lastgeeksdying

[lastgeeksdying]

The Joker is a Liar and you Should Not Trust him

The Joker is a Liar and you Should Not Trust him Nine years ago, a Batman film came out that was herald as the best Super Hero film.  One thought to transcend the status of Super Hero films and into that of general films.  People would say that it wasn't just a good super hero movie, that it was a great crime movie in the same vein as Heat and it's ilk.   There is a discussion to be had at one point about why the movie isn't perfect and the flaws that a lot of nerds overlook because they really want and internally need to be good.  There is a discussion to be had about why nerds feel the need for it to be transcendentally good beyond it's actual quality.   This isn't those discussions.  But it is about of one of the common things that most viewers and especially casual viewers come across discussing.  I'm referring to the king of unreliable narrators, The Joker. As of recently, most armchair critics of concepts have been citing The Dark Knight's Joker as ammunition against the possible Joker Origin Film, The Joker and Harley movie, and Suicide Squad 2.  I understand that a lot of people can't articulate why they don't want those movies, but using a false argument against it doesn't help you.  It certainly is a challenge that most people do not realize they are using a false argument.   People who have watched the Dark Knight seem to want to take the Joker's word at face value.  Common misconceptions are that the Joker has no plan and that the Joker has no origin.   Of these two, one is far easier to explain than the other, so I will start there.  The Joker 100 percent has a plan.  To see this you need to approach his arc on it's own.  Why does he do a thing.  So the first question becomes the Bank Robbery and School bus escape.  Why does he do this?  Why does this work and what is it's goal?  To what end does this attack serve?   At that juncture you have to discuss what The Joker's motivation is and what he ultimately wants to accomplish.  If you take him at his word, The Joker is an agent of Chaos who just wants to watch the world burn.  That it isn't about money it's about sending a message.  If he just wanted to watch the world burn, he wouldn't be so focused on attacking the mob.  He wouldn't be directly following in Batman's footsteps.  The Joker is playing a long game, manipulating players in order to create flunkies who he can manipulate into doing his work for him.  To jump around a bit, he starts with a series of criminals in clown outfits who he has recruited to take down a mob bank.  He then kills each of them.  This is is a deliberate choice to cover his own tracks.  He's not trying to tell the mob The Joker is coming for them.  But he is working hard to hit them where it hurts.   I want you to think about why he would want to attack the mob but not have them know it was him.   From the bank heist, he starts making an offer to work with the mob to help them fight off the Batman.  At this point, he doesn't really care about Batman.  He hasn't fought him or interacted with him, and mostly sees him as a barrier to his goal.  We also see him recruiting.  And he does so by appealing to what Gambol's men want, which is to live.  He's using Batman's tricks of fear and intimidating by killing Gambol as brainwashing tactic to recruit desperate men.  He doesn't want the best men, he wants men he can easily manipulate.  It's why he uses a mixture of criminals and the mental ill.  And he turns the mentally ill into criminals to get to what he wants.   He goes step by step to dismantle the mob or have Batman help him dismantle the mob.   His greatest success is what he does to Harvey Dent.  For most people watching, it seems like the Joker is putting Batman in a position of making a difficult choice, but really, he his movie the pieces to break Harvey Dent.  It was Harvey's Rico case that prevented him from getting his type of Justice on the mob.   It is just a bonus that by killing Rachel that he can screw with Batman's head too.  It disorients Batman allowing The Joker an easier time at going after his targets.  And it's with his agent, Harvey Dent that he's able to strike at the mob.   The Joker likes Batman and hates the Police and the mob.  He hates established systems because they are what caused him.  Those established systems are what broke him.   I subscribe to the notion that the Joker has a distinct origin in The Dark Knight, but it is one he doesn't tell anyone except Harvey Dent.  He's clever because he doesn't even directly tell Harvey what his Origin is.  But he does say " You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even when the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I told the press that, like, a gang-banger would get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics. Because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everybody loses their minds!".  And it is here that he slips up and let's the Harvey know that he was a soldier.  He was a soldier involved in a horrific accident that resulted in him being mentally broken.  And it was this that broke him furhter because no one came to rescue him.  No, the system rejected him.  He wasn't given the health care he needed, he wasn't given the assistance to get on his feet after coming home that he needed to survive.  His family and loved ones were either dead or rejected him.   When he got back from war, he had to turn to the mob for assistance in getting on his feet, and when he couldn't pay them back, they cut his face and they killed his family that was left.  Possibly a wife. Him being a soldier was why he was able to march and shoot in the parade without any of the other soldiers noticing.   The Joker was lying when he said he didn't have any plans, because his plans are what allowed him to get the Revenge he sought.  Because The Joker is a person.  He isn't a supernatural being of Chaos.  He is a liar and a man searching for Revenge.   It's worth noting that part way through the movie, he eventually decides that Batman is an agent of the system that he needs to be dismantled.   The Joker is a liar.  And he is determined to convince everyone that his goals aren't what they are in order to give him an element of unpredictability.  But ultimately, he is as much a student of Batman as anyone in the comics in the Bat-Family ever would be.  

[lastgeeksdying]

Adapting Yu Yu Hakusho

Gosh, I feel like I took such a long break.   It wasn't that long, a week and some change, but it felt long.   Sometimes in times like this I'm working on hidden elements of projects.  I.E. for the DC pitches series, I'm working on future pitches, dreading coming to the next ones in line.  I know that they need to be written and come forward, but they are pitches to fill in some of the space that exists.  A sequel to Aquaman, Flash/Cyborg, and a few others that I just don't care about but DC has set up for me.  If I fall behind, I fall behind.   This whole blog is my thoughts, Ideas, public works for me to just write, preach, or complain.  I don't think a lot of it is important or needed, but it keeps me writing.  In the last eight or so years, I've been in a funk.  Really, since I left college I've been in a depression.  And it comes and goes, but when I suffer from it the thing it affects most is my motivation.  It makes me not want to write.  I realized at some point that I needed to be writing.  So this blog is me writing.  Something.   Most of it won't be edited, it'll be proof read by firefox/chrome spellchecking extensions. Sometimes, I'll go off in random directions that I wasn't expecting based on whatever is tickling my  fancy at the time.   For example, I've been reading Batman comics on my breaks at work, and on my transit commute, I started reading image books I'd fallen behind on.   Y'all should read Bitch Planet, Lazarus, Monsteress, Old Guard, and Black Magick. Often these will sometimes fall out of order and won't make sense.  That's okay.  It's mostly stream of consciousness anyway.  Except public.   I'll mostly post things I'm writing using other peoples properties since I don't have a claim to those and won't get to make them anyway.   Let's do something random.   This is how I'd envision doing a series of movies based on Yu Yu Hakusho.   I know, I know.  American Adaptations of anime aren't great.  But often they are made by studios, and not creators trying to translate those properties.   Let's talk a bit background.  Anyone familiar with this Anime knows that the series is broken into 4 distinct major arcs, and a number of smaller serial adventures.   There are two ways to adapt this.  The first way is a movie per adventure.  That would look something like: Yusuke's Dead and return episodesThe three demons arcThe Genkai TournamentThe Spirit BeastsToguro/Yukina arc Dark Tournament Part 1 ( Team Rokuyukai.)Part 2 (Team Itchigaki)Part 3  (Team Masho)Part 4 (Team Toguro) Sensui Saga Part 1 ( Disciples and The Doctor)Sensui Saga Part 2( Seaman/Sniper)Sensui Saga Part 3 ( Gamer/Gormet)Sensui Saga Part 4(gateway) Three Kings Part 1 (Prelude)Three Kings Part 2 (Tournament) And if we were doing a series of OVA's animated 70-90 minute movies, this could work.   In an American enviroment, I'd want to finish the story.  So to me, it'd be four movies.   Spirit DetectiveDark TournamentDark AngelThree Kings Yes, this means I want to cram all of the first season into a movie.  We can talk about the other three sagas at another time.   Right off the bat, I want to cut out the Spirit beasts arc.  It certainly establishes a number of the dynamics, but I think we can get to those much quicker in other ways.   I also basically want to smash the Genkai tournament and the Three Demons arc together and have it lead to the Toguro/Yukina story.   So I bet y'all are wondering how.  The opening would be pretty short, we could spend the first 20-30 minutes doing the explaining demons and the Spirit world and then just cut out the quest part and have Koenma assign Yusuke to infiltrate the Genkai tournament whose prizes are the three Dark Artifacts.  Yusuke, Kuwabara, Rando, Hiei, Kurama, and a few others are all participants.  Mostly a demon tournament here in the living world.   Establish dynamics through the tournament and have Yusuke win.  Genaki agrees to pass the items over to Spirit World's team, but let's Hiei use the Forlorne Hope to find his sister.  Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama agree to help him rescue her.   Then they break into the compound, save Yunkina but Toguro let's them get away.   In the end, Toguro offers Yusuke the chance to fight in the Dark Tournament.   It's pretty easy to set this up as a four part saga, be true to the spirit of the anime and manga, while still being interesting and not bloated.  

[lastgeeksdying]

On the twelve Friday the 13th films

I recently rewatched or watched for the first time all of the F13 movies.  Here's what I thought. On Part 1: The ending is a cool twist on expectations, even today.  Most folks go into this film still expecting Jason Vorhees and instead are shocked.  If they get that far.  Because this movie is super garbage otherwise.   Poorly written, poorly edited, it looks like it's from the early 70's but instead is from the 80's.  The movie goes out of it's way to make you hate most of the characters.   On Part 2: A remix of the first film, trying to make a sequel to a really strange final moment.  Lumberjack/Baghead/KKK Jason here is the where his personality seems maluable, but you can see the seeds of him starting to become the Silly theatrical maniac that would come on display as we go.   On Part 3: If the first film is laughable bad for it's low budget, this is laughable for how big it's budget is and how much time is wasted on shitty 3D effects.  But Jason with a Harpoon gun is choice.   On Part 4: Solid. Because it felt like it was going to be the last Jason movie, it did a good job creating the world of Crystal Lake and bringing it to a close. It also cautiously set up sequels.  Corey Feldman did a good job for a child actor.   On Part 5: Interesting ideas with Characters as developed as the first few films so...actually underrated. I think this film gets a lot of hate because SPOILERS the killer isn't Jason.  Much Like Halloween III, Every character that isn't Tommy, is laughably bad.  I think a really good reboot could do Tommy's arc justice.  If a writer was careful.  This also feels like the point where the series is taking itself less seriously.  This may be because it's become a cash grab annual franchise, but I think it gives the franchise a soul.  It's not a dark a gritty series anymore.  It's not Low Rent Halloween, but it's not the campy gore-fest of Nightmare on Elm Street. It's exactly where I want it to be.   On Part six: Great. If my favorite Jason movie didn't exist, this would be it.  It takes every trope established in the franchise up to this point and nails them.  It has Tommy come back and not pay off the ending of Part 5 since audiences hated that, and instead has been have a break down and create the thing he hates.  It's when the series moves from silly, but maybe real to Supernatural Killer.  I feel like every idea non-fans have of the character of Jason comes from this movie.  My only complaint is that his costume isn't as cool as the one in 7.   On Part Seven: The last act is cool.  Otherwise this movie just trots along at a slow pace.  Nothing super exciting happens, even with a telekinetic main character.  This was originially conceived as a Carrie vs Jason movie, but they couldn't get the rights.  Which is likely for the best considering how they handled Tina's backstory here.  But it'd be funny to use this movie as a launch pad for continuing Carries rain of destruction.  But the last 20-30 minutes are worth the wait.  Once Tina starts cutting loose with her powers, suddenly Jason has a real adversary that he can go toe to toe with.     On Takes Manhattan: Half good, half a joke So the funny story about this movie, go watch the trailer.  It's all this is a movie set in new york. You know this is new york.  And here's shots of Jason on a street!  Here's Jason on a Subway.   For anyone whose seen the movie, they laugh at the trailer.  Because it's actually set on a "cruise" ship that passes by Crystal Lake on it's way to New York.  It's 2/3rds of the film before they reach New York.  Then it's about 2/3rds of the time remaining on the docks and the warehouses there.  Including a really gross and needless mugging, drugging, and attempted rape scene.  The last third spends most of it's time getting from the docks, to downtown New York, onto a Subway, and then into the Sewers.  The last 10ish minutes are in the Sewers and Jason dies in the stupidiest, most non-sensical way.   Now, this is the part where I say something that sounds silly.  The stuff on the boat?   Actually feels like Jason and the Friday the Thirteenth movies.  The stuff in New York?  So bad, and such a joke...which leads us to...   On Jason Goes to Hell: Hated it.  Don't do it. This is the worst film in the franchise.  This is a film that is trying way way too hard to take itself seriously and make Jason scary again.  It loses all of the fun of the previous movies and it just falls apart.   It's way too late to try to go back. It's plot is nonsensical.  Long Story Short:  Jason gets tricked by the FBI who blow his body up.  Then via MAGIC(???) or something it's discovered in the dumbest way possible that Jason isn't just Supernatural, but a demon.  And it's the dumbest fucking thing.  The coroner examining Jason's body is maybe compelled by the heart, maybe he's just crazy, to eat Jason's heart.  This transfers Jason from his exploded body into the coroner's body.  Now he can run around and kill people, and as his new body is dying he has to change into a new person. Yeah, it's a body swaping movie that feels like they just reshot a huge chunk of the movie to take a generic horror movie and make it about Jason.  And surprise, it was heavily reshot and edited and changed by the producer/franchise creator because the lead actress walked off set and the director had to be let go with days of filming still to go.  And then later they went back and filmed more.  So about 60 percent of the movie was done after the principle filming.   This gets worse when you get to the fact that there was a secret Vorhees sister who had a daughter who had a daughter.  The Sister is killed and now Jason is hunting the Daughter and her daughter.  But it's not a Michael Myers situation.  It's because of a shitty prophecy that Jason can reborn his original body by using a blood relatives body.   At the end of the film, Jason breaks out of his body as a demon creature, and it looks really bad.  Eventually he uses the body the dead sister (He didn't use the sister earlier because the writers had thought of that plot line yet.  There were three writers, can you tell?).  Jason is reborn, there is another prophecy about only a Vorhees can kill a Vorhees so Jason's niece stabs Jason witha  magic knife and he gets pulled into hell.  Then big suprise ending moment.   The surprise ending moment is that Freddy Krugars claw comes out of the ground and Freddy Laughs.  At this point, they were trying hard to get a Freddy Vs Jason movie, but hadn't nailed the rights yet.  This will lead to them making Jason X.   The one redeeming moment is that they used a prop from another movie as just a creepy book in the Vorhees house.  But for fans it is the Necronomicon from Evil Dead.  Which lead to a comic of Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash.   On Jason X: Loved it.  Jason X is my favorite film in the franchise.  If Jason goes to Hell takes itself too seriously, Jason X understands how campy it needs to be and what a scifi movie needs to be.  There are characters I genuinely like and am saddened when they die.  There are surprises for someone who hadn't watched it in years.  You can tell that these were fans of Alien and Aliens and wanted to Mash them together with the previous core Jason concepts.  And by doing so it creates magic.   It also has a cool premise about the idea that Jason in the future isn't unstoppable, but he is tough.  They stop him, and then in the fifth act twist, space science accidentally gives him an upgrade and he becomes Uber Jason, who crashes on Earth 2.  I don't want to ruin anything else about the movie, but this is the movie with the best line.   "Hey guys, it's fine!  He just wanted his machete back!"  And not only is it a great line, it actually works in context and creates a hilarious but terrifying moment.   On Freddy Vs Jason: It's so bad.  And it's a shame because there is bare concept that's good.   The idea that Freddy has been forgotten.  That the town banded together to try and stop him from existing by blocking thoughts and dreams of him and redacting everything possible, that's neat.   The film is missing elements that are key to making it work.  The first thing is the teens. They are all shitlords and totally not worth your time.  The "Good" Characters are both flimsy at best, but also not really likable.   Characters don't make dumb choices, the writers drop bad ideas into their heads because they want certain scenes or plot.  The entire plot involving dream suppressing drugs feels like it is going to be important, but by the midpoint, the film has tossed it out.   Freddy has always been a pretty garbage and had traded entirely on gore and Robert Englund's performance.  Here he makes dumb decision after dumb decision.  And it's just...you know, I don't even care.   What really pushed this movie into almost Goes to Hell bad is it's portrayal of Jason.   This Jason has no personality.  He's a big killy monster who wants to kill. He doesn't have any of the theatrics that make Jason interesting to watch.  He doesn't have the weird teleports or the brutal kills.  He's boring here.  And then they gave him a weakness.  They handed him a water phobia.  Which doesn't fit the character or the continuity.  He Looks like a Jason Cosplayer and has the scripting of one.  It's bad, and mostly unforgivable.   The redeeming element of this movie is that there are ideas here that are interesting, but so much of it is mishandled by bad direction and bad writing that it just becomes a shame.   On the Remake: I appreciate that the used the film to try and pay homage to what little plot exists in the first three films.  Let's show the mom is a killer.   Let's show him do some kills with the bag on his head.  Let's have him find the mask after his bag is damaged.  And that's the first 40 minutes.  It is almost like they knew they a modern audience could take just one of those films plots and they really wanted to speed it up.   It even feels like they want to create a Tommy Jarvis like anti-Jason in the form of the very tall Jared Padelecki.   It's important to remember this is a new Jason, and a new world.  And I am okay with that.  But the writing feels too on the nose.  It gives character traits to people that are going to die, and character missions for characters who will survive.   I don't hate this new Jason.  I want to know why he grows weed and doesn't want to let anyone near it.  That's really weird.  But overall the film does some brutal kills.  It has nudity for nudity sake.  It has drug use.  It has virginal characters.  It has the killer.  It has the teens (Who are campers instead of counselors which annoys me but whatever).  And even has a smidge of heart.  I just feel like the film could have been tighter.  The flashback about Pamela should have been saved as a Camp Fire story flashback.  And the first group of Campers should have been killed off much faster.  The film spends a solid fifteen minutes with them, when it should have been five.   The biggest missed opportunity here is that it is trying to be serious again, and it needed to embrace the camp.  There is a part where a character walks off and starts singing with his ipod to Sister Christian.  This should have lead into a montage where Jason kills those five to that song.   Ultimately, there were only a few I will ever go back to.  And only one I'd tell people is worth the time to watch if you like comedy/horror(Jason X rules!) Don't worry guys, he just wanted his Machete back!

[lastgeeksdying]

The Blood Letting of Isawa Tsukimi

This is a companion piece of Fiction to the work written and posted yesterday.  Isawa Tsukimi was not born an Isawa.  She was born an Asako.  Expertly trained as a negotiator and courtier, she was adaptable to her circumstances and able to get the best out of people.   She has spent much of her life in service of the Isawa family.  After a most disastrous affair, Asako Tsukimi found her self sold as she saw it.  Others called it Marriage.  The arrangement that left her in such a predicament involved one of the greatest shames of the Asako families. A delicate meeting between the Elemental Council and the Scorpion Clan was set off course when an Asako Courtier failed to arrive to greet the Scorpion dignitaries.  They were prepared to discuss a trade of Shugenja, to better prepare their forces for the coming tide of evil.   With the meeting seemingly loss, the Isawa of the Council were forced to arrange for a marriage between a young Shiba Samurai and one of the Scorpion Courtiers.  As punishment for the Asako failure, a great courtier was chosen to marry an insufferable member of the Isawa family, Isawa Titan.   It was not that she was not attracted to her new husband.  He was certainly physically attractive.  No, her problem with him lay in his personality.  He became easily obsessed.  Early in their relationship he learned of the Black Scrolls existence and became determined to learn all that he could, what little there was to find, about them.   Eventually he was called to hold guard over the Temple of the Eight Guardians.  Tsukimi would feign disappointment that he was leaving her and their child for such a long period.  But with each letter of extension, the more she knew she could focus on her work in the courts.   It would come to be a great boon that he was gone when a young Scorpion Shugenja, vastly trained as a courtier, and her Yojimbo would arrive, expecting to converse with Isawa Titan and instead finding Tsukimi.   Tsukimi was not unattractive herself.  She was relatively tall, but kept herself slouched or sitting most of the time.   The Yojimbo was Bayushi Wateru.  Tsukimi did not often see female Yojimbo, and when she did she always made sure to take notice.  She was tall, even by Tsukimi's standards.  She was reserved, her hair pulled back.   Her armor was in perfect arrangement.  Tsukimi never saw her without her hand on her blade.  It was clear she wasn't simply an ordinary Yojimbo.   And if it wasn't for the Yojimbo's charge, Yogo Kishay, she wouldn't have taken her eyes off of Wateru.  But the dark beauty of Kishay brought her weakness she was not prepared for.  Kishay put on a face of Beauty.  She may have used a scarf to mask her face, but it was her movements that hid who she really was.  Tsukimi was prepared for deadly beauty, she was not prepared for soft words.   "Greetings Isawa."  She bowed.  It was rare for Tsukimi to experience such courtesy.  Even in her court appearances, such gestures never felt quite so honest.  "I bring you best wishes from the Scorpion Lands. I sincerely apology for the intrusion.  We were on our Journey to meet your husband when we found that you lived here, and I feel I can learn much about a person by knowing who they spend time with." Tsukimi knew she was being played, but with her heart a flutter, she had a hard time resisting.  "The apology is welcomed, but unnecessary.  I am preparing for an upcoming Court Appearance." "In that case I will take up as little of your time and depart." "No, no.  I insist.  Stay.  Days like this lately the only one I speak to is my daughter.  And she is not currently home" "Well, if you so insist."  Kishay walked into Tsukimi's home.  She took note of the minimalist approach to the room, even for an Isawa.  "I would have expected you to own more things." "As a Courtier, I am too busy to own anything." "And your husband?" "He took most of his scrolls with him to the Temple." "You were originally an Asako, am I correct?  You are far too skilled of a courtier to have been born an Isawa." "I am both flattered and appalled--" "My many appologizes, I didn't mean to disres--" "It's quite alright.  Please.  Let us be informal here.  This is my home.  I have no need for formality here.  I deal with far too much of it out there." "If it pleases you." "It does.  Now I am curious, why is it a Shugenja such as yourself only travels with a single Yojimbo, and not an entire company of guards?" "I did not wish to appear threatening as I traveled through your homelands.  I trust in Bayushi Wateru here to protect me from any threats that may arise.  Should they arise.  do you believe any threats would arise?" "No, I- I don't expect so.  except maybe be threatened by boredom of my husband's droning." "Does he like to talk?" "Sometimes, often about things he shouldn't.  One time he learned about some dark artifacts existence and it set him off speculating for weeks." Kishay laughs.  "Is he easily obsessed with things?" "Oh yes.  You would not believe the problems he causes himself with that.  What about yourself, do you have many flaws?" Kishay looks worried.  She covers her face with her fan.  "Do I, suffer an imperfection?" "No,No.  I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to im-" Kishay laughs.  "I was joking.  I am not a Crane.  I do not believe in the grand perfection in all things.  " Wateru looks over at Kishay.  "It appears that my Yojimbo wishes to remind me of my next appointment." "So soon?"  Tsukimi is visually saddened by the news. "Unfortunately.  How about I stop by on the way back through?  We can catch up and compare notes."  She smiles at Tsukimi. "I would like that very much." "I will see you then."  Kishay bows once more and the pair leave.   Tsukimi finally allows herself to relax.  Her orange robes seemed to stretch as she stretched her neck and arms.  She was finally able to be herself again.   Some hours later, after her daughter had gone to bed, Tsukimi was awoken by a rustling.  For a moment, she assumed an animal had gotten into the residence.  But as it continued, it was was a single muffled grunt that drew her attention.   She brought herself to her feet and found herself investigating the situation.   As she walked into the room and found a shrouded figure standing over her child, blood flowing.  The figures eyes were glowing.   A burst of dark elemental energy rushed out of the strangers hand towards Tsukimi. In a moment she held up her palm and gathered in enough Chi to absorb the blast.  It had been many years since she had used a Kiho, but she was glad to see that she was able to hold her own.   Not certain of what was happening, she charged the bloodspeaker gathering her chi into her palm, forcing a full blast of wind into the Bloodspeakers face, killing him instantly.   Looking at her dead little girl, Tsukimi looked down to shock.  Not shock at the death of her child, she knew it was coming.  She knew a Bloodspeaker would not take her betrayal lying down.  She had been waiting all day for such a moment.  It was shock that the Bloodspeaker she killed was not who she was expecting. It was not the Bloodspeaker Hoshi Aisha, her former lover.  

[lastgeeksdying]

The Fall of Isawa Titan

The following is a short bit of fanfiction, set within the world of Legend of the Five Rings.  If you really want to learn what some of these terms mean, you’d best deep dive into those wiki pages.

The young scholar did not take kindly to instructions.  Isawa Titan would much rather forge his own path than follow the instructions of his elders.  Wise trainers from various clans would offer advice and over and over again we would scoff, "I am familiar enough." He stood in the halls of The Temple of the Eight Guardians.  He often came to the Temple of the Water Dragon to reflect on strategy.  On how to protect those he traveled with and how to take advantage of the enemies greatest flaws.  The irony was his failure to see his own flaws.  He was able to execute flawless open gambits on an unsuspecting enemy.  No stratagem he laid down failed to make gains.  This, however, is a flawed view.   As he began to narrow his oppositions options, they began to consolidate their skills.  They became experts at predicting his other schemes and by the end of a conflict, he would be no more advantaged than he was when he began.  He could open wonderfully, but lacked the foresight to step forth and seize victory.   Instead allowing his own insecurities and second guessing take hold.   The crystal structure of the Temple of Water offered the strongest resemblance to it's native element of all of the structures within the greater Temple.  It physically looked like ice.  It brought a semblance of peace and tranquility to the stormy waters of Titan's mind.   For too long now, Isawa Titan has felt himself obsessed with a vision within his dreams.  A great darkness enveloping the land of Rokugan, consuming the light from all but the strongest corners.   The screen door behind him slid open as a young apprentice appeared.  "The envoy from the Scorpion lands is here." "Very well."  Titan rose to his feet and accompanied the young trainee to the temple entrance.   While the general coloration of each clan seemed to be in unison, many individuals experienced a variation in their personal robes.  A bit of personality imbued in each aspect of their lives.  While the apprentice that accompanied him wore the more traditionally muted red and orange robes of the glad, Titan insisted on the brightest oranges and deepest reds he could dye.  The gold tails on the hem were, however dim.  Titan wanted to make sure that his forces could see him within an army.  That a rival warlord could easily pick him out, and approach him as pride often drove one to do.   He, of course, suffered the flaws of being a bright flame in the fires of the Phoenix. The envoy from the Scorpion lands was far more reserved than Isawa Titan.   It seemed, that Yogo Kishay was sent as part of an exchange among Shugenja families.  As two separate families sourcing from the same original Kami, they had many things to learn about where their learning's splintered.   "I bring you greetings and best wishes from the Scorpion Clan."   "I can't imagine anyone would want those from the Scorpion." "Why, Isawa Titan, I am hurt by your words.  Wounded by such an obvious cut that you would waste the breath on me." "Perhaps you are correct.  Let us start again.  I humbly and formally welcome you to the Phoenix lands and to the Temple of the Eight Guardians.   Please, follow my apprentice into the halls.  I will be with you shortly." "Very well, you do seem distracted.  I should hope you'll have centered your full attention by the time of your return." Yogo Kishay bows and follows behind the apprentice.  Titan had been distracted.  Not just by Kishay, who was quite lovely as far as every beauty standard that Titan had held, but by his family at home.  Where once he held an unending love for his Wife and Child, now all he felt was the Void.  He didn't intend to spend as much time at the Temple as he had.  What was originally intended to only be a few weeks of overseeing the Temple while it's normal watcher was off, it had turned into months after said Watcher perished at the hands of an Ashingaru uprising.   While the uprising of Peasants was struck down, it left the Phoenix lands in turmoil and families on edge.  And with such an important opportunity to mutually learn from the Yogo family Shugenja, it seemed Titan was off balance.   His mind frequently found itself roaming to thoughts of the Black Scrolls, the powerful dark artifacts that could unleash powerful, terrible magic upon the world.  He thought, perhaps, they could finally give him the edge he needs in order to bring down his enemies who had managed to outwit him in the end.   Titan knew that dwelling on these thoughts who lead him down a path he can not follow.   He returned his focus to emissary of his dreams, the Water Dragon.  They had never met each other, but Isawa Titan had watched the destruction the Water Dragon caused and used it's tactics to his own advantage.   The clarity that the Water Dragon brought Titan's mind seemed to be enough.  He turned and returned to the halls. When he entered the study, he took too much time noting the Scorpion's appearance.  Her Maroon robes kept her figure hidden.  Even her sash along her torso held secrets.  Her fan was held down by her side, with the entirety of her lower face covered by a scarf.  This scarf lowered under her robes, concealing any skins that might have been revealed by her neckline.  It was remarkably modest for a Scorpion.   "Do my robes please your eye?" "No, nothing of that nature.  I was trying to see if I recognized anything.  If I knew you from before. " "I assure you, " she tapped his shoulder.  "If we had met prior, you would know or your would be dead." "That is certainly ominous."  She laughed,  "I was unaware that Scorpion laughed." "You seem to be unaware of many things Phoenix.  How familiar are you with Yogo?" She sat down on her knees, inviting Titan to join her with her hand.   He followed her invitation and sat down as well.  "I know that they are great family of high esteem with deep roots within the studies of Shugenja. " "Certainly everyone knows those brief facts, but what do you know of Yogo himself?" "The ill-fated husband of Asako?  The betrayer of his wife and family?  Not much."  Titan seemed uneased by the discussion.  Kishay signaled to the apprentice to bring over the tea.   "Such a reduction of a complex hero.  The Scorpion are not known of their transparency of course.  Yogo was a great warrior.  A powerful Shugenja who managed to keep the forces of Fu Leng at bay, and even managed to turn the tide of battle more than a few times.  This was a personal afront to Fu Leng." Isawa Titan scoffed, sniffing the tea that had been poured from him.  "You are trying to tell me Fu Leng made Yogo leave the Phoenix Clan? Leave Asako?" She waived for the apprentice to leave them. "No, no.  It would be Fu Leng who would curse Yogo.  A powerful curse that would cause the cursed to betray the one they loved at the most crucial moment.  And not just Yogo, but all of his descendants and their descendants and so on.  Isawa was the one who suggested he commit Seppuku."   " Isawa was the one who discovered that Yogo fled."   "Yes, but only after he was visited by Bayushi himself.  Bayushi who urged Yogo to not let his abilties to be wasted, but to join the Scorpion.   And when Yogo asked Bayushi if he was afraid of the curse, he laughed.   He knew that Yogo would never love Bayushi like he had Shiba.  " "So rather than betray Shiba he...betrayed Shiba?" She smirked.  "No one knows for certain who he actually betrayed.  It could have been one of his scorpion borne daughters, it could have been Shiba, or Asako.  It isn't clear.  What is clear is that Bayushi would entrust Yogo with protecting the Black Scrolls of Fu Leng.  " With those four words Isawa Titan's mind went blank.  He could think of nothing but those scrolls. "The scrolls?" "Why, yes.  As you know, Three of those Scrolls would go on to end up in the hands of the Phoenix.  "  Titan had not known this.  He knew of their legend, but he had never thought to inquire where they were.  To tempt himself so.  "  Two had been destroyed, and the remaining seven were in the hands of the Scorpion.  It is with that knowledge that the Scorpion multiplied their investment in the elements.  Even we are not so foolish as to believe we could control the soul fragments of Fu Leng." "Of course, "  Titan's mind was racing with the possibilities of gaining the scrolls.   Kishay leaned in closer to Titan.  "  It is this discipline that would lead us to learning everything we can, and using everything we can, and knowing what we can not do that lends us our strength.  "  She put her hand on his knee "Though not always knowing what we should do." Titan was not expecting to find himself distracted from his obsession, and yet here he could feel Kishay and nothing else. The sun began to rise and Isawa Titan saw what he had done.  He left rapidly.  He abandoned his robes and took up plain robes.  The morning had brought him clarity and new conviction.  He knew that where Kishay laid, there was no returning.  But he could stop himself from unleashing the scrolls.  From unleashing Fu Leng.  So he fled.  He left the Phoenix Lands with no intention to ever return.   He found himself many places over the years that he was gone.  Far beyond the reaches of Rokugan.  For so long he found himself in the Ivory Kingdoms, in the seas, and in the Burning Sands.   When he would one day return to Rokugan he found himself in Scorpion Lands. He found himself introducing himself as Yogo Titan.  

[lastgeeksdying]

War is Coming, and I don't know what to do

Readers, I'm afraid.  I've been jokingly saying for five years now that we were heading to a second Civil War here in the U.S. based around Civil Rights.  The entirety of the right-wing has made me nervous.  The Moderates make me nervous because they tolerate the right.  The Left makes me nervous because they don't know how to handle being under attack.  They are either too Snowflakey according to their adversaries, or too Aggressive according to their allies. I wish that this was a baseless fear.  I wish that it was just paranoia.  But peoples lives are at stake here at home.  Trans folk are dying left and right.  Racist actions are becoming more common.  People of color are being attacked.  And the Moderates and the Righties, are still saying that these are isolated incidents.  Or worse, they are supporting them. They are fighting for White Supremacy.  They figured out that their power was under fire and they've had to step up to show just how scary they really are.   American's don't get to sit by anymore. And if you are sitting by, acting like there is nothing wrong and that things are continuing at a regular pace, you are white. Or you are rich.  And if you are both you are likely part of the manipulation that is happening.  There are so many complicated elements to this situation.  The growing insecurity coming from the ultra religious.  The desire to not change coming from the white.  The hate coming from the Straight/Cis people who can't stand the LBGTQ community.  The frustrated, repressed crowd that intersects those groups who want to control and stop non-married American's from having Sex.   The rich and powerful are seeing these actions and they are manipulating them.  Pushing them to fight the various groups that aren't in power.   They are specifically attacking each group separately, they are using the news and white people to fight against intersectionality.  Because they know that the marginalized is actually bigger than them, the powerful, but it is the goals of the individual groups that intersect that are keeping them from banding together.   And by pushing us to combat each other on small scale issues, and keep turning the tables they are able to keep us distracted.  They use conflicts like Donald Trump to keep us from seeing the covert war we are forcing to battle through attrition.   We are victims of violence, we are victims of war, but because the white don't see it as connected events, we can't be justified if we try to fight back.  So if one person tries to stand up, they are decried as being a radical.  And if they are too radical, then suddenly the closer to Moderate lefties have to turn their backs on the radical so as not to lose their moderate leaning allies.   And we are left standing, trying to fight a war without anyone noticing.   Eventually the time will come when open war will begin. Where part of America will stand up and say that enough is enough and we can't let them keep controlling us.  But I don't know if that will be the left standing up or the Right.  And I don't know if our enemies abroad, Russia,  North Korea, Isis, and the others who are staying quiet, will use that situation to their advantage.   I don't have an answer for how to proceed.  I don't have an answer for why this is happening or how to stop it.  I'm just afraid that everything we've ever known is going to end soon and I can't imagine what that world will look like.  Will our Allies outside of the U.S. side with the conservatives or the Liberals?  Will they look at the forces of Donald Trump as agents of a foreign power?  Will they think that the left is far too accepting and fight against us?  Will they stand back and watch?   I don't mean to be an alarmist, but I don't know if the left can win a war in open warfare.  And I don't think us in the far left can be diplomatic enough to win  the help of the Moderate Left to keep from being further demonized.   We as a group need to figure out how to go forward.  Because right now, we are all marching towards an end where we all lose.  

[lastgeeksdying]

Pitches I built a series of stories using the current DC cinematic universe as a loose jumping off point and how to plan it to go forward.  It is a road to get it where I want it, but I think it can be done.  One pitch a week each Friday until Justice League.   So this started posting after Wonder Woman is out but before Justice League.  In theory this means it'll run right up to the release of Justice League.  These speculations will be mostly written before Wonder Woman, with some small changes made following seeing Wonder Woman.  I've included a time line below, with one or two word teases of the pitches going forward.  However, much like this episode, I reserve the right to add titles that I forgot or that I feel will fit in to the mythology as I build out.  Today, I bring you The Batman. 

Here’s the basis of what I think will happen in the films that are already being worked on.  Also, I will be cancelling some of the other films that are set to come out.  DONE DONE DONE. 

Justice League will build the team, tease Darkseid.   Aquaman will be Aquaman fighting Black Manta, set up Ord as Ocean Master.  I'll mostly be treating it as having just been an Origin story. There is a good chance it will actually be Throne of Atlantis, but that isn't important enough for me to factor in when it comes to the pitches down the road.  Which, spoilers, will include a Throne of Atlantis Pitch Justice League: Apokalypse aka JL2  will be Darkseid arriving.(roughly JL:Origin) A Timeline of the Pitches so far are: (Wonder Woman) (Justice League) (Aquaman) (Justice League 2) Wonder Woman:  Fastest in the Jungle THE BATMAN Throne Brave Tower Fear Contract VS Court Identity Black Fall Eyes Serious Shazam Crisis Elegy Corps Peacemakers Young Effigy Society Reborn Kingdom Come Errant Knight Rotworld Return Night Inc The movie opens with a laugh.   A Camera Flashes and a gun shot goes off.   Batman and Robin head to Jim Gordon's home and find Barbara, in her Batgirl costume, shot.  He helps her and changes her out of her suit.  He brings her to the Hospital.  She tells him Jokerland.   Robin rushes out of the room.  Batman tells him to stop but he goes anyway. Sometime later Batman arrives at an Abandoned Amusement park.  The place has been repainted and remarked as "Joker Land".  Bruce travels to the security office and finds each of the guards dead.  Video starts playing showing Robin tied to a chair.  Unmasked.  "Tim Drake?   Bruce Wayne's adopted SON?  Certainly too old to be the old Robin.  Oh well."  Joker comes out of the shadows.  This is a classic looking Joker, his visual look is much more akin to the animated series Joker, but with the classic purple gangster hat.  As Joker strikes the final blow, a door opens in front of Bruce.  This reveals Tim's lifeless body.  A counter appears on the video as the room is lit up and reveals dozens of oil drums.  Batman runs out of the building, leaving the body.   As it explodes he dives out of the building landing at the Joker's feet.   Batman stands up and confronts the Joker.  We see a recreation of the final page of the Killing Joke: http://onlynerdsallowed.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/batman-the-killing-joke-471.jpg Except the ending isn't ambiguous.  Bruce stabs the Joker as he laughs and the sirens wail.   We cut to black and show the title THE BATMAN.   Text appears saying 15 years later showing a modern Ben Afleck.   A gang of Villains dressed as the Original Red Hood rob a bank.  As they come out of the bank a rocket launcher blast is shot and kills all of them.  It is revealed to be Jared Leto's Joker holding the launcher.   "I hate copy cats" Out of nowhere a shot flies down and almost hits the Joker.  Batman swoops in and brings him to the ground.   "Why batsy, I'm so happy to see you."   Joker tries to stab Batman. "I'm trying to protect you.  Someone has put out a hit on you. " "On me?  But why?  I love me!"   "They've pitted 8 of the best killers to bring you down. " "And what, you want that glory for yourself?" "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead Tim." "DON'T CALL ME THAT."   Cut to 8 Killers each being told by a different person to kill the Joker and they will make 30 million dollars.   Batman calls for the Batmobile as Mr. Freeze ices the vehicle down.  It is at this point that the adventure becomes Batman trying to get from Gotham's first National to Arkham Asylum.   Batman fights down Mr. Freeze, learning that he wants the money to fund research for his wife.  Batman manages to beat Victor, but not without the wheels to the Batmobile being destroyed.  When Batman returns he finds that the Joker has run off and has to chase him down.   In a flashback, we see young Batman chasing the Redhood.  Over the comms, he tells Alfred to let Andea know he won't be able to make it due to car trouble.  We then see Batman taking down the original Joker when he was Red Hood and how he became the Joker by falling into Ace Chemicals.   Modern  Batman catches Joker and berates him for running off.  "You can't blame a clown for trying."  "No, but I can blame you." Jumping up, Thomas Blake attacks Joker.  "Oh, you aren't the fun kitty.  You're the lame kitty." Catman tries to reason with Batman,  explaining that with the money Blake and his Husband can run away from Gotham and never be in Batman's hair again.  Bruce considers this, and knocks him out.   Batman runs Joker into the Sewers, with Joker recounting a time where Batman and Robin fought the Joker in the sewer. Bruce clarifies that since this Joker is Tim, he doesn't remember the story entirely.  The real Joker had a room full of kidnapped kids he had been brainwashing into little Jokers.  Some of them would never recover and would go on to form the Jokerz gang.   Copperhead and King Kobra leap out of the shadows to Sting Joker with venom, instead hitting Batman who protected him again.  A delusional Batman tries to fight the Joker, but is easily brought down by the two of them. The Joker gets the upperhand and cuts King Kobra's throat and throws him into the water.  Copperhead tries to kill Joker, but is ultimately stopped.  Joker goes to kill Bruce, but pulls back at the last second.  Batman comes to and reiterates that he intends to lock him in Arkham and throw away the key.   The pair come up from the sewer and find themselves immediately under assault from Machine Gun fire.  Batman pulls Joker inside of a near by building and can't see who is shooting at them.  Batman notices they are on Second Street, and inside Gotham's Second National Bank.  He uses his wrist computer to summon a bat-drone.  This takes down the Machine Gun wielder, Two-Face.  The Bat Drone descends and reveals a secret compartment in the wall near where Batman and Joker came out.  It reveals and hidden stored Bat-cycle.   As Batman and Joker drive down the streets of Gotham a pink motor cycle appears.  The driver whips at Batman and Joker, pulling Joker off the back.  Batman Turns and stops.  The other Driver is revealed to be Flamingo.  "And who are you?" This leads to an epic chase sequence through the streets of Gotham, bursting through several icon locations including the Ice Berg Lounge.  This leads to a confrontation at the gates of Arkham.  Batman beats Flamingo and almost kills him.  Joker/Tim egging him on.  Bruce stops short of killing him and drags Joker and Flamingo inside.  Joker laments that even if Batsy didn't kill Flamingo, he's just as bad as Joker.  He let's his villains live.  He knows they likely won't get well.  And he permanently cripples some of his victims like Joker did to Babs.   Batman hands off Flamingo to someone he doesn't recognize, but demands to walk Joker down to a cell himself. He enters the mess room with Joker walking aside him.  Over the intercom "This is Doctor Hugo Strange, we are locking down the facility per the request of our special guest." Batman remarks "I didn't speak to Hugo Strange" A light highlights Deathstroke at the end of the hall.  "Your right, I did."   Deathstroke fights Batman and Joker.  Part way into the fight, Batman opens two cells and let's Grant Wislon and Rose Wilson join the fight.  The conversation that happens during this fight is about parentage.   Ultimately the two Wilson Children and Joker and Batman take down Deathstroke.   Rose and Grant voluntarily return to their Cells.   Joker tries to kill Batman once more just as he closes the cells.  He eggs on Batman to kill him.  Pushing him.  Bruce tries to get in touch with his Tim side.  He is not successful.  He returns Joker to the Cell.   Batman goes to the Warden's office and finds Clayface acting as Hugo Strange. Batman thanks him for his help in trying to save Tim.  Clayface asks why Batman would put his life in danger to try and save the Joker, and he says it's because he's family.   Bruce donates money to a cancer research facility in the name of Nora Freis.  

[lastgeeksdying]

I’m so tired of Centerists

LE SIGH I am exhausted.  As a liberal, it is not easy trying to get equal rights and treatment for those not as advantaged as me.  And make no mistake, despite what our many enemies will try to get you to believe, this is what our goal is.  The main difference is most of those who are disadvantaged in comparison to me have stopped being willing to give up any ground.  So they come across as hostile.  They don't want to compromise.  They want the center and the right to see the error in their ways and let them exist with the same rights.  Some also want repayment for their mistreatment.  That's fair, since one of the chief reasons that Black- and Native- American's are at a disadvantage is because of economics.   I am not an economic scholar.  I can't site the numbers and show you how slavery and the trail of tears and reservations and indentured servitude have evolved into years of conservative policies in order to further keep them at a disadvantage.   But that is what greed-based capitalism does; it takes advantage of the less fortunate in order to profit.   So while I can understand being challenged by the left, to attack them feels like you aren't really trying.   And the Center is this group of people who keep spouting on about compromise, but they are only ever trying to compromise with the right.  Typically these Centerists are concerned about things that directly themselves.  As traditionally White, mostly affluent, often male folks.   They often will typically defend social freedoms to an extent.  The extent is key because they will only defend it until it directly impedes their life or they are expected to do anything. I.e. they are all for equal rights for women, except when it means that they get called on their bullshit when they make a shitty joke.  If they start dating a right wing person, suddenly their slack for the left is gone.  If a demand of the left would start impeding their personal lives, they will step away from defending the left.   The center are the ones who are quick to say it's just politics. They are the ones who defend the rights right to fight against civil rights by attacking them through fiscal means.   But what really is starting to bother me is just how much they don't like to be identified that as being the Center.  This is because they are like Laci Green and are too busy trying to pretend they are left-wing in order to have an audience.  Or they are too busy being Phillip DeFranco and pretending they have an impartial edge.  Or they are Colin Moriarty who just hates fucking labels.   They are the kind of people who show their true colors when they are pushed too far.   Recently Phil was pushed too far when students at Evergreen College in Washington State rallied against a teacher for being against a push for greater diversity.  He even decided to just ignore the students and pretend like their side of the argument was that diversity trumps qualifications.  Fun fact:  The students want teachers who are qualified AND come from a diverse background to represent the students.  When clips of typical tense meetings between students and teachers, Phil railed against them as being aggressive because the teacher was white.   And not because they were aggravated in general and had a point to make. Laci Green recently decided she might be able to get a bigger audience by reaching out to the "Red Pillers" aka the Alt-Right and Centerists.  She also started dating a right wing guy, but I think that just opened the door.  But it became really telling when she put out the second video explaining that the reason she was turning against the left was she had "seen some shit".  She then complained that a supposed trans person was mean to her.  That's what set her off.  She couldn't take trans people seriously as people because one person was mean to her.  She couldn't keep siding with the left because it was starting to  hold her accountable for her actions.  She seems so fake with her "red pill status"  that it seems obvious she is desperate for an audience. Her schtick has always been white feminism, and with the majority of feminists moving away from that she has found herself in need of a new audience to feed on.   So she has to take on this new,weird audience.   As an aside, is Laci okay?  Looking at the previous videos and the Red Pill videos she looks really strung out like she is in withdrawls.  She seems to talk like she is coming down off something and in general seems rattled.  I'd say shes being forced against her will, but she is normally such a willful person that it doesn't seem likely she is trapped by addiction or abuse.  I'm not sure.  That's just wild speculation on what could just be she was tired.   I don't really want to get into Colin Moriarty.  He's an asshole who thinks his opinion matters and that no one should be accountable for things he agrees with but that no one should be responsible for taking care of the country.  He is so entitled he doesn't understand that being Fiscally Conservative means that you can't be Social Liberal.  That Fiscally Conservative creates the disparity that causes the ones who need social liberation to be further disadvantaged.  I can't stand his politics, which is annoying because he's usually a good researcher and interviewer when it comes to stuff that is not relevant to real, living people.   The fact is, that if the Center is trying to take advantage of the gullible in the right and left who don't have the conviction to stand for their morals. They are emerging as third, stealth party whose opinion is to just fuck everybody.   But the Center needs to start standing up for something.   They need to start making friends with the left and start right against the Alt-reich or they will find themselves engulfed in the same war we all want to avoid.  Do not forget, silence is violence.  If you don’t stand against injustice you are supporting it. 

[lastgeeksdying]

A Wonderful Movie for a Wondrous Character

Despite me having many problems with the Wonder Woman movie, I still loved it. And Yet, I don't feel the same intrinsic connection my female counterparts feel.  The ones who are naturally loving the world and story.   So let's break down my problems and see if we can parse out why I don't link to this movie.   First off, I don't think the movie is really queer, at all.  There is a lot of work from the director to make Themyscira seem diverse.  But the script has gone a long way to remove the queerness that is innate in the text.  As Greg Rucka pointed out, it's an island of only women, of course they were queer.  Some, like Diana, may be Bi.  But the film never entertains these notions and just pretends like romance didn't exist.  Woo.   Let's get something out of the way, I see Diana as a woman of color in this.  Fair skinned, yes, but a woman of color none the less.  I'm not interested or qualified to have this conversation or debate.  However I'm quite pleased to not see an American or a Brit playing Diana.   By the way, I'm going to spoil the fuck out of this movie.  Starting now.  The climax of the movie involves Diana learning her true parentage is that of Zeus and that she and Ares are a type of siblings.  This has been talked about ever since Azzerello did this back in 2011. It quintessentially strips her origin from being about a Woman creating a woman out of nothingness and men not being present.  Even when the movie presents the Clay origin, it is stated that Zeus had a hand involved.  Instead of Aphrodite.  I mean come on.  This is several steps too far.  But this sequence gets worse for me.   You see, when Diana learns of her full power she taps into the power of love and sees a purpose in living.  She does so by thinking about Steve.  Because she Loves him.   Romantically.  This, to me, subverts one of her greatest strengths and sources of her power.  It could have been far more powerful to think about all of her Man friendships and all of her friendships and romances from Themyscira.  It actually undermines the strength of the opening act too.  Diana gave up everything to leave.  It would have made more sense for her strength of strength would come from her connections.   I also want to point out that they gave Ares, god of war, a background as effectively being Lucifer.  Waaaaah.  Daddy made new children and expected everyone to love them so I went to earth to prove they were bad by corrupting and tempting them.   For me, the other big problem I have is the pacing.  I think the first act, roughly the first 30 minutes, is great.  All of the stuff on the Island and the fight on the beach is awesome.  But from the boat all the way until just before they reach no man's land is boring.  Most of the scenes in London are just there to show Diana's powers again, even though they had already been established and would be done better later.  When the movie is out on home video, I really want to recut the movie to go from the boat, to London, to the scene where Diana is pissed they aren't going(and Steve says be quiet we are) and then jump to the scene involving the Snipers PTSD.  Everything else in there, Etta, setting up Ares, it's all way too much and really boring.  It's the bathroom break and it is padding the time to keep from rushing to the war.   I like Danny Hutton but I hate that he has to be here to justify the existence of Doctor Maru.  Neither of them has any real goal in life other than to kill.  And Maru seems to just be a sadist who is kind of tempted by Steve, but not really.  It feels like they felt they had to put a villain into the piece who wasn't Ares so that Diana had a villain she could tangibly fight,   Like I said, there is so much about this movie I love that these elements that I don't like are really distracting.  There are some plot questions like how strong is Diana and how does Gas work.  But those are small issues compared to the core problems above. I can't wait to see it again, it just doesn't quite hit the mark for me as it does for all my female friends.  And that's okay.  

[lastgeeksdying]

Recommended Reading: Wonder Woman

So. I hear you loved the Wonder Woman movie.  And now, being a nerd, you want to go check out the source material but given that it is comics, there is a metric fuckton for you to go through and you don't know where to start.  So I will give you some advice.  

Here's the stuff that truly has mattered over the years:

George Perez Run:

This is the start of most modern interpretations of the character.  A lot of who she is stems from this run.  I would say it is very good.  It is being collected in WW by George Perez books 1 and 2 so far.  

Justice League: League of One

More so than any other JLA stories, this is the one that works best as a Diana story.  It focuses chiefly on her as being her own person in the JLA.  

Greg Rucka's First Run:

Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia

Note:  This is collected in Greg Ruck Book 1.  

This is an Amazing stand alone Wonder Woman story featuring Batman.  I want the cover plastered on my wall.  

Down to Earth, Bitter Rivals, Eyes of the Gorgan, Land of the  Dead, Mission's End: (Collected in WW by Greg Rucka Books 1-3)

For me, this is the definitive run on Wonder Woman.  It starts off with the old continuity that had been established up to this point, but it is easy to get past.  This is the source of all that is good in the character.  This is the run that understands who Diana is more than most.  I can not recommend this run enough.  

His run would actually get a chance to finish up in the tie-in issues to the event Blackest Night, titled Blackest Night: Wonder Woman 1-3.  And as weird as this sounds, I really encourage you to check these issues out at a later point.  Wait a bit and read some other Wonder Woman stories and come back to these three issues.  They are Greg Rucka at his most distilled, getting to address three different moments and elements of the character that he didn't get to resolve in his original run.  

Who is the Wonder Woman?

This is a great introduction to the character and is even written by the same guy who wrote the movie!  My biggest hold up for this story is it kind of brushes everything Rucka did under the rug to move past the big DC event, Infinite Crisis, that took place prior to this run.  Still, worth reading and runs right into the next recommendation.

Gail Simone's Run:

This is the most important run on this list as it is the best run on the character written by a Woman.  Gail's take on Diana isn't as definitive to me as Greg's, but it still is incredible.  I heavily encourage you to check this out.  

Wonder Woman: odyssey

This is the story for the dedicate fan, as it is a bit of a meta narative about the nature of the character.  It is not Universally loved, it had a bunch of fill in issues, but overall I really enjoy it.  But it should only be read if you've read at least two of the previous runs listed here.  

Wonder Woman: Rebirth

The order to read it in:

Wonder Woman Year One

Wonder Woman: The Lies

Wonder Woman Godwatch

Wonder Woman Annual

Wonder Woman The Truth

Wonder Woman 25

Trust me, this is the best way to read this arc.  

This is Diana at her most distilled.  It tackles all of the most important elements of who she is and creates the greatest Wonder Woman story to date.  This is what I want people to read when they read Wonder Woman.  

Cool stories that don't fit any continuity explicitly:

Legend of Wonder Woman:

This was a digital comic that features a Wife writing and a Husband drawing.  It is a great take on Diana's origin.  If you want a meatier take on her Origin, and you don't have time for all of the different Origins above, this is a great place to read.  

Sensational Comics Featuring Wonder Woman:

Another digital comic, this was a series of short adventures done by different creative teams.  Most of it is pretty good.  This is a great place to just read Wonder Woman in some adventures if you haven't seen Wonder Woman outside of the movies and tv shows and just want to read a little bit.

Wonder Woman:  Earth One:

This was part of the Earth One graphic Novels which was a more grounded take on the DC universe.  Written by Controversial writer Grant Morrison, this deals with a Wonder Woman story in which Diana has to save the day without fighting.  Gorgeous art, but clearly written by a guy who doesn't quite get it.  It is a fascinating descent into another version of Wonder Woman's Origin.  

Wonder Woman: True Amazon

One of the few books I haven't read yet, True Amazon comes recommended by many comics and Wonder Woman scholars that I'd be remiss not to included it.  Written and drawn by the same Woman, this story offers a unique story that no one had dived into yet.  This is another Diana story for those who don't care about continuity and don't want to invest in reading a lot.

Wonder Woman '77:

If you have a massive hearton for the old Lynda Carter TV show, this is the book for you.  It is a continuation of the old series and offers cool updated stories while still fitting that time period and style.  

Smallville Season 11:   Vol. 5: Olympus

This is a great story if you like Smallville.  It is heavily steeped in Smallville and especially seasons 8-11 continuity.  So if you read the earlier volume or watched the last seasons of the show, this is a great ride.  It's a bit complicated if you haven't read anything prior to it but it is still fun.  

Things to likely avoid:

Brian Azzerello's run (New 52)

Until I publish the full bit, just trust me on this one.  But that will be a full post in a few days.

Golden/Silver Age stories

It might seem strange to say, but the Golden Age stories aren't that good to me.  For those that don't know, this would be pretty much every story before George Perez took over in the 80's.  There is some historical element to reading this material, but much like all early comics, it just doesn't read well to a modern reader.  Maybe pick up one of the greatest moments collections such as "A Celebration of 75 Years" which includes things like the first appearance of the Golden Lasso of Truth. But only if you really need that information.  

Injustice:  

Look, I know I've talked about loving Injustice, but I want to be clear:  It is a total character assassination of Diana.  

Kingdom Come:

This is a classic story about the Justice League that pits heroes against heroes in a battle of 'Should we kill our enemies' or not.  Diana does not feel true to how I think she should be depicted, so I don't recommend it for a Wonder Woman journey.  

And outside of comics make sure to check out the animated film, Wonder Woman and the classic cartoon Justice League of America/ Unlimited.  

[lastgeeksdying]

Pitches:Week One

I built a series of stories using the current DC cinematic universe as a loose jumping off point and how to plan it to go forward.  It is a roadmap to get it where I want it, but I think it can be done.  One pitch a week each Friday(Sometimes Monday) until Justice League.  This one was delayed to Monday due to Dental Surgery.  So this will have started posting after Wonder Woman is out but before Justice League.  In theory this means it'll run right up to the release of Justice League.  These speculations will be written before Wonder Woman is seen, with some small changes made to the Wonder Woman pitch below following seeing Wonder Woman.  I've included a timeline below, with one or two word teases of the pitches going forward.  Feel free to guess what’s to come.

Here is the loose guess of the events of the movies that I’m not touching that aren’t out:

Justice League will build the team, tease Darkseid. Superman will be Resurrected to fight Steppenwolf and the Parademons.

Aquaman will be Aquaman fighting Black Manta, set up Ord as Ocean Master.  I'll mostly be treating it as having just been an Origin story. There is a good chance it will actually be Throne of Atlantis, but that isn't important enough for me to factor in when it comes to the pitches down the road.  Which, spoilers, will include a Throne of Atlantis Pitch Justice League: Apokalypse aka JL2  will be Darkseid arriving.(roughly the events of JL:Origin, maybe introducing the first Green Lantern) A Timeline of the Pitches so far are: (Wonder Woman) (Justice League) (Aquaman) (Justice League 2) Wonder Woman:  Fastest in the JungleThrone

Brave Tower Fear Contract VS Court Identity Black Fall Eyes Serious Shazam Crisis Elegy Corps Peacemakers Young Effigy Society Reborn Kingdom Come Errant Knight Rotworld Return Night Inc Wonder Woman:  Fastest in the Jungle   Barbara-Ann Minerva is a rich, spoiled, and nerdy archeologist.  She is employed by ARGUS to recover the Lasso of Truth from Diana.  She approaches Diana as herself and wants to help her on her mission of peace.   Doctor Jason Woodrue is investigating an old myth about Urzkartaga, the great god of the Green.  He is assisted by Alec Holland and Pamela Isley.   They work for General Sam Lane.  Lane is looking to use these three to develop a way to grow forests from nothing.   The three of them are investigating a lead in the swamps of Louisiana when they come across a tree.  This tree appears to have the power emanating out of it.  They take samples and return to the lab.   Diana and Barbara Ann bond over drinks.  More than just investigating her history, Barbara Ann seems to be genuinely flirting with Diana.   Back in the lab, still in the swamps, Alec believes he has figured out a way to grow forests from nothing.  But when he tries to experiment on the plants, an explosion occurs.   As they are heading back to Barbara-Ann's room, she receives a call from General Lane.  He has a request for Diana.   Diana and Barbara Ann head to the Swamps of Louisiana.  Barbara can't understand why Diana would go, but is tagging along because Crush.   Diana discovers the same tree that the scientists found, and exposists about Urzkartaga, god of the green.  It is in this process that she discovered Jason Woodrue about to sacrifice Pamela Isley to the plant god.  Barbara-ann intervenes and is transformed by the power of the Green God.   In the explosion of power, Jason and Pamela are also changed.   Diana picks up Barbara-Ann and carries her back to society.   In the Swamp, Jason Woodrue rises out of the Tree as an empowered Floronic Man.   Deep in the swamp, Pamela Isley also rises as Poison Ivy.   At a hospital, Diana watches as Barbara-Ann begins transforming into a Cheetah.  Diana tries to explain what is happening, that she is being turned into a Warden of the god of the green.   Cheetah runs into the jungle.  Diana chases . Blah blah blah, moving forward.   They go to try and stop Flornic Man trying to destroy a major city.  Swamp thing also shows up to help.  Ultimately it is Diana who slows down Floronic Man, and it is Cheetah who kills him.   In the post credits scene, Poison Ivy finds herself wandering into Gotham City.  

[lastgeeksdying]

Let's do a list for Live action comic properties

I will not defend this list. It's my brain, I do what I want.  But, I will expound on some of these shows later.  And some of the movies.   This is PRE-Wonder Woman.  FYI.   Anything else because I didn't like it enough to care, or haven't seen it not included. TV: Best Luke Cage Jessica Jones Daredevil Agent CarterLucifer Agents of Shield Flash Supergirl Constantine Smallville Preacher Arrow Vixen Iron Fist Legends of Tommorow Blade:The tv series Lois and Clark Wonder Woman Batman 60's Gotham 90's Flash Birds of Prey Worst Movies:  I'm including Animated because fuck you that's why Best Logan Winter Soldier Deadpool The Avengers Wonder Woman 2017 The Dark Knight Rises The Dark Knight X-men First Class Civil war Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 Guardians of the Galaxy Amazing Spider-Man Wonder Woman(Animated) Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Age of Ultron Iron Man 3 The Wolverine Captain America first avenger Iron Man 2 Doctor Strange Incredible Hulk Thor Dark World Iron Man Amazing Spider-Man 2 Batman Begins Justice League: The New Frontier Batman Under the Hood Justice League Doom Superman II: RD Cut Superman the Movie Batman Returns The Dark Knight Returns parts 1 and 2 Batman(1989) Xmen days of future past Ant Man Thor V for Vendetta Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Superman Returns The Losers Batman:Sub Zero all-star superman Big Hero 6 Batman:Mystery of the Batwoman Superman:Doomsday Superman Unbound Superman vs the elite The Punisher(Thomas Jane) X-Men 2 Blade 2 Spider-Man 2 Batman Gotham Knight Watchmen(ultimate cut) Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Batman Year One Son of Batman Batman Vs Robin Punisher War Zone Daredevil Blade Trinity Green Lantern: First Flight Blade X-Men Ultimate Avengers Ultimate Avengers 2 Invinicble IronMan Doc Strange (animated) Spider-man III X-Men Origins Wolverine Spider-Man Superman III Batman the Movie Batman and Robin Ghost Rider: Spirt of Vengence Ghost Rider X-Men Apocalypse Fantastic FourGreen Lantern Hulk Supergirl Superman IV Justice League WAR Green Lantern: Emerald Knights Flashpoint Paradox The Punisher(Dolph) X-Men the Last Stand Suicide SquadBatman V Superman Man of Steel Fantastic Four Fantastic Four Rise of the silver surfer Constantine Jonah Hex Elektra Howard the Duck Catwoman Batman Forever Worst UPDATE: 

Added Wonder Woman(2017)

[lastgeeksdying]

I love Wonder Woman and she Loves you too

I've been reading comics for about a decade now.  A colossal amount of that time was while I was in college or commuting.  So I've done a lot of reading.  I'd go so far to say that the better part of what I read was good or better.  Very little of what I read was outright trash, and I can even find something good to say about the not very good material.   Take Geoff Johns' Justice League: Origin(New 52 #1-6).  I think that Geoff Johns is great when it comes to writing Green Lantern and Aquaman.  But to be fair, he is the one who gave those character voices for me.  It is his writing that defined those two.  Especially Aquaman as a character.  Green Lantern he defined the mythos so he gets a pass for is not always consistent personality.   Johns writes an adequate Batman.  He makes a few character choices that just don't make sense.   As Batman is on Apokolips, he ends up taking his cowl off and just revealing who he is.  It seem like Johns is saying he is just giving up at hiding his identity, but it doesn't feel like Batman.  Batman would protect his identity until after his Death in order to protect his family and friends and allies.  And it would have been a much stronger character moment for him to later reveal who he is by choice to his new allies.  His work with Superman feels inconsistent but because it's a newly minted Superman in a new universe, they were still defining him.  I suppose it might be accurate for New 52 Supes, but because I didn't really read him until they started doing new things with him towards the end under the hands of Gene Luen Yang and Greg Pak(Fuck yeah for Asian writers on Superman, who is the super hero version of the model minority).   His work with Cyborg was abysmal.  He was forcing him to have no characterization and kind of flying in the face of his own Cyborg writing and the character defining personality he gained from the Marv Wolfman and George Perez run and the Teen Titans Cartoon.   But these are actually all forgivable.  No, I care about his portrayal of Wonder Woman.  Aka Super-Girlfriend wherein Johns didn't give her a character arc so much as a role as the Woman dating Superman.  But that's a step ahead.  No, in JL:Origin, Wonder Woman is a warrior.  She is Blood Thirsty.  She has a lot of her core traits, but the things that make Wonder Woman so wonderful are missing.  Her compassion, her hope, and most importantly, her Love is missing.   You see, you may not know this, but Wonder Woman is a beacon of Love for everyone.  Time, and time again, she proves that she really does Love and care for everyone. This is a pretty constant theme in both of Greg Rucka's Runs.  It shows up in Gail Simone's run.  And it even shows up in Azzerello's run, which is shocking since that run seemed to be all about taking the inherent feminine concepts of Wonder Woman and replacing them with masculine concepts.  But that is a rant for another day.  I have a lot of Wonder Woman feels.   For me, the three biggest moments of Wonder Woman come from the fact that she loves everyone.  This comes up in Blackest Night.  It is the core concept that breaks Diana free from the grip of the Black Ring she is forced  into wearing.  It is her Love that defies everything else and brings her the power of the Star Sapphires.  The literal power of Love. The next moment is actually two moments, but it is the same beat.  The first is at the end of the first act of Azzerello's run when Wonder Woman is up against Hades.  She uses the Golden Perfect, also called the Lasso of Truth, on herself.  She reveals that she truly loves Hades, which is the crux to beating him.  But this is because she is revealed to love everyone and everything in all of creation.  A similar moment happens (SPOILERS FOR THE REBIRTH ARC, THE TRUTH)  when Diana is up against Deimos and Phobos, is able to use her love to defeat them as agents of War.   The third moment is when Wonder Woman kills Maxwell Lord.  This is a very complicated situation where a man with the ability to mind control people controls Superman.  With the Lasso's help, she finds out the only way to stop Lord is by killing him.  So she does. This is important because it helps distinguish the fact that Diana may love all of humanity, but she also possess the power to distinguish  ideas.  She is not blinded by love.   Of note, I do ship Diana with Bruce Wayne. However, I do not believe that Diana has an OTP that does not involve Polyamory.  I look forward to the day she can finally have a girlfriend in the present and not just things that she is implied to have had, or the homoerotic overtones that are present when she has close relationships with other women.   Diana loves everyone.  She loves me.  She loves you.  She cares for people everywhere.  This is what makes Diana so special.  She represents an ideal to strive for.  

[lastgeeksdying]

Friday the Thirteenth is 100 percent better than it is on paper

If I run down every bug and complaint about Friday the Thirteenth, it will sound awful on paper.   And if you read what all of these various critics have to say, they will explain all of the various problems that exist.   I promise, you will see the collision problems, the facial animations, the really random bugs, and some graphic problems.   But here's the thing, have you watched Friday the Thirteenth movies?  Do you enjoy them?  Because they are fun and dumb and rough.  I just watched that first movie last night for the first time in at least 10 years.  Likely 15.  It's not a good movie. But it is an entertaining adventure.  I didn't hate that I spent 90 minutes watching it.   This game has some of those problems.  It clearly feels like a beta.  It isn't a polished game.  But the mechanics and the game play is fun.   And that is key.   So for those of you that haven't played it, I encourage you to go watch videos.  The game play, once you get into it, is fantastic.  You will play as one of the camp counselors trying to hide and escape from Jason Vorhees, supernatural killer.  You will, on rare occasion, play as Jason.  However, that's more of just a fun reprieve.  8 player matches and a Jason means that you will only play rarely as Jason.   So as the Teens, you will run around one of three maps and try and find a way out.   You will try and hunt down the equipment to repair a car, repair a boat, or call the cops.  For the hardcore fans, you will will be able to radio for Tommy Jarvis.  Tommy is a special Teen that will revive a dead player and give them access to more powers.   Your goal is to survive the twenty minute match.  It is so brutal and difficult at first.  You will die.  But you will learn how to get better and then you will have to adapt to the new player playing as Jason.   There is some great moments to be had whether you are playing with a mic or without.  With a mic, you can talk to your fellow players and inform them about what you are doing and what items you have found.  Of course, Jason can hear you to.  But because of the Proximity Voice Chat, it will show off whether you are close or far to someone.   If you are like me, and don't have a mic, you will have a lot of time listening to other players complain and not be able to give additional information.  It's terrifying.  You have to be that one person who runs off on their own as their co-workers are being killed out.   I can't wait for the day when me and a bunch of my friends gather together and play this game as a private group.  It will be epic.  Once I start worrying about my friends, that's when this game will really push forward.   Let me tell you about the kind of situations I've gotten into that have turned this game into a custom Horror movie simulator.   That moment when I've called the cops.  They are waiting at the other end of the map to help me.  I'm trapped on the second floor of a cabin, locked behind a door.  Jason is in the building.  So I am waiting for Jason to figure out I'm here.  Because I have a first aid spray and a window to jump out of.  So I open the door and throw out some firecrackers to draw Jason's attention.  Run into the room and locked the door.  Opened the window and jumped out.  I used a first aid spray and started toward the police.   A few other teens have started to scatter as someone screams as they died.  I went into the forest heading towards the next nearest cabin.  Climbing into windows and barricading doors.   You see, Jason can't go through windows and can break down doors.  This gives you and anyone who comes later a chance to save themselves and save others.  I leave all of the windows to help.  It gets tense as the music starts to pick up indicating that Jason is getting more powerful and I am going to lose my lunch.   I get pretty close to the edge of the map where the cops are at and I see VHS tracking occur on screen.  This means that Jason just teleported near me.  So like any good dumb ass I break into a sprint and head towards the exit. I am feet away and make a quick look behind me.  There is Jason, standing there, ready to grab my head and smash it into the tree.  But lady luck is suddenly on my side and the camera pans around indicating that I am escaping.  As it pans behind me I see Jason just standing there and sirens and gun shots are playing.  I narrowly escaped.  And now I float around using spectator cameras watch as Jason goes from teen to teen killing everyone else.  This starts when three of them try to drive away and Jason appears in front of them, devastating the car.  The driver is killed immediately as the other two scatter.  Jason follows them down the paths and kills them in various ways.   The game is a modern gem.  Is it worth a full price 40 dollars (Or worse, 60 at retail)?   Maybe.  It depends who you are.  Different people have a different experience.  The game is much better than the critics will have you believe and I will be around for quite some time.   I love the 45 dollars I spent on the kickstarter for it.  This game play loop is totally worth it to me.  

[lastgeeksdying]

There is no Left, Right or Moderate:  You are just as bad.

There is an element of obstruction happening in America.  It is being done by way of obfuscation and arbitrary divides that have been created by a small, hateful group of people. Too much of this has been caused by the last three to six Presidents.  It depends on your age.   For a lot of Americans, actually a Majority, it was the last three that matter.   Bush was a reaction to the Clinton era.  It was upsetting for Democrats and they yelled and whined and disagreed with how violent of a presidency he had.   Then came Obama.  And the Republicans had their time.  And when it came to the next major election, it was Trump who won(let's just assume it was directly a reaction to Obama and move on.  The election, voter fraud, and voter suppression is a conversation too large for me to tackle right now.  ) But the people who really changed things surfaced around 2010.  It was this very vocal crowd that is now called the Freedom Caucus but was called the Tea Party.  These are an extremist anti-establishment group.  They are famously puppetted and funded by the Koch Brothers.  The details of that group aren't important to this discussion either.   You see, we became accepting of this very extreme side.  Moderate and Liberals found the Tea Party to be the niche, fringe group that could be a threat but felt so out there that it didn't seem real.  But the internet made it real.  The internet let groups of people find each other.  So voices that have always been fairly big, but scattered, slowly and naturally found each other.  And what happens when you get grouped together is you get more vocal.  More willing to stand up for what you want.  This went both ways.  Tumblr has united feminists that led into creating things like the Women's Marches.  This simply wouldn't have happened on such a scale twenty years ago.   The internet has let us find others like us.  But we quickly learn, we are all different.  We have opinions and ideas.  And in some groups we gather further, and in others we splinter further.   Suddenly there are layers of groups.  It's not just feminists.  It's a whole hierarchy of women and men starting with Male Feminism leading White Feminism leading to partially intersectional feminism and trying to achieve total intersectional feminism.  So those of us who believe in equality are on different levels on how we define this goal.   But it get's even more hectic.  Because people aren't just one thing.  We fall into these buckets.  One bucket is pro gay rights.  Another is anti gay rights.  One is total freedom of speech, another is limited freedom of speech.  One is pro gun rights.  One is anti-gun rights.  And the problem is we fall into multiple buckets, sometimes even buckets that seem to be or actually are opposite.  Because we are people, we are complex.   It is important to know that Feminism will be Intersectional or it will be bullshit.  This is because you can't just support women's rights without also addressing racism since many, a majority, of women aren't white.  And because a lot of women are Bi or Gay or Trans or Disabled, we can't avoid addressing those issues either.   This creates a problem, because many people only want progression to the point where it inconveniences them.  People are willing to say that Black Lives Matter, that Trans Lives Matter.  They will even watch a show staring a black trans woman like on Orange is the New Black.  But a bunch of them don't have any black trans friends.   They don't stand up for Black Trans Women when they are being barked down from speaking.  When they won't read a book by a trans author, where they won't call out atrocities of misogynists doxxing Trans Comic Artists (Shout out to Sophie Labelle).   You aren't a Moderate because you think the Right and the Left are both too extreme. You are just as extreme for thinking there is no line in comedy, for thinking there should only be the government that is necessary.   You see, a lot of us generally agree that we all deserve freedom.  It's how we define that that comes into question.  I believe the government needs to be involved in our lives in ways that benefit us.  That we have allowed capitalism into way too many industries.  For example medicine and medical care should never be allowed to be for profit.  Totally free capitalism allows for rampant corruption and opportunists like Donald Trump to rise to power.  Communism and Socialism don't fix the problem either.   But I think that each of those buckets I mentioned above are coming to a head because we don't all agree that Life should be guaranteed.  That food, water, and body autonomy should be allowed.   This is a core tenant of the left now.   But because within the left we are so divided we can't decide on anything.  The right has the same problem.  In 2011 it would have seemed super likely that Republicans wanted to stop Obamacare.  And it's sounded like that for all of the Obama administration.  But when they finally had the means to do it, they had to scrap to barely scrape through the first stage.  We are all divided.  And we all think everyone else is wrong if they aren't part of our specific buckets.  . Again, going back, we all got pushed.  And each time one group of people succeeded at making a major change like Gay Marriage, or electing a Game Show host, the opponents of the decision decided to dig their feet in deeper.   I don't have an answer to this problem.  But because we have all become so hostile we are heading towards war.  And if that happens, none of us get what we want.  All of these different groups of people have become so obsessed with winning that they can't see through the cloud of anger.  Even when they have a genuine point.   It isn't unreasonable to support equality for women.  For Women of Color. For disabled Women.  For Queer Women.  For trans women.  It isn't unreasonable to not want to die.  But being infinitely hostile is just empowering the other side to stand and dig their feet further.  We need to find a way to avoid this inevitable conflict.  We need to find a solution so that these groups which feature people who want you dead but are majority reasonable people don't let the vocal death spewing become the majority.   So I'd like it if you are someone who sees themselves as Fiscally Conservative, Socially Liberal to consider this:  Those Fiscal programs you don't want to help?  They keep those Social groups that you want to protect from dying.   I will soon be writing full reasons why I am for or against some Amendments.  

[lastgeeksdying]

Jurassic Park is culmination of 80's Action Feminism

I think it's pretty neat that thing that the 80's became known for was it's special brand of feminism for white women.  Halloween(70's but whatev), Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien, Aliens, Terminator 2. They were films that took  And it lead into a series of great choices in the 90's like La Femme Nikita, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Leon aka The Professional.   But I think this trend really peaked in 1993 with Jurassic Park.  If you don't want to listen to me wax poetical about it, get out now.  This is not a complaint thread.  It is my rare gushing. Despite how some people may view Jurassic Park, it has no singular lead.  Ellie Satler is in just as many scenes as Alan Grant, introduced at the same time, and actually has more sequences where she takes the charge than Alan.  Lex, while quiet and kind of reserved for a lot of the script, actually is responsible for doing more things than her brother Tim.  Only male characters die, and they almost all die of their own incompetence.  And all of the dinosaurs, aka the scary villains, are female.  Denis Nedry is annoying and adds a layer to the world, but again dies by his own stupidity.   Let's look at Ellie first.  Let's assume she was slightly older than Laura Dern was when she filmed.  That puts her in her late twenties.   Meanwhile, Grant would be in his mid to late 40's.  (1*).  This puts their dynamic in a strange place since they seem to have a romantic vibe, but Ellie is talking about one day having kids.  It would, in fact, be about seven years later when she would.  If Ellie is in her late twenties this conversation of children means that she actually put her education and her work ahead of the prescribed gender notions.   Jump forward, on the Helicopter it is Alan Grant who can't figure out how to work a seatbelt.  Ellie just kind of looks at him like 'Oh my god old man, you are embarrassing me.'  And as they are traveling in the jeep Ellie is busy examining extinct plant life.  She is looking at it and studying it.  Grant see a revived dinosaur and just stares Gobsmacked.   He even has trouble standing and talking.  We see later Ellie talking to scientists about Science.  She isn't just sitting back waxing philosophically like Ian Malcolm who likely spends half his time going 'Why the fuck am I here, I do maths not dinosaurs'.  Ellie also waxes philosophical when the conversation turns to it.  She doesn't lead the charge when it comes to doing reckless things like jump out of a moving vehicle, or stopping a tour prematurely and possibly breaking safety features, but she'll join in when it is needed.   Moreso, when they go to talk to Doctor Harding about the sick Trike, she's the one who is immediately like I may be a paleobotanist, but damn it I'm going to be a paleobiologist today.  She starts helping the vet, she is looking into things that could be wrong.  Grant just acts like a kid and hugs the god damn sick dinosaur.  You don't even know what it's sick with.  You might have just gotten dinosaur herpies.  You don't know.   You don't.   I also want to appreciate that the reason Ellie shows an attraction for Ian isn't because he's sexy (It's Jeff Golblum so, duh.) but because he's intelligent and willing to explain a complex idea to her when she doesn't understand.  He doesn't talk down to her.  And she wants to learn.   So later she shows up back at the Command Center, before the vehicles stop, but before they shut off the power.  The logic here is a bit strange but whatever.  The electric RangeRovers get stuck and as soon as the opportunity to go help shows up, she volunteers and goes to look for the lost Grandkids.   she knows her life is going to be in danger.  She goes anyway.   She loses a few cool points because she almost gets her, Ian, and Muldoon killed during the T. Rex chase, but it's just such a cool scene that I can't fault her character for being scared of a fucking T. Rex.   She gets back and is helping Ian when he's injured.  Again, Muldoon is going to go on another scary dinosaur adventure and she joins him in the quest to go save the day.  Which she does.  What does Muldoon do?  Get eaten.  What did Mr. Arnold do?  Get Eaten.  Genaro?  Eaten.  Ian Malcolm?  Basically Eaten, but the power of Golblum kept him from dying.   When she, Grant, and the kids are reunited the big battle in the computer room happens.  I'll come back to this in a second. I want to detour over to Lex Murphy.  Lex is a 14 year old girl who considers herself a hacker in 1993.  Lex would be a god damn vision today, in 1993?  She's basically the most bad ass.  She's traumatized, but still maintains being a bad ass all movie.  She's totally willing to climb an electric fence.  It freaks her out to pet a dinosaur at first, but she's fine watch Gallimimus flock.  But when we get to that amazing Kitchen Scene?  She's the one with the great ideas.  Tim's plans are let's make noise and almost die and let's run into the freezer and almost die, again.  Lex, on the other hand, uses mirrors and sets a trap for a very smart killer.  She then rescues her brother and they meet back up with Ellie and Grant in the computer center.   While in the computer Center, we get the next great moments.  Lex hacking the mainframe and Ellie being a badass with an automatic shotgun.   In the final confrontation with the raptors, it ends up being the Tyrannosaurus who saves the god damn day.  She does it again in Jurassic World.   Now I'm not saying this film is a bastion of Feminism.  Again, the lack of Women of Color and Trans women calls that out.  It is even questionable if the film even passes the bechdal test.  But, I still love it.  And have seen it more than any other movie.   Fun story:  as a kid I had to leave the theater during the T. Rex attack because I was five and I got scared.   (1*) Holy shit. I totally thought they were around the same age, maybe 10 years apart and put Ellie closer to early 30's.  Definitely would not have guessed she was 25 in that movie.    

[lastgeeksdying]

STOP asking for more Firefly

STAHP. There is no other way to start this.  I loved Firefly and even more I adored Serenity.  I took the day off school and saw every screening of Serenity that day.  By the end of opening weekend I had seen the film seven times.  Total I ended up seeing that film about 12 times in theaters.  Even more in life.  Firefly was the shit.  Firefly was that thing I couldn't love more for so long.   Firefly, as it turns out, has a lot of problems.  Especially if you are a hashtag woke person.  There are really great elements.  The actors live and breathe these characters and if they were to come back to them today those actors could likely embrace those rolls once again.  But like I said, there are a bunch of problems.   Let's go with the big one.  Firefly is a big universe about the idea of what if American and Chinese cultures merged.  If after all is said and done, the only cultures that survive moving out to space was American(Mostly white) and Chinese cultures.  So why is it that casual fans don't know this.  Why is it that most people who know this only know it because someone told them, or because Joss mentioned it in the special features of Firefly's original DVD set way back in 2003?   It's almost as if there is something missing.  Something Key.  Oh, I meant someone.  That someone being FUCKING CHINESE PEOPLE.  You don't get to just call two characters who are white with white parents the last name Tam.  White Skin is not the mixture of other races.   Actually, other than Book and Zoe, where are the other people of color?   This is a genuine problem because not only are all of the speaking roles in the show pretty much just white people, so are the background players.  It is really quite strange.  If it was just the core worlds, I'd maybe understand it because the Alliance would definitely support Eugenics, but it is quite the weird situation.   If you didn't realize that Book was the magical negro and that Zoe was a stereotypical violent Black Woman, time for you to go to your room and learn about looking at non-white characters in media works.   I know that a lot of people Love Joss.  They love that he is this self-proclaimed feminist and he's all about these great female characters.  But he doesn't like to talk about race.  He doesn't like to really talk about sexual orientation*.  He doesn't really like to talk about Trans characters.  I'm not just talking about he as a person, but the works he produces.  And when he touches on any of these subjects, it's the lightest of touches and it really isn't a big exploration so much as the media equivalent of click bait.   Again, look at Firefly.  That is a whole fuck ton of straight characters, and a Bi Sex worker.  Whose Bi-ness only comes up when they want a joke for a male character, and not development for Inara.  But, Inara is a great reason why I'm glad the show never kept going.  Fun Fact:  Joss originally wanted to do a story about a drug that Inara takes.  This drug would kill anyone that rapes the person who takes it.  They were going to have Inara kidnapped by Reavers and when she was found, they would all be dead because of this drug.  Yes, Joss wanted to have the Sex Worker in the future where Sex Workers are super respected gang raped.  He thought this was a progressive and edgey story.  Then again, he set up a future where Sex Workers are respected and everything is done to keep them out of danger, and has the "likable" main character Mal slut shame her at every chance, while he was totally willing to slut around with YoSaffBridge and Nandi.  Again "Progressive".   And isn't it so progressive that they have white people pepper in Chinese into their dialogue only for most of that dialogue just to be nonsensical cursing?  Or very basic thank yous or calling someone sister.  So progressive.   So everytime you ask for more Firefly you are asking for more of this shit.   Personally?  I want something knew that doesn't have to live with that baggage.  If Joss really wants to make a scifi feminism show, he needs to learn about TransWomen and including more women of color as leads.  One is not good enough.   With that said, one of my favorite fan theories is that Firefly, Blade Runner, Alien, and Predator all exist in the same amalgam universe.   What? Just because I hate on the fandom and think the creator has a long way to go to get better, doesn't mean I don't still have some love for this very flawed work.