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treveonwest · 2 years

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(PowerRuff Part 11) {everybody deserves a second chance}

Today seems to be going peaceful let's see what the girls get up to today

News team) havoc has been being caused in the town a lot lately thanks to this gang of three girls I think they call themselves The powerpunk girls I would almost say they're worse than the rowdyruff boys hopefully the Powerpuff girls do something about it soon

Bubbles) well looks like we have to kick some villain butt

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Blossom) what's new

Buttercup) the way he said I hope the Powerpuff girls deal with it soon rubed me the wrong way we're doing our best as if nobody else can deal with it we can't be the only people in town with superpowers

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Blossom) sadly buttercup I'm pretty sure we are I just wish there was a way we could track down where their house was and ambushed them they would least expect it

Professor) hey girls I just found out some information that might be useful to you you know those powerpunk girls address got leaked on the internet I'll send you the link to your phone but I thought this might be useful to you

Blossom) thank you so much professor that's very useful ladies get on your super suits we gotta go ambush some people

After they left

Buttercup) this place looks like shit

________________

Blossom) I don't know what you expect a villain's house to look like buttercup ___________

Bubbles) I'm sure it might be prettier with some paint

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Blossom) well that's not try to focus on How the house looks we need to get inside somehow........... I think I see a window come on

Blossom) okay I see one of them

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Buttercup) who's that guy talking to her

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Bubbles) it might be her dad maybe we should listen to what they're saying __________

Buttercup) good thinking Blondie

Evil professor) you girls have to be really stupid sometimes I think our address got leaked on the internet can you explain that to me

Berserk) Dad I am sorry I had no idea People's addresses get leaked on the internet all the time I'm really sorry I'll be better next time

Evil professor) just go to your room and get out of my face

Buttercup) what the heck was that about

________________________

Bubbles) do you guys think they act evil because their dad makes them ______________

Blossom) I don't know I'm having a hard time understanding this but maybe we should try to see if the front door is locked it looks like he was laying on the couch trying to take a nap so if the door is unlocked we can just sneak right in _________________

Buttercup) all right let's do it

Bubbles) I'm still going to say this place could look very pretty it just needs a paint job

_______________

Blossom) it's a good thing that he left the door unlocked

__________

Buttercup) Ya he's kinda stupid for that

_____________________

Blossom) that's just worry about getting upstairs

Berserk) holy shit how did the Powerpuff girls find us _______________________

Brute) dad's is going to get so mad

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Brat) *screaming*

Blossom) calm down we're not going to hurt you

_______________________

Bubbles) yeah it looks like you guys have been hurt too much already we're trying to help you

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Buttercup) unless we have to hurt you

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Blossom) shut up buttercup......... I see you guys have a balcony let's go talk

Blossom) okay let's start with introductions I'm blossom ____________________________________________

Bubbles) I'm bubbles

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Buttercup) and I'm buttercup

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Berserk) hi I'm berserk

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Brat) my name is Brat

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Brute) and I'm brute

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Blossom) okay we're off to a good start now I want you to tell me why do you guys behave the way you do and what has your dad been doing to you ____________

Berserk) our dad is a villain and he wants us to be villains too but we don't want to we want to be normal girls we want to go shopping get boyfriends you know do normal girl stuff but our dad is very abusive as you can see we have black eyes so we just try to do what he says because we don't want to lose our lives __________________

Bubbles) that's awful

__________

Buttercup) your dad's a sick bastard

_____________

Blossom) I think I have a plan we will take you guys out of here and take you to a safe place where you can be normal will tell the whole media your story and they'll forgive you if you guys are ok with it

_________________

Brat) yes please

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Blossom) okay buttercup go downstairs and see if he is still sleeping ____________

Buttercup) Roger tha

Buttercup) okay a little mess won't hurt nobody

Buttercup) okay now to tell the others that we can get out of here

After they left

Blossom) this is our house you guys can stay here for the time being until you guys find your own place

__________________

Brute) it's fucking Huge

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Bubbles) Thanks

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Brat) Again thank you guys

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Blossom) Its ok everybody deserves a second chance

#PowerPuff Girls #powerpuff blossom #powerpuff bubbles #powerpuff buttercup #powerruff #Powerpunk Girls #powerpunk berserk #powerpunk brute #powerpunk brat #sims 4 #sims 4 gameplay #sims 4 screenshots #sims 4 simblr #TS4 #ts4 gameplay #TS4 SCREENSHOTS #fanfiction #fanfic #girls

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thebirdandhersong · 3 years

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Actually life is good and scarves are warm and the arrowroot biscuits they used to give to the kids after Sunday School still taste the same and your little sister’s Rube Goldberg machine project sounds just as fun as she makes it out to be and the library is still open and you brought back a lot of books today (despite not actually having the time to read them all) and the buttercups on the lawns you walked past on the way home were a surprising and delicious shade of yellow and when you tried on your mother’s floppiest hat today you made your dad shout with laughter and your sister read one of your childhood favourites this evening and loved it so much she asked you to borrow the next one in the series and even though you still don’t understand half the things you’re reading in geology class, you sort of understand streams and salinity in the ocean, and you have a call with a friend tomorrow and a short story beginning to take root and Things Will Work Out. And you keep making mistakes, and forgetting to answer your friends’ messages, and forgetting that you resolved to control your tongue and your heart earlier this year, but God is still so gentle with you and today is drawing to an end.... tomorrow is a new morning with new chances to listen more attentively, love more generously, repent more humbly, forgive more readily, rejoice more deeply. And to apologize when you get it wrong (because you will at some point). Actually life is good and there are good things in it, and you have to write it all down so that you can remember later on (it will be important to remember all the daily blessings in your life). At heart, you are still seven, and also seventeen, and spinning barefoot on the dance floor, and kneeling by your bedside to pray all at the same time. Actually you are a bird with a song, and the song is this: the Lord is gracious and compassionate, He has a plan for us all and it is a plan for good, His glory is beyond measure and so is His lovingkindness, He drew us into the light and He's teaching us to draw others into the light, He is holding you and me this is not the end, this is not the end. The world may be dark but He has already overcome it! And it is spring-almost-summer, and life may not always seem good, but He is always good, and we can always hold to that.

#what a day! WHAT a day!!#Muffin DOES have a rube goldberg project for class. which i'm totally not jealous about sfjsl;kjk #the book she read was one of jessica day george's fantasy series!#anyway i must get to bed now or i really won't understand any of my readings tomorrow........ but please know that i am praying for you #and i hope that you have a wonderful day tomorrow :)#God bless you dear heart #(insert many homemade muffins and cups of mint tea because we have lots of mint in the garden)#happy things #songbird again

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ezmodo · 4 years

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Volume 7 Shorts - Sleepover 1 (V7E2)

“Things were looking bleak for Team RNJR…”

Ruby’s tone was low and ominous as she leaned forward from the edge of her bed. She commanded the attention of the entire room.

Penny’s attention at least. Yang and Nora were focused completely on their video game on the other side of the dorm room, bumping shoulders aggressively as they battled. Though sitting with Penny on the bed opposite of Ruby’s, Blake and Weiss were equally distracted.

“What then?” Penny asked. Her fists clenched in anticipation as she leaned forward to match Ruby.

“Penny, stay still!” Weiss squawked indignantly from behind her.

Penny squeaked out a tiny ‘oops’ before hurriedly unclenching her fists and sitting up straight. Weiss huffed and set back to brushing Penny’s hair while Blake went back to work on her nails.

Penny chided herself internally. Ruby and her team went out of their way to have a slumber party just for her. She was even getting the princess treatment! She’d never had her nails painted before and if she wanted her hair changed she’d usually have to ask her father to design and machine a new set for her. Penny endeavored to be a better slumber partier.

“Nothing was working,” Ruby continued. “Ranged weapons didn’t put a scratch on it and even Jaune’s new sword-sword, Crocea More, only made the Grimm angrier. Ren had just gotten thrashed and the beast was charging him! Nora tackled him into shelter under a nearby house, but it didn’t care. I fired round after round into its back,” Ruby mimed each shot, “but the Grimm ignored me. It reared up, brought its giant hooves down, and--!”

Ruby jumped up on the bed with her hands braced above her for effect. She paused dramatically and if Penny would have held her breath had she the need to breathe in the first place.

“It stopped! Its rear hooves were firm on the ground but its front half floated in the air! I jumped down to get a better view,” Ruby continued her act by leaping from the bed to the floor, “and that’s when I saw him. Standing between his friends and certain death, Jaune stopped the Grimm’s charge dead with brute strength alone!”

Before she could rise to her feet and cheer, Blake and Weiss each placed a hand on her shoulders to keep her seated. Penny couldn’t help but wiggle eagerly in her seat. Ruby certainly lived an exciting adventure after Beacon.

“It was noodle against demon horse noodle!” Ruby said as she continued acting out the struggle. “The odds were against him. With two tons of evil Grimm pressing down from above-”

“There is no way this ‘demon horse noodle’ weighed two tons,” Weiss said, cutting Ruby off. “And what kind of Grimm is a ‘demon horse noodle’ anyway?”

That was a good question. Penny scoured her memory banks and couldn’t find any Grimm that she would classify as a noodle. She could imagine a Grimm horse easily enough, but a horse noodle? Maybe it was like a centipede with hooves? Specialist Schnee would almost certainly know.

“It must have been a new type!” Ruby argued. “Back me up here, Nora.”

Without turning away from her game, Nora responded. “Yup. Half horse, half noodle, all demon. Big as a house.”

Yang snorted derisively, eyes still focused on their game. “Okay, sure. But two tons? No way. Ol’ Vomit Boy might have beefed up a bit since Beacon, but even I couldn’t lift two tons over my head.”

Nora laughed. “Aww, that’s okay buttercup. Being third strongest of the group is nothing to be ashamed of.”

The game paused with a cheery tone and the room fell completely silent. Weiss and Blake’s movements stopped briefly and they shared a quiet sigh before continuing Penny’s pampering. Ruby mumbled a quiet ‘oh boy’ before Yang looped a not-so-friendly arm around Nora’s shoulders.

“Third, huh?” Yang asked, and Penny thought she saw a faint flickering of flames coming off the blonde’s long mane. “Who are you putting at first place in this little fantasy of yours?”

Nora forced a loud laugh and likewise looped an arm about Yang’s shoulders. “You know there’s only one queen around here.”

They were on their feet in an instant, hands locked together in a tense grapple. Penny glanced from Ruby to Blake to the girls locked in mortal combat. What was happening?

“Oh yeah?!” Yang grunted as she tried to force the shorter girl down to the ground.

“Yeah!” Nora returned with a snarl, not giving an inch to the taller girl.

“Put your muscle where your mouth is, short stuff!” Yang hissed.

Mouth muscle? Did she mean her tongue? Did she mean..? Penny thought Nora was ‘together together’ with Mr. Ren. And wasn’t Yang likewise with Blake? Would their partners mind? Was that something friends did to compete? She’d have to ask Ruby.

“You, me, arm wrestling. Best two out of three. Winner take all!”

Oh. That made much more sense.

“Arm wrestling?” Nora snorted, stepping back. “Puh-lease, buttercup. If we’re doing this then we’re going to settle it once and for all. We’re going to the gym to hit the weights.”

Yang cracked her knuckles. “Fine by me. I’ll show you who’s the strongest. We just need a witness. Who’s down?” she asked, turning excitedly towards the others.

“Pass,” Weiss and Blake deadpanned in unison without so much as a glance away from their current task.

A contest of strength sounded sensational, but she needed to hear how Ruby’s story ended. “I am a little...indisposed?” Penny offered apologetically. It would be rude to interrupt all of Weiss and Blake’s hard work.

“Looks like it’s up to you, Rubes,” Yang said with finality.

“Uhhhhh….” Ruby stalled, looking to the others for help.

“Oh!” Penny interrupted. “I would like to hear the rest of Ruby’s story, if you don’t mind.”

Ruby sagged in relief and mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ her way. Penny preened - she was glad to be of service. She did want to hear the rest of the story, truthfully. Ruby was a wonderful storyteller.

Yang clicked her tongue and turned towards the door. “We’ll be back soon. That is, if Nora can even walk after I’m done with her.”

“Pffft!” Nora answered, following her rival. “You’ll be dragon your sorry butt back here in no time.”

Yang froze before she reached the door. Turning back, she stared Nora down for a long moment before bursting into laughter.

“Dragon?” she guffawed, throwing a friendly arm around Nora and pulling her towards the door. “That’s a good one.”

Nora laughed merrily along with her, returning the side hug as she pulled the door open. “I’ve been holding onto that one.”

Before they could make their way out, Weiss shouted after them. “Hold it you two!”

The laughing girls stopped and turned back to the heiress, eyebrows raised.

“You can’t go out looking like that!”

Both girls looked down at their clothes. Tank tops, short shorts, and bare feet. Excepting the last, it seemed like standard gym gear to Penny. Not that she’d ever gone to a gym.

Nora and Yang shrugged in unison. “It’s after midnight. No one’s going to see,” Yang said.

They turned away and headed out of the room chatting amicably, the aggression from just moments ago completely forgotten. “I can’t believe they’re going to galavant across campus dressed like floozies…” Weiss grumbled as the door swung shut. Ruby and Blake laughed quietly at that.

“Soooo...where was I?” Ruby asked, settling back onto her bed.

“The demon horse noodle,” Penny beamed, excited to hear the rest of Ruby’s tale.

“Right! Noodle vs noodle, battle of the century,” Ruby’s eyes narrowed briefly before she giggled. “Or like five seconds. Jaune ended up flat on his back, so naturally I, as team leader, had to swoop in to his rescue…”

#rwby #rwby7 #penny polendina #ruby rose #yang xiao long #nora valkyrie #team rwby #writing

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kamigui · 1 year

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Wally’s playlists just stuck in my head, I picked a few songs and let them dance💃🕺

#welcome home #welcome home wally #wally darling #welcome home oc #Rubee Buttercup #🍎🐝🍯

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kandavers · 8 months

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Will Wayward unknowingly is building a harem!! and no one is going to tell me that it is not so! that man conquers anyone! (and included me, ta wapo)

So far he has 8 partners ! I find that a bit insane but I love it <3

There's Basil Bysome, Whisky Fudge, Valentine Hart, Mimix, Gloom Twilight, Sabrina Spool, Lloyd Dragomir, and Rubee Buttercup ! It's soon to be 9 because one of my Mutuals is designing an OC just to join the Club (which I find is hilarious)

All of these characters and all of their respective artists are SO Amazing and I'm SO glad to be friends with them and have them Love my character as much as I love theirs. It's always a lot of fun when me and one of the artists are up Late at Night giggling and kicking our Feet talking about Our OCs together (delusional /pos)

Will Wayward and I are feeling a lot of Love and I'm definitely Living for it ^^

#kanrambles #ask #will wayward #basil bysome #whisky fudge #valentine hart #mimix #gloom twilight #sabrina spool #lloyd dragomir #rubee buttercup #kandaversoc

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ahouseoflies · 4 years

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The Best Films of 2019, Part VI

Yes, I know that it’s almost March. Thanks for taking the ride. GREAT MOVIES

22. Apollo 11 (Todd Douglas Miller)- To disrespect this movie is to disrespect the moon landing itself so... I do like listening to the Walter Cronkite snippets about "the burdens and dreams of all mankind" and smirking at the idiots who talk about "back when people just read the news without editorializing." 21. Waves (Trey Edward Shults)- I could have done with five fewer shots of people holding each other, and the foreshadowing could be more subtle, but, man, Shults takes some huge swings here, for a more powerful effect than either of his previous films had. It isn't often that a colorist gets a single card in the opening credits, but it makes sense for a film that stands out as much as this loud, woozy piece does. I don't think there's anything as present-tense this year as a character drunk-driving to Kanye West's "I Am a God." 20. Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi)- The dissenters of Jojo Rabbit have been pretty uniform in their negativity, and I think their stance has to do with not wanting to be told what to think or feel. (Putting "an anti-hate satire" on the poster has to fire up those haters.) This movie is not subtle or ambiguous, but you know what? Casablanca is a pretty didactic movie too. Let me back up from the C-word. For me, the film's emotional scenes are better than its comedic scenes, but in either form, Waititi directly engages with a ten-year-old in a way that neither romanticizes him nor condescends to him. That's such an imperfect, transformative age in a boy, and not enough movies are willing to wrestle with how ugly it can be. Roman Griffin Davis is pretty good, but he's spotted by sincere, compassionate performances by Thomasin McKenzie and Scarlett Johansson. It's possible that Johansson has never been better. I totally understand why someone with her sex symbol baggage would resist playing mothers; if I've done my homework, this is the first time she has done it, even though she's a parent in real life. But her maternal scenes here are heartbreaking in their patience, particularly in a scene for which her character "plays" herself and her absent husband. Besides uncorking a more vulnerable part of herself, Johansson nails the performative aspect of being a parent, resisting the urge to make everything a lesson but wanting so desperately to be a positive example for a kid who needs one. 19. Honeyland (Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska)- I greatly prefer the term "non-professional actor" or "first-time actor" to "non-actor" because it's only human nature to act differently when being filmed. The second even a camera filming a birthday party captures you, you start to perform. But in handmade stone houses in rural Macedonia, the subjects are true non-actors. They have no affect because, in all likelihood, they have not seen a movie before. So the way that Hatidze lived over the course of the three years of this project--with purpose, focus, and wisdom--seemed new to me. Honeyland is the gift that I always hope for from documentary and (especially) foreign documentary: a slice of life that I never knew I needed. 18. Under the Silver Lake (David Robert Mitchell)- Andrew Garfield's Sam spends a lot of time on his balcony surveying his apartment complex, staring at a topless woman in a way that recalls Marlowe in The Long Goodbye, one reference point among hundreds. Sometimes he watches through binoculars, sometimes he watches through blinds--blind imagery that shows up over and over again in a movie about voyeurism. Anyway, this neighbor keeps parrots, who we're told as kids can "talk." Not that the animals have any conscious intention with their mimicking, but they replicate what they hear or are taught. The words are signified without any signifiers, so it's hard to even classify the noises as speech. Maybe those noises are everything--a tie to our species that reveals impressive intelligence--but maybe they're nothing--a silly hope of a world that seems less alone. And that subjective interpretation of code is the clearest metaphor in an otherwise elliptical, bizarre, sprawling, sui generis film. It's messy alright. Some of the threads lead nowhere, but in a movie about order and chaos, that's obviously the point. The scene with The Songwriter--barely any of the characters have names--is over ten minutes and might not have any narrative consequence. But in the moment it's earth-shattering and urgent. And maybe I'm the obvious audience, but I'm not going to complain about anyone taking a dance break for "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" 17. 1917 (Sam Mendes)- Weirdly enough, a Lauryn Hill line kept bouncing around in my head as I was nervously tapping my foot: "It could all be so simple, / But you had to make it hard." This is a direct story told with impossible technical aptitude. 1917 isn't saying anything new, but have you ever seen a plane crash ten feet away from the camera forty-five minutes into an unbroken take? No offense, but do you remember when we were all impressed that Creed had a five-minute fight in one take? Blimey. 16. American Factory (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)- It's a rare documentary that makes its case so gracefully and so forcefully at the same time. The film ends so conclusively that it could be considered labor activism, but it's so fair that the union-busting schmucks are willing to joke around with the filmmakers without obfuscating at all. The obvious forebearer for this sort of boots-on-the-ground snapshot of American labor is Harlan County U.S.A., but American Factory is more staid and less concerned with setting because, you know, this could be anywhere.The Chairman is the best villain since Thanos, and as he looked back on his life while walking around his empty cabana, I had to squint a bit to make sure he wasn't purple.

15. Ad Astra (James Gray)- Ad Astra declares so that it can suggest. The opening crawl says that the near future is a "time of hope and conflict," but all we see is the conflict: the pirates on a borderless moon that we've ruined with Applebee'ses, the neglected wife leaving her ring on a table, the voiceover that declares, "I always wanted to be an astronaut...for all mankind and all." This film will take place in four parts--Earth, Moon, Mars, Neptune--and each part will offer unique obstacles to challenge our phlegmatic but confused hero. But all of that table-setting allows James Gray to explore. There's a scene in which the Roy character uses a belt to pull himself, one tug at a time, deeper into the unknown, and we see the action through the reflection in his helmet as we're watching his face. We're seeing through his eyes but at a remove, and in this moment we're watching him heave himself into emptiness, thinking that the more distant and lonely and absent he gets, the more of a man he becomes. We know that's not true, but we kind of think it is from the movies, and Ad Astra has a happy ending if only because it wants to disprove that notion. Lots of artistes talk about how they could, without compromise, make grand, big-budget entertainments if they only wanted to. James Gray did. 14. Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)- In a train on the way to her hometown, the protagonist Xiao casually tells a fellow passenger that she has seen a UFO. Although it comes up later in a sort of magic realism flourish, her statement seemed like a character moment for me. People who see UFOs are either guileless rubes or attention-seeking hucksters, and that's the dance of Tao Zhao's performance. Even after seeing the movie, I can't tell which one Xiao is. Often it changes in the course of a scene. The time when she shows the most agency, firing off her boyfriend's illegal gun to ward off his attackers, results in the time when she is the most helpless, being ordered around in jail. She might confess her ex-con status in a moment of vulnerability, then flake out at the next train stop in an attempt to seize her power back. (It's worth mentioning that there are lots of movies about flaky drifters who don't pay the tab, but few of them are about women.) Even the way that she holds her backpack--frontways--is street-smart and child-like at the same time. This is the second film that Jia has made with a triptych setting, (Mountains May Depart is slightly superior.) and he doesn't make the flash forwards obvious. He invites the performance's same sort of healthy confusion upon the viewer with the formal elements. I, for one, am willing to get probed by these foreign objects. 13. Toy Story 4 (Josh Cooley)- I questioned a late moment in the film, one of the plottier ones in which Woody goes back to save another toy one more laborious time. When I sighed, my wife reminded me, "He never leaves a toy behind." Toy Story 4 is a dazzling upgrade in the series from a visual standpoint, (I gasped again at Woody lying in a damp, sunny patch of concrete.) but it's more of a reminder of the consistent character development and weight that have been blanketing us for twenty-three years. Pixar isn't reinventing the wheel because it is the wheel. Sure, the characters are too numerous and separate now. I miss the OG's Rex and Hamm. But for one thing, that rogue's gallery makes it funnier when, say, Buttercup pops up with a joke out of nowhere. And the new characters, particularly Forky the Nihilist, are so lovable that I wouldn't know who to trade. Toy Story 4 is probably the worst of the franchise, but that franchise--especially when its subtext seems to be questioning people who want to stop intellectual property from evolving--might be the best we have. 12. Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu)- In discussing the aftermath of an execution, Alfre Woodard's warden character Bernadine mentions the mother who will claim a prisoner's body, who will follow through with plans for burial. And I realized, to be honest, that I had never thought about how executed bodies are claimed and laid to rest, though obviously those sad practicalities persist. This whole film is a reminder of the numerous costs that arise from a system that is out of time and out of reason. To that end, every character is fully drawn with empathy. For example, the assistant warden, which could have been a nothing part, has ambitions and fears that give him an arc that shades the protagonist. The Richard Schiff and Wendell Pierce characters make the film about the compromised promises of retirement, but the assistant warden is there to tug us back into law enforcement. Neon ended up putting this movie on the awards circuit back burner, but Aldis Hodge deserves the world. Although the film piles on one indignity too many for my taste, drifting into miserableism, Hodge's performance has a rare possessive quality. Catatonic in his most crestfallen moments and antic when he clings to hope, Hodge drags the audience along with him. The character is quiet, but every word counts. 11. The Farewell (Lulu Wang)- I was not been more thoroughly charmed all year, especially by Awkwafina, who is a revelation in a tricky role. There are a few scenes that get comedic effect through repetition, and it's telling that the subtitles stop by the third or fourth run-through of a line. The movie assumes you're smart, which goes even further than its piercing emotion. Shout-out to Mr. Li, who made me crack up every time I saw him. The elderly sort-of-boyfriend is such a common figure in real life, but I'm not sure I've ever seen that character type on screen. I'm not sure I've seen any of this on-screen, and that's the reason the film exists.

10. Avengers: End Game (Joe Russo and Anthony Russo)- For a guy who grew up in the '30s, Captain America is pretty cool with gay people. 9. Gloria (Sebastian Lelio)- I saw Lelio's original Gloria, the one that he's remaking here, and it didn't do much for me, even though it hit some of the same beats as this one. I wonder what the difference could be...do you think the total commitment of one of the greatest actresses in the world matters? Lelio documents who this woman is to her children, to her mother, to her ex-husband, to her lover, to her co-workers, and it's by tracking the tiny compromises of those relationships that the viewer gets to see the fully realized her. The cyclical editing of those pieces--sing a disco song to herself in the car, rinse, repeat--ends up lulling the viewer into his role of seeing the complete Gloria. It ends up being a fun, absorbing process. I yelled out loud at Turturro for disrespecting my girl. Moore, who is in every scene, sells us on these different versions of the character through complete control of her instrument. She lets headphones slump along her body at work. She kneels down toward a street performer in a more maternal way than she ever presents with her actual daughter. She sits cross-legged with her best friend, as if they're little girls. I won't spoil what she does at the end, when she is at her most empowered. 8. Midsommar (Ari Aster)- I love this movie, but, boy, is it a friendship killer if you recommend it to the wrong person. Whether you liked Hereditary or not is a good predictor for your taste, but I think Ari Aster's follow-up is much better: Whereas the unpredictability of Hereditary makes the mysticism of its final fourth seem like a leap that you either accept or don't, Midsommar is driving so hard in one direction that its dread is even more pronounced. (The prologue is so masterfully deliberate and gloomy that it takes a long time for the film to get back to those depths.) For comparison's sake again, Aster was painting in the colors of hysteria and fractured relationships before, but the new film seems much more biting and vital in the way it depicts modern men and women. I'm thinking of the way Dani excuses herself at the risk of compromising her safety or rationalizes her boyfriend's forgetting her birthday with "Well, I didn't remind him." All of the characters become victims of a misinformed, selfish brand of multicultural tolerance that makes them rationalize evil instead of speaking up, and that acceptance serves the plot way better than the average horror movie's running up the stairs instead of out the door. For his part, Christian, who seems sympathetic at first, takes ideas, drugs, and even women for himself with impunity. (It's important that he's an anthropology student, and it's more important that his name is Christian.) When he colonizes his Black friend's thesis topic, it might seem like a tipping point, but he was one step ahead in using rules and approval for his purposes. None of the Americans bother to stop him, but that doesn't mean that no one stops him. 7. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick)- "The sun shines on good and evil the same." In the baggy second hour of what might be Terrence Malick's most direct and linear film, martyr Franz Jagerstatter tosses off that line with grace and aplomb, at a time when most of us would have neither to spare. His captors are confused when he denies that his conscientious objection will make any difference in the war or when he doubts that he is more morally evolved than his countrymen. His refusal to pledge an oath to Hitler is a state with no outcome in mind, which the results-obsessed Nazis cannot understand. In that way he is the perfect Malickian hero, which means he is the perfect Heideggerian hero: a man who sees all planes of existence as equal--or at least equally unknowable to him. As a farmer, Franz observes and acts upon cycles, but he is smaller than Nature and the communion he finds with God there. So when he's torn from his family and daily life to be stuck in a prison, he is separated from that concord further and further. The key, however, is that he is no more or less powerful than before, and that knowledge is what gives him transcendental perspective. He is indifferent in the way that only a saint can be. Of course, what I'm describing also makes for a passive protagonist, which is why the cross-cutting to his wife Fani is so effective. She is the one who has to shoulder the burden of his ideals, and Valerie Pachner's stolid performance sells that sacrifice. The overall balance comes from the jagged but precise editing, and the production is all the more impressive for retaining the Malick style despite the absence of most of his regular collaborators. (This is the first time since The Thin Red Line that he hasn't worked with Jack Fisk, but there the production design is, crafting a 1940 Austrian town out of nothing and building a network of water symbolism that I don't understand yet.) In fact, the whirling steadicam and the avoidance of artificial light have more of a thematic purpose than ever if "the sun shines on good and evil all the same." Perhaps the greatest achievement of this film about unjust war is that it made me pray for Donald Trump today. Because if I want to be like Franz Jagerstatter, then I have to believe the light of God shines on him too. 6. Knives Out (Rian Johnson)- A third of the way into this imaginative, absorbing whodunit, I started to talk myself into the surface pleasures of cinema. "So what if it doesn't have much to say; look at these stars going for it with this spicy dialogue and these gleeful twists." Then the subtext asserts itself through a radiant Ana de Armas, and the subtext becomes the text in the final shot. Knives Out is the best of all worlds. Rian Johnson might be the first filmmaker for whom a Star Wars movie ends up being a footnote. 5. Everybody Knows (Asghar Farhadi)- There's a photograph hanging in the library (yes, the stately library) of the patrician family of my childhood best friend, and I'm in that picture. There I am, dressed a bit sloppier than everyone else, near the edge of the frame. Because I was there, as usual, and because they are kind. Everybody Knows is about one of those family friend outsiders, perhaps in a way that no other movie has been. When it's at its best, it's about what those marginal figures can and can't say, can and can't do. The film dips into soap opera territory, but only to sell its message of how secrets beget other secrets. For me, it's another Farhadi hit of approachable, modest conflict that bakes itself into an experience. 4. Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)- The best divorce movie ever made--by the guy who wrote and directed the former belt holder of the best divorce movie ever made. These luminous lead performances aren't just about saying cutting, hurtful things or reacting to their child's preference for the other parent (or at least the other parent's toys). They're about the internal devastation of realizing you can never take back something you've said. Driver and Johansson each get a chance to sink into one of those moments, and they're joined by a head-tilting, blustery Laura Dern, who gets a Virgin Mary speech that won her an Oscar. And there are jokes! Underrated aspect of the movie: The son is kind of a dipshit. I like that he just hates math and wants to eat candy, as opposed to the cute prodigies we've seen before in this type of movie. They're fighting over a kid only a parent could love. INSTANT CLASSICS

3. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie)- Howard the jeweler lives somewhere in upstate New York, but he has an apartment in the city. It's an apartment that is close enough for him to cab over to his mistress who lives there, but it's far enough away that his family wouldn't bother popping in for a visit. That sort of gap is present throughout Uncut Gems: Family members act differently in the Diamond District than they do at seder, and we first see Howard from the literally vulnerable inside of a colonoscopy, not the animated brio of his tightrope-walking exterior. Of course, the gem of the title is the ultimate division: something pure that the characters are searching for, untouched by the process that Howard, by definition, does. And the film is about how little he can abide by purity. Until now, The Gambler (1974) was probably the best film of this type, a snapshot of a cursed man who seems to be gambling with forces way beyond the game in question. But Uncut Gems is more pathological, more authentic, more intense, and more decisively realized. By focusing more on character than the Safdie Brothers' other work, it offers a unique depiction of compulsive behavior and implicates the audience in rooting for Howard's (technically unrealistic) parlay. By doubling down on his bets or re-uniting with his girlfriend, Howard thinks that he can reinvent himself and start anew. But like the legacy of the Chosen People the film depicts, like the lines on all of these great New York faces, some things are permanent.

2. The Irishman (Martin Scorsese)- "It's what it is." You wouldn't blame someone if he saw the logline and lineup of The Irishman and expected GoodFellas. In fact, this one quotes Scorsese's signature film continually. Instead of slicing onions with a razorblade, old convicts pitch bocce balls. Instead of tracking sumptuously through the Copa, Scorsese's camera wanders through a nursing home. Instead of pistol-whipping Karen's neighbor for getting handsy, our protagonist curb-stomps a grocery owner for shoving his daughter. But there's a GoodFellas staple that is missing. The first fourth of that crime saga closes as Young Henry, played by Christopher Serrone, gets rewarded for staying mum in court. All of his partners in crime cheer him, and he is told that he learned a valuable lesson (in protecting the family and subverting the law). Then we cut to Adult Henry, played by Ray Liotta now, because Young Henry has learned everything he has to know. The Irishman has no such moment of elevation or revelation. Frank is, crucially, played by Robert De Niro over the course of decades because his fall from grace--if there ever was grace--is too imperceptible for any before-and-after divide. The lessons that he learns are just as corrupting as what Henry discovers: Power comes from insularity. Having power means you don't have to prove it. Organized crime, organized labor, and the political process are all the same thing. A code is all a man has, but all codes have limits. However, Frank's corruption, the selling of his soul, doesn't even bring an Asian-inspired chiffonier or a Janice Rossi sidepiece. Frank doesn't get rich; he jams his hands into a plastic ice bucket at the bar next to his couch. He doesn't get powerful; he has to kill because Russell is too prominent to be in the same town as a hit. He doesn't get glory; even a celebration held in his honor is just an excuse for more influential men to do business. Frank is a tool, and he is trapped in a fruitless silence, at best an accessory at meetings. (De Niro is doing quoting of his own. There's a lot of Jackie Brown's Louis in his shrugs and smirks.) As boisterous as Scorsese's films can be, he also knows how to use silence. Robbie Robertson's score is weak, but luckily the film goes without for long stretches, including a suspenseful car ride that begins with a treacherous hug and ends with a malignant secret. The best performance comes from Joe Pesci, probably because his stolid stillness matches the overall atmosphere. Of course, the quietest moments correlate to the loneliest moments: Frank touring a cemetery or sitting with a door half-cracked to a complicit viewer. It's the silence of deliberate toil. Like the mobster ripping up carpet in the lake house, Scorsese is on his hands and knees destroying his own myths.

1. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)- Parasite is Bong Joon-Ho's masterpiece because it distills the worldview and passions that he previously flirted with into a condensed but elaborate statement. In the same way that Mean Streets is perfectly good but feels like a rehearsal for the slow boil of encircling gangster life in GoodFellas. In the same way that Hitchcock played with the impotent everyman voyeur in a confined setting but didn't perfect it until Rear Window. Like the examples above, Parasite, a true ensemble, is a case of the subtext becoming text. Back in his native country and language, working more or less with realism, Bong is free to take aim at class in a more direct but still wacky way. In all of its crowd provocation--there's so much pleasure in just a suspenseful winding down stairs--the film is destined to be a foreign film gateway drug. But really it just makes we want to take a half-star off my Snowpiercer review since I know Bong can do better now.

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mydarlingvioletine · 5 years

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Just a Puppy Crush - Chapter Twelve Ship(s): Violet/Clementine, background Aasim/Louis and Ruby/Brody Media: The Walking Dead Game (Season 4)

Violet sat herself down between Brody and Louis, who was in the middle of a heated debate with Ruby over the validity of wearing acid-washed jeans in the modern day. Brody was obliviously scribbling in her notebook, completely tuned out to the nonsense going on to the left of her.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Lizzie McGuire,” Louis snapped with much more ferocity than was expected for the situation. Ruby groaned and threw a chopstick at him, which he narrowly dodged. “Keep your head up, Rubes. Your snapback is falling. Here, let me check your mood ring.”

Louis went to grab Ruby’s arm and she slapped his hand away, angrily opening a bag of chips with more force than she intended to, as chip crumbs flew across the table. “Shit.”

“Vi, settle this. Today’s hot topic is ‘90s fashion fads, and how they should stay in the fucking cave of irrelevancy that they crawled into. Hannah Montana here wants to undo years of evolution and slap on some overalls and a windbreaker. It’s revolting, right?”

Violet pursed her lips, jabbing a straw into her chocolate milk container and taking a contemplative sip.

“Overalls are cute. Oh, and those slap-on bracelets. We’ve already got frosted tips representation with Reese over there.”

She gestured towards Marlon, who was too absorbed in a page that Brody was showing him to defend himself. Louis, distraught, looked between the redhead and the blonde incredulously, and threw up his hands.

“I give up. You fashion mongers win.”

“Dude, you asked a lesbian for fashion advice. What were you expecting?” Violet giggled at Louis, who now was holding his head in his hands. “I rock Hawaiian shirts unapologetically all the time. Do better.”

“You’re right,” Louis raised his head, and twisted around to observe the courtyard around him. “Where’s Clem? She’s got better taste than both of you combined, and that’s saying something.”

Violet shrugged, piling a forkful of ramen into her mouth. A stray noodle hung from her lip, which she sucked back in with a satisfying pop, earning a grossed out look from Ruby.

Louis placed his hand on top of Violet’s outstretched arm, which she balled up into a fist, but didn’t pull away. “You know I love you, Vi. C’mon. If I didn’t abandon you the day you wore denim on denim to school, I never will.”

With a scoff, Violet sat back in her seat with a dismissive eye roll. “Lucky me.”

“Are you gonna come to the mall with me and Ruby after school?” Brody chirped up from her book, setting it aside to give Violet an enthusiastic grin. “We’re gonna pick out Halloween costumes. We’re thinking of being the Powerpuff girls. I’m gonna be Bubbles, Rubes will be Blossom. You’d make a perfect Buttercup!”

“As appealing as matching costumes with you two dorks is,” Violet snorted, shifting her glance from Brody to Ruby. “I’m gonna go see Clem’s little brother’s baseball game tonight.”

Louis’ and Marlon’s heads jerked up, and they shared a nervous glance, unseen to Violet.

“Thought you hated baseball.” Brody sneered, taking a huge bite out of her sandwich.

“I don’t hate baseball,” Violet protested with an eye roll. “It’s for AJ. Plus, it’ll be fun to watch adults scream at each other over a little league game.”

Louis anxiously chewed on the end of his straw, before clearing his throat. “You probably shouldn’t go tonight, Vi. You don’t like baseball, and it’s gonna be pretty warm, so that’s another level of unbearable.”

Marlon nodded strenuously at his point, and added onto it with a level of urgency. “C’mon, have a girls night out with Rubes and Brody! There’s that really good fro-yo place in the mall, and there’s a Hot Topic. That’s right up your alley!”

He meant for the words to be encouraging, but received a middle finger from the pissed off blonde across from him. “Oh, fuck off, dude. I’m sure the Hollister is right up your alley, isn’t it, ‘Generic Blonde Boy Bully from every 2000’s movie’?”

She dumped her empty tray into the garbage, and ignored the worried glances from Louis as she pulled out her math homework.

“Why are you guys being so weird about it, anyway?” Violet questioned the two. “I’ve got a Halloween costume. An old pirate outfit my mom put together for the middle school play.”

Brody tugged her knees to her chest, and leaned against Ruby’s shoulder, expression solemn as it always was when Violet and Marlon were fighting. Seeing this gesture and instantly feeling guilty, Violet let her posture relax, and gave a forced “sorry” to Marlon.

“Just looking out for you, Vi,” Louis tapped his fingers on the table, lips pursed as he thought. “We’re probably gonna ump it if we can, so... know we’ll be there.”

Violet nodded quickly, desperate to change the subject to anything other than this seemingly sore topic. “So, what are you guys being for Halloween?”

“Boo!”

Violet felt two hands grip her shoulders, and a hot breath tickle the back of her neck, and jumped up at the contact. She turned around to see a jubilant Clem, very pleased with herself.

“Gotcha.”

Violet softly shook her head, her stressed expression immediately fading as Louis made room for Clementine to sit between them. She pressed herself against Violet’s side, and leaned her head in the crook of her shoulder.

“Probably a bisexual.” Louis answered, earning a snort from Clementine, who’s breath tickled her neck.

She sat up triumphantly, and struck a heroic pose, winking at Violet. “What a coincidence! Me too!”

“Dorks.” Violet happily breathed out, turning her math homework over to Clementine, eagerly willing to check it.

Hey, it’s not cheating if she offers to help.

Violet’s heart swelled at the new piece of information she learned; that when Clem was intensely focused on something, the tip of her tongue protruded her lips.

A soft giggle made Violet lift her head, and she stared down the bashful Brody across from her, who’s eyes were happily flicking between the two girls. With a knowing glance, Brody took a sip of her iced tea.

Violet leaned back in her chair, a flush of pink across her face as she shifted away from Clem, so their shoulders didn’t brush against each other when she leaned over to help with a problem.

As the bell rang, Louis gave one last worried glance to Violet, which went completely over her head. “See you two later. Maybe we could all go out to the diner afterwards?”

“Definitely.” Clementine beamed, gathering her books and taking a red pen from her pocket. She scribbled an A+ on the top of Violet’s worksheet, along with a goofy smiley face with sunglasses. “I don’t have Lee’s teacher stickers with me, so that’ll have to do, superstar.”

A rush of heat flooded across Violet’s cheeks at the cutesy compliment from Clem. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, avoiding Clementine’s gaze as they walked out of the courtyard together.

“See ya later?” Clem raised her fist and softly thumped Violet’s shoulder to get her attention.

Violet gave her a weak smile, and folded her hands together anxiously. “See you later. I’ll meet you in the courtyard after post-session.”

Clementine grinned and tapped her newly donned pin, before giving a soft wave and turning around to make it to her next class in time.

Their glances back at the other over their shoulder lined up perfectly, and Violet’s face felt so warm that she felt it’d melt off if she didn’t make it to Chemistry and take her mind off of the curly-haired brunette that took up the majority of her thoughts.

The feeling of something small and sticky being placed between her eyebrows made her look up from her phone, her eyes meeting Clem’s, who was holding a pack of encouraging stickers she most likely stole from Lee’s desk.

Violet took the sticker off of her forehead, and frowned at the neon ‘SPECTACULAR!’ before sticking it beside her Camp Paya pin. “Y’know, now that I think about it, I am pretty spectacular.”

Clementine rolled her eyes before hooking her arm through the taller girls’. “Come on, we gotta get there before the game starts so we can get some snacks.”

The walk around the school and towards the baseball field was short and sweet, the slight breeze pushing Violet’s thin blonde hair out of her face.

The flimsy sticker flew off her jacket, so Clem ripped another one from the sheet, and placed it on the tip of the flustered blonde’s nose.

The second Violet scrunched her nose up, the second sticker detached and fell to the ground.

The two rounded the bleachers, and Violet’s eyes landed on a tall man in his mid-to-late twenties, with slick brown hair that almost reached his shoulders. He was currently helping AJ perfect his swing, the logo across the back of his jersey displaying ‘García’.

“Hey, da-“ Clem started, being cut off by Lee holding his hand out in front of him expectantly, eyeing her with suspicion.

“My stickers, Clem.” Lee sternly spoke, earning a sheepish huff from Clementine as she fished them out of her pocket and reluctantly passed them over. “Y’know, some students actually earn them and don’t have to steal them when I go to the teacher’s lounge.”

A bashful Clementine tugged on the side of his jacket. “That’ll be twenty bucks, please.”

Lee rolled his eyes before fishing a twenty out of his pocket, and passing it to Clem. “No more of those Pixie Sticks, okay? At this point, I’d rather you just eat a salt lick.”

His eyes landed on Violet, who he just seemed to notice was cowering behind Clementine. “Oh, hey Violet! It’s good to see you here.”

“I hope it’s okay.” Violet shyly responded.

“Of course it is!” Lee boomed, passing a cartoonish foam finger to Violet. “We’re gonna need all the manpower we can get to out-scream these asshats.”

Violet gave a weak smile, and was abruptly pulled away by Clementine tugging her by the arm. She happily flashed the bill between her eyes, and started listing the types of food that she couldn’t wait to introduce Violet to.

Happy and oblivious, the two intertwined hands and made their way down the street towards the corner store. Oblivious to the blue, icy glare that followed them from a distance.

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fly-pow-bye · 5 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Watch It!”

Written by: Haley Mancini, Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: Alicia Chan, John West

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Yeah, this show should watch it.

Our episode begins at the Townsville Art Museum. Townsville seems to have fifty department stores and about a hundred science conventions, but this art museum that was featured in Man Up 3: The One That's Even Worse Than The First One gets to be featured again. This Art Museum proudly displays art that's good according to that sign. Or maybe it's just a sign saying "Art: That's good!". I can't really tell.

Dame Elsbeth, presumably the owner of this museum, has called the Powerpuff Girls for an emergency. Buttercup immediately assumes a red bee is the problem, and tries to hit it with a rolled up newspaper until Elbeth protects it. See, it's not just a bee, and it's not just a ruby, it's a Rubee! Get it? Someone doesn't, and it's no surprise which one.

Bubbles: Uh, I'm confused. But that happens a lot, so it's okay!

I would chalk that up to Bubbles being written like Patrick Star again, but I tend to get confused by what happens in the reboot, too. The Powerpuff Girls were called because this priceless artifact, the most valuable item in the entire museum, is completely unprotected from potential thieves.

They did have a high-tech security system in place, but someone shoved a meatball sub into the control panel, causing it to malfunction. I have read so much Not Always Right to tell you that nothing is unrealistic when it comes to people ruining technology in unique ways. Oh, if only if there was some other way to protect valuable pieces of art. Like, I don't know, some sort of glass box surrounding it like that Anubis thinker right next to the security guard? Maybe it's just too powerful to be in one? I don't know.

The head of the museum decides that three six year old girls are perfect candidates for protecting this artifact. They are superheroes with really, really big eyes, but the former does cause a problem. What if something bad happens in Townsville, and the Powerpuff Girls have to stop it? Monster attacks seem to be pretty high in this season, though that's not that much of an accomplishment.

This episode is no exception, and it's even something that isn't a silly monkey with a silly hat or someone who sounds just like him. Cat-Thulhu has risen, destroying the city and eating 1d3 pieces of catnip every turn. If you wanted to hear the Mayor call something "eldritch", this is your episode.

Blossom comes up with a plan: one of them will keep a close eye on the Ru-Bee, the other two will fight Cat-Thulhu. Buttercup is excited to answer that call to Cat-Thulu to avoid having to learn anything, until Blossom tells her she's going to be the one to watch the Rubee. Buttercup tries something to get out of this, and it's confusing to say the least.

Buttercup: Come on! Let's decide by age or something.

Blossom: Fine! Bubbles and I will fight Cat-Thulu, Buttercup, you stand guard.

Buttercup: Wait, Bubbles isn't older than me!

Blossom: I'm counting mentally.

The joke requires enough brain cells to realize she's indirectly calling Buttercup less than intelligent, but not enough to remember that the Powerpuff Girls were born at the same time. I can see what kind of joke they were going for, but it just doesn't work in the context of this series. Even of the context of this episode, judging by that "I'm normally confused" line from earlier.

Once again, PPG 2016 does another three shorts episode, focusing on how each Powerpuff Girl would protect a priceless ruby. Buttercup starts out by looking around for any suspicious people, and her eye manages to spy a Steampunk Waluigi laughing maniacally. Buttercup reacts accordingly.

Buttercup: Sus-piiii-cious.

Bloo said it better, needless to say. She confronts this, and he says he's just a gem afficinado, and thieves are just. Buttercup decides to take this rather suspicious man's word for it, and grabs a baby who happened to be crawling around where the Rubee is. Before she can punch out a baby, another guy shows up to be in awe over the Rubee.

This leads to Buttercup giving a slideshow beatdown to a bunch of people who just happened to be wandering by the Rubee, using the baby as a weapon! The baby doesn't seem to care, which was probably the best case scenario with this entire "joke."

Meanwhile, we get a most shocking twist. You will never believe this, this is a scene I could not see coming.

Get this, Blossom and Bubbles are tied up by Cat-Thulu, absolutely helpless without the help of that rascally little green princess that normally takes on giant monsters like they're nothing! What an unpredictable turn of events.

While the two girly ones are struggling against the giant monster, the boyish one set up this airline security system. Don't think about it too hard; the show barely mentions how this would have solved the problem of the episode and just disappears after Buttercup's plot. It doesn't even attempt to explain how Buttercup managed to get said security system on a 6-year-old's allowance.

This new security system leads to another problem: namely, Buttercup being way too suspicious. She ends up arresting Barry for the crime of carrying a piece of gum with him, because he could have reshaped it into a Gumblebee that can be used for Indiana Jones-style swiping. Heh, Rubee, Gumblebee, their use of bee puns is as good as it can get. She then has the baby arrest him so they can make this joke:

Buttercup: You've been cuffed, son! Take him away, baby.

Get it, because it's a baby. That’s all I got; the baby doesn’t even really appear after Buttercup’s part with one little exception, which is not that much of a missed opportunity.

Buttercup gloats that nothing can get past her, and she almost catches a rather familiar looking crook until Blossom gets Monster Punch Girls Downed into the museum. This ended up being enough of a distraction for that familiar looking crook to nab the Rubee, and Blossom has to tell Buttercup someone is stealing it. I'll give you three guesses on who it is.

Yup, it's Discount Jojo. Again. They really waited until near the end of the Season to dump a lot of his episodes, didn't they? He doesn't even have a good reason to steal the Rubee, he's just doing it because he's evil. Buttercup just throws a vase at him. Leave it to Buttercup to irreparably damage the property of the museum while trying to protect other property. I guess that Rubee was just that valuable for nobody to notice.

Blossom, knowing that she couldn't defeat Cathulhu with Bubbles, decides to let Buttercup fight the monster, while she looks at the ruby. It's her turn. Don't think about the "mentally" joke here, because that only existed for that one scene.

Blossom's part is pretty simple. While she watches over the Rubee, a tour guide shows up to talk about its history. Blossom then gives that tour guide a "well, actually" and gives the true story of the Rubee. She then becomes the new tour guide, guiding these people to another part of the museum. Rubee be damned, she just can't help herself but express her knowledge.

...that's really about it for Blossom's part of the plot. It's kind of a sad theme with these three plots episodes; when all three sisters are involved, Blossom always gets the short end of the stick. She had the worst part in The Squashening, she had the worst part in Splitsville, she had the worst part in the Small World special, and she had the worst part in Checkin' Out. The only episode I can think of where she didn't get the worst part was in Memory Lane of Pain, and that's only because Bubbles' part was just telling her how useless she is as an actual superhero.

If there's any positive thing I could say, it's that there's nothing offensive here. In fact, there is this one scene where Dame Elsbeth comes back and asks Blossom if her sisters are looking over the Rubee that she totally forgot about. Blossom looks back, and realizes that the Rubee is missing again, and she has to distract Elsbeth...by grabbing her and throwing her out of the room. I don't know why I chuckled at that, but I did.

This would have been a good opportunity to use different villains. I'd think the Fashionistas would have loved that Rubee on their fashionable rings, and I bet it was probably shiny enough for Pack Rat, a villain that hasn't made a major appearance since Season 1. Unfortunately, well, maybe somewhat fortunately for the latter case, that wasn't in the budget.

Instead, Discount Jojo just continues to steal it again and again, just evilly laughing about how he pulled off this perfect heist. At least there's some variety in how he's stopped. In this part, Blossom eye lasers a Gem Foot to kick Jojo right in the rear, causing him and the Rubee to fly across the room. A good visual, but leave it to Blossom to irreparably damage the property of the museum while trying to protect other property. I guess that Rubee was just that valuable for nobody to notice. I'd argue that boot should probably be more valuable than that ruby. I mean, look how huge it is!

As for Buttercup, surprisingly, it turns out that Cat-thulu was too powerful for her, too. Well, that might not be entirely the case. The reboot does make sure to show that Buttercup probably could have taken this eldritch abomination on if Bubbles wasn't trying to pat its tummy! Yes, they're seemingly going with the "Bubbles is grossly incompetent" angle that was also used in Memory Lane of Pain and a few other episodes.

At least she's not incompetent to show up just in time to grab the Rubee from Jojo's hands. Blossom asks the Cathulhu-scratched Bubbles what happened to Buttercup, and she says that Buttercup said she can handle this monster all by herself!

Buttercup: (in Cathulhu's maw) AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!

Bubbles: I believe in her!

After the umpteen times Buttercup had to save her more feminine sisters, this is not entirely a Patrick Star Bubbles joke, even if it was most likely intended to be one. I'm sure they would use different terminology for it, but you get what I mean. Blossom tells her she will go help out Buttercup, and Bubbles should look at the Rubee, and...

Blossom to Bubbles' ears: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

Bubbles also can't focus on anything, never mind a Rubee. I did not have high hopes for Bubbles' part in this story.

...and that might have been a good thing in the end, actually. Maybe my standards are getting pretty low, but I actually really liked Bubbles' part of the plot, where she just tries to entertain herself from this boring job of watching something that doesn't move or talk. Even George, the security guard that was trying to fix the security system by using other sandwiches, manages to be useful in this plot by being the person that tells her after all of her actions, she only spent ten minutes watching the Rubee. Bubbles goes mad from boredom.

Literally, as, much to the surprise of Bubbles, the Rubee comes alive. It's clearly a hallucination by Bubbles due to her boredom. I wish the scene could have implied the seemingly obvious without outright saying it, but I guess they didn't think of their audience that highly to assume they wouldn't figure that out without the bee saying "no, I'm just an hallucination, tee hee!" Show, don't tell.

Honestly, that's my only real complaint about this part, and it's a minor one. There's a musical number where Bubbles transitions to several different scenes with this personified Rubee, and it's pretty cute. I even like how Jojo comes in as a pretty good transition out of the musical number, and his method to play along with Bubbles' delusions in this part's "Jojo steals the Rubee" scene. Maybe it's in contrast to the other two parts, where he just yoinks it when the other sisters are away, but I thought it was clever.

Blossom and Buttercup end up beating up the monster, crushing all of Discount Jojo's bones. You'd think they'd be more careful after that Silico incident. Also, I can't help but see some sort of meaning to how Bubbles was involved in both of the times they weren't successful, and how she wasn't involved when the monster was defeated.

The episode ends with a callback to how Steampunk Waluigi said that a thief would be the one you would least suspect. At least, that's the most charitable explanation, and that alone makes it better than most of the reboot episode's endings.

Does the title fit?

The Powerpuff Girls do have to WATCH IT.

How does it stack up?

While not my favorite of the three shorts episodes, I expected a lot worse out of this one. I could see this as a decent Season 5 & 6 episode and a fourth-rate Season 1-4 episode, so that puts it up pretty high by reboot standards!

Next, the return of Donny and Man-Boy. May they have mercy on our souls.

← Drama Bomb ☆ Man Up 4: The Donnyest Game →

#fpb ppg 2016 #fpb reviews #ppg 2016 #powerpuff girls #cartoon network

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littledorkydemon · 5 years

Text

Events and things mentioned in Powerpuff Girls comic Mini Series: Second Chances

The mini series is broken into 6 chapters and a short epilogue, as are the notes. In total the notes are just shy of 4,000 words

Chapter One

• The comic starts with the City of Townsville being set on fire

• The girls are called and fly downtown to find Mojo is the cause and Buttercup starts complaining

• The then start trying to recall what they fought already and when, this includes a giant metal robot, giant metal spider, and a giant metal shotgun

• This time he's using a giant metal exoskeleton, and apparently this isn't the first time he's used one

• Exoskeleton looks like the one from the Alien movie

• Mojo tries to convince the girls how cool his and better this plan is only to get upset when they show disinterest

• “Oh, what do you know anyway? It's not like I took an industrial design course! I Mojo Jojo have no need for a college diploma on account of my superior intelligence- ...and superior firepower”

• He then fires a barrage of missiles at the girls, who get them all together and following them before leading them back to hit Mojo

• Buttercup taunts him after, saying they haven't fought a Giant Metal Hedgehog yet [Fist Bump cover by Natewantstobattle played right after I read that]

• Mojo is taken back to jail and on the way he is talking out loud trying to figure out how his genius plans are always stopped by children

• The officer lists off all of Mojo's belongings which are:

○ One big hat

○ One singed purple cape

○ One death ray gun

○ One pack of gum: Mint Fresh

○ Two double-A batteries

○ One Frequent Coffee Buyer's Reward Card

○ One Self-Help Book on Public Speaking

• The girls are at Malt's Shoppe when the shop owner, Mr. Malt, gives them a banana split as thanks for taking care of Mojo. He also tips them off to a special event happening tomorrow in honor of the girls

• Buttercup is exited thinking they finally made statues of the girls

• The next day the Mayor unveils the gift for the girls, Three sets of golf clubs and a Lifetime Membership to Townsville Golf and Country Club

• And the Mayor hopes they'll join him for a round of Charity golf that weekend

• Buttercup is upset, finding golf boring

• A swamp monster rises from the water trap at the 16th hole and the Girls fly off to fight it, but not before making a bunch of golf puns

• The girls fight the monster, not understanding it's heavy accent

• It slaps Bubbles away into a puddle of algae to which both she and Buttercup find disgusting

• The girls use their new clubs to slice and hit the monster, and Buttercup shouts that she now loves this game

• The monster turned out to be a man, Jock Scott, at its core, who thanks the girls for freeing him

• Blossom knows the man saying, “Not Jock Scott, famous golfer who hit a 225 on a Par 72 and mysteriously disappeared at the Masters open in 1963?” to which he confirms he is.

• Blossom says she likes to watch golf

• Mojo is shown watching the live new of the girls' fight

• on the cell wall it says “The Amobea Boyz wuz hear”

• Mojo is upset and ranting about how he has never won against the girls, then asks the visitor he requested see him, free Mojo from the prison of his mind and the memories of his repeated failures

• He begs the Professor for Antidote X

Chapter Two

• It starts back at the prison, with two inmates talking about Mojo Jojo giving up villainy

• It's all framed like Mojo is on death row and heading to the electric chair

• He's last words before Antidote X enters the gas chamber are an apology for any and all inconveniences he's wrought on them. Them being The Mayor, Ms. Bellum, and the Girls

• The gas is let in and Mojo breaks his bindings, but as more of a reaction to the Antidote X

• The Professor has the girls stay back while he gets a sleeping Jojo out out of the chamber

• He also says that Jojo is his responsibility and is thus taking Jojo is as part of their family, to which Buttercup protests claiming it's just some trick of Mojo's

• despite her protesting, they take in Jojo, throwing him a “Welcome Home” party

• Jojo starts running around the kitchen, swinging from the banner and falling on the cake they had for him, which starts a food fight between him and the girls

• during that he manages to slip passed them and into the lab where he is running around breaking more things, and knocking down a beaker of Chemical X

• The Professor catches it before it can fall on Jojo's head

• The Professor locks away the Chemical X in a safe and gets everyone ready for bed

• Bubbles really likes Jojo and wants him to like living with them, while Buttercup hates the idea, saying “A leopard doesn't change its spots”

• Blossom says that he's not Mojo Jojo anymore, that they'll have to find it in their hearts to forgive his past attempts to destroy them, saying it's the right thing to do and that everyone deserves a second chance

• Him is shown watching the girls and complains that they never gave him a second chance

• Enjoying the idea of an eventual betrayal of the trust earned in a second chance, Him decides to “give these girls a little lesson in 'forgiveness'...”

• Him's eyes glow green, and so does every major villain in Townsville

• Blossom bolts up out of bed the next morning and rushes to the window followed by her groggy sisters

• They fly off to get the Professor and all go outside to see Townsville's villains doing a bunch of chores; mowing the lawn, washing the car, repainting the house, and gardening

Chapter Three

• Starts with the Ex-villains of Townsville

○ Sedusa is a hair stylist working on three clients' hair at once

○ Princess is at a soup kitchen ladling money to the poor

○ Fuzzy is a Realtor selling properties to people

○ The Gangreen Gang are making a large statue of the girls in the park

• Buttercup thinks its all fishy, complaining that she hasn't been able to hit anyone in the past week because their all too nice

• Bubbles says she and Fuzzy are volunteering at the animal shelter after she's out of school

• Blossom says she and Sedusa are going to get things ready for the annual tulip festival in the park

• Buttercup points out the weird timing, first Mojo then the rest of the villains, gets frustrated talking to Blossom and unable to completely voice her feelings, and says warned them for when it all goes wrong

• Meanwhile The Professor is having a hard time with Jojo

• The Professor sets some bananas down on the floor below Jojo

• Jojo takes the bait and the Professor sets off a rube goldberg machine to trap him in a cage

• The phone rings and the Professor politely refuses their offer saying his too busy to play any games, and saying he's been getting a lot of telemarketing calls lately

• He then goes to show a grumpy Jojo the experiment he's working on; “an atomic-powered coffee maker guaranteed to keep your coffee hot for 24,100 years!”

• Also meanwhile, Him is shown taking a bath and watching what's going on in Townsville; Blossom is flying kites with Little Arturo, Bubbles is fishing with Fuzzy, and Buttercup is by herself looking grumpy

• There's also two monitors? Him has of cats just to the side of the ones of Blossom and Bubbles

• Him goes on to the next step of his plan and wakes up a giant octopus to attack the city

• The girls are in class when they hear a loud boom and see smoke coming from the city

• Buttercup is excited, taking the lead on the way downtown and saying that she is going to knock Ace and the Gangreen Gang into next month

• Her sisters point out they don't know who is causing trouble yet, and after saying she'll beat up who ever is actually responsible, she's going to beat up

• They get downtown and notice Ace is there

• He and everyone else are wanting the Powerpuff Girls help in fighting the monter

• The girls are all stunned, Buttercup thinking it's weird but doesn't care as she gets to punch something

• Working together, they all fight the octopus; who, when it's had enough, squirts ink on all of them and runs away back to the ocean

• Sedusa says that from now on they'll all fight together to defend Townsville

• Princess suggests they all go for malts, and that it's her treat

• Buttercup says this is going to take some getting used to

Chapter Four

• Starts with the Gangreen Gang at the park playing basketball when a business man walks by throwing his empty coffee on the ground

• Ace, “Eh, youse might want to reconsider your decision there, mister”

• Business man calls them punks and says he has more important things to do, to which Ace replies, “Oh, far be it from me to stifle the progress of commerce in our fair city, but you is gonna put your litter in its proper place if'in you know what's good for ya.”

• Guy still refuses and they stuff him in an trashcan with his empty coffee

• Fuzzy is aiming his shotgun at a poacher planning on killing a moose

• Princess is helping out Madame Foster cross the street and carrying her shopping bag

• The Amoeba Boys join the army

• And the Girls are dealing with a robbery at the jewelry store, and the robbers involved are two nameless guys never seen before

• According to the Narrator, Him resides deep below the city of Townsville

• Him's monitors are place so that Princess's head is covering Ms. Bellum's head

• Now that everyone in Townsville believe the villains have turned over a new leaf, Him says he'll loosen his mind control over them and watch the villains slip back into old habits

• Looking at a screen of Ace and Buttercup laughing together, Him says, “A leopard doesn't change its spots, you know!”

○This saying dates back to the Old Testament, Jeremiah 13:23

• Blossom and Princess are fixing beams under a bridge when Princess's eyes glow green and she aims her laser to hit Blossom

• Buttercup is with the Gangreen Gang cleaning the subway of all their graffiti when Ace's eye glow the same green and he pushes Buttercup in front of a Subway

• Buttercup is able to stop the Subway, pushing against it to stop it

• Bubbles and Fuzzy are having a picnic

• Fuzzy says that he love all the forest animals and that he plays the banjo for them, also stating that the rabbits are his favorite

• Bubbles complements the sandwiches Fuzzy made, and he informs her that they are; meat jelly sandwiches, and are a family recipe

• Fuzzy's eyes glow green and he gets mad at a group of ants on the picnic blanket

• Bubbles tries to calm him down, but Fuzzy says that this is his home and they don't belong here. Then pointing out that all this land belonged to his ancestors until Townsville came along

• He give Bubbles to the count of five before he chases her off his property with his boomstick, and she flies off crying at his threat

• The Professor is at home putting sugar, spice, and everything nice into a bowl

• Jojo is next to the bowl looking ad a bag of Flour and the Professor is laughing about the nostalgia

• The phone rings and The Professor tells them that he's busy at the moment and has no time for games

• He state after hanging up that he's going to have to talk to the mayor due to crank callers constantly calling

• Bubbles flies home just as Jojo spills all the flour on himself, and the Professor mistakes her being upset over the lost of the cake he was preparing

• Bubbles tries to tell him why she's really upset but the Professor interrupts her saying that they'll take a trip to the store and stop for ice cream on the way. Bubbles then tries to bargain for three scoops

• Blossom and Princess are fighting as Bubbles and the Professor drive by on the bridge, Bubbles trying to get even more scoops of ice cream

• Princess says bridges are stupid and blasts a chunk out of it, and Blossom rushes down to catch it, punching Princess on the way and telling her to stop

• Meanwhile the Gangreen Gang are at the park cleaning up litter when Billy sees a hot dog vendor, and starts eating all the hot dogs despite not having money

• Ace says that he's had enough of “this goody-goody business” and he and the other start making a mess of the park

• Sedusa is working again as a hair stylist and is bored and irritated with her clientele, and she shaves off all the ladies' hair. Their screaming gets Buttercup to crash through the window and start a fight with Sedusa

• Meanwhile the Amoeba boys are in the Nevada Desert and put in charge of guarding the states supply of canola oil said to be the backbone of the fast-food economy

• The boys can't stand the heat and head to the mess hall for a drink of plankton water when a bomb goes off on one of the canola silos

• The Amoeba boys get court-martialed, and Slim says Bossman is a criminal genius, while Bossman looks unsure of what happened

• Back at the Utonium house, the phone is ringing non-stop

• Jojo gets out of his cage, smacks the phone and leans in to hear it, hearing, “Why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire?”

• His eyes start to swirl green and he sets up a game of solitaire, muttering, “Jo, Jo.” three times before, “Mo- Jo. ...Jojo” and turning green and sneering finally says, “Mojo.”

Chapter Five

• Starts with Bubbles and the Professor at Malph's getting flour when Fuzzy is outside shouting at everyone to get off his property and turning everything into various cuts of meat

• Bubbles is scared stating the last time Fuzzy used that meat gun he turned her pigtail into a drumstick

• The professor comforts her when Blossom and Princess come flying by, only to continue their own fighting

• Princess says that being good is too much work and not enough pay, also saying bridges are for people who have to go work for a living and that she is never going to need a bridge

• Blossom gets one more hit on Princess before Buttercup gets thrown through the window

• Outside, Sedusa, Fuzzy, Princess, and the Gangreen Gang are running amok

• Buttercup and Blossom get ready to go out there and fight them all when Bubbles tells Blossom she doesn't think she can do that. Admitting that she is a little scared of Fuzzy as well as that there's still good in him, that she can feel it.

• her sisters help her not be scared and that while Fuzzy may still be good deep down, he is currently doing bad and needs to be taken care of.

• The Girls start fighting all the villains in the parking lot when an earthquake happens and Him rises from the ground

• Calls the girls gullible children for believing they could reform the worst of society with kindness and understanding. Adding that the girls “never want to see the shadow cast by all living things.”

• Him claims that “They just take what they want, without remorse, and give nothing in return. It's in their DNA!” also says that all it took was a “teeny bit of mind alteration” to have them all getting along

• Him tells Ace that all he did was “put a cork in their bad habits” for a while and when he stopped the suppression of them, all the villains when back to petty crimes and misbehavior

• All the Villains are upset at Him, Fuzzy saying he had a good thing going with the real estate business, saying he was a closer.

• Him says it's all in their nature, and not to blame the chef when the ingredients are rotten

• Fuzzy rallies the villains to stand up against Him and Fuzzy shoots him with his meat gun

• Him gets mad that Fuzzy “dare turn [his] weapon on [Him's] haute couture” and sneers asking what he's going to do about it, calling Him a “Lobster Man”

• Saying that they have their own demons to battle, Him names off the seven deadly sins and the shadows of those around Him, villains and heroes, weigh down the person and bare the names of various sins

○ Sedusa's shadow is Envy

○ Princess's shadow is Greed

○ Big Billy's shadow is Gluttony

○ Blossom's shadow is Pride

○ Buttercup's shadow is Wrath

• Blossom's and Buttercup's shadows actually speak

○ Pride, “I'm the prettiest, smartest, and most important Powerpuff Girl”

○ Wrath, “I have so much anger in my heart. I must hurt others to keep the rage at bay.”

• Bubbles doesn't have a shadow bearing a sin, saying Him's whole shadow talk “falls apart when the light is too bright!”

• Bubbles starts to actually shine, blinding everyone, but also makes the shadows disappear, saying that nobody is perfect but there's goodness in everyone, and all you need is love

• Him has had enough and leaves with these parting words, “Take heed! Trust no one and forgive no trespass. Suspicion, fear, and hatred are the natural order of things, and you'd do well to embrace that.”

• Ace suggest that everyone just go their own way since Him messed with all of them, to which Buttercup protests, but Blossom agrees to, since they aren't actually at fault this time

• Bubbles asks Fuzzy before he goes if they could finish their picnic sometime and though he's still grumpy says maybe, and Bubbles hugs him thanking him

• Blossom and Buttercup are ashamed and tell the Professor that they aren't perfect little girls after all, But the Professor says they're perfect to him, and loves them just as they are, which gets the girls to smile again

• Buttercup asks the Professor how long until go back to how they were, and the he says its hard to say. That real change takes time, but every good deed leaves it's mark, and that the hard part is never giving up hope

Chapter Six

• Starts with the girls and Professor driving home, and Buttercup asking the Professor if he saw all her attacks, getting so excited talking about it she doesn't see that their house is smoking with the Front door blasted away

• The Professor is worried about Jojo and the girls clear the smoke to make it easier to see

• They see the Lab also has blast damage and find the safe with Chemical X has been broken, with the beaker broken on the ground

• Buttercup points out a message written on the wall saying “I'm BACK! -sincerely, Mojo Jojo”

• The message is brown, and Mojo left his diaper pinned to the wall of the lab

• The girls are understandably grossed out

• The Professor points out his coffee maker full of Plutonium-239 is missing as well

• There's a loud, earth rumbling boom and the girls fly outside to see a laser coming from Mojo's volcano top lair

• Buttercup says, “I told you so” to her sisters before braking in to stop Mojo

• Mojo tells the girls he plans on destroying Townsville to rebuild it as he wishes, and when Bubbles asks what changed his mind to make him go back to a life of crime, Mojo admits this has been his plan all along

• Hours before his original attack in the exoskeleton robot he realized that his plan would be stopped again by the girls so;

○ He hypnotized himself with subconscious instructions to find Chemical X

○ Faked all his moping while being dragged to prison

○ Tricked the Professor into giving him antidote X knowing he'd feel responsible for Mojo, and take him back in

○ Set up a giant drinking bird that would make a phone call to the girls house every hour and play his trigger message, “Maybe you should play a little solitaire”

○ Once he heard the message, he sought out chemical X, got back to his old self and stole the Professor's coffee maker

• Mojo had an atomic bomb powered by the Plutonium-239 coffee maker and plans on sending it down into the volcano where it will cause lava to rain down on all of Townsville and cover it in atomic ash for then next few decades

• Mojo also says he has a secret plan B if the girls stop plan A, and Mojo leave in an escape pod while the girls are left trying to stop the destruction of Townsville

• They can't find the button in time and the giant drinking bird hit the button sending the rocket and bomb into the volcano

• The girls dive after it and it's going to fast to disarm it, so instead Blossom get under it freezing the cap with her ice breath to cool the lava under it and slow the rocket, Bubbles screeches to get the outer shell of the rocket to break away and buttercup spirals around the plutonium case and bringing it up with her

• Buttercup's spiral keeps the lava from pouring out after she' out of the volcano,

• Blossom and Bubble are both shown using ice breath to cool the pillar of lava into rock

• Way above the earth Buttercup gets dizzy from all the spinning, but manages to kick the plutonium right into the sun and just missing Mojo's escape pod, to which she's irritated she missed

• Buttercup, still dizzy falls off the top of the very narrow volcano and her sisters catch and hug her, and starts shouting “enough of the mushy stuff! Sheesh.”

Epilogue

• Mojo is in space and not terribly upset that his plan failed, saying that's why he has a plan B

• He hits a button and a “World re Vision” is on the screen with a download bar under it

• Says that he'll come back after a few weeks and come out of his egg ship and the people of earth will worship him like a king

• Realizes that if he's going to be up in space orbiting the planet for a few weeks, that he should have installed a bathroom, adding that he really didn't think this plan through

#ppgs #Blossom #Bubbles #Buttercup #professor utonium #Mojo jojo #Him #gangreen gang #Princess Morbucks #Fuzzy Lumpkins #book notes #comic notes #Second Chances comic #Goodness this is long #just over six pages in my word document

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