#die. your stories have become convoluted and flat.

[birdmenmanga]

see I think the problem with clear card is that they wrote trc between ccs and clear card, and in trc syaoran's personality is completely different from ccs's, mostly in the sense that ccs syaoran, being an elementary schooler, is kind of annoying sometimes and he sucks at communicating because he's shy about his feelings and shit, while trc syaoran is older, more mature, and incredibly formal and polite towards others, and that personality overwrote ccs syaoran's and they just didn't know how to go back to that

[spockandawe]

Hi....If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite MXTX characters (top 5 from each novel)? And why? I'm sorry if you've answered this question before.

It’s absolutely no problem at all!! I don’t think I’ve been asked this before, but hey, I also have zero object permanence, so it keeps things fresh and new. And it’s interesting to see how my answers change over time! Lemme see, I think I’m going to go in reverse order, because I feel like then I’ll be doing the worst agonizing up front.

TGCF

Fifth favorite: YIN. YU. I know that he’s a minor character and him even making it onto the list is pretty solid performance, but I do feel guilty that he isn’t higher than this. He came out of nowhere in my first reading and punched me in the stomach with emotions. I find his sections so hard to read, and I was DEVASTATED when he died and BEYOND stoked to find out he was still alive in the extras. His story hurts so much! I am weak against characters who have relatively modest goals and still see them snatched away (see also: my next entry) and have to struggle on. I wish wish wish I had a way to see more of how he made his peace with things after being thrown out of heaven, and the nature of the (distant) relationship with Hua Cheng and what happens with Quan Yizhen now that he died in his arms, and still came back anyways, my god!

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Fourth favorite:  He Xuannnnnn. I have a hard time articulating particulars, but. I love him a lot. I love a character with a grudge, with a deep, painful grudge, where the grudge is hurting him almost as much as it’s hurting the people around him, and setting the grudge aside would also hurt, and then what has any of this been for-- I've used this metaphor for other characters, but I don’t care if I’m overusing it, because I love it. He feels like a character caught in a thorn bush, where simply being there... hurts, but trying to escape or move in any ways is going to hurt worse, and there’s no path forward that doesn’t involve pain. And like... I don’t love the way he hurt Shi Qingxuan (who didn’t quite make this list adfasgdafsd I’M SORRY) but I wouldn’t have liked to see him swallow back down all that pain and set aside everything that happened to his family and fiancee either! I’m always, always soft for characters who have no good path forward and who grit their teeth and set out anyways.

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Third favorite: MU QING!!!!!!!!!! I have done... extensive screaming about him. And I love him veryvery much. I can already tell that this list is going to have a lot of mean boys on it, and like... no regrets. Especially since this is one of my FAVORITE flavors, an unapologetic mean boy who is rarely (but sometimes!) soft for the people around him, and who regularly tries to do decently by people, but who consistently gets shat upon and misunderstood and accused of acting in bad faith. I screamed when he and Xie Lian finally got to talk their friendship out in the book. I also screamed when I realized how immediately after Xie Lian’s return he started looking out for him again, and how sincerely, despite his horrible attitude about it. I still want to write more fic for him so badly. I love him so much.

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Second favorite: Xie Lian! What a good boy! The best boy! He’s so sweet and gentle, but also the best fightboy this world has ever seen, and also so gently snarky with the people he loves! I just... really love me some traumatized characters who have trouble recognizing that they can be Loved, and I’m not going to write this whole essay right now, but I think in some ways, he’s the most... passive about his romance, out of all the leads? Shen Qingqiu is aggressively oblivious, but Xie Lian kind of gently shrugs off the idea that he might be Hua Cheng’s special someone, until he finally gets hit with the cluestick. I generally shy away from the idea of a character “earning” love, but he’s maybe the mxtx character who moves me most with ‘you deserve to be loved’

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Most favorite: Hua Cheng. HUA CHENG. Oh my god, gotta love this boy. Gotta love this devotion. I love a mean boy who is soft for one person, and he EMBODIES it. I mean, I love Shen Jiu, but he barely manages to do the soft thing at all, while Hua Cheng is over here like ‘if I could only be the stone beneath your feet--’ It’s hard to talk about him separately from Xie Lian, because they’re a unit in my head more than just about any other characters on this list are. I don’t want to get this list to get out of control, so I’m not going to scream for too long, but... I could just watch him go forever. I want to write him forever, and that’s a huge aspect of what draws me to some characters.

MDZS

Oh god, I think I lied, I think this book is going to be hardest. Making these choices is AGONIZING.

Fifth favorite: .....Lan Wangji. Oh god, I feel bad about how low he is. But this story is just packed SO full of wonderful characters, and I’m already consumed with guilt over all the characters who aren’t going to make it. I don’t love them less! But my love for characters in this particular story is very evenly distributed. And I think that Wang Yibo’s acting is possibly scoring points with me that the book might not have earned all by itself. Microexpressions and subtle body language add SO MUCH to a character with such flat affect, and I would be drawn to such a closed-off character anyways, but it really helps. And I love, like... the combined subtlety and intensity of his relationships. It’s not that subtle once you know what to look for, and the brother/sworn brother network makes for varying degrees of how much other characters understand of the things he chooses not to explicitly express, and it gives a really interesting character to the way he interacts with the people around him. Also, love me a man with intense separation anxiety.

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Fourth favorite: Jiang Yanli? I think it has to be Jiang Yanli, but these rankings are hard. So. I just talked about how much I enjoy the flat affect and closed off nature of Lan Wangji? Well, guess what, I also love it when m’girl is just very GENUINELY AND OPENLY an absolute sweetheart of a person, and I love the contrast between her genuinely kind nature and the uncomfortable pressure that her family’s dynamics put on her to start parenting at a very young age. It’s not necessarily a happy situation, but she adores her brothers so much and they adore her so much! And it’s... a very understated element of the story, but after her parents died, her baby brothers went off to war, and one wreaked havoc as a straightforward commander and one of them disappeared for months and returned as a creepy-ass zombie puppeteer. And she STILL dotes on them like before, despite knowing what they’re capable of. Like, yes, Wei Wuxian just raised an army of corpses and forced a man to eat himself, but I shall still boop him on the nose and feed him Soup. How can I not adore energy like that?

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Third favorite: Wei Wuxian, I think. I do adore him a lot. He gives me some of the same vibes that make me ache most with Xie Lian, where he is trying his best, and is struggling to hold on in the face of lots of suffering, and I find it really interesting that when the suffering peaked, Xie Lian was forced go on because he couldn’t die, while Wei Wuxian... expired. That line about ‘he thought that no matter how large the world was, there was still no place for him’ always sticks with me, and hurts me deeply. Xie Lian had most of his personal attachments stripped away, and was left to wander on his own, while Wei Wuxian still had a number of strong connections left, but abruptly exited life. And that informs their respective trauma so interestingly! The way Wei Wuxian bounces between high energy chaos and drained exhaustion is really fascinating to me, and was the thread that held me attached to the book through a very confusing beginning. And I’m still very drawn to how intensely he loves, whether it’s Xiao Zhan’s fantastic acting, or it’s him busting out with how much he wants Lan Wangji in the middle of the Guanyin Temple scene. He’s a fantastic character, honestly, I don’t think such a convoluted book would have held together very well without a protagonist this strong.

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Second favorite: Xue Yang :X Look, he’s a good boy and I love him. Who among us hasn’t done a few mass murders that we are completely unrepentant about, but that we would really like to keep hidden from our current boyfriend, actually? Anyways, as always, love me an angry boy who makes terrible decisions for understandable reasons. And I do love a character who is consumed by agonized ragrets (see my next entry), but I DO also love me a character who has no regrets at all and doesn’t even have much interest in trying to justify himself to anyone else around him. Just look at that confidence! Look at him go!!

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Most favorite: Jiang... Cheng....... I knew he and Xue Yang were going to be at the top, but those were the only parts of this list that were easy. I mean. Love a self-sabotaging angryboy who is also super super sad and keeps hurting himself in his own confusion. And while I love the romantic thread in all of the mxtx books, the agonized family thread in mdzs is one of my favorite parts, and something that I don’t really see echoed in any of the other stories. I need ten million jc+wwx reconciliations, at LEAST. He’s so sad! And so angry! And I want to see him becoming less of that thing, and for Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian to demonstrate very firmly how much they love him, because they do. I am invested in his happiness in a way that goes far and beyond any of the other non-main characters, haha

SVSSS

Fifth favorite: Tianlang-jun. I think? Oh god, but moshang. THIS IS REALLY HARD, I HATE THIS ;-; But especially since writing my fic, Tianlang-jun has really won me over. And like, he already hurt me good in the novel, just thinking about how he was an innocent young guy, just! Trying to have a girlfriend! And instead got trapped in sensory deprivation, body-rotting-hell for twenty years, when he didn’t do anything wrong!!! He suffered, so much! And I live for his intensely strained relationship with Luo Binghe, because it’s! Perfectly understandable and painful, from both of their perspectives! And he wants to hate humans so badly, but in the end, when he’s told that Su Xiyan never betrayed him, he starts helplessly asking the people around him, ‘really? is it really true?’ and then in the end he loses the only family member he has left who cares about him, and it’s just! Everything is terrible! I have a su xiyan au brewing in my head because I can’t stand it! Someone just give this man a loving partner!!!

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Fourth favorite: Shen Qingqiu. But... moshang??? Goddammit. Anyways, this dumbass. I find him so endearing, in his dumbassery. I sometimes get a bit frustrated with Wei Wuxian for being oblivious, and Shen Qingqiu is just asking for me to react the same way, but I... don’t, for the most part? Because he thinks he has good information, and he’s slow to react to a changing playing field, and I still haven’t read another transmigration novel that strikes the same balance of hypercompetence and intense incompetence :ppp It’s a funny book, and he’s a funny character! And I really vibe with him, in most parts of the story, which covers a pretty darn wide emotional spectrum. Plus, the running internal commentary is choice.

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Third favorite: Liu Qingge. Look, I’m a woman of simple needs, and sometimes I just need a high-quality fightboy who clearly cares deeply and is absolute garbage at expressing his emotions. I can’t articulate it much better than that. I absolutely howl at the succubus extra, when Shen Qingqiu is talking to Madam Meiyin about his future partner, and Liu Qingge is like ‘oh my god, sHE IS CLEARLY DESCRIBING ME’ and Shen Qingqiu is like ‘haha, liu-shidi, i thought you thought this was stuupidddddddd’. They’re both so dumb. I love them so much. But stupidity plus war god fighting energy has a narrow lead over stupidity and internal commentary track.

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Second favorite: SHEN JIU. GOD. I’m still arguing with myself over whether he should go first, but Luo Binghe hurts me consistently through the whole entire story, so I think he wins. Shen Jiu just stabs me in the heart at strategic moments. This is it. My ideal mean boy who is soft for one (1) person, and who BOTH does unconscionable things for terrible reasons (someone just. give him a pile of girls to teach, it will be much more pleasant for everyone involved), and who ALSO gets blamed for things he didn’t do even when he tries to act in good faith. It is the best of all painful worlds. And even at the end, when he has a powerful person who wants desperately to protect him, he still tries his hardest to shove that person away, to keep him safe. I’ve got like four aus where he gets to live. I’m so invested in this character, I love him so much.

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Most favorite: Luo Binghe. He was.... made for me............ Like, the overwhelming amounts of childhood angst were baked in by Shang Qinghua, but the in-story pain and suffering is PRECISELY my jam. I love a character with separation anxiety! I love a character with massive anxieties over being unwanted! Over nobody ever, EVER just choosing him! I love a character struggling with the idea that the person he loves most in the world thinks that he’s intrinsically Disgusting! I love the kind of stubborn determination that leads him to preserve a corpse for five years, desperately hoping for a way to revive it, constantly cooking fresh food, in case, in case he someday wakes up. The way Hua Cheng loves is overpowering, but he’s had time to like... learn to be mellow when he needs to be. Luo Binghe doesn’t have a chill bone in his body, and if he’s acting chill, it’s probably because he’s done some mental math and decided that being more clingy right now will probably get him pushed away harder. I love the combination of manipulative tendencies and a very, very genuine fear of rejection and being unwanted. There is nothing I don’t love about Luo Binghe, including his worst decisions. I love him so so much.

[bunnylouisegrimes]

Episode 9 Review (The Future: What Does It Hold?)

Tagging @coldsoba per request

This episode was a headache for me. I was anticipating it, and although it wasn’t entirely bad and it wasn’t the worst, I think this episode highlights all the bad aspects of this season and brings them together. It brings some of the good that this season brought out together as well, but it’s evident to me now that we’re reaching the end so far that the bad is outweighing the good. This episode has me worried about the future of the series, and angry overall. I’m concerned that if this series does continue and has a season 3, it won’t be good, and it will turn into a shit show like The Walking Dead did (they want a season 3, although, based on the low ratings and low viewership, AMC might cancel, no one truly knows yet, especially if BBC and all that other stuff helps boost it).

Before I start this review, I’d like to say right here and now: this is a pretty critical analysis, and possibly has a bunch of unpopular opinions, but I’m saying it anyways. I’m mad, I’m annoyed, and I’m ticked. Last week’s episode ticked me off, this... Oh, man... just know I’m cool if you disagree with me, but I’m hoping by the end you all understand why I feel this way.

Now, don’t get me wrong: like most episodes of this show from this season, despite entire scenes and plot points being bad, it has great moments to enjoy. Did this episode contain lots of action and intensity? Hell yes, and I liked that. Did it stay true to the book ending so far? In a few ways, yes. Pretty much all the ways it didn’t due to the changes they made that were already questionable were the things I didn’t like, which leads me to this: Do I like the direction the story is going, based on what we know and have so far? Hell no. Of course, we don’t know 100% the direction it’s going until next week’s episode, but right now, I’m very on the fence.

Because there is a lot of bad I’m going to discuss, let’s get the good out of the way.

Lou and Vic in the beginning, as per usual, are sweet and I love them. Tabitha and Lou’s interaction was sweet as well. Seeing Charlie frightened and shook was oddly cute, but also funny. And Wayne and Charlie’s interaction... I’m sorry, it was just adorable. I like the idea of Maggie and Vic going to Christmasland together, that was a good choice (although now... I’m uncertain).

To begin the negativity, we’ll start with Charlie and the house scene. I like Charlie confronting his own fears, it’s a very interesting concept. I find it kinda stupid and confusing Charlie wouldn’t know this house exists in his own mind, I mean, it is a part of his own mind, even if it was in the back of it. Why would he not know? Despite that, we’re gonna move onto the meat and potatoes. Now, Cassie’s POV, based on how she was presented in the show (which I still hate, btw, and I am greatly annoyed with how she is not the abuser she was in the book, but I’ve discussed this already a million times), makes sense. We get why she’s pissed, she should be, although I don’t think she understands that her ex-husband had all of this shit happen to him as far as creating Christmasland and becoming a vampire and all that by having a mental snap. It all happened due to his mental pressure. He didn’t have full control (if any control!) over that entire situation. It happened, his life depended on souls and energy from that moment on, and he had to make do with the shitty end of the stick being presented to him. Christmasland is both good and bad, and vampirism is both good and bad, and Charlie has to try to make do with what he can to give himself and his daughter happiness, and focus on the positives. Cassie could’ve maybe given him at least that credit, but she makes it out like, “You’ve brought her happiness in presents and candy, not making her a woman.” Uh... Cassie? Charlie and Millie became vampires out of his control. All this shit happened, how the hell could he reverse all of it? Is there anyway he could? It’s not even explained if he can, but the writers ignore this fact and make it out to be like, “Look, he’s so evil!” Writers, is there anyway he could change these things, even if he wanted to? “Well, no, not exactly, but look, he’s still evil!” So... you’re not even allowing him to have an opportunity to change, and then when he’s stuck in the situation and making the best out of it, even if it isn’t 100% the best way... he’s still super heinous and evil? “Yes!” Okay... whatever... see this is another reason why it annoys me how they’re writing Charlie as “the worst person in the world,” when really, he isn’t. He’s not an angel, but he is not as evil as this show wants to present. Pretty much all of Cassie’s criticisms are valid, but she could’ve at least given Charlie some credit. Nope! But the thing that really bothered me in the back of my mind was how much better this scene would’ve been had they actually written his backstory properly. I kept thinking how much better it would’ve been if an abusive Cassie comes back to haunt Charlie and taunt him, degrading him, and mocking him, how much more sense it would’ve made. And if Millie pointed these things out to him, it might’ve changed his mind some (he would think, “oh, even my daughter kinda agrees with the abuser”). It works here with the way they portrayed her, despite the point I mentioned about Charlie making the best of shit falling flat on Cassie’s end, but it would’ve been 1000% better if they made her an abuser and she scared Charlie, then Millie brings up similar points and Charlie’s POV starts to change a bit.

(Plus, I’d like to add that by doing that, you’re setting potential up for a Charlie redemption arch, and he wouldn’t have to die, Vic and Maggie wouldn’t have to die, and season 3 has interesting potential, and you still have your main characters that we enjoy).

On the topic of this scene, here is a take a friend of mine gathered from it that I definitely can see as well: The point they were trying to make in this scene is that Charlie is a coward. This is their interpretation of Cassie being ‘abusive,’ they didn't leave it out (her being angry at him) like we thought they would. They wanted to give her a concrete reason to hate him so much and call him out for his bad deeds. Also, this house, which was hidden away at the back of his mind, is a mesh of Charlie's fears and his guilt. Based on his facial expressions and his mannerisms, and how he forcefully held Millie, this was all out of fear and guilt for what he did to them that first time and how The Wraith pretty much consumes you. She's literally trying to tell his stupid ass that they can never leave, otherwise, they'll turn to static, which they will. Millie can't go anywhere because she's stuck there and Charlie knows because he was selfish, he robbed her of her future without intending to. Charlie is highkey a yandere, even for his own kid, but it makes sense because he's never really had anything, Also, as to why he’s sort of controlling in a sense: he's driven by fear and also anger if you think about it. Christmasland is how he projects and saving other children because he had a rough and traumatic childhood, he has some serious mental health issues. This I see 100% presented here too, which is a good aspect coming out of this scene. This season does show us a really vulnerable Charlie as they explore his past and give him a breaking point, which we like! But we both definitely agreed that they wanted to make Charlie more of a dick than needed throughout this whole season. Maybe these writers really wanted more drama, especially Manx family drama, through Charlie acting worse? Not so sure. Either way, it gets on my nerves, and it’s almost inconsistent with the narrative they want to spin. They keep going back and forth with “Charlie’s so sad” (which, I would agree, he is, but they even mess that up and somehow still make him look worse) and “Omg he is the worst person ever.” I hope I’ve explained myself well enough in this area, it’s a very complicated and convoluted topic that has me conflicted and annoyed myself.

I think most importantly, the thing that annoys me about all of this Manx family drama the most is: How tf are they gonna “live normal lives” and “escape?” Millie grabbing onto the ornament prevents her from disappearing, which really doesn’t make sense. I’m sure they’ll clarify it next episode, but how is she gonna become a woman and live a normal life? For Christ’s sake, Charlie can barely understand the modern world as an adult man! You think a kid like her is gonna truly enjoy it or understand it? I have my doubts on this and how they’ll write all of that. Plus, she’s a vampire! If she returns human and all the other kids do when their ornaments break, and this is something that confuses me even in the book... where will they go? Oh yeah, they’ll somehow find normal lives! Honestly, it would make more sense to have them move onto the afterlife. Are they gonna keep them human and alive to make them the stars of the show? That possible concept of, “Oh, the kids are gonna be the stars of the show now!” No, writers... just no. Nobody is gonna care about that. Again, it’s a possibility, and it’s a possibility I’m not thrilled by personally. I don’t want them to be the stars. They can be awesome supporting characters, but not the main focus. Idk man, I’m just saying right now, I’m not so sure how this whole concept is gonna work and I fear how they’re going to write it.

Next up: Wayne’s shitty behavior. Wayne is acting like a really big asshole, and it’s getting on my nerves. “He’s now a vampire!” I hear someone say. “Of course he’s acting this way!” Yes, but the reason why it’s especially annoying is because Vic keeps trying and trying to get the point across to him, and it’s all for nothing. We know Vic’s opinions and her heartfelt feelings for her son, and she ends up having to repeat herself when she might as well be taking to the wall. What’s the point? Filler? We already know Vic’s determination is strong. In the book, how Wayne was acting was better. He held onto himself, but he also didn’t, but Vic’s words managed to get across to him quite a few times throughout his journey. This would’ve been much better on screen, but the writer’s were like, “HA HA NOPE!” The scene that really angered me: what was the point of Vic making her speech (which was really nice btw) only for Wayne to not listen... you’d think that’d be the scene where he changes, but the writers decided to turn it into a shock value filler moment (similar to Chris’s death, which, btw, all this nonsense is making his death for near nothing). And, let’s not forget my question from last week.. where is Craig in all of this? Hmmm... guess he decided to take a vacation from helping his biological son, because he’s just gone! Why?! What was the point?! He better at least appear next week, but even then... too late now, buster! Probably should’ve been here earlier! I mean, for real, what was the point of Craig’s character at this point? What a waste of potential...

The worst part imo from this entire episode: Okay, so the writers make Charlie an even worse villain, even giving him those subtle sadistic undertones even as Vic is trying to talk to Wayne (alright, I get it, there’s that element to “saving” Wayne that’s vengeful when it comes to Charlie, but it’s honestly just too much darkness; it’s almost out of character, especially when it’s in a scene like this. I get it, he likes the idea of getting revenge on Vic, but does he have to be THIS dark? That laugh he gave was funny, yes, and I couldn’t help myself but laugh just because of how stupid it sounded, but looking at the reason why he laughed... if anything, he would’ve stood there with a smug smile and say something like, “I told you he loves me more.” They make him way too dark and it really takes away from the fact he is a villain with moral code, but these writers have seemingly forgotten that with the exception of the one scene in episode 7 where he condemns Bing’s rape. Of course, the rapist might be getting a redemption arch anyways, not Charlie, but uh... moving on from all that past shit!). Yeah, as I was saying, they make Charlie darker. Okay, let’s forget my opinions on that for a moment: the characters have the opportunity to make him, this super evil and irredeemable villain, weak to the point he couldn’t get up at all... But Maggie stops him from being in this state? WHAT?! That shit is very out of character for her, and it’s very out of character for Vic to just stop! Vic would’ve persisted, and if the roles were reversed, Charlie would’ve persisted. That’s the thing about them both: they are persistent and protective about their kids. Why did Vic need to stop? “We need to find your son!” MAGGIE! You’ve both tried multiple times already! Focus on Charlie when you have the chance! How stupid are you two?! And better yet: Why would Vic drop the weapon?! She would’ve grabbed it!!!! What the hell is this shit?! I can’t even express how stupid this is... I get you can’t exactly kill him, but you could make absolute certain he would be subdued and unable to even have the chance to get up and grab his weapon. But nope! They need to attempt for the thousandth time to save Wayne in the exact same way, when it has shown not to work. You’d think they’d at least attempt to think of something else, even if their options are limited, but nah, we’re gonna do something very out of character instead... why?

Things aren’t looking too good for Maggie, so I have to ask: is Maggie gonna die? And if so, that is beyond fucking stupid. They set up the potential for a plot with Tabs and Mags for the third season. I didn’t pick up that they officially broke up, rather just separated for now, and... for what?! If she’s seriously gonna die, I’m gonna be extremely pissed. That wasted potential and insult to her character would be so fucking stupid. Yes, she dies in the book (in a different fashion, and it’s probably not that great how she goes there either), but look at all they’ve done for her character, especially giving her a girlfriend, a character that’s become even more important. Her death would be questionably more insulting here for sure!

Overall, while there were things I liked about this episode, I am majorly disappointed and concerned for the future of the series. I’m afraid it will take directions that are not good, and if it does continue, I am afraid it will be a living dead show of sorts. I think the only true way this show can carry on and be good is if all our main most important characters (Vic, Maggie, Charlie, Lou, Wayne, and Tabs) are all alive. Now, Vic and Charlie might be the only exception to this, just because they both do die in the book, and although even that is rough and not the best, it is expectant and I think this show can still be good with Maggie, Lou, Tabitha, and Linda taking care of Wayne (I’m not gonna go into the potential with Millie in this scenario because that’s a rocky topic lol). But if this show follows the path of TWD, where we have a whole new cast of characters you’re not really gonna care about and all the old cast you got to know and love is just gone... that’ll be the cherry on top of this shit sundae. I am excited for the concept of exploring the world of other Strong Creatives, as many rumors speculate the next season will contain, but if the show that explored the world of zombies failed by getting rid of pretty much their whole old cast... what about this show? They’ve already messed up quite a few things I don’t like this season I’ve discussed before, and if they go the route of doing anything that can get worse... I can’t describe how disappointing it would be. Not saying things have to be perfect or my way all the way, but it has to be generally good and enjoyable for everyone. Growing attached to a cast of characters only to erase many of them and focus on a new one is not a way that is good and enjoyable for everyone. AMC: This happened with TWD; for the love of God, don’t let it happen with NOS4A2.

As I said in my last review: let’s hope next week is better, and AMC, for the second time in a row, doesn’t deliver a disappointment of a show.

[illgiveyoumygavichal]

I don’t know why I wrote this, or why I wrote so much. Gomen.

So I just re-watched The Scene while I’m actually awake and coherent and I blasted the volume with my headset so I could hear every little thing and while it’s pretty clear they were filmed separately(?) from a writers point of view, the dialogue and reactions made sense --- not the ‘all gays go to super-hell’-bit... there’s no excusing that, but it was foreshadowed a long while ago (hence why I’m not 100% surprised that The Scene even happened since it was obvious that the character in questions’ ‘moment of true happiness’ would be a confession the moment the deal was made. I still think they’ll end on a ‘reset the universe back to point A to prevent point B’-type to just be like... well you already know the story so even if it’s ending, it’s not really ending but going on and on and on in a paradox because the whole show is convoluted what with the time-travel and parallel universes and other dimensions and shit. 

Not my point, I started rambling. Uh... Click the ‘read more’ for more? Gods, I can’t believe this is what spurred a real-ass post from me...

If anyone wants to discuss this, please do. But don’t be an ass about it please, I’m just here to have a discussion. 

Anyways, Jensen’s acting was flat. Like he wasn’t into the script at all. Like he totally believed that this went completely against the character he’s supposed to play - and he’s not really wrong, but you can see this a lot in movies and tv shows where the actors disagree with the writing and direction that it’s reflected in their performance. 

While this scene in particular seems like the actors were shot apart and chopped together, I think they were both very much in the know about the script. Misha gave it his all, you could hear him thanking the audience for watching his performance. His in-character confession was just as much his ‘thank you’ and it shows - but while his whole speech was likely one good take (probably after a long day, especially since every one working on this show had to work around covid-19 safety procedures) Jensen’s was probably multiple takes, with the good shots being chosen and patched together to make him seem a least a little like he isn’t completely refusing the script. 

As for the characters and the writing, it worked. Now I’m no expert in homosexual relationships but I’m very queer, as is my s/o, so I’m gonna try to not stick my foot in my mouth for this part. While homophobia is in no way acceptable, it’s understandable why Jensen isn’t into this particular pairing: The fandom shoved it down his throat, down the producers throats, until it was made canon. One thing that sucks the life out of creators is self-entitled fans. Yeah it’s nice to show your support and love of a content, but you shouldn’t be shoving your ideals for the content into the creators faces. It’s just uncouth.

Rambled again, sorry. 

Cas’ speech was wonderful. He clarified his love for Dean by leveling his love for everyone and everything first, and then showing how his love for Dean was stronger than those - but stronger because of them. This way, in describing the care and love he has, Cas can be sure Dean understands that his love for him is a different kind of love without worrying about Dean being confused about his meaning when he’s already gone. Sorry I’m trying to figure out how to word this. 

An example for clarification: A tells B they love them, but then they leave/die/whatever, and without clarification B might assume that it was a familial/platonic love - like saying you love your parent/sibling/friend. However, if A prefaced with a confirmation of familial love to B and then confessed their love for B, there is a better chance for understanding. 

And from the way we see Dean shut down after the Empty takes Cas and Billie, completely ignoring Sam’s calls (which, after what he just learned from Billie as well as knowing Sam is in pain from losing Eileen - and everyone - is abnormal) in addition to not really moving from where he was thrown and burying his face - while SOBBING - I think it’s safe to assume he understood Cas’ confession as something more than family. Like, we’ve seen them ‘lose’ Cas before and Dean wasn’t as broken up about it as he was this time. Sure he was angry, but he’s always angry - but this time he isn’t angry. 

Additionally, Dean didn’t outright reject Cas. He said “Don’t do this, Cas.” Which could easily be interpreted as ‘how fucking dare you confess to me when you’re about to die, thus immediately breaking my heart’ - which, if you’re really reaching for straws, could be a ‘wow, so my feelings would’ve been reciprocated if I actually had the balls to confess - not that it matters because apparently if I did confess you’d literally be so happy you would die.’ Ultimately, it’s a lose-lose-lose situation. 

To add on to Sam’s phone call, when we see him hang up after leaving the silo we could assume he first tried calling Cas and then called Dean meaning that since Cas was taken, Dean sat there disassociating and trying to figure out wtf just happened when Sam snapped him back to reality - thus interrupting his compartmentalizing and forcing him to feel, because Dean hates feelings. 

And yeah, the whole ‘Bury your Gays’ trope is shitty, but this is Supernatural: a horror-drama tv show where People Die and unfortunately, because most of the characters that die are side characters, the queers die mostly because they’re side characters and side characters are expendable. It fucking sucks, especially now that they are using LGBTQIA+ to boost their views at the END OF THE SERIES. Honestly, would be more acceptable to have it be a thing a few seasons ago, but they also have to work with the actors to even produce the show - and if the staring actor isn’t comfortable with certain themes, they can’t really force him without the show crashing and burning - which, in good old capitalism, a little homophobia to conserve their money-maker is normal. I don’t even know where I’m going with this. 

Luckily, this is Supernatural, and Supernatural doesn’t like leaving people dead - even at the end of the series. There are a few possible endings they could go with, but through speculation there could be more without noticing.

A) Chuck taunts the brothers, probably tortures them more just ‘cause, before simply ending everything.

B) Amara somehow takes over Chuck - or they properly combine and suddenly remember why they made everything. 

C) The boys give up and accept their fate.

D) The boys don’t give up and go out fighting. 

E) Somehow they negotiate with Chuck and exchange themselves for everyone else. 

F) Chuck hits the reset button, and this time he’ll make the boys more controllable. 

G) The boys kill Chuck, but in the sudden power imbalance, the universe eliminates all supernatural beings and just create a mundane world - whether the boys are part of the world or not is up in the air. 

H) Everyone is in the Empty now cause there’s no place left to exist but the Empty - since for some reason the Empty is more limbo than purgatory, but it makes sense. 

I) The Empty is piiiiiissssssssed that Chuck suddenly made everything stop existing and then eats Chuck because Chuck will be loud making new things - or because Chuck will be a threat to the Empty... or he just wont let the Empty sleep. God what even is the Empty?  Like, really, shouldn’t they be all-powerful - moreso than Chuck - since, without God there is nothing and without anything existing wouldn’t everything/nothing be Empty?

J) Empty eats Chuck 2020 - and the show ends just like that. 

K) Chuck, to prevent being eaten by the Empty, brings everything back to put some cushion between him and the Empty - or gets the boys to kill the Empty in exchange for their world back sans God. (Their own little playpen that they can do whatever they want with.) 

L) Dean kills Chuck with Death’s Scythe. 

M) Sam and Dean somehow kill Chuck and in the power imbalance, replace him. (I’ve had this theory - unspoken though - before where Dean becomes head honcho in Heaven or Hell and Sam takes the other spot, no luck on this one yet.) 

Either way, two episodes left to find out what the fuck is going on. 

Next episode will be dramatic and sad as Sam, Dean and Jack reconvene - probably with Sam and Jack stopping Dean from giving up. Also, Jack will probably get dusted too - I’m surprised he didn’t go at the end there. 

HONESTLY by the title of the episode, I think option K if more likely... but Chuck will probably be like... yeah here take it idgaf anymore. The road home will be very epilogue-y with flashbacks and shit to tie everything up and be all ‘They lived happily ever after.’ 

I don’t even know anymore... why can I write this much over a stupid show but not for like... a book or something. 

[haikyuulovercompany]

Eek! I’m so excited for request to be open!! Can make a request for Iwaizumi? In which, the reader and Iwaizumi have a kid together, but they’re not together anymore. And so, they don’t get along very well. But in secrecy, the reader actually still harbors feelings for Iwaizumi, and their child snitches on her to their dad. When the topic comes up at the dinner table, the reader is forced to admit the truth. Iwaizumi’s kinda shocked and weirded out, but also kinda wants to date her again.

This took me longer than expected to write, but I hope you enjoy it!! I kind of changed the idea of the narrative BUT here it is (: ENJOYY !!! 

PAIRING: IWAIZUMI HAJIME X FEM! READER. 

---

One of the biggest reasons people avoided to dive into marriage, was the possibility of divorce. However, the vast majority of society bet it wouldn’t be their case. Iwaizumi had been one of those foolish enough to believe his relationship would never suffer such demise. He loved _____ so intensely it sometimes seemed to be endless. He could stare at the horizon their relationship was, as it extended as the sea did. He couldn’t tell where it stopped. But he was young and lacked experienced. Love would be enough, he had thought back then, and he had been very wrong. Love was the first stone for a solid marriage. The rest was a convoluted series of virtues and vices both had to work out and simultaneously make the decision to pull through.

They had failed at the task. They had fallen into the jaws of the routine until their relationship grew up stagnant. It hadn’t been an easy decision. After almost a decade together—from college where they met all the way to their early thirties—and a five-year-old boy they both loved beyond their physicality. Iwaizumi would sometimes spend hours staring at his son. He wondered what he could be dreaming about, he wondered about his own abilities as a father, especially when his marriage had failed.

It had been for the better. They were becoming strangers who could only snap at the other if they weren’t ignoring each other. How could the perfect relationship that had drove him into ecstasy so easily had become deadweight on his shoulders?

At first, he didn’t know. He was both relieved and saddened when he arrived at his flat. It was only him. No kiss from his wife or shouts of hoy from his son. He treated his divorce with the same fashion he would treat a regular break up. That’s how little he actually knew. You couldn’t simply get over the mother of your child, over the woman you surely swore was your companion for your short eternity on earth. That was his first lesson.

The second was the loss of communication with ______. He had thought the feelings they had felt for each other had died through their day to day life, and there wasn’t anything left to do. The reality was that love didn’t simply die. They had neglected each other. They had forgotten to talk, to have small and big details to help the other get through their issues—work it together. The had become two independent beings instead of working like a team. He had many regrets—many things he would do different.

It didn’t matter much anyway. It was too late. He was entering his second year as a divorced man and his five-year-old was now seven and the three of them had fallen into their new dynamic. They had adapted. Iwaizumi got out of his car and walked to the entrance of the building. He rang two times. “Hi, who’s there?” a very childish voice spoke. Iwaizumi smiled.

“A monster.”

Tiny giggled were heard. “Hi, dad! I’ll let you in!”

The buzzer went off and Iwaizumi entered the building. _____ had moved after their divorce. She had rented a different apartment not too far from their original home, or at least what have been their first home as a family. He had stayed a little longer in their old flat. He had due to their contract and it had been a slow torture. Two months later he was free and he rented his own flat. He had liked somewhere closer his son but that year wasn’t his year by any means.

He knocked on the now familiar door 401.

The door was thrown open abruptly, making a big slamming noise against the wall. “Eiichi!” ______ screamed, her quick steps coming fast from down the hall. She came to a halt and the air left her mouth when she was met with Iwaizumi laid back postured with his eyes planted in her. She seemed to stunned Iwaizumi couldn’t help arching an eyebrow. “Are you okay, _____?” He was always careful when saying her name, as if it was forbidden to him to say it. This was another heartbreaking sign of how radically everything could change between two persons.

“I am. Sorry. I forgot today was your day,” she admitted. “Let me go get Eiichi’s bag ready. Come in, if you want.”

She was gone before Iwaizumi could say anything else. He nodded to himself and closed the door. Eiichi was soon all over him, telling him about his latest adventure. He was barely five years old. He was discovering the world. Everything was whimsical and mysterious to him, and as a father, it was an endearing process to watch. He wished he could be there on a daily basis to see every step of the way. He would be surprised of the strong nostalgia he was undergoing, but with the second anniversary of his divorce so closed, he was bound to feel like that.

______ came back with a red backpack and handed it to Iwaizumi, offering a fleeting smile. “There’s everything he will need for tonight.”

“Okay. I’ll bring him back tomorrow afternoon.”

“Sure.” Silence invaded the room and Iwaizumi knew it was his queue to leave. He got up with the red backpack hanging from his shoulder and gave ______ one last glance before walking out the apartment together with Eiichi, who continued rambling with his clumsy words and ill-formed sentences.

Iwaizumi carried his son and securing him into the backseat and after checking it twice, he went to the front seat and left. The nostalgia eventually dissipated. His son took over his attention and he had no time to travel down memory lane about the life he used to have. The days he spent with Eiichi were the ones he cherished the most, but they were also the most exhausting. He had been warned about the shot of energy children got around the age Eiichi was, and they had not been wrong. After a whole day at the park, running and climbing around, he had finally given Eiichi a bath, put on his pajamas and settled him in the small dinner table adjacent to his living room. The television was playing from across the room. The cartoon was hypnotizing the little boy, who sometimes forgot to chew and left his mouth hung open watching it. Iwaizumi had to give small nudges to Eiichi for him to continue eating.

A divorce could be vicious and Iwaizumi had heard horror stories about it. Not to say his had gone smoothly, but it had been more about the grudges he and _____held against each other, the issues they had kept unspoken and had led to the failure of their marriage. There hadn’t been cheating or someone new in the picture. It was just them and poor communication. They had put those differences aside and concurred to share custody because at least both agreed Eiichi didn’t have to pay for mistakes that weren’t his. Therefore, Iwaizumi had rented a flat with an extra room for Eiichi. It wasn’t a simple guest room, it was decorated accordingly to his age. It was for him and no one else.

Iwaizumi pulled out the bedsheet and signaled Eiichi with his head. “Come on. Get in.”

He did as told and climbed the bed until he was sitting down, his legs hanging from the edge. Iwaizumi knelt, taking off the pair of slippers ______ had included for Eiichi to use. “Are you and mom getting back together?” he suddenly asked, taking his father aback.

“Why do you ask?”

“I checked mom’s drawer and she has a picture of the two of you.”Iwaizumi’s curiosity sparked up. “What drawer?”

“In her room. She sometimes takes it out but then it’s inside the drawer again. That’s why I checked. She doesn’t know I checked.”

He smiled apologetically to him. “Well, there’s no plan for that happening. I’m sorry, bud.”

Eiichi looked down, swinging his legs a couple times before getting inside the covers. “It’s okay.”

Iwaizumi kissed his forehead. The hint of sadness in Eiichi’s face broke him to the core. The more he grew, the more he discovered and rationalized the circumstances around him, and life didn’t go easy on anybody and it pained Iwaizumi to know there were going to be many situations where he wouldn’t be able to protect Eiichi. He tugged the covers a little bit higher and turned the lights off. He left the door slightly ajar and stood still on the spot. He had never seen a picture of _____ and him in her apartment. He had been there a lot, he would’ve noticed his face. He pondered on the piece of information Eiichi had thrown out of pure curiosity. Could it be that ______ wasn’t entirely over them? Could she still think about him? Perhaps and she wondered as much as him what could’ve happened if they had tried a little bit more, a little bit harder.

Iwaizumi tried to go to sleep, too, but it was around two in the morning, after endless runarounds in his head he was able to fall asleep. The last thing in his mind was his wife, and even after, she appeared in his dreams.

….

He woke up to his son opening the door and climbing into his bed. Eiichi poked him on the cheek a couple times. “Dad, I’m hungry.”

Iwaizumi groaned and then yawned. “I’m coming.” Eiichi jumped two times and then off of the bed. “Careful,” he oredered, his voice still raspy, but Eiichi was already running down the hallway.

Thankfully, he had remembered to get frozen waffles. He warmed up a pair in the toaster for Eiichi and another pair for him. He cut a slice of butter for each waffle and took both plates to the living room. Breakfast was quiet with Eiichi again hypnotized by some cartoon. This gave time Iwaizumi to spend more time with his thoughts. He couldn’t stop going over as of why ______ still had a picture of them in her nightstand, and why was she hiding it? She didn’t have it for Eiichi, if that was the case she would let him have it. She wasn’t even showing the picture to him.

Maybe… just Maybe…

He decided to take Eiichi earlier back to his mother. He wouldn’t be able to shake off his doubts and he had never been a man to shy away. If their relationship had spiraled down, they could pick it back up. They had been fantastic together once, and if he was honest with himself, he missed his life with them. He missed seeing Eiichi daily, not missing a bit of his life. And he missed ______. He missed her as his wife, as his partner.

He pulled on her street half past six—a couple hours before he had to. Eiichi didn’t question. He had no idea at what time he was supposed to arrive, either way. However, ______ was surprised to see him there so early. Eiichi ran past her and disappeared inside the flat. “You’re early. Is something wrong?” she asked bewildered.

“No, I just wanted to see if we can chat.”

“Uhm, okay.” She stepped aside, letting him come inside and walking to the living room. Iwaizumi sat on a different couch than _____. He wasn’t going to push his luck. He went over his question. It was easy and straightforward. However, he couldn’t help feeling like he was twenty again, walking across the room and making some small talk to her and see if he had a chance. He was nervous and unsure if it was the right thing to do.

“So, what is it?” she asked when faced with his silence.

Iwaizumi liked his upper lip as his fingers intertwined on his lip. “Why do you have a picture of us in your drawer?” She sat straight, blinking fast. Her mouth opened and closed, hesitating on emitting any sound. He had taken her aback entirely. “Eiichi told me about,” he clarified, making it impossible for her to lie or avoid the answer.

She looked around huffing. “Well, we were married, Hajime. We were together for too long. Not all of us get over things that easily,” she explained, avoiding looking directly at him.  

Iwaizumi felt it like a direct shot at him. “Who said I got over it easy? I think about my life here with you and Eiichi all the time. I missed my life in here.”

“Hajime…”

“I’m being honest. Sometimes I just wish I could still be here.”

“If you want to see Eiichi more, you know you can.”

“I’m not only talking about him. I miss us. I think we could have fixed it if we had really tried.”

“We were tired of each other,” she said in a whisper, which told Iwaizumi she wasn’t rock solid on that position. It was the reason why their relationship had ended. That had been the catch phrase of their divorce.

“Maybe we could have used a break but I think divorcing was too extreme.”

“What are you trying to get to?”

“If you aren’t over us, I would actually like to try it again. We could make it work.”

“We can’t just jump right where we left things.”

“No, of course not. We’ll take it slow. I think it’s worth it.”

She held his gaze with hers. She wasn’t agreeing with him, but she wasn’t rejecting him either. He didn’t dare to blink. He wanted to seem confident with his proposal so she could give in.

“What if it doesn’t work again?” she asked.

“Then we go back to… this,” he declared rather calmly. He couldn’t ignore that option existed. Still, he wanted to believe the time they spent apart and the maturity they had gained in those two years was enough to make it right.

She nodded and stood up. “Are you staying for dinner, then?”

Iwaizumi smiled wide, standing up as well. “If there isn’t a problem, I am.”

She grinned shyly and turned away before he could see her. “Let me set another place on the table.”

“I’ll help you,” he offered, and then followed her into the kitchen Needless to say, he was thrilled. The door for a second chance had been opened to him.

[popwasabi]

Lockdown Lookback: Catching up on the past months’ Pop Culture

Aaaaannnd we’re back!

It’s amazing what a little pandemic can do to shake you out of your creative cobwebs but if we’re all going to die, I want to make sure all my pop cultural hot takes are up to date at least.

Many of us are already on lockdown and many major movies including “007,” “Black Widow” and ummm I guess “Mulan” are all getting pushed to the backburner as no one is leaving their God damn homes unless they’re told to!

(Didn’t realize the thing I wish I had more of in the apocalypse would be sweatpants...)

But there’s still plenty to talk about from the previous months and other hot topics I have been meaning to write about but just hadn’t found the time or energy for. Life has been hard I think for just about all of us these days thanks in no small part to this pandemic. For me personally, I’ve had two different vacations canceled because of the virus and currently working understaffed at my job which is considered essential. Not to mention my therapist is on call only at this time and both my martial arts schools have been suspended, so I can neither talk nor punch my feelings out of my system.

So, I might be just a LITTLE on edge at the moment.

(My internal monologue for most of these past few weeks, more broadly years...)

Anyways, I digress, you come here because you like to read my highly unprofessional takes on pop culture and genuinely to those who have cheered me on from the beginning thanks, you guys are my prime motivators. But anyways let’s talk about all the shit I was supposed to write about these last two and a half months.

 “Birds of Prey” was a hot, but needed, mess

Earlier last month I got to see the sort of sequel to the much-maligned “Suicide Squad” in “Birds of Prey and the…waaaay too long of a title for me write here.” I had cautious optimism for it because it looked strange and off the beaten path of most comic book movies and seemed to promise at the very least a fun time at the theater but it’s still also a DCEU movie so the floor was pretty low on its possible quality as well.

In the end, the movie is kind of bit of everything; the best and worst parts of the DCEU. 

In terms of the good, it’s definitely outside the box, a sort of fem Deadpool first person story as told frenetically by Harley herself. Margot Robbie is, of course, still quite great at this role and you can tell she’s having a blast as this character. The humor is mostly good and visually the bright colors and cinematography pops on each screen and on that front there isn’t much to complain about.

But as a DCEU movie it does suffer from some narrative imbalance partially due to it’s psycho storyteller but mostly, and more than likely, due to corporate editing that probably axed an entire dance number that I was honestly looking forward to from the trailers.

(Seriously, I actually wanted to see the full unedited version of whatever hell this ended up being.)

It’s definitely in the “could’ve been better” camp of comic book movies but you know what? I’m still glad it exists. You know why? Because comic book movies dominate our blockbuster culture right now and if the genre wants to survive, at least artistically, it needs some outside the box films like this. I HATED “Joker” but I appreciate that it opened the door for stranger, more unique takes on a genre that is getting increasingly more stale. This movie falls into that unique category too.

(Also, to all the faux-intellectuals and alt-right nerds making a culture war out of “Sonic” vs “Birds of Prey” *kindly* reevaluate your lives please...)

We’re at the point now where comic book movies should be getting weirder, not more formulaic, and that means swinging for the fences even if a couple don’t quite make it out of the ballpark. If it takes a few not so stellar takes on the genre for Hollywood to greenlight a truly fantastic one I’m all for it.

In any case “Birds of Prey” doesn’t quite end nor continue the DCEU’s recent hot streak but it is enjoyable enough to where I would be more than open to a sequel. It’s worth a watch.

 The Mandalorian and The Witcher: Two shows about violent mercenaries and fatherhood

Both these shows are old news at this point, but I did want to talk a little about both for a bit if you would have me.

First, “The Mandalorian” which was Disney+’s flagship production to begin its streaming chapter late last year is definitely a more than welcome addition to the galaxy far, far away. It’s pretty easy to feel fairly jaded about Star Wars these days given how flat the new trilogy ended but for what it’s worth “The Mandalorian” was a good mix of nostalgia bait and something new and interesting for fans to chew on. Its production value is obviously top-notch, no doubt because of all the Disney money pumped into it, it’s well-acted and thrilling and fun from start to finish. It plays heavily on the genres that influenced the series, primarily westerns and old samurai flicks, and fans of those will certainly enjoy the homages to them all.

The series was something of a coming out party for Deborah Chow who directed two of the season 1’s best episodes. Her steady hand, eye for details and tributes to Asian cinema throughout really gave the series an extra kick at times and showed how Star Wars can evolve still. Chow is set to helm the upcoming “Kenobi” series and one can only hope that she *really* leans into the samurai genre for that show.

(Hopefully, there are some “Yojimbo” vibes in there somewhere...)

The Mandalorian’s best and worst parts though are its semi episodic nature making each episode easy to digest as a one-off but also lacking some narrative tension between each. It plays kind of like a Saturday Morning cartoon to both its benefit and detriment with bite-size easy to digest plots and dialogue for the viewers but not offering a ton of depth beyond that.

The Mandalorian himself is also kind of a Gary Stu. His armor is basically impenetrable and far and away the best killer onscreen typically, making more than a few action scenes lack real stakes and tension. Baby Yoda certainly helps at times to make him more vulnerable and puts him in precarious positions plenty of times but outside a few moments (mainly episode 2 and to a lesser extend the final episode) he’s just a little too overpowered to be a more interesting character.

But this show and frankly the Star Wars series as a whole is meant for kids, no matter what the neckbeards try to tell you (violence =/= adult), and that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Plenty of kids productions can be both great and even sophisticated and while I wouldn’t say “The Mandalorian” is either of those it’s a good and fun kids show for the fans.

(And yes I’m aware that the books, some comics, and games have touched on more adult stuff, you weirdos. But how would you describe the overall tone and presumptive audience of the movies and TV series as a whole, guys??)

As far as “The Witcher” goes it also has a bit of an episodic style to it as well with an overarching, albeit, convoluted story that runs parallel to it. The first 3-4ish episodes can be classified as a quasi “Game of Thrones” clone leaning perhaps a little too heavily into the tropes of that series. Once the series finally starts leaning into its real identity, a dry-witted hack and slash fantasy, the series is much more consistent both tonally and narratively.

Henry Cavil is solid as Geralt of Rivia and the supporting cast of Joey Batey as Jaskier, Freya Allen as Ciri and even more so Anya Chalotra as Yennefer are all great in their respective roles delivering some great moments throughout the season.

(And lest you forget this earworm...)

“The Witcher’s” early season struggles keep it from being as tonally or narratively consistent as “The Mandalorian” but where the monster slayer beats the bounty hunter is that it has overall more compelling drama and has more to say, leaning much more heavily into the thematic greys of the plot. There are tons of problems with “The Witcher” on a story-telling level but you can definitely say it cares more about adding some depth in between the more pulpy aspects of the story which is something you can’t say as much for in “The Mandalorian.”

Of course, I’m partially overselling “The Witcher” a bit here, it’s not anywhere near “Game of Thrones” best (yet at least), and on the flipside one could argue that “The Mandalorian’s” more subtle sense of story-telling does its themes better. But when it comes down to these two shows you get somewhat similar story-telling ideas, mostly involving both characters and their smaller counterparts, in two very different genres with equally diverging conclusions to their respective seasons. 

(🎵 Toss an “Oof” to your Witcher...🎵)

All in all, they’re both good and worth a watch and I think they deserve a chance to evolve and hopefully showcase more of what they have to offer moving forward.

“Parasite” wins Best Picture! Many people have some hot takes, including the president...

Last month one of my favorite films of 2019 “Parasite” won Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s a movie that is becoming increasingly relevant as elites and celebrities alike are getting front of the line testing despite being asymptomatic in the middle of pandemic and think they can assuage our concerns and dread by poorly singing “Imagine” together within the comfort of their McMansions.

It’s about as a good time as any to revisit this movie, I mean where else are you going to go during this timeline, and at a later date I’ll write something more extensive about it eventually (hopefully) but first here’s a helpful video on one particular thing that came out after director Bong Joon Ho took home the night’s top honors:

 “Cats” is still a fever dream of madness

Back in late December, I watched “Cats” for science, as I had AMC A-List and a friend crazy enough to join me. I figured it would be bonkers and unlike anything I had seen before in the worst way but even then, I don’t think I was truly prepared for what I ended up seeing that fateful night.

I remember quite vividly going to the bar inside the theater and ordering a stiff drink beforehand to numb the pain and the bartender asking “So what are y’all watching tonight?” and beginning to laugh manically like an insane asylum patient at the innocuousness of the question. Walking into the theater was like that feeling you get before getting on a particularly scary-looking rollercoaster at Six Flags but instead of the pre-ride jitters eventually subsiding to the eventual fun and joy of the ride, only a deep sense of existential dread built up and sustained itself through what felt like six hours of the most baffling thing put to screen in front of my eyes ever.

(The music that played in my head as I exited the theater...)

Have any of you watched the Stanley Kubrick movie “Eyes Wide Shut” before? You know the scene when Tom Cruise is walking around in his mask observing the strange occult sex orgy going on around him at the mansion? That’s kind of what “Cats” felt like except way more terrifying, somehow MORE sexual, and definitely crazier.

(Is...this some type of...intepretative dance to summon an eldritch horror??)

There’s a voyeuristic terror that comes from sitting in that theater room as you watch bipedal humanoid looking felines dance to confusing songs about “Jelicle” cats (whatever the fuck that means) and all other manner of things that should NOT take human form throughout it’s near-endless runtime. A lot was made about Rebel Wilson and the disgusting roach people she consumes but NO ONE warned me about the frankly HORRIFYING mice children in the same scene!

(I am not perusing the internet to find that image again for y’all. I have enough nightmares each night...)

The saddest thing about the whole movie is everyone, save for Ian Mckellen who seemed to be acting as if a gun was pointing at him offscreen and Judi Dench who looked 100 percent like a geriatric in her digi fur, was giving the movie their fullest effort in what can only be described as a Titanic-sized level of hubris by all parties involved. This movie really needed a “Chaostician” involved in evaluating the production for studio heads and shareholders because there were definitely NOT enough people on this project wondering whether or not this film SHOULD exist...

(Dr. Ian Malcolm coming to Universal Pictures to access the film.)

What has “Cats” wrought upon this world? The universe has been clearly out of balance since this movie came out and while I’m not saying it’s director Tom Hooper’s fault, I’m not saying it isn’t either.

“Cats” is one of those things, much like The Matrix that cannot be simply described but must be seen to believe. It’s one of the worst things I have ever seen onscreen but with the right group of people and a few stiff drinks it’s certainly an experience you won’t forget. Consider it for your next Google Hangout during this apocalypse.

  Anyways, that about wraps up my thoughts on the last few months. Going to try to be more consistent going forward especially given how much more time I have now to write, for better and worse. But more importantly, just want to say stay safe y’all. It’s going to be a process to get through this and while things are more likely to get worse before they get better there will be a day when this all ends and some normalcy may yet return to our life but in order for us to get there we need to remain vigilant. 

So stay at home, wash your hands, and if you want to watch movies just order it online for now and we’ll just wait until aaaallll this blows over…hopefully.

Don’t panic...

[gascon-en-exil]

FE16 Blue Lions Liveblogging

Chapters 5-6. A fair amount of story progress - I just hope the tense music used from searching the monastery on the latter chapter doesn’t stick around. It doesn’t set a great mood for wondering around and talking to everybody and rooting through their stuff.’

I like how each student gets their own dormitory room, which are individualized via little touches. They’re also not split up by house, but rather between nobles and commoners and...nobles who wanted a ground floor room? There’s a few of those. Like Bernadetta, who came out of hers for the first time in Chapter 6.

The monthly tournaments are a good way to pick up decent forges for free, but I don’t like how nerve-wracking they get toward the end since your entrant’s HP doesn’t replenish after each bout. I’ve also been getting some good use out of choir practice, and sometimes the dining hall features for motivation and small boosts to stats. Getting training from the staff is another matter, but then I’m not focusing much on Byleth’s growth.

Beast fights certainly feel different from anything else in the series. I’ve done two so far, the story one with Sylvain’s brother and one against a giant bird. I assume later fights will make it harder to keep them stunlocked until they die.

I missed out on the Death Knight’s Dark Seal again because I still don’t have a thief, but then I remembered that I have no male casters anyway. Does dark mage offer anything that mage doesn’t, apart from Miasma? It hardly seems worth it for the trouble of getting a special seal.

I do however have a handful of units in intermediate classes, so I’m getting to play around with Canto on Sylvain and Ingrid and Ashe’s increased bow range. Unlike in FE10 the accuracy drop from using bows at longer range is actually noticeable in almost all fights. Dismounting meanwhile feels a bit clunkier than in FE5, but that might be a way of discouraging you from using it too frequently. Dedue gets to show some skin as a brawler, which I’ve read is a better option than brigand for characters with iffy SPD. His axe rank is still great regardless. As for the casters, I wonder if spells learned as class skills remain after the unit changes to something else. I’ll find out when Annette promotes again since she doesn’t learn Fire inherently.

I don’t like how it’s not explained why Dimitri is unavailable for the Chapter 6 story battle. I know why Edelgard wouldn’t be there for the Eagles (benefits of spoiling yourself on everything first), but there’s no reason given for Dimitri, or I assume Claude, to miss it.

@mwritesink said that Gilbert’s C support is pre-timeskip only, so I’ve been looking for every opportunity to recruit him so I can start working on that sweet, sweet incredibly buried-in-flat-subtext S rank with a guy who looks like he’d need about a tumbler of Cialis to get it up. Hey, my eyes are very clearly elsewhere when it comes to the M/M content on this route.

And speaking of that...my first paralogue involved Dedue returning to Duscur to mediate a rebellion situation. I know you can temporarily recruit characters from other houses for their related paralogues, but it wouldn’t surprise me if your first one always comes from your own house. The shipping content was sweet as ever, but the map itself was a convoluted mess with a bunch of narrow paths and aggressive NPCs stealing half the kills. Not great - would have been better had Ingrid been a pegasus knight first.

On supports, a bunch of the B ranks I’ve gotten are shown in red. Means that they can’t grow anymore until after the timeskip, I’m guessing.

Story/Character observations

Sylvain reminds me of Lex in how offhanded he appears to be about killing his own brother. I wasn’t expected that coming from someone so ambivalent about crests and what having one means for him.

There’s an Eastern church too, but they’re said to not be very influential because they also have to answer to the Alliance. I wonder if that will come up again....

Felix’s father shows up but hasn’t done much of note yet. They do explain decently how Miklan’s actions have affected his territory, but it still seems a bit random. Dedue’s observation that Rodrigue visited Dimitri several times after Dimitri’s father was killed doesn’t really smack of a developed surrogate father/son relationship, nor does their behavior around each other.

Gautier territory sounds like the North from GoT, only (slightly) more French.

I’ve barely talked about Flayn. I know exactly who and what she and Seteth are (and Rhea knows too, right?), and I can sort of piece together how she ties into the Flame Emperor’s plan with regard to Monica, but I don’t have much to say about her otherwise. That might change since I think she’s going to be playable now.

Onto supports, Dedue/Felix is as violent as expected (so much for a threeway), Mercedes/Annette is shippy right from their C and only becomes more so, Mercedes/Felix also pulls the “you’re like my sibling” bit and will eventually resolve itself in sex, Ashe/Felix looks to be setting up Felix for the really close friends *nudge nudge wink wink* with the king scenario, and Ashe/Ingrid oddly sidesteps the sexism Ingrid faces, positing that the reason she can’t be a knight isn’t because she’s a woman but because she’s the only heir to a crest. Cyril needs to calm down in general, but he’s less over the top than some past FE workaholics. Dimitri runs away from women and needs Sylvain to bail him out, and meanwhile knight NPCs are spreading dirty rumors about how, ahem, close he is to a man of Duscur. Mercedes almost kills Dimitri and gets into some genuinely interesting comparative theology with Dedue, and Anna randomly shows up in one of the supports I don’t remember too well (Ashe/Annette, maybe?).

Side note: I am personally annoyed that, as of right now, whoever’s been writing up the TVTropes* page for the Three Houses casts has deemed Dimitri, Felix, and Sylvain Ambiguously Bi for their paired endings amongst each other...but has said nothing about Dimitri/Dedue. Hmph.

*Never the most reliable source for anything, but I’m feeling petty.

[cuban-feminist-that-gives-a-hoot]

Okay! (MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5)

So, I beat Persona 5 a few days ago and I have thoughts. Lots of them. They’re going under the cut because spoilers! Seriously, there are spoilers in here. Do not read until you’ve beaten the game. Short answer for what I’m about to say is this: I love Persona 5. It is the best Persona game ever and makes Final Fantasy XV look like a goddamn weak shit of a game (well, more than it already does)

On to the spoilers!

Now that we’re under the spoiler category, let’s talk about the twists and everything else in it.

1. Akechi’s plan to get back at Shido is probably the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard of a supposedly smart person come up with. So he hires himself out as an assassin for him in order to get close and gain his trust, and decide that, once he becomes Prime Minister, he’s going to shame him with the knowledge that he’s your dad?

*takes a deep breath* Why in all hells on this earth did he think Shido would feel shame for abandoning him and his mom? Hell, Shido’s shadow flat out admitted that he was going to kill him after becoming Prime Minister. What the fuck was he going to do about that? This plan of his is convoluted and dumb and he is dumb for coming up with it in the first place. The only reason why the plan isn’t any dumber is simply because Akechi’s a teenager and even the smartest of teenagers do not always come up with great plans.

2. The twist about Akechi being the one selling you out and the killer is, well, one that is obvious if you’re paying attention. Yes, it’s mainly the Pancakes bit in June and it’s the biggest clue the game throws at you. Remember this about Persona 5: If something in the game seems off, there’s a reason for it and it will be explained.

3. Getting on the path to the true, good ending is far easier than in vanilla Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden. In Persona 4, you had to stop them from throwing Namatame in the T.V, name Adachi as the culprit, and don’t go home when you’re prompted to on the last day that you’re in Inaba. However, the answer choices are not so simple and clear-cut in that game compared to Persona 5. In Persona 5, it’s easily just this: Don’t cut a deal with anybody and don’t sell anyone out. You do those two things and you’ll get the good ending with no trouble at all.

4. Goddamn, Shido’s a fucking prick. This asshole wants to do all this shit simply because he wants to be Prime Minister? Seriously?! When the most minor of shit that he’s done was frame you for something you didn’t do, it makes all of Shido’s other shitty actions all the worse for it. I will say, however, that it was sweet, sweet retribution when I kicked his ass for all the shit he put our beloved Trickster through. Also, I can’t be the only one that felt massive shades of Donald Trump in this entire thing with Shido, right?

5. The playable characters: Holy fucking shit, I love them. There is not one character in the Phantom Thieves group that is boring or bad. Everything about these characters are lovable and I want to protect them. There was some neat stuff too, like Ryuji having his moment in Shido’s palace by getting the lifeboat for the team or Makoto coming up with the plan to trick Akechi at the police station to Futaba using a character quirk to bug Akechi’s phone. Like, I am so happy that this team is not a bunch of idiots. Akechi’s smart, but the Phantom Thieves are way smarter than they appear to be. They almost figured out that Akechi was sketchy since the Pancakes incident and they planned for the Trickster to get caught and be interrogated by Sae. This is some meticulous planning done by the team and I love it. <3

Now, onto the characters themselves:

 - Ryuji’s a sweetheart. He’s a lovely mix of Yosuke and Kanji. Not exactly an idiot, but someone loyal and determined to stop Kamoshida. He is someone that would’ve sacrificed his life if it meant saving someone. He’s a hero and someone that didn’t deserve the bullshit he went through. I didn’t realize it at first, but after @ominous-musings mentioned it, he also reminds me of another blond, secretly smart hero: Zell Dincht from Final Fantasy VIII. And no, I am not kidding about Zell being smart. Because he is. He’s very smart.

 - Ann’s a sweetheart and watching her tear her mask off and getting her Persona was so, sooooo satisfying (hell, just about all of them were). I like her. She’s amazing and the only reason I didn’t date her was because Morgana was so in love with her and I honor the bro code immensely.

 - Speaking of Morgana... OMG, I am so, so glad that Morgana’s origins were explained. He is such a darling and, despite the name and the voice, is male. He clearly identifies as such, so no need to assume that Morgana’s anything but male. Cutest Persona mascot ever. Teddie has lost his throne as the cutest and, so has Koromaru (and don’t get me wrong, I love them both. Who doesn’t love Combat Dog and Pun-making Shadow Bear?). I am so happy that he didn’t die in the end. Also, he gets the best moment in the true ending. Clearly, he could work as a mechanic in the future. XD

 - Makoto, holy shit. She is awesome. Her codename is Queen and she exemplifies it. She is the goddamn queen and brains of the operation. She is amazing. Were it not for the next character, I would’ve made her my girlfriend. Everything about her is amazing. <3

 - Holy fucking shit, Futaba is a darling, protect her from all the evils in the world! She is such a sweetheart and I love her. I made her my girlfriend in my first playthrough and I do not regret it. She is amazing and darling. I love her persona, both initial and ultimate. I just love her. *_*

 - Yusuke is a goddamn weirdo. He is also a bit judgy as hell, but you know what? I like his weird, judgy ass. He’s got some of the best lines and his weirdness just fits in so well. Also, his mask is really nice, merely because I am a sucker of the fox motif he has going on with his costume.

 - Then, there’s Haru. Now, Haru unfortunately got the short stick in characterization, but the little bit we do get is that she’s sweet and kind. She probably has one of the best Thief costumes out there, but her civilian outfits are... well, even with money, you can’t buy good style and fashion sense. Also, her hair is nice. I like her hair. <3

 - Goro Akechi. *takes a deep breath* How dare he presumes to be the second coming of the Ace Detective?! There is only ONE Ace Detective out there and that is Naoto Shirogane! If anyone should be the second coming of the Ace Detective, it’s Makoto Niijima. *clears throat* Beyond that, Akechi can be an irritating tit even before his betrayal comes out. Too bad the twist of him being a villain doesn’t surprise the more observant. I mean, for hell’s sake, his codename is Crow. I have learned to never trust anyone named Crow in any context. Also, apparently Akechi/MC is the most popular ship on Ao3. I get why, I really do, but I don’t like it. :P

 - And finally, we have the Trickster himself. And wow, he is pretty. He’s prettier than both the P3 and P4 protagonists and has a bit more of a personality to him. I’m glad he does say a bit more too. He’s cocky, a show-off, and has one of the best smirks around. Also, he has an amazing sense of justice (Hell, all of the playable characters, save Akechi, do). The reason why he got probation was just to save someone else that was being attacked and yet, because of Shido’s dickishness, he got arrested and charged for something he was innocent of. His thief outfit is so damn slick and very well-designed. Also, Arsene is one of the most slickly-designed starter personas ever. And I can’t wait for a 2nd playthrough, just so that I can have Satanael in my party. *_*

6. The Confidant links are also amazing. Just about all of them are good people. My favorites was the Sun, Hierophant, Moon, and Star arcanas. Mainly because all the people with them are just amazing, especially Yoshida and Sojiro.

Holy shit, Yoshida’s entire link is amazing. He’s a politician that has fucked up in the past, but is determined to become an honest, truthful politician that wants to do the right thing. Given the political climate, we need more politicians like Yoshida.

The other one, Sojiro, is the dude that took you in and stuffed you in the attic above his coffee shop. He, like all the other adults, does not have a good first impression, but holy shit, by the end of this game, you want him to adopt you. This is the kind of dude that would’ve adopted the entire group and have them as his own misfit family if he could. He’s such a sweetheart with a gruff exterior. He adopted Futaba after the last relative, a shitty uncle, treated her so horribly that he paid a lot of money to get her out of there and give her a loving home. And then when he finds out that they’re the Phantom Thieves, he’s worried for them, of course, but he’s also accepting of them. Sojiro Sakura is, without a doubt, the best parental figure in a Persona game. Move over, Dojima, we have a new parental figure. <3

All in all, if you haven’t played this game, then what the fuck are you doing reading this? Go get this game and play it! If you only have a PS3, I promise you that it doesn’t look bad on the PS3 at all. It looks excellent on both systems and is worth your time in playing and beating it. If you want to see what a good story and good character development looks like, play this game. Unlike FFXV, where I kept asking myself, “WTF did Squix spend their time on with this game?!”, I don’t have to ask where Atlus spent their time on this game. How they spent their time was making a masterpiece. *_____*

[katefathers]

Kate Watches: Sherlock Series 4

I decided to wait for the entire series to air before I reviewed it, and considering this may be the final series I’m glad I did.

Overall, Series 4 was much better than the last. It didn’t have any episodes written by Stephen Thompson, whose work was always my favourite, and I don’t think a single episode passed the Bechdel Test, but it felt much more like Sherlock than Series 3. Unfortunately, it also felt like Moffat and Gatiss wanted to write James Bond.

In the first two series of Sherlock, it struck a really good balance between being a murder mystery show and a character drama. It was grounded, as while the primary characters did solve crimes (crimes that often edged in to extraordinary territory) they were largely private citizens living their lives. They weren’t held up as these incredible, singular, superhuman people. By the end of Series 2 Sherlock did gain some media attention, but it was framed as an anomaly. That kind of attention--that kind of status--was not the norm. When Series 3 aired, instead of returning to the established format, the writers decided to bring the character drama in to the forefront, and Series 4 continued that trend until the cases were almost an afterthought. And what mystery we did have no longer started as something simple--an average person bringing an interesting problem to Sherlock to be solved. Instead there were bombs, and spies, and politicians, and explosions, and drones, and a finale that felt like Sherlock Holmes-meets-Saw, and that is not the show I first started watching. It was not the show I was sold.

Honestly, I’m not sure why this happened. Did the writers feel like each season had to be bigger than the last? Did they think viewers expected Mission Impossible: Baker Street instead of a simple crime show? Personally, I didnt need the show to be more bombastic. I didn’t need Sherlock and John to be one step away from joining MI6. And I think the character drama would have been better served if the writers had stuck with their original approach and kept things simple. I’ve watched enough Moffat programming to know that he doesn’t believe that simple stories can be affecting, but they can be. The original Sherlock Holmes stories certainly were. Take “The Copper Beeches”, where it takes place in one location and with a small cast of characters and no one from the government gets involved. Or “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”, where despite revolving around a Countess’ missing jewel its fairly low-key and Holmes and Watson wind up solving the mystery through chance. If the character arcs were going to be so imortant, then they should have been given the room to develop properly. Don’t bog down your story with car chases and lengthy speeches by the villains. Keep the story intimate. Have the growth of the characters be clear. Just because a story is complicated doesnt mean it’s good, which is a big problem with Moffat’s writing. Clarity can be powerful. Tight writing with no plot holes is Good Writing 101.

In the end, that’s the biggest sticking point for me: the writers spent so much time on the emotional lives of the characters, but it still feels like they bungled it. Was John’s almost-adultery story really necessary? Was Mary’s death, and John’s becoming a single parent to an infant, not enough? Did we really need a “Save John Watson” storyline that resulted in Sherlock (again) turning to drugs? Did we really need to shoehorn in Moriarty when his story was over, and Eurus deserved more build up and a solidly established motivation? Eurus was clearly integral to Sherlock’s character, and yet we spent all of Series 3 on Magnussen and wasted two episodes of Series 4 on repairing John and Sherlock’s relationship which didn’t need to be broken in the first place. Personally, I would have scrapped the Magnussen storyline and made Eurus the villain of the last two series, just as Moriarty was the villain of the first two. Sherlock could have returned to his normal life in Series 3, and then slowly seen it disturbed. Mary’s death, rather than drive a one-episode wedge and revisit her concluded Series 3 storyline, could have been the product of an accident. Imagine the tragedy of having Mary survive an assassin’s life, only to die in a painfully normal way? (If she had to die at all, because the writers have changed things before.) It could have even been made ambiguous so you--and the characters--would, as the series went on, wonder if her death really was an accident, or if it was something planned by Eurus. Series 4 didn’t need to be so messy. It didn’t have to feel like it couldn’t figure out where to focus.

But for all the faults of Series 4, “The Final Problem” was probably the best episode. It was, at times, needlessly over the top and not a little ridiculous, but once we got to the meat of Eurus’ plan and her full backstory it really shone. The scenes with Eurus’ games were focused and tense, and the best was definitely the scene between Molly and Sherlock. The acting was fantastic, and it was a hugely powerful moment (in large part because Molly is a character we know, unlike the previous victims). My only quibble is that the consequences of this scene--and Molly’s character as a whole--were never resolved. Mycroft’s story was wrapped up, and we got to see where John was in the aftermath, but save for a brief glimpse of Molly at the end, there is nothing. Her story--and Sherlock’s--is left hanging. Honestly, while disappointed, I’m not surprised. As I’ve said, I’ve seen a lot of Moffat’s work, and the consequences of his plots are rarely explored, especially for female characters. Amy Pond had her baby stolen, and River Song was brainwashed, and neither of those things were dealt with. It’s sloppy, unsatisfying storytelling, but it’s what I expect. Both Molly and Sherlock (hell, and the audience) deserved a scene that at least implied a reconcilliation. It could have been completely visual to keep the story open-ended for those who didn’t read Sherlock’s “I love you’s” (particularly the second one) as a romantic declaration. Sherlock removes the cameras from Molly’s flat and collects them on the coffee table. He sits beside her. Maybe he takes her hand. Make use of the medium! Giving their scene closure would have gone a long way to fixing one of the biggest criticisms I’ve seen of the episode: that Molly was used as a tool to further Sherlock’s emotional growth. Treating Molly like the complete character she is--giving her a scene where her emotions are valued--would have helped immensely. It also would have given her more screentime, as Molly was criminally underused.

(For me, Sherlock and Molly’s relationship is actually one of Sherlock’s great missed opportunities. While their scene in “The Final Problem” was wonderful, had their relationship been given the right care and attention it could have been truly revelatory. Like Josh and Donna’s kiss on The West Wing, or Rose’s “Doomsday” declaration, it could have been the moment where everything moved from unspoken subtext to something the characters--and the audience--can’t ignore. True, that would mean giving Sherlock a romantic storyline, but Sherlock was already vastly different from its source material. I wish the writers had been willing enough to truly own it.)

Also, if Series 4 could have had fewer voice overs and stopped repeating people’s full names that could have been fantastic. It just got weird.

As a final series, Sherlock Series 4 was okay. It was confused and convoluted, and deviated from the show’s original format so much that I actively missed Sherlock’s visual deductions and the music that accompanied his cases. While it did have some really good moments, and some nice character growth, and the wonderful bookend of Lestrade calling Sherlock a “good man”, harkening back to “A Study in Pink”, it ultimately did not live up to the promise of the first two series. The final montage indicates that the show has reset itself, and hopfully if there is a fifth series, or even a special, we will see something close to Sherlock’s original format. But if this is truly the end, well, I think I’m okay with that.

Edited: January 19, 2017. Because I am perfectionist trash.

[adamrevi3ws]

Death Stranding

Death Stranding (A Hideo Kojima Game) is the first video game I have ever bought at launch. It is also, possibly, the utter definition of “there’s a lot to unpack here.”

For those uninformed, Hideo Kojima is a video game designer/producer/writer/director, (in)famous for making games with very fun gameplay and level design, touching yet blatant social and political messages, and extremely convoluted and goofy storylines. Most of Kojima’s games have been from the Metal Gear series, revolutionary stealth games inspired from his love of 80s action movies, with a plot that sounds like it was written by a conspiracy theorist. Death Stranding is Kojima’s first game since his rocky exit from Japanese entertainment conglomerate Konami, and the game’s release has been subject to much excitement over the years due to Kojima’s massive reputation to its mysterious plot. Well, it’s been out for nearly a month, and I can confirm that everything you’ve heard about it, good, bad, and weird, is true. But overall, I actually liked it a good amount!

I’m going to start with the bad news, so bear with me. As some may have already noticed, I am becoming quite the stickler when it comes to pacing and I am sad to announce that this has some of the worst pacing that I have seen in a video game in a WHILE. The story itself is fine. To put it simply, you play as a post-apocalyptic deliveryman in a (weirdly mountainous) America fractured and destroyed by antimatter ghost attacks. To detect the ghosts, you wear a baby connected to the afterlife on your chest.  Your goal is to deliver packages and reconnect America to what is essentially the internet. As goofy as that sounds, the problem isn’t with the story, but rather how it’s told.  After the initial premise is established, the plot of a solid 80% of the game is pretty barebones, in which you deliver packages and have small arcs around memorable characters. Then, the last 20% game is this dragging, convoluted 3-4 hour movie with the occasional mediocre “bullet sponge” boss fight or short mission objective thrown in. For some reason, Kojima decided to throw in at least 80 different major emotional beats in that segment, and most of them feel pretty meaningless because they probably should have put in much earlier. A lot of these scenes should have happened earlier in the more gameplay focused part of the game, where its frustrating cutscenes felt like they said so much without really meaning anything. In previous reviews I have also talked my irritation with moments where it feels like stories should have ended, yet they continue to move on, for better or worse. One of the biggest offenders of this is Season 2 of Westworld. I am sad to say that Death Stranding has approximately one million moments like this. When the story’s initial premise seems to come to a stop and you think the credits are about to roll, some random twist happens and BOOM it’s nowhere near done. Even when the credits happen, the game still dawdles around for 30ish more minutes until you reach a proper conclusion to the plot and the “real” credits. I’d like to remind you, however, the story itself is alright. A lot of the individual cutscenes are filled with great acting and directing (it feels weird as hell to say this about a video game) despite Kojima’s over the top and unsubtle dialogue, I just wish they were arranged in a cohesive way. This game deals with a lot of great and relevant themes, and despite my issues with pacing, I think Kojima manages to do a decent job of conveying his message to us by the end. I just hope he takes a class on plot structure before writing his next big game.

Since a good amount of this game is cutscenes made with elaborate motion capture technology, I’d like to talk about the characters. The people in this game aren’t just your run of the mill voice actors, but in fact some pretty big names you might have heard of. The main character is “played” by Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, while other important characters are played by actors Mads Mikkelsen and Léa Seydoux, and the likenesses of famous directors Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn are even major forces in the plot. While everything about these characters is goofy, ranging from names (DIE-HARDMAN), backstories, and dialogue, Kojima nevertheless does a great job of fleshing them out and using them to tell a relatively solid story about making strong connections in a difficult world. While I wouldn’t exactly say Kojima’s writing is subversive, he does a great job of developing characters further than the archetype they initially come off. Norman Reedus’ protagonist originally feels typecast as your standard edgy loner action hero, but the more you play as him, the more you realize he’s just kind of a quirky introvert more than anything else. Even the narrative’s “damsel in distress” unfolds to be something more than meets the eye. I think my personal favorite characters would be Léa Seydoux’ Fragile and Guillermo del Toro’s Deadman, and was frankly disappointed by Mads Mikkelsen’s relatively low amount of involvement in the game in comparison to that of others. For a game about making connections with others, Kojima does a great job of developing the connections between the protagonist (and you by extension) and Death Stranding’s ensemble.

Now, to finally answer the question that many of us have been asking for the past three years: what is it like to actually play the game? To put it frankly, it is a good game - but not a fun game. If you can make sense out of that and can find value in experiences other than the vague ideal of “fun” in video games, you might be able to enjoy this. I’m sorry about how pretentious that sounded but you have to trust me. Many have described Death Stranding as an “advanced walking simulator,” and I find that to be fundamentally untrue. Instead, it is rather an “every time you ever stumbled while hiking simulator”. Although you have the option to fight ghosts, bandits, and terrorists in your deliveries later in the game, the real enemies are the environment and the weight you’re carrying. Because Kojima has a hilariously incorrect idea of American geography, you barely run into any smooth or flat terrain. At the beginning of the game, getting nearly anywhere is an intense struggle against the elements, and in nearly every mission I somehow managed to slip, fall, get attacked, or lose myself in a river, or a combination of the four. This is why I said the game isn’t “fun”. Additionally, you’re carrying a LOT. Not only do you carry cargo, but also the equipment you need to traverse this extreme world, meaning you need to plan very carefully based on where you’re going and how much you’re carrying. Oh, let I should also mention that the cargo itself has certain problems, like conditions for proper delivery (keeping a pizza upright at all times) or issues with its weight, meaning this game is a literal balancing act. Death Stranding is very much “Man vs Wild,” except instead of drinking your piss like Bear Gryllis, you carry it on your back to throw it at ghosts (this is a real game mechanic I’m not kidding).

As daunting as that might sound, something about it pays off. I’m a sucker for good open-world games, and being able to soak in the absolutely gorgeous atmosphere combined with the sense of accomplishment you feel after making another delivery through another challenging wasteland is fantastic. Factor in the fantastic (although almost randomly occurring) soundtrack by Icelandic band Low Roar, and you get an almost meditative experience. And that isn’t even mentioning the cooperative element. One major game mechanic in Death Stranding is that, while not a proper multiplayer game, other players can leave behind essential equipment or build helpful structures for other players. I cannot count the number of times I was thankful for someone leaving a ladder for me to climb a towering cliff or building a bridge over an impenetrable river. I think I’m probably the most thankful for players who build “timefall shelters,” which allow you to protect your cargo from oppressive rain that would otherwise ruin their containers. This silent sense of gratitude and consideration for others is the core of Death Stranding, fulfilling Kojima’s overall message of choosing to connect with the rest of the world rather than isolating oneself. In some deliveries I might climb an entire mountain, find a motorcycle left for me by another player, and ride all the way down just to be stuck in a river that I can only traverse wearing an otter hood given to me by Conan O’Brien, and then another player could end up completing the same delivery in a completely different way. Death Stranding is the type open-ended of game where the stories and paths you make with others are equally important (if not more in my opinion) than the one you see in the cutscenes.

I don’t think Death Stranding will ever live up to the amount of hype it’s gotten over the years, and that’s perfectly fine. It is by no means a game for everybody, but if you’re like me and can make the grind through its slightly unappealing gameplay style and poor plot structure, you’ll find something quite unique and beautiful. I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Death Stranding, you’re pretty good!

[nightmareonfilmstreet]

They’re Here… To Stay: 36 Years of POLTERGEIST

You can probably remember the first time you watched a scary movie, your first horror movie – and that stomach-quenching, sweat-inducing, hair-raising feeling it gave you.  When I think of the one that sent the good old-fashioned electric chills down my spine (and still does to this day no matter how many films I consume),  my mind instantly lands on the eerie illuminated silhouette of a little girl sitting in front of a television set with her hands flat on the screen. I think of Poltergeist.

Poltergeist, Tobe Hooper’s 1982 film revolves around the family and home of Steve and Diane Freeling played by JoBeth Williams (The Big Chill, Kramer vs. Kramer) and Craig T. Nelson (The Skulls, The Devils Advocate) and their children Dana, played by Dominique Dunn, Carol Anne played by Heather O’Rourke, and Robbie, played by Oliver Robbins. Strange supernatural occurrences progress into a relentless haunting. When the youngest of the Freeling children disappears into thin air, Steve and Diane, with the help from a seasoned medium and a few knowledgeable paranormal investigators, are forced to face their fears together as a unit in order to rescue her from the malevolent spirits of the undead.

Since it turns 36 years old today, I’ve decided to honor it by listing 36 reasons why it is such a great film, in no particular order.

“Now…hold onto yourselves.”

    1. It’s a classic haunted house story.

Why are haunted houses so scary? It’s a pretty simple answer on the surface that can set roots down and dig deep. There is something terrifying about the defilement of your own home, your sanctuary, and that is exactly what happens to The Freeling Family and their home, sweet home. It’s worse when that defiling comes at the hands of an unknown, malevolent omnipresence. Because of all the reasons below, plus more, Poltergeist continues to hold rank as one of the most memorable haunted house films.

  2. The main characters are extremely average.

Characters of a film, whether horror or not, should stand out in some shape, way, or form. Writing an original personality or sculpting a character to fit the ‘unique’ mold is not an easy task. What makes The Freeling Family so special? Nothing at all. The fact that they are a totally average, American family makes them ironically unique in the genre.

However, this nuclear family is relatable to most audiences. And if your audience identifies with the character, whatever is happening on-screen to the characters makes the audience feel like it’s happening to them. When we identify, we empathize, we make ourselves vulnerable to all the feelings and that includes fear.  I don’t know about you, but I have zero desire to slide across the kitchen floor due to some magical unseen force, thank you.

  3. It all takes place in suburbia.

Going hand-in-hand with characterization, the setting plays a major role in the quality and effectiveness of the film. Poltergeist’s haunting takes place, very purposefully, in a home of a neighborhood that you and I could easily find ourselves living in or already living in. Again, we can identify with The Freelings.

One random situation about Poltergeist that always stuck with me occurred in the end when Diane’s is trying to get back into her house to battle paranormal Beast once more for her children. She frantically tries to get back in the house – alerting the apprehensive, and no doubt frightened neighbors, begging them for help. It’s a very small detail, but unlike a lot of films where the inhabitants of surrounding houses all seem to disappear when our protagonists are in danger, The Freelings’ neighbors do what any normal people would do: check out what the hell is going on outside and then go back to being of no help at all. It adds realness to the setting. I mean, if I was running around half-dressed screaming into the dead of night my neighbors would come to help me out…or at least pretend to attempt to.

  “You only moved the headstones!”

  4. The motive behind the haunting is simple.

What ruins many supernatural stories is the inability to explain why the occurrence is happening in the first place. This is where filmmakers are thrown off and the story folds on itself becoming a convoluted mess. Poltergeist keeps it simple: the lovely suburban neighborhood is constructed on an Indian burial ground and the lazy, greedy contractors failed to remove the bodies. They moved the headstones, but that’s about as good sweeping dust under a rug. There is paranormal lore to back this situation up too! Well, this dust is pissed its sleeping ground is soiled by the living and retaliates by dragging your daughter into the realm of the dead to steal her life force. Next time, make a check list.

  5. The ‘curse’ of Poltergeist.

Of all the conspiracies and oddities of Hollywood, the curse supposedly put on those who worked on Poltergeist is by far my favorite. There is far too much to discuss here so I will leave you to do the reading separately. It’s totally worth a Google, but I will tell you it ranges from the uncommon terminal illness of the star to random tragic deaths of crew members that are full of what could just be interesting coincidences or the workings of the dead. You decide. Either way, the speculation adds a hint of spookiness to Poltergeist that most films (I guess, thankfully) don’t have.

    6. Tangina Barrons.

By the time the helpful medium shows up to save the day, the poor Freelings are at the end of their rope and we, as an audience, are too. For so many reasons the elderly woman is a huge sigh of relief for The Freelings, they now have some hope of saving their daughter with help from an experienced pro, and for us, we can breathe with the help of some comic relief provided by Tangina. Her unfazed demeanor and confidence in facing the menacing spirits is quick to calm everyone… before things get bad again. Yet still the sweet old lady pushes the family through as any strong matriarch would. Who you gonna call? Tangina.

  7. Coulrophobia.

Of course with the recent success of Andy Muschietti’s IT and the iconic stature of Stephen King’s original film, when most people think of clowns their mind conjures up Pennywise. But those of you old school kids will think of the awful, possessed clown doll that taunts and then attacks Robbie, the middle child. It’s an iconic scene and may have well induced more Coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) in the masses since John Wayne Gacy.

  8. Tangina’s Life After Death monologue.

To detail a little more about the realm of the immortal, Tangina explains the life after death theory to Diane and Steve. She tells them about the light we see when we die, how some move on, and some don’t. The way in which actress recites her lines, as delicately and lovingly as a mother tucking her children in to sleep at night, puts The Freelings and viewers at ease with the inevitable destination we all reach at some point. Her delivery is cathartic and honest. The mood shift that occurs when she adds the warning about the hate and rage of the Beast that surrounds them is almost palpable and puts us right back into a state of fear before following The Freelings to rescue Carol Anne from it. In my opinion,  simultaneously the most comforting and unsettling monologue in all of cinema.

  9. The third act’s third act.

Poltergeist succeeds so well where a majority of horror movies fall flat. The third act is powerful, quick, relevant, and scary. Diane retrieves Carol Anne from the dead, the house is clean, and the family settles down thinking everything will go back to normal. SIKE. The spirits are even more pissed and attack the family with more hate and gusto than ever before. It’s everything the ending of a horror movie should be and more. Poltergeist lets you know that the dead aren’t removed so easily, death is constant. That rug will be moved one day, so it’s best to get a vacuum.

  10. Palette-cleanser.

As a little ‘a-ha!’ jab in the very end (the real end), The Freelings flee to a motel. Like a tired family returning from an amusement park, they slug inside only for Steve to wheel out the television. That family takes no chances. It’s another little detail that makes us laugh a little and after sitting through two hours of ghosts and beasts and the un-dead was very much needed. The Freelings’ good humor is the perfect end note. I wonder if they were able to actually sleep that night?

  “They’re here…”

  11. One-liners galore!

Mr. Spielberg knows how to write a line and Poltergeist is full of them. We still quote it to this day. Be it a clever one liner or some of the best dialogue in horror, Poltergeist is an expert piece filled with meaning and “many hearts”.

    12. The mundane becomes monstrous.

Is a piece of raw meat scary? It is after you watch Poltergeist! This film takes normal, domestic things like trees, toys, the family pool, a lamp, furniture, and, especially, your television and turns them into terrorizing vessels of the dead’s biding. I’m still afraid I’m going to walk out of a room and walk back into it only to find the furniture all disheveled and randomly stacked up. Almost 90% of Poltergeist takes place in or around the Freeling property containing this ongoing ghostly assault within the one space a person is supposed to feel the most safe. The choices for scares are smart because they make the normal abnormal and the simple petrifying. The dead use the objects of The Freelings’ house to enact their revenge on them, a tactic like this is pretty personal and hits very close to home.

  13. The visual effects were, well… effective.

I have no choice but to keep this point and then next short as they could be discussed at great length. Poltergeist was made during a time where visual effects either made or broke a movie. They hold up 36 years later or they don’t. Being the visual masterpiece that it is, both real or digitally enhanced, Poltergeist is one of those horror films that has masterful effects never once letting us doubt if what we’re seeing could be a reality or not. We live in a world where the less we are shown, the scarier the experience is, but Poltergeist puts everything right in front of eyes in plain sight, horrifying us all the same. It makes it possible for a full demon face to take up the framing of a closet, for a woman to be stuck the ceiling of her bedroom, for a man to feel his own flesh right off of his face, and for a children’s room to become a swirling circus of toys.

  14. The imagery does the talking.

Poltergeist’s overall look is hands-down untouchable. The way the dark, ethereal, and realistic representations of the dead clash with the bright-colored, natural domestic elements of The Freeling home make it a visual experience for viewers. Everything from Carol Anne’s bright long blonde hair to the red nose of the possessed clown doll to the blind portal light are images that stay with us long after the credits roll.

  15. The storyline doesn’t require analysis.

Nowadays films try so hard to be divisive and symbolic, but it is this yearning to be unique that is often the nail in the coffin for many. It could be that we, as a general audience, demand more from writers, directors, and producers, but the simplicity of the classics is understandably hard to master. Poltergeist is heavy in tone and does have all of those analytical elements behind it, but you do not have to be a literary scholar or well versed in Latin or Greek mythology to get its message. Whether you are in it for the scary haunted house story or wish to interpret the mechanics of the afterlife, Poltergeist is the perfect vessel for both.

    16. There are lessons to be learned.

Horror films usually provide a lot of meaning, but fewer leave room for lesson interpretation. No elaboration needed: Don’t build any living quarters on burial grounds of any sort and when your time comes, go into the light.

  17. It’s directed written and produced by Steven Spielberg.

Due to contractual obligations in regards to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg (Jaws) could not direct Poltergeist, but he did write and produce it. There is some speculation and commentary made about him directing the director, Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and the finished product all but has his signature on it. Poltergeist has that nostalgic, ordinary meets supernatural, expertly crafted feel to it. Whatever the controversy depends on, it’s obvious that Spielberg had more to do with this film than the writing. Whatever his involvement in Poltergeist, we are eternally grateful.

  18. Diane and Steve Freeling are good parents.

The Freeling parents and their children appear to be a normal, solid unit and ironically in this genre that is exactly what they truly are. Aside from typical domestic problems, there is no deviation from the desirable white picket fence plan. What I like the most? They light up in their bedroom to relax and take the edge off. Just kidding! When it’s obvious that something is amiss in their house and that something has taken one of their children, Diane and Steve come to terms with the weird situation they’re in and are quick to get help, the right kind of help, with little to no skepticism. In a world of the irrational, Diane and Steve are soberly rational.

    19. Diane Freeling is the real MVP.

I’m not a parent yet, but sacrificing yourself for your children is something I understand wholeheartedly. With that said, I always seem to find myself thinking ‘Nope’ every time Diane rushes right into the ghostly fires to get to Carol Anne and Robbie. She is quick to be the one to enter the closet portal, possibly the mouth of Hell, to get to her daughter, and in the end she relentlessly pushes through all the horrific forces thrown at her to rescue her children.

Steve is a good father and all, but it is always Diane physically and mentally stepping up to the plate to end this situation and keep her family safe. How do you react to your daughter telling you she talks to and sees the “TV people”? I’m sure parental love, especially that of a mother, is the most powerful feeling of all and we have it in us when we step into that role, but I might need some convincing and mental hype-up before someone tied a rope to my waist and sent me off into a world crawling with angry spirits to rescue anything. A shot of whiskey would help too.

  20. The haunting is well-paced.

The progress of the spirits making themselves known sets the stage for this film and is realistically paced. When there are reports of disturbances, whether real or purely as hoaxes, it is common for the entity to seem friendly at first. That interaction slides into a little mischievous fun, with the spirits feeding off of our energy to become stronger. Once that happens the real haunting occurs and the spirits become hostile. It is a constant, linear build up. Poltergeist sticks to this evolution and is supremely successful in feeding off of our increasing fear as we take this journey with The Freelings, thankfully, over the course of two hours.

  21. Poltergeist II and III are not that bad!

It’s relatively known that sequels and any installments following are expected to be less than sub-par in comparison to the original. Poltergeist is a heck of a tough act to follow, but Brian Gibson’s Poltergeist II: The Other Side is a worthy successor with a (in my opinion) meaner and more frightening villain: Reverend Kane, played expertly by Julian Beck. He is absolute nightmare fuel. The quality lessens with Gary Sherman’s Poltergeist III, taking the story to a more urban setting and introducing new characters, while keeping Heather O’Rourke for the ghost show to traumatize. Again, not as good enough original, but good watches in a lesser realm.

Fun fact: Poltergeist II was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects too!

  22. The remake should be looked at as a form of flattery.

Gil Kenan’s (Monster House) 2015 remake of Poltergeist was pretty much a flop, but that really comes as no surprise. The classics of any genre should be left alone as there is an unattainable notoriety that comes with that status. We can always hope to enjoy them, but it’s never the same or better. The remake’s ultimate ‘meh’ quality is a true testament to all of the successful elements that made 1982’s Poltergeist an anomaly. Let sleeping spirits lie.

  23. Ahhh! Real corpses!

The scene where Diane winds up in the pool trench in the backyard that has begun to fill with water and rotting corpses has a bit more going on that what we see on-screen. Though the visual effects are great, it seemed like someone thought going all-in as far as corpse props was the best way to produce the ultimate scare. Yes, those are real cadavers and skeletons. Production is expensive and the real thing was cheaper. I guess some projects require a little conservation? It’s another one of those Poltergeist fun facts and one that only a handful of films claim to have. This is rumored to be the reason behind ‘the curse’, which unfortunately and ironically proves this film broke its own lesson. Just don’t mess with the dead or their resting place.

    24. It’s rated… PG?

Poltergeist is rated PG! Granted there was no official PG-13 rating at the time and it didn’t have enough violence to be considered Rated-R, it’s difficult to wrap your head around. I still wouldn’t be able to watch this alone in the middle of the afternoon and I’m almost 30 years old. Frozen and Shrek are rated-PG if that puts it in perspective for you. Why is this a good point? Nowadays, most films aim for an R-rating to be successful. Poltergeist terrified everyone, still does, and established itself as a classic all within the parameters of a PG-rating.

  25. The focus is on fear, real and imagined.

Though the plot is relatively simple, should you want to do any sort of analysis on Poltergeist, you’ll find that one of the major focuses of the plot is fear – that of the parents and that of the children. A parent’s worst fear is losing their children and being helpless. Children are afraid of monsters in the closet and thunderstorms. The universal fear we all have in common: dying. This film ties them altogether. Poltergeist is a gem that represents the motifs of fears well without getting too detailed… or too depressing.

  26. There’s only one fatality and it doesn’t need more than that.

RIP Tweety.

  27. The score.

Jerry Goldsmith’s praised soundtrack is a medley of childlike whimsy, gradual intensity, and grandeur eeriness. It is an experience all its own, clearly stating the tone of Poltergeist’s purity, drama, and horror. I could only listen to it on YouTube for a few minutes while writing this.

  28. Poltergeist trivia!

Like the production curse, Poltergeist is full of fun facts and trivia! If you’re anything like me and love to gather up these little bits of information, I would Google this as well. Again, there is far too much to included here, but it’s one of those older films that has all the interesting bits and pieces to it. Did You know Drew Barrymore (Scream) was considered for the part of Carol Anne, but Spielberg cast her to E.T. Instead?

  29. Nods from the Academy.

Nominations include Best Original Music Score, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound Editing. Obviously.

  30. The problem is not an easy one to fix…

How do you get rid of the dead? You really can’t in a way. Tangina explains that they are always there, always around us, because the souls refuse to move on. The only thing we can do is guide them to the light and help transition their souls to the other side. Even she could not fix the whole problem in the end.  Since the issue remains, we’re ultimately left uneasy which is how one should feel at the end of any good horror film.

  31. You are scared from the beginning!

The first spook comes at around 3 minutes into the film. Spielberg wasted no time in hooking the audience. Starting off with a (star spangled) bang and then transitioning to the normal daily routine of The Freelings is a shock to our system and leaves us begging for more.

  32. It influences modern horror filmmakers.

If you’re a fan of James Wan you may notice some similarities between his high-grossing horror installments and Poltergeist. The second and only other time I can remember being terrified by a film was when I saw Insidious in theaters. I consumed horror movies throughout my youth rendering myself desensitized pretty quickly. I saw Insidious reluctantly with a few friends thinking it seemed like a B-horror movie. When the credits rolled and that harrowing fiddle began to play I knew I was about to watch something different, but something familiar at the same time. Like the semi-adult I was, Insidious was like a mature version of Poltergeist. All of the elements, some of them listed here, were resurrected and enhanced.

Before The Conjuring, Insidious, Paranormal Activity, and all the haunted house films that fall in between, Poltergeist created a paranormal language all its own lending it to film innovators of today and most assuredly in the future.

  33. It makes death okay, so we’re okay with it.

Circling back to Tangina’s monologue and even that of Dr. Lesh, the explanation of the afterlife, though unnerving, is somewhat consoling. If you believe in life after death this film should resonate with you. It gives reason to the mysterious evils of the natural world allowing us to cope with what we now understand. Poltergeist is not just here to shock and scare us, it’s a finger on the pulse of death.

    34. Jump scare rebounds like a champ!

Hooper and Spielberg mastered the art of building suspense. Executing the jump scare, and then fluidly moving forward – giving Poltergeist that perfect amount of dread and activity. The scares are not cheap, but rather keep the plot moving and our asses on the edge of our seat.

  35. It’s technically a techno horror.

At the time ghosts in film were known for moving objects around or were shown as eerie apparitions. Poltergeist, as far as I know, I saw one of the films that broke through the technology barrier and introduced paranormal communication to us in a new way. While nostalgic, it was a very modern move and hit close to home. How many of us own a television? How easy would it be for that static to turn sinister? We can only be thankful we don’t have cable sign-offs anymore.

  36. Dominique Dunne taught me how to flip people off.

I attended Catholic School for almost all of my academic years (a place that ironically produces more gore hounds and metal heads than any other existing institution), so we can say I was naive in my early years. I knew what giving someone ‘the finger’ meant, somewhat, but when I watched the scene of the beautiful Dominique Dunne giving the catcalling construction workers the big ‘up yours’ gesture, I knew that whatever it meant, I wanted to do it one day. I asked my dad what it meant and he, of course, mislead me to believe it was a secret way to tell people ‘f*** off’. Well, when little Charlie starts bugging me during Private Reading (don’t interrupt me during Private Reading time, the rule still applies today), I gave him a piece of my mind with the new gesture I learned from the cool girl in Poltergeist. It was the first time I landed myself a detention, certainly was not the last, but I’ll always remember it.

  With all this said, I have to give the reason I hate to saying when I recommend any film or need to back up its quality: It’s just good movie. If you’re experiencing it for the first time or taking a trip down memory lane, Poltergeist is sure to be a positive experience for you. If not, revisit this list. If you think I couldn’t come up with more you are dead wrong.

  The post They’re Here… To Stay: 36 Years of POLTERGEIST appeared first on Nightmare on Film Street - Horror Movie Podcast, News and Reviews.

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[cristophdecaermichael-blog]

Les MiseraBaristas

To understand more about Canada and its infamous King’s Prerogative.

                                                      Forward to Gar Pardy- Please and thank you!

 Fahmy Foundation          

To: Mohamed Fahmy

To: Gar Pardy

HELP ME GET BACK TO VANCOUVER – TO SAINT PAUL’S HOSPITAL

https://twitter.com/FahmyFoundation          

https://www.facebook.com/FahmyFoundation/

CC. Alison Smith

 https://youtu.be/OJJsBjZCDPU

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadian-malaysian-hubris-death-lepto-weils-de-caermichael/?published=t

PLEASE     NOTE THAT NOT ONLY WAS I ABUSED BY CHC-KL - DR.HEDY FRY AND THE PMO OFFICE     - ACCORDING TO CANADA - I PAID INTO A $ 1 BILLION FUND TOWARDS SUCH A     RESCUE. $

ALSO NOTE     THAT THE RCMP INVOLVEMENT WAS A WAY TO INTIMDATE AND THREATEN ME. SO     CANADA KNOWING ALL MY MEDICAL HISTORY WANTS ME TO DIE IN MALAYSIA. QUELLE     HORREUR

ALSO NOTE     - CANADA HAS SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR WHITE CANADIANS? I AM PORTUGUESE -     CANADIAN - AND I MENTIONED IT IN MY BLOG - I WAS SUBJECTED TO RACIAL SLURS     AND PROFILING DUE TO MY EXOTIC LOOKS THAT I FEATURED IN MY BLOGS AS A     POSSIBLE HATE CRIME. AND IT’S DISBURSEMENTOF EMERGENCY HELP – IS THE     KING’S PEROGATIVE-BY DISCRETION OF JUSTIN TRUDEAU - WHO PERSONALLY KNOWS     OF MY CASE.

Fahmy     Foundation

https://youtu.be/z_BVjrPV2KM

https://youtu.be/cfclGba2IIs

·         https://youtu.be/OJJsBjZCDPU

·         https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadian-malaysian-hubris-death-lepto-weils-de-caermichael/?published=t

·         https://youtu.be/MHTGKbRn6Xs

  CC. Omar Alghabra

Parliament Secretary – Consular Affairs

CC- Gar Pardy – fmr. Director General Consular Affairs

 ·        George and Amal Clooney -Clooney Foundation for Justice

·        CC.CFJ presidents George and Amal Clooney,

·        CC. CFJ Executive Director David Pressman

·         U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs. 

https://cfj.org/project/trialwatch/

trialwatch@cfj.org

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161103005251/en/U.S.-Ambassador-United-Nations-David-Pressman-Join

  Ambassador Pressman will also be serving as the Executive Director of the recently established Clooney Foundation for Justice. Pressman has advised a diverse set of highly-visible and prominent individuals on international strategy. With George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and producer Jerry Weintraub, Pressman co-founded Not On Our Watch —an international advocacy and grant-making organization designed to focus global attention and resources on mass atrocities and gross violations of international human rights.

URGENT PLEASE HELP

  George and Amal Clooney, Mohamed Fahmy & Omar Alghabra, Gar Pardy

 I have tried to reach Amal and then I discovered today that my situation has medically deteriorated – as well as legally. I am writing and documenting it – while I am dying and begging for help. Somehow my requests are being considered as? I may have only a few weeks left to live.  

8:57PM

                        Protection International counts with 20 years of experience working with human rights defenders at risk from our offices in Colombia, Guatemala, Thailand, Indonesia, Kenya and DRC

 Dear Cristoph, our organisation does not deal with reporting and denouncing human rights violations; however, you could address the ombudsmen in Malaysia and in Canada, plus the high commissioner for human rights (providing the general inboxes for each one). We hope that helps. Best regards to you,

  As a result of what I discovered today. The ICC vis a vis – Fatou Bensouda & Mr James Stewart- my case will never be heard. A massive Conflict of Interest as my case and life are under danger from Canada. I am dying and Canada is involved with my death. No wonder that all the agencies I contacted refused to assist me – they were all Canadian based – linked etc. As the Deputy Counsel for the ICC is a Canadian. There is massive conflict of interest. But in that conflict – is my death.

Please assist as per all the documents that I have written. I kept writing and contacting begging for help.

  Communications and claims under art.15 of the Rome Statute may be addressed to:

Information and Evidence Unit Office of the Prosecutor  Post Office Box 19519 2500 CM The Hague The Netherlands

or sent by email to otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int

or sent by facsimile to +31 70 515 8555.

  https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/otp

November 22, 2017        

                             I now realize why I am in grave danger. Canada blocked me and I see from all the ways Canada behaved – that there was a sense that they were untouchable. This statement indicates that Canada via Mr. James Stewart is in a conflict of interest.

The current Prosecutor is Ms Fatou Bensouda from The Gambia; her Deputy is Mr James Stewart from Canada.

No wonder I can’t get through to anyone. They all know why Canada is so deviant in regards to Human Rights. It may also explain why the CHC-KL can operate with no threat of impunity.

Now I require a huge legal team – that can fight for my life. I am really a dead man, walking.

   https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

                                  https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

                                                                                                                      https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/the-lepto-weils-ancillary-files/

                                                                                                                                                https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-your-honor-fatou-bensouda-oude-waalsdorperweg-10-2597-ak-the-hague-the-netherlands/        

 https://youtu.be/OJJsBjZCDPU

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadian-malaysian-hubris-death-lepto-weils-de-caermichael/?published=t

https://youtu.be/MHTGKbRn6Xs

 Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court YOUR HONOR – Fatou Bensouda Oude Waalsdorperweg 10 2597 AK, The Hague The Netherlands.

 2.     Julian Assange -Ecuadorean Embassy in London: Flat 3B, 3 Hans Cres, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 0LS, UK

 3.     Pamela Anderson Aid Still Required

·         Honorary PETA US Director Pamela Anderson

·         People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

·         501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510

 4.     Amal Clooney

·         c/o Richard Bayliss at r.bayliss@doughtystreet.co.uk.

·         54 Doughty Street

·         London

·         WC1N 2LS

·         020 7404 1313

 -URGENT -

I had sent out many letters via mail in the past month. Knowing that my case is convoluted - and that there is a chance I could perish before help arrives - I realized that I had to send emails to get through to Julian - Pamela - Amal- Her Honour ICC. 

I just do not know what to do any more and waiting to die is so hard. 

 My Name is Christopher De Caermichael – Canadian – I am dying of leptospirosis in Malaysia. The infection was placed in my bedding and within 30 minutes my life was over. That was January 13th. 2017 – The full case study – is in the documents and on line and in many Videos. I am being asked to move – so I don’t know my address.

I am so ill that the longest case – of anyone surviving without treatment is 10 months – November 13th 2017 marks that end – date. Due to the severity of the illness – I could not concentrate and I had no idea where to send a Plea. But I made many videos and sent documents to try and reach help.

Canada? Became very hostile when I asked for help and there are months of me contacting everyone – for Urgent Medical assistance.

 Malaysian doctors refuse to treat me – in fact it’s their credo to not treat any foreign visitors- it’s not dependant on money, it’s just what they do. Finally they confessed this reality and said I must understand that foreigners are too much of a liability.  The result is we will not treat you. Ever! They told me I will die from this – and best to get out ASAP. That was in June 2017. Please look at these links as the situation is dire.

 A Summary of Leptospirosis

 Please forgive any typos etc. The disease has hit my brain, so I don’t see or read as well as I used to. So, I have to admit that my life if not rescued is over. Why?

This is what is developing and I require urgent medical assistance. I have written a comprehensive document about the tragic ordeal that has affected me in Malaysia.

 The disease in Red are the ones I am infected with? With. But I am developing other symptoms rapidly.

·         Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome expanded.

·         Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome collapsed.

·         Lassa fever collapsed.

·         Leptospirosis collapsed.(MALAYSIA EPIDEMIC) 

·         Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM) collapsed.

·         Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever collapsed.

·         Plague collapsed.

·         Rat-Bite Fever collapsed

 As the facetious KL- Vice- counsel of Canada stated,” You seem to be contacting everyone” and laughs. Then he escalated the events into an international incident. Instead of assisting me, they went into a state that kept from leaving and getting assistance. Executive privileges may exist, but to harm innocent Canadians and interfere in getting medical assistance resulting in my death. Implicating, PMO office- Dr. Hedy Fry & the RCMP.

The issue with Malaysia

So far I have written many versions of the events, which shows my intent to get assistance but at the same may complicate my telling of the events, as I have tried so many times – therefore reported events may become clouded by cut and pasting. But it’s the same story.

What I am facing,

·         Imminent death

·         a lot of suffering

·         Increased Trauma especially if I have to get Medical assistance in Canada.

Increased risk of more permanent disease and damages. To my heart, liver and brain.

I am asking that my case be forwarded to:  And whoever can assist in this huge process. YOUR HONOR - Fatou Bensouda Oude Waalsdorperweg 10 2597 AK, The Hague The Netherlands. However it’s a huge organization and somewhere somehow someone can assist. PLEASE

 And that whatever assistance I can get. It’s way too complicated at this time. And my death may be? Soon? I don’t know please HELP – I BEG of YOU.  

        https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

 These videos try to explain all this colossal verbiage. The situation is so out of control – and death awaits – which is very scary.

https://youtu.be/cz-1txvbl5U

 https://youtu.be/--RpYDhDihQ

 https://youtu.be/gTg5PCMa7TY

 https://youtu.be/cjpy9PsldeE

 https://youtu.be/qGYnIlnaVJs

 https://youtu.be/opqT5h7uxco

https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

                                                                                                                      https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/the-lepto-weils-ancillary-files/

                                  https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-your-honor-fatou-bensouda-oude-waalsdorperweg-10-2597-ak-the-hague-the-netherlands/

 I JUST DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.

ALSO NOTE THAT THE RCMP INVOLVEMENT WAS A WAY TO INTIMDATE AND THREATEN ME.

Wow - CIC’s National Capital Branch on January 18. We focusing on increasing dangers for travelling Canadians, and on related issues of official services to support and assist distressed Canadians abroad.

Given the sheer numbers of Canadians living overseas (2.8 million), or travelling in and out of danger zones (subject to mishap, traffic accidents, natural disaster, theft, assault, arrest by foreign governments, kidnapping or murder), consular issues, and how they are handled, are of direct concern to all of us who travel, or who have loved ones who live, work or travel abroad. Are our expectations of government consular services too high or not high enough?

Gar Pardy: Leading expert on government services to citizens in foreign countries. Unparalleled experience in headquarters (11 years as Canada's Director General for Consular Services) and in the field in the US, Central America, Kenya and India. Published Afterwords From a Foreign Service Odyssey in 2015. Last year, proposed a comprehensive policy and legislative agenda for the reform of services for Canadians overseas (available on websites of the Rideau Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives).

  @cristophde

 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadian-malaysian-hubris-death-lepto-weils-de-caermichael/?published=t

https://youtu.be/SKn5UFAUDcc

 https://youtu.be/WsK_fTJ5ob0

https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/her-royal-majesty-queen-mother-diana-spencer-windsor/

 https://thebookof25.wordpress.com/2017/01/10/prince-harry-megan-markle-and-the-legacy-of-princess-diana/

https://youtu.be/WsK_fTJ5ob0

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/art-for-all-its-worth/

  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/her-royal-majesty-queen-mother-diana-spencer-windsor-de-caermichael?published=t

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/malaysia-the-twilight-zone/

https://youtu.be/SKn5UFAUDcc

 https://youtu.be/beJ258sQE50

·         https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jalanraya-basic-man-kalau-you-nampak-lobang-tapi-jadi-de-caermichael?published=t

·         file:///C:/Users/Cristoph-Dell/Desktop/LANDO%20REPORT.pdf

·         https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jalanraya-basic-man-kalau-you-nampak-lobang-tapi-jadi-de-caermichael?published=t

·          

 file:///C:/Users/Cristoph-Dell/Desktop/The%20adaptation%20of%20%20traditional%20Rorschach%20technique.pdf

Lando Zawawi and the Brotherhood of Mercy in Shah Alam Malaysia

https://youtu.be/hB2aZJpN-_Q

https://youtu.be/Xy9yKbUzEtE                                                            

https://youtu.be/chN90tJ668Y

https://youtu.be/SHcYFmlwksE

https://youtu.be/mAUxh-RKMHM

https://youtu.be/R85l8uvOuuE

https://youtu.be/KsCZXefx-Po

https://youtu.be/K3OyzFEyI90

https://youtu.be/2MvmxNn_zyc

https://youtu.be/hoGetWqAx5M

https://youtu.be/YpLEYNe3hNM

https://youtu.be/DogS19o_lxA

https://youtu.be/ydzXdPxOipQ

https://youtu.be/9Le-iw8d8r0

https://youtu.be/1DkPLaOiht8

https://youtu.be/NPI9XoVQiBE

https://youtu.be/sJ0SutY0Uyo

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-your-honor-fatou-bensouda-oude-waalsdorperweg-10-2597-ak-the-hague-the-netherlands/

https://youtu.be/2aDxw1U-YeE

file:///C:/Users/Cristoph-Dell/Desktop/IF%20IT%20BLEEDS%20IT%20LEADS.pdf

 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bleeds-leads-cristoph-de-caermichael?published=t

 https://youtu.be/beJ258sQE50

file:///C:/Users/Cristoph-Dell/Desktop/ALL%20THE%20EMAILS%20TO%20PAYPAL%20REQUESTING%20HELP.pdf

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/paypal-really-sucks-here-deets-get-through-peeps-de-caermichael?published=t

  THE BOOK of 25 - RORSCHACH IN COGNITION

https://youtu.be/2ZKV9v6toK8

 https://youtu.be/c_AxxBv2sPg

[obsession-of-the-day]

I still love SPN but I stopped watching. Here’s why:

I stopped watching SPN after the season 11 finale. At that point I still thought I’d just wait for season 12 to drop but when it did I just … couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Every time I made time to watch an episode I’d do something else instead in the end. After a while I kinda just accepted that I didn’t want to continue watching but I never had a good explanation why. But recently a friend of mine “spoilered” herself and then me (can you even call it a spoiler if you don’t watch the show anymore?) and in my ensuing rant-reply I finally found my answer.

It boils down to this: Nothing means anything anymore!

So apparently they killed Cas and Crowley which is just ridiculous at this point. I mean they’re basically main characters at this point, honorary Winchesters if you will, so pardon me if I don’t believe for one second that they’ll stay dead. So they’ll come back through some convoluted plot device, making the whole point of their deaths moot. The thing is, you can totally do something like this and have both the death and the return be shocking and meaningful. Once. Not all the time which, sadly, is what SPN has done. Killed off a character you could use to resolve something? No big deal – just resurrect them. *sigh* Well, anyway, the result is that this show has created impenetrable, quasi-in-universe plot armour for all important characters. If they’re important, they’re basically immortal. Oh, they’ll die, but good luck making sure they stay that way. They’re basically gods or at least demi-gods. They’re op. Even if they don’t realise it, the audience does. I mean when was the last time you were honestly at the edge of your seat, worrying one of the Winchesters will not make it out alive? Death has become meaningless in the SPNverse (how fitting that he’s dead….and killed by Sam no less).

And I know we joke that there used to be a time when one demon was like a big deal and now Crowley, king of hell, is basically their lapdog and they take them down by the dozen but it’s part of a bigger problem: SPN has failed to raise the stakes for our heroes in a meaningful way. And not for lack of trying. The darkness was supposed to be that, an adversary bigger than anything they faced before but in the end that too fell flat despite promising beginnings. I liked the approach they took with her at the start. Having her start out as a child, ultimately innocent but also without any sense of morality or the worth of (human) life and then having her grow and learn about humanity. Those were all good concepts to further the grey morality the show was going for at this point but then they just stopped doing anything meaningful with it and thus threw away what could have been a complex, engaging story. Of course telling such a story would have meant having less whacky filler episodes and we couldn’t have that, right? Ugh. Seriously, I used to love, capital L.O.V.E., some of the fillers but they’ve been getting out of hand and in the way of the actual narrative. What all of this left us with is a narrative with no stakes and god-like protagonists who are quasi immortal. Not a good jumping off point for future seasons.

[cristophdecaermichael-blog]

Mysterious Cases Of Time Travel That Can't Be Explained

To understand more about Canada and its infamous King’s Prerogative.

                                                      Forward to Gar Pardy- Please and thank you!

 Fahmy Foundation          

To: Mohamed Fahmy

To: Gar Pardy

HELP ME GET BACK TO VANCOUVER – TO SAINT PAUL’S HOSPITAL

https://twitter.com/FahmyFoundation          

https://www.facebook.com/FahmyFoundation/

CC. Alison Smith

 https://youtu.be/OJJsBjZCDPU

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadian-malaysian-hubris-death-lepto-weils-de-caermichael/?published=t

PLEASE     NOTE THAT NOT ONLY WAS I ABUSED BY CHC-KL - DR.HEDY FRY AND THE PMO OFFICE     - ACCORDING TO CANADA - I PAID INTO A $ 1 BILLION FUND TOWARDS SUCH A     RESCUE. $

ALSO NOTE     THAT THE RCMP INVOLVEMENT WAS A WAY TO INTIMDATE AND THREATEN ME. SO     CANADA KNOWING ALL MY MEDICAL HISTORY WANTS ME TO DIE IN MALAYSIA. QUELLE     HORREUR

ALSO NOTE     - CANADA HAS SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR WHITE CANADIANS? I AM PORTUGUESE -     CANADIAN - AND I MENTIONED IT IN MY BLOG - I WAS SUBJECTED TO RACIAL SLURS     AND PROFILING DUE TO MY EXOTIC LOOKS THAT I FEATURED IN MY BLOGS AS A     POSSIBLE HATE CRIME. AND IT’S DISBURSEMENTOF EMERGENCY HELP – IS THE     KING’S PEROGATIVE-BY DISCRETION OF JUSTIN TRUDEAU - WHO PERSONALLY KNOWS     OF MY CASE.

Fahmy     Foundation

https://youtu.be/z_BVjrPV2KM

https://youtu.be/cfclGba2IIs

·         https://youtu.be/OJJsBjZCDPU

·         https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadian-malaysian-hubris-death-lepto-weils-de-caermichael/?published=t

·         https://youtu.be/MHTGKbRn6Xs

  CC. Omar Alghabra

Parliament Secretary – Consular Affairs

CC- Gar Pardy – fmr. Director General Consular Affairs

 ·        George and Amal Clooney -Clooney Foundation for Justice

·        CC.CFJ presidents George and Amal Clooney,

·        CC. CFJ Executive Director David Pressman

·         U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs. 

https://cfj.org/project/trialwatch/

trialwatch@cfj.org

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161103005251/en/U.S.-Ambassador-United-Nations-David-Pressman-Join

  Ambassador Pressman will also be serving as the Executive Director of the recently established Clooney Foundation for Justice. Pressman has advised a diverse set of highly-visible and prominent individuals on international strategy. With George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and producer Jerry Weintraub, Pressman co-founded Not On Our Watch —an international advocacy and grant-making organization designed to focus global attention and resources on mass atrocities and gross violations of international human rights.

URGENT PLEASE HELP

  George and Amal Clooney, Mohamed Fahmy & Omar Alghabra, Gar Pardy

 I have tried to reach Amal and then I discovered today that my situation has medically deteriorated – as well as legally. I am writing and documenting it – while I am dying and begging for help. Somehow my requests are being considered as? I may have only a few weeks left to live.  

8:57PM

                        Protection International counts with 20 years of experience working with human rights defenders at risk from our offices in Colombia, Guatemala, Thailand, Indonesia, Kenya and DRC

 Dear Cristoph, our organisation does not deal with reporting and denouncing human rights violations; however, you could address the ombudsmen in Malaysia and in Canada, plus the high commissioner for human rights (providing the general inboxes for each one). We hope that helps. Best regards to you,

  As a result of what I discovered today. The ICC vis a vis – Fatou Bensouda & Mr James Stewart- my case will never be heard. A massive Conflict of Interest as my case and life are under danger from Canada. I am dying and Canada is involved with my death. No wonder that all the agencies I contacted refused to assist me – they were all Canadian based – linked etc. As the Deputy Counsel for the ICC is a Canadian. There is massive conflict of interest. But in that conflict – is my death.

Please assist as per all the documents that I have written. I kept writing and contacting begging for help.

  Communications and claims under art.15 of the Rome Statute may be addressed to:

Information and Evidence Unit Office of the Prosecutor  Post Office Box 19519 2500 CM The Hague The Netherlands

or sent by email to otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int

or sent by facsimile to +31 70 515 8555.

  https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/otp

November 22, 2017        

                             I now realize why I am in grave danger. Canada blocked me and I see from all the ways Canada behaved – that there was a sense that they were untouchable. This statement indicates that Canada via Mr. James Stewart is in a conflict of interest.

The current Prosecutor is Ms Fatou Bensouda from The Gambia; her Deputy is Mr James Stewart from Canada.

No wonder I can’t get through to anyone. They all know why Canada is so deviant in regards to Human Rights. It may also explain why the CHC-KL can operate with no threat of impunity.

Now I require a huge legal team – that can fight for my life. I am really a dead man, walking.

   https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

                                  https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

                                                                                                                      https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/the-lepto-weils-ancillary-files/

                                                                                                                                                https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-your-honor-fatou-bensouda-oude-waalsdorperweg-10-2597-ak-the-hague-the-netherlands/        

 https://youtu.be/OJJsBjZCDPU

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadian-malaysian-hubris-death-lepto-weils-de-caermichael/?published=t

https://youtu.be/MHTGKbRn6Xs

 Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court YOUR HONOR – Fatou Bensouda Oude Waalsdorperweg 10 2597 AK, The Hague The Netherlands.

 2.     Julian Assange -Ecuadorean Embassy in London: Flat 3B, 3 Hans Cres, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 0LS, UK

 3.     Pamela Anderson Aid Still Required

·         Honorary PETA US Director Pamela Anderson

·         People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

·         501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510

 4.     Amal Clooney

·         c/o Richard Bayliss at r.bayliss@doughtystreet.co.uk.

·         54 Doughty Street

·         London

·         WC1N 2LS

·         020 7404 1313

 -URGENT -

I had sent out many letters via mail in the past month. Knowing that my case is convoluted - and that there is a chance I could perish before help arrives - I realized that I had to send emails to get through to Julian - Pamela - Amal- Her Honour ICC. 

I just do not know what to do any more and waiting to die is so hard. 

 My Name is Christopher De Caermichael – Canadian – I am dying of leptospirosis in Malaysia. The infection was placed in my bedding and within 30 minutes my life was over. That was January 13th. 2017 – The full case study – is in the documents and on line and in many Videos. I am being asked to move – so I don’t know my address.

I am so ill that the longest case – of anyone surviving without treatment is 10 months – November 13th 2017 marks that end – date. Due to the severity of the illness – I could not concentrate and I had no idea where to send a Plea. But I made many videos and sent documents to try and reach help.

Canada? Became very hostile when I asked for help and there are months of me contacting everyone – for Urgent Medical assistance.

 Malaysian doctors refuse to treat me – in fact it’s their credo to not treat any foreign visitors- it’s not dependant on money, it’s just what they do. Finally they confessed this reality and said I must understand that foreigners are too much of a liability.  The result is we will not treat you. Ever! They told me I will die from this – and best to get out ASAP. That was in June 2017. Please look at these links as the situation is dire.

 A Summary of Leptospirosis

 Please forgive any typos etc. The disease has hit my brain, so I don’t see or read as well as I used to. So, I have to admit that my life if not rescued is over. Why?

This is what is developing and I require urgent medical assistance. I have written a comprehensive document about the tragic ordeal that has affected me in Malaysia.

 The disease in Red are the ones I am infected with? With. But I am developing other symptoms rapidly.

·         Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome expanded.

·         Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome collapsed.

·   ��     Lassa fever collapsed.

·         Leptospirosis collapsed.(MALAYSIA EPIDEMIC) 

·         Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM) collapsed.

·         Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever collapsed.

·         Plague collapsed.

·         Rat-Bite Fever collapsed

 As the facetious KL- Vice- counsel of Canada stated,” You seem to be contacting everyone” and laughs. Then he escalated the events into an international incident. Instead of assisting me, they went into a state that kept from leaving and getting assistance. Executive privileges may exist, but to harm innocent Canadians and interfere in getting medical assistance resulting in my death. Implicating, PMO office- Dr. Hedy Fry & the RCMP.

The issue with Malaysia

So far I have written many versions of the events, which shows my intent to get assistance but at the same may complicate my telling of the events, as I have tried so many times – therefore reported events may become clouded by cut and pasting. But it’s the same story.

What I am facing,

·         Imminent death

·         a lot of suffering

·         Increased Trauma especially if I have to get Medical assistance in Canada.

Increased risk of more permanent disease and damages. To my heart, liver and brain.

I am asking that my case be forwarded to:  And whoever can assist in this huge process. YOUR HONOR - Fatou Bensouda Oude Waalsdorperweg 10 2597 AK, The Hague The Netherlands. However it’s a huge organization and somewhere somehow someone can assist. PLEASE

 And that whatever assistance I can get. It’s way too complicated at this time. And my death may be? Soon? I don’t know please HELP – I BEG of YOU.  

        https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

 These videos try to explain all this colossal verbiage. The situation is so out of control – and death awaits – which is very scary.

https://youtu.be/cz-1txvbl5U

 https://youtu.be/--RpYDhDihQ

 https://youtu.be/gTg5PCMa7TY

 https://youtu.be/cjpy9PsldeE

 https://youtu.be/qGYnIlnaVJs

 https://youtu.be/opqT5h7uxco

https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

                                                                                                                      https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/the-lepto-weils-ancillary-files/

                                  https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-your-honor-fatou-bensouda-oude-waalsdorperweg-10-2597-ak-the-hague-the-netherlands/

 I JUST DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.

ALSO NOTE THAT THE RCMP INVOLVEMENT WAS A WAY TO INTIMDATE AND THREATEN ME.

Wow - CIC’s National Capital Branch on January 18. We focusing on increasing dangers for travelling Canadians, and on related issues of official services to support and assist distressed Canadians abroad.

Given the sheer numbers of Canadians living overseas (2.8 million), or travelling in and out of danger zones (subject to mishap, traffic accidents, natural disaster, theft, assault, arrest by foreign governments, kidnapping or murder), consular issues, and how they are handled, are of direct concern to all of us who travel, or who have loved ones who live, work or travel abroad. Are our expectations of government consular services too high or not high enough?

Gar Pardy: Leading expert on government services to citizens in foreign countries. Unparalleled experience in headquarters (11 years as Canada's Director General for Consular Services) and in the field in the US, Central America, Kenya and India. Published Afterwords From a Foreign Service Odyssey in 2015. Last year, proposed a comprehensive policy and legislative agenda for the reform of services for Canadians overseas (available on websites of the Rideau Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives).

  @cristophde

 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/canadian-malaysian-hubris-death-lepto-weils-de-caermichael/?published=t

https://youtu.be/SKn5UFAUDcc

 https://youtu.be/WsK_fTJ5ob0

https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/her-royal-majesty-queen-mother-diana-spencer-windsor/

 https://thebookof25.wordpress.com/2017/01/10/prince-harry-megan-markle-and-the-legacy-of-princess-diana/

https://youtu.be/WsK_fTJ5ob0

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/art-for-all-its-worth/

  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/her-royal-majesty-queen-mother-diana-spencer-windsor-de-caermichael?published=t

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/malaysia-the-twilight-zone/

https://youtu.be/SKn5UFAUDcc

 https://youtu.be/beJ258sQE50

·         https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jalanraya-basic-man-kalau-you-nampak-lobang-tapi-jadi-de-caermichael?published=t

·         file:///C:/Users/Cristoph-Dell/Desktop/LANDO%20REPORT.pdf

·         https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jalanraya-basic-man-kalau-you-nampak-lobang-tapi-jadi-de-caermichael?published=t

·          

 file:///C:/Users/Cristoph-Dell/Desktop/The%20adaptation%20of%20%20traditional%20Rorschach%20technique.pdf

Lando Zawawi and the Brotherhood of Mercy in Shah Alam Malaysia

https://youtu.be/hB2aZJpN-_Q

https://youtu.be/Xy9yKbUzEtE                                                            

https://youtu.be/chN90tJ668Y

https://youtu.be/SHcYFmlwksE

https://youtu.be/mAUxh-RKMHM

https://youtu.be/R85l8uvOuuE

https://youtu.be/KsCZXefx-Po

https://youtu.be/K3OyzFEyI90

https://youtu.be/2MvmxNn_zyc

https://youtu.be/hoGetWqAx5M

https://youtu.be/YpLEYNe3hNM

https://youtu.be/DogS19o_lxA

https://youtu.be/ydzXdPxOipQ

https://youtu.be/9Le-iw8d8r0

https://youtu.be/1DkPLaOiht8

https://youtu.be/NPI9XoVQiBE

https://youtu.be/sJ0SutY0Uyo

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-your-honor-fatou-bensouda-oude-waalsdorperweg-10-2597-ak-the-hague-the-netherlands/

https://youtu.be/2aDxw1U-YeE

file:///C:/Users/Cristoph-Dell/Desktop/IF%20IT%20BLEEDS%20IT%20LEADS.pdf

 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bleeds-leads-cristoph-de-caermichael?published=t

 https://youtu.be/beJ258sQE50

file:///C:/Users/Cristoph-Dell/Desktop/ALL%20THE%20EMAILS%20TO%20PAYPAL%20REQUESTING%20HELP.pdf

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/paypal-really-sucks-here-deets-get-through-peeps-de-caermichael?published=t

  THE BOOK of 25 - RORSCHACH IN COGNITION

https://youtu.be/2ZKV9v6toK8

 https://youtu.be/c_AxxBv2sPg

[cristophdecaermichael-blog]

Reporter Justin Brake is facing criminal charges after reporting on prot...

·        George and Amal Clooney -Clooney Foundation for Justice

·        CFJ presidents George and Amal Clooney,

·        CFJ Executive Director David Pressman

·         U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs. 

https://cfj.org/project/trialwatch/

trialwatch@cfj.org

 http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161103005251/en/U.S.-Ambassador-United-Nations-David-Pressman-Join

  Ambassador Pressman will also be serving as the Executive Director of the recently established Clooney Foundation for Justice. Pressman has advised a diverse set of highly-visible and prominent individuals on international strategy. With George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and producer Jerry Weintraub, Pressman co-founded Not On Our Watch —an international advocacy and grant-making organization designed to focus global attention and resources on mass atrocities and gross violations of international human rights.

URGENT PLEASE HELP

  George and Amal Clooney,

 I have tried to reach Amal and then I discovered today that my situation has medically deteriorated – as well as legally. I am writing and documenting it – while I am dying and begging for help. Somehow my requests are being considered as? I may have only a few weeks left to live.  

8:57PM

                        Protection International counts with 20 years of experience working with human rights defenders at risk from our offices in Colombia, Guatemala, Thailand, Indonesia, Kenya and DRC

 Dear Cristoph, our organisation does not deal with reporting and denouncing human rights violations; however, you could address the ombudsmen in Malaysia and in Canada, plus the high commissioner for human rights (providing the general inboxes for each one). We hope that helps. Best regards to you,

  As a result of what I discovered today. The ICC vis a vis – Fatou Bensouda & Mr James Stewart- my case will never be heard. A massive Conflict of Interest as my case and life are under danger from Canada. I am dying and Canada is involved with my death. No wonder that all the agencies I contacted refused to assist me – they were all Canadian based – linked etc. As the Deputy Counsel for the ICC is a Canadian. There is massive conflict of interest. But in that conflict – is my death.

Please assist as per all the documents that I have written. I kept writing and contacting begging for help.

  Communications and claims under art.15 of the Rome Statute may be addressed to:

Information and Evidence Unit Office of the Prosecutor  Post Office Box 19519 2500 CM The Hague The Netherlands

or sent by email to otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int

or sent by facsimile to +31 70 515 8555.

  https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/otp

November 22, 2017

                             I now realize why I am in grave danger. Canada blocked me and I see from all the ways Canada behaved – that there was a sense that they were untouchable. This statement indicates that Canada via Mr. James Stewart is in a conflict of interest.

The current Prosecutor is Ms Fatou Bensouda from The Gambia; her Deputy is Mr James Stewart from Canada.

No wonder I can’t get through to anyone. They all know why Canada is so deviant in regards to Human Rights. It may also explain why the CHC-KL can operate with no threat of impunity.

Now I require a huge legal team – that can fight for my life. I am really a dead man, walking.

   https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

                                  https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

                                                                                                                      https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/the-lepto-weils-ancillary-files/

                                                                                                                                                https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-your-honor-fatou-bensouda-oude-waalsdorperweg-10-2597-ak-the-hague-the-netherlands/        

 Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court YOUR HONOR – Fatou Bensouda Oude Waalsdorperweg 10 2597 AK, The Hague The Netherlands.

 2.     Julian Assange -Ecuadorean Embassy in London: Flat 3B, 3 Hans Cres, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 0LS, UK

 3.     Pamela Anderson Aid Still Required

·         Honorary PETA US Director Pamela Anderson

·         People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

·         501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510

 4.     Amal Clooney

·         c/o Richard Bayliss at r.bayliss@doughtystreet.co.uk.

·         54 Doughty Street

·         London

·         WC1N 2LS

·         020 7404 1313

 -URGENT -

I had sent out many letters via mail in the past month. Knowing that my case is convoluted - and that there is a chance I could perish before help arrives - I realized that I had to send emials to get through to Julian - Pamela - Amal- Her Honour ICC. 

I just do not know what to do any more and waiting to die is so hard. 

My Name is Christopher De Caermichael – Canadian – I am dying of leptospirosis in Malaysia. The infection was placed in my bedding and within 30 minutes my life was over. That was January 13th. 2017 – The full case study – is in the documents and on line and in many Videos. I am being asked to move – so I don’t know my address.

I am so ill that the longest case – of anyone surviving without treatment is 10 months – November 13th 2017 marks that end – date. Due to the severity of the illness – I could not concentrate and I had no idea where to send a Plea. But I made many videos and sent documents to try and reach help.

Canada? Became very hostile when I asked for help and there are months of me contacting everyone – for Urgent Medical assistance.

 Malaysian doctors refuse to treat me – in fact its their credo to not treat any foreign visitors-  it’s not dependant on money, its just what they do. Finally they confessed this reality and said I must understand that foreigners are too much of a liability.  The result is we will not treat you. Ever! They told me I will die from this – and best to get out ASAP. That was in June 2017. Please look at these links as the situation is dire.

 A Summary of Leptospirosis

 Please forgive any typos etc. The disease has hit my brain, so I don’t see or read as well as I used to. So, I have to admit that my life if not rescued is over. Why?

This is what is developing and I require urgent medical assistance. I have written a comprehensive document about the tragic ordeal that has affected me in Malaysia.

 The disease in Red are the ones I am infected with? With. But I am developing other symptoms rapidly.

·         Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome expanded.

·         Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome collapsed.

·         Lassa fever collapsed.

·         Leptospirosis collapsed.(MALAYSIA EPIDEMIC) 

·         Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM) collapsed.

·         Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever collapsed.

·         Plague collapsed.

·         Rat-Bite Fever collapsed

 As the facetious KL- Vice- counsel of Canada stated,” You seem to be contacting everyone” and laughs. Then he escalated the events into an international incident. Instead of assisting me, they went into a state that kept from leaving and getting assistance. Executive privileges may exist, but to harm innocent Canadians and interfere in getting medical assistance resulting in my death. Implicating, PMO office- Dr. Hedy Fry & the RCMP.

The issue with Malaysia

So far I have written many versions of the events, which shows my intent to get assistance but at the same may complicate my telling of the events, as I have tried so many times – therefore reported events may become clouded by cut and pasting. But it’s the same story.

What I am facing,

·         Imminent death

·         a lot of suffering

·         Increased Trauma especially if I have to get Medical assistance in Canada.

Increased risk of more permanent disease and damages. To my heart, liver and brain.

I am asking that my case be forwarded to:  And whoever can assist in this huge process. YOUR HONOR - Fatou Bensouda Oude Waalsdorperweg 10 2597 AK, The Hague The Netherlands. However it’s a huge organization and somewhere somehow someone can assist. PLEASE

 And that whatever assistance I can get. It’s way too complicated at this time. And my death may be? Soon? I don’t know please HELP – I BEG of YOU.  

        https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

 These videos try to explain all this colossal verbiage. The situation is so out of control – and death awaits – which is very scary.

https://youtu.be/cz-1txvbl5U

 https://youtu.be/--RpYDhDihQ

 https://youtu.be/gTg5PCMa7TY

 https://youtu.be/cjpy9PsldeE

 https://youtu.be/qGYnIlnaVJs

 https://youtu.be/opqT5h7uxco

https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/dangerous-murderous-malaysia-2017/

 https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/death-watch-leptospirosis-malaysia-2017/

                                                                                                                      https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/the-lepto-weils-ancillary-files/

                                  https://writerswrite000.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-your-honor-fatou-bensouda-oude-waalsdorperweg-10-2597-ak-the-hague-the-netherlands/

 I JUST DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.

    @cristophde