#he’s young here btw this is based on his appearance right before he marches into banka’s palace lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

daesungindistress · 5 years

Note

I had a question, I’m sorry for making another one of these Seungri ‘asks’ but you’re one of the only Vips on here who are willingly answering questions and have the actual knowledge on Seungri. None other vips are answering or they delete the asks and don’t want to deal with it. I’m getting confused was he in the Molka chats? I’m seeing articles and posts that he was never in them with proof. I know he never sexually assaulted anyone or drugged anyone. But the molka chats??

I’ll answer this ask, but let me just say I am so sick and tired of Seungri’s remaining fans beating this dead horse like their lives depend on it.

We’re done with Seungri. We’ve moved on. We’ve seen all we needed to see and we’re past the point of entertaining their excuses and apologies on his behalf. They are massively wasting their time on a retired guy. And after months of embattlement with fans and antis alike, I’m tired of wasting my time on him too.

“Seungri wasn’t in the molka chats.” Any time you hear this, be on your guard. His fans always start with that – and it’s all downhill from there. Because the molka chat defense is just a lead-in for their long list of reasons why Seungri is nothing more than a poor hapless victim in this great big mess. They won’t stop until you agree that he was 100% unaware and completely uninvolved in his friends’ illegal activities and committed none of his own. And nothing could be further from the truth.

To answer your question: Seungri was in a chat in which at least one molka video was shared along with a few photos. There is no getting around this. He saw it. He replied to it. He was there.

Seungri stans: “Well, we don’t know if he watched the video.” We know he watched the video because he recognized the man in it and identified him by name. He also laughed after each comment (“ㅋㅋㅋ”).

Seungri stans: “Well, maybe he didn’t know it was molka.” The woman in the video was described as intoxicated and unaware of what was happening. You’re welcome to question the contents of the video if you like, but after all that we’ve learned about these guys and the atrocities they’ve committed, I don’t feel that we’re in any position to doubt the validity of the video’s description. We haven’t seen it. Investigators have, and they’ve declared it molka and have pressed charges accordingly.

Further, by his own admission Seungri has revealed that he knew about his friends’ illicit hobbies. Not just Jung JoonYoung but “everyone”. So I think it’s safe to say he was well aware of at least that aspect of what he was seeing. In his March 2019 Chosun interview, which is the only time he has ever addressed the molka issue btw, he claimed that he told them to stop… because they might get in trouble. However, there is no written record of him doing this, so whether or not you choose to believe it, that’s up to you. And even if true, I take issue with his method of persuasion. “Don’t do it because you might get caught”? How about, “Hey man, don’t do that because it’s… gosh, I don’t know… hurtful and wrong”? Seems to say something about his priorities, doesn’t it.

Do also keep in mind that Seungri has never once acknowledged or issued any statement of sympathy or remorse for the victims in all of this. Combing through all his statements to date, you can see that he’s apologized to the public, the people of Korea, his fans, his former agency YG, his former bandmates… but never the women directly affected by his and his friends’ actions. Nothing, not even on his friends’ behalf.

The statement “Seungri wasn’t in the molka chats” is an interesting one because it manages to be both true and false at the same time. A half-truth, if you will. Like Daesung said to Seungri in Seungri’s episode of I Live Alone: “You tell neither truths nor lies.”

It all comes down to how you define things. What exactly are “the molka chats”? First, keep in mind that the chats recovered all came from the phone of Jung Joon Young, who I’ll refer to from here on out as JJY. Of these chats that were released to the public, the majority were one-on-one conversations between JJY and one other, though occasionally there were several people involved. Most of the molka was shared within these chats. These are what Seungri fans call “the molka chats”. As far as we can tell, Seungri was not in these chats.

The chat Seungri was in is a little something his fans like to call “the business chat.” Here’s the catch: as I stated earlier, there was molka shared in the business chat. There is no denying that Seungri watched it and, judging by his reply, didn’t appear bothered by it. This is why insisting that he “wasn’t in the molka chats” is misleading. No matter what you choose to call it, molka chat or business chat, he was in a chat in which molka was shared and acknowledged it and said nothing against it, end of story.

Fun fact: the “business chat” was an eight-member chat of which Seungri is said to have been the admin. He advised the members of that chat to exit every few months so that the chat and all of its contents would disappear. The only reason it wasn’t entirely lost to time is because JJY didn’t do as he was told and never left the chat, or any others for that matter… and when his cell phone was wiped clean in late 2016, the chats were saved and stored… until now. Recently, on July 16, five members of that big group chat stood trial on charges of filming and distributing illegal footage (molka) and aggravated rape (multiple assailants). Those were his friends – you know, the ones the rest of BB warned him about repeatedly? Seungri is lucky he wasn’t standing trial right alongside them for all the same violations.

…or could it be that he was just better at hiding it?

All I’m saying is Seungri may not have done these monstrous things… but how can we be so sure. “I know he never sexually assaulted anyone or drugged anyone,” you say. I would like to believe that too, and since there is no evidence of it having happened, I do. But when he’s been shown to have helped these awful friends of his cover their tracks for years and was still protecting them up until recently, alerting them to trouble when the news broke and telling them to change their phones before speaking to police…? “I was in the wrong. I shouldn’t have gotten involved with those guys and done those things,” he said in an interview just weeks after he’d helped them evade detection, all but one of them turning in new phones. You know what they say about actions speaking louder than words. They wouldn’t have done that, and he wouldn’t have prompted them to do it, if they’d had nothing to hide.

The level of Seungri’s involvement in this… based on the limited evidence available to us, it’s up to each of us as individuals to decide where we stand. How much involvement is acceptable? Where do we draw the line? At what point does one say, “This much is okay. But this much, no way.” We can come up with a hundred excuses for him, explaining away his behavior, defending years of poor decisions, somehow still trusting him… but in the end we don’t personally know him or his situation. We never will. And I don’t know about you, but after all I’ve witnessed, I’m no longer willing to be on the “hopeful” end of that spectrum of uncertainty. Especially now that he’s gone and taken his leave from the industry.

I have scores of unanswered anonymous asks about the case sitting in my inbox going as far back as February. I wish I could apologize personally to each and every one of you whose messages I haven’t answered. There was one in particular that I received back in March, right around the time the molka issue was brought to light. It was a question that tormented me for days. I didn’t know what to say. I started on a reply, but updates to the case were pouring in daily. Just keeping up was overwhelming enough, and in the end I never got around to answering.

And looking back on it now I’m glad I didn’t. I was still on Seungri’s side at the time. The investigation was just getting started. There was so much more to come.

The ask said:

For anyone wondering why we don’t want him back… there’s your answer.

#and if only the molka stuff was the end of it #ask #anon #seungri #bigbang #burning sun

88 notes · View notes

theragamuffininitiative · 6 years

Text

(queuing this for later for privacy reasons but)

GUYS I SAW THE LION KING ON TOUR

Ohmyword it was so good. Like. Heck man. Wow. Get ready, long post ahead.

I bought my tickets mooooonths in advance (you may remember my mentioning it in passing some time ago). It was my Christmas present to me. XD I drove four hours to another state to see it, and I ended up doing so by myself because my traveling buddy wasn’t able to come. Very proud of my adulting there, btw, first big independent adventure. XD

Taking the advice of some of my lovely mutuals who have seen the show before, and telling myself I could splurge, I got an aisle orchestra seat, and wow. Best decision ever.

So, with no further adieu and in no order whatsoever, here are some details (with terribly mixed tenses), if nothing else but for my own remembering of this fantastic night:

The opening. I started crying immediately. Rafiki and the Jackals: flipping yeah. The parade of animals for “The Circle of Life.” Pride Rock. The Elephant came down my aisle and I started crying, I’ve never seen anything like it.

Rafiki though. Mukelisiwe Goba was just alkjdghlsjgs gorgeous. I had chills and tears and laughter thanks to her. Bless.

“The Circle of Life” was legitimate sensory overload, I wish I could just watch that opening sequence on repeat for hours. The costumes, the music, the puppets. skdjfajldkfjshhhjlahskdjldfskjlhdhhhhhhnnnn. Best number, duh.

I was so flipping excited to see Gerald Ramsey as Mufasa, I can’t even. He’s one of the few players from the tour cast to have content on youtube for me to find and just... He was so good. (I am very quickly gonna be repeating adjectives don’t mind me) His interactions with Simba, his presence on the stage, “They Live In You”, the balance between his noble kingly portrayal of the pride leader and his playful antagonizing with Zazu - everything that makes Mufasa who he is. Splendid. Bravo sir, bravo. (He also walked right past my seat. :D )

Aaron Nelson was on for adult Simba that night. He portrayed such a playful character with Timon and Pumba and then transitioned into such a raw, emotional performance of “Endless Night” bravo sir, bravo. You really believed the hope and courage Simba finds at the end of the number.

Zazu (Greg Jackson) broke the fourth wall so many times, it’s a wonder the theater was still standing at the end of the night. These occasions included, but not limited to: literally ‘losing’ the Zazu puppet during “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” and shouting frantically to the audience about it, enduring Mufasa’s jokes and staring out into the audience like he was in an episode of The Office, the now-famous singing of “Let It Go” in place of “It’s a Small World” in Scar’s Lair, and I think he yelled at us for laughing at his misfortunes at one point too.

slight con: I didn’t know the tour removed (sometime in 2010 I guess) the “The Morning Report”/Pouncing Lesson, which I understand cuz it doesn’t forward the story by a lot, but I just love the Pouncing Lesson bit for Mufasa and Simba so much.

After “Hakuna Matata” during Intermission, I was texting friends about knowing Jordan Samuels, aka our Specs from Newsies Live, was in the ensemble and hoping I could spot him, and then Act Two started with “One By One” and I turned to see the dancer standing at the back of the theater in my aisle and 90% certainty it was him, which made me laugh and made my night. Saw him again a few more times throughout the show, but had to remind myself to focus on the big picture lol.

During “Be Prepared” while the hyenas are coming from the back of the theater and running to the stage, the last one in our line stopped to chat with the guy sitting directly behind me. “Hey dude, how’s it going? Enjoying the show?” The guy in the audience was laughing too hard to respond much (he was a nervous-laugher, I’m pretty sure that’s just how he expressed emotion cuz he laughed a lot through the show but whatever) and it was so great. XD He then took off at a run to catch up to everyone on stage.

Speaking of: the hyena march was distinctly less third reich like, and although I really appreciate/respect that element in the movie, I was personally happy it was removed from the production.

The Wildebeast stampede. I just. That staging/blocking and the puppets and costumes to show that. Ohmyword, sooooooooooooooo good. I’m still geeking out about it. Visually one of the high points, purely for the ingenuity of it all. There were essentially three parts of the set: a backdrop, a smaller midstage backdrop, and two pieces on either side representing the closest canyon walls. Cutout silhouettes of wildebeast are on display at the beginning of the scene. When Scar leaves and the Stampede starts, twin rolling wheels of wooden puppet wildebeast appear in the middle backdrop. Then the costumed dancers bearing wildebeast heads on their arms appear to swarm around Simba and Mufasa. I was so distracted by them, I didn’t even notice Mufasa and Scar on the canyon wall until they started speaking.

I FLIPPIN HAD TO WATCH MUFASA DIE AGAIN. THIS WAS NOT SOMETHING I BARGAINED ON PREPARING MYSELF EMOTIONALLY FOR, AND THEREFORE IRONICALLY ENOUGH I WAS NOOTTTTTTT PREPARED.

How have I not mentioned Joziyah Jean-Felix?? All the attitude and naivety and bravado and sincerity you could want in our young hero. Also very enthusiastic with the reigns on the bird puppets during “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King.” Danielle Jalade was so precious and ferocious as young Nala too. My heart belongs to Kajuana Shuford’s performance, but truly Danielle was a gem.

Okay, but back to the costumes???? JULIE TAYMOR IS THE TOO OFTEN UNSUNG HERO OF THIS SHOW, SHE EARNED THOSE TONYS AND THEN SOME.

When Mufasa dies, and the song “Rafiki Mourns” comes, Rafiki enters first and Sarabi and the lionesses join her. It was so beautiful and sad and moving. AND. I DIDN’T KNOW THIS. At the end of the song, the lionesses reach up to their lion mask headdresses and pull silver streamers from the eyes, which they let fall to the ground and over Mufasa, and it was the most beautiful, spell-binding instant of the show.

Sarabi’s streamers remained to show her mourning until Scar angers her and she rips them from her eyes to lash out against him.

HAVE I MENTIONED NIA HOLLOWAY YET? HECK. She was....breathtaking. “Shadowlands” has been a favorite of mine for a long time, and she really does it justice. Her interactions with Aaron were so organic too, I loved them.

Timon (Nick Cordelione) and Pumbaa (Ben Lipitz) were appropriately hysterical and on point. They really got the youngest audience members going, and it was great to hear the kids shrieking with giggles, and the older kids giving surprised bursts of laughter when Pumbaa made a crack about winning Angry Birds by chasing the buzzards away from Simba.

Mark Campbell was a good Scar. He wasn’t my favorite part of the show, I think maybe he was having an off night. Still, his monologues and dry wit were great, and the overt Offense(TM) he took at Simba playing with his tail cracked me up a little too much. XD “Be Prepared” was a jam as always XD

Sarabi (the lovely Kimber Sprawl) I think has even fewer spoken lines in the show than she does in the movie, and yet she seemed like more of a character. The time they allow her to mourn for her husband and son is beautiful and appreciated, and the way she blends in with the other lionesses for many parts of the show before making a subtle move to stand out is just a really good touch imho. There’s almost enough time to suggest, if not establish, a close camaraderie between her and Rafiki and I love that.

Rafiki’s tree (does it have a specific name?) is such a gorgeous piece for the set.

what else am I forgetting, it was such a night

I can’t say enough or describe in enough detail the sets, costumes, and puppets. slkdjfnlakjdksldkgnlgf !!!!

The “grass people” while Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba are discussing the stars, help Timon lie down ‘in the grass’ and when the ensemble help him stand back up again, he turned to say thank you and the dancer who had been holding him up for the scene gave him a big thumbs up. XD They also helped operate the Timon puppet for the scene so that Nick could add more expression and movement.

The ending man, the ending. The reprise of “The Circle of Life.” The energy, the spectacle. aksjdddddddddddddddddkjkjgsdgesdkjs.

At the end, we gave everyone a standing ovation immediately.

I whooped loudly when the cast gestured down at the orchestra pit. Not many other people did, but that’s on their own heads. XD

The night I went was the last show before they packed up and moved on to the next city, a conscious choice on my part based on stage stories of how free the actors usually are with their performance on last nights, and how all the bugs in the venue are usually worked out by then. All good and accurate things I think, but the con is there was no stage dooring, for which I was very sad.

I bought a shirt and a bag, and I’m going to turn the bag into a throw pillow for my bed. ^_^

I’m just....so....happy...I got to go and see this amazing show performed live. It was a pretty good audience too, which can make or break a night, so what a blessing there.

I feel like I’m already forgetting so much, but there you go, this post has run on long enough.

I saw The Lion King, guys. *fangirls out of the room*

#ragamusings #this has been a day in my life post #rags tries a new musical #(sorta not really new)#stage stories #the lion king #lionkingbway

22 notes · View notes

veronica-rich · 7 years

Text

POTC5 thoughts, spoilers

GIANT MASSIVE MOVIE-RUINING SPOILERS AHEAD FOR DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES.

I've only seen the movie once, but I wanted to put a night of sleep between me and it before I tried to convey my thoughts on it. I see my job as a fan here to tell you generally what happens and my thoughts on it, as well as whether you should spend your time going to see it. All only opinions of course. (I'll refer to the movies in numerals - 1 for the first, 5 for this, and then of course the in-betweens. Mainly because I don't want to try to remember the abbreviations OST and DMTNT. See how annoying? LOL)

Here we go ...

Except for where the regulars have ended up and the state of the Black Pearl in movie 5, you really don't need to have seen 4 to understand this one. You don't strictly HAVE to have seen the first three movies, either - this movie can stand on its own as an entertaining single viewing. If you've never seen a POTC movie and you come in with this one, you will probably laugh at most of the jokes (if you have that kind of sense of humor) and like some of the characters.

Since I doubt anyone who hasn't seen at least the first movie is going to read through this, I'll assume you all are familiar with the original characters from 1-3 as I go forth.

THE SPOILERS The movie opens with young Henry Turner tying rocks to his foot to drown himself in the bay just off the land where he lives; he's anywhere from 11-14 years old. His father is Death's Ferryman of the ocean, you see, so the fastest way to raise Will Turner is to get himself killed or nearly killed. He lands on the deck of the Dutchman, it surfaces, and Will emerges to talk with his son. Henry tells him he may have found a way to break the curse that ties Will to the ship, but he needs to find Jack Sparrow to help. Will commands him to not go anywhere near Jack and to go back home and leave him to his fate. Will is barnacled in Davy Jones-lite fashion; just enough to see the sea is winning against his resolve not to succumb to the hopelessness of the job. Unlike Davy Jones, he is not bitter or angry, but resigned and almost tired. We also get a hint that he is not exactly in command of his crew anymore, by how quickly he ushers Henry away and sinks the Dutchman to put distance between them and the boy. (This may also explain why you don't see Will again until the end of the movie, despite all the water-based shenanigans and near-death experiences throughout ... like he's not really in charge of the Dutchman anymore.)

Nine years later, Henry, now anywhere from 20-23 ish, is a low-ranking sailor on a Navy ship. We find out he's searching for Jack and the Pearl. He sees the ship is headed for the cursed Devil's Triangle and tries to warn the captain, telling the man he's read all the lore of the sea and this place is Bad News. The captain not only scolds and mocks him, but strips him of his lowly rank as a traitor and jails him. Of course the ship goes in; of course the cursed Captain Salazar and his undead crew overrun the ship and kill everyone on board - save Henry, whom Salazar tells to relay a message to Jack when he finds him. (We'll find out later Salazar used to be a pirate-hunter and perished in a fire in the Devil's Triangle while chasing newly-captained Jack Sparrow, while Jack escaped. So, he's hunting Jack. Trouble is, he can't leave the Triangle unless something happens - which it will, later.)

Through a series of events, Henry ends up at the same Caribbean English outpost as Jack and a young woman roughly Henry's age, Caryna Smith (Smyth?). Caryna keeps landing in Navy custody and escaping it - she's a scientist, and female in the 18th century, which is enough to get her convicted as a witch. Caryna is an orphan who is amazingly well-educated for having no resources other than a mysterious diary left to her by her father, a man of science who was searching for the Trident of Poseiden - which can break any curse laid at sea. The island shenanigans are pretty entertaining; suffice to say they all end up stealing the same ship with Gibbs, Marty, and the rest of Jack's paltry, pissed-off (at Jack) crew. Also, Jack trades his magic compass away for a bottle of rum (more on this later) and, in willingly giving it up, breaks Salazar's imprisonment miles away, allowing him to sail out on the open waters in his ship-eating ship (you read that right).

More shenanigans happen, McGuffins are pursued (chiefly the Trident, which everybody wants for different reasons), innuendos are made, young romance is set up (of course), we run into Barbossa and his crew, which includes Murtogg and Mullroy (but no Pintel and Ragetti!), Salazar's in the mix, and we find out his crew can't set foot on land any more than the Dutchman's crew or captain (they vanish in a puff of black smoke if they get out of the water). Shenanigans, shenanigans, it turns out Caryna is totally NOT the daughter of Jack Sparrow as most of us suspected (mainly because making Jack and Will co-parents-in-law would have been too delicious) - but the reality is possibly more entertaining, since it turns out Barbossa is her father.

(I really did want the after-credits scene to be Will and Elizabeth finding out their daughter-in-law-probably-to-be is a Barbossa, then the camera pans back to a general shot of the island, a la "Home Alone 2" while in the far distance you can still hear the two of them screaming "NOOOOOOOOOO!" with birds flying off in every direction.)

So - they find the Trident, break the curse on Salazar's ship (and we'll find out later, on Will Turner, too, elsewhere in the ocean) turning them all back human, and the good guys manage to escape back to the Pearl while Salazar falls to his death. Well ... not actually. Caryna briefly finds out that Barbossa is her father, after which he sacrifices himself to drown with Salazar to ensure her ability to escape his clutches unharmed. Once they're all safe, Caryna decides to change her last name to Barbossa from Smith. Cut to the cliffs outside Henry's childhood home, where he and Caryna are engaging in their form of verbal foreplay and smooching, when the Dutchman shows up in the distance, uncursed and gleaming brown and beige sails. Will climbs the hill to hug his son, confused as to how he's come to be uncursed and human again ... but just as Henry's going to take old man to the pub for a grog and a tale, Elizabeth appears in the distance hiking her skirts. She and Will run to each other and embrace, then kiss, while Henry and Caryna look on from a distance ... and from an even further distance on the Pearl, Jack watches through his spyglass, revolted by the whole picture of domesticity porn. And then he and his crew sail off.

The after-credits scene is Will and Elizabeth sleeping in their seaside bedroom - they are both dressed in clean white linen sleep-gowns, and they've had baths, and all I could think was This is the cleanest I've ever seen these two. Something menacing is coming up the steps and creaking open their door and looming toward the bed, and we catch a glimpse of some barnacled sea creature reaching for them when Will jerks awake from his bad dream. He looks around, turns over, hugs Elizabeth, and goes back to sleep ... and the camera pans down to the floor to close on a puddle of water and corals snapped off in it.

WHAT I WAS 'MEH' ABOUT OR DISLIKED: For me, it's easier to start with what I don't care for about a movie, if I'm ambivalent. And I sure was about 5.

Plot holes - SO many. I won't list them all, but there is not adequate explanation for many things. Of course, 1-3 also had fantastical elements, but they were explained and largely made sense in-universe. People do things that don't always make sense; magical objects aren't always explained. There's a lot of suspending of disbelief you have to do for this one.

Characterization - The nuance of the first three movies is lacking in a lot of characters here. Everyone who's Navy is efficient, duty-driven, and arrogant or head-down-following-orders. There's no Norrington-type in this movie (BTW, Norrington is not mentioned - which I think will actually make a lot of his fans happy, especially after movies 2 and 3). Nobody in authority seems to be a benevolent person - they're not all Trump, but neither are there any Bernies. The pirates are kind of dumb, more than they need to be. Which brings us to ...

Jack Sparrow - Oh, man. I gotta limit myself on this one. I don't know if Depp had much input into Jack's characterization in this one, but if he did, it honestly looks like his IRL troubles were leaking in to the point of almost drowning the character. In movies 1-3 Jack is a buffoon only insofar as it serves his purpose to make people think he's not as smart as he really is, so he can sneak under the radar with his cleverness and charm a lot of people he needs to do things for him. Conversely, if you only saw this movie and not the earlier ones, you would think Jack is a fall-down dissolute drunk and whoremonger who isn't very bright and whose fortunes come almost entirely on luck and other people's allowances for him. There are only a handful of flashes of the old brilliance and character, and I really miss That Guy. Whereas young Will Turner was trying to second-guess what Jack was really up to in 1, young Henry Turner seems most of the time like he's Jack's guardian trying to keep him propped upright and marching forward like you would that uncle you always heard used to be ripping brilliant but now is "ehhhh."

The lack of callbacks - I wanted more callbacks in this movie. I wanted Henry to talk more about his mom and dad and stories he'd grown up hearing, and what his mom was doing, and some line from Barbossa or Gibbs about something they remembered of his parents, bad or good. There are a couple of little moments, but it's not enough. Which brings me to ...

The retconning - I won't wade too deep into this, except to say it's very clear these are different screenwriters than worked on the first three movies. I won't say Jack's entire backstory is retconned, but you have to be a somewhat skillful fanfic writer to take what they give us and work it in with what we've learned in movies 2 and 3, particularly. Also, I'm not wild about what they did to Will Turner's personality as captain of the Dutchman, but we can discuss that later - at least it *might* have a basis in logical explanation.

Green-screening - I shouldn't say this was "bad" so much as there were moments it was too obvious some actor was hanging from something or standing on something to look like they were hanging on something, and the camera was too close and it just looked a little fake-y. Still, I understand FX isn't an easy thing (and where were a lot of FX shots that were really good in this one, so maybe this isn't a "MEH" so much as "A FEW SHOTS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN EXECUTED BETTER").

Too little Will and Elizabeth - There should have been more of both in the movie. If you're going to pay your actors as much as they likely got (as much as I HOPE they were paid to be in it), use them. I'm just saying. I wanted some more of them.

THINGS I LIKED: Henry and Caryna - As separate characters, that is. I have nothing against their romance; they're cute, and their style of banter is something I could see them keeping up into old age. But I prefer a character to stand on their own, and they're all right. The actor who plays Henry is not quite the treasure young Tom "Spider-Man" Holland is turning out to be, but he's got talent and he does a pretty good job of getting across an amalgamation of the personalities of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. My favorite thing about Henry is that he seems to be only an OK swordsman; he's not his father - but what he lacks there he makes up for in what seems to be a preternatural affinity for hand-to-hand combat. He hits, he kicks, he kneels to trip people over him, he even grabs a couple and bodyslams them like The Undertaker. (I am sincerely hoping Elizabeth taught him these moves.) And Caryna - she's not like Elizabeth. She doesn't fight or confront the same way, but she's direct and unafraid, and good at getting herself out of jail and other tight spots. Plus, she's book-smart and scientifically literate. I swear to Christ if their kid inherit both their traits, they're going to be either Sherlock Holmes or Lara Croft.

Will Turner - Shut up. Of course I like him. I'm not entirely wild what the writers did with him or the fact he's in this so little, but I enjoy the fact he's middle-aged and looks like it with facial lines and sadness in his eyes at the right time (and some humor), and it was nice to see him and Elizabeth happy again. Of course, I can still pair him just as easily with Jack in fanfic, which brings us to ...

Jack/Will potential - Yes, it's still there. If you're an industrious fanfic writer or reader, you can make it happen. They're both older and a little more defeated, and Will definitely wouldn't be putting up with any of Jack's bullshit at this point, but you can slash them. What I really liked is how Jack didn't really show any favoritism or fondness for Henry 94 percent of the time, but there were 3-4 instances he did something to save the kid, because why not. He does ask after Elizabeth at one point and if she said his name in her sleep (LOL), and Henry is "no ... no." (I saw someone online comment that this is patently untrue, since how else would Henry know about Jack in the first place, and that the more likely explanation is that Elizabeth probably shit-talked Jack through most of the kid's childhood, sprinkled with some fond allowances for the fact Jack wasn't always a selfish prick or one or both of Henry's parents would be dead, okay?) Granted, I think most of the slash at this point in their lives would be less about Jack and Will having sex everywhere and more about Will overlooking the fact Jack cheats at cards and drawing a sword on anyone who tries to shoot him for it at the pub. But, you know. You can have the nookie too. (And yeah, there's OT3 fic to be had too, probably in Elizabeth being the one every so often who pulls the gun on Jack and Will lets her. Or she bodyslams Jack.)

ANYWAY ... I won't say it's a bad movie and I won't say it's a really good movie. It's entertaining. Had this been the first POTC movie, I don't believe there would be any sequels. There are things I could've done better if they'd hired me to write it, easily; there are things a lot of us in the old fandom could've done better if they'd only hired US instead. But it has enough holes in it that if you like the fanfic thing, you can spend lots of time patching up missing scenes and what-not.

#potc spoilers #potc5

2 notes · View notes

junker-town · 7 years

Text

NBA players explain why they are going vegan and vegetarian

Some players have sworn off eating animals and animal products. These are their stories.

As more information becomes available about the food athletes are putting in their bodies, a lifestyle trend appears to be taking the NBA by storm: veganism.

That’s right, players are throwing out the beef and picking up the beets, putting down the chicken and picking up the chickpeas. According to most of them, the change in diet has both helped them cut weight and increased their energy levels.

Someone who identifies as vegan does not eat animals or animal products. That includes all meat, poultry, fish, seafood and dairy products. This is different from vegetarians, who also don’t eat meat or fish, but will animal products.

Here’s a running list of NBA players who have made the transition to vegan or vegetarian diets:

Jahlil Okafor

During his introductory media session after being traded to the Nets in early December, Okafor acknowledged that he has transitioned from mostly vegan to 100 percent vegan, and is reaping the benefits of a change in his lifestyle. He says he weighs 250 to 255 pounds now after checking-in over 280 pounds in the past and that his troublesome right knee — one that he slightly tore his meniscus in — is close to 100 percent.

“I took a vegan diet. I’m on a vegan diet now. I started that this past summer,” he said. “The reason I did it is just health benefits. My knee was swelling up a lot and I couldn’t really get my knee to 100 percent, so I tried cutting out dairy and the swelling went down and I went full fledge on it and I feel great. It’s something I’m going to keep doing.

“The knee’s great. I haven’t had any issues with the knee. There’s no swelling, I think it’s all due to me taking care of myself and obviously the diet.”

Kyrie Irving

After forcing a trade out of Cleveland, Irving adopted a vegan diet and said his energy is up and his body feels amazing:

youtube

“This season I've been on more of a plant-based diet, getting away from all the animals and all that. I had to get away from that,” Irving told ESPN’s Chauncey Billups. “So my energy is up, my body feels amazing. Just understanding what the diet is like for me and what’s beneficial for me for having the highest energy out here and being able to sustain it at a very high level.”

Damian Lillard

Lillard entered the summer with the goal of shedding some weight, and according to The Oregonian’s Mike Richman, he was able to cut 10 pounds by switching to a vegan diet.

Checking in at 190 lol... strong and fast babyyyyy

A post shared by Damian Lillard (@damianlillard) on Sep 5, 2017 at 4:53pm PDT

He also said he wanted to play lighter to alleviate some of the pressure on his joints and his feet.

youtube

“[I’ve been] wanting to eat cleaner,” Lillard said in an interview with OregonLive Sports’ Jessica Greif and Sean Meagher. “Also I was trying to play lighter this year, be easier on my joints and on my feet. ... Getting older and you don’t want to let that age sneak up on you where you just get in the habit of eating whatever you want to eat because I know I’m gonna burn it off when it’s time to play. So just creating better habits.

“I feel much better. I thought it was all hype. I thought people just said it just because it was a healthier food but I can feel it. I can definitely feel it.”

Enes Kanter

Kanter, who is not 100% vegan, appears to have lost 40 pounds this summer alone:

Beginning of the summer I was around 273 #TurkishDiet http://pic.twitter.com/XVtnGFPSp1

— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) September 21, 2017

He credited it to putting an end to his incessant eating of Turkish food:

Enes Kanter said he was inspired to lose weight this offseason by looking in the mirror. Was eating too much Turkish food. "I needed a bra." http://pic.twitter.com/HabgBzfz0I

— Erik Horne (@ErikHorneOK) September 17, 2017

“Maybe in June or July, I looked in the mirror. I’m like, ‘Man, I see a fat man. Look at that man, I feel fat,’” he said, according to The Oklahoman’s Erik Horne. “Not just feel fat, just look fat, too. I needed like a bra or something. I kept eating all this Turkish food. I was like, I need to stop doing it. I need to just — the season is coming. It’s a really important season for us. I need to be in shape.”

Kanter did not go completely vegan, but in a text message to SB Nation, he detailed how he was able to shed so much weight in such a quick amount of time:

“I didn’t go vegan, but I almost stopped eating red meat and I hardly eat chicken. Most of my meals are vegan or fish,” he wrote. “For the workouts, I start swimming a lot almost every week, twice, but I stopped eating sugar and carbs. I hardly eat them.”

Wilson Chandler

Of all the NBA’s vegan players, none have been more outspoken about the lifestyle change than Chandler.

youtube

Here’s a few things Chandler said about going vegan in an awesome interview with Highsnobiety:

“A few things led me to the vegan diet. I guess the first thing to say was that I had multiple injuries and surgeries. Then additional complications: stamina level, inflammation, stuff with my stomach, overall mood, how my body was feeling and working.”

“The animals that we eat get their protein from plants. So we’re eating the protein that they’re eating from the plants.”

“Eating a vegan diet has changed my everyday living. I sleep better, I wake up in a better mood, I recover faster, I’m not so inflamed, not so achey. I feel better overall, in everything that I do. I can take in more information easier. My mind is just open.”

You can read the rest of his Q&A here.

Also, in an interview with SLAM Magazine, Chandler said he went vegan because:

“I think it was just about being health-conscious and then I was just reading a lot and I watched a few documentaries. I watched Food, Inc., I watched GMO OMG. I kind of think I made that connection — that’s what inspired me.”

JaVale McGee

In March of 2016, McGee tweeted his interest in going vegan:

WHATS THE 1ST STEP TO VEGANISM? I NEED IRON WHAT REPLACES THAT? AND PROTEIN, I HATE BEANS BTW!

— Javale McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) March 6, 2016

He went vegan and lost 15 pounds, according to The San Francisco Gate, before making the Warriors’ 15-man roster as a training camp invite. He had one of the most successful seasons in his roller-coaster ride career, helping Golden State to its second NBA championship in three years.

He even got Swaggy P to give the vegan diet a test drive.

JaVale McGee's going vegan, so Nick Young joined him for a meal. ( : swaggyp1 / IG) http://pic.twitter.com/AF2rtLG4mW

— SB Nation (@SBNation) September 29, 2017

Al Jefferson

Jefferson told The Indy Star’s Clifton Brown he lost 40 pounds since making the transition to vegetarianism last summer.

“I’m a vegetarian now,” said Jefferson. “I got sick eating some home fried chicken. That’s my favorite. I just gave it up. See how long I can do it. I’m not saying it’s forever.”

Asked if chicken was what he missed most, Jefferson smiled.

“Man, you’re making my mouth water,” Jefferson said. “I love chicken. Can we not talk about chicken?”

Victor Oladipo

Oladipo isn’t vegan, but he’s made a conscious effort to put healthier foods into his body. Case in point: Vic gave up Popeyes.

Oladipo is eating healthier and, as a result, is missing some Popeye's chicken: "Luckily there's no Popeye's on the way home." #Pacers http://pic.twitter.com/WAxyIiKmF5

— FOX Sports Indiana (@FSIndiana) November 6, 2017

“Just started eating better, cleaner, less portions. I feel better. I just knew that I needed to change.”

What do you really miss?

“Popeyes. Man, I love some Popeyes, but I can’t do it now. Luckily there’s no Popeyes on the way home, either. So I just keep driving.”

Michael Porter Jr.

Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr. is considered one of the top three prospects expected to enter his name into the 2018 NBA Draft. His family has been vegetarian for more than a decade, but will make the transition to a raw vegan diet, according to The Kansas City Star’s Aaron Reiss, to maximize his and his brother’s physical abilities.

Via Reiss:

His mother thought she knew best, but she decided she needed an outside voice to convince her eldest son. She needed a “performance consultant.” She needed Graham, a doctor of chiropractic medicine who sometimes speaks in buzzy taglines. He believes in “causing health” rather than preventing illness, and he has five key words: whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic.

“We’ve found that it helps our body recover,” 17-year-old Jontay Porter said of the diet Graham has helped implement. “We have more energy. We’re better on the court.”

0 notes

exfrenchdorsl4p0a1 · 7 years

Text

5 Things The Media Gets Wrong About White Supremacist Hate

White supremacist terror is at the top of people’s minds after a white supremacist stabbed and killed two men who were defending two young black women, one in a hijab, from his bigoted rant in Portland, Oregon, last month.

The incident attracted widespread media coverage, which in turn drew criticism from many people on Twitter who denounced news outlets for not labeling the attack as terrorism.

There’s a familiar double standard in how the media treats violence by white supremacists versus violence by Islamist extremists. It’s time to get it right.

HuffPost spoke to two experts ― Farai Chideya, a journalist who has been reporting on white nationalism for more than 25 years, and Heidi Beirich, the head of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, who has been studying white extremist groups since 1999 ― to discuss the problem of white supremacist hate today, and how the media can do a better job covering it.

This is what the media should know:

1. White supremacist hate is not new.

“The one thing that bothers me the most about media coverage of these incidents is that they’re not frequently enough put in the context of the fact we’ve had ton of domestic terrorism recently,” Beirich told HuffPost.

Beirich noted a recent spate of white supremacist attacks in the U.S. In addition to the May 26 Portland attack, there’s the March 20 murder of 66-year-old Timothy Caughman, who was black, by a man who traveled to New York City expressly to kill African-American men, and the May 22 killing of Richard Collins III, a black college student in Maryland, by a man who belonged to a white supremacist Facebook group.

“When it comes to Muslim terrorism, nobody questions it’s a problem that’s an ongoing threat ― a security problem, radicalization problem, et cetera ― which it is,” Beirich said. “But when it comes to Portland or Dylann Roof [the 2015 Charleston church shooter], they always seem to appear as one-offs.”

Outlets covering last week’s truck and knife attack in London, for instance ― carried out by three men identified as Islamist extremists ― often made a point of mentioning the bombing in Manchester, England, two weeks before.

But many news outlets covering the stabbing attack in Portland failed to mention other recent U.S. attacks by white supremacists, such as the one in Maryland just a few days earlier.

Meanwhile, more domestic terrorism incidents in the U.S. have been carried out by people associated with white supremacist ideologies than by people with radical Islamist ideologies, Beirich noted.

In tracking deadly terror attacks in the U.S., the New America Foundation has counted 11 attacks by Islamic extremists since 9/11, compared to 21 by far-right extremists. Between the 9/11 attacks and the 2016 Orlando, Florida, nightclub shooting, more people were killed in the U.S. by right-wing extremists than by Islamic extremists, the foundation said.

We began as a country that said ‘all men are created equal’ ― but there was slavery, and women were not allowed to vote. Farai Chideya

Americans “shouldn’t be surprised” by the frequency of white supremacist attacks, since they are rooted in a long history of racial discrimination, Beirich said. As she puts it, until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, “white supremacy was the law of the land.”

“I’m disturbed by this cycle [of attacks],” Chideya told HuffPost. “But we began as a country that said ‘all men are created equal’ ― but there was slavery, and women were not allowed to vote.”

“This is a continuation,” she added. “We’re not done, just because people are uneasy with how long the history is and how prevalent the issue is. We have to give up thinking this is rare.”

2. White supremacist hate is not “fringe.”

White supremacist hate doesn’t just manifest as violent extremism, Chideya noted.

“People frame it as weird guys with fringe beliefs ― no,” Chideya said. “White supremacists don’t just wear hoods and give Nazi salutes. White nationalists are in the U.S. government.”

She pointed to “institutionalized white nationalism, like voting laws,” mentioning North Carolina’s voting practices an example of “de facto white nationalism.” The courts recently found that the state’s legislative districts were drawn to intentionally disadvantage black voters.

Chideya also mentioned “political white nationalism, like in the White House,” calling out the links between the white supremacist movement and upper echelons of the federal government.

She listed President Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon, who led Breitbart News, a publisher of white nationalist content, and Trump aide Sebastian Gorka, who reportedly has ties to a Nazi-aligned group. When Beirich spoke to HuffPost in April, she also pointed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has received awards from and has spoken at events for an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as an anti-Muslim hate group.

White supremacists don’t just wear hoods and give Nazi salutes. White nationalists are in the U.S. government. Farai Chideya

In terms of how news media could do better, Chideya pointed to coverage of Greg Gianforte, who was elected to Congress in Montana last month and was found to have made donations to candidates with ties to white nationalist groups ― which Rewire reported just days before his election. Gianforte made national news when he physically attacked a reporter on the eve of the election.

Chideya said members of the news media were slow to surface Gianforte’s links to hate groups, which she thought should have “come out sooner.”

“In general, reporters need to become more adept at tracking not just extremist white nationalism, but also when it enters the mainstream, like in Montana,” Chideya said. “The same way you run a background check on politicians’ finances, run a check on if they are connected to extremist ideologies.”

3. White supremacist hate is terror.

News outlets have been repeatedly criticized for their slowness to label attacks by white perpetrators as “terrorism,” while they’re quick to use the label when attackers are perceived as nonwhite or “other” ― and specifically, Muslim.

Here's the list of charges facing the Portland murderer. Call him what he is: a white supremacy terrorist. #Portland http://pic.twitter.com/Wr6cSd6w60

— Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi81) May 31, 2017

I love how @CNN & media perpetuate idea that it's never terrorist attack if white guy does it ever only brown ppl are terrorists#Portland https://t.co/JKAkcnElMs

— Hasib N (@HasibMN) June 4, 2017

Distressing that this piece I wrote on white supremacist violence in March can be so easily re-upped for Portland. https://t.co/zezC2Ymsko

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) May 31, 2017

“What is terrorism? Acts designed to inspire terror. But somehow, we don’t call this terrorism,” Chideya told HuffPost of the Portland attack. “When a Muslim terrorist kills one, two, five people, it’s immediately labeled terrorism. But when a white nationalist kills one, two, five people, it’s not labeled terrorism. But they’re the same.”

“We have to be aware as journalists of the labels we use,” she added.

The issue of how to label any given attack is complex. As CNN reports, for an attack to be labeled a hate crime, a perpetrator has to attack someone based on their identity ― for example, their race, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity. For an act to be labeled terrorism, the perpetrator has to be motivated by political or ideological beliefs.

But the line is blurry. Many people condemned the government for not labeling Dylann Roof a terrorist after he killed nine black people in a Charleston church in 2015 and specifically said he was there “to shoot black people,” according to witnesses.

There is a more general presumption that white people are good and innocent in American culture at large ― and journalists come from that culture. Farai Chideya

Officials themselves can be slow to use the “terrorist” label when white attackers are involved, adding to the challenge for journalists.

“It’s too early to say whether last night’s violence was an act of domestic terrorism or a federal hate crime,” an FBI special agent told reporters the day after the Portland attack, per CNN.

Beyond the inconsistent labeling, there are other discrepancies in how the media treats violent attacks by white supremacists versus by Islamist extremists.

White attackers are often portrayed as lone wolves with mental health issues, while Islamist attackers are simply terrorists. The Muslim community is made to answer or apologize for Islamist extremism, while white Christians don’t get similar requests. There’s deep digging into how Islamic extremists were radicalized ― but that’s not the case for white extremists.

“Plenty of terrorists have had mental health issues,” Chideya told HuffPost. “There is a more general presumption that white people are good and innocent in American culture at large ― and journalists come from that culture.”

This quote is about the white supremacist who killed two folks in Portland on Friday. How about: he was radicalized? https://t.co/LrJ6rFRQgd http://pic.twitter.com/AOa8U3Gjzw

— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) May 27, 2017

The presumption that the attacker is mentally ill and not "radicalized" is strictly based on religion and race, btw. https://t.co/onKJtOAog1

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 27, 2017

And when someone perceived as Muslim commits an attack, the news typically receives far more coverage than an attack by a white supremacist would.

A man yelled anti-Muslim slurs and murdered two people. Reverse the killer/slur scenario and there would be *nothing else* on TV for days. https://t.co/Y6GFpz8f0h

— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) May 27, 2017

This double standard is perpetuated from the nation’s highest office, as Trump continues to respond selectively to terror attacks during his presidency.

After Islamist extremists attacked London, for instance, he condemned the violence on Twitter the same day. After the Portland attack, Trump waited more than two days before tweeting about it.

It is my favorite pattern of this presidency. If Trump thinks an attacker is Muslim, instant condemnation. If not, prolonged silence.

— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) June 4, 2017

“There’s crickets from Donald Trump when there’s white nationalist violence,” Chideya said. “But there’s a deluge with Muslim violence.”

4. Don’t worry about giving white supremacists too much coverage ― worry about giving them the right kind of coverage.

News organizations are sometimes concerned about giving extremists too much attention, which could feed into their desire for publicity and spur copycats.

Beirich recognizes the issue, but she maintains that reporters need to pay more attention ― not less ― to the issue of white supremacist hate.

“I know there are concerns about journalists who don’t want to report on a neo-Nazi rally where four people show up, because those groups are just seeking attention ― and that’s a valid point,” Beirich said. “But when we’re talking about domestic terrorism and hate crimes related to white supremacy ― that’s a real thing.”

“I understand not wanting to draw attention to small instances,” she added, noting specifically the series of news stories about white supremacist flyers on college campuses. “But when people are getting killed because of this, we’ve got to pay attention.”

When people are getting killed because of this, we've got to pay attention. Heidi Beirich

Deciding how much of a platform to provide extremists is an “inevitable transaction of journalism,” Chideya noted.

She recalled a time years ago when she was conducting a phone interview with a woman in the white supremacist movement. At the end of the interview, Chideya asked: “I’m black ― would you have granted me the interview if you’d known that?”

The woman responded: “Probably not ― but on the other hand, every time I talk to a reporter, people will read your article and come find me.”

“You can write a piece saying [white supremacists] are cowards, and there still will be people who come over to their side,” Chideya told HuffPost. “That doesn’t mean you don’t do journalism ― you just do it as well as you can.”

Good reporting on white supremacist movements will recognize that there is a range of people within any movement.

“It’s a question of journalism: Not every story is about Derek Black,” she said, referring to a man The Washington Post profiled after he left the so-called alt-right movement. “Nor about the worst violent person in the movement.”

5. White supremacist hate is a bigger problem than you think.

“Not only do we have domestic terrorism inspired by racism, but also we have a hate crime problem ― and the dimensions are not understood,” Beirich said.

While we know there has been a recent rise in the number of hate groups and a spike in hate crimes after Trump’s election, the U.S. still doesn’t do a good job of tracking hate crimes.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, for instance, puts out a report of around 5,000 to 6,000 hate crimes each year. But when the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics did a large-scale study from 2007 to 2011, Beirich noted, it found the number of hate crimes closer to 260,000 per year.

If people were looking at these data points more, we would be talking about ways to combat this problem. Heidi Beirich

“If people were looking at these data points more, we would be talking about ways to combat this..

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2saBzqk

#DIYS

0 notes

chpatdoorsl3z0a1 · 7 years