain of gold coins. No, not coins. Scales?

The mountain shifts.

You fall to your knees.

It's a massive, monstrous mutant. Ugly knotted scars thicker than your torso run between its necks and down its chest. It's all spines, and claws, and horns, and fangs—its fangs alone are half the length of your body. You didn't know creatures this large could survive outside the vacuum of space. You can tell, just from looking at it, that it's nothing but a weapon of mass destruction.

And it has three heads. And it has the broad wings of one flight morph and the long tails of two spinetail morphs. And it has numb, delirious despair in its eyes.

There are massive collars around each of its necks and cuffs around its ankles and tails; chains anchor each collar and cuff to the ground. In a grotesque parody of rings on fingers, piercings jab through its wing membranes and wrap around each of its phalanges; short chains connect the piercings to each other, forcing it to keep its phalanges together and its wings closed. It spasms and growls—its growl is so loud you can feel the floor beneath you vibrate—and then goes limp on the floor; and then spasms again; and whimpers; and goes limp again.

You try to ask a question, but all you can do is mouth the word, "What," silently.

"Meet Monster 0," Specialist 3 says. "Codename: King, if you prefer."

You want to be sick. Of all the things you feared, never in your worst nightmares...

"You can see the problem," xe goes on. "He's totally shut down emotionally. We can make him move—we've got the technology to force him to move—but we can't force him to feel again. The experiment is only a partial success as long as his empathic abilities are turned off. If we have to, we can move forward with this alone. But I've seen your writing on rehabilitating doratfighting rescues; if there's any way you can... Hey, where—?"

You're not listening to xem anymore. You've found your feet and you're rushing down the stairs so fast you miss a few steps and almost fall, heading for the main floor of the hangar—hangar? kennel? prison? You sprint for the heads of the mangled creatures. The other soldiers and scientists on the floor, seeing you approach—wearing a jingling chainmail tunic and a look of fury the likes of which Controller 0's perfectly emotionally repressed soldiers would never display—dive out of your way.

You head straight for Monster 0's faces.

Each face towers above you. Their heads are lying on the ground and you still have to look up to meet their eyes. They don't look anything like themselves anymore. Their distinctive scales—the flaky white gold, the electric yellow, the spiky green-tinged brownish gold—all gone, replaced by a uniform dull, pallid brass. The heads, distorted and altered as they were forced to this unnatural size, could have come from triplets. If you hadn't been told they were your dorats, you wouldn't have recognized them.

The head on the monster's right growls as you approach, bearing his fangs threateningly, but his eyes are glazed. The one in the middle flinches and squeezes his already shut eyes tighter closed, as if he can dream his way through this and wake up somewhere else. Only the one on the monster's left manages to focus, looking at you tiredly, studying you.

You know then. You know.

"Oh, my babies." You look up at them, between each of their faces, throat tight. "This isn't you."

The one on the left slowly leans in—does he recognize you? The right one's eyes are beginning to clear.

You reach out to touch the left one's snout, then the middle one. "I'm so sorry they did this to you. This isn't who you are."

Slowly, the right one drags his head toward you as well. The middle one's eyes crack open tiredly. You can feel their exhalations washing over you in gusts; you hear their lungs roaring like wind through a canyon.

"Do you remember who you're supposed to be?" You don't hide any of your emotions from them this time. Love pours out along with pity and grief. You lean against them, one at a time, pressing your forehead to their snouts: Specimen 1, 2, then 3; middle, right, and left; and you tell them their names: "Noodle. Sunshine. Pineapple."

Their eyes shoot wide open. An electric wave snaps over their skin, jolting you hard enough that you stumble back.

Two soldiers rush up to take your arms and tug you back, and for a moment you're so disoriented you can't tell if you're being rescued or arrested. The vision-blackening pressure on your mind has lifted all at once, so fast you feel lightheaded. The three dorats lift their heads as high as their chains will allow them, looking at each other as though they've only noticed each other for the first time; or perhaps looking at themselves through each other's eyes?

And then the rage hits you—like stepping outside at the most deathly hot peak of summer and walking into a wall of heat. Rage so thick it's like a tangible force, rage so overbearing you immediately break out in a sweat.

Then they raise their heads, and they sing.

That's the only word you have for it. It's a sound like you've never heard before. Dorats coo, or croon, or caterwaul; but this is singing. Three notes, high and quivering; a discordant chord, tremolo, in clear soprano voices; a wail that nearly sounds Xilien.

Something in the chord pierces straight into your psyche. You can feel your heart break, your future vanish, your every reason for living shrivel up and dissolve. You lose everything in a second. All that's left is keen, soul-throttling despair. Nothing matters. Everything is over.

From somewhere far outside the black hole in your mind, you hear soldiers who might not have expressed a single emotion in decades break down in sobs.

And still the dorats are singing like they're trying to end the world. Their necks raised, their back arched, their legs straining, their wings trembling. One by one, the chains pinning their left wing shut begin to snap.

You sink past despair into apathy.

###

Your spirits are still low when you wake up in the med bay, but at least you're no longer ready to die.

You remember what it felt like, though. You'll always remember what it felt like.

You're being tended to by Nurse 4. Once xe's established that you're of sound mind, xe places a call, and a couple of minutes later Soldier 1 and Specialist 3 come in.

They both look haggard. Soldier 1 has superficial scratches high on the side of xir neck where public officials in direct contact with Controller 0 get their implants. "Well done," xe says wearily. "Controller 0 finds your technique questionable, but approves of your fast results. You'll be sent home with high commendations—but don't expect to be called in to do that again."

Somewhere far away, you think you can feel anger, throbbing. Like the beginning of a pounding headache.

You process Soldier 1's statement backwards and in pieces. "Again?" How many more were they going to put through that torture? And then: "Fast results? You—you knew? You wanted this? This...?"

You gesture at your own head, trying to somehow indicate the feeling of your entire life falling to pieces.

Specialist 3 clears xir throat. Soldier 1 glances away. "Among other things, our experiments aimed to enhance Monster 0's inborn capacity to project emotions. Weaponize it, if you will."

You can only gape at xem.

Specialist 3 says, "We had no idea he'd develop a means to project them vocally." Xir voice is hoarse. "This is a... fascinating side effect of his modifications."

"Although one that reduces his usefulness in vacuums," Soldier 1 says.

Usefulness for what? What are they going to use them for?

You feel despair creep over you again.

###

As promised, you're awarded a slew of high commendations from Controller 0 before you go home. You never speak of them again.

Controller 0 also assigns you a therapist with a clearance level high enough for you to speak freely about your experience. You only visit xem a few times. Once you pass Soldier 4 in the waiting room. You didn't realize xe lives nearby. You didn't realize xe had been on the moon.

It's three more years before you, along with everyone else, see the news of the first planet conquered by X's new living weapon, "King." You tune out the hollow military propaganda singing their new weapon's praises as you watch the footage brought back from that distant world. All you can see in the dorats' eyes is hatred.

In another few years, your granddaughter becomes the first of your matrilineage in centuries not to take over the family dorat breeding business. Instead, she joins the military. Science branch. She received an invitation directly from Controller 0 itself.

She gushes about the opportunity to use your family's dorat expertise to work with the famous Monster 0—and perhaps to help make and train more monsters. After all, "0" is the number reserved for prototypes. Rumors have been swirling for years.

Before she leaves for basic training, you pull her aside, take a risk that could endanger your whole family, and whisper Monster 0's true names to her.

###

To the end of your life, you will fear that your meeting with your three dorats—your meeting with the thing they became—only made things worse for them.

You will never know that, years after your natural death, what you reawakened in them will give them the strength to escape.

#####

(Replies/reblogs are welcome & encouraged! Check the “source” link below for my masterlist of KOTM fics, as well as my AO3 and Ko-fi links.)

#godzilla #kotm #dorats #xiliens #king ghidorah #ghidorah #fanfic #my writing #(click that link if u wanna see uptight soldiers obsessing way too hard over the mating habits of snake kittens)

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arandeeprobins-blog · 4 years

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Gathering Your News and Information Online

Today the print media is economic troubles, as advertisers migrate to online venues. Of course, paper media is diversifying quickly and moving towards Internet themselves. Still, you cannot get your print media online on a regular basis. Some magazines are only in paper form and if you want to stay with surface of facts and information, you will need a great deal of trade journals and popular magazines to do this. But how is it possible to get each of the magazines you need to read? There are numerous strategies it's possible to employ that will get use of such magazines. Trade Magazines is frequently ordered online with free streaming, although some may be grabbed at Industry Trade events and after that enrolling there. Spending 1 to 2 days per month in a major bookstore cafe allows you to run through Magazines and take notes, searching for all of those other information online later. Many magazines have an online versions, that's sent by email, not all of it, including classifieds or contributed byline filler articles, is online, but reading online and occasionally at the bookstore help keep you current. If you fail to discover a specific trade journal or magazine monthly, then even another month or quarter can keep you on top of things. Industries are much slower to change than one could imagine. New innovations remain topics for 4-6 months covering all of the angles, marketing and exploits. It's not at all as difficult as it looks. Since the coordinator for the Online Think Tank, it's literally my job to be abreast of information in industry, government, non-profit sector and round the world. Below are the magazines that I review to complete exactly that. The blogosphere, comprised of countless blogs throughout the planet, is among the most widely used faces in the Internet. It's not only for youths anymore. Previously, most blogs were operated by kids who wanted to help keep in touch with their friends, or people who just wanted to share with you their way of life.

Currently, everyone online features a blog. Chances are, you have one - and if you don't, you must. Stay at home moms want to blog regarding lives and raising children. CEOs of major corporations own blogs in regards to the latest happenings in their company. Many celebrities run blogs, and they also blog with regards to their upcoming events, movies, and roles (as well as scandals). And marketers have blogs about every niche imaginable! I'm confident to convey I myself am area of the blogging culture. Blogging is an excellent method to contact the folks online. They're able to touch numerous lives, and spread your message like no other medium. You can say almost anything you need, there will probably be an audience for almost every niche! It is possible to manage a blog for entertainment. In order to discuss parties you attend, restaurants you eat at, places you're going shopping, or in places you embark on vacation, someone will probably want to read about it. Whether or not the only audience you might have is the good friends and relatives, you have fun and be able to say whatever's what's on your mind. A lot more people are embracing blogging in order to make money. Many people just want to make a few extra dollars for spending money, but other people actually making a full-time income using blogs. A couple of prominent bloggers even offer making tens of thousands of dollars using their blogs (a la Perez Hilton, who parlayed his blogging fun into thousands of dollars in ad money month after month, which delivered him his very own Television show, podcast, and clothing line)! There are numerous ways to earn money blogging. If you're an excellent student who just would like to produce a little supplemental income for pizza and garments, or you might be a serious marketer who wishes to create a lot of money, itrrrs very possible with blogging. Blogs are big, even if they're small. Some blogs get numerous hits monthly. Traffic continues to be growing steadily for several years as consumers gain confidence from peers as opposed to trusting hard hitting sales pitches they find on the web. For more info about readwriteblog internet page: read more.

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imagitory · 5 years

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D-Views: Mary Poppins

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another installment of D-Views, my on-going written review series where I dive into and analyze movies from Disney’s extensive film library, and even occasionally those influenced by that library. For other reviews in the series for movies such as Frozen, Enchanted, The Little Mermaid, and Lacewood Productions’ The Nutcracker Prince, feel free to consult the “Disney Reviews” tag! And as always, if you enjoy any of my reviews, please consider liking and reblogging them!

Today, thanks to the votes cast by @karalora, @banana-9-pancakes, and @aceyanaheim, we’ll be looking at the story of a magical woman -- one who is prim, proper, and practically perfect in every way...Mary Poppins!

Production-wise Mary Poppins is in some ways the culmination of everything Walt Disney learned in his thirty-year-long film-making career. It adapted a classic, whimsical story as an charming, emotion-heavy screenplay, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs -- it featured a fresh-faced, but extremely talented young singer in the title role, like Sleeping Beauty -- it seamlessly combined animation with live action, like Song of the South -- it had state-of-the-art special effects, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- and it featured music by two songwriters who later went on to write Disney film scores for decades. But all of that started with a tiny, little spark. As a little girl, Walt’s daughter Diane had started reading the Mary Poppins books, and when Walt read along with her, he was absolutely enchanted by them and knew he wanted to adapt the stories for the silver screen. All the way back in 1938, one year after the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Uncle Walt had his first meeting with Mary Poppins’s creator, P.L. Travers, but as anyone who has seen Saving Mr. Banks knows, the two did not see eye to eye. Uncle Walt spent the next twenty years trying to convince Travers to give him the rights to her stories, but unlike in the film where they had a sincere meeting of the minds, Travers recalled their final meeting where she gave him the rights as being more like Walt “holding up a gold pocket watch and dangling it tantalizingly in front of [her] eyes.” Admittedly one factor in the situation was that Travers herself had been having some financial trouble, and Uncle Walt’s payment for the rights to her books, as well as a portion of the gross profits for a film adaptation, was a boost that Travers severely needed. Despite the rights being given to Disney, however, Travers retained script approval rights, and for the next few years of production, she had quite a few complaints about the product. Even at the premiere of the film -- which, incredibly, she had not originally been invited to until she shamed a Disney executive into action -- Travers was very vocal about how much she disliked the film. The animation, done by some of the best in the business? Had to go. The story, which created such memorable and likable characters? Lacked teeth. The score written by the young Sherman brothers, who later went on to win awards for both Poppins and their other works? Left her cold.

Now, here’s the thing...do I agree with Ms. Travers? No. Do I like her as a person? No -- one would be hard-pressed to really admire a woman who decided to adopt half of a pair of twins from a poor family, raise the boy thinking he was her biological son, and then try to prevent her son from seeing his twin when the twin came to see him. (Yes, she really did that.) Do I think she was a malcontent who probably wouldn’t have been satisfied with anything? Absolutely. But at the same time, I must acknowledge, as a writer myself, it can be very difficult to share your creations with others. It can be hard even letting others read your works, given how personal and emotionally resonant the things you create often end up being, but it’s even harder letting others add onto your work. In a way, it’s like giving your child to a babysitter, except that unlike babysitters, most filmmakers who aim to adapt books don’t have a great track record in respecting the author or their vision. And in regards to Walt Disney specifically, his studio has never exactly been very interested in “staying true to the original story” -- the Walt Disney Company adapts the heck out of anything it touches. Even more modern Disney projects based on books like Ella Enchanted and Tuck Everlasting are great examples of this (if you’d like to delve into those films as adaptations, please look up Dominic Smith/The Dom’s wonderful Lost in Adaptation episodes for them -- they’re both fabulous!!). And in a way, Travers never saw her magical nanny as something light and cheerful -- this was an immortal woman who in later books once took the Banks children up into the Heavens on Midsummer’s Eve. Like the famous 1939 film adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, there was definitely some dry wit and edge lost in translation from book to screen...and just like with The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins the film has largely taken the place of the original novels in the public consciousness.

But you know something? For what it’s worth...I think that, just like The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins succeeds in being a well-written, well-directed, well-performed, classic film, even if it’s so different than the book it was inspired by. And honestly, the world seems to agree. Mary Poppins grossed over $28.5 million at the box office, making it the most profitable film of 1965, and completely won over both critics and audiences alike. Even now at Rotten Tomatoes, it still boasts a rare 100% Fresh rating. It was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won five (including Best Picture, which made it the first and only film Walt ever produced to win that honor) and also earned both a Golden Globe and two Grammys. Not only that, but the profits for the film were so high that they helped Uncle Walt fund his “Florida project,” which would eventually become Walt Disney World Resort. Mary Poppins later went on to inspire both a Broadway musical and a sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, and even today you can still meet both Mary Poppins and Bert in the Disney theme parks. So yes, “I recognize Ms. Travers had her opinion, but given that it is a stupid-ass opinion, I’ve elected to ignore it.”

PFFT, I’M KIDDING, ONLY KIDDING. Let’s talk about Mary Poppins.

Perhaps it’s appropriate that from the very beginning, the overture embraces us with the melody that will become the story’s main theme, Feed the Birds. The overture, like all the best Sherman brother overtures for films like Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Sword in the Stone, is just a smooth, glamorous kaleidoscope of music. I also have to applaud the special effects team right off the bat with their overlaying of Julie Andrews as Mary onto the mat painting of London underneath our opening credits -- even now, when one can more easily guess how the trick worked, it’s still rather neatly done.

In this opening sequence, we also meet Bert, played by Dick van Dyke. The character of Bert was actually a compilation of several figures from the books, but that results in a very interesting, almost transient sort of character. This cheery, optimistic Jack of All Trades may have an accent that wouldn’t convince anyone, but is nonetheless unbelievably charming, and van Dyke’s physical comedy is so ridiculously on point. My mum and I have had a soft spot for Dick van Dyke for a long time because my late grandfather, although he was quite a bit older, resembled him quite a bit not just in appearance but also in attitude. Even now I look at Bert and fondly remember going to see the Broadway production of Mary Poppins with my grandparents, who ended up loving it and its music just as much as I did. It all the more makes me lament the end of the Soundsational Parade at Disneyland, which always concluded with a Mary-Poppins-inspired float covered in chimney sweeps and merry-go-round horses, one of which was ridden by Bert.

One of the changes that Ms. Travers was most disdainful of was the idea that the Banks family -- especially Mr. Banks -- had flaws that needed to be addressed and fixed by Mary Poppins. The flaw in the parents’ case is that they’re so focused on their own work and goals that they neglect their children’s emotional needs -- a plot point that would eventually get beaten into the ground in films that came later, but is not done half bad here. After all, the film doesn’t try to frame Mr. Banks’s job or Mrs. Banks’s activism as unimportant or bad in any way -- it’s just that the parents are solely focusing on those things. Mrs. Banks’s activism in particular, which is something that doesn’t appear either in the books or in the Broadway production, is something I really like. Sister Suffragette, which actually helped bring Glynis Johns on board to play Mrs. Banks, is just such a ridiculously fun song to sing. Although I wouldn’t ever say it’s the best song in the film by a mile, it’s still insanely catchy and entertaining, and I sing along to it every single time. WOMANKIND, ARISE!

David Tomlinson, who plays Mr. Banks, is easily the weakest link singing-wise, but fortunately he gives an acting performance that more than compensates for his poor vocals. From the very beginning, he comes across as incredibly pompous, self-centered, detached, and sexist, and yet he’s never shown to be an inherently bad person. He can be very cheerful, and even the way he’s framed makes it clear that a lot of his bluster is a front for his actual feelings, such as the way he falters when he realizes that Katie Nana has left the family. In the wrong hands, this role could’ve been despicable and shallow, but Tomlison handles it carefully enough that one can always see the emotion and suppressed softness in his eyes even long before he has his change of heart.

After an excellently paced entrance that involves effortlessly blowing away the line of nannies outside 17 Cherry Tree Lane, we are finally fully introduced to the magical lady herself, Mary Poppins. It is unbelievable when you remember that this was Julie Andrews’s first film role ever -- she’d previously only been a stage actress, but after finding success in both My Fair Lady and Camelot on stage and being denied the role of Eliza Doolittle in the film adaptation of My Fair Lady (which was later given to Audrey Hepburn), Julie accepted the role of Mary Poppins. Interestingly Julie was the only actor in the movie that P.L. Travers actually expressed some approval for, and honestly, I don’t blame her -- Julie is just flawlessly cast here. The role combines all of her performing strengths -- a great singing voice, expert dancing, inherent charm, sophistication, intelligence, pride, grace, and a touch of sass -- together in a cohesive, memorable character. Mary’s first song, A Spoonful of Sugar, really showcases Julie in her prime, spotlighting her flawless falsetto and precise pitch (as well as her impeccable whistling), and beautifully accompanies some of the at-the-time-revolutionary special effects. Although yes, it’s easy in the modern day to see how the effects were done, they’re never out-of-place or distracting, which is a testament to how much better practical effects can sometimes age in comparison to computer-generated effects. The things that tend to stick out most to my eyes are the green-screened stuff, simply because of how much that particular technique has been used in film and television since Mary Poppins’s release, but the nice thing is that it’s only one of many effects used, which helps in distracting the eye away from getting too used to one effect. Sometimes the effect will be stop-motion; sometimes the effect will be reversing the film; sometimes it’ll be green screen; sometimes it’ll be combining separate shots together. It makes it so that you would have to watch every scene several times and very carefully in order to pick out specific techniques, rather than just being able to go, “That’s fake, that’s fake, aaaaand...that’s fake,” the way you can while watching movies using only CGI.

Speaking of special effects, we have to talk about the sequence that made P.L. Travers the most upset -- the Jolly Holiday segment, set in an animated, living chalk drawing. Not only is the song just excellent, but the colors and energy of the piece are...well, practically perfect! It only serves to plus a song that was already pretty great and turns it into something amazing. Something else I like about Mary and Bert that I actually have to thank P. L. Travers herself for is that they are not romantically involved. Ms. Travers specifically indicated that that should be the case, and for a film made in the 60′s when male and female characters were almost always neatly paired off, it’s really neat that the two characters, despite some faintly teasing, flirty affects, never act like a couple. And really, having had both male and female friends since I was a kid, I really enjoyed seeing an attractive leading woman and man as friends. On the note of Mary, Bert, and songs I love singing along to, I would be very, very amiss if I didn’t also bring up Supercalifragalisticexpeliadocious. It’s really a very short number, but packed into it is so much energy that it feels like it never takes a breath. It’s like a sugar buzz, written into song form -- exuberant and big and loud and energetic...at least until the inevitable decrescendo as the rain wears away Bert’s chalk drawing and Mary, Bert, and the Banks children sadly return to the real world.

Our next adventure with Mary takes us to dear old Uncle Albert’s, where the aforementioned uncle, played by Mad-Hatter-voice-actor Ed Wynn, is rolling in the air laughing. This scene in particular showcases the various practical effects used in the film, whether hanging the actors on wires, putting them on one side of a seesaw, or even flipping the entire set on its side or upside down. Admittedly it’s very obvious that Katie Dotrice and Matthew Garber, who play Jane and Michael Banks, are having a harder time laughing convincingly than Dick van Dyke and Ed Wynn, which honestly is unsurprising given how many times they had to film this particular scene so as to get different shots. One story from the set of this film centers around Matthew Garber, after getting tired of recording the scene, receiving a nickle every time he had to go back onto the wires and in the end earning an “absolute fortune.” For child actors, Katie and Matthew aren’t awful, but it’s fortunate that they’re almost never the sole focus of a scene, as the more talented adult actors understandably overshadow them. And before you try to tell me it’s unfair to hold child actors to the same standards as adult actors, I grant that that’s true, but child actors can still give good performances that make them stand out as individuals...take Georgie Henley in The Chronicles of Narnia or Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire, for example. And as much as I’ll give Katie Dotrice and Matthew Garber credit for their performances, neither of them quite stands out that way. It’s admittedly a little harder for me to be that critical of Matthew’s performance, though, given that ten years after he retired from acting, he sadly passed away of pancreatitis at the age of 21. It’s very fortunate that thanks to his performance in Mary Poppins, Matthew will be remembered fondly for generations to come.

Walt Disney’s favorite song is frequently cited as Feed the Birds, and honestly, it’s little wonder why. As I touched on earlier, the song sort of sums up what the film Mary Poppins is trying to say -- that the smallest, seemingly insignificant gestures can mean so much. And isn’t that so integral to Disney, or even movies and entertainment in general? We all know of a character in a movie or TV show -- a line in a book -- a song someone wrote -- a simple smile from a stranger -- that somehow brightened up our whole world, that inspired us in ways we could never have imagined. And all of that comes back to sincere, gentle feelings, and how we can share those feelings with others. Mary Poppins, in short, is about compassion...and isn’t it little wonder why such a message resonated with so many people?

After an absolutely disastrous visit to the bank, the Banks children run out into the streets of London alone, where they’re fortunately found and walked home by Bert. Accompanying the jaunt back to Cherry Tree Lane is the Academy-Award-winning song Chim Chim Cheree, which is definitely catchy and, if I may say so, very fun to whistle. I admittedly am a little sour with Mrs. Banks that she doesn’t get a bit of a reality check when she ends up choosing to leave Michael and Jane alone with someone who’s effectively a stranger to her to go help her suffragette friends. It’s just fortunate that the “stranger” ends up being Bert and that Mary Poppins ends up coming back despite it being her day off, as otherwise Mrs. Banks’s negligent parenting could’ve had serious consequences. But the leap in logic does end up leading us into one of the best parts of the movie -- Step in Time!

Step in time, step in time, come on, matey, step in time! Hahaha, yes, this sequence easily has some of the best dancing ever recorded on film, right up there with the choreography in West Side Story and Singin’ in the Rain. It’s especially remarkable when you know that prior to Mary Poppins, Dick van Dyke had had no formal dance training, and yet he keeps up seemingly with ease with dozens of professional dancers. It blows me away every time. And despite the unending repetition of the song, it miraculously never becomes annoying due to the variety of the dance breaks and the high level of energy with which it’s performed. And really, despite the insane length of the song (it running over eight minutes all together), it amazingly never feels like padding. Perhaps it’s because the talent on screen is just so on display and integrated so perfectly with the building orchestrations and well-chosen special effects that it only serves to plus the musical action more and more and more until it finally culminates in the chimney sweeps escaping down the Banks family’s chimney and dancing off into the street.

As fun as everything has been with Mary Poppins and the chimney sweeps, however, Mr. Banks is now in danger of losing his job at the bank, and Tomlinson’s talent is made very evident once again in how, even after seeing all of his character’s mistakes and faults, we still feel very sorry for both him and for his family. Mr. Banks at first feels the impulse to blame Mary Poppins for his change in circumstances, but thanks to some pointed guidance from Bert and some compassion from his children, he comes to see the cracks in the foundation of his world view. And this goes back to the entire family needing help -- Mr. Banks is a very, very flawed man, but at the same time, as Bert brought up to Jane and Michael, he feels he has to handle absolutely everything on his own, and it’s largely thanks to the support of his children that he’s able to face the threat of losing his job with his head held high. Something I love a lot about the part where Mr. Banks makes his way to the bank alone is the Feed the Birds instrumental that accompanies his walk and that comes to a head when Mr. Banks reaches St. Paul’s, only to see the bird woman no longer there. Whether you choose to read it as the bird woman simply having left or having died or whatever else, it’s clear that every opportunity for charity and kindness we are offered is fleeting. Compassion is and will never be a passive thing.

Fortunately everything turns out for the best. Mr. Banks makes up with his children and he, Michael, Jane, and Mrs. Banks go fly a brand new kite in the park, alongside the film’s final song Let’s Go Fly a Kite. Mr. Banks even ends up getting his job back thanks to a joke that he told Dawes, Sr. the night we sacked. Even despite the cheer, however, it doesn’t feel completely saccharine and lacking of substance to me because Mary Poppins does still leave in the end. She doesn’t achieve the same kind of happy ending that she gave the Banks family -- instead she simply takes off into the air, presumably to give some other family help, with a faintly sad smile on her face. It’s remarkably mature of an ending for something that P.L. Travers thought was “all fantasy and no magic.”

Mary Poppins is not that much like the Mary Poppins books originally written by P. L. Travers. Perhaps at some points it sanitizes or misses out on what inspired Ms. Travers to write the books in the first place...but for all that is lost, I’m confident in saying that a lot was also found. There is a lot of heart in this movie, from a family growing and improving through the intervention of a wise, magical woman to finding deeper meaning in the seemingly insignificant things in our everyday lives. This movie is ridiculously fun to watch, but it’s not like the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, where there was never supposed to be a point and it was just there to entertain children. There are lessons one can learn here, and they’re not heavy-handed or pretentious in their delivery. One can learn the value of a sunny disposition, resilience, and empathy in less than stellar circumstances and see how a family full of love is the wealthiest and luckiest of all. And the best part? Those are lessons that both children and adults could stand to learn and re-learn through watching this movie for many, many years to come. Mary Poppins is an immortal figure, and even if this film was made by human hands and so couldn’t possible recreate P. L. Travers’s vision of her, the film is just as eternally relevant itself.

#d-views #disney reviews #mary poppins #disney #p.l. travers #opinion #analysis #reviews #walt disney #julie andrews #dick van dyke #pamela travers

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arh4591-5500 · 4 years

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Week 1 Reflection- Emma Quarterman

This week’s readings focused on the themes of experience and design. Noting that one of the files attached for this week was “Design Research Team Guidelines,” I began with “the core of ‘design thinking’ and its application” by Kees Dorst. While I had heard of the term ‘design thinking’ before in Entrepreneurship classes, the concept was still slightly unclear. I understand design thinking as a way to approach problems in a way that combines various theories and models, although that definition is still ambiguous. One of the most straightforward findings of the chapter was from the section of identifying the problem: abduction. The reasoning pattern for productive thinking, which creates values for others, could be written as: what (thing) plus how (working principle) leads to value (aspired). This framework made it easier for me to understand how designers and engineers approach problems; they often have a desired outcome (the value) and they have the working principle of achieving the outcome. However, Abduction 2 is the framework in which the how is also unknown, which leads to creation and use of frames. Overall, the chapter was useful in helping clarify the purpose and use of design thinking and how it leads to more creative and effective solutions across various industries. I am eager to learn more about design thinking in practice throughout the semester.

Culture Track explains that it began in 2001 with the purpose of observing changing perceptions of cultural audiences; it perhaps had a specific purpose for marketing, strategy, and design industries. In the years since its foundation, Cultural Track has observed understandable shifts in the ways that audiences are experiencing culture, especially due to social media and digital changes in the last few decades. I found the report or study from Culture Track to be especially interesting as a participant of younger generations because I had never considered many of the activities that I partake in as being “cultural activities.” Indeed, one of the changes from the 2014 to 2017 studies was an expanded definition of cultural activities that was not only limited to participation in historical sites, museums, theaters, or performances. Instead, populations have a wide definition of culture and experience it through various activities. For example, I could identify some examples of my own “cultural activities” that I am a participant in including seeing a sports game, going on a walk in a distinct part of my city, or visiting a brewery or vineyard in Charlottesville. Culture Track ’17 is different in that it draws from a larger, more diverse pool and attempts to understand how populations perceive culture by specific sub-groups, such as generations. For example, different generations may have different motivations for participating in a cultural activity, and they may prefer a different experience. Understandable, having fun is a large motivator for consumers of cultural activities. I found this to be an expected finding, especially because “fun” can be broadly defined and relate to many different activities. Reading through the different motivators for participation in cultural activities, I was reminded of my own experiences visiting museums. For example, earlier this Fall I visited New York for an interview and had a free afternoon before my flight in the evening. I called my younger brother, who is a Junior at NYU, and we visited the newly reopened MOMA. The motivation was not primarily for fun, but it did align with Culture Tracks other motivators, such as interest in the content, experiencing new things, and a form of stress relief. Overall, I found Culture Track’s findings to be very interesting, especially in the ways that it provides relevance for more recent trends and generations in the digital age.

The introduction of Exhibition Design by Phillip Hughes first offers practical advice and approaches to making a space successful at facilitating movement and making its mission effective, including rendering accessible spaces and legible text. However, it also explores various ways in which unique design can make a space and exhibit more engaging, entertaining, and lively. Interestingly, similar to Culture Track, I noticed an interest in appealing to different generations through exhibition design. Another similarity was the interest in combining digital features and technology into exhibitions. My favorite part of the chapter, however, was when the author noted how evident exhibition design was in daily life. I had never considered the term “exhibition design” outside of a museum or art historical context, but Hughes notes that displaying and arranging objects is part of human nature. Some of the examples he offers include considering the way certain objects are promoted in your home, the way retails advertise their products, and how religious buildings can be considered displays. These examples helped me better understand the importance of a space in framing an object, and how the surroundings contribute to significance, mood, and sentiment. Understanding the complicated and occasionally problematic history of displaying artifacts to the public makes the importance of modern exhibition design even more apparent. History provides us with a lesson for factors to consider in exhibition, such as lighting, appropriate educational background and information, and protection against damage or theft. I also found it interesting to consider that the aesthetics of an exhibit is a relatively modern phenomenon, noting that there was little “design” in the display of artifacts or art until the 19th and 20th centuries. Moving through the history of exhibition design, it was interesting to understand how the format of museums that I have always been familiar with- seeing paintings spaced apart with a white wall background- was an intentional and revolutionary move by the MOMA and Alfred Barr. Before reading this chapter, I did not realize that the intended effect was to have the audience view the piece without historical or social context. As a member of younger generations, I really enjoyed reading about interactive exhibits and recent developments combining new forms of technology. I can relate to the value of learning by doing, especially in the case of science museums. One of the things that I am most looking forward to discussing in class this semester is the interaction between historical art and exhibition and new technology. As Culture Track also noted, there are several pros and cons with the inclusion of digital media in exhibitions.

-Emma Quarterman

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shirlleycoyle · 3 years

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Pornhub’s Content Purge Has Left Fetish Creators Wondering What’s Next

Before the purge that disappeared more than 75 percent of content on the platform, Pornhub hosted a lot of videos and photos that weren’t humans having sex. There were full-length movies, memes, and video game playthroughs that you might see on a non-adult site like Twitch, but there was also a ton of animation, 3D renderings, audio erotica, music videos, fanfic from furries and bronies, and stop-motion animation like LEGO minifigs fucking.

Pornhub became a dumping ground and safe harbor for a lot of stuff, and a lot of these creators didn't necessarily want to upload a photo of themselves to a huge porn corporation's database in order to get verified. They were just throwing things on the site for fun, to share with others in their respective communities, and the wider world. Compared to a site like Milovana (an adult message board and the birthplace of Cock Hero, videos of which are mostly gone from Pornhub now) or the furry fan art forum e621, Pornhub was a way to reach a more mainstream audience. With last week’s action, a lot of that stuff is now gone.

For victims of abusive imagery and non-consensual porn, as well as anyone who's had to deal filing takedown requests for pirated content uploaded to Pornhub, the removal of unverified content is a positive: between Pornhub's new policy for only allowing content partners and performers in the model program to upload and download, and the retroactive suspension of all this content pending review, the platform seems to be making long-overdue changes that sex workers and victim advocates alike have asked for. But by applying a blanket solution to a complex problem, it's caught small, independent creators from niche communities in its net.

Several creators told me that Pornhub's damage-control scramble has created issues for verified users, locked many unverified creators out of their own content, and left many more wondering whether there's even a future for indie and fetish works on the site.

“It was a betrayal”

In a month when sex on the internet is being attacked from all sides—from Instagram's new terms of service, to TikTok kicking sex workers off the platform, to payment processors leaving Pornhub—some creators are concerned that losing one of the most popular porn sites in the world as a platform is another blow against fetish and outside-the-mainstream content on the internet as a whole.

For a lot of creators, Pornhub's melting pot was a source of inspiration for artists, Lifty and Sylox, hosts of the Furry Frequencies podcast, told me in an email. "Many of the videos that were uploaded onto Pornhub from the furry community were sexual videos of furries partaking in sexual acts in fursuit," they said—which could include videos of furries in fullsuit with “strategically-placed holes” performing solo or with one or more partners. "Some furries perform with just their fursuit head, handpaws, and feetpaws to provide better nude content. An unverified, but significant amount of this content catered to specific fetishes of the furry community, such as feet fetishism or watersports."

"Furries won't abandon PornHub immediately," Lifty and Sylox said, noting that more creators will likely migrate to Onlyfans or communities like Furaffinity to post content. "Changes like this tend to take time before the effects can be measured… PornHub's status as a repository for one-stop furry porn content will eventually diminish significantly."

It's not just illustrators and furries who have lost Pornhub as a platform in the last week. Audio erotica creator Goddess By Night told me that she lost all of her content—about 40 videos. She's been making audio erotica for five years, and in the last two she'd made a business out of it. She makes Gentle Female Dominant and Dominant Mommy-themed stories, as well as Futanari role play and other kink-related fantasies.

"Most of my work is a niche within the adult entertainment industry, and Pornhub allowed me to reach a broader audience, so it’s a pretty significant loss," she said. "However, my community has been incredibly supportive and intend to follow me to the next platform(s) I choose. I don’t plan on returning to Pornhub because of this. It was a betrayal, especially to the loads of creators they explicitly welcomed after Tumblr’s ban two years ago. I know some creators who lost work that they may never get back because Pornhub didn’t offer a grace period."

Each of the creators I talked to, whether they were verified or unverified, said that they weren't given any warning before Pornhub's content suspension took place. Pornhub used the word "suspension," not "deletion," and told Motherboard at the time of the suspension announcement that this meant content would be "removed pending verification and review."

Creators whose content was removed saw a message in place of their uploads that explained the video was "flagged for verification" and invited them to apply for the Model Program or Content Partner Program in order to re-enable the videos, or wait for the new verification process to start in 2021.

They were locked out of their own content at that point and were unable to even download it from the platform.

When Tumblr removed all NSFW content from its platform in December 2018—similarly for allegations it hosted child sexual abuse imagery, but also to appease Apple—the social media platform gave creators about two weeks of notice to get their stuff off the site. Pornhub's announcement came at 7 a.m. EST on a Monday and went into effect immediately. By the time most people saw the news, the suspensions were underway, and more than 10 million uploads were gone by 9 a.m.

This is especially bitter news for creators who, in 2018, took Pornhub up on its invitation to move to the platform from Tumblr.

"Amusingly [Pornhub was] very happy to take advantage of the Tumblr refugees back when all that went down, inviting us to upload all our galleries there," adult content illustrator IzzyBSides told me in a Twitter message. "I think most of us on Twitter know we're living on borrowed time, people have backup accounts set up and occasionally plug them to their followers letting them know to follow it in case their main account randomly disappears overnight."

Because the mass suspensions were meant as a broad solution to get unlawful, abusive content on the site under control, allowing users to download their content would miss the point of stopping the spread of any abusive imagery. But the move also meant that a lot of content that wasn’t abusive and fell well within Pornhub's terms of service was removed in the process. People didn't have the chance to choose whether they wanted to pack their bags and go elsewhere. If they want to recover their own content, they'll have to play by Pornhub's verification rules, which have yet to be announced and won't start until sometime early next year.

One animator who asked to remain anonymous told me that they lost about 20 videos, "including story animations, which I loved very much …This was sad for me as the videos were deleted without warning," they said, but added that they luckily had a backup of their videos saved to their hard drives. "However, I didn't have any income from Pornhub, so it's okay, the videos are saved and I'll just move them to another site."

That illustrator wasn't verified, but even being a verified user didn't save some people from the purge. Pornhub's policy changes were intended to skip over verified accounts, but some users still saw their verified content taken down.

“Sex workers are under attack everywhere”

Another confusing aspect of Pornhub's cleaning spree is the effect it has had on verified creators and performers. Many have reported on Twitter that some of their verified content has been disappeared, seemingly at random, even while other uploads have stayed online. Others in the comments of Pornhub's own verification policy page say that they were verified, but now they aren't. From the outside, there seems to be no consistent reasoning for this.

Before the policy changes, there were three types of verification, according to Pornhub: Content partners, users in the model program, and verified users. The last category is now gone, and only uploads by models and content partners remain. The users reporting verification issues were likely in that last category—verified based on the old standards Pornhub used, which involved sending Pornhub a selfie with your face and holding up a sheet of paper with your name written on it. Those users are all now unverified. But inconsistencies remain.

Riley Cyriis, a performer who's been verified on Pornhub for more than a year, told me that most of her free videos and around 40 of 120 paid videos were removed, along with 20 videos she had set to private, only viewable by her.

"My best guess would be certain tags, like 'teen' or 'daddy,' but it's really just a guess," she said. "The majority of flagged videos were my most successful ones ranging from 200k to 700k views, so maybe it's just how they came up? My profile is pretty obviously made by a real person and I listed my age publicly."

She wasn't using Pornhub as a main income source (although many performers do), so she's planning to focus more on other platforms like Onlyfans and Manyvids.

Pornhub has said that it will restart the verification with new requirements in 2021. But the gap is a long time to wait if you're losing an audience and relied on the site for income. Many performers have already lost significant income due to Mastercard and Visa's decision to drop Pornhub. Performer Mary Moody said in a video about the payment processing news that she was making enough money from Modelhub to cover rent each month.

And the verification process, which still hasn't been clarified publicly by Pornhub, could bring up new issues for anyone who wants to get their content back. IzzyBSides said that they'd received verification rejections before Pornhub's content purge, because their avatar—a fire sprite—obviously doesn't match their real-life face. The reason Pornhub gave for their rejection the last time, before the content suspensions, was that their avatar didn't match their verification photo. "We need to see your face to confirm," Pornhub's customer service email to them said. According to Pornhub, this method of verification is now outdated.

It's unclear how verification will work in the future, but Pornhub has said that identification of some kind will be part of the process. There are obviously many reasons that not everyone would want to use their real face as their avatar on a porn website.

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get verified with those sorts of requirements," IzzyBSides said, adding that performers who wear masks or keep their faces cropped out of videos would be excluded from verification on these terms. "It would force anyone experimenting out of the closet."

I asked performer Dylan Thomas how a verification system with even more strict requirements for identity could impact trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming content creators and performers. He said Pornhub could avoid excluding these groups by consulting with, and hiring, them to help create the new system.

"Some of us with intersectional experience in both creative strategy, the digital space and sex work would like nothing more than to serve our community and get everyone back online, generating income and having an enjoyable, safe and sexy time," he said.

How Pornhub’s new verification policies and process will unfold in practice is yet to be seen, but by including the voices of people who use the site, it could avoid future mistakes—just as it could have avoided this month’s backlash—and listen to the sex workers and content creators who've been asking for things to change for a long time.

"Pornhub was blatant about their disregard to what appeared on the site. But sex workers are under attack everywhere," Cyriis said. "Aside from the payout issues caused by Visa/MC, YouTubers and celebrities are flicking onto our platforms and basically doing whatever they want with no real financial repercussions. The consequences fall squarely on the shoulders of sex workers who built these platforms."

Pornhub’s Content Purge Has Left Fetish Creators Wondering What’s Next syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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abigail-mcnatt-photography · 5 years

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You’ll Never See The Bigger Picture If You’re Standing That Close by Atlantic Wasteland

There are plenty of perks to being a fan of local bands. From the ridiculously cheap merch, to becoming close friends with the band, to being able to get into shows (for me as a photographer). Those perks also included the opportunity to listen to a full-length album in advance and getting the chance to review it from front to back. Atlantic Wasteland’s frontman, Sam Quatrini, asked if I was interested in getting the album in advance and writing a review, to which I of course said yes. This is definitely something I’ve never done before but am extremely excited to dive right into.

If you follow my blog and my other forms of social media, you may know that my boyfriend has his own movie review blog, under the alias Oberrated. Being that we are both such avid local music fans, with my foot deep into the world of music and his analytical mind for reviewing movies, I thought it would be a great idea for us to team up for this review. So without further ado, let’s dive into the new Atlantic Wasteland album, You’ll Never See The Bigger Picture If You’re Standing That Close.

1.But If You Take a Step Back

https://open.spotify.com/track/5mkJh2D1Hu347chBqAwbke?si=VeTki_qpQb2J3DZzf6Krgw

A haunting introduction to the album. As a whole, we can both see the band playing this song as an introduction to a show, adding a suspenseful feel to the start.

2. Paradox

https://open.spotify.com/track/4lMc2L3GfrrtBeNaQjGrcN?si=ECgRB-DuRBOAYQ0NY4jZdg

The first full length track on the album. It mixes melody and energy with heavy and relatable lyrics.

Abby: This song definitely plays off of Atlantic Wasteland’s familiar sound. Current fans of the band will specifically like it for that reason. It is also one of the many songs that will speak to many, being as relatable as it is. I really like the line, “I’m learning how to cope with what I feel”, mainly because I’m sure many of us have had moments in our lifetime where we struggled to figure out how we were supposed to feel, instead of just focusing on how we do feel. We’re just stuck in this constant battle.

Chris: Ausinette’s (Rodriguez, Aus for short; lead vocals, hype woman) first intro to the song is incredible. She counters the heavy tone of the lyrics with melody. The joining of Sam and Aus creates a battle between two parties or even a person versus their own mind.

3. Don’t Call Me Your Bud

https://open.spotify.com/track/4xyeyUsoqlAwq5gCcOHURI?si=RXq0l5FPT3q2j6xhHS5WkA

Track 3 is a punk heavy pop/punk song, seemingly about betrayal, with intense lyrics and lots of lyric screaming. Oh, and a cool Johnny Cash-esque bridge.

Abby: Well, if you enjoy songs with some screaming in them, this one is for you, lol. Although I’m not the biggest fan, I don’t find it to be all that distracting like I normally would. To me, it feels like a classic revenge song. Lines like, “I hope the weight you carry never loses weight” and “now you’re deep/ you’re deep in this mess you’ve made/ and now you’ll sleep/ you’ll sleep alone in an empty bed,” really hold their weight. It’s a reminder that someone really screwed up and there are no chances left for them. They are cut off. I know I personally can relate, on my own level, to the premise of the song. We’ve all had our share betrayal, and I feel this track really portrays that feeling extremely well. From the screaming to the cutthroat lyrics, it is an intense way of expressing the feeling of this betrayal.

Chris: Starts off with a frantic pace, which carries throughout the song. Quickly met with an angst-filled Sam, seemingly yelling at the thought of an old friend or an individual. To me, it seems as if this song comes from the perspective of one side of a former friendship. Aus and Sam join to sing about their ill feelings about the other party. The energy of this song is simply infectious.

4. Unfamiliar Home

https://open.spotify.com/track/13Qt3p0azCitDoPOxvFdAB?si=KCnxhP9SQTGDGnqg5tneRw

The next track is one of three pre-released singles. A song about a home that may have never truly been a home that has a sick lead in to the next song on the album.

Abby: I don’t really have much of an in-depth analysis on this song. Maybe it’s because I have heard it at least a million times, since it was one of the three singles released. It has less of Sam screaming in it, but that doesn’t keep the passion from seeping through every lyric. If I’m being honest, I’m having trouble pinpointing what I feel the song is about, but I’m sure it’ll be different for different people. From what I’m gathering, it makes me think about our life’s journey, whether we know exactly where we are going or not. One of the lines that really stuck out to me was “it was the people around me that made me feel alive”. It’s definitely a song that isn’t as obvious with its deeper meaning. I guess that’s what makes it fun, though. I also love that it transitions right into the next tune without even skipping a beat.

Chris: When I think Atlantic Wasteland, I think of songs that sound exactly like this. As always, a high energy track that blends emo vibes and lyrics from the perspective of someone wishing for different outcomes.

It’s strange, but when I listen to this song, I can envision a music video of something like “Perfect” by Simple Plan, with Aus and Sam screaming the lyrics of “Unfamiliar Home” alone in their bedrooms, plastered with pop punk and punk rock band posters, with the occasional Taylor Swift cutout.

5. It’s Rude to Point Fingers (And With Nails That Sharp, I’ll Be Missing an Eye)

https://open.spotify.com/track/18hxvxwbyScqLml0nVTdWg?si=5KZBsPr3QE-ZHYhAevNbyA

This song is an edgy and emo track with an overwhelmingly powerful meaning behind it. It was released with Unfamiliar Home as the third and final single prior to the album’s release.

Abby: Really long song title, haha. This was also another one of the singles released in advance of the album. Of course, it is the heavier single, but it’s got a strong tone to it. It seems to be from the perspective of someone who was abused, in some way, in one of their relationships (significant other, friend, family, etc.). The victim in this case is finally putting their foot down to this person and not letting their fear of them get to them anymore. This person has mistreated them for far too long. Lines such as, “I refuse to be a body bag”, “the condescending words you spoke, they echo through my mind with every note/ I understand that I’m the enemy/ I’ll have those scars for eternity”, and “if I spoke my mind, you’d say I was wrong”, are some of the real kickers for me. This is a very strong song, and it’s definitely one of my favorites. From the absolutely crazy guitar and drums, to Aus’ melody, Sam’s passionate screams at the end, and the resilient vibe the lyrics bring, make it an all around great song.

Chris: From the title, it seems to be about someone who doesn’t pay any mind to the things they say and do, causing damage to everyone they connect with. The main person affected, is the one in which the lyrics are spoken for. The guitar is unreal here. It matches the vibes and the energy of the song, just to lead into one final screaming hook.

6. Acquaintance

https://open.spotify.com/track/7IDNMmImKYw7C4SaRbvp0T?si=RgaFOEGzQeypzf_BayEp4w

Track 6 is a song about losing touch with a friend/family member, in which the melancholic tone is captured within the lyrics and the consistent beat.

Abby: When it comes to new albums, I’m always interested in what the slower songs are gonna be about and how they’ll sound. When it comes to heavier genres, such as pop/punk, the slower/sad songs are still a little more upbeat as far as the music goes. Acquaintance is a song about fading friends. I think my favorite line is “… and I blame this all on journey”, because it’s very true. Most friendships fade because of individual journeys taking us in separate directions. It’s about those moments when we reminisce about the ‘good old days’ and wanting to reconnect. It’s a relatable and powerful song and I really feel like the background music (drums, guitar, bass, etc.) just add more to the solemn vibe of the song. If you ever had a close friend in which you two just lost touch, you will really feel every single lyric of this song.

Chris: This is easily the one song that struck the hardest chord for me. Personally, it reminded me of friends lost, even to the point where a couple tears came from my eyes. Acquaintance, I feel, will be one of the most relatable songs to listeners in multiple ways. Whether it be a former friend, loved one, family member, etc.

7. Whether You Think You Can or Can’t, You’re Right

https://open.spotify.com/track/7uNDw5hCG2wmXVTIfFfDx3?si=5TFyZSJfRPqsYKaNpc1AIw

The next track is a BOP. From the inspiring and eye-opening lyrics, to the foot tapping beat, it’s an all around lighthearted tune that will make you want to get up and dance.

Abby: Here we change gears a bit from the last song, and get a little more upbeat. Atlantic Wasteland is one of those bands that has songs that never say the title in the song. But they actually say it in this song, which caught me by surprise. Aside from the singles, this song is one of my favorites. It talks about believing in yourself and that if you surround yourself with negativity, that’s all you’ll ever see. On the contrary, if you surround yourself with nothing but positivity, you’ll start to see a lot more of it. It’s a very inspiring tune and it’s got an upbeat and fun sound to it. The guitar is fantastic, as always, and the drums (especially at the beginning) will make you want to tap your foot along with them. It would be a great song live, for many reasons, specifically because of the echo in the bridge. It’s a great song to keep the audience engaged.

Chris: Entertainment wise, this is probably my favorite song off the album. The pacing, the energy, the lyrics. It’s just overall a fun yet pop/punk, edgy, F you kind of vibe. Beyond my enjoyment of the song, the title and the lyrics are quite unique. To me, it’s all about mindset. “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right”. You are exactly what you think. If you set your mind for failure, well you’ll fail. If you think you can, you will. Don’t let the fun of this song distract you, it is hella important.

8. It’s Mid-July, Take Off The Beanie

https://open.spotify.com/track/5brIqAYP4kMF8PO64NYTpM?si=rQgobuzpSIOQqvfysRjiFg

Track 8 was the first single released from the album. It’s a super funky and fun song that you won’t be able to sit still while listening to.

Abby: Heck yes, probably my favorite song off of the album. I knew it was going to be as soon as I first heard it live. It’s super funky and the beat is just so damn catchy. For real, it’s an ear worm. I’ve heard the origin story a good number of times since I see the band live so often. It’s fairly obvious, but it’s basically about a person who is a player, and the words are being spoken from the perspective of a friend of the person being flirted with. I can’t say enough how much I love this song. It’s got a very different sound than the entire rest of the album, and differs from the typical sound you’d expect from Atlantic Wasteland. They are just putting their toes in the water of the pop world but speaking as someone who has loved pop music her whole life, they do it justice. This would be a great radio single too… although I’d rather it not be overplayed, like every song on the radio is, lol.

Chris: The very first track released as a single. Easily the most fun and differently styled song from Atlantic Wasteland. I remember having a conversation with Aus and Sam about a song that was “way more funkier than what we’re used to”. I first heard this song at Four Chord Music Festival and I was INSTANTLY hooked. After the performance, I remember talking to the duo and told them that as soon as I heard the rhythm of the song I went “OOOOOOOOOOOOO SHIT!”. That type of energy stills stands today every time the song hits my Spotify. Get down with you funky selves, Atlantic Wasteland.

P.S. F dudes who wear beanies mid July.

9. A Dog Named Fletcher

https://open.spotify.com/track/2SqUavFkcpnddrJL3Uqdfy?si=5SYcKXbrQ96iyDi1EyS9Bw

For the next track, we slow things down with a sad song from the perspective of a scared dog. Have tissues nearby.

Abby: So I have mixed emotions with this song. On one end, it’s a genius song idea. It’s written in the perspective of a dog at the veterinarian that doesn’t know what the heck is going on. And on the other end, IT’S SO SAD. If you’re anything like me, you hate watching dogs/animals die in movies (I live for doesthedogdie.com). If you are, worry not! The dog LIVES. Sam’s idea for the song came from a friend whose dog ate a towel (or a sock.. he’s changed the story) and had to get it removed. The bridge gets me every time. Aside from the lyrics, I freaking love everything else about the song. I’d only ever heard the song acoustic and it just works. It’s the only song on the album recorded with acoustics. Sam and Aus’ vocals really shine in this song. Aus has a note at the end of the bridge that is just captivating. (If you listen closely, you can hear Sam scream something like “oh yeah!”)Fair warning, if you have any kind of a heart, you will need tissues at your side. Can’t stress that enough.

Chris: Listened to this song many times acoustically and live. Always been emotional and great to listen to. For some reason, despite listening to it so many times, hearing the studio version still struck a nerve in me and ignited my tear ducts. This song will have you running to your doggo, cat, bird, alligator, etc. and cuddling up to them telling them how much you love them. Alternatively, this song is such a unique perspective to envision. From the eyes and mind of a pet in the vet hospital. Heart-breaking, man.

10. Thin-Skinned

https://open.spotify.com/track/1JOR0HNcMIUoE5OmluFueZ?si=XLN3O-6MSW64dY1y5t5Zhg

For the next track, we pick up the pace again. With lyrics and music that embody what it’s like to be human and have feelings, and vocals that are just powerful, we have another important message portrayed through song.

Abby: Once you’ve wiped your eyes, you can recover by enjoying the next track on the list. It seems to be a song about embracing our humanity and allowing ourselves to just scream. We can only handle so much and bottle things up, claiming that we have thick skin and can handle it, when in reality, it does affect us and our, “skin isn’t quite as rough as I’d proclaim”. I do think this is a great song, incorporating their newfound sound, as well as their ‘old’ sound.

Chris: Of all the tracks on the album, I feel as if this may be my least favorite. I can’t exactly put my finger on why, and this is also not saying that I dislike it cause I do like the energy and sound but it just sounds very similar to basically any other song within this genre. I didn’t find much to dig deeper into. Just simply a high energy song to jam to.

11. The Corpse Bride & Flat Stanley

https://open.spotify.com/track/1gGCdvCOBIZDSkNh2avEzU?si=XLV4E2v5QdCSRzFK5bBBTQ

Our second to last song on the album, is another banger. The title is… interesting. But it’s written from a personal experience. It’s a mix of classic pop/punk and the band’s ‘newfound’ funky/pop sound.

Abby: This song, to me, feels like a song about celebration. It feels like a song meant for a significant other, or a friend, promising to be by their side and to love them unconditionally. We all have our baggage, and some of our pasts are worse than others. But the people we keep in our lives that make us better people, are more important than anything we’ve dealt with in the past. If I remember correctly, Sam wrote this song about someone who flirted with his fiancé and he compared the person’s appearance to a character called Flat Stanley. Where the Corpse Bride came from, you’d have to ask Sam, hahaha. It seems like a song celebrating love of all kinds, I think. The sound still feels like an Atlantic Wasteland type sound, but, like the last song, it incorporates more of what I like to call, their newfound sound. It’s a great song to help close out the album. It also sounds great when played live. After all the emotions this album has made us feel, it’s a nice way to celebrate the life we live.

Chris: The last two songs are evident to hit close to home for Sam. He explained at a live show that this one was inspired by personal experience and that carries a long way to me as a listener. As always, not only is it an enjoyable song audibly and lyrically, but also as an interesting story.

12. …You Just Might See It

https://open.spotify.com/track/5EdvAaOMAl7y9XOfOU0mBd?si=j14uf6CwQQWYW9VgJn7V0A

Track 12 is our closer to the album. It’s essentially a mix of all of the different sounds AW explored throughout the course of the album. It seems to take all of the feelings we felt and ties them up in a pretty bow.

Abby: Here we have our finale to the album. First off, this song would make a great closer to a live show.. or before the encore. To me, it feels like a song of hope. Written from a semi-religious standpoint, the song shows us that we cannot get so caught up in all of the problems and obstacles life throws at us, which is all too easy to do. It’s our reminder to look at ourselves from an outside perspective and see all of the wonderful things we get to experience in our own individual adventures. It really drives the album title home, by literally finishing the statement about perspective. Fantastic way to wrap up the album.

Chris: …You Just Might See It is an exceptional song on multiple fronts. 1. It is a beautiful reflection of Sam and company and the point they have gotten to thus far in life. To be thankful and to see the bigger picture in all things. 2. It is a near perfect wrap-up of an album about perspective. Throughout the whole album, we’re taken on a journey of multiple perspectives and different stories that tie to them. With this, we come to the finale and, once again, a way to look at the bigger picture in life and appreciate it and be thankful. 3. Track 1 vs. Track 12. Us, as an audience, are given an album by artists and we listen from beginning to end or shuffled. Analyzing, listening, and enjoying each song, but do we actually pay attention? Take a step back, take everything in, look at the bigger picture from all angles, and You.Just.Might.See.It.

The album as a whole:

Abby: Just… wow. This album was incredible. I expected nothing but the best from Atlantic Wasteland, and yet they exceeded my wildest expectations. The music was a wide variety of different sounds from their pop/punk roots, to adding a bit of funky pop to the mix, down to acoustic pop/punk, as well as a mixture of it all. It was an emotional roller coaster. It will make you want to scream at the top of your lungs, it’ll make you want to cry, it’ll make you smile, and it’ll inspire you. It’s an album all about perspective. Each song is written in a different perspective, from someone who has dealt with abuse, to the loss of a friendship, to a scared doggy, it’s a vast mix of everything and it’s quite genius if you ask me. I’ve never listened so in depth to an album from the beginning to the end and this one was certainly an experience. This album made me feel like I was watching a movie. From the introduction to the band at the beginning, with their traditional pop/punk roots, with songs such as, Paradox, and Unfamiliar Home. To the middle of the album, where we see all of the different problems and changes come into play. Here we have songs such as It’s Mid-July, Fletcher, and Whether You Think You Can Or Can’t. These are songs in which I noticed a major change in sound versus the songs I’ve heard from them before, which I love. And lastly, we have the “happy” ending if you will. The ending is a revelation, of sorts. It reminds us not to sweat the little things and to focus more on the bigger picture as well as the things that make us happy. Our last two songs, Thin-Skinned and …You Just Might See It give us inspiration. They gave me hope. If you haven’t already, look at the album title. Then, check out the title of track 1. And finally, the title of track 12… mind blown 🤯 I don’t have anything bad to say about this album. It took me places, mentally, that I didn’t even realize I knew. It scared me, even, to think about some of the ideas these songs covered. It was an incredible piece of art that I’m so happy I had the chance to experience. To my friends in Atlantic Wasteland, I’m so proud of you and so proud of this album. Great work. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for you next. I also can’t wait to see the live shows that follow the album, and which songs will be played. Bravo.

Chris: Arguably one of my favorite albums released among my favorite local artists. I will be jamming to “You’ll Never See the Bigger Picture If You’re Standing That Close” for the remainder of the year and on. If you want to jam out and go off, this album is the proper one for you. If you want to sit at the bottom of your bath tub and pretend like you’re not crying and that it’s just the water from the shower head, listen to these tracks. If you want to be taken on a journey through different perspectives from different walks of life, this is undoubtedly the album for you.

___

If you read through all of this, thank you! I put blood, sweat, and tears, into this review and hope it, at the very least, got you to go listen to the album, in full, on your own. Legit though, I lost the last part of this post because it didn’t autosave and had to completely redo it, lol. Below are some photoshoot photos I did of the band that I never shared. Thank you!

REVIEW: “You’ll Never See The Bigger Picture If You’re Standing That Close” by Atlantic Wasteland You'll Never See The Bigger Picture If You're Standing That Close by Atlantic Wasteland There are plenty of perks to being a fan of local bands.

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vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo · 7 years

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Revenge Sandwich week four (part 2)

XXXIV An Apparition

I do like the early 19th century tourism stuff just for how both similar and different it is to now.

And OF COURSE Franz runs into Edmond AGAIN.

‘Pardieu!’ said the man in the cloak, in French.

Yeah, you always end up slipping back into your native language every now and then... (Okay I actually don’t know if Edmond’s native language IS French though. But I’m guessing that if not then he learned French early enough that it counts?)

it did not prevent Albert from dressing up outrageously every time he went to the opera with Franz -- a wasted effort; for, it must be admitted to the shame of one of the most deserving representatives of French fashion, in the four months during which he had travelled the length and breadth of Italy, Albert had not had a single romantic adventure.

He sometimes tried to joke about this, but underneath he was deeply mortified.

Pffft. Oh, Albert

- New nobility -- another thing to note. I mean, I think I already mentioned how this book is very tied to this specific point in time? This is July Monarchy era, France had a “bourgeois king”. It’s that weird intersection between the ancien régime and capitalism.

- Also it’s becoming pretty clear that Albert is very used to getting his way and he’s just not going to give up on the carriage thing. His parents might have been poor fishermen from a small village but he’s been raised as a viscount in Paris...

- I love how the theatre audience basically watch the opera like a lot of people watch TV. Just keep talking and only occasionally pay attention when something interesting happens.

- More exotization but this time with Italian women... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

‘On the occasion of a walk in the Colosseum very much like the one we took together.’

‘By moonlight?’

‘Yes.’

‘Alone?’

‘Almost.’

‘And you spoke of...’

‘The dead.’

Very Romantic.

‘I don’t like brunettes who sing blonde.’

.... okay???

Albert what

- We have the text itself compare Edmond to a vampire! x) Now he’s basically a horror story monster as far as the narrative is concerned.

- I got confused as to where Franz managed to leave Albert in the middle of the discussion with the countess tho. I mean... wasn’t the whole point to introduce Albert to the countess?? Buuuut then they just sort of forget about him?

- Also Albert should maybe shut up about women please.

‘(...) a little pale, admittedly, but of course pallor is a mark of distinction.’

Franz smiled. Albert had pretensions to looking pale.

Aww. :p

Of course he noticed nothing weird about Edmond though. He’s clearly playing the role of the clueless friend in the horror story... even though ironically the monster is after his father but it’s Franz who’s the one getting the ominous premonitions.

‘Well, I’ve had a wonderful idea.’

Franz gave Albert the look of someone who did not have much confidence in his ideas.

These two are going to be endlessly entertaining aren’t they?

‘No, Excellency. I have an understanding with the bill-poster and he brings these to me as he does the advertisements for entertainments, so that if any of my guests wish to watch the execution, they can be fully informed.’

‘How very thoughtful!’ Franz exclaimed.

UNSURPRISINGLY I’m really not a fan of the executions as entertainment shit... I mean I don’t know what Dumas’s own view on this was although I kind of get the feeling that he wasn’t a fan either?

Oh well, finally we get a proper meeting with the Count though!

At this point I made a note about how Edmond insists on all this opulence and exotism. I mean compare this to Valjean... Okay Valjean didn’t have this much money, yes, but he did have enough that he could have lived more comfortably than he did in Montreuil-sur-Mer.

The man who had just entered was none other than the cloaked figure in the Colosseum, the stranger in the box at the theatre and his mysterious host on the island of Monte Cristo.

Of course.

#CoMC17

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pinksnowboots · 7 years

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Cardinal Directions (1/?)

Fandom: Fire Emblem Fates

Pairings: Ryoma/Saizo, Xander/Laslow, Ryoma/Xander, complicated polyamorous arrangement between Saizo/Ryoma/Xander/Laslow

Summary: It’s yet another soulmate AU, this time involving compasses: When a person turns twenty, a compass appears on their wrist, arrow pointing towards their soulmate rather than to the North.

Since he was a child, Ryoma has been fascinated by soulmates and compasses. He's listened to all of Orochi's stories dozens of time, and spent countless hours imagining what his own soulmate might be like. By the time he turns twenty, he think's that he's considered every type of possibility, but nothing prepared him for the shock of seeing twin compasses appear, one on each wrist.