#secterians

[mydignityisinflames]

What's with the sudden influx of Usamerican preachers?

[pb-dot]

Film Friday: Pacific Rim

My last Film Friday got devoured by the Needs To Finish Editing beast. I figure it's time to get back on it or the Can't-Be-Arsedosaurus is going to devour this habit entirely. Today I have my mind on my monsters and my monsters on my mind, so let's talk a bit about monsters, Kaiju to be more precise, and the giant robots that fight them in Pacific Rim

So earth is being invaded by giant semiaquatic lizard monsters called Kaiju, which is a bad time for all involved except possibly the Kaiju . Instead of devolving into secterian violence and short-sighted ass covering, however, humanity takes the NERV approach to the problem and builds some goddamn giant robots called Jaegers to show the aliens that humanity is not going down without a fight. It is, however, not easy for a regular-sized human being to pilot one of those darn things, and to lessen the load of the body-melding technology that makes it all work, each giant robot has not one, but two pilots, working in hopefully perfect tandem.

The most interesting part about Pacific Rim for my money is how absolutely confidently the movie establishes and delivers its world building. The entire setup in the above paragraph is delivered in the start of the movie, and there's very little dwelling on any of it. Other stories would've had ponderous origin stories or lengthy exposition that they desperately try to justify by having characters walking, or ideally running, and talking, or having a character that just don't know anything about anything.

Not pacific rim though, it sits you down and goes "Ok, here's the shit you need to know and some symbolism to boot, now things gone screwy and Our Guy needs to do some hero stuff." It's perhaps not the Saving The Cat-approved approach, but you know what? I admire how TCB it is, it seems like Guilermo Del Toro really wanted to get to his giant robot story, and didn't want to waste any time to get there.

In general, the movie is full of efficient storytelling like this. The Drift, which is to say the shared mind state that the pilots enter to control the Jaegers is an instant character backstory revealer, allowing both the characters and the movie as a whole to spend less time on it. No need to wonder what the hell Mako's problem is, we saw a montage about it just a few seconds ago, and both the characters and we know that there is a difference between knowing what a problem is and knowing how to deal with it, so there's no real drop in the interpersonal drama because of it either.

Anyway, I have gone WAY too long in this here essay about the Giant Robots Fighting Godzilla-movie without talking about either at any length. So, let's get nerdy on it why don't we. The Kaiju vs Jaeger scenes are spectacular, the Kaiju designs are all fun and unique but visually unified enough that they very much read like a united force. It does, admittedly, stretch the suspension of disbelief that these monsters are all unique and yet get custom names mere seconds after being spotted, but I like to believe there's one Kaiju nerd in the cellar of the Shatterdome whose sole job is coming up with code names for the monsters.

As for the Jaegers, I will say this is the closest a bipedal combat robot big enough to use a cargo ship as a wooden sword has come to making sense. The VFX and especially compositing is excellent for the time it was made, and there's some very real-feeling weight to how they move and some close-enough-to-real physics to their abilities and weapons that makes them feel very present. The same is true for the Kaiju, but we've seen giant godzilla monsters pull that trick off before, so it's not so impressive although I will admit the fight scenes do benefit from both parties feeling like they belong.

If I may diverge from my usual formula here, I feel I must say this, and this seems like as good a place as any. Holy fuck is this movie a blessing for the bisexuals in the audience. Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi, playing protagonists Raleigh and Mako respectively, are attractive people, hope I'm not blowing anyone's minds there, but their chemistry in this movie is just Something Else, and it's honestly developed in a way that I see way too seldom.

It isn't just that they're good actors doing good work either, although I'd argue they are, but a question of being given good material. There is a relationship between these two, this, I would claim, is unambigious. That said, exactly what these two are to each other can be curiously hard to pin down. I still can't tell if it's romantic, sexual or platonic in nature after many re-watches, but whatever it is, it's great and intense in a way that's hard to describe. In some ways they even seem a bit like rivals, like how Raleigh sasses Mako for disproving of his sparring partners and Mako shooting back that it's Raleigh's bs she's disapproving of. In a lesser movie, this would've been awkward or played out with a joke. In this movie, which is great, our two heroes duke it out in a sparring match that is charged with some kind of energy that, if nothing else, tells us that these two will either make each other better or way way WAY worse

Actually, while we are talking about queerness, let's keep it up for a spell. It isn't explicit, but I personally find the relationship between excitable Kaiju Nerd biologist Dr. Geiszler and choleric stick-in-the mud mathematician Dr. Gottlieb deliciously queer. It could be their impeccable Bernt & Ernie-vibes, as expertly portrayed by Charlie Day and Burn Gorman, respectively, or how they both realize that their goals of understanding the Kaiju requires that they each cede grounds to each other and their respective fields and risk life and limb for each other in an experience that changes them forever. It's not an open-and-shut case as far as I'm concerned, but I like it better when read to be queer, so it's worth a mention.

Before I close, I will indulge in another thing I don't do often. In general I try to avoid arguing with the nitpickers and the plothole brigade of the world because that's an endless drain on my limited mental resources, but there is one particular such plothole that have been bothering me for a while. At a particularly dramatic point in the movie Mako and Raleigh deploys a retractable sword to deal with a flying Kaiju, which, apparently, has the CinemaSins wannabes of the world pipe up shrilly to ask why they didn't use the sword before in the prolonged Kaiju battle that this exceedingly anime move ends.

The interesting part about this plothole is that there are two good answers to it that coexist in my mind. For one, they didn't need it, as the Jaeger's other weapons did just fine, arguably better than a sword would, and in the time before Kaijus coming out two at a time, running out of ammo for the Big Very Sufficient Plasma Cannon just wasn't a problem. For the other, the world building actually explains this one, as the opening exposition montage mentions that the blood of the kaiju is hazardous and the source of some sort of malady nicknamed Kaiju Blue. Now since this is a movie, punching and kicking yields only small amounts of blood, while swords all but exsanguinate people on the first stroke, so better to stick with punches and kicks and the occasional self-cauterizing plasma burn. Now, as to why our heroes didn't deploy The Anime Weapon a bit earlier in the process of being dragged into the stratosphere, I couldn't tell you. I could argue that the added altitude could make the kaiju blood disappate over a wider area and thus prove less of a problem, but odds are good this one's just for dramatic effect, which I'm honestly fine with.

Anyway, to try to wrap this up. If my gushy, infodumping tone wasn't a clear indication, I love Pacific Rim. It's a movie that doesn't try to self-consciously excuse its genre trappings, it goes "yeah, kaiju, you know those, giant robots you know those, let's have some fun with it." Despite being made out of many familiar parts, it's arranged in a fresh and exciting way, and the joyous love the filmmakers show for the source material goes a long way to making it approachable. This is the greatest translation of old nerdy interests into a fresh new IP since Star Wars, and it makes me sad that it didn't transform the industry in a similar way. It's what nerd cinema should have become in the time of global streaming, but alas, the passionless nerd pandering turned out to be easier to make and, probably, more profitable. Alas, what could have been, I suppose. At least we'll always have that kickass Ramin Djawadi soundtrack.

[sapphire-theseainequator]

Tbh, another issue with i/p conflict discourse on tumblr, there are like a ton of Islamic sect who popularize the idea that the true jewish/christian are muslim all along. Like, for example, abraham's grave is being labeled "the actual muslim heritage" while abraham himself is not only an islamic prophet, his story is everywhere.

It is even fucked up that modern muslims love to shit on jesus, the bible, torah, how it was faked by the people who don't want to accept the true Islam before Muhammad even born, but then claim the place where jesus born is Islamic, Moses is actually a muslim, etc etc . Of course some of the believer of "Islam was the true christian and judaism" will lie about how all of the things on Israel are actually for muslims only and inherently Islamic, because they think the now Judaism/christianity is fake. Even they believe that Adam and Eve true religion is Islam.

It kinda sucks how people just act like Islam is the "other" of abrahamic religion. Like I get hating Israel, but a lot of these are just taqiyya or weird secterian bullshit.

[magpiejay1234]

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gba/915450-yu-gi-oh-the-sacred-cards/faqs/27496

For the second round, here’s the Shadow/Black Magic Alignment cards. In the older games, this Alignment was showcased with Dark Magician, who also have a lot of “Kuroma” Black Magic cards associated with him. So most of the stuff listed here will be related to him, but don’t expect Konami to retcon him, do expect it for the lesser Spellcasters though.

Shadow Dragon:

Blackland Fire Dragon

Shadow Warrior:

Swamp Battleguard

Gaia The Fierce Knight

Ansatsu

Masked Clown

Trap Master

Wood Clown

Beautiful Headhuntress

Guardian of the Labyrinth

Vishwar Randi

Unknown Warrior of Fiend

Lava Battleguard

Warrior of Tradition

Succubus Knight

Hibikime

Total Defense Shogun

Zombyra the Dark

Makyura the Executor

Shadow Spellcaster:

Right Leg of the Forbidden One

Left Leg of the Forbidden One

Right Arm of the Forbidden One

Left Arm of the Forbidden One

Exodia the Forbidden One

Saggi the Dark Clown

Dark Magician

Curtain of the Dark Ones

Kamionwizard

Nemuriko

Akakiesu

Masked Sorcerer

Fairy Witch

Ancient Sorcerer

Secterian of Secrets

Mystic Lamp

Eldeen

Dark Elf

Witch of the Black Forest

Leo Wizard

Witch’s Apprentice

Skull Knight

Lord of D.

Hannibal Necromancer

Dark Magician Girl

Sorcerer of the Doomed

Toon Dark Magician Girl

Dark Sage

Shadow Fiend:

Kuriboh

Castle of Dark Illusions

Dark Chimera

Mask of Darkness

Job-Change Mirror

That Which Feeds on Life

Witty Phantom

The Shadow Who Controls the Dark

Lord of the Lamp

Lord of Zemia

Dark King of the Abyss

Dark Prisoner

Ancient Brain

Claw Reacher

Phantom Dewan

Dark Titan of Terror

Versago the Destroyer

Megirus Light

King Fog

Mystic Clown

Dark Artist

La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp

Wretched Ghost of the Attic

Key Mace #2

Archfiend of Gilfer (mistranslated as Beast of Gilfer)

The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams

Baron of the Fiend Sword

Dark Necrofear

Flash Assailant

Giant Germ

Kiseitai

The Earl of Demise

Viser Des

Legendary Fiend

Nuvia the Wicked

Masked Beast Des Gardius

Shadow Dinosaur:

Mammoth Graveyard

Shadow Plant:

Man-Eating Plant

Shadow Fairy:

Doma the Angel of Silence

Shadow Zombie:

Temple of Skulls

Shadow Machine:

Gatekeeper

Pendulum Machine

Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon

Barrel Dragon

Spikebot

Shadow Rock:

Mystical Sand

Cyber Jar

Shadow Aqua:

Toon Mermaid

Shadow Beast-Warrior:

Panther Warrior

Exarion Universe

****

Yes, Battleguards (Japanese name: Barbarian) were originally Black Magic monsters. It is why Strong Ishijima, and Gen Ankokuji uses them. While two of his cards are here, most of the Player Killer of Darkness’s cards are Demon Magic/Fiend alignment.

As a general rule, a good chunk of Yugi’s, Yami Bakura’s, Malik’s, Mask of Light and Darkness’s cards are considered Black Magic Alignment.

Dark Titan of Terror, and Curtain of the Dark Ones actually have the Kuroma Kanji in their Japanese names.

Regular Red-Eyes Black Dragon is Demon Magic alignment, since it is an infernal, demonic Dragon (which is why it is used by Darkness in GX). Same is true for Yugi’s Koumori Dragon (Japanese name: Devil Dragon).

[an-unseemly-gentleman]

American Christians keep telling me Catholicism isnt a denomination of Christianity and I'm just like,

[ID: Confused woman looking around doing mental maths reaction meme. End ID]

How is a religion based on the teachings of Christ and following the Bible not Christianity...?

(This is just a small vent post in going to go do some more reserch...)

[ragnarokdad]

I’M LAUGHING that would go so bad. Though in all fairness he’d be in glasgow so he’d just have to deal with snobby art students and avocado restaurants 

[tamamita]

So, one of my favorite religous interpretations is that when Jesus talked about Satan he was actually talking about the God of the old testament (primarily the catholic God, since the catholic church had so much influence on the modern bible). Not exactly sure what question I have, but are interpretations like this common or did people around me just make it up?

Interpretations like these are gnostic at best, there's no basis, but is only there to serve as as ground behind certain subsects, not to mention the layers of secterianism. It's ridiculous.

Second, idk if you guys know this, but the God of the Old Testament is based on the God of the Tanakh, to make such an interpretation is sort of like an affront to Jewish people.

[latibulesims]

I interrupt this regularly scheduled program to talk a little about what's going on in my country

so, for the past four days, my country Lebanon is currently going through its biggest revolution since 2005, a revolution like never before: calling for a non-secterian goverment.

Lebanon has 17 different political sects that, naturally, hate each other. and they strive by making sure the people belonging to different political sects also hate each other. We have hated eachother, we have killed eachother, we have raged wars against eachother.

Not anymore.

A tax raise of 10-12% was the straw that broke the camel's back. Millions of people are denouncing their political parties and calling for the resignation of all who are in the office (some of whom have been in the office for as long as 40+ years) who are responsible for the corruption and economic crisis that Lebanon is struggling with right now.

With an entire population of about 4 million lebanese citizens, as many as 2.5 million have taken to the streets - calling for the resignation of the current ruling goverment and the formation of a new, independent one.

Just thought it'd be nice to let you know, because I know the world is hardly talking about it and those who are are not doing the best job at representing the unity that these protests is calling for. ❤️

[parrots-ug]

Blogger Isma Olaxess remanded to Kitalya prison

Blogger Isma Olaxess remanded to Kitalya prison

By Leonard Kamugisha Akida, KAMPALA: The Buganda Road Court has on Wednesday sent to remand motor mouthed Blogger Ibrahim Tusubira alias Isma Olaxess after he was found guilty on two counts of inciting violence and promoting secterianism. During the court session, the prosecution told court that on November 17,while at his home in Kyanja Wakiso District, Isma incited the general public to commit…

[avillainousmagician]

See atheists who hate anyone remotely identifying as agnostic? They need to fuck off.

I once had someone go off at me for calling myself an atheist because I couldn't say for certain that there was no higher power. But I am an atheist because as far as I can tell, there isn't a god. But I am an agnostic atheist because I can't know for sure. (This makes me an agnostic atheist rather than an agnostic theist, or a straight up agnostic.)

I feel that being a 'there is definitely no God' atheist as opposed to a 'there is probably no God' atheist makes you just as bad as the blind faith people y'all claim to hate so much. They have no proof, sure, but neither do you! Not that the burden of evidence is on those saying something doesn't matter exist, but you still can't say for certain.

Like, I am very, very, VERY sure that there is no God. But I don't know for sure, thus, agnostic atheism!

The Super Atheists (all your red pill MRA MGTOW far right types, y'know, utter utter fuck wits, the bottom of the barrel, the worst of the worst) are the same about religion as all those religious people they like to call 'stupid' and 'illogical'. It annoys the fuck out of me. It is so hypocritical.

Also, religious folk aren't stupid and illogical. Some of the smartest people I know are religious. My in laws are religious. People I love dearly are and we all get on swimmingly and I neither group holds either groups stance on religion against them. It's just a different way to make sense of the world and as long as you're only using it to influence yourself, what's the matter? There are areas of Christianity (I'm from Inverclyde, it is overwhelmingly Christian and very secterian, despite Scotland being one of the least religious places over all) I don't like (Catholicism, Church of Scotland, that kind of stuff, I can't be bothered detailing my reasons just now and I don't dislike the people who follow those things) but mostly it is harmless (over here) and is just extra wee nice things in people's lives. It's far less offensive than bloody mediums and tarot and star signs and all that rubbish, to me. That all makes me rage.

But yeah. Agnostic atheism makes the most sense (even Dawkins doesn't say there definitely isn't a god, ffs) and I hate pseudointellectual '''''rationalists''''' being dicks about it.

[misanthropymademe]

The Last Day, a cyberpunk dystopia in which everyone has their UBI, decides to pursue their passion, and really fucking sucks at it. Constant death by DIY, people going on rampages for criticism of their crappy creations, and secterian wars due to everyone concocting ridiculous philosophies and religions in order to fill the anomie. Like the current world, but on steroids. 

[inthedarkofficial]

Hey folks. Northern Irish news doesn’t get on this site a lot, so I thought I’d share a good thing. Our election results, although perhaps not the same level of shift some were hoping for (especially the UUP), were incredibly encouraging. Although the final seats have not been officially called, the most important result from this election was that our largest party, the DUP (highly conservative, like Tories with more secterianism, terrorism and provincialism) lost enough seats that they no longer have the ability to use their petition of concern without the aid of other parties.

The petition of concern was created under the Good Friday Agreement. It is basically a veto tool: 30 MLAs can block any Assembly decision, it exists so neither the Nationalist or Unionist side feel disenfranchised. Both main parties (DUP and Sinn Fein, the latter with aid from other parties) have used the petition of concern, often outside its original purpose; however the DUP have been using it wildly inappropriately, and use it most often.

The main inappropriate way they have used it is to block the legalisation of same sex marriage in Northern Ireland. We are the only country in the British Isles (out of the UK and Ireland) where it is still illegal. This is despite multiple Assembly votes to legalise it, and 80% of the population being for it. The DUP repeatedly block it using the petition of concern, which until today they have not needed any other parties to envoke. Arlene Foster, former First Minister (and who knows if they’ll be wanting to keep her now), vowed back in Autumn that because she was insulted online she would block same sex marriage for the next five years, i.e. until the next intended general election. The collapse of Stormont and this new result has changed that outlook entirely.

My dudes, TL;DR: because of today’s results, Northern Ireland is likely to gain the right to same sex marriage much sooner than expected. The DUP can no longer legally block it alone. As always, nothing is certain in NI politics, a government actually has to form first, but there is a very, very good chance that what seemed like a distant dream may be a near reality. Love wins!

[albanymphea]

Russian literature

I’ve decided I could post something about russian culture every once in a while. 

Today I’m in a mood to show you modern writers, because it’s good to know something about Russia besides matreshka, vodka and Dostoyevski. Without further ado

1. Victor Pelevin (wiki)

Oh he’s a bad boy. His prose is a mixture of absurde, sci-fi, historical novels, acid trips, buddhisme and what not. All of this lavishly flavored with russian realities such as unique culture of post-soviet 90s or hidden secterian underground. 

The author himself is a very mysterious person. He hardly ever gives interviews, and doesn’t show up to his own celebrations. Is he even real? Or it’s just a character created by a bunch of other writers? Who knows.

The most populare books (Russian original name / English variant) : 

Chapaev and Void / Buddha’s Little Finger / Clay Machine Gun

Generation П / Babylon / Homo Zapiens

The Life of Insects

Omon Ra

2. Venedikt Erofeyev (wiki)

Ok, I’m going to recommend just one book, and you won’t understand it, but, believe me, nobody does. Erofeyev is sort of a literary diva. He’s too smart to be read by mortals. BUT every Russian knows his so-called “poem in prose” Moscow-Petushki. The book creates a vivid image of russian life, mythologie and heritage.  In other words, this is a book about drunk russian dude on a train. Intriguing, huh?

At this point I thought I should stop advertising writers and just give you a proper list. 

3. Lyudmila Ulitskaya (wiki)

4. Fazil Iskander (wiki)

5. Dmitry Bykov (wiki)

6. Lyudmila Petrushevskaya (wiki)

7. Vasily Aksyonov (wiki)

8. Andrei Bitov (wiki)

9. Yury Trifonov (wiki)

10. Vasily Belov (wiki)

Ten is a good number. Let’s stop here.  So, I hope this helps someone. Now you can brag to your friends or confuse your literature prof. Anyway, ask me if you need any commentary on these writers, or any other russian literary piece.  I wish you a pleasant reading!

[officialreptile]

“Don’t call England colonisers, it’s not nice”

Neither is being colonised but here we are

[mubahood360]

Update: Heavily Armed CMI Operatives Escort Radio Simba's Bizonto For Home Search - The Spy

Update: Heavily Armed CMI Operatives Escort Radio Simba’s Bizonto For Home Search – The Spy

By Spy Uganda

Kampala:  We earlier reported in the morning that CMI operatives engulfed Bukoto based 97.3 FM Radio Simba and arrested its employees who also double as comedians under their group name-‘Bizonto’ allegedly,over a secterian video skit.

The arrested include Julius Serwanja aka Kidomole, Mbabali Malicel, Ki-Gold Matono aka Mr.Opeto and Sabakachi Peter.

After the arrest, suspects were…

[syed-raf]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=102482631481609&id=102431498153389