#Vietnam War Heartbreak

[whiskeysorrows]

There's something so sickening about how the only hope of survival for many victims of the genocide in Palestine is the parasocial relationships they can form online. It's something straight out of the Hunger Games.

[theoscarsproject]

Heartbreak Ridge (1986). Hard-nosed, hard-living Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude.

One of the reviews here described it as only for the Eastwood faithful, and I feel like that's an accurate description. It's soaked in that Reagan-era jingoistic machismo that makes it eye-wateringly hard to watch at points, and any attempt at - - y'know, any sort of meaningful emotional connection between any of its characters falls pretty flat. Still, some of the insults are genuinely pretty hilarious, so it's got that going for it at least. 3/10.

[jbaileyfansite]

Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer's Interview with The Hollywood Reporter (2023)

“Johnny B! Johnny B!” Matt Bomer exclaims as he logs in to Zoom to join his Fellow Travelers co-star, Jonathan Bailey, to do press for their critically acclaimed Showtime limited series.

“Hey, Matty Mo,” Bailey replies. 

The actors spent about six months filming the eight-episode series — so, of course, they’ve established a playful bond. On this particular day, they’ve even given each other nicknames.  

“I don’t think I’ve ever called Matt ‘Matty Mo’ in my life,” a smiling Bailey says.

“I love Matty Mo,” Bomer replies. “Listen, I love Matty Mo. I appreciate it.”

Bomer and Bailey built a brotherhood and onscreen chemistry for the historical romantic drama about two male political staffers who fall in love at the height of the Lavender Scare, a time when homosexuals were banned from holding positions in the federal government. The series — based on Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel of the same name — follows their intense affair into the ’80s, also visiting Vietnam War protests and the AIDS crisis.

Zoom, it turns out, is where the actors first met, reading lines together to see if there was magic. And there was.

Since debuting in late October, Fellow Travelers has had an overwhelming response from viewers — some connecting directly with Bomer’s Hawkins Fuller, a veteran and State Department official who carefully hides his homosexuality, or with Bailey’s Tim Laughlin, an eager and naive congressional staffer who falls hard for Hawk. Others have identified with some of the supporting cast, including Allison Williams in the role of Hawk’s wife, Lucy Smith, and breakout stars Jelani Alladin as reporter Marcus Hooks and Noah J. Ricketts as drag performer Frankie Hines, whose gay Black love story is one of the show’s many highlights. 

“It’s so nice to be able to have discourse with people who are responding to the show. That’s been really refreshing and enlightening,” says Bomer, who is also an executive producer on the series.

Bailey, best known for Bridgerton and his theater work, says he was drawn to the show because “it felt new and it hadn’t been done in this way — in an elevated, eight-hour, rich aesthetic with gay actors.

“The queer experience is so different for so many people,” he adds, “but the one thing that unites the queer experience is these moments in history.”

In an interview with THR, Bomer and Bailey talk about prepping for their roles and being gay while playing gay, while also breaking down those milk and toe-sucking scenes.

What has it been like to have people connect emotionally to the series?

MATT BOMER: I won’t name names or anything, but I’ve known people over the years who’ve made similar choices that Hawk made in order to survive. Not governmentally — I mean in a society that certainly didn’t want to see them succeed. But for me, the most refreshing thing has been the young people who are really engaged in the show and knew nothing about the Lavender Scare, and are speaking to the show and the characters, but also, aspects of our history that they were unaware of that the show has — I don’t want to say taught them about, because it’s not a teaching tool — but they’ve learned about through the show.

JONATHAN BAILEY: When people respond in that way and you hear their personal stories, it’s amazing that people feel that they want to share that. It’s the most grounding thing to tell a story and investigate a time or a period or a movement, that hopefully leaves an imprint on people, and/or catalyzes them to tell people and talk about their own stuff. That’s the dream, really.

Jonathan, it’s so heartbreaking to watch Tim hurting in various scenes. What were you pulling from to give such a strong emotional performance? 

BAILEY: Thirty-five years on this earth. (Laughs.) Drawing it from the ground. Naturally, it’s totally parts of me and parts of people that I know, experiences that you think of. Tim’s character arc is so huge, and [I wanted] to capture his youth in those early moments and then expand into what breaks such a pure, optimistic, passionate soul and all the different ways in which that could show itself. There were moments on set that you couldn’t help but be incredibly moved by. 

We found ourselves filming by coincidence on World Aids Day. It is really not hard to feel the importance, but also just the grief is palpable in the stories. And there is a lineage — you inherit this in your community. It just felt like an opportunity to learn as much as I possibly could, generally, about the queer experience. We are surrounded by amazing gay men, as well. And then, of course, I’ve lived my life trying to understand the gay experience, so it wasn’t a shallow pool to [pull from].There’s a well there.

Matt, your character is so cutthroat, but obviously there’s sympathy for him, as well. What was it like playing Hawk?

BOMER: Hawk does what he has to do to survive. He has his empathy and his allegiances, but anything that calls his survival into question, there are immediate and severe boundaries. But then enters Tim, who is so guileless and so full of love and all the things that Hawk wishes he could be at his core, or maybe once was before certain aspects of his life changed that or his point of view about that. You’re always looking for a shadow in your character, and it was so refreshing — he obviously has a public persona, a veneer that he presents to the world in order to maneuver in it, but he really leads with a lot of the more shadowy aspects of a typical character. It’s the love and the more open and vulnerable aspects that are his shadow in many ways. That was an interesting flip for me to get to sink my teeth into. 

It’s profound to have two gay actors playing two gay characters on a TV show. Did you ever think something like this could exist?

BOMER: Honestly, no. My mind has been blown so many times over the past 20 years. I’m just so grateful that the gatekeepers gave us this opportunity. I was doubtful, almost up to the 25th hour on this, that they were really going to put the money and the opportunity into this series that they did. And I’m just so grateful that people who are in the position of calling the shots gave us the chance to tell the story — and the way we needed to.

BAILEY: It’s the Tims of the industry, who are searching for more, who are deconstructing, who are questioning. Because they’re all a similar peer group — [series creator] Ron [Nyswaner] knows Dante [Di Loreto, executive producer of Glee and P-Valley], who’s at Fremantle [which produced the show], and they’ve worked together for years. This isn’t something that just got commissioned overnight, because there’s a wave of progress. The people who are really doing it, as well as the actors, are the people in positions of power who have worked their way up with these questions.

And it’s funny, the one thing I have thought over the years is — I’ve just looked at gay characters, they’re such rich, brilliant, oppressed, complicated, joyous characters to play, so of course people want to play them. And this is a brilliant example of: What better way to do a character study of two polar-opposite gay characters than have gay people play them? But that’s what I felt growing up. I just thought, “Of course people want to play those parts,” which is great. It’s just, what happens if, just for a moment, gay people play them?

And I do think that everyone can play everything, and that’s what we should be headed toward. But I do think there’s a balance that needs, and needed, addressing. And there are a lot of people whose questioning and hard work have created a world in which this can fly.

BOMER: I agree with you wholeheartedly. And it is the Tims of the industry or maybe some Hawks, too, hoping for retribution.

BAILEY: That’s true. We stand on the shoulders of all the Hawks, as well. 

BOMER: (Laughs.)

BAILEY: [The Hawks] did all the work at MGM, yes. (Laughs.)

Jonathan, your character drinking milk in the series got a lot of attention. 

BAILEY: It was a brilliant way of showing such naiveté, and immediately you know that this is a character who’s completely outside the world Hawk inhabits, and he sees the world completely differently. He’s so open. It’s so interesting, isn’t it? Because, it’s funny that Tim leads with his heart and his openness and his childlike wonder, and his shadows are his compulsive nature of constantly needing something that he can’t fill. There’s a moment in episode six — they’re in Frankie’s flat, and I was like, “He’s got to be drinking milk.”

BOMER: There was a power shift in episode eight, too.

BAILEY: Exactly. The milk was on the call sheet. It’s a character in its own right. And also the milk’s character arc is more dramatic than everyone else. Give it a spinoff, I say. (Laughs.)

There was also that toe-sucking scene. Jonathan, did you get the script and it said “suck toe”? 

BOMER: Just “suck toe.” (Laughs.)

BAILEY: It was very, very precisely written down — it was as precise as it needed to be. I saw that as an incredible way to dissect power. I got it when I read it, and I wasn’t intimidated by it. I was just like, “If in the first episode that’s what we are doing, it’s going to be worth five months moving to Toronto, and it’s going to be a series that I would want to watch.” Because not only is it incredibly complicated, not only is it really hot, it’s also something that masks as being provocative, but actually it’s really psychologically impactful and the people who get it get it.

BOMER: I think all those scenes were a really external representation of what was going on with these characters internally, emotionally. And for me, it was really refreshing to see the gay love scenes brought to light in a really unflinching way.

BAILEY: The shock and overwhelm and the tantalizing chemical combustion that happens seeing it — it’s a greater sensory experience because that’s exactly what it meant for Tim in that moment. It captures exactly what’s going on for Hawk and Tim, hopefully, allowing the viewer to experience a bodily reaction to it in the same way, whatever that may be. 

Source

[icarusallusion]

Gray Fox's last words in both games will always be so important to me in understanding him as a character in whole. Especially his relationships with war and people and how he views them

Starting with this dialogue about Big Boss.

These are Frank's dying words and he uses them to praise Big Boss. These lines and their relationship shows Frank's devotion and loyalty on it's own. Countless times he has left friends, family, and lover behind to pursue Big Boss and his goals. This, while not a very healthy attachment, does speak greatly about what kind of a man Frank is and how devoted he can be.

Because he is not just devoted to Big Boss, he is also devoted to Solid Snake, he doesn't want Snake to die, he feels bad about betraying FOXHOUND, and he feels bad about lying to him in general. He pretended to be "#1 Fan" just so he didn't have to fully betray Snake. Not to mention Metal Gear Solid, but he's practically overjoyed at the chance to die in front of Snake and for him to be his means of death, while sickening in context with the experimentations it's incredibly showing how much they mean to each other. Also his clear devotion to Gustava, He risks getting arrested or killed just to be with the woman he loved. Frank is a character that is immensely devoted to people, but it does tend to rule out to Big Boss being the most important it still says a lot. It is also something that ruins him in the process, he dies for Big Boss and he destroys the relationships he has outside of Big Boss, which is also why I think he's so attached to David as well but I'll save that for some other post.

These lines also show Frank's values towards morality and loyalty, before this he says along the line of "I am in an awkward position [unlike snake]" he is pretty much saying that he's in-between peace and Big Boss. These, combined with the dialouge after it, imply that Frank fully understands Snake's amnesty towards Big Boss. He does see that Big Boss is bad, and why people do not like him. This shows off his devotion can cloud his morality, he still fully believes in a what's right and what's wrong but that dependency on Big Boss stumps it.

Scooting away from his last words to talk about his second last moments in Metal Gear Solid.

Fox : Snake, we're not tools of the government or anyone else! Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at, but... At least I always fought for what I believed in.

This is almost a clearcut show of his morale, he fought because he was desperate to cling to war but he never lost sight of his values. While his values aren't very expanded on in themselves, the fact he clings to them as much as he does, does stand out to me. A clear show of determination that's been muddied by violence. He sides with both FOXHOUND and Zanzibar in his own way, as he understands the good purpose of FOXHOUND but sees Big Boss in Zanzibar and ultimately that loyalty makes his morality hazy and destroys the relationship he had with FOXHOUND.

Frank shows a very heartbreaking attitude towards war and also furthers the last point.

that he fully knows war is bad, Big Boss is not good, etc. I am always so glad when bad guys aren't written blind to the good in the world 🙌

Frank outright says he despises war, he shows this attitude a lot throughout his life. Even as a teen, he expressed his disgust at the death caused by war. He takes in a young Naomi to prevent the war from making an influx on her. He is incredibly caring to those suffering from battle filled places, yet due to the constant conditioning he has faced he's forced to constantly bring himself back into battlefield.

To Frank, war is an addiction. As a baby, he's in wartorn Vietnam kept in a camp, as a child he's in wartorn Africa trafficked as a soldier, and as a teenager he's in wartorn San Hieronymo memory wiped. When he is saved by Big Boss all these times, he ends up scooped back up into war anyway. When he's an adult and with Big Boss, he still chooses war. It's an incredibly saddening cycle that his character goes through.

However, to Frank, conflict and battle acts as a comfort to him. It's all that he knows and all he's grown up with that he cannot bring himself to separate from it.

When he's happy with Gustava, he still finds a way to break the law and accidentally ruin Gustava, still thinking like a soldier. I think this behavior also stems to Big Boss as well, Frank is happy with Big Boss, views him as his hero, but when describing him, he's just his CO that saved him a few times when there's so much more to their relationship. It makes me think Frank, as a soldier, already regards CO as an important role because he's stuck with thinking like a soldier that he can't see Big Boss past military ranking. Same with Solid Snake, Snake regards Frank as his best friend, while Frank always sticks to calling him Snake or rookie. It's always codenames or ranks for Frank.

Comparing himself to the children of Zanzibar also stuck out to me. While, Gray Fox is certainly not childish, he does have some child wonder and impulsivity that undoubtedly stem from the fact he'd never had a chance to grow up properly. He makes several impulsive decisions where he doesn't think about the consequences of what he does, this could also come from that same exact soldier mentality.

Also on the topic of the kids in Zanzibarland, the small dialogues they have about Big Boss is something that reminds me of how Gray Fox himself speaks about Big Boss, albeit he says it in a more jaded way but I feel that's really only because we see him as a teen and the Zanzibarland kids are like five.

Into the suicidal behaviors of Frank. In his life, he's on autopilot for most of it and when he's not, he's hurting others or he's hurting himself. He shows a deeply depressive attitude in life.

Within Portable Ops, he says: "You help me fill the void inside" towards Big Boss, describing his own self as a void showed how he felt his life had no meaning, including the whole null motifs, literally calling himself nothing always stuck with me. His impulsive behavior also stands out. While his impulsivity probably comes from the instinct of a soldier, sometimes it comes across as just suicidal. Piloting and fighting with a metal gear when he's never done so in his life, trying to elope with a woman in an authoritarian Czechoslovakia, killing Gene's staff, etc etc. Some actions he takes could end up killing him, having him tortured and he doesn't care about consequences.

Scooting away again to mgs1..

Liquid says this: "Foolish man! He prayed for death and it found him." While Liquids words can't express Frank's feelings it is a generally accurate statement, throughout his life Frank finds death and destruction and it follows him everywhere. This leads him down his own path of wanting to die, not actively but a passive auto pilot thought of knowing one day he will die and hoping it's in battle. While not a typical suicidal thought, hoping for death in whatever way definitely counts.

Onto more with his relationship with David, because it's always the moments when Frank is the realist. David is highly impressionable when he first meets Frank, probably one of his first few real friends after foster care and green berets. Frank himself regards their friendship highly. The last few words exchanged between them before they talk about Gustava: "I will never be like you" it always struck me and the way Frank just accepts that, he knows he's not a good role model anymore, not to anyone by how he talks about Naomi in MGS1.

David looked up to Frank, that much is evidenced by Kasler saying how everyone loved and looked up to Frank in FOXHOUND and how every opportunity he can Snake brings up Frank's advice. Metal Gear 2 shows the final crumbling of Frank, he's tries his hardest to have that moral compass, to be a sense of good to the war orphans he comes across, to his peers, and to his subordinates in FOXHOUND, but then in 1999 it fizzles away and he's fully accepted the fate laid out for him.

It's incredibly depressing but accurate. Frank is a veteran, he's fought enough wars and solemnly accepts his death. I think killing Gustava, and fighting Snake were turning points for him. Especially realizing Big Boss was most likely going to die in Zanzibar. He forces himself away from all parts of his life that made him whole so that he can accept death.

All in and all, Frank's last words in both Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid crack open a lot of depth into his character that so many people I've found ignore. The original Metal Gears tend to get overlooked but dive so deep into the characters that it's so shocking when so many fans haven't played or watched it. MG is the baseline for understanding Gray Fox and I find so many people boiling him down to himself in Metal Gear Solid when he's so impactful in Portable Ops, in Metal Gear 2, like please show Frank love because he will always be one of the most impactful characters to me

[hoodienanami]

fantastic article from original London punker Vivien Goldman about the not-so-secret but often forgotten Jewish role in the early UK punk scene

In a classically angst-ridden Jewish ambivalence about identity, the New York punk Richard Hell – of Television, the Heartbreakers and the Voidoids – has said he doesn't like to be defined by the fact that his father is Jewish. But he's one of many Jewish (or Jewish-ish?) artists on the New York scene, such as Joey Ramone, Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group and Blondie's Chris Stein, who overcame his Holocaust paranoia by collecting Nazi artefacts. (The concerns of punky American Jews are documented by by Steven Lee Beeber in his book The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's). In a documentary I made for BBC 6 Music, A Tale of Two Punk Cities, Talking Heads bass player Tina Weymouth recalled that New York punks thought people who talked politics were a bore. But to us, the ideas expressed in Anarchy In The UK and White Riot were real. The G2 or Second Generation theory, whereby children of Holocaust survivors are often socially conscious activists, could have had something to do with it, however it was never discussed. But the Yanks were trying to forget Vietnam, while we were still living among bombsites in our own civil war zone, fighting teds, skinheads and rockers as well as the sus law and the National Front. Our punky Jew experience was also different because British punk mostly inhabited a shared political landscape, as well as views of the kind that McLaren and Rhodes helped to spread, which manifested in organizations such as Rock Against Racism.

[the-bad-batch-baroness]

Does anyone else want a gritty version of The Bad Batch or is it just me?

Don't get me wrong, I love The Bad Batch series exactly as it is. Found-family is my weakness. But I really want to see these guys covered in blood and sweat; rated R and primal.

More thoughts under the cut.

(cw: blood mention, graphic descriptions, PTSD mention)

The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch are both war-centric television shows marketed towards an adolescent audience. Even though some themes are mature, they censor the graphic nature of the base subject material, war.

War is ugly. War is gruesome. War is difficult. War is painful. War is bloody. War is stressful. War is emotional. War is psychological. War is disturbing. War is morally ambiguous. War is winning. War is losing. War is everything and also nothing.

I think back to war media I've seen for World War II, Vietnam, and Korea, and they unequivocally show war's true nature. Even war-comedies, like MASH, had downright upsetting and heartbreaking episodes that put the comedy in its place when needed to bring things back to reality.

I think a MASH-type treatment of The Bad Batch would be a fascinating watch. You get the found-family, you get the comedy, and you get the nitty-gritty painful realities of war as well.

Realities like you can't fall down an entire mountain and not break something or get shot point-blank and keep moving (looking at you, Hunter)

Realities like seeing your femur poking out of your skin with blood dripping down your pants while using a stick to limp away and trying desperately not to scream (looking at you, Tech)

Realities like having a plasma engine melt a part of your face off, and your skin literally boils and drips onto the ground (looking at you, Crosshair)

Realities like ripping your arms out of their sockets as you desperately try to hold onto someone(s)/something(s) to keep them from falling (looking at you, Wrecker)

Realities like having your skull bashed in by a blaster and not being able to wake up because you're stuck in a coma (looking at you, Echo)

Realities like watching real people die in front of you, for the first time, and living with the nightmares of replaying what happened in your head (looking at you, Omega)

There can be arguments to all of these, of course:

"They're genetically breed clones!"

"They're specially enhanced clones!"

"They're breed to only be soldiers!"

"They have special armor!"

"Echo is part machine!"

"Hunter has amazing reflexes!"

"Crosshair has great spacial awareness!"

"Tech has a fortified mind!"

"Wrecker is super strong!"

"Omega is a clone, too!"

But in reality, no matter how much technology you have, you can't breed the human part out of a human. They are still made from the human species. Yes, they are enhanced in certain aspects to help in the battlefield, but they are NOT invincible. They have limits to their enhancements.

They do not have enhanced healing capabilities. They do not have enhanced bone durability. They do not have enhanced emotional capacities. They may be enhanced clones, but at their core, they are still human. They can die in the cold, and they can die in the heat. They can have broken bones and they can have broken hearts.

As Tech pointed out in season 2, just because he doesn't process things like everyone else, doesn't mean he doesn't feel things any less. They still feel. They are NOT machines. They feel everything. They don't express it because they are soldiers, and that's why PTSD is so lethal.

I want to see more of the reality of war and its effects on them as individuals and as a group. I want to see the blood, the sweat, the bruises, the scars, the broken bones, the mental breakdowns, and the tears (physically or metaphorically).

They didn't get a 100% mission success rate by playing it nice or safe. They're the Bad Batch for a reason. They do whatever it takes for the mission to succeed. They will scrap, and tumble, and kick, and bite, and fight dirty to the bitter end. Relinquishing nothing.

How terrifying would it be to see Hunter stabbing someone in the neck with his knife? Or Wrecker squeezing someone until all their bones were broken? Or Crosshair sniping someone's head clean off? Or Tech brutally torturing someone to get information? Or Echo stabbing someone in the chest with his droid hand and tossing their lifeless body aside? All the while, Omega is getting splattered with the blood of their enemies.

Imagine all those horrendous things are just normal. A part of their daily grind. There is nothing to talk about, nothing to mull over, nothing to bat an eye at because it's what they do. The mission was a success. Then, coming back to the Marauder, changing out of their bloody clothes, and having a family dinner. It would be an eerie dichotomy.

Again, don't misunderstand me. I love space dad and mom, and their kids. I love domestic Bad Batch fluff. I love the series as is. Moreover, some of those episodes were hard to watch and ripped my heart to shreds, leaving me absolutely gutted.

However, I want to see the R rated version that would put it on the same level as real-life war media. I want to love it and hate it at the same time.

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

The Clone Wars 4.07 ‘Darkness on Umbara’ Reaction Take 2

I’m doing this post and the rest of these second watch reaction posts to the Umbara arc in the more live-blogging style reaction posts I’ve done for other episodes like 1x5 ‘Rookies’, 2x10 ‘The Deserter’ and 4x5 'Mercy Mission'. So much happens in these episodes and I feel like I missed a lot of it in my first reaction posts because I was going through all the emotions.

“Just like old times, Rex” WHY AM I SAD ALREADY

That is some very cool looking nose cone art on the 501st LAAT/i behind Fives. Can’t quite tell what it is but it certainly looks cool.

More Anakin and Obi Wan snark. Excellent. Business as usual then.

Well that’s not ominous at all

Naw, Rex checking in on Tup. I read somewhere that Tup was a shiny on Umbara but I can’t remember if this is canon or fanon.

The clone piloting the LAAT/i is named Hawk! Or at least he is according to the captions. Hey Hawk! More named clones! :D 

“Time to lock and load” CACKLING

The walkers just leap backwards out the back of the low flying LAAT/i’s? How is this a good idea? 

BOING. Yeet the walker.

I think this is the first time we actually hear what the clones are saying on a battlefield. Usually it’s just dialogue between the main characters but now there’s so many of them shouting and cheering and screaming and dying.

Rip the poor clone that jumped out of the LAAT/i and didn’t even make it onto the ground before being shot.

“The enemy could have the whole place rigged with traps.” Dammit Anakin you jinxed it.

“I can’t even see the enemy” Oh that’s going to come back and bite everyone in the arse really badly.

“It’s just a vine” Oh dear.

It’s the Umbaran sarlacc!

Fives being a badass and taking out the monster like it’s nothing. That was quite clever thinking in terrifying circumstances for him to keep his head and figure out he needs to get the monster to eat the explosive.

That shot of the trenches definitely reminds me of WWI and II. They’ve even got the troopers leaning against the sides with their blasters poking above the top.

“Maybe… back in the day” Dayum Rex, there a lot of feeling in that one. 

Surely an ambush and skittering assassin bugs would be something that Anakin would sense in the Force?

Lmao @ Hardcase trying to take out the bug with the blaster equivalent of a rotary canon. That’s like taking a flamethrower to a spider.

Fives have you been gargling gravel or something?

Well at least Anakin got rid of the assassin bug. Again.

That shot of the bombers and Odd Ball bombing the ridge and the ensuing explosion definitely felt like a reference to the Vietnam war.

Ah great, fuck face has arrived. Fuck off Krell.

Lol the ominous music at Krell’s arrival was definitely not foreboding at aaaaaaaaall.

“You won’t find a finer or more loyal trooper anywhere.” DAMN STRAIGHT

How dare you impune Rex’s honour. How dare.

Cackling at Fives look at Rex immediately after Krell buggered off. He is so unimpressed.

Something about Fives’ voice is very… husky. 

“The men don’t need rest” ah fuck off

Oh you did not just address Rex by his fucking number

Is this where Rex got his dramatic flair for disappearing into the fog like he did in ‘Battle Scars’ in The Bad Batch?

I just had a heartbreaking thought. Is Fives here because Echo is gone and he doesn’t have an ARC partner (and twin) anymore? So Rex is doubling as his ARC partner for now until Jesse ends up as the other ARC in Torrent and the 501st? Do ARCs have partners and come in pairs? More angst for this already angst riddled arc (in more ways than one). Yay.

Is this Phase 2 clone armour? I think it is.

Poor Rex is trying to be diplomatic and balance dealing with Krell while also showing his men that he understands their concerns as well. I do like Fives’ view on this. He’s very ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’. I also loved that little exchange, you can really tell all of their different personalities just from that conversation. Hardcase is so gung ho, bless him.

“It’s too quiet out there.” Tup you precious anxious little bean

Rip Oz and Ringo

“You wanna piece of this” Hardcase living his best ‘blast everything’ life 

“I think Hardcase made ‘em mad.” CACKLING

Damn, Tup just taking out that Umbaran with a flip and a point blank blaster rifle shot to the face

“Make ‘em eat heat!” Hardcase is definitely in same vein as an 80s action hero

Rex just casually dual wielding with a horizontal grip like it’s nothing. Sir, you are showing off.

I would let Fives flip me over his shoulder and pound me into the ground. And then thank him for it. I have watched that part multiple times and it does not stop being hot. And the way he just casually stands up all cool and deadly and puts multiple blaster shots into the Umbaran. Sir, please contain your badassery. @nobie also has a fantastic gifset of this moment

Rex’s little flippy roll straight after this made me realise that he and Fives are fighting together. Oh Echo.

It’s almost jarring how noticeable it is that there isn’t a Jedi fighting alongside the clones. I couldn’t quite pick what felt off the first time until someone (Fives, I think?) mentions it later but it’s so obvious now. 

“Ha, ha, ha! Where ya goin’?” Hardcase is having the time of his life atm

Did Krell just shoulder check Fives?!

You can't jab Captain Rex in the shoulder like that!

Fives saying what everyone is thinking there. Also, what kind of Jedi threatens a clone with a lightsaber? Oh that’s right, a Sith.

Rex being an absolute badass

“I think he almost complimented you.” CACKLING

Fives and Rex just casually snarking while in the middle of a battlefield

[animentality]

I know I'm that DS9 guy who's constantly screaming about how ds9 is the superior star trek but my favorite star trek episode of all time is actually from voyager.

That wonderful episode about how voyager gets trapped in the sky of this one planet, where the alien culture revolves around trying to figure out what that new thing in the sky is.

And time is moving faster for them.

So voyager is only trapped for a few hours, but this planet is evolving from like stone age primitives to modern era.

And voyager is like, worried they'll be blasted out of the sky because the aliens on the planet are becoming warlike and angry and they want to destroy the object in the sky.

But then a few minutes later, for voyager, they get pushed out by the aliens of the planet.

Because they evolved. They grew and matured and they figured out with their own technology how voyager got stuck, so they went to help them, with their own warp capable ships.

Because they...they...because it's star trek...and star trek believes that...no matter how hard it gets, and how awful people seem...you have to...you have to have hope...that an intelligent species will get its act together...and if it should ever join you in the stars, it will do so with curiosity and unity ;-;

It's literally...such a heartbreaking episode.

It's like...the embodiment of everything star trek is. What it stands for.

It said that even in another universe, where people are unimaginably different...they are the same.

No species that goes to the stars could do so without a total unity of their planet.

Without equality and democracy and the open sharing of ideals and the quashing of fascist ideologies...

Now of course, there are plenty of species that don't do that in star trek, but.

Let me have this, ok.

Star trek can be a million things. It can make all kinds of cold war, Vietnam war, genocide allegories in between the hopeful stuff.

But that episode of voyager...maybe the best star trek episode ever.

But no one fucking gives it the credit it deserves.

Everyone's always like year of hell!!! The void!! Borg whatever!!

Like those episodes are fine, but they're no "blink of an eye."

Y'all got bad taste. Listen to me. Hear me.

Blink of an eye.

[radical-revolution]

Dear ones,

It is heartbreaking and hard to bear as we receive the news from Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Darfur, Myanmar, Ukraine, Yemen and more.

Recently, there are many posts on my sites, asking me to take a stand, especially in regards to the immense suffering and violence that has been happening in Gaza, Israel and Palestine.

My experience in doing peace work in Cambodia and Vietnam, in standing up for the targeted Rohingya in the monasteries of Myanmar, in standing together with Muslim and Jewish and Christian leaders and peace workers across Palestine and Israel and doing peace work elsewhere has taught me one thing:

Most people want peace….. They long for ways to live in peace, to stop the fires of violence and revenge, of fear and the killing of others.

As my beloved friend Mahaghosananda of Cambodia chanted while he led thousands in peace walks back to their homes across the killing fields (after all 19 members of his family were killed and his village was destroyed)…

“Hatred never ceases by hatred.

But by love alone is healed

This is the ancient and eternal law.

Dhammapada

The stand I take is for the stand for peace”

And—

In the words of Rabbi Irwin Keller…

“Today I am taking sides.

I am taking the side of Peace.

Peace, which I will not abandon

even when its voice is drowned out

by hurt and hatred,

bitterness of loss,

cries of right and wrong.

I am taking the side of Peace

whose name has barely been spoken

in this winnerless war.

I will hold Peace in my arms,

and share my body’s breath,

lest Peace be added

to the body count.

I will call for de-escalation

even when I want nothing more

than to get even.

I will do it

in the service of Peace.

I will make a clearing

in the overgrown

thicket of cause and effect

so Peace can breathe

for a minute

and reach for the sky.

I will do what I must

to save the life of Peace.

I will breathe through tears.

I will swallow pride.

I will bite my tongue.

I will offer love

without testing for deservingness.

So don’t ask me to wave a flag today

unless it is the flag of Peace.

Don’t ask me to sing an anthem

unless it is a song of Peace.

Don’t ask me to take sides

unless it is the side of Peace.“

I have asked my social media team to remove the many impassioned posts that call for taking another kind of stand. I want our site to be a zone of peace, and encourage all who wish to stand up in every form, to act and care and do so with love.

With the deepest metta for all beings,

Jack Kornfield

[sirduckytontheduck]

Finished Fics - November

1. Heavyweight by emmbrancsxxo, valleydean (emmbrancsxxo)

word count: 206,744

Brooklyn, 1927. The Golden Age of Boxing. Two years ago, light heavyweight champion Dean Winchester and heavyweight champion Castiel Novak had a secret affair. After a scandal tarnished Cas’ name and stripped him of his title, the two parted ways. Now, with a heavyweight tournament on the horizon, Dean aims to up his weight class so he can compete for the title. He finds unexpected competition when Cas comes out of retirement and returns to New York to fix his reputation. Upon their reunion, the two contenders learn that, outside of the ring, some bruises never really heal.

With this fic, I expected there to be more tension within character dynamics in regards attitudes towards homosexuality as this is somewhat of a period piece, but I think that it is easier to achieve the happy ending the characters ultimately get without the added angst. But I really did like the world building and the building of plot! A very good read! I read it relatively quickly because I didn't want to put it down!

2. Cinderwings by bendingsignpost

word count: 181,619

Under the cover of a masquerade ball, Castiel has five nights to recover the key to his people's freedom. The world has changed greatly in the six centuries since their banishment into the void, but the task isn't impossible. Unfortunately for Castiel, this is going to involve talking to people - especially the Knight Prince who has taken an interest in Castiel and his "costume" wings. (Destiel Cinderella AU)

I thought this was an interesting take on the character dynamics between Dean and Cas. The slow burn is slow burn! But, in my opinion, it is kind of weird in the sense that it is very one-sided for a large portion of the fic. Once we get to where the feelings are for sure reciprocated, there's just so much plot that I didn't feel as satisfied with the outcome at the end. Overall, I would give this fic a 6.75/10, but that's just personal preference. It is definitely worth giving a chance!

3. Right Where You Left Me by outdean

word count: 93,581

Ten years after the empty swallows Cas up, it spits him right back out—but a lot can change in a decade. OR The "Cas comes back from the empty to find that Dean is married" fic.

Objectively, this was a good fic! Like, I finished it in a couple days because I was invested in the plot, but I just don't really like romance stories that play off of emotional infidelity. I think it's great that they end up together in the end, but I am a firm believer that cheating is bad, so that's my only criticism on this one.

4. Twist and Shout by standbyme, gabriel

word count: 97,556

What begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance. In an era where homosexuality was especially vulnerable, Twist and Shout is the story of the love transcending time, returning over and over in its many forms, as faithful as the sea.

Everyone's read this one. And it is one of the most terrible, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching stories ever written. (Which could be saying a lot, I don’t know.) This was the second time I read this fic and I finished it in one night. Needless to say, I'm glad my roommate wasn't woken up by my frequent trips to the bathroom to blow my nose from how much I was crying.

5. And This, Your Living Kiss by opal_bullets

word count: 56,972

Only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet Jack Allen is just Kansas mechanic Dean Winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. Not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen. Until, that is, a string of coincidences leads Dean to auditing a poetry course with one Dr. Castiel Novak. The professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia's foremost expert on the poetry of Jack Allen.

I thought this fic was rather sweet. It was interesting which poems the author included in their story, but even more interesting was their own poems created for the story! I love when people create art because it inspires others to create art of their own.

[that-soccer-guru]

HELLO THE 3 STRAGGLERS THAT ARE PROBABLY SEEING MY POSTS STILL, I HAVE MISSED THOU!

Happy world cup month, it is time for the biggest stage of the game and time for be to drop my obnoxious predictions that no one asked for but I'm gonna give anyways!

Here are my group predictions and notes

GROUP A:

I think Norway is gonna make a comeback and come in at #2 behind local New Zealand. The Swiss are great if they can rise to the occasion, and the Philippines has a great young core. They'll give us some very fun games going forward.

A1: New Zealand, A2: Norway.

GROUP B:

Honestly I think this is one of the TIGHTEST groups of this cup. With a fight down to the end I think it'll come down to goals and Fairplay. Depending on the result of Day 1 Canada vs Nigeria my picks are switching depending on the light with which I look at the table. SO.

B1: Australia (2W, 1D), B2: Nigeria (2D, 1W, Goal difference leaving Canada behind by ONE goal in a total group heartbreaker)

Group C:

Despite the big players refusing to play I think Spain has it in the tank for a great cup. If the Ticas can show some discipline they might surprise, but they're up against the TITANS of discipline so.

C1: Spain, C2: Japan

Group D:

Euro winners have one hell of a team. No notes for them today, second place is what is up for grabs. Haiti is always a dark horse pick but I think mettle and the money for great player health and conditioning will draw this one out so.

D1: England, D2: Denmark.

Group E:

One hell of a group here. Without Viv Midema the Netherlands is missing that finishing punch, but if they can bank on winning their other 2 games and forcing a draw or a one goal win with the US, they can go for first. Portugal is good but they have a lot of youth to adjust to the big stage. Vietnam has a delightful proposal and they play some very fun futbol, but they had the unfortunate luck of drawing 2 titans of the women's game.

E1: USA, E2: Netherlands

Group F:

The elderly stateswomen meet the bright eyed newcomers. Brazil is the titan of South America but they've proven to be way too rigid in their team selection. France is shaking off the cobwebs of a shit coach to see how far they can take it this time. Jamaica and Panama have everything to prove to show that 1. they belong here and 2. their federations NEED to stand in this fight with them. Despite the great teams I think this group is gonna be one of those low scoring ones where teams are making adjustments on the fly and we might get a surprise or two from some games.

F1: France, F2: Brazil (but just narrowly edging out Jamaica)

Group G:

Youth and a desire to prove that it's not only their men's team that know what's up. Argentina is pulling one hell of a legacy behind them, Italy is building a beautiful squad, South Africa comes up from fighting a war of speed and strength, Sweden has a chip on their shoulder. One hell of a group!

G1: Italy, G2: Argentina

Group H:

QUE VIVA COLOMBIA HP! An aging titan in Germany with some key injuries, a very disciplined squad that has been testing some amazing set plays and learning how to play through the lines in South Korea (but that tire out quickly), a fast and tough team that plays a fun midfield game with a solid defense in Morocco. And finally, a team composed of the women who paved the way for the youngsters, the maximum scorer in a Colombia jersey, a midfield filled with aggression and experience, a promising defense all led by the most promising young international that already took one team to a world cup final, Colombia promises a LOT to her fans. If Abadia can get his head out of his ass and learn how to make changes before exhaustion takes hold, this team can take it far!

H1: Germany, H2: Colombia

It's an amazing time to be a woso fan!

[saucy-mesothelioma]

You are given the chance to pick any piece of media and art (and I mean any) to be buried on the earth as the world's legacy; it can be anything, from audios to images to movies and interactive media. Think of it as the Golden Record, though with the certainty that someone somewhere will discover it again in the future and know how to use it.

What would you choose?

This question took a lot of consideration, but I think I finally have an answer. The M*A*S*H TV series collection.

Although the series does focus primarily on the Vietnam war, it's got a lot of messages that've really stuck with me through the years. It's a perfect mix of humor and tragedy and in my opinion shows so many ranges of human emotion as well as dealing with various conflicts both physically and mentally. It's a series that I feel will have some relatability to whoever would come across it and manage to watch the whole thing. And even if they don't relate to any of the stories, I'm confident that certain episodes like "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet" and "The Interview" will definitely leave an impression on them. M*A*S*H is a wonderful combination of funny, serious, and heartbreak and I think it really speaks to the idea of the human spirit in its highs and lows.

[thedreadpiratejames]

Nikolas Cruz bought the AR-15 that he used to kill 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School because it was “cool-looking.” That’s what he told a Broward Sheriff’s detective, according to court documents.

It was cool-looking.

Cruz’s trial isn’t over yet. The prosecution has rested, and the defense is making its case against the death penalty, after his guilty plea. But even as the jury continues its heartbreaking job, one so agonizing it would be beyond the endurance of many, the AR-15-style gun marketed as “America’s rifle” continues to plague us all.

Cruz chose the same style of weapon as the shooter in Uvalde, the one in Las Vegas, the one at Pulse in Orlando, the one at Sandy Hook, the one in Buffalo, the one in Highland Park, Illinois. These are guns that trace their roots to the Vietnam War. They’re designed to kill lots of people and to look pretty much the same as ones used in the military.

It makes us numb, that list of shootings. But how many of us would still feel that way — could still feel that way — if we’d seen what the jurors in the Cruz trial have had to see? They don’t have the luxury of averting their eyes from the carnage. They can’t duck from the reality of what this country allows: Cruz purchased his weapon legally.

That has to change.

The graphic photos of human beings’ destruction — the tiny entrance wound, the gaping, obscene exit wound — were shielded from the public, considered too awful for most of us to contemplate. But the jurors deciding Cruz’s fate had to see them. Reporters covering the case also viewed them, including David Ovalle.

Ovalle is the Miami Herald’s veteran court reporter. He’s seen some of the worst things that humans can do to each other. But even he struggled to comprehend the horrific damage depicted in the photos.

“For me, the exit wounds were so jarring to view,” he said. “It’s hard to even describe them, because the descriptions of gaping wounds, ragged flesh and deep-red-colored holes just don’t do enough to convey the devastation caused by these weapons of war.”

He talked about one boy, shot eight times, with exit wounds on his forearm — “a massive hole of ragged flesh” — and one of his legs. And about a girl, lying on the floor in front of a classroom lectern, “her eyes wide open as if she’s in pain, her mouth slightly open.” The side of her head is missing, her brain pulverized by a high-velocity bullet.

None of us should have to know about the damage that high-velocity bullets can do. And yet, as the shootings continue, so many of us do.

‘Snowstorm’ of damage Medical examiners have offered more grim lessons during this trial. They told jurors that the bullets that AR-15-style weapons use are created to inflict massive internal damage. Forensic pathologists testified about how the bullets tore through flesh and hit bone, creating a “snow storm” of bullet fragments peppering the person’s insides, often fatally.

As former Broward chief medical examiner Craig Mallak described it, “It’s a very small bullet, but it’s moving at 3,000 feet per second. There’s so much energy with these bullets. It just tears skin, bones, organs.” It’s a path 20 times to 30 times the size of the actual bullet, he said.

He performed the autopsy on 14-year-old Cara Loughran, who suffered three wounds: one small entry wound to the left upper back and two gaping exit wounds in the upper chest.

One bullet entered the rib area of 14-year-old Alaina Petty. “After that, the bullet was fragmented into multiple fragments that perforated the lungs, liver, kidney and exits on the left lateral side of the torso,” Associate Medical Examiner Iouri Boiko testified.

Meadow Pollack’s wounds were catastrophic. The 18-year-old was shot seven times, one fracturing her spine. A bullet that grazed her opened a five-inch gash on her skull. It wasn’t a direct hit. But the energy of the bullet was so powerful, she had no chance.

Marketing works This style of weapon isn’t popular by accident — it’s marketing. The Washington Post recently published a story outlining how one of the manufacturers of AR-15-style rifles tried to run an ad during the Super Bowl, knowing the NFL would probably reject it but ready to launch accusations of censorship and hypocrisy. The ad was rejected. And the counterattack was “by far” the most successful marketing the company had ever had, one company exec said.

The United States banned assault weapons before, from 1994 until 2004. In that 10-year period, mass-shooting deaths were reduced, according to at least one study, published in 2019 in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. In July, the House passed new assault-weapons ban legislation, largely along party lines. It’s unlikely to advance in the evenly split Senate, but at least it is some recognition that the Second Amendment doesn’t confer unlimited rights.

And there is support from the White House. President Biden, in a Pennsylvania speech on safer communities and gun control Tuesday, said the county “is awash in weapons of war.” Parents whose children died in the Uvalde shooting, he said, had to supply DNA for identification, “because the AR-15 just rips the body apart.”

Still-life horror Jurors in the Parkland case are doing what no one should have to do. Instead of shielding themselves from the dreadfulness of this mass shooting, they have to immerse themselves in it. They’ve listened to the anguished parents, siblings and friends. They’ve visited the still-life horror of Building 12 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, preserved since 2018 for the trial: dried pools of blood on the floor, overturned chairs, discarded headphones, a chess game still in the middle of play, broken glass that still crunches underfoot.

And they’ve seen those photos, the nightmarish pictures of slaughter four years ago on Valentine’s Day committed by someone who thought an AR-15 looked “cool.”

There have been so many shootings. We try to preserve our own sanity by turning away, afraid of having those images of blood and terror and viciousness branded into our consciousness forever.

But maybe we shouldn’t turn away. Maybe if all of us, including our elected officials, had to see those photos, pictures out of our worst nightmares, we could build some kind of consensus, again, on something that seems so simple it shouldn’t need saying: Weapons of war have no place in a civilized society.

[breserker]

Top 10 horror movies?

caveat that these are not in any particular order because not only does different horror feed the different brains but sometimes the mood begets the kind of horror needed at the time. also ofc, these are just my personal favorites, there are plenty more that i consider to be fantastic, good, amazing horror films, but y'know, personal bias

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - Classic Slasher but also just a really good horror movie, the movie itself is nightmarish and creative, charismatic, and the protagonist is amazing in that she is smart, competent, and capable--while still remaining to be a teenage girl who is immensely scared. good gateway horror i think

Jacob's Ladder (1990) - Inspo for Silent Hill sure but another chaotic, nightmarish experience that is essentially a character study of a Vietnam War vet.

Possum (2018) - i LOVE this movie. I love this movie. it's slow and chock full of turn of the century german expressionism (it's a UK film) that really, really, really plays you as much as the main character is played. You know how people with real traumas get labeled as strange and weird and "They totally did it" just because of how they behave in society? This movie pulled me in to think that and then punched me in the face for thinking it.

From Beyond (1986) - I love all of Stuart Gordon's movies, you may know him best from Honey I Shrunk The Kids (yeah disney approached him idfk why). They're outrageous and chock full of practical effects with a dash of sex horror, but it feels like everyone is having a good time on set, they know each other, etc, and Barbara Crampton is spectacular in this and I call it my favorite.

Pulse (回路) (2001) - I won't say much about this but the magnifying glass it takes into the sicknesses of society that isolate us from each other is so heartfelt and sad. Kurosawa Kiyoshi is a powerhouse in Japanese Horror and is worth checking out. If you've seen and liked Se7en, for example, I recommend Cure (1997) for a similar detective crime horror experience.

Noroi: The Curse (ノロイ) (2005) - Found footage horror that made me scared to open my door in the middle of the fucking night. Jesus Christ! I think it has a cameo from Kurosawa Kiyoshi playing as himself, but it might've been another Shiraishi Kouji film that I'm thinking about.

Possession (1981) - This one really hits me in a way I can't describe in sophistication or words, it's viscerally emotional in that sense and really, really, really a soothing salve after experiencing fucked up sudden heartbreak, which is poignant because Żuławski made this film after his divorce.

Evil Dead (2013) - Ok I'm apparently a weirdo in that my favorite evil dead is the first one, the less-comedy/noncomedy one, but I'm putting 2013 on here because this -- for as violent as it is -- is a comfort film. I really love how they took the original Evil Dead formula and had its own story with it, I love Mia, I love the set-up that she's trying to kick heroin, and the gore is so nasty and mean but like. hey. it's Evil Dead.

Us (2019) - Yeah I have a feeling this will always be my favorite Peele movie, from the fantastical nature, the amazing soundtrack, the visuals, and from my first viewing experience - midnight viewing while working at my movie theater before it was officially out that i then had to drive myself and my coworker/roommate from and we saw a person walking down the street dressed in red at 2am. Incredible stuff. (also doppelganger horror gets me in a bad way)

The Blob (1988) - If the 50's Blob was nothing but a Red Scare movie, the '88 Blob is a reaction to that paranoia that skewers the notion that America is always on the good and right and small town teens are all treated equally and all that. Veneer of neighborhood smeared away in favor of wellmeaning teens bringing a homeless man to the hospital only to be met with the question "Does he have Blue Cross/Blue Shield?" Incredible effects, super fun, and i love that scathing turn of "This wasn't always right, actually"

[luminescent-chorus]

Bingo card for @thehighfiveproject 

old fic :  Hit the ground crawling by jonny_vrm (sam/dean) How Dean could have been after returning from Hell, how his relationship with Sam could have played out. They are both frustrating at times here but it contributes to the atmosphere of the fic in which nothing comes easy.

-

fandom classic :  Squint into the sunset by @dyed-red (sam/dean) It’s such a good story : uncompromising, so full of emotion and just so beautifully done. It’s an unmissable work for a reason.

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underrated fave : Touch  me like a razor blade by @a-deed-without-a-name (sam/dean) This fic is not only well-written but has also a very original concept. Here is the summary : ‘For as long as he can remember, sins have caused Dean physical pain. Like, for example, murder. Or lust. Or incest’. I like the explanation about why he’s like that and the solution found to deal with his condition. I like the character study the premise allows. I like everything about this fic. 

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< 1000 hits/ < 100 kudos : I’ll rec not one but two of @folsomprisonblues’ fics because they are, without a doubt, the stories that impacted me the most in the last few months.

Semper fidelis (gen) : pre-series about John during the Vietnam war, about the traumatic events he experienced.

Desiderium (gen) : post-15x20, Sam trying to carry on after Dean. This fic hurts but is ultimately a wonderful reflection about love and grief.

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free square : Yesterday is a ghost I believe in by @venhedish (sam/dean) 

If you haven’t to done it yet, go discover what’s in the box Sam keeps under his bed, the memories he holds on to. It’s visually gorgeous and the story that unfolds sweet.

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< 1000 words : Cracked by Linden (sam/dean) An heartbreak in less than 300 words.

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> 1000 words : Odysseus, American by @coyotesuspect (sam/dean)

A beautiful fic set during the Stanford era. I feel like no summary can do it justice. The love, the wandering, the longing depicted must be experienced firsthand.

[kevrocksicehouse]

The Holdovers.

D: Alexander Payne (2023).

The Holdovers, set in a prestigious (though underfunded) New England prep school during the 1970 holiday break, is steeped in the grayish melancholy of washed out polaroids, which is completely appropriate for the story of three people having a miserable Christmas season. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) an Ancient History teacher whose gleeful sarcasm towards his wealthy students (“I can’t fail this class” “Oh, don’t sell yourself short Mr. Kountz. I think you can”) barely conceals a  bitterness towards  his stalled life. After he flunks the son of a wealthy donor, he is given the punishment job of taking care of the holdovers – students left behind during the Christmas break. That includes Angus (Dominic Sessa), a smart rebellious kid who is effectively abandoned for the season by his mother and new stepfather and also misses out on the clumsy Deux ex Machina that rescues his fellow holdovers, leaving him alone with Hunham and Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) the schools cafeteria manager who is mourning her son, an alumnus killed in Vietnam. 

The script by David Hemingson sometimes has a predictable mustiness as the three bond in their misery, learn enough about each other to develop empathy and become better more compassionate people, but it is saved by the actors. Giamatti navigates Hunham from Mr. Chips to Scrooge turning a derivative construct into a human being. There’s nobody better at playing overeducated, articulate losers and this is his best since Payne’s Sideways. Sessa, in his first film role (he had only done High School theater) deftly balances the awkwardness of a precocious adolescent, alternating glib callowness and heartbreaking vulnerability especially in a revelation scene which in the wrong hands could easily have been trite. Randolph’s role is less developed but she gives an amazing performance, especially when she talks about the economic and racial circumstances that led her son to war instead of college (In 1970 failure to pursue higher education meant eligibility for the draft). She gives heft to a later scene where Hunham makes a sacrifice worthy of Dickens' Sidney Carton on behalf of Angus – without posturing, Giamatti shows us a man understanding some of what he has tried to teach his students and does it with dignity and grace. Much like this movie.