#kevin slayed this entire performance

[9worldstales]

MCU “Thor”: Who’s to blame for Thor’s banishment?

So I’ve seen around people blaming Loki for Thor’s banishment and…

… I can’t help but wonder if they realize that, by saying so they aren’t just pinning the blame on the wrong person but they’re doing a HUGE, GIANT SIZE disservice to Thor.

But let's list sources used for this first.

SOURCES MENTIONED:

Movies: “Thor” (2011), “Thor – The Dark World” (2013)

Comics: None mentioned

Direct-to-video animated film: None mentioned

Motion comics: None mentioned

Books: None mentioned

Novels: “Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor” by Alex Irvine (2015)

Webs: None mentioned

Others: “Thor” old movie script, Interview “Director Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Feige Interview THOR”, interview “EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter Don Payne Talks Thor!”, Interview “SDCC 2010: Chris Hemsworth Interview THOR”, Video “Thor (2011) Chris Hemsworth Kill Count”

Although “Thor” is meant to be an origin story for both Thor and Loki…

Kevin Feige: The movie, very much, is an origin of Loki, almost as much as it is an origin of Thor. We had to ride that balance. There were drafts where Thor took over too much, and there were certainly drafts where Loki became too prominent, and I think we found a nice balance that is clearly the origin of both of those characters. [Director Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Feige Interview THOR]

…the focus was mostly on Thor and his journey to learn humility.

I mean, this is not MY interpretation of the story, it’s basically what everyone involved in the production says the story is about. Thor is unworthy, the banishment is just, from it he learns humility and becomes worthy again.

Don Payne: Whereas we’ve got an extra-dimensional being once worshipped as a god by the ancient Norse who’s banished to earth and stripped of his powers to learn humility, all set amidst the Shakespearean intrigue of a dysfunctional royal family. You just have to find the things that make Thor timeless and relatable as a character. It certainly helps that he’s charismatic and likeable, albeit flawed. He’s banished for good reason, but I think people will want to go on the journey with him and root for him to find redemption — particularly with Chris Hemsworth’s performance. [EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter Don Payne Talks Thor!]

Kenneth Branagh: That story arc of the flawed hero who must earn the right to be king is in our piece, but what’s key is the stakes. There, it’s Europe and England, and here, it’s the universe. When that family has problems, everybody else is affected. If Thor throws a fit and is yelling at his father and is banished, suddenly the worlds are unstable. [Director Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Feige Interview THOR]

Chris Hemsworth: At the beginning of this film, he’s certainly a brash, cocky warrior who’s about to inherit the keys to the kingdom, and his father thinks that he’s not ready. It’s the journey of him learning some humility through the film. I think he’s one of those people who has his heart in the right place. He’s doing what he’s doing for his family and to protect the kingdom, and he thinks it’s the right way to do it. It just happens to be a very aggressive way of doing it, which probably isn’t the right way. It’s about tempering that raw emotion that he drives off most of the time, into the right direction. [SDCC 2010: Chris Hemsworth Interview THOR]

And in fact Thor makes a 180° turn from how he started.

The boy then man who insisted he wanted first to kill all the Jotun then give them a lesson is the one who sacrifices his chance to meet Jane again to save them.

Young Thor: When I’m king, I’ll hunt the monsters down and slay them all! Just as you did, Father.

and...

Thor: March into Jotunheim as you once did. Teach them a lesson. Break their spirits so they’ll never dare try to cross our borders again.

versus

Thor: You can’t kill an entire race!

The man who said his father was an old man and a fool, becomes the one who says there will never be a wiser king than Odin.

Thor: And you are an old man and a fool!

versus

Thor: There will never be a wiser king than you. Or a better father. I have much to learn. I know that now. Someday, perhaps, I shall make you proud.

The man who returning from Jotunheim was too busy to care for how Fandral got hurt so that it was Odin who had to say to get him to the healing room, is the one who, once back to Midgard, first worry about having his friends getting Heimdall on the healing room and then about what he’ll do with his brother.

Odin: You cannot even protect your friends! How can you hope to protect a kingdom? Get him to the healing room! Now!

versus

Thor: Get him to the healing room! Leave my brother to me.

The man who thought his father’s lessons were wrong, then admits his father was right.

Thor: While you wait and be patient, the Nine Realms laugh at us. The old ways are done. You’d stand giving speeches while Asgard falls.

versus

Thor: Neither did I. My father was trying to teach me something, but I was too stupid to see it.

The man who first was told by Loki going to Jotunheim was madness and did it anyway then tells Loki how destroying Jotunheim is madness.

Loki: Thor, it’s madness.

versus

Thor: Loki, this is madness.

The man who would start a fight just because he was called ‘princess’ versus the man who kept on refusing to start a fight with Loki even after the other hit him four times and only does so when Loki threatens Jane.

And then there are the comparisons that got lost because some scenes got cut. For start an even better comparison, in which another man calls Thor "Princess" and Thor this time refuses to fight.

Jotun: Run back home, little princess. [Thor stops in his tracks. Loki goes white. He knows what's coming.] Loki: Damn. [In one quick move, Thor pulls Mjolnir, swings it, and KNOCKS the Jotun clear across the plaza. The Asgardians reluctantly draw their weapons, gather into a circle around Thor. Volstagg looks around at the angry Jotuns approaching them.]

versus

Drunk townie: You were in the diner with that hot girl. [Thor doesn't like where this is going.] Drunk townie: I wouldn't mind her doing a little research on me. [He laughs. Thor is annoyed.] Thor: I have no quarrel with you. But she's a lady. You should be more respectful. Drunk townie: And you should shut the hell up, princess. [Selvig looks to Thor, concerned that he's going to lose it. But, to his surprise, Thor remains unaffected by the Townie's baiting.] Thor: I will not fight him. Drunk townie: Then it'll be easy to kick your ass.

Or like the deleted one in which Frigga said that Thor believed to be ready… when in the end Thor will realize he’s not.

Odin: Do you think he’s ready? Frigga: He thinks he is. He has his father’s confidence.

versus

Thor: There will never be a wiser king than you. Or a better father. I have much to learn. I know that now. Someday, perhaps, I shall make you proud.

You might remember Thor smashing a cup because he wanted another drink… well there’s a deleted scene in which, just before the Warriors Three and Sif reach Midgard, he brings a cup to Izzy in payback for the one he broke.

Thor: This drink, I like it. Darcy: I know. It’s great, right? [Thor hurls the empty mug at the ground, SHATTERING it.] Thor: (CALLS OUT) Another! [ISABELA ALVAREZ (60), the diner’s proprietor, glares at Thor from behind the counter.] Jane: Sorry, Izzy. Little accident. What was that? [He doesn’t understand. The other patrons stare at him.] Thor: It was delicious. I want another. Jane: Well, you could have just said so. Thor: I just did. Jane: No, I mean, ask nicely. Thor: I meant no disrespect. Jane: All right. Well, no more smashing. Deal? Thor: You have my word. Jane: Good.

Versus

As the group finishes breakfast, Thor looks at the mug in his hand, gets an idea. Thor: [About a cup] May I have this? Darcy: Sure. Thor: Thank you. Please, excuse me. [Thor leaves. In front of her diner, Isabela prepares to open for the day. Isabela sweeps the front porch. She looks up to see Thor approaching. She eyes him suspiciously. He offers her a MUG.] Excuse me, Isabela. Isabela: Oh my gosh. Thor: To replace the one I broke. Please, forgive me for my behavior. Isabela: Okay, thank you. Thor: if I may, I’d like to come back here for more of yours splendid "coffee". Isabela: Any time.

And then you might remember how Fandral was hurt in Jotunheim and it was Loki and Volstagg who helped him, while in a deleted scene we’ve Selvig being hurt and Thor helping him.

And so on and on and on.

Thor started one way, this caused his banishment and the banishment changed him.

If we go and say Thor didn’t deserve to be banished, that it was all Loki’s ploy, we ignore how Thor before was an unworthy person and after he became a worthy person. We turn Thor into a person who’s ALWAYS worthy, regardless of him acting one way or its exact opposite but for some reason was misjudged and punished unfairly and never really had to change because he was perfect as he was.

We turn Odin into a fool who punished a worthy son for crimes he didn’t do and then took the punishment back not because Thor changed, but because he realized he made a mess.

The idea Thor’s banishment is Loki’s fault is against the authors’ intentions, damages Thor by stripping him of his growth and, ultimately, it’s totally false, so trying to pin the blame on Loki so as to make him look bad is simply wrong.

Although Loki did some things that triggered Thor’s reactions, Thor wasn’t completely and utterly brainwashed. It was Thor’s decisions who ended up bringing those consequences and Loki had no idea Odin would go as far as banishing Thor.

In a deleted bit Loki says Odin normally ALWAYS forgive Thor.

Fandral: Well, if he doesn’t show up soon, he shouldn’t bother. Odin looks like he’s ready to feed him to his ravens. Loki: I wouldn’t worry. Father will forgive him. He always does.

From Thor’s reaction to his banishment it’s clear it’s the first time he got such a punishment and that he assumed all he had to do to be forgiven is to retrieve Mjolnir.

The novelization is not shy to say that:

Odin had always favoured Thor because Thor was a warrior, just like him… [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]

The Warriors Three and Lady Sif clearly follow Thor because they don’t think it’ll end up in Thor being banished for disobeying Odin’s orders even though they know he shouldn’t have done it.

This proves it was the first time Odin reacted as such to Thor’s disobedience.

But let’s dig more into the story.

Loki yes, caused the coronation to be delayed by having three Frost Giants sneak into the vault and attempt to steal the Casket.

His purpose was:

Loki: That was just a bit of fun, really. To ruin my brother’s big day. And to protect the realm from his idiotic rule for a while longer.

Loki has no reasons to lie to Laufey about this. The ‘a while longer’ clearly imply he didn’t expect it was permanent. If he had said ‘to have him banished forever’, it would have affected Laufey just the same, he wouldn’t have judged him worse.

Thor’s reaction to the invasion is entirely Thor’s.

Thor: The Jotuns must pay for what they’ve done! Odin: They have paid, with their lives. The Destroyer did its work, the Casket is safe, and all is well. Thor: All is Well? They broke into the weapons vault! If the Frost Giants had stolen even one of these relics... Odin: They didn’t. Thor: Well, I want to know why! Odin: I have a truce with Laufey, King of the Jotuns. Thor: He just broke your truce! They know you are vulnerable! Odin: What action would you take? Thor: March into Jotunheim as you once did. Teach them a lesson. Break their spirits so they’ll never dare try to cross our borders again. Odin: You’re thinking only as a warrior. Thor: This was an act of war! Odin: It was the act of but a few, doomed to fail. Thor: Look how far they got! Odin: We will find the breach in our defenses and it will be sealed. Thor: As King of Asgard.... Odin: But you’re not king! Not yet.

Loki doesn’t even talk here. Thor, despite Odin thinking the opposite, insists they should just attack Jotunheim until Odin reminds him he’s no king.

This is relevant because if the coronation has concluded and the Jotuns had found on their own the way to get into the Vault, Thor would have waged war against them. This is what he wants to do and discussing things with Odin doesn’t change his mind, Odin merely forces him to shut up with his ‘I’m the king’ card.

Originally he would leave slamming the door behind himself, a sign he was still upset. We don’t see this, but we see him he’s still upset enough he turns a table upside down.

Then he has a discussion with Loki.

Thor: It’s unwise to be in my company right now, Brother. This was to be my day of triumph. Loki: It’ll come. In time. Thor: What’s this? Loki: If it’s any consolation, I think you’re right. About the Frost Giants, about Laufey, about everything. If they found a way to penetrate Asgard’s defenses once, who’s to say they won’t try again? Next time with an army. Thor: Exactly. Loki: There’s nothing you can do without defying Father. No, no, no. I know that look. Thor: That’s the only way to ensure the safety of our borders. Loki: Thor, it’s madness.

It’s true, if Loki had revealed he had been who orchestrated the break of the Frost Giants instead than telling him he also thought they were a threat, Thor might have calmed down. But this is not excuse enough for how Thor disobeyed Odin’s order, and only proves Thor wasn’t fit to be king right there because he insisted on going to Jotunheim even though Loki also reminded him this means defying Odin.

This is a serious matter but the key of it is that Thor wanted doing it before and still wants to do it now. He just can’t control his own wish to fight the Jotuns even if his father told him no. He’s not thinking. He’s not a common warrior, he’s the man who’s meant to be king.

If it takes him so little to wage war, then he’s unworthy of being king.

And does Loki really want for him to go to Jotunheim?

Not in the slightest, he knows it’s madness, in fact, believing Thor can’t be stopped, he tries to have him tattled out to his father.

Fandral: Well, at least he’s only banished, not dead. Which is what we’d all be if that guard hadn’t told Odin where we’d gone. Volstagg: How did the guard even know? Loki: I told him. Fandral: What? Loki: I told him to go to Odin after we’d left. He should be flogged for taking so long. We should never have reached Jotunheim. Volstagg: You told the guard? Loki: I saved our lives. And Thor’s. I had no idea Father would banish him for what he did.

In a deleted scene we see that as the group is about to ride toward the Bifrost Loki leaves them for a moment to talk with a guard. He’s not lying when he says he warned the guard.

The novelization digs a lot in how Loki didn’t want them to reach Jotunheim and in how Odin KNEW Thor would just do something, so it’s entirely possible Thor would have acted even if Loki had disagreed with him or had told him nothing.

“Why did he always seem to get into trouble because of his older brother? Wasn’t he supposed to be the wiser one? Odin has expressly forbidden that they enter Jotunheim. Yet it wasn’t the first time Thor had done something reckless. And it wouldn’t be the first time Loki was powerless to stop him.” [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]

Loki had made a decision. True, he could not dictate his brother’s actions, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t continue to make plans of his own. As the others checked and double-checked that they had everything they would need for the journey to Jotunheim, Loki slipped away. When Loki rejoined the others, they were on their way to the Observatory. Hogun gave him a curious glance, but he ignored it. What he had done was none of their business. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]

They were on their way to Jotunheim. And what would happen once they got there was not in the hands of fate, but in the hands of his impulsive brother and his warrior friends. Loki would not be able to manipulate events there. He had to trust that the arrangements he had made would be enough for them all to survive. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]

Odin spent an uneasy night and felt no better in the morning. He had not seen Thor since their argument in the Vault. There had been shouting in the banquet hall as Thor told his friends what had happened, but Odin had heard nothing since. Frigga had tried to reassure him that Thor’s temper would ease and this would blow over, but Odin knew better. His son felt himself to be king already, whether the ceremony had been completed or not. He would take action. It was his nature. Odin hoped only that the action would not cause more problems than it solved. Just then, a guard rushed to him, and Odin’s misgivings were proved correct. Thor had taken his friends and journeyed into Jotunheim. Odin felt a deep well of fury rise up within him. Thor has deliberately disobeyed his orders. So, too, had Heimdall, who should not have let anyone pass on the Bisfrost – especially not a war party going to Jotunheim. “Tell the barn master to have Sleipnir and my battle gear to be readied immediately,” he ordered the guard. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Thor”]

Once in Jotunheim Laufey notices Thor wants to be there to wage war. He even warns him that if he keeps this up he would unleash something terrible… and it’s not Thor but Loki who accepts Laufey’s offer for them to leave, Thor doesn’t accept it even if they’re outnumbered and risk being all killed because, as Laufey said, he craved for battle.

Laufey: Your father is a murderer and a thief! And why have you come here? To make peace? You long for battle. You crave it. You’re nothing but a boy trying to prove himself a man. Thor: Well, this "boy" has grown tired of your mockery. Loki: Thor, stop and think. Look around you, we’re outnumbered. Thor: Know your place, Brother. Laufey: You know not what your actions would unleash. I do. Go now, while I still allow it. Loki: We will accept your most gracious offer. Come on, Brother.

Ultimately, even if Laufey and Loki had almost persuaded Thor to leave, all it takes is a small provocation and Thor starts attacking Frost Giants.

Jotun: Run back home, little princess. [Thor stops in his tracks. Loki goes white. He knows what’s coming.] Loki: Damn. [In one quick move, Thor pulls Mjolnir, swings it, and KNOCKS the Jotun clear across the plaza. The Asgardians reluctantly draw their weapons, gather into a circle around Thor.]

Loki is clearly not happy with his brother’s actions, he didn’t want this. It’s Thor who decided to do this anyway and, during the battle, we see that Thor is in a great spirit as he destroys a Frost Giant after another for a total of 145 Frost Giants (you can see the dead count in the Youtube video “Thor (2011) Chris Hemsworth Kill Count”).

Through the battle first Sif and then Loki TWICE will urge Thor to leave, they’re outnumbered they’ll end up getting killed if they remain there and it gets no better when Fandral gets wounded.

When Odin shows up Thor is all for continuing the battle.

Thor: Father! We’ll finish them together!

This is not Loki dictating his moves. This is all Thor and ultimately it’s Thor who argues with his father once they’re back, which is the last straw for Odin.

If Thor had kept quiet or had acted sorry Odin might have still forgiven him. He does not.

Thor: Why did you bring us back? Odin: Do you realize what you’ve done? What you’ve started? Thor: I was protecting my home. Odin: You cannot even protect your friends! How can you hope to protect a kingdom? Get him to the healing room! Now! Thor: There won’t be a kingdom to protect if you’re afraid to act. The Jotuns must learn to fear me, just as they once feared you. Odin: That’s pride and vanity talking, not leadership. You’ve forgotten everything I taught you about a warrior’s patience. Thor: While you wait and be patient, the Nine Realms laugh at us. The old ways are done. You’d stand giving speeches while Asgard falls. Odin: You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy! Thor: And you are an old man and a fool! Odin: Yes. I was a fool to think you were ready.

This is no Loki needling Thor, this is all Thor, this discussing matching the one he had in the Vault with Odin previously.

And, credits when it’s due, at this point Loki tried to interject.

Loki: FATHER-- [Odin turns with a growl and gives Loki a look which stops him in his tracks.]

Only at this point Thor will be banished and while yes, the way Loki chose to interrupt the coronation clearly had upset Thor and his words didn’t manage to calm him down, it’s also clear that not only Loki didn’t want for them to go to Jotunheim and almost get killed but that it’s Thor’s reaction to the situation that causes his banishment and that situation could have happened regardless of Loki having a hand in it or not.

Invasions happens.

The difference between “Thor” and “Thor: The Dark World” in which another invasion takes place, is that although Thor is always trying to disobey to his father in both movies, in the first he did it because he wanted to go at war with the Jotuns, in the second he did it because he hoped to spare Asgard from a war.

In the deleted scene for “Thor: The Dark World” even Odin acknowledges Thor was right.

Odin: I thought you’d been blinded by passion but in truth you were the only one who could see and you... did what needed to be done

His motive for disobeying his father in “Thor: The Dark World” is the exact opposite than it was in “Thor”, but if he’d been the old Thor he would have had no qualms to drag all Asgard into a war.

So yes, Loki set up the situation, but if Thor ended up being banished it was solely for his own reaction to the situation, a situation that could have happened in other circumstances.

Would Loki coming clear with Odin lift Thor’s banishment?

No, of course not, because none of Loki’s actions are what moves Odin to decide for Thor’s banishment. What pushes him to decide for such a punishment are Thor’s reactions to the situation. If Loki had confessed the most this could cause was for him too to also be banished.

And, to Thor’s credits, he grew in his banishment and became a better person. This is important, it doesn’t deserve to be underscored.

Also, as said before, Loki couldn’t predict the punishment would have been banishment and he didn’t control Odin either.

Not only Loki actually tried to stop Odin, but even Frigga in a deleted scene begged Odin to reconsider and he refused.

So yes, Thor’s banishment ultimately turned out to be convenient for Loki, but he didn’t deliberately orchestrated it, he didn’t plan that far.

So really, let’s just Thor have his moment of personal growth in which he becomes a better person in his own movie, let Odin have his own agency in deciding if to punish his sons or not and just accept the whole trip to Jotunheim wasn’t something Loki wanted nor Thor’s banishment something he could predict.

In short simply accept the story as its authors wanted it to be.

I get not everyone might be aware of interviews and deleted scenes but really, I would say the movie made the whole thing obvious enough to be understood just by watching it.

[popculturebuffet]

Final Space Reviewcaps: The Hidden Light or Beelzbub’s Dad and Death Himself

Welcome back all you happy people! My regular coverage of final space continues as our Team Squad continues to be split up. Team Gary heads to the ruins of France and while HUE lives the dream, Gary finds the architect of his misery might also be the archtetcht of hope when he meets KVN’s creator.  Meanwhile Team Avacato find some friends of some friends... and an old enemy horrifically reborn and just as pants crappingly terrifying as before. Find out whose back, whose just been introduced, and whose resting under the cut!

So once again i’ts time for roll call, as our Team Squad has been split into three groups so Team Gary: Gary, Quinn, KVN, HUE Team Avacato: Avacato, Little Cato, Ash, Fox, Sheryl.  Team Bollo: Bollo, Mooncake

Same as last time and if your wondering why some names are missing from Avacato’s team, we will get to that. And since our three plots are entirely seperated from the start this time...

Team Gary: The Father of Beelzbub is A Moderaltey Tolerable Guy Picking up where we left off, Gary and Quinn gaze at earth though we do find out, naturally, the other half of the team is okay when Avacato buzzes in, confirming he’s alive at least. So with half the team stranded in the depths of final space, Gary’s next idea is naturally to plummet to earth and pick up a ship to pick them up. HUE has some flaws in the plan, i.e. the earth’s gravity field but KVN proves useful for once and helps carry them down to earth, our heroes ending up in Paris. 

We get a fun subplot of HUE thoroughly enjoying his dream of visiting Paris in a body.. even though Paris itself is pretty fucking horrific, littered with floating corpses and with a smokey, unnerving atmosphere. But the contrast works.. what dosen’t is the ships our heroes fine, which are junked, likely due to months of having no mainteince coupled with the destruction brought on by the titans. 

Gary does find something.. his worst nightmare.. a bunker FULL of KVN’s “I always thought i’d die like this”. They thankfully don’t want to kill him, and he finds a dwarf ventrixian whose a fan of his as are the KVN’s. As it turns out they somehow watched all his video logs to Quinn, and the little guy saying Quinn is even more beautful than he imagined lets him live when Quinn shows up. Gary is naturally puzzled why someone would create his worst nightmare, an army of kvns who know his personal details... until we find out who created the bunker: Kevin, the genius scientest who created the KVN’s. 

Naturally Gary has as mature, sensible and calm reaction as you’d expect and he goes to see Kevin’s dad without innocent....

Had you there for zero seconds. No he has a fairly fluid and incredibly well voiced freakout ending in him wanting to burn the place to the ground in cleansing fire. It’s.. actually a very good thing Quinn’s the one who went with him as everyone on the other team except MAYBE Avacato would’ve gone with operation BURN THEM, BURN ALLL OF THEM. 

So while Gary can’t burn them he does go to shoot Kevin’s creator in the head after finding out he’s alive and still in the bunker. And.. he actually is alive. It’s a nice change of pace as in most sci fi stories where we find the robot first the creator is long dead. But no Kevin.. is alive. It takes a bit for him to accept this is really happening due to a combination of Gary’s transmissions..and Nightfall having contacted him to make a ship. I’ts only when he tries throwing something at Quinn does he realize that nope these are real peoples and gladly welcome them for some rest so theyc an go find the ship he made for Nightfall. Relately the one major flaw I have with this episode.. is that it takes Gary and Quinn an embarassingly long time to put two and two together. Gary I get, he’s kind of distracted being caught in a waking nightmare and finding out he needs to rely on the man who ruined 5 years of his life. He’s also Gary. It’s okay. Quinn though, even with months of trauma stuck in a hell dimension.. is still the resonable one and still should’ve figured “Hey maybe the alternate future verison of me who was around back then did this”. The reveal is well done towards the end when it happens.. it’s just very weird it didn’t happen sooner. 

So the couple are FINALLY alone.. for about 5 seconds because Kevin gets into bed with them. And while part of his loopiness is probably the horrifying isolation for the last few months, after all Gary wasn’t exactly the most coherent after his stint in prison, I do feel that at least part of it is just him. It just makes the most sense: the infinity guard massed produced the guys and Kevin was one of their top scientests. He likely didn’t half ass a project of this size or importance.. so it’d make sense that instead the KVN’s suck at their job because the person who made them really dosen’t get humans, or personal space and the KVN’s are simply degraded copies of him. 

We do get a sweet moment with Quinn and Gary before Kevin decides they’ve rested enough time to go. They use the KVN’s to head to belgium, where the ship is, but have to fight Landfish, horrifying monsters that feast on the remains of dead worlds. So we get a fun and tense action sequence as our heroes sorta zipline through the monsters and KVN suprisingly turns out ot be useful twice in one episode. Our heroes make it to the ship, though HUE is down two arms and his self esteem, with Kevin asking why an AI would WANT to put themselves in a garbage bot. HUE admits he just wanted to experince life but it comes at a cost.. which granted the loss of arms seems rushed.. but it’s not like pre-AVA most of his life as a robot was that happy or fufilling so it dosen’t come out of nowhere and the person who MADE it better... is now dead and gone. He has no real reason to stay in the body anymore: He’s tasted life, he’s loved, and he’s lost. 

So naturally he goes back to being the AI on their new ship, which Quinn Dubs the Galaxy 2 because naturally Gary’s name tries too hard and Kevin’s is nonsensical.. though really Galaxy 2 itself just.. isn’t a great name. Seriously call it the purple rain or something. Still it’s a cool looking ship and while i’ll BADLY miss the crimson light as Olan designed a really fucking cool ship there, the Galaxy 2 is none too shabby. So our heroes have there ship, HUE has his old Job back, and we get a sobering scene as Quinn and Gary finallyg et the nightfall thing, and Kevin leaves to go get the portal up and running and he’ll call them.. they don’t have his number but he’ll be in england where the project is so it’s not like they can’t find the crazy man when the time comes. So we end with Team Gary heading off to a huge energy signture to hopefully find someone. Who it is, if it’s even one of our groups, is unknown.. but given the stinger it’s probably Bollo and Mooncake.. but we’llg et to that. First

Team Avacato: FUCK

So on their astroid Sheryl wonders if the plan is to just stand around and wait for Gary. Tribore however.. wants to leave again. Despite being in an edltrich space nightmare, he decides to take some paternety leave and cuts off part of the asteroid to go bond with his son leaving us with five heroes who all quickly get abducted by teleportation. 

Their abductors.. are Arachnitects, the last ones left in final space who intially confuse them as part of of Invictus unholy horde before Little Cato brings up Jeremy, and thus they free them and explain what’s up: as said their the last ones left in final space, the only ones who weren’t slaughtered or escape and try to offer our heroes hope and shelter.. before brutally being slaughtered by telekensisis... and it’s with that... HE has returned. While the trailers made no attempt to hide it and it was blatant from the start of last season he woudl return.. it dosent’ make his return any less chilling or impactful or David Tennant’s performance any less terrifying after being gone for a bit: Lord Commander HAS RETURNED

And make no mistake, hopefully, this is OUR Lord Commander, as he comments on the new additions.. and is GLEEFUL to have new toys to play with. Avacato is naturally horrifed he’s back and tries to just shoot him but that’s as effective as it’s always been, and he simply force lifts all of them, and naturally, being a sadsitic bastard, brings LIttle Cato forward as he wants to know where Mooncake is, though Little Cato makes a valid point: he dosen’t know where Mooncake is and even if he DID he wouldn’t tell him. And.. that’s where this part of the plot ends till next week. I”m fucking terrified. Nice to have David back though. Especially with Ducktales over. And as a side note... it’s notable Ash doesn’t try triggering her powers. Either she can’t and Lord Commander’s even stronger than her, or she just hasn’t yet. Or third horrifying option i’m going with thier powers come from the same source. 

Team Bollo:The Forge

So with Gary hopefully coming to the rescue and the rest of our heroes trapped by a sadistic bastard who will likely gleefully kill at least one of them.. we find out where Bolo went after getting his ass kicked. He surivived.. but clearly needs a leg up.. so naturally for a charcter voiced by Keith David he goes about it in the most badass way imaginable: he has mooncake do the thing on a dwarf star so he can FORGE IT INTO A FUCKING BADASS SPACE SWORD TO SLAY THE TITANS WITH. My.. my body is ready for next week. 

Final Thoughts:

This episode was excellent. The premire while not BAD had some issues with pacing and tone, where as this one found the perfect places to inject the series humor.. while keeping the stakes incredibly high and having the chilling return of it’s most terrifying antagonist. and yes tha’t swith the people posseing murder face out there. This episode returned Season 3 to the right track. It also continues to be seralized like season 1.. but I feel at least so far they’ve learned their lesson from Seasons 1 and 2 and combined the two better, having basically one big story, but having the pacing be more on par with Season 2 where things move along at a nice clip and we get more character stuff peppered in. It’s a nice combo. if it’ll hold out I do not know, especaillly with a longer runtime but we’ll see as we go won’t we. For now.. this episode was fucking awesome. 

If you liked this review join my patreon, my current stretch goal is for a darkwing duck episode a month and i’ll be putting up a patreon exclusive review soon for 5 dollar or more patreons so check that out, follow me for more and if there’s any episodes of the show from seasons 1 or 2 you’d like me to cover we can discuss that in my ask box and dm,s only 5 bucks an episode. See you at the next rainbow. 

[evenofbae]

THE BOYZ AS KPOP SOLOS

sunwoo: black dog- do hanse (sunwoo would KILL this song, this is just selfish for me because i love hanse and i love sunwoo and they are my dual rap kings and also hanse’s earrings in the performance were connected by chains to like a collar/choker situation and thinking about sunwoo in his outfit and then actually rapping black dog was what instigated this whole post, it was my first thought when i randomly woke up at 3am and it would not leave me alone)

younghoon: who, you?- lim jimin (this song is so vibey and i have a pattern of not listening to this song for a while and then exclusively listening to this song so if younghoon did it the pattern would evaporate and i would only listen to this cover ever)

jacob: red moon- wooseok (.... i don’t super wanna explain this one because honestly this is just me manifesting into the world the thing i want most, i mean have you SEEN that music video?????? that song is stunning and his style would fit the choreo so well and. i just need it ok?) (i will be a thousand percent honest here i just want jacob to wear the face jewelry wooseok is wearing in the music video that’s the motivation here)

eric: color eye- woojin (he would absolutely nail this so hard, i weirdly think their rap tones are really similar and i like them both a lot and i can just see eric getting super into this and just yes please)

haknyeon: moondance- woong (this is for no other reason than his voice would be so nice and very well suited to this song!!!! it’s really good!!! like the song is very good and so is haknyeon!!! the choreo has nothing to do with it!!!!!! really!!!!!!!!!!!!)

kevin: 50 proof- eaJ (okay listen don’t come for me I KNOW that this isn’t technically kpop but jae is in day6 and this is my FAVORITE song and if you’ve heard it you know exactly why kevin would be perfect for this and he would do such a good cover and he could play the piano and i really want it)

sangyeon: love me harder- woodz (it’s NOT because their names are similar it’s because they both have the voices of actual angels and i badly want to see sangyeon do the point choreo and i would also just as a favor to me love to see sangyeon in that david bowie mullet)

hyunjae: someday- pentagon ft. hui of pentagon (is this a solo song? no. do i want him to make it a solo? no. am i breaking my own rules? you bet. however please consider- he could sing jinho’s part and it would be beautiful!!!! i would cry the whole entire time!!!!)

changmin: move- taemin (you remember how adamant i was that giving hak moondance had nothing to do with the choreo? i will not even try to put up a facade here this is ENTIRELY about the choreo, like yes he has a great voice of course but get the outfit that he had for the love shot cover back out and stick him in that and allow him to ruin my life that’s all i ask)

chanhee: sweet night- v (okay so i’ll admit i’ve gone a little away from bts recently but it’s a stunning song and this would be the prettiest cover in the whole world especially if they had like a contemporary dance pair dancing around him while he sang, lots of pinks and blues and purples and sunset colors and i’ve spent too much time thinking about it but i WANT IT)

juyeon: candy- baekhyun (listen the vibes would be absolutely immaculate, i’m so serious this would be the best thing ever, if we lowered the key a little he would slay this and maybe end lives)

[youcanblogifyouwantto]

Biff’s Year in Music

2020 what can I say… I feel like this meme summed up the first half of it pretty well.

https://cheezburger.com/12209157/ant-man-meme-gives-a-recap-of-all-the-horrors-of-2020-so-far

Then to top it off this last week my son developed a spontaneous pneumothorax which basically is a collapsing of his lung for no apparent reason other than he is a tall thin white adolescent. To make matters worse he is 18 and COVID is raging in all the hospitals.  Thankfully my wife is an RN and should have been a lawyer as she was able to argue her way into staying with him.  Good thing she did because one the doctors fucked up so bad she gave him another Pneumothorax by turning a valve a wrong way.  Needless to say it has been a very rough year and especially rough week for me and my family.  Music has been and always will be the only constant positive release for me.  2020 had some great music and being home for almost an entire year now has led to a lot of music consumption.  The only other thing I did almost as much as listen to music was drink and cook food to match what I was drinking.  I’ve always loved beer and wine and dabbled in Whiskey but this year was the year of the cocktail for me.  I would discover a new alcohol type and then plan crazy elaborate dinners that cocktail would either be an aperitif of digestif for. Fun yes, healthy? …That is yet to be determined. I did take up running again to counter the amount I was drinking and eating and I would say that I have consistently worked out more this year than any other year so my liver might be fucked but my heart and lungs are strong.

So to start it off, this year saw releases from some of my all-time favorite musicians that I found nice and good even but never clicked or haven’t yet.  I had been eagerly anticipating Matt Berninger’s solo release all year and I dig it but strangely not enough to return to it unless I purposely tell myself to.  The same goes for Bright Eyes, Real Estate, Sylavan Esso, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever minus Cars in Space (I played the shit out of that song), Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Car Seat Headrest, Dirty Projectors, Sufjan Stevens, Laura Marling (on first listen I thought easy top for the year then Fiona Apple came out and I haven’t returned to Laura Marling since), Damien Jurado, Jason Isbell, Neil Young (Homegrown had a special place in my heart for a month but again haven’t returned since August), Future Islands, Kevin Morby, and Busta Rhymes. All of these albums I do not hate or even dislike in fact some I liked a lot at first but just didn’t have staying power.  The following list are albums I loved that some stayed all year in rotation. Not in particular order but kinda like a Coachella poster if it’s near the top it’s one of my favorites of the year. I can be very longwinded on paper and very brief in person so I will try my antisocial tendencies to describe these albums. I will say for the most part the albums that hit this year are like comfort food music for my soul.

Waxahatchee  - St. Cloud – Home, comfort, introspective

Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher – Witty, production, great voice

Run The Jewels – RTJ4  - best running album ever. My favorite from these guys and best rap album I’ve heard in a while.

Jeff Tweedy – Love is the King. Maybe blasphemy but I like better than Warm. Perfect example of music comfort food. His biography is great too and so is the Summer teeth deluxe reissue.

Fleet Foxes – Shore – Beautiful, peaceful everything I needed from them and more. Side note Helplessness Blues was the first album review I ever wrote for ATR and I’m so glad I found those guys! Thank you for continuing the tradition.

Jeff Rosenstock – NO DREAM There was some good punk rock this year but this was the best also great running music. Rosenstock is now my go to for punk

Taylor Swift- Folk Lore- Story Telling, Sweater music, more music comfort food. And now Evermore continues the greatness. Dorothea might be my favorite track from both records. If you would have told me a Taylor Swift album would be in my tops for the year a couple of years ago I would have laughed you out of my face and now she has two albums in my tops. 2020 is one crazy year!

The Avalanches- We Will Always Love You- I’ve loved every single and was waiting for this to drop before posting this.  Well Worth the wait. I like it better than the Gorillaz release and that is saying a lot. It’s hard to have this many spot on features and keep a cohesive vibe! Johnny Marr meets MGMT is another need more of this collab.

Loma  - Don’t Shy Away- If 2020 could be articulated through music disorienting but also working from home has some perks. Good balance of weird and comfort

Adrienne Leckner – Songs- She writes great songs and performs them immaculately

Muzz- ST – The last show I went to before shutdown was Morrissey with Interpol opening and I forgot how much I love Bank’s voice.  This album is highly underrated in my opinion especially Evergreen.

Gorillaz –Song Machine – Best since Demon Days and Robert Smith/Damon Albarn Collab was never anything I thought I needed but now want more of. When Tony Allen died I went through a deep Tony Allen dive that was quite enjoyable. Great Drummer!

Dinner party – ST – The title explains it better than I can

Against All Logic – 2017-2019 – Kelly Lee Owens and this were the only electronica to stay all year both great running albums and If you can’t do it good do it hard is worth the price of admission alone

Hamilton Leithhauser- The Loves of your life- I love this man and I loved the walkmen. I feel he for me is like Frank Sinatra was for my mom. Not as sweet as a voice but can sing the hell out of a song.

Walter Martin – The world at Night- Another Walkmen member, this is another comfort food album it just feels right in my soul

Ka – Descendants Of Cain – Criminally underrated for too long this dude paints lyrical mood pictures like GZA.

Perfume Genius – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately – Beautiful Authentic Elegant

Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters  - Lyrically and sonically slays me. You have to like spoken word and weird rhythm texture but she nails both of those.

Bonny Light Horseman- ST – Great folk indie I just knew this was an album for me on first listen

Rose city band - Summerlong – Best new discovery, feeds my jam band meets indie soul

Strokes - The New Abnormal – I don’t know why this didn’t get more love? I loved it and The Adults are Talking is top five best Strokes songs.

Pinegrove- Marigold – More indie comfort food music

Bartees Strange – Live Forever – Second best new discovery. This dude is all over the place but in a good way. If you like this check out his singles where he covers many National songs.

Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song- My Friend Antony described this better than I can at the current moment. Inner songs indeed.

The Killers – Imploding the Mirage- Most surprised album of the year, I’ve never been a big Killers fan but this one just wrapped it hooks inside me and didn’t let go all year

Young Jesus – Welcome to Conceptual Beach- Avant-garde or experimental music stretches me in ways that are very good for my soul and this one was such an album

My Morning Jacket – Waterfall II – Took a trip up to Humboldt in Early August and this was the soundtrack of the trip. Very much needed social distance return to nature vacation.

Hum- Inlet – I rocked out to this many a summer early fall evening sitting on my dock fishing and drinking beer.

Haim- Women in Music Pt. III – Best Haim yet and yes they are maturing into great song writers

Nation of Language- Introduction, Presence – Third best new discovery.. My friend Spencer at Shadows and Noise (a blog I’ve contributed to on occasion) accurately describes this album nicely. My wife loves Depeche Mode, New Order, and Erasure so this album is a new version of that genre that she and I can love together.

Coriky- ST – Half of Fugazi with a female drummer that sounds like classic Sleater Kinney in fact Fugazi meets Sleater Kinney is how I would describe this and that can’t be wrong!

EP’s Singles

James Blake- Before (Great marriage of his old and new)

Kruangbin & Leon Bridges- Texas Sun

Local Natives – Sour Lemon

Radio Dept – The Absence of Birds

Leon Bridges – Sweeter

Tom Berlin – Projections

Father John Misty – To S/ To R

Rostam- Unfold you

 Mank is one of the only great movies of 2020!

[fallingin-like]

november 17

above the clouds by @gluupor​ [requested by @fuzzballsheltiepants]

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post! 

this is an absolutely amazing fic that features airships, android!neil, and fantastic world-building. it’s a really fun and adventurous read, but still contains enough angst to break your heart. if you haven’t read this yet, drop everything and read it now. if you have read it, read it again.

okay i enjoyed this fic so much that i cannot put it in words. i remember when i first read it, i always get so excited when i see that you’ve posted and i read it in an hour, the time passing by so quickly. i couldn’t pull myself away and was reluctant to go back to real life after i finished reading. all your characters are so entertaining and as always, are integrated so nicely into this au.

things that stood out to me:

”over the khazak grass plains, year 1424 new era (ne), january” i just think that this adds a lot to the story so efficiently. we have a location and time and i just feel like this sort of title/header establishes a tone (makes me feel a steampunk/sci-fi kind of vibe). i’d be interested in how you came up with which locations and years to use?

”andrew shut off the engines and revelled in the silence. he could still hear the mechanical noises that resulted from keeping the gasbag at the appropriate pressure to maintain their altitude, but it was as quiet as it got aboard an airship.” i love this, mostly because i can relate to it? i’m really used to driving with music on, but lately i’ve been turning off the radio and driving in silence which is a really interesting experience, especially since i drive an electric car for work which is really quiet most of the time. also it introduces us to the airship!

”neil would eventually man the flight deck for night watch as he didn’t require any sleep” i am immediately invested in this version of neil and want to know EVERYTHING that he is capable of doing

andrew is wearing a scarf that nicky knitted for him!!! that is adorable! both nicky doing this for andrew, but also andrew wearing it!

your description of the monster is amazing. i would love to explore it. on the ground though (i am afraid of heights and not as brave as andrew lol) i saw that you were inspired by the mortal engine series and i can definitely see aspects of this both here and in later portions of the fic although i only watched the movie which was… interesting haha. were there any other sources of inspiration? i found that this reminds me a little of the films ‘alita, battle angel’, and a little bit of ‘castle in the sky’ as well

having little glowing things in their lamps instead of fire? woah that’s so cool

”neil was futzing around inside it with a tiny screwdriver” LOVE the word futzing. i’ve not heard it before, but it feels right. also it’s kind of cute that they are all helping each other out on the ship

algae bricks and beetle bricks? do they just,,, bite into it? because that feels so chaotic to me. lol mix into water and make it into mush? i am currently very grateful for the food i have

”jealous, aaron? don’t worry; i’ll come service you once i’ve got andrew settled tonight.” NEIL, YOU’RE GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME

”’better do it in the reclaimer,’ said kevin, taking him literally. ‘we need to preserve water if we’re headed to palmetto before our next resupply.’” one of the many things that i love about your writing is your amazing characterization of mr kevin day. what a legend 

”he wasn’t entirely sure why he wasn’t telling the others about wymack’s summons; there was something about it that put him on edge and he wanted to keep it to himself for now.” oh nO this is bad news!! you did a great job of introducing this undercurrent of worry into a scene that had just been so light and funny

“‘yes, i did,’ said andrew, keeping his voice steady. ‘last week before we headed into the plains.’” my stomach dropped at this point, memory problems are always so scary because it’s so hard to tell what the source of the problem is. andrew’s calmness is directly contrasting this, but it feels like it takes effort which is even scarier!

”andrew had spent his childhood shutting down any emotions. they’d been a liability in the type of life he’d led” and ”he had been destined for a short life with a brutal end. sometimes that seemed preferable to how much caring about other people could hurt. he often cursed those responsible for how his life had changed” ahhh this is so sad, but also really soft? because he’s come so far? and he’s opened himself up and let himself be vulnerable by caring

hearing the backstory of the twins is so interesting to me, you do a great job at both establishing this world that these characters are living in and how they fit in with it

”andrew was left with little choice but to do something nice to shut him up” i think this is one of the most andrew-like sentences to be ever written haha

”by all rights he should have died in the slums, but instead-and andrew was never sure exactly how he’d done it-he’d attached himself to andrew and aaron, like a barnacle that they couldn’t remove and grudgingly came to care about” cute!!! the tone is really andrew-like too

woah all these languages are pretty cool! i like the idea of having a common trading language, and the idea of having mandonese and spanglish is interesting.

”that seedy is mine” I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THIS AT FIRST BUT THIS IS SO FUNNY. lowkey reminds me of the lego movie haha. also seems fitting of kevin to collect ancient artifacts, even if he doesn’t really know what they do

ANDREW AND AARON AS GANG LEADERS YES PLEASE. i absolutely love it when people have such a great reputation. very exciting to hear that drake is not going to be an issue in this fic!!! wait a second… andrew and aaron were 16? so small!

hmmm i am interested how kevin got stuck in shanghai?

bad news that wymack is asking neil to stay on the ship. all this mystery and hiding is making me feel like things are not looking so good

”he’d forgotten again that it was bee whom andrew wanted him to see” NOOOOO

ohmygoodness the usbee. do they pronounce it uzz-bee? because that’s definitely how i picture them saying it and it is so funny to me. 

”i informed you that people are after you because i actually care about what happens to you, you miserable little gremlin” i really can never say it enough, but i love the way you use affectionate insults like this so so much.

”’oh, you know,’ said andrew idly, ‘those that slay together slay together.’” NO BIG DEAL. 

”a nobody who got the drop on you. better luck next time” NEIL I KNOW THAT YOU REALLY CAN’T HELP IT BUT PLEASE CONTROL YOURSELF AROUND SOMEONE WHO YOU KNOW IS SO DANGEROUS

”’this time, it was eavesdropping,’ said neil brightly” he’s so enthusiastic!! cute!!

”how do you travel now?” i am also interested in this!! for all i know, he just slides through shadows and pops up wherever andrew is haha

”neil flicked his fingers dismissively. andrew’s eyes narrowed at the performance. he wasn’t this dramatic, was he?” i am very sorry to break it to you, but andrew minyard you are one of the most dramatic people ever

ooooh dang neil is good. does his android body not process poison? also where did he get the knowledge that andrew was going to be set up anyway?

”within a few hours neil had forgotten the whole conversation, but he retained the knowledge that andrew had forced him to see bee and wasn’t happy about it” noooo why is this happening, it’s so heartbreaking to see neil forgetting things (also feels extra-bad because alzheimer’s runs in my family and this could definitely be me in the future which is Scary) and i Hate when andrew and neil are fighting because andrew is just trying to take care of neil!!! ;-;

”mickey, the mouse-shaped god of old america” OHMYGOODNESS

as startling it must have been to andrew, hearing about the moriyamas previously owning neil, i’m curious what was going through neil’s mind during this conversation. it must be so disorienting, not remembering your past. all of a sudden, you just started existing

”’shoot them. escape on the monster,’ said andrew. that was their usual plan for hostility they didn’t want to deal with.” i mean, i guess that’s a pretty solid plan. LOL

ohmygoodness katelyn also having red hair and blue eyes? “andrew always pretended not to notice that he and aaron had suspiciously similar taste in people, gender notwithstanding” LOLOL

”neil’s tension was ratcheting higher the longer they stayed in the region, something which he wouldn’t explain to andrew’s satisfaction.” ahhhh we! need! better! communication! what is neil hiding?

I HATE THAT NATHAN IS GOOD AT ACTING. YOU MAKE ME WANT TO BELIEVE HIM SO BAD EVEN THOUGH I KNOW HE’S LIKE SUPER SUPER EVIL AND IS GOING TO HURT EVERYONE NEIL AND ANDREW KNOW. 

thank you andrew for knowing better and for always thinking ahead. i feel like i can really trust you to take care of neil (and you, gluupor to take care of these characters even if sometimes you break my heart while doing so)

andrew: mawp mawp mawp mawp mawp mawp (LOVE THIS)

”wymack had always said it was because andrew had a death wish but it was really just because he liked going fast” this is really cute! both in this fic and in the series, andrew is like this and he had so little enjoyment as a child, was forced to grow up so quickly, and i’m grateful that he gets to have these little things

”’’M not,’ muttered andrew, too hot to put any effort into lying” so cute!!!

”stop and take a look? sure, why not? i don’t think we’ve got anything else pressing taking up our time right now” I CANNOT GET OVER HOW FUNNY THIS FIC IS

”’old news,’ said aaron. ‘we’ve moved on. now we’ve decided to crash into the sea’” it turns out that sometimes i actually really like aaron! now is one of those times.

oh my goodness, neil speaking only spanglish and BITING. “neil spat several curses at him before literally spitting as well” the scary thing is, this is still in character for neil haha

that’s so sweet of wymack to give andrew his ship!! ahh he’s such a soft character and i’m glad that all the foxes have someone who is taking care of them

what a beautiful way to wrap up this fic! also i feel strangely glad that nathan wasn’t actually the one to invent the tech needed to create neil. he’s too gross and evil to create such an intricate and wonderful person like neil.

BURIED IN ASH FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS WHAT

WAIT VALLEY OF SILICA LOL

oh dang yellowstone supervolcano. i’ve learned a tiny tiny bit about that and it’s actually pretty scary thinking about the consequences of it erupting and also knowing there is basically nothing we can do to stop that from happening and also very little we can do to predict it

andrew and neil are so so cute ahhh

also quick shoutout to the amazing art featured in this fic! so beautiful.

i love the flashbacks that you include. they provide valuable information and understanding of how the characters have developed, but it also gives a bit of a break from the intensity of the main plot. we get a little time to breathe and recover.

as the story travelled to different areas of the world, it was really interesting to see how you included history into it. i think my favourite story was the volcano and the ash-winter that followed. kind of scary to think of the possibility of that actually happening, because even though we have pretty cool tech, i don’t think things would go well. you do such a great job with your world-building, i never found myself confused about what was happening, the geography of it, the new tech, and the politics. i loved how you were able to smoothly include canon events/characters/things and have it work so well within this au.your descriptions are so so good and make this fic really immersive, i feel like i’m experiencing them with the characters.

definitely one of my favourite things about your writing is how you consistently do such an amazing job of incorporating humour and little character quirks into the fic. it really shows how much skill and talent you have because it’s always effortless and reads so easily. it fits well with the characterization and tone of your fics. i will forever be a fan of your dialogue and all the interactions between everyone seemed so realistic.

i’m continually impressed by your consistently marvelous storytelling. you manage to captivate me no matter what subject you choose. thank you so much for writing this!!

[waywardangel-13]

So here's my thing with Season 15 (mostly 15x03, but oh well):

I have mixed feelings.

Every Friday, I set an early alarm so I have time to watch the latest SPN episode before I need to start my day. Today, at 5:26 in the morning, I found myself sobbing in bed because the writers [SPOILER] killed Rowena.

I love Rowena. She is, honest to Chuck, one of my favorite characters. They sent her off really well; she sacrificed herself for the Winchesters. That "Goodbye boys" killed me; I knew she was going to say it, I was expecting it, but DAMN. It got me. I was devastated. She was introduced a queen and she died a queen. I fucking love her so much.

Ketch also died. I wasn't horribly devastated. However, I was really proud of him. When he said "Not for any price" (I don't remember exactly what he said), I was like damn. That..that is what we call character development. And then he got his heart ripped out.

For this next part, I'm sorry. Some people may disagree with me on this but I do not care, this is what I believe: Dean is being a "great big bag of dicks".

Like, seriously. My dude. Don't be pissed at Cas. There was something wrong with Jack; you need to understand that Cas was trying to figure out a way to save him. Yes, it was shitty of him to not tell you, but he is trying to reconcile, and you keep spitting in his face. That's not cool. Remember, yes, you just lost your mom, but he also was just betrayed by his dad. At least Dean knows Mary is at peace; Cas has to deal with the ultimate shit storm that his dad started. He's hurting too.

However, no matter how pissed at Dean I am right now, I really, really hope he comes to his senses quickly. Because, and, sorry for those who don't ship them, Destiel needs to happy. I don't fucking care if all we see is Dean grab Cas' hand or if there's like, I don't know, AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION ABOUT TRUE FEELINGS, it just needs to happen.

That said, I am actually really happy that Castiel stood up for himself. I literally was just like "YEAH, THAT'S MY BABY" when he said he was leaving....but I was also watching in horror because Dean has been such an asshole that the angel that fell (in this case I mean literally fell) for him leaves. You know, and it's funny, cuz I watch Supernatural, but one of my biggest pet peeves in media is when one character takes their anger and grief out on everyone around them and there ends up being a huge misunderstanding which kills the audience. (It's ironic because that's basically every other episode of SPN, but still.)

I did like Belphegor, I do admit. But, honestly, everyone could see his betrayal coming. I still like him though, even though he did end up a crappy guy.

(Also, Cas having to smite Jack's body was DEVASTATING. I wanted to hug him the whole time. Poor baby.)

Sam is legit the sanest one of the bunch right now. I'm really worried about his "God-Bullet-Connection". Like he needs a hug. I'm worried. Also, Jared's performance when Rowena was convincing Sam to kill her gave me chills. Sam crying=me crying=my mom thinking that I'm nuts and very masochistic (I mean like the entire SPN fandom is, sooo...)

It made me very happy to meet Kevin, and I laughed my ass off at the fact that he was considered a "bad boy" in Hell. That is so funny to me, because when he said that I pictured his haircut from way back in Season 7. Speaking of Season 7 Kevin (haha that rhymed), look how far he has come! He was a smol prophet bean and then he became a smol-er ghost prophet bean, not to mention a badass. I'm so proud. (Wipes tear). But I'm not happy he was gone so quickly. It was like "Look guys! There's a wild Kevin! Haven't seen him in a while!" and then it was like "Oh..he's leaving...bye Kevin." [Looks down sadly]....But I was glad to see him while it lasted. I'm also really happy Osric got that role on Legends of Tomorrow. Haven't seen him on TV in a while.

I want original Charlie back even though she probably won't be. But Eileen is coming back and I'm happy with that.

I'm curious about Michael and Adam and when they're showing up.

AMARA KILLS ME. Okay, sue me, I've always liked her, even though she basically stalked Dean for the entirety of Season 11. But I've always liked her. And you know what? Emily Swallow is GREAT in Season 15. Chuck came in and was like "Hey sis I did something" and she shut him DOWN. I also love how she's living it up in Vegas. That shit's funny. She walked out on Chuck and I love that.

I have nothing to say about Chuck. To put it lightly, I'm upset with him right now.

All that said, I am really excited for the rest of Season 15. Dean needs to get his shit together and apologize to Cas, Sam...I hope you're gonna be okay, like seriously, Cas...good luck on the Dean front and good luck with your dad. Kevin, I miss you, Rowena, you are a QUEEN, Ketch, I am proud, Belphegor flirted with Dean, I NEED MY GIRLS BACK, Michael and Adam, congrats on being topside, Amara slays, and Chuck....stop.

(I'm sorry if you read this. I'm on a 9 hour car ride with my brother and he's listening to an audiobook on streetfighting in the 1940s and I needed to rant. Sorry for any spelling errors.)

Edit: My brother just asked me what I was doing for the past hour and I showed him this post and he said, "YOU COULD'VE DONE YOUR HOMEWORK THREE TIMES OVER AND INSTEAD YOU DID THIS?!" And then I was like, "YES." lmao

[gleekto]

This week, Darren Criss announced he’ll no longer take on gay roles. The 31-year-old actor, who has famously played several queer characters including Glee’s Blaine Anderson and recently won an Emmy for his outstanding performance as Andrew Cunanan on The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, tells Bustle, “I want to make sure I won’t be another straight boy taking a gay man’s role.”

Many people in the queer corners of the internet praised Criss for taking a stand to create space for openly gay entertainers, while others were simply shocked to learn Criss is actually straight and engaged to his girlfriend of nearly a decade. Though I, too, appreciate Criss for acknowledging Hollywood’s ongoing representation problem and sacrificing his livelihood for us gays, I think Criss, Claire Foy, Eric McCormack, Melissa McCarthy, Timothée Chalamet, Rami Malek, and any other straight actor who gets offered a gay role should take it and slay it.

First of all, you’re an actor. It’s your job to play someone else and make us believe it. If I wanted to watch a movie where an actor just plays himself, I’d just watch Adam Sandler. Second, you walking in those gay shoes will help us to run (or sashay) later. Third, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. In other words, yes, Hollywood needs to look at its casting problem, but it also needs to work on its lack of creative storytelling. Lastly, if you’re an actor who wants to be an advocate and an ally for the LGBTQ community, don’t give up your damn seat at the table. Invite gay actors inside from the picket line.

Criss absolutely killed (no pun intended) his role as Andrew Cunanan this year. And did you see Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant as queer con artists in Can You Ever Forgive Me?Didn’t Rami Malek totally rock you as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody? All of these performances of real-life queer people are strong contenders for awards heading into the 2019 award season. Bohemian Rhapsody is now the most successful music biopic of all time.

Queer lives are being celebrated, recognized, and are making bank.

And with films like Love, Simon, Call Me By Your Name, Boy Erased, and The Miseducation of Cameron Post accelerating acceptance by furthering the conversation on coming out and conversion therapy, young LGBTQ people are being inspired and empowered to come out and love themselves despite the hateful rhetoric being spewed by our very own leaders. Yes, it’d be nice if those characters were played by actors from the queer community, but is it the end of the world if it’s Chloë Grace Moretz?

What’s also great about the latest queer-themed movies is that the narratives are becoming more nuanced. We’re moving away from the tired-ass gay best friend and confidant (mostly), and we’re seeing our contributions to society and complexities as humans. Shows like Will & Grace and movies like Transamerica ran, so Pose, Call Me By Your Name, and The Favouritecould strut and death drop. We’re seeing nuanced gay characters who aren’t props, sidekicks, and punchlines, but protagonists who are owning their stories, helping young gays understand themselves, changing hearts and minds, and exposing viewers to someone who may not be exactly like them.

So what if it’s Armie Hammer in short shorts? We could do worse.

Yes, there’s much more work to be done. So if Criss wants to be an ally, he should wield his power and privilege to bring in diverse creatives to be in front, behind, and beside the camera when he’s given the platform—not give it up.

As NewNowNext writer Lester Fabian Brathwaite points out in his look-back at this year’s best in queer TV, “2018 was a banner year for queer television based not only on representation but the sheer quality of that representation.” Has there ever been so many choices across almost every entertainment genre and platform for queer audiences to “explore the entire rainbow of identities without feeling forced or contrived?”

Criss’ Blaine sang so Ryan Jamaal Swain’s Damon (Pose) could shine. Will Truman and Jack McFarland kissed so Kevin Keller (Riverdale) could cruise for cock in the woods.

This year, I spoke to many a filmmaker and actor about Hollywood’s representation challenges. Newcomer

Hank Chen

(Life Size 2) and Oscar-nominated Philadelphiascreenwriter

Ron Nyswaner

both told me about the consistent need to justify having a queer characters in scripts in the first place.

“I am optimistic there soon won’t be a justification needed for an Asian person or a gay person in a script,” says Chen. “They won’t have to have some sort of trauma—unless it serves the purpose of the movie—we can just be allowed to be ordinary people, too.”

Thanks in part to the success of films and shows helmed by straight actors, we now get to have creators like Lena Waithe and Desiree Akhavan who are now creating space for others. So, no, Darren, do not pass up the next chance to play gay. Take it. You’re giving the community much-needed visibility, you’re showing our stories and our lives matter, and you’re creating opportunities for more of us to come through the door.

And honestly, our stories may not get told at all otherwise.

[sweatycherryblossomnight]

Heretic For Mac

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Heretic For Mac

Though somewhat forgotten these days, Heretic was an important milestone for the FPS genre. Using a modified version of the Doom Engine, Heretic offered a number of significant improvements and advancements in FPS gaming, including interactive environment elements, an inventory from which a player might use any number of weapons or powerups they had collected, and, importantly, the ability.

Heretic is a tool that is able to record user events, such as mouse clicks and keys, into a C/Java. Like script, and play that script either once or repeatedly.

Games like Heretic II for Mac OS X in order of similarity. Our unique A.I considers over 10,000 games to create a list of games you'll love!

Heretic Macos

(Redirected from Heretic (computer game))

HeXen: Beyond Heretic - While you were battling the evil forces of D'Sparil, the other Serpent Riders were busy sowing the seeds of destruction in other dimensions. One such dimension is the decaying world where Hexen takes place. A world littered with the mangled corpses of nonbelievers and inhabited by the undead followers that executed them. Only three humans &endash; a warrior, a mage.

Heretic For Mac Download

HereticDeveloper(s)Raven SoftwarePublisher(s)id Software GT Interactive(retail)Director(s)Brian RaffelProducer(s)John RomeroProgrammer(s)Ben Gokey Chris RhinehartComposer(s)Kevin SchilderEngineDoom enginePlatform(s)MS-DOS, Mac OS, RISC OSRelease

NA: December 23, 1994[1]

Shadow of the Serpent Riders Genre(s)First-person shooterMode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Heretic is a dark fantasyfirst-person shootervideo game released in 1994. It was developed by Raven Software and published by id Software through GT Interactive. The game was released on Steam on August 3, 2007.[2]

Using a modified version of the Doom engine, Heretic was one of the first first-person games to feature inventory manipulation and the ability to look up and down. It also introduced multiple gib objects that spawned when a character suffered a death by extreme force or heat. Previously, the character would simply crumple into a heap. The game used randomised ambient sounds and noises, such as evil laughter, chains rattling, distantly ringing bells, and water dripping in addition to the background music to further enhance the atmosphere. The music in the game was composed by Kevin Schilder. An indirect sequel, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, was released the following year. Heretic II was released in 1998, which served as a direct sequel continuing the story.

Plot[edit]

Three brothers (D'Sparil, Korax, and Eidolon), known as the Serpent Riders, have used their powerful magic to possess seven kings of Parthoris, turning them into mindless puppets and corrupting their armies. The Sidhe elves resist the Serpent Riders' magic. The Serpent Riders thus declared the Sidhe as heretics and waged war against them. The Sidhe are forced to take a drastic measure to sever the natural power of the kings destroying them and their armies, but at the cost of weakening the elves' power, giving the Serpent Riders an advantage to slay the elders. While the Sidhe retreat, one elf (revealed to be named Corvus in Heretic II) sets off on a quest of vengeance against the weakest of the three Serpent Riders, D'Sparil. He travels through the 'City of the Damned', the ruined capital of the Sidhe (its real name is revealed to be Silverspring in Heretic II), then past the demonic breeding grounds of Hell's Maw and finally the secret Dome of D'Sparil.[3]

The player must first fight through the undead hordes infesting the location where the elders performed their ritual. At its end is the gateway to Hell's Maw, guarded by the Iron Liches. After defeating them, the player must seal the portal and so prevent further infestation, but after he enters the portal guarded by the Maulotaurs, he finds himself inside D'Sparil's dome. After killing D'Sparil, Corvus ends up on a perilous journey with little hope of returning home.

Heretic Mac Os X

Gameplay[edit]

The gameplay of Heretic is heavily derived from Doom, with a level-based structure and an emphasis on finding the proper keys to progress. Many weapons are similar to those from Doom; the early weapons in particular are near-exact copies in functionality to those seen in Doom. Raven added a number of features to Heretic that differentiated it from Doom, however, notably interactive environments, such as rushing water that pushes the player along, and inventory items. In Heretic, the player can pick up many different items to use at their discretion. These items range from health potions to the 'morph ovum', which transforms enemies into chickens. One of the most notable pickups that can be found is the 'Tome of Power' which acts as a secondary firing mode for certain weapons, resulting in a much more powerful projectile from each weapon, some of which change the look of the projectile entirely. Heretic also features an improved version of the Doom engine, sporting the ability to look up and down within constraints, as well as fly. However, the rendering method for looking up and down merely uses a proportional pixel-shearing effect rather than any new rendering algorithm, which distorts the view considerably when looking at high-elevation angles.

As with Doom, Heretic contains various cheat codes that allow the player to be invulnerable, obtain every weapon, be able to instantly kill every monster in a particular level, and several other abilities. However, if the player uses the 'all weapons and keys' cheat ('IDKFA') from Doom, a message appears warning the player against cheating and takes away all of his weapons, leaving him with only a quarterstaff. If the player uses the 'god mode' cheat ('IDDQD') from Doom, the game will display a message saying 'Trying to cheat, eh? Now you die!' and kills the player character.

The original shareware release of Heretic came bundled with support for online multiplayer through the new DWANGO service.[4]

https://sweatycherryblossomnight.tumblr.com/post/643232336034611200/remote-control-iphone-app-for-mac. This iPhone app is exclusively designed to remotely control your Mac computer. The TeamViewer remote control app. for iPhone and iPad allows you to access other devices using your iOS device when on the go: Access Windows, Mac and Linux PCs. Easily access computers and servers remotely using an iPhone or iPad. Access and transfer saved documents. Use software installed on the computer. Transfer audio or video files. Download free helper app for Mac / Windows that enables your iPhone / iPad to be used as remote control, keyboard and mouse for your computer. Turn your iPhone or iPad into the ultimate remote control for your Mac. Take full control over your Mac - use your iOS device as a trackpad and keyboard or launch any app from anywhere within your. Remote for Windows app is helper tool that enables apps on your iPhone or iPad to control your Windows computer remotely. Download Remote for Windows helper app uses Apple Bonjour for automatic discovery of computers on your network.

Development[edit]

Like Doom, Heretic was developed on NeXTSTEP. John Romero helped Raven employees set up the development computers, and taught them how to use id's tools and Doom engine.[5]

Release[edit]

Shadow of the Serpent Riders[edit]

The original version of Heretic was only available through shareware registration (i.e. mail order) and contained three episodes. The retail version, Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, was distributed by GT Interactive in 1996, and featured the original three episodes and two additional episodes:[6]The Ossuary, which takes the player to the shattered remains of a world conquered by the Serpent Riders several centuries ago, and The Stagnant Demesne, where the player enters D'Sparil's birthplace. This version was the first official release of Heretic in Europe.[6] A free patch was also downloadable from Raven's website to update the original Heretic with the content found in Shadow of the Serpent Riders.

Along with the two full additional episodes, Shadow of the Serpent Riders contains 3 additional levels in a third additional episode (unofficially known as Fate's Path) which is inaccessible without the use of cheat codes.[7] The first of these three levels can be accessed by typing the cheat ('ENGAGE61').[8] The first two levels are fully playable, but the third level does not have an exit so the player is unable to progress further.

Source release[edit]

On January 11, 1999, the source code of the game engine used in Heretic was published by Raven Software under a license that granted rights to non-commercial use, and was re-released under the GNU General Public License on September 4, 2008.[9] This resulted in ports to Linux, Amiga, Atari, and other operating systems, and updates to the game engine to utilize 3D acceleration. The shareware version of a console port for the Dreamcast was also released.

Reception[edit]

Reception

Aggregate scoreAggregatorScoreGameRankings62%[10]Review scoresPublicationScoreNext Generation[13]PC Zone78%[11]Maximum[12]

Heretic received mixed reviews, garnering an aggregated score of 62% on GameRankings[10] and 78% on PC Zone.[11]Heretic and Hexen shipped a combined total of roughly 1 million units by August 1997.[14]

While remarking that Heretic is a thinly-veiled clone of Doom, and that its being released in Europe after its sequel and with Quake due out shortly makes it somewhat outdated, Maximum nonetheless regarded it as an extremely polished and worthwhile purchase. They particularly highlighted the two additional episodes of the retail version, saying they offer a satisfying challenge even to first person shooter veterans and are largely what make the game worth buying.[12]

It extends great support towards numerous video file formats, transition effects, compositing support, keyframes animation and titles editing, etc. It also supports to unlimited file formats, transitions, effects, titles editing feature and customizable interface. Its recent update has brought so many interesting and modern features for beginners and professionals. Vegas pro 13 for mac. The recently updated versions of Kindelive support multi-track type video editing. We can say that a wide range of features is available here for free.5.It is designed to serve with all stable and cross-platform facilities for video editing needs and is working amazingly since 2008.

In 1996, Computer Gaming World listed being turned into a chicken as #3 on its list of 'the 15 best ways to die in computer gaming'.[15]

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, and stated that 'If you're only going to get one action game in the next couple of months, this is the one.'[13]

Legacy[edit]

Heretic has received three sequels: Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Hexen II, and Heretic II. Following ZeniMax Media's acquisition of id Software, the rights to the series have been disputed between both id and Raven Software; Raven's parent company Activision holds the developing rights, while id holds the publishing rights to the first three games. Until both companies come to an agreement, neither will be able to make another installment in the series.[16]

Further homages to the series have been made in other id Software titles; In 2009's Wolfenstein, which Raven Software developed, Heretic's Tomes of Power are collectible power-ups found throughout the game. The character Galena from Quake Champions wears armor bearing the icon of the Serpent Riders.

References[edit]

Heretic Mace

^'Heretic (video game)'. Retrieved 1 July 2012.

^'News - All News'. store.steampowered.com.

^'Heretic (Video Game 1994)' – via www.imdb.com.

^Kushner, David (2003). Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. Random House Publishing Group. p. 186. ISBN0-375-50524-5.

^planet rome.ro: Apple-NeXT Merger Birthday!Archived 2007-03-05 at the Wayback Machine

^ ab'Latest Version of Heretic with Two New Chapters! Can You Overcome the Demonic Curse of D'Sparil?'. Maximum: The Video Game Magazine. Emap International Limited (4): 34–38. March 1996.

^'Heretic Developer Interview – HereticHexen'. Retrieved 2020-06-29.

^'Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders Cheats, Codes, and Secrets for PC - GameFAQs'. gamefaqs.gamespot.com. Retrieved 2020-06-29.

^'Heretic / Hexen - Browse Files at SourceForge.net'. sourceforge.net.

^ ab'Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders for PC - GameRankings'. GameRankings. Retrieved August 4, 2015.

^ abCharlie Brooker (April 1995). 'PC Zone - Issue 25' (25): 70. Retrieved June 22, 2015.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

^ ab'Maximum Reviews: Heretic'. Maximum: The Video Game Magazine. Emap International Limited (4): 156. March 1996.

^ ab'Finals'. Next Generation. No. 5. Imagine Media. May 1995. p. 93.

^Staff (August 7, 1997). 'Activision to Buy Raven'. PC Gamer US. Archived from the original on October 12, 1997. Retrieved January 13, 2020.

^'The 15 Best Ways To Die In Computer Gaming'. Computer Gaming World. November 1996. p. 107. Retrieved 25 March 2016.

^Stead, Chris (12 September 2016). 'Id Software talks Heretic, Hexen and Commander Keen - finder.com.au'.

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External links[edit]

'Heretic (1994)'. Raven Software. 2016. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2019.

Heretic at MobyGames

Heretic at Curlie

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Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heretic_(video_game)&oldid=981564661'

[cinemamablog]

Region B Wishlist

Whenever I used to visit Amoeba Music on Sunset Blvd (which was at least once a month, 2016 through 2017), I’d make a beeline for the staircase, up up and away to the movie department. Directly to my right at the top of the staircase, in a display rack stretching the entire length of the floor, sat a single column of movies known to me as the “non-Region A” section. I could rely on the movies lurking in this small section to turn my eyes green with envy: a gorgeous Region B Blu-ray of Possession, the Vanessa Redgrave vehicle Isadora, and several other movies that seemed like the stuff my dreams were made of. Unfortunately, at the time, I had yet to invest in a region-free Blu-ray player, so that section of movies taunted me on my monthly visits to Amoeba, as I’m sure they do to many movie fans that lack the proper technology to play them.

For those uninitiated into the world of movie collecting, different regions of the world have differently coded discs that only play in that region’s disc players. Back in DVD’s heyday, that consisted of Region 1, 2, and 3. Now, in the age of Blu-ray, those regions are alphabetical rather than numerical: A, B, and C. Region A discs play in the Americas and some countries in Southeast Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Region B discs play in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand. Region C discs play in any Asian countries not covered by Region A. Film copyright holders like region coding because they want to control when movies are available in specific countries. (I assume because they can make more money if they sell the American, European, and Asian distribution rights separately.) 

Movie collectors, however, hate region coding. Which is why I finally splurged on my region-free Blu-ray player. I bought my first Region B discs online at Foreign Exchange Blu-ray Imports, a neat store in Culver City, California with reasonable prices and an online catalog. (You can check them out on Facebook here.) I picked up Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s adaptation of the opera Tales of Hoffmann from StudioCanal and the Vincent Price camp horror classic The Abominable Dr. Phibes from Arrow Video. 

While I’m thrilled that I can now watch movies unavailable to the majority of casual viewers in the United States, I still hope and pray for Region A releases of the following five gems, both for simplicity’s sake and to better keep these films accessible to future appreciative audiences.

Martin, 1978, directed by George A. Romero

Martin is a disturbing little film shot in the Pittsburgh suburbs about a maybe-vampire teenage boy, who looks an awful lot like a Sprouse twin. (So maybe Cole and Dylan are the real vampires?) With black and white fantasy sequences, the gruesome reality of Martin’s vampiric conquests contrasts with his internal, romanticized version of events.

Arrow Video released a Region B DVD a few years ago, though it’s now out of print. Diabolik DVD had a Japanese Region A disc available for a time, though it sold out quickly. I hope that Martin’s copyright hell freezes over, because I would freak out for a Region A Blu-ray that I don’t have to scramble to pre-order online before it sells out. In the meantime, you can watch the movie on YouTube until legal means become available:

Napoleon, 1927, directed by Abel Gance

I probably could write several articles about the various silent films no longer available on disc in North America. (I’m still waiting for the latest restoration of Mauritz Stiller’s Saga of Gosta Berling to make its physical media debut, now that the Kino Lorber DVD is out of print.) I am planning to invest in the BFI’s Region B Blu-ray of Abel Gance’s Napoleon sooner rather than later, both because of its historical significance and the care that went into restoring it. Kevin Brownlow, film historian and author of such tomes as The Parade’s Gone By…, spent 20 years painstakingly piecing Napoleon back together and continues to discover and restore missing scenes to this day. Gance shot the final reels of Napoleon using innovative Polyvision technology, which means that the film requires three projectors to play three separate reels side-by-side for the ultimate in widescreen presentation.

Isadora, 1968, directed by Karel Reisz

I only watched the biopic Isadora thanks to a Korean copy available at my once-upon-a-time local video store in South Pasadena, Videotheque. (Visit them online here.) The sound was a bit shrill, but the image looked decent and I still enjoyed the stunning performance from a young Vanessa Redgrave as the groundbreaking dancer Isadora Duncan. The movie also features a cameo from early Hollywood star Bessie Love as Isadora’s mother.

Isadora would make a great double feature with the more recent film, The Dancer, giving a contrasting depiction of what it personally means to be an artist and a dancer: for Isadora, it’s a fancy-free attitude and imagination, for Loie Fuller, it was back-breaking work and determination. (Though Lily Rose Depp as Isadora is a disgrace, Soko slays as Loie Fuller.) I’m unaware of any plans to make Isadora widely available in North America, but you can find clips on YouTube to get a taste of what we’re missing out on.

The Devils, 1971, Ken Russell

I won’t go into much detail on this movie, because you can already read about my previous experience with The Devils here. The BFI sells a special edition DVD on their website and several streaming platforms offer it to stream intermittently, like the Criterion Channel and Shudder, but America has yet to see an official DVD or Blu-ray release of Ken Russell’s controversial tale of religious hysteria and hypocrisy.

Leather Boys, 1964, Sidney J. Furie

I saw Leather Boys at Cinefamily (before I found out it was a haven for abusers), followed by a Q&A with the director, who blessed our ears with wisdom like, “The sun is the enemy of art,” when encouraging aspiring filmmakers to shoot in cloudy locations. Leather Boys grapples with marriage and sexual identity issues in a gentle way while also making room for the audience to laugh at the naivety and passion of adolescence. I returned home that night eager to share the film with others. Unfortunately, I was not able to find it available anywhere on physical media. I’m not above watching a movie free online when I have no other options, but I’m both a movie lover and collector and can’t stand that I can’t add Leather Boys to my collection, to rewatch at my leisure and share with my friends and family. Luckily, someone uploaded it to YouTube and you can watch the whole film here:

[weekegg2-blog]

The Bear’s Den, November 6, 2018

BEAR DOWN, CHICAGO BEARS, BEAR DOWN!!!!

BEARRRSSSS

Bears-Vikings Game On Nov. 18 Flexed To Primetime - 670 The Score The game will be played at 7:20 p.m. and televised on NBC.

Akiem Hicks Pleased With Progress Of Bears’ Defense - 670 The Score The Bears (5-3) are preparing for a key stretch of three division games.

Emma: Bears’ Khalil Mack, Allen Robinson Could Be In Line To Return Sunday - 670 The Score Each player has missed the Bears’ past two games.

5@5: Are Bears Front-Runners In NFC North? - 670 The Score The Mully & Haugh crew debates a five-pack of questions every weekday.

Pompei: Observations From Bears-Bills - 670 The Score The Eddie Jackson-to-the-Pro Bowl campaign should start now.

Rozner: Chicago Bears take care of business against woeful Bills - Daily Herald The Chicago Bears took care of business Sunday against a terrible Buffalo team. So there's that.

Mayer: 3 things that stood out in Week 9 win - ChicagoBears.com Senior writer Larry Mayer identifies three things that stood out Sunday in the Bears’ 41-9 drubbing of the Buffalo Bills, including the defense’s best performance of the season.

Mayer: Bears-Vikings game moved to primetime - ChicagoBears.com The NFL announced Monday that the Bears-Vikings game on Sunday, Nov. 18 at Soldier Field will be flexed from noon (CT) to 7:20 p.m. (CT) on NBC.

Medina: The Bears Are 6.5-Point Favorites Against the Lions! - Bleacher Nation The first-place Bears are favorites for the fifth time in their last six games.

Medina: Don't Look Now, But Kyle Fuller Is Tied for the League Lead in Interceptions - Bleacher Nation Kyle Fuller signed a big-time contract in the offseason and is now re-paying the Bears with excellent coverage.

Medina: Bears Sign Free Agent Offensive Lineman Willie Beavers to Fill Practice Squad Opening - Bleacher Natiopn Willie Beavers was a fourth-round pick of the Vikings in 2016, but the Bears make his fourth organization in two years.

Hughes: Bears Take Care of Business, Throttle Undermanned Bills - Da Bears Blog Strange game. From the moment Eddie Jackson returned a Roquan Smith-forced fumble for a touchdown with 7:07 remaining in the first half, the entire building knew the game was over. Here are six specific, in-building thoughts from Bears 41, Bills 9.

Dickerson: Jordan Howard looms large for Bears' stretch run - ESPN Matt Nagy promised to get Jordan Howard more involved, and he now has touchdowns in three consecutive games, which can only help the offense.

Wiedman: Chicago Bears love their new look - Our Turf Football OTFB's Wanda Wiedman reports on the Chicago Bears and how their defeat of the Buffalo Bills is just an example of their new look giving results.

Bears' Adam Shaheen 'Close' To Returning To Practice - 670 The Score Shaheen has been out since August with a foot/ankle injury.

Finley: Bears game vs Vikings on Nov. 18 moved to 7:20 p.m. - Chicago Sun-Times The Bears will play in prime time in two weeks.

Finley's Good, bad and best: How the Bears fared in Week 9 at Bills - Sun Times Some weeks are better than others for the Bears. Here’s how three Bears fared in Sunday’s 41-9 blowout win against the Bills at New Era Field:

Campbell: Bears injury updates include uncertainty on Khalil Mack and optimism about Adam Shaheen - Chicago Tribune Bears injury updates on Khalil Mack, Allen Robinson, Adam Shaheen, Taylor Gabriel and more ahead of the Lions game Sunday.

Brad Biggs' 10 thoughts on the Bears' 41-9 blowout win over the Bills - Chicago Tribune Brad Biggs offers his 10 thoughts after the Bears crushed the Bills 41-9 Sunday at New Era Field. Are the Bears set for a return to prime time soon? Is Khalil Mack almost back? How about Adam Shaheen? And why is Kevin White riding the pine?

Rosenthal: Can't overlook Fox analyst Daryl Johnston's insulting storyline for Bears vs. Bills - Chicago Tribune Fox analyst Daryl Johnston took Bears coach Matt Nagy’s judicious move to preserve the near-term health of two key injured players — Allen Robinson and Khalil Mack — as overconfidence rather than prudent restraint against the Bills.

Talarico: Bears' Defense Proves Its Not a One-Man Unit - Da Bears Brothers Blog The Chicago Bears defense had production all over the field against Buffalo and have proved they can survive without Khalil Mack.

Stankevitz: Bears grades - A fine day for Mitch Trubisky against a good defense - NBC Sports Chicago Mitch Trubisky didn't play his best game on Sunday, but it was more than good enough for the Bears to beat the Bills.

Hoge’s 10 Bears Things: Bears Getting Healthier, More Attractive As Primetime Spotlight Shines - WGN Radio - 720 AM Nov. 11, 2012. That’s the last time NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew visited Chicago. It was also a significant time for the Chicago Bears organization. They were 7-1 and rolling after winning six straight games.

Mayer: Nagy will ensure Bears living in present - ChicagoBears.com Instead of dwelling on the past or trying to predict the future, Bears coach Matt Nagy will spend the upcoming week focused solely on Sunday’s home game against the Detroit Lions.

They Said It: Week 9 - ChicagoBears.com Following the Bears' 41-9 win over the Bills in Week 9, take a look at what writers around the country are saying about the team.

Jahns: Five takeaways, including a look at Mitch Trubisky’s early third-down success - Sun Times From Mitch Trubisky’s early success on third downs to a nice block from rookie guard James Daniels, here are five takeaways from the Bears’ 41-9 win.

POLISH SAUSAGE

Eagles Claim CB Cre’von LeBlanc From Lions - PhiladelphiaEagles.com - Cornerback Dexter McDougle was waived to make room for LeBlanc on the active roster.

KNOW THY ENEMY

Green Bay Packers don't hold up their end in Brady-Rodgers showdown - ESPN The Aaron Rodgers-Tom Brady showdown petered out late, leaving the Packers under .500 and putting future Rodgers-Brady matchups in jeopardy.

Packers are crumbling: 3 takeaways from loss to Patriots - PackersWire Three takeaways from the Packers' frustratingly inconsistent night in New England, which ended in a 31-17 defeat.

Stock up, Stock down: Buffalo Bills pass catchers, Jordan Poyer play poorly - Buffalo Rumblings The Bills were bad all over.

Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings Week 9 snap count observations - Pride Of Detroit A look at the Lions’ playing time for Sunday’s game and what it means for the team.

Detroit Lions Week 9 report card: Offensive failure wastes defensive improvement vs. Vikings - Pride Of Detroit Grading Detroit’s miserable Week 9 performance.

Lions vs. Vikings stock report: Stafford stinker, Slay stays strong, season sinking - Pride Of Detroit The Lions got smoked badly by the Vikings defense, wasting a strong day by a defense that has been improving.

Packers’ loss to Patriots marks unofficial end of Mike McCarthy era - Acme Packing Company The Packers’ loss to the Patriots removes any lingering doubt that change will come to Green Bay this offseason.

Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers polar opposites in post-game pressers - Acme Packing Company One man took the blame for his mistakes while the other bailed after less than two minutes.

Bills have the bottom three passers in the NFL – ProFootballTalk The Buffalo Bills' offense isn't just the worst in the NFL. It's among the worst in NFL history, and so impossibly bad that no matter which of their three quarterbacks are playing, they have the league's worst passing attack.

Voting in Buffalo Bills’ midterm elections, Chicago Bears recap podcast - Buffalo Rumblings - The Bills are at the halfway point of their 17-week season, so we’ve got mid-terms.

Detroit Lions work out WR Brandon Marshall - Pride Of Detroit - The Lions continue to look at wide receiver options after trading away Golden Tate.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

Infante's Bears vs. Bills: Notes from a victorious 41-9 walloping - Windy City Gridiron The Bears head into a tough stretch off of the heels of a blowout.

Leming's Chicago Bears Week 9 game balls - Windy City Gridiron The Bears are 5-3 at the half way point and coming off a 32-point drubbing of the Buffalo Bills. Dive into this week’s game balls.

Householder: Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings Week 11 flexed to Sunday Night Football - Windy City Gridiron Bears get their third primetime game of the season with a division opponent at Soldier Field

Wiltfong's Bears vs. Bills: Snap counts, stats, and more - Windy City Gridiron We’ll list out the complete playing time breakdown, and spotlight a few individual and team statistics from the Chicago Bears in their monstrous 41-9 win against the Buffalo Bills.

Zeglinski: Chicago Bears’ Adam Shaheen on the mend, could practice this week - Windy City Gridiron The big, burly tight end is recovering well from a sprained foot suffered in the summer.

WCG CONTRIBUTORS BEARS PODCASTS & STREAMS

2 Minute Drill - Website - iTunes - Andrew Link; Steven’s Streaming – Twitch – Steven Schweickert; T-Formation Conversation - Website - iTunes - Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; WCG Radio - Website - iTunes - Robert Zeglinski

THE RULES

Windy City Gridiron Community Guidelines - SBNation.com - We strive to make our communities open and inclusive to sports fans of all backgrounds. The following is not permitted in comments, FanPosts, usernames or anywhere else in an SB Nation community: Comments, FanPosts or usernames that are intolerant or prejudiced; racial or other offensive epithets; Personal attacks or threats on community members; Gendered insults of any kind; Trolling; Click link for full information.

The Bear’s Den Specific Guidelines – The Bear’s Den is a place for Chicago Bears fans to discuss Chicago Bears football, related NFL stories, and general football talk. It is NOT a place to discuss religion or politics or post political pictures or memes, and any posts that do this will be deleted and the poster will be admonished. We do not allow comments posted where the apparent attempt is to cause confrontation in the community. We do not allow gender-directed humor or sexual assault jokes. The staff of WCG are the sole arbiters of what constitutes “apparent attempt to cause confrontation”. We do not allow the “calling out” of other members in any way, shape or form. Posts that do this will be deleted on sight. Bottom line, it’s fine to debate about football, but personal jabs and insults are strictly prohibited. Additionally, if you keep beating the same dead horse over and over and fail to heed a moderator’s warning to stop, you will be banned.

Click on our names to follow us on Twitter:

WCG Contributors: Jeff Berckes; Patti Curl; Eric Christopher Duerrwaechter; Kev H; Sam Householder; Jacob Infante; Aaron Lemming; Andrew Link; Ken Mitchell; Steven Schweickert; Jack Silverstein; EJ Snyder; Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; Whiskey Ranger; Robert Zeglinski; Like us on Facebook.

Source: https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/11/6/18066646/chicago-bears-2018-news-updates-analysis-game-eight-buffalo-bills-hingle-mccringleberry-lynch-bump

[dingydiamond]

Musical Hummingbirds Chloe X Halle Sing “America The Beautiful” At The Super Bowl [Video]

Musical Hummingbirds Chloe X Halle Sing “America The Beautiful” At The Super Bowl [Video]

Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty

Chloe X Halle Slay Super Bowl Performance

Atlanta raised sister Chloe and Halle were a highlight at Sunday’s Super Bowl. The Beyonce since duo sang “America The Beautiful”, bringing their style of vibrant harmonies to the tune. The girls wore these matching black sequin get-ups and held hands at the and of it. Do you think they killed it???

Hit play to peep the entire…

[latesthollywoodnews]

Millie Bobby Brown SLAYS Cardi B's "Girls Like You" Rap LIVE at Maroon 5 Show

Millie Bobby Brown SLAYS Cardi B's "Girls Like You" Rap LIVE at Maroon 5 Show

Jeremy Brown - Latest News - My Hollywood News

Millie Bobby Brown SLAYS Cardi B’s “Girls Like You” Rap LIVE at Maroon 5 Show, Hollywood Second Screen.

Top Rated Celebrities and Most Popular Celebrities, Hollywood Celebrities Watch Online, Millie Bobby Brown SLAYS Cardi B’s “Girls Like You” Rap LIVE at Maroon 5 Show.

List Of 2017 Hollywood Films New And Upcoming Celebrities Celebrities by Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American motion picture studio based at The Walt Hollywood Studios in Burbank, California and is a subsidiary of Walt Hollywood Studios, itself a wholly owned division of The Walt Hollywood Company, with film producer Kevin Feige serving as president. Previously, the studio was a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment until The Walt Hollywood Company reorganized the companies in August 2015.

What are the names of Walt Hollywood’s brothers and sisters?

Walter Elias Hollywood was born December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois, to Elias and Flora Hollywood. His siblings were Herbert, Ray, Roy, and Ruth. Roy later helped his brother make the Hollywood Company a success.

How old was Walt Hollywood when he started Hollywood?

Walter Elias “Walt” Hollywood was born on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois. He and his brother Roy co-founded Walt Hollywood Productions, which became one of the best-known motion-picture production companies in the world.

Where are there Hollywoodlands in the world?

Hollywoodland – Hollywoodland Resort – Anaheim, California USA. The Magic Kingdom – Walt Hollywood World – Orlando, Florida USA. Hong Kong Hollywoodland – Hong Long Hollywoodland Resort – Penny’s Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Tokyo Hollywoodland – Tokyo Hollywood Resort – Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.

More Celebrity News ►►

Millie Bobby Brown gives the most epic rap performance EVER at Maroon 5’s concert in Nashville.

Seriously you guys, is there anything Millie Bobby Brown CAN’T do??

She’s an amazing actress, she can totally sing, AND to no one’s surprise, Millie Bobby Brown can also spit a mean verse. Although Millie is no stranger to rapping in front of a giant crowd of people, this past weekend, MBB took her rap performance to a whole ‘nother level.

On Sunday night at Maroon 5’s concert in Nashville, Millie was invited to join the group for their performance of ‘Girls Like You.’ Now, as we all know, Cardi B is the original rapper featured on that song, but for this specific performance, Millie took over for Cardi and NAILED the verse without missing a beat.

Cardi would’ve been SO proud of Millie’s performance. Obviously the entire crowd went wild during and after Millie came out. She even commemorated the moment by sharing a video to her Instagram with the caption, QUOTE, “soooo tonight was insane!!! I love Maroon 5 and my dear friend Adam Levine!!” Something tells me this is one night Millie will never EVER forget.

So, what did you guys think of Millie’s performance? Do you think she should start a new career path as a rapper or should she just stick to acting? Let me know all your thoughts on this in the comment section below. Then click on over to the right to watch another new video an ddon’t forget to subscribe to our channels. Thanks for hanging with me, I’m your girl Miriam Isa and I’ll see ya next time!

For More Clevver Visit: There are 2 types of people: those who follow us on Facebook and those who are missing out

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Add us to your circles on Google+: Tweet Me:

Hollywood Celebrities 2017 & Film News, Millie Bobby Brown SLAYS Cardi B’s “Girls Like You” Rap LIVE at Maroon 5 Show.

Hollywood was founded on October 16, 1923 – by brothers Walt Hollywood and Roy O. Hollywood – as the Hollywood Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. The company also operated under the names The Walt Hollywood Studio and then Walt Hollywood Productions. Taking on its current name in 1986, it expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theater, radio, music, publishing, and online media. Hollywood Celebrity News 2017, Millie Bobby Brown SLAYS Cardi B’s “Girls Like You” Rap LIVE at Maroon 5 Show.

https://www.myhollywoodnews.com/millie-bobby-brown-slays-cardi-bs-girls-like-you-rap-live-at-maroon-5-show/

#LatestNews

[trentteti]

The Logical Rose-ning Section: Your Recap of The Bachelorette, Episode 4

Rachel Lindsay is a practicing attorney who once took the LSAT. And you, dear reader, are an aspiring attorney who will soon take the LSAT, Rachel Lindsay is also an aspiring married person, serving as the Bachelorette on this season of The Bachelorette, the love story these depraved times deserve. And you, dear reader, may also be an aspiring married person? Either way, you definitely have at least a few things in common with Rachel. So every Tuesday, we’re going to be tracking Rachel’s romantic journey on The Bachelorette, and see what we can learn about love, loss, and the LSAT. Welcome back to the Logical Rose-ning Section.

Last time: Well, we’ve been deprived of quality Bachelorette time these last two weeks as lesser competitions like the NBA Finals dominated the airwaves. In the meantime, we learned about how Rachel actually dated NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant in college … and that the producers may have committed gross negligence during the filming of spin-off Bachelor in Paradise, which allegedly led to a situation that is in no way humorous or romantic or anything these shows attempt to be. This resulted in legal action and the cancelation of BIP. With this distance and the intervening news stories, it’s tough to remember, say … the men grinding on the unwitting audience of The Ellen Degeneres Show or professional wrestler Pretty Boy Pitbull Kenny losing a wrestling match or Lee leaning into that Richard Spencer haircut of his.

Lee the Racist Leatherfaced Snake Person

We immediately pick up from last week, with Lee attempting to cut down Eric, Kenny, and Josiah. What do these three guys have in common that might not jibe with noted racist Lee? No idea. Anyway, as Lee attempts to manipulate these guys, he becomes increasingly desperate and volatile.

When Kenny attempts to have some one-on-one time with Rachel, Lee purposefully misunderstands Kenny’s request for “60 more seconds” with Rachel as a request for “16 more seconds” with Rachel, a duration of time no one has ever asked for, ever. Lee, upon pulling this “trick,” looks child who just tricked his parents into letting him go to bed at 9:30.

Dean and Brady pick up on Lee’s treachery. If Rachel doesn’t already pick up on Lee’s increasingly sweaty appearance and deranged actions, or the contestant’s growing antipathy for him, or his racist beliefs, then hopefully she realized she’s dealing with a horrible person once he gifted her a Manson-sque carving of “ENCHANTING” on a wood block.

That looks like it was a made by deranged serial killer who drank two pots of coffee and then used his left hand to engrave. It looks like it was made by a person trying to accurately replicate how he wrote as a kindergartner. It looks the last thing you see in a slasher film before Lee the Racist Leatherfaced Snake crashes through a window to slay himself a wife.

Lee absolutely dominates this episode as the editors set him up as this season’s villain. It’s really too bad that Rachel, who is among the smartest, most successful, and self-assured Bachelorettes this show has ever had, doesn’t get the typical villain who, like, gets a little too confident and drunk and flirty. She has to deal with this bigoted sweat gland of a human as her season’s villain, who views the manipulation of the non-white contestants as his right.

Rachel, of course is very perceptive, and seems to sense that Lee might not have the most enlightened beliefs or people skills. At this thought, she gets emotional—for the first time, she is a loss of words—about the pressures she faces as the first black Bachelorette. She mentions the harsh judgment she’ll receive for the decisions she has to make on the show. She also says she alone will face this judgment. Later, at the rose ceremony, Lee gets a rose. It’s hard not to see this sequence and think that she broke down at the producers’ insistence that she keep the Lee on to continue to fill the show’s drama quotient. Again, after the producers showed really bad judgment during Bachelor in Paradise, it’s hard to not assume they’re acting with the worst of intentions here.

Chris Harrison, scratching and crawling his way back onto the camera after being an afterthought this entire season, promises to “facilitate anything” that Rachel wants. He then does the only thing that seems to be within his powers as the nominal host of this show, which is to cut the cocktail party short and go straight to the rose ceremony.

Rose Ceremony

Smash cut to the rose ceremony, where Will, Dean, Jonathan the Tickle Predator, Piggo Mortensen, Adam (still don’t know who this is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), Bryan, Matt (don’t know this dude either), Josiah, Jack Stone, Iggy, Pretty Boy Pitbull Kenny, and Lee get the red rose of continued camera time. They join Eric and Peter, who already received date roses. This means that the elfin Bryce, the similar but slightly less elfin Brady, and Diggy must say goodbye. These contestants bid adieu to Rachel, and then walk solemnly to the cannon where Chris Harrison fires them in the general direction of their hometowns.

One-on-one date with Dean

This week’s episode was brought to us by the tourism board of Hilton Head, an island off the coast of South Carolina. The contestants travel to the island, which steadfastly kept its name despite the disreputable associations it conjured during the Paris Hilton sex tape scandal of the early aughts. Once on Hilton Head Island, do we learn about the island’s strategic importance during the Civil War? The rich culture and history of its Gullah inhabitants? The island’s lowcountry cuisine? Nope! We learn about blimps.

Dean, who looks like a laboratory-engineered contestant for this show, gets the one-on-one date with Rachel. They drink champagne on the hood a jeep when the Goodyear blimp, in all of its old-timey, slow-moving glory, approaches them with a message that their “ride is here.” 36 hours later, the blimp lands and they hop aboard.

Rachel, adorably, had a childhood fascination with blimps, which she referred to as “b’imps.” Dean, afraid of heights, struggles to repress images of the Hindenburg.

Rachel, doing the last thing someone who has a fear of blimps would want her to do, takes the wheel (Joystick? Old-fashioned lever and pulley operation?) of the blimp and manages to not immediately imperil the passengers. The pilot then lets Dean pretend that he’s controlling the blimp like a big boy. Dean and Rachel then step three feet away from the pilot in the back of the cockpit to enjoy a quasi-intimate moment.

The blimp then flies by the hotel the other contestants are staying at with the message “Ice Cube’s a pimp” “Dean and Rachel 4 ever.” The last thing these insecure knuckleheads need is an airborne advertisement of Rachel’s intimacy with another guy. They try to reassure themselves that Dean is younger and handsomer than they are … which in their warped minds is a bad thing.

Dean gets the date rose. Rachel and Dean then go to concert by something called Russell Dickerson. These live performances by D-level musicians are a staple of one-on-one dates, but who are they for? The musician looks like he is just trying to get through a contractually-obligated performance that will maybe net him $14.73 of new spins on Spotify. The Bachelorette and contestant look uncomfortable as props in a live show. And the crowd of 37 Craigslist extras look just as confused about what a Russell Dickerson is as the rest of us. Anyway, successful date!

Group Date

Afterwards, we move onto the group date, featuring Alex, Anthony, Piggo Mortensen, Bryan, Jonathan, Adam, Matt, Kenny, Lee, Iggy, Eric, Will, Josiah. This leaves Jack Stone with the one-on-one date, which is shelved for another episode.

This massive gaggle of guys are invited to a boat to see Hilton Head Island. The dudes bring out their best boat attire, but none better than Josiah, who wears flood pants high enough that his cuffs would stay bone dry even if their boat sunk to the bottom of the Port Royal Sound.

On the boat, the dudes have a dance off, a rap off, and eventually a shirt off competition. During the rap battle, Piggo calls Rachel a “girl from the hood” keeping with the theme of racist nonsense in this episode. Dude, her dad has been a federal judge for like 20 years.

The guys then are compelled to do a spelling bee. Josiah brags about his vocabulary, but can’t immediately think of a word to describe the vastness of his lexicon. My favorite words are wordy words that describe wordy words, so let me help you out Josiah: brag about your vocabulary full of recondite, grandiloquent, abstruse, recherché, and arcane words next time.

Some guys get easy words like “passion” and “façade.” Other guys get words that are literally impossible to spell, like “boutonniere.” Josiah, as promised, wins the spelling bee. The only thing higher than his IQ is the hem of his drawers.

What these dudes would have scored on the LSAT

This episode really focused on these dudes’ smarts, which allows us to surmise what they would have scored on their LSAT. Here are a few educated guesses:

Dean is perceptive, picks up on Lee’s lack of respect right away, and is able to calmly articulate that into the producer without saying anything regrettable himself. He seems like he is able to absorb information and make the proper deductions. 168.

Jack Stone stumbled into a conversation and thought Dean was referring to the other contestants’ “corks,” not “quirks.” 143.

Bryan, in response to Rachel’s query that Bryan’s charm seems too good to be true: “It’s a fairy tale.” Bryan, in response to Rachel’s retort that it is not a fairy tale: “It’s real, it’s 1000% real. I promise you.” 138.

Iggy, during the spelling bee, mixes up “boudoir” with “Bordeaux” (which he also spells incorrectly), which leads me to believe he is prone to equivocation fallacies and sloppy mistakes. 141.

Eric misses four out of the six words in “façade.” Missing four out of six questions on the December 2016 LSAT would net Eric a 136.

Back to the Group Date

During the cocktail portion of the group date, Piggo establishes pole position in this group, as he and Rachel start to discuss living arrangements. Rachel is apparently licensed to practice in Wisconsin, allowing her to move to Piggo’s hometown of Madison. This surprises Piggo Mortensen, but Wisconsin lets experienced attorneys from every other jurisdiction practice there, so basically every attorney is licensed to practice cheese curd law or whatever the main legal industry in Wisconsin is.

Meanwhile, the other dudes use their time with Rachel to question the motives of other guys in the house. Iggy brings up doubts about Josiah. Josiah brings up how Iggy admitted to shooting steroids into his testicles.

Lee brings up Kenny. Kenny brings up Lee. Things get heated between an increasingly frustrated Kenny (who, embracing the hottest term of January 2017, calls Lee “an alternative facts piece of garbage”) and an increasingly inebriated Lee. It looks like everything is about to come to a head until … duh duh duh … they hit us with the third consecutive “TO BE CONTINUED …”

What we learned about love

The journey to find love is a perilous journey best traveled via outdated and dangerous airships from the 1920s.

What we learned about loss

There’s no shame in losing a spelling bee, provided you get most of the letters of your word correct.

What we learned about the LSAT

These dudes would not do well on the LSAT, but Rachel? Probably very well, although the exact score is still undetermined.

The Logical Rose-ning Section: Your Recap of The Bachelorette, Episode 4 was originally published on LSAT Blog