Tracking Our Ridiculous Trains of Thought

Just silly stray amusements to come up between me and my friends while discussing fandoms. Sometimes making fun of the things we love and sometimes teasing about the /plausible/ but probably not canon. (Though don'tcha sometimes wish it were?)

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

Obsessing over the musical Alice by Heart lately and analyzing the characters. The Mad Tea Party is a heart breaking scene as it is, but today it hit me that even though Alfred, as the White Rabbit, tells Alice that FINE he's going to be the March Hare for this! it's to keep the plot moving, but there are several points during the show where we see the (sometimes literal) bleed between realities have the real world counterparts affecting their Wonderland counterparts, and at the trial the residents outright complain to the queen about how Alice has been ruining the story. And in Do You Think We Think You're Alice? they even snap at her for thinking they only exist when she decides vist. The characters are just as real as their human counterparts.

And Hatter and Dormouse even seem to acknowledge that Rabbit isn't actually the same as Hare because he opens up the Tea Party scene telling them "Did you hear what she did to poor Mary Anne?" / "Oh, poor Mary Anne!" which of couse Hare would know nothing about, this is just Rabbit taking over for a moment from wanting to vent about his scene being screwed up and the other two are fascinated to hear. We see Harold take over when Hatter grows very serious in giving her a bit of a reality check before all three turn outright antagonistic towards Alice in Sick to Death. She's not just screwing up scenes, she may be having an affect on the characters themselves. The tea trio have always been a bit rude and blunt with Alice across versions, but these three all agree to completely drop the narrative and tell Alice they don't want to be in this version of the story. THIS Alice is dangerous and there are questions about why she came to Wonderland and not just letting Alfred go, but letting them all go when they've determined they don't want to be in her head anymore.

But why should Hatter and Dormouse be so angry when technically they're only just meeting her? Possibly because not only are they aware, but something vital has changed in their story whether she intended or not. .... What happened to the the March Hare that the other two seem more than open to letting Rabbit fill in? Harold may be leaking through but it's possible his ties to Hatter has the duo still trying to make sense of what happened.

"I had a really good buddy and he was drop dead funny. Then one day he just... dropped dead. Isn't that funny?"

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

I've been playing around with the Alola cast a lot lately and was struck by the idea how the Alolan E4 could have an unintentional theme to them. At least in USUM where they could be the card suits.

Olivia - Diamonds - Pretty straightforward. Rock specialist who also runs her own jewelry shop. She's a tough gal and everyone knows it.

Kahili - Clubs - Literally wields a club. But also I know it's more of a flower shape, but the symbol could also be viewed as a bird foot with the three toes and the stem serving as the duclaw

Acerola - Hearts - Often a symbol for the soul, works well for a Ghost trainer. Also, she's a caretaker (and royalty, though she's far nicer than a Queen of Hearts would be).

Molayne - Spades - Whether the symbol is viewed as a garden tool or a weapon, it fits the Steel type pretty well. Although to get into this way too deep, it could be both with him.

[hartesa]

My secret dream is to make a Pokémon Colosseum anime, but I'm still not good enough at all for that, I'm a debutant my animations are too rigid, so I must learn a way more!

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

It's been a weird summer, and for part of that I ended up binge watching as many of the Muppet Movies as I could find. Which, like any world that runs on Rule of Funny, it's silly to question things, but I've still had some thoughts come up I just wanted to ramble about.

For instance, it's funny how money is only an issue when it needs to be. Yet, let's talk money! In the first Muppet Movie, I'm not sure if Kermit may have earned anything from his banjo playing in the swamp, but it's likely he would have bought the bicycle he used when he first left home since I can't see much of a reason for him to own one in the wetlands. Unless he regularly had to ride into town, which I suppose is also possible since he comments that he has trouble catching his own food as he's gotten older and might need to eat out frequently. I mean, obviously, despite living in the swamp he's not new to anything in towns so he's left the swamp often enough to know a lot about human things. But then again, in this world it seems extremely common for humans and animals to co-exist, so who knows about upbringing. It's still funny though that for Fozzie being a failed comedian in a borrowed car, and Kermit living in the backwoods that they still could afford the road trip up and down the east coast in Moving Right Along. (I wonder how many days that would have been.)

It's interest too though that when they literally ran into Gonzo, he had his own business, with his own van, and when they went to the carnival, he bought Camilla enough balloons to fly with, so it seems he was doing decently well if he's been supporting himself enough to also be able to spoil her. And while I'm sure Piggy earned a cash prize for winning the beauty pagent, we also know she's been doing enough small time entertainment to have an agent. It makes me wonder if when her and Kermit went on their date (even if he bought the cheap champagne) if she was buying or if he borrowed money from Gonzo to get dressed up and go out for the night. Which makes it all the more funny when they see Piggy on the side of the road later, and Ralph asks if they should help her with her stuff, all three of the others immediately go "No." Not only in support for Kermit getting ditched twice in the same evening, but it's possible she's already been costing them a pretty penny just to put up with her.

Of course, the group as a whole is nothing if not forgiving and generous with each other, and it'd be funny to think there were some side gigs along the way we don't see. Although a road trip (going the right way anyway) to California shouldn't take that long to need the extra stops, and there's more to go around as they pick up more people like Ralph and the band having their own jobs and savings for such a trip, it's still funny to think about.

On that note, I wonder if Gonzo also got to be navigator the rest of the trip, or if he's just traveled the area on his own enough to know the roads better, because we know apparently neither Fozzie or Kermit can read a map and they only started going towards California once they started picking up other teammates.

Anyway, food for thought.

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

I work as a substitute teacher and had 9th graders today and I am still so amused by this table of girls reading ahead in Lord of the Flies and how they're all fan girling and speculating over what's coming next since in school you usually only go chapter by chapter. This is amazing It started off with one girl pointing out the last line of the next chapter ending with someone dying and the other two were squealing so I had to ask what happened. My brain just automatically went "Oh no…. they don't know…" Usually when this time of year comes up, most students I talk to say it's boring or dumb. But this group was like: G1: [points out the line] G2: Nooooo…. I love him. Simon was like the symbol of all that's good in this world ToT G3: My favorite is Piggy. G4: [at a different table] Oh no. G3: Yeah, he's so funny all [quoting lines from earlier in the book] but I've already got a bad feeling where the story is going. G4: Yeah, I've already read the book, so this has been great. I didn't know we were going to read it as a class and I realize I have the power to spoil everything. G1: You already read it?! G4: Yeah, like back in 6th grade. I thought the cover looked cool. G2: [Starts speculating how Simon likely died. She's not too far off actually] G4: Everyone dies 83 Girls: [holler over all SERIOUSLY??] G4: Kidding. [Deviously] Not everyone. G2: I hope they all turn on Jack and stab him like a gazillion times. G3: I'm hoping him and Ralph get to fight it out. Like something is gonna happen to Piggy and Ralph is just gonna snap. G1: I want Jack and Roger both outright mutilated -w- Me: ….. [Again just jittering in my chair trying not to say anything]

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

(So I came up with this a while back and wasn't sure if anyone else had brought it up. But I recently checked out The Mountains of Madness from the library, and remembered bringing this up with my friends a few years back and just felt like "preserving" it.)

This is going to sound crazy, but it's fun to think about, so hear me out: Have you heard of a story called The King in Yellow?

I got to looking at the source material and I'm stunned to think it may have been quite an influence on the plot of Pokemon Black and White. But I can't confirm anything since I haven't seen it mentioned as a reference anywhere in B&W. 

More specifically The King in Yellow is a series of short stories where only the first four seem to be connected to the title. But there's some clear potential parallels with the first story The Repairer of Reputations, which is what I'll focus on.

So first off, the story's main character is a man named Hildred which likely has the same basis as Hilda and Hilbert would derive their names from.

Except plot wise he'd actually be more like N.

Hildred Castaigne is an unreliable narrator living in a “futuristic New York City” of 1920 who explains at the beginning that he used to be carefree and aimless but there was an accident where he got attacked and fell off his horse which gave him a blow to the head. After that he was taken into an asylum where he underwent a complete personality change, pouring over old documents and literature, basically a recluse, but he gained a strong sense of ambition as he never had before! (Sounds a bit familiar of another extreme recluse who came out somewhat brainwashed in his conviction, right?) This is potentially brought on after reading a play called The King in Yellow which the book we read gets its name from.

We don't get much info about the play itself except "references" to it about Carcosa, an otherworldly kingdom that fell into decay and mentions several places connected by lakes. (I'm not sure if they're all cities within the kingdom or neighboring kingdoms.) Supposedly the first act starts as a simple medieval drama but the second act is left very vague except that it "reveals irresistible truths" which drive the reader into madness.

With that out of the way, here's where things get... Interesting?

Out of the asylum, Hildred, at some point before the story takes place, has ended up in the snares of a "Mr. Wilde"; an "eccentric" deformed man with a mutilated arm and face (the story makes note of this at several points) who has an equally twisted delight in abusing his cat until she attacks him and we get the foreshadow that she’s going to kill him at this rate. (I'm sure some of Ghetsis' Pokemon would love the chance.)

Mr. Wilde may be crazy but he's said to be very smart. As the title "Repairer of Reputation" he gained wealth and power through blackmailing many powerful men (like the Sages?) and subtly raising an army of over ten thousand under a cult following by use of The King in Yellow and "The Yellow Sign" the king wears. Together, they plan to overthrow the U.S. government and begin The Imperial Dynasty of America under their new king Hildred! (Whether Wilde has an army or not is still debatable. Heck, even how much influence he has is debatable since we only have Hildred's word to go by. Obviously in Pokemon the answer is yes.)

Which is curious since I know a lot of people joked about with BW like... We're in New York. What's this whole deal with kings and the castle ruins? America never had a king.

Ah, but then the parallels come up again when Hildred is oh so ready to earn his crown but Wilde tells him there's a problem. His cousin, Louis, is also in line for the throne as they're both descendents from the ancient kingdom of Hyades. And while Hildred thinks himself to be the rightful heir of The Last King, Wilde tells him that he needs to do something about his cousin first and gives Hildred a long knife.

But Hildred, much like N, doesn't really want to fight Louis, and the two meet several times through the story over the course of several weeks (months?). 

Now up to this point Louis had kinda been in Hilda / Hilbert’s position. At first he seems friendly with Hildred with Louis being concerned but not intervening with Hildred's ties to Wilde. But over time we see Hildred growing more irritated by Louis' sweet and sometimes boyish nature as he tries to humor him in his delusions even after learning about the whole kingship thing. (Much like we see N getting more aggressive as the story goes on because the player is so nice and good with their Pokemon, it's challenging what he's been told about what Trainers are like. Stop being wonderful, dang it!)

Eventually Hildred snaps. But instead of killing Louis, he confronts his cousin where he does finally reveal to him about being the King and shows him all the pages of The Imperial Dynasty records to reveal to him what's going on and demand instead that his cousin should abdicate his right to the throne and go into exile! Which Louis, having no interest in this, agrees. But Hildred also demands that Louis is forbidden from marrying then to end his bloodline. Even going so far as to say the conspiracy is going to kill the girl Louis is engaged to ensure there will be no one to challenge Hildred later on. Louis has finally had enough of this! When Hildred flees, his cousin goes after him.

(There's not really an equivalent to the murder thing, although unlike the book, it'd be about this point that the takeover occurs and Plasma has threatened to crush Alder. But that's more between him and Ghetsis. Either way, we save Alder and Hilda / Hildred is in hot pursuit of N into the Plasma castle!)

Hildred then ends up running back to Wilde's place and takes his crown and cloak in victory as he thinks he'll finally be king! ...Except Wilde ends up dying on him (finally pushed the cat too far and she murdered him.) Hildred realizes that without Wilde and his conspiracy, he personally doesn't have the means to take over. He has no connection to this “army”, he cannot read the ledger of "powerful men" to manipulate. Without Wilde, he is NOTHING. This fact suddenly has him spiralling into a full on mental breakdown before the police show up with Louis and end up taking Hildred away and we learn later he ended up back in the asylum. (Which is kind of what happens with Ghetsis in the end, he lost the one person holding his plot together, goes into a fit of madness, and albeit much later is one of the few Evil Leaders to actually get arrested.)

-Cough- 

So BW doesn't really follow the plot but the point is, I think there’s actually several elements that could be derived from this specific story. The young man being brainwashed and convinced he’s going to become king of a perfect society that was lost ages ago; led on by an even more deranged man who appears to have been mangled by the creatures he tortures with delight and who has been making all of the preparations for a full scale government takeover by amassing an army in the shadows. There’s a fight for the throne when it turns out the prophecy speaks of two heirs that need to fight each other, note the second “heir” is completely oblivious to this and just gets dragged into the lunacy more and more as they try to foil the plans of this takeover. And while it doesn’t induce madness automatically, Plasma believes that in order to get people to fall in line, the king merely needs to show the public that they’ve obtained the Sacred Dragon which gives them authority, while in this case it’s said that all those who see The Yellow Sign have no choice but to bow down to them. 

It’s just… I’m probably grasping at straws, but the parallels I see just have me fascinated.

At least in the end of BW, Ghetsis is the one to have the full out melt down upon realizing without his key to controlling the masses he's nothing instead of N like Hildred did. Not to say N doesn’t have his own lingering issues from all this, but unfortunately Hildred ended up dying in the asylum where I’m sure Louis wished (after offering several times) he could have helped him. At least Hilbert / Hilda may stand a chance.

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

Yes I am obsessed, but just some lingering thoughts as a follow up to this post. I know The Legend says a student (who we know now is Brian) found the script in the basement of the school, and in the true spirit of horror stories, it must have been cursed! The boy was consumed by it and showed it to his teacher, she then became obsessed with it and wouldn't take no for an answer until it was performed. But honestly? Even the legend brings up the question of if that's actually the beginning of the story. I wonder if the truth is Brian wrote the story himself, in that middle school starting fanfic writer type way where his story takes a lot from the media he enjoys, which seems to be a combination of classic literature references based mostly on Phantom of the Opera. Fitting for his character, especially since he has a wider vocabulary than the kids supposedly his own age, and while that could just be chalked up to him being at school for the last 70 years, I like the idea of him being like that in life too. But he's so awkward and tells Brooke how being a nervous rambler might be a good trait for an actor because that means when he's nervous on stage, he's just got words pouring out of him. And I've heard of that being real advice how sometimes kids with anxiety or speech problems might build confidence from acting lessons.

It's likely that Brian wrote the script and his teacher Ms. Walker was touched to see this normally shy kid want to trust her with his first attempt at art. And it's actually really good! So not only does she decide they can do it, but he should be The Phantom as it's only fair. But he's so shy and nervous, maybe she's the one who started the rumor that they just found the script because he didn't want the attention (or maybe if he was starring in it, she didn't want to make the other kids jealous.) It would also explain why she protected the script, perhaps even the original script, all these years because this was his. It would just add another layer of heartache and meaning to why saving THIS story was so important because it felt like destroying something so personal to him would be like destroying his memory. And if both were true, they must have been very close for him to want to show her the script first like he was proud of it but maybe not even his own family knew about it.

Which also makes me wonder since we realized the twist was that Brian wasn't the one pranking rehearsals and actually did want the show to go on, maybe all these years he's actually been protecting students during their shows. He did bring up he's "new which is rare" so he's definitely come out before. It's not like opening the trap door disturbed his resting place, he just refuses to go below stage despite knowing it can't hurt him anymore. I wonder what draws him out then. Just whenever someone proposes they try The Phantom again, only for it to be shot down? Was it to sometimes visit Ms. Walker with her being the "Madame Giry" equivalent until her passing and now we've got a "Meg" in her granddaughter having grown up with less fear and more fascination about The Legend? Was it whenever there was a threat like now with pranksters or bullies and Brian slips into the student body to fix things before supposedly moving away? He doesn't seem to make friends often, or maybe he means he doesn't normally get attached to students because he's afraid of being found out (he really only got close with Brooke because he fell hard and fast and felt a need to stay with her) but I wonder if he ever got lonely during the summer seasons when the place goes quiet. Or maybe he enjoys it because he has free reign of the school and that's when he got to practice his lines and act out the whole show as he kept dreaming? Maybe he just did a lot of reading. I don't think he ever went into hibernation since he actually tells Brooke later how all the lonely years were worth it since this bizarre phenomenon allowed him to meet her from decades apart.

Either way, my heart. 💔

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

The Phantom of the Auditorium Musical

Okay, so hilariously, a friend of mine made a post that joked about making a kid’s version of Phantom of the Opera and while I wanted to make a Wishbone joke that it already exists, I suddenly remembered there actually was a “retelling” of sorts with the Goosebumps series. So I went to look it up and ended up discovering there’s a musical version of this with a full cast album and everything.

This was the original poster I saw at least. But anyway, I've been listening to the full album that was produced in 2021 and it's given me a lot of feels. So spoilers ahead although I will also add a disclaimer that I haven't seen the actual show yet so I'm just going off the impression from the soundtrack. But let's go over the plot:

 Now given my love of Phantom of the Opera, my mind has somewhat been racing over the comparisons. I love how fascinating of a take this is to have a ghost story about some kids who are preparing to perform the play but the specific script they're using hadn't seen the light of day in 70 years because the first and last time the show was done, the lead actor died in a staging accident before the curtain went up on opening night. Naturally there have been rumors at the school that the place has been haunted for years by the boy who was meant to play The Phantom as an effort to keep the play from ever being performed. And the production does seem to be cursed when rehearsals start and strange happenings occur. So our leads decide to investigate since it seems whoever is doing this is targeting Zeke, the boy playing The Phantom this time.

You can probably guess the twist a mile away that after our leads, Zeke and his best friend Brooke, discovered the trap door that had been built for the original production, a new boy appears at their school like in the next day or so. Gee, how strange. But he and Brooke hit it off right away and when it seems Zeke is being framed as the one behind the pranks at rehearsal, new kid Brian is happy to help! (Unrelated but the idea of these guys paralleling Erik, Christine and Raoul, just hanging out and Erik playing dumb while actually helping in the Phantom mystery is kind of hilarious.) They aren't really subtle about there being something weird with Brian either since we hear very early on that while everyone knows about the ghost, very few have ever seen him. Then in the song where he and Brooke meet, he brings up little asides like how he's not new very often and you'd think after all these years he'd learn to keep his mouth shut since he's so socially awkward. It's kinda cute and makes sense he wouldn't really know how to interact with people considering his situation.

So naturally, you'd think the big reveal is they'd find out Brian is actually the ghost and the one behind all the mishaps, right? Well, sorta. Turns out there's someone else who is actually behind all the warnings and pranks that's trying to get the show closed. Well! There's no ghost then! Mystery solved~!

The show goes on like normal and opening night finally arrives. Everyone is off to their corners getting ready in the mad dash before curtain rises when suddenly Zeke gets attacked by The Phantom! The show starts and everyone goes on without him because someone has deftly slipped into his place. Brooke has an idea of who when she sees The Phantom for the first time and the bright green eyes behind his mask proves it's DEFINITELY not Zeke. But she doesn't want to disrupt the play and things go off without a hitch until suddenly the ending comes and The Phantom decides to address the audience. Yes, he is the boy who died all those years ago, but it's time for him to tell the whole town the truth of what happened that fateful night. And with that, he's gone, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. End scene. Standing ovation. Everyone is happy. Brooke immediately rushes backstage to find Zeke and confirms that he's okay but that wasn't him out there. She thinks it might have been the REAL Phantom! Speaking of... Brian? Why are you dressed like that? You stole Zeke's role?? Why??? Which... Both are right. It was him that stole Zeke's role. And he's the real Phantom. See, while the prankster may have been determined to keep the play from being performed, Brian has wanted nothing more all these years than to get his spotlight. He WANTED the school to do the show so he could get the opening night that was stolen from him. His unfinished business, if you will. But all these years, the school and the town had forbidden the play to honor his memory. So now he can be at peace having finally gotten to say those lines and hear that roar that he had so looked forward to as a kid. But... Unfortunately since he's completed his business, even if he's been falling for Brooke, he feels like it's time for him to move on. They'll all see each other again some day. And this time he disappears for real, the curtain call is in a cemetery where we see Brian's name on one of the head stones.

"That's all fine and dandy, but is there a point to this story?" Actually yes. I wanted to give some background to this since it really only makes sense in context and I feel like the show / story might still be pretty obscure. But it's eaten my mind. The one thing that I like while there's the overhanging tragedy and mystery going on, the main theme of this show is about getting closure. And maybe in a way, redemption. For Brian, of course, but this is something seen with other characters too. Brooke and Zeke have their opening number saying they've always been in the ensemble and this needs to be THEIR year to get named roles. And to be the leads was just icing on the cake. Their teacher, Ms. Walker, says that her grandmother was the teacher back in Brian's day. And not only did she never get to do the show they worked so hard on, but, despite the school demanding every copy of the script be destroyed so it could never be performed again, she saved a copy and hung onto it the rest of her life. Why? Because she had always hoped to have another chance? Because unlike everyone else, she thought Brian would want it to survive? It's not coincidence that Ms. Walker decided to do THIS play when she got the chance. She's giving her grandmother some closure and maybe forgiveness for what happened. (Brian never blamed her. Rumor says that when she died, the script was discovered with a mask and rose lovingly laid beside it.) Brian of course gets his closure with starring in the show he always dreamed of, but more importantly, he's been alone all these years. Zeke and Brooke gave him a few months to do things he never got to do including making friends, falling in love, encouraging him to face his fear with the trap door that killed him, and working with Ms. Walker probably gave him some closure with what happened to his teacher / her grandmother when he knows it wasn't her fault.

And of course the whole town can heal in a way because the school is no longer haunted, and after generations knowing about this "cursed play" legend, the audience also finally got to see it in full and maybe take away some of the sting that's hung over the town all these years. Especially when the song about The Legend says how the princpal didn't want to do the show in the first place and wouldn't give them the proper funding, but the teacher was determined to do it anyway, I'm sure there was plenty of blame going around for those details to have survived all these years. Was it the poor funding that caused the staging accident? Was it proof they shouldn't have gone through with it in the first place if it was so dangerous? Was it foul play? I have a feeling the town knew he didn't "vanish" that night, finding him later in the aftermath, but that's how the legend goes. But hey! No incidents, standing ovation, and Brian's speech about what happened finally giving some closure to all the rumors. Closure. In the sweetest sense of the word.

I included links to the songs above, but if you'd like to just listen, I'm also sharing them here.

[immediatebreakfast]

One of the things that it's always interesting to see in a gothic noble is what the villain, or the antagonist represents in the narrative as a whole.

The Gothic is a romantic literary response to the historical, sociological, and political contexts of the the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It's a look through the ruin, the passionate, the bigoted, the decaying, and the irrational rationality.

It's an explanation as to why it's crucial to the narrative of why Dracula is a count, why Jonathan is an inexperienced worker, and why there is so much emphasis on the locals.

"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of who marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to find these places again?"

How much contempt, and underlining hatred can one fit in a single paragraph that bordelines on a monologue? Dracula truly holds true resentment towards the locals of Transylvania for daring to try, and defend themselves against him.

He doesn't call them locals, citizens, not even commoners, but peasants. A word that not only signals the kind of social hierarchy that Dracula benefits the most (notice how he also included Jonathan in the social class at the end), but also why he is shown so angry despite Jonathan asking a simple question.

The locals of Transylvania had commited the worst crime in the eyes of the Count, the peasants dared to revolt against their "master" in order to keep themselves alive instead of baring their necks for the slaughter. Even with all of the fear that Dracula has sowed in the heart of the locals, to the point that they obey all of his orders, it's still not enough for him. That fear it's not enough for Dracula because it lacks the concrete submission of his old days as an actual noble class.

The locals of Transylvania fear him for his power and his wealth, but they lack the class mentality that would truly put them under Dracula, and that is eating the Count alive. He calls them fools while they fill their streets with protection wards and put rosaries around their necks, he calls them cowards while we have read how everyone around Jonathan risked the Count's wrath to protect him.

We Transylvanian nobles love not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. 

The Count hates the old innkeepers, the coachman, and the passengers for daring to rebel against him, even if he is still the unliving cause of their suffering.

Hell, it's heavily implied that all of that is still not enough to fully stop Dracula, and yet he is still so angry. There is nothing that the aristocratic nobility hates more than the mere vision of how the people they deem beneath them act together to stop their abuse.

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

Permission to get personal for moment

I heard the news about Toby Keith passing away at work, but hearing how it's been a big focus on the evening news cast, I am having a lot of mixed feelings about him. Like I wasn't really a fan even if there were a few songs I really liked when they came up on the radio, and he's had plenty of controversies even here in his home state, but at the same time when growing up people only talked about Toby Keith and Garth Brooks as the big names of Oklahoma that Keith is just... Gone. Kinda surreal. Especially since he was from my hometown of Moore (I don't live there anymore) and I remember it being a big deal when they added "Home of Toby Keith" to our welcome signs. It's like a community thing where I didn't know him personally but his presence was huge growing up we all liked to watch him and gossip about any news over our small town hero here. So it's been weird to see the state in mourning. I'm sure it'll be all over the local channels at least the rest of the week. It's just... Hmmm... Surreal. Like I didn't follow him but I'm still sad, does that make sense?

[maxknightley]

you know in retrospect it's weird that the splatooniverse has a band called "the squid sisters" when, like... they Are squids. that's like if the real world had a band called "the human league"

[lumsel]

[lemonprick]

no see not all the inhabitants of duckburg are ducks; there are pigs and dogs and owls and ravens and, given how our mains characters have the last name Duck and would be hella confusing if there were a lot of ducks in town, i'm willing to bet ducks aren't the main demography in duckburg. which makes it so more like calling the pacific ocean 'tuna city' or the usa 'james smith-polis'

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

It's more like a town though, right? So it wouldn't be like calling the whole ocean Tuna City, more like this one area in the middle of the ocean is what everyone came to know as Tuna City. Same for James Smithopolis wouldn't be the whole country but might be a very large city in the country. Since Duck is a last name in the DuckTales verse, it's more likely there was a founder or someone of importance with the last name. Like when you have a city named Slaughterville, it's more likely it was a last name and not because the majority of people who live there are butchers.

[hoenn-hakase]

So I was watching this video on YouTube and this comment in particular caught my interest.

And while there's a lot of timeline stuff in Shrek Forever After that makes NO sense or never gets explained, it's still a really fun movie so I forgive it. But I just had some thoughts I wanted to save for myself.

"We know the only reason Puss met Shrek in the first place was because he was paid a LOT of money and curiosity got the better of him. I wonder if in that timeline all of Farquad's men failed so he hired Puss. Even if Farquad hates fairy tale creatures, we saw in the first movie he's not above using them for his own operations. I kinda like the idea that like with Shrek, he might have thought if this cat is really "The Legend" then saving a damsel should be a cakewalk. And if he died? So what? Farquad doesn't care, it'd be one less creature. It's possible then Puss did die during the rescue but because he could just bounce back, he was able to keep going. Fiona is grateful to be saved but... It's a cat. She can't marry him. Not just a cat, but we saw her anger with Farquad when she first learned Shrek was just sent to grab her for him, she probably pitched a fit too to realize there was no Marquis waiting for her like in the Puss in Boots stories. And Puss often tries to give Shrek advice (not always good, but he's got experience) he probably talked to her about her situation and concluded maybe it's time she finds out where her future lies. If True Love won't come to her, maybe she should look for it. And if she helped him in the escape, he originally decided to stay with Shrek because he spared his life, so maybe he stayed with her until his debt could be paid. Or maybe he still took her to Farquad and that's when her ideals of True Love was crushed because he wasn't in love with her, probably still threatened to have her killed / returned to the tower for being a monster, and after escaping Dulock found out she can't even go home because Far Far Away was taken over. So she started focusing more on fighting and gave up on being human. Your idea about the Wolf still showing up makes me curious though since working with the rebellion forces (Fiona has learned a lot of martial arts but Puss could have taught her the blade) as others have said here, it's dangerous work. Maybe he used to help a lot more in the previous years but was forced into retirement here too by one time too many and Fiona just spoils him because he's her only real friend. She gets along with the other ogres, but they never explained in that timeline either how Puss knows about her curse. She might have told him at one point since he's her pet, but it just makes sense to me that in this timeline they knew each other before she started / joined the rebellion."

[thefabulousweirdtrotters]

All the letters, large and small case. Quartz veins in stone. Molly Montgomery collects natural unedited rocks on the beach creating an alphabet that took years.

Follow us on Telegram : The Fabulous Weird Trotters

[c0smicdusk]

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

Nature is wild, man.

[shadow27]

[witchofprose-deactivated2020041]

This is the FUNNIEST SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN

[untitled12573]

Reblogging for cultural enrichment

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

bout time I brought back the Laurel and Hardy flex tape-

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

Some memes just have a timeless and universal mood apparently.

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

I know we got this whole gritty backstory movie now, but you ever stop to think how Cruella TOTALLY was the mean girl Queen B back in school? Like she's the controlling, fashionable, insulting when actually being nice type of person who I could imagine was real popular if only because she was rich and trendy and influential enough people were scared of her then as they are now. Anita (in both the book and original animation anyway) also kind of gives that vibe, especially the way almost jokingly calls Cruella her "dearly beloved old school mate" that she would have been that girl in the group in other media where she's using Cruella as a shield but also went along with most things because Cruella doesn't take no for an answer and Anita values their friendship more than anything so she keeps her secrets and the threat of "never speaking to you again" would have real weight to it. Which comes up even when Cruella storms out on them all "I warned you Anita, we're through!" But now Anita has Roger and while that threat would have been devastating at one point, it's not the end of the world like it would have been when they were kids. It's just obvious she still cares for Cruella seeing how she continues to defend her even after they broke up.

And what hurts is seeing how she is with Anita (pre melt down) compared with her other companions, I'd dare to say Anita was her ONLY friend as they got older and Cruella isolated herself more and more. Heck, even in the book it seems she's in a loveless marriage and took the guy on as a means to feed her addiction.

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

I feel like the world is preparing for some big second act since it feels like we're doing a bit of a century recap. How is it possible we're seeing repeat elements from the 20s, 60s, and 80s all at once? O____O

[ridiculoustrainsofthought]

I've been on a Wind in the Willows binge which has lead to looking at several versions. But when I went looking for movies, all I could remember of the one from my childhood was like a voice clip from the Wild Wood scene and this song. But WitW is in the public domain so there's dozens of versions and readings to sift through so it ended up being like "Uh... I guess the song is the same as the title so that doesn't help." And it's funny because much like the actual song in the book, this song has teased at the back of my mind over the years where I might recall parts of the melody but only bits of the words and could never piece it together. 

For anyone wondering about the visuals in the vid, the "Wind in the Willow" is actually never name dropped in the book turns out. But there's a chapter called "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" which is one of two chapters that have almost no connection to the rest of the story. It's like a standalone piece with the characters helping a friend of theirs find his lost son, living along the river they were all starting to fear the worst, but while helping in the search Ratty suddenly hears a sort of "calling". And taking a side stream they make their way to a massive willow tree where they find the babe being protected by none other than Pan. Which if iirc Pan is a God of Nature or demigod or something along the lines? But the pair, Ratty and Mole are struck in such awe and light they give worship to him and "The Piper" slips away and plays a song to make everyone forget the encounter because little animals have enough troubles in the world to be in fear and wonder of beings like him around the forest. But even as they row away confused to what just happened, Ratty (who was strangely sensitive to things already. The others joke it's just the poet in him) still hears the words to the song, then the melody, then he just passes out.

I bring this up because it leads to another chapter, called Wayfarers All, that also seems to be a standalone piece separate from the rest of the book.  Ratty also has an episode where he seems to be struggling with depression. Starting off the chapter by saying he'd been losing interest in a lot of the things he usually loves, and goes looking for anyone to hang out with him. But it's the end of summer and like any tourist town, everyone (The birds, the mice, and so forth) are all packing up to move southward for the fall. So they don't have time to deal with him. Eventually he gets into a bout of jealousy and goes up to the road to wonder about all the travelers and happens upon a Sea Rat (Ratty being a water rat himself) and gets to talking with the old sailor about "the calling" since the sea rat had been staying at a farm but it's time to get back to port. Just his way. 

And then it gets into this sorta dream sequence thing with Ratty seeing his life aboard ships and in far away cities and the book doesn't specify the sea rat asking him to come with but in his state he's sure he did and when he comes out of the dream, the old sea rat is gone so I've half a mind to wonder if he was ever really there. But Ratty is somewhat possessed and runs home muttering about going south, grabs like a few treasures and some food and was about to run out the door when Mole tackles him to the ground to stop him and get him to explain what the hell has come over him. And honestly??? Ratty doesn't know. He just finds himself trying to explain his day to Mole before he starts just sobbing. So Mole tries to comfort him by reminding him of everything he'd miss if he left. And this time of year, would be dangerous. And then tries to cheer him up with making plans for the winter and when Ratty seems to have stopped crying but gone listless over the matter, Mole brings up he hadn't worked on his poetry for a while. Maybe that would make him feel better? And he brings over a pen and paper, which Ratty shoves off at first, but when Mole comes by to check on him later, he seemed to be working after all. (And honestly, I think Mole would know. He left home on a whim one morning, met up with his new friends, and spent nearly a year away before realizing how homesick he was.)

The combination of the two chapters fascinates me. Mostly in that every version I’ve watched seems to handle these two chapters differently (IF they get used at all because, again, they seem disconnected to the rest of the plot and could easily be removed with none the wiser.) The Rankin-Bass version the video is from ties the two chapters together where one leads into the other. My favorite version of the movies has a nod to Wafarers All at the end of their first summer and then having the Piper at the Gates of Dawn much later. And then another version had Piper first then gets into Wayfarers some time later. And I honestly can’t decide which combination I like better. 

Having Piper first and then Wayfarers later is how it is in the actual book. And versions that have it this way make me feel like it implies something actually happened to Ratty in that incident. He’s shown to be very well tied to the river, almost to a point he doesn’t know what to do with himself if he’s not near it. It’s his everything. But then after this run in with the Piper, he has this call to the sea almost like his ties to the river have been heightened to a point where he wants to follow the waters wherever they lead. But having Wayfarers happen before Piper could just as well imply he’s always had a heightened sense of things and the “episode” of him feeling possessed by something greater to him and then after being jolted back to reality this feeling of being lost to some siren song could help explain his actions in Piper and how he just knows where to go even if he’d never been to that area before. 

And I’m just seriously rambling at this point, but I wanted to get this out somewhere. I love these guys so much <3