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thedcdunce · 6 years ago

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Robin

“I'm not like Tim, or Jason, or even Dick. I'm light-years ahead of all the past Robins in skill and training. I'm either your partner in this or I'm not.” - Robin

Real Name: Damian Wayne

Aliases:

Batman

Damian al Ghul

Demon's Son

Garth

Gray Son of Gotham

Hafid al Ghul

Ibn al Xu'ffasch

Knute Broody Junior

Redbird

Gender: Male

Height: 4′ 6″

Weight: 84 lbs (38 kg)

Eyes: Green

Hair: Black

Abilities:

Archery

Artistry

Business Management

Disguise

Driving

Martial Arts

Genius Level Intellect

Investigation

Intimidation

Medical Science

Music

Peak Human Condition

Pedagogy

Stealth

Swordsmanship

Throwing

Weaknesses:

Arrogance

Universe: Prime Earth

Base of Operations:

Gotham City

Mercy Hall, New York City

Titans Tower, San Francisco

Citizenship: American

Parents:

Bruce Wayne; father

Talia al Ghul; mother

Marital Status: Single

Occupation:

Vigilante

Adventurer

Student

First Appearance: Batman and Robin Vol 2 #1 (November, 2011)

Abilities

Archery

Artistry: Damian is considered as skilled with a brush as he is with a sword.

Business Management: Trained by his mother and the League of Assassins in the way of controlling a company with an iron grip. Even as a young boy he knows that in business there are wars and even in war there are assassins. Damian is involved with the Wayne Enterprises' board members. He even intimidated the board members by tracking down financial irregularities within the Wayne Enterprises' accounts.

Disguise: Damian has disguised himself as an elderly bus driver and a substitute teacher.

Driving: He learned to drive at the age of five.

Martial Arts: Trained by the League of Assassins. Damian may not be physically tough but he knows how to control his weight and has stated that he knows, "one thousand ways to kill a man." Damian's training has made him a formidable hand-to-hand combatant able to defeat or hold his own against multiple opponents, armed opponents or skilled hand-to-hand combatants.

Genius Level Intellect: Damian has inherited a genius IQ from his father.

Investigation: Damian, having been trained under the "World's Greatest Detective", has been able to deduce people's actions as well as solve mysteries with few amounts of data.

Intimidation

Medical Science

Music

Peak Human Condition

Pedagogy

Stealth: Damian was able to sneak into Gotham City and furthermore into the Batcave virtually undetected until he felt necessary. Of all the Robins, Damian may be the one that is the most silent.

Swordsmanship: Although Damian no longer uses his sword he may be unmatched with one if armed correctly.

Throwing: Damian is trained by the League of Assassins in shuriken throwing and further trained by Batman in Batarang throwing.

Weaknesses

Arrogance: More often than not, Damian believes himself to be better than he is, this has allowed him to underestimate opponents as well as irritate his allies.

History

Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. This makes him an heir to the world's greatest crime-fighter, and its greatest super-villain Ra's al Ghul. Damian became the fifth Robin, working alongside his father as Batman.

Origins

Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. Raised by Talia and trained by the League of Assassins, Damian became a skilled assassin by an early age. Coupled by his innate talent for the art and his lineage, Damian became a respected member of the League. Eventually, when Damian finally met his father, Batman, Damian defected and joined his father's cause. Batman granted Damian the mantle of Robin,and Damian became his father's latest crime-fighting partner.

After Bruce's death in the Final Crisis, his first protégé Dick Grayson took over the mantle of Batman and Damian became his Robin. Alongside Grayson, Damian faced new threats such as Doctor Hurt, Professor Pyg and Flamingo.

Born to Kill

After his father's resurrection, Bruce and Damian began patrolling together as Batman and Robin. Bruce tried teaching Damian, still a cold-hearted assassin, about the sanctity of life, but had trouble relating with his son. Damian began showing restraint, which Bruce commended, although Alfred still criticized him for not being supportive enough. Bruce bought Damian a dog named Titus. They were both targeted by a super-villain named Nobody. They were kidnapped by Nobody, who tried to show Batman that his no-kill methods were ineffective. He encouraged Robin's darker side and tried to take him as an apprentice. Robin angrily left the Batcave to work with Nobody, who asked him to execute a criminal. Robin revealed that he was lying, and refused to betray his father. Nobody decided to torture Robin, continuing his personal vendetta against Batman. When Batman discovered their location, he beat Nobody mercilessly and came close to killing him, but stopped when he realized Damian was watching the fight. Nobody swore that he would return and kill their friends, so Damian killed him with a move Nobody had taught him. Though deeply shaken by the killing, Bruce reacted with compassion rather than anger. When Damian regained consciousness, they talked about how difficult it is for Damian to adjust from the life of an assassin. Despite their differences, they played ball with Titus and began to enjoy spending more time together as father and son.

Batman Incorporated

Batman and Robin began working together against Damian's mother Talia al Ghul, revealed as the head of Leviathan. During a fight in a meat factory, Damian converted to vegetarianism and adopted a pet cow who he named Bat-Cow. He was believed dead when he was shot in the head by an assassin named Goatboy. It was revealed that Talia had created another clone as his replacement, the obedient fully-grown Heretic. Robin was shown to have faked his death, and is confined to the Batcave at Batman's orders. To avoid the bounty Talia placed on his head, he began using the name Redbird and switched to a new costume. This allowed him to team up with Jason Todd, who was using the Wingman identity. They worked together with Batman Incorporated to take down the League of Assassins' top killers. However, Batman told Damian he had to quit crime-fighting altogether. Bruce revealed that he has seen Damian's future, as told through "Batman in Bethlehem". If Damian did not retire, his actions would lead to a plague that would force the President to nuke Gotham. Batman Incorporated fought Leviathan in the streets, while Damian was forced to stay inside. Alfred Pennyworth got him a cat to take care of, who he also named Alfred. Damian refused to stay home while his allies were dying, and Alfred allowed him to leave knowing he could not be stopped. He flew his exo-skeleton into the center of the battle, where Leviathan had taken over Wayne Tower. He neutralized the child soldiers, and teamed up with Dick Grayson to take down the remaining assassins. The Heretic flew Grayson aside, and challenged Damian to a sword-fight. Despite his bravery and refusal to give up, Damian was impaled through the chest and killed.

Resurrection

After various trials and tribulations involving his corpse, mainly revolving around Ra's al Ghul and Apokolips, Batman managed to rescue his son's body and, through using the Omega Sanction infused within a Chaos Crystal shard, brought Damian back to life within the Batcave.

Teen Titans

On his 13th birthday Damian was sent a package by his grandfather Ra's al Ghul, which contained a dead robin. After meeting with his mother Talia, he discovered that it was a warning from his cousin Mara al Ghul, who had chosen him as her prey as part of an initiation ritual she must undertake in order to properly join the League of Assassins. Mara had been made leader of a group known as the Demon's Fist, which was originally supposed to be led by Damian but became hers when he chose to leave the League. They too had chosen targets that they must hunt down in order to ascend to the League. Damian decided to collect the other Demon's Fist members' targets in order to form the new Teen Titans; comprised of Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven and Kid Flash.

In the Name of the Father

While searching for a tree for Christmas, Jonathan Samuel Kent accidentally torched some woodlands near a swamp in Hamilton. He was subsequently rescued by Maya Ducard, the daughter of the villain Nobody, and Damian's pet dragon-bat Goliath. Jon later awakened in the Batcave and found out that Robin had been keeping him under surveillance for a long time. The two initially did not get along, and the situation was further complicated when Batman and Superman arrived, blaming each other for the conflict.

The ensuing melee was abruptly averted when Jon used his Freeze Breath to separate the two sides and allow him to explain the situation to his father. While their fathers were discussing the lab tests that Damian had performed on Jon, the two boys went off to look at Damian's pets. However, due to Damian's snide remarks and goading, Jon lost his temper and another brawl broke out between them. This was also put down quickly as Batman and Superman looked down on them in furious silence.

In order to properly discipline their sons and teach them the value of working together, Superman and Batman had them undergo a series of challenges. However their lack of teamwork and animosity toward each other caused them to fail every challenge. The boys finally managed to put aside their differences and worked together in order to save their fathers from an apparent threat in the Batcave, but this later turns out to be a ruse. At this point, Alfred declared them to be the Super Sons.

Super Sons Vs. Kid Amazo

Jonathan was paid a visit by Robin, posing as both his school's bus driver and his substitute teacher. He was later unwillingly recruited by Damian to help him investigate a series of break-ins at LexCorp. This misadventure was further complicated with the appearance of Lex Luthor, who tried to capture them both. The two boys managed to escape Luthor and followed a lead to a home in Providence, Rhode Island, where they encountered a family who still retained their powers from the Amazo Virus. However, one member by the name of Reggie Meyer was driven insane by the excessive use of his powers and took the alias of Kid Amazo. He had also stolen the Amazo Armor from LexCorp and had planned to use it and the abilities of the Super Sons to lure the Justice League into a trap. Thanks to the arrival of Lex Luthor and aid from Reggie's super-powered sister Sara, Kid Amazo was taken down. Not wanting to explain themselves, Robin and Superboy quickly left the area and headed back to Hamilton. However, their absences from their respective homes did not go unnoticed as they encountered both Lois Lane and Alfred Pennyworth while trying to sneak into Jon's home.

The boys were subsequently punished by their respective parents. Batman forbade Robin to go crime-fighting for a week while Superboy was forced to do his chores without using his superpowers. With the prospect of moving to Metropolis on his mind, Jon eventually ran off and headed to Gotham to speak with Damian in the Batcave. This resulted in another argument and a short fight, before Alfred arrived. They were later joined by Batman and Superman, and worked out their differences. With Superman's and Batman's permission, the two boys would be allowed to go on their own, provided that they would do so together.

Dark Knights: Metal

Damian aided in fighting the Dark Knights upon their invasion, forming the Gotham Resistance with Green Arrow, Killer Croc, Nightwing and Harley Quinn. They lost Croc, the Teen Titans and the Suicide Squad, but they defeated Mister Freeze, Riddler and Damian's evil Earth -22 self and made the discovery that beings from the Dark Multiverse can be killed by Nth Metal.

Fun Facts

Damian has declared himself a vegetarian.

Damian has a strong love for animals. Pets he has owned include Goliath, Bat-Cow, Titus, and Alfred.

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dcarevu · 7 years ago

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DCAU #11: Two-Face (Part 1)

“All men have something to hide. The brighter the picture, the darker the negative.”

We’ve made it, guys! We’ve made it past the developmental/establishment stage of Batman the Animated Series for the most part, and from here on out, the show elevates to a whole other level. Like virtually all tv shows, there will still be ups and downs, and a few bumps on the road, but it is pretty well known that not only does Two-Face mark the true start of the masterpiece that is this series, but is also one of the absolute greatest episodes.

Villain: Rupert Thorne Robin: No Writers: Randy Rogel (teleplay), Alan Burnett (story) Director: Kevin Altieri Animator: TMS Airdate: September 25, 1992 Episode Grade: A

Oh man, so what do I say about this one that hasn’t been said already? Probably not a whole lot. While not a lot of people set themselves up to look at, analyze, and write about every episode of the DCAU, doing just Batman is more common. And granted, I don’t allow myself to read any reviews of any episodes until after my posts on them are written, I am still for the most part aware of what people’s opinions are with some of these high-profile episodes. So I think the best thing to do is continue just like I intended. Not caring about necessarily writing something that people haven’t heard before, but instead just writing whatever is on my mind for reactions, and also expressing Char’s thoughts as someone who has never seen the series before. After all, most reviews of this show come from people who have seen it prior!

This is Alan Burnett’s first episode of the series, and once he and Dini were both activated, oh man. It is clear that they saw eye-to-eye with Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski, and it was a collection of the right people joining forces at just the right time. Both Dini and Burnett had worked on some pretty basic Saturday Morning Cartoons prior (along with some higher quality stuff), and writing for those types of shows must have felt like interning and doing nothing but pouring coffee for those that hold the job you truly want. They could use their creativity, sure, but knowing their visions for this show, it is apparent how stifled they must have been. Which is fine, they were still doing what they loved for a living, and getting very necessary experience. Maybe without these formative years and working on these cheesy cartoons from the 80’s, they wouldn’t have had the jobs to come up with the beautiful stories that they did. Creativity and writing is something that can get worse without practice and training, and sometimes that training truly does need to work much like it did in The Karate Kid, not being apparent until after it is completed. But while I’m not a fan of everything that Alan Burnett contributed to the DCAU, there is no denying what a valuable member to the team he was. Welcome aboard, Alan. But now let’s talk about the episode itself.

Two of the things mentioned in the series bible are as follows: the villains were to much of the time be human and have motivations, and the show was to be a noir crime drama, sometimes focusing more on everyday mobsters than colorful super villains, and not necessarily being a “monster of the week” type of show. And while Harvey Dent/Two-Face is very much a monster when it comes to appearance, this episode falls right in line with these rules. I had to think a little bit when I wrote who the villain would be for this episode, because yeah, Two-Face is a well known member of Batman’s rogues gallery, but Rupert Thorne is the real monster here. And goodness, what a cool villain he is. His voice actor, his lines, even his motivation, while not as sympathetic as Harvey’s, makes a lot of sense! He’s a mobster trying to do mobster things, and Harvey Dent is a real problem for him. But you also totally wanna see the creep get creamed by Harvey, because damn, you feel Harvey Dent’s pain tenfold. Leave the guy alone, he’s going through enough!

And throughout the episode, things just go further and further downhill for Harvey Dent, exponentially. He lashes out in public. Okay, that’s bad and gets a lot of press. But it’s nothing he can’t recover from. Then we find out it’s a recurring thing that he’s seeking professional help for, and just now getting worse. Then Rupert Thorne gets involved and severely threatens Harvey’s career as a politician. Then we have that god damn explosion, and at that point, you just know that there is no recovery, particularly as he flees the hospital, abandoning any hope for treatment. You feel the pain at the pit of your stomach as you watch, and let me tell you, even though I have seen this episode before (albeit only once), my heart was beating during certain scenes, particularly when he is talking with his psychiatrist and when he is at the “meeting” with Rupert Thorne and his goons. A couple times I heard Char gasp, and when that explosion happened, she had her mouth covered for a good while, hardly able to believe that Harvey Dent, one of Bruce Wayne’s best friends, a surprisingly clean-cut, honest politician, and someone we have seen a couple times now, is the villainous Two-Face that she has heard about before.

It’s not even just his character. It’s the fact that the episodes of this show so far have been good, but not this level. This is a serious, adult episode that I think would actually be pretty intense for children. I made a joke to Char when we were discussing the episode, and I said, “But it’s just a little kid’s cartoon!” and she responded with, “No it is not.” We deal with politics in a way that’s actually engaging. We deal with the struggle of a severe mental disorder and childhood trauma. Gosh jesus, the way this episode handles the mental disorder! Char and I both applauded it. Bruce Wayne telling Harvey how proud he is that he’s seeking mental help just warms your heart, and looking back after watching the episode (along with part 2, which has been watched, but we’ll discuss that next time), it almost brings a tear to your eye. Especially since all that could have been done was done. Harvey was getting help. His finance, who is a great character by the way, gave him all the love and support she could have. Bruce Wayne encouraged him to get better and even stepped in as Batman to try to save his friend. But sometimes with life, you can do everything right and it’s never enough. That is what makes this story a genius tragedy. Much better than what they were originally planning with the character, where they would have had him get acid thrown in his face like his traditional origin, and then develop the episodes. Him struggling with these mental problems for longer than his scars have existed feels so much more real, and adds to what makes this character so complex.

Then we have the style and animation, and it does nothing but enhance everything. Director Kevin Altieri outdid himself here. Some of the shots, including one of the most iconic images ever of his other face being revealed for a second when the lightning strikes, are simply beautiful. There were a lot of other little things like the rain on the window at night, which Char specifically noted. There was a specific close-up shot as well when Harvey was bandaged in the hospital that was extra stylized, but it standing out and being different than the other animation worked in its favor. It fit the mood so well. A different animation studio would do Part 2, which is a bit of a shame, as it didn’t end up looking nearly as good as this one, but I’m glad they blew their load on this one at the same time and made the visuals match the episode concept so well. Animation similar to some of the first episodes of the series would have killed the vibes which they were going for. It was a mini horror movie, lacking any amount of camp (something that Nothing to Fear didn’t do nearly as well). Also, TMS is very well known for being a studio of amazing quality and detail.

Something cool that Char noticed was that Grace, Dent’s fiancé, didn't touch him when it came to calming him down and forcing “Big Bad Harv” away, and it’s evident at another section of the episode that touching him in this state tends to set him off a lot more. This is a cool subtlety, and it shows that Grace is very in tune and familia with Harvey, and is definitely the closest thing to a safe-haven that he has. When he is with Grace, it gives you hope, when he is with almost anyone else, well, Char put it best, you could cut the tension with a knife. I think this is what leaves your heart beating throughout the episode, and what makes it so suspenseful. That tension. But while watching, you hope that the pressure is relieved. Instead, it ends with quite literally an explosion. We’ll see how things resolve next time.

Char’s grade: A Major firsts: Rupert Thorne, Two-Face, a two-part episode

Next time: Two-Face (Part 2)

Full episode list here!

#batman tas #batman the animated series #two-face #dc animated universe #dcau #harvey dent #rupert thorne #two face #twoface

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that-shamrock-vibe · 7 years ago

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2018 Round-Up: My Favourite Movies of 2018

Disclaimer: 2018 has been another feast for movie goers all year round, so with the new year just around the corner I have decided to disclose my favourite movies of the year. Careful for spoilers for movies that have recently come out as a couple are on this list.

#10. Love, Simon

As I mentioned in my review, I enjoyed this movie. I still think it accurately captures a teenage coming out story, not THE teenage coming out story because everyone has their own story and the endings aren’t always good but this one definitely showed the good without over-fantasizing it.

I mean okay, I still think this movie doesn’t do enough to show the dangers of emailing virtual strangers outside of the fact that you get your private information shared but again that balances out with the fact it is only a school-centric forum so I give the movie a pass on that. Also I do feel bad for saying there are “better” ways to come out because as I did follow immediately up with saying, everyone has their own story.

But overall I do really think this is a great movie and an underrated one at that. The characters are all likeable and relatable, Nick Robinson surprisingly proves himself as a leading man and Keiynan Lonsdale gives his best performance.

#9. Venom

I always had in mind that Venom would make my favourites list. Not only is Tom Hardy finally getting the chance to shine in a superhero role, but I finally get to see one of my favourite anti-heroes brought to life in the right way on the silver screen. I loved this movie, I thought this was a great spin-off in the Spider-Verse and a great start to Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters.

I know for a fact this movie has problems, Riot as a villain isn’t the most compelling, the movie does play like it’s set within the 90s Spider-Man Animated Series and that Carnage tease was a let down in the casting department. However, this movie gives us Venom and allows him to be Venom. Yes the comedy is slightly damp at times but Tom Hardy sells himself as an action hero, comedy star and stunt performer. I do hope this movie gets a sequel because I really want to see more.

#8. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

I am in the minority of people that enjoy this movie, but am in the majority of people that feel the end reveal was completely nonsensical. However I am giving J.K. and the team a pass on this movie and that is why it takes the #10 slot.

It is a great movie visually, it has all the traditional sceneries and locales that you would expect from a Wizarding World movie, the world building of exploring not just the British but also the French Ministries of Magic was a fun addition, Grindelwald shrouding Paris as a way of summoning his followers was visually appealing and of course seeing Hogwarts again brings back all the nostalgic feels a Potter fan could ask for.

I will continue to defend Johnny Depp in the role of Grindelwald as I feel he is very well suited to the role and that he was one of the better things about this movie. Like I said in my reviews he kind of book-ended this movie with two great scenes first when he escaped captivity and then when he addressed his followers, both were well acted, well shot and largely counted of Depp’s performance which he mastered.

My biggest complaint with the movie is that I did expect more of a mythos built movie than the focus being on characters we already said goodbye to in the first one, but that’s not to say what I did get was bad it was just not how I would have taken the story going forward.

Eddie Redmeyne and the cast from the first movie are all still charming and have more character development to carry them through to the next movie, while Jude Law and Zoe Kravitz are both really great additions.

I will wait and see what the third installment in this franchise has in store before deciding my final opinion on the movies as a whole but I do think J.K. has some work to do to keep people on board.

#7. Christopher Robin

This was a complete nostalgia trip for me, I really had a good time watching this movie. Not only did it really hit at the emotional core of anyone who grew up with Winnie the Pooh but it was just so charming, so quaint and made me feel like a kid again.

Ewan McGregor as an adult Christopher Robin was very well cast, not only did he go through the arc that apparently every working adult goes through in losing his child-like wonder only to be reminded of it and realizing what is truly important in life, but Ewan is an actor who can do it with such charm that a tired old story like this seems fresh.

Also this story is made fresh by the fact that it does centre on the characters of Winnie the Pooh. The visual effects used to bring these characters to life are so well done. I loved the behind the scenes knowledge of knowing that they created toy replicas of these characters and then digitally animated them throughout the movie. It just adds a sense of realism to the movie and makes it more enjoyable.

Mary Poppins Returns did a similar story arc with Michael as they did with Christopher but in my opinion this story is told a lot more organically. I’m happy with the movie and glad I now own it.

#6. Incredibles 2

14 years in the making and still worth the wait. I had a blast watching this movie. Not only was it a direct follow-up to the first one but I felt the story managed to progress our favourite characters in an organic way that still kept in theme with this being a superhero family franchise.

I thought the focus being on Elastigirl being the focal superhero as opposed to Mr. Incredible this time around was a fun change of pace and didn’t feel like a cry for feminism as other movies and TV shows do.

Meanwhile having Mr. Incredible being the stay-at-home dad learning to cope with his teenage daughter’s drama and super-baby discovering his powers was a lot of fun and led to some very comedic moments.

Also the hilarious moments in the first movie were still here in this one from Frozone and his wife to Edna Mode. The whole movie just felt that, even though it had been over a decade since the first movie, it just felt like coming home it was so inviting.

The main problem is the reveal of the villain because anyone with half a brain would be able to tell that while they tried the red herring of Win Deavor being the evil Screenslaver, the fact it was Evelyn Deavor wasn’t a shock. Evelyn Deavor...Evil Endeavor...it was obvious.

But overall a really enjoyable movie and hopefully we won’t have to wait another 14 years for the threequel.

#5. Avengers: Infinity War

The movie event of the year but that doesn’t mean it was the movie of the year. This was such a spectacle and celebration of 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that I could not get enough of it.

Everything worked well in this movie, all the characters we’ve seen throughout the last ten years working together was such a treat and a promise that only Kevin Feige’s MCU could deliver on.

There are so many things right about this movie, I thought the plot for the movie really brought a genuine threat and splender to the MCU that managed to almost fix the MCU’s villain problem, Thanos was a genuine threat despite the fact that he had not been shown as formidable in any of the previous movies, then there’s the Black Order who present both a brilliant and fun henchmen group.

The heroes all coming together for the first time isn’t as big of a deal as made out because aside from the Guardians teaming up with Iron Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, everyone else who teams up has teamed up before aside from a brief interaction between Shuri and Bruce Banner.

Regardless, this was such a fun movie, a slight complete deviation from the comics event as the key characters aren’t in play for the MCU just yet. However, this was very much the movie of the summer and definitely an event everyone was talking about. I loved it and roll on Avengers: Endgame.

#4. Bohemian Rhapsody

I love Queen, I love everything about the band and more to the point I love Freddie Mercury. I love everything that he stands for and everything that makes him an icon for the LGBT community. Throw in Rami Malik and you have everything I am looking for in a movie like this.

A Star Is Born did not make my list and in fact almost falls into my Least Favourite Movies list because I just didn’t really like it as a movie and the two movies are often compared. But while A Star Is Born had okay songs and an okay story, Bohemian Rhapsody had fantastic songs and a fantastic story because they all came from a raw and talented source.

I get there is some controversy with the movie as the remaining members of Queen tried to make it more of a Queen origin story than a Freddie Mercury biopic but the best thing about this movie is it is a perfect blend of both stories because you can’t have one without the other.

Also, the movie recreated Live Aid in such a mirrored way that it was almost like a straight-up recording with the actors in place of the actual people. This movie should definitely garner praise and accolades for that alone.

It’s just such a fantastic movie and provides such a potent love-note to all Freddie fans, I can’t say enough good things about it.

#3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Spider-Man movie ever! This is a statement I found myself saying throughout this movie and a couple of days after seeing it I still think it, this is the best Spider-Man movie ever created. I’m not including Venom in that because it’s from the same material but is more of a spin-off from the mainstream Spidey movies than what has come featuring the red and blue webslinger.

But yes, I had reservations about this movie. Not only do I not know Miles Morales that well but I genuinely thought they were going to go down the Spider-Man origin route again and to be honest I don’t think I can sit through another retelling of that. Now this movie has one trope that goes in line with the traditional Spider-Man story which doesn’t exactly damage the movie but doesn’t seem necessary for the movie.

Also this is an all-age animated movie, that is very hard to do without pandering more to one age demographic and traditionally if they go down the adult animation route it’s often offensive and vulgar whereas this had none of that. Instead it dealt with several mature themes, mixed with some brilliant action sequences and quite hardcore violence. I mean it, Kingpin goes all out here.

In terms of the overall movie, there is a disclaimer right at the start before the opening credits that is specific to this movie saying “Do not copyright”...In the first 4 minutes you understand why. This movie is choc-full of twists, spoilers and treats for any Spidey fan and I personally guarantee there is something for everyone to enjoy.

Furthermore, because it is an animated movie, the entire story plays out like a comic-book practically like a live motion comic partially because of the use of captions used just they are in comics. The movement of the characters and the artistic scenery adds to what makes this movie so unique and so special.

Voice talent wise, Chris Pine makes a surprising vocal appearance as the Peter Parker of Miles’ Earth who dies towards the start, but then you have Jake Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Liev Schreiber, Hailee Steinfeld and Mahershala Ali all providing great support to Shameik Moore who himself is brilliant.

All in all, as everyone has said, this is the best Spider-Man movie to be released, I am very much looking forward to seeing where this movie takes the universe in the future.

#2. Aquaman

This movie came so close to being my #1 because I genuinely believe it is the best movie of the year, however #1 is my favourite and that’s what this list is about.

If someone had told me Aquaman would be DC��s best movie since The Dark Knight I would have laughed in their face. I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this movie. Visually stunning, there is not a lot more I can say about how gorgeous this movie is that everyone else has not said.

Jason Momoa takes to this role like Gal Gadot takes to Wonder Woman and Hugh Jackman took to Wolverine. He has so much joy in this movie and you can tell he, Amber Heard and the other cast members love being part of this world.

I will reiterate what I said in my non-spoiler review, this movie essentially showed us the scenary of a live-action Little Mermaid complete with Ariel in Amber Heard’s Mera and yet we are still looking forward to Disney’s live-action version of the movie. I guarantee you there will be a lot of comparisons between these movies, even if Zendaya gets cast because she will be compared to both Mera and Aquaman as both the lead and lead female.

This movie does what Wonder Woman could not and that is nail the final act and the climactic battle sequence. Oh my god it was like watching Lord of the Rings underwater it was so magnificent.

What they set up for a hopeful sequel is very juicy, you have Nicole Kidman as Aquaman’s mother still alive, you have Aquaman and Mera finally together, you have Orm still alive so there’s potential for either redemption like Loki or a return to form in a future movie. Also Black Manta will hopefully become more formidable in a future movie considering he was essentially a side-villain in this movie.

I want a sequel, I want a sequel for Aquaman more than I want any other DC Movie coming out. I cannot wait.

#1. Black Panther

Without question this movie outshines most movies in any genre. I still think Aquaman is the best movie because it is solidly brilliant from beginning to end, but Black Panther is miraculous in terms of visuals, music and the representation of African culture.

It is in some ways an origin movie because it’s how T’Challa adapted to becoming king of Wakanda, however because we already met T’Challa during Civil War, much like Spider-Man it wasn’t a question of needing to know their origins it was more about exploring them as individuals and what makes them superheroes.

However, surprisingly, Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther was not the most compelling part of this movie. Don’t get me wrong he’s still a brilliant actor and an integral part of the movie, but the way Ryan Coogler accurately portrays African culture, from the tribal combat tradition of earning the mantle of king, to the styling of each tribe to make them distinct, even with what the inclusion of the superhero angle brings with Wakanda being a technologically advanced nation and the visuals that they bring.

Just like Aquaman, this movie had a great main villain but a somewhat weak side-villain. Both Orm and Killmonger were brilliant but Killmonger outshines Orm because what he stands for divided audiences and even created a social media storm with the hashtag #Killmongerwasright. Yes Ocean Master also had a sense of righteousness because of what he stood for with believing the surface world to be the sea inhabitants enemies which sparks an environmental debate but Killmonger struck a core with African history. His final line of “Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage.” is still probably the best line in any superhero movie for the power of the message it gets across.

Also T’Challa has been often critiqued for being outshined by his female supporting characters Shuri, Okoye, Nakia and Ramonda. I personally agree with this critique but again it’s not to the detroment of T’Challa or the movie because if anything it makes the movie that much better for having strong female characters who aren’t just “the love interest” or “the family” because yes that is what they essentially are but they’re celebrated for that.

Also, Letitia Wright is the breakout star of this movie, I would say Danai Gurira but she has The Walking Dead under her belt. Shuri is not the stereotypical princess character as not only is she 18 and head of the science and technology division of Wakanda but she has the personality and drive to easily take over the Black Panther mantle as she did in the comics.

Overall, this is not quite a perfect movie but it is definitely one of the best movies of the year, century and MCU in total. Not only is it a cultural milestone in terms of movie representation but also it is a movie that has earned numerous award nods and deserves to win all of them.

So that’s my list of my favourite movies of 2018, as I said it was a truly brilliant year for movies and I cannot wait to see what the new year has in store for us. In the mean time you can check out more Movie Reviews and other posts.

Happy New Year to all!

#2018 #2019 #black panther #aquaman #spider-man: into the spider-verse #love simon #bohemian rhapsody #avengers: infinity war #incredibles 2 #christopher robin #venom #fantastic beasts: the crimes of grindelwald #the crimes of grindelwald

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undertheinfluencerd · 4 years ago

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https://ift.tt/3BDdLLl #

The big bad of the new Suicide Squad is a giant kaiju-like creature known as Starro. Fans of DC Comics likely recognized the alien parasite immediately. Starro has played a significant role in the history of DC superhero comics, including being the very first villain the Justice League ever faced.

RELATED: 9 Things About The Suicide Squad That Made No Sense

Since then, Starro has been a major villain and a hero, with his complex backstory playing a big role in comic book storylines over the last sixty years. Starro might be the villain in The Suicide Squad, but as longtime comic book readers know, that’s not the entire story about this fascinating character.

Updated on September 3rd, 2021 by Darby Harn: Starro’s showcase as the villain of The Suicide Squad has brought a lot more attention to the cosmic creature and his history in DC Comics. From the Silver Age to the current day, Starro has been a fixture in comic book storylines that mostly involve the Justice League, though he occasionally branches out into other books as well. Though his fate in the movies seems sealed for the moment, he has an infinite future in the multiverse of the comics, as well as a rich past that provides fans of the character a lot more to explore after the movie.

15 The First Villain Of The Justice League

Starro has the distinction of being the first villain the Justice League ever fought together. He debuted in the team’s very first appearance in The Brave And The Bold #28 in 1960, co-created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky. Starro arrived from space and began absorbing the mental energy of scientists, leading the major heroes of the early Silver Age to come together to stop him.

The original Justice League included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. Starro had another inadvertent influence on comic history as well. The success of the Justice League led Marvel Comics to create the Fantastic Four, co-created by the legendary combo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

14 The Star Conqueror

Starro looks like a giant starfish, but in fact, he’s a highly intelligent and powerful alien entity. Starro originates from the Star Conquerors, an ancient race of alien beings that use mind control powers to conquer planets. Starro has taken over nine galaxies just on his own, but he’s been frustrated in every attempt to take over the Earth thanks to the Justice League.

Starro only made sporadic appearances in the comic until the ’80s, when he became a more prevalent threat to newer iterations of the Justice League.

13 Generates Spores

The most frightening aspect of Starro is just how he achieves his control of other people. Starro is a gigantic creature (though he can change size in some cases) and generates thousands of tiny starfish-like versions of himself.

These latch onto people, covering their face – not unlike the Face Hugger from the Alien franchise – and seize control of their central nervous system. Starro can control millions and even billions of people at once through this terrifying method of attack.

12 Cosmic Powers

Beyond the generation of spores, Starro is cosmically powerful. He has a broad array of abilities that should rank among the most powerful DCEU villains. The most significant aspects of Starro’s powers lie in telepathy and telekinesis, unsurprising given his very nature.

Starro also has the ability to project energy beams, as he often did against the Justice League. He can fly through space, is generally invulnerable to most physical attacks, and can change size and color at will, depending on the situation.

11 Conquering Europe

In the early ’90s, Starro achieved his greatest success in his bid for the conquest of Earth. Starro, who had been trapped on Earth for some time, finally escapes, or so it seems. He releases millions of spores over Europe, seizing control of virtually the entire population.

This leads the Justice League Europe branch to try and liberate the continent. The story, which took place over Justice League Europe #24-28 in 1991, sees Starro in control of Europe until JLE member Ice freezes him, releasing all of his captive humans.

10 Once Known As Cobi

As is pretty much the standard for DC Comics characters, Starro The Conqueror’s backstory varies depending on what version of continuity he exists in. In one iteration, he was once known as Cobi. Cobi was actually a member of the Hatorei alien species whom the Star Conquerors decimated.

One of the Star Conquerors fixed to Cobi and together they formed the being that would become known as Starro. The Cobi version of Starro was revised back to just plain old Starro in the Flashpoint comic book event from 2011.

9 Fought Against The 99

One of Starro’s major engagements in the comics pitted him against The 99. The comic book crossover JLA/The 99 from 2010 brought the Justice League together with the all-Muslim superhero team The 99 from Teshkeel Comics, a Kuwaiti comic book company.

RELATED: The 10 Most Powerful Versions Of DC’s Justice League, Ranked

The two teams faced off against the combined forces of Starro The Conqueror and Rughal, an ancient villain of The 99 who seeks the Noor Stones. Starro and Rughal don’t so much as team up as just pick really bad times to set off their evil plots.

8 Traded To Lord Manga

After his defeat by the Justice League Europe, Starro is frozen in captivity. His story takes a strange turn when Captain Atom trades the frozen Starro to supervillain Lord Manga (also known as Khan) for an unspecified favor in the future.

This trading was somewhat typical for Manga as he once traded the Justice League his android L-Ron. Lord Manga’s status as an intergalactic trader is how he ends up with Starro in the first place; Manga had also taken Despero into custody from the JLA and once tried to trade a kidnapped Mister Miracle to Apokalips.

7 Took Control Of The Martian Manhunter

Starro The Conqueror seeks to control the minds and bodies of basically everyone he comes into contact with. In the comic book storyline Justice League: No Justice, Starro takes control of J’onn J’onzz, The Martian Manhunter, with unexpected results.

As the two fight alongside the Justice League against the invading alien forces of the Omega Titans, the compassionate nature of the Martian Manhunter influences Starro to consider a life beyond conquering for the first time.

6 Starro The Cat

There are many versions of Starro The Conqueror throughout the DC Comics multiverse. One of the most unique is Starro The Cat. This version actually isn’t an alien parasite but the housecat of Snapper Carr, a superhero who fought with the Justice League against the alien Starro in his first adventure.

That led him to name his pet cat after the alien supervillain. Starro The Cat made a few appearances after his debut in Hourman #1 in 1999, and never caused as much trouble as his villainous namesake.

5 Fighting The Avengers

The Avengers have faced off against some very powerful villains in the comics, like the devilish Mephisto. One of their most unexpected foes was Starro.

The DC supervillain faced off against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the crossover JLA/Avengers, which brought together the two powerhouse superhero teams in 2003. The battle occurs as a result of a cosmic chess match between Krona from DC and The Grandmaster from Marvel that forces both teams to seek out artifacts of extreme power.

4 Heroic Sacrifice

Starro is nominally a villain in any universe he appears in, but in more recent years, he became something of a hero. In the pages of Justice League: No Justice in 2018, the heroism of Martian Manhunter inspires Starro to act in a more utilitarian fashion.

This ultimately leads to a heroic sacrifice on his part. Starro attempts to mind control one of the Omega Titans but is ripped apart by the titanic villain. While tragic for Starro, this move saves many lives and allows the Justice League to evacuate the planet of Colu.

3 Jarro

Starro had died, but his story took one of its most eccentric turns when Batman grows a new version of the character from a tissue sample of the original. He dubs this miniature version of the character ‘Jarro.’ Jarro debuted in Justice League #10 in 2018.

RELATED: Batman’s 10 Weirdest Comic Book Arcs

Jarro retains all of Starro’s power and potential, but he seems to have a much more amenable personality, and an unlikely friendship with Batman that leads to one of the zaniest comic moments in recent history.

2 The New Robin

Jarro really likes and identifies with Batman, to the point he wants to become the new version of Robin. He does, at least in his head. In a funny and heartwarming sequence in Justice League #29, in 2019. In his elaborate fantasy, Jarro dons a Robin costume, complete with a cape and custom fit to allow his singular eye to see through it.

He fights alongside The Dark Knight defending Gotham. It’s only a fantasy, and never becomes reality, at least not yet.

1 Red Lantern Starro

One of the most frightening versions of Starro in the comics is the Red Lantern Starro. He debuted in the alternate universe depicted in Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Four Annual #1.

This version of the character is in possession of a Red Lantern ring and is thus a member of the Red Lantern Corps. Red Lanterns are fueled by rage, giving them their distinctive crimson color. Red Lanterns can generate Rage Plasma, which incinerates essentially anything. In addition to his other cosmic powers, this made Starro even more deadly.

NEXT: 10 Most Powerful Kaiju In The DC Universe, Ranked

#marvel #avengers #marvelcomics #spiderman #mcu #ironman #comics #captainamerica #thor #avengersendgame #marvelstudios #xmen #dc #marveluniverse #art #cosplay #tomholland #hulk #disney #comicbooks #dccomics #peterparker #tonystark #blackwidow #marvellegends #endgame #deadpool #marvelcinematicuniverse #loki #bhfyp

The post The Suicide Squad: 15 Things Only Comics Fans Know About Starro appeared first on undertheinfluencerd.net.

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sarifel-corrisafid-ilxhel · 3 years ago

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Whoa this list is getting long. Anyways I had more characters I needed to add after thinking some more! Win:

Mystery, Incorporated..In most of their appearances they’re teenagers, and they’re much younger in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, so I think they definitely deserve a mention here. Now, they wouldn’t beat the Yeerks outright - not unless the Yeerks have a self-destruct button laying around somewhere for the gang to press. But they would definitely EXPOSE the invasion fairly early on, before the Yeerks have a chance to completely disrupt the planet’s ability to fight back. I’m going to count that as a win.

Teen Titans. They have no issue dealing potentially lethal injuries as they fight, and it’s only the fact that everybody in superhero comics has super-endurance that means the Teen Titans never kill anybody on accident. The Titans’ first encounter with Controllers of any stripe would be an utter curbstomp in their favor, and the rest of the war would depend entirely on how they handle the fact people in the Animorphs universe are more likely to die from the types of head injuries Robin tends to inflict (let alone Beast Boy’s maulings and all the super-powered punches and energy blasts the rest of the team can put out, depending on who is present.) Additionally, superheroes tend to deal with mind control plots every third story arc, so they have experience in that regard. Bonus points: Beast Boy is basically Marco and can do everything the Animorphs do, and that’s a proven track record for success. (@ihasafandom already touched on this but I wanted to add the bit about the Teen Titans using potentially lethal force.)

50/50:

Littlefoot and friends. They’re dinosaurs, so that gives them an edge up over the Animorphs physically. And they evade danger fairly well, so that’s most of the series covered. But do they have the lack of ruths needed to storm the Pool Ship in the end?...Actually probably yes, maybe. I could see Littlefoot having the Jake story-arc and Cera just headbutting people out the airlock, actually. (I think I need a drink after contemplating this.)

Static Shock. I think he could do it, but he has a much smaller support pool than the Teen Titans do, and if anyone close to him got infested he’d be at a severe disadvantage.

Lose:

Lex and Tim Murphy from Jurassic Park. They couldn’t handle Isla Nublar and had to leave after just a couple days. What makes you think they’d survive the Hork-Bajir for 3 years?

Really, any of the kids from the Jurassic Park / Jurassic World franchise, including Camp Cretaceous. They might survive the Yeerk War through impeccable evasion skills, but they’d never manage to hurt the Yeerks.

Elliott from ET: The Extraterrestrial. I think he has a good chance of surviving the Yeerk invasion, given how easily he steals an alien and evades the government, but I don’t think he could do anything to stop an invasion.

Wizards of Waverly Place. I don’t know, I’m not sure they’ve ever been in an actually life-threatening situation.

Harry Potter and his friends. Though they start out in a similar situation to the Animorphs (6 main team members who go through significant trauma and fight a war on behalf of a population that can’t or won’t defend itself, a whole army of expendable children behind them, and adults who are virtually useless), their biggest drawback is that Harry would happily and immediately throw himself into the Yeerk Pool if he thought it’d save his friends. (Spoiler: It would not.) Between Dumbledore being an omniscient bastard who plays dumb and Hermoine being pretty decent at working out the impossible, though, I will give Harry et al a 25% chance of winning, if the others can control Harry’s tendency to self-sacrifice.

Any of the Goosebumps kids. Being infested is pretty much par for the course for how a lot of those books end.

list of fictional kids who could handle/overcome a yeerk invasion (feel free to add more)

-the mystery twins (self explanatory. if they could deal with weirdmageddon as humans they could kill visser three as animals)

-the gaang (it would take them a while though)

-madoka

-jenny xj9

-wordgirl

-as much as i hate to say it, the south park kids would demolish them

-the membrane family, but mainly gaz

-phineas and ferb

-gumball, darwin, and anais (it would take them a total of thirty minutes)

-the powerpuff girls

-ben 10

-morty and summer smith (very on brand overarching seasonal plot material)

-yakko, wakko, and dot (it would also take them a total of thirty minutes)

fictional kids who have a solid fifty-fifty chance of overcoming the yeerks:

-steven universe (i think he could do it. but only AFTER he dealt with the gems. and it would take forever. and if greg universe got a yeerk in his head? it's over. even if steven figured out there was a yeerk in there idk if he has the stomach to listen to his dad cry for three days)

-star and marco (i never finished this show but like i think they could probably do it)

-the belcher kids

-timmy turner

-the cutie mark crusaders

-finn the human

fictional kids who could NOT handle a yeerk invasion:

-the ninja turtles

-chowder lol

-johnny test

-dib membrane alone. that child is not ready for more than zero aliens even if he thinks he is

(i'm mostly just including things i've actually watched lol)

#The list grows #Long Post #Animorphs

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daniel11ryan · 5 years ago

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James Gunn Squashes All Rumours Surrounding DC Character Poison Ivy’s Role in Suicide Squad 2

source: https://1webroot.com/james-gunn-suicide-squad-2/

American film director James Gunn has squashed all kinds of rumors that Poison Ivy will be making an appearance in his upcoming action venture titled Suicide Squad 2. The second installment in the franchise has long been talked about as a project to revive the DC Comics antihero Suicide Squad. According to reports, the second part’s list of main characters and the story has been kept under wraps. However, a few characters are expected to reprise their roles in the film. The upcoming flick is being considered as a blend of a complete reboot and a sequel.

Popular Characters Will Make a Comeback in the Sequel

According to reports, Margot Robbie will be returning as Harley Quinn, followed by Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who was responsible was assembling every member of the Suicide Squad in the first film. Additional reports suggest the cast will comprise of new members such as Idris Elba, John Cena, Taika Waititi, Peter Capaldi, Pete Davidson in prominent roles.

According to reports, rumors of Alice Braga playing the role of Poison Ivy in Suicide Squad 2 started doing the rounds. Braga is known for her roles in I Am Legend, Predators, The Rite, Elysium, etc. James Gunn responded to the rumors and said that everything is baseless and not real.

It has been a long time since anyone saw the character of Poison Ivy on-screen. She last appeared in Joel Schumacher helmed Batman and Robin in 1997. The film’s story mainly revolved around Batman and Robin trying to stop Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from freezing the town. Although, there are no concrete plans on introducing the evil character in the DC Comics Universe.

A Surprise for Fans at the DC FanDome Virtual Event

To know more about the upcoming movie, all the fans will have to tune in to DC’s FanDome virtual event. It will be a 24-hour event filled with information about future DC projects and upcoming films. The event will include more details about The Batman and the much-anticipated Zack Snyder’s Justice League. James Gunn’s participation in the convention was confirmed via a post on his official Instagram handle. Most of the cast will also be present along with the director.

The convention will go live on 22nd August 2020. There is a very high chance that everyone might come to know a little bit more about the plot of the film. Since Suicide Squad 2 has completed filming, the director might show a glimpse of what we can expect from the movie. The film has a premiere date set in the year 2021.

Many characters not returning from the first film will be Deadshot, Jared Leto’s Joker, Killer Croc, Katana, Enchantress/June Moon, etc.

Poison Ivy: A Villainous Character in the DC Comics

Poison Ivy is a character from the DC comics. Created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff, the character usually comes in the Batman stories. The villainous character is also shown as an occasional love interest of Batman. She has also teamed up with other DC characters such as Catwoman, Harley Quinn. Quinn is also shown as Ivy’s partner and romantic interest.

Poison Ivy is a botanist and biochemist who possesses a poisonous touch. She also has enhanced physical capabilities and paranormal control over plant life. The popular character’s outfit is somewhat iconic. She always appears in a one-piece costume in leaves and vines. Poison ivy uses plant toxins and mind-controlling pheromones for her criminal activities.

Poison Ivy was initially introduced as a supervillain, but The New 52 and DC Rebirth depicted her as an anti-hero. The New 52 is a complete 2011 revamp of the entire timeline of the ongoing monthly superhero DC comic books.

Every production house is gearing up for a line-up of films that have struck a chord with the audience over the past couple of years. Upcoming conventions will give us an insight into what we will be watching on the screens shortly. Let’s hope for the COVID-19 pandemic to get over soon enough to be a part of our favorite superheroes journey in the cinematic universe.

#James Gunn #Poison Ivy #Suicide Squad 2 #webroot.com/safe #www.webroot.com/safe

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nightcrawler-fan · 8 years ago

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The Bat-Myth

By Jenette Levitz

Once Upon A Time, the Bat-Man of Gotham City was considered just another urban legend in a city infamous for its hallucinations, hoaxes, and hysterias. But for several years now, the number of unexplained phenomena, eyewitness accounts, and pieces of photographic evidence have grown and grown, until it has become virtually impossible to dispute the Bat-Man’s existence. And yet, what is concretely known about Gotham’s most shadowy figure is few and far between. Beyond the most basic facts, portrayals of this dark knight vary on virtually every point, creating dozens, if not hundreds of theories about just what kind of creature the Bat is.

Today, we at Justice Magazine would like to throw our hat into the ring, and quite possibly give you the definitive story on one of the greatest mysteries of the super-adventurer community.

While no one seems to agree on the Bat-Man’s goals-with arguments raging over whether he attacks civilians, whether he kills, and so on and so forth-everyone agrees that he (or she?) is a scourge to Gotham’s flourishing criminal underworld. So the first logical stop on any reporter’s investigation into the Bat is the creature’s most logical allies, the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD). Sadly, the Department’s silence on the subject is well-known, long lived, and resolute.

“No matter how many times I’m asked, or who asks me, my answer will always stay the same,” repeated Police Commissioner James Gordon. “The GCPD has not and does not have any information on, or affiliation with, any alleged Bat-Man prowling our fair city.”

Further questions did not elicit any more information, and the interview was rapidly ended upon mention of the long rumored Bat-Signal. The Signal is a device covertly donated by Wayne Enterprises that, supposedly, uses an invisible beam to covertly communicate between the GCPD and the Bat-Man.

“The Bat-Signal rumor is just a sign of how willing some people are to create a story where none exists,” Gordon concluded. “The device is merely an advanced spotlight for detecting criminal aircraft. The only reason we refuse to release further data on the device is so that it can still be effectively used without being countered.”

Further questions posed to other GCPD officers have largely been rebutted. The only affirmative response this reporter could get from the department came from an officer who wished to remain anonymous.

“Yeah, we work with the Bat-Man all the time,” our source confirmed. “That fancy pants geek has just about got the run of the place. Half the time it seems like we can’t take a [expletive] without asking for his opinion on how to do it. But we ain’t supposed to actually talk about it. Those liberal bleeding heart types get their panties in a twist whenever someone actually mans up and shows the scum of this city who’s boss. I don’t like having to ask some freak to do our job for us, but I’ll take him over either of those bunches of [expletive] any day.”

Following up on the Bat-Signal lead, our next stop was with the alleged device’s manufacturer, Wayne Enterprises. We spoke with the company’s CEO and co-president, Lucius Fox, on the subject.

“The device often erroneously referred to as a ‘Bat-Signal’ was indeed produced by our company,” Fox confirmed. “The Wayne name has long been associated with generous donations and cooperation with the many organizations doing good work in Gotham City.”

This, however, was not the last time Wayne Enterprises has been correlated with the Bat-Man. Wayne inventions and prototypes have often been inexplicably spotted during conflicts with criminals in both Gotham and beyond. We asked Fox about the theories that this technology had been supplied to the Bat-Man by Wayne Enterprises itself.

“Well, [laughter], if I’m to be totally honest,” Fox started, “most of the sightings of these supposed devices are by individuals with, to be frank, histories of dishonesty. But if any of Wayne Enterprises’ proprietary technologies were actually present during conflicts with the supercriminal community, that would not be entirely out of the norm. Wayne Enterprises is, after all, the leading funder and supplier for the Justice League.”

While Fox refused to elaborate any further, he did raise an interesting point. Since the founding of the Justice League, rumors have proliferated that the Bat-Man was secretly one of the team’s members, and many of the photos of the Gotham crimefighter have come from incidents involving the League. Our attempts to arrange an official interview with the League’s current chairwoman, Wonder Woman, fell through, but this reporter did manage to corner another founding member, Superman, and grill him on the subject.

“I can neither confirm nor deny an affiliation between the Gotham Bat and the Justice League,” Superman laughed. “Because that’s standard League policy when asked about any unconfirmed member. As I’m sure you and your readers know, the League isn’t allowed to divulge the secrets of all of our adventures. And if we start telling the public who our members definitely aren’t, then it’d become a lot easier for you all to figure out who they are, you know?”

Superman continued, “So while I would love to confirm that the Bat of Gotham, the Houma Swamp Monster, the internet legend called Oracle, and celebrity performer Zatanna Zatara are definitely not part of the Justice League, I sadly can’t [laughter]. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help!”

Superman, sadly, wasn’t the only Justice Leaguer who couldn’t give us information on the Bat. There have been a myriad of vigilantes and adventurers to come out of Gotham and join the broader superheroic community. However, most of these adventurers are almost as elusive as the Bat-Man himself. Regardless of whether they would have anything to say about their city’s most elusive figure or not, Huntress of the Justice League, Nightwing of the Titans, and Robin of Young Justice have all historically avoided interviews except for on very rare occasions. There is one crimefighter to have spent time in Gotham, who has been willing to interact with the press, but...

...let us just say that a self-proclaimed ‘Creeper’ is not very easy to use as a professional source. Not that that has stopped this reporter from trying. The only time we were able to track down the Creeper for an interview, and finally got him to stop rambling and address the question, the macabre manhunter only had this to say:

“[laughter] Oh, you want to know about the big bad Bat, huh? Well, I can’t imagine why you’d want to know about that grump when a prime specimen of manhood like me is running around in a loincloth, but I never could account for taste! [laughter] Where was I? Oh, yes! Look, gorgeous, I can talk of many things. Of wealth and plays and wayward guns, of shattered pearls in blood, and why orphans run to the east, and so many robins!”

The Creeper paused before continuing, “But who’d listen to a yellow-skinned cuckoo like me, eh? Certainly not the sheep who read your magazine! [laughter] If you want anything worth hearing on old gargoyle face, you’ll have to talk to another class of lunatic entirely. A class with no class at all, you might say. Arrivederci!”

And with that, our last hope of getting information from the Bat-Man’s allies bounced away, cackling louder than ever. And so, as the Creeper suggested, we moved on to the enemies of the Bat.

Many have tried to interview the residents of Blackgate Penitentiary about the Bat, but with disappointing results. Much like Gotham’s general populace, the normal criminals of the city have only had brief encounters with the Bat-Man, who frequently knocks them into unconsciousness before they can get a good luck at their mysterious assailant. The resultantly wild and contradictory accounts are...memetic.

“The way I hear it, he isn’t even human! He’s like, a giant pterodactyl beast,” Ziggy Adams, a conman, infamously claimed. “Ten feet tall he is! With big bat ears, what could hear a pin drop a mile away. And big fangs and talons! And when he sees one of us, he swoops down from the sky and carries them off... Skree! Skree! Never mess around with the Bat-Man.”

Even more colorful was the early description by a car thief named Ronnie Dander. “That old Batwings is a real live dude. Nothing spooky about him, except how he comes on! All those muscles, and the tight rubber armor. He’s loaded with trick-gadgets! Got shiny plastic wings run by motors, jet-propelled by tiny rockets! And that flashy car... I heard it can drive up walls! And he just sniffs out trouble, like a hound dog, using one of them electronic sniffing gizmos. He’s one down-to-earth hip dude; a one-man army! The Bat-Man is Muhammed Ali, Jim Brown, Shaft, and Super Fly all rolled into one!”

But easily the most memorable account came from the mob hitman called Porkchop Mickey. “The Bat-Man is everywhere, and nowhere! In the first place, he’s like this living shadow. If you ever saw him, he’s so big, he covers all of Gotham! He’s got x-ray eyes! Sees through walls and stuff. Nothing escapes him! Man, Bats slips right through walls, like they wasn’t even there! Everytime a guy gets a hand on him, he disappears back into the other shadows, then pops out somewhere else! Even bullets zip through him like nothing! But [laughter], when the Bat-Man connects, it’s with a fist of iron!”

Needless to say, the accounts of Gotham’s criminal working class have been thoroughly recorded in the past, and all they seem to provide is a good laugh. Because of this, any investigator worth their salt will quickly move on to the costumed supercriminals who have had the most contact with Gotham’s crimefighting mystery.

Sadly, however, most of Gotham’s supercriminals are kept in the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Not only are most of these criminals mentally ill, but also uncooperative and dishonest. Several, like Harvey Dent, Bane, Prof. Hugo Strange, and Dr. Thomas Elliot, refused to comment at all, but even those who did talk were of barely any help.

The first dialogue to be permitted by both the patient and the asylum was Maximillian Zeus, a gangster and terrorist.

“Bat-Man? Oh, you mean my brother Lord Hades! Yes, he has been rather impertinent of late, hasn’t he? The gall of him, dethroning Lord Zeus! Still, it is the nature of the gods to occasionally betray each other or swear revenge, now isn’t it? I have no doubt that before long, the Fates will find me humbling him and reclaiming my authority over Mount Olympus.”

This set the mood for the next dozen or so subjects.

“Batsy-Watsy’s a big meany pants who stopped me and my family from getting back together,” cried Mary Dahl. “He’s even meaner than my cousin, Spunky! I don’t like him.”

For the record, Dahl’s ‘family reunion’ comprised of attempting to use dynamite to kill herself, as well as all of her former co-stars from the television show Love That Baby.

My next subject, a gangster named Arnold Wesker, suffers from dissociative identity disorder, causing him to treat his ventriloquist’s dummy, Scarface, as a second personality.

“The Bat-Man’s a Grade A pain in the [expletive],” Scarface barked. “As if dealing with other wiseguys and coppers weren’t bad enough, I’ve gotta deal with this loser constantly biting at my heels? When’d this town get taken over by lunatics, I ask you?”

Wesker interjected, “Sir, please don’t get too excited. You know the sawbones warned you to keep your blood pressure down!”

“Don’t try to tell me what to do, dummy,” Scarface shushed.

“Bat-Man is a bleeding heart son of a [expletive] who spits in the face of every good, hard-working American who was ever foolish enough to believe in the system,” bellowed the vigilante named Lyle Bolton. “The scum of the city deserve nothing more than to be locked up for good, and that’s the merciful alternative! Bat-Man’s ludicrous attempts to treat these vermin ‘humanely’ or to ‘rehabilitate’ them are childish at best and malicious at worst! He must be stopped to save the few remaining decent citizens of Gotham!”

“The Bat-Man is a charlatan who pretends to stand for justice while continuing to support an obviously outdated system that only exists to oppress humanity,” exhorted teenaged political terrorist Lonnie Machin. “I don’t know if the Bat-Man is being paid off, or if he’s just foolish enough to actually believe in his outdated code of ethics, but either way he is just as guilty and will face judgement in due time!”

“Batsy’s just a lonely freak who’s got no love in his life and takes out his emotional insecurity on everybody else,” proclaimed Dr. Harleen Quinzel, on-and-off girlfriend of the Joker, and an experienced criminal in her own right. “That’s why he can’t find nothing better to do with his time than make my puddin’s life a living hell! I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that Batman [expletive] himself after every night of taking out his anger on the poor, innocent criminals of this city! But he’ll get his, you’ll see! You’ll all see!”

“Well, obviously, the Bat-Man is just a wage slave to his capitalist overlords,” theorized ecoterrorist Dr. Pamela Isley. “Why else would he possibly have any reason to continue helping to oppress me and my kind? It’s pathetic, to be honest.”

Next up was criminal inventor Jervis Tetch, who suffers under the delusion that he is the Mad Hatter character from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

“What was that, Alice,” Tetch asked, “you want to know who the little bat is? Why, he’s none other than the General of the Red Queen’s playing cards, specially tasked to stop me from keeping you safe! Now, I know that most people would tell you that there are no bats in a deck of cards, but that is because most people don’t know about the secret fifth deck! But that’s all rather important stuff for a young lady like you to be worrying about. Would you like some tea?”

“The Bat,” questioned serial killer Victor Zsasz, “which one? I don’t know if you noticed, but Gotham has a lot of bats, and I don’t really bother telling them apart. They’ll all be liberated before too long, just like the rest of you zombies. It doesn’t matter if you’re a blonde haired baby, a blood haired [expletive], or a [expletive] without an inch of meat showing; you’ll all just become marks on my flesh.”

As you may be able to tell, Zsasz, like many of Gotham’s residents, seems to have a problem distinguishing between the Bat-Man and his various reported partners, such as the Bat-Woman or the Bat-Girls.

“You wanna know about the Bat,” guffawed cannibalistic gangster Waylon Jones. “Bah, he ain’t nothing. Nothing but my next meal! He don’t stand a chance against a genuine apex predator like myself! Unless, of course, you wanted to be tonight’s dinner?”

After Jones’ threat caused him to be quickly returned to his cell, it took longer for Arkham to allow us to speak with another patient. But we eventually received an audience with the criminal terrorist Dr. Jonathan Crane.

“The Bat is but a false god to the people of Gotham,” Crane declared. “He claims to be the god of fear, but his power is crude and weak! It is I, the Scarecrow, who is the real lord of Gotham, and I shall soon come in power and fury to reclaim my throne! And all those who doubted me shall feel my wrath! Hroo! Hraaa!”

The real sign that we were running out of options was when we tried to get a straight answer out of Gotham’s most deranged criminal, the mass-murdering, all-purpose criminal known as the Joker.

“Oh, you wanna know about Batty-Man,” Joker laughed. “Well, can’t help you there! As anyone can tell you around here, I prefer my answers to be multiple choice! [laughter] No routine is the same with him and I, so Bat-Guano’s just a little different each time his fist serves as the straight man to my face! [laughter] And that’s just the way I like it!”

It seemed that we had just about used the last of our options until we remembered to ask the often underestimated thief named Edward Nigma.

“Riddle me this, ink slinger,” Nigma posited, “if the world believes its greatest criminal mind is out of his mind, why would it listen to him? In other words, why are you asking me about the Bat-Man when we both know the uncultured masses won’t give my words a second’s thought? Sure, I can probably tell you more about the Bat’s technology, methodology, and psychology than anyone else in this rat eaten town, but what would actually be in it for either of us?”

“[sigh] Look, maybe a different question will be more informative,” Nigma suggested. “Who could weaken Poison Ivy and stall Killer Croc, but keeps Egghead safe and makes the Penguin stronger? [pause] Ah, finally a glimmer of intelligence peaks through! Yes, if you actually want a cooperative, reliable testimony, you’ll want to go bother Mr. Freeze and leave me to finish the infantile imitation of a crossword puzzle from today’s Gotham Globe.”

For those who are unaware, Mr. Freeze is the alias of Dr. Victor Fries, a robber with a medical condition that require him to be kept at subzero temperatures in order to avoid a fatal heat stroke. He is not considered to be legally insane, and is only incarcerated in Arkham Asylum because Blackgate does not have the facilities to house metahuman criminals. Because of this, most investigative reports on the Asylum tend to neglect to involve Fries, but I decided to take Nigma’s advice.

It turned out that Fries actually made for an ideal subject, agreeing to give as objective a description of the Bat-Man as he could.

“The Bat-Man is a vigilante, concerned only with apprehending criminals and saving civilians” Fries began. “While he clearly has allies within Gotham’s police force, and communicates with them using the Bat-Signal, my research has determined that he is not supplied, funded, or commanded by them. I have never witnessed any evidence that he is inhuman in abilities or appearance. He is merely an extremely intelligent, versatile, trained human being in a theatrical costume. He has access to a wide variety of advanced technology, though he tends to use less colorful choices than people like Ronald Dander suggest.”

Fries let out a wry chuckle, then continued.

“Furthermore, he acts according to a personal code instead of following anyone else’s orders, implying a man of personal wealth and influence motivated by an extreme sense of personal responsibility. This code includes his rigid insistence on nonlethal combat. He has served as a close ally or mentor to virtually every crimefighter in Gotham, even though most of them do not acknowledge that to the general public.”

“Finally,” Fries sighed, “unlike some of the other residents of this institution, I am under no delusion that the Bat-Man is some villain enforcing an unfair government, acting out a brutal vendetta against us, or compensating for his own insecurities. In a city as dangerous as Gotham, the Bat-Man is doing exactly what the inhabitants of this city need.”

“The only reason we continue to fight is because of my own complete disinterest in the wellbeing of my fellow man.”

On that rather cryptic note, this reporter prepared to leave. It may have only been one quote, but it was one of the best quotes any reporter had ever gotten concerning the Bat-Man. But Fries had one last thing to say.

“I am a little surprised you came to Arkham Asylum to learn about the Bat-Man, though. You could probably get more information from any one of the world’s prisons for supercriminals. It is hard to be a founding member of the Justice League without a lot of people knowing about you.”

Needless to say, that threw us for a bit of a loop.

“You want to know about the Bat-Man,” I was soon asked by a robber named Leonard Snart from Central City. “that crimefighter in a halloween costume from out of Gotham? Yeah, I’ve fought him a couple of times. Why do you want to know?”

“I just fought Bat-Man last month,” confirmed Metropolis hitman Roger Corben. “I mean, who hasn’t? That son of a [expletive] has probably gotten into a scrap with just about every supercriminal on the planet by this point!”

“Wait, the Bat-Man’s still supposed to be some kind of mystery,” questioned international mercenary Barbara Minerva. “How?! The entire global underworld have all had at least one conflict with him by this point! He’s been a part of, like, half the fights I’ve had with the Justice League alone! How have you reporters not picked up on that yet?!”

And so it went. We were able to procure dozens of descriptions of the Bat-Man from every supercriminal penitentiary on the planet. We have so many, in fact, we couldn’t fit most of them into the article. It seems that the case of the Bat-Man has finally been cracked wide open, with his true nature available for public consumption. The Bat-Man is simply a nonleathal masked vigilante, with no powers other than his skills and his technology. And also a Justice Leaguer, despite claims to the contrary. And with that, the story seems to be just about wrapped up, with only one last quote to finish it up.

“You had to ask how many cons about the Bat before they gave you a straight answer,” asked mercenary Floyd Lawton, currently an inmate at Belle Reve Penitentiary. “Man, thank God I got out of that [expletive] town! It’s only gotten nuttier since I left!”

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the original author and other contributors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Justice Magazine or any employee thereof.

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rilenerocks · 6 years ago

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Growing up I watched a lot of movies and a lot of television. Choices back then were more limited and tended to be family-oriented for the most part. Seems like you watched the same ones over and over again. I often find myself thinking lines that came from the ones that stuck, either because of their dramatic power or more often, because of their humor. Having a partner who was so similar to me was great because we shared a lot of the same cultural influences and often spoke in code. I still remember when our kids figured out that a good portion of our conversations were lines stolen from movies. When Michael was teaching, he incorporated many of his favorites into lesson plans.

I don’t know what I want to do, what I need to do or what I should do. It’s kind of like freeze tag, the kids’ game when you get touched and have to hold your position. My position has been in my recliner lately. The facts of my life kind of belie that image. Objectively I’ve been doing a lot, some things by necessity and others by choice. But there’s an aimless quality about all the activities when taken together, as if they’re just reactive behaviors rather than part of a bigger plan. And I suppose that’s because I don’t really have a bigger plan, which was one of the essential ideas pounded into my head by my dad who repeated like a mantra, “you have to have a plan, you have to have a plan.”

One sketch was from the famous Abbott and Costello, a comedic duo from the late 1940’s and 1950’s – “Who’s on First?” Through the use of pronouns they wind up with a hilarious dialogue about a fantasy baseball team that goes in circles and is laugh-out-loud funny. Michael and my daughter adapted it into a political skit about characters from the George W. Bush era and performed it each semester in his history class. A big hit, pun intended. I found myself thinking about it today because “I don’t know” played third base in the original skit and after the recent past, I feel like I’m on third. I don’t know. Usually I know a lot, certainly enough to keep ahead of most games. Lately, though, I’m getting stuck because of a seemingly relentless series of events that just feels like too much. My brain is still operational but emotionally I’m frequently feeling like I’m in a paralytic state. I’ve misplaced my mojo.

He didn’t mean an inflexible unchanging one but rather a central guideline to help you shape the direction of your life. How do you do that when so many different things, out of your control, just happen and don’t fit into the plan’s framework? I feel like more of shock troop member, getting sent in to respond to some unexpected situation, rather than someone who’s following a designed pathway. Or maybe like a firefighter, waiting for the bell to sound, announcing where the next emergency is and letting you know that it’s time to fly out the door and do your best. I don’t know. Certainly not much that’s happened in the past seven and a half years has been part of what I thought my plan was. Things just happened. And I’ve reacted.

First, there was Michael’s cancer and I reacted to that, along with him, for over five years until he finally succumbed to the disease. As I recovered from that, I had a plan, a plan for honoring him in a exhibition of his life, which took some months and turned out well. But in the midst of that planning, my daughter who is federal public defender, was assigned a tough and sensational murder case. Her job is to provide the best defense possible for all of her clients as is clearly stated in the Constitution. Even though we live in a state where the death penalty doesn’t exist, the attorney general assigned a death penalty to this federal case.

So suddenly, just months after Michael’s death, my kid was bearing the burden of being responsible for another person’s life. This much publicized case was a heavy load for our family to carry on the heels of our personal loss and everyone, from her own husband and children to her brother and me felt the weight of her job which went on until mid-July of this year, almost two years since she received the assignment. All of us hoped to find a way to some kind of “normal,” as we continued to adapt to a life without Michael, something none of us thought would happen when he was only 67, a good thirty years younger than the lifespans of his parents and virtually all the older members of his family. So we were recovering. Some weeks passed. My grandkids started school, the youngest beginning kindergarten. I was recovering well from my second knee surgery and started taking a few classes to give my days structure, to learn new things to enrich my life and begin a new regimen for myself.

The first week of my “plan” had begun when my five year old grandson began feeling sick. My kids took him to convenient care, ostensibly our first line of defense for garden variety illnesses which pop up unexpectedly. When the examining doctor said he couldn’t find any evidence of a physical illness, my daughter asked, “are you implying he might have something terrible like lymphoma, he implied that a very sizable swelling on the little one’s neck might indeed be indicative of a life-threatening disease. How terrifying and crazy is that? What ensued were several days of miscommunication with our little guy getting sicker and sicker until finally, he was hospitalized, placed on IV antibiotics and painkillers, and ultimately CT scanned.

What was unearthed was an abscess that required surgery. I’ll never know if the abscess would’ve gotten so large and scary had he only been prescribed antibiotics the first night he was examined. In these days of antibiotics as a last resort because of their having been over-prescribed in the past, now it seems that a logical bit of doctoring has become the proverbial baby thrown out with the bath water. He’s made it through his ordeal as have all the rest of us, but “plans” certainly were kicked to the curb as we all responded to the immediate need. Every family member here in our town tossed aside regular activities to do our part as we fearfully watched a healthy, active kid turn into an exhausted, feverish listless little person.

I don’t know. Standing here on third base. Now the crisis seems to be past us. But it’s our third test in two years, three months and fifteen days since Michael left us. What’s next? We’re all trying to do our things. There is school and there are jobs and projects to be done around our houses. The seasons are going to change soon and with that will come a variety of chores. Every day I look at my lists and my assignments and note how many I haven’t done a thing about in weeks. Still trying to get off third base. I can flee into nature. I have managed, despite the polar vortex of January and a strangely cold April, to create an environment in my garden which has drawn beautiful butterflies, moths and birds.

My biologist son gave me high praise by noting the variety of species appearing in the yard. We’ve had fledgling wrens, cardinals and robins this year. Also too many rabbits and squirrels who’ve eaten their way through most of my tomatoes, apples and pears. Still, the ground where Michael cultivated his vegetables and herbs, is now a place for pollinators to feast as they move through their life cycles. His perennial herbs remain and release heavenly scents although I rarely cook with them. Cooking has fallen to the bottom of my “plan” list.

I’m working with my rocks and placing them around my yard, labeled with the part of the world they came from. I’m replacing those plants that were lost to the deep freeze and hoping for a healthy return next spring. Sitting in my recliner will feel less like “I don’t know” when it’s cold outside. At least I hope so. I don’t want to be stuck on third base. I need a home run. Maybe if the world cuts my clan a little slack for awhile, I’ll get out of this old school comedy routine. There’s a lot going on in the world that’s pressing and more important than my little universe. But that’s easy to forget sometimes. I don’t ever want to get so self-involved that I ignore the big picture. Third base. Either someone bats me in or I find my mojo and steal home plate. Sometime soon.

If you’re interested in this routine, here’s a link for your viewing pleasure.

https://youtu.be/kTcRRaXV-fg

Third Base Growing up I watched a lot of movies and a lot of television. Choices back then were more limited and tended to be family-oriented for the most part.

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ramajmedia · 6 years ago

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Titans: All The Crazy Dreams The Team Has | Screen Rant

The Titans season 2 premiere was a trippy opening episode thanks to Trigon - here are all the crazy dreams each member of the team experiences. Although not originally intended to end on a cliffhanger, Titans' first season concluded with Rachel's demonic father, Trigon, placing Dick Grayson into a dream-like world where he killed off Batman, embraced his inner darkness and was subsequently enslaved to Trigon's will.

Titans' season 2 opener ramped up the stakes considerably, as Trigon's influence extended to virtually every one of the protagonists attempting to stop him - a group that encompassed both the old Titans and Titans 2.0. Using these visions, Trigon was able to corrupt the collected heroes by offering them a choice to either accept or deny their darkness and every single one of them chose the former, thereby becoming mindless slaves and gaining some instant black eye makeup that the The Cure's Robert Smith would be proud of.

Related: Titans Season 2 Premiere Retcons The Team's Origin

The mind-bending business begins as Rachel and Gar attempt to escape the house Trigon has turned into his own personal otherworldly domain. Running between rooms, the young duo watch on as the corridor before them begins to stretch Alice in Wonderland style, and black demon goop begins to appear on the walls. Creepily, the eyes in each of the house's photographs take on the Trigon-possessed look. These visions are slightly different from the others in the episode since Rachel and Gar are not inhabiting a dream world, Trigon is merely forcing them to see things that don't exist.

At this point, this real craziness begins and Anna Diop's Starfire is the first to fall victim. She enters the "house" and meets with Rachel and Gar, looking to help them escape. However, Rachel reminds Starfire that she was originally sent to Earth on an assassination mission, and since Trigon is now threatening the entire universe, she should complete that task and kill Rachel for good. After initially hesitating, Starfire slaps down Gar and toasts Rachel into an unrecognizable pile of ashes. Trigon is playing on Starfire's guilt to win her over to his team.

A similar tactic is used to enslave Donna Troy, better known as Wonder Girl. Trigon puts Donna in a memory of her worst day - the time her apartment block was set on fire and her father killed by the blaze. Not realizing she was inhabiting an illusion, Donna desperately tries to save her father, but fails. Upon walking out of her old home, Wonder Girl sees the man responsible for starting the fire and, despite pleas for mercy, throws him out of the window. This scene is inspired by Donna's comic book origins, in which Wonder Woman discovers an orphaned Donna after the apartment blaze and takes her back to Paradise Island.

Unlike the other heroes, Jason Todd needs very little encouragement to embrace his darkness. Trigon places Robin mk. 2 in exactly the same vision as Dick Grayson, immediately following the death of Batman. Seeing his mentor's corpse, Dick and Jason start brawling, with the original Robin dominating throughout. Eventually, Jason grabs Joe Chill's revolver (kept in the Batcave as a poignant reminder of Bruce's calling) and shoots Grayson in the head. Here, Trigon is exploiting Jason's desperation to prove himself and his natural anger.

Related: What Titans' "Be Batman" Line Means For Season 2

As usual, Hawk and Dove come as a pair in their vision and Trigon takes a slightly different approach in turning them. Receiving a drugs delivery (from the demon himself, no less) Hawk convinces her partner that the gear is the perfect antidote to their troubles. As Dove appears to take an overdose, both characters are corrupted, presumably because both played a part in dream-Dove's death.

These dream sequences command a sizable chunk of the Titans season 2 premiere and, given that the season 1 finale followed a similar format, the episode takes on a slightly disjointed feel as a result. Viewers know these scenes aren't taking place in the real world, meaning the actual plot developments arrive fairly slowly.

More: Is Titans Season 2's Trailer Hiding A Robin/Nightwing Twist

Titans season 2 continues with "Rose" September 13th on DC Universe.

source https://screenrant.com/titans-trigon-dreams-crazy/

#screenrant

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humorepoch9-blog · 6 years ago

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Pizza and virtual team dynamics

This post continues our series on ‘openly sharing our approach to leading a virtual team’ – a joint project with Maren Deepwell (cross-posted here) for which we write a monthly blog post, some of which are special podcast/conference editions.

August

We are at the end of the busiest month of our organisation’s year in the run up to our Annual Conference. Getting here is a big milestone for our organisation and a real test for our approach to leading a virtual team.

Maren: We have been busy with preparations for the conference and our team of six has been working with over a hundred volunteers who contribute to organising the event. It’s usual for us to work with Members all across the U.K., but during the past month we’ve had to communicate and collaborate significantly more than usual. We’ve put our still quite new processes and working culture under real pressure, and we’ve made it through the toughest weeks in good shape. We’ve learnt a lot along the way, but I’m proud how well we’ve worked together. Now, as we get ready to take the whole team to the event, my thoughts are on the face to face side of our predominantly online working lives. We put a lot of thought into delivering the best possible experience for participants of the event and we talked about this recently on Edutalk radio with the Chair and President of ALT. We all agreed that there is special value in being able to take part in person. So our job for our team is to make sure that we have a plan for supporting each other over 4 long and busy days, so that we can all do our best. I’ve been thinking about a couple of things we started to discuss in June, when we had our first team day. For example, getting together to run this event also means seeing each other and working together in person for the first time in a while or ever. That’s not insignificant. Also, each year we have colleagues for whom this is their first experience of this event and although I’ve got previous years to draw on, each year is different and we have only half a day to get ready. Talking through each day in advance, planning meals and breaks together, and being clear about expectations about when we work and when we have down time helps get us all on the same page before we arrive. It also makes it easier to adjust from working at your desk at home to being with colleagues hosting 400 participants. What are your thoughts?

Martin: Looking back over August it’s interesting to reflect on the number of conversations we’ve had on supporting our team during the conference. Confidence and expectations were areas that came up a couple of times. With many of us never fully experiencing all 4 days of our Annual Conference before I think it’s a difficult line to walk in terms of planning for some of the potential pressure points whilst not unduly impacting on our confidence. Something that I thought was very useful as part of one of our online team meetings was a round robin to see how everyone was doing in terms of conference workload. The continual challenge I see in distributed teams is maintaining group awareness. This includes knowing what others are working on, where they are up to in specific tasks and what they are planning on working on next. In the last six months the team has grown by 20% from 5 to 6. It’s nice to have an extra pair of hands or a new colleague who is able to contribute to our delivery and we are already seeing the benefits of this, but at the same time we now have a bigger team to try and maintain an awareness of what we are each are working on, more people who have a voice at our weekly team meetings. I’ve not calculated how much extra time this takes each time we have new staff join. In software development you could point to Brooks Law which states “the complexity and communication costs of a project rise with the square of the number of developers”. I think in our case this would be a gross overestimate, and even in software development a number of people have questioned Brooks Law, but it’s interesting to consider the implications of growing a distributed team. I do believe investing time in gaining better awareness is still very useful. All the planning and preparation will hopefully result in a positive experience for all. Do you feel your spending more time managing a larger team?

Maren: definitely. Half of my focus is on observing, listening, supporting, advising… it’s the busiest time of the year, it’s a crunch point, it’s naturally a big part of my work just now. But half of my focus is far in the future, 2,3 or even 10 years from now, and our conference provides essential input to navigating what’s ahead, to be ambitious, to nurture the vision in my head, in my heart. Even one year from now things will be quite different and looking back over the past five years reminds me how much things have already changed. How far we’ve come. Any highly performing team feels growing pains when moving from the success of achieving at one level to moving up to the next. Things stop working in the way they have done before new dynamics are established. Getting through a conference together is a good bonding experience to build on and I feel that this is easier to accomplish in person rather than online when everyone is distributed. It seems very achievable to build individual working relationships virtually and over the past year or two I have gained experience in that, but group dynamics are harder to establish and our blended approach, seeing each other at events and team days, is important here. Five years ago when our team grew to include your role as a second senior member of staff, I had to learn all the things I now rely on. It took time for us to figure out how we would lead things together, assess each other’s strengths and where support would be most needed. Whilst we can’t put an exact figure on it, it’s fair to say that it took a lot of time establishing a senior staff team and that we continue to invest time and effort into that as things evolve. But, it has more than doubled our achievements as a result, increased capacity and resilience in many ways. And, at this time of year, it also provides us with a safe space to assess how we are coping with pressure and I know someone has my back if the answer is not very well. It’s opened my eyes to how valuable it is to invest in communication and team work whereas before I would have probably argued to be more effective doing things myself.

Martin: The difference between building individual and team dynamics in a distributed organisation is very interesting. I was recently reading a paper on ‘Group Awareness in Distributed Software Development’ which included the conclusion that ‘occasional face-to-face gatherings assist group awareness’, something you’ve also highlighted earlier. I was wondering if the intensity of a 3 day, 400+ delegate conference was the best occasion for what will be for some their first face-to-face meeting. Thinking back to my first time being part of the ALT conference, which also happened to be when I was also a distributed member of staff, my first face-to-face meeting with a number of the team was a group lunch the day before the conference started. As a more socially focused activity it allowed there to be more spontaneous communication also I believe creating an opportunity to strengthen a shared team identity. Time is also a factor identified by Hinds and Mortensen: “relationships between distant team members become more harmonious over time as teams develop familiarity and shared processes”. The quality of the time and mix of informal and formal all hopefully support a stronger team and is also a great excuse to continue what has become the traditional team visit to a pizzeria the night before our big events.

Maren: hmmmmm… pizza. Definitely a tradition I approve of. I hadn’t come across either of the references you mention, and they make for interesting reading. It’s thought provoking to see a more analytical approach. I always see relationships and team dynamics as messy, shifting, unpredictable with many known and unknown unknowns. Every year and every conference turns out to have surprises in store and that is why the months of preparations are so important. We develop trust in our processes and plans, we form the habit to rely on our lists, we solve problems together. By the time I arrive at an event we’ve organised, I’ve got a list that keeps me on track and am ready to enjoy the experience. Whatever unexpected twists and turns the days hold in store, this is the moment when I feel really privileged to have the job I have, when I see how our values are put into practice.

Martin: With all research there is likely to be a personal call as to whether it is applicable to the context you are interested in. I haven’t delved deep into this area yet but there are a number aspects I recognise or can relate to in our own distributed team. I think it’s also interesting to consider the quotes I pulled out in the context of the conference. For a number of our delegates the conference is that ‘occasional face-to-face gathering’ that helps them gain awareness of who and what is happening across sectors. One of the real strengths of our conference is it’s an opportunity for new and existing members of our community to make an initial connection that can be continued via various means. Thinking about this I ended up with a very long list that spread across various mediums including face-to-face local meetings of ALT Members Groups and SIGs, social aspects that feature in our conference platform, various mailing lists and dedicated online social spaces, the #altc tag and more. I hope through all of this our community is able to develop familiarity and shared knowledge in learning technology. Their participation and engagement in turn will inspire our next steps in leading our virtual team.

Source: https://mashe.hawksey.info/2018/09/pizza-and-virtual-team-dynamics/

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sohotthateveryonedied · 8 years ago

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I really just want the third season of young justice to explore the emotional and psychological toll hsving to fake Artemis' death, lie to the team, run the team, bludhaven and gotham, and having his best friend taken from him has on Dick. I want to see him struggle to cope. Honestly I need to see this for the whole team! But especially Dick after isolating himself. I want to see Artemis brong pissed at him for doing so! And her struggling to cope with everything and feeling she lost Dick too!

Anon, as of now you are officially my favorite person in the whole wide world! I'm sending you a virtual hug right now, because this is exactly the kind of angsty and emotional stuff that NEEDS to be in season 3.

It makes so much sense that the team would be pretty fragile and emotional after all the traumatizing stuff that happened in season 2. I mean they lost the cave which was a home for so many of them, for months they were convinced Artemis was murdered by one of their friends, they were betrayed by Jaime (thought that wasn't his fault and anyone who wants to blame him can fight me), Jaime was on mode for weeks and was just screaming in his mind because he had no control over his body whatsoever, Bart carried the burden of being the only one who knew what the future was like and being the only one who could save it, their mentors left and went to space court for the whole season, these young adults and teenagers were put in charge of defending the whole world all by themselves, four of them were captured by the Reach and tortured for like a week after the cave blew up, everyone thought Kaldur, their old friend and leader, was a traitor and that he wanted them dead, AND they lost Wally, who was close with each of the senior members of the team and they're all completely devastated. The team can't be fine after that. Season 2 was like their own personal failsafe mission, but this time it's real and it's horrible. Any normal person wouldn't be fine, and just because they're superheroes doesn't mean they can just get over the things that destroyed them emotionally and shattered their hearts to pieces over and over again.

And like you said, especially Dick and Artemis should be struggling. Artemis and Wally quit the gig because they wanted to keep each other safe, and then two seconds after deciding to go back her boyfriend dies?? She had gone for months undercover without seeing him, and I'm betting that Wally filled her every thought. But the second she's back and they finally can be reunited he dies and she's alone all over again. She finally had everything back, but the second she actually felt happy again for the first time in a long time it all got ripped away from her by the world like some kind of sick game. If it were me, I don't know how I would go on. Wally was her anchor in life. Her family were a trio of criminals and assassins, two of which try to kill her on a daily basis, so by now her trust issues have trust issues. But with Wally, she actually let him in. He's one of the only people she lets close to her emotionally, and so she's tied to Wally in a way. He's her flashlight in darkness, but now he's gone and how can she cope? She's devastated and even changed her hero identity because just thinking about Wally hurts her and she needed to get away from all that by being Tigress. I need to see Artemis in season 3 clearly struggling and having a hard time doing things when she's reminded of Wally, and after a while the team starts to notice so Kaldur or M'gann decided to talk to her about it and she just. Breaks down. And the thing is that Dick was both her and Wally's best friend and he knows exactly what she's going through, so if anyone could have helped her in this difficult time it would have been him, but he's suffering just as much so he can't be there for her when she needs him most.

And I know that some people were mad or just didn't understand why Dick left the team like that, but I get it. Wally was his best friend. And not even just his best friend, Wally was like family to him. Before season 1, Wally was the only person Dick trusted enough to reveal his identity to. Do you know how huge that is? Bats don't take something like this lightly, but Dick was close enough to Wally that he had no qualms with showing him who he is, and that's a really big thing. He and Wally did everything together, and even after Wally quit the hero business they were still best friends and kept in touch. Heck, Dick even has him on speed dial. So I can't even imagine how much agony Dick must be in right now. His best friend in the whole world died to save it, and Dick was so distraught that he just had to get away. Being a part of the team only reminded him that they've come so far, but Wally wouldn't be there to see it. So I don't blame him for isolating himself and cutting himself off to grieve his best friend. I think the team and the league, especially Bruce, will start to care after a while and try to bring him back to the team, but Dick really just needs this time to cope. He's already lost more in 19 years than most people will lose in their whole lifetime, so isolation is just his way of dealing with the tremendous emotions he's feeling.

It should be Artemis who goes to find him and bring him back to the team, because she's the only one who really knows exactly how he's feeling. The others loved Wally and they miss him of course, but Artemis and Dick loved him more than the others will ever understand and they are the two who will need the most help in getting over their grief. Especially because not only did Wally die, but everything that happened in that whole season just piled up and piled up until eventually Wally disappearing is what broke the dams and by the time the smoke cleared the two were just shattered inside. I want to see a scene where Artemis is yelling at Dick for abandoning the team when they needed him most and telling him that he's not the only one who's hurting right now, and then Dick is yelling back because no one understands and he just wants everyone to leave him alone for once. And Artemis is like "you think you're the only one who's hurt by what happened? I planned a future with him! I had a whole life with him, and you think that just because he's your best friend you get to be like this?! You think you get to lose it?!" And then suddenly Dick just breaks down completely. I don't think he would have let himself cry after Wally's death because he's one of the bats, you know? He's supposed to be tough and in control like Batman, so I think he never would have actually let it all out like he should until that moment .

So Dick falls to his knees crying, and Artemis after a second falls with him and then they're both holding each other and crying after everything they've been through. The last few months have been so emotionally taxing, and neither one had any outlet for dealing with the tragedy and grief of Wally dying, lying to the entire team and league about going undercover, Dick losing sleep over running the team and taking on the burden of having that responsibility, Artemis having to do horrible things undercover, it's just so much emotional baggage that no normal person would be able to come back from so easily and, despite trying their hardest to, Dick and Artemis can't get over it by themselves. (But then a couple weeks later they find a way to bring him back bc I suspect part of the reason Dick left besides his grief was bc he was trying to find a way to bring Wally back kind of like in the Red Robin comics when Tim knew Bruce was alive and tried to find him but everyone else just said he was crazy and didn't listen. So Dick tells Artemis about what he's found so far and together they work to find him, meanwhile the whole team keeps telling them they're in denial and Wally is gone for good. But eventually they do manage to find a way to save him from the speedforce and everyone is finally happy again the end)

TL;DR: I want season 3 to feel like a punch in the gut. If I don't cry at least twice I will be very disappointed. Bring on the angst, I'll take all the emotional turmoil you can dish out. Also BRING WALLY BACK!!!!!

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salmenzo · 4 years ago

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Weekly Update - Monday, February 22, 2021

Commitment - Conviction - Consideration

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s Party!’”

— Robin Williams

Good Morning,

Hopefully, this week will be one filled with less winter weather. I am confident that we will be moving into the spring sooner rather than later. With spring training upon us, baseball and the smell of the best season of the year will raise our spirits in anticipation of all being vaccinated.

We are still anticipating starting all staff vaccinations in the middle of March. It is dependent on the Governor’s further opening group 1B. From the latest reports, it appears that educational staff will be included as essential workers. Again, we have begun to vaccinate staff who are 65 years old or older. We will get to everyone else once we are allowed to do so. Another vaccination center is slated to open at Toyota Presents the Oakdale Theater. That may be another option for staff. More information will be provided as the time draws closer. We appreciate your patience.

Last week, I shared the case update on Friday. This will be the practice moving forward unless we see a significant uptick in numbers. For the last three weeks, we have been seeing less than 2 cases a day on average over a seven day period. This remains low compared to what we were seeing in late December and early January. We ask that all staff continue to follow all mitigation strategies. We have had some reports from staff that some members of our district have become a little laxed over the last few weeks. I implore you to not become complacent. Now more than ever, we need to keep our attention focused. We are too close to being vaccinated to let our guards down. Thank you for your continued efforts.

Tonight, the Board of Education will officially approve its budget to be sent to the Mayor for his review. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. You can watch by logging in to the site below.

https://www.youtube.com/wpsconnections/live

Commitment - Conviction - Consideration

Here are this week’s staff shout outs!

I wanted to give you Robin Beecher's name as a teacher who deserves a shout out during these difficult times. Robin is a special education teacher at Cook Hill who can always be relied upon to go the extra mile for her students and for being a true team player. I spoke today with a substitute virtual special education teacher who shared with me what a great support Robin has been to her while she worked with some virtual students from Cook Hill. When I shared this compliment with Robin, she simply said, "of course! Even though I'm not seeing virtual students right now, they're still my students!' When I shared with her that home school special education teachers would be servicing both in-person and virtual students after the holidays, she said, "that's fine! I'll make it work." In all the time that I've known Robin, this has been her attitude. She is always there when you need her and always seems genuinely happy and eager to help.

She has been a teacher who I've had on my evaluation list a number of times and her care and love for her students always shines through when she is teaching. She is truly an asset to her students, colleagues, and administrators. I am thankful she's a member of the special education team!

Since the beginning of this year Laurie Moreno has been working tirelessly to perfect her craft when it comes to instructional strategies used both in the physical and virtual classroom settings. She has been one of the biggest resources for all staff when it comes to troubleshooting virtual learning struggles and trying out new programs or platforms with her students. She is an ever present source of positivity and has been willing to offer her help and knowledge to everyone who has asked. She is a perfect example of someone who is willing to take a risk and try something totally new, with the reasoning always being for the benefit of her students.

Kristen Balsamo - When you walk into Kristen's grade two classroom, you can feel the happiness and joy. Kristen helps her students to become their best selves. She has embraced the current chapter and conducted outdoor morning meetings throughout the fall. Kristen has worked to bring the entire school community together by creating a Monthly Morning Show. Her students took the lead on this film project by reporting on different school-based activities, interviewing staff for a book review, and leading the school in this new style of town meeting. This year, Kristen led her students to spread gratitude and kindness around the building by painting kindness rocks that line the entranceway of E.C.Stevens and by sending notes of gratitude to staff around the building. Kristen's hard work and dedication not only benefit her students but the entire school community.

Sue Pallotta - As E.C. Stevens School Nurse, Sue has been an extraordinary asset to E.C. Stevens School. Sue has embraced the current chapter and puts in a tremendous amount of effort when communicating with students, staff, and families every single day. Members of the school community know when they consult with Sue, they will always get a thorough response with the next steps that need to be taken. This has been comforting to families and to staff during this time of uncertainty where lots of questions and situations have arisen. Sue's patient and caring demeanor provide those around her with a sense of calmness no matter what medical situation arises. The connections she has made with students, families, and staff have allowed her to engage in difficult conversations, always resulting in positive outcomes. In addition, Sue is a true partner to the office staff and school administrator.

My grandson is in Mr. Stone’s 5th grade class at POND HILL SCHOOL. He has made an extremely challenging year seem very normal. He is thriving! He and his sister live with me (grandmother). My granddaughter had Mr. Stone as well and she thrived. I sent a letter requesting that her brother be placed with a male teacher due to the fact that since they’ve been in my care the only male influence that he has is his uncle as a role model. I’m a widow so it’s just me and the kids. I’m very happy that my request was granted because Mr. Stone is an incredible role model for him and it shows in his joy and eagerness to go to school every day. Mr. Stone rewards the kids when deserved with Certificates and my grandson has brought home several! He just beams with pride when he shows me. He is learning a ton, and never talks about or is sad about any of the new restrictions from COVID-19. I sincerely believe this is due to the great work of the Pond Hill staff and especially Mr. Stone. He is always kind and upbeat and it truly shows he enjoys teaching the students. He follows all safety protocols, while still meeting with smaller groups during class. My grandson had to do distance learning and he was very well prepared for the 2 weeks he was home. This is due to Mr. Stone making sure the kids are prepared. I’m grateful that elementary school is still in session, since his sister is at DAG her first year and they have been distance learning for most of the year. The kids in school are thriving! Thank you for all the work the District, School, and Mr. Stone has put into keeping this year as safe and normal as possible.

I wanted to reach out to you to express my sincere appreciation for the laborious task of keeping kiddos in school this year, and the undeterred dedication I have seen from the Wallingford Public School District. I am so impressed by the planning that has been conducted in order to ensure that our children are learning in the safest environment possible.

In light of your recent request of acknowledging educators, I can't say enough about my son's kindergarten teacher at Moses Y, Mrs. Stoessel. Her dedication to the children and positive energy has given us hope during scary times. The education he is receiving, despite the pandemic, is bar none, the best. He comes home every day excited about school, sharing everything he has learned; the growth has been tremendous.

I also have to mention my son's experience last year. He was enrolled in Moses Y pre-k, and just like this year, I was literally brought to happy tears on a frequent basis at how much he was learning with Ms. Graminski (and having so much fun while doing it!) She built a very strong foundation.

These two educators have certainly set the bar high, but I have no doubts Wallingford Schools can live up to rigorous expectations.

Thank you again for all your hard work and dedication, and for the amazing staff you have put in place at Moses Y.

Make it a great week!

Sal

Dr. Salvatore F. Menzo

Superintendent

Email - [email protected]

Twitter - @SalMenzo

Wallingford Public School District

Wallingford Public School System Mission

To inspire through innovative and engaging experiences that lead all learners to pursue and discover their personal best.

THE INFORMATION IN THIS TRANSMISSION IS PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL AND INTENDED ONLY FOR THE RECIPIENT LISTED ABOVE. If you have received this transmission in error, please NOTIFY ME IMMEDIATELY BY E-MAIL AND DELETE THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE. Responses provided by this E-Mail are SIMILAR to ordinary telephone or face-to-face conversations.

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maritzaerwin · 5 years ago

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How to Plan a Remote Meeting or Conference

We’ve had to adapt to many new changes during this time of coronavirus, both professionally and socially. Lockdown has bought with it several challenges that we have never had to deal with prior to this pandemic.

Working from home has become the new norm for many small and large-scaled companies, meaning that employees have had to get accustomed to completing their days work remotely and conducting meetings in a virtual environment.

The constant advances in today’s modern technology have made it even simpler to have professional meetings and conferences remotely, which have seen an exponential increase during this time of remote working.

Gone are the days of having to find an available conference or meeting room, and schedule in the best time to accommodate the high number of attendees. Now meetings can take place virtually with each member attending from various locations, locally or globally.

Although remote meetings and conferences are a much more convenient form of professionally gathering, there still needs to be a level of planning and organization going on to make sure they run smoothly and efficiently.

1. Transcribing and Captioning

With eConference calls and meetings in larger, global companies becoming more and more popular, precise planning is essential to make sure an international team is filled in on every detail of the meeting.

There is a high chance that many members of the international team will be multilingual and not all speak the same first language. This causes a risk of alienating some attendees or certain points getting lost in translation and ignored.

A great solution for this is transcribing online conferences through remote captioning services and tools. This is especially useful for the nomad employee who works in a cross-continental country and whose work in predominantly done in a foreign language.

However, if you don’t have any international attendees, that does not mean you shouldn’t transcribe the meeting. Transcription and captioning are a perfect way to document what was discussed in the meeting, so it can be looked over by those absent from the meeting, or even those in attendance if they want to revisit what was said.

2. Remote Conference Captioning

Remote conference captioning is a great tool for international teams to implement as it provides live subtitles and captioning of video conferences. This allows the entire team, no matter the difference in language or understanding to connect to and understand the presented content and gain full comprehension of what is being presented.

This is done by feeding the presented audio to a professional translator online, who translates and captions the provided information immediately in real-time. The translated content is then sent back and presented as captions, creating a smooth and informative online conference for all attendees.

3. Remote Transcribing

Another way to plan a seamless remote conference experience is by implementing effective remote transcribing techniques and tools.

There are a number of ways to transcribe a remote meeting or conference, choosing the best one depends on a number of factors, such as the level of details needed to be recorded and the number of attendees that are present in the conference.

Live video recording or captioning is a good option if every detail is needed to be remembered by every team member, and it gives the opportunity for conferences to be watched back for future reference.

Executing such practices in a business can prove invaluable as the professional world moves forward into a new age of working. Recording meetings could global companies in their “digital transformation” that has suddenly been shaken and potentially fast-forwarded due to COVID-19.

Effective minute taking is essential to record all the content that was shared and discussed in a remote meeting. This is important as it keeps a record of any plans and details that were spoken about to then be implemented in the future.

Depending on the volume of content, multiple minutes takes can be employed to make sure all content is recorded and noted effectively as to not rely on one singular person. This is a good way to cover potential connection problems that may occur for individuals in the meeting.

4. Set a Start and End Time

When a meeting is taking place in a physical office space it is very easy to grab an employee that is lagging behind from their office. This isn’t quite so simple when doing a remote conference meeting as messages can be missed or be ignored, so gathering everyone to start at the same start time can be a challenge.

There is also no physical queue for the meeting to come to an end, such as an employee knocking on the door or somebody initiating the leaving process by gathering their belongings and standing up.

This can turn remote conferences into unnecessarily long meetings and taking up huge chunks of the workday.

A solution around this is to automate meeting reminders beyond the calendar invite for each employee attending to receive a few minutes before the meeting is about to start. This can be done on online messaging tools such as Slack where you can set up automation as a reminder.

Such online messaging tools as Slack are also introducing new software that allows employees to get to know each other better and build a stronger virtual team, which can all help in the process of remote working and setting up online conference meetings with further ease.

5. Be Intentional About Your Communication

It is very simple to control a chatty audience and volume levels in a meeting room when gathering in person. The conversation also naturally flows more organically when communicating and discussing topics face to face as opposed to over a screen. There are several communication practices you can incorporate into your meeting to make sure it runs smoothly and intentionally.

Make sure to leave some room for silence. A common mistake made in virtual meetings is individuals speaking over each other due to delay and connectivity issues. This makes it harder to clearly hear different points made and can make it difficult for others to hear clearly. An effective way to avoid this is by leaving a bit of leeway after asking a question to give space for others to speak.

Keep an eye out for nonverbal responses from employees during a remote call. You might get head nods, confused faces, or other facial expressions that can help indicate how people are responding to what you are saying. You can use these responses as a way to read the virtual room and narrate what you’re seeing. Don’t just wait and rely on these nonverbal cues though, make sure to ask for verbal feedback in chat too.

Call employees by their names to respond or contribute to a certain point as you are unable to catch someone’s attention with simple eye contact as you usually would in a non-virtual meeting room. This is especially important if you are doing a round-robin sharing session in the call – remember there is no set seating plan in a virtual conference!

Another effective communication tool is having an exit phase put in place for when remote disagreements come into the light and an agreed conclusion can’t be met by two employees or more. Instead of taking time out of the meeting to hash it out, and making it awkward for everyone, use an exit phase such as “let’s continue this discussion elsewhere” so that the rest of your employees can move on and you can continue the conversation in private.

6. Plan Discussion Points Ahead of Time

One thing that can really drag out a meeting is by not having an itemized or planned agenda as to what exactly needs to be discussed in the meeting. This gives room for unnecessary discussion to take place and waste a big chunk of time.

By entering a meeting and knowing exactly what needs to be discussed, you can start the meeting as soon as everyone joins without dilly-dallying around and waiting for someone to initiate the important points that need to be raised.

It also helps to have an employee who is in charge of leading the remote meeting and stirring the conversation in the correct direction so things don’t go off track and irrelevant chit-chat comes into play between different employees, leaving others feeling annoyed and frustrated.

All the employees that are present in a virtual meeting should be kept engaged and included in the discussion to keep the morale of individuals high and make sure everyone leaves the meeting feeling valued and productive to get on with their tasks for the rest of the day.

7. Agree on the Meeting Protocol Beforehand

Video conferencing tools give many options as to how you want to be present in a virtual meeting. There is a mute/unmute function as well as switching your webcam on or off to be visibility present in front of everyone else.

It is a good idea to decide on an agreed and mutual presence for everyone attending to follow the same protocol throughout the virtual conference.

Everyone defaulting to video is usually the best way to avoid interruptions as you can visibly see if someone is about to talk or wants to make a specific point at a certain time of the call.

Mute your mic depending on the situation and the number of people on the call.

According to a scientific report by Zapier, if there are fewer than five people on the call then there is no need to mute yourself. However, if there are more than six people than it is the protocol to stay mute on the call unless it is your turn to speak.

There are several tools you can use to mute your surroundings when in a virtual meeting. This is especially useful when working from home with uncontrollable background noise such as loud pets, crying babies, or doorbells. Life happens, and that’s ok. Tools such as Krisp help in canceling the outside noise you can’t control and being able to stay focused in a remote meeting.

8. Ask for Feedback

As remote meetings become the new norm in working environments, it is important to gauge how well and productive your employees are finding them and what may need to be improved in order for them to keep running in an effective and sustainable manner.

Employees that are new to virtual conferencing can end up getting very frustrating with this new format of communication and can end up feeling frustrated if their concerns aren’t being heard or addressed, that’s why it is important to always ask for feedback.

You can easily attain this meeting feedback by setting up a poll in your work chat app for employees to fill out at their own discretion. Keep all responses anonymous so that employees feel safe and comfortable enough to respond honestly without any limitations or judgments.

Lastly, make sure to act on the feedback that you receive back! Any critical feedback isn’t a shun against you personally, remote conference meetings just require more thoughtful communication in order for them to run smoothly and comfortably.

9. Decide If a Meeting Is Even Needed

Before going through all these steps to set up a well thought out meeting and productive session make sure it is even worth having a meeting in the first place.

A lot of valuable time can be wasted in an unnecessary discussion that can take place over work messaging apps such as Slack or over a simple chain of emails throughout the working day and at employees’ own pace. Make sure to make an appropriate judgment call as to whether something needs to be discussed virtually on video or if it can be over another form of messaging.

It’s natural to crave social interaction when working remotely but make sure not to waste beneficial work time in endless meetings that can hinder productivity and performance in tasks. Set apart some time for social team building instead!

The post How to Plan a Remote Meeting or Conference appeared first on CareerMetis.com.

How to Plan a Remote Meeting or Conference published first on https://skillsireweb.tumblr.com/

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teeky185 · 5 years ago

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Enhancements to public school lessons, sometimes costly, can highlight the inequalities in education Elyssa Katz, a Santa Monica mother of three, is growing a matchmaking service to connect families with tutors, or “Zutors”, as she calls them – a word she’s in the process of trademarking.“The role of a Zutor is a tutor, a nanny, and an angel for a parent,” Katz told the Guardian, someone who can take over parental demands, help children with online homework and take them outside when it’s time for “recess”.Katz’s clients range from the rich and famous, to everyday people who need childcare because they can’t look after their children while they have to work. Katz said she had gotten calls from parents as far away as the Hamptons.For a matchmaking fee that can range from $700 to $1,000 (£549 to £785), Katz and her team will interview tutor candidates, run background and reference checks, then match them to the right families.Fees for tutors and child care can range from $20 to $65 (£15 to £51) an hour, which would amount to $1,625 (£1,276) a week if a tutor was hired for five hours a day, five days a week – though Katz said fees vary by the type of service.“Some services are charging as much as $125 (£98) an hour. This is LA. There are some people for whom money isn’t really an object, people who say ‘I want this for my kids and I’ll do anything I can for them’,” Katz said.As US school districts finalize plans for the fall semester and classes in some districts are set to remain online, some parents have begun teaming up to form “pods” with other families and arrange their own forms of education.The arrangements come in different forms, from Katz’s expensive, boutique service to families considering renting apartment space to serve as a home base for DIY “microschools”, to less formal arrangements that enlist the help of virtual tutors who can supplement online instruction for a couple of hours a week.The rise of these arrangements is a testament to the desperate worry of many parents over their children’s health and academic development amid unprecedented school closures. But it has also raised questions about whether these kinds of arrangements exacerbate longstanding patterns of segregation and inequity in education.Families, not all of them wealthy, have always looked for solutions outside of the traditional school system. Homeschooling, for example, allows parents to legally operate outside of the public education system.But in contrast to a school district that must provide services to all students, resources like private tutors are most easily accessible to those who can pay. And the ways families select others to join their pod – which come down to similar neighborhoods, incomes or ability levels – has the potential to reinforce existing inequalities, said Robin Lake, the director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education.“I think what we will see is families self-selecting into pretty similar groups. That kind of segregation already exists in our school system. This would just exacerbate it,” said Lake. A widening education gapInequities in the US education system existed long before the coronavirus.Schools are profoundly stratified by race and income, with higher-income school districts commanding bigger budgets for education programs per student, and affluent parents effectively able to buy into exclusive schools by owning houses in expensive areas.In California, as in every state, those divides are reflected in student outcomes, as well. Nearly 70% of Black students and 60% of Latinos failed to meet state standards for literacy in 2019, while just 24% of Asians and 35% of white students fell below standards.Research suggests that school closures will result in a loss of learning progress for most students, with some expected to lose the equivalent of a full academic year. Students of color, who disproportionately lack access to devices and the internet, are expected to lose most.While it’s too soon to forecast how the rise of private tutors will affect disparities, Morgan Polikoff, an associate professor of education policy at USC’s Rossier school of education, said the growth of the gap will depend on how common the trend becomes.“If it’s just a case of a couple percent of very wealthy families opting their kids into this kind of arrangement, I don’t really see how that’s any different from them sending their kids to some elite private school,” said Polikoff.“If it’s a wider-spread phenomenon that affects more families, then I think it could lead to meaningful widening of achievement gaps,” he added. Tough questionsLian Chikako Chang, a San Francisco-based parent with a background in marketing, has seen a huge demand for tutoring services in recent weeks. “This isn’t a niche topic any more,” Chang said.Within seconds of creating a Facebook group for parents interested in forming pods and microschools, Chang had her first member. Thirteen days later, more than 10,000 parents had joined or requested to join her group.Chang concedes that the group has grown so quickly it hasn’t had time to iron out all logistics or build in ways to protect families from being excluded unfairly, but said the group has been concerned about implications for equity from the start.Important, she said, is trying to find a way for parents to ask each other personal questions in a way that isn’t inherently discriminatory. Parents may ask each other, for example, whether a family member’s work brings them into the community without realizing the question can exclude children of essential workers – jobs held disproportionately by Black and brown communities.“We hear the concerns for equity, and agree it’s serious. But it’s tough. Parents have a responsibility to make arrangements when the schools cannot,” Chang said. ‘Pods aren’t the only solution’Those responsibilities have only grown larger as school closures continue. Advocates have warned for example that students with disabilities can be short-changed on the education services they typically received in person. It’s understandable for parents to want to fill that void, said Lake.“Are we going to pass judgment and shame families whose children have special needs for creating an opportunity their schools didn’t provide at all? I know I won’t,” Lake said.She points to organizations like Oakland Reach – made up of students and parents from Oakland’s lowest-performing schools – as example of a group creating their own solutions. Reach has created a robust online summer school program it plans to continue into the academic year.Lakisha Young, the organization’s co-founder and executive director, says she remains deeply concerned about the inequities facing her community, but wants people to understand the importance of parents coming together to create alternative models of education that work for their communities.“That’s what I feel a kindred spirit around. Parents are taking the lead. I just don’t want people talking about pods and thinking that’s the only solution,” she said.“This game isn’t going to be won or lost based on what our systems are doing.” ‘Teachers shouldn’t be criticized for doing this’It’s not just parents and matchmakers driving the market. Educators, some out of work, some hesitant to return to the classroom for fear of infection, are also searching for ways to put their skills to use.Maia Lazar, who has been a substitute teacher in the Los Angeles area for the past four years, is a member of Chang’s Facebook group and is hoping to be hired by a family or group willing to pay her $1,000 (£785) a week to teach exclusively to their pod – an arrangement that would minimize her exposure to the virus.Lazar said she shares a concern for equity, but doesn’t believe teachers who privately offer their services to make a living should be shamed for doing so.“Individually, a teacher shouldn’t be criticised for doing this,” she said, adding that she is helping to organize educators willing to donate their time to families who can’t afford to hire a tutor but want assistance.In recent days, some members of the Facebook group have floated ideas for creating more inclusive pods, including efforts to recruit students from Black or Latinx families and sponsor their fees.But Lazar sees that approach as fraught. “You’re seeing people say that they’re willing to sponsor a person of color, but that can also be problematic, because you’re assuming all people of color don’t have means,” she said.Meanwhile, some educators are accepting that pods, microschools and private tutoring are part of the picture – at least in California, where the majority of schools are unlikely to resume in person anytime soon – and are turning their focus instead on how to make them more equitable.Elisha Smith Arrillaga, the executive director of the Education Trust – West, a research and advocacy organization focused on educational justice, said she had been fielding a lot of questions about pods in recent days.“We can’t dictate individual parent choices, but we haven’t done enough to make sure our vulnerable students are getting what they need regardless of what high-income parents are doing,” she said.“These pods arising means that we need to even more urgently look for ways to get every student everything they need.”

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