#Prophet Spider exploits

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

Hi, I'm curious if you have any theories about Avatar 3 and any thoughts about Ash Navis? What could they be like and will Quaritch really join them?

I wouldn’t say I have hard theories based on a ton of set leaks or anything but I have things in mind that I think could happen that would be interesting to me.

So I’ve heard the Ash clan is made up of Na’vi exiles from various clans. Basically it’s ✨Space Australia ✨. I think it’d be really cool to see them have a blended culture from all those other tribes along with seeing what there land looks like. It’d have to be pretty brutal if you’re sending exiles there. It’s confirmed that it’s a volcanic land so made those volcanoes regularly erupt (and could you imagine the lava maybe changing colors or being like something you’d see through heat glasses. It’d be so cool) I think other tribes are gatherers and don’t really do farming so maybe the ash clan have to grow plants to survive “manipulating” Eywa’s creation. Maybe there’s even deadlier animals then what we’ve seen or variations of animals we have seen that are adapted to the ash lands. All in all I think the ash clan will be brutal with a more feral relationship with the land and Eywa then the other tribes.

Something I’d find interesting for Quaritch would be if he tried to become Toruk Makto. I find it unlikely that there’s only one Toruk. The one we see in the first Avatar would at least have to have a mate so the species doesn’t die out. So Quaritch could become a dark Toruk Makto (could you imagine the fight him and Jake would have!) like a false prophet that some tribes actually get behind. I don’t think the ash clans leader Verang would fall for him though. I think it’s more likely that they use each other. I don’t think they’ll be romantic either.

The title the seed barrier has always had me speculating even though that’s apparently not the title anymore. But I’ve wondered what these seeds could be and what if it’s literally like a seed of Eywa that the humans could take back to earth to heal it? I think that’d be cool. According to the avatar survival guide (which I’m not even sure is canon) Pandoran plants have been taken to earth and there are even cults of eywa on earth. I love this concept so much and would love to see this expanded upon though I don’t think it will be. But all that’s to say there’s all ready Pandoran flora on earth and support for the na’vi, so you could have allies on Earth that would get the seeds planted. I’d love to see more of Earth in general but I’d like to see something done to actually save the planet. I think that’d be the best solution for the humans and the Na’vi. First you’d have to defeat the R.D.A because they are poison for everyone but their investors. There’s no way a human settlement on Pandora run by the R.D.A would ever be sustainable obviously not for Pandora but even for the humans. They’d be slaves to a company, your everything would be dependent on them and it’s not like you could just leave when you can’t breathe the air.

I think we’ll see more of Earth through Jake and Quaritch’s memories and maybe that’ll create sympathy from Eywa that leads to the creation of these earth healing seeds. You’re definitely not giving these to the R.D.A because they would just exploit it. They’d probably have to hijack a ship and send a human they trust (not Spider! I would hate to see him leave Pandora) to get the job done. They’d link up with the Na’vi loyalists on Earth and save the planet. This is more an overall theory though not just a third movie theory.

This isn’t really a theory and I’m sure everyone has heard the set leaks by now but Spider having a near death experience with Kiri healing him and Spider gaining the ability to breathe Pandora’s air afterwards is basically already canon to me.

I would like to see Neteyam resurrected in some way. I don’t think he’d be flesh and blood resurrected though I’d be so happy if he was. I think, if Eywa is an actual god ( and I think she is) and not a more scientifically explainable collective consciousness then maybe with the building threat Eywa decides she needs more spiritual help and turns characters we know into minor gods. I think I’d be cool to see Neteyam as like an earth god with his spirt creating earthquakes that wreak the R.D.A during battle. I would want this for Tsu’tey and maybe even Sylwanin too. I think this is totally not going to happen but I really like the idea.

I do think Grace will be resurrected in her Avatar body. I had the thought a few weeks back of, could they just hook graces avatar body back up to the tree of souls? ‘Cause her soul is with Eywa, maybe her soul just needed more help getting to her avatar body when she was you know- dying. But Kiri basically being Eywa’s avatar is probably strong enough to shepherd her mother’s soul into her na’vi body. I actually think this is pretty likely because I feel like just keeping Graces body around creates a narrative need to do something with it. No body but Grace can drive it so I think it’s only logical for her to be resurrected.

Those are my major theories/thoughts! Thank you for the question. I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks 💙

[scrawnytreedemon]

Fucking.

Ganzant.

I am so obsessed with this hellfire dynamic, I don't even know where to begin.

Like, yes, there's the delicious dynamic of a zealous prophet and an apathetic god who doesn't even really consider himself a god, but it's also so much more than that.

They're Jason and Medea. Except Ganondorf is more Heathcliff than Jason; he's more Zant than Zant himself is; he is him; they are both Demise. They both saw each other as escape, but when push came to shove Ganondorf cut the spider's thread and let Zant die, and it bit him in the ass when he tried to call upon the vestiges of their bond and Zant clawed him down to hell with him.

They're like Jesus and Maria in the Pieta but Mary is shrieking and swearing while bawling her eyes out and Jesus isn't so tender, meek and mild now, is he? But they're also Jesus and Peter, first Bishop and first Pope, the one who holds the keys to Heaven, but also Peter is Judas, the knife in his back, the kiss on his cheek, and the means by which he fulfills his holy death.

What are they to each other? What is a God if not a Father, Teacher, King, Lord, Brother, Lover, Master, Husband and Traitor? What is a Disciple, if not a Prophet, a Servant, a willing Slave, a Sister, a Student, a Wife, a Mother, a Dog, your Son?

What does it mean, to share the same body, even for a bit?

When does a lifeline become a noose? If you throw down the rope, how do you know you too won't be dragged down? Ganondorf cut the cord, and fell when the waves hit. He was the hand that fed, and when he stopped, the beast had grown large enough to devour him.

They're Adam and Eve; Eve formed from Adam's rib, from him, his side, and when she offered him fruit proved his demise.

Did Odin create his own doom by dividing Loki's children? By damning Hel to the underworld, Jormangundr to the sea, and Fenrir to ribbon-bound treachery?

Do Sigyn and Angrboda both spurn Loki for the way he twisted them? For the children lost, the annihilation at hand? And yet she holds the bowl anyway.

I think Zant loved him. I think it was selfish, and hungry, and childish, and greedy. And I think he meant it. He would have walked barefoot across the desert, danced with knives in his feet on a ballroom floor of shattered glass, crawled on his belly over hot coals and dove to the bottom of the sea for him. He would have swallowed him down to keep him safe, and rebuild him again, and again. and again, as many times as he needed to rise anew. He gave him life, life worth living; and he gave him life, a new body: rebirth.

I do not think Ganondorf knew how far it went. If and when he realises... what then? It's one thing to exploit hatred, greed, to justify your own backstabbing with the idea that he betrayed his own monarchy, his own people, for you,

What do you do, when faced with a love so big it would do anything you asked, at the price of having you?

Ganondorf is a fiercely independent sort of soul. He brought himself up by his bootstraps despite everything working against him, and fought tooth and nail for the right to even exist. He does not trust, cannot trust, and only brings in people with the knowledge he'll cut them off if they become a liability, and specifically seeks out other ambitious, morally-unhinged people for this. No man is an island, but he'll be damned if he's going down with the rest of the continental shelf.

What do you do when you're suddenly given a soulmate?

That has to be fucking terrifying.

You get everything you want, the way you want, at the cost of losing you.

After all, a God belongs to His people.

As do kings, and lords, and fathers, and sons.

What do you do when you seek a contract and find enmeshment instead?

The rope goes both ways: the lifeline is the umbilical cord, and severence means death in either case. Ganondorf overestimated his own viability, and died clawing himself from his "mother's" embrace.

When they go to Hell, do they see each other? Does Ganondorf escape it so he can escape her? Escape her sharp nails, her malformed fingers around his neck, the bitter hisses and saccharine kisses lain upon his ear? Does he loathe the softness of her thighs when she presses his head to his lap and miss them when he lies awake under an open sky?

Does she curse him when he's near and sob when he's far? Does her heart flutter when she sees the sun in his hair, as her mouth fills with bile vowing to drag him back down with her? Does she yearn to be Semele and Euryidice, wishing he would come fetch her and knowing bitterly it ends the same regardless?

Theseus and Ariadne, Dionysus both.

It's been often said that Zeus, Hades and Dionysus were all aspects of the same god.

In making that pact, are they, too?

What is marriage but a vow to merge 'til death do us part?

Do you want to become one with me?

Birth and Death are two sides of the same coin.

Do you want to become one with me?

In cheating it, have you cheated me?

Do you want to become one with me?

Hyrule's history tells of a King of Thieves,

Do

Did you mean to steal this, too?

you

All men are the same; you have no honour. Why must I suffer, for bearing you?

want

I love you; I love you so much; I want you even if it kills me.

to

And it does.

become

You're the moon to my water, the sun in my sky. There are 93 million miles between us, and yet we gain union via an eclipse.

one

I'm your little satellite, your angel, your Lucifer, your dutiful executioner and nightlight. I watch over your bed with fingers aching to dig themselves into your supple neck.

with

It's not fair! It's not fair! I have been nothing but honest with you. Why do you lie to me? Why do you feed me, then withdraw your hand when I try to lick it? Your taste is wonderful; I love you, I love you so much. If you asked me, I'd gobble you up. I have been nothing but good to you; why do you betray me?

m--

I could make you whole. I would give your my blood, my skin, my teeth and my bones. You could use me for spare parts and I'd thank you each time. Just cradle me on your lap; just offer me milk; offer me meat; offer me hair and offer me water.

You can have anything you've ever wanted,

If only you give yourself.

If you get anything, can I not have everything?

[anxiousdragoncollector]

Story time

Back when I thought I was the hot shit and writing fanfic, I had the bright idea to merge the two fandoms that lived in my mind at the time, Wings of Fire and Boku No Hero Academia.

The idea was that Thorn decided to make a boat school (Jade Academy) and sailed around the world collecting kids Batman style

This was the chart I made (plus some info)

Qibli Scorpion Egyptian

Winter cold resistance Russian

Moon prophetic mind reader tai

Kinkajou Chameleon Australian

Turtle Glowfish greek

Peril boil blood Spanish Japanese

Anemone enchant Greek

Tsunami Water breath greek

Luna firesilk Columbian

Blue Butterfly Columbian

Sundew plant speak Brazilian

Starflight fire breath tai

Sunny quirkless Pakistani-Japanese

Clay fire immunity African-American

Glory venom Australian

Darkstalker magic scroll-villain Korean

Deathbringer slow moving Thai/filipino

Thorn Desert-principal Pakistani

Cricket telekinesis immunity British

Wasp mind control bees-villain British

Blaze sand shifting Nigerian

Jambu vanish Australian

Coral Gills greek

Willow memory feeler Brazilian

Lizard immortality Mesopotamian

Swordtail moth Columbian

Io spider Columbian

Wren language Mexican

Sky quirkless Spanish-Japanese

Webs webbed hands greek history teacher

Fatespeaker make believe Filipino

Pike Shark Shifter from Cyprus

Chameleon/Hisashi illusional disguise Japanese

Clay would cook a bunch of food and he would play Reaper Roulette w some of the others. One food has Carolina Reaper seeds in it (the spiciest part, i think), and whoever gets that food has to eat the whole thing. Sundew and Tsunami love it

Clay sleeps in The kitchen. And every morning, he makes breakfasts from around the world

Thorn created the school, so Sunny has lived there her whole life

Kinkajou and/or Sunny carries around stickon Rhinestones to bedazzle people.

Jade Academy is also a safe for young children until they can find a home. Or they just live there and get a great education

Queen Scarlet was a black market lord who ran illegal fights. Peril was her champion

And since Turtle is in the other dorm and Moon sleeps w Qibli, and Glory w Deathbringer, Kinkajou cuddles w Sunny. She is afraid to sleep alone because Thorn rescued her from child trafficking. She was taken while she was alone and put into labor exploiting

Most students change names once joining, sometimes to escape their pasts

Chameleon basically shifted into a Japanese man who married Inko, making Peril, Sky, and Izuku half-siblings

[hivepro]

A remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability(CVE-2021-22941) affecting Citrix ShareFile Storage Zones Controller, was used by Prophet Spider to attack a Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) web server. The attacker took advantage of the flaw to launch a WebShell that allowed the download of further tools.

Prophet Spider also exploits known Log4j vulnerabilities in VMware Horizon (CVE-2021-44228, CVE-2021-45046, CVE-2021-44832). Prophet Spider most typically used encoded PowerShell instructions to download a second-stage payload to the targeted PCs after exploiting the vulnerabilities. The specifics of that payload are determined by the attacker’s motivations and aims, such as crypto mining, ransomware, and extortion.

[chiseler]

ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE DRIVE-IN: The Testament of Al Adamson

It was 50 years ago last year that the cheap and peculiarly patchwork films of Al Adamson first began to assert themselves on drive-in and grindhouse screens across America. Initially recognized for his horror films (Blood of Dracula’s Castle, Horror of the Blood Monsters, Brain of Blood, and especially Dracula vs. Frankenstein), he went on to add biker, action, blaxploitation, sexploitation, and even family fare to his rickety roster before retiring from his director’s chair sometime in the 1980s and vanishing into private life. The rise of Adamson’s unpretentious output happened to coincide with the decline of the Hollywood studio system as well as such old guard avatars as American International Pictures, Britain’s Hammer Films and Amicus Productions, whose imprints always guaranteed a certain level of production value and class. Adamson’s work was something of a throwback to the gore films of Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs!), but whereas Lewis’ work in horror was a taboo-breaking branching-out from his earlier nudie-cutie fare, Adamson’s pictures were endearing for their sentimental casting of veteran character actors well past their prime; technically, they didn’t bear comparing even to the old Monogram or PRC titles where Bela Lugosi was often found slumming during the 1940s, but the average drive-in patron could look at them and think, after his third or fourth beer of the night, “Damn, I could do better than this!” And sure enough, Adamson’s rough-and-ready example and his impressive earnings played a part in encouraging the powderkeg of DIY horror breakthroughs that went epidemic around the turn of the decade. Just to name the Americans, these feral young newcomers included George A. Romero, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Bob Kelljan, David Durston, Andy Milligan, S.F. Brownrigg, even Oliver Stone, not to mention the many young and international filmmakers associated with Roger Corman’s New World Pictures.

1969’s Golden Anniversary honors were largely drawn to Quentin Tarantino’s behind-the-scenes movie fantasy Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, which was much praised for its magical extrication of the beautiful and talented actress Sharon Tate from her hideous murder on August 9th of that year. For some of us, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood links directly to thoughts of Al Adamson; in early 1969, he shot parts of his biker thriller Satan’s Sadists at the notorious Spahn Movie Ranch in Los Angeles’ Ventura County, where thwarted songwriter Charles Manson lived with his “family” members, inculcating in them a blood-lusting resentment for the established Hollywood order that would not invite him in. When Satan’s Sadists was first released in June 1969 (its trailer promising “A Rebellion of Human Garbage!” led by West Side Story star Russ Tamblyn), it quickly disappeared… but in the wake of the Tate/La Bianca murders just a few months later, its distributor Independent-International shipped it back out with a new, sleazier publicity campaign that actually emphasized its prophetic Manson Family associations. “See the Shocking Story Behind the Headlines… Wild Hippies on a Murder Spree!,” crowed the ads; “Actually Filmed Where the Tate Suspects Lived Their Wild Experiences!”And just in case this wasn’t enough, the film was frequently co-billed with Tate’s 1968 British film Eye of the Devil, now being sold with the tagline “Weird, mystic cult slaughters innocent victims!”

As irony would have it, almost thirty years after so grossly pandering to the public’s prurient interest in the murder, the director of Satan’s Sadists got the biggest headlines of his career when Al Adamson was named as the murder victim in a crime story nationally broken in August 1995, a couple of months after his mysterious disappearance.

This story is now the subject matter of a feature-length documentary by filmmaker David Gregory: Blood and Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, which premiered late last year at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal and at the UK Fright Fest.

The son of 1930s western star Denver Dixon (in truth, transplanted New Zealand native Victor Adamson), Al had been kicking around the exploitation film business his entire life. In 1960, working under the alias “Lyle Felice”, he took the lead role in a Western entitled Halfway To Hell, which he ended up co-directing with his father. The film was never released and the young Adamson wasn’t able to put another film together until 1965, when he wore all the various hats needed to make his first official feature Echo of Terror, a jewel heist programmer somehow given the breath of life on a mere $2,000 investment.

Low on thrills and boasting no stars, Echo of Terror followed in the footsteps of Halfway To Hell by never finding a distributor. It remained on the shelf until Adamson made the fateful acquaintance of Samuel M. Sherman, then working in the publicity department at Hemisphere Pictures, designing campaigns for the likes of Filipino imports like Eddie Romero’s war drama The Ravagers and Gerardo de Leon’s vampire opus The Blood Drinkers. Sherman had just finished a two-year stint as the editor of the Warren Publications magazine Screen Thrills Illustrated, devoted to the movie serials of the 1930s and ‘40s – so he was familiar with the name Denver Dixon and formed a fast friendship with his son. He screened Edge of Terror and, while agreeing it was unviable in its present shape, he was impressed by what Adamson had accomplished with so little money. They didn’t yet have the means to produce an entirely new picture, so they made a reel’s worth of changes to what they had, and that’s how Echo of Terror – with a modicum of new footage featuring some go-go dancers - became Psycho A Go Go.

Through Hemisphere, this jarring concoction was shipped out in support of The Ravagers in Rochester, New York at the end of 1965, and it remained in circulation in New England and Midwestern states through 1967, first playing with another Gerardo de Leon picture, Curse of the Vampires (retitled Blood Creatures) and later appearing at the bottom of triple – and even quadruple - bills with Hammer’s Dracula Prince of Darkness (1965) and Plague of the Zombies (1966).

Even as Psycho A Go Go was tempting sullen motorists to stick around for the free donuts and coffee being served to anyone who lasted till the fourth feature, Sherman and Adamson could see that the clock was ticking against the timeliness of its title. So yet another scheme was hatched to squeeze maximum earnings out of a minimal further investment. Sherman knew more about the film business than Adamson did, so it was likely he who suggested they write some additional mad scientist gobbledegook, hire John Carradine for a day or two, and ship out their brand new picture with a more exploitable title like Fiend With the Electronic Brain – pretty much exactly what producer Jerry Warren had done some years earlier with the reels of unmarketable Swedish and Chilean footage that he sold to unsuspecting patrons as Invasion of the Animal People (1959) and Curse of the Stone Hand (1965), starring John Carradine!

They followed through on the plan and did indeed secure a distribution deal (or at least an arrangement) with David L. Hewitt’s American General Pictures, who got Fiend With the Electronic Brain into a couple of drive-ins in Corpus Christie and Austin, Texas in late 1967 and early 1968 as a co-feature to Jack Hill’s as-yet-unrecognized classic Spider Baby. On the books, it gave them credit for having produced and released a new picture that year, which made their new partnership the beneficiary of a much-needed tax break and a foundation from which they were able to produce their first real joint effort. This was Blood of Dracula’s Castle (1969, also starring Carradine), made in partnership with Paragon International Pictures, as was its co-feature, Bud Townsend’s Nightmare In Wax starring Cameron Mitchell. Released through Crown International, the double bill premiered in May 1969 and Blood of Dracula’s Castle in particular was never out of theatrical circulation for the next two years.

You might think they would have moved on to more important things, but the Frankensteinian efforts to make a bigger, better Fiend With the Electronic Brain continued to occupy Sherman and Adamson. Sherman’s success with Blood-titled campaigns – ranging from 1970s Mad Doctor of Blood Island to 1971’s Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror – had convinced him that “Blood” was the most commercially vital word in horror terminology. His theory was subsequently bourne out by the success of his 1972 “Chiller Carnival of Blood” – a drive-in festival composed of old, decomposing Hemisphere titles (1959’s Terror Is A Man retitled Blood Creature, Mad Doctor of Blood Island retitled Blood Doctor, Theater of Death retitled Blood Fiend, and Brides of Blood retitled Blood Brides). Sherman’s “good luck noun” was prominently applied to their old warhorse the next time it surfaced, this time with new footage featuring Kent Taylor and Adamson’s wife Regina Carroll, who had become a fixture of his work since Satan’s Sadists. The rechristened Blood of Ghastly Horror actually headed drive-in triple bills upon its release in January 1973 – and some ticket buyers may have been understandably annoyed to discover that it was the same film that had been playing on television stations across the country as early as April 1972 under the title Man With the Synthetic Brain.

This is but one of numerous stories of patchwork reinventions and retitlings attending the filmography of Al Adamson, which will receive the fullest possible examination when Severin Films releases the mind-staggering tributary box set Al Adamson – The Masterpiece Collection, on April 21st. Compiling all 32 of Adamson’s surviving feature films and variants on 14 Blu-ray discs (all Region A, except for Discs 1, 12, and 14, which are region free), a 128-page book, as well as the David Gregory documentary, this Matterhorn of home video retrospectives will be limited to only 2,000 copies and supply is dwindling fast. The dwindling is faster still for two variants packed with additional incentives: you’ve already missed the “Bundle of Ghastly Horror” (limited to 200 copies and containing posters signed by Adamson stars John “Bud” Cardos and Zandor Vorkov), but the limited 300-copy “Bundle A Go Go” retains most of the contents - a T-shirt, dimestore vampire fangs, 7” soundtrack single of music from The Female Bunch, and Adamson patch and enamel pin - while substituting a signed postcard for the posters. Pick your poison at severin-films.com.

If you’re wondering, “Do I need this?,” only you can answer that question reliably. However, should you be open to further temptation, I can whole-heartedly recommend the documentary Blood and Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, which is available for purchase separately and now streaming on such outlets as Amazon Prime, Vudu, and Google Play.

by Tim Lucas

[douxreviews]

Manifest - ‘Upgrade’ Review

"Faith is compromised by pessimism, Alice.  Let's be optimistic.  Put the gun down."

In the first 90 seconds or so of this episode, both Zeke and Cal have the same calling, a vivid vision of a very unfriendly black wolf.  It's a metaphor, but a metaphor for what? or who?

While Ben and Michaela and Zeke are discussing the wolf metaphor, Saanvi gets a visit at her office from a lady named Alice who bears no small resemblance to Kathy Bates.  Alice's husband Jacob has cancer, they've been told it's not treatable, and she's desperate and obviously distraught.  Even though Saanvi is a researcher and doesn't normally treat adults, she takes pity on Alice and agrees to go see Jacob.

Jacob's cancer is too far gone, but Alice is a Believer and is convinced that Saanvi has mystical Flight 828 powers that allow her to cure the incurable.  Alice also has misinterpreted Stephen King's Misery as a how-to book, and when Saanvi tries to leave Alice whacks her across the face and then pulls a gun on her.  (It also has apparently not occurred to her that beating up or shooting one of the 828 passengers might be the Believer equivalent of sacrilege.)   Jacob, to his credit, tries to talk his wife into releasing Saanvi, but Alice is too emotionally overclocked to listen to reason.

When he hears that workaholic Saanvi can't be found in the hospital and is missing appointments, Ben's spider senses kick in.  He manages to identify Alice as Saanvi's last visitor, and tie her in to The Church of the Returned.  The Church is a storefront congregation of Believers presided over by fellow 828 passenger Adrian, last seen a few episodes ago, who has started a new career as an object of worship.  Based on his conversations with Ben, it's pretty obvious to us in the audience that Adrian is deliberately running a scam.

With a little help from the search tools in the NYPD database, Ben and Michaela locate Alice's apartment.  Ben rather cleverly talks his way in and, by pretending to be there to help Saanvi perform an 828 miracle, distracts Alice enough that Michaela can disarm her and end the standoff.

On the romantic triangle front, Lourdes notices a certain lack of enthusiasm on Jared's part (IYKWIMAITTYD) and deduces that he had a dalliance with Michaela.  She goes to the police station to confront her now-former friend, and it goes about as badly as you'd expect.

While all this is going on, Zeke tries to make sense of the wolf by talking to Cal.  Cal is in a bit of a funk because he is worried that the callings come true because of his drawings.  Zeke and Grace help set him straight by, among other things, having him draw a picture of a pile of money on the family dining table.  After the cash fails to materialize, Cal draws a picture of the wolf jumping at Michaela.

As the episode ends, Michaela is called to the river.  Four days earlier, while our protagonists were up in the Catskills looking for Cal, there was an armored car robbery, followed by a high-speed chase, followed by the getaway vehicle plunging into the East River.  The divers have finally located the van in question, and a crane fishes it out of the river.  When Michaela opens the driver's door, expecting to find a corpse, the driver lunges at her.

"828" Watch

The arc number is all over the Church of the Returned, of course.  Lourdes and Jared's house number is 3528, which if you add the first two digits (3+5) is an "828" sighting.

Also on the manifest...

This week's gold star for acting goes to Parveen Kaur for a short scene near the end of the episode where Saanvi's post-Alice PTSD hits her like a ton of bricks.

The black wolf is obviously a CGI visual effect, just not-real enough to take up residence in the Uncanny Valley. Where's this Uncanny Valley, you might ask?  TV Tropes explains:

In 1970 Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori proposed in "The Uncanny Valley" that the more human a robot acted or looked, the more endearing it would be to a human being. . . . However, at some point, the likeness seems too strong and yet somehow, fundamentally different — and it just comes across as a very strange human being. At this point, the acceptance drops suddenly, changing to a powerful negative reaction.

That's why zombies are more frightening than Daleks.  It's also why the human characters in the Incredibles and Toy Story films are stylized and cartoony even though the settings and other objects on screen are rendered realistically: stylizing the CGI people keeps them from falling into the Uncanny Valley and alienating the audience.

Might the Wolf of Uncanny Valley have been a deliberate choice on the part of the VFX crew, and not a special effects fail?  If they'd simply rented a trained wolf and had it look menacing and growl in front of the camera, it would have looked like . . . a trained wolf growling.  Your mileage may vary, of course, but for me the Uncanny Valley effect makes the CGI wolf more unsettling than a live wolf would be.

(It also occurs to me that "The Wolf of Uncanny Valley" would be a good name for a heavy metal song or a Twilight-wanabee young adult book series.)

There were some throwaway references to the armored car robbery in the last two episodes--a background radio news broadcast in "Vanishing Point," for example--which established it in-universe without being too obvious as foreshadowing.

We need to have a talk about your recent behavior, Jared.  Asking your ex-fiancee/crush to stay the night just a few hours after your wife leaves you because you cheated on her with that very same ex-fiancee/crush?  Not to put too fine a point on it, that's so tacky that it needs a "Wet Paint" sign.

If Adrian, the fraudulent pastor of the Church of the Returned, and Cody Weber, the wannabe demagogue behind SprayPaint828ersHouses.com 828DemandtheTruth.com introduced in the previous episode, were to come into physical contact with each other, would the result be mutual annihilation like with matter and antimatter?  That would be a wonderfully convenient solution to both problems.

Quotes

Ben: "Cal had a calling last night, too.  We found him on the floor .  He said 'It's coming.'" Michaela: "What's coming, a wolf?" Zeke: "I know I've been gone a while. We get a lot of those in Queens?"

Ben: "Adrian is a false prophet, a wolf in sheep's clothing.  Matthew 7:15." Michaela: "Look at the atheist remembering Bible verses." (A beat.)  "You looked it up, didn't you?"

Conclusion

While traditional faith communities (and the other "little platoons" that hold societies together) have declined in influence in recent years, the human need to find meaning in life hasn't gone anywhere.  As both G.K. Chesterton and John Cougar Mellencamp observed, if you don't believe in something, you'll believe anything.  If something like Flight 828 happened in real life, it's all but inevitable that some sort of "movement" would form around the event or the participants, and it would probably take about 45 seconds after that before some charlatan starts exploiting the phenomenon for personal profit.  All that being said, I can't shake the feeling that the Believers, and the Church of Lining Adrian's Pockets, are a little too one-dimensional and should have been fleshed out better.  Aside from that complaint, it was a good episode with a lot of good character moments.

Three out of four submerged getaway vehicles.

Cookie the Dog, who is Baby M's immediate supervisor, is a descendant of wolves.

[worldofsufis]

Twenty-six years ago, I became a Muslim-largely because I fell in love with a beautiful Human being. “I was only sent to, perfect noble character,” said the Man declared as a “Mercy to all the worlds.” As time passed, this love grew as my knowledge of Him increased. I painfully watched His religion hijacked by some for their, own ends distorting His message and forgetting that He was indeed a Mercy to all the worlds. I am troubled by the media’s portrayal of Him sometimes in the worst of lights. How could the man I came to know and love to be so vilified and maligned by those who claim to represent Him and also by those who aim to be unbiased interpreters? Muḥammad (ﷺ), was a shy, reticent man who lived among his people with such high moral character they called him al-Amin — the Trustworthy. The Prophet of Islām was born in the city of Mecca, Arabia, into a poor but noble branch of an aristocratic clan known as Quraysh, a People who despised treachery, lies, and stupidity, while honoring bravery in battle, generosity in partying, and cleverness in poetry. Some families, were so ashamed of their baby girls, that they would bury them alive instead of suffering the possible indignity of future dishonor. The religion of the Arabs at the time was a hodge-podge of superstition, divination, and idolatry. To them, man’s Life ended with his death and his afterlife was based on his military exploits might be immortalized by a poets tongue. The Prophet Muḥammad (ﷺ), was born into this world on April 9th, 570, Christian era in the lunar month of Rabīʿ al-ʾAwwal. His father, ʿAbdullāh died during his mother’s pregnancy. And for the first four years, He was raised in the relative purity of the desert by a Bedouin woman named Halimah. After which He returned to His mother, ʼĀminah. But in His seventh year, His mother died leaving Him in the care of His grandfather. At the age, of twenty-five, He was employed as a commercial agent by Lady Khadījah, a Successful widow, from His own, clan. She soon recognized His honesty and good nature and proposed marriage. Although fifteen years younger than she was, He accepted her proposal and fathered six of his seven children with her. At the age of forty, it had become his custom to escape the idolatry of Meccan society by seeking solitude in a cave on the mountain known as “the Mountain of Light.” In the solitary confines of his small cave, a voice pierced his consciousness declaring: “Recite (Iqrā)!” Alarmed and shivering He fled to his wife, begging her to wrap him in a cloak. He feared for his sanity, concerned that a desert spirit or poetic muse might be pursuing Him. More revelations soon followed, and Muhammad (ﷺ) came to an understanding that, He was not only a prophet in a long line of prophets but that he was the last of them who was sent, with a universal message. As the days passed his revelations increased and they were powerfully rhythmic punctuated with intoxicating messages that challenged listeners to reflect on everyday miracles such as the alternation of the night and day. These revelations revealed to Muhammad (ﷺ), came to be known as the Qurʾān, the Muslim Holy book. For thirteen years he invited his clan to worship one God, sit with slaves in spiritual solidarity, respect women as soul-full equals and the source of human mercy, care for the widow, the orphan, the weak and the oppressed. At first, people ridiculed his message and accused Him of attempting “to make the Gods one.” His Message threatened his people’s financial control of the markets of Mecca where pilgrims from all over Arabia came to spend their wealth. When his clan failed to stop his preaching, they plotted to kill him in his sleep. But he was warned by the Angel Gabriel and told to flee in the cover of darkness to Madīnah with his beloved friend and lifelong companion Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq. Setting out, the two sought refuge in a cave to escape the skilled trackers of Mecca hot on their trail. The bounty hunters quickly came upon the cave, but a spider’s web had already covered the entrance, and a dove with her young rested in a nest above it. When the posse left, and the two felt safe again, they continued their journey to the city of Yathrib. And as they entered it the young girls and children of Bani Najjar came out chanting lines of poetry which are still sung all over the world in remembrance of this auspicious occasion. The name Yathrib was changed, to Madīnah, the city of hope. It became a city founded on the brotherhood of virtue. The Prophet (ﷺ), enacted a treaty uniting the once warring groups. He secured the rights of the Jewish minority by granting them full citizenship and freedom to practice their religion without constraint. Days after His arrival in Madīnah, He began the construction of a mosque, a sanctuary of prayer and meditation, in the center of the city. And He had His companions; the Muslims create their marketplace to ensure economic strength. The Meccans, sensing that a rising power was now emerging in the peninsula, plotted ways of subverting the Prophet (ﷺ), and his growing community of believers. And the Prophet (ﷺ), who had practiced a strict pacifism in Mecca for thirteen years and disliked the use of coercive force, was now given permission, by God to defend against any attacks by his enemies. The Qurʾān declared, “Fighting (in self-defense, for the restoration of peace and elimination of mischief and violence) has been made incumbent upon you although you are averse to it by temperament. It may be that you dislike a thing and (in fact) that is good for you. And it is (also) likely that you like a thing but (in fact) that is bad for you. And Allāh knows well, but you do not know.” [Qurʾān, 2: 216 ], The Prophet (ﷺ), said, “Never desire to meet your enemies, rather ask God for peace and well-being; but should you be forced to meet them, then act courageously.” [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī ] Muslims are not ashamed of their Prophet’s teaching about war. On the contrary, for us, it is a Great source of pride. He was courageous as a great lion against the strong and oppressive yet gentle as a shepherd with the weak and the oppressed. The valid object of the war fought for God should always be peace. What the Prophet (ﷺ), taught is that Muslims just battle for cause only. In this world, there are only two choices: two sides, truth, and justice or falsehood and oppression. You don’t have to be a Muslim to understand that. After years of conflict between members of his clan and his followers, the Prophet(ﷺ), had a revelation that He should visit the sacred mosque. In the eighth year after his migration to Madīnah the Prophet(ﷺ), set out for Mecca but his adversaries refused to allow him in. They sent out an arbitrator to strike an agreement that would bring the stand-off to an end. And on every point of this treaty the Prophet (ﷺ), compromised his position in pursuit of peace. On the journey back to Madīnah some of the companions were deeply troubled by what had just taken place and disappointed that they were, thwarted from visiting the sanctuary. When asked to explain, the Prophet(ﷺ), replied, “Did I say it was going to be this year?” And so the following year, by the treaty, the Prophet (ﷺ), and his followers performed a pilgrimage completely unmolested. But soon his clan the Quraysh broke their end of the deal, massacring another Clan with an alliance to the Prophet(ﷺ), attacking them even in the sacred precinct. Abu Sufyan, the head of the Prophet’s enemies, attempted to restore the truce but it was too late. News of the massacre enraged the believers, and the Prophet (ﷺ), summoned all of the Muslims capable of bearing arms to march on Mecca. When the nearly ten thousand Muslims arrived on the outskirts of the city, the Quraysh realized they did not stand a chance and people either fled or stayed in their homes. And so it was, after years of persecution, the Prophet(ﷺ), marched triumphantly into the city of his birth at the head of the Largest army ever assembled in Arabian history. With his head bowed in humility, He declared a general amnesty and granted war criminals refuge. His overwhelming magnanimity of character led to a mass conversion among the citizens of Mecca. Even Abū Sufyān, his archenemy, embraced the religion of the Prophet(ﷺ). In the months that followed, almost all of Arabia dispatched representatives to swear allegiance to this Prophet (ﷺ), and to enter in the faith of Islām. In a period of, twenty-three years Muhammad (ﷺ), had succeeded in uniting a feuding people trapped in cycles of violence into one people with a sense of destiny and a mission that would transform the world. He elevated the low, and he lowered the elevated that they might meet in that middle place known as the brotherhood. He infused in them a love of learning unleashing a creative power that would lead to some of the most extraordinary scientific breakthroughs in human history. He died on the same day He was born, in the same house He had lived in for ten years in Madīnah, on a small bed made of leather stuffed with palm fibers, in the arms of his beloved wife, ‘Ā’ishah. His dying words were, “Treat your women well, and do not oppress your servants, the prayer, the prayer, don’t be neglectful of the prayer. O God, my highest companion, O highest companion.” But the Prophet (ﷺ), was more than just a great historical person, He was a father and friend, a husband, a companion and above all, He was a Human being. The Prophet’s unique physical appearance, His high character and willingness to sacrifice for others, are often at the essence of any description of him. He was once described by a contemporary in the following words: “The Messenger of God was imposing and majestic. His face was luminous like a full moon. He was taller than medium but not excessive in height. He had wavy hair, which he parted, and it never went beyond his shoulders. He was light-skinned with a high brow. He had full eyebrows and a small space between them. He had a fine aquiline nose. His beard was full, his eyes black. His physique was supple and lithe, with a full chest and broad shoulders. When he walked, he was determined, and his pace was as if he was walking downhill. When He spoke, He was always brief and reflective. He spoke when He saw the benefit and spent long periods in silent contemplation. His speech was comprehensive being neither wordy nor laconic. He had a mild temperament and was never harsh nor cruel, coarse nor rude. He expressed gratitude for everything given to him no matter how insignificant. When He spoke, his companions lowered their heads as if birds were-perched upon them. When He was silent, they felt free to speak. He never criticized food or praised it excessively. He never swore, nor did He find fault in people. He did not flatter people but praised them when appropriate. People entered His gatherings as seekers and left enlightened. He would ask about his companions when they were absent often making inquiries about people’s needs. He never stood nor sat without mentioning the name of God. He never reserved a special place for himself in a gathering and sat where space provided. He gave each of those who sat with him such full attention that everyone felt that he was the most important person in that gathering. Voices were never raised, in his presence. The aged were respected, for their age, and the young were, shown compassion for their youth.” 
The Qurʾān reminds Muslims that when they are slandered by those who reject them they should bear it patiently and be forgiving. I yearn for a deeper understanding of this man, His gentleness towards children, His love of animals, his concern for the weak and oppressed, His sense of justice always tempered with mercy. I (personally) love his humor and his Sense of tomfoolery. He said once, “I joke but always tell the truth.” His wife ‘Ā’ishah said, “He was always making us laugh in the house.” One of his names is ad-Daḥḥāk — The Smiling one. His humor and cheerfulness even in the face of the most difficult of times are so needed today in our troubled world. I imagine him telling those of us who don’t laugh enough to lighten up, to show more gratitude even in what appears to be difficulties. And as for those who laugh too much and do so inappropriately, I imagine that He would ask that they reflect deeper on the condition of humanity and nurture compassion in their hearts. “Those who sin while laughing, enter hell crying,” He once said. Once an old woman asked Him if she would enter paradise and He replied, “Old people don’t go to heaven!” The woman was crestfallen with the answer He had provided, to which He added with a smile, “You shall enter paradise in the prime of your youth.” The Arabs believed dates made eye infections worse. His companion Suhayb was eating, dates one day while his left eye was infected. The Prophet said, “Suhayb do you eat dates, and your eye is infected?” To which Suhayb said, “I am eating with my right eye only O Messenger of God.” To which the Prophet (ﷺ), laughed heartily. And, once a gruff desert Bedouin came to the mosque and prayed out loud saying, “O God forgive me, and Muhammad, and don’t forgive anyone else.” Hearing this the Prophet (ﷺ), laughed and said to him, “You are limiting the vast mercy of God.” I feel so incredibly grateful and blessed to have come to know Him and to learn from Him. A day of my life has not gone by that I haven’t felt indebted to him for the wisdom he has given me in making sense of my life and my world. Every day my love for Muhammad (ﷺ), increases. Like the vast majority of my fellow believers across the world and through times, He is, indeed, the Beloved — The Praised One. — Shaykh Ḥamza Yūsuf Event Name: BBC: The Prophet’s Birthday 03/07/2005

[frankendykes-monster]

@thumbelesbian mmmmm sort of. Keep in mind that while working as a freelancer for Marvel and other publishing companies in the 1960's, Steve Ditko was exploited considering he had no assurance of work, and that his ability to work there was predicated on some loss of creative control on his part, on top of the pay being worse than if he was working on a steady contract (which also wasn't favorable).

I think he and Stan Lee had a comfortable working relationship early on, as you can see a billboard saying "LEEDITKO" in The Amazing Spider-Man #12 (1964):

Along with a three-page story affectionately having them fight over how to do a Spider-Man story in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1 (1964), which includes a scene where Lee gives Ditko a script/idea. (Jack Kirby historian Michael Hill has a working theory that Kirby passed ideas for the character to Lee who then passed them on to Ditko but that's another post.)

But what I want to get across with my original post is that Stan Lee in real life (much like Jameson) was an asswipe of epic proportions. Lee credited himself as the writer on these stories, not because he was prophetic and realized Marvel Comics would become the most popular comics in the world and give or take 50 years these characters would be pulling in billions at the box office, but because he wanted the writer's paycheck. Fundamentally the freelance artists at Marvel at this time were also the writers, but Lee's editorial mandate had them leave out the dialogue and captions so he could writer them. This served the duel purpose of him being able to edit comics with dialogue changes in a quick fashion (since he was the only editor at Marvel up until 1968 and had to work eight titles a month) along with him getting paid as a writer.

Functionally Ditko and Lee's relationship did eventually start playing out like Peter and Jameson's, with Ditko basically only existing at Marvel to show up and deliver "pictures of Spider-Man". Ditko did eventually start feeling burn out. He was one of few artists that showed up at the first comic convention, in NYC, 1964, and he told a (shocked) audience of people who wanted to get into comics that it wasn't a pleasant industry to get into. His experience there convinced him to never attend another con.

Ditko did put his foot down and demand his crediting as the writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, which, as early as #17, Lee mentioned in the letter's pages that Ditko was coming up with the plots to at least SOME of the issues he was working on. Ditko started getting official credit and part of the writer's paycheck with #25, contrasted here with #24 and how Lee publically credits him:

Lee couldn't stand this, so he just straight up stopped fucking talking to Ditko from hence forth. Ditko had a notorious reputation of leading an intensely private life, which made it easy for Lee and later comics journalists/historians to pin the charade on him, but Ditko confirms it was Lee that ceased all communication, so for the rest of Ditko's time on Spider-Man (and Dr. Strange), he was basically coming into the office to deliver issues that he did by himself sans dialogue.

It's this reason and the fact that Ditko realized he was never going to get any real compensation or recognition for his work that forced him to leave Marvel (along with Ditko becoming a crypto-fascist and abandoning these two characters for upholding liberalism and mysticism respectively).

Thinking about how J. Jonah Jameson was directly based on Stan Lee.

[gradecal2sor-blog]

how to calculate what i need on final

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