The first one was a trap! This Side of Paradise is actually about avoiding groupthink and complacency. And also letting Leonard Nimoy actually have fun acting for once.
Star Trek TOS: Don’t do drugs. Here’s the episode witch alludes to use of drugs to escape reality.
Also Star Trek TOS: To survive this we need to get high… The whole ship crew actually needs to get high. And we sure going to have so much fun with it…
Conscience of the King! Gimme that sweet sweet Shakespeare in Space + Let's Talk About What To Do With Those Nazis We Found + those two guys who hate each other have to team up to unlock their mutual fave's Tragic Backstory(tm)
He does eventually get over it, and I feel like the bigger problem is she has zero powers to fight a literal superhero with and will hurt himself trying...but yeah it's not great.
(And liguistic drift's a real bitch sometimes XD)
Pete, I get it. Princess Python is VERY attractive but she's also a hardened criminal you can punch her, its fine. Amazing Spiderman 22
The administrators at my school did this with Justin Beiber's "baby" (fundraising for a sketchy charity) and the entire student body rallied to sabotage all speakers over and over again until the bureaucrats could take no more and yielded.
Hands down one of my worst experiences in high school was when the seniors decided to extort the entire school by using tactics that were banned by the UN to get them to pay for the senior party! If that sounds like a wild sentiment stay tuned because this shit got crazy.
I was living in Arizona at the time and I was a freshman. Our campus was largely open air, with walks between class room buildings and some covered outdoor tables. Our event began with a morning announcement. The seniors were collecting donations for the senior party, and when they reached their goal, their fundraising method would stop.
Their fundraising method:
To pipe the entire schools speakers with "If You're Happy and You Know It" on loop. To this day, I cannot hear this song without experiencing a degree of rage and madness that is frankly alarming. One of the worst parts of the entire thing was that the recording they chose had the female singer do a little clap and say "Yay-ha-hey," at the end. So it wasn't just the song, it was this awful little cooldown stinger at the end.
If this sounds a lot like psychological torture you'd be extremely correct! This practice has been banned in some countries, but the good old US hasn't ruled it a human rights violation, and what a fun silly way to raise money, that definitely wasn't damaging to adolescent psyches!
Every morning for 15 minutes before school began, every passing period, every lunch, and after school for another 15 minutes they blasted that fucking song on unceasing repeat through every speaker in the school. Everyone found different ways of coping with this and mine was to observe my classmates descent into madness and categorize the stages.
The first stage was almost completely consistent, and it was a smug almost exasperated eye rolling phase. Often accompanied by derisive comments about the song or the tactic, this phase was extremely mildly annoyed. Most people figured it would blow over soon, and no one anticipated this continuing for a week and a half, creating a miasma of fraught tension.
The second phase was elevated annoyance, starting to snap and be less amused characterized this level of irritation. People would try to cover their ears or put on headphones, humming aggressively to block out the syrupy repulsive children's performer with her loathsome little clap. This phase had people picking their absolute least favorite part of the song. Her inflection on certain words, her timing between verses. I think it's pretty clear already which part I hated most.
The next phase was a bounce back out to absurdity. It became funny how annoying it was and people would sing along as if to challenge the song's authority over their psyche. This paired exceptionally poorly with people in phase two as they'd often lash out at the people giving more voice to their hell.
The fourth phase was a dead-eyed madness. People would stare straight ahead and their lips would silently mouth the familiar words. The song had pounded its way into their very soul and was inextricably linked to auditory output. They often didn't even realize if they began chanting along.
The fifth and final phase was pure uncut pubescent rage. Kids would scream, attack each other, and in a truly epic end to the event hurl a cafeteria chair with such force at the speaker in the cafeteria to irreparably damage the sound system.
The seniors got funding for a party, but some of it had to go to repair the damages, which were substantial.
GET DUNKED ON BY A DUNKLEOSTEUS!!
I did this to my players, actually. Got a custom printed and painted 3D model and everything. The fight with the mighty Honkdra saw not just a single ship, but an entire dock district go down in flames. Peace was never even a consideration.
Goose hydra. Peace will never be an option
I thought I would make a masterpost for my "I Can't Believe It's Not Fanon" (otherwise known as..."facts that sound like Geraskier fic writers made them up but are, in fact, book canon") series.
I will add to this post, so rb it and keep an eye on it. I have at least one more big post coming up.
Geralt rescuing Dandelion from kidnappers (and slaughtering and threatening a bunch of people for him)
Geralt plays it cool, but secretly loves Dandelion's singing
Geralt and Dandelion Domesticity (sharing beds and clothing)
Geralt and Dandelion Domesticity (pooling money and Dandelion bullying racists)
Geralt is Dandelion's specialest boy (Dandelion defending Geralt)
Dandelion is Geralt's Most Important Damsel (Geralt defending Dandelion)
Geralt and Dandelion patching up each other's wounds
Geralt learning Dandelion's real name
Sweet quiet moment of Geralt asking Dandelion's advice (and Dandy begging him not to kill a dragon)
A doppler turns into Dandelion to protect itself from Geralt and it gets more interesting from there.
So the tag is I Can't Believe It's Not Fanon, and I also do a series called Canon or Fanon in response to asks. But since the tag system on tumblr isn't great, there are the biggies. Just thought I'd make it a little easier on you guys.
Y'know, I rag on Jimmy Olsen as much as the next fan, but while he does get turned into a gorilla more than really seems reasonable, he's still a good character.
A big heart AND he works well under pressure! Action Comics 712
Shows what I know, I'd barely even heard of this Kent dude (Gothamites' reputations for being a little too focused on our own backyard isn't all that exaggerated, I guess), but I've for sure heard of Lois Lane. You're right, her and her husband have some really great articles.
I especially liked her 'Superheroes, hold the Superpowers: ordinary people hitting in the big leagues' write up. I've always figured our own heroes were a pack of metas, but she makes a compelling case that the Bats might be using gadgets and gizmos. If you're uncomfortable speculating on IDs I'd love to hear your thoughts on how they're pulling off league-level fighting sans powers (Nightwing at least has to have some sort of gravity shift, right?). Either way thanks for the answer :D
Love the blog, just wondering what your take is on the 'Superman has a secret identity' theory that makes headlines every so often when the tabloids run out of other stories? Usually with their fave celeb as the culprit. I usually find that part in bad taste. Everyone has a right to privacy, what if a supervillain actually believes that hogwash, etc. Although as for the latest one it was great that Mr. Wane ran with it and wore blue for a week to raise money for disaster relief. If nothing else his now-viral remarks to Luthor about how 'if he was superman, your buildings would have been redesigned via accidental super fight collateral damage a decade ago, my god man hire a better architect' made for satisfying watching for LexCorp's many critics.
Luthor's the most outspoken disbeliever of that theory, maintaining that the most powerful 'man' in the world, with his own known private hideout in the Arctic, would have no reason to run around pretending to be a normal human. Bruce Wayne might be kind of a dim bulb, but he had a point when he told whatever poor sod from the Daily Planet was covering the Metropolis Spring Gala that Superman seems too personable (at least from interviews and eyewitness accounts) to be anything other than 'just some guy.'
So on the spectrum between the two billionaires what's your take? Does the Man of Steel walk amongst us? If he does, who would he even be when he's not wearing the cape?
Without even having to THINK about it very hard I would come down on Wayne's side in this particular debate just because I don't trust Lex Luthor as far as I could throw him and I have a MUCH higher opinion of Bruce Wayne as, I can imagine, does anyone with some combination of a heart, soul or a brain. As far as the hypothesis goes, it's pretty much confirmed by the Man of Steel himself. He's given multiple interviews where he has shared the outline of his origins and while most people focus on the fact that he's the last son of the lost planet Krypton what he does also say in those interviews is that he was discovered by a human couple and raised as their own in the manner of a normal human child. Now of course he has never shared ANY particular details about his 'foster parents' because any stray detail could be traced back to them but that pretty much seals the deal doesn't it? If he was raised by humans, one would imagine that he went to school, had dreams, wanted a job and a house and a social life and all those things that human beings get used to having and wanting. Anytime we don't see him directly in action we have to imagine it's because he's out there...doing whatever it is he does during the day! That being said I don't think I can, nor will I, speculate as to who or what he might be in that life behind the scenes. It's none of my business, it is none of the WORLD'S business and nothing good could ever come from finding out. What I will say is that I do not believe for a SECOND the most tired and well trodden theory on the subject.
(Bruce Wayne meeting with Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent) Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent is NOT Superman, people come on! It just doesn't add up to the facts. Clark Kent had a totally average childhood, more or less. He was born in the small hamlet of Smallville, Kansas to Jonathan and Martha Kent which is disproving enough in and of itself. Superman has stated he was obviously a foster child. Clark Kent is, by all records, his parents' biological child. There are records of his attendance of school, vaccination records, his journalism diploma, the whole nine yards. There are two main reasons this story remains so popular. In Superman's orbit he is the one who most resembles Superman...in that he is a dark haired white guy with blue eyes and a strong chin. Analysis on his posture and his gait have shown that he doesn't move or articulate like Superman as you would know if you have ever watched the man on television, read or listened to his writing or just been aware of him as a public figure in Metropolis for YEARS. I still get the Planet here in New York just because him and his wife are some of the best journalists I've ever read. And in that is the other reason, his wife, the world renowned Lois Lane who in the early years of Superman's career had a public infatuation and casual romance with the Man of Steel. Many people got very attached to this public love affair and have never quite forgiven Lane for her public "break up" with Superman in the aftermath of her engagement to Clark Kent. This is just real people shipping for all its nonsense, Kent doesn't have to be Superman for Lane to have married him. Lane and Kent have been partners in crime for basically Kent's entire career and maybe Lane just decided she loved Kent more strongly, or that Superman was unattainable, or any one of ten billion other reasons that don't have shit to do with me or anyone else. Kent and Lane's marriage has also put the inevitable final coffin in the theory with the birth of their son Jonathan who by all accounts is exactly as human as his father. Ignoring all the times and in all the ways that Superman and Kent have been filmed or photographed in the same place because Superman and Kent have been close friends for a very long time because Superman is publically very close with a large group of the Daily Planet's staff ever since his first appearance in Metropolis. Bottom line, yes, I believe that Superman spends his 'nights' as a normal human somewhere on this big blue marble. But his only distinguishing features are that he's a white man with dark hair and strong shoulders. He could hide that with a big enough coat.
Columbo + his basset hound named “Dog”
He doesn’t look like a police dog. Well, he isn’t. He’s a policeman’s dog. Believe me, there’s a big difference.
COLUMBO (1968 - 2003)
Hey I think I can help! My dad is from Rural America and My mom is a Fancy Lady from the Big City (it was a real scandal) so my sib and I are oddly bilingual in one language. In certain rural dialects "Old Man" (especially with a possessive adjective i.e. 'mine' 'her' 'your') is used to mean specifically a patriarch of the family to which a person belongs (which can be father or husband, as you said, but can apply to grandparents, stepparents, or other male relatives that fill that role) as in "my old man won't let me out tonight, but you best believe I'm goin' anyhow." It has a level of exasperated affection; there are many old men, but (for better or worse) this one is mine. ALTERNATELY, especially in the city, it can be a derisive description when used about a stranger; an old man is no one of import, or someone to be regarded with scorn. The first and most important trait you notice about him is that he is past his prime. "Sorry I'm late, some old man ahead of me in line was shouting at the barista." This makes it an extremely interesting phrase because if you use it on someone you know but have an undefined relationship with it is either a term of familial endearment or a dismissive insult.
(When it comes to writing Batfam, this has almost as much utility as the belts XD)
edit: whoops just realized somebody already answered this really well, my bad, I gotta learn to read those replies
Okay, can anyone explain the nuances of 'Old Man' to me?
Like, it's a way of teasing someone about ageing and the passage of time. It's both a slang for 'dad' AND 'boyfriend/husband.' It MIGHT be a way of referring to other authority figures??
I just ... I'm trying to sort out references used by the various Bats.
Dick and Damian use it for Bruce.
Bruce uses it for Alfred.
Are they alluding to the parental role these guys have? (Damian definitely is.) Just teasing them about ageing?
I'm pretty sure a 'my' in the front firmly drops it into dad territory. But how about a definite article? No article at all?
I didn't grow up with this phrase, and it is challenging me!