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meggigoering · 2 years ago

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📖October 8, 2023

🦈I haven't written anything these few days because I was very busy with my studies. I remind you that I study at two American universities, and my working and learning day looks very tight. From this dense calendar and to-do list, every day at least 40% was bitten by a stinky with his girlfriend Tanya Shumilova, and their heavenly patrons - the Angara maniac Mikhail Popkov (if anyone forgot, aka Sylvester, the leader of the Orekhovskaya gang, in the world an honorary elder, the patriarch of the Ancient Orthodox Church Kornily Titov), and his henchiks from the Sberalfa-VTB Systema. The fact that these scum devoured, I picked up time in the early mornings, but still both work and study suffer a lot because of these condoms. On Friday and Saturday, they ate just two days of cleaning after the fire and the lack of light in the apartment. What the fck is the fire, you ask? The real fire.

In short, in the long-suffering flat on Maslennikova 16-13 in case you missed everything, where I and my dogs were generously sweated by the mustard gas poison, there was expected to be a shmon. I mean, a search. Mustard gas is such a shit that is simply unrealistic to weather from the apartment where it has been for a long time. This crap penetrates through the chemical protection suit in 40 minutes, is easily absorbed into porous materials, and it is impossible to wash it from plastic and wood. Therefore, there were so many samples of chemistry in the apartment that the field for samples for toxicological and chemical examination was not plowed here. Since the stinky itself poured snot and pus from the lungs, the epicenter of storage and one of the main sources of distribution of deadly chemistry was in his pissed chambers. I assume that this bastard kamikaze wanted to live, so he probably kept his chemical shit on the balcony. Obviously, this outside storage did not save stinky, because his snot hung to his knees, and the pus from his lungs could be raked out with a shovel. So one visit to the smelly balcony and his pissed bedroom would basically make him the most flawed character in history.

In addition, there was a genetic test for the stinky, from which it clearly follows that this bastard is not related to me or to my testators. This genetic test was sent to me by the stinky himself. The test is a sample of stupidity, and its manufacturer (Academy of DNA Genealogy) deserves to receive the Darwin Award along with the stinky. A test with two fundamental errors that completely exclude the chance of a stinky not only of kinship with me, my grandparents, but the chance that the test is true. I will not provide a manual on how to deceive the law and "sweet fryers," I will briefly note that the stinky at the Academy of DNA Genealogy (remember this name) generated a fake combined test, in which they picked up a haplogroup from some princes just in case, and a haplotype from others, so that if anything fits in both cases. The little truth is that they were a little bit wrong with the names of the princes, and who on what line is related to my family. And so for the inhabitants of the object, the test looked very convincing. The stinky the great-grandson of Ivan the Terrible himself, in a straight male line, Rurikovich! Everything is beautiful and absofckyamazing, only the direct male ancestor in the male line of my dad and his dad was not Rurikid by direct male line, he is Gediminid. I'll save the rest of the details for later.

Well, I somehow remembered that the stinky was lying in a psychiatric hospital and many times he was visited at home by a good psychiatrist-narcologist.

Again, the performance of the stinky a week ago, when I asked for compensation for an ovarian rupture. I'm sticking out here with the Moscow medical insurance, I don't want to change it. I feel pretty lousy after a stinky confused me with a boxing bag and beat me - a stomach bruise, an ovarian rupture and a closed abdominal injury is not a light runny nose. As I wrote a week ago, the stinky (I remind you, a permanent client of psychiatrists and narcologists, who was lying in a mental hospital, who was diagnosed last year and written in the recommendations to solve the issue of his sanity) immediately called Tanya Shumilova, and asked her to organize the following: to falsify me a diagnosis of an alleged schizophrenia, and send me forever for compulsory treatment to free the apartment from my presence. Tanyushka sleeps and sees to get access to my property as soon as possible, and does not hesitate to falsify the grounds in order to get the right to dispose of it. Well, Tanya wants to ride my Porsche and live in my flat 196 on Leninsky 64/2, you can't order her heart! There and her daughter Valeria has already set up for me in the HASHEIGHT business - she bought Porsche sneakers, a business suit, IT textbooks, and books on law and accounting just stole from me. In short, the "family" is ready to accept my belongings, inheritance and property completely free of charge, there is only one issue left to solve - I'm still alive. Therefore, all the dialogues and gossip of Tanya and stinky about "schizophrenia" were due to the fact that these creatures were going to take care of me, and send me with someone else's name to a mental hospital, where I would be missing. It is clear, the treatment of my torn ovary was not in the plans of caring "parents" who only for the maintenance of their daughter the prostitute Lera milked more than 7 million rubles from me.

I accidentally recorded Tanya's conversation with the stinky, and without waiting for it to finish, I immediately went to the Investigative Committee to the investigator on duty.

In short, there were more than enough reasons to close the stinky and his girlfriends Tanya Shumilova and her relatives in the pre-trial detention center by October 1, 2023.

Feeling that the stinky and his girlfriends, instead of my inheritance, will now really draw a preventive measure in the form of sending to the madhouse, where they so diligently wanted to hand me over instead, this cute nut (in all aspects) family shit themselves and decided to solve the issue radically. Well, like there is no person and no documents - no problem.

So here it is. On Friday morning, October 6th 2023, I needed to run to the library, I'm now describing the functionality for prototypes, I need to read a couple of books with at least one eye. Well, that is, I have a plan for books that I need to read for work and study, and I, like in the movie "Quiet Place" every day, I go out on business and to the library.

It's scary, of course, the stinky with his girlfriends are rare scum, but no one promised that it would be easy. After learning that there would be a shmon (search), the stinky got up all week, neither light nor dawn, and even reduced the degree of mustard gas. On Friday, at 10:30 a.m., he finished his morning promenade, and I felt the chance to run and rushed to the library. I go out at 11-20, go to the library, and a funeral car is blocked on the way. I don't think to myself, damn it, will they really take the stinky and I'll finally make a funeral for my parents? I come to the library, and now I set a timer for 25 minutes due to an acute shortage of time. And so the timer rang three times, I'm looking at the cameras - everything seems to be calm in the apartment. Well, I think I'll allow myself another sprint. And what do you think - immediately a fire alarm starts yelling in the library. In short, remembering the morning funeral car, I put my feet in my hands and run back to the apartment. I think there are too many distracting unpleasant elements today. I come - a stinky in the apartment. Well, I think it's great - I'll feed the dogs now and go back. Harry eats 8 times a day after poisoning with mustard gas on fractional feeding. I gave the dogs semolina porridge to cook, and a kettle for myself. As soon as the stinky found out about the shmon, he lost his peace and sleep, he couldn't find the key to the attic, he needed urgently for unknown reasons. And wow - while the dogs were waiting for cooking porridge, I found the key under the closet when I was washing the floor. The stinky saw the key, rushed into the room to his place, took the key and left the apartment. I'm sitting waiting for the kettle. I feel that burnt paper stintles, it's not clear where it comes from. And then somebody knocks on the door: a neighbor from the 14th apartment says: hey your balcony is burning. I say - the stinky locked the rooms with a key. In short, the firefighters were called further. Three minutes later, there was such smoke in a pillar that I could barely open the window. At that moment, the stinky returned, and began to try to put out the fire himself. I managed to pull suitcases with documents to the stairs and bring the dogs out. Then, as in a bad dream, firefighters with oxygen cylinders for breathing began to climb the stairs, the spectacle is pure Silent Hill. But what is especially original, the freshly found key to the attic of the stinky did not share with them, pretending that there was no key and I took it for myself. This is still a plus the time while the firefighters were squeezing the door to the attic.

In short, 6 fire trucks, 24 firefighters, an ambulance, police, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, a day without light. And the day before, I put all my things and documents in bags and suitcases. So when everybody moved out, I went in, rubbed the bags and washed the floor. Well, since there was no light, I had a real Sabbath. The only shitty thing is that there used to be mustard gas with stinky urine, and now combustion products have been added to it. I'm sitting like in a "Hard's Hell" smokehouse. I understand that the absence of posts from me for several days, barbecue customers from the sistema "Sberalfa-VTB" secretly hoped that there was at least one human victim in the fire. Yes, guys. Your mental stinky employee Sergey Shumilov has a burnt face, because at your order, instead of a barbecue of me, my dogs and a fire from my documents, he burned in my apartment, which you rewrote on for your second psychic employee Lera Shumilova, one room and a balcony. Greetings from all the neighbors at this house section entrance, who perfectly understand what a fire in an apartment with a gas column means. They don't give a fck about your ways to solve problems and steal Andrey Leonidovich Kostin, Vladimir Petrovich Evtushenkov, Peter Olegovich Aven, German Oscarovich Gref. After the Lame Horse, the fire in the Winter Cherry, and the fire in the Samara Department of Internal Affairs, for you, of course, 60 people burned alive in the house section entrance, it's like not fucking doing. But for the population of the entrance, which was the day before yesterday very close to share the fate of these unfortunate people, your KPIs, bonus plans, and your understanding of "corporate social responsibility" do not matter. Fcking "Atlants" of Russian business.

👩‍💻Fotos from the flat:

https://pin.it/4L8n4bw

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coveredinmetaldust · 2 years ago

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The discourse around the OceanGate situation is making me really fucking mad. You are getting a lot of posts like this one where people are decrying how inhumane it is for people to meme on the situation instead of grieving for the kind of people would work you to death if it meant a 0.002% stock price increase.

Yup, these fucking losers are equating willfully creating a death trap and killing 5 other people instantly to a car accident.

I don’t even entirely disagree that yes, it is tragic. I’d rather they didn’t die from an implosion caused by their metal death-tube crumpling in on itself because the arrogant shithead CEO decided that all these safety standards other subs adhere to were getting in the way of innovation. Obviously it would have been preferable to find them drifting on the ocean surface a day later shaken but ultimately unharmed.

No, I’m mad about how blatantly lopsidedly this flavor of moral outrage is always applied. You never see these people on Reddit, Twitter, etc crawl out of the woodwork to denounce the people saying “well he was no angel” when a person of color is gunned down by the police. You never see these same multi-paragraph posts decrying how immoral it is to say “play stupid games win stupid prizes” when this shit happens to the poor, disenfranchised, etc.

You don’t see it, because the people currently on their high horse are the same people who would call you a fucking idiot if you were on this submarine.

If the entree fee was $250 and five working class people were killed I can guarantee you'd see these same people joking about Darwin awards instead of saying stuff like this.

But no no, suddenly now is the time to stop victim blaming and start grandstanding while clutching at pearls. Now is the time to get indignant and accuse people not of feeling empathy and being inhumane sociopaths. There are now were entire call-out topics on Reddit where they organized and briggaded anyone who dares to say anything bad about these poor billionaires. Where the FUCK was this outrage during, I dunno, pick any one of the numerous fucking examples of brutality and/or exploitation occurring within the last three years. Oh right, these dopey fucks were too busy wagging their fingers at the victims and telling them to take Personal Responsibility™. Too bad, if only they were born rich—then maybe these paragons of virtue on social media would go to bat for them.

But you know what the worst part of this discourse is? I can’t quite put it into words, but it’s so blatantly fucking obvious to me that all of this is insincere—this is actual virtue signaling. You can just tell by the tone, the regurgitated talking points, the slimy smug indignation. This is false empathy over people they couldn’t care less about and won’t even remember in a week, because the point isn’t to being a compassionate person.

No, this to grandstand and get that dopimine rush by calling people out. This is being done to score points for some political ideology and Own The Libs/Commies/Socialists/[insert any slightly left of center ideology]. This is so the Panglossian shitheels of social media can maintain the status quo and feel superior by stamping out any act of defiance or rebellion.

None of these of these people seemed to care about how disrespectful this kind of disaster tourism is for the victims of the Titanic. (Victims, who, were mostly lower class since the wealthy were the ones who were allowed to escape.) They don’t care that these rich assholes were profiteering off a tragedy and making a spectacle out of visiting a mass grave. No, they save that smug, condescending, and cynical response for the people who call out these rich assholes.

It makes me want to throw my computer into the ocean.

Now, if you are one of these people I’m screaming into the void about, and you genuinely do not understand why people are memeing the situation so hard, you need to take a step back and recognize that this is, objectively, an absurd and cartoonish situation. This could have easily been a plot for an episode of The Simpsons. This whole goddamn situation reads like something thrown together by a room of writers who were trying to out “yes and” one another until one stopped everyone and said: “Woah woah, hold on. The CEO’s wife is a descendant of the Titanic victims? Isn’t that just a little much?” And then everyone else ignored this person and just kept fucking going.

In short: it was the perfect storm of absurdity, coincidence, hubris, tragedy, and stupidity.

But that's just a surface level explanation which ignores the context of the last hundred or so years. Ask yourself: "why are so many people so unsympathetic towards these particular victims?" Well, there are a multitude of reasons that contributed to how we got to this point and this guy does a much better job of explaining it than I ever could:

#oceangate #titanic #the titanic #oceangate submarine #billionaires #oligarchy #reddit

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phoenixwrites · 2 years ago

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For the record, I appreciate your views on the horrific aspects of the submarine situation. I feel like people lose track of the distinction between acknowledging the irony of a real life situation, dark humor, and celebrating the horrific death of other humans because you feel like they deserve it. I think that it’s a natural part of human nature to want those who hurt others, whether directly or indirectly, to experience some measure of that same pain, and I don’t think it accomplishes anything to feel guilty for those feelings, but I think it’s really, really important to remember that even the most despicable people on this earth are still as human as you. I don’t think anyone *deserves* pain. Pain happens, no matter who you are or what you’ve done. I don’t think humans should inflict pain, and I don’t think we should celebrate it. Yes, pain can lead to growth, and change, but it’s not a lesson to be taught. It just is, the same as weather or growing older.

I really appreciate this message. For the record, I am in full agreement that there are no ethical billionaires, the cost of this morbid descent to see the Titanic is exorbitant and gratuitous, this is a case for the Darwin Awards, I see the irony, I see the result of hubris and greed...

But. You know, a mutual on Twitter made this really amazing point from Gandalf when Frodo wished that Bilbo had killed Gollum when he had the chance. "Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends."

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themonotonysyndrome · 3 years ago

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Imagine some other vampire that's not related to Vampire Lord's family thinking that Vampire Lord being in a relationship with Vampire Hunter is a disgrace and deciding to get rid of Vampire Hunter so Vampire Lord can return to being a respectable lord. Vampire Hunter can handle himself just fine, but Vampire Lord wants to punish this vampire too (it's vampire instincts. Either he gets to "Vampire Genesis" this arrogant vampire, or Vampire Hunter has to deal with a pouty vampire for awhile.)

Ah, high society among the Vampires, eh YGO!Anon? It's a classic trope for them! And someone of Vampire Lord's standing and power with a famous hunter of his kind? For sure it's gonna make a few tongues wag.

But remember, the title of 'Lord' holds power here. Those who bear it mean they're the leader of all Vampires. So if any Vampires are stupid enough to upset him, well, that Vampire will quickly find himself without allies.

And if anyone dares to slander him to his face at his own party? Yeah, that Vampire is winning the Darwin award, lol.

#monotony's rambling

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silentwalrus1 · 5 years ago

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dvd commentary: from chap 64: “You really don’t trust Albus.” Roy raises his eyebrows. “And you do?” to Yes. Now Roy is here, and Olivier’s going to remember that people who use him tend to regret it.

the most straightforward and honest conversation in the fic so far sdfggdfs. Roy is testing Bones a lot more than she’s testing him - she trusts that Olivier hasn’t sent her someone who made General just by sucking dick, and she recognizes that even if Dumbles and the Order are completely trustworthy, they’re still nearly all civilians. She’s head of the DMLE: she knows how to delegate, how to cooperate and how to identify when she needs help. (Hufflepuffs represent.) She’s also pretty glad to find Olivier sent her real firepower - Bones’ whole family was murdered by Voldemort, her whole country was nearly overrun, they had to be all saved by a freak magical accident caused by A BABY. She also knows that Harry isn’t exactly getting some Dark Lord Slayer Boot Camp Training, or at least not more than anyone else is at Hogwarts, especially since Voldemort was supposed to have been ALREADY defeated. Harry was present at the resurrection; no special specific dark lord killing powers manifested then, as far as she’s concerned, because Voldemort is still fucking alive. Bones can’t wait for some fucking prophecy: how many more are going to die before the Chosen One gets his shit together?

On Roy’s end, he’s trusting that Olivier wouldn’t have kept up with a youthful summer fling if Bones was getting gold at the darwin awards. He also doesn’t have a lot of choice as to avenues of insight into the govt; he needs her firmly and candidly on his side, which means dealing with her as an equal, which means peeling off some of his people suit like hannibal lecter at amateur strip night

#dvd commentary #99% sniper #writing meme #yap yap #Anonymous

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purplesurveys · 5 years ago

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761

When was the last time you watched a film that your favourite actor/actress starred in? Which one was it? I watched Two for the Road, which has Audrey Hepburn in it, a couple of weeks ago. Are you currently wearing anything red? Yes, my shorts are red and bits of my shirt are red as well. Have you had a deep conversation with anyone today? I haven’t, but I had several ones with Andrew over the past week. I miss being able to talk to my close friends like that. What would you say is the most disgusting thing you've ever tasted? Does it have to be actual food or just legit anything I put in my mouth? Because when I was 9 I once licked a battery that had been leaking oil. For that reason alone I knew I deserved one of those Darwin Awards lmao. If we’re talking food food, I never did like the texture of lugaw, which I think is congee in English. What was the last food you got a random craving for? Been a while since I had a craving since I’ve long accepted that I can’t eat any of my favorite foods for a while, though I think the last one was Frankie’s.

Has anyone/anything made you angry recently? Yes. I’ll be mentioning this for the thirtieth time, but the weather has me feeling very angry lately. I had the worst nap before dinner as I woke up sweating and my electric fan doing nothing but blowing me hot air. Who did you last go to the cinema with? Gabie, to watch Knives Out. What was the last song that got stuck in your head? Dead Horse - Hayley Williams. When was the last time you listened to it? 15 minutes ago. Who was the last person to say something thought-provoking? I came across a tweet of Andrew’s where they criticize the musical Hamilton, which has always been very popular where I live. I was never a fan and I’ve never followed the plot, but they did raise some valid points that even I understood as an outsider, and would definitely make fans open the floor for reexamining the musical and what it’s about. On your Facebook friends list, who was the last person to have their birthday? That I can remember, Apple and Rick. I’ve had Facebook deactivated for the last three days though and I’m sure several others have celebrated their birthdays in that period. How old were they? Apple turned 23, Rick 22. What did you/are you having for dinner tonight? My mom made baked macaroni. Is your best friend in a relationship? Both of them are.

How old were you 5 years ago? 17. What is something you enjoy doing, but aren't good at? Traveling. I need a companion in all stages, whether it’s being at the airport or planning out a whole itinerary. Traveling is just one of those things I’d never wanna do alone. Who was the last person you talked to, whose name started with 'C'? I couldn’t tell you, it’s been a while actually. It was probably Tina; her full name is Christina. What colour are that person's eyes? Dark brown. Name some healthy foods that you enjoy eating. Broccoli, the breakfast smoothie from a local salad stall... and that’s about it. In the last 24 hours, have you ... Laughed hard? I don’t think so. I wasn’t really 100% today. Eaten any of your favourite foods? Sure, my dad baked chocolate chip cookies this afternoon. Hung out with close friends? Ha. Talked to someone you have feelings for? Several times today, yep. Had an argument with anyone? I haven’t. Cried? A little bit. It wasn’t much but I did tear up a bit listening to one of Hayley’s new songs and realizing it’s exactly my feelings at one point in the past. I would’ve really appreciated that song if it got released like, five years earlier. What colour are your socks? Do they have any kind of pattern on them? I’m not wearing a pair rn. Was there anything you planned to do today, but didn't get round to it? Yup, thesis. I work on it every other day, so since I did it yesterday I didn’t feel like touching it today. What did you do instead? I used Duolingo, watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and listened to Petals for Armor. Is there anything interesting happening tomorrow? It definitely hasn’t felt this way since March 6th...

#survey #surveys

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accimaginaryescapades · 5 years ago

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Gun safety basics

With the WuFlu panic, a lot of americans seem to be buying guns, and many might be both first time owners and have no real instructions given. I say this as I see more pictures of people mishandling guns popping up on comedy site. So, don't do these or other gun owners will wince/ give you the stink eye/ kick you out

1. Never aim your gun at anything you aren't willing to kill or destroy. Don't point it at your friends. Don't point it at your pets. Don't look down the barrel. Dont passivly point it at stuff either. What I mean is if you're moving your gun from your purse to your safe to your car to the range- whatever- always keep in mind where the end of it is pointing. Taking it out of your bag? Don't fiddle with the bag and end up pointing the bag at someone. Keep that sucker pointed at the floor, but not your own or anyone elses feet. Always think about pointing it at nothing important.

2.Don't put you finger on the trigger until you're ready to fire. In fact, you should put it on the registr (the super solid metal block above the trigger). Don't grab it by the trigger, or the trigger guard, or anything like that. Keep those fingers away until it's time to fire.

3. Always assume the gun is loaded. Maybe you forgot the one in the chamber. Maybe you forgot you reloaded it. Always assume it's loaded. Avoid that Darwin award.

4.Think about what's behind the target. Bullets go through. Through the assailent, into the bystander behind them. Through the wall ouf your house, into the window of your neighbor. Also remember what goes up will come down. the sky is not a safe direction to fire.

5. Identify your target. Hear a bump in the night? ake sure it's not your spouse or pet or signifigant other. Make sure you only shoot if you actually are in danger.

Reblog to add other ideas for the new influx of gun owners we're getting!

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derin-bilgiler · 8 years ago

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http://harunyahya.com/en/works/12158/What-Darwinists-Fail-To-Consider

Introduction

What Darwinists Fail To Consider

(People with intelligence are) those who remember Allah, standing, sitting and lying on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the Earth: "Our Lord, You have not created this for nothing. Glory be to You! So safeguard us from the punishment of the Fire." (Surah Al'Imran, 191)

Allah (God), Ruler of all the Worlds, advises His faithful servants to reflect upon the things He created. One of the main reasons for this is that there is evidence of the existence of Allah and His sublime creation in the Earth and sky and all that He has created, and seeing this evidence draws the believer even closer to Allah. One who believes in Almighty Allah will see His might and greatness in the bud of a flower, in a single cell he examines under the microscope, in a magnificent tree spreading its branches to the sky, in fruit packaged inside its outer rind, in animals or in a single seed. Therefore, reflection upon the beauty he encounters will strengthen the faith of anyone who believes in His existence. Because Allah, Lord of the Worlds, has created all things, and His might pervades everywhere on Earth.

Yet many people do not reflect on the entities they see, the details they examine or the information they learn—or rather, they avoid doing so. The reason is generally their unwillingness to see the existence of Allah! Some of these people are geneticists and scientists; some discovered DNA and were awarded Nobel Prizes as a result, others discovered the orbits of the planets and performed countless calculations and studies regarding them. Still others plumbed the innards of the atom and identified subatomic particles invisible to the naked eye. Others are botanists who know that a single grain of pollen may travel many kilometers to fertilize other plants of the same species. Others are aware that each of the cells in the human brain represents a gigantic miracle. The perfection in their own bodies, in animals, in plants and in all the entities surrounding them is constantly brought before their eyes.

Yet these people never consider what they see, examine and know so well. If they did reflect on the complex systems and even more astonishing structures in nature, they would see the existence and greatness of Allah. By doing so, they would appreciate His creative artistry and the magnificent works of His creations. From living in the pursuit of very simple and ordinary goals, they should have realized the need to live for the sake of Allah. They would see His absolute existence and sovereignty in all places and, willingly or not, have accepted that they are living out the destinies that He appointed for them. That explains why people who arrogantly regard themselves as superior, who maintain that living things were not created, who avoid living for Allah's sake and who seek to satisfy themselves with the life of this world rather than believing in—and living for—the Hereafter, prefer not to engage in reflection. For them, the only way of avoiding the realities they will realize if they do consider, is not to think at all!

Darwinists, who have perpetrated the greatest mass deception in the history of the science, are prime examples of such people.

This book's purpose is to reveal those matters that Darwinists fail to reflect on. By so doing, they have declared war on the fact of creation. They attribute the complexity and beauty exhibited in all their magnificence at every point in the universe to chance, simply to deny the existence of Allah. They have no qualms about maintaining that unconsciousness and random events gave rise to consciousness, reason, order, understanding and beauty. This book reveals those matters that they heedlessly ignore, or which they claim that the theory of evolution fully explains but without ever entering into the details. This book shows how their theory is actually unproven, despairing and in a helpless position in all areas.

That is Allah, your Lord. There is no deity but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything. (Surat al-An'am, 102)

Their deception stems from Darwinists' leading others not to reflect as themselves and indoctrinating them to believe that there is a simple explanation for life on Earth. But by means of books, conferences and video films that reveal proof of Allah's existence, many have become aware of the deception that Darwinism presents. They are now aware that "chance" cannot account for anything. They have considered the extraordinary balances in the universe and begun to investigate the reasons for their own existence, perfection and complexity. They have become aware that the lives they lead are not "simple" at all, contrary to what Darwinists maintain. Now, it is only Darwinists who fail to reflect on these matters.

Emphasizing just a few of the countless proofs of the existence of Allah and showing that Darwinists cannot explain even one of them, is of the greatest importance at this time, when Darwinism is losing its influence. In examining what Darwinists fail to consider, you will see the things to which Darwinist scientists and other evolutionary theoreticians, who managed to deceive the whole world throughout the last century, have refused to consider. This proves that they have not acted in the light of scientific evidence, but of false proofs and deceptions. Having mocked the public's powers of logic for a century and a half, they remain inspired by an outmoded, bigoted belief.

Any thinking person will encounter the reality that Allah, the Lord of all, created everything in heaven and Earth in one moment, with one single command. Darwinists, however, are unable to account for a single cell or a single bird feather. And so long as they shut their eyes and refuse to reflect, it will be impossible for them to account for these and countless other facts, unless Allah wishes otherwise. His magnificent works will continue to prove the fact of creation in a more and more powerful manner with every passing day. Allah, the Sublime and Almighty, is the Lord of all things and their flawless Creator.

That is Allah, your Lord. There is no god but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything. (Surat al-An'am, 102)

Everything in the heavens and Earth belongs to Allah. Allah is the Rich Beyond Need, the Praiseworthy. If all the trees on Earth were pens and all the sea, with seven more seas besides, was ink, Allah's words still would not run dry. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. (Surah Luqman, 26-27)

About the glorious creation of Allah, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi says this:

With what can you explain this infinitely miraculous and wonderful state of affairs? To what can you attribute these truly extraordinary arts? 1

http://harunyahya.com/en/works/12158/What-Darwinists-Fail-To-Consider

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fourteenacross · 8 years ago

Text

2016 in writing

2016 in fic! This looks SO empty compared to past years, even if it's roughly the same amount of words! Hamilton: i saw the whole story unwind (132,888) Opening Break (3,531) Remote Capture (3,483) Not Your Average Bear! (1,835) Ghost Included (we hope) (2,941) but i won't go far away (12,577) the constellations aligned (10,004) the air grows cold around me and you (27,268) a way to hang the sun up in the sky (9,510) we'll have to muddle through somehow (8,513) Ficlets: Lazy Day (924) Cryptids (1,904) John's Instagram (1,443) Skeptic Refuted Fan Speculation (???)* Apocrypha (aka shit I wrote that takes place after the stuff in the main stories that may be disregarded/discarded as the next three stories develop): For Hire: Ghost Hunter (551) Three Wishes (2,446) Ouija Boards are NOT ALLOWED (1,139) Reality Show (1,538) Star Wars (2,441) X-Men Alternate Timeline Movies: Who Needs Sleep? (2,535) Fifty Dollars and First Impressions (3,574) Ficlets: Alex/Darwin Bookstore AU (343) Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Phryne/Jack Fake Married (588) Grand Total Fandoms: 3 Grand Total Stories: 23 Grand Total Word Count: 231,976* * I haven't written the transcription of this ficlet yet and I'm too lazy to do it right now, so it's not included in the total. Overall Thoughts: Well, this is a very different list than it's been for the past five years or so. The fandom switch aside, I didn't post any full stories until September, just a handful of tumblr ficlets. I also posted two things chapter-by-chapter, one as a WiP, which--wow, reminder that I NEVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN, it's far too stressful! The bulk of the words are all in the same verse, and I'm not even counting the words that I wrote and haven't posted yet, jeez. This stupid universe. I simultaneously hate and love it. Writing an epic WiP in a new fandom was really rough. I'm ultimately thrilled with the finished product--waiting until it was all finished made me redraft over and over again until things fit together the way I wanted. It left me space to go back and seed things that I wanted to develop as I went...I really think the finished product is way better than it would have been if I'd rushed and posted it before it was done. That all being said, gosh, it was lonely. It was so, so lonely, when writing epics usually involves a lot of bouncing ideas off of people and letting them read and suggest as I draft and really digging into the process, etc. There were a couple of people who popped in and out, but life and other interests got in the way (which makes sense considering this went on for NINE MONTHS), and, man, I missed being able to text and IM people will story ideas at all hours and feel confident that they'd be interested in what I had to say. (For all the texting I do, I am actually super shy about it? I'm super nervous about initiating unless I'm 100% positive I won't be bothering the other person, which limits my texting confidence to like, my back-up bunnies and Erica.) Anyway, that's all to say that this year was a very different experience, fandom writing-wise, but I think I learned a lot in the process so...hooray?

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? This year I think my main goal was "FINISH PART ONE OF THE GHOSTHUNTERS" without a specific word count attached, so I succeeded in that part? Knowing me, I probably wanted to crack 300k at least, and while I'm sure I WROTE over 300k this year, what I actually published is about on par with the last couple years, so. NUMBER wise, I think I imagined I'd have a greater output vis-a-vis completed stories, but a lot of the shit I wrote was on the longer side, so. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? Hm. Well, there's a lot more porn in the ghosthunters than is in most of the fic I've written, traditionally, but nothing really shocking. Most of it was ghosthunters words, so...yeah. I guess the Angel/Raven was sliiiightly a surprise because I figured if I had to step in and write some SM pinch-hits it would be all Charles/Erik stuff, but I really liked that story and I have shipped that pairing for many years so....not super a surprise. What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? I loved a lot of the stories I wrote this year, because I'm super obsessed with myself. [[< -- I think I've kept that sentence in for the past few years because it remains true]] I really love most of the ghosthunters shit, but if I had to pick a favorite....idk, I'm torn between i saw the whole story unwind because it's so epic and took so long and I put so much into it and the constellations aligned, because it came so easily and I'm a total sap and it's a totally sappy story. Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? Sitting on the ghosthunters until the first part was complete was new. Like I said above, that kind of patience and planning was difficult, but I think the end product was much better for it. So what I learned is probably "sit on a story for a couple days after you finish." I've always tried to employ at least cursory beta readers and done read-throughs after finishing, but the slower approach does actually lead to a better product. IMAGINE THAT. My best story of this year: Best? Hm. It's hard to compare i saw the whole story unwind to anything else, given it's length and the breadth of subjects it covers, so I'd say probably that or but i won't go far away, which deals with a lot of intricate emotions and explanations. My most popular story of this year: Okay, see, I wrote two chaptered stories this year and chaptered stories totally throw off your stats. Hit counts, kudos count, comment count...all of that is inflated by repeatedly pushing those fics to the top of the tags and having people come back for each chapter and all of that. Still, I'm p sure that i saw the whole story unwind was the most popular story? And I think a lot of that can be attributed to the above facts and also to the fact that it's the oldest and the longest and the first in the series, but...I'm gonna go with it anyway. Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I don't know that any of them are! Again, probably because most of them are in the same series, but...yeah, I'm pretty happy with the response to everything. I remember thinking at the time that there was something weird going on with the hit count for but i won't go far away because the hits-to-kudos ratio was WAY off. There were way too many hits accumulating in the first couple days it was up, like, way more than usual, even though kudos were accumulating at the correct rate? It was strange. And I did feel like that one got slightly less attention than some of the others, but that might be a mind trick based on that weirdly inflated hit count. Most fun story to write: Hm, I got a kick out of doing the twitter ficlet, and I wrote the constellations aligned in basically one sitting, so. Story with the single sexiest moment: This is one of the few years I have a lot to choose from. I think John's slow, intoxicated seduction in the constellations aligned probably wins that award. Definitely sexier than the sweet and kind of goofy sex scene in i saw the whole story unwind or the contemplative one in but i won't go far away. Story with the single sweetest moment: Hmmmmmmmm. "Sweet" is kind of my whole deal, and I like to think there's a lot of sweetness in my stories overall. I'm going to choose i saw the whole story unwind for this one and pin the sweetest moment in question as either Alex and John driving up to Peekskill or the two of them talking after Alex's nightmare. Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: Nothing really. Nothing cracky for me this year. Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: I mean, this whole series has been a lesson in picking apart these characters and seeing how they tick. So. Hardest story to write: i saw the whole story unwind, for sure. Jesus, it took me forever to finish and I was entirely despairing during parts of it. Biggest Disappointment: Just that I didn't finish more, I think. Biggest Surprise: People actually getting so into the ghosthunters. I honestly didn't expect anyone to read any of these stories and to have a tiny group of people who seem to eagerly await each new part...it really warms my heart and makes me so happy. I can't overstate who wonderfully surprising that has been. Most Unintentionally Telling Story: I think there are a lot of places where I project pretty hard on John, or maybe it's that I use a lot of my own experiences to color some of his? We don't actually have much in common besides being gay and being depressed, and I'm older and (I hope) wiser, but, you know, mental illness is a deep well to mine for content. I'd also say I mine a lot of my Jersey shit for Herc and that Molly is the closest thing this series has to a Mary Sue. I'm not into science or math, but I am a cheerfully sarcastic fat brunette lesbian who spends a lot of time whining "why don't girls like me?" and as Opinions about pizza. Plans for the next year: I'm gonna say 300k published words next year. I'd like to post at least the next three ghosthunters anchor stories, maybe venture outside ghosthunters for Hamilton related shit? Pick up my MG novel again. Set a writing schedule and try to stick to it. Leave more comments. Try to put some more good in the world, because it's gonna be a shitty, shitty year.

#2016 #stuff about me #writing is hard

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preserving-ferretbrain · 6 years ago

Text

A Successful Audition for the Darwin Award

by Raymond H

Tuesday, 05 June 2018

Or, why Shigeharu Aoyama is the stupidest horror movie protagonist Raymond has ever seen~

Today's song

comes from a much better movie than the one I will be discussing. You should watch

instead.

~~~

Let me tell you a tale. It all started in the summer of ’17. That was the summer I was on a horror movie binge, when I watched such greats as The Shining and Rosemary’s Babyfor the first time. And then one day, purely by accident, I stumbled across a little horror movie called Audition. Hey, this looks neat, I thought. It was by a famous Japanese director whose filmography I’d barely viewed, it was going for cheap at the local rental place, and my parents seemed enthusiastic about it. Why not? So Friday night, with freshly-made popcorn and bright-eyed enthusiasm, my parents and I sat down to see what Audition had to offer.

What followed was the worst family movie night experience since The Lobster[1].

First off, I should admit the role of some bias on my part. You see, Audition, whilst ostensibly horror, happens to be my absolute least favorite type of horror: the gross-out gorefest. It is my firmly-held belief that the best kind of horror elicits dread, a suspenseful buzz that quickens the pulse and heightens the heartrate, a steady flow of unease, if you will. To break that buzz with jump scares and shocking imagery is bad enough, but to completely transform it into disgust and nausea utterly defeats the point and demeans the genre, in my humble opinion.

My own snooty genre proclivities aside though, there is another, far deeper problem with Audition, that being its protagonist. You see, he is an idiot. Now, you gotta understand, I’m not talking about your average, run-of-the-mill moron. No no, I mean he’s a grade-a, stone-cold, dyed-in-the-wool dingbat. He’s a nitwit, a ninny, a schnook, a schlemiel. Why he’s the stupidest horror protagonist I ever done seen, and I’ve seen a fair few in my day.

Now come on Raymond, you sigh. You’re not being very sporting here, are you? You say this man is an idiot, and yet you’ve given no evidence to back this up. And besides, horror protagonists get accused of being stupid all the time. What makes your criticism any different from those butthurt dudebros complaining about those waily slasher protagonists, apart from the blonde hair and pom-poms?

To this I say, good, fine, a well and valid point. But remember, the entire premise of those slasher films is that a group of young, hormonally addled teenagers are systematically hunted down and murdered one by one, oftentimes within a secluded and isolated environment. Given such circumstances, I can at least suspend my disbelief enough to buy a high-school cheerleader acting somewhat irrational once she realizes she’s next on the kill list. What I can’t accept is this baka acting just as irrational and clueless, if not MORE so, than said cheerleader even BEFORE anything weird or horrifying happens.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. I should probably explain the plot first. Okay, so there’s this guy, Aoyama. He’s a middle-aged widower and single father, who keeps getting pestered by friends and family to get back in the dating game. He’s reluctant at first, but then one day a friend of his, who just so happens to be a television producer, comes over to him and says “Hey! Guess what? We are currently holding auditions for the new leading lady in our latest teledrama, and I want you to show up. See, in these kinds of things, we go through hundreds of applicants, many of whom are quite nice and very attractive. And I figure, hey, only one woman can get the part, but there’s no reason the other girls should go home empty-handed. Eh? Eh? Come on, surely there’s gotta be at least someone there you’ll hit it off with.”

Aoyama, in his usual fashion, responds with an “Um, uh, well, um…�� This will be a recurring habit of his.

So finally, after being dragged to the audition (ah, d’you seee?)

[2]

Aoyama sets his sights on one lady in particular, Asami, a beautiful (albeit kind of creepy), young (to an ephebic degree), and soft-spoken (you can never tell what she’s thinking) ballerina (whose teacher disappeared under mysterious circumstances). Now, you or I can easily see that, despite being quite a catch, Asami is setting off a few red flags right from the get-go. And indeed, Aoyama’s buddy explicitly says “Hey man, I know she’s cute and all, but like, you might want to be careful going into all this is all I’m saying.” But Aoyama is of course having none of that and completely ignores all the other candidates.

Now, okay, I could possibly forgive that. Lord knows countless men and women have taken similarly stupid plunges in the name of getting nookie, and hey, if Aoyama didn’t go for Asami, we wouldn’t have a story, would we? Here’s the thing though. This is not the only warning sign he receives over the course of the movie. Indeed, you could reasonably say that the first 90 minutes of this film are nothing but a series of increasingly disturbing warning signs which Aoyama ignores. And not only ignores, but outright fails to even react to!

Let me break it down for you. Pretty early on, Aoyama’s buddy pulls him aside and says “Hey man, c’mere, lemme talk t’you fer a sec. Listen, I dunno how t’tell y’this, but none of the gal’s references check out. Like, none of ’em. At all. So like, I think you should maybe just, like, be careful or something. You know, just exercise a little caution, maybe wait a while before you call her next.”

Aoyama, in his usual fashion, responds with an “Um, uh, well, um…” and then immediately proceeds to call Asami.

We are then treated to

this

Now, to be fair, Aoyama doesn’t see the bag-man, so this is entirely within the realms of information given to us the audience which is not given to the protagonist. But you know what is given to him? Well for starts, there’s his son saying “Hey dad, listen I’m real happy for you and all, but I just feel like maybe you’re rushing into things a bit.”, there’s his friend (again) saying “Dude! Seriously! This girl is bad news! Abort! Abort!”, oh yeah, and there’s the GHOST OF HIS DEAD WIFE coming to him in a dream and explicitly screaming “RUN! IF YOU VALUE THE CURRENT ARRANGEMENT OF YOUR TESTICLES RUN! RUN THE FUCK AWAY FROM THIS BITCH! SHE’S CRAZY I TELL YOU! CRAAAZYYY!!!”

Now, if you or I were faced with such advice from friends and family, we might stop and think “Huh, maybe I should reconsider the current trajectory of this relationship.” If an ordinary horror protagonist was faced with it, they might stop and think “Huh, maybe I should reconsider the current trajectory of this…nah, let’s give it one more date.” However, Aoyama is no ordinary fellow, nor is he an ordinary horror protagonist. He’s the stupidest horror protagonist I ever done seen, and his reaction to all these warnings is to try tracking Asami down to her house. There are many ways to deal with a potential serial killer. Going in alone and unprotected into their headquarters without backup or even telling anyone is not one of them.

Of course, there is one slight problem with Aoyama's plan. Remember, none of Asami’s references check out, so Aoyama only has a few tenuous leads to go on in his search. Fortunately he finds answers pretty quickly. Unfortunately…ugh…

So he goes to this bar that Asami says she works at. He finds it abandoned. When he asks about, the local expositor explains “What? That bar? Oh, yeah, there was a really gruesome murder there, a while back. Yeah, there was a young woman, and a guy, and the guy slept with the mama at the bar, and then one morning the cops found the bar drenched in blood. It’s weird, they didn’t find any bodies, but they identified the blood as belonging to the guy and the mama. Oh yeah, and they found an eye and three fingers. The young woman disappeared. Man, it’s so weird, but I mean, it’s not like the young woman sounds exactly like your girlfriend or anything, hahaha! Hohoho! Peace.”

Now…if you were in that position, what would you do? Run? Forget Asami? Plunge forward for the sake of getting some? All fine and good responses. Now…now uh, now tell me…what do you think Aoyama, in his…infinite wisdom, does? Hm? HMM?

“Sigh”

Aoyama, in his usual fashion, responds with an “Um, uh, well, um…” And then…then he goes to a dance studio that Asami supposedly frequents. Only to find, oh, wow, it’s completely abandoned and boarded up. Who could have possibly seen that coming?

So anyways, Aoyama hears piano music coming from the studio, so he breaks in, and inside he finds an elderly man sitting in a wheelchair, playing the piano in the corner of a darkened dance-room. No-one else is around. The man looks like he’s been there for who knows how long. Suddenly, as Aoyama steps into the room, the man halts his playing, and glances up. Slowly he turns, and sees a frightened Aoyama, breath bated in surprise. Then, a sick, slimy grin splays across the old man’s face, and with teetering, arthritic hands, he rolls his way over to our hero.

“So…tell me,” the old man rasps, his voice cracked and hoarse with perverted delight. “Did…you taste her flesh? Mehah. Mehahahah! Mahahahahah! Did…you smell her skin? Mahahah! Mahahahah! Meheheheh…fool. You are doomed. Doomed! DOOMED! MAHAHAH! MAHAHAHAHA! MA-HAHA-HAHAAAH!”

This time Aoyama doesn’t respond. No, seriously. Where others might flee in terror or proclaim “Old man, you be tripping.”, Aoyama…does nothing. He exits the ballet studio in the exact same state of mind as when he entered. He completely, utterly, and inconceivably refuses to even acknowledge what just occurred. Great Belin man! Are you for real? Give us something, anything! Even an “Um, uh, well, um…” would be satisfactory. But no, no! Instead Aoyama’s only thoughts are “Huh. I wonder where Asami is.” Are you serious? Are you genuinely, legitimately serious at this point, Aoyama? Sweet baby Jesus man, no amount of half-your-age nookie can possibly justify this level of willful stupidity! Are you really, really going to do this?

Aoyama, in his usual fashion, responds with an “Um, uh, well, um…”

It was at this point my parents and I began exchanging bewildered glances.

Then he comes home and finds Asami’s killed his dog and OMIGOD NO! NOOO! HOW COULD YOU TAKASHI MIIKE? HOW COULD YOU? GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! I FUCKING REMEMBER WHEN THE DOG FIRST APPEARED IN THIS GODDAMN FILM AND MY HEART SKIPPED A LITTLE BEAT AND I PRAYED “Oh please Lord. Please, kill the boy, kill the housekeeper, kill the protagonist for God’s sake, but don’t, for the love of God, don’t kill the dog.” AND THE DOG IS THE ONLY ONE TO FUCKING DIE IN THE WHOLE FUCKING MOVIE AND

Oooh, you cry. Duh! Buh! Raymond!

Ssspoiiileeers

! For a movie that was released in 1999! Which is mostly known for the massive orgy of death and violence in the last 20 minutes of its runtime! Well fuck you! This is a tale, goddammit! I’ll spoil whatever the hell I like! You want a review, go read Armond fucking White!

Anyways, where was I? Ah yes, so Asami slips something into Aoyama’s drink, he trips balls for a couple minutes, during which time we are treated to the fate of that guy (you know, the one in the bag who slept with the mama), the old man, oh yeah, and we find out what the deal with Aoyama’s secretary was. For real dude, what the hell? Oh yeah, also we get to witness the most uncomfortable blowjob scene in the history of cinema! Nobody enjoyed that scene, least of all you. What else? Ah, of course, how stupid of me. Asami cuts off Aoyama’s foot in lovingly rendered, crystal clear, high definition.

It was at this point my father left the living room.

My mother and I, more out of spite than anything else at this point, figured we’d see the film through to the end, and honestly, even in my current, spoilery mindset, I can’t be bothered to give the ending away. Partly because I still have some spoiler scruples, partly because it’s so bland and predictable you can see it coming a mile away, and partly because…I just don’t want to. Suffice it to say, things turn out alright in the end. I mean, there was all that gross-out stuff, which I don’t recommend even for you gorefest aficionados, but apart from that, and, y’know, the whole foot thing, Aoyama is none the worse for wear, and is already planning to tell this latest crazy ex story at the next work outing

[3]

Normally after a family movie night, my family and I like to chat about the movie. You know, what we liked, what we didn’t like, that sort of thing. This time, my mother and I remained in silence as we took the disc out, put it back in the case, and turned the tv off. When we walked upstairs to the dining room, we found my father sipping a mug of tea, like some men would swig a flask of brandy after a harrowing day’s work.

“So,” he grunted. “Did we ever find out why she was…y’know, the way she was?”

And, strange as it may seem, it wasn’t until then that I realized, Audition isn’t actually a good movie. Seriously, my own distaste for gorefests aside, this is a bad film. I’ve seen plenty of people say this is a feminist movie, which casts a critical lens on the patriarchal society of Japan and like, smashes all these preconceptions about women and fights for their rights and I call bullshit, for three main reasons.

Number one, the only thing Aoyama is ever really punished for is getting involved with the wrong sort of woman. Not the audition itself, not the way he treated the actual nice women that he said he was looking for, not for wanting to bang an ephebic ballerina or his son’s teenage girlfriend, no, simply for getting involved with a “crazy” girl.

Number two, Asami doesn’t seem to be motivated by anything other than petty jealousy in her revenge methods. Remember, she killed the mama at the bar, whom you could reasonably say was as much a victim of the guy’s womanizing ways as Asami was. And as for the guy himself, Asami’s torture of him is expressly designed to make him totally dependent on her, not to punish him for straying, but to make herself more valuable to him so that he won’t ever want to stray. And finally, this leads to the biggest reason.

Number three, we never get any explanation for why Asami is the way she is. There is a cursory comment about how because she was abused as a child she came to believe that love and pain were inseparable and can you see how deep and philosophical this movie is but it’s an esoteric bluff. At the end of the day, it doesn’t alter our perception of her in any meaningful way. She’s still a crazy serial killer, who kills dogs and mutilates men for shits and giggles. This explanation doesn’t serve to make us empathize with her. Just the opposite, it makes her even creepier, and drives the point that she’s a villain that needs to be stopped even further home. In the end, the only explanation we really get is that same, old, tired cliché: That bitch is crazy.

In the end, there are some interesting themes and concepts in Audition, but the movie never really goes anywhere interesting or says anything meaningful with them, instead always choosing to take the easiest, goriest, most juvenile way out. Anything great in the movie is snuffed out by disinterested shrugs and handwaves, and all that’s left is sex and violence. It’s rather like going to a classical music concert, where midway through the concerto the pianist suddenly screams “FUCK EVERYTHING!”, throws a cat onto the keyboard, sets the piano on fire, guns the remaining orchestra down, cackles as the concert hall explodes, and then shoot the cat in the knee after it tries to sue

[4]

. I know the movie is based off a book, and maybe that does a better job handling the ideas the story puts forward, but honestly, with an audition like this, I don’t think I’m gonna call this story back anytime soon.

It’s funny. I’m sure there’s a moral to be learned from this tale. I just have no idea what it is. Maybe it’s don’t disrespect women. Maybe it’s bitches be crazy. But personally, I think the best moral this tale has to offer is this: Know what you’re getting into. Please, if you take nothing else from this, just remember that. Know what you are getting into.

[1]

We thought it was a romantic comedy, okay? The synopsis made it sound like a wacky romantic comedy!

[2]

Yes, yes, YES! Since day ONE I have been waiting to say that and now I've finally done it! Haha! やった！

[3]

Where he’ll probably sleep with his new secretary and toss her aside just as callously seriously what the hell dude?

[4]

Seriously, in all its 60 cat years in the industry it’s never been treated this badly, not once! 60 cat years! And that’s like, 11 human years!Themes:

TV & Movies

Horror

Minority Warrior

Romance

Crime Fiction

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~Comments (

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Arthur B

at 10:56 on 2018-06-05See, I have a different take on

Audition

. Yes, Aoyama acts like a fool. On the other hand, he acts like precisely the sort of fool patriarchal society has set him up to be.

There's a cliche in discussing dating and the risks people face in that context of "Men are afraid of being embarrassed; women are afraid of being murdered", and there's quite a big chunk of truth to it: women are by far the targets of violence more than they are the perpetrators of it in dating contexts, and I know numerous women who feel that they have to take various safety steps when going on a date in the event that the person they're with turns out to be some form of abuser - the classic full-blown serial killer being an extreme example, but hardly an unknown one. I don't think I've ever known a man to express the same fears about meeting up with a woman.

So far as I can tell, the whole point of

Audition

is to depict a man who, for once, is actually subject to the same danger that women are routinely subjected to in dating - and because he's a privileged little patriarch, he doesn't recognise the danger at all.

That's part of how privilege works

- it insulates you from the very idea that someone might dare to harm you. (As a beneficiary of that privilege, I often find it eye-opening and startling how much others who don't get the same benefits have to be wary.)

So sure, he gets all these people suggesting that he should distance himself from Asami, but when has the disapproval of one's peers ever prompted anyone to break off a new relationship? And sure, he investigates Asami's background and finds out that

something

is up, but I think it entirely makes sense for him to decide that whatever that is, it surely can't be her fault - that if anything, she's in trouble and she needs a doughy patriarch like him to save her. The possibility that

she might be the trouble

doesn't occur to Aoyama because he doesn't conceive of young, pretty girls as being capable of being trouble. And you know how the saying goes: when you assume, you make an ass out of yourself and lose a foot.

As far as Asami's apparent lack of clear motivations go, I don't consider them a problem. The stated motivations of real life serial killers aren't especially narratively satisfactory either, in most cases. Again, so far as I can see, the whole point of Asami is that she is (on a somewhat grand guignol scale) exactly the sort of sadistic abuser that women have to be afraid of on a regular basis, but which men are rarely in danger from. Plus, giving her actions a convincing rationale would run the risk of, if not excusing them, at least making them somehow sympathetic.

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Raymond H

at 12:02 on 2018-06-05...Okay...I see what you're saying...and I half-agree, but I still don't quite see it that way, and it all boils down to that word you used "sympathetic". I think, if you are trying to point a lens at a put-upon group of people, then you need to paint that group with at least some degree of sympathy, but from my experience, the audience's sympathy seemed intended for Aoyama all the way through, even when they demonstrated some of his more reprehensible thoughts and actions. Ultimately, even if this film was intended to subtly mock viewers' patriarchal prejudices, it still set about doing it with a scaaary woman that needed to be killed. So it's kind of like reading Dracula as a subtle critique of Victorian pomposity and prejudice. Considering that Stoker was himself an Irishman, that's an entirely valid reading, but because Dracula is a blood-drinking, soulless abomination, it somewhat shoots the message in the foot. Maybe it's because of my experience reading Naomi, which seemed like it's criticizing its patriarchal protagonist, but then was actually just about how if you let women have male friends or talk back in any way it'll destroy society.

You are right, unless there's a clear power imbalance, when women are abusive to men, they go for emotional and psychological abuse, rather than physical, at least from my experience. And maybe it's because of that experience that I'm bitter and cynical, and was thus more receptive to the warning signs Asami exhibited. However, by making Asami, as you said, a female version of the sort of serial killer a woman might encounter on the dating scene, I think the filmmakers went too far, from satire to farce. I do like what you pointed out, that Aoyama's stupidity can be chalked up partially to how he never suspects Asami might be the trouble, and I know that can be a blinder. But again, I think without any sympathy, Asami's excessive psychopathy ended up hurting any potentially anti-sexism message the film had. By making her the abuser, and making Aoyama the victim, it makes it difficult to see beyond that evil woman / good man dynamic. Maybe it worked better in the book, maybe I'm too distrustful to put myself fully in Aoyama's shoes, but I don't know.

Geez, that was long-winded and messy. Sorry. Uh, I guess, in summation, I think you make several valid points, but I just can't agree %100.

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Ichneumon

at 04:33 on 2018-06-08I dunno, I think you can write and effective horror yarn around a largely unsympathetic cast. The point of horror isn't necessarily to reflect empathy with the characters themselves; rather, as Thomas Ligotti has argued, horror is about empathy with a set of shared fears and a shared understanding with the author. The shared fear here is not that of the protagonist person see, pathetic though he is, but of women within a patriarchal society which objectifies and abuses them; the empathy may in part be with the victim, made a patsy by societal expectations, but also with the author's dim view of said society.

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Raymond H

at 12:58 on 2018-06-11Okay! So, uh, I guess I ought to start with some kind of disclaimer or something. This article was simply meant as a means to laugh at a bad family movie night experience. By laughing at things, we often are able to deal with and process them better, after all. However, Arthur's initial comment struck a chord with me. Not because he disagreed with my opinion on the internet (the unforgivable sin), but because his comment

As a beneficiary of that privilege, I often find it eye-opening and startling how much others who don't get the same benefits have to be wary.

made me realize that my own experiences with dating and romance may not have been, for lack of a better word, "normal". I've always laughed at the things that happened to me, because, again, that makes them easier to deal with, and I'd always thought that, because I was a straight, cis guy, whatever had happened to me couldn't possibly measure up to what women or trans people face on a daily basis. And it doesn't. But after talking with friends and family, I realize it does matter, and I can't just keep laughing it off. Just because a disease isn't cancer or AIDS doesn't mean it isn't fatal if left untreated. And I need to treat this. So, uh, thanks Arthur, I guess.

Hoo! Okay, that was...man! I'm glad you convinced me to use a pseudonym, Arthur, because without that I'd probably have kept all that under a pickle-jar-tight lid. But ironically enough, an internet-based mask let me open up and deal with a deep-rooted issue in my life. Tell everybody what, next article I write will be about a happy romantic comedy.

Okay, now to address Ichneumon's comment, and Arthur's comment correctly this time! What bugged me about a lot of reviews that praised Audition's supposed feminist credentials was that they operated under the logic of "Asami tries to kill the guy that objectified her, ergo she is a feminist hero, ergo this is a feminist film". I don't agree with that line of logic, for the reasons I listed in the article. However, re-reading Arthur's comment, I see that you're actually going down a different logic route. "Asami is a reflection of the worst fears a woman in the dating scene can face, ergo by making her a her and her victim a him, it flips the power dynamic of this traditional, real-world horror and thus casts a lens on said real-world horror." Ichneumon, your comment, if I understand it correctly, is basically "Even if you don't like Aoyama, you can still empathize with his fear, and thus even if the movie seems to be 'sympathizing' with him, it could still be deeply criticizing him."

Thinking about it, I would say those are valid "readings" of the film, and again, maybe my own experiences have clouded my own reading. Even accepting your readings though, I stand by my judgment that Miike went for the most gratuitously violent and juvenile route when dealing with these issues. Even thinking back on the film and going "Oh yeah, I guess that's right", I still think Miike was too focused on "Whoo! Blood! Guts! Fuckin' gorefest maaan!" for me to consider this a good film. Genre fiction, in my opinion, is used best when wrapping real-world issues and problems in a creamy, more easily-digestible genre coating. In the case of horror, no boogeyman or monster under the bed can compare to the myriad ways that human beings can hurt you, but personifying real-world fears as boogeymen and monsters can make them or their memory a little easier to confront. But I think Miike was too firmly focused on the personification of Asami to really give the real-world fears behind her conception the focus and subtlety they deserve. I don't think horror should be "feel-good", but it should give you the courage to face your fears. This film seems more focused on making patriarchally-insulated men as scared as women are when it comes to dating, and it stops at that point, rather than going on to make the male audience think about how to change this patriarchal system. And that, I think, is why I still can't bring myself to like this film.

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Arthur B

at 13:39 on 2018-06-11Yeah, I think any reading of the film where Asami is any sort of "hero" is simply untenable - when you take into account more or less every aspect of how the movie frames her actions and their effect on people, the argument simply doesn't have a leg to stand on.

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Ichneumon

at 02:59 on 2018-06-12Oh, I agree. But I do think the subtext is quite important here in terms of the mechanics of the horror even if one does not care for the execution. Asami is a ghoulish subversion of the assumptions of a patriarchal society made flesh; her existence as a concept may resonate, but that does not make her anything resembling a sympathetic character—if anything, that type of character is more a force of nature, an emanation of the malevolence or harrowing indifference of greater forces rather than a person in themselves.

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Robinson L

at 15:00 on 2018-08-15

apart from that, and, y’know, the whole foot thing, Aoyama is none the worse for wear

Doesn't that invalidate him being a candidate for a Darwin Award?

Also, do you think you could edit the footnotes to make them links. It would aid readability, and I'm pretty sure it's in the HTML guide for articles.

I don't have any comments on the actual movie, as it's so far removed from my interests. *shrug*

I've always laughed at the things that happened to me, because, again, that makes them easier to deal with, and I'd always thought that, because I was a straight, cis guy, whatever had happened to me couldn't possibly measure up to what women or trans people face on a daily basis. And it doesn't. But after talking with friends and family, I realize it does matter, and I can't just keep laughing it off. Just because a disease isn't cancer or AIDS doesn't mean it isn't fatal if left untreated. And I need to treat this.

Oh, wow. I'm so glad this conversation led to such a positive revelation for you, and you're absolutely right. A couple months ago, I saw something reposted on Facebook, originally from a counselor who's worked with survivors of severe trauma, extreme childhood abuse and the like, and noting that even they are quick to say, "there are other people who have it worse than me." The originally poster's point is that everybody downplays their own woundness in contrast to someone else's experience, and even if the contrast is true, that doesn't mean you don't also need help and healing. Your disease analogy reminds me of a similar comparison I came up with a few years ago, about medical patients, one with severe burns, and multiple broken and fractured bones, and the other with a broken arm. Sure, the former has it worse off and should probably get higher priority in treatment, but that doesn't negate the latter's need for help and healing also.

ironically enough, an internet-based mask let me open up and deal with a deep-rooted issue in my life.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a fairly common experience for people dealing with some heavy shit online? Isn't the anonymity one of the major contributing factors to many people's ability to process issues of trauma, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental illness and a host of other taboo/stigmatized subjects? Doesn't strike me as particularly ironic at all.

In any case, I'm so glad your participation on the site, and this conversation in particular, helped you come to this realization and start working on getting yourself the help you need. I know it's been a while (chronically behind on articles, me), and you're still working out the employment situation, but I hope you've managed some progress here, too.

This film seems more focused on making patriarchally-insulated men as scared as women are when it comes to dating, and it stops at that point, rather than going on to make the male audience think about how to change this patriarchal system.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that true of a lot of social commentary in fiction? I mean, that it shines a light on a particular problem without really pointing towards potential solutions? It seems a fairly common phenomenon to me.

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Arthur B

at 15:50 on 2018-08-15

Agreed, and to be honest neither fictional nor non-fictional statements need propose a solution to be valid. I don't need to propose a potential solution to homophobia to point out that Orson Scott Card is a homophobe, for instance.

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Raymond H

at 05:04 on 2018-08-24

Doesn't that invalidate him being a candidate for a Darwin Award?

You just want the world, don't you? In all seriousness, the title was more to indicate Aoyama's stupidity than his dying or being rendered sterile, since the whole point of the Darwin Award and the reason we laugh at the winners is less to do with the results of their actions and more the fact that someone would take those actions to begin with.

Also, do you think you could edit the footnotes to make them links.

I... don't... know... how... I couldn't find anything about it in the HTML Guide, except for the bit about putting links to outside websites in the article,

which I thankfully know how to do

I guess this is just another matter of different personal experiences. I just think that if you're going to go to the trouble of making a whole piece of art, as opposed to a simple critique or internet comment, to address a particular social issue, you should try to discuss the issue more comprehensively than simply going "Man, I am so woke for knowing about this issue! Bask in my wokeness." I've run into too many people who think all that's needed to change the world is to smoke weed and brag about how aware they are to find that attitude anything but insufferable. And again, this is all reliant on the axiom that such social commentary was intentional on Miike's part.

I really hate to be that guy in this situation. I myself have tried for years to get friends of mine into things that I like, where my best-reasoned arguments and most-impassioned treatises are apathetically deflected by said friends' simple inability to enjoy those things. And I can tell from the comments section that now I'm the one who just doesn't get it. But I'm simply not feeling it like you all are. I wish that I was, but I just...can't. I'm sorry.

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Robinson L

at 18:30 on 2018-08-28I've never really followed the Darwin Awards, so I wouldn't know.

Oh yeah. I remember figuring out the html code for footnotes was a little weird for me. I've just looked back at my very first article, and it turns out I submitted it with a footnote, which got coded when the article was transferred from my original text submission into a Ferretbrain article, by Kyra or Rami or whoever would have done that. I must have accessed it that way.

Anyway, at the risk of pulling away the curtain for non-contributing readers, here's the html code I use for footnotes:

< sup >< a href="#ftnote">[1]< /a >< /sup >

< sup >< a id="ftnote">[1]< /a >< /sup >

(Just remove the spaces before and after the < and > characters - added to prevent auto-formatting - and replace the "1" inside the square brackets with the desired number for both parts after the first footnote.)

I just think that if you're going to go to the trouble of making a whole piece of art, as opposed to a simple critique or internet comment, to address a particular social issue, you should try to discuss the issue more comprehensively than simply going "Man, I am so woke for knowing about this issue! Bask in my wokeness."

Huh, I don't know about that. I mean, absolutely, yes, you should try to discuss the issue comprehensively in a piece of art - but it doesn't necessarily follow that you should suggest a solution. Maybe you think you don't have the answers; or at least aren't convinced your answers are right. Or you think there are too many answers to fit into one piece, and don't want to privilege one or two answers over the others. Or you think it's more important to get your viewers to come up with their own answers.

There have definitely been times when I've seen a piece of art address a given difficult social issue without suggesting a solution, and it felt like a cop-out. But I've also seen plenty of examples which work so perfectly as what they are that putting in a part about "this is how we could fix this problem" would cheapen the result.

Doctor Strangelove

doesn't fail as a critique of militarism and the nuclear arms race because it refrains from putting forward a comprehensive program for phasing out nuclear weapons, or war in general. Indeed, it would likely be a far inferior film if it tried. Likewise,

The Lorax

doesn't need to propose a solution for environmental devastation to make the point that environmental devastation is a serious problem that we should work to solve.

I can believe that, if

Audition

is indeed trying to make a serious point about rape culture and male violence, it does so badly. But I think if so, then I don't think "it fails to propose a solution to these problems" is the reason.

And I can tell from the comments section that now I'm the one who just doesn't get it. But I'm simply not feeling it like you all are. I wish that I was, but I just...can't. I'm sorry.

I hope you're kidding, because a piece of art working fine for other people is no reason to expect it should necessarily work for you as well. Personally, I've never seen and with luck never will see

Audition

, because, as I've mentioned elsewhere, horror is decidedly not one of my preferred genres; especially not film/tv horror.

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Raymond H

at 13:11 on 2018-09-01Comments: Ooh, thank you!

Commentary: That's... a good point.

Concern: Oh. Well... I mean...

this is the internet...

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Robinson L

at 22:02 on 2018-09-10You're welcome, thanks for cleaning up the formatting, it looks much smoother now.

Well... I mean... this is the internet...

Yeah, plus, I screw up reading others' moods in person often enough - I'm hopeless at it online, so I thought I should check.

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Raymond H

at 04:21 on 2018-09-16Nah, it's cool. Thanks. :)

#Ferretbrain #Raymond H #Audition #Minority Warrior #Horror

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