#Death Troopers are basically like the Winter Soldier

[im-no-jedi]

I have very specific desires for the season finale and future of TBB obviously ROFL

[sleepingobsidian]

Order 66 - Survival lays in your ability of faking your death

Where when Oder 66 is put into action the Jedi put a contingency plan into action. Those who we're still alive would fake their deaths and go into hiding. Where as the most go into deep hiding, there are those who tend to hide into more plain sight.

Like Mace Windu for example. After his fell through that window and the seperation of both his hands feel into the deeper levels of Coruscant was nursed back to health by a blackmarket doctor. Now he's a nursery teacher, has grown an impressiv beard and wears clothes that got out of style twenty years ago, and „he is obviously not Mace Windu, Lord Vader. What are you talking about? That's Maceroy Winter, he's the nursery teacher of my daughter“. Maceroy Windu is followed everywhere by his green furless yappermonkey Yado, the mascot and most beloved pet. „He can't be Master Yoda, Emperor, he's obviously just a green, furless yappermonkey from on of the moons of yavin. See we have his papers right here“. Yado the green yappermonkey was registered with the Coruscanti petpatrol ten years ago. And besides everyone knows yappermonkeys have a long lifetime.

Than there is street and tattoo artistin Shaek Tea which obviously can't be Master Shaak Ti, because „you killed her Lord Vader, remember. In the jedi temple. Besides she has totally different markings and -master Shaak Ti wasn't a mother of ten“. The tattoo studio of Shaek Tea is well known and established two years ago and is frequently visited by Stormtroopers. The tattoo artist seems to have an aversion against the cloned soldiers but that may only be because she's a mother and wants to protect her young.

Than there is nautolan marine biologist Fist Kio, with a natural connection to the animals of the seas of the galactic, who teaches at the Coruscanti community college. He often takes his students through tours of the aquarium of Coruscant. And some of his students swear they once saw him calm down a rampaging Tra'cor. „It was like he used the force“, was heard from one of his students. „If he hadn't been teaching here for over thirteen years he could totally be a jedi, but noway. I saw him flirting and taking that famous tattoo artist from Coco Town home with him. And aren't jedi like celibate?“.

Leaving the Planet she was raised on Billina Dune is on the search for her son Canan, who vanished from Kaller not so long ago. The young designer and self defense teacher has been on the search for her son for two years now and isn't giving up on him. He's out there in the galaxy somewhere. „And how do you know this? May it be because jedi masters have a connection with their students!“. „A mothers intuition“. She's a frequent visitor at Ben's Tea Palace and became good friends with the owner and his young ward. Kanan Jarrus a former small time smuggler from Kaller and son of famus designer Billina Dune, not that he knows of that. Has not a long time ago decided to follow a young woman into war against the emporer and his empire, on the way he acquired a new family. In the knowledge his „mother“ died on kaller not so long ago and so never searching for her. Though there's no picture on his wanted poster knows the whole galaxy his name. But nobody is sure if he even is a jedi or jedi appentice like the propaganda says, because „I swear he's using a blaster not a lightsaber. When someone he knows is threatened he immediatle goes for his blaster and not for some hidden pocket or so. If he were a jedi he would go for a hidden pocket, where his lightsaber is, right?“.

Fulcrum is a young togrutan woman who nurses her partially burnt kel dor uncle Verdict back to health. Verdict was badly burnt during an attack of the CIS on some cargo ships. Fulcrum is the captain of a little fleet of cargo ships which transport some valuable and some not so valuable cargo from the inner core to the outer rim. All the while she raises her human adoptive babysister Lee and cares for her adopted uncle. She often visits a medic sation in the middle rim to get help for her uncle and to visit her long time Lover. „I know you said that Fulcrum may be the Rebelion spy Fulcrum and your former padawan Ahsoka Tano. But Fulcrums cargo fleet had been around before your padawan even became your padawan, Lord Vader“, not to say the man didn't survive after saying so much padawan in one senctence but he didn't survive. And Darth Vader is confused how his former padawan acquired a baby and from where?

The mirialan doctor Barry Coffee and her young son Bonbon Coffee, live on a medic station in the middle rim and treat various injured people. Doctor Coffee is known for never turning away any person who's hurt. Her son Bonbon has a little aggression problem which she's working with but for now it helps her keep order in her waiting room when some patients make stress again. Her son is a deadly shot. And there is an unspoken rule at the medic station. The people that flick you together are allowed to undo their work, so watch your mouth. Doctor Coffee is rumored to even heal the most grievous illnesses and wounds, things other doctor couldn't treat. „It's because your a healer, right“. „I wish. This would be all so much easier but no I had to be born as an ordinary woman with ordinary skills“. Her young son Bonbon is confused why all these interegators allways appear at their doorstep. He was just enjoing his time with his mother and his mothers lovers family. Fulcrum is awesome and no one could ever tell him otherwise. „I don't understand what the relationship of my mother has to do with her skills as a doctor. Yeah, Fulcrum is awesome but her skills as a doctor besides basic first aid is shit“.

Bens Tea Palace is a little tea shop and café in Coco Town, right next to the tattoo shop of Shaek Tea, it's run by owner and tea maker Ben Kenobi. „Obi-Wan Kenobi!“. „Oh you know my fifth cousin thrice removed? Yeah, I allways wondered what happened to him when the jedi took him away“. „No your Obi-Wan Kenobi“. „Don't be ridiculous. We look totally different“, Ben says adjusting his glasses and shifting a baby on his hip. Ben Kenobi is known as skillful tea maker and uncle to little Luke Kenobi, the son of his brother who died in a tragic airspeeder accident. His brother died in the following fire explosion as the motor explodes. His sister in law died due to strangulation from the seat belt. Ben Kenobi is a friendly shop owner who invites everyone inside for a cup of tea, wear sweater vests,with the sleeves of his ironed shirt pushed up, and ties his hair in a ponytail. His nephew visits the nursery under the supervision of Maceroy Winter. When he can he visits the university and takes classes. When ever stormtroopers set foot in his sjop he freezes and ushers his nephew in the backroom, the flat above the shop or to Dex's restaurant, where he is under the supervision of a little blue droid. He looks at the stormtroopers with a freezing gaze and the most fake smile. Strangely those troopers allways vanish a few days after they visit in the Tea Palace.

Jocasta Nu or the Librarian as most people call her is one of the most searched for persons in the galactic empire. Which doesn't stop her to just walk through Coruscant as if she owned the place. She wears no disguise and her lightsaber is in full display. No one knows how she does it but she allways evades or flees the capture through stormtroopers. She often visits Coco Town and the shops or is often seen in the medic station Berry Coffee works at or to board a ship that belongs to the Fulcrum fleet. Sometimes she's accompanied by young children wearing a matching outfit or adults carrying themselves just like her. But everyone who saw her swears she just vanished in a cloud of smoke so as she was never there. One time Emperor Palpatine surprised her and Ben by meeting her in Bens Tea Palace. „Jocasta Nu. Now I got you“. „What are you talking about your Highness? This is obviously my grandmother Jade Kenobi. See I have her visitation papers right here. Signed by one of your subordinates!“. In the end rumour has it that the emperor left the shop dejected and seemingly scolded. And angry, oh so angry that the ground under his feet got cracks.

Bant Eerin and Stass Ali. A mon calamari and a tholothian. They are a duo of known pirates in the whole galaxy and have behind them an army of faceless men. They say the Unnatural Ones were created by the woman to oppose the empire and overthrow it. They are known to kidnap stormtroopers, torure them and than murder them a horrible way. The reality is a little bit more boring. Yeah, they are a duo of pirates but they don't get much around to stealing themselves. The Unnatural Ones as they call them are clone troopers. Brothers that got saved by the two woman. They have a skilled medic with them that takes out chips inside the heads of the clones. A trooper with the designation of CT-6116 called Kix. How they met this trooper or where he came from is so highly classified that only three people know of it and they want it to stay it that way. Their second in command is a trooper with the designation CT-21-0408 or more common known as Echo. He tends to do most of the pirating with his brothers and leaves the liberation of his brothers to the two woman.

Aay and Quin. The idol and her manager. Aay is twilek with beautiful clear blue skin and a mermerizing voice. Wich makes her the perfect galactical idol. The same thought her manager and friend Quin. So he brought her to a photo shooting and this is how her career began. As a model for the new dress line of designer Billina Dune. She wears dresses and clothes that gain more and more popularity throughout the galaxy. In an interview with a corellian talkshow was than her beautiful singing voice dicovered. A voice that would leave others breathless. „Trying to mind trick your fans, Master Secura?“. „What are you talking about, Lord Vader. I'm just a normal idol singing about the empowerment of woman and the loss of love“. As Aay has committed herself to beeing an idol her manager has committed himself to making her a star. But Quin is known as a Ladys- and Sirsman. The two are currently on a tour through the midrim.

It'll be definitely Hondo Ohnakas fault when the whole contingency plan may be thrown out of the window. The first thing he does when he and his little band of future pirates, Katooni, Byph, Ganodi, Gungi, Petro and Zatt, touch down on Coruscant to Lukes birthday is throw their true names around and act as if the establishment of the empire never happened. He causes chaos, let's the children steal something from the emperor and Darth Vader and they leave again. The whole order had been in a constant state of stress. And Ben swears he got the grey hair all from one visit. He hopes this will never happen again. It happens again. To each and every birthday of Luke. Luke thinks it's funny and really likes his crazy enstranged Uncle Hondo. From the reports Ben get's from Fulcrum she has the same problem with Hondo as him. Even if it has gone better after they spent one birthday at the medic station and Bonbon shot the pirate. „Don't worry Ben he didn't kill him“. „Sometime I wish he had“.

To say that the Emporer and Darth Vader are frustrated and enraged would be an understatment, but technically they can’t do anything it would come to galactic wide revolts if the just murdered innocent seeming citizens.

So, this story could either turn out into total crack or angst with a touch of humour

[erza-mj]

Episode Prompto

i though it will be useful for all the writers in the ffxv community to have a written record of all the stuff that appear in Episode Prompto in chronological order ;) 

You’re Welcome

Prompto production code: Unit 05953234

Research log 722-VII-6th

Research log: Year 722, Day 189. I received a proposal regarding a way to improve the infantry’s performances by leaps and bounds: Outfit all the troupers with magitek cores. Preliminary tests suggest sublimating daemons for fuel will result in an unstable infantry unit for the field. If the calculations he provided are correct, though, this could solve all our problems. The Deadless Project marks the advent of a new age. No longer will our soldier fall on the field of battle. The Empire shall rise, and soon, all the world shall bask in our glory!

Research log 722-X-21st

Research log: Year 722, Day 294. I acted on the proposal mentioned in my log of Day 189. My attempt to infuse the troopers magitek cores with daemonic energy proved successful. Only in the most basic sense, however. While the soldiers are indeed deathless, they are far from fit for fighting. Thus I’ve decided to take a different approach: rather than relying on daemons to power the magitek infantry, why not use human instead? Frankly, I had never considered employing my fellow man in any magitek-related experiments. But countless men and women succumb to the plasmodia each day. Rather than let them die victims of an ignominious disease, why not help them ascend to nobler heights? I’ve lost many a comrade on the field of battle, and I’ve no intention of allowing any more of their deaths to go in vain.

Research log 722-XII-5th

Research log: Year 722, Day 339. Another Day, another mental breakdown. All my test so far have resulted in the former soldiers suffering ego deaths. Today, however, I developed a new hypothesis: I will continue to sublimate daemonified humans to harvest the miasma, but if a sense is the source of these snags, why not inject infants with the plasmodia instead? We’ve little time. If we are to combat the Lucian threat, we must explore new options. I too, will set aside my personal misgivings and do what I must for the empire.

Research Log: 723-III-11th

Research log: Year 723, Day 70. I pondered how I might found the necessary number of infants, and then it downed on me: why not make them myself? If I clone them from my own genes, I can eliminate the pesky process of breeding them. Mass production remains a pipe dream for now, but I’m confident a can create a massive infantry once the process picks up. If everything goes according to plan, the empire will boast a million-man army in no time at all.

M.E. 723-XI-26th

A New Hope

Construction finished today on the first magitek production facility. Rising military star and leading authority on magitek Verstael Besithia has been selected to oversee the plant’s operation. Reports say Besithia will relinquish his field duties in order to serve at the compound full-time.

Research log: 724-X-24th

Research log: Year 724, Day 297. Mass production of the magitek infantry was a success. We’ve overwhelmed the lucians with our numbers and surrounded insomnia. But to rest on our laurels now would be unthinkable. On Occasion, harvesting the plasmodic miasma produces some “side effects.” The daemons born of this process have been disposed of on sight-until now. How foolish I was to let these sublime creatures go to waste! What they lack in adaptability, they make up for in sheer power. I realize now that I ought to channel my efforts into exploring the true potential of these daemons for the sake of the empire. Perhaps this has been my true calling all along.

Research Log: 736-V-3rd

Research log: Year 736, Day 123. It seems my laboratory is not nearly as secure as I once believed. Some thief – likely a Lucian- made off with one of my experiments. Absconding with a single infant will do nothing to enlighten them of the grandeur of my research. That said, I will see to it such incident never arises again. I’ve posted magitek troopers around the facility and instructed them to keep a vigilant watch. It is their home, after all.

Research Log: 745-XI-21st

Research log: Year 745, Day 325. Today marks a momentous triumph for our great nation. The Glacian herself graced us with her presence in Ghorovas Rift, and, through the combined efforts of the magitek infantry and my precious daemons, we killed her. The resulting causalities were great, but these sacrifices afforded us something far more valuable than a few units. With the data I collected, I intend to begin developing a new magitek weapon codenamed “Godslayer.” Soon, all the Astrals shall bow before me and the might of my magitek. Soon, they shall know my wrath.

M.E. 745-XI-22nd

ATTN: Research Chief Verstael Besithia

It has come to my attention thet the Glacian’s recent assault was quelled by your magitek infantry. As commendation for your service to our great nation, I have approved your petition to increase funding for your research. Your Work is the centrifugal force that will propel the empire beyond our borders to greatness on the world stage. I eagerly await further reports of your progress.

Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt

 M.E. 746-VI-3rd

Prototype Numbering Instructions

In order ro better monitoring the large number of new magitek models enetering production, the Imperials Defense Council motions to reform the coding system as follows

- Troopers: 5-digit model number + 8-digit production code

- Infants: 4-digit production year + 8-digit production code

 754-VIII-25th

I’ve been assigned to Chief Besithia’s lab! Not many people can say they’ve worked under the supervision of a living legend. I mean, this is the guy who saved the empire from eternal winter. He’s practically our savior.

 754-XI-17th

My boss pulled me aside today to issue me a “special task.” Said it’s “highly confidential” and that I’m the only one qualified for the job. But how? I barely even know my way around the compound. Well, whatever the “task” is, I’ll deal with it in the morning.

 754-XI-18th

I found out what my “special task” is today- and frankly I wish I hadn’t. if only I could unsee the things I saw today… I really ought eat something before I go to bed, but that shit totally killed my appetite.

 755-II-16th

I had the honor of seeing His Imperial Majesty in person today. To think His Radiance would travel all that way through the ice and the snow just to observe our progress… if the Emperor is putting all his faith in magitek, then so should i.

 755-VII-24th

Just my luck. One of the plasmodium samples strted leaking, and your truly was the blessed with the “privilege” of cleaning it up. And then my boss had the nerve to yell at me-as if the whole thing were my fault. If he wasn’t to criticize the real culprit, he ought to look in a mirror.

755-VII-25th

 So thanks to yesterday's fiasco, my boss made me throw all the remaining plasmodium samples into the incinerator. What a waste of resources! My boss told the chief we used them in a series of experiments, but the thought of lying about what happened doesn't sit well with me at all. The whole thing is eating me up inside.

M.E. 755-VII-25th

Termination Report

ATTN: Research Chief Verstael Besithia. The Following specimen have been eradicated: 0755-06000326 0755-06000327 0755-06000328

0755-06000329 0755-06000330 0755-06000331

0755-06000332 0755-06000333 0755-06000334

0755-06000335 0755-06000336 0755-06000337

0755-06000338 0755-06000339 0755-06000340

0755-06000341 0755-06000342 0755-06000343

0755-06000344 0755-06000345 0755-06000346

0755-06000347 0755-06000348

All 23 samples listed have been incinerated to avoid potential daemonification of personnel.

755-VII-29th

 So I ended up telling chief Besithia the truth about the other day. Here I was, ready for him to tear me a new one - and he ended up praising my loyalty instead! Everyone made it sound like the chief was some kind of hardass, but he seems to be a really reasonable guy if you actually take the time to sit down and talk with him.  

M.E. 755-IX-18th

Proposal for Operation:Countersign

As deputy High Commander, I hereby propose a large-scale assault on the Lucian capital of Insomnia. Preparation are to begin next month. Our future is far too precious to entrust to our enmy. We must retrieve the Crystal and the Ring of legend, only then shall our worl know true peace.

Deputy High Commander Ravus Nox Fleuret

  755-XI-2nd

 Another one of the plasmodium samples started leaking today. How does this keep happening!? Clearly someone isn't doing their job. The worst part is that some of the researchers seem to have been infected. I need to get out of here ASAP.

755-XII-3rd 

There's a rumour going around the lab that those "leaks" from before weren't accidents at all. My buddy says he thinks the chief is actually trying to expose us all to the virus. I don't want to believe it, but...

756-I-14th

The whole compound is crawling with daemons these days... I shiver every time I turn the corner. What the hell am I doing here? When can I go home? 

756-II-12th

We are all... Together, we... Insomnia. As the ultimate... we... Thank you... Farewell...

Research log: 756-IV-8th

Research log: Year 756, Day 98. Finally my daemon-infused magitek armor is complete. I have christened my creation “Diamond Weapon”. It has exhibited an extremely unstable psyche, immediately unleashing unmitigated horrors upon activation. It’s destructive capabilities, however, are indeed beyond compare. Not even the “impenetrable” Insomnia could withstand its onslaught. Why, the Crown City would fall in a mere matter of minutes. The Stone of Legend will soon be mine. To think that, in less than a month’s time, the Crystal will be mine to play with as I please!

 M.E. 756-IV-8th

Diamond Weapon Report

ATTN: His Imperial Majesty Iedolas Aldercapt – It is with great pride I inform Your Radiance that development has finished on the new deamon armor. Codename: Diamond Weapon. I encourage Your Radiance to visit the First Production Facility at Your Radiance’s earliest convenience. I am most confident the final product will prove to Your Radiance’s Liking.

Verstael Besithia

Chief of Magitek Research

 M.E. 756-V-21st

Report on Unit SAS-0822

After several years of experimentation, we have finally succeeded in fusing mammal and magitek. Although we are still conducting various tests on Codename: Barbarus, the unit should be functional enough to fend off would-be intruders until development finishes on Unit XDA-1002: Immortalis.

 Research Log: 756-VII-9th

Research Log: Year 756, Day 190. At last, my life’s work is complete. Not only I have found a way to preserve the ego, I’ve also managed to sustain that consciousness through the sublimation process and transfer it to my magitek troopers. The prototype has proven slightly less powerful than the Diamond Weapon, but this presents no real problem. After all, one’s consciousness can be transmuted again and again and again. All that remain is to fully surrender myself to my research and become my own final test subject. I will conclude my mortal life by offering a word of thanks. Chancellor Ardyn Izunia, your assistance has provided invaluable. You have my eternal gratitude. It is through your aid that I completed my work and begun my ascension to an existence beyond divinity.

 thanks @ace-of-babes-98 for the ones that i missed 

[dustinmeadows]

Plan B. Let's Just Kill Each Other.

A few weeks ago, someone wrote this article acknowledging the 20th anniversary of the 1997 John Woo action film Face/Off, everyone's favorite face swapping movie starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. Which is fine. But then the author offers up that this might be one of the best action films of all time, which it abso-goddamn-lutely ain't. First off, MIGHT BE? The author isn't even committed to their own feeble premise here. And that makes them a FUCKING COWARD.

My name is Dustin Meadows, and I fucking love action movies. I can confidently tell you that Face/Off is nowhere near in the running for best action movie of all time. It's not even the best action movie of 1997, a year that gave us fun action films like The Fifth Element, Starship Troopers, and Con Air. Face/Off isn't even the best action film directed by John Woo that stars John Travolta, because that goes to the mercifully shorter Broken Arrow. Face/Off is an overly long 140 minutes, and with very few exceptions, no movie (action or otherwise) should ever clock in that far north of the two hour mark. And if you're an action movie running that long, you better be goddamn Die Hard or Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The article pontificates on the differences between the action movies of then and now, by lamenting a simpler time when action movies were non-stop explosions, shootouts and choreographed fight scenes without any kind of nuance or artistic leanings thrown in the mix, incorrectly labeling Face/Off as a pure breed of the former in that comparison. That's also complete horseshit, because this movie is lousy with dramatic interludes and pointless scenes that attempt to build tension, but rarely in a meaningful way.

This movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes long. There are five total action set pieces throughout the film-the opening airport/hangar chase and shootout, the prison escape, the warehouse raid, the funeral/Mexican stand-off, and the boat chase finale. That's roughly one action sequence every half hour, which, all told, maybe makes up for 40 of the 140 minutes of the film. That's about 28% of the movie that's action sequences, which seems pretty damn light to me. I can handle action sequences being spread out if the in-between moments are really well done or bring something amazing to the table, but that's not the case with Face/Off. Everything in between those scenes is a lot of introspection and occasional quipping. Die Hard is basically the bar that I measure all action movies against, and there are more action sequences in that movie, which largely takes place in a single location and still has a shorter run time than Face/Off.

In addition to these problems, the finale is a boat chase. With the lone exception of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, I don't think I've ever given a fuck about a boat chase in an action/adventure movie. Need proof of my point? A little movie called Speed II: Cruise Control, which takes place entirely on a fucking boat and also is terrible and slow and boring as shit. Almost the entire movie is a boat chase. Striking Distance, a largely ignored thriller starring Bruce Willis from the early 90s, tanked financially and critically. It's a movie about boat cops solving murders on a river? Were boats to blame for the film's lack of success? Well, I just can't say. But I'm sure it didn't help.

This final boat chase in Face/Off is the most underwhelming and unimpressive of the film's action sequences. You've gotta find something really special to make a boat chase interesting and fun to watch, and most movies fail to do it. That's why I typically don't give a shit about boat chases in films, aside from the previously mentioned Indiana Jones movie.

(You can hear a lot more of my dumb opinions on this episode of my old podcast, How Have You Not Seen This?)

Going back to the previous point about the underwhelming finale of Face/Off, this is a common problem in action films, particularly contemporary ones, in which the final action sequence can't even hold a candle to the more impressive action set pieces that came before. The airport sequence in Captain America: Civil War is so grand in scale and fun to watch, that even though the dramatic beats of the film's final handicap match between Captain America and Winter Soldier against Iron Man are more important to the story, the action in the final battle doesn't come as close to the airport fight. Wonder Woman's CGI clusterfuck fight against Ares from the film of the same name is nowhere near as impressive as the sequence in which Wonder Woman storms across enemy lines to take out an entire battalion of German soldiers. Kingsman: The Secret Service culminates in an extended gunfight/chase sequence/hand-to-hand combat between parkour James Bond type Eggsy and the knife-legged Gazelle, which is a great string of action, but again, comes nowhere near to the sheer brutality and coolness of the second act's church sequence where Colin Firth turns in an against-type performance as a badass who completely beats the shit out of a church full of Westboro Baptist types. While John Wick: Chapter 2  learned from its predecessor and stepped everything up, the finale of the first entry, John Wick, isn't as good as the bath house shootout or the botched home assassination attempt that occur earlier in the film.

The Expendables trilogy, on paper, is a brilliant idea, assembling an exciting ensemble of action stars from various eras in R-rated violent fun. While the series has its share of missteps, the trilogy at least understands that you always save your best for last when it comes to the action sequences.

The third act of Face/Off phones it in harder than any action movie has ever phoned in a third act, and is one of the many contributing factors that takes this film out of the running as a serious contender for best action film of all time. We get an amazing shootout during the warehouse raid, a heated and dramatic personal exchange between John Travolta's Castor Troy and Nicolas Cage's Sean Archer, and the emotional ending when Castor sees brother Pollux Troy knocked to his death by his nemesis, the man wearing his (Castor's) own face. Naturally Castor/Archer doubles down, abusing his power as a senior agent of the FBI to increase the manhunt for Archer/Castor, resulting in a climactic and explosive final battle between good and evil and giving us, without a doubt, the best action set piece of the entire film.

At least that's what should've happened. Instead we're treated to a third act that just kind of stumbles its way into a confrontation that feels empty and cheap, ultimately giving way to an uninteresting boat chase and finally fumbling the ball into the end zone as Archer/Castor harpoons the man he's spent his entire life chasing, avenging the murder of his son and then getting a brand new son in the process from Gina Gershon, because sure, why the fuck not?

Remember, I say all of this as someone who owns and enjoys the movie Face/Off. It's okay to be critical of shit you like, because frankly, sometimes we deserve better than what we get. Anyway, if you need me, I'll be busy working on my Face/Off reboot starring Wesley Snipes as Sean Archer and Terry Crews as Castor Troy.

[classicalliberalleague]

@NAC you had a list of books on your old page of recommended readings...but I can't find it now. Could you repost it?

I assume you mean this one ( I have this list on my web page with links included for the public domain stuff I could find…I try to keep it updated as I think of new things or find new ones.)

Young adult/childrenThe Little Prince by Saint-ExuperyWhere the sidewalk ends by SilversteinElla Minnow Pea by DunnSophie’s World by GaarderThe Great Good Thing by TownleyThe Jungle Book by Kipling Bridge to Terabithia by DiamondThe Westing Game by RaskingLillies of the Field by BarrettFlowers for Algernon by KeyesThe Wrinkle in Time Series(Wrinkle In Time, Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet)  by Madeleine L’EngleThe Dark is Rising Series by Susan CooperThe Tripod Trilogy by John ChristopherThe Hobbit by TolkienCoraline by Neil GaimanEyes of the Dragon by Stephen KingThe Original Shanara Trilogy (Sword, Elfstones, Wishsong) and Landover (Magic Kingdom for Sale, SOLD!, The Black Unicorn, Wizard at Large, The Tangle Box) by Terry Brooks by Elizabeth GeorgeThe Witch of Blackbird PondAdventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain 

Literature Winter’s Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Freddy & Frederika by Mark HelprinShakespeare (Especially Othello, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Tempest, Henry IV parts 1 & 2, Henry V, sonnets) Iliad   Odyssey   by Homer (I like the Fagles translation)Sophocles–Oedipus Trilogy ,  , Philoctetes , Women of Trachis Orestia by Aeschylus  Medea by Euripides Victor HugoLes Miserables The Hunchback of Notre Dam by Hugo A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens To Kill A Mockingbird by LeeWuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Complete works of Faulkner ( esp.The Sound and the Fury, Light in August) by FaulknerHoward’s End by Forster Diary of a Young Girl by FrankThe Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne Catch 22 by HellerGone with the Wind by MitchellFrankenstein by Shelley The Portrait of Dorian Gray , Importance of Being Earnest , An Ideal Husband by WildeThe Time Machine by Wells A Raisin in the Sun by HansberryNight by WieselThe Glass Menagerie by WilliamsThe Devil’s Disciple by ShawA Man for All Seasons by BoltCyrano de Bergerac by Ronstad (unless you speak French only the Hooker translation)Dracula by Stoker Inherit the Wind by Lawrence and LeeMagnificent Obsession by DouglasSilas Marner by George Eliot Decameron –Boccaccio A Modest Proposal—SwiftSelf-Reliance, The American Scholar, Experience—EmersonUp from Slavery—Booker T. Washington

PhilosophyA History of Knowledge by Van DorenThe Cave and the Light by HermanPlato (Euthyphro ,  Apology , Gorgias , Crito, Phaedo , Symposium , Republic )Aristotle (Metaphysics , Nicomachean Ethics , Eudemian Ethics , Politics , Rhetoric ,  Poetics )The History of Philosophy by CoplestonDiscourses on Livy by Machiavelli Ethical and Political Writings of St. Thomas AquinasAristotle for Everybody, 10 Philosophical Mistakes, The Great Ideas, How to Read A Book by AdlerCicero (On the Gods , On Duties , 1st and 2nd Philippics Superheroes and Philosophy edited by MorrisBuffy The Vampire Slayer and Philosophy edited by South

HistoryHistory of the Ancient World, Medieval World, Renaissance World by Susan Wise BauerThe Forgotten Man, Coolidge by ShlaesHistory of the Peloponnesian Wars by Thucydides John Adams by McCulloughFrom Dawn to Decadence by BarzunPlutarch’s Lives Cicero, Augustus by EverittLetters of John and Abigail Adams Washington by Ron ChernowThe Glorious Cause by Robert MiddlekauffLost Enlightenment by StarrReagan’s War by SchweizerPatriot’s History of the United States by Schweikart and AllenThe closing of the Muslim Mind by ReillyThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Economics/PoliticsWho Really Cares  and The Road to Freedom by Arthur BrooksThe World is Flat by Thomas FriedmanDave Barry Hits Below the Beltway by BarryDemocracy in America by de Tocqueville ��The Law by Bastiat The Upside of Down by McArdkeSpirit of the Laws The Federalist Papers Adam Smith (Theory of Moral Development , Wealth of Nations )My Journey by BlairThe Conscience of a Conservative by GoldwaterLocke (Second Treatise of Government , A Letter Concerning Tolerance )Parliament of Whores, Eat the Rich, On Wealth, Peace Kills by O’RourkeIn Defense of Globalization by BhagwatiNovus Ordo Seclorum by McDonaldBasic Economics, Civil Rights by SowellThe Next 100 Years by FriedmanThe Mystery of Capital by de SotoThe Road to Serfdom by HayekCapitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose by FriedmanNew Threats To Freedom edited by BellowA Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful; Reflections on the Revolution in France  by BurkeThe General Theory by KeynesThe Origins of Political Order, Political Order and Decay by FukuyamaBourgeois Virtues, Bourgeois Equality, Bourgeois Dignity by Deirdre McCloskeyCapital by Marx The Conservative Mind by Kirk

Other nonfictionPower of Myth by Joseph CampbellThe Universe in a Nutshell by HawkingFreakanomics by Levitt & DubnerThe Art of War by Sun TzuScratch beginnings by ShepardThe Tao of Physics by CapraShadowplay by AsquithHuman Excellence by MuarryThe Better Angles of Our Nature by Pinker48 Laws of Power by GreeneThe Story of Western Science by Bauer

Pleasure readingMan in the High Castle by DickBeat to Quarters, Ship of the Line, Flying Colours by ForesterThe Road to Gandolfo, Bourne Trilogy by LudlumBig Trouble by BarryEaters of the Dead, State of Fear by CrichtonRed Storm Rising by ClancyI, Claudius by GravesThe Walking Drum by L’AmourGates of Fire by PressfieldThe Scarlet Pimpernel by Ozcry It and The Green Mile by KingThe Agony and the Ecstasy by StonePillars of the Earth by FollettThe Historian by KostovaGrail Quest by CornwallThe Thirteenth Tale by StterfieldLamb, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Vampire Trilogy, The Stupidest Angel and Fool by Moore

Sci fi/Fantasy Mists of Avalon, The Forrest House by Marion Zimmer BradleyThe Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (et. al)Dune Series by Frank Herbert (et. al)The Sword of Truth Series by Terry GoodkindWorks of Robert Heinlein (esp. Stranger in a Strange Land, Puppet Master, Starship Troopers, Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Double Star)Good Omens by Gaiman and PratchettWatership Down by AdamsEnder’s Game by CardAmerican Gods by GaimanAnthem, Atlas Shrugged by RandHitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Adams1984 by George Orwell2001–Clarke

Spiritual The Robe by DouglasLost Horizon by HiltonGod Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita by YoganadaThe Second Coming of Christ by YoganandaThe Tao Te Ching (best to read at least two translations)The Alchemist, Veronica Decides to Die by CoelhoAutobiography of a Yogi by YoganandaEvidence of the Afterlife by LongA Course in MiraclesThe Messengers by IngramThe Celestine Prophecy by RedfieldLife before Life by TuckerJonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions by BachSiddartha by HesseKoranThe Book of CertitudeHoly BibleBook of Mormon

PoetryThe Prophet, The Broken Wings, Song of Man by GibranLeaves of Grass by Whitman  (esp. Preface, Song of Myself, I hear America Singing, Corinna’s Going A-Maying,When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer, O Me! O Life!, O Captain! My Captain!)Works of Tennyson (especially The Lady of Shalott, Ulysses, Charge of the Light Brigade, For I dipped into the Future, In Memoriam A.H.H., Crossing the Bar, Ulysses)Works of T.S. Eliot (especially The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Wasteland, Hollow Men, Preludes-, Four Quartets)Divine Comedy by Dante (I like the Mandelbaum translation) Metamorphoses by Ovid Hesperides and Nobel Numbers by Herrick  (esp. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, Argument of his book, Delight in Disorder, To His Conscience, Upon Julia’s ClothesFaust by Goethe Part I  Part II Works of Sappho, Hafiz, Rumi, Li Po, Tu Fu (best to read several translations)Tagore (esp. Gitanjali)Spencer– Amoretti (Sonnets 1,8, 10, 35, 37, 67,68, 70,75, 79)Sidney —Astrophil & Stella (Sonnets 1,6,9,15, 31,39,45,52,69,71,72,87,89,108)The Passionate Shepherd to His Love—MarloweThe Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd—RaleighShakespeare’s Sonnets (all them)Meditation 17, Holy Sonnet 10, The Bait—DonneTo a Mouse, To a Louse, Auld Lang Syne. A Red Red Rose–BurnsThe Lamb, The Tyger—BlakeRime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan—ColeridgeShe Walks in Beauty Like the Night, When We Two Parted, Darkness, We’ll Go No More A Roving, When A Man Hath No Freedom to Fight for at Home—ByronA Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing—PopeThe Measure of a Man—UnknownInvictus–HenleyPrayer of St. Francis of Assisi—Unknown (but probably not St. Francis)Ozymandias, The Flight of Love, To—, —ShellyOde on a Grecian Urn, La Belle Dame Sans Merci—KeatsSea Fever–MasefieldMy Last Duchess, Andrea del Sarto, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister—BrowningSonnet 43—Barret BrowningRemember, Up-hill, Echo, Promises like Pie-Crust, Lord thou thyself art love,—C.G. RossettiSudden Light, The House of Life, Soul’s Beauty—D.G. RossettiThe New Colossus–LazarusSecond Coming, Sailing to Byzantium, When you are Old, Lake Island of Inishfree—YeatsDo Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night—ThomasWork—Angela MorganThe Highwayman–NoyesCasey at Bat—ThayerJabberwocy, Walrus and the Carpenter, The Hunting of the Snark–CarrollDream Deferred, I too sing America– HughesThe Road Not Taken, Birches, Mending Wall, Fire and Ice, Out, Out–Frost

Short StoriesWilde (The Carterville ghost , The model millionaire , The nightingale and the rose  )Poe (Masque of the Red Death . Tell tale heart , Cask of Amontillado , Fall of the house if of usher , The Purloined Letter ,The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade  , Pit and the Pendulum , Mertzengerstein , The Duc De L’omlette , The black cat , The Murders of the Rue Morgue , Van Kempelen and his discovery , Mesmeric revelation )Hawthorne (My Kinsman Major Molineux , Young Goodman Brown ,  Rappacini’s Daughter , Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment , The Snow Image , The Minister’s Black Veil , The Maypole of Merry Mount , The Celestial Railroad , Sister Years  , The New Adam and Eve , The Artist of the Beautiful )O. Henry ( Lickpenny Lover , The Gift of the Magi ,After Twenty Years , The Last Leaf , The Cop and the Anthem  , The Clarion Call , The Skylight Room , The Buyer from Cactus City , The Duplicity of the Hargraves , The Furnished Room , Witches loaves , The Third Ingredient  , Spring time a la Carte  , The Green Door , By Courier, The Romance of the Busy Broker, One Thousand Dollars, Tobin’s Palm)Lovecraft—(The Cats of Ultar , The Outsider , Beyond the wall of sleep , Hypnos , The call of Cuthulu  , Dunwich horror , Dagon)EM Forrester (The Other side of the Hedge , The Machine Stops )Edith Wharton –The fullness of life Collins–Mr. Lismore and the Widow Bradbury—Exiles, Sound of thunderHans Christian Anderson –( In a thousand years  , Little mermaid )Ambrose Bierce–Occurrence at owl creek bridgeConnell–The most dangerous game Thousand and One nights–Aladdin and his magic lamp The necklace by Maupassant Anthony Hope–The Philosophy in the Apple Orchard Doyle (The Red Headed League , Scandal in Bohemia)Gilman–The Yellow Wallpaper Harrison Bergeron by VonnegutThe story of an hour by Kate Chopin The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Rikki tiki tavi by KiplingThe ones who walk away from Omelas by Le Guin  Bartley the scrivener by MelvilleThe lady or the tiger by Frank Stockton Abbot–FlatlandJericho Road by Henry van dyke Henlein– (The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, All you zombies, By his bootstraps, Waldo, Beyond this horizon)Philip K. Dick (We can remember it for you wholesale, Paycheck, Second Variety, The Minority Report, The Golden Man, Variable Man)William Faulkner (A Rose for Emily, The Tall Men, Shingles for the Lord, Shall not Perish, Elly, Uncle Willy, That will be Fine, That Evening Sun, Red Leaves, A Justice, A Courtship, Lo!, Ad Astra, All the Dead Pilots, Wash, Mountain Victory,  Beyond)Mark Twain (The celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras County,  Diary of Adam and Eve)Washington Irving (Sleepy Hollow, ,  The Devil and Tom Walker  )Gelett Burgess–The number Thirteen , The MacDougal street affair  Lord Dunsany– The bureau d’exchange de Maux , The Exiles club , The Sword of Walleran  The mortal immortal  byMary Shelly The Adventure of the Snowing Globe By F. AnsteyThe Sleeper and Spindle by GaimanMark Helprin (Katherine comes to yellow sky, Ellis island,  Tamar)

PodcastsThe History of Rome, Revolutions

[huntsman-ash]

RWBY Season 7 Episode 2

Same deal as last time on this one, no tags so it doesn’t spoil anyone but I’ll keep it for my own stuff. Might start tagging these “livewatch” but I dont think THAT should show up on any particular tag-list. So here we go.

Where last we left our intrepid band of weirdos, lesbians, small boys being inhabited by old men, and Qrow, they’d just gotten their asses pinched by the most flamboyantly over-the-top “special operatives” in existence after probably saving Mantle from getting its ass chewed on by Grimm. Lets see how they fare...

Well seems like its pretty in character. Nora is attempting to EAT her way out of handcuffs. And I think Oscar just fell asleep. 

“Took us out like its nothing”, says Jaune. Its almost like they’re Specialists and you didn’t even graduate from Vale.  Mind you, BOTH groups are nothing compared to what I really honestly hope is true and not just my military headcanons Atlas has on hand. 

Hmm. Random gritty looking civvie. Interesting.  Least his giving exposition. “The elite of elite military Huntsmen.” WELP. Atlas is well and truly fucked if THAT is the best the can bring to the table. 

...Oh fuck, its Ash. Its Ash as a green-eyed angry teenager. Mixed with Tabloid from Ace Combat 7. 

Actually no, he’s a LOT more childish than Ash. Ash has history, this guy just has a boner for Robyn. Robin? IDK. 

Sigh. “Happy Huntress’s.” GREAATTTTT. Fuckin’ Robin Hood bullshit. I get this is Remnant but come on. And apperently Mantle cant even have people stand up for itself, no, they have to come from ATLAS. Mehh. Fuck it. 

New airship design! Its basically a flying box, but hey. Least we get a new one.  Henceforth I shall call it the Cattlecar.

Okay not going to lie but Atlas looks like High Charity kinda. Glowing spires, tight city blocks...its pretty cool, actually.  And it looks like they literally build the city into the moutain and then...ripped the mountain out of Mantle. Wonder when that happened. Was that the result of a mistake during a Dust RnD test? Also, calling it now, but this is how Fortress Academy looks. Except inside the mountain. 

Nora is still trying to eat her way out of her bolo handcuffs. 

And now, Atlas Academy; literally a giant fucking tower surrounded by OTHER towers. Top of the fucking rock. I gotta admit that fits the feeling of it, really. Dear Biased RWBY Gods LET IT HAVE TRIPLE-A

Atlas trooper armor hasn’t changed a bit. 

And I see that Atlas takes rules from the Forerunners of Halo; NO FUCKING RAILINGS ANYWHERE. I wonder how often people fall off the sides by accident...

Oh good Penny’s here! And HOLY SHIT ITS WINTER! SHES NOT DEAD! Also Atlas’s room doors all look like they have protculus’s on them.

REALLY Winter? Fucking with the grunts? Come on, their lifes bad enough as it is, don’t go the military route...

Soft daddy Ironwood. Cute. Also, nice fucking office. 

Penny looks adorable when she stands at attention. I mean everything she does is cute but... Also is Ironwoods voice different? Must not have heard it in a while but it sounds different...

Yes. Shut up and accept the hug Winter. ACCEPT. THE. HUG.

Good. Penny and Winter are in on this. THAT means others are...and so’s the Helljumpers. 

Yang, you dont know how the fuck this works, do you? Come on.  Also, RT, your Autin-fueled liberal side is showing...

Fucking super dramatic window closing and rising floor. This is what happens when your up in the cold north with nothing to do, HA. 

A new approach...oh my god. Open warfare? PLEASE TELL ME ITS OPEN WARFARE. NUKE SALEM!

Also oh hey there’s the Colloseum. Does that mean its officially Atlas’s to keep? Huh. 

Holy shit, someone figured out to rebuild the CCTS! It only took them...a year and a half, give or take? New ones mobile too... WEAPONIZE IT. Gun emplacements, military defenses, barracades, Triple-A! Make that fucking flying sports arena into a BATTLESHIP. 

GIVE REMNANT A PHALANX!

HOLY SHIT THEY’RE DOING IT! LOW ORBIT SATELLITE COMS! FUCKING AT LAST!

Ohhh. OH FUCK YES. IRONWOOD YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD! YES! LETS SEE THAT SLIMY FUCKIN BACKSTABBY BITCH GET OUT OF THIS! AN ENTIRE WORLD REUNITED AGAINST HER! HUMAN WAVE ATTACKS, MASS ASSAULTS, AIR POWER AND COMS...IRONWOOD YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD, DO IT!

That being said though this...seems kind of intense.  Also the whole “revealing Salem will cause panic” is...odd to me. I would think Remnant would be MAD. Vengeful. Yes that could bring Grimm, but when you have reason to fight, your morale is high. You fight harder than you have before. Thats the first rule of any military. Give the people an enemy, and they will rally. The Queen of Grimm, the cause of all your sorrows and frustrations...people will be grabbing rifles by the MILLIONS.

Oscars like “oh, well...shit.”

(Headdesks) NOTHING pisses me off more than seeing the General of FUCKING ATLAS bowing to a fucking SHOTA.  DO NOT KNEEL BEFORE THE FUCKING SMALL FARM BOY. YOU ARE A FUCKING GENERAL. I DO NOT CARE IF HE IS OZPIN REINCARNATE SHOW YOUR FUCKING RANK SOME RESPECT. Yes I know its becuse Oscar is like 4 feet shorter than him BUT STILL

Penny probably knows Ruby’s lying about the lamp. If she can’t read biometric data, I’ll be incredibly shocked. 

On that, something tells me Ruby’s making sure Ironwood cant figure out whats going on himself. Shes taking some control back. Good. 

We’ll make a soldier out of you yet farmboi.

Weird magic shape-changing lamp. Woooo

OH YES. IRONWOODS BRINGING OUT THE UPGRADES. OH FUCK YES

Yang’s response is my own. Mind you it’ll still be...Hunter tech. But hey, good shit.

Oh hey look its Olivia’s long-lost sister. Also when humor requires it, Ruby fully becomes a cartoon character

Wolf faunus. Hm. These really are Ace Ops. Aseops. Cute.  Hope they dont ALL die.

Penny can cha-cha-slide

Ironwood; Qrow (Decends the stairs to “Here comes the general” from Hamilton)

...Hes hugging Qrow. AND THATS HOW YOU GET DEATH DISEASE PEOPLE

Fucking hell this place is gigantic. I thought Beacon had a big campus, this is fucking bonkers.  Everythings white too though which might not be the best choice...also the wall lights are literally torches just like on Atlas’s kingdom emblem so.

Noras down. Quick, no one glance up her skirt

Rain in Mantle. Hmm. Must be melted snow from above.

Watts walks like a fucking gentleman. Like, damn dude, slouch a little. 

Ear-coms. COMBEAD? Perhaps...good they’re canon, thats enough for me. 

Im pretty sure I can hear tyrian killing a dude in the background of his call.

None of the code was updated in Mantle. Well, fucking great, Watts has control of the entire area. He’s literally fuckin Adrien from Watch_Dogs. Even down to the “I helped write it” Also some of those cars look seriously armored. I like it. 

Yep he just killed a dude. Actually I think this is the first time we’ve seen proper blood in the show. Someones gonna notice that Tyrian you know that right

And with that...Episode 2 down.