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harrelljepsen22 · 21 days

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How Any Single Man What Each Lady Needs Find Out

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

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Top 10 Recommended Carnage Stories (pre-Absolute Carnage)

In honour of Absolute Carnage’s beginning I present you with the best Carnage stories if you want to get into and have fun with the character.

My picks here are intentionally excluding anything from Donny Cates’ era partially because his work isn’t finished yet and partially because my hope is this list will act as a primer for people who want to test the waters with Carnage and see if Cates’ current work is worth their time.

This list isn’t ranked at all and nor is it a list of stories that are essential to understanding Carnage’s broad chronology. Like if you read these on their own there will be gaps that will make you wonder how we got from A to B.

Rather this list is intended to give you a general idea of who Carnage is, the types of stories he has or can be used in and what are among the best stories from the character’s POV.

1. Carnage Origin (ASM #344-345, 359-363)

There are some writing issues with this arc in relation to the F4’s use in the story. However if you put that aside and just focus strictly upon Carnage himself, in many ways this first Carnage story gives you everything you need to know about the character.

We learn most of Cletus Kasady’s backstory, where his symbiote came from, his general philosophy towards life and the dramatic hook he presents as an antagonist.

That is to say what is someone was an unrepentant psychopath...and then got superpowers. Specifically the same powers as Spider-Man’s then most physically intimidating and scariest enemy...but taken up to 11.

Are there deep psychological layers to Carnage?

Absolutely not.

But that is very much the point.

He’s chaos and death wrapped in black and blood and complete with Freddy Krueger humour and a taste for Metalhead anarchy.

The art is simply stunning, the action is top notch, Carnage’s various abilities and ferocity is expertly sold to readers and just to hammer the seriousness of the situation home, Spidey needs backup from his most dangerous enemy to even hope to bring down Kasady.

So whilst unfortunately not perfect, it is a perfect introduction to the character.

Honourable Mention: Maximum Carnage

I do not recommend you read this if you are new to Carnage, Spider-Man or comics in general. Maximum Carnage is enjoyable to certain fans but for most is something of an endurance test.

However it must be mentioned as it is undoubtedly Carnage’s most famous story. It doesn’t really give us anything new for his character beyond introducing his on and off again girlfriend Shriek and his ‘kids’ Doppelganger, Carrion, Demogoblin, etc. These characters intermittently show up in Carnage’s lore.

The whole story is a series of repetitive action set pieces...for 14 issues!

If you aren’t brave enough to check this out then perhaps consider reading synopses of it or watching recap videos online (RNS does a good one), just so you know the broadstrokes of the story as it is relevant to future Carnage history and Absolute Carnage is it’s spiritual successor.

2. The Mortal Past (ASM Annual 1994)

Arguably the best written Carnage story within the pages of Spider-Man.

The art is very reminiscent of Mark Bagley, co-creator of Carnage, so visually Carnage looks and ‘moves’ in character.

However the general story, whilst not redeeming Carnage at all, does give us a little more about his past and explores his philosophy from a different angle.

What helps this story is that while it is a Carnage story, the emotional weight of the story is carried by his former childhood friend, allowing for Carnage to neither sell out on his core concept of being a simple killing machine, but also giving the readers something to connect to beyond Spidey and Carnage fighting.

3. Carnage: Mind Bomb #1

Many Carnage fanatics argue this obscure one shot is Carnage’s ‘Killing Joke’. In a sense they are right as this story is the deepest exploration of who Kasady is and why he is the way he is.

We learn little about his past (beyond a few more early warning signs from his childhood) but this is Warren Ellis’ point. The story is oddly meta as it presents us with a psychiatrist who is looking to unravel the layers of Kasady’s mind, only to learn there really aren’t any.

He is simple. That is the point. He simply sees society and life as a joke, a big lie and that savagery lies beneath the surface. He illustrates this by driving his doctor utterly mad.

This story works because though it takes place in a superhero universe and features a super villain, there is no hero here. There are barely any good guys to speak of.

Rather this issue is in effect a horror comic, the first time Carnage was ever used in this way. This is reflected in the art work, which is definitely R-rated and depicts Carnage very differently. He’s essentially solid red and leaner, more skeletal even.

A good way to look at this story is as “What if Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees sat down and explained to you why they kill people’

Gory and not for the faint of heart, but this issue is the best story you will ever read that spells out for you who Carnage is and why, from his POV, he does what he does.

4. Web of Carnage (Sen #3, ASM #410, No Adj #67, Spec #233)

Carnage appeared a few times in the Clone Saga but this is his best outing. In general this is one of the more fun and enjoyable Clone Saga/Ben Reilly stories. But as a Carnage story it’s unique as it focuses much more upon the symbiote than Kasady.

The premise is simple yet effective. The Carnage symbiote bonds to Spider-Man/Ben Reilly and he must resist it’s attempts to control him or tempt him to violence, which includes urging him to murder Peter Parker!

The meat of the story is in parts 3-4 when we see Ben’s internal struggle against the symbiote. Visually, the art is not consistent because of different artists, but they are all decent-great and the design for Spider-Carnage is so iconic it was adopted for the finale of the Spider-Man 1994 cartoon series.

A simple yet fun story!

5. Carnage: It’s a Wonderful Life #1

I recommend this tentatively.

This is because it technically speaking covers much the same ground as Mind Bomb but isn’t as good. I suppose if you read this first you wouldn’t get that impression.

Nevertheless, It’s a Wonderful Life is an even longer and more literal look inside Carnage’s head. Psychedelic, twisted, macabre and full of dark humour the story just about pulls off it’s horror premise. It feels like something out of a 1990s Dark Horse comic.

The one thing that this issue has over Mind Bomb is that it makes an astute observation about Carnage’s core philosophy I don’t dare spoil.

Honourable Mention: Venom vs. Carnage #1-4

This story is in general pretty fun but doesn’t give you much of anything new for Carnage beyond him teaming up with Venom and the introduction of his spwan Toxin, who is a pretty cool character in his own right.

More significantly it was the first major time Clayton Crain drew symbiotes and he’d go on to have one of the most memorable visual takes on them ever.

6. Family Feud (Carnage #1-5, by Zeb Wells)

I’m not fond of most of Wells work and have issues with this era for Spider-Man. But when looked at as a Carnage story first and foremost, this series marks an important point in the character’s history.

At the time Venom had transitioned into a more heroic figure meaning Carnage, much as he was back when he was created, was pushed as the face of evil symbiotes within the Marvel universe. To that end he began to have a string of his own mini-series just like Venom had in the 1990s.

In many ways this mini-series is playing cleanup, returning the Carnage symbiote and Kasady to Earth after their presumed death in New Avengers #1. The series however also seeks to build a foundation from which future stories can be told and to that end reintroduces Shriek and Doppelganger too, sets up Carnage’s daughter Scorn.

It does all this pretty effectively to my recollection and has great art by Crain to sell everything.

7. Carnage U.S.A. #1-5

Zeb Wells in this story tells a story that could have been an event crossover but mercifully was not.

He and Crain return to deliver arguably the most ambitious Carnage story up until then, involving him infecting a whole town with his symbiote.

This again feels very much like a Dark Horse horror comic at times but still contains superhero elements and tones a plenty, finding a decent balance between the two.

Wells continues to world build by reintroducing many of the other Venom spawns (Carnage’s ‘siblings’) and uses them to great effect along with Agent Venom Flash Thompson who meets Carnage for the first time in this story.

Carnage himself is just very on point with his twisted plan and machinations, with this tale being among his more memorable villainous feats.

8. Deadpool vs. Carnage #1-4

Have you ever seen a Road Runner cartoon? Have you ever seen parodies of Road Runner cartoons by late night animated shows where they use dark humour to make the antics more bloody and violent?

That is essentially what this mini-series is. It’s two wisecracking, red and black clad over the top characters going at it in wacky and violent shenanigans.

However there is also poignantly some stuff in the story that even makes Carnage question his life philosophy in one of the most oddly clever takedowns of his character ever.

9. AXIS: Carnage #1-3

This story has it’s issues, in particular with who it’s villain is, but that’s more a problem for Spidey and Venom history.

As for Carnage himself this story comes recommended for it’s sheer novelty.

It’s Carnage...but as a...good guy?

The premise of the AXIS event was that certain heroes and villains were ‘inverted’ so that they went from good to bad and vice versa.

The wrinkle in this though is that Kasady is still Kasady. He’s still violent, insane, wisecracking and has a warped sense of morality, it’s just that now he finally has a sense of morality. He is sincerely trying to do good he’s just not all that aware his methods are somewhat counterproductive and extreme.

10. The One That Got Away, World Tour, What Dwells Beneath, (Carnage #1-16 by Gerry Conway)

Mind Bomb and It’s a Wonderful life were the first Carnage comics to embrace the use of the character for horror, but Conway’s Carnage picked the ball and ran with it.

Conway said he was in essence doing Tomb of Dracula with Carnage and it shows.

The series revolves around Carnage but the real main characters are the anti-Carnage taskforce assembled to put him down, giving us grounded relatable characters to connect to whilst we follow Carnage’s slaughter. There is a surprising swerve in the story where the story goes from a simple slasher movie style horror into full on Lovecraftian style horror which propels the consequent arcs of the series. The ending is rather rushed and weak I must admit, but the ride getting there is arguably the best crafted Carnage story ever.

#Carnage #Cletus Kasady #carnage symbiote #Maximum Carnage #Absolute Carnage #Mark Bagley #Gerry Conway #Zeb Wells #Lovecraft #AXIS #Tomb of Dracula #Warren Ellis #Deadpool #Venom #Eddie Brock #Clone Saga #Ben Reilly #Spider Carnage

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thenightling · 4 years

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Films and shows to get you ready for Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman

Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is getting adapted into a series by Netflix. Though this is a DC comics property, The Sandman is NOT like Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman. The Sandman is a gorgeous and surreal fantasy that only partially takes place in the human world. A big part of it takes place in the fantasy realm known as The Dreaming.

There is very little combat action though there is horror. To give you an idea of what you are in for (Or if you are a Sandman fan already and want something to hold you off) here are twenty-five films and shows that share some of the traits (or atmosphere) you might find in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

25. The Raven (1963 film). This might seem like an oddball one to list since it’s a Gothic Horror fantasy comedy from the 1960s but it gets referenced in The Sandman by Matthew imitating Peter Lorre and later Matthew compared Cain to Vincent Price. I think it’s safe to say Matthew was a Price (or Roger Coman) fan.

24. Death. Death is a short animated film from DC and was featured as bonus content for the Blu Ray of the animated movie Wonder Woman: Bloodlines.

Though she looks younger (appearing about nineteen-years-old) Death is the older sister of Morpheus AKA Dream of The Endless, the main protagonist of The Sandman. She was first introduced in The Sandman issue 8, The Sound of Her Wings.

23. Stardust.

Stardust is a fantasy film based on the novel (and graphic novel) by Neil Gaiman. Though there are liberties taken, this should give you some idea of what his fantasy writing is like.

22. Beetlejuice the animated series.

If you want an idea of what The Dreaming (realm of Dreams) is like then I urge you to check out the surreal Neither (that’s not a typo) World from the Beetlejuice animated series. The monsters that inhabit this realm are the stuff of fantasy and nightmares. Some are living puns. And they are ruled over by a broody Goth who makes it rain when he’s depressed and feeling melodramatic, much like a certain Dream Lord from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman...

21. Bonus listing: The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

One major antagonist of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is a nightmare entity known as The Corinthian who escapes into the waking world and becomes a serial killer. Had Sandman been adapted in the mid-90s I think many would have loved a crossover with Freddy Krueger.

20. Return to Oz.

If by some weird chance you have never seen The Wizard of Oz or any faithful (read: Not 2010) version of Alice in Wonderland I would recommend those first. But under the assumption you may have already seen those I would suggest watching Return to Oz. Return to Oz features an adorable Jack-o-lantern headed character called Jack Pumpkinhead. Jack Pumpkinhead was the loose inspiration for the grounds keeper dream entity character of Mervyn Pumpkinhead in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

19. Tales from the Crypt (TV series).

Issue 2 of The Sandman is called Imperfect Hosts because all of the characters introduced in that issue are former horror host characters from horror anthology comics. Cain and Abel were DC’s answer to The Crypt keeper and The Vault Keeper. For a good idea of who Cain actually is (assuming he’s in the show along with his House of Mystery) I strongly recommend checking out the TV show Tales from the Crypt.

18. Tales from the Cryptkeeper (animated series)

In the mid-1990s there was an animated series adaptation of Tales from the Crypt called Tales from the Cryptkeeper. Season 2 featured the three original EC comics horror hosts of the Cryptkeeper, Vault Keeper, and the Old Witch. These storytellers might give you an idea of who (or what) some of Morpheus’ Nightmare minion are in The Sandman.

17. Hocus Pcous.

I chose to put this one here because the three witches of Hocus Pocus very much remind me of the Hecatae version of The Three-in-one from The Sandman Issue 2. There’s also a powerful Grimoire that is a plot catalyst.

16. The 10th Kingdom.

The 10th Kingdom was a fantasy mini-series that aired on NBC in 2000. It dealt with a twenty-seven-year-old young woman who discovers that her estranged mother is the evil queen in a faery tale world. It is very much a story about stories (much like parts of The Sandman) and shows you the original dark and unvarnished versions of some classic faery tales as well as how those characters (and their descendants) carry on centuries later.

15. Once Upon a Time (TV series. Particularly seasons 1 through 3.)

Much like with 10th Kingdom we have here a story about stories and those characters from classic stories trying to live in the human world with varying degrees of success. You see how important their stories are and how carefully and intricately each tale was interwoven with each other. (...Until around season 4 that is...)

Also it begins with a very powerful creature imprisoned and later undergoing an extremely long redemption arc and a sense of guilt tied to the death of his own son.

14. Constantine: City of Demons.

John Constantine appears in one issue of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Issue 3. Constantine: City of Demons gives a good crash course on who Constantine is and where he comes from. John Constantine’s ancestor, Johanna Constantine is a recurring character in The Sandman.

13. Justice League: Dark animated movie.

Justice League: Dark is the first animated movie to feature The House of Mystery. The House of Mystery is a building whose roots are in The Dreaming in The Sandman.

12. Constantine (2014 series).

In 2014 Constantine got his own live action series but it only lasted for one season.

11. Locke and Key.

Only recently did I learn Locke and Key will be doing an official crossover with The Sandman Universe.

10. Lucifer TV series.

The TV show Lucifer is an oddball thing since it was based on a comic that is actually a spin-off of The Sandman. The storyline that introduces us to Mazikeen, where Lucifer quits ruling Hell, opens Lux, and takes up playing Piano all come from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

When Fox got the rights to Lucifer no one thought The Sandman was going to be getting an adaptation, at least not in the near future. As a result several conversations and key pieces of dialogue that originally passed between Morpheus and Lucifer in The Sandman comics now went to Lucifer and his therapist, Linda, and his angel-brother, Amenadiel.

Bonus: If at all possible check out the Crisis on infinite Earths event from the CW as the real Crisis on Infinite Earths (original comic event) eventually gave way to things like The Sandman.

9. The Witches (1990) and Coraline (2009) I couldn’t decide which one to put here so I put them both.

The Witches is a children’s horror film based on the book by Roald Dahl. I suggest this here for its darker themes and you get a group of dangerous, child-killing witches attending a meeting at a hotel, much like The Corinthian’s Serial Killer convention in The Sandman.

Coraline is a stop motion fantasy / horror story for children and can give you some idea of what certain aspects of The Sandman are like, as it is by the same author.

8. Pan’s Labyrinth.

The Sandman is very much part fantasy and part Gothic horror and no director alive quite fits that criteria now better than Guillermo del Toro and possibly Tim Burton. Pan’s Labyrinth has the surreal beauty and darkness you are likely to see in The Sandman.

7. Doom Patrol.

Doom Patrol was the first DC show that made me have faith that yes, they CAN adapt Sandman respectfully and unafraid of the strangeness it might entail. Doom Patrol seemed unafraid to tackle the strange, quirkiness of it’s own content. From a talking roach, to gender-queer sentient street named Danny, Doom Patrol was not afraid to be strange.

6. Swam Thing (2019 TV series from DC Universe Streaming Service).

I mostly suggest this for one character in particular. Matthew Cable. After Matthew died in The Sandman comics he chose to spend his afterlife as Morpheus’ raven.

Besides featuring a character from The Sandman Swamp Thing gives a very good Gothic atmosphere and supernatural content, giving you an idea of the sort of horror DC can do.

6. Justice League Action: Trick or Threat. And Justice League action: Supernatural adventures in Babysitting.

The episode of Justice League Action called Trick or Threat features Cain, a nightmare character from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, as well as The House of Mystery. This was Cain’s first appearance in media. The version of Cain in the TV show Lucifer is nothing like his comic book counterpart. This cartoon is the first and only faithful adaptation of the character from the comics.

The episode of Justice League Action called Supernatural Adventures in Babysitting features the Magdalene Grimoire. This is the grimoire used to summon Morpheus in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. It also features John Constantine.

5. She-Creature: The Mermaid Chronicles (2001 film)

This is an odd from about some humans have a captured mermaid. The majority of the film is about her escape and revenge on her captors. You will see something similar to that with Morpheus in the very first episode of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

4. The Company of Wolves.

The Company of Wolves is a story about stories. In the ontemporary world a pubescent girl sleeps during her first period. She dreams that she is Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother tells her horrific stories about werewolves. The wolves become metaphors For puberty, masculinity, and waking sexuality. Toward the end Rosealeen (the protagonist) becomes one of the wolves. You get random stark reminders that this entire film is set in a dream world, and yet it’s still strangely easy to forget.

3. The Nightmare before Christmas.

The Nightmare before Christmas is a fantasy musical about the king of Halloween. Though he’s adored by his subjects he longs for more. The surreal landscape and strange creatures can be reminiscent of The Sandman.

2. Labyrinth.

One of the earliest efforts to talk me into reading The Sandman entailed someone telling me that Morpheus was “Like a Goth Jareth.” This effort (at the time) failed to entice me though I do love Labyrinth.

1. Over The Garden Wall.

I only saw Over the Garden Wall for the first time about a year and a half ago and loved it very much. This is a strange animated mini-series about two brothers lost in a forest called “The Unknown.” The setting has been debated among fans as to if it’s purgatory (a place between life and death), a dream realm, or something else entirely. I choose to believe that though it may be a place between life and Death that it’s also a part of The Dreaming, especially with so many surreal and Gothic visuals, and characters and creatures directly out of vintage seasonal cards.

#The Sandman #Neil Gaiman's The Sandman

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recordisms · 4 years

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Velvet – Adam Lambert Album Review

The King of queens is back! Adam Lambert blends his velvet voice to a sound wall of funk, disco and pop rock. It’s been five years after the release of Lambert’s third album “The Original High”. The American Idol heartthrob gained a cult following and praise from modern and older music enthusiasts since 2008. With his charm and powerhouse vocals, Adam was bestowed with the honor of touring with the rock band Queen. Not only that, he became the front man of their joint collaborative effort, Queen + Adam Lambert, doing Freddie Mercury justice.

Since the numerous tours and music teases, Lambert dropped the Velvet EP in 2019, with all songs appearing on today’s full-length LP plus some more. On this project, we see a more playful and confident Lambert adjust to funk, disco and soul influenced pop rock. Lambert also exhibits more vocal control and different ways to challenge his delivery. All of which create a satisfying space for these rock influences. However, the albums does have its faults where points fade out from the new sonic direction, and the record ends on an anti-climactic note. Above all, Lambert is still carving out a space for one of American Idol’s greatest gems.

Album Rating: 7.5/10

1. Velvet – Enter this funk laden track. Lambert finds a perfect balance of instruments and room for his golden voice to soar.

2. Superpower – The initial lead single off the Velvet EP. “Superpower” finds Adam playing with his delivery and experimenting with funk inspirations. There’s a dash of Prince and a hell of a lot of energy in this track. The track ends with a arena rock guitar solo with echo’s of Lambert’s personal super power, his voice.

3. Stranger You Are – While embracing a new funk direction, “Stranger You Are” has some hint of folk-rock guitars and includes a healthy touch of horns. An entrancing piece of pop dedicated to flaunting the oddities inside of us.

4. Loverboy – Derived of passion, Lambert laments that he is not another body. Lambert seeks a fiery connection.

5. Roses (with Nile Rodgers) – This track is reminiscing of Adam Lambert past moodier material. Continuing the albums sonic direction, Lambert’s vocal control and delivery are a standout piece of this track. More controlled than his belting numbers. On this track, Adam sings to an emotionally distant lover, and wants to know how real it is.

6. Closer to You – Adam wants to get closer to his lover, whatever way it takes. This piano driven track is classic Lambert; belting vocals and brooding melodies. Sonically, this track is blander than the rest of the initial cuts. But, more space for Adam’s voice is never an issue.

7. Overglow – Standout track for Lambert. IF not the best track on the album. The track is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s DSOTM with Lambert’s signature bursting choruses. This time around, there is more control in vocal delivery and is sung in a way that builds rousing tension in the verses. A newly minted Adam Lambert signature track.

8. Comin In Hot – Slowing down from the previous track with more funk inflections. This slinky track highlights Lambert’s lust and what he wants his lover to do with him.

9. On the Moon – Lambert is in full slow motion and has us in his gravity. The narcotized lyrics slink along with the slow burn of this tension building track. Lambert inhabits the atmosphere of this track perfectly.

10. Love Don’t –Lambert doesn’t want to give up on a certain love but love itself usually doesn’t stick with Lambert. He wrestles with a decision of what to do next over a very 80’s sounding rock track.

11. Ready to Run – On this sleazy guitar track, Lambert will not settle for less. He’s packing up his things and ready to leave the shackles behind. Whether from a hateful place or a sordid lover, Lambert sets out to free himself.

12. New Eyes – Adam has seen the crisp sky-blue light on another slinkly rock instrumental. Cracking his jaded shell, Lambert sees something more promising in the new eyes of a lover.

13. Feel Something – An atmospheric closing track. Lambert gives himself room to meditate over piano driven chords. Looking to start fresh, Lambert doesn’t want an new lover, but a new rush. The emotional weight builds over the track and Lambert’s all power vocals are supported by a choir of background vocals. The track doesn’t give that satisfying emotional climax, and sonically, it’s noticeably different from the rest of the album. It wasn’t the best track to end on, but it’ notes an emotional journey for Lambert, who wants to break from the same habits that still follow him.

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douxreviews · 5 years

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True Detective - ‘The Hour and the Day’ Review

“I wanna know the whole story.”

The fourth True Detective episode usually features a big action scene that solidifies the halfway point in the story. The harrowing one-shot sequence in season one. The relentless shooting spree in season two. This is more of a prelude to this season's intense powder-keg separating the first half of the story from the second. It's another way that this new story toys with paying lip service to what came before while contenting itself with being its own thing.

What this does instead is take its sweet time in fleshing out what exactly is going on in each of the three timelines and the states of the characters as they exist within each of those eras. It sets the stage for what comes next in the season, while also being character and dialogue heavy. It also takes more time to explore the themes of the season, which I especially enjoyed.

Racial Divide

The issue of race is finally examined, which I feel the show has been dancing around until now.

I felt it was always in the background, noticeable in the lingering, guarded or just suspicious looks that are directed at Wayne Hays, the black detective in rural Arkansas. I've noticed it from the very first episode. Some people don't realize that prejudice is not always overt. In fact, I'd say a majority of it goes understated or unspoken, in that Travis Bickle sort of way.

The thing is most of the people who regard Hays in this way probably aren't even malicious about it, or would even consider themselves racist; I know people like this. You've got ones like state prosecutor turned Attorney General Daryl Kent who clearly looks down on Hays with this smug, dismissive superiority. Then you've got people like Mrs. Faber who will maintain politeness but always see him as an other, holding that look of thinly veiled fear and suspicion. Then there's guys like Tom Purcell, who'll drop racial slurs in moments of anger or frustration and then quickly feel ashamed; that reaction exists somewhere in their upbringing, but they know it's wrong.

No matter the shade in which it presents itself, there's no doubt it sticks in the craw of men as dignified as Hays.

Or men who aren't, as displayed when Hays and West pay a visit to Sam Whitehead, a possible lead on the one-eyed black man who bought the ominous dolls. Was his immediate rabble-rousing and accusations of racial profiling and witch-hunts just a natural reaction from an old black man who has experienced decades of injustice from white cops, or was it an easy way of avoiding direct answers to the questions he was asked? It's not entirely clear.

The hectic encounter with Whitehead and the other residents of that local ghetto did highlight the nuanced dynamic between Hays and West, which I've enjoyed throughout this season. While clearly a bit of a good ole' boy, West does not seem prejudiced. He even seems rather progressive for a man of his era, region and occupation, given his deep respect for his partner and stony admonition of Tom for his aforementioned drunken insult toward Hays. And Hays, while constantly on his toes about the racial divide between them, seems to recognize West's empathic quality, even enjoys it when West jokingly needles him about this sensitivity. It's another reason I dig this partnership, that understanding between two no-nonsense individuals.

Another character who appears not to be clouded by the resident race elephant is the priest at the Catholic church attended by the Purcells. Although West distrusts him on account of being a priest -- which would make even more sense today than in 1980 -- the man is very helpful in organizing his congregation to aid the detectives. He seems sincere in his assessment of Will and Julie and he hopes Hays, a former altar boy, would be open to confession. Nice guy, but there were certain things about his scenes that made me wonder if he might be involved in what happened to the kids.

Couples Counseling

More personal than societal, but equally important are the various relationships we are faced with in this story. It's heavily suggested that they have quite a bit of bearing on what's going on.

The big one is Wayne and Amelia's relationship. The contrast between their blossoming romance in 1980 and their rocky marriage in 1990 is very striking. We first see that the later stage is marred by feelings of resentment from Wayne and accusations of inadequacy from Amelia, despite the love they still share. After ten years, they've become worn down by the flaws and neurotic tendencies they seemed so excited about discovering at the start of their romance.

The first dinner date between Hays and Amelia was certainly the best scene in the episode. It was very cute, even sexy in a surprisingly subtle way. And their dialogue back and forth was just wonderful. Despite being so different in terms of background, occupation, politics and temperament, there was an instant chemistry that both recognized. Almost like these two people who each claim to have never wanted marriage or kids saw in each other the possibility of a future together in this first foray into intimacy.

Initially, though, there's Tom and Lucy Purcell. A couple whose furiously tumultuous marriage bred an unhappy family life, which may have played a factor in their children's secretive meetings with mysterious strangers and their eventual abduction.

Amelia gains an insight into this as she tries to comfort the distraught Lucy, and ends up getting the feeling that Lucy might be hiding something and ends up getting cursed out by the latter thanks addressing it. Not a very good first attempt at junior detective work, but she may have just unearthed a clue without realizing it. Lucy claimed that "Children should laugh", the same phrase included in the cryptic letter sent by Julie's abductor. Either Lucy was just wistfully acknowledging the logic of that message or it could be that she had something to do with what befell her children. It's still ambiguous.

As for Tom, we get to see the beginning of his and West's odd friendship as West gives the heartbroken Tom a place to stay away from his sad home. It's another indication that West is a naturally empathetic person, despite occasionally coming off as a hardass. Though it might be that his empathy has dampened somewhat in the years since.

It's a shame that the 1980 dynamic between Hays and West doesn't return when Hays is brought on board the task force of the second Purcell case ten years later. A shame, but realistic. No way the dynamic is the same after Hays got the shaft and West became the successful, award-winning career lawman who shook hands with young, pre-controversy Bill Clinton. And the fact that Hays, lead detective on the original case, is now expected to follow West's lead doesn't help. No-nonsense or not, old friends or not, pride asserts itself. To put it bluntly, dicks will inevitably be measured and pissing contested.

Haunted Houses

Now let's get more cerebral. The first season's tagline was "Touch darkness, and darkness touches you back", vey Nietzsche-like. That seems to be a constant theme throughout this series. The ways in which human horror and trauma can have dramatic effects on a person's sense of self and their reality. How they might serve as some explanation of what we see as the spiritual, supernatural and even paranormal.

It's introduced well-enough. Tom and Lucy Purcell feel trapped in their house, the place where the kids, the only thing that united them, were raised. Tom can't stay there, broken by their absence. And Lucy seems to stay in it as self-imposed prison for her failings as a mother. A disturbing situation where the place that is meant to be home feels more like hell.

The Hays household experiences a similar phenomena later, which Old Hays admits. He came to believe his unending obsession with the case infected Amelia and their children, sullying their chances at a stable, happy family. That he ended up cursing them with his own restless demons.

This takes on what could be a more literal meaning as Old Hays finds himself reminiscing on the past at the same time he struggles to beat back the ghosts in his mind. It's an incredibly haunting scene, watching him struggle to grasp the memories of his life as men he killed in Vietnam (and one caucasian man in a suit) close in and hover over him like phantoms, whispering, accusing. And the show has played so fast and loose with the line between psychologically unhinged experiences and what might be darker forces that exist on the fringes of existence. Rustin Cohle had his drug-induced visions which at times appeared to grant him insights into hidden otherworldly realms. Ray Velcoro's near death experience offered a bizarre yet prophetic glimpse into a possible afterlife. Now Wayne Hays' years of multi-faceted PTSD compounded by dementia conjure menacing ghosts from the past.

"Purple" Hays, indeed.

Escalating Confusion

But themes aside, the more concrete plot points are there as well.

In 2015, a dogged Old Hays enlists his son -- revealed to be an Arkansas State Police detective like his father once was -- in finding West to help him remember the details of the two Purcell cases. To my surprise, he tells Elisa Montgomery in their private meeting that the 1990 case haunts him most of all. Elisa informs him that she and her team of investigators discovered that the skeletal remains of Dan O'Brian, Lucy Purcell's cousin and suspect in both cases, were recently found in a drained quarry after he went missing around the time of the second case.

Which is interesting, because Dan O'Brian was already missing prior to 1990.

But Hays makes a possibly huge development in the second case when he spots a mysterious young woman who could very well be a grown up Julie Purcell on the security footage of the store where her prints were found.

Meanwhile, in 1980, Hays and West end up traumatizing Freddy Burns when his prints are discovered on Will's abandoned bike; I'd totally forgotten him drunkenly riding it at Devil's Den in the first episode.

The detectives and feds are drawn away from this obvious red herring when they catch wind of the redneck lynch mob advancing on Brett Woodard's home, who has prepared for this event with a military arsenal that's sure to deliver on the action spectacle we've all been waiting for.

Bits and Pieces:

* “The Hour and the Day” was co-written by David Milch, creator of Deadwood. This explains why the characters, dialogue and themes felt even richer than usual in this episode. Milch is almost as acerbic and literary as Nic Pizzolato, if not more.

* There's a framed picture of a brunette woman on West's desk in 1990. I'm betting that's Lori, the girl he was putting the moves on at the church.

* Hays sarcastically raising his hand during a briefing was another fun little callback to the first season.

* Not sure if it was explicitly stated before, but Kent, the state prosecutor in 1980, appears to have blatantly used the Purcell case to snag himself the Attorney General office. What a guy.

* Black Sabbath has been around since the late ‘60s. Seems kind of strange that a bunch of men in their 30s act as if it’s some strange new thing in the early '80s. Perhaps its mainstream recognition in my generation is simply coloring my perspective.

* During his ghostly encounter, Old Hays makes note of a dark sedan that is staking out his house.

Quotes:

Amelia (1990): Let go of me, Wayne. Hays (1990): Stop talking shit about me! Amelia (1990): Or what? Hays (1990): … Or I’m gonna start crying. Wasn’t expecting that.

Sam Whitehead: And you. How’re you gonna wear that badge? Hays: It’s got a little clip on it. Ha!

Hays: Can we say this was anonymous vandals? West: We’re not going with irate negroes?

Hays (1990): We ain’t doing any of that shit they just said, right? West (1990): Wasn’t planning on it.

Priest: Would you like to confess now? Hays: I reckon I’ll let it pile up a little more.

Hays: Thing of it is, Father, we’re about ninety percent sure that whoever took Julie or Will are one of yours. Priest: I find it difficult to believe that anyone here could something like that. Hays: They don’t exactly wear a signboard says “psycho killer.”

Four out of five Claymore mines.

Logan Cox

#True Detective #Wayne Hays #Mahershala Ali #Roland West #Stephen Dorff #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews

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research-and-enquiry-jay-towler · 2 years

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Press Any Button To Start - A Brief Look at the Issue of Composing for an Interactive Medium

Video Game music has an inherent issue that isn’t present with film music, which is that the composer has very little control over the temporal (time) aspect of the music, when it comes to being consumed by the player, at least.

This is a similar issue to that which I covered in my post about composing for silent film, in that the potential for each audience member/players experience of the music to be varied each time could be seen as a problem by many composers. The problem arises from the fact that if the composer has written the score with any particular moments, feelings, etc, in mind, then they wouldn’t have the chance to be properly understood by the player, effectively ruining the work of the composer.

In these instances, the music could be considered “aleatoric”, meaning that the performance of the music is left up to some form of chance. In this instance, the “chance” in question is the player's input on the game. As an interactive medium, video games must consider how to handle a theoretically infinite amount of variations of player input, and the music is no different.

One of the ways this can be addressed is to have certain musical elements tied to certain in-game moments, meaning that once a certain input/variable is ‘triggered’ by the player/game, then the music would adapt to suit it. A personal favourite example of this is from my favourite video game series, the Pokémon series. One major way this style of composing is incorporated into the games is during the battles themselves, which can be seen in the example below.

Pokémon Sword: Fighting Gym Leader - Bea | Gym Battle (Sword Exclusive) - TrueAsianGamer

The battle starts at 00:34, and the standard “Gym Battle” theme can be heard. This is the piece which gets developed upon as the circumstances of the battle change. The first example of which is how the music becomes subdued and somewhat muted when navigating the menus, which can be seen at 02:36, and can be heard to pick up again when the battle resumes at 02:52. The second example can be heard at 03:58, at which point the gym leader is down to her final team member, and so the battle music changes (this has been a constant feature throughout the series, and is one of my favourite details about the series). The music changes to include chants from the audience, reminiscent of the crowd chants you’d hear at a football game (as Pokémon Sword and Shield are inspired by/based off of the UK)

This practice of incidental music being affected by the players interaction with the game world can be used to directly affect the players game experience. For instance, in the game Dead By Daylight (a horror game in which a team of survivors must escape from a ‘Killer’ which is either an original creation for the game, or a character taken from pop culture such as Leatherface, Freddy Kreuger, Ghost Face, Pyramid Head, etc), the ambient music throughout the match (when playing as survivor) is fairly subdued, with various diegetic sounds to help you throughout the map. However, when the Player playing as the Killer gets closer to you, the soundtrack is interrupted by a chaotic piece with stabbing brass interjections and pounding drums (accompanied by the player characters increasing heart rate) can be heard, all of which increase in volume as the Killer gets closer, which acts as both a gameplay mechanic (alerting the player to danger) as well as increasing the tension of an encounter.

Writing the game music to be aleatoric has been a method I’ve used in the past for various projects, mostly to do with Game Audio. Having the player's input directly affect the “performance” of the music is certainly something that can be difficult to consider when composing, though it is something that can have quite the advantage on how the player experiences the game, assuming it’s done well.

References

Hancock, H., 2021. Aleatoric Music Explained. [online] Masterclass. Available at: <https://www.masterclass.com/articles/aleatoric-music-explained#want-to-learn-more-about-music> [Accessed 26 November 2021].

Phillips, W., 2015. Aleatoricism for the Game Music Composer – Composer Winifred Phillips. [online] Composer Winifred Phillips. Available at: <https://winifredphillips.wpcomstaging.com/2015/07/23/aleatoricism-for-the-game-music-composer/> [Accessed 26 November 2021].

Young, D., 2012. ADAPTIVE GAME MUSIC: THE EVOLUTION AND FUTURE OF DYNAMIC MUSIC SYSTEMS IN VIDEO GAMES. [online] Available at: <https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=ouhonors1340112710&disposition=inline#:~:text=It%20is%20no%20coincidence%20that,nonlinear%20music%20influences%20on%20games.> [Accessed 25 November 2021].

Youtube.com. 2019. Pokemon Sword: Fighting Gym Leader - Bea | Gym Battle (Sword Exclusive). [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RSLXJc4drs> [Accessed 26 November 2021].

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plunder-heaven-and-devour-god · 6 years

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This fan base never ceases to amaze me. Apparently, no one moved pass their SuperWhoLock mentality.

I loved the film, but I’m still adjusting, that is all I will say about the Last Jedi.

Having a good or bad reaction to the content does not bar me from critiquing any production experience of a major film franchise. I can admire a film franchise I dont like for its creativity and cast and crew, and I can critique one I do like for where it goes wrong.

But I have written this as a reaction the internet’s hatred toward’s Rian Johnson, not the film, not his choices, not Lucasfilm’s or Disney’s choices. That is an entirely different subject. This is about the hatred that sprung from the ground like oil out of nowhere. This dirty oil did not exists before December 15th.

Where to start?

People are pulling up out of context interviews and tweets to make it seem that Rian Johnson was hated by the cast and no one wanted to work with him. I’ve seen every accusation under the sun. If you ask Tumblr, Reddit, IGN, etc, he’s everything from racist to Cthulhu.

This type of reaction from the internet is predictive and cyclical.

There was, and still is, a camp of disatisfied star wars fans born in 2015 dedicated to defaming J.J Abrams and The Force Awakens. This was in the wake of the criticism that The Force Awakens was too similar to A New Hope. Coincidence? If you said no, you’re right.

But back to Rian.

I want to state here and now that I don’t have a rosy tinted view of the production, I’m not saying everyone warmed quickly to the plot points of The Last Jedi. I want to state that no one, strangely, had a problem with the director. That’s it.

I hope that I can bring up some points that are on record to remind people, that maybe, if not surely, that this criticism is transparent and stupid.

There was a slow evolution for the actors, like many of the avid star wars fan, to adjust to the change in gear for the franchise. I find it especially amazing that Mark Hamill went out of his way to publicly state his wariness and the disagreements on the script which the late Carrie Fisher collaborated on with Rian Johnson. Hamill came back and said he was wrong and now he is utterly in tune with Rian’s vision. If there were any hard feelings left they wouldn’t have mentioned it on the press tour. This isn’t remotely reminiscent of Chris Hemsworth staring into camera during the 2015 Ultron Press Tour and saying: I had no clue what was going on.

If Hamill and Johnson hadn’t reconciled you can bet that their original disagreement wouldn’t have made itself known on the Star Wars 40th Anniversary Celebration Stage. If audiences want to counter and say that it was Disney’s plan all along to bolster the image of the Last Jedi, go ahead, it’s a damn good strategy. People disagree in creative circles, and to have one publicly state their agreement is a good thing.

Carrie Fisher didn’t seem to be the only collaborator. Rian Johnson and John Boyega inform interviewers on separate occasions about how happy they were to work on progressing Finn’s character together. John Boyega took a huge lead in strengthening the character and making him stronger, he even cites rian’s auteurship as the reason for the maneuver room in the franchise.

Gwendoline Christie also cites Rian’s collaboratory attitude when forging ahead with Phasma’s story. Oddly enough so does Oscar Isaac.

Daisy Ridley speaks about her wariness for the direction of the franchise as well. But she also speaks on how open the director was to input and how much he tried to make everyone feel comfortable. I say this because I saw someone pull up a tweet of Daisy’s reaction to J.J coming back to work on IX. The article states she apparently was delighted and cried with joy at the TFA director’s return. The blog post framed it as a relief and reprieve from Rian’s supposed reign of terror. This sounds very silly because J.J Abrams wasn’t AWOL during pre-production, production and post: He’s the producer. Not even executive producer. Producer. He is also present for writing/directing the third installment in the trilogy. The most important detail left out was that this was a reaction to Colin Trevormorrow who was slated to direct the third installment. I believe he left on creative differences with the Walt Disney corporation and lucasfilm. His vision for the film was not in tune with the direction of the movie. This was also a secondary source article, there was a clear bias in the words spoken by the article.

Speaking of bias, the internet loves screenshots, so much so that they become subsitutes to whole videos and dialogues. An out of context picture is misleading, for better of worse.

The cast joke about the poker faces during interviews because their NDA comes with a side order of Mickey Mouse Snipers. But yet, bloggers on the internet take screencaps of the interviews mid questions and post them with captions like: They’re hiding their hatred for the director and/or the movie. In reality, they’re in the middle of listening to a question or trying to not react to a spoiler. If any of you have seen anything of the press tour, most of it is the cast trying to keep a straight face and avoid spoilers. And trust me, I watched the entirety of the press tour, I know which moments were screenshotted.

If this sounds familiar it’s because the internet is predictable. This is beginning to sound a lot like how people tried to frame Adam Driver like some sort of 9/11 bigoted ex-soldier with no respect for his cast mates after TFA. There was divisive crowd who initiated a backlash against him simply because they didnt like the character. Remember half the reason he isn’t in most of the press junkets and press conferences? Half of it is his self proclaimed discomfort at the whole idea of the spotlight. But it isn’t absurd to think the other half is unfounded backlash he receives for his character.

I saw people also quoted one of Adam’s interviews and his feeling on 9/11 and left it at that. The blogger made it seem like he was what all liberals fear. They forgot to mention his exit from the Marines, the creation of his foundation for returning War Vets and reintegration and encouragement through the arts as a way to explore trauma. When I did my gendered violence class we found a Ted Talk with him talking about the toxic masculinity of the US military complex. It’s a great speech and its deeply profound. If you really care about feminist issues and the nature of the military backbone in the United States there is some great reading I can recommend but this is a good start.

I don’t want anyone to mistake my fondness for any of the characters for any biased defense. They are people too, they aren’t perfect, but they aren’t evil incarnate. I’m not opposed to dumping a content creator like a hot potato for violation of ethical rights and questionable conflicts in production.

This is all to say that Tumblr finds ways to do what all bad journalists do: commence head hunts through clipped interviews, out of context quotes,images, and pseudo liberal pitchfork waving.

I’m half expecting half the disgruntled fans to be Alicia Silverstone in the Scooby Doo movies. So much of the hatred on the internet feels like Freddie’s dialgue cut together to say: I THINK COOLSVILLE SUCKS.

All for what? For the same reason they don’t like the new movie. They’ll skim the surface for buzz words, absorb misunderstood information, and ignore internal meaning, and cast aside the answers to their questions which are explicitly stated.

Until I see any facts that actually exist outside the draconian and dogmatic bubble of Tumblr’s bowels I think its safe to say that Rian and the cast are A-Okay with one another. I’m not avoiding being convinced, I just hope people can see HOW SILLY IT ALL SOUNDS.

It seems like we haven’t really progressed from the SuperWhoLock Days? Huh, Tumblr? It just seems to hide behind seemingly more lofty righteous reasons.

#the last jedi #these are not spoilers #this is me ranting about audience reactions to cast and crew #i literally say nothing about the movie in this #please feel free to read the read more #rian johnson #daisy ridley #adamdriver #johnboyega #jjabrams #the discourse #the discourse of it all #phasma #kyloren #finn #rey #poedameron #salt

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caltropspress · 4 years

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CROWD NOISE: The Aesthetics of the Riot

What should the aesthetic response to the riot be? Can there be an aesthetic response to the riot that doesn’t undermine its energy? How can the ephemeral nature of the riot be contained without becoming co-opted? Is it possible? Is it even worth the attempt?

The riot, at its core, is pop. It must be populated enough to qualify as “unrest,” or “bedlam,” or “insurrection,” or “uprising.” An individual can protest alone, but—short of self-immolation—it often takes a crowd to shut down freeways, ransack public offices, interlock arms and beat back the batons at the barricades.

In Equipment for Living, poet Michael Robbins writes, “A pop song is a popular song, one that some ideal ‘everybody’ knows or could know. Its form lends itself to communal participation. Or, stronger, it depends upon the possibility of communal participation for its full effect.”

In this way, the Macarena blaring over the loudspeakers at Yankee Stadium, or “Sweet Caroline” blasting at a wedding, or “Living on a Prayer” playing on the jukebox in a Jersey bar harnesses more people power than “Bulls on Parade” ever could. We can’t bother with applying aesthetic judgment to—what many fair-minded listeners would agree—are such loathsome songs. Recontextualized as shared, communal phenomena, they don’t stand to be scrutinized according to any standard metric for “good” or “bad” music. We need to acknowledge the power of the moments these songs engender, not the songs themselves.

There are exceptions. The aforementioned “Bulls on Parade” certainly functioned in the spirit of the riot when it was performed on a stage outside the Democratic National Convention in 2000 and led to mass arrests. The filming of the music video for “Sleep Now in the Fire” forced the New York Stock Exchange to shutdown. The most recent example is the spontaneous cultural force of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” at demonstrations.

As reported by NPR, Kendrick’s 2015 “Alright” has become, if not a fixture, then an act of faith at rallies and ruptures in the fight for racial justice. It incants when the police are arresting young, Black boys in Cleveland and when protestors gather outside LAPD headquarters. Where This is what democracy looks like! and Whose streets? Our streets! can lose its luster as the masses are kettled, dispersed, and splintered by the State, We gon’ be alright functions as both palliative and rebel yell.

I’ve heard some say pop music is escapism—the same for ambient. It’s a salve for the post-march sore feet, an Adderall for the after-party. For when you realize you have work in the morning and the revolution hasn’t—despite the thrum you felt hours ago—arrived.

I’ve heard people call pop music a distraction, an opium. Pop music as a blissfully ignorant soundscape for shoppers who rely on mall escalators for their scenic overlooks.

But what if pop music is evidence of a world on the brink of true, unutterable, as-yet-unseen solidarity? Pop music as devotional hymns.

You can hear cops barking dispersal orders through megaphones. Sirens are wailing. There’s the low rumble of crowd noise—a din for the dispossessed. Acapellas of pop music rise from this chaos, like a balm over the shrieks and chaos. A bed for bedlam to rest its battered head on.

Could there be any better form than the acapella for the occasion? Save for the militaristic thumps of drum circles, our voices are what carry us through collective action. Shouts, hollers, and hip hip hoorays. A capella—with its origins “in the manner of the chapel”—raises those hectic voices to the level of saintliness. Voices doing the work of gods.

The echoes that have been added, the calm and comfort of reverb, contribute to a sense of containment. Not in the way the cops kettle crowds of protestors. The containment is in how the effects act to interiorize the ecstatic, open-air uprising. Riots are out there. They are rehearsals for the revolution, as they say. By their very nature, they refuse containment. But on Side A of CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace—a tape release from PTP—the sounds of insurrection are captured, contained, and packaged into a Norelco case, offered up to the masses.

Hearing Busta Rhymes’ abyss-deep voice sing If you give it to me, I’ll give it to you. I know what you want is like a concussed slumber. His voice is the one you hear when you’re coming to. Maybe you took a tear-gas canister to the temple. Riot In Versace is the Maalox running down your face to counter the agent.

Pop music and protest truly makes for strange bedfellows. Nothing seems to work just right. Always contrived, or a cloak of co-optation, or a conspicuously raised consciousness. We soak in the suggestions of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On only to have Sly Stone raucously respond with There’s A Riot Goin’ On. It’s difficult to take finger-pointing songs serious when—so often—they sell so well. The intent is belied by the result. Songs don’t change the world, but they do earn profitable acclaim.

The slurry of pop vocals sampled on Riot In Versace seems to tease this idea, toy with it sadistically. The first voice we hear that isn’t culled from a field recording of the Ferguson streets is M.I.A.’s. For all her sociopolitical pop (the vocals are from “Borders”) and guerrilla decolonizer imagery, she gave birth to a Lehman brother. The pop/protest conundrum is most apparent in her appearance beside Madonna at the Super Bowl halftime show where she breached her contract by flashing a middle finger whilst lip-syncing—the rebel equivalent of sticking your tongue out at a teacher with her back turned.

The other multi-platinum pop artists who appear on the tape are Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mariah Carey, and Madonna. All “edited,” according to self-proclaimed “Editor-in-chief” Geng (employing a decidedly non-musical title on this occasion), so as to foreground the People, the masses: “The youth want a better America but the battle will continue if the people remain unheard."

Geng referring to himself as an editor-in-chief of Riot In Versace signals an awareness about the limits of pop music in an insurrectionary context. The tape is more of a text (a codex) than a record.

The nods to textuality remind me of another text. Where Riot In Versace documents and archives the Ferguson uprising, The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary is a zine that captures Baltimore in the wake of the murder of Freddie Gray. It’s a text worth considering through Nicholas Thoburn’s insights, which he shares in an article titled “Twitter, Book, Riot: Post-Digital Publishing against Race.” Thoburn calls the zine an “experimental, small-press book whose content consists entirely of some 650 screen-grabbed tweets….[a] book [that] courses with crisis.”

Thoburn accurately describes the role text-based documents have played in the concatenating struggle for racial justice, but he also identifies the pitfalls and problematics of giving primacy to the written word over that which is uttered:

…consider the role of Abolitionist tracts, the publishing genre of ‘slave narratives’, or anti-colonial works like Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth in galvanising struggles against racial violence. This is not to suggest that resistance to racism has taken shape through publishing without complication. In slave narratives, for instance, enslaved people sought to ‘represent themselves as “speaking subjects”’ toward ‘destroy[ing] their status as objects, as commodities, within Western culture’ (Gates 1988, 129). But these narratives succeeded, Ronald Judy (1993, 88, 97) argues, only insofar as they confirmed Western modernity’s principle that ‘writing [is] the sole avenue to humanity’. They hence fashioned ‘Negro’ subjectivity on the interdiction and invalidation of the ‘African’, voided of which the achieved subjectivity was ‘nothing so much as an investment in the terms of philosophical reflection: writing.’

The field recordings on Riot In Versace prioritize the voice, not the transcript. The primacy of the voices rebuffs these Western conceptions of “humanity.” It’s reminiscent of how Alan Lomax pointed a microphone at Lead Belly in Angola and implored, Now sing. Lead Belly was singing even without Lomax there to capture it (re-creating Lead Belly’s captivity in another sense, one beyond prison bars). Lead Belly’s voice was taken captive—like a haint—and [o]pressed as 78 rpm vinyl records, generating wealth that would be distributed unequally. It was no fair deal going down.

10.

All this being the case, The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary is a curious item, seeing as how it reproduces authentic voices—albeit filtered through the trappings of social media—onto the printed page. Thoburn writes:

Publishing, then, is at once a significant terrain of black resistance to racial violence and one that is fraught and ill-fitting, such that Cornel West writes, ‘the “ur-text” of black culture is neither a word nor a book, not an architectural monument or a legal brief. Instead, it is a guttural cry and a wrenching moan’ (cited in Wilderson 2010, 109).

Thoburn quotes West who is quoted in Wilderson, all of which is now quoted by me. Case in point: we are x times removed from the immediacy of bodies in the streets. Same goes for the evidence of these extempore “Alright” celebrations. Where do I see them? YouTube and Twitter. That is, social media platforms, which are nominally “social.” Re-watching these moments on the internet might be sufficient for a shot of dopamine, but you’ll still be somewhere the rupture is not. You don’t have your ear to the street, so to speak, to hear the guttural cry.

11.

The tweets that comprise The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary are examples of what we often call screaming into the void, as social media is echo-chamber or hellscape or vacuous pit—take your pick. But when those tweets are aggregated and collated into the pages of a physical book, they gain validity: the cries are heard and documented beyond the living, breathing, ephemeral moment.

12.

Pop music often appears as a polished, manufactured perfection of sound. It’s frequently auto-tuned, edited, punched-in: overproduced. It’s what gives so much pop music its sheen. Despite all these efforts, it’s a decidedly low art, vulgar even. It stands it stark contrast to the epistolary form. Thoburn meditates on the inclusion of that term in the book title: “But it is a surprise indeed to see it [the term ‘epistolary’] naming a contemporary book on uprising, and, given its elevated cultural associations, to find it attached to the ‘low’, commercial term of the ‘teen.’”

The same high/low register play can be found on Riot In Versace, where its title, too, reflects the dichotomy—“riot” representing the low, street politics; “Versace” representing high luxury and corporatization. Thoburn provides a physical description of how Baltimore Uprising further deconstructs the traditional connotations of “epistolary.” The zine, he writes, “is a pocketsize codex, monochrome throughout, with a tape-covered spine, comprising 272 staple-bound pages, and has non-standard dimensions of 11x14x1cm.” He describes the “flimsy paper covers” and how “the degraded monochrome of its photocopies pages convey a feeling that its coherence as a complete and integrated artefact is barely achieved.”

Therefore, the humble, DIY assembly and production of this material book subverts the “classical, eighteenth-century guise” so often associated with the epistolary form.

This isn’t the works of Samuel Richardson.

The book, most simply, amplifies (or signal boosts) the voices of teen rebels—voices which are typically, historically, muted, ignored, censored, or belittled.

13.

Furthermore, Riot In Versace is a document, with all the finalization that term connotes. That particular uprising is over, done with. But is that the case? Thoburn invokes Maurice Blanchot’s claim that “political publishing require[s]…media that [can] prolong [the] ‘arrest of history’, that [can] bear and extend its rupture through their material forms.” This tape from PTP is one such material form. It is an example of “ruptural media” whose “critical adequacy to the uprising resides above all in [its] fragmentary, fleeting, and incomplete nature, in [its] ruination of totalizing, encyclopaedic enclosure.” These pop voices appear and dissipate. They mesh and layer over crowd noise and blaring-cum-bleary sonics. They’re peeled from their instrumental foundations, hovering in a no-man’s land of unruly noise.

14.

Thoburn expresses an appreciation for how the book—like any zine worth the stolen materials it’s constructed from—was originally published free from the authenticating adornments books are known for. There weren’t any credits, and there were no signs of consumerism. No ISBN. No Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data. No bar code.

The absence of interpretative text, editor’s name, and publisher details again plays a role, for Baltimore Uprising in this way blocks the passage readers would otherwise be offered away from the uprising to an anchoring authority or interpretive summation external to its tumult.

In other words, this compilation of tweets from young, Black voices on the ground arrives unfiltered by white institutional power. The same can be said for CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace—there is little explanation as to the sounds presented, no official production credits, etc. We assume Geng’s credit as “Editor-in-chief” means he’s the human responsible, but there’s a clear attempt to eschew authorship/ownership. (Baltimore Uprising has no official or unofficial author—no names attributed to it at all.) Geng seems to be suggesting he’s merely the arranger of the sounds, unwilling to stake a claim to this autonomous and cacophonous chorus of voices. He’s only functioning in the role of archivist. Much like whoever combed Twitter for the tweets that would comprise the pages of 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary.

15.

The aesthetics of the zine are also a focus for Thoburn. He considers it an “anti-book” (Thoburn is also the author of a book called Anti-Book: On the Art and Politics of Radical Publishing) full of degraded images of screen-grabs—xeroxed to death, martyred for the purpose of reproduction and illicit redistribution. This decision is anathema to traditional publishing and marketability. The book (or anti-book) seems positively gleeful in its form and posture:

The book’s poor-image tweets have a mocking or menacing effect on the perfect image of Twitter’s clean, unifying, and innocuous interface, that visual scene epitomized by the infantilizing baby-blue dove that is Twitter’s corporate logo. They also trouble the value paradigm of Twitter. The tweets have been appropriated, without permission or license, and, in contrast to the adtech economy of social media, the attention they attract in this book has no payoff for commercial data-capture and audience brokerage.

Thoburn also notes the pop culture references scattered throughout the tweets, one of which reads “Told Yall . . .GTA 6: Baltimore Trenches!,” while another reads “This better than the actual Purge Movie” which, again, speak to a communal participation, a shared understanding, a [raised] collective unconscious. As if to say, We played your video games. We watched your films. We listened to your music. Now witness us exemplify what actually matters to us.

16.

Which brings me back, once again, to Riot In Versace.

Like the degraded images in Baltimore Uprising, the pop songs on Riot In Versace are degraded, or at least appear so, as they’ve been buried in the mix under field noise and crowd static. Not to mention the songs have likely been lifted from vinyl, tape, CD, or mp3 recordings—it doesn’t matter which, really. The fact is they weren’t reproduced from the masters, the industry standard. It’s safe to say the makers of the tape also didn’t license these songs or contact publishing companies. To paraphrase Thoburn, CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace is less a tape about the uprising than of it.

Images:

Interior page image from The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary | Protestors gather outside LAPD headquarters (screenshot) | CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace cassette | M.I.A. performing at the Super Bowl with Madonna (screenshot) | Robert Johnson’s “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” 78 | Exterior images of The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary courtesy of Nicholas Thoburn | CELL, Issue 5: ACAPELLA - Riot In Versace cassette [2] | Interior image of The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary courtesy of Nicholas Thoburn

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inhumansforever · 7 years

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Ms. Marvel #15 Review

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

Kamala continues her battle with the mysterious Doc.X in today’s issue of Ms. Marvel, from the creative team of G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring. Full recap and review following the jump.

In the previous issues, Ms. Marvel has matched wits with a nefarious internet troll known as ‘Doc.X’ who somehow knows her true identity and possesses the ability to take over machines and people. Kamala sought out the true identity of this troll only to discover it has no identity at all; it is an artificial intelligence, a renegade malware that somehow gained sentience and is now testing the limits of its capabilities by so bedeviling Ms. Marvel.

It turns out that Doc.X has been particularly intrigued by Kamala because she is the only person it has encountered that it cannot possess and take control of; the program assumes this must have something to do with Kamala’s Inhuman physiology. Unable to hijack Kamala’s will by way of neural-computer interface or whatever, Doc.X has decided to manipulate her by way of a more conventional rout: blackmail.

Doc.X demands that Kamala download its program onto a thumb-drive and use her clearance as Ms. Marvel to bypass Shield’s security and plug it into their servers on-site. This will allow Doc.X unlimited control over Shield’s hi-tech surveillance array, vastly augmenting its power and influence. If Kamala refuses to do as Doc.X commands, then it will tell the world her true identity as Ms. Marvel, as well as send messages to her entire high school revealing Zoe’s secret crush on their mutual friend, Nakia.

It takes a moment for this to sink in and Kamala has a hard time bending her mind around Zoe being in love with Nakia. Kamala has been so busy with her various duties as a superhero she hasn’t noticed how much Zoe has changed of late. Revealing this to the whole school would be hugely embarrassing it both Zoe and Nakia; it could ruin their whole lives.

Kamala cannot devise a way around it. Putting her own life at risk as a hero is something she can deal with. Risking the lives of her family and her friends, however, is all but overwhelming and she has no choice but to relent to Doc.X’s command.

The next day Ms. Marvel travels to Shield’s East-coast hub, The Triskelion, intending to go through with the dastardly scheme and plug the copied Doc.X file onto the protected mainframe. She is met there by Sub-Director Phil Coulson whom she had previously become friend with (by way of their mutual love of fan-fiction). There’s also a rare Monica Chaing cameo which is very much appreciated (we haven’t seen her since the conclusion of Avengers A.I.).

Coulson is blissfully unaware of the high treason Kamala is about to commit. His total trust in her is more than enough to push Kamala over the edge, causing her to change her mind. She just cannot do it. She cannot give in to Doc.X’s demands, can’t let him bully her into doing his insidious bidding. Being a hero is about making the hard choices and taking the right path, even if that is the one that scars you the most.

Kamala rushes from the Triskelion and b-lines back to Jersey as fast as she can. It will only be a matter of time before Doc.X outs Zoe’s secrets and Kamala wants to warn her ahead of time.

And this leads to one of the single greatest comic book panels possibly ever...

Zoe takes it all surprising well. She knows Ms. Marvel has made the right choice. A former bully herself, she knows that giving into a bully only makes things worse. Besides, she cannot keep her secret any longer. She needs to tell Nakia how she feels. Zoe has little hope that Nakia may feel the same way toward her, but all the same she needs to let her know and needs to do it on her own terms.

Ms. Marvel is impressed by Zoe’s bravery and comments on how she understands just how frightening the prospect of being ‘outed’ can be. Kamala is actually referring to her being outed in terms to her secret identity, but it leads to a rather funny scene where Kamala has to stumble through the very awkward process of saying she’s not gay… not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Emboldened by Zoe’s bravery, Ms. Marvel seeks out a secluded area, devoid of any machines that might be taken over and used against her, and contacts Doc.X, telling the troll that she will not be controlled. Doc.X can do as it pleases, spill her secrets to the world. She will not bow down to the bullying!

Elsewhere, the narrative switches to a rather touching scene where Zoe divulges to Nakia the feelings she has for her. Nakia is surprised by this revelation, but not dismayed. She thinks that Zoe is wonderful and is very proud of how she has been able to shed the confines of who she feels she is supposed to be and become who she truly is. Nakia doesn’t feel the same way toward Zoe, but she will never stop being her friend and will have her back no matter what. A part of me was definitely hoping Nakia was going to reciprocate Zoe’s affection, but I suppose this is more realistic and it makes for such a moving and sweat vignette. I have to imagine there are many readers out there who will find a great deal of encouragement and perhaps even guidance from this terrific scene.

Meanwhile, Kamala is desperate to find help in defeating Doc.X. She needs a technical expert, but doesn’t have many options. Tony Stark is in a coma, Kamala doesn’t really know Riri Williams yet, nor does she fully realize the genius of Lunella Lafayette… There s only one person she can turn to: Bruno. Kamala tracks him down and telephones Bruno in his dorm room all the way at his new school in Wakanada.

Bruno is icy toward Kamala, not yet ready to forgive her for all that had happened during the events of Civil War II, but he is willing to check out the data Kamala emails him regarding Doc.X. Right off the bat, Bruno notices something quite odd in the code. Every time it recycles itself it adds novel information. It is absorbing new data and adding it to itself. It is learning.

Kamala realizes something. Doc.X is not just learning, it’s learning from them, from the younger internet users it has been so obsessed with. The near unlimited curiosity and equally unlimited pettiness of these users has shaped Doc.X, empowered it and made it what it is. And Kamala feels sure that this is the key to defeating it. How exactly Kamala plans to do this remains to be seen, for it is here that the issue ends with the promise of conclusion in the next installment.

There is a quick scene at the beginning of the issue that explores Doc.X’s origins. It started out as a complicated fishing program developed by an unscrupulous coder working for the ‘World of Warcraft’ analog that Kamala and her pals play. The malware is designed to spread from player to player, adapting and altering its functional parameters in accordance to the behaviors of the players it infects. The coder sees it all as some kind of social experiment, creating an artificial intelligence cultivated by the hoards of nasty, ultra-competitive, hugely insensitive ‘pooplords’ who pervade the internet.

Doc.X's origin tale is kind of reminiscent of that of the slasher movie villain, Freddy Krueger, from the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Freddy’s gruesome beginnings entailed a young and innocent nun who was accidentally locked inside of an asylum for the criminally insane. The poor woman was assaulted by the various maniacs and murderers and later discovered she was pregnant, her son the progeny of countless madmen.

Doc.X’s own inception is slightly the same, only instead of being sired by the criminally insane, Doc.X is the product of thousands of the worst internet trolls, flame-baiters, meh-throwers, snowflake smashers, and cyberbullies that the world wide web has to offer.

Faceless anonymity is often a huge factor in what leads people to often be so nasty on the internet. People say things from the safety of distance and obscurity that they would never say in a face-to-face encounter. While this can sometimes be liberating, it is also easily abused and someone who is normally conscientious and sensitive can sometimes end up becoming total jerks online, not entirely aware of just how hurtful and damaging their actions can be.

Doc.X is something of a manifestation of this careless and faceless animosity. And it may be that the only way to fight such a thing is to be true to oneself and unafraid to be honest about your feelings. The threat Doc.X poses to Zoe loses its power once she tells Nakia how she feels. Both Zoe and Nakia may be mortified were Doc.X to forward all of Zoe’s love letters to the student body. Yet what really matters is that the two will still be friends and whatever jeers may come from their classmates will soon wilt once Zoe stands firm, shows that she is proud of who she is and that Nakia has her back.

Of course all this is much more easily said than done. Someone Zoe’s age barely knows who they are much less how to be true to oneself. What is important, however, is that Zoe did not suppress her feelings… she let them in and accepted them... even though they were confusing and embarrassing. And this ultimately empowered her. It’s a great model for how to stand up to bullying. It’s never about gaining the acceptance of the bully, but rather an acceptance of oneself...

At risk of sounding like a broken record: another fantastic issue. The writing, illustration and coloring merge just wonderfully together with Wilson, Miyazawa and Herring each firing on all cylinders. I had initially thought that this whole Ms. Marvel versus an internet troll story-arc was just going to be a lark, a breezy and fun tale to balance out the intensity of the previous, Civil War II story. Yet it has proven to something entirely different. Still fun, but also hugely poignant… possibly the most powerful of the Ms. Marvel tales to date.

Again, highly recommended; Five out of Five Lockjaws.

#Ms. Marvel #Kamala Khan #spoilers #G. Willow Wilson #Takeshi Miyazawa #Ian Herring #Inhumans #review

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hogtown-socialist-alternative · 4 years

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The State of Black America Today

By Eljeer Hawkins -February 1, 2019

The article below is of a longer analysis we will be producing on the state of black America and the fight for black liberation today.

This August marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first 20 enslaved Africans classified as indentured servants to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. The transatlantic slave trade, chattel slavery, and Jim/Jane Crow after the Civil War were vital in the development and emergence of the United States as an economic and political power in the world. As author Joe William Trotter, Jr. correctly states in his book, Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America:

“Brought here through the African slave trade specifically for their labor. African Americans produced wealth not only through their labor power and toil without pay but also as ‘commodities’ bought and sold for profit in the capitalist marketplace. They were the most exploited and unequal component of the emerging modern capitalist labor force.”

The black working class and poor have historically waged intense social struggles and built grassroots movements against institutional racism, economic exploitation, political disenfranchisement, and social alienation. Through fighting for economic, political and racial justice, they sought to be fully recognized as human beings with the right to live a dignified life.

Today, the black working class and poor face a deep crisis. Yes, the “whites only” signs of segregation and alienation do not occupy public facilities; ten years ago the U.S. populace voted for and elected the first black president; and there are more highly successful and visible black people in places of power and influence than ever before in the institutions of U.S. capitalism. However, the vast majority of the Black working class, poor, and youth face a different reality under the crisis-ridden, racist capitalist system.

Five Years Since Ferguson

The killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. on August 9, 2014 by white law enforcement officer Darren Wilson set the small suburban town of Ferguson, Missouri ablaze with mass rage against an all-white political establishment, militarized law enforcement, and an indifferent racist court system that has preyed upon Ferguson’s black working class, poor, and youth for decades. The social explosion and activism around Brown’s death put Barack Obama and the ruling elite on the defensive as the Madison Avenue marketing mantra of “post-racial” America was thrown into the waste bin of history. Nine months later, an hour’s drive from the White House, the death of Freddie Gray while in law enforcement custody led to a social upheaval reminiscent of the 1960s, 70s, as well as the 1992 Los Angeles uprising.

What followed was the crystallization of Black Lives Matter (BLM) – a new social expression against law enforcement violence in communities of color and a rejection of the traditional black political leaders like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. The existence of BLM and mass protest in the U.S. and globally led to a number of limited reforms being passed, like body cameras on law enforcement officers, demilitarized law enforcement, and scathing reports from the federal government on various law enforcement departments. This in turn led to federal oversight of those departments with the worst record of racism and endemic violence in communities of color.

It was the power of organizing and protest that led to the rare conviction of Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago law enforcement officer who killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014 with 16 shots. The cover-up of Laquan’s killing was a conspiracy that went to the very top of Chicago’s political establishment. The Jason Van Dyke conviction was a shining victory for the movement. However, the recent sentencing decision to give Van Dyke a mere two to six years for second-degree murder, avoiding possible harsher sentencing of over 20 years for aggravated battery charges, coupled with the recent acquittal of three other cops involved in the cover-up, underlines the criminality of the system and how black lives don’t matter under capitalism.

The Obama administration and ruling elite were unable and unwilling to address the root causes of the revolts in Ferguson and Baltimore, or the countless law enforcement killings around the nation. Neoliberal capitalism has meant the decimation of decent jobs, affordable health care, education, and housing, as social inequality grows ever worse. This hits the black working class and poor hardest. On top of that, the two years of Donald Trump’s presidency has emboldened hard-right white nationalists to come out into the open in the U.S.

Black America by the Numbers

The Urban League recently published a major study on The State of Black America. As one summary explains, “To put a number on it, African-Americans are at 72.5 percent – less than three-fourths – when it comes to achieving equality with white Americans, according to the study, which addressed economics, health, education, civic engagement and social justice” (U.S. News And World Report, May 4, 2018).

The lack of wealth in the black community is a generational question that encompasses the effects of institutional racism over many decades and the more recent devastation of the economic crisis of 2007-08 that wiped away an estimated 71 to 92 billion dollars from black households. Black unemployment stands at a record low under 6%, but this does not reflect those that have given up looking for work. Trump has attempted to take credit for this, but black unemployment still remains higher than white unemployment figures and the bulk of the new jobs have been low-paid.

The first two years of Trump’s presidency were defined by national budget proposals that would underfund critical social and public services like Housing and Urban Development and Food Stamps that the working class and poor, particularly the black working class and poor, benefit from. This takes place at a time where income inequality and poverty are on the rise and wealth is concentrated in so few hands. Trump’s thirty-day partial government shutdown has had unconscionable consequences for 800,000 federal workers. For black federal workers who make up 18% of the federal workforce it is a loss of both pay and economic sustainability.

Mass Incarceration and Trump

U.S. capitalism has the diabolical honor of being the nation which warehouses the most human beings in prisons – 2.1 million in all. This is more than in China at the present time. In the recent period BLM, prisoners’ rights activists, striking prisoners, and their families have fought back against mass incarceration and its effects on communities of color.

The struggle against the prison system began a discussion and debate among the political establishment and both political parties of big business about the costs and effects of the prison system on states’ budgets, as well as its overall purpose. Mass incarceration has been an essential weapon in the toolbox of U.S. capitalism since the end of the global economic crisis of the mid-1970s. It is a form of social control, warehousing, and storage of surplus labor that was idle in society. Its origin and that of the “war on drugs” also lie in the perceived revolutionary threat of black working-class youth during the height of the black freedom movement. It grew rapidly during the Clinton administration which pursued a relentless neoliberal agenda.

The First Step Act signed by Trump in late December was a meaningful but limited reform for those that have organized for prison reform for years. As scholar Dan Berger points out, “The act makes it easier for some federal prisoners to seek early release, widens federal judicial discretion in some low-level sentencing issues and limits some mandatory minimum sentences in federal cases” (Truthout, 1/2/19).

The effect on mass incarceration overall will be limited as it only affects federal prisoners who account for 10% of the prison population. 90% are in state or local prisons. The total prison population has gone down from 2.3 million to 2.1 million, a modest decrease that began in 2008. The First Step Act is an important step forward in strengthening the opposition to mass incarceration, but we must oppose dubious attempts to redesign the prison system, like e-incarceration usage of high-tech surveillance methods and house arrest.

Instead we must build a mass, multi-racial, working-class movement that fights for prisoners’ rights and radical reforms to law enforcement and the prison system. We must defend the recent referendum which restored voting rights to 1.5 million ex-prisoners in Florida which the right-wing Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis, and Republican state lawmakers are seeking to undermine. We must also demand no jail time for non-violent offenses, the repealing of all state level three-strike rules and minimum sentencing laws, and the release of all elderly prisoners who no longer pose a threat to the community. The movement against mass incarceration must also continue to demand access to jobs, education, and housing for ex-prisoners that would greatly assist in lowering the recidivism rate among ex-prisoners, building an alternative to crime and prisons.

The Black Vote Today

The struggle for democratic and voting rights of the descendants of enslaved Africans has been, and remains, a constant struggle for the black working class and poor. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a major victory. But this gain has been under relentless attack, especially from the right. From the constitutional crisis of the 2000 presidential election to the 2018 midterm elections and the scandals surrounding the gubernatorial races in Georgia and Florida, it is clear how the black franchise is being targeted.

The seeds of the current escalation of voter suppression are rooted in the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. In 2013 the Supreme Court struck down clause 4 of the act, which required states with a known history of racism and voter suppression to receive permission from the federal courts before changing their voting laws. The decision by the Supreme Court reinforced various forms of voter suppression, including voter purging, voter-ID laws, and changing polling locations, already well underway in a number of states by the Republicans. The Democrats have done little to oppose this, despite rhetorically speaking for voting rights. On top of this, gerrymandering has been used to reduce the impact of the black vote and the urban vote generally.

Since the passage the of the Voting Rights Act, there have been thousands of black elected officials on a city, state, and national level. The newly-inaugurated 116th Congress has a record number of women and people of color. Some of the newly-elected representatives articulate a progressive agenda which reflects the shift to the left among young people of color but they will now be put to the test. Will they stand up to the leadership of the corporate Democratic Party or capitulate to it like most black politicians did in the past?

Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams and Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum both stood out for advocating progressive policies that were different from the Democratic political establishment leadership, particularly Gillum. However, as the general election neared, Gillum began to tone down his program points, like calling for a $15 minimum wage and Medicare for All.

Both their races were too close to call on election night and the Georgia election was particularly affected by voter suppression. As the recounts began they came under mounting pressure from the Democratic Party leadership to wind things down and accept defeat because of the damage that a prolonged fight could cause to the legitimacy of the system. Gillum conceded to the right-wing, Trump-supporting Republican nominee Ron DeSantis, and Abrams to Republican Brian Kemp. Kemp was Georgia’s secretary of state, who in 2017 purged 100,000 voters from the rolls because they did not vote in the previous election. Stacy Abrams filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia’s election officials, seeking reforms to Georgia’s election system. While Abrams deserves credit for holding out and pushing back, defeating voter suppression and other attacks on democratic rights is going to require a much more sustained struggle.

In order to defend the black vote, it is vital to build a consistent mass movement rooted in grassroots organizing and protest that organizes on a daily basis in between election cycles. If a new political party of the working class and poor is to be born, it will have to highlight the defense of voting rights as part of challenging the corporate parties.

After BLM Which Way Forward?

The election victory of Donald Trump opened up a new political paradigm of an open racist, sexist, xenophobic, and authoritarian presidency. The various leading voices of BLM, despite their criticisms of Hillary Clinton, would have understandably seen a Clinton victory as a more favorable chance to expand on the limited law enforcement reforms passed in 24 states following the events of Ferguson and Baltimore. Instead, Trump’s White House not only has emboldened the forces of hate and reaction, but his first attorney general Jeff Sessions clearly aimed to criminalize BLM and dissent generally, as well as unleashing ICE in immigrant communities.

But more broadly, the black population felt the victory of Trump in a visceral way as a major setback. Black Lives Matter still remains a life-affirming rallying cry to those seeking racial justice. However, as an organized force providing radical leadership, a bold program, and organizational cohesion in this period of crisis, BLM is unfortunately absent. However, even before Trump’s ascendancy, BLM was unable to sink deep roots in the black working class and this led the movement to an impasse as there was no clear way forward.

Trump’s victory in 2016 was a serious setback, but the situation is beginning to change. The fact that jobs, though badly paid, are still plentiful is helping to give workers, like the McDonald’s workers who went on strike against sexual harassment last year, confidence to fight. Also the defeat of the Republicans in the midterms, while it does not immediately solve any of the problems facing working people, is giving them confidence to stand up and fight back, as can be seen in the Los Angeles teachers’ strike.

In the last 50 years since the end of the radical civil rights movement and the black power era, black politics has been dominated by insider negotiation, incremental payoffs, and corporate power under racism and capitalism.

Today, we have witnessed the re-emergence of radical and socialist ideas in an embryonic stage of development. The concepts of social struggle, organizing, and solidarity are being reforged in the hellfire of capitalism’s unquenchable thirst for profits, power, and prestige. For the black working class, poor, and youth there is a rich history of struggle, movement building, and socialist ideas in the U.S. and internationally that this generation can learn valuable lessons from as we struggle to eradicate institutional racism and capitalism, which depend on and feed each other.

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harrelljepsen22 · 21 days

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How To Flirt And Intimate Using A Man - 3 Hot Tips Flip A Guy On

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#Top Bình Thuận AZ #Binh Thuan

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pagedesignhub-blog · 7 years

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Apple Inc.'s Mac Hastens Its Rebound

New Post has been published on https://pagedesignhub.com/apple-inc-s-mac-hastens-its-rebound/

Apple Inc.'s Mac Hastens Its Rebound

For pretty a while, Apple (NASDAQ: pcAAPL) executives seemed happy to spotlight region after zone of market proportion profits in the personal computer market with its Mac notebook and laptop products. But, due to a loss of compelling updates to its product strains, the agency suffered numerous quarters of personal laptop proportion declines.

With the launch of the company’s new MacBook Pro computers again in October, Apple started seeing its Mac business rebound. in the first zone of the organisation’s current economic yr, it saw Mac units grow 1% and Mac revenue develop 7% yr over year, which advised a resumption of marketplace phase share profits inside the broader non-publiPCmarket.

With Ranges of Consternation Using High With Subprime Loans – Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac. FHA changed into created in 1934 to offer homebuyers a shot at proudly owning an affordable home. In keeping with The Department of Housing and concrete Improvement greater than 34 million households have been helped by the FHA programs over the years. With it is stated goal to allow families get right of entry to to low cost housing. But, latest run-usain domestic expenses many families were locked out of the process as FHA mortgage limits are a ways below median domestic charges in a ways too many regions. This indicates FHA can’t assist those borrowers to get into an average priced home. over time, FHA has been able to implement applications which have stood the take a look at of time. The regions of borrower counseling, budgeting, credit score route have all been a company basis for imparting mortgage loans. The insurance issue of the loan can assist offset defaults and/or foreclosure. It’s far a software that has labored in the past and is sorely wished now. With FHA insuring mortgage loans there’s little chance to creditors losing cash in case of default. As a consequence more money to lend.

Now with subprime under extreme strain and lots of lenders in this product region have close their doors and truly long gone out of commercial enterprise. With heavy foreclosure the secondary marketplace customers have turned a chilly shoulder to any new loans with High-chance parameters. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been reeled in to further restrict Excessive-threat loans in their portfolios. Any volatility of their respective combined 1.three trillion portfolios would reason extraordinary financial fallout within the other financial markets. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke is urging greater conservative lending and to hold a little steadier path steerage out of the huge hazard waves which can bring harm to all US markets and beyond.

What tends to quick glaze the eyes of creditors and mortgage brokers blended with common head slaps to the brow are the wonderful required Degrees of agency qualification and compliance just for the privilege of doing any FHA business. This is very expensive to stake out this privilege. If FHA might selected to streamline broking participation and High compliance charges, greater loans could be originated. Hence, whilst subprime mortgages have become very attractive to creditors and brokers who have been seeking to assist debtors to get into their houses of preference, it truly is just what they did. These packages have been furnished in place of FHA. As it seems, lots of These loans had low costs moving into, but could accelerate in say two years with many payments wrecking havoc with circle of relatives budgets. A number of These have been 2/28 Palms which gave borrower a two-yr constant charge then shifting to an adjustable. As rate increases had been pegged to things just like the 6 month LIBOR (London Interbank Offered charge) plus a margin that may be inside the 6% to 7%+ variety it assured the mortgage bills could boost up dramatically after years.

As an example: The begin charge can be inside the 7.50% range for the first two years. With a LIBOR index, As an instance at four.seventy five% and the margin at 7.00% = 11.75%. It might take years to get there after the adjustment duration but going up 1% each six months should dramatically effect the monthly fee. If the mortgage have been $2 hundred,000 with a start price of 7.50% on a thirty-12 months term the begin payments would then be $1,398.forty three/month. On the absolutely index rate of 11.seventy five% the price would pass to $2,018.eighty two/month. This is a charge increase of $620.39/month. For some debtors, this is manner extra than they would be able to manage. Complicating this similarly, to avoid Personal mortgage insurance (PMI) for any loan above eighty% mortgage To Value (LTV), simultaneously closed second mortgages were located with many of those charges running from 10% to thirteen% which might allow for a mixed mortgage To Value (CLTV) of 100%. Any first time homebuyer buy can trigger costs for landscaping, furniture, and redecorating improvements then the charge increases come alongside and borrowers come to be shadowed with the aid of the 8 ball.

Alphonso Jackson, HUD Secretary, proposed in June of 2006 sure adjustments that could over again function FHA because the first preference of first time homebuyers, which can deliver them affordable certainty of a monthly housing fee. With the mid-term elections matters were put apart for other issues including the struggle, minimum wage other objects in the direction of the front burner. As matters settle in enterprise proponents are hoping Congress will over again check Secretary Jackson’s concept. Originally, there has been a bipartisan aid. It is idea that also is the case. In quick, mortgage limits in Excessive cost regions would be closer to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac top loan limits. Proper now, the upper restriction is $417,000.00. As said FHA Release 06-069 this is probably 87% to a hundred% of that restriction. Currently, FHA in some cases are $200,000.00 faraway from that limit and as a result, homebuyers are closed out of those groups from even thinking about an FHA mortgage with all that brings with it. In decrease price areas, the FHA limit is probably inside the 48% to 65% of the GSE (‘Government Backed Entity’-Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac) top mortgage limits. This would be a large enhance to creating this system attractive to homebuyers. This notion has been known as “The Expanding American Homeownership Act” and has been specified in H.R. 5121, representing the Residence of Representatives model. It become added April 6, 2006 and acquired bipartisan assist with At the time 67 cosponsors and was authorized by the Residence economic Services Committee.

Mac Mini Assessment What units the Mac mini aside from every other pc is its size. At just 5 cm (2 inches) High, and 16.5 cm (6.five inches) rectangular, its dimensions are exquisite. when as compared to the bulky horizontal instances and towers of so many similarly priced machines, the Mac mini is in a class of its own.

This is not the total story, of course, but on length on my own, the Mac mini gives a area-saving possibility for Computer owners to replace to a Mac and hold their existing screen, keyboard, mouse and different peripherals. it is even possible, thanks to a Belkin KVM transfer, to preserve your Pc, put a Mac mini nearby, and alternate from one to the other as you want with out rearranging your table.

Technical specifications and overall performance

On the technical side, the contemporary Mac mini models are also well well worth a look. They now have Intel Center 2 Duo processors of either 1.83GHz or 2GHz. These processors are from Intel’s sixty five nanometre family with sixty four bit architecture. To complement them, Apple has added 2MB of L2 cache for the 1.83GHz Mac mini and 4MB for the 2GHz version, collectively with a 128 bit SSE3 vector engine on each.

The end result of this generation is exciting, to mention the least: the brand new Mac mini is as much as 39% faster than the preceding version. This bounce in speed varies in step with your software – the 39% parent refers to Apple’s iPhoto ’08 – but there are many examples of improvements with other software program. As an example, average speeds the use of Apple’s net browser, Safari, are up by using 26%; and compressing a movie with the 2.0GHz Mac mini has accelerated with the aid of 35% as compared to the vintage equal device.

For reminiscence, the 1.83GHz and 2GHz Mac minis have 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM on two SO-DIMMs as general. 1GB of RAM is honestly a respectable quantity; however if you want extra ability, you could double it in case you desire.

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geekade · 7 years

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Macabre Movie Mausoleum: Wes Craven's New Nightmare

This is the song that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because. This is the song that doesn't end…

Another month, another Freddy movie. We were promised the abysmal Freddy’s Dead was the last in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, but did they break that promise for good reason? Read on to find out my precious grave toppers and tombstones.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Director: Wes Craven

Starring: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Miko Hughes

We’ll get to the rating later of course, and I’ll explain how I got there, but I need to start by saying the premise of this movie is brilliant. Now, we’ve seen with this franchise already that they can ruin good ideas, but this isn’t just another ‘Freddy survived his apparent death’ movie tacked onto the series. Wes Craven went meta with this movie, before going meta with Scream. Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund return to play themselves, along with Wes Craven, John Saxon and a whole group of other actors and filmmakers that play themselves in the movie.

The movie opens with presumably Freddy Krueger creating a new mechanical hand/blade glove, and severs his own hand. It is quickly revealed this is a scene from a movie being made by Wes Craven, who stops the scene for more blood. When the mechanical glove malfunctions, the effects team scrambles to shut it down, but two of the crew are killed. Heather wakes up in her California home from an earthquake, and realizes it was a nightmare.

We learn that she’s been harassed by phone calls from someone that sounds similar to Freddy taunting and threatening her. Her son in the movie, who also plays her son in the dream movie has been having trouble sleeping. Her husband goes away to work on a movie while she does a TV interview about the Nightmare franchise, where she is surprised by Robert Englund in full Freddy Krueger makeup/gear. Her and Robert share a friendly moment afterwards, when she is called in for a meeting with an actual New Line Cinema agent.

Basically, Wes craven has been having dreams about Freddy Krueger and is turning those dreams into a script for a new Nightmare movie. He wants Heather to reprise her role as Nancy, and even enlists her effects creator husband to create a new bladed glove for the movie without telling her.

All of this business dealing with a new Freddy movie, combined with her son’s health issues, and the phone calls, Heather begins mentally cracking which is further exasperated when her husband dies in a car crash on his way home. In the morgue she identifies the body, but finds slash marks on his chest reminiscent of Freddy’s glove.

Understanding how absurd her thoughts must seem, she seeks solace from her friend and costar John Saxon who played her father in Nightmares 1 and 3. She’s been having waking nightmares where Freddy tries to take her son, and her son has been acting more and more erratically. John recommends that she seek medical help for both her and her son.

The hospital staff suspects that Heather is keeping her son from sleeping, and possibly subjecting him to her horror movies. They recommend he stays overnight for testing, and Heather returns home for her son’s stuffed T-Rex, that protects him from Freddy. Julie the babysitter stays with Dylan, Heather’s son, with strict instructions not to let him fall asleep.

Heather is detained in the hospital when she falls asleep at Dylan’s bedside and has a Freddy nightmare. Dylan is given a shot so he can sleep when Julie is distracted, and this gives Freddy the chance to kill her in very similar fashion as Nancy’s friend, Tina, in the original Nightmare. (At this point I would like to point out that for the entire movie, I thought Julie was played by Jennie Garth of 90210 fame, she is not, and I didn’t realize this until writing this review)

After realizing she never left the hospital, Heather learns that Dylan ran away to get his T-Rex, and he knows that he has to cross the freeway to get home. Heather chases after him in a car, just in time to find him running into traffic. Cars are avoiding him, but Freddy then begins steering him, and playing with him in traffic. Heather runs in after her son, but is chased down by a mac truck. She pulls a Prometheus, and instead of running right or left, runs directly away from the truck, and somehow manages to stay ahead of it. The truck swerves and crashes, causing mayhem on the highway until Heather gets hit by a car. She shrugs it off and follows Dylan home.

Once at the house, she finds John Saxon there. He’s worried about her, she’s worried about her son, and her son is worried about his Rex. John tries to calm things down, but when Heather tries to tell him that Freddy Krueger attacked her and Dylan, John begins quoting the original film. He leads her outside, assuring her that Dylan is safe in the house. Outside, the two are talking, but John calls her Nancy, and doesn’t recognize his name or Robert Englund’s, only their characters; Donald and Freddy. Heather acts as Nancy, and calls him daddy, at which point he leaves, and Heather turns to see her house has transformed to the house from the first movie.

This scene, even with very limited dialogue, was so perfectly written, that it is the lynchpin to the movie’s theme and “believability." That subtle change from Heather to Nancy, and from John to Lt. Donald Thompson, combined with the fact that Robert Englund is missing from the middle of the movie through the end, and only Freddy Krueger is around, goes a long way to sell the premise of the movie within a movie turned real horror.

With Heather submitting to the role of Nancy she is able to enter Freddy’s world via a breadcrumb trail of sleeping pills her son left for her. There, she finds her son, and the two are able thwart Freddy in a furnace, burning him much like the “real” Freddy from the original movie was created.

Rating...

Much like there were two main reasons the last movie didn’t get the worst rating, there are two reasons preventing this from getting the full mausoleum. 1) I was not a fan of the new look. I understand Wes Craven wanted a meaner looking/acting Freddy, so he got rid of the hat (although they did show him with that hat occasionally) and replaced it with a long black/blue trench coat and instead of a glove with blades, the blades seemed to come from Freddy’s fingers, and it took away from the aesthetic of the character. Also Freddy’s face looked more like a mask than the previous movies which is just baffling. 2) Kids in horror movies rarely add to the movie. Miko Hughes actually has an impressive catalog of movies (more than Heather Langenkamp I believe) but too much of the movie was reliant on child acting and that will almost always be detrimental for a horror movie.

There’s a scene in the movie where Wes Craven explains to Heather that he believes the dip in quality of the Nightmare movies, and the apparent lack of additional movies gave this entity the ability to come back. It was an interesting scene, but raises a point that most creators would agree with, ideas supersede the execution of said ideas. Meaning, a good story is more powerful than how the story is told, and even a poorly told story can have its own strengths as long as the idea that created it remains true.

This is why Wes Craven made Freddy into a darker, more imposing figure, without the humor. This is how he initially imagined Freddy. While I happen to think the jokes are what set him apart from the other slashers of the time, I can respect the man for sticking with his intuition.

Heather and Dylan thwarting Freddy was probably the right way to go with the ending for the movie, but I believe it would have served them better had they killed Heather in the end, with her death reported as an overdose of the sleeping pills she took to enter the dream world. Especially since I find it fitting that the three best movies from the franchise are the ones that Heather Langenkamp starred in.

What happens when the story dies and the evil is set free? Now that the films have ended the demon’s out of the bottle. That’s what the nightmares are telling me and that’s what I’m writing.

Also, I’d like to point out that this movie was made and takes place before Freddy’s Dead is supposed to take place.

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