huythiquoc09143

[canadiancryptid]

Finally got around to finishing Netflix's ATLA adaptation. I have a LOT of notes, but I think the biggest one is this:

At the end of Season 1 of the original, Aang had at least started learning waterbending alongside Katara, and a little bit of Firebending with Jeong Jeong. Outside of the Avatar State, he had at least started 3/4 elements.

By the same point in NATLA, he's only at 1/4. I don't think this kid has bent a single drop of water. So far he is just a *really* good airbender who can do some spirit world stuff. That should give you a good idea as to why I have a few issues with it.

[pbandjesse]

Me and James are at creative alliance watching the interactive version of Death Becomes Her and I am having the best time. I love this movie and seeing it with drag queens and things to throw ala rocky horror is so fun. I'm so glad we did this.

I decided to work from home today. I thought it would be nice to get the extra sleep (true) and I thought I could focus better on my lesson plan writing (mixed results). But overall I had a really nice day.

I had felt really weird last night and ended up having a pretty horrifying dream about a creature at camp. Like I woke up so distressed I had to wake James up because I was so upset. But being held helped me fall back asleep and only be a little upset and unsettled.

When I first woke up was when I decided I should work from home. I let Alexi know and she was chill and we wished each other happy Easters.

I slept until 9. And when I woke up I felt better. I would get dressed. I wore my new pants and felt so cute. They fit me in the exact way I want pants to fit and it's great. And once I went downstairs to get the breakfast James had left for me I jumped right into my work.

I wanted to get as much of these lessons written as possible. But this ended up being a way bigger task then I expected. Like logically I should have realized but each program just breaks down into so many parts and each part has its own multiple different parts. So I had to start just finished the Early American and Art ones. This at least I had a handle on.

This would take most of the morning. I would take a break and do my nails. Just trying to get all of the cuticles and make them soft so I don't pull and chew on them and make myself bleed. I would have a fun nose bleed during this time that went all over my face and was a little distressing. But I would be okay. I would clean myself up and get back to work.

I would get all the cabin choice and village time programs their own documents and put them in the correct folders and started to break down what happens at each. Mostly just taking the info I already wrote. But it was good progress and I was feeling good about it.

I would have to reach out for help though. I asked Heather to discuss sharing the load. Something John the consultant has said to do. To stop being the only one writing things. And while I want to take all the credit I am just not going to be able to do all of this in the time I have. So I need help. And Heather agreed and we are working on a plan. I'm sure next week we will discuss this more.

I would finish one of the 20 something documents and and took another break. This time to go through my packing list and look over what I have already thrown in my bag for Africa. I would go through my toiletry bag and refill some stuff. I would like the borrow the label maker and go through and label each container because the sharpie just rubs off and then I have 5 white creams I don't know who is who. I'll probably borrow camps next week.

I would stop for lunch around 2. I had the rest of the spaghetti from last night and some garlic bread. I tried opening the windows for sweetp but he went out and immediately there was a huge gust of wind and he came back in. I do not blame him. We closed the windows.

I went back to work for another hour or so. Got half way through another document. Was trying to remain focused but some of them are really hard to write because they are like. Gaga. Or team building games (general). But I will continue to work through these and it will be okay.

I would finish up my day and headed down to lay on the couch with sweetp. Just resting until James got home. And I was so happy to see them. They said the wind was tough but they made it home and were only marginally sweaty.

We would hang out on the couch and caught up about the day.bbht very soon it was 6! And that meant it was time for us to go to dinner.

We drove to Mathews and we have finally made it. Because they didn't even give us menus just came to the table to tell us they already put in our order. We have become regulars! This is great.

And we came in at the perfect time. Because after we sat down it got real busy. But our meal was great. And we talked about our trip and silly things like a game James is playing with their coworkers where they are hiding their business cards in each other pockets and other places. I'm glad they re having fun.

We would walk over to the theater at 7. They tried to gaslight up and say the door were actually at 730 so we walked around their gallery. But also I checked the Instagram post and it 100% says 7. But it's fine.

I would end up confusing James because I kept referring to the show as trivia apparently. I knew it was not trivia but I couldn't think what it was actually called. An interactive show. But James would get us the game pack bags with things to throw. And we took a picture at the photo booth. And soon it was time to take our seats.

And the show was so fun. The drag queens were hilarious. The props were perfect. I forgot how much I love that movie. Death becomes her used to come on TV and it was the movie that no matter where I came apon it I would sit and finish it. The shot gun through the stomach is just burned in my brain it's so good. There was a lot of the movie I forgot. Which honestly made the viewing so much better. And at intermission they had a costume contest and that was a lot of fun to cheer for. I love that they used a puppet for Bruce Willis's character. And the whole thing was great. My cheeks hurt from laughing by the end.

We just left and I really had the best time. I really hope me and James make an effort to get back into seeing shows and going places more. And now that we are more settled I really hope we make that happen.

It is late now though. And tomorrow I am going to see Jess. We are going to a pick your own flower place. I'm very excited. I am going to take a shower and go to bed soon. We are almost home now. I feel really happy.

Sleep well everyone. Talk tomorrow!!

[erictmason]

The Road To “Godzilla VS. Kong”, Day Four

(Sorry for the delay on this one, Life proved just a bit too busy the other day to finish it; my “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” review is gonna be pushed back as a result too.  But!  No worries, on we go. ^_^)

KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Writers: Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein, Derek Connolly, John Gatins

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly

Technically speaking, Gareth Edwards’ “Godzila” from 2014 was the first entry in what is now generally referred to as “The Monsterverse”, an attempt by Warner Bros. Studios and Legendary Pictures to do a Marvel Studios-style series of various interconnected movies (and which, like most such attempts to cash in on that particular trend, hasn’t really panned out; “Godzilla VS. Kong” seems likely to be its grand finale as far as movies are concerned, the only two “names” it had going for it are Godzilla and Kong themselves, and even at its most successful it was never exactly a Powerhouse Franchise).  But the thing is, when that movie was made, the idea of a “Monsterverse” did not yet exist; it was only well after the fact that Legendary and Warner Bros. got the idea to turn a new “Kong” project into the building block of a Shared Universe of their own that they could connect with the 2014 “Godzilla”, with a clear eye on getting to remake one of the most singularly iconic (and profitable) Giant Monster Movies of all time.  As you might guess from that description, however, said “Kong” project also had not originally been intended for such a purpose; it would not be until 2016 that it would be retooled from its original purpose (a prequel to the original “King Kong” titled simply “Skull Island”) into its present form, which goes out of its way to reference Monarch, the monster-tracking Science organization seen over in 2014’s “Godzilla” and which includes a very obviously Marvel-inspired post-credits stinger explicitly tying Kong and Godzilla’s existences together.  

The resulting film is fun enough, all things told, but that graft is also really, distractingly obvious.

Honestly, I wish I knew why I’m not, generally, fonder of “Skull Island” than I am.  It’s not as if, taken as a whole, it does anything especially bad; indeed it does a great deal that is actively good.  Consider, for example, the rather unique choice to make it a Period Piece; that’s decently rare for a Monster Movie as it is (indeed one of the only other examples that springs to mind for me is Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of “King Kong”, which chose to retain the original’s 1933 setting), and it’s rarer still that the era it chooses to inhabit is an immediately-post-Vietnam 1970’s.  Aesthetically speaking, the movie takes a decent amount of fairly-obvious influence from that most classic of Vietnam-era films, “Apocalypse Now” (a fact that director Jordan Vogt-Roberts was always fairly open about), and it results in some of the movie’s strongest overall imagery (in particular a shot of Kong, cast in stark silhouette, standing against the burning sun on the horizon with a fleet of helicopters approaching him, one of a surprisingly small number of times the movie plays with visual scale to quite the same degree or with quite the same success as “Godzilla” 2014).  It also means the movie is decked out in warm, lush colors that really do bring out all the personality of its Jungle setting in the most compelling way and, given how important the setting is to the film as a whole, that proves key; Skull Island maybe doesn’t become a character in its own right the way the best settings should (too much of our time is spent in fairly indistinct forests especially), but it does manage to feel exciting and unusual in the right ways more often than not.  The “Apocalypse Now” influence also extends to our human cast,  which is sizeable enough here (in terms of major characters we need  to pay attention to played by notable actors, “Skull Island” dwarfs “Godzilla” 2014 by a significant margin) that the framework it provides-a mismatched group defined by various interpersonal/intergenerational tensions trying to make their way through an inhospitable wilderness, ostensibly in search of a lost comrade-is decently necessary.  Though here we already run into one of those aspects of “Skull Island” that doesn’t quite land for me.  Taken as a whole, it sure feels like the human characters here should be decently interesting; certainly, our leads are all much better defined and more engagingly performed than Ford Brody, to draw the most immediately obvious point of comparison.  Brie Larson (as journalistic Anti-War photographer Mason Weaver), Tom Hiddleston (as former British Army officer turned Gun For Hire James Conrad), and John C. Reilly (as Hank Marlow, a World War II soldier stranded on Skull Island years ago) definitely turn in decently strong performances; I wouldn’t call it Career Best work for any of them (Hiddleston especially feels like he’s on auto-pilot half the time, while Larson has to struggle mightily against how little the script actually gives her to work with when you stop and look at it) but they at least prove decently enjoyable to watch (Reilly especially does a solid job of making his character funny without quite pushing him over the edge into Total Cartoon Territory).  I likewise feel like Samuel L. Jackson’s Preston Packard has the potential to be a genuinely-great character; his lingering resentment at the way the Vietnam War played out and the way that feeds into his determination to find and defeat Kong is, again, a clever and compelling use of the 70’s period setting, it gives us a good, believable motivation with a clear and strong Arc to it, and Jackson does a really solid job of playing his Anger as genuine and poignant rather than simply petulant or crazed.  But there’s just too much chaff amongst the wheat, too much time and energy devoted to characters and ideas that don’t have any real pay-off.  This feels especially true of John Goodman’s Bill Randa, the Monarch scientist who arranges the whole expedition; the Monarch stuff in general mostly feels out of place, but Randa in particular gets all of these little notes and beats that seem meant to go somewhere and then just kind of don’t.  Which is kind of what happens with most of the characters in the movie, is the thing; we spend a lot of screen-time dwelling on certain aspects of their backstories or personalities, and then those things effectively stop mattering at all after a certain point, even Packard’s motivations.  A Weak Human Element was one of the problems in “Godzilla” 2014 as well, though, and you’ll recall I quite liked that movie.  There, though, the human stuff was honestly only ever important for how it fed into the monster stuff; it was the connective tissue meant to get us from sequence to sequence and not much more.  Here, though, it forms the heart and soul of the story, and that means its deficiencies feel a lot more harmful to the whole.

Still, those deficiencies really aren’t that severe, and moreover, like I was saying before, there’s a lot about “Skull Island” to actively enjoy.  The Monsters themselves do remain the central draw, after all, and for the most part the movie does a solid job with that aspect of things.  It does not, perhaps, recreate “Godzilla” 2014’s attempt to make believable animals out of them (even as it does design most of them with even more obvious, overt Real World Animal elements), but there is a certain playful energy that informs them at a conceptual level that I appreciate.  Buffalos with horns that look like giant logs with huge strands of moss and grass hanging off their edges, spiders whose legs are adapted to look like tree trunks, stick bugs so big that their camouflage makes them look like fallen trees…the designs feel physically plausible (especially thanks to some strong effects work that makes them feel well inserted into the real environments), but there’s a slightly-humorous tilt to a lot of them that I appreciate, especially since it never outright winks at the audience in a way that would undercut the stakes of the story. Kong too is very well done; rather than the heavily realistic approach taken by the Peter Jackson version from 2005, this Kong is instead very much ape-like but also very clearly his own creature (in particular he stands fully erect most of the time), with a strong sense of Personality to him as well; some of the best parts of the movie are those times where we simply peek in on Kong simply living his life, even when that life is one that is, by nature, violent and dangerous.  Less successful, sadly, are his nemeses, the Skullcrawlers; very much like “Godzilla” 2014, Kong is here envisioned as a Natural Protection against a potentially-dangerous species that threatens humanity (or in this case the Iwi Tribe who live on Skull Island, but we’ll talk more about them later), and while they’re hardly bad designs (the way their snake-like lower bodies give them a lot of neat tricks to play against their enemies in battle are genuinely fun in the right sort of Scary Way), they’re also pretty bland and forgettable, even compared to the MUTOS.  That said, they serve their purpose well enough, and their big Action Scene showdowns with Kong are genuinely solid.  Indeed, the movie’s big climactic brawl between Kong and the biggest of the Skullcrawlers has a lot of good pulpy energy to it (particularly with how Kong winds up using various tools picked up from all around the battlefield to give himself an edge), likewise there’s a certain Wild Fun to the sequence where our hapless humans have to try and survive a trek through the Crawlers’ home-turf.

Where things get a bit tricky again is when the movie attempts to put its own spin on “Godzilla”’s conception of its monsters as part of their own kind of unique ancient eco-system. The sense of Grandeur that gave a lot of that aspect such weight there is mostly absent here, especially; there are instances where some of that feeling comes through (Kong’s interactions with some of the non-Crawler species, for example, do a good job giving us an endearing sense of how Kong fits into this world), but far more often it treats the monsters as Big Set-Piece Attractions.  Which is fine as far as it goes, it just also means a lot of them aren’t as memorable or impactful as I might like.  Meanwhile, the way the Iwis have built their home to accommodate, interact with, and protect themselves from the island’s bestiary feels like a well-designed concept that manages to suggest a lot of History without having to spell it out for us in a way that I appreciated (I would also be inclined to apply this to the very neat multi-layered stone-art used to portray Kong and the Crawlers except that the sequence where we see them is the most overt “let’s stop and do some world-building” exposition dump in the whole movie).  But the Iwis in general are one of the more difficult elements of the movie to process, too; it seems really clear there was a deliberate effort here to avoid the most grossly racist stuff that has been present in prior attempts to portray the Natives of Skull Island, and as far as it goes I do think those efforts bear some fruit; we are, at the very least, very far away from the Scary Ooga-Booga tone of, say, “King Kong VS. Godzilla”, and that feels like it counts for something.  I just also feel like there’s some dehumanizing touches to their portrayal (in particular they never speak; I don’t mean to imply that Not Speaking equals Inhuman, but the fact that we are not made privy to how exactly they do communicate means we’re very much kept at arm’s length from them in a way that seems at least somewhat meant to alienate us from them), especially given their role in the story as a whole is relatively minor.  

At the end of the day, though, all the movie’s elements, good and bad, don’t really feel like they add up together coherently enough to make an impact.  And I think if I had to try and guess why, even as I find it wholly enjoyable with a lot to genuinely recommend it by, I don’t find myself especially enamored by “Skull Island”.  It has a lot of different ideas of how to approach its story-70’s pastiche, worldbuilding exercise, Monster Mash-but doesn’t seem to quite succeed at realizing any of them fully, indeed often allowing them to get in each other’s ways.  It isn’t, again, a bad movie as a result of that; there really isn’t any stretch of it where I found myself bored or particularly unentertained.  But I did paradoxically find myself frequently wanting more, even as by rights the movie delivers on basically what I was looking for from it.   

[incorrectly-quoted-queers]

Drunk Punch Love 2: Chapter 1

Pairing: FemShep and Garrus Vakarian (Shakarian)

Rating: PG-13 (with some tossed F-bombs)

Summary: Their awkward, badass journey through saving the galaxy and accidentally falling in love

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22089466/chapters/54170929

Part 2- Chapter 1: Breathe Again

"Wake up, Shepard!"

As she fell through the haze of darkness and brain fog, she saw flashes of dark space, burning light, and bright blue eyes. When her eyes started to flutter open to a blindingly white lab ceiling and the loud voice sharpened until she could identify it as a woman's. Memories were starting to come back to her, and she was only more confused realizing that the last thing she knew, her lungs were popping and she was dying. On instinct, she clutched her chest, but her lungs were functioning just fine, sucking in normal air.

And based on the heart thudding in her chest, dying wasn't the case anymore.

She didn't really have the time to think about that for long, though. Between the overcom instructions and muscle memory, she basically ran like a bot on command. Anya understood she was in a Cerberus facility, and she got that yes, she did die, but they brought her back, and that this Jacob guy was way too friendly. But past that? She just shot shit and hoped it worked out. Lucky for her, some of her muscles felt even nicer than she remembered.

By the end of it, she was helping out the uncomfortably attractive Miranda person and too-friendly Jacob survive their own base. The weird part, though, was having other people all up in arms about protecting her. Because from what she could gather, the organization pumped billions of credits into her.

If she was ever asked how much weight on her back might finally break her, billions might do it.

Anya still couldn't quite wrap her head around it. Culture and firefights were her wheelhouse. Economics were not. All the numbers and metrics Miranda kept throwing just gave her dark flashbacks to when her mother abandoned her in Alliance accounting to "learn a thing or two" and she just ended up hiding in a closet.

Mostly unrelated, that's how she met her first crush, Ryel. He was also hiding from "learning a thing or two".

Honestly, Anya wasn't even sure her brain knew how to process linear time until they were back at another Cerberus base. Jacob had asked her some questions about her record and memory, but she did that on autopilot.

Hopefully she answered everything right.

When she finally felt like she could count her fingers in a row without getting distracted, she was already being thrown in front of the infamous Illusive Man.

He blabbered on about his investments and creations and all his plans for her, like any manipulative movie villain. Shepard was quick to cut him off. "What stops me from taking the resources you give me and heading straight back to the Alliance?"

Looking a little shocked, he laughed. "I can't help but admire your bluntless, however ill-advised." His fingers twined into each other as he sat on his asshole chair. Anya wished she could kick the hologram over, but she knew what that kind of look meant: a planned answer. "Let's put it this way, Shepard: you're basically walking around with a Cerberus receipt on your back. Go back to the Alliance, too up in their own asses getting defensive instead of offensive, and you'll be grounded until they decide you're not a spy. I'll give you much more flexibility, as long as you take my concessions."

"And what are those?"

"Use my ships, my people, my contacts. Hunt down the Collectors. Pull together dossiers that I suggest and you like. Do whatever you want, just make sure to send reports back to me."

"So I don't have to follow your dumbass orders?"

"Unfortunately, you seem most effective on your own." It was at least a little satisfying that he seemed genuinely annoyed by that fact. Guy might be an asshole, but a pragmatic one. "As much as your ideology and attitude pain me, Shepard, you are the best shot humanity has. Backing you is the only option."

"Understood." Shepard paused, not sure if she wanted to bring up the people that mattered most to her in front of him. But when it came to saving lives, she needed to factor them into the equation. "Any of these dossiers for my old teammates? People I trust?"

"Wrex and Tali are tied up with their people. Kaidan is an Alliance boy, through and through. T'soni is deliberately elusive, and Vakarian has gone dark. But I do have one surprise for you."

Anya's heart had already stopped dead at the thought of Garrus being MIA, but there had to be more to it. He had to be alright. Cerberus was a shady organization with a wealth of information. "Gone dark" couldn't be it. Maybe they had a few clues and, if they passed them along, she could find him. After all this, she couldn't come back to a galaxy without those bright blue eyes in it. Her favorite, dumb turian had to be somewhere and she had to be able to find out where. She opened her mouth and said, "Wait-"

But the Illusive Man gave her a wave and the most irritating smirk she'd ever seen in her life. "We'll talk again soon enough, Shepard." And then he disappeared, leaving the room an empty, black square.

She was ready to shoot his dumb face for cutting her off. While Anya knew that really wasn't an option, she at least kicked her foot at the ground like she kicked his stupid chair out from under him. It was marginally satisfying.

But most of all, she was mad because regardless if Garrus was missing, he was fucking right about the Alliance. She needed to get shit done, not get stuck in bureaucracy. Bastard had her under his thumb. For now.

All her violent thoughts went silent, though, when she walked out to see someone she'd never expect in a Cerberus uniform.

Chronic lean and annoying smile in tow, Joker said, "about time you dragged your ass out of the grave."

Anya didn't mean to, but she pulled him into her arms and hugged him, tight. It was the first time anything in this new reality of hers felt real. He groaned under her grip. Anya released his shoulders, hoping she didn't break anything. After everything, seeing him... It was so refreshing she had to hold on tight. She said, "Sorry! Sorry. How are you...?"

"Cerberus said they were rebuilding you and my baby. And Alliance didn't feel right without you. How the hell could I say no?"

Overall she still wasn't sure how she felt about Joker in a Cerberus uniform, but it didn't matter. Everything about this moment was overwhelming, and after hours of dazed autopilot, it all hit her. She lost two years, lost time with the people she loved, and now she was back and at least Joker was still here. Anya didn't mean to, but her eyes welled up with tears. "It's so good to see you."

"Hell, Shep. Don't think I've ever seen you cry." What he said was a joke, but Joker put a hand on her shoulder.

Regaining composure, on instinct Shepard shrugged his hand off. But the second she did, she grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. It felt so wrong to push him away, knowing she'd lost him. And if it wasn't for Cerberus, it would've been forever. "This rebooted body comes with a lot of surprises." In her head, she kept replaying every second here with him, trying to notice any possible differences in his face, voice, demeanor. She couldn't help but notice he seemed a little seriouser, even if his humor didn't show it. But then something he said came back to her, and she raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what did you say about your baby?"

He smirked. "Come with me."

Anya followed him down a few halls until they were in front of a huge docking window. She didn't mean to stop breathing, but right in front of her-

"The Normandy. Good as new, eh? With some new Cerberus features. Chairs are nicer, but the crew still isn't mine yet. Having my family there will make it better." Joker leaned on the railing and looked right at her. "Leaving the Alliance wasn't easy, but if it meant having you and my ship? There wasn't any other option." Grumbling, he also added, "Anyway, they grounded me for way too long after the funeral."

His jokes slid right past her consciousness. Instead, Anya was just staring at the ship that changed her life; the one she called home. It was different, but it was hers. That wasn't some easy thing to swallow. Hell, none of this was easy to swallow. "Oh my god. I still can't believe you're Cerberus. What did my mother say about you doing this?"

"You think I have a death wish? No, I delayed that suffering. As far as Oksana knows, I went on a trip and fell off the grid. If I'm lucky, she'll just think I went on a bender."

"Christ. Mama bear's going to kill you."

Joker scoffed and bumped Shepard's shoulder. With so much new tissue in her body, it almost felt alien. But the memories? They made sure Anya knew that she just got some of her family back. He countered, "Me? Talk about yourself, zombie commander."

"Maybe we seek forgiveness once this blows over, not ask permission."

"Sounds good enough to me."

Trying to stay casual, Anya kept all her stunned staring to a minimum. But she did admit to him how important seeing him was, in her own way. She wasn't the best with saying what she should. She just hoped it was enough. "I'm happy to see a familiar face. None of this felt... Real."

"I know, right?" Joker rolled his shoulders, and she wondered who'd been bandaging his shoulders or keeping an eye out for him the past two years. He didn't need it, per se, but it was apart of who she was with him. It made her chest ache, knowing how his routines changed because she got herself killed. Who did he go to when he got drunk? Or was he just alone now?

Joker himself interrupted her thoughts. "These Cerberus guys don't tell me anything. Are we getting any of the old team?"

If her heart wasn't caving in enough about Joker, what the Illusive Man said about Tali, Kaidan, Garrus... It all hit her like a thundering pack of Varren. Anya shook her head at him. "No one. A lot has changed in two years. It looks like it's just you and me this time, spearheading a new crew."

"I haven't seen most of them since the funeral. None of us were the same, after that." She watched his shoulders sag, a weight and responsibility she'd never seen on him. He stood up straight and said, refusing to meet her eyes, "Anya, I'm-"

"Don't." Leaning her head on his shoulder, she added, "I would do it again in a heartbeat."

Sighing, Joker flashed her a smile that didn't seem all that real, but she still appreciated it. "Ready to save the Galaxy again?"

"Nope. But we're going to do it anyway."

"Sounds about right."

///

I so very much my best girl Anya Shepard. I love the strong badass and awkward middle school ballerina wrapped up on one. Time for her to get back to saving the galaxy, friends!

Anyway, thank you so much for reading! And extra thanks to my lovely patrons:

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[dr-dendritic-trees]

Here be the Endgame thoughts, they are filled with spoilers. 

So, I had SUPER low expectations for Endgame. I have been finding the big teamup movies increasingly cumbersome, I still can’t summon the energy to sit through Infinity War.

But on the whole I thought it was a very good movie. I enjoyed it more than I didn’t.

Whether you like Endgame or not, in my opinion, comes down to whether you personally found it emotionally satisfying. If you did, great, if you didn’t, I’m not here to try and talk you around, I’m sorry to hear the movie didn’t do it for you, and I hope you find some really good fanfic to make up for it.

And in the end, that’s what it came down to. It worked for me. It happened to have in it, the things I personally needed it to have. It met my expectations.

I didn’t want to get bogged down in post-apocalyptic details of the Snap, and I wasn’t, and I wanted to not have the universe reset by unwinding time, because that trope almost never works for me, and they didn’t.

I did get emotionally resonant call backs, cool fights and interesting character interactions. And quite frankly, my home fandom is Halo and I received the gifts of the team in matching armour, and glorious heroic deaths. 

But the biggest reason why I felt leary of Endgame going in, was that I didn’t feel ready for an ending. I didn’t have an ending I wanted, because I wanted about a dozen per character. I still do, and I knew I wasn’t going to get that. But I really felt like the movie honour that. That’s what the time-travel mechanic is based on. You can’t change you past, but we can have an infinite number of avengers, making trouble in infinite New Yorks.

That’s basically it. Keep reading for character by character breakdown (starting with the bad bits, moving onto the good bits).

Unfortunately the fact that most of the movie was good, made the bad bits bad:

1. The much played up “gay character”. What crap. Seriously. That was nothing. There’s a lot of things about endgame that I think need to be viewed Doylistly, especially the character endings which are, of course, based on actor contracts. But this isn’t it “its a superhero movie, what do you expect” explains the lackadasical time travel, it does not excuse making a huge fuss over such a piddling little gesture.

2. Clint: What a fucking disaster. I hated every single thing about it. Part of the suspension of disbelief of a superhero movie, along with superpowers is that our heroes are going to beat up rooms full of people, and that’s going to be good, and we’re going to cheer. So I didn’t have time, in the tiny little clip we got, to feel anything at all about Hawkeye slicing through rooms of ‘baddies’. So the whole, fall-and-redemption arc fell totally flat, and added to that, I got to sit through the image of a white man slicing through rooms of people of colour, and it was gross, and I didn’t like it. I get that Clint has been criminally underdeveloped by these films. But it was too late to fix it in Endgame, they should have just admitted it.

Also, it cost us the alternate take on Clint and Natasha’s final scene that my friend suggested “I have to save you you have a family” vs “No, I’ve had a family, I’ve had all that time, you’ve only just found yours, so I have to send you back to them”. 

3. Thor: Not only was everything they did with Thor a small-minded mean-spirited joke, it was one they kept dragging on and on and on. I hated it. That being said, two points. Firstly, in a weird way, I feel slightly better about Frigga’s death now, giving her agency over it makes it marginally less fridgy. And also, the final Thor look, with the braided beard! Superb! Amazing! Wonderful!

4. Wanda: for the first time ever I had a feeling about Wanda. I was surprised.

5. Bruce: I have no real feelings one way or another, about the professor hulk thing. It sets up the end of the movie well, I think on balance they’re more interesting as characters when they’re split up. But maybe it’ll grow on me.

6. Nebula: I still haven’t seen GOTG2, but I love Nebula now! I love her and Rhodey together, I want them to get a movie.

7. This isn’t a character, but the overall rhythm of the finale, where the avengers finally avenge the world and then  the dead they avenge come help them fight. It could not be better, it was wonderful. Also the final scene with all the ladies brought me joy beyond telling. I’ve subsequently seen some critiques that it was “just pandering, not real feminism” but I just don’t care guys. Its an action sequence in a big final act showdown, all it needed to be was pandering. I love to be pandered to, quite frankly.

8. I still haven’t seen Captain Marvel, but she’s extremely shiny and exciting and I am in love with her.

10. Steve: Steve fighting himself (complete with Winter Soldier callbacks) was amazing fanservice, but also surprisingly moving, as a commentary on Steve as a character. Steve with the hammer was everything. As to the ending, I liked this more the day after the movie than when I first saw it. Overall I thought it was really good. I know a lot of people longed for Steve to get a retirement, but honestly, I would never have found that believable. Steve, will always fight. And even though Steve’s been circling around the idea of ‘moving on’ since Avengers, he never did. So I felt this completed things. I like the implication of openeness. Steve is the moral core of the story, so Steve, as the keeper of the infinity stones works for me. I’m sure he and Peggy kicked Hydra ass across all sorts of parallel timelines and it was great. One quibble: I would have put that dance in Peggy’s office, I think it would have called back to Peggy’s arc in Agent Carter better.

11. SAM GOT THE SHIELD SAM GOT THE SHIELD SAM GOT THE SHIELD.

12. Bucky: I mean, I ship it too and all, but where Steve has been failing to move on forever, Bucky hasn’t. He’s got a whole life, and ultimately, the life he has in the films, rather than our hearts, hasn’t had a lot of Steve in it. I’m fine with letting the man go back to his goats in Wakanda. I trust that he and Steve have made their peace. And quite frankly I now ship Sam and Bucky like never before.

11. Natasha: I loved it. I loved her arc. Did you guys notice that she and Steve switched places in the movie. Steve pulled of a heist and an undercover mission, and ran off to find a life. Natasha became the leader of the avengers and sacrificed herself for her family. It was perfect. My only complaint is that I wanted more of what we got. If the cut out all the bits I didn’t like, we would have had time for a much longer ending for her, and also for Steve to see 2012!Natasha. I just rewatched Avengers and they hit it off so fast and I wanted that.

12. Tony: It was perfect. It hurt and everything about it was amazing. In some ways I feel like there isn’t much more to say, other than that I am choosing to believe that Tony’s extreme Dad skills have created an alternate timeline where Howard is a much better Dad. Also, while much gets made of Tony and Steve’s original disagreement (you’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play), I feel like that was basically resolved in Avengers itself. For several movies now Tony and Steve’s disagreement has been about trading freedom for safety, about the suit of armour around the world. And Tony cut the wire guys. He kept the world safe, and no one had to sacrifice but him, and he died surrounded by three people who were protecting the world in armour he made. And I bawled my eyes out and look forward to doing it again.

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E1 Poll Results

The poll closed with 1,336 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

This is just a general warning for potential manga related spoilers in the comments! Tread carefully!

Rate the Episode

Overall, viewers were excited about the new episode and ranked it well. It seems everyone is fired up and ready for the anime to pick up where it left off. Bonus points for a short one year hiatus this time!

I'm really excited to see this new version of the Uprising arc unfold. This episode did a great job at highlighting the paranoia and "on the run" aspect better than the manga counterpart, with the safety net feeling well and truly gone. The tagline for volume 13 was "No Safe Place Left", but it's the anime that really made me feel that was the case.

Trust WIT studio to surprise even the manga readers with their content. Everything from the OP to the pacing was completely unexpected, but I love it!

GREAT start, a good way to hype both Manga readers and anime only fans into the start of the new season !  (putting it in the ‘was this a good start’ question)

Is it 7/29 yet?

Rate the OP

There have definitely been mixed reviews on the new opening. The majority of voters were happy or content with it, while about 22% of respondents could have thought better on it. Maybe it will grow on people as the anime continues!

For me the opening was a masterpiece. The melancholy and the foreshadowing for those who don’t read the manga is fantastic. As I am current with the manga it made me sad for the kids because I know how things are now and I was also excited to see them again in animated form.

I must admit, on my first listen, I was thoroughly disappointed by red swan and thus hated it with passion. But shockingly I LOVED it just on my very second listen (which was when I actually watched the episode)! I then understood that there was nothing wrong with that beautiful song nor the opening itself. It was all my personal expectations, biases and unwillingness to accept something new.

Something about the animation in the OP was weird and the still shots they included looked like someone else's fanart.

I'm disappointed with the opening. I just feel like it's not on bar with the previous ones. But I guess people are right about it being more suitable for an arc that's focused on character development, so I don't hate it as much now. I just hope that we get a second opening when the action kicks in (since they're covering up to the ocean) that makes the viewers more hyped. My problem with the current opening is that it doesn't feel like Attack on Titan anymore. I'm also not super happy with the drawings in general.

The opening really fits this part of the story because this is the part when shit gets real.

This OP is very different from the previous three. What is your favorite opening so far?

Shinzuo wo Sasageyo took the lead by a huge margin (including votes for our lovely typo version, “Shinzuo no Sasageyo”), managing to outdo the iconic first opening, Guren no Yumiya!

Bring Linked Horizon back.

Regarding Red Swan: While it is a departure from the bombastic hype we've had before, this is such a good OP for this arc. It takes the OP in the complete opposite tone, which is exactly what this arc does with the rest of the series. The visuals are stunning, and the song itself is an absolute tune. #RedSwanDefenceSquad

Also, regarding the OP, the song isn't bad, but it doesn't really fit the AOT style of epic openings. To me, it feels more like an ED, which have always been softer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a more epic second OP as we move into the RTS arc.

There was no ending theme this time. Will this become a consistent thing?

Respondents were confident that we’ll be getting an OP. Of course, as we’ve learned over the week, this is true! And surprise! It will be Linked Horizon!

Which of the below were your favorite moments?

It was close to a tie between “Kenny’s explosive entrance” and Levi’s “KENNYYYAHHH!” with the former barely taking the lead. Safe to say, the cliffhanger in this episode left us all impatiently awaiting episode 39! Other notable favorite moments were “Moblit ready to throwdown for Hange,” “Hange promising to torture Sannes,” and seeing Eren at the ocean.

Still salty about not seeing Eren build a house in his Titan form

I really enjoyed that they moved certain conversations like Eren and Historia to that particular part of the episode. It just fit so well! My kids. :')

Where is my jeankasa moments???

KEEENNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!1!!11

I am just glad to get to watch SnK again.

hanji hot

I liked the moments between Levi and Mikasa - she asked him about his wounded leg and she was really worrying about him. I'm glad that she shows some interest in other people (not just Eren and Armin).

What do you think of the new episode’s pacing?

The largest denominator are waiting to see how more of the season plays out before making a final judgement call, and many are confident that everything will be okay. Still, there is a small percentage who are concerned that they won’t get to see everything they hoped for.

Uprising is my least favourite arc, mainly due to the pacing issues. So I am very excited that they will be tackling those. I'm going to need a few more eps to correctly judge things, but I am hopeful.

I was kind of disappointed. I know they want to change the pacing and all, but I don't accept them sacrificing some important and necessary scenes for character development. I've yet to see how the rest of the season will unfold before judging it, but yeah, I really hope they won't rush things again, especially when it's my favorite arc!

I watched with an anime only and he was confused by the pacing, and how we got to the cabin from seeing the beast titan at the end of the last season. I hope they don't keep rushing through the manga chapters. I was not enthusiastic about the episode.

The pacing was really fast, but that's the price of having to condense such a complex manga into an anime, that probably had limited time/budget, as they all do. So I am happy to get what I can, and enjoy the hella beautiful animation, instead of complaining about all the scenes they cut out…

A lot of stuff really quickly, but it's understandable. This is my favorite arc and I love political intrigue, so I'm hoping we start to fill in some of the scenes we've already skipped past as we go along and the Anime-onlies are already hooked. I *really* hope we get to see the badass competence of our Vets - they deserve it!

Which main character got the best S3 glow up so far?

Levi is (unsurprisingly) the clear winner in this competition. We think his new bedhead hair is charming, too! In second place came Eren, followed by Mikasa and Historia.

i don't think there was any glow up this season. kenny's great tho, 10/10 would stan

The girls aren’t animated with lipstick anymore. Yay or nay?

The vast majority are either unphased or delighted by WIT moving away from the colored glossy lips of the girls. A small percentage of respondents are going to miss the look.

Don't actually care about the lipstick, it just makes sense that they won't put it during the whole action.

The characters are finally starting to look truer to their manga counterparts this season! How do you feel about it?

76% of respondents are thrilled about the anime starting to match the appearance of the characters’ manga counterparts.

The changes to animation and character styles were kind of weird but I got used to it eventually

How do you feel about Mikasa taking down Reeves and his cronies by herself?

46% are happy with the development and seeing Mikasa get a chance to shine on her own. Meanwhile, 18% are disappointed that Levi didn’t tackle Reeve’s cronies with her, while 14% are simply upset they didn’t get to see Levi do his iconic chokeslam at all. Let’s be hopeful WIT will make up for that in the future!

i proper wanted to see the Ackerman duo but watching Mikasa chokeslam some bitches made me pop a boner and i don’t even have a dick

I would have LOVED the duo action, but I anticipate to see that in the following episodes (or else Wit and I are gonna have some words). At least it's nice that Levi trusted Mikasa to handle this mission without his supervision!

Mikasa was great! A little sad they cut Jean being protective over her safety after Sasha shoots the arrow though.

It was alright but developing her personality and relationship with the other characters is more important than constantly just giving her ~badass~ scenes.

Considering that Levi had to be somewhere else, I'm fine with it since it's such a small scene. But I still want some Levi/Mikasa duo action

i liked it, but it was mikasa AND sasha

too OP

Manga readers, what best describes how you felt about seeing Eren at the ocean?

Nearly half of voters were surprised to see this animated so early, followed by 28% who were moved by the scene. A small percentage weren’t happy that WIT implied about the ocean so early.

I NEED MORE EREN WITH LONG HAIR!!!!!!!!!

It was a great decision to show it in the beginning. It sets the tone for the following episodes.

I'm already finding delight in the sense of dread anime-only watchers will have when things start going off the rails and they have Eren alone in this scene in the back of their minds.

It was the most beautiful "eye close-up" this anime could have ever done! Amazing scene - wonderfully colored, animated, and sad and touching. 10/10

Interesting choice, nice way to bring it all back at the end though

As a TV producer it's understandable. They would want to hook people early on, esp for anime only viewers

stop lowkey spoiling ffs

I watched the season premiere at the movie theatre and when that scene came up I could hear a discrete general gasp coming from the audience. I liked how everyone was shocked but still tried to contain their excitement for anime watchers.

Felt like they’re trying to make it seem like a dream sequence rather than a reality.

I felt it gave more mystery to how the plot will develop for anime-onlies. It was a great decision to show it at the beginning, especially Eren alone.

Anime only fans, what best describes how you felt about seeing Eren at the ocean?

An uncertain number of voters are most definitely certain they read the manga! Meanwhile. 37% of anime only viewers were really pumped by the implication of getting to see the ocean. A smaller percentage are confused but still here for the ride, while 18% don’t really feel anything about it either way.

My sister is anime only, and she said a mix of options - confused and shocked and excited - looking forward for the rest!

Anime Only, don't know how I feel. It was played out well so looking forward to it.

I was shocked yet I was amazed on that scene

shocked and excited - looking forward for the rest!

Your reaction to Kenny?

The overwhelming majority are #readyforkenny and excited to see him! We suspect that the 7.6% of voters who don’t know who he is are anime only viewers. We’re excited to see how you guys think of him in a few weeks!

I'm not sure how I feel about Kenny. I imagined him a bit differently. While reading a manga I saw him as harsh, cold, mysterious man with deep voice and scary looks. In the anime however he looks too young and his face is different.

Looks like WIT was really anxious to introduce Kenny. I didn't mind it overall, but I hope their shuffling scenes around doesn't become overwhelming.

Kenny: Omae wa mou shindeiru Nifa: Nani? *bangbang*

Rate Eren’s abs on a scale of 1-5

The majority of respondents are thirsty for Eren’s animated abs! 105 of voters will take a hard pass, however.

I was so scared they were gonna draw Eren with the body of a 12-year-old like so much of the official art back in the day did. Thank you WiT for keeping him manga-accurately ripped

Do you feel this episode was a strong start to the season?

While a fair number of voters are tentatively waiting for more of the season to make their judgement, the majority of respondents agree that the season started off with a bang and are looking forward to more.

GREAT start, a good way to hype both Manga readers and anime only fans into the start of the new season !

Which group are your favorite characters?

All of the characters are winners in this poll! 

Do you read the manga or do you only watch the anime?

The majority of respondents are loyal manga readers. We had 162 anime only respondents this week! 

Where do you primarily discuss the series?

Reddit takes the lead!

Additional thoughts on the chapter?

I miss Levi’s speech about how he’s ‘just being an asshole’ when eren can’t harden his titan 😰 it was cute

It really was just an extended trailer, everything included in the trailer was in the episode, it was very good and I enjoyed it nonetheless!

I'm so glad to be seeing my loves in animated action once again

I’m excited for the rest of the season!

The episode was definitely awesome for a first episode. I’m kinda disappointed that they skipped Historia’s explanation about her past, but I hope they will show it in a future episode. Also, the opening was stunning. Seeing my favorite characters as kids made me smile so much. Overall, this episode got me excited for the next episodes.

Amazing! Glad that it was not Eren centric and We'll be seeing Levi alot. I hope they show more of Mikasa and Levi moments. It was awesome. I first watched the episode at the cinema so I couldn't watch it with the opening. But I loved it!

Small Levi in the opening is so beautiful I want to cry !!

Where is abswin?! I have priorities, WIT, where are yours??

This is so good! I was at first worried that they will shove Levi down our throats (as much as I love him), but now I'm surprisingly confident in this new season! I trust Wit to make great changes in the pacing, because the anime version definitely need some improvement. The animation is stunning and Mikasa and Levi were amazing, they can slay me when they want.

Trust WIT studio to surprise even the manga readers with their content.

MANGA SPOILERS: I'm most curious to see how different the plot will be now that they seem to have skipped the whole SC/Reeves company collaboration. The OP was honestly a shock at first watch but now I can't stop listening to it. I think it's perfect, especially for us manga readers, because it really tugs at your heartstrings when you think of what's currently happening in the manga. Especially that scene with kid!Eren bumping into soldier Eren. I'm still crying. :( All in all, brilliant episode, can't wait for next week!

RIP to my bae Nifa

They cut out a shitload of little dialogue that isn't important to the plot between the characters I was hoping to see animated so that was pretty disappointing. I'm expecting that trend to continue. On the opening, I'm a manga reader, I get what they were going for and all the undertones and such but I still didn't like it much. I don't like how some of the characters got the shaft completely and how characters important to this season like Erwin, Levi and Historia and characters related to them barely got any parts in the opening.

Baby Erwin!!!

I can really now feel the connection of the anime and manga! Can't wait for the other episodes, it was spoiling some parts (if you read the manga) but either way if you watched or read or both Attack On Titan you'll still love and appreciate it

Thank you everyone who voted! We’ll see you back with episode 39!

[i-want-my-iwtv]

My mom got me into The Vampire Chronicles a couple months back, and now I’m looking for the fandom. Why is the fandom so small? Why is there so little fanfiction? I often have to write fanfiction that I want to read. (Which is fine by me, it’s just I’m not that good at writing.)

Hey, welcome to our little corner of tumblrland! Share your fanfic with us, step out into the light, Anon! I’m often critical of my own writing, and I often have a beta reader, a dear friend who gives me constructive criticism and even rewrites lines if I ask her to do so, like an editor, a beta can offer a huge improvement on one’s writing. Maybe you’d like to find a beta reader? 

-PREAMBLE SORRY BUT I MUST- and no TL;DR for it-

Sometimes when ppl ask those questions, Why is the fandom so small and Where is the fanfic b/c I can’t find it, it’s argument bait, I’m sorry to say. 

But I’m taking it at face value that you are somewhat or totally unaware of our history, that your mom might not know, and that you are not putting out bait for argument. I’ll try to give you a synopsis in good faith, and hope that other ppl see this post as such. I’m not interested in taking sides, reopening those old wounds for the millionth time. I think of us as the bastard children of fandom, beaten in to a corner by a formerly abusive parent, and we are survivors of that. As such, I would hope that we could offer each other even more compassion than other fans in other fandoms. It doesn’t always work that way. Things can be misread and emotions misinterpreted; this is a text-based communication so we are cheated of facial and verbal cues, it is far too easy to misread intention.

What draws ppl to VC? From what I’ve learned over the years, a lot of us felt marginalized in one way or another and we related to something in VC, we drew strength from it as we were struggling with something in real life. It helped at a time that we needed it. It might still help us. Some ppl just like the purple prose! For real! 

Whatever the case, and however you choose to engage with canon or fandom, no one’s relationship to the books or characters supersedes anyone else’s. Not mine, not yours, Anon. We all have our own personal relationship with it. I hesitate to use the word “valid,” bc no one needs “validation” to love a book series or character(s). No one can be “invalidated” for loving a book series or character(s). 

I was in fandom before the internet, and even tho, as I’ll mention below, it was with only one other flesh-and-blood friend, we had our own 2-person fandom! We liked what we liked. We didn’t agree on everything, we still don’t, but it was always civil, and any argument was always based on curiosity and trying to gain a better understanding from each other. It was never about this public display we have now on tumblr and other social networking sites of idk, “My 10K notes means my opinion supercedes yours!”? I don’t subscribe… Unless those 10K notes are turning into dollars, then we’ll revisit it, lol. 

What even is the point of my blog? It’s for entertainment, my own experience, a collection of other ppl’s experience, and fanworks. When ppl say that I exert all this influence on an army of ppl, I am, in actuality, preaching to a big pile of cats, that’s how it feels. I serve catnip to cats. That’s the intention, anyway.They don’t even Like some of it, I’ll get like 5 notes on this post, lol. I have no need to be Right. I have no need to be anything other than a brief reprieve from how insane Real Life is and can be.

Fandom isn’t a contest. No one is keeping score. No one even knows your follower count unless you tell ppl (and I wouldn’t, bc even if you only have 10 more followers than smne else, it generally leads to envy). 

TL;DR for the below info: The fandom was small, but it’s growing now, and there is fanfic, try here on tumblr, and try Archiveofourown.org (AO3). Fandom, however, like Real Life, takes your own work to make what you can of it. 

FRICKIN’ WALL OF TEXT™ NO CUTS WE LONGPOST LIKE MEN

A) The fandom is was small bc:

^Gawds this is gonna be me on the outside eventually, it’s me on the inside sometimes lol.

It’s an old fandom, over 40 years old! IWTV, the first book in the series, was published in 1976.

Back then, fandom was just the ppl you could gather together, physical mailing lists, idk. It progressed to zines, probably, like other fandoms, but you had to know who was making them. I wasn’t born yet so I don’t know!

As the internet was born, ppl began to find each other on webrings, but even then, it was hard, bc Anne Rice did not approve of fanfic. So you had to know where to look or be lucky enough to stumble upon it.

By the early 90′s when I came into VC, there were some fic sites like Rotoli dela Lune (IIRC?) but AR waged a #war on fanfic, sending threatening cease & desist letters to writers, and that made everything EVEN HARDER to find. 

There were official VC graphic novels for a few of the first books and they are hilarious and cringey. Here’s Louis feeding on Daniel jeez… Looks like he wants a lick of the trachea first?

Of course, the IWTV movie in 1994 (in development hell for nearly 20 years) did bring in a wave of new fandom ppl, but they really only found whoever they physically met bc of the movie, and the VC books that were out at the time. Meeting in the audience at the movie? Or in bookstores in the Fantasy/Horror section under R, maybe? Probably?

[X] And TBH the movie got backlash bc it was reviewed as being too gay to some, and as not gay enough, but overall, it did well financially and is still considered smtg of a cult classic bc they drag it out and show it on TV leading up to Halloween or whenever Tom and Brad have new movies out ;D (one near-to-Halloween weekend I watched it 4 times, and that was too many, even for me).

Which was my situation, I had my one VC friend, we met in middle school bc I saw her reading QOTD on the bus, I pestered her that morning, and she had to tolerate almost 20 years of my fannish behavior ever since, all directed at her like a fire hydrant, and then she forced me to start a Tumblr and here we are.

*ahem* 

We had another small influx of fans with movie!QOTD in 2002, but as the story was barely tethered to canon, and for a number of other reasons, idk if it was the blockbuster ppl had hoped it would be. STILL, there are fandom ppl who find it nostalgic, or love it and embrace it even admitting its canon non-compliance. So I try not to trample it too hard, but trampling it hard was once encouraged! anyway… suffice it to say, someone(s) has to watch it with me and mock it to help me through it, lol.

In 2012, we got a graphic novel of Claudia’s POV during IWTV called Claudia’s Story. You can find it on Amazon.

B) The fanfic IS out there.

CURRENTLY, the fandom is experiencing a revival, we liiiiive!

with the recently published books and AR no longer fights the fanfic writers! Woo!

AR has a FB page and an official VC FB page, where she communicates with her People of the Page and whoever else comments on her posts.

There’s also a thriving community of ppl here on tumblr, who make fanart, write fic, do podcasts, write meta, cosplay, etc. Dig around in my archive and you’ll find them. We just did a @vcsecretgifts exchange and there’s fanfic in there.

Another great place to find fanfic is archiveofourown.org (AO3). You can set up an account and post your fanfic there, and I bet you’ll find readers who want what you have to offer!

There’s also fanfiction.net, and wattpad, but I don’t know those sites very well.

^^^All this taken into account, the thing is, anon, fandom is not an open door. 

Fandom is not a ballroom with everyone listing their url name down and committing to staying or even having civility, we can’t make a VC RP directory bc inevitably ppl aren’t invited for whatever reason, and feel left out, or they move on to another fandom anyway. It’s not everyone extending their dance-cards for you to sign your blog url for a dance with EVERYONE. We have had arguments and in-fighting, call-out posts, cliques… there are heated posts about certain characters or ships still getting reblogged with their 10K+ notes and an implication that if you “like” those certain characters or ships, that you’re contributing to real world harm. 

Fiction’s affect on reality is a debate that’s started before the internet and will go on as long as we are capable of communicating. Societies have waves of being more or less pure, like a pendulum. That’s not the focus of my blog. 

All debates aside, fandom is what you make it, it’s not guaranteed easy friendship. I once thought it was, but I learned the hard way that it’s very much like real life. You have to do the work of finding and reaching out to those ppl who you find a spark of connection with, and actively nurture that spark. On a public site, you have to extend yourself and show some opinions and thoughts, gush about what you love, reblog from ppl who you relate to, and gradually build your own network of friends. Nothing is handed to you. No one will crowd into your inbox bc your url sounds cool (well, maybe a few urls get attention bc of that!)(there is an exception to every rule).

So whenever I say “Welcome to our little corner of tumblrland!” I mean it, I do welcome all, and I hope that I’m going to see you flourish as you make your way into the space. Are you a new fanartist, or writer, or someone who’s supportive even if they don’t have the skills to create fanwork of their own? A combination? Show us, and reach out, and if we’re compatible, we’ll reach back.

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

If you decided to skip watching Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District special election last night to catch an action movie or read a crime thriller instead, you picked the less exciting activity. Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone ran neck and neck for most of the evening (at one point they were separated by only 95 votes), and even the Associated Press went to bed without calling the race. As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Lamb leads by 641 votes, or 0.28 percentage points. And he and Democrats have claimed victory.

The exact margin will likely change,1 but it’s going to be very difficult for Saccone to make up that deficit. The only votes left to be counted are around 200 absentee ballots in Greene County (expected to be announced on Wednesday) as well as a handful of provisional and overseas ballots, which may take days to finalize. There may not even be 641 ballots left to count.

Nor is a recount likely to change the final result. Although it would be pretty easy for Republicans to request a recount should they want one, recounts typically don’t shift election margins by that much. That’s especially true in Pennsylvania, where most voting is done on electronic touchscreens; a recount would only reveal errors in the small population of paper ballots.

But as we’ve told you from the beginning, for those of us who don’t live in the Pennsylvania 18th, it doesn’t really matter who wins if what you’re mainly interested in is the 2018 midterms.2 The takeaway for November’s elections will be the same no matter whether Lamb wins by a fraction of a percentage point or Saccone wins by a fraction of a percentage point: Tuesday represented yet another huge Democratic overperformance in a Trump-era special election.

The Democratic overperformance in Pennsylvania 18

Special elections this cycle, by the constituency’s partisan lean and final vote margin

Year Date Seat Partisan Lean Vote margin Dem. Swing 2017 April 4 California 34th† D+69 D+87 +18 April 11 Kansas 4th R+29 R+6 +23 May 25 Montana At-Large R+21 R+6 +16 June 20 Georgia 6th R+9 R+4 +6 June 20 South Carolina 5th R+19 R+3 +16 Nov. 7 Utah 3rd R+35 R+32 +3 Dec. 12 Alabama U.S. Senate R+29 D+2 +31 2018 March 13 Pennsylvania 18th R+21 0* +22

Partisan lean is the average difference between how the constituency voted and how the country voted overall in the last two presidential elections, with 2016 weighted 75 percent and 2012 weighted 25 percent.

* Unofficial. † Primary results used because both general-election candidates were from the same party. Primary included multiple Democratic candidates, and results show vote share for all Democratic candidates combined.

Source: Daily Kos Elections, secretaries of state

One special election, the Pennsylvania 18th included, is not enough to draw midterm conclusions from, but when it fits so clearly into an existing pattern, it’s safe to say something’s going on. Counting Tuesday’s result, Democratic candidates in federal special elections have now outperformed the normal partisan leans of their state or district by an average of 17 percentage points. In recent midterm election cycles, that number has tracked closely with the eventual national popular vote for the U.S. House.

Special elections have tended to predict midterm outcomes

Swing in average special congressional election from weighted presidential lean vs. the national House vote margin in the next midterm since 1994

Cycle Average Swing National House Margin Difference 2014 R+4 R+6 2 2010 R+6 R+7 1 2006 D+15 D+8 7 2002 0 R+5 5 1998 D+1 R+1 2 1994 R+9 R+7 2 Average 3

The swing compares the district’s Democratic lean in the previous two presidential elections vs. the special election result. The Democratic lean compares the district’s voting patterns to the nation. For each cycle, the previous presidential election is weighted 75 percent and the one before is weighted 25 percent.

Sources: DAILY KOS ELECTIONS, Polidata, SWING STATE PROJECT, Ourcampaigns

In other words, the result in Pennsylvania 18 is just the latest indication that Republicans are in trouble. The best predictors of midterm strength we have — President Trump’s approval rating, the generic ballot, congressional retirements and special elections — all are saying the same thing. In fact, of those, special election results may suggest the rosiest future for Democrats.

Does the Pennsylvania 18 result tell us anything else about the national political environment? That gets a little tricky, and I’d be cautious, but the pattern of Lamb’s overperformance may also conceal other clues. For example, it’s still up for debate which political map represents America’s true baseline: the Obama-era 2012 map or the Trump-remade 2016 map, under which the white, working-class Midwest turned red and well-educated suburbs trended more Democratic. Perhaps counterintuitively, the Pennsylvania special election suggests that the 2016 map has some staying power. Lamb outperformed Hillary Clinton’s margins by a nearly identical 19 points in white-collar Allegheny County and in Trump-loving, blue-collar Washington and Westmoreland counties. However, Lamb outperformed then-President Obama’s 2012 margin by 23 points in Allegheny while doing so by only 9–12 points in the district’s other three counties. Perhaps because Lamb assumed some socially conservative positions and cozied up to blue-collar workers, the Pennsylvania 18th is often portrayed as just another Midwestern working-class district. In fact, though, it is both wealthier and better-educated than the nation as a whole. As the numbers show, Lamb won this election not in “Trump country,” but in the Allegheny County suburbs.

Finally, Pennsylvania 18 was yet another example of a Democratic turnout advantage — the telltale sign of an enthusiasm gap — helping the party do better than expected in special elections. The number of votes Lamb received was 80 percent of the number of votes Clinton received in this district in 2016 — but Saccone got just 53 percent of the number of votes Trump got. Anecdotally, turnout was also much higher in Democratic precincts than it was in Republican precincts. But, crucially for Democrats, the results hinted that maybe that Democratic turnout advantage is transferable to the higher-turnout environment of a midterm election. The 228,177 votes cast in the special election exceeded the 214,912 votes the 18th District cast in Pennsylvania’s 2014 gubernatorial election. In other words, turnout on Tuesday was even higher than it was in the last midterm.

Now we’re digging pretty deep into the numbers, a depth at which you can fall victim to the trap of overinterpreting the results of one special election. The big-picture takeaway is this: If Democrats can win districts like Pennsylvania 18, they won’t need to stretch and scrape together a House majority. According to FiveThirtyEight’s partisan lean measure,3 118 Republican-held districts nationwide are less red than the Pennsylvania 18th is. Of course, the entire country is unlikely to shift 22 points to the left in November the way the 18th did — and the country may not even shift the full 17 points implied by the aggregate of special-election results — but Republicans should still be very worried.

[agentnico]

The Death of Stalin (2017) Review

Alright comrades, let’s talk about the motherland!

Plot: Follows the Soviet dictator's last days and depicts the chaos of the regime after his death.

The 1950′s was a major time of chaos in Soviet Russia, since in 1953 the country’s horrifying leader Joseph Stalin died from a stroke at his Dacha (country house). This was an interesting time, since at this point everyone in the country lived in fear. If you did something that seemed even in the slightest fishy to Stalin or his secret police NKVD thugs, then you would be asked to “pack your bags” which meant you would be sent away to either be tortured and executed or just straight away executed. Everyone feared Stalin, and there were reasons for it too; he was a ruthless, horrifying but powerful leader. An anecdote comes to mind that my father once told me, about when Stalin was holding a huge meeting with about 100 people present. Stalin was making a speech when suddenly someone in the room sneezes. Stalin looks up and asks “Comrades, who sneezed?” No answer, because everyone is obviously scared of the consequences. Following the silence, Stalin looks over to the guards and says “Execute the first row.” They do so and Stalin asks the room again “Comrades, who sneezed?” Following another silence he orders the second row to be shot. Third, fourth rows all get executed and then he finally asks again “Comrades, who sneezed?” Finally a guy in the corner of the 8th row puts his little hand up and with a voice of a scared mouse squeals “I sneezed, Comrade Stalin.” Stalin looks at him and says “Bless you, comrade” and continues the meeting like nothing happened. Obviously that story is just a Russian joke, however it’s true in aspect of what kind of person Joseph Stalin was and the way people thought of him. Even Stalin’s Committee were scared for their lives. Stalin was a god to these people. So imagine if your god suddenly dies and you have a chance to get into his place of power. A battle of wits and plotting begins, with Committee members Lavrentiy Beria, Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Nikita Krushchev and others fighting for their leadership rights, whilst also at the same time being very careful not to get caught by others doing something wrong, or else a deadly fate will follow. And also imagine what was happening to the citizens of Russia (especially in Moscow) at that time. It was a horrible moment in history, however British political satire director Armando Iannucci goes ahead and makes a comedy out of this true story, and what are the results? Magnificent!

To be honest there are mainly two target audience demographics for this film. Firstly, Russian people, and secondly, people who know their history (especially the historical factors of that time). I happen to fit into both those margins, so I truly had a blast with this film. And I did hear that this film might be banned upon it’s release in Russia for being offensive to the country, however I have to say that even though it is absurd here and there, this movie to be honest is a fairly accurate depiction of what happened then, minus a few minor changes. Also let’s be realistic, the Soviet Union under Stalin’s regime was not a good time. Everyone knows this. So the film is making fun of that time, not modern day Russia, so Russian audiences can go into this film without fear. I as a Russian can stand for that. However also British audiences can have a lot of fun here, since with Iannucci in the director’s chair, this movie is filled with British trademark humour, as well as also very dark comedy. Talking of comedy, this is one of those films where most of the jokes hit, and there is a joke for everyone. I was sitting in a pretty much full cinema when watching this film, and there was a rare time where everyone laughed together at the same time at a certain joke. It was more like constant laughs from various different people for various jokes. So you will definitely find an element of humour here that would fit your personal standards. However when I said black comedy, I meant that for a reason, as when it needs to go dark, this film goes dark. It doesn’t shy away from showing the horror of the regime, with scenes revolving around the secret police capturing ‘traitors of the country’ throughout Moscow as well as executing all the ‘unnecessary’ people and the worst of all scenes revolving Lavrentiy Beria, the chief of Soviet security’ at work behind the walls of NKVD torturing and killing people of as if he were ticking off items from a shopping list. Beria was the worst of the lot for sure! So unlike the trailers might have made it out to be, this isn’t a straight up comedy. There are laughs and gags in the film for sure (a whole load of them actually) but the film doesn’t sugarcoat the truth either. When it needs to be serious, the film definitely accepts it, and I appreciated it for it.

But there is not only a good script and directing at play here. The cast performances are all superb, and the casting director has definitely done a great job, since each actor fits their character perfectly. And as a bonus this film doesn’t hinder on focusing on Russian accents, unlike, say, the 2015 film ‘Child 44′. Since it isn’t a Russian language film, why mimic the language anyway? Which is why each cast member speaks in their own chosen accent, which is only the better for it as it makes each character more unique. As Jason Isaacs who plays Georgy Zhukov in the film explained in an interview with HeyUGuys “When I got the script I phoned Armando and I said what are you guys doing about accents? And he said what do you mean? And I said well I read it and I heard it in a Yorkshire accent. He went well Jeffrey Tambor’s doing California, so is Steve Buscemi, Paul Whitehouse is doing Cockney, Considine’s Midlands so do whatever you like.” So there you have it in a nutshell. And as I was saying, the actual performances are all great across the board. There is no weak link. There were definitely stand-outs for me, which are the ones I will mainly talks about. Simon Russell Beale is spectacular as Lavrentiy Beria, emphasising a lot how much of a monster he was, and I think Beale’s experience of theatre acting was partially the reason why he made the performance so believable. And his final scene in the film is especially memorable! Steve Buscemi is slimy like a weasel that Krushchev was, and Jason Isaacs emphasises the masculinity of chief general Georgy Zhukov. Andrea Riseborough is innocently sweet as Stalin’s daughter Svetlana who tries to keep her brother (played by Rupert Friend) in check whilst also having to deal with members of the Committee trying to get on her good side so as to heighten their chances of succeeding Stalin. Paddy Considine and Olga Kurylenko are scene stealing in the opening of the film which involves an orchestra, Mozart and a recording (that’s all I’ll say on that matter), but as I said, there was not an actor who did a bad job.

In terms of negatives, there aren’t really any besides possibly the ending of the film feeling like it was rushed a bit as well as a slight lack of emotional substance (though there are little emotional details thrown in here and there), but that is it. Performances are great, the writing is superb, music fit the film perfectly in tone, the set pieces were all fairly truthful to the time and Armando Iannucci’s direction is pretty much flawless. This movie is not for everyone, but if you have an appreciation for the source material then you will have a blast.

Overall score: 8/10

TOP MOVIE QUOTE: “SIT DOWN! DO NOT DEFY ME!! SIT YOUR ARSES DOWN!!”

[rajiuldipto38]

FROM EID, WITH FICTIONS

Every year, EID comes into Bengali life to celebrate three pleasures of life. Family, Food and Fiction. When I mean fiction, I am actually meaning Television fictions. This EID, I have seen few fictions. My this article is about reviewing them. All are my own personal opinions. No offense.

Bikal Belar Pakhi (বিকাল বেলার পাখি) : Have not you ever seen your father is shouting on you? Or, he is bit depressed about your study or he is punishing your elder sister because she is late at home. If you are from a middle class family, you better know this. Bikal Belar Pakhi, a story about the head of a middle class family. His activities, struggle of the family and the only son of the family, this is all the gestures. Fazlur Rahman Babu is a fantastic actor, and he has proved it through out his carrer. From films to fictions. His screen presence will surely take you to his place, his chemistry with his family members is very much related with our everyday life. It is a story, of our own. You better cry then. This is where, director Adnan Al Rajeeb has shown his talent. The screenplay is so good that, audience will never go out of the sit. Music and cinematography is up to the mark. I am very pleased. If you have missed, then do not miss this one now. One of the best from the ‘Chabial Re-Union’

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆☆

March Mashe Shooting (মার্চ মাসে শুটিং) : I was traveling from my hometown to Dhaka. It was a night time and I was getting bored. Suddenly, I remembered that I was very keen to watch ‘March Mashe Shooting’ from Aynabaji Original Series. The best part, this fiction was released in the night. So, I opened Youtube and watched. Not just my Youtube was opened, but also my mouth. This is another master work by director Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, which will be remembered for long time. Where should I put my eyes? From direction to acting to cinematography to screenplay to everywhere. Story starts with a movie star and ends up to a freedom fighter. I would not spoil the story. But, will surely talk about the screenplay. Every sequences will force you to think about the next sequence. This is a unique style to write a story. Also, is an example for new screenplay writers. Cinematography is pretty good with some classic shots. Well, here you can not criticize Mr.Amitabh Reza. Every single person has acted up to the mark. Apurbo is fantastic, so Nabila and Gazi Rakayat is. A big thanks to the team.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆☆

26 Din Matro (২৬ দিন মাত্র) : Legends are always legends. Amjad Hossain and Dilara Zaman has again proved that in this fiction. Really, the acting beyond the imagination. My salute to them. Big thanks to director Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Raz. Thanks for working in this screenplay and for choosing this fantastic cast. The story will drive you to an illus ional reality. I will never release the story. I just want to say, do not forget to watch it. The cinematography, the black and white gesture is fantastic. I did not realize when the time passed away. I cried. This is one of the best works of the EID. Must watch.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆1/2

Mr.Jony (মি.জনি) : Director Redoan Rony has always proved himself with his different works. Even this time, no mistake is actually done. First in few sequences, I kept on finding the identity of Jony. Rony is very clever in the screenplay part. When I found out that Jony is nothing but a dog, the level of my interest to finish this fiction increased highly. Relationship of a dog and his owner has been shown in not a different but unique way. Everyone, even those who do not have a pet can relate this story. Rony has written some metaphorical dialogues. Something like, ‘আপনিকি মানুষ’ or ‘পিপাসা মিটলোনা’ is very metaphoric. Everyone has done justice with their works. Cinematography is good with the classic colour. Rony has kept himself out of the bopx with a message or story that we can relate with. The best work is done my Mr.Jony himself. Loved it.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆1/2

Hotath Nirar Jonno (হঠাৎ নীরার জন্য) : A pure romantic fiction adopted from Sunil Gangopadhyay’s poem is a worth watching. Whenever, I witness a drama or movie adopted from a literary piece I try to find out that either that work has done the justice with the original one or not. This time, director Mabrur Rashid Bannah has not disappointed me. He has used the poem with the pure margin. Cinematography is very good. Very unique and colourful. In the place of cast, Irfan Sajjad and Mehazabien Chowdhury has done a great job. They have again proved that they are talented. In the script and screenplay part, Mabrur Rashid Bannah is the one man. Nicely made. Do watch.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆1/2

Award Night : Last night, I watched Award Night. One of my favorite directors Shafayat Mansoor Rana, is back with the team including Jon Kabir and Aparna. This is what, I was waiting for. Before the promo I was expecting something like thriller. Again, Shafayat Mansoor has surprised me and other audiences as well. A perfect satire to criticize the present condition of a part of the media. Well, the story keeps on going by adopting the pre situation of a award show. Very clever. Not all the starts or performers do this but few of them do. From begging for a single award to being done extra unnecessary things (Eating mud) is a real fact. A perfect criticism with humor., Thanks to the screenplay writers for not let the audience get bored. Jon Kabir, Aparna, Hillol, Nazmus Sakib to director Shafayat Mansoor himself and all of the actor performers has given their best work. Cinematography and colour grading is pretty good. Though, the humor of Shafayat and Jon could have been increased a bit in the script part at the show hosting. Overall, a must watch.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆1/2

Dondo Somash (দ্বন্দ সমাস) : Another one from the Aynabaji Original Series. Dondo Somash, story of the look a likes from different religions where they got in trap of ther typical village politics or mentality. Director Ashfaque Nipun’s best work of this EID. Cinematography is not so much tight. A big space for the audience like me to thinkl. Screenplay will surely keep the audiences in the sit. Rawnak Hasan has played double role. I have mostly loved his look. Abul Hayat and other actors are fantastic at their places. Cinematography is not bad. I have loved few drone shots and some huge landscapes. Nice work.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆1/2

Putuler Ghor (পুতুলের ঘর) : The very first shot will make you think that you are watching a movie. Talking about, feeling like movie I do not know why I have got the gesture of it. From cinematography to direction to screenplay. I would not talk much about the story because it a context what you need to see. No doubt, best work of Tisha and Shatabdi Wadud in this EID. Few sequences are bit ling for me. I think, those could have been shorted. But, I have to clap for director Mr.Ashutosh Sujan. The team has given the best work, which you will realize by seeing it in the screen.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Porinoti (পরিণতি) : This EID, I have got to know another promising director who is Imraul Rafat. To be very honest, I did not see any other works of him before. This time, I am amazed after watching ‘Porinoti’. Tahsan-Mehazabein, one of my favorite couples in the screen. I have no ability to judge their acting. In the screenplay part, few sequences could have been shorted. The love part is not so bad. But, the story is the king. Cinematography is very typical. The thing which has kept me in the sofa is the nice arrangement of all sequences. Nice work.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Jackson Billal (জ্যাকশন বিল্লাল) : Firstly, truly hats off to Siam Ahmed. Micheal Jackson is someone, I have always followed. This is the part for what I have seen the whole fiction. Siam has tried his best to dance like Jackson. I will just say, well done. Director Shihab Saheen is a very experience director. His way of making a screenplay interesting has always amazed me. This time, no mistake. Urmila, one of my favorite actresses has worked very good. Cinematography is not bad. An entertaining one from Shihab Saheen.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Cheleta Kintu Valo Chilo (ছেলেটা কিন্তু ভালো ছিলো) : Another one from ‘Aynabaji Original Series’ and another nice work by director Ashfaque Nipun. Story of girl, who wants to play football. So, she run away from her wedding and joined the team. Tisha, as the footballer girl is fantastic. She has put a nice mark and I will clap for the director because he has chosen the right cast. Mishu Sabbir as the friend is very funny. Specially, in the sequence where police caught them. Gazi Rakayat is fantastic as the coach. This story could have been a movie story. Very nicely written screenplay. Must watch.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Se Somiye Tumi Ami (সে সময়ে তুমি আমি) : Another best work of director Mabrur Rashid Bannah. He has delivered his siganture mark once again. Two lead characters are done by two talents of the country, Tahsan Khan & Bidya Sinha Saha Mim. Perfect casting. Firstly, Tahsan appears in new avater of a student leader. I have loved it, when he delivered his speech. One the other hand, Mim has done justice to her role. Cinematography is pretty good. The scenario of Old Dhaka is fantastic. Eye soothing. Musfiq R. Farhan as the brother of Mim has done good job. The role of the mother is very short but nice. Siam Nasir as the right hand of Tahsan is good again. I am not revealing the whole story. Romance in every frame. Must watch.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Sada Kagoje Sajano Onuvuti (সাদা কাগজে সাজানো (অনুভূতি) : Nisho and Irfan Sajjad, two of my favorites actors are in the same fiction. What do I need more? Director Kajal Arefin Ome, has put this two talented actors in their eligible role. Tasnuva Elvin has supported there two very nicely. It felt so good to see her in a role like this. The story is unique itself. Screenplay is the hero, as I mentioned before. Cinematography is very eye soothing. If you want me to pick any one among Nisho and Irfan then I will pick Nisho. Because, the portrayal of his character by the director is much more close to me. Well done, the team.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Abaro (আবারো) : Abaro, means again. Tahsan Khan is at his best again. Salha Khanam Nadia is just so good with him. No doubt. The credit actually goes to the captain of the ship, director Mahmudur Rahman Hime. He has arranged the whole set-up very nicely. The screenplay will never make you feel bore. The cinematography is good but common. There is a say as an audience. In few sequences, I expected them longer. In some other ones, I wanted them to be shorter. This is the only part, I did not like. Overall, good.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Chikon Piner Charger (চিকন পিনের চার্জার) : A story which kept me in an illusion for the first 30 minutes. Till then, I felt sorry for the character of  Whomayun Sadhu. The director himself has always proved his ability and talent in acting. This time, got the flavor agai. A man is in an unknown city, searching for his lover desperately. I am not going to reveal the whole story. The ending was fantastic, but an known fact. Some of the viewers claimed that this is an old wine in a new bottle fact. For me, I have loved it the way screenplay is written. Yes, probably we have seen this kind of ending before. But, this time Mr.Sadhu has proved his tricks. Nice cinematography. I loved the scene most, where the lover is waiting for his lover to come. Well done. Chabial Re-Union, nice step.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Jatona (যাতনা) : Probably, I had seen few works of director Abu Hayat Mahmud before. This time, I wanted to see something interesting. I must thank him for ‘Jatona’. Chanchal Chowdhury has made it. He has proved himself once again. This man is getting better day by day. I loved the acting. Urmila Srabanti Kar is in the opposite role has done the best work. Loved her to see in the screen, specially her pretty smile. Screenplay is very good. Cinematography is pretty well. Overall, nice work by the production.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Alokon (আলোকন) : Directror Topu Khan was in the News for his latest web series ‘Admission Test’. But, I loved ‘Alokon’ more than that one. Two of the most talented actors in the industry, Apurba and Saba were in the cast. So, I thought that the screenplay will be interesting. Director Topu Khan actually did not make me upset. Very genuine screenplay with a fine story has really made it worth watching. Cinematography is very good. Background score actually goes with the scene. Liked the whole arrangement. Woirth watching.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Se Ak Pream (সে এক প্রেম) : Thanks to director Mahmud Didar, because he has portrayed Tisha in a different character. Really, big salute to Tisha for breaking herself in this type of character. She is the core of the story. Director has worked very hard to make it different. Well, it could have been better. But, again well done. Emon and Mamunur Rashid has done justice with their role. Cinematography could have been interesting. Surely, a worth watching.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Onusiddhanto (অনুসিদ্ধান্ত) : Director Tanim Parvez is a promising director in my eyes. I will say, ‘Onusiddhanto’ will be some of his works which we may remember for a long time. He knows to force the actors to give the best shot. Everyone has done justice to their very own characters. Cinematography could have been better. I think, director Tanim Parvez could have made the screenplay more detailing. But, a nice work.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Mukhoser Arale (মুখোশের আড়ালে) : Another adaptation by director Mabrur Rashid Bannah. Another justice by him. This fiction is adopted from Samaresh Majumdar’s novel Gorvodharini. I have read that novel. I can not say, it is totally an adoptation but the concept is taken from the literary piece. Few critics from the social media was complaining that, Bannah has failed to adopt or has put some gesture from a fiction of Netflix. But, I found nothing like this. Nicely written script by Maruf Rehman. Sequences are well arranged. Marzuk Russel, Sayed Zaman Shawon, Tamim Mridha, Samim Hasan Sarkar and others are very good in their own characters. Different work by Bannah. Thriller fiction, and he did not fail to make. Well done.

Personal Rating : ☆☆☆☆

Two fictions, Otopor Amra (অত:পর আমরা) and Pream Potro (প্রেম পত্র) are written by me. These two fictions have been telecasted on EID day 3. I am not including these fictions in my review list. Only the audience have the right to judge. Quality of fictions are actually rising. I am definitly hopeful.

Rajiul Huda Dipto

06/07/2017

[badassbassguitarist]

- Info -

Since first picking up a guitar at the age of 13, musician/songwriter Jeordie "Twiggy" White has developed a style and stage presence all his own to become one of the more versatile players on the scene today. Influenced by the likes of Motley Crue, Van Halen, Metallica and Iron Maiden, he spent the better portion of his youth in the Ft. Lauderdale area, where he quickly embraced South Florida's burgeoning music scene. By time he was 15, he had joined his first band, The Ethiopians. Though it wasn't long before The Ethiopians had gone their separate ways, Jeordie was ready to take it to the next level. While still in his senior year of high school, he landed his first substantial and ultimately life-changing gig with local thrash/hard alternative favorites Amboog-A-Lard, first as rhythm guitarist and later switching to bass. The band's huge popularity on the local club circuit allowed opportunities for them to share the stage with internationally known acts such as Anthrax, Exodus, The Ramones, Savatage and Saigon Kick. In June of 1992, Amboog-A-Lard captured awards in five categories at the 1st Annual South Florida Slammie Awards, with White taking home the award for Best Rhythm Guitarist. It was with the band's 1993 release, A New Hope, that his talents as a songwriter first became evident. He takes sole credit for composing the music for the album's title track, as well as "Medicine Man", "A Matter Of Honor", and "Do Or Do Not." It was during his time with Amboog-A-Lard that he first crossed paths with Brian Warner, aka Marilyn Manson, controversial frontman of Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, who themselves were becoming serious contenders on the Ft. Lauderdale scene. Finding common ground in their mutual love of 80's metal and 70's hitmakers such as The Bee Gees and Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, the two became fast friends, collaborating together in several side projects until the departure of bassist Gidget Gein in December 1993 allowed for Jeordie to officially join forces with the Manson clan. Jeordie White became "Twiggy Ramirez", in homage to the 1960's British supermodel Twiggy and the infamous "Night Stalker" serial killer Richard Ramirez. His first show with the band took place on January 1, 1994 at the Squeeze nightclub in Ft. Lauderdale. While contributing marginally to the 1995 EP Smells Like Children (most notably the track "Scabs, Guns and Peanut Butter", which he wrote and performed), it was on the band's 1996 multi-platinum Antichrist Superstar that Jeordie truly emerged as an integral part of the creative process, the driving musical force behind Manson's powerful lyrics. If Brian Warner was the heart of Marilyn Manson, Jeordie had become the soul. Writing the majority of the album's music, he was also called upon to pick up the slack when guitarist Daisy Berkowitz left the band midway through the recording process -- many of the tracks feature Jeordie not only on bass, but on lead and rhythm guitar as well. With Nine Inch Nails visionary Trent Reznor handling production, the band hunkered down for several months in Reznor's home base of New Orleans to write and record. The ensuing debauchery and chaos are clearly reflected in the finished product's dark lyrics and relentlessly pounding music. Jeordie once described this full initiation into the world of Marilyn Manson as "one of the most painful things ever to do." 1998's critically acclaimed Mechanical Animals mirrored a new phase in the Manson saga, specifically the band's relocation to Los Angeles and induction into the world of celebrity and rock stardom. Taking a hands-on approach in the studio and again switching between bass, lead, rhythm and acoustic guitar, Jeordie reached back in time to the music that had inspired his idols -- David Bowie, the Stooges and Queen -- to weave a tale reflecting the darker side of fame and fortune. The album was a marked departure from the style of the band's previous efforts, incorporating a more melodic sound reminiscent of 1970's glam rock and disco. Cultivating musical styles from both Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals, 2001's Holy Wood (In The Shadows Of The Valley Of Death) was recorded live at the reputedly haunted Houdini Mansion in the Hollywood Hills. Jeordie cites The Beatles' "White Album" as having influenced a more unconventional approach to the making of the record and in addition to playing guitar and bass, he had a chance to experiment with keyboards and drum loops as well. While some of the album reflects the backlash the band suffered after being made the media's scapegoat for the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, it mostly takes aim at a dysfunctional society's overall obsession with violence, religion and celebrity. Many fans were shocked and dismayed when it was announced in May of 2002 that Jeordie had left Marilyn Manson. Fueled by a desire to explore new creative paths and expand his musical horizons, one of Jeordie's first post-Manson projects was a collaboration with Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and an eclectric assortment of fellow musicians on Homme's "Desert Sessions" series. A subsequent encounter with A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese at a New Year's Eve party led to White's taking over as the band's bassist in early 2003. Referred to by some as "art rock with gothic elements", A Perfect Circle was founded by Paz Lenchantin and Billy Howerdel in 1997, featuring Tool's Maynard James Keenan on vocals. Though most of the music had been written for the band's second album, Thirteenth Step, before Jeordie came on board, he fully participated in the recording process and contributed to the writing of both "Crimes" and "The Package". An extensive world tour following the album's release paid tribute to Jeordie's competence and versatility as he tackled APC's more complex musical arrangements in a live setting. Brian Davis of internet radio station KNAC proclaimed Jeordie to be a "key element in the evolution and growth of the band's sound" with the bass serving as a "cornerstone and driving element in the music." With A Perfect Circle going on indefinite hiatus at the conclusion of their tour in 2004, Jeordie continued to keep himself busy with a multitude of other projects. Artists he has worked with in the studio include Melissa Auf Der Maur, Dead Celebrity Status and UNKLE. From March 2005 until September 2007, Jeordie handled bass and guitar duties as part of the Nine Inch Nails touring lineup, playing to sold out audiences around the world several times over. Although he did not have a creative role in the studio with NIN, he credits his time with them as having given him more discipline as a performer and helping him to "turn the page and make a clean sweep of the past". Additionally, Jeordie has teamed up with desert rock mainstay and long-time Queens of the Stone Age collaborator Chris Goss to form the nucleus of Goon Moon, who thus far have have released two records -- the 2005 EP I Got A Brand New Egg Layin' Machine and 2007's Licker's Last Leg. Jeordie has stated that there are "no rules" when it comes to making music with Goon Moon and this is clearly evidenced in both releases, with the influences running the gamut from folk to goth to 60's psychedelia and even a touch of swing. In addition to his musical abilities, this project also showcases for the first time Jeordie's talents as a both a lyricist and lead vocalist. Things came full circle when, in the latter part of 2007, a chance meeting at a Hollywood nightspot rekindled the long dormant friendship between Jeordie and Manson, which ultimately resulted in Jeordie's highly anticipated return to the band for the final leg of Manson's "Rape Of The World" U.S. tour in January 2008. The creative fire now fully ignited, the pair returned to the studio at the conclusion of the tour with keyboardist/programmer Chris Vrenna for the better part of a year, Jeordie once more reprising his crucial role as lead songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. The end result, The High End of Low, was released in May of 2009 and again highlights Jeordie's diverse musical background, from the country-tinged "Four Rusted Horses" to the Zeppelinesque dirge of "I Want To Kill You Like They Do In The Movies". The ensuing world tour saw Jeordie put aside his trademark bass to take on the more demanding role of lead guitarist, as well as contributing back up vocals on many of the live tracks. While Jeordie now considers Marilyn Manson his "home base" he continues to work on various side projects, and plans to write and record again with Goon Moon as soon as time allows. http://68.media.tumblr.com/82a6276823dd5749db9f3850a647700b/tumblr_nq9u01gHnr1t13et6o7_250.gif

[mypunkpansexualtwin]

Finally beat Andromeda!

I gotta say, I really liked it. Hell, I loved it, and given my initial skepticism about it and my attachment to the original trilogy (ask me about it sometime and bring snacks), this is some high goddamn praise. More under a cut cause I’m touching on some seriously spoilery stuff.

Like, hugely. I’m glad I was on a self-imposed social media blackout (mostly, but given my poor self-control I did pretty good) cause if I’d seen these before I’d seen them it would have severely lessened the impact of some big (dare I say MASSive? No? Anyways.) reveals.

So consider yourself warned, turn back as necessary, yadda yadda.

First off, I wanna say I’m liking the open ending. I am 1000% down for future dlc and (god willing) sequels in (again, god willing) a better engine than frostbite, just for the sake of the devs. I wasn’t bothered by the animation (except when Ryder would go all Exorcism in a conversation), I’d like to emphasize how much I played the first ones. They’ve always been ugly, or at least uncanny valley.

Getting off track. It’s almost 6 am and I haven’t slept, this is gonna get rambly.

I love the characters and there’s a few that I’m gonna be glad to replay the game to romance. And while some of the sidequests were a little boring, it wasn’t nearly the overwhelming tedium of Dragon Age: Fetch-quisition, so I’ll actually be replaying it.

On some level a few of your crewmates don’t feel completely finished with their development (not in a bad way, not like bad writing), but that leaves room for more development down the line. So yeah, looking forward to more stuff in the future, and I’ll only be marginally disappointed if they decide to use the Quarian ark’s pathfinder as our chance to finally pick an alien to play through story instead of continuing with Ryder.

There were some solid callbacks and references to the original trilogy (weird calling it that) that added a fun ’!!!’ factor for those who played them, but not to the point of overshadowing what you’ve got in front of you or leaving people new to the franchise feeling left out of some inside joke. (Conrad’s sister, the doctor’s baby’s name, Garrus’ dad, Project Lazarus, multiple callbacks to my favorite cranky merc, etc.)

I picked Morda. Probably gonna bite me in the ass one way or another but whatever, I love watching Tann squirm.

I feel like that last mission did a good job of making you care about your sibling, considering they spend basically the whole game in a memory flash, a coma, or a post-coma-hangover nap. But maybe I’m easy when it comes to getting attached to same-generation relatives (cousins, siblings, that sort of thing.) I wanted to hug Scoot more than once and I wish we got more than one prompt for it. Also I was very much NOT expecting the bombshell with mom. So glad I didn’t get spoiled on that one.

I would kill for more Movie Nights. I hate repeatable quests but I need more of that. It had that kind of fun squad-time feel that I loved about the Citadel DLC in 3. “I can’t feel… my gallbladder…” “Do you even have a gallbladder?” “It’s worse than I thought!”

Anyways, yeah. I’m happy with what we got. Not perfect by any means, and I’m glad to have started out blind and skeptical, but overall, thumbs up, looking forward to more.

[bexalizard]

dellanfere replied to your post “So while I am HUGELY distracted while trying to write an outline for a...”

how do you write your outlines?? i desperately need to figure out how to keep the tempo consistent

WOW this got long!! But I have a lot of feelings about my outlines! I mostly love them a lot and it’s helped me write more!! So here you go, I hope this helps!

1) I write it out on paper, so I can scratch things out and scribble shit in the margins. ---Also so I can lean over the paper and write with my nose right up in there and visual stim on making the ink marks on the paper. XD It’s a much more tactile experience, which helps my brain with creativity! ---Also also, everyone says you should totally rewrite from one draft to another and I just can’t do that when the first draft is in digital format, for a number of reasons. It’s just overall difficult.

2) I write it like I’m describing the scene to someone, the way I’d describe something happening in a movie. I tell myself jokes and I shorthand stuff and write out flippant things like “and he y’know, whatever, does the thing”.

3) Dialogue versus visuals!! I tend to write out most of the dialogue in full on paper. For whatever reason, it’s easier for me to “hear” the characters talking to each other when I’m writing on paper. Maybe because it’s easier to feel the tone of voice when you can write light or hard or scribble in caps and draw little faces for the emotions.

On the other hand, the visuals and action are easier when I’m typing it up! When I read my outline, I’ll have one sentence describing the action in general, then I close my eyes and picture it in detail while I’m typing. Since I’ve already worked out the general idea of what’s going on, I can focus on putting what I imagine into words without having to figure out what happens next.

4) Example time! This is from the notebook where I outlined my baker!Johnny Spideytorch AU fic.

- J goes home and crashes early. Wakes up haunted by the pop tarts. He really likes Peter. Can’t imagine why the guy eats pop tarts. As well as the other unhealthy food in his apartment. How does he stay so trim and fit-looking eating like that? - He paces around, thinking of all the things he likes about Peter. He hopes the guy’s proximity to SM isn’t subconsciously part of it. - Calls Sue. “He eats pop tarts! He has no discerning taste whatsoever! I have money, my own successful business, great cars, great hair, and I’m very attractive. I could have anyone. Why do I want a guy who eats crap?” S: “Johnny... it’s three in the morning.” J: “Come on, Sue, Please!” S: “Just... just ask the guy out already and let me go back to sleep.” - Johnny paces restless until he decides to go fly around & burn off steam.

This scene is at the end of Chapter 3 of the fic, so you can see how it looked after I typed it and fleshed it out. (Just scroll right on down there.)

Writing the outline, I work in little bits at a time when I can. When I’m typing it up it goes much faster, so the whole thing flows together better in general because I’ll remember to reference things that just happened. Such as Johnny’s reflecting on how Peter’s face lit up when he was talking about his students. The previous scene had to end where it did due to pacing, but I wanted to put that snippet in to give an idea on how the rest of the conversation went without making it boring to read.

(Because “show, don’t tell” as an absolutely unbreakable rule? Is bullshit. People reading this fic don’t care about the minutiae of Peter’s job, unless something very specific and relevant to the story overall is happening. They care how he feels about it, and how Johnny feels when he watches Peter talk about it. So I “tell” about Peter talking about his job, and it’s less boring because we can focus on Peter and Johnny together. But that’s a completely different essay topic. We’re talking about outlining.)

Of course, I also end up screwing future!me over big time by writing shit like: “--Show their attraction better.” I’ll be reading my outline two weeks later and be like “??? i know you were on break at work when you wrote that scene but!! you jerk!!! how dare you do this to me!!”

[saiyanfrcmearth-blog]

Martin’s opinions on Superman Vs. Goku

For those of you who care, I wrote this for a guy on FB who was interested when I trolled some folks! ^.^

Keep in mind that my Goku is Clark’s biggest fan and thinks he’s really neat!

Due to a random ass encounter with a fanboy who's actually being somewhat reasonable, I'll post my actual thoughts on the fights, keep in mind it's opinion-based, and set with the context of the battles that the Screw Attack questions posed, since that was when it first came up for me:

Death Battle 1: I feel like the result was correct, though the work was wrong, like on a math test. Thus, I consider their answer to be wrong, and it marks down on the final grade. Being that this was prior to BoG's announcement, it wasn't known of, so this makes it non-viable content, and thus we'll judge that accordingly. At this point, Goku's powers are very finite, and Clark's ability is far beyond what Goku has achieved, based on the fact that he's unable to 1v1 any of the Buus and come out on top (Majin (Fat/Good) Buu being a solid maybe since SS3 Goku v. him wasn't really conclusive). Is Goku's math high enough as presented in the video? No, but in all honesty, Goku has the ability to match, at best, a creature who was half of Super Buu's total power (at base) that could destroy the entire universe when angered sufficiently, based on the word of The Kais, given the access of the two powerful kais he absorbed in this state, and even rip holes between dimensions by screaming. Of course, this situation is one that Clark could definitely beat, accounting for the fact that it took a Potara fusion for Goku to be able to overpower, and Clark is certainly more than twice as powerful than Goku. The Super Saiyan 4 is kind of stupid, but probably there for a cool factor in the fight, unless they were going to actually USE GT Goku for the fight, which despite having a stronger transformation, would make Goku more likely to lose. It's not so cut and dry in the stats, I maintain in terms for raw skill and combat experience, Goku probably edges Superman a bit, but not by such a huge margin that people unaware of Superman's martial training from WW and Batman may convince you it is. And with the past use of Instant Transmission in combat, and the nature of omni-directional speed which Goku excels at, as opposed to the Point A-to-B speed we see more from Clark, the speed category is a mixed bag. )Now for the one that will probably be a bit more controversial.

Death Battle 2 Super Saiyan Boogaloo: The context put here is not only Goku with his Godly transformations (which he doesn't have the base Red form any more but we'll forgive based on Screw Attack's general ignorance of shit and cool factor of the fight) but the improved ki from his training with Whis leading to Res. of F since that was the most recently released movie, thus that will be our equivalent saga. Since the anime has established more about it, we will use the anime-based information despite Screw Attack butt-rushing the release out to make sure they wouldn't have to say Goku. Speed is still quite a mixed bag, with Superman still probably having a better point A-to-B speed, but Goku's omni-directional speed due to his more frequent use of it in combat (based on the way Clark has had to fight it's an experience issue more than a capability one) and use of flight and agility gives him that in terms of maneuverability. Those of you familiar with Hit's fight might be questioning why we're not applying his breaking out of Time Skip for speed, that is A) Because it hasn't happened by the Res. of F. Arc in the anime, and B) Because that may not necessarily have been a feat of speed as much as willpower. Durability is still decidedly a Superman category, because despite Goku being caught with his guard down by a third party, as per the author's explanation, the focused ring beam still happened. It's a tough call to make on how powerful the blast is (many guys around here assume it's like Superman's heat vision so for exposition sake let's say so) but his durability is likely FAR beyond what Screw Attack initially estimated, due to their idea being based on what Gero guessed, who was designing androids with outdated info. Not a good way to guess, but we've also seen Superman as only hurt-able by other similarly powerful entities. Goku has not had this thing in the past, still being afraid of the pain inflicted by his wife (though this is a gag) but more importantly the beam. Strength is where the biggest, and most controversial shift, occurs. In terms of power for hitting factors come into play such as technique, body mechanics, the velocity of the striking surface, and actual strength of the user. Presumably, the biggest roles in this to increase are the speed of Goku's punches and how hard he can hit, given in The Battle of Gods arc, he went from not being able to even touch Beerus, to being able to put up a pretty good fight for Beerus. In an earlier bout the two underwent, which becomes key to the proof on Goku's improvement overall, Beerus didn't even put effort into it. It took a single hit for him to be able to beat Goku, and it wasn't even a real one. Several hours later, he then made short work of Majin Buu (fat version) who it took more hits to beat, though we can attest part of this to being Beerus more holding back and punishing Buu, and then the Z-Fighters, rather than outright trumping the entire group in a similar manner to what he did to Goku, with the exception of Vegeta and his rage which allowed him to overwhelm Beerus momentarily because "His Bulma". It can still be assumed, due to Buu's superior durability and regenerative properties, Beerus definitely could lay into Buu more, and probably had to, in order to get the same result with Goku. Now we get into the nitty-gritty. After Goku gained the Super Saiyan God powers, he had a significant increase in battle power, and after a bit, became an opponent that Beerus was satisfied with, in his own way. This is big, because in earlier episodes we've seen Beerus destroy half of a planet simply by touching a table, making a conscious effort to do so. Now we've got Goku fighting this guy on somewhat equal footing (though Beerus spends most of the time "punching down" as it were to draw more power from Goku, eventually putting them on a scale of 1 to 10 with Goku at 6 and Beerus at 10) which allowed Goku to force Beerus into using 70% of his power in that fight. The important part here being that percentage, and that scale. During the fight, Goku and Beerus's fists met to generate massive shockwaves, so powerful that from orbit they were causing meteorological events across the entire planet's surface that threatened to destroy entire cities, but not quite destroy Earth. However, these shockwaves did something else. They grew stronger as they traveled outwards. Now those of you who have ever observed still water, and dropped something into it, know that a splash is always strongest at the center, or point of impact, shockwaves behave in the same manner. Thus, the colliding forces of these two's fists have defied our very understanding of physics itself, going beyond infinity, which with our current understanding, would generate a shockwave that never stopped at most, meaning that it would at best have a static amount of force, but not grow. The amount of force required to do this is unfathomable, and presumably beyond that of infinity, which we already can't fully comprehend either. Not only did they do this once, it occurred several times, as their fists met, only stopping once Goku began punching and using his chi in such a manner that it wouldn't happen again. Given the math, Goku's contributing about 37.5% of the force needed AT LEAST, given that Beerus may not have been using his full 70% at the point that this happened. Thus, says the conclusion that at worst, Goku's hitting power matches that of Superman's, if not exceeds it. Now back to something a bit simpler and less long-winded, in regards to combat prowess they're both considerable, with the first fight having their technical skill likely being quite close, with only a slight edge to Goku. But given an implied amount of time, and a zenkai boost from his previous fight, as the saiyan power boost occurs during battle as well, to minimize having the same injuries. Thus any trick that worked on Goku before may not work as well a second time, which may sound familiar to you DC buffs who know your spit about Doomsday. While not working in the same manner, this would be coupled wit Goku's inherent drive to train while in the afterlife, likely with King Kai assisting on the training for the conditioning, strategy, and possibly devising a new technique (assuming a Toriyama writing style) to try and better counter Clark's kryptonian physiology. Why do I bring all this up? Because it's not in Clark's nature to do training montages to fight off an opponent in such a manner, in both scenarios Clark was treated as a less than willing participant in the fights, fighting because Goku basically forced him to partake. If not his technical skill, Goku's raw combat power in general would improve, as well as his tactical and spatial understanding of Superman's abilities. And that's the tipping scale. People who believe in the Screw Attack answers like to refer to limits, and the construct in the narrative is true, but a key detail is missed. While Superman has no limits, he is also a limit himself for Goku to shatter. Son Goku gets stronger with every fight, every time, seemingly no matter what, Superman doesn't seem to benefit in this same manner, given his training only comes when absolutely necessary. The types of personality they have, and Goku's intelligences as opposed to Clark's, simply put him in a better position to overtake, then stay ahead, of his kryptonian rival. Goku is as strong as he is because he wants to be, Clark only remains as strong as he is because has to be to maintain safety. The only times he's ever pursued such training was to become a better hero, not to settle a grudge match. Goku undergoes training SPECIFICALLY to get stronger and defeat the people who outfought him in the past. Is it sill an epic fight? Oh yeah, definitely, and one for the record books, but whereas the first match ended similarly to how Goku's first battle with Beerus did, I feel the second fight would end with Goku managing to pull of a surprise victory against The Man of Steel.

[raisindeatre]

A collection of Rogue One thoughts I have below the cut! (Because spoilers and because they are long and because they are just all over the place)

Oh man. There were so many things I loved about this movie but also so many things that... I wouldn’t say hated but that I definitely wasn’t fond of? Here is everything I thought about it, in a jumbled up mess:

- There’s a post going around about how great it was, cinematically, that the film began with a cold open, just to drive home how sudden and brutal it is when Krennic comes to drive the Ersos apart, and I definitely agree, but opening music aside I also feel like the soundtrack for this movie was not as inspired as any of the other Star Wars films? There was definitely no real theme that stuck in my head after I left the cinema, the way Binary Sunset or Rey’s Theme did. 

- I know that Star Wars still has a long, long way to go when it comes to diversity (where are the WOC?) but can I just say how happy I am that there was so much GOOD representation in this movie??? With Diego and Riz and Donnie and Jiang and how they got to keep?? Their accents?? Seeing people who looked like me on the big screen, in one of my favourite franchises ever? The joy of it was like an avalanche. 

- And the characters? I adored Cassian so much. I love how when we first see him he seems like an upstanding heroic Rebellion captain who fights for right and wrong AND HOLY SHIT HE KILLED A MAN IN HIS FIRST SCENE WHAT! Moral gray areas!!!! Good shit! And his whole arc about how sometimes the Rebellion is just as f*cked up as the Empire, and how he can face that and himself, and finally be able to say “Yes I know the Rebellion has done bad things, and nothing is ever clear-cut, but goddamn it I still believe in this cause I have given decades of my life to, and I will still fight because there must be something good at the heart of it all there must be and I won’t give up now” I just. Good good stuff.

 - BAZE AND CHIRRUT! THE BEST MARRIEDS! I love how there is basically no backstory on these two but you get the sense of history just from the way they are around each other, the sense of together and always and home in ways that were so subtle? Just the absolute trust they have in each other, the snark and the banter and the genuine, terrible affection and I HATE EVERYTHING. The way they just joined the gang after Jedha and no one says anything about it lmao

- That little scene where Jyn shoots the Imperial droid and right behind it is K-2SO is a thing of beauty I laugh every time

- Speaking of Kaytoo, I love him so much. There are no words. And this! This!!! Kaytoo is ME

- Here’s what I really, really didn’t like about this movie though: the pacing. A lot of it felt very uneven. The transitions from one scene to the next felt very jarring. And I think a lot of the movie suffered from that. I’ve read about how there were a lot of deleted scenes and reshoots, which I think helped to explain the terrible pacing of this film, but not justify it per se? Like if you knew there would be so many reshoots etc, you have an obligation to make sure this film would still be coherent, which it wasn’t at all. What was the point of the Bor Gullet scene? The ominous part where Saw says, “one tends to lose their mind,” and how... literally nothing happened to Bodhi after that? All the suspense and from what I can tell he emerged just marginally more slimy. I’ve seen the movie twice and I still don’t understand. The pacing was just god-awful 

- And this brings me to my least favourite part of this movie: Jyn. Oh, my god, you guys. I wanted to love Jyn so much. I was so excited. And I was so, so disappointed when I didn’t, and it led to a lot of soul-searching (why do I not like her, when I adore almost every other character in this film? Is it internalized misogyny? Do I not think female characters have the right to be as conflicted and morally gray and angry as men? If so, WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT ME)

- But I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s nothing to do with that (I adore angry women! I wish we had more angry women in the media!) and EVERYTHING to do with the pacing. I don’t dislike Jyn - I just don’t understand her. Who is she? So much of her character motivations are lost to us, and so much of her character development was rushed. Any poignancy that we might have felt when Saw says, “Are we not still friends?” Like dude! There was zero backstory between the two of you, no flashbacks. I have no idea what she feels about you. And we don’t see when Jyn’s motivations change, which is such a huge issue for me. When does she decide ‘it’s not a problem if you don’t look up’ is no longer her philosophy? How did she get from snarling at Cassian on the journey back from Eadu to looking at him all heart-eyed in the hangar? When did Jyn ‘YOU WENT UP THERE TO KILL MY FATHER’ Erso become Jyn ‘I’m not used to people sticking around when things go bad’ Erso??? This is also where Rebelcaptain becomes a problem for me, because I don’t see the tipping point here. I don’t see the point where animosity became trust. The fight she and Cassian had was much-needed, and I was looking forward to it, but it was never resolved? It just cut to the Council scene and then to Cassian rounding up a couple of dudes to head over to Scarif because he believes Jyn and he wants to make it up to her and I just? What? When did this happen?

- This was also the problem I had with Bodhi. Oh my GOD I wanted to love Bodhi Rook, but I just couldn’t because I just didn’t understand him. What makes Cassian and Chirrut and Baze’s charater arcs so much more coherent is that they never really had a seismic shift in motivations and priorities. Like yeah Cassian has to really face up to the fact that the Rebellion can suck, but he still believes in it. He still fights for it. We never really saw when Jyn went from being apathetic to the cause to goddamn leading a suicide mission to Scarif. We never really saw what made Bodhi decide to defect (which is such a HUGE THING BTW!! A decision that would lead to certain death if the Empire caught him!) in the way we did with Finn in TFA. Why did he do it? Why is Galen so important to Bodhi? Who knows! Certainly not me! Frustration! Rage! Confusion!

- So yeah. That was a thing I hated. You have glorious hair Bodhi, but I’m going to need more than that to really be team Rook

- The battle scenes were great though! And we got so many of them! How Cassian shot one of Saw’s rebels down to cause that explosion! How Chirrut took out like 20 stormtroopers and still had time to snark? Baze’s epic guns (in more ways than one)? Jyn kicking ass with her little stick as Cassian looks at her in awe (A good dynamic. A+) ALL THE SCENES ON THE BEACH. THAT PART WHERE THE HAMMERHEAD CORVETTE JUST GENTLY BUT INEXORABLY NUDGES THE STAR DESTROYER INTO F*CKING UP SCARIF’S SHIELD SYSTEM. Marvelous

- DARTH VADER. WHAT A GUY. I know we make fun of his awful Dad joke (”choke on your aspirations” ANAKIN PLS) and how Extra™ his lava palace with the softly-lit catwalk is but also. ALSO. I was never afraid of Darth Vader in any of the past movies, but the scene at the end actually made me viscerally nervous. The part where the Rebellion soldiers are staring into the darkness, guns at the ready, hearts pounding... and then the shadows start breathing, and suddenly this glorious-awful red lightsaber just hums to life, illuminating Vader just watching them, lazy and predatory.... It really drove home to me the fact that Darth Vader is the terror of the Resistance. He’s the nightmare they tell their children about, quiet in the shadows. He’s the last thing they see before darkness falls. F*ck me up

- Rebelcaptain! was not a thing I enjoyed at all after my first viewing, or even my second. In fact, I don’t know that I ship canon Rebelcaptain so much as I do fanon Rebelcaptain. All the fics I’ve read just portray such a better dynamic of their relationship than I ever saw in the movie. And I think what was the tipping point for me were all the excerpts I saw of the Rogue One novelisation, especially the part where Andrew Freed writes at the end, “He didn’t know her, of course. There wasn’t the time to” and I think that’s what I ship about it. I don’t believe they were romantic at all during the course of the film (again! pacing was a mess!) but I love the idea that if they had survived, if they had gotten out... there might have been something. There might have. That delicate hope pushed aside because it’s war now, love, and we can’t think about this, we just need to survive, to get to one more day... (but maybe, just maybe) THAT’S THE DYNAMIC I SHIP. The almost of it all. The maybe of it all. They aren’t OTP level, but you can bet your ass that I will read fic and reblog gifsets and whatnot 

- The elevator scene though GOD. And the beach scene, just the two of them holding each other tight at the end of the world and Jyn’s eyes as she looks into the light of a thousand suns... bye

- IN CONCLUSION I had so many problems with this movie, but overall I do think it was a great addition to the ‘verse. And I love how the nameless rebels at the beginning of A New Hope aren’t nameless anymore, we know them, their faces and their voices and the way they smiled and snarled and fought... I knew how the story would end (as did we all) but it still tore my heart out of my chest which I think is the main takeaway

[sinrau]

The nation with the world’s highest Coronavirus death toll — where the first wave hasn’t even plateaued or slowed yet — reopening already. Seeing new spikes across half its states. What the?

America is about to show the world what a worst-case scenario for Coronavirus looks like.

The Trump administration has bungled Coronavirus unbelievably badly. Drinking bleach, it turns out, isn’t a cure. But it’s about to get so, so much worse.

In America, Coronavirus hasn’t slowed one bit. See that line above? In Europe, it’s flattened out. But in America, the worst case scenario is now about to come true. Since states are reopening, since the government has no plan, and as a nation, America seems to simply have… given up on it…Coronavirus is going to do three things. One, explode, just like it is in states like Arizona, Texas, and Florida, to name just a few. Two, go on rising for far, far longer than elsewhere, or than it needed to. And three, it will take much, much longer to flatten out, too.

We’re talking years, now, by the way. Coronavirus is now all but guaranteed to be a catastrophe that wracks America in a uniquely terrible and singularly disastrous way: striking it longer, harder, and worse than almost anywhere else in the world.

And yet even all that’s just an introduction to the worst-case scenario. What will the explosion of a deadly pandemic that lingers on and on then cause, socially, economically, politically? We’ll come to that.

To get there, first: just how badly has Coronavirus been bungled in America? Nobody really tells you. But if you do the math, the results are shocking. Staggering. Frightening. Surreal. Words simply fail.

Let me put America’s Coronavirus pandemic in context. America’s 8th in terms of deaths per million in the world currently. All the countries ahead of it are European. You might think that’s good news, but in fact, it’s terrible news: Coronavirus hit Europe before it hit America. They were hit first and hardest by Coronavirus, with the exception of China. And now, in most European nations, the pandemic — or at least its first wave — has plateaued and peaked. Covid is now subsiding in Europe, because countries there had swift and firm plans to deal with it, while it’s growing in America.

So now almost every major European country has seen a peak and a rapid decline in cases and deaths. But in America, the curve is still rising. This is why it’s eminently bad news that America, which is one of the later nations to be hit, is already having some of the highest deaths per million. Just 28 people died in France yesterday. 78 in Italy. Just 40 new cases were registered in Denmark. And so forth. European nations haven’t bested the virus. But they are getting ahead of it, slowly.

Some nations have already bested the virus. New Zealand has no new deaths at all. It’s a remarkable achievement. But neither does Taiwan. In Vietnam, there was just one new case yesterday.

In America? The death toll is still about as high as it was in the beginning of April. And it’s about to skyrocket right back up — not fall further. Not to mention, new projections place the ultimate death toll in America at 500,000 deaths. Half a million lives.

America will not have the experience that Europe and much of Asia have: of being a society that’s beaten the virus, flattening deaths right down to nothing. Instead, the virus is about devastate it. Even more than it already has.

What does this list of nations — those who’ve quelled the virus, and those who’ve crunched its curve — have in common? The list of things you might expect a sensible society to do. The earlier a society locked down, the more people cooperated, the more governments listened to scientists — the better a nation’s Coronavirus response. That much only makes eminent sense.

But America did precisely the opposite — and it’s still doing it. First, Trump denied, then he dithered, then he told people to drink bleach. There never was, and still isn’t, anything resembling a national strategy to combat a pandemic. In the vacuum, chaos reigned. That is how America got to the world’s highest death toll — a complete and total lack of leadership, direction, or support, from the very top.

As a result, now, states are reopening. Those states which have reopened are already seeing catastrophic results. Cases are spiking dramatically — to higher levels than ever. Clusters are forming, and the virus is spreading.

What does that tell us? That the death rate, over the coming weeks, is going to accelerate. The death toll is going to climb and climb. America already has the world’s highest death toll. But it’s about to shatter even the grimmest expectations.

How many more will die? The worst expectations were around 200,000. But that number is going to be easily — easily — surpassed now. To understand that, you only have to think: America’s already past 110,00, but the virus hasn’t peaked — instead, states are reopening, and the pandemic is going to accelerate all over again. 200,000 — when America’s already past 100,000, and there’s no sign whatsoever of a slowdown, much less a plan to slow the pandemic down? Forget it. Now we’re looking at a number well, well past that.

How high is that number going to be? The answer is: nobody knows, because nobody actually thought a nation would be catastrophically foolish enough to experience a worst case scenario. Most of the estimates involve some level of reasonability: a government that tried to stop the pandemic, people who cooperated, officials who enforced lockdown and meant it, a society in which most if not all people wanted not to get sick. America appears to have little to none of these things. Nobody expected a country like America: one that encouraged the worst-case scenario, as if it to say, “bring it on!”

So: nobody knows just how high America’s eventual Coronavirus death toll is going to be. What can be said are four things.

First, it’s going to be staggering — a genuinely surreal — number. Doctors are already projecting the death toll will be closer to 500,000, possibly approaching a million or more, over time. Just think about that for a second.

Second, America is going to have the highest death toll in the rich world by a massive, huge, astonishing margin. And probably one of the highest overall death tolls in the world. The only nations I can really imagine exceeding it by now are India, Pakistan, and Russia. Not exactly a club of the world’s most capable nations, at this point. Let me put that another way. America will have a death toll resembling that of desperately poor countries and failed states.

But, third, America should never have had a death toll that high. How many Coronavirus deaths are needless? Epidemiologists estimate that 90% are. Crunching a few numbers myself, I conclude just the same. If America had had New Zealand’s approach, just 1500 people would have had to die. Instead, a figure approaching 100 times that number already have.

Reflect on that for a moment. How shocking is it that of the huge, huge wave of death about to hit America — potentially half a million deaths— the vast, vast portion is…utterly and totally needless, as in: these people never needed to die at all? What the?

Fourth, this is what it means to be a failed state. You die. Huge numbers of people die from needless catastrophes. We’re used to thinking of them as African famines or Asian floods. But to that list we must now add American pandemics. If 90% of 250,000 people, 500,000 people, a million people…never needed to die…we’re talking numbers at a scale that makes history weep.

The world is already shocked by America. Not just the cities on fire. The lunatic President, dissembling and shuffling. The intellectual class, that failed to see any of it coming. Or even the other grim features of daily life — school shootings, endless debt, endemic poverty. But something this astonishingly dystopian. More than a hundred thousand already dead — and a nation that seems to shrug in indifference, reopening, refusing to wear masks, pool partying. What on earth?

America is about to show the world what a worst-case scenario for Coronavirus looks like. It’s going to be catastrophic. The deaths will be off the scale. Society will convulse in panic, shock, and fear. Chaos will stalk the streets. The economy will go on imploding, right on into forever. That will cause the already collapsing middle class to crumble faster, setting off a chain reaction of depression. Mass death, depression, despair, social disintegration, political paralysis, a perpetual state of numbness and shock. That’s the worst-case scenario. It’s like something out a dystopian movie — only now, Americans are living it.

But that’s not all.

America will become something more than a failed state: a plague state. That means: a nation still infected by a virus much of the world has bested or conquered. That will have predictable consequences, too. When Europe is Corona-free, how welcome do you think Americans will be there? When Asia’s tamped down, how much business do you really think Americans will do there? America will suffer socially and economically as a plague state. Its people will be shunned, its businesses will be punished, and it will be kept at arms length.

Do you think a world that’s fought hard to beat the pandemic will want to get infected by it all over again — just because America’s America, and, well, it was too foolish to care as much? Of course not. America will become a pariah state as it becomes a plague state.

A plague state is something that the world hasn’t seen in many, many years. Decades. Maybe even centuries, depending on how you look at it. A nation where a virus is still raging, that much of the rest of the world has conquered. Of course, such a nation must be quarantined. Plague states don’t do well. They suffer immensely — not just from illness, but from isolation, too. From the lack of trade, contact, and friendship that still being sick brings with it. That’s all in America’s immediate future, now, though. It’s chosen to become the plague state of the modern world.

And if you think I exaggerate, consider for a moment that even China has Coronavirus under control by now. The only nations which don’t — again — are either desperately poor, or failed societies, or both. But that’s just what Coronavirus tells us is true of America, now, too

America’s bizarre inability to deal with Coronavirus, I think, marks its final transformation to becoming both a failed state, and a poor country. A nation that can’t govern itself in basic ways — providing people public health, as in, freedom from a deadly virus. And a society so impoverished that people have to choose to return to work, even if it means risking death at the hands of a pandemic. A depression on the cards, while mass death erupts like a supervolcano. Does this kind of thing really happen in civilized, functioning, modern societies?

The worst case scenario is all that. It’s not just mass death, although that’s awful enough. It’s not even just economic implosion or political chaos or social despair. It’s also becoming something bizarre and unique, rarely seen in history: a plague state. It’s having your fate sealed as a poor country, and a failed society by all that, as the final straw breaks the camel’s back of failed institutions and leaders. The worst case scenario coming true in America is a society, too, in which people — enough of them to cause a pandemic to explode — genuinely don’t seem to care if they or anyone else lives or dies. It’s death, in a kind of deep way: the death of civilization, decency, dignity, meaning, worth, while brutality, folly, ignorance, and cruelty reign.

The worst-case scenario. If you’re American, get ready. It’s going to much, much worse than you think. If you’re not American — thank your lucky stars. And learn the lesson of what can become of a society when it gives up, at last, on itself.

Umair June 2020