#he’s terrible but his motivates are understandable but he’s not to be idolised!!

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Personal opinion, but someone needs to properly document the memefication and babygirlification of the Breaking Bad and the Better Call Saul series. (Assuming this hasn’t already been done)

[mariemarieohcontrary]

Y'all Emma having a grandma who was a well-beloved and rare kind math teacher means she's seen what a teacher should be like and that means her standard is to see an educator who can adapt to students' learning needs and chooses to encourage than to discourage and humiliate.

Her grandmother was always the first to raise hell when she found out about teachers abusing their power and humiliating students for failing marks or social status. Hence, Emma knew that teachers should never take advantage of students the way Vasquez was. (Of course, her mom and dad made it clear too that people don't fucken act like how Vasquez does and her grandfather made it clear that to know a person you must know the person.)

Her grandfather is a literary genius of his generation from UP who teaches literature but in a way that engages and motivates his students - even having an hour-long plotting session with them on occasion when he's writing his novels - means Emma saw what a good writer and professor is like. He encouraged her fondness for literature and writing (though he writes novels in deep Tagalog and often focuses on historical fiction centred on themes of colonisation and the resilience of Filipinos while Emma mostly wrote in English and informal modern Tagalog) and even read through some of her stories that she wrote as a child. (Looking back on those moments, Emma is very much embarrassed cause she knew they were very messy and silly but he never said anything beyond asking about plot points and guiding her to finding her own endings)

All I'm saying is that James may idolise Vasquez who is a terrible writer but I decided Emma has two heroes who she idolises because everything she knew is thanks to them. Her Nana Nita (Anita Dolores Dalit) who taught her that patience, understanding and kindness are necessary when teaching others and her Tata Selo (Jose Marcelo Dalit) who showed her a world of books and stories where she found that creating stories with him was the best adventure she wanted to follow in her life. (Emma's genres are historical fiction though she often makes it fantastical, she writes in English to make Filipino-written stories global though her favourite stories aside from those written by her grandfather were Les Miserables, Bone Talk, Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion and North and South)

[wolfvnger]

CHARACTER PROFILE

If you’d like to meet the other alters here!

Name: Jace Elden

Nickname(s): J.C, Jay, Jacey,

Aliases: The Hypnotic Horizon, Horizon

Gender/Pronouns: He/Him/They

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Demisexual

Age: 19

Birthdate: June 11

Zodiac: Gemini

Occupation: Student majoring in Ethology

Role: Host

Height: 5’4

Build: Small and lean

Skin Tone: Fair

Hair: Dark brown

Eyes: Brown

Accent: Slightly Norwegian

Marks: Distinct birthmark on his left shoulder, shaped as a small lion head silhouette

Appearance: Jace has soft dark eyes, is rather lean and of course given his age looks very young. He usually wears loose comfortable jeans and casual tops depending on weather. However, as an avatar his suit is an assassin like armour that protects his entire body darkened orange with a hint of green colour symbolising Aker. There is a golden double headed lion symbol splayed over his chest. Along with it, a brown strap that holds a thin and light-weighted golden sword. With addition he has golden lion-like claws.

Personality Type (MBTI): ENFP (Campaigner)

Personality: He has little regard for authority and distrusts anyone in a seat of power or places themselves as ‘higher’ or ‘better’ then everyone else therefore they struggles to place his trust in his God. But he is kind-hearted and has a gentle soul, always doing what he thinks is right.

He has a charismatic way about him, despite being a naturally reserved person and is able to slide himself into conversations with surprising ease and is actually very good at socialising with others. He prefers to avoid conflict, not really interested in picking fights unless absolutely necessary.

He’s a very curious boy, always wanting to know more about the world around him. Reason he had a such a big interest in mythology and studies ethology. He can be rather imaginative as well and is able to create up things in his head. Despite all the terrible things that have happened in his life and due to the help of his fellow alters he able to front more often.

Motivations: To live his life!

Current Goal: Serving Aker and carrying out his missions.

Life Goal: To be able to better understand animals and the world they live in.

Motto: “Let the future be the future, it’s right now that matters.”

Best Quality: He’s compassionate and dedicated in what he does

Worst Quality: Doesn’t trust easily

Fears: Talking about his past, Thunderstorms, being yelled at

Hobbies: Reading, playing piano, learning about mythology and folklore

Talents: Self defence martial arts, singing

Skills/Abilities/Powers: As an avatar he possess

Divine empowerment

Transformation

Enhanced strength, agility, reflexes and senses

Regenerative healing factor

Claw retraction

Environment adaption

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Group/Organizational Affiliations: Aker, God of Earth and Horizon

Family: — Karl Elden (father), Leila Salazar (mother), Maeve Elden (little sister)

Best Friends: —

Relationship Status: Single

Other Relationships: —

Secret: Idolises Moon Knight

Influential Memory: Being chosen as Aker’s avatar

Role Model: Moon Knight

Crush: N/A

Source of Embarrassment: Being called out for talking to himself or animals

Source of Pride: His love and knowledge of different mythology and folklore

Backstory:

TW: heavy angst and trauma ahead do not continue if this effects you!!

Jace spent the first few years living a fairly normal life with his parents and sister who was 9 years younger than him, Maeve in Greece. It wasn’t until he was 5 when his father began drinking heavily. He became violent, often beating Jace and Maeve for no particular reason. He targeted Jace and constantly blamed him for things that were never his fault. Within the first year Jace had narrowly escaped death twice. It was in this time that he began developing alters to suppress the memories and protect himself, yet he had little to no recall of their appearances.

His mother made plans on escaping and when he was 7 him and his sister prepared to flee. However, it was a stormy night, that night was their planned escape but Jace’s father stopped them. In a mad attempt to make one more break for it, a fight broke out between Jace’s parents, a rather brutal one that led to his father stabbing his mother right in front of him.

Jace had been at this point protecting Maeve and shielding her from the violence, however when his father approached he attempted to protect his sister and fight back. Being a little boy it did nothing and he was tossed aside, forced to watch as his father brutally murdered his sister. His father then proceeded to beat him half to death.

From that day on he was basically held captive by his father who beat and tortured him both physically and emotionally. Drilling it into his brain that it was him who created the escape plan and because of that was the reason his mother and sister were dead. He was only allowed out for school and was threatened never to tell anyone of his situation.

He was about 15 when he finally managed to safely escape, his knowledge of said escape was unknown to him due to the fact one of his alters had devised it and put it into motion. His following memories are of him arriving in London where he spent the rest of his time. He’d occasionally loose time, because of this finding a job was hard given he didn’t trust himself. He spent his time hiding in books filled with mythology and folklore and eventually got into Ethology, the study of animal behaviour which is what he now practices.

At the age of 17 he was in a place at the wrong time, shot in the side after trying to protect a little girl. It was then that he was approached by the God Aker. A Lion covered in leopard spots, asked to help guard the sun, as an avatar by the power of two lions be able to help protect people and become his Hypnotic Horizon. Jace of course agreed. He spends his days now carrying out the work of an avatar while balancing his life as a normal student.

Because of his past and the trauma that came with it, Jace has Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID as well as PTSD attacks, extreme anxiety under pressure, panic attacks and blackouts.

Faceclaim: Jack Wolfe

[beatrix-wright]

‘JOKER’ drove at 100 kilometres per hour in peak traffic while I was tied to the passenger’s seat

This will have spoilers for Joker in it, but I will not synopsise the film. Most of this will be about my experience watching Joker rather than the story of the film itself. I greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this.

Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, starring Joaquin Phoenix, wasn’t what I expected…

That’s both good and bad. I have praise, undoubtedly. I don’t think it was a bad film by any means, but I also want to say up front that I don’t think I’m ever going to watch it again. At least not for a very long time.

I have seen a number of Todd Phillips’ films, through many unhappy mistakes. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much of the cinematography, but really, Phillips knocked it out of the park in some sections. The movie has high and low parts in this category, but overall, regardless of what was happening on screen, Phillips has tried his best to make it as visually appealing as possible. Certain shots, zooms and camera movements perfectly encapsulated the emotion of the scene or of the characters and it really helped immerse viewers. This film unquestionably has a beating, feeling-driven heart. Although its a weak pulse that many would miss if not invested, it’s there, trying desperately to claw its way out from under the vicious and cool exterior that the film puts up. If Phillips and Scott Silver, the other writer on board the project, had the poise to take the film that direction, I truly believe that it could have been a meaningful, heartfelt tragedy. But we’ll get to that later.

Something else many people have applauded in Joker is Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, and they’re right. Phoenix, while not the first to play Batman’s most iconic villain by any stretch of the imagination, has made it his own in a way that works for the tone and message of the film. Joaquin Phoenix’s passion for this project comes through so clearly in his portrayal of Arthur Fleck/Joker. There’s a humanity and empathy that Phoenix manages to build in the beginning of the film that is missing from most portrayals where the Joker is only a raving lunatic. The only time I’ve seen anything similar for the character is in Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, which was an inspiration for the film, but even that isn’t quite as authentic as the show given to us in Joker. The heart that Phillips emphasises wouldn’t be present without Phoenix. Joaquin Phoenix really was the best part of this film and I cannot commend him enough for the tastefulness he tried to bring to the project. His portrayal of Arthur Fleck’s mental illness is really nothing to be sneezed at, which brings me to my next point.

Joker has an almost truthful, although greatly exaggerated, portrayal of mental illness, something that surprised me while watching in the theatre. I have personally dealt with depression and anxiety and found many aspects of Arthur Fleck in the beginning to be somewhat relatable. Truly, this exploration of mental illness wasn’t something I’d seen before. While Fleck’s diagnosis is not not disclosed, simple sentiments such as “I just don’t want to feel so bad anymore” really hit home and yet again Phoenix’s delivery helped to bring genuineness that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Many other minor things that I don’t have the time to go through really sold me on the character and the performance, and Arthur Fleck truly came alive for me and the others in the cinema. The film also establishes Fleck’s laugh as a signal for when he’s feeling depressed, lonely, anxious or anything of the like and it helps to guide the viewer through the confusing reality of mental illness. Laughter, too, helps myself and many others cope with our mental illness. I find it hard to be frank about how I’m feeling without turning it into a joke of some sort. It was odd watching a film about a well-known villain and sharing a number of experiences with him, knowing of his sheer insanity from other forums. But this was what really made the first section of this film so compelling.

My praise for Joker stops here, however.

Joker has been described as “dangerous”, but I don’t think dangerous is the correct description. Joker, in the best way I can possibly put it concisely, is ill-conceived, tactless and lacking awareness. It’s a bit like driving recklessly through peak hour traffic. For some people it might be enjoyable but to many, it is generally considered poorly thought out and foolish. And oh boy, oh boy, does Joker take you for a ride. For a film that initially seemed to somewhat understand mental illness, it falls flat on its face as it proceeds to blame Arthur Fleck’s mental health problems for his violence. This isn’t to say that some people who have mental illnesses can’t be a danger to others and themselves but the sheer standardness of Fleck’s symptoms at the beginning compared to his shocking acts of cruelty later left a bad taste in my mouth and I found myself thinking ‘I’m not a time bomb’ over and over at certain sections of the film. Stigma against people with mental illnesses permeates the story and I don’t think even Joaquin Phoenix, for all of his ingenuity in playing this character, could escape the demonisation of this group of people.

I’ve seen Joker interpreted as a “cautionary tale” about how “society’s ignorance of those who are less fortunate will create a person like the Joker”, but if it really wanted to be that, Todd Phillips and Scott Silver have missed the mark by a longshot. The message ends up garbled, and comes through more strongly as ‘If we, as a society, don’t watch out for mentally ill people, we may have a real life Joker on our hands’. Despite acting like someone who thinks he knows what’s best for society, Todd Phillips can hardly bring his message about it across properly in his own film. Most of us with mental illnesses aren’t going to suddenly snap and go on a killing spree, but Joker supports the opposite and isn’t particularly concerned for the damage it might bring to mentally ill people.

Like I said, I enjoyed the accuracy of Arthur Fleck’s mental illness but the rest of the film misses something that the beginning had: taste. I support the pushing of boundaries in film. I think it is very important to test the limit and explore new concepts and ideas no matter what. But it needs to be done well, and Phillips, who doesn’t have much experience with serious and poignant cinema needs to steady his aim before firing off a film like this. Many may decry me as a softy who can’t handle serious, disturbing or confronting films, but that is simply not the case. I just propose that if you’re going to be all that, you might as well do it properly. One such confronting film is Blue Velvet (1986, dir. David Lynch) which handles a variety of heavy topics. Lynch, in contrast to Phillips, however, wove his story delicately, creating a tasteful and seriously disturbing film that is still considered one of the greatest of all time to this day. When I got into the first act, I was deeply hoping that Joker would be something like that. It held so much promise and I genuinely think the beginning is magnificent as well as certain sections throughout. Again, this isn’t a bad film at all. I just believe it mishandled some of its ideas in a way that could be potentially damaging.

Something else I find to be an issue is the view of the Joker as a hero by real people. Arthur Fleck’s drive is largely based around his mistreatment. I personally really love complex villain who have relatable incentives, but the difference is that the Joker as a character is already idolised by a number of less-than-brilliant groups. The Joker has sympathetic motivations and while he absolutely turns into a villain he’s still framed as somewhat correct in these views which turns into a larger problem when narcissists who feel they are down on their luck identify with the Joker and use their misfortune to justify terrible actions against others. While for Fleck, it’s his poverty and mental illness, for some real people it can be something like not getting a girlfriend or having people of colour “invade their country”. To most people who watch Joker, it could seem absurd how this film would encourage violence but as someone who could relate to Arthur Fleck initially, I can easily see how someone with something more wrong with them than just mental illness could identify with him throughout the film. Because it isn’t just mental illness that creates mass murderers and serial killers. Its something far more deep-seated and vile. An ingrained dismissal for the value of human life. The pit that Joker needed to dig itself out of was that of misanthropic reddit pages and 4chan posts. It would have been hard, but frankly the film did itself no favours in having a nod to “we live in a society” memes during the Joker’s monologue towards the end. I don’t think that all of this was intentional and honestly, if you’re a normal person, have no fear of being radicalised. I just don’t know if Phillips completely comprehends what he’s toying with. There was a shooting by someone inspired by the Joker in 2012 at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. These things occur, unfortunately, and even though if something were to happen now, in no way would it be the film’s fault, we do have to be careful what sort of an impression we can leave on people with our media.

Joker isn’t a bad movie. Is it everything it’s made out to be? No, and really that comes down a lack of precision in its creation. I really can’t watch it again, due to how monstrous it made me feel but I won’t disavow anyone who wants to go see it or enjoyed it for the right reasons, because there is a lot to enjoy if you’re not bothered by those aspects of the film. It was a really interesting character study of one comics’ most mysterious and iconic characters, but I believe the message they wanted to send about said character was poorly handled. Personally, I think I’ll stick to Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke. I’d rather the Joker’s origins be a bit more multiple choice.

Also if Joaquin Phoenix is nominated for or wins an Oscar, I won’t be mad, he really was pretty great

[oldtvandcomics]

MY OPINION ABOUT ENDGAME

I’ve written this nice long YouTube comment about Endgame, and it contains pretty much everything that I think about that movie, so I’m just going to copypaste it here. Because of the subject of the video, a lot is about Steve/Bucky not becoming canon and what happened instead.

Spoilers after the break.

Ok, I don't care, I have OPINIONS and need to share them somewhere.

1) Stucky was never going to be canon and I think most of us are adult enough to admit that. HOWEVER what the movie did in general felt as if it would ignore everything we know about Steve, Bucky and Peggy.

- Did they keep Steve and Bucky apart? Totally.

- Steve ending up with Peggy. Would have been nice, IF that was where they had been going since 2011. It is not. They had a movie together where they have some flirting going on (a lot less than other superhero love stories, if you ask me, but shipping googles, don't ask me). After that, Peggy got an entire season about mourning Steve and slowly accepting his death, and a second where she started dating again, and Steve two plus movies where his motivation was mostly "OMG, Bucky is alive" and "I need to protect Bucky". THEY BOTH MOVED ON. This felt like a last minute "let's do something that gets Steve out of the way and will count as a happy ending".

- Steve living in the past. Ok, ok, ok, this is a BIG one for me. As many others have pointed out, he is now in a time where he full well knows Bucky is being held prisoner and tortured, and it's either letting it happen or key points in history will change. He is also watching SHIELD being founded and recruiting former HYDRA agents, as consequence of which PEOPLE WILL DIE, and Steve knows that, because HE'S BEEN THERE. Is he just going to sit there and let it happen??

Also, if we are already at it: Imagine the following scenario. It is the early 50s and Steve Rogers has just returned from the future (2023, right?) to spend the rest of his days with the love of his life, Peggy. Segregation is still a thing. Residential schools are still a thing. Women don't have the same rights as men. Queer people don't have any rights, period. Disabled and mentally ill people are being constantly mistreated, part out of ableism and part out of genuine ignorance in the medical field. The US is in cold war with the Soviet Union, and both sides do stuff that are not ok, and also highly classified. Steve, having lived in the future knows about them because it's history. Should I continue?

We normal people would maybe play the well-behaved time traveller and sit around waiting for history to happen, BUT NOT STEVE ROGERS. He is famous, and very influential because of his status as Captain America, and he has got a significantly smaller tolerance for bullsh*t than the other people in his time, because he has seen a world that is more accepting. He is going to try to fight everything at once. This is going to be chaos.

- Finally, and I haven't seen this pointed out yet, but HOWARD. Steve just returned to a time when Howard Stark was still the Howard Stark we know from The First Avenger and Agent Carter. A little weird and egocentric and visibly ND, but all in all a nice guy. I don't even know where to start with how much chaos this is going to cause. The memory of Steve Rogers has been a driving force behind Howard's entire life. Having him actually BE there will 1) prevent him from idolising him, and 2) Steve will be able to say little things to him like "Howard, you really have got a nice son there, maybe you could spend some more time with him?". Will Tony without his abusive childhood still become Iron Man? I think so, yes. Will it still completely change who he is as a person? Also yes...? Don't even mention that Steve perfectly knows how Howard and his wife are going to die, namely assassinated by Bucky, because...

(Also, remember Agent Carter season 1 when Howard openly told Peggy tat he'd been in love with Steve? Yeah, that is going to be a fun discussion when they announce their engagement. Seriously, someone should write it.)

Conclusion: While I understand how the idea of Steve returning to Peggy might have sounded good on paper, the writers just didn't think it through and as a consequence, it feels rushed and as if they'd just butchered not only one, but at least three or four of our beloved characters and their story arcs.

2) My opinion about Endgame was that it was nice. But definitely not good or something I'd want to rewatch anytime soon.

- It bit off more than it can chew. One movie to close off six character arcs is not enough by far. They should have made at least three. One for Steve and Tony, one for Clint and Natasha, and one for Bruce and Thor.

  -> Tony's character arc was the one I was almost completely happy with. Minus the Pepper wearing the suit bit, which I feel should have been a big emotional moment but instead was just kind of there and came a little out of nowhere. Steve, see above, would have needed either a different ending or a whole lot more thought in it.

  -> Clint becoming a pretty terrible serial killer was just somehow never dealt with?? Because THAT? That would have needed a complete movie to make sense and to give him time to actually redeem himself. Natasha... Redemption equals death. I'm not a fan of that trope, especially because she already seemed to have redeemed herself at that point? She didn't need to die? Also, fine, I get why it could make sense, but killing off the one female protagonist these movies had for quite some time feels really, really... It makes me feel cheated. Given more time, they could have developed the whole arc better.

  ->Bruce making peace with the Hulk IS exactly what should have happened to him. HOWEVER, it all happened in that short moment when the screen was black and read "five years later". That is... Not what I'd call good character development. Again, this would have needed TIME. Give him a movie. Combine his story with that of Thor. Could have been great.

  -> Thor. This is the one that makes me just ANGRY, so I'm giving it it's own bullet point. Look, what happened to him completely makes sense. It also feels as if the movie hadn't taken him and his pain seriously. Like that scene in his cabin, that was totally played for laughs, and after that, they just didn't give him enough time. And I get it, there WAS NO TIME. There was just too much going on.

But people, alcoholism and PTSD are SERIOUS subjects, and if you want them there, you need to commit to write them properly. Marvel can do that, as they have proven with their Demon In A Bottle storyline, Iron Man 3 or The Incredible Hulk episode Alice In Discoland. But these are all separate stories that revolve around these themes. There is no way someone could manage a nuanced and sensitive representation in an ensemble movie that also juggles at least eight other characters and aims to close off eleven years worth of movies. There is just not enough time.

So what they should have done instead: Either make Endgame three movies, and give Thor and Bruce one where they can support each other while dealing with his trauma and the Hulk, or just leave out the entire arc. Thor's arc was finished in Thor: Ragnarok. He became king, learned to accept that his father had done many bad things and made peace with Loki. They should have left it there and only used him to drive the action forward instead of trying to have him evolve in any direction.

(In this version, the massacre at the beginning of Infinity War shouldn't have happened. Give them some more time to arrive on Earth, and than call Thor and Bruce away to fight Thanos while Loki is benched because the Asgardians need an acting king. Thor behaves more or less the way he did in Ragnarok, goes on his quest to get the axe, and Endgame is just plain different.)

- While I do enjoy a good "everything is bad AU", Endgame didn't make it work. Probably because they messed up the characters part.

- Nice call backs, though. Especially the one when they redid the Star Lord dancing in the cave scene, and than cut to Rhodey and Nebula watching him looking like a complete idiot. :D I really liked that one.

- Good action scenes. The end fight when all the dusted heroes came out of the portal and they were these dark silhouettes with a bright light behind their backs! Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Conclusion: Nice movie. Not a fan. Only half achieved what it set out to do.

[ryanwilsonblog-blog]

Why Tom DeLonge Doesn’t Deserve Blink-182

Tom DeLonge, vocalist of Californian punk band blink-182 has left to prioritise his research into UFOs and subsequently aliens. Alkaline Trio frontman, Matt Skiba will fill the shoes left by the former member.

This all came to fruition in the aftermath of DeLonge’s inability to commit to any of the band’s upcoming studio obligations as well as live shows, most notably the Eighth annual Musink Festival. There were contrasting stories in the midst of a full blown social media meltdown, with various articles coming out of every source you can name. DeLonge admitted in an interview with Mic, he quit blink-182 to focus on a ‘national security issue’ and that he couldn’t tour alongside these plans. Whilst former bandmates, Mark Hoppus & Travis Barker called DeLonge “disrespectful and ungrateful.”

This, however, isn’t the first time Tom has left the band. blink-182 announced their hiatus in February 2005 whilst being arguably at the peak of their notoriety, having released their critically acclaimed self-titled record. Tom DeLonge’s 23-year involvement with the pop-punk juggernauts gave him a platform to be able to focus his energy and resources onto other avenues.

DeLonge has been criticised online by using blink-182 as a ‘cash cow,’ milking the brand for all it’s worth when they announced their reformation in 2009 and the signs are all there. Tom reportedly only wanted to participate in blink-182 related activities when it suited him. He would apparently become silent for months on end and then appear out of the blue insisting the band should succumb to his demands. Tom also used most of his social platforms to openly speak about his other projects, be that Angels & Airwaves or more recently his series of novels, or investigative research into UFOs. Many felt he wasn’t truly behind blink-182’s resurrection.

The tour that followed the band announcing their renewed friendships at the 51st Grammy Awards came under scrutiny through DeLonge. During this summer tour, Tom would often be heavily intoxicated and unable to drag himself through an hour and a half of blink-182’s greatest hits from their back catalogue. Failing to hit the right notes vocally, and his sloppy guitar playing left fans disheartened that a man who they once idolised had so much disregard for the band. A band that had influenced a new wave of bands the same way bands like Descendents and NOFX paved the way for blink-182.

The bands highly anticipated comeback album ‘Neighborhoods’ suffered at the hands of DeLonge too. The recording sessions for that album were disjointed and not traditional by any means. Tom worked from his studio over in San Diego whilst Barker and Hoppus worked from a studio in Los Angeles. The two parties sent over files but this led to a disappointing record that divided opinions. It was an album that seemed to lack identity, not knowing where it wanted to take itself. DeLonge was criticised for influencing the newest reincarnation of the SoCal punks with his other musical project Angel & Airwaves.

So all these arena tours, headline slots at huge festivals and an abundance of terrible, terrible merchandise went directly into the band furthering themselves and pushing themselves right? Of course not! They progressed Tom’s other projects, his novels, his other bands music, his research, his movies and what other crazy schemes DeLonge had planned. Tom had the platform to win back the hearts of fans time after time and his inability to even address the situation of his band, let alone adhere to the bands commitments was inadequate.

All this said, there are parts to DeLonge’s logic that is understandable. Tom, a man in his 40s perhaps doesn’t want to be playing teenage anthems about girls or songs that delve into the crude nature blink-182 sometimes have in their past. But then that begs the question, what were Tom’s motives for reforming the band in the first place? Also, if that is the case, Tom’s behaviour during live shows, spouting obscenities in-between songs is a tough one to comprehend.

Tom’s decision to leave the band shouldn’t leave a bad taste in fans mouths this time. DeLonge has moved onto pastures new and blink-182 are in a far better frame of mind with Matt Skiba. It’s Tom’s initial move to reach out and start playing music once more with a band of that stature, and to not treat it with the care, or finesse he once used to; tarnishing a legacy of a band that was running on borrowed time.