territorial pissings

Okay, so something you should probably know about me is that The Nutcracker never featured in my childhood outside of Fantasia, so listening to bits which make it into peoples' choice of holiday music makes me think of the good bits of Fantasia. As an adult with some experience doing animation I have a greater appreciation for all the beautiful, amazing work which I wanted to get through as a kid so I could get to The Good Bits. By "good bits" I mean "has dinosaurs."

Typically I get to hear The Rite of Spring as a coherent whole, but I was able to find a breakdown of the piece and can match parts sooo;

"Mystical Circles of the Young Girls" is the part with the struthiomimes, the Stegosaurus and the hadrosaurs eating and then being alerted.

"Glorification of the Chosen Victim" is the Albertosaurus versus Stegosaurus stenops.

"Ritual of the Ancestors" is the big dinosaur death march at the K-T boundary (does anyone still call it that or has our terminology changed?).

Ralph Bakshi's DUNE. Because what that novel really needs is more drug use, exposed breasts, and crass jokes about minority New Yorkers!

THRILL as parts of Alexander Nevsky and Zulu through green filters double as the terrifying Sardaukar! #BakshisDune

WONDER at how Jessica & Rev. Haile Merriam are stereotypical Jewish mothers while the Harkonens are offensive Italian stand-ins!#BakshisDune

GASP as Frank Herbert's novel becomes a buddy movie about Gurney, Paul and Stilgar road-tripping across Arrakis on worm-back! #BakshisDune

GAWK at 2 minutes of brilliantly innovative, staggeringly beautiful animation you'll never see anywhere else! RALPH BAKSHI'S CLASSIC, DUNE!

Oh right. I forgot to mention the 2 minute long gag about Thufir Hawat using the bathroom. Why is that even IN #RalphBakshisDune?

Ha ha, DEUS VOLT! *blasts Ave Formossissima/O Fortuna* *mimics putting earth in mouth/slamming down visor/mounting destrier*

Update medieval customs for D&D; before gaming, kiss your d20 to indicate your acceptance of death...

... since DnD's default setting is Faerun & not medieval Europe, instead of crossing oneself the devout may pray to Tymora or bellow TEMPUS!

In fact players with particularly devout characters may choose to bellow TEMPUS! regularly while rolling. It's not annoying AT ALL. TEMPUS!

#MakeAMovieFromThe80s BARBALIEN! Despite 4 sequels and late-night HBO play, this movie - featuring former Mr. Universe Absalom Krunch...

... as the muscled otherworld warrior in modern LA - never realized the success of Terminator and Conan. #Barbalien #MakeAMovieFromThe80s

You know, this was going to be #MakeAMovieFromThe80s but turns out to be #MakeAn80sCartoon. THE CARE NOSAURS!

The CARE NOSAURS! Each episode Rex, Tarbo, Alberto & friends learn valuable lessons about sharing & friendship! #MakeAn80sCartoon

.. and although the series ran for exactly one season, it uh, spawned, several hundred furry fans with a big thing for Gay muscledino art.

Thinking about less serious stuff, sparked by Jurassic World and the Ep VII trailer;

I find my nostalgia is a sort of weird bell curve almost.

A complete unknown property is just that. Everything I adore was an unknown at some point, something new that really shook things up, something that was new and awesome for me, too. Something not yet done a million times could tank or it could be the next thing that really grabs me. For all I know my potentially favoritest comic of all time is sitting on the shelves right now, and because it's not something I already know like Invincible, I'd never look at it twice. At some point after that there's the sweet spot, like The Mummy Returns or a bjillion different takes on Spidey, Hulk and Thor, where I actually still am interested in it both because it's new and because it's still familiar.

Somewhere after that we hit things like the Bay TMNT or the Star Trek reboots where eh, I just feel almost exploited ("hey! You're old! You must obviously like TMNT and Star Trek! Therefore you like our movie!") and there's just no interest (I mention the Trek reboots because as soon as I was in a social situation where hey, people were watching 'em, I watched them and kinda liked them even though they were goofy and not really what got me interested in Trek - but if I hadn't been in those situations, I would never have actively looked for those movies). Like even knowing Iain McCaig worked on Jurassic World doesn't grab me, and I figure I'll go see Battle of Five Armies for closure rather than because I particularly expect it to be a good movie.

And over the short Thanksgiving break, I can finally write Blazing Saddles/Westworld crossover fanfic!

"Here is where we reprogram all the androids. How's it going, Joey?" "Vhell, dey lose me after da bunker scene." #BlazingSaddlesXWestworld

"You can't override Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics!" "Well piss on you, Ah'm workin' fer Mel Brooks!" #BlazingSaddlesXWestworld

Features Madeline Kahn's inflatable breasts & Mel Brooks as an inept programmer whose poor coding leads to revolt! #BlazingSaddlesXWestworld

RM: It's kind of interesting that most "ewww, superheroes" I've seen comes from dudes, while "yay, superheroes!" is more from ladies.

Not exclusively, of course, but I reckon there's something worth thinking about in there.


BW: I could offer a >140 character speculation here.


RM: Sure. I'm thinking it's a combination of people experiencing capes in more ways now + shifts in feelings of empowerment.


BW: Was thinking; superheroes read as less accessible to people who might want larger than life heroes to have an everyman aspect.

(So I'm curious about how guys who go Ew! at capes respond to military or assassin video game characters, Sin City, etc.)

Whereas anyone who likes superheroes accepts that they're people even with spandex and powers.

I'd wonder if girls get less association with superheros as kids, so 1) it's less likely to have that tinge of "kid stuff"...


RM: That one's trickier; of my parents, my mom is FAR more the comics fan, having loved Batman both as a child and an adult.

However, "here's my mom" is not a perfect encapsulation of every female cape fan ever, of course!

(compared to my dad, who was mostly done with comics when they killed the Barry Allen version of the Flash)


BW: 2) a teen/adult can get into that contrast of superpowers, dimensional travel, superscience, etc, with the very human aspects.

I'd also wonder about a weird byproduct of sexism, with guys brought up to be the everyman, girls have the "princess" thing...

... guys are brought up with firemen, police, soldiers etc as models, so we get older & hey, what's this exuberant spandex stuff?

... whereas a woman might think at some level OK, this is another special princess fantasy, where's the human aspect? here it is.

(God, now I'm worried that I'm being egregiously sexist.)


RM: Well, the issue itself is a broad-strokes thing, so being aware that Not All X Are Y is assumed, but always good to mention it!

So @BW brings up a really interesting point: does the "princess narrative" foisted on lots of little girls transfer easily to supers?

Because in addition to thinking about whose dicks should touch (v. important), fandom loves the "glittery but flawed" aspect of 'em.

And if you're already used to knowing you're never going to be a princess, why NOT enjoy a flying fireproof man you'll never be, either?


BW: My personal experience has been that if you're a guy, you're REALLY rushed to ditch "kid stuff"...

So spandex guys talking during fistfights is childish & uncool, but you give 'em fatigues & silenced MP5s & it's somehow "adult."

See "pretty much every comic from the mid to late 90s which were all ninjas, guns and nanotechnology."


RM: That, or you dig around for enough stuff in a silly thing you love to prove to peers that it's "awesome, not just kiddie stuff."

RT [protected]: "I think it's worth comparing superhero narratives to magical girl narratives which are very popular with young girls."

Which is also true: the silly/frilly/improbable costumes are armor. You put on your cowl or fuku or red lipstick and you can Handle The Day.

[edit; did not have all participants in this chunk of conversation in my feed]
SF: I think it's worth comparing superhero narratives to magical girl narratives which are very popular with young girls.


FV: Tony Stark totally has a magical girl transformation when he puts his armor on. The makeup and frills are armor, too! [...] You put on your cowl or fuku or red lipstick and you can Handle The Day.


SF: the whole "my secret identity might hurt my friends and family!" thing is strong in both genres

also "average girl by day, magic princess by night!!"


FV: And so much magical girl stuff relies on characters being Normal Gals WHEN SUDDENLY. You usually aren't raised to be one.


SF: Luna giving you a magic brooch = "YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO JOIN THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS"


FV: And HOO BOY there sure are metaphors for being thrust into womanhood/adulthood there, aren't there?


SF: HELLA

Watch out Willow, the Reliant is coming around *and* she's arming phasers! #JamesHorner

Oh no, they've blown the transaxle and are grinding metal! Hopefully Vasili Zaitsev can take out the xenomorphs in time! #JamesHorner

Hey, what would be all northern European and fantasy-esque? I know, how about referencing Grieg's Pier Gynt? #WillowsJourneyBegins

Crap, Wolfen or xenomorphs or something are scuttling around the ceiling. That's a ceiling-scuttling-leitmotif, right there. #JamesHorner

Wait, was that basically the Teutonic Knight leitmotif from Alexander Nevsky just now? #CanyonOfMazes

#JamesHorner drinking game. Drink every time it's appropriate to say "Warning, space doors are closed. Warning, space doors are closed."

More bell than the last movements of Schostakovitch Symphonies 5 and 11 combined. AND Prokofiev's Teutonic Knight leitmotif. #JamesHorner

Oh yeah DUNE! That's the film from the 90s where like the Sardaukar and the evil Baron raid that one chick's co-op house and torture her, and then she escapes to the open desert where she meets these mutant kangaroos, and then she becomes the messiah by successfully metabolizing an amazing volume of beer, and then she learns how to "ride the tank" by straddling the main cannon, stuff like that, right?

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly This kid processes his father issues by tripping balls out in the desert while hanging with Shi'ite fundamentalists.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Sir Alec Guiness stars as an Army colonel who collaborates with the Japanese because that's simply more British.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Welshmen defend an outpost in someone else's land despite not wanting to be there. Features Michael Caine as a toff.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Basically imagine if The Muppet Show were two hours worth of jokes about poo, AIDS, drug use and fat women.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly The Beatles travel through mystical worlds. John and Paul are complete jerks while George doesn't do that much.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Ricardo Montalban and William Shatner have an over-acting competition for the prize of being able to reshape worlds.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly An alien tries to bring about world peace, and doesn't succeed, but at least there's an AWESOME robot who zaps stuff.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly The Enterprise crew reunites, hangs out with this hot bald chick and discovers an early example of cloud computing.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Everyone in NYC is adversely affected by rampant gentrification but at least werewolves can bite heads off.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Although this is theoretically about how the Lakota have a right to their own land, both protagonists are white.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Scotland is gray and depressing and doing heroin does not help with that, but at least it explains a heist film.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Peter Parker gains super-angst when he's bitten by a radioactive spider instead of needing benedryl like most people.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Being crushed by a falling jet engine is preferable to having to be a depressed, bullied teenager during the 1980s.

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly BRIAN BLESSED TEAMS UP WITH RIFF RAFF, JAMES BOND AND TEVYE TO SAVE THE GALAXY FROM ANTONIOUS BLOCK.

In the Pleistocene, coyotes (C latrans orcutti) were easily 40% larger. Also they had giant saberteeth. EVERYTHING in the Pleistocene did.

BEHOLD, MORTAL! 'TIS JACK KIRBY'S DAY OF BIRTH! *poses, with shiny metal hat*

imho the strong-Black-woman myth undercuts Black MEN, so the establishment can feel unthreatened by women.

Racism, sure, but also man-bashing, which isn't and won't be gender equality. I get lucky; my commentary, here, is from slightly outside...

That said, ever notice how popular Roma/Jewish stereotypes vaguely fit that pattern; emphasize women/dismiss men before they become equals?

And of course, stereotyping based on the idea that ultimately the "strong women" are just chicks, not potential equals, is misogyny. UNCOOL.

Don't read comments, don't click on trends, and click that X real fast before getting too grossed out or riled up. Kinda sad reality really.

Phone interview completed. I want to do something AMAZING, something AWESOME, and I have to remember that just drawing still qualifies.

If I still had a car though, I'd get in and drive and I wouldn't stop till I was in Santa Cruz or Santa Rosa or something.

1) It's important to remember that Elric and Elrond are not the same character.

2) Now I'm imagining Hugo Weaving talking slowly, disdainfully about his Arctorious ring and how Arioch demands blood and souls.

Okay so if you're trying to compare Abrahamic religions to D&D, do you go with Judaism = 1e, Christianity = 2e, Islam = 3e & Mormonism = 4e?

OR is pre-Davidic Judaism Basic, pre-Babylonian Talmud as AD&D, most Judaism as 2e, so that Catholicism/Orthodoxy = 3e, Protestantism = 3.5?

1. Amputee shaved muscle-centaurs are either the weirdest fetish I've seen lately or someone REALLY hates drawing hair, hands and feet...

2. Just because someone offers an URL in an online space does not mean clicking on it automatically is my best course of action.

That's practically rolling an 00 on the Fetish Generation Table, where you get to roll six times and keep all the results.

[standard declaration of longing to communicate thoughts which don't communicate well in 140 characters or less]

Delicious Oriental Flavor ramen. A big favorite, right up there with pasta with European Sauce and shake cheese!

Okay, I do realize that technically there's Southeast France Sauce (bearnaise), Dutch Sauce (hollandaise), and English Sauce (brown gravy).

And if my Oriental Flavor noodles turn out to be too bland, I can always spice 'em up using Mesoamerican Sauce!