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Malin Ackerman

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Watchemen Retrospective Finale: Zack Snyder's Watchmen (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy capes.. and welcome to my final review of 2022 and my grand finale to my look at Watchmen. I've looked at all 12 issues with a brief April Fools detour to look at the unmade Sam Hamm version, but there's still one last piece of Watchmen media I want to look at as the Clock strikes 12. Yes folks we're talking about the divisive, loyal as it could possibly be, greatly soundtracked, 2009 film Watchmen.

Filming the Unfimable

As the fact I had a full script to review should show, attempts had been made to adapt the Watchmen for decades. The Hamm script was pitched with Terry Gilliam of all people who considered the project unfilmable as a movie, and better as a mini series.

The biggest attempt was made with David Hayter, voice actor and writer, aka Metal Gear's Solid Snake, Zangetsu in Blodostained, and Captain America in Spider-Man TAS. He also was a writer on the first two x-men films, the scorpian king, and an executive producer on of all the things i've reviewed, A Christmas Horror Story> I knew NONE of this when looking him up and i'm incredibly impressed. This is one hell of a career the man's gotten. His draft really impressed executives, but attempts at paramount, rogue pictures and others stalled until eventually Warner Bros scooped up the rights.

Hayter's script had a few diffrences from the final product as Alex Tse, who'd go on to make wu tang an american story, would do some touch ups. His was set in modern day, at one point Nite Owl straight up killed Adrian, and at one point Adrian's plan ivnolved a MASSIVE SOLAR DEATH RAY

Yeah I mean I get why Christ Almighty it's the goddman watchmen gets mentioned more, it's objectively funny.. but the fact Adrian used a solar death beam at one point still should come up more. Don't get me wrong, the idea of using the power of the sun is awesome: Jonathan Hickman's run had Iron Man build a dyson sphere to potentially smash planets. But there's a difference between taking a real world floated concept and making it high concept sci fi.. and having your morally complex if ultimately evil despite his claims villain have a fucking death ray powered by the sun. The other ideas.. are also not my forte. The 80s setting and the 50s start to mystery men are integral to things, as the films eventually director agreed, and having Dan kill adrian just feels a step too far. What the film goes with is still cathartic and we'll get to it, but Adrian should live not to reap the benefits of his actions.. but to live with both the guilt of what he's done and any consequences should the truth come out.

As for who would direct this, with the recent success of 300… Warner Bros tapped Zack Snyder to direct. We'll get into Zack Snyder himself in a second, but to his credit, he was a huge fan of the graphic novel and most tweaks to Hayter's script were out of reverence to it, though he did keep that ending which again we'll get to.

The resulting film was.. divisive. Some critics loved it, some hated it and fans were split on everything from the performacnes to.. that ending. It's part of why I wanted to dive into it. See when the Younger Me saw it over a decade ago.. he dug it. He liked it a lot and thought it was a great adaptation. So I wanted to see if it held up: if it was still good a decade, a through yearlong re-read of the source material, and Zack Snyders lesser adaptations after it later. So let's answer that question shall we as I watch the Watchmen one final time.. at least for this year.

Watchmenmaker So yeah.. before we can even get into the film we have to unpack it's director. And I'm not one to take the side door, I'll come right up front and knock: Zack Snyder is a kind generous man who uses his massive fanbase to help charities, seems to really love his fans and his work, and who generally seems to be an upright guy. He's hard to hate on his own. That said while as a person I have nothing but respect for the guy, his other superhero works i've seen Man of Steel and Batman V Superman are not great films, especially the latter. If you like them great, your allowed to disagree with me but their just not the best superhero films and I for the life of me can't understand why some people are so ride or die on them.

Man of Steel is.. fine. It's a flawed film with a palette that can best be described as "Hope you like grey!", and easily the worst Jonathan Kent in the characters history, a selfish dumbass who has the sheer gall to berate his son for saving lives and who stupidly throws himself into a tornado for reasons that make entirely no sense and who clearly fucked his son up to the point he's traveling the world and the seven seas instead of living a normal life because SOMEBODY felt he never could. It's not a film I really fondly remember, but it's one I felt okay about coming out of the theater. It's alright. It's not the best take on superman, but I can see why some may like it.

Batman V Superman on the other hand.. is giant mess. I liked it a bit out of the theater, but the more i've thought abotu it the less it's become. Part of it isn't entirely his fault: it's clear DC wanted to FastTrack the justice league and shoved as many heroes in as they could. Wonder Woman, while a great part of the film, feels just kinda there, and while Ben Affleck gives it his best, his version of batman just doesn't work. It's clear Zack Snyder has the same reverence for the Dark Knight Returns as Watchmen.. but fails to get that that's not necessarily how to approach batman, nor that even THAT batman does not kill and will not.

His lex luthor is also just baffling, with it being hard for me to figure out just what he was going for. The idea of a younger luthor whose a tech bro was brilliant.. but the resulting writing has a luthor who sounds and acts like he did a literal, not figurative, mountain of cocaine before every scene, whose plans are needlessly convoluted , and who thanks to said cocaine thinks a jar of piss is a good statement. Seriously I did not realize he pissed in a jar the first time around, probably because Lex Luthor pissing in a jar and leaving that jar wired with explosives is not the kind of thing that usually makes it past first draft. There's a reason we never got Superman fighting a giant spider-man while Braniac wrestled a polar bear after all. Trying to jam Death of Superman in there without having properly built up to it doesn't remotely hep and the film that results is just an overly long, overly dour mess that is more concerned about tlaking about superman being a god for 40 minutes than actually telling a good story. It's overly long, overly self indulgent and ultimately just.. just bad. It's bad.

And look I don't begrudge Snyder himself for wanting his cut of Justice League. He only left the film due to the worst tragedy that could befall a parent, and had it cut to shit behind his back. What I begrude is the cultlike beahvior that's formed out of it. While there are likely fans of Zack Snyder's dc work who are nice, kind, and don't mind if someone has a difference of opinion and if your reading this, I value your existence, there has been a foaming, loud, asshollish horde of fans that has not shut the fuck up since getting said cut. Wanting more of something you love is fine. Right now as an Owl House Fan we're hoping desperately Disney gives us more of the series in some form and actually listens. Sometimes you have to scream to be heard.

The problem is instead of accepting the snyder cut as the cool what could've bene it is and being happy with what they got.. they gnash their teeth at ANYTHING they percive outside it. They've taken the screws to Shazam for not being as edgelord as the films they like, and lately have been just outright insufferable. They have gotten RABID since James Gunn was made one of the heads of DC and made the decision to get rid of Henry Cavill… a decision I udnerstand as the snyder verison of superman has a LOT of baggage and while Cavill did his best, I can understand James wanting to start fresh and using a new actor as a way to do that. It's an understandable decision from a guy who was given the hard task of coming in and steering a ship that has no direction in a company that's on fire thanks to David Zaslav's escalating selfish, terrible and downright baffling decisions. He did not come in guns a-blazin to gut everything: Gal Godot and The Rock are still on board, with his black adam announcment merely being that their going to hold off on using him again at first, rather than "your fired get out" as many are intepreting. And while I get it's weird to fire cavill after the stinger to black adam, it was included more because Dwayne Johnson wants to fight superman than being a coherent plan for a sequel, and I say that with all the love I can to the rock whose an awesome dude. I just don't care about seeing Black Adam fight superman. That's not who he has a connection to.

It's just been so draining. I get liking a film but I doubt Snyder wants .. any of this. He's fine. He's moved on from his superhero work. You are NEVER going to get what you wanted back> Let someone genuinely talented who will likely pull out some weird, wonderful cuts do what he wants and give him some room to do it. Zack Snyder is not a bad filmmaker but like superman. .he's not a fucking god. He doesn't want a fucking cult in his name. He just wants you to enjoy his films and support them. Just.. do that. Love his dceu work if you like but accept it's over, move on and for god's sake stop harassing people for it. I shouldn't' have to say this but it's gotten bad, and I felt it couldn't' be ignored. When Snyder fans are, no joke, going up to a tweet Gunn made trying to get support for charities and saying "DON'T CARE WANT CAVILL", I have to say.. SOMETHING, when I have the chance to speak to said fanbase. To those of you not doing this shit.. thank you. Thank you for being good people like Zack likely actually wants. Your awesome.

Now you may be asking yourself "Well how did I get here?"… or more likely "Okay nice speech and all Jake but what does this have to do with the film your actually reviewing" or

If your a tad deranged. My reason is that while I can see bit sof the DCEU in here, particularly Zack Snyder preferring to deconstruct superheroes than actually play it straight, Watchmen.. zigs a lot of places he'd later Zag. It's shockingly colorful while still being grounded, still having the gaudy outfits, but keeping them because he knows their important. The only change he made to them was to make them more like something you'd see in a superhero film of the past, to help evoke these costumes come from the past: Nite Owl and Ozymandis in particular have outfits that come out of a Burton Batman and Schumacher Batman film respectively. Laurie's is more shiny latex, and the Comedian thankfully keeps his domino mask during his full career and either wears your standard Sterling Archer spy turtleneck on missions or his costume rather than bringing out the gimp. I do think it clashes a LITTLE with the 60's and 70's these costumes are supposed to come from but I get that putting them in say, a 60's batman style outfit would be a bridge too far given the tone of the work, and that the original outfits, while neat, were also intentionally goofy in a way that just dosen't work on flim. It's why you only saw The Scarlet Witch, Vision and Quicksilvers full silver age costumes as halloween costume easter eggs in wandavision or Steve Roger's classic cap outfit as his uso outfit. These are iconic looks.. but they just don't work on screen. You can still hav ecolor and flair as the MCU has shown us, but you have to rework it to fit the present.

This way Snyder gets to both have pops of color.. while also having the costumes still get the slightly dated look in a way people who haven't read the comic will get. It's honestly a stroke of brillance and while his works aren't my forte and he slapped a palette of grey over them, his later works do have neat costumes.

His watchmen shows a respect for these characters and world his DCEU work dosen't quite have. He replicates panels, only didn't replicate the costumes beyond rorshachs for the reasons mentioned, and really tries to get as much of the story in as he can. Which brings us to

The Times they Are A Changing

The film is for the most part a fairly straight adaptation of the Graphic Novel. There's a big change to the ending I keep ominously hinting at and we're almost there just hold on, but there are changes either stylistically or just for compressions sake. It's why I tilt my head at reviews that said he was overly reverent to the graphic novel. I agree he could've used a touch more of his own take.. but Snyder still put his own spin on it and his own style. There's some bits of his trademark slowmo and some quick pans and he does brilliantly find ways to incorporate scenes into motion. The opening scene of the comic is a great example of this, as he somehow manage to pan up in the exact same way David Gibbons does while accounting for having to show EVERY frame going from the street to the Comedian's penthouse.

There are some goofy touches, for some reason he thought adding whipcrack sound effects to some fight scenes was neat, likely to parody it being used in 80's and 90's superhero films, which Watchmen takes some style cues from, but it jus tdosen't mesh when said scenes are played dead serious. This is a deconstruction, not a parody and there's a fine line between the two.

Out of his personal style touches my faviorite is easily his use of music. While there are only a handful of sequences, Snyder picked his soundtrack masterfully. It's nothing but the hits but often used in ways that help play off the scene beautifully or create just the right dissonance.

The first and best example of this is the Times They are a Changin scene. Even people who don't like the film admit this scene slaps and for good reason. It's easily one of the best openings in any superhero film ever if not THE best. In just a few minutes of montage, nicely set to one of the iconic songs of the 60's (not a huge Dylan fan myself but I can't deny this song rocks), it takes you through both ages of superheroes easily, gives you all the exposition the film couldn't thanks to Under the Hood being something they couldn't fit in easily (Maybe a tv movie or something but it would've come off obvious to me), and just looks gorgeous: it breaks down the triumphant rise and tragic fall of the minutemen, the hope of the new era of supermen and it's sad fall beautifully. The imagery just does not leave your brain and it's easily a beautiful little mini movie in it's own right. While the film is still good after this, it's easily the best part of it, kind of like how Up's intro is easily it's best part too for similar reasons but the rest is still fantastic.

That said, the next sequence with this.. is no slouch. The Vietnam flashback with ride of the valyrkyes, as Dr. Manhattan looms over the Vietcong and explodes anyone in his path, is masterful, taking an already great one panel image from the comic and IMPROVING on it. Seeing him in motion really sets in the dread of this giant, looming all powerful godlike figure coming towards you and you can do nothing to stop him and really helps set in the scope of manhattan. I also noticed when writing this section that Manhattan has a nice motif of classical music, to establish a timeless feel, using Phillip Glass' music to really set things in motion.

Dan's sequence is no slouch though, as it amazingly uses the funk classic "i'm your boogie man", and is part of why I love that song so much. It both nicely contrasts with the protest going on.. and nicely matches to Comedian horribly responding to it by violently beating up the protestors. Granted said protestors are pro police, which is especially odd given some are POC.. but I write this off as Snyder, like many of us white dumbasses, not fully grasping the history of police violence on people of color at the time. It's not great in hindsight but I can't say many knew much better and he still shows off that someone with undue power and no checks and balances, i.e. the Comedian, going into a crowd and wailing on them is as horrible as it should be seen.

Then we get a long break, just one sequence with Manhattan i'll talk a bit more about later, before we get the next one.. which stuck out in my mind for the wrong reasons and I was ready to give Zack Snyder all the shit for.. till I learned out why he did it. If you've seen the film you know and if not.. the film takes Dan and Laurie's sex scene.. and make sit into… an over the top, in tense and gratuitous as fuck sex scene.

It's just so ludicrious, so unecessary, so out of nowhere it's parody.. and that… was ex-zactly the point. Yeah turns out Zack Snyder did not ask for this scene, the crew did not ask for this scene and i'm pretty sure Dan Steven and Malin Akerman did not ask for this scene. No one wanted to do this except the executives, who demanded

So Zack pulled a Sean Micheals and decided to give it to them in the goofiest, dumbest, most over the top way possible. It's likely why EVERY movement dan makes seems to make laurie orgasm. Akerman was likely in on the joke, and I salute her for it. Like if your forced to do a gross fanservice sex scene, you might as well make it hilarious and honestly the sequence is: you've got Hallujeah blaring over it, Malin going 80 times over the top, dan stevens just .. rolling with it and the gloriously stupid finish when Laurie climaxes as she hits the flamethrower button. The Silk Spectre has a FLAMING orgasm that is seen by ongoers in the night sky. I.. I can't even add to that. I didn't know Zack Snyder could make a funny but here we are. Good on him.

The last music sequence is a classic and a pretty obvious drop… like while all the songs are pretty well known in a song called the watchmen that pulls heavily from the 70's and 60's to evoke a sense of nostalgia a lot of the characters clearly have… All Along The Watchtower was a perfect pick. It's how I first heard the song and it is fucking dynamite and setting it to Dan and Rorschach's descent into the artic.. fucking perfect.

We get two more songs in the credits. The first is an awesome cover of Desolation Row by My Chemical Romance. I loved them since hearing Danger Day and love Gerard Way's awesome comics work after MCR, so I do like the song.. but it's also a touch too modern to really fit with the film. It was clearly made because the studio wanted a soundtrack tie in.. but it's also very hard to hate because it's so awesome and the first issue's title directly references this song.

The other is We'll Take Manhattan, which I feel was likely Snyder's first choice and is a nice cheeky nod to the horrors that just happened.

Okay so now we've cued the music , let's talk about another change.. one i've been omniously hinting at all film and one where I can't help quoting a certain critic I admire's theme song

They Made Watchmen Without the Slimy Squid

Yeah out of all the changes, one bit of casting, and other various things… this is the single most divisive part of the film. See most of the plot and even the ending is the same: Nite Owl and Rorshach find out Adrian was behind it, confront him at his arctic fortress, and while him kicking their asses is mostly omitted, it's for a good reason we'll get to, and while they plan to not let him do it but..

And thus his plan goes off and while Dr. Manhattan also confronts him, ultimately our heroes are forced to back down for the sake of the world. The big diffrence is WHAT the plan was. See when the Hayter script was made .. it was intended for 2003, complete with a screen test. This was two years after 9/11 so showing what was likely minutes of bloody bodies lying in the streets of new york after an attack.. was something they really coudln't do. They coudln't drop NYC either as it's grimy 80's exterior is as much a character as our heroes. So he came up with something else that made it all the way here.

So instead of Dr. Manhattan having harnessed his power to change the world, he's just getting to it as the film is in progress and is working with Adrian, who goes from a psychic alien attack.. the much simpler plan of using his energy to simulate Dr. Manhattan attacking the world, still giving humanity a common enemy.

Now while I like the squid sequence.. I get why a change had to happen. Even in 2009 9/11 was still fresh in minds. It was likely hard enough getting just dr. manhattan exploding people through. And besides just being sensitive to a reall life tragedy by making things more fantastical… the Squid thing is convoluted as fuck. Like Adrian does lay it out… but it requires a psychic's brain, kidnapping scientists and artists, and genetically cloning it into a squid. It's a BRILLIANT scheme, as it was made to be as believable as possible, and I love it dearly.. but when your trying to streamline an already beefy narrative to fit three hours, it's a LOT to unpack and something not everyone might get and understandably so. I even missed the whole psychic part till adrian brought it up. It has that many moving pieces.

You also have to remember this was pre-guardians of the galaxy. Studios were very gunshy about weird shit and they'd already let the naked blue man hanging dong pass inspection. Zack and Hayter likely didn't want to push it too far. So changing it from the slimy squid while sad.. was necessary.

That said the replacement.. just dosen't work for me. I get using Dr. Manhattan.. but how he pulled it off just raises a LOT of questions and leaves a hell of a lot more holes that could be traced back to him than in the original verison. For one thing the project wasn't some secret project on a remote island and then the arctic but a HIGHLY public clean energy project. I'm not sure they knew manhattan was powering it, but a bunch of scinetests going mising from that suddenly.. isn't going to go away forever. I mean sure Adrian can probbaly bury it with his money, but iwth the journal, there's every chance someone might look into it. Now i'm sure Nixon and later Regan after him would likely gladly shoot anyone who questioned this for world peace.. but i'm also sure someone could leak it eventually.

In the comic.. part of why Adrian won besides assuring world peace.. is he covered his tracks emacuatley: Everyone went missing long before he killed them, he could always fake bodies if needed given his genetic engineering and the squid was so convincingly alien, no one would really THINK to investigate something else. I do get Dr. Manhattan is so throughly. .not human it's supposed to be the same principal, but i'm also not convinced someone wouldn't buy the continence of it.

Not only that is trips away the ambigiutiy of Adrian getting caught as if he does.. Jon could just show up, go ooga booga and confirm the plan. It wipes away any chance of him blowing this away. Unless Jon intentionally lets Vedit hang out to dry, which dosen't seem likely, he gets away completely. It just.. dosen't work for me. I get what they were trying to do but it just dosen't add up.

There's one other adjustment to the ending, but this one I like: LIke the comic everyone but Rorshach agrees to keep quiet but for one thing it's even clearer Dan and Laurie aren't on board with this. We also get a nice adjustment to Rorshach's death as Dan follows.. and sees it happen… crying for his death. Even if Rorshach wasn't a great perosn.. he was still his friend and didn't deserve to die like this. While I like dhis lonely death in the comics.. this still works.

The part I like the most though.. is Dan storming in afterword's and beating the shit out of Adrian. Adrian dosen't fight back and it's left ambiguous: Does he feel guilty or is he just patronizing him like a father whose child is having a tantrum. It's what Dan says though that I really love

"You haven't idealized mankind, but you've deformed it, mutilated it.. that's your legacy.. that's the real practical joke".

Just Dan, tears down his face, knowing he can't get the justice that's required.. but not being content to just.. let Adrian smugly step away. He's given humanity utopia but before marred it with it's cost and will forever carry that burden as he damn well should. It's not QUITE as satisfying as "nothing ever ends".. but it still works with Vedit left just as stunned wondering if he really won. Which nicely brings us to

Under the Hood:

While snyder brought the core of the story well enough to screen, his character work was a bit more.. mixed. Some actors soared, others fell, and some were just let down by the script

We'll start with the character both most prominently used in marketing and whose often see as the franchises mascot, Rorshach. Jackie Earle Haley's performance.. is stunning, it's absolutely perfect to screen, having a nice gruff batman-esque tone that still sounds coarser more tired, and perfectly growly. It fits his uncomoromising mindset, blunt nature and perfectly captures that Rorshach needs help more than he needs to be murdering people. Haley PERFECTLY captures the character, and while he spends most of the film under a mask, he emotes greatly. He also BEAUTIFULLY excutes one of the best scenes of a comic, Rorshach's death. His response is growly.. but when taking off the mask.. he looks utterly destroyed at first, nicely replicating the crying and the fact that despite being so resolute.. even rorshach is sad not only is he passing.. but that a horrible man has gotten away with everything and his scream of "Do it!" is just.. perfect.

Writing wise however.. it's a mixed bag. Hayley does a lot of the heavy lifting.. but a lot of Rorshach's character and backstory was cut. We see flecks of it in his psychological examination but the darkness of mere being itself.. is largely cut out of the film. Malcom Long gets nothing of an arc, a huge shame given he was the only POC character of note in the piece (something Snyder could've rectified and didn't), while the context for Rorshach's fall is mostly gone. The change to what he does to the villain works, having been switched from the saw like handcuffs for understandable reasons ot him savagely meat cleaving the guy, but the slow slide from a man with a tragic past being a vigilante to a man who badly needs a therapist but is so far gone he can't accept the help he needs. .is gone and it takes weight for the character. A lot of what makes Rorshach so neat is gone.

Also gone.. are his right wing leanings. While his opening monologue his kept his homophobia, sexism and general other unpleasantness. This is a double edge sword.. on one hand it makes him more likeable.. but on the other hand it robs the ending of some of it's punch as even if Rorschach sucks.. the fact he's throughly RIGHT hit hit harder coming from someone so often wrong and his right wing fanaticism makes it less obvious if his words will carry weight givfen his various prejudices. The character only still works so well.. because Haley does such a phenomenal job in the roll that the various sanded off edges don't come off as bad as they should. He's just so good and so perfectly cast it helps. It's still not the strongest version of Rorschach, but damn if it isn't memorable.

Less well translated is Dr. Manhattan, who I feel gets the shaft despite his sticking out. I mean at least he probablyg ot some nice resduals form his condoms

Yeah while I feel bad people often overly focus on the character hanging dong, as the whole poitn of that is that he is so far beyond human concerns he dosen't evne care he's hanging dong anymore, I can't knock dc for having a perfect tie in with that.

Look dick jokes aside Dr. Manhattan's representation is really spotty. Some moments are translated perfectly: the aforementioned ride of the valyrkye scene, his spotlight with Watchmaker which shockingly shows off his sense of time despite being portrayed in a fraction of it, and his ending return as a giant blue man.

But a good chunk of his scenes are muted. Part of this is on Billy Crudup. He tries his best.. but ultimately just HOW good he is at portraying a detached godlike being.. varies on the scene. Sometimes he sounds perfectly alien and emotionless.. and other times he sounds like he's just.. bored. The latter just dosen't really work.. I mean sure he's lived through all of this but part of the characters mistique is he's often very hard to read. He also stumbles on the time he is, still coming off emotionless during his ephinany about Laurie or , most damingly when shouting for everyone to leave. Crudup just coudln't figure out the righ totne to match the scnee sand the character dosen't come off well.

Writing wise he's mostly fine.. but the Mars bit is completely botched. Like out of all the stuff the film adapts it's easily the issue that is done the absolute worst. See in the comics it looks like this

Nice crystaline but still pink and otherworldly. Easy enough toa dapt for some reason…. Zack Snyder went with..t his

yeah not only does mars look crappier as while ti's more realistic it's also all brown and muted, taking away a lot of the planets haunting majesty from the comic, but the palace for some reason is entirely made of glass, and cgi.. and as a result it looks REALLY bad. LIke I get using CG, I do, and Manhattan himself is an amazing effect. They got him to screen beauituflly, hanging dong and all. But this is just.. I can't tell if it was just the tightly stretched budget or terrible design choices but it just looks ugly and the scene is so cut down in the theatrical cut it just drains the whole phislocpiacal argument between Manhattan and Laurie. It's just..awful and when you cut a characters best scene down to ribbons he's bound to not come off great. Manhattan looks great but just.. feels souless

So speaking of laurie, stop me if you've heard this one: They cut out most of her backstory. Yeah that's a problem with the film as a whole: I get having to streamline things but not finding some way to intergrate the backstories as well damaged most of the cast. With Laurie it's especially bad as the pressure form her mother, the strained relationship and her painful history are all either underplayed or in the latter case gone entirely. Most of what character she did have is gone.

There is a TINY bit of good as she no longer breaks out into hysterics over most thing, an unfortunate trait I noticed that I don't think Moore or Gibbons thought through for you know, one of only two major female characters in the piece, and the other.. is defined ENTIRELY by nearly being raped then having sex with her rapist so not too good on either account.

That said they replace it with

Malin Ackerman tries her best, but even she admitted that she regretted taking the role, citing it was out of her comfort zone and being the only none shakesphere experinced one in the group and the work's importance, got a bad case of imposter syndrome. I just feel bad for her and her feeling out of her depth shows in her performace. it feels stilted like she dosen't know what to do.. and it's one of the times I blame the acting on Snyder himself. Sometimes acting can be bad direction but not helping an actor whose clearly struggling and not having the good sense to give her way more to work with and an actual character.. that's on him. He had no probelm adjusting the script when needed, so laurie coming out this underbaked is inexcusable. The fact she comes off more as a sex object thanks to her outfit and sex scene without having any AGENCY in said sexuality does not help.

WE then have Dan.. and he may be the only one tha'ts a full on improvement. Patcik Wilson is perfect in the part, not only looking exactly like dan but playing him well: he comes off just a touch more confident.. but not so much he isn't still the insecure, withdrawn nerd the story needs him to be. HE's still a painfully shy man, but he not only has a closer friendship with adrian that helps give him more to do in the plot, and more reason why he's more doubtful he's behind it at first, it also makes Adrian's actions hit harder. IN the comic it wasnt' clear if Adrian was all that close to any of his collegeues. Here the betryal feels personal. He also has great chemistry with ackerman. Wilson is the mvp of the film. And like I said he dosen't just sorta.. collapse and go along with the plan at the end, but is actively spiteful about having to and leaves Adrian devistated. This is easily the better version of dan, and it's likely because unlike the others we didn't get a ton of his backstory, so we only gain more of him instead of loosing a lot.

We then have our mastermind Ozymandis and he's done.. fine. Goode dosen't look the most like him, but did put a lot of effort into the roll. Granted he also infamously told people against his casting "Suck my dick because I don't give a fuck"

But he still did his best and I support his casting: he dosen't look like the superman of the books but more gaunt.. yet he does in the past, giving the feeling the weight of his actions and what has happened has worn on him. While he puts on the cold vener of detachment he dosen't have the smug ego. It makes the character diffrent.. but not in ab ad way, coming off as someone who is doing the grim work necesary to save the world instead of a smug egotist who thinks he's the only one who can. Neither is a good person, but both versions ar eintresting. Admitely Goode slips in an out of an accent but it came from the good idea of having Adrian be german and hide his accent in public to blend in more, as well as distance himself from his nazi parents. I wish this was more texual than just something he thought of but poitns for effort

Finally for the main cast we have our boogie man himself, The COmedian. Along with Stevens and Haley, Dean Morgan not only perfectly matches the role in apperance.. but just ooze sinto it. And since we get his full backstory bit, he's one of the few not as badly marred. The only issue I have is changing his attempted rape to have him be older: him being young and still trying to do something his awful signified that he'd ALWAYS been this cynical, selfish asshat and age only made him worse. The roll was a departure for Morgan who was best known for Grey's Anatomy at the time, but nicely blended into the roll and I wouldn't be shocked if, while not having seen him in wlaking dead, this roll landed him negan as I have read the comic version and the two characters are just similar enough for it to be perfect casting. Ther'es not a lot to say about the comedian I havne't in the comics reviews, Morgan is just perfec tin the roll and desreves more love as an actor.

Finally we have the only two minute men of consequences. Stephen McHattie does a great job as hollis mason though sadly his best scene was cut out of the film, as his death was done BETTER in the extended cut, which I almost reviewed but decided for KEv's wallet and times skae not to. It shows Hollis going down swining, imagining the top knot's as his foes. IT's a great death and I wish it'd been kept in.

Carl Gugino does great as Sally and while she dosen't get many scenes, she is great and I like adding a line about Sally having not regretted her one night stand with Eddie because of wha tit gave her, making her reconcilation with her daughter feel way more plausable.

So with that we just have a few odds and end to

The Cutting Room Floor

As you can probably guess the film exercised a lot. in addition to the various backstories, under the hood and tons of other stuff, pretty much every subplot is excised; The Newspaper Man, the kid with him, Malcom Long, the Lesbians, everyone is gone. The newspaperman and malcom long are unfortunate and it's asd to see them go.. the lesbians not so much as their subplot came off untiotnally homophobic. They also removed mustache cop and you can just imagine my reactoin

Most cuts are understandable. And with that

The Clock Strikes one

So overall Watchmen is a decent film: It has visual flair, some decent aditions, and cast that mostly tries their best even when some aren't given a lot. Is it a GREAT superhero film? Honestly.. no. The cut portions mute the story a bit and Gilliam was likely right that a mini series was a better fit, not to mention there's some tarnish of the time with the executive mandated sex scene and general poor writing for laurie as well as that freaking mars cgi. It's far from a perfect film.. but I still maintain it's pretty good and I still enjoyed it. It's not the best adaptation of the work.. but it's the best it could be within the time, budget and paramenters given and it's a clear labor of love. It's clear Snyder loved watchmen and while he amde some changes, he did his best to get the spirit of it down on film. THe result is a real treat if your a fan of the graphic novel or just a superhero fan in general and if your a fan of snyders, you'll likely enjoy this even more than his justice league works. Doubly if your not a fan. So check it out, it's on HBO max and.. thanks for reading all this way. This has been a decent retrospective and one of th ebiggest and most ambitious project si've done.. But it's time to put away the doomsday clock, let it chime to one in storage.. and stop watching the watchmen. It's been a long road but now.. I rest. See you in the new year.

[youremyheaven]

vedic astrology symbols & motifs pt 3

1. Serpent symbolism

Zendaya wearing a Roberto Cavalli dress with twin serpents on the back. She has her saturn & ketu in UBP.

She's also the ambassador for Bvlgari, a brand known for its iconic serpent motif. Fellow ambassador Priyanka Chopra also has serpent yoni (Rohini moon)

Julianne Moore, mrigashira moon wearing a dress featuring cobras

Kendall Jenner, UBP moon wearing a dress with snake imagery

Charlize Theron, ashlesha sun & mercury wearing a serpent pendant.

Cardi B, mrigashira ketu as Medusa

Rohini Mars, uma thurman as medusa in percy jackson

2. Punarvasu girls often play the Trophy Wife or the Dream Girl in media.

Malin Ackerman (punarvasu moon) played the titular Trophy Wife in the sitcom of the same name

Sofia Vergara (punarvasu sun & moon) plays Gloria Pritchett in modern family who is a classic example of a trophy wife.

Kaley Cuoco (punarvasu moon) plays Penny in TBBT. Penny is a quintessential "dream girl" type character.

Punarvasu moon Drew Barrymore plays a version of this role in nearly every romcom she's ever been in.

3. I have a soft spot for Virgo-Cancer couples. Virgo is considered the most masculine sign and Cancer is the most feminine sign. Sexual polarity is what drives a relationship and this could be why these couples are so fun to watch on screen and even irl.

Jay on the show, Modern Family is played by Ed O'Neill who is Purvaphalguni moon (tropical virgo) and Sofia Vergara, who plays his wife, has Punarvasu moon (tropical cancer).

Ed O'Neill was on the show Married With Children, where Katey Sagal played his wife. She has Pushya moon and Punarvasu Ketu. Its interesting how his two most well known characters are both husbands on shows about families with wives played by Cancer girlies👀

Chris Hemsworth is a Purvaphalguni sun and Uttaraphalguni moon and he is married to Elsa Pataky who is Punarvasu sun and Revati moon. Pisces is opposite to Virgo and opposite signs have insane chemistry.

I'll make a separate post about how movies often pair actors with opposite signs to play a couple and how this happens in real life as well (opposites attract 😏)

Priyanka Chopra is a Punarvasu sun and Nick Jonas is a Uttaraphalguni sun and stellium.

in Bridget Jones' Diary, Mark Darcy is played by Purvaphalguni sun Colin Firth and Bridget is played by Ashlesha moon Renee Zellwegger.

The OG romcom pairing. Adam Sandler, Purvaphalguni sun and Drew Barrymore who is Punarvasu moon.

Purvaphalguni sun, Hugh Grant and Pushya rising Julia Roberts in Notting Hill.

another iconic romcom pairing, Purvaphalguni sun Richard Gere with Pushya rising Julia Roberts.

6. I find a connection between Ashlesha and plastic surgery. Ashlesha is the star of restriction and its tightly coiled by nature. These natives often express their severity through their self-presentation. On another note, these tropical Leo natives become sidereal Cancers and while Leos are known for being extremely self conscious and prone to fluctuating self esteem, adding a layer of Cancerian sensitivity makes things worse for them. Their self-image becomes extremely personal and they feel a need to master perfectionism. (in my perspective, switching to sidereal does not cancel out one's tropical signs, it adds another layer or texture to it. Leos are so sensitive and picky, why? because they are sidereal Cancers underneath the surface. some Cancers are very typically girly and domestic whereas others are not? because they're split between the gemini and cancer signs in sidereal)

Now a lot of celebs get work done, especially these days but I think there are some celebrities who are known for their plastic surgery and these are just a few off the top of my head.

Megan Fox, ashlesha moon.

Kylie Jenner, ashlesha sun

Bella Hadid, ashlesha mars

Sridevi, ashlesha sun and stellium.

(she had already had some work done in the first pic) Sridevi is probably one of the first Indian actors to get plastic surgery back in the 70s/80s and was known for it.

[seana-aureus-smokes-vs120s]

Malin Ackerman

[nityarawal]

Is it too late to have a coming of age experience at 39 after two kids, a husband, and a career in Real estate?

I had the most amazing 40th birthday weekend. I thought I would write all my friends and see if anyone wanted to go to Esalen with me- this is a hot springs in Northern CA that I've been wanting to go to for my whole life! Just a massage is pricey and to go for the whole weekend was over $750 but I thought I would throw it out there. I didn't really care who I saw while there. I just knew I wanted to enjoy it with friends. I didn't have the nerve to go to a spa where everyone swims naked without any friends or family. I had 4 takers.  Several good friends committed. We tried to decide which workshop to do. I was thinking to do one on songwriting and bhajans when my friend Tess suggested the creativity workshop. At first I thought that one was so ambivalent...I know about creativity and my own process. I've been doing TM my whole life after all and I know how to tap that place. The truth is I rarely do any creative writing anymore which is what I have my degree in though. I wasn't looking for a revival though, but more than anything a chance to soak in the hot springs next to the crashing pacific waves in good company. Tess suggested this Josh Radnor workshop, "he's the guy in ‘How I met your mother!’" 

"Oh," I said. Yes I remembered him...I actually didn't know which character at first but my favorite was Ted Mosby and was delighted that is actually Josh Radnor. She also said that David Newman was teaching it with him and was famous in LA for his amazing yoga studio. It sounded like this was the course to do! So I called up Esalen and managed to switch workshops and got two of my friends to switch with me. Tess had known of Josh also because he'd been on ER and her husband was a writer/director of the show. Unfortunately she didn't end up coming on that special weekend because her hubby had a intensive writing weekend planned and she needed to be in back up support with the kids but I'm forever grateful she intervened and tipped us off on where to go!

I worked until the minute I left practically- emailing and tying up loose ends on a real estate deal. I was concerned my client would miss me for two days being off the grid and not reachable by phone. I assured her it was actually only one day that I would be totally gone since Friday and Sunday I would be travelling and could be reached. I could tell she was a little panicky about it but luckily her daughter had the same birthday as me and she had also planned to go and visit her in Portland. I felt a little foolish going to this workshop without knowing too much about Josh Radnor other than his role in HIMYM so I did a little homework late at night before I left and read some reviews and interviews with him about his movies. I decided to download the first one he did- ‘Happythankyoumoreplease.’

The trip to Esalen was loooong! I thought I would fly- only an hours flight- and get there early with time to relax and enjoy the facilities. I was expected to arrive at noon and my friends were going to pick me up. We'd have lunch somewhere glorious along the ocean enroute. I was so excited! I left my house at 9:30am but my flight was postponed and postponed. I called another friend to pick me up who was also driving down from the bay area and let the other two go ahead and have lunch etc. Danielle somehow got lost en-route though and then stopped somewhere for directions and left her handbag, so had to go back, and finally got to me around 4pm. No worries, I sat in the airport watching the rest of Josh's first movie, ‘Happythankyoumoreplease.' I had started it on the airplane and I was savoring all of it. He wrote, directed and acted in it. It felt like a first movie yet it was so sweet and I was excited to see Malin Ackerman in it as well. I just knew when she said this line about how an Indian taxi driver told her if she got something she liked in life to just say, "more please," that there was a spiritual message and I was in for a treat but still no idea how special Josh Radnor would be.

Danielle arrived when I had 20 minutes left and I kept pausing to tie up loose ends up on my Real Estate deal back home too. Last conversations with my transaction coordinator, my client and broker before I checked out for two days. I was so excited and didn't want to be chatting or negotiating on one of my favorite coastal drives down to Big Sur with a dear old friend that I hadn't seen in several years. No, we had fabulous talks about sex and caught totally up. My magical girls' weekend had begun and the smells of eucalyptus trees and ocean was intoxicating. We couldn't resist stopping at Nepentheon- one of the great restaurants of Big Sur- even though we were only a half hour away and had paid for a wonderful dinner at Esalen. The sun was setting the view was spectacular! We indulged in some tapas and a glass of wine, I got the last of my messages before my phone died and we were on our way out of reception.

We arrived into a pitch dark place. The guard keepers of Esalen said they couldn't tell us where our other friends were staying- some strange policy and that we'd have to leave a note on the bulletin for them. So we thought we'd quickly check in and get to our workshops. We were given flashlights and navigated halfway across the resort to our different classes. Danielle was trying out some metaphysical mind over matter one but later switched to my course on sat after I told her how great it was. I showed up late and felt a bit battered from my long and harrowing day. I wished I was fresher for this first meeting but was too excited to lose any more time. Our meeting was in a yurt next to the ocean and we all introduced ourselves that night. I didn't say where I was from but David and Josh seemed interested that I did TM and they both had learned too but seemed to be onto other things. I mentioned what a great tool it had been for me and they agreed while others in the group expressed their curiosity. That first night was intimate- with only 20 or 30 people in the yurt. I didn't know where my other friends were but I enjoyed sitting there alone... I told the group that we were there celebrating my BIG birthday. For me this was so special. It was such a treat to be there whereas I felt like many of the people who were there had no idea how special Josh was and were even further behind than I was in watching his shows! Many didn't even know about HIMYM! They were just simple folks, many once hippies, coming to enjoy Esalen. Although one woman was an editor from San Francisco with a big publisher and had read his biography! Oh, how I would love to get my hands on that book! She said it was really good and Josh shared his reasons for not publishing it. He said he did things that he'd rather not go public on- he takes his role as a leader and role-model very seriously and doesn't drink, swear or go to strip clubs and is super into his shakti and spiritual path.

We did some chanting and bhajans after the introduction and my heart felt open as I set there on my cushion with no backrest rocking to the music, my spine unwinding and kept accidentally catching Josh's eye. It was a magical evening!

When I got back to my room Danielle said her meeting was OK and that she'd switch to my class because I was very floored and excited about the weekend ahead even though I hadn't planned to do too much of the workshop in my pursuit of hot water. As we were talking Hollie and Mona popped up! It turned out they were in the room next to ours! This seemed like such a gift since the stern Esalen Heralds had not been willing to share their location. We laughed and talked all giddy to see each other but they were tired and had been enjoying the grounds for hours- they'd had their massages, soaked, a divine vegetarian dinner and walked the grounds. I was a little jealous but didn't want to miss out on lost time so Danielle and I headed to the pools and decided sleep was not the priority. We soaked until about 11;30 in the waxing moonlight. We tried the silent Roman pools and enjoyed the meditative atmosphere but Danielle wanted to chat so we went to the other pools. Each pool was so completely glorius. We moved to these pools outside but under the verandas that were open to the crashing waves below. I'd never been in such a beautiful spring in my life and my heart was soaring with the experience. I felt so completely blessed. I couldn't stop smiling. This was the best present I'd ever received and I was savoring every moment of it- I couldn't believe that 3 dear friends were willing to share this with me too! Danielle and I had lovely talks and had a lot of privacy with only a few others there. We tried several different pools and finally were too tired to soak more so showered and headed up the dark paths home. The hills and stairs were a work out and we arrived to our room out of breath and exhausted but in a fantastically good delicious way. I knew my itunes movie was going to expire and I hadn't finished it but I was too tired, and only had about 20 minutes left, so just hoped I'd find time the next day.

Saturday we had a plan to meet HOllie and Mona for breakfast. We had a lovely meal in a corner and I had to sample every food they had so took tiny portions- all was glorious and different for me- I had miso soup- which I've never had for breakfast with kim chi. Mona said the granola was unreal so I had a smidgeon of that with yogurt. They had stewed prunes- which I thought was genius since hot springs for some odd reason are constipating. We enjoyed a couple of cups of coffee and tea and every turn I took around the dining room, Josh seemed to appear next to me in his hoodie with bed head- which is his signature look. God, it was unsettling. I tried to smile and be casual but he has a grumpy morning face. I must have almost bumped into him about 10 times! I couldn't believe it and wanted to yak about the crazy experience with my girlfriends but the lunchroom felt too small for such indulgences. They didn't even know who he was or had seen his shows so they weren't very excited in the same way. Although they appreciated how cute he was! This seemed to be my magical universe. 

Mona said I must get a massage- that they were glorious and I owed it to myself to get one for my bday. Her and HOllie were getting theirs for the second day in a row! Danielle and I headed into the reception to make our reservation and guess who was beside me also requesting something? Josh. God I had butterflies. I get funny around celebrities and very excited so this was all just a bit too much! I wished I had someone who could relate. The most my girls could offer was that he was cute. 

Mona was super excited to see my message on the board and instagrammed it to Facebook.

Then we all walked joyously up the path to class. It was like a dream...gorgeous flowers blooming everywhere...my friends looked so beautiful and I just wanted to hang out and take photos but was also very excited about our workshop which we were rapidly late for. Esalen is like a '60's commune though- it radiates love and peace and it's hard to believe this magical place still exists in this day and age! We wound our way up to our class and it was sparkling in the day light. I had gotten lost winding up there the night before passing houses and walking through forests but in the light of day I could see the school garden, the school bus converted into a class and granted myself a few pictures of the girls. One of Hollie under an arch of metal she wanted to recreate in her garden. I felt proud to have my friends in class with me that morning. We all sat in the back row and they didn't get the proper introduction but I did whisper that Hollie was a Scorpio since we'd all shared our signs the night before.

Holl's and Mona don't have the best backs so even though they got back jacks their backs were suffering by the end of the lesson. I felt like this yoga energy was coursing through me and I didn't mind not having the support. I was really getting into the Bhajans. I felt like my heart was opening wide and those silly feelings of catching Josh looking at me, like a girl in school- like my sparkle must be on and my inner light shining out. Hollie, Mona and I were giddy that day laughing and giggling catching each others eyes just thrilled to be on our retreat! After class as we were walking out I mentioned to Josh that I'd love to see Liberal Arts and asked if we were going to watch any of his movies. He said maybe. That afternoon I arrived a bit late after my gorgeous massage- this was one of the best massages I'd ever had- I lay naked with one wall open to the pacific, the warm air and sunlight glowing in and felt the feathery hands of a woman perform some Asian combination massage indigenous to Esalen. I could see why HOllie and Mona had to get one of these two days in a row and felt like this massage I almost stingily didn't get might have been one of the best I'd ever had. She cocooned me afterwards in towels and I could've slept there all afternoon but only allowed myself a few minutes because I didn't want to miss a moment of Esalen. I was hoping to soak with Hollie and Mona after but they were just heading into their massages. As I was walking out of the roman bath I saw Fillipo Francini in the dressing room- he's an Italian composer that is a client of mine. I said hi, but he looked so inward and puzzled with his towel draped over his privates, like a man from roman times- I thought maybe it's not the best time to be social so let it go.

I was late for lunch and Danielle had already finished so I took my food to this nook under a tree at the bluffs edge. It was such a perfect place to journal. I felt so awake. I could've written for hours but there was little time to take in so much. So then I dipped in the cold swimming pool in the verdant green bluff and appreciated the paradise.

As I was walking to class I saw HOllie & Mona- they said they weren't going since they were late to class and wanted to hike and enjoy the sunset etc. so I went ahead. Danielle was sitting by the door but I thought I would sit where I had been and Josh was sitting in the seat next to mine so I just went with it and enjoyed his company as we sang Bhajans.

At the break Danielle told me the good news that we were going to play a movie that night. Josh put on some scenes from his movies HTMP and it was so cool to have him share his favorite scenes- one of them I hadn't seen yet and it was so fantastic the way this man who wasn't attractive in the beginning of the movie suddenly became gorgeous as the light of love dawned in the leading ladies heart. He really captured this well in the movie and this was a feeling I'd had before and enjoyed the way he'd painted it. He was so humble sharing all these scenes with an audience that had no clue how brilliant he was. He didn't seem to mind and I felt like a bit lame that I hadn't even finished his movie before the workshop, but was very excited that he'd listened to my cue to show Liberal Arts, and it just felt like my birthday couldn't have been any better. Danielle had a bit of a laugh at me for parking myself at the other end of the room from her near Josh but I just explained that was where I'd been sitting before.

That night when we arrived all the back jacks and pillows were gone. Many people had several under them and there was a fresh batch of popcorn. I didn't mind and sat in the back of the room with Hollie and Mona. We found some blankets and they laid down. I was just in bliss and still feeling this yogic kundalini which somehow kept my spine strong even with no support. Josh put on Liberal Arts and plopped down next to me in the back row (again!!! I couldn't believe my luck!)

I found a couple of small pillows and rolled one over to him. I couldn't believe that Josh; the workshop leader, whom I thought was the guest of honor, was lying on the floor with no support and none of the patrons had offered him some of their comfort. 

Hollie thought it was rude no one offered us their pillows either but I didn't care. Her and Mona finally couldn't take it though and left to go soak and I stayed and enjoyed this surreal experience of watching Josh on the screen while laying next to him. This was the most unbelievable thing! Sometimes he'd jump up and stop the movie to share some interesting tidbit about it and I felt like this was one of the most creative things to partake in- I could tell he felt vulnerable sharing his art and was listening for our laughs and peeking at our expressions for feedback. It was such a magical night and it made me realise what was possible for myself as an artist too. He gave me such a great gift by sharing his movie with us that night- it lit a fire of inspiration and creativity that I still feel strongly though I still struggle finding time to express it and do my own work. I'm writing this story now on notepad and my novel is buried in files I still need to wade through on this laptop. Nevermind though. 

It was one of the most stimulating and exciting evenings even though it was a quiet and rustic setting off the grid in Big Sur. Danielle felt the same way but I think neither of us could put a finger on it. She also confessed that Josh had been staring at her. I guess he was like Krishna that weekend and probably many of the girls had that experience. The music kept taking my heart to new levels too- David had us singing these gorgeous bhajans and even Josh sang with us- not above it at all and often he referred to David to answer questions about creativity and things even though I think most of the class was more interested in his creative process.

At the end of each evening David would play some bhajans so we'd end on a high note and he’d say he'd see us in the pools as if both he and Josh would be there. That night the pools were busy and Danielle and I squeezed into the one by the oceans edge after trying a few and looking for our place. It was exciting to think that Josh might be in the other pool but it seemed like a lot of men were over there so we stayed away. We did have a run in with David in the co-ed bathroom that was embarrassing- saw a little more than we would've liked! Ha ha!

We got tired again around midnight and decided to head home. The magic of Esalen was more important to me than sleep. Normally I love my rest but on this occasion I just wanted to absorb as much of that atmosphere as I could.

Sunday morning was still high. Danielle finally asked her question about creativity. David and Josh said they work in the morning best after a cup of tea. I longed for the discipline to get back to that place. I used to work daily and my creative process flowed around my routine and energy levels but since my 2nd child it seems to flow around the family with little time left for energetic creating. I felt like I'd lit a flame that I would tender though. And I made a commitment to work on my book and finish it once again. I told Josh about my town in Encintias and he and David were familiar with it. David invited me to his concert at the Kirtan Castle- Phillipo Francini's house- and I laughed and told him about seeing him in the dressing room and that he was my client!

I normally don't go visit because it's also a Tantra center but decided I would go to see them the following month. Danielle took a photo of Josh and I after class and I gave him a small crystal ganesh and a card in case he wanted to show his movie HTMP in Encinitas or Fairfield- He said he wanted to share it in towns of yogis where they get it. I also met with the agent from the famous publishing house and got her name and gave her my card over lunch. We had one last special meal out on the deck. By now, everyone was quite comfortable with Josh and he seemed to have many dates for meals; I no longer felt like we were two lonely ships colliding in the lunch room as frequently but was still very aware of his presence.

I was wishing I could stay. As I went to reception to check out after lunch- I overheard that Josh was staying another day. I asked if there were rooms to stay in; it would've been half price to stay another day without a retreat and I was sorely tempted but my friends were already in the packed car and waiting to get to the airport.

I couldn't stay but I long to do another retreat at Esalen again. I don't know if it will ever be that great- this was a birthday treat of a lifetime. I felt like the Gods were shining down on me. Josh had his shrine set up in that yurt and David was singing mantras- it was a very high weekend. I felt a lot of ecstasy and very excited that my creative spark had been lit. Yet it was time to get home. Back to my clients, my family and my other world. I don't have the luxury of unlimited time delving into those creative windows but that weekend with Josh at Esalen will stay with me and has lit my fire. Now in the evenings, when I have a few minutes, I play music from his play list, I follow his twitter, see the interesting articles he shares or writes, and sometimes it seems like my imagination- did I really become friends with Josh? Or was I just a stranger he obliged with a photo and a few words. It doesn't really matter. He moved me with his presence, stories and movies and I felt like I got a really unique experience on my last weekend being 39. I felt really blessed!

[scottishaccentsareawesome]

IceMav Playlist (Pop/Rock Version)

“Flashlight” - Jessie J

“Fly With Me” - Jonas Brothers

“Perfect” - One DIrection

“I’m Only Me When I’m With You” - Taylor Swift

“Fix You” - Coldplay

“Hold My Hand” - Lady Gaga

“You and I” - Lady Gaga

“I Wanna Know What Love Is” - by Foreigner (sidenote: Tom Cruise also sang this in Rock of Ages with Malin Ackerman)

“Two Steps Behind” - Def Leppard

“I’d Come For You” - Nickelback

“King of Wishful Thinking” - Go West

“God Only Knows” - The Beach Boys

“A Thousand Years” - Christina Perri

“Soulmate” Natasha Bedingfield

“My Life Would Suck Without You” - Kelly Clarkson

[rosalindesantiago]

Malin Ackerman

[teach463146]

Ozymandias – 'Watchmen' (2009)

Ozymandias

Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) is the smartest man in the world, and his idol is Alexander the Great. Veidt joins a superhero group in the 50s and goes by the name Ozymandias in Watchmen. In the comics, his plan is to create a giant squid-like creature and drop it into NYC, killing millions. This storyline is continued in HBO's miniseries of the same name.

In the 2009 superhero film by Zack Snyder, he nukes NYC, thereby ending the Cold War and uniting the world. Although the plan is evil, other heroes like Silk Specter (Maline Ackerman), Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), and even the all-powerful Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup), realize that revealing Veidt's plan will undo world peace, so they remain silent. However, Rorschach (Jackie Earl Haley) refuses, and is killed by Doctor Manhattan, but not before sending evidence to a newspaper.

[loki-halstead]

shoutout to the neighbour who caught me singing (read: screeching) Tom Cruise and Malin Ackerman’s version of “I Wanna Know What Love Is” at 6am this morning as I took the recycling out on my way to work…

Flat 4, it’s been an honour. But I now need to vacate the property immediately 🙈😅

[ourpickwickclub]

They have 8 episodes of Barmaggedon. Articles listed all the guests. Gwen/Sheryl, Blake/Gwen, Chris Young/Elle King, Clint/Jeff, Trace/Mike Vrabel, Jay Pharoah/Martin Kove, Brie Bella/Sasha Banks, Malin Ackerman, Lil Rey (?)

Wait, there’s an episode where Blake is competing against Gwen?

— M

[kalyria1674-blog]

Le Pouvoir de l'Assaillant p. 2

Honnêtement ? Je n'aurais jamais penser dire autre chose sur le sujet qui, pour moi, était clos depuis un moment.

Bien sûr, c'était avant que je tombe, sur You Tube, sur plusieurs commentaires (de vidéos différentes et même pas sur le sujet, à la base...) où il était théorisé qu'Eren avait réécrit l'histoire de SnK au point où il manipulait secrètement l'esprit des différents personnages à plusieurs moments-clés du manga.

Et... sérieusement ? Non mais... pour de vrai ?

Vous ne trouvez pas que le pouvoir des Assaillant est déjà complètement démesuré dans une oeuvre comme l'est SnK ? Est-il vraiment nécessaire de le rendre encore pire ?

Oui, Eren peut ''voyager dans le temps'' d'une certaine façon puisqu'il peut se déplacer dans les souvenirs de ses prédécesseurs quand il est dans les Chemins (et uniquement à ce moment-là) sachant que ceux-ci se trouvent hors de toutes temporalité. Ce qui est différent d'un simple visionnage de souvenirs de ses prédécesseurs, comme c'est le cas des autres shifters, c'est qu'il peut en fait interagir avec les autres Assaillant et modifier les actes prit dans leur temporalité en conséquence.

Jusqu'ici, c'est cohérent.

Sauf qu'en fait, le pouvoir de l'Assaillant ne permet pas d'influencer les pensées des autres. Il lui permet de se présenter à eux et, que ce soit en montrant ses souvenirs à lui ou en leur parlant, il peut les influencer en modifiant (plutôt étendre en leur dévoilant les conséquences de certains de leurs actes) le contexte dans lequel ils prennent leurs propres décisions.

Mais leurs esprits sont toujours les leurs.

Eren Kruger et Grisha Jaeger ne sont ni ses clones ni ses marionnettes au sens d'un libre-arbitre annihilé.

Alors, on pourrait dire que ce serait le problème de l'Originel, n'est-ce pas ? Eren peut voyager dans les souvenirs de ses prédécesseurs et les forcer à accomplir ses volontés grâce à l'Originel ? Voir même dans celui des autres eldiens ? Je... ne suis pas du tout convaincue et ce, pour trois raisons :

1. Nous ne savons pas s'il est possible d'utiliser les pouvoirs de deux titans simultanément. Et là, je ne parle pas des corps de Primordiaux (les petits malins répliquant qu'Eren utilise le pouvoir du Marteau d'Armes dans sa forme d'Assaillant, je vous vois venir...) mais du simple fait de pouvoir, par exemple, utiliser le Cri du Féminin et le Durcissement du Marteau d'Armes. Ou les Transformations Multiples du Charrette et l'Explosion du Colossal (oh mon dieu !). Alors pourquoi, quand on parle de l'Assaillant et de l'Originel, qui sont aussi opposés qu'il est possible de l'être, à la fois dans la philosophie de leurs détenteurs mais le fait qu'ils utilisent tout deux une dimension relativement inconnue de deux façons très différentes et spécifiques, on se dit que, bah, pourquoi pas ? Parce que ce serait cool... ?

2. Nous ne savons pas si l'Originel peut réellement altérer l'esprit des Eldiens. Certes, il est dit que ce serait possible mais... c'est une théorie. Une théorie étudiée par le comité scientifique Mahr mais qui est encore non-confirmée. Car, ce que le manga nous montre, c'est que l'Originel peut temporairement (et j'insiste là-dessus car nous n'avons même pas un seul exemple d'amnésie définitive même chez les non-Ackerman) dissimuler certains souvenirs, mais ils sont toujours là. Il peut aussi communiquer avec les Eldiens par la pensée. Et... c'est tout. Dissimulation et Communication. A aucun moment, même des gens comme Frieda ne sont montrer implantant de faux souvenirs créer de toutes pièces dans l'esprit de leurs victimes (oui, elle avait de bonnes intentions mais c'est toujours un abus et un bris de confiance). Celui qui s'en rapproche le plus est le mensonge servit à la population des murs sur l'extinction de l'humanité et... j'ai chercher. Vraiment, je l'ai fait. A aucun moment, Karl Reiss n'est montrer (ou il est dit autrement que par la bouche des personnages eux-mêmes ignorants) en train de construire de faux souvenirs. Donc, pour ce qu'on en sait, les gens supposent, d'après les récits sur l'Originel, qu'il l'a fait car ils considèrent que le Roi (équivalent d'un Dieu à leurs yeux) le peut... alors qu'il aurait pu ''juste'' leur effacer la mémoire avant de les nourrir de propagande intensive, jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient dociles. Et, d'ailleurs, n'est-il pas dit, concernant cette époque, que les Ackermans se sont rebellés contre le Roi en s'apercevant du mensonge dans lequel il confortait la population et pour laquelle il a requis la complicité des nobles ? Je suis presque sûre qu'une protestation en bonne et due forme ne peut pas se monter dans la seconde qu'il lui aurait fallut à utiliser les Chemins et que si cela avait été instantané, il n'aurait pas eu à mettre en place un système de persécution politisé contre eux exigeant la mobilisation constante de précieuses ressources. Juste modifier les souvenirs de la population pour qu'elle les traque pour lui et refuse de considérer leurs paroles aurait suffit. Et pour ceux qui me parlerait de sa capacité à contrôler les titans, ça existe effectivement mais... ceux-ci n'ont pas de conscience de soi à proprement parler. Ce serait donc moins un pouvoir qui écrase leurs esprits pour y implanter ses désirs et plus une influence contre laquelle ils ne peuvent même essayer de résister puisque leurs consciences individuelles sont au plus bas.

3.Celui qui m'a le plus fâchée et qui me fait toujours écarquiller les yeux serait qu'en influençant l'esprit de ceux avec qui il aurait interagit dans le temps, cela rendrait Eren responsable de leurs choix, bon et mauvais. Ce qui déresponsabilise/infantilise les personnages qui font lesdits choix car, à partir de ce moment, ce n'est pas quelque chose qu'ils feraient en temps normal et donc les punir/critiquer ou non ne changera rien. Ce qui ferait qu'ils seraient littéralement des marionnettes attendant l'intervention de leur maître pour agir dans l'intérêt d'un plan supérieur. Dans ce cas... pourquoi Eren s'est fait vaincre/trahir plusieurs fois alors qu'un lui ''omniscient'' se trouvait hors du temps dans les Chemins et avait intérêt à le faire gagner ?! Pour l'emmener dans un certain type de chemin ? Ok... alors pourquoi ne pas tout simplement manipuler son jeune lui pour le pousser à réagir comme il le veut jusqu'à ce que ce soit ancré ? Pourquoi manipuler les évènements autour de lui à la place ? Je ne pense pas que c'est une idée de se soucier excessivement de la liberté de son jeu moi puisqu'il a carrément amener Dina à Carla pour s'auto-manipuler. A moins que... ce ne soit le mieux qu'il puisse faire ? C'est d'ailleurs ce headcanon personnel qui me fait accepter la révélation autrement maladroite derrière la mort de Carla, faire réfléchir les lecteurs sur ce point. Sans compter que si Eren pouvait réellement manipuler les personnages comme ça, ce serait une véritable trahison de l'esprit de l'oeuvre qui, depuis le tout-début (non, vraiment : épisode/chapitre 1, la conversation entre Eren et Hannes sur la vie derrière les murs où ni l'un ni l'autre n'a vraiment tort) nous parlent des points de vues divergents de chacun. Une oeuvre qui nous parle de choix, souvent horribles, qui doivent être réalisés dans l'urgence et dans des contextes moins que favorables où l'avenir demeure inconnu ? Pixis à Trost, Levi lors de la 57ème expédition, Armin à Jean lors de l'expédition puis à Stohess, Reiner avant de se révéler, Bertholt à Shiganshina et beaucoup d'autres nous l'ont dit. Et soudain, tout ça n'est plus pertinent parce qu'Eren est dans les Chemins et possède un accès (jamais entièrement définit) à l'esprit des Eldiens ? Vous n'avez pas l'impression que ça casse un peu l'un des propos centraux, là ? Parce que, du coup, c'est comme si Eren était le seul personnage important de SnK. Ou, plutôt, le seul pertinent dans l'oeuvre. Or, si c'est le cas, alors la catégorisation d'Armin et Mikasa dans les personnages principaux est une pure blague. Pareil pour tout les personnages secondaires. Non, il y aurait juste Eren et ses figurants/faire-valoir.

Je ne sais pas pour vous mais une oeuvre comme ça, j'appelle ça une fanfiction Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu. Et ça ? Poubelle !

Ou pour résumer, partir du postulat non-confirmé que l'Assaillant et l'Originel peuvent fonctionner ensemble alors que la base de leurs pouvoirs est utiliser très différemment et qu'ils viennent de quelque chose de majoritairement indéfini, c'est quand même très moyen. Dire que l'Originel peut manipuler les souvenirs dans l'oeuvre est une méprise plus facilement réalisable dans le sens ou vous pourriez avoir raison et moi tord mais ce n'est toujours pas spécifié dans le manga ou l'anime. Penser qu'Eren est celui dont tout dépend alors que même après avoir utiliser le pouvoir de l'Assaillant, il reconnaît à demi-mot que ce n'était pas vraiment le cas (face à Ymir, nous apprenons qu'elle attendait quelqu'un. N'importe qui qui l'aiderait. Et non pas Eren Jaeger spécifiquement. Et d'ailleurs, même à la fin, nous apprenons que ce n'était pas Eren qu'elle attendait même après l'avoir laisse utiliser le Grand Terrassement.), ce n'est pas le rendre puissant car, à mes yeux, il l'était déjà et pas qu'un peu.

C'est juste rendre tout ceux qui ne sont pas Eren non-pertinents.

Ce qui n'a aucun sens et surtout pas dans une aussi belle oeuvre que Shingeki no Kyôjin.

En espérant que je n'aurais plus à revenir sur le sujet.

[lesbiancosimaniehaus]

If I was in any way involved in The Heartbreak Kid I’d pray to every god out there that HBOmax decides to memory hole that horrible failure of a movie. Especially if I was Malin Ackerman because everything about that performance is 1000000% embarrassing. I’d also kill the agent that sent that script my way if I was her.

[thelatestnews1]

Malin Ackerman, ‘Rampage’ & ‘Billions’ Star, Leads ‘Us Or Them’ – Deadline

Malin Ackerman, ‘Rampage’ & ‘Billions’ Star, Leads ‘Us Or Them’ – Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Rampage, Billions and Watchmen star Malin Åkerman is starring with Jack Donnelly (Atlantis), Wayne Gordon (Angel Has Fallen), Nicole Bartlett (Jim), Celine Arden (The Hustle) and Sam Cassidy (Guilt) in action-thriller film Us Or Them. Directed by Tom Paton (Black Ops), the film is written by Nicole Bartlett from a story by Paton. The project recently wrapped production in the islands…

[nawowow]

Silk Spectre II in “Watchmen”