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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 11 months

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There’s a video on YouTube of the finals of the 1995 Open Mic Awards, broadcast on the BBC in September, 1995. I haven’t seen it before, but I think this calls for a post in which I write my thoughts down live as I watch.

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- Right off the bat, here’s Barry Cryer telling us about the recent stand-up comedy boom, and he lists the most important, moneymaking comedians who’ve been to the Fringe: Monty Python, Rowan Atkinson, Jo Brand, Julian Cleary, Eddie Izzard. So I guess it’s 1995.

- They announce at the beginning that it’s a contest for any comedians who’ve never been paid to do stand-up comedy before, they started with over 500 and now they’re down to 8. So that’s sort of cool, that we talk (well, I talk about this, maybe other people don’t so much) about what comedians started at the same time as each other, but any who are in this have started at exactly the same time, having never been paid for it before but now being good enough to make this shortlist.

- Oh, here’s Boothby Graffoe hosting the event, a man whom I know as a voice on Radio 4, looking a lot more telegenic than I picture most people on Radio 4.

- First judge is Tony Hawks (the S is important there, not the skateboard guy), the guy who wrote two books that are on my shelf: Round Ireland with a Fridge, and One Hit Wonderland. I read both those books about ten years ago and recall them being quite funny and the former making me really want to go to Ireland. I mean, I already wanted to do that, and that’s why I read the book, but the book made me want that even more. Looking back, it's possible that that book may have been vaguely condescending, an Englishman saying "look how cute and quirky Ireland is." But if that was the case then I didn't pick up on it at the time.

- “[The stand-ups in this competition], they’ve not really done it much for money… if you’ll pardon the expression…” Tony Hawks making a joke right at the beginning in which I think he’s called Lee Mack an aspiring whore (it’s relevant to know that Lee Mack is one of the finalists).

- I apologize for anything I said about assuming voices on Radio 4 are less-than-telegenic. The next judge is Sandi Toksvig, and she has never, ever been less-than at anything.

I’m so pleased to see her that I’ll even overlook Boothby Graffoe using the word “comedienne” to introduce her.

- I’ve not heard of the next judge, apparently he’s an important decision-maker at the BBC. Or he was one of those, at least. Now all the decisions are being made by... oh God, I'll end this point here, I've done enough ranting about the cancelation of BBC topical comedy lately, I won't get into it again, I promise.

- Barry Cryer is the fourth and final judge, and they immediately make several jokes about how incredibly old he is. In 1995. His recent death was very sad, but he did have a long run.

- Barry Cryer on what he looks for in good stand-up comedy: “Originality. No sex, 70s, or Star Trek.” That's interesting to me. In the last 10 years, 90s nostalgia has been everywhere. In 2023, 00s nostalgia is taking hold (I don't mean to be dismissive about that, it's certainly taken hold of me). In 1995, someone was complaining that 70s nostalgia was so ubiquitous it had become unoriginal. As, apparently, had Star Trek and sex.

- I’ve seen pictures and videos of Baby Lee Mack before, I know what he looks like, I was prepared for this. But still, Jesus Christ.

- There is an amazing contrast between how much Lee Mack has physically changed since this video (drastically), and how much his comedic style has changed (not at all). It’s not my favourite comedic style, but I do respect it when it’s done well, which I think it is in Lee Mack’s case. And to be fair, he did make me laugh a few time in the set from this video. His stand-up DVDs made me laugh as well, when I watched them a few years ago.

It's now been more than two years since I watched Lee Mack’s stand-up DVDs, but I still recognized a couple of jokes from this 1995 set – they made it into his first DVD, which was released in 2007. His later shows no longer recycled exact jokes from 1995, but they never changed style.

I also respect a comedian who decides what they want to be early on because they truly love that thing, and then they continue to love it enough to stick with it. And I think that is real for Lee Mack, I’ve read his autobiography and so much of it’s about being really into the comedians who came before him and did that style. Comedy changed around him as he grew up, he definitely saw the alternative comedy stuff and then the other styles that branched out from there, but no, he wanted to be one type of comedian that is what he did. It's worked damn well for him, credit goes to Lee Mack for that.

- Next up are three comedians I hadn’t heard of, a couple of whom were a bit funny, followed by:

John Oliver has some stand-up jokes in his early career about how he looks like he’s Jewish, and I never understood those jokes until I saw pictures of him from even earlier in his career, when he did look exactly like a young David Baddiel. He wrote those jokes back when he looked like that, so people probably did often assume he was Jewish, and then kept telling them even after he didn’t look that much like that anymore.

I think I’ve just had a similar moment of understanding about all the jokes in The Mighty Boosh based on Julian Barratt’s eyes being too small. By the time they filmed the Mighty Boosh things that I’ve seen, he’d apparently learned to open his eyes properly, because I heard those jokes and thought, okay, they’re a bit small, but not really enough for the jokes to make sense. This, however, suggests that the issues used to be more pronounced. I'm not sure that man even has eyes.

- On the subject of The Mighty Boosh, you know how Julian Barratt’s the straight man there? Apparently he wasn’t always. He packed an impressive amount of offbeat stuff into only a couple of minutes there. Not even really a character act, just fucking weird. Possibly just as weird as the old clips I've seen of Noel Fielding's 90s-era stand-up. I see how they ended up together.

- I’ll be honest, and say the next one is the actual reason I’m here:

Jesus. I've seen a lot of different Daniel Kitson looks from different Daniel Kitson eras, but had not seen that one before. This gives me the same feeling I get from watching his Blockbusters thing, which is... okay, I love finding old footage of comedians I like, but if they're an actual child in that footage, at what point is it a weird thing to have? I think he's actually older here than he was on Blockbusters, but looks younger, possibly because of the shorter hair and/or the vest.

Seeing his age right after Lee Mack and Julian Barrett puts that difference in perspective, too. I’d been thinking that them all being in this means they all started at the same time so are the same comedic generation, but they’re really not. Because that is a small child. It takes a hell of a lot of confidence to think you can do something like this when you’re that young. I say this as someone whose brother started doing stand-up when he was sixteen… it requires an uncommon level of self-regard.

- I’ve now watched the set, and it was primarily about A-level results, his glasses, and his failure to get a girlfriend during high school. I have heard him do material even in his polished shows as an adult about his glasses and his failure to get a girlfriend in high school, and I can even think of a couple of routines that have discussed his A-level results. So he didn’t stop using the topics. Just changed every single other thing.

There was only one tiny bit when the crowd laughed too early, he got mildly annoyed and said that was just a word, that wasn’t the joke, and it was this little flash of reality. Like for about a second and a half, a curtain moved and you could look at this strange teenager and see Daniel Kitson. And then the curtain closed again and it’s just a kid with way more confidence than anyone that age should be allowed to have.

- The video cuts off the ending, but I looked it up and learned that Julian Barratt won. Which makes sense, especially if the judges were, in fact, looking for originality. He definitely had that. A very weird and creative set that would lead you to never guess he's destined for "straight man" status in his double act.

#Youtube

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thegeminisage · 3 months

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SIIIGH it's tng update time. wednesday we did "the first duty" and thursday we did "the cost of living" and "the perfect mate." boy oh boy.

the first duty: my precious darling baby boy is back and now he's doing CRIMES. college sure did a number on him

do you think beverly got the news about the accident and was like wow this is just like that time my husband died and picard came in and was like listen wesley is fine...he's okay...and she was like (on the inside) yeah THIS time. this time he's okay. and she realizes in real time that no matter what some part of her will always be waiting, breath held, for that call. that's what i think

nice to finally meet boothby although shouldn't that guy be like 90 or 100 years old rn? he said when picard graduated ~40 years ago, he was the age picard is now (60ish). like idc enough to break out exact numbers but 80 at the VERY youngest. if this is utopia why is he still doing manual labor???

also wtf was that about how he helped picard out of a jam when picard did something sketchy...i wasn't paying enough attention to the details but idk that i ever caught what picard actually DID. i guess it couldn't be worse than killing a guy though or he wouldn't have got so mad at wesley

i love how they had wesley overexplain why he left his sweater in his dead friend's room to make absolutely sure we knew it WASN'T GAY and by virtue of the overexplanation made it sound like a lie someone would tell if it WAS gay. come on. who cares. he's in college. if he wants to be gay then let him and god bless

in today's very special episode about peer pressure, wesley gets a full-on lecture from his definitely-not-biological father picard. like, REALLY let him have it. poor kid. i mean someone did die though. like someone very much did die

i like how in the end wesley felt all guilty that their ringleader was like nooo just expel me and leave the others alone like he said he would AS IF he wasn't the entire instigator to begin with. they should have expelled everybody except wesley since he broke ranks and then also sent that little punk in particular to whatever the equivalent of jail is now. the penal colony. whatever. didn't they have hard labor in collision course lmao i hate starfleet <3

like, i love the IDEA that star trek takes place in utopia, i love to play in that space mentally, but the fact of the matter is most human beings, including the ones writing star trek episodes, are so cynical we can't even imagine a world without corporal punishment where everyone is taken care of no matter what. we can't imagine a utopia without an ugly underside, which is what starfleet has in practice. so.

ANYWAY.

once again i am fucked by the limit of 4k characters per text block. this drives me BANANAS.

the cost of living: ohhhh my god.

okay, maybe i'm a prude, but i do NOT think it's appropriate for alexander, who's like 2-3 in human years and 8-9 in klingon years, to be naked in a bath with deanna's narcissistic nymphomaniac of a mother. i just don't. i get that in some cultures, including betazed for sure and klingons maybe, and also definitely some real life ones, nudity is not a big deal among family especially in the context of like baths or swimming. however in america in 1992 which is when/where this was written it DEFINITELY would have been weird for this kid to be naked and in a bath with anybody but his immediate family of the same gender (parent or siblings). you could mmmaybe stretch it to an uncle or grandpa since alexander is so young. BUT LWANAXA IS NONE OF THESE THINGS. it made me. SO. UNCOMFORTABLE.

i guess the tng writers really like lwaxana and think she's funny and quirky, which is why they keep writing episodes for her. i mean, her actress is/was married to gene roddenberry and also voices the computers. i get it. she's your friend, have her back on. but for all the crimes done by her (usually against deanna, but also against picard and sometimes riker), and for all the crimes done to her (ferengi rape scenes played for laughs), this really took the cake. not only is she an unwelcome guest aboard the enterprise, which is a working vessel, not a cruise ship, she spends her time aboard it undermining worf's parenting and deanna's counseling IN HER PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT, and then KIDNAPS A STRANGERS CHILD (his parent nor his therapist knew where he was !!!) to take him to the holodeck to SIT NAKED IN THE BATH. and then later at her wedding while she was also naked she gave alexander this playful little wink because he was giggling. LIKE. AM I INSANE? genuinely does that episode make anybody else uncomfortable. i know they didn't do it like that on purpose but it aged so poorly to me. like i don't get it...are there other people who think lwaxana is unbearable or does she have like. stans. a huge mystery

i also really hate that in her usual way lwaxana made the episode all about her stupid midlife crisis instead of like. letting the episode be about worf attempting to parent alexander. we never resolved the dirty clothes on the floor situation. we never got to see their contract/chore chart or whatever. is this why people say worf is a bad parent?? i get he was being overly strict and uncompromising (so was alexander, ironically), but we never got to see where it went, and i am WAY more interested in all of that than lwaxana troi

also lmao i nearly forgot honorable mention to this episode secretly exploring the fascinating new scifi concept of online dating. people got an interenet connect and suddenly anything is possible.

the perfect mate: i can't believe i had to watch this one right after i just watched that other one. hurg.

first of all, cathy was like, do you recognize this hot lady, and i was like well it looks like jean grey but she's the wrong age, so i said no, and she was like, oh it's jean grey. so now no one will ever believe me. also, i'm glad they didn't kiss onscreen watching her rub his little bald head was already too much for me it's going to be so hard to watch xmen without thinking about this now

secondly, picard fights in the war against human trafficking on the side of human trafficking. WHY are his vibes so bad lately. even beverly was like "you can't fuck her, this is human trafficking," and he was like "no i asked and she said it wasn't human trafficking so it's totally cool!" are you kidding me

first of all, let's stop and look at the spooooky scifi concept of having a ~woman~ who molds her very personality (and libido!!) to fit the desires of whatever man she's around so that it's impossible for her to be around a man who DOESN'T want to fuck her because she's every man's perfect woman. (except data. king.) AND because she's sooo desirable she's being human trafficked. and. nobody saw any problems with fetishizing this??

i think deliberately leaving it open as to whether or not picard fucked her was a pussy move. i think that if he did fuck her (and i think he did) you might as well say so instead of being a little bitch about it. you already made him complicit in human trafficking

and if he DIDN'T fuck her it actually makes it very nearly profound, if you take out all the fetishism - because all these guys are falling all over themselves to fuck her because she's drawn that way (like jessica rabbit), but actually all she wanted was somebody who WOULDN'T try to fuck her (she alludes to this a couple of times when he assumes she's coming on to him when she isn't), and if picard didn't, and THAT'S the reason she imprinted on him or whatever, you actually have something there. it's not a great something, but it's still better than the steaming pile of garbage we actually got.

also, having her ~reach sexual maturity~ (oh yeah let's not forget that while an adult human woman plays her she's """barely legal""" as far as her own species goes lmao) and imprint and become picard's perfect woman forever and then get shipped off to be that politician's mail-order bride when he's the one guy who also doesn't want to fuck her is ??? bad and dumb. like i get that's the kind of fucked up ending scifi likes to go for but again we are coming out on the side of human trafficking here. like, this isn't a bittersweet love story. this woman got trafficked.

actually you know what it is. it's "elaan of troyius" from tos except with way less racism and slightly more sexism. in elaan of tryoius she had love potion tears and she used them to essentially date rape kirk (as a means to escape her own horrific situation, so it was nonconsensual on both sides, but less consensual on his) and in this episode there was no forced consent on picard's part but potentially dubious consent on HERS since she has no choice in anything. and she is demure and accepting of her fate whereas elaan of troyius wasn't. and in both cases they just got sent off as mail-order brides to live with whatever diplomat required the purchase of a whole human being in order to agree to peace. cool. u can KIIIND of understand kirk wanting nothing more to do with her (again, she raped him), but PICARD?? who was supposed to be in love with her??? cmon.

tonight: god help us: "imaginary friend" and "i, borg." that second title would normally make me optimistic but i am a woman devoid of all hope. if they're as bad as the last two we watching i don't know how i'll survive.

#persona #star trek blogging #tng lb

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100gayicons · 2 years

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The Kray Brothers are not the type of people I typically include in these profiles. My focus is been primarily people who have made a contribution to Gay Rights or Gay History. The Kray brother fall into that latter category - Gay Gangsters.

The Krays owned a West End nightclub and were often photographed with celebrities, including Diana Dors and Judy Garland. Frank Sinatra once hired a security team from the Krays during a visit to London. They were also once photographer by David Bailey.

But their real source of income was an organized crime gang in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s. They called it “the Firm”. This included armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, violent assaults, torture and murder.

According to reports by other gang members Ronnie Kray was openly gay, refusing to hide his orientation from either them or the police.

Laurie O'Leary who wrote a biography of Ronnie said:

“Ron discussed his homosexuality with very few people, but put simply it was a part of his nature he discovered, explored and enjoyed… It did not seem to conflict with his tough guy. Even if (gang members) objected, Ron just smiled at them and told them they didn't know what they were missing.”

John Pearson who interviewed both brothers, wrote that

“Ronnie Kray admitted that he and Reggie discovered they were both gay in their adolescence and would often have sex together, activity which continued into their later life.”

The secret became public when the Sunday Mirror reported that Ronnie Kray was in a sexual relationship with Lord Boothby, a UK Conservative Party politician. The twins threatened the reporters who wrote the story with physical harm. And Boothby threatened to sue. The newspaper backed down, fired its editor, printed an apology plus paid Boothby £40,000 in an out-of-court settlement. This discourage any other news outlet from pursuing the story.

But police continued investigating and were finally able to get evidence of three murders.

The Krays and 15 other members of the Firm were arrested in May 1968 with the plan to convince gang members to testify against the Krays. It eventually worked and the twins were convicted in 1969. Both were sentenced to life prison.

While in prison Ronnie was eventually certified insane (paranoid schizophrenia) and was transferred to Broadmoor Hospital for the rest of his sentence. He died in March 1995 from a heart attack.

Reggie died 5 years later from cancer (October 2000). He had been released 2 months earlier on compassionate grounds to spend his final time with his wife (who he married 3 years earlier while in prison).

After Reggie’s death, Bradley Allardyce a cell mate of his said to the press:

“I am openly admitting for the very first time that we had a sexual relationship."

Two films have been made about the Krays.

“The Krays” (1990) starring Gary and Martin Kemp (of the band Spandau Ballet).

Legend (2015 film) starring Tom Hardy as both twins.

#gay icons #Ronnie and Reggie Kray #organized crime #gay gangsters #Judy garland #Frank Sinatra #Tom Hardy #Martin Kemp #spandau ballet #murder and armed robbery

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thebeautifulbook · 2 years

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THE BEAUTIFUL WHITE DEVIL by Guy Newell Boothby (Lomdon/New York: Ward, Lock & Bowder/Appleton, 1897).

source

#beautiful books #book blog #books books books #book cover #books #vintage books #victorian era

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a-life-in-books · 2 years

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Guy Boothby

"I don't know that I could give you any definite idea of what my first impressions of London were. One thing at least is certain, I had never had experience of anything approaching such a city before, and, between ourselves, I can't say that I ever want to again. The constant rush and roar of traffic, the crowds of people jostling each other on the pavements, the happiness and the misery, the riches and the poverty, all mixed up together in one jumble, like good and bad fruit in a basket, fairly took my breath away; and when I went down, that first afternoon, and saw the Park in all its summer glory, my amazement may be better imagined than described."

A Bid for Fortune

Dr. Nikola Returns

The Lust of Hate

Dr. Nikola's Experiment

Farewell Nikola

Pharos, the Egyptian

#Guy Boothby #Dr. Nikola #A Bid for Fortune #Dr. Nikola Returns #The Lust of Hate #Dr. Nikola's Experiment #Farewell Nikola #Pharos the Egyptian #Author #Authors #Literature #Books #Australian

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ibelieveinturtles · 3 years

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The Quantum Tunnel

Title: The Quantum Cat

Collaborator(s): ibelieveinturtles

Square (letter, number, and prompt): SWB: N4 - Sam rescues the Avengers MPB: N5 - Goose/Chewie Samtember: 14. Mission

Pairing/Main Ship: N/A

Rating: T for swearing

Major tags: Sam Wilson, Goose the Cat, The Multiverse, The Quantum Tunnel, Not Endgame compliant, Everybody Lives (Eventually), Sam to the rescue

Warnings/Triggers: a little swearing here and there

Summary: Sam and Ian need to get to the laboratory... will they run into Goose or will they make it safely?

Word Count: Ch 3, 695

A/N: This is *mostly* unbeta'd but I hope to have it properly edited before I post it on AO3. I'll be posting all 7 chapters on Tumblr for as long as September 1st lasts around the world and on AO3 later. The reason it's going up on Sept 1st is because it is the only day that the Sam Wilson Bingo overlaps with Samtember :-)

Chapter 3

Not for the first time, Sam momentarily regretted taking up the Captain America mantle. He’d expected fighting bad guys, dealing with aliens, and schmoozing for funding but interdimensional travel? Nope, he had not been told to expect that.

“Are you sure this is safe?” he asked.

“I’m given to understand that several people have already used it and all returned safely,” Boothby said. “The biggest problem I’m foreseeing at this point is getting to it.”

“Because it’s in the labs?” Sam guessed.

“Because it’s in the labs,” Boothby confirmed. “And we don’t know where Goose is.”

“That’s an easily fixed problem,” Joaquin said. He’d settled himself down in front of one of the computer terminals in the tent and was busy familiarising himself with the system. “All we need is access to the security feed. Friday?”

“On it.”

A view of the Compound’s Lobby replaced the list of coordinates on the center screen. It was empty.

“No sign of Goose there,” Boothby muttered. “Keep going please, Friday.”

“What does Goose look like?” Joaquin asked.

“Like a large ginger cat.”

Silence fell as the feed switched to another camera, then another, then another.

“There he is!” Joaquin cried out several minutes later. “I found him! He’s asleep in the kitchen.”

“Oh good,” Boothby said. “That’s all the way across the compound from the laboratories. We should be able to get into the lab without any prob-”

“Don’t say it!” Sam snapped, glaring at Boothby. “Don’t you watch movies? You never say that.”

“Sorry,” Boothby muttered, averting his gaze.

“Right. Now what?”

“Now we go,” Boothby said, “before Goose wakes up. Once we get to the lab we can activate the security protocols. No one will be able to get in or out unless they have the codes.”

“That’s it?” Sam asked. “Don’t you have to prepare anything?”

Boothby shrugged. “Everything we’ll need is already in there. All we have to do is get there. Oh, and Friday?”

"Yes, Dr. Boothby?"

"Are you able to tell who is at each of those coordinates? It might be useful to know who to expect at the end of each jump."

"No problem, Dr. Boothby. I can compare the cell numbers against personnel records and add names to the list."

"Thank you, Friday."

“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on Goose,” Joaquin volunteered. “If he wakes up I’ll let you know.”

To Sam’s surprise and relief, they made it to the laboratory wing without any trouble at all. Boothby spent most of the journey explaining how to use the Quantum Tunnel, the Tech Suit, and the Time-Space GPS. Sam didn’t claim to understand most of it. As long as he knew which buttons to press and how to get back, he’d leave everything else to the experts.

“Okay,” Boothby said, securing the door behind them. “First I'll get the computers up and running, then we'll get you suited up, and then we can start."

One by one, he booted up a bank of computers, opening screens and running programs as each one came online. Sam watched, waiting patiently.

"Oh good," Boothby said after a few minutes. "Friday's updated the list of coordinates with names."

Sam moved closer but before he got a good look, Boothby turned towards him.

"I’m going to send you after Fury first. With any luck he can control that beast of his and prevent this from happening again.”

“He can deal with S.W.O.R.D. for us, too,” Sam agreed.

Crossing the floor to a large cupboard, he opened it and removed a suitcase similar to the one Steve had used to transport the Stones when he returned them to their proper timelines. Laying the case on a counter, he lifted the lid and began removing items.

“This contains the nanotech that forms the suit,” Boothby said, laying what looked like a wristwatch on the table. “This is the GPS, here’s a set of comms, and I’ll add a second set of everything so you can bring Fury back.”

“Are you sure this is gonna work?” Sam asked, taking the items and tucking them into his pockets.

“Not at all.”

“Great.”

#sam wilson #sam wilson bingo #samtember 2021 #marvel pets bingo #ian boothby #quantum tunnel #the multiverse

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valeriethepussycats · 3 years

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Inside Out

Chapter 3

Pairing- Loki x Reader

Warning- cursing and characte dying.

Your thoughts and other characters are in italics. Flashbacks are in bold.

Jane enters Darcy's car parked outside the restaurant. “And I hate you.”

“What?! I thought he was cute.” Darcy proclaimed.

“Just shut up and drive.” Jane replied.

Darcy pulls out and drive off, as they are driving through London suddenly Jane's is shocked to see a guy sat in the back seat. “Who's he?”

“He's my intern.” Darcy stated.

“You have an intern?” Jane questioned.

“Oh, yeah.”

“Hello, Dr. Foster. It's uh...it's a great honor to be working with you.” Ian Boothby stated.

“Right. I have to call Erik.” Jane remarked

Ian checks the navigator then looks at Darcy. “Oh, uh...take a right.”

Darcy quickly makes a sharp turn.

“Left!.” she then turns quickly left. “I have totally mastered driving in London.”

Jane calls Erik and leaves a message. “Hi, Erik, it's me again. Where are you? I came here because you said you were onto something and then vanished.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

A news report is then shown where Selvig is naked and running around Stonehenge while the police try to catch him.

“I'm here at Stonehenge, for what has been an interesting unfolding of events today. The police reported the scene shortly after 11 a.m. this morning, after a seemingly harmless rambler approached the area then started to strip naked and effectively terrorize tourists there with scientific equipment while shouting that he was trying to save them. The man later identified as noted Astrophysicist Dr. Erik Selvig has been called in for questioning by police.”

Darcy pulls up outside an old abandoned factory and they all get out of the car. “Come on, this is exciting! Look, the intern is excited.”

“Ian.” He Corrected.

“Do you want the phase meter?” Darcy asked Jane.

“No.” Jane answered.

Darcy looks over at Ian “Bring the phase meter.” she throws the car keys at Ian and starts walking off. “The toaster looking thing.”

“I know what the phase meter is.” Ian said under his breath.

As Jane walks towards the factory Darcy calls her on her cell phone which starts playing an annoying music tone. “How do I change the ring tone on this thing?”

“An Astrophysicist with three degrees should be able to change her own ring tone.” Darcy exposed.

Jane turns to look at Darcy. “Why are you calling me?”

Darcy Lewis: “I didn't want to shout.” Darcy told Jane. Then looks at Ian, who's following behind her. “Intern, the entrance is this way.”

“Ian. My name's Ian.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Loki is walking around his cell when his reality starts to change. A memory starts to

form, the now dungeon cell was replaced by warm morning sun. Loki sees Y/n sleeping happily in her bed. then she wake up to the sound of House of Pain - "Jump Around" with a big smile on her face she gets out of bed and rushes to the bathroom and brushes her teeth dancing and mumbling the lyrics to the song when she finish in the bathroom she heads downstairs to see that Gambit is in the kitchen making her favorite breakfast.

“So what are we doing today?” Y/n askedas she sit at the table.

“Today we’re gonna go to Mardi Gras.” Gambit said flipping a waffle.

“I thought I was not enough to go to Mardi Gras?” Y/n said picking up ‘her’ Game Boy.

“Who said...I was about your age maybe younger.” Gambit disclosed.

Gambit looks over at Y/n sees she playing with a game. “Where’d you get that?”

“I stole it from one of the boys from school.” Y/n answered. “He was bullying one of my friends and I didn’t use all my powers.

Gambit gives her disapproval look.

“It’s was the only way to find out what he really loves.” Y/n explained. “That’s what we do steal from the mean and rich.”

Gambit gives her a smile that reaches the eyes he then grabs a plate and place Y/n’s waffles on it and hand it to her. “Eat a up Petit we have a big day today.”

Y/n starts to scarf down her food.

Loki looks at their dynamic and can see this Gambit person is a very important person to Y/n, and that she was a thief. She looks happy and content with her life.

Could I make her that happy?

Would she love living on Asgard?

Loki shakes those thoughts out his head, Odin has already made him question if is he worthy of Y/n’s love he doesn’t need the those thought. The memory beings to fade out and Loki reappears on the streets of New Orleans and see Gambit and Y/n. They’re walking the streets of the infinite Paris in laughter of people of all shapes and sizes.

“Mardi Gras. You smell that Petit.” Gambit said with a broad smile.

Y/n laughs as she looks up at Gambit she can tell that he’s very passionate about his city. “Can you tell me more about Mardi Gras.”

“What do you wanna know, Petit?” Gambit wondered.

“Anything.” Y/n with a smiles.

“Well the King Cake is only eaten during Mardi Gras.” Gambit said as he picked Y/n up and put her on his neck so she can see everything.

“What’s the King Cake?” Y/n said looking down at Gambit with her brows together pulling together in a frown.

“It made with brioche dough Braided and laced with cinnamon, the dough is then glazed with purple, green and gold sugar or covered in icing in those same Mardi Gras colors.”

While Gambit is talking all of a sudden Y/n starts hearing voices.

“I haven’t hear from him in a weeks no one at shield can contract him.”

“How can I tell her that someone she knows since she was five could be dead.”

“What....” Y/n said sad grimace.

Then all sudden a loud bang of a gun goes off and her and Gambit falls to the ground. She crawls from underneath Gambit’s head,and see his bleeding.

“Gambit tell me what to do.” Y/n urged.

“Y/n are you ok?” Gambit questioned.

“I’m fine, tell me what do I do.” Y/n stressed.

“There’s nothing you can do.” Gambit answered.

Loki rushes to young Y/n side and tried to to help but his hands go straight though her.

“No...no...tell me what to do...please.” Y/n wept. “You’re all I have....your my family.”

“Your gonna be fine your father with find you.”

“My father is dying and I need to save him.” Y/n proclaimed.

“I love you, Y/n.” Gambit drawled.

“No don’t say that please don’t say that Gambit.” Y/n sobbed.

Gambit’s chest laid still, no flickers of life or his usual burning red eyes. Y/n’s heart stops. When she realized that she can’t hear a single thought. She starts to get a pain in her stomach, like when you get butterflies but make it painful.

“I can not.....I can’t do nothing.......I do not wish to see this.” Loki said with moist eyes. He’s having a hard time looking at what’s happening in front of him. But he knows he needs to see this to understand her more.

Y/n’ s chin trembling, eyebrows elevated, snot running down her upper lip. She spoke in a cracking voice. “Gambit...Gambit..”

The street begins to shake Loki looks around and all the cars in the area gets crushed under a pressure like gravity. All the windows of the houses shatter, all the street lights pop making it dark, but little did Y/n know it was a dream.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Back on Asgard, Thor,Y/n, and Gambit are walking the hallways for Thor’s home. He’s telling them all the stories of his childhood and all the things they accomplish by keep Nine Realms safe. He’s telling them about all their custom and what they do and what they believe in. They end up back at the celebration because of Y/n’s amazing persuasion skills. Thor and Y/n are sitting at a table while Gambit is sitting with a group of women soaking up all the attention.

“What’s why you can’t stay in one place to long.” Y/n started. “The warriors on Asgard protest Nine Realms.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s amazing. The way you protect people...”

“I do love being a warrior but I can no longer do that.”

“Because you’re next in line for the Throne.”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to make Jane your queen?”

Thor looks at Y/n shocked trying to find the words to say. “I forgot how blunt you are.” Thor said with a smile.

Y/n shrugs shoulder. “I know when you become king it’s gonna become harder to see Jane.” Y/n specified. “And after New York she called me wanted to know if you’re coming back.”

Thor looks over at Y/n withm unfocused gaze.

“I didn’t give her answers because I didn’t know.” Y/n told Thor. “I can tell you miss

her a lot.....And she misses you.”

Y/n looks at Thor and can tell he’s far away and he’s becoming even more so. “Go.”

Thor looks over at Y/n knowing she can feel and understand what’s he’s going through. “I still have more to show you.” Thor said in his best convincing voice. He hasn’t seen his best friend in a long time his mind shouldn’t be on Jane it’s should be on how his friend is.

“Go. I’ll be here.” Y/n said with a encouraging smile.

“Thank you.” Thor said returning her smile. “I will return.”

“I know, now go.” Y/n said with a quiet and empathetic voice.

With one last look, Thor walks away.

After being free from his distractions Gambit walks over to Y/n. “Where did Thor go?”

“He went to go see a friend?” Y/n said then looking over at Gambit with a smirk. “Now let’s go get some drinks.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

As they enter the old factory they hear a noise. “I am not getting stabbed in the name of science.”

She holds up her hands and shouts. “It's okay, we're Americans!”

“Is that supposed to make them like us?”Jane replied.

Suddenly the hear some kids voices. “Make it go away..”

“Ssh!”

Three kids come out of their hiding place.

“Oh, they're kids.” Jane said with a sigh of relief.

“Are you the police?” Maddie asked.

“No, we're scientists. Well, I am.” Jane specified.

“Thanks.” Darcy said dryly.

“We just found it.” Said one boy.

“Can you show us?” Jane asked.

The three kids lead Jane, Darcy and Ian to a truck, one of the boys touches the truck and pushes it up with two fingers, they watch in amazement as the truck floats in mid-air.

“That doesn't seem rigged.” Darcy disclosed.

The kids then take them to a stairwell in the factory, one of them drops a bottle down and they watch as the bottle disappears into thin air.

“Where did it go?”

The girl points her finger up, they look up to see the bottle reappear above them and continuously fall and disappear in the same spots in the air.

“That's...that's incredible.”

Jane picks up an empty can and drops it down and it does the same thing, it disappears into thin air, but when they look up to watch it reappear nothing happens.

“What happened?” Darcy asked Maddie.

“Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't.” She answered.

“I want to throw something. Jane, give me your shoe.” Darcy proclaimed.

Jane ignores Darcy and picks up her gadget to look at the readings. “I haven't seen readings like this since...”

“New Mexico? Only if Y/n was here she would be able to tell us.” Darcy commented. (But she just miss hanging out with Y/n.)

Jane give Darcy a meaningful look before rushing off. ““Don't touch anything!”

Darcy Looks over at Ian. “Give me your shoe.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Jane walks away from the others and watches them on the stairwell dropping objects down and watching them disappear and reappear, she sees looks at her gadget and sees the anomaly is nearby and starts walking off; back on the stairwell, Ian drops the car keys down and they watch it disappear but when they look up it doesn't reappear.

“Where those the car keys?”

Jane follows the readings on her gadget which takes her to another part of the factory, as the readings get stronger a gust of wind pushes her forward and she finds herself teleported in another realm.

“Darcy!” Jane shouted.

She looks around and finds the column holding the Aether, she reaches her hand out and suddenly the Aether enters her body and she passes out; at the same time we see Malekith being awakened in his ship, knowing that the Aether has been found.

“The Aether awakens us. The Convergence returns.” Malekith divulged.

#loki x black!reader #loki x black reader #loki x reader #loki x y/n #thor x reader #thor x jane

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fuckyeahdarcylewis · 3 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Brock Rumlow, Tony Stark/Happy Hogan Characters: Darcy Lewis, Ian Boothby, Jack Rollins, Tony Stark, Brock Rumlow, Happy Hogan Additional Tags: Ian's family wants to meet Darcy's family, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Birdcage AU Series: Part 60 of Taserbones Tumblr Prompts & Tiny (Adorkable) Fics Summary:

Darcy's new boyfriend wants his parents to meet her parents. Which is fine. Her parents are amazing. Happy and Tony are the best dads she could ask for. She just hopes Ian's parents aren't uptight jerkfaces.

The new house guy is a complication she doesn't anticipate.

#au #darcy lewis #darcy x brock rumlow #fanfictions #lmao #mcu

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Simpsons Review: Simpsons Comics #102 “Uncle Burn$” or Homercore Nudity!

Whelp out of all the commissions Kev has thrown me this one’s kind of a curveball. I mean it makes sense why cover it: It’s a pastiche of Donald Duck Comics done in the pages of the Simpsons long running comics. I cover duck stuff on here, and not only do I love the Simpsons but I tend to reference it for jokes a LOT. I just genuinely never thought of reviewing it till now, likely because earlier on in my new career of reviewing animated shows, I wasn’t really convinced I could do pure comedies. With my regular reviews of Darkwing Duck and as it comes out coverage of the Loud House (I still need to get around to Band Together), that’s no longer a real issue and I should consider doing the show in the future, especially since I have an unabashed love for the first 10 seasons and a few episodes beyond that.

As you can tell, I love the Simpsons. While I do genuinely wish it would end and have no real intrest in the current seasons, though if you’d like me to take a look i’d be willing to. The show in it’s prime was funny, witty and each episode was crammed with jokes. And refreshingly for an adult cartoon show of it’s time, the show genuinely wasn’t afraid to mix things up: Milhouse’s parents divorced and stayed that way for so long that them apparently getting back together decades later is itself a huge status quo shake up. Lisa went Vegetarian which stuck thanks to sir paul mcartney, and then went Buddhist, both of which have never wavered since and both fit her well. Skinner and Krabbable started dating. Barney went sober for a few seasons. Apu got married. These are minor changes but the show does have things happen occasionally and doesn’t just snap everything back and it adds genuine tension to plots knowing they might stay the status quo They usually don’t but the occasional change gives things stakes. I could go on for days, but I couldn’t go on for 8 weeks, point is the Simpsons are awesome, and deserve the praise they get early on I just wish they’d stop as by this point people really have stopped carring and it’s time to pass the torch and Let Bob’s burgers be the wholesome family comedy that runs forever.. and even then that one should stop at 10 seasons. Or if not at least let the kids age dammit. But that aside, while many of you simpsons fans looking at this probably have at least seen the comics, or a collection of them over the decades, many of you like me are wondering what the hell Bongo Comics is and how they managed to last so long. Bongo was founded by Simpsons Creator Matt Groening in 1993. Matt Groening had noticed that at the time there just weren’t any funny books on the shelves, funny books being comedy based comics primarily targeted for kids, with Archie and Disney being really the only ones left at the time. So he founded Bongo to rectify that, and given Fox naturally liked the sound of more merchandising dollars, the publisher was primarily used to produce simpsons comics, though looking at wikipedia there were one or two that weren’t including, of all things, a Coldplay comic tying into their album. Why did Coldplay publish a comic book at a primarily simpsons comic book company?

Though most series seem to be either short lived or one shots, there were a few exceptions: Naturally the company put out an annual Treehouse of Horror issue, there was a Bart Simpson ongoing focusing on him and the other kids of Springfield, I had a trade for that one once, and once Futurama premiered it too got a comic book that held through both cancelations. But standing above them all was Simpsons Comics, a 245 issue long runner that ran all the way up to the company’s closing, likely due to a combination of a lack of profits and the then upcoming Disney-Fox merger depriving them of the very heart and soul of the company.

Naturally being a Simpsons fan I have a connection to these comics having gotten the trades out of the library multiple times as well as the collection of Bartman’s solo series, which was my favorite and I might cover some day. In addition to the Free Comic Book Day issues i also picked up scattered issues over my life since, much like Archie, Simpsons comics were a mainstay of bookstores and super markets and the decline of both comic markets is likely why the Simpsons comics started to peter out in the first place. The quality and memorability of the stories varied but they were a fun thing to have around and it’s sad to see them go, as well as see Disney not even make a remote attempt to bring them back or at the very least republish the vast library they now have access to. Also finally if your wondering yes, there indeed was a Simpsons/Futurama crossover. And no I have not read it. So with that history, most of which I just learned some of which I already knew, in mind, it is very fitting the comic’s did a tribute to the Uncle Scrooge comics. Though it does feel very weird that I have yet to cover any Donald Duck or Scrooge comics.. yet i’ve already covered one of the Ducktales tie in comics and a Simpsons homage to it. I’m going to have to correct that but until then, join me under the cut as I dive into adventure with the Simpsons.

This issue was written by Ian Boothby and drawn by John Delaney, I feel mentiong the writers and artists should be important in comic reviews and I kick myself for not having done that or gone into them as much before. Boothby was apparently the Ian Flynn of these comics, writing more simpsons comics than any other writer according to wikipedia and winning an Eisner for his work on the comic if sadly not this issue. He was nominated for an outstanding Canadian Writer award for it though so that’s good. Point is the guy is a decorated vetran of this series and it shows in how good this issue is and I felt he deserved some recognition as most Comic Book Readers, myself included up till now, likely weren’t aware he even existed nor took over the comic in the 2000′s.

We open with Burns getting attacked by a mummy! Gotta say wasn’t expecting this as where we started out but the simpsons have started with wonkier premises to end up somewhere. I mean there was the time a bag boy strike ended up with them in Africa. Also i’d say Burns should call the police, being the kind of privileged white guy they actually care about protecting and all, but frankly the Springfield Cops don’t have the best track records with Mummies:

But no it’s just Smithers, who dove in heroically to save the company 15 dollars after Homer took a bet to see how many fire crackers he could jam in his computer’s disk drive. Lenny said 20 but he proved him wrong. And yes those are all actual jokes from the comic, this issue is very funny and feels very much like a Golden Age Simpsons episode. They also all gather to sign Smither’s cast.. which naturally is a legally binding contract. Burns takes his loyal minion to get some quality medical care only to find an arcade because he traded the Medical Bay in for one during an outbreak of Pac Man Fever... again I really can’t top that and there may be a good reason why I haven’t covered the Simpsons till now. But yeah as Buns gives Smithers a roll of Pennies, he wonders who to have replace Smither’s on their annual summer treasure hunt.. which would come out of nowhere but we genuinely don’t know what they do most summers. I assumed Burns just road Smithers like a horse to play cricket while Smithers enjoyed it way too much. But a stray comment from Homer getting a Krusty Doll from a crane machine about being king of the treasure hunters leads to this.

I mean it’s an easy joke but damn if it didn’t get a laugh out of me. So later at the old Simpsons place, because this comic is fantastic, Marge and Homer talk things over, but Homer insists Burns said he’d split the treasure, and Lisa wishes she could come along. And Marge says he should, especially for his own saftey.. and when Bart complains, says all the kids should go, she already packed their bags, she’s heading to Rancho Relaxo byyyyeeeeeee. Once again, this comic is amazing, and I would say this is out of character for Marge, but frankly that’s the whole point. Plus it really isn’t when she has to deal with 4 children on a regular basis, and her sisters, and a town gone mad.. yeah can’t blame her here.

The next day at Burns Office, Homer is wearing his navy outfit.. or rather Donald’s Navy outfit. But given I did a quick google and found him having at least 4 different outfits during his time in the Naval Reserves, it’s not a stretch to assume the Simpsons Version of the Navy gave these out too. Seriously Ian Boothby has put more thought into continuity than most writers on the show proper. Also Simpsons Tide, season 9 episode, still very memorable and hilarious and not due to childhood nostalgia. Just looking up this bit had me laughing hard.

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I now want to watch that episode sometime soon so thanks Kev. Anyway Homer seems to have misplaced his plants. Now I could spare you the image since I don’t do things panel by panel anymore and only use panels from a comic when relevant. Buttttt

This traumatizing of my audience brings me to a point about this issue and why it works. While there are tons of nods to the Donald Duck comics and what their homaging is very clear, the issue doesn’t REQUIRE you know them to enjoy it. Knowing them I obviously enjoy it more, but most of the jokes aren’t reliant on you knowing anything about the barks comics and even someone with a passing knowledge of the Original Ducktales can still get the reference if not why Donald is here. It helps this is less of a parody, with the exception of some jokes, and more of an homage, using stylistic elements of those comics while telling i’ts own story as a loving tribute to it’s predecessors. Speaking of one of those jokes poking fun at the source material, Burns is delighted Homer brought child labor, which kept me laughing for a good minute, and when the kids introduce themselves we get this bit.

Not only am I 100% sure every version of Donald or Della did this to make sure they could tell them apart, very much including the reboot with Donald, but it’s a genuine hilarious bit. Donald’s response as they head off is “there’s somehting hooey Dewey and screwy about this. “ Also I will criticize the fact Bart isn’t the one wearing a blue outfit. For those wondering why, after all Maggie wears blue shouldn’t she get it, who haven’t seen this a LOT of merchandise early on had Bart in a blue shirt, due to early Merch being rushed out pre-show and since he wore one in some earlier concept art, he got to wear blue. He also wore it late into the 90′s.

Sidebar: I just found this and while it isn’t a bad joke given his character it is questionable to have a fourth grade boy tell you to buy him. Just saying. But the reason I bring it up is partly because the show itself referenced it at one point.

As well as it’s sister show Futurama

And you remeber that Bart Simpson solo I mentioned? That one frequently, both in and out of story, had Blue Shirt bart show up for some variety.

Also why yes each issue does have it’s own fun “Superman’s Pal Jimmy Oleson” Esque subtitle. And I love it so. Point is Blue Bart is part of the series legacy and this very comic company, so it’s VERY weird to not have that here. That being said there were a few Green Shirt barts apparently as a printing error, so he could just as easily be 80 steps ahead of me. I just don’t know.

Back at the plot Burns and the Simpsons show up at Frink’s lab, Frink rather obviously filling in for Gyro, with his own version of little bulb named F.L.O. who gladly shakes Lisa’s hand.. and releases a Pterodactyl but hey you can’t win em all. It’s a nice nod, though one only fans of the source matieral will really get, but the pterodactyl bit right after helps distract from it. Frink slotts into the roll well, as Frink has no reall affiliation with anyone and is basically, much like Gyro, there for various characters to go too when the story or joke needs him. Frink has two gadgets for them: Some Scuba suits that can go to any depth and a grappling claw that accidently gets him gripped to the pterodactyl. Also homer accidently switches suits with maggie, so we get an adorable shot of her serenely sleeping in a diving helmet while her daddy chokes to death.

So the next day it’s out to the open seas where The Simpsons are doing all the work while Burns lounges.. which yeah this is a typical uncle scrooge adventure all right. While the man unlike Burns does work hard and do things for himself, he spent most voyages talking about the destination while putting all the hard work on Donald, in case you thought there was at least one universe where Donald isn’t miserable most of the time. Lisa wonders what he’s doing and we get this lovely bit.

I just.. can’t stop finding that hilarious or a nice way to get the Uncle Scrooge bit in there while still fitting the Simpsons, and it at least explains what happened to Herb, whose been mentioned all of once in the 30 seasons since he last showed up. I checked. And yes for those unaware, which is fair, or who just now remembered Homer does indeed have a brother, one his dad had out of an affair who showed up twice, once with Homer unintentionally, and largely due to Herb’s own foolishness, ruining his life, the other time with Maggie helping him get back on top and him and Homer reconciling. He’s also voiced by comedic legend and your friend and mine, Danny Devito, whose still making us all laugh to this day and is a wonderful person from all accounts. Rock on Danny, here’s the only way I can think to honor you.

But yeah it’s a good gag. Burns claims to be watching for a Giant Squid.. and turns out to be right. So it’s up to the simpsons to fight the giant squid, a sentence I genuinely didn’t expect.. I thought like the Griffins they’d just ignore it.

I miss that show.. oh i’m aware Family Guy is still running but much like the Simpsons the show it USED to be is long gone. Anyways Bart tells a worried homer octopus suck out the innards and drink it first quipping “It’s not like you haven’t been drunk in the morning before homer. Homer chokes bart only for the squid to choke him which is easily the second best “Homer getting choked after Choking bart” gag i’ve seen.. the best being this one I found on youtube.

youtube

Though personally my faviorite part of that whole bit is Bart’s proud “THAT’S BECAUSE I SOAKED HIM IN SLIME!” Anyways Lisa figures out a way to beat the squid, painting the likeness of each of them on it’s tentacles and letting the thing devour itself. Lisa lampshades it making no sense PHysics wise but with that she reluctantly accepts calling Mr. Burns, Uncle Burns and we’re off to our next location. Next up is Mt. Donrosa, a very clear nod to Uncle Scrooge maestro Keno “Don” Rosa, an avid fan of Barks work who expanded on it and turned it into a solid continuity, most famously, and what got me into the ducks in the first place, with the epic “Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck” which I proudly own and.. well I did say watch this space didn’t I? Enough hinting at the future as the Simpsons scale the mountain with Homer carrying burns up on a rickshaw. Burns however looses his lucky #1 penny, SUBTLE, and cuts Bart down to get it. We then get the best line of the issue:

Bart thankfully survives and we find out the Penny, much like Scrooge’s Dime is how Burns started his fortune.. for this issue and nowhere else but that’s standard for the Simpsons. Specifically loading it into a gun and threatning to kill Jasper’s grandfather with it during the gold rush, a nice twist. At the top of the mountain they find the fabled key of Strobl, which comes from the Taliaferro tribe.. more refrenes this time though I didn’t know them and had to google. Tony Strobl was an artist on the Duck Comics at one ponit and Al Taliforino id forgotten about. He did the Donald Duck comic strip which I had heard of and weirdly hasn’t been collected yet despite Fantagraphics covering mickey, as well as reprinting barks and rosa’s respective works.

The key is suspended in the air by what Lisa suspects to be magnetics, and while Burns plan is naturally “Have Bart swim in it and see if he surivives”, Bart, still pissed from the penny and not wanting to die today, grabs the Penny and uses his slingshot to fire it at the Key. The bad luck from the penny casues an erruption, but Bart once again saves the day and has them surf down, with naturally tons more great jokes. The family enjoys some steamed Seafood, except Lisa whose eating Seaweed, while Homer enjoys a sting ray “It tastes as good as it stings, Ow, Ow.” ON to Goddfrodson Trench, an odd choice given Floyd Goddfrodson was barks equivalent for the Mickey Mouse Comics and not really a duck writer, but he still deserves the honor regardless. Under the Sea, no accusations just friendly crustaceans here.. our heroes are close to the treasure but loose the map to the Jailbird Boys, aka Snake and his cousins, who found out due to Lisa’s blog. She didn’t want to loose any more readers to Sheri and Teri’s Olson Twin’s Fan Page.. which.. it’s 2004.. weren’t they dead by this point? Nope still alive? Still are today in fact? Alrighty then. Also this bit, and some of the other references are a bit heavy handed, I will admit that, but the jokes are high quality enough otherwise that it just comes off as a bit of an adorable wink more than laziness.

Snake and co cut their air with Starfish used as throwing stars.

The gang tie their air suplies to avoid dying, and Maggie, in a clever bit, talks with the starfish, since they communicate via sucking, to attack the Jailbird Boys. Again..

I genuinely don’t know, but our heroes find the fabled vault of Barks Billion.. named after Bark Barks, that polar bear from the sonic games.. no of course it’s named after Disney Duck God Carl Barks, who created the Duck’s share of Donald and Scrooge’s supporting cast: Uncle Scrooge himself, Daisy Duck, a fact I just learned but given he created her first short “Mr Duck Steps Out, shouldn’t of surprised me, The Beagle Boys, Magica DeSpell, Goldie O Gilt, Flintheart Glomgold, Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, The Junior Woodchucks as a whole, Neighbor Jones, John D. Rockerduck, The Number One Dime, Gus Goose, April, May, June and Whitewater Duck. Just the sheer impact he’s had on the comics on all continents cannot be overstated. He is also the one who refined Huey Dewey and Louie from hellraising little shits to the good little boys they are today.. well okay they were, thankfully the reboot has created much better versions. Point is what a man, what a man what a mighty good man, he is truly missed. We get two great homer gags in the same page, one where somehow he’s put the giant key on a key ring and still can’t find it.. with Bart helpfully taking it from him, and then we get this, which I missed on my first read through.

Naturally Burns betrays them, using a Gold Magnet, kay, to suck up all the gold and naturally planning to leave the Simpsons for dead to no one’s surprise. But thanks to Bart teaching Maggie how to use the spittoons, Homer gets one stuck on his head.. and starts getting sucked up with the Simpsons using them to escape. Naturally Lisa’s first instinct is obvious.

But Burns weasels his way out by promising them free gold after their free lunch. Naturally the next day this turns out ot be a trick as their lunch came from frinks and thus, for now, their weightless.. but Karma gets Burns when he tries swimming in his new gold vault... only for the natural result of what happens when am an who never exercises and who doctors once described as having so many diseases packed into his body at once they tripped each other off and that a strong wind could kill him, trying to do with a similarly aged but still physically fit and well trained at swimming in money man does on a daily basis.

We then close on a quick gag of weightless homer getting caught on fire and we’re out.

Final Thoughts: This was a really excellent comic. It captured the tone of the Simpsons at their best and while stiff in a place here or there, it’s mostly just really funny, entertaining and a nice and warm tribute to Donald and Scrooge’s long comics history, not really mocking it but instead just homaging it, while still throughly feeling like the Simpsons. It honestly feels like the Treehouse of Horor Segement on the shining, a bit that parodies something, but for the most part the jokes still feel firmly rooted in the simpsons and their cast. This was a treat to review and i’m glad Kev comissoned it and I may take a look at more Simpsons in the future. If you guys like this review, you can follow me on patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet, or if there’s a specific simpsons or ducktales episode or a specific comic you want me to review, you can comission your own review for just five bucks. Just send me a direct message on here through Tumblr, or take a look at my ask box or submit. However you want to do it. I take payments through paypal and until next time: Happy Days are Here Again.

#scrooge mcduck #the simpsons #carl barks #simpsons comics #montgomery burns #homer simpson #bart simpson #lisa simpson #maggie simpson #don rosa #professor frink #bongo comics #waylond smithers #reviews #ducktales

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jimintomystery · 4 years

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TNG: “The First Duty”

The Enterprise returns to Earth so Captain Picard can deliver the commencement address at Starfleet Academy. The graduation ceremonies are to include a flight demonstration by Nova Squadron, but an accident during practice leaves one cadet dead, prompting a formal inquiry. Cadet Wesley Crusher and the rest of Nova Squadron close ranks to avoid taking the blame for the accident, but the Enterprise crew is determined to exonerate their former shipmate.

For all that Starfleet officers are depicted as being above status and vanity, we’re inundated with stories about those same officers, as Starfleet cadets, getting away with all sorts of impressive misadventures that made them who they are. Here, we confront the consequences of that trope. Nova Squadron wanted to do the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver, because it was banned, because they knew it would make them the stuff of legend, because Starfleet never reprimands anyone for these stunts when they’re successful.

So what happens when something goes wrong, and a cadet is killed? Well, it turns out if you build an institution around recruiting future Captain Kirks, you get students that would rather game the system than admit that they didn’t plan for failure. No one in this story really addresses Starfleet’s complicity in this problem, by creating a culture of “no harm, no foul” regulations, and officers who brag about exploiting that culture. Small wonder, then, that the civilian groundskeeper is the moral center of the whole organization.

This episode is probably best remembered for Picard’s stirring monologue about “the first duty of every Starfleet officer.” A lot of this went over my head in 1992, but over time it’s stuck with me. It’s easy to think Starfleet is just a bunch of cool dudes flying at warp speed and meeting interesting aliens and playing Sherlock Holmes on the holodeck. It’s easy to think it’s just about being a good officer, or explorer, or scientist. But none of that stuff means a damn without honesty and integrity. Picard’s not just talking about the truth Wesley is withholding from the inquiry; he’s talking about Wesley being honest with himself, because he knows it’s wrong.

Cadet Locarno is of course, played by Robert Duncan McNeill, who all but reprised the role in the form of Lieutenant Tom Paris on Star Trek: Voyager. The Star Trek wiki Memory Alpha is filled with competing theories about why the showrunners didn’t simply have McNeill play Locarno on Voyager, since Paris’s checkered past certainly resembles the controversies that bring down Locarno in this episode. Locarno seems more corrupt than Paris, and perhaps harder to mold into a “con man with a heart of gold” type of guy. Then again, early Voyager episodes struggle to justify the air of distrust surrounding Paris, so maybe making him seem more corrupt wouldn’t have been such a bad thing.

Some more trivia about Picard’s age: Picard refers to himself as “class of ’27,” presumably based on his 2305 birthdate in “Cause and Effect.” Boothby says he was the same age when Picard was a cadet as Picard is now, in 2368. This would make Picard 63 and Boothby over 100, whereas Partrick Stewart was 51 and Ray Walston was 77.

#star trek #tng #star trek: the next generation #welcome to the 24th century #tng season 5

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eldritchbookworm · 4 years

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Dr Nikola character analysis (sortinghatchats)

I think that Dr Nikola of the Dr Nikola series by Guy Boothby is a Bird primary and a Bird secondary under the @sortinghatchats system. My (quite possibly clumsy and disorganised) reasoning is under the cut, with no regard for spoilers.

I’m not sure how much sense it makes to someone unfamiliar with the series, so: Guy Boothby wrote five books between 1895 and 1901 which chronicled the exploits of an occultist, hypnotist and criminal mastermind named Dr Antonio Nikola in his quest for immortality, from the point of view of those who become entangled in his schemes. Irrelevently, he has an uncanny black cat named Apollyon who is my favourite character.

Without further ado:

I’ve been talking myself in circles as to whether Dr Nikola is a Bird or Lion primary, but I’ve eventually settled on Bird with some degree of confidence. Not least because he’s very comfortable with moral relativism, which seems to me to be less likely for a Lion and more likely for a Bird.

He’s a project Bird, devoted to unlocking the secret of immortality. Throughout the books he is seeking the truth, and while there is definitely a large amount of self-interest behind this, he is very focused on this particular path/project. Why is he a criminal mastermind? Why does he pursue experiments and occult sciences that others scorn? Why does he abduct, why does he murder, why does he make capital from his fellow humans? The answer to each of these questions is the same: because it is in service to his goal to unlock the secret of immortality.

His mercy, too, is revealing. While he sticks at nothing to achieve his goals, he also goes no further than he perceives he must. For example, in the first book he swears to crush Wetherell for baulking him, but as soon as he has what he wants he is all magnanimity, even going so far as to send Wetherell’s daughter – the woman he had kidnapped and held to ransom – diamonds as a wedding present. For another example, in the third book he leaves Pennethorne be as soon as he realises that it is no longer possible to get what he wants from him. In fact, he consistently ends the books on a less sinister note than he begins them.

The exception to the attitude described above is his pursuit of revenge in the fifth book, where he is driven by anger and childhood trauma – his feelings, in short. However, this is an aberration, a departure from his usual means of deciding what path he will take. And he is persuaded to give up his revenge, in the end, whereas he never gives up on his quest for knowledge and immortality.

And then there’s the matter of why he decided that occult sciences were the correct way to achieve his goal. Well, evidently they work. Why else would he be able to hypnotise and cast illusions, or to sometimes and somehow receive knowledge of the future? Also, he adopted this system of viewing the world from his first foster-father: “The old man was a great scholar, and had devoted all his life to the study of the occult sciences. To educate the boy, when he grew old enough to understand, was his one delight. He was never weary of teaching him, nor did the boy ever tire of learning.”

I might also point out that on several occasions he expounds on the presence of hypocrisy within mainstream society. And it is my understanding that Bird primaries are none too fond of hypocrisy.

As for his secondary, it has to be Bird. He makes elaborate plans and schemes, he creates clever tools like the death-trap hansom cab in the third book, he solves complicated equations just for something to do in his downtime. He performs scientific experiments and generally collects knowledge. He knows all sorts of unexpected things, because that is how he interacts with the world and gets things done. He even claims to have foreseen his own death, and implies that he sought the knowledge deliberately.

He probably has a Snake secondary performance also, as he’s quite good at deception when he needs to be.

#dr nikola #late victorian literature #sortinghatchats #bird primary #bird secondary #i'm self-conscious about this #but i guess i'll post it anyway

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theimpossiblescheme · 4 years

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A Brief History of Tom Tildrum Street

I’m starting to finally get my ducks in a row for my giant Cats Cinematic Universe canon-welding project, and I thought I would write a sort of prologue as a way to establish the setting I use. I tried to do a pastiche of the kind of writers who would be serialized in Victorian English magazines--whether or not I succeeded I’m not quite sure yet. But I hope you guys enjoy this!

It occurs to me, dear reader, as I begin this long and rather complicated tale that without setting the scene, nothing that follows will seem at all wondrous or even comprehensible. So let me properly begin by telling you the story of Tom Tildrum Street.

As you are no doubt aware, the city of Kensington in London is an extraordinarily busy place, forever bustling with traffic of both the human and automotive variety. On the sidewalks of Piccadilly Circus, bodies jostle and fists are shaken furiously outside car windows as each poor soul wants to get where they’re going in an inordinate hurry. Indeed, they are all so occupied with their mundane and all-too-human woes that they see only the wide-laned thoroughfairs in front of them, but if they look just a few degrees outside their peripheral vision, they would notice a tiny street just across the way from the theatre. Of course, for many years, they would notice very little. Briar Street--for that was its name for many years--had been languishing in its proverbial hole in the wall, its cobblestone streets in great disrepair and its neon signs sputtering weakly. Its once famous music halls had closed, its cozy little restaurants empty of patrons, and the great Egyptian Theatre now a moldering ruin the likes of which Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias would weep for. Even the old church ached for its missing parishioners. And if possible, the place’s human element was even more pathetic, for they had accepted long ago that no curious tourist would look at them twice in favor of the great rings of traffic just a couple of blocks away.

But it was not only humans who lived on what had once been Briar Street. If anything, the humans were greatly outnumbered. You see, Briar Street belonged entirely to its population of feral cats.

The cats came and went as they pleased, weaving between the bars of iron gates and squeezing under the tiniest cracks in the bricks. They sang for their supper outside of windows and serenaded each other by night, and woe betide the man who stepped even a big toe inside of a temperamental tom’s turf, lest they end up with an impressive scar to show for the battle. Even the smallest kittens strutted about like the lord mayor himself, carving out their future territories and giving their parents miniature headaches. Every year, there were more and more of these kittens, despite a few well-meaning efforts to control the population; when these efforts fell through, the people bitterly joked that these four-legged interlopers would soon have more of the run of the place than they did.

“We might as well rename the whole ruddy street after them,” one woman wailed as she hung up the afternoon’s laundry over the ever-expanding junkyard.

Then Neighbor Tom Clark--a very savvy man whose brother owned a pub in Bristol--piped up, “Well... why don’t we? Perhaps if visitors knew about our cats, they might be more inclined the visit.”

At first, as is natural among the older generation, his idea was laughed off. Rename their street after the cats? Might as well start licking themselves clean in lieu of baths and eating out of rubbish bins just like their new neighbors! But a few young people of the business persuasion, newly arrived in Kensington and seeking some reprieve from the constant smoke and noise, thought the idea had merit. Why not reopen the restaurants, at least, and the music halls? Why not make the places more cat-friendly, to boot? After all, most sensible people love cats and good food and company--why not supply them with all of these necessities?

So the rebranding began. Boothby’s Restaurant and Stubbin’s reopened their doors. The Rising Sun repainted its windows and sent more errand boys after fresh fish and crab from the coast, and the London Gin lit up all of its signs once more. The Windmill Follies put up new posters for the fabulous dancing girls they’d just hired, and the Black and White Milk Bar released a new menu for all their delectable entrees and famous rich milkshakes (offering cream to any feline visitors as well, of course). A couple of new entrepeneurs got cheeky, naming the refurbished public house the Meow Club and the old gambling hall the Catsino. Of course, a few things couldn’t be helped--the churchyard and the vacant lot that had quickly become a junkyard were still mild eyesores, and the Egyptian required more repairs than they could practically pay for--but the street saw new life and color breathed into it in a matter of months. And in honor of their guests of honor, the street sign itself was repainted--if you were to read it now, it would read Tom Tildrum Street, after the famous King of the Cats of legend.

And what did the cats think of this new arrangement? They adored it. In fact, most of them were quite amused--how easy it was to bend these lumbering hairless giants to their whim! For such small creatures it was a great triumph, and they revelled in their new celebrity status. They could scarcely move a paw without earning a fond pat or a thrown treat from generous passersby. Not all humans were so kind of course, but the cats indulged them anyway. After all, they still had the run of the place, and a Jellicle Cat has much greater awareness than any man will credit them for.

As for the distinction of Jellicle Cat... I mustn’t get too far ahead of myself.

Suffice it to say that, one evening in one of the first harsh winds of winter, another of these distinguished creatures arrived in Tom Tildrum Street at the bottom of a pillowcase. Her name was Victoria. It is her story I shall endeavor to relay to you faithfully, and--to paraphrase Dickens himself--whether she shall be the heroine of her story or someone else shall take that honor, these pages will foretell.

#cats the musical #cats 2019 #my fanfic #my writing

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