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xoruffitup · 3 years

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Annette: The AD Devotee Review

So I saw Annette on its premiere night in Cannes and I’m still trying to process and make sense of those 2.5 hours of utter insanity. I have no idea where to begin and this is likely going to become an unholy length by the time I’m finished, so I apologize in advance. But BOY I’ve got a lot to parse through!!

Let’s start here: Adam’s made plenty of weird movies. The Dead Don’t Die? The Man Who Killed Don Quixote? There are definitely Terry Gilliam-esque elements of the unapologetically absurd and fantastical in Annette, but NOTHING comes close to this film. To put it bluntly, nothing I write in this post can prepare you for the eccentric phantasmagoria you’re about to sit through.

While the melodies conveying the story – at times lovely and haunting, at times whimsical, occasionally blunt and simple – add a unique sense of the surreal, the fact that it’s all presented in song somehow supplies the medium for this bizarre concoction of disparate elements and outlandish storytelling to all coalesce into a single genre-defying, disbelief-suspending whole. That’s certainly not to say there weren’t a few times when I quietly chortled to myself and mouthed “what the fuck” from behind my mask when things took an exceeding turn to the outrageous. This movie needs to be permitted a bit of leeway in terms of quality judgments, and traditional indicators certainly won’t apply. I would say part of its appeal (and ultimately its success) stems from its lack of interest in appealing to traditional arbiters of film structure and viewing experience. The movie lingers in studies of discomfiture (I’ll return to this theme); it presents all its absurdities with brazen pride rather than temperance; and its end is abrupt and utterly jarring. Yet somehow, at the end of it, I realized I’d been white-knuckling that rollercoaster ride the whole way through and loved every last twist and turn.

A note on the structure of this post before I dive in: I’ve written out a synopsis of the whole film (for those spoiler-hungry people) and stashed it down at the bottom of this post, so no one trying to avoid spoilers has to scroll through. If you want to read, go ahead and skip down to that before reading the discussion/analysis. If I have to reference a specific plot point, I’ll label it “Spoiler #___” and those who don’t mind being spoiled can check the correlating numbers in my synopsis to see which part I’m referencing. Otherwise, my discussion will be spoiler-free! I do detail certain individual scenes, but hid anything that would give away key developments and/or the ending.

To start, I’ll cut to what I’m sure many of you are here for: THE MUSICAL SEX SCENES. You want detailed descriptions? Well let’s fucking go because these scenes have been living in my head rent-free!!

The first (yes, there are two. Idk whether to thank Mr. Carax or suggest he get his sanity checked??) happens towards the end of “We Love Each Other So Much.” Henry carries Ann to the bed with her feet dangling several inches off the floor while she has her arms wrapped around his shoulders. (I maybe whimpered a tiny bit.) As they continue to sing, you first see Ann spread on her back on the bed, panting a little BUT STILL SINGING while Henry’s head is down between her thighs. The camera angle is from above Ann’s head, so you can clearly see down her body and exactly what’s going on. He lifts his head to croon a line, then puts his mouth right back to work.

And THEN they fuck – still fucking singing! They’re on their sides with Henry behind her, and yes there is visible thrusting. Yes, the thrusting definitely picks up speed and force as the song reaches its crescendo. Yes, it was indeed EXTREMELY sensual once you got over the initial shock of what you’re watching. Ann kept her breasts covered with her own hands while Henry went down on her, but now his hands are covering them and kneading while they’re fucking and just….. It’s a hard, blazing hot R rating. I also remember his giant hand coming up to turn her head so he can kiss her and ladkjfaskfjlskfj. Bring your smelling salts. I don’t recommend sitting between two older ladies while you’re watching – KINDA RUINED THE BLATANT, SMOKING HOT ADAM PORN FOR ME. Good god, choose your viewing buddy wisely!

The second scene comes sort of out of nowhere – I can’t actually recall which song it was during, but it pops up while Ann is pregnant. Henry is again eating her out and there’s not as much overt singing this time, but he has his giant hands splayed over her pregnant belly while he’s going to town and whew, WHEW TURN ON THE AIR CONDITIONING PLEASE. DID THE THEATER INCREASE IN TEMPERATURE BY 10 DEGREES, YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT IT DID.

Whew. I think you’ll be better primed to ~enjoy~ those scenes when you know they’re coming, otherwise it’s just so shocking that by the time you’ve processed “Look at Adam eating pussy with reckless abandon” it’s halfway over already. God speed, my fellow rats, it’s truly something to witness!!

Okay. Right. Ahem. Moving right on along….

I’ll kick off this discussion with the formal structure of the film. It’s honestly impossible to classify. I have the questionable fortune of having been taken to many a strange avant-garde operas and art exhibitions by my parents when I was younger, and the strongest parallel I found to this movie was melodramatic opera stagings full of flamboyant flourishes, austere set pieces, and prolonged numbers where the characters wallow at length in their respective miseries. This movie has all the elevated drama, spectacle, and self-aggrandizement belonging to any self-professed rock opera. Think psychedelic rock opera films a la The Who’s Tommy, Hair, Phantom of the Paradise, and hell, even Rocky Horror. Yes, this film really is THAT weird.

But Annette is also in large part a vibrant, absurdist performance piece. The film is intriguingly book-ended by two scenes where the lines blur between actor and character; and your own role blurs between passive viewer and interactive audience. The first scene has the cast walking through the streets of LA (I think?), singing “So May We Start?” directly to the camera in a self-aware prologue, smashing the fourth wall from the beginning and setting up the audience to play a direct role in the viewing experience. Though the cast then disburse and take up their respective roles, the sense of being directly performed to is reinforced throughout the film. This continues most concretely through Henry’s multiple stand-up comedy performances.

Though he performs to an audience in the film rather than directly to live viewers, these scenes are so lengthy, vulgar, and excessive that his solo performance act becomes an integral part of defining his character and conveying his arc as the film progresses. These scenes start to make the film itself feel like a one-man show. The whole shtick of Henry McHenry’s “Ape of God” show is its perverse irreverence and swaggering machismo. Over the span of what must be a five minute plus scene, Henry hacks up phlegm, pretends to choke himself with his microphone cord, prances across the stage with his bathrobe flapping about, simulates being shot, sprinkles many a misanthropic, charmless monologues in between, and ends by throwing off his robe and mooning the audience before he leaves the stage. (Yes, you see Adam’s ass within the film’s first twenty minutes, and we’re just warming up from there.) His one-man performances demonstrate his egocentrism, penchant for lowbrow and often offensive humor, and the fact that this character has thus far profited from indulging in and acting out his base vulgarities.

While never demonstrating any abundance of good taste, his shows teeter firmly towards the grotesque and unsanctionable as his marriage and mental health deteriorate. This is what I’m referring to when I described the film as a study in discomfiture. As he deteriorates, the later iterations of his stand-up show become utterly unsettling and at times revolting. The film could show mercy and stop at one to two minutes of his more deranged antics, but instead subjects you to a protracted display of just how insane this man might possibly be. In Adam’s hands, these excessive, indulgent performance scenes take on disturbing but intriguing ambiguity, as you again wonder where the performance ends and the real man begins. When Henry confesses to a crime during his show and launces into an elaborate, passionate reenactment on stage, you shift uncomfortably in your seat wondering how much of it might just be true. Wondering just how much of an animal this man truly is.

Watching this film as an Adam fan, these scenes are unparalleled displays of his range and prowess. He’s in turns amusing and revolting; intolerable and pathetic; but always, always riveting. I couldn’t help thinking to myself that for the casual, non Adam-obsessed viewer, the effect of these scenes might stop at crass and unappealing. But in terms of the sheer range and power of acting on display? These scenes are a damn marvel. Through these scenes alone, his performance largely imbues the film with its wild, primal, and vaguely menacing atmosphere.

His stand-up scenes were, to me, some of the most intense of the film – sometimes downright difficult to endure. But they’re only a microcosm of the R A N G E he exhibits throughout the film’s entirety. Let’s talk about how he’s animalistic, menacing, and genuinely unsettling to watch (Leos Carax described him as “feline” at some point, and I 100% see it); and then with a mere subtle twitch of his expression, sheen of his eyes, or slump of his shoulders, he’s suddenly a lost, broken thing.

Henry McHenry is truly to be reviled. Twitter might as well spare their breath and announce he’s already cancelled. He towers above the rest of the cast with intimidating, predatory physicality; he is prone to indulgence in his vices; and he constantly seems at risk of releasing some wild, uncontrollable madness lingering just beneath his surface. But as we all well know, Adam has an unerring talent for lending pathos to even the most objectively condemnable characters.

In a repeated refrain during his first comedy show, the audience keeps asking him, “Why did you become a comedian?” He dodges the question or gives sarcastic answers, until finally circling back to the true answer later in the film. It was something to the effect of: “To disarm people. It’s the only way I can tell the truth without it killing me.” Even for all their sick spectacle, there are also moments in his stand-up shows of disarming vulnerability and (seeming) honesty. In a similar moment of personal exposition, he confesses his temptation and “sympathy for the abyss.” (This phrase is hands down my favorite of the film.) He repeatedly refers to his struggle against “the abyss” and, at the same time, his perceived helplessness against it. “There’s so little I can do, there’s so little I can do,” he sings repeatedly throughout the film - usually just after doing something horrific.

Had he been played by anyone else, the first full look of him warming up before his show - hopping in place and punching the air like some wannabe boxer, interspersing puffs of his cigarette with chowing down on a banana – would have been enough for me to swear him off. His archetype is something of a cliché at this point – a brusque, boorish man who can’t stomach or preserve the love of others due to his own self-loathing. There were multiple points when it was only Adam’s face beneath the character that kept my heart cracked open to him. But sure enough, he wedged his fingers into that tiny crack and pried it wide open. The film’s final few scenes show him at his chin-wobbling best as he crumbles apart in small, mournful subtleties.

(General, semi-spoiler ahead as to the tone of the film’s ending – skip this paragraph if you’d rather avoid.) For a film that professes not to take itself very seriously (how else am I supposed to interpret the freaky puppet baby?), it delivers a harsh, unforgiving ending to its main character. And sure enough, despite how much I might have wanted to distance myself and believe it was only what he deserved, I found myself right there with him, sharing his pain. It is solely testament to Adam’s tireless dedication to breathing both gritty realism and stubborn beauty into his characters that Henry sank a hook into some piece of my sympathy.

Not only does Adam have to be the only actor capable of imbuing Henry with humanity despite his manifold wrongs, he also has to be the only actor capable of the wide-ranging transformations demanded of the role. He starts the movie with long hair and his full refrigerator brick house physique. His physicality and size are actively leveraged to engender a sense of disquiet and unpredictability through his presence. He appears in turns tormented and tormentor. There were moments when I found myself thinking of Conan the Barbarian, simply because his physical presence radiates such wild, primal energy (especially next to tiny, dainty Marion and especially with that long hair). Cannot emphasize enough: The raw sex appeal is off the goddamn charts and had me – a veteran fangirl of 3+ years - shook to my damn core.

The film’s progression then ages him – his hair cut shorter and his face and physique gradually becoming more gaunt. By the film’s end, he has facial prosthetics to make him seem even more stark and borderline sickly – a mirror of his growing internal torment. From a muscular, swaggering powerhouse, he pales and shrinks to a shell of a man, unraveling as his face becomes nearly deformed by time and guilt. He is in turns beautiful and grotesque; sensual and repulsive. I know of no other actor whose face (and its accompanying capacity for expressiveness) could lend itself to such stunning versatility.

Quick note here that he was given a reddish-brown birthmark on the right side of his face for this film?? It becomes more prominent once his hair is shorter in the film’s second half. I’m guessing it was Leos’ idea to make his face even more distinctive and riveting? If so, joke’s on you, Mr. Carax, because we’re always riveted. ☺

I mentioned way up at the beginning that the film is bookended by two scenes where the lines blur between actor and character, and between reality and performance. This comes full circle at the film’s end, with Henry’s final spoken words (this doesn’t give any plot away but skip to the next paragraph if you would rather avoid!) being “Stop watching me.” That’s it. The show is over. He has told his last joke, played out his final act, and now he’s done living his life as a source of cheap, unprincipled laughs and thrills for spectators. The curtain closes with a resounding silence.

Now, I definitely won’t have a section where I talk (of course) about the Ben Solo parallels. He’s haunted by an “abyss” aka darkness inside of him? Bad things happened when he finally gave in and stared into that darkness he knew lived within him? As a result of those tragedies, (SPOILER – Skip to next paragraph to avoid) he then finds himself alone and with no one to love or be loved by? NO I’M DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT AT ALL, I’M JUST FINE HERE UNDER MY MOUNTAINS OF TISSUES.

Let’s talk about the music! The film definitely clocks in closer to a rock opera than musical, because almost the entire thing is conveyed through ongoing song, rather than self-contained musical numbers appearing here and there. This actually helps the film’s continuity and pacing, by keeping the characters perpetually in this suspended state of absurdity, always propelled along by some beat or melody. Whenever the film seems on the precipice of tipping all the way into the bleak and dark, the next whimsical tune kicks in to reel us all blessedly back. For example, after (SPOILER #1) happens, there’s a hard cut to the bright police station where several officers gather around Henry, bopping about and chattering on the beat “Questions! We have a few questions!”

Adam integrates his singing into his performance in such a way that it seems organic. I realized after the film that I never consciously considered the quality of his singing along the way. For all that I talked about the film maintaining the atmosphere of a fourth wall-defying performance piece, Adam’s singing is so fully immersed in the embodiment of his character that you almost forget he’s singing. Rather, this is simply how Henry McHenry exists. His stand-up scenes are the only ones in the film that do frequently transition back and forth between speaking and singing, but it’s seamlessly par for the course in Henry’s bizarre, dour show. He breaks into his standard “Now laugh!” number with uninterrupted sarcasm and contempt. There were certainly a few soft, poignant moments when his voice warbled in a tender vibrato you couldn’t help noticing – but otherwise, the singing was simply an extension of that full-body persona he manages to convey with such apparent ease and naturalism.

On the music itself: I’ll admit that the brief clip of “We Love Each Other So Much” we got a few weeks ago made me a tad nervous. It seemed so cheesy and ridiculous? But okay, you really can’t take anything from this movie out of context. Otherwise it is, indeed, utterly ridiculous. Not that none of it is ever ridiculous in context either, but I’m giving you assurances right now that it WORKS. Once you’re in the flow of constant singing and weirdness abound, the songs sweep you right along. Some of the songs lack a distinctive hook or melody and are moreso rhythmic vehicles for storytelling, but it’s now a day later and I still have three of the songs circulating pleasantly in my head. “We Love Each Other So Much” was actually the stand out for me and is now my favorite of the soundtrack. It’s reprised a few times later in the film, growing increasingly melancholy each time it is echoed, and it hits your heart a bit harder each time. The final song sung during (SPOILER #2), though without a distinctive melody to lodge in my head, undoubtedly left me far more moved than a spoken version of this scene would have. Adam’s singing is so painfully desperate and earnest here, and he takes the medium fully under his command.

Finally, it does have to be said that parts of this film veer fully towards the ridiculous and laughable. The initial baby version of the Annette puppet-doll was nothing short of horrifying to me. Annette gets more center-stage screen time in the film’s second half, which gives itself over to a few special effects sequences which look to be flying out at you straight from 2000 Windows Movie Maker. The scariest part is that it all seems intentional. The quality special effects appear when necessary (along with some unusual and captivating time lapse shots), which means the film’s most outrageous moments are fully in line with its guiding spirit. Its extravagant self-indulgence nearly borders on camp.

...And with that, I’ve covered the majority of the frantic notes I took for further reflection immediately after viewing. It’s now been a few days, and I’m looking forward to rewatching this movie when I can hopefully take it in a bit more fully. This time, I won’t just be struggling to keep up with the madness on screen. My concluding thoughts at this point: Is it my favorite Adam movie? Certainly not. Is it the most unforgettable? Aside from my holy text, The Last Jedi, likely yes. It really is the sort of thing you have to see twice to even believe it. And all in all, I say again that Adam truly carried this movie, and he fully inhabits even its highest, most ludicrous aspirations. He’s downright abhorrent in this film, and that’s exactly what makes him such a fucking legend.

I plan to make a separate post in the coming days about my experience at Cannes and the Annette red carpet, since a few people have asked! I can’t even express how damn good it feels to be globetrotting for Adam-related experiences again. <3

Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to ask me any further questions at all here or on Twitter! :)

*SYNOPSIS INCLUDED BELOW. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF AVOIDING SPOILERS!*

Synopsis: Comedian Henry McHenry and opera singer Ann Defrasnoux are both at the pinnacle of their respective success when they fall in love and marry. The marriage is happy and passionate for a time, leading to the birth of their (puppet) daughter, Annette. But tabloids and much of the world believe the crude, brutish Henry is a poor match for refined, idolized Ann. Ann and Henry themselves both begin to feel that something is amiss – Henry gradually losing his touch for his comedy craft, claiming that being in love is making him ill. He repeatedly and sardonically references how Ann’s opera career involves her “singing and dying” every night, to the point that he sees visions of her “dead” body on the stage. Meanwhile, Ann has a nightmare of multiple women accusing Henry of abusive and violent behavior towards them, and she begins growing wary in his presence. (He never acts abusively towards her, unless you count that scene when he tickles her feet and licks her toes while she’s telling him to stop??? Yeah I know, WILD.)

The growing sense of unease, that they’re both teetering on the brink of disaster, culminates in the most deranged of Henry’s stand-up comedy performances, when he gives a vivid reenactment of killing his wife by “tickling her to death.” The performance is so maudlin and unsettling that you wonder whether he’s not making it up at all, and the audience strongly rebukes him. (This is the “What is your problem?!” scene with tiddies out. The full version includes Adam storming across the stage, furiously singing/yelling, “What the FUCK is your problem?!”) But when Henry arrives home that night, drunk and raucous, Ann and Annette are both unharmed.

The couple take a trip on their boat, bringing Annette with them. The boat gets caught in a storm, and Henry drunkenly insists that he and Ann waltz in the storm. She protests that it’s too dangerous and begs him to see sense. (SPOILER #1) The boat lurches when Henry spins her, and Ann falls overboard to her death. Henry rescues Annette from the sinking boat and rows them both to shore. He promptly falls unconscious, and a ghost of Ann appears, proclaiming her intention to haunt Henry through Annette. Annette (still a toddler at this point and yes, still a wooden puppet) then develops a miraculous gift for singing, and Henry decides to take her on tour with performances around the world. He enlists the help of his “conductor friend,” who had been Ann’s accompanist and secretly had an affair with her before she met Henry.

Henry slides further into drunken debauchery as the tour progresses, while the Conductor looks after Annette and the two grow close. Once the tour concludes, the Conductor suggests to Henry that Annette might be his own daughter – revealing his prior affair with Ann. Terrified by the idea of anyone finding out and the possibility of losing his daughter, Henry drowns the Conductor in the pool behind his and Ann’s house. Annette sees the whole thing happen from her bedroom window.

Henry plans one last show for Annette, to be held in a massive stadium at the equivalent of the Super Bowl. But when Annette takes the stage, she refuses to sing. Instead, she speaks and accuses Henry of murder. (“Daddy kills people,” are the actual words – not that that was creepy to hear as this puppet’s first spoken words or anything.)

Henry stands trial, during which he sees an apparition of Ann from when they first met. They sing their regret that they can’t return to the happiness they once shared, until the apparition is replaced by Ann’s vengeful spirit, who promises to haunt Henry in prison. After his sentencing (it’s not clear what the sentence was, but Henry definitely isn’t going free), Annette is brought to see him once in prison. Speaking fully for the first time, she declares she can’t forgive her parents for using her: Henry for exploiting her voice for profit and Ann for presumably using her to take vengeance on Henry. (Yes, this is why she was an inanimate doll moving on strings up to this point – there was some meaning in that strange, strange artistic choice. She was the puppet of her parents’ respective egotisms.) The puppet of Annette is abruptly replaced by a real girl in this scene, finally enabling two-sided interaction and a long-missed genuine connection between her and Henry, which made this quite the emotional catharsis. (SPOILER #2) It concludes with Annette still unwilling to forgive or forget what her parents have done, and swearing never to sing again. She says Henry now has “no one to love.” He appeals, “Can’t I love you, Annette?” She replies, “No, not really.” Henry embraces her one last time before a guard takes her away and Henry is left alone.

…..Yes, that is the end. It left me with major emotional whiplash, after the whole film up to this point kept pulling itself back from the total bleak and dark by starting up a new toe-tapping, mildly silly tune every few minutes. But this last scene instead ends on a brutal note of harsh, unforgiving silence.

BUT! Make sure you stick around through the credits, when you see the cast walking through a forest together. (This is counterpart to the film’s opening, when you see the cast walking through LA singing “So May We Start?” directly to the audience) Definitely pay attention to catch Adam chasing/playing with the little girl actress who plays Annette! That imparts a much nicer feeling to leave the theater with. :’)

#Adam Driver #Annette #Cannes 2021 #driverdaily #Annette spoilers

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episomalvector · 3 years

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Fly on the wall.:~)

Send ‘fly on the wall’ for a Drabble of my muse talking to someone else about your muse | Still Accepting

_________

Oversized limbs brushed through the halls, brushing and flitting along every little piece of her homestead. They all had places like this while they observed-- little run down homes where they could find solace and a place to be away from their subjects. This little one, however, hadn’t found it necessary to check in recently. It was time that the main body checked in if the duplicate wasn’t going to.

‘Little Rat... you are making things difficult.’

Soft brown eyes flick upwards from the cup of tea that she cradled in her hands-- letting them focus on the large, lanky body that filled the doorway to the room. Cold, blackened limbs gripping the frame as it pushed forward-- blind eyes shifting through the room until they stare into hers. The main body must not have been pleased if it was here-- if it was mad enough to let its maw rip open to bare rows upon rows of predatory teeth. They weren’t for necessity-- they were for show.

‘You’re becoming too close--’

“It’s not what you think.”

‘I know you better than you know yourself.’

It pushes itself forward, a clicking sound escaping its throat and maw as it’s larger set of upper arms help lead towards its duplicate. Oh how long had it been since it had been like all of its pretty little rats? The disarming face and the proper manners of such a sweet young girl. Never mind that it felt like it had lived an eternity-- near a century-- and that its life had been nothing that it have ever thought of. The fact that it was able to get out of the lab without being noticed? That could be a problem.

‘It’s hard to admit that I believe another is corrupting you.’

“I continue to be myself and nothing more. Subject Akahiro, Daken has done nothing but teach. I’ve been learning about him and his existence just as you have asked all of us.”

It was something that seemed to happen with all the duplicates-- they got a little interested in one thing or another. It was something that the prime body had done its damnedest to stop-- but it felt as though the duplicates truly became their own beings after so long. But while it didn’t find most of the duplicates as something that could ruin everything? It seemed like the one that had found its way to observing Daken was learning some traits that were putting them all at risk.

‘Your actions draw attention.’

“We’ll be fine.”

There was a part of her that wasn’t thinking about how she wasn’t concerned for herself and the other duplicates. However? She was thinking about how much she was actively enjoying her time with Daken. It wasn’t feelings of love or admiration in that sort of sense-- but rather? It was like feeling she had found a sort of kindred spirit. Sure, they both had their own unique origins-- but they were seeming to bond over quite a few things. She was also learning new things.

‘What you do doesn’t only reflect on yourself, Rat, you are one piece of a whole-- one of many. Stop being selfish-- and stop putting yourself into compromising situations with the subject. Intimacy isn’t something that you are signed up for-- perhaps it’s already time that you distance yourself from the subject. Perhaps it’s time we consider your termination and replace you with a rat that hasn’t gone... so native.’

She didn’t know what the prime body wanted from her-- she did everything that it asked for and received nothing but scorn in return. What did it honestly expect-- with all things concerning Daken considered? It had the same information that she had before she went to find him. Before she kept herself low and watched him for what felt like an eternity before finally approaching him.

The duplicate brushes a long lock of her black hair out of her face, her attention glued to the enormous monster that had, once, been just like her. It drops its face-- the sharp maw opening to left out a soft hiss. A warning. One that the duplicate received loud and clear, and in response? She touched along the top of the things’ snout-- it was hard to explain its anatomy when it was everchanging and ever-disturbing.

“No. I don’t need to be repurposed-- I promise, I haven’t compromised what it is you sent me to do. I’m doing everything you’ve asked and learning what it is that the subject has to teach. He isn’t corrupting me-- how could he? Don’t you think that’s something that’s a little-- delusional?” No, that wasn’t what she really wanted to say. “It’s not like he could interrupt our communications or change any part of me, right?”

That was something she was, actually curious about-- sometimes she wondered if there was a way for his pheromones to cancel out the lines of communication that she had with the prime body. A way that they could almost be used to mask her-- to interrupt her own chemical signals.

‘See that he doesn’t, little Rat... because if we feel that you’re not accomplishing your mission? We’ll shut it all down-- I’m sure he’d care just as much as we would if you were terminated.’ It slowly moved its head back and began to find its way out of the room. A warning was enough for now-- and if the duplicate continued acting odd? There would be no more warnings. ‘We don’t have to be killers like he is, Rat. We are scientists. We observe and learn-- that’s the purpose we serve in life. You are not programmed to be a butcher or a thug.’

She didn’t feel she was acting so odd, though. Not as she watched the lumbering creature leave the room-- the fact that it found its way here was problem enough. It was the one who chose Daken as one of their subjects-- it knew what he was. But... whatever, this didn’t matter in the end did it? She had fun with him-- and it’s not like he made her do anything she didn’t want to. Mami watches after where the creature had left for another few moments... and then there was a phone in her palms.

‘Don’t continue to disappoint us, Rat.’

Her head tilts to regard the, now, empty hallway. Speaking of Daken... she’d rather take her chances finding her way to him tonight instead of letting the prime body sneak back at some point.

[Txt: Daken] Two questions.

[Txt: Daken] Are you busy... and can I stay with you tonight?

[Txt: Daken] I’ll treat you to dinner and whatever you want to do to have fun.

#+let me explain the process+ (asks)#// I was gonna do it at work #but then I realized you're gonna get a whole wall of text #I'm not gonna say the main body find Daken threatening #but like... it do #goreverine

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lawrenceop · 3 years

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HOMILY for the Mass of Christmas Day

Isa 52:7-10; Ps 98; Heb 1:1-6; Jn 1:1-18

Christmas is cancelled! This is what the headlines have been saying, and on Twitter this hashtag began to trend as soon as the Prime Minister made his announcement last Saturday. Christmas is cancelled – no more shopping for gifts, no more drinks in the pub with friends, and no more Christmas lunches with the extended family. Quite understandably, for many of us for whom socialising and being with our loved ones is an essential part of this festive season, this extreme social distancing (which has resulted in many being alone today) means that, in effect, truly, Christmas is cancelled.

And I fully understand this. Even though I have not spent Christmas with my family for over a decade (and my mother has become quite accustomed to this) I understand the pain and sorrow of being alone, or physically apart from our loved ones on this day – my first Christmas in this country, when I was a student in Leeds, was spent quite alone in a spookily deserted hall of residence after I had been to Christmas morning Mass. For many years, as a child, Christmas was about opening presents, but for the past decade or so there have been no presents of my own to open, so I save up every Christmas card I get and I open them on Christmas day.

So, over the years, my understanding of Christmas day and its significance has been purified by my experiences. Gradually, the Lord was at work in my heart, to move me to focus on him, and on what he has done for me. I realised, then, that many of the things that we do before and during Christmas day can, in fact, distract us from the true beauty and meaning of Christmas day. Even being with my family, I realised, could be a distraction from the true focus of Christmas! So, many years ago, I walked for 2 hours in the snow to get to and from midnight Mass rather than to stay and join in the merry-making and revelry at home. Because, one thing I realised is that the most important aspects of Christmas is all there in the name: the term ‘Christmas’ comes from two words – Christ and Mass – and, thankfully, we have both of these today! So, of course, Christmas is not cancelled.

Our focus today and at this time, then, is on the person of Jesus Christ. We focus on the God who has become Man so as to befriend you, embrace you, and show you his eternal love for you. For Christ, who is born for us, has bridged the infinite social distance between God and sinners. As St Paul says: “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Cf Rom 8:39) This is the great grace of Christ’s becoming Man, and socialising with us, drawing near to us. But that’s not enough. God loves us so much that he doesn’t just want to be near us, he wants union with us, he wants you and me to partake in his divine nature! Hence, Christ gives his whole Self to us in the Mass: we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion. This is an amazing grace indeed. Thus St John says in the Gospel: “from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.” (Jn 1:16). Grace upon grace; Gift upon gift; favour upon favour. So on Christmas day, I came to see, I don’t need to open a beautifully wrapped present because the greatest Gift of all is given to me at the Mass: Jesus gives himself to me.

Many of you will know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and then he was laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn. But did you know that Bethlehem means ‘House of Bread’? And a manger is a feeding trough for animals. So, on Christmas day, and indeed, in every Mass, remember this: the same Jesus Christ who was born on this day, is fully and substantially present under the appearance of bread, and he is laid on the altar just as he was laid in the manger; you and I become the animals who feed upon him, the Living Bread that has come down from heaven. And so, our bodies, our person, becomes the true Bethlehem, the true House of the true Bread of Life.

For in the Mass, the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us, indeed, he dwells in you and me, full of grace and truth. (Cf Jn 1:14) Therefore, let us receive him with faith, with reverence, and with love. Let us receive him with hearts and minds purified of sin. While the inns of the world turn Christ away, and while the many distracted and restless souls have no room for him, let it not be so with us! As the words of the carol goes:

“How silently, how silently

the wondrous gift is giv’n!

So God imparts to human hearts

the blessings of His heav’n.

No ear may hear His coming,

but in this world of sin,

where meek souls will receive Him still

the dear Christ enters in.”

So, Christmas isn’t cancelled – it can’t be! Rather, Christ has entered into our world, and he chooses to make his home in your heart. Because Jesus come to cancel the debt of your sins; he comes to cancel our guilt; he comes to cancel out whatever keeps us from his grace. On this day, of all days, let there be no sorrow, no tears, no despair because Christ has cancelled our sins. Hence the prophet Isaiah says: “Break into shouts of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord is consoling his people, redeeming Jerusalem.” (Isa 52:9)

Therefore, Cardinal Nichols encourages us: “Christmas comes, in our homes, in our hearts, in our communities. Nothing can take that away. So let us welcome his coming with an unambiguous joy, with a shared delight, with a generous spirit. We know what we are doing. Speak this wonderful Christmas story to each other, highlighting the wonder and the unshakable hope that it brings to all.”

So, when you speak to your loved ones today, whether over Zoom, or on the phone, or even by praying, tell them about the Love who became Man, and dwells in your heart today. Tell them about Christ, and about the Mass because these are the focus of Christmas.

Many years ago, in the Christmas of 1229, when it wasn’t possible to travel as easily, and when there wasn’t the marvels of our modern telecommunications, a Dominican friar, Blessed Jordan of Saxony, found himself very much distanced and separated from a beloved friend. He knew that she was in anguish because she couldn’t see him. And so he wrote her a letter, a Christmas letter, and I wanted to end with his words in the hope that they may bring you some hope and consolation at this time. He wrote:

“I cannot find the time to write you the long letter your love would wish for and [which] I would so gladly send. Nonetheless I do write, I send you a very little word, the Word made little in the crib, the Word who was made flesh for us, the Word of salvation and grace, of sweetness and glory, the Word who is good and gentle, Jesus Christ and him crucified, Christ raised up on the cross, raised in praise to the Father's right hand: to whom and in whom [shall] you raise up your soul and find there your rest unending for ever and ever.

Read over that Word in your heart, turn it over in your mind, let it be sweet as honey on your lips; ponder it, dwell on it, that it may dwell with you and in you for ever.”

#Christmas #Eucharist #Holy Communion #Mass #Salvation #joy

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shanascarlett · 5 years

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Thoughts on Hasbro Universe after Revolution

Im big fan of G.I. Joe/Transformers. But when I heard that there are more than 2 franhises in one universe, it blew my mind. So I decided to check out them. One of them I heard when I was kid.

Revolution was big. For some it was epic, other think it was mess. I understand why ppl love and hate it. Personally I love it. There’s conflict and how heroes unite against evil. It was the beggining of massive universe. So, how it turned out?

To be fair.... not so good.

Its my own opinion. You can disagree with me. If you love aftermath of Revolution, thats fine. I just want to tell about the conclusion of Hasbro Comic Book Universe.

Optimus Prime.

I think the writer put a lot of his view on life: disappointment on every religion. I really didnt like how he made that Optimus Prime is always wrong. Even when he listens and he does what he was asked to do, ppl still angry at him. “You should listened to me!” and “You shouldn’t listen to me!”. I love that they put Joes, but here’s the big issue: OOC of Mainframe and Flint with his daughter look similar the same age.

Remember when Trasnformers had the mystery of their religion and mythology? Mix of Sci-Fi and Cosmic Fantasy. Yeah, forget about that. It was all Shockwave’s evil plan. Another big disappointment for me.

I like how they described the ghost of Bumblebee, but Shockwave being one of 13 Primes looks very... confusion to me.

Lost Light

Lost Light deserves to be called a weak sequel. Remember when in MTMTE was magic mystery, adventure, gore and development of characters and relationships? Here I found nothing. New characters for me are not interesting. And yes about them being “trans”. Im not transphobic and sorry if my opion might hurt you or offend. I just dont see transgenders in Transformers. I dont see transformers suffering of gender dysphoria. Hell, I doubt they suffer of homophobia, bc they are totally fine with mlm and wlw. If you dont know, hetero relationships are for the population of Earth. And Transformers managed told that they can love each other, but their love is not like Earth’s bc they dont have to have sex to create life. They have strong emotion connection to each other.

Speaking about love. I love Chromedome/Rewind love story bc it was developed. We saw the birth of connection, loss, pain, reunion, fear and happiness. Same with Cyclonus and Tailgate. To be fair I dont ship the last two as romantic couple, but as platonic couple. For me they dont have that emotional connection like Chrome/Rewind but they care each other. In Lost Light nothing. You just accept that a lot characters are couple to each other. Why and how? Just accept it. This is why I dont feel emotional connection to Lug and Anode. To be fair I thought they are friend and Lug looks a lot like a boy. If they’d develop her more better, I think I’d like her. The whole Lost Light is just comics of couples. I was thinking when they’re gonna do the Orgy like in Ancient Rome.

Also here’s another disappointment in religion. Everything was lie. As I told earlier - I didnt like it. I’d rather to rewatch TFP, Bayverse or G1. BC I felt emptiness. MTMTE is masterpiece.

G.I. Joe

Where do I begin? Was written by socialist who doesnt know anything about military, ruined Quick Kick who was nice and gentle, made Scarlett an idiot, turned charasmatic Shipwreck into fat vegan, new characters have no backstory or reasons why they joined to Joes. Also: huge hypocricy. Scarlett says that G.I. Joe is now international team, but they refuse to work with USA. I get it they tried to turn G.I. Joe into Overwatch, but OW was working with every country. Including USA, where they had one of their headquarters. American G.I. Joe was more progressive bc they were helping every country who had deal with Cobra or any threat. They even teamed up with Russian soldiers.

The huge disappointment was no explanation about Snake Eyes rebirth (and no love story of Snake/Scarlett) and Quick Kick being an ass. Just check G.I. Joe ARAH show. There Quick Kick was nice. I miss that one....

The only good stuff was about Rock n’ Roll nightmares and guilt for shooting Grand Slam, grumpy Grand Slam and Doc being half-alien. Thats alll.

Revolutionaries

It was a bit better bc its literally crossover with conflict and backstories. Here they at least tried to make story interesting. And brought a lot interesting references. Especially to 90s: KLAW, Slaugther and even to original Action Force.

M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand

At 1st they tried but then it all felt down. I wouldnt call it horrible. You can check out 1st issues. I can say that only villains were interesting. While main heroes... here’s the problem.

Original Matt Trekker was an engineer, millionaire, helped ppl and white. Why the last important? BC in reboot he became boring black guy who seeks vengeance for his father death and the main bad guy is white man. Im not racist bc I like how it was done in Spawn, but it wasnt so obvious who is the bad guy who just wants to take over the world. I get it you hate Trump. He is a clown.

Also original Trekker raises his son alone. So he is widowed. It could play in reboot: lost all, but tries to keep his son safe. So much potential for drama of lonely father. But we got what we got. I just go to rewatch Spawn animated series.

If they wanted “diverse” why they didnt put more poc characters from MASK? You know there are actual canon black man and indian man? Even native american man?

ROM

It was boring. 1st issues were interesting and brutal bc of alien invansion. You wouldnt know who is the enemy and who is the friend. But drama...

Whole Rom’s drama was about losing his humanity. At 1st we see him as cold-hearted alien. Then they all forget about it. Original Rom from Marvel was losing his humanity until he met brave girl Brandy who made him to remember his loss of homeplanet and love of his life. He was afraid to be alone and to be complete machine. And yes, in reboot his old girlfriend is alive. But I felt nothing with this. I prefer to read original comics bc I felt sorry for Rom.

Micronauts: Wrath of Karza

It was boring. The only thing I can remember is Larissa being Baron Karza’s daughter. I dont compare reboot with original series bc I havent read yet. I liked the new one bc of Baron Karza and his wife (and their fetish).

First Strike

Hoo- boy. It was bad. Preety bad. Not bc villains tried to destroy Cybertron. Not bc TF thought its gonna be war of humans and TF. No, it all was good. The main villain is Joe Colton who wants to destroy Cybertron to save Earth. And that he was bad from the beginning. His motivation sounds like Miles Mayhem from M.A.S.K.. That shock effect of surprise villain doesnt work here. It looks like disrespect to Joe fans. They managed to ruin Scarlett’s character who was turned into G.I. Joe not bc she was the best. She was in Joes bc she didnt do 50 push-ups. If you dont know, G.I. Joe is elite guard where they take the best men and women bc they do a lot dangerous work. So the whole story arc is full disrespect to Joe fan. I dont know about you, but I was offended by that.

Was there smth good? Team up of villains and the easter egg of Visionaries.

Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor

I almost forget about the plot bc it was boring. Rom was rude like every commander (yeah, for someone “losing humanity”). New character was boring. So everythng was boring. Even Autobots didint save the situation.

Rom & the Micronauts

Well, they at least tried with characters development. I really liked how characters interact with each other. But the whole story was “meh”

Scarlett's Strike Force

It was very short and cancelled. BC that writer Sitterson wrote offensive tweet about Nine Eleven. I get it what he was trying to do: to make comics based on cartoon G.I. Joe. This is why Quick Kick and Spirit fight against Storm Shadow. Personally I thought it was racist bc “only asian fight agains asian”. And Storm Shadow has the worst redesign I’ve ever seen. Theres nothing to talk about the comics bc its unfinished and cancelled. So theres nothing.

Transformers vs. Visionaries

This comic had potential. But the ending ruined it. The story is about colonization to save living race. But it will kill another nation. Its interesting theme. And how they managed? Nothing. For some reason everyone in peace and safe. The ending is just weird. I think writer didint know how to end that conflict so she wrote “everyone safe and in peace. Colonization is bad”. Not the ending is the problem. Main characters: Leoric and Virulina redesigned very strong. Leoric looks like total different character (why not to create new character? He looks good). And Virulina looks like student from art-school, not the villain. The redesigned I like are Cryotek and Arzon. And the art was very good.

The last 2 ones I havent finished yet. I can tell this: TAAO isnt look so bad, but I’m ready for disapointing ending, like TF Unicron.

In conclusion:

I dont tell that it was done horrible. Its just explains why IDW decided to reboot TF and G.I. Joe. Low sales. BC I’ve noticed a lot easter eggs in those comics for future story plots. I think they’d made it good if IDW would give them chance.

If you love them, thats fine. I’ll enjoy my own version of Hasbro Universe.

#review #opinion #transformers #g.i. joe #gijoe #mask #m.a.s.k.#rom #rom the spaceknight #micronauts #visionaries #comics #idw #hasbro #hasbro universe

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commandtower-solring-go · 5 years

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Perhaps we could go a whole year without having this same conversation, but now isn’t that time. To begin to justify an action on the grounds that a shared experience would otherwise be a paid experience is a fallacy. Simply put, just cause people share their Netflix, doesn’t mean all those people were going to pay for Netflix. And why should we? Do you really expect me to pay $12 per month, for the privilege to binge all 5 seasons of Brooklyn Nine Nine again and again. Why, if I share it then maybe it would be put to good use but if somehow something were to stand in my way I can’t help but feel like a VPN would be a better use of that money. Its the same principle with piracy. Just because someone pirated a film doesn’t mean they would have otherwise seen it. So the prospect that profit could be made, with certainty, off the back of that is erroneous.

Streaming services worked because it was easier than piracy. But with so many services, all requiring separate payments, now proposing that they can’t be shared (or even that an automated service which we all know have worked so well in the past *coughcoughcontentIDcoughcough*), well piracy might be the easier alternative yet again.

I’m not saying that I’m going to pirate just because this exists. But I just think that streaming services will be shooting themselves into the foot.

There was a story going around for a while in which an old rock and roll bang were facing a massive problem with pirates. En masse their music was being downloaded illegally and it was hitting their bottom line. However, rather than fight it they used the stats of the downloads to figure out where in the US the largest number of their songs were being downloaded. By using this, they planned their tour, resulting in the bands most successful tour shows since their prime.

Ultimately, people will use whatever is easiest for them. They’ll give you their money if they believe what you’re asking for is worth their time and money and if they don’t they’ll find other ways. But its a shame to see businesses try to pull every last drop out of something by ruining the fun of people.

#streaming

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incorrecteragonquotes · 6 years

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Eragon Movie Recap Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

It’s Part 2 of the Eragon Movie Recap! There’s a second part now! That you can read!

Part 2 picks up where Part 1 left off. Arya’s been captured by Durza, Eragon has found a cool rock, and Galbatorix can’t win the geology convention. All of this makes for one eventful night! Let us see what happens next.

As Eragon returns to town after his hunting trip, we get a nice look at Carvahall in all of its ramshackle glory. As Eragon walks across the frame, we see a small patrol of soldiers walk by as well. As we’re about to see, the soldiers and the villagers could be considered distinct factions within Carvahall, and they do not get along. Though, if the soldiers aren’t considered villagers, I wonder where they live. How many of them are there? What’s the soldier-to-villager ratio? Why do they care this much about Carvahall? Does the army have this many resources to spare on every village? It would make sense to me if the soldiers were to be here temporarily, as they tour the countryside accosting all of the villages, but the way the soldiers are treated by the film makes me think that no, they just live here.

A bunch of soldiers haul Baldor and Albreich off to conscription land, wherever that is. Baldor and Albreich are, of course, not named, and I’m-pretty-sure-that’s-Horst complains about their sudden departure in an expositional manner. This is one of many ways in which the filmmakers ruined their planned franchise - these characters do a lot of things in the later books. I suppose Baldor and Albreich could return later as a part of the army and then rejoin Carvahall’s forces, which would fit well enough, but still, the writers just sabotaged any future attempts to adapt the later novels.

Additionally, this soldiers’ attitude here is quite confusing to me. They’re all very snide about this abduction, while they, too, must have joined the army somehow. If this is how they treat the villagers of Carvahall, they must have come from somewhere else. Were they conscripted as well? Is this whole conscription business a recent development? Maybe they joined voluntarily. They could have signed on because they wanted to bully people for a living, though I’m not convinced there are all that many people joining the army for that reason. People have better ways to spend their time, after all. So what’s with the attitude? If they stay in Carvahall for long enough, they’re bound to become part of the community in some capacity. But they clearly aren’t. What gives? I am by no means an expert on this subject, but the soldiers in this film bother me to no end.

Eragon walks into Sloan’s meat shop, and is immediately intrigued by the prime cuts Sloan has on the chopping block. Sloan appears to be cheery enough, even becoming the first person in the film to refer to Eragon by name. He’s downright educational until Eragon expresses an interest in making a purchase, at which point he switches to some rather forced (and expositional, because why not) mockery. But Eragon’s serious, so he proposes a trade.

Sloan accuses Eragon of stealing the cool rock, but this doesn’t seem to put a damper on his interest in the Big Shiny Thing. Just as Eragon’s about to complete the trade, he remembers that it is his solemn duty to behave as stupidly as possible, so he leans in conspiratorially and tells Sloan that he found the cool rock in the Spine. This is true, but it’s also the one thing he could have said to immediately convince Sloan to cancel any and all trading plans. Sloan’s very targeted dislike of the mountains may have been replaced in this film by a generic sense that the cool rock belongs to the king, which is somehow determined by its being found in the mountains. Maybe the Spine is state-owned land? As he’s booting Eragon out of his shop, Sloan goes on to tell Eragon to keep his cool rock a secret, because it could endanger the whole village. Somehow.

This detail opens up a rather peculiar possibility. Film Eragon keeps the cool rock and everything that comes of it a secret from his family. Does he only do this because Sloan told him that less paranoid courses of action were a bad idea? That’s an awful lot of trust for Eragon to be putting in Sloan here. Surely some of that should be reserved for Eragon’s own family.

Outside, we get to meet Brom! He’s being pestered by some soldiers who are accusing him of theft. They apparently don’t think too highly of his hunting skills, and they don’t buy his story about acquiring his dead birds by way of strange weather event. Personally, I think he should get to keep the birds on account of his story delivery skills alone. Jeremy Irons is a blessing to this film and I sincerely respect his performance as Brom. Regardless, the soldier’s don’t care, and just as a fight is starting to break out, Brom sees that Eragon is watching.

Seeing Eragon The Impressionable Youth prompts Brom to stand down and hand over the birds. He clearly doesn’t want to set a bad example for this kid, though it’s unclear if this attitude extends to kids in general, or if it’s specific to Eragon. He’s very bitter about having his birds confiscated with such little justification, but he lets the issue go after a few cutting remarks.

With the spicy conflict over, Eragon walks the long distance home. But what’s this? Garrow’s awake now! He waves at Eragon from the field he’s working in.

Roran charges loudly into the scene to tease his cousin. He has a sense of humour and an upbeat attitude. One could almost call it a… personality? Weird.

Roran acts unsurprised at Eragon’s lack of hunting spoils. Insinuates that Eragon is something of a coward. Gets a little rowdy. Eragon decides to push back, and they have a little fight.

It’s all fun and games. There are some bad quips, and Eragon gets to show a little resourcefulness. Garrow walks in after a few moments and breaks up the fight.

Eragon returns to his room and drops off his stuff. Takes out his weird cylindrical bean. Knocks on it. It makes a hollow, metallic ringing noise. That’s not the sound an egg makes, dragon or no. Certainly not the sound of a cool rock. Eragon is, finally, weirded out by this.

Later, Eragon and Roran are out working the fields. Roran decides that this is the time for an important chat. He’s leaving town! It turns out that this film is really committed to the whole army conscription thing, and Roran must consequently skip town to avoid becoming a soldier. He intends to settle somewhere, eventually, at which point he will send word. Eragon is saddened by the prospect of life without his cousin. Eragon doesn’t know where Roran will go. Neither does Roran. Roran doesn’t seem to mind.

While we’re on the subject of Roran’s departure, I’d like to point out that Movie Roran doesn’t have a definite plan at all, much less one that involves returning to Carvahall. I’m going to go ahead and assume that this also wrecks any future attempts at sequel adaptation. Let’s not forget, though, that this change in Roran’s behaviour is attributed to army conscription. This suggests that Galbatorix needs a bigger army than the one he has. It’d be silly of him to conscript so many people otherwise, since armies are costly to maintain. So Galby needs an army, and a big one at that. Why? What could he possibly be using it for? Is he planning ahead for when his cool rock doesn’t come home? This whole army situation makes no sense!

Eragon and Garrow are… cleaning a horse or something. I don’t know enough about farms to judge this action. Eragon is bummed out, and Garrow guesses immediately that Roran told him about his plans to leave. Garrow knows how to lighten the mood, so he spouts some words about theme! He talks about how one day, Eragon will decide what kind of life he wants to lead. Eragon protests that he likes the life he’s already leading. Garrow concedes that lots of people have their life goals very near, but some people are just the adventuring type.

At the mention of adventure, Eragon spots an opportunity, and asks if that’s why his mother left. Garrow pauses, and then takes the time to clearly state that she was his sister, lest the audience be confused, and he’s happy that he had the chance to raise his nephew alongside his own son. Gotta keep that exposition train a-goin’. Garrow says she left because of reasons. In a twist that should really not surprise you at this point, the reasons are not elaborated upon.

Now Roran’s leaving! Garrow gives him some money that he’d been saving up for this exact purpose, gives him a hug, and sends him on his way. Eragon stands awkwardly in the background, before walking his cousin to the edge of town. As a part of his goodbyes, Roran tells Eragon to work on his aim. It was at this point during the film that I realized they might be saying that Eragon’s hunting skills are legit bad. Eragon sits on a rock and mopes while Roran walks off into the sunset, never to be seen again.

And that’s it for Part 2! This one took a little longer to write than I had hoped, but between life being what it is and these dang soldiers continuing to exist in this movie, sometimes that’s just how it goes. Thank you all for reading, and thanks to everyone who left comments on Part 1! It was great hearing from you. This part covered about 8 minutes of screentime. A lot happened in those 8 minutes… Maybe things will also happen in Part 3! In the meantime, be sure to let me know If you have any thoughts, feelings, questions, conspiracy theories, or favourite rocks.

Remember to tune in next week when we visit such questions as “will Roran be able to capture the Avatar and restore his honour?”, “how many corners will the writers back themselves into?”, and “how will Eragon handle the newfound pressure of geology fame?”. See you then!

#eragon #inheritance cycle #eragon movie #seriously though what is it with these soldiers #eragon movie recap #eragon shadeslayer #sloan #garrow #roran stronghammer #long post #sorry mobile users #mod zar'roc

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xtruss · 4 years

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How the Government Is Wading Into the Swamp of Despotism – One Muzzle at a Time

"They are there to humiliate, to cancel individuality and to indicate assent – forced or otherwise – to the crazy policy of trying to treat a virus with naked state power"

— The Covid Rouge | Peter Hitchens | September 12, 2020 | Russia Insider | The Daily Mail

The Government has no legal right to impose the severe and miserable restrictions on our lives with which it has wrecked the economy, brought needless grief to the bereaved and the lonely and destroyed our personal liberty.

This is the verdict of one of the most distinguished lawyers in the country, the retired Supreme Court Judge Lord Sumption.

He said last week in a podcast interview: ‘I don’t myself believe that the Act confers on the Government the powers that it has purported to exercise.’

He was referring to the Public Health Act of 1984, the basis for almost all the sheaves of increasingly hysterical decrees against normal life which the Health Secretary Matt Hancock has issued since March. I promise you that it is not usual for a retired senior judge to use such language in public.

This 1984 Act was drawn up mainly to give local magistrates the power to quarantine the sick.

Nothing in it remotely justifies these astonishing moves – house arrest, travel restrictions, harsh limits on visiting family members, interference with funerals and weddings, closure of churches, compulsory muzzles, bans on assembly and protest.

English law just does not allow an Act of Parliament to be stretched so far. Magistrates are never given such powers. It is a principle of our law that fundamental freedoms cannot be invaded or overruled unless the law specifically allows it.

As he is one of the most distinguished legal minds of our time, Jonathan Sumption’s opinions on this matter are surely important. Let us hope that the Courts of England, which have so far been content to let the Government do what it likes, will listen to what he says when they look at the matter again later this month, in the case brought by Simon Dolan, a businessman who is seeking a judicial review of the Government’s policy on Covid-19.

It is extraordinary for such a person as Lord Sumption to go public in this fashion. And he went on to say another astonishing thing. He pointed out that powers do exist – in the shape of the formidable Civil Contingencies Act – under which the Prime Minister could do all the things he has done. But the CCA requires regular parliamentary scrutiny and renewal.

The Government’s team of lawyers must know this. So why wasn’t the CCA used? We can only guess that the Prime Minister and his Health Secretary feared that if they had to keep coming back to Parliament, even the dim, slumbering and gullible MPs we have nowadays would eventually have spotted, and halted, the immense power grab now under way.

Lord Sumption’s intervention is, of course, so huge and important that the media of this country have somehow not noticed it. So, as has been the case from the start, you have to get it from me. But believe me, it is an indication of just how deep into the swamp of despotism this Government has already waded.

Let us escape soon, before we are so far in we can never get out again.

Bare-faced State Bullies

The most terrible warning of what lies ahead of us – if we cannot smash the Government’s lies – is in Melbourne, Australia, where a vain little despot called Daniel Andrews has locked his subjects in their homes, banned demonstrations against this policy, and unleashed heavy-handed police against protesters and dissenters.

At this rate, Melbourne will soon be twinned with Minsk, capital of Belarus. The treatment of protesters on the streets of both cities is remarkably similar. I was most struck by what happened to a young woman demonstrator at the hands of Melbourne police, after they had grabbed and restrained her, so that she was powerless.

An officer actually put a covering over her mouth. It was not the only such incident that day and it explains, to those who object, why I call these things muzzles.

They are there to humiliate, to cancel individuality and to indicate assent – forced or otherwise – to the crazy policy of trying to treat a virus with naked state power.

If US police forced handcuffed Left-wing protesters to wear Trumpoid ‘Make America Great Again’ baseball caps it would be about the same.

Now hiking’s a crime, but dope is fine

One of my rules is that the more political the police become, the more useless they are against actual crime. Here is a good example. Police who have over the past few months pursued sunbathers, hikers, people going into their own front gardens or showing their naked faces on trains, now plan a new extra-soft line on marijuana.

Even though this terrible drug is increasingly linked with lifelong mental illness and violence, liberal police chiefs are still lost in a Sixties-style haze of dope, believing dubious claims that it is a medicine.

Legalisers have long privately admitted these claims are a red herring to give pot a good name. How can something which makes many of its users mentally ill be a medicine?

But lo, police chiefs are backing a new ‘cannabis card’ that will provide de-facto decriminalisation of the drug for millions of people with health conditions. Officers, who have already almost given up arresting people for possession, say it will give them a new excuse for failing to enforce the law.

Too busy on granny patrol, making sure children can’t see their grandmothers, I expect.

Schoolboy Johnson’s Lies Keep Getting Bigger

Imagine a naughty schoolboy afraid to admit what started as a minor misdeed. Such a schoolboy, having broken the headmaster’s window with his catapult, and trying to evade punishment, might invent a story about a gang of yobs bursting into the school grounds.

So the police are called and he deepens the falsehood. The longer it goes on, the more embarrassing it will be to confess. Innocent people are rounded up, arrested and charged on the basis of his claims.

He gives false evidence against them. They lose their freedom, perhaps have their lives ruined. The lie is now even worse. He must either confess or elaborate the false story of the gang, for ever. And the worse it gets, the harder it is to own up. So he lies and keeps lying.

So it is with our Prime Minister. He panicked in March, on the basis of poor advice. He did immense damage and knows it. But rather than admit he hugely overestimated the danger of Covid, he continues to insist it is a deadly plague and that it will be back soon in a terrible second wave. The official Covid death and hospitalisation figures, declining ever since April 8, are now bumping along the bottom of the graph, close to zero.

Hence the false epidemic of so-called Covid ‘cases’, which the Government is trying to pretend exists. How simple-minded do you need to be not to see the great flaw in this?

On Monday, the media reported new coronavirus cases in the UK had risen to 2,988 on Sunday, the highest daily total since May. Panic! Or perhaps not.

I searched the Government’s own spreadsheets and what did I find? More than 1.1 million tests each week but fewer than 10,000 positive results.

Judging by the state of the hospitals and the death rates, I think we may assume most were just fine, as most who catch this disease are.

So, for this, we propose to stop people gathering in groups of more than six? I sense even those who have, up till now, put up with this rubbish are beginning to tire of it.

Good, for until you do and demand truthful explanations of why your children’s education has been ruined, why legions of people will lose their jobs, why daily life is an intensifying misery of jobsworths and bureaucracy, and why hundreds of businesses built up with years of sweat and risk are now dying, you will just get more lies.

— Source: The Daily Mail

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salarta · 6 years

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For the fun of it, I’m going to post about all the cases I can remember where I stopped buying stuff from a company involved in creative works because of various things they did. Also, my history with them and current state. I could write very long posts on each of these, but my intent is to try to keep it short and straightforward.

Square-Enix

I grew up with Final Fantasy from Squaresoft. It was my lifelong fandom.

Problems arose with Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, and Chrono Trigger DS. All of these games either were ideas for new franchises forced where they didn’t belong, or half-assed projects meant to bilk money out of people. The final straw was 3rd Birthday, one of the most insulting works I’ve ever seen. It bent over backwards to ruin perception of Aya, treated her like a sex object, and the producer and scriptwriter lied profusely about things like how the clothes ripping away mechanic was for “realism.”

Current status: Starting 2010, I’ve refused to buy anything Squeenix until a new game starring Aya Brea would be made that treats Aya right and makes 3rd Birthday noncanon. Squeenix’s philosophy is to hide its mistakes instead of fixing them, so I expect I’ll never buy and engage in anything from Squeenix again.

Ubisoft

I didn’t have much history with Ubisoft. I had been starting to get some interest in Assassin’s Creed after an online pal introduced me to the franchise. I greatly enjoyed AC3.

Then, Ubisoft decided to be dicks to Patrice Desilets. A lot could be said about this, but the cliffnotes is this. Desilets was making 1666 with THQ. Ubisoft bought THQ. When Desilets left/was fired (can’t remember which), the rights to 1666 were to go back to him if it got canceled. So, Ubisoft put the game on “indefinite hold” instead of canceling it - ensuring the rights wouldn’t go back to Desilets while never actually doing anything with it. I stopped buying anything Ubisoft until Desilets got the rights back.

Current status: The rights finally went back to Desilets after a few years. I immediately bought four games: Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, Far Cry Primal, and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. This year, I bought Far Cry 5, and I currently have Assassin’s Creed Odyssey next to play after I’m done with Soul Calibur VI.

Soul Calibur

I’ve been playing Soul Calibur games since SCII. I’ve enjoyed them a great deal. My favorite character in the franchise is Setsuka.

Soul Calibur V is where I had big complaints. The excuse of a time jump to change the roster conveniently meant most of the female roster “needed” to be changed while most of the male roster got to remain. Including the removal of Sophitia and Taki. To Taki’s exclusion, the director claimed she was “too old” to be a ninja, yet he saw no problem with Mitsurugi, Siegfried, or Raphael returning. I played Lost Swords, but I determined that I wouldn’t play another Soul Calibur entry until Sophitia and Taki were brought back.

Current status: Soul Calibur VI just recently came out, and it brought back Sophitia and Taki, and gave them some of the respect they should’ve gotten during SCV. As such, I own this game. I’m playing it right now.

Resident Evil

Like most people, I started with Resident Evil 2. I was never a huge fan, but I followed along with main entries up to and including Resident Evil 5.

Then Resident Evil 6 happened. A supposed “anniversary” title, it excluded Jill and Claire completely, while putting Chris and Leon on a pedestal. Other projects began to make it abundantly clear that the current team fanwanks over Chris and Leon while refusing to acknowledge the value of Jill and Claire. I can say so, so much on this, but I’ll refrain for brevity sake. I determined that after RE6, I would only buy something if it starred Jill or Claire, until they got to be the stars of a main numbered entry again.

Current status: Capcom still hasn’t done it, so this rule is still in effect. Notably, I’m skipping the Resident Evil 2 “remake” because it’s become abundantly clear that the team is treating it like a Leon fanwank with Claire included rather than an actual remake.

DC Comics

Of the two “big” superhero entities, DC is the one I grew up with. It was mostly Batman growing up, because that’s what DC was focusing on the most. But I still loved Superman a lot. I never really got to watch any of the cartoons. Never seemed to catch them. It was mostly about films. I came to greatly enjoy Harley Quinn as I got older, to the point where I read her first (in my mind only) solo series.

The first DC “reboot” of the 2010s is where things changed. I had huge problems with how they changed Harley Quinn. The design threw away her entire harlequin theme, and all the fun it meant, to make her basically look like a clown girl Joker knockoff. I dropped everything DC at that point with plan to only engage in stuff that included actual Harley Quinn until she came back.

Current status: In rare cases where I find out actual Harley Quinn is involved in something, I check it out. I watched the Batman and Harley Quinn animated movie (which sucked) in theaters, for example. The only exception I’ve made so far was the Wonder Woman film, to support female-led superhero films. I do see that there’s going to be an animated series with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. If that’s the start of bringing back actual Harley, I may be returning to DC soon.

Nintendo

I also grew up with Nintendo. They were the main video game provider. There’s not a lot to say in this regard.

Other M was where problems started. I actually bought, played and beat the game, and I can tell you it’s an insulting wreck. But it’s Nintendo’s behavior afterward that turned me against them. They basically blacklisted Metroid and Samus except for cases where they “had” to use her. They treated her and Metroid like a minor franchise, ignoring its anniversary, cause they didn’t want to admit they made a mistake and fix it. And there’s also Federation Force which is a whole other ball of bullshit. Nintendo’s antics there led me to refuse to buy anything Nintendo until they decided to make up for what they were doing to Metroid and Samus and treat them right.

Current status: Nintendo put out a new Metroid game and plan to release Prime 4 too. I wish I could say that’s the end of the story, but it isn’t. I’m pretty pissed still that they threw Alison Rapp under the bus for a bunch of vile assholes, and fueled more harassment in the industry. I don’t know when I’ll get Nintendo stuff again. I’m still not fucking over this.

ArenaNet

I bought and played Guild Wars when it came out. I played and enjoyed it. There isn’t a whole lot to say on this.

If you’ve watched video game news this year, you know Mike O’Brien fired Jessica Price and Peter Fries for bullshit reasons. In doing so, he fueled tons of assholes hellbent on harassing good people and forcing them out of the industry. My reaction is that I’m never touching another ArenaNet thing until Mike O’Brien is out. Because he should be forced out. He doesn’t deserve his position.

Current status: Nothing’s changed, so I’m waiting for Mike O’Brien to be gone. I don’t anticipate this being any kind of burden on me.

Disney/Star Wars/Marvel

Oooookay, this is a big ball of stuff right here. It’s gonna be hard to keep this short.

Obviously I grew up on a lot of Disney stuff, like just about anyone in the United States. Star Wars, I got into during the 90s when the original trilogy was getting released. Marvel, I saw stuff here and there but didn’t truly give a damn until 2009 when I discovered Polaris.

When Disney bought up Star Wars, they shut down Lucasarts very abruptly, with no plans whatsoever to prep the studio’s employees for its end. I found (and still find) that absolutely fucking atrocious. So, I refuse to touch Star Wars video games. I actually don’t have any criteria for engaging in Star Wars content again. Maybe that criteria will come back some day. Maybe I’ll never touch another Star Wars game. This happened in 2013, by the way.

Then Marvel. After the forced retcon on Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s parentage, I vowed to never buy or engage in anything from Marvel except content that’s either X-Men related or tied to Polaris, until the twins were Magneto’s kids again. Only exception I made was the Black Panther movie, to support minority-led films.

Now, I’m about to drop everything Disney - including X-Men content, Star Wars, ABC programs and anything else - because of their treatment of Polaris this past year. To treat Polaris like her only value exists in being a supporting character for the stories of men, then throw her into limbo while putting those men on a pedestal, fucking infuriates me. Disney does not deserve money or support, so I won’t give it to them. This will only change for me if Polaris gets a solo, mini or oneshot comic, or leads a team book again.

Current status: No plans to ever play a Star Wars game again. Everything’s on track for me to refuse to touch Disney content after this year, possibly for the rest of my life. Only exception I plan to make is Episode IX, just to wrap up the sequel trilogy I’ve been watching.

In conclusion, I have a lot of companies that I refuse to play, watch, read anything they offer. Sometimes, like with Soul Calibur and Ubisoft, things change for the better and I come back to it. But most of the time, it’s like Squeenix or Disney. A company treats franchises or people like shit, they do nothing to fix their mistakes, I continue to not give them money or support because they don’t deserve it.

A lot of people think this is a huge burden. It’s not. The truth is that in our world, there’s a looooooooooooooot of creative content out there. If I wanted to, I could spend the rest of my life reading all the fanfiction written just today. I’m watching 5 TV shows right now that aren’t tied to Disney, more than I watched during the 2000s. I’ve recently played Far Cry 5, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, Soul Calibur VI, and I’ll soon by playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

I don’t need these companies to find entertainment. In some cases, I can even make my own. I can create things that these companies refuse to make. These companies need me more than I need them, because they need money to stay in business, and my money plays a role in that.

That’s my long post.

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