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twistedtummies2 · 3 years

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Count-Down: Number 24

Welcome to Count-Down! All throughout the month of October, I’m counting down my Top 31 favorite portrayals and reimaginings of the King of the Vampires, Count Dracula! Today’s Count is possibly the most romantic bloodsucker of all. Number 24 is…Frank Langella.

Frank Langella is one of the most popular takes on Dracula, so it may be surprising for many to see him rank so low in the countdown. Langella is widely regarded as the version of the Count that popularized the idea of a “Sexy & Sympathetic” Dracula. It should be immediately stated that “popularized” does not mean “originated”: Jack Palance (more on him later this month) started the trend of a Dracula seeking a lover and having a sympathetic backstory a few years earlier. Even further back, John Carradine (more on him later, too) was perhaps the first truly sympathetic Dracula ever put to the silver screen, way back in the 1940s. Truth be told, Dracula in the book, while still a deplorable nasty, is not TOTALLY devoid of complexities and empathetic elements; that’s why the character has lasted so long, and the increasing trend of making the character more physically and psychologically/emotionally attractive is not at all surprising as a result. Langella, however, was probably the first Dracula to truly get massive amounts of critical and box office praise for his work. Much like his predecessor, Bela Lugosi, Langella originated the role on Broadway. Right from the start, Langella decided to jettison the image of Dracula as a hideous fanged monster, and instead focus on the sadder elements of the character, making him a physically attractive “dark lover” rather than a pure evil baddy. Famously, Langella changed the classic line about the “Children of the Night” by saying, “What sad music they make,” as opposed to simply “What music they make” – turning an exultation into a lament. Fittingly, the play – once again, just like with the Lugosi version – became the basis for a feature film, which was, fittingly, a remake OF the Lugosi picture. At the time, the 1979 Langella-starring feature was one of the biggest takes on Dracula ever, and for many years has remained largely lauded by most fans. I, however, am not most fans. Make no mistake, I DO enjoy the 1979 feature – a few scenes in it are among my favorites in any Dracula movie, the cast is great, and I love its sense of style, blending a decidedly 70s edge of rock-and-roll modernity with the Expressionist Gothic of yore, and doing so mostly seamlessly. (Mostly. I think anyone who’s seen the film knows the scene where that falls apart, but I digress.) Ironically, my biggest problem with the film…is Dracula himself. Langella is not the reason…well, okay, he SORT OF is, but not exactly. The movie makes Dracula a sympathetic villain: he does HORRIBLE things in this story, just as he does in the novel and most adaptations and reinterpretations. He’s by no means the hero. At the same time, however, he does seem to genuinely care for some people, and it’s clear he’s lived an extremely lonesome life. Langella gives the role his all, giving the character a great deal of charisma and appropriately mesmerizing power… …Perhaps a little too much. To me, what Langella’s version lacks is the animal viciousness Dracula requires. Even scenes like him hanging upside-down like a bat or swooping at his victim with wings outspread feel more silly than unsettling, and I don’t think that was the intention. By making this Dracula so human and so sympathetic, the character loses that sense of what he is at his core: an undead being whose very loneliness comes from the fact he IS an undead being. This is partially by design, and I can respect the motivations behind the idea of a more human Dracula, but later and even earlier versions of the Count were able to still make the character feel like the Devil’s Son he is, while also making him a character you cared about and perhaps even sort of wanted to win. With Langella, things feel a bit more confused, at least in my opinion. I’m not sure if this is due entirely to Langella or partially the direction (I don’t think it’s the writing), but regardless, it’s an element that I feel I miss with his take, which is why he ranks low on the list. He is perhaps a good example of how making Dracula TOO clean-cut can work against what makes him already so intriguing. Still, I do enjoy him, and this movie, and he has many shining moments; I don’t at all DISLIKE his Dracula, I simply like others more. Tomorrow, the countdown continues! Hint: Our next choice spends as much time chewing scenery as he does biting necks!

#count-down #top 31 draculas #dracula #count dracula #1979 #frank langella #number 24 #halloween advent calendar #october special

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galaxy-shapeshifter · 3 years

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I finally finished it, sanders sides as sonic characters!

At first I wanted to do sonic characters taking role of the sides, but I lost motivation of that idea quickly and did this instead.

To keep the sides' shapeshifting abilities aswell as an explaination for some of the sides' poor human communication skills I decided to make them a race of shapeshifting aliens! As if we don't have enough weird aliens in the sonic universe-

When he first tried to take the shape of a mobian, Patton wanted to be some kind of dog, but Roman suggested the frog look instead because it was much more unique and Roman chose dog first.

Roman took an unnecessarily long amount of time to actually settle into a look because there were too many choices and he wanted an animal that's both fitting and unexpected, until finally he settled on a dingo.

I actually had to go back and redesign roman after I went overboard with remus' design (despite him looking like tw barker in a shitty disguise)

Remus decided to take the dingo look because roman chose it and he knew how much Roman hates when he matches with him. But Roman couldn't just choose a new look since he took a long time to finally find the perfect one and didn't want his brother to ruin this for him

Yeah, no surpeise there. Virgil likes cats, he acts like a cat, and the 2 other sonic cats we know are purple just like his color, so of course he became a cat

(I'm actually really proud of how this one turned out)

Logan has made some research into the more intellictual animals of earth and came up with a short list, narrowing his choices down until he was satisfied with the look of a blue jay.

(This is my least favorite design he looks so weird)

Honestly, the only reason Janus chose this look was to mess with people. He chose two of the animals that are known for being sly and decievable and just Frankensteined them together, Remus seems to love the look. And it helped with his jack the ripper mixed with disney-villain aesthetic

Now onto the story I guess

Eggman has abducted them for one of his crazy schemes, but the 4 (roman, patton, logan and virgil) escaped

while Janus decided the best way to survive until they are rescued is to suck up to eggman, pretending to he on board with his scheme and throwing complements here and there to fuel the doctor's ego, eggman didn't seem to recognize more sarcastic tones and Janus just used that to his advantage and sprinkling in a bunch of sarcastic bitter remarks about that supposed "genius plan"

Meanwhile Remus was genuinely on board with most of the doctor's plans, chaos and destruction for the sake of it? Hell yeah count him in! That until he realized how much of a loser eggman and his schemes actually are and just kinda showed up with the heroes to help and kick eggman's ass.

After getting rid of eggman, the group took a liking to this new planet and decided to stay just a little longer before returning home. Taking the shapes of mobians to not draw too much attention

For the most part anyways. Janus and remus don't really care too much about appearances and just took the shapes and combinations of whatever animals they saw fit/thought were cool.

#sonic the hedgehog #sth #sanders sides #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #deceit sanders #eggman

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themattress · 5 years

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My Opinions on the KH OCs

SORA: I adored Sora from KH through KH2. But then I became disillusioned with him because they kept making clones of him, pushed his positive Messianic qualities to the extreme, and then went too far the other way in 3D by making him into this over-the-top childish idiot who screwed everything up and was denied Keyblade Master status, all amidst proclamations that he was a "dull, ordinary boy" who "the Keyblade didn't choose" (which is an outright LIE.) For the most part, KH3 brought my old love for Sora back by usually characterizing him the same way KH2 did...and then it basically killed him off in the end, punishing him for doing good, all while Xehanort gets rewarded by being able to go to Heaven even after a lifetime of doing evil without a shred of remorse. What. The. FUCK? When Sora faded away at the last minute, so too did any remaining interest in this series.

KAIRI: Loved her in KH, she was so damn interesting and relatable, and her role in the story was a perfect twist on the classic Disney Princess role. Her role and characterization in KH2 weren’t as strong, but her new design, actions, connections with other characters and endgame development made up for it, as did the fact that she was still voiced by the lovely Hayden Panettiere. Add to this how strongly she factored into COM, and Kairi was clearly the original trilogy’s emotional heart. Then that heart got removed and never put back, as Kairi was excluded from the games to the highest degree possible, all leading up to a horrifying bait-and-switch in KH3 where she was finally returning to prominence and looked to become a stronger character than ever before, only for the exact opposite to happen, not at all helped by the voicework of Alyson Stoner. What Nomura’s done is a travesty. #KairiDeservedBetter.

RIKU: Loved him in KH, where he was like a Final Fantasy character turned Disney villain and he played that role incredibly well. I thought he was fumbled when he starred in his own story mode in COM, but I never really blamed him for that and more the writing around him that pushed him into an unnatural position that even he didn’t seem to want to be in. Despite not truly appearing as himself until the endgame of KH2 and having flatter characterization, Riku still redeemed himself excellently through being a party member helping against the final boss, along with a beautiful reconciliation with Sora. Like his other friends in the Destiny Trio, things went downhill afterwards. Riku became so overexposed, shoved down our throats, and positioned as the series Deuteragonist who phased Kairi out of existence while being given more badass feats than Sora, that I lost my liking for him entirely and consider him to be a blatant Mary Sue. This sadly didn’t change with KH3, and it only looks to be getting worse.

ROXAS: Despite falling way short of the hype, I enjoyed Roxas in KH2. He was likable and sympathetic, and he did a good job servicing one of the game’s deepest themes. But then, because he was (confusingly, IMHO) uber-popular, he got his own game featuring his time in the Organization, and he never left that bland portrayal behind, with every subsequent game he appears in having it be Days!Roxas instead of KH2!Roxas, to the point where KH2!Roxas was demeaningly retconned into having “ceased to exist” when he fully re-merged with Sora despite what was said and shown to the contrary in KH2, all for the sake of giving him a shamelessly fan-pandering perfect happy ending. Roxas thus became one of the characters whom I most associate with the downfall of the KH series, and thus one of my least favorites.

NAMINE: Namine was a character that I loved in COM and KH2, despite being pretty confusing even back then, since she had a real humanity behind her. I was very disappointed that afterwards, she became more and more of a convenient plot device and mouthpiece for Nomura’s convoluted lore rather than a legitimate character, with her characterization regressing to and being regurgitated from her debut appearance. The scale and scope of her powers got ridiculous, the retcon of Sora having promised to thank her when that was never the case is beyond stupid, and she fell prey to the same retcon Roxas did of “ceasing to exist” when she merged with Kairi and thus needing to be “saved” in order to cure her “hurt”. Naturally, she’s right up there with Kairi as one of the most frustratingly-handled characters.

XION: I was immediately turned off by this character due to how blatantly fanfic Mary Sue-esque she was, then warmed up to her considerably as I actually played the game and saw how she was utilized, only to be turned off of her again when Nomura completely went back on her firmly established tragic fate for the sake of a schmaltzy happy ending that neuters what was effective about the character, in essence turning her right back into just a fanfic Mary Sue. I don’t actually blame Xion for this, but she’s still my least favorite main KH girl.

VENTUS: Kind of the same deal as Xion - didn’t like him at first because he was a lazy retread of Roxas and whose connection to Sora cheapened things, warmed up to him after playing the game and seeing him in action (I especially love his voice by Jesse McCartney, which is very distinct from Roxas), only to go right back to not really liking him when we ended up never hearing the end of him and how he is the reason behind so many events and character motivations, especially once he was retconned into hailing from the X time period.

TERRA / LINGERING WILL: While I’m not too attached to him, I still low-key love this guy. Yes, he’s an idiot, but an understandable, well-meaning and likable one, who also has a very charismatic-looking design and is badass in combat. Everyone loves the Lingering Will, but I don’t think it would be as effective if it didn’t come from such a flawed screw-up like Terra. It’s uplifting that even if you do nothing but fail, your will to succeed can achieve some form of success in of itself. He may have got the shaft in KH3, but he made the most of what he had.

AQUA / ANTI-AQUA: In BBS, I felt Aqua was more enjoyable than Ven but not as much as Terra, making her a pretty fittingly balanced character in my view - I loved that she was the first fully playable female character in the series and did a lot of neat stuff in the story, but I hated how devoid of character development she was compared to her male friends and how her English voice actress constantly missed the mark in her delivery. In 0.2 BBS, she was put in a lousy story, but she became a much more interesting and developed character as a trade-off. Sadly, it all fell apart in KH3, where aside from her brief stint as the terrifying Anti-Aqua, Aqua became an incompetent joke of a “Keyblade Master”, jobbing in every major fight she had and jobbing badly, with that development from 0.2 BBS amounting to nothing. In the end, Aqua wound up right back where she began - between Terra and Ventus in my favor.

MASTER ERAQUS: Love his design, love his voice-acting, love his premise as a character - do NOT love him. In a story where all the heroes act like idiots, Eraqus takes the cake, and becomes outright unlikable when he attempts to murder Ven and Terra under very flimsy reasoning. And KH3 only makes him worse, with a severe disconnect existing between his younger self and his older self, and helping to contribute to the game’s bullshit ending.

DIZ / ANSEM THE WISE: I loved him as the tragic, Monte Cristo-esque figure as shown in COM, Days and KH2, especially when voiced by the incomparable Christopher Lee. He had the perfect send-off in KH2, which made it such a slap in the face when BBS’ secret ending retconned him into having surviving, only for him to do jack shit but be a plot device, and not a very good one at that. Bringing Ansem the Wise back was one of the series’ biggest sins, and stands as a textbook example of Nomura not knowing when to just let a character go.

HAYNER, PENCE & OLETTE: I like these kids, they’re a lot of fun in all their appearances.

MASTER XEHANORT: I really enjoyed Master Xehanort in BBS, when he was just a simple Darth Sidious expy voiced by the great Leonard Nimoy, a character whose chief purpose was backstory for the villain we already knew who went by the same name. But then Nomura decided that he was the main antagonist of the whole series and retconned that everything that ever happened was part of his convoluted master plan...a plan with very muddled objectives and motivations, not to mention contradictions at many turns. This turning of Xehanort into a Villain Sue had severe consequences in KH3, where not only was he weakly voiced by Rutger Hauer, but he was written terribly: only showing up at the end, fridging Kairi for no reason, being beaten in a surprisingly easy boss fight, having his entire motivation changed, and receiving one of the most audience-insulting endings that a villain could possibly receive, especially one as remorselessly evil as him. The final slap in the face was revealing that he was a pawn to someone else, derailing the entire point behind the stupid-ass “Xehanort Saga” decision! So in the end, Master Xehanort was pretty damn pointless.

TERRA-XEHANORT: The original Xehanort introduced in KH2. While his origin is something of a headache (he’s an amnesiac Master Xehanort possessing the body and heart of Terra), it still works, IMO, and creates a character who is much more interesting than either of the two characters it took to form him, despite (or perhaps because of) his relative lack of screentime.

ANSEM: Terra-Xehanort’s Heartless is both the original incarnation of Xehanort in the series and both me and Nomura’s personal favorite. Sadly, Nomura screwed him up when he brought him back for the “True Organization XIII”, first going too over-the-top evil when part of his appeal was that he genuinely (and pompously) believed that he was the one in the right, and then suddenly being far less evil than he should be considering that he’s a freaking Heartless! The Ansem that I adore will always be the one from the original KH and Riku’s mode in COM, the hammy philosopher who is totally drunk on darkness and is seeking it for his own sake, not for the sake of some absurdly convoluted grand plan of Master Xehanort’s.

XEMNAS: Terra-Xehanort’s Nobody is the best villain in the KH series and the most consistently good of the Xehanort incarnations. While certainly at his best as the Superior of Organization XIII in KH, COM, Days and KH2, he actually managed to still be a captivating presence as part of the “True Organization XIII” in 3D and KH3 even if his character lost a lot of its depth thanks to the bullshit retcon that he was following Master Xehanort’s grand plan all along. He’s terrifying, loathsome, humorous and pitiable all at once...he’s just fantastic!

XIGBAR / BRAIG / LUXU: Oh, what a roller coaster this guy has been - I didn’t particularly care for him as Xigbar at first in KH2, then grew to really like him thanks to extra exposure in KH2:FM and Days, then came to love him as Braig in BBS, then went right back to disliking him when he became Xigbar again in 3D, and now am hardly able to stand him in KH3 when it’s revealed that he’s Luxu. Like Namine, he’s become a total vehicle for Nomura’s bullshit.

XALDIN / DILAN: I love Xaldin. He’s badass, intimidating, and despicable, and he really stands out by being linked so heavily with the Beast’s Castle and the Beast himself. His boss fight on the castle bridge is the stuff of legends. Dilan is a bore, though, especially in KH3.

VEXEN / EVEN: Somehow, this is one of the few characters who manages to remain consistently entertaining and well-written in all his appearances, helped out a lot by Derek Stephen Prince’s performance. As both the mad scientist Vexen and the well-intentioned scientist Even, he’s someone I just can’t take my eyes off of whenever he’s on screen.

LEXAEUS / ELAEUS: Boring but admirably power as Lexaeus, with the potential to be more interesting thanks to his intellect and rapport with Zexion. Just plain boring as Eleaeus.

ZEXION / IENZO: Everything about Zexion had potential, but it just never came together properly and left him as an underwhelming villain. He has much more success as Ienzo, being very likable and interesting; honestly one of the best KH-original characters in KH3.

SAIX / ISA: This character is one of the more frustrating ones to me. I liked him just fine in KH2, but not as much as I would’ve liked to. I liked him more when he got more scenes in KH2:FM, and I straight-up loved him in Days for being such an effective Hate Sink as well as a really interesting and tragic character. But I did not care for his cameo appearances in BBS and 3D, even though he still carries some of what I enjoyed about him with him in KH3, he also receives new baggage that makes his character less appealing...namely, the fact that his motivation all along was based around some random girl we never heard of until now. Still, if there’s one thing that remains consistent, it is that Kirk Thornton does a phenomenal job in the role. I honestly think most of Saix’s effectiveness comes from that badass voice.

AXEL / LEA: Sigh...you oughta know this one by now. I love Axel the Nobody, I think he was one of the series’ finest villains, and think he had an effective character arc despite some bumps along the road. I can’t stand his human self, who is a watered-down, obnoxious, whitewashed Mary Sue version of his Nobody self who is only here for fanservice, only given a major heroic role and his own Keyblade because Axel was a favorite of both fans and the development team. He’s sadly one of those characters who becomes the victim of his own popularity, with what made him popular to begin with lost as a result of increased exposure.

DEMYX / ???: He’s funny, I like him. Don’t have any stronger feelings than that.

LUXORD / ???: With his slick design, gambling gimmick, classy gentleman demeanor, and English voice by Robin Atkin-Downes, I’ve always liked Luxord, but I don’t think he’s ever truly lived up to his full potential...until KH3, where he’s a standout in both the Caribbean and the Keyblade Graveyard. I especially love his respectable rival dynamic with Jack Sparrow.

MARLUXIA / LAURIAM: A lack of clear motivations aside, Marluxia is an excellent villain. I love how he’s got flower powers, a pink sycthe, pink hair and a pretty-boy face and yet has this very masculine and imposing demeanor, not to mention a diabolically clever and manipulative personality. His battles and battle themes are also always impressive in every game he appears in. And while I don’t care for him being a Keyblade wielder, I actually like him as Lauriam too. He’s surprisingly sympathetic and is a neat contrast to his Nobody.

LARXENE / ELRENA: I love Larxene, she makes being the only female member of the Organization count by being one of the most aggressive, despicable, frightening, humorous and oddly endearing members all at the same time, getting a tragic death scene in COM and some softer moments in Days and KH3 that add depth to her while never causing her to lose her edge. And like with Lauriam, I like Elrena despite not caring for the Keyblade angle.

VANITAS: Vanitas is awesome. He’s an evil version of Sora who does evil things because he enjoys being evil and has zero fucks to give about it. Haley Joel Osment really brings his gleeful brand of evil to life, making it always a pleasure to see Vanitas in both BBS and KH3. And thus I’m really glad he didn’t get redeemed in the end - pure villainy is his whole appeal!

RIKU REPLICA: Despite being an over-the-top retread of Riku’s role in KH for most of COM and having one boss battle too many, Riku Replica was still a good character and with one of the most tragic arcs in the series, which really made his death scene stand out. Of all the characters to ruin due to Nomura not letting go of them, I thought he was safe, but nope! He was pointlessly brought back in KH3, played a worse and more convoluted role, and had a much weaker “happier” send-off that clashed with how other aspects of the story were being treated and only reinforced Riku’s Special Snowflake status. Of course, even before that happened, the replica concept that he introduced to the series had spiraled into a much more needlessly confusing state, so I guess his legacy was doomed either way. Poor Repliku!

DARK RIKU: A confusing composite of all Riku’s alter-egos: Riku when he was possessed by Ansem, Riku Replica, and Data Riku, enlisted in “True Organization XIII”. I’m not sure what the point of this guy was. Or if he’s basically another version of Repliku, why not just make him the only Repliku in the story and spare us that convoluted nonsense with the other one?

YOUNG XEHANORT: Haaaaaaaaaate....haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate....

KAIRI’S GRANDMOTHER: In the first KH, but only a real character in BBS. But getting Kathryn Beaumont (original voice of Alice and Wendy Darling, and thus a Disney Legend) to voice her was absolutely brilliant and made her single scene stand out as the game’s best.

And that’s about it. The rest are all the datascape clones I don’t give a shit about (Data Sora, Data Riku, Data Roxas, Data Namine, and Data Sora’s Heartless) and the cast of X that I also don’t give a shit about (The Master of Masters, the Foretellers, Ephemer, Skuld, Brain...the only ones I like are Chirithy and Strelitzia, but only on the shallow basis that they’re cute.)

And I am NOT sticking around this series to properly meet Yozora...

#Disney #Square Enix #Kingdom Hearts #Opinion

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goprandall · 6 years

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DC MASTERPOST >3

It’s no secret the DC universe is something of a DCpointment. There’s no cohesion in sotrylines, films are released at odd and illogical times and I decided to rewatch and give proper reviews.

MAN OF STEEL 2013 7/10

This film is something of an outlier on the DCEU, because it is not terrible.

The strengths of this film are defiantly the first act, I feel it was a clear and concise way to create backstory without the stereotypes of following him through childhood into adulthood, they did a great job of creating krypton and establishing an antagonist with a clear motive. I liked the jump straight into adult with flashbacks when confronted with items from his past, it allowed us to understand his past without saturating his journey all at once. Arguably the first arc of this film is completed here with Clark/kal discovering who he is and why he is here. The second arc of General Zod trying to bring back his people is still very well done, providing us more relevant backstory and shows logical actions from both sides of the fight nearing the end of the film. The biggest weakness of the film in my opinion is that it is 20 minutes too long. When superman destroys Zods ship killing the artificial children of krypton, I feel this arc was complete, although the after fight solely fought between SM and Zod does show us the struggle superman goes through becoming the last kryptonite in exaistance, this does not outweigh the pointless mass destruction this causes, on top of a already destroyed city. In my cut this would be disregarded.

Final thoughts of the film; my favourite part was the shot of ‘ALERT’ that slowly turns to ‘Toner empty’, a good transition and piece of direction. I’m giving this film 7/10, in my classification would make it a good Netflix film, one I’d be happy to watch but not pay money to solely see. It was a hard choice to not make it a 6 however, I rank wonder women as a 7, and this is more than equally as good, the only things preventing me from giving it a higher rank is it’s rewatchability. Personally I rarely would due to its lack of joy and humour, and overall darkness, not just in plot but also in cinematography and colour grading.

BATMAN V SUPERMAN 2016 6/10

Batman v superman had all the the ingredients to be the summer blockbuster, but as predicted it followed every DC film and tanked.

Their are some aspects of this film that are genuinely good, giving it a 6, one of those things is the first act of the film where we are introduced to Batman, although I didn’t personally feel the need for another origin story, the way this scene is directed especially with the earl sequence is fantastic, adding depth and differing from older versions of the same story. The other good thing about this film is the Batman fight scene, it is so well articulated and choreographed, i struggle to see how it fits within the wider film which is strangely badly directed, edited and in-cohesive.

Continuing from this idea, I feel the dream sequences are one of the leading problems for the in-cohesion of the film, the issue with these sequences is, if they are not well done it stops the audience trusting more daring scenes, ultimately taking you out of the story. Next, I feel another reason this doesn’t live up to its hype is, again, DCs continuous frenzy of oversaturating it’s film with characters. Here I argue Wonder women is not needed in the end fight, the fight could just have easily gone on sitbout her, or, if they had released wonder women before this film so we felt more engrossed in the character it wouldn’t been fine. However her and all the other justice league promo clips, should not have been in the film in the context they were as they’re a corporate shoehorn, promoting further projects. The other character I feel is unneeded is ‘Doomsday’, he’s quickly thrown in at the end of the film, and honesty an antigunist shown to us at the end of the film will never give the depth and fear of a hero fight, as a villain shown throughout the movie.

To me, Batman V Superman is a movie. Not a film, crafted and worked on to create a narrative for the audience, but a summer movie to get the kids out the house. The idea of having two meta humans as important as Batman and superman battling each other should boggle the mind, as the first avengers did for me or civil war for a closer comparison. But the difference with the MCU spectaculars is, they earned their right to blow people’s minds, DC is playing catch up and trying to get praise and awe without the hard work.

SUICIDE SQUAD 2016 3/10

Wow. This review has been hard to create and will most likely feature ideas from other reviews via podcasts and YouTube due to the fact this movie boggled my head in the sheer awfullness that ensued.

As always, I begin with the strengths of the film. In this instance it’s slight. I loved the aesthetics of the branding for the film, the colours, the neon animations, I loved it all. The mini descriptions in the film were funny and added to the VeRy little personalities of the characters. It is important to point out this clearly wasn’t present in the first edits of the film, but due to good feedback of later trailers that were released they were added, which is why this element of humour is the only of its kind that lands in the film.

Next I normally look into the storyline and the character arcs of the film, arguably my second favourite aspect to look for in a film. In suicide squad there is none, and there aren’t any. That sounds harsh, but the reality is there is no cohesive storyline, it follows no one character individually and the film darts back and fourth between every character, no matter the timeframe. Dean Dobbs (from adventures with dean and Bertie’s podcast) best describes this as ‘like playing a video game where someone is skipping every cutscene’ and this is absolutly true, especially when looking at the relationship of the joker and Harley Quinn. This film is so badly edited, As jack Howard describes, this film contains no scenes, it is obvious the whole film was rehashed and re-edited after the release of BVS (which crashed at the box office) and the final trailer was released, which was very different from the first few as it showed humour and action, and it is evident they cut out almost everything apart from these things. I would best describe it as many GoPrandall videos I have scrapped as I tend to forget to film opening sequencers and filler clips to show the progression of the story told apart from the action, and this is exactly how I felt about the editing of this film, they did the best with what they got but it wasn’t enough.

Although there was a lack of character arcs, this film had an ABUNDANT amount of characters to fill its shoes. This film crams as many famous faces in as many characters

As it can, because for some reason DC refuses to create stand alone films due to the catch up to the MCU that’s going on. We’ll start with the joker, or more exactly the 10 minuets of joker we got. Many scenes with the joker were so heavily edited, and deleted, it is hard to judge Jared Letos performance, because he didn’t have chance to give one. But, as a side note the hand on the mouth laugh is one of the WORST cinema moments I’ve experienced only closely beaten by ‘were bad guys it’s what we do’. Yuck. But we’ll finally look at the ‘suicide squad’, although looking at them it’s hard to identify why they are in this squad. We’ll start with reason no one on the team seems to have a reason to be there, aprt from deadshot, who had his daughters arc to think about. All the others just seem to around and don’t want to die and get out of prison. VERY good motives DC, you’ve outdone yourself this time. Next we can look at the abilities of this so called ‘meta human’ squad and how under utilised they really are, which could show why this film failed so badly. Firstly deadshot- ‘never misses a bullet- amazing at trick shots.’ Who in the film performs close quarter headshots, the same as the Seal team next to him, and in the film performs 1 trick shot. 1. That was in establishing scene right at the beginning, but he isn’t the only victim, we can look at Boomerang, my favourite character by far, with one the coolest abilities, who throws a total of:5 boomerangs and catches: 2. Let’s be honest Harely is there as the jokers Love Interest and to keep him in the film. We can also look at el deablo, the man that can shoot fire but refuses until he’s bullied for a whole minute. The worlds worst archaeologist who starts the entire battle, after BREAKING AN ANTIQUE immediatly after finding it (bravo) who if wasn’t attempted to be weaponised, would’ve skipped this whole mess. Slipknot, a man who could climb any wall or anything, who immediatly dies after climbing a wall, but don’t worry because they don’t even want you to worry about this due to the fact they don’t even intro him before he magically appears on the squad, hoping the audience will react ‘oh he’s going to be important!!! What a mystery man!!’. This is almost as bad as Katana, who adds nothing the story apart from a short intro and when she cries to her dead husband, at which point I began to cut my toenails, something I gave more of a shit about.

But, it is obvious I’m a teenage marvel fanboy just shitting on DC,and I hate when people complain without offering another viewpoint, therefore, to fix this, I would dedicate this film to the viewpoint of deadshot, giving him the character arc of changing with the goal of seeing his daughter- eliminate the extra characters- slipknot/katana and either dedicate more time to the joker and harley sub plot or eliminate entirely, NOT BOTH. With this, better editing around these eliminated plot points could make a more coherent story with more empathetic story arcs. I have a full idea for a plot but this is too long as it is.

WONDER WOMEN 2017 7/10

Wonder women is a refreshing instalment into the DCEU, showing they seem to e learning, but are still falling behind on some of the most basic hurdles.

Firstly, as always we’ll start off with the strengths of his film, firstly it is vividly important to recognise that this is the first major Superhero film to be directed, and sustain a heavy female cast. It does so fantastically and leaves me more excited for the next instalment now knowing female directors and stars now have evidence for an accomplished superhero movie, which arguably has outdone the past 2 major films. With this we see a brilliantly refreshing opening act with a subtle and bright, vibrant origin story.

However, this film slowly returns to madness throughout the film when major plot holes appear, and the film making quality slowly deteriorates. Firstly, the iggest plot hole that has been so easily overlooked is the WW1 aspect. Given a World War Two film, having the Germans be the sole enemy is obvious and logical, however WW1 is not as simple as this and the use of Germans as the enemies is vaguely lazy. Also, as DC loves to do, it adds in extra characters and neglects to give them logical and coherent backstory and arcs. We only need to look at the ‘best marksman in the war’ who doesn’t fire a single shot, and continues not too all the way to the end of the film, showing no growth. The final plot hole is what draws it into the wider EU. The entirety of this film is showing Diana that the human race is bad and should be left alone, although when she defeats arias, this is meant to break this curse and peace seems to be restored. But, in BVS she claims to have stopped helping mankind because of their evils, neglecting Stalin, WW2 and the Vietnam war to name a few, but making a reappearance for- lex Luther. Wow.

Although in almost most of its entirety this was a pleasant watch, my personal issue stopped this at the third act when the final fight begins. To me the film returns to DCs favourite colour scheme of dark and clouded, and uses quite frankly some of the worst CGI I’ve seen recently, making me wonder why they didn’t at least try to incorporate real elements, such as Marvel, but this is still the best DC film after man of steel and I’m excited to see more female led and directed films come to screen.

JUSTICE LEAUGE 2016 5/10

This will be the shortest of the DC reviews, this is the film I’ve seen least of the lot and I feel I’ll need at least another viewing to get a full understanding. To premise this I fully understand Zack Snyder had personal issues leading him to leave and Joss take over, and this is in no way mocking him.

But I’ll dive in, maybe the fact I’m struggling to write this review tells me a lot about the movie. Wonder women was one of the only saving graces of this move, she was well understood and I feel her likeness as a character was well transferred from WW to JL. Contrary to this, I’m struggling to write about cyborg and flash, we were given next to no backstorys, although the flash’s was hinted at at least twice that I recall and what we were given were quite chaotic. Batman was a major letdown for me, coming down from BVS where he was a certified badass taking on superman, he turns into a wimp and hides for a majority of the film, quite evidently showing Ben affleck Clearly does not want to be there. I feel the overall plot of the film was almost underatsnvle, but had the taken the time to set up this storyline in previous films it would’ve been much better, this movie lacked the right to have all these characters on screen together. The characters had adequate screen time each, but contrary to its biggest rival ‘the avengers’ this really wasn’t that special, most of the characters had the same abilities, barring the flash, and the way the avengers films have shown all the characters working together simultaneously in cinematic mastery, you can see hints of Joss attempting this, but with a bad set up it’s an impossible task.

I conclude, not going into the issue with the CGi because I don’t have that much time.

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buttercream-me-up · 7 years

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We’re here for you // Maynard Brothers (TRIGGER WARNING)

Word Count- 1117

Summary- Your older brother breaks you some news, and you and your twin comfort him.

Warnings; YES. WARNING. Mentions of Depression, please do not read if you do not feel comfortable. I didn’t go into to much detail about it or anything, mostly just mention of it, but still be cautious if you’re choosing to read.

A/n; Back at school, hate it already. When’s summer again. Anyways, I really wanted to limit the mention of this request as I didn’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable, and I don’t have any personal experience with Depression, nor have I known anyone with it, so I really don’t know much about it honestly, so I kept it to a minimum.

Requested; Yes, two in one, hope you both like it! (unless one person requested both, then hello, thank you, though I doubt it.. oh well.) x

req; Please could you do one where Conor is diagnosed with depression and all his siblings comfort him?

“We need to talk.” The four scariest words a person could hear. It’s the words people use when something terrible’s happened, or when things weren’t working out in a relationship, or in a serious situation. In this case, it was the first option. At the time, it was a bit startling, out of the blue. But then again, isn’t it always?

You were filming a video for Jack’s channel, a bit of Twin Never Have I ever, although you had a twist to see if you could guess if the other had done it or not. You were winning, and having a lot of fun filming it, (proving you were the better twin, obviously) when Conor had interrupted with those agonizing four words.

Recently, Conor had been acting a bit distant. It had been even worse ever since he’d gone to the hospital for a checkup a few days ago. He’d left as his cheery self, though deep down, you and Jack both knew he was forcing his laugh. You’d been worried about him for a while, but you knew the stress of his upcoming album was weighing down on him, so you brushed it off. He was fine, right? Man, were you so wrong.

It was now two days after he’d gone to the hospital. After Jack paused the recording, Conor brought you both into the living room to ‘talk.’ You were already worried, and the heavy tension in the air was making you shiver as the words left his mouth. What he told you, it was haunting you, replaying in your mind on repeat.

“Jack, Y/N, There’s something I need to tell you.” Conor said, gravely. You and Jack shared worried glances, unsure of what to expect of your older brother. “So, I really don’t know how to explain this, or how to even go about it…” He started, and that’s when the real pressure was building up. You knew something was wrong, as did Jack. Conor was your third triplet basically, you three never kept secrets, and told each other everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything.

Conor took a deep breath. He began explaining how lately, the sky didn’t seem so blue, and how he’d been seeing all the negatives over positives. You were almost certain you knew where this was going. You didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. But then the words left his mouth, and it felt like time had stopped.

“I’ve had my suspicions, and I know you have too. When I went to the check up, I’d asked to be checked, and the Doctor diagnosed me, I have depression.”

“I’m so sorry.” You muttered, blinking back tears. “For what?” Conor asked, softly. Whenever you’d looked him in the eye, he could see the guilt eating away at you. Jack could see it too, and he didn’t feel so different. “You know why.” You may as well have been triplets, the way the three of you could read each other. “Everything.” Jack finished for you, and you smiled at him sadly. “It’s not your fault.” Conor said, wrapping his arms around you and Jack, and squeezing you both tight. “It’s not yours either, Conor.” Jack said, you couldn’t really manage words.

“I know.” Conor sighed, resting his head against the back of the couch. “You know Jack and I are here for you, Conor.” You said, moving to look at him, Jack copying your actions. “I know.” He repeated, looking down at his lap. “Hey, none of that. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.” Jack said, seriously. Conor looked up, and that’s when you and your twin realized he was crying. You immediately wrapped both your arms around him, Jack copying.

You hated seeing your brother so pained, so you thought of a way to possibly cheer him up. “Guess what, Con?” You whispered, and he looked up at you. He looked so vulnerable, it hurt you to see your brother like this. “Maynard sandwich.” Jack whispered, a smirk on his face, as well as yours. Conor let out a little laugh, and you and Jack smiled genuinely at him. “Just like the old days.” He said, smiling at you both. “Thank you guys, you’d think you're my older siblings.” He said, rolling his eyes. His actions spoke louder than words, he was ashamed to lean on you two.

You both frowned. “Conor, the amount of times you’ve been there for us, this is the least we could do.” Jack said, softly. “Like?” Conor retorted, a look of disbelief of his face. “My panic attacks when we were growing up.” You said, looking at Jack. “Helping me with school and DJing.” Jack pitched in, “Always motivating us when we needed it.” You added. “Helping me with the ladies.” Jack said, raising a suggestive brow. Conor chuckled at this. “Beating up the boys who hit on me in school.” You said, nudging his shoulder.

This twin banter went on for a bit longer, the answers bouncing between you and Jack. As it progressed, the comments were getting more funny rather than serious, and the three of you were completely laughing by the end of it.

“For being our big brother.” Jack finished, his voice now only a hushed whispered, once your laughter died down. Conor had tears in his eyes. “You make me sound like a hero. I’m just a depressed singer who can’t release an album.” He sniffled, looking at the floor. “You’re our hero, Con.” You said, meaning every word. He looked at you skeptically, but he knew you meant it by the look in your eyes. He looked to Jack, whose expression mirror yours.

“I love you guys.” Conor said, pulling you into a group hug, rather than the Maynard sandwich you were previously positioned in. “We love you too, Conor. We’ll always be here for you.” You told him, Jack nodding in agreement. “Never be scared or embarrassed to ask anything from us, Con.” Jack said, a smile on his face, but a strict look in his eyes. “Okay.” Conor said, a genuine smile crossing his face for the first time in weeks.

“It’s going to be hard, Conor. I’m not going to lie. But we’ll be with you, every step of the way.” Jack assured, clapping Conor lightly on the shoulder. He smiled gratefully, as you leaned your head against Conor’s shoulder. “ Nando’s and Movie marathon night?” You suggested, smirking. “Hell yeah.” Jack said, and you two high fived. Conor shook his head, but smiled. You may have been weird, but he really couldn’t have asked for better younger siblings, and wouldn’t take you any other way.

#jack maynard imagine #conor maynard imagine #conor and jack #jack maynard #jack #maynard #conor #jack and conor #conor and jack maynard #jack and conor maynard #buttercream imagines #buttercream squad imagine #buttercream squad #buttercreams #buttercream #buttercream gang #buttercream gang imagines

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sustainhealthmagazine · 5 years

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Treasure Island with Bear Grylls the Interview

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Hit Channel 4 series The Island with Bear Grylls returns, but this time there’s a twist. For the first time there’s money at stake and it’s everyone for themselves. The reimagined series - Treasure Island with Bear Grylls - will once again see 12 ordinary Brits marooned for 35 days on a remote.

We wanted to find out more from the main man himself behind the Island and what’s going to be happening.

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This is the first time you’ve dropped money on to the island, what made you decide to shake up the series in this way?

Well this is something I've wanted to do with the show for a while. It's been a natural evolution, you know? With season one the whole premise was just totally original, then we've gone through so many of the big things in society that are powerful and relevant for people, from ageism to wealth to gender and this was the last one that we purposefully, I personally, held back until now. But we always knew, it's such a powerful force in all of our lives and it can have such pull for good and bad that once we introduced this it would be a whole new level. It feels like it's happening at the right time, having done these other angles on the show before, but this one was always going to be a crowning glory really. What happened was amazing, it really was.

You mentioned that you think this is the right time to introduce money, what do you mean?

Well, I think with money, so much of society is driven by it. I understand it, it's natural, but it's such a powerful force in everyone's life. But it's interesting because ultimately money is neutral, it's us that distils power to it and I always think money amplifies what we are.

It really does expose human nature, doesn't it?

It does. I think the island full stop does that. It just amplifies so much of who we are and it strips it right back. Looks, material things and all the things that society places so much value on, and so actually, if you don't have it and it's taken away what do you really value? And then you start dropping money back into the equation and it's like dropping grenades onto this island, it really was like that. We would watch the footage come back every day and we'd be like, "Oh wow!" You couldn't anticipate how people reacted and you never know what people's characters are like. You never know them really well because it's just words, and until I hear you're good under pressure, you never really see what people are made of and that's the art of the island.

What were you shocked about the most when you saw people's reactions to the cash?

How powerful the draw is, and how people's values can change when they get dazzled. That's the flip side of the coin and the positive so that by the end it was incredibly inspiring seeing people's journeys of looking in that mirror and saying actually, "What is this for? How much does it mean to be able to do good things with this and help people and support people and let's start to plan amazing things for other people." Suddenly you see this light starting to shine through the cracks. I'm always interested, and we gave people an amnesty at the end, for a day, where everybody had to declare what they had. It's such a driving force in society and we wanted to say, "Hold on. What's the real value of it and what are the lessons from this”, you know?

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Do you think the way they all deal with the money will spark arguments between viewers over what they would do in that situation?

Yeah! There is going to be so many arguments like that. I think one of the lessons is that the real wealth in all our lives isn't always found just in hard currency. What are you after, money or happiness? Surely happiness matters more and do you need money for that happiness? I do think that sitting with those guys around that fire at the end, there was a real sense of what we have in life, these shared experiences show perspective on life and perspective on our families back home and our perspective on our work and our own values, it is priceless, you know that matters more than just some cash in your pocket. There's something beautiful when people realise that the real wealth in their lives is found in relationships. It's a really beautiful thing to experience for yourself and it's a beautiful thing to see in other people, especially when they've had a real journey, when it didn’t start off like that.

One islander Ben said he went on the island obsessed with the trappings of wealth, came off the island and within weeks had sold all his watches and his car…

Ben had a pretty strong argument for saying he really found riches on the island. And that's a really cool, positive thing from Treasure Island.

What are your thoughts about money?

Well I think it's always easy for somebody who has money to go, "It's not a driving force of my life." So I'm mindful of that, and I don't want to belittle it because people have real battles financially. All of us are different, but for me the raw pursuit of money has never been a huge driver for me, that's just the honest truth, it really hasn't, otherwise I would have never joined the Army! I would have become a numbers guy maybe, because I would say the chances of what's ended up as my career working out is so small. I say this to my teenage boys that there's been a huge amount of luck involved in my career, and if I'd have been after just money, I would have picked a different career in the outset.

I mean, as a young person I just wanted to really follow my heart and I loved adventure, loved the relationship with people under pressure on a big mountain or in a jungle or on an island, I've always thrived off that. So that's been a much more motivated thing for me. I do think at the same time, my dad used to say, "If you really do what you really love, not always but pretty often, money will kind of follow. But chase the money and it's a bit like a butterfly, it will fly away. But if you just keep on doing what you're doing and then a butterfly comes around it's a nice surprise." I'm not saying it's always like that, but it's felt like a little bit in my life. I've loved adventure and the survival side of things and doing that has brought me my career.

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You don’t seem to be someone who chases fame either, we don't see you at many showbiz parties or on red carpets?

Well I think, none of that is real, it really isn’t! I see it so often in people and especially Running Wild guests, a number of people talk about that and they're seeing the whole cycle. If you chase that stuff, it's so transient and it's never enough. I am telling this to myself as much as you, you've just got to remember this stuff's not real. The real stuff in your life is found in your relationships with those you love. It's your family, your children, and trying to find work that is fulfilling and makes you smile. And the other side of it is that I'm not only quite shy at those sort of events, I don't actually enjoy them. I have a much more extroverted sister who's always going, "God you're rubbish at these things." She'd love it, she'd love to go to all those parties and events, I just find it very uncomfortable, it's just not my natural place. I love being with good friends, sat with your over the wall somewhere, I'm genuinely more comfortable then and I enjoy that. I love the mountains, I love being in these places with great friends. But being at a big party and being in a big room of people and it's all loud, there's an awful lot of showing off, there really is. I actually haven't been to something for so long that I swore this summer that I would go to one. I won't say what it was, but I went to one of the big parties in London and after 10 minutes I was like, “This is why I don’t come, this is such a dark side of society. Every guest was desperate to tell everyone else how famous and successful they are and it just makes me curl in a ball.

What did you think when you found out that Ivar Mountbatten was on the island?

Well the casting is so key on the island, you know, it's getting that right and trying to get a fair cross section of society. But when it comes to dropping money, it's just another interesting dynamic to have somebody who is a Lord. At one point I think he was arguing saying he had more need of the money because his mortgage was bigger and he has school fees for the kids. I can see the logic but that's an example of where views can differ. Some people will listen to him and wouldn't necessarily see it like that, it’s very interesting.

Mano is a leading brain surgeon and says his time on the island has made him better at his job, he feels he has more clarity of thought to deal with intense operations. what do you think about that?

That's amazing, see that's cool, that's not just about happiness, actually now you're saying it's made him more efficient. That's the main thing, you're less clouded by crap. What a waste of energy is all these envy and greed emotions are for all of us. It’s such a waste of emotion. I love that story of Mano, that's great.

Jack was branded the Mowgli of the island and you praised his behaviour on the island…

I really meant it, his journey was incredible, he has my full respect. He did that the hard way. Through cheerfulness and through kindness and through helping other people and by selflessness and it really, really shines bright as you watch those episodes. It's not rocket science, but it's incredibly difficult when you're blinded and dazzled by cash. You know? It's very easy, everyone talks like this when I'm driving them in on the boat. And I smile because I know as soon as the bright lights come on and that cash is waved, people act differently and sure enough you don't know who any of the real heroes are until you're really under pressure, you're really hurting, you're really hungry, thirsty, scared and then £100,000 is waved in front of your face. Then you learn about who the heroes are. And Jack was one of them.

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What motivates you to keep working when you don’t have to given the success you’ve had?

I really love it, and The Island is a great example of what I love in that you go and take these guys off to the edge of the world and you see that light and pride in their eyes when they come back. It is a quiet, respectful, humble, confidence that you cannot buy anywhere. Your money can't buy it, you've got to earn it, you've got to earn this through blood, sweat, endeavour, massive failure, you've got to learn it by facing fears, you learn these lessons on The Island and those that endure, invariably have this feeling at the end. I see it every time. There's a light in their eyes, it's quiet assurance, and it's really powerful. So I did this stuff, why? Same reason why I'm Chief Scout. It's about the outdoors and what scary, tough, cold and desperate experiences give people, is that quiet sense of we need each other, and sometimes you’ve got to reach out a hand, together we're stronger, and I can be really proud of myself. We see that through The Island, we see that through the Scouts, we see it through Running Wild, and it's the reason I do my job.

What would make you want to call it a day then? Can you see that day happening?

Well I would love to do a lot of all of this stuff, but without being filmed! That’s the answer to that! The bit I struggle with is being on camera. I actually find it difficult, I don't really enjoy having a camera pointed at me. So I think maybe there would be a day where we just do this without the cameras. But I want an adventure and the empowerment of these experiences always to be part of my life. Whether it's through kids or grandchildren or great-grandchildren, what a cool thing to have in your life, why give that up?

You mention Running Wild, you've taken some amazing famous figures and political figures into the wild, is there anybody else you would love to take out on your adventures with you?

Yeah, the list of great guests grows. But the one thing I've learned is that I don’t talk about who are target list is until we've got them! We're lucky with that show, we just keep attracting amazing individuals. I'm very grateful for that privilege to show them our amazing world.

Shows like Treasure Island and Running Wild is about getting people outdoors. Why do you think it's more important than ever to get people outdoors?

I think it’s because we grow so much, it's where character develops, you know? It is what Baden Powell the founder of Scouting said, "A week in the field is worth a year in the classroom." Scouting is based on that and I see it with all our TV shows, it's the same thing. When speak to the guys once they are off the island, “What do you learn by sitting through a typhoon with no shelter, no fire, you’re cold, hungry, you can't learn that in an office”. There is something intangible, but our shows are rich in friendships and in hardships and they never give up spirit. Ultimately that's what the outdoors, and the wild teaches us. If we learn these things there, we become so much more powerful in life because we think, "Oh this bit's easy. I remember that time we were stuck in that jungle or stuck wherever," you know? And that empowers you, it's all about being empowered for your everyday life. These guys aren't going to go back to another island in a hurry, but they're going to use these lessons they've learned about wealth and each other and that sometimes putting your head down and keeping going helps you for the rest of your lives, you know?

Do you think the more we get outdoors, the more inclined people are going to be to save our planet?

Yeah, I mean that's definitely the other side of it. To understand why the whole climate change mess is so important, you've got to see it. That's the reason Barack Obama wanted to go on the journey with me, he'd studied the science and he said, "I've seen all the science, I understand that, but I want to see it." And I think when you stand up close you see the effects of climate change closer, whether it's some animals who, like on Hostile Planet, the show I did where you actually see the devastating effect on wildlife all around the world from climate change, you see litter on an island in the middle of the Pacific. That's the classroom, isn't it, for all of those guys on this show, one of the lessons they came back with is they're never going to throw a bit of plastic onto the ground because they've seen it on an island.

Does your heart drop when you see all the impact of what we are doing to the planet?

I really see it all over the world, everywhere I go. We come from a generation where the older people debate it and young people want to solve it, and I see that. I've just been to the World Scout Jamboree in America, 50,000 young kids from all over came from different countries all united in a message that we have to tackle climate change. We have to sort out plastic.We have to reduce fossil fuels. This isn't like, “Let's debate whether or not it's a good idea”, this is like, “Do it, do it, do it”. I'm proud to encourage that in these guys and trying to shine a light where it's most powerfully seen. I feel like it gives us all hope when you've got kids like that, being such loud voices for others, but it's got to come from the politicians, you know? So that’s why having Narendra Modi in the wild was so powerful, I did that show because he said, "My vision is to clean up India." And the message is you've got to do it. Words are words, you've got to actually do it, you've got to lead. So taking him on that journey was important.

We need to get you with Donald Trump because he doesn't believe in any of it…

I know! I think Ivanka really understands it and I'm always hopeful that there are not many people who don’t get persuaded to do things by their daughters, so I just really hope that her understanding on this will rub off, eventually, on him. Let's pray!

You've done so much, you've achieved so much, have you got anything left on your bucket list that you still want to tick off?

Well, you know, all the things of achievement, all of that is tins and pots, you know, tins and pots, nothing more. The real wealth, like Treasure Island says, is around us all and in our relationships, in our family, and that’s a constant thing, you never stop giving to and trying to invest in and protect and treasure. So yeah I love all the TV shows we do as a team, I'm super proud of being Chief Ambassador in World Scouting and the influence that young people can have there. Our Be Military Fit legacy, that’s really important to me because that's so rooted in our veterans and empowering them with businesses after they leave the military. But all of this stuff is the same thing really, it’s about empowering people through adventure, and I hope I'll do that for a while.

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#health #fitness #lifestyle #good health #brits

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minusthecynic · 7 years

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I aint got time for playing games just that chick who sets my heart aflame it aint no mystery what happened with her and me/ how it wasn't meant to be/ how we fell apart like the little statuette I made of my art group leader in his honour cos it wasn't properly prepared for the kiln/ am I ready to endure that blazing tongue licking trial and torture/ don't kick me when I'm down cos you will teach me nothing you will just breed little beasties of resentment in me/ which wrap themselves around my neck and strangle the living daylights out of me/ in Jah I delight if you didn't know already/ rocking steady to this beat/ the music that's playing in my head when I write this/ I wont be defeated by my pitiful circumstances/ they say time heals all wounds but I've still got scabs cos I keep picking them open every time they start to recover/ breaking the bars of my skin cells cracking them open like fortune cookies/ fresh blood flows out my flesh/ I look like a wookie when folks give me stress/ I'm so blessed/ not oppressed by demons any longer/ though you might think otherwise if you saw the way I treat those pretty witty butterflies that come into my net/ live my love life with no regret/ you can make me soaking wet like the sea/ but I crave a deeper intimacy than the kind that your mind could ever possibly provide/ and its deeper than just bumping and grinding for me/ I want that church and steeple kind of love/ I want that sunday morning you in that white wedding dress kind of love/ I want the whole world knowing about us kind of love/ I don't like doing things in the secret chambers of a garden dark/ hey why should we hide our affection from the world we have been doing that for far too long and you wonder why I snapped my link with you/ don't expect to be respected if you aint prepared to show it shorty/ I aint hating on you I still love you but we can never be together again you already know that/ I know you harbour no illusions about the potential of the two of us to be together/ I'm desperately scribbling like an idiot jailbird chewing his last meal to avoid the temptation of another live video broadcast I shouldn't be watching streaming from the lounge room of some cutie I probably shouldn't be friends with but my love for God is endless/ so can I extend a benevolent hand without my motives being twisted all out of shape like pipe cleaners/ some say I'm a dreamer cos I spit that utopian paradise concept I utilize these skills not to pay the bills just to entertain the masses/ some may say I'm classist nah I'm just a classic/ like retro reebok or Adidas sneaks/ I do speak my mind in volumes copious compendiums of the freedom I've been extended by Jesus/ I won't end up like my grandfolks did/ going to hell in a handbasket/ unless they truly turned around on their deathbeds/ I've got to hope what they confessed to my moms n pops was genuine/ cos id sure hate not to see their lovely faces in heaven/ its pretty tricky yo when youre the second generation/ passing on the truth you learned from your ancestors/ I can relate to that indigenous struggle to maintain cultural heritage/ keep the language alive/ keep our songs and dances going/ put our art on blast/ cos we don't want our past to always remain our past sometimes we want it present in our future also/ only the bits that can potentially be redeemed for Jesus/ some say I'm an also ran/ but I aint gonna freeze up just because hate and criticism be on the increase/ shorty knows ive got it locked with Jesus He causes the evil to decrease in me/ less of me and more of you Lord this is my plea/ I know I cheat cos I don't flow to the beat/ just the music drumming in between my own ears/ perfect love casts out all fear/ you can tell I'm sloppy with my rhyme schemes panting for Christs living water like a thirsty deer/ unlike my homegirl channy I don't flow properly/ I do it sloppily but I'm still Gods property/ I dig this rap game ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper/ ive been that wannabe rhyme dropper/ homies hate on the skills got me wondering why don't they go ahead and do it themselves if they want to hear something slightly more endearing/ I would be cheering/ I aint hating for the sake of hating/ big up my homies I be celebrating/ not denigrating/ this is more than a recreational pursuit for me/ I would do it for a full time job but noones dangling golden cash carrots under me/ little wonder cos my thunder got stolen by way too many broken hearts and the molten lava I fell in/ cos my ego got in the way of my progress/ little girls calling me their idol/ people comparing me to my heroes/ as if I could ever be considered their peers and equals/ my head got big and swelled/ I could barely hold it up it was so bursting with pride/ yet when I chose to walk by the side of the lion of zion I realized how little I was without His help/ and what wee amounts of change I could accomplish stranded on my own on a lonely island/ selfishness just gets you nowhere fast/ ive got regrets for the way I used to live/ that die is cast but I broke the mould/ still haven't got a woman to have and hold/ for the rest of my life though when I do I'm gonna treat her like purest gold/ a diamond that's been cut innumerable times made more beautiful by her scars/ she will forever own my heart/ I hate the fact that I cant be with her right now/ I hate the fact that God said no to one girl but He might say yes to another/ plenty fish in the sea for this brother/ I know its a tired stale old cliché but I believe that I don't have to settle for a life of permanent bachelorhood/ and if youre a chick youre a spinster/ don't let them stick that bachelorette trash labelling on you/ whats in a name/ identity distinction/ you aint one of the bros you're your own person/ I give up on myself too soon just like I did with you/ strap me to a billion black balloons let them weigh down this sad faced clown/ fill them up with concrete when its still dripping liquid/ if that's even possible/ descriptive of the way I feel/ like I'm sweating bullets and lead/ scared of the future without a bae to call my own/ unlike that game show I don't aim to claim the throne/ I'm just happy playing follow the leader/ not straying from Jahs calling rounding up those stubborn ones I'm that sheep dog/ prodding cattle to get moving on a journey of self improvement/ no one knows the troubles ive seen or where ive been/ or the times when ive come in between a rock and a hard place/ or husbands and wives/ gossip separates friends/ and causes you to use kitchen knives/ for something other than slicing up animal meat/ I don't want any more blood flowing down our streets/ we already got robbed once I would be a dunce if I ever put myself in a position to allow that to happen again/ now God provided the money so we can claim back on insurance all that got jacked from us/ and so we could tighten our security/ Lord I wanna live a life of purity but you know what these two eyes see/ pretty young things find their way to me when I aint even looking for them/ so ive gotta be extra careful do that dip and bounce with my eyeballs/ when other dudes in seventh grade were making collages of busty babes I was pasting tiny babies snaps to my page/ we didn't even get to use a pen til then/ maybe it was freshman year/ can we live our lives without causing each others eyes to drip rivers of tears/ all of these days weeks months I wasted/ all of the blood on my lips I tasted/ only from my own d n a far as I could tell/ though some share the same as me/ in some small way linked by code of genetics to all of humanity/ its pathetic how we start race wars and act sexist/ all because were stubborn and pigheaded/ tell ourselves we can't forgive the wrongs of the past but that's a lie of the enemy/ crazy talk like suddenly sprouting legs and trotting round if you're a sea anemone/ I aint a portugese man of war I wonder what I'm fighting for/ instead of delighting in you Lord igniting that holy fire in me/ I'm frightened for what the future has in store/ I don't wanna be the same old me anymore/ but I find myself in wrestling matches with angels / like Jacob pretty soon I'm gonna wind up missing hip bones/ could you change my name to Israel/ so I know God will prevail evey time someone calls my name/ seeing myself as His success upon each occasion when they point out my failures/ and they will know us by the trail of the dead skin cells attached to bloody bandages we leave behind us when we go strolling down the gardens of the ghettos we all know and love/ I've still gotta live with the consequences of my actions this side of heaven/ I'm so dense and intense most cant handle me so they sit on the fence and observe the way my candles lit/ while I collect my dollars and cents and just smile cos Gods a genius/ cracking me up cos suckers and liars said I could never make any money outta this biz/ guess what I proved them wrong even though that wasn't the motivating factor/ saving souls and taking care of my future family was the only reason why I ever wanted to get cashed up/ I talked way too much trash for my own good/ folks misunderstood the way I acted in my neighbourhood/ losers calling themselves outlaws/ if they got locked up in jail how would they feel for real/ bush rangers strangers highway men by way men/ you aint going my way men so I can relax/ and even if you did pull me over to one side and told this kid to give his money cough that cash give it up quick smart like pash rash or risk losing his life you think i'd care to open my wallet for such deviants/ losing my life means nothing to me cos its in the hands of Jesus stupid/ so I aint fretting if you pull a gun on me and stick it to my head tell me that youre gonna pull the trigger on my skull and blast it to smithereens/ cos I know who my king is/ and I know where my future is/ lying beyond the stars/ they treat me like a spider from mars sipping cider from a glass/ eyeball with a hole where the pupil should be/ I'm like john lennon legend and tupac I wrestle with my own vanity/ that's insanity/ but one out of three found Jesus in the end/ at least that's the truth of which I'm convinced my friend/ some say I'm gonna deal with my sorrow tomorrow then they don't live another day there has to be a better way/ homies who consider themselves sold out for Jesus still watch movies with cussing does that even bear discussing/ why the shortie of my dreams watching scream queens better yet what I'm doing in that haunted house I should ask myself/ why the ski mask or hockey like Jason why I'm chasing that dragon why I'm facing these giants why I see myself as a dwarf but my God towers over my oppressors/ why I love the fact that He forgives me despite my constant messing round with transgressions and gressors/ how am I supposed to address this/ so much we don't talk about for the sake of love/ like I quit paying out on atheists/ cos I knew that wasn't winning souls for His kingdom/ it wasn't Christs mindset/ even though I don't believe that atheists truly exist theyre such an easy target/ I close my eyes and try to forget/ about all the blood sweat and tears it took to get my homegirl to where she is today/ thank you Lord for all the change you have brought to her life that death for life exchange/ I had to force myself to slow down cos I wasn't getting anywhere speeding too fast through life/ is it cos I drink too much coffee that I'm mentally rushing through this cconversation already thinking of what I'm gonna do with my day once you're up and gone/ why can't I just chill with it and enjoy the moment/ I don't have a remote control button to freeze the sun and keep you here with me shortie so I've gotta lap up the milk of time you're giving me like a happy cat and don't complain/ cos I cant prolong your stay for any longer than you wanna be here/ I'm sincere in my apology for trying to express my love for you in a physical way before you were ready/ I should have stuck with emotional expressions of the deep impression you carved into my heart right from the very start/ I guess I should have been more careful the kind of pics I was allowing my eyes to look at less than an hour before meeting you/ now I'm entreating you have mercy on me/ give me date number two/ or call it business meet/ cos I mix business with pleasure when the two of us are standing on the same street/ I'm demanding your attention never commanding it/ you could conquer the world if you quit hanging with twits/ do I include myself in that category/ guaranteed you could win a game of scattergories/ look at me I'm an allegory/ for what could happen if you trust in Jesus with your whole heart/ quit playing church and pushing HIm to the furthest branch of your birch/ I know sometimes life situations have got you out on a limb/ and I can't even imagine what you went through having to endure refugee camp/ dealing with that cramped space/ though I can relate to starting over in a brand new country where no one knows your name or face/ or the beauty of your personality/ I know it was hard for your folks cos they probably started at the top in your country then slid back to the bottom in ours/ having to begin all over again/ I remember how excited you were on the advent of becoming a citizen/ we've been through some happy times together/ getting higher than Everest/ stoked off that moment enthralled by your cleverness/ when you got into uni and excelled at those good grades/ when I saw you shining like constellations up on stage/ such a sensation I'm amazed/ you were on the line up for a folk festival I only visited as a paying guest/ is it only in my fantasies you lay your head down on my chest in wedded bliss/ baby let me comb your hair/ I love you in everything you wear/ can you do a fashion show for me when you select what you determine to be the best dress for that particular occasion/ you don't need any make up to look gorgeous/ I could wake up next to you every morning and fall asleep with my head besides yours on the pillow every evening/ you got me weeping like a willow cos I only share this double bed with ghosts and memories/ they say the rap game is a widow maker/ cos cats be onto you pouncing when you shake your money maker and bouncing round the house like that/ every dog on the block wants to chat with you/ wants to lock you in chains make a hood rat out of you/ but you aint going for their smooth talk/ cos your eyes are on your heavenly prize/ not just like some souls whose only goal is to see themselves blaze bright and all the rest of the world can just burn up like a pile of garbage you discarded in your yard cos you couldn't stand the sight of carnage/ they feed people to pigs in my country no really/ they got mafia operating in my local area maybe/ living next door to a bikie gang affiliated lady/ still she can't use her shotgun to make a hole in the foot of an intruder/ its crazy how our laws sometimes protects criminal elements more than it does those who are innocent victims/ I'm sick of chewing humble crow pie eating it just cos evil minded fools won't let sleeping dogs lie and give me peace/ as much as I care about the cause you're fighting for I can do it my own way without your help/ although you asked for mine you didn't want it in the way I was offering/ so I withdraw my assistance/ and I say forget about our friendship if you can't treat me right/ i'm not the scum between your toes/ i'm not a handkerchief you can wipe your bloody nose with/ i'm not that goober dripping from your snoz gonzo/ you think you're the fonz but you're barely fuzzy bear yet alone tonto/ Jah come to my aid pronto get this hate off my mind/ help me stop thinking about the friendships which I'm forced to leave behind/ should have drowned his companionship when my homegirl left me/ romantically though I was the one who hopped on that plane/ I didn't get why wendy Matthews song was sad cos I associated blue skies with gladness even though billy was right they do bring tears/ yet they can also fill you up with cheer/ when you know theres sunshine for days so yall can come out and play/ and I struggle to relate to songs about the sun which stays bright until late in the evening like those catastrophic gothic trolls panicking at the disco / cos I operate under a different hemisphere but I'm more concerned about concentrating on what unites us instead of what divides/ believe it or not/ I'm ripley praying for those victims of homicide regicide and suicide/ suckers talked about killing God yet He still lives/ despite all of our obnoxiousness such snotty nosed punks He still forgives/ some get drunk off their own pretentions of genius/ yet they forget God is the one who gives their clogs their cleverness and their pants their smartness/ I wont be a bossy boots if you don't shoot the messenger/ did I forget Jesus is in the drivers seat/ I permanently play the role of passenger/ who paid for my passage Yah/ I aint saying things just to massage your ego/ I don't care if the truth is offensive to people/ though I try to speak it in love I don't shove folks in boxes/ without my spirit finding its home in Christ I'm a vagrant with no fixed address having no place to rest like He spoke of Himself in unfavourable comparison to vixens and foxes ❤ 🙂

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