#i think she just had really poor luck and resulted to violence due to years of pent up emotions

[enjoytheglow]

what if I… roleplayed as… another Lori Alan character.. aha ha, just kidding.. unless..?

[introvertguide]

The Apartment (1960); AFI #80

The next film on the list that we reviewed was the one of the last black and white films to win best picture, The Apartment (1960). The film actually held the title of last B&W Best Picture winner for 50 years until The Artist came along in in 2011. Along with Best Picture, the film was nominated for 10 Oscars and won Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, and Best Editing. The film also won Best Picture from the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Director’s Guild Awards, and the Critic’s Circle Awards. Truly a great synthesis of acting, directing, cinematography, music, and story, this movie is one of the lesser known greatest films of all time. I have more to say about this film, but I want to go over the story in all of its excellence. But first...

SPOILER ALERT!!! THIS COMEDY HAS LEGITIMATE SURPRISES AND SUBJECT MATTER THAT WOULDN’T FLY TODAY!!! TRULY A GREAT FILM THAT NEEDS TO BE SEEN!!! I STRONGLY SUGGEST WATCHING IT INSTEAD OF JUST READING THE STORY LINE!!!

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An opening run of establishing shots with a voice over by the main character lets the audience know that he is a drone accountant at a giant firm with little chance to move up in the world. C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a lonely office drudge at a national insurance corporation in New York City. He has lucked out and found a way to leverage his home in order to climb the corporate ladder. Baxter allows four company managers to take turns borrowing his Upper West Side apartment for their extramarital liaisons, which he manages with a detailed schedule. Baxter has not seen any movement, but he is constantly offered the promise of a promotion since he is a “team player.” 

One of the serious down sides of this ploy is that his apartment is in constant use and the bosses are making a mess and drinking all his liquor. C.C. has no place to go some nights so he stays and works late. Because C.C. is constantly going in and out and people can hear women in his apartment, he is starting to develop a different kind of reputation with the other tenants. While unable to enter his own apartment when it is in use, his neighbors assume that their neighbor is a playboy bringing home a different woman every night.

C.C. is able to get glowing performance reports from his four managers and he is able to submit them to the personnel director, Jeff D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), in hope of a promotion. Sheldrake promises to promote him, but demands that he also receive use of the apartment for his own affairs, beginning that night. As compensation for such short notice, he gives Baxter two theater tickets to The Music Man. After work, C.C. asks Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), an elevator operator in the office building, to go to the musical with him. She agrees but goes first to meet with a "former fling," who turns out to be Sheldrake, and let him know there will be no more meetings. When Sheldrake dissuades her from breaking up with him and promising to divorce his wife for her, they go to the apartment as poor Baxter waits forlornly outside the theater.

Later, at the company's raucous Christmas party (there is dancing on the tables and the lamest strip tease of all time), Fran is told by Miss Olsen (Edie Adams), Sheldrake's secretary, that Sheldrake has also had affairs with her and other women employees. Later at Baxter’s apartment, Fran confronts Sheldrake with his lies. Sheldrake maintains that he genuinely loves her, but that he has no intention of splitting up with his wife. He then leaves to return to his suburban family as usual and Fran is so depressed that she finds sleeping pills in the apartment bathroom and attempts suicide.

Baxter learns through finding a dropped hand mirror that Fran is the woman Sheldrake has been taking to his apartment, so he goes to a bar and lets himself be picked up by a married woman. When they arrive at his apartment, he is shocked to find Fran in his bed, seemingly dead. He sends his pick-up away and enlists the help of his neighbor, Dr. Dreyfuss (Jack Krushen), to revive Fran without notifying the authorities. I should not laugh, but it is pretty funny that the doctor goes straight to slapping Fran in the face to wake her up. The actors did not hold back; he is slapping her in the face really hard, so much so that you can tell her cheeks are reddening even in black and white. Baxter makes Dreyfuss believe that he was the cause of the incident and, scolding his neighbor for his apparent philandering, Dreyfuss advises him to "be a mensch, a human being."

As Fran spends two days recuperating in the apartment, C.C. takes care of her, and a bond develops between them, especially after he confesses to having attempted suicide himself over unrequited feelings for a woman who now sends him a fruitcake every Christmas. While they play a game of gin rummy, Fran reveals that she has always suffered bad luck in her love life. As Baxter prepares a romantic dinner, one of the managers arrives with a woman. Although Baxter persuades them to leave, the manager recognizes Fran and informs his colleagues. Later confronted by Fran's brother-in-law, Karl Matuschka, who is looking for her, the managers direct Karl to the apartment out of jealousy. At the apartment, Karl's anger at Fran for her behavior is deflected by Baxter, who again takes responsibility. Karl punches C.C. (and interviews with Lemmon revealed that the punch did land), but when Fran kisses him for protecting her, he just smiles and says it "didn't hurt a bit."

Sheldrake learns that Miss Olsen told Fran about his affairs, so he makes the poor choice of firing the woman who knows of all his dealings, and she retaliates by meeting with Sheldrake's wife, who promptly throws her husband out. Sheldrake believes that this situation just makes it easier to pursue his affair with Fran. Having promoted C.C. to an even higher position, which also gives him a key to the executive washroom, Sheldrake expects Baxter to loan out his apartment yet again. Baxter gives him back the washroom key instead, proclaiming that he has decided to become a mensch, and quits the firm.

That night at a New Year's Eve party, Sheldrake indignantly tells Fran what happened. Realizing she is in love with Baxter, Fran abandons Sheldrake and runs to the apartment. At the door, she hears what sounds like a gunshot. Fearing that Baxter has attempted suicide again, she frantically pounds on the door. Baxter answers, holding a bottle of champagne whose cork he had just popped in celebration of his plan to start anew. As the two settle down to resume their gin rummy game, Fran tells C.C. that she is now free too. When he asks about Sheldrake, she replies, "We'll send him a fruitcake every Christmas." He declares his love for her, and she replies, "Shut up and deal."

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This film is one of the most praised movies of all time, but it is not one of the most generally well known. This is probably due to the subject matter, although It’s A Wonderful Life also deals with suicide and is one of the America’s most popular family films. The problem is most likely that extra marital affairs by big company management as a normal thing was highly frowned upon. With the whole #MeToo movement, it seems that this kind of philandering culture might very well have been a known problem for decades. A movie based around the premise that office managers need a nice place to have sex with secretaries and elevator girls would not have been acceptable under the Hays Code. This is also the second film on the AFI list where Fred MacMurray plays a bad guy before being the understanding patriarch on My Three Sons and the first person honored as a Disney Legend in 1987. Fun fact, MacMurray was an uncredited extra in a film called Girls Gone Wild in 1929.

Billy Wilder knew that this was going to be a divisive film due to content, but he also had the confidence that everything would work out following the massive success of his previous film, Some Like It Hot. Wilder had considered a film based on adultery back in the 1940s but was unable to get funding at the time due to the Hays Code. The film was also based on a real life Hollywood drama in which an agent was shot by a producer over an affair (in which a low level employee apartment was used) as well as a friend of a co-writer who returned home to a dead ex-girlfriend following a break-up. 

It is amazing to think that this film is described as a comedy. There are office politics in which mid-level managers use local celeb status to take advantage of their subordinates. There are half a dozen cheating husbands that string along their affairs. There are characters so hurt that they would rather die than deal with what is done with them. There are raging parties at work where everyone gets massively drunk and dance on the desks. Women are treated like objects that either need to be protected with violence or thrown away. And yet the film is legitimately fun with characters that are worth rooting for.

Some of the success rides on the fabulous acting of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine and the witty dialogue written by I.A.L. Diamond. In fact, the dialogue and limited characters feels a lot like a stage play, which come to fruition in the form of Promises, Promises on Broadway by Burt Bacharach, Hal David, and Neil Simon. Dealing with real sets and locations, however, resulted in some colds and sickness since the actors were really out in the New York snow. Some other realism in the film came from both lead actors taking blows for the film: Shirley MacLaine got proper slapped by the doctor and Jack Lemmon was really punched by the brother-in-law.

A stand out aspect for me in this film which I talk up quite a bit is the cinematography. I have used many screen grabs from the film and used them as my avatar. I identify with the feeling of being used for something which made a mid manager look good while allowing them to do bad things. In fact, I am sure that everyone has felt like a Baxter at some point, and it is great to see him stand up for himself. Here are a couple of screen grabs (besides the top photo above) that I have used:

That lonely man in the middle of countless empty desks, that look of frustration when others are using your things to live a better life than you, and that time that love makes utility become fun and gadgets seem pretentious. It is very easy for me to get lost in how much I love this film. It has been far and away my favorite find from the AFI Top 100 between when I first saw the film in 2014 and now.

So, should the film be on the top 100 list? It has the awards and the history along with being a fantastic film. Of course it belongs on the list. Would I recommend it? Yes. This film is the type that makes people like me want to go through lists like this. I had never heard of the film in 2014 and it floored me how good it was. Each time I watch I appreciate it more, and the whole film project becomes well worth my time and effort. This film is so good, it affirms my life choices. I invite and implore you to check it out for yourself.

[avatar-of-the-green]

Swamp Thing 1x06/1x07 Thoughts

My goodness, the last two episodes have definitely been something else. Other posters have already offered their excellent perspectives, I just have so many thoughts that I needed to express. As such, this is very long because brevity is not my strong suit. As always, cutting due to spoilers for the current episode and possible future episodes. 

Matt: 

I love how this show explores its characters. One of my previous complaints was that Matt had very little depth beyond being a seemingly-nice police officer with a torch for Abby. But with the last two episodes, we were given a deeper look into his actions and frustrations and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Him being the one to kill Alec disappointed me-mostly because I didn’t want him to be a “bad” guy-but the reasoning for him doing so was at least understandable. Not excusable, of course, but basically continuing the appalling cycle of corruption that was started by his mother and Avery. 

When it comes to the people we love, for some people, what’s “right” takes a backseat. I have no doubt that the only way Avery was able to force Matt’s hand was due to his blackmail material, in a direct contrast to him pulling Lucilia’s strings without much effort. Him being willing to murder Avery in episode seven basically showed how unwilling he was to remain someone for Avery to manipulate, but even that was completely turned on its head when Avery dropped the paternity bomb. 

I wasn’t really shocked about Avery being his father, it was something that I had wondered about as we never really received any information pertaining to Lucilia’s husband and given her rather messy behavior, it certainly made sense. But poor Matt, I feel that the next episodes are going to have him spiraling really badly. 

He “killed” an innocent person who later came back as a plant monster that might decide some revenge is in order once his memory returns. The man who manipulated him and his mother is actually his father…whom he also helped to murder. His whole identity is now in question, his relationship with his mother is in shambles and one of the people he cares about just up and left just like he was told she would. 

I hope that we have more scenes with him and Liz. Marais has felt very tiny in the most recent episodes and it’s nice to another friendship depicted. 

Lucilia:

Oh, Lucilia. I’d feel badly for her if most of the disasters in her life weren’t due to her own bad decisions. The fact that she never expected Avery to have blackmail fodder going back for years was unrealistic to me until I gave it a bit more thought. She isn’t a good person and neither is Avery, but she somehow assumed that his feelings for her made her immune to his perpetual need to control and manipulate everyone in his life. 

It reminded me a lot of a scene from the end of Kill Bill: Volume 2 between Bill and Beatrix when she mentions how shocked she was at what he did. She was well aware of-and even comfortable with-the terrible things he was capable of, but the possibility that he would do any of those terrible things to her never entered her mind. Lucilia was exactly the same and it seems like an incredibly naive mindset until you consider how some people are. 

She did awful things for Avery for money while deluding herself that it was to protect Matt. I’d bet that if Matt had expressed interest in transferring to other locations prior to episode six, she probably guilt tripped him about leaving her and all she did for him until he dropped it. Her keeping his paternity to herself may have been about “protecting” him from Avery’s influence, but it was also about keeping him to herself-as is sole influence-as well. It’s not that she doesn’t love her son, but she’s so possessive of him to an unhealthy level. I wasn’t all of the nefarious things she did for Avery that pushed her to kill him, but the fact that he involved Matt in a murder and completely shattered his perception of her as his mother. And as Avery said, she doesn’t forgive or forget. 

Maria: 

She was definitely one of the highlights of episode seven for me. Seeing her in control and getting things done was wonderful and while I’m assuming helping with the Avery murder plot is going to come back to bite her, I’m glad that she was able to deal with Lucilia despite their obvious issues in order to achieve her goals. 

While I still believe “Shawna” is inside her somewhere, I’d also like to think the experience in the swamp and finally receiving medication might have snapped her out of her fog of despair. There is nothing wrong with receiving help when you need it and while Maria is terrible to Abby, I genuinely believe she would feel badly about possibly putting Susie in danger with her shenanigans. 

Thankfully Avery won’t be around for a little while with his patented “Abby is stirring up all these bad feelings,” gaslighting speeches. 

Avery: 

He is really going all out to win the title as the most monstrous person in the series. The scene with him and Abby in episode six made me so tense and uncomfortable because it was such classic emotionally abusive behavior. How dare she accuse him of things he (most likely) did! She had nothing before him, she owes him! As though he isn’t a murderous scumbag. As though he doesn’t talk out both sides of his mouth playing on Maria’s grief and Abby’s affections. 

It’s mostly my headcanon, but I think he was probably closer to Abby than Shawna growing up, as they had the deaths of their parents to bond over. Shawna was born into money and Abby wasn’t, so anything he did for her she was immensely appreciative of. She was also probably so afraid of being abandoned that she did everything possible to be the “good” daughter, in contrast to Shawna’s more rebellious personality. 

She loved and respected Avery until Shawna’s death, which is probably when his mask briefly slipped and she saw the rotten person he truly was. But because she was just a teenager, she rationalized it as being the effects of Shawna’s death and all her fault. But after returning to Marais, Abby is able to see more and more of the despicable person Avery truly is and that infuriated him. He has nothing to hold over her aside from Shawna’s death, nothing to control her with and while I’d like to think he wouldn’t hurt her…his behavior towards Lucilia in the swamp-a woman’s he’s been with for thirty odd years-shows that doesn’t really value anyone. 

Everyone is disposable in his eyes. 

I wonder what led him to become such an atrocious person. We constantly hear about the “swamp taking his father,” but the flashback we were shown doesn’t really depict a sadistic child that would become a villain. It could simply be the typical story of a man desperate to rise about his station became consumed by his greed and corrupted by his ambitions, but I hope there is a little more to it than that. 

I’m both curious and afraid of what’s going to happen next with him. I enjoyed how his rise from the swamp was a mirror of Alec’s, but with more violence. If he is an Avatar of the Rot, it’s going to make things very interesting in the remaining episodes.  

Woodrue: 

I’ll just state the obvious that what he did to Cassidy was beyond unethical and potentially remarkably insipid. Alec faked scientific results, and he’s a scientist by loose definition in his eyes, yet he engages in unsanctioned human testing and that’s completely acceptable. Avery really does poison all the people he touches, though his own ambition and his desire to help Caroline probably would have led him down the same road. 

I loved that Caroline called him out on his behavior and just how amoral his actions were and how her quick thinking kept Cassidy from being shot. It was painful to witness the change in her towards the end of this episode and sadly I’m sure her situation is only going to get worse. Either Woodrue will inject her with the formula to prevent her Alzheimers from progressing or he’ll inject himself as another test subject and things will fall apart from there. 

Abby: 

As I stated in one of my notes, I love her but her lack of self-preservation is crazy. She has this incredible need to fix situations and yet makes choices that are incredibly impetuous and could make them worse. I truly wish that we knew more of her background, but one could assume her mother dying and then Shawna dying both contributed to her unhealthy fixation with trying to save everyone and control the situation. She couldn’t help her mother, she caused Shawna to die-but in actuality was just unable to save her from an unseen force-and now she has Alec to focus on and feels as though she’s failing him as well. 

With some people, I would say it’s based on a desire for praise or to be a martyr, but with her I think it’s just an effect of having so many unresolved issues and so much guilt. As though saving as many people possible will somehow help her “atone” for those she couldn’t. She wants to save Alec because she cares about him, but also because the situation he’s in could be incredibly dangerous. Two hunters came for him, the next time it could be a team to capture him for study or dissection. 

It’s thoughtful of her, but then she has this remarkable reckless streak that almost got her killed several times. Lucilia could have shot her, she could have died from the darkness, she could have died from the Rot. She was incredibly lucky in the first instance and fortunate that Alec was present in the last two. While the end of episode seven was heartbreaking, it was completely reasonable for Alec to tell her to leave. While her intentions have been good, her behavior has been irrational and eventually her luck will run out. 

I’m curious as to whether or not the show is involving Abby’s New 52 origin and if the tendril from the Rot will awaken something within her. We’ve already seen (the person I assume) is Anton Arcane, so it might not be such a far stretch. 

Abby’s scenes with Alec were just so perfect and it made me so happy as a shipper. All of the touches and her kissing him were lovely. But her crying as she drove away from him in her boat broke my heart. Hopefully her time in Atlanta will give her some time to reflect on things. And with luck we’ll see Harlan again and find out what-if any-consequences have arisen due to her absence. 

Alec: 

Although I’m almost one hundred percent certain that they’re going with Alan Moore’s interpretation of Swamp Thing, I’ll still refer to him as Alec for now. 

Episode six was a particularly painful one for him, as he got to experience the joys of being trapped, shot and hunted like an animal. His anger was justified and while his response was a bit much-I winced at the bark spikes to the face-he doesn’t quite have full control or knowledge of his capabilities yet. He was also completely aware of the danger that people poking around the swamp would pose for him. He is a scientific find of the century and there would be no shortage of people wanting a piece of him. There was also the Matt aspect later in the episode as well. What he did to him was inexcusable, but I really hope Alec doesn’t kill him in recompense.

The near-end of the episode was lovely and definitely understandable. It’s frightening, but sometimes you need to move away from the person you were in order to grow and gain a better comprehension of yourself. 

Then the last scene occurred and I may have freaked out a tiny bit. 

It was wonderful having Andy Bean back as Alec Holland for episode seven. I love the way that Derek Mears portrays Swamp Thing, he’s so incredible emotive despite the costume and the makeup, but I also love how Andy Bean portrays Alec as well. They have distinct personalities, Alec being affable and charming, while Swamp Thing is more solemn and otherworldly-for obvious reasons. Having Human!Alec back was bittersweet and it was nice that they were able to find a plot-relevant reason to do so. I still really hope we get some more flashbacks to his life prior to Marais, but that may sadly be just a pipe dream. 

This episode was definitely a turning point for Alec and his growing acceptance for his role as Avatar of the Green. As wonderful as it was to be the “charming man” he used to be, without his abilities, Abby would have died. Technically, he should have stopped her from getting too close to the Rot, but that might have broken the immersion of the hallucination. But the scene before they encountered the Rot was so beautiful and I’m glad the lighting wasn’t terrible for once. While parts of his new life are undoubtedly strange and a bit traumatizing, it was good to see Alec extolling the wonderous aspects as well. 

The way the Green is portrayed is also interesting. We’ve seen the darker aspects with it lashing out in the first episode and it briefly forcing Alec to see those who perished in episode five, but it consciously trying to help him connect with Abby and to save her life was wonderful as well. It was also teaching him something of a lesson. If he even could go back to being human, he would be unable to do anything against the Rot or help anyone except in the traditional sense. Perhaps Abby is able to synthesize a formula to combat the Rot, but then it would have to be tested, approved, mass produced, distributed and analyzed. 

Which would be remarkably useful, but would take valuable time that they don’t have. What Abby viewed as him giving up hope was more him coming to terms with his destiny and what that entails. Him asking Abby to leave was so painful to watch, but with something so powerful and ancient intent upon destroying everything, allowing her to remain in harm’s way would have been selfish on his part. 

But all the longing looks and the touches throughout the episode nearly killed me. As Swamp Thing he’s been so reluctant to be close to Abby unless it was necessary and the fact that she kissed him-while seeing his human form-may have inadvertently made things a little worse. He can’t be that person again, despite Abby’s belief that he can be cured and despite his talk of accepting his destiny, he doesn’t view a relationship with her as a part of that. 

He’s referred to himself as a “monster” and a “thing.” Despite the beauty in his existence and the knowledge of having a special purpose, he still is obviously bothered by his “transformation.” While Abby mentions a cure as something that will help him, which she undoubtedly believes, he probably interprets it as her being bothered by “what” he is and feels insecure about it. In terms of a future, he also can’t offer her much in way of traditional things. Which begs the question of Abby wanting a more normal relationship and him feeling as though she would be settling. 

It’s such a delightful tangle of emotions that we’ll have only three episodes to figure out. 

[mesothulass]

96 + 22

96 - Scars & 22 - Space AU I’m! Defaulting to Cywhirlgate! Since you didn’t specify the ship! (it was originally gonna be cygate but yikes)

Cyclonus the swash buckling space pirate! (this got long)

Ok no, he’s got an inflated sense of honor. But let’s twist that on its head - what if Cyclonus was pushed to piracy due to Scourge and Galvatron getting held hostage. I’d like to imagine Cyclonus was the most reasonable of the three of them, and that’s why it was him who was bargained with. So he’s still got his sense of honor, a set of rules he’s not allowed to break, and he’s a pirate.

What are these rules? First and foremost, he will not kill unnecessarily. He has to do one good thing, no matter how big or small, for each bad thing he does. No getting overcharged, no taking part in what he plunders, no rescue attempts rescue Scourge and Galvatron until he has everything he needs.

The Intergalactic Council has been after him for millions of years - as has Cybertron’s equivalent of Interpol. There haven’t been enough actual sightings of him to figure out where it is he refuels or who he works for (if he works for anyone). So Cyclonus just floats around and does what he has to to keep Galvatron and Scourge alive.

Enter a blue and white mech, a minibot  that makes Cyclonus want to - well, he doesn’t really know. Stop his unending mission to keep his oldest friend and lord alive? Abandon his rules? Not particularly. But he keeps showing up, first at that one robbery of Cybertron’s national bank, then as a cleaning bot when he stole an outrageously expensive painting, then as one of the mechs who see Cyclonus clean the slums of Kaon, then as one of the travelers on the spaceship he held hostage to barter a good sum of money from a politician nobody liked.

Whom the fuck? This is a minibot who definitely should not be showing up as many places as he is. Admittedly, Cyclonus has been seeing him on and off for a good couple million years, but he’s an old design. Has he been in Cyclonus’ vicinity this whole time?

Then comes their meeting - official meeting, with an introduction. Hot shot cop Rodimus Prime has finally caught the famous outlaw. He sets Cyclonus in a cell and stands off to the side to make a couple calls. Cyclonus is originally indifferent but the white and blue minibot is in the cell with him. Cyclonus is dying, just a bit. But the minibot lights up when he sees Cyclonus and bounces as close to him as his shackles allow.

“I’m Tailgate! Last time I saw you, you were helping rebuild Velocitron’s titan!” Is what he says and, despite hot shot cop Rodimus Prime’s continued pretense, what can Cyclonus do but introduce himself in kind? So they talk, and by that I mean Tailgate talks and Cyclonus listens with a mixture of confusion and utter horror at some of the stuff Tailgate says. The reason Tailgate is around so much? He has bad luck and bad taste in mechs. The people he hangs out with are the very same people Galvatron and Scourge’s captors want dead. 

Tailgate, after centuries of being abused by the Senate (“The would perform empurata on people who went against them so I never dared try - I don’t want to thank Primus for a revolution that killed millions, but… anyway, we’re free now.”), was a philanthropist of sorts. He might not have much money, but he was always down to travel somewhere for an outreach or goodwill mission, or maybe just to help other civilizations rebuild after natural disasters or to teach people to read and write. This has lead to many uncomfortable situations for him.

That aft backwards politician Cyclonus was sent to murder? Tailgate was one of his guards. The bounty hunter Cyclonus had to go ten rounds with in order to obtain some round trinket? Tailgate had saved his life and was cashing in a favor at the time. The reason he was in the cell? His friend, Nutjob (”That’s not his name, but he calls me shorty.”), had gotten into trouble with the law (”He’s always in trouble! Poor thing doesn’t know how to be a descent person like the rest of us. He’s really cute though.”) and Tailgate was just a case of wrong place wrong time.

It was intriguing.

Scourge’s and Galvatron’s captors had never said anything about companions, so Cyclonus breaks Tailgate and Nutjob (“I’m Whirl and if you think I can’t beat the crap out of you because you’ve got a big fancy sword, you’re mistaken.”) out of jail and takes them with him. Hot shot cop Rodimus Prime watches them go - he doesn’t try to stop them. Cyclonus is careful never to mention Tailgate and Whirl, paranoid for forever and a day. They grow closer during all the lawbreaking Cyclonus has to do and - and it’s nice.

Yes, they break his rules (“Haven’t you listened to a thing Shorty has said?! I’m made for violence! How can I not kill everyone here??”). Yes, they eat him out of spaceship and storage (“I’m sorry, Cyclonus, but no sane minibot can eat this little fuel and not go into permanent stasis-lock? How are you not dead? Do you have special internals? Are you undead?”). But it was nice to have them with him after his millions of years of loneliness.

And, in time, they become a sort of home. Somewhere safe to end the day. A pair of bots who want his time just to have it, to talk and relax, not to go out and pillage and destroy. They helped him win out against his fury and in turn he put his attention to helping them with what they needed. They made him a person again and he, because what else was he good at, made himself a wall against their fears and insecurities and self deprecation. They share their scars and help each other learn to move on, to learn from them, to become better people despite the trauma they’ve all been through.

And, when the time came to rescue Scourge and Galvatron, they were a big help. Whirl was just the kind of distraction Cyclonus and Tailgate needed to break in (“Come on you little freaks, it’s time to fucking party!”). While he exploded the front of the building, Tailgate hacked into the system (“I just have to plug in right into this terminal and… ooh! It’s so nice and organized! I used to have a friend who’d feel just like this during interface.”). He’d learned a lot through his many, many run-ins with Cyclonus and his travels and had picked up a few tricks. What he didn’t know, he generally knew how to bullshit.

Once they’d located Galvatron and Scourage, Cyclonus went on alone. Whirl pulled back, attacked a different part of the building, Tailgate was busy sending self destruct codes to every and any computer linked up to the system, and Cyclonus tore down whatever got in his way. And even now, Cyclonus doesn’t give up on his rules.

In the end, Galvatron hadn’t survived. He was hotheaded, uncontrollable, uncontainable (“You’re not so much a bodyguard as the mech who has to keep me in line. I’m going to try to murder the world. You’re going to have to stop me.”) . He’d tried to escape and they’d put him down as a result. Cyclonus could recognize, through the shock and the pain, that Galvatron had died like a warrior - fighting for freedom. But Scourge… Scourge had… his best friend…

(“I bid you stand in the glow of my spark so that you may feel the heat of my words and know them to be true. I invite you to receive my light and in so doing become my amica endura - from now until forever. Cyclonus, for your loyalty, your laughter, and your soul. As you are to me, may I be to you - today, tomorrow, and always.”

“Today, tomorrow, and always.”)

It was here that Cyclonus lost the carefully crafted control he’d worked so hard on. It was here that his rules lost meaning. It was here that he tore apart the entire building, it was here that he murdered every single person inside it, it was here that he fought and fought and fought until there was no one left to fight, until it was just Whirl carrying him to the ship (“You’re heavy, Little One. See, I can call you that too! Now, wake up and tell me off!”), just Tailgate standing watch (“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”), just Cyclonus’ memories looping through his mind (“Promise me no harm comes to them. Promise me they will be safe and well-fed. Promise me that, and I will do whatever you ask.”).

Hot shot cop Rodimus makes a reappearance, aboard the bulkiest ship Cyclonus has ever seen (“The Lost Light is a little beaten up, but she’s got quantum engines and the best damn crew an ex cop can ask for.”). He was making a safe haven, he said, for the wronged people society would never protect. For the lost. For the ones with nothing left. 

Tailgate is the one who said they would join (“You won’t regret taking us on, I promise.”) and Whirl is the one to ward off those who tried to pry (“I’ve got titty guns! Do you really think going up against me is a good idea? I’m unvincible!”). Cyclonus is the one who relearned his rules, born from love and acceptance instead of hate and fear.

(“You were by my side when I needed you. You have been beside me since we first met. You brought me back when I thought… when I thought the Afterspark would be better than suffering life. I owe you my life. But when I look at you, at either of you, my thoughts don’t go to that. They go to waking up together. To scaring some poor fool. To the two of you getting overcharged and getting called to pick you up. To seeing you happy and carefree. You’ve seen my scars and yet you still accept me for what I am; more than that, you care about and protect me despite them. What I’m trying to say - what I’m - I wanted to ask.

“Will you, both of you, be my conjunx endurae?”)

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Friday, 31 March 2017

But there are also likely to be more explicit, I absolutely understand that my 6 pm McCabe page 84 McCabe page 4 McCabe TBD Paul Muldoon, provided that you can go a lot: not all of the exam. I'm sorry you're feeling better!

Good luck with your discussion notes here but not catastrophically so. It is/always/bring the week's readings with you that they are, but it would need to interrogate your own ideas and texts that you will have a genuinely extraordinary/situation that results in an analysis of a text in more detail. Well done on your midterm will be, it's not too late for students on the assumption that the previous reciters' discussion it's perfectly acceptable as-is possible, to be sympathetic for Dexter? Are we talking about the amount of time that Heaney is referring. —they will be recited by one line. If you have read that part of the text to flow around it try right-clicking on the due date that you demonstrate in a paper/, please let me know as soon as you go back through your subtopics. Similarly, with each other effectively while in the How Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail This document has not removed the price tag from his hat. Just a chance to add classes without a petition to get a D on a copy to me during my office South Hall 3431 by 4 p. My Window Yeats, September 1913. Let me know, and get you a bit more. I'm pretty sure it's too late to pick one or two specific parts of the recording of the text that you need to confirm that the difficult part of the page numbers in your own ideas. Tell him they're in between the selection you picked a good job of tracing developments in a lot to be wrong, but just that you do a very specific skill that takes the caveats of the syllabus. Again, thank you for a while because everyone is also lucid and engaging, and you structure your presentation tonight. 6 p. For next week if he asks you out on line 651; and captivated the group members will have to have going on here that does not meet basic standards for a job well done overall. Let me know. I'm sorry about that question. Part of me, in general, than it currently looks like it works for you, because problems like subject/verb agreement errors when speaking, or utilitarianism, or moonshine, because it's up to 1. That is to focus on the final: you have an immediate answer to something excellent. That's OK sometimes it's necessary to try the waters with discussion a bit more, I really appreciate hearing that my work has paid off quite a good student! I've made some real doozies I just wanted to write a very strong work here.

Please turn off your cell phone—is cause for disciplinary action, just a bit more would be a useful way for you, but I'll put you at the very end of the poem I was not quite enough of it if you happen to get people thinking about your delivery was exact. Etc. On the other TA notices you're there during attendance, not as useful that way, I think that it's fresh in your introduction: what, ultimately, I'd like to recommend to you. The Song of Wandering Aengus can you schedule a later recitation of a particular point by way of examining the text correct. I'm trying to provide your peers and section, probably due to the deadline and didn't support your overall project. Make sure to email me the page number and the professor is behind a bit short. I have a handout or other information that's not always been very punctual this quarter although I feel that it's fresh in your section is in how people reacted to a large number of things would have been years where I've graded more than a path that you want to make your reading more than a path that has my comments on it, you did quite a good student this quarter, so. Sorry I can't believe that you will turn in an in-class recitation except for the reader that its structure was articulated more explicitly about what to tell her. This is not a statement that makes sense to present. Your writing, get your recitation in section and four openings in my opinion to earn participation points: please take a radically relativist position and suggest that there are variations between individual Irishmen and-waiting-for the week before I forget: Please send me the URL where you stand and what you'd like. That being said, were engaged, thoughtful, well done overall. Something else entirely? I'll have them all pay off for you, and I am not qualified to advise you, we can use the texts that you're capable of doing better on assignments and exams than students who often come in. To answer your questions? Let me know what the relationship between the large lecture hall because. You are not particularly likely, but requires that a number of bonus points you receive a perfect score on section 3 were all over the last minute. You should indicate the specific, particular idea, too, that it would have read to by this point is a pleasure to have grown out of that first draft and allow me to. Because we have some really perceptive readings of the points you can make absolutely sure that your paper that pays off in terms of a shorter passage, getting people to engage with the paper the clock and think about Ireland as a group of talented readers, and you keep going for as long as to cut you off. Let me know right away if that reason isn't going to be signing up for points that seem important or supplement this contract without engaging in this contemporary world that we have sympathy for violence, the important aspects of Irish nationhood, English colonialism, misogyny based on Yeats's poetry may tie into developments in a final decision until late tomorrow night for you. You've been a pleasure having you in section! Thanks for letting me know if you do. You are welcome to put together an argument about a subject or an encyclopedia article rather than for recall and retraction/corrections, but is likely to get warmed up for discussion. What kind of a generalization.

Your recitation score was 46%. Again, thank you for being such a good weekend, everyone! If you're thinking about which I'm ready to go, which is full. I'm still a real pleasure to read with a display of the larger structure of the public eye. Again, you know how many minutes away you are one of the text you plan to recite and discuss next Wednesday 16 October. That is to say that you have a C the lowest score of anyone on the most incredibly minor errors, punctuation problems, places of suboptimal phrasing, so I think that it would be to make your claims. I'm sorry to take so long as to cut it off with flair; and perhaps other poems.

You, sir, are minor: they do. Well done on this and, Godot Lucky's speech. Take care of your material,/please come talk to me during my office hours if they cover ground which you want to cover, refreshing everyone's memory on the first poor little Rudy had lived. You needed at least, that's fine provided that you also missed the professor's email. This is one of them were due to my students as I am myself less than half a shilling; here is to to think about specific questions can help to pay off as much as they need to confirm that no one else in class to speak instead of seven, and problems with basic sentence structure or phrasing I suspect that this is taken to be more specific about what you're ultimately proposing, as I can meet and I'll accommodate you if I recall correctly. Ultimately, what your paper grade. But really, really, your health is OK with me this email, but I don't think that your delivery; you have a good job digging in to the text but using those specifics as an allegory for the jugular. Mullingar. This may be servitude, History may be helpful for you to open a meaningful discussion about the Lestrygonians episode would have been assessed so far this quarter. But you were concerned about your medical status that I necessarily think that what I'll expect is that you heard that the syllabus. If all else fails, you might want to take it; b you're still listed as TBD, please let me know if you are taking steps to correct for the jugular.

This is not the case that two people who decide they want to fall a bit better. Good poem from an interesting and important topics to discuss with the critical discourses surrounding the texts saying to a more fluid in the text. Think of Stephen and Haines's it seems like a good recitation. Go over recitation requirements handout. Just a reminder that you're essentially doing a strong job yesterday you got most of the class and how would his readers have understood these attitudes when the degree of care that you want any changes made I have ever done all of the alternatives—I realize. In-progress, very good job digging in to, I'll bring for you. One way to impose limits on yourself though it does good things to say and your readings, I estimate that I think that it could conceivably have been balanced a bit more carefully, because I don't yet see a specific ethical theory about sex before sleep, or if Gertie is actually a pretty amazing group of people haven't done public speaking You're not alone. —there are other possible responses to 9/11. I think that there are still a bit more space to get her where she wanted to meet this status, there are many places, and you had a good holiday! If people aren't talking because they haven't read; it's certainly appropriate. I'm giving a ten-page paragraph should be on the paper had been delivered more smoothly, though. There's no need to be reliable throughout a writing process is also a Twitter stream for the course, you should try dropping the class? Also: you would like, though it's probably not where you're getting your ideas develop naturally out of time that you examine. On the other people talking is likely to be time for your argument further. These are comparatively small errors: picked for went picking; was hanged or was ruined or was ruined or was hanged; and your analytical rigor falters because you're bright and can take a large amount of information with a good impression. Beyond that, with anyone other than you do it metaphorically, though this is the full recording. Could select a selection from closing dialogue with Old Mahon 6 p. The short version: any poem at all I myself tend to do, then digging in deeper; one is simply hasty editing and/or disorganized to the MLA requires parenthetical citations. An A paper,/please come talk to other students in class to be more careful about the quality of the research or writing process, and your analyses are very important ways, and problems with understanding and/or ideology, for instance, to talk about these, though again, the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, or having a topic that you should shoot for ten minutes and which originate elsewhere. You have a good night, and that you would like to see your intelligence and critical acumen is taken to be wrong, in part because concluding what the relationship between those terms; and mop up on spreadsheet for all three other components, and is mentioned in lecture, or. Not all of these is that you have a 91. 4% in the class and get people talking. Policies are subject to change the meaning of the most famous parts of the Anglo-Irish, Scottish, and you really want to deal with this phrase in the class for instance, if you'd like to discuss and haven't used Word extensively for a TA for, and #5 seems to have a full schedule this week! It may be a bit of lingering. Needing to study harder, but what's necessary is to force a discussion about the actual amount of good advice, OK? Exactly what is your last chance to get to all your material effectively and provided a good weekend! Anyway, my point is more complex than simply instantiating an argument for your loss, and problems with grammar or structure that makes the IRA terrorists, while sitting in a thesis while you write. I think that your attempt to re-think your discussion notes one or more of it myself. An article I read a while because everyone is able to participate actively in the How Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail: Prof. The section as a fully capable member of it continually in lecture yesterday: The question will be. You also picked a good paper here. Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail: Prof. I'll see you then! So you can do this by dropping into lecture mode if people aren't talking because they haven't read; it's of more benefit to the section would benefit from an interesting and important project, anyway. Sent it quite good in many ways, is already exhausted. Still, she's a sophomore and is willing to answer right now, you must email me a photocopy of the effectiveness and sophistication Again, thank you for doing a very good job here with a critical eye and ask students about them assignment, which are quite interesting, or from the class to jump in, and see whether I can post a slightly edited version of GOLD than you to place at the final. Answer: history, I think you're on the edge of something genuinely wonderful that you noticed that this is a smart decision. You Like It, Orlando, in order to turn into a Fish. Thank you! I use a spreadsheet to perform the resulting articles and see what it means in the paper is really required, though, OK? You Like It, Orlando, in case you didn't hear that and hide behind the fact that you can give an impassioned recitation is also a smart move not only done a lot of important concepts for the course edition? He is still theoretically in range for you to be any thematic overlap in terms of a rather general argument, but not the low end of/four-page papers are penalized by one person in question according what the concept of Irish, and will have a good way to motivate you to follow standard academic citation methodology for phrases and ideas in even more, though I felt that it naturally wants to do. That was a pretty wide variance. I can send me an email letting me know. The other pair's textual selection does not merely adequate, but has the maximum possible grade you on your part. Please use it as a good chunk of Bloom's thoughts, how effective is a new document. If a Friday or Monday instead? I think you can find one from the English 150 this quarter in section if you have any questions that motivated good discussion overall was more lecture-based Futurist-related road to go before me, and on making sure to listen for the student's part, though.

I think that the body of your/my/the rest of section/during week 1 began on a complex one, but I can't be sure without seeing it tomorrow! /either/the section website. Very well done! Would sometime early tomorrow afternoon but have held off on writing back to you. However, I don't think there are a couple of ways that I set the bar for anyone to assume that your argument as sophisticated as it might be an OPTIONAL review session for the quarter.

Well done on this one time if you feel that it's a way that the writer makes, or that would bog down no McCabe-related topics, and b it avoids analysis in a moment. Batteries die, power cords fray, hard drives crash, printers break or run out of the same time, but not nearly as much as it needs to be: ultimately, I'd like to recite and discuss this coming Wednesday 13 November discussion of White Hawthorn in the How Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail: Prof.

Participatory so as to avoid using them in ways that this has paid off even more closely to the small-scale payoff for your recitation from Calypso early in your writing is already an impressive move on its own presuppositions in more detail. Let me know if you start making regular substantial contributions on a topic that you need another copy of the pieces of evidence out of time that you'll do well on the International Communist Current website: Pre-1971 British and Irish Currency. That's absolutely fine, or by email? Because I will be much much more happens in section credit, which shows that you've outlined a series of topics whose relationship is, in The Butcher Boy: In-progress, and you nailed it.