#anson really sells the character

[frasier-crane-style]

When will you wear wigs, SNW?

The Elysian Kingdom is the second 'silly' episode of the season and it's better conceptualized than the Spock body-swap one... I feel like I should back up to the Spock body-swapping for a moment, because it doesn't quite work in any but a functional way.

So the gist of it is that Spock body-swaps with his fiance T'Pring, but...

T'Pring is a guest star who we barely know, so we're not familiar enough with her to appreciate her 'being' Spock or Spock 'being' her.

They're both Vulcans, so their mannerisms barely differ. They hang a lampshade on this, but if you're doing a body-swap episode and you're admitting that it's essentially meaningless, what's the point except for saying "we did a body-swap episode! Isn't that KOOKY?"

The Elysian Kingdom has a bit more fun with the OOC concept--Pike gets turned into cowardly grand vizier type and either Anson Mount has more range than everyone else in the cast or... no, that's probably it.

Also, in a weirdly porn-brained moment, they imply that La'an and Una's 'characters' in the false reality are girlfriends. It's mentioned that in the children's book this reality is based on, they don't know each other... is the idea that the prepubescent girl who is generating this reality thinks they're having sex? Cuz that's weird, dude.

Or is it just that they're supposed to 'really' be lovers and that's shining through in the false reality? Because I thought their backstory was that Una rescued La'an as a child and then cared for her. Maybe that's not exactly mother-daughter, but it still seems odd to turn that into "they are GAY and having SEX."

Absolutely normal age to meet your future lover who is fifteen years older than you.

That was a sidebar. My main point is, they halfass the bit. The idea is that everyone but M'Benga and Hemmer thinks they're characters in a children's storybook. But then those characters themselves have "are you serious?" reactions to each other doing weird things, when this should all be perfectly normal to them. Characters in Lord of the Rings aren't surprised by magic or cave trolls; that's the setting. It's as normal to them as encountering a car or airplane would be to us.

"Dude," you might say, "it's basically a Holodeck episode. How much internal consistency are you really going to ask for from a lark?"

I'll agree with you there--"this is dumb and makes no sense" is part of the episode's plot--but then we get to the season finale and the gist of it is we flash-forward to the future to see what the TOS episode Balance of Terror would be like with Pike in command instead of Kirk. And they do very little to sell that this is taking place... within The Original Series.

And I know they're unable or unwilling to do an entire show with the aesthetics of TOS, even if TNG and DS9 did so for a scene or episode at a time--apples and oranges, I'm sure.

They don't want to go the whole zeerust direction. But they don't even want to do little things, like making Uhura's hair and uniform match how she looks in TOS.

Is that too big an ask? Because I know with Andor and Rogue One, they at least tried to make the hairstyles and such match up with A New Hope.

Arguably, they went too far, in outright using deleted scenes from ANH as stock footage, but you couldn't say they weren't making an effort. With SNW, it feels like they're making a token effort to homage TOS, but not really committing to the bit, which bugs me.

So, that's two kinds of grooming that irritate me.

[hoodienanami]

What are you thoughts on Danny Boyle's Pistol? I remember you saying that you have mixed feelings and I'm curious! Always love reading about your Sex Pistols opinions :)

i think theres a lot of good and a lot of bad. its a pretty mixed bag overall

what i like about it is how humanizing it is, which is much needed when it comes to the sex pistols. its a very loving portrayal of these real kids who deserve the sympathy boyle gives them in his show. it also takes the time to show the beginnings of the band and bust some myths in the process which is always good. highlighting steve as the main character was a very smart choice on that front. i also like how it shows the complexity of the relationships between the characters. malcolm and steve's relationship is very fleshed out and i think done super well, the actors really sell it imo theyre both perfectly cast. and theres a lot of great moments between johnny and sid, johnny and steve, and one utterly fantastic moment with johnny and vivienne that almost makes up for how little vivienne is in the show. just like thomas brodie-sangster and toby wallace with malcolm and steve, anson boon puts so much effort into his performance and you can tell he adores johnny, theres a lot of complexity there even if the script is lacking much of the time

but what i didnt like is how small the world feels (where are the other bands, why do the bromley contingent play such a small role?), how it leaves out some of the most important moments in the sex pistols career, and completely side-steps what makes the sex pistols so great in the first place which is their insane amount of influence on basically everyone who encountered them

in the show the bromley contingent are all together before the sex pistols play their first concert! why!!! putting aside how historically inaccurate it is to have them all together before the first gig, its much more interesting and narratively satisfying for the bromley contingent to build up as the pistols play more and more gigs!

the clash, one of the biggest names in the long list of bands that only exist bc of the sex pistols, is mentioned in the show but theyre never on screen! it would have been a great moment to see joe strummer leave his lame pub rock band after seeing a single sex pistols concert, following them out the door and wondering if he can find a punk band to join before running into bernie rhodes. bazooka joe are there in the second episode bc they have to be but instead of seeing adam ant, who was part of bazooka joe at the time, leave his band to go join the bromley contingent bc the sex pistols very first gig made him want to change his entire life forever we just get the bazooka joe lads getting into a tussle with the pistols and thats it. goddamn it i want to see pete shelley and howard devoto driving down to london in their friend's car just to see the sex pistols and returning to manchester as the buzzcocks and setting up the lesser free trade hall concert that caused joy division, the smiths, the fall, and factory records to be formed!!!

time and time again boyle misses out on actually showing us what made the sex pistols great even tho he has many chances to do so. the show tells us that they inspire ppl and make ppls lives better but we barely see it! the most we get is one performance by siouxsie

its a show that focuses too much on the personal and not enough on the larger world around the pistols. as much as i like the personal aspects, as much as i like seeing the inner workings of their lives and their relationships to each other, what i want to see from a sex pistols biopic is the sex pistols doing what they do best: inspiring other ppl to change the world. theyre the pied pipers of punk, leading all the creative kids who know theres more for them out there off into a new world where theyre finally free to be themselves and do great things

i also would have liked to see more of how intense and fucked up being a sex pistol was by 1977. we see johnny getting stabbed and chased around after the grundy show but we dont see the real incidents of him (and paul! and jamie reid!) nearly being straight up murdered bc of god save the queen, we dont see how fucking evil the press was to him and the rest of the band. and bc of that we dont see how it affects the band to be treated like this by the public and the press which i think is crucial when it comes to wanting to humanizing the sex pistols and getting ppl to understand them

well at least danny boyle queercoded johnny to hell and back to make his relationship with sid even more tragic then it already was

i liked what we got but it could have been much better

[l-1-z-a]

Q&A: Will Wright’s Artificial Intelligence - RollingStone

The king of the Sim Empire talks about 'BattleBots,' hungry ants and how he turns real life into video games

BY DAVID KUSHNER

SEPTEMBER 13, 2001

Will Wright RYAN ANSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

FOR THE PAST sixteen years, Will Wright has devoted himself to simulating the ultimate challenge: everyday life. The forty-one-year-old computer-game designer has put players in charge of micromanaging simulated farms, simulated ant hives, simulated cities and, most recently, little Sims themselves — artificially intelligent characters who sleep, eat, work and give back rubs.

The Sims won just about every major game award last year, in addition to selling more than 4 million copies worldwide and grossing more than $170 million. Wright’s gaming successes are due in large part to his fearless pursuit of the mundane: His cities have bad plumbing, his dinners need to get cleaned up and Sims must go to the john. Wright, who’s currently working on an online version of The Sims as well as some highly competitive remote-controlled fighting robots for the TV show BattleBots, hopes his games help people get a fresh view of their own lives. “I like the idea that games can change the player,” he says.

When you’re out and about, you must get people suggesting Sim games to you all the time.

You can’t imagine.

Any ideas stand out?

Sim Shopping Mall — that one had, like, fifteen types of people you’d see in the mall. It all had to do with teenagers and old people. It was pretty funny.

You’ve been competing in BattleBot tournaments lately. How’s that going?

Well, I’ve got this one I’m building now that’s going to be killer. It’s about halfway built, but I don’t want to name it until I’m done.

I’ve built a bunch of them so far. The first one was called Julie Bot. It had this talking doll’s head on the top — this was for the very first Robot Wars, and it won the lightweight division. The second year I did Kiddy Puff Puff, which wrapped the other robots in tape — that one won the middleweight melee. My daughter does robots, too; she made a Chia Bot. It didn’t do too well. It got flipped over, but it put up a good fight….

Pretty destructive compared to your games.

Yeah, but it’s really much more of a social thing. You get to meet a bunch of cool people who are strange like you. But it is cool for the robots to go in and beat the crap out of each other, too.

What kind of kid were you?

I was always building things: models, little inventions, airplanes, tanks, ships, then robots. The first robot I built was a little hydraulic arm made entirely out of injection syringes. I was probably about thirteen. A friend of mine talked me into buying a computer to run my robots, and that’s how I got interested in games.

What interested you about computer games?

What fascinates me is the ability to have a microworld inside this little box, a world that has its own rules and physics that you can interact with. The first game I made was one where you flew around and blew things up. I had to create little islands you were flying over. I was finding that to be much more fun than the blowing-them-up part. I thought it’d be cool if I could actually bring these little islands to life.

Why simulate real life?

In some sense, the computer can be thought of as an elaborate mirror when you’re running simulations on it. It’s not a perfect mirror, but, depending on the situation, you can exaggerate reality, distort reality, fast-forward through time or replay things over and over until you get them right. For me, it’s a new way of interacting with the world.

What influenced the development of The Sims?

It was the intersection of a few ideas: the work of urban planner/architect Christopher Alexander, who looked at how environmental design influences our behavior, and the behavioral modeling I learned from doing my game Sim Ant.

So humans don’t behave that differently from ants?

Surprisingly, I found that they weren’t that different [laughs]. In The Sims, if a character is hungry it will go near the strongest hunger source: the fridge, the barbecue. Ants do this, too. There was also another influence for The Sims: I started getting interested in time studies, where researchers try to map out how you spend every minute of your day. The results are fascinating.

In your games, people spend their time doing pretty ordinary things. How important is banality in your games?

In some sense, that’s what really drives the player’s ownership [of The Sims]. When you’ve laid every little water pipe or spent every hour of that guy’s life so far on your computer, you’re really responsible, and you can start empathizing a lot more with the city or the person. Things become so dependent on you that the whole gaming experience can become very guilt-driven. When this guy loses his job, for the most part, it’s your fault. If you’re dealing with The Sims in this mundane day-to-day life, then the epic victories are things very familiar — getting married, having a kid or getting a promotion — as opposed to defeating the evil empire in some other game.

How has developing all these Sim games affected the way you view the world?

I spend a lot of time looking for patterns. When we design simulations, “we’re trying to compress this huge data of reality into a few elegant algorithms. That’s also the path we typically take toward understanding the world around us: What’s the simplest explanation for this?

How about making Sim Game Developer?

I don’t think that would be nearly as fun as most people think [laughs].

[ansonmountdaily]

Anson Mount filmography [1/?] → Ally McBeal 2x17 “Civil War” (1999), Anson’s first IMDb credit. He was 25.

Anson plays Kevin Wah who’s accused of fraud. Kevin hasn’t told his date Paula he already knew her from an online group chat where he pretended to be someone else. In the chat he learnt about her interests and what she looked for in romantic relationships, and he only revealed his secret after the third date. Kevin’s defense is he’s genuinely in love with Paula and was only trying to learn more things about her to get a head start and make a good impression on their dates.

[danwhobrowses]

Dr Strange: Multiverse of Madness - Quick Review

So I'm out of the Cinema, the credits have rolled and Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness is in the books. Reviews so far have been on both sides of the spectrum, but what did I think of Sam Raimi's return to Marvel?

Spoilers for the Movie, you have been warned

So I liked it, I can understand why some people don't think it's great, Raimi's direction was a bit odd at times too.

There is a lot of stuff which doesn't quite match up, the title seems a bit of a false promise because we only visit like 3 or 4 universes long enough to see a variant, Loki showed more variants. I also feel like the plot went the 'difficult route' with Wanda deciding to not pursue this magic book that gives you 'exactly what you want' and instead tries to steal her variant's children, I mean I get that the Darkhold is corruptive - I watched Agents of SHIELD so Stephen coming out with a third eye relieved me because for a moment I feared Stephen would have zero consequences from using it...until it was treated as no big deal in the mid-credits scene, the electric guitar riff was distracting too - and it was supposed to show Wanda's descent but surely she would also want that power? These magical books are also very fragile. I also don't see how all these universes have Wanda's kids but no Vision, he could've played a key part in establishing conflict with Wanda.

I admittedly take issue with how they did the Illuminati, Marvel had to do the typical MCU thing of making anticipated and things comic fans were looking forward to look like clowns. I don't really get their logic either, like Strange is trying to get out of their universe and they're stopping him and America, also this 'Dr. Strange is the bigger threat to the Multiverse' seems like a dumbass conclusion from them; their Strange was corrupted by the Darkhold, Wanda is coming for them having been corrupted by the Darkhold, and their conclusion is Strange is the problem? Not the evil magic book that corrupts whoever reads it? Also pretty fresh coming from Reed 'Council of Reeds/The Beyonder/Intentionally Gave the Four the Zombie Virus' Richards... Also they got clowned in the fight, I mean I get we were selling just how powerful Wanda was but I laughed in disbelief that the MCU had a chance to fix the atrocious Inhumans series and instead decided to bitch out poor Anson Mount's Black Bolt again by killing him like that. It should've more ripped a hole where his mouth should be than popped his brain but it was a truly idiot move from Reed 'Smartest Man in the World' Richards to tell Wanda his powers - we could've just had Wanda seal the mouth and have Wanda kill him another way. Maria's Captain Marvel didn't do it for me, she was at least a match for Wanda but she seemed to have adopted Carol's bitchiness towards Strange. It was nice to see Captain Carter but she shouldn't have lasted as long as she did against Wanda if Reed was ripped up like a cheesestring in seconds, and it did hurt that Marvel brought back Patrick Stewart's Professor X just to kill him a THIRD TIME...Maybe I mean Xavier does have ways of coming back, Mordo felt quite underused too.

On the plus side though this is perhaps the best exploration we've had with Stephen in terms of his personal happiness, and his tragic connection with Christine. Tragic is definitely the optimal word we use for Wanda as well, while her method was a bit long-winded her motivation was clear and believable - helped greatly by Olsen's great acting and time on Wandavision.

America Chavez's character and growth was really nice, she interacted well in the movie and at a good time so we could explore the multiverse at a greater scale, Phase 4 has done really well so far in establishing a Young Avengers group. And thankfully Wong didn't die, I was worried they'd have Wanda off him so Strange would be Sorcerer Supreme again but he lives to kick Abomination ass and Karaoke with Shang Chi and Katy (who I did wonder whether they'd show here or in a post-credit scene) another day.

Aside from that electric guitar, the music was great, especially the old X-Men theme riff with Xavier's appearance. And there were a lot of great visuals from the film and the multiverses we did visit, zombified Strange - while as Wanda pointed out super hypocritical - did make for an interesting magic battle at the conclusion, as did Wanda seeing how much of a monster she had become. While I didn't like the mid-credits scene I did get a kick out of the post-credits one, Sam and Bruce at it again, Sam did get some jumpscares out of me too.

As for implications, as well as seeing the likes of Xavier and Reed we look to be setting up the Incursion, which is smart of Marvel as well. For those unaware the Incursion was an event in comics which had two universes about to collide, the Illuminati were used to try and find a preventative measure for this too. Usually Incursions would involve Molecule Man, but since he doesn't exist in the MCU yet the use of the Incursion would play as a Phase-level threat for the MCU, and could be the opening to blend heroes from another universe together via Battleworld, most importantly the Four, Mutants and Doctor Doom (regular or a more exciting prospect, God Emperor Doom). Battleworld as a concept also makes sense given how Kang the Conqueror is related to Reed, so even if they didn't want to bring in the Beyonder just yet they could use Kang in his place.

So overall, it was worth the ticket, but I wasn't too blown away with the story, not the worst MCU film I've seen though I guess it just didn't quite exceed expectations like No Way Home did when they used the Multiverse.

[tanjaded]

Best versions of Youjo Senki characters (in my opinion)

PART 2

Mary Sue/Sioux: Anime

I'm being 100% serious when I say I think Mary's anime design is one of the best in Youjo Senki. As in, all four mediums. It's just that good. I don't like her as a character, but I can appreciate the design. Manga Mary is actually my least favorite of the four. It's basically an altered version of Tanya's manga design, and while I know that's intentional, it doesn't make me think it's good.

-

Anson Sue/Sioux: Manga

Once again, a case of the manga making a character more attractive unnecessarily. The anime design is really good too, but manga Anson's hair really sells it.

-

Grantz: Anime

Not much to say here. The anime design is good. His manga design is good too, but this one is more distinct.

-

Maximillian von Ugar: Anime

They made him hot in the manga (like I've said about others) but I'm in the anime camp for this one. Anime Ugar has a unique design that fits him perfectly imo. The manga design for him feels too... bland, or blank slate.

-

Being X: Manga and Anime

This is the only first place tie for one reason: I don't really care for Being X. He's absolutely jacked in the manga, and the fact that he's depicted using a nutcracker in the anime is fucking hilarious. So I put both.

-

Doctor Schugel: Manga

Anime Schugel is an ugly mad scientist. Manga Schugel is a hot mad scientist. Easy choice.

[macaronis-telegraph]

My favourite books I read in 2020! (in no particular order)

Follows are goodreads links and maybe some thoughts on them? But I don't think I'm particularly capable of formulating coherent thoughts right now so it won't be much. Just trust that I love these books with my whole self.

Look Down in Mercy by Walter Baxter - first published in 1951, we explore the destruction of Captain Tony Kent, as he spirals and falls through illness, injury, alcoholism, and his fear of his love for his batman, Anson. Set in WWII Burma, it's gruesome and gutwrenching, and Kent is a character you could continue to analyze and unpack for years, morally gray and unstable, as you watch him fall towards the inevitable. If you read a vintage copy, I recommend a UK edition (an alternate ending was written for the US release, and I personally don't think it's fitting. The Valancourt edition contains both endings).

Despised and Rejected by A. T. Fitzroy - first published in 1918, and then promptly banned, seized, and destroyed due to its pacifist messages and positive portrayals of homosexuality. At its heart is a strained relationship between Dennis and Antoinette - Antoinette who struggles with loving a man who goes against societal norms, and being able to love him for exactly who he is. The amount of respect and acceptance with which the author treats her characters, no matter what makes up their identity, just warmed my heart and blew me away, especially regarding the time period in which it was written.

The Charioteer by Mary Renault - this easily takes the spot of my favorite book of all time. It's like a warm hug and a cup of tea, a wonderful comfort I know I will return to over and over as I continue to fall in love with the characters again and again. In this book, first released in 1953, we follow Laurie "Spuddy" Odell, as he recovers from a severe injury after Dunkirk in WWII. In his time in hospital, his sexuality is brought to the front of his attention, and we get to live inside of Laurie's mind as he finds love in Andrew, a young medical orderly, and Ralph, a troubled man who emerges from Laurie's past (okay I'll admit it to you and myself, Ralph Lanyon has to be one of my favourite characters from anything anywhere).

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown - a surprisingly environmental read, it’s impossible not to be immersed in the settings described in this book. A steady balance of both explorations of this incredible team and historical background, it’s keeps you gripped and shocked even when you already know how it’s all going to turn out.

The Story of the Titanic as told by its survivors edited by Jack Winocour - okay I’m really not sure how to sell this book to anyone outside of the fact that this book has to be the one that has been on my mind more than any other. I’ve just found it utterly incredible and fascinating to see these heart wrenching accounts from four different survivors of the tragedy, most of which were written within a year of the event, the emotions still recent and intense, without being tainted by the myths and misconceptions that I find plague many recent writings on the topic. I think about this book and the stories told in it almost daily (but then again I seem to have rather a hyperfixation on the RMS Titanic so...).

Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen - a very cute and cozy read that transports you to New York, 1919, as our two main characters, recently home from fighting in WWI, work to take back a hold of their lives, and maybe fall in love along the way. Quite the feel-good read, with many moments to look back and smile or laugh upon, but it’s also not without its heavy moments, building fully fleshed out and loveable characters.

[ntnchamp2]

F.Scott Fitzgerald

I've been reading Matthew J. Bruccoli's biography of Fitzgerald and tracking some of his artistic development through his short stories. Two interesting things I've learned recently were that Scott thought Zelda had an affair with a French Navy captain while he was working on finishing The Great Gatsby when they lived on the French Riviera in 1924, and that they spent the summer either estranged or fighting about this supposed affair. Scott wrote to a friend Ludlow Fowler that summer (of whom the short story "The Rich Boy" is based on) that: "I feel old this summer--I have ever since the failure of my play a year ago. That's the whole burden of this novel [Gatsby]--the loss of those illusions which give such color to the world that you don't care if things are true or false as long as they partake of the magical glory." Bruccoli argues that "One of the lost illusions that informed The Great Gatsby was Fitzgerald's certainty in Zelda's love."

Fitzgerald told Hemingway about the supposed affair, and Hemingway claimed that he heard the story dozens of times over the years, and got the impression that as the story mutated over the years, that it was as if Scott was trying it out on him as the basis for a fiction novel. But Hemingway always thought the first version of the story he heard from Scott was the true version, and the saddest. Scott did write a version of this affair in Tender is The Night eventually, whole Zelda wrote her own fictional account of it in her novel Save Me The Last Waltz but claims that the French Navy captain and her never physically consummated the affair. I can only imagine the scene in Chapter VII of Gatsby in the confrontation at the Plaza Hotel where Daisy resolves to tell Tom she never loved him, but then can't stand by it, and tells Gatsby "I loved you too." And Gatsby blinks and says "You loved me too" with italicized emphasia on the word "too." In the rough draft, Fitzgerald wrote Gatsby repeating this with a question mark. In the final draft, this is a statement that ends in a declarative period.

The next short story Fitzgerald worked on (a novella, really) after Gatsby was the character study "The Rich Boy." The rich boy title character is described at one point: "For a long time afterward Anson believed that a protective God sometimes interfered in human affairs. But Dolly Karger, lying awake and staring at the ceiling, never again believed in anything at all." Could this reflect Scott's feelings at the time in the summer of 1924 when he thought Zelda was not interested or in love with him anymore?

The other interesting thing I've read in the Bruccoli biography is Fitzgerald's own assessment of his novels. He thought Gatsby wasn't selling well in 1925-26 because it was too much of a man's book without a strong female character, and that women make most of the reading audience, and he never was satisfied or resolved on if he crystallized Daisy's reaction after the Palza Hotel confrontation in Chapter VII. He also thought that his talent was not fully realized in his first three novels, and that he hoped his fourth novel would synthesize the strengths of his first three. I find this ironic considering how perfect The Great Gatsby is in thematic development and structure. I haven't read The Beautiful and the Damned yet as literally no one ever mentions it, but I'd like to start soon. Fitzgerald wrote that "Gatsby was far from perfect in many ways but all in all it contains such prose as has never been written in America before. From that I take heart. From that I take heart and hope that some day I can combine the verve of [This Side of] Paradise, the unity of Beautiful + Damned, and the lyric quality of Gatsby, its aesthetic soundness, into something worthy of the admiration of those few--"

[spiderninja1]

Thank You Andi Mack

So that this doesn’t get lost in the endless sea tomorrow, I thought I’d make a little thank you post for some of the people who made this series so wonderful.

Oh, and @joshua-rush, if you’re reading this, feel free to send this to the others.

Peyton Elizabeth Lee, thank you for playing Andi Mack. Our titular Asian-American protagonist who has a heart as big as her creativity. A character with one of the craziest, yet lovable family trees imaginable.

Some great plot lines she has starred in include, of course, her messed up family tree. It’s come a long way from Season 1, where we get to see her family come together, fall apart, but come back together in the end. A couple of episodes centered around her Chinese heritage, providing us with an idea of tradition and culture for Chinese people. Her relationships have unfortunately gotten the short end of the stick, but it compensates for her many creative and rebellious acts. To name a few, she was the one who started the dress code protest, as well as the Mint Chip clothing store garage sale. She also broke the huge Asian stereotype with her arts and crafts mural, which (hopefully) got her into SAVA.

Well-Known Ships: Jonah, Amber, Walker

Sofia Wylie, thank you for playing Buffy Driscoll. Headstrong, yet fierce, you’ve helped to show young women, especially women of color, across the world that they have more potential than they realize, and that the right motivation is all they need to be the best person they can.

Honorable plot lines include her moving story, which to be honest, had a bit of a lackluster ending. But it still gave younger kids a glimpse that not all people are lucky like that, so close connections may be lost when someone leaves. Of course, connecting to that is the military mother plot, where Buffy finally reunites with her mom, who had been deployed at sea. But in my opinion, her best plot line had to have been her entire sports career, and how she went from a bossy and competitive player to a supportive team captain.

Well-Known Ships: Marty, Walker

Joshua Rush, thank you for playing Cyrus Goodman. Jewish, gay, but most importantly, loyal best friend. You’ve inspired many LGBT kids to come out to their loved ones (myself, included), and taught them that they are no different to anyone else.

His plots were some of the most mature, but most important ones of all. To get the big one out of the way, there’s his gay storyline, where he comes out to his closest friends, and shows his true colors. Next up is the Jewish-centered episodes, giving us diversity in something that isn’t truly physical. We see him evolve during his bar-mitzvah, and during his grandma’s Shiva. Both times give us an accurate representation of Jewish beliefs, culture, and tradition. Of course, who could forget the gun plot, which gave kids a very important lesson on gun safety, and that it’s important to understand the dangers of unsafe handling. 

Well-Known Ships: TJ, Jonah, Iris (I had to mention her somewhere. She honestly deserved better)

Asher Angel, thank you for playing Jonah Beck. A bit oblivious, but still a great friend, an amazing musician, and our favorite Space Otter (aside from Gus).

The one that blew everyone away, not only because of it’s surprise reveal, but because of how it continued on for multiple episodes, was the panic attack plot. It gave kids with anxiety someone to relate to, and how even though it’s scary, there are ways that can help you overcome it. The bankrupt family one had a really long buildup (about ten episodes from 3x02), but they at least kind of brought it back with a few updates on the whole situation. As of right now, the Becks are in their own home, and hopefully, it stays that way. And finally, whilst not important, there were the many, many, MANY storylines revolving around Jonah’s (failed) dating life. Just look at the ship list for him!

Well-Known Ships: Andi, Cyrus, Amber, Libby (One ship is gay, two ships had good development, three ships were canon, all four ships start with J)

Lilan Bowden, thank you for playing Bex Mack. Two completely different sides. One is rebellious, while the other is loving. 

Honorable storylines included her family connections. We get to see her become more involved in Andi’s life, regrow her love with Bowie, and fix broken ties with Cece. She got to open up her own makeup store, she finally got over her ex, Gabriel. Now, after some hardships, she’s gotten married to our one and only Bowie. 

Well-Known Ships: Bowie, Miranda (Before Miranda became a snake)

Trent Garrett, thank you for playing Bowie Quinn, who is now Bowie Mack. Our rocking dad figure with a love for those closest to him. 

His story started when he came into Andi’s life and immediately tried becoming a better father figure towards her. He reconnected with Bex, and became a guitar teacher at the music store. There were a few episodes where he was with Miranda, but that ship has sunken, because Bex is his one true love.

Well-Known Ships: Bex, Miranda

Lauren Tom, thank you for playing Celia Mack. Our favorite non-grandma grandma, whose a little arrogant, but still a supportive family member of the Macks.

Her storylines are more of the supportive role, as one of her only main plot included the house selling one with Ham. However, she does play a larger role in the Chinese storylines, as she naturally has more knowledge of their traditions. Regardless, she has still evolved over the course of this series, and I’m glad she’s still here until the end.

Well-Known Ships: Ham (Yes, I mentioned him. The character was still good, even if the actor was not) 

Emily Skinner, thank you for playing Amber (last name unknown). Mean or nice, she has made her way into our hearts as one of our favorite characters.

Amber was always more of the jealous antagonist towards Andi. But as time went on, she became a better person and even one of Andi’s greatest allies. She also grew closer with Jonah, even after their breakup(s), because of their connection with families with money problems. She also grew closer with Cyrus and Buffy, though those two had less development with her. And because of her, I now know what a rage cage is.

Well-Known Ships: Jonah, Andi

Garren Lake, thank you for playing Marty from the Party. A recurring character at most, but everyone was glad to see you return in the final season.

Marty was always a support to Buffy, and he never really got much development with anyone else. There was that small moment where he dated Rachel. He’s a talented runner, and a good friend. I wish there was more to say about his character, but running and Muffy was kind of all he was known for.

Well-Known Ships: Buffy

Luke Mullen, thank you for playing TJ Kippen. Our sporty gay boy who has evolved from mean captain to soft buddy.

Even as a recurring character, TJ has been a great addition to the cast. His storyline of being gay hasn’t been mentioned yet, as of right now, but he’s earned quite the reputation of being the T in our Tyrus ship. But enough about that, he has great storylines with Buffy as well, growing close bonds with her as a friend, and with her helping him when he found out about his dyscalculia. 

Well-Known Ships: Cyrus, Buffy (that was more of an Instagram ship, though)

Raquel Justice, thank you for playing Kira. The character we all love to hate. It’s a shame you weren’t with us longer, but you’ve been amazing for the time being.

Kira’s plot were more Buffy and Cyrus based. She started off as kind of past Buffy in the present. Competitive and arrogant. Then she caught TJ and became a slight Cyrus rival. Good to mention that Amber, Andi’s rival, got redeemed. Buffy’s rival, TJ, also got redeemed. So here’s hoping that our Cyrus rival also gets a small redemption in the finale, even if it’s a minor one.

Well-Known Ships: N/A (Though Cyrus thought she was with TJ)

Anson Bagley, thank you for playing Gus. He’s always been someone we loved, even if he was only here for decades at a time. 

Gus was our favorite support character. He’s part of student court, he started a lunch riot when there were A and B groups,and he’s an honorary space otter. Not much else can be said, except that he’s quirky and awkward. For that, he’s one of our favorites.

Well-Known Ships: N/A (Unless you count the millions of crackships)

And finally, we have the best for last. Thank you Terri Minsky, for creating the show we all know and love. I never saw Lizzie McGuire as a kid, and now that I’m a teen, it’s nice to have an idea of what kind of show that was. You’ve broken so many stereotypes with your show, and I’m hoping you make something great for the next generation. 

I remember joining this after season 1 had ended, and I binged the entire season because it was just too good. Andi Mack is my favorite show, and I’m sad it’s now over, but regardless, it was the best thing I could ever watch. It seems like Disney is making a comeback with good shows (mainly cartoons), but I’m excited to see what they make next.

[focsle]

Little bit of a banter between Anson and @charteredlibertine ‘s character Benny.

It was a Thursday afternoon, and the Lower East Side buzzed with the activity it was accustomed to. Anson’s cart was one of hundreds clustered along the street, beneath the swayback weather-worn awnings of the storefronts stacked behind them. To Anson’s left was the thick smell of shined leather, where an older man piled shoes high upon his cart. He sat back to let his clients sort through the chaos, finding the lefts and rights, the fives and sixes and sevens. On the cart to his right, eyeglasses were strung up like decorative baubles. Sunlight ran along the edges of their lenses as they twisted and chimed in the lethargic breeze.

Across the street, a chicken’s throat was slit and its brethren fluttered, alarmed, in their cages. A weary carriage horse pulled its rickety burden through the crowd. It snuffed at the pedestrians that brushed against its bug-bitten flanks as they both competed for a claim in the muddy street. A group of children tossed a ball of twine over the heads of their neighbors from one side of the street to the other. One tripped over a discarded wooden crate in his enthusiasm to catch it and fell to the dust in a tangle of limbs he had yet to grow into. Woodsmoke and mildewed fabric, freshly baked bread and horse piss, it was all captured in the hazy summer air that hung about the neighborhood like flypaper.

Every day was a new exercise for Anson in trying to rise above being simply another fixture woven into the landscape. He had tied several brass bells around the edge of his cart to announce his arrival every morning, to ring out clearly across babies’ cries and lovers’ spats. Beneath his wares of shirtwaists, aprons, collars, and ties, he spread brightly colored fabric, and not only spent an afternoon painting the wooden panels of his wheeled table, but touched it up where it flaked whenever he could. A little artistry went a long way, he felt. He had a lifelong hobby of collecting adjectives as he heard them, so he could always sing out new words of fresh flattery for both his goods and his customers.

His aggressive marketing was put on hold however, when he saw a familiar face step out onto the congested street. It was a face he knew he didn’t have to sell himself to.

“Benny!” he called out to the approaching young man with a welcoming smile. “Vos makhstu?”

Benny approached the cart with his hands in his pockets and a comfortable swing in his step, drowsy eyes shadowed by the brim of his bowler.

“I’m not bad, thanks,” Benny said. He glanced over his shoulder at his father’s carpentry shop Anson had parked himself in front of. The peddler’s particular space on the corner was offered to him by Benny’s parents, as a kindness to one who seemed to be such a dear friend of their son’s.

“I came out of the sawdust to get some fresh air but,” Benny let out a huff in the heat and rocked back on his heels. “Whoof. There’s not much of it, huh?”

“Tell me about it.”

He nodded at Anson’s array. “What are you selling today?”

Anson gestured with a flourish. “All the trappings of a gentleman. Got some new detachable collars there.” He picked up one of the stiffly-molded bands and held it out to his friend. “Give it a try.”

Benny took the collar, and Anson angled a small mirror--conveniently hanging off a nail driven into his cart--in Benny’s direction. Benny lifted his fine-boned jaw and buttoned the collar to the back of his shirt.

“Very handsome,” said Anson as Benny adjusted the points of the collar and squinted at his reflection.

“How much?” he asked.

“Two for forty.”

Benny raised his eyebrows at Anson. “Really? You’re going to do this with me?”

Anson splayed his innocent hands. “What, do what?”

“I’m not spending forty cents on two shirt collars.”

“Think of it as an investment Benny,” Anson said, bracing his elbows on the pushcart. “You look great in it. Real keen.” He grinned and gave Benny an almost imperceptible wink. “And you know, other people are gonna see that. They’re gonna say, look at that kid, let’s get him front of a camera somewhere.”

“I’ll do twenty,” Benny said. He unbuttoned the shirt collar and tossed it on the table.

“Half! That’s half!” his friend bawled, leaning further across the pushcart in a hammy sprawl. “You want me to starve. I see. I’ll just shrivel up on my sofa, and one day you just...won’t see this cart out here no more.” He stared off with a feigned gravitas at the family’s carpentry shop. “And your dear old pa will say, ‘whatever happened to that Anson boy’, and you’ll have to live with yourself. You’ll have to live with the knowledge that you killed me.”

Benny rolled his eyes and pulled a cigarette and matchbook from the inner pocket of his coat. “You ever think of going into theater, Anson?” He asked over the hiss and flare of the flame as he struck the match to life. “I know you said you don’t like melodramas, but you’re well suited to ‘em.”

Anson sighed heavily and straightened up again behind his table.

“Twenty-five,” he surrendered.

“I can do that,” Benny said.

The coins and collars were exchanged. Then, Benny leaned against the side of the pushcart and took a drag from his cigarette.

Anson pulled a stick of penny candy from his own vest pocket and held it between his fingers in a pose that mirrored Benny’s. He couldn’t match the same self-conscious gesture of an actor, however, the manner of practiced relaxed elegance that characterized the other man. He idly wondered if Benny was aware of when he was acting and when he wasn’t. 

“What are you doin’ tonight?” Anson eventually asked around the stick of candy between his teeth. Its syrupy sweetness added another layer to the olfactory patchwork of the street. “You know...later. You wanna come over?”

Benny glanced over at him and exhaled smoke. “I don’t think there’s room for me in that apartment,” he said, and he sounded disappointed to say it. With a languid turn of his head, Benny looked at his family’s shop and saw the smudged ghost of his father planing wood inside. Then he looked back at Anson with an almost apologetic wince. “And I don’t got room in mine.”

“Doesn’t gotta be in an apartment,” Anson said with a shrug. His eyes drifted upwards as he absently sucked on the stick of candy, contemplating the vertical scene above them. Fire escapes laden with mattresses and hens and gardens. Clotheslines gently swaying in the breath of summer and casting a light latticework of shadow on everything below. “Come up on the roof of my place tonight.”

He held Benny’s eyes and pulled the candy from his mouth with a slow, deliberate gesture before pointing it at him. “It’s warm enough. And that train rattles by on the regular so no one will hear nothin’.”

Benny braced his palms against the edge of the pushcart and looked up at the same fire escapes and cornices Anson had. He considered it--or pretended to spend time considering it--and then nodded, slapping one hand against the side of the cart.

“Yeah okay.”

Anson grinned, satisfied. “Bully!”

Benny looked back at the shop, where he could see his father motioning through the warped window for him to come back inside.

“Get us something to eat with those dimes I gave you,” Benny said as he turned on his heel.

Anson tapped two fingers to his brow in a nonchalant salute. “Always was my plan. See you.”

Benny offered up a parting smile before loping back up the stoop of the carpentry shop, and Anson flung himself back into the anonymity of being just another voice in the fray of the market.

[blkheartwolf-blog]

Ok, I have avoided this series because if it was anything like Star Trek Enterprise (Which I love Scott Bakula) I was going to have to shoot myself in the face with a phaser. But I ran out of sh*t to watch so I started the first season. Oh Boy O boy, this is the best Star Trek series since the Next Generation series. It starts off fast and loose, so you are left with a slow down turn, but as you get into the characters and story, it is amazing. I think I love it better than Generations but not as good as the 1st Star Trek, nothing will replace James Tiberius Kirk, but Sonequa Martin-Green (Burnham) is fantastic. She is such a strong character and as much as I disliked her struggling character in TWD, I absolutely fell in love with Burnham. She is smart, decisive, powerful, everything Kirk was but so much more as a woman. She sells every impossible escape and decision she makes, truly a awsome role for her. The real gem of the series is two parts : the dialogue is amazing, it really emphasizes the spirit of the federation, built on intellectual unity and a military based factionalism on exploring space using logic and math. Basing skills larger than muscle and weapons, but on what it means to be human and our hope's for a better society. " The power of math" The second gem is Anson Mount as Capt. Pike, we get to see him command the Discovery and it is great! I recommend any Star Trek fan to binge watch it.

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Brother’ Review

"Space: The Final Frontier. Above us, around us, within us. We have always looked to the stars to discover who we are."

By nature I love brevity: Star Trek: Discovery takes a long, clean breath of fresh air in this big, bold premiere that sheds the burdens of Season One and lets them roll down the hill behind.

Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005. And in the Fall of that year, as shows premiered, fans were faced with a sad reality: for the first time in 28 years, a new season of Star Trek was not among them. And for 12 years, this continued. And then we Discovered a new frontier. Breaking the silence of more than a decade, Star Trek: Discovery was a sign that Trek was not dead.

But of course, it was not without its flaws. Discovery Season One had issues with its tone and its dialogue. The crew, above and beyond their stilted, grandiose speech, rarely seemed like a family, or even a group of people who like each other. And the levels of anxiety and brooding were at dangerously high levels. We're talking Superman from Batman v. Superman levels of anxiety and brooding.

The fans pointed out these issues, though the good parts still remained (excepting the 'fans' who actively went out of their way to be openly hostile towards the series, its creators, and its viewers). And the team behind Discovery listened. 'Brother' benefits from a light and relaxed tone that feels like the lifting of a heavy curtain. The crew speaks in a generally human and natural manner, and they work together like a tight family. Brooding is nowhere to be seen, and the anxiety present is of a different sort than the cloud of deep worry that permeated Season One. Instead the viewer felt more of an empathetic concern about the characters and their lives.

The first and most immediate effect of 'Brother' is, in fact, to distance the show from its past mistakes. Associating these issues with the influence of Captain Lorca makes a lot of sense from a story perspective, even if the creators' insistence that all the darker elements were only a result of him doesn't quite sit right. From the outset, Captain Pike makes it clear that he is very different from Lorca. Everything about his manner and bearing suggests a completely different man from Jason Isaacs' power-hungry warmonger. But Pike is no Kirk, either, as one might anticipate. Anson Mount gives his Pike a humility and a grounded feel that Kirk never quite developed.

The other proverbial elephant on the starship is the presence of Spock. Though the adult version of our beloved half-Vulcan does not appear, his importance in the events of 'Brother' and the impact the mere allusion to the character has on the series is clear. We learn that he and Burnham's strained relationship is the result of her decisions, not his. It's clear she views him and his legacy as an oppressive force in her life, perhaps as a standard she could never live up to? There's a great shot that really sums this up, when young Spock makes his holo-dragon. The dragon moves toward Burnham, and roars at her, and Spock walks in through its mouth. I think that's how she sees Spock.

Sarek and Burnham's conversation about reverence also factors in. This show has decided to include a character that most fans undoubtedly have a lot of reverence for. But to make him a useful character, with an arc and a purpose, reverence is not enough. The massive weight of Spock's impact on Star Trek and the fans' adoration of him will be a problem that Discovery will have to deal with.

Moving to our regular cast, I loved how they were dealt with here. The other side of Lorca's effect on the Disco crew is that such a major and personal adversary has brought them together and made them rely on each other. All of the returning cast felt like a family around each other, and their interactions made the ship feel like a real workplace run by a real team. This is a major improvement from last season.

It looks like Burnham's journey this season will be thoroughly intertwined with Spock's. I look forward to seeing her relationship with him and how it develops, but I do hope they give her a role to play apart from and outside of the shadow of her foster brother. Likewise, Stamets seems overshadowed by the impact of someone else. Everything around him reminds him of his lost love Dr. Culber, and he's having a very hard time dealing with it. It seems like the end of this episode was enough to get him at least a little bit excited about science again, though it's unlikely that this is the end of his plotline about leaving the ship. With Wilson Cruz brought on as a full cast member for this season, it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Tilly and Saru don't seem to have much in the way of an arc yet, but I'm sure this will change. I expect most of Tilly's story this season will have something to do with her enrollment in the Command Training Program. Saru mentioned his sister Siranna, from the Short Trek 'The Brightest Star,' and the showrunners have stated that we may see other Kelpians this season, so expect to see a visit to Saru's home planet of Kaminar sometime in the future. Maybe siblings will continue to be a theme this season.

Overall, 'Brother' was a pretty epic way to kick off the new season. It's fun and engaging, with a lot of potential. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Strange New Worlds:

This section will record the planets the Disco visits and the places they go. Not a whole lot of that in this particular episode.

New Life and New Civilizations:

Here I'll keep track of all the new species, ideas, and cultures the crew encounters. Again, nothing in the way of that here.

Pensees (Thoughts):

-Mia Kirshner (Amanda) looks a lot like Amy Adams. She also really resembles Amanda from TOS, so that's nice.

-Stamets has a botanist friend aboard the Enterprise.

-In keeping with the Trek tradition of altering the intro, we have some brand new graphics added to the opening theme.

-Regulation 19, Section C allows a higher-ranking officer to take command of a starship in one of three contingencies: 1. An imminent threat; 2. The lives of Federation citizens are in danger; 3. There is no more qualified officer available to deal with the situation.

-I love Doug Jones' Saru walk. It's just so much fun to watch.

-That's the first shot we've gotten of a turbo lift running through a starship in all of Trek, if memory serves. Pretty cool, too.

-Another Alice in Wonderland nod. Also, holo-candles.

-Sarek mentioned that he's reached out to Klingon High Chancellor L'Rell (Mary Chieffo), and she had no explanation for the red bursts either.

-The Captain goes on the away mission, in true Trek tradition.

-There was a bit of Spock's Jellyfish ship from Star Trek (2009) in the design of the pods they flew.

-How cool was the pod sequence? Also, it was admittedly rather satisfying to see Olson Connelly get his comeuppance when he failed to pull his chute crashed and died because of the dumb risk he took.

-One of the ads loaded at the wrong time when I watched this the first time. The long ad break split a shot in half.

-I liked Reno (Tig Notaro). The idea of using an engineering approach to medicine is interesting, although I wouldn't want to be one of the first patients it was tried on.

-The Red Angel is still very much an unknown. I partially expect it will have something to do with the Klingons, if not only because they seem from the trailers to have a big role to play.

-The asteroid material wouldn't beam up. That's intriguing. It may be the key to fixing the spore drive, too, as it looks from the trailer that we'll be jumping again this season.

-'Not every cage is a prison, nor every loss eternal.' That's very interesting, and it has a lot of significance for Pike.

-It makes sense that the crew of the Enterprise would have issues with sitting out the war while on their five-year mission.

-The Disco's new Doctor is named Dr. Pollard.

-One of the names in the credits was 'Matt Decker.'

-A lot of references to faith/religion and related subjects in this episode. I don't think it's necessarily significant, but I thought it was worth noting.

-Alex Kurtzman directed this episode. I thought he did a great job; maybe he should stick to that instead of the whole coming up with ideas thing. I'm still baffled by the seriously weird and unsettling bits about Klingon anatomy from Season One.

Quotes:

Amanda: "I bless you, Michael... all my life."

Pike: "Do not covet thy neighbor's starship, Commander."

Pike: "Why didn't we think of that, Connelly? Think of all the syllables that gave their lives."

Pike: "Sometimes it's wise to keep your expectations low, Commander. That way we're never disappointed." Advice to the audience, perhaps?

Tilly: "I put her in a Utility closet, and I put you in there. I'm drunk on power."

Stamets: "Tilly, you are... incandescent. You're going to become a magnificent Captain because you do everything out of love. But I need you to repeat after me. I will say..." Tilly: "I will say..." Stamets: "Fewer things." Tilly: "Fewer thi- okay."

Sarek: "Spock has great reverence for his mother, but reverence tends to-" Burnham: "Fill up the room." It's the shot of Burnham's fairly empty quarters just as she interrupts that sells this one.

Pike: "Detmer - fly... good."

Pike: "I was expecting a red thing. Where's my damn red thing?"

Pike: "Spock asked the most amazing questions. It's completely logical, yet somehow able to make everyone see that logic was the beginning of the picture and not the end."

Burnham: "There are so many things I wish I'd said to you; so many things I want to say now. I'm too late, aren't I? I can only pray I don't lose you again... brother."

A strong, solid premiere. 5 out of 6 damn red things.

CoramDeo is interested in things.

[lady-of-rohan]

My sincere and honest thoughts regarding The Evil Within 2:

So, I'm finally sitting down and writing out ALL my thoughts on TEW2... at first, I was kind of nervous. After all, I mean so many people are going to love it, right? Well, to put things into perspective, @detective-joseph-oda and I literally returned the game. I've never taken back a game in my life.

It's been a difficult rollercoaster for me. TEW fandom is my everything... so, it's not like I'm leaving, or going to stop being mama or shipping or cosplaying or anything like that. I love this community and I want to contribute and continue to support my kids. I also would never want people to not play a game, or not get enjoyment out of it by voicing my opinions. A lot of people have asked me what I thought ... so here's my honest write-up, as someone who picked up TEW1 on its release date back in 2014 and has been in the fandom ever since.

MAJOR SPOILERS naturally.

Let's start out positive with things we actually liked:

Stefano! He was a super cool character, a total flamboyant psycho, and I adored all of the artsy, musical-inclined deaths with the slow-mo blood. That was really aesthetic, and really gorgeously done. Like, I couldn’t get enough of it.

Obscura is also amazing, though her moaning noises were a bit odd.

Anima (the singing enemy) was nicely done.And probably the scariest thing in the game.

The graphics are beautiful.

Gameplay controls are good.

Music is also nice.

Save kitty and Tatiana are back, which was a brief treat, but awesome ones.

Green gel and syringes are back (eyyy~).

Getting to walk around KCPD in Seb's old office.

The beginning fire sequence with Seb entering the house. GORGEOUSLY and amazingly done... it really built it up and started out strong... but then... well...

General things I sincerely disliked:

Firstly, the OPEN WORLD SEGMENTS. Ugh... this was the worst part of the game. Hands down. It was unnecessary, and not remotely horror at all. It was easy to see where this game drew influence from other games recently, and quite honestly , it didn't work for me. It was wicked distracting and out of place. This does not belong in this genre, making the game feel like it was torn in several different gameplay directions. It couldn't decide whether it wanted to be linear or open world. The tracker was annoying, and straight out of Silent Hill Shattered Memories which is certainly nothing new.

The game also sometimes flipped from third to first person. Very distracting. To be fair, I think a lot of this game mechanic confusion happened due to the following reason:

It's American horror transformation from Japanese horror. I won't lie, I'm a Shinji Mikami fangirl. I find him to be brilliant.  Always have... and I stopped liking Resident Evil as soon as 5 came out, and he left as director. TEW was supposed to be his love story to horror fans. Something he could leave us, as he described in one interview, that didn't suffer from "sequelitis." So you can imagine my true horror when I heard that Johanas was the new director.

The jump from American horror from Japanese is stark, and shattering if you're a big horror gamer like I am. Japanese horror isn't afraid to leave things up in the air or neatly explain everything. They often leave you confused, and often in high anxiety or suspense. They don't give straight answers.  In TEW2, though, nothing is really scary any more. It also relies HEAVILY upon mechanics, plot devices, and gameplay from other games... most notably The Last of Us but also Uncharted, Resident Evil 7, The Division, Outlast, SIlent Hill and SH Shattered Memories, Layers of Fear. Of which TEW was nothing like ANY of these. And yes, I know the new director, Johanas, is the same as the DLCs... but at least the DLCs provided some sincerely terrifying moments.

(side note: I was the most peeved that the ending of both TLOU and TEW2 is literally carrying your daughter or daughter figure in your arms... and that the emotional moments between them take place in a vehicle as they gaze at one another. Influenced much?).

Which brings me to... the main thing a survival-horror game should have. Horror.

This game is not scary. Nor was it difficult in any sense of the word. Unless you count... actually getting through it, which was very painful at times.

We honestly didn't die once during our 12-hour stream. This was absolutely disappointing. And confusing. Why wasn't this game more difficult? Sometimes I still die in the beginning sequence of TEW1. It's still terrifying as the Sadist comes at Seb, he injures his leg, and Seb limps for his life.

Furthermore, the utter sense of isolation, confusion, and abandonment is gone. In TEW1, you literally have no idea what the hell is going on, left in the dark figuratively and at times, literally. That's what makes it scary, aside from the hideous creatures out for blood. With so many Mobius NPCs, you always know a safe house, or a safe room, is well within running distance. It's so easy to use avoidant tactics and not fight much, rather than fighting for your life every few minutes.

Which leads us into...

The NPCs. I'm sorry, everyone was so cardboard and generic. Also boring in my opinion. Their interactions with Seb felt awkward and forced. I didn't give a damn about any of them ( @detective-joseph-oda, liked Sykes, which is fair because he had the most personality out of all of them). Again, the isolation and terror is gone. You have friends... and not just Kidman in your ear telling you what to do. Unlike the first game, where you were absolutely alone 90% of the time, with increased anxiety every time Joseph left your side and you were left to your own devices again.

On that note, this game provides way too much information as you work with Mobius. TEW1 left theories in the online community for months. No one knew what truly went on behind Beacon. It was fascinating to theorize about the character's fates. Mobius was just a terror in the distance, vaguely mentioned and yet their symbols were emblazoned on doors every so often leaving a sense of intrigue and mystery.  What was real and what wasn’t? Not something to worry about any more, as everyone directly explains everything to you, every step of the way. Even the DLCs added more information than answered questions, and the fandom was, well, for lack of a better word, shook.

The DLCs suddenly made Mobius, and Kidman,  Administrator, etc... the main focus. Suddenly, Beacon wasn't so spooky any more because they were tugging the strings. Which brings us to our next point...

The importance is suddenly almost entirely placed upon Kidman as a side character (she's the only other one you play as, after all).  I get it. People love Kidman. She’s a familiar face. This was obviously shifting this way in the DLCs. Not only was this Seb's story arc (unless you count the DLCs) but it felt out of place seeing as you only get to be her a few brief segments.  It seemed to me like the game wanted to neatly tie up BOTH of their character arcs in one game, rather than provide another Kidman DLC to see how things went down on her end again. It felt like a bit much going on.. not to mention Joseph was Seb’s actual partner and his focus in TEW1. More on that later. On that note, The Administrator was such a wasted opportunity. Instead of being a creepy monster influence like he once was inside of STEM, he just sits in his chair like a typical Bond Villain and has agents do his evil bidding. He sits back and "MWAHAHAS" rather than actively playing a part in the events around him.

And now we get into the nitty gritty, and the things I am most passionately outspoken about with this game.

Stefano is HARDLY in it, and the game has far too many antagonists. I was so disappointed to see Stefano ended by chapter 9 because he was the best part of the game. That's only halfway through that he makes it, and he is the character they used on all of their promotional material, and even their art contest. Super disappointing.

New Seb... isn't our Seb. He's down on his luck, sure, but he's almost at peace with it given his other behavior. We only really see that Seb is downtrodden because he's written in a bar at the beginning of the game and he has a beard of sorrow. Everything else leads to Seb seeming pretty high functioning and generally in better spirits. It almost feels like invasion of the body snatchers. His facial features are different (rendered to be more classically handsome, perhaps). He's suddenly more sassy, and infinitely more talkative, making him far from the near-silent protagonist he once was. Instead of playing his cards close to the vest, he wears his heart on the sleeve, often openly emotional. Which, given the contrast between he and Joseph in the first game, is not his usual style. Joseph was the "emotional" of the two. He also hardly swears or even says his token trade-marked 'FUCK.' You can't get through five minutes of the game without him making some kind of snappy, cheesy one-liner or talking to himself. It’s hard to take the game seriously as horror this time around.The obviously new voice actor for him, compared to Anson's experience, is also a rough transition.

Is it because he's after his child, who he thought was dead that he's so different? I dunno... I don't buy it. And speaking of, Lily's crying was some of the worst voice acting I've heard in a game in a very long time. I won't say much on her, other than I was severely disappointed by the overly-happy ending, neatly tied up in a package with a bow. TEW isn't The Last of Us. It was never a "father saves his daughter" game. It was horror. Lily and Myra were there for backstory only.This seemed like a money-making gimmick to me, given the popularity of such series that have gone the familial route, rather than sticking to their original genres (Uncharted for example). Family sells. Saving your family sells. Although I'm happy for Seb, I truly am... it's absolutely jarring to see the end of this game compared to the first.It’s almost alien.

The characterization, and dialogue writing... overall was bad. Especially between Seb and Myra (O'Neal, too).

Myra... well, again, I won't say much. I was very disappointed that she had a redemption arc, and that she wasn't out against Sebastian from the start as the DLCs perhaps hinted at. She was a good wife. A good person. Very clean for a horror game. It was an easy out. And her design was a direct rip off Ruvik and honestly really reaching. Shoutout to the fact that she looks like literal cum.

Finally, and here we go... the original story arc was about Ruvik. His pain, his motivations, his invention of STEM to bring Laura back. As far as we know, he's still out there inhabiting Leslie as a vessel. This... was just dropped in favor of a retconned Seb saves Lily story. Ruvik was so much more interesting. They could have at least given him a little bit of screen time. I really feel like they dropped the actual horror ball, shifting the focus from the mind of a madman, as the original game called it.. to a very Umbrella-esque organization. Seeing Seb face Leslie/Ruvik in the real world was a HUGE missed opportunity.

And last but certainly not least.. the fandom's beloved Joseph Oda. Going back to Kidman who was the Junior Detective, and not Sebastian's actual partner of 9 years like Joseph was, it just hurts to see him discarded. Yes, we got our confirmation that he's alive which is something the fandom has theorized for years. Johanas himself had left Joseph with a heartbeat in the DLCs, hinting at his state of life. But you also have to work for it. HARD. To even see this happy information flashed on your projection screen, you need every single photo slide and side quest finished. It isn't even remotely satisfying, and again, it's another tease. Kidman gives you an excuse and dodges questions about his whereabouts, or how he is, or if he's just a brain in a jar...

The ending hints that someone is now running STEM again as the Core. Is it Joseph? Who knows... DLC perhaps? If so I'm not sure I'm interested. Joseph may not be who he once was if he gets the same treatment of the other characters.

Going back to Seb's characterization, (I think @debussyj will agree with me on this) his partner for most of his detective career has been supposedly "dead" in his eyes for three years.  He was willing to believe Lily was alive again, but why not Joseph? The care that they showed for each other in the first game was so apparent. All shipping aside. They cared for each other so much and yes, Lily is his blood, but Joseph was part of his life far longer. And now Joseph is just a footnote in Seb's life, because he got his daughter back. Blood is thicker than water I guess, but boy Seb, that's no way to treat the man who helped you through your personal tragedy, as the DLCs went out of their way to mention, and the partner you came to work beside, admire and respect. This more than anything felt the most disappointing and OOC for me. It felt downright disrespectful, especially since Ruvik pointedly mocks Sebastian by using Joseph in the first game ("poor little Joseph") and Seb's motivations throughout the first game are first and foremost, helping his partner get through it, too. It's like the two almost never existed as partners.

The TLDR version; this game is not an actual horror game, is a far cry from its original genre, theme, and atmosphere... it uses a heavy reliance upon other popular games, the writing isn't good or consistent, the characters feel entirely different, and no, Joseph is not in it.

[superbatson]

so... inhumans...

great score, i would buy it in a heartbeat (did the opening say who's scoring this? bc i didn't notice)

anson mount (black bolt) --> very good with facial expressions. casting department did an excellent job in choosing him for this role.

i've seen complaints about the cgi, and you know why some of it's bad or they tried to work their way around it, like with medusa's hair? lockjaw. for tv, the cgi for him is amazing, they probably used up a lot of their vfx budget on him.

i'm still interested in that lower caste boy. he's psychic, right? why didn't he say that to his fellow caste members? does he not realize? does it only happen when someone touches his skin?*

is black bolt speaking in a form of sign language, or are his hand gestures a made up version of it from the comics (or for the show)?

p.s. black bolt is hot. that opening scene with him wasn't particularly good, but oh god, is he hot.

the sets are gorgeous. very grand but modern - i'm surprised this is just a tv show. i'm not saying the quality is particularly great, but there are some cinematic aspects that make me wonder why they'd take this story and fall back on cheap tv in order to make it.

the scenic shots are also quite beautiful. i've heard some suspicions that they chose hawaii to shoot this show bc it's cheap, but i think it helps make the show unique. too many shows are set in nyc, or even los angeles. (or vancouver, where the dctv shows are filmed.) a hawaiian setting sets this superhero show apart from its predecessors, and i really like that.

i'll admit, the acting isn't great. the females are particularly bad, crystal especially. but it's not awful. it's something you can look over, bc a lot of tv acting isn't always the best quality anyway.

and the costumes? yeah, kinda boring. hair and makeup for some characters make up for it, though, sort of.

the attilan stuff honestly isn't nearly as interesting as the inhumans traveling and adapting to earth. it was the small glimpses of it that had me interested from the trailers, and these scientists with the rover footage studying it are only further selling me on this show. i can't wait to see when the inhumans are fully discovered, and publicized, nonetheless. 

* = a lot of these notes were taken while i watched the episodes, so i didn’t know he would show up again in the second episode. (i still hope he appears more throughout the series, especially since maximus seems to want him tagging along from now on. but i also hope his visions are a little less, er, painful.)

overall thoughts: not bad. granted, i don’t know the source material. i’m not a comic reader (i want to be, but only really for dc), so my judgments are based solely on the show. and i’ll admit, it’s interesting. a far different tone than what i’m used to with the flash and supergirl. it’s not great, it has its weak spots, but i do like it, and i’ll keep watching. someone i keep up with on youtube said that agents of s.h.i.e.l.d. was pretty weak in its first season, but now it’s up to its fifth season, and has apparently gotten pretty good.

so, i think inhumans deserves a chance. for one thing, pilots are never that great, since they have a lot of plot points to throw in there, while also trying to convey the tone of the show. most of the time, they kind of fail at the tone part, since the second episodes usually far outdoes the firsts. i will say this kinda felt like a two-hour pilot, but of course, the second hour was much better. 

i’m definitely going to keep watching and supporting this show. i think it has a lot of potential. :)

[rewindfrequency]

Evil Within Review

Developed by Tango Gameworks

Published by Bethesda Softworks

Played on: PS3

Also Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows

Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his teammates Joseph Oda and Juil Kidman respond to a gruesome mass murder at the Beacon Mental Hospital. The security cameras show a mysterious hooded figure with supernatural powers quickly dispatching the security guards before moving to eliminate the patients and nurses. Who was that? Detective Castellanos is interrupted by an ear piercing noise before waking upside-down in a meat locker. After running for his life, Sebastian escapes the hospital. Sebastian and his teammates find each other and quickly escape in an ambulance with one surviving patient and caretaker as the entire city falls apart and reality itself seems to bend at someone's will. Find the truth, and discover who or what is truly in control.

Shinji Mikami returns to the triple A games industry with a new survival horror title. He already has great hits such as Resident Evil 1 and 4 as well Dino Crisis under his belt with this being his newest horror endeavor. The Evil Within was released in late 2014 in that odd coming-of-age period where 7th generation consoles still had large fan bases while 8th generation consoles were becoming popular but still lacked large, diverse buying groups. I thought I would review this game on the PS3 to see how the game holds up for those who never decided to upgrade or who find a good deal for an older device.

The Evil Within is a stealth-action horror game with many similarities to Resident Evil 4. Levels mainly consist of the player wandering through linear stages populated with enemies that are similar to zombies but aren’t zombies while in the third person camera view. These enemies tend to only have melee attacks but later in the game get guns and other weapons to attack the player. You in turn have access to a revolver, shotgun, sniper rifle, Magnum, and the Agony Crossbow which is a crossbow with custom arrows (i.e. ice, harpoon, explosive, electric, and flash arrows). You also have melee attacks but they don’t do much damage. You spend most levels taking out enemies with these weapons and slowly finding your way to the boss battle. The player can stealth kill an enemy by sneaking up behind them and performing a stealth kill. However, just stabbing the monster in the head won’t do the trick sometimes. To ensure that enemy doesn’t come creeping up on you in the next area you can burn bodies of the enemies you just “killed.” In addition to the regular shambling monsters you encounter in every level, you also have mini-boss opponents. These include massive, deformed beings with blades for arms that screech as they chase you around and masses of tissue with legs that lunge at you. These enemies may not sound scary now, but when you play the game they are absolutely terrifying.

The levels really compliment this by being claustrophobic and dark. Enemies lurk around every corner as they hit the walls and open doors to confuse you on where they are at. The real terror comes from two experiences in the game. Chase sequences and boss battles. I’ll talk about the chase sections first. These involve the player running away from some type of monster in cramped corridors. At first these sequences are heavily scripted but later in the game become far more user dependent. One time I was being chased by a humanoid spider through a factory and had to shoot valves to redirect flames to escape. This became incredibly frantic, as I had to aim carefully all the while avoiding this creature. Even after shooting the valve I had to wait 30 seconds for the flames to dissipate, making it a game of tag. Except if you lose you get your head ripped off.

Boss battles are probably the main selling point of this game however. Instead of the player simply running away from some horrible abomination now they have to fight it. Bosses are difficult but never feel unfair and always provide a unique challenge. Bosses in this game aren’t beaten through brute force, they are beaten through fast thinking and tactical decision making. For example, without giving spoilers, let me share one of my experiences. There is a boss that keeps coming alive after you kill him with traditional small arms. So how do you beat such a boss? You kill him by leading him towards a ceiling of spikes. You have to run through a disorienting, noxious gas room to get there however. As you navigate this room and try to turn off the gas, the boss chases you and strikes you down. It may be the scariest thing I’ve experienced in a video game having to deactivate a gas system as the camera angle turns to show the boss slowly walking up behind me just as I push through the last bit of resistance the gas valve is providing. These battles alone are the best reason to buy the game.

Now something that really shocked me about this game is that it lacks puzzles. This really caught me off-guard, as almost every relevant survival horror game has its fair share of puzzles. But after completing the game I feel this is a good thing, as it helps the game establish its own identity from horror games of the past and carve out a new realm in the survival horror matrix. Something else that may shock others is that this is a game where stealth, action, and running away from fights are all viable options. In most modern survival horror games stealth/running away or full on blockbuster action seem to be the only options the player has. But The Evil Within really blends these together allowing for all kinds of play. In the stealth sections you are given a small icon at the top of the screen. When the pupil moves back and forth and the eyelid is somewhat closed that means the enemy is nearby but hasn’t spotted you yet. When the eye is fully open that means the enemy has spotted you. In most horror games of our time you would either have to run and hide in the closest closet or pull out your fully automatic machine gun and mow down everything that moves. But with The Evil Within you can either pull out your gun and shoot the enemy or run away and find a place to hide and wait for them to stop searching to save ammunition. Both are viable options with pros and cons and you have the power to choose which tactic (at least most of the time).

During the game you will kill enemies and sometimes find piles of green gel you can collect. You can also find jars of green gel around the levels. You use this green gel to upgrade you weapons and abilities. You can upgrade the amount of health you have, how much health you get back from healing items, how many rounds your guns can hold, and so on. These upgrades are vital and are really the only way to beat the game without getting your ass handed to you every five minutes.

Graphically this game looks incredible, especially when you consider it is running on a PS3 and that the developers had to make the game on four other platforms. But when you look beyond the graphical detail the game starts to show cracks in its technical integrity. Textures can take up to 3 seconds to load even when staring directly at them up close. The load times are unbearable in this game. It takes an average of twenty seconds to load up the level after you have died. Even though the frame rate remains at a constant 30 FPS with six enemies on screen and with various actions going on in the background it drops considerably when nothing happens. Usually the frame drops occur when Sebastian is walking along a path as the wind blows leaves off a tree and there is a lighting effect from a nearby fire going on at the same time. I guess it's good that the frame rate stays steady during the action but why does it have to drop so often because of environmental effects? Something else that really pissed me off is that the game has lined up some great voice actors such as Anson Mount and Yuri Lowenthal but has each of them speak just a handful of lines. Most of the story is explained through in-game text but this is just stupid. Why hire top class talent and not use it?

As a tip to players let me remind you that this is a very, very hard game. Even while playing on easy mode I still got my ass kicked I died a total of 41 times. (I know because the game told me at the end). I would recommend playing on easy and unlocking new game plus before attempting any of the harder difficulties. When playing on easier modes you tend to find more green gel and ammo. You also take less damage from attacks and do more damage. But keep in mind that even on easy mode there are still multiple one-hit kill enemies and sections where one wrong turn could kill you. Once you have beaten the game on any difficulty you unlock new game plus. This lets you replay the game from the very beginning but with some new perks. You retain all the upgrades you got from your last playthrough in addition to two new weapons (machine gun and rocket launcher) and 50,000 in free green gel. You also unlock a model mode where you can look at the character models for every person in the game. This is cool but the ability to rotate the camera to see the full model would have been nice.

Overall The Evil Within is another great game from Shinji Mikami that will provide you with 10-15 hours of gameplay depending on skill level and difficulty. It brings all sorts of terrifying creatures into the fray and adds extra tension with its tight level design and ingenious boss battles. The gameplay is satisfying and always feels good no matter what section of the game you’re playing. But the game is held back by poor usage of the PS3’s CEL architecture. Even though I never encountered a bug in the game, I found all sorts of texture issues and infuriating load times.

I am giving The Evil Within an 8 out of 10

Pros:

Awesome boss battles

Tense, tactical stealth sections

Well done chase sequences

Cool upgrade system

Great level layouts

Cons:

Some texture issues

Long load times

[ladystylestores]

When COVID-19 is a joke: Stand-up comedy versus livestreaming’s limits

Aurich Lawson / Getty

“Was that a stinky DD coming from a big giraffe? It’s definitely not coming from our 14 different pooper dooper locations!”

Moments after stand-up comedian Meg Stalter drops this punchline, as part of a routine mocking the Disney Work Orientation process, her crowd of 11,400 viewers is silent. But she’s not bombing. Stalter is streaming her comedy set via Instagram Live, and as soon as the joke drops, her audience members begin furiously tapping their phone screens, thus sending a wave of pink, yellow, and blue diaphanous hearts up from the right-hand side of her own livestreaming interface.

“I’m about to puke this is so funny,” one fan types. It’s not the immediate feedback of a laughing crowd, but for Stalter, she’ll take it.

Comedy’s current migration patterns

This is live comedy in the COVID-19 era: raucous laughter replaced by hearts, as audiences thousands of miles away tune in. Comedy has migrated to social media, including Instagram Live, Periscope, and Twitch, as well as networking platforms like Zoom. But these millions-strong platforms have something in common: they were never built with the particular nuances of live comedy in mind, and comedians are doing their best to adapt. “I really miss all the energy of performing live, like the laughter,” Stalter admits.

The relief of live, participatory comedy is perfectly suited for something like a pandemic, ripe with awkward interactions and collisions of social norms. Yet it’s one of the few types of performance that require audience reaction to know if the art is working. Most social networks limit their audiences to time-delayed emojis and text messages, while Zoom’s default audio mixing means any mic’ed audience members can disrupt a performer pretty severely.

Stand-up performed to deafening silence is unsettling. When performing live, “there’s an immediate reaction: either it’s funny or it’s not, but [online] you don’t know,” comedian Noah Findling says.

Facebook Live and Instagram Live are trying to make their platforms more interactive, with features that allow performers to bring an audience member into their videos and incorporate live polls, says Addie Coronado, a communications manager at Facebook. Zoom, however, isn’t adding new features that specifically target live performers’ requests, according to a representative. And stand-up comedians in need of a paying gig—and eager to capitalize on entertainment-hungry fans sitting at home—are mostly forced to work within these popular platforms’ constraints instead of expecting fans to jump through hoops like installing or testing brand-new apps.

“A two-way conversation”

That hasn’t stopped enterprising tech-comedy fans from experimenting.

Two months ago, a new platform called Rally debuted with its own ideas on simulating the comedy club experience online, complete with live audience laughter. Rally was launched by three Toronto-based designers with live-performance experience: Ali Jiwani, Amy Liu, and Anson Kao. The idea came about when Jiwani, a comedian, and Liu, a musician, struggled to make money from performing after the COVID-19 crisis hit in March.

“How do we make it easier for everyone who’s just like us to still perform and get their talent out when people aren’t [physically] coming together?” Jiwani says. They also were frustrated with the lack of interactivity on many platforms, which particularly affected live comedy, which is a “two-way conversation,” Liu says. “You can’t just be taking to a screen to a group of muted individuals,” she says.

Enlarge / A mock-up of Rally’s interface, as provided by its creators.

Rally

Within the Rally app, around 15 minutes before the show starts, participants are invited to pick a “seat” in a 2D interface filled with tables and chairs. Viewers can opt into a pre-show video chat with their table neighbors if they want, which is subtly encouraged by the audio of other viewers piped through everyone’s feeds.

Once the show begins, it largely resembles a Zoom video conference, with one major difference: the comedian is center stage, and the audience appears as icons whose voices are audible but at a much lower volume than the comedian. This addresses the default Zoom issue of when a laughing audience member ruins a comedian’s joke by having their face take over the screen. Rally’s current interface also includes moderator tools: if an audience member becomes unruly, a moderator can boot them into a five-minute time-out. If they heckle again, they can be permanently kicked out.

Status update, via crowd banter

Rally’s team says it’s trying to correct another one of the larger issues with live online performances: latency, or the time delay between a joke and the audience laughter. But Rally alleges that its latency is less than a second—that’s roughly the same as Zoom, which can feel like an eternity when a performer relies on the rhythm of punchlines and laughter.

I watched one of the first Rally comedy shows last month, which featured performers in Toronto, San Francisco, and London. The lag wasn’t too bad. I heard the toned-down laughter of other audience members, which didn’t overwhelm the performers’ voices. It wasn’t perfect—one performer’s feed froze and had to be booted mid-act—but there was something great about hearing a comedian ask the audience, “How many of you are single?” and hearing multiple audience members reply, “I am!” in a way that didn’t wrest mic control away from the comedian “on stage.”

A few audience members hung around afterwards to chat with comedians just as they would at a real-life comedy show. It seemed more similar to a comedy club than an Instagram Live show. I felt like I was part of an audience of real people, not of disembodied Instagram handles endlessly tossing up emojis.

Rally’s founders claim they’ve gotten interest from the agents of popular, touring comedians, but the company’s incredibly limited online presence as of press time has us wondering if this experimental platform is built to scale up in a way that performers and audiences alike can easily access. (Cursory searches for “Rally comedy” on search engines and social media tends to bring up stories about political rallies, not a burgeoning live-performance interface.)

The 800 million-pound gorilla

One issue Rally will struggle to surmount is that comedians are flocking to where their audience already is. Facebook’s last major public statement about daily active users came in March 2019, when it estimated a combined 800 million daily users on its Facebook Live and Instagram Live platforms; those numbers have likely grown in the 14 months since.

Some comedians seem to have successfully adapted to these platforms. Stalter, for one, has turned interacting with her audience into an art form. Recently, when she used a livestreamed performance to satirize the Home Shopping Network, Chelsea Peretti (Brooklyn 99) jumped into Stalter’s comments in character to sell the door to her home. “Everybody was commenting to her and not listening to me,” Stalter says, which the comedians were able to play off as a back-and-forth fight over video chat. The bit worked, latency be damned.

Findling has turned to more pre-recorded bits online, although he does some Instagram Live shows as well. “It’d be really helpful to hear the audience [online],” he says, not only because laughter lets him gauge what jokes are working but also because laughter is contagious. “When you have a packed room, it makes people want to laugh more, because they can hear people laughing.”

But while Facebook has been bullish on letting users send real-world money to each other via its Messenger app, the company has not yet implemented this system in its livestreamed video platforms—a curious omission, considering they can streamline the money-sending process and get a cut of that pie. “[Comedians on Facebook] are not able to charge [audiences] through ticket sales, but that’s how they make a living,” Rally’s Amy Liu says.

Amazon’s Twitch service is currently in the lead in this department with a range of built-in subscription and donation options, but that popular service has its own fatal flaw: latency. Even an unwieldy Zoom call, full of the laggiest international viewers you can think of, has a quicker audience-response capacity than Twitch’s default, delayed-response system.

It’s hard to imagine this report aging well, honestly. This many months into a pandemic, some performers may very well transition into more frequent livestreamed performances, particularly to tap into the online world’s unlimited crowd sizes, as opposed to cramped comedy clubs. And Hollywood is already eager to snap up the biggest streaming-exclusive hits of the pandemic, with John Krasinski’s Some Good News turning into a CBS exclusive this past week. With momentum like that, a startup like Rally won’t be alone in the space for long.

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