Have you ever considered "When you wish upon a star" from Pinoccio?
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Writer: Leigh Harline; Lyrics: Ned Washington
When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you
If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star as dreamers do
(Fate is kind, she brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing)
Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true
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It does have potential ... though it's probably too powerful to use, really. Unless it fulfills wishes unorthodox kind of ways tus making wishing dangerous at times -- 'take me home' could take Doug to any place he called home once, for instance.
-- Cal

I have once again had to learn the hardest lesson one must learn to be an author: when to cut the passage that you think is unspeakably cool and perfect, because it ruins the rest of the scene. I had this chunk about about 2K, maybe less, which I wrote literally years ago. It was the axis around which Doug's departure scene was planned. And in going over that scene, which I wrote this weekend, and which I was editing and revising last night, I realized that it just no longer fit. The passage pushed the whole scene far, far over the top. So I had to get rid of it.
'Scuse me whilst I huddle in the corner and weep for what might have been...


-- Bob
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There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

Quote:

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Americanime
Revenge for "Japanimation".

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At the very worst, it would stretch a rubberband between LT's feet and acrossed his nose...
At best, grant LT Stretching Powers...
In all likely hood, summons the image of a short, fat man that does exactly what the song says he does, causing every one else to stop and stare...
Artist: Spinners Lyrics
Song: The Rubberband Man Lyrics
Hand me down my walkin cane
Hand me down my hat
Hurry now and dont be late
'Cause we aint got time to chat
You and me were goin out
To catch the latest sounds
Guaranteed to blow your mind
So high you wont come down
Hey, yall prepare yourself
For the Rubberband man
You never heard a sound
Like the rubberband man
Youre bound to lose control
When the Rubberband starts to jam
Oh, Lord, this dude is outta sight
Everything he does
seems to come out right
Once I went to hear them play
At a club outside of town
I was so surprised, I was hypnotized
By the sound this cats puttin down
When I saw this short fat guy
Stretch a band between his toes
Hey, I laughed so hard cause the man got down
When he finally reached his goal
Hey, yall prepare yourself
For the Rubberband man
You never heard a sound
Like the rubberband man
Youre bound to lose control
When the Rubberband starts to jam
Got that rubberband
Up on his toes
And then he wriggled it up
All around his nose
(Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo)
Guaranteed to blow your mind
(Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo)
Playin all that music, yet keepin time
(Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo)
Where in the world did he learn that, oh, Lord
(Doo doo doo doo doo)
Lord, help him get away
Hey, yall prepare yourself
For the Rubberband man
You never heard a sound
Like the rubberband man
Youre bound to lose control
When the Rubberband starts to jam
Doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo
Rubberband man, Rubberband man
How much of this stuff do he think we can stand
So much rhythm, grace and debonair from one man, Lord
And then he had nerve to wiggle his left toe
To his knee, got the feelin in his head, yall
Ah, come on, baby
Hey, yall prepare yourself
For the Rubberband man
You never heard a sound
Like the rubberband man
Youre bound to lose control
When the Rubberband starts to jam
Rubberband man starts to jam
Movin up and down across the land
Got people all in his ways
Everything about him seems out of place
Just a movin, just a movin, just a move-move-movin
Just a Rubberband, Rubberband man
Just a movin, just a movin, just a move-move-movin
Just a Rubberband, Rubberband man
Get down
Oh, get down lover
Uh-huh

While turning some of my cds into MP3s i ran across this song and it occured to me it could give Doug a minor power.
L.L. Cool J. - "Mama Said Knock You Out"
lyrics at www.thesonglyricsworld.co...ouout.html
The way this would work is that a small figure of a little old lady (about 6in tall) would sit on Doug's shoulder. Before Doug went to throw a punch the little old lady would said "Knock'em Out". This punch would only knock out the person punched. I just can't help but chuckle every time I see this in my head.

Shawn Earl

I've finished the last whole scene I needed to write. (I have half an epilogue scene yet to do.) I've got to reread the initial draft of the scene, fix any problems, and post it to the prereaders yet, which I should be able to do before the end of the weekend. If all goes well, the entire chapter will be submitted for final prereading maybe by the end of the week -- which means chapter 15 and epilogues should be out in two weeks.


-- Bob
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There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

Either of these could work as a Step destination picking up near or at the ends, and if it came after the Utena step Doug might well wonder how (or perhaps why, given that Utena seems to have teleported with planetary range in the opening scene that got posted) she came with him and why she's in that fanservice getup, at least until Kurumi opens her mouth. Even better if it's directly after the Eva step, and he shows up for one of the episodes where her feathery wings appear (No spoiler there, they're in the opening sequence).
The original setting, somewhere around 1927, is probably the better story from a dramatic perspective, but harder to do something useful in without taking over fo the main characters in the way that Bob has said he doesn't want to do (Standard SI behavior, IOW) but there are a few places to put him there - probably best would be to show up at the Academy, where they'd likely detect his magic/mystic potential and want him to help recapture Kurumi. Coming straight from Eva, he'd probably be primed to accept their story (Which is more of an interpretation than a lie - they absolutely believe it to be the truth) but would have to be out of the loop if the thing with Mikhail and Nakhito is still pulled off as in the original. Doug would NOT want to be in the fights, though, the top Acadamy steel angel could probably hold her own with Radditz, TV's Ifurita, or one-gem OVA Ryoko. Whoa, sudden bad mental image, El-Hazard Lost Science Theater 3000, with Jinnai and TV's Ifurita as the Mads, Makoto and the princesses on the Ai of God...
Moving right along, S2 Kurumi is set 75 years later and is basically a remake of Project A-Ko with the latent shojo-ai themes played up, from the rich rival for the super-girl over the friend, to roof-hopping to school, to mecha battles over the friend at school, all the way to a battle bikini by the show's end. It has a punched-up version of the theme song that I like better, the blonde Steel Angel's costume is better but her hairstyle makes her look like a six year old, and instead of the 24-part plot with four character-focus epilogues like the original it's pretty much episodic eye-candy with a cute animal mascot, and only the occasional reference to the first season backstory to give some semblance of a plot besides fighting over who gets to be the Friend's main squeeze. Oh, and there are three recurring male characters in the entire cast, one is the rich daddy, one is the cello teacher who maintains a proper student relationship without visible effort, and one is the grandfather that the main character never meets. I did mention that the shojo-ai had been played up, yes? THere are also a few times when the animation frame rate is noticeably low, repeated battle footage, and stills in dramatic action poses instead of extended combat, so I suspect the budget per episode was also reduced. While I don't know, I'd guess that the first 24 eps of the first season followed a manga, the remaining four were written by the manga-ka to fill out the seaons, and the second series was some studio hack riding out the popularity of the franchise... if I'm wrong, well, it has been known to happen, from time ti time, but that's certainly the impression I get.
- CD, who DL'd the series before it was licensed, but only got around to watching it now, after seeing a couple of eps at a freind's. Gods, that dub is a crime against humanity...
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Doug really, really needs to be able to do this, somehow. Do What?
Mime Control. Ever since misreading when Bob was talking about how mind control was really tricky under Doug's native V&V rules, I've been trying to think of something that would qualify as such, and while 'She never told me she was a mime" by Wierd Al and 'Master of Puppets' by Metallica both have some elements that would fit, niether really works in my mind... Of course, it's Bobs/Doug's mind that matters in this respect, so maybe he or someone else can come up with something.
While I'm at it, a link of pain:
www.sbs.is/tonar/?nr=130
The MP3 linked at the bottom was stuck in my head ALL DAMN DAY yesterday. I don't know whatever language this is, but it's something with a root close enough to english through german that I can get the general gist of things.
- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Walking on Sunshine
Katrina and the Waves

I used to think maybe you love me, now baby I'm sure
And I just can't wait till the day when you knock on my door
Now everytime I go for the mailbox gotta hold myself down
Cause I just can't wait till you write me you're comin' around
(Chorus)
Now I'm walking on sunshine, whoa oh
Now I'm walking on sunshine, whoa oh
Now I'm walking on sunshine, whoa oh
And don't it feel good, hey, all right now
And don't it feel good
I used to think maybe you love me now I know that it's true
And I don't wanna spend my whole life just a waitin' for you
Now don't want you back for the weekend, not back for a day (no no)
I said baby I just want you back and I want you to stay
(Chorus)
Walkin' On Sunshine Walkin' On Sunshine (yeah)
I feel alive, I feel a love, I feel a love that's really real
I feel alive, I feel a love
I feel a love that's really real I'm on sunshine baby, oh
Oh yeah, I'm on sunshine baby, oh
(Chorus)
I say it, I say it, I say it again, now
And don't it feel good, hey, yeah now
And don't it feel good
Now don't it, don't it, don't it, don't it, don't it, don't it feel good
I say it, I say it, I say it again, now
(Repeat to fade)

Suggested power: Walking on Sunshine, of course.--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel

Basic elemental instinct to survive
Stirs the higher passions
Thrill to be alive
Alternating currents in a tidewater surge
Rational resistance to an unwise urge
Anything can happen...
From the point of conception
To the moment of truth
At the point of surrender
To the burden of proof
From the point of ignition
To the final drive
The point of the journey is not to arrive
Anything can happen...
Basic temperamental filters on our eyes
Alter our perceptions
Lenses polarize
Alternating currents force a show of hands
Rational responses force a change of plans
Anything can happen...
From a point on the compass
To magnetic north
The point of the needle moving back and forth
From the point of entry
Until the candle is burned
The point of departure is not to return
Anything can happen...
I set the wheels in motion
Turn up all the machines
Activate the programs
And run behind the scene
I set the clouds in motion
Turn up light and sound
Activate the window
And watch the world go 'round
From the point of conception
To the moment of truth
At the point of surrender
To the burden of proof
From the point of ignition
To the final drive
The point of a journey
Is not to arrive
Anything can happen...
-- Rush, Prime Mover
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.